Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-05
BY MoNTRosE J. MOSES.

TO America He Is IN ms
~ SEVENTEEN year now, his hail
whittier, his beard longer; but
his eyes are still undimmed to the
vision he has seen and has followed un-
bwervingly since he first began tC
preach his gospel of creative unity
remember in 1915 standing with him
by a window in Chicago overlooking
the noise and energy of its hustle. The
horizon was punctuated by tall build
hgs, the sky was wreathed in smoke.
1T is that which is crushing me-" he
gaid. 1T is that which makes me long
for the contemplative spaces of my
home. Maybe" he added. a benign
8orrow in his eyes, maybe 1 am selling
my soul for the sake of creating SYM
pathy for my school," I saw him often
in New York later on, when he was
lecturing before groups more eager to
see him in his clinging robes than to
hear his songs that he read in soft,
gentle voice.
remember that he cut short his stay
IN America because he felt that his
enterprise was becoming too CONNER
cial And ever since he has fought shy
of visiting the West save under aus
pices more nearly in accord with his
spiritual desires and his international
sympathies.
Has Travelled Widely.
He has travelled the world over since
that year of 1916; he has widened his
contacts with world conditions; he has
been honored in all countries by lead
ers of philosophy, science, literature
and government. Yet still he sees no
reason to change his original plea for
interracial understanding, for the re-
linquishment of national self1shness in
the interest of world peace.
rTh0drnh in tho writ
ings of Rabindranath Tagore a de-
tachment from political and social and
economic fact there nonetheleSs is
surprisingly common sense and simple
way he has of criticizing world con-
ditions today. He diagnoses the fact
in relation to what it contributes to
the spiritual life of people, and if it
chokes the free expansion of mans
soul he excoriates it with a force that
has no bitterness, but shows how pitt
able it is in the eternal scheme Of
things.
Tagore is a sage, belonging to large
family of wise men, of whom his own
father, though dead, is still the DOM
inant force in India today. There is
marble shrine in Bolpur where the
revered, the "God-intoxicated" Dew
endranath Tagore used to go for con-
temptation. 1t is in this neighborhood
that his son built the school which was
to embody his ideas of development in
accord with the laws of nature.
I'VE would make you a maharaja,"
said the followers of Devandranath
But the old sage refused the decoration
Of princes. Make me rather a mahar-
shi, If deserve the title" he said SIM
ply. And so he was crowned the Great
Sage. There is saying in India that
the maharajas die, but the maharshis
live fnraUar in ha PC If
generations"
With such background of nobility
anc nobleness came Rabindranath
Tagore. The Tagores have been lead
ers in all the activities of modern India:
they have helped to ripen the renais-
sance which has come to India through
art and living. They have always been
reformers. Hence, Rabindranath Tagore
may be regarded as a world leader He
Is so met by all countries save, perhaps,
America, where in some quarters he is
still looked upon as an impractical
Oriental dreamer.
In 1926 Tagore made tour of Europe
on the invitation of leaders of European
thought. Sixteen countries were visited
and everywhere he lectured on themes
which converged always toward his one
vital doctrine of the salvation of the
world by the development of inter-
racial sympathy and exchange of ideas.
Mussolini received him as an official
parsonage; the King Of Italy gave him
audience
He spent hours with ROLAND in
Switzerland, with Benedetto Croce in
Rome, with Georg Brandes in Den
mark, with Hindenburg and Einstein in
Berlin. He was hailed as far as his
health would permit at the time, by
AL the literary and art leaders of mid
die Europe. This brought him stimula-
ton, but never once old he trim his
sails politically. He rejoice6 in the cul-
tural contacts, but he was not dazzled,
and never has been dazzled, by official
recognition.
Free In His Criticizm.
Though he might appreciate the gift
OF a whole library made by Mussolini
to his school at Santiniketan, he could
not stand for those things which the
great dictator set as the ideal for the
Italy of the immediate future. He had
critical things to say of the Fascist,
and expressed openly his 6isappoint-
n1ent that all anti-Fascisti were kept
from him.
In like manner, though the hospitality
of Japan was showered upon him, he
did not desist from criticizing Japans
nationalism, as he has ever criticized
the encroaching selfish political policies
of other nations. Though he might be
regarded as the prophet of his own
country. he does not even relent in crtti-
cisms of the effort toward national con-
seriousness which has been seen there
during recent decades. 1t is not In
dian nationalistic movements which in
tereSt him, but the regeneration of
midas culture as an expression OF
midas individual soul which concerns
him.
Hence, though he might be in SYM
pathy with the non-violent policy of
Mahatma Gandhi. he parts from
Gandhi in one fundamental respect.
The latter believes that the salvation
of India will come through the spin
ming wheel; Tagore believes that Spir-
itual regeneration of India is by far
more important. And that conviction
he strives to inculcate in his young
pupils and the research students of his
recently established International Cor
interraciaD University.
Three Chairs Established.
It is in the latter institution that
there have been established three
chairs of learning; one by His Exalted
Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad-
the Islamic chair-for the study of
Mahometan culture; a second by the
Prince of Siam-a Buddhistic chair
anu a bl441Q ny Jllb NfdthHdA VI Dol ONio
for the glory of Hindu culture.
Who, may we ask, will come forward
and endow a chair for the study of
Christian culture and modern civiliZa-
ton? Recently, when he was in Eng
land, Tagore was warmly greeted by the
Quakers; in them he saw close affinity
with his own ideals; it was they who
paid the salaries of two professors for
Santiniketan. Hence it is not surprising
to find the present visit to America OF
Rabindranath Tagore being sponsored
by the American Friends Service Com