Mother Of Bengal By Rabindranath Thakur(Tagore)

Good and Evil (Photo credit: WELS.net)

Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel prize for literature. It is the first Nobel prize won by Asia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

O ,Mother Of Bengal let your sons experience good and bad deeds,sorrow and joy,ups and downs in life.

Let your sons be human

O most affectionate mother land__in your land of millions

Don’t keep them as innocent children any more.

Let them explore all the countries whichever is the place

make them independently find that abode.

Every step of the way you are protecting them from making small mistakes

do not restrict them and hold on to them as obedient sons.

by giving their life ,enduring pain and suffering, alone

let them distinguish between good and evil.

Take your pious,weak and peaceful sons

let them be homeless, daring and reckless.

O, my admirable mother you have kept your seven million sons,

as Bengalis_____you have failed to raise them as human beings.

Translation by   Ranu

My first year in Iqbal studies

I started the on-line Iqbal studies in November 2011. I have almost completed one year. The final date of one year completion will be next week. My interest to do the course was only based on a poem I had read. Being naturally curious I took this daring attempt.

I had no past experience . I knew nothing about the poet,philosopher. I took one course in the first semester. The first few assignments were challenging for me. I started to feel a bit more comfortable as I was going along. There were a wide range of topics introduced. I realized then I would have to train myself to start studying from the very beginning,there did not seem to be any room to procrastinate. This is what I did from school right through to college and university. Soon enough I realized if I want to know about Iqbal,I would have to leave my bad habits behind.

I must have really gotten rid of them.One day my daughter remarked,”Mom I never saw you working so hard.” I felt this is a positive comment from my kid. I felt good about myself and thought,no one forced me to do this. I was interested  I should therefore make sure I am up to the task.

I may not know as much as the others,they know a lot more because they have studied about him in school and college.I did not.

I am finding it very interesting. There are a variety of topics in this course,there is philosophy.psychology, religion,politics,poetry and many others.We are given assignments by email,we study the text,and answer the questions and write our comments.

The course provider is Mr. Khurram Ali Shafique. He is an authority on Iqbal the poet and philosopher.He has written several books which are already published.He is writing some more.I guess in order to excel in life,this is what one needs to do. He is a very dedicated person. We are lucky to have him as our course facilitator.

In a year I have gained quite a bit of knowledge about Iqbal. I am thankful to Iqbal Academy,Pakistan, for providing this course, also Mr.Shafique for his hard work and dedication.

It has also helped me to be a blogger.It is something I did not try before. I have picked up some very good habits.I love to read, write and I do not waste my time watching television,or watch movies on youtube .I watch some television shows that I like. I also watch movies that are good.

Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), a notable Muslim philosopher, poet and scholar from India (then British India) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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