What kind of freedom does Rabindranath Tagore wish for his countrymen in his poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’?
The poet wants a freedom where all the people are fearless, move ahead with dignity, are truthful and work hard until they have success. He wants his countrymen to be out from all the narrow considerations of colour, caste, creed, religion and baseless superstitions.
As apparent in the poem, the poet did not want merely political freedom for his countrymen. Rather, he wanted a kind of spiritual freedom, a sense of self dignity. He wanted people to be fearless, knowledgeable, truthful, active, broad-minded and logical. In short, they should be virtuous and do good to others and themselves in the process.
He envisions India as a country where people live without any kind of fear and can hold their heads high with pride, dignity and self-confidence. He also says that knowledge should be attended to without any restriction. There should be no discrimination based on cast, creed and religion. India must reach towards its goal of attaining freedom. The countrymen must possess noble thoughts without any superstition.
The poet wants a freedom where all the people are fearless, move ahead with dignity, are truthful and work hard until they have success.