Explanation of "where the mind is without fear" by R.N.Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore is not only a well known poet but also a philosopher, a painter, and an educationist. He also wrote many novels, essays and remarkable short stories, actually he is an iconic figure of not only Bengali culture but also Indian culture introducing to west and vice versa. 
Among all his writtings today I will discuss about his greatest poem "where the mind is without fear". Actually The Bengali version of the poem is " chitto jetha voysunno",which is named "prarthana" meaning prayer. lt appeared in the volume called " Naibedya" in 1901.

Later in 1911 Tagore himself translated the Bengali poem into English,which is called "Where The Mind Is Without Fear".it was appeared as a poem in his nobel winning anthology"Gitanjali" (song offerings) published by the Indian society, London in 1912. R.N.Tagore got nobel prize for his collection "Gitanjali" in 1913. Here is the translated poem-

Today I will discuss about the erernal poem , what the poet wanted to say through this poem. Actually when Tagore wrote the poem then India was under British rule.so he wrote the poem in a form of prayer to God. He prayed to almighty for true freedom . Here I will do line by explanation:-
Where the mind is without fear and head is held high


In the first line of this poem he prays to the god that his countrymen should not be fear of any oppression or forced compulsion. And he prays that his countrymen has his head held high in dignity.
Where knowledge is free In the second line he told that knowledge should be free irrespective of every cast, creed,color, and upper and lower class. Education should not be restricted to the upper class only, all has same right to acquire knowledge.
Where the world has not been broken up by narrow domestic walls

In this line ,poet emphasizes on the unity of his countrymen. He prays to  god that caste, creed, color superstition and unbiased thought should not divide his countrymen . All should get together to fight against not only British but also to the inner belief system like superstitions, prejudices.

Where words come out from the depth of  truth

Here the poet says that, his countrymen should be truthful. Words should come out from the depth of their heart.

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

The poet wants to say in this line that all should work hard to reach their goal and in long run to reach to the perfection.

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the deary desert sand of dead habbit

Here the poet compares ' reason' or logical thoughts to' clear stream' and compares 'dead habits' or superstition belief to 'deary desert'. He wants to say that the logical thoughts should not lose it's way to desert of prejudices.

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Here in these lines the poet prays to god that his countrymen to be open minded, broad minded and progressive. Their thoughts and action should be 'ever widening' and led forward by ' thee' or almighty.

Into the heaven of freedom,my father, let my country awake

At last the poet address god as 'father' and asks him to awake his countrymen to the true freedom or heven of freedom. The reason of telling this is , the only political freedom is not important it's important to be open minded and free from superstitions, fear and narrowness . At that they can enjoy true freedom or heaven of freedom.