Page:Shantiniketan; the Bolpur School of Rabindranath Tagore.djvu/82



CHAPTER I

olden times boys used to go for purposes of study to a Brahmachari-ashram. I have already told you that schools of that kind were situated in sacred groves. Rishis used to think that though it is necessary for groups of men to build cities in places where there is a great deal of business and bustle, yet there are other needs besides these, which human life is meant to fulfil.

If you live only in the busy work and turmoil of the world, you will not get time to understand, or even to see properly, all aspects of the world. The mind will have no peace; and if the mind is not tranquil, then the real meaning of things will not be understood, nor will their real beauty be appreciated.

Besides this there was another advantage in living in a forest, namely, that man felt a kind of freedom and was able to realise his own worth. Each one had to do his own work, so 62