Where the Mind is without Fear CLASS 8 English Lesson 23

Where the Mind is without Fear CLASS 8 English Lesson 23

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by
narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
thought and action…
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

जहाँ मन बिना भय के होता है और सिर ऊँचा होता है;
जहां ज्ञान मुक्त है;
जहां दुनिया टुकड़े-टुकड़े होकर नहीं टूटी है
संकीर्ण घरेलू दीवारें;
जहां सत्य की गहराई से शब्द निकलते हैं;
जहां अथक प्रयास अपनी बाहों को पूर्णता की ओर खींचता है;
जहां कारण की स्पष्ट धारा में अपना रास्ता नहीं खो दिया है
मृत आदत के सुनसान रेगिस्तान रेत;
जहाँ मन को कभी-कभी चौड़ीकरण के द्वारा आगे बढ़ाया जाता है
सोचा और कार्रवाई …
स्वतंत्रता के उस स्वर्ग में, मेरे पिता, मेरे देश को जगाने दो।

–Rabindranath Tagore

Reading Comprehension

1. Match the expressious given in column ‘B’ to ‘A’:

	A	B	Right Match
1	the mind is without fear	we feel proud	freedom to express our thinking and ideas
2	the head is held high	freedom to express our thinking and ideas	we feel proud
3	knowledge is free	with own interest	everyone has the right to get the knowledge according to his/her own interest
4	broken up into fragments	a society with all types of creed, caste and religious, but not united	with own interest
5	narrow domestic walls	everyone has the right to get the knowledge according to his/her own interest	a society with all types of creed, caste and religious, but not united
6	tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection	to be truthful, honest and sincere	to be truthful, honest and sincere
7	clear stream of reason	follow bad customs and traditions	think logically
8	dreary desert sand of dead habit	think logically	follow bad customs and traditions
9	the mind is led forward by Thee into ever widening thought and action	feeling of freedom	request to God for gifting us broad thinking and work accordingly
10	heaven of freedom	let my country be free	feeling of freedom
11	let my country awake	request to God for gifting us broad thinking and work accordingly	let my country be free

1. Answer the following question:
2. Make a list of the qualities found in the ‘Heaven of Freedom’.

Answer – Following is the list of the qualities found in the ‘Heaven of Freedom’-
(i) the mind is without fear.

(ii) the head is held high.

(iii) knowledge is free.

(iv) society is united.

(v) people are truthful, honest and sincere.

(vi) the mind is not narrow and thinking is logical.

(vii) people do not follow bad traditions and customs.

2. Who does the poet address when he says ‘My Father’?

Answer – The poet addresses to God when he says ‘My Father’.

3. What type of society does the poet dream about?

Answer – The poet dreams about a society that is not broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls but united.

4. Where should the mind be led?

Answer – The mind should be led into every widening thought and action.

5. How can people move towards perfection?

Answer – People can move towards perfection by stretching their arms tirelessly to achieve it.

6. What does the poet mean when he says “let my country awake”?

Answer – When he says “let my country awake”; he means let my country be free.

7. What are the factors which are barriers for a good society?

Answer – Narrow mindedness and divisions are the factors that are barriers for a good society.

8. In what sense is ‘Heaven of Freedom’ used?

Answer – ‘Heaven of Freedom’ is used in the sense of the feeling of independence of our country.

9. What type of freedom helps us to make our country heaven?

Answer – The type of freedom where the mind is led forward by God into ever widening thought and action can help us to make our country heaven.

10. Make a list of bad customs you find in your society.

Answer – Following is a lot of some of the bad customs that I find in my society –

(i) dowry

(ii) gender-biasness

(iii) child-marriage

(iv) polygamy

(iv) caste-differences (casteism)

Note – inspire the students to broaden their thinking and also encourage them to add something more in the list.

Vocabulary

1. I. Use the words given in brackets to frame your sentences:

free-freedom, high-height, know-knowledge, deep-depth, perfect-perfection, act-action.

(i) Free – Children should be free to get education.

Freedom – Freedom is very important for the development of the children.

(ii) High – The branches of the tree are not very high.

Height – The height of the branches of the tree is not much.

(iii) Know – We should know about our surroundings.

Knowledge – We should have knowledge of our surroundings.

(iv) Deep – The river is not too deep.

Depth – The depth of the river is not too deep.

(v) Perfect – We must practice hard to be perfect.

Perfection – Perfection demands hard work and practice.

(vi) Act – We should act according to the law.

Action – Our action should be according to the law.

1. Match the columns: (opposite words)

S.N.	A	B	Right Answer (Opposite Word)
1	ever	whole	never
2	high	shallow	low
3	fragments	fold	whole
4	narrow	found	broad
5	deep	cheerful	shallow
6	stretch	greenery	fold
7	lost	hell	found
8	dreary	low	cheerful
9	desert	broad	greenery
10	heaven	never	hell

1. Use the following phrases in your own sentences:

broken up, depth of truth, lost itsway, dreary desert

Broken up – Indians should be united not broken up.

Depth of truth – our words should have the depth of truth.

Lost its way – Anything which has lost its way is dangerous.

Dreary desert – The dreary desert land is too hard to survive.

Grammar

1. Pick up the phrases from the box and answer the question as given in the example:

Where do you want to go in the summer vacation?

Example: I would like to go to a place where there is a lot of greenery.

peace, cool water, no riots, waterfall, enough food, freedom, dense forest, beautiful gardens, beautiful mountains, gentle people, a lot of greenery.

Peace – I would like to go to a place where there is some peace of mind.

Cool water – I would like to go to a place where there is cool water.

No riot – I would like to go to a place where there is no riot.

Waterfall – I would like to go to a place where there is a waterfall.

Enough Food – I would like to go to a place where there is enough food.

Freedom – I would like to go to a place where there is freedom.

Dense Forest – I would like to go to a place where there is a dense forest.

Beautiful gardens – I would like to go to a place where there are so many beautiful gardens.

Beautiful mountain – I would like to go to a place where there are beautiful mountains.

Gentle people – I would like to go to a place where there are gentle people.

A lot of greenery – I would like to go to a place where there is a lot of greenery.