Quotes from Rabindranath Tagore and few HR lessons from them...

Today we celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. I am missing the revelry in Kolkata & Delhi[C R Park].

I was born in Kolkata but I grew up in Delhi. The most formative years of my life belonged in Delhi and I could not really associate myself with the works of Rabindranath Tagore as a kid. My parents did make a lot of effort to get myself oriented towards Rabindra Sangeet but I could never appreciate it then.

But as I matured, I found a lot of depth and meaning in his works especially in the lyrics of his songs and the poems.

Let me share a few of his quotes which has people lessons infused in them:

• "A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it."- A beautiful quote that extols the importance of emotions and why emotions must be accommodated even if logic rules the scenario.
  

• " For us the highest purpose of this world is not merely living in it,, knowing it and making use of it, but realizing our own selves in it through expansion of sympathy; not alienating ourselves from it and dominating it, but comprehending and uniting it with ourselves in perfect union."- A classic quote that speaks volumes on 'inclusiveness' , 'active engagement' and 'goodness'.

• "All men have poetry in their hearts, and it is necessary for them, as much as possible, to express their feelings. For this they must have a medium, moving and pliant, which can refreshingly become their own, age after age. All great languages undergo change. Those languages which resist the spirit of change are doomed and will never produce great harvests of thought and literature. When forms become fixed, the spirit either weakly accepts its imprisonment or rebels. All revolutions consists of the "within" fighting against invasion from "without"... All great human movements are related to some great idea."-A quote that can spur thoughts on change management and idea generation.

• "Asks the Possible of the Impossible, "Where is your dwelling-place?" "In the dreams of the Impotent," comes the answer."- A quote on courage, proactiveness and initiative.

• "Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."- A quote that can inspire a turnaround, change or a complete business re-engineering.

• "Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it."-A quote on capacity building.

• "Facts are many, but the truth is one." A quote on authenticity and integrity.

• "Gross utility kills beauty. We now have all over the world huge production of things, huge organizations, huge administrations of empire - all obstructing the path of life. Civilization is waiting for a great consummation, for an expression of its soul in beauty. This must be your contribution to the world." -Need I say more :-)

• "He who wants to do good knocks at the gate; he who loves finds the gate open."-A quote on execution and continuous learning & development.

• "I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung."- A quote on work-life integration

• "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy." A quote on HR's true mission :-)

• "If anger be the basis of our political activities, the excitement tends to become an end in itself, at the expense of the object to be achieved. side issues then assume an exaggerated importance, and all gravity of thought and action is lost; such excitement is not an exercise of strength, but a display of weakness." -A quote on anger management

• "If life is journey be endless where is its goal? The answer is, it is everywhere. We are in a palace which has no end, but which we have reached. By exploring it and extending our relationship with it we are ever making it more and more our own. The infant is born in the same universe where lives the adult of ripe mind. But its position is not like a schoolboy who has yet to learn his alphabet, finding himself in a college class. The infant has it own joy of life because the world is not a mere road, but a home, of which it will have more and more as it grows up in wisdom. With our road that gain is at every step, for it is the road and the home in one; it leads us on yet gives us shelter."- A quote on having greater purpose in life and work.

All the quotes above are inspired from life so that they can inspire each and every elements of life in return. HR is only a small aspect yet an important one. A lot can be learned from the works of Rabindranath Tagore. I felt HR is one of them.

The quotes are obtained from this link .