7. Gandhi prevents Tagore from dancing

In the evening of Tagore’s life, his beloved Santiniketan was suffering badly from lack of money. To run a university is no joke, and Tagore needed money desperately in order for the university to continue. How would he raise the necessary funds? He was at that time 74 or 75. He had the inspiration to dance for the public to make money. He said that easily he would be able to get the required amount because thousands of his admirers would come to watch his dance.

Gandhi came to hear about it and said to Tagore, “Gurudev, as long as I am on earth, I will not allow you to dance in public. Please tell me how much money you actually need.” Gandhi had so many admirers who were wealthy businessmen. They were such devoted friends that at his request they would give him millions of rupees, so Gandhi was able to give Tagore a very large amount of money. In this way, he stopped Tagore from dancing.

Why would people have come to see a dancer whose skill was not only unknown, but also very dubious? Just because he was a famous man in his own field. Although Tagore was not a dancer; as a poet, as a visionary, as a man of inner depth, he was really something extraordinary. Just to be in his presence, even if his dancing had been totally unskilled, would have been an inspiration. His inner capacity, his inspiration and his aspiration would have elevated the consciousness of his audience. There are many really good, excellent dancers, but in the matter of inner depth or inner height they come nowhere near the standard of this poet. Of course, I am not criticising other dancers for their lack of inner depth. As artists in their own fields, they may be excellent. But because of what this beloved seer-poet had contributed in the field of poetry, because of what he was as a man, his very presence could elevate the consciousness of his admirers, although he might have been nowhere in the field of dancing. When one is really great in some field, others are not the losers if they spend a few hours with him in another field, although it may be totally foreign to his original area.⁶⁹