Something Understood

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

BBC Radio 4 LW

Something Understood: Rabindranath Tagore: Unity in Diversity

Rabindranath Tagore: Unity in Diversity

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, Rabindranath Tagore: Unity in Diversity

For the anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore, Mark Tully explores his vision.

For the anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore in 2011, Mark Tully presents an edition of Something Understood exploring Tagore's vision of the unity of all creation.

For the 150th anniversary of the birth of visionary polymath Rabindranath Tagore in 2011, Mark Tully presents a special edition of Something Understood exploring Tagore's vision of the unity of all creation.

Tagore was a Nobel prize winning poet, author, musician artist and philosopher. He argued for the essential 'oneness' of humanity and aimed to heal the divisions between East and West, science and spirituality and man and nature. Mark Tully asks what we can learn from Tagore's belief that 'truth implies unity, a unity expressed through many and varied manifestations, a unity which, when we are able to realise it, gives us freedom'.

Mark speaks to Vandana Shiva, a philosopher, physicist, and globally renowned environmental campaigner, who explains her understanding of Tagore's concept of the universal. 

We hear music from around the world - from sarode player Wajahat Khan to Purcell's 'Ode to St Cecelia'. And we learn that Gustav Holst immersed himself in Hindu mysticism and spirituality. His series of choral hymns from the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Hindu scriptures, was the outcome of that experience. Readings come from William Cullen Bryant - an American romantic poet inspired by the wildness of the forest, Jean-Paul Sartre and, of course, from Tagore himself.

Producer: Jo Coombs
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Something Understood

Rabindranath Tagore: Unity in Diversity

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4