JAWAHARLAL NEHRU : 'THE QUEST OF MAN' Summary Analysis

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU : 'THE QUEST OF MAN'  

Paragraphs l to 3 describe the author's current place of imprisonment and the sense of joy he experiences on being close to the mountains and the greenery surrounding his prison. There is no bitterness on being confined to a solitary stay in a prison. On the contrary, the writer has the rare ability to find joy even in the cool night air and trees and mountains that he can view at a far off distance.    
Paragraph 4 expresses the author's scepticism as to the worth and value of his writings. It is however, our good fortune that despite his scepticism he continued to write these letters that are a delight to read even today, after a long gap of over seventy years.
In paragraphs 5 and 6 the writer attempts to recreate the history of the world from pre-historic times to modem days. Nehru says that he started with the narration about discovery of fire and agriculture and extended his writings to

cover facts of history about empires and different civilizations. He wonders whether midway he had lost sight of the biggest human challenge that sought to unravel the mystery of the universe. He has written about civilisations that have come and gone, but somewhere along the line he had missed to delve upon the human quest to understand the world that man journeys through. Paragraph 7 traces the journey of man in his long quest to know about his world. It is his mind which is man's greatest asset that helps him in his quest. Once Nehru starts writing about the quest of man, his scepticism fades away. He feels close to his daughter when he writes, as if they were sitting together and talking.
Paragraphs 8-10 describe the twin approaches to understand the world-through religion and through science. Nehru feels that religion seeks to impose its own views that are based on faith and spiritual beliefs while science seeks answers through experiment and reason. There cannot be any single answer to what man is seeking, as his quest has taken two distinct directions - one to understand himself and the other to understand Nature. Religion looks to the inner nature of man while science to the outer nature. Both are important. But Nehru prefers the scientific approach, because it is rational and open minded, not dogmatic like religion. However, man is misusing science instead of harnessing its power, almost to the point of destroying the very civilization that he has built up.