The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.

Few artists exerted more influence in early 20th-century India than writer and painter Rabindranath Tagore. A persuasive advocate for Indian independence, he did not live to see the 1947 milestone achieved. Yet following the example set by his father, Maharishi Debendranath, Tagore devoted his years to benefiting future generations. On the site of his father’s meditation center in Santiniketan, India, Tagore created an experimental school with five students and five teachers. That school blossomed into Vishva-Bharati University, now a century-old public institution with an enrollment in the thousands. As his quote implies, no legacy is more worthwhile than bettering the world for others.