Shivo Bhutva Shivam Yajet
When Swami Vivekananda went to the west, he was there without friends,
without money and without recognition. Only the knowledge and experience of
Hindu Dharma was with him. After his exposition of Hindu Dharma in the
Parliament of Religions held in September 1983 at Chicago, he was revered in
the West for his knowledge and help came from all quarters, the disciples
gathered from all directions. Thus when he returned to India, he was a world-famous
Swami Vivekananda; the western disciples were with him. This visual had a great
psychological impact on people of India. They could feel and their confidence
grew in the greatness and relevance of Hindu Dharma. Epitome of this efficacy
and relevance of Hindu Dharma and of the work of Swami Vivekananda in the West
was Sister Nivedita.
Margaret Noble as Nivedita was called before was from the very race,
which had robbed India of her wealth as well as of her confidence. But Nivedita
came to India to live like us, to serve us and also to practice all that was
higher and noble in our spiritual tradition. She could see beauty and wisdom in
all walks of Indian life.
How could a proud and an accomplished British woman see the beauty of
Indian life? She had to undergo a painful process of transformation. Margaret
Noble came to India to serve Indians after she was totally convinced about the
Vedantic Truth of Oneness. After the Consecration ceremony, she was given the
name ‘Nivedita’ – ‘the dedicated’. But
just a new name was not going to erase all the assumptions and biases that she
had cherished till then as Margaret Noble. Swami Vivekananda in his classes
attacked mercilessly her deep rooted perceptions and misconceptions.
Imagine!
Swamiji was the only person who was known to her in this vast and strange land
and he appeared so harsh. The anguish that Nivedita felt was very great. But
not once a thought of returning back or doubting the wisdom of her decision of
accepting Swami Vivekananda as her guru came to her mind. Her only concern was
‘whether ever I shall understand what my master is trying to tell me’. Her
sincerity of purpose and utmost efforts ultimately transformed her completely.
She became one with India to serve in total surrender. It is said that to truly
offer worship to Siva you have to be Siva. ‘Sivo Bhutva Sivam Yajet’. Nivedita
so to say became one with Mother India. She understood India in all her
dimensions and loved Indians with all their faults.
Not only all modes of worship, but equally all modes
of work, struggle, creation, become paths of realization
It is this total transformation of Nivedita which is a great example for
Macaulay Educated Indians. If a proud and accomplished British woman can burn
to ashes all her prejudices, misconceptions and her western mind-set and if
with total paradigm shift she could become a true Indian, a great admirer,
worshiper and servant of Mother India, then why not we? We the Macaulay
educated can also burn to ashes completely all our preconceptions and ignorance
and become true Indians. When she could get insight into the depths of Indian
wisdom why not we? When one wants to serve Motherland one has to change oneself
so as to become the right instrument in the hands of God. Sister Nivedita is thus an inspiration for
all those who want to serve our society.
Nivedita was so one with the people, their aspirations that her life,
her actions, her words reflected that oneness which she experienced. She always
said our people, our country. We see many a times that those who go to ‘serve’
the people in villages and in tribal areas with the sense that they are going
to ‘civilise’ and to ‘develop’ these people use words like ‘this society’,
‘these people’. They force their ideas and world-views on those simple people.
This is what Swami Vivekananda did not want to happen with his foreign
disciples. He wanted them to accept India as she was; he wanted them to learn
from India. Sister Nivedita internalized it so fully that Bipin Chandra Pal
said, “Nivedita came to us not as a teacher but as a learner, not as an adept
but as a novice and she loved India more than even we Indians love her.”
She inculcated and internalized the Vedantic vision so well that she
wrote, ‘If the many and the One be indeed the same
Reality, then it is not all modes of worship alone, but equally all modes of
work, all modes of struggle, all modes of creation, which are paths of
realisation. No distinction, henceforth, between sacred and secular. To labour
is to pray. To conquer is to renounce. Life is itself religion. To have and to
hold is as stern a trust as to quit and to avoid.’
That is what she imbibed from Swami Vivekananda. Thus she wrote about
him, “This is the
realisation which makes Vivekananda the great preacher of Karma, not as divorced
from, but as expressing Jnana and Bhakti. To him, the workshop, the study, the
farmyard, and the field are as true and fit scenes for the meeting of God with
man as the cell of the monk or the door of the temple. To him, there is no
difference between service of man and worship of God, between manliness and
faith, between true righteousness and spirituality. All his words, from one
point of view, read as a commentary upon this central conviction. “Art,
science, and religion”, he said once, “are but three different ways of
expressing a single truth. But in order to understand this we must have the
theory of Advaita.” (Volume I Page xiv to xvi). For
Nivedita, Vedanta became practical. Her spirituality thus expressed in her
contributions to all walks of life.
It appears that the legacy of fire that was within Swami Vivekananda was
given to Sister Nivedita. The flames of burning love for India in Sister
Nivedita were so great that Sri Aurobindo called her Agnishikha – the flames of
fire. No field of national life was left untouched by her fire. Her topmost
concern was the well-being of India and the awakening of Indian national
consciousness whatever may be the field of action.
Education should be not only national but nation
making
In the field of Education, Nivedita wanted, “Indian
educators to extend and fulfill the vision of Swami Vivekananda”.
How would it be done? She explained, “This
thought that education is not only good for child himself but should be more so
for Jana-Desh-Dharma should always be present in the minds of educators. There
is no fear of weakness and selfishness for one whose whole training has been
formed round this nucleus. Each day should begin with some conscious act of
reference to it.
Education in India today has to be not
only national but Nation-making. We must surround our children with the thought
of their nation and their country. …The centre of gravity must lie for them
outside the family. We must demand their sacrifices for India; Bhakti for
India; learning for India. The ideal for its own sake! India for the sake of
India! This must be as the breath of life to them.
…It is a mistake to think that heroes are
born. Nothing of the sort. They are made not born; made by the pressure of
heroic thought. All human beings long at bottom of their heart for
self-sacrifice. No other thirst is so
deep as this. Let us recognize this, direct this towards single thought i.e.
love for the country. …The universe is the creation of mind not matter. And can
any force in the world resist a single thought held with intensity by 700
million of people? …How to do that? A national education then must be made up
of familiar elements. Our Imagination must be based upon our heroic literature.
Geographical ideals must be built up first through the ideals of India. Same is
for history. All other histories should run around the Indian History.” The
school that Nivedita run for the girls enshrined all these thoughts so well
that when Sri Rabindranath Tagore wanted to start Shantiniketan, most of the
lady-teachers were the former students of Nivedita’s school.
Greatness of Indian life depends on the place given to
Women in social scheme
Sister Nivedita was so charmed by the womanhood of India among whom she
lived in the lanes of Calcutta that her description about them are the best
tribute. She says, “What differentiates the Indian training
from others? I find one answer which outweighs all others in my estimate. It is
this. The special greatness of Indian life and character depends more than on
any other feature, on the place that is given to Woman in the social scheme.
They say that Indian women are ignorant
and oppressed. To all who make this statement we may answer that Indian women
are certainly not oppressed. The crimes of ill-treating women is at once less
common and less brutal in form here than in younger countries. And the
happiness, the social importance, and may I say, the lofty character of Indian
women are amongst the grandest possessions of the national life.
When we come to the charge that Indian
women are ignorant, we meet with a far deeper fallacy. They are ignorant in the
modern form, that is to say, few can write, and not very many can read. Are
they then illiterate? If so, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and the Puranas
and stories
every mother and every grand-mother tells to the babies, are no literature. But
European novels and Strand Magazine by the same token are? Can any of us accept
this paradox?
The fact is, writing is not culture though
it is an occasional result of culture. The greatest literature occurs at the
beginning of a literary age and so, to those who know Indian life, it is easy
to see that an Indian woman who has the education of the Indian home, the
dignity, the gentleness, the cleanliness, the thrift, the religious training,
the culture of mind and heart, which that home life entails, though she cannot
perhaps read a word of her own language, much less sign her name, may be
infinitely better educated in every true sense, and in the literary sense also,
than her glib critic.”
Dream the dreams great enough and thoughts noble
enough
Writings of Sister Nivedita were a symphony of her insight in Indian
wisdom and tradition, her intense love for India, her sharp intellect and her
mastery over language. So beautiful, deep and moving were her writings that it
is really difficult to translate those in other languages. May be that is the
reason that most of her literature even today remains un-translated. Her
literature has not only historical and literary value but are good guide in the
task of nation-building too.
For example: while comparing with other nations she sums up in few words
the journey and contribution of Hindu Nation from antiquity to till now. She
writes, “Let it be said that to every people who
possess the elements of truly national existence, with the responsibility of
facing the problems of a nation, this question sooner or later comes to be
faced. Have we in the past dreamt dreams great enough, thought thoughts noble
enough, willed with a will clear enough, to enable us to strike out new paths
into the untried, without error and without defeat? And perhaps of all the
peoples of the world only the Hindu people, to this searching enquiry can
answer yes”.
She was a regular contributor to over 20 magazines and the topic always
was India. Therefore, not just because Sister Nivedita was a great example of
transformation but we have to study her life and works also because, even today
she can give insight to us - the English educated -about our own nation and its
significance.
The love of country and its people and hope for future
will bring in such a tide of art,
science and religion that no man can stop
While she helped the country bent under the burden of sorrow whether
during plagues or floods or freedom struggle, she lived completely merged in
the essence of its freedom one day to come. Thus, she wanted the cultural
assertion, the national expression in all walks of life. She stated, ‘The birth
of the National Art of India is my dearest dream.’ She disliked the art students imitating the
European subjects in their art. When India has such rich culture and history of
art she felt why should Indian artists imitate Europeans styles and subjects.
She exhorted and inspired the young artists like Avanindranath Tagore and
Nandalal Bose to choose India as their topic for expression. She would perceive
the beauty of old houses of Bagh Bazar, and ruined temples but detested the
modern utilitarian buildings built in India.
In the field of science, she felt Indians have great ability to
contribute. When the British scientists tried to sideline Dr. Jagadish Chandra
Bose, she realized that Indians were not incapable but were incapacitated by
British to achieve great heights. She came forward to help Dr. Jagadish Chandra
Bose. To make his work known to the world she worked along with him on his six
books. Even though, she herself would be suffering for want of money; she saw
to it that the work of Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose would not suffer monetarily. When the revolutionaries would go to jail or
in exile to other countries, she would take care of their families. Not a field
of national life was left untouched by her.
Nivedita captured the fire of patriotism set alight by
Swamiji and took it to all fields
As it was required, Sister Nivedita actively participated and promoted
the freedom movement. For that she had to resign from Ramakrishna Mission.
Ramakrishna Mission -the fledgling organization to propagate the message of Sri
Ramakrishna and Vivekananda was needed for India. And participation of Sister
Nivedita in freedom movement and her active role in awakening national
consciousness also was equally the need of the hour in the interest of India.
Thus to protect Ramakrishna Mission and to promote the work of freedom of
India, she resigned from Ramakrishna Mission. But, their relationships remained
very cordial till end.
Nivedita considered herself as part of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda
thought movement. Whenever she was sick, she was immediately attended to by
Ramakrishna Math. In her work too the help was given by Ramakrishna Math and
Mission in all possible ways. When she realized she would not live, in her will
she donated all the money that she had got from Mrs. Bull just some time before
her own death or from her books to Ramakrishna Mission as an endowment for the
use of Sister Christine Greenstidel to run the school; though Christine had
left her. Bitterness had no place in her heart. She associated with persons
whom she thought would be useful in India’s interest. But she would also
disassociate herself from them if she found it otherwise. For anything and
everything in her life, the deciding touchstone was India and her well-being.
One of the foremost revolutionary freedom fighter, Sri Hemachandra Ghosh’s
reminiscence about Swami Vivekananda and Sister Nivedita narrated to Swami
Purnatmananda were later translated from Bengali to English by Prof Kapila
Chatterjee and brought out as a book titled as “I am India”. In that he says, “It
is very true that it was Nivedita who captured the fire of patriotism set
alight by Vivekananda. She not only caught that flame, she also scattered the
sparks of Indian patriotism and nationalism far and wide, across the length and
breadth of India. Wherever Nivedita went, in any city or province of India, her
flaming speeches and heroic calls to the Indian people spread the message of
Swamiji, his ideals, his patriotism. Side by side, she spread the ideals, the
culture, the glory of India, too. To speak frankly, we got to know Swami
Vivekananda better through coming in contact with Sister Nivedita. I was with
Swamiji for a very short time. But, I have been with Nivedita for a much longer
period. Through Nivedita, we got to know Swamiji better and through her India
also better. …What I feel about Nivedita is – Sister Nivedita played two
important roles in spreading the message and deeds of Vivekananda – one was the
role of Mahadeva, the other, that of Bhagiratha. She absorbed the terrific
force and power of Vivekananda in her own person, and at the same time she
carried the mighty current of that force and directed it along proper channels
like Bhagiratha”.
Her deep love for India was expressed in all walks of life –politics,
education, art, literature, sociology, spirituality etc. A spiritual person is
all dimensional. That is how Sister Nivedita was. She was a revolutionary, she
was a Yogini too. She was an educationist and she was an art critic too. She
was a writer and she was involved in rendering service to the people also, be
at flood time or plague time. She was at once a child at the feet of Holy
Mother Sri Sarada Devi and also a Lokmata to all as she was called by
Rabindranath Tagore and above all she was Sister of all.
rt the people of the country -- bereft of the grace of affluence, of blasted fortune, their discretion totally lost, downtrodden, ever - starved, quarrelsome, and envious.” Sister Nivedita was a person of that great fortune! She loved India and Indians with all their faults. 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita is a good occasion to study and understand her life and work. May her life make us love our motherland and our people! May her life give us an insight in our own country and insp
