It
was in the month of November, 1895. Swami Vivekananda had arrived in London after
his historic lectures at Chicago in 1893 and holding innumerable meetings and
discussions over two years carrying Vedantic philosophy to the Americans. Now
it was in England. About fifteen or sixteen guests had assembled in the West
End home of Lady Isabel Margesson in London. Among the guests was Margaret
Elizabeth Noble, a young woman of Irish descent anxious to meet the great Yogi.
Margaret was enchanted by the great personality
and being exposed to the idea that religion was more a ‘realization’ and
not mere ‘faith’ and that God could become Personal. Daughter of a pastor who
died young, Margaret was deeply interested in religion. As an exceptionally
bright person she had studied Philosophy, Natural Sciences and Arts. Although a
Christian, she could not accept a number of Christian doctrines. It was not
until she was exposed to the philosophy of Buddha that she felt at ease and
came to meet the Swami to clear some doubts. That did not happen until the
following year in1896 when Vivekananda came again and delivered a large number
of lectures and offered discussion sessions. Margaret attended all of these.
She found what she was looking for.
A
guide, a Guru. To quote her: The man who
stood there held my life in the hollow of the hand and he once in a while
looked my way. I read in his glance what I felt in my own heart complete faith
and abiding comprehension of purpose- better than any feeling.
One
day during a conversation the Swami turned towards her and said, “I have plans
for the women of my own country in which, I think, you could be of great help
to me.” And it was then she knew that she had heard the call she was waiting
for, the call that would change her life. She did not waver. She left her mother,
sister and brother and left the shores of England.
From
her childhood Margaret was inclined to Religion. Her father took up the job of
a Pastor in England. He died very young and her mother unable to take care of
her three children, Margaret at ten, being the oldest, had to come back to her
father in Ireland where she studied at school and college. She was a very
bright student. At the age of 17, she came to England and took a teaching job
in Wales. Margaret was deeply influenced by her maternal grandfather’s
patriotic feelings, which ran high when British atrocities in Ireland had
reached barbaric limits.
Margaret
fell in love with a young teacher and was engaged to be married when the young
man died. Margaret came back to her mother.
She
was a devout Christian but unlike most, began to have major questions about the
basic philosophy. She could not reconcile with the Father Son Dualism. In her
search of what she thought was truth, she stumbled on Buddhism and Buddhist
philosophy had a great appeal for her. Her discussions with Vivekananda settled
her doubts and Vedanta held answers to her questions. Margaret wanted to accompany
him to India but Swami did not encourage her to come. It was then that Margaret
came to meet Jagadish Chandra Bose and his wife Abala Bose. Jagadish Bose
underwent a serious operation. Margaret and Abala Bose nursed him back to
health.
In
their next meeting, Swami told Margaret that she could come to India and gave
her the task of undertaking female education. That seemed to Margaret as a
clarion call that she had been waiting for, and made up her mind to leave for
India.
Margaret
stayed with two other disciples of the Swami. One was Mrs Bull and the other
Mrs Mac Leod. The Swami swore her into “Brahmacharya” or celibacy and named her
Nivedita, dedicated to the Ramakrishna order. Nivedita’s meeting with Sri Ma
Sarada, was overwhelming for her. While she faced untouchability everywhere and
refusal to enter the temple at Dakshineswar, Srima embraced Nivedita and shared
a meal with her.
Nivedita rented a house in
Bosepara lane and made the place suitable for teaching students. There were a
number of slums close by and Nivedita went around recruiting students for her school
and met with resistance. Educating girls was not desirable. Nivedita met with a
number of young widows. Widows in India lived a miserable life. They were not
wanted by the in-laws and having nowhere to go they lived with their parents.
In Bengal some widows established themselves well and took care of the children
of their brothers. In some homes, they were despised by the relatives and had
to live on vegetarian diet, had to wear their hair short and put on white saris
to make themselves as unattractive as possible. Educating them was almost a
taboo. Fathers of some of these widowed daughters were anxious lest a European
woman should influence their daughters with western ideas. Nivedita did her
best to persuade these men to give her a chance. The first thing that Nivedita
noticed was that these girls were grossly undernourished and seldom had any
breakfast. Nivedita used to feed these girls milk and fruit, and often out of
her own share.
Nivedita
taught these girls the history of India and particularly about women who had
great valour like the Queen of Jhansi.
When plague broke out in Calcutta
in 1899, Nivedita was out in the street, cleaning garbage and putting up
posters instructing people around how to maintain hygiene. She would go to
slums and pick up a dying child into her bosom and rush to another where someone
else was dying. Dr Radha Govinda Kar wrote about Sister Nivedita the following:
Nivedita was seen in every slum of the
Baghbazar locality.She helped with money without giving a thought to her own
condition. At that time, her own diet consisted of milk and fruits. She gave up
milk to meet the expenses of one patient. Perhaps seeing her serving people
like she did, Rabindranath Tagore gave her the title of “Lokamata” or mother of
all the people. Tagore initially did not take to Nivedita when they met for the
first time because of her strong views and aggressive way to express them.
Nivedita was somewhat short tempered while Tagore was just the opposite. However,
he completely changed his ideas about her the more he saw her.
In
this context, it might be worthwhile to study the role played by Sister Nivedita
in the Bengal Renaissance or the Awakening of Bengal. Nivedita played a
significant role. Be it Education, Science, Arts, Literature or Philosophy,
Nivedita made her contributions, in every faculty, which are still less known
to most.
Nivedita
was a very close friend of Jagadish Chandra Bose and his wife Abala Bose. She
helped Jagadish Chandra in editing about 2500 pages of his scientific paper and
forced him to submit a patent application to the US in 1901, which was accepted
in the year 1904 and was the first US patent in entire Asia. This brought him
the distinction as the first person to anticipate p and n type of
semiconductor.
She
patronized young artists like Nandalal Bose, Asit Haldar and helped them when
they were drawing the coloured frescos in Ajanta and Elora by her very presence
with them. It was Nandalal Bose who made the drawing for the relief that adorns
the entrance of the Bose Institute. It depicts Sister Nivedita.
Nivedita
had a very vivid recollection of British atrocities in Ireland during its
freedom movement; she was not only sympathetic to the freedom fighters but
secretly helped them.
After
the passing of Swami Vivekananda on 4th July 1902, everything seemed
to change for her although Nivedita did not meet the Swami frequently. He
visited her school from time to time. After his demise, the members of the Math were not happy with Nivedita’s political involvements. Nivedita resigned from
the Ramakrishna order and signed her name as Nivedita of Ramakrishna and
Vivekananda. Nivedita carried on her work for the girls of the school, helping
J.C. Bose, editing his work, feeding the girls at the cost of her own meals,
writing books the royalty from which earned her some money, rushing to East
Bengal when there was an epidemic, coming back with Malaria and meningitis.
Where
did she find so much strength? It is
difficult to answer such a question. As far as her philosophy, she was “drunk
with God.” So far as her commitment to the services for the needy, one may say,
she was drunk with India. But she was burning her candle at both ends. Her
health was failing and she went to Darjeeling to the Boses as she regularly
went during the summer. There she fell seriously ill. Nivedita knew she was in
a boat that was sinking. She refused to take any medicines or drinks. As she
lay in the arms of her dear friend Abala Bose, she wanted to listen to the
Buddhist hymn that she had herself translated.
"In the East and the West
In the North and in the South,
Let all things that are without enemies, without obstacle,
Have no sorrow and attaining cheerfulness,
Move forward freely, each on his own path."
Let all things that are without enemies, without obstacle,
Have no sorrow and attaining cheerfulness,
Move forward freely, each on his own path."
There
was a big crowd that followed the cortege. On the memorial stone was inscribed:
“HERE REPOSES SISTER
NIVEDITA WHO GAVE HER ALL TO INDIA.”
She was only 44 years
old.
DEBI PRASAD SENGUPTA
Author Introduction:
Studied Physics in Calcutta Presidency College, Electrical Engineering in IIT Kharagpur, and Ph.D from Liverpool University where he taught and guided research for five years, left the lectureship to return to India and served in the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, was made Emeritus Fellow after retirement. Joined National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) where he served for ten years as a Visiting Professor, Authored and Co-authored a number of Technical books published by Butterworths, MacMillan, Springer etc. Takes special interest in writing Science for Children and was presented Professor S.N. Bose award for the best book on science in 2011.
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