Puran Chander Sharma
The name Nivedita means ‘the dedicated one’. Who was she? What the ‘all’ she gave to India, and why? It will seem wonderful to us when we hear that she was not an Indian, she was not even born in India. But the great offering, giving her life for Mother India, is like a song of love. Love is blind for it sees not the fault of the beloved, and Nivedita never found fault with India.
Sister Nivedita’s original name was Margaret Elizabeth Noble. She was born on October 28, 1867. She came from a pious family called Noble who were of Scottish descent but had been settled in Ireland. His father Samuel Noble was well known as a preacher and a friend of the poor. To him religion meant service, and the best years of his were spent in serving poor people. Her mother Mary Isabel too was a very kind hearted lady. She inherited fathers strong sense of independence of the thought and honesty. When she was small, her father shifted the family to England. She had many qualities to be a leader. She had inborn strength, idealism, fearless honesty, purity and complete unselfishness. This remained with her all along her life as a valuable tradition.
Swami Vivekananda became a renowned person in America after he delibered lecturers in the world Parliament of Religious. He visited England also to preach vedanta. He gave many lecturers and held small classes for those who were deeply interested in the Hindu religions. One day Margaret went to hear him speak in a small gathering of fashionable young ladies. To her Swami ji appeared a hero.
One day during the question – answer class, the Swamiji suddenly rose and thundred: “What the world wants today is twenty men and women who can dare to stand in the street yonder, and say that they possess nothing but God. Who will go ” ?
“The earth’s bravest and best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all. Another day he was talking about the women of his country. They never went to school. He wanted them to be educated. He turned to Margaret and said : “I have plans for the women of my own country in which you, I think, could be of great help to me ”
These words had a strange effect on her. She felt that it was a call, the call for which she had been waiting all these years. She had to accept that call. Her mind was made up. She would join his army. She would go to India and serve the people of India. This was a very important decision. Swamiji made her a promise :”I will stand by you unto death whether you give up Vedanta or remain in it”. “The tasks of the elephant come out but never go back”. So are the words of a man never retraced. It canged her life. London lost a worker, but it gave to India one of the greatest friend the country has ever had.
On an extremely cold and foggy winter morning Margaret left England. She arrived in Calcutta on Jan 28, 1898. The Swamiji was at the dock to receive her. She was very happy to see him because in this vast, unknown land he was the only person she knew.
An import an event in her life took place on March 25. On that day her life was consecrated to the service of God. Her Master, gave her the beautiful name’Nivedita’ meaning one who is dedicated or offered to God. She thus became the ‘Chosen’ of God when she was thirty years old. Yet even before her birth, God had claimed her. Her own mother had promised God that if her child was safely born she would be dedicated to the service of the Lord. This day her mother’s vow was fulfilled. Margaret- now Nivedita felt doubly blessed.
Her first lesson started by learning about India. The Swami Ji had told her about the history of India, its greatest kings, warriors, saints and builders. During this time she studied the ‘Gita’ and learned to meditation, that is to fix her mind on holy and sacred objects in the desire to be pure and godly. Meditation brought her peace of mind.
Plague broke out in Calcutta soon after. One day, finding no one to clean the lane, she herself took the broom and started cleaning it. Seeing her action, many young men started helping her. Like Swami Ji Nivedita also believed that awakning of the women was a must for the country to rise again from its present situation. She wanted them to have better education. She became the Champion for India. She opened a school for girls to teach them to read and write, to sew and paint. She always reminded them that they were the daughters of Bharatavarsha. She held before them the ideals that Sita and Savitri, Uma and Gandhari stood for. She held high the ideals of Ahalyabai and Lakshami Bai who served their mother land till their last breath.
Nivedita look an active part in the freedom struggle of India. At the time when the singing of Banda Matarm in public was not allowed by the British Government, she introduce it in her school’s daily prayers. During the Swadeshi movement, she started using crude Swadeshi things herself. She introduce spinning in the school. She believed that India would have to win political freedom before the country could advance in other ways.
At the death of her Master Swami Vivekananda, she wrote in a prayerful mood to a friend. “He is not dead, he is with us always. I cannot even grieve. I only want to work’. Her love for India was the heritage she had received from her Master.
She often intoned her favourite Rudra-Prayer from the Upanishad.
From the unreal lead us to the Real, From the darkness lead us to light from death lead us to immortality. On October 13, 1911 Nivedita breathed her last looking at bright sunshine over the Himalayan peaks. How completely she laid down her life at the feet of God! How apt was her name, “Nivedita”, meaning the dedicated one ! Her name itself describes her fully.
(The author is the translator of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna titled as Sri Ramakrishna Ke Eqwal-e-Zarrin. The book is available at Ramakrishan Mission, Udhaywala. (Jammu)
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