Sister Nivedita- The Epitome Of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam

SISTER NIVEDITA [1867-1911]
--An Irish Lady with a Hindu Heart and Soul


There is a popular Sanskrit Subhashita saying: “Udaracharitanam Tu Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which means ‘for those possessing a nobility of character, the whole world is one single family’. The truth of this saying has no where been better illustrated in recent years than in the life of Margaret Noble, an Irish lady who migrated to India, changed her name to Nivedita, adopted India as her Motherland and spent the last 13 years of her life in serving the people of India day in and day out, till she passed away in 1911. Paying a glowing tribute to Sister Nivediata, Ravindranath Tagore says:
“She was indeed a Lokamatha, a mother to all the people. We are familiar with the role of the mother in the family, but the image of a mother whose love enfolded a whole nation was something we had never seen before. We have had male devotion to public duty but never before had we witnessed such magnificent sweep of womanly devotion to public cause. When Sister Nivedita referred to ‘Our people’, the feeling in her voice rang more true than in the voice of any one of us”

Sister Nivedita was born in Ireland in 1867 as Miss. Margaret Noble. The early years of her life were spent in Ireland and England. She possessed a brilliant intellect, a powerful will, rare artistic sensibility and a deep human concern. Her most striking quality was her passion for truth and a persistent search to discover the same. She was dedicated to the service of God by her pious Christian parents in her early childhood but as she grew up, dogmatic religion failed to satisfy her searching mind and heart .Like many others of the modern age, she soon became an agnostic but her quest for truth continued.

She was running a successful educational institution for children in London. Inwardly, however, she was restless both intellectually and spiritually. Little did she know that destiny was about to knock at her door and that the Kingdom of God was at hand. The year was 1895. After the great work of spiritual awakening in America in the wake of his brilliant speech he delivered at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda was delivering a series of lectures on Vedanta and Indian Spirituality in London. Miss. Margaret Noble met him and heard him at an intimate gathering of fifteen or sixteen men and women at a parlour talk in Wimbledon, London. The meeting had such a powerful impact on her that she felt then and there that this was the teacher and this was the teaching she was waiting for all these years. Very soon she gained insight into the spirit of India and her great philosophy Vedanta. Thereafter, it did not take her long to accept Vivekananda as her Master or Guru.

When Margaret finally accepted Vivekananda as her Master and his message of Vedanta as her spiritual nourishment, she volunteered to take up the cause of Indian women and work in India for their betterment. Swamiji, however, was a bit hesitant to accept her offer to start with, firstly because of considerations of the difficult living conditions and climate of India and secondly because of the then prevailing attitude of superiority and patronage of the Western workers in India. Vivekananda, however, soon accepted her offer, impressed as he was with her education, sincerity, adoptability, dedication and the intense devotion to serve. More than anything it was her immense love towards the search for Truth that removed all doubts in Swami Vivekananda’s mind.

Margaret landed at Calcutta by ship on 28th January 1898 and was received at the dock by Swami Vivekananda himself. The Swami wondered how to make her acceptable to the Indian people in the context of the then prevailing social exclusiveness and distress of the Western people. He decided to introduce her to Sharada Devi, the Holy Mother,
[Sri Ramakrishna had passed away in 1886] believing that if, in spite of her conservative Hindu social background, the Mother accepted her, India also would accept her. To the great satisfaction of the Swami and the immense joy of Margaret herself, the Holy Mother, accepted her with open arms and treated her as her own daughter ; and to the end of her days, Margaret called herself the Holy Mother’s ‘Khooki’ which means ‘little daughter’ in Bengali. Eight days later, she was initiated into spiritual life by the Swami at the Ramakrishna Monastery, located at Belur on 25th March 1898. It was during this initiation that Margaret received her new name ‘Nivedita’ which means ‘the dedicated’. None more truly lived a life true to one’s own name, in this case a great meaningful name, than Sister Nivedita

Nivedita soon plunged into the work for which she had come to India. And the remaining 13 years of her life, were marked by a rare type of intensity and dedication in the cause of women, education and the poor, comparable only to those of her Master. Her intense love towards India flamed into an unending service of the people. Even the famous patriot and poet from Tamil Nadu, Subrahmanya Bharati looked upon her as his Guru.

In the year 1899 bubonic plague raged Calcutta. Most people left the city and to help those who stayed back, Swamiji set his monks and followers to work. They formed a Plague Service with Nivedita as their leader. She organized a band of young men to care for the sick and help to clean the city. Nivedita herself took a broom and started cleaning the roads. At one time her diet consisted of only milk and fruits and at times she gave up milk to meet the medical expenses of the poor and lived only on fruits. She stayed day in day out in the hutments of the poor, nursing their children. When the hut needed disinfection, she took a ladder herself and began whitewashing the walls. During all these activities, not a shade of bitterness marked her face.

In the meanwhile, Swamiji’s health started deteriorating. On 2nd July 1902 Nivedita went to the Belur Math to meet Swamiji. It was Wednesday and Ekadashi. Even though Swamiji fasted, he made Nivedita sit next to him and eat. When she went to wash her hands after the meal, he poured water for her and dried her hands with a towel. Naturally she protested, for she was only a disciple and he was the Master. “It is I who should be doing these things for you, Swamiji. Not you for me” she said humbly. He solemnly replied “Jesus washed the feet of his disciples”. Nivedita was about to say “But that was the last time!”, but refrained from uttering those words. And yet they proved true. Her Master also took his last farewell of her but she did not then know it. Swamiji passed away two days later, on Friday 4th July 1902.

The famous botanist Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose and his wife Abala were among the closest friends of Nivedita. Nivedita used to spend most of her holidays with them. either in Darjeeling or in Almora. It was when she went on a holiday to Darjeeling along with them in 1911, she passed away at their residence in Darjeeling. The end came on 13th October 1911. Probably Nivedita could feel the approach of her death during her last days, since in later days her mind entered into deep meditation quite often. She often intoned her favourite Vedic Mantra and with the following Mantra recited just a few minutes before her demise, she entered into Eternity:

“ Asato Ma Sadgamaya

Tamaso Ma Jyothrigamaya

Mrutyorma Amrutam Gamaya”

[From the Unreal, lead me to the Real

From Darkness, lead me to Light

From Death, lead me to Eternity]


B.M.N.Murthy

ARTICLE NO. 494---SISTER NIVEDITA
Friday, March 20, 2009 11:03 AM