TATTVA DARSANA -...

[Type text]

TATTVA

DARSANA Quarterly

IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial: Aggressive Hinduism 2

Sister Nivedita—The Dedicated Daughter of Mother India --Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan 6

Vivekananda’s Shaft in India’s Freedom Struggle --Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan 16

Sister Nivedita and Dr. Hedgewar—Identical Ideals and Plan of Action --Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan 26

Sister Nivedita and Tagore Family—Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan 48

From Sadhu’s Epistles: Sister Nivedita’s Vision and Mission 68

Book Review: The Dedicated—A Biography of Nivedita 70

News & Notes 73

Glimpses of A Great Yogi 75

Front Cover:

Sister Nivedita

July-December 2017 Vol. 34, No. 3&4

Editor: Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan

Inland: Life Rs.1125; Annual Rs.60; Single Copy Rs.15.

Foreign (Air Mail): Life US$ 300; Annual US$ 20; Single Copy US$ 5

Office: Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram, ‘Sri Bharati Mandir’,

Srinivasanagar, Kithaganur Road,

Krishnarajapuram, Bangalore 560 036. Phone: 91-80-25610935 Mobile: 94482 75935

E-mail: [email protected];

Website: sribharatamatamandir.org

mailto:[email protected]

2 TATTVA DARSANA

Editorial

AGGRESSIVE HINDUISM

The greatest threat to Hinduism and the

Hindu Nation, Bharatavarsha, comes not

from aliens from outside the country or from

those children of Mother Bharat who have

fallen stooges to alien culture and values of

life, but from the so called sadhus, sants,

spiritual heads of various sampradayas and

sectarian leaders within the Hindu society

who, out of their urge for domination over

their blind followers, have divided the

Hindu Society into multifarious groups and organizations, some even

claiming themselves to be non-Hindus and minorities to enjoy political

privileges and material well-being.

Hinduism has not only produced in different ages and climes great

spiritual masters who have shown different pathways to God-

realization, but also considered all of them as part and parcel of the

hoary spiritual, cultural and national heritage of Bharatavarsha. To all of

them Mother Bharat was mother of all gods, goddesses and spiritual

preceptors. The Vedic seers declared “Maataa bhoomih, putroham

prithivyaah”—Mother Earth is our Supreme Mother, we are Her

children. The Yajurveda gave us the most ancient national anthem.

Srimad Bhagavata proclaimed that the Gods in the heaven sang the

praise of those born in Bharatavarsha who were right at the doorstep of

highest realization, greater than heaven. Lord Rama proclaimed in

Srimad Ramayana, “Jananee Janmabhoomischa swargaadapi

gareeyasi”—“Mother and Motherland are greater than the heaven”.

Baarhaspatya Samhita defines the word Hindu: “All those who adore

and worship the land of Bharatavarsha stretching from the Sindhu river

in the Himalayas upto the Sindhu (Hindu mahasagar) in the south as

pitrubhooh—land of forefathers—and punyabhooh—the Holy land are

Hindus.”

When Vedic rites and rituals were distorted and poor and innocent

animals were sacrificed in the name of Yagas, Lord Narayana Himself

JULY-DECEMBER 2017 3

took Avatar as Buddha to wean away people from meaningless killing

of animals, says Jayadeva in Gita Govinda. Though Dalai Lama has

declared that Buddhism is part and parcel of Hinduism, Buddhist

organizations consider themselves as non-Hindu and claim Buddhism as

a minority religion. Sikhism was born as a sword arm of Hinduism

when onslaughts from Islamic forces tried to suppress the Hindus and

subjugate Hindusthan. Guru Nanak’s son, Srichand, was a Vaishnavite

saint of Sri Ramanuja Sampradaya. Guru Govind Singh was protector

of Hindus. The sacred text, Granth Saahib, declared as the Guru of the

Sikhs, was a compilation of sacred songs of Hindu saints. Yet, the Sikh

organizations consider themselves as non-Hindu minorities. In the

modern period, Maharshi Dayananda created the Arya Samaj and gave

the call to the Hindus, “Go back to the Vedas”, but leaders of the Samaj

in later days wanted to get a minority status. The demand was rejected

by the highest court of the land. Sri Ramakrishna Mission was founded

by Swami Vivekananda who emphatically declared, “My mission is not

Ramakrishna's nor Vedanta's nor anything, but simply to bring

manhood to my people.” And he gave a clarion call: "For the next fifty

years this alone shall be our key-note—this, our great Mother India. Let

all other vain Gods disappear for that time from our minds. This is the

only God that is awake . ... When we have worshipped this, we shall be

able to worship all other Gods." His illustrious disciple, Sister Nivedita

wrote these words about Swamiji's patriotism : “India was Swamiji's

greatest passion.... India throbbed in his breast, India beat in his pulses,

India was his day-dream, India was his nightmare.” Such patriotism had

manifested in Nivedita also. She used to recite every moment, like a

sacred mantra: `Bharatvarsha, Bharatvarsha'. However, the

Ramakrishna Mission distanced itself from her nationalist activities and

forced her to keep herself away from the mission for that reason. In the

post-independent India, the mission wanted to project itself as an

independent religion and went to the court to get a non-Hindu minority

status, but the highest court of the land rejected that claim.

Vaishnavam, Shaivam, Shaaktam, Gaanapatyam, Kaumaaram, and

Souram are called Shanmataas or the six systems of worship of God in

the forms of Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, Ganapati, Kumara and Surya. In his

day to day spiritual practices, a Hindu can worship God in all these

forms or concentrate on any one or on combinations like Shankara

Narayana or Datta Treya combining Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Hindu

scriptures emphatically declare that these are all various forms of God

4 TATTVA DARSANA

symbolism whereas the Ultimate Reality is one and only one which is

spoken of in different names and forms—Ekam Sat, vipraa bahudhaa

vadanti. If any one claims that one form is superior to others and only

through the worship of that form one can reach the Ultimate Reality, he

is a fool, ignoramous and next door neighbour to the fanatic and

fundamentalist Semitic who claims that his God alone is true and all

others are false. Unfortunately, in the modern period, such sort of

fanaticism and fundamentalism is creeping into the Hindu society.

When one says Krishna is the Supreme God and all others are demi-

gods, we are compelled to ask that fool whether there could be quarter-

god, one-eighth god and one- sixteenth god and laugh at him. A staunch

Vaishnavaite can stick to worship of Vishnu alone at home or in his

temples, but the moment he claims that by worshipping other deities at

home or visiting their temples is sin and is prohibited, he is to be pitied,

because he is besmearing filth on the face of his Lord Krishna who

declared in the Gita that it is He who manifests in all names and forms.

Similarly if a Shaivite says that he is a Lingayat or Veerashaiva and his

religion is different from Hinduism, he is to be pitied. Unfortunately

there are the so called religious heads of these sects and sampradayas

who want to promote the separatism and fanaticism for selfish interests,

out of their urge for domination. Sometimes, politicians who want to

create vote banks also promote such sort of fanaticism and separatism.

Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati, the illustrious disciple of Sister

Nivedita, proclaimed that his religion is Vaishaaktam—combination of

Vaishnaism, Shaivam and Shaaktam. He, in his inspiring song

addressed to a baby, gave the call—“Chetamillaatha hindusthaanam,

atai deivamenru kumbidadi paappaa”—“Adore and worship the

Akhand Bharat as the Supreme Deity”. He imbibed this spirit from his

revered Gnana Guru, Nivedita, for whom Mother India appeared to be

the Divine Energy—Shakti—clothed in the foam of the sea, the red dust

of Malabar, the mud of the Ganges, the sands of the Punjab and the

snows of Kashmir. To bewitch men, She let Herself be worshiped

according to all the rites, and in all the temples. "Instead of being the

slaves of an unknowable Brahman let us be Her slaves," cried Nivedita.

Rishi Bankim Chandra Chatterji, in his immortal ‘Bande Mataram’

song proclaimed: “Tvam hi durgaa dasha praharana dhaarini, kamala

kamaladala vihaarinee, vaanee vidyaa dhaayini”—“For thou art Durga

holding her ten weapons of war, Kamala at play in the lotuses and

Speech, the goddess, giver of all lore, to thee I bow!” Sri Aurobindo


wanted Bhavani Mandirs to be set up to adore and worship this Bharata

Shakti as the Supreme Deity of the Hindu race. She is to be adored and

worshipped according to Tantric rites.

This is the “Aggressive Hinduism” that Sister Nivedita preached. Sister

Nivedita Academy named after her and founded in 1977 with the

blessings of Acharya J.B. Kripalani and Swami Chinmayananda,

brought out its maiden publication “Vande Mataram”, by Sadhu

Rangarajan presenting the inspiring history of the immortal song of

Bankim Chandra. Sri Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram & Yogi

Ramsuratkumar Indological Research Centre was set up in Bangalore in

1999 and Sri Bharatamata Mandir was consecrated by H.H. Jagadguru

Vishwesha Tirtha of Udipi Pejawar Mutt in the presence of veteran

leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Sri H.V. Seshadri in 2004 to

spread this ideal of “Aggressive Hinduism” within and outside

Bharatavarsha. We rededicate ourselves to this great and grand ideal on

the occasion of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita who

dedicated her all to Mother India.

Vande Mataram!

ANNOUNCEMENT

This issue of TATTVA DARSANA dedicated to commemorate the 150 th Birth

Anniversary of Sister Nivedita is a compilation of the articles written by Sadhu

Prof. V. Rangarajan in different periods during the last four decades, and

published in journals and publications. The article, ‘Sister Nivedita and

Tagore Family’ is written for this issue.

This issue does not carry the serial, GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI by

Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan, as it made available in our website

sribharatamatamandir.org/word/?page_id=412 The voluminous publication in

more than 900 pages is the magnum opus of Sadhu Rangarajan dedicated to his

Deeksha guru, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Godchild, Tiruvannamalai. The table of

contents has been provided at the end of this issue. --Editor

sribharatamatamandir.org/word/?page_id=412

6 TATTVA DARSANA

SISTER NIVEDITA THE 'DEDICATED' DAUGHTER OF MOTHER INDIA

SADHU PROF. V. RANGARAJAN

“If our sister fell under the spell of India, we in turn fell under her spell,

and her bewitching personality attracted thousands of our young men to

her. If the dry bones are beginning to stir, it is because Sister Nivedita

breathed the breath of life into them", said the great revolutionary, Dr.

Rash Behari Ghosh, about Sister Nivedita.

Birth in the Family of Freedom Fighters

Miss Margaret Noble was born on October 28, 1867, at Dungannon, Co.

Tyrone, in far-off Ireland, in a family of revolutionaries. Her

grandfather, John Noble, father, Samuel Richmond and her maternal

grandfather, Hamilton, were in the forefront of Irish Freedom Struggle.

Completing her college education at Halifax, Margaret took to teaching

profession for 10 years from 1884 to 1894. During the later part of this

period, she came into contact with the famous Russian Revolutionary,

Prince Kropotskin.

At the Feet of Swami Vivekananda

When Swami Vivekananda visited England, after establishing his

reputation in the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893,

conquered by his magnetic personality, convinced by the depth of his

wisdom and realization and carried away by his lofty ideals of sacrifice

and service, Margaret dedicated herself at the feet of the great

Sannyasin and came to India in January 1897. On March 25, 1898, she

was initiated into the order of Brahmacharya by Swamiji who conferred

on her the new name 'Nivedita', meaning 'The Dedicated'.

Revolt Against Imperialism

During the period May to October 1898, Sister Nivedita went on a tour

of Almora and Kashmir regions, accompanying Swami Vivekananda. In


Kashmir, she observed how the British Government refused permission

to the Maharaja of Kashmir to hand over a piece of land to her Guru to

set up a Mutt and Sanskrit College. Her Irish blood revolted and she

realized that the emancipation of India and regeneration of Hinduism

could be achieved only by putting an end to British rule in India.

Service During Plague

On return to Calcutta, Sister Nivedita stayed for a week with the Holy

Mother Sri Sarada Devi and later shifted to a new house in 16, Bosepara

Lane, where the Mother performed the opening ceremony of Nivedita's

school for girls on November 13, 1898. In March 1899, when bubonic

plague raged in Calcutta, Sister Nivedita organized a group of young

men and engaged herself in relief operations. She was seen in every

slum in the Baag Bazaar area with a broomstick in her hand, cleaning

the streets when no sweepers and scavengers were available. She even

sacrificed her regular diet of milk to meet the expenses of a patient.

Under the Shadow of British Police

In the middle of June 1899, Nivedita left for England with Swamiji.

Later she proceeded to America on a lecture tour with a view to raise

funds for her school. During her visit to Boston, she met the great

Indian patriot, Bipin Chandra Pal. In America, she gave up her western

dress and took to simple and graceful gown of white flannel with a

girdle fastened to the waist. From America she went to Paris. When

Nivedita returned to England, she had to face the vile propaganda of

British imperialists and Christian missionaries against her, but this only

kindled the revolutionary spirit in her. In 1902, when she returned to

India, she experienced the joy of returning to her own Motherland and

at a reception accorded to her at Madras, she proclaimed to the Indians

at the top of her voice: "Just as it has been realized already that in

religion you have a great deal to give and nothing to learn from the

West, so also in social matters it will be well to understand that what

changes are necessary, you are fully competent to make yourselves and

no outsider has the right to advise or interfere." Her speech won her the

admiration and blessings of her Master, but aroused the anger of the

British Government who black-listed her name, deputed C.I.D. officials

to shadow her and censored her letters.

8 TATTVA DARSANA

Resignation from Ramakrishna Mission

Nivedita's nationalist activities did create anxiety in the circles of the

Ramakrishna Order. Swami Vivekananda, on his part, allowed her to

pursue the path she had chosen. However, after the death of the Swamiji

on 4th July 1902, the difference of opinion between her and Swami

Brahmananda, President of the Ramakrishna Math, grew wider on the

issue of Nivedita's participation in politics and she resigned from the

Mission.

With Sri Aurobindo

Nivedita soon went on a nationwide tour in response to the invitation of

her disciples and admirers. She reached Baroda on October 20, 1902,

and met Sri Aurobindo. The subject of their discussion was neither

religion nor the philosophy of Vivekananda, but the political

developments in Bengal. She stressed the need of Aurobindo's reaching

Calcutta to give effective lead to the nationalist and revolutionary forces

in Bengal. According to Lizelle Reymond, the famous biographer of

Sister Nivedita, Nivedita was among the few persons in India who knew

that Sri Aurobindo was the directing brain behind the nationalist

movement in Bengal, despite his physical absence. The same author

gives us the valuable information that Nivedita was "one of the five

members of the political committee which Aurobindo Ghosh appointed

in Bengal to unite in a single organization, the small and scattered

groups of rebels which had sprung into existence and were acting

without reference to one another". During this tour programme,

Nivedita attracted thousands of young men to her and the one inspiring

message she gave them was: "By no means be found sleeping when the

cry comes for battle".

'Bande Mataram' in School Prayer

The Nivedita Girls' School in Calcutta was a brilliant example to

nationalist institutions all over the country. Nivedita not only refused to

take the aid of the Government, but even introduced Bande Mataram in

the daily prayers of her school, at a time when singing the song in

public was an offence. She also introduced Swadeshi and spinning

wheel in her school. Besides being a school, her place of residence was

also a meeting place of scientists, artists, journalists, nationalists and


revolutionaries. Young men inspired by Nivedita used to attend the

Sunday get-togethers at her home and prominent among them was

Barindra Ghosh, the renowned revolutionary and younger brother of

Aurobindo.

As Leader of Revolutionaries

In 1902, when Viceroy Lord Curzon appointed the 'University

Commission', to strangulate the national education system, Nivedita

came to the forefront in condemning the move. She came into close

contact with the fiery freedom fighter, Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya.

After Aurobindo's reaching Bengal, when he organized a five member

revolutionary committee consisting of himself, Surendranath Tagore,

C.R. Das, Yateendra Bannerji and Sister Nivedita, Nivedita acted as the

Secretary of the committee and undertook the task of organizing under

one banner various revolutionary organizations operating in Bengal.

Later this revolutionary committee was merged into the Anuseelan

Samity, the secret revolutionary society, and Sister Nivedita became a

source of inspiration and guidance to the young revolutionaries

participating in the underground activities of the Samity.

Fight Against Bengal Partition

In March 1905, Nivedita fell seriously ill and spent sometime in

Darjeeling with the family of Jagdish Chandra Bose. But the explosive

atmosphere aroused in the country in the wake of the British

Government's decision to partition Bengal, made her return to Calcutta

in the first week of July 1905. She addressed mammoth public

meetings. In one such meeting, she spoke strongly supporting the

resolution moved by the famous revolutionary, Anand Mohan Bose,

condemning the unwise move of the British Government.

'Bhagava Dhwaj' as National Flag

During the Benaras session of the Indian National

Congress in 1905, Sister Nivedita played the role of a

mediator between the Moderates and the Extremists

in the Congress, as she had already won the unstinted

love and admiration of leaders of both these wings. It

was at her place of stay that these leaders used to have heart to heart

10 TATTVA DARSANA

talks. At the time of Calcutta Session of the Congress, she organized a

Swadeshi Exhibition in which the Nivedita Girls' School exhibited a

'National Flag'. The flag chosen by Nivedita for the country was nothing

but the saffron 'Bhagava Dhwaj', which stood as the symbol of the

hoary culture, heritage and nationalism of the country. And on the flag

was portrayed in yellow colour the Vajraayudha, reminding the people

that the great Rishi Dadheechi donated his back-bone to the Devas for

making a weapon to fight the Asuras and it was now for the people to

sacrifice their all at the altar of the Mother in this fight against British

imperialism.

As a Revolutionary Journalist

The period from 1906 to 1907 was one of busy journalistic activities for

Sister Nivedita. Besides writing editorials for Prabuddha Bharata, she

was contributing to extremist journals like Sandhya, The Dawn and New

India. Aurobindo, his younger brother Barindra Ghosh and Swami

Vivekananda's younger brother, Bhupendra Nath Dutta, started a new

weekly, Yugantar, as an organ of the secret revolutionary movement,

from March 12, 1906. Not only the decision to start it was taken in

Nivedita's house, but also because of her efforts, the circulation of the

journal was built up to more than 50,000 copies. On August 16, 1906,

Bipin Chandra Pal started Bande Mataram with the cooperation of

Aurobindo. The famous revolutionary of the south, Tirumalachari,

started Bala Bharata from Madras, with the poet-patriot, C. Subramania

Bharati, an ardent disciple of Nivedita, as the editor.

On July 20, 1907, when Bhupendra Nath Dutta was imprisoned,

Nivedita met him in the court, assured him of taking care of his mother,

Bhuvaneswari, and the publication of Yugantar, and also helped his

associates to collect funds for paying a fine of Rs.10,000/- imposed on

him.

With Indian Revolutionaries Abroad

In 1907, Nivedita left for England to set a favourable atmosphere for

Indian Independence through meetings and interviews with British

Parliamentarians and writings in British journals. One important work

of Sister Nivedita was to organize the publication of revolutionary

journals from outside India, arranging for their secret distribution in


India and organizing the Indian revolutionaries who were scattered

abroad. On September 26, 1908, Nivedita left England for America

where she met Bhupendra Nath Dutta, Tarak Nath Dutta and other

revolutionaries in exile. According to the famous writer, Girija Shankar

Roy Choudhary, Nivedita was, during this tour, collecting funds for the

rehabilitation of revolutionaries in exile and she had a plan to purchase

a building at Chandranagar in the French territory in India, to enable

these revolutionaries to settle down there and carry on the activities.

Association with Journals

When Nivedita returned to India in 1909, most of her associates were in

gaols. Barindra was undergoing 14 years transportation in Andamans.

However, Aurobindo was acquitted in the Alipore Bomb Case and

Nivedita celebrated the event in her school with festivities. But soon,

Aurobindo fell again a victim to the wrath of the British because of his

writings in Karmayogin, and leaving the responsibility of the journals,

Dharma and Karmayogin into the hands of Nivedita, he went into exile

in Chandranagar and from there secretly to Pondicherry, another French

territory where he settled down for the rest of his life.

Into Eternal Sleep

The enormous strain that Nivedita had undergone over the years had

shattered her health. In September 1910, she herself wrote: "I have still

two years left, but no more". In November 1910, she went to America

to be by the side of her friend, Mrs. Bull, who bequeathed a large

fortune to her for her work in India and died in January 1911. On return

to India, Nivedita spent her summer holidays in Mayavati with the Bose

family. They wanted to spend the Pooja holidays at Darjeeling. Nivedita

had the premonition of her end and she bid farewell to every one of her

friends in Calcutta before leaving for Darjeeling. The stay in the hill-

station proved unsuitable to her health and she suffered an attack of

blood dysentery in the first week of October. She knew that her

journey's end had come. She wrote her last will on October 7, leaving

all her possessions and writings in the hands of the trustees of Belur

Math to be used for her school. On October 9, she entered in her diary

the note of her complete surrender to the Lord and her pen ceased to

write. On October 13, 1911, at about 7-00 A.M., the sun unusually

shone, in spite of the cloudy days in Darjeeling. Nivedita said: "The

12 TATTVA DARSANA

frail boat is sinking, but I shall yet see the sun rise." Chanting the Rudra

Prayer of the Upanishad—Asato maa sad gamaya, tamaso maa jyotir

gamaya, mrityor maa amritam gamaya—"From the unreal lead us to the

Real, from darkness lead us to Light, from death lead us to

Immortality"—Nivedita breathed her last. The dedicated daughter of

Mother India went to sleep forever in Her lap. Today, in distant

Darjeeling, there stands a memorial in which, on a marble tablet, are

inscribed these words:

"Here Reposes Sister Nivedita

Who gave her all to India".

Nivedita's Contribution to Literature, Art and Education

Sister Nivedita was not merely a patriotic daughter of Mother India, she

had really sought her identity with the spirit of Bharatamata. Her

prolific writings like the Master As I Saw Him, Kali the Mother, The

Web of Indian Life, Cradle Tales of Hinduism, Aggressive Hinduism,

Footfalls of Indian History, Civic Ideal And Indian Nationality and

Hints on National Education in India and her several letters to friends

and devotees all reverberate the voice of the sages and seers of ancient

India. Her writings on Indian art gave a new direction and sense of

purpose to the artistes of modern period like Abaneendra Nath Tagore.

In the educational field, her contribution was unique in that she gave for

the first time a practical system harmoniously blending the ancient

spiritual and cultural values with modern scientific outlook.

Nivedita—A Mystic

The fact that Nivedita had a mystic vision of Kali is pointed out by

Bipin Chandra Pal who narrates an incident: "Once I was sitting with

Nivedita in her house in Bosepara Lane, sipping tea out of a quaint

Swadeshi cup. Suddenly the sky was overcast with black scowling

clouds as oftentimes happens in our early summer evenings; and there

was immediately a marked change in the mood of my hostess. Her face

seemed at once to reflect this awfully dynamic mood of nature. It

beamed with a new light, at once awful and lovely. And she sat silent,

apparently unconscious for the moment of my presence, looking

intensely through the window at the gathering gloom about the earth

and the heaven, and listening like one in a trance, to the rising tumult of

the glowing storm. And just as there came in a little while the flash of


lightning followed by the crash of the first thunder, she cried out with

bated breath—Kalee!"

Guru of the Mahakavi

Mahakavi Bharati, while returning from the Calcutta Session of the

Indian National Congress in 1906, met Sister Nivedita at Dum Dum and

recognized in her his spiritual mother. That he accepted her as his Guru

and received initiation into Shakti worship is expressed with intense

devotion and gratitude by him in a couple of dedications of his poems.

Dedicating his work, Swadesha Geetangal, to Nivedita, he says: "I

dedicate this small work at the feet of my Guru, who showed to me the

perfect form of Bharata Devi and taught me Swadesha Bhakti (devotion

to Motherland) just as Sri Krishna showed to Arjuna, His Vishwaroopa

and expounded to him the Truth of the Self". Dedicating Janma Bhoomi

(Swadesha Geetangal, Part II) to Nivedita, he says: "I dedicate this

work to Shreemati Nivedita Devi, the spiritual daughter of Bhagavan

Vivekananda and my Guru, who, in a short while, imparted to me,

without speaking, the value of devoted service to the Mother and the

greatness of renunciation". He also wrote a soul-stirring song titled

Nivedita Devi, offering homage to his Gnana Guru: "My salutations to

Nivedita who shone as a dedication to Spiritual Grace, as a temple of

love, the sun which dispelled the darkness in my bosom, one who was

to our great country like the showers of rain to crops, a great treasure to

those who knew no source of wealth and a scorching fire to the bondage

of Samsaara or worldly life."

Nivedita's Mission—Deification of Motherland

Dr. Bhupendra Nath Dutta, the illustrious younger brother of Swami

Vivekananda and revolutionary, has rightly pointed out in his inspiring

work, Swami Vivekananda—Patriot-Prophet, "the primary object of

Swami Vivekananda was nationalism. To arouse the sleeping lion of

India and put it on its proper pedestal was his life's mission. His

national ideal was the ideal of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya as

depicted in the revolutionary novel, Ananda Math." The Swamiji

proclaimed to his countrymen that Motherland and the children of the

Mother are the only gods to be worshipped. Nivedita has said that

Swamiji advised her to dedicate her life for the service of the Mother.

14 TATTVA DARSANA

She says, "Swamiji asked me to forge a mighty weapon out of the bones

of the Bengali youths which can free India".

Freedom of India has been attained, but we are yet to free ourselves

from the bondage of intellectual slavery. The western materialistic

outlook and a craving to raise the "standard of living" at the cost of

"standard of life" are eating into the core of the vitals of our national

life. It is a crying need of the hour to arouse once again the patriotic

sentiments and spirit of deep respect and reverence to the eternal values

of life propounded by our great Masters, in the hearts of our people,

especially the younger generation. She has given the clarion call: "Age

succeeds age in India, and even the voice of the Mother calls upon Her

children to worship Her with new offerings, with renewal of their own

greatness. Today She cries for the offering of nationality. Today She

asks, as a household Mother of the strong men whom She has borne and

bred, that we show to Her, not gentleness and submission, but manly

strength and invincible might. Today She would that we play before Her

with the sword. Today She would find Herself the Mother of a hero-

clan. Today does She cry once more that She is hungered, and only by

lives and blood of the crowned kings and men, can the citadel be

saved."

The great task ahead of us is the creation of an order of dedicated

missionaries who are prepared to offer their everything at the altar of

the Mother and worship Her by serving Her beloved children. What will

be the work of these missionaries? Nivedita herself delineates their task:

"Let the missionary travel with the magic lantern, with collections of

post cards, with a map of India and with head and heart full of ballads,

stories and geographical descriptions. Let him gather together the

women, let him gather together the villagers, let him entertain them in

the garden, in the courtyard, in the verandas, beside the wall, and under

the village tree with stories and songs and descriptions of India! India!

India!" The missionary has to instil in the hearts of the people the great

thought, "this and no other is our Motherland! We are Indians every

one!"

Nivedita has emphatically declared, "If the whole of India could agree

to give, say, ten minutes every evening, at the oncoming darkness, to

thinking a single thought, 'We are one. We are one. Nothing can prevail

against us to make us think we are divided. For we are one. We are one


and all the antagonisms amongst us are illusions'—the power that would

be generated can hardly be measured."

It is to this glorious nation-building task that SISTER NIVEDITA

ACADEMY has dedicated itself. Let us all join together and chant from

the bottom of our hearts the Immortal Mantra—Vande Mataram!

♥

MOTHER OF THE HEROES

“The Poona plague started dismally and ended disastrously involving

the lives of a number of persons some of whom have brought glory to

the nation, struggling for settling accounts with the foreigners wherever

possible.

“The spirit of sacrifice for a cause that was displayed by Damodar and

his brothers can be traced back to the great mother who could offer

three sons at the Altar of the Motherland in the course of not as many

months.

“Sister Nivedita came to know about the momentous event and thought

of paying her respects in person to the mother leading a life of devotion

and retirement at Poona. The revered lady was engaged in her daily

puja when the Sister reached the Chapekar home. She was astounded to

find the mother completely composed; no complaints, no regrets. There

was no necessity of giving expression to sentiments of sympathy and

solace to one who needed none. Nivedita with devotional awe bowed

down to touch the feet of the mother of the heroes. She came away with

a sense of deeper philosophy in Indian mother’s life. The spirit of self-

respect and march towards self-realization of the Indian nation was well

on its way and Nivedita came to realize that it had proceeded far ahead

of the stage of which she had any idea.”

[From “The Roll of Honour—Anecdotes of Indian Martyrs” by Kali

Charan Ghosh]

[Extracted from Saga Of Patriotism—Revolutionaries In India's

Freedom Struggle by Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan, a publication of

Sister Nivedita Academy]

16 TATTVA DARSANA

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S SHAFT IN

INDIA’S FREEDOM STRUGGLE

SADHU PROF. V. RANGARAJAN

The first and foremost who came under the spell of Bande Mataram,

propounded by Bankim Chandra was Swami Vivekananda. As a fiery

and patriotic youth, Narendra had read Ananda Math and was much

inspired by it. He also had the opportunity of meeting the seer of the

mantra of patriotism when Sri Ramakrishna sent him and two other

disciples to the house of the great novelist. Inspired by the vision of the

Mother presented in Vande Mataram, Swamiji became a worshipper of

Shakti in the form of the Motherland. Dr. Bhupendranath Dutta, his

brother and a renowned revolutionary says:

“The primary object of Swami Vivekananda was nationalism. To arouse

the sleeping lion of India and put it on its proper pedestal was his life’s

mission. His national ideal was the ideal of Bankim Chandra

Chattopadhyaya as depicted in the revolutionary novel, Ananda Math”.

In the writings of the Swami, we find the echo of the Bhoomi sooktas of

Atharva Veda and the glory of the island of Jambudweepa depicted in

Bhagavata.

“If there is any land on this earth that can lay claim to be the blessed

Punya Bhumi, to be the land to which souls on this earth must come to

account for Karma, the land to which every soul that is wending its way

Godward must come to attain its last home, the land where humanity

has attained its highest towards gentleness, towards generosity, towards

purity, towards calmness, above all, the land of introspection and

spirituality - It is India”, proclaims the patriot-monk. He also says:

“What a land! Whosoever stands on this sacred land, whether alien or a

child of the soil, feels himself surrounded—unless his soul is degraded

to the level of brute animals—by the living thoughts of the earth’s best

and purest sons, who have been working to raise the animal to the

divine through centuries, whose beginning history fails to trace. The

very air is full of pulsations of spirituality”.


Vivekananda’s soul, like that of Bankim, was lit with the luminous

vision of Mother India as the embodiment of Shakti and his expression

of this vision in his writings inspired many patriots and nationalists of

the freedom movement, not to speak of the revolutionaries who

considered his writings as their Bible.

Vivekananda gave a national, almost pragmatic, definition of religion:

“Strength is religion”. He declared: “The essence of my religion is

strength. The religion that does not infuse strength into the heart, is no

religion to me, be it of the Upanishads, the Gita or the Bhagavatam.

Strength is greater than religion and nothing is greater than strength.”

Swami Vivekananda is emphatic in declaring that religious life formed

‘the keynote of the whole music of national life’. He repeatedly warns

that if India gives up spirituality, the result will be that in three

generations we will become an extinct race, for ‘the foundation upon

which the national edifice has been built will be undermined’. Every

improvement in India required, according to him, first of all an

upheaval in religion.

‘Before flooding India with Socialistic or political ideas, first deluge the

land with spiritual ideas’, he exhorts. According to him, it is not only

true that the ideal of religion is the highest ideal; in the case of India it is

the only possible means of work; ‘work in any other line, without first

strengthening this, would be disastrous’.

Swamiji was never ashamed to proclaim himself to be a Hindu: “When

a man has begun to be ashamed of his ancestors, the end has come. Here

am I, one of the least of the Hindu race, yet proud of my race, proud of

my ancestors, I am proud to call myself a Hindu, I am proud that I am

one of your unworthy servants. I am proud I am a countryman of yours,

you the descendants of the sages, you the descendants of the most

glorious Rishis the world ever saw”.

The true Hindu concept of patriotism finds its finest expression in

Swamiji’s clarion call to the Indians: “Thou brave one, be bold, take

courage, be proud that thou art an Indian, and proudly proclaim, ‘I am

an Indian, every Indian is my brother’. Say, ‘The ignorant Indian, the

poor and destitute Indian, the Brahman Indian, the Pariah Indian, is my

brother. Thou too clad with but a rag round thy loins and proudly

18 TATTVA DARSANA

proclaim at the top of thy voice: ‘The Indian is my brother, the Indian is

my life, India’s gods and goddesses are my God, India’s society is the

cradle of my infancy, the pleasure garden of my youth, the sacred

heaven, the Varanasi of my old age’. Say, brother, ‘The soil of India is

my highest heaven, the good of India is my good’, and repeat and pray

day and night, ‘O Thou Lord of Gauri, O thou Mother of the Universe,

vouchsafe manliness unto me! O thou Mother of Strength, take away

my weakness, take away my unmanliness and—Make me a Man!’ ”

The Swamiji proclaimed to his countrymen that the Motherland and the

children of the Mother are the only gods to be worshipped. Swamiji was

a lover of liberty. Liberty did not certainly mean to him ‘the absence of

obstacles in the path of misappropriation of wealth, etc., by you and me,

but it is our natural right to be allowed to use our own body, intelligence

or wealth according to our will, without doing any harm to others; and

all the members of a society ought to have the same opportunity for

obtaining wealth, education or knowledge’. ‘Liberty is the possession of

the brave’, he declared and called upon the valiant youth of the nation to

use sama, dana, bheda and danda— the four weapons—to conquer the

enemies. Sister Nivedita has said that he had ‘a loathing for bondage,

and a horror of those who cover chains with flowers’. The Swamiji

advised her to dedicate her life for the service of the Mother. She says,

he asked her ‘to forge a mighty weapon out of the bones of Bengali

youths which can free India.’ While in Europe he even tried to seek the

help of the Russian revolutionary, Kropotkin, and the inventor of

machine-gun, H. Maxim, for the revolutionaries of India. No wonder

that the Holy Mother Sarada Devi remarked, after the passing away of

the patriot-monk, “Had Naren been living now, he would have been in

Company’s jail”.

Romain Rolland points out: “If the generation that followed saw, three

years after Vivekananda’s death, the revolt of Bengal, the prelude to the

great movement of Tilak and Gandhi, if India today has definitely taken

part in the collective action of organized masses, it is due to the initial

shock, to the mighty ‘Lazarus, come forth’ of the Message from

Madras”.

The following words of Sri Aurobindo almost echo this sentiment: “The

work that was begun at Dakshineswar is far from finished, it is not even


understood. That which Vivekananda received and strove to develop

has not yet materialized.”

Swami Vivekananda prepared his mighty instrument for his work

before he vanished from the scene of the Indian Freedom Struggle.

Always the root is firmly imbedded in the soil unseen to the eyes, while

the sprout comes out. The mighty edifice is always visible, while the

foundation is always hidden below the earth. The shaft that Swami

Vivekananda moulded and sped was visible only in its action.

SISTER NIVEDITA'S VISION

[Article published in July 1999 issue of HINDUISM TODAY, Hawaii,

USA]

“When a great man has prepared his workers, he must go to another

place, for he cannot make them free in his own presence. I am nothing

more for you. I have handed over to you the power that I possessed;

now I am only a wandering monk. There is a peculiar sect of

Mohammedans who are reported to be so fanatical that they take every

newborn babe and expose it, saying, ‘If God made thee, perish. If Ali

made thee, live.’ Now what they say to the child I say, but in the

opposite sense, to you tonight: Go forth into the world, and there, if I

made you, be destroyed. If the Divine Mother made you, live.”

It is with the above stirring words that the mighty colossus, Swami

Vivekananda, sped his powerful shaft, Sister Nivedita, into the battle-

field of India’s freedom struggle. The freedom that he wanted her to

fight for was not merely the political emancipation of Mother India

from alien rule, but also the freedom from the dark clouds of ignorance

that had engulfed Her for more than thousand years making Her self-

forgetful of Her own ancient and pristine glory. As the illustrious

brother of the Swami, Sri Bhupendranath Dutta has pointed out, ‘To

arouse the sleeping lion of India and put it on its proper pedestal was his

life’s mission’ and the Vajraayudha, the mighty thunderbolt that he

moulded for accomplishing this task was Sister Nivedita.

Born on October 28, 1867, at Dungannon in Ireland, Miss Margaret

Noble belonged to a family of freedom fighters. Her grandfather, John

Noble, and father Samuel, both of whom were Protestant Ministers in

20 TATTVA DARSANA

Wesleyan church, and her paternal grandfather, Hamilton, were in the

forefront of Irish freedom struggle. Miss Margaret, after finishing her

college education, served as a teacher for ten years. She came under the

spell of Swami Vivekananda who had become world-renowned after his

epoch-making talk in the Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893

and thereafter visited England. Inspired by the “Patriotic Hindoo

Monk”, Sister Nivedita came to India in January 1898, was initiated

into the order of Brahmacharya by the Swami on March 25, 1898, and

conferred the deekshaanaama, the name at the time of initiation,

NIVEDITA, meaning ‘the dedicated’.

While touring the country with her Master, Nivedita saw with her own

eyes the appalling conditions of ignorance, poverty and disease into

which India was pushed by the alien rule and her Irish blood boiled. As

her first and foremost task in awakening the Hindu nation, she took up

the cause of women’s education and with the blessings of Mother

Sarada Devi, opened her school for girls in Calcutta on November 1898.

In March 1899, when there was bubonic plague in Calcutta, Nivedita

with a band of dedicated workers, plunged into the relief work. She

even sacrificed her daily food to serve the patients and undertook works

like scavenging the streets.

In June 1899, Nivedita left with Swami Vivekananda to England and

then proceeded to America on a lecture tour to raise funds for her

school. She met the great Indian patriot, Bipin Chandra Pal at Boston.

When she returned to England, she found that the agents of British

imperialism and the Christian Missionaries were engaged in a vile

propaganda against her and her Master. On her return to India in 1902,

she addressed a meeting of the youth at Madras and gave her rousing

call to them to fight for the freedom of the country. The British

Government immediately blacklisted her and set the CID police behind

her. Though she plunged into the nationalist activities with the blessings

of her Master, her action created anxiety in the Ramakrishna Mission

circle. Immediately after the Mahasamadhi of Swami Vivekananda on

4th July 1902, Nivedita was forced to leave the Ramakrishna Mission.

Soon, she undertook a tour of the whole country to give shape to her

plans. Nivedita met Sri Aurobindo at Baroda and persuaded him to

come to Calcutta and take up the leadership of the nationalist and

revolutionary forces in Bengal. She was also a member of the political

committee that Sri Aurobindo set up to unite various revolutionary


bodies like Yugantar and Anuseelan Samity. Her school became a

haven for all patriots, revolutionaries, scientists, artists and journalists

who were all inspired by her thoughts and actions. Prominent among

them were Barindra Ghosh, younger brother of Sri Aurobindo,

Bhupendranath Dutta, Surendranath Tagore, Yateendra Bannerji and

C.R. Das.

“If the dry bones are beginning to stir, it is because Sister Nivedita

breathed the breath of life into them", said Dr Rash Bihari Ghosh, about

her influence on the young revolutionaries and patriots in India’s

freedom struggle.

In March 1905, when Nivedita fell ill, she stayed with the renowned

scientist, Jagdish Chandra Bose at Darjeeling, but in the wake of Bengal

Partition, she returned to Calcutta and plunged into the movement

against partition. She was a trusted friend, philosopher and guide to

both the extremists and moderates in the Indian National Congress. In

the Calcutta Congress Session in 1906, the children of her school

presented a National Flag which was none other than the saffron

Bhagava Dwaj with the symbol of Vajrayudha and the slogan ‘Vande

Mataram’ inscribed on it. She had revealed to Ashwini Kumar Dutta

that her Master wanted her to “mould a mighty weapon out of the bones

of the Bengali youth” to fight against the British rule, just like the

Vajrayudha that was made out of the bone of Rishi Dadeechi to

annihilate the Asuras. Her powerful pen stirred the hearts of Indian

youth through her writings and editorials in patriotic and revolutionary

journals like ‘Prabuddha Bharata’, ‘Sandhya’, ‘The Dawn’, ‘New

India’ and ‘Yugantar’. She inspired Bipin Chandra Pal to start ‘Bande

Mataram’ and her illustrious disciple, Mahakavi C. Subramania

Bharati, the ‘Balabharata’. When Sri Aurobindo, who was arrested in

connection with the Alipore Bomb Case and incarcerated in jail for

some time, fell again a victim to the wrath of the British Government on

account of his editorials in ‘Karmayogin’, it was Sister Nivedita who

persuaded him to go into exile to Chandernagore and from there to

Pondicherry, a French territory.

Nivedita was not merely a patriot and revolutionary, but also a visionary

and saintess of the highest order. She wrote on ‘Aggressive Hinduism’,

but that idea of aggression was not that of a bully over a weakling. The

aggression she spoke of was that of the universal values propounded by

22 TATTVA DARSANA

the sages and seers of this land over the narrow, fundamentalist creeds

that divide humanity and unleash suppression and oppression of one

section of mankind by another in the name of God and religion. She

spoke of the aggression and victory of character and spiritual power

over human frailties and mundane interests, making the world a better

place to live in. In her vision, she saw Mother India seated on the

pedestal of Loka Guru, guiding the destiny of a world, which will be

full of peace and harmony. She says: “No one will dispute that her

ideals are a still prouder fruit of Hinduism than her widespread

refinement. It is true that India is the only country in the world where a

penniless wanderer may surpass a king in social prestige. But still

grander is the fact that the king may be a Janaka, and the beggar a

Shuka Deva.”

Her prolific writings include ‘The Master As I Saw Him’, ‘Kali The

Mother’, ‘The Web of Indian Life’, ‘Cradle Tales of Hinduism’ and

‘Hints of National Education in India’

The enormous strain due to her incessant work affected her health and

she fell ill again in September 1910. She wrote, “I have still two years

left, but no more”. She went to America in November 1910 to be by the

side of Mrs. Bull who was in deathbed and who bequeathed a fortune to

Nivedita’s work in India. On her return, Nivedita stayed for some time

in Mayavati and then with the family of Jagadish Chandra Bose in

Darjeeling. She suffered an attack of blood dysentery in the first week

of October 1911. Getting premonition of her end, she wrote her last will

on October 7, leaving all her possessions and writings in the hands of

the Trustees of Belur Math to be used for her school. On October 13,

1911, at about 7-00 am, the sun unusually shone in spite of the cloudy

days. Nivedita said: “The frail boat is sinking, but I shall yet see the sun

rise.”

Chanting the Rudra Prayer of the Upanishad—“From the unreal, lead us

to the Real; from darkness, lead us to the Light; from death, lead us to

Immortality”—Nivedita breathed her last. Today, in the distant

Darjeeeling, there stands a memorial in which, on a marble tablet, are

inscribed these words:

“Here Repose the Ashes of Sister Nivedita

Who gave her all to India.”


SISTER NIVEDITA--SECOND VIEW

[Published in HINDUISM TODAY, Hawaii, May/June 2000 issue.]

IN "SISTER NIVEDITA'S STORY (JULY 1999), the writer, Professor

V. Rangarajan of Chennai, India, says, "Immediately after the passing

away of Swami Vivekananda in 1902, Nivedita was asked to leave the

Mission." This statement is incorrect. Just prior to his passing, Swami

Vivekananda became aware of Nivedita's political involvements and

scolded her severely. He made it clear that she could not be associated

with both the Ramakrishna Order and the political movements of the

time. She must give up one or the other. She told him she would

deliberate on it, but before she could give him her answer, Swamiji

attained Mahasamadhi. She wrote in a letter at that time: "I belong to

Hinduism more than I ever did. But I see the political need so clearly,

too." And in another: "When I think that Swamiji planned what my life

should be, and how different I shall make it soon, I feel broken-hearted.

But there seems no path for me here [in the Order] except silence and

submission—even in matters where I feel an overwhelming need to

choose my own path and assert my own ideal." On July 18th she wrote

to the head of the order, Swami Brahmananda: "Painful as the occasion

is, I cannot but acquiesce in my measures that are necessary to my

complete personal freedom." The newspaper Amrita Bazar Patrika,

Calcutta, on July 19, 1902 published this news item: "Sister Nivedita:

We have been requested to inform the public that after the conclusion of

the days of mourning of Swami Vivekananda, it has been decided

between the members of the order at Belur Math and Sister Nivedita

that her work shall henceforth be regarded as free and entirely

independent of their sanction or authority." The next month she fell

sick. As soon as the news came to the Belur Math that she was ill,

Swami Brahmananda went to visit her. It was an immediate example of

what was to be the new shape of her life. She was independent, but in

illness or trouble, the "daughter" was still a member of the family, in

fact if not in name, and the head of the Order, who had agreed to her

absolute right to run her own life, now exercised the right of a father to

insist that she eat protein-rich food to gain strength and stamina. She

protested; nevertheless she did what was told, meekly enough. When

she was well again and began her planned extensive lecture tour, Belur

24 TATTVA DARSANA

Math sent Swami Sadananda, the first monastic disciple of

Vivekananda, to accompany her.

-- Swami Ekatmananda,

ADVAITA ASHRAMA, LOHAGHAT, INDIA

SADHU RANGARAJAN'S REPLY TO

' SISTER NIVEDITA—SECOND VIEW'

[Published in HINDUISM TODAY, November/December 2000]

REVERED SWAMI EKATMANANDAJI of Advaita Ashrama has, in

his letter published under the title "Sister Nivedita—Second View"

(May/June 2000), tried to present the view that Swami Vivekananda did

not approve of Sister Nivedita's political activities, "scolded her

severely" and wanted her either to give up the Order or give up her

political activities. But this view is contradictory to the facts presented

in two authoritative biographies of Sister Nivedita, 'The Dedicated - A

Biography of Sister Nivedita' in French by Lizelle Raymond (English

translation by Samata Books, 10, Kamaraj Bhavan, 573, Anna Road,

Chennai 600 006, India, 1985) and 'Sister Nivedita of Ramakrishna-

Vivekananda' by Pravrajika Atmaprana (by Sister Nivedita Girls'

School, 5, Nivedita Lane, Calcutta 700 003).

Lizelle Raymond clearly points out: “During those first months of 1902,

the seeds of all Nivedita’s later life had really been sown under the eyes

of Swami Vivekananda. He had placed entire confidence in her and had

made it clear that he would never interfere in any path she chose to take,

though sometimes he appeared to be concerned as to whether she could

combine this expression of active life with the spiritual discipline he

had given her.” (Page 261-262). She further says, “On the other hand,

Swami Vivekananda had very often remarked, to these groups of

disciples and friends during the last months, that he counted on Nivedita

to arouse the political sense among Hindus. He wanted patriotism in

India, love for the country. It was in that sense that he had pledged her

to serve India, and to sacrifice herself to the last renunciation.” (Page

262). That it was not Swami Vivekananda, but some of the other monks

of the Order who were opposed to Nivedita’s political activities is made

amply clear by her statement: “To the monks, Swami Vivekananda had

said that Nivedita must be given full liberty, ‘even if she works without

any connection with the mission’; but they now realized that she might


deflect their line of conduct. They appealed to her vow of obedience

either to renounce entirely the activity which was so dear to her, or so to

organize her life that her freedom would be wholly recognized.” (Page

263). It was this appeal that forced Nivedita to tender her resignation

from the Mission.

Pravrajika Atmaprana refers to a conversation of Sister Nivedita with

Swami Vivekananda, a few days before the Swami passed away. She

says, “During the conversation she broached the subject of the Home

for widows and orphans of which she had thought so much before she

left for the West. The Swami said, it was a folly to have such Homes in

India for they would do more harm than good. Nivedita’s immediate

rejoinder was: ‘Yes, don’t you see! That’s exactly what I say that the

other question must be answered first! Then all questions of education.’

The Swami understood that by the other question Nivedita meant

political freedom. He solemnly replied: ‘Well, well, Margot, perhaps

you are right, only I feel that I am drawing near to death. I cannot bend

my mind to these worldly things now’.” (Page 141-142). Pravrajika

Atmaprana further points out: “The other question that made Nivedita

take interest in the current political activities in the country and get

acquainted with political leaders of different parties, created a new

problem not only for her, but also for the Math authorities. It was

difficult for Swami Brahmananda and others to say how the Swami

would have acted under the circumstances, but of this they were certain,

that their monastic Order was to be above politics. So they requested

Nivedita to think about the matter seriously.” (Page 142). She further

says: “Years ago, one day, the Swami had said to her: ‘My mission is

not Ramakrishna’s nor Vedanta’s nor anything but simply to bring

manhood to my people.’ ‘I will help you’, Nivedita had sworn. Gravely

had the Swami replied, ‘I know it'. Was it not her duty now to give to

the nation what she had received from the Swami? The nation needed

her. What was she to do now?” (Page 143).

Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan SISTER NIVEDITA ACADEMY

[Extracted from SWAMI VIVEKANANDA—PROPHET OF

PATRIOTISM—150th Swami Vivekananda Jayanti Commemoration

Number of TATTVA DARSANA]

26 TATTVA DARSANA

SISTER NIVEDITA AND DR. HEDGEWAR

-- IDENTICAL IDEALS AND PLAN OF ACTION

SADHU PROF. V. RANGARAJAN,

Adoration of Motherland

“For the next fifty years this alone shall be our keynote — this, our

great Mother India. Let all other vain gods disappear for the time from

our minds. This is the only god that is awake, our own race —

‘everywhere his hands, everywhere his feet, everywhere his ears, he

covers everything.’ All other gods are sleeping. What vain gods shall

we go after and yet cannot worship the god that we see all round us, the

Viraat? When we have worshipped this, we shall be able to worship all

other gods. Before we can crawl half a mile, we want to cross the ocean

like Hanuman! It cannot be. Everyone going to be a Yogi, everyone

going to meditate! It cannot be. The whole day mixing with the world

with Karma Kanda, and in the evening sitting down and blowing

through your nose! Is it so easy? Should Rishis come flying through the

air, because you have blown three times through the nose? Is it a joke?

It is all nonsense. What is needed is Chittashuddhi, purification of the


heart. And how does that come? The first of all worship is the worship

of the Viraat — of those all around us. Worship It. Worship is the exact

equivalent of the Sanskrit word, and no other English word will do.

These are all our gods — men and animals; and the first gods we have

to worship are our countrymen. These we have to worship, instead of

being jealous of each other and fighting each other. It is the most

terrible Karma for which we are suffering, and yet it does not open our

eyes!”--This soul-stirring clarion call came more than a century ago,

from the great patriot monk of India, Swami Vivekananda, who wanted

the most ancient Hindu Nation, Bharatavarsha, to be seated once again

on the throne of Loka Guru, the preceptor of the entire world. This

rousing call echoed in the words and deeds of two great patriotic

children of Mother Bharat--one, who came from the distant Ireland and

dedicated her life at the altar of Mother India and was rightly christened

as Nivedita by her guru, Swami Vivekananda, and the second, Dr.

Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak

Sangh, who offered his life to the task of building up a dedicated cadre

of patriotic citizens who will sacrifice their all in the service of

Bharatamata to revive and reawaken Her ancient glory in the hearts of

the people and re-enthrone Her on the pedestal of Loka Guru--the

Preceptor of the World.

Sister Nivedita gave her clarion call to the children of Bharatamata:

"Age succeeds age in India, and even the voice of the Mother calls upon

Her children to worship Her with new offerings, with renewal of their

own greatness. Today She cries for the offering of nationality. Today

She asks, as a household Mother of the strong men whom She has borne

and bred, that we show to Her, not gentleness and submission, but

manly strength and invincible might. Today She would that we play

before Her with the sword. Today She would find Herself the Mother of

a hero-clan. Today does She cry once more that She is hungered, and

only by lives and blood of the crowned kings and men, can the citadel

be saved." She used to recite every moment, like a sacred mantra:

‘Bharatvarsha, Bharatvarsha’. And she would become ecstatic while

doing this. She held everything in India as sacred, deserving worship.

She would hold a specific practice in high esteem, even if it might have

lately fallen into disuse, only because it must have been beneficent for

India in the past. Before boarding a boat from a ghat on the river Ganga,

she would touch its water to her head like any other Hindu woman. She

would always keep her hands folded in the gesture of pranaama

28 TATTVA DARSANA

whenever she approached any temple or a deity. ‘Mother India’ soon

appeared to be the divine Energy—Shakti—clothed in the foam of the

sea, the red dust of Malabar, the mud of the Ganges, the sands of the

Punjab, the snows of Kashmir. To bewitch men, She let Herself be

worshiped according to all the rites, and in all the temples. “Instead of

being the slaves of an unknowable Brahman let us be Her slaves," cried

Nivedita. India, ‘Mother India’, had become her Ishta, the supreme

object of her devotion, in which she perceived the aim of her life and

the place of her acceptance. She was to live now, in and for the great

design of which her guru had dreamed: an India in which the masses—

the ignorant, the poor, the illiterate, the cobbler, the sweeper—were to

be the flesh and blood of ‘Mother India’.

Intense Spirit of Patriotism

One day Nivedita asked her students: 'Who is the queen of India?' The

girls replied: 'Her Majesty the Queen Victoria’. It naturally occurred to

them that in the England-ruled India, their queen was Queen Victoria.

Nivedita was visibly upset to hear this reply. She was both angry and

grieved. She cried out: “You don’t even appear to know who is the

queen of India. Your queen is Queen Sita. Sita is the eternal queen of

India”. The Nivedita Girls' School in Calcutta was a brilliant example to

nationalist institutions all over the country. Nivedita not only refused to

take the aid of the Government, but even introduced Bande Mataram in

the daily prayers of her school, at a time when singing the song in

public was an offence. She also introduced Swadeshi and spinning

wheel in her school. Nivedita tried to imprint nationalist ideas in the

minds of her girl students through all their activities and behaviour

including language, dress, education, music, and everything. Any

national object, no matter how insignificant it might be, was dear to her

like a worshipped deity. She tried to infuse this reverence into her

students also so that they could view any national object in such depth.

Nivedita had introduced the teaching of patriotism and hero worship by

prayer and the recitation of the mantra, "Bharatvarsha,"—Mother

India—at every free moment. She trained the children in silence and

concentration upon the meaning of these words; then she would tell

them stories of Bengali, Maharashtra, and Rajput heroines facing death

with honour, of Ramanuja in the South and Guru Nanak in the North in

their mission of fraternity through devotion. When the children went

back to their homes, they had offered their very life to the Indian nation.


For the Swadeshi exhibitions, of 1904 and 1905, the pupils wove silks

to serve as models for the weavers, and embroidered a national flag. She

exhorted, "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 from them 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. We must

teach them about India, in school and at home… Burning love, love

without a limit. Love that seeks only the good of the beloved, and has

no thought of self, this is the passion that we must demand of them.”

Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, when he was a small boy, heard the

story of Shivaji Maharaj in his history class and was very much inspired

by the adventurous exploits of the hero, his patriotism and supreme

dedication to the cause of Dharma. This spirit found expression in the

acts of Keshav also when, at the age of eight, he threw away sweets

distributed in his school to celebrate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee

and questioned his teacher how a handful of aggressors came to rule

over this Hindu land. He refused to accept Queen Victoria as the queen

of Indians. On another occasion, he admonished his friend for showing

interest in the celebration at Empress Mills, Nagpur, when Edward VII

came to the throne. The tender heart of Keshav could not bear the sight

of Union Jack flying over Sitabuldi Fort in Nagpur and one day he

gathered his playmates to dig "an underground channel" from his

master's house to the fort to pull down the Union Jack and hoist the

Bhagava Jhanda.

Revolutionary Movement

"If our Sister fell under the spell of India, we in turn fell under her spell,

and her bewitching personality attracted thousands of our young men to

her. If the dry bones are beginning to stir, it is because Sister Nivedita

breathed the breath of life into them", said the great revolutionary, Dr.

Rash Behari Ghosh, about Sister Nivedita’s role in the revolutionary

movement in India’s freedom struggle. She took her part boldly in

India's struggle to find its soul, and she gave all she had without

wondering what would become of her. During the period May to

October 1898, Sister Nivedita went on a tour of Almora and Kashmir

regions, accompanying Swami Vivekananda. In Kashmir, she observed

how the British Government refused permission to the Maharaja of

30 TATTVA DARSANA

Kashmir to hand over a piece of land to her Guru to set up a Mutt and

Sanskrit College. Her Irish blood revolted and she realized that the

emancipation of India and regeneration of Hinduism could be achieved

only by putting an end to British rule in India.

Some leading members of the society felt the need of mobilizing the

energies of the young men for national work and their public activities

took a new direction. Under their guidance numerous associations and

groups such as 'The Young Men's Hindu Union Committee', 'The Gita

Society', 'The Dawn Society', `The Anusilan Samity' and 'The

Vivekananda Society' were formed. Nivedita who had faith in the social

and spiritual renaissance of the Indian people, readily associated herself

with these societies. Whenever she was invited, she went and talked on

Hinduism and read and explained the Gita or Swami Vivekananda's

works. Her talks were inspiring. She had so long thought about the

problems of India that now her ideas became a living power which

opened out new horizons for the young. She used and repeated the

words 'nation' and `nationality' as a Mantra; it was she who coined the

word 'national-consciousness'. She encouraged them to arrange for

sports and recitation and lecture competitions and on special occasions

awarded Vivekananda Medals for merit. The young men always

clustered round her for inspiration and guidance. She was a `Guru' to

them. Gymnasiums were conducted by these societies for giving

physical training to the young; study circles were organized where the

lives and teachings of great men were read and histories of the struggle

for freedom of the different countries, politics, and economics were

studied. Classes on moral instructions were held on Sundays where the

national epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Gita, the Chandi

and the Swami's works were expounded. Sri Aurobindo knew about the

existence of the societies and planned to organize them into one party.

To quote his words: "I found a number of small groups of

revolutionaries that had recently sprung into existence, but all scattered

and acting without reference to each other. I tried to unite them under a

single organisation with the barrister P. Mitra as the leader of the

revolution in Bengal and a Central Council of five persons, one of them

being Nivedita."

In March 1899, when Nivedita called on Swami Vivekananda, the latter

told her emphatically: “My mission is not Ramakrishna's nor Vedanta's

nor anything, but simply to bring manhood to my people.” Nivedita


said: “I will help you, Swami.” Swamiji replied: “I know it.” We also

know that she kept her promise. In fact, she dedicated her life for the

purpose. During the first months of 1902, the seeds of all Nivedita's

later life had really been sown under the eyes of Swami Vivekananda.

He had placed entire confidence in her and had made it clear that he

would never interfere in any path she chose to take, though sometimes

he appeared to be concerned as to whether she could combine this

expression of active life with the spiritual discipline he had given her.

On the other hand, Swami Vivekananda had very often remarked to

groups of disciples and friends during the last months, that he counted

on Nivedita to arouse the political sense among Hindus. He wanted

patriotism in India, love for the country. It was in that sense that he had

pledged her to serve India, and to sacrifice herself to the last

renunciation. To the monks, Swami Vivekananda had said that Nivedita

must be given full liberty, "even if she works without any connection

with the Mission"; but they now realized that she might deflect their

line of conduct. They appealed to her vow of obedience either to

renounce entirely the activity which was so dear to her, or so to

organize her life that her freedom would be wholly recognized. Was not

her educational mission, to which she had hardly put her hand since her

return, activity enough? She listened to the proposal, and replied

categorically to Swami Brahmananda: "I cannot do otherwise than this.

I have identified myself with the idea of Mother India, I have become

the idea itself, and I could die more easily than submit." At a reception

accorded to her at Madras, she proclaimed to the Indians at the top of

her voice: "Just as it has been realized already that in religion you have

a great deal to give and nothing to learn from the West, so also in social

matters it will be well to understand that what changes are necessary,

you are fully competent to make yourselves and no outsider has the

right to advise or interfere." Her speech won her the admiration and

blessings of her Master, but aroused the anger of the British

Government who blacklisted her name, deputed C.I.D. officials to

shadow her and censored her letters.

Nivedita's nationalist activities did create anxiety in the circles of the

Ramakrishna Order. Swami Vivekananda, on his part, allowed her to

pursue the path she had chosen. However, after the death of the Swamiji

on 4th July 1902, the difference of opinion between her and Swami

Brahmananda, President of the Ramakrishna Math, grew wider on the

issue of Nivedita's participation in politics and she resigned from the

32 TATTVA DARSANA

Mission. Nivedita soon went on a nation-wide tour in response to the

invitation of her disciples and admirers. She reached Baroda on October

20, 1902, and met Sri Aurobindo. The subject of their discussion was

neither religion nor the philosophy of Vivekananda, but the political

developments in Bengal. She stressed the need of Aurobindo's reaching

Calcutta to give effective lead to the nationalist and revolutionary forces

in Bengal. According to Lizelle Reymond, the famous biographer of

Sister Nivedita, Nivedita was among the few persons in India who knew

that Sri Aurobindo was the directing brain behind the nationalist

movement in Bengal, despite his physical absence. The same author

gives us the valuable information that Nivedita was "one of the five

members of the political committee which Aurobindo Ghosh appointed

in Bengal to unite in a single organization, the small and scattered

groups of rebels which had sprung into existence and were acting

without reference to one another". During this tour programme Nivedita

attracted thousands of young men to her and the one inspiring message

she gave them was: "By no means be found sleeping when the cry

comes for battle.”

Dr. Hedgewar, at the age of 16, was busy participating in the nationalist

activities organized by the Swadesh Bandhav Samity of the renowned

revolutionary, Pandurang Sadashiv Khankhoje. One day he was

rusticated from the school for raising the slogan of 'Vande Mataram' in

the open class. Keshav got admission in the nationalist school, Vidya

Griha of Yeotmal, but that institution was closed down soon by the

alien government. Keshav went to Pune and after two months' stay and

study there, came to Amaravati and wrote the Entrance Examination of

the National Council of Education (Bengal), Calcutta, of which Dr.

Rash Behari Ghosh was the President. Successfully getting through the

examination, he joined the National Medical College at Calcutta and

came to stay in the Shantiniketan Lodge which was a haven of

revolutionary youth working under the guidance of renowned

revolutionary, Pulin Bihari Das. With the sole intention to participate in

revolutionary activities, he joined the Calcutta Medical College.

Keshav came into close contact also with another fiery nationalist,

Shyamsunder Chakravarti. The renowned revolutionary, Nalini Kishore

Guha, introduced Keshav and Narayanrao Savarkar, younger brother of

Veer Savarkar, into the Anusheelan Samity, a secret revolutionary

organization, and according to the practice of the organization, they

were administered a pledge and given secret names. Keshav was given


the name 'Cocaine' and he became well known among the revolutionary

workers because of his fiery patriotism, courage, deep intellectual

capacities and foresight. After passing the L.M.&S. Examination in

June 1914, Keshav completed one year apprenticeship and returned to

Nagpur in 1915 as a doctor. But his mind did not turn to the direction of

practice and earning livelihood. He wanted to diagnose the disease that

had afflicted the nation and cure it, and with this determination in his

mind he dedicated his life at the altar of the Motherland. Since his

arrival in Nagpur, Dr. Hedgewar was busy organizing the revolutionary

youth in Nagpur, with the help of Bhaoji Karve. Dr. Hedgewar kept

close links with the revolutionary organizations in Punjab and Calcutta.

When the First World War broke out, the revolutionaries all over the

country wanted to make use of the opportunity created by the difficult

situation in which the Britishers were pitched against the Germans. The

revolutionaries in India and abroad conceived a plan for a revolutionary

upsurge in the country to throw out the Britishers. Dr Hedgewar also

threw himself heart and soul into the endeavour. The revolutionaries

under the leadership of Bhaoji Kavre and Dr. Hedgewar were collecting

arms and money for the proposed uprising. Once, in order to secure

arms for the Gadar soldiers spread in different parts of the country, Dr.

Hedgewar put on a military uniform and under the guise of a military

man, managed to get away with a stock of British guns kept in Nagpur

railway station. He also entrusted to one of his trusted colleagues,

Vamanrao Dharmadhikari, the work of receiving arms reaching Goa

port in 1912 in a steamer sent by revolutionaries abroad. But the British

Government got scent of the scheme and the ship was seized before it

could reach its destination. The defeat of Germany in the War foiled all

the attempts of the Indian revolutionaries for a revolutionary upsurge

inside the country. Though Dr. Hedgewar was involved in the plans for

an armed revolution, on the advice of Lokamanya Tilak, he gave up the

effort. Dr. Hedgewar realized that the lack of discipline among the

revolutionaries, want of proper organization to coordinate the different

revolutionary groups spread all over the country and the absence of a

political and national awakening among the common masses were the

root causes for the failure of revolutionary upsurge. He also came to

understand that mere acts of bravery and self-sacrifice on the part of a

few daring and patriotic individuals will not bring independence to the

country. With this clear realization, Dr. Hedgewar diverted his attention

to the national movement launched by the Indian National Congress.

34 TATTVA DARSANA

Participation in Freedom Struggle

Besides being a school, Sister Nivedita’s abode in Bose Para Lane,

Calcutta, was also a meeting place of scientists, artists, journalists,

nationalists and revolutionaries. Young men inspired by Nivedita used

to attend the Sunday get-togethers at her home and prominent among

them was Barindra Ghosh, the renowned revolutionary and younger

brother of Aurobindo. In 1902, when Viceroy Lord Curzon appointed

the 'University Commission', to strangulate the national education

system, Nivedita came to the forefront in condemning the move. She

came into close contact with the fiery freedom fighter, Brahmabandhav

Upadhyaya. After Aurobindo's reaching Bengal, when he organized a

five member revolutionary committee consisting of himself,

Surendranath Tagore, C.R. Das, Yateendra Bannerji and Sister

Nivedita, Nivedita acted as the Secretary of the committee and

undertook the task of organizing under one banner various

revolutionary organizations operating in Bengal. Later this

revolutionary committee was merged into the Anusheelan Samity, the

secret revolutionary society, and Sister Nivedita became a source of

inspiration and guidance to the young revolutionaries participating in

the underground activities of the Samity.

The period from 1906 to 1907 was one of busy journalistic activities for

Sister Nivedita. Besides writing editorials for Prabuddha Bharata, she

was contributing to extremist journals like Sandhya, The Dawn and New

India. Aurobindo, his younger brother Barindra Ghosh and Swami

Vivekananda's younger brother, Bhupendra Nath Dutta, started a new

weekly, Yugantar, as an organ of the secret revolutionary movement,

from March 12, 1906. Not only the decision to start it was taken in

Nivedita's house, but also because of her efforts, the circulation of the

journal was built up to more than 50,000 copies. On August 16, 1906,

Bipin Chandra Pal started Bande Mataram with the cooperation of

Aurobindo. The famous revolutionary of the south, Tirumalachari,

started Bala Bharata from Madras, with the poet-patriot, C. Subramania

Bharati, an ardent disciple of Nivedita, as Editor.

On July 20, 1907, when Bhupendra Nath Dutta was imprisoned,

Nivedita met him in the court, assured him of taking care of his mother,

Bhuvaneswari, and the publication of Yugantar, and also helped his


associates to collect funds for paying a fine of Rs.10,000/- imposed on

him.

In 1907, Nivedita left for England to set a favourable atmosphere for

Indian Independence through meetings and interviews with British

Parliamentarians and writings in British journals. One important work

of Sister Nivedita was to organize the publication of revolutionary

journals from outside India, arranging for their secret distribution in

India and organizing the Indian revolutionaries who were scattered

abroad. On September 26, 1908, Nivedita left England for America

where she met Bhupendra Nath Dutta, Tarak Nath Dutta and other

revolutionaries in exile. According to the famous writer, Girija Shankar

Roy Choudhary, Nivedita was, during this tour, collecting funds for the

rehabilitation of revolutionaries in exile and she had a plan to purchase

a building at Chandranagar in the French territory in India, to enable

these revolutionaries to settle down there and carry on the activities.

In March 1905, Nivedita fell seriously ill and spent some time in

Darjeeling with the family of Jagdish Chandra Bose. But the explosive

atmosphere aroused in the country in the wake of the British

Government's decision to partition Bengal, made her return to Calcutta

in the first week of July 1905. She addressed mammoth public

meetings. In one such meeting, she spoke strongly supporting the

resolution moved by the famous revolutionary, Anand Mohan Bose,

condemning the unwise move of the British Government.

"Fort a nation subjected to slavery, there is no other politics other than

the politics of freedom struggle", said Dr. Hedgewar. In the Amritsar

Congress Session, Dr. Hedgewar was elected as the Secretary of the

Central Province Congress Committee. He rejected the proposal for

inactive cooperation with British Government during First World War.

In the 1920 Congress Session at Nagpur, Dr. Hedgewar moved a

resolution in the Subjects Committee condemning British Imperialism

and capitalism, firmly declaring, "The goal of the Congress should be

establishment of a Republic in India and free the country from the

exploitation of capitalist nations." The extremist and nationalist leaders

in the Congress were all looking with apprehension at the all-out

support given by Mahatma Gandhi to the Khilafat movement in an

attempt to exploit the discontent among the Indian Muslims against the

British who were enemies of the Khalif of Turkey, the religious head of

36 TATTVA DARSANA

Muslims. Dr. Hedgewar, with his deep foresight, understood that this

sort of appeasement of Muslim communalism, though intended to win

them over to the freedom struggle, would in the long run sow the seeds

of separation in the hearts of the Muslims and result in the

disintegration of the country. And his fears did prove to be true in the

long run.

When the idea of Hindu consolidation took possession of Dr.

Hedgewar's mind and he was fully convinced of the absolute necessity

of this task, he set at work his plan of action. He founded the Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh on the auspicious Vijayadashami day in the year

1925, by organizing a group of young men at his residence. His plan of

action was to bring together the people of all sections, castes, creeds,

ages and strata of society, as children of the same Mother; make them

sing and play together, and inspire them to come forward in love and

discipline to bring glory to the nation. Accordingly programmes were

chalked out for the physical and intellectual development of the

Swayamsevaks and to instil in them the spirit of patriotism, discipline

and devotion to Motherland. The seed that Dr. Hedgewar sowed on that

auspicious Vijayadashami day at Nagpur has grown into a big banyan

tree and today it is covering the entire globe with its vast network of

branches and ancillary institutions.

Organising Dedicated Youth

Nivedita's own dream was to found in Swami Vivekananda's name (as

he had done in the name of Sri Ramakrishna) an association which

would gather together the future disciples of her guru's national idea. "I

feel myself able to make ten thousand Vivekanandas," she wrote, "for

just as he could understand and make Ramakrishnas, so I can see in him

the things he himself could not. My object will be to keep a set of boys

six months, and then to send them out for six months' travel; again six

months of study, and so on...." From this dedicated organization she

saw emerging the watchful leaders of men who, in their turn, would

organize "Indian Vivekananda societies" and "schools of active political

education" throughout the whole vast country. In the Gita she saw a

boundless source of power. "You have in your hands the most perfect

instrument that exists," she said. "Carry over its teaching into your daily

lives. When will the real fighter in the good cause rise up again, the Gita

in one hand and a sword in the other?" Then she added: "A hero whose


footsteps we can easily follow left us only the other day.... Swami

Vivekananda is quite near to us. We can still walk in his shadow." She

said that the great task ahead of us is the creation of an order of

dedicated missionaries who are prepared to offer their everything at the

altar of the Mother and worship Her by serving Her beloved children.

What will be the work of these missionaries? Nivedita herself delineates

their task: "Let the missionary travel with the magic lantern, with

collections of post cards, with a map of India and with head and heart

full of ballads, stories and geographical descriptions. Let him gather

together the women, let him gather together the villagers, let him

entertain them in the garden, in the courtyard, in the verandas, beside

the wall, and under the village tree with stories and songs and

descriptions of India! India! India!" The missionary has to instil in the

hearts of the people the great thought, "this and no other is our

Motherland! We are Indians every one!" Nivedita pointed out that this

was the plan of action of Swami Vivekananda: “This is the meaning of

his constant plea, in his published correspondence, for the teaching of

the villages, by wandering students, who would carry the magic lantern,

the camera, and some means for simple chemical experiments. Again he

begs for the inclusion of some secular instruction in the intercourse of

the begging friars, with the humbler classes. All this, of course, would

be little more than a support and attractive invitation, to the New

Learning.”

Creating a national vision was the goal that Dr. Hedgewar set before

himself when he founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He said:

“Even the small boys in the Sangh very clearly know that the goal of

Sangh is to create the strength for the protection of Swadharma and

Swarashtra.” Dr. Hedgewar quoted Lokanayak Bapuji Ane: “It is the

duty of a student to acquire the education that is needed to protect the

Dharma and civilization of nation in which he lives. I am not bothered

about the rank in which a student passes in his examination; but I am

interested in the way in which he enters into the field of action in the

worldly life and how he behaves”. Making it clear why the name

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was chosen, Dr. Hegewar revealed:

“We always think with a national vision. In our mind only the thought

of our nation arises. Therefore the name of Rashtriya Swayamsevak

Sangh is given.”

38 TATTVA DARSANA

Daily Congregation and Training of Workers

Nivedita has emphatically declared, "If the whole of India could agree

to give, say, ten minutes every evening, at the oncoming darkness, to

thinking a single thought, 'We are one. We are one. Nothing can prevail

against us to make us think we are divided. For we are one. We are one

and all the antagonisms amongst us are illusions'—the power that would

be generated can hardly be measured." She said, "Brahmacharins are

necessary, but not young men whose ideal is passivity. I want you to be

active, with the brahmacharya of a hero, assimilating all the experiences

of life whatever they may be, without running away from them. For

love and hatred are dualities which will disappear. I want men who can

face life squarely and find God in the manifestation of their sacrifice.

The goddess of your worship, Mother India, dwells in famine, in

suffering, and in poverty rather than on the altars where you offer her

flowers and incense. She is where your sacrifice is!”

Dr. Hedgewar, when he founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,

selected young and dedicated Brahmacharins and trained them to carry

forward the work of the Sangh to different provinces and start its

branches in every nook and corner of the country. He declared:

“Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is born to make our society united and

strong. The branches of this are working all over the country to

strengthen the Hindu society. There should not be a village or a remote

place in Bharat where there is no branch of the Sangh. There must

necessarily be one pointed coordination in all these branches and then

only we could create manifest power and immense self-confidence

among the Hindus.” He called upon the Swayamsevaks: “Considering

the Sangh work as most important and with a spirit of self-sacrifice if

we plunge into action, at least tomorrow our children could live as

Hindus.”

The goal of RSS right from its inception has been to rebuild the Hindu

Rashtra. Dr. Hedgewar pointed out: “People who live with one thought,

one conduct, one culture, and one tradition since times immemorial

become a nation. This country came to be known as Hindusthan

because of us.” He further said: “Because of the weakness of mind,

removing the word Hindusthan which is pregnant with meaning, we

have started calling our dear land as India and the people of the land as

Indians. The intention of doing this is to remove from the world forever


the words 'Hindu' and 'Hindusthan', hearing which our whole ancient

history dances before our eyes.” He gave his clarion call: “My prayer to

you is to see that you must work to see that such organizations of youth

who are dedicated to ideal and strong grows deep rooted in every nook

and corner of this vast Bharatavarsha.”

Stress on Physical Culture and Martial Arts

In the month of October 1902, Nivedita reached Nagpur. There, at the

local Morris College, she was invited to preside over a meeting, and

was made to give away prizes to the participants in the cricket game.

After the prize-giving ceremony she took the students to serious task in

her lecture. That was the time of the Dusserah festival. Nivedita said

that it was indeed a matter of great shame for the students to enjoy

joyously a foreign game during the days of Dusserah when they should

instead worship war weapons, and invoke strength from the Goddess

Durga by worshipping her. Had she known this before, she certainly

would not have agreed to preside over the meeting. She hoped that in

the capital of the great Bhonsle' kings, she would see some

demonstration of heroic feats of the Marathas. She was indeed sad not

being able to see that. Nivedita demanded from the students that on the

next day they must demonstrate before her sword-fighting, wrestling

and other exercises on martial arts. Most of the college students did not

know any such exercise. Somehow a few boys from outside and only

one college student were made ready for this; they showed her the

exercises as desired by her. She then said to the students that they were

lately getting more higher studies, more than the required number of

graduates were being turned out from the universities, who with their

broken health could hardly protect themselves, not to speak of

protecting the dignity of their mothers and sisters. The society would

not derive any benefit from these heaps of debris. The country

demanded true patriots, powerful in body and mind. The country had no

need of those people who would serve their foreign masters while

hounding their fellow countrymen. Only powerful patriots could raise

the country.

Two years thereafter in the month of January 1904 she lectured before

the students in the same spirit at Patna. She said, “I shall be sorry to see

immeasurable calm on the face of the boys. ... I should like to see you

wrestling, boxing, fencing with each other rather than to see you calm.

40 TATTVA DARSANA

We want strong men.” Nivedita’s call to the youth was, “The hero is

one who fights, loves fighting and his supreme joy is to be beaten by

one who is his superior after fighting his best. Fight, fight and fight

again but not with meanness and not with rancour.”

She detested pretentiousness and arrogance. Of the Hindus who

declared, "We are ready to give our lives for India," she demanded,

point-blank, "Can you handle a weapon? Can you shoot? No? Well, go

and learn!" She unmasked those who were not sure of themselves, and

sent them away. "To gain the princess of his choice," she said, "Arjuna

had a steady enough hand and a quick enough eye to hit the target when

he could only see it reflected in a pool. Nowadays the Hindu, because

he is accused of cowardice, must possess enough self-mastery to strike

and pay for it with his blood: that is the first stage in the yoga of

honour." And she added: "The ideal struggle would be to conquer

through nonviolence preached by our sages, but are we capable of it?

No! Our generation, reared in the acceptance of submission to the

foreigner, lives in a pessimistic atmosphere. Let us start by getting out

of it. The nonviolence which in theory we value so much is worthless in

practice until the day when we are strong enough to strike an irresistible

blow and decide not to do so. The man who does not strike because he

is weak commits a sin. The man who does not strike because he is

afraid is a coward. Krishna accused Arjuna of hypocrisy because he

refused to fight on the battlefield. 'Rise up!' he said to him. 'Go and

fight! You speak like a sage, but your actions betray you and show you

for a coward!' "

It was during the summer days of 1903. Nivedita was coming to

Medinipur. Many people assembled at the railway station to greet her.

The moment she alighted from the train, the crowd shouted, 'Hip, Hip,

Hooray'. They thought that the white-skinned English lady should better

be greeted in that fashion. But Nivedita looked utterly shocked. Waving

her hand she asked them to stop. Then she explained that 'Hip, Hip,

Hooray' was the victory shout of the English people, and the Indians

should by no means use that. She raised her hand and shouted three

times: Waah Guruki Fateh, Bol Baabujiko Khaalsaa. The entire crowd

joined her in shouting.

Right from the inception, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stressed

the physical culture, indigenous games and martial arts in the daily


Shakas. In the annual camps to train workers in all these to become

officers capable of imparting this knowledge to the Swayamsevaks in

the daily Shakas, hundreds of youth participated with all dedication,

earnestness and with a spirit of renunciation. In 1934, a winter camp of

the Sangh took place in Sevagram at Wardha. One thousand five

hundred Swayamsevaks participated in the camp, which took place in

an open ground near the Ashram where Gandhiji was staying. Seeing

the disciplined manner in which the programme of activities of the

Sangh was conducted, Gandhiji expressed his desire to visit the camp.

As soon as the information reached the Sanghchalak, Sri Appaji Joshi,

through Mahadeva Desai, Gandhiji was invited to the camp. On 25th

December 1934, in the early morning, Gandhiji visited the camp and

spent one and half hours with the Swayamsevaks. He was deeply

impressed by their character, discipline and above all the unity which

crossed all the barriers of caste and creed. He visited the camp hospital

and the dining hall and when he found that the Swayamsevaks did not

even care to know each other's caste and lived like members of one

family, he expressed his desire to meet the person who had built up this

organization. Next morning, when Dr. Hedgewar visited the camp to

participate in the concluding function of the camp, the information was

conveyed to him and he accordingly called on Gandhiji in the night.

Gandhiji spent an hour with Dr. Hedgewar discussing about the Sangh

work. Being fully convinced of the sincerity, dedication, patriotism and

devotion of the founder of the organization, he blessed the work of

Sangh.

Emphasis on Sacrifice, Renunciation and Fearlessness

Nivedita’s stress on simple life and austerity was clearly manifest in her

activities. One day, it was noon and so it was extremely hot, as it was

the summer session. On reaching her room, Nivedita immediately

opened all the doors and windows. Waves of hot air filled the room, but

she didn't bother at all. She removed the mattress laid on the cot and

unrolled her own small mat and a thin kaantha (bed spread) over that.

As everybody was struck with wonder, she said, 'I am practising

austerity. And I want you to practise it because of the nature of the task

you're set upon to perform. No luxury befits those who want to free

their country.'

42 TATTVA DARSANA

Once a huge crowd attended her lecture, but hearing her politically

charged words, many people, out of fear, left the meeting before it came

to an end. One retired Government employee informed her of the

happening. He also expressed his apprehensions that in subsequent

meetings not many people might attend. Nivedita replied: “Don't try to

frighten me. My veins still carry the blood of an independent nation. My

lectures are not meant for those who feel scared.” Thereafter the

attendance really became thin. But, undaunted, Nivedita gave her

lectures on all the five days with equal zeal. She opened a gymnasium

for the local youths to practise martial arts. She encouraged the youths

by herself fencing with the sword, rounding the mace and club and in

other exercises. She also taught a girl how to fire a gun.

The artist Nandalal Bose was then a student of the Art School. One day

he and another promising student of the school, Surendranath

Gangopadhyaya, went to meet Nivedita at her Bosepara Lane residence.

They took their seat on the sofa in the drawing room. A carpet was laid

on the floor. Nivedita asked them to sit on the floor. They did take their

seats on the floor but were offended as they thought that the European

lady had insulted them by advising so. But how wrong they were, they

realized a little later. Nivedita looked at them intently for a while, and

then said: ‘You belong to the land of Buddha. I do not feel happy to see

you seated on a sofa. Now as you sit like Buddha, I find it so good to

look at you.’

Sacrifice and renunciation were the keywords that Dr. Hedgewar

imparted to the Swayamsevaks of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He

said: "Naaraayanee ghade jene antharaaya hokaa bapmaay tyajaa

veete—‘Once your mind is surrendered to God, renounce even your

parents’--This saying of Sant Tukaram enlightens the mental attitude of

Swayamsevak.”

He emphatically declared: “There could never be any attainment

without sacrifice. Real happiness is in sacrifice. Immortality is achieved

only through sacrifice. There is no path with the Sangh to attain

salvation and greatness without sacrifice. If we antagonize or separate

ourselves from the path of sacrifice, we will be great sinners.”

Regarding fearlessness, Dr. Hedgewar gave the example of the lion, the

king of forest: “The lion never propagates that he should be crowned as


king. Still all the animals in the forest voluntarily accept his kinghood.

Not only small living beings, but even the big brutes in the forest are

frightened by the roar of the lion.” RSS rightly adopted as its symbol

the picture of a lion looking straight and standing erect on a rock with

one of his forelegs raised.

National Flag

In her conversation with Aswini Kumar Dutta, the renowned

revolutionary, Nivedita revealed that Swamiji wanted her to mould a

‘mighty weapon out of the bones of the Bengali youth’. That was why

she put Vajrayudha in the centre of the National Flag that she designed.

During the Benaras session of the Indian National Congress in 1905,

Sister Nivedita played the role of a mediator between the Moderates and

the Extremists in the Congress, as she had already won the unstinted

love and admiration of leaders of both these wings. It was at her place

of stay that these leaders used to have heart to heart talks. At the time of

Calcutta Session of the Congress, she organized a Swadeshi Exhibition

in which the Nivedita Girls' School exhibited a 'National Flag'. The flag

chosen by Nivedita for the country was nothing but the saffron

'Bhagava Dhwaj', which stood as the symbol of the hoary culture,

heritage and nationalism of the country. And on the flag was portrayed

in yellow colour the Vajraayudha, reminding the people that the great

Rishi Dadheechi donated his back-bone to the Devas for making a

weapon to fight the Asuras and it was now for the people to sacrifice

their all at the altar of the Mother in this fight against British

imperialism. Nivedita, Christine, Rabindranath, Jagadish Chandra Bose,

Abala Bose and others once went to Bodh Gaya in a group. Every

evening Nivedita would meditate sitting under the Bodhivriksha. A little

away from the Bo'tree, there lay a stone-slab with an image of a

thunderbolt engraved on it. Looking at that image of a thunderbolt,

Nivedita said that this should be admitted as the national emblem. When

everybody asked her the reasons for her saying this, she explained:

“When someone renounces all his possessions for the good of mankind,

he becomes as powerful as a thunderbolt, and performs divinely

ordained tasks. The supreme ideal of India is renunciation, so the

thunderbolt should be the national emblem of India.” The thunderbolt

reminded Nivedita of Dadhichi's tale of self-sacrifice. Dadhichi

voluntarily cast off his body for the need of the gods. The gods killed

their enemy—the demon Vritrasura, using the thunderbolt made of his

44 TATTVA DARSANA

bone. Nivedita designed the national flag of India with the thunderbolt

as the emblem. Later, to honour the desire of Nivedita, Jagadish

Chandra Bose engraved the image of thunderbolt on the top of `Basu

Vijnan Mandir.' Nivedita desired to make the Vajra or Thunderbolt a

symbol because according to ancient traditions it signified honour,

purity, wisdom, sanctity and energy. As early as 1905, Nivedita started

working out her idea. In a letter dated February 5, she wrote to Miss

MacLeod: “We have chosen a design for a National Flag—the

Thunderbolt—and have already made one. Unfortunately, I took the

Chinese war-flag as my ideal, and made it black on red. This does not

appeal to India, so the next is to be yellow on scarlet.” Nivedita got

another flag embroidered by her pupils in scarlet and yellow and had it

displayed in the exhibition organized by the Congress in 1905. Many

eminent persons, Dr. J.C. Bose among them, accepted this symbol and

started using it. When, in 1909, the question of a national flag was

openly discussed in the press, an article on the Vajra as the National

Flag, together with its pictures, was published in the Modern Review.

Nivedita wrote: “The question of the invention of a flag for India is

beginning to be discussed in the press. Those who contemplate the

desirability of such a symbol, however, seem to be unaware that already

a great many people have taken up, and are using, the ancient Indian

Vajra or Thunderbolt, in this way. For while this symbolism, cannot be

imparted piecemeal to those outside the circle of its enthusiasm, it can

and must be handed on from generation to generation, and province to

province.”

Dr. Hedgewar presented before the Swayamsevaks the glorious national

flag—Bhagava Dwaja—which has been the symbol of Hindu Rashtra

since times immemorial—as the flag to be hoisted in the daily Sangh

Shakas and adored and worshipped as the Supreme Guru. He said: “By

seeing which flag the whole history of our nation parades in front of our

eyes, by seeing which the feelings in our heart breaks the barriers and

surge forward and a glorious inspiration is felt, that Bhagava Dwaj,

because it symbolizes our ideals, we accept as our Guru. It is only

because of this that the Sangh does not accept any individual as our own

Guru.” He wanted the Swayamsevaks to adopt Chhatrapati Shivaji as

the ideal: “From the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj we get the

same inspiration that we derive when we look at the Bhagava Dwaj. He

once again raised up to the heights the flag that had fallen on ground

and consecrated the Hindu Pada Padshahi, the ideal of Hindu Rashtra;


he gave a new life to Hindutwa which had almost neared extinction.

Therefore, if you have to consider any individual as an ideal, make

Chhatrapati Shivaji as your ideal. So far we have not elevated him fully

to the realm of Avatraras. Therefore let us make him an ideal individual

before he is dubbed as God.”

Dr. Hedgewar participated in the Non-cooperation Movement and was

arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for one year. When Indian

National Congress decided to celebrate January 26, 1930, as

Independence Day, one among the most happy was Dr. Hedgewar. He

issued a circular to all the branches of RSS declaring: "It gives extreme

happiness to us that the Indian National Congress has accepted

Independence as the goal. It is our duty to support any organization that

strives for this. Therefore all the Shakas in all provinces should organize

rallies of Swayamsevaks and raise the Ochre Flag which is the national

flag. The Congress must be congratulated in the rallies for declaring

Independence as the goal."

There was much ignorance and misunderstanding about our national

flag ever since the beginning of the national movement in our country.

From 1906 to 1921, different organizations had adopted different types

of flags as our national flag. In the Karachi session of the Congress, a

seven member committee consisting of Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru,

Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Dr. Hardikar, Kaka Kalelkar, Master Tara Singh

and Moulana Azad was formed to recommend a national flag. This

committee recommended an orange colour flag. The working

committee's approval was needed for the adoption of the flag. Dr.

Hedgewar, who feared that this flag might not get the approval of those

who were raising slogans of Hindu Muslim Unity, persuaded

Lokamanya Bapuji Ane to strongly support the recommendation of the

flag committee. He also went to Delhi, stayed in Bapuji Ane's house

and met other members of the working committee. But his efforts did

not completely meet with success. The Congress adopted a tri-colour

flag. However, in the place of red in the earlier flag, orange was

selected and it was taken to top with white and green strips below. Dr.

Hedgewar felt very sorry that though the saffron flag has been the

symbol of our national culture and heritage since times immemorial,

and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had also adopted the same as its

flag, the Congress chose a national flag suited to the interests of certain

individuals and groups.

46 TATTVA DARSANA

Prayer to the Motherland

When Sri Aurobindo had to go into exile, Sister Nivedita took over the

responsibility of editing his journal, Karma Yogin. In the thirty-sixth

number, dated March 12th, 1910, she published her credo. This prayer

was really her will: her renunciation of all political life. She had

composed it as she drew for her pupils the flag of free India—two gold

vajras in the shape of a cross, on a red background:

“I believe that India is one, indissoluble, indivisible. National Unity

is built on the common home, the common interest, and the

common love.

“I believe that the strength which spoke in the Vedas and

Upanishads, in the making of religions and empires, in the learning

of scholars and the meditation of the saints, is born once more

amongst us, and its name today is Nationality.

“I believe that the present of India is deep-rooted in her past, and

that before her shines a glorious future.

“O Nationality, come thou to me as joy or sorrow, as honor or as

shame! Make me thine own!”

The prayer in Sanskrit adopted by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

for chanting in the daily shakas echoes incidentally similar sentiments:

namaste sada vatsale matruṛbhume

tvayā hindubhūme sukhaṁ vardhitoham

mahāmaṅgale puṇyabhūme tvadarthe

patatveṣa kāyo namaste namaste ||

prabho śaktiman hindurāṣṭrāṅgabhūtā

ime sādaraṁ tvāṁ namāmo vayam

tvadīyāya kāryāya badhdā kaṭīyaṁ

śubhāmāśiṣaṁ dehi tatpūrtaye

ajayyāṁ ca viśvasya dehīśa śaktiṁ

suśīlaṁ jagadyena namraṁ bhavet

śrutaṁ caiva yatkaṇṭakākīrṇa mārgaṁ

svayaṁ svīkṛtaṁ naḥ sugaṁ kārayet ||


samutkarṣaniḥśreyasasyaikamugraṁ

paraṁ sādhanaṁ nāma vīravratam

tadantaḥ sphuratvakṣayā dhyeyaniṣṭhā

hṛdantaḥ prajāgartu tīvrāniśam

vijetrī ca naḥ saṁhatā kāryaśaktir

vidhāyāsya dharmasya saṁrakṣaṇam

paraṁ vaibhavaṁ netumetat svarāṣṭraṁ

samarthā bhavatvāśiśā te bhṛśam ||

bhārat mātā kī jay!

“Forever I bow to thee, O Loving Motherland! O Motherland of us,

Thou hast brought me up in happiness. May my life, O great and

blessed Holy Land, be laid down in Thy Cause. I bow to Thee again

and again.

“We the children of the Hindu Nation (Hindu to be seen as the

emotional connect to the nation of all children of BHARAT) bow to

Thee in reverence, O Almighty God. We have girded up our loins to

carry on Thy work. Give us Thy holy blessings for its fulfilment. O

Lord! Grant us such might as no power on earth can ever

challenge, such purity of character as would command the respect

of the whole world and such knowledge as would make easy the

thorny path that we have voluntarily chosen.

“May we be inspired with the spirit of stern heroism, that is sole

and ultimate means of attaining the highest spiritual bliss with the

greatest temporal prosperity. May intense and everlasting devotion

to our ideal ever enthuse our hearts. May our victorious organized

power of action, by Thy Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our

dharma and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of

glory.

Victory to Bharatamata!”

Vande Mataram

[Article published in TATTVA DARSANA, July-December 2015]

48 TATTVA DARSANA

SISTER NIVEDITA AND

THE TAGORE FAMILY

Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan

Rabindranath Tagore, the bard of modern Bengal who received the

Nobel Prize for literature, was a Philosopher-Poet who derived his

Message of the Forest from the Upanishads and offered his Gitanjali to

the Supreme God. One of the leaders of Indian Renaissance, he brought

a new meaning and purpose to life. He felt the pulsation of the Infinite in

every particle of the finite world. Transcending national barriers, he

taught the Religion of Man.

Sister Nivedita, was the centre of veneration of both Swami

Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore. She was instrumental in

inspiring all of India's scientists like Sir Jagadish

Chandra Bose, and Basiswar Sen, artists like

Abanindra Nath Tagore and Nandalal Bose,

educationists like Brajendra Nath Seal,

Ramananda Chattopadhyay and Kumud Bandhu

Sen, and above all freedom fighters like

Mahatma Gandhi, Rasbihari Ghosh, Gopal

Krishna Gokhale, Arabinda Ghosh, Barin

Chandra Ghosh, and Bipin Chandra Pal. She

also came into contact with young

revolutionaries like Taraknath Das. She was

admired for her work by distinguished persons like Lady Minto and

Ramsay Macdonald.

Friendship With Rabindranath

On their return from a tour of Northern India in December, 1898, Sister

Nivedita’s associates, Miss MacLeod and Mrs Bull, had spent a few

days in Calcutta with the wife of the American Consul, who had

promised to introduce them to Anglo Indian society. Their stay had

Commented [NR1]: Nivedita inspired Mahatma Gandhi?


been short but profitable. They had met many of the Indian friends of

Swami Vivekananda, among them Girish Ghose, the celebrated author

and actor, who had been the favorite lay disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.

Through him they formed a friendship with Rabindranath Tagore, who

by that time had left Shilaida, his retreat among the reeds of the Ganges,

bringing with him a rich harvest of poems of which Bengal was proud.

When Nivedita first saw Rabindranath in 1898, she was deeply

impressed by his appearance, bearing, voice and language. But

although they became real friends, Nivedita remained a complex

and contradictory personality to

the Hindu poet. Her breadth of

vision astonished him, but he was

worried by her subjective

enthusiasms. Taking her to be like

any other foreign missionary, he

requested her to take charge of the

education of his daughter and

added that she should be educated

in the manner of English girls. One

day they just escaped a violent

quarrel when Rabindranath asked

her to teach his youngest daughter

English. She refused point-blank.

"What!" she said. "Do you want

me to play the part of

transforming a Tagore into a little

girl of the West End?" Her eyes were flashing with anger. "Are

you, a Tagore, so influenced by Western culture that you want to

corrupt your child's soul before it is fully formed?" Nivedita

refused to take up the responsibility for she was against imposing

foreign ideals and standards upon children. She was convinced that

children should be taught to aspire after their own national ideals.

Rabindranath was surprised at first, but later attracted by her

educational theories, he offered his house to her to conduct a

normal school according to her ideas. Nivedita could not accept the

offer as she was very busy with her own work. When she sent a

batch of students on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas with Swami

Sadananda, Rabindranath sent his son Rathindranath with them.

50 TATTVA DARSANA

Ravindranath’s “Gora” modelled upon Nivedita

Rabindranath was struck, as most educated Indians were, by

Nivedita 's love for India and the Hindu religion. It is said that

it was Nivedita's deep respect and love for the Hindu religion and

apathy towards the English that inspired him to depict the character

of Gora in his novel of the same name. Something of Nivedita was

to find embodiment in Rabindranath Tagore's novel, Gora, whose

principal character was modelled upon her, and which contained

many incidents from her life. Gora is one of Gurudev’s epics, one

that discusses issues and concerns that seem contemporary even today;

his deconstruction of patriotism is easily applicable to the current times.

This book is a reflection and analysis of the complex social life in

colonial India. After being brought up in the eternity called India,

Gora’s notions of patriotism were obviously turned on their head on

gaining knowledge of his Irish blood. It is here one discerns a parallel of

sorts between this character and the presence of Margaret Elizabeth

Noble in the Bengal of then. Margaret, like Gora, was not only Irish but

also a social worker and teacher, who entered India in 1898 as a disciple

of Swami Vivekananda and later became famous as Sister Nivedita.

The book was published in 1924, thirteen years after Nivedita's

death, but she had known its plot and had discussed it with the

author; its protagonist was a man, a strong-willed but humble

Hindu—a leader of his group, a champion of liberty, completely

orthodox—who finally discovered that he was the son of an Irish

soldier. He was to speak like Nivedita, and to have her flashing eyes

and dynamic personality, though at this early date Tagore had not

worked out the details of the story beyond the fact of his hero's Irish

blood.

Another common point of interest for the two was Indian mythology.

Rabindranath Tagore was fascinated by the good and evil dimensions of

human nature in Ramayana and Mahabharata. And Nivedita was

bowled over by the liberal and ahead-of-its-time details of adoption,

paternity and motherhood in Mahabharata. Such open minded

philosophy was, both of them believed, the foundation stone for India’s

ethnic diversity and any threat to it was a cause of grave concern. The

character Gora also seemed to imbibe his creator’s love of Indian myth.

But when did Nivedita come to know about Gora? “On 30th December,

1930, Nivedita, along with Jagadish Chandra Bose, were guests of


Rabindranath Tagore in his Shilaidaha house (now in Bangladesh). It

was probably then that Tagore discussed Gora with Nivedita,” feels

Suranjan Ghosh, Deputy Public Relations Officer, Visva Bharati. It is

also evident from one of Tagore’s letters to WW Pearson (who later

translated Gora in English), "She (Nivedita) was our guest in Shilaidaha

and in trying to tell her a story as per her request, I gave her something

which came very near to the plot of Gora." Nivedita, however, was not

happy with the tragic ending that Gurudev had in his mind – of Gora

and Sucharita’s unfulfilled love. As a passionate Indophile, who rubbed

shoulders with many others in the path of the cause called India,

Nivedita and her suggestion were difficult to turn down. And so Gora

ended up according to the wish of this Irish lady so that the Irish-born

Gora walked away with his lady love.

Rabindranath’s Impression about Nivedita Rabindranath often visited Nivedita at her Bosepara Lane house.

Nivedita learnt sufficient Bengali to appreciate his writings and

translated his short story ‘Cabuliwalla’ into English. Rabindranath

spent most of his time at Silaidaha. In 1904, Nivedita went there

with Dr. Bose. She was very happy to meet the villagers and to stay

amongst them. When Rabindranath saw her among the villagers it

gave him the opportunity of observing the greatness of her motherly

heart and made him remark : "We had not seen before an embodiment

of the spirit of motherhood which, passing beyond the limits of the

family, can spread itself over the whole country."

What most surprised Rabindranath Tagore was Nivedita's

suspension of her free will in her spiritual life, as coupled—and

contrasted—with the utmost clarity and precision of judgment in

all other matters. One morning while they were discussing a

difficult philosophical text in Bengali, a servant from Belur

announced that Swami Vivekananda wanted to see her. Nivedita

broke off what she was saying. Her expression changed. Her brain

ceased to reason. Her face was alight with a joy which she made

no attempt to conceal from the strict Brahmo who was also a great

poet. "The blessing of Swamiji is with me," she exclaimed. "I must

go at once." Tagore's brilliant intellectual comrade had suddenly

become the humble servant of her guru, and the poet was abashed

by that sight. "There is no doubt," he murmured, "that Nivedita has

found the object of her inner devotion!"

52 TATTVA DARSANA

Rabindranath’s Tribute to Sister Nivedita

Though Sister Nivedita and Rabindranath met often, they never

worked in collaboration at any time. Rabindranath has frankly

written about it thus: “I had felt her great power, but with all that I

understood that her path was not for me. She was a versatile genius,

and there was another thing in her nature: that was her militancy.

She had power and she exerted that power with full force on the

lives of others. When it was not possible to agree with her, it was

impossible to work with her.” However, these differences in their

mental make-up and methods of work never stood in the way of

their friendship. And not without reason did Rabindranath Tagore call

her a Mother of the People. In paying a glowing tribute to her, he said :

"He who has seen her has seen the essential form of man, the form of

the spirit. It is a piece of great good fortune to be able to see how the

inner being of man reveals itself with un-obstructed and undiminished

energy and effulgence, nullifying the obstruction of all outer material

coatings or impediments. We have been blessed in that we have

witnessed that unconquered nobility of man in Sister Nivedita. . . . The

life which Sister Nivedita gave for us was a very great life. There was

no defrauding of us on her part—that is, she gave herself up fully for

the service of India; she did not keep anything back for her own use.

Every moment of every day she gave whatever was best in her,

whatever was noblest. For this she underwent all the privation and

austerity that we associate with man. Her resolve was this and this

alone—that she would give only that which was absolutely genuine; she

would not mix self with it in the least ;—no, not her hunger or thirst,

profit or loss, name or fame; neither fear nor shrinking, nor ease nor

rest. . . . She was in fact a Mother of the People. We had not seen before

an embodiment of the spirit of motherhood which, passing beyond the

limits of the family, can spread itself over the whole country. We have

had some idea of the sense of duty of man in this respect, but had not

witnessed wholehearted mother-love of women. When she uttered the

words 'Our People', the tone of absolute kinship which struck the ear

was not heard from any other among us. Whoever has seen what reality

there was in her love of the people, has surely understood that we—

while giving perhaps our time, our money, even our life--have not been

able to give them our heart; we have not acquired the power to know the

people as absolutely real and near. . . . The man who does not see the

people, the nation, in every man, may say with his lips what he likes,


but he does not see the country properly. I have seen that Sister Nivedita

saw the common people, touched them, did not simply think of them

mentally. The respect with which she would greet some ordinary

Mussulman woman dwelling in a hut in a village is not possible for an

ordinary individual; for the vision that enables one to see the greatness

of humanity in humble individuals is a very uncommon gift. It was

because this vision was so natural to her that she did not lose her respect

for India in spite of the nearness of her life to the life of the people of

India for so long a time."

Paying a tribute to her at her death, the poet said he had no

hesitation in admitting that on occasions when they had come in

conflict, his thoughts had been subjected to relentless attacks by

Nivedita's keen intellect, yet he now felt he had received benefits

from her as from no one else and that he often gained strength on

remembering her. He further said: "She is to be respected not

because she was a Hindu but because she was great. She is to be

honoured not because she was like us, but because she was

greater than us."

Nivedita’s Intimacy with Tagore Family

The other members of the Tagore family with whom she was on

friendly terms were Sarola Ghoshal (daughter of Rabindranath’s sister,

Swarnakumari Devi) and Abanindranath Tagore. Sarola Ghosal, had

already been several times to Bagh Bazar to see the new school’s

principles being put into practice. When she went home, she talked so

much about Nivedita’s work and ideas that the foreign teacher was at

once invited to speak about her conceptions of free education, in the

schools of the Brahmo-Samaj community. Well before her two

American friends, Miss MacLeod and Mrs Bull, left India, Nivedita had

become a favoured guest in the house of the Tagore family, where a

religious discussion was apt to begin as soon as she arrived.

Ravindranath Tagore evoked a world of love and beauty in a song

whose music was inseparable from the singer himself, and sometimes

he would come and read his verses to her in her house at Bagh Bazar.

But although they became real friends, Nivedita remained a

complex and contradictory personality to the Hindu poet. Her

breadth of vision astonished him, but he was worried by her

subjective enthusiasms. "Make inroads into the Brahmos!" Swami Commented [NR2]: Repeated

54 TATTVA DARSANA

Vivekananda had told Nivedita. She was responding to this appeal. The

tie between the Swami and his Western disciple on the one hand and the

organization of Hindu monotheistic reform on the other spanned, rather

curiously, three generations of the Tagore family. Not only was the

famous poet Nivedita's friend; his twenty-six-year-old nephew,

Surendranath Tagore, became especially attached to her, brought his

influential friends to meet her and see her school, sought to serve her in

every possible way, and talked to her for hours of his dreams for India.

And the poet's father, Debendranath Tagore, who had been one of the

founders of the Brahmo-Samaj movement in the Eighteen Forties and

was still in his old age one of its revered personalities, had given his

benediction to Swami Vivekananda twentyfive years before.

Surendranath and Nivedita

Surendranath Tagore had the boldness of youth, a passionate love for

India, and a first hand knowledge of the agricultural problems through

his own labourers on his family's estates. Through him, Nivedita

listened to the cry of the peasants in the Ganges delta as he told her of

their seasonal work, with long months of toil on the parched earth under

constant dread of drought, and then the feverish unremitting labour of

the rainy season with its fear of probable flooding. She asked questions

and Surendranath replied. She suggested reforms that might be carried

out and listened to his reactions. He said to her, "I know I am too young

to serve you, but what can I do for you?" And she answered, "Take care

of your peasants. Give them tools and decent housing, reduce their

taxes, educate their children, look after their old people. There's a job

for a lifetime!"

Although they disagreed in details of Hindu religion—since she

continued to follow orthodox belief and he was equally strong in his

allegiance to the Brahmo-Samaj movement—they met both in general

theory and personal conviction on the ground of social reform and the

betterment of individual living. "You see," Surendranath said to the

Maharajah of Natore when he was showing him her girls' school,

"something great is going to come out of this school; the pupils develop

here in joy and peace. Nivedita incarnates the power of tomorrow."

Knowing the great importance of Debendranath Tagore's blessing in the

life of the young Vivekananda, Nivedita longed to see him. A very old

man now, Debendranath had left the family mansion and was living in a


tiny room that had been built for him on the terrace of the house in the

northern district of Calcutta, where he was born. He lived there alone, in

prayer and meditation. When Nivedita spoke to her friends of her

yearning for the privilege of his darshan, they arranged a meeting at

once. Accompanied by Surendranath, she went to see him.

Meeting with Debendranath

One day, early in 1899, she had been to the house of Tagore to meet

Debendranath Tagore. At the first glimpse of the old man, she was

captivated by the kindness in his eyes and by his air of serenity. It

struck an answering personal chord in her own heart. "I felt that I was

making Swami's pranams as well as my own; and I told him so, and that

Swami had sent me word early that day how particularly pleased he

was," she wrote to a friend, "that I came."

Debendranath Tagore said to her, "I saw Swami once as a boy, as I

was wandering around in a boat, but I would greatly like him to

come to see me once more." He was pleased to meet her and

expressed his desire to see Swami Vivekananda again, recalling that,

years before, young Narendranath had one day clambered up into

his boat and asked him anxious questions about God. Debendra-

nath had patted him and had said he had a Yogi's eyes. That incident

had taken place when Debendranath's house-boat was moored in

the Ganges, years before, and Vivekananda, a mere youngster

then, had wanted to see him, had looked for him in Calcutta, had

felt that he was the only man who could calm his anxiety. He had

looked at the boat from the banks of the Ganges. The distance

from the shore was not great. He plunged into the water. But the

river current was strong and he had to struggle against it. When he

reached the houseboat he was exhausted and gasping for breath.

He clambered on deck, went to the cabin, and opened the door.

The old man was meditating on his prayer mat. The sudden noise

made him open his eyes.

"Master," the youth had cried out, "have you seen God? I must, I

must see Him!"

The pious elderly man looked at the drawn, anxious face of the

student, as if he had added: Were the Vedas inspired, were the

56 TATTVA DARSANA

Shastras true, where was God? The lad actually demanded

abruptly, "Can you teach me Advaita?"

"The Lord has as yet only shown me Dualism," was the simple

reply. And then, seeing the young man's discouragement in the

face of such sincerity, the older master had consoled him: "Have

confidence, my son: you have the eyes of a yogi; the finger of God

is upon you. . . ."

Debendranath’s Invitation to Swami Vivekananda

When Nivedita brought back the word, now, that Debendranath

Tagore wanted to see him, Swami Vivekananda was deeply

moved.

"Did he really say that? Of course I will go," he cried, "and you

can come with me. Fix a day as early as you like."

A few days later, Nivedita and her guru were passing through the

door of the Tagores' house. She wrote of it later: “We were shown

up immediately, one or two of the family accompanying us. Swami

went forward and said "Pranam" and I made it, offering a couple

of roses. The saintly old man first gave me his blessing, and then

he told Swami to sit down. Then for about ten minutes he

recounted, in Bengali, the Swami's various successes with the

doctrines he had preached at each point, and said that he had

watched and heard it all with intense pride and pleasure. The

Tagores were astonished. I ought to have known why Swamiji

looked so curiously unresponsive, almost disagreeable. It was

shyness! Then the old man paused and waited and Swami very

humbly asked for his blessing. It was given and, with the same

salutations as before, we came down-stairs.”

It had been Swami Vivekananda's intention to leave at once for

Belur, but the Tagores would not let him go. All the male members

of the family came gradually crowding about him. He refused tea,

but accepted a pipe. After the usual exchange of courtesies, the

Swami paid a tribute to Ram Mohun Roy, the founder of the

Brahmo-Samaj movement, as "the greatest man modern India has

produced." These words, wished for and now pronounced in the


presence of the whole Tagore family, were a good foundation on

which a new result could be based. Then—of course—

conversation turned on symbolism, and the worship of Kali. And

here both Nivedita and her faithful friend and ally Surendranath

felt themselves on very treacherous ground. Kali was evoked; for

some, the goddess of orgies; for others, the Mother of the

Universe. Fortunately, Swami Vivekananda's attitude was

conciliatory. "Your position is the true Hindu doctrine," he said,

you ought to add the other to it, at least as far as to acknowledge

the relation of symbolism to it."

Both sides were saved! When the Swami went away, invitations

were exchanged with great cordiality.

Sarola and Surendranath at Belur

The real broad-mindedness, which characterized her work, offered her

Brahmo-Samaj friends, a practical example of her active renunciation,

and provided the key to their friendship. They organized further

receptions to introduce her to certain progressive Moslem princes, and

to the heads of different religious communities. In January, she gave a

tea in her school-yard for all her Brahmo friends and Swami

Vivekananda, and during the first three months of 1899, she delivered a

large number of lectures. In various public auditoriums—such as the

Star Theatre and the Albert Hall—and in Brahmo-Samaj centers and

other meeting places of different groups she spoke on educational and

religious subjects, addressing oftenest either the general public or

groups of the Young India movement, and always with the warm

support of the Brahmo elite.

A little later, Sarola Ghosal and Surendranath Tagore went to

Belur as representatives of the entire Tagore family, and Swami

Vivekananda showed them around the monastery. He walked with

Sarola and Swami Brahmananda, while Surendranath was

accompanied by Nivedita and another monk. In the temple of Sri

Ramakrishna, Vivekananda prostrated himself piously, while

Sarola held aloof. At dusk, Swami Vivekananda invited his guests

to take a boat on the Ganges as far as Dakshinesvar, where Sri

Ramakrishna had been a priest at the temple of Kali. Women were

bathing from the bank, and pilgrims were camping in the shadow

58 TATTVA DARSANA

of the trees by the water. When Swami Vivekananda appeared a

shout arose: "Jaya, Jaya, Guru Maharaj!” "Jaya, Jaya," he

replied, "Sri Ramakrishna is with us!"

Nivedita and one of the older monks went on shore with Sarola

and Surendranath while Swami Vivekananda rested on the boat.

They walked in the garden, sat under the trees, noted the beautiful

lines of the moonlight on the steps, and the bright lights on the

other side of the river and on the boats. Then they went into the

room of Sri Ramakrishna, and the two upper-caste Hindus were

taken into the courtyard to see the temple. At that time the temples

were not open to the lower castes or to foreigners which means

that Nivedita herself never entered the courtyard at Dakshinesvar

and never saw the shrine of the Divine Mother. "Kali was shut up,"

Nivedita wrote in a letter, "but these two hopeful Brahmos

returned full of pleasure in the architectural magnificence of the

court." She was moved to hope that her two friends might have, as

she put it, "drunk at the living fountain of faith," and she was

pleased by the evidences of friendship between Sarola Ghosal and

the Swami. "It is with Sarola that he talks now when we are all

together," she wrote, "and she is beginning to love him as we do.

He says she is a jewel of a girl, and will do great things."

Distance Between Tagores and Swami Vivekananda

Nivedita’s attempt to bring Tagore family closer to Swami

Vivekananda’s mission did not fructify at once. A letter arrived

two days later from Sarola Ghosal herself, which thanked the

Swami for his welcome and urged him to abandon the cult of Sri

Ramakrishna, as a condition of the Tagores' cooperation. They

would all be prepared, then, to help him in his work and to join

forces with him. Nivedita wept when she read this. She felt herself

responsible for all that had happened. Who were they, these

Tagores, to turn this attempt at conciliation into such a ghastly

failure? They shared the abstract worship, which Swami

Vivekananda himself had taught; they liked her house at Bagh

Bazar, where there was not a single image; but they refused

categorically to offer homage to Sri Ramakrishna. Her guru

consoled her. "If I were convinced that any great good to humanity

would be the result, I would sweep away that worship without


hesitation, of course," he said. "But let us remember in all humility

Sri Ramakrishna's words: 'God is formless and God is with form,

too, and He is that which transcends both form and formlessness.

He alone can say what else He is.' You see, Margot, when men

come into the world with the aim of serving an ideal, they mustn't

expect people to be ready to listen to them. But remember also that

those who imagine they are completely independent of you are

attached to you more servilely than all the others. Those who make

a fuss about worship of the Personal—they don't understand

themselves, and they hate in others what they know they are

struggling against. If only they would understand!" For Nivedita

the lesson was a hard one. She hung her head. Her heart was

heavy.

Sarola Devi was an educated and accomplished lady, full of vigour

and enthusiasm. She edited a magazine called Bharati. On his

return to India after his first visit to the West, Swami

Vivekananda asked her to take up the cause of women's education

according to his plans. For various reasons Sarola Devi could not

immediately accept his proposal. In one of his letters the Swami

wrote to her, "If bold and talented women like yourself, versed

in Vedanta, go to England to preach, I am sure that every year

hundreds of men and women will be blessed by adopting the

religion of the land of Bharata.” That is why when the Swami

went to the West a second time, he sent word to her through

Nivedita to accompany him; but she did not go. In her

reminiscences recently published, Sarola Devi writes: "In one

of the letters written by him this idea was clearly expressed. It

was not my good fortune then to avail myself of that valuable

opportunity afforded to me. My own unpreparedness and

timidity and the objection raised by my elders prevented my

going. Swamiji went away with Nivedita and she became the

bearer of his message."

But Sarola Devi was a lover of her country and she had

great respect for the Swami and the ideals for which the Mission

stood; so when Nivedita returned to India in 1902, she wrote a

letter to the Swami and requested Nivedita to forward it to

him. In the covering letter to Nivedita she wrote: "My real love

for my country, the wish to follow and take part in all its

60 TATTVA DARSANA

movements and activities, my interest in the Ramakrishna Mission

all along, my faith in Swami Vivekananda's genius from the

very first, it is these that have acted as the hidden springs for

my offer." What the offer was, is not known to us and nothing

definite took effect afterwards, for after Nivedita's return to

India, the Swami lived only for a very short time.

Nivedita had been invited by Mr. Gokhale to attend the Congress

Session in Benares. She reached Banaras on December 24, 1905, and

put up at a house in Tilbhandeswar. During the sessions, the members

observed the presence of Sarola Devi Chaudhurani. Some of them asked

Mr. Gokhale to request her to sing the Bande Mataram song. The

singing of the song in public meeting was prohibited in Bengal. Though

they were in Banaras, Mr. Gokhale thought it would unnecessarily

arouse the Governments ire. But, on the insistence of the members, Mr.

Gokhale had to request Sarola Devi to sing only a few lines of the song.

She, of course, sang the whole song, and it was highly appreciated.

Historic Pilgimage to Budh Gaya

Nivedita had not only visited Budh-Gaya herself and to her in her

love for Mother India this shrine was an essential part of

Hinduism. With special blessings from Swami Brahmananda of the

Ramakrishna Mission, and on his suggestion, she had organized, in

October 1904, a tour which appeared to be in itself merely a

historical and artistic pilgrimage. She was braving the censures of

the British Press with ironical unconcern. The quality of the

participants (about twenty in all) was to bring leaders of public

opinion into close personal contact with the Mahunt. It was indeed

a distinguished company of "pilgrims." Along with Nivedita and

Christine Greenstidal were Mr. and Mrs. Rabindranath Tagore,

with their children and nephews; Dr. and Mrs. Jagadish Bose; Mr.

and Mrs. S. K. Ratcliffe; the son of the Prince of Tripura; Sir

Jadunath Sarkar; Indranath Nandi; Swami Sankarananda, and

Mathuranath Sinha of Patna; Professor Chandra Dey; most of

Nivedita's more intimate friends and political associates; and three

students under the special guidance of Swami Sadananda. The trip

was to include a visit to the most famous Buddhist haunts, together

with an inspection of the newly uncovered stupas, bas-reliefs, and

inscriptions. The itinerary covered Sarnath, Benares, Rajagriha,

Commented [NR3]: Meanwhile, she had not only visited Budh-Gaya herself— she came with a special blessing from Swami Brahmananda of the Ramakrishna Mission, and to her in her love for Mother India this shrine was an essential part of Hinduism—but she had organized, at Swami Brahmananda’s suggestion, a tour which appeared to be in itself merely a historical and artistic pilgrimage.


and Nalanda with a stay of four days at Budh-Gaya. Nivedita had

prepared a complete program of lectures and picnics. For the

return journey, she had also planned visits to Hindu and Moslem

friends, who, in their turn, were ready to vie with one another in

the lavish entertainment of their guests. The travellers set out

during the October vacation of 1904, and the trip lasted almost a

month. They were all lodged in the Mahanta’s guest house.

Her friends soon discovered an aspect of Nivedita's nature of

which they had no knowledge. With her passion for history, she

revealed an uncanny instinct for evoking the past, and she was a

punctiliously careful guide in all the party's learned researches. At

the same time she remained always the receptive confidante. It

was small wonder that her friends hung on her words. After an

early breakfast, Nivedita would read and comment upon a few

pages from Ediwin Arnold’s The Light of Asia, or from her own

book, The Web of Indian Life. The pilgrims would discuss history,

nationalism, and the lives of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami

Vivekananda. She would often gladly speak of the Lord Buddha.

There were daily readings by Nivedita from Warren’s Buddhism in

Translation. Her deep and varied tone betrayed how the subject of

Buddha’s life and work possessed her. Sometimes songs and recitations

by the poet Rabindranath enthralled them.

“The Hindus who chose Sri Ramakrishna as their guru acted with

the same discernment as the Hindus who, in days gone by,

followed the greatest sadhu of their time, the victorious Buddha, in

search of a purer life and a stricter faith," a letter from Sir

Jadunath Sarkar had quoted her as saying. "If ever I write the life

of Swami Vivekananda, I shall naturally describe him as the

greatest sage of all time, and shall only mention Chaitanya, or the

Vaishnava sect to which he belonged, in passing. If, much later,

historians, on the authority of my book, affirm that Ramakrishna's

followers have seceded from Hindu society to form a caste apart

from the Vaishnavas, or that, they ousted the followers of

Chaitanya, then they will only be making the same mistake as

those who teach that Buddhism does not belong to us."

In the evening, the pilgrims sat on the tottering steps of the ruins

and watched the glow-worms. They meditated in the deepening

62 TATTVA DARSANA

peace. Nivedita would recall a personal experience; Rabindranath

Tagore would sing a quiet melody. How delightful was the

intimacy of these pauses that brought hearts and souls into contact!

"Tagore was a perfect guest," Nivedita noted, "with nothing of the

spoiled child socially about him. He has a naive sort of vanity in

speech which is so childish as to be rather touching. He sang and

chatted day and night, was always ready to entertain or be

entertained, struggled all the time between work for the country

and the national longing to seek liberation. He' a real poet, who

sings and gladdens our souls!"

The Mahunt received them like a king, with his faith as his

treasure. The night before they left, however, Nivedita was

suddenly seized with a fit of sadness and poured out her doubts to

him. How many of the pupils she had brought, how many of her

close friends who were leaving with deep satisfaction, had really

absorbed something of Budh-Gaya's message of love and

tolerance? Of this magnificent experience, what were they going to

retain? "Swami Vivekananda had indeed sowed the seeds of an

effective spirituality," she said, “but every being must grow, shake

off its bonds, and become a giant tree."

"Let the great Gardener bless each one of His plants," the monk

responded. "Is it for us to understand aught of it?" His outstretched

palms called down the divine blessing, his smile welcomed it, his

eyes bequeathed it. Nivedita bowed low before him, and touched

his feet in homage. Leaving Budh-Gaya, the travellers took the

road the Buddha had followed by moonlight to Rajagriha, fifty

miles away. They also went by night.

Abanindranath and Nivedita

In 1902, the foremost authority on Oriental archaeology and art, Mr.

Kokasu Okakura came to India. A band of educated and

cultured Bengali young men gathered round him. Many

members of the Tagore family were of this group and so was Nivedita.

This was where Abanindranath Tagore first met Nivedita. In

his autobiography, he has written : "I met her first at the

house of the American Consul. He had given a reception to

Okakura and Nivedita had come there. She wore a full white


gown covering her from neck to feet and had a rosary of

Rudraksha beads round her neck. She was, as it were, an image of

a Tapasvini carved out of white marble. Okakura on one s ide,

Nivedita on another— i t seemed as if two stars had met

from two spheres. How can I express what I saw there!”

"I saw her a second time at a party of the Art Society at Justice

Homewood's house. I was given the charge of sending out

invitations. I had sent an invitation to Nivedita also. The party

had begun. The whole place was crowded with so many rich

people. Many well-dressed beautiful ladies were there. Nivedita

came late in the evening. The same white dress, the rosary of

Rudraksha beads round her neck and her brown hair tied in a high

knot. When she came and stood there it seemed as if the moon

had arisen among the stars. In a moment all the beautiful women

paled into insignificance. The men started whispering. Woodroffe

came and asked me who she was. I introduced him to Nivedita."

Abanindranath's sense of beauty differed from ordinary standards,

that is why he often remarked, "I do not know whom you would

call beautiful; to me she is the ideal." They had met in the field

of art and not politics and in that field too her love and admiration

for India could not remain unexpressed. Abanindranath said once:

"Among all the foreigners who love India, Nivedita occupies the

highest place." The artist Abanindranath Tagore considered her to

be an ideal of beauty and said that he visualized her as the

meditating Uma. When Nivedita came in contact with Mr.

Abanindranath Tagore, the Vice-Principal of the Calcutta Art

School, she saw that he too was imbued with foreign ideas. Due to

Nivedita’s influence, he later turned to the Indian style. He

acknowledged that she had opened the eyes of the Indians to the

beautiful aspects of their own county, their own art and their own

institutions. Her strong and clear vision of renaissance in art always

appealed to him. When Abanindranath adopted the Indian style of

art, Nivedita was full of praise for him. When his ‘Bharata -Mata’

or ‘India the Mother’ was painted, she was in ecstasy and wrote:

“We see in this drawing something for which Indian art has long

been waiting, the birth of the idea of those new combinations which

are to make the modern age in India.”

64 TATTVA DARSANA

Calcutta School of Art Nivedita met Indian artists like Abanindranath Tagore, Ananda

Coomaraswamy and Havell and inspired them to develop pure Indian

school of art. She always inspired and guided the talented students of

the Calcutta Art School to move along the forgotten tracks of ancient

Indian art like Nandalal Bose, Asit Kumar Haldar and Surendranath

Gangopadhyay. With Abhanindranath veering off the beaten track of

imitation of foreign art the Art movement in India received a new

vigour. Round him clustered his students and a new School of Art,

known later as the Calcutta School, grew up. His students like Mr.

Nanadalal Bose, Mr. Surendranath Ganguly, Mr. Asit Kumar Haldar

and Mr. Venkatappa later became famous artists. Besides the support of

Mr. Havell and Nivedita, this school received full support from Mr.

Coomaraswamy, Mr. Gangendranath Tagore, Sir John Woodroffe and

Mr. O.C. Ganguly. All of them met at Abanindranath’s house at

Jorasanko. The Indian Society of Oriental Art was founded by them in

1907 to make their objectives known to the nation as a whole. “As long

as she lived, she visited our exhibitions at the Oriental Art Society and

encouraged the artists.” says Asit Haldar writing in The Modern Review

in April 1910.

The last of such exhibitions which Nivedita attended was held in

February 1910. The paintings of Mr. Surendranath Ganguly, Mr.

Nandalal Bose, Mr. Hasit Haldar, Mr. O.C. Ganguly and Mr. Iswari

Prasad were exhibited together with the pictures of Mr. Abanindranath

Tagore and Mr. Gangendranath Tagore. After visiting the exhibition

Nivedita wrote a report on it in which she happily concluded: “And for

ourselves, we came away much gladdened, for never had the continuity

of the new school with the old, been so convincingly demonstrated, and

we felt, in that fact, many miles nearer to our dream—the great Indian

school of mural painting, historic, national and heroic, which is to be

the gift of the future to the Chosen Land.”

The Dawn Society and the Anusheelan Samity

The 'Dawn Society' and the `Anusilan Samity' wielded a great influence

over a large number of people. The 'Dawn Society' was started by Mr.

Satis Chandra Mukherjee and it did much work in fostering and

popularizing the idea of national education. It was under its auspices

that the National Education Society was founded in 1905, and the

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abanindranath_Tagore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Coomaraswamy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Coomaraswamy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandalal_Bose


National College was started. People of social standing like

Brajendranath Seal, Rabindranath Tagore, Surendranath Banerjee,

Sister Nivedita, Bipin Chandra Pal, Abdul Rasul and others were

brought together in its all-embracing national programme. Mr. Benoy

Sarkar, then a young man, but later a noted economist, said that he first

saw Nivedita in 1904 at the Dawn Society and was surprised to see how

a foreigner could have nothing but India's interest in her mind. She was

a real 'Sister' to them. She spoke to them about India's independence.

Her rebukes were strong and bitter and she was able to rouse the

sentiments of patriotism and national service in the young. The

‘Anusilan Samity’ was organized by Mr. Satis Bhusan Roy Chowdhury.

Mr. P. Mitra, a well-known barrister, was one of its active workers.

Among other noted leaders who either associated themselves with its

activities or helped it were Mr. C. R. Das, Mr. Suren Haider, Mr. H. D.

Basu, Mr. Rashbehari Ghosh, Justice Sarada Charan Mitra,

Rabindranath Tagore and Sister Nivedita.

The committee which actually took up the programme of Sri Aurobindo

was the ‘Anusilan Samity’. Nivedita often visited it and addressed its

young members. As a member of the short-lived Central Committee of

which P. Mitra was the President, Mr. C.R. Das and Sri Aurobindo were

Vice-Presidents and Mr. Surendrantah Tagore, Treasurer, Nivedita had

come in contact with some of its active members. She gave her

collection of books on Irish revolution, the History of Mutiny, the

American Wars of Independence, the History of the Dutch Republic, the

Lives of Mazzini and Garibaldi, and books on economics written by Mr.

R.C. Dutt, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, Mr. Digby and others to the Samity.

Tagore and Nivedita’s School

Nivedita’s activities in the city were paralleled by, and

complimentary to Rabindranath Tagore’s efforts to set up

independent rural centers. Their points of view were often highly

divergent, but they worked together none the less. Two important

events in the development of Nivedita’s school took place,

however, in the middle of the year 1904; the first was the

acquisition—in spite of financial difficulties—of the house next

door; the second was Rabindranath Tagore's offer of his beautiful

family house for a normal school. Swami Vivekananda's words

were still ringing in Nivedita's ears: "Be brave, Margot! Take

66 TATTVA DARSANA

every opportunity. Only have courage, and I will send the means."

But she refused this offer nevertheless. For her pupil-teachers, at

the same time, she proposed a program of social studies, which

had been established with Rabindranath Tagore. The idea was

bold, but inspiration was culled solely from the esoteric value of

the sacred texts. "The Upanishads, the Gita, the Vedanta, are our

masters," she said. "Never let foreign ideas take the place of our

ideas and cause confusion in our morals and our ways of reacting.

To emancipate the greatest number of people most easily and

effectively, it is necessary to choose familiar ideals and forms, and

in every case it is necessary to make progression absolutely

continuous, so that there be no sharp incongruity among the

elements of early experience."

It was for this reason that Nivedita attached so much importance to

her kindergarten, where, without false modesty, the girls exhibited

their living mysticism, and their joy in being the outward form

through which the Divine Mother was constantly manifesting

Herself. "And for that," she said, "our epic poems must be the

basis of the imagination, because it is with the threads of our

history that its hope must be woven. One is not born a hero. It is

the pressure of heroic thoughts that makes heroes come to the

surface. Deep within them, all human beings have a thirst for

sacrifice. No other thirst is more violent. Let us give it its place!

Such an education will make a 'nation' of India!”

The Matri Mandir, a special section in the school, was established

on the day when Nivedita gave the children quarters in a room

overlooking in their courtyard. There, under the watchful eye of

Santoshini—the first Hindu to dedicate herself to Nivedita’s

ideal—they lived a life of devoted piety. She trained them to take

charge of the day scholars along with the pupil-teachers who came

daily. Several of these were from Brahmo-Samaj families, to

become later Rabindranath Tagore’s first assistants in his famous

Shantiniketan.

Lokamata Nivedita

Nivedita exerted great influence on the famous Tamil poet,

Subrahmanya Bharati, who met her only briefly in 1906. He accepted


her as his Gnana Guru and dedicated his poetic works to her. He also

wrote an inspiring poem paying his obeisance to his Gnana Guru. She

influenced Bharathi to work for the freedom of women in the country,

which he did all through his life. Nivedita designed the national flag of

India with the thunderbolt as the emblem against a red background. The

children of Nivedita’s school exhibited the flag and presented it in the

Indian National Congress session at Benares in 1905. She was the

Lokamata who had inspired scores of Indian leaders from Lokmanya to

Deshbandhu, to Sri Aurobindo and Gurudev. It was Rabindranath

Tagore who conferred the epithet of ‘Lokamata’ on Sister Nivedita.

Rabindranath’s Introduction of Nivedita’s Book

Rabindranath wrote the introduction of the book titled "The Web of

Indian Life" written by Sister Nivedita on 21 Oct, 1917. The book was

first published in 1904. While writing its long introduction he analysed

the Western mentality, specially the ruling British Government and the

recent political perspective of India: "For some time past a spirit of

retaliation has taken possession of our literature and our social world.

We have furiously begun to judge our judges, and the judgement comes

from hearts sorely stricken with hopeless humiliation. And because our

thoughts have an origin whose sound does not reach outside our

country, or even the ears of our governors within its boundaries, their

expression is growing in vehemence. The prejudice cultivated on the

side of the powerful is no doubt dangerous for the weak, but it cannot

be wise on the part of the strong to ignore that thorny crop grown on the

opposite field. The upsetting of truth in the relationship of the ruler and

the ruled can never be compensated by the power that lies in the grip of

the mailed fist."

In this perspective, he fixed up the position of Sister Nivedita with great

honour: "And this was the reason which made us deeply grateful to

Sister Nivedita, that great-hearted Western-woman, when she gave

utterance to her criticism of Indian life. She had won her access to the

inmost heart of our society by her supreme gift of sympathy. She did

not come to us with the impertinent curiosity of a visitor, nor did she

elevate herself on a special high perch with the idea that a bird's eye

view is truer than the human view because of its superior aloofness. She

lived our life and came to know us by becoming one of ourselves."

68 TATTVA DARSANA

From Sadhu’s Epistles:

SISTER NIVEDITA’S VISION AND MISSION

Dear Sarita,

Vande Mataram! Jai Sri Ram! Jai Yogi Ramsuratkumar! My Master

blesses you and all our brethren in Vivekananda Kendra, Jodhpur!

Thank you for your message! We are very happy to receive your query

regarding the clarion call of Sister Nivedita.

Sister Nivedita said, "Age succeeds age in India, and even the voice of

the Mother calls upon Her children to worship Her with new offerings,

with renewal of their own greatness. Today She cries for the offering of

nationality. Today She asks, as a household Mother of the strong men

whom She has borne and bred, that we show to Her, not gentleness and

submission, but manly strength and invincible might. Today She would

that we play before Her with the sword. Today She would find Herself

the Mother of a hero-clan. Today does She cry once more that She is

hungered, and only by lives and blood of the crowned kings and men,

can the citadel be saved."

This is a very timely and significant message that Sister Nivedita gave

to the Hindu Nation. In the cycle of time, according to Indian

astronomy, every yuga or age is succeeded by another and each Yuga

has its Dharma. When men obtain everything in the Krita Yuga without

any sacrifice as they all live a divine life, in the Kali Yuga, when the

standard of life and values of life are at the lowest ebb, maximum

sacrifice is needed. Bharatavarsha lost its glory and greatness and fell a

victim to foreign invasions because the people lost the vision of

righteousness and eternal values, the foremost among them being the

adoration and worship of the Motherland. Swami Vivekananda, who

proclaimed the glory and greatness of Vedanta in the West, right at the

moment of his landing on the Indian shore on his return, took the sacred

soil of Bharatavarsha and besmeared his whole body with the earth to

purify himself. In all his speeches from Colombo to Almora, the one

predominant theme and message that he gave was adoration of

Bharatavarsha and its people. His idea of welcoming Sister Nivedita,

the beautiful lotus that blossomed in the lake of the Irish revolutionary

family of the Nobles, was to rekindle the spirit of patriotism and


revolution in the youth of India. As Sister Nivedita has said, the Swami

wanted her to "mould a mighty weapon out of the bones of the Bengali

youth" for the emancipation of the Motherland. Therefore, her task was

to spread the message of highest sacrifice among the younger

generation of Bharat. She accordingly designed the National Flag of

India as the Ochre flag, which has come down through ages, with the

symbol of Vajrayudha surrounded by the slogans, VANDE MATARM

and YATO DHARMASTATO JAYAH. The Vajrayudha reminded the

youth about the sacrifice of his backbone by Rishi Dadeechi for making

the mighty weapon for Indra to annihilate the Asuras. She called upon

the youth to perform the greatest sacrifice by offering themselves in the

sacred fire of revolution chanting the mantra, "Raasshtraaya swaahaa,

Raashtraaya idam na mama". That is what she called the "offering of

nationality". The Divine Mother Bharatabhavani wanted Her children

"to play with sword" and save the citadel of Bharatabhoomi with "the

offering of lives and blood of crowned kings and men".

Sister Nivedita's mission is yet to be fulfilled. Bharatavarsha is not

really free. She stands vivisected and a large chunk of Her land is still in

alien hands. Her children are still in deep slumber and even the sadhus,

sannyasins and dharmacharyas of this land have failed to awaken the

nation. Unless and until they deluge the hundred thousand gods,

goddesses, cults, sampradayas and missions with the suging waters of

patriotism and nationalism and project Akhanda Bharatavarsha--the

Eternal Mother of all gods, goddesses, religions and cults--as the

Supreme Deity to be adored and worshipped, the real Independence of

this Holy Nation could not be achieved and Mother Bharatabhavani

elevated to the highest seat of Loka Guru as envisaged by the great

sages and seers of the past.

With Prem and Aum, Yours in service of Sri Bharatabhavani,

Sadhu Rangarajan

"Hinduism would not be eternal were it not constantly growing and

spreading, and taking in new areas of experience. Precisely because it

has this power of self addition and re-adaptation, in greater degree than

any other religion that the world has even seen, we believe it to be the

one immortal faith." –Sister Nivedita

70 TATTVA DARSANA

Book Review

THE DEDICATED—A BIOGRAPHY OF NIVEDITA

THE DEDICATED—A Biography of Nivedita by Lizelle Reymond;

Published by V.Sadanan for Samata Books, 10, Kamaraj Bhavan, 573,

Mount Road, Madras 600 006; Pages: Demi Octvo X+376, Price:

Rs.45/-

Among the makers of Modern India, the place of Sister Nivedita is

second to none but her illustrious masters, Swami Vivekananda. If the

Swamiji was the crown and glory of the renaissance movement in India,

which ushered in the freedom of this glorious nation from the British

yoke, Sister Nivedita was the chosen instrument of the Swamiji to beat

the drums of destiny of this nation, heralding a political revolution in

this country and awakening the sleeping countrymen to fight the battle

of freedom of this great country. About Sister Nivedita's role in the

freedom movement, the great patriot revolutionary, Rash Bihari Ghosh

has remarked; "If our sister fell under the spell of India, we in turn fell

under her spell, and her bewitching personality attracted thousands of

our young men to her. If the dry bones are beginning to stir, it is

because Sister Nivedita breathed the breath of life into them".

Like that of many of the fore-runners of the Indian Freedom Struggle,

especially those who were in the forefront of the revolutionary

movement, Sister Nivedita's name is also blacked out by the so-called

"modern, non-violent, socialist, secularist and committed" historians,

for obvious reasons. Fortunately, a renowned and dedicated writer from

France, Lizelle Reymond, who between 1935 and 1953 had translated a

number of sacred Indian texts, came forward to write the biography of

Sister Nivedita. She travelled all over India and spent several years

writing the biography of Nivedita, which was first published in 1953.

The book under review is the corrected edition, which has, incidentally,

come out in this Centenary Year of Indian National Congress, the

International Year of Youth, and the U.N. Decade for women.

Miss Margaret Noble of Ireland, who later became renowned as Sister

Nivedita, came to India as the dedicated disciple of Swami

Vivekananda who shook the whole world with his celebrated speech on

the Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893. Inspired by the roar of


the Lion of Vedanta and responding to his specific direction to her to

rouse the spirit of patriotism and nationalism among the Indians, the

Sister plunged into the Indian National Movement and emerged as the

leader of all leaders. Her area of influence was not confined to

spiritualism and nationalism alone, but included many other fields.

As Jean Herbert states in the preface to the book under review, "Her

amazing vitality both multiplied and channelled by that asceticism and

that consecration, was such that even today there is scarcely any field—

religion, pedagogy, science, art, politics, society - in which she did not

leave her mark. And all the leaders of India who made the epoch from

1895 to 1914 famous, were her intimate friends".

Lizelle Reymond's biography of the Sister is divided into three parts.

The first part presents the early life of Miss Margaret Noble till she

comes under the attraction of the magnetic personality of the patriot

Monk of India. Madame Reymond has portrayed beautifully the initial

reservations in the heart of Miss Noble and her sharp questioning of the

Guru in the same way he did with his own master, Sri Ramakrishna.

The second part of the book deals with the life of Sister Nivedita under

the care of her master. Madame Reymond presents not merely the

biography of the sister, but also very valuable information regarding the

character and personality of the Swamiji. The moments of ecstasy as

well as despire through which Nivedita passed through during this

period of total surrender to the master have been truly portrayed. The

author makes us also share the agony of the Sister when she is forced by

her Guru to chalk out her own path of action. Though apparently harsh,

the Swamiji's words convey a great message: "When a great man has

prepared his workers, he must go to another place, for he cannot make

them free in his own presence. I am nothing more for you. I have

handed over to you the power that I possessed; now I am only a

wandering monk. There is a peculiar sect of Mohammedans who are

reported to be so fanatical that they take every newborn babe and

expose it saying, "If God made thee, perish. If Ali made thee, live".

Now what they say to the child I say, but in the opposite sense, to you

tonight: Go forth into the world, and there, if I made you, be destroyed.

If the Divine Mother made you, live". The third part of the book deals

with Nivedita's heroic role in the nation's freedom struggle along with

other manmaking and nation building activities through her school and

journals. Though she was an inspiring angel to both the extremists and

72 TATTVA DARSANA

moderates in the freedom movement, her own position is clear when she

speaks explicitly. "The ideal struggle would be to conquer through non-

violence preached by our sages, but are we capable of it? No! Our

generation, reared in the acceptance of submission to the foreigner, lives

in a pessimistic atmosphere. Let us start by getting out of it. The non-

violence which in theory we value so much is worthless in practice until

the day when we are strong enough to strike an irresistible blow and

decide not to do so. The man who does not strike because he is weak

commits sin. The man who does not strike because he is afraid is a

coward. Krishna accused Arjuna of hypocrisy because he refused to

fight on the battle-field. "Rise up." he said to him, “Go and fight! You

speak like a sage, but your actions betray you and show you for a

coward.” "

Mother India became the Sister's Istha Devata and Swami Vivekananda

himself has said to his brother monks that Nivedita must be given full

liberty, "even if she works without any connection with the Mission".

Though, at the conclusion of the days of mourning for Swami

Vivekananda, it was decided between the members of the Ramakrishna

Order at Belur Math and Sister Nivedita that her work should

henceforth be regarded as free and entirely independent of the sanction

of the authority of the Math, Nivedita's life never ceased to be a great

offering to the mission of Swami Vivekananda. The last part of this

book is also a wonderful account of the currents and cross-currents in

Indian Nationalist Movement and Nivedita's herculean task in bringing

together all forces for the liberation of the Motherland. Nivedita as a

solace and inspiration to great men like Sri Aurobindo, Bhupendranath

Datta, Bipin Chandra Pal, Barindra Ghosh, Mahakavi Bharati, J.C.

Bose, Abanindranath Tagore and many others is excellently picturised.

The book consists of art insertions containing photographs of Sri

Ramakrishna, the Sister with the Swamiji, the Sister with Holy Mother,

and the Sister at work, and also has the familiar photo in standing pose

of Sister Nivedita on the cover. Elegantly printed by the All India press

of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, this volume is a must in every

library and educational institution. To every devotee of Bharata Mata,

this biography of Sister Nivedita will serve as a sacred scripture to

guide him or her in the cult of spiritual nationalism.

--PROF. V. RANGARAJAN


News and Notes

Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan visited Sriperumbudur, the birth

place of Acharya Sri Ramanuja, the great Vaishnava saint on Monday,

May 1, 2017, to participate in the 1000th Year Celebrations of Sri

Ramanuja. He also attended abhisheka of Sri Vijayaraghava swamy in

Tiruppukkuzhi.

Sadhuji participated in a meeting of Youth for New India

Movement, convened by Sri Sudin Nair, to support the nation-building

activities of Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi, held in Sri Bharatamata

Mandir, Krishnarajapram, Bangalore, on Sunday, May 7, 2017.

Sadhuji addressed a Teacher’s Camp of Rashtrotthana Vidya

Kendra at the school’s premises in Thanisandra, Bangalore, on Friday,

May 19, 2017, and spoke on the Cultural Heritage of Bharatavarsha.

There was also a lively question and answer session after Sadhu’s talk.

A Fire-walking Festival of Mariamman Temple was held at

Jayanagar, Bangalore, on Thursday, May 25, 2017. Sadhuji addressed

the gathering and spoke on the Scientific Rationale of Mother Worship.

Vidyaarambham Ceremony of Rashtrotthana Vidya Kendra was held at the premises of the school at Lingarajapuram,

Bangalore, on Sunday, May 28, 2017. Sadhuji addressed the gathering

of parents, teachers and students and spoke on the Ideals of Education

in Hindu Culture.

Sadhuji participated in the Maha Kumbhaabhisheka of

Anjaneya Temple in Ulsoor, Bangalore, on Sunday, June 4, 2017, and

spoke on the World Ramnam Movement and Significance of the

Ramanama Taraka Mantra, Aum Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram.

Sow. Yashika Singh of South African Broadcasting

Corporation and Sri Suda Sing of African Lotus Productions visited

Sri Bharatamata Mandir at Bangalore on Sunday, June 25, 2017. They

took an interview of Sadhuji on International Yoga Day to be broadcast

in the ‘Sunday Sadhana’ programme of SABC. Sadhu explained in

detail the Scientific Rationale of Patanjali’s Ashthaanga Yoga.

Sadhuji addressed a Kuthumbha Sangamam of Samanvaya,

at Mahadevapura, Bangalore, on Sunday, July 2, 2017, and spoke on the

importance of training regularly children at home in the spiritual

practices to mould them into perfect human beings.

74 TATTVA DARSANA

Aadi Abhishekam of Sri Bharatamata was held in Sri

Bharatamata Mandir, Bangalore, with pooja and alankara of the Divine

Mother by Sri Srinivasamoorthy, on Tuesday, July 25, 2017.

Sadhuji addressed hundreds of youths organizing the

Saarvajanik Ganesha Utsav in Bangalore in Bhanjara Kshatriya

Hostel at Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore, on Tuesday, August 8, 2017, and

spoke about the celebration of Ganesha Chaturthi by all sects and

sampradayas of the Hindus. He also spoke how Lokamanya

Balagangadhar Tilak made it into a national festival to integrate the

entire Hindu society in the fight for freedom of Bharat from the British

rule.

Independence Day Celebrations were held at Srinivasanagar,

Bangalore, under the auspices of Srinivasanagar & Padmavatinagar

Owners’ Residential Welfare Association, on Tuesday, August 15,

2017. Sadhuji hoisted the National Flag on the occasion and performed

Sri Bharatamata Pooja. National Flag was hoisted on Sri Bharatamata

Mandir also. Sadhuji hoisted National Flag in the Netaji Subhas Centre

Library at Ananthapura, Bangalore, also.

A grand Saarvajanik Ganesh Chaturthi Procession in which

more than hundred Ganesh idols from different parts of Bangalore were

taken out in a colourful procession with festivities, fire-works and dance

entertainments by different groups from the city and outside for

immersion in Ulsoor Lake took place on Sunday, August 27, 2017.

Sadhuji attended the celebration and blessed the organizers and

participants.

Sadhuji, accompanied by Swami Chandreshananda of Sri

Ramakrishna Vivekananda Sadhana Kendra, Bangalore, visited Swami

Krishnananda Ashram at Berikai near Hosur and participated in a

memorial function to pay homage to Swami Krishnananda. Sadhuji,

addressing a gathering on the occasion, spoke on the importance of

Guru’s Grace in spiritual upliftment.

A grand Onam Celebration 2017 was held under the auspices

of Bengaluru East Malayalee Association at Om Shakti Temple Ground,

Banjara Layout. A number of dignitaries including Union Minister, Sri

Sadananda Gowda, Sri Nandish Reddy, Ex-MLA, and religious heads

from Christian and Muslim communities also graced the occasion.

Sadhu Rangarajan spoke on the Significance of Onam Festival

symbolizing human integration. Colourful entertainment programmes of

children and women and a grand Onam feast were part of the day-long

celebrations.


GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI by SADHU PROF. V. RANGARAJAN

Foreword by H.H. Swami Chidananda (Former President of Divine Life Society)

YOGI RAMSURATKUMAR CENTENARY

COMMEMORATION VOLUME

Veda rishaya samaarabhya vedaantaachaarya madhyamaah

Yogi Raamsuratkumaara paryantam vande guru paramparaam!

Salutations and adorations to all great preceptors of the holy land of

Bharatavarsha right from the Vedic seers, through the great Vedanta Acharyas,

to my Deekshaa Guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar Maharaj of Tiruvannamalai!

Immediately after the initiation of this Sadhu by H.H. Yogi Ramsuratkumar, at

the Papa Ramdas Cave, popularly known as Banyan Tree Cave, on the

auspicious Jayanti of Papa Ramdas on Tuesday, April 26, 1988, Yogi

Ramsuratkumar presented this disciple before the august assembly that had

gathered in the cave for His Master's Jayanti celebration. Though he had

converted this proud professor into a humble sadhu, he insisted that nothing

should be given up even from the name and therefore called the disciple as

'Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan', the name that has stuck forever. Maatru devo

bhava, pitru devo bhava, aachaarya devo bhava—'let the mother be God, the

father be God and the preceptor be God'—the Shaastras say. The preceptor,

unlike other Acharyas who give a new Sannyasa name to a disciple, retained

the name given by this Sadhu's parents and repeatedly emphasized,

"Renunciation is not giving up anything, nor is it taking up anything….

Till yesterday, you were doing things as you wished, but from now

onwards, this Beggar is going to do my Father's work through you."

The first massive gathering of the devotees of my Master, H.H. Yogi

Ramsuratkumar, addressed by this sadhu was hardly a fortnight later. It was a

two-day national seminar on "Destiny of Human Race and the Mission of His

Holiness Yogi Ramsuratkumar" organized by ardent devotees like Sri A.R.P.N.

Rajamanickam, Industrialist, and Dr. K. Venkatasubramanian, Vice-Chancellor

of Pondicherry University, and held at the Kamban Kalai Arangam,

Pondicherry, on May 7 and 8, 1988. This sadhu, with the blessings of his

Master, arrived at Pondicherry on May 6 itself, to participate in the gathering.

The first thing he did was to visit, on the early morning of May 7, 1988, the

Ashram of his Paramaguru, Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo, the first among the

"Three Fathers" as Yogi Ramsuratkumar called his three preceptors, the other

two being Maharishi Ramana of Tiruvannamalai and Papa Ramdas of

Kanhangad from whom he got the initiation. This sadhu offered himself at the

76 TATTVA DARSANA

Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo with tears welling in the eyes for the opportunity

that was given to this humble sadhu to be an instrument for the work of the

great master. Devotees of my master gave this sadhu a cordial welcome when

he reached the Kalai Arangam, the venue of the seminar. Pandita Indrani, a

devotee from Trinidad, also joined the sadhu. Eminent writers and scholars

addressed the seminar. Sri Ramani Guruji released the Fourth Annual Number

of TATTVA DARSANA dedicated to Yogi Ramsuratkumar on May 8, 1988,

and Sri Rajamanickam received the first copy. Dr. Balachandran and Sri

Shankararajulu, former Registrar of Madurai Kamaraj University, referred to

the work of sadhuji, "GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI", and the special issue

of TATTVA DARSANA. The souvenir, "Divine Message to Humanity",

published on the occasion of the seminar also carried articles and sayings of the

master reproduced from the special issue. A sannyasini, Bhavadharini Ammal,

who was, in her poorvaashram, a devotee of the Sadhu, referred to the sadhu as

'Modern Bharatiyar' who integrated nationalism and religion. The sadhu gave a

fiery speech in the seminar, calling for the elevation of patriotism into a

spiritual sadhana to fulfil the dreams of Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo and Yogi

Ramsuratkumar to make Bharatavarsha once again the Loka Guru—the

spiritual preceptor of the whole world. After the seminar, this sadhu sent the

copies of the special issue of TATTVA DARSANA to his Master, Yogi

Ramsuratkumar, through another devotee, Pon Kamaraj.

The mission of the sadhu in spreading the message of the Master throughout

the country and abroad now started. Every movement of the sadhu from then

on was intimated to his Master and his blessings obtained. As per the

instructions of the Master, every time this sadhu made a visit to

Tiruvannamalai to meet the Master, a prior intimation was given to him and,

like a cow waiting for its calf to return from grazing, the Master used to eagerly

look forward to the sadhu's visits and receive him as soon as he presented

before the Master.

The second edition of GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI, which was released

by the sacred hands of the Master on the auspicious occasion of Gurupoornima

on July 27, 1988, carried the story of the initiation of the sadhu already

narrated in the special Fourth Annual Number of TATTVA DARSANA and an

article on the Master written for the issue. The Master used to take special

interest in making this sadhu and other devotees to read repeatedly the chapters

from the book and the articles from the journal.

When this Sadhu expressed a desire to the Master that a book, "YOGI

RAMSURATKUMAR, The Godchild, Tiruvannamalai " by Truman Caylor

Wadlington needed to be reprinted, the Master said, the author's permission

was needed for that and, therefore, asked the Sadhu to go in for a third edition

of GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI. Accordingly, the third edition was


released by the Master himself, on October 15, 1990, two days prior to

Deepavali, on October 17, 1990, the scheduled date of the publication, as this

sadhu had to depart immediately to Northern India to spread Ramnam on the

instructions of the Master.

The Second Part of GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI serialized in TATTVA

DARSANA is more or less a running commentary of the various visits of this

sadhu to the abode of the Master and the step by step guidance and the

immense benediction that the sadhu received from the Yogi right from the time

of his initiation by the Master. It narrates the founding of YOGI

RAMSURATKUMAR YOUTH ASSOCIATION with the benign blessings of

the great Master and the rapid strides made by the association all over the

country and abroad in spreading the World Ramnam Movement to fulfil the

mission of the Master in helping the work of Mataji Krishnabai of

Anandashram, who commenced the 15,500 crore Nama Japa Yagna. Detailed

descriptions of Bhagavan’s commands to the sadhu to write specific editorials

in TATTVA DARSANA and bring out books on Him under the auspices of

Sister Nivedita Academy are given in this part. How Bhagavan’s immense trust

and confidence in the disciple made Him command the disciple to carry out

actions as His emissary and in introducing Ma Devaki as His “Eternal Slave”

are highlighted in this part. It also throws light on the strong defence of His

disciple by the Master when the disciple was subjected to severe criticism and

His command to Sadhuji to attend the inauguration of the Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Ashram at Tiruvannamalai and to abandon all his activities and remain by His

side in Tiruvannamalai for some time to take care of the Ashram trust when a

crisis arose are highlighted in this part.

GLIMPSES OF A GREAT YOGI, Part III, covers some of the most important

events in the life of Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar in the last decade of His

life. Bhagavan’s dialogues and conversations with the sadhu covering vast

areas of knowledge including religion, philosophy, culture, national and

international matters during the periods of stay of the sadhu with the Master

and during his frequent visits to Master’s abode, His discussions with the

trustees of the Ashram, His messages and commands through devotees to His

disciple in the discharge of the work to fulfill the mission entrusted by the

Master, His summons to the sadhu to come to Tiruvannamalai for consultations

and His directions with regard to important matters concerning Him and the

Ashram, and authorizing the sadhu to reply on His behalf to criticism of

Ashram in the press, His incessant guidance and directions to the sadhu with

regard to various activities of the sadhu inside the country and abroad, and the

regular epistles of the sadhu reporting to Bhagavan about each and every

activity undertaken by him, till the Mahasamadhi of Bhagavan are narrated in

detail. The visits of sadhu on behalf of the Master to distant countries in

spreading the Master’s mission, the visit of devotees from abroad to

78 TATTVA DARSANA

Bhagavan’s abode, the setting up of Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram & Yogi

Ramsuratkumar Indological Centre in Bangalore with the blessings of

Bhagavan, the consecration of Sri Bharatamata Mandir and the

Mahakumbhaabhisheka are described in this part. The incessant flow of

epistles from the disciple to Bhagavan reporting about each and every activity

and seeking His permission and directions with the date of the epistles of the

sadhu, the conversations of the sadhu with Bhagavan in detail with date and

time and the names of devotees of Bhagavan present on the occasions of his

visit are all given in detail.

The whole narration in all the three parts, is, indeed, not the intellectual work

of this sadhu, but the spiritual outpouring of the inspiration that his Master

produces from the disciple's bosom. Come, let us swim in the Ganga of the

spiritual experiences of this humble sadhu with the Great Master, Yogi

Ramsuratkumar. The release of this Yogi Ramsuratkumar Centenary

Commemoration Volume will prove itself to be a grand and comprehensive

compendium on the life and mission of one of the greatest Avataras of the

Divine in the recent period the history of Bharatavarsha—BHAGAVAN YOGI

RAMSURATKUMAR MAHARAJ. May the grace and blessings of the great

Master enable spiritual seekers, especially the devotees of Bhagavan, to have a

grand vision of the Divinity in human form, who lived and moved in our midst

in our life time. Vande Mataram! Aum Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram! Aum

Namo Bhagavate Yogi Ramsuratkumaraya!

CONTENTS

Part I Saga of Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Benediction

Publishers’ Note

Preface

Chapter 1. The Morning Star

Chapter 2. The Twilight

Chapter 3. The Dawn

Chapter 4. The Blazing Sun

Chapter 5. The Light Infinite

Chapter 6. The Grace Abounding

Part II The Deekshaa Guru as Seen by the Shishya

Preface

Chapter 1. The Master as A Mother and A Monarch

Chapter 2. The Divine Master

Chapter 3. The Great Beggar

Chapter 4. The Master of Alms


Chapter 5. Greatness of Guru Infinite

Chapter 6. Yogi Jayanti and Youth Association

Chapter 7. The Himalayas of Humility

Chapter 8. Mahasamadhi of Poojya Mataji Krishnabai

Chapter 9. Birth of World Ramnam Movement

Chapter 10. Flame of Ramnam Spreads

Chapter 11. The Descent of The Divine Grace

Chapter 12. Bhagavan—The Divine Healer

Chapter 13. Master’s Blessings on Disciple’s Birthday

Chapter 14. Ramnam Saptaham and Yogi Ramsuratkumar Jayanti

Chapter 15. “Hinduism today” Interview of Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Chapter 16. First Anniversary of Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Youth Association

Chapter 17. Eternal Sleep of Sadhu’s Mother

Chapter 18. Gospel of Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Chapter 19. Bhagavan Releases Sister Nivedita Academy Publications

Chapter 20. Bhagavan’s Illness and Dilemma of His Disciple

Chapter 21. Master Protects His Disciple In U.P. On fire

Chapter 22.Yogi Ramsuratkumar Jayanti 1990 and Hectic

Ramnam Campaign in Tamilnadu

Chapter 23. Ramnam Campaign Spreads in Maharashtra

Chapter 24. Ramnam Fire in U.P. and Bhagavan’s Miracle on the

Lap of Mother Ganga

Chapter 25. Grand Yogi Ramsuratkumar Jayanti of 1991 at Chennai

Chapter 26. National Youth Day and Swami Vivekananda

Jayanti Celebrations 1992

Chapter 27. Rapid Strides of Ramnam Movement

Chapter 28. Yogiji Showers Blessings on Sadhu’s Work

Chapter 29. Leaping Flames of Ramanama Yagna in the North

Chapter 30. Moulding of the ‘Principal Disciple’

Chapter 31. Bhagavan’s Emissary

Chapter 32. Master’s Mission Spreads in The South

Chapter 33. Bhagavan’s Leela with His Initiated Disciple

Chapter 34. Meeting Of Two Biographers of Bhagavan in

His Presence

Chapter 35. Yogi Ramsuratkumar Indological Research

Centre’s Maiden Publication

Chapter 36. Master Wants His Disciple to Bless His “Eternal Slave”

Chapter 37. Bhagavan Releases “Tattva Darsana” Introducing

Devaki as His “Eternal Slave”

Chapter 38. Bhagavan Defends Sadhu and Commands To

Take Charge of Ashram

80 TATTVA DARSANA

Part III Bhagavan’s Actions Through The Disciple

Chapter 1. Sojourn of Sadhu in Tiruvannamalai in the Service

of Bhagavan

Chapter 2. March of Yogiji’s Mission

Chapter 3. ‘The Mountain Path’ Vs ‘Tattva Darsana’

Chapter 4. Bhagavan Praises Disciple as “Shiva Who Swallowed

the Poison”

Chapter 5. Sadhu and Bharati Stay With Bhagavan And Devaki

Chapter 6. Ramnam Campaign Expansion in the South and North

Chapter 7. Release of “Arunai Yogi Guru Nama Mahimai”

Chapter 8. One Lakh Devotees in Rameshwaram Satsang &

Bhagavan Blesses Sadhu’s South Africa Visit

Chapter 9. The World Hindu Conference in South Africa

Chapter 10. Sister Nivedita Academy Of South Africa

Chapter 11. Bhagavan Blesses Nivedita’s Wedding

Chapter 12. All India Ramnam Shibir & Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Jayanti 1995

Chapter 13. Bhagavan Blesses His Envoy to South Africa

Chapter 14. Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Work in South Africa

Chapter 15. Bhagavan Releases German “Glimpses Of A Great Yogi”

Chapter 16. Reply to “Dinamalar” On Behalf of Bhagavan

Chapter 17. New Responsibilities to Sadhu Before Going Abroad

Chapter 18. Bhagavan’s Miracle in South Africa

Chapter 19. Bhagavan Permits Sadhu’s Fifth Visit to South Africa

Chapter 20. Bhagavan Blesses Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram

Construction

Chapter 21. Devotees From Abroad In Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Jayanti 1998

Chapter 22. Bhagavan Blesses Bhoomipooja of Bharatamata

Gurukula Ashram

Chapter 23. Sadhu’s Dharma Prachar in South Africa & Botswana

Chapter 24. Nepal Visit, Yogi Jayanti & Inauguration of

Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram

Chapter 25. Dharmacharyas Visit Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram

Chapter 26. Bhagavan Blesses Vivek’s Marriage

Chapter 27. Bhagavan’s Serious Illness and Sadhu’s Distress

Chapter 28. Mahasamadhi of Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar

Chapter 29. A Loving Appeal to My Master's Devotees

Chapter 30. Sri Bharatamata Mandir Consecration & Kumbhaabhishekam

Edited, printed and published by Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan, Founder Trustee,

Sister Nivedita Academy, Sri Bharati Mandir, Srinivasanagar

Krishnarajapuram, Bangalore 560 036; [email protected].

TATTVA DARSANA -...

Documents

Transcript of TATTVA DARSANA -...