‘Values’ differ from culture to culture; they undergo changes with time and evolving social structure. The concept of ‘value-education’ itself may be a process of brainwashing of the masses by the ruling class. Can there be anything as ‘Universal’ or ‘Eternal’ values?
Sister Nivedita had dedicated herself to the cause of India. It was no less austerity than the ‘tapasya’ of Uma of Kalidasa’s Kumarasambham. She bridged the ocean of cultural difference, Indianized herself. How? Did she discover the soul of India?
She had the rarest of rare ability to visualize ‘The Eternal Truth’, the ‘atman’, the Siva within the frail, mortal frame of human beings, especially among the Indians: the poor, the downtrodden, the toiling masses.
An exploration through her path of ‘Discovery of “India”’ will lead us towards development of values that will promote self-realization.
3. THE VALUES
■OLD VALUES LINGER ON
■OLD VALUES HINDER PROGRESS?
■BRAINWASHING COMMON PEOPLE
BY THE RULING CLASS?
4. THE BASIS OF THE VALUES
ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
SOCIAL STRUCTURE: BUDDHIST
SANGHA
TRADITIONS/ CUSTOMS
RATIONALITY?
5. THE VALUES HE UPHELD
■ “Sacrifice in the past has been the Law, it will be, alas, for ages
to come”
■ ‘The national ideals of India are RENUNCIATION and SERVICE.’
■ Swamiji himself had introduced Sister Nivedita to the path of
‘Discovery of the soul of India’.
■ It was an interesting journey, the ‘discovery of the heart of
India’, a path full of conflict of ideas and ideals; a path of
immense faith, love and dedication that overwhelmed the
thorns of doubt and periods of misunderstanding.
6. THE JOURNEY
■ This journey of transformation, not only in ideas and ideals,
but accepting India as her own country, speaking of the
Indians as ‘Our People’ with so much love, tenderness and
ownership that none could match, identifying herself with
the cause of upliftment of India, her past glory and present
degradation, is an unparalleled history.
■ This remarkable journey will make us understand the
values based on Indian culture, which we uphold as our
glorious heritage and try to infuse it in the minds of
generations to come.
7. OBSTACLES TO CROSS
■ CULTURAL DIFFERENCE
■ DIFFERENT VALUES
■ ALIENT ENVIRONMENT: WILL THE BODY
ADAPT?
■ THE LOYALTY TO BRITISH CROWN vs
INDIANIZATION.
8. Margaret Noble & India
■ Early life: Few ideas about India.
■ 1896-7: Participates in Vedanta movement in
England; some news of India.
■ Decides to come to India
■ Swamiji encourages, still points out the
obstacles.
9. The early days in Kolkata: Knowing
India
■ Jan, 28, 1898 – Arrives in Kolkata.
■ Lives in European quarters, but visits Indian neighborhood.
■ Visits girls’ schools.
■ 22 Feb, 1898: visit to Dakshineswar: the first taste of conflict: cannot enter temple,
goes to Thakur’s room
■ 27 Feb, 1898: meets Gopaler Ma
■ Shifts residence to Belur.
■ 11 March : 1st public lecture:
■ ‘Yours is the conservatism of a people who have through that long period been
able to preserve the greatest spiritual treasures for the world..’
10. THE INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN
CULTURE
■ Swamiji would come their place often and revealed
India to his western disciples.
■ “In fact, India herself became, as heard in him, the
last and the noblest of the Puranas, uttering itself
through his lips.”
11. THE EVENTS THAT
CHANGED THE LIFE
■ March 17, 1898: Meets Sarada Devi; who
‘eats’ with them.
■ March 25, 1898: Diksha & Renaming
■ “Go thou and follow Him, Who was born and
gave His life for others FIVE HUNDRED TIMES
before He attained the vision of the Buddha”.
■ April 2, 1898: At Mahakali Pathshala with
Swami Akhandananda and others.
■ May: the panic of Plague
12. ‘Pilgrimage’ through North India, in the
company of Swamiji
■ A journey not only of spiritual
revelations but initiation to
the of discovery of the soul of
India, her history, her culture,
fine arts, arts and
architecture, her science and
contribution to the world and
above all, her religion and
spirituality.
■ The guru dedicates her to
Siva.
13. The learning process
■ It was not a smooth journey.
■ The future Nivedita, the ‘Lokamata’ of
India would be born within the mental
and psychological confines of the loyal
British subject, Margaret E. Noble.
■ Conflicts outside, as well as within, would
be severe, demolishing her old self.
14. The Memsahib
among the
natives
■ ‘The proud, reserved,
orthodox women of the
neighbourhood found in
Nivedita a good friend.
Full welcome was
accorded to her at any
time of day or night ….’
15. Kali revealed herself
to her
■ You see, I cannot but believe that
there is somewhere a great
Power That thinks of Herself as
feminine and called Kali and
Mother….. Vivekananda
■ “Kali is the Vision Of Shiva”
16. THE PLAGUE
■ People were more panic stricken with the fresh
memories of the atrocities of the government
officials in Pune during the plague attack.
■ The Ramakrishna Order, led by Swamiji, was
determined to face the scourge, and stand by the
people.
■ Nivedita was involved in the core of these activities;
her leadership and love for the Indians would be
revealed next year during the ‘plague-seva’.
17. THE JOURNEY TO THE WEST
■ June 20th, 1899, Nivedita sailed with Swamiji for
the west.
■ This journey was again an opportunity to rejuvenate
her being, with the spirit of Swamiji’s love for India.
■ Swamiji instructed her,
■ “You have to set yourself to Hinduise your thoughts,
your needs, your conceptions and your habits. … you
have to forget your own past and to cause it to be
forgotten. You have to lose even its memory.’’
18. FROM THE EXPLORER
TO THE EXPONENT
What was India to her?
■ A country, a geo-political landmass
changing with time?
■ A British colony ridden with all vices,
famine, disaster and diseases?
■ An ever-flowing stream of cultural
identity?
■ A dream to be realized?
■ A living being with a pulsating heart:
The Mother?
19. WHERE TO SEARCH FOR
VALUES? THE EPICS
■ The Ramayana is not something that
comes once for all from a society that
is dead and gone; it is something
springing from the living heart of a
people.
■ Our word to the young Indian today is:
■ Make your own Ramayana, not in
written stories, but in service and
achievement for the motherland.
20. THE WOMANHOOD THAT
TEACHES GREATNESS
■ “When the women see themselves in their
true place, as related to the soil on which
they live, as related to the past out of which
they have sprung; when they become aware
of the needs of their own people, on actual
colossal scale of those needs; when the
mother heart has once awakened in them to
beat for land and people, instead of family,
village and homestead alone and when the
mind is set to explore facts in the service of
that heart – then and then alone shall the
future of Indian womanhood dawn upon the
race in its actual greatness; then shall a
worthy education be realized; and then shall
the true national ideal stand revealed.”
23. ■ Sister Nivedita had nurtured the new-born school of art, based on the
oriental ideals, from nursery through its infancy, with the sincere
affection of a motherly heart till the last days of her life. It will be a
disgrace upon the Bengalees, if they do not pay their most respectful
homage to this great foreign lady for such sincere efforts”. –
Girijashanakar Roychowdhury.
27. THE ‘VAJRA’
■ “The Selfless Man is the Thunderbolt.
Let us strive only for selflessness, and
we become the weapon in the hands
of the gods.”
■ “Thunderbolt of present day ….. is
multiplied in power, as befits the
aspiration that is not of a great man
here and there, but of every soul in a
vast nation, at the same time.
■ It is India, in all her millions, not a few
Indian saints or prophets, who is
called today to attain selflessness.”
– Sister Nivedita
28. “For Infinite man can only be
satisfied when his desire is
infinite and its fulfilment
infinite also..” –
Vivekananda
ACHIEVING ‘SELFLESSNESS’
29. ISN’T THE ‘INFINITE SELF’ BECKONING US?
“Lose ego in love. Lose love in sacrifice for others. So the
Beloved becomes the Divine, and the lover forgets self.” --
Nivedita
Editor's Notes
Choto amo- baro ami- sabar cheye baro ami; apanare diye rahili re ki e; TAR ANATER sange amar ananter biroho; Man’s burning unquenchable thirst – never satisfied –asking for more & more. At the bottom of this desire is man’s infinitude