Acceptance of Indian life and faith

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 15

Acceptance of Indian life and faith

Long Journey Home: A biography of Margaret Noble (Nivedita). By Barbara Foxe. Rider and Company. N.Z. price $9.15 (paperback). (Reviewed by Jim Wiison) “Here repose the ashes of Sister Nivedita, who gave her all to India.” These words on the Darjeeling monument to this English-Irish woman seem no more than the simple truth. What is so refreshing about this biography is that in filling in the details of this truth Barbara Foxe hides nothing of the sometimes overbearing faults and impetuosities which, together with tremendous gentleness and love, made up the “all” that Nivedita gave. As a result a believable, an irritating as well as a moving, person emerges, and not an adulated, implausible saint. In these days when many Westerners toy coyly with sanitised and deculturised versions of Indian religion, the story of Margaret Noble, or Nivedita (the dedicated) as she was named on initiation into the Order of Ramakrishna most moving. A journalist in England, writing articles “in furious defence of the poor, of women, and of Irish Home Rule,” she chanced to hear in London one of the greatest of Hindu holy men of the time, Swami Vivekananda. Her belief in Christianity was already on the wane, and gradually she came to accept Hinduism as her faith and Vivekananda as her guru (spiritual guide). With grave self-aoubts at first, she decided to go and live in India and try

to extend Vivekananda’s work by starting a school for Hindu girls, then completely outside any formal educational system. In a manner incomprehensible to most of the ruling English there, she threw herself almost totally into Indian life, living and teaching in a tiny house in a narrow lane in a poor part of Calcutta, nursing plague victims, giving lectures on Kali (the great MotherGoddess) to Hindus, and helping improve sanitation. At first an uncritical admirer of British rule in India, she came more and more to see the darker side of that rule, and against the charter of Vivekananda’s ordei, but with their continuing love and understanding, began to involve herself in the political agitation for Indian independence. Apart from lecture tours of America to raise funds for her Indian work, and occasional visits to her family in England, she lived the rest of her life in India, wearing herself out with work and worry, and dying at Darjeeling in 1911 at the age of 44.

Nivedita’s major fault was that she tried to force her views on her friends and associates. Rabindrinath Tagore said of her: “She had power and she exerted that power with full force on the lives of others. When it was not possible to agree, it was impossible to work with her.” And her guru, Vivekananda, who himself refused to interfere with his disciples’ decisions even when asked, on occasions felt moved to caution her: “. . . I do

believe that Western people have the peculiarity of trying to force upon others whatever seems good to them, forgetting that what is good for you may not be good for others. As such I am afraid you would try to force upon others whatever turn your mind might take in contact with new friends.” Barbara Foxe quotes these comments against her subject, but she quotes also Nivedita’s writings to show she was painfully aware of her own faults, and laughed at and struggled against them. This portrayal of her struggles against her faults is one of the several moving aspects of the book. But beside great faults were tremendous virtues. Her selfless love in nursing plague victims, in constant frustrating efforts to provide education for Hindu girls, in unwavering loyalty to friends, is strongly portrayed. And seemingly minor facets of her character, gleaming through her actions and her writings, show in other ways her selfless side, presumably alwavs there but certainly flowering under the teaching and influence of Vivekananda and of Hinduism in general. What is most endearing is a characteristic most typically Indian — the ability in a land of crowds to respond in warmth and friendship to individuals. In the midst of frustration and failure she was always commenting still on tiny fragments of Indian life from which she drew comfort and strength, in which she saw the- joy and dignity which overcomes even poverty. This is good biography — a portrayal , of Margaret Noble's development as a person. Barbara Foxe avoids trying to assess her subject’s influence and worth in Indian history, and avoids also generalities about Westerners and Hinduism. She is herself, however, well versed in Hinduism. As a result, through the concrete example of one unusual Westerner, many valuable insights into real Hinduism, and into the differences and similarities between Western and Indian customs, attitudes and beliefs, are clearly expressed. This is a byproduct of the biography's main aim, but a useful by-product which makes the book, in addition to its other merits, a valuable complement to general treatments of Hinduism.