Monday 13 November 2017

Sister Nivedita: The Dedicated - Who gave her all to India - 3

यतो धर्म: ततो जय:

Margaret as a seeker of Truth

The love for poor inculcated in Margaret by her father propelled her to participate in Church-sponsored service work. It was during one such service work she was pulled up by the Father of the Church who told her that she had erred in giving the benefit of the service to those who did not belong to their Church. This was a shock for Margaret. She thought, 'Was not the love of Jesus for all? How can we limit it to only those who belong to our denomination or our church?' More she studied the tenets of Christianity more she found them inconsistent with the truth.

Margaret revered Jesus Christ for his life and his sacrifice but the theological and dogmatic approach of church did not appeal her. Though she questioned the religious theology, she did not give up the spiritual urge. Actually, her spiritual urge became stronger with every doubt that entered in her mind about Christianity. She gave up regularly going to the Church. She started her search of such spiritual vision in which there would be a place for whole humanity, in which no name of God was denounced or in which followers of any path were accepted. Whether there existed such spiritual practice? She did not know.

Margaret started reading religious literature of other faiths. She was greatly influenced by the life of Buddha and his teachings. She felt, 'Here is another person like Jesus who was ready to sacrifice his life even for the sake of the lamb'. She found at least the consistency in thoughts in Buddhism. Yet, many things remained unanswered. The search continued. Whenever she sought to seek comfort in religion, she was repulsed by the wall of intolerance. Few of her friends in elite circles were aware of the spiritual yearnings of Margaret Noble. It was at such times when Margaret was about 28 years old that her friend Lady Margesson invited her for a spiritual talk to her house. Some of her friends at Sesame Club like Mr. Sturdy and Miss Muller told her about extraordinary success of the speaker earlier at USA. She accepted the invitation, totally unaware of what was going to happen in her life.


To be Continue

No comments:

Post a Comment