Wednesday 8 November 2017

Sister Nivedita: The Dedicated - Who gave her all to India - 1

यतो धर्म: ततो जय:

The Childhood

Young Margaret Noble with all curiosity shining in her deep greyish blue eyes was looking at a person who had come as a guest to meet her father Samuel Noble. Samuel Noble was a priest in a church in Devonshire, in England and was very fond of his eldest daughter who had keen interest in knowing what work her father was doing. She used to accompany her father to the mass in Church or for serving or preaching the poor. Even when some of his friends would come to meet him, he would allow his little Margot to be present there.

Today's guest was not an ordinary guest he was working as a missionary in a far off land of India and he was narrating the strange missionary stories about India. With wide-eyes, Margaret was listening and even asking questions in between. The Guest laughed and said, 'Samuel, I am sure this daughter of yours would go to India one day to serve Indians'. Little did they realize then that she would go to India to serve Indian in an Indian way and not as a Christian Missionary!

Margaret Elizabeth Noble was born on 28th October 1867 to Samuel Richmond Noble and Mary Isabel Noble. Samuel Noble was Protestant and a minister in Wesleyan Church in Northern Ireland. He went for further training to England so for initial 6-7 years, Margaret was brought up by her maternal grandfather who was one of the influential leaders of the freedom movement of Ireland. Later she came to stay with her parents at Devonshire, England and was a favourite of her father. Unfortunately when Margaret was 10 years old, her father Samuel passed away. It seems in his last farewell to his wife Mary he whispered, 'When God calls Margaret, let her go. She will spread her wings…she will do great things'. However, for young Margaret, the death of her father brought many questions to her mind like - What is death? Why are we born? 
She studied at Halifax College run by the Chapter of the Congregationalist Church. She had interest in varied subjects like natural sciences, music, arts, literature, history etc. Fortunately, for her there was no question what she would be doing after her education. She grew up aspiring to be a teacher and after completing her education started working as a teacher at the age of seventeen. As she started early in her profession of teaching, she had open mind, readiness to experiment with new ideas and all the enthusiasm and sharp intellect to focus on the intricacies of her profession. Thus, she started implementing new education in her school.
In due course Margaret decided to get married to one young man she liked but even before the engagement was announced, he fell ill and died. This was her second encounter with death. Death had snatched away from her the persons she loved most. She was a woman of strong character. The tragedy did not break her but made her think deep about life and its purpose. If we are to die one day not known to us then why are we born? Are we just puppets in someone's hand? What are we supposed to do in such uncertain life? What is the ultimate Truth of this whole existence? Do we waste our time in going after the transient and momentary when life is so uncertain? Search for the eternal, absolute truth became a driving force of her life.

To be Continue
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. . . Are you Strong? Do you feel Strength? — for I know it is truth alone that gives Strength. Strength is the medicine for the world's disease . . .
This is the great fact: "Strength is LIFE; Weakness is Death."
 
- Swami Vivekananda
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--
. . . Are you Strong? Do you feel Strength? — for I know it is truth alone that gives Strength. Strength is the medicine for the world's disease . . .
This is the great fact: "Strength is LIFE; Weakness is Death."
 
- Swami Vivekananda
---
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--
. . . Are you Strong? Do you feel Strength? — for I know it is truth alone that gives Strength. Strength is the medicine for the world's disease . . .
This is the great fact: "Strength is LIFE; Weakness is Death."
 
- Swami Vivekananda
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