Sister Nivedita: The Dedicated - Who gave her all to India – 43

यतो धर्म: ततो जय:

Nivedita as a writer - 5

Nivedita was so fascinated by Kali. That her first book in India was "Kali, The Mother" which she started writing even when she was with Swamiji and others in Kashmir. Later, in 'Kali, the Mother', she was to set down what she felt the message of the goddess to be while in Kashmir: Arise, my child, and go forth a man! Bear manfully, what is thy lot to bear; that which comes to thy hand to be done, do with full strength, and fear not. Forget not that I, the giver of manhood, the giver of womanhood, the holder of victory, am thy Mother. Think not life is serious! What is destiny but thy Mother's play? Come, be My playfellow awhile, meet all happenings merrily . . . .  Ask not of plans. Need the arrow have any plan when it is loosed from the bow? Such art thou. When the life is dedicated, the plan will stand revealed. Till then, O child of time, know nothing! . . .  Ask nothing. . . .Seek nothing. . . . Plan nothing. . . . Let my will flow through thee, as the ocean through an empty shell.

Shrink not from defeat; embrace despair. Uproot every interest that would conflict with mine. Look for no mercy for thyself, and I shall make thee bearer of great vessels of mercy to others. Be steadfast in the toil I set thee. Strong, fearless, resolute-when the sun sets and the game is done thou shalt know well, little one, that I am Kali, am thy Mother.

It was this understanding of the Mother Kali that when Swami Vivekananda returned from Kshir Bhavani, Nivedita had laid her head at the feet of her guru and said, "Now I know my Divine Mother." Constant meditation on Kali had become so natural with Nivedita that she felt the presence of the Power that Kali symbolized. The editor of 'The Hindu Review' had once been to her house and wrote about his interesting interview with her as follows, "Once I was sitting with Nivedita in her house in Bosepara Lane, sipping tea out of her quaint Swadeshi cup. Suddenly the sky was overcast with black scowling clouds as oftentimes happens in our early summer evening; 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, apprarently unconscious for the moment of my presence, looking intently through the window, at the gathering gloom about the earth and the heaven, and listening like one in trance, to the rising tumult of the growing storm. And just as there came, in a little while, the first flash of lightening followed by the crash of first thunder, she cried out with the bated breath – "Kali!"

To be continued...

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