यतो धर्म: ततो जय:
Clash and Conflict - 2
Assaults like this on her deep-rooted preconceptions gave Nivedita intense pain and the inner strife grew high. It must be said to Nivedita's credit that, amidst all this clash and conflict, it never occurred to her to retract her own 'proffered service.'Seeing that the pain inflicted might easily go too far, one of the older disciples interceded with the Swami. Agreeing with her, Swamiji gave up all rebuke and became quiet, never to repeat this treatment. He lifted his hands and blessed his most rebellious disciple, who by this time was kneeling before him. It was a moment of peaceful reconciliation. And the disciple realized the true significance of the blessing that evening; 'alone in meditation I found myself gazing deep into an infinite Good, to the recognition of which no egoistic reasoning had led me.' During his own discipleship as Narendra, Swamiji had been as difficult to convince as Nivedita now was.
To Nivedita herself the significance of the blessing lay in the fact that her Master once again proved the truth of Sri Ramakrishna's prophecy that Naren would manifest his own great gift of bestowing knowledge with a touch.
But in this apparently personal experience of the submission of a proud disciple to a taskmaster of a guru, the former an English lady and the latter a sannyasi from India, there seems to be an importance beyond their personalities and their individual circumstances. This genuine revolution in the mind of the Western disciple of the Swami, is an event of national significance for India-and perhaps also for Britain. For this daughter of England was destined to fulfil the singular role of explaining 'the Web of Indian Life' to the West.
No comments:
Post a Comment