There were other experiences. The Ram Lila was going on. We drove out to see it. The other ladies stayed in the carriage but Sister Nivedita got down and wanted to go into the crowd, As I accompanied her a policeman on duty seeing an Englishwoman began hustling the people and thrusting them aside to make a passage for her. In an instant Sister Nivedita's smiling demeanour changed. The blood rushed to her face, her eyes flashed indignant fire ; going up to the policeman she exclaimed, " What right have you to push these people ? You ought to be run in for assault." She spoke in English because she did not know the language of the country. The policeman did not understand her words but there was no mistaking her gesture and look. The man turned to me helplessly for an explanation and when he got it he slunk away looking sheepish and crestfallen. When we came out of the crowd I burst out laughing. Sister Nivedita turned to me saying, "Why "are you laughing at me ?" I explained to her that the sight of a policeman pushing people or even assaulting them was not a'.rare thing in India . She would not beleive it at first and became very indignant when I told her a few facts.
I met her next in Calcutta and was startled by the change that had taken place in her appearance. All the high colour of her complexion had disappeared. She had grown pale and thin and her face looked both intellectual and spiritual. She wore round her neck a slender chain of rudraksha. Sne looked quite the Brahmacharini she was. For several weeks she had been living on a plantain and a slice of bread. She had taken a small house in the heart of northern Calcutta and was teaching a few Bengali girls on the Kindergarten system. Would not some Indian women dedicate themselves to the service of India as she had dedicated herself ? That was why she had undertaken the instruction of Indian girls. She looked on everything Indian with the eyes of sympathy and love.
Her interests were as varied as they were wide. She was deeply interested in Dr. J. C. Bose's scientific researches. I met her at the house of the American Consul General in Calcutta in earnest conversation with a well known Japanese thinker and writer. I heard her speaking in public. She was a most eloquent and fascinating speaker but her thoughts and language were far too high pitched for the common audience. As a writer the charm of her style abides in her books. But I am thinking of the individual and not the writer—the clear, strenuous purpose, the fervour of faith, the human sympathy, the transparent sincerity, the selfless devotion to work.
On one occasion accompanied by a friend I went to see her in her house in Calcutta . We were told by another lady staying in the house that Sister Nivedita was seriously ill, suffering from meningitis. She was being treated by Dr. Nil Ratan Sircar, the famous Calcutta Physician. After several anxious days the crisis passed and the patient was pronounced out of clanger. Her time had not yet come. On recovery she went to England to recruit her health.
I saw her once again at Benares for a few minutes while the Indian National Congress was sitting in that city We were both pressed for time and there was not much conversation. And now she has gone to her rest, to peace everlasting, but those who had the privilege of kowing her will never forget her—her sweet yet forceful personality, her wonderfully pure life, white and fragrant as a lily.
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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