Manifestation Of Mother’s Heart And Hero’s Will

Manifestation Of Mother’s Heart And Hero’s Will

Written by Revered Pravrajika Asheshprana, Sri Sarada Math, Rasik Bhita.

India has primarily been the land of great women. In 1894, Swami Vivekananda delivered a lecture at Cambridge on Women of India. He said, “ I first intend to take a glimpse into times past of Indian history, and we will find something unique.” According to him, going back to the Vedas-which are the oldest literature in the world, we find their oldest portion is composed of hymns. In the tenth chapter comes a peculiar hymn whose sage is a woman. Then we come to the last portion of Vedas which are known as Vedanta- the concentrated wisdom. There, too, we find women preeminent.

Coming to the next stratum of literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, we find that education has not degenerated. Especially in the caste of princes this ideal was most wonderfully held. Swamiji said,” There is another point which I bring before you and where the Indian women is still superior to all other women in the world-her rights. The right to possess property is as absolute for women in India as for men- and has been for thousands and thousands of years.

I would like to mention here that, at present day in case of voting rights of women also; there is a startling difference

between India and other countries. The chart shows the time gap between the years of a country’s accepting democracy and the time when voting right were granted to women. Is it not surprising that only in 1972, Swiss women got their voting rights after 61 years of democracy whereas in India the question of a time gap did not arise?

Swamiji said more,” Women in statesmanship, managing territories, governing countries, even making war, have proved themselves equal to men-if not superior. In India, I have no doubt of that whenever they have had the opportunity; they have proved that they have as much ability as men, with this advantage- that they seldom degenerated. They keep to the moral standard.John Stuart Mill mentions this fact.”

He mentioned that, each nation, beyond a general humanity, develops a certain peculiarity of character.....           The very nature of Indian women, which they have developed and which is the idea of their life, is that of the mother. The mother is the God in our family. Why should the Indian mother be worshipped? Our philosophers try to find a reason and they come to this definition: We call ourselves the Aryan race. What is an Aryan? He is a man whose birth is through religion.

He further added that, a child materially born is not an Aryan; the child born in spirituality is an Aryan. For all this trouble--because she has to make herself so pure and holy in order to have pure children --she has a peculiar claim on the Indian child.

So in India, mother is the centre of the family. Once Napoleon also said, “If you want good nation, please give me good mothers.”  The age old proverb is that “The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.” But India’s tumultuous history was punctuated with invasions. This caused upheavals in the socio-economy of the land leading to major changes in the lives of women. In the first place education was withdrawn, freedom was curbed and women lost their independence in all matters. This led to ignorance, stunted growth and superstitions.

More than a century ago, Swami Vivekananda, while on his travel across India, was deeply moved at the appalling condition of the mass and women. He understood that the problem was not with the women themselves but the inability of the society to satisfy the basic human need for education and enlightenment. “If you do not allow a lion to become a lion, he will become a fox!” Vivekananda came to understand.

This led to his finding the answers to women’s problem in education. He felt proper education will give our women the right perspective, give them a chance to shape the events in their lives rather than be at their mercy and provide strong moral support. It would also give them confidence and economic status.

Swamiji said education was the panacea of all evils. He stressed on the education of women. Swamiji firmly believed women. He saw the immense potential in women. His ideals were Sita, Savitri and Damayanti. In them he saw the spiritual ideals of India-patience, perseverance, purity, royalty, dignity and humility. But he knew that these ancient characters would not be sufficient for the modern Indian women. He had a vision that holistic development for the new civilisation. He said that, the Roman’s organization, the power of the Greek’s wonderful love for the beautiful and the Indian’s backbone of religion and love of God -- all these are to be mixed up together to bring in a new civilization and it should be done by women.

So, for the purpose of education of Indian women he brought Miss Margaret Noble who was a renowned educationist of London during her times. In Nivedita, Swamiji saw the lioness he had been waiting for. She was the dynamic agent whom he had chosen to put his “nation building” thoughts into action. Nevertheless, Swamiji had not let Nivedita plunge into action immediately. After landing on Indian soil, he had placed her at the feet or rather the lap of Sri Ma Sarada. It is in Sri Sarada Ma he saw the embodiment of values of ancient India yearning to mingle with the modern. He said, “Renunciation, that is the flag, the banner of India, floating over the world.” Sister Nivedita became the very personification of that ‘flag’. It was a synthesis of Sarada Ma’s symbol of ideal motherhood, renunciation, wisdom, sacrifice, universality and Nivedita’s determination, dedication, and dynamism.

Out of this union was born the first school for women at 16 Bosepara Lane in Swamiji’s presence. It was incidentally also the cradle of Sri Sarada Math as it is today.

Swamiji had proposed an education system which would include technology, philosophy, language, classics, aesthetics, religion and physical education and stressed on nationality. He said, “What we want is western science coupled with Vedanta”. So, education must be combined with scientific attitude and Vedantic spirituality and ‘Shraddha’. According to Swamiji, to be religious meant leading life in a way that we manifest our higher and selfless nature, truth and goodness. Nivedita sought to imbibe these ideas. Her deep respect and admiration of Indian women, their sacrifice, their spiritual heritage, their strong family bonding, were a constant source of inspiration for her. She also felt no distinction between sacred and secular. To her, there was no difference between service of man and worship of God, which is rooted in Swamiji’s Jiva-Shiva vad. i.e, Jiva = Shiva. 

With the blessings of Ma Sarada and her impeccable loving guidance, she was a remarkable blending of the best of the East and the West. This type of enlightened empowerment inspires us all in all walks of life. Swamiji blessed her to have -

The mother's heart, the hero's will, 

The sweetness of the southern breeze, 

The sacred charm and strength that dwell

On Aryan altars, flaming, free; 

All these be yours, and many more

No ancient soul could dream before -

Be thou to India's future son

The mistress, servant, friend in one. 

Thus she became the mistress, servant, friend of India’s future generation.

This is the hour because the world is at the crossroads of crisis. The impact of our material, technological and social development coupled with increasing economic demands and consumerism is dragging people down. Though nowadays  Indian women have advanced in every walk of life but they also are tempted by consumerim culture and in remote villages proper education is yet to enter. Unless we provide appropriate education to help the synthesis of the best of the west and that of the east and means to help women navigate through troubled waters of demoralizing times, the culture, tradition, specially spirituality, not only for India, but for the world will be endangered.

So every woman in every house should vow to be a Nivedita-“the dedicated”. The time has come. It would be the spirit of womanhood every day of our lives. I am concluding by sharing a famous passage from Swamiji’s inspiring  message of the means of achieving total human excellence-“ Teach yourselves, teach everyone, his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul  and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self - conscious activity.”