Sister Nivedita - Swami Tathagatananda

Facts are really stranger than fiction. It was some time in March, 1910, when Sister Nivedita, Sister Christine and Lady Minto (wife of the then Viceroy, Lord Minto) were on the Ganga in a country-boat on their way back from a visit to the temple at Dakshineswar. In the boat itself, tea was served to Lady Minto in perfectly Swadeshi style. Everything was Swadeshi, biscuits, tea, sugar, cups and saucers. A more perilous service could not be thought of in those days. To Nivedita the vow of Swadeshi was a Tapasya and a Dharma. And she was truly Swadeshi in principle and practice. The promotion of the cause of Indian nationality was to Nivedita a mission and a passion. Lady Minto once came incognito to see the Sister in Bosepara Lane in a corner of the city. She also went to visit Belur Math in the same manner.

© `Glimpses of Great Lives’ by Swami Tathagatananda published by The Vedanta Society of New York, 34 West 71st Street, New York NY 10023, USA. Reprinted with permission.

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