A Memorable Voyage (Based On Sister Nivedita's Voyage to London with Swami Vievekananda in 1899)

Back the Book The Voyage turned out to be so elevating in the company of her guru, Swami Vivekananda, that Sister Nivedita comments. "I would not have missed the voyage for the world…"

"Even a journey round the world becomes a pilgrimage if one makes it with the guru."

Preface Of all the Western disciples of Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita had the opportunity to be in his company for a longer period and also had the rare chance of hearing him express his innermost thoughts and ideas. These ideas were for the rejuvenation of his motherland by bringing manhood to his countrymen and starting a monastic order for women similar to the one for men already established by him. Nivedita possessed the keenest intellect and a sensitive heart that could catch the emotional depth, the intellectual height and the spiritual vastness of his utterances and moods. This also made her conscious of her crucial role in that dawn of the new age, the age of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. She knew that she was the bridge between Swamiji and his countrymen, the transmitter of his thoughts and ideas to the future generations of Indians who would work on them for their own true progress.

Nivedita had the uninterrupted company of her guru during a long voyage of six weeks from 20 June to 31 July 1899. Since some rare personal aspects of him were also revealed to her during this period, she 'tried never to miss a single syllable of his utterances and recorded the same in her voluminous writings. The major portion of Swamiji's utterances which she gathered during this voyage is found in her book, The Master As I Saw Him.

Nivedita's personal struggles and dilemma before embarking on this voyage, her hopes and despairs, determination to collect the money needed for her work in India, spirit of renunciation, surrender to the divine will, understanding and appreciation of Swamiji's deep love and concern for his mother, depth of her guru bhakti (devotion) and many other aspects of the guru-disciple relationship-we get a picture of all these in her personal letters to Josephine MacLeod and Sara Bull, either written just before or during the voyage. Besides these, the two letters written by Nivedita from the ship on 27 and 29 June 1899, and later published in Prabuddha Bharata, testify her deep love for India and her understanding of the Indian society, its culture and spiritual background. It is astonishing as to how within a period of eighteen months, she had thoroughly studied and understood India!

Some details of the voyage gathered from Swamiji's book, Memoirs of European Travels enrich this book with his unique humour.

This book, A Memorable Voyage is an attempt to present before the public the facts collected from the above-mentioned sources, giving an interesting picture of an important phase in Nivedita's life.

center>Introduction The sea is a treasure-trove. It yields its treasures of pearls and gems to those who dive deep into it. Similar was the experience of Sister Nivedita who travelled with Swami Vivekananda in the late summer of 1899 on a ship. They took the S. S. Golconda and proceeded from Kolkata to London on a journey lasting for six weeks. It was an experience that changed her life forever. She dived deep into her guru's oceanic thoughts and drew gems of insights. They glittered with the power of truth and purity. The sparkle changed her line of thinking and she in turn shared her light with others through her masterpiece, The Master as I saw Him.

The powerful effect of Swamiji's words and observations during the voyage, throw fresh light on a myriad of topics. Swamiji's illumined mind penetrated the secrets of meditation and art. Hinduism in all its aspects yielded new insights.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages