Translation of Sister Nivedita, continued

What one notices most singularly about her is that as much as she was given to deep feeling, she was also extremely action oriented. The work that is the output of action will always carry the traces of the struggle to give it shape and form. Any piece of work, by its very nature, thus suffers from imperfection. Feeling, on the other hand, can remain perfect and autonomous. That is why one finds, that those who are prone towards deep feeling, are often either scornful of work or are afraid of it. Again, those who are extremely action oriented, may be cut off from feeling much, and consequently do not suffer if their work does not rise to a level of perfection.

However, where feeling is not an escape from work and work is simply not the flamboyant display of energy and entirely geared towards worldly ends, there the principle of work and feeling both meet and fuse. In such a case, work becomes the expression of feeling. In such cases, even the insignificant becomes significant, and the unfinished and imperfect imbued with the light of the sun even if it remains screened by clouds. Sister Nivedita’s work was like that.