Sister Nivedita (translation of Bhagini Nivedita) continued...

One  knows of Europeans who have been deeply attracted to India, either through knowledge of our scriptures, or Vedanta or through personal attraction to some spiritual figure, and they have approached India in a spirit of reverence. However after having directly seen the overall poverty and dereliction of Indian society, they have lost their former ardor for India, and returned empty handed to their own countries.  Unfortunately their love had flourished only in the darkness of ignorance and was not able to survive the light of day.

However, the love that Nivedita had for India was the truest of the true, not a passing fancy. This love did not try to find the scriptures always embodied in the character and conduct of Indian peoples.  Rather it tried to penetrate all external layers to reach the innermost core of persons and to love that core. That is why she was not pained to see the extreme dereliction of India. All that was missing and inadequate in India simply aroused her love, not her censure or disrespect. Our  modes of life , our conversation, clothes, conduct of our daily lives, are capable of leaving a European aghast and pained. That is why we sometimes don’t understand why they are rude to us, and find their behavior completely uncalled for. Ironically however, Indians themselves create insurmountable barriers amongst each other based on minute and particular differences of tastes, habits and beliefs, created through caste and ethnicity differences.  It is almost as though the marking of the boundary of houses by hedges, is far less effective than the bars created by thorns in the hedges.  So we have to remember that Sister Nivedita who came and lived in a Bengali neighborhood, entirely amongst us in a house in a small lane, must have been subject to many such painful discriminations and distinctions, both day and night.