SISTER NIVEDITA'S LECTURES AND WRITINGS Hitherto unpublished collection of lectures and writings of Sister Nivedita on Education, Hindu Life, Thought and so on Volume V SISTER NIVEDITA GIRLS' SCHOOL 5 Nivedita Lane, Calcutta 700003 Published by The Secretary, Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Sister Nivedita Girls' School, S Nivedita Lane, Calcutta 700003 First Edition October, 1955 Printed at Printaid, New Delhi CONTENTS Page Editor's Preface ... vii ON EDUCATION Teaching the Three R's on Modern Principles ... 1 Note on Indian Historic Pageants ... 20 The Education of Woman ... 24 The Education of Women ... 28 Fineness of Character ... 31 Modern Education of the Oriental Woman ... 34 Women and the Arts ... 37 Hints on Practical Education ... 41 The Educational Method ... 51 Child-Garden Schools for India ... 54 The Sociological Method in History ... 57 Occasional Notes : Creative Knowledge ... 64 From the Concrete to the Abstract ... 65 From the National to the International ... 68 The Education of Indian Women ... 71 ON HINDU LTFE, THOUGHT AND RELIGION Interview with Swami Vivekananda on the Bounds of Hinduism » ... 79 Revival or Reform ... 82 Brahmin and Kshatriya ... 89 Indian Thought ... 90 The Laws of Thought ... 95 Occasional Notes: On Love and Charity ... 98 Work Is Workship ... 101 Thirst for Higher Life ... 105 Saints and Scriptures ... 108 Obedience and Discipline ... 110 IV Page Thinking and Living 115 Religion as a Living Force 116 Self-Development 118 The Real and the Ideal 120 Being and Becoming 122 Towards the Supreme Goal 123 Gurubhakti 126 A New Sect ? 128 Passing Thoughts I : Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 129 Passing Thoughts II : Religion versus Spirituality 133 Conversations of the Dead I : Gandhari and Dhritarashtra 137 Conversations of the Dead II : Two Souls in Pitri-loka 140 Conversations of the Dead III ; Guru and Chelas in Pitri-loka 142 ON POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS Has British Rule Been Beneficial to India or Not? 147 Nationality 150 The Highest Ideal of Truth 154 Our Unity in Diversity 158 The Recent Congress 160 Democratic Feeling in England 163 The Vajra as a National Flag 166 Passing Thoughts I : Indian Regeneration 171 Passing Thoughts II : A Nation of Students 175 Passing Thoughts III : The Signs of a New Age 178 What Is a Backward Race ? 181 The Relation between Famine and Population 185 Lord Curzon on Famines in India 201 To Colonize the Himalayas 206 The Plague in Calcutta 211 The Cleansing of Calcutta 214 Plague and the Duty of Students 217 Woman in Modern India 221 A Talk about Clean Roads 224 : V Page The Cry of the Mother to Indian Youth ... 227 Child-Heart ... 229 The Charging of the New-Born by the Dead ... 231 Earth and Water ... 233 Two Poems ... 235 Notes and Observations Our Calcutta Letter ... 236 Mr. Tata's Scheme ... 237 The Ramakrishna Mission on Plague Service ... 238 Civic Creed ... 240 A Comilla Lesson ... 241 Japan and Korea ... 242 Indian National Ideals ... 243 Conversation at Chinladripet Literary Society, Madras ... 245 Chicago Notes ... 247 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND REVIEWS In Memoriam: Pavhari Baba of Ghazipur ... 255 In Memoriam : Swami Swarupananda ... 256 The First Citizen of Bengal ... 258 Romesh Chandra Dutt ... 261 The Hindu Mind in Modern Science ... 266 In Memoriam: Sara Chapman Bull ... 269 What an American Woman Is Doing in India ... 276 Introduction to Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda ... 284 Review on Is Matter Alive ? by J.C. Bose ... 289 Review on Mutual Aid by Peter, Prince Kropotkin ... 299 Review on Essays in National Idealism by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy ... 302 Review on Primitive Traditional History by I.F. Hewitt ... 306 Review on Youth's Noble Path by F.F. Gould ... 312 NEWSPAPER REPORTS OF SPEECHES AND INTERVIEWS Letter to the Editor of Brahmavadin ... 317 On Asia and Europe by Meredith Townsend ... 318 VI Page The Hindu Mind in Modern Science 320 Pandit Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar 323 The Hindu Mind in Western Science 324 The Duties of a Hindu 325 The Unity oi* India 326 Sister Nivedita in Madras : An Interview 331 The Duties of Students 333 The Educational Problem in India 336 Dynamic Religion 341 Bodh-Gaya : Its Place in Hinduism 344 The Pioneer and the Tata Scheme 348 The Tata Research Institute 352 A Visit to East Bengal 353 A Conversational Meeting at the Gita Society 354 Interview with The Empire 355 The Tragedy of Jute 356 New Vedanta Society in London 360 A Chat with a Russian about Russia 361 Sister Nivedita in London 365 In Bodh Gaya 367 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES WRITTEN BEFORE MEETING SWAMI VIVEKANANDA The Christ Child 371 Hag-Ridden 374 A Visit to a Coal Mine 379 Papers on Women's Rights—No. I 386 Papers on Women's Rights—No. 2 390 Papers on Women's Rights—No. 3 395 Papers on Women's Rights—No. 4 399 Papers on Women's Rights—No. 5 404 Papers on Women's Rights—No. 6 408 Phrenology and Physiognomy 412 The Wrexham Free Library 416 A Page from Wrexham Life 420 Ambulance Work 425 Index 427 ON EDUCATfON SISTER NIVEDITA TEACHING THE THREE R'S ON MODERN PRINCIPLES PREFATORY NOTE IN all that is said in the following pages, there is a constant intention to bring the teaching of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (the Three R's, as they are called) into line with the methods already propounded in these Sesame Papers, with regard to Geography, Music, Drawing, and Painting, and other subjects. All these systems have had certain common features : 1. They have aimed at developing faculty rather than at imparting information. 2. Each step has been a twofold process of leading the pupil to form his own opinion, and then requiring him to act upon the view taken. This double operation is known as Impression and Expression, both being essential to the acquisition of real knowledge. 3. The first elements of a subject have been regarded throughout as of supreme importance. The laying of the foundations is more vital to the stability of a house than the putting on of the roof. 4. As far as possible, the early teaching has been through action and sensation. This is what we call the Stage of the Concrete. Abstract thought and reasoning come much later. 5. And each progression has been from something known to some- thing unknown. It would be altogether contrary to this principle, for instance, to teach a young child the Multiplication Table before he had learnt to divide large groups of objects into small. These doctrines, with some others cf less importance, form the foundation of what the late Mr. Quick called "The New Education", i.e. all those methods of teaching which depend rather on a knowledge of the mind that is learning than on a logical Reproduced from the papers of the Sesame Club, London, 1896-1897. : 2 SISTER NIVEDITA'S WRITINGS arrangement of the subject to be taught. It may, in fact, be described as Psychological Education. Pestalozzi laid down its broad principles, and FrSbel made the first application of them in certain directions. This and the preceding numbers of these papers describe some new applications of the same laws, to subjects not included in the Kindergarten scheme, or not so far advanced at the time of its formulation as they are at present. But it is important to remember that any method of teaching any subject which really applies the laws of mind to the work is, in so far as it does so, a living method, and therefore Educational in the highest sense, even though it should be an entirely novel application. NUMBER Arithmetic is by far the most important of the studies called the Three R's. Without any acquaintance with letters, human beings have been known to reach high places and fulfil great duties, but the man who had no knowledge of number would be unable to discharge any of the functions of a responsible member of a civilized state. So much all are prepared to grant ; what has not, perhaps, occurred to some of us is that, by careful training in the science of fixed quantities, a child's reasoning power, and habits of clear- ness and accuracy, may be indefinitely deepened and extended. To this end, the earliest impressions are the most important and the early impressions it is common entirely to disregard. It is no unusual thing to begin a child's Arithmetical training (as is supposed) with such question as, "What do three and four make?" But the teacher who does this implies, even while ignor- ing, that his pupil's education really commenced some time ago, when he discovered for himself what three meant, and what four. There is a period when, like a bird, and like some savages (surely we have heard of some race who cannot count the fingers of one hand ?), the child does not distinguish between one and more- than-one. Most of us have seen a baby, perhaps brought into the drawing-room to say good-night, try to count the number of grown- up persons present,—"One—-Two"—says the little voice, and only with greatest difficulty can it learn to go further. The 'big' people are probably too many for the little one; it takes refuge in counting its own chubby fists or its mother's eyes. 1 ON EDUCATION 3 True Education does not lie in forcing the child out of this stage—only as that Inner Struggle which we call our Human Nature intensifies, and the little mind reaches out for more, it is a gain to both sides if we know how the next conception is to be given, how the baby may be taught to count three.