engaged in the movement to foster child-centered
learning in schools. In 1885, she opened the
Ruskin School in Wimbledon, for adults as well
as children who wished to study modern educa-
tional methods. She was a cofounder of the Con-
gress of Modern Pedagogy, centered on the child’s
experience of school. She also served as a welfare
worker, while championing the underprivileged
by writing pamphlets in London.
After Swami VIVEKANANDA’s famous appear-
ance at the WORLD PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS in
Chicago in 1893, he stayed for three months
in London; in 1885, Margaret met him and
declared herself his disciple, calling him “Mas-
ter.” Through Vivekananda, she found a religion
whose elements could be discussed scientifically
and whose goal was expressed in terms of spiri-
tual freedom rather than, as she thought, sin-
defined slavery. While the swami was in England
she followed his teaching assiduously, attending
lectures four times a week. When Vivekananda
left England in November 1895, Margaret began
to study the swami’s philosophical ideas in prep-
aration for meeting him again, declaring herself
a “monk.”
In 1898 Margaret traveled to India to start
her new life of service to education and women.
In March of that year, she was initiated by Vive-
kananda and given the name Nivedita (she who
had been dedicated). He asked her to live in an
orthodox Hindu way. She opened a school for
Indian girls in 1898 in a single room of her house
in a poor section of Calcutta (Kolkata). While a
plague raged in Calcutta, she nursed the sick and
dying. She lectured on KALI, goddess of destruc-
tion and plagues, to audiences of thousands. She
met and worked with Sri RAMAKRISHNA’s widow,
Sri SARADA DEVI (1853–1920), who was revered
by the Ramakrishna monks as the embodiment of
the Holy Mother.
In 1902 she left the Ramakrishna Order, after
Vivekananda’s death, because her political activi-
ties for Indian independence were declared incom-
patible with her status as a Hindu renunciant
(brahmacharini). The remainder of her life was
spent in India working on behalf of Indian women.
She died on October 13, 1911, in Calcutta.Further reading: Atmaprana, Sister Nivedita of Ramak-
rishna-Vivekananda (Calcutta: Ramakrishna Math,
1999); Barbara Foxe, Long Journey Home: A Biogra-
phy of Margaret Noble (London: Rider, 1975); Swami
Ghambhirananda, History of the Ramakrishna Math and
Mission (Calcutta: advaita Ashrama, 1957); Nivedita,
My Master As I Saw Him, 10th ed. (Calcutta: Udbod-
han Office, 1966); ———, The Complete Works of
Sister Nivedita (Calcutta: Ramakrishna Sarada Mission,
1967); Lizelle Reymond, The Dedicated: A Biography of
Nivedita (Madras: Samata, 1985).niyama See YOGA SUTRA.
nonviolence See AHIMSA.
Nyaya-Vaisheshika
Nyaya and Vaisheshika represent two of the six
“orthodox” systems of Indian philosophy. Ortho-
dox here simply entails an acceptance of the VEDAS
as an ultimate authority. In practice, even this
requirement is observed only nominally in the
case of one system, the SAMKHYA.
For many centuries these two schools have
been integrated in a single philosophical system.
However, certain of their distinctive and separate
features are worth noting.
Vaisheshika, from the term vishesha (distinc-
tion), is usually thought of as the earlier of the
two systems. There is strong evidence that this
system began to take shape as early as 400 B.C.E.,
though the earliest extant texts are probably a
little later. The 10 chapters of the Vaisheshika
Sutra, by the sage Kanada, date around the sec-
ond century C.E. They teach that salvation can be
obtained only by “real knowledge” of things, as
outlined in this SUTRA.Nyaya-Vaisheshika 317 J