(RO) O Moștenire Nobilă
Descendenții Dinastiei Shalivahana
Exact la ora douăsprezece, în ziua echinocțiului de primăvară, pe 21 martie 1923, Nirmala Salve s-a născut în Chhindwara, un oraș situat în centrul geografic al Indiei. Calitățile nobile ale strămoșilor săi puteau fi observate încă de la o vârstă fragedă în caracterul lui Nirmala.
Bunica ei, Sakhubai Salve, a manifestat calitățile curajoase și virtuoase care au însoțit dinastia familiei de-a lungul secolelor. În 1883, fiind în ultimele stadii ale sarcinii, Sakhubai și-a pierdut soțul în împrejurări tragice. Amenințată de rudele acestuia (care nu tolerau faptul că el și familia sa erau creștini), Sakhubai și-a luat cei patru copii și a plecat într-o noapte târzie, în timpul musonului, cu râul din apropiere în plină viitură.
Sakhubai avea o asemenea credință încât, în ciuda condiției sale fizice, a sariului ei de 9 metri, a ploii torențiale și a râului umflat, a reușit să traverseze cu copiii ei, urmată de o plimbare de 8 kilometri până la cea mai apropiată gară. În zori, s-au urcat într-un tren spre Ujjain, casa fratelui lui Sakhubai. În aceste condiții dificile, s-a născut Prasad Rao Salve, tatăl lui Shri Mataji.
Sakhubai and her children had to adapt from a life of wealth and ease to that of extreme frugality. Her children’s education, however, was essential to Sakhubai, and she instilled in them a spirit of self-sacrifice and commitment. They pursued their studies under street lamps when there was no more kerosene at home.
Prasad Rao, the youngest, was a particularly brilliant student and received scholarships throughout his academic career. He studied law and joined a well-known firm in the city of Chhindwara. He married soon after, but sadly, was widowed at the age of 37, with five children. Though reluctant, he was eventually persuaded by his relatives to remarry, out of concern for the children’s wellbeing.
There was a young woman from Nagpur named Cornelia Karuna Jadhav, the first woman in India to receive an honours degree in mathematics. She was also a scholar of Sanskrit and very well versed in ancient Indian culture. Because she was so highly educated, it was difficult for her father to find a partner for her of at least equal, if not higher, academic qualifications.
Through mutual friends, Prasad Rao sent a marriage proposal to Cornelia and her father. It was not a decision easily made, whether to accept this proposal of a widower with five children. However, she was impressed by his intelligence and faith in God and she felt a deep compassion for his children, who were left motherless at a young age. They were married on the 21st of June, 1920.
They were the ones started this Shalivahan dynasty, actually they called themselves as Sathvahan means seven Vahanas (vehicles). They represented the seven Vahanas of the seven chakras. It’s surprising how it is so Sahaj.
Prasad Rao and Cornelia shared a deep love for their country and its great spiritual tradition and values. Their daughter Nirmala was only two years old in 1925 when they met Mahatma Gandhi for the first time, and this meeting had an enormous impact on them. They recognized and shared his vision for a free India achieved through non-violent struggle.
Despite the fact that Prasad Rao had been given a title by the British and that they were Christian (which meant a lot of privileges during the time of British rule), he and his wife did not hesitate to join the movement, making their position clear – even burning their foreign-made clothes in the public square of Nagpur. Because of their involvement in the freedom struggle, they were both jailed several times, and they made it a family rule that no one was to shed tears for them. India’s freedom was the most important thing, and self-sacrifice was the rule, not the exception.
With her parents often away or in prison, Shri Mataji took the running of the household upon herself so that her older siblings could continue their studies uninterrupted. She was eight years old at the time.
Some years later Shri Mataji was old enough to join the freedom struggle, encouraging fellow students to do the same. She, too, was imprisoned and even tortured by the British. But her spirit was not weakened by the experience. Throughout her life, she would continue to personify the eternal values of her noble ancestors: courage, self-sacrifice and compassion.
