Sarada Devi and Sara Bull - Part 6

Sara Bull had one daughter, Olea Vaughan, who although not in the scale of Holy Mother’s Radhu, nevertheless was a constant source of her worldly tribulation. Devoid of her father at a very early age Olea perhaps was too submissive to her dominant mother during her early days, but grew to be a rebel during her later stages. There is a pattern here. Both Radhu and Olea were sickly. Both of them suffered from chronic depression and would often react violently. Like Radhu Olea lost her father early enough, like Radhu she was of a rebellious streak, like Radhu she was a source of many troubles to her mother, like Radhu she had many opportunities and open doors to a spiritual life and like Radhu she suffered for her worldly actions and died of tuberculosis. Like Radhu who had Bonobihari who died soon after Holy Mother left her body, Olea had a child Edwina who died young. Their husbands neglected and even mistreated them. But the similarities end there. Radhu was perhaps more unfortunate as she had an insane mother and almost nobody to take care of her until Holy Mother took her responsibility. Radhu was to the Holy Mother an instrument provided by Sri Ramakrishna to keep her mind firmly rooted in the world, which otherwise would have soared far beyond its realms. Olea had no such higher purpose, instead she acted most disgracefully during Sara’s (and her own) last days. She was the daughter of a most gifted and talented father and she also dabbled in acting. She had enough freedom and material wealth.  Unlike Radhu. She married of her own free will a person who was perhaps not very suitable, against her mother’s better judgement, while Radhu had an arranged marriage to Manmatha. Olea was fortunate enough to have close association of Swami Vivekananda. Yet she had no visible attraction towards spirituality. Perhaps she resented her mother’s close association with Vedanta movement, or perhaps she was genuinely a materialistic and heartless lady, we would never know. During the last days of Sara’s illness, Olea evidently neglected her. She was interested in the property, in getting all the material possessions. When Sara left a considerable sum of money to the Vedanta movement and to Sister Nivedita in her last will Olea fiercely contested the will. She bribed Sara’s servants and established in the court that her mother had lost her mind under the influence of an Indian sect that influenced her psychically and hypnotized her to leave her fortune with them. The court in the Hinduphobic America of 1911 agreed that Sara neglected her daughter, and she was crazy and careless coming under the influence of the Hindu sect[1][2]. Stephen Prothero in his book argues that since the American masses at that time were far less tolerant and were weary of the influence and contamination of Hinduism on a predominantly Christian culture Olea Vaughan’s lawyers found it easy to prove that Sara’s frequent travels to India, her meditation in her shrine, her ritualistic worship all were the results of an insane mind owing to the Ayurvedic medicines that she took for her illness. However author Catalina in her book Disjointed Perspectives on Motherhood argues that in this particular case of will contest Sara’s motherhood was also on trial. She was proved to be a negligent and inappropriate mother largely through Olea’s testimony and therefore lost all sympathy with a hostile press and public. Olea won the case but the day the verdict went in her favour she died thus putting an end to a sad chapter. Probably like Radhu she came to play her part in the drama. Sri Ramakrishna had ordained some trials and tribulations as they are the bedrocks of a firm and secure foundation. He made Olea as an instrument to ensure that lure of easy money and wealth did not cause the movement to go astray. Perhaps it earned Sara a lot of disrepute which she did not deserve. She was one of the first to make Vedanta a living habit and culture, promoted the Greenacre and Cambridge conferences, was a champion of women’s rights and many other progressive endeavors, was widely respected in her own rights and also as the wife of Ole Bull. She certainly deserved a lot more respect than that has been given to her by the contemporary American media and the masses. Also it gives credence to the proverb that money is the root of all evils. If Sara would have renounced her material possessions much before while she was alive and if she were able to cut her bond of maya with Olea as the Holy Mother did with Radhu and her relatives, she probably could have avoided the disgrace inflicted upon her. Sara renounced in her mind but she could not get Swamiji’s cue to renounce externally as well despite receiving the ochre cloth from him. This probably led to the chain of events that led to the public scandal and tarnishing of her image by her own daughter. It is also perhaps significant that Rani Rasmoni in her deathbed had a sense of betrayal from her elder daughter Padma who refused to sign the trust deed of the temple. So somehow Sara’s life converges with Rasmoni’s in her death.

Holy Mother was certainly in a more exalted position. Unlike Olea’s case there was no negligence on her part in her dealing with Radhu. She poured her motherly love and affection on her as she did with all others. She was the universal mother who never intended to control anybody, which seemed to be a perennial weakness of Sara Bull. Radhu, despite her many transgressions did not and would not bring disgrace upon her. Radhu was never greedy for wealth as the incident Rameshwaram where she was offered precious jewelry and she refused, show. Radhu lived in the world for another twenty years after Holy Mother passed away and her sufferings brought a major transformation in her. She left her husband who mistreated her, but she helped him financially. She stayed alone till the end and carried a majestic and regal appearance, according to the testimony of the monks in Jairambati. She refused all help and lived by completely surrendering to the spiritual force whom she had not known or not cared for during her youth, not until she realized what it meant for her to live without the Holy Mother. She suffered no doubt, but she displayed exemplary moral courage and spirituality till the end for which she would earn our respect for eternity.

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[1] Disjointed Perspectives of Motherhood by Catalina Florina Florescu

[2] Hinduphobia and Hinduphilia in US Culture by Stephen Prothero