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The Unknown Pilgrims
prevailing social injustice. Mahāsati, with her very real oratorical gifts, knew how to speak fearlessly in picturesque, yet also concrete and exact terms. Nearly always she would recount a story taken from one or other of the religious traditions and then, with the utmost skill, would guide her hearers towards the essential, would cause them to reflect, knowing on every occasion just how to distill the spiritual message of her talks without being dogmatic, abstract or boring.
Her pravacanas were grounded in the doctrine, but doctrine must not be a dead-letter affair. She raised her voice against the sterility, the uselessness, of certain practises divorced from real life. She was daring enough to attack at its root all hypocrisy, egoism of every type, those crying injustices which most people tend to tolerate. She insisted on the need to purify motives and actions and spoke out against the exploitation of the poor. She was always exhorting her audience to respect those whom society, out of blindness, habitually oppresses, insults and despises. She begged people to come to their aid, to welcome them, love them. It is in this, she would say, that the dharma consists, it is in this way that one lives out ahiṁsā. Mahāsati, through her own person and through her words, was a great encouragement and powerful inspiration to women of all walks of life and, in particular, to girls to whom she imparted fresh incentive and the conviction that, despite so many obstacles, they must get themselves educated and thus be able to advance.
Sometimes, it is true - and notably in the course of some of her references to western-culture - Mahāsati's observations could be wide of the mark. She expressed somewhat erroneous opinions, oversimplified, and had recourse to clichés. This was due chiefly to the prejudices of the age and to her lack of information and firsthand knowledge of this subject, her opinion being based on rather sketchy reading. It is unfortunate that she did not have an opportunity to meet any experts in this very broad domain. However, considering the misieu to which she belonged, it is truly remarkable that she had taken thé trouble to acquire information. Moreover, she invariably maintained a benevolent outlook.
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