In Praise of India - 10 Famous Quotations about India and Hinduism
1. Will Durant, American historian: "India was the motherland of
our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the
mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our
mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in
Christianity; mother, through the village community, of
self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother
of us all".
However it should be noted that the ancient scriptures were not
written as it was given to the rishis who in their Samadhi heard them
and thus it is in the language known to them and it need not be in the
language of elite. It is that democracy which is still prevalent and
not the one given by the west.
2. Mark Twain, American author: "India is, the cradle of the human
race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the
grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition, Our
most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are
treasured up in India only."
3. Albert Einstein, American scientist: "We owe a lot to the
Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile
scientific discovery could have been made."
4. Max Mueller, German scholar: If I were asked under what sky the
human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has
most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found
solutions, I should point to India.
5. Romain Rolland, French scholar: "If there is one place on the
face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home
from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it
is India."
India is not materialistic as it believes in spirituality and thus
explains that the matter does not have a separate existence other than
the energy. The Advaita is a unique concept which would not be
possible by any human research which is given to the world thru the
Vedas.
6. Henry David Thoreau, American Thinker & Author: Whenever I have
read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and
unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas,
there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climbs, and
nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great
Knowledge. When I read it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens
of a summer night.
Vedas are apurushiya that is it is not dictated or told by any human
beings or divine intervention. But it is what the Rishis have heard
them from the vibrations that exist in the nature and transmitted to
the Rishis who heard them. Hence they are authentic and do not suffer
from any mistakes or errors or conjectures of any one person or group
of individuals. Moreover it is universal and is not for any particular
regions or religions which is what he has expressed here,
7. R.W. Emerson, American Author: In the great books of India, an
empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene,
consistent, the voice of an old intelligence, which in another age and
climate had pondered and thus disposed of the questions that exercise
us.
.8. Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA: "India conquered
and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to
send a single soldier across her border."
9. Keith Bellows, National Geographic Society : "There are some
parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't
go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned
by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic
architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure,
concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds... I
had been seeing the world in black & white and, when brought
face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in
brilliant Technicolor."
10. A Rough Guide to India: "It is impossible not to be astonished
by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity present itself in such a
dizzying, creative burst of cultures and religions, races and tongues.
Enriched by successive waves of migration and marauders from distant
lands, every one of them left an indelible imprint which was absorbed
into the Indian way of life. Every aspect of the country presents
itself on a massive, exaggerated scale, worthy in comparison only to
the superlative mountains that overshadow it. It is this variety which
provides a breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely
Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be indifferent
to India would be to describe or understand India completely. There
are perhaps very few nations in the world with the enormous variety
that India has to offer. Modern day India represents the largest
democracy in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity
unparalleled anywhere else.
However it is a shame that India has lost its goal midway as the
western education imposed by the Politicians of India is harming every
Indian as we are lost and though some are shining in a big way in the
west but majority are suffering the same in silence. The spirit of
enquiry which raised India to great heights is completely destroyed
and unless we introduce the Gurukool system back in force which would
encourage the students to feel at home in their own country and become
good citizens and not merely a tool of materialistic spenders as the
Americans are treated in USA.
