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vol. title: Vol Four of The Theosophical Society of The Arya Samaj of Arya-wart vol. period: Sept 1878 – Sept 1879 pages in vol.: 350 |
< An Opportunity for India (continued from page 8-193) >
ground and raise from the ruins a structure of harmonious beauty and strength, where peace and good will to man might ever dwell. But this is a work of time.
Let us, however, see what it has actually accomplished. It has surveyed the past and the present and the future. It has taken notes of its observations. It has instituted comparisons; and the results arising therefrom it has boldly presented to the world. Let us give a few of these results. The past has been pregnant with lessons and has in a great measure directed the course of this public opinion. The past has unfolded its books, and we read there of the struggles of the Aryan races before the flood, man and nature in harmony and yet ever waging war, a constant duel as to who should obtain the mastery. And the glorious triumph of the human intellect—the secrets of nature wrested from her and utilized for the benefit of humanity—the immense capabilities of the soul—the omnipotence of the human spirit—all, all spoke eloquently of the time, when India could safely boast of being the first and greatest country on the face of the earth, the cradle of all thought and all civilization.
Oh! those were glorious times, the times of the Vedas and of Sakya-Muni. What if they are lost? Memory would for ever dwell there. But a change came over the spirit of their dream. The Vedantist and the Buddhist had their day. The Brahmins, those elect priests of Siva and Rama and the millions of gods of the modern Hindu pantheon came to the front, with hat in their hand, a smile on their lips, and a frown on their brow. These pious Brahmins—nothing remained pious that they touched. Theirs was to break what Budh had built. They indulged their iconoclastic tendency to the full. They hewed down everything in their way. Homes and hearths, duty and conscience, nothing absolutely was sacred in their eyes. All that they respected was themselves and their divine privileges. All, that ever was, was created for Brahmins. But soon followed a break in the storm. A man arose, who questioned boldly the infallibility of these Indian popes, and oh! treason, he was a Brahmin himself! Zoroaster, the magician or the prophet, was a man to whom the Vedas revealed themselves in all their purity and excellence. He broke with his brethren, and with a select band crossed over to Persia, propagated the truth as he understood it, and made his adopted land the nursery of the civilization of the world. But the Brahmins in India still pursued their mad career. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand; and when the Indians fought among themselves, and the Brahmins stood by and clapped their hands, it was only natural that this land should have been a victim of frequent foreign aggressions. The Persians, the Greeks, the Mahomedans, the Dutch, the French, and the English; all in their turns had a blow at poor India, and each blow made her weaker till she lies prostrate,—the mother of nations a suppliant to her children! Such has been the past. And what of the present?
And we love England for all she has done for India. Has not England, in the first place, given India the means to understand her state in its proper light? When the nature of a disease is known, the cure is simple. All honour to Englishmen, who have done their best to rouse India from her sleep of centuries. It has been said over and over again, that English education has made the Indians mere regretters. Is this true? If it is, there is still but one step between regrets and reforms. It is, however, just possible, that the reforms may take a shape which Englishmen are least prepared for. For, what is the tendency of the English system of education? It is, we are afraid, nothing more that an attempt to shew and to prove the omnipotence of England, her glory in science and art and philosophy, her supremacy on the earth and in the air. This is a something, which reasonable people may well question. Englishmen were perfect, if they were not so arrogant. They have yet to learn much from the people, whom they are come to teach. If they went hand in hand with the Indians and sought together the realms of old, they should discover things which would make them the foremost nation in all Europe, and they should then form links between themselves and the nations of India, which would prove more powerful than mere armies and laws could forge. We are sure, all thoughtful Englishmen think and believe as we do.
Now, then, is the opportunity for India. It is an ill wind that blows no body good; and the Indians must be lost, indeed, who will not hasten to avail themselves of the benefits within their reach. Need we explain our meaning further? Does not Theosophy purpose to renovate India, to raise her sons from the servitude of ages and to fulfil their dreams? Is it meet that strangers should inform themselves of all that the forefathers of the Indians knew, and the Indians themselves wallow in ignorance? But the strangers do not only know; they are willing and ready to instruct. They are come to live and die with us. Let it not be said of us, that we refused the proffered boon! No suspicion attaches to their name. Is human nature reduced so low that we refuse to credit their best intentions towards us? They do not seek our money. They only require us to be true to ourselves. A mission greater never was conceived. Let the Aryans make a common cause; let the Hindoos, Parsees, Mahomedans, Christians forget their differences, and the day of India’s regeneration is not far off.