Heroes of Old India

The temples and tombs of Egypt the eloquently silent monoliths of Stonehenge the mysterious ruins of Central America the star lore of ancient Chaldea the myths and philosophy which were the glory of Greece the Vedas and Gita of India the Koran the Pentateuch and the Gospels all tell the same story ; namely that wherever there is a great civilisation there will be found a great religion a [...] When the zeal of the fire-worshipping followers of Zarathustra waned the voice of the prophet was heard in Arabia and soon the cry God is great " reverberated from the Bay of Bengal to the shores of the Atlantic. [...] On the other hand India is richest of all the ages and continents in sacred writings and venerable traditions and in teachers whose words have illuminated millions of followers ; it is the home gf Narada and Rama of Krishna and Buddha the land of the Vedas of the Mahabarata of the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana. [...] And Brahma told Valmiki that he wished him to tell the story of Rama and of his conflict with the evil Rakshasa and of the faithfulness of Sita in verse ; and that the metre which he was to use was to be the shloka and that he was to publish it to the world and thus give to mankind a story which would be an example and an inspiration and an encouragement in all the strife and suffering throug [...] He was to direct their interests to the secrets of statcraft and enlighten them on the teachings of the Vedas he was to inform them of the functions of the gods and initiate them into the meanings of mantras and the mysteries of sacrifices.