Independence Day - In praise of India

[Guest guest]

Dear Members

 

We all agreee India has weakness and strong points. I believe India has more

strong points than weaknesses. Thousands of communities of different beliefs,

races, languages, jatis, lifetstyles and values still are able live in peaceful

existence not today or yesterday for for several thousands of India.

 

People may criticize or find shortcomings in our systems. But the above cannot

be found in any other country or civilization over such a long period of time.

 

A.H. Venkitesh (Viji)

 

 

In Praise of India

 

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"

 

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 grand mother 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."

 

6. 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."

 

7. Mark Twain: "So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone,

either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the

sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing

overlooked."

 

8. Keith Bellows, VP - 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."

 

9. Mark Twain: "India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion

all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire."

 

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."

 

 

http://hinduism.about.com/od/history/p/indiaquotes.htm