B.), and Rose
R. Anthon, I cannot desire that their excessive love for the Gita
should find followers. I have it on the best authority that the
apparent superiority of the Indian Scriptures to those of the
Christian world influenced Margaret Noble to become 'Sister
Nivedita'--a great result from a comparatively small cause. And Miss
Anthon shows an excess of enthusiasm when she puts these words
(without note or comment) into the mouth of an Indian student:--
'But now, O sire, I have found all the wealth and treasure and honour
of the universe in these words that were uttered by the King of Kings,
the Lover of Love, the Giver of Heritages. There is nothing I ask
for; no need is there in my being, no want in my life that this Gita
does not fill to overflowing.' [Footnote: _Stories of India_,
1914, p. 138.]
There are in fact numerous passages in the Gita which, united, would
form a _Holy Living_ and a _Holy Dying_, if we were at the
pains to add to the number of the passages a few taken from the
Upanishads. Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore have already studded
their lectures with jewels from the Indian Scriptures. The Hindus
themselves delight in their holy writings, but if these writings are
to become known in the West, the grain must first be sifted. In other
words, there must be literary and perhaps also (I say it humbly) moral
criticism.
I will venture to add a few quotations:--
'Whenever there is a decay of religion, O Bh??ratas, and an ascendency
of irreligion, then I manifest myself.
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