"These sons belong me, and this wealth belongs me," with such thoughts the fool is tormented. He himself does not belong to himself; how much less so… - Friedrich Max Müller

If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power, and beauty that nature can bestow — in some parts a very paradise on earth — I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most full developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant — I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life — again I should point to India.

जब हम कहते हैं कि वर्षा हो रही है तो उन्होंने कहा कि ‘पर्जन्य’ जल से भरे अपने पात्र को धरती पर उड़ेल रहे हैं। जब हम कहते हैं कि पौ फट रही है तो उन्होंने कहा कि उषा सुन्दरी किसी नृत्यांगना के समान अपनी कला का वैभव बिखेर रही है। हम कहते हैं अब अँधेरा हो गया तो उन्होंने कहा कि सूर्य ने अपने रथ के अश्व खोल दिए। वैदिक कवियों के लिए यह समग्र प्रकृति ही सजीव थी। उसे प्रत्येक कण-कण में देवता की उपस्थिति का अनुभव होता रहता था और उनकी उपस्थिति की इस भावना में धार्मिक एवं नैतिकता के बीज भी विद्यमान थे।

सत्य का दूसरा नाम संस्कृत में रित है, जिसका अर्थ मूलत: शायद सीधा था,