I do not wish by what I have said to raise any exaggerated expectations as to the worth of these ancient hymns of the Veda, and the character of that… - Friedrich Max Müller

The translation of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root of their religion, and to show them what the root is, I feel sure, is the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last 3000 years.

जिस आर्य को हम ग्रीक, रोमन, जर्मन, सेल्ट और स्लाव के विभिन्न चरित्रों में पाते हैं उस आर्य को यहाँ हम एकदम नए चरित्र में पाते हैं। उसके उत्तरी देशान्तरों में उसकी सक्रिय और राजनैतिक ऊर्जाएँ प्रकट होती हैं और वे उच्चतम उत्कृष्टता हासिल करती हैं। साथ ही हमें मानव चरित्र का दूसरा पहलू भी मिलता है, निष्क्रिय, ध्यानस्थ, जो भारत में सम्पूर्ण रूप से विकसित हुआ।

If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered over 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 who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of the Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw the 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... again I should point to India.