Article selection by K.P.B. | Note by H.P.B.
The query naturally suggests itself to any one now observing this “poor shadow” of the Aryan land—Is the Sun of India’s glory set never to rise again? . . . Hope, however, that darling supporter of humanity, never forsakes while there is still life, and makes every loving heart turn sufficiently credulous to fancy at the last a speedy recovery. Hence—the propriety for a native Hindu taking counsel with himself:
Shall, then, our glorious Aryavarta lie always dark? No, she cannot:—she that yet takes pride in having been the earliest quarter of civilization on the globe, the first hotbed of sciences, the oldest repository of arts, and the most ancient seat of learning and improvements . . . Ah, MOTHER! those says of thine are past, those thy glories lost, and even those brave sons of thine that crowned thy beauty and formed thy greatest pride, are gone—gone for ever! . . . When will again arise sages like Janaka or Valmiki, Veda-Vyasa or Manu, Patanjali or Gautama—saints, whose works and deeds have made them immortal, like the Phoenix of old! . . .
But “Providence protects the fallen;” . . . The breath that once inspired thy latent spirit shall soon revive. A great aid is come to thee; weeping so long in the wilderness, thy sighs shall now be heart—the THEOSOPHIST shall lead thy sons along.
Such being the importance of the worthy Journal and its great originators,1 the Theosophical Society, there arises this “Strange Revery” which I have made the heading of this article. . . .
1. Our welcome contributor is a Rajput and imbued, apparently, with that chivalrous ardour which ever characterized that warrior race. While disclaiming for our journal or Society, all pretence of assuming the leadership, or aspiring to anything more than a very humble part in the great work of Indian national reform, we nevertheless affirm the sincerity of our motives, and publish without emendation our brother’s words, in the hope and belief that his noble patriotism will awaken responsive echoes all over the land. For the regeneration of India must be effected by the efforts of her own children.—ED. THEOS. [H.P.B.]