Emerson and Vedanta

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Comparative Study Series \o. 2
Emerson and Vedanta
BY SWAMI PARAMANANDA
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or "ioul'i tEcarr Dooa," "thk vigil."
"rLATO AKD VCOIC IDEALISM," "THE rATH Of DrVOTIOH," "fAITH A« A COIttT«UCTIVt EOECE." ETC.
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^3 3
PREFACE
The
lectures contained in these pages
were deHvered
Boston and
azine,
at
The \ edanta Centre of
its
mag-
of the East."
The
later published
"The Message
in
keen interest which they aroused has led
to
reprint
them
form.
A new
chapter
us
Hindu
will
Classics"
more convenient
in
on.
"Kmerson and
has been added which
prove valuable to the scholar and stu-
dent of comparative philosophy.
The purpose
of the lectures
forth the striking similarity
writings of
to set
between the
Emerson and the sacred teach-
ings of the East
India.
was
— pre-eminently
Deep students
of
those of
Vedic ideals have
long regarded
Emerson
as
an inspired in-
terpreter of these ideals to the
West; and
there can be no doubt that as one turns
the pages of his numerous essays and fol-
lows the exalted trend of his words, one
can almost imagine that they
ears
It
from some
far
fall
Himalayan
upon the
height.
has always been one of the chief aims
of the present author to
show the funda-
harmony underlying all phases
higher thought, and this volume is one
mental
of
more
effort
towards the same end.
EDITOR.
CONTENTS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
...
EMERSON AND VEDANTA
KARMA AND COMPENSATION
ATMAN AND OVER-SOUL
EMERSON AND HINDU CLASSICS
-
11
-
-
-
-
28
.
.
-
-
46
-
-
-
67
"It is not to Israel alone that
and revealed His
it/ill;
God has spoken
nor ezen only
to recog-
among the
work to do He
nized prophets, zvhethcr in Israel or
nations.
speaks,
But
much
to all
or
who have
little,
insions, according to
to their fitness to
his
and
and according
clearly or in parables
their needs
hear and understand."
— Wisdom
of Israel.
LET HIM SPEAK*
Let him speak whose
flood-time, full
Let others keep
The tongue
But
silent.
still;
do Thou speak.
For Thou alone canst speak
•
This
is
words
hungry mouths.
that speaketh soulless
scattereth pebbles before
keep
I
spirit flows like the river in
and strong;
to
my
one of the author's latest poems.
soul.
;
I
EMERSON AND VEDANTA
4 4
T
V what philosophers say
X
ship between Cjod
what
lias
Socrates,
man
he
any
when he
is,
one
is
never to
and man be
do
to
saj'
that he
Athens or Corinth, but
.
.
Why may
but,
true,
like
asked what country-
of
.
of the kin-
not
is
a citizen
of the world?
he
who under-
stands the administration of the world and
has learned that the greatest and most
principal
is
this
and comprehensive
of
all
things
system composed of men and
and that from
Him
the seeds of being are
descended, not only to
grandfather, but to
God
all
my
father
and
things that are pro-
duced and born on earth, and especially
Emerson and Vedanta
12
to rational natures, as they alone are qualified to
partake of
communion with
the
Him by
un-
not such a one
call
Why
not
of the
Ro-
Deity, being connected with
derstanding
:
why may
himself a citizen of the world?
God?"
a son of
man
These words
philosopher Epictetus show
truly great
osophy
them
men
all
possess a universal phil-
and how natural
of life;
how
for
it is
to transcend the limitations of lo-
cality, race
and
creed,
and break down
all
barriers of apparent difference.
This
may go
is
to the
or China
two
essentially true of
Emerson. You
—to India, Persia
Far East
—and you
will find a
of his essays there
least expect to find
volume or
where you would
them; and you
will
meet people who accept Emerson's writings, not only
with sympathy, but as their
own, because they recognize in them a
kinship of thought and ideals.
real
There can
be no doubt that Emerson was deeply in-
Emerson and Vedanta
terested in
writings
we
13
Eastern philosophy.
find
many
direct
In his
and
indirect
He was
references to Oriental teachings.
a
devout student of the Bhagavad-Gita
and the L'panishads, and often quoted or
used stories from them.
Yet
this does not
borrowed.
in
us.
We
must
It
from the innermost recesses
of
must possess the power
and assimilate
means
can borrow
knowledge, but true knowledge
can never be borrowed.
We
it.
up
our being.
to recognize
the only one of his generation to
Others read
but they were unable to find in
did, because their prejudices
understanding made
them
rise
Fmerson was by no
study Oriental literature.
of
realms of
the higher
There we cannot take what
does not belong to
relative
Kmerson
that
believe that there cannot be
I
any borrowing
knowledge.
mean
to grasp
its
it
it
and
it,
what he
their lack
impossible for
true import.
A
gentle-
ETnerson and Vedanta
14
man
once said to Emerson that he had
studied
the different philosophies and
all
religions of the world,
and he was now con-
vinced that Christianity was the only one
to
which Emerson
my
"That only
replied:
how narrowly you have
read them." Unless we have openness of
mind and a certain depth of spiritual consciousness, we may come in contact with
many lofty ideals, but they will make no
shows,
friend,
definite impression
to
on
us.
We may
try
borrow them, but we cannot retain them
or use
them
intelligently until
made them our own. When
light of
there
is
we have
the higher
understanding comes, we find that
no need tq borrow, because
men have
equal access to what
As Emerson has
is
all
cosmic.
said:
common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to
the same and to all the same. He that is
"There
is
one mind
once admitted to the right of reason
is
—
Emerson and Vedanta
made
freeman of the whole
a
may
Plato has thought, he
saint has
felt,
he
may
feel
15
estate.
What
think; what a
;
what
at
any
time has befallen any man, he can under-
Who
stand.
mind
is
hath access to this universal
a party to all that
done, for this
is
is
or can be
the only and sovereign
agent."
"Of the universal mind each
dividual
is
one more incarnation.
properties consist in him."
said of the wise
modern
or
er his
own
man by
"So
all
in-
All
its
that
is
Stoic or Oriental
essayist, describes to
each read-
idea, describes his unattained
"How
but attainable self."
easily these
old worships of Moses, of Zoroaster, of
Manu,
in the
in
of Socrates, domesticate themselves
mind.
I
cannot find any antiquity
them they are mine
:
as
much
as theirs."
This idea of the universal mind brings
before us forcibly the great fundamental
truth of the Vedas,
"Spirit
is
one without
Ekam-fva-dvityam,
a second."
Out
of
Emerson and Vedanta
16
that one essence the whole universe has
evolved and in that one
As
it rests.
it is
"The Absolute,
though one, is conceived as many; countless luminaries become one in Him; all
the Vedas (Scriptures) become one in
said in the Yajur-Veda:
Him;
He
all
sacred rites
become one
abides equally in the soul of
ing things
;
He
in
all exist-
the Inner Self of
is
Him.
be-
all
ings, seated in the heart of every living
creature;
and
all
He
is
the Ruler of
beings become one in
When Emerson
ideas
all
creatures,
Him."
gave expression to these
which were not
strictly
from the Christian point
orthodox
of view, he did
not meet with a sympathetic welcome.
even had to resign his pulpit, as
He
we know
but this did not make him give up his
convictions,
ness.
which proves
Whenever
a
man
compromises and limit
fear of public opinion,
is
his true great-
willing to
his beliefs
make
through
we may know
that
Emerson and Vedanta
17
But Emerson
he lacks true spirituality.
was not merely a popular preacher or a
scholar, he
was
a spiritual genius.
He struck
a wider vision.
a note that
essay on Circles:
walked
in the
friends,
why
in
"I thought as
I
woods and mused on
should
game
of idolatry?
well,
when not
I
was
He writes
both spiritual and universal.
his
He had
my
play with them this
I
know and
voluntarily
see too
blind,
the
speedy limits of persons called high and
O
worthy.
blessed Spirit,
whom
sake for these, they are not thou.
personal consideration that
us heavenly state.
We
sell
we
I
for-
Every
allow costs
the thrones of
and turbulent pleasure."
angels for a short
This passage shows clearly his attitude
of mind,
how
unwilling he was to give up
what he believed
to be true
and what was
the result of his long and deep reflection.
"What
I
must do
is all
that concerns me,
not what the people think," he exclaims.
Emerson and Vedanta
18
"This
arduous in actual and
rule, equally
in intellectual
life,
may
serve for the whole
distinction between greatness
ness.
It
is
the harder because you will
always find those
what
it.
who
know
than you know
think they
your duty better
is
It is
and mean-
easy in the world to live after the
world's opinion;
live after
it is
easy in solitude to
our own; but the great
man
is
he who in the midst of the crowd keeps
with perfect sweetness the independence
of solitude."
Great souls sometimes seem very un-
compromising because they are unwilling
to sacrifice that
vital.
They
which they believe to be
necessarily have a diff^erent
standard, and they cannot be untrue to
that standard even though the whole world
turn against them.
"The
angels are so
guage that
is
As Emerson
enamored
says:
of the lan-
spoken in heaven that they
will not distort their lips
with the hissing
Emerson and Vedanta
and unmusical
19
men, but speak
dialects of
own, whether there be any who un-
their
derstand
or not."
it
Those who possess
such courage of conviction are the only
who
ones
really contribute towards
the
well-being of mankind.
Emerson more than once speaks of his
debt to the Hindu Scriptures, and there
can be no doubt that in
them he found much
his essay
says
study of
In
to inspire him.
on Quotations and Originality he
"What
:
his long
divines
had assumed
as the
distinctive revelations of Christianity, the-
ologic
criticism
parallelisms
has
from the Stoics and poets
Later
known, no claim to monopoly
wisdom could be thought
within this
of."
of ethical
"It
is
only
century that England and
America discovered that
tales
of
when Confucius
Indian Scriptures were made
Greece and Rome.
and the
matched by exact
their
nursery-
were old German and Scandinavian
Emerson and Vedanta
20
stories
;
and now
it
appears that they came
from India, and are the property
of all
the nations descended from the
Aryan
race,
and have been warbled and babbled
between nurses and children for unknown
Once more in Persian Poetry he writes: "The favor of the
climate, making subsistence easy and enthousands of years."
couraging an outdoor
life,
allows to the
Eastern nations a highly intellectual organization,
—leaving out of view
at present
the genius of the Hindoos (more Oriental
in every sense),
whom no people have
sur-
passed in the grandeur of their ethical
statement."
After reading these passages
we cannot
doubt that Emerson fully recognized the
loftiness
ing.
He
and beauty
of the Eastern teach-
also possessed
of Indian Philosophy
and there
its
with his own.
an unusual grasp
and picked out here
fairest thoughts to
To-day
it is
mingle
easy to find
Emerson and Vedanta
21
many
translations of Oriental writings;
but in
his
time the translations were few
and imperfect; yet because he possessed
same quality
the
of mind, he
draw out from them the
like the
it is
was able to
essence.
He was
mythical Indian swan, which
given milk mixed with water,
to separate the milk
when
is
able
from the water and
take only the milk.
Whenever we study
we do not touch
in a superficial
way,
the essence and the es-
sence does not touch us.
We
all
have the
opportunity of coming in contact with
great writings or great men, but they do
not reach us.
Sri
Ramakrishna to
illus-
trate this gives a parable of three dolls,
one of cloth and one of stone.
one of
salt,
When
the salt doll went into the ocean,
it
at once
doll
became one with
it;
the cloth
was wet through, but retained
its
own form;
while the stone doll remained
unchanged.
So some people have such
a
Emerson and Vedanta
22
make an
stony nature, nothing seems to
But we can
impression on them.
come
and make ourselves
this
to higher ideals
Vedanta
if
we
less
;
and above
we can put
dices
and
over-
susceptible
wish.
insistently proclaims that there
can be no boundary
thought
all
lines in the
all it
aside our
superstitions,
realm of
teaches that un-
narrow preju-
we can never hope
to attain the highest Truth.
I
use the
word "superstition" because whenever we
cling to a fixed idea or to certain forms
and
rituals
believed in
merely because our forefathers
them
or because they have be-
come a habit with us, that is superstition.
The central aim of Vedanta is to bring
all
to
one unifying understanding, yet
to let each one follow his
form
of faith.
particular
When we try to force
ness of thought,
but when
own
it
same-
bars spiritual progress
we admit
the possibility of per-
fect unity in variety, then each
one
is
able
Emerson and Vedanta
to advance in his
izes that as
23
own way. Vedanta
real-
long as there are such differ-
human temperament and mind,
ences in
we cannot
expect
To
manner.
all
to worship in the
destroy
would be to destroy much
its
It sees that
of
life
beauty
its
Therefore Vedanta in-
and sublimity.
cludes in
in
diversity
same
scope
forms of thought.
all
even the crudest aspect of re-
ligious faith has its value, since
not be possible for the ignorant
it
would
man and
the philosopher to have the same conception of Truth.
Their aspiration
equal, but their
modes
may
of expression
be
must
inevitably differ.
"Truth
is
one,
men
call it
names and comprehend
ways
of
!"
it
by various
in
different
Such was the profound discovery
Indo-Aryan sages
as far
back
as in the
Rig-Veda, several thousand years before
the Christian era; and
basis ever since for
all
it
has been the
the ethical and
Emerson and Vedanta
24
spiritual ideals of India.
These Seers
real-
ized that dualism, qualified non-dualism
and monism did not represent
rival phases
of belief, but different degrees of spiritual
development, each having special appeal
for certain types of
mind.
It
would be
just as absurd to expect a person of rudi-
mentary understanding to grasp the
est ideals of
one
Life,
monism,
—that
there
lofti-
is
but
one Cosmic Principle, one Con-
sciousness permeating the whole universe
—
as
it
would be to expect a
child in the
primary school to grasp the highest problems of astronomy.
Yet
in
time
that the child wi'l grow to
'
we know
comprehend
them if he perseveres.
Emerson makes this plain in his essay
on Immortality when he writes "Will you
:
offer
empires to such as cannot set a house
Here are peo-
or private affairs in order ?
ple
who cannot
dispose of a day ; an hour
hangs heavy on their hands
;
and
will
you
;
Emerson and Fedafita
them
offer
this is the
thought
is
character
he
exhibits
The youth
sions of the child, the
and
But
Within every man's
rise.
a higher thought,
character.
norance
without end?
rolling ages
way to
25
—within
today,
puts
man
tumultuous
higher
a
the illu-
off
puts
off
the ig-
passions
youth proceeding thence puts
;
the
off
of
the ego-
tism of manhood, and becomes at last a
public and universal soul.
He
is
rising to
greater heights, but also rising to realities
the
outer
and circumstances
relations
dying out, he entering deeper into God,
God
into him, until the last
egotism
falls,
shares the will
and he
is
garment of
with
and immensity
God and
of the First
Cause.
"It
is
curious to find the selfsame feel-
ing, that it
is
not immortality, but eternity,
—not duration, but
abandonment
to the
Highest, and so the sharing of His perfection
— appearing
in
the farthest East
Emerson and Vedanta
26
and West. The human mind takes no
ac-
count of geography, language, or legends,
j
but in
utters the
all
same
instinct."
Emerson's great openness, fairness and
love of
Truth enabled him to understand
the teachings of
ever he
came
all
nations
;
and when-
across great truths, he recog-
nized and absorbed them.
When
man
a
can thus perceive the highest in other men,
it
In
deals a death-blow to all littleness.
comparing Emerson's philosophy with the
Vedic teaching there
little
is
no intention to be-
the genius of Emerson.
The
uni-
same
in East
and West,
in the remotest past
and the
present.
was because Emerson had
versal facts of life are the
It
covered certain profound truths in his
soul, that
light the
them
dis-
own
he was able to accept with de-
same truths when he discovered
elsewhere.
Only a man who
is
an
expert in the higher realms of knowledge,
can analyze and appreciate the value of
;
Emerson and Vedanta
ideas of rare quality
when he
and Emerson was able to do
destined
gether,
more and more
and
I
finds
to be
them
We are
this.
thrown to-
hope and pray that
the will of the
27
it
may be
Cosmic Being to destroy
the fictitious barriers which exist between
East and West, North and South
able us to
meet
All great
minds do
in the
;
and en-
one universal Truth.
this.
They cannot be
narrow holes
of
They must expand; and
as
they expand, they leave behind them
all
satisfied to live in little
their
own.
sense of difference.
to abide in this
free souls
Bliss
and
Those who are able
unbroken unity become
and enjoy the supreme cosmic
Infinitude.
II
KARMA AND COMPENSATION
THOU
canst not gather what thou
dost not
trees,
so
the act a
of
sow
will
man
it
;
as
thou dost plant the
grow
.
.
.
Whatever
commits, whatever his state
mind, of that the recompense must he
receive
in
corresponding
body."
These
profound and dynamic words of wisdom
spoken by
Manu
the great ancient law-
giver of India, not only express the basic
principle of the Vedic idea of
of compensation),
Karma
(law
but they contain the
human desNature we find con-
simple but irrevocable law of
tiny.
For even
in
stant proof of the truth
this
law in every turn of
and
life.
fairness of
For only
Karma and Compensation
29
the rose will produce a rose and an apple-
With same
an apple-tree.
seed,
precision
and exactness pure thought and kind deeds
produce unfailing happiness and their
will
opposite will bring
man
not an arbitrary law;
This
misery.
it is
is
a true, gentle,
but firm and just principle of
When
life.
we
learn to abide
life
produces in abundance the richness of
human
The
beneficence our
its
experience.
idea of
India
in
by
as
Karma
a
to
doctrine
theological
or as an intellectual
considered
not regarded
is
off"er
speculation;
the
only
the perplexities and problems of
The word Karma, from
life.
literally
we
ever
all
that
thought and deed.
only;
do,
human
and
is,
all
also
that
what-
produced as the result of our
is
ever, to
we
of all
the Sanskrit,
means "action," that
think,
is
rational,
and satisfactory explanation
logical
it
It
is
not limited, how-
what we think and do
its
scope extends to
in this
all
life
the past
Emerson and Vedanta
30
and
all
in both directions
doing
now
dition,
The law must
the future.
is
because
;
if
operate
what we are
to determine our future con-
then there must have been some
cause in the past for our present condition.
There are many who believe in a future
life,
but
who
are unwilling to accept the
idea of pre-existence
logic to see that
we
if
then our present
yet
;
must become
existence to that future
dogmatic
belief; it
is
little
exist in the future,
life
In India the idea of
requires
it
pre-
life.
Karma
is
not a mere
a fundamental law
and corresponds to what modern science
calls
the law of cause and
that there
is
injustice in
inequalities
effect. It
no such thing
shows
as chance or
human affairs; that all these
which we see in the world are
not ordained by an arbitrary Ruler, but
are the inevitable results of our
of life
and thought.
Scriptures,
is
called
This
life,
own mode
in Indian
Karma-hhumi, the
Karma and Compensation
31
harvest field of action; and according to
evident
we sow in it do we reap. It is
that we cannot reap what we do
not sow
;
the seeds
of our
hence what comes to us must be
own
planting.
For the same reason
people have no cause to be frightened by
circumstances; for however overpowering
and unalterable our present condition may
seem,
it
can always be undone by the
thoughts and actions which
we sow
to-day.
Emerson
gives a clear expression of this in
his essay
on Compensation.
"Ever since
I
was
a boy," he says, "I
Comme when very
have wished to write a discourse on
pensation
;
for
young that on
it
seemed to
this subject life
was ahead
and the people knew more
than the preachers taught. ... It seemed
to me also that in it might be shown a
of theology
ray of divinity, the present action of the
soul of this world, clean
of tradition:
from
all
and so the heart
vestige
of
man
Emerson and Vedanta
32
might be bathed by an inundation of
eternal love, conversing with that
which
he knows was always and always must be,
because
it
over, that
really
if
now.
is
appeared, more-
It
this doctrine could
in terms with
be stated
any resemblance to those
bright instructions in which this truth
sometimes revealed to
star in
us,
it
many dark hours and
ages in our journey, that
is
would be
a
crooked pass-
would not
suffer
us to lose our way.
"I
was
lately confirmed in these desires
by hearing a sermon
preacher, a
man
at
church.
esteemed for
doxy, unfolded in the ordinary
his ortho-
manner the
He
doctrine of the Last Judgment.
sumed
this
that judgment
The
as-
not executed in
is
world that the wicked are successful
;
that the good are miserable;
and then
urged from reason and from Scripture a
compensation to be made to both parties
in the next
life.
.
.
.
What
did the
Karma and Compensation
preacher
mean by
saying that the good are
miserable in the present
house and lands,
luxury,
dress,
spised;
made
them
life
?
Was
wine,
offices,
are
men, whilst the
33
it
that
horses,
had by unprincipled
saints are poor
and that a compensation
to these last hereafter,
and deis
to be
by giving
—bank
another day
like gratifications
stock and doubloons, venison and
cham-
pagne? This must be the compensation intended; for what else? Is
to have leave to pray
that they are
it
and praise? to love
and serve men? Why, that they can do
now. The legitimate inference the disciple
would draw was
good time
put
it
to
:
We
are to have such a
as the sinners
its
have now,' or to
extreme import, *You sin now,
we shall sin by and by we would sin now,
if we could; not being successful, we ex;
pect our revenge tomorrow.'
"The
fallacy lay in the
cession that the
bad are
immense con-
successful; that
Emerson and Vedanta
34
'
justice
not done now.
is
The blindness
of
the preacher consisted in deferring to the
base estimate of the market of what con-
manly
stitutes a
success, instead of con-
fronting and convicting the world from the
announcing the presence of the
truth;
soul
;
establishing the standard of good
This
is
dinary
what we
see in the
everything
is
we
analyze properly,
find that the
whole standard
here rests on a physical basis
plete
explanation of
found
if
we
life
but a com-
;
can never be
limit our vision to the surface
we merely
and judge from that, we
So long
see injustice
writes:
where
looked at and judged from
When we
the surface.
effect
ill,
world of or-
the world
consciousness,
however,
and
and falsehood."
of success
only.
and so
the omnipotence of the will,
as
and
perceive the
shall
feel resentful.
"Every act rewards
other words, integrates
Emerson
itself,
itself,
always
or in
in a two-
Karma and Compensation
fold
manner;
first,
in the thing, or in real
and secondly
nature,
in the circumstance,
or in apparent nature.
Men
in the thing
The
the soul.
stance
is
call
the cir-
The
cumstance the retribution.
retribution
35
and
is
causal
seen by
retribution in the circum-
seen by the understanding;
is
inseparable from the thing, but
is
it is
often
spread over a long time and so does not
become
The
many
distinct until after
specific stripes
may
years.
follow late after
the offense, but they follow because they
accompany
grow out
fruit that
it.
of
Crime and punishment
Punishment
one stem.
is
unsuspected ripens within the
flower of the pleasure which concealed
Cause and
and
fruit,
a
effect,
it.
means and ends, seed
cannot be severeii
;
for the effect
already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the
This
is
means, the
fruit in the seed."
absolutely in accordance with
the Indian conception of
Karma. The
ef-
Emerson and Vedanta
36
we
feet
see
is
nothing but the fruition of a
Whether or not any one
keeps record of what we think or do, even
in the dark, the seed we sow must bear
seed of action.
fruit; just as a seed
gardener drops
It is
soil.
crees that
world
grows even when the
unconsciously on the
it
not that an arbitrary will de-
we be happy
not escape from that law.
understands
he
this,
harmony with
in
man
governed by law and
is
As soon
tries to
"All
it.
ure for measure
it
shall
as he
things
are
Emerson
"Tit for tat; an eye for an eye;
a tooth for a tooth
shall
can-
put himself
double, one against another,"
writes.
The
or unhappy.
;
;
blood for blood meas;
Give and
love for love.
be given you.
He
be watered himself.
that watereth
Thou
shalt
be
paid exactly for what thou hast done, no
more, no
not
of
eat.
less.
Who
doth not work shall
Curses always recoil on the head
him who imprecates them.
If
you put
Karma and Compensation
37
a chain around the neck of a slave, the
other end fastens
.
.
.
itself
around your own.
You cannot do wrong without
"Always pay;
suffering wrong."
for first
or last you must pay your entire debt.
Persons and events
between you and
postponement.
own
may
stand for a time
but
justice,
You must pay
at last
is
we
the law, but
often forget
we
the turmoil of this world, as
surface
and
see
wrong and
parently triumphant.
to this standard of
If,
life,
however,
we
way
to live.
it
becomes the guiding factor
cling
moral
We should
will bring
but because
When
in
on the
we
lose our
not do right merely because
little satisfaction,
live
it
injustice ap-
stamina and make no headway.
only
your
debt."
This
us a
only a
it is
it is
the
understanding
in our
life,
then
we do our duty without thought of reward.
Until we reach this attitude of mind, however, all our actions will create new bondage for us.
Emerson and Vedanta
38
The only way we can be
freed from the
chain of action and reaction
is
by not
But how can we
caring for the result.
work without thought
of
some
result?
What impetus shall we have? Actually if
we put a price on our action, we limit the
result by our own limitation and we deprive ourselves.
no
If
on the contrary we put
price whatever, but are willing to
for the sake of the work, the
knows
all
work
One who
things will bestow on us the
greatest result.
When
a person gives to
another or does for another with the lingering thought of gratitude or applause,
thought destroys the merit of the ac-
this
tion.
But when we can
from the desire
we
free our
mind
for personal gratification,
gain everything, yet
we avoid
the re-
action.
The compensation must come.
not have to ask for
worthy
of
it.
If
We
our labor
any recompense, the law
do
is
will
Karma and Compensation
bring
it
bound
man
We cannot lose
to us.
to get
As Emerson puts
it.
through
labor,
it.
all its
39
We are
it
:
"Hu- /
forms, from the
sharpening of a stake to the construction
an
of a city or
one immense
epic, is
illus-
tration of the perfect compensation of the
The
universe.
absolute balance of Give
and Take, the doctrine that everything has
its
price,
and
if
that price
not paid, not
is
that thing but something else
and that
without
it is
is
obtained,
impossible to get anything
its price, is
not
sublime in the
less
columns of a ledger than in the budgets
of states, in the laws of light
in all the action
Sometimes
because
we
and darkness,
and reaction
this does
of nature."
not seem to be true,
see people
who
reap results
without apparent labor. Take, for example,
a
man
of genius.
his gift,
he
is
He
has not worked for
born with
it,
he has
it.
when we extend our vision back into
past, we find that his genius is not an
But
the
ac-
Emerson and Vedanta
40
He has earned it,
He has worked for
cident.
he has paid the
price.
it
and
at
some
time,
as the result of that labor the flower
of genius has
blossomed
with the child
who is born
That
fortunate.
in this
life.
So
miserable or un-
and that
child has a soul,
soul did not begin with this body. It has
a
past
full
moulded
its
who blinds
of
experiences
which have
present conditions.
The man
himself to these deeper facts, to
him the whole universe is a mystery and
the more he tries to find an explanation,
the more he becomes confused and relent;
less in his
"There
judgment.
is
a deeper fact in the soul than
compensation, to wit,
soul
is
its
own
nature.
not a compensation, but a
life.
The
The
Under all this running sea of circumstance, whose waters ebb and flow
soul
is.
with perfect balance,
lies
the aboriginal
abyss of Being. Essence, or God,
is
relation or a part, but the whole."
not a
"In
:
Karma and Compensation
the nature of the soul
is
41
the compensation
The
for the irregularities of condition.
radical tragedy of nature seems to be the
More
distinction of
Less not
or Less.
the pain;
feel
How
how not
dignation or malevolence towards
Look
one
at those
feels
make
of
who have
feel in-
More?
less faculty
and
sad and knows not well what to
it.
He
almost shuns their eye;
he fears they will upbraid God.
should they
tice.
can
But
do.?
It
What
seems a great injus-
see the facts nearly
and these
mountainous inequalities vanish.
Love
them as the sun melts the iceberg
in the sea. The heart and soul of all men
being one, this bitterness of His and Mine
ceases. His is mine. I am my brother and
reduces
my brother is
me."
These words
of
Emerson remind us
of
a beautiful passage in the Isa-Upanishad
"He who
Self
beholds
and the
all
beings in the Great
Self in all beings, he never
42
Emersofi and Vedanta
turns
away from
perceives
how can
all
there be delusion or grief,
hatred, jealousy
When
of
everywhere?"
and
all
spirit only,
is
enveloped
the spirit of love.
the great understanding of the light
Truth shines
in our heart, all these little
feelings vanish;
and
in their place there
joy and love unbounded.
ters of the old,"
"We
Sorrow,
such base quali-
He
cannot touch him.
with one
him
when
beings as the Self, for
he sees oneness
ties
He who
It (the Self).
"We
Emerson again
is
are idoladeclares.
do not believe in the riches of the
soul, in its
proper eternity and omnipres-
We do not believe there is
ence.
any force
in to-day to rival or recreate that beautiful
yesterday.
We
linger in the ruins of the
old tent where once
shelter
spirit
We
we had bread and
and organs, nor believe that the
can feed, cover and nerve us again.
cannot again find aught so dear, so
sweet, so graceful.
But we
sit
and weep
Karma and Compensation
The
in vain.
voice of the Almighty saith,
"
'Up and onward
Man
his
must
rise
for evermore!'
if
he must not grieve over
;
dead actions.
forward,
43
He must
go onward and
he wishes to attain the realm
of perfection.
ruins of the
He must not linger in the
past.
He must not cling to
material conditions, which are ever-shift-
He must
ing.
this
one
little
not base his happiness on
span of
of death falls, he
all
is
gone.
over,
life.
When
the veil
must not imagine that
that his last opportunity
is
Opportunities are never lacking, but
we are not always ready to profit by them.
The wisest thing for us is to make the best
possible use of our present.
our progress when
we
lay
the past or the future.
We
undue
hamper
stress
on
If the present is
well-lived, the future will take care of itself.
But we must have wisdom and we
must have
strength.
If
ture of the soul, and are
we know
the na-
imbued with these
Emerson and Vedanta
44
bigger ideas, then
we cannot do anything
small.
We may
make thousands of laws, but
that will not check crime we must lift the
criminal by giving him understanding. If
he knows that when he commits a crime,
;
he hurts himself more than the one he
tries to injure,
man
own
he will not do
realizes that
the
life,
he
maker
that he holds the key
lock the door
the
is
of his
;
When
maker
a
of his
own bondage;
by which he can un-
and enter
lasting happiness
it.
then
into the realms of
it
impetus to go on and he
gives
is
him
a
new
not tempted to
do things which create bondage.
Vedanta
does not threaten the wrong-doer with the
rod of punishment;
that he
trary,
is
it
child of
it
does not
sinful or accursed.
On
tell
the con-
sounds the dynamic note:
Immortal
Bliss, it does
him
"O
not befit
thee to do these things which are of the
world and unworthy."
Karma and Compensation
45
Whatever we sow, whether consciously
must bear
or unconsciously,
must become conscious
do more than just
live
fruit; so
We
beings.
somehow
we
must
or other.
Eating, sleeping, feeling pleasure and pain,
these
If
we
we have
in
common
limit our consciousness
tion to that narrow sphere,
ter
with the brute.
we
than the lower animals.
We
our standard*
benefits us here
our soul.
are
We
no bet-
must
and now we must benefit
;
We
little self,
When we
must not merely
we must work
can
live
lay
all
for
with supreme
understanding, as children of God;
we can
lift
must not do only what
ourselves eternally.
think of this
and aspira-
when
actions like flowers on the
God; then we shall escape from
reactionary bondage, and all the actions
altar of
we perform
will lead us
even in this
life.
towards freedom
Ill
ATMAN AND OVER-SOUL
WHETHER God and
or facts
been discussed in
myths
a question which has
is
ages
all
by
all
the think-
and although
ing minds of the world;
sages
soul are
and mystics have proved
it
by
their
own light, this cannot reveal it to others
who have not the same light. "Every man's
words who speaks from that life must
sound vain to those who do not dwell in
the same thought on their own part," Emerson writes.
My words
they
fall
inspire
"I dare not speak for
do not carry
short
whom
and
it
cold.
will,
its
it.
august sense
Only
itself
and behold!
can
their
speech shall be lyrical and sweet, and universal as the rising of the wind."
In
Atman and Over-Soul
similar words
Yama,
47
the Lord of Death,
speaks to Nachiketas in the Katha-Upa-
"The Atman cannot be obtained
by mere study of the Scriptures, nor by
intellectual perception, nor by frequent
nishad.
hearing of It; he
by him alone
is
whom
the Self chooses,
To him
It attained.
But he who
Self reveals Its true nature.
has not turned
away from
evil
conduct,
whose senses are uncontrolled, who
tranquil,
whose mind
is
the
not at
rest,
is
not
he can
never attain this Self even by knowledge."
That
is,
unless a
man
lives the life
and de-
velops his higher spiritual faculties, mere
intellectual
knowledge cannot help him
As Emerson says again:
"The philosophy of six thousand years
has not searched the chambers and magamuch.
zines of the soul.
In
its
experiments there
has always remained, in the last analysis,
a
residuum
a stream
it
could not resolve.
whose source
is
hidden.
Man
is
Our be-
Emerson and Vedanta
48
ing
is
we know
descending into us from
The most
not whence.
exact calculator
has not prescience that somewhat incalculable
may
not balk the next moment.
am constrained every moment to
I
acknowl-
edge a higher origin for events than the
will I call mine.
.
.
We
.
live in suc-
cession, in division, in parts, in particles.
Meantime in man
is
the soul of the whole
the wise silence; the universal beauty; to
which every part and
particle
And
related; the eternal One.
power in which we
tude
is all
sufficing
and perfect
equally
this
and whose
accessible to us,
act of seeing
and the
exist
is
is
and the thing
beati-
not only
in every hour,
deep
self-
but the
seen, the seer
spectacle, the subject
and the ob-
L ject are one."
The
ancient Vedic Scriptures abound in
describing
in
almost identical
terms the relation
of
the
passages
phenomenal
world with the Unseen One, and the con-
Atman and
Over-Soul
nection of the soul with
One without
a second.
its
49
origin
—the
Nowhere does Ved-
anta deal with the universe as a combination of unrelated fragments
things as parts of a great whole
to bind
;
it
and
sees all
it tries
these parts together in that
all
whole, yet without destroying the entity
of each individual soul.
Therefore, before
we can define our relation with the world,
we must discover our relation with its
Source.
That is, we must project our
mind beyond
this little
span of self-con-
know our real Self.
In the philosophy of the Vedas we find a
clear distinction made between what man
sciousness and learn to
calls his self
man and
self
and the Over-Soul the Jivat-
the
;
Paramatman, the individual
and the Supreme
apparent
Man
man and
is
reflection
Self
;
or between the
the real man.
the reflection of
God; but
the
cannot exist without the object
reflected; so
man must know what C
'
•
is.
Emerson and Vedanta
50
know himself. This has been
the search down the ages and this search
must be made by every individual for himself there is no one who can answer this
if
he would
;
Because of
question for another.
ever remains a hidden mystery.
that certain philosophies
and
It
;
but the
self
they drop
is
name, form and limitations.
necessary to do
this,
because
is
true
ethical sys-
tems, like the Buddhistic, drop the
tirely
this it
self
en-
man
And it
the
of
is
we can never
be wholly possessor of our eternal being
we transcend the
mundane things.
What is the Atman
until
Kena-Upanishad
of the ear, the
It
mind
is
consciousness of
or
Self.?
defined as "the ear
of the mind, the speech
of the speech, the life of the
of the eye.
In the
life,
the eye
That which cannot be thought
by mind, but by which mind
think; that which
is
is
able to
not seen by the eye,
but by which the eye
is
able to see; that
Atman and
Over-Soul
which cannot be heard by the
which the ear
is
ear,
able to hear."
draws almost the same picture
writes
man
:
is
is
Emerson
when he
not an organ, but animates and
power
of
;
is
not a function,
memory,
of calculation,
of comparison, but uses these as
feet;
but by
"All goes to show that the soul in
exercises all the organs
like the
51
hands and
not a faculty, but a light;
is
not
the intellect or the will, but the master of
the intellect and the will;
is
the back-
ground of our being, in which they
lie,
an
immensity not possessed and that cannot
From
be possessed.
within or from be-
hind, a light shines through us
upon things
and makes us aware that we are nothing,
but the light
"A man
is
is all.
the facade of a temple where-
wisdom and all good
we commonly call man, the
in all
ing, planting, counting
we know him,
abide.
What
eating, drink-
man, does
not, as
represent himself, but mis-
Emerson and Vedanta
52
represents himself.
Him we
do not
but the soul, whose organ he
spect,
would he
let it
breathes through his intellect,
when
When
;
when
And
it is
love.
lect
begins
of itself.
when
it
it
genius
it is
breathes through his will,
it
is,
appear through his action,
would make our knees bend.
virtue
re-
it
is
flows through his affection,
the blindness of the intel-
when it would be something
The weakness of the will begins
the individual would be something
All reform aims in
of himself.
some one
particular to let the soul have
through us
;
its
way
in other words, to engage us
to obey.
"Of
this
some time
pure nature every
man
with his colors.
too subtile.
it
It
undefinable, unmeasurable
know
that
all spiritual
at
Language cannot
sensible.
paint
is
is
It
is
being
is
;
in
but we
man.
A
wise old proverb says, *God comes to see
us without bell'; that
is,
as there
is
no
Atman and Over-Soul
53
screen or ceiling between our heads and
the infinite heavens, so
there
is
no bar or
wall in the soul, where man, the
effect,
and God, the cause, begins.
ceases
walls are taken away.
We
lie
The
open on one
side to the deeps of spiritual nature, to
the attributes of God.
Justice
know, Love, Freedom, Power.
tures
no
man
we
and
see
These na-
ever got above, but they
moment
to wound
tower over us, and most in the
when our
interests
tempt us
them."
The
drinking,
eating,
thinks his whole
;
man
contained in his
His miseries to him are
physical being.
great realities
life is
sleeping
his
hands and
feet, his eyes,
nose, these various bodily organs
seem
all-
important; while he overlooks that by
which he
is
When we
sciousness,
ourselves.
and thinking.
living, acting
descend to this state of con-
we
inevitably
As soon
as
we
misrepresent
forget our soul-
Emerson and Vedanta
54
we become
nature,
selfish
think that to find happiness
entities;
we
we must
de-
ceive or override our fellow-men,
everything for our
tion.
But the
jestic
and
tion
and
his true
"The
free
gain and gratifica-
man within, who is ma-
from
all
sense of competi-
away from fleeting
because he knows that
rivalry, turns
mundane
r
real
own
and do
vanities,
being
is
of
God.
influence of the senses has, in most
men, overpowered the mind to that degree
that the walls of time
and space have
come to look real and insurmountable;
and to speak with levity of these limits is,
in the world, the sign of insanity.
Yet
time and space are but inverse measures
of the force of the soul."
"See how the
deep divine thought reduces centuries and
millenniums,
through
all ages.
less effective
his
and makes
itself
present
Is the teaching of Christ
now than
mouth was opened?
it
was when
first
The emphasis
of
:
Atman and
facts
and persons
in
Over-Soul
55
my thought
has noth-
And
ing to do with time.
soul's scale
is
so,
always the
one; the scale of the senses
and the understanding
is
Before
another.
the revelations of the soul, time, space and
Nature shrink away."
How
like these
words
of
Emerson
is
the
passage in the Svetasvatara-Upanishad
"When
the light of the
risen, there
is
Atman
or Self has
no day, no night, neither ex-
For the sun
istence nor non-existence.
moon and the
and much less
does not shine there, nor the
stars,
this
nor these lightnings
When He
fire.
shines after
lighted.
time!"
Him; by His
He makes
self-caused,
shines,
the
all.
light all this is
He knows
knower,
Spiritual
everything
the
all,
the
Time
of
verities
can never be
We
can never be-
matters of tradition.
we become acquainted
with them through our own direct perception. No one can make us believe that
lieve in things until
56
Emerson and Vedanta
we have
a soul until
it
we become aware
Theoretical knowledge
ourselves.
not dependable knowledge.
amount
prehension
direct ap-
a far surer guide than the
is
amount
greatest
is
Even a small
knowledge based on
of
of
of learning.
Intellectual
knowledge leads us into an ever-increasing tangle of diversity
;
while direct vision
always simplifies and leads to fundamental
As Emerson again declares
"The mind is one; and the best minds
unity.
who love
much less
cept
it
is
its
own
sake, think
of property in truth.
They
ac-
thankfully everywhere, and do not
label or
it
truth for
stamp
theirs
eternity.
it
with any man's name, for
long beforehand, and from
The
learned and the studious of
thought have no monopoly of wisdom.
Their violence of direction in some degree
disqualifies
many
them
to think truly.
We
who
and who
valuable observations to people
are not \'ery acute or profound,
owe
Atman and Over-Soul
say the thing without
57
which we
effort,
want and have long been hunting
I'he action of the soul
which
is
any conversation."
Here Emerson
s'^l
oftener in that
is
unsaid than in that which
is left
said in
in vain.
same univer-
strikes the
note which sounds through
Truth
teaching, that
is
all
Vedic
not the exclusive
property of any one group of people, but
is
the
man
common
and equally open
race
claim
property of the whole hu-
Whoever
it.
is
to label
it.
is
If
sufficient.
we
love
who can
open to Truth does
not care from what source
Truth, that
to all
it
comes.
He
It is
does not try
God above
all
things
and seek to be united with Him, no
divi-
sions or distinctions can exist for us.
The
Lord abides equally
and
when we
see
clusiveness
Him
must
in every heart
there, all barriers of ex-
fall.
God
is
is
One, the Infinite Spirit
is
but one great family and
is
One, Truth
One. There
God
is
the
Emerson and Vedanta
58
presiding head of that family.
Until
we
recognize this and feel in our hearts that
He
is
our real Father or Mother,
we
can-
not be fully open to the higher revelation.
Lofty spiritual Truth exists irrespective
of
r
time or place.
always stands there
It
and when people are ready
unfolds
itself to
them.
we know," Emerson
"We
to receive
it, it
are wiser than
says. "If
we
will not
interfere with our thought, but will act
entirely, or see
how
the thing stands in
God, we know the particular thing, and
every thing, and every man. For the maker
and
of all things
all
persons stands behind
us and casts his dread omniscience through
us over things."
Few possess a pure spiritual sense, and
one who has it, because he speaks and acts
differently
from
among men and
;
others, stands out
people interpret this pe-
culiarity as insanity.
this also.
"A
from
Emerson speaks
of
certain tendency to insanity,"
Atman and
Over-Soul
59
he writes, "has always attended the opening of the religious sense in men, as
they had been 'blasted with excess of
The
if
light.'
trances of Socrates, the 'union' of
Plotinus, the vision of Porphyry, the con-
version of Paul, the aurora of
convulsions of George
ers,
Behmen, the
Fox and
his
Quak-
the illumination of Swedenborg, are of
this kind.
.
.
.
closure of the soul.
a revelation
tunes.
is
that
Revelation
is
the dis-
The popular notion
of
a telling of for-
it is
In past oracles of the soul the un-
derstanding seeks to find answers to sensual questions
God how
hands
and undertakes
to tell
from
men shall exist, what their
do and who shall be their com-
long
shall
pany, adding names and dates and places.
But we must pick no
locks.
We
must
check this low curiosity."
When man
will bring
him
seeks light, not for
in the
form
perity or success, but for
what
it
of health, pros-
itself,
then alone
Emerson and Vedanta
60
will it
come.
Only when love
of the soul
him upward and onward will he atIn no other way can he gain communion with the Eternal Spirit. At every
One
step of life two paths confront us.
leads Godward; the other towards the
world. The wise, distinguishing between
leads
tain
it.
the two, choose the Real and Eternal;
while the ignorant, preferring that which
brings
immediate and tangible
results,
The one moves
choose the lower path.
inward, the other moves outward.
"The
Self-existent created the senses outgoing;
for
this
reason
man
sees
external
the
Atman
world, but not the inner
or Self.
Some wise men, however, desiring immortality, with eyes turned away from the external, see the
Great Self within."
Bearing out this statement of the Vedic
Scriptures,
Emerson
says
:
"The
great dis-
tinction between teachers sacred or literary
—^between
poets like Herbert and poets
Atman and
Over-Soul
Pope between philosophers
like
;
Kant and Coleridge and
oza,
men
like Spin-
philosophers
Mackintosh and Stewart; be-
like Locke,
tween
61
of the
world
who
are reckoned
accomplished talkers and here and there
a fervent mystic, prophesying, half insane
under the infinitude of
his
—
thought
is
that one class speaks from within, or from
experience, as parties
fact,
and the other
and possessors
class
of the
jrom without,
as
spectators merely, or perhaps as acquaint-
ed with the fact on the evidence of third
persons.
It
without.
I
is
no use to preach to me from
can do that easily for myself.
Jesus speaks always from within and in a
degree that transcends
is
all
In that
others.
the miracle."
The same
attitude
the Indo- Aryans.
is
to be found
Mere
among
scholarship has
never been considered by them an essential
qualification for a spiritual teacher.
must be one who knows, who
is
He
directly
Emerson and Vedanta
62
acquainted with the higher facts of
life;
who can fill the brain with theories
about God. The real spiritual genius is
not one
not dependent on any outer support, his
strength comes from the Fountainhead.
man who is only brilliant inhe may satisfy me for a mo-
go to a
If I
tellectually,
ment, but afterwards the mind seems more
confused.
man who
If,
on the contrary,
I
go to a
has the light of higher under-
standing, he
may
perhaps speak only one
word, but that word will prove to be a
seed which will spring up and bear fruit.
As Emerson puts
is
it
:
"The tone
one and the tone of having
"If a
his
of seeking
is
another."
man have not found his home in God,
manners,
his
form of speech, the turn
of his sentences, the build, shall I say, of
all his
it,
let
opinions will involuntarily confess
him brave
it
he have found his
out
how he
will.
If
centre, the Deity will
shine through him, through
all
the dis-
Atman and
Over-Soul
63
guises of ignorance, of ungenial tempera-
ment, of unfavorable circumstance."
The
eternal Self,
true, dwells in the
it is
heart of every mortal
but
;
it is
to be at-
tained only in a state of consciousness
When, how-
where reason cannot reach.
mind
ever, the
is
concentrated and turned
within, then the mortal perceives the glory
of the
immortal Self and "rejoices, because
he has obtained that which
all
true joy," as
Upanishad.
effable
is
it is
who
the cause of
said in the
Emerson
Katha-
also writes;
"In-
man and God
the union of
The
every act of the soul.
son
is
in
simplest per-
in his integrity worships God, be-
comes God; yet
for ever
flux of this better
new and
and universal
unsearchable.
and astonishment.
and ever the
self is
It inspires
When we
in-
awe
have broken
our god of tradition and ceased from our
god of
rhetoric,
then
heart with his presence.
may God
fire
the
It is the doubling
Emerson and Vedanta
64
of the heart itself, nay, the infinite enlarge-
ment
to a
new
on every
infinity
the Upanishads
Brahman
to
power of growth
of the heart with a
(the
we
read
side."
Also in
"The knower
:
Supreme) becomes
like
of
un-
Brahman."
When
man enters the chamber of his
soul, he may enter as a man, but he comes
out transformed. A man cannot help going
a
wrong and making mistakes
as he
as long
ignorant of his true nature.
is
only aid
we can
give
him
is
to kindle in
him
the higher sense of the reality of
and
his
own
ceive this,
him
it
When
soul.
to be dragged
down by
So long
scious only of his
able to per-
the unrealities
as
little self,
conceited; but let
man
is
he will be
conself-
him come under the
dominion of the Great
his consciousness will
him beyond
is
God
then not be possible for
will
of this world.
he
The
Self
and at once
expand and carry
the limits of selfish thought
Atman and Over-Soul
and
action.
We
cannot expect
65
this higher
state of understanding, however, to
upon us suddenly; but
come
unfoldment
its
is
only possible as the result of careful and
deliberate preparation.
There can be
question that Emer-
little
son was strongly imbued with the
spirit of
when he wrote his essay
Over-Soul. The title itself indicates
the Upanishads
on the
it,
"Over-Soul"
for
is
almost a
translation of the Sanskrit
Atman (Supreme
Self.)
sions, as well as the
the essay, are
all
literal
word Param-
The very
expres-
thought contained in
akin to those found in the
Indo-Aryan Scriptures. But
this does
not
imply that they were borrowed. Emerson
undoubtedly drew
Vedas yet
;
it
was
his inspiration
his
own
from the
spiritual genius
which enabled him to grasp the
lofty ideals
they proclaim, and give them out with
such masterful power.
When
great
study the Scriptures of the world,
it
men
does
Emerson and Vedanta
66
not unsettle their understanding or rob
them
of their
them
leads
own
true faith, but
see the universality of
them
sions of
to unite
all
it
makes
Truth and
the varying expres-
Truth into one great whole. When-
ever spiritual seeking becomes an all-ab-
we
are inevi-
doctrinal
and creed-
sorbing passion of our soul,
tably released from
bound
beliefs
and
all
are brought face to face
with the great cosmic, universal and
abiding Truth.
all-
IV
EMERSON AND HINDU CLASSICS
THE
value of comparative study
is
unmistakable. Every sincere seeker
after
Truth recognizes the great stimulus
exerts
it
with
that
over the mind, and welcomes
joyous
every
heart
revelation
sustained and verified by
is
sources both old and new.
The
many
dogmatist,
on the other hand, in order to safeguard
his
chosen creed,
sits
with doors closed to
both past and present.
We
forget that
Truth
is
self-sufficient
and self-sustaining and does not require
human hand
to protect
a precept of the
valuable
if it is
New
it.
Why
should
Testament be
less
found in the Old Testa-
ment, or again in the Jewish Kabala, or
Emerson and Vedanta
68
in the Egyptian sacred codes, in the
Zend
Avesta of the Parsees, in the great Chinese
classics, or in the
Indo-Aryan Vedic reve-
Not only
lation?
is
the value of such a
saying not decreased,
thousandfold and
It
when we
only
is
its
it
is
utility
settle
ligious morbidity that
we
reinforced a
is
expanded.
down
to re-
are fearful of
anything out of our usual custom or habit.
No
one who has come in contact with
the Indo-Aryan culture and
its
great clas-
can help but recognize a
sical treasures
profound kinship of thought between these
and many
ances.
of
Emerson's writings and utter-
This
inference;
frequently,
not merely a matter of
is
Emerson himself speaks of it
as in his essay on "Worship"
"We owe to the Hindu
definition of Law which com-
where he says
Scriptures a
:
pares well with any in our Western books
*Law
it is,
which
or hands, or feet
is
;
without name, or color,
which
is
smallest of the
Emerson and Hindu
and
least,
largest of the large;
all,
all
ears, sees
without eyes, moves without
is
and
things; which hears without
knowing
and
69
Classics
seizes without hands.' "
a free rendering
from
feet,
This thought J
a passage in the
Upanishads.
Then again in the opening
poem "Brahma" we read:
stanza of his
"If the red slayer thinks he slays,
Or
if
the slain thinks he
They know not
I
is slain,
well the subtle
ways
keep, and pass, and turn again."
Here he voices almost
literally
a verse
siders this Self as a slayer
"He who conor he who thinks
that this Self
slain,
neither of these
For
It does not slay
from the Bhagavad-Gita
is
knows the Truth.
nor
is
:
It slain."
His essay on "Immortality" he concludes with the story of Nachiketas from
the Katha-Upanishad.
own words
as he has
We
give
retold
it.
it
in his
"It
is
Emerson and Vedanta
70
curious to find the selfsame feeling, that
it is
not immortality, but eternity,
duration, but a state of
—not
abandonment to
the Highest, and so the sharing of His
perfection,
— appearing in the farthest east
and west. The human mind takes no
ac-
count of geography, language, or legends,
but in
all
utters the
"Yama, the
same
instinct.
lord of Death, promised
Nachiketas, the son of Gautama, to grant
him
three boons at his
ketas,
knowing that
own
his father
was offended with him,
let
get his anger against
my
favor,
said,
with love as before.'
is
gained be
this I choose
will
said,
O
^Through
remember thee
For the second boon,
fire
by which
made known
which also Yama allows, and
the third boon,
*0 Death!
me:
Nachiketas asks that the
heaven
Gautama
mind, and for-
Yama
Gautama
Nachi-
in
Gautama be appeased
for the first boon.'
choice.
to
him;
says, 'Choose
Nachiketas.'
Emerson and Hindu
"Nachiketas
said, 'There
71
Classics
is
this inquiry.
Some say the soul exists after
man; others say it does not
the death of
I
This
exist.
should like to know, instructed by
Such
said,
old,
is
was inquired
this question, it
even by the gods
understand
it.
me to
O
sayest,
for
it is
is its
nature. Choose
Do
not
Nachiketas
said,
'Even
inquired.
And
as to
it
O
Death, that
easy to understand
it,
there
is
it is
not
no other
teacher to be found like thee. There
other boon like
of
not easy to
Nachiketas!
this.'
by the gods was
what thou
;
Subtle
another boon,
compel
Yama
the third of the boons.
Tor
thee.'
is
no
this.'
"Yama said, 'Choose sons and
sons who may live a hundred
grandyears;
choose herds of cattle; choose elephants
and gold and horses
panded
earth,
and
;
live thyself as
years as thou listeth.
a
boon
like this,
choose the wide ex-
Or,
choose
if
it,
many
thou knowest
together with
Emerson and Vedanta
72
wealth and far-extending
O
On
Nachiketas!
make
Be
life.
a king,
the wide earth I will
thee the enjoyer of
all desires.
All
those desires that are difficult to gain in
the world of mortals,
thy
pleasure;
all
—those
those ask thou at
nymphs
fair
of
heaven with their chariots, with their musical
instruments; for the like of them
by men.
are not to be gained
them
to thee, but
I will give
do not ask the question
of the state of the soul after death.'
Nachi-
ketas said, 'All those enjoyments are of
With
yesterday.
thee remain thy horses
and elephants, with thee the dance and
song.
If
we should
only as long as thou pleasest.
which
I
choose
"Yama
is
said,
have
who
the object of
said.'
'One thing
Blessed
pleasant.
good, but he
I
we live
The boon
obtain wealth,
is
good, another
is
he
who
takes the
chooses the pleasant loses
man.
But thou, considering
the objects of desire, hast abandoned them.
!
Emerson and Hindu
These two, ignorance
what
(whose object
is
pleasant) and knowledge (whose
is
object
73
Classics
is
what
far asunder,
known
good), are
is
and to lead
to be
to different goals.
Believing this world exists, and not the
other, the careless
youth
subject to
is
my
sway. That knowledge for which thou hast
asked
I
is
not to be obtained by argument.
know worldly
that firm one
is
not firm.
union of the
is
knows
The
soul
is
by means
O
Nachiketas
whose door
is
obtains whatever he wishes.
not born;
any produced from
not
slain,
subtler than
open to
the supreme, whoever
it
does not die;
was not produced from any one.
it is
of the
with the soul, think-
Thee,
joy.
Brahma
Him
transient, for
hard to behold, leaves
it is
believe a house
Brahma.
wise,
intellect
him whom
both grief and
is
not to be obtained by what
The
ing
I
happiness
it.
Unborn,
though the body
what
is
it
Nor was
eternal,
is
slain;
subtle, greater
than
Emerson and Vedanta
74
what
it
is
great, sitting
goes everywhere.
unbodily
among
goes far, sleeping
Thinking the soul as
bodies, firm
ing things, the wise
The
it
man
among
fleet-
casts off all grief.
soul cannot be gained
by knowledge,
not by understanding, not by manifold
can be obtained by the soul
science.
It
by which
it is
desired.
It reveals its
own
truths.'
All this proves conclusively that
Emer-
son was thoroughly imbued with the Vedic
revelation
from
its
and
freely
teaching.
drew inspiration
Again and again he
acknowledges his debt to the ancients.
After reviewing the mighty attainments
of antique Greece
and Rome,
as well as
those of ancient and mediaeval Europe,
.,he adds in his essay on the "Progress of
Culture": "But
vive
if
these works
and multiply, what
names more
shall
still
we
distant, or hidden
sur-
say of
through
their very superiority to their coevals,
;
Emerson and Hindu
names
of
men who have
75
Classics
left
remains that
certify a height of genius in their several
directions not since surpassed,
men
in proportion to their
cherish,
—
as
Zoroaster,
and which
wisdom
Confucius,
the grand Scriptures only recently
to
Western nations,
the Institutes of
poems
of the
still
and
known
of the Indian Vedas,
Manu,
the Puranas, the
Mahabarat and the Rama-
yana?"
Emerson was not the only one who came
in contact with the
and
its
few
who
Indo-Aryan culture
thought; but he was one of those
possessed sincerity of purpose,
breadth of vision, and courage of conviction
enough to recognize and acknowledge
his debt to
it.
As
I
have already pointed
out, in the higher realms of thought bor-
rowing
is
neither possible nor practicable
but a harmonious blending of what
is
true
and fundamental brings about a glorious
fulfillment of high idealism.
Man
can
Emerson and Vedanta
76
never hope to attain his spiritual grandeur
until he
is
willing to partake of the bless-
ings of others
and share
his
own with un-
biased heart.
"He who
Self in
Self.
all
sees
all
beings in the Self and the
beings, he never turns
He who
perceives
all
away from
the
beings as the Self,
for him how can there be delusion or grief,
he sees this oneness everywhere?"
— IsA
when
Upanishad.
WORKS BY SWAMI PARAMANANDA
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