influence of vedic thought and Hinduism - Henry David Thoreau .... ...

[Guest guest]

dear all,

 

It gives me great pleasure to share with you all what Henry David

Thoreau (An American ) had to say about Hinduism:

 

1. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Philosopher, Unitarian,

social critic, transcendentalist and writer.

 

He wrote:

 

"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal

philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern

world and its literature seems puny."

 

"What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the light

of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course

through purer stratum. It rises on me like the full moon after the

stars have come out, wading through some far stratum in the sky."

 

 

 

"Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some

unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of

the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages,

climes and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of

the Great Knowledge. When I am at it, I feel that I am under the

spangled heavens of a summer night."

 

 

In his book Walden, Thoreau contain explicit references to Indian

Scriptures such as:

 

"How much more admirable the Bhagavad Geeta than all the ruins of the

East.'

 

 

"The Vedas contain a sensible account of God.The veneration in

which the Vedas are held is itself a remarkable feat. Their code

embraced the whole moral life of the Hindus and in such a case there

is no other truth than sincerity. Truth is such by reference to the

heart of man within, not to any standard without."

 

 

"The Hindoos are most serenely and thoughtfully religious than the

Hebrews. They have perhaps a purer, more independent and impersonal

knowledge of God. Their religious books describes the first

inquisitive and contemplative access to God; the Hebrew bible a

conscientious return, a grosser and more personal repentance.

Repentance is not a free and fair highway to God. A wise man will

dispense with repentance. It is shocking and passionate. God prefers

that you approach him thoughtful, not penitent, though you are chief

of sinners. It is only by forgetting yourself that you draw near to

him. The calmness and gentleness with which the Hindoo philosophers

approach and discourse on forbidden themes is admirable."

 

 

Thoreau – his grand philosophic aloofness, his hatred of materialism,

his society, his yogic renunciation and austerity, his lack of

ambition, his love of solitude, his excessive love of nature,

resulting his refusal to cooperate with a government whose policies

he did not approve of, were certain extreme traits like to be

misunderstood. Besides, he was a vegetarian, a non-smoker, and a

teetotaler. He remained a bachelor, throughout his life, walked

hundreds of miles, avoided inns, preferred to sleep by the railroad,

never voted and never went to a church, derived spiritual inspiration

from the Hindu scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita, and the laws of

Manu living an extremely frugal and Spartan life.

 

The influence of Hinduism made Thoreau a Yogi.

 

 

"In the Hindoo scriptures the idea of man is quite illimitable and

sublime. There is nowhere a loftier conception of his destiny. He is

at length lost in Brahma himself....there is no grandeur conception

of creation anywhere....The very indistinctness of its theogeny

implies a sublime truth."

 

Thoreau's use of Indic scriptures in Walden far outweighs his use of

the Bible. He refers to the Bhagawad-Gita, the Harivamsa, the Vedas,

the Vishnu Purana, Pilpay (whose fables form the Hitopadesa) and

Kalidasa. Thoreau annexes India for his own purpose. It is, for

example, in the spirit of the Indic myth that Thoreau writes the

fantastic passage connecting Walden with the Ganges and Concord with

India, and it is in the spirit of India that Thoreau wrote or

included the story of the artist of Kuru.

 

On 6 August 1841 he wrote in his journal that:

 

"I cannot read a sentence in the book of the Hindoos without being

elevated as upon the table-land of the Ghauts. It has such a rhythm

as the winds of the desert, such a tide as the Ganges, and seems as

superior to criticism as the Himmaleh Mounts. Even at this late hour,

unworn by time with a native and inherent dignity it wears the

English dress as indifferently as the Sancrit."

 

 

He even followed a traditional Hindu way of life.

 

"It was fit that I should live on rice mainly, who loved so well the

philosophy of India."

 

In his Transcendental thoughts, the world at large conglomerate into

one big divine family. He finds beside his Walden pond "the servant

of the Brahmin, priest of Brahma and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits

in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas…" their buckets "grate

together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the

sacred water of the Ganges".

 

Thoreau, the Concord sage, said, "The Vedanta teaches how

by 'forsaking religious rites' the votary may obtain purification of

mind." And "One sentence of the Gita, is worth the State of

Massachusetts many times over"

 

 

"The reader is nowhere raised into and sustained in a bigger, purer

or rarer region of thought than in the Bhagavad-Gita. The Gita's

sanity and sublimity have impressed the minds of even soldiers and

merchants."

 

He also admitted that, "The religion and philosophy of the Hebrews

are those of a wilder and ruder tribe, wanting the civility and

intellectual refinements and subtlety of Vedic culture." Thoreau's

reading of literature on India and the Vedas was extensive: he took

them seriously.

 

Like Emerson, the Concord sage, Thoreau, was also deeply imbued with

the sublime teachings of Vedanta.

 

 

He was particularly attracted by the yogic elements in the Manu

Smriti. Thoreau embarked on his Walden experiment in the spirit of

Indian asceticism. In a letter written to H. G. O Blake in 1849, he

remarked:

 

"Free in this world as the birds in the air, disengaged from every

kind of chains, those who have practiced the Yoga gather in Brahmin

the certain fruit of their works. Depend upon it, rude and careless

as I am, I would fain practice the yoga faithfully. This Yogi,

absorbed in contemplation, contributes in his degree to creation; he

breathes a divine perfume, he heard wonderful things. Divine forms

traverse him without tearing him and he goes, he acts as animating

original matter. To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a

Yogi.

 

To read more on the influence of Hinduism and vedas on western

scholars

 

visit...

 

htp://www.atributetohinduism.com/quotes1_20.htm - 171k - Cached -

[Guest guest]

--- adi_shakthi16 <adi_shakthi16 wrote:

 

 

Namaste again,

As we are away from the June topic I feel free to

mention that four letter word:

 

Here is a Charles Grant poem that influenced Emerson:

'Tis all delusion: Heaven and earth and skies,

But air-wove images of lifeless dyes.

HE only lives – Sole Being – None beside –

The Self-existing, Self-beatify'd:

All else but wakes at Maya's fairy call;

For All that is, is not; or God is All.

Stupendous Essence! Obvious, yet unknown;

For ever multiply'd, for ever One.

 

Emerson then wrote:

‘Illusion works impenetrable,

Weaving webs innumerable,

Her gay pictures never fail,

Crowds each other, veil on veil,

Charmer who will be believed,

By man who thirsts to be deceived.’

 

These Americans seemed to catch on long ago,

 

Best wishes

 

ken Knight

 

 

 

=====

‘From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed, breathed forth.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste Adiji,

 

I'm so glad that a person of Indian origin realizes that some

American thinkers have expressed a deep appreciation of India's

wisdom. All you seem to hear about nowadays is 'imperialism',

whether it be economic or cultural. We caucasians are not all

barbarians.

 

Try also Emerson, Emily Dickinson, and other 'Transcendentalists'.

 

http://www.concordma.com/magazine/nov98/trans.html

 

America had a cultural golden age in New England in the 19th century.

Seems to have evaporated nowadays, with vacuous popular entertainment

on the one hand, and on the other, nihilistic and narcissistic

'humanities' studies in what we are still pleased to call

'universities'. (Anything spiritual like Advaita is very 'uncool'.

At most they might teach some sexual tantra or something like that.)

 

I especially like that line "no other truth than sincerity".

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

Benjamin wrote:

 

America had a cultural golden age in New England in the 19th century.

Seems to have evaporated nowadays, with vacuous popular entertainment

on the one hand, and on the other, nihilistic and narcissistic

'humanities' studies in what we are still pleased to call 'universities'.

 

Actually, it was probably the American Civil War that blunted the

Transcendentalist movement in New England and America.... This is the

considered opinion of historians and scholars such as David Robinson (whose

works include "Emerson and the Conduct of Life," and "The Spiritual Emerson,"a

useful collection of RW Emerson's key spiritual works). So, the Civil War and

its aftermath have had a profound, lingering ahamkaaric effect on America's

subsequent character and culture.

Both Emerson and Thoreau were greatly influenced by Vedanta. As

translations of various Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, laws of Manu become available

in the Western world, Emerson eagerly digested them. He encountered the

Bhagavad Gita in bits and pieces of translations and was tremendously struck by

it. When he finally managed to obtain a complete translation of the Gita in

1845, he was gladdened; it resonated deeply with him. Rather than add anything

to Emerson's insights, Vedanta confirmed and strengthened Emerson's own hard-won

spiritual philosophy and understanding of the truth. RWE felt that the Vedanta

smriti were humanity's loftiest expressions of the one truth.

Thoreau, fourteen years but actually a generation younger than Emerson,

was able to incorporate Vedic thought to a greater extent into his daily living;

Thoreau experienced a number of epiphanies. In these infrequent instances,

Thoreau reached a quite elevated unity with the created world. These moments of

unity with nature opened Thoreau's being to "a higher light" that permitted him

to "escape" from himself and to "travel totally new paths."

I hope that this has not been a huge digression from the main stream of

June's discussion.

 

Warm regards,

Kenneth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Kenneth,

 

Thank you for your interesting post. What you said about the Civil

War never occurred to me, but it sounds quite plausible.

 

Here is a comment on something else you said which I think is in line

with this month's topic:

>These moments of unity with nature opened Thoreau's

>being to "a higher light" that permitted him to "escape"

>from himself and to "travel totally new paths."

 

Thoreau did feel the 'mystical' affinity for nature which is

characteristic of 19th century Romanticism in Europe. I detect this

also in the Vedas but not so much in Shankara and other later

Advaitins. Anyone disagree?

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

Thank you kenneth-ji for elaborating on the influence of vedas on

Thoreau and Emerson.

 

And please read what Rudyard Kipling , the poet and author, said in

his work Naulakha ...

 

A Fool Lies Here..."

Now it is not good

For the Christian's health

To hustle the Aryan brown,

For the Christian riles

And the Aryan smiles

And he wearth the Christian down;

And the end of the fight

Is tombstone white

With the name of the late deceased,

And the epitaph drear,

"A fool lies here

Who tried to hustle the East."

 

 

— Rudyard Kipling

 

well, The srimad Bhagwat Gita and vedic and upanishadic texts express

eternal truths and have been a great source of knowledge and wisdom

to people of all races and cultures. Will you not agree?

 

love and regards

 

this may be a digression but a healthy one, i think! smiles ! if

kenji has objections, he would let us know! won't you kenji?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, kvl1949@c... wrote:

>

> Namaste,

> Benjamin wrote:

>

> America had a cultural golden age in New England in the 19th

century.

> Seems to have evaporated nowadays, with vacuous popular

entertainment

> on the one hand, and on the other, nihilistic and narcissistic

> 'humanities' studies in what we are still pleased to

call 'universities'.

>

> Actually, it was probably the American Civil War that blunted

the Transcendentalist movement in New England and America.... This

is the considered opinion of historians and scholars such as David

Robinson (whose works include "Emerson and the Conduct of Life,"

and "The Spiritual Emerson,"a useful collection of RW Emerson's key

spiritual works). So, the Civil War and its aftermath have had a

profound, lingering ahamkaaric effect on America's subsequent

character and culture.

> Both Emerson and Thoreau were greatly influenced by Vedanta.

As translations of various Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, laws of Manu

become available in the Western world, Emerson eagerly digested

them. He encountered the Bhagavad Gita in bits and pieces of

translations and was tremendously struck by it. When he finally

managed to obtain a complete translation of the Gita in 1845, he was

gladdened; it resonated deeply with him. Rather than add anything to

Emerson's insights, Vedanta confirmed and strengthened Emerson's own

hard-won spiritual philosophy and understanding of the truth. RWE

felt that the Vedanta smriti were humanity's loftiest expressions of

the one truth.

> Thoreau, fourteen years but actually a generation younger

than Emerson, was able to incorporate Vedic thought to a greater

extent into his daily living; Thoreau experienced a number of

epiphanies. In these infrequent instances, Thoreau reached a quite

elevated unity with the created world. These moments of unity with

nature opened Thoreau's being to "a higher light" that permitted him

to "escape" from himself and to "travel totally new paths."

> I hope that this has not been a huge digression from the

main stream of June's discussion.

>

> Warm regards,

> Kenneth

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

With a Kennethji and a Kenji we now have troubles. But

I know that if anyone calls me Kenneth then I am about

to be told off, long may I remain Ken on this site.

 

May the US hear the wisdom of its own heritage and the

Vedic wisdom of those living in its territory,

 

ken

 

 

=====

‘From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed, breathed forth.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Messenger.

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