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CHAPTER-II

Oriental elements in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works

It is a critical commonplace to bracket R.W. Emerson with the American men of letters

traditionally considered to be steeped in the philosophy of the East. Many a critic has written at

length about the relation between the Orient of Islam and the creative corpus of Emerson,

focusing on the elements of Sufi Mysticism, Hindu Spiritualism and literary values of the ancient

cultures of Asia in his writings. Among the critics who have taken and advanced this line of

argument are: Robert M Gay, John D.Yohanna, Arthur Christy, Fredric Carpenter, Robert D.

Richardson Jr., to name only a few . This, however, is only one strand of critical stance on

Emerson and Orientalism. The other strands, represented by critics such as John Mc Aleer, who

are skeptical about the influence of Oriental thought on R.W. Emerson‘s literary works. This is

how Mc Aleer, a well-known biographer of Emerson summarizes Emerson‘s Orientalism in his

book Ralph Waldo Emerson – Days of Encounter as:

Incursions into Oriental scriptures did not mould Emerson‘s thought, as some have

believed. During his formative years, Emerson knew the writings of the Oriental only at

second hand and his philosophy took shape without reference to them. In fact, in 1822, he

characterized Hindu religious thoughts as stemming from ―indolence and ignorance.‖His

earliest writings including his first volume of essays contain few references to the Orient,

none of any importance. After having developed his own most significant ideas,

Emerson, beginning in 1837, undertook a reading program that included texts from

Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Confucianism. From that time onward,

references to Oriental thought in his journal are numerous. (463)

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A close reader of Emerson‘s Orientalism can find that McAleer has two contradictory views.

These can be summarized as: The Oriental ideas had produced little direct impact on Emerson‘s

mind during his formative days, and Emerson gained from Oriental literature only what

harmonized with his own thinking and understanding. These two contradict results of his study

show that as an analyst he could not do justice to Emerson‘s Orientalism. He is unjust in his

claim that the Oriental literature had no influence on Emerson‘s early writings. This analysis will

certainly result in ignoring the significant aspects of his creative works which to a great extent

play a key role in the study of his Orientalism. Exploring his role in the field of Orientalism,

McAleer writes that Emerson‘s interest in the Orient grew larger when he started his study of

Oriental literature in 1837. The ten years which followed after his return from Europe, from 1834

to 1844, were the period of Emerson‘s literary flowering, the time when he was the leading light

of Transcendentalism in America.

The study with an objective approach to the Constructive American Orientalism engages

in exploring and tracing the images and impact of the Orient in the works of Emerson. In this

chapter the attempt has been made to figure out the nature and notion of Orientalism in his

writings. It is indispensable for this research engagement to first assess the nature and extent of

Eastern influences on his mind that shaped his general outlook on life. It will certainly result in

exhibiting the true view of the Occident concerning the Orient. The period of Emerson had

witnessed the contemporaneous interest in the Middle East. Emerson came at a time in the

history of literary world, when the Orient and the Occident had started to carry conviction to

each other, it was the moment when a general perception was developing that the wisdom knows

not national boundaries, and it is universal in nature.

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Emerson‘s period was the transition period when the Oriental nations were opening their doors

to foreign commercial travelers and offering the heartiest welcome to them. This resulted in

intercommunication and social communication between Asia and America. Emerson can be

listed as one of the pioneers of American writers to venture into the literature of Asia, absorb it

sufficiently, and to translate the Orient‘s doctrines for his American readership.

His never- ending devotion, deep esteem for Oriental philosophy and Emerson‘s curiosity for

and interest in the sacred writings of the East most possibly began during his Harvard days which

is his alma mater, and continued throughout his life. During his study time he had obtained the

Hindu sacred Scriptures as Laws of Manu, Vishnupurana, the Bhagavad-Gita, and Katha

Upanishad, and years later, he made numerous references to these Scriptures in his Journals and

Essays which were published in 1841 and 1843 as ―Essays.‖ Emerson, Thoreau and other

Transcendentalists, who were deeply interested in the concept of ‗Selfhood,‘ found in Hindu

scriptures a well-elaborated doctrine of Self which is based on his concept of the ‗Over-soul.‘ He

found in Hindu scriptures that the central core of one‘s Self, (Antar-aa-tma in Hindi and Khudi

in Urdu) or Self - realization is identifiable with the cosmic whole (Brahma). The Upanishads

reads: ―The Self within you, the resplendent, immortal person, is the internal self of all things

and is the universal Brahma.‖The concept similar to this cardinal doctrine of ‗Vedanta‘ appears

in the writings of the Transcendentalists.

But there are many ideological similarities among Oriental literature, like Neo-Platonic

doctrines, Christian Mysticism and the philosophy of German Idealists such as Kant(1729 –

1804) and Schelling (1775- 1854). They are considered to be fervent mystic philosophers.

Kant‘s Metaphysics of Morals had a great influence on Ethics. The study finds the portrait of

Kant which Emerson gives in his ―The Over Soul.‖ In his journal for 1843, Emerson writes:

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―Kant, it seems, searched the metaphysics of the Self- reverence which is the favorite position of

modern ethics, and demonstrated to the consciousness that itself alone exists.‖ (VI 482) Since the

Transcendentalists were acquainted with all of these writings, it is not always possible to identify

specific influences. Nevertheless, the striking parallels between transcendentalist writings and

Oriental thought make it quite clear that there was a spiritual association between them. The

basic framework of Emerson‘s entire philosophical outlook has been shaped to these

transcendental doctrines. Among the ancients, the Transcendentalists drew on the Greek

philosophers, especially Plato. They drew on certain aspects of the teachings of Confucius, the

Mohammadan Sufis, the Hindu writers. Emerson‘s Transcendentalism is witnessed throughout

his career in his journals, lectures, numerous essays, poems and other works. The modern critic,

R. Tilak in his book Emerson – Selected Essays, discusses Transcendentalism in Emerson as:

―Essentially speaking his view of Transcendentalism includes all the diverse elements of

idealism, mysticism, intuition and spiritualism. It distrusts all forms of empirical thinking: it

questions the authenticity of all forms of logical reasoning, divorced from actuality‖. (15)

Acknowledging his real greatness, he writes as:

We think of him still as the man of Concord, and America thought him long ago as

holding aloft a spiritual ideal while they were busy with material things; as proving the

value of their individual and immoral souls while they were lost in a maze of business,

politics and reforms. He was to them much as Galileo was to the people of Florence long

ago: while they ate and drank, he was thinking for them: while they slept in forgetfulness,

he was alone on his hill top watching the eternal stars. (25)

As has already been made clear in the introduction to this thesis, the three major American

Oriental voices like Thoreau, Emerson, and Whiteman, expressed the ideal of aesthetic

universality in their writings; they focused on the objects of Oriental splendor and manifested the

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works of an anciently mysterious and far - away world. In the bulk of their works, all three

writers built on American material and embodied American attitudes, specially the concepts of

Individualism and Self-Reliance. Perhaps the most appropriate commentary on their relationship

with Indian literature was made by Mahatma Gandhi after reading Emerson‘s Essays and

Journals. He acknowledges him as ―The essays to my mind contain the teaching of Indian

wisdom in a Western ‗guru.‘ It is interesting to see our own sometimes differently fashioned.‖

(Reninger Vaid. source text- Emerson:Selected Essays and poems.263). It can be observed that

in majority of his poems, Emerson derived a number of themes and titles from the Hindu

scriptures. For instance, “Brahma,‖ comes from the Upanishads, and ―Hamatreya,‖ from the

Vishnu Purana. Some other poems which definitely derive inspiration from the Indian Scriptures

are ―Wood Notes,‖ “The Celestial Love,‖ ―Sphnix‖ and ―Spirits,‖ etc. “Brahma,‖ is however,

the real essence and perfect embodiment of Emerson‘s studies in Indian Scriptures. It would be

in perfect order to quote his complete poem ―Brahma‖ from Ralph Waldo Emerson - Poems-, to

underline his curiosity and personal interest in the Hindu Scriptures:

If the red slayer thinks he slays,

Or if the slain thinks he is slain,

They know not well the subtle ways

I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near;

Shadow and sunlight are the same;

The vanquished gods to me appear,

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And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out;

When me they fly, I am the wings;

I am the doubter and the doubt,

And I the hymn the Brahmin sing.

The strong gods pine for my abode,

And pine in vain the sacred Seven,

But thou, meek lover of the good!

Find me, and turn thy back on Heaven. (11)

Significantly, Emerson here seems to be a Brahmin who sings of Brahma, ―And I the hymn the

Brahmin sing.‖ According to Emerson, Brahma is God, the essence, the reality, source of all

activity and doer of all things who advises the whole humanity to come under His shelter, and

search for Him through prayers. It is observable that these quoted lines owe their inspiration to

Emerson‘s studies in Hindu Scripture. As Hindu philosophy reveals that there is a ceaseless

cycle of birth and deaths and by virtue of nobility of actions and purity of hearts, the soul

ultimately merges into Brahma. It says that the soul of every individual finally comes to him

from the Over-Soul. This is in Hindu Philosophy ‗Nirvana‘; it is to be believed the highest state

of the spiritual development. This is the Hindu ‗Vedantic‘ philosophy and Transcendentalism of

Emerson which shapes the framework of this well-known poem. The description of The Sacred

Seven in the poem is quite significant for the scholar of Oriental Studies. According to a Hindu

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myth, the Sacred Seven have been linked to the ‗Sapta Rishis,‘ the seven highest saints. They

form a constellation of seven stars, called ‗Sapta Rishis,‘ for it was the ‗Seven Rishis‘ who were

transformed into the stars. The central idea of the poem is taken from the 19th

Verse of the Gita.

In the Katha Upanishad also there is a passage which is directly echoed in the theme of

―Brahma.‖ ―If the slayer things that I slay; if the slain things I am slain, then both of them do not

know well. (The soul) does not slay nor is it slain.‖ The study notices that the concept of

Individualism and Self- Reliance in the Oriental philosophy finds presence in the bulk of his

works. In his major poems, some of them have been cited below; there is ever an effort on the

part of this transcendentalist to achieve a fine blend of the West and the East. His poems, such as

―Hamatreya,‖ (a poem composed in 1845) showed that he had digested his Indian philosophic

readings very well. ‗Vishnu Purana,’ was the source of moral truth and had an appealing

massage for Emerson to create “Hamatreya.‖ His ―Hamatreya,” (hail to thee, O Mother, ―Hai

Maitreya,‖ brings out the Hindu influence on Emerson. The title, theme, thought and inspiration

have been derived from the ‗Vishnu Purana’. This exquisite lyric finds presence in his Journal.

He quoted a long passage from ‗Vishnu Purana.‘ It guides the readers to reach the core thought

of the poem. He says: ―Kings who with perishable frames have possessed this ever- enduring

world and who have indulged the feeling that suggests, ―This earth is mine,‖ ‗it is my son‘s,‘ ‗It

belongs to my dynasty‘- have all passed away. Earth, smiling with autumnal flowers, seems to

laugh at all those who claimed to posses her, for all now possessed by her.‖ (1845) This long

poem is a celebration of the glory and majesty of Earth, mother of man. It brings out man‘s

liability to err.

All Human beings‘ possessions are lasting only for a definite period of time; they are

temporary and slippery in nature. No man can enjoy or retain his possessions forever. Having

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influenced by the Oriental thought, Emerson observes each farmer as walking proudly over his

land. He asks the proud farmer why he is claiming ―This is mine.‖ The land narrates another fact

in the below cited lines from his poem ―Hamatreya,‖ which has been quoted from Ralph Waldo

Emerson – Poems-. It says:

Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds;

And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough,

Earth laughs in flowers, to see her beautiful boys

Earth – proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;

Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet

Clear of the grave. (35)

Emerson seems to be an ideal moralist, exhorts mankind to give attention to the call of ―Earth –

Song.‖ These lines are the part of his ―Hamatreya‖:

Mine and yours;

Mine, not yours.

Earth endures;

Stars abide-

Shine down in the old sea;

Old are the shores;

But where are old men?

I who have seen much,

Such have I never seen.

…

Here is the land,

Shaggy with wood,

With its old valley,

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Mound and flood.

But the heritors?—

Fled like the flood's foam.

The lawyer and the laws,

And the kingdom,

Clean swept here from.

They called me theirs,

Who so controlled me;

Yet every one

Wished to stay, and is gone,

How am I theirs?

If they cannot hold me,

But I hold them?‖

When I heard the Earth-song

I was no longer brave;

My avarice cooled

Like lust in the chill of the grave. (35)

In the poem ―Woodnotes,‖ quoted from The Early Poem: of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson

asks:

―Who can tell him what he is

Or how meet in human self

Coming and past eternities.‖ (58)

The following extracts from Ralph Waldo Emerson: Selected Essays and Poems, further bring

out the impact of the Oriental thought on Emerson. In ―Woodnotes,‖ the instances of the

Oriental thought find presence:

―Alike to him the better, worse,

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The glowing angel, the outcast course.‖ (10)

In ―Celestial Love,” there are some Oriental shapes:

―Where unlike things are like

Where good and ill

And joy and moan‖

Melt into one.‖ … (12)

In the ―Spirits,‖ it can be noticed:

―From thyself thou canst not flee,

From thyself no more can we.‖ (10)

In the ―Sphinx‖:

―I am thy spirit, yoke-fellow;

Of thine eye, I am eye - beam.‖ (19)

Sanskrit literature which is the primary source of Hinduism and its grammatical structure has a

great similarity with the Arabic Grammar, was welcomed by the members of the

Transcendentalist circle like Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, Thomas Carlyle, William

Ellery Channing, and William Henry. Naturally Indian thought started to manifest itself in

American writings. Defending Indian wisdom against various attackers, American writers,

especially the ones who had a deep affection for the Indian philosophy, began devoting

themselves wholeheartedly to the pursuit of Oriental knowledge, facts and grandeur of Asian

thought which were, according to them, multifaceted. The Yogis, Sufis, Derveshes and spiritual

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beggars , the common features of the cult - ridden Indian society, could hardly fail to be

observed by the foreign troops and traders. Emerson‘s divine love and his own experiences of

spiritual illumination in his lyric oracles which symbolize the Hindu images are to a certain

extent an outcome of his study of oriental books. He sings a divine song as ―Celestial love.‖ It

has been quoted from Ralph Waldo Emerson - Poems:

Higher far,

Higher far into the pure realm

Over sun and star

Over the flickering Daemon film

Thou must mount for love

In a region where the wheel

On which all beings ride

Visibly revolves;

Where the starred eternal worm

Girds the world with bound and term,

Where unlike things are like. (12)

His high reverence towards Hindus‘ sacred books was an outcome of his reading the available

philosophic Indian literature, which could be perceived by means of his historical statement from

his Letters: ―I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if

an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an

old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same

questions that exercise us.‖ (VI: 246; I: 322-3).

Emerson wrote a letter to German scholar and great Orientalist Max Mueller (1823 - 1900). The

letter makes the truth about the Orient which fascinates him; there is an expression of love for

Oriental study. He writes:

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―All my interest is in Marsh's Manu, then Wilkins' ―Bhagavat Geeta,‖ Burnouf's ―Bhagavat

Purana‖ and Wilson's ―Vishnu Purana,‖ yes, and few other translations. I remember I owed my

first taste for this fruit to Cousin's sketch, in his first lecture, of the dialogue between Krishna and

Arjuna and I still prize the first chapters of the Bhagavat as wonderful.‖ (Journals, Vol .10 -14)

It was his eagerness to possess the valuable Eastern scriptures that by 1856, Emerson had read

the ―Kathopanisad,‖ his ideas were increasingly reflecting Indian influence, and his pages were

filled with the ancient religious wisdom. The influx of new ideas of the poem seems to be under

influence after reading Vishnu Purana Katha and Upanishad, the concluding structure offers

earnest appeal to the United States of America which was facing the state of agitation and

tumultuous environment. And here are a few verses from the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 2-

Original text: Bhagavad Gita: ) which represent the same concept of the immortality of human

Soul:

He who shall say, Lo! I have slain a man!

He who shall think, Lo! I am slain!‖ those both

Know naught ! Life cannot slay. Life is not slain!

Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease

To be never;

Never was time it was not; End and beginning

Are dreams!

Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth

The spirit for ever;

Death hath not touched it at all, dead though

The house of it seem! (10)

Wheel is a frequently used as a symbol in Brahminical literature. It had a remarkable influence,

causing artistic creation, and especially in Buddhistic Religious books. There are some passages

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in the Rig Veda, having examples of wheel symbols. It was also a symbol of the continuous birth

or rebirth of individual souls. All were explored by him in his spiritual writings. The Hindu

theories of Transmigration, and Fatalism (according to the Hindu theory, Transmigration is the

part of religious creed when soul goes into another body; Fate is nothing but results of deeds

committed in a prior state of existence as Karma) had great influence on Emerson. His dogma of

Fate has a relationship to the Oriental thought and has influenced his fatalistic writings. The

Islamic fatalism (Power believed to predetermine all events from eternity: the Almighty

determines the course of human life) is a vast branch of Islamic theology and an integral part of

the Faith in Oneness of God.

The Holy Quran states: ‗To all men is their day of death appointed, and they cannot postpone or

advance it even one moment‘. (Chap.22.Vers.30)

Interestingly, there is similarity between the tenets of Emersonian thought and Eastern fatalism.

His Essay, ―Fate,‖ represents the idea that no one inherits the good or evil deeds of another. The

exact message has been given by the Quran as: ―Everyone is accountable for his good or evil

deeds‖. (Chap.8.Vers.164) It is a rebellion against Christianity and its doctrine that Christ was

crucified compensating for the evil deeds of mankind. The following lines of ―Song of Myself,"

from Walt Whitman: Selected Poems, recall that very concept:

―Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs;

Its buckets are rising forever and ever,

They pour and they pour and they exhale away.‖ (1140)

The study revolves around this fact as how Emerson wisely sharpened his mind and deepened his

conviction in Hindu scriptures. As a strong and sufficient evidence, this influence is found fully

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expounded in his poetry, and through his intellectual perception, he colors his prose-writings as

well. He assimilated Hindu philosophy in his poetry; there has been every effort on his part to

achieve a synthesis of the East and the West. He has been trying to synthesize the values of the

old and the new world. He believed that the Western science and civilization can be perfected

only in this way. His poetry represents such magnificent integration. The genesis of Orientalism

in Emerson can be investigated through his letter to his aunt, Mary Moody, which was written

after he came back to Boston on June 10, 1822. He was in a state of mental uneasiness and was

tired of the kind of life which he was leading in America. It is worth referring to a few lines from

his letter, showing his interest in Indian myths and his negative opinion regarding European

barren life. He looks upon European life with disapproval.

―I am curious to read your Hindu mythologies. One is apt to lament over indolence and

ignorance, when we read some of those sanguine student of the Eastern antiquities, who seem to

think that all the books of knowledge , and all the wisdom of the Europe twice told , lie hidden in

the treasures of the Brahmins & the volumes of Zoroaster.‖ (Letters 1, 116)

Emerson wrote a poem ―Indian Superstition‖ at the age of 17. It was presented for Harvard

college exhibition. It was the time when fascination with the Far East had started culminating in

the highest point. This exhibition was embellished with various pieces of Oriental writings such

as ―On the Indian Astronomy,‖ ―The Institutions of the East Indians.‖ These are some of the

examples of Oriental writings which changed not only common people‘s passive opinion

regarding the East but also added to the curiosity of the poets, writers, readers, students and

Humanists towards Oriental readings. The library of Harvard, which was considered to be the

Mecca for the worshippers of knowledge, was an important destination to make this new branch

of study popular among the Occidents. There were scholarly magazines which were giving

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special attention to the Oriental literature. Furthermore, they proved to be the cultural platforms

for the Orientalists. There are also frequent references in Emerson‘s journals when he refers to

Sufism and Persian poets including one article titled ―On Egypt and the Nile from the Sanskrit,‖

―On the Musical Models of the Hindus,‖ still another “On The Mystical Poetry of the Persians

and Hindus,‖ and ―On the Mystical Poetry of the East.‖

Hawthorne‘s sister, Peabody, a prominent member of the Transcendentalist group,

Elizebeth Palmer Peabody, who edited a book called Aesthetic Papers which had great value and

had everlasting impressions on readers, are considered to be among the major creative writers

who used their pens to fill the gap between the West and the West. Melville as a critic of

Emerson used Emerson as the pattern of the mystic in his The Confidence - Man. It has been

pointed out in the introductory pages of this research engagement that the present study relies

upon the appropriation theory of Orientalism. With the support of evidences and the instances of

cross-cultural influences on the literature of the period, this effort will enable the readers to

understand how Edward Said‘s picture of the Occident is prejudiced and based on the

misperceptions between the East and the West that Said‘s Orientalism critiques.

This chapter aims at exploring the Eastern Sufi elements in Emersonian writings. The study

expects to reveal as to how and why Emerson was influenced by the Eastern religious scriptures,

replete with practical wisdom. The chapter will try to remain concentrated on the Sufism and the

mystical presence both in poetry and prose of Emerson. Also, this chapter will call attention to

the influence of Indian and Persian literature on Emerson. It will try to depict the sound

examples how Emerson was inclined towards Indian traditional ideas of religion, philosophy and

art, how he responded to them emotionally , intellectually and intuitively, which made him

engross in assimilating these ideas and reproduce them through his writings. The present study

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also aims at establishing the influence of Hindu sacred book, Bhagvad Gita, on the mental

horizon of Emerson. It will make an approach to the texts expressing esteem and high regard for

the Bhagvad Gita, Hafiz, Saadi, Indian Vedas, Upanishads including his first work ―A Week,‖

his master piece Walden and many more, which are full of Indian and Sufi thoughts.

The chapter reveals how he approached the literature of the East. How he began making

an acquaintance with the names of Eastern books while he was a very little boy. It was the time

when the literature of Asia was inaccessible to Americans; still he was searching for Asia. Why

Asian study became the center of all his studies, this, and his attitude towards the depth of

ancient culture can be perceived through the paragraph which has been taken from the letter he

wrote in 1840:

It is sublime as heat and night and a breathless ocean. It contains every religious

sentiment, all the grand ethics which visit in turn each noble and poetic mind and nothing

is easier than to separate what must have been the primeval inspiration from the endless

ceremonial nonsense which caricatures and contradicts it through every chapter. It is of

no use to put away the book: if I trust myself in the woods or in a boat upon the pond,

nature makes a Brahmin of me presently: eternal compensation, unfathomable power,

unbroken silence, this is her creed. (Journal 1840)

James Russell Lowell, a well - known New England Brahmin writer, was familiar with the

writers who had knowledge about the East in different light. He knew Emerson also, visited his

home, talked about the books on the Orient. It was the time when Emerson‘s Oriental interest

was developing. It was the result of his association with Emerson‘s ideas about the Middle East

that James Russell Lowell published ―An Oriental Apologue.‖ It has the Oriental figure with

comic style: The poem has 256 lines; the presence of the Orient is visible in these lines which

have been quoted as a reference in Studies in American Literature:

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Somewhere in India, upon a time, …

There dwelt two saints …

One was a dancing Dervish, a Mohammadan,

The other was a Hindoo, a gymnosophist;

One kept his whatd‘yecallit and his Ramadan,

Laughing to scorn the sacred rites and laws of his

Ttransfluvial rival, who, in turn, called Ahmed an

Old top, and, as a clincher, shook across a fist

With nails six inches long, yet lifted not

His eyes from off his navel‘s mystic knot.

(179)

Lowell, the great literary figure and the lifelong friend of Emerson, reread The Arabian Nights

and was filled with great surprise at the mystery of the inconsumable oil, the wonderful lamp of

Aladdin, the Bedouin of Arab, the holy Ganga in India, the method of worshipping the idols and

many more rites and customs which are considered to be integral parts of numerous religions in

Asia. They both believed in the tenet of literature that this universe has one bottom; literature

knows no racial or national boundaries, but crosses all seas to bring peoples together into

harmonious understanding. On the one hand, Carpenter, the critic of Orientalism, explores the

overall impact that Indian, Persian, and Greek thought had produced on Emerson. On the other

hand, paying particular attention to Neo-Platonism, Christy examines the parallels between

Eastern religion and American Transcendentalism. Frederic Carpenter‘s Emerson and Asia

(1930) and Arthur Christy‘s The Orient in American Transcendentalism (1932) are the most

exhaustive studies of Emerson‘s Orientalism. These are the two books which play a vital role in

understanding the importance of the Orient to Emerson. This chapter aims at converging upon

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Emerson‘s indebtedness to the Oriental philosophy which made Emerson‘s mind synthetic,

believing in all - embracing religions. His Oriental attitudes towards spiritual experience were

the result of his intimate knowledge of the Eastern religious texts. His well known essay, “The

Over -Soul,‖ from Essays of Emerson, edited by Jim Manis, offers Oriental mysticism as:

The soul in man is not an organ; but animates and exercises all the organs; is not a

function like the power memory , of calculation, of comparison, but uses these as hands

and feet, is not a faculty but a light; is not the intellect and the will ; is the background of

our being, in which they lie . From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon

things and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all. (139)

The Middle East for him became the Holy Land and the land of curiosity and interes. The Over -

Soul, according to Emerson, transcends even time and space:

―Space is ample, East and West,

But two cannot go abreast,

Cannot travel in it two.‖ (137)

He makes a brief and fine description of Arabia with interesting details in his journal of 1822:

Arabia is the country of horse - fleeter & gentler there than elsewhere ; of the camel

happily named the ship of the desert, who will transport a weight of 1000lb, & whose

flesh is fit for food, his hair for weaving, his dung for fuel, & even an extract of his urine

is a valuable salt; of the Bedouin, who for the first year of recorded time up to this

moment has preserved his savage Ishmaelitish independence, who is lavishly

hospitable, & a ferocious robber , nominally the subject , yet insults the towns &

plunders the caravans of the Turk. The Arab neither laughs nor weeps. Mecca & Medina

his holy cities are small poor places of population of about 20,000 apiece. But a law of

Mahomet ordained that every Mussulman should visit Mecca once in life. This wise for

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the fortunate command is the source of which caravans which grows to armies resort &

Mecca contains, so long as the fair lasts, a vast population of the Geography of Asia is

thus generally sketched. (109)

The study aims at examining the factors how Oriental literature - specifically Persian literature

enriched Emerson with an original way of writing about the American landscape. The study will

throw the light on the Emersonian poetry which enlightens the readers‘ spirituality. Emerson

always formed an opinion of himself as he is the first and foremost a poet. He always

emphasized the supremacy of poetic inspiration over craftsmanship in poetry. The poet,

according to him, has an exceptional capacity to experience even hidden mysteries or truths and

equally exceptional power of expression to convey his insights into transcendental truth.

Emerson, ―the sage of concord,‖ ―the father of American Transcendentalism,‖ the founder of

―Transcendental club,‖ the influential figure in the history of Transcendentalism in America, the

―divinely inspired,‖ the leading name of ―the New England Renaissance,‖ argued for intuition as

a guide to universal truth. His faith in the divine was an essential part of his personality. The

correspondence between world and the spirit was part and parcel of his transcendental thought

which harmonized with the rise of democracy, the rise of Romanticism and the revolt against

Puritan Orthodoxy.

Transcendentalism, which was nothing new but an amalgam of various philosophies or

ways of thought, both of the East and West, both ancient and modern; it has a great impact on his

philosophical writings. This movement was influenced by British writers, it drew on German

idealistic philosophers, inspired by Greek philosophers, relied upon teachings of Confucius,

adopted Islamic Sufism, Persian wisdom and derived inspiration from the Hindu writers of

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Upanishads, Bhagvad Gita and Buddhists. The books in fact, mark a significant phase in the

development of his religious vision, in looking for the enlightenment beyond the narrow confines

of empirical experience and prejudiced mind. Emerson, who had already realized the bankruptcy

of Christianity, and had revealed his acute dissatisfaction with modern theology, profited himself

by them in a great measure. He acknowledged that his writings have influence of Indian thought

and philosophy which characterized their appropriation by the West. He wrote several reviews

on topics relating to ethics, metaphysics, and the role of religion in society. All these figures and

facts find beautiful expression in his well- known essay “Nature” which has been called ―The

Bible of Transcendentalism.‖ It is considered to be multifaceted. It is prose-poem, aesthetic,

romantic, realistic, metaphysical, mystical and scientific in nature.

The study attempts to draw a mark of distinction between materialism and spiritualism

and between intellect and intuition. It aims at giving the readers an idea of Emerson‘s basic

attitudes towards life. He also did not trust materialism and pure intellect. He also did not support

that abstract idealism which is far from actual existence. In his essay on “Plato,‖ he attempts to

establish a unity between these attitudes - the temporal and spiritual. Plato, according to

Emerson, achieved this fine synthesis. ‗The unity of Asia and the detail of Europe … Plato came

to join, and by contact to enhance the energy of each‘. Emerson‘s philosophy is therefore all -

comprehensive, seeking to reconcile all irreconcilables. The close study of Emerson finds him

articulating his ideas of ramification between phenomenal profusion and transcendental unison.

He expresses his thought through the voice of his own conscience; with a prophetic vision, he

looks within his own heart and starts writing ―Over- Soul‖: (it is from the original text Essays of

Emerson)

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We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of

the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally

related, the eternal one. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all

accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and

the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the

world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which

these are shining parts, is the soul. (139)

It shows that he accepts the philosophy of indestructibility of energy, the theory and reality of the

one Deity and the oneness of the Over- Soul. It is through this invisible spirit that man speaks to

God. It is the divinity that is lying within us. It has been said on the part of critics that Emerson‘s

works, especially the essays are based on his concept of the ‗Over- soul’ which visualizes an

organic synthesis of all the diverse elements of human experience. He seems to be very esoteric

and philosophical in his essay ―Over- soul‖ which summarizes his outlook on spirituality. The

below cited lines as Original text from Dead letters to the New World: Melville, Emerson, and

American Transcendentalism, offer a true image of his thought:

There is one soul.

It is related to the world

Art is its action thereon

Science finds its methods.

Literature is its record.

Religion is the emotion of reverence that it inspires.

Ethics is the soul illustrated in human life.

Society is the finding of this soul by individuals in each other.

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Traders are the learning of the soul in nature by labour.

Politics is the activity of the soul illustrated in power

Manners are silent and mediate expressions of soul (27)

It contains ideas which he repeated, developed and elaborated in all his subsequent writings. It is

interesting that at every step the essay reveals the influence of Indian philosophy and Oriental

mysticism. “The American Scholar,” which is a famous speech made by him, produced an

unforgettable impression on his literary devotees and played a historical role in the formation of

the literary self - consciousness of America as a nation. It was delivered before the Phi Beta

Kappa Society at Harvard in 1837.

He attacked the American scholarship against lacking the creative thinking and writing, and

insisted Americans to stop rewriting European literature and seems to be influenced by an Arab

proverb. He quotes the Arabian proverb in ―American Scholar,‖ as quoted in Selected Essays

and Poems, ―A fig tree, looking on a fig tree, becomes fruitful.‖ He adds, ―But when the

intervals of darkness come, as come they must – when the sun is hid and the stars withdraw their

shining - we repair to the lamps which were kindled by their ray, to guide our steps to the East

again, where the dawn is. We hear and may speak.‖ (166)

Acknowledging the greatness of Arabia, and the East as a symbol of light, wisdom

and Greem art, he addresses American scholars by pointing out that the time has come to show

independence in matter of literature. He writes: ―I ask not for the great, the remote, and the

romantic; what is going in Italy or Arabia; what is Greem art, or Provencal minstrelsy; I embrace

the common, I explore and sit at the feet of the familiar, the low.‖(174) The study finds another

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entry. It is ―The Sphinx,‖ having many aspects, and a highly patterned symbolic interpretation of

Emerson‘s struggle with the American spiritual and intellectual life of the 1830s. This struggle

significantly engages a Sphinx, a mythical beast. This persona appears in both Greek and in

Egyptian mythology. The Sphinx in mythology is a legendary animal which has a lion‘s body

and the head of a man, woman, or sometimes another animal. The human head may be the result

of the concept of God as having human form and shape. Egypt is the place where it was

originated; it was placed as a guardian of temples and tombs and as symbolic of a divine

guardian. Interpretations of the religious perspective of the Sphinx are inconstant, but some

scholars are of the opinion that the Sphinx is basically connected with the story of the Fall in the

Bible. After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, an angel was sent to guard

the Garden. The Sphinx as a guardian and a symbol of intellectual and religious authority serves

the same purpose as a representative by God to guard the things. The theme of the Fall of Adam

and Eve appears frequently in Emerson‘s work. “Man is a God in ruins” and in “Self Reliance.‖

Self - reliance is God - Reliance. It is a very important observation for those who manage to read

beyond ―The Sphinx‖ and they will certainly find something previously unknown in American

poetry: a recognizably American landscape, but a landscape loaded with meaning and colored by

the Orient. Emerson‘s Sphinx has been figured as a gate keeper, who, allows the visitors to pass.

Just as ―The Sphinx‖ leads the readers into Emerson‘s Poems and into his Orientalism. The

Sphinx is considered to be a bridge between Western Hellenic - based tradition, (the ancient

European tradition highlighting the Archaeology, the Occult and Mythology), and the Oriental

culture. It was a symbolic image, a source of moving away from the void life of the West

towards a glimpse of the divine and spirituality of the East that Emerson discovered in the

Sphinx and the Orient. For the scholar approaching him, this discovery offers an excellent

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opportunity for the consideration of the Oriental elements in his works. Written in a daringly

effective manner, it is fairly easy to frame the contours of ―The Sphinx.‖ The narrator speaks of

the interrelationship between the spirituality and physical existence.

Using various devices to emphasize the Eastern summit and ageless wisdom of

Indian philosophers, Emerson, being figurative and twisting his thought into an extraordinary

pattern, discusses literally the dualism of the world- the ―Eterne alternation‖ between pleasure

and pain. Melville, who read Emerson‘s essays with critical interest, the man who used Emerson

as the pattern of the mystic, and this mystic, resembles Emerson in posture and physical

appearance in The Confidence - man. There is a mystic conversation which bears relationship to

the concepts and ideas similar to those of Emerson‘s ―Nature.‖. Here one can notice him inviting

the Mystic to sit down and enjoy the wine together. But the mystic replies in a mystical tone. The

below cited extract has been quoted in Studies in American Literature by E.S. Oliver:

To invite me to sit down with you is hospitable ….and hospitability being fabled

to be of Oriental origin, and of forming, as it does. The subject of a pleasing

Arabian romance, as well as being a very romantic thing in itself – hence I always

hear the expression of hospitability with pleasure. But, as for the wine, my regard

for that beverage is so extreme, and I am so fearful of letting it sat me, that I keep

my love for it in the lasting condition of untried abstraction. Briefly, I quaff

immense draughts of wine from the page of Hafiz, but wine from a cup I seldom

as much as sip. (90)

Moreover, Melville presents a portrait of Emerson in the character of Mark Winsome. It is an

amazing fact that Hafiz, the Oriental Persian Sufi poet, has been quoted and remembered by

Emerson more than twenty- five times in his published writings. It is recorded that Hafiz is not

the invention of Emerson; he was the most talked about poet of the East in American print

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media. A close reading of his works shows that in 1790, the very first volume of the New York

magazine published ―Tale of Hafiz,‖ which was warmly welcomed by the readers. Emerson

appreciates Hafiz. The below cited lines have been taken from the Original text The Poems

―HER passions the shy violet

From Hafiz never hides;

Love-longings of the ruptured bird

The bird to him confides.‖ (281)

As a matter of fact, a large body of his pros - works reveals his Oriental influence. His good

knowledge of the Middle East‘s Geography and familiarity with the Islamic culture and history

can be gauzed from the lecture in which he makes a few observations and gives authentic

information about the great men of Arabia. Here Emerson seems to be literal and historical. The

passage finds presence in his ―Works‖ as:

Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world is the triumph of

some enthusiasm. The victories of the Arabs after Mahomet, who, in a few years,

from a small and mean beginning, established a larger empire than that of Rome,

is an example. They did they knew not what. The naked Derar(The historical

Islamic character who participated in the battle between Romans and Muslims ),

horsed an idea , was found an overmatch for a troop of Roman cavalry. The

women fought like men, and conquered the Roman men. They were miserably

equipped, miserably fed, they were Temperance troops. There was neither brandy

nor flesh needed to feed them. They conquered Asia, Africa, and Spain on

barely. The Caliph Omar‘s walking stick struck more terror into those who saw it,

than another man‘s sword. His diet was barely bread; his sauce was salt; and often

times by way of abstinence he ate his bread without salt. His drink was water. His

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palace was built of mud; and when he left Medina to go to the conquest of

Jerusalem, he rode on a red camel, with a wooden platter hanging at his saddle,

with a bottle of water and two sacks, one holding barely, and the other dried

fruits. (1, 251,)

The study finds Emerson recognizing the great task performed by the Islamic intelligentsia who

were bringing up their skills and reshaping the knowledge for the advancement in the 9th

century.

The European scholars got inspiration from the Islamic advancement and, laid foundation of the

studies on their theories. It was Emerson who introduced the Gulistan (Persian book by Saadi) to

the American scholarship. Emerson‘s formative Orientalism is the fruit of his study of the

Persian poets Hafiz and Saadi who were the central figures of two of his essays, ―Persian

Poetry,‖ and ―Saadi,‖ and inspired dozens of Emerson‘s translations and original poems.

It is found that by the early 1840s, Emerson appears to have come closer to these two

great Persian writers and started reading them with much curiosity. Probably, Emerson made

approach to Hafiz and Saadi through German translation. In the early nineteenth- century,

Persian poetry was getting a good deal of attention in Europe. In Germany, Persian poetry

received this attention because of the publication of two significant books of translations by

Joseph Von Hammer: one, the collected work of Hafiz entitled, Der Dewan Yen Mohammed

Schemseddin Hafis (1812), and the other on anthology of Persian poetry called Geschichte der

schonen redekunste Persiens (1818). These two master pieces were originally in Persian

language, he translated them in English. These two books are regarded to be corner stones in

spreading the Oriental study material among the Occidents. As a transcendentalist, he parallels

German metaphysical thought with his assertion that a good sense or understanding is not all of

man‘s intellect. Emerson‘s “Persian Poetry,” published in 1858, is considered to be very

important text in understanding the spirituality and mysticism of the Orient. The characters

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which have been selected in elaborating Persian poetry come of Islamic history, civilization and

literature. Journal U, published in 1843, was dedicated to the great Persian poet Saadi. It is

interesting to observe that Emerson has compared Saadi with the poets of genius like Gibbon,

Homer, Chaucer and Dante. He has quoted this poet very extensively in his journals and essays.

He alludes to the example of Saadi‘s aphorism ‗Nothing is as good for an ignorant man as

silence and if he knew this, he would no longer be ignorant. (Journal U 40) Acknowledging the

time less wisdom of Saadi, he addresses himself through the following words:

I began to write Saadi‘s sentence above as a text to some homily of my own which

muttered aloud as I walked this morning, to the effect, that the force of character is quite

too faint & insignificant, the good are the poor, but if the poor were but once rich , how

many fine scruples would melt away; how many blossoming reforms would be nipped in

the bud. I ought to see that you must do that you say, as tomato vines bear tomatoes &

meadows yield grass. But I find the seed comes in the manure, and it is your condition,

not your genius, which yields all this democratical and tenderhearted harvest. (J. U 52)

These and many more books were widely available in Europe and in the United States and,

naturally attracted the attention of Emerson. In addition to this, Goethe‘s Oriental poetry

enhanced Emerson‘s interest in Hafiz and Saadi. Goethe was one of Emerson‘s favorite authors

and the one who has been mentioned in Representative Men, the author of Der West-ostliche

Diavn The West-East Divan, Divan here means comprehensive collection of poems. This

collection includes a series of lyric poems which were shaped and modelled upon Persian verses.

The development of Emerson‘s interest in Persian poetry was of two layers. First, he took

interest in the poets themselves like Hafiz and Saadi, who were introduced by him as the ―Orphic

Poet‖ in his essay ―Nature.‖ Second, in Persian poetry Emerson found a way of writing about the

world which blended materialism and spiritualism in a way convincingly compatible with his

personal opinion. ―It is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul,‖ he

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expressed this remark in his address to the Divinity Students. He found the moral law, a

naturalistic experience and positive ethical decrees in Persian poetry, it strengthened his

transcendental belief. It proved to be a useful model for his own poetic yearning. Richard Price,

who always held him in high esteem, marks his philosophy in his A Review of the Principal

Questions and Difficulties in Morals: ―He saw the entire world as one vast spinal column.‖ (140)

Emerson always placed himself on the side of the knowledgeable and practical power. He quoted

Caliph Ali, the son -in- law of Prophet Mohammad (PBUHM) ―If knowledge calleth unto

practice, well; if not, it goeth away.‖ He was very strongly attracted by the spirit, thought and

teachings of the Orient. According to an Indian scholar, who very aptly acknowledges the

greatness of Emerson with this remark: ―The character of Emerson shines upon India serene as

the evening star. He seems to some of us to have been a geographical mistake. He ought to have

been born in India.‖ (SIAL. 15)The Persian poets possibly influenced Emerson more profoundly

than any other Oriental writers. He studied Anthology of Persian Literature in 1841, and in 1842,

he wrote his poem ―Saadi‖ for The Dial, and in 1843, he studied the Gulistan. He made a

detailed study of all the Persian poets more fully in a German anthology of Joseph Freiherr Von

Hammer Purgstall. Also, he made many translations of Persian poems from Von Hammer

Purgstall.

It must be kept in mind that the Persian poets constantly adopted the constructive and

positive side of all religions in their love of beauty and nature. Two of Emerson‘s best poems,

“Days” and “Bacchus,” are inspiring in many aspects, containing certainly Persian and Oriental

elements and do virtually the same thing but with greater effect. Here he seems to be a more

intelligent and commentator on the tragedy of human life. Deep philosophical truths have been

conveyed through the use of concrete, visual and pictorial imagery. ―Dervishes‖ is originally

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Persian word, implying the persons who have renounced the world and foretell the future of

those who come to them. This spiritual art enables them to earn their living. It is in order to quote

this exquisite lyric ―Days‖ in full, from Ralph Waldo Emerson – Poems-:

Daughters of Time, the hypocritical Days,

Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes,

And marching single in an endless file,

Bring diadems and fagots in their hands.

To each they offer gifts after his will,

Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all.

I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp,

Forgot my morning wishes, hastily

Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day

Turned and departed silent. I, too late,

Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn. (21)

One of the finest poems, based on the poet‘s deepest thought and experience of life, ―Days‖ are

here personified as Muslim Faquirs, passing in a long line before the mind‘s eye of the poet.

Each day brings to us new experiences with wonderful gifts, but many of us fail to recognize

these boons from God, though they make full use of them. The study explores the beautiful

images and metaphors of life which is made up of a long chain of days. The ideas expressed in

the above lines are the result of Oriental mysticism which developed in the poet with the passage

of time. Days come and pass like a procession of muffled and dumb images. These figures have

been compared to Oriental Muslim Sufis, who prophesy for fortune seekers. They are also being

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compared by the poet to coy and scornful maidens who bring various gifts in their hands.

Spiritual thoughts through beautiful images and metaphors are developed in this poem. The days,

―like barefoot dervishes‖ with grand theme suggests Emerson‘s admiration for the boundless

energy of the dervish Hafiz, the poet who seemed to seize every possible opportunity of

interpreting his ideas through his writings. Emerson, sitting in his ―pleached garden,‖ in which

the branches of trees or shrubs are interwoven and is being approached by an endless line of

dervishes, tells us how profoundly Persian poetry attracts his attention and invites him to

harmonize with nature. Where Sewall‘s Garden is a New world Christian Garden, Emerson‘s

Garden is a New World Garden which was highly decorated with the Oriental Ornaments and

spirit. Emerson in his essay ―Manners‖ has written about the famous fable of Leila, the

imaginary character, the beloved of Majnoon, having black beauty in Oriental novel. The extract

has been taken from Essays by Emerson:

Was it Hafiz or Firdousi that said of his Persian Lilla, She was an elemental force, and

astonished me by her amount of life, when I saw her day after day radiating, every

instant, redundant joy and grace on all around her. She was a solvent powerful to

reconcile all heterogeneous persons into one society: like air or water, an element of such

a great range of affinities that it combines readily with a thousand substances. Where she

is present all others will be more than they are wont. She was a unit and whole, so that

whatsoever she did, became her. She had too much sympathy and desire to please, than

that you could say her manners were marked with dignity, yet no princess could surpass

her clear and erect demeanor on each occasion. She did not study the Persian grammar, or

the books of the seven poets, but all the poems of the seven seemed to be written upon

her. For though the bias of her nature was not to thought, but to sympathy, yet was she so

perfect in her own nature as to meet intellectual persons by the fullness of her heart,

warming them by her sentiments; believing, as she did, that by dealing nobly with all, all

would show themselves noble. (266)

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The study traces the Persian poetic figures that he received with all kindness of heart. He saluted

and honored them whole- heartedly. The study will try to explore few instances of the prominent

Persian poets‘ writings such as: Firdousi, Ferrideddin Attar, Feizi. Enwari, Jelaleddin Rumi,.

Nizami, Mulla Jami, Nimetollah of Kuhistan, Omar Khayyam, Hilali, Ibn Zemin,. Kermani. A

considerable number of books concerning Persian poetry, Asian culture, and mystical themes of

Sufism and so on were studied by him carefully. He translated nearly 700 lines of Persian poetry.

He quoted them widely. There are a few examples like Von Hammer Purgstall‘s translated

versions, Various German translations from the Persian, Zoroaster, the founder of ancient

Persian religion, Zoroasterism, Swedenbergiosm, (the system of beliefs based on the teachings of

Emanuel S, who claimed to have direct communion with the divine) Geschichte der SchÖnen

Redekunste Persiens, Firdousi‘s The Shah Nameh, Saadi‘s The Gulistan. Chodzko‘s Specimens

of Ancient Persian Poetry. Some other books, too, offered good experiences in evaluating

Oriental wisdom. Moreover, he plucked the fragrant flowers from the German garden as well.

As it has been found during the study, very near the beginning of the 19th

century,

American authors began to attract international attention. These authors initiated the romantic

moment in this most creative and productive period of American literature. Authors like Edgar

Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne became masters of creating a sense of the supernatural,

mystical and spiritual elements in their works. Emerson, the spokesman for a group of idealistic

writers called ―Transcendentalists‖ was also influenced by the romantic temper of the period in

his mystical approach to nature. Inspired by Oriental teachings, he tended to deify nature as a

source of intellectual and artistic inspiration. His literary friend, Henry David Thoreau, waged a

cold war against the tyranny of social conventions, materialism and, commercialism.

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Incidentally, it was Emerson who introduced the great Eastern Scripture , Bhagvagita , to Walt

Whitman. To prove his familiarity and fascination with Muslim Oriental writers, he recognized

them at the heart of his mystic experience. His fascination with the Persian poet, Hafiz, exceeds

that of other Oriental writers. The following passage from one of his Journals is worth quoting.

He acknowledges this great Oriental mind:

You deify anybody to have things as good as yours. Hafiz defies you to show

him or put him in a condition inopportune & ignoble. Take all you will & leave

him but a corner of nature , lane, a den, a cowshed, out of cities, far from letters &

taste & culture; he promise to win to that scorned spot, the light of moon & , the

love of men, the smile of beauty, the homage of art. It shall be painted, & carved,

& sung& celebrated & visited by pilgrimage in all time to com. (Journals V11,

457 – 8)

His comments and words of admiration for Hafiz in “Persian Poets” may be regarded as the

highest compliment made by Emerson to any writer. He documents him in such a daring tone:

―Hafiz is characterized by a perfect intellectual emancipation which also he provokes in the

reader. Nothing stops him. He is not scared by a name, or religion. He fears nothing. He sees too

far; he sees ever throughout; such is the man I wish to see and to be.‖ (Journal x, 165) It was the

result of his association with Saadi. Emerson sometimes referred to himself as Saadi. Explaining

his poem, ―Saadi,‖ Emerson writes that his father adopted Saadi‘s name ―in its various

modification, for the ideal poet, and under it, describes his own longings and his most intimate

experiences.‖ Introducing Hafiz in an 1847 journal entry, Emerson showed respect for him in

such words, ―Such is the only man I wish to see and to be.‖ Emerson‘s description of Hafiz and

Saadi infused life and uplifting feelings into the readers, at the same time, inspired religious

abandon and intensity, coupled with the strong moral sentiments that Emerson greatly

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acknowledged and tried to present in his own writing. Both of them represent the doctrine of the

unity in diversity which was the core subject for their poems. ‗I find in him a pure theism,‘

Emerson said of Saadi. J.D. Yohannan, gave a careful account of the influence of Persian poetry

on Emerson‘s poetry. He expounds discreetly various views held on Oriental poetry by Hafiz and

Saadi. He examines the broader aspects of this influence; specifically how Emerson‘s fascination

with Hafiz and Saadi affected his view of the major setting and subjects of much of his poetry.

Significantly, the selection of the American Garden which is linked to the Oriental Garden, finds

presence in Persian poetry.

Sewall refers to the origin of the American Garden to the Biblical Garden of Eden in

―Genesis.‖ As it is beyond any doubt the background of the Biblical theme is the Orient, the

origin of the American Garden is naturally Oriental. The study finds significant similarities

between Emerson‘s poetry and that of Hafiz and Saadi. They both lay emphasis on the Garden.

Saadi‘s two best known works are poetic gardens, the Gulistan, or the Rose Garden, and the

Bustan, or the Perfumed Garden. Hafiz‘s poems frequently refer to the gardens- the Heavenly

Garden, the garden of Adam and Eve, and the garden of love, both spiritual and carnal. Their

poems produce words of admiration for the singing of the birds, the fragrance of the flowers, the

calmness of the running water, the freshness of the breezes, and the promise of heavenly and

earthly pleasures present in the garden‘s sights and sounds.

The image of Emerson‘s garden has been transfigured with the elements derived from the

traditional Oriental garden. In Emerson‘s second book of poems, My-Day, two poems, ―My

Garden,” and “Days,‖ converge in different ways on the American Garden and reveal how

Emerson orientalized it. “My Garden‖ talks about the largeness of American landscape as a

garden which is quite different from the flower beds planted beside the houses in Concord. The

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significance of the word ―garden‖ which has a close association with the Persian Garden can be

experienced through these highly spirited lines from his well-known poem ―My Garden.‖ The

below text is found in Ralph Waldo Emerson – Poems- :

In my plot no tulips blow,

Snow-loving pines and oaks instead;

And rank the Savage maples grow

From spring‘s faint flush to autumns red.

My garden is a flower ledge

Which older forests bound;

The banks slope down to the blue lake-edge,

Then plunge to depths profound.

Here once the Deluge ploughed,

Laid the terraces, one by one;

Ebbing later whence it flowed‘

They bleach and dry in the sun.

Hither hastened, in old time, Jove,

And every god,--none did refuse;

And be sure at least came Love,

And after Love, the Muse.

Aeolian harps in the pine

Ring with the song of the Fates;

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Infant Bacchus in the vine. (59)

The poem is the manifesto of Emerson‘s Transcendentalism with its various attributes. It

became a source of inspiration to countless others, particularly to other New Englanders, as

Thoreau, Hawthorne. It conveys mystical and metaphysical truths and hence it is difficult to

understand the subtle language of Nature. The reader‘s interest, however, is in the garden‘s

Oriental features. Emerson here seems to be philosophical in his outlook and as a seer and

visionary; he classifies his garden into two aspects: The garden‘s physical location has been

identified by him but the spiritual location is somewhere else and needed to be identified. The

poem has come out of the poet‘s soul, and so goes straight to the soul of the readers, inspiring

and contributing to a better understanding of spiritual truths. The mention of Jove, Bacchus, and

the Deluge suggest an Eastern setting, and the presence of water along with references to love,

music, poetry and wine, make it clear that the spiritual location is the Garden of the Orient. In

“My Garden,” Emerson saturates his New World Garden.

The study arrives at a vivid testimony of the imaginative pattern of the Emersonian poem,

Orientalizing the American garden in “Bacchus,” a Lyric, in which he calls for a wine of life, a

cup of divine elixir (Urdu) or amrita (in Hindi), that shall strengthen his mental caliber and exalt

all his powers of thought and action to a godlike pitch. He makes a request to Saaqui (one who

serves the wine to someone) to serve the wine with these lines from ―Bacchus‖ in his Works:

Bring me wine, but wine which never grew

In the belly of the grape,

Or grew on vine whose tap-roots, reaching through

Under the Andes to the Cape,

Suffer no savor of the earth to escape

That I intoxicated,

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And by the draught assimilated,

May float at pleasure through all natures;

Quickened so, will I unlock

Every crypt of every rock, (125)

Emerson's verses have a slight Persian model now and then; this slight trace resulted from his

studies of the Persian poets, Saadi and Hafiz. It seems that he unconsciously gave his couplets

the outer shape of some verses by Hafiz, in which that singer asks to get him the invigorating

wine, and he would be able to perform wonders as if with Solomon's ring or Jemschid‘s wine-

cup mirror. (―Jaam-e- Jamshed‖ is a Persian word for wine -cup of king Jamshed). Emerson

himself in one of his early editions offers a spirited translation of Hafiz's poem. The investigation

finds that Specimens of Oriental Poetry translated by Mr. William R. Alger, makes occasional

references to Hafiz. It was published from Boston in 1956. These are a few lines from the poem

which has a great affinity with Hafiz‘s poem.

Bring me wine! By my puissant arm

The thick net of deceit and of harm

Which the priests have spread over the world

Shall be rent and in laughter be hurled.

Bring me wine! I the earth will subdue.

Bring me wine! I the heaven will storm through.

Bring me wine, bring it quick, and make no halt!

To the throne of both worlds will I vault.

All is in the red streamlet divine.

Bring me wine! O my host, bring me wine! ( 202 )

Emerson‘s interpretation of Persian poems is always in harmony with the Sufi spirit. He focuses

on divine personification rather than apparent sense. The below cited poem has been translated

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by Emerson titled ―From the Persian of Hafiz‖ as quoted in The early poems of Ralph Waldo

Emerson by Houghton Mifflin:

Butler, fetch the ruby wine,

Which with sudden greatness fills us.

Bring, me boy, the fire-water

Zoroaster sought in dust.

To Hafiz reveling ‗ tis allowed

To pray to Matter and Fire (202)

This poem could not be completed and published during Emerson‘s life time. The second half of

the poem presents Saadi in what is basically an American landscape, replete with ―harebells

nodding on a rock /A cabin hung with curling smoke, Ring of axe on hum of wheel / or gleam

which use can paint on steel.‖ And while no specifically American mountains or lakes are

mentioned, the mentioning of pine trees and the light seen near the North Pole, suggests a New

England background. The third section of this half reads as written by him in his Works:

Said Saadi, ‗When I stood before

Hassan the camel-driver‘s door,

I scorned the fame of Timour brave;

Timour, to Hassan, was a slave.

In every glance of Hassan‘s eye

I read great years of victory,

And I who cower mean and small

In the frequent interval

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When wisdom not with me resides,

Worship toil‘s wisdom that abides.

I shunned his eyes, that faithful man‘s,

I shunned the toiling Hassan‘s glance. (326)

Elaborating these lines, Emerson discusses in one of his journals: Hassan the camel-driver was,

without doubt, Mr. Emerson‘s sturdy neighbor, Mr. Edmund Hosmer, for whom he had great

respect. The camels were the slow oxen, and then universally used for farm-work, with which

Mr. Hosmer ploughed the poet‘s fields for him. (606)

Twenty-five years after Emerson published his first collection of poems, Frederick Edwin

Church, America‘s foremost and a famous landscape artist of the mid-nineteenth century, moved

into his new home, Olana, in Hudson, New York. The house was made beautiful by decorating it

with Persian designs, (Arabesque) and to which Edwin Church devoted the second half of his

life. In this chapter an attempt has been made to dive into the depth of Emerson‘s writings

showing Oriental elements and the ways which influenced his poetic vision of America. It is

recorded that Emerson visited Egypt in 1876 while his house in Concord was being repaired

following a fire. He was seventy-two at the time and his journal reveals the frustration he felt at

his lack of knowledge of the Orient and the surrounding: ―This entire journey is a perpetual

humiliation, satirizing and whipping our ignorance. The people despise us because we are

helpless babies who cannot speak or understand a word they say; the sphinixes soorndunces; the

obelikes, the temple walls defy us with their histories which we cannot spell‖. (Journal for 1876)

Emerson views the ancient Egyptian picture - writings which were difficult to be

understood. The importance of the Orient to him was not based only on its spiritual ground but

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also on physical settings. But, as it has been established beyond any doubt, Orient for Emerson

was more a spiritual location than a geographic one. Emerson‘s interest in studying the translated

version of the Quran becomes apparent when he quotes twice from the Quran in his

"Representative Men‖ that discusses the splendor of Islamic culture and addresses to the Islamic

spirituality. Acknowledging the mysticism which has been mentioned in Quranic verses, he

resorts to mystics. In his ―Works‖ He quotes from the Quranic text as: ―The Koran makes a

distinct class of those who are by nature good, and whose goodness has an influence on others,

and pronounces this class to be the aim of creation: the other classes are admitted to the feast of

being, only as following in the train of this‖ (Works IV, 95)

It can be noticed in his writings that Emerson was broadly acquainted with the Islamic

religion as a means of serving humanity and enhancing both intellect and spiritual caliber. This is

one of the important religions where knowledge is considered to be a sacred mission, and warns

mankind against blind faith in any teachings. This religion always exhorts mankind to utilize

wisdom in understanding this Universe, and lays emphasis on ‗Reading‘ and ‗Reasoning‘.

Undoubtedly, in the very first revelation to Mohammad, (PBUHM) God, the Almighty,

commands his prophet to read: ―Read in the name of your Creator who created you‖ (Quran –

chapter 30.).Emerson, in his essay, "Worship”, supports this redo strongly. Emerson quoted the

saying (Hadith) of the holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to bring home this point of view point:

"The religion which is to guide and fulfill the present and coming age, whatever else it may be,

must be intellectual‖. He read several books on psychology, mysticism, and theology. Sometimes

he appears to have been intensely absorbed in mystical, morbid, and hallucinatory states of

consciousness.

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Here we can look at some wise sayings of Islamic great personalities, which were found

recorded in his early notebooks. This interest in reading about Islamic history sustained till the

end of his life. There is an expression by Hazrat Ali (RA), the caliph of Islam. He says:

"Knowledge calleth out to practice: and if it answereth, well; if not, it goeth away". This

quotation appeared again to illustrate a similar point in "The Method of Nature."Emerson had

practical rather than idealistic approach towards life. He acknowledged Islamic history‘s

countless examples of the virtue of self- control, moderation in faith, and the practical lives of

Muslim caliphs, which he himself had extolled in several ways. Caliph Omar bin Khattab‘s

model personality, as sketched by Ockley, offered him a living image of this virtue. "Man the

Reformer," is an example where Omar‘s enthusiasm, and justice among Muslims and non-

Muslim have been described very vividly by Emerson. His huge personality produced great

effect on his feelings. He was very influenced by quality of Self-reliance in Hazrat Ali, son of

Abu Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam, whose practical wisdom, God-gifted intelligence,

exemplary bravery have attracted many European scholars.

"Social Aims," is another memorable work of Emerson. His philosophy and attachment to

Oriental high values, especially the teachings of the Holy Quran have their presence in "Social

Aims,”. In order to strengthen his point of view, he approached the Quran as a repository of the

wisdom of the ages to: ‗And beware of jokes, too much temperance cannot be used: inestimable

for sauce, but corrupting for food, we go away hollow and shamed ... True with never made us

laugh.‘

The same idea has been pointed out by the Quran: ―On the Day of Resurrection, those who have

indulged in ridicule will be called to the door of paradise, and have it shut in their faces when

they reach it‖. Emerson mistakenly quotes the Quranic sentence. The actual version is: ―And

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leave alone those who take their religion to be mere play and amusement, and are deceived by

the life of this world.‖(Chapter. 7.Verse 69). His enormous interest in the Islamic spirituality,

reading about mysticism of Persian poets, searching for the mysterious East and the Arabian age

of learning made him study the Qura‘n. He studied it in the Quran‘s translation by George Sale.

The first authentic history book that brought Emerson closer to the East and Eastern philosophy

was The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

A true mystic experience, the essence and corner stone of the Oriental philosophy

attracted him to find its way into his writings and to measure its depth. Emerson was in harmony

with some of the fundamental principles of the Islamic religion. He was very well aware of the

fact that Islam should be understood on genuine grounds. It is true that he was not, like

Washington Irving, the first discoverer of Islam in the United States of America.

His friend Thomas Carlyle appreciated the multi - dimensional personality and strong

characters of the companions of Mohammad. He did champion the excellence and beauty of the

Islamic spirituality. Emerson‘s projection of the virtues and brilliant face of Islam, its holy

prophet and caliphs helped remove the misunderstanding that were looming large and appearing

indistinctly and in a threatening way for centuries over the hearts of Americans and Europeans

who unfortunately, could not understand the essence and excellence of Islam. The Sufism and

Mysticism of Rumi,(d1273), travelled from the East to the West; they gave courage and

inspiration to devote to the Persian Sufi poetry which has always been a part of Emerson and

Thoreau. A reader of Oriental philosophy can find in Whitman‘s poem ―A Persian Lesson” an

accurate and inspired reflection of Persian Sufism. Even Whitman‘s ―Song of Myself,‖ which is

ingrained in one of the most significant texts in the American literary tradition has identical

shades of Orientalism. Whitman‘s poetry appears to represent Emerson‘s lofty ideas of religion.

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These following lines from the original text Leaves of Grass, a textual variorum of the printed

poems- 1855- 56, represent Emersonian thoughts and pay rich tribute to Rumi, as:

Of every hue and caste am I,

of every rank and religion‘

has been influenced by a poem of Rumi‘s:

I am neither a Moslem nor a Hindu

I am not Christian, Zoroastrian, nor Jew

I am neither of the West nor of the East ( 21 )

This Persian poet, as Hegel remembers him, has inspired many Western poets including

Emerson, Goethe and Robert Grave. Rumi always foreshadowed the idea of divine scheme in

this universe. Acknowledging his poetic genius, R. A. Nicholson has pointed out the significant

echoes of this mystic poet. Maliha Massod in her article ―Why America needs Rum‖ mentions

German poet, Hans Meinke, who has praised Rumi as:

‗He is the only hope for the dark times we are living in.‘

He quotes Persian Sufi poet Rumi in his ―Essential of Rumi‖

―Gamble everything for love

If you‘re a true human being,

If not, leave this gathering‖ (n.p)

The classical poetry of Hafiz translated into modern languages made a good impression on

American scholars to observe and feel this spiritual phenomenon. Speaking of Oriental

Mysticism in terms of its origin, it has been recorded that the 12th

century smelt the fragrance of

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mysticism, it was the period in which the Persian poetry‘s magic started penetrating into the

mind and spirit of the European readers.

The intellectuality and philosophy of Al- Ghazali was inviting the modern scholarship, Rumi‘s

repertoire of mysticism which was inscrutable to Europeans and the charisma of AI - Arabi‘s

prolific nature which was introducing new ideas, all became the center of attention for the

researchers. Emerson for the first time makes a reference of Hafiz in his “History”, and seems to

have recognized in this poet a unique creative mind. His writings reveal his fascination with

Hafiz and the Oriental genius.

Hafiz is a historical Oriental figure that continues to make an entry in Emerson‘s journal. These

lines constitute sound evidence how he admired and complimented Hafiz. ‗Hafiz is characterized

by a perfect intellectual emancipation which also he provokes in the reader. Nothing stops him.

He is not scared by name, or religion. He fears nothing. He sees too far; he sees throughout; such

is the only man I wish to see and to be.‘ ( Journal 1876 ) John Scott, (1730-1783) himself an

Oriental poet, gives this view in his poem ―On the Ingenious‖ from Samuel Johnson’s book: The

works of English Poets from Chaucer to Cowper.

The Asian Muse, a stranger fair!

Becomes at length Britannia's care;

And Hafiz' lays, and Sadi's strains,

Resound along our Thames's plains.

They sing not all of streams and bowers,

Or banquet scenes, or social hours;

Nor all of Beauty's blooming charms,

Or War's rude fields, or feats of arms;

But Freedom's lofty notes sincere,

And Virtue's moral lore severe,

But ah ! they sing for us no more !

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The scarcely-tasted pleasure's o'er!

For he, the bard whose tuneful art

Can best their vary'd themes impart-

For he, alas! The task declines;

And Taste, at loss irreparable, repines (499 )

It is found that at the end of his life‘s innings, he succeeded in gaining access to Al - Ghazali‘s

Al- Chemy of Happiness, written in Persian in the 11th

century. It is considered to be a landmark

in Sufism which showed Emerson the way of spiritualism. The writer has spoken at length upon

mysticism, the self, harmony between body and soul and reality of the universe. The book was

translated in English by Henry A. Homes, Augustus and published in 1873. It would be

appropriate to have a look at one of the passages from Al- Chemy:

Man has been truly termed a ―microcosm‖, or little world in himself, and the structure of

his body should be studied not only by those who wish to become doctors, but by those

who wish to attain a more intimate knowledge of God, just as close study of the niceties

and shades of language in a great poem reveals to us more and more of the genius of its

author. (13)

The book added more interest in spirituality of Islam, its Language, and philosophy,

revivification of the Science with religion, secrets of Nature, wisdom and divinity, the

philosophy of self, God, the universe and the life after here have been elaborated. Probably

Orientalism had too much of a mystical cast for the readers of New England ; but The Dial gave

Thoreau and Emerson room and occasion to work at their own problems of comprehending the

Eastern thought .It was looking forward to the new day of understanding. Its pages are filled with

the richest tributes to the wisdom of India and China. Emerson favors Oriental spirituality and

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demands materialism as well; he desires to strike a balance between Oriental Spirit and modern

enthusiasm. Gibbon‘s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire gave him a

moral intellectual and spiritual strength. As inspired by literature of the East, Emerson turned

towards East to seek solace for his countrymen, to tell theme ―Trust yourself.‖ This is the

doctrine which Quran explains ―Take initiative and rely on God.‖ (Chapter Four. Verse: 159)

Self - Reliance is as God-Reliance. This same sense of individuality has been mentioned in

another verse of the Quran ―In yourself is the law of nature. You should have a close look in to

your body and soul.‖ (Chapter 26. Verse: 21) This is the Emersonian doctrine of Over- Soul, the

Soul of God within the soul of every man. If a man desires to find God, he must look within

himself.

His essay “Fate‖ is another example of Emerson‘s relationship to Oriental thought. There

is a similarity between Emerson‘s thought and Eastern Fatalism. The Quran says ―To all men is

their day of death appointed, and they cannot postpone or advance it one hour.‖ (Chapter. 22.

Verse: 30) Emersonian Fatalism to some extent had an Islamic color and spirit. In his

interpretation of the Islamic terminology, he displayed an amazing ability to grasp the positive

facets of this belief. In 1840, he wrote: ‗I read today in Ockley a noble sentence of Ali, son-in-

law of Mohammed (PBUHM). 'They lot, or portion of life, is seeking after thee; therefore, be at

rest from seeking after it.‘ His commendations and honors to the largesse of Orient can be

experienced in these lines by him from his Essays V:

For a Self - conceited modish life, made up of trifles, clinging to a corporeal civilization,

hating ideas, there is no remedy like the Oriental largeness. That astonishes and

disconcerts English decorum. For once, there is thunder it never heard, light it never saw,

and power which trifles with time and space. I am not surprised to find an Englishman

like Warren Hastings, who had been struck with the grand style of thinking in the Indian

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writings, depreciating the prejudices of his countrymen while offering them a translation

of the Bhagavat Gita. (258- 59)

E.H. Rick Jarow in his Emerson‘s Gita: Krishna and the Tradition of Conscience, states:

Somewhere in the middle of all this sits Ralph Waldo Emerson, still, the Emerson, who

walking in the woods becomes a ―transparent eyeball,‖ the Emerson who eschews the

past while echoing the past, the Emerson who chalks out self reliant freedom while

relying upon his Unitarian community for sustenance. Emerson‘s reception of the Gita,

may be better viewed as a fulcrum on which East and West, past and future have

balanced themselves. (published. 2008)

His attitude of mind towards Ancient Eastern cultures can best be understood through a brief

passage from a letter he wrote in 1840 as quoted in Studies in American literature. He had been

reading, he says, the Vedas and its philosophy impressed him:

It is sublime as heat and night and a breathless ocean. It contains every religious

sentiment, all the ground ethics which visit in turn each noble and poetic mind, and

nothing is easier than to separate what must have been the primeval inspiration from the

endless ceremonial nonsense which caricatures and contradicts it through very chapter. It

is of no use to put away the book: if I trust myself in the woods or in a boat upon the

pond, Nature makes a Brahmin of me presently: eternal necessity, eternal compensation,

unfathomable power, unbroken silence,-this is her creed. (11)

His essay ―Compensation and Illusions‖, a tale based on Oriental philosophy and ancient values,

is an evidence that he was greatly indebted to the Orient. Churchill, who received the Nobel

Prize in Literature in 1953 for his numerous published works, especially his six-volume

work The Second World War, accepts Oriental myths but some reservations. Like many of his

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contemporaries, he does not show favouritism towards Oriental character as shown in the

opening lines of ―The Farewell‖ from The Farewell: A Poem

Farewell to Europe, and at once farewell.

To all the follies which in Europe dwell;

To Eastern India now, a richer clime,

Richer, alas! in everything but rhyme,

The Muses steer their course; and, fond of change,

At large, in other worlds, desire to range;

Resolved, at least, since they the fool must play,

To do it in a different place, and way. (1)

"Oriental Poetry” is an excellent example of Hindu and Persian poetry. The writer of the essay

on Oriental Poetry, William Rounseville Alger, offered a detailed study on the subject. We can

sense his appreciation model of Orientalism through this passage from the book U.S Orientalism:

Race, Nation, and Gender in Literature.

Sir William Jones was the Vasco de Gama who first piloted the thought of Europe to

these Oriental shores. It was on one of his earliest expeditions into Sanskrit – land, that

the divining - rod of his sensitive genius, fluttering in response of an irresistible

attraction towards the veiled and un- imaginable mines of Indian poetry, fastened at last

by magnetic instinct upon Sakuntala. (147)

In one of his poems, the United Nations has been figured and presented as Columbia, the strong

persona. As a strong woman, she is on the way of progress and on the forefront of transition.

This persona is willing to lead the world. Emerson as a reformer and prophet of the nation

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criticizes the colonized structure of the country as well. This poem is as an echo of his great

feelings towards Indian glorious past. He imagines India as a revolutionary India. He says:

―Far o‘er the east where boundless ocean smiles,

And greets the wanderer to his thousand lies‖. (161)

His affectation for India can be seen when he calls his wife ―mine Asia‖. In other words, India

was to him an ornament. Similarly, he admires the unity of Asia and Indian philosophy in

“Plato” which lays emphasis on the fundamental unity of all existence. He considered India a

sacred place where all those principles of unity that western world needed were in practice. The

East was a complement and necessary supplement to the power and energy of the West and New

world. That is why it is needed to situate and study Emerson in the broader context of

Orientalism.

Sir William Jones has great historical importance. He is considered to be the first write to

introduce Eastern atmosphere with Eastern themes of Oriental life to English authorship. His

translation of ―Seven Arabian Poems‖, his ―Essay on the Poetry of the Eastern Nations‖ made a

strong recommendation of Orientalism and urged European readership to get inspiration from the

poetical wealth and spirit of the East. Undoubtedly, Sir William Jones led the large amount of

'Oriental' poetry that appeared during the years 1798-1824" Eighteenth-Century English

Romantic Poetry (1924) 40 - 41. Khayyam and Masnawvi, the great Persian poets, were puzzled

at the complexities of the states of soul, they had questions in their mind, but there were no

convincing answers to them. Emerson also searched for that reality. There is an amazing passage

from his “Immortality‖ about the significance of the Soul which has the Oriental spirit in

conversational mode.

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To feel the pulse of the spirit of the Orient, to understand the true philosophy of life and death,

the below passage should be studied be studied thoroughly:

Yama, the Lord of Death, promised Nachiketas, the son of Gautama, to grant him three

boons of his own choice. Nachiketa, knowing that his father Gautama was offended with

him, said, "O Death! Let Gautama be appeased in mind, and forget his anger against me:

this I choose for the first boon." Yama said, "Through my favour, Gautama will

remember thee with love as before." For the second boon, Nachiketa asks for fire by

which Yama also allows, and says, "Choose the third boon, O Nachiketas!" Nachiketas

said there is this inquiry. Some say the soul exists after the death of man; others say it

does not exist. This I should like to know, instructed by thee. Such is the third of the

boons. Yama said, "For this question, it was inquired of old, even by gods; for it is not

easy to understand it. Subtle is its nature. Choose another boon, O Nichiketa! Do not

compel me to this." Nachiketa said, "Even by the gods was it inquired. And as to

what thou sayst, O Death, that it is not easy to understand, there is no other speaker to be

found like thee. There is no other boon like this." Yama said, "Choose sons and

grandsons who may live a hundred years; choose herds of cattle; choose elephants and

gold and horses; choose the wide expanded earth, and live thyself many years as thou

listesh. Or, if thou knowest a boon like this, choose it, together with wealth and far-

extending life. Be a king, O Nachiketas! On the wide earth I will make thee the enjoyer

of all desires. All those desires that are difficult to gain in the world of mortals, all those

ask thou at thy pleasure; - those fair nymphs of heaven with their chariots, with their

musical instruments; for the like of them are not to be gained by men. I will give them to

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thee, but do not ask the question of state of the soul after death." Nachiketas said, "All

those enjoyments are of yesterday. With thee remain thy horses and elephants, with thee

the dance and song. If we should obtain wealth, we live only as long as thou pleasest. The

boon which I choose I have said." Yama said, "One thing is good, another is pleasant.

Blessed is he who takes the good, but he who chooses the pleasant loses the object of

man. But thou, considering the objects of desire, hast abandoned them. These two,

ignorance (whose object is what is pleasant) and knowledge (whose object is what is

good), are known to be far asunder, and to lead to different goals. Believing this world

exists, and not the other, the careless youth is subject to my sway. That knowledge for

which thou hast asked is not to be obtained by argument. I know worldly happiness is

transient, for that firm one is not to be obtained by what is not firm. The wise, by means

of the union of the intellect with the soul, thinking him whom it is hard to behold, leaves

both grief and joy. Thee, O Nachiketas! I believe a house whose door is open to Brahma

the supreme; whoever knows him obtains whatever he wishes. The soul is not born; it

does not die; it was not produced from any one. Nor was any produced from it. Unborn,

eternal, it is not slain, though the body is slain; subtler than what is subtle, greater than

what is great, sitting it goes far, sleeping it goes everywhere. Thinking the soul as

unbodily among bodies, firm among fleeting things, the wise man casts off all grief. The

soul cannot be gained by knowledge, not by understanding, not by manifold science. It

can be obtained by the soul by which it is desired. It reveals its own truths. (Emerson pp

349-52)

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To sum up, it can be safely asserted that Emerson‘s works did soak deeply in the Oriental

spirituality and gave the readers unmistakable instances of a composite poetic philosophy of

Western empiricism and Oriental Transcendentalism.