Emerson's Transcendentalism And Hinduism

The 19th century Transcendentalism originating and developing in Concord,Amreica, to some extent, is the fruit of oriental seeds (such as hinduism) in occidental soil. Its formation did not only bring about the "American Literature Renaissance", but also has been influencing the whole America up until now. Inflienced by such schools of thought as English Romanticism and Kantian Idealism, Emerson and other Transcendentalists were religiously objected to Calvinist predestinationarianism and claimed Locke's "only knowledge which could be demonstrated to the senses was valid"amounted to "a cold intellectualism that seemed to destroy the validity of man's conscience." They preferred intuition to blind obedience to authority and mechanical uniformity of belief, original creation to imitation. Though the Transcendentalist Club as a whole held no united special doctorine, they undoutedly all preferred this notion of self-reliance through emotion, imagination and intuition which left a clear mark in most of his works. Judging from his diary, these Transcendentalism principles had probably become confirmed during his first return voyage back from Europe: "A man contains all that is needful to his government within himself...All real good or evil that can befall him must be from himself...There is a correspondence between the human soul and everything that exists in the world; more properly, everything that is known to man. Instead of studying things without, the principles of them all may be penetrated into from within him...The purpose of life seems to be to acquaint man with himself...The highest revelation is that God is in every man." This is just in accordance with the very suggestions of Hinduism. According to some research resources we know that earlier in his life, Emerson had been involved in the oriental Scriptures, such as The Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads etc. The core belief of Hinduism is one's union with Brahman. To this destination, the Hindu tradition acknowledges that there are many paths by which people may seek and experience religious understanding and direction, because Hinduism lays emphasis on direct Experience rather than on authority. To Hinduism, a blind obedience to authority is the surest prescription for spiritual paralysis.The Upanishads teach us that Reality is the essence of every created thing, and the same Reality is our real Self, so that each of us is one with the power that created and sustains the universe. From Hindus'opinion, "Each soul is potentially divine"rather than born as a sinner. According to Hindu view, man commits sin, only because of his ignorance of his own true nature. Ignorance of Self is the root cause of all evils in the world. Self-knowledge is thus essential for eliminating evil. You reap what You sow. There is no savior except your innermost self. So we can say that the true message of...