Chapter: 6 Conclusion Content - INFLIBNET

Chapter: 6
Conclusion

Content

Sr. Heading Heading Page.
No. No. No.
307.
1. 6.1 Pranaspanda Nirodhaat. (Restriction of the Breath of
Life) 309.
310.
2. 6.2 Satsangaat. (Companionship of the Truth) 312.

3. 6.3 Vasanaatyaagaat. (Forsaking the Lasciviousness) 319.

4. 6.4 Haricharanbhaktiryogaat (Yoga of Resorting to the
Veneration of the Pious Feet of Hari)

5. 6.5 Notes and Works cited.



Chapter: 6
Conclusion

Having analyzed the Indian traditional heritage of the Hindu as well as the Buddhist
scriptures in the works of T.S.Eliot, the researcher has to conclusively assert that Eliot volubly
echoed the Indian traditional heritage in his works. The researcher undoubtedly believes that
T.S.Eliot was not all alone to deal with the Indian scriptural thoughts and tradition in world-
literature. In American literature alone the names of the American transcendentalists led by
Ralph Waldo Emerson along with the other two illustrious scholars as such Henry David
Thoreau and Walt Whitman can be regarded as the champions in the concerned field. The
transcendentalists emphasized the oriental traditions mainly concerning Hinduism. One more
name associated with the expression of the Oriental traditions is that of the German writers who
played a vitally significant role in popularizing the Oriental traditions and ideas in the West. The
research of Frederich Max Muller is so intensive in this filed that he is fondly known as ‘Moksha
Muller following his preoccupation with one of the chatur-prayojanas mentioned in the scriptures
of Hinduism i.e. Moksha (liberation).

Besides Hinduism another religious faith encompassed under the label ‘Indian’ is
Buddhism. The Nobel laureate Herman Hesse was so preoccupied with the ideas and the life-
story of Lord Buddha that he has made ample use of them in his magnum opus Siddhartha. Just
like Buddhism Jainism is also one of the imperative offshoots of Hinduism, which was
marvelously employed by John Keats and another Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats in their
works. Although there were a number of practitioners of the Oriental thoughts and traditions
mentioned in the age-old scriptures of Hinduism and Buddhism, none of them was more
illustrious than T.S.Eliot. Hence the researcher firmly clings to the adjectival use ‘foremost’ in
his research-topic. It was Delmore Schwartz, who considered Eliot as an international hero in the
field of poetry.

During the course of his journey to become a universal and philosophical poet Eliot could
not help surrendering to the temptation of composing his poetry under the agile influence of the
scriptural heritage of Hinduism and Buddhism. The scriptural heritage of India has always dealt
with the contradictory states as it is found in ‘Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya’, ‘Asto Ma Sad Gamaya’
and ‘Mrityormamritam Gamaya’. In the same way Eliot has also dealt with contradictory

elements in his career as a poet. Moreover, Eliot has dealt with certain other aspects
recommended by the Indian scriptural heritage viz. the world as a Maya (Delusion) and the
Super Soul as the only truth (satyam), the cyclic movement of life and death, concept of
renunciation to achieve the communion with God, the Buddhist concept of Nirvana and its fusion
with the Vedic one i.e.Moksha (liberation). Just like the Indian philosophers Eliot also believed
in all such elements as the pre-requisites for the attainment of the communion with the Super
Soul.

The early poetry of Eliot seems to be quite pessimistic so as to protest against artificial
optimism of the nineteenth century. The characters of most of his poems like The Waste Land,
The Hollow Men, and others are the emblems of pessimism and cheerlessness. The subject-
matters of the poems talking about the predicament of the modern men are also gloomy and
helpless. From the study of all his poems discussed in this research work there are such
protagonists as Tiresias, Phlebas, Prufrock, Gerontion, Harry and Celia, most of whom were the
modern souls ever given to predicament. Eliot had very idealistic attributes about the
contemporary civilization, which was actually far away from the real nature of the contemporary
civilization. In most of his works Eliot has verbosely echoed the modern life as the one full of
frustration, self-doubt, weariness and boredom. This negative attitude towards the human life is
also the outcome of his refuge in the oriental scriptural heritage. This very thing puts Eliot in line
with the Oriental philosophers who are known for their advocacy of the negative approach to the
human life the best example of which is ‘neti neti’ in the Indian scriptures.

Most of the protagonists of Eliot have the disposition to see the negative side of the
things. And hence they have to suffer not only physically but also spiritually and
psychologically. Undoubtedly the chief Eliotic characters are the constant sufferers in the world
of the spiritual degeneration. Such protagonists as Tiresias, Gerontion. Prufrock, Harry and Celia
have to face intolerable predicament and these people do believe that the world has gone out of
its divine joints. In his gallery of characters Thomas Becket, being a man of religious leanings
and to some extent Celia are able to lessen their predicament. This may be due to their single-
minded preparedness for martyrdom. Eliot’s sense of suffering has much to do with the Buddhist
concept of dukkha. This very thing has been asserted by Becket’s theory of action being
suffering and vice versa. In this connection Louis L.Martz asserts:

Suffering is not simply undergoing misery or pain; it is also permitting,

consenting; he who consents to an action must suffer for it, must accept
responsibility for it.1

The relationship between action and suffering has been shown through the image of

wheel in Murder in the Cathedral. It is one of the most recurrent images in the poetry of Eliot. It

is not the part of Buddhist philosophy only, the Bhagavad Gita also elaborates exceptionally

about the wheel of life and death and rebirth. One analogy between Buddhist scriptural thought

and Eliotic one is that both the views consider excessive desire or passion as the root-cause of

suffering. Considering the Eliotic attitude towards pessimism and suffering as Christian and

Indian essentially, Prof. Smidt has rightly remarked:

His (Eliot’s) early pessimism, connected with the general disillusionment

of our epoch, found support both in a certain aspect of Christianity and

in the philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism. His later acceptance of

suffering and askesis as ways to blissful perfection is in agreement both

with Protestant and Catholic Christianity and with the religions of the
East. 2

The researcher feels conclusively that there was an enormous impact of such Oriental

concepts as determinism and fatalism on Eliot. The deterministic approach clarify that all the

present moral choice is nothing, but the determined outcome of the previously existing causes. In

short Eliot has made use of determinism so as to compare the day to day activities of the modern

human beings with the animal-like reflexes. In determinism there is an amount of terror as well

as comfort. The Hindu concept of Purva Janma Sanskaras plays a vitally significant role over

here.

The researcher feels that just like determinism Eliot has also made a conscious use of the

Hindu concept of fatalism also. The concept of fatalism believes that everything happens as per

the pre-arranged fate. The importance of fatalism is shown through such phrase as ‘prarabdha’,

‘bhagya’ , ‘muquddar’ or ‘nasib’. Eliot has made use of this concept in Murder in the Cathedral:

Destiny waits in the hand of God, shaping the still unshapen:

XX X

Destiny waits in the hand of God, not in the hands of statesmen

Who do, some well, some ill, planning and guessing

Having their aims which turn in their hands in the pattern of time.
Come, happy December, who shall observe you, who shall preserve you?
Shall the Son of Man be born again in the litter of scorn?
For us, the poor, there is no action,
But only to wait and to witness.3

This concept is fairly visible in his poem To The Indians who Died in Africa, where he
writes “A Man’s destination is not his destiny’.

Having conclusively discussed the Hindu scriptural elements, the researcher is to justify the
Buddhist ones now. The founder of Buddhism Gautama, the Buddha was coming from a royal
family of the Shakyas, who had all the terrestrial pleasures at his command. Yet leaving his
beautiful young wife and the newly born son at the protection of God, he accepts asceticism and
having acquired enlightenment he becomes the Buddha. The Buddhist scriptures were divided
into Dhamma and Vinaya, the former is closely associated with the Buddhist doctrine while the
latter is concerned with the discipline of Monism. Later on the Buddhist scriptures were divided
in three divisions called pitakas (baskets). The three well-known pitakas are Vinaya (conduct),
Sutta (Sermon) and Abhidhamma. They are collectively referred to as Tripitaka In the aftermath
of the death of Lord Buddha; Buddhism got divided in Mahayana (the great vehicle) and
Hinyana (the Lesser Vehicle). In the eastern parts of India in the eleventh century the third
vehicle known as Vajrayana came into being and developed in Bengal, Bihar and Tibet with the
passage of time. T.S.Eliot has put emphasis on various teaching of Buddhism, be it in the Fire
Sermon of The Waste Land or the image of wheel in Murder In The Cathedral. The concept of
sorrow (dukkha) is prevalent in Eliot’s poems in the delineation of the predicament of the
modern protagonists like – Tiresias, Gerontion. Prufrock, Becket, Harry, Celia, Edward, Lavinia,
Peter etc. Another Buddhist concept is the cause of sorrow (samudaya). Here it needs to be
mentioned that if the cause of sorrow is made to be known to the sufferer and they are able to
follow the rules shown by their spiritual guides, they may get triumphant success. This is shown
through the characters like Becket, Harry and Celia. Becket and Celia find their salvation in
laying down their lives for their self-believed noble causes and Harry gets the solution of his
predicament by getting disconnected from his past and going in the world out side to find the
answer of his questions.

The spiritual mentors of Becket, Harry and Celia, respectively Becket’s conscience,
Agatha and Sir Henry Harcourt Reilly show their disciples the art of suppressing their
predicaments. The suppression of sorrow is also one of the well-known concepts of Buddhism.
As it is experienced significantly, suppression is a temporal state of freedom from anything. The
fourth principle of Buddhism is the way to the accomplishment of Shasvata nirodh. Here it does
not need to be mentioned separately that all the above said spiritual inculcators in the Eliotic
works show a definite path to their disciples in such a way that the disciples get triumphant
success in achieving the perennial suppression of the problem. Moreover, Eliot is seen to have
been influenced by eight-fold path of Buddhism – Samyaka socha (right views), Samyaka
Sankalpa (Right Resolve), Samyaka Kathan (Right Speech), Samyaka Vartaav (Right Conduct),
Samyaka Jivan (Right Life), Samyaka Prayas (Right Efforts),Samyaka Smriti (Right
Recollection) and Samyaka Samadhyavastha (Right Meditation).

As per the various tenets of Buddhism the former three lead towards the control of the
physique i.e. Shila, the middle three lead towards the psychological control i.e. chitta and the
latter two lead towards the intellectual cultivation i.e. Prajna (wisdom).The poems discussed in
this dissertation highlight the Buddhist concept of nirvana and its employment by Eliot. Nirvana
comes in the eighth category of Right Meditation. Actually the Buddhist term of nirvana is
nibbana. Nirvana means Vimoksha (Deliverance) or Vimutti (Salvation). T.S.Eliot has shown
many of protagonists applying the Buddhist concept of the Middle way. In such protagonists the
names of Prufrock and Edward can be included. Prufrock is seen eagerly desiring to confess his
hearty feelings to his lady-love. But because of the fear of being rejected, he postpones his
decision for the other day. This may be the application of the Middle way of Buddhism by
indulging in indecision. In the same way Edward in The Cocktail Party has extra marital
relations with Celia and he is also aware of his wife Lavinia’s extra marital relations. But as soon
as Lavinia decides to leave him in favour of Peter Quilpe, he gets awakened. He advises Celia to
find a suitable suitor of her age and tells her that he is ready to accept Lavinia who is to come.
This means that Edward is willingly ready not to go for the extreme decisions of his mind to be
carried out, and following the words of the Unidentified Guest he shows his willingness not to
ask anything to Lavinia on her return.

Celia, Harry and Becket’s mentality in the aftermath of gospels form their spiritual guides
is that there is nothing or nobody in the world to make them sad or blissful and hence they can

behave as free or vimukta as anybody from the Buddhist scriptural point of view. Consequently
they can be called arhat (perfect) from the scriptural view-point of Buddhism.

The Buddhist conception of “Nirvana” is perhaps the hardest nut to crack since it is a
matter of communicating the incommunicable. The problem even for the scholars of Buddhism
is how to present the Infinite in finite words. Dr. R.C.Majumdar defines ‘nirvana’ as “the final
result of the extinction of the desire or thirst for rebirth.4 Nirvana is according to
Ariyapariyesana-sutta

not subject to decay (ajara), disease (avyadhi) or death (amrita); it is free from
grief (ashoka) and impurity (asamklishta); it is incomparable (anuttara) and
highest goal (yogashema). It is the relinquishment of all worldly ties, cessation
of the effects of past actions, end of all things, removal of desires, severance of
attachment, quietude. It is indeterminate (avyakrita).The Nikayas sometimes
describe it as the blissful reward so a long course of exertion- a heaven of peace
and rest, The Buddha generally discouraged questions about it, for it is a matter
of intuition.5
The researcher succeeds in hearing the echoes of the Bhagavad Gita about the
characteristics of ajara, amara atma (soul) in the above-quoted words:

Nainam chhindanti shastraani, nainam dahati Paavakah,
Na chainam kedayantyaapo na shoshayati Maarut.6
(Weapons cleave him not, nor fire burnethhim,nor waters wet him, nor wind
drieth him away.)
T.S.Eliot being a fervent scholar the Bhagavad Gita might have felt leanings for the
equivalent significance of “Nirvana” in making it the central theme of his poems, mostly
highlighting the fusion of the scriptural precepts of Hinduism and Buddhism. Buddhism is more
flexible in comparison to the other faiths in their treatment towards women. They have given
entry to women to the order of viharas as ‘bhikshunis’. The Buddhists have organized
themselves into ‘sangha’, which have played a tremendous role in spreading it to the length and
breath of the entire world. The well-known prayer including the three jewels of Buddhism-the
Buddha, the Dhamma and the sangha is

Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami
I go to the Buddha for refuge.

Dhammam Sharanam Gachchhami.
I go to the Dhamma for refuge.

Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami.
I go to the Sangha for refuge.7

At a time when the world got engulfed into the two disastrous world wars, Eliot
synthesizes the wisdom of the Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity in his critical as well as
creative works. In the midst of the all round terror and despondency, Eliot gave his literary works
containing the wisdom of this fusion with a view to leading the world towards the inherent peace
of the human self. Being pregnant with the wisdom of the scriptural thoughts and traditions, the
poems and the poetic plays of Eliot will continue to provide bliss to the human self through the
delineation of the exceptional faith in the midst of disastrous despondency and calamitous chaos.

In 1946 in one of his radio talks on ‘The Unity of European Culture’ T.S.Eliot declared.
Long ago I studied the ancient Indian languages, and
while I was chiefly interested at that time in philosophy, I
read a little poetry too; and I know that my own poetry
shows the influence of Indian thought and sensibility.8

The above-mentioned self-assertion of Eliot and the analysis of the scriptural tradition of
India in his selected poems in this dissertation and Eliot’s being more illustrious than any of the
other practitioners of the Indian scriptural concepts in English literature virtually prove him to be
“the foremost spokesman of the scriptural thoughts and tradition of India in English literature.”

To conclude the entire research work, the researcher would like to state straightforwardly
that the modern problems of humanity highlighted by Eliot can be solved, only by applying the
scriptural way-outs of Hinduism and Buddhism, both the ones established and prospered in
India and its subcontinent. Moreover, the researcher feels elated to present that he has presented
the Eliotic use of the Indian scriptural resources to present his reflective observation that the
Indian scriptural classics contain the solution to all the modern problems of humanity at large.
The researcher feels satiated that the research problem he began to analyze in the research-
proposal has ultimately got solved affirmatively and the researcher reaches the conclusion that
T.S.Eliot is undoubtedly the foremost spokesman of the scriptural tradition and ideas in English
literature

Moreover, in the concluding chapter the researcher is always supposed to reveal the
findings of his research- question or hypothesis. In different chapters, dealing with different
works of Eliot the researcher has imparted the conclusive comments; the amalgamation of all of
them is nothing but the revelation of the research findings. The researcher wishes to accentuate
gloriously that the scriptural ideas from India have conspicuous remedies of all the modern as
well as the post-modern problems. The most deplorable problem of the contemporary world is
that of identity crisis and alienation. If one makes one’s mind enormously engaged in meditation
through Pranayam, one is free from the self-centeredness and he/she gets connected with the
identity of the entire human civilization and that liberates him from the turbulent reactions
towards their own identity crisis, which came into being out of the human selfishness only.

Another problem of alienation or disaffection or unfriendliness can also be solved by the
scriptural heritage of India. Firstly the realization of our scriptural concept of ‘Sarva-dharma
Sambhav’ will create an environment of friendliness and sympathy for all, notwithstanding the
religious faith. But if such situation arises even after endeavouring one’s tooth and nail and the
war remains the only way-out, then also the scriptural heritage of India is capable enough to
serve as the ambassador of peace, the ultimate role which Lord Krishna carried out to save
millions of people from the weapons of mass destruction in the Great War of Kurukshetra. Not
only the Vedic example, but also the Buddhist accentuation on the replacement of YUDDHA
(war) by BUDDHA (enlightened) also stresses on a warless society.

As it has been discussed in the earlier chapters, most of the Eliotic protagonists are
suffering from the nervous breakdown and excessive tension for the uncertain future. All these
issues can be solved through participating in observing PRANAAYAM, even for the small
duration of time. The most advantageous aspect of PRANAAYAM is that it enhances
concentration and decreases psychological disruption. Most of the works of Eliot have been
greatly popular among the masses as they reveal the challenging zeitgeist of the modern world,
mostly divided into three types : post-world war-I society, Inter war society and the post-world
war-II society, all the three of which sharing some problems of the mankind in common. Among
these problems mention must be made to the spiritual degeneration and desolation, life in death,
life of inactivity, listlessness and apathy, sexual perversion, commercialization of life, growing
human lure for praying one God only i.e. MONEY, the nervous breakdown and excessive
tension for the uncertain future. These are the problems which have been highlighted in one or

the other works of Eliot. Having gone through the works of Eliot and the Indian scriptural works,
the researcher thinks that all the modern and post-modern problems have their roots in the human
mind, which seems to be in the sickest condition when compared to the past. It is greatly
believed that the human psyche is capable enough to convert the heavenly felicity into hellish
affliction and vice versa. Despite the human beings, being the most commendable creation of the
Lord, they are severely found to be the most afflictive entity among all His creations. It is
because the human mind is held giddy, fickle, restless and unstably shaking and indecisive. The
researcher means to say that in the unhappiness of the human beings the most deplorable role is
played by their mind. The individual is unhappy by his/her nature. In the entire creation there are
many such living organisms, but the only one melancholic and despondent is none other than the
human beings because they have been gifted with the God-given mind. Because of having no
mind the dog remains the absolute dog that never remains incomplete all the time and the same is
the case with the cow remaining the absolute cow all the time. But it is always a risky job to state
that the human beings remain the complete human beings all the time, the chief reason of which
is associated with their being the sole owner of their ever unpredictable mind. The researcher has
found out the way-out of this predicament of mind in the scriptural tradition of India, intimately
associated with the gospel of Samkara. On being asked about the remedy of the disease
concerned with the fluctuating state of mind, Samkara showed the following four solutions:
6.1 Pranaspanda Nirodhaat. (Restriction of the Breath of Life):-

Samkara means to say that if the individuals of modernity and post- modernity
restrict, prevent and restrain vibrations of their breath of life, their mind gets clean and
subsequently become appropriate. The Oriental scriptural arts like Pranayam
(dimensional purity of the breath of life), dhyana (meditation) and yoga are considered to
be quite difficult to be carried out by the modern sadhakas. In all these the most difficult
one is nothing but dhyana (meditation), which is the one exemplified by Lord Shiva
himself. The most challenging question harassing the Hindu mind is whom Lord Shiva
prays to, in spite of his being God, with reference to the fact that Lord Shiva is often
observed praying through meditation in the Hindu scriptural works. The appropriate
answer is he always prays to AUM or the Pranavah for the two purposes, which are
firstly the righteous health and well-being of the entire universe generated by Brahmaji
and operated by Narayana in such a way that He might not be forced to carry out his

function of destroying it and secondly the exemplification of the priority being given to
dhyana (meditation) in the day today life. In the contemporary time of the first half of the
twenty-first century it has been a fashion in the foreign countries that on meeting their
friends and relatives people state that because of the yoga practices they fail to get time.
It is undoubtedly a great fruitful act to participate in the Yogic practices, but carrying out
Yoga without comprehending its classical methods might prove to be harmful in stead of
fruitful. It is not altogether impracticable and unfeasible to get habituated to the art of
restricting the breath of life and thereby attaining the mental peace. It must be kept in
mind consciously that the sadhaka is expected to see while taking in the breath whether
his breath goes at the bottom inside the body or not. It is advisable to observe it for the
three days. While taking the breath, deep breath is to be taken. This makes the mind of
the sadhaka conspicuously appropriate and right, ‘samyaka’ in the Buddhist sense. It is
because on being prone to look after the depth of the breath taken, the human mind leaves
its sudden impulses of joy or passion or attack or nausea. Gradually the amount of mental
concentration increases. The biological reason is responsible for this concentration
because just as the mind enjoys the contemplatory peace of soul in the process of
inhalation of oxygen by looking after the movement of the breath of life inside the body,
the same mind enjoys peace while exhaling the carbon dioxide in the environment by
looking after the movement of the breath of life outside the body into the environment.

It is the experience of many yoga-gurus that if this process is done only once for
the ten minutes, the mind of the sadhaka becomes calm, serene and tranquil. Not only
that, the mind gets purged of its expectations and desires. It is because the serenity,
tranquility and calm of mind drive out the parade of greed and all the other things
associated with avarice begin to be dropped altogether from the human hands. Unless and
until the human mind is purged of greed and avarice, nothing, even a pin, gets dropped
from the human hands out of greed. Most of the drastas are of the opinion that the
degenerating or decaying thoughts of mind are nothing but the garbage and the waste-
products of the human mind which are to be observed critically, not to be conquered.
Samkara does believe that observing the ‘vikaras’ (erosions) of mind is synonymous to
register conquer over them. His theory of the restriction of the breath of life is greatly
helpful in controlling the mind. Undoubtedly the mind has to face a certain amount of

suffocation, perplexity, embarrassment and uneasiness. But all such negative attributes
constantly keep the human mind into the process of the restriction of the breath of life
and thereby lead the same to the single-goaled preparedness towards the vigorous and
spirited state of extreme concentration and appropriateness. In the very last stage the
appropriate mind becomes purged of all the negative attributes and thereby the possessor
of such a mind becomes quite cheerful.
6.2 Satsngaat. (Companionship of the Truth):-

‘Satsanga’ is defined as the companionship of the truth i.e. the Super Soul or
Brahman or God. The second way-out advocated by Samkara is Satsngaat. If the first
way-out of Pranaspanda Nirodhaat remains altogether unachievable and impracticable for
the human beings, Samkara advocates for the ‘Satsanga’. Here it is strongly believed by
the researcher that if the human beings fail to carry out the yoga, Pranayam or meditation,
undoubtedly, chanting the different mantras of Lord by sitting in the position of
padmasana is within the human reach. With the application of Satsanga cheerfulness
dawns on the human consciousness. The aspirant of ‘Satsanga’, at the later stage,
successfully attains the restriction of his mind and that leads him/her to stabilize his/her
mind in the midst of its wavering and oscillating between the terrestrial loss and gain.
The most formidable problem for the modern individuals is the lack of time to remain in
the communion with the Super Soul as they are always indulged in their everyday
accounts of the loss and gain of the terrestrial things as Eliot has presented in the case of
the Phoenician sailor in the fourth section of The Waste Land. In this way it is difficult to
get time even for ‘Satsanga’ in the sense that the men of the upper class of society can’t
get time from their schedule of busy programs whereas the men of the lower class of
society can’t get time from their day today drudgery, done in order to make their both
ends meet. This has made the experience of ‘Satsanga’ even unobtainable, inaccessible,
unapproachable and unachievable. The researcher accentuates that the human beings
have to spare time for the daily ‘Satsanga’ out of their day today busy schedule
otherwise they should be prepared to get churned in the whirlpool of death like the
Phoenician sailor of the fourth section of Eliot’s The Waste Land. About ‘Satsanga’
Tulsidasa has written in Ramacharitmanasa, one of the most popular Hindi versions of
the Hindu scriptural text of The Ramayana:

Binu satsanga bibeka na hoi, Ramakripa binu sulabh na koi.9
(Without satsanga any discretion never dawns,
nothing is accessible without the grace of Lord Rama)
The researcher also emphatically believes that by showering the amount of
discretion satsanga leads the human individual to exert control and restrain over his/her
mind and that liberates him/her from the bondage of the terrestrial aspirations.
6.3 Vasanaatyaagaat. (Forsaking the Lasciviousness):-
The very third way-out advocated by Samkara is concerned with the abandonment
of desire, mostly that of satisfying their desire of lasciviousness that has become a great
preoccupation of the modern men. The researcher wishes to indicate that one of the
problems raised by Eliot in the post-world war-I generation, through the medium of such
characters in The Waste Land as the German princess, the Lady of Situations, the
hyacinth girl and her lusty lover, the homosexual Mr. Eugenie, the typist girl and her
partner of the mechanical sex, various clients of the daughters of the Thames, Queen
Elizabeth and her lustful lover-the Earl of Leicester, is none but sexual perversion. This
problem can be fairly got rid of through this way-out of Samkara. As per the vision of
Samkara, the wavering human mind gets cleaned by decreasing the various types of the
desires. Samkara does not preach the youthful individuals to forsake the samsara, but by
minimizing the importance being given to lustfulness they should attempt at
Vasanaatyaagaat. Singing the hymns of the Bhairava under the powers of Lord Shiva,
the Upanishads speak of ‘Uddyamo Bhairava’. The active human efforts flowing out in
active consciousness make the sadhakas universally shine in the one flight only that is
referred to as ‘Bhairava’. Here it does not need to be repeated again that the state of
Bhairava means the proximity with Lord Shiva. If all the youthful representatives become
as agile as the Bhairavas of Lord Shiva, they can surely attain success in their respective
missions.
One of the most well-known acharyas of our scriptural heritage Chanyaka has truly
asserted:
Udyoge naasti daaridryam japato nasti paatakam
Maune cha kalaho naasti, naasti jagrite bhayam.10

(For one who does work hard, there is no poverty. For one prays
through chanting mantras, there are no sins. For one who maintains
calm and silence, there are no quarrels. For one who is awake with
the precautionary measures, there is no fear or dread.)
Krushnakant Unadkat writes about the importance of forsaking the
lasciviousness in Buddhism:
In Buddhism even masturbation is considered as the violation
of celibacy i.e. brahmacharya. One Buddhist monk, however,
asserts that through meditation and other Yogic applications,
the carnal desires can be got rid of and that the Buddhist sage
carry on sustaining their existence owing to that. 11
Here the researcher wishes to assert that in the abandonment of all the vasanas the
abandonment of despondency, that dawns one on realizing that all one’s hard work has
gone in vain producing no fruitful result, should also be included. Here it should be made
explicit that the abandonment of the carnal desires is possible while going through the
Grihasthaashrama. The sadhaka is not expected to leave his domestic life and go to live in
seclusion at the remotest place like the forest (vana). But he can live the life of a
brahmachari even in the Grihasthaashrama and chant the name of the Super Soul as if he
were to do in the forest. But vice versa is rather unproductive. This means that if the
carnal desire is not fully exterminated from the mind and the aspirant goes for the
Vaanprasthanaashrama, it will not do any good to him because the latent carnal desire in
his mind is to bounce back and it leads the sadhaka to establish a new life of domesticity
in the forest. Morari Bapu, a famous Ram-kathakar and the universal teacher of the
masses through his Ram-kathas, asserts:
We are concerned with the abandonment of lasciviousness by
simultaneously remaining in the samsara, enjoying varied
aspects of life with our kiths and kins. Many times I am asked:
‘Bapu! How many individuals have reformed them after
listening to your Ram-kathas?’How can I come to a decision
regarding it? If fifty people make up their mind to go for the
Vaanaprasthaanaashrama, fifty people can be said to have

embarked upon the path of the Vaanaprasthaanaashrama. But
how can I know that those fifty individuals have dyed their
hearts with the auspicious name of Lord Rama? The only thing
definitely coming to my mind is that my Ram-Katha has not
led anyone to asceticism. My Ram-Katha is to dye the hearts
of the listeners with the auspicious name of Lord Rama and I
am delightfully pleased to see it. The mind, purged of
lustfulness, becomes blissful. It is a great meritorious matter
registerring conquest over oneself. The bombastic talks about
the abandonment of lasciviousness are comparatively easier
than its transformation into real action.12
The researcher thinks that just as one ray of the sun disperses the darkness of the
night, a slight amount of the pious practice of Samkara’s concept of Vasanaatyaagaat is
capable enough to spread light in the entire human society of the world. Thus, Samkara
reiterates that the abandonment of lasciviousness leads the human mind to be delightfully
blissful.
6.4 Haricharanbhaktiryogaat (Yoga of Resorting to the Veneration of the Pious Feet of
Hari):-
The final way-out shown by Samkara is none but taking refuge to the pious feet of
Lord Vishnu. He means to say that obtaining the grace of the auspicious feet of Shree
Hari help the sadhaka to make his mind fully appropriate (‘samyaka’). The cleanliness of
the human mind leads to the self-extermination of the human problems. The researcher
wishes to say that teaching is also one of the yoga for the teachers to take refuge in the
veneration of the pious feet of the goddess Saraswatiji. So the members of my teaching
fraternity have the massive opportunity to carry out the Sharadacharanbhaktiryogaat. The
researcher desires to quote Morari Bapu with regard to the views on Samkara’s way-out
of Haricharanbhaktiryogaat:

I mean to say only that whenever I speak publicly the
verse of my Ram-Katha I happen to go through all the
remedies of the ailments of the human mind. It is because at
the onset of the Ram-Katha all the listeners as well as the

speaker become engrossed in Lord Rama and it leads to the
stability of the human mind. So the mind does not find any
time to find any distraction anywhere except in the Ram-
Katha. Secondly when I have to sing as part of the Ram-Katha
during the musical cadence of the verse being sung, I feel as if I
were carrying out Pranayam. As I am telling the story of Lord
Rama, it is also a part of satsanga. In the Ram-Katha many
people come and prefer to sit anywhere they find room before
the dais. That is a kind of forsaking the desire in the sense of
Vasanaatyaagaat for me. At last I worship my sacred text of
the Ramacharitmanasa, which is analogous to the service
rendered to the pious Shree Hari in my opinion.13
In this way all the solutions advocated by Samkara are capable enough to
exterminate the evils of the modern generation, highlighted by Eliot in several of his
poems and poetic dramas. Thus, out and out, the researcher has to cling to the faith of
Eliot that just as ultimately the thunder shows the path of regeneration to the spiritual
wastelanders in The Waste Land, the scriptural classics of Hinduism and Buddhism are
capable enough to bring an end to all the problems of the modern generation. And
because of this reason only Eliot has taken resort in the oriental scriptures of Hinduism
and Buddhism every now and then. Eliot’s taking refuge in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad in the concluding section of The Waste Land gets confirmed from the above
way-outs shown by Samkara. The most conspicuous problem faced by the modern men is
that they can’t feel happy owing to several of their insoluble problems as per the vision of
Eliot from his works. In the vast out-put of Samkara’s farsighted vision this problem of
the modern human beings has been answered. About the modern problem of joylessness
Samkara advises PRASANNA-CHITTE PARAMATMADARSHANAM (looking at the
Super Soul with a mind full of joy. At another place Samkara addresses ‘CHIDNANDA
RUPAH SHIVOHAM SHIVOHAM (I am Shiva in the form of bliss).The meaning of
‘Shiva’ is welfare and the one who thinks about the welfare of all is definitely to feel the
bliss. Thus, the problem of joylessness or cheerlessness can also be answered through the
philosophical precept of Samkara.

The leanings of T.S.Eliot towards the Hindu-Buddhist scriptural classics is due to
the unanimously accepted fact that both the religious traditions of India lead towards the
establishment of the place of worship for the attitudes of the straightforward individuals,
having undeviating and undistorted sentiments. In the modern contemporary period, a
large number of the Hindu priests shelter several superstitions and get them consumed by
their thousands of followers so as to sharpen their political or other malign motives. The
Islamic mullahs are spitefully infamous for spitting the phlegm of communalism for
whatsoever the motives. In the same way the Christian preachers are notoriously
villainous for their infamous conversions for their petty-minded purposes at the
deplorable cost of humanity. The most conspicuous fact is that all the religious authorities
of the faiths mentioned above are independent to carry out their spiteful designs owing to
the growing amount of superstitions in their followers. Moreover, the followers of this
spiteful trio are hardly able to live peacefully because of the witch called poverty. But
their leaders of the respective faiths are hardly concerned with their plight at the hand of
poverty as they are the master champions of the superstition, and both poverty and
superstition are the two real sisters, mothered by the same religious blindness. The
researcher feels that the only one solution of the religious fanaticism is vested in the
Indian spiritual concept of ‘Sarvadharma Sambhav’. In his historically known address at
the World Congress
of religions on September 11, 1893 Swami Vivekananda is believed to have employed
the metaphor of many rivers flowing into one mighty sea to adhere to the age-old
scriptural belief of India that although God is referred to as different names in the
different faiths, all of them lead to the one supreme authority called the Super Soul. In the
same way the Hindu scriptural principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, extracted from
the Mahopanishad is sufficiently adequate to disseminate the concept of the peaceful
coexistence in the entire world. If the atmosphere shown in this precept of the scriptural
heritage of India gets well-shaped, there exists the peaceful and prosperous world of
humanity, enormously well-known for the brotherhood among its inhabitants under the
pervasive fatherhood of the Super Soul. The greatness of this Upanishadic principle of
the Hindu scriptural heritage is such that it leads the human individuals to believe that the
other is not other but he is the divine brother. Looking in the Aranya-kanda of the

Ramayana, the researcher observes that Tulsidasa has discussed expansively in his
Ramacharitmanasa about the five events. In these five events are included firstly the
resolution about ending the devilish dispositions, secondly Lord Rama’s guide-lines to
Laxmana regarding the latter’s queries, thirdly the ugliness of Shurpanakha, fourthly the
end of the devils like Khar and Dooshan and finally the abduction of Sitaji by Dashanan
Ravana. Because of the central importance given to these five events Valmikiji has
named this place Panchavati.

As mentioned above the follower of the Indian spiritual heritage is at a great
distance from the demons of communalism. They may be fairly considered the
straightforward individuals having undeviating and undistorted sentiments of the ever-
linear path. Among such men are included the individuals who can help neither repaying
their debts nor being dissociated with any act of corruption. Although such men can
understand what the religion is, yet they miserably fail to realize the ambiguous language
of the religious contractors. In the other words they can fairly understand the verse of the
Bhagavad Gita, but they cannot understand the selfish commentaries made on it by the
so-called mahamandaleshvaras of any religious branch of his. Mostly they prefer to be at
distance from telling a lie, yet incase they have to speak the lie in the slightest proportion
because of the pressurized circumstances, their tongue has to resort to the Yudhisthira-
like assertion of ‘Naro va kunjaro va’.

The well-built implication of the researcher is that the human universe still
continues to exist only because of the sinless activities of such men and their inherent
honesty par excellence. The matter of extreme concern is that such individuals have
begun to be mocked and laughed at in the modern age without any hope of the spiritual
regeneration. Such individuals do not need to be referred to as saintly or virtuous beings.
The Hindu scriptural piece of the Isa Upanishad applies two types of the words- ‘Supath’
and ‘Juhuraanam’. Supath means the straight way on which the straightforward
individuals having undeviating and undistorted sentiments prefer to go ahead inherently
without creating obstructions for and without swindling any one. The other word is
‘Juhuraanam’ meaning sinful deeds. One of the most illustrious men of Guajarati letters,
a renowned academician and the ex-VC of the Gujarat University, Umashankar Joshi
defines ‘Juhuraanam’ as “the sin going slant”14

The very example of the Pandavas and the Kauravas from the Mahabharata
states that the path of the virtuous men is always straight while that of the vicious is full
of curves. Thus. the Isa Upanishad reiterates that the individual walking straight on the
‘Supath’ are essentially the virtuous whereas the ones going zigzag on the path of
‘Juhuraanam’ are the vicious individuals having vices of all the types. The vicious
individuals have the disposition to create impediments for the others, to indulge in the
attempts of financial embezzlement, to trap the women and to rape them when not
surrendering to their wills. This means that the Upanishadic ‘Juhuraanam’ may be
considered as the path of the Eliotic wastelanders. It is an experienced truth that the
human history is full of the sinful acts. In the world of the walkers of ‘Supath’ only there
is no room for the news-reporting about the rape cases. The human history is replete with
the sinful events, but there is no historical account of a single individual walking straight
on the ‘Supath’. The can be the news-reporting of the events rape case, but there can’t be
any about no occurrence of such events. That the news of the present becomes the history
of the future should be constantly kept in mind if the modern individuals wish themselves
not to be treated as the similes of the vicious persons.

A famous British man of letters, Lawrence Durrell states that history means the
infinite repetition of the mode of life at fault, the one gone astray.15 The researcher
also feels that the heinous, atrocious and vicious acts like the rise of ‘Ravanatva’ or
‘Dooryodhanatrva’ go on repeating themselves, but there is hardly any history of
virtuousness. One of the most famous Athenian tragedians, Euripides made a reflective
remark in the 5th Century B.C. :

Whenever a virtuous being gets injured, all those who are
considered appreciable human beings should feel such
affliction as is felt by the injured. 16
Resorting once more to the scriptural classic of the Ramayana, especially in the
event of Sitaji’s abduction by Ravana, the researcher has to submit that the affliction,
advocated by Euripides in the above-quoted text, was felt by a virtuous vulture namely
Jataayu who laid down his life to prevent Ravana from going ahead, abducting Sitaji. The
researcher accentuates that the rise of ‘Jataayutva’ is the need of hour in the midst of the
clouds of selfish motives and malignity. The researcher wishes to state that the future of

all the countries is not to be decided by their heads of the governments along with the
different political parties in their politics. The heads need the support of all the stake
holders of the national politics. The concept of ‘Datta’ (to give) is applicable over here.
In the same way they need to follow the precept of ’Dayadhvam’ (to sympathize) in their
public life, notwithstanding they are in power or not. The concept of ‘Damyata’ (to
control or to discipline) is much needed in the sense that if it is followed in the public
life, the human society can be purged of the disastrous events like the rape cases and
corruption running rampant in all walks of life. In the protest against corruption also
active support should be imparted to those in the main stream. Only one Jay Prakash
Narayan or only one Anna Hazare can’t do anything substantial. They should be given
the public support. In order to heighten ‘Jataayutva’ one of the extra-conscious columnist
and illustrious man of Gujarati letters Dr. Gunvant Shah has rightly observed:

If God feels happy with us and appearing before us he makes a
proposal to send one Buddha on the earth, standing in His
audience I would suggest Him not to send one Buddha or one
Gandhi, but three or four arab straightforward individuals
having undeviating and undistorted sentiments.17
The researcher reasonably concludes that the words mentioned above are capable
enough to put an end to all the disastrous aspects of the modern lives, voiced by T.S.Eliot
in his literary works.

Notes and Works Cited:
1. Dwivedi, Amar Nath. Indian Thought and Tradition in T.S.Eliot’s Poetry, Bareilly: Prakash Book

Depot, India, 1977, p.164.
2. Ibid., 165
3. T.S.Eliot. “Murder in the Cathedral”. The Complete Poems and Plays Of T.S.Eliot. London: Book

Club Associates, 1977. p.240
4. Dwivedi, Amar Nath. Indian Thought and Tradition in T.S.Eliot’s Poetry, Bareilly: Prakash Book

Depot, India, 1977, p.228
5. Ibid., 228.
6. Besant, Annie The Bhagavad Gita: The Lord’s Song, Adyar: The Theosophical Publishing House,

2002. p.26.
7. The Pali formula for taking refuge, Khp. 1, retrieved from

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/tisarana.html

8. Dwivedi, Amar Nath. Indian Thought and Tradition in T.S.Eliot’s Poetry, Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, India, 1977, p.203.

9. Hariyani Moraridas (Morari Bapu). “Satsanga Dwara Man Par Kabu Melavi Shakay Chhe.”
Manasdarshan, Divya Bhaskar Sunday, p.8, Sunday dated June 9, 2013. Translations are mine.

10. Thoughts of Chanyaka, Retrieved from http://chankya-learnings.blogspot.in/2009/04/chapter-
3.html, verse 11.

11. Krushnakant Unadkat, “Life Without Sex Shakya Chhe?” (Is life without sex possible?),
Doorbeen, half-weekly edition of Wednesday, Sandesh dated June 5, 2013.

12. Hariyani Moraridas (Morari Bapu). “Satsanga Dwara Man Par Kabu Melavi Shakay Chhe.”
Manasdarshan, Divya Bhaskar Sunday, p.8, Sunday dated June 9, 2013. Translations are mine.

13. Ibid.,p.6
14. Shah, Gunvant. ”Sidhi Liti Na Manas Ni Sanvedana Nu Shivalaya”( the Temple of the

Straightforward Individuals Having Undeviating And Undistorted Sentiments), Vicharo Na
Vrundavan Ma, Divya Bhaskar Sunday, p.1, Sunday dated June 9, 2013. Translations are mine
15. Ibid., p.1.
16. Ibid.,p.1
17. Ibid.,p.1