“Kearns concludes that Eliot was less interested in
synthesizing various traditions than in comparing
texts and traditions for what he called ‘the
difference they can make to one another’”.

Rick,

“T. S. Eliot and Indic Traditions” by Cleo McNelly
Kearns sounds interesting to me because of the above
passage in the brief introduction I found in the URL
that you had mentioned.  (I must thank you for it, but
it seems I have to only thank Nancy for it, as in the
earlier occasion .  I have requested for the
book in the local library here and let me see if I can
get it).  I am now fully convinced that Eliot wasn’t
making any allusion to the Upanishads.  Nevertheless,
Eliot’s Indic influence in Ash Wednesday is
considerable, but I understand that it is a different
matter not to be confused with the poem.  My friend
who instigated this query by me made a comment that
similarity in metaphysical thought occurs as the
poetic mind contemplates deeper and deeper.  Eliot was
very erudite and could have easily assimilated the
poetic movement of the Upanishads; the allusions to
‘word’ originating in the Bible,  I doubt if the poem
was ‘inspired’ as he (my friend) thought or as great
poetry is often associated with. I am sure he was
certainly not trying to “synthesize” his experiences
nor were they of any ‘mystic’ kind (I find that
Eliot’s poetry could be attributed to his intelligence
in absorbing the literary sensibility of the
Elizabethans rather than any other poetic sources of
inspiration; probably, a difference to note, between
him and Lawrence).    My thought process on this line
makes the book that you mentioned interesting.  Not
just because of the above, but also because it seems
to touch on his sense of the “difference” the various
traditions “can make to one another”.  This, I believe
could throw more light on what he maintains as the
uniqueness of European culture in the appendix to
“Notes towards the definition of Culture”.

vishvesh

--- "Rickard A. Parker" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Vishvesh Obla wrote:
> >
> > Thanks to all who replied to my query.  Rick,
> special
> > thanks to you for digging out the exact reference.
>
> No, it was Nancy Gish and George Somerville who
> brought up the Gospel
> of John.  I brought up the Rig Veda although I know
> next to nothing
> about it.
>
> > Rick, I saw your reference to the hymn of Creation
> > from Rig Veda.  You might probably be interested
> in
> > looking at the Mandukya Upanishad too.
>
> Nancy has brought up this book in the past but I
> still haven't gotten
> to it. I should probably do that before going into
> the upanishads.
>
> http://books.cambridge.org/0521324394.htm
> T. S. Eliot and Indic Traditions
> A Study in Poetry and Belief
> Cleo McNelly Kearns
> £65.00
> August 1987 | Hardback | 304 pages | ISBN:
> 0521324394
> Temporarily unavailable - no date available
>
> Regards,
>     Rick Parker


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