The Voices of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishad in T.S Eliot's the Waste Land

T.S Eliot's The Waste Land is a complicated text rooted in complex Eastern philosophy. His imagery and characters echo those of which appear in both The Bhagavad Gita and in the Upanishad. Inspired by his own misfortunes in life, particularly in marriage, Eliot explores the themes of life and death and asks the reader to explore these themes with him. His use of Hindu texts in conjunction with his biography makes this poem a true cosmopolitan piece and a significant contribution to the literary world. Many critics and readers of T.S Eliot's The Waste Land have acknowledged the vast amount of religious references. From as early as when the poem first became published writers such as John Peale Bishop have called it "a Hindu puzzle" (Rainey 33) others have said it is "a epic in a walnut shell" (35), and recent scholars such as Liliana Pop in her article " The Use of Poetry and The Use of Religion" argue that Eliot saw a vast importance in correlating religion and art. Pop's point can be traced back to Eliot's essay "Tradition and The Individual Talent" in which Eliot himself advocates a need for a worldly tradition: "Every nation, every race has not only its own creative, but its own critical turn of mind" (Eliot 99). Clearly religion would be a part of the nation's creative mind. But the question at large remains whose tradition is Eliot using in the poem? Of course readers cannot overlook the references to Dante, Homer and so on therefore it is not surprising that Eliot originally wanted to title the piece "He Do The Police In Different Voices"; and yet there is one voice that recent critics seem to overlook and that is the voice of the Hindu God Krishna. 1 6131 Landino Drive, Westlake Village, CA 91362, USA. Email: soniachumber@yahoo.com 84 International Journal of Language and Literature, Vol. 2(3), September 2014 Despite the fact that Krishna as a character never shows up in the poem, the influence of the The Bhagavad Gita is undeniable, as is the direct use of the Upanishad. Therefore, to truly understand the poem particularly "The Fire Sermon" and "Death by Water" one must understand Hindu philosophy. Within Hinduism the Upanishad deals with creation and death. The Gita serves as a philosophy of how one should live one's life. The most common themes in these two works are the juxtaposition of life and death, overcoming material and sensual attachments, and ways to attain enlightenment. Eliot draws upon the troubles from his own life especially from his turbulent marriage to Vivian, seeks the teaching from the two texts, particularly in its treatment of death, sex, and immortality, to write The Waste Land. The sections "The Fire Sermon" and "Death by Water" are heavily rooted in Hindu philosophy and contain both the problems and solutions of the modern world. Eliot takes on the voice of Krishna to tell his readers of the problems of today's world, as well as the resolutions to attain peace by forming a direct union with the writer and reader. An example of this is when he calls his readers "mon semblable,-mon frere" (l 76) his other, his brother, or directly inviting the reader into the unreal city: "There is a shadow under this red rock/ (Come in under the shadow of this red rock)" (l 25-26) and allowing readers access into the secret lives of the various characters. This type of partnership parallels what Swami Prabhupada (the founder of the International Krishna Consciousness Society) calls the "transcendental friendship of Krisha and Arjun" (4) in his translation of The Bhagavad Gita. To provide some context of this friendship it is important to understand the epic that the Gita arrives from, The Mahabharata, which translates into the 'great maintaining'. Much like The Waste Land the Mahabharata is a narrative poem that deals with a multitude of characters, plots, and themes all leading to a grand battle over duty, responsibility, and the maintaining of rightful order. Arjun is the warrior prince that is struggling to understand the world around him because he is constantly overcome by grief at the sin of others. Krishna comes to Arjun at the battlefield and recites to him the Bhagavad Gita, which provides Arjun the universal and cosmic truths of how to live one's life with purpose and action. Simultaneously Krishna provides Arjun with the ultimate truth-death (4) and the three modes of destruction: passion, ignorance, and attachment (5) all three show up in Eliot's piece. Hinduism was not something alien to Eliot.