Since his college years TS Eliot had immersed himself in the study of the philosophy and thought of India. There Devastated land as well as his other writings, reflect this deep connection with oriental thought, in describing the crisis of the modern world the poet draws on Bhagavadgita and upanisad.

di John Bigazzi

In the year of the centenary of the publication of the Devastated land by TS Eliot, dopo the article I wrote on the role of the way of the Tarot as one of the keys to reading the poem, it is worth returning to the Eliotian masterpiece, this time to deepen his link with the oriental doctrines and with the metaphysics contained in the Vedas: the ancient collection of sacred texts written in Sanskrit by the Aryan peoples who invaded northern India around the XNUMXth century BC

Born on 26 September 1888, Thomas Stearns Eliot he attended the Smith Academy from 1898 to 1905, where he learned Latin, Ancient Greek, French and German. At the age of fourteen he began writing poetry after reading a translation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. From 1911 to 1914, Eliot studied Indian philosophy and Sanskrit at Harvard under the guidance of Charles Lanman, an American Sanskrit professor, while James H. Woods introduced him to Yoga by reading the Yoga Sūtra by Patañjali.

TS Eliot (1888 - 1965)

In his essay After strange gods: a primer of modern heresy Eliot admits the influence of Sanskrit and Patañjali's thought on his work. Eliot writes that his early education had left him "in a state of mystical enlightenment" and that Indian philosophers "made most Western philosophers look like children in school." His affinity with Eastern doctrines became even more evident with his frequentation of Ezra Pound, which he had published in 1915 Cathay, a collection of classics of Chinese poetry which he translated into English. Starting with the success of his poem The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Pound played a fundamental role in promoting Eliot's literary career, a role made official with the "Dante's" dedication included in the 1925 edition of Devastated land to which Pound had made an essential review contribution: “To Ezra Pound, the best blacksmith”.

La Devastated land it is divided into five sections. There "Burial of the dead" introduces the themes of the loss of spiritual values ​​of modern man and the decay of his civilization. The second, "A game of chess" deals with the emptiness of the relations between man and woman where there is no unity between sex and feeling and with the commodification of sex regressed to mere entertainment, the third, "The Sermon of Fire", shows how lust and rape are responsible for the decay of modern society. The fourth, "Death by water", highlights the purifying and regenerating value of water, in the fifth and last section, "What the Thunder Said", Eliot, having ascertained the impossibility of changing the world from the outside, suggests to the reader to take things for what they are, focusing on the need for a spiritual rebirth that must start from the individual, this is the part of the poem most influenced by thought. Oriental.

The fifth and final section of the Devastated land it contains and ends in fact with some Sanskrit words taking the title from Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, one of the most important and oldest Upaniṣads of the Vedic texts. This Upaniṣad dating from the XNUMXth century BC is a treatise on tman, the Self, and is widely known for its passages concerning metaphysics, ethics, the desire for knowledge which have helped to influence various religions of India. The work is attributed to Yajnavalkya.

The account of the meaning of thunder is contained in the fifth chapter of the Vedic text (verses 5.2.1 to 5.2.3) which tells of how Prajâpati (in Sanskrit, प्रजापति - prajā-pati, lord of creatures) taught his offspring that originally there were three classes, namely: the Suras, the gods, the human beings and the Asuras, the demons or rather those gods endowed with occult powers that we Westerners call demons. What Prajāpati taught everyone was the same syllable द (Da). But the suras interpreted it as दाम्यत (Damyata), check yourself, humans interpreted it as दत्त (Datta), donate and the Asuras as दयध्वमित (Dayadhvam), be compassionate. Here the concept of three parent classes is very significant. Sura and Asura, in perennial conflict with each other - note here the linguistic analogy with the Æsir of the Norse pantheon - represent the two opposite extremes while humans, the intermediate class, have some traits of both other classes and, consequently , they can sometimes be Sura and sometimes Asura.

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad

But here is the Vedic text that introduces the three great disciplines from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad:

VERSE 5.2.1

त्रयाः प्राजापत्याः प्रजापतौ पितरि ब्रह्मचर्यमूषुः — देवा मनुष्या असुराः; उषित्वा ब्रह्मचर्यं देवा ऊचुः, ब्रवीतु नो भवानिति; तेभ्यो हैतदक्शरमुवाच द इति; व्यज्ञासिष्टा 3 इति; व्यज्ञासिष्मेति होचुः, दाम्यतेति न आत्थेति; ओमिति होवाच, व्यज्ञासिष्टेति॥ १॥

trayāḥ prājāpatyāḥ prajāpatau pitari brahmacaryamūṣuḥ — devā manuṣyā asurāḥ; uṣitvā brahmacaryaṃ devā ūcuḥ, bravītu no bhavāniti; tebhyo haitadakśaramuvāca from iti; vyajñāsiṣṭā3 iti; vyajñāsiṣmeti hocuḥ, dāmyateti na āttheti; omiti hovāca, vyajñāsiṣṭeti

1. Three classes of Prajāpati's sons led a life of continence with their father, Prajāpati (Virāj) - the gods, men and Asuras. The gods, upon fulfilling their mandate, said, 'Please teach us.' (He) said to them the syllable 'Da' (and asked), 'Do you understand?' And they said, 'We get it. You told us: Check yourself. ' (He) said, 'Yes, you understand.' 

VERSE 5.2.2

अथ हैनं मनुष्या ऊचुः, ब्रवीतु नो भवानिति; तेभ्यो हैतदेवाक्शरमुवाच द इति; व्यज्ञासिष्टा 3 इति; व्यज्ञासिष्मेति होचुः, दत्तेति न आत्थेति; ओमिति होवाच, व्यज्ञासिष्टेति॥ ३॥

atha hainaṃ manuṣyā ūcuḥ, bravītu no bhavāniti; tebhyo haitadevākśaramuvāca from iti; vyajñāsiṣṭā3 iti; vyajñāsiṣmeti hocuḥ, datteti na āttheti; omiti hovāca, vyajñāsiṣṭeti

2. Then the men asked him, 'Please teach us.' (He) said to them the same syllable 'Da' (and asked), 'Do you understand?' And they said, 'We get it. You told us: Donate. ' (He) said, 'Yes, you understand.'

VERSE 5.2.3

अथ हैनमसुरा ऊचुः, ब्रवीतु नो भवानिति; तेभ्यो हैतदेवाक्शरमुवाच द इति; व्यज्ञासिष्टा 3 इति; व्यज्ञासिष्मेति होचुः, दयध्वमिति न आत्थेति; ओमिति होवाच, व्यज्ञासिष्टेति; तदेतदेवैषा दैवी वागनुवदति स्तनयित्नुर् द द द इति — दाम्यत दत्त दयध्वमिति; तदेतत्त्रयं शिक्शेत् — दमं दानं दयामिति॥ ३॥

इति द्वितीयं ब्राह्मणम्॥

atha hainamasurā ūcuḥ, bravītu no bhavāniti; tebhyo haitadevākśaramuvāca from iti; vyajñāsiṣṭā3 iti; vyajñāsiṣmeti hocuḥ, dayadhvamiti na āttheti; omiti hovāca, vyajñāsiṣṭeti; tadetadevaiṣā daivī vāganuvadati stanayitnur da da da iti - dāmyata datta dayadhvamiti; tadetattrayaṃ śikśet — damaṃ dānaṃ dayāmiti 

iti dvitīyaṃ brāhmaṇam ||

3. Then the Asuras said to him, 'Please teach us.' (He) said to them the same syllable 'Da' (and asked), 'Do you understand?', 'We understand. You told us: be compassionate. ' (He) said, 'Yes, you understand.' That same syllable is repeated by the heavenly voice, the thunder, as 'Da,' 'Da,' 'Da': 'Control yourself,' 'Donate,' and 'Be compassionate.' Therefore, these three things should be learned - Self-control, charity and compassion.

The fifth and last section of the Devastated land indicates a turning point in the structure of the poem: the words uttered by the thunder offer the reader a ray of hope that penetrates the despair that looms over the devastation of the modern world. In a letter to Bertrand Russell, Eliot described this section "not only the best, but also the only part that justifies the whole". Eliot uses these concepts contained in the ancient Vedic texts as anchors to support man on his spiritual journey prescribing three remedies to attain peace and bliss thus concluding his work on a note of hope. 

The text of the Devastated land ends, imitating the formal closure of the Upaniṣads, with the repetition three times of the word शान्ति (Shantih) which Eliot translates into "Peace that does not need to understand". In this way Eliot at the end of his most famous work offers the reader of the Devastated land a way out, a way through which it is possible to heal the failures produced by the crisis of the modern world. The need for a spiritual path that leads to inner peace today more than ever present in a world increasingly gripped by fear, caught between pandemics, wars, economic instability and climate change. The way to change the world does not pass from acting outside, but from acting within ourselves, taking responsibility for our life through a real inner rebirth.

POST SCRIPTUM - In this article as in the previous one published on AXIS MUNDI I have deliberately decided to change the canonical translation of the illustrious Mario Praz of “The Waste Land "In" The land devastated"Instead of" The earth sorry". This responds primarily to linguistic considerations. The word "desolate" does not fully cover the meaning of the English word "waste”Which refers to a broader concept, of something that was once pure and then spoiled. This is in line with the literary references indicated by TS Eliot for the title of the work in the first of his notes to the poem, especially with regard to Jessie L. Weston's booklet, "From Ritual to Romance" [Survey on the Holy Grail, ed] ( Cambridge 1919). Finally, the word "devastated" now reflects much better the moment of profound crisis we are experiencing, helping to make this very important literary work of the twentieth century even more relevant.

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