Snyder, Helena A.: Thoreau's philosophy of life: with special consideration of the influence of Hindoo philosophy (o.O., 1902)

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The Veda further extolls the Eternal as :
“ Hochster des Alls, das All selber, Ew’ger Narayami,.
Hari; ja, Purusha ist dieses Weltall.” * * * §
To see Nature with true perception is equivalent to seeing
God—Krishna spake :
“ Behold, O Arjoon, my million forms divine, of various
species and diverse shapes and colors. Behold in this my
body the whole world animate and inanimate and all things else.' ’ f
In Thoreau’s direct manner the same thought is ex-
pressed :
“ May we not see God ? Is not Nature rightly read that
of which she is taken to be the symbol merely j
As the Hindoo characterizes fire, water, wind—all the
powers or motions in nature—as God, so Thoreau :
“ These motions everywhere in Nature must surely be the
circulation of God." ||
Interesting, too, is the following note in Thoreau’s diary
from Dec. 29, 1841 :
“ God did not make the world in jest, no nor indiffer-
ence.” It is God’s world §—which might almost be a trans-
lation of the following passage from the Upanishads of the
Vedas :
“ Viele lassen die Weltschopfung
Auf Wunsch Gottes allein entstehen—
Zum Genuss sich, zum Spielzeuge
Schuf sie Gott, meinen andere—
Nein, sie ist Gottes selbst Wesen.”**

* Yajur-ved. Maha-Naray, 11, 4. Deussen, p. 251 ; cf. also Rig-
Veda, 10, 2, p. 90. “ Highest of the All, the All itself Eternal Nara-
yana, Hari. Yes, Purusha is the whole world.”
f Bhagvat Geeta, p. 53.
j Week, p. 504.
|| Autumn, p. 430.
§ Winter, p. 52.
** Atharva-ved. Mand-Kar Up., 1, 3. Deussen, p. 579. Many con-
sider that the creation of the world was the fulfilment of divine desire ;