R.W. EMERSON’S PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY 'NATURE' AND 'THE BHAGAVAD GITA' (Pages 171-185) by Mrs. Shiva Durga* and Prof. Dr. Anoop Gupta** in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

R.W. Emerson’s concept of ‘nature’ is a ‘connectedness’ or link and relation between Nature and the Soul as exclusive components of the Universe. R.W. Emerson states, “Philosophically considered, the Universe is composed of Nature and the soul”. This is the concept of Purush and Prakriti of the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13. It delineates that everything including material nature and life forms is a combination of Purush and Prakriti. These are a part of Brahman. R.W. Emerson understood this concept. Hence as per BG 13.24 he attained Brahman realization. In the beginning of his essay ‘Nature’ R.W. Emerson asked the question “The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face, we… through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the Universe?” R.W. Emerson states accordingly in ‘Illusions’ “We see God face to face every hour, we know the savor of Nature”. We see here R.W. Emerson’s ‘nature’ is not just physical nature but also includes that which has to be transcended in order to ‘see God face to face every hour’. If we understand the above truth the physical, mental, psychological knots will be disentangled and we enjoy good physical and mental health. Keywords: great soul, Universal connectedness, Dharmic and Adharmic Actions, Self Reliance etc.