Theos-Talk Archives (January 1999 Message tt00060)

In a message dated 1/6/99 3:13:47 PM, Susan Eshelman wrote:

I'm trying to determine if there is a Theosophical source
>for a poem known as "Brahma", which refers to the "Red Slayer".  The
>passage:

If the red slayer thinks he slays
>Or the slain think he is slain
>he knows not well the subtle ways
>I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Here's the rest of the poem:

Far or forgot to me is near;
Sahdow and sunlight are the same;
The vanish'd gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.

THey reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

THe strong gods pine for my abode,
ANd pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), after having explored Hinduism.
Apparently, his immediate texts were the Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavad-Gita.