HINDU BIOPHILIA: THOREAU’S INDIA OF TRANSCENDENTALISM

Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Laws of Manu provided Thoreau with an additional vehicle for conceptualizing a relationship between the divine and the natural. In Walden, Thoreau articulates a view of nature that differs from the norms of his day by elevating it to the status of a God. Thoreau uses Hindu, and other religious, structures and formats to express a conception of nature as worthy of reverence. This paper examines Thoreau's deployment of some of the structures and themes of Hindu texts in Walden. Thoreau has a biophilic view of nature, that is to say, his approach as a writer and amateur naturalist is animated by an innate love of life. Waldenfrequently and in a wide variety of ways- suggests that some kind of biophilic relation between the human organism and the non-human natural environment is, and should be seen as, fundamental to human existence. Thoreau's literary expression of this biophilia often combines the scripture and natural observation, suggesting that religion can be used to understand and appreciate nature, and that nature can fill a role similar to God in a religious tradition. Additionally, the paper examines how Hinduism's view of the role of God in nature appealed to Thoreau's absorption with the wild, topic cognate but not identical to nature itself, which led him to write Walden.