X.

EASTERN POETS UPON REINCARNATION.

Here shalt thou pluck from the most ancient shells The whitest pearls of wisdom's treasury.

EDWIN ARNOLD.

Young and enterprising is the West,
Old and meditative is the East.

Turn, O youth! with intellectual zest
Where the sage invites thee to his feast.

Eastward roll the orbs of heaven,
Westward tend the thoughts of men.
Let the poet, nature-driven,

Wander eastward now and then.

MILNES.

X.

EASTERN POETS UPON REINCARNATION.

ALL Eastern poetry finds a favorite theme in metempsychosis, and the literature of India is thoroughly saturated with it. The fervent passion, the subtle thought, the luxuriant imagery which permeate Asiatic life are centred upon this common philosophy. But the best portion of this enormous wealth of fantasy is withheld from us, simply because of its revelry in this very thought which is generally unattractive to the West. What oriental poetry enters our language is chiefly erotic or epic, and the most characteristic of all is left for the few educated natives to enjoy. We can therefore only select a few representative gems from this unworked mine, illustrating the Muses of India, Persia, and Arabia. Among the ancient Sanskrit epics are discovered beautiful renderings of the thought of many births. The delicacy and tenderness of Persian poetry furnish charming expressions of the Zoroastrian aspirations for release from earthly bondages to reascend homeward. The Arabian mysticism of the Sufis directs their intense subjectivity into ecstatic phrasings of the same idea.

In the wonderful ancient Sanskrit drama "Sakoontala" by Kalidésa, translated by Monier Williams, occur these passages:

This peerless maid is like a fragrant flower Whose perfumed breath has never been diffused. of priceless water, just released

A gem

Pure and unblemished from its glittering bed.

Or rather is she like the mellowed fruit

Of virtuous actions in some former birth

Now brought to full perfection.

That song has filled me with a most peculiar sweetness. I seem to yearn after some long forgotten love.

Not seldom in our happy hours of ease

When thought is still, the sight of some fair form,
Or mournful fall of music breathing low
Will stir strange fancies thrilling all the soul
With a mysterious sadness and a sense
Of vague yet earnest longing. Can it be
That the dim memory of events long passed,
Or friendships formed in other states of being
Flits like a passing shadow o'er the spirit?

The Sanskrit "Katha Upanishad," in Edwin Arnold's rendering as "The Secret of Death," contains a full explanation of the Eastern doctrine.

Af

For his noble sacrifice Yama (Death) grants to Nachikêtas the privilege of asking three boons. ter naming and receiving the first two Nachikêtas says:

"Thou dost give peace is that peace nothingness?

Some say that after death the soul still lives,
Personal, conscious; some say, nay, it ends:
Fain would I know which of these twain be true,
By the enlightened. Be my third boon this."
Then Yama answered, “This was asked of old,
Even by the gods! This is a subtle thing,
Not to be told, hard to be understood:
Ask me some other boon: I may not grant."