Brahma by Ralph Waldo Emerson - Notes

BRAHMA - by Ralph Waldo Emerson

PARAPHRASE:

If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

To understand God, we think about how and why God does things.
Leave alone natural  happenings which are somewhat easier to comprehend.
Fortunes usually don't demand God's remembrance.
Calamities which are natural can be understood to be God's will.
But tragedies such as murder which seem of an artificial cause are difficult to ponder over in this respect.
A similar instance is taken by the poet to explain.
A murderer may think that he is the cause for the other person's death.
The murdered person may think that he is killed because of some reason which he does not know.
Nevertheless, even by making any number of assumptions, they cannot understand how and why God does things.
He may set a rule, He may cancel the same anytime He wishes and may even repeat the same again sometime in future.

Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.

God is indifferent to all such entities which affect human beings.
God is above all such weaknesses.
Something which is far for man isn't so for Him.
Something which can be forgotten by man isn't so for Him.
Shadow and sunlight affect man differently but these entities are same to God because these do not affect God in any way.
Shame and fame are proper to man. Shame isn't something for God at all and fame is something very cheap for His stature because it is an acquired quality of a person among others.
Even Gods which are invisible to man are not hidden from Him.

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

Those who shun Him, value evil.
But it is He again who makes them shun Him.
It is He again who makes people doubt Him.
It is He again who makes people believe Him.

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.

Even the other Gods which are considered strong by people strive or yearn to gain the Supreme God's nearness.
Also the Seven great sages known as Saptarishis have a high opinion of their work towards their pursuit.
But to find God, one just needs to be a humble person who loves to do good.
By doing so, one will further need nothing, not even Heaven because the Creator himself becomes His friend or the like.

METHOD OF APPROACH: Text oriented interpretation except for names and numbers which are alluded to Hindu mythology.