T. S. Eliot had a wide-ranging poetic sensibility by incorporating in his poetry not only the best of European culture and American mind but also Indian thought and tradition. He used Indian ideas elaborately in his poems. This study focused on the elements of bhakti yoga depicted in his poem Four Quartets. Bhakti is one of the three major ways to salvation in Hinduism. It refers to the attitude of devotion to God. The bhakta usually devotes himself to a personal God, such as Kṛṣṇa. Eliot introduced this representative personal God Kṛṣṇa in the Four Quartets. Bhakti yoga emphasizes on loving devotion and surrender of the self to the personal God, leading a devotee to inner transformation through grace. Bhakti yoga considers “humility” as an essential tool to seek the love of God. Going through “East Coker ,” one may encounter bhakti yoga’s ideas on humility. “The meditation on the great teacher” who guides a devotee by example is one of the various paths to bhakti. “The meditation on the great teacher” was depicted in “Little Gidding .” “The concentration” on God is also a very important way to approach God. The spiritual condition does not arise spontaneously, so man must take up the practice of concentration. Concentration requires a devotee to abandon egoism and desires. By this practice, the man may gradually make himself fit for the steadfast directing of the spirit of God. The religious idea of concentration was transformed into poetic expression in “Burnt Norton.” In his poem, Eliot has drawn the ideas of bhakti yoga. The use of these ideas confirms Eliot’s assimilation of bhakti yoga. There is no denying the fact that such ideas of bhakti yoga left its marks on the Four Quartets.

Eli야 was definitely intrigued by mysticism. He dreamt of becoming a saint when he was young. His mother, who wrote poems depicting mysticism, influenced him greatly. He greedily read many books on mysticism such as Christian Mysticism (1 899) by W. R. Inge, The Varieties 01 Rel.땅ious Experience (1902) by William James, and Mysticism (1911) by Evelyn UnderhiII among others while at Harvard. He apparently had his mystical expe꺼ence during his stay at Harvard. For these reasons, he tried to seek a philosophical explanation of his mystical experiences and mysticism in general. He’d like to obtain an intellectual explanation of his mystical moments. I explore Eliot’s transcendental taste for mysticism by studying Eliofs philosophical joumey into mysticism. This paper is focused mainly on Henri Bergson’s and F. H. Bradley’s ideas, which are essential to a philosophical survey of mysticism. First, Eliot was interested in Bergson’s concept that boiled down to ’duration’(durée), in which Iife takes on an amorphous state or duration. His idea of duration suggests that movement and change are inherent to reality. It tends to largely emphasize the imminence of reality; therefore, it is not useful in explaining the unity of what is perennially absolute. Eliot looked for a more comprehensive philosophy. Thus, his concem moved to Bradley’s ’immediate experience' in which subject and object are unified and people could have a mystical moment. Consequently, Bradley's philosophy allows EIi이 to intellectually figure out his mystical experience and the concept of mysticism as a whole. Besides Bradleyan philosophy, St. John’s idea, the conception of Madψamika of Buddhism, the thoughts of Yoga among others in his poetη also tend to stress the transcendental side of mystical experience. The renunciation of self is very important to those kinds of ideas. I admit that though a poet Eliot has been inf1uenced by imminent side of mysticism, a mystic Eliot has a taste for transcendental mystlclsm.