穆罕默德
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中文
穆罕默德
奎师那（Krishna）那古老的讯息，是将三者——佛陀、基督与穆罕默德（Mohammed）——加以融合统一的。这三者中的每一位，都提出了一种理念，并将其发挥至极致。奎师那的年代早于所有其他先知。「然而，我们或可以这样说，」奎师那汲取了古老的理念并加以综合升华，「尽管」他的讯息是最为古老的。他的讯息一度被佛教的浪潮所淹没，而今日，它是印度所特有的讯息。如果你们愿意，今天下午我将讲述穆罕默德，并阐明这位伟大的阿拉伯先知所肩负的特殊使命……
穆罕默德「年轻时」……似乎并不十分在乎宗教。他倾向于经营商业。他被公认是一位平易近人的青年，相貌俊朗。有一位富有的寡妇，她爱上了这位青年，两人成婚。后来，当穆罕默德已成为统治世界大部分地区的帝主，罗马与波斯帝国皆俯首于他的脚下，他拥有数位妻子。有一天，当有人问他最爱哪位妻子时，他指向自己的第一任妻子：「因为她最先信任了我。」女性是有信仰的……获得独立，获得一切，但不要失去女性这一特质！……
穆罕默德的心灵为罪恶、偶像崇拜、伪虔诚、迷信以及人祭等种种丑陋而沉痛。犹太人受到基督徒的贬低。另一方面，基督徒的堕落甚至比他本国的人更为严重。
我们总是过于急切。「然而，」若要成就任何伟大的事业，必须有充分的准备。……经过昼夜不辍的大量祈祷之后，穆罕默德开始得到梦境与异象。天使吉卜利勒（Gabriel）在梦中向他显现，告诉他，他是真理的使者。吉卜利勒告诉他，耶稣、摩西以及所有先知的讯息都将失传，并要求他出去宣讲。看到基督徒以耶稣之名宣扬政治，看到波斯人宣扬二元论，穆罕默德说：「我们的真主安拉（Allah）是独一无二的，祂是一切存在之主宰，祂与任何他者不可相比。」
真主就是真主。这里没有哲学，没有复杂的伦理法典。「我们的真主独一无二，穆罕默德是其先知。」……穆罕默德开始在麦加（Mecca）的街头宣讲此道。……众人开始迫害他，他遂迁往麦地那（Medina）。他开始战斗，整个民族为之凝聚一心。伊斯兰教（Islam）以主之名漫卷世界，席卷一切。那排山倒海的征服力量！……
你们这些……人持有十分偏执的见解，充满迷信与偏见！这些使者一定是奉天命而来，否则他们怎能如此伟大？你们只看种种缺点。你我每人各有缺点，谁能例外？我同样能指出犹太人的许多缺点。邪恶之人总是寻找缺陷。……苍蝇趋赴伤口的腐烂，而蜜蜂只来寻花中的蜜。不要追随苍蝇之道，要追随蜜蜂之道。……
穆罕默德此后又娶了相当数目的妻子。伟大的人可以各自娶两百位妻子。至于像你们这样的「巨人」，我连一位妻子也不让你们娶。伟大灵魂的行为方式神秘莫测，其方法超出我们的理解。我们不可妄加评判。基督或许有资格评判穆罕默德，而你我是谁？不过是小小孩童。对于这些伟大的灵魂，我们能理解什么？……
伊斯兰教是作为传达给大众的讯息而降临的。……它的第一条讯息是平等。……只有一种宗教——爱。不再有种族、肤色「或」其他一切的分别。加入进来！这种实践性的品质赢得了人心。……这伟大的讯息极为简单：信仰一个独一无二的真主，天地万物的创造者，以虚无造化一切。不要追问。……
他们的礼拜场所如同新教教堂。……没有音乐，没有绘画，没有图像。角落里有一座讲坛，上面摆放着《古兰经（Quran）》。众人一排排站立。没有祭司，没有神职人员，没有主教。……领祷者必须站在会众的侧面。其中有些部分是美好的。……
这些古代先知皆是真主的使者。我跪下礼拜他们，取其足下之尘。然而他们已经离世！……而我们却还活着，我们必须向前迈进！……宗教不是对耶稣或穆罕默德的模仿。即便模仿再好，也终非真品。不要做耶稣的模仿者，而要成为耶稣本身。你与耶稣、佛陀或任何其他人同样伟大。若我们还不是……我们就必须奋斗，直至成为那样的人。我并不打算与耶稣完全一样——我没有必要生为一个犹太人。……
最伟大的宗教，在于忠实于你自己的本性。相信你自己！若你不存在，真主又如何能存在，其他任何人又如何能存在？无论你身处何地，正是这颗心灵在感知连那无限者也在内的一切。我见到真主，所以祂存在。若我无法思想真主，祂「对我而言」便不存在。这是我们人类进步历程中的伟大行进。
这些「伟大的灵魂」是途中的路标，仅此而已。他们说：「前进吧，兄弟们！」我们却紧抓着他们，永不肯前移半步。我们不肯思考，我们希望别人替我们思考。使者们完成了他们的使命，他们呼唤我们振作起来，有所作为。一百年后，我们却紧抱着讯息入眠。
空谈信仰、信条与教义十分容易，然而塑造品格、遏制感官的潮流却极为艰难。我们屈服了，成了伪君子。……
「宗教」不是教条，「不是」规则，它是一个过程，仅此而已。「教条与规则」一切皆为修炼而设。经由那修炼，我们获得力量，终于斩断枷锁，得到解脱（Moksha）。教条除了作为体操训练之用，毫无价值。……经由修炼，灵魂臻于圆满。当你说「我相信」的时候，那修炼便停止了。……
「每当美德衰颓、不道德横行之时，我便取人身降临。在每一个时代，我为了救度善者、毁灭恶者、为了建立灵性之道而降临。」
「如此」者，即是那些光明的伟大使者。他们是我们的伟大导师，是我们年长的兄长。然而我们必须走我们自己的路！
注释
English
The ancient message of Krishna is one harmonising three — Buddha's, Christ's and Mohammed's. Each of the three started an idea and carried it to its extreme. Krishna antedates all the other prophets. [Yet, we might say,] Krishna takes the old ideas and synthesises them, [although] his is the most ancient message. His message was for the time being submerged by the advance wave of Buddhism. Today it is the message peculiar to India. If you will have it so, this afternoon I will take Mohammed and bring out the particular work of the great Arabian prophet....
Mohammed [as] a young man ... did not [seem to] care much for religion. He was inclined to make money. He was considered a nice young man and very handsome. There was a rich widow. She fell in love with this young man, and they married. When Mohammed had become emperor over the larger part of the world, the Roman and Persian empires were all under his feet, and he had a number of wives. When one day he was asked which wife he liked best, he pointed to his first wife: "Because she believed [in] me first." Women have faith.... Gain independence, gain everything, but do not lose that characteristic of women! ...
Mohammed's heart was sick at the sin, idolatry and mock worship, superstitions and human sacrifices, and so on. The Jews were degraded by the Christians. On the other hand, the Christians were worse degraded than his own countrymen.
We are always in a hurry. [But] if any great work is to be done, there must be great preparation. ... After much praying, day and night, Mohammed began to have dreams and visions. Gabriel appeared to him in a dream and told him that he was the messenger of truth. He told him that the message of Jesus, of Moses, and all the prophets would be lost and asked him to go and preach. Seeing the Christians preaching politics in the name of Jesus, seeing the Persians preaching dualism, Mohammed said: "Our God is one God. He is the Lord of all that exists. There is no comparison between Him and any other."
God is God. There is no philosophy, no complicated code of ethics. "Our God is one without a second, and Mohammed is the Prophet." ... Mohammed began to preach it in the streets of Mecca. ... They began to persecute him, and he fled into the city of [Medina]. He began to fight, and the whole race became united. [Mohammedanism] deluged the world in the name of the Lord. The tremendous conquering power! ...
You ... people have very hard ideas and are so superstitious and prejudiced! These messengers must have come from God, else how could they have been so great? You look at every defect. Each one of us has his defects. Who hasn't? I can point out many defects in the Jews. The wicked are always looking for defects. ... Flies come and seek for the [ulcer], and bees come only for the honey in the flower. Do not follow the way of the fly but that of the bee....
Mohammed married quite a number of wives afterwards. Great men may marry two hundred wives each. "Giants" like you, I would not allow to marry one wife. The characters of the great souls are mysterious, their methods past our finding out. We must not judge them. Christ may judge Mohammed. Who are you and I? Little babies. What do we understand of these great souls? ...
[Mohammedanism] came as a message for the masses. ... The first message was equality. ... There is one religion — love. No more question of race, colour, [or] anything else. Join it! That practical quality carried the day. ... The great message was perfectly simple. Believe in one God, the creator of heaven and earth. All was created out of nothing by Him. Ask no questions. ...
Their temples are like Protestant churches. ... no music, no paintings, no pictures. A pulpit in the corner; on that lies the Koran. The people all stand in line. No priest, no person, no bishop. ... The man who prays must stand at the side of the audience. Some parts are beautiful. ...
These old people were all messengers of God. I fall down and worship them; I take the dust of their feet. But they are dead! ... And we are alive. We must go ahead! ... Religion is not an imitation of Jesus or Mohammed. Even if an imitation is good, it is never genuine. Be not an imitation of Jesus, but be Jesus, You are quite as great as Jesus, Buddha, or anybody else. If we are not ... we must struggle and be. I would not be exactly like Jesus. It is unnecessary that I should be born a Jew. ...
The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves! If you do not exist, how can God exist, or anybody else? Wherever you are, it is this mind that perceives even the Infinite. I see God, therefore He exists. If I cannot think of God, He does not exist [for me]. This is the grand march of our human progress.
These [great souls] are signposts on the way. That is all they are. They say, "Onward, brothers!" We cling to them; we never want to move. We do not want to think; we want others to think for us. The messengers fulfil their mission. They ask to be up and doing. A hundred years later we cling to the message and go to sleep.
Talking about faith and belief and doctrine is easy, but it is so difficult to build character and to stem the tide of the senses. We succumb. We become hypocrites. ...
[Religion] is not a doctrine, [not] a rule. It is a process. That is all. [Doctrines and rules] are all for exercise. By that exercise we get strong and at last break the bonds and become free. Doctrine is of no use except for gymnastics. ... Through exercise the soul becomes perfect. That exercise is stopped when you say, "I believe." ...
"Whenever virtue subsides and immorality abounds, I take human form. In every age I come for the salvation of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, for the establishment of spirituality."
[Such] are the great messengers of light. They are our great teachers, our elder brothers. But we must go our own way!
Footnotes
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。