神在万物之中
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中文
第七章 神在万物之中
（1896年10月27日讲于伦敦）
我们已经看到，无论我们如何抵抗，我们生命中较大的部分必然充满了苦难；而这一切苦难对我们而言几乎是无边无际的。自洪荒之初，我们便一直致力于补救，然而一切依旧如故。我们发现的补救之道越多，便越发现自己被更微妙的苦难所围困。我们也已经看到，所有宗教都提出了一位神，作为摆脱这些困难的唯一途径。所有宗教都告诉我们，若你接受世界本来的面目——正如这个时代大多数实际的人所劝导的那样——那么留给我们的将只有苦难。它们进一步断言，在这个世界之外，还有某种东西。这种依托于五官的生命，这种物质世界中的生命，并非一切；它只是一小部分，而且仅仅是表层。在其背后与彼岸，是无限——那里再无苦难。有人称之为神，有人称之为安拉，有人称之为耶和华、朱庇特，等等。吠檀多（Vedanta）则称之为梵。
宗教给予我们的忠告，给我们的第一印象是：我们最好终止自己的存在。对于如何医治人生苦难这一问题，其答案看来是：放弃生命。这令人想起一个古老的故事：一只蚊子落在一个人的头上，有个朋友想要打死蚊子，却用力过猛，将人和蚊子一同打死了。这苦难的补救似乎暗示着类似的行动。生命充满了苦难，世界充满了恶；这是一个年岁已长、了解世界之人所无法否认的事实。
那么所有宗教提出的补救方法是什么？此世什么都不是。在此世之外，有某种非常真实的东西。困难由此而来。这补救之道似乎摧毁了一切。这怎么能算是补救？难道就没有出路了吗？吠檀多说，所有宗教所主张的都是完全正确的，但必须得到正确的理解。通常它被误解，因为宗教在其含义上并不十分清晰。我们真正需要的是头脑与心灵的结合。心灵诚然伟大；生命中伟大的灵感都是通过心灵而来的。我宁愿拥有少许心灵而无头脑，也不愿只有头脑而无心灵。对于有心灵的人，生命是可能的，进步是可能的；但那只有头脑而无心灵之人，终将在干涸中死去。
与此同时，我们知道，只被心灵驱动的人不得不经历许多苦难，因为他时不时地会陷入困境。我们所需要的是心灵与头脑的结合。我并非主张一个人应当以心灵牺牲头脑，或以头脑牺牲心灵，而是说每个人都应当拥有无限量的心灵与情感，同时也拥有无限量的理性。在这世界上，我们所渴求的难道有任何界限吗？世界不是无限的吗？有容纳无限情感的空间，同样也有容纳无限文化与理性的空间。让它们毫无限制地汇聚在一起，让它们如同并行之线，相互伴行。
大多数宗教都理解这一事实，然而它们看来都陷入了同样的错误：它们被心灵、被情感所席卷。世间有苦难，放弃世界吧；这是那伟大的教导，无疑也是唯一的教导。放弃世界。不可能有两种意见：为了理解真理，我们每个人都必须放弃错误。不可能有两种意见：我们每个人为了拥有善，必须放弃恶；不可能有两种意见：我们每个人为了拥有生命，必须放弃死亡。
然而，若这一理论涉及放弃感官生命、放弃我们所知的生命，那我们还剩下什么？除此之外，我们说的生命还指什么？若我们放弃了这一切，还剩下什么？
当我们稍后深入到吠檀多更具哲学性的部分时，我们将更好地理解这一点。但就目前而言，我请求陈述，在吠檀多中，我们找到了这一问题的理性解答。在这里，我只能向你们阐述吠檀多试图传授的教义，那就是世界的神化。吠檀多实际上并不谴责世界。舍弃的理想在任何地方都不像在吠檀多的教义中那样高远。然而与此同时，那种干燥的、自杀式的忠告并非其本意；它真正的意思是世界的神化——放弃我们所思所知的世界，放弃它在我们眼中的样子——并认识它真正是什么。神化它；这只不过是神。我们在最古老的奥义书（Upanishads）之一的开篇读到："此宇宙中凡存在之物，皆应以主覆之。"
我们必须以主自身来覆盖一切——不是凭一种虚假的乐观主义，不是遮住双眼对苦难视而不见，而是真正地在万物中见到神。如此，我们必须放弃世界，而当世界被放弃后，剩下的是什么？神。这意味着什么？你可以拥有你的妻子；这并不意味着你要抛弃她，而是说你要在妻子中看到神。放弃你的子女；这意味着什么？是将他们赶出门去——正如某些国家中某些人面目可憎的人类所做的那样？当然不是。那是魔鬼行径；那不是宗教。而是要在你的子女中见到神。如此，在万物之中皆然。在生与死中，在快乐与苦难中，主同等地临在。整个世界充满了主。睁开你的眼睛去见祂。这就是吠檀多所传授的。放弃你所推测的那个世界，因为你的推测建立于极为片面的经验、极为贫乏的推理、以及你自身的软弱之上。放弃它；那个我们长久以来所思考的、我们长久以来紧紧依附的世界，是我们自己创造的虚幻世界。放弃那个世界；睁开眼睛，你将看到它从来就不曾以那种方式存在；那是一场梦，是幻象[Maya]。真实存在的是主自身。是祂在孩子之中，在妻子之中，在丈夫之中；是祂在善人之中，在恶人之中；祂在罪中，在罪人身上；祂在生命中，在死亡中。
何等震撼人心的断言！然而这正是吠檀多所要论证、传授与宣扬的主题。这只是开篇的主题。
如此，我们避开了生命的危险与苦难。不要渴望任何东西。是什么使我们悲苦？一切苦难的根源是欲望。你渴望某物，而渴望未得满足；结果便是痛苦。若没有欲望，便没有苦难。但在这里，我同样有被误解的危险。因此有必要解释我所说的放弃欲望、从一切苦难中解脱的意思。墙壁没有欲望，它们从不受苦。不错，但它们也从不进化。这把椅子没有欲望，它从不受苦；但它始终是一把椅子。在快乐中有一种荣耀，在苦难中也有一种荣耀。如果我敢于这样说，苦难中也有一种效用。苦难中的伟大教训我们都知晓。我们一生中做过数百件我们希望从未做过的事，但与此同时，这些事都是伟大的导师。就我个人而言，我很庆幸自己做过一些善事，也做过许多坏事；庆幸做过一些正确的事，也庆幸犯过许多错误，因为每一件都是一个伟大的教训。此刻的我，是我所做、所思一切的结晶。每一个行动与思想都产生了其效果，而这些效果的总和便是我进步的全貌。
我们都明白欲望是错误的，但放弃欲望究竟是什么意思？生命又如何继续？那将是同样的自杀式忠告，杀死欲望也杀死了人。解决之道是这样的：并非说你不应有财产，并非说你不应有必需之物，甚至不应有奢侈之物。拥有你所渴望的一切，乃至更多，只要认识真理并实现它。财富并不属于任何人。不要有任何所有权、占有权的观念。你是无人，我也是，任何人也是。一切都属于主，因为开篇那节经文告诉我们要将主置于万物之中。神就在你所享有的财富中。祂就在你心中升起的欲望中。祂就在你为满足欲望而购买的物品中；祂在你美丽的服饰中，在你美丽的装饰中。这就是思考的路线。一旦你开始以那种眼光看待事物，整个景象就会改变，世界不再显现为一个充满苦难与悲哀的地方，而将成为天堂。
"神的国就在你们心里，"耶稣如是说；吠檀多如是说，每一位伟大的导师亦如是说。"有眼可看的，叫他看；有耳可听的，叫他听。"吠檀多证明，我们长久以来所寻觅的真理始终与我们同在，一直都在我们心中。在我们的无知中，我们以为失去了它，便走遍世界哭泣呼号，挣扎着寻找真理，而它始终栖居在我们自己的内心深处。唯在那里，我们才能找到它。
若我们以旧式、粗陋的方式来理解放弃世界，那便会是：我们不应工作，我们必须闲散，像土块一样坐着，不思不动，成为宿命论者，被每一种环境驱使，被自然法则命令，从一处漂流到另一处。那将是结果。但那并非其本意。我们必须工作。被虚妄欲望驱赶于处处的平凡之人，他们对工作了解多少？被自己的情感与感官驱策的人，对工作又知晓多少？他工作——他不被自己的欲望驱使，不被任何私心驱使。他工作——他从工作中无所求。
谁更能欣赏那幅画——卖家还是观赏者？卖家正忙于他的账目，计算他的收益，他将在这幅画上获利多少。他的脑子里全是这些。他盯着拍卖槌，注视着出价。他专注于听价格涨得有多快。那个没有任何购卖意图就来到此地的人，才是真正在欣赏这幅画的人。他注视着这幅画，享受它。所以整个宇宙就是一幅画，当这些欲望消失之后，人将享受这世界，那时这种买卖与这些占有的愚妄观念将会终结。放贷者消失了，买家消失了，卖家消失了，这世界仍是那幅画，一幅美丽的图画。我从未读过比以下更美丽的神的概念："祂是伟大的诗人，远古的诗人；整个宇宙是祂的诗篇，以诗节与韵律写就，沉浸在无限的喜乐之中。"当我们放弃了欲望，才能阅读并享受神的这幅宇宙图画。那时万物将被神化。我们以为黑暗不圣的角落、幽径与阴处，都将被神化。它们都将显露其真实本性，我们将嘲笑自己，想到这一切哭泣与痛哭不过是孩子的游戏，而我们只是站在旁边，袖手旁观。
那么，去工作吧，吠檀多如是说。它首先告诉我们如何工作——通过舍弃——舍弃那表面的、虚幻的世界。这是什么意思？在万处见到神。如此去工作。渴望活上百年，若你愿意，拥有一切世俗的欲望，只要将它们神化，将它们转化为天堂。渴望长久地活在这大地上，在助人、在喜乐与活跃中度过漫长的岁月。如此工作，你将找到出路。别无他途。若一个人在不知真理的情况下，一头扎进世界的愚妄奢靡中，他便失去了立足点，无法抵达目标。若一个人诅咒世界，遁入森林，折磨自己的肉身，用饥饿一点一点地自我毁灭，使自己的心灵成为荒芜之地，消灭一切情感，变得严苛、冷酷、干枯，那个人也迷失了道路。这是两种极端，是两端的两种错误。两者都已迷失方向，两者都已错过目标。
那么去工作吧，吠檀多如是说，将神置于万物之中，并知晓祂在万物之中。不懈工作，将生命视为某种神圣之物，视为神自身，并知晓这是我们所要做的一切，这是我们唯一应当渴求的。神在万物之中，我们还能去哪里找祂？祂已然在每一项工作中，在每一个思想中，在每一种情感中。如此知晓，我们必须工作——这是唯一的途径，别无他路。如此，工作的效果将不会束缚我们。我们已经看到，虚妄的欲望是我们所受一切苦难与苦难的根源，然而当它们如此通过神而被神化、纯化之后，便不再带来苦难，不再带来悲苦。那些尚未学到这一秘密的人，将不得不生活在一个魔鬼的世界中，直到他们发现它为止。许多人不知道在他们之中、在他们周围、在处处所蕴藏的那无尽的喜乐之矿；他们尚未发现它。什么是魔鬼的世界？吠檀多说，是无知。
我们在最强大的河流岸边渴死。我们坐在堆积如山的食物旁边饿死。这是喜乐的宇宙，然而我们却找不到它。我们始终置身其中，却始终将它认错。宗教的宗旨是为我们找到这一点。对这喜乐宇宙的渴望存在于一切心灵中。它一直是所有民族的追寻，是宗教的唯一目标，而这一理想以不同宗教中的不同语言来表达。只不过是语言的差异，造成了所有这些表面上的分歧。一个人以一种方式表达一种思想，另一个人略有不同，然而他们所表达的也许正是对方以不同语言所表达的同一意思。
与此相关，还有更多问题涌现出来。说起来容易。从幼年起，我便听说要在万处、在万物中见到神，那时我确实能够享受这世界；然而一旦我混入世间，被它打了几个拳头，这念头便烟消云散了。我走在街上，心想神就在每个人身上，一个强壮的男人走过来，一把推倒了我，我跌倒在人行道上。我随即爬起来，握紧拳头，血气上涌，那种反省便消失了。顷刻间我变得狂怒。一切都被遗忘了；我没有遇见神，而是看见了魔鬼。自我们有生以来，便被告知要在一切中见到神。每一种宗教都这样教导——在万事万物中、在一切地方见到神。你们难道不记得在《新约》中基督是如何说的吗？我们都被这样教导过；然而当我们来到实际层面，困难便开始了。你们都记得伊索寓言中，一头雄鹿伫立在湖边，注视着自己倒映在水中的身影，对它的幼鹿说："你看我多强壮，看我那壮丽的头颅，看我那四肢，多么有力而矫健；我奔跑得多么迅疾。"此时它听到远处犬吠，立刻拔腿而逃，跑了数里之后，才气喘吁吁地返回。幼鹿说："你刚才还说自己多强壮，犬吠一声，你为何逃跑了？""是的，我的孩子；然而犬吠一声，我所有的自信便消失了。"我们的处境正是如此。我们高度评价人类，自感强大英勇，作出宏大的决心；然而当考验与诱惑的"犬"吠叫起来，我们便如同寓言中的雄鹿。那么，若情形如此，传授这一切有什么用处？用处最大。用处在于：坚持不懈，终将得胜。没有一件事能在一日之内完成。
"此真我[Atman]首先应当被聆听，然后应当被思索，然后应当被默想。"每个人都能看见天空，即便是在地上爬行的虫子也能看见那片蓝天，然而它是多么遥远！我们的理想也是如此。它固然遥远，然而与此同时，我们知道我们必须拥有它。我们甚至必须拥有最高的理想。不幸的是，在这种生活中，绝大多数人都在摸索于这黑暗的人生中，根本没有任何理想。若一个有理想的人犯了一千个错误，我相信那个没有理想的人会犯五万个错误。因此，拥有一个理想比较好。而这个理想，我们必须尽可能多地聆听，直到它进入我们的心灵，进入我们的大脑，进入我们的血液，直到它在我们每一滴血中涌动，渗透我们身体的每一个毛孔。我们必须默想它。"心里所充满的，口里就说出来"，而且心里所充满的，手也会去做。
思想是驱使我们的动力。以最崇高的思想充满心灵，日复一日地聆听它们，月复一月地思索它们。失败无妨；失败是自然的，是生命的美丽所在，这些失败。没有这些，生命将是什么？若没有挣扎，生命将毫不值得拥有。生命的诗意将在哪里？不要在意挣扎与错误。我从未听说一头牛说谎，但它只是一头牛——而非人。所以不要在意这些失败、这些小小的滑倒；坚守理想一千次，若你失败一千次，就再试一次。人的理想是在万物中见到神。然而若你无法在万物中见到祂，就在一件事中见到祂，在你最喜爱的那件事中，然后再在另一件事中见到祂。如此，你可以继续前进。灵魂面前有无限的生命。从容不迫，你终将达成你的目标。
"那一位，其振动比心灵更迅速，其速度超越心灵所能企及，连诸神都无法到达，连思想都无法把握，祂运动，万物皆动。万物存在于祂之中。祂在运动。祂亦不动。祂近在咫尺，祂远在天边。祂在万物内部。祂在万物外部，贯通万物。凡在每一个生命中都见到那同一真我[Atman]的人，凡在那真我[Atman]中见到万物的人，他永不会远离那真我[Atman]。当一切生命与整个宇宙都在这真我[Atman]中被看见，唯在那时，人才参透了这奥秘。对他而言，再无迷惑。对于见到这宇宙中之一体者，哪里还有任何苦难？"
这是吠檀多的另一个宏大主题——生命的一体性，万物的一体性。我们将看到它如何论证，我们所有的苦难都源于无知，而这无知正是多元分立的观念，正是人与人之间、民族与民族之间、大地与月亮之间、月亮与太阳之间的隔离。这种原子与原子之间的隔离观念，造成了一切苦难。然而吠檀多说，这种隔离并不存在，它不是真实的。它只是表面的，在表层之上。在万物的心底，仍有统一。若你深入表层之下，你将发现人与人之间、种族与种族之间、高贵与卑微之间、富裕与贫穷之间、神明与人类之间、人类与动物之间的统一。若你走得足够深，所有的一切都将被看作那唯一者的不同变化；而参透了这一体性概念的人，再无迷惑。什么能够迷惑他？他知晓万物的实相，万物的奥秘。对他而言，还有什么苦难？他所渴望的是什么？他已将万物的实相追溯到主——万物的中心、万物的统一——那是永恒的存在、永恒的智慧、永恒的喜乐。其中既无死亡，也无疾病，既无悲苦，也无苦难，亦无不满。万物是完美的统一，完美的喜乐。那么他还要为谁哀悼？在实相之中，没有死亡，没有苦难；在实相之中，没有需要哀悼的人，没有需要为之悲伤的人。祂穿透了万物，那纯净者，那无形者，那无身者，那无垢者。祂是知者，祂是伟大的诗人，那自存者，祂给予每个人应得之物。那些崇拜这无知世界的人——那从无知中产生的世界，将其视为存在——在黑暗中摸索；而那些将整个生命消耗于此世、从未找到任何更好或更高之物的人，则在更深的黑暗中摸索。然而，那知晓大自然奥秘、通过大自然的帮助而看见超越大自然之物的人，他越过了死亡；通过超越大自然之物的帮助，他享受着永恒的喜乐。"太阳啊，你以你金色的圆盘遮住了真理，请你移去面纱，使我得以看见那在你之中的真理。我已认识那在你之中的真理，我已知晓你那光芒与荣耀的真实含义，并已见到那在你之中闪耀的东西；你之中的真理我见到了，而那在你之中的，也在我之中，我就是那。"
English
CHAPTER VII
GOD IN EVERYTHING
( Delivered in London, 27th October 1896 )
We have seen how the greater portion of our life must of necessity be filled with evils, however we may resist, and that this mass of evil is practically almost infinite for us. We have been struggling to remedy this since the beginning of time, yet everything remains very much the same. The more we discover remedies, the more we find ourselves beset by subtler evils. We have also seen that all religions propose a God, as the one way of escaping these difficulties. All religions tell us that if you take the world as it is, as most practical people would advise us to do in this age, then nothing would be left to us but evil. They further assert that there is something beyond this world. This life in the five senses, life in the material world, is not all; it is only a small portion, and merely superficial. Behind and beyond is the Infinite in which there is no more evil. Some people call It God, some Allah, some Jehovah, Jove, and so on. The Vedantin calls It Brahman.
The first impression we get of the advice given by religions is that we had better terminate our existence. To the question how to cure the evils of life, the answer apparently is, give up life. It reminds one of the old story. A mosquito settled on the head of a man, and a friend, wishing to kill the mosquito, gave it such a blow that he killed both man and mosquito. The remedy of evil seems to suggest a similar course of action. Life is full of ills, the world is full of evils; that is a fact no one who is old enough to know the world can deny.
But what is remedy proposed by all the religions? That this world is nothing. Beyond this world is something which is very real. Here comes the difficulty. The remedy seems to destroy everything. How can that be a remedy? Is there no way out then? The Vedanta says that what all the religions advance is perfectly true, but it should be properly understood. Often it is misunderstood, because the religions are not very clear in their meaning. What we really want is head and heart combined. The heart is great indeed; it is through the heart that come the great inspirations of life. I would a hundred times rather have a little heart and no brain, than be all brains and no heart. Life is possible, progress is possible for him who has heart, but he who has no heart and only brains dies of dryness.
At the same time we know that he who is carried along by his heart alone has to undergo many ills, for now and then he is liable to tumble into pitfalls. The combination of heart and head is what we want. I do not mean that a man should compromise his heart for his brain or vice versa, but let everyone have an infinite amount of heart and feeling, and at the same time an infinite amount of reason. Is there any limit to what we want in this world? Is not the world infinite? There is room for an infinite amount of feeling, and so also for an infinite amount of culture and reason. Let them come together without limit, let them be running together, as it were, in parallel lines each with the other.
Most of the religions understand the fact, but the error into which they all seem to fall is the same; they are carried away by the heart, the feelings. There is evil in the world, give up the world; that is the great teaching, and the only teaching, no doubt. Give up the world. There cannot be two opinions that to understand the truth everyone of us has to give up error. There cannot be two opinions that everyone of us in order to have good must give up evil; there cannot be two opinions that everyone of us to have life must give up what is death.
And yet, what remains to us, if this theory involves giving up the life of the senses, the life as we know it? And what else do we mean by life? If we give this up, what remains?
We shall understand this better, when, later on, we come to the more philosophical portions of the Vedanta. But for the present I beg to state that in Vedanta alone we find a rational solution of the problem. Here I can only lay before you what the Vedanta seeks to teach, and that is the deification of the world. The Vedanta does not in reality denounce the world. The ideal of renunciation nowhere attains such a height as in the teachings of the Vedanta. But, at the same time, dry suicidal advice is not intended; it really means deification of the world — giving up the world as we think of it, as we know it, as it appears to us — and to know what it really is. Deify it; it is God alone. We read at the commencement of one of the oldest of the Upanishads, "Whatever exists in this universe is to be covered with the Lord."
We have to cover everything with the Lord Himself, not by a false sort of optimism, not by blinding our eyes to the evil, but by really seeing God in everything. Thus we have to give up the world, and when the world is given up, what remains? God. What is meant? You can have your wife; it does not mean that you are to abandon her, but that you are to see God in the wife. Give up your children; what does that mean? To turn them out of doors, as some human brutes do in every country? Certainly not. That is diabolism; it is not religion. But see God in your children. So, in everything. In life and in death, in happiness and in misery, the Lord is equally present. The whole world is full of the Lord. Open your eyes and see Him. This is what Vedanta teaches. Give up the world which you have conjectured, because your conjecture was based upon a very partial experience, upon very poor reasoning, and upon your own weakness. Give it up; the world we have been thinking of so long, the world to which we have been clinging so long, is a false world of our own creation. Give that up; open your eyes and see that as such it never existed; it was a dream, Maya. What existed was the Lord Himself. It is He who is in the child, in the wife, and in the husband; it is He who is in the good and in the bad; He is in the sin and in the sinner; He is in life and in death.
A tremendous assertion indeed! Yet that is the theme which the Vedanta wants to demonstrate, to teach, and to preach. This is just the opening theme.
Thus we avoid the dangers of life and its evils. Do not desire anything. What makes us miserable? The cause of all miseries from which we suffer is desire. You desire something, and the desire is not fulfilled; the result is distress. If there is no desire, there is no suffering. But here, too, there is the danger of my being misunderstood. So it is necessary to explain what I mean by giving up desire and becoming free from all misery. The walls have no desire and they never suffer. True, but they never evolve. This chair has no desires, it never suffers; but it is always a chair. There is a glory in happiness, there is a glory in suffering. If I may dare to say so, there is a utility in evil too. The great lesson in misery we all know. There are hundreds of things we have done in our lives which we wish we had never done, but which, at the same time, have been great teachers. As for me, I am glad I have done something good and many things bad; glad I have done something right, and glad I have committed many errors, because every one of them has been a great lesson. I, as I am now, am the resultant of all I have done, all I have thought. Every action and thought have had their effect, and these effects are the sum total of my progress.
We all understand that desires are wrong, but what is meant by giving up desires? How could life go on? It would be the same suicidal advice, killing the desire and the man too. The solution is this. Not that you should not have property, not that you should not have things which are necessary and things which are even luxuries. Have all that you want, and more, only know the truth and realise it. Wealth does not belong to anybody. Have no idea of proprietorship, possessorship. You are nobody, nor am I, nor anyone else. All belongs to the Lord, because the opening verse told us to put the Lord in everything. God is in the wealth that you enjoy. He is in the desire that rises in your mind. He is in the things you buy to satisfy your desire; He is in your beautiful attire, in your beautiful ornaments. This is the line of thought. All will be metamorphosed as soon as you begin to see things in that light. If you put God in your every movement, in your conversation, in your form, in everything, the whole scene changes, and the world, instead of appearing as one of woe and misery, will become a heaven.
"The kingdom of heaven is within you," says Jesus; so says the Vedanta, and every great teacher. "He that hath eyes to see, let him see, and he that hath ears to hear, let him hear." The Vedanta proves that the truth for which we have been searching all this time is present, and was all the time with us. In our ignorance, we thought we had lost it, and went about the world crying and weeping, struggling to find the truth, while all along it was dwelling in our own hearts. There alone can we find it.
If we understand the giving up of the world in its old, crude sense, then it would come to this: that we must not work, that we must be idle, sitting like lumps of earth, neither thinking nor doing anything, but must become fatalists, driven about by every circumstance, ordered about by the laws of nature, drifting from place to place. That would be the result. But that is not what is meant. We must work. Ordinary mankind, driven everywhere by false desire, what do they know of work? The man propelled by his own feelings and his own senses, what does he know about work? He works, who is not propelled by his own desires, by any selfishness whatsoever. He works, who has no ulterior motive in view. He works, who has nothing to gain from work.
Who enjoys the picture, the seller or the seer? The seller is busy with his accounts, computing what his gain will be, how much profit he will realise on the picture. His brain is full of that. He is looking at the hammer, and watching the bids. He is intent on hearing how fast the bids are rising. That man is enjoying the picture who has gone there without any intention of buying or selling. He looks at the picture and enjoys it. So this whole universe is a picture, and when these desires have vanished, men will enjoy the world, and then this buying and selling and these foolish ideas of possession will be ended. The money-lender gone, the buyer gone, the seller gone, this world remains the picture, a beautiful painting. I never read of any more beautiful conception of God than the following: "He is the Great Poet, the Ancient Poet; the whole universe is His poem, coming in verses and rhymes and rhythms, written in infinite bliss." When we have given up desires, then alone shall we be able to read and enjoy this universe of God. Then everything will become deified. Nooks and corners, by-ways and shady places, which we thought dark and unholy, will be all deified. They will all reveal their true nature, and we shall smile at ourselves and think that all this weeping and crying has been but child's play, and we were only standing by, watching.
So, do your work, says the Vedanta. It first advises us how to work — by giving up — giving up the apparent, illusive world. What is meant by that? Seeing God everywhere. Thus do you work. Desire to live a hundred years, have all earthly desires, if you wish, only deify them, convert them into heaven. Have the desire to live a long life of helpfulness, of blissfulness and activity on this earth. Thus working, you will find the way out. There is no other way. If a man plunges headlong into foolish luxuries of the world without knowing the truth, he has missed his footing, he cannot reach the goal. And if a man curses the world, goes into a forest, mortifies his flesh, and kills himself little by little by starvation, makes his heart a barren waste, kills out all feelings, and becomes harsh, stern, and dried-up, that man also has missed the way. These are the two extremes, the two mistakes at either end. Both have lost the way, both have missed the goal.
So work, says the Vedanta, putting God in everything, and knowing Him to be in everything. Work incessantly, holding life as something deified, as God Himself, and knowing that this is all we have to do, this is all we should ask for. God is in everything, where else shall we go to find Him? He is already in every work, in every thought, in every feeling. Thus knowing, we must work — this is the only way, there is no other. Thus the effects of work will not bind us. We have seen how false desires are the cause of all the misery and evil we suffer, but when they are thus deified, purified, through God, they bring no evil, they bring no misery. Those who have not learnt this secret will have to live in a demoniacal world until they discover it. Many do not know what an infinite mine of bliss is in them, around them, everywhere; they have not yet discovered it. What is a demoniacal world? The Vedanta says, ignorance.
We are dying of thirst sitting on the banks of the mightiest river. We are dying of hunger sitting near heaps of food. Here is the blissful universe, yet we do not find it. We are in it all the time, and we are always mistaking it. Religion proposes to find this out for us. The longing for this blissful universe is in all hearts. It has been the search of all nations, it is the one goal of religion, and this ideal is expressed in various languages in different religions. It is only the difference of language that makes all these apparent divergences. One expresses a thought in one way, another a little differently, yet perhaps each is meaning exactly what the other is expressing in a different language.
More questions arise in connection with this. It is very easy to talk. From my childhood I have heard of seeing God everywhere and in everything, and then I can really enjoy the world, but as soon as I mix with the world, and get a few blows from it, the idea vanishes. I am walking in the street thinking that God is in every man, and a strong man comes along and gives me a push and I fall flat on the footpath. Then I rise up quickly with clenched fist, the blood has rushed to my head, and the reflection goes. Immediately I have become mad. Everything is forgotten; instead of encountering God I see the devil. Ever since we were born we have been told to see God in all. Every religion teaches that — see God in everything and everywhere. Do you not remember in the New Testament how Christ says so? We have all been taught that; but it is when we come to the practical side, that the difficulty begins. You all remember how in Æesop's Fables a fine stag is looking at his form reflected in a lake and is saying to his young one, "How powerful I am, look at my splendid head, look at my limbs, how strong and muscular they are; and how swiftly I can run." In the meantime he hears the barking of dogs in the distance, and immediately takes to his heels, and after he has run several miles, he comes back panting. The young one says, "You just told me how strong you were, how was it that when the dog barked, you ran away?" "Yes, my son; but when the dogs bark all my confidence vanishes." Such is the case with us. We think highly of humanity, we feel ourselves strong and valiant, we make grand resolves; but when the "dogs" of trial and temptation bark, we are like the stag in the fable. Then, if such is the case, what is the use of teaching all these things? There is the greatest use. The use is this, that perseverance will finally conquer. Nothing can be done in a day.
"This Self is first to be heard, then to be thought upon, and then meditated upon." Everyone can see the sky, even the very worm crawling upon the earth sees the blue sky, but how very far away it is! So it is with our ideal. It is far away, no doubt, but at the same time, we know that we must have it. We must even have the highest ideal. Unfortunately in this life, the vast majority of persons are groping through this dark life without any ideal at all. If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to have an ideal. And this ideal we must hear about as much as we can, till it enters into our hearts, into our brains, into our very veins, until it tingles in every drop of our blood and permeates every pore in our body. We must meditate upon it. "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh," and out of the fullness of the heart the hand works too.
It is thought which is the propelling force in us. Fill the mind with the highest thoughts, hear them day after day, think them month after month. Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life, these failures. What would life be without them? It would not be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would be the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow — never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more. The ideal of man is to see God in everything. But if you cannot see Him in everything, see Him in one thing, in that thing which you like best, and then see Him in another. So on you can go. There is infinite life before the soul. Take your time and you will achieve your end.
"He, the One, who vibrates more quickly than mind, who attains to more speed than mind can ever do, whom even the gods reach not, nor thought grasps, He moving, everything moves. In Him all exists. He is moving. He is also immovable. He is near and He is far. He is inside everything. He is outside everything, interpenetrating everything. Whoever sees in every being that same Atman, and whoever sees everything in that Atman, he never goes far from that Atman. When all life and the whole universe are seen in this Atman, then alone man has attained the secret. There is no more delusion for him. Where is any more misery for him who sees this Oneness in the universe?"
This is another great theme of the Vedanta, this Oneness of life, this Oneness of everything. We shall see how it demonstrates that all our misery comes through ignorance, and this ignorance is the idea of manifoldness, this separation between man and man, between nation and nation, between earth and moon, between moon and sun. Out of this idea of separation between atom and atom comes all misery. But the Vedanta says this separation does not exist, it is not real. It is merely apparent, on the surface. In the heart of things there is Unity still. If you go below the surface, you find that Unity between man and man, between races and races, high and low, rich and poor, gods and men, and men and animals. If you go deep enough, all will be seen as only variations of the One, and he who has attained to this conception of Oneness has no more delusion. What can delude him? He knows the reality of everything, the secret of everything. Where is there any more misery for him? What does he desire? He has traced the reality of everything to the Lord, the Centre, the Unity of everything, and that is Eternal Existence, Eternal Knowledge, Eternal Bliss. Neither death nor disease, nor sorrow, nor misery, nor discontent is there. All is Perfect Union and Perfect Bliss. For whom should he mourn then? In the Reality, there is no death, there is no misery; in the Reality, there is no one to mourn for, no one to be sorry for. He has penetrated everything, the Pure One, the Formless, the Bodiless, the Stainless. He the Knower, He the Great Poet, the Self-Existent, He who is giving to everyone what he deserves. They grope in darkness who worship this ignorant world, the world that is produced out of ignorance, thinking of it as Existence, and those who live their whole lives in this world, and never find anything better or higher, are groping in still greater darkness. But he who knows the secret of nature, seeing That which is beyond nature through the help of nature, he crosses death, and through the help of That which is beyond nature, he enjoys Eternal Bliss. "Thou sun, who hast covered the Truth with thy golden disc, do thou remove the veil, so that I may see the Truth that is within thee. I have known the Truth that is within thee, I have known what is the real meaning of thy rays and thy glory and have seen That which shines in thee; the Truth in thee I see, and That which is within thee is within me, and I am That."
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。