加尔各答欢迎致辞与回复
本译文由人工智能辅助工具生成，可能存在不准确之处。如需查阅权威文本，请参考英文原文。
AI-translated. May contain errors. For accurate text, refer to the original English.
中文
加尔各答欢迎辞及答词
辨喜抵达加尔各答时，受到民众的热烈欢迎，沿途装饰一新的街道上人潮涌动，皆争睹其风采。官方欢迎仪式于一周后举行，地点设于已故拉贾·拉达·坎塔·德布·巴哈杜尔在绍巴集市的宅邸，由拉贾·贝诺伊·克里希纳·德布·巴哈杜尔主持。主席作简短开场白后，宣读了以下欢迎辞，并以银匣盛装呈献：
亲爱的兄弟，
我等，加尔各答及孟加拉其他地方的印度教信众，欣然迎您归来故土。我等既怀骄傲，亦存感激，因您以高贵的事业与人格，在世界各地不仅为我等之宗教增添了荣光，亦使我等之国家、尤其是我等之省份倍感荣耀。
一八九三年，于芝加哥世界博览会上举办的宗教议会，乃一伟大盛会，您在会上阐扬了雅利安宗教的原理。您所呈示的内容，对大多数听众而言，无异于一次启示；其表达方式，兼具优雅与力量，令人叹服。或有人持怀疑态度，或有人提出批评，然其总体影响，在广大知识层的美国人中间，引发了宗教观念的深刻变革。新的光明照亮了他们的心灵，他们秉持一贯的热忱与对真理的热爱，决意善加利用这一良机。您的机缘日益广阔，事业不断拓展。您须一一回应许多城市、许多州的召唤，解答诸多疑问，消除诸多疑虑，化解诸多困难。这一切工作，您以精力、才干与诚意完成之，并已结出长远之果。您的教导深刻影响了美国社会中许多开明的圈子，激励了思想与探索，并在许多方面切实改变了宗教观念，使印度教理想愈发获得认可。在遥远的西方，宗教比较研究与灵性真理探索的俱乐部与社团迅速兴起，此即您劳作之见证。您可谓是伦敦一所传授吠檀多（Vedanta）哲学学院的创立者。您的演讲定期举行，听众踊跃，广受好评。其影响已超越讲堂的四壁。您在伦敦的学生于您离英前夕向您呈献欢送辞，其中所表达的深挚爱戴，便是您教导所激发的情感之明证。
您作为导师（Guru）的成功，不仅源于您对雅利安宗教真理的深刻通达，以及您在演讲与著述方面的精湛技艺，更在很大程度上源于您的人格。您的演讲、文章与著作，在灵性与文学两方面均有极高价值，其影响自是必然。然而，使这一影响更臻深远、难以言喻的，是您那简朴、真诚、舍己的生命榜样，是您的谦逊、虔诚与热忱。
在颂扬您传授我等宗教崇高真理的功绩之际，我等深感有必要向您的恩师——室利·罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨（Ramakrishna Paramahamsa）——致以崇高的敬意。我等在某种意义上也要归功于他才有了您。凭借他那罕见的洞察力，他早早发现了您心中的圣火，并预言了您将成就的事业——如今这一预言正在欣然实现。正是他开启了上天赐予您的灵视与圣赋，引导您的思想与志向走向那有待圣手触发的境界，并在无形之域中辅佐了您的修行。他留给后世最珍贵的遗产，便是您本人。
奋进吧，高贵的灵魂，在您所选择的道路上，坚定而勇毅地前行。您还有一个世界待您征服。您须向无知者、怀疑者与故意蒙昧者阐释并捍卫印度教的宗教。您以令我等折服的精神开创了这一事业，并已取得许多土地所见证的成就。然而，尚有许多工作有待完成；我等自己的国家，更确切地说，您自己的国家，在等待着您。印度教宗教的真理有待向大批印度教信众自身加以阐扬。因此，请振奋精神，迎接这一伟大的使命。我等对您及我等事业的正义性充满信心。我等的民族宗教不追求任何物质上的胜利。其目的在于灵性；其武器是一种对物质眼光而言隐而不见、唯有深思的理性方能触及的真理。请呼吁世界，并在必要时呼吁印度教徒自身，开启内在的慧眼，超越感官的局限，正确研读圣典，直面至上实在，认识并实现自身作为人的地位与命运。没有人比您更适合发出这一觉醒的呼唤，我等唯有向您保证，对于这一显然是上天所赋予您的使命，我等将给予全心全意的支持与忠诚的合作。
我等谨此，亲爱的兄弟，
您挚爱的友人与仰慕者。
辨喜的答词如下：
人总希望将个体消融于宇宙之中，总希望舍弃一切，奋然飞去，斩断与往日身心的一切牵绊，竭力忘记自己不过是个凡人；然而，在他内心深处，有一声柔和的音响，有一根弦在振动，有一声低语在诉说——无论身在东方还是西方，家，才是最温暖的归处。这帝国首都的市民们，我站在您们面前，不是以一位游方僧（Sannyasin）的身份，也不是以一位传道者的身份，而是以同一个加尔各答男孩的身份前来，如同往昔那般与您们倾心交谈。啊，我真想坐在这座城市街头的尘土中，以孩提般的自由，向我的兄弟们敞开心扉。因此，请接受我对您们所用"兄弟"这一独特字眼的衷心感谢。是的，我是您们的兄弟，您们也是我的兄弟。在我临行前夕，一位英国友人问我："辨喜，在经历了西方那奢华、辉煌、强大的四年之后，您现在如何看待您的祖国？"我只能答道："我在离开之前便已深爱印度。如今，印度的尘土对我而言已变得神圣，印度的空气对我而言也已变得神圣；它现在是圣土，是朝圣之地，是圣域（Tirtha）。"加尔各答的市民们——我的兄弟们——我无以言表对您们所给予我的厚爱的感激之情；或者说，我根本不该向您们道谢，因为您们是我的兄弟，您们只是尽了兄弟之道，是的，只是尽了一个印度教兄弟之道；因为这样的家族纽带，这样的人伦关系，这样的深情厚谊，在我们祖国的疆界之外，世间再无处可觅。
宗教议会无疑是一件大事。从这片土地的各个城市，我们向组织这次会议的绅士们表达了感谢，他们对我们的慷慨款待实至名归；但请允许我为您们解读宗教议会的历史真相。他们想要一匹骏马，并想骑上它。其中有些人希望把它办成一场异教徒的展览，但事情并非如此发展，也不可能如此。他们大多数人是善意的，但我们已经对他们表达了足够的感谢。
另一方面，我在美国的使命并不在于宗教议会。那不过是一个契机，是一扇开启之门，为此我们对议会成员深表感激；但我们真正应当感谢的，是美利坚合众国的伟大人民，是美国这个热情好客、博大宽厚的伟大民族。在那里，兄弟情谊的感受比任何地方都更为深厚。一位美国人在火车上与您相遇五分钟，便成了您的朋友，下一刻便邀请您到他家中作客，向您袒露他全部的生活秘密。这便是美国人的性格，我们对此深感敬佩。他们对我的善待，实难一一言述，我需要多年时间才能向您们讲完他们是如何以最仁厚、最奇妙的方式待我的。同样，我们也要感谢大西洋彼岸的另一个民族。我登上英国土地时，对那个民族的憎恨，恐怕无人能及；台上在座的英国友人可以为此作证；但我越是与他们共处，越是看清这部机器的运转方式——英国的民族生活——越是深入与他们交往，我便越是找到了这个民族的心跳所在，也越来越爱戴他们。我的兄弟们，在座诸位中，没有人比我现在更爱英国人民了。您们必须去看看那里发生的一切，您们必须与他们接触融合。正如我们的民族哲学——吠檀多哲学——将一切不幸、一切苦难都归结为同一根源——无明（Avidya）——在此处我们同样必须认识到，我们与英国人之间产生的种种隔阂，大多也源于这种无明；我们不了解他们，他们也不了解我们。
不幸的是，在西方人的思维中，灵性乃至道德与世俗的繁荣永远是联系在一起的；因此，一旦英国人或任何其他西方人踏上我们的土地，看到一片贫穷与苦难，便立刻断定这里不可能有宗教，甚至不可能有任何道德。他的经验对于他所在的地方是真实的。在欧洲，由于气候的恶劣与其他种种原因，贫困与罪恶往往并行，但在印度则不然。就我的亲身经历而言，在印度，一个人越是贫穷，在道德上往往越是高尚。这一点需要时间来理解，而又有多少外国人愿意停下脚步来理解这一点——这关乎印度民族存在之秘密的关键之处？愿意有耐心深入研究这个民族并加以理解的人，实属凤毛麟角。在这里，也只有在这里，才有这样一个民族，贫穷不意味着犯罪，贫穷不意味着罪孽；在这里，不仅贫穷不意味着犯罪，而且贫穷已被神圣化，乞丐的袈裟便是这片土地上至高者所着之衣。另一方面，我们也同样须以耐心研究西方的社会制度，而不是对其作出狂妄的评判。他们男女两性的交往，他们各异的风俗习惯，若您有耐心加以研究，皆有其深意，皆有其宏大的面向。并非我的意思是我们要效仿他们的礼俗，也非他们要效仿我们的礼俗，因为各民族的礼俗习惯，皆是该民族历经数百年耐心成长的产物，每一种习俗背后都有深刻的意义；因此，他们不应嘲笑我们的礼俗，我们也不应嘲笑他们的礼俗。
此外，我还要在这一集会上作另一声明。我在英国的工作比在美国更令我满意。那位大胆、勇敢而坚定的英国人——如果我可以这样说——脑壳比别人厚了一点点——一旦有一个想法进入他的头脑，就永远不会出来；而这个民族那无与伦比的实干精神与活力，会使这个想法发芽生长，随即结出果实。其他任何国家都不是这样。那种无比的实干精神，那种无比的民族活力，在别处是看不到的。想象力或许少一些，但行动力更强，谁又能知晓英国人心底的源泉、主动力呢？那里有多少想象力与情感！他们是一个英雄的民族，他们是真正的刹帝利（Kshatriyas）；他们的教育是掩藏自己的情感，永不流露。从孩提时代起，他们便接受这样的教育。您很少看到一个英国人流露情感，就连英国女性也是如此。我曾见过英国女性从事某些工作，做出某些举动，足以令最勇敢的孟加拉人望而却步。但在这英雄的外表之下，在这斗士的铠甲之后，英国人的心中有一股深沉的情感之泉。如果您一旦知道如何触及它，如果您抵达那里，如果您与他有私人的接触，与他水乳交融，他便会向您敞开心扉，成为您永远的朋友，成为您的仆人。因此，依我之见，我在英国的工作比在任何其他地方都更令我满意。我坚信，即便我明日辞世，英国的事业也不会消亡，而会不断拓展，持续壮大。
兄弟们，您们触动了我心中的另一根弦——最深的那根——那便是提到了我的导师，我的师尊，我的英雄，我的理想，我生命中的神——室利·罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨。若我有所成就，无论是通过思想、言语还是行动，无论我的唇间曾落下哪怕一句话曾帮助过世上的任何人，我对此不敢居功，那一切都是他的。但若我的唇间曾降落过诅咒，若我曾流露出憎恨，那都是我自己的，而非他的。所有软弱的，都是我的；所有赋予生命、增人力量、纯净圣洁的，都是他的感召、他的言语，是他本人。是的，朋友们，世界尚未认识那个人。我们在世界历史中读到先知们的生平，这些记述经由他们弟子数百年的著述与传扬，流传至今。经过数千年的雕琢与塑造，古代伟大先知们的生平流传于世；然而依我之见，没有任何一位在光辉上能与那段生平相比——那是我以自己的双眼亲见的，是我曾在其荫蔽下生活的，是我在其足前学得一切的生平——那便是罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨的生平。是的，朋友们，你们都知道薄伽梵歌（Bhagavad Gita）中那脍炙人口的名句：
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मासंस्थापनार्थाय संभवािम युगे युगे ॥
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मासंस्थापनार्थाय संभवािम युगे युगे ॥
"婆罗多（Bharata）之苗裔啊，每当法（Dharma）衰微，无法（Adharma）兴起之时，我便化身示现。为护善人，为诛邪恶，为重建法，我在每一个时代降临世间。"
还有一件事，您们须与此一同理解。在这样一股灵性潮流到来之前，社会各处都会出现较小规模显现的漩涡。其中一个漩涡出现了，起初不为人知，不被察觉，也无人想到，渐渐扩展壮大，仿佛将其他所有小漩涡一一吞并融合，变得无比浩大，化作一股洪潮，以任何力量都无法抗拒的威势冲击着社会。这一切正在我们面前发生。若您有眼，便会看见。若您的心是敞开的，便会接纳它。若您是求真者，便会找到它。对时代征兆视而不见者，真是盲目至极！啊，这个出生于贫寒婆罗门家庭、来自一个鲜有人知的偏僻村庄的孩子，如今正在那些曾数百年大力抨击异教崇拜的土地上，被人们顶礼膜拜。这是谁的力量？是我的，还是你们的？这不是别的，正是在此间以罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨的形式显现的力量。因为，您我，以及圣者、先知，乃至化身（Incarnations），整个宇宙，不过是或多或少个体化、或多或少集中化的力量的显现。这里出现了一种巨大力量的显现，我们所见到的不过是其运作的开端，在这一代人离世之前，您们将会看到那股力量更为奇异的运作。它恰逢其时地降临，是为了印度的复兴，因为我们时常忘记那股在印度必须永远运作的生命活力。
每个民族都有其独特的运作方式。有些通过政治，有些通过社会改革，有些通过其他途径。对我们而言，宗教是我们唯一可以行进的轨道。英国人甚至能够通过政治来理解宗教。或许美国人甚至能够通过社会改革来理解宗教。但印度教徒即便是政治，也只有通过宗教的形式才能理解；社会学必须经由宗教而来，万事万物都必须经由宗教而来。因为那是主旋律，其余的不过是民族生命乐章中的变奏。而那主旋律正面临危险。我们似乎即将改变民族生命中的这一主旋律，似乎即将以某种交换来替换我们存在的脊梁，似乎在试图以政治的脊梁取代灵性的脊梁。若此举得逞，其结果将是彻底的消亡。但事情并非如此。因此，这股力量显现了。我不在意您以怎样的眼光看待这位伟大的圣者，也不在意您对他表达多少敬意，但我当面挑战您，以这一事实为凭：这里显现的是数百年来在印度最为奇异的力量，而您身为印度教徒，有责任研究这股力量，去发现通过它为印度的复兴、为印度的福祉、为全人类的福祉所成就的一切。啊，早在世界任何国家就普世宗教与不同派别之间的兄弟情谊发表意见与讨论之前，就在这座城市的近旁，已有一位人物用他整个生命活出了一场应有之义的宗教议会。
在我们的经典中，最高的理想是无人格性（the impersonal），愿此间每一位都崇高到足以实现那无人格的理想；但既然这无法普遍实现，绝大多数人就绝对有必要拥有一个有人格的理想；而没有任何一个民族能够崛起、能够伟大、能够有所作为，除非满怀热忱地集结在生命中某一伟大理想的旗帜之下。政治理想、代表政治理想的人物，乃至社会理想、商业理想，在印度都不会产生力量。我们需要灵性理想在前方引领，我们需要满怀热忱地汇聚在伟大的灵性名字周围。我们的英雄必须是灵性的。这样一位英雄已在罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨身上给予了我们。若这个民族想要崛起，请相信我的话，它必须满怀热忱地凝聚在这个名字周围。传扬罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨的是谁，无关紧要，无论是我，是您，还是任何其他人。但我将他置于您们面前，由您们来评判，并为了我们种族的福祉、为了我们民族的福祉，请您们现在就评判，您们将以这一伟大的生命理想如何处置。有一件事我们要记住，那便是这是您们曾经见过的，或者让我更明确地说，是您们曾经读到的最纯净的生命。而摆在您们面前的事实是，这是您们所能读到的、更遑论期望亲见的最奇妙的灵魂力量的显现。在他离世后的十年之内，这股力量已经环绕了整个地球；这一事实就在您们面前。因此，出于对我们种族的责任，出于对我们宗教的责任，我将这一伟大的灵性理想置于您们面前。请不要通过我来评判他。我不过是一件微弱的器皿。不要以我来评判他的品格。他是如此伟大，即便我或他的任何一位弟子花费数百世的时间，也无法对他的真实面目作出百万分之一的公正呈现。请您们自行评判；在您们内心深处，有永恒的见证者，愿他——那同一位罗摩克里希纳·帕若摩汉萨——为了我们民族的福祉，为了我们国家的兴盛，为了人类的福祉，开启您们的心扉，使您们成为真实而坚定的人，为那必将到来的巨大变革而工作——无论我们是否努力，这变革都将到来。因为主的事业不等待您我这样的人。他可以从尘土中召唤出成百上千的工作者。能够在他的引领下有所贡献，本身便是一种荣耀与特权。
由此，理念得以拓展。正如您们所指出的，我们必须征服世界。我们必须这样做！印度必须征服世界，不是这样，少于这个目标都不是我的理想。这也许听起来非常宏大，也许令您们中许多人惊讶，但事实如此。我们必须征服世界，否则便是灭亡。没有其他选择。生命的标志是扩展；我们必须走出去，扩展，展示生命力，否则就是退化、腐化、消亡。没有其他选择。在这两者之间选择其一，要么生，要么死。现在，我们都知道我们国内存在那些琐碎的嫉妒与纷争。请相信我的话，这种情况在哪里都一样。其他民族有其政治生活，有其对外政策。当国内纷争过多时，他们就会向国外寻找纷争的对象，国内的纷争便随之平息。我们有这些纷争，却没有任何对外政策来加以平息。向世界传扬我们经典（Shastras）的真理，这必须成为我们永恒的对外政策。我问那些心怀政治抱负的人，您们还需要其他什么证明，来证明这将使我们作为一个民族团结起来吗？这次集会本身就是充分的见证。
其次，抛开这些自私的考量，还有那些无私的、高尚的、活生生的榜样在我们身后。印度苦难与衰落的一个重要原因，是她将自己束缚起来，像牡蛎一样缩进了壳中，拒绝将自己的珍宝与瑰宝献给其他人类种族，拒绝将赋予生命的真理传递给雅利安圈子之外的渴慕民族。这便是根本的重大原因；我们没有走出去，我们没有与其他民族交流见识——这是我们衰落的根本重大原因，而你们每一个人都知道，印度所见到的那一点点生机、那一点点活力，正是从拉贾·拉姆莫汉·罗伊打破那种封闭的藩篱之日起萌生的。从那一天起，印度的历史翻开了新的一页，如今正以加速的势头向前发展。若我们过去只有涓涓细流，如今洪流即将到来，任何力量都无法阻挡。因此我们必须走出去，而生命的秘诀在于给予与接受。难道我们只是一味接受，永远坐在西方人的脚边学习一切，甚至包括宗教？我们可以向他们学习机械技术。我们可以向他们学习许多其他东西。但我们有一样东西要传授给他们，那便是我们的宗教，那便是我们的灵性。世界在等待一种完整的文明，等待印度的宝藏得以问世，等待这个民族那奇妙的灵性遗产——尽管历经数十年的沉沦与苦难，这个民族仍将其紧紧捧在胸前。世界在等待那份宝藏；你们几乎不知道，在印度的边界之外，有多少人对我们先祖这些奇妙的宝藏怀有多么深切的饥渴。我们在此高谈阔论，互相争执，对一切神圣之物加以嘲笑和讽刺，直至嘲弄神圣几乎成了一种民族的劣习。我们几乎不理解，在城墙之外，有数以百万计的人们正翘首以盼，伸出双手，渴望得到哪怕一口我们先祖在这片印度土地上所保存的甘露。因此，我们必须走出去，以我们的灵性换取他们所能给予我们的一切；以灵性领域的奇迹，我们将换取物质领域的奇迹。我们不会永远做学生，我们也要做老师。没有平等就没有友谊，而当一方永远是老师、另一方永远坐在他的脚边时，就不可能有平等。若您们想与英国人或美国人平起平坐，就必须既能教导，也能学习，而您们在未来的数百年里，有大量的东西可以传授给世界。这件事必须去做。火一般的热忱必须在我们的血液中燃烧。我们孟加拉人素以富有想象力著称，我相信我们确实如此。我们曾被嘲笑为富于想象力的民族，为感情丰富的人。朋友们，让我告诉您们，理智固然伟大，但它止步于某些界限之内。正是通过内心，唯有通过内心，灵感才得以降临。正是通过情感，最高的奥秘才得以触及；因此，正是孟加拉人——那富有情感的人——必须承担这一使命。
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत । ——奋起，觉醒，不达目的，永不止步。加尔各答的青年们，奋起吧，觉醒吧，时机已经成熟。一切已在我们面前敞开。要大胆，不要惧怕。唯有在我们的经典中，这个形容词才被赋予了主——"无畏（Abhih），无畏"。我们必须成为无畏者，我们的使命便将完成。奋起吧，觉醒吧，因为您们的国家需要这种巨大的牺牲。这一使命属于年轻人。"年轻的，充满活力的，强壮的，体魄健全的，才智卓越的"——任务在于他们。在加尔各答，我们有成千上万这样的年轻人。若如您们所说，我做成了一些事，请记住，我就是那个在加尔各答街头玩耍的不成器的孩子。若我能做这么多，您们将能做多少！奋起吧，觉醒吧，世界在召唤您们。在印度的其他地方，有才智，有财富，但热忱只在我的祖国。那必须涌现出来；因此，加尔各答的年轻人啊，带着燃烧在血液中的热忱奋起吧。并非因为您们贫穷，并非因为您们没有朋友。谁曾见过金钱造就人？永远是人造就金钱。整个世界都是由人的活力、热忱的力量、信念的力量所创造的。
你们中那些研究过最美丽的奥义书（Upanishads）之一——《卡塔奥义书》（Katha）——的人，定会记得这样的故事：国王准备举行一次盛大的祭祀，然而他所赠送的，不是有价值的东西，而是一些没有用处的牛马，而书中说，正是在那时，信念（Shraddha）进入了他儿子那奇凯塔（Nachiketa）的心中。我不想将"信念（Shraddha）"这个词翻译给您们，那会是一个错误；这是一个需要深刻理解的奇妙词汇，许多东西都依赖于它；我们将看到它如何发挥作用，因为我们立刻发现那奇凯塔心中在说："我胜过许多人，我不及少数人，但我绝不是最末的，我也能有所作为。"这种大胆不断增长，少年想要解决他心中的那个问题——死亡之谜。这个问题的答案只能通过前往死亡之所来获取，于是这少年去了。就在那里，勇敢的那奇凯塔在死亡之所等待了三天，您们知道他是如何得到他所渴望的答案的。我们所需要的，便是这种信念（Shraddha）。不幸的是，它在印度几乎已经消逝，这正是我们处于今日境况的原因。人与人之间的差异，就在于这信念的差异，别无他因。使一个人伟大，使另一个人软弱低微的，正是这信念。我的师尊曾说，认为自己软弱的人将会变得软弱，这是真的。这信念必须进入您们之中。您们在西方种族身上所看到的一切物质力量，都是这信念的产物，因为他们相信自己的肌肉；而若您们相信自己的灵性，其效验将何等强大！请相信那无限的真我（Atman），那无限的力量，关于它，您们的典籍与圣者们众口一词地加以宣扬。那真我（Atman），任何东西都无法摧毁它，其中蕴藏着无限的力量，只等待着被唤出。因为这里正是所有其他哲学与印度哲学之间的根本分野。无论是二元论、限定性一元论，还是纯粹一元论，它们都坚定地相信一切都在灵魂自身之中；它只需显现出来，展示自身。因此，我所需要的，是这信念（Shraddha），在座所有人所需要的，也是这信念——对自身的信心；而您们面前的伟大任务，便是获得这信心。请放弃那正悄然侵入我们民族血液的可怕疾病——那种嘲讽一切的念头，那种对严肃事物的漠视。请放弃它。要坚强，要拥有这信念（Shraddha），其他一切都必将随之而来。
我迄今尚未成就任何事；有待完成使命的是您们。即便我明日辞世，这事业也不会消亡。我真诚地相信，将会有成千上万的人从队伍中涌现出来，接过这一事业，将它推进得更远、更远，远超我最乐观的想象所能描绘的境界。我对我的国家怀有信心，尤其对我国家的青年怀有信心。孟加拉的青年们承担着有史以来压在年轻人肩上最伟大的使命。我在过去十年左右的时间里，走遍了整个印度，我的信念是：使印度再度回归其应有灵性地位的力量，将从孟加拉的青年中涌现出来。啊，正是从孟加拉的青年中，从那血液中蕴藏着如此巨大的情感与热忱的青年中，将会涌现出那些英雄，他们将从地球的一端行进到另一端，传扬和教导我们先祖那永恒的灵性真理。而这便是摆在您们面前的伟大使命。因此，请允许我以再次提醒您们作为结语："奋起，觉醒，不达目的，永不止步。"不要惧怕，因为纵观人类历史，一切伟大的力量始终与人民同在。世界上所有最伟大的天才，都从人民的队伍中涌现，历史只会重演。不要畏惧任何事物。您们将创造奇迹。您们一旦生畏，便什么都不是了。恐惧，正是世间苦难的根本原因。恐惧，是最大的迷信。恐惧，是我们一切祸患的根源，而无畏，甚至能在瞬间带来天堂。因此，"奋起，觉醒，不达目标，永不止步。"
诸位，请允许我再次感谢您们给予我的一切厚爱。我的心愿——我真诚而迫切的心愿——是能够对世界，尤其是对我自己的国家与同胞，有所贡献，哪怕是极微小的一份。
English
ADDRESS OF WELCOME PRESENTED AT CALCUTTA AND REPLY
On his arrival in Calcutta, the Swami Vivekananda was greeted with intense enthusiasm, and the whole of his progress through the decorated streets of the city was thronged with an immense crowd waiting to have a sight of him. The official reception was held a week later, at the residence of the late Raja Radha Kanta Deb Bahadur at Sobha Bazar, when Raja Benoy Krishna Deb Bahadur took the chair. After a few brief introductory remarks from the Chairman, the following address was read and presented to him, enclosed in a silver casket:
Dear Brother ,
We, the Hindu inhabitants of Calcutta and of several other places in Bengal, offer you on your return to the land of your birth a hearty welcome. We do so with a sense of pride as well as of gratitude, for by your noble work and example in various parts of the world you have done honour not only to our religion but also to our country and to our province in particular.
At the great Parliament of Religions which constituted a Section of the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, you presented the principles of the Aryan religion. The substance of your exposition was to most of your audience a revelation, and its manner overpowering alike by its grace and its strength. Some may have received it in a questioning spirit, a few may have criticised it, but its general effect was a revolution in the religious ideas of a large section of cultivated Americans. A new light had dawned on their mind, and with their accustomed earnestness and love of truth they determined to take fun advantage of it. Your opportunities widened; your work grew. You had to meet call after call from many cities in many States, answer many queries, satisfy many doubts, solve many difficulties. You did an this work with energy, ability, and sincerity; and it has led to lasting results. Your teaching has deeply influenced many an enlightened circle in the American Commonwealth, has stimulated thought and research, and has in many instances definitely altered religious conceptions in the direction of an increased appreciation of Hindu ideals. The rapid growth of clubs and societies for the comparative study of religions and the investigation of spiritual truth is witness to your labour in the far West. You may be regarded as the founder of a College in London for the teaching of the Vedanta philosophy. Your lectures have been regularly delivered, punctually attended, and widely appreciated. Their influence has extended beyond the walls of the lecture-rooms. The love and esteem which have been evoked by your teaching are evidenced by the warm acknowledgements, in the address presented to you on the eve of your departure from London, by the students of the Vedanta philosophy in that town.
Your success as a teacher has been due not only to your deep and intimate acquaintance with the truths of the Aryan religion and your skill in exposition by speech and writing, but also, and largely, to your personality. Your lectures, your essays, and your books have high merits, spiritual and literary, and they could not but produce their effect. But it has been heightened in a manner that defies expression by the example of your simple, sincere, self-denying life, your modesty, devotion, and earnestness.
While acknowledging your services as a teacher of the sublime truths of our religion, we feel that we must render a tribute to the memory of your revered preceptor, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. To him we largely owe even you. With his rare magical insight he early discovered the heavenly spark in you and predicted for you a career which happily is now in course of realisation. He it was that unsealed the vision and the faculty divine with which God had blessed you, gave to your thoughts and aspirations the bent that was awaiting the holy touch, and aided your pursuits in the region of the unseen. His most precious legacy to posterity was yourself.
Go on, noble soul, working steadily and valiantly in the path you have chosen. You have a world to conquer. You have to interpret and vindicate the religion of the Hindus to the ignorant, the sceptical, the wilfully blind. You have begun the work in a spirit which commands our admiration, and have already achieved a success to which many lands bear witness. But a great deal yet remains to be done; and our own country, or rather we should say your own country, waits on you. The truths of the Hindu religion have to be expounded to large numbers of Hindus themselves. Brace yourself then for the grand exertion. We have confidence in you and in the righteousness of our cause. Our national religion seeks to win no material triumphs. Its purposes are spiritual; its weapon is a truth which is hidden away from material eyes and yields only to the reflective reason. Call on the world, and where necessary, on Hindus themselves, to open the inner eye, to transcend the senses, to read rightly the sacred books, to face the supreme reality, and realise their position and destiny as men. No one is better fitted than yourself to give the awakening or make the call, and we can only assure you of our hearty sympathy and loyal co-operation in that work which is apparently your mission ordained by Heaven.
We remain, dear brother,
Your loving Friends and Admirers.
The Swami's reply was as follows:
One wants to lose the individual in the universal, one renounces, flies off, and tries to cut himself off from all associations of the body of the past, one works hard to forget even that he is a man; yet, in the nears of his heart, there is a soft sound, one string vibrating, one whisper, which tells him, East or West, home is best. Citizens of the capital of this Empire, before you I stand, not as a Sannyasin, no, not even as a preacher, but I come before you the same Calcutta boy to talk to you as I used to do. Ay, I would like to sit in the dust of the streets of this city, and, with the freedom of childhood, open my mind to you, my brothers. Accept, therefore, my heartfelt thanks for this unique word that you have used, "Brother". Yes, I am your brother, and you are my brothers. I was asked by an English friend on the eve of my departure, "Swami, how do you like now your motherland after four years' experience of the luxurious, glorious, powerful West?" I could only answer, "India I loved before I came away. Now the very dust of India has become holy to me, the very air is now to me holy; it is now the holy land, the place of pilgrimage, the Tirtha." Citizens of Calcutta — my brothers — I cannot express my gratitude to you for the kindness you have shown, or rather I should not thank you at all, for you are my brothers, you have done only a brother's duty, ay, only a Hindu brother's duty; for such family ties, such relationships, such love exist nowhere beyond the bounds of this motherland of ours.
The Parliament of Religions was a great affair, no doubt. From various cities of this land, we have thanked the gentlemen who organised the meeting, and they deserved all our thanks for the kindness that has been shown to us; but yet allow me to construe for you the history of the Parliament of Religions. They wanted a horse, and they wanted to ride it. There were people there who wanted to make it a heathen show, but it was ordained otherwise; it could not help being so. Most of them were kind, but we have thanked them enough.
On the other hand, my mission in America was not to the Parliament of Religions. That was only something by the way, it was only an opening, an opportunity, and for that we are very thankful to the members of the Parliament; but really, our thanks are due to the great people of the United States, the American nation, the warm hearted, hospitable, great nation of America, where more than anywhere else the feeling of brotherhood has been developed. An American meets you for five minutes on board a train, and you are his friend, and the next moment he invites you as a guest to his home and opens the secret of his whole living there. That is the character of the American race, and we highly appreciate it. Their kindness to me is past all narration, it would take me years yet to tell you how I have been treated by them most kindly and most wonderfully. So are our thanks due to the other nation on the other side of the Atlantic. No one ever landed on English soil with more hatred in his heart for a race than I did for the English, and on this platform are present English friends who can bear witness to the fact; but the more I lived among them and saw how the machine was working — the English national life — and mixed with them, I found where the heartbeat of the nation was, and the more I loved them. There is none among you here present, my brothers, who loves the English people more than I do now. You have to see what is going on there, and you have to mix with them. As the philosophy, our national philosophy of the Vedanta, has summarised all misfortune, all misery, as coming from that one cause, ignorance, herein also we must understand that the difficulties that arise between us and the English people are mostly due to that ignorance; we do not know them, they do not know us.
Unfortunately, to the Western mind, spirituality, nay, even morality, is eternally connected with worldly prosperity; and as soon as an Englishman or any other Western man lands on our soil and finds a land of poverty and of misery, he forthwith concludes that there cannot be any religion here, there cannot be any morality even. His own experience is true. In Europe, owing to the inclemency of the climate and many other circumstances poverty and sin go together, but not so in India. In India on the other hand, my experience is that the poorer the man the better he is in point of morality. Now this takes time to understand, and how many foreign people are there who will stop to understand this, the very secret of national existence in India? Few are there who will have the patience to study the nation and understand. Here and here alone, is the only race where poverty does not mean crime, poverty does not mean sin; and here is the only race where not only poverty does not mean crime but poverty has been deified, and the beggar's garb is the garb of the highest in the land. On the other hand, we have also similarly, patiently to study the social institutions of the West and not rush into mad judgments about them Their intermingling of the sexes, their different customs their manners, have all their meaning, have all their grand sides, if you have the patience to study them. Not that I mean that we are going to borrow their manners and customs, not that they are going to borrow ours, for the manners and customs of each race are the outcome of centuries of patient growth in that race, and each one has a deep meaning behind it; and, therefore, neither are they to ridicule our manners and customs, nor we theirs.
Again, I want to make another statement before this assembly. My work in England has been more satisfactory to me than my work in America. The bold, brave and steady Englishman, if I may use the expression, with his skull a little thicker than those of other people — if he has once an idea put into his brain, it never comes out; and the immense practicality and energy of the race makes it sprout up and immediately bear fruit. It is not so in any other country. That immense practicality, that immense vitality of the race, you do not see anywhere else. There is less of imagination, but more of work, and who knows the well-spring, the mainspring of the English heart? How much of imagination and of feeling is there! They are a nation of heroes, they are the true Kshatriyas; their education is to hide their feelings and never to show them. From their childhood they have been educated up to that. Seldom will you find an Englishman manifesting feeling, nay, even an Englishwoman. I have seen Englishwomen go to work and do deeds which would stagger the bravest of Bengalis to follow. But with all this heroic superstructure, behind this covering of the fighter, there is a deep spring of feeling in the English heart. If you once know how to reach it, if you get there, if you have personal contact and mix with him, he will open his heart, he is your friend for ever, he is your servant. Therefore in my opinion, my work in England has been more satisfactory than anywhere else. I firmly believe that if I should die tomorrow the work in England would not die, but would go on expanding all the time.
Brothers, you have touched another chord in my heart, the deepest of all, and that is the mention of my teacher, my master, my hero, my ideal, my God in life - Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If there has been anything achieved by me, by thoughts, or words, or deeds, if from my lips has ever fallen one word that has helped any one in the world, I lay no claim to it, it was his. But if there have been curses falling from my lips, if there has been hatred coming out of me, it is all mine and not his. All that has been weak has been mine, and all that has been life-giving, strengthening, pure, and holy, has been his inspiration, his words, and he himself. Yes, my friends, the world has yet to know that man. We read in the history of the world about prophets and their lives, and these come down to us through centuries of writings and workings by their disciples. Through thousands of years of chiselling and modelling, the lives of the great prophets of yore come down to us; and yet, in my opinion, not one stands so high in brilliance as that life which I saw with my own eyes, under whose shadow I have lived, at whose feet I have learnt everything —the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Ay, friends, you all know the celebrated saying of the Gitâ:
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मासंस्थापनार्थाय संभवािम युगे युगे ॥
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मासंस्थापनार्थाय संभवािम युगे युगे ॥
"Whenever, O descendant of Bharata, there is decline of Dharma, and rise of Adharma, then I body Myself forth. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma I come into being in every age."
Along with this you have to understand one thing more. Such a thing is before us today. Before one of these tidal waves of spirituality comes, there are whirlpools of lesser manifestation all over society. One of these comes up, at first unknown, unperceived, and unthought of, assuming proportion, swallowing, as it were, and assimilating all the other little whirlpools, becoming immense, becoming a tidal wave, and falling upon society with a power which none can resist. Such is happening before us. If you have eyes, you will see it. If your heart is open, you will receive it. If you are truth-seekers, you will find it. Blind, blind indeed is the man who does not see the signs of the day! Ay, this boy born of poor Brahmin parents in an out-of-the-way village of which very few of you have even heard, is literally being worshipped in lands which have been fulminating against heathen worship for centuries. Whose power is it? Is it mine or yours? It is none else than the power which was manifested here as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. For, you and I, and sages and prophets, nay, even Incarnations, the whole universe, are but manifestations of power more or less individualized, more or less concentrated. Here has been a manifestation of an immense power, just the very beginning of whose workings we are seeing, and before this generation passes away, you will see more wonderful workings of that power. It has come just in time for the regeneration of India, for we forget from time to time the vital power that must always work in India.
Each nation has its own peculiar method of work. Some work through politics, some through social reforms, some through other lines. With us, religion is the only ground along which we can move. The Englishman can understand even religion through politics. Perhaps the American can understand even religion through social reforms. But the Hindu can understand even politics when it is given through religion; sociology must come through religion, everything must come through religion. For that is the theme, the rest are the variations in the national life-music. And that was in danger. It seemed that we were going to change this theme in our national life, that we were going to exchange the backbone of our existence, as it were, that we were trying to replace a spiritual by a political backbone. And if we could have succeeded, the result would have been annihilation. But it was not to be. So this power became manifest. I do not care in what light you understand this great sage, it matters not how much respect you pay to him, but I challenge you face to face with the fact that here is a manifestation of the most marvellous power that has been for several centuries in India, and it is your duty, as Hindus, to study this power, to find what has been done for the regeneration, for the good of India, and for the good of the whole human race through it. Ay, long before ideas of universal religion and brotherly feeling between different sects were mooted and discussed in any country in the world, here, in sight of this city, had been living a man whose whole life was a Parliament of Religions as it should be.
The highest ideal in our scriptures is the impersonal, and would to God everyone of us here were high enough to realise that impersonal ideal; but, as that cannot be, it is absolutely necessary for the vast majority of human beings to have a personal ideal; and no nation can rise, can become great, can work at all, without enthusiastically coming under the banner of one of these great ideals in life. Political ideals, personages representing political ideals, even social ideals, commercial ideals, would have no power in India. We want spiritual ideals before us, we want enthusiastically to gather round grand spiritual names. Our heroes must be spiritual. Such a hero has been given to us in the person of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If this nation wants to rise, take my word for it, it will have to rally enthusiastically round this name. It does not matter who preaches Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, whether I, or you, or anybody else. But him I place before you, and it is for you to judge, and for the good of our race, for the good of our nation, to judge now, what you shall do with this great ideal of life. One thing we are to remember that it was the purest of all lives that you have ever seen, or let me tell you distinctly, that you have ever read of. And before you is the fact that it is the most marvellous manifestation of soul-power that you can read of, much less expect to see. Within ten years of his passing away, this power has encircled the globe; that fact is before you. In duty bound, therefore, for the good of our race, for the good of our religion, I place this great spiritual ideal before you. Judge him not through me. I am only a weak instrument. Let not his character be judged by seeing me. It was so great that if I or any other of his disciples spent hundreds of lives, we could not do justice to a millionth part of what he really was. Judge for yourselves; in the heart of your hearts is the Eternal Witness, and may He, the same Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, for the good of our nation, for the welfare of our country, and for the good of humanity, open your hearts, make you true and steady to work for the immense change which must come, whether we exert ourselves or not. For the work of the Lord does not wait for the like of you or me. He can raise His workers from the dust by hundreds and by thousands. It is a glory and a privilege that we are allowed to work at all under Him.
From this the idea expands. As you have pointed out to me, we have to conquer the world. That we have to! India must conquer the world, and nothing less than that is my ideal. It may be very big, it may astonish many of you, but it is so. We must conquer the world or die. There is no other alternative. The sign of life is expansion; we must go out, expand, show life, or degrade, fester, and die. There is no other alternative. Take either of these, either live or die. Now, we all know about the petty jealousies and quarrels that we have in our country. Take my word, it is the same everywhere. The other nations with their political lives have foreign policies. When they find too much quarrelling at home, they look for somebody abroad to quarrel with, and the quarrel at home stops. We have these quarrels without any foreign policy to stop them. This must be our eternal foreign policy, preaching the truths of our Shâstras to the nations of the world. I ask you who are politically minded, do you require any other proof that this will unite us as a race? This very assembly is a sufficient witness.
Secondly, apart from these selfish considerations, there are the unselfish, the noble, the living examples behind us. One of the great causes of India's misery and downfall has been that she narrowed herself, went into her shell as the oyster does, and refused to give her jewels and her treasures to the other races of mankind, refused to give the life-giving truths to thirsting nations outside the Aryan fold. That has been the one great cause; that we did not go out, that we did not compare notes with other nations — that has been the one great cause of our downfall, and every one of you knows that that little stir, the little life that you see in India, begins from the day when Raja Rammohan Roy broke through the walls of that exclusiveness. Since that day, history in India has taken another turn, and now it is growing with accelerated motion. If we have had little rivulets in the past, deluges are coming, and none can resist them. Therefore we must go out, and the secret of life is to give and take. Are we to take always, to sit at the feet of the Westerners to learn everything, even religion? We can learn mechanism from them. We can learn many other things. But we have to teach them something, and that is our religion, that is our spirituality. For a complete civilisation the world is waiting, waiting for the treasures to come out of India, waiting for the marvellous spiritual inheritance of the race, which, through decades of degradation and misery, the nation has still clutched to her breast. The world is waiting for that treasure; little do you know how much of hunger and of thirst there is outside of India for these wonderful treasures of our forefathers. We talk here, we quarrel with each other, we laugh at and we ridicule everything sacred, till it has become almost a national vice to ridicule everything holy. Little do we understand the heart-pangs of millions waiting outside the walls, stretching forth their hands for a little sip of that nectar which our forefathers have preserved in this land of India. Therefore we must go out, exchange our spirituality for anything they have to give us; for the marvels of the region of spirit we will exchange the marvels of the region of matter. We will not be students always, but teachers also. There cannot be friendship without equality, and there cannot be equality when one party is always the teacher and the other party sits always at his feet. If you want to become equal with the Englishman or the American, you will have to teach as well as to learn, and you have plenty yet to teach to the world for centuries to come. This has to be done. Fire and enthusiasm must be in our blood. We Bengalis have been credited with imagination, and I believe we have it. We have been ridiculed as an imaginative race, as men with a good deal of feeling. Let me tell you, my friends, intellect is great indeed, but it stops within certain bounds. It is through the heart, and the heart alone, that inspiration comes. It is through the feelings that the highest secrets are reached; and therefore it is the Bengali, the man of feeling, that has to do this work.
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत । — Arise, awake and stop not till the desired end is reached. Young men of Calcutta, arise, awake, for the time is propitious. Already everything is opening out before us. Be bold and fear not. It is only in our scriptures that this adjective is given unto the Lord — Abhih, Abhih. We have to become Abhih, fearless, and our task will be done. Arise, awake, for your country needs this tremendous sacrifice. It is the young men that will do it. "The young, the energetic, the strong, the well-built, the intellectual" — for them is the task. And we have hundreds and thousands of such young men in Calcutta. If, as you say, I have done something, remember that I was that good-for-nothing boy playing in the streets of Calcutta. If I have done so much, how much more will you do! Arise and awake, the world is calling upon you. In other parts of India, there is intellect, there is money, but enthusiasm is only in my motherland. That must come out; therefore arise, young men of Calcutta, with enthusiasm in your blood. This not that you are poor, that you have no friends. A who ever saw money make the man? It is man that always makes money. The whole world has been made by the energy of man, by the power of enthusiasm, by the power of faith.
Those of you who have studied that most beautiful all the Upanishads, the Katha, will remember how the king was going to make a great sacrifice, and, instead of giving away things that were of any worth, he was giving away cows and horses that were not of any use, and the book says that at that time Shraddhâ entered into the heart of his son Nachiketâ. I would not translate this word Shraddha to you, it would be a mistake; it is a wonderful word to understand, and much depends on it; we will see how it works, for immediately we find Nachiketa telling himself, "I am superior to many, I am inferior to few, but nowhere am I the last, I can also do something." And this boldness increased, and the boy wanted to solve the problem which was in his mind, the problem of death. The solution could only be got by going to the house of Death, and the boy went. There he was, brave Nachiketa waiting at the house of Death for three days, and you know how he obtained what he desired. What we want, is this Shraddha. Unfortunately, it has nearly vanished from India, and this is why we are in our present state. What makes the difference between man and man is the difference in this Shraddha and nothing else. What make one man great and another weak and low is this Shraddha. My Master used to say, he who thinks himself weak will become weak, and that is true. This Shraddha must enter into you. Whatever of material power you see manifested by the Western races is the outcome of this Shraddha, because they believe in their muscles and if you believe in your spirit, how much more will it work! Believe in that infinite soul, the infinite power, which, with consensus of opinion, your books and sages preach. That Atman which nothing can destroy, in It is infinite power only waiting to be called out. For here is the great difference between all other philosophies and the Indian philosophy. Whether dualistic, qualified monistic, or monistic, they all firmly believe that everything is in the soul itself; it has only to come out and manifest itself. Therefore, this Shraddha is what I want, and what all of us here want, this faith in ourselves, and before you is the great task to get that faith. Give up the awful disease that is creeping into our national blood, that idea of ridiculing everything, that loss of seriousness. Give that up. Be strong and have this Shraddha, and everything else is bound to follow.
I have done nothing as yet; you have to do the task. If I die tomorrow the work will not die. I sincerely believe that there will be thousands coming up from the ranks to take up the work and carry it further and further, beyond all my most hopeful imagination ever painted. I have faith in my country, and especially in the youth of my country. The youth of Bengal have the greatest of all tasks that has ever been placed on the shoulders of young men. I have travelled for the last ten years or so over the whole of India, and my conviction is that from the youth of Bengal will come the power which will raise India once more to her proper spiritual place. Ay, from the youth of Bengal, with this immense amount of feeling and enthusiasm in the blood, will come those heroes who will march from one corner of the earth to the other, preaching and teaching the eternal spiritual truths of our forefathers. And this is the great work before you. Therefore, let me conclude by reminding you once more, "Arise, awake and stop not till the desired end is reached." Be not afraid, for all great power, throughout the history of humanity, has been with he people. From out of their ranks have come all the greatest geniuses of the world, and history can only repeat itself. Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. Therefore, "Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached."
Gentlemen, allow me to thank you once more for all the kindness that I have received at your hands. It is my wish — my intense, sincere wish — to be even of the least service to the world, and above all to my own country and countrymen.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。