方法与手段
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中文
第十章
方法与手段
关于虔信瑜伽（Bhakti-Yoga）的方法与手段，我们在薄伽万·罗摩奴阇（Bhagavan Ramanuja）对《吠檀多经》（Vedanta-Sutras）的注释中读到："对那（至高实在）的证得，须经由辨别（Viveka）、制御情欲、修行、祭祀之业、纯洁、力量以及抑制过度的喜悦。"罗摩奴阇所谓的辨别（Viveka），在诸多辨别之中，尤指将纯净的食物与不净的食物加以辨别。依他之见，食物因三种原因而变得不净：（一）食物本身的性质，如大蒜等；（二）因来自邪恶而受诅咒之人；（三）因物质上的不净，如污垢或毛发等。《天启》（Shrutis）说："当食物纯净时，萨埵（Sattva）成分得到净化，记忆变得坚定不移"，罗摩奴阇从《倡多吉奥义书》（Chhāndogya Upanishad）中引用此语。
食物的问题，在虔信者（Bhaktas）中历来是最为重要的问题之一。撇开某些虔信教派所陷入的极端做法不谈，这个食物问题背后蕴藏着一个伟大的真理。我们必须记住，依据数论（Sānkhya）哲学，萨埵（Sattva）、罗阇（Rajas）与答磨（Tamas）——在均质平衡状态下构成原质（Prakriti），在非均质的扰动状态下构成宇宙——既是原质的材料，也是原质的属性。作为如此，它们是制造每一种人形所用的材料，而萨埵材料的主导地位，是灵性发展的绝对必要条件。我们通过食物摄入体内的材料，在很大程度上决定着我们的心理构成；因此，我们所摄入的食物必须特别加以注意。然而，在这一问题上，正如在其他问题上一样，弟子们不可避免地陷入的狂热，不应归咎于导师们。
而这种对食物的辨别，说到底，仍属次要之事。上述所引用的同一段落，被商羯罗（Shankara）在其《奥义书注》（Bhāshya）中以另一种方式加以解释，对"Āhāra"一词（通常译为"食物"）赋予了完全不同的含义。依他之见："所被收集的，即是'食物'（Ahara）。对声音等感觉的认识，被收集起来供享受者（真我）所享受；净化那收集感官知觉的认识，便是净化'食物'（Ahara）。'净化食物'的意思，是指获得不受执著、厌恶与迷惑之过失染污的感觉知识；此即其义。因此，这样的知识或食物得到净化之后，其持有者——内在官能——的萨埵材料便将得到净化；萨埵得到净化之后，对那无限者的持续不断的记忆——祂的真实本性已从经典中得到认识——便将由此产生。"
这两种解释表面上相互矛盾，然而两者皆真实且必要。对所谓精微身——即情绪——的调控与驾驭，无疑是比对粗重的肉体进行驾驭更为高级的功能。但对粗重者的驾驭，是达到对精微者驾驭的绝对必要条件。因此，初学者必须特别注意其所认可的导师传承所流传下来的一切饮食规则；然而那种荒诞而毫无意义的狂热——它已将宗教完全驱赶进厨房，如我们许多教派的情形，那宗教崇高真理的光辉永远无望透射到灵性的阳光之下——这是一种特殊的纯粹而简单的唯物主义。它既非智慧（Jnāna），也非虔信（Bhakti），更非业（Karma）；它是一种特殊的疯狂，将灵魂寄托于其上的人，更可能进入精神病院，而非梵界（Brahmaloka）。因此，有理由认为，对饮食的辨别对于达到这种更高的心理平衡状态是必要的，否则便难以轻易获得这种状态。
接下来要关注的，是制御情欲。将诸根（Indriyas，即感官）从感官对象的诱惑中收回，驾驭它们并使其服从意志的引导——这是宗教修习中最核心的美德。然后是自制与自我否定的修行（practice of self-restraint and self-denial）。灵魂中那巨大的无限可能性的神圣证悟，若无奋斗，若无修行的志诚者的这种修习，便无法得以实现。"心灵必须时刻思念上主。"起初，要强迫心灵时刻思念上主是十分困难的，但每一次新的努力，都使这种能力在我们身上愈加强大。"昆蒂之子啊，通过修行与无执，方能达到此境"，室利·克里希纳（Shri Krishna）在《薄伽梵歌》（Gita）中如是说。至于祭祀之业，则须照常履行五大祭祀（Panchamahāyajna）。
纯洁，是一切虔信大厦赖以建立的基础与磐石，是绝对的根本之功。净化外在身体与辨别食物，这两者都相对容易，但若无内在的洁净与纯粹，这些外在的观察便毫无价值可言。在罗摩奴阇所列举的有助于纯洁的品质中，有：萨提亚（Satya），即真实；阿阇婆（Ārjava），即诚挚；达耶（Dayā），即不求任何回报地行善于他人；不杀生（Ahimsā），即不以思想、言语或行为伤害任何人；阿纳比底亚（Anabhidhyā），即不贪求他人之物，不生妄念，不耿耿于怀于所受之伤害。在此列举中，特别值得注意的一个观念是不杀生（Ahimsā），即不伤害他人。这种不伤害的义务，可以说对我们与一切众生的关系都是强制性的。如有些人所认为的，它并不仅仅意味着不伤害人类，却对低等动物毫不怜悯；也不如有些人所理解的，仅仅意味着保护猫狗、用糖喂蚂蚁——却可以任意地以种种可怕的方式伤害身边的人类兄弟！值得注意的是，世界上几乎每一个好的观念，都可以被推向令人厌恶的极端。一种好的修行被推向极端，并依字面意义加以执行，便会变成一种积极的恶。某些宗教教派中令人作呕的僧侣，因担心杀死身上的寄生虫而不洗澡，却从不考虑他们给周围人类同胞带来的不适与疾病。然而他们并不属于吠陀（Vedas）的宗教！
不杀生的检验标准，是无嫉妒之心。任何人都可能在一时冲动之下，或在某种迷信或神职人员的压力下，做一件好事或施一次好礼；然而真正爱人类的人，是那不嫉妒任何人的人。世界上所谓的伟人，无不可以看见他们为了一点小名、一点小利、几块金子而相互嫉妒。只要嫉妒之心存于心中，便与不杀生的完满相去甚远。牛不吃肉，羊也不吃肉。它们是伟大的瑜伽士（Yogis），伟大的不伤害者（Ahimsakas）吗？任何蠢人都可以戒绝这食物或那食物；这显然不比草食动物更给他带来任何高尚之处。那种冷酷地欺骗寡妇和孤儿、为了金钱做出最卑劣行为的人，即便完全以青草为生，也比任何野兽更为恶劣。那心中从未萌生过伤害任何人之念头的人，那为甚至自己最大敌人的繁荣而喜悦的人——那人是虔信者，那人是瑜伽士，那人是一切人的导师，即便他每天的生活都以猪肉为食。因此，我们必须始终记住，外在的修行仅有助于发展内在纯洁的价值。当无法细密地关注外在的观察时，仅有内在的纯洁便更为可贵。然而，祸哉！那个人，祸哉！那个民族——他们忘却了宗教真实的、内在的、灵性的本质，却以死亡般的紧握，机械地抓住一切外在形式，永不松手。形式的价值，仅在于它们是内在生命的表达。若它们已不再表达生命，便将其毫不留情地粉碎。
达到虔信瑜伽的下一个手段，是力量（Anavasāda）。"这真我（Atman）不是软弱者所能达到的"，《天启》如是说。此处所指的既是体力的软弱，也是心力的软弱。"强壮的、刚健的"才是唯一合格的学生。那些孱弱、渺小、衰朽之人能做什么？每当身体与心灵的神秘力量通过任何瑜伽的修行而被稍加唤醒，他们便会分崩离析。能够取得成功的，是"年轻的、健康的、强壮的"人。因此，体力是绝对必要的。只有强健的身体才能承受试图驾驭诸根所产生的反应震荡。想要成为虔信者的人，必须强壮，必须健康。当体质孱弱之人尝试任何一种瑜伽时，他们很可能罹患某种难以治愈的疾病，或令心智衰弱。主动地削弱身体，确实不是获得灵性启悟的良方。
心力软弱的人，也无法成功地达到真我。渴望成为虔信者的人，必须乐观开朗。在西方世界，宗教之人的形象是从不微笑，脸上永远笼罩着一片阴云；那张脸还必须因下颌几乎塌陷而拉得老长。这类形容枯槁、面色阴沉的人，是医师合适的病人，而非瑜伽士。乐观开朗的心灵才是持之以恒的。坚强的心灵才能劈开千重障碍。而这一切任务中最艰难的——即从摩耶（Māyā）之网中为自己开辟出道路——只为意志坚如磐石者所保留。
然而，与此同时，过度的欢笑也应避免（Anuddharsha）。过度的欢笑使我们不适合严肃的思考，也使心灵的能量在虚耗中消散。意志越强，便越少屈服于情绪的支配。过度的嬉笑，与过于沉重的严肃同样有害，而一切宗教的证悟，只有在心灵处于平稳、宁静的和谐均衡状态时才成为可能。
如此，方能开始学习如何爱上主。
注释
English
CHAPTER X
THE METHOD AND THE MEANS
In regard to the method and the means of Bhakti-Yoga we read in the commentary of Bhagavan Ramanuja on the Vedanta-Sutras: "The attaining of That comes through discrimination, controlling the passions, practice, sacrificial work, purity, strength, and suppression of excessive joy." Viveka or discrimination is, according to Ramanuja, discriminating, among other things, the pure food from the impure. According to him, food becomes impure from three causes: (1) by the nature of the food itself, as in the case of garlic etc.; (2) owing to its coming from wicked and accursed persons; and (3) from physical impurities, such as dirt, or hair, etc. The Shrutis say, When the food is pure, the Sattva element gets purified, and the memory becomes unwavering", and Ramanuja quotes this from the Chhândogya Upanishad.
The question of food has always been one of the most vital with the Bhaktas. Apart from the extravagance into which some of the Bhakti sects have run, there is a great truth underlying this question of food. We must remember that, according to the Sankhya philosophy, the Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, which in the state of homogeneous equilibrium form the Prakriti, and in the heterogeneous disturbed condition form the universe — are both the substance and the quality of Prakriti. As such they are the materials out of which every human form has been manufactured, and the predominance of the Sattva material is what is absolutely necessary for spiritual development. The materials which we receive through our food into our body-structure go a great way to determine our mental constitution; therefore the food we eat has to be particularly taken care of. However, in this matter, as in others, the fanaticism into which the disciples invariably fall is not to be laid at the door of the masters.
And this discrimination of food is, after all, of secondary importance. The very same passage quoted above is explained by Shankara in his Bhâshya on the Upanishads in a different way by giving an entirely different meaning to the word Âhâra, translated generally as food. According to him, "That which is gathered in is Ahara. The knowledge of the sensations, such as sound etc., is gathered in for the enjoyment of the enjoyer (self); the purification of the knowledge which gathers in the perception of the senses is the purifying of the food (Ahara). The word 'purification-of-food' means the acquiring of the knowledge of sensations untouched by the defects of attachment, aversion, and delusion; such is the meaning. Therefore such knowledge or Ahara being purified, the Sattva material of the possessor it — the internal organ — will become purified, and the Sattva being purified, an unbroken memory of the Infinite One, who has been known in His real nature from scriptures, will result."
These two explanations are apparently conflicting, yet both are true and necessary. The manipulating and controlling of what may be called the finer body, viz the mood, are no doubt higher functions than the controlling of the grosser body of flesh. But the control of the grosser is absolutely necessary to enable one to arrive at the control of the finer. The beginner, therefore, must pay particular attention to all such dietetic rules as have come down from the line of his accredited teachers; but the extravagant, meaningless fanaticism, which has driven religion entirely to the kitchen, as may be noticed in the case of many of our sects, without any hope of the noble truth of that religion ever coming out to the sunlight of spirituality, is a peculiar sort of pure and simple materialism. It is neither Jnâna, nor Bhakti, nor Karma; it is a special kind of lunacy, and those who pin their souls to it are more likely to go to lunatic asylums than to Brahmaloka. So it stands to reason that discrimination in the choice of food is necessary for the attainment of this higher state of mental composition which cannot be easily obtained otherwise.
Controlling the passions is the next thing to be attended to. To restrain the Indriyas (organs) from going towards the objects of the senses, to control them and bring them under the guidance of the will, is the very central virtue in religious culture. Then comes the practice of self-restraint and self-denial. All the immense possibilities of divine realisation in the soul cannot get actualised without struggle and without such practice on the part of the aspiring devotee. "The mind must always think of the Lord." It is very hard at first to compel the mind to think of the Lord always, but with every new effort the power to do so grows stronger in us. "By practice, O son of Kunti, and by non-attachment is it attained", says Shri Krishna in the Gita. And then as to sacrificial work, it is understood that the five great sacrificed (Panchamahâyajna) have to be performed as usual.
Purity is absolutely the basic work, the bed-rock upon which the whole Bhakti-building rests. Cleansing the external body and discriminating the food are both easy, but without internal cleanliness and purity, these external observances are of no value whatsoever. In the list of qualities conducive to purity, as given by Ramanuja, there are enumerated, Satya, truthfulness; Ârjava, sincerity; Dayâ, doing good to others without any gain to one's self; Ahimsâ, not injuring others by thought, word, or deed; Anabhidhyâ, not coveting others' goods, not thinking vain thoughts, and not brooding over injuries received from another. In this list, the one idea that deserves special notice is Ahimsa, non-injury to others. This duty of non-injury is, so to speak, obligatory on us in relation to all beings. As with some, it does not simply mean the non-injuring of human beings and mercilessness towards the lower animals; nor, as with some others, does it mean the protecting of cats and dogs and feeding of ants with sugar — with liberty to injure brother-man in every horrible way! It is remarkable that almost every good idea in this world can be carried to a disgusting extreme. A good practice carried to an extreme and worked in accordance with the letter of the law becomes a positive evil. The stinking monks of certain religious sects, who do not bathe lest the vermin on their bodies should be killed, never think of the discomfort and disease they bring to their fellow human beings. They do not, however, belong to the religion of the Vedas!
The test of Ahimsa is absence of jealousy. Any man may do a good deed or make a good gift on the spur of the moment or under the pressure of some superstition or priestcraft; but the real lover of mankind is he who is jealous of none. The so-called great men of the world may all be seen to become jealous of each other for a small name, for a little fame, and for a few bits of gold. So long as this jealousy exists in a heart, it is far away from the perfection of Ahimsa. The cow does not eat meat, nor does the sheep. Are they great Yogis, great non-injurers (Ahimsakas)? Any fool may abstain from eating this or that; surely that gives him no more distinction than to herbivorous animals. The man who will mercilessly cheat widows and orphans and do the vilest deeds for money is worse than any brute even if he lives entirely on grass. The man whose heart never cherishes even the thought of injury to any one, who rejoices at the prosperity of even his greatest enemy, that man is the Bhakta, he is the Yogi, he is the Guru of all, even though he lives every day of his life on the flesh of swine. Therefore we must always remember that external practices have value only as helps to develop internal purity. It is better to have internal purity alone when minute attention to external observances is not practicable. But woe unto the man and woe unto the nation that forgets the real, internal, spiritual essentials of religion and mechanically clutches with death-like grasp at all external forms and never lets them go. The forms have value only so far as they are expressions of the life within. If they have ceased to express life, crush them out without mercy.
The next means to the attainment of Bhakti-Yoga is strength (Anavasâda). "This Atman is not to be attained by the weak", says the Shruti. Both physical weakness and mental weakness are meant here. "The strong, the hardy" are the only fit students. What can puny, little, decrepit things do? They will break to pieces whenever the mysterious forces of the body and mind are even slightly awakened by the practice of any of the Yogas. It is "the young, the healthy, the strong" that can score success. Physical strength, therefore, is absolutely necessary. It is the strong body alone that can bear the shock of reaction resulting from the attempt to control the organs. He who wants to become a Bhakta must be strong, must be healthy. When the miserably weak attempt any of the Yogas, they are likely to get some incurable malady, or they weaken their minds. Voluntarily weakening the body is really no prescription for spiritual enlightenment.
The mentally weak also cannot succeed in attaining the Atman. The person who aspires to be a Bhakta must be cheerful. In the Western world the idea of a religious man is that he never smiles, that a dark cloud must always hang over his face, which, again, must be long drawn with the jaws almost collapsed. People with emaciated bodies and long faces are fit subjects for the physician, they are not Yogis. It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties. And this, the hardest task of all, the cutting of our way out of the net of Maya, is the work reserved only for giant wills.
Yet at the same time excessive mirth should be avoided (Anuddharsha). Excessive mirth makes us unfit for serious thought. It also fritters away the energies of the mind in vain. The stronger the will, the less the yielding to the sway of the emotions. Excessive hilarity is quite as objectionable as too much of sad seriousness, and all religious realisation is possible only when the mind is in a steady, peaceful condition of harmonious equilibrium.
It is thus that one may begin to learn how to love the Lord.
Notes
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。