基督：信使
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
基督，使者
（1900年讲于加利福尼亚州洛杉矶）
波浪在大洋上升起，随后是波谷。另一个浪波再度升起，或许比前者更大，然后再度下落——如此驱进前行。在事件进程中，我们注意到升与落，而我们通常只关注升起，忘却了下落。但两者都是必要的，两者都是伟大的。这是宇宙的本性。无论是在我们思想的世界中，在我们的社会关系世界中，还是在我们的灵性事务中，同样的相续运动——升起与下落——都在进行着。因此，在事件进程中，宏大的主导力量、自由的理想，整装前行，沉降下去，仿佛是消化、沉思过去——调整、保存、再度蓄积力量，以待一次更高的升起。
各民族的历史也始终如此。我们今天下午所要研究的那位伟大灵魂、那位使者，降临于其民族历史的一个我们可以恰当称之为大衰落的时期。关于他的言论和行事，我们只能在零散保存下来的记录中捕捉到零星的片段；因为确实正如有人所言，那位伟大灵魂的言行，若全部记录下来，足以充满整个世界。他三年的传道生涯，如同一个浓缩、凝练的时代，已历经了一千九百年的展开，而谁又知道还需多久才能全然展开！你我这样的渺小之人，不过是一小股能量的接受者。几分钟，几个小时，至多几年，便足以将其全部耗尽，仿佛将其拉伸至最大强度，而后我们便永远逝去。然而请注意这降临的巨人：世纪流逝，岁月更替，然而他留于世间的能量至今仍未拉伸殆尽，也尚未全然发挥其力量。随着岁月的流逝，它不断增添新的生机。
现在，你在基督生命中所看到的，是所有过去的生命。每个人的生命，从某种意义上说，都是过去的生命。它通过遗传、通过环境、通过教育、通过他自己的轮回而来——民族的过去。在某种意义上，大地的过去、整个世界的过去，都存在于每个灵魂之中。在当下，我们不过是无限过去手中的产物、结果。我们不过是在永恒的事件洪流中飘荡的浪花，被不可抗拒地向前推进，无法停歇？然而你和我不过是微小之物，不过是泡沫。在事务的大洋中，始终有一些巨大的浪潮；在你我身上，过去民族的生命只被体现了一点点；然而有些巨人，仿佛体现了几乎整个过去，并将双手伸向未来。这些是历史进程中这里那里的路标，指向人类前进的方向；这些真正是巍然的存在，他们的阴影覆盖大地——他们屹立永恒，不灭不朽！正如那位同一使者所说："从来没有人看见上帝，只有子将他表明。"这是真的。我们在哪里才能看见上帝，若不是在子之中？固然，你我，以及我们中最贫穷者，甚至最卑微者，都体现着那位上帝，都反映着那位上帝。光的振动无处不在，无所不在；但我们必须点亮灯的火焰，才能看见光。宇宙中无所不在的上帝，若不经这些大地巨灯——先知们、人性化的神明们、化身们、上帝的化身们——的反照，便无从被见到。
我们都知道上帝存在，然而我们却看不见祂，也无法理解祂。取其中一位伟大的光明使者，将他的品格与你曾经形成的最高上帝理想相比较，你会发现你的上帝理念不及理想，而先知的品格超越了你的构想。你甚至无法形成比那些已切实体证并为我们树立榜样的人所实际实现的更高的上帝理想。因此，崇拜这些人为上帝，是否有错？崇拜这些人性化的神明之足、将他们视为世界上唯一神圣的存在，是否是一种罪过？如果他们真实地、切实地高于我们所有的上帝构想，那崇拜他们又有什么害处？不仅没有害处，而且这是唯一可能且积极的崇拜方式。无论你以何种方式努力——通过奋斗、通过抽象思维、通过任何你喜欢的方法——只要你仍然是世间的人，你的世界便是人性的，你的宗教便是人性的，你的上帝便是人性的。这是必然的。谁没有足够的实际头脑去接受一个实际存在的事物，而放弃一个只是抽象的、他无法掌握、除了通过具体媒介难以接近的观念呢？因此，上帝的这些化身在所有时代、所有国家都受到崇拜。
我们现在要稍微研究一下基督的生命——犹太人的化身。当基督降生时，犹太人处于我所说的两波之间的衰落状态；一种保守主义的状态；一种人类心灵仿佛暂时厌倦了向前推进，只关注已有之物的状态；一种注意力更多集中于细节、具体事项，而非生命宏大、普遍、深远问题的状态；一种停滞不前的状态，而非奋力前行的状态；一种比行动更多地承受苦难的状态。请注意，我并不责怪这种状态。我们没有权利批评它——因为若非这种衰落，下一次升起——也就是体现于拿撒勒的耶稣身上的升起——便不可能。法利赛人和撒都该人可能是不诚实的，他们可能在做一些他们不应该做的事情；他们可能甚至是伪善者；但无论他们是什么，这些因素正是原因，而使者则是其结果。法利赛人和撒都该人在一端，正是推动的动力，在另一端以拿撒勒耶稣巨大的头脑形式涌现出来。
对礼节、规范、宗教日常细节及仪式的关注，有时可能被人嘲笑；然而，在其中有力量。许多时候，在急速前行中，我们丧失了许多力量。事实上，狂热者比自由派人士更强大。因此，即便是狂热者，也有一个伟大的优点——他保存能量，大量的能量。正如个人一样，民族也是如此，能量聚集起来，被保存。四面八方被外敌包围，被罗马人、被智识世界中的希腊化倾向、被来自波斯、印度和亚历山大的浪潮逼迫集中——在肉体、心智和道德上均被围困——这个民族挺立着，具有固有的、保守的、强大的力量，而其后裔直至今日都未曾丧失这种力量。于是，这个民族被迫将其全部能量集中聚焦于耶路撒冷和犹太教。然而，一旦聚集的力量无法维持收聚状态；它必须向外消耗和扩展自身。世间没有任何力量能被长久地囿于狭小的范围之内。它不能被压缩得太久，以允许在随后的时期进行扩展。
这股集聚于犹太民族之中的能量，在下一个时期以基督教的兴起形式找到了表达。汇聚的溪流汇集成一体。渐渐地，所有小溪合而为一，成为汹涌澎湃的巨浪，在浪头之上，我们发现突显出来的是拿撒勒耶稣的品格。因此，每一位先知都是其所处时代的创造物，是其民族之过去的创造物；而他本身又是未来的创造者。今日之因，是过去之果，也是未来之因。使者就处于这个位置。他身上体现了其民族中一切最优秀、最伟大的东西，那个民族历经数世纪所奋斗的意义与生命；而他本身又是未来的推动力，不仅对于他自己的民族，也对于世界上无数其他民族。
我们还必须铭记另一个事实：我对拿撒勒伟大先知的看法，将从东方的立场出发。许多时候，你们也忘记了，那位拿撒勒人本人就是东方人中的东方人。尽管你们竭力将他描绘成蓝色的眼睛和金黄色的头发，那位拿撒勒人依然是一个东方人。《圣经》中所有的比喻、意象——所有的场景、地点、姿态、人群、诗歌和象征——都在向你们述说东方：述说晴朗的天空、炎热、烈日、沙漠、干渴的人与动物；述说男男女女头顶水罐前来打水的水井；述说羊群、耕地的人们，以及四周进行着的耕作；述说水磨和水车，磨坊水塘，磨石。所有这些今天在亚洲都能看到。
亚洲的声音一直是宗教的声音。欧洲的声音是政治的声音。每一个都在自己的领域中是伟大的。欧洲的声音是古希腊的声音。在希腊人的心灵中，其眼前的社会就是一切：超出其外的便是野蛮人。只有希腊人才有权生存。无论希腊人做什么，都是正确的、无误的；凡世间存在的其他一切，既不正确也无价值，也不应被允许存在。在同情心上，这是极其人性化的；在天性上，是极其自然的；因此，在艺术上也是如此。希腊人完全活在这个世界中。他不在乎做梦。即便是他的诗歌也是实际的。他的众神男女神明，不仅是人类，而且是极其人性化的，几乎有着与我们任何人一样的人类激情和感情。他热爱美，但请注意，那始终是外在自然的美：山峦、积雪、花朵的美，形状与轮廓的美，人类面容的美，以及更常见的是人体形态的美——这是希腊人所喜爱的。而希腊人既是所有后来欧洲主义的导师，欧洲的声音便是希腊式的。
亚洲还有另一种类型。想一想那片广袤、巨大的大陆，其山顶超越云端，几乎触及天穹的蓝色；绵延数英里的滚滚沙漠，滴水难觅，连一片草叶都无法生长；无边无际的森林和奔涌入海的巨大河流。在所有这些环境之中，东方对于美丽和崇高之物的热爱，在另一个方向上发展了自身。它向内看，而非向外看。对自然的渴望也在那里，同样的对力量的渴望也在那里；同样的对卓越的渴望也在那里，同样的希腊人与野蛮人的观念也在那里，但它延伸到了更大的范围。在亚洲，即便在今天，出生、肤色或语言也从来不构成一个民族。构成一个民族的是它的宗教。我们都是基督徒；我们都是穆罕默德信徒；我们都是印度教徒，或者都是佛教徒。无论一个佛教徒是中国人，还是来自波斯的人，他们认为彼此是兄弟，因为他们信奉同一种宗教。宗教是纽带，是人类统一的纽带。此外，东方人出于同样的原因，是一个有异象的人，是一个天生的梦想家。瀑布的涟漪、鸟儿的歌声、日月星辰和整个大地的美丽，固然令人愉悦；但对于东方心灵来说，这些还不够；他想要在此之外做一个梦。他想要超越当下。当下，仿佛对他来说什么都不是。东方已历经万世，是人类的摇篮，所有的世事沧桑都在那里——王朝更迭，帝国兴衰，人类的权力、荣耀与财富，尽皆在那里滚落：那是一个权力与学识的骷髅山。这就是东方：一个权力、王朝、学识的骷髅山。难怪，东方心灵对这个世界的事物充满轻视，自然而然地想要看到永不变化者、永不死亡者，以及在这苦难与死亡的世界之中是永恒的、极乐的、不朽的东西。一位东方先知从不倦于坚持这些理想；而说到先知，你们也可以记得，毫无例外地，所有的使者都是东方人。
因此，我们在这位生命使者的生命中看到，第一个口号是："不是这种生命，而是更高的某种东西"；如同一个真正的东方之子，他在那方面是实际的。你们西方人在你们自己的领域是实际的，在军事事务上，在管理政治圈子和其他事务上。也许东方人在那些方面并不实际，但他在自己的领域是实际的；他在宗教上是实际的。如果有人宣讲一种哲学，明天便会有数百人竭力在自己的生命中使之成为实际。如果一个人宣扬单脚站立可以导向解脱（Moksha），他立刻会得到五百人单脚站立。你们可能称之为可笑；但请注意，在那之下是他们的哲学——那种强烈的实践性。在西方，救赎计划意味着智识体操——那些从未被实践、从未被带入实际生活的计划。在西方，讲道最精彩的传道人才是最伟大的传道人。
因此，我们发现拿撒勒的耶稣，首先是一位真正的东方之子，有着极强的实践精神。他对这个短暂世界及其所有附属之物毫无信念。无需如当今西方时尚般对经文施以曲解，无需将经文拉伸至无以为继。经文并非橡皮，即便橡皮也有其极限。如今，切莫为迎合时代的感官虚荣而曲解宗教！请注意，让我们坦诚以待。若我们无力追随这一理想，让我们承认自身的软弱，但切莫贬低这一理想；切莫有人试图将其拉下神坛。西方人对基督生平的种种描述令人心生厌倦。我不知道他究竟是什么，又究竟不是什么！有人将他塑造成伟大的政治家；也许另一人将他塑造成伟大的军事将领；还有人说他是伟大的犹太爱国者；如此等等。这些假说在经典中有任何依据吗？对于一位伟大导师生平的最佳注解，便是他自己的生命。"狐狸有穴，天空的飞鸟有巢，人子却没有枕头的地方。"这正是基督所言的得救之道，他别无他途可指。让我们披麻蒙灰，承认我们做不到这一点。我们仍贪恋于"我"和"我的"。我们渴望财产、金钱、财富。我们何其可悲！让我们坦诚相告，而不是令这位人类的伟大导师蒙羞！他没有家庭的羁绊。但是，你以为那个人身上有任何肉体的意念吗？你以为这团光明，这位既是神又非凡人的存在，降临大地，是为了做禽兽的兄弟吗？然而，人们偏要让他传讲各种世俗之事。他没有性别的意念！他是一个灵魂！纯然是一个灵魂——仅仅以一个肉身为人类造福；这便是他与肉身的全部关系。在灵魂之中，没有性别之分。脱离肉身的灵魂与动物性无关，与肉体无关。这一理想也许远在我们能力之外。但无妨，坚守这一理想。让我们承认它是我们的理想，但我们尚且无法企及。
他的人生中别无他事，别无他念，只有那一件——他是一个灵魂。他是一个脱离肉身、自由无碍、不受束缚的灵魂。不仅如此，他以其神奇的洞见，发现每一个男人和女人，无论是犹太人还是外邦人，无论贫富，无论圣洁与否，都是与他自己同一不朽灵魂的化身。因此，他整个生命所展示的唯一使命，就是呼唤他们认识自身的灵性本质。他说：放弃那些迷信的幻梦，以为自己低贱，以为自己贫穷。不要以为你们是被踩踏和压迫的奴隶，因为在你们内心深处，有某种东西永远不会被压迫，永远不会被践踏，永远不会被烦扰，永远不会被消灭。你们都是上帝的儿子，不朽的灵魂。他宣告道："要知道，天国就在你们心里。""我与父原为一。"你敢于站起来说，不仅"我是上帝的儿子"，还能在内心深处发现"我与父原为一"吗？这正是拿撒勒的耶稣所说的话。他从不谈论这个世界和这种生活。他与此毫无干系，唯有他想把握这个世界的现状，给它一个推动，驱使它不断向前，直到全世界都沐浴在上帝的光辉之中，直到每个人都认识到自己的灵性本质，直到死亡消逝、苦难消除。
我们读过关于他的各种记述；我们了解那些学者及其著作，以及高等批评；我们知晓研究所带来的一切成果。我们来此并非是为了讨论《新约》中有多少是真实的，也不是为了讨论那段生平有多少是历史事实。《新约》是否在他出生五百年内写就，丝毫无关紧要，那段生平有多少是真实的，同样无关紧要。但在其背后有某种东西，某种我们想要效仿的东西。要撒谎，你必须模仿真相，而那真相是事实。你无法模仿从未存在过的东西。你无法模仿你从未感知过的东西。但必然存在着一个核心，一股巨大的力量曾经降临，一种灵性力量的奇妙显现——我们所谈论的正是这个。它就在那里屹立着。因此，我们不惧怕学者们的任何批评。我作为一个东方人，若要崇拜拿撒勒的耶稣，留给我的只有一条路，那就是将他作为神来崇拜，仅此而已。难道我们没有权利以这种方式崇拜他吗？若我们将他降至我们自身的层次，仅仅将他当作一位伟人而给予少许敬意，我们为何还要崇拜呢？我们的经典说："这些光明的伟大儿子，他们自身彰显光明，他们自身即是光明，当他们被崇拜时，仿佛与我们合而为一，我们也与他们合而为一。"
因为你看，人通过三种方式感知上帝。首先，未受教化之人那未曾开化的心智将上帝视为遥不可及的存在，高居天上某处，端坐宝座上充当大法官。他将上帝视为烈火，视为威严。这是好的，其中并无不妥。你们必须记住，人类前行的道路不是从谬误到真理，而是从真理到真理；如果你们愿意，也可以说是从较低的真理到较高的真理，但绝非从谬误到真理。假设你从这里出发，沿直线向太阳进发。从这里看，太阳显得很小。假设你向前行进了一百万英里，太阳就会大得多。每前进一段，太阳就会越来越大。假设从不同的角度拍摄了两万张同一太阳的照片；这两万张照片必然彼此各不相同。但你能否认每一张都是同一太阳的照片吗？因此，一切宗教形式，无论高低，都不过是通向那永恒光明境界的不同阶段，而那境界便是上帝本身。有些体现较低的见地，有些体现较高的见地，仅此而已。因此，世界各地普通大众的宗教，必然是、也历来是关于一位存在于宇宙之外、居于天堂、从彼处统御一切、惩恶扬善的上帝，如此等等。随着人类在灵性上的进步，他开始感受到上帝无所不在，上帝必在他内，上帝必在处处，上帝不是遥远的上帝，而确实是一切灵魂的灵魂。正如我的灵魂推动我的肉身，上帝也是我灵魂的推动者。灵魂之中的灵魂。少数已充分开化、足够纯净的人更进一步，终于找到了上帝。正如《新约》所说："清心的人有福了，因为他们必得见上帝。"他们最终发现自己与父原为一。
你会发现，伟大的导师在《新约》中教导了这三个阶段。注意他所教导的公祷："我们在天上的父，愿人都尊你的名为圣，"等等——这是一个简单的祷告，是孩子的祷告。请注意，它是"公祷"，因为它是为未受教化的大众所设。对于已经更有所进益的较高层次的圈子，他给予了更为崇高的教导："我在父里面，你们在我里面，我也在你们里面。"你们记得这句话吗？后来当犹太人问他是谁时，他宣告他与父原为一，犹太人认为这是亵渎上帝。他的意思是什么？你们的古代先知也曾说过同样的话："你们是诸神，你们都是至高者的儿子。"请注意同样的三个阶段。你会发现，从第一阶段开始、以最后阶段结束，对你们来说是更为容易的。
使者来此是为了指明道路：灵魂并不在乎形式，也不在乎哲学上各种令人苦恼的难题，通过这些你无法认识灵魂。宁可你什么都没有学过，宁可你一生中从未读过一本书。这些对于得救而言全无必要——无论是财富、地位，还是权力，甚至是学问；所必要的只有那一件事——纯洁。"清心的人有福了，"因为灵魂就其本性而言是纯净的。它怎能不纯净呢？它属于上帝，它来自上帝。用《圣经》的话说："它是上帝的气息。"用《古兰经》的话说："它是上帝的灵魂。"你的意思是说上帝的灵魂会有不洁吗？但唉，通过我们自身的行为——无论善恶，它已经被如同历世历代的尘埃和污垢所蒙蔽。种种不正确、不真实的行为，已经用无明的历代尘埃和污垢蒙蔽了这同一个灵魂。所必要的只是清除这尘埃和污垢，然后灵魂便立刻闪耀光芒。"清心的人有福了，因为他们必得见上帝。""天国就在你们心里。"拿撒勒的耶稣问道：你去哪里寻找天国，当它就在那里，在你们心里？洁净这个灵魂，它便在那里。它已经是你们的了。你怎能得到那不属于你的东西？它本就是你的权利。你们是不朽的继承者，是永恒天父的儿子。
这是使者的重大教训，另一个作为一切宗教基础的教训，是弃绝。你如何能使灵魂纯净？通过弃绝。一个富有的年轻人问耶稣："善良的夫子，我当做什么才能承受永生？"耶稣对他说："你还缺少一件事；去变卖你所有的，分给穷人，就必有财宝在天上；并来跟从我。"他听见这话，就甚悲哀，因为他很富足，便忧愁地走了。我们或多或少都是这样。那声音日夜在我们耳边响起。在我们的欢乐与喜悦之中，在尘世的种种事务之中，我们以为已经将其他一切都遗忘了。然后有片刻的停顿，那声音在我们耳边响起："变卖你所有的，来跟从我。""凡要救自己生命的，必丧掉生命；凡为我丧掉生命的，必得着生命。"因为凡为他的缘故舍去此生的人，就得着不朽的生命。在我们一切软弱之中，有片刻的停顿，那声音响起："变卖你所有的；分给穷人，来跟从我。"这是他所宣扬的唯一理想，也是世上一切伟大先知所宣扬的理想：弃绝。弃绝意味着什么？意味着道德中只有一个理想：无私。要无我。这一理想是完全的无私。当一个人右脸被打，他将左脸也转过来。当一个人的外衣被夺走，他连里衣也让他拿去。
我们应当以最好的方式工作，而不拉低这一理想。理想就在这里。当一个人身上不再有自我，没有财产，没有可以称之为"我"或"我的"的东西，已经完全舍弃自己，仿佛消灭了自己——在那个人身上，上帝本身便在其中；因为在他那里，自我的意志已经消逝，被碾碎，被消灭。那才是理想中的人。我们尚且无法达到那种境界；然而，让我们崇拜这一理想，缓慢地挣扎去接近这一理想，尽管步履也许蹒跚。也许明天，也许一千年之后；但那个理想必须到达。因为它不仅是目的，也是手段。完全无私，即是解脱（Moksha）本身；因为内在的那个人死去了，唯有上帝长存。
还有一点。一切人类的导师都是无私的。假设拿撒勒的耶稣在传道，一个人来到他面前说："你所教导的是美好的。我相信这是通向完善的道路，我已准备好去追随它；但我不愿意将你视为上帝的独生子来崇拜。"拿撒勒的耶稣会怎么回答？"很好，兄弟，追随这个理想，按你自己的方式前进。我不在乎你是否将功劳归于我的教导。我不是商人。我不贩卖宗教。我只是教导真理，而真理是没有人所有物的。没有人能垄断真理。真理即是上帝本身。向前走吧。"但如今门徒们所说的是："无论你是否践行教导，你是否将功劳归于那个人？若你归功于导师，你便得救；若不然，你就没有救赎。"于是导师的全部教导堕落了，一切的挣扎与争斗都集中在那人的个性上。他们不知道，通过强加这种差别，他们在某种程度上给他们所想荣耀的那个人带来了羞辱——那个人本会对这样的想法感到羞愧而退缩。他在乎世界上是否有一个人记得他吗？他必须传递他的信息，他传递了。如果他有两万条生命，他会为世上最贫穷的人献出所有。如果他必须为一百万被鄙视的撒玛利亚人受苦千百万次，如果对他们每一个人而言，牺牲他自己的生命是得救的唯一条件，他会献出自己的生命。这一切都不求他的名字被哪怕一个人所知晓。静默地、无名地、默然地工作，正如上帝的工作方式。那么，门徒会说什么呢？他会告诉你，也许你是一个完美的人，完全无私；但除非你将功劳归于我们的导师、我们的圣人，否则一切都是枉然。为什么？这种迷信、这种无明的根源是什么？门徒认为上帝只能一次显现。错误全在于此。上帝在人之中向你显现。但纵观自然，凡发生一次的事，必曾在此前发生，也必将在将来发生。自然中没有任何事物不受法则约束；这意味着，凡发生一次的事，必将持续发生，且一直在发生之中。
在印度，他们对上帝化身有着同样的观念。他们的一位伟大化身克里希纳（Krishna），其宏伟的讲道——《薄伽梵歌》（Bhagavad Gita），你们有些人或许读过——他说："虽然我是无生的，本性不变，且是众生之主，然而依靠我自身的原质（Prakriti），我以我的幻力而降生。每当正法（Dharma）衰退、不义盛行之时，我便化身人世。为了护持善人、消灭恶者、树立正法，我在每一个时代降生人世。"每当世界沉沦，上帝便来助其前行；他从古至今在不同的时代和地方如此行事。在另一段话中，他这样说：无论你在哪里发现一位伟大的灵魂，具有无量的力量与纯净，正在奋力提升人类，要知道他是生于我的光辉，我就在其中通过他而工作。
因此，让我们不仅在拿撒勒的耶稣身上，也在所有在他之前的伟大圣者身上，在所有在他之后而来的圣者身上，以及所有尚未到来的圣者身上，找到上帝。我们的崇拜是无边无际、自由无碍的。他们都是同一无限上帝的显现。他们都是纯净而无私的；他们为我们这些可怜的凡人而挣扎，献出了自己的生命。他们每一位都为我们每一个人承担替代性的赎罪，也为所有将来的人承担。
在某种意义上，你们都是先知；你们每一个人都是先知，肩负着世界的重担。你可曾见过一个男人，一个女人，不是默默地、耐心地背负着自己那一份生命担子的吗？伟大的先知们是巨人——他们肩负着一个巨大的世界。与他们相比，我们无疑是侏儒，然而我们做着同样的事；在我们小小的圈子里，在我们小小的家园中，我们背负着我们自己的小十字架。无论多么邪恶，无论多么无足轻重，没有一个人不须背负自己的十字架。但是，尽管我们有种种过失，尽管我们有种种邪念恶行，某处仍有一道光明，仍有某处那根金线，使我们始终与神圣相连。因为可以确信，一旦失去与神圣的接触，便将归于消灭。正因为没有人能被消灭，所以在我们内心深处，无论我们多么堕落低劣，总有一个与神圣持续相连的小小光明圈。
我们向所有过去的先知们致敬，无论他们的种族、地域或信仰如何，我们继承了他们的教导与生命！我们向所有那些神圣的男男女女致敬，他们正在为帮助人类而工作，无论其出身、肤色或种族如何！我们向那些即将到来的人们致敬——活生生的神明——无私地为我们的后代而工作。
English
CHRIST, THE MESSENGER
(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, 1900)
The wave rises on the ocean, and there is a hollow. Again another wave rises, perhaps bigger than the former, to fall down again, similarly, again to rise — driving onward. In the march of events, we notice the rise and fall, and we generally look towards the rise, forgetting the fall. But both are necessary, and both are great. This is the nature of the universe. Whether in the world of our thoughts, the world of our relations in society, or in our spiritual affairs, the same movement of succession, of rises and falls, is going on. Hence great predominances in the march of events, the liberal ideals, are marshalled ahead, to sink down, to digest, as it were, to ruminate over the past — to adjust, to conserve, to gather strength once more for a rise and a bigger rise.
The history of nations also has ever been like that. The great soul, the Messenger we are to study this afternoon, came at a period of the history of his race which we may well designate as a great fall. We catch only little glimpses here and there of the stray records that have been kept of his sayings and doings; for verily it has been well said, that the doings and sayings of that great soul would fill the world if they had all been written down. And the three years of his ministry were like one compressed, concentrated age, which it has taken nineteen hundred years to unfold, and who knows how much longer it will yet take! Little men like you and me are simply the recipients of just a little energy. A few minutes, a few hours, a few years at best, are enough to spend it all, to stretch it out, as it were, to its fullest strength, and then we are gone for ever. But mark this giant that came; centuries and ages pass, yet the energy that he left upon the world is not yet stretched, nor yet expended to its full. It goes on adding new vigour as the ages roll on.
Now what you see in the life of Christ is the life of all the past. The life of every man is, in a manner, the life of the past. It comes to him through heredity, through surroundings, through education, through his own reincarnation — the past of the race. In a manner, the past of the earth, the past of the whole world is there, upon every soul. What are we, in the present, but a result, an effect, in the hands of that infinite past? What are we but floating waveless in the eternal current of events, irresistibly moved forward and onward and incapable of rest? But you and I are only little things, bubbles. There are always some giant waves in the ocean of affairs, and in you and me the life of the past race has been embodied only a little; but there are giants who embody, as it were, almost the whole of the past and who stretch out their hands for the future. These are the sign-posts here and there which point to the march of humanity; these are verily gigantic, their shadows covering the earth — they stand undying, eternal! As it has been said by the same Messenger, "No man hath seen God at any time, but through the Son." And that is true. And where shall we see God but in the Son? It is true that you and I, and the poorest of us, the meanest even, embody that God, even reflect that God. The vibration of light is everywhere, omnipresent; but we have to strike the light of the lamp before we can see the light. The Omnipresent God of the universe cannot be seen until He is reflected by these giant lamps of the earth — The Prophets, the man-Gods, the Incarnations, the embodiments of God.
We all know that God exists, and yet we do not see Him, we do not understand Him. Take one of these great Messengers of light, compare his character with the highest ideal of God that you ever formed, and you will find that your God falls short of the ideal, and that the character of the Prophet exceeds your conceptions. You cannot even form a higher ideal of God than what the actually embodied have practically realised and set before us as an example. Is it wrong, therefore, to worship these as God? Is it a sin to fall at the feet of these man-Gods and worship them as the only divine beings in the world? If they are really, actually, higher than all our conceptions of God, what harm is there in worshipping them? Not only is there no harm, but it is the only possible and positive way of worship. However much you may try by struggle, by abstraction, by whatsoever method you like, still so long as you are a man in the world of men, your world is human, your religion is human, and your God is human. And that must be so. Who is not practical enough to take up an actually existing thing and give up an idea which is only an abstraction, which he cannot grasp, and is difficult of approach except through a concrete medium? Therefore, these Incarnations of God have been worshipped in all ages and in all countries.
We are now going to study a little of the life of Christ, the Incarnation of the Jews. When Christ was born, the Jews were in that state which I call a state of fall between two waves; a state of conservatism; a state where the human mind is, as it were, tired for the time being of moving forward and is taking care only of what it has already; a state when the attention is more bent upon particulars, upon details, than upon the great, general, and bigger problems of life; a state of stagnation, rather than a towing ahead; a state of suffering more than of doing. Mark you, I do not blame this state of things. We have no right to criticise it — because had it not been for this fall, the next rise, which was embodied in Jesus of Nazareth would have been impossible. The Pharisees and Sadducees might have been insincere, they might have been doing things which they ought not to have done; they might have been even hypocrites; but whatever they were, these factors were the very cause, of which the Messenger was the effect. The Pharisees and Sadducees at one end were the very impetus which came out at the other end as the gigantic brain of Jesus of Nazareth.
The attention to forms, to formulas, to the everyday details of religion, and to rituals, may sometimes be laughed at; but nevertheless, within them is strength. Many times in the rushing forward we lose much strength. As a fact, the fanatic is stronger than the liberal man. Even the fanatic, therefore, has one great virtue, he conserves energy, a tremendous amount of it. As with the individual so with the race, energy is gathered to be conserved. Hemmed in all around by external enemies, driven to focus in a centre by the Romans, by the Hellenic tendencies in the world of intellect, by waves from Persia, India, and Alexandria — hemmed in physically, mentally, and morally — there stood the race with an inherent, conservative, tremendous strength, which their descendants have not lost even today. And the race was forced to concentrate and focus all its energies upon Jerusalem and Judaism. But all power when once gathered cannot remain collected; it must expend and expand itself. There is no power on earth which can be kept long confined within a narrow limit. It cannot be kept compressed too long to allow of expansion at a subsequent period.
This concentrated energy amongst the Jewish race found its expression at the next period in the rise of Christianity. The gathered streams collected into a body. Gradually, all the little streams joined together, and became a surging wave on the top of which we find standing out the character of Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, every Prophet is a creation of his own times, the creation of the past of his race; he himself is the creator of the future. The cause of today is the effect of the past and the cause for the future. In this position stands the Messenger. In him is embodied all that is the best and greatest in his own race, the meaning, the life, for which that race has struggled for ages; and he himself is the impetus for the future, not only to his own race but to unnumbered other races of the world.
We must bear another fact in mind: that my view of the great Prophet of Nazareth would be from the standpoint of the Orient. Many times you forget, also, that the Nazarene himself was an Oriental of Orientals. With all your attempts to paint him with blue eyes and yellow hair, the Nazarene was still an Oriental. All the similes, the imageries, in which the Bible is written — the scenes, the locations, the attitudes, the groups, the poetry, and symbol, — speak to you of the Orient: of the bright sky, of the heat, of the sun, of the desert, of the thirsty men and animals; of men and women coming with pitchers on their heads to fill them at the wells; of the flocks, of the ploughmen, of the cultivation that is going on around; of the water-mill and wheel, of the mill-pond, of the millstones. All these are to be seen today in Asia.
The voice of Asia has been the voice of religion. The voice of Europe is the voice of politics. Each is great in its own sphere. The voice of Europe is the voice of ancient Greece. To the Greek mind, his immediate society was all in all: beyond that, it is Barbarian. None but the Greek has the right to live. Whatever the Greeks do is right and correct; whatever else there exists in the world is neither right nor correct, nor should be allowed to live. It is intensely human in its sympathies, intensely natural, intensely artistic, therefore. The Greek lives entirely in this world. He does not care to dream. Even his poetry is practical. His gods and goddesses are not only human beings, but intensely human, with all human passions and feelings almost the same as with any of us. He loves what is beautiful, but mind you, it is always external nature: the beauty of the hills, of the snows, of the flowers, the beauty of forms and of figures, the beauty in the human face, and, more often, in the human form — that is what the Greeks liked. And the Greeks being the teachers of all subsequent Europeanism, the voice of Europe is Greek.
There is another type in Asia. Think of that vast, huge continent, whose mountain-tops go beyond the clouds, almost touching the canopy of heaven's blue; a rolling desert of miles upon miles where a drop of water cannot be found, neither will a blade of grass grow; interminable forests and gigantic rivers rushing down into the sea. In the midst of all these surroundings, the oriental love of the beautiful and of the sublime developed itself in another direction. It looked inside, and not outside. There is also the thirst for nature, and there is also the same thirst for power; there is also the same thirst for excellence, the same idea of the Greek and Barbarian, but it has extended over a larger circle. In Asia, even today, birth or colour or language never makes a race. That which makes a race is its religion. We are all Christians; we are all Mohammedans; we are all Hindus, or all Buddhists. No matter if a Buddhist is a Chinaman, or is a man from Persia, they think that they are brothers, because of their professing the same religion. Religion is the tie, unity of humanity. And then again, the Oriental, for the same reason, is a visionary, is a born dreamer. The ripples of the waterfalls, the songs of the birds, the beauties of the sun and moon and the stars and the whole earth are pleasant enough; but they are not sufficient for the oriental mind; He wants to dream a dream beyond. He wants to go beyond the present. The present, as it were, is nothing to him. The Orient has been the cradle of the human race for ages, and all the vicissitudes of fortune are there — kingdoms succeeding kingdoms, empires succeeding empires, human power, glory, and wealth, all rolling down there: a Golgotha of power and learning. That is the Orient: a Golgotha of power, of kingdoms, of learning. No wonder, the oriental mind looks with contempt upon the things of this world and naturally wants to see something that changeth not, something which dieth not, something which in the midst of this world of misery and death is eternal, blissful, undying. An oriental Prophet never tires of insisting upon these ideals; and, as for Prophets, you may also remember that without one exception, all the Messengers were Orientals.
We see, therefore, in the life of this area: Messenger of life, the first watchword: "Not this life, but something higher"; and, like the true son of the Orient, he is practical in that. You people of the West are practical in your own department, in military affairs, and in managing political circles and other things. Perhaps the Oriental is not practical in those ways, but he is practical in his own field; he is practical in religion. If one preaches a philosophy, tomorrow there are hundreds who will struggle their best to make it practical in their lives. If a man preaches that standing on one foot would lead one to salvation, he will immediately get five hundred to stand on one foot. You may call it ludicrous; but, mark you, beneath that is their philosophy — that intense practicality. In the West, plans of salvation mean intellectual gymnastics — plans which are never worked out, never brought into practical life. In the West, the preacher who talks the best is the greatest preacher.
So, we find Jesus of Nazareth, in the first place, the true son of the Orient, intensely practical. He has no faith in this evanescent world and all its belongings. No need of text-torturing, as is the fashion in the West in modern times, no need of stretching out texts until the, will not stretch any more. Texts are not India rubber, and even that has its limits. Now, no making of religion to pander to the sense vanity of the present day! Mark you, let us all be honest. If we cannot follow the ideal, let us confess our weakness, but not degrade it; let not any try to pull it down. One gets sick at heart at the different accounts of the life of the Christ that Western people give. I do not know what he was or what he was not! One would make him a great politician; another, perhaps, would make of him a great military general; another, a great patriotic Jew; and so on. Is there any warrant in the books for all such assumptions? The best commentary on the life of a great teacher is his own life. "The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." That is what Christ says as they only way to salvation; he lays down no other way. Let us confess in sackcloth and ashes that we cannot do that. We still have fondness for "me and mine". We want property, money, wealth. Woe unto us! Let us confess and not put to shame that great Teacher of Humanity! He had no family ties. But do you think that, that Man had any physical ideas in him? Do you think that, this mass of light, this God and not-man, came down to earth, to be the brother of animals? And yet, people make him preach all sorts of things. He had no sex ideas! He was a soul! Nothing but a soul — just working a body for the good of humanity; and that was all his relation to the body. In the soul there is no sex. The disembodied soul has no relationship to the animal, no relationship to the body. The ideal may be far away beyond us. But never mind, keep to the ideal. Let us confess that it is our ideal, but we cannot approach it yet.
He had no other occupation in life, no other thought except that one, that he was a spirit. He was a disembodied, unfettered, unbound spirit. And not only so, but he, with his marvellous vision, had found that every man and woman, whether Jew or Gentile, whether rich or poor, whether saint or sinner, was the embodiment of the same undying spirit as himself. Therefore, the one work his whole life showed was to call upon them to realise their own spiritual nature. Give up, he says, these superstitious dreams that you are low and that you are poor. Think not that you are trampled upon and tyrannised over as if you were slaves, for within you is something that can never be tyrannised over, never be trampled upon, never be troubled, never be killed. You are all Sons of God, immortal spirit. "Know", he declared, "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you." "I and my Father are one." Dare you stand up and say, not only that "I am the Son of God", but I shall also find in my heart of hearts that "I and my Father are one"? That was what Jesus of Nazareth said. He never talks of this world and of this life. He has nothing to do with it, except that he wants to get hold of the world as it is, give it a push and drive it forward and onward until the whole world has reached to the effulgent Light of God, until everyone has realised his spiritual nature, until death is vanished and misery banished.
We have read the different stories that have been written about him; we know the scholars and their writings, and the higher criticism; and we know all that has been done by study. We are not here to discuss how much of the New Testament is true, we are not here to discuss how much of that life is historical. It does not matter at all whether the New Testament was written within five hundred years of his birth, nor does it matter even, how much of that life is true. But there is something behind it, something we want to imitate. To tell a lie, you have to imitate a truth, and that truth is a fact. You cannot imitate that which never existed. You cannot imitate that which you never perceived. But there must have been a nucleus, a tremendous power that came down, a marvellous manifestation of spiritual power — and of that we are speaking. It stands there. Therefore, we are not afraid of all the criticisms of the scholars. If I, as an Oriental, have to worship Jesus of Nazareth, there is only one way left to me, that is, to worship him as God and nothing else. Have we no right to worship him in that way, do you mean to say? If we bring him down to our own level and simply pay him a little respect as a great man, why should we worship at all? Our scriptures say, "These great children of Light, who manifest the Light themselves, who are Light themselves, they, being worshipped, become, as it were, one with us and we become one with them."
For, you see, in three ways man perceives God. At first the undeveloped intellect of the uneducated man sees God as far away, up in the heavens somewhere, sitting on a throne as a great Judge. He looks upon Him as a fire, as a terror. Now, that is good, for there is nothing bad in it. You must remember that humanity travels not from error to truth, but from truth to truth; it may be, if you like it better, from lower truth to higher truth, but never from error to truth. Suppose you start from here and travel towards the sun in a straight line. From here the sun looks only small in size. Suppose you go forward a million miles, the sun will be much bigger. At every stage the sun will become bigger and bigger. Suppose twenty thousand photographs had been taken of the same sun, from different standpoints; these twenty thousand photographs will all certainly differ from one another. But can you deny that each is a photograph of the same sun? So all forms of religion, high or low, are just different stages toward that eternal state of Light, which is God Himself. Some embody a lower view, some a higher, and that is all the difference. Therefore, the religions of the unthinking masses all over the world must be, and have always been, of a God who is outside of the universe, who lives in heaven, who governs from that place, who is a punisher of the bad and a rewarder of the good, and so on. As man advanced spiritually, he began to feel that God was omnipresent, that He must be in him, that He must be everywhere, that He was not a distant God, but dearly the Soul of all souls. As my soul moves my body, even so is God the mover of my soul. Soul within soul. And a few individuals who had developed enough and were pure enough, went still further, and at last found God. As the New Testament says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And they found at last that they and the Father were one.
You find that all these three stages are taught by the Great Teacher in the New Testament. Note the Common Prayer he taught: "Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name," and so on — a simple prayer, a child's prayer. Mark you, it is the "Common Prayer" because it is intended for the uneducated masses. To a higher circle, to those who had advanced a little more, he gave a more elevated teaching: "I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Do you remember that? And then, when the Jews asked him who he was, he declared that he and his Father were one, and the Jews thought that that was blasphemy. What did he mean by that? This has been also told by your old Prophets, "Ye are gods and all of you are children of the Most High." Mark the same three stages. You will find that it is easier for you to begin with the first and end with the last.
The Messenger came to show the path: that the spirit is not in forms, that it is not through all sorts of vexations and knotty problems of philosophy that you know the spirit. Better that you had no learning, better that you never read a book in your life. These are not at all necessary for salvation — neither wealth, nor position nor power, not even learning; but what is necessary is that one thing, purity. "Blessed are the pure in heart," for the spirit in its own nature is pure. How can it be otherwise? It is of God, it has come from God. In the language of the Bible, "It is the breath of God." In the language of the Koran, "It is the soul of God." Do you mean to say that the Spirit of God can ever be impure? But, alas, it has been, as it were, covered over with the dust and dirt of ages, through our own actions, good and evil. Various works which were not correct, which were not true, have covered the same spirit with the dust and dirt of the ignorance of ages. It is only necessary to clear away the dust and dirt, and then the spirit shines immediately. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." Where goest thou to seek for the Kingdom of God, asks Jesus of Nazareth, when it is there, within you? Cleanse the spirit, and it is there. It is already yours. How can you get what is not yours? It is yours by right. You are the heirs of immortality, sons of the Eternal Father.
This is the great lesson of the Messenger, and another which is the basis of all religions, is renunciation. How can you make the spirit pure? By renunciation. A rich young man asked Jesus, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said unto him, "One thing thou lackest; go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasures in heaven: and come, take up thy cross, and follow Me." And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved; for he had great possessions. We are all more or less like that. The voice is ringing in our ears day and night. In the midst of our pleasures and joys, in the midst of worldly things, we think that we have forgotten everything else. Then comes a moment's pause and the voice rings in our ears "Give up all that thou hast and follow Me." "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it." For whoever gives up this life for His sake, finds the life immortal. In the midst of all our weakness there is a moment of pause and the voice rings: "Give up all that thou hast; give it to the poor and follow me." This is the one ideal he preaches, and this has been the ideal preached by all the great Prophets of the world: renunciation. What is meant by renunciation? That there is only one ideal in morality: unselfishness. Be selfless. The ideal is perfect unselfishness. When a man is struck on the right cheek, he turns the left also. When a man's coat is carried off, he gives away his cloak also.
We should work in the best way we can, without dragging the ideal down. Here is the ideal. When a man has no more self in him, no possession, nothing to call "me" or "mine", has given himself up entirely, destroyed himself as it were — in that man is God Himself; for in him self-will is gone, crushed out, annihilated. That is the ideal man. We cannot reach that state yet; yet, let us worship the ideal, and slowly struggle to reach the ideal, though, maybe, with faltering steps. It may be tomorrow, or it may be a thousand years hence; but that ideal has to be reached. For it is not only the end, but also the means. To be unselfish, perfectly selfless, is salvation itself; for the man within dies, and God alone remains.
One more point. All the teachers of humanity are unselfish. Suppose Jesus of Nazareth was teaching; and a man came and told him, "What you teach is beautiful. I believe that it is the way to perfection, and I am ready to follow it; but I do not care to worship you as the only begotten Son of God." What would be the answer of Jesus of Nazareth? "Very well, brother, follow the ideal and advance in your own way. I do not care whether you give me the credit for the teaching or not. I am not a shopkeeper. I do not trade in religion. I only teach truth, and truth is nobody's property. Nobody can patent truth. Truth is God Himself. Go forward." But what the disciples say nowadays is: "No matter whether you practise the teachings or not, do you give credit to the Man? If you credit the Master, you will be saved; if not, there is no salvation for you." And thus the whole teaching of the Master is degenerated, and all the struggle and fight is for the personality of the Man. They do not know that in imposing that difference, they are, in a manner, bringing shame to the very Man they want to honour — the very Man that would have shrunk with shame from such an idea. What did he care if there was one man in the world that remembered him or not? He had to deliver his message, and he gave it. And if he had twenty thousand lives, he would give them all up for the poorest man in the world. If he had to be tortured millions of times for a million despised Samaritans, and if for each one of them the sacrifice of his own life would be the only condition of salvation, he would have given his life. And all this without wishing to have his name known even to a single person. Quiet, unknown, silent, would he work, just as the Lord works. Now, what would the disciple say? He will tell you that you may be a perfect man, perfectly unselfish; but unless you give the credit to our teacher, to our saint, it is of no avail. Why? What is the origin of this superstition, this ignorance? The disciple thinks that the Lord can manifest Himself only once. There lies the whole mistake. God manifests Himself to you in man. But throughout nature, what happens once must have happened before, and must happen in future. There is nothing in nature which is not bound by law; and that means that whatever happens once must go on and must have been going on.
In India they have the same idea of the Incarnations of God. One of their great Incarnations, Krishna, whose grand sermon, the Bhagavad-Gitâ, some of you might have read, says, "Though I am unborn, of changeless nature, and Lord of beings, yet subjugating My Prakriti, I come into being by My own Mâyâ. Whenever virtue subsides and immorality prevails, 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." Whenever the world goes down, the Lord comes to help it forward; and so He does from time to time and place to place. In another passage He speaks to this effect: Wherever thou findest a great soul of immense power and purity struggling to raise humanity, know that he is born of My splendour, that I am there working through him.
Let us, therefore, find God not only in Jesus of Nazareth, but in all the great Ones that have preceded him, in all that came after him, and all that are yet to come. Our worship is unbounded and free. They are all manifestations of the same Infinite God. They are all pure and unselfish; they struggled and gave up their lives for us, poor human beings. They each and all suffer vicarious atonement for every one of us, and also for all that are to come hereafter.
In a sense you are all Prophets; every one of you is a Prophet, bearing the burden of the world on your own shoulders. Have you ever seen a man, have you ever seen a woman, who is not quietly, patiently, bearing his or her little burden of life? The great Prophets were giants — they bore a gigantic world on their shoulders. Compared with them we are pigmies, no doubt, yet we are doing the same task; in our little circles, in our little homes, we are bearing our little crosses. There is no one so evil, no one so worthless, but he has to bear his own cross. But with all our mistakes, with all our evil thoughts and evil deeds, there is a bright spot somewhere, there is still somewhere the golden thread through which we are always in touch with the divine. For, know for certain, that the moment the touch of the divine is lost there would be annihilation. And because none can be annihilated, there is always somewhere in our heart of hearts, however low and degraded we may be, a little circle of light which is in constant touch with the divine.
Our salutations go to all the past Prophets whose teachings and lives we have inherited, whatever might have been their race, clime, or creed! Our salutations go to all those Godlike men and women who are working to help humanity, whatever be their birth, colour, or race! Our salutations to those who are coming in the future — living Gods — to work unselfishly for our descendants.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。