印度宗教思想
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中文
印度宗教思想
（在美国布鲁克林克林顿大道普奇宅邸艺术画廊，在布鲁克林伦理学会主持下宣讲）
印度虽然只有美国面积的一半，却拥有逾两亿九千万的人口，其上三种宗教主宰着这片土地——伊斯兰教、佛教（Buddhism）与印度教（Hindu）。第一种的信徒约有六千万，第二种约有九百万，而最后一种则涵盖了近两亿零六百万人。印度教的基本特征，奠基于各种《吠陀》（Vedas）书籍中所包含的冥思与思辨哲学，以及其中的伦理教导。《吠陀》主张，宇宙在空间上是无限的，在时间上是永恒的。它从无开始，也将无有终结。精神之力在物质领域的显现，以及无限在有限领域的作用，都是数不胜数的；然而，无限的精神本身是自存的、永恒的、不变的。时间的流逝，在永恒的表盘上丝毫不留痕迹。在其超感知的领域，那是人类理解力根本无法把握的，那里没有过去，也没有未来。《吠陀》教导说，人的灵魂是不朽的。身体服从于生长与衰败的法则，凡生长的必然要衰败。但内在居住的精神与无限的、永恒的生命相联，它从无开始，也将无有终结。印度教与基督教之间的主要区别之一，在于基督教认为每一个人类灵魂都在来到这个世界降生之时才有了开端，而印度教则主张，人的精神是永恒存在的发散，其开始并不比上帝本身更晚。它在从一个人格转向另一个人格的旅程中，已经有过并将会有无数次的显现，服从于灵性进化的伟大法则，直到达到完美，彼时便不再有变化。
人们常常问道：如果是这样的话，为何我们对过去世的任何事情都毫无记忆？这是我们的解释：意识只是心智之海的水面，但在其深处，储存着我们所有的经历，无论愉悦还是痛苦。人类灵魂的渴望，是找到某种稳定的东西。心智与身体，事实上，自然界的一切现象，都处于不断变化的状态之中。但我们精神最高的渴望，是找到某种不变的东西，已达到永久完美境界的东西。这便是人类灵魂对无限的渴望！我们的道德与智识发展越精微，对那永恒不变之物的渴望便越强烈。
现代佛教徒（modern Buddhists）认为，凡是五种感官无法认知的，皆不存在，并且认为，以为人是独立实体乃是一种幻妄。理想主义者则相反，主张每个个体都是独立的实体，外部世界在他的心智观念之外并不存在。但解决这一问题的确切方案在于：自然是独立性与依赖性、真实性与理想性的混合。我们的心智和身体依赖于外部世界，而这种依赖性随着它们与外部世界关系的性质而有所变化；但内在居住的精神是自由的，正如上帝是自由的，并且能够在更大或更小的程度上，根据其发展状态，引导我们心智和身体的运动。
死亡不过是状态的改变。我们依然处于同一宇宙中，并如前一样服从于同样的法则。那些已经越过并在美与智慧方面达到了高层次发展的人，不过是一支正在跟随其后的普世大军的先驱。最高者的精神与最低者的精神相联，无限完美的胚芽存在于所有人之中。我们应当培养乐观的气质，努力去看每一件事物中居住的善。如果我们坐下来哀叹身体和心智的不完美，我们毫无收益；正是以英雄气概的努力去征服不利的环境，才能将我们的精神向上托举。生命的目标是学习灵性进步的法则。基督徒可以向印度教徒学习，印度教徒也可以向基督徒学习。每一方都为世界的智慧宝藏作出了有价值的贡献。
向你们的孩子灌输这样的观念：真正的宗教是积极的而非消极的，它不仅在于避恶，而在于持续不断地履行高尚的行为。真正的宗教不来自人的教导或书本的阅读；它是精神在我们内在的觉醒，是纯洁而英雄的行动所产生的结果。每一个降生于世界的孩子，都从前世的轮回中带来了某种积累的经验；这种经验的印迹体现在其心智与身体的结构之中。但我们所有人都拥有的那种独立感，表明在我们身上，除了心智与身体之外，还有某种东西。内在统治的灵魂是独立的，创造出对自由的渴望。如果我们不自由，我们怎能希望使世界变得更好？我们认为，人类的进步是人类精神活动的结果。世界是什么，以及我们自己是什么，都是精神自由的果实。
我们信奉一位上帝——我们所有人的父，他是无所不在、无所不能的，以无限的爱引导和护佑他的孩子们。我们相信一位人格化的上帝，如同基督徒所信仰的那样；但我们走得更远：我们相信我们就是他！他的人格在我们身上得到彰显，上帝在我们之中，我们也在上帝之中。我们相信一切宗教中都有一颗真理的胚芽，印度教徒向它们所有的一切躬身敬礼；因为在这个世界上，真理不在减法中，而在加法中被找到。我们愿意向上帝奉献一束由所有各样信仰中最美丽的花朵所构成的花束。我们必须为爱本身而爱上帝，而非出于对报酬的期望。我们必须为职责本身而尽职责，而非出于对报酬的期望。我们必须为美本身而礼赞美，而非出于对报酬的期望。如此，在我们心灵的纯洁中，我们将见到上帝。祭祀、叩拜、喃喃的念诵与含糊的低语，都不是宗教。它们只有在激励我们去勇敢地履行美丽而英雄的行为，并将我们的思想提升到对神圣完美的把握之时，才是好的。
如果我们在祈祷中承认上帝是我们所有人的父，却在日常生活中并不把每一个人当作我们的兄弟来对待，这有什么益处呢？书籍的意义，只在于指向更高的生命；但除非以坚定不移的步伐踏上这条道路，否则没有任何益处可言！每一个人类的人格，都可以比作一个玻璃球。在每一个球的中心，有着同样纯洁的白色光芒——神圣存在的辐射；但由于玻璃的颜色和厚薄各异，光线在透射过程中呈现出不同的面貌。每一个中央火焰的平等与美丽是相同的，表面上的不平等，仅仅在于其表达的世俗载体之不完美。当我们在存在的阶梯上越升越高，这一媒介就变得越来越通透。
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English
INDIAN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT
(Delivered under the auspices of tile Brooklyn Ethical Society, in the Art Gallery of tile Pouch Mansion, Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, U.S.A.)
India, although only half the size of the United States, contains a population of over two hundred and ninety millions, and there are three religions which hold sway over them — the Mohammedan, the Buddhist , and the Hindu. The adherents of the first mentioned number about sixty millions, of the second about nine millions, while the last embrace nearly two hundred and six millions. The cardinal features of the Hindu religion are founded on the meditative and speculative philosophy and on the ethical teachings contained in the various books of the Vedas, which assert that the universe is infinite in space and eternal in duration. It never had a beginning, and it never will have an end. Innumerable have been the manifestations of the power of the spirit in the realm of matter, of the force of the Infinite in the domain of the finite; but the Infinite Spirit Itself is self-existent, eternal, and unchangeable. The passage of time makes no mark whatever on the dial of eternity. In its supersensuous region which cannot be comprehended at all by the human understanding, there is no past, and there is no future. The Vedas teach that the soul of man is immortal. The body is subject to the law of growth and decay, what grows must of necessity decay. But the in dwelling spirit is related to the infinite and eternal life; it never had a beginning and it never will have an end, One of the chief distinctions between the Hindu and the (Christian religions is that the Christian religion teaches that each human soul had its beginning at its birth into this world, whereas the Hindu religion asserts that the spirit of man is an emanation of the Eternal Being, and had no more a beginning than God Himself. Innumerable have been and will be its manifestations in its passage from one personality to another, subject to the great law of spiritual evolution, until it reaches perfection, when there is no more change.
It has been often asked: If this be so, why is it we do not remember anything of our past lives? This is our explanation: Consciousness is the name of the surface only of the mental ocean, but within its depths are stored up all our experiences, both pleasant and painful. The desire of the human soul is to find out something that is stable. The mind and the body, in fact all the various phenomena of nature, are in a condition of incessant change. But the highest aspiration of our spirit is to find out something that does not change, that has reached a state of permanent perfection. And this is the aspiration of the human soul after the Infinite! The finer our moral and intellectual development, the stronger will become this aspiration after the Eternal that changes not.
The modern Buddhists teach that everything that cannot be known by the five senses is non-existent, and that it is a delusion to suppose that man is an independent entity. The idealists, on the contrary, claim that each individual is an independent entity, and the external world does not exist outside of his mental conception. But the sure solution of this problem is that nature is a mixture of independence and dependence, of reality and idealism. Our mind and bodies are dependent on the external world, and this dependence varies according to the nature of their relation to it; but the indwelling spirit is free, as God is free, and is able to direct in a greater or lesser degree, according to the state of their development, the movements of our minds and bodies.
Death is but a change of condition. We remain in the same universe, and are subject to the same laws as before. Those who have passed beyond and have attained high planes of development in beauty and wisdom are but the advance-guard of a universal army who are following after them. The spirit of the highest is related to the spirit of the lowest, and the germ of infinite perfection exists in all. We should cultivate the optimistic temperament, and endeavour to see the good that dwells in everything. If we sit down and lament over the imperfection of our bodies and minds, we profit nothing; it is the heroic endeavour to subdue adverse circumstances that carries our spirit upwards. The object of life is to learn the laws of spiritual progress. Christians can learn from Hindus, and Hindus can learn from Christians. Each has made a contribution of value to the wisdom of the world.
Impress upon your children that true religion is positive and not negative, that it does not consist in merely refraining from evil, but in a persistent performance of noble decals. True religion comes not from the teaching of men or the reading of books; it is the awakening of the spirit within us, consequent upon pure and heroic action. Every child born into the world brings with it a certain accumulated experience from previous incarnations; and the impress of this experience is seen in the structure of its mind and body. But the feeling of independence which possesses us all shows there is something in us besides mind and body. The soul that reigns within is independent stud creates the desire for freedom. If we are not free, how can we hope to make the world better? We hold that human progress is the result of the action of the human spirit. What the world is, and what we ourselves are, are the fruits of the freedom of the spirit.
We believe in one God, the Father of us all, who is omnipresent and omnipotent, and who guides and preserves His children with infinite love. We believe in a Personal God as the Christians do, but we go further: we below that we are He! That His personality is manifested in us, that God is in us, and that we are in God We believe there is a germ of truth in all religions, and the Hindu bows down to them all; for in this world, truth is to be found not in subtraction but in addition. We would offer God a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers of all the diverse faiths. We must love God for love's sake, not for the hope of reward. We must do our duty for duty's sake not for the hope of reward. We must worship the beautiful for beauty's sake, not for the hope of reward. Thus in the purity of our hearts shall we see God. Sacrifices genuflexions, mumblings, and mutterings are not religion. They are only good if they stimulate us to the brave performance of beautiful and heroic deeds and lift our thoughts to the apprehension of the divine perfection
What good is it, if we acknowledge in our prayers that God is the Father of us all, and in our daily lives do not treat every man as our brother? Books are only made so that they may point the way to a higher life; but no good results unless the path is trodden with unflinching steps! Every human personality may be compared to a glass globe. There is the same pure white light — an emission of the divine Being — in the centre of each, but the glass being of different colours and thickness, the rays assume diverse aspects in the transmission. The equality and beauty of each central flame is the same, and the apparent inequality is only in the imperfection of the temporal instrument of its expression. As we rise higher and higher in the scale of being, the medium becomes more and more translucent.
Notes
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。