对马德拉斯致辞的回复
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中文
马德拉斯的朋友们、同胞们和同道中人：
得知我为宗教事业所作的微薄贡献蒙您们所接纳，我深感欣慰。这并非因为它是对我本人及我在遥远异邦所从事工作的个人肯定，而是作为一个确切的征兆——尽管异族入侵的旋风一次又一次地掠过印度这颗虔诚的心，尽管数百年来我们自身的疏忽与征服者的蔑视已经明显地使古代雅利亚沃塔（Āryāvarta）的荣光黯淡，尽管它所赖以支撑的许多庄严柱石、许多精美的拱券与许多奇妙的角隅，都被数百年来淹没这片土地的洪水冲刷殆尽——而核心依然完好，拱顶之石毫发无损。那座为颂扬神与慈悲众生而建起的宏伟荣光丰碑，其灵性根基依然岿然不动，坚如磐石。您们对他慷慨的赞赏——我，他最不配的仆人，曾有幸将他献给印度与整个世界的信息转达——表明了您们内在的灵性本能，它在他与他的信息中看到了那股灵性浪潮的最初低语；这股浪潮注定在不远的将来以其不可阻挡的力量冲击印度，以其无所不包的洪流裹挟一切软弱与残缺，将印度教民族提升到它在神的天意中注定要占据的高度，以比以往任何时候都更为辉煌的荣耀加冕——这是数百年默默承受苦难的奖赏，也是印度在世界各民族中完成其使命的成果——灵性人类的进化。
北印度的人民尤其感激南方的你们，因为当今在印度发挥作用的大多数推动力，都可以追溯到南方这个伟大的源泉。伟大的注疏家（Bhāshyakāras）、开创新纪元的阿查里亚（Āchāryas）——商羯罗、罗摩努迦与摩陀婆——皆出生于南印度。伟大的商羯罗，世界上每一位不二（Advaita）论者都对其效忠；伟大的罗摩努迦，其天赐的感化力将被贱视的不可接触者转化为阿尔瓦尔圣者（Ālwārs）；伟大的摩陀婆，其领袖地位甚至得到唯一一位其力量被感受于全印度南北每一寸土地的北方先知的追随者的认可——吉祥克里希纳·柴坦尼亚（Shri Krishna Chaitanya）。即便在当今，也是南方占据着瓦拉纳西（Varanasi）荣耀的首席——您们的弃绝精神统辖着喜马拉雅山（Himalayas）最遥远峰顶上的圣地；先知们的血液流淌在你们的血脉之中，受这些阿查里亚的祝福，又有什么奇怪的呢，你们是最先领会并坚守薄伽梵吉祥罗摩克里希纳（Bhagavān Shri Ramakrishna）信息者中的最前列。
南方一直是吠陀学问的宝库，当我指出——尽管进取的无知之人一再断言，天启圣典（Shruti）仍然是印度教所有不同派别的脊梁——您们会明白我的意思。
无论吠陀的赞歌集（Samhitā）与婆罗门书（Brāhmana）部分对民族学家或语言学家有多大的价值，无论《颂火神》（अग्निमीले）或《给予我力量》（इषेत्वोर्जेत्वा）或《吉祥的神水》（शन्नो देवीरभीष्टये）与不同的祭坛（Vedis）及祭祀与献供相结合所产生的结果多么令人向往——那一切都不过是属于受用（Bhoga）的范畴；从来没有人主张它能产生解脱（Moksha）。因此，智慧篇（Jnāna-Kānda）、森林书（Āranyakas）、那些天启圣典中的精华——它们传授通往灵性之道、解脱之路（Moksha-Mārga）——历来统辖着并将永远统辖着印度。
迷失于"永恒宗教"的重重迷宫与纷繁派别之中，因成见与偏见而无法把握这唯一一种宗教的意义——而这宗教的普世适应性恰是其所宣扬的神的精确倒影，即"微于微者，大于大者"（अणोरणीयान् महतो महीयान्）——现代印度青年在徒劳地奋力理解祖先的宗教，用向来对物质主义一无所知的民族那里借来的灵性真理标准在黑暗中摸索，最终放弃追求，成为了一个无望的不可知论者；否则便是由于其天生宗教本性的驱使而无法安于虚度，漫不经心地饮用某些带有东方风味的西方唯物主义的不同混合饮料，从而应验了天启圣典的预言：
परियन्ति मूढा अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः।
——"愚者如盲人引路之盲人，踉跄而行。"唯有那些灵性本质被"真正导师"（Sad-Guru）的赋予生命之触所感化与激活的人，才能幸免于此。
薄伽梵注疏者所言极为精当：
दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतत् देवानुग्रहहेतुकम्।
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुशसंश्रयः॥
दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतत् देवानुग्रहहेतुकम्।
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुशसंश्रयः॥
——"此三者在世间皆难以得到，全赖神明的恩典——人身、求解脱之愿，以及亲近伟大灵魂之机。"
无论是胜论派（Vaisheshikas）精锐的分析——产生了关于极微（Paramānus）、二极微（Dvyanus）与三极微（Trasarenus）的精妙理论——还是正理派（Naiyāyikas）在探讨普遍性（Jāti）、实体（Dravya）、性质（Guna）、和合性（Samavāya）及各种范畴时所展现的更为精妙的分析，上升至数论派（Sānkhyas）思想那庄严的行进——他们是进化论的先驱——直至所有这些人类心智研究的成熟果实、最终结晶：毗阿萨（Vyāsa）的《经》（Sutras）——所有这些人类心智不同分析与综合的唯一背景，依然是天启圣典。即便在佛教徒或耆那教徒的哲学著作中，天启圣典的参照从未被摒弃；至少在某些佛教流派以及大多数耆那教著作中，天启圣典的权威性被完全承认，除了他们所谓的"暴力圣典"（Himsaka Shrutis）——他们认为那是婆罗门的窜改之作。近代，已故的伟大斯瓦米·达耶难陀·萨拉斯瓦提也曾持有这样的观点。
若有人被要求指出一个思想体系，作为古今所有印度思想向之汇聚的中心；若有人想要在印度教的所有各种表现形式中看到其真正的脊梁，那么毗阿萨的《经》（Sutras of Vyasa）无可争辩地将被指出，构成了这一切的全部。
无论是听到不二论的雄狮（Advaita-Keshari）在喜马拉雅山森林令人屏息的庄严寂静中，夹杂着天河庄严的节律，以"存在、光明、喜乐"（Asti、Bhāti、Priya）的洪亮声音咆哮——还是在文达（Vrindā）丛林美丽的树荫之下聆听那"亲爱的、挚爱的"（Piyā、Pitam）的轻声啼鸣；无论是融入瓦拉纳西寺院的静穆沉思之中，还是置身纳迪亚先知的追随者那狂喜的舞蹈之中；无论是坐于具有瓦达迦勒（Vadakale）、田迦勒（Tenkale）及其他所有细分流派的胜限制不二论（Vishishtādvaita）导师的座前，还是怀着敬意聆听摩陀婆派（Mādhva）的阿查里亚们；无论是聆听世俗锡克教徒那铿锵有力的"先师的胜利"（Wā Guruki Fateh），还是聆听乌达西派（Udāsis）与宁玛拉派（Nirmalās）关于《格兰萨·萨希布》（Grantha Sāhib）的讲道；无论是以"真理永恒"（Sat Sāhib）向卡比尔（Kabir）的游方僧弟子致敬，并欣然聆听萨奇斯（Sākhis，赞歌）；无论是钻研拉杰普塔纳那位改革者达杜（Dādu）的奇妙教义，或是其王室弟子孙达拉达萨（Sundaradāsa）的著作，直至伟大的尼沙拉达萨（Nishchaladāsa）——《辨别海洋》（Vichāra sāgara）的著名作者，此书在印度的影响力超过了过去三个世纪中以任何语言写成的任何著作；即便有人请北印度的巴努吉·麦赫塔（Bhangi Mehtar）坐下来，讲述他的拉尔古鲁（Lālguru）教义——人们会发现，所有这些不同的导师与流派都以同一思想体系为基础，其权威是天启圣典，《薄伽梵歌》是其神圣注脚，《身体经》（Shāriraka-Sutras）是其有组织的体系；印度所有不同派别——从至高托钵游化阿查里亚（Paramahamsa Parivrājakāchāryas）到可怜的被蔑视的拉尔古鲁的麦赫塔弟子——都是其不同的表现形式。
因此，三大典籍（three Prasthānas）以其对二元论、有限制不二论或不二论的不同诠释，以及若干较小的流派，构成了印度教的"权威"。往世书（Purānas）——古代往世书（Nārāsamsi，吠陀的传说部分）的现代体现——提供神话学内容；怛特罗（Tantras）——婆罗门书（Brāhmanas，吠陀的仪轨与解说部分）的现代体现——提供仪轨。因此，三大典籍作为权威，为所有派别所共有；但至于往世书与怛特罗，每个派别各有其自身所依。
如我们所言，怛特罗代表着吠陀仪轨的修订形式；在有人就此贸然得出最荒谬的结论之前，我建议他将怛特罗与婆罗门书合而读之，尤其是阿德瓦尔尤（Adhvaryu）部分。怛特罗中使用的大多数真言（Mantras），都可以在其婆罗门书中找到逐字引用的出处。至于其影响力，除了胜利与法典（Shrauta and Smārta）仪轨之外，从喜马拉雅山到科摩林角（Comorin），一切通行的仪轨形式都取自怛特罗；它指导着夏克塔（Shākta）、沙伊瓦（Shaiva）、毗湿奴派（Vaishnava）以及其他一切派别的礼拜。
当然，我并不假装所有印度教徒都对他们宗教的这些来源有深入的了解。许多人，尤其是孟加拉低地的人，连这些派别和伟大体系的名称都未曾听说；然而自觉或不自觉地，他们所遵循的正是三大典籍中所阐明的那个计划。
另一方面，凡是在印地语（Hindi language）流通之处，即便是最低阶层也比孟加拉低地的许多上层人士拥有更多的吠檀多（Vedanta）宗教教育。
原因何在？
从米提拉（Mithilā）的土壤移植至纳瓦德维帕（Navadvipa），由希若玛尼（Shiromani）、加达达拉（Gadādhara）、贾加迪沙（Jagadisha）及众多其他伟大名字的培育天才滋养与发展而成，一套在某些方面凌驾于世界上所有其他体系之上的推理法则的分析，以奇妙而精确的语言马赛克呈现——这便是孟加拉的正理论（Nyāya），受到印度斯坦全境各处的尊重与研习。然而可悲的是，吠陀研究竟遭到严重忽视，直到近几年之前，在孟加拉几乎找不到一个人能够传授帕坦伽利（Patanjali）的《大注疏》（Mahābhāshya）。曾经只有一位伟大的天才超越了无休无止的"阿瓦查成纳"与"阿瓦查达卡"——薄伽梵吉祥克里希纳·柴坦尼亚（Bhagavān Shri Krishna Chaitanya）。那一次，孟加拉的宗教昏沉被撼动了，它一度与印度其他地方的宗教生命进入了共融。
值得注意的是，尽管吉祥柴坦尼亚从一位巴拉提（Bhārati）处获得游方僧誓愿，因此本人也是巴拉提，但却是通过马达文德拉·普利（Mādhavendra Puri），他的宗教天赋才最初被唤醒。
普利派似乎有一种激发孟加拉灵性的特殊使命。薄伽梵吉祥罗摩克里希纳从托塔·普利（Totā Puri）处获得了游方僧（Sannyāsāshrama）资格。
吉祥柴坦尼亚为毗阿萨经（Vyāsa-Sutras）所作的注疏已经遗失或尚未被发现。他的弟子们与南方的摩陀婆派（Madhvas）合流，鲁帕（Rupa）、萨纳塔纳（Sanātana）与吉瓦·戈斯瓦米（Jiva Goswāmi）等巨人的衣钵逐渐落到了巴巴吉们（Bābājis）的肩上，吉祥柴坦尼亚的伟大运动正在迅速衰落，直至近年来出现了复兴的迹象。希望它能恢复昔日失去的荣耀。
吉祥柴坦尼亚的影响遍及全印度。凡是虔信之道（Bhakti-Mārga）所及之处，他都受到赞赏、研习与崇敬。我有充分理由相信，整个瓦拉巴查里亚（Vallabhāchārya）流派不过是吉祥柴坦尼亚所创立的派别的一个分支。但孟加拉他的大多数所谓弟子并不知道他的力量至今仍在全印度发挥着作用；他们又怎能知道呢？弟子们已经成为伽地安（Gadiāns，寺院住持），而他当年却是赤足在印度各地挨门挨户地宣讲，乞求所有人直至最低阶层（Āchandālas）都来爱神。
在孟加拉盛行、而且大体上仅在孟加拉盛行的世袭导师这一奇特而不合礼法的习俗，是孟加拉与印度其余地方宗教生命相隔绝的另一个原因。
最根本的原因是，孟加拉的生命从未得到来自游方僧大兄弟会的那股生命力的注入——即便到今天，游方僧们仍是最高的印度灵性文化的代表者与宝库。
弃绝（Tyāga）从来都不受孟加拉上层阶级的欢迎。他们的倾向是受用（Bhoga）。他们如何能对灵性事物有深刻的洞察力？"त्यागेनैके अमृतत्वमानशुः"——"唯由弃绝，不死方可达至。"又能如何呢？
另一方面，在整个印地语世界，一代又一代才华横溢的弃绝（Tyāgi）导师，以其深远的影响力，将吠檀多的教义带到了每一扇门前。尤其是旁遮普兰吉特·辛格（Ranjit Singh）统治期间所给予弃绝的推动力，使吠檀多哲学的最高教义即便对于最低层的人也能触及。旁遮普村姑以真正的自豪说，她的纺车也在重复着："所啥姆"（Soham，"我是梵"），"所啥姆"。我曾在赫里希凯什（Hrishikesh）的森林中见到麦赫塔弃绝者（Mehtar Tyagis），身着游方僧的法衣，研习吠檀多。而许多骄傲的上层人士会乐于坐在他们脚下求教。为何不呢？"अन्त्यादपि परं धर्मं"——"至高的智慧（可以）向最低出身之人学习。"
因此，西北部与旁遮普的宗教教育远远领先于孟加拉、孟买或马德拉斯。来自各种修道团体的游方弃绝者——达沙纳米派（Dashanāmis）、瓦拉吉派（Vairāgis）或各种路（Panthis）——将宗教带到了每个人的门前，而代价不过是一口饭食。他们中的大多数多么高尚，多么无私！有一位属于卡乔·普（Kachu Panthis）或独立派（不隶属任何派别）的游方僧，在整个拉杰普塔纳建立了数百所学校和慈善庇护所。他在森林中开办了医院，在喜马拉雅山的峡谷上架设了铁桥；这个人从不以双手触碰一枚铜钱，除一件毛毯外别无任何世俗财物——这赋予了他"毛毯斯瓦米"（Blanket Swami）的绰号——并挨门挨户地乞食度日。我从未见过他从一户人家取用整顿饭食，唯恐这对那户人家是一种负担。他只是众多人中的一员。你们认为，只要这些生活在印度的地上之神，以这样神圣品格构筑的坚不可摧的壁垒护持着"永恒宗教"，这古老的宗教会消亡吗？
在这个国家，教士有时领取高达三万、四万、五万乃至九万卢比的年薪，仅仅每周日宣讲两小时，而且每年只有六个月。看看他们为支持本国宗教所耗费的数以百万计的钱财，而孟加拉的青年却被教导说，像卡姆布利·斯瓦米（Kambli-Swami）这样神圣的、绝对无私的人是无所事事的游民。"मद्भक्तानाञ्च च ये भक्तास्ते मे भक्ततमा मताः"——"那些致力于崇敬我的崇拜者的人，被视为最佳的虔信者。"
就以一个极端的例子来说，即便是一个极其无知的瓦拉吉（Vairagi），当他走进一个村庄时，也会尽其所能地将他从图拉西达萨（Tulasidāsa）、柴坦尼亚生平（Chaitanya-Charitāmrita）或南印度的阿尔瓦尔（Ālwārs）所知的内容传授给村民。这难道不是在做善事吗？而这一切，代价仅是一口饭、一块布。在无情地批评他们之前，想一想，我的兄弟，你为你的贫苦同胞做了多少——那些同胞以他们的血汗供养了你接受教育，而你却是靠压榨他们的血汗来维持自己的地位、支付导师的报酬，而那些导师教会你的，就是巴巴吉们不过是游民而已。
你们中一些孟加拉同胞批评了他们所谓的印度教的一种新发展。他们完全可以这样做。因为印度教目前才刚刚渗入孟加拉，在那里，宗教的全部概念长期以来不过是一系列地方习俗（Deshāchāras），涉及饮食与婚姻。
这篇短文没有篇幅讨论这样一个宏大的主题：罗摩克里希纳的弟子们在全印度所传扬的印度教观点，是否符合"真正的经典"（Sad-Shāstras）。但我将给我们的批评者一些提示，或许有助于他们更好地理解我们的立场。
首先，我从未主张对印度教的正确认识可以从卡希达萨（Kāshidāsa）或克里提瓦萨（Krittivāsa）的著作中获得，尽管他们的话语有如甘露（Amrita Samāna），那些聆听者也是有福之人（Punyavāns）。但我们必须求诸于吠陀与哲学的权威，以及印度各地的伟大阿查里亚及其弟子。
兄弟们，若你们从高达摩（Gautama）的经（Sutras）开始，借助瓦兹亚亚纳（Vātsyāyana）的注疏，研读他关于"证者"（Āptas，受到启示者）的理论，然后上溯至弥曼差派（Mimāmsakas），参阅沙巴拉（Shabara）及其他注疏家，了解他们所说的"超感官实现"（अलौकिकप्रत्यक्षम्）是什么、谁是"证者"（Aptas）、是否每个存在都能成为证者，以及吠陀的证据在于它们是这些证者之言——若你们有时间研读马希达拉（Mahidhara）对《夜柔吠陀》（Yajur-Veda）之引言，你们将发现一个更为清晰的探讨，说明吠陀是人类内在生命的法则，正因如此，它们是永恒的。
关于创造的永恒性——这一教义不仅是印度教宗教的基础，也是佛教徒与耆那教徒的基础。
现在，印度所有派别大体上可以分为遵循智慧之道（Jnāna-Mārga）或虔信之道（Bhakti-Mārga）两类。若你们请查阅吉祥商羯罗阿查里亚（Shri Shankarāchārya）的《身体经注疏》（Shāriraka-Bhāshya）之引言，你们将发现其中对智慧的超越性（Nirapekshatā）有深入的探讨，结论是：对梵（Brahman）的实现或解脱（Moksha）的获得，不依赖于仪轨、信条、种姓、肤色或教义。它将降临于任何具备四种萨达纳（Sādhanās）的存在——即最完善的道德修养。
至于虔信者（Bhaktas），即便是孟加拉的批评者也很清楚地知道，他们中的某些权威甚至宣称：种姓、国籍、性别，乃至人身，对于解脱（Moksha）从来都不是必要条件。虔信（Bhakti）是唯一且仅有的必要条件。
智慧与虔信在各处皆被宣讲为无条件的，因此没有任何一位权威在达到解脱上规定种姓、信条或国籍的条件。参见商羯罗、罗摩努迦与摩陀婆对毗阿萨经——"अन्तरा चापि तु तद्दृष्टेः"——的探讨。
通读所有奥义书（Upanishads），即便在吠陀赞歌集中，你也找不到解脱（Moksha）的有限概念——而这恰恰是其他每一种宗教都持有的。至于宽容，它随处可见，即便在阿德瓦尔尤吠陀（Adhvaryu Veda）的赞歌集中，在第四十章第三或第四节——若我记忆无误的话——以"न बुध्दिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसंगिनाम्।"开头，随处可见。在印度，曾有人因选择自己的依怙天（Ishta Devatā，所选择崇拜的神灵）、或成为无神论者乃至不可知论者而受到迫害吗——只要他遵守社会法规？社会可以通过舆论的谴责来惩罚任何违背其法规的人，但任何人，即便是最堕落者（Patita），都从未被排斥于解脱之外。你们不应将这两者混为一谈。至于那方面，在马拉巴尔（Malabar），一个旃陀罗（Chandāla）不被允许与高种姓之人经过同一条街道，但若他成为穆斯林或基督徒，便立即被允许去任何地方；而这一规定在印度教君主的统治下已施行数百年。这或许奇特，然而即便在最不利的情形之下，它也体现了对其他宗教宽容的理念。
印度各宗教与世界上所有其他宗教的不同之处在于一个思想，圣人们几乎耗尽梵文词汇来表达它：人必须在今生就实现神。而不二论（Advaita）的典籍非常合乎逻辑地补充说："认识梵，即成为梵。"
由此，作为必然的推论，出现了最为宏阔和最为辉煌的灵感（inspiration）思想——不仅如《吠陀》的仙人（Rishis）所断言与宣示的，不仅如毗杜拉（Vidura）和达摩贝亚达（Dharmavyādha）及其他众多人士所提出的，就在不久前，达杜派（Dādu panthi）弃绝者尼沙拉达萨（Nischaladāsa）在其《辨别海洋》（Vichāra-Sāgara）中勇敢地宣称："凡是认识梵者，即已成为梵。他的言语即吠陀，无论以梵文还是任何民间方言表达，都将驱散无明的黑暗。"
因此，实现神即梵——正如二元论者（Dvaitins）所说，或成为梵——正如不二论者（Advaitins）所说——是吠陀整个教义的目的与终点；其中所包含的其他每一条教义，都代表着我们趋向这一目的之旅程中的某个阶段。薄伽梵注疏者商羯罗阿查里亚（Bhagavan Bhashyakara Shankaracharya）最大的荣耀在于，正是他的天才给了毗阿萨思想最为精妙绝伦的表达。
就绝对而言，唯有梵是真实的；就相对真理而言，所有不同的派别——无论在印度还是在印度之外，都建立于同一梵的不同显现之上——皆是真实的。只是某些派别比其他派别更高。假设一个人径直朝太阳走去，在旅程的每一步，他都将见到越来越新的太阳景象——太阳的大小、景观与光芒，每一刻都是全新的，直至他抵达真正的太阳。他起初所见的太阳如同一个大球，然后它开始增大。太阳从未像他所见的那个球那么小，也从未像他在旅途中所见的所有那一连串太阳中的任何一个。然而这位旅行者所见到的，难道不始终是太阳，且唯有太阳吗？同样地，所有这些不同的派别都是真实的——有些更接近，有些离那真正的太阳更远——而那真正的太阳便是我们的"独一无二"（एकमेवाव्दितीयम्）——"独一无二者"。
正如吠陀是唯一传授这真正绝对之神的经典——一切其他关于神的观念不过是其缩小与局限的景象；正如《天启圣典》（सर्वलोकहितैषिणी Shruti，关怀一切众生者）温柔地牵着虔信者的手，引导他从一个阶段走向另一个阶段，穿越他必须经历的一切阶段以趋达绝对；正如所有其他宗教都以一种固化而无进展的形式代表着这些阶段中的某一个——因此，世界上所有其他宗教都包含在这无名的、无限的、永恒的吠陀宗教之中。
劳作数百世，搜遍心智的每一个角落数个时代——你们仍然找不到任何一个崇高的宗教理念，它不已经被嵌入那个无限灵性矿藏之中。
关于所谓的印度教偶像崇拜——首先请去研究他们正在经历的仪式形式，并了解崇拜者真正在何处崇拜：是在庙宇中，在神像中，还是在他们自身身体的殿堂中。首先确切地了解他们在做什么——九成以上的诽谤者对此一无所知——然后在吠檀多哲学的光照下，一切将自明。
然而这些业行（Karmas）并非强制性的。另一方面，请翻开《摩奴法典》（Manu），看它在哪里要求每个老人接受第四阶段（fourth Ashrama），以及无论他是否接受，他都必须放弃所有业行。各处都反复强调，所有这些业行"ज्ञाने परिसमाप्यते।"——"最终圆满于智慧（Jnana）之中"。
就此而言，一个印度教农民所拥有的宗教教育，超过其他国家的许多绅士。有位朋友批评了我在演讲中使用欧洲哲学与宗教术语。我本会非常乐于使用梵文术语；那会容易得多，因为梵文是宗教思想唯一完善的载体。然而那位朋友忘记了，我当时面对的是西方听众；尽管有一位印度传教士宣称印度教徒已经忘记了其梵文经典的意义，是传教士们发掘出了其含义，但在那一大群传教士中，我却找不到一个能读懂梵文一行的人——而他们中的某些人却发表了批评吠陀及印度教所有神圣来源的学术论文！
我并非不支持任何宗教。同样不实的是，我对在印度的基督教传教士怀有敌意。但我反对他们某些在美国募款的方式。那些为儿童准备的学校教科书中的图画所要表达的是什么——其中印度教的母亲被画成将孩子投入恒河（Ganga）的鳄鱼口中？母亲是黑色的，但孩子被画成白色的，以激起更多的同情并募得更多的款项。那些将一个男人以自己的双手将妻子捆在火刑柱上焚烧的图画所要表达的是什么——以便她成为鬼魂去折磨丈夫的敌人？那些描绘巨型车辆碾过人体的图画所要表达的是什么？不久前，这个国家出版了一本儿童读物，其中一位绅士叙述了他访问加尔各答（Calcutta）的经历。他说他看到一辆车在加尔各答街头碾过狂热分子。我听说其中一位绅士在孟菲斯（Memphis）布道，声称印度每个村庄都有一口装满小婴儿尸骨的池塘。
印度教徒对这些基督的门徒做了什么，以致每个基督教儿童都被教导称印度教徒为"下流的"、"可悲的"、以及世间最可怕的魔鬼？这里儿童主日学教育的一部分，就是教导他们憎恨每一个非基督徒，尤其是印度教徒，以便他们从幼年起就能将零钱捐给传教士。若不是为了真理，为了他们自己孩子的道德着想，基督教传教士也不应允许此类事情的发生。此类儿童长大成为冷酷无情的男女，有什么可奇怪的呢？一个布道者越能描绘永恒地狱的酷刑——那里燃烧的火焰、硫磺——他在正统圈中的地位就越高。我一位朋友家中的一个女仆，因为参加了这里所谓的复兴布道会，不得不被送进精神病院。过量的地狱之火与硫磺对她来说太过沉重。再看看在马德拉斯（Madras）出版的那些反对印度教的书籍。若有一个印度教徒写出一行这样攻击基督教的文字，传教士们便会喊出火与复仇。
我的同胞们，我在这个国家已经待了一年多。我几乎走遍了社会的每个角落；比较之后，请让我告诉你们：我们既不是传教士所告诉世界的那种魔鬼，他们也不是他们自称的那种天使。传教士越少谈论不道德、杀婴以及印度婚姻制度的弊端，对他们自己越好。可能有某些国家的真实写照，面对它，传教士们关于印度教社会的一切虚构图画都会黯然失色，无足轻重。但我的人生使命不是成为一个有薪酬的中伤者。我是最后一个声称印度教社会完美无缺的人。没有人比我更清楚地认识到其中存在的缺陷，或数百年不幸岁月中滋生的种种弊端。外国朋友，若你们带着真诚的同情来扶助而非摧毁，愿神赐福于你们。但若你们打算以接连不断地对一个匍匐在地的民族恶言相向——不论时机是否合宜——来主张自己民族道德上的优越性，请允许我直言相告：如果以任何程度的公正来进行这样的比较，印度教徒在道德上将被发现远高于世界上所有其他民族。
在印度，宗教从未受到桎梏。没有人在选择自己的依怙天（Ishta Devatā）、或选择自己的派别、或自己的导师时曾受到质疑，宗教就此成长，成长到了在任何其他地方都未曾有过的程度。另一方面，允许宗教无限变化是必要的，需要有一个固定的支撑点；而在印度，社会被选为那个支撑点。其结果是，社会变得僵硬而近乎一成不变。因为自由是成长的唯一条件。
另一方面，在西方，变化的领域是社会，而恒定的支撑点是宗教。从众是欧洲宗教的口号，时至今日依然如此；每一次新的偏离都必须穿越一条血河才能获得任何微小的优势。其结果是，出现了辉煌的社会组织，但宗教却从未超越最粗陋的唯物主义概念。
今天，西方正在觉醒于自身的需求；"人的真我（Atman）与灵性"是西方先进神学家的口号。梵文哲学的学者知道这阵风从何处吹来，但只要它带来新的生命，来自何处又有何妨。
在印度，新的情势同时也在不断要求对社会组织进行新的调整。在过去四分之三个世纪里，印度一直沸腾着改革社团与改革家。然而可悲的是，他们每一个都被证明是失败的。他们不知道那个秘密。他们没有学到那个需要学习的伟大课题。在他们的急于求成之中，他们将我们社会中的一切弊端都归咎于宗教之门；就像故事里那个想要打死坐在朋友额头上的蚊子的人，他们试图施以重击，结果会将人和蚊子一起打死。然而在这个情形中，幸运的是，他们只是撞上了不可移动的磐石，在撞击的反弹中被粉碎殆尽。荣耀归于那些在错误的方向上挣扎与失败的高尚无私的灵魂。那些改革热忱的电击是唤醒沉睡的庞然大物所必要的。然而它们完全是破坏性的，而非建设性的，因此，它们是有死的，因此消亡了。
让我们为他们祝福，并从他们的经验中受益。他们没有学到这个课题：一切都是从内向外的成长，一切进化不过是先前内卷的显化。他们不知道种子只能吸收周围的元素，却按其自身的本性长成一棵树。在整个印度教民族灭绝、一个新的民族占据这片土地之前，这样的事情是永远不会发生的——无论往东往西寻求，印度永远不会成为欧洲，除非她走向死亡。
她会走向死亡吗——这位一切崇高与道德与灵性之母，圣人们所踏足的土地，神圣之人至今仍在其上生息的土地？我将借用雅典智者的灯笼，跟随你，我的兄弟，穿越这广阔世界的城市与村庄、平原与森林——若你能向我展示其他土地上这样的人，请告诉我。诚如所言，树以其果为证。走遍印度每一棵芒果树下，从地上拾起大堆被虫咬蚀的、未成熟的、跌落的果实，并就其中每一个写下数百卷最为博学的著作——你仍然未曾描述一个芒果。从树上摘下一枚汁液丰盈、完全成熟的果实——现在你才认识了芒果的全部本质。
同样地，这些人神（Man-Gods）展示了印度教是什么。他们展示了那棵以百年计算文明、历经千年风暴仍以永恒青春的不损之力巍然挺立的民族之树的性格、力量与可能性。
印度会消亡吗？若然，那么世界上一切灵性将会熄灭，一切道德的完善将会熄灭，对宗教一切温柔心灵的同理将会熄灭，一切理想主义将会熄灭；取而代之的将是肉欲与奢靡的二元性，以男女二神之名统治，以金钱为祭司，以欺诈、暴力与竞争为仪式，以人类的灵魂为祭品。这样的事情永远不会发生。苦难的力量无限大于行动的力量；爱的力量无限大于仇恨的力量。那些认为当前印度教复兴不过是爱国冲动之表现的人，是被误导了的。
首先，让我们研究这个奇特的现象。
在现代科学研究排山倒海的强力冲击之下，西方教条宗教的一切旧有堡垒正在土崩瓦解；在现代科学的铁锤重击之下，那些以信仰、信念或教会会议多数票为根基的瓷器般脆弱的体系正在灰飞烟灭；在西方神学竭尽心力以求迎合那不断涌起的现代进取思潮之际；在其他一切圣典的文本都在日益增大的现代思想压力下被拉伸到极限、其中大多数已经断裂而被束之高阁之际；在西方绝大多数有思想的人已与教会斩断一切联系、在不安的海洋中随波逐流之际——那些从吠陀这一光明源泉汲取了生命之水的宗教，即印度教与佛教，却独自焕发出勃勃生机——这难道不是一件令人称奇之事吗？
躁动不安的西方无神论者或不可知论者，唯有在《薄伽梵歌》或《法句经》中，才能找到其灵魂的栖泊之所。
时势已然逆转。印度教徒曾含泪绝望地目睹自己古老的家园被他人蓄意点燃的烈火所吞噬，而今，当现代思想的探照灯驱散了硝烟，他才发现：自己的家园依然岿然屹立、坚不可摧，其余的一切要么已化为乌有，要么正在仿照印度教的蓝图重建家园。他拭去泪水，发现那把试图从根部砍断"ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम्"（《薄伽梵歌》第十五章第一节）的斧头，其实是外科医生施以慈悲的手术刀。
他已然发现，自己无需歪曲任何经文，也无需进行任何其他形式的思想欺骗，便能维护自己的宗教信仰。不仅如此，他甚至可以坦然承认他的经典中某些薄弱之处确实存在，正是古代圣贤有意如此安排，目的是以"引导视线法则"（अरुन्धतीदर्शनन्याय）来扶助那些根基尚浅之人。他对那些发现了如此普遍、如此广博的宗教体系的古代圣贤心怀新的感激与景仰——这一体系能够容纳物质领域中已被发现的一切以及一切有待探知的知识。他已开始重新珍视并重新发现：那些使每一套局限狭隘的宗教体系饱受打击的发现，不过是在智识与感官意识的层面上，对他的祖先们早在更高层次的直觉与超意识中所发现之真理的重新发现而已。
因此，他无须放弃任何东西，也无须四处寻觅任何事物，只需善加利用他所继承的那无尽宝藏中的一小部分，便足以应对自身的需求。他已经开始这样做了，而且将来会做得越来越好。这难道不是此次宗教复兴的真正原因吗？
孟加拉青年们，我向你们发出特别的呼吁。兄弟们，我们深感惭愧地承认，外来种族所指责印度教民族的诸多真实弊端，大多源于我们自身。我们曾使印度其他民族蒙受许多不白之冤。但感谢上天，我们已完全觉醒于此，并将在神的庇佑下，不仅净化自身，更将帮助全印度实现这永恒宗教所宣扬的理想。
让我们首先拭去那印记——大自然总是将它烙于奴隶的额头之上——即嫉妒之污点。对任何人都不必嫉妒。随时准备向每一位行善之人伸出援手。对三界中的每一个存在都送去善念。
让我们在我们宗教的核心真理之上立稳根基——这是印度教徒、佛教徒与耆那教徒共同的精神遗产——即人的灵性，人的真我（Atman），那不朽的、无生的、遍在的、永恒的人类灵魂，连吠陀本身也无法充分表达其荣耀，在其威严面前，宇宙中一个又一个星系的太阳、星辰与星云，不过如同一滴水珠。每一个男人与女人——不，从最高的天神到脚下爬行的虫豸——都是这样一个已进化或尚未进化的灵性存在。其差异不在种类，而在程度。
灵性的这种无限力量，施加于物质则推动物质进化，作用于思想则催生智识进化，而将其作用于自身，则使人成为神。
首先，让我们自己成为神，然后帮助他人成为神。"成为，并使他人成为。"让这成为我们的座右铭。不要说人是罪人。告诉他，他就是神。即便真有魔鬼存在，我们的职责也是永远忆念神，而非忆念魔鬼。
若房间黑暗，持续感受和诉说黑暗并不能驱散它，唯有引入光明。让我们知晓：一切否定的、一切破坏性的、一切单纯批判性的东西注定要消逝；唯有积极的、肯定的、建设性的东西才是永恒的，才能永远长存。让我们说："我们存在"，"神存在"，"我们即是神"，"湿婆哈姆，湿婆哈姆"，并向前迈进。不是物质，而是灵性。一切有名有形之物都从属于无名无形之物。这是圣典所传扬的永恒真理。引入光明；黑暗将自然消散。让吠檀多的狮子发出吼声；狐狸们将逃回它们的洞穴。广播这些思想，让结果顺其自然。让我们将这些化学物质混合在一起；结晶将按其自身规律进行。汇聚灵性的力量，将其倾注于印度的每一寸土地；一切必要之事将自然而然地到来。
彰显你内在的神性，一切都将在其周围和谐安排。记住吠陀中因陀罗与毗卢遮那的故事；二人都被教导了自己的神性。然而阿修罗毗卢遮那将自己的身体视为他的神。而因陀罗作为天神，则理解所指乃是真我（Atman）。你们是印度的子民，你们是天神的后裔。物质永远不能成为你们的神；身体永远不能成为你们的神。
印度将崛起，凭借的不是肉身的力量，而是灵性的力量；打着的不是毁灭的旗帜，而是和平与爱的旗帜——游方僧的袈裟；凭借的不是财富的力量，而是化缘钵的力量。不要说你们软弱。灵性是全能的。看那一小群被罗摩克里希纳神圣感召所唤起的青年们。他们已将这讯息从阿萨姆传播到信德，从喜马拉雅山传播到科摩林角。他们已横越海拔两万英尺的喜马拉雅山，在冰雪之上徒步前行，深入西藏的奥秘之地。他们行乞为食，衣衫褴褛；他们曾遭到迫害，被警察追踪，身陷囹圄，直至政府确信其清白后方才获释。
他们现在是二十人。明日将其扩大为两千人。孟加拉青年们，你们的国家需要这样做，全世界也需要这样做。唤起你们内在的神性，使你们能够承受饥渴、酷热与严寒。坐在豪华的家中，沉浸于生活的一切安逸，偶尔施舍一点业余宗教，这也许适合其他地方，但印度有更真实的本能。她能直觉地识破面具。你们必须舍弃。要胸怀大志。没有牺牲就不能成就任何伟大的事业。神我（Purusha）本身为了创造这个世界而献祭了自己。放下你们的安逸、你们的享乐、你们的名声、名望或地位，乃至你们的生命，用人链造一座桥梁，让千万人能够渡过这生命的大洋。汇聚一切善的力量。不要在乎你在哪面旗帜下前进。不要在乎你的颜色是绿的、蓝的，还是红的——将所有颜色混合在一起，产生那爱之颜色——白色的炽烈光芒。我们只管工作，结果自有天定。如果任何社会制度阻碍了你成为神的道路，它将在灵性力量面前让步。我看不见未来，也不愿去看。但有一个异象，我清晰地看见，有如生命在我眼前：那古老的圣母已再度觉醒，端坐于她的宝座之上，焕然一新，比以往任何时候都更加光辉灿烂。以和平与祝福之声，向全世界宣告她的归来。
永远爱你们并与你们共同劳作， 辨喜。
注释
English
Friends, Fellow-Countrymen and Co-Religionists of Madras,
It is most gratifying to me to find that my insignificant service to the cause of our religion has been accept able to you, not because it is as a personal appreciation of me and my work in a foreign and distant land, but as a sure sign that, though whirlwind after whirlwind of foreign invasion has passed over the devoted head of India, though centuries of neglect on our part and contempt on the part of our conquerors have visibly dimmed the glories of ancient Āryâvarta, though many a stately column on which it rested, many a beautiful arch, and many a marvellous corner have been washed away by the inundations that deluged the land for centuries — the centre is all sound, the keystone is unimpaired. The spiritual foundation upon which the marvellous monument of glory to God and charity to all beings has been reared stands unshaken, strong as ever. Your generous appreciation of Him whose message to India and to the whole world, I, the most unworthy of His servants, had the privilege to bear shows your innate spiritual instinct which saw in Him and His message the first murmurs of that tidal wave of spirituality which is destined at no distant future to break upon India in all its irresistible powers, carrying away in its omnipotent flood all that is weak and defective, and raising the Hindu race to the platform it is destined to occupy in the providence of God, crowned with more glory than it ever had even in the past, the reward of centuries of silent suffering, and fulfilling its mission amongst the races of the world — the evolution of spiritual humanity.
The people of Northern India are especially grateful to you of the South, as the great source to which most of the impulses that are working in India today can be traced. The great Bhâshyakâras, epoch-making Âchâryas, Shankara, Râmânuja, and Madhva were born in Southern India. Great Shankara to whom every Advâitavâdin in the world owes allegiance; great Ramanuja whose heavenly touch converted the downtrodden pariahs into Âlwârs; great Madhva whose leadership was recognised even by the followers of the only Northern Prophet whose power has been felt all over the length and breadth of India — Shri Krishna Chaitanya. Even at the present day it is the South that carries the palm in the glories of Varanasi — your renunciation controls the sacred shrines on the farthest peaks of the Himalayas, and what wonder that with the blood of Prophets running in your veins, with your lives blessed by such Acharyas, you are the first and foremost to appreciate and hold on to the message of Bhagavân Shri Ramakrishna.
The South had been the repository of Vedic learning, and you will understand me when I state that, in spite of the reiterated assertions of aggressive ignorance, it is the Shruti still that is the backbone of all the different divisions of the Hindu religion.
However great may be the merits of the Samhitâ and the Brâhmana portions of the Vedas to the ethnologists or the philologists, however desirable may be the results that the अग्निमीले or इषेत्वोर्जेत्वा or शन्नो देवीरभीष्टये in conjunction with the different Vedis (altars) and sacrifices and libations produce — it was all in the way of Bhoga; and no one ever contended that it could produce Moksha. As such, the Jnâna-Kânda, the Āranyakas, the Shrutis par excellence which teach the way to spirituality, the Moksha-Mârga, have always ruled and will always rule in India.
Lost in the mazes and divisions of the "Religion Eternal", by prepossession and prejudice unable to grasp the meaning of the only religion whose universal adaptation is the exact shadow of the अणोरणीयान् महतो महीयान् God it preaches, groping in the dark with a standard of spiritual truth borrowed second-hand from nations who never knew anything but rank materialism, the modern young Hindu struggles in vain to understand the religion of his forefathers, and gives up the quest altogether, and becomes a hopeless wreck of an agnostic, or else, unable to vegetate on account of the promptings of his innate religious nature, drinks carelessly of some of those different decoctions of Western materialism with an Eastern flavour, and thus fulfils the prophecy of the Shruti:
परियन्ति मूढा अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः।
— "Fools go staggering to and fro, like blind men led by the blind." They alone escape whose spiritual nature has been touched and vivified by the life-giving touch of the "Sad-Guru".
Well has it been said by Bhagavan Bhashyakara:
दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतत् देवानुग्रहहेतुकम्।
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुशसंश्रयः॥
दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतत् देवानुग्रहहेतुकम्।
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुशसंश्रयः॥
— "These three are difficult to obtain in this world, and depend on the mercy of the gods — the human birth, the desire for salvation, and the company of the great-souled ones."
Either in the sharp analysis of the Vaisheshikas, resulting in the wonderful theories about the Paramânus, Dvyanus, and Trasarenus, or the still more wonderful analysis displayed in the discussions of the Jâti, Dravya, Guna, Samavâya, and to the various categories of the Naiyâyikas, rising to the solemn march of the thought of the Sânkhyas, the fathers of the theories of evolution, ending with the ripe fruit, the result of all these researches, the Sutras of Vyâsa — the one background to all these different analyses and syntheses of the human mind is still the Shrutis. Even in the philosophical writings of the Buddhists or Jains, the help of Shrutis is never rejected, and at least in some of the Buddhistic schools and in the majority of the Jain writings, the authority of the Shrutis is fully admitted, excepting what they call the Himsaka Shrutis, which they hold to be interpolations of the Brahmins. In recent times, such a view has been held by the late great Swami Dayânanda Saraswati.
If one be asked to point out the system of thought towards which as a centre all the ancient and modern Indian thoughts have converged, if one wants to see the real backbone of Hinduism in all its various manifestations, the Sutras of Vyasa will unquestionably be pointed out as constituting all that.
Either one hears the Advaita-Keshari roaring in peals of thunder — the Asti, Bhâti, and Priya — amidst the heart-stopping solemnities of the Himalayan forests, mixing with the solemn cadence of the river of heaven, or listens to the cooing of the Piyâ, Pitam in the beautiful bowers of the grove of Vrindâ: whether one mingles with the sedate meditations of the monasteries of Varanasi or the ecstatic dances of the followers of the Prophet of Nadia; whether one sits at the feet of the teacher of the Vishishtâdvaita system with its Vadakale, Tenkale, and all the other subdivisions, or listens with reverence to the Acharyas of the Mâdhva school; whether one hears the martial "Wâ Guruki Fateh" of the secular Sikhs or the sermons on the Grantha Sâhib of the Udâsis and Nirmalâs; whether he salutes the Sannyâsin disciples of Kabir with "Sat Sâhib" and listens with joy to the Sâkhis (Bhajans); whether he pores upon the wonderful lore of that reformer of Rajputana, Dâdu, or the works of his royal disciple, Sundaradâsa, down to the great Nishchaladâsa, the celebrated author of Vichâra sâgara, which book has more influence in India than any that has been written in any language within the last three centuries; if even one asks the Bhangi Mehtar of Northern India to sit down and give an account of the teachings of his Lâlguru — one will find that all these various teachers and schools have as their basis that system whose authority is the Shruti, Gitâ its divine commentary, the Shâriraka-Sutras its organised system, and all the different sects in India, from the Paramahamsa Parivrâjakâchâryas to the poor despised Mehtar disciples of Lâlguru, are different manifestations.
The three Prasthânas, then, in their different explanations as Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita, or Advaita, with a few minor recensions, form the "authorities" of the Hindu religion. The Purânas, the modern representations of the ancient Nârâsamsi (anecdote portion of the Vedas), supply the mythology, and the Tantras, the modern representations of the Brâhmanas (ritual and explanatory portion of the Vedas), supply the ritual. Thus the three Prasthanas, as authorities, are common to all the sects; but as to the Puranas and Tantras, each sect has its own.
The Tantras, as we have said, represent the Vedic rituals in a modified form; and before any one jumps into the most absurd conclusions about them, I will advise him to read the Tantras in conjunction with the Brahmanas, especially the Adhvaryu portion. And most of the Mantras, used in the Tantras, will be found taken verbatim from their Brahmanas. As to their influence, apart from the Shrauta and Smârta rituals, all the forms of the rituals in vogue from the Himalayas to the Comorin have been taken from the Tantras, and they direct the worship of the Shâkta, or Shaiva, or Vaishnava, and all the others alike.
Of course, I do not pretend that all the Hindus are thoroughly acquainted with these sources of their religion. Many, especially in lower Bengal, have not heard of the names of these sects and these great systems; but consciously or unconsciously, it is the plan laid down in the three Prasthanas that they are all working out.
Wherever, on the other hand, the Hindi language is spoken, even the lowest classes have more knowledge of the Vedantic religion than many of the highest in lower Bengal.
And why so?
Transported from the soil of Mithilâ to Navadvipa, nurtured and developed by the fostering genius of Shiromani, Gadâdhara, Jagadisha, and a host of other great names, an analysis of the laws of reasoning, in some points superior to every other system in the whole world, expressed in a wonderful and precise mosaic of language, stands the Nyâya of Bengal, respected and studied throughout the length and breadth of Hindusthân. But, alas, the Vedic study was sadly neglected, and until within the last few years, scarcely anyone could be found in Bengal to teach the Mahâbhâshya of Patanjali. Once only a mighty genius rose above the never-ending Avachchhinnas and Avachchhedakas — Bhagavân Shri Krishna Chaitanya. For once the religious lethargy of Bengal was shaken, and for a time it entered into a communion with the religious life of other parts of India.
It is curious to note that though Shri Chaitanya obtained his Sannyâsa from a Bhârati, and as such was a Bharati himself, it was through Mâdhavendra Puri that his religious genius was first awakened.
The Puris seem to have a peculiar mission in rousing the spirituality of Bengal. Bhagavan Shri Ramakrishna got his Sannyâsâshrama from Totâ Puri.
The commentary that Shri Chaitanya wrote on the Vyâsa-Sutras has either been lost or not found yet. His disciples joined themselves to the Madhvas of the South, and gradually the mantles of such giants as Rupa and Sanâtana and Jiva Goswâmi fell on the shoulders of Bâbâjis, and the great movement of Shri Chaitanya was decaying fast, till of late years there is a sign of revival. Hope that it will regain its lost splendour.
The influence of Shri Chaitanya is all over India. Wherever the Bhakti-Mârga is known, there he is appreciated, studied, and worshipped. I have every reason to believe that the whole of the Vallabhâchârya recension is only a branch of the sect founded by Shri Chaitanya. But most of his so-called disciples in Bengal do not know how his power is still working all over India; and how can they? The disciples have become Gadiâns (Heads of monasteries), while he was preaching barefooted from door to door in India, begging Âchandâlas (all down to the lowest) to love God.
The curious and unorthodox custom of hereditary Gurus that prevails in Bengal, and for the most part in Bengal alone, is another cause of its being cut off from the religious life of the rest of India.
The greatest cause of all is that the life of Bengal never received an influx from that of the great brotherhood of Sannyasins who are the representatives and repositories of the highest Indian spiritual culture even at the present day.
Tyâga (renunciation) is never liked by the higher classes of Bengal. Their tendency is for Bhoga (enjoyment). How can they get a deep insight into spiritual things? त्यागेनैके अमृतत्वमानशुः — "By renunciation alone immortality was reached." How can it be otherwise?
On the other hand, throughout the Hindi-speaking world, a succession of brilliant Tyâgi teachers of far-reaching influence has brought the doctrines of the Vedanta to every door. Especially the impetus given to Tyaga during the reign of Ranjit Singh of the Punjab has made the highest teachings of the Vedantic philosophy available for the very lowest of the low. With true pride, the Punjabi peasant girl says that even her spinning wheel repeats: "Soham", "Soham". And I have seen Mehtar Tyagis in the forest of Hrishikesh wearing the garb of the Sannyasin, studying the Vedanta. And many a proud high-class man would be glad to sit at their feet and learn. And why not? अन्त्यादपि परं धर्मं — "Supreme knowledge (can be learnt) even from the man of low birth."
Thus it is that the North-West and the Punjab have a religious education which is far ahead of that of Bengal, Bombay, or Madras. The ever-travelling Tyagis of the various orders, Dashanâmis or Vairâgis or Panthis bring religion to everybody's door, and the cost is only a bit of bread. And how noble and disinterested most of them are! There is one Sannyasin belonging to the Kachu Panthis or independents (who do not identify themselves with any sect), who has been instrumental in the establishing of hundreds of schools and charitable asylums all over Rajputana. He has opened hospitals in forests, and thrown iron bridges over the gorges in the Himalayas, and this man never touches a coin with his hands, has no earthly possession except a blanket, which has given him the nickname of the "Blanket Swami", and begs his bread from door to door. I have never known him taking a whole dinner from one house, lest it should be a tax on the householder. And he is only one amongst many. Do you think that so long as these Gods on earth live in India and protect the "Religion Eternal" with the impenetrable rampart of such godly characters, the old religion will die?
In this country, the clergymen sometimes receive as high salaries as rupees thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand, even ninety thousand a year, for preaching two hours on Sunday only, and that only six months in a year. Look at the millions upon millions they spend for the support of their religion, and Young Bengal has been taught that these Godlike, absolutely unselfish men like Kambli-Swami are idle vagabonds. मद्भक्तानाञ्च च ये भक्तास्ते मे भक्ततमा मताः — "Those who are devoted to My worshippers are regarded as the best of devotees."
Take even an extreme case, that of an extremely ignorant Vairagi. Even he, when he goes into a village tries his best to impart to the villagers whatever he knows, from Tulasidâsa, or Chaitanya-Charitâmrita or the Âlwârs in Southern India. Is that not doing some good? And all this for only a bit of bread and a rag of cloth. Before unmercifully criticising them, think how much you do, my brother, for your poor fellow-countrymen, at whose expense you have got your education, and by grinding whose face you maintain your position and pay your teachers for teaching you that the Babajis are only vagabonds.
A few of your fellow-countrymen in Bengal have criticised what they call a new development of Hinduism. And well they may. For Hinduism is only just now penetrating into Bengal, where so long the whole idea of religion was a bundle of Deshâchâras (local customs) as to eating and drinking and marriage.
This short paper has not space for the discussion of such a big subject as to whether the view of Hinduism, which the disciples of Ramakrishna have been preaching all over India, was according to the "Sad-Shâstras" or not. But I will give a few hints to our critics, which may help them in understanding our position better.
In the first place, I never contended that a correct idea of Hinduism can be gathered from the writings of Kâshidâsa or Krittivâsa, though their words are "Amrita Samâna" (like nectar), and those that hear them are "Punyavâns" (virtuous). But we must go to Vedic and Dârshanika authorities, and to the great Acharyas and their disciples all over India.
If, brethren, you begin with the Sutras of Gautama, and read his theories about the Âptas (inspired) in the light of the commentaries of Vâtsyâyana, and go up to the Mimâmsakas with Shabara and other commentators, and find out what they say about the अलौकिकप्रत्यक्षम् (supersensuous realisation), and who are Aptas, and whether every being can become an Apta or not, and that the proof of the Vedas is in their being the words of such Aptas if you have time to look into the introduction of Mahidhara to the Yajur-Veda, you will find a still more lucid discussion as to the Vedas being laws of the inner life of man, and as such they are eternal.
As to the eternity of creation — this doctrine is the corner-stone not only of the Hindu religion, but of the Buddhists and Jains also.
Now all the sects in India can be grouped roughly as following the Jnâna-Mârga or the Bhakti-Mârga. If you will kindly look into the introduction to the Shâriraka-Bhâshya of Shri Shankarâchârya, you will find there the Nirapekshatâ (transcendence) of Jnana is thoroughly discussed, and the conclusion is that realisation of Brahman or the attainment of Moksha do not depend upon ceremonial, creed, caste, colour, or doctrine. It will come to any being who has the four Sâdhanâs, which are the most perfect moral culture.
As to the Bhaktas, even Bengali critics know very well that some of their authorities even declared that caste or nationality or sex, or, as to that, even the human birth, was never necessary to Moksha. Bhakti is the one and only thing necessary.
Both Jnana and Bhakti are everywhere preached to be unconditioned, and as such there is not one authority who lays down the conditions of caste or creed or nationality in attaining Moksha. See the discussion on the Sutra of Vyâsa — अन्तरा चापि तु तद्दृष्टेः by Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva.
Go through all the Upanishads, and even in the Samhitas, nowhere you will find the limited ideas of Moksha which every other religion has. As to toleration, it is everywhere, even in the Samhita of the Adhvaryu Veda, in the third or fourth verse of the fortieth chapter, if my memory does not fail; it begins with न बुध्दिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसंगिनाम्।. This is running through every where. Was anybody persecuted in India for choosing his Ishta Devatâ, or becoming an atheist or agnostic even, so long as he obeyed the social regulations? Society may punish anybody by its disapprobation for breaking any of its regulations, but no man, the lowest Patita (fallen), is ever shut out from Moksha. You must not mix up the two together. As to that, in Malabar a Chandâla is not allowed to pass through the same street as a high-caste man, but let him become a Mohammedan or Christian, he will be immediately allowed to go anywhere; and this rule has prevailed in the dominion of a Hindu sovereign for centuries. It may be queer, but it shows the idea of toleration for other religions even in the most untoward circumstances.
The one idea the Hindu religions differ in from every other in the world, the one idea to express which the sages almost exhaust the vocabulary of the Sanskrit language, is that man must realise God even in this life. And the Advaita texts very logically add, "To know God is to become God."
And here comes as a necessary consequence the broadest and most glorious idea of inspiration — not only as asserted and declared by the Rishis of the Vedas, not only by Vidura and Dharmavyâdha and a number of others, but even the other day Nischaladâsa, a Tyagi of the Dâdu panthi sect, boldly declared in his Vichâra-Sâgara: "He who has known Brahman has become Brahman. His words are Vedas, and they will dispel the darkness of ignorance, either expressed in Sanskrit or any popular dialect."
Thus to realise God, the Brahman, as the Dvaitins say, or to become Brahman, as the Advaitins say — is the aim and end of the whole teaching of the Vedas; and every other teaching, therein contained, represents a stage in the course of our progress thereto. And the great glory of Bhagavan Bhashyakara Shankaracharya is that it was his genius that gave the most wonderful expression to the ideas of Vyasa.
As absolute, Brahman alone is true; as relative truth, all the different sects, standing upon different manifestations of the same Brahman, either in India or elsewhere, are true. Only some are higher than others. Suppose a man starts straight towards the sun. At every step of his journey he will see newer and newer visions of the sun — the size, the view, and light will every moment be new, until he reaches the real sun. He saw the sun at first like a big ball, and then it began to increase in size. The sun was never small like the ball he saw; nor was it ever like all the succession of suns he saw in his journey. Still is it not true that our traveller always saw the sun, and nothing but the sun? Similarly, all these various sects are true — some nearer, some farther off from the real sun which is our एकमेवाव्दितीयम् — "One without a second".
And as the Vedas are the only scriptures which teach this real absolute God, of which all other ideas of God are but minimised and limited visions; as the सर्वलोकहितैषिणी Shruti takes the devotee gently by the hand, and leads him from one stage to another, through all the stages that are necessary for him to travel to reach the Absolute; and as all other religions represent one or other of these stages in an unprogressive and crystallized form, all the other religions of the world are included in the nameless, limitless, eternal Vedic religion.
Work hundreds of lives out, search every corner of your mind for ages — and still you will not find one noble religious idea that is not already imbedded in that infinite mine of spirituality.
As to the so-called Hindu idolatry — first go and learn the forms they are going through, and where it is that the worshippers are really worshipping, whether in the temple, in the image, or in the temple of their own bodies. First know for certain what they are doing — which more than ninety per cent of the revilers are thoroughly ignorant of — and then it will explain itself in the light of the Vedantic philosophy.
Still these Karmas are not compulsory. On the other hand, open your Manu and see where it orders every old man to embrace the fourth Ashrama, and whether he embraces it or not, he must give up all Karma. It is reiterated everywhere that all these Karmas ज्ञाने परिसमाप्यते। — "finally end in Jnana".
As to the matter of that, a Hindu peasant has more religious education than many a gentleman in other countries. A friend criticised the use of European terms of philosophy and religion in my addresses. I would have been very glad to use Sanskrit terms; it would have been much more easy, as being the only perfect vehicle of religious thought. But the friend forgot that I was addressing an audience of Western people; and although a certain Indian missionary declared that the Hindus had forgotten the meaning of their Sanskrit books, and that it was the missionaries who unearthed the meaning, I could not find one in that large concourse of missionaries who could understand a line in Sanskrit — and yet some of them read learned papers criticising the Vedas, and all the sacred sources of the Hindu religion!
It is not true that I am against any religion. It is equally untrue that I am hostile to the Christian missionaries in India. But I protest against certain of their methods of raising money in America. What is meant by those pictures in the school-books for children where the Hindu mother is painted as throwing her children to the crocodiles in the Ganga? The mother is black, but the baby is painted white, to arouse more sympathy, and get more money. What is meant by those pictures which paint a man burning his wife at a stake with his own hands, so that she may become a ghost and torment the husband's enemy? What is meant by the pictures of huge cars crushing over human beings? The other day a book was published for children in this country, where one of these gentlemen tells a narrative of his visit to Calcutta. He says he saw a car running over fanatics in the streets of Calcutta. I have heard one of these gentlemen preach in Memphis that in every village of India there is a pond full of the bones of little babies.
What have the Hindus done to these disciples of Christ that every Christian child is taught to call the Hindus "vile", and "wretches", and the most horrible devils on earth? Part of the Sunday School education for children here consists in teaching them to hate everybody who is not a Christian, and the Hindus especially, so that, from their very childhood they may subscribe their pennies to the missions. If not for truth's sake, for the sake of the morality of their own children, the Christian missionaries ought not to allow such things going on. Is it any wonder that such children grow up to be ruthless and cruel men and women? The greater a preacher can paint the tortures of eternal hell — the fire that is burning there, the brimstone - the higher is his position among the orthodox. A servant-girl in the employ of a friend of mine had to be sent to a lunatic asylum as a result of her attending what they call here the revivalist-preaching. The dose of hell-fire and brimstone was too much for her. Look again at the books published in Madras against the Hindu religion. If a Hindu writes one such line against the Christian religion, the missionaries will cry fire and vengeance.
My countrymen, I have been more than a year in this country. I have seen almost every corner of the society, and, after comparing notes, let me tell you that neither are we devils, as the missionaries tell the world we are, nor are they angels, as they claim to be. The less the missionaries talk of immorality, infanticide, and the evils of the Hindu marriage system, the better for them. There may be actual pictures of some countries before which all the imaginary missionary pictures of the Hindu society will fade away into light. But my mission in life is not to be a paid reviler. I will be the last man to claim perfection for the Hindu society. No man is more conscious of the defects that are therein, or the evils that have grown up under centuries of misfortunes. If, foreign friends, you come with genuine sympathy to help and not to destroy, Godspeed to you. But if by abuses, incessantly hurled against the head of a prostrate race in season and out of season, you mean only the triumphant assertion of the moral superiority of your own nation, let me tell you plainly, if such a comparison be instituted with any amount of justice, the Hindu will be found head and shoulders above all other nations in the world as a moral race.
In India religion was never shackled. No man was ever challenged in the selection of his Ishta Devatâ, or his sect, or his preceptor, and religion grew, as it grew nowhere else. On the other hand, a fixed point was necessary to allow this infinite variation to religion, and society was chosen as that point in India. As a result, society became rigid and almost immovable. For liberty is the only condition of growth.
On the other hand, in the West, the field of variation was society, and the constant point was religion. Conformity was the watchword, and even now is the watchword of European religion, and each new departure had to gain the least advantage only by wading through a river of blood. The result is a splendid social organisation, with a religion that never rose beyond the grossest materialistic conceptions.
Today the West is awakening to its wants; and the "true self of man and spirit" is the watchword of the advanced school of Western theologians. The student of Sanskrit philosophy knows where the wind is blowing from, but it matters not whence the power comes so longs as it brings new life.
In India, new circumstances at the same time are persistently demanding a new adjustment of social organisations. For the last three-quarters of a century, India has been bubbling over with reform societies and reformers. But, alas, every one of them has proved a failure. They did not know the secret. They had not learnt the great lesson to be learnt. In their haste, they laid all the evils in our society at the door of religion; and like the man in the story, wanting to kill the mosquito that sat on a friend's forehead, they were trying to deal such heavy blows as would have killed man and mosquito together. But in this case, fortunately, they only dashed themselves against immovable rocks and were crushed out of existence in the shock of recoil. Glory unto those noble and unselfish souls who have struggled and failed in their misdirected attempts. Those galvanic shocks of reformatory zeal were necessary to rouse the sleeping leviathan. But they were entirely destructive, and not constructive, and as such they were mortal, and therefore died.
Let us bless them and profit by their experience. They had not learnt the lesson that all is a growth from inside out, that all evolution is only a manifestation of a preceding involution. They did not know that the seed can only assimilate the surrounding elements, but grows a tree in its own nature. Until all the Hindu race becomes extinct, and a new race takes possession of the land, such a thing can never be — try East or West, India can never be Europe until she dies.
And will she die — this old Mother of all that is noble or moral or spiritual, the land which the sages trod, the land in which Godlike men still live and breathe? I will borrow the lantern of the Athenian sage and follow you, my brother, through the cities and villages, plains and forests, of this broad world — show me such men in other lands if you can. Truly have they said, the tree is known by its fruits. Go under every mango tree in India; pick up bushels of the worm-eaten, unripe, fallen ones from the ground, and write hundreds of the most learned volumes on each one of them — still you have not described a single mango. Pluck a luscious, full-grown, juicy one from the tree, and now you have known all that the mango is.
Similarly, these Man-Gods show what the Hindu religion is. They show the character, the power, and the possibilities of that racial tree which counts culture by centuries, and has borne the buffets of a thousand years of hurricane, and still stands with the unimpaired vigour of eternal youth.
Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will be extinct, all moral perfection will be extinct, all sweet-souled sympathy for religion will be extinct, all ideality will be extinct; and in its place will reign the duality of lust and luxury as the male and female deities, with money as its priest, fraud, force, and competition its ceremonies, and the human soul its sacrifice. Such a thing can never be. The power of suffering is infinitely greater than the power of doing; the power of love is infinitely of greater potency than the power of hatred. Those that think that the present revival of Hinduism is only a manifestation of patriotic impulse are deluded.
First, let us study the quaint phenomenon.
Is it not curious that, whilst under the terrific onset of modern scientific research, all the old forts of Western dogmatic religions are crumbling into dust; whilst the sledge-hammer blows of modern science are pulverising the porcelain mass of systems whose foundation is either in faith or in belief or in the majority of votes of church synods; whilst Western theology is at its wit's end to accommodate itself to the ever-rising tide of aggressive modern thought; whilst in all other sacred books the texts have been stretched to their utmost tension under the ever-increasing pressure of modern thought, and the majority of them are broken and have been stored away in lumber rooms; whilst the vast majority of thoughtful Western humanity have broken asunder all their ties with the church and are drifting about in a sea of unrest, the religions which have drunk the water of life at that fountain of light, the Vedas — Hinduism and Buddhism — alone are reviving?
The restless Western atheist or agnostic finds in the Gitâ or in the Dhammapada the only place where his soul can anchor.
The tables have been turned, and the Hindu, who saw through tears of despair his ancient homestead covered with incendiary fire, ignited by unfriendly hands, now sees, when the searchlight of modern thought has dispersed the smoke, that his home is the one that is standing in all its strength, and all the rest have either vanished or are building their houses anew after the Hindu plan. He has wiped away his tears, and has found that the axe that tried to cut down to the roots the ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् (Gita, XV. 1) has proved the merciful knife of the surgeon.
He has found that he has neither to torture texts nor commit any other form of intellectual dishonesty to save his religion. Nay, he may call all that is weak in his scriptures, weak, because they were meant to be so by the ancient sages, to help the weak, under the theory of अरुन्धतीदर्शनन्याय . Thanks to the ancient sages who have discovered such an all-pervading, ever-expanding system of religion that can accommodate all that has been discovered in the realm of matter, and all that is to be known; he has begun to appreciate them anew, and discover anew, that those discoveries which have proved so disastrous to every limited little scheme of religion are but rediscoveries, in the plane of intellect and sense-consciousness, of truths which his ancestors discovered ages ago in the higher plane of intuition and superconsciousness.
He has not, therefore, to give up anything, nor go about seeking for anything anywhere, but it will be enough for him if he can utilise only a little from the infinite store he has inherited and apply it to his needs. And that he has begun to do and will do more and more. Is this not the real cause of this revival?
Young men of Bengal, to you I especially appeal. Brethren, we know to our shame that most of the real evils for which the foreign races abuse the Hindu nation are only owing to us. We have been the cause of bringing many undeserved calumnies on the head of the other races in India. But glory unto God, we have been fully awakened to it, and with His blessings, we will not only cleanse ourselves, but help the whole of India to attain the ideals preached in the religion eternal.
Let us wipe off first that mark which nature always puts on the forehead of a slave — the stain of jealousy. Be jealous of none. Be ready to lend a hand to every worker of good. Send a good thought for every being in the three worlds.
Let us take our stand on the one central truth in our religion — the common heritage of the Hindus, the Buddhists, and Jains alike — the spirit of man, the Atman of man, the immortal, birthless, all-pervading, eternal soul of man whose glories the Vedas cannot themselves express, before whose majesty the universe with its galaxy upon galaxy of suns and stars and nebulae is as a drop. Every man or woman, nay, from the highest Devas to the worm that crawls under our feet, is such a spirit evoluted or involuted. The difference is not in kind, but in degree.
This infinite power of the spirit, brought to bear upon matter evolves material development, made to act upon thought evolves intellectuality, and made to act upon itself makes of man a God.
First, let us be Gods, and then help others to be Gods. "Be and make." Let this be our motto. Say not man is a sinner. Tell him that he is a God. Even if there were a devil, it would be our duty to remember God always, and not the devil.
If the room is dark, the constant feeling and repeating of darkness will not take it away, but bring in the light. Let us know that all that is negative, all that is destructive, all that is mere criticism, is bound to pass away; it is the positive, the affirmative, the constructive that is immortal, that will remain for ever. Let us say, "We are" and "God is" and "We are God", "Shivoham, Shivoham", and march on. Not matter but spirit. All that has name and form is subject to all that has none. This is the eternal truth the Shrutis preach. Bring in the light; the darkness will vanish of itself. Let the lion of Vedanta roar; the foxes will fly to their holes. Throw the ideas broadcast, and let the result take care of itself. Let us put the chemicals together; the crystallization will take its own course. Bring forth the power of the spirit, and pour it over the length and breadth of India; and all that is necessary will come by itself.
Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it. Remember the illustration of Indra and Virochana in the Vedas; both were taught their divinity. But the Asura, Virochana, took his body for his God. Indra, being a Deva, understood that the Atman was meant. You are the children of India. You are the descendants of the Devas. Matter can never be your God; body can never be your God.
India will be raised, not with the power of the flesh, but with the power of the spirit; not with the flag of destruction, but with the flag of peace and love, the garb of the Sannyâsin; not by the power of wealth, but by the power of the begging bowl. Say not that you are weak. The spirit is omnipotent. Look at that handful of young men called into existence by the divine touch of Ramakrishna's feet. They have preached the message from Assam to Sindh, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin. They have crossed the Himalayas at a height of twenty thousand feet, over snow and ice on foot, and penetrated into the mysteries of Tibet. They have begged their bread, covered themselves with rags; they have been persecuted, followed by the police, kept in prison, and at last set free when the Government was convinced of their innocence.
They are now twenty. Make them two thousand tomorrow. Young men of Bengal, your country requires it. The world requires it. Call up the divinity within you, which will enable you to bear hunger and thirst, heat and cold. Sitting in luxurious homes, surrounded with all the comforts of life, and doling out a little amateur religion may be good for other lands, but India has a truer instinct. It intuitively detects the mask. You must give up. Be great. No great work can be done without sacrifice. The Purusha Himself sacrificed Himself to create this world. Lay down your comforts, your pleasures, your names, fame or position, nay even your lives, and make a bridge of human chains over which millions will cross this ocean of life. Bring all the forces of good together. Do not care under what banner you march. Do not care what be your colour — green, blue, or red — but mix up all the colours and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love. Ours is to work. The results will take care of themselves. If any social institution stands in your way of becoming God, it will give way before the power of Spirit. I do not see into the future; nor do I care to see. But one vision I see dear as life before me: that the ancient Mother has awakened once more, sitting on Her throne rejuvenated, more glorious than ever. Proclaim Her to all the world with the voice of peace and benediction.
Yours ever in love and labour, Vivekananda.
Notes
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。