语录与言说
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中文
格言与语录
一、人生来是为了征服自然，而非追随自然。
二、当你认为自己是一个身体时，你与宇宙是分离的；当你认为自己是一个灵魂时，你是那永恒大火中的一个火花；当你认为自己是真我（Atman）时，你就是一切。
三、意志不是自由的——它是受因果束缚的现象——但意志背后有一个东西是自由的。
四、力量在于善良，在于纯洁。
五、宇宙——是客观化的神。
六、你不相信自己，就不能相信神。
七、恶的根源在于"我们是身体"这一幻觉。如果有所谓原罪的话，这就是原罪。
八、一方说思想是由物质引起的，另一方说物质是由思想引起的。两种说法都是错误的；物质与思想是共存的。有一个第三者，物质和思想都是它的产物。
九、正如物质微粒在空间中组合一样，心念之波在时间中组合。
十、给神下定义——是在磨已经磨好的东西；因为他是我们所知的唯一存在。
十一、宗教是那个将兽提升为人、将人提升为神的理念。
十二、外在的自然不过是内在自然的放大。
十三、动机是衡量你工作的尺度。还有什么动机比这更崇高——你就是神，而最卑微的人也是神？
十四、在心灵世界中的观察者需要非常强大，并经过科学的训练。
十五、相信心智即一切、思想即一切，不过是一种更高级的唯物主义。
十六、这个世界是一座大体育馆，我们来到这里是为了使自己变得强壮。
十七、你教不了一个孩子，正如你种不了一棵植物。你能做的只是消极方面的——你只能帮助。这是来自内在的显现；它发展自己的天性——你只能去除障碍。
十八、你一旦建立宗派，就是在反对世界大同。那些真正感受到世界大同的人不多说话，但他们的行为本身就是响亮的宣告。
十九、真理可以用一千种不同的方式来表述，而每一种都可以是真的。
二十、你必须由内而外地成长。没有人能教你，没有人能使你灵性化。除了你自己的灵魂，没有其他老师。
二十一、如果在一条无限的链条中有几个环节可以被解释，那么用同样的方法就可以解释全部。
二十二、不受任何物质干扰的人已经达到了不朽。
二十三、一切都可以为真理而牺牲，但真理不能为任何东西而牺牲。
二十四、追求真理是力量的表现——而不是一个软弱盲人的摸索。
二十五、神成为了人；人将再次成为神。
二十六、说人死后上天堂，那是哄小孩的话。一切都在"此处"。我们从不来也不去。我们就在我们所在的地方。一切曾经存在、现在存在、将来存在的灵魂，都在同一个几何点上。
二十七、他心灵之书已经打开的人不需要其他书籍。书籍的唯一价值在于激发我们内心的渴望。它们不过是他人的经验。
二十八、对一切众生怀有慈悲。怜悯那些处于困苦中的人。爱一切生灵。不要嫉妒任何人。不要注视他人的过失。
二十九、人永远不死，也从未诞生；身体死去，但他永远不死。
三十、没有人生于某一宗教之中，而每个人都是为了宗教而生的。
三十一、宇宙中实际上只有一个真我（Self），其余一切不过是它的显现。
三十二、一切崇拜者分为普通大众和勇敢的少数人。
三十三、如果在此时此地不可能达到完美，那就没有证据表明我们能在来世达到完美。
三十四、如果我完全了解了一块泥土，我就了解了一切泥土。这是对原理的认识，但其应用是多种多样的。当你认识了你自己，你就认识了一切。
三十五、就个人而言，我接受吠陀（Vedas）中与理性相符的部分。吠陀中某些部分表面上是矛盾的。在西方意义上，它们不被视为灵感之作，而是被视为神的知识——全知——的总和。这知识在一个周期的开始时涌现并显现自身；当周期结束时，它缩回到微细的形式。当一个新的周期再次展开时，那知识也随之再次展开。到此为止，理论都是对的。但是，只有这些被称为吠陀的书才是他的知识，这不过是诡辩。摩奴在一处说，吠陀中与理性相符的部分才是真正的吠陀，此外别无其他。我们的许多哲学家都持这一观点。
三十六、在世界上所有的经典中，唯有吠陀宣称，甚至对吠陀的研究也是次要的。真正的修学是"认识那不变者"。那既不是阅读，也不是信仰，也不是推理，而是超意识的直觉，即三摩地（Samadhi）。
三十七、我们曾经是低等动物。我们觉得它们与我们不同。我听到西方人说："世界是为我们创造的。"如果老虎能写书，它们会说，人是为它们而创造的，人是最有罪的动物，因为人不让它（老虎）容易地捕捉到自己。今天在你脚下爬行的虫子，就是未来的神。
三十八、辨喜（Vivekananda）在纽约曾说："我很希望我们的妇女拥有你们的知性，但如果这要以纯洁为代价，那我就不愿意了。我钦佩你们所拥有的一切知识，但我不喜欢你们将丑恶之物用玫瑰包裹起来却称之为美好的做法。知性并非最高的善。道德与灵性才是我们所追求的。我们的妇女不那么博学，但她们更加纯洁。
"对所有女性而言，除丈夫外的每一个男子都应如同她的儿子。对所有男性而言，除妻子外的每一个女子都应如同他的母亲。当我环顾四周，看到你们所谓的殷勤风度，我的灵魂充满了厌恶。除非你们学会忽略性别的问题，在共同的人性基础上相见，否则你们的妇女将永远无法真正发展。在那之前，她们不过是玩物，仅此而已。这一切正是离婚的根源。你们的男人鞠躬致意、奉上座椅，但转眼间就献上恭维。他们说：'哦，夫人，您的眼睛多么美丽啊！'他们有什么权利这样做？一个男人怎敢如此放肆，你们女性又怎能允许？这些事情助长了人性中不那么高尚的一面。它们不会导向更高尚的理想。
"我们不应该认为自己是男人和女人，而应该只想到我们是人类，生来就应当彼此珍爱、彼此帮助。一对年轻男女一独处，他就开始对她献殷勤，也许在他娶妻之前已经追求过两百个女人了。呸！如果我属于婚配之列，我无需那些就能找到一个可以去爱的女人！
"当我还在印度，从外面看这些事情时，人们告诉我这一切都没什么，不过是寻常的玩笑，我也相信了。但自那以后我四处游历，我知道这是不对的。这是错误的，只不过你们西方人闭上眼睛称之为好的罢了。西方各国的毛病在于它们年轻、愚蠢、轻浮而富有。这些品质中的任何一个都能带来多少祸害；但当三个、四个结合在一起时，就要当心了！"
不过，尽管斯瓦米对所有人都严厉批评，波士顿受到了最沉重的一击：
"在所有地方中，波士顿是最糟的。那里的女性全是赶时髦的人，全都轻浮多变，只知道追随新奇怪异之物。"
三十九、他在美国曾说："一个以其文明如此自夸的国家，人们本应期望其中有灵性可言——可灵性在哪里呢？"
四十、"此世"和"来世"不过是吓唬小孩的话。一切都在"此处"。即使在此处，即使在这个身体中，也要在神中生活和行动。一切自我都应消除，一切迷信都应被驱散。这样的人在印度是有的。在这个国家（美国）又有几人？你们的传道者反对空想家。这个国家的人们若有更多的空想家反而会更好。空想与十九世纪的自吹自擂之间有很大区别。整个世界充满了神，而非罪恶。让我们彼此帮助，让我们彼此相爱。
四十一、让我像我的导师（Guru）那样，作为一个真正的游方僧（Sannyasin）死去，不顾金钱，不顾女色，不顾名声！而在这些当中，最为隐蔽的就是对名声的贪恋！
四十二、我从未说过复仇，我说的一直是力量。我们会梦想向这一滴海水报仇吗？但对一只蚊子来说，它可是了不起的大事！
四十三、辨喜在美国的一次场合中说："这是一片伟大的土地，但我不愿住在这里。美国人把金钱看得太重。他们把钱放在一切之上。你们的人民有很多东西要学。当你们的国家像我们一样古老时，你们会更加明智。"
四十四、也许有一天我会觉得离开这个身体是好的——将它像一件废弃的衣裳那样脱去。但我不会停止工作！我将到处激励人们，直到世界知道它与神为一。
四十五、我之一切，世界本身终有一天将成为的一切，都归功于我的导师室利·罗摩克里希纳（Ramakrishna），他降世化身，亲证并教授了万物之下这不可思议的统一性，无论在印度教、伊斯兰教还是基督教中，他都同样发现了它。
四十六、放纵味觉，其他感官也会随之脱缰。
四十七、智慧瑜伽（Jnana）、虔信瑜伽（Bhakti）、禅定瑜伽（Yoga）和行动瑜伽（Karma）——这四条道路通向解脱（Moksha）。每个人应遵循最适合自己的道路；但在这个时代，应特别强调行动瑜伽（Karma-Yoga）。
四十八、宗教不是想象之物，而是直接的感知。一个亲眼见过灵性的人，胜过许多饱读经书的学者。
四十九、有一次斯瓦米吉极力赞扬某人；一旁的人对他说："但那人并不相信您。"斯瓦米吉闻言立刻回答："难道还需要他签什么法律宣誓书吗？他在做善事，所以他值得赞扬。"
五十、在真正的宗教领域中，书本知识无权进入。
五十一、一个宗派衰落的开始，就是对富人的崇拜进入其中的那一天。
五十二、如果你想做什么坏事，就在你的长辈面前做吧。
五十三、蒙导师（Guru）之恩典，弟子不读书也能成为学者。
五十四、没有罪，也没有德；只有无明（Avidya）。通过觉悟不二，这无明便被驱散。
五十五、宗教运动总是成群出现的。每一个都试图凌驾于其他之上。但一般来说，只有其中一个真正壮大起来，并在长远中吞并了所有同时代的运动。
五十六、当斯瓦米吉在拉姆纳德时，他在一次谈话中说，室利·罗摩（Rama）是至上灵魂（Paramatman），而悉多（Sita）是个体灵魂（Jivatman），每个男人或女人的身体就是楞伽（Lanka/锡兰）。被囚禁在身体中、或被捕获在楞伽岛上的个体灵魂，总是渴望与至上灵魂即室利·罗摩合一。但罗刹们不允许这样，罗刹代表着某些性格特征。例如，毗毗沙那代表萨埵德性（Sattva Guna）；罗波那代表罗阇德性（Rajas）；鸠般迦罗那代表多摩德性（Tamas）。萨埵德性意味着善良；罗阇德性意味着情欲和激情，多摩德性意味着黑暗、昏沉、贪婪、恶意及其伴随之物。这些德性阻止了悉多——即身在身体即楞伽中的个体灵魂——与至上灵魂即罗摩合一。悉多被囚禁着，努力与她的主合一，此时迎来了哈奴曼——即导师（Guru）或神圣的老师——的造访，他向她展示了主的戒指，即梵之智慧（Brahma-Jnana），那摧毁一切幻觉的至上智慧。这样悉多找到了与室利·罗摩合一的途径；换言之，个体灵魂发现自己与至上灵魂本为一体。
五十七、一个真正的基督徒就是一个真正的印度教徒，一个真正的印度教徒就是一个真正的基督徒。
五十八、一切健康的社会变革都是内在灵性力量运作的表现，如果这些力量强大且调适得当，社会将自行安排妥当。每个人都必须自己去完成自己的解脱（Moksha）；别无他途，国家亦然。再者，每个民族的伟大制度是其存在的条件本身，不能按照任何其他民族的模式来改造。在更高的制度演化出来之前，任何打破旧制度的企图都将是灾难性的。成长总是渐进的。
指出制度的缺陷是很容易的，因为一切制度或多或少都不完美，但真正造福人类的人是帮助个人在任何制度下克服其自身不完美的人。个人提高了，国家及其制度必然随之提高。不良的习俗和法律被有德之人忽视，而不成文但更有力量的爱、同情与正直的法则取而代之。幸运的是那个能够达到只需少许法典的国家，不再需要为这个或那个制度操心。善良的人超越一切法律，无论在什么条件下都会帮助同胞提升。
因此，印度的救赎取决于个人的力量，取决于每个人觉悟自身内在的神性。
五十九、物质性不去，灵性永远不能达到。
六十、《薄伽梵歌》（Gita）的第一篇可以作寓言式的解读。
六十一、一位急躁的美国信徒因担心赶不上船，说道："斯瓦米，您毫无时间观念。""不，"斯瓦米吉平静地回答，"你们活在时间中；我们活在永恒中！"
六十二、我们总是让感伤篡夺了责任的位置，并自我安慰说我们是在回应真爱。
六十三、如果我们想要拥有出离的力量，就必须超越情感主义。情感属于动物。动物完全是情感的造物。
六十四、为自己的幼子而死不是高尚的牺牲。动物也会这样做，而且与任何人类母亲一样心甘情愿。这样做并不是真爱的标志；那不过是盲目的情感。
六十五、我们总是试图把软弱装扮成力量，把感伤装扮成爱，把怯懦装扮成勇气，如此等等。
六十六、对自己的灵魂说，关于虚荣、软弱等等："这不配你。这不配你。"
六十七、丈夫爱妻子从来不是为了妻子本身，妻子爱丈夫也从来不是为了丈夫本身。丈夫爱的是妻子中的神，妻子爱的是丈夫中的神。在每一个人身上都有神，正是它将我们吸引向我们所爱的人。万物之中、一切人身上都有神，正是它使我们去爱。神是唯一的爱。
六十八、哦，如果你们认识了自己就好了！你们是灵魂；你们是神。如果我有过亵渎的冲动，那就是当我称你们为人的时候。
六十九、在每个人之中都有神，即真我（Atman）；其余一切不过是梦，是幻觉。
七十、如果我在灵性生活中找不到喜悦，难道我要到感官生活中去寻求满足吗？如果我得不到甘露，难道我要退而饮沟水吗？那种叫做"恰塔卡"的鸟只从云中饮水，在翱翔时不断呼唤："纯净之水！纯净之水！"任何风暴和暴雨都不能使它折翼或降落到地上饮水。
七十一、任何能帮助你觉悟神的宗派都是受欢迎的。宗教就是觉悟神。
七十二、一个无神论者可以行善，但不能称为有宗教信仰。而有宗教信仰的人则必须行善。
七十三、每个人都在自封导师（Guru）的礁石上触礁——除了那些天生就是导师的灵魂。
七十四、人是兽性、人性与神性的复合体。
七十五、"社会进步"这个词和"热冰"或"暗光"一样毫无意义。归根结底，不存在什么"社会进步"！
七十六、事物并没有因为我们对它们的改变而变得更好，而是我们自己因为改变它们而变得更好。
七十七、让我帮助我的同胞——这就是我所追求的一切。
七十八、"不，"斯瓦米在纽约回答一个问题时非常轻声地说，"我不相信神秘学。如果一件事物是不真实的，它就不存在。不真实的东西是不存在的。奇异之事是自然现象。我知道它们是科学的问题。那么对我来说它们就不是神秘的。我不相信神秘社团。它们不能行善，也永远不能行善。"
七十九、人大体上有四种类型——理性型、情感型、神秘型和行动型。对于其中每一种，我们都必须提供适宜的崇拜形式。理性的人来了，他说："我不在乎这种崇拜形式。给我哲学的、理性的东西——那我能欣赏。"所以，为理性的人准备了理性哲学的崇拜方式。
行动者来了，他说："我不在乎哲学家的崇拜方式。给我为同胞服务的工作。"所以，为他准备了以工作为道路的崇拜方式。至于神秘型和情感型的人，各有各自的虔修方式。所有这些人在宗教中都能找到其信仰的要素。
八十、我代表真理。真理永远不会与虚假结盟。即使全世界都反对我，真理最终必将胜利。
八十一、无论何处，最人道主义的思想一旦落入大众之手，你首先注意到的结果就是堕落。正是学识和智力帮助维持事物的安全。一个群体中真正的宗教与哲学的纯正形式的守护者，是该群体中有文化教养的人。这种纯正形式才是衡量一个群体智识和社会状况的标志。
八十二、辨喜在美国的一次场合中说："我来不是要让你们皈依一种新的信仰。我希望你们保持自己的信仰；我要使卫理公会教徒成为更好的卫理公会教徒；使长老会教徒成为更好的长老会教徒；使唯一神论者成为更好的唯一神论者。我要教你们活出真理，发掘你们灵魂中的光明。"
八十三、幸福来到人面前时，头上戴着悲伤的王冠。迎接幸福的人也必须迎接悲伤。
八十四、伟大而自由的人，是那背弃世界、舍弃一切、控制了激情、渴求和平的人。一个人也许能获得政治和社会的独立，但如果他是自己激情和欲望的奴隶，他就不能感受到真正自由的纯粹喜悦。
八十五、利益他人是美德（法/Dharma），伤害他人是罪。力量和阳刚是美德，软弱和怯懦是罪。独立是美德，依赖是罪。爱他人是美德，恨他人是罪。信仰神和信仰自己是美德，疑惑是罪。认识一体是美德，见到差异是罪。各种不同的经典只是指出了获得美德的方法。
八十六、当真理通过推理被智力所领悟时，它同时便在心中——情感的源泉——被觉悟。这样，头脑和心灵同时被照亮；唯有那时，如奥义书（Upanishads）所言，"心之结被打开，一切疑惑消散"（《蒙荼迦奥义书》第二章第二节第八颂）。
在古代，当这知识（智慧/Jnana）与这情感（Bhava）如此同时在仙人（Rishi）的心中绽放时，至高真理便成为了诗歌，于是吠陀和其他经典被创作出来。正因如此，在研究这些经典时会发现，情感和智慧这两条平行线最终仿佛在吠陀的平面上相遇了，融合为不可分离的一体。
八十七、不同宗教的经典指出了不同的方法来达到博爱、自由、阳刚和无私利他的理想。每个宗派对于什么是美德、什么是恶行通常各持己见，并且为了达到美德和避免恶行的方法而与其他宗派争斗不休，而不是致力于实现目的本身。每种方法或多或少都是有益的。《薄伽梵歌》（Gita，第十八章第四十八颂）说："每件事业都伴随着缺陷，犹如火与烟相随"；所以方法无疑会显得或多或少有缺陷。但既然我们要通过各自经典中所规定的方法来达到最高的美德，我们就应当尽最大努力去遵循。此外，它们还应以理性和辨别力来加以调和。这样，随着我们的进步，美德与恶行的难题自然会迎刃而解。
八十八、我们国家中真正理解经论（Shastras）的人有几个？他们只学了一些词汇，如梵（Brahman）、摩耶（Maya）、自性（Prakriti）等，就拿这些词把自己搞得昏头转向。他们把经论的真正含义和目的搁置一旁，只为字面上的争论而吵个不停。如果经论不能在一切时代、一切条件下帮助所有人，那这样的经论又有什么用？如果经论只为游方僧（Sannyasin）指路，而不为在家人指路，那么在家人要这种偏颇的经论做什么？如果经论只能在人们放下一切工作、退隐山林时才有帮助，而不能在日常劳作的世人心中——在他们日复一日的辛劳、疾病、苦难和贫困之中，在忏悔者的沮丧中，在被压迫者的自责中，在战场的恐惧中，在情欲、愤怒和欢乐之中，在胜利的喜悦中，在失败的黑暗中，以及最终在死亡那可怖的夜晚中——点燃希望之灯，那么脆弱的人类就不需要这样的经论，这样的经论根本就不是经论！
八十九、通过受用（Bhoga），瑜伽终将到来。但可悲的是，我们国人的命运如此，别说拥有瑜伽，他们连一点受用也得不到！遭受着种种屈辱，他们只能勉勉强强满足身体最基本的需求——即便这一点也不是人人都能做到！这样的境况竟不能惊醒我们的沉睡、唤起我们去履行当务之急，这真是不可思议。
九十、尽管为你们的权利和特权大声疾呼吧，但要记住，只要我们不通过在国民中强烈唤起自尊之感来真正提升自己，我们争取权利和特权的希望就如同阿尔纳萨尔的白日梦一般虚幻。
九十一、当一个具有某种特殊伟大才能的天才诞生时，他整个家族遗传中最优秀、最富创造力的素质全部被吸引并倾注到他个人的身上，仿佛被榨干了一般。正因如此，我们发现在此后出生在这样家族中的人，不是白痴就是极为平庸之辈，而且这样的家族在许多情况下最终会绝后。
九十二、如果在今生不能达到解脱（Moksha），有什么证据表明你能在来生或更多来世中达到呢？
九十三、在参观阿格拉的泰姬陵时，他说道："如果你挤压这大理石的一小块，它会滴下王者之爱和其悲伤的泪珠。"他还说道："真正要研究其内部工艺之美，哪怕一平方英寸也需要六个月的时间。"
九十四、当印度真正的历史被发掘出来时，将会证明：正如在宗教方面一样，在美术方面，印度也是全世界的原始导师（Guru）。
九十五、谈到建筑时他说："人们说加尔各答是宫殿之城，但那些房屋看起来很像一个个盒子堆叠在一起！它们传达不了任何意境。在拉贾斯坦邦你仍然能找到很多纯正的印度教建筑。如果你看一座法义会馆（Dharmashala），你会感觉它仿佛在张开双臂招呼你进去，接受它那无条件的好客之情。如果你看一座神庙，你必定能感受到其中和周围的神圣气息。如果你观察一座乡间茅屋，你立刻就能领会其各个部分的特殊含义，整体结构都在展现着主人的主要气质和理想。这种富有表现力的建筑，除了在意大利之外，我在其他任何地方都不曾见过。"
English
SAYINGS AND UTTERANCES
1. Man is born to conquer nature and not to follow it.
2. When you think you are a body, you are apart from the universe; when you think; you are a soul, you are a spark from the great Eternal Fire; when you think you are the Âtman (Self), you are All.
3. The will is not free—it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect—but there is something behind the will which is free.
4. Strength is in goodness, in purity.
5. The universe is—objectified God.
6. You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.
7. The root of evil is in the illusion that we are bodies. This, if any, is the original sin.
8. One party says thought is caused by matter, and the other says matter is caused by thought. Both statements are wrong; matter and thought are coexistent. There is a third something of which both matter and thought are products.
9. As particles of matter combine in space, so mind-waves combine in time.
10. To define God is—grinding the already ground; for He is the only being we know.
11. Religion is the idea which is raising the brute unto man, and man unto God.
12. External nature is only internal nature writ large.
13. The motive is the measure of your work. What motive can be higher than that you are God, and that the lowest man is also God?
14. The observer in the psychic world needs to be very strong and scientifically trained.
15. To believe that mind is all, that thought is all is only a higher materialism.
16. This world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
17. You cannot teach a child any more than you can grow a plant. All you can do is on the negative side—you can only help. It is a manifestation from within; it develops its own nature—you can only take away obstructions.
18. As soon as you make a sect, you protest against universal brotherhood. Those who really feel universal brotherhood do not talk much, but their very actions speak aloud.
19. Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
20. You have to grow from inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
21. If in an infinite chain a few links can be explained, by the same method all can be explained.
22. That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.
23. Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.
24. The search for truth is the expression of strength—not the groping of a weak, blind man.
25. God has become man; man will become God again.
26. It is child's talk that a man dies and goes to heaven. We never come nor go. We are where we are. All the souls that have been, are, and will be, are on one geometrical point.
27. He whose book of the heart has been opened needs no other books. Their only value is to create desire in us. They are merely the experiences of others.
28. Have charity towards all beings. Pity those who are in distress. Love all creatures. Do not be jealous of anyone. Look not to the faults of others.
29. Man never dies, nor is he ever born; bodies die, but he never dies.
30. No one is born into a religion, but each one is born for a religion.
31. There is really but one Self in the universe, all else is but Its manifestations.
32. All the worshippers are divided into the common masses and the brave few.
33. If it is impossible to attain perfection here and now, there is no proof that we can attain perfection in any other life.
34. If I know one lump of clay perfectly, I know all the clay there is. This is the knowledge of principles, but their adaptations are various. When you know yourself you know all.
35. Personally I take as much of the Vedas as agrees with reason. Parts of the Vedas are apparently contradictory. They are not considered as inspired in the Western sense of the word, but as the sum total of the knowledge of God, omniscience. This knowledge comes out at the beginning of a cycle and manifests itself; and when the cycle ends, it goes down into minute form. When the cycle is projected again, that knowledge is projected again with it. So far the theory is all right. But that only these books which are called the Vedas are His knowledge is mere sophistry. Manu says in one pace that that part of the Vedas which agrees with reason is the Vedas and nothing else. Many of our philosophers have taken this view.
36. Of all the scriptures of the world it is the Vedas alone that declare that even the study of the Vedas is secondary. The real study is "that by which we realise the Unchangeable". And that is neither reading, for believing, nor reasoning, but superconscious perception, or Samâdhi.
37. We have been low animals once. We think they are something different from us. I hear, Western people say, "The world was created for us." If tigers could write books, they would say, man was created for them and that man is a most sinful animal, because he does not allow him (the tiger) to catch him easily. The worm that crawls under your feet today is a God to be.
38. "I should very much like our women to have your intellectuality, but not if it must be at the cost of purity", said Swami Vivekananda in New York. "I admire you for all that you know, but I dislike the way that you cover what is bad with roses and call it good. Intellectuality is not the highest good. Morality and spirituality are the things for which we strive. Our women are not so learned, but they are more pure.
"To all women every man save her husband should be as her son. To all men every woman save his own wife should be as his mother. When I look about me and see what you call gallantry, my soul is filled with disgust. Not until you learn to ignore the question of sex and to meet on a ground of common humanity will your women really develop. Until then they are playthings, nothing more. All this is the cause of divorce. Your men bow low and offer a chair, but in another breath they offer compliments. They say, 'Oh, madam, how beautiful are your eyes!' What right have they to do this? How dare a man venture so far, and how can you women permit it? Such things develop the less noble side of humanity. They do not tend to nobler ideals.
"We should not think that we are men and women, but only that we are human beings, born to cherish and to help one another. No sooner are a young man and a young woman left alone than he pays compliments to her, and perhaps before he takes a wife, he has courted two hundred women. Bah! If I belonged to the marrying set, I could find a woman to love without all that!
"When I was in India and saw these things from the outside, I was told it was all right, it was mere pleasantry and I believed it. But I have travelled since then, and I know it is not right. It is wrong, only you of the West shut your eyes and call it good. The trouble with the nations of the West is that they are young, foolish, fickle, and wealthy. What mischief can come of one of these qualities; but when all three, all four, are combined beware!"
But severe as the Swami was upon all, Boston received the hardest blow:
"Of all, Boston is the worst. There the women are all faddists, all fickle, merely bent on following something new and strange."
39. "Where is the spirituality one would expect in a country", he said in America, "that is so boastful of its civilisation ?"
40. "Here" and "hereafter" are words to frighten children. It is all "here". To live and move in God even here, even in this body, all self should go out, all superstition should be banished. Such persons live in India. Where are such in this country (America)? Your preachers speak against dreamers. The people of this country would be better off if there were more dreamers. There is a good deal of difference between dreaming and the brag of the nineteenth century. The whole world is full of God and not of sin. Let us help one another, let us love one another.
41. Let me die a true Sannyâsin as my Master did, heedless of money, of women, and of fame! And of these the most insidious is the love of fame!
42. I have never spoken of revenge, I have always spoken of strength. Do we dream of revenging ourselves on this drop of sea-spray? But it is a great thing to a mosquito!
43. "This is a great land," said Swamiji on one occasion in America, "but I would not like to live here. Americans think too much of money. They give it preference over anything else. Your people have much to learn. When your nation is as old as ours, you will be wiser."
44. It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my body—to cast it off like a disused garment. But I shall not cease to work! I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God.
45. All that I am, all that the world itself will some day be, is owing to my Master, Shri Ramakrishna, who incarnated and experienced and taught this wonderful unity which underlies everything, having discovered it alike in Hinduism, in Islam, and in Christianity.
46. Give the organ of taste a free rein, and the other organs will also run on unbridled.
47. Jnâna, Bhakti, Yoga and Karma—these are the four paths which lead to salvation. One must follow the path for which one is best suited; but in this age special stress should be laid on Karma-Yoga.
48. Religion is not a thing of imagination but of direct perception. He who has seen even a single spirit is greater than many a book-learned Pandit.
49. Once Swamiji was praising someone very much; at this, one sitting near by said to him, "But he does not believe in you." Hearing this, Swamiji at once replied: "Is there any legal affidavit that he should have to do so? He is doing good work, and so he is worthy of praise."
50. In the domain of true religion, book-learning has no right to enter.
51. The downfall of a religious sect begins from the day that the worship of the rich enters into it.
52. If you want to do anything evil, do it before the eyes of your superiors.
53. By the grace of the Guru, a disciple becomes a Pandit (scholar) even without reading books.
54. There is no sin nor virtue: there is only ignorance. By realisation of non-duality this ignorance is dispelled.
55. Religious movements come in groups. Each one of them tries to rear itself above the rest. But as a rule only one of them really grows in strength, and this, in the long run, swallows up all the contemporary movements.
56. When Swamiji was at Ramnad, he said in the course of a conversation that Shri Râma was the Paramâtman and that Sitâ was the Jivâtman, and each man's or woman's body was the Lanka (Ceylon). The Jivatman which was enclosed in the body, or captured in the island of Lankâ, always desired to be in affinity with the Paramatman, or Shri Rama. But the Râkshasas would not allow it, and Rakshasas represented certain traits of character. For instance, Vibhishana represented Sattva Guna; Râvana, Rajas; and Kumbhakarna, Tamas. Sattva Guna means goodness; Rajas means lust and passions, and Tamas darkness, stupor, avarice, malice, and its concomitants. These Gunas keep back Sita, or Jivatman, which is in the body, or Lanka, from joining Paramatman, or Rama. Sita, thus imprisoned and trying to unite with her Lord, receives a visit from Hanumân, the Guru or divine teacher, who shows her the Lord's ring, which is Brahma-Jnâna, the supreme wisdom that destroys all illusions; and thus Sita finds the way to be at one with Shri Rama, or, in other words, the Jivatman finds itself one with the Paramatman.
57. A true Christian is a true Hindu, and a true Hindu is a true Christian.
58. All healthy social changes are the manifestations of the spiritual forces working within, and if these are strong and well adjusted, society will arrange itself accordingly. Each individual has to work out his own salvation; there is no other way, and so also with nations. Again, the great institutions of every nation are the conditions of its very existence and cannot be transformed by the mould of any other race. Until higher institutions have been evolved, any attempt to break the old ones will be disastrous. Growth is always gradual.
It is very easy to point out the defects of institutions, all being more or less imperfect, but he is the real benefactor of humanity who helps the individual to overcome his imperfections under whatever institutions he may live. The individuals being raised, the nation and its institutions are bound to rise. Bad customs and laws are ignored by the virtuous, and unwritten but mightier laws of love, sympathy, and integrity take their place. Happy is the nation which can rise to the necessity of but few law books, and needs no longer to bother its head about this or that institution. Good men rise beyond all laws, and will help their fellows to rise under whatever conditions they live.
The salvation of India, therefore, depends on the strength of the individual, and the realisation by each man of the divinity within.
59. Spirituality can never be attained until materiality is gone.
60. The first discourse in the Gita can be taken allegorically.
61. "Swami, you have no idea of time", remarked an impatient American devotee, afraid of missing a steamer. "No," retorted Swamiji calmly, "you live in time; we live in eternity!"
62. We are always letting sentiment usurp the place of duty and flatter ourselves that we are acting in response to true love.
63. We must get beyond emotionalism if we want the power to renounce. Emotion belongs to the animals. They are creatures of emotion entirely.
64. It is not sacrifice of a high order to die for one's young. The animals do that, and just as readily as any human mother ever did. It is no sign of real love to do that; it is merely blind emotion.
65. We are for ever trying to make our weakness look like strength, our sentiment like love, our cowardice like courage, and so on.
66. Say to your soul in regard to vanities, weakness, etc., "This does not befit thee. This does not befit thee."
67. Never loved a husband the wife for the wife's sake or the wife the husband for the husband's sake. It is God in the wife the husband loves, and God in the husband the wife loves. It is God in every one that draws us to the one we love, God in everything and in everybody that makes us love. God is the only love.
68. Oh, if only you knew yourselves! You are souls; you are Gods. If ever I feel like blaspheming, it is when I call you man.
69. In everyone is God, the Atman; all else is but dream, an illusion.
70. If I do not find bliss in the life of the Spirit, shall, I seek satisfaction in the life of the senses? If I cannot' get nectar; shall I fall back upon ditch water? The bird called Châtaka drinks from the clouds only, ever calling as it soars, "Pure water! Pure water!" And no storms or tempests make it falter on wing or descend to drink from the earth.
71. Any sect that may help you to realise God is welcome. Religion is the realising of God.
72. An atheist can be charitable but not religious. But the religious man must be charitable.
73. Everyone makes shipwreck on the rock of would-be Guruism, except those souls that were born to be Gurus.
74. Man is a compound of animality, humanity, and divinity.
75. The term "social progress" has as much meaning as "hot ice" or "dark light". There is no such thing, ultimately, as "social progress"!
76. Things are not bettered, but we are bettered, by making changes in them.
77. Let me help my fellow men; that is all I seek.
78. "No", said the Swami, very softly, in answer to a question in New York, "I do not believe in the occult. If a thing be unreal, it is not. What is unreal does not exist. Strange things are natural phenomena. I know them to be matters of science. Then they are not occult to me. I do not believe in occult societies. They do no good, and can never do good."
79. There are four general types of men—the rational, the emotional, the mystical, and the worker. For each of these we must provide suitable forms of worship. There comes the rational man, who says, "I care not for this form of worship. Give me the philosophical, the rational—that I can appreciate." So for the rational man is the rational philosophic worship.
There comes the worker. He says, "I care not for the worship of the philosopher. Give me work to do for my fellow men." So for him is provided work as the path of worship. As for the mystical and the emotional, we have their respective modes of devotion. All these men have, in religion, the elements of their faith.
80. I stand for truth. Truth will never ally itself with falsehood. Even if all the world should be against me, Truth must prevail in the end.
81. Wherever you see the most humanitarian ideas fall into the hands of the multitude, the first result you notice is degradation. It is learning and intellect that help to keep things safe. It is the cultured among a community that are the real custodians of religion and philosophy in their purest form. It is that form which serves as the index for the intellectual and social condition of a community.
82. "I do not come", said Swamiji on one occasion in America, "to convert you to a new belief. I want you to keep your own belief; I want to make the Methodist a better Methodist; the Presbyterian a better Presbyterian; the Unitarian a better Unitarian. I want to teach you to live the truth, to reveal the light within your own soul."
83. Happiness presents itself before man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head. He who welcomes it must also welcome sorrow.
84. He is free, he is great, who turns his back upon the world, who has renounced everything, who has controlled his passion, and who thirsts for peace. One may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom.
85. Doing good to others is virtue (Dharma); injuring others is sin. Strength and manliness are virtue; weakness and cowardice are sin. Independence is virtue; dependence is sin. Loving others is virtue; hating others is sin. Faith in God and in one's own Self is virtue; doubt is sin. Knowledge of oneness is virtue; seeing diversity is sin. The different scriptures only show the means of attaining virtue.
86. When, by reasoning, Truth is comprehended by the intellect, then it is realised in the heart, the fountainhead of feeling. Thus the head and the heart become illumined at the same moment; and then only, as says the Upanishad, "The knot of the heart is rent asunder, and all doubts cease" (Mundaka Upanishad, II.ii.8).
When in ancient times this knowledge (Jnâna) and this feeling (Bhâva) thus blossomed forth simultaneously in the heart of the Rishi, then the Highest Truth became poetic, and then the Vedas and other scriptures were composed. It is for this reason that one finds, in studying them, that the two parallel lines of Bhava and Jnana have at last met, as it were, in the plane of the Vedas and become combined and inseparable.
87. The scriptures of different religions point out different means to attain the ideals of universal love, freedom, manliness, and selfless benevolence. Every religious sect is generally at variance as to its idea of what is virtue and what is vice, and fights with others over the means of attaining virtue and eschewing vice, instead of aiming at realising the end. Every means is helpful more or less, and the Gita (XVIII.48) says, "Every undertaking is attended with defects as fire with smoke"; so the means will no doubt appear more or less defective. But as we are to attain the highest virtue through the means laid dozen in our respective scriptures, we should try our best to follow them. Moreover, they should be tempered with reason and discrimination. Thus, as we progress, the riddle of virtue and vice will be solved by itself.
88. How many in our country truly understand the Shastras nowadays? They have only learnt such words as Brahman, Maya, Prakriti, and so on, and confuse their heads with them. Setting aside the real meaning and purpose of the Shastras, they fight over the words only. If the Shastras cannot help all men in all conditions at all times, of what use, then, are such Shastras? If the Shastras show the way to the Sannyasins only and not to the householders, then what need has a householder for such one-sided Shastras? If the Shastras can only help men when they give up all work and retire into the forests, and cannot show the way of lighting the lamp of hope in the hearts of men of the workaday world—in the midst of their daily toil, disease, misery, and poverty, in the despondency of the penitent, in the self-reproach of the downtrodden, in the terror of the battlefield, in lust, anger and pleasure, in the joy of victory, in the darkness of defeat, and finally, in the dreaded night of death—then weak humanity has no need of such Shastras, and such Shastras will be no Shastras at all!
89. Through Bhoga (enjoyment) Yoga will come in time. But alas, such is the lot of my countrymen that, not to speak of possessing yoga, they cannot even have a little Bhoga! Suffering all sorts of indignities they can with the utmost difficulty only meet the barest needs of the body—and even that everyone cannot do! It is strange that such a state of affairs does not disturb our sleep and rouse us to our immediate duties.
90. Agitate ever so much for your rights and privileges, but remember that so long as we do not truly elevate ourselves by rousing intensely the feeling of self-respect in the nation, so long our hope of gaining rights and privileges is like the day-dream of Alnascar.
91. When a genius of a man with some special great power is born, all the best and the most creative faculties of his whole heredity are drawn towards the making up of his personality and squeezed dry, as it were. It is for this reason that we find that all those who are subsequently born in such a family are either idiots or men of very ordinary calibre, and that in time such a family in many cases becomes extinct.
92. If you cannot attain salvation in this life, what proof is there that you can attain it in the life or lives to come?
93. While visiting the Taj at Agra he remarked: "If you squeeze a bit of this marble, it will drip drops of royal love and its sorrow." Further he observed, "It takes really six months to study a square inch of its interior works of beauty."
94. When the real history of India will be unearthed, it will be proved that, as in matters of religion, so in fine arts, India is the primal Guru of the whole world.
95. Speaking of architecture he said: "People say Calcutta is a city of palaces, but the houses look much like so many boxes placed one upon the other! They convey no idea whatever. In Rajputana you can still find much pure Hindu architecture. If you look at a Dharmashala, you will feel as if it calls you with open arms to take shelter within and partake of its unqualified hospitableness. If you look at a temple, you are sure to find a Divine Presence in and about it. If you look about a rural cottage, you will at once be able to comprehend the special meanings of its different portions, and that the whole structure bears evidence to the predominant nature and ideal of the owner thereof. This sort of expressive architecture I have seen nowhere else except in Italy."
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。