十八 阿拉辛迦
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中文
十八
美国， 一八九四年九月二十九日。
亲爱的阿拉辛伽，
你们所有人都做得很好，我勇敢无私的孩子们。我为你们感到无比骄傲。……希望不要绝望。有了这样的开端，若你们还要绝望，那便是愚蠢之举。……
我们的阵地在印度，而海外的认可其价值在于唤醒印度，仅此而已。……我们必须建立一个坚实的基地，以此向外传播。……切勿有片刻的动摇。一切终将走上正轨。是意志推动着世界。
我的孩子，你无需为那些年轻人成为基督徒而感到遗憾。在现有的社会枷锁之下，尤其是在马德拉斯，他们还能有何选择？自由是成长的首要条件。你们的祖先给予灵魂以充分的自由，于是宗教得以繁荣发展；他们却将肉身置于重重束缚之中，于是社会未能成长。西方的情形则与此相反——社会享有充分的自由，而宗教则毫无自由可言。而今，束缚东方社会的枷锁正在脱落，正如西方宗教脚上的枷锁一样。
东西方各有其类型：印度以宗教或内省为本，西方以科学或外向探索为本。西方期望通过社会改良获得一切灵性；东方期望通过灵性获得一切社会力量。正因如此，近代改革者认为改革印度的唯一途径是首先摧毁印度的宗教。他们尝试了，却失败了。为何？因为他们中几乎没有人曾深入研习本民族的宗教，更无一人经历过理解一切宗教之母所必需的修炼。我主张，改善印度教社会无需摧毁宗教，现存的社会状况并非因宗教之过，而是因为宗教尚未按其应有的方式施用于社会。对此，我已准备好从我们的古籍中一一加以证明，字字皆有依据。这便是我所讲授的，也是我们毕生须为之奋斗、付诸实践的。然而这需要时间，需要漫长的时间去研习。要有耐心，持续工作。उध्दरेदात्मनात्मानम् ——以自身之力救度自身。
你的朋友，
辨喜（Vivekananda）。
附言：现今的印度教社会仅为灵性人士而组织，对其他所有人则无情地加以压制。为何？那些希望享受世间种种欢乐与消遣的人，他们该往何处去？正如我们的宗教广纳一切，我们的社会也理应如此。实现这一目标，须先深入理解我们宗教的真正原则，再将其运用于社会。此乃缓慢而稳健之工作，必须加以完成。
English
XVIII
U. S. A., 29th September, 1894.
Dear Alasinga,
You all have done well, my brave unselfish children. I am so proud of you. . . . Hope and do not despair. After such a start, if you despair you are a fool. . . .
Our field is India, and the value of foreign appreciation is in rousing India up. That is all. . . . We must have a strong base from which to spread. . . . Do not for a moment quail. Everything will come all right. It is will that moves the world.
You need not be sorry, my son, on account of the young men becoming Christians. What else can they be under the existing social bandages, especially in Madras? Liberty is the first condition of growth. Your ancestors gave every liberty to the soul, and religion grew. They put the body under every bondage, and society did not grow. The opposite is the case in the West — every liberty to society, none to religion. Now are falling off the shackles from the feet of Eastern society as from those of Western religion.
Each again will have its type; the religious or introspective in India, the scientific or out-seeing in the West. The West wants every bit of spirituality through social improvement. The East wants every bit of social power through spirituality. Thus it was that the modern reformers saw no way to reform but by first crushing out the religion of India. They tried, and they failed. Why? Because few of them ever studied their own religion, and not one ever underwent the training necessary to understand the Mother of all religions. I claim that no destruction of religion is necessary to improve the Hindu society, and that this state of society exists not on account of religion, but because religion has not been applied to society as it should have been. This I am ready to prove from our old books, every word of it. This is what I teach, and this is what we must struggle all our lives to carry out. But it will take time, a long time to study. Have patience and work. उध्दरेदात्मनात्मानम् — Save yourself by yourself.
Yours etc.,
Vivekananda.
PS. The present Hindu society is organised only for spiritual men, and hopelessly crushes out everybody else. Why? Where shall they go who want to enjoy the world a little with its frivolities? Just as our religion takes in all, so should our society. This is to be worked out by first understanding the true principles of our religion and then applying them to society. This is the slow but sure work to be done.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。