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中文
斯瓦米·辨喜——那位头缠包巾、身着黄袍的僧侣——昨夜再次在第三街的拉萨莱特学院，向一群规模适中而热情专注的听众发表了讲演。
讲题为「灵魂的转世，即灵魂迁徙说」。辨喜或许从未在这一论题上展现出比此次更为出色的表现。灵魂迁徙说是东方民族中被最广泛接受的信仰之一，无论身处何处，他们随时准备为之辩护。正如卡纳达所言：「你们许多人不知道，这是所有古老宗教中最为古老的教义之一。法利赛人知晓它，犹太人知晓它，基督教会的早期教父知晓它，它亦在阿拉伯人中流传广泛。如今，它依然存续于印度教徒与佛教徒之中。
「这一状况持续到科学时代的来临，而科学不过是对种种能量的沉思与考察。如今，你们西方人认为这一教义有悖于道德。为了全面审视这一论点的逻辑层面与形而上学层面，我们必须遍览所有相关论据。我们所有人都相信宇宙有一位道德的主宰；然而，自然向我们呈现的，与其说是公正，不如说是不公正。一个人生于最优越的环境之中，终其一生，万事恰到好处，一切皆有利于幸福与更高层次的存在。另一个人却生来处处与邻人的境遇相悖，在堕落中死去，被社会所放逐。为何幸福的分配如此不均？
「灵魂迁徙说调和了你们共同信仰中这一不和谐之音。这一学说非但不使我们失去道德，反而赋予我们公正的理念。有些人说：'这是上帝的旨意。'这样的回答毫无意义，也不合乎科学。万事皆有因果。若将唯一的原因与全部的因果论都归于上帝，便使祂成了极不道德的存在。然而，唯物主义同样是不合逻辑的。就我们所能追溯的而言，因果律涵摄一切。因此，灵魂迁徙的教义在这些基础上是必要的。我们都降生于此。这是第一次创造吗？创造是无中生有吗？彻底分析这句话，不过是无稽之谈。这不是创造，而是显现。
「一个'某物'不可能是一个'非有之物'的结果。如果我将手指伸入火中，烧伤是同步产生的结果，我知道烧伤的原因是我将手指与火接触的行为。正如自然的情形，自然从未有过不存在的时刻，因为原因一直存在。但姑且假设曾有一个时刻，万物皆不存在。那么这一切物质都在哪里？创造某种全新之物，意味着向宇宙引入更多的能量。这是不可能的。旧事物可以被重新创造，但宇宙不能有所增添。
「没有任何数学论证能够推翻灵魂迁徙这一学说。按照逻辑，假设和理论不应被不加审查地接受。但我的论点是：人类的智慧迄今为止尚未提出更好的假说来解释生命的诸般现象。
「当我乘坐一列离开明尼阿波利斯的火车时，遇到了一件奇事。车上有一个牛仔，他是个粗犷的人，信奉严肃正统的长老会。他走过来问我从哪里来。我告诉他是印度。'你是什么人？'他问道。'印度教徒，'我回答。'那你一定会下地狱，'他说。我向他讲述了这一学说，待我解释完毕，他说他一直就相信这个，因为有一天他在劈柴时，他的小妹妹穿着衣服跑出来，说她曾经是个男人。这就是他相信灵魂迁徙的缘由。这一学说的全部基础在于：若一个人行善，他必将成为更高层次的存在；反之亦然。
「这一学说还有另一重美妙之处——它所提供的道德动力。已做之事，已然过去。它说道：'啊，若当初能做得更好便好了。'不要再把手指伸入火中。每一刻都是新的机会。」
辨喜以这般论述继续讲演了一段时间，期间频频获得掌声。
斯瓦米·辨喜今日下午四时将再次在拉萨莱特学院就「印度的风俗习惯」发表讲演。
English
Swami Vive Kananda, the beturbaned and yellow - robed monk, lectured again last night to a fair - sized and appreciative audience at the La Salette Academy on Third street.
The subject was "Transmigration of the Soul, or "metempsychosis". Possibly Vive Kananda never appeared to greater advantage than in this role, so to speak. Metempsychosis is one of the most widely - accepted beliefs among the Eastern races, and one that they are ever ready to defend, at home or abroad. As Kananda said: "Many of you do not know that it is one of the oldest religious doctrines of all the old religions. It was known among the Pharisees, among the Jews, among the first fathers of the Christian Church, and was a common belief among the Arabs. And it lingers still with the Hindus and the Buddhists. "This state of things went on until the days of science which is merely a contemplation of energies. Now, you Western people believe this doctrine to be subversive of morality. In order to have a full survey of the argument, its logical and metaphysical features, we will have to go over all the ground. All of us believe in a moral governor of this universe; yet nature reveals to us instead of justice, injustice. One man is born under the best of circumstances. Throughout his entire life circumstances come ready made to his hands -- all conducive to happiness and a higher order of things. Another is born, and at every point his life is at variance with that of his neighbour. He dies in depravity, exiled from society. Why so much impartiality [partiality] in the distribution of happiness? "The theory of metempsychosis reconciles this dis -
harmonious chord in your common beliefs. Instead of making us immoral, this theory give us the idea of justice. Some of you say: 'It is God's will.' This is no answer. It is unscientific. Everything has a cause. The sole cause and whole theory of causation being left with God, makes Him a most immoral creature. But materialism is as much illogical as the other. So far as we go, perception [causation?] involves all things. Therefore, this doctrine of the transmigration of the soul is necessary on these grounds. Here we are all born. Is this the first creation? Is creation something coming out of nothing? Analysed completely, this sentence is nonsense. It is not creation, but manifestation. "A something cannot be the effect of a cause that is not. If I put my finger in the fire, the burn is a simultaneous effect, and I know that the cause of the burn was the action of my placing my finger in contact with the fire. And as in the case of nature, there never was a time when nature did not exist, because the cause has always existed. But for argument['s] sake, admit that there was a time when there was no existence. Where was all this mass of matter? To create something new would be the introduction of so much more energy into the universe. This is impossible. Old things can be re - created, but there can be no addition to the universe. "No mathematical demonstration could be made that would have this theory of metempsychosis. According to logic, hypothesis and theory must not be believed. But my contention is that no better hypothesis has been forwarded by the human intellect to explain the phenomena of life. "I met with a peculiar incident while on a train leaving the city of Minneapolis. There was a cowboy on the train. He was a rough sort of a fellow and a Presbyterian of the blue nose type. He walked up and asked me where I was from. I told him India. 'What are you?' he said. 'Hindu', I replied. 'Then you must go to hell', he remarked. I told him of this theory, and after [my] explaining it, he said he had always believed in it because he said that one day when he was chopping a log, his little sister came out in her clothes and said that she used to be a man. That is why he believed in the transmigration of souls. The whole basis of the theory is this: If a man's actions be good, he must be a higher being, and vice versa. "There is another beauty in this theory -- the moral motor [motive] it supplies. What is done is done. It says, 'Ah, that it were done better.' Do not put your finger in the fire again. Every moment is a new chance."
Vive Kananda spoke in this strain for some time, and he was frequently applauded.
Swami Vive Kananda will lecture again this afternoon at 4 o'clock at La Salette Academy on "The Manners and Customs of India."
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。