我的生命与使命
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中文
女士们、先生们，今天上午的主题本应是吠檀多哲学。这个主题本身是有趣的，但颇为枯燥且非常广泛。
与此同时，你们的主席和在座的一些女士先生们要求我讲讲我的工作以及我一直在做什么。这对在座的某些人也许有些趣味，但对我来说并不那么有趣。事实上，我不太知道该怎样向你们讲述这些，因为这将是我有生以来第一次就这个话题发言。
那么，为了理解我以自己微薄的方式一直在努力做的事情，让我在想象中带你们去印度。我们没有时间深入所有的细节和这个主题的所有分支；你们也不可能在这么短的时间内理解一个外国民族的所有复杂性。只需说，我至少会试着给你们描绘一幅关于印度面貌的小图画。
它就像一座巨大的建筑，全部坍塌成了废墟。乍一看，几乎没有希望。这是一个已经毁灭的国家和民族。但你且等着去研究，然后你会看到废墟之外的东西。真相是，只要那个原则、那个理想——外在的人不过是其表达——没有受到伤害或被摧毁，这个人就还活着，对他就还有希望。如果你的外衣被偷了二十次，那不意味着你就该被毁灭。你可以得到一件新外衣。外衣是无关紧要的。一个富人被抢劫并不损害他的生命力，并不意味着死亡。这个人会活下去。
站在这个原则之上，我们向内审视，看到了什么？印度不再是一个政治力量；它是一个被奴役的民族。印度人在自己的政府中没有发言权、没有声音；他们是三亿奴隶——仅此而已！印度一个人的平均收入是每月两先令。广大人民群众的常态就是饥饿，以至于收入稍有减少，就有数百万人死去。一场小的饥荒就意味着死亡。所以，当我审视印度的这一面时，我看到的也是废墟——无望的废墟。
但我们发现，印度民族从不以财富立身。虽然他们积累了巨大的财富，也许比任何其他民族所积累的都多，然而这个民族并不以财富立身。在漫长的岁月里这是一个强大的民族，然而我们发现这个民族从不以权力立身，从不走出国门去征服。满足于自己的疆域之内，他们从不与任何人作战。印度民族从不追求帝国的荣耀。那么，财富和权力都不是这个民族的理想。
那么是什么呢？不管他们是对是错——这不是我们要讨论的问题——这个民族，在人类的所有儿女中，曾经相信，并且强烈地相信，这一生不是真实的。真实的是神；他们必须不论顺逆都紧紧依附那位神。在他们的堕落之中，宗教排在第一位。印度人宗教性地饮酒、宗教性地睡觉、宗教性地行走、宗教性地结婚、宗教性地抢劫。
你们见过这样的国家吗？如果你想组织一帮强盗，头目就必须宣讲某种宗教，然后制定一些虚假的形而上学，声称这种方法是证得神最明快的途径。然后他就能找到追随者，否则不行。这说明这个民族的生命力、这个民族的使命就是宗教；因为那一点没有被触动，所以这个民族还活着。
看看罗马。罗马的使命是帝国的权力，
扩张。一旦那被触动，罗马就分崩离析，消逝了。希腊的使命是智慧，一旦那被触动，希腊就消逝了。近代的西班牙和所有这些近代国家也是如此。每个国家都有自己对世界的使命。只要那个使命没有受到伤害，那个国家就能生存下去，不管面临多大的困难。但一旦其使命被摧毁，国家就崩溃了。
印度的那个生命力至今没有被触动。他们还没有放弃那个，它仍然强大——尽管他们有种种迷信。那里有丑陋的迷信，其中一些极为令人厌恶。不要紧。民族的生命之流仍在——民族的使命犹存。
印度民族永远不会成为一个强大的征服民族——永远不会。他们永远不会成为一个伟大的政治力量；那不是他们的事业，那不是印度在国家的伟大和谐中所要奏的音符。但她要奏什么呢？神，唯有神。她像至死不渝般紧紧依附着那个。那里仍有希望。
因此，在你的分析之后，你得出结论：所有这些东西，所有这些贫困和苦难，都无关紧要——这个人仍然活着，因此就有希望。
好！你看到宗教活动在全国各地进行着。我不记得有哪一年印度没有诞生出好几个新的教派。水流越急，漩涡和旋涡就越多。教派不是衰败的征兆，它们是生命的征兆。让教派不断增多吧，直到有一天我们每一个人都成为一个教派，每一个个体。我们无需为此争论。
现在看看你们的国家。（我并非要批评。）在这里，社会法律、政治构成——一切都是为了方便人在今生的旅途。只要他在这个地球上，他就可以过得非常幸福。看看你们的街道——多么整洁！你们美丽的城市！而且一个人有多少种挣钱的方式！在今生有多少享乐的渠道！但是，如果这里有一个人说："好吧，你们看，我要坐在这棵树下冥想；我不想工作"，那他就得进监狱。看！他完全没有机会。一点也没有。在这个社会中，一个人只有随波逐流才能生存。他必须加入对今生美好享受的追逐，否则就会死去。
现在让我们回到印度。在那里，如果一个人说："我要去坐在那座山顶上，余生都看着我的鼻尖"，每个人都会说："去吧，愿神保佑你！"他不需要说一个字。有人给他带来一点布，他就万事大吉了。但如果一个人说："看啊，我要去享受一下这人生"，每一扇门都会向他关闭。
我认为两个国家的观念都是不公正的。我看不出这里的人为什么不能想坐下来看自己的鼻尖就坐下来看。为什么这里的每个人都必须做多数人所做的事？我看不出理由。
在印度也一样，一个人为什么就不能享受今生的财物、去挣钱呢。但你看那些数以百万的民众是怎样被暴政所迫而接受相反的观点的。这是圣贤的暴政。这是伟大者的暴政，灵性的暴政，智慧的暴政，贤者的暴政。而且请注意，贤者的暴政比愚者的暴政强大得多。贤者、知识分子，当他们开始将自己的观点强加于他人时，他们知道十万种方法来建造愚者无力打破的枷锁和壁垒。
现在，我说这种状况必须停止。牺牲千百万人来造就一个灵性巨人是没有用的。如果可能建立一个社会，在其中灵性巨人能够产生，而同时其余所有的人也能幸福，那是好的；但如果必须碾碎千百万人，那就是不公正的。不如让那一个伟大的人为拯救世界而受苦。
在每个国家你都必须通过他们的方法来工作。对每个人你都必须用他自己的语言来讲话。在英国或美国，如果你想向他们传教，你就必须通过政治方法来工作——建立组织、社团，有投票、选举、主席等等，因为那是西方民族的语言和方法。另一方面，如果你想在印度谈政治，你就必须通过宗教的语言来谈。你必须告诉他们类似这样的话："每天早上清扫房屋的人将积累如此如此的功德，他将上天堂，或者他将来到神面前。"除非你这样说，他们是不会听的。这是语言的问题。做的事情是一样的。但对每个民族，你必须用他们的语言来说话，才能触及他们的内心。这是完全正当的。我们不必为此烦恼。
在我所属的修道团体中，我们被称为出家人（Sannyāsin）。这个词的意思是"已经弃绝的人"。这是一个非常、非常、非常古老的团体。甚至佛陀，他在基督之前五百六十年，也属于那个团体。他不过是他的团体的改革者之一。仅此而已。如此古老！你在吠陀经中就能找到对它的记载——世界上最古老的典籍。在古印度有这样的规定：每个男人和女人，在他们一生的晚年，必须完全脱离社会生活，除了神和自己的解脱之外什么也不想。这是为那伟大的事件——死亡——做准备。所以在那些早期的日子里，老年人常常成为出家人。后来，年轻人也开始弃绝世俗。而年轻人是活跃的。他们不可能整天坐在树下只想着自己的死亡，于是他们四处传道、创建教派，等等。因此，佛陀年轻有为，就发动了那场伟大的改革。如果他是一位老者，他就会看着自己的鼻尖安静地死去。
这个团体不是一个教会，加入这个团体的人不是祭司。在印度，祭司和出家人之间有着绝对的区别。在印度，祭司职业同社会生活中的其他任何职业一样，是世袭的。祭司的儿子将成为祭司，正如木匠的儿子将成为木匠，铁匠的儿子将成为铁匠。祭司必须始终是已婚的。印度人认为一个人如果没有妻子就不完整。未婚者无权主持宗教仪式。
出家人不拥有财产，也不结婚。除此之外就没有组织了。存在的唯一纽带是师徒之间的纽带——这是印度特有的。老师不是一个仅仅来教我、我付他多少钱就完了的人。在印度，这实际上如同一种收养。老师比我的亲生父亲更为重要，我在各方面都真正是他的孩子、他的儿子。我首先对他尽忠敬礼，甚至先于我的亲生父亲；因为，他们说，父亲给了我这副身体，但他指引我走向解脱之路，他比父亲更伟大。我们终其一生都怀有对老师的这份爱和敬意。这是唯一存在的组织。我收我的弟子。有时候老师会是一个年轻人而弟子是一位非常年迈的人。但不要紧，他是儿子，他称我为"父亲"，而我必须称他为我的儿子、我的女儿，等等。
恰好，我遇到了一位年迈的人来教导我，而他非常特别。他不怎么追求学术上的学问，几乎不读书；但当他还是一个男孩时，他就被一个巨大的理念所攫住——直接证得真理。首先他通过研究自己的宗教来尝试。然后他产生了一个想法，他必须获得其他宗教的真理；怀着这个想法，他一个接一个地加入了所有的教派。在一段时间内，他完全按照他们所说的去做——轮流与这些不同教派的信徒一起生活，直到完全融入该教派的特定理念。几年之后他又转到另一个教派。当他全部经历过之后，他得出结论：它们都是好的。他对任何一个都没有批评可言；它们不过是通往同一目标的众多道路。然后他说："这是一件光荣的事，应有这么多的道路，因为如果只有一条道路，也许它只适合一个人。道路越多，我们每个人认识真理的机会就越大。如果我不能用一种语言来教导，我就试另一种，如此类推。"因此他的祝福是给予每一种宗教的。
现在，我所宣讲的所有思想不过是试图回应他的思想。原创的东西没有一样属于我，除了那些邪恶的；我所说的一切虚假和邪恶的话都是我自己的。但我所说过的每一句真实和美好的话，不过是对他声音的一种回响。去读马克斯·缪勒教授所写的他的传记吧。
就在那里，在他的脚下，我构想了这些理念——与其他几位年轻人一起。我当时只是一个男孩。我在大约十六岁时去到他那里。其他男孩中有些更年轻，有些稍大一些——大约十几个或更多。我们一起构想，这个理念必须被传播开去。而且不仅仅是传播，还必须使之付诸实践。也就是说，我们必须通过我们的实际生活来展现印度教徒的灵性、佛教徒的慈悲、 基督徒的行动力、穆斯林的兄弟情谊。"我们将在此时此地开创一种普世宗教，"我们说，"我们不会等待。"
我们的老师是一位年迈之人，他绝不会用手碰钱币。他只接受少量供奉的食物，只要几码棉布，仅此而已。他绝不会被劝说接受任何其他的礼物。怀着所有这些奇妙的理念，他严于律己，因为那使他自由。印度的僧人今天是王子的朋友，与他共餐；明天他与乞丐为伍，睡在一棵树下。他必须与每个人接触，必须不断移动。正如俗语所说："滚石不生苔。"在我生命中的最后十四年，我从未在任何一个地方停留超过三个月——不断地辗转。我们所有人都是如此。
那么，这一小群男孩得到了这些理念，以及从这些理念中产生的所有实际成果。普世宗教、对穷人的巨大同情，以及所有这些在理论上都是非常好的，但人必须去实践。
然后悲伤的日子到来了——我们敬爱的老师去世了。我们尽我们所能地照料他。我们没有朋友。谁会听几个男孩和他们的怪念头呢？没有人。至少在印度，男孩什么都不是。想想看——十几个男孩，向人们讲述宏大的理念，说他们决心在生活中实践这些理念。所有人都笑了。从嘲笑变成了严肃的事态；变成了迫害。那些男孩的父母都恨不得揍我们每一个人。而我们被嘲笑得越多，就越坚定。
接着一段可怕的时期到来了——对我个人而言，对所有其他男孩也是如此。但降临在我身上的是怎样的不幸啊！一方面是我的母亲、我的兄弟们。我的父亲在那个时候去世了，我们陷入了贫困。哦，非常贫困，几乎一直在挨饿！我是家庭唯一的希望，唯一能够做些什么来帮助他们的人。我必须站在我的两个世界之间。一方面，我将不得不眼看着我的母亲和兄弟们活活饿死；另一方面，我已经相信这个人的思想对印度和世界是有益的，必须被宣讲和实践。于是在我心中这场斗争持续了数日数月。有时我连续祈祷五六天夜，不曾停歇。哦，那些日子的痛苦！我活在地狱中！我少年之心的自然感情牵引我向着家人——我无法忍受看到那些与我最亲最近的人受苦。另一方面，没有人同情我。谁会同情一个男孩的想象——那些给别人带来如此多痛苦的想象？谁会同情我？没有人——除了一个人。
那一个人的同情带来了祝福和希望。她是一位女性。我们的老师，这位伟大的僧人，在他还是个男孩、她还只是个孩子的时候就被娶了亲。当他长成青年，所有这些宗教热忱涌上心头时，她来看他。虽然他们结婚已久，但长大之前他们彼此并没有见过太多面。然后他对妻子说："看，我是你的丈夫；你对这个身体有权利。但我不能过夫妻生活，虽然我已经娶了你。我把这个交给你来判断。"她流泪说道："愿神保佑你！愿主赐福于你！我岂是那种会降低你身份的女人？如果我能，我会帮助你。继续你的事业吧。"
那就是那位女性。丈夫继续走自己的路，以自己的方式成为了一个僧人；而妻子从远方尽她所能地给予帮助。后来，当这个人已经成为一位伟大的灵性巨人时，她来了——实际上，她是第一个弟子——她用余生照料着这个人的身体。他从来不知道自己是活着还是死了，或者任何事情。有时候在说话的时候，他会变得如此忘我，以至于即使坐在燃烧的炭火上，他也不知道。燃烧的炭火！完全忘记了自己的身体，所有的时间。
那位女士，他的妻子，是唯一同情那些男孩的理想的人。但她无能为力。她比我们还穷。不要紧！我们义无反顾地投入了战斗。我相信，就像我活着一样确信，这些理念将使印度走向理性化，并为许多土地和外国种族带来更好的日子。怀着这个信念，我意识到，让少数人受苦总比让这样的理念从世界上消亡要好。如果一位母亲或两个兄弟死去了又怎样？那是牺牲。就让它这样吧。没有牺牲就不能成就伟大的事业。心必须被掏出来，流血的心必须放在祭坛上。然后伟大的事业就完成了。还有其他的方法吗？没有人找到过。我诉诸你们每一个人，诉诸那些已经成就了伟大事业的人。哦，代价有多大！多少痛苦！多少折磨！每一个生命中每一次成功的行为背后都有多么可怕的苦难！你们都知道这一点。
于是我们那群男孩就这样继续前行。我们从周围的人那里得到的唯一东西就是一脚和一句咒骂——仅此而已。当然，我们必须挨家挨户地乞讨食物：得到的是残羹剩饭——一切东西中最差的——这里一块面包，那里一块面包。我们找到了一栋破旧的老房子，底下住着嘶嘶作响的眼镜蛇；因为那是最便宜的，我们就搬进了那栋房子住下了。
就这样我们过了好几年，其间在全印度各地进行旅行，试图逐步推广这个理想。十年过去了，没有一线光明！又是十年！一千次绝望袭来；但有一样东西始终使我们保有希望 ——我们之间巨大的忠诚，我们之间巨大的爱。我有一百个男男女女围绕在我身边；如果我明天变成了魔鬼本身，他们会说："我们依然在这里！我们永远不会放弃你！"这是一个巨大的祝福。在幸福中、在苦难中、在饥荒中、在痛苦中、在坟墓中、在天堂或在地狱中，永不放弃我的人就是我的朋友。这样的友谊是玩笑吗？一个人可以通过这样的友谊获得救赎。如果我们能够那样去爱，那就有了救赎。如果我们拥有那份忠诚，那就是一切专注的精华。你不需要在世上崇拜任何神灵，如果你拥有那份信念、那份力量、那份爱。而那就在我们之中，贯穿那段艰难的岁月。那就在那里。那使我们从喜马拉雅走到科摩林角，从印度河走到布拉马普特拉河。
这群男孩开始四处旅行。渐渐地我们开始引起注意：百分之九十是敌对的，很少有帮助。因为我们有一个缺点：我们是男孩——贫困中的男孩，带着男孩的一切粗糙。一个必须自己闯出一条路的人总是有些粗糙，他没有多少时间去温文尔雅、彬彬有礼——"我的夫人、我的先生"，诸如此类。你在生活中总能看到这一点。他是一块未经打磨的钻石，他没有多少抛光，他是一颗装在普通匣子里的宝石。
我们就在那里。"不妥协！"是我们的座右铭。"这就是理想，这就是必须执行的。如果我们遇到国王，即使死也要让他听到我们的一番话；如果遇到农民，也是一样。"自然，我们遭到了敌对。
但请注意，这就是人生的经验：如果你真心为他人谋福利，全宇宙可以与你为敌却不能伤害你。如果你是真诚的、真正无私的，它必将在你体内的上主的力量面前化为灰烬。而那些男孩正是如此。
他们来的时候如同孩子，纯洁而清新，直接来自大自然之手。我们的大师说：我只愿在上主的祭坛上供奉那些尚未被嗅过的花朵，那些尚未被手指触碰过的果实。伟大之人的话语支撑着我们所有人。因为他看透了那些他从加尔各答街头召集而来的男孩们的未来生活。人们常常在他说"你们会看到——这个男孩，那个男孩，他将来会怎样"的时候嘲笑他。他的信念不可动摇："是母亲让我看到的。我也许软弱，但当她说事情是这样——她绝不会犯错——那就一定是这样。"
事情就这样过了又过，十年过去了没有一丝曙光，而我的健康却一直在恶化。长期来看，这对身体是有影响的：有时晚上九点才吃上一顿饭，有时早上八点吃一顿，有时隔两天，有时隔三天——而且总是最差、最粗糙的东西。谁会把好东西给乞丐呢？何况在印度他们本来也没有多少。而且大部分时间都在步行，翻越雪峰，有时要爬十英里的艰难山路，仅仅是为了得到一顿饭。在印度他们吃无酵饼，有时储存二三十天，直到它变得比砖头还硬；然后他们会给你一块那样的饼。我不得不挨家挨户地去收集够一顿饭的食物。那饼硬得使我的嘴巴流血。真的，你的牙齿都能被那饼崩碎。然后我就把它放在罐子里，倒上河水。我这样维持了好几个月——当然这对健康是有影响的。
然后我想，我已经在印度尝试过了；是时候试试另一个国家了。那时你们的宗教议会即将举行，要从印度派人去参加。我只是一个流浪汉，但我说："如果你们派我，我就去。我没有多少可以失去的，即使失去了那些我也不在乎。"要筹到那些钱非常困难，但经过长期的奋斗，他们终于凑够了刚好够我买船票的钱——于是我来了。比预定时间早到了一两个月，所以我发现自己在这里的街头游荡，谁也不认识。
但终于宗教议会开幕了，我遇到了善良的朋友，他们一路帮助了我。我做了一些工作，筹集了资金，创办了两份报纸，等等。之后我去了英国，在那里工作。同时我也在美国继续为印度的工作。
我为印度制定的计划，经过发展和集中后，是这样的：我已经告诉你们我们作为僧侣在那里的生活，我们如何挨家挨户地去，这样宗教就被免费地带给了每一个人，也许只需要一块碎面包作为回报。这就是为什么你们看到印度最底层的人也持有最崇高的宗教思想。这都是通过这些僧人的工作。但你问一个人："英国人是谁？"——他不知道。他也许会说："他们是那些书上提到的巨人的后代，不是吗？""谁统治你们？""我们不知道。""什么是政府？"他们不知道。但他们懂哲学。他们所缺乏的是关于今生世俗事务的实际智识教育。这些亿万人民已经为超越今生的生活做好了准备——难道对他们来说这还不够吗？当然不够。他们必须有更好的面包和更好的衣物裹身。伟大的问题是：如何为这些沉沦的千百万人获得更好的面包和更好的衣物。
首先，我必须告诉你们，他们仍有巨大的希望，因为你看，他们是世上最温和的民族。不是说他们胆小。当他们要战斗时，他们像恶魔一样战斗。英国人最好的士兵就是从印度的农民中招募的。死亡对他们来说无足轻重。他们的态度是："在此之前我已死过二十次，此后我还将死许多次。那又怎样？"他们从不退缩。他们不太情绪化，但他们是非常好的战士。
然而，他们的本能是耕种。如果你抢劫他们、杀害他们、向他们征税、对他们做任何事，只要你让他们自由地实践自己的宗教，他们就会安静温和。他们从不干涉他人的宗教。"让我们自由地崇拜我们的神，其他一切都可以拿走！"这就是他们的态度。当英国人触碰到那一点时，麻烦就来了。那就是一八五七年兵变的真正原因——他们不能忍受宗教压迫。伟大的穆斯林政权被彻底推翻，正是因为他们触碰了印度人的宗教。
但除此之外，他们非常和平、非常安静、非常温和，最重要的是不嗜好恶习。没有烈酒，哦，这使他们无限地优于任何其他国家的暴民。你无法将印度穷人的生活体面程度与这里贫民窟的生活相比较。贫民窟意味着贫穷，但在印度，贫穷并不意味着罪恶、不体面和恶行。在其他国家，环境条件使得只有不体面的人和懒人才需要贫穷。贫穷没有理由，除非一个人是傻瓜或无赖——那种想要城市生活和所有奢华的人。他们不愿去乡下。他们说："我们在这里享受着所有的乐趣，你们必须给我们面包。"但在印度不是这种情况，那里的穷人从早到晚辛勤劳作，而别人从他们手中夺走了面包，他们的孩子在挨饿。尽管印度种植了数百万吨的小麦，几乎没有一粒进入农民的嘴巴。他是靠最差的谷物生活的，那种你连喂金丝雀都不会用的谷物。
他们没有理由遭受这样的苦难——这些人；哦，如此纯洁善良！我们听到那么多关于沉沦的千百万人和印度被压迫的女性的议论——但没有人来帮助我们。他们说什么？他们说："只有当你们不再是你们自己的时候，你们才能被帮助、才能变好。帮助印度教徒是没用的。"这些人不了解种族的历史。如果他们改变了宗教和制度，就不会再有印度了，因为那是那个民族的生命力所在。它会消失；所以，实际上，你将没有人可以帮助。
然后还有另一个重要的观点要学习：你永远无法真正帮助任何人。我们能为彼此做什么呢？你在自己的生活中成长，我在自己的生活中成长。也许我能在你的生活中推你一把，知道从长远来看，条条大路通罗马。这是一个稳定的成长过程。还没有哪个国家的文明是完美的。给那个文明一个推动，它将到达自己的目标：不要试图改变它。剥夺一个国家的制度、习俗和礼仪，还会剩下什么？是它们维系着国家的团结。
但是，那位非常博学的外国人来了，他说："看这里；你放弃这些延续了数千年的制度和习俗，拿着我的洋铁皮破烂，就幸福了。"这完全是胡说八道。
我们必须互相帮助，但我们必须更进一步：首先是在帮助中变得无私。"如果你完全按照我说的去做，我就帮助你；否则不行。"这算帮助吗？
因此，如果印度教徒要在灵性上帮助你们，就不会有任何限制：完全的无私。我给予，到此为止。它已经离开了我。我的心灵、我的力量、我必须给予的一切，都给予了：带着给予的意愿给予，仅此而已。我见过许多次，有人抢劫了半个世界，然后拿出两万美元"来使异教徒皈依"。
为了什么？是为了异教徒的利益，还是为了他们自己的灵魂？想想这个吧。
而因果报应的天罚正在运行。我们人类试图蒙蔽自己的眼睛。但在内心深处，祂依然在那里，那真正的自我。祂永不遗忘。我们永远无法欺骗祂。祂的眼睛永远不会被蒙蔽。无论何时有任何真正慈善的冲动，它都会产生效果，即使在一千年之后。受阻之后，它仍会再次觉醒，如雷霆般迸发。而每一个动机自私、自利的冲动——虽然它可能在所有报纸的大肆宣扬下发出、所有群众的欢呼声中起航——它都无法达到目标。
我并非以此为傲。但请注意，我已经讲述了那群男孩的故事。今天，印度没有一个村庄、没有一个男人、没有一个女人不知道他们的工作并祝福他们。那片土地上没有一次饥荒是这些男孩不投身其中、尽力营救尽可能多人的。而这触动了人心。人们渐渐知道了。所以，尽你所能地帮助吧，但要注意你的动机是什么。如果是自私的，它既不会有益于你所帮助的人，也不会有益于你自己。如果是无私的，它必将给接受者带来祝福，也必将给你带来无限的祝福，像你活着一样确定。上主永远不会被蒙蔽。业力的法则永远不会被蒙蔽。
那么，我的计划因此是要接触印度的这些大众。假设你在全印度各地开办学校来教育穷人，你仍然无法教育他们。你怎么能呢？四岁的男孩去扶犁或去干活，比去上你的学校更好。他不可能去你的学校。这是不可能的。自我保存是第一本能。但如果山不向穆罕默德走来，穆罕默德可以走向山。为什么教育不能挨家挨户地送上门呢？我说。如果庄稼人的孩子不能来受教育，为什么不在犁旁、在工厂里、在任何他所在的地方去找他呢？与他同行，如影随形。但那里已经有成百上千的僧人在灵性层面上教育人民；为何不让这些人在智识层面上做同样的工作呢？为何他们不能向大众讲一点历史——讲许多事情呢？耳朵是最好的教育者。我们生命中最好的原则是我们幼年时通过耳朵从母亲那里听到的。书本来得晚得多。书本知识什么都不是。通过耳朵我们获得最好的塑造性原则。然后，随着他们越来越感兴趣，他们也可能来看你的书本。首先，让它不断推进——这就是我的想法。
嗯，我必须告诉你们，我并不是一个非常信仰修道制度的人。它们有巨大的优点，也有巨大的缺点。修道者和在家人之间应该有一个完美的平衡。但在印度，修道制度吸收了所有的力量。我们代表着最大的力量。僧人比王子更伟大。印度没有一个在位的君主敢在"黄衣"面前坐着。他让出自己的座位站起来。这是不好的，这么大的权力，即使掌握在好人手中——尽管这些修道者一直是人民的堡垒。他们站在祭司阶层和知识之间。他们是知识和改革的中心。他们正如先知在犹太人中那样。先知们总是反对祭司，试图清除迷信。在印度也是如此。但尽管如此，这么大的权力不好；应该制定出更好的方法。但你只能沿着最小阻力的路线工作。那里整个民族的灵魂都在修道主义之上。你到印度去，以在家人的身份宣讲任何宗教：印度人会转身离去。但如果你已经弃绝了世俗，他们就说："他是好的，他放弃了世界。他是一个真诚的人，他想实践他所宣讲的。"我要说的意思是，它代表着一股巨大的力量。我们能做的只是将它转化，赋予它另一种形式。印度那些云游四方的出家人手中的这股巨大力量必须被转化， 而它将提升大众。
现在你看，我们已经把计划很好地落在了纸上；但同时我已经把它从理想主义的领域中提取出来了。在那之前，计划是松散和理想化的。随着岁月的推移，它变得越来越凝练和精确；通过实际操作，我开始看到它的缺陷，以及种种问题。
在物质层面的实际运作中我发现了什么？首先，必须有中心来培训这些僧人的教育方法。例如，我派出我的一个人，他带着一台相机四处走动：他自己必须先在这些方面接受培训。在印度，你会发现每个人都相当缺乏文化素养，而那种教学需要巨大的中心。而这一切意味着什么？钱。从理想的层面你来到了日常的工作。好吧，我在你们国家辛勤工作了四年，在英国两年。我非常感激有些朋友出手相助。其中一位今天就在你们中间。有美国朋友和英国朋友跟我一起去了印度，那里有了一个非常粗糙的开端。一些英国人来加入了修道团体。一个可怜的人辛勤工作，死在了印度。还有一位英国男士和一位英国女士已经退休了；他们有自己的一些资产，他们在喜马拉雅山区开办了一个中心，教育那里的孩子们。我已经把我创办的一份报纸给了他们——你们会在那边桌上找到一份——《觉醒的印度》。他们就在那里教导人民、为人民工作。我在加尔各答还有一个中心。当然，所有伟大的运动都必须从首都开始。因为什么是首都？它是一个国家的心脏。所有的血液流入心脏，然后从那里被分配出去；同样，所有的财富、所有的思想、所有的教育、所有的灵性都将汇聚到首都，并从那里向外传播。
我很高兴告诉你们，我已经有了一个粗糙的开端。但我想在平行的线路上为女性做同样的工作。而我的原则是：每个人自助。我的帮助是在远处的。有印度女性、英国女性，我希望也会有美国女性来承担这项任务。一旦她们开始了，我就撒手不管了。没有男人可以对女人发号施令；女人也不可对男人如此。每个人都是独立的。如果说有什么束缚，那只是爱的束缚。女性将自己开创自己的命运——而且会比男性能为她们做的好得多。对女性所有的不幸都是因为男性试图塑造女性的命运造成的。而我不想从一开始就犯错。在那时犯下的一个小错将不断地倍增；如果你成功了，从长远来看那个错误将膨胀到巨大的规模，变得难以纠正。所以，如果我犯了用男性来执行女性这部分工作的错误，那么女性将永远无法摆脱这一点——它将成为一种惯例。但我有一个机会。我告诉你们的那位女士，就是我师父的妻子。我们所有人都非常尊敬她。她从不对我们发号施令。所以这是完全安全的。
那部分工作必须完成。
## 参考文献
English
Now, ladies and gentlemen, the subject for this morning was to have been the Vedanta Philosophy. That subject itself is interesting, but rather dry and very vast.
Meanwhile, I have been asked by your president and some of the ladies and gentlemen here to tell them something about my work and what I have been doing. It may be interesting to some here, but not so much so to me. In fact, I do not quite know how to tell it to you, for this will have been the first time in my life that I have spoken on that subject.
Now, to understand what I have been trying to do, in my small way, I will take you, in imagination, to India. We have not time to go into all the details and all the ramifications of the subject; nor is it possible for you to understand all the complexities in a foreign race in this short time. Suffice it to say, I will at least try to give you a little picture of what India is like.
It is like a gigantic building all tumbled down in ruins. At first sight, then, there is little hope. It is a nation gone and ruined. But you wait and study, then you see something beyond that. The truth is that so long as the principle, the ideal, of which the outer man is the expression, is not hurt or destroyed, the man lives, and there is hope for that man. If your coat is stolen twenty times, that is no reason why you should be destroyed. You can get a new coat. The coat is unessential. The fact that a rich man is robbed does not hurt the vitality of the man, does not mean death. The man will survive.
Standing on this principle, we look in and we see -- what? India is no longer a political power; it is an enslaved race. Indians have no say, no voice in their own government; they are three hundred millions of slaves -- nothing more! The average income of a man in India is two shillings a month. The common state of the vast mass of the people is starvation, so that, with the least decrease in income, millions die. A little famine means death. So there, too, when I look on that side of India, I see ruin -- hopeless ruin.
But we find that the Indian race never stood for wealth. Although they acquired immense wealth, perhaps more than any other nation ever acquired, yet the nation did not stand for wealth. It was a powerful race for ages, yet we find that that nation never stood for power, never went out of the country to conquer. Quite content within their own boundaries, they never fought anybody. The Indian nation never stood for imperial glory. Wealth and power, then, were not the ideals of the race.
What then? Whether they were wrong or right -- that is not the question we discuss -- that nation, among all the children of men, has believed, and believed intensely, that this life is not real. The real is God; and they must cling unto that God through thick and thin. In the midst of their degradation, religion came first. The Hindu man drinks religiously, sleeps religiously, walks religiously, marries religiously, robs religiously.
Did you ever see such a country? If you want to get up a gang of robbers, the leader will have to preach some sort of religion, then formulate some bogus metaphysics, and say that this method is the clearest and quickest way to get God. Then he finds a following, otherwise not. That shows that the vitality of the race, the mission of the race is religion; and because that has not been touched, therefore that race lives.
See Rome. Rome's mission was imperial power,
expansion. And so soon as that was touched, Rome fell to pieces, passed out. The mission of Greece was intellect, as soon as that was touched, why, Greece passed out. So in modern times, Spain and all these modern countries. Each nation has a mission for the world. So long as that mission is not hurt, that nation lives, despite every difficulty. But as soon as its mission is destroyed, the nation collapses.
Now, that vitality of India has not been touched yet. They have not given up that, and it is still strong -- in spite of all their superstitions. Hideous superstitions are there, most revolting some of them. Never mind. The national life - current is still there -- the mission of the race.
The Indian nation never will be a powerful conquering people -- never. They will never be a great political power; that is not their business, that is not the note India has to play in the great harmony of nations. But what has she to play? God, and God alone. She clings unto that like grim death. Still there is hope there.
So, then, after your analysis, you come to the conclusion that all these things, all this poverty and misery, are of no consequence -- the man is living still, and therefore there is hope.
Well! You see religious activities going on all through the country. I do not recall a year that has not given birth to several new sects in India. The stronger the current, the more the whirlpools and eddies. Sects are not signs of decay, they are a sign of life. Let sects multiply, till the time comes when every one of us is a sect, each individual. We need not quarrel about that.
Now, take your country. (I do not mean any criticism). Here the social laws, the political formation -- everything is made to facilitate man's journey in this life. He may live very happily so long as he is on this earth. Look at your streets -- how clean! Your beautiful cities! And in how many ways a man can make money! How many channels to get enjoyment in this life! But, if a man here should say, "Now look here, I shall sit down under this tree and meditate; I do not want to work", why, he would have to go to jail. See! There would be no chance for him at all. None. A man can live in this society only if he falls in line. He has to join in this rush for the enjoyment of good in this life, or he dies.
Now let us go back to India. There, if a man says, "I shall go and sit on the top of that mountain and look at the tip of my nose all the rest of my days", everybody says, "Go, and Godspeed to you!" He need not speak a word. Somebody brings him a little cloth, and he is all right. But if a man says, "Behold, I am going to enjoy a little of this life", every door is closed to him.
I say that the ideas of both countries are unjust. I see no reason why a man here should not sit down and look at the tip of his nose if he likes. Why should everybody here do just what the majority does? I see no reason.
Nor why, in India, a man should not have the goods of this life and make money. But you see how those vast millions are forced to accept the opposite point of view by tyranny. This is the tyranny of the sages. This is the tyranny of the great, tyranny of the spiritual, tyranny of the intellectual, tyranny of the wise. And the tyranny of the wise, mind you, is much more powerful than the tyranny of the ignorant. The wise, the intellectual, when they take to forcing their opinions upon others, know a hundred thousand ways to make bonds and barriers which it is not in the power of the ignorant to break.
Now, I say that this thing has got to stop. There is no use in sacrificing millions and millions of people to produce one spiritual giant. If it is possible to make a society where the spiritual giant will be produced and all the rest of the people will be happy as well, that is good; but if the millions have to be ground down, that is unjust. Better that the one great man should suffer for the salvation of the world.
In every nation you will have to work through their methods. To every man you will have to speak in his own language. Now, in England or in America, if you want to preach religion to them, you will have to work through political methods -- make organisations, societies, with voting, balloting, a president, and so on, because that is the language, the method of the Western race. On the other hand, if you want to speak of politics in India, you must speak through the language of religion. You will have to tell them something like this: "The man who cleans his house every morning will acquire such and such an amount of merit, he will go to heaven, or he comes to God." Unless you put it that way, they will not listen to you. It is a question of language. The thing done is the same. But with every race, you will have to speak their language in order to reach their hearts. And that is quite just. We need not fret about that.
In the Order to which I belong we are called Sannyasins. The word means "a man who has renounced". This is a very, very, very ancient Order. Even Buddha, who was 560 years before Christ, belonged to that Order. He was one of the reformers of his Order. That was all. So ancient! You find it mentioned away back in the Vedas, the oldest book in the world. In old India there was the regulation that every man and woman, towards the end of their lives, must get out of social life altogether and think of nothing except God and their own salvation. This was to get ready for the great event -- death. So old people used to become Sannyasins in those early days. Later on, young people began to give up the world. And young people are active. They could not sit down under a tree and think all the time of their own death, so they went about preaching and starting sects, and so on. Thus, Buddha, being young, started that great reform. Had he been an old man, he would have looked at the tip of his nose and died quietly.
The Order is not a church, and the people who join the Order are not priests. There is an absolute difference between the priests and the Sannyasins. In India, priesthood, like every other business in a social life, is a hereditary profession. A priest's son will become a priest, just as a carpenter's son will be a carpenter, or a blacksmith's son a blacksmith. The priest must always be married. The Hindu does not think a man is complete unless he has a wife. An unmarried man has no right to perform religious ceremonies.
The Sannyasins do not possess property, and they do not marry. Beyond that there is no organisation. The only bond that is there is the bond between the teacher and the taught -- and that is peculiar to India. The teacher is not a man who comes just to teach me, and I pay him so much, and there it ends. In India it is really like an adoption. The teacher is more than my own father, and I am truly his child, his son in every respect. I owe him obedience and reverence first, before my own father even; because, they say, the father gave me this body, but he showed me the way to salvation, he is greater than father. And we carry this love, this respect for our teacher all our lives. And that is the only organisation that exists. I adopt my disciples. Sometimes the teacher will be a young man and the disciple a very old man. But never mind, he is the son, and he calls me "Father", and I have to address him as my son, my daughter, and so on.
Now, I happened to get an old man to teach me, and he was very peculiar. He did not go much for intellectual scholarship, scarcely studied books; but when he was a boy he was seized with the tremendous idea of getting truth direct. First he tried by studying his own religion. Then he got the idea that he must get the truth of other religions; and with that idea he joined all the sects, one after another. For the time being he did exactly what they told him to do -- lived with the devotees of these different sects in turn, until interpenetrated with the particular ideal of that sect. After a few years he would go to another sect. When he had gone through with all that, he came to the conclusion that they were all good. He had no criticism to offer to any one; they are all so many paths leading to the same goal. And then he said, "That is a glorious thing, that there should be so many paths, because if there were only one path, perhaps it would suit only an individual man. The more the number of paths, the more the chance for every one of us to know the truth. If I cannot be taught in one language, I will try another, and so on". Thus his benediction was for every religion.
Now, all the ideas that I preach are only an attempt to echo his ideas. Nothing is mine originally except the wicked ones, everything I say which is false and wicked. But every word that I have ever uttered which is true and good is simply an attempt to echo his voice. Read his life by Prof. Max Muller.
Well, there at his feet I conceived these ideas -- there with some other young men. I was just a boy. I went there when I was about sixteen. Some of the other boys were still younger, some a little older -- about a dozen or more. And together we conceived that this ideal had to be spread. And not only spread, but made practical. That is to say, we must show the spirituality of the Hindus, the mercifulness of the Buddhists, the activity of the Christians, the brotherhood of the Mohammedans, by our practical lives. "We shall start a universal religion now and here," we said, "we will not wait".
Our teacher was an old man who would never touch a coin with his hands. He took just the little food offered, just so many yards of cotton cloth, no more. He could never be induced to take any other gift. With all these marvellous ideas, he was strict, because that made him free. The monk in India is the friend of the prince today, dines with him; and tomorrow he is with the beggar, sleeps under a tree. He must come into contact with everyone, must always move about. As the saying is, "The rolling stone gathers no moss". The last fourteen years of my life, I have never been for three months at a time in any one place -- continually rolling. So do we all.
Now, this handful of boys got hold of these ideas, and all the practical results that sprang out of these ideas. Universal religion, great sympathy for the poor, and all that are very good in theory, but one must practise.
Then came the sad day when our old teacher died. We nursed him the best we could. We had no friends. Who would listen to a few boys, with their crank notions? Nobody. At least, in India, boys are nobodies. Just think of it -- a dozen boys, telling people vast, big ideas, saying they are determined to work these ideas out in life. Why, everybody laughed. From laughter it became serious; it became persecution. Why, the parents of the boys came to feel like spanking every one of us. And the more we were derided, the more determined we became.
Then came a terrible time -- for me personally and for all the other boys as well. But to me came such misfortune! On the one side was my mother, my brothers. My father died at that time, and we were left poor. Oh, very poor, almost starving all the time! I was the only hope of the family, the only one who could do anything to help them. I had to stand between my two worlds. On the one hand, I would have to see my mother and brothers starve unto death; on the other, I had believed that this man's ideas were for the good of India and the world, and had to be preached and worked out. And so the fight went on in my mind for days and months. Sometimes I would pray for five or six days and nights together without stopping. Oh, the agony of those days! I was living in hell! The natural affections of my boy's heart drawing me to my family -- i could not bear to see those who were the nearest and dearest to me suffering. On the other hand, nobody to sympathise with me. Who would sympathise with the imaginations of a boy -- imaginations that caused so much suffering to others? Who would sympathise with me? None -- except one.
That one's sympathy brought blessing and hope. She was a woman. Our teacher, this great monk, was married when he was a boy and she a mere child. When he became a young man, and all this religious zeal was upon him, she came to see him. Although they had been married for long, they had not seen very much of each other until they were grown up. Then he said to his wife, "Behold, I am your husband; you have a right to this body. But I cannot live the sex life, although I have married you. I leave it to your judgment". And she wept and said, "God speed you! The Lord bless you! Am I the woman to degrade you? If I can, I will help you. Go on in your work".
That was the woman. The husband went on and became a monk in his own way; and from a distance the wife went on helping as much as she could. And later, when the man had become a great spiritual giant, she came -- really, she was the first disciple -- and she spent the rest of her life taking care of the body of this man. He never knew whether he was living or dying, or anything. Sometimes, when talking, he would get so excited that if he sat on live charcoals, he did not know it. Live charcoals! Forgetting all about his body, all the time.
Well, that lady, his wife, was the only one who sympathised with the idea of those boys. But she was powerless. She was poorer than we were. Never mind! We plunged into the breach. I believed, as I was living, that these ideas were going to rationalise India and bring better days to many lands and foreign races. With that belief, came the realisation that it is better that a few persons suffer than that such ideas should die out of the world. What if a mother or two brothers die? It is a sacrifice. Let it be done. No great thing can be done without sacrifice. The heart must be plucked out and the bleeding heart placed upon the altar. Then great things are done. Is there any other way? None have found it. I appeal to each one of you, to those who have accomplished any great thing. Oh, how much it has cost! What agony! What torture! What terrible suffering is behind every deed of success in every life! You know that, all of you.
And thus we went on, that band of boys. The only thing we got from those around us was a kick and a curse -- that was all. Of course, we had to beg from door to door for our food: got hips and haws -- the refuse of everything -- a piece of bread here and there. We got hold of a broken - down old house, with hissing cobras living underneath; and because that was the cheapest, we went into that house and lived there.
Thus we went on for some years, in the meanwhile making excursions all over India, trying to bring about the idea gradually. Ten years were spent without a ray of light! Ten more years! A thousand times despondency came; but there was one thing always to keep us hopeful -- the tremendous faithfulness to each other, the tremendous love between us. I have got a hundred men and women around me; if I become the devil himself tomorrow, they will say, "Here we are still! We will never give you up!" That is a great blessing. In happiness, in misery, in famine, in pain, in the grave, in heaven, or in hell who never gives me up is my friend. Is such friendship a joke? A man may have salvation through such friendship. That brings salvation if we can love like that. If we have that faithfulness, why, there is the essence of all concentration. You need not worship any gods in the world if you have that faith, that strength, that love. And that was there with us all throughout that hard time. That was there. That made us go from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, from the Indus to the Brahmaputra.
This band of boys began to travel about. Gradually we began to draw attention: ninety per cent was antagonism, very little of it was helpful. For we had one fault: we were boys -- in poverty and with all the roughness of boys. He who has to make his own way in life is a bit rough, he has not much time to be smooth and suave and polite --"my lady and my gentleman", and all that. You have seen that in life, always. He is a rough diamond, he has not much polish, he is a jewel in an indifferent casket.
And there we were. "No compromise!" was the watchword. "This is the ideal, and this has got to be carried out. If we meet the king, though we die, we must give him a bit of our minds; if the peasant, the same". Naturally, we met with antagonism.
But, mind you, this is life's experience; if you really want the good of others, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt you. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself in you if you are sincere and really unselfish. And those boys were that.
They came as children, pure and fresh from the hands of nature. Said our Master: I want to offer at the altar of the Lord only those flowers that have not even been smelled, fruits that have not been touched with the fingers. The words of the great man sustained us all. For he saw through the future life of those boys that he collected from the streets of Calcutta, so to say. People used to laugh at him when he said, "You will see -- this boy, that boy, what he becomes". His faith was unalterable: "Mother showed it to me. I may be weak, but when She says this is so -- she can never make mistakes -- it must be so."
So things went on and on for ten years without any light, but with my health breaking all the time. It tells on the body in the long run: sometimes one meal at nine in the evening, another time a meal at eight in the morning, another after two days, another after three days -- and always the poorest and roughest thing. Who is going to give to the beggar the good things he has? And then, they have not much in India. And most of the time walking, climbing snow peaks, sometimes ten miles of hard mountain climbing, just to get a meal. They eat unleavened bread in India, and sometimes they have it stored away for twenty or thirty days, until it is harder than bricks; and then they will give a square of that. I would have to go from house to house to collect sufficient for one meal. And then the bread was so hard, it made my mouth bleed to eat it. Literally, you can break your teeth on that bread. Then I would put it in a pot and pour over it water from the river. For months and months I existed that way -- of course it was telling on the health.
Then I thought, I have tried India: it is time for me to try another country. At that time your Parliament of Religions was to be held, and someone was to be sent from India. I was just a vagabond, but I said, "If you send me, I am going. I have not much to lose, and I do not care if I lose that." It was very difficult to find the money, but after a long struggle they got together just enough to pay for my passage -- and I came. Came one or two months earlier, so that I found myself drifting about in the streets here, without knowing anybody.
But finally the Parliament of Religions opened, and I met kind friends, who helped me right along. I worked a little, collected funds, started two papers, and so on. After that I went over to England and worked there. At the same time I carried on the work for India in America too.
My plan for India, as it has been developed and centralised, is this: I have told you of our lives as monks there, how we go from door to door, so that religion is brought to everybody without charge, except, perhaps, a broken piece of bread. That is why you see the lowest of the low in India holding the most exalted religious ideas. It is all through the work of these monks. But ask a man, "Who are the English?"-- he does not know. He says perhaps, "They are the children of those giants they speak of in those books, are they not?" "Who governs you?" "We do not know." "What is the government?" They do not know. But they know philosophy. It is a practical want of intellectual education about life on this earth they suffer from. These millions and millions of people are ready for life beyond this world -- is not that enough for them? Certainly not. They must have a better piece of bread and a better piece of rag on their bodies. The great question is: How to get that better bread and better rag for these sunken millions.
First, I must tell you, there is great hope for them, because, you see, they are the gentlest people on earth. Not that they are timid. When they want to fight, they fight like demons. The best soldiers the English have are recruited from the peasantry of India. Death is a thing of no importance to them. Their attitude is "Twenty times I have died before, and I shall die many times after this. What of that?" They never turn back. They are not given to much emotion, but they make very good fighters.
Their instinct, however, is to plough. If you rob them, murder them, tax them, do anything to them, they will be quiet and gentle, so long as you leave them free to practise their religion. They never interfere with the religion of others. "Leave us liberty to worship our gods, and take everything else!" That is their attitude. When the English touch them there, trouble starts. That was the real cause of the 1857 Mutiny -- they would not bear religious repression. The great Mohammedan governments were simply blown up because they touched the Indians' religion.
But aside from that, they are very peaceful, very quiet, very gentle, and, above all, not given to vice. The absence of any strong drink, oh, it makes them infinitely superior to the mobs of any other country. You cannot compare the decency of life among the poor in India with life in the slums here. A slum means poverty, but poverty does not mean sin, indecency, and vice in India. In other countries, the opportunities are such that only the indecent and the lazy need be poor. There is no reason for poverty unless one is a fool or a blackguard -- the sort who want city life and all its luxuries. They will not go into the country. They say, "We are here with all the fun, and you must give us bread". But that is not the case in India, where the poor fellows work hard from morning to sunset, and somebody else takes the bread out of their hands, and their children go hungry. Notwithstanding the millions of tons of wheat raised in India, scarcely a grain passes the mouth of a peasant. He lives upon the poorest corn, which you would not feed to your canary - birds.
Now there is no reason why they should suffer such distress -- these people; oh, so pure and good! We hear so much talk about the sunken millions and the degraded women of India -- but none come to our help. What do they say? They say, "You can only be helped, you can only be good by ceasing to be what you are. It is useless to help Hindus." These people do not know the history of races. There will be no more India if they change their religion and their institutions, because that is the vitality of that race. It will disappear; so, really, you will have nobody to help.
Then there is the other great point to learn: that you can never help really. What can we do for each other? You are growing in your own life, I am growing in my own. It is possible that I can give you a push in your life, knowing that, in the long run, all roads lead to Rome. It is a steady growth. No national civilisation is perfect yet. Give that civilisation a push, and it will arrive at its own goal: do not strive to change it. Take away a nation's institutions, customs, and manners, and what will be left? They hold the nation together.
But here comes the very learned foreign man, and he says, "Look here; you give up all those institutions and customs of thousands of years, and take my tomfool tinpot and be happy". This is all nonsense.
We will have to help each other, but we have to go one step farther: the first thing is to become unselfish in help. "If you do just what I tell you to do, I will help you; otherwise not." Is that help?
And so, if the Hindus want to help you spiritually, there will be no question of limitations: perfect unselfishness. I give, and there it ends. It is gone from me. My mind, my powers, my everything that I have to give, is given: given with the idea to give, and no more. I have seen many times people who have robbed half the world, and they gave $20,000 "to convert the heathen".
What for? For the benefit of the heathen, or for their own souls? Just think of that.
And the Nemesis of crime is working. We men try to hoodwink our own eyes. But inside the heart, He has remained, the real Self. He never forgets. We can never delude Him. His eyes will never be hoodwinked. Whenever there is any impulse of real charity, it tells, though it be at the end of a thousand years. Obstructed, it yet wakens once more to burst like a thunderbolt. And every impulse where the motive is selfish, self - seeking -- though it may be launched forth with all the newspapers blazoning, all the mobs standing and cheering -- it fails to reach the mark.
I am not taking pride in this. But, mark you, I have told the story of that group of boys. Today there is not a village, not a man, not a woman in India that does not know their work and bless them. There is not a famine in the land where these boys do not plunge in and try to work and rescue as many as they can. And that strikes to the heart. The people come to know it. So help whenever you can, but mind what your motive is. If it is selfish, it will neither benefit those you help, nor yourself. If it is unselfish, it will bring blessings upon them to whom it is given, and infinite blessings upon you, sure as you are living. The Lord can never be hoodwinked. The law of Karma can never be hoodwinked.
Well then, my plans are, therefore, to reach these masses of India. Suppose you start schools all over India for the poor, still you cannot educate them. How can you? The boy of four years would better go to the plough or to work, than to your school. He cannot go to your school. It is impossible. Self - preservation is the first instinct. But if the mountain does not go to Mohammed, then Mohammed can come to the mountain. Why should not education go from door to door, say I. If a ploughman's boy cannot come to education, why not meet him at the plough, at the factory, just wherever he is? Go along with him, like his shadow. But there are these hundreds and thousands of monks, educating the people on the spiritual plane; why not let these men do the same work on the intellectual plane? Why should they not talk to the masses a little about history -- about many things? The ears are the best educators. The best principles in our lives were those which we heard from our mothers through our ears. Books came much later. Book - learning is nothing. Through the ears we get the best formative principles. Then, as they get more and more interested, they may come to your books too. First, let it roll on and on -- that is my idea.
Well, I must tell you that I am not a very great believer in monastic systems. They have great merits, and also great defects. There should be a perfect balance between the monastics and the householders. But monasticism has absorbed all the power in India. We represent the greatest power. The monk is greater than the prince. There is no reigning sovereign in India who dares to sit down when the "yellow cloth" is there. He gives up his seat and stands. Now, that is bad, so much power, even in the hands of good men -- although these monastics have been the bulwark of the people. They stand between the priestcraft and knowledge. They are the centres of knowledge and reform. They are just what the prophets were among the Jews. The prophets were always preaching against the priests, trying to throw out superstitions. So are they in India. But all the same so much power is not good there; better methods should be worked out. But you can only work in the line of least resistance. The whole national soul there is upon monasticism. You go to India and preach any religion as a householder: the Hindu people will turn back and go out. If you have given up the world, however, they say, "He is good, he has given up the world. He is a sincere man, he wants to do what he preaches." What I mean to say is this, that it represents a tremendous power. What we can do is just to transform it, give it another form. This tremendous power in the hands of the roving Sannyasins of India has got to be transformed, and it will raise the masses up.
Now, you see, we have brought the plan down nicely on paper; but I have taken it, at the same time, from the regions of idealism. So far the plan was loose and idealistic. As years went on, it became more and more condensed and accurate; I began to see by actual working its defects, and all that.
What did I discover in its working on the material plane? First, there must be centres to educate these monks in the method of education. For instance, I send one of my men, and he goes about with a camera: he has to be taught in those things himself. In India, you will find every man is quite illiterate, and that teaching requires tremendous centres. And what does all that mean? Money. From the idealistic plane you come to everyday work. Well, I have worked hard, four years in your country, and two in England. And I am very thankful that some friends came to the rescue. One who is here today with you is amongst them. There are American friends and English friends who went over with me to India, and there has been a very rude beginning. Some English people came and joined the orders. One poor man worked hard and died in India. There are an Englishman and an Englishwoman who have retired; they have some means of their own, and they have started a centre in the Himalayas, educating the children. I have given them one of the papers I have started -- a copy you will find there on the table -- the Awakened India. And there they are instructing and working among the people. I have another centre in Calcutta. Of course, all great movements must proceed from the capital. For what is a capital? It is the heart of a nation. All the blood comes into the heart and thence it is distributed; so all the wealth, all the ideas, all the education, all spirituality will converge towards the capital and spread from it.
I am glad to tell you I have made a rude beginning. But the same work I want to do, on parallel lines, for women. And my principle is: each one helps himself. My help is from a distance. There are Indian women, English women, and I hope American women will come to take up the task. As soon as they have begun, I wash my hands of it. No man shall dictate to a woman; nor a woman to a man. Each one is independent. What bondage there may be is only that of love. Women will work out their own destinies -- much better, too, than men can ever do for them. All the mischief to women has come because men undertook to shape the destiny of women. And I do not want to start with any initial mistake. One little mistake made then will go on multiplying; and if you succeed, in the long run that mistake will have assumed gigantic proportions and become hard to correct. So, if I made this mistake of employing men to work out this women's part of the work, why, women will never get rid of that -- it will have become a custom. But I have got an opportunity. I told you of the lady who was my Master's wife. We have all great respect for her. She never dictates to us. So it is quite safe.
That part has to be accomplished.
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文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。