吠檀多对现代世界的主张
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中文
东方杰出学者辨喜（Swami Vivekananda）将在唯一神教会的宗教议会上阐释吠檀多（Vedanta）哲学的消息，昨晚吸引了大批听众。主礼堂和前厅都座无虚席，相邻的温德特厅也被打开，同样挤得水泄不通，据估计约有五百人因无法获得座位或能够方便听讲的站立位置而被拒之门外。
斯瓦米给人留下了深刻的印象。演讲期间他多次获得掌声，演讲结束后，他接受了一群热情崇拜者的致意。他以"吠檀多对现代世界的主张"为题，部分内容如下：
吠檀多要求现代世界对其予以关注。人类中最庞大的群体受其影响。一次又一次，千百万人涌向印度，以巨大的力量碾压吠檀多的信众，然而这个宗教却存活了下来。
在世界各国中，能找到这样的体系吗？其他体系在其庇荫下兴起。如蘑菇般诞生，今天它们还活着、繁盛着，明天就消失了。这难道不是适者生存吗？
这是一个尚未完成的体系。它已经成长了数千年，至今仍在成长。所以在这短短一个小时里，我只能给你们一个概念。
首先，让我告诉你们吠檀多兴起的历史。当它兴起时，印度已经完善了一种宗教。其结晶化过程已经持续了许多年。那时已经有了精密的仪式；已经为人生的不同阶段完善了一套道德体系。但是对于随着时间推移进入许多宗教中的虚假仪式和嘲弄产生了反叛，伟大的人物站出来，通过吠陀（Vedas）宣示了真正的宗教。印度教徒从吠陀的启示中获得了他们的宗教。他们被告知吠陀无始无终。对这些听众来说，一本书怎么可能无始无终，这也许听起来很荒谬；但吠陀所指的并非书籍。它们是指不同的人在不同的时代所发现的精神法则的累积宝库。
在这些人出现之前，关于一位统治宇宙的神以及人是不朽的这些流行观念就已经存在了。但人们止步于此。人们认为不可能知道更多的东西了。吠檀多的阐释者们的大胆正在于此。他们知道，适合儿童的宗教不适合有思想的人；关于人和神，还有更多的东西。
道德不可知论者只知道外在的死寂的自然。他要从中推导出宇宙的法则。这就好比割掉我的鼻子然后声称能构想出我整个身体的样子。他必须向内观照。划过天空的星辰，乃至整个宇宙，不过是沧海一粟。你们的不可知论者看不见最伟大的东西，反而被宇宙所吓倒。
精神世界比一切都更伟大——统治宇宙的神——我们的父，我们的母。我们称之为世界的这种异教的虚妄是什么？到处都是苦难。孩子出生时嘴唇上带着哭声——这是他发出的第一个声音。这个孩子长大成人，对苦难已如此习惯，以至于用嘴唇上的微笑掩盖心灵的痛楚。
这个世界的解答在哪里？那些向外寻找的人永远找不到；他们必须将目光转向内在，找到真理。宗教存在于内在。
一个人宣讲说，如果你砍掉自己的头就能获得救赎。但他有没有让人跟随他？你们自己的耶稣说："变卖一切给穷人，然后来跟从我。"你们有多少人做到了这一点？你们没有遵行这条诫命，而耶稣是你们宗教的伟大导师。你们每个人在自己的生活中都是务实的，你们发现这是不可行的。
但吠檀多不向你们提供不可行的东西。每门科学都必须有自己的研究材料。每个人都需要一定的条件和大量的训练与学习；但街上任何一个路人都能给你讲述关于宗教的一切。你也许想追随宗教并追随一位专家，但你也许只想与路人交谈，因为他能侃侃而谈。
你对待宗教必须像对待科学一样，直接接触事实，并在此基础上建造一座宏伟的结构。要拥有真正的宗教，你必须有工具。信仰不是问题所在；凭借信仰你什么也做不成，因为你什么都能信。
我们知道在科学中，速度增加时，质量减少；质量增加时，速度减少。如此我们有了物质和力。物质——我们不知如何——消失于力之中，力又消失于物质之中。因此有某种东西既非力也非物质，因为这两者不可能相互消失。这就是我们所说的心——宇宙心。
你的身体和我的身体是分离的，你们说。我不过是人类宇宙大洋中的一个小漩涡。一个漩涡，没错，但却是大洋的一部分。你站在流动的水旁，每一颗微粒都在变化，然而你称它为一条河流。水在变化，这是事实，但河岸不变。心不在变化，但身体——它变化得多么迅速！我曾是一个婴儿，一个男孩，一个成年人，很快我将成为一个弯腰驼背的老人。身体在变化，你说，心难道不也在变化吗？当我是一个孩子时，我在思考，我变大了，因为我的心是一片印象之海。
在自然背后有一个宇宙心。精神只是一个单元，它不是物质。因为人是精神。"灵魂死后去往何处"这个问题应该像那个男孩被问到"地球为什么不掉下去"时那样回答。这两个问题是相似的，它们的答案也是相似的——因为灵魂能去哪里呢？
对你们这些谈论不朽的人，我请求你们回家后试着想象自己已经死了。站在一旁，触摸你那死去的身体。你做不到，因为你无法走出自己。问题不在于不朽，而在于杰克死后是否能与珍妮相遇。
宗教的伟大秘密在于你自己知道你是精神。不要喊道："我是一条虫，我什么都不是！"正如诗人所说："我是存在、知识和真理。"一个人喊着"我是这个世界的一种罪恶"是不能为世界做任何好事的。越完美，你看到的不完美就越少。
English
The announcement that Swami Vivekananda, a distinguished savant of the East, would expound the philosophy of Vedanta in the Parliament of Religions at the Unitarian Church last evening, attracted an immense throng. The main auditorium and ante - rooms were packed, the annexed auditorium of Wendte Hall was thrown open, and this was also filled to overflowing, and it is estimated that fully 500 persons, who could not obtain seats or standing room where they could hear conveniently, were turned away.
The Swami created a marked impression. Frequently he received applause during the lecture, and upon concluding, held a levee of enthusiastic admirers. He said in part, under the subject of "The Claims of Vedanta on the Modern World":
Vedanta demands the consideration of the modern world. The largest number of the human race is under its influence. Again and again, millions upon millions have swept down on its adherents in India, crushing them with their great force, and yet the religion lives.
In all the nations of the world, can such a system be found? Others have risen to come under its shadow. Born like mushrooms, today they are alive and flourishing, and tomorrow they are gone. Is this not the survival of the fittest?
It is a system not yet complete. It has been growing for thousands of years and is still growing. So I can give you but an idea of all I would say in one brief hour.
First, to tell you of the history of the rise of Vedanta. When it arose, India had already perfected a religion. Its crystallisation had been going on many years. Already there were elaborate ceremonies; already there had been perfected a system of morals for the different stages of life. But there came a rebellion against the mummeries and mockeries that enter into many religions in time, and great men came forth to proclaim through the Vedas the true religion. Hindus received their religion from the revelation of these Vedas. They were told that the Vedas were without beginning and without end. It may sound ludicrous to this audience -- how a book can be without beginning or end; but by the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times.
Before these men came, the popular ideas of a God ruling the universe, and that man was immortal, were in existence. But there they stopped. It was thought that nothing more could be known. Here came the daring of the expounders of Vedanta. They knew that religion meant for children is not good for thinking men; that there is something more to man and God.
The moral agnostic knows only the external dead nature. From that he would form the law of the universe. He might as well cut off my nose and claim to form an idea of my whole body, as argue thus. He must look within. The stars that sweep through the heavens, even the universe is but a drop in the bucket. Your agnostic sees not the greatest, and he is frightened at the universe.
The world of spirit is greater than all -- the God of the universe who rules -- our Father, our Mother. What is this heathen mummery we call the world? There is misery everywhere. The child is born with a cry upon its lips; it is its first utterance. This child becomes a man, and so well used to misery that the pang of the heart is hidden by a smile on the lips.
Where is the solution of this world? Those who look outside will never find it; they must turn their eyes inward and find truth. Religion lives inside.
One man preaches, if you chop your head off, you get salvation. But does he get any one to follow him? Your own Jesus says, "Give all to the poor and follow me." How many of you have done this? You have not followed out this command, and yet Jesus was the great teacher of your religion. Every one of you is practical in his own life, and you find this would be impracticable.
But Vedanta offers you nothing that is impracticable. Every science must have its own matter to work upon. Everyone needs certain conditions and much of training and learning; but any Jack in the street can tell you all about religion. You may want to follow religion and follow an expert, but you may only care to converse with Jack, for he can talk it.
You must do with religion as with science, come in direct contact with facts, and on that foundation build a marvellous structure. To have a true religion you must have instruments. Belief is not in question; of faith you can make nothing, for you can believe anything.
We know that in science as we increase the velocity, the mass decreases; and as we increase the mass, the velocity decreases. Thus we have matter and force. The matter, we do not know how, disappears into force, and force into matter. Therefore there is something which is neither force nor matter, as these two may not disappear into each other. This is what we call mind -- the universal mind.
Your body and my body are separate, you say. I am but a little whirlpool in the universal ocean of mankind. A whirlpool, it is true, but a part of the great ocean. You stand by moving water where every particle is changing, and yet you call it a stream. The water is changing, it is true, but the banks remain the same. The mind is not changing, but the body -- how quick its growth! I was a baby, a boy, a man, and soon I will be an old man, stooped and aged. The body is changing, and you say, is the mind not changing also? When I was a child, I was thinking, I have become larger, because my mind is a sea of impressions.
There is behind nature a universal mind. The spirit is simply a unit and it is not matter. For man is a spirit. The question, "Where does the soul go after death?" should be answered like the boy when he asked, "Why does not the earth fall down?" The questions are alike, and their solutions alike; for where could the soul go to?
To you who talk of immortality I would ask when you go home to endeavour to imagine you are dead. Stand by and touch your dead body. You cannot, for you cannot get out of yourself. The question is not concerning immortality, but as to whether Jack will meet his Jenny after death.
The one great secret of religion is to know for yourself that you are a spirit. Do not cry out, "I am a worm, I am nobody!" As the poet says, "I am Existence, Knowledge, and Truth." No man can do any good in the world by crying out, "I am one of its evils." The more perfect, the less imperfections you see.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。