对神的爱（二）
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中文
辨喜昨晚在唯一神教会发表了题为"对神的爱"的演讲，听众人数为历次之最。演讲者的主旨在于揭示：我们接受神，并非因为我们真正渴望祂，而是出于自私的目的才需要祂。演讲者说，爱是一种绝对无私的情感，它不会有超越对所爱对象的赞颂与崇拜之外的任何念头。它是一种俯身礼拜而不求回报的品质。仅仅去爱——这是真爱唯一的请求。
据说印度有一位女圣人，在她出嫁时，她对丈夫——国王——说，她已经嫁人了。"嫁给了谁？"国王问道。"嫁给了神"，她回答。她走入穷人和贫苦者之中，宣扬对神的极致之爱。她的一段祈祷意味深长，展现了她心灵被感动的方式："我不求财富，我不求地位，我不求救赎——纵使你愿意将我置于百层地狱之中，但请让我继续将你视为我的挚爱。"早期的典籍中充满了这位女性美妙的祈祷词。当她的生命走到尽头时，她在河岸边进入了三摩地（Samadhi）。她谱写了一首优美的歌曲，其中表达了她即将去会见她的至爱。
男性能够对宗教进行哲学性的分析。而女性天性虔诚，她从心灵和灵魂深处去爱神，而非出于理智。《所罗门之歌》是《圣经》中最优美的部分之一。其中的语言充满了深情，与那位印度女圣人的祈祷词中所见的深情如出一辙。然而我听说基督徒正打算将这些无与伦比的歌曲删除。我听到过一种对这些歌曲的解释，说所罗门爱上了一个年轻女孩，渴望她回应自己的王室之爱。然而那女孩爱的是一个年轻男子，不愿与所罗门有任何关系。这种解释对某些人来说很好，因为他们无法理解歌曲中所蕴含的对神的那种奇妙之爱。印度对神的爱不同于其他地方对神的爱，因为当你进入一个温度计显示零下四十度的国度时，人民的气质就会改变。据说《圣经》成书之地的人民的心灵向往，不同于冷血的西方民族的向往——后者更倾向于用歌曲中的热情去崇拜万能的美元，而非崇拜神。对神的爱似乎建立在"我能从中得到什么"的基础之上。在他们的祈祷中，他们祈求各种自私的事物。
基督徒总是希望神给予他们什么。他们以乞丐的面貌出现在全能者的宝座前。有一则故事讲述一个乞丐向一位皇帝乞求施舍。在他等待的时候，正逢皇帝祈祷的时间。皇帝祈祷道："哦，神啊，赐我更多财富；赐我更大权力；赐我更伟大的帝国。"乞丐转身准备离去。皇帝转过来问他："你为什么要走？""我不向乞丐乞讨"，乞丐回答道。
有些人确实很难理解那种推动穆罕默德心灵的宗教狂热。
他会匍匐在尘土中，痛苦地翻滚。经历过这些极端情感的圣者曾被称为癫痫病人。忘却自我之念，是对神之爱的根本特征。如今的宗教已沦为一种消遣和时尚。人们像一群绵羊一样去教堂。他们接受神并非因为真正需要祂。大多数人是无意识的无神论者，却自满地认为自己是虔诚的信徒。
English
Vivekananda delivered a lecture on "The Love of God" at the Unitarian Church last night before the largest audience that he has yet had. The trend of the lecturer's remarks was to show that we do not accept God because we really want Him, but because we have need of Him for selfish purposes. Love, said the speaker, is something absolutely unselfish, that which has no thought beyond the glorification and adoration of the object upon which our affections are bestowed. It is a quality which bows down and worships and asks nothing in return. Merely to love is the sole request that true love has to ask.
It is said of a Hindu saint that when she was married, she said to her husband, the king, that she was already married. "To whom?" asked the king. "To God", was the reply. She went among the poor and the needy and taught the doctrine of extreme love for God. One of her prayers is significant, showing the manner in which her heart was moved: "I ask not for wealth; I ask not for position; I ask not for salvation; place me in a hundred hells if it be Thy wish, but let me continue to regard Thee as my love." The early language abounds in beautiful prayers of this woman. When her end came, she entered into Samadhi on the banks of a river. She composed a beautiful song, in which she stated that she was going to meet her Beloved.
Men are capable of philosophical analysis of religion. A woman is devotional by nature and loves God from the heart and soul and not from the mind. The songs of Solomon are one of the most beautiful parts of the Bible. The language in them is much of that affectionate kind which is found in the prayers of the Hindu woman saint. And yet I have heard that Christians are going to have these incomparable songs removed. I have heard an explanation of the songs in which it is said that Solomon loved a young girl and desired her to return his royal affection. The girl, however, loved a young man and did not want to have anything to do with Solomon. This explanation is excellent to some people, because they cannot understand such wondrous love for God as is embodied in the songs. Love for God in India is different from love for God elsewhere, because when you get into a country where the thermometer reads 40 degrees below zero, the temperament of the people changes. The aspirations of the people in the climate where the books of the Bible are said to have been written were different from the aspirations of the cold - blooded Western nations, who are more apt to worship the almighty dollar with the warmth expressed in the songs than to worship God. Love for God seems to be based upon a basis of "what can I get out of it?" In their prayers they ask for all kinds of selfish things.
Christians are always wanting God to give them something. They appear as beggars before the throne of the Almighty. A story is told of a beggar who applied to an emperor for alms. While he was waiting, it was time for the emperor to offer up prayers. The emperor prayed, "O God, give me more wealth; give me more power; give me a greater empire." The beggar started to leave. The emperor turned and asked him, "Why are you going?" "I do not beg of beggars", was the reply.
Some people find it really difficult to understand the frenzy of religious fervour which moved the heart of Mohammed.
He would grovel in the dust and writhe in agony. Holy men who have experienced these extreme emotions have been called epileptic. The absence of the thought of self is the essential characteristic of the love for God. Religion nowadays has become a mere hobby and fashion. People go to church like a flock of sheep. They do not embrace God because they need Him. Most persons are unconscious atheists who self - complacently think that they are devout believers.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。