爱的宗教
本译文由人工智能辅助工具生成，可能存在不准确之处。如需查阅权威文本，请参考英文原文。
AI-translated. May contain errors. For accurate text, refer to the original English.
中文
正如一个人必须先经历象征和仪式才能到达证悟的深处一样，我们在印度说："生在教会中是好的，但死在教会中则是不好的。"一棵幼苗必须有篱笆的保护，但当它长成大树时，篱笆就成了障碍。所以没有必要去批评和谴责旧有的形式。我们忘记了宗教中必须有成长。
起初我们想到一位人格化的神，称祂为造物主、全能者、全知者等等。但当爱来临时，神就只是爱。充满爱的崇拜者不在乎神是什么，因为他不向神索取任何东西。一位印度圣者说："我不是乞丐！"他也不恐惧。神被作为一个人来爱。
以下是一些建立在爱之上的体系。（一）寂静（Shanta），一种平和的爱，伴随着父爱和帮助之类的情感；（二）仆从（Dasya），侍奉的理想——神作为主人、将军或君王，施行惩罚与奖赏；（三）慈爱（Vatsalya），神作为母亲或孩子。在印度，母亲从不惩罚。在每一个阶段中，崇拜者形成一个关于神的理想并追随它。接着是（四）友情（Sakhya），神作为朋友。这里没有恐惧。也有平等和亲密的感觉。有些印度教徒将神作为朋友和玩伴来崇拜。再接下来是（五）蜜爱（Madhura），最甜蜜的爱，夫妻之间的爱。圣德蕾莎和那些入神的圣者们就是这方面的例子。在波斯人中，神被视为妻子；在印度教徒中，被视为丈夫。我们可以回想起伟大的女王弥拉·白（Mira Bai），她宣讲神圣配偶就是一切。有些人将此推到极端，以至于称神为"全能者"或"父亲"在他们看来都是亵渎。这种崇拜的语言是充满情爱的。有些人甚至使用私情的语言。属于这个范畴的是克里希纳与牧牛女（Gopi）的故事。所有这些在你们看来可能意味着崇拜者的极大堕落。的确如此。然而许多伟大的圣者正是由此而成就的。没有任何人类制度能免于被滥用。你会因为有乞丐就不做饭吗？你会因为有小偷就不拥有财物吗？"哦，至爱的，一旦尝过你双唇的一吻，便令我如痴如狂！"
这一理念的结果是：一个人不再能属于任何教派，也无法忍受仪式。宗教在印度以自由为终极。但即便这一点最终也被放弃，一切都只为爱而爱。
最后到来的是没有分别的爱——真我。有一首波斯诗歌，讲述一位恋人来到他心爱之人的门前敲门。她问："你是谁？"他回答："我是某某，你的爱人！"她只回答说："走吧！我不认识这样的人！"但当她第四次询问时，他说："我就是你自己，哦，我的至爱，所以请为我开门！"门于是开了。
一位伟大的圣者用一个女孩的语言描述爱情，说道："四目相遇。两个灵魂发生了变化。而现在我已分不清他是男人而我是女人，还是他是女人而我是男人。我只记得，有两个灵魂。爱来了，便成为了一。"
在最高的爱中，合一仅属于精神。其他任何形式的爱都转瞬即逝。唯有精神之爱长存，而且不断生长。
爱看见理想。这是三角形的第三个角。神曾被视为因、造物主、父亲。爱是最终的归宿。母亲遗憾自己的孩子驼背，但当她哺育了他几天之后，她爱上了他，觉得他最为美丽。恋人在埃塞俄比亚的额头上看到了海伦的美。我们通常不会认识到发生了什么。埃塞俄比亚的额头只是一种暗示：那人看到的是海伦。他的理想被投射在暗示之上并将其覆盖，正如牡蛎将沙粒变成珍珠。神就是这个理想，人可以通过它看见一切。
由此我们开始爱上爱本身。这种爱无法表达。没有语言能够述说它。我们在它面前哑口无言。
在爱中，感官变得非常敏锐。我们必须记住，人间的爱掺杂着种种属性。它也依赖于对方的态度。印度的语言中有词汇来描述这种爱的相互依存。最低层次的爱是自私的——它在于被爱的快乐。我们在印度说："一个人送上脸颊，另一个人亲吻。"高于此的是相互之爱。但这种爱也是相互终止的。真正的爱是完全的给予。我们甚至不想见到对方，也不想做任何事来表达我们的感情。给予就已足够。以这种方式去爱一个人几乎是不可能的，但去爱神是可能的。
在印度，如果街上打架的孩子们使用了神的名字，并不被视为亵渎。我们说："把手伸进火中，不管你是否感觉到，你都会被灼伤。因此说出神的名字只能带来好处。"
亵渎的概念来自犹太人，他们深受波斯人忠诚精神的影响。神是审判者和惩罚者的观念本身并非坏事，但它们是低级和粗俗的。三角形的三个角是：爱不乞求；爱不知恐惧；爱永远是理想。
"谁能活过一秒， 谁能呼吸一刻， 若不是那充满爱的至尊充满了整个宇宙？"
我们中的大多数人会发现，我们生来就是为了服务。我们必须将结果交给神。工作只是为了对神的爱而做。如果失败降临，不必悲伤。工作只是为了对神的爱而做。
在女性身上，母性本能高度发达。她们将神作为孩子来崇拜。她们不求任何东西，却愿意做任何事。
天主教会教导着许多这样深刻的事物，虽然它是狭隘的，但在最高意义上是宗教性的。在现代社会中，新教是宽广的却是浅薄的。以一种事物带来多少好处来评判真理，就如同向一个婴儿质疑一项科学发现的价值一样荒谬。
社会必须被超越。我们必须粉碎法律，成为法外之人。我们容许自然，只是为了征服她。出离意味着：没有人能同时侍奉神和玛门。
加深你自身思想和爱的力量。让你自己的莲花绽放——蜜蜂自会前来。先相信自己，再相信神。一小群坚强的人就能撼动世界。我们需要一颗能感受的心，一个能构想的头脑，和一双有力的臂膀来完成工作。佛陀为动物献出了自己。让自己成为一个堪当此任的行动者。但做工的是神，不是你。一个人包含整个宇宙。一颗物质微粒，其背后拥有整个宇宙的能量。当心灵与头脑发生冲突时，跟随你的心灵。
昨天，竞争是法则。今天，合作是法则。明天，没有法则。让圣者赞美你，或让世人责难你。让命运之女神自来，或让贫穷和衣衫褴褛直视你的面庞。
今日以林中草木为食，明日共享五十道佳肴的盛宴。既不左顾，也不右盼，一往无前！
斯瓦米在回答问题时，首先讲述了帕瓦里·巴巴（Pavhari Baba）的故事——他抓起自己的器皿追赶小偷，只为扑倒在小偷脚下说：
"哦，主啊，我不知道您在那里！拿去吧！它们是您的！请宽恕我，您的孩子！"
他又讲述了同一位圣者被眼镜蛇咬伤的故事。当傍晚他苏醒过来时，他说："至爱派来了一位使者。"
English
Just as it is necessary for a man to go through symbols and ceremonies first in order to arrive at the depth of realisation, so we say in India, "It is good to be born in a church, but bad to die in one". A sapling must be hedged about for protection, but when it becomes a tree, a hedge would be a hindrance. So there is no need to criticise and condemn the old forms. We forget that in religion there must be growth.
At first we think of a Personal God, and call Him Creator, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and so forth. But when loves comes, God is only love. The loving worshipper does not care what God is, because he wants nothing from Him. Says an Indian saint, "I am no beggar!" Neither does he fear. God is loved as a human being.
Here are some of the systems founded on love. (1) Shanta, a common, peaceful love, with such thoughts as those of fatherhood and help; (2) Dasya, the ideal of service; God as master or general or sovereign, giving punishments and rewards; (3) Vatsalya, God as mother or child. In India the mother never punishes. In each of these stages, the worshipper forms an ideal of God and follows it. Then (4) Sakhya, God as friend. There is here no fear. There is also the feeling of equality and familiarity. There are some Hindus who worship God as friend and playmate. Next comes (5) Madhura, sweetest love, the love of husband and wife. Of this St. Teresa and the ecstatic saints have been examples. Amongst the Persians, God has been looked upon as the wife, amongst the Hindus as the husband. We may recall the great queen Mira Bai, who preached that the Divine Spouse was all. Some carry this to such an extreme that to call God "mighty" or "father" seems to them blasphemy. The language of this worship is erotic. Some even use that of illicit passion. To this cycle belongs the story of Krishna and the Gopi - girls. All this probably seems to you to entail great degeneration on the worshipper. And so it does. Yet many great saints have been developed by it. And no human institution is beyond abuse. Would you cook nothing because there are beggars? Would you possess nothing because there are thieves? "O Beloved, one kiss of Thy lips, once tasted, hath made me mad!"
The fruit of this idea is that one can no longer belong to any sect, or endure ceremonial. Religion in India culminates in freedom. But even this comes to be given up, and all is love for love's sake.
Last of all comes love without distinction, the Self. There is a Persian poem that tells how a lover came to the door of his beloved, and knocked. She asked, "Who art thou?" and he replied, "I am so and so, thy beloved!" and she answered only, "Go! I know none such!" But when she had asked for the fourth time, he said, "I am thyself, O my Beloved, therefore open thou to me!" And the door was opened.
A great saint said, using the language of a girl, describing love: "Four eyes met. There were changes in two souls. And now I cannot tell whether he is a man and I am a woman, or he is a woman and I a man. This only I remember, two souls were. Love came, and there was one."
In the highest love, union is only of the spirit. All love of any other kind is quickly evanescent. Only the spiritual lasts, and this grows.
Love sees the Ideal. This is the third angle of the
triangle. God has been Cause, Creator, Father. Love is the culmination. The mother regrets that her child is humpbacked, but when she has nursed him for a few days, she loves him and thinks him most beautiful. The lover sees the beauty of Helen in the brow of Ethiopia. We do not commonly realise what happens. The brow of Ethiopia is merely a suggestion: the man sees Helen. His ideal is thrown upon the suggestion and covers it, as the oyster makes sand into a pearl. God is this ideal, through which man may see all.
Hence we come to love love itself. This love cannot be expressed. No words can utter it. We are dumb about it.
The senses become very much heightened in love. Human love, we must remember, is mixed up with attributes. It is dependent, too, on the other's attitude. Indian languages have words to describe this interdependence of love. The lowest love is selfish; it consists in pleasure of being loved. We say in India, "One gives the cheek, the other kisses." Above this is mutual love. But this also ceases mutually. True love is all giving. We do not even want to see the other, or to do anything to express our feeling. It is enough to give. It is almost impossible to love a human being like this, but it is possible to love God.
In India there is no idea of blasphemy if boys fighting in the street use the name of God. We say, "Put your hand into the fire, and whether you feel it or not, you will be burnt. So to utter the name of God can bring nothing but good."
The notion of blasphemy comes from the Jews, who were impressed by the spectacle of Persian loyalty. The ideas that God is judge and punisher are not in themselves bad, but they are low and vulgar. The three angles of the triangle are: Love begs not; Love knows no fear; Love is always the ideal. "Who would be able to live one second,
Who would be able to breathe one moment,
If the Loving one had not filled the universe?"
Most of us will find that we were born for service. We must leave the results to God. The work was done only for love of God. If failure comes, there need be no sorrow. The work was done only for love of God.
In women, the mother - nature is much developed. They worship God as the child. They ask nothing, and will do anything.
The Catholic Church teaches many of these deep things, and though it is narrow, it is religious in the highest sense. In modern society, Protestantism is broad but shallow. To judge truth by what good it does is as bad as to question the value of a scientific discovery to a baby.
Society must be outgrown. We must crush law and become outlaws. We allow nature, only in order to conquer her. Renunciation means that none can serve both God and Mammon.
Deepen your own power of thought and love. Bring your own lotus to blossom: the bees will come of themselves. Believe first in yourself, then in God. A handful of strong men will move the world. We need a heart to feel, a brain to conceive, and a strong arm to do the work. Buddha gave himself for the animals. Make yourself a fit agent to work. But it is God who works, not you. One man contains the whole universe. One particle of matter has all the energy of the universe at its back. In a conflict between the heart and the brain follow your heart.
Yesterday, competition was the law. Today, cooperation is the law. Tomorrow there is no law. Let sages praise thee, or let the world blame. Let fortune itself come, or let poverty and rags stare thee in the face.
Eat the herbs of the forest, one day, for food; and the next, share a banquet of fifty courses. Looking neither to right hand nor to the left, follow thou on!
The Swami began by telling, in answer to questions, the story of how Pavhari Baba snatched up his own vessels and ran after the thief, only to fall at his feet and say: "O Lord, I knew not that Thou wert there! Take them! They are Thine! Pardon me, Thy child!"
Again he told how the same saint was bitten by a cobra, and when, towards nightfall he recovered, he said, "A messenger came to me from the Beloved."
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。