9. Personalities of the Servants of God
9. 神之僕人的不同樣貌

July 14, 1925

1925 年 7 月 14 日

My Blessed Mureeds,

我蒙福的門徒們：

I would like to speak on the subject of the personalities of the servants of God on the path of truth. When we think about the great many teachers of humanity, who have even today in this world millions of people following their teachings, continuing for thousands of years back, in spite of the ever-changing quality of human nature, in spite of the love of novelty that man has–to take one thing and to throw another thing for it; in spite of it, their teachings have been handed down to ages and held in reverence and esteem even till now.

我想談談真理之道上，那些神之僕人的不同樣貌。當我們想到人類眾多偉大的老師，他們的教導延續了數千年，直到今日，世上仍有數百萬人追隨；儘管人性不斷變化，儘管人喜愛新奇——拿起一樣東西，又為了另一樣而把它丟掉；儘管如此，他們的教導仍世代流傳，直到今天依然受到敬重與尊崇。

Think of the teachings of Zarathustra, that the followers of Zoroastrian religion have left their country and have forgotten their original language for many, many years; and if they have any sign of it, it is in the form, the words of Zarathustra which they still keep. Nothing of their origin they know, except this one thing, the teaching of Zarathustra, which was given to their souls. Brahmans hold their Gayatris of Vedanta and the words of Krishna in reverence, in esteem. And you cannot imagine to what extent they esteem it, that they would build a temple, a shrine, in order to keep that little book of Krishna. Muhammadans, no one can imagine what appeal the words of the Prophet make upon a Muslim.

想想查拉圖斯特拉的教導。瑣羅亞斯德教的追隨者離開了自己的國家，也已遺忘原來的語言許多年；如果他們還保留著任何與之相關的痕跡，那就是他們至今仍保存著的查拉圖斯特拉之言。他們對自己的源起幾乎一無所知，除了這一件事：那深植於他們靈魂中的查拉圖斯特拉教導。婆羅門敬重並尊崇《吠檀多》的伽耶特利，以及克里希納的話語。你無法想像他們尊崇到什麼程度，以至於會建造一座廟宇、一座聖所，來保存那本克里希納的小書。至於穆斯林，沒有人能想像先知的話語對一位穆斯林具有何等的感召力。

A Muslim cannot read a Sura of the Qur’an without shedding tears uncontrollably. He never hears the name of the Prophet without being deeply touched, without being deeply moved. And when we think about it a little more from a neutral point of view, and when we question to ourselves: Is it the teachings which are so valuable, or is it something else that has held them so many thousands of years? From a scientific point of view, from a literary point of view, they lack what a person today expects them to be.

一位穆斯林讀《古蘭經》中的一章時，往往禁不住流淚。他每次聽見先知之名，無不深受觸動，深深感動。當我們再以較為中立的觀點想一想，並問自己：真正如此珍貴的，是這些教導本身嗎？還是另有某種東西，使它們歷經數千年依然存在？若從科學的觀點、文學的觀點來看，它們並不符合今日之人所期待的樣子。

Therefore as a book of poetry, as a book of prose, as a book of scientific, technical theories, as a book of philosophy, one cannot take it to be similar to such books of today. And at the same time many great poets and philosophers and scientists have written their books, and they have disapproved, and their books have disappeared, and they have been a thousand times contradicted, and will be contradicted again and again and again. And if one sees if there was any power behind it, what they have left in the form of a book, of a scripture, it was not only the teaching. It was the magic of their personality that has made an impression on earth which the earth holds and will hold for eternity. Their personality has been projected in the sky, which reflects it continually, even if thousands of years it is that they have passed.

因此，若把它當作一本詩集、一本散文作品、一本科學或技術理論的書，或一本哲學著作，我們不能把它看成與今日這些書籍相同。同時，許多偉大的詩人、哲學家與科學家也曾寫下著作，而他們受到否定，他們的書消失了；他們曾被反駁千百次，將來仍會一再受到反駁。若我們要看，他們以書籍、經典形式留下的這些東西背後，是否有某種力量，那就會看見，那不只是教導而已。是他們自身的魅力，在大地上留下了印記；大地保存著它，而且將永遠保存。他們的形象彷彿映現在天空之中，而天空持續映照著它，即使他們已逝去數千年。

And we on earth, with our limited conception of their lives and of the lives of the others distinguish them as “mine” and “thine;” take one and deny the other. If before a Christian, Buddha was very highly spoken, he will doubt. First of all he will deny, then will ignore if he was very just. And if before a Buddhist the same thing was spoken, he will have the same idea or perhaps more. For they are most devoted. When before a Jewish person you will speak about Muhammad in comparison to Moses, he will be horrified. And do you think a Muslim will stand a comparison of Moses to Muhammad? He will stand with sword: “How dare you say that these two personalities can be one and the same or equal!” The difference for them will be as between false and true. “One is true, the other is false. Mine is right, yours is wrong.”

而我們生活在地上，對他們以及其他人的生命只有有限的理解，卻把他們區分成「我的」與「你的」；接受一位，否定另一位。如果有人在一位基督徒面前大力讚揚佛陀，他會有所懷疑。他首先會否定；即使他很公正，之後也只會不予理會。如果在一位佛教徒面前說同樣的話，他也會有相同的想法，甚至可能更強烈，因為他們極為虔誠。當你在一位猶太人面前把穆罕默德與摩西相比，他會感到震驚。你以為一位穆斯林能接受拿摩西與穆罕默德相比嗎？他會拔劍而起：「你怎敢說這兩位人物可以是同一個，或彼此相等！」對他們而言，兩者之間的差別就如真與假。「一個是真的，另一個是假的。我的才對，你的是錯的。」

This has been the condition of the world all the time, and this is the condition of the world today. And however much we may think that we can progress without religion, it is impossible. That progress will always prove to be fatal. When there is an outer progress and absence of inner progress, it is not complete progress. We cannot progress without lifting our religious ideal. And when it comes to lift it, then one says, “Yes, I will lift my religious ideal in my own faith.” Well, that they had lifted already in the past, and yet they kept divided.

世界一直以來就是如此，今日的世界也仍然如此。無論我們多麼認為可以沒有宗教而進步，那都是不可能的。這樣的進步最後總會帶來致命的結果。當外在有所進步，內在卻沒有進步，那就不是完整的進步。我們若不提升自己的宗教理想，就無法進步。而當談到提升它時，人便說：「是的，我會在自己的信仰中提升我的宗教理想。」然而，他們過去早已這樣提升過自己的宗教理想，卻仍舊彼此分裂。

And they have always fought in the name of religion, abused their faith, and acted wrongly towards one another, being the creatures of the same God. And if we go still deeper we shall find that their teachings do not differ very much, and if there is a difference it is either that difference of terms or the difference of the way people have understood it. They have given guidance for that time and for the time to come till another such Message was to be given. So the difference is not in the teaching. And when we find the difference, it is because we want to find the difference. What we want to find we shall find. When we want to find a fault we can find a fault with the best person, and when we want to find some good we can find some good in the worst person.

他們總是以宗教之名爭戰，濫用自己的信仰；同樣都是一位神所創造的生命，彼此卻仍以錯誤的態度相待。如果我們再深入一些，就會發現，他們的教導其實沒有太大的差異；即使有差異，也不過是用語上的差異，或人們理解方式上的差異。他們為當時提供引導，也為往後的時代提供引導，直到另一個同樣的神聖訊息來臨。因此，差異並不在教導本身。當我們看見差異時，是因為我們想要找出差異。我們想找什麼，就會找到什麼。當我們想找缺點時，即使在最好的人身上也能找到缺點；而當我們想找一些好處時，即使在最壞的人身上也能找到一些好處。

And now coming to the personalities. If Solomon was king and Buddha was a beggar, if Moses rode on horseback and Muhammad sat on a camel, that makes little difference. For when a person judges a personality, he judges according to his ideas. Each person having his own ideas, there will be a thousand judgments about one person. And then when you trace back the legends and stories about the lives, sometimes they fit in with your ideas, sometimes they do not fit in with your ideas. Sometimes you hear them from their worst enemies, sometimes from best friends, sometimes it comes in such a poetry that you think there was never such a man, there never can be. And another time, when you hear it from an adversary, you think this was the worst person you can ever think of.

現在來談這些人物本身。所羅門是君王，佛陀是乞者；摩西騎馬，穆罕默德乘駱駝，這些都沒有多大差別。因為一個人在評判某個人物時，是依照自己的觀念來評判。每個人都有自己的觀念，所以對同一個人會有千百種評判。當你再回溯有關他們生平的傳說與故事，有時它們符合你的觀念，有時又不符合。有時你從他最仇視他的敵人口中聽見，有時從最好的朋友口中聽見；有時故事被說得如此富有詩意，使你覺得從來沒有這樣的人，也不可能有。另一次，當你從一位對手口中聽見他的故事時，你又會覺得，這簡直是你所能想像最糟糕的人。

The more we shall widen our ideas, the more we shall see the wide world. The more we shall come to study life the more we shall see this fact: that those high personalities, we cannot take them from what history says. If a person who looks at it favorably says, “This is the best personality in the world; never God could have created another one like this.” One says, “This was the son of God.” The other says, “This was God Himself.” But these differences belong to each individual as they think, as they conceive of it. In reality when we see what is behind it we see a divine magic, a divine personality which struck directly to so many and indirectly to those who were not struck directly.

我們的觀念愈開闊，就愈能看見這個廣闊的世界。我們愈深入研究生命，就愈會看見這個事實：對於那些崇高的人物，我們不能單憑歷史對他們的記載來理解他們。若有人以讚賞的眼光來看，便會說：「這是世上最好的人；神再也不可能創造出另一個像他這樣的人。」有人說：「這是神之子。」另一個人說：「這就是神本身。」然而，這些差異，其實只來自每個人不同的想法與理解。事實上，當我們看見這一切背後的東西時，我們所看見的是一種神聖的力量、一種神聖的存在；它直接感動了許多人，也間接感動了那些沒有直接受到感動的人。

And those who have come to understand their particular savior, master, teacher thoroughly, they have arrived at forgetting that outward distinction of the teacher, recognizing what is behind it–the divine personality which is One and the Same, whether in the past, present, or future. Be not therefore surprised if a Sufi recognizes that personality and names that personality with the name that may be taught to him, perhaps from his parents, in his family, as the great ideal of religion, and gives to the same personality all other recognized names which other people recognize in the same way. He gives the same personality those names; it is natural.

而那些已徹底理解自己所敬奉的救主、聖師或老師的人，最終都會不再執著於老師外在形式上的差別，並認出其背後的存在——那神聖的存在，無論過去、現在或未來，始終都是一體而相同的。因此，如果一位蘇菲祕士認出了這個存在，並以他或許從父母、家庭那裡學來的、作為偉大宗教理想的名字來稱呼它，同時又用其他人以同樣方式所認出的各種名字來稱呼這同一個存在，你也不必感到驚訝。用那些不同的名字稱呼同一個存在，是很自然的。

There was a time when the idealizing of the king was such that they gave the king the title of all the great heroes and kings who existed in history, recognizing in that particular king the greatness which is recognized by other people of their kings. But then you may say it is making our ideal the ideal of others. What does it matter? It all unites you with the others, and others are united with you. If this will go on that millions and millions of people are divided just now as they are, some as followers of one religion, others as followers of other religions, there will never come a real spiritual unity among men. They ought to unite in their ideal. But, you will say, can we not unite in God? Yes, we can unite in God.

曾經有一個時代，人們對君王的理想化到了這樣的程度：他們把歷史上一切偉大英雄與君王的稱號，都加在那位君王身上，在那一位君王身上認出其他民族在自己君王身上所認出的偉大。但你或許會說，這豈不是把我們的理想變成別人的理想嗎？那又有什麼關係？這使你與他人結合，也使他人與你結合。如果現在這種情況繼續下去，數百萬、數百萬的人像現在這樣彼此分裂，一些人追隨一種宗教，另一些人追隨其他宗教，那麼人類之間永遠不會出現真正的靈性合一。他們應當在自己的理想中合一。但你會說：我們不能在神之中合一嗎？是的，我們可以在神之中合一。

But we do not unite in God. God for us is in the abstract; we want a personality in which to unite. And that personality, seen in its reality, is behind the veil of names and forms known to different creeds. If the Sufi Message brings Saum and Salat to be given in the world to Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu alike, that they can stand in the congregation shoulder to shoulder in the worship of God and may not miss the name of their teacher, one day they will waken to the truth. They automatically will come to that idea that the personality which is really divine has all these names and more names which are perhaps unknown.

但事實上，我們並沒有在神之中合一。對我們而言，神是抽象的；我們需要一個具體的人物，才能在其中合一。而當我們看見這個人物的真實時，就會發現，它位於不同信仰所認識的各種名相與形相帷幕之後。如果蘇菲神聖訊息將淨化頌揚祈禱與敬拜神聖祈禱帶到世上，同樣給予穆斯林、基督徒、佛教徒與印度教徒，使他們能在共同敬拜神時肩並肩站在會眾之中，同時又不會失去自己老師的名字，那麼總有一天，他們會覺醒於真理。他們自然會明白：那真正神聖的存在擁有這一切名字，還有更多也許尚不為人知的名字。

Therefore there was an argument once with a mureed who said, “There are some who can stand milk and there are others who can stand wine; and there are some who can read Saum and Salat, and there are others who are perhaps prejudiced against one name or the other. What may be done for them?”

因此，曾有一位門徒與我爭論，他說：「有些人受得了牛奶，也有另一些人受得了酒；有些人可以誦讀淨化頌揚祈禱與敬拜神聖祈禱，也有另一些人也許對其中某一個名字抱有偏見。對這些人該怎麼辦呢？」

This argument I bring before you because you will have to face this difficulty always, as I have to face this difficulty continually. In the first place by feeding the prejudice of that person you will keep him backward in progressing through the Sufi path. The sole object of this path is unity. But by arguing with him too much you will only antagonize him. Therefore in the case of an individual, as Sufism is freedom of thought, you will leave the choice to that person.

我把這個爭論提出來，是因為你們總會遇到這個困難，就像我也不斷面對這個困難。首先，如果你助長那個人的偏見，就會使他在蘇菲之道上難以前進。這條道路唯一的目的就是合一。然而，如果與他爭論太多，又只會使他產生對立。因此，對於個別的人，由於蘇菲之道主張思想的自由，你應把選擇留給那個人自己。

Nevertheless, my workers and mureeds will remember that on Saum and Salat the whole building of the Sufi teaching stands. And if it has not that foundation of uniting all different faiths, this building will not stand upon partial and divided ideals. It wants a strong foundation, for this is not a question of a particular theory, a speculation or doctrine. This is a question of uniting the races and nations and people who are divided in their faiths. Nor in moral principle, nor . . . (philosophical basis) . . . nor in truth, only on the point of different personalities as their leaders.

然而，我的工作者與門徒們要記住，整座蘇菲教導的建築，正是建立在淨化頌揚祈禱與敬拜神聖祈禱之上。如果它沒有這個使所有不同信仰合一的根基，那麼這座建築便無法建立在片面而分裂的理想之上。它需要堅固的根基，因為這不是某一特定理論、推測或教義的問題。這關乎讓那些因信仰而彼此分裂的種族、國家與人民重新合一。他們的分歧既不在道德原則，也不在……（哲學基礎）……也不在真理，而只在於他們以不同的人物作為自己的領袖。

Remember, my mureeds, at the same time, that your task in holding this ideal will be very difficult because of the pioneer work, and a number so small as ours. But has anyone grown without being an infant — man or movement? Everything grows as something small, it develops afterwards to that width and to that height which is destined for it. What is necessary for us is patient trust and a continual work to further the Message.

同時也要記住，我的門徒們，要持守這個理想，你們的任務會非常艱難，因為我們所做的是開創性的工作，而我們的人數又如此稀少。然而，無論一個人或一個運動，有誰不是從幼小開始成長的呢？一切事物起初都很微小，之後才發展到它命中注定的廣度與高度。我們所需要的是耐心的信任，以及持續不斷地工作，使神聖訊息繼續傳揚。

And now coming to the question of the two points of view which the workers of the Sufi Movement show.

現在來談蘇菲運動的工作者所呈現的兩種觀點。

• Some have a point of view that something which is of a sacred nature, of some value and importance, must be kept hidden, and must be brought slowly and thoughtfully and with a very great consideration to humanity. If not, it can be spoiled, it can be broken.
  
  有些人的觀點是：具有神聖性、具有某種價值與重要性的事物，必須先隱藏起來；要把它帶給人類時，也必須緩慢、深思熟慮，並極為審慎。否則，它可能被糟蹋，也可能被破壞。

• And there are others who say, “What we value, what we think is important, must be spread, must be brought before the public. What does it matter if they believe in it; is this not enough?”
  
  另一些人則說：「我們所珍視的、我們認為重要的，就必須傳播出去，必須帶到大眾面前。他們相不相信又有什麼關係；這樣還不夠嗎？」

Now there is some right and some wrong in both of these tendencies. The right is in this tendency that we must bring slowly and quietly before the world, that we can never be enough tactful and considerate in bringing something which is delicate and sacred, and which belongs to the inner truth. But they are wrong in thinking that it will be broken up.

這兩種傾向都各有其對，也各有其錯。前一種傾向有道理的地方，在於我們確實應當緩慢而安靜地把它帶到世人面前；當我們要帶出某種細緻而神聖、屬於內在真理的東西時，再怎麼有分寸、再怎麼體貼審慎都不為過。但他們錯在以為它會被破壞。

What breaks cannot be true. What is true can never break, so they need not fear that it will be broken. If a thousand times it will be broken, a thousand times it will come right again. It will spring up; it cannot be cut. The tree of truth can never be cut. And therefore courage must be such that: “If everyone was against me, that I shall carry it out. I do not fear that it is something fragile, that it will break. No, the nature of this is that if it will break it will be made again.” The symbology of it is the phoenix, that when it is burnt then there is the egg of the phoenix from which it comes again.

凡是會破碎的，就不可能是真理。真理永遠不會破碎，所以他們不必害怕它遭到破壞。即使它被破壞一千次，也會一千次重新恢復。它會再度萌生；它無法被砍斷。真理之樹永遠砍不倒。因此，我們必須有這樣的勇氣：「即使所有人都反對我，我仍要把它做下去。我不怕它是某種脆弱、一碰就碎的東西。不，它的本性就是，即使被破壞，也會重新恢復。」它的象徵就是鳳凰：當鳳凰被焚燒之後，會留下鳳凰之卵，鳳凰再由其中重生。

Then alone the worker will be able to keep on furthering the Message, when he has that faith. No matter what difficulty comes along and sweeps it away, the Message will not be swept away. It is meant to be given, and will be given. And nothing can destroy it. Only the loss will be on the part of the worker who, in spite of having all his good will, will lose that opportunity when something could have been done for the Message. But fearing that perhaps it will not be the right thing, he loses his opportunity of serving the Cause.

只有當工作者具有這樣的信念時，他才能繼續推進神聖訊息。無論出現什麼困難，把眼前的一切席捲而去，神聖訊息本身都不會被捲走。它注定要被傳遞，也必然會被傳遞。沒有任何事物能摧毀它。真正遭受損失的，只會是那位工作者；儘管他滿懷善意，卻在原本能為神聖訊息做些什麼的時候失去了那個機會。因為害怕那也許不是正確的做法，他便失去了為這項志業盡力的機會。

And the wrong about the person who says, “Yes, it must be done,” is this: that when he is impatient, when out of his love and devotion for the Cause he thinks that all the spreading and all the completing of the work, and all the finishing of it, must be done today, he does not know — like an enthusiastic child, he is enthusiastic, but he does not know — that it takes time to arrive at a certain result. And this something, the real result of it, is further than the time we may expect it to be, although every day there is a result manifesting in some form or the other.

至於那個說「是的，這件事一定要做」的人，他的錯誤則在這裡：當他失去耐心，當他出於對這項志業的愛與奉獻，認為所有工作的推展、完成與收尾，都必須在今天完成時，他並不知道——就像一個充滿熱情的孩子，他有熱情，卻不知道——要達到某種結果，是需要時間的。而真正的結果，往往要比我們預期更久才會到來，儘管每天都會有某種形式的結果逐漸顯現。

Therefore we have to be patient with it, to work and never be concerned with results. We must work for the sake of the work. Then, of course, in outer working if a person urged upon his friend and upon his neighbors and his acquaintances, “Come here, listen to it, take it, believe it, follow it,” he makes a person mad. For it requires great delicacy, a great tact and finesse. For the very people who today are great workers in the Sufi Movement, if they were not dealt with with due tact and consideration, would not even have come in the Movement. Today they are great workers.

因此，我們必須有耐心，持續工作，而永遠不要掛念結果。我們應當只是為了工作本身而工作。當然，在外在的工作上，如果一個人不斷催促朋友、鄰居與熟人說：「來這裡，來聽聽，接受它，相信它，跟隨它」，只會把人逼瘋。因為這需要極大的細緻、分寸與巧妙。那些今天已成為蘇菲運動重要工作者的人，當初如果沒有以恰當的分寸與體貼來對待，他們甚至不會進入這個運動。而今天，他們已是重要的工作者。

And now there comes a question: “Then what course is it better to follow?” And my answer is: the course that is suited to your individual self. If you feel courage that the work must be spread, you will take that course tactfully; but do not blame the other who has the other inclination. And the one who will say, “I shall go slowly, I shall keep it back,” if that person will try and do his best in that way, even that is of some value. If we shall not urge one another’s principle on one another, then we can follow our own way of working in the Cause.

現在便出現一個問題：「那麼，採取哪一條路比較好？」我的回答是：走最適合你自己的那條路。如果你有勇氣，覺得這項工作應當推廣出去，那麼你就以有分寸的方式走這條路；但不要責怪具有另一種傾向的人。至於那個說：「我要慢慢來，我要先保留它」的人，如果他能以自己的方式努力做到最好，那樣也有其價值。只要我們不把自己的原則強加在彼此身上，就能依照各自的方式，為這項志業工作。

Only we each must remember when working for the Cause that life is an opportunity.

只是我們每個人在為這項志業工作時，都必須記得：生命就是一個機會。

God Bless You.

願神祝福你們。

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