3. Fulfillment of the Obligations of Human Life
3. 圓滿履行人生的責任

The position of the person living the inner life becomes like that of a grown-up living among many children. At the same time there seems outwardly no such difference as is apparent in the ages of the children and the grown person, the difference lying in the size of his outlook, which is not always apparent.

活出內在生命之人的處境，就像一位成年人生活在許多孩子之中。然而從外表看來，他與他人之間並沒有像成人與孩子的年齡差距那樣明顯的不同；真正的差異，在於他眼界的廣度，而這一點並不總是顯而易見。

One who lives the inner life becomes much older than those around him, and yet outwardly he is the same as every other person. Therefore the man who has arrived at the fullness of the inner life adopts quite a different policy from the one who is just beginning to tread that path, and also a different one from that of the man who knows intellectually something about the inner life, but who does not really live it.

活出內在生命的人，在內在上會比周遭的人成熟許多，然而從外表看來，他與任何人都沒有不同。因此，達到內在生命之圓滿的人，其處世方式與剛開始踏上這條道路的人截然不同，也與那種只在理智上知道一些內在生命、卻沒有真正活出它的人不同。

The action again is different in the world, for the latter person will criticize others who do not know what he thinks he knows, and will look upon them with pride and conceit, or with contempt, thinking that they have not risen to the mystery, to the height, to which he has risen, and which he understands. He wishes to disconnect himself from people, saying that they are backward in their evolution, and that he cannot go with them. He says, “I am more advanced; I cannot join them in anything; they are different, I am different.” He laughs at the petty ideas of those who surround him, and looks upon them as human beings with whom he must not associate, with whom he must not join in all the things they do, because he is much more advanced than they are.

後者在世間的行為也有所不同，因為他會批評那些不知道他自認為已經知道之事的人，並以驕傲、自負或輕蔑的眼光看待他們，以為他們尚未提升到自己所達到、所理解的奧祕與高度。他想使自己與眾人分離，認為他們在演化上較為落後，自己無法與他們同行。他說：「我比他們更進步；我不能和他們一起做任何事；他們與我不同，我也與他們不同。」他嘲笑周遭之人那些狹小的觀念，認為自己不應與他們往來，也不應參與他們所做的一切，因為他認為自己比他們進步得多。

But for the one who comes to the fullness of the inner life it is a great joy to mingle with his fellow-man, just as it is for parents to play with their little children. The best moments of their lives are when they feel as a child with their children and when they can join in their play.

然而，對達到內在生命之圓滿的人而言，能與同胞相處是一種莫大的喜悅，就如父母樂於與年幼的孩子一起玩耍。父母生命中最美好的時刻，就是自己也如孩子一般，與孩子一同遊戲。

Parents who are kind and loving, if a child brings them a doll’s cup, will pretend that they are drinking tea, and that they are enjoying it; they do not let the child think they are superior, or that this is something in which they must not join. They play with the child, and they are happy with it, because the happiness of the children is theirs also.

慈愛的父母，若孩子拿了一只玩具茶杯給他們，便會假裝自己正在喝茶，而且喝得津津有味；他們不會讓孩子覺得自己高人一等，也不會讓孩子覺得這種遊戲是他們不屑參與的。他們與孩子一起玩，也從中感到喜悅，因為孩子的幸福也是他們的幸福。

That is the action of the man who lives the inner life, and it is for this reason that he agrees and harmonizes with people of all grades of evolution, whatever be their ideas, their thoughts, their belief, or their faith; in whatever form they worship or show their religious enthusiasm.

這就是活出內在生命之人的行止。也正因如此，他能與處於各種不同演化階段的人相合、和諧共處，無論對方抱持怎樣的觀念、思想、信念或信仰，也無論他們以何種形式敬拜，或表達自己的宗教熱忱。

He does not say, “I am much more advanced than you are, and to join you would be going backward.” The one who has gone so far forward can never go backward, but by joining them he takes them along with him, onward. If he went on alone he would consider that he avoided his duty towards his fellow-man, which he should perform.

他不會說：「我比你們進步得多；若與你們同行，就等於倒退。」真正已經走得如此向前的人，絕不會因此倒退；相反地，當他加入眾人時，也會帶著他們一同向前。如果他只顧自己獨自前行，他反而會認為自己逃避了對同胞所應履行的責任。

It is the empty pitcher that makes a noise when you knock upon it, but the pitcher which is full of water does not make any sound; it is silent, speechless.

空罐受敲擊時才會發出聲響；裝滿水的罐子卻不出聲，它是沉默的、無言的。

So the wise live among all the people of this world, and they are not unhappy. The one who loves all is not unhappy. Unhappy is he who looks with contempt at the world, who hates human beings and thinks he is superior to them; the one who loves them thinks only that they are going through the same process that he has gone through. It is from the darkness that he has to come into the light. It is just a difference of moments; and he, with great patience, passes those moments while his fellowmen are still in darkness, not making them know that they are in darkness, not letting them feel hurt about it, not looking upon them with contempt; only thinking that for every soul there is childhood, there is youth and maturity.

因此，智者生活在世上的眾人之中，並不因此感到不快樂。愛眾人的人不會不快樂。真正不快樂的，是那以輕蔑眼光看待世界、憎恨人類，又認為自己高於他人的人。愛眾人的人只會想到，他們正在經歷自己曾經歷過的同一個過程；他自己也曾必須從黑暗走向光明。彼此之間不過是時間先後的差別。因此，當他的同胞仍處於黑暗之中時，他懷著極大的耐心陪伴他們走過那些時刻；他不讓他們意識到自己仍在黑暗中，不使他們因此感到受傷，也不以輕蔑的眼光看待他們；他只是明白，每一個靈魂都有童年、青年與成熟的階段。

So it is natural for every human being to go through this process. I have seen with my own eyes souls who have attained saintliness and who have reached to great perfection; and yet such a soul will stand before an idol of stone with another, with a fellow-man, and worship, not letting him know that he is in any way more advanced than other men, keeping himself in a humble guise, not making any pretence that he has gone further in his spiritual evolution. The further such souls go, the more humble they become; the greater the mystery they have realized, the less they speak about it.

因此，每一個人經歷這樣的過程，都是再自然不過的事。我曾親眼見過一些已達聖者境界、達到極高圓滿的靈魂；然而這樣的靈魂，仍會與另一個人、與自己的同胞，一同站在石像前敬拜，不讓對方知道自己在任何方面比其他人走得更遠。他保持謙卑的姿態，絲毫不顯示自己在靈性演化上已經走得更遠。這樣的靈魂走得越遠，便越謙卑；他所體認的奧祕越深，談論得便越少。

You would scarcely believe it if I were to tell you that during four years of the presence of my Murshid, hardly more than once or twice I had a conversation on spiritual matters. Usually the conversation was on worldly things, like everybody else’s; nobody would perceive that here was a God-realized man, who was always absorbed in God. His conversation was like that of every other person; he spoke on everything belonging to this world, never a spiritual conversation, nor any special show of piety or spirituality; and yet his atmosphere, the voice of his soul and his presence revealed all that was hidden in his heart.

如果我告訴你，在我與穆希德（導師中的導師）相處的四年間，我們談論靈性之事的對話幾乎只有一兩次，你大概很難相信。平日的談話都是關於世間之事，和其他任何人沒有不同；沒有人會察覺，眼前是一位已體悟神、始終沉浸於神之中的人。他的談話就像任何人一樣，談的都是屬於這世界的事；沒有靈性的高談闊論，也沒有任何刻意展現的虔誠或靈性。然而，他的氛圍、他靈魂的聲音，以及他的臨在，卻顯露出隱藏在他心中的一切。

Those who are God-realized and those who have touched wisdom speak very little on the subject. It is those who do not know who try to discuss it, not because they know, but because they themselves have doubts. When there is knowledge, there is satisfaction, there is no tendency towards dispute. When one disputes, it is because there is something not satisfied. There is nothing in this world, wealth, rank, position, power, or learning, that can give such conceit as the slightest little amount of spiritual knowledge; and once a person has that conceit, then he cannot take a further step, he is nailed down to that place where he stands; because the very idea of spiritual realization is in selflessness.

那些已體悟神、已觸及智慧的人，很少談論這些事。反而是那些不知道的人試圖不斷討論；不是因為他們知道，而是因為他們自己心存疑惑。當真正有了知識，便會有滿足，也就不再有爭辯的傾向。人之所以爭辯，是因為內在仍有某些尚未得到滿足之處。世上沒有任何事物——無論財富、名望、地位、權力或學識——能像一丁點靈性知識那樣，使人產生如此強烈的自負。一旦有了這份自負，他便再也無法向前跨出一步，如同被釘死在自己所站之處；因為靈性體悟的本質，就在於無我。

Man has either to realize himself as something or as nothing. In this realization of nothingness there is spirituality. If one has any little knowledge of the inner laws of nature and is proud of it, or if one has any sense of thinking, “How good I am, how kind I am, how generous, how well-mannered, how influential, or how attractive, the slightest idea of anything of this kind coming into the mind closes the doors which lead into the spiritual world. It is such an easy path to tread, and yet so difficult. Pride is most natural to a human being. Man may deny a virtue a thousand times in words, but he cannot help admitting it with his feelings, for the ego itself is pride. Pride is the ego; man cannot live without it.

人必須體認自己是某種存在，或體認自己一無所有；而靈性就在對這份「一無所有」的體認之中。若一個人對自然的內在法則稍有一點認識，便引以為傲；或只要有一絲這樣的念頭浮現在頭腦中：「我多麼善良、多麼仁慈、多麼慷慨、多麼有教養、多麼有影響力，或多麼有吸引力」，任何這類最微小的念頭，都會關上通往靈性世界的大門。這是一條如此容易行走、卻又如此困難的道路。驕傲是人最自然的傾向。一個人或許能在言語上千百次否認自己具有某種美德，卻無法阻止自己在感受中承認它，因為自我本身就是驕傲。驕傲就是自我；而人無法沒有自我而活。

In order to attain to spiritual knowledge, in order to become conscious of the inner life, a person does not need to learn very much, because here he has to know what he already knows; only he has to discover it himself. For his understanding of spiritual knowledge he does not need the knowledge of anything except himself. He acquires the knowledge of the self which is himself, so near and yet so far.

為了獲得靈性知識，為了覺知內在生命，一個人並不需要學習很多，因為在這裡，他所需要知道的，正是他早已知道的；他只需要親自將它發現出來。要理解靈性知識，他不需要認識任何其他事物，只需要認識自己。他所獲得的是對自身的認識——那就是他自己，如此接近，卻又如此遙遠。

Another thing the lover of God shows is the same tendency as the human lover’s: he does not talk about his love to anybody; he cannot talk about it. Man cannot say how much he loves his beloved; no words can express it; and, besides, he does not feel like talking about it to anybody. Even if he could, in the presence of his beloved he would close his lips. How then could the lover of God make a profession, “I love God’? The true lover of God keeps his love silently hidden in his heart, like a seed sown in the ground; and if the seedling grows, it grows in his actions towards his fellow-man. He cannot act except with kindness, he cannot feel anything but forgiveness; every movement he makes, everything he does, speaks of his love, but not his lips.

愛神之人還會展現出另一種與世間愛者相同的傾向：他不會向任何人談論自己的愛；他也無法談論。人說不出自己有多麼愛所愛之人，沒有任何言語足以表達；而且，他也不會想向任何人談論這份愛。即使他能說，在所愛之人面前，他也會閉上雙唇。那麼，愛神之人又怎能公開宣稱：「我愛神」呢？真正愛神的人，會將自己的愛默默藏在心中，如同埋入土裡的種子；若幼苗生長出來，它便生長在他對待同胞的行動之中。他的行動無不是出於慈愛，他的感受無不是寬恕；他的一舉一動、所做的一切，都在訴說他的愛，唯獨他的雙唇不說。

This shows that in the inner life the greatest principle that one should observe is to be unassuming and quiet, without any show of wisdom, without any manifestation of learning, without any desire to let anyone know how far one has advanced, not even letting oneself know how far one has gone. The task to be accomplished is the entire forgetting of oneself and harmonizing with one’s fellowman; acting in agreement with all, meeting everyone on his own plane, speaking to everyone in his own tongue, answering the laughter of one’s friends with a smile, and the pain of another with tears, standing by one’s friends in their joy and their sorrow, whatever be one’s own grade of evolution.

這顯示，在內在生命中，人所應遵循的最大原則，就是謙遜而安靜：不炫示智慧，不顯露學識，不懷有任何讓人知道自己已走多遠的欲望，甚至連自己也不去衡量究竟已經走了多遠。真正要完成的功課，是徹底忘卻自己，並與同胞和諧相處；與眾人協調而行，在每個人所在的層次與他相遇，用他自己的語言與他交談；以微笑回應朋友的笑聲，以淚水回應他人的痛苦；無論自己處於怎樣的演化階段，都陪伴朋友走過他們的喜悅與悲傷。

If a man through his life became like an angel he would accomplish very little; the accomplishment which is most desirable for man is to fulfill the obligations of human life.

即使一個人終其一生成為如天使般的存在，他所成就的仍然很少；對人而言，最值得成就的，是履行身為人所應盡的生命責任。