Two Bodies Are Better than One

Did you know you have two bodies?

你知道你有两个身体吗？

Yes. But before you run to the mirror for another look, let me tell you how I found out.

是的。但在你跑到镜子前再看一眼之前，让我告诉你我是怎么发现的。

In America in the 1950s, many new mothers preferred to bottle-feed their babies.   Breast-feeding, they feared, would lead to sagging breasts. (And what could be worse than having to buy a bigger bra?)

在 20 世纪 50 年代的美国，许多新妈妈更喜欢用奶瓶给婴儿喂奶。他们担心母乳喂养会导致乳房下垂。（还有什么比买更大的文胸更糟糕呢？）

They sweetened the milk by adding one or another commercial syrup, and the mixture was called a formula.

他们通过添加一种或多种甜味剂来增加牛奶的甜味，这种混合物被称为配方奶粉。

A question about formulas came to my mind one evening as the family sat around the dinner table. The fragrance of hot buns wafted from the oven, and our green parakeet, Charlene, sat on a perch.

一天晚上，当全家人围坐在餐桌旁时，我想起了一个关于配方奶粉的问题。从烤箱里飘出来热腾腾的面包的香味，我们的绿色长尾小鹦鹉夏琳(Charlene)坐在栖木上。

How Can a Newborn Like or Dislike?

一个婴儿怎么会有好恶感呢

As Mom started ladling the steaming tomato soup into our bowls, Dad looked up at Charlene. “Psst psst psst,” he said.

当妈妈开始往我们的碗里舀热气腾腾的西红柿汤时，爸爸抬头看着夏琳（Charlene ）。“嘘，嘘，嘘，”他说。

“Psst psst psst,” she replied. (Female parakeets don’t talk). We all chuckled.

“嘘，嘘，嘘，”她回应。（雌性长尾小鹦鹉不会讲话）。我们都笑了 。

While we dipped our spoons in the tomato soup and Mom started plopping the mashed potatoes on our plates, she told us about someone’s new baby who didn’t like his formula.

当我们用汤匙喝番茄汤时，妈妈开始把土豆泥啪嗒啪嗒的放在盘子里，她告诉我们有人的小婴儿不喜欢他的配方奶粉。

I swallowed a spoonful of the tangy soup and put my spoon down. I looked up. “But how can a newborn baby like or dislike anything?” I asked.

我咽下一汤匙浓汤，放下汤匙。我抬起头来。“但是一个婴儿怎么会喜欢或者厌恶任何东西呢？”我问道。

Dad picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. “They’re not little pieces of meat,” he said. “They’re born with personalities.”

爸爸拿起餐巾擦了擦嘴。“他们不是一小块肉，”他说。“他们生来就有个性。”

My mind started turning. Born with personalities?   But isn’t your personality the result of your past experiences? Remember the time you fell down the stairs? Your first ice cream cone? Your first thunderstorm?

我的思绪开始转动。 生来就有个性？但是你的性格不就是你过去经历的结果吗？ 还记得你从楼梯上摔下来的那次吗？你的第一个冰淇淋蛋卷 ？你经历的第一场暴风雨 ？

The Next Logical Question

下一个合乎逻辑的问题

A newborn hasn’t had any experiences, so how can he have a personality?

一个婴儿没有过任何经历，怎么会有个性呢？

I didn’t think of the next logical question: How do I know the newborn has no past experiences? What if he has? But where? How?

我没有想到下一个合乎逻辑的问题：我怎么知道婴儿没有过去的经历？如果他有呢？但是是在哪里发生的？是如何发生的呢？

I put the question away in the dusty filing cabinet of my mind. And forgot about it for many years. . . until Krishna reminded me.

我把这个问题尘封在我的脑海里。并且遗忘了很多年……直到奎师那提醒我。

The Eventual Answer

最终的答案

In 1966 I met my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, who introduced me to Lord Krishna’s teachings.

1966  年，我遇到了我的灵性导师，施瑞拉·帕布帕德，他让我初次了解了主奎师那的教导。

One day I came across a statement that would eventually show me why a newborn has a personality. It’s in Srila Prabhupada’s book  Teachings of Lord Chaitanya:

一天，我通过一段话终于明白为什么婴儿会有个性，这段话来自于施瑞拉·帕布帕德的  《主柴坦尼亚的教导》：

“On account of the conditioned soul’s eternal attitude of separation from Krishna, the spell of the material energy awards him two kinds of bodies—the gross body, consisting of five elements, and the subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego.”

“ 由于受制约的灵魂与奎师那永恒分离的心态，物质能量的魔法赋予他两种躯体—— 由五种元素组成的粗糙躯体和由心意、智性和假我组成的精微躯体。”  （中译本第十章倒数第三段，62 页）

I knew the outer body, also known as the gross body. It’s the one I see in the mirror when I shave, the one I scrub in the shower with a loofah, the one I scratch here and there. It’s made of the gross elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

我知道外在的躯体，也称之为粗糙躯体。就是我刮胡子的时候在镜子里看到的那个，就是我洗澡 的时候用丝瓜巾擦的那个，就是我没事抓来抓去的那个。它是由粗糙元素构成的：土、水、火、空气和以太 。

Besides the body, I knew I also had an ego (the sense of “I am”), a mind, and an intellect.

除了身体，我知道我还有假我（“我是”的感觉 ）、心意和智性。

But the ego, mind and intellect have something that no teacher ever wrote on a blackboard. No scientist ever published it in a journal.   No rabbi, or priest ever taught it in a sermon:

但是假我、心意和智性具有的一些东西从未有老师在黑板上写过。没有科学家在杂志上发表过。没有拉比或牧师在布道中教导过：

These elements also make up a body, known in Vedic teachings as the subtle body.

这些元素也构成了一个身体，在韦达知识中被称为精微躯体。

O.K. But what has this to do with a newborn? Well, first come with me as I backtrack a bit.

好吧，但这和婴儿有什么关系？好，让我们一起先回溯一下。

I learned that when I, the soul, jumped down from the spiritual world into this material universe, where Krishna is largely forgotten, Maya Devi, the goddess of the material nature, covered me with a subtle body.

我了解到，当我—-灵魂，跳出灵性世界进入这个物质宇宙—-奎师那被遗忘的地方，物质自然女神玛雅 ·戴薇用一个精微躯体覆盖了我。

How Big Is the Universe?

宇宙有多大？

When was it? I don’t know. The material universe I jumped into was not the one I live in now.

那是什么时候？我不知道。我跳入的物质宇宙不是我现在生活的这个。

Most people think the universe we live in is eternal and infinitely large. We love to picture a black starry sky stretching out to infinity and lasting forever. We love hearing about some newly discovered star some 500 billion light years away.

大多数人认为我们生活的宇宙是永恒的、无限大的。我们喜欢想象黑色的星空无限延伸，并且永远存在。我们喜欢听到关于一些距离我们大约 5000 亿光年恒星的新发现。

But how can the universe be eternal if it had a beginning? Call it a “big bang” if you want and thrill at the mental image of a lonely little point suddenly exploding and throwing billions of stars out into infinite space.

但是，如果宇宙有一个开始，它怎么可能是永恒的呢？如果你想象到一个孤独的光点突然爆炸并将数十亿颗恒星抛向无限空间的画面，你可以称之为“大爆炸”，并为之感到兴奋。

But anything that has a beginning is not eternal. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna about something truly beginningless (and endless). It’s the living entity:

但任何有开始的事物都不是永恒的。在 《博伽梵歌》中，奎师那告诉阿尔诸那关于真正的没有开始（也没有终点 ）的事物—-生物体：

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” (2.12)

“过去从未有一个时候我不曾存在，你，所有这些国王也是一样；将来我们大家也不会不复存在。”  （《博伽梵歌》2.12 ）

The existence of the living entity, the soul, has no beginning. There is no time when it came into being from non-being. Thus it cannot end because it has never begun. But it exists.

生物体，即灵魂的存在，没有开始。它不是从无到有的。它从没有结束，因为它从来没有开始。但它是存在的。

Such is the nature of eternity. Our present universe does not fit the description.

这才是永恒的本质，而我们现在的宇宙并不符合这种描述。

What is eternal, however, is the cycle of creation of the universes, then destruction, then creation, and so on.

然而，永恒的是宇宙的创造，然后毁灭，然后创造，如此循环。

We’ve Got It Upside Down

我们弄错了顺序

We also think life has a beginning: a bunch of chemicals on a rock somewhere in the sunshine.

我们 同样认为生命有一个开始：在阳光下一块岩石上的一堆化学物质。

That’s the standard scenario, isn’t it? But the Vedas say we’ve got it upside down: What we think came last. . . really came first. Life is the source of the universe.

这是标准答案，不是吗？但是韦达经说我们弄错了顺序：我们认为最后才出现的，实际上是最先出现的。生命是宇宙之源。

Want to blow your mind? Think of Krishna expanding as Maha Vishnu, his body so large that our immense universe—contained in an even bigger bubble—blew out through one of the pores of his skin as easily as a grain of dust passes through a window.

准备好来个头脑风暴了吗？想象一下奎师那扩展为玛哈 ·维施努，他的身体如此之大，以至于我们无边无际的宇宙包含在一个更大的泡泡里——像一粒微尘穿过一扇窗户一样轻易地从他皮肤的毛孔里呼出来。

Our entire universe and billions and trillions of others, all blew out of Maha Vishnu’s pores and now float as bubbles on the Ocean of Causation. And our universe? It’s the smallest.

我们的整个宇宙和数十亿，数万亿的的其他宇宙，都从玛哈 ·维施努的毛孔里呼了出来，现在像泡沫一样漂浮在原因之洋上。而我们的宇宙呢?  它是最小的。

Don’t believe it? Think it’s a fantasy?

不相信吗？认为这是想象的产物？

Then why do you believe the Big Bang? Did you hear it? Did you need ear plugs because it was too loud? Why do you believe Neil Armstrong walked on the moon? Were you there to shake his hand as he stepped out of the spacecraft?

那么你为什么相信宇宙大爆炸 ？你听到了吗？你那个时候有没有因为声音太大而戴个耳塞 ？你为什么相信尼尔·阿姆斯特朗在月球上行走 ？当他走出飞船的时候，你在那里和他握手了吗？

You Don’t Have to Take it

你不必接受它

Our so-called scientists have kept our minds imprisoned in a tiny cell.   But you don’t have to take it.

我们所谓的科学家将我们的思想禁锢在一个狭小的牢房里。但是我们不必接受这种情况 。

No. Let the Vedas smash the prison walls and tear down the bars. Let your mind soar free and breathless into the infinite sky of Vedic knowledge. It’s bigger than the universe. And it’s yours for the taking.

不。让《韦达经》砸碎监狱的墙壁，拆毁栅栏吧。让你的思想自由翱翔，进入韦达知识的无限天空。它比宇宙还大。而且它触手可及 。

But me, I ran into the tiny cell and locked myself in.

但我，我跑进狭小的牢房并把自己锁在里面。

I began to look at the world through the filter of my new subtle body. “I am a product of this material world,” I thought, “an inseparable part of it.”

我开始以我新的精微身体为滤镜看世界。“我是这个物质世界的产物，”我想，“是它不可分割的一部分。”

The sages call this the illusion of maya. But why call it an illusion?

圣哲称之为玛雅的幻象，但是为什么称之为幻象？

Let me answer with a passage from the Srimad Bhagavatam. It took me years to understand it:

让我用《圣典博伽瓦谭》中的一段话来回答。我用了很多年才明白：

“Clouds and dust are carried by the air, but less intelligent persons say that the sky is cloudy and the air is dirty. Similarly, they also implant material bodily conceptions on the spirit self.” (1.3.31)

“空气携带云朵和灰尘，但智力欠佳的人说，天空多云，空气污染。同样的道理，他们也把物质躯体的概念强加在灵性本我上。”  （《圣典博伽瓦谭》1.3.31）

Because the clouds do not mix with the sky but keep their separate forms, the sky itself is not affected. It does not become “cloudy,” or mixed with clouds. Nor do the grains of dirt mix with the air.

因为云不与天空混合而是保持它们各自的形态，所以天空本身不受影响。它不会变得“多云”或与云混合。灰尘颗粒也不会与空气混合。

And I the soul, remain separate from the world, though I appear to mix with it.

And like everyone else, I think the world is my plaything:

而我—-灵魂，与世界保持分离，尽管我似乎与它混合在一起。

和其他人一样，我认为世界是我的玩物：

“I am the enjoyer of all that I see. Let me find a nice bed partner, a scrumptious meal, a good mug of beer. I deserve it.”

“我是我所看见的一切的享受者。让我找一个好的床伴，一顿美味的大餐，一大杯好喝的啤酒。这些是我应得的。”

Am I a Martian?

我是火星人？

But I am forgetting something important:

但我忘记了一些重要的事情 ：

“What did you say? I am the eternal servant of Krishna? Who’s that? I’ll worry about him later.”

“你说什么？我是奎师那永恒的仆人？那是谁？我以后会在意他的。”

And as I travel from one birth to another, I accumulate ideas in my subtle body:

当我一次又一次重复生死轮回的时候，我在我的精微躯体中积累了无数的想法：

•  “I am an American,”

•   “我是美国人，”

•  “I am a Martian,”

•   “我是火星人，”

•  “I am a dog,”

•   “我是狗，”

•  “I am a green parakeet.”

•   “我是绿鹦鹉 。”

Not just me. You have a story too, and it’s basically the same, and so does everyone else, even the animals and plants.

不只是我。你也有一个差不多的故事，所有人都一样，即使动物和植物也是。

Each time I die, I give up my gross body but no more than that. Goddess Maya Devi arranges a new life for me in one or another of the millions of species to satisfy my subtle body’s accumulated desires.

每一次我死的时候，我都会放弃我的粗糙躯体，但仅此而已。女神玛雅·戴薇会安排我投生于数百万物种中的一个或另一个物种中，以满足我精微躯体累积的欲望。

“The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another, as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.” (Bhagavad Gita 15.8)

“在这一物质世界中，生物把他从不同的生命观从一个躯体带到另一个躯体，如同空气携带者芳香一样。这样，他取得一种身体，又放弃他，接着又取得另一躯体。”  （《博伽梵歌》15.8 ）

Yes. Whatever non-human creature you see—a dog, a caterpillar, a potted plant—is a complete person who was once a human being. And because his intelligence has been covered, like the intelligence of a small child, he cannot understand—or even wonder— why he now has roots instead of feet.

是的。你看到的任何非人类生物——狗、毛毛虫、盆栽植物——都曾经是一个完整的人。而且因为他的智力被覆盖了，就像小孩子的智力一样，他无法理解——甚至不知道——为什么他现在有的是根而不是脚。

Even a covid-19 virus with all those funny knobs sticking out is a fallen human being forced to live in that hellish state because of the dirt accumulated in his subtle body.

即使是满身全是奇怪凸起的新冠病毒，曾经也是一个堕落的人类，因为他精微的身体中积累的污垢而被迫生活在地狱般的状态中。

Amazing, isn’t it?

太神奇了，不是吗？

Sometimes, especially in the case of suicide, the soul may have to wander for some years with only a subtle body. He becomes a ghost—you know, the kind that rattles chains in dark old houses and scares the wits out of us with creaky footsteps at midnight.

有时，特别是在自杀的情况下，灵魂可能不得不在只有精微躯体的情况下徘徊数年。他变成了一个鬼魂——你知道，就是那种在黑暗的老房子里把铁链子弄得咯咯作响，半夜里用吱吱嘎嘎的脚步声把我们吓得魂不附体的鬼魂。

The problem is that this ghost doesn’t have a gross body to satisfy the subtle body’s desires. “I can’t enjoy anything,” he thinks. “Not a sex partner or some spaghetti al burro or a foaming beer. So what can I do?”

问题是这个鬼魂没有一个粗糙的躯体来满足精微躯体的欲望 。“我什么都不能享受，”他想。“没有性伴侣，没有奶油意面，也没有满是泡沫的啤酒。那我该怎么办？”

“I have an idea,” he continues. “I’ll enter into some living person’s body and try to find pleasure that way.”

“我有个主意，”他继续想。“我将进入一个活人的身体，用那样 的方式来享乐。”

Then we say the living person is possessed. When Jesus cast demons out of someone’s body, he was casting out subtle-bodied souls.

因此我们说活着的人被附体了。当耶稣把魔鬼驱赶出某人的身体时，他是在驱赶带着精微躯体的灵魂。

Our Human Intelligence Is So Small

我们人类的智慧如此渺小

If the soul is destined for a human body, Goddess Maya Devi will put him into the body of some man, his father-to-be.

如果灵魂注定要得到人类的身体，女神玛雅 ·戴薇会把他放进某个男人—-他未来的父亲的身体里。

But how does Maya Devi know which man is planning to father a child?

但是玛雅 ·戴薇怎么知道哪个男人打算要孩子呢？

I can’t say. But it only goes to show how small our human intelligence is when you think of the intelligence of a god or goddess like Maya Devi.

我不知道。但当你想到神或者像玛雅·戴薇这样的女神的智慧时，只能证明我们人类的智慧是多么的渺小。

Then the man will put the soul—subtle body and all— into a woman’s womb at the time of sex. And we say the woman is pregnant as she begins to create a new gross body for the soul.   She cannot create a body without the soul because the soul is the living force. And without the living force, how can there be a body?

然后这个男人通过性行为会把带着精微躯体的灵魂放到一个女人的子宫中，当她开始为这个灵魂创造一个新的粗糙躯体时，我们说这个女人怀孕了。她不能在没有灵魂的时候创造一个身体，因为灵魂是生命的活力，没有这个生命的活力，哪来的身体呢？

Remembering 100 Past Lives

记得 100 世前生

At around the seventh month, the child in the womb begins to remember previous lives:

大约在第七个月，子宫中的孩子开始记起前世：

“The child thus remains just like a bird in a cage, without freedom of movement. At that time, if the child is fortunate, he can remember all the troubles of his past one hundred births, and he grieves wretchedly. What is the possibility of peace of mind in that condition?” (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.31.9)

“胎儿就这样像笼中鸟一样生活在母亲的子宫里，无法自由移动。那时，胎儿如果幸运，就会回忆起他一百世前生 中自己的烦恼，可怜的悲伤着。在那样的处境下，他心中哪有平静可言。”  （《圣典博伽瓦谭》3.31.9）

But at the time of birth, Krishna in the child’s heart makes him forget his past lives so the child can again think himself the enjoyer of the world.

但在出生的时候，孩子心中的奎师那让他忘记了前世，这样孩子可以再一次认为自己是这个世界的享受者。

But the impressions and the tendencies remain in the subtle body. Thus the newborn has a personality and may like or dislike his formula.

但是这些印象和偏好仍然存在于他的精微躯体中。因此，婴儿有个性并且可能喜欢或不喜欢他的配方奶粉。

Now, at last, I can finish my tomato soup.

现在，我终于可以喝完我的番茄汤了。

Eternally touching my head to the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada,

永恒的将我的灵性导师—-施瑞拉 ·帕布帕德的莲花足置于我的头顶，

⁓Umapati Swami

乌玛帕提 ·斯瓦米