Namah Om Visnupadaya Krsnapresthaya Bhutale
Srimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin Iti Namine
Namaste Sarasvate Deve Gauravani Pracarine
Nirvisesa Sunyavadi Pascatya Desatarine
The Gift of Remembrance
记忆的馈赠
“Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.” (Adi 14.1)
“如果⼀个⼈不管怎样只是简单地记住主柴坦尼亚·玛哈帕布，那么⾮常难做的事情就会变得容易完成。但如果⼈不记得他，即使是简单的事情也会变得⾮常困难。我恭恭敬敬地顶拜这位主柴坦尼亚·玛哈帕布。”（阿迪丽拉 14.1）
But how can someone like me get the mercy of remembering Lord Caitanya?
但像我这样的⼈怎么能得到记住主柴坦尼亚的仁慈呢？
Only one way: the mercy of Lord Caitanya’s devotee. And because of this mercy, the impossible has become easy.
只有⼀个⽅法：主柴坦尼亚的奉献者的仁慈。由于这样的仁慈，不可能的事情变得容易了。
As a hippie on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, I could not even hope to set foot on any path to the Absolute Truth. How could I? Could anyone today perform austerities like the sages and yogis of the past?
作为⼀个曼哈顿下东区的嬉⽪⼠，我甚⾄不希望踏上任何通往绝对真理的道路。我怎么可以？当今有谁能像过去的圣⼈和瑜伽师⼀样进⾏苦修吗？
Like the Zen monk Hui Ke in the sixth century? He cut off his own arm and held it out to his teacher, Bodhidharma, in a desperate plea for enlightenment. And in more recent times, just before the Vietnam War, Buddhist monks in Saigon set themselves on fire in protest against persecution by the Catholic government. I saw the photos. Bodies engulfed in flames. But they sat calmly in meditation. Could I ever do that?
像六世纪的禅师慧可？他砍下⾃⼰的⼿臂，把它献给他的⽼师达摩祖师，不惜⼀切的祈求开⽰。近代，就在越南战争前，西贡的佛教徒⾃焚抗议天主教政府的迫害。我看到了那些照⽚。那些⾝体被⽕焰吞噬。但他们镇定⾃若地坐在那⾥冥想。我能做到吗？
What about the Christian martyrs? They knelt in prayer while hungry lions leaped toward them, fangs bared? Me do that? I get weak in the knees if a little dog growls at me.
那些基督教殉道者呢？当饥饿的狮⼦露出獠⽛朝他们扑来，他们跪下祈祷。我能做到吗？即使⼀只⼩狗向我咆哮，我的膝盖都会发软。
I wanted the Absolute Truth. Yes, but not the austerities.
我想要绝对真理。是的，但不要苦⾏。
Maybe LSD would be the way. But each time, as the drug wore off, the visions of golden lights faded into apartment walls. Sunsets over eternal beaches melted into unmade beds. Never any lasting knowledge. Where could I go from there?
也许 LSD 可以解决这个问题。但每⼀次，随着药效的消退，⾦⾊光芒的幻象就会逐渐消失在公寓的墙壁上。永恒海滩上的落⽇美景融化成未整理的床。从未有持久的知识。从那⾥我可以去哪⼉？
But I didn’t have to go anywhere. No need to pack a suitcase or buy a ticket or stick my thumb out. Remembrance of Lord Caitanya came to the Lower East Side.
但我哪⼉都不⽤去。不需要打包⾏李、不需要买票，也不需要伸出拇指（搭个便车）。对主柴坦尼亚的忆念来到了下东区。
It came in the form of an old monk from India when Srila Prabhupada opened up the first Hare Krishna center at 26 Second Avenue. I stopped in the doorway that summer evening and listened to the chanting. I knew then that the impossible had become easy.
当施瑞拉·帕布帕德在 26 ⼤街开设了哈瑞奎师那的第⼀家中⼼时，它是以⼀位来⾃印度的年长僧⼈的形式出现的。在那个夏天的傍晚，我停在门⼜听着唱诵。我知道，不可能的事情变得容易了。
Here was the spiritual path for someone who lived on the Lower East Side. No need to cut off my arm or set myself on fire or leave the world behind and move into a monastery with rules I couldn’t follow.
这是居住在下东区的⼈的灵性之路。⽆需砍掉我的⼿臂或纵⽕⾃焚，也没必要离开这个世界搬进⼀个有着我⽆法遵守规则的修道院。
No need to sit up straight for hours in the leg-numbing lotus position. Just run my beads between my fingers and chant the Hare Krishna mantra any way I felt comfortable.
⽆需打坐⼏个⼩时以⾄于双腿⿇⽊。只需⽤⼿指拨动我的念珠，以任何我觉得舒服的⽅式唱诵哈瑞奎师那曼绰。
No need to rack my brain trying to figure out what this evasive Truth really was. Just open up the Bhagavad Gita, the book that describes what other books call indescribable.
不需要绞尽脑汁的去明⽩这个避⽽不谈的真相到底是什么。只需打开 《博伽梵歌》，这本书描述了其它书中⽆法描述的东西。
What’s more, every day Prabhupada served meals of a delicious food called prasada, and I could learn to make it myself.
更重要的是，每天帕布帕德都会提供被称作普萨达的美味⾷物，我可以学着⾃⼰做。
Thank you Srila Prabhupada.
谢谢您帕布帕德。
Not only had Prabhupada brought remembrance of Lord Caitanya to the Lower East Side, but the remembrance would follow me wherever I went in the world. It became my backpack.
帕布帕德不仅把对主柴坦尼亚的忆念带到了下东区，⽽且这记忆也会跟随我去到世界上的任何⾓落。它成了我的背包。
The old saying goes that the heaviest luggage is an empty purse. But even when my purse was empty, this backpack was still full. Sometimes in my travels I found myself on the steet with no money or standing in the rain with no place to go.
俗话说，最沉的⾏李是⼀个空钱包。但即使我的钱包是空的，这个背包依然是满的。有时在我的旅⾏中，我发现⾃⼰⾝⽆分⽂地站在街上，或是站在⾬中⽆处可去。
But remembrance of Lord Caitanya made the impossible easy. And I knew Prabhupada was with me, even after he had left this world. Because remembrance of Lord Caitanya is always Prabhupada’s gift.
但对主柴坦尼亚的忆念使不可能的事情变得容易了。并且我知道帕布帕德和我在⼀起，即使在他离开这个世界之后。因为对主柴坦尼亚的忆念永远是帕布帕德的馈赠。
Now, every day, I see news of the impossible on the internet. Some scientist is trying to unearth the secret of life: What started the first breath? the first heartbeat? But he can’t get to the essence.
现在，每天我都在互联⽹上看不可能之事的新闻。⼀些科学家正试图揭开⽣命的秘密：第⼀次呼吸是怎么开始的？第⼀次⼼跳呢？但他⽆法触及本质。
Once more, remembrance of Lord Caitanya makes the impossible easy. Just pick up the Bhagavad-Gita: “I am the life of all that lives,” says Krishna. And there’s the answer. Krishna is the missing factor in the scientist’s equation.
再说⼀遍，对主柴坦尼亚的忆念让不可能的事情变得容易。只是拿起《博伽梵歌》：“我是所有⽣命的源头”，奎师那说。这就是答案。奎师那是科学家⽅程式中缺失的因素。
Yes, in the first lesson Srila Prabhupada handed me what the great scientists of the material world cannot grasp even after decades of trying. He made the impossible easy.
是的。在第⼀课，施瑞拉·帕布帕德就给了我这个物质世界的伟⼤的科学家们即使经过⼏⼗年的努⼒也⽆法掌握的东西。他让不可能的事情变得容易了。
But Prabhupada himself, with his unflinching remembrance of Lord Caitanya, performed the impossible on a magnificent scale. Who could have imagined that this humble monk could accomplish more than a dream? There he sat with his typewriter in a little room at the Radha Damodar Temple, using salvaged paper to translate and explain a scripture of 17,000 verses.
⽽帕布帕德本⼈，凭借对主柴坦尼亚的坚定忆念，以令⼈叹为观⽌的程度，完成了不可能完成的事情。谁能想到这位谦逊的僧⼈完成的已远远超过梦想？他坐在茹阿达·达摩达尔庙的⼀个⼩房间⾥，⽤他的打字机和废弃的纸张翻译和注释了⼀部有 17000 个诗节的经典。
And how could this same poverty-stricken monk sail across the ocean on a freighter to a strange land where he knew nobody and start a worldwide spiritual movement attracting thousands of followers?
并且这个⼀贫如洗的僧⼈是怎么乘坐货轮漂洋过海，来到⼀个⼈地⽣疏的国度，开始了⼀场吸引数千追随者的世界性灵性运动？
I didn’t believe it when I met Prabhupada. How could the Hare Krishna Movement become a real movement? How could it grow beyond a little group of people in a storefront?
当我遇到帕布帕德的时候我并不相信。哈瑞奎师那运动怎么能成为⼀场真正的运动？它怎么能从店⾯中的⼀⼩群⼈发展壮⼤？
I didn’t know that remembrance of Lord Caitanya made the impossible easy. I didn’t know that Srila Prabhupada, the bearer of this remembrance, was offering it not only to me but to the whole world.
我不知道对主柴坦尼亚的记忆使不可能的事情变得容易了。我不知道施瑞拉·帕布帕德——这个记忆的传播者，不仅将它给了我，也给了全世界。
I cannot separate Prabhupada from remembrance of Lord Caitanya. Nor do I want to. I cringe when new people ask if they still need the spiritual master once they see Krishna. All I know is that whatever I have seen of Krishna has come from remembrance of Lord Caitanya.
我⽆法将帕布帕德与对主柴坦尼亚的忆念分开。我也不想这么做。当新⼈问如果他们见到奎师那之后还需要灵性导师吗，我感到畏缩。我所知道的是，我看到的关于奎师那的⼀切都来⾃于对主柴坦尼亚的忆念。
It’s like liberation. As long as you are serving a liberated soul, said Prabhupada, you are also liberated just as a wire connected to an electrical outlet is charged. But don’t break the connection.
这就像解脱。只要你服务⼀个解脱的灵魂，帕布帕德说，你也会得到解脱，就像⼀根连接到电源插座的电线⼀样。但不要断开这个连接。
And Prabhupada is my only connection for remembrance of Lord Caitanya.
帕布帕德是我与对主柴坦尼亚的忆念唯⼀的连接。
So I pray to Krishna for this blessing: May I never think I have outgrown my need for Prabhupada. May I not grow bigger and bigger but shrink smaller and smaller, more and more helpless. May I never see anything that blocks my vision of Prabhupada.
因此我向奎师那祈求祝福：愿我永远不会认为我已经不再需要帕布帕德。愿我不是越来越⼤，⽽是越来越⼩，越来越⽆助。愿在我望向帕布帕德的视线中永远不要出现任何阻碍。
Prabhupada is everything to me. He is the hand that feeds me. He is the shepherd who leads me to green pastures. He is my morning sun and evening moon.
帕布帕德是我的全部。他是我的恩⼈。他是带领我⾛向青草地的牧⽺⼈。他是我的旭⽇和夜⽉。
But above all, he is Prabhupada, my eternal spiritual master. He is taking me home, where I started from and never should have left, where I can live forever as his servant.
但最重要的是，他是帕布帕德，我永恒的灵性导师。他带我回家，⼀个我从⼀开始就不该离开的地⽅，⼀个我可以永远作为他的仆⼈⽣活的地⽅。
Bowing my head at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada,
将施瑞拉·帕布帕德的莲花⾜置于我的头顶。
Umapati Swami, Vyasa Puja 2022
乌玛帕提·斯⽡⽶，维亚萨普加，2022