The Cruel and the Compassionate

2022-10-22  heyumapati  Hare Krishna

Sri Krishna 施瑞·奎师那

The other night, I wanted to forget about the horrors in the news—the debate over abortion, the war in Ukraine, the mass shooting in Thailand.
前几天晚上，我想忘掉一些恐怖的新闻——关于堕胎的辩论、乌克兰战争和泰国的大规模枪击事件。

“Let me  look at something else,” I thought. I got up and closed the window to keep out the chilly night air of autumn.   Then I got back to my computer and  went onto a site called Science Alert.
“我看点别的东西吧，”我想。我起身关上窗户以阻挡秋日寒冷的夜风。然后回到电脑前，进入了一个名为“科学警报”的网站。

“This will be a  relief from all the horrifying news.”
“这会从所有那些可怕的新闻中放松下来。”

So I clicked on the link.  Suddenly a horrifying face with big eyes peered out from the screen. It was something called a damsel fly.
所以，我点开链接。突然间一张有着大眼睛的可怕的脸从屏幕望出来。这是被叫做蜻蛉的东西。（翻译者注：蜻蛉也叫豆娘，类似小型蜻蜓，属昆虫纲蜻蜓目束翅亚目科的一种益虫。）

I clicked again and the title jumped out at me:  “There’s Growing Evidence That Insects Feel Pain, Just Like Us.”
我再次点开，弹出一个标题：“越来越多的证据表明昆虫会感到疼痛，就像我们一样。”

I sat up. “Astounding,” I thought. “Are the scientists finally coming around to what Krishna said five thousand years ago?”
我坐起来。“令人震惊。”我想。“科学家们终于明白了五千年前奎师那说的话了吗？”

“Thus he [the soul] meets with good and evil in various species.”(13.22)
“因此，他[灵魂]便在不同的生命种类中遭遇善恶诸事。”（《博伽梵歌》13.22）

Lord Chaitanya. He is Lord Krishna himself, but he appeared as a devotee in West Bengal 500 years ago.
主柴坦尼亚。他是主奎师那本人，但他 500 年前作为奉献者显现在西孟加拉。

He Has a Right To Live
他有生存的权利

My mind went back a few years to a summer afternoon in New York. My aunt  had just picked up a little bug from her living room carpet.
我的思绪回到了很多年前纽约的一个夏日午后。我姨妈刚从她客厅的地毯上捡到了一只小虫子。

“I’ll throw it in the toilet,” she said.
“我要把它扔到马桶里，”她说。

“No,” I said. “Let him live. Throw him out the front door onto the grass.”
“不要，”我说。“让它活着。把它从前门扔到草地上。”

“No,” she said.
“不，”她说。

“Have some compassion,” I said. “He has a right to live.”
“有点同情心吧，”我说。“他有生存的权利。”

My aunt looked at me intently, obviously debating whether to listen to her Krishna-brainwashed nephew. Then she marched into the bathroom, threw the bug into the toilet, and went into another room.
我姨妈目不转睛的看着我，显然在考虑是否要听她这个被奎师那洗脑的侄子的话。然后她径直走到卫生间，把虫子扔到马桶里，去了另一个房间。

“Just to spite me,” I thought. “Why else does she insist on killing this poor little thing? And not just to spite me but to spite Krishna too.”
“就是要激怒我，”我想。“不然她为什么坚持要杀这个可怜的小东西？而且不仅要激怒我，也为了激怒奎师那。”

I cupped my chin in my hand.  Poor little bug. Drowning is horrible enough. But drowning in someone’s toilet?
我用手托着下巴。可怜的小虫子。溺水已经够可怕的了。但淹死在别人家的马桶里？

I strode into the bathroom. The little bug was swimming in the toilet. I held my breath and gritted my teeth as I reached into the toilet to scoop him up out of the water.
我大步走进卫生间。那只小虫子正在马桶里游泳。我屏住呼吸，咬紧牙关，把手伸进马桶，把他从水里捞了出来。

Then, I hurried over to the front door, the toilet water still dripping from my fingers, then out the front door and set him on the lawn.
然后，我急忙跑到前门，马桶的水还在从我的手指上往下滴，我走出前门，把他放在草坪上。

I “Goodbye little buggie,” I thought. Then I said, “Hare Krishna,” out loud so he could hear it. He wouldn’t  understand it of course. But there would be some spiritual benefit for the poor soul trapped in that little body.
“再见了，小家伙，”我想。然后我大声地说，“哈瑞·奎师那，”这样他就可以听到了。当然他不能理解这个。但对这个被困在那个小小的躯体里的可怜的灵魂有一些灵性的好处。

Then I hurried back to the bathroom and washed my hands. And washed them again.
然后我飞快的跑回卫生间洗手。洗了一遍又一遍。

Something in the kitchen fell down with a clatter and brought my mind back to the present. I was in my apartment again, sitting at my computer reading about insects and pain.
厨房里有什么东西咔哒一声掉了下来，把我的思绪带回了现在。我又回到了我的公寓，坐在电脑前读有关昆虫和疼痛的信息。

“What if she had read this article?” I thought. “Would it make any difference?”
“如果她读了这篇文章呢？”我想。“那会有什么不一样吗？”

“Probably not,” I answered myself.
“可能不会，”我回答自己。

“She eats the flesh of slaughtered cows and sheep. Would she care about a little bug? She can’t understand it: There’s a person—like her—living in the body of the bug.”
“她吃被屠宰的牛羊肉。她会在乎一个小虫子吗？她无法理解：有一个人——像她一样——生活在一个小虫子的躯体里。”

Cows, Ants, and Bells in Krishna’s Land
奎师那土地上的牛，蚂蚁和铃铛

I clicked on my mouse and started reading.
我点击鼠标开始阅读。

Insects, said the article, produce the same chemicals in reaction to pain as humans. And even a bacterium avoids unpleasant stimuli.
文章说，昆虫在疼痛反应中产生与人类相同的化学物质。即使细菌也能避免令人不快的刺激。

My mind wandered off again. I was strolling once more with a companion on a country path in India, in Krishna’s holy town of Vrindaban.  In the distance were the sounds of cows mooing and temple bells ringing. A peacock ran across our path.
我又走神了。我再一次和同伴一起漫步在印度奎师那的圣城温达文的一条乡村小路上。远处是奶牛的哞哞声和庙宇响亮的铃声。一只孔雀从我们的路上跑过。

Suddenly my Indian companion gently pushed me aside. He pointed downwards.
突然，我的印度同伴轻轻的把我推到一边。他向下指了指。

A long trail of tiny ants were trekking along the path under our feet.
一长串的小蚂蚁正沿着我们脚下的路艰难的行走。

No need to say a word.  We both had the same thought. Could we bear to commit a mass murder of little ants?
无需多言。我们都有同样的想法。我们能忍受大规模的屠杀小蚂蚁吗？

How wonderful, this Krishna Consciousness. It awakens compassion in even the hardest of hearts.
这个奎师那知觉多不可思议。它唤醒即使有着最坚硬的心的同情心。

I Enjoy Watching Them Die
我喜欢看着他们死去

The Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta tells about a hard-hearted hunter named Mrgari. (The very name means “the enemy of animals.”)
《施瑞·柴坦尼亚·查瑞塔米瑞塔》讲了一个叫米嘎瑞的铁石心肠的猎人的故事。（这个名字的意思是“动物的敌人。”）

He did not kill animals outright. He would mortally wound them. “I enjoy watching them die a slow painful death,” He told the sage Narada.
他不完全把动物杀死。他会极端的伤害他们。“我喜欢看着它们缓慢而痛苦的死去，”他告诉圣人纳茹阿达。

But after he became Krishna’s  devotee, by the grace of  Narada, he deliberately broke his bow and would not even step on an ant.
但他藉着纳茹阿达的仁慈成为奎师那的奉献者之后，他折断了他的弓，甚至不会去踩一只蚂蚁。

But compassion is not just a gift for the hard hearted.
但是怜悯不仅仅是给铁石心肠的人的礼物。

Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta also tells about a soft-hearted leper named Vasudeva. Whenever a worm would fall from one of his sores, he would pick it up and put it back on.
《施瑞·柴坦尼亚·查瑞塔米瑞塔》也讲了一个叫瓦苏戴瓦的有同情心的麻风病人的故事。每当有虫子从他的疮口上掉下来，他就会把它捡起来再放回去。

(If you’re wondering what finally happened to this gentle soul, Lord  Caitanya cured him and told him to preach Krishna consciousness and liberate all human beings.)
（如果你想知道这个温柔的灵魂最后怎么样了，主柴坦尼亚治愈了他，并告诉他去传播奎师那知觉，解放全人类。）

My spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, also showed me an example of compassion. The following is a passage from my book My Days with Prabhupada:
我的灵性导师施瑞拉·帕布帕德也向我展示了怜悯的榜样。以下是我的书《我和帕布帕德一起度过的时光》中的一段话：

Prabhupada lived in a bungalow in Hollywood, in the north of Los Angeles. All the neighboring houses had neatly trimmed lawns, but at Prabhupada’s house the grass was growing tall.
帕布帕德住在洛杉矶北部好莱坞的一间平房里。所有邻居的房子都有修剪整齐的草坪，但在帕布帕德的房子，草却长得很高。

I asked Prabhupada’s servant about it. “You have given the animals a home,” Prabhupada had told him. “Do not take it away.”
我问了帕布帕德的仆人。帕布帕德告诉过他“你给了动物一个家，不要把它拿走。”

Although Prabhupada was focused on a worldwide institution for the benefit of all humanity, he was personal and caring, even down to the smallest intimacy, as with the picture of the disciples on his altar and in this case, the tiny insects in his front lawn.
虽然帕布帕德专注于一个造福于全人类的世界性机构，但他很人性化，很有爱心，甚至到了无微不至的程度，比如他神坛上的门徒的照片，以及这个例子中他门前草坪里的小昆虫。

But did anyone really care what tragedy, what heartbreak these little creatures would feel if their nests and dens and lairs were suddenly cut down by the blades of a lawn mower?
但有谁真的在乎过这些小动物，如果它们的窝，它们的洞穴，它们的藏身处突然间被割草机割，会经历怎样的悲剧，怎样的心碎？

Who cared what a little bug felt anyway?
无论如何，谁在乎一只小虫子有什么感受？

But now I saw that Prabhupada cared. He had the perfect vision described in the Bhagavad-gita:
但现在我看到帕布帕德在乎。他具有《博伽梵歌》中描述的完美视域。

That within the body of every living being—not just a human but even a little insect, even a blade of grass—lives a complete person. Yes, someone just like me, being dragged through the different species of life, sometimes feeling pleasure, sometimes pain.
那就是在每个生物的躯体中——不只是在人类，即使在小昆虫，甚至在一棵草的躯体中——都住着一个完整的人。是的，就像我这样的人，被拖拽着经历各种生命种类，有时感到快乐，有时感到痛苦。

I suddenly understood that I wanted this vision too. I wanted to be part of a movement that brought compassion into this hard world.
我突然明白我也想要这种视域。我想要成为把怜悯带到这艰难世界的那个运动的一份子。

How about you?
那你呢？

Eternally touching my head to the floor at the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, for showing me all this.
永恒地顶拜我的灵性导师施瑞拉·帕布帕德的莲花足，他向我展示了这一切。

~Umapati Swami, October 17 2022
~乌玛帕提·斯瓦米，2022 年 10 月 17 日

Photo top: Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy (Jishnu Das)
首页照片：淘气的奎师那拿着一块糖（知势努·达斯 拍摄）

(Note: The opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any organization or any other person.)
（注：本文表达的观点仅为我个人的观点，并不一定反映任何组织或者任何人的意见。）

Write to me: hoswami@yahoo.com

© Umapati Swami 2021
Scriptural passages © Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

Srila Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the teacher who brought Krishna Consciousness from India to the West and then to the rest of the world. He is the founder of the worldwide Hare Krishna Movement as well as the author and compiler of many works of Vedic knowledge. He left this world in 1977.

Umapati Swami

One of the first American devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement, he became Srila Prabhupada’s disciple in 1966. Since then, he has preached Krishna Consciousness in many countries and is the author of “My Days with Prabhupada,” available from Amazon. Now 85 years old, he has started this blog to share what he has learned.