To My Spiritual Master, 2023

2023-09-07 heyumapati  Hare Krishna

Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy
调皮的奎师那拿着一块糖

The Gift of Pain
痛苦的礼物

A tribute to my spiritual master on the anniversary of his appearance in this world
敬献给我的灵性导师显现在这个世界的周年纪念日

The other evening, a Christian song taught me something about Srila Prabhupada.
有一天晚上，一首基督教歌曲告诉了我一些关于圣帕布帕德的事情。

As I sported in my favorite playground, the internet, I stumbled upon a site featuring Christian music. “Well,” I thought, “why not give it a listen?”
当我在我最喜欢的游乐场——互联网上玩耍时，我偶然发现了一个播放基督教音乐的网站。“好吧，”我想，“为什么不听听呢？”

I felt almost hypnotized by the soft, lovely music—good old American country-style—and the poetry of faith in Jesus Christ.
我几乎被柔和可爱的音乐——古老的美国乡村音乐——和信仰耶稣基督的诗歌迷住了。

Then my thoughts flip-flopped. My mind showed me the Christians sitting around the dinner table feasting on slaughtered chickens and cows.
然后我的想法发生了转变。我的脑海中浮现出基督徒围坐在餐桌旁，享用宰杀的鸡和牛的画面。

I cupped my chin in my hand. “What good is the beautiful music” I thought, “when you live off the pain of others?”
我用手托着下巴。“当你以他人的痛苦为生时，美妙的音乐有什么用处呢？”我想。

“Oh yeah?” says Mr. Christian and slams his bloodied fork down on the table. He stands up, picks up his napkin,  and wipes the gravy from his chin.
“哦是吗？”基督徒先生说着，把沾满血迹的叉子重重地摔在桌子上。他站起来，拿起餐巾，擦去下巴上的肉汁。

“You some kind of nut?” he shouts. “Who’s gonna cry for a chicken or a cow? Huh?  They’re lower creatures. They don’t feel pain the way we do.”
“你是某种疯子吗？”他喊道。“谁会为一只鸡或一头牛哭泣？啊？他们是低等生物。他们不会像我们一样感受到疼痛。”

Oops! Sounds like the same excuse Hitler used for killing Jews, doesn’t it? He called them sub-human (‘untermenschen’).
哎呀！听起来和希特勒杀犹太人的借口一样，不是吗？他称他们为次人类。

But did I do any better than Hitler or the Christians or the other vampires?
但我比希特勒或基督徒或其他吸血鬼做得好吗？

I too feasted on the pain of others. Then  Prabhupada showed me Lord Krishna’s words:
我也以他人的痛苦为乐。然后帕布帕德给我看了主奎师那的话：

“He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna.
“阿诸那啊，他是一个完美的瑜伽修行者，与他自己相比，他看到了所有众生的真正平等，无论是他们的幸福还是他们的痛苦。”

So Prabhupada gets the credit, not me. And let’s look at something else from Prabhupada:
所以功劳归帕布帕德，而不是我。让我们看看帕布帕德的其他讲述：

“Vaisnava is always feeling for others’ distress. That is Vaisnava. Vaisnava: para-dukha-dukhi, they are very much afflicted with others’ miserable life (lecture)
外士那瓦总是同情别人的痛苦。那是外士那瓦。外士那瓦：帕拉-杜哈-杜基，他们深受他人悲惨生活的折磨（讲课）

We like to speak of compassion, but what does “compassion” mean if not the ability to feel the pain of others?
我们喜欢谈论同情，但如果“同情”不是感受他人痛苦的能力，它又意味着什么呢？

Most Jews eat meat, but the most famous Jew of all, Jesus Christ, sacrificed his own life to save his followers.
大多数犹太人都吃肉，但最著名的犹太人耶稣基督牺牲了自己的生命来拯救他的信徒。

And Prabhupada told me about the great compassionate devotees in our own Vaisnava line, like King Sibi, who offered his own body to a hungry eagle to save the life of a pigeon. Would someone who eats chicken do that? He would take the pigeon away from the eagle and eat it himself.
帕布帕德告诉我在我们的外士那瓦传系中有伟大的慈悲奉献者，比如希比国王，他为了救一只鸽子的命，把自己的身体献给了一只饥饿的鹰。吃鸡肉的人会这么做吗？他会把鸽子从老鹰手里夺过来，自己吃掉。

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
圣恩 A.C.巴克提维丹塔·斯瓦米·帕布帕德
(Photo: source unknown)

A leper named Vasudeva could not bear to let even the tiniest of entities suffer, not even a worm who might fall from one of his sores. He would pick up the little creature and put it back on. Yes. Even a little worm feels the pain of hunger. (And at  their first meeting, Lord Chaitanya healed his devotee Vasudeva.)
一个叫瓦苏德瓦的麻风病人甚至不能忍受让最小的生物体受苦，甚至是一条可能从他的疮中掉下来的虫子。他会捡起这个小东西，把它放回去。是的。即使是一条小虫也能感受到饥饿的痛苦。（在他们第一次见面时，主柴坦尼亚治愈了他的奉献者瓦苏德瓦。）

Can you think of  anyone else would care about the tiny beings that most people step on?
你能想到还有谁会关心被大多数人踩在脚下的小生命吗？

No? Well I can. Why did Prabhupada tell his servants not to cut the grass at his house in Los Angeles? “You have given the animals a home,” said Prabhupada. “Do not take it away.”
没有吗？我可以。为什么帕布帕德告诉他的仆人不要在他洛杉矶的房子里割草？“你给了动物一个家，”帕布帕德说。“不要把它拿走。”

For me, though, I am swallowing hard today and wiping the sweat off my forehead  because my landlord told me he cannot renew my lease. But what if I had built the apartment myself and someone came with a giant lawn mower and smashed it to pieces? I would be yelling and crying and flailing my arms.  The mere thought cuts through my stomach like a sword. And it’s just a thought.
对我来说，虽然，我今天很难咽下去，擦掉额头上的汗水，因为我的房东告诉我，他不能更新我的租约。但是如果我自己建了这个公寓，有人拿着一个巨大的割草机来把它砸成碎片怎么办？我会大喊大叫，哭喊着，挥舞着我的手臂。这个想法就像一把利剑穿过我的胃。而且只是一个想法。

Could I have ever imagined that a little bug would feel something even worse if it really happened? Of course I couldn’t. Prabhupada’s servants had to tell me.
我能想象如果真的发生了，一只小虫子会有更糟糕的感觉吗？我当然不能。帕布帕德的仆人不得不告诉我。

Vasudeva Datta, another devotee of Lord Chaitanya, wanted to take upon himself the pain of not just worms and pigeons and followers but of all living entities:
瓦苏德瓦·达塔，主柴坦尼亚的另一位奉献者，想让自己承担不仅仅是虫子、鸽子和追随者的痛苦，而是所有生物的痛苦:

“My dear Lord, let me suffer perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all living entities. Please finish their diseased material life. (CC. Madhya 15.163)
我亲爱的主，让我永远在地狱般的环境中受苦，接受所有生物的罪恶反应。请终结他们患病的物质生活。(《柴坦尼亚·查瑞塔米瑞塔·马迪亚篇》15.163)

Thousands of years earlier, the devotee Rantideva  offered the same prayer:
几千年前，奉献者兰提德瓦提出了同样的祈祷：

“I do not pray to the Supreme Personality of Godhead for the eight perfections of mystic yoga, nor for salvation from repeated birth and death. I want only to stay among all the living entities and suffer all distresses on their behalf, so that they may be freed from suffering.” (SB. 9.21.2.)
我不向至尊人格神首祈祷神秘瑜伽的八种完美，也不祈求从反复的出生和死亡中得到拯救。我只想留在所有的众生中，代表他们忍受所有的痛苦，这样他们就可以从痛苦中解脱出来。”(SB. 9.21.2.)

What a marvelous thing Prabhupada has shown me! Just by reading about the compassion of these Vaisnavas, I have seen a brilliant new  facet of the jewel we call human life.
帕布帕德向我展示了多么神奇的东西啊！仅仅通过阅读这些外士那瓦的慈悲，我就看到了我们称之为人类生命的珠宝的光辉新的一面。

Who am I, though, to talk big words of compassion? Would I offer my own life to save a pigeon? But Prabhupada has shown me which way to turn as I continue on my path toward human life.
然而，我是谁，能说同情的大话？我会为了救一只鸽子而献出自己的生命吗？但是帕布帕德已经告诉我在我继续走向人类生活的道路上该走哪条路。

But turn in the direction of pain?
但是转向痛苦的方向？

Let me ask Srila Prabhupada:
让我问问圣帕布帕德:

Dear Srila Prabhupada,
亲爱的圣帕布帕德:

Fifty-seven years ago, I came to you looking for eternal pleasure. Today I want to ask for pain. But not the pain of feeling sorry for myself. Oh no. That makes me curl my lips in a snarl.
五十七年前，我来找你寻求永恒的快乐。今天我想请求痛苦。但不是自怨自艾的痛苦。哦，不。这让我在咆哮卷曲我的嘴唇。

Rather let me feel the pain of  those who suffer— whatever their race, whatever their species. Let me feel their bodily pain, their grief, their hopelessness, and give me the strength to endure it.
而是让我感受那些受苦的人的痛苦——不管他们是什么种族，什么种类。让我感受他们身体上的痛苦，他们的悲伤，他们的绝望，并给我力量去忍受。

Give me the strength to follow in the footsteps of Rantideva. After sharing his family’s food with a brahmana, he shared his last plate of  food with a sudra and with a keeper of dogs and the dogs. Then he gave his last glass of water to a dog-eater.
给我力量，跟随兰提德瓦的脚步。在与一个婆罗门分享了他家人的食物后，他与一个首陀罗和一个养狗的人以及狗分享了他最后一盘食物。然后他把最后一杯水给了一个吃狗的人。

Please point me in that direction.
请给我指一下那个方向。

Please grant me eternal remembrance of the hardships and troubles you yourself endured to save me. And let me follow you on this path.
请让我永远记住你为了救我而忍受的艰难困苦。让我跟随你走这条路。

And yes, please give me strength— the strength to bear whatever pain I must when the need arises so I can teach Krishna Consciousness and take away the pain of others. And let this path of pain lead me—I don’t know how many millions of lifetimes it will take—let it lead me to the most blessed of all pains: the pain of separation from Krishna, and let it be forever in your service.
是的，请给我力量——当需要的时候，给我力量去承受我必须承受的任何痛苦，这样我就可以教导奎师那知觉并带走别人的痛苦。让这条痛苦之路引领我——我不知道要经历多少世——让它引领我到所有痛苦中最神圣的地方：与奎师那分离的痛苦，并让它永远为你服务。

Your undeserving disciple,
Umapati Swami
您不配的门徒，乌玛帕提·斯瓦米

⁓Umapati Swami, September 8, 2023
~乌玛帕提·斯瓦米，2023年9月8日

Eternally touching my head to the floor at the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, for showing me all this.

(Note: The opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any organization or any other person.)

Photo top: Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy (Jishnu Das)

Write to me: hoswami@yahoo.com

© Umapati Swami 2023
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 86 years old, he has started this blog to share what he has learned.