《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 39 (85):敬拜"完善大師"

There is one temple in the Ashram that is open to the general public, where many Indians come throughout the day to pay tribute to a statue of the Siddha Yogi (or "perfected master") who established this lineage of teaching back in the 1920s and who is still revered across India as a great saint. But the rest of the Ashram is for students only. It's not a hotel or a tourist location. It's more like a university. You must apply to come here, and in order to be accepted for a residency, you must show that you've been studying this Yoga seriously for a good long while. A minimum stay of one month is required. (I've decided to stay here for six weeks, and then to travel sites.)

道場有個寺院對大衆開放，一整天有許多印度人前來敬拜瑜伽士悉達（Siddha Yogi“完善大師”），他在20世紀20年代創立了此學派，在印度各地被尊爲大聖人。但道場的其餘部分僅供學員使用。這兒不是旅館或觀光地，比較像是一所大學。你得經過申請才進得來，爲了被收作常駐學員，你得證明你對此種瑜伽學派已認真研究好一陣子。你至少必須在此地連續待上一個月。（我決定待六個星期，而後獨自周遊印度，探索別的寺院、道場與朝拜地點。）

The students here are about equally divided between Indians and Westerners (and the Westerners are about evenly divided between Americans and Europeans). Courses are taught in both Hindi and English. On your application, you must write an essay, gather references, and answer questions about your mental and physical health, about any possible history of drug or alcohol abuse and also about your financial stability. The Guru doesn't want people to use her Ashram as an escape from whatever bedlam they may have created in their real lives; this will not benefit anyone. She also has a general policy that if your family and loved ones for some reason deeply object to the idea of your following a Guru and living in an Ashram, then you shouldn't do it, it's not worth it. Just stay home in your normal life and be a good person. There's no reason to make a big dramatic production over this.

這裏的學生大致均分爲印度人與西方人（西方人則大約一半美國人，一半歐洲人）。課程以印度語和英語教授。申請時，你必須寫篇論文，收集推薦信，並詳加說明自己的精神與身體健康狀況，以及任何服藥或酗酒的歷史，並說明財務穩定狀況。導師不希望有人利用她的道場當做某種逃避真實生活的手段；這對任何人皆無益處。她還有個政策：倘若任何親戚朋友因某種原因，而強烈反對你追隨導師住在道場的主意，那麼你不該這麼做，因爲不值得。你只該待在家中過正常生活，做個好人，沒必要搞得滿城風雨。

The level of this woman's practical sensibilities are always comforting to me.

這位女子高尚的務實情操，對我始終是極大的安慰。

To come here, then, you must demonstrate that you are also a sensible and practical human being. You must show that you can work because you'll be expected to contribute to the overall operation of the place with about five hours a day of seva, or "selfless service." The Ashram management also asks, if you have gone through a major emotional trauma in the last six months (divorce; death in the family) that you please postpone your visit to another time because chances are you won't be able to concentrate on your studies, and, if you have a meltdown of some sort, you'll only bring distraction to your fellow students. I just made the post-divorce cutoff myself. And when I think of the mental anguish I was going through right after I left my marriage, I have no doubt that I would have been a great drain on everyone at this Ashram had I come here at that moment. Far better to have rested first in Italy, gotten my strength and health back, and then showed up. Because I will need that strength now.

來到這裏之後，你得展現自己也是一個通情達理、腳踏實地的人類。你得讓大家知道你能幹活兒，因爲你應當對道場的整體運作做出貢獻，一天有五小時的“歇瓦”（seva），或稱“無私的服務”。道場的經營還要求你，假使過去六個月內經歷過重大的感情創傷（離婚、親人過世等），請延後你的造訪，因爲你十之八九無法專心學習；若有情緒變動的情況發生，只會讓其他學員分心。我自己纔剛結束後離婚時期。當我想起自己剛從婚姻出走時所經歷的痛苦，更確信我若在當時前來道場，肯定會成爲學員的一大負擔。最好讓自己先在意大利休息，恢復體力和健康，再到此地。因爲我現在需要這種體力。

They want you to come here strong because Ashram life is rigorous. Not just physically, with days that begin at 3:00 AM and end at 9:00 PM, but also psychologically. You're going to be spending hours and hours a day in silent meditation and contemplation, with little distraction or relief from the apparatus of your own mind. You will be living in close quarters with strangers, in rural India. There are bugs and snakes and rodents. The weather can be extreme—sometimes torrents of rain for weeks on end, sometimes 100 degrees in the shade before breakfast. Things can get deeply real around here, very fast.

他們要你體力充沛地來到道場，因爲道場生活十分嚴酷。不僅對身體而言，每天從凌晨三點開始、晚間九點結束，就心理而言亦然。每天連續幾個小時靜坐禪修，幾乎無法讓自己的思考分心或解脫。 你在印度鄉間和陌生人住在一起，各種臭蟲、蛇、老鼠。天候惡劣——有時一連下數星期的傾盆大雨，有時早餐前的陰影處氣溫高達 38℃。這兒的一切可能在短短時間內變得非常真實。

My Guru always says that only one thing will happen when you come to the Ashram—that you will discover who you really are. So if you're hovering on the brink of madness already, she'd really rather you didn't come at all. Because, frankly, nobody wants to have to carry you out of this place with a wooden spoon clenched between your , Pray, Love

我的導師總說，到道場來，只會發生一件事——你將發現自己的真相。因此假若你已在瘋狂邊緣徘徊，她情願你不要來。因爲，坦白地說，沒有人想扛着緊咬木杓的你離開這地方。