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.)
道场有个寺院对大众开放，一整天有许多印度人前来敬拜瑜伽士悉达（Siddha Yogi“完善大师”），他在20世纪20年代创立了此学派，在印度各地被尊为大圣人。但道场的其余部分仅供学员使用。这儿不是旅馆或观光地，比较像是一所大学。你得经过申请才进得来，为了被收作常驻学员，你得证明你对此种瑜伽学派已认真研究好一阵子。你至少必须在此地连续待上一个月。（我决定待六个星期，而后独自周游印度，探索别的寺院、道场与朝拜地点。）

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.
这里的学生大致均分为印度人与西方人（西方人则大约一半美国人，一半欧洲人）。课程以印度语和英语教授。申请时，你必须写篇论文，收集推荐信，并详加说明自己的精神与身体健康状况，以及任何服药或酗酒的历史，并说明财务稳定状况。导师不希望有人利用她的道场当做某种逃避真实生活的手段；这对任何人皆无益处。她还有个政策：倘若任何亲戚朋友因某种原因，而强烈反对你追随导师住在道场的主意，那么你不该这么做，因为不值得。你只该待在家中过正常生活，做个好人，没必要搞得满城风雨。

The level of this woman's practical sensibilities are always comforting to me.
这位女子高尚的务实情操，对我始终是极大的安慰。

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.
来到这里之后，你得展现自己也是一个通情达理、脚踏实地的人类。你得让大家知道你能干活儿，因为你应当对道场的整体运作做出贡献，一天有五小时的“歇瓦”（seva），或称“无私的服务”。道场的经营还要求你，假使过去六个月内经历过重大的感情创伤（离婚、亲人过世等），请延后你的造访，因为你十之八九无法专心学习；若有情绪变动的情况发生，只会让其他学员分心。我自己才刚结束后离婚时期。当我想起自己刚从婚姻出走时所经历的痛苦，更确信我若在当时前来道场，肯定会成为学员的一大负担。最好让自己先在意大利休息，恢复体力和健康，再到此地。因为我现在需要这种体力。

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.
他们要你体力充沛地来到道场，因为道场生活十分严酷。不仅对身体而言，每天从凌晨三点开始、晚间九点结束，就心理而言亦然。每天连续几个小时静坐禅修，几乎无法让自己的思考分心或解脱。 你在印度乡间和陌生人住在一起，各种臭虫、蛇、老鼠。天候恶劣——有时一连下数星期的倾盆大雨，有时早餐前的阴影处气温高达 38℃。这儿的一切可能在短短时间内变得非常真实。

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 teeth.
Eat, Pray, Love
我的导师总说，到道场来，只会发生一件事——你将发现自己的真相。因此假若你已在疯狂边缘徘徊，她情愿你不要来。因为，坦白地说，没有人想扛着紧咬木杓的你离开这地方。