This is what everyone has come here for.
这正是人人来此追求的东西。

When I initially wrote that sentence, what I meant by it was: "This is why these one hundred retreat participants from all over the world have come to this Ashram in India." But actually, the Yogic saints and philosophers would have agreed with the broadness of my original statement: "This is what everyone has come here for." According to the mystics, this search for divine bliss is the entire purpose of a human life. This is why we all chose to be born, and this is why all the suffering and pain of life on earth is worthwhile—just for the chance to experience this infinite love. And once you have found this divinity within, can you hold it? Because if you can . . . bliss.
最初写下这个句子，我的意思是：“这正是来自全球各地的一百名静修成员来这个印度道场所追求的东西。”事实上，瑜伽圣哲也会赞同我这句广义的原始叙述：“这正是人人来此追求的东西”。神秘主义学说认为，追寻此种天堂之乐，是人生的目标。这正是我们选择出生，也是人生在世值得受苦的原因——只为了有机会体验此种无限之爱。一旦你找到了内心的神，你能否牢牢抓住？你若抓得住……就是福气。

I spend the entire retreat in the back of the temple, watching over the participants as they meditate in the half-dark and total quiet. It is my job to be concerned about their comfort, paying careful attention to see if anyone is in trouble or need. They've all taken vows of silence for the duration of the retreat, and every day I can feel them descending deeper into that silence until the entire Ashram is saturated with their stillness. Out of respect to the retreat participants, we are all tiptoeing through our days now, even eating our meals in silence. All traces of chatter are gone. Even I am quiet. There is a middle-of-the-night silence around here now, the hushed timelessness you generally only experience around 3:00 AM when you're totally alone—yet it's carried through the broad daylight and held by the whole Ashram.
整个静修期间，我待在寺院后方，观察学员在昏暗的静默中禅坐。我的任务是关照他们，留意谁遇上麻烦或有任何需要。他们都已发誓在静修期间保持沉默，每天我都感觉到他们进入更深的静默，直到整个道场沉浸在他们的沉静中。出于对静修成员的尊重，我们整天踮着脚尖走路，甚至用餐时亦沉默不语。听不见任何人聊天，连我也安安静静的。午夜的寂静弥漫此地。一种超越时间的静谧，通常在凌晨三时独自一人的时候才体验得到——然而此种静谧持续整个大白天，充塞整个道场。

As these hundred souls meditate, I have no idea what they're thinking or feeling, but I know what they want to experience, and I find myself in a constant state of prayer to God on their behalf, making odd bargains for them like, Please give these wonderful people any blessings you might have originally set aside for me. It's not my intention to go into meditation at the same time the retreat participants are meditating; I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on them, not worrying about my own spiritual journey. But I find myself every day lifted on the waves of their collective devotional intention, much the same way that certain scavenging birds can ride the thermal heat waves which rise off the earth, taking them much higher in the air than they ever could have flown on their own wing-power. So it's probably not surprising that this is when it happens. One Thursday afternoon in the back of the temple, right in the midst of my Key Hostess duties, wearing my name-tag and everything—I am suddenly transported through the portal of the universe and taken to the center of God's palm. Eat, Pray, Love
在这一百个人禅坐之时，我不知道他们想些什么或感觉什么，但我知道他们想体验什么；我经常替他们向神祷告，为他们做奇怪的交易，比方说，“请你把原本留给我的祝福，给予这些了不起的人吧”。我无意在静修学员禅坐的同时进行禅坐；我本该照看他们，不该顾及自己的心灵之旅。然而我发现自己每天都在他们集体的奉献意向中提升，类似某些掠食鸟类依靠地面上升的热流高飞天际，比依赖翅膀的力量飞得更高。所以我会有这样的感觉，也许也没什么好惊讶的。而某周四下午，在寺院后方，就在我佩戴名牌执行“主招待”职责之际——我忽然穿越宇宙之门，被送往神的掌心。