The other objective of religion, of course, is to try to make sense of our chaotic world and explain the inexplicabilities we see playing out here on earth every day: the innocent suffer, the wicked are rewarded—what are we to make of all this? The Western tradition says, "It'll all get sorted out after death, in heaven and hell." (All justice to be doled out, of course, by what James Joyces used to call the "Hangman God"—a paternal figure who sits upon His strict seat of judgment punishing the evil and rewarding the good.) Over in the East, though, the Upanishads shrug away any attempt to make sense of the world's chaos. They're not even so sure that the world is chaotic, but suggest that it may only appear so to us, because of our limited vision. These texts do not promise justice or revenge for anybody, though they do say that there are consequences for every action—so choose your behavior accordingly. You might not see those consequences any time soon, though. Yoga takes the long view, always. Furthermore, the Upanishads suggest that socalled chaos may have an actual divine function, even if you personally can't recognize it right now: "The gods are fond of the cryptic and dislike the evident." The best we can do, then, in response to our incomprehensible and dangerous world, is to practice holding equilibrium internally—no matter what insanity is transpiring out there.

当然，宗教的另一目标是尝试理解这个混乱的世界，说明每天在地球上演的费解难题：善人受苦，恶人得赏——我们如何明白这一切？西方传统认为：“一切在死后获得解决，无论在天堂或地狱。”（当然，所有的公理都由乔伊斯所谓的“刽子手上帝”分配出去，此一父亲形象坐在森严的审判座位上，惩恶奖善。）然而在东方，奥义书并未企图去理解世界的混乱，甚至对于世界的混乱与否，持保留意见，或许因为我们视野有限，所以才看到这样的表象。这些教义未保证给任何人公理或复仇，尽管表示一举一动皆有其后果——因此你必须选择适当的行为。尽管短期内或许看不到结果。瑜伽始终着眼于长久的打算。此外，奥义书认为所谓混乱或许具有实际的神效，即使个人暂时看不出来：“神灵喜爱神秘，不喜爱显而易见的东西”。因此我们面对这令人费解的危险世界所能做出的最佳回应，即是练习保持内在的平衡——无论世界发生任何疯狂的事情。

Sean, my Yogic Irish dairy farmer, explained it to me this way. "Imagine that the universe is a great spinning engine," he said. "You want to stay near the core of the thing—right in the hub of the wheel—not out at the edges where all the wild whirling takes place, where you get can frayed and crazy. The hub of calmness—that's your heart. That's where God lives within you. So stop looking for answers in the world. Just keep coming back to that center and you'll always find peace."

我的爱尔兰酪农瑜伽友人西恩如此对我说明。“设想宇宙是一个巨大的旋转引擎，”他说，“你须待在接近核心的地方——即中轴处——而非疯狂旋转的边缘地带，使自己磨损而疯狂。宁静的轮轴处——即你的心。即神居住在你当中之处。因此停止在世界寻找答案，只要不断地回到此中心所在，永远都能找到平静。”

Nothing has ever made more sense to me, spiritually speaking, than this idea. It works for me. And if I ever find anything that works better, I assure you—I will use it.

在我看来，就心灵而言，没有任何事情比这个想法更合理了。这让我很受用。倘若发现更好的想法，我保证会去用它。

I have many friends in New York who are not religious people. Most, I would say. Either they fell away from the spiritual teachings of their youth or they never grew up with any God to begin with. Naturally, some of them are a bit freaked out by my newfound efforts to reach holiness. Jokes are made, of course. As my friend Bobby quipped once while he was trying to fix my computer: "No offense to your aura, but you still don't know shit about downloading software." I roll with the jokes. I think it's all funny, too. Of course it is.

我在纽约有许多朋友不信教。应该说，大部分人都不信教。他们不是放弃年轻时代的心灵教导，就是从一开始就未与神一同成长。可想而知，他们有些人受不了我新发现的神圣探索。当然还有人开我玩笑。我的朋友鲍比有回帮我修电脑的时候，嘲弄地说：“我无意冒犯你的‘灵气’，只不过你对下载软件连个屁都不懂。”这笑话让我前仰后倒，当然我也觉得很逗趣。

What I'm seeing in some of my friends, though, as they are aging, is a longing to have something to believe in. But this longing chafes against any number of obstacles, including their intellect and common sense. Despite all their intellect, though, these people still live in a world that careens about in a series of wild and devastating and completely nonsensical lurches. Great and horrible experiences of either suffering or joy occur in the lives of all these people, just as with the rest of us, and these megaexperiences tend to make us long for a spiritual context in which to express either lament or gratitude, or to seek understanding. The problem is—what to worship, whom to pray to?

尽管我看见一些朋友随着年岁增长而渴望信仰“某种东西”。但此种渴望与种种障碍相违背，包括他们的才智与见识。尽管拥有智慧，这些人依然生活在东倒西歪、荒诞无稽的世界中。这些人在自己的生活中体验伟大或可怕的苦难或喜悦，如同我们每个人，而这些巨大的体验使我们渴望某种心灵线索与脉络，来表达哀痛或感激，或寻求了解。问题是——敬拜什么？向谁祈祷？