爱情美食与祈祷 《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 66 (147):人人追求的东西

《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 66 (147):人人追求的东西  

This is what everyone has e here for.
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 e 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 e 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.
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 fort
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