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3. Don’t Forget Money
3.不忽略金钱
We might expect that a religion devoted to spiritual enlightenment would have scant concern for money and possessions.
我们可能会认为，一个致力于精神启蒙的宗教很少关心金钱和财产。
But Hinduism surprises and challenges us by suggesting that - despite everything - what it calls ‘artha’ or a concern for material prosperity has a place within a wise life.
但是，印度教给我们带来了惊喜和挑战，因为它提出--不管发生了什么--它所说的“artha”或对物质繁荣的关注在明智的生活中占有一席之地。
Hinduism is not directing us towards crass materialism.
印度教并没有把我们引向纯粹的唯物主义。
It doesn’t want to exhaust us with overly rich foods or attention-seeking displays of wealth.
它不想让我们因过于油腻的食物或寻求关注的财富炫耀而筋疲力尽。
But it is aware - with a touching practicality - that many good and elevated things require a degree of financial support in order to go well.
但它意识到-以感人的实用性-许多美好和崇高的事情需要一定程度的财政支持才能顺利进行。
One won’t be able to undertake spiritual exercises unless one is able to take a considerable amount of time off from practical duties every day.
如果一个人不能从每天的实际工作中抽出相当多的时间，他就不能进行精神操练。
Meditation on nothingness can be substantially assisted by having a servant or two to take care of the laundry and the housekeeping.
对虚无的冥想可以通过有一两个仆人来处理洗衣和家务来得到很大的帮助。
Hindus traditionally direct their hopes for material comfort to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity.
传统上，印度教徒将物质慰藉的希望寄托在繁荣女神拉克什米身上。
One of the most popular of all Hindu deities, she is typically represented holding two lotus flowers that speak of spiritual liberation as well as material good fortune.
作为印度教最受欢迎的神之一，她通常被描绘成手持两朵莲花，这两朵莲花既是精神解放的象征，也是物质好运的象征。
She is usually accompanied by at least one elephant, a symbol of power and strength, and a swan, an animal that is at home both in the air and in the water, and thereby speaks of an ability to combine competence in the material and spiritual realms.
通常陪伴她的至少有一头大象，大象象征着力量和力量，还有一只天鹅，天鹅是一种既能飞又能游的动物，因此象征着一种在物质和精神领域结合能力的能力。
Lakshmi understands, and would never condemn, one’s appetite for a better house or a more high paying job.
拉克什米理解，也永远不会谴责一个人对更好的房子或更高收入工作的渴望。
Her role isn’t to make us feel guilty about wanting more wealth, it is to remind us that the true point of money is - in the end - to enable us to forget about money.
她的作用不是让我们对想要更多的财富感到内疚，而是提醒我们，钱的真正意义--归根结底--是让我们忘记钱。
4. Don’t Turn Against Sex
4. 不反对性
We have come to expect very little by way of encouragement or sympathy in relation to sex from religions.
我们对宗教在性方面的鼓励或同情期望甚少。
At best, a blind eye, at worst, a constant hounding and reminder of the evils of the flesh.
往好了说，是睁一只眼闭一只眼，往坏了说，是对肉体邪恶的不断追逐和提醒。
But Hinduism surprises us; it made the remarkable step of placing sexual fulfilment - ‘kama’ - among the four ‘puruārthas’, or aims of human life, alongside ‘dharma’ (morality), ‘artha’ (prosperity) and ‘moksha’ (spiritual liberation).
但是印度教让我们吃惊; 它将性的满足——“kama”（爱欲）——与“dharma”(道德)、“artha”(繁荣)和“moksha”(精神解放)一起列为人类生命的四个“puruārthas”目标，迈出了非凡的一步。
Hinduism’s respect for sex was rooted in a particular understanding of what lies behind our erotic feelings.
印度教对性的尊重植根于对我们性爱感觉背后的特殊理解。
These do not stem - as has so often been alleged - from a base animal impulse; they are a means by which we can sense the unity of the universe (‘brahman’).
这些并不像人们常说的那样源于动物的本能冲动；它们是我们可以感觉到宇宙统一的一种方式(“婆罗门”)。
Normally, we live beneath a veil of illusion which persuades us of the separateness of all things, bodies included, but our sexual desires push us to break down the barriers between ourselves and others.
通常，我们生活在幻觉的面纱下，这种面纱说服我们相信一切事物，包括身体，都是独立的，但我们的性欲促使我们打破自己与他人之间的障碍。
We might colloquially say that we are turned on, but through a Hindu lens,
通俗地说，我们被吸引了，但从印度教的角度来看，
at the core of our excitement is the sense that we are breaking down the illusion of separateness and taking a small but important step towards oneness with what we can, without exaggeration, following the religion, term the universe.
我们感到兴奋的核心是，我们正在打破分离的幻觉，并朝着统一迈出了一小步但重要的一步，我们可以毫不夸张地追随宗教，称之为宇宙。
