少年派的奇幻漂流

至于上帝 我只能说出我的故事
As for God, I can only tell you my story.
要相信什么由你决定
You will decide for yourself what you believe.
很合理
Fair enough.
我想想 该从何说起
Let’s see, then. Where to begin?
本地治里是印度的里维埃拉
Pondicherry is the French Riviera of India.
在近海的街道
In the streets closest to the ocean,
会让人误以为置身在法国南部
you might think you were in the south of France.
往内陆走几条街有一条运河
A few blocks inland, there’s a canal.
运河那一头就是印度区
Just beyond that is Indian Pondicherry.
穆♥斯♥林♥区在西边
And the Muslim quarter is just to the west.
法国在1954年归还本地治里时
When the French handed Pondicherry back to us in 1954…
市民们决定应景庆祝
the town decided that some sort of commemoration was in order.
家父很有生意头脑 他出了个点子
My father, who was a clever businessman, came up with one.
开旅馆的他想出把植物园…
He ran a hotel, and he got the idea to open a zoo…
改开动物园的主意
in the local botanical gardens instead.
恰巧我母亲是园里的植物学家
As it also happened, my mother was a botanist in the gardens.
他们相遇 结婚
They met, married,
一年后我哥哥拉维出生了
and a year later my brother Ravi was born.
过了两年 我也来报到了
I came two years after that.
听起来好神奇 从小在…
It sounds magical, growing up in…
阿门
Amen.
开动吧
Yeah, let’s eat.
原来印度教♥徒♥也说阿门
I didn’t know Hindus said “amen.”
天主印度教♥徒♥会说
Catholic Hindus do.
天主印度教♥徒♥
Catholic Hindus?
我们能悔罪的神不只一个 有好几百个
We get to feel guilty before hundreds of gods, instead of just one.
但你以印度教为先
But you’re a Hindu first?
认识神明都是由他人带领
None of us knows God until someone introduces us.
我先认识的是印度教的神
I was first introduced to God as a Hindu.
印度教有三千三百万个神祇
There are 33 million gods in the Hindu religion.
我怎么可能不识其中几尊
How can I not come to know a few of them?
我先认识了黑天
I met Krishna first.
有一次雅修达说小黑天吃土
Yashoda once accused baby Krishna of eating dirt.
“真是的 你真淘气 怎么可以吃土”
“Tut, tut you naughty boy – you shouldn’t do that.”
但是他明明没有
But he didn’t!
他告诉妈妈
That’s what he told her.
“我没有吃土”
“I didn’t eat dirt.”
雅修达说 “没有吗？那么…”
Yashoda said, “No? Well then…”
“把嘴巴张开”
“Open your mouth.”
于是黑天张开嘴巴
So Krishna opened his mouth.
你知道雅修达看见了什么吗
And what do you think Yashoda saw?
什么
What?
她在黑天的嘴里看见了整个宇宙
She saw in Krishna’s mouth the whole entire universe.
我小时候视众神为超级英雄
The gods were my superheroes growing up.
猴神哈奴曼
Hanuman, the monkey god…
抬起一整座山来拯救朋友拉克什曼
lifting an entire mountain to save his friend Lakshman.
象头神加内什
Ganesh, the elephant-headed…
赌上性命捍卫母亲雪山女神的清誉
risking his life to defend the honor of his mother, Parvati.
毗湿奴是三相神之一 万物之源
Vishnu, the supreme soul, the source of all things.
他在无尽的宇宙之洋漂浮而睡
Vishnu sleeps, floating on the shoreless cosmic ocean…
我们都来自他的梦境
and we are the stuff of his dreaming.
壮观啊！
Spectacle.
但不要被这这些故事和光影给迷惑了 孩子们
Don’t let these stories and pretty lights fool you, boys.
社会很复杂
Religion is darkness.
我的父亲自认是新派印度人
My dear appa believed himself part of the new India.
他小时候得过小儿麻痹
As a child, he had had polio.
倒在床上痛苦不已 纳闷神在哪里
He used to lie in bed racked with pain, wondering where God was.
到头来救他的不是神 而是西方医学
In the end, God didn’t save him, Western medicine did.
我的母亲念过大学
My amma went to college…
也认为她的家庭够新派
and thought her family was part of the new India as well…
直到被双亲断绝关系
until her parents cut her off…
他们认为她嫁得太低
because they thought she was marrying beneath her.
信仰是她与过去唯一的联♥系♥
Her religion was the only link she had to her past.
我12岁时在山上认识了耶稣基♥督♥
I met Christ in the mountains when I was 12.
我们去拜访在穆拿种茶的亲戚
We were visiting relatives, tea growers in Munnar.
到了第三天 拉维和我都闷坏了
It was our third day there. Ravi and I were terribly bored.
我赌两个卢比向你挑战
Challenge. I’ll give you two rupees.
敢不敢去那间教堂偷喝圣水
Run in to that church and drink the holy water.
你一定渴了
You must be thirsty.
喝吧
Here.
我帮你倒了水来
I brought you this.
那神为什么要这样
Why would a god do that?
为什么要派他的儿子…
Why would He send His own son…
来为凡人的罪恶受难
to suffer for the sins of ordinary people?
因为神爱世人
Because He loves us.
神让自己能够为人所接近
God made Himself approachable to us, human,
以便我们了解他
so we could understand Him.
我们无法尽窥神的完美
We can’t understand God in all His perfection.
但我们能理解神之子与他的苦难
But we can understand God’s son and His suffering
就像对兄弟那样
as we would a brother’s.
这话实在说不通
That made no sense.
牺牲无辜者来救赎凡人的罪孽…
Sacrificing the innocent to atone for the sins of the guilty…
这算什么爱
What kind of love is that?
但上帝之子…
But this son…
我就是无法忘怀
I couldn’t get him out of my head.
要是神如此完美而我们不是
If God is so perfect and we are not…
他为什么要创造万物
why would He want to create all this?
为什么会需要我们
Why does He need us at all?
你只需要知道神爱世人
All you have to know is that He loves us.
神因深爱世人而赐与我们他的独子
God so loved this world that He gave His only son.
我听神父讲得越久
The longer I listened to the priest…
就越喜欢这位上帝之子
the more I came to like this son of God.
毗湿奴 谢谢你介绍基♥督♥给我
Thank you, Vishnu, for introducing me to Christ.
我透过印度教认识了信仰
I came to faith through Hinduism
并透过基♥督♥找到了上帝的爱
and I found God’s love through Christ.
不过神对我还没了结
But God wasn’t finished with me yet.
天意是神秘莫测的
God works in mysterious ways.
他又三度来到我面前
And so it was, He introduced Himself again.
这一回的名字叫安♥拉♥
This time by the name of Allah.
真♥主♥至大
Allahu Akbar.
我的阿♥拉♥伯语向来不好
My Arabic was never very good…
但祷词的音韵和感觉让我更靠近神
but the sound and feel of the words brought me closer to God.
在做礼拜时
In performing Salah…
我触碰的地面就成了圣地
the ground I touched became holy ground…
我感到心境平和 信众一家
and I found a feeling of serenity and brotherhood.
这羊肉真鲜美
This lamb is exquisite.
是全桌最好的一道菜
It’s the best dish on the table.
你们都没口福
You’re all missing out.
便辛 你只要再信三个教
You only need to convert to three more religions, Piscine…
就能一辈子放假了
and you will spend your life on holiday.
你今年要去麦加吗 耶稣大圣
Are you going to Mecca this year, Swami Jesus?
还是要去罗马受封”派护”教宗
Or to Rome for your coronation as Pope Pi-us?
拉维 你少起哄
You stay out of this, Ravi.
你爱打板球 派也有他的兴趣
Just as you like cricket, Pi has his own interests.
不 吉塔 拉维说得有理
No, Gita, Ravi has a point.
你不能同时信仰三个不同的宗教
You cannot follow three different religions at the same time, Piscine.
为什么
Why not?
因为同时什么都信
Because believing in everything at the same time…
就等于什么都不信
is the same as not believing in anything at all.
他还小 桑托什
He’s young, Santosh.
还在找方向
He’s still finding his way.
他不选定一条路怎么找方向
And how can he find his way if he does not choose a path?
听着 与其从一个教跳到另一个教
Listen, instead of leaping from one religion to the next…
何不从理性出发
why not start with reason?
短短几百年内
In a few hundred years…
科学带领我们了解的宇宙
science has taken us farther in understanding the universe…
就超过上万年历史的宗教
than religion has in 10,000.
那倒是
That is true.
你♥爸♥说得对
Your father is right.
科学能教我们认识外在世界
Science can teach us more about what is out there…