坐三等車的甘地（3）

盡管是懺悔錄，甘地自傳讀來妙趣橫生。我記憶中還沒有見到過這樣既娛樂又得精神享受的書。這一來是由於他從年輕時就開始編報紙寫社論的深厚文字功夫，二來是他也不把自己看成什麽神聖的救世主。《自傳》第一部中最有趣的幾章是甘地去倫敦留學的事。那是鄉巴佬想扮城裏人又怎麽也扮不像的喜劇片。

我猜想甘地自傳的編者Pritchett教授大概沒有太多在亞洲窮國的直接生活體驗，或許不能完全理解自傳裏的一些場麵。這些在我讀起來是太麵熟了。售票口那段是一例。還有這段：

There is an incident which occured at the examination during my first year at the high school, and which is worth recording. Mr. Giles, the Educational Inspector, had come on a visit of inspection. He had set us five words to write as a spelling exercise. One of the words was 'kettle'. I had mis-spelt it. The teacher tried to prompt me with the point of his boot, but I would not be prompted. It was beyond me to see that he wanted me to copy the spelling from my neighbour's slate, for I had thought that the teacher was there to supervise us against copying. The result that all the boys except myself were found to have spelt every word correctly. Only I had been stupid. The teacher tried later to bring this stupidity home to me, but without effect. I never could learn the art of 'copying'.

     Yet the incident did not in the least diminish my respect for my teacher. I was, by nature, blind to the faults of elders. Later I came to know many other failings of this teacher, but my regard for him remained the same. For I had learnt to carry out the orders of elders, not to scan their actions.

 

中國文化和印度文化裏都是一樣的唯上唯師。誠惶誠恐的年輕甘地就是這樣來到當時的全球第一都市。甘地是老練且有幽默感的寫手，把農民穿西裝學紳士派頭的各種窘事寫得惟妙惟肖。讀這段時，總是看見我自己年輕時的影子。我把這幾章推薦給年輕人，尤其是初到海外留學的年輕人。不少人都該能從裏頭看到他們自己的影子 – 這就是好書的標誌。

這幾章中在我看來最精彩的部分還是甘地從誠惶誠恐到自信滿滿的轉變。其中一個契機與他的素食習慣有關。甘地家庭嚴格素食，甘地母親答應兒子去英國留學的一個前提就是甘地起誓不吃肉、不喝酒、不與別的女人有染。但船還沒到地中海就開始有各種各樣的朋友和長輩勸他吃肉。甘地苦守誓言許久，中間也有許多滑稽故事，直到有一天他在倫敦一家素食餐館買到一本論素食好處的書：

From the date of reading this book, I may claim to have become a vegetarian by choice. I blessed the day on which I had taken the vow before my mother. I had all along abstained from meat in the interests of truth and of the vow I had taken, but had wished at the same time that every Indian should be a meat-eater, and had looked forward to being one myself freely and openly some day, and to enlisting others in the cause.

 

從前甘地的素食是出於家庭和宗教的約束。這是他律。約束從外邊來，信仰是 “by chance” – 因為他的這一套不過是因為他正好出生在一個印度教家庭，不是出於他自己的獨立判斷。雖然還是會照這樣的信仰去做，但裏麵不好受，有機會就起二意。好在甘地坐的是與大家零距離的三等車廂，不顧忌說他的各種二意。

 

後來甘地讀到那本書，從心裏接受了素食，他律就變成了自律，做事就是 “by choice”了。甘地這一章的名字就叫《My Choice》。還借用先賢的說法，我猜想這場發生在裏麵的打鬥可能是甘地性格最重要的轉折點之一。

從這裏開始，誠惶誠恐的模仿者甘地就轉頭到裏麵去找他做人做事的標準。