In Indian culture, one is not supposed to step over anyone sitting or lying down. Is this just a custom, or is there a science behind it? Sadhguru answers.

在印度文化里，当他人坐着或躺着时你是不应该跨过去的。这只是一种习俗，还是背后有科学依据？萨古鲁给出了答案。

Sadhguru: This actually applies not only to human beings but to all creatures. In India, people would not even step over a sleeping dog.

Sadhguru（萨古鲁）：实际上这不仅适用于人类，还适用于所有生物。在印度，人们甚至不会跨过一条睡着的狗。

When your experience of life is limited to physicality, you think the boundary of a human being is the skin. If you expand the way you experience life a little more, you will see the boundary of a human being goes beyond the skin – to what extent depends upon who he or she is. The more you close your eyes and sit, the “fatter” you get – not in terms of fat as a substance – you get bigger. The less thinking you do, the larger your presence becomes.

当你对生命的体验局限在身体层面，你会认为人的边界止于皮肤。如果你将体验生命的方式拓展一点，就会发现人的边界是超越皮肤的——超越的程度取决于他或她本身。你闭上眼睛坐得越多，就会越“胖”——不是物质层面的变胖——而是你变得更“大”。你想得越少，你的存在就越大。

Most people experience some semblance of peace and balance within them only when they are sleeping. Sleep is the most profound state that they know in their life. This is a most unfortunate way to live. When they are fast asleep, they are reasonably peaceful and balanced. When they are awake, they are all over the place.

大多数人只有在睡觉的时候才能在内在体验到一些表象的平和与平衡。睡觉是他们一生中所知的最深的境界。这是一种最不幸的生活方式。他们熟睡时还算平和而平衡。当他们醒着的时候，就会浑身不自在。

So, when they lie down they are a little bigger. Especially if you are lying down on something hard, because there is no room for it to find expression on the side that you lie on, naturally it goes up to where there is space. Instead of your energies being all around you, it will be above you by about 50% to 100%.

所以，人们躺下时会更大一点。尤其是躺在硬质的表面的时候，因为躺着的那一面没有抒发的空间，所以能量会自然地向上面有空间的地方上升。因此能量并非环绕在你的周围，而是50%到100%都在你的上方。

The extended energy body

延展的能量身

Let us say hypothetically speaking, your energy body is one foot beyond your skin. If you lie down, it could be approximately one-and-a-half or two feet. Without you knowing, some amount of clearing up or expanding of the energy body naturally happens. At those times, people will keep more distance from you – not out of respect but simply because of the size of your energy body at that moment. This is the way it should be – as it is required for that moment. If you have a certain sensitivity, you will naturally know these things. You may say this is some special endowment – I do not entirely deny that. But at the same time, people do not have this kind of sensitivity largely because they cannot pay attention to anything. They cannot pay attention to anything because they are dismissive about life around them.

假设说，你的能量身超出你的皮肤1英尺（30厘米），那么当你躺下时，就会大概是1.5或2英尺（45厘米或60厘米）。能量身某种程度的清理或扩展会在不知不觉间自然地发生。那个时候，人们会和你保持更远的距离——不是出于尊重，而仅仅是因为那个时候你的能量身变大了。本应是这样的——因为这是那一刻所需的。如果你有一定的敏感度，会自然觉察到这些。你可以说这是某种特殊的天赋——我不完全否认这种说法。但同时，人们之所以没有这种敏感度，很大程度上是因为他们无法专注于任何事情。不专注是因为他们对周围的生活不屑一顾。

When I was a five, six-year-old boy, I used to sit in the house, staring at something or sometimes at nothing. Much later, I realized in yoga, there is a mudra where you simply stare at nothing. Nothing is high, nothing is low. Something and nothing are the same to you – you are simply looking. Suddenly, my mother would pass by. Initially, I would see her, but the next time she would pass by, she would be all blurred and somewhat bigger. When she would pass by again, she would be almost transparent and even bigger.

我五六岁的时候，常常坐在家中，凝视着某样东西，或有时空无对象地凝视。到后来，我才知道瑜伽里有一种无对象纯粹凝视的Mudra（手印）。没有高没有低。对你来说，有东西和没有东西是一样的——你只是看而已。突然，我的母亲经过我身边。最开始，我会看到她，但她下一次经过时，她的影像变得模糊起来，还有些膨胀。再经过时，她几乎变得透明，而且更大了。

Then my father would come. I would look at him with an empty stare. He would gesticulate in front of my eyes. Obviously, he was saying, “Why are you not studying?” or something like that. I did not hear the words, I just looked, and saw all kinds of things. Depending upon what kind of forms I saw, I knew what he was saying. He was worried that this boy was losing his mind, the way he was staring. If you paid enough attention, you would experience this yourself.

然后我的父亲来了。我会用一种凝视虚空的眼神看着他。他会在我眼前摆手势。很明显在说：“你为什么没在学习？”之类的话。我听不到他的话语，只是看着，看到各种事情。根据我看到的形态，我知道他在说什么。他担心这孩子那么盯着看，是不是疯了。如果你有足够的专注度，也能体验到这些。

What’s hanging around you?

什么萦绕在你周围？

In the yogic physiology, there are three physical dimensions of your existence – the physical body, the mental body, and the energy body – annamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, pranamaya kosha. The physical body is made of physical material that we take from the planet in the form of food. The mental body is also made of material from the world around you, but this material is much subtler. We build the mental body with information, reverberation, sounds, and impressions.

在瑜伽生理学中，你的存在有三个物理维度——annamaya kosha（物质身）、manomaya kosha（心智身）和pranamaya kosha（能量身）。物质身是由我们以食物的形式从地球上获取的物理材料构成的。心智身也是由你周围世界的材料构成的，只是这种材料更加精微。我们用信息、回响、声音和印象构造了心智身。

Since the physical body is made of physical substance, it takes a reasonably proper form. Most people’s mental body does not have a clear-cut form. They are not even conscious of what they have gathered. For most human beings, not even 1% of the content is conscious. Because 99% is gathered unconsciously, the mental structure is scattered. It is quite a mess. If you can create a conscious structure to your mental form, and you are able to change the structure as per the requirement of the situation, your mind will be a magical instrument.

既然物质身是由物质组成，那么它就有一个合理恰当的形态。大部分人的心智身没有清晰的形态。人们甚至都没有意识到自己所收集的内容。对大多数人来说，有意识收集的内容还不到1%。因为99%的内容都是无意识收集的，所以心智的结构是零散的、杂乱无章。如果你能为自己的心智建立一个有意识的结构，并能根据情形的要求改变结构，那么你的头脑就会成为一个神奇的工具。

Your energy body too carries information. What form it takes depends upon what type of information is there within you. The information on the level of the physical body is called genetics. Likewise, there is information on the mental structure, and there is information on the energy structure.

能量身也承载着信息。它的形态取决于你内在的信息类型。肉体层面的信息叫基因。同样，也存在心智结构的信息和能量结构的信息。

People who are conscious do not want to trip over your mental body or your energy body. We do not know what kind of karma someone is carrying, but when they are sleeping or they are just about to fall asleep, the unconscious play of the karmic structure is at its highest. Because you do not perform any conscious activity, the unconscious activity is full-scale. People who are conscious do not want to trip over or walk into someone else’s karma. By stepping over someone, you are kind of walking into their karma.

有意识的人不想被你的心智身或能量身绊倒。我们不知道对方携带了怎样的业力，而当人们睡着或即将入睡时，业力结构的无意识发挥会达到顶峰。因为你没有进行任何有意识的活动，所以无意识的活动会全面展开。有意识的人不想被别人的业力绊倒或走进他人的业力。你从别人身上跨过去，就相当于走入了别人的业力。

Handling your “stuff”

管好自己的“事”

It is wise not to pick up other people’s stuff because handling your own stuff is challenging enough. This is why once you are on spiritual sadhana, as a brahmachari, you do not hug anyone – doing “Namaskaram” is enough. We do not want to trip over your karma. Whether it is good or bad, we do not want to take it away from you. When your Guru has evolved a strategy for your specific karma, you should not mix it up with all kinds of people. Otherwise, it becomes unnecessarily complicated.

最好不要染指他人的事，因为管好自己的事已经很有挑战性了。这就是为什么一旦你作为Brahmachari（出家人）开始灵性修行时，你不和任何人拥抱——做Namaskaram（双手合十）就够了。我们不想被你的业力绊倒。 无论这业力是好是坏，我们都不想把它从你身上带走。当你的古鲁针对你的业力专门设计了相应的策略时，你不应该将它和形形色色的人混在一起。否则，就会不必要地将情况复杂化。

If you take in too much input from everywhere, the karmic process becomes very complicated. And the strategy evolved for your karma will not work if you keep mixing it up with someone else’s all the time. Why some who are in serious sadhana withdraw into a solitary cave or the like is because they do not want to complicate things. They understood the complexity of their own karma and do not want to complicate it anymore.

如果你从每个地方都吸收过多，那么业力进程就会变得非常复杂。如果你不停地将自己的业力和他人的混在一起，那么针对你业力的策略也会失效。在进行严肃认真的灵性修行练习的人之所以选择隐退独居于山洞或类似的方式，正是因为他们不想把事情复杂化。他们明白自己业力的复杂性，不想让它变得更加复杂。

That is why you do not step over anyone. You can go around them. It is also a mark of respect. And apart from that, it would disturb that person if you step over them. If you disturb their energy body, they may not immediately wake up, but internally, it disturbs them.

这就是不跨过他人的原因。你可以绕过他们，同时也表达了尊重。另外，跨过他人会干扰到对方。如果你干扰了他们的能量身，他们也许不会马上醒来，但内在却受到了干扰。

All this comes from a fundamental understanding about life. No matter what you were doing – you were running a business, you were married, bearing and raising children, fighting a battle – for anyone who was born in this land, there was only one goal – ultimate liberation. Mukti was the only goal. The whole culture was structured around this. Many strategies were evolved so that you do not trip over someone else’s karma. You do not want to acquire anything new because you know the complexity of what you already have. If you undo your own puzzle, it is good enough. You do not want to complicate it.

所有这些都来自对生命的根本领悟。无论你在从事什么——是做生意、已婚、生儿育女，还是打仗——对于任何出生在这片土地上的人来说，只有一个目标——终极解脱。Mukti（解脱）是唯一的目标。整个文化也是围绕这一点建立起来的。许多策略都是为了让你不被别人的业力绊倒而演化出来的。你不想染指新的东西，因为你知道已有的业力已经足够复杂了。如果能解开自己的谜团，那就足够好了。你不会想要把它复杂化。

能量身也承载着信息。它的形态取决于你内在的信息类型。肉体层面的信息叫基因。同样，也存在心智结构的信息和能量结构的信息。

People who are conscious do not want to trip over your mental body or your energy body. We do not know what kind of karma someone is carrying, but when they are sleeping or they are just about to fall asleep, the unconscious play of the karmic structure is at its highest. Because you do not perform any conscious activity, the unconscious activity is full-scale. People who are conscious do not want to trip over or walk into someone else’s karma. By stepping over someone, you are kind of walking into their karma.

有意识的人不想被你的心智身或能量身绊倒。我们不知道对方携带了怎样的业力，而当人们睡着或即将入睡时，业力结构的无意识发挥会达到顶峰。因为你没有进行任何有意识的活动，所以无意识的活动会全面展开。有意识的人不想被别人的业力绊倒或走进他人的业力。你从别人身上跨过去，就相当于走入了别人的业力。

Handling your “stuff”

管好自己的“事”

It is wise not to pick up other people’s stuff because handling your own stuff is challenging enough. This is why once you are on spiritual sadhana, as a brahmachari, you do not hug anyone – doing “Namaskaram” is enough. We do not want to trip over your karma. Whether it is good or bad, we do not want to take it away from you. When your Guru has evolved a strategy for your specific karma, you should not mix it up with all kinds of people. Otherwise, it becomes unnecessarily complicated.

最好不要染指他人的事，因为管好自己的事已经很有挑战性了。这就是为什么一旦你作为Brahmachari（出家人）开始灵性修行时，你不和任何人拥抱——做Namaskaram（双手合十）就够了。我们不想被你的业力绊倒。 无论这业力是好是坏，我们都不想把它从你身上带走。当你的古鲁针对你的业力专门设计了相应的策略时，你不应该将它和形形色色的人混在一起。否则，就会不必要地将情况复杂化。

If you take in too much input from everywhere, the karmic process becomes very complicated. And the strategy evolved for your karma will not work if you keep mixing it up with someone else’s all the time. Why some who are in serious sadhana withdraw into a solitary cave or the like is because they do not want to complicate things. They understood the complexity of their own karma and do not want to complicate it anymore.

如果你从每个地方都吸收过多，那么业力进程就会变得非常复杂。如果你不停地将自己的业力和他人的混在一起，那么针对你业力的策略也会失效。在进行严肃认真的灵性修行练习的人之所以选择隐退独居于山洞或类似的方式，正是因为他们不想把事情复杂化。他们明白自己业力的复杂性，不想让它变得更加复杂。

That is why you do not step over anyone. You can go around them. It is also a mark of respect. And apart from that, it would disturb that person if you step over them. If you disturb their energy body, they may not immediately wake up, but internally, it disturbs them.

这就是不跨过他人的原因。你可以绕过他们，同时也表达了尊重。另外，跨过他人会干扰到对方。如果你干扰了他们的能量身，他们也许不会马上醒来，但内在却受到了干扰。

All this comes from a fundamental understanding about life. No matter what you were doing – you were running a business, you were married, bearing and raising children, fighting a battle – for anyone who was born in this land, there was only one goal – ultimate liberation. Mukti was the only goal. The whole culture was structured around this. Many strategies were evolved so that you do not trip over someone else’s karma. You do not want to acquire anything new because you know the complexity of what you already have. If you undo your own puzzle, it is good enough. You do not want to complicate it.

所有这些都来自对生命的根本领悟。无论你在从事什么——是做生意、已婚、生儿育女，还是打仗——对于任何出生在这片土地上的人来说，只有一个目标——终极解脱。Mukti（解脱）是唯一的目标。整个文化也是围绕这一点建立起来的。许多策略都是为了让你不被别人的业力绊倒而演化出来的。你不想染指新的东西，因为你知道已有的业力已经足够复杂了。如果能解开自己的谜团，那就足够好了。你不会想要把它复杂化。