Spiritual Adepts Are the Root of All Religious
Traditions
The primary force and root of all the religious and
Spiritual traditions of humankind are the Adept-Realizers,
those who actually Realize (to one or another degree) the
Spiritual and Transcendental Nature of Reality.
Adept-Realizers (in their various degrees and kinds of
Realization) arise in all times and places, and they become
associated with the complex social and cultural structures
existing in their immediate environment. Throughout their
lifetimes, both before and after their Realization, such
Adepts move into the existing culture and associate with its
influences. Thus, while their teaching is, of course, an
expression of their actual Realization, their words also
reflect and comment upon all kinds of cultural complexities
and ideals. Where Adept-Realizers appear, they transform the
existing culture, eliminating some aspects of traditional
religious and Spiritual life and emphasizing others. The
Spiritually Realized Adept is a motion in the midst of the
stream of conventions.
The tradition of Truth, the tradition of Spiritual and
Transcendental Realization, is the tradition of the
Adept-Realizers. Apart from the Adepts, there is no
tradition of Truth.
In all religious and Spiritual traditions, a great deal
is made of some key individual. There is no great Spiritual
tradition that is without a person at the center of the
process. How that person is interpreted through the cultural
and intellectual lore of each tradition varies, but such an
individual always exists. In other words, the Truth is not
separable from a special human function that is perceived in
the form of the Adept-Realizer, or Spiritual Master (or
Guru).
The Adept-Realizer, or Spiritual Master, has many
functionsto exemplify the Way, to argue the Way, to
Bless devotees, and, thus, to interfere with their usual
attitude and disposition, and to Transmit Spiritual
Influence tangibly to them so that they will then, having
understood themselves, be capable of Spiritual growth. The
function of the Spiritually Realized Adept, therefore, does
not come to an end with the arising of any particular
result. The Adept-Realizer (or Guru) is the continuous and
unending resource and resort of his or her devotees.
One who Functions as Adept Spiritual Master (or as a
Realizer-Guru) exercises the Guru-Function only in relation
to those who are his or her devotees. If the Adept addresses
public society at all, he or she may also (in the public
setting) assume the role of prophetwhich is,
essentially, an aggravation, a criticism, an undermining of
the usual life.
Adept-Realizers of one or another degree of Spiritual
development spontaneously Transmit That Which they have
Realized. That Which they have Realized Transmits
Itselfsubtly as well as in the gross physical
dimensionby what they do, by what they are, by what
they feel. Thus, accordingly, Adept-Realizers Transmit their
degree of Realization. Such Transmission is inevitable, and
it is an absolute Law. This is why, traditionally, it is
said that the best thing anyone can do, among all the things
everyone must doand you must do many thingsthe
best among them, the chief among them, is to spend time in
the Company of an Adept-Realizer, or Spiritual Master.
Everything transmits. The stones transmit, the sky
transmits, the TV transmits. Since everything and everyone
transmits states of existencesince life, or existence
itself, is participation in transmissions of all
kindsthe best thing you can do is to associate with
the greatest possible Transmission. Since everything is
transmission, spend time in the Company of the One Who
spontaneously Transmits That Which Is Inherently Perfect and
Ultimate.
This is the Great Rule, the Great Law, the Ultimate
Principle of the Great Tradition of humankind.
Devotional allegiance to the Adept-Realizer, or Spiritual
Master, is the greatest function of existence and the single
advantage not only of human beings but of all beings. The
devotional relationship to the Spiritual Master is
participation in a unique function that appears in the realm
of cosmic (or conditional) Nature.
Only the ego will deny the Spiritual Master. The ego
wants to do it himself or herself. Do what
exactly? Be himself or herselfseparately and
untouched. Since you become what you meditate on, you should
meditate on, or give feeling-attention to, the
Absolutewhich, in the bodily (human) form of the
Spiritual Master, is your greatest advantage.
No thought or figure or any perception arising in the
mind is, in and of itself, Real (Acausal) God. No thing, no
body, no moment or place is, in and of itself, Real
(Acausal) God. Rather, every moment, place, thing, body, or
state of mind inheres in the Divine Reality and Truth That
Is Real (Acausal) God. Thus, all conditions become Reminders
that draw the devotee into Divine Communion.
The Spiritual Master is a Transparent Reminder of the
Divine Reality, a Guide to the ecstatic Realization of the
One Reality in Which all conditions arise and change and
pass away. The Spiritual Master is not to be made into the
merely objectified idol of a cult, as if the
Divine Being were exclusively contained in the objective
person and subjective beliefs of a particular sect. Rather,
right relationship to the Spiritual Master takes the form of
free devotional response to the Spiritual Masters
Self-Radiant State.
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