THE “BRIGHTENING” WAY TALK
SERIES
THE “BRIGHTENING” WAY TALK SERIES – The Yajna Discourses
of Santosha Adi Da (1995-1996) – Gathering “Considerations”
with Beloved Adi Da Samraj, at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort and the
Manner of Flowers, December 29 and 30 1995, and January 3,
1996.
The Perfect Practice, Witness
Consciousness and the Sixth and Seventh Stages of
Life.
A Gathering “Consideration” with Beloved Bhagavan Adi Da,
in the Manner of Flowers, on January 6, 1996.
THE “BRIGHTENING” WAY TALK SERIES
The Yajna Discourses of Santosha Adi Da (1995-1996)
Volume 1, Number 2
Consent to Be That Which You Are
SECTION I
The following is an excerpt from the original talk.
AVATARA ADI DA: But when you say “I”, do you mean
anything other than all those experiences that are
remembered?
DEVOTEE: Yes, yes. I guess its a sense of essential self,
myself. It even seems to be not really definable.
AVATARA ADI DA: See, youre referring to it as an
“it” right now.
DEVOTEE: Of course, when I go back into the mind and
start thinking about what Im supposed to say about it
. . .
AVATARA ADI DA: What?-I mean you can relate to it however
you like. But is there a someone other than all those
thoughts and memories and such?
DEVOTEE: Oh, yes.
AVATARA ADI DA: So what is that? [laughter]
DEVOTEE: Its basically just a feeling, a thoughtless
feeling.
AVATARA ADI DA: Yes, yes. You are a thoughtless feeling.
Are you?
DEVOTEE: Well its-you make a presumption about
yourself.
AVATARA ADI DA: No, Im not talking about your
presumption. Are you a thoughtless feeling?
DEVOTEE: Yes. [laughter]
AVATARA ADI DA: Yes. Well, it is so, isnt it?
DEVOTEES: Yes.
AVATARA ADI DA: But if you just attach yourself to the
conventional mind, you think youre referring to what
people can observe, or expressions on your face or something
or other-objective things to them. But when you examine what
youre really referring to as “I”, it is a thoughtless
feeling, as you say. It doesnt have any mind or body.
Those are all objects to it. So the being is, as you say,
experientially a thoughtless feeling.
So if you simply feel yourself as such, as you are, what
can you say about it? Anything else to be said about it
other than its a thoughtless feeling?
DEVOTEE: It also feels radiant. Theres a kind of
sense of radiance, but its not limited by the body. Its not
limited by thoughts or any of the other objects associated
with the body. It just-
AVATARA ADI DA: Sort of glows in the body.
DEVOTEE: Yes. And it seems to be all-pervasive, not . .
.
AVATARA ADI DA: Well, does it feel all -pervasive, or
does it have some kind of limited feeling?
DEVOTEE: Yes. It still seems to be associated with
others, other to that, you know, even just the body
itself.
AVATARA ADI DA: Do you feel, then, that every being here
represented by their bodies is a different thoughtless
feeling than you are?
DEVOTEE: I dont know if I can answer it.
AVATARA ADI DA: Well, what do you feel about it? If you
didnt just look at them and focus on them as
individuals or think about them, but are just here among
them, so-called “them”, do you feel yourself to be a
separate thoughtless feeling? Or the same thoughtless
feeling that all could refer to?
DEVOTEE: The same, because when you want to limit it to
another or-it seems to be greater than that.
AVATARA ADI DA: But as soon as you start using the
faculties to perceive everyone, not only do you see lots of
bodies and suggest separate persons but you begin to do up a
whole complex of associations and presumptions based on
that. In other words, you abandon the position of the
thoughtless feeling, and your knowing is all about these
perceptual and conceptual complexes, which are otherwise
simply Witnessed by you.
So through thought, perception, psycho-physical complex,
you organize separate-self-among-other-separate-selves kind
of complex mind and presumption about reality. But if you
simply remain established in the position you are always
already in, which simply is Witnessing the body-mind and all
that is perceived, you see, your sense of existence is
entirely different.
If you are to maintain that feeling, thoughtless
feeling-being, unagitated, how would you live differently –
since presently all of your thoughts and feelings and
actions and perceptions and so forth are a kind of invention
thats dissociated from your actual being? So
youre talking all the time about something thats
not Truth. Your lives are organized all around this
multiplicity, and everything that comes with it. So
thats not the State of Truth. Youd have to
remain established in the Native State of Being and Radiate
from That in the form of life, to be true .
DEVOTEE: This is what weve all been drawn to You,
Beloved, because we intuit Who You Are, and also that
You-whenever Youve Spoken about it in Your Teaching,
thats what draws us to You. Its a fundamental reason
why we all came here.
“thoughtless feeling” is a
simple way of describing what is Realized-Self-Existing,
Self-Radiant, Unqualified.
AVATARA ADI DA: Tcha.
Well, this conversation weve been having is a taste
of what that requires then, what thats all about. You
must become relaxed from your agitated, contracted
identification with the body-mind and its play, and become
capable of simply Standing in the Native Position. Then all
that Radiates from that Position informs the body-mind,
informs the life, and you dont lose Reality in order
to be alive.
So you must Stand in the Native Position, or you lose
Reality. And then youre just involved in this invented
life based on un-Truth. To be True, you have to Realize once
again how to simply Stand in the Native State, the Native
Position.
At first theres, in the “Perfect Practice”, an
in-depth entrance into that Well . And then theres the
ordinary return to ordinary associations. And each time this
Perfect gesture is made, its entrance into the
Transcendental Disposition. And then theres, after
much depth of that, the Realization that this also is kept
in place conditionally by this gesture of dissociation to
enter the Depth, you see.
At that point, one simply Stands in that Depth, the
Perfect Divine Position, and relinquishes dissociation in
order to be deep. So theres no loss of that great
Realization, and yet the life-complex returns, but utterly
different, no longer with the conventional mind, no longer
with ego.
So “thoughtless feeling” is a simple way of describing
what is Realized-Self-Existing, Self-Radiant, Unqualified.
But its in the seventh stage Awakening-still remaining in
the Samadhi, that Depth, you see-that everything is
Recognizable in Reality, no longer the lie, the invented
life made by dissociation from the Native State, but
everything seen in Truth in and As the Divine
Self-Condition, unobstructed Light, unobstructed
Consciousness, One with all, Transcending all, in a flash of
no time whatsoever, all Siddhis Awakened in Me.
[pause]
So, youre talking about why you came to Me. One
basic thing about it, then, about the process awakened in My
Company, is that fundamentally you must Realize again how to
Stand in the Native Position. But generally speaking its not
an instantaneous matter just because you get the notion,
because you are all kinds of adapted to passing away from
that Native Position, contracting, elaborating, assuming the
lie of ordinary mind, naive realism, no Divinity. So
youre distracted in that Godless game or maya, the
Godless mind.
And you want to Realize It again, dont you?
[DEVOTEES: Yes]
Well, everything Witnessed by the Native Being is not
only objective to It, youre Witnessing it, you see,
everything objective, subjective – when everything is
perceived from the Native Position, it is simply object to
you. But not only is it object to you, it also is composed
of dualities exaggerated on the negative side.
DEVOTEE: Why is it exaggerated on the negative side?
“in the Native Position, as
Daniel says, of thoughtless feeling, of Being, youre
not identified with the body or the body-mind. You are
Radiant in apparent association with it. So to Stand in the
Native Position is to be free of identification with what is
limited and mortal.”
AVATARA ADI DA: Because you identify with the body-mind,
which has limitations, which suffers, has all kinds of
potential to suffer, and dies eventually. So its all made up
of yin-yang, positive-negative. But because you are
identifying with something mortal and limited, you are
fundamentally anxious, deeply afraid. So in addition to the
general yin and yang duality, theres a strong negative
fear disposition.
Well, in the Native Position, as Daniel says, of
thoughtless feeling, of Being, youre not identified
with the body or the body-mind. You are Radiant in apparent
association with it. So to Stand in the Native Position is
to be free of identification with what is limited and
mortal. The association remains, however, and the
Realization must become great. But when it does, both the
Perfectly Subjective Dimension and everything apparent,
conditional, become One. Everything apparent or conditional
is “Brightened”, simply, by the Divine Self-Condition.
“the first great stage in this
practice is…a matter of being purified of…identification
with the psycho-physical complex and the conventional
mind…”
So the first stage of this process, first fundamental
stage of this process, is everything that precedes the
“Perfect Practice”. Its all a process in which youre
purified of your conventional bondage, ordinary mind,
fearful psycho-physical disposition. All kinds of
adaptations have occurred that have you clinging to this
mortality but with all kinds of complex presumptions,
thoughts, desires, and so forth, and suffering it and always
trying to escape by using the very same thing you want to
escape from.
So the first great stage in this practice is everything
preceding the “Perfect Practice”. And its a matter of being
purified of all of that , being purified of that
identification with the psycho-physical complex and the
conventional mind, or even mind at all, so that as a result
of that purification and that profound Contemplative
absorption in Me, you spontaneously volunteer to be What you
have been, completely free of identification with the
body-mind, just Standing As It Is, as you say, a thoughtless
feeling, and all the other ways Ive Described it, the
Native Self-Position, Prior to attention and everything that
follows. It is thoughtless, attentionless.
And even though you are just a thoughtless feeling,
somehow mysteriously you can open your mouth and say
something. And you dont think what youre saying.
You dont even think any thinking. There is no thinking
to think.
How do you get from that thoughtless feeling, which is
What you are Natively, to being able to say blah-blah-blah?
We talked about that last night, but its always remarkable
to discover that That Which is the Witness has nothing
whatsoever to do with conditional existence, nothing at all
directly to do with it. And yet you can speak. You see, the
conditional is not separate from the Unconditional. It is
ultimately Outshined by the Unconditional, but in its
appearance it is utterly One with the Unconditional Reality.
So its a great Mystery, but thats why even though you
are just a thoughtless feeling, somehow you can say a word,
or move a body. “How did I do that?”
DEVOTEE: Is all that manifestation just a spontaneous
event?
“In the Unconditional,
Absolute, Light, Consciousness, Love-Bliss. It is always
just That. You in your Native State of Feeling, are just
That.”
AVATARA ADI DA: Mmm. Yes. In the Unconditional, Absolute,
Light, Consciousness, Love-Bliss. It is always just That.
You in your Native State of Feeling, are just That. And yet
you can feel That is also infinite Energy. All these
appearances, then, are just an apparent modification of
That. The Transcendental never is involved in the
conditional, and yet the conditional and the Transcendental
are absolutely the same.
The first step, as I said, is to be purified,
one-pointed, entered into the Samadhi of Communion with Me,
so that you can come to that spontaneous moment where you
consent to be That Which you Are, Standing in the
Witness-Position. I neednt Describe the process again.
Weve done that yesterday, in fact. You know what that
process is as a sadhana, leading to the “Perfect Practice”.
We can talk more about it later, if you like.
The beginning of the “Perfect Practice” is that discovery
that youre all acknowledging at this moment anyway,
magically, that you are this-you are thoughtless
feeling.
Its not a mind.
Its not a body.
It has no attention.
Its just Itself.
Because theres only this one infinite Energy.
Everything is the same as It.
So thats the beginning of the “Perfect Practice”,
accepting Who you Are, Where you Are, Where you Stand, that
you are thoughtless feeling, just That. Thats the
beginning of the “Perfect Practice”.
Then the process becomes one of entering into the Depth
of that, that thoughtless feeling. Thats the second
stage of the “Perfect Practice”, Contemplating
Self-Existing, Self-Radiant Consciousness Itself, Me,
“Atma-Murti”, no self-reference made by association with the
body-mind.
So this “Perfect Practice”, in its passing from the first
to the second stage, moves into that Depth. Each meditation
is that. Even in some tacit sense, every moment is that,
entering into that more and more profoundly-not just
superficially feeling the thoughtless feeling State but
entering into it absolutely beyond the body-mind
association.
Its not even peripheral at the point of Jnana Samadhi.
Just Perfect Non-“Difference” in that Samadhi, no separation
from the Divine Being Itself. You Are That. Each meditation
enters into it more profoundly. And of course it shows signs
in the life, but its beyond the life as well.
But theres always the return from the in-depth of
that Contemplative practice, without “difference”, return
naturally to the associations of the body-mind and so on.
Its not that Wisdom comes out of those meditations, but
Bliss does, and Fullness of Being, more and more profoundly.
But otherwise the associations are whatever they were before
that practice. They continue in their natural course.
“The difference between the
Transcendental Self and conditional existence absolutely
disappears. And everything is Recognizable. The “you” that
is a thoughtless feeling is still the ego-“I” in some
in-depth sense, is an individuated feeling also. When you
enter into its Depth, you go beyond that individuated
feeling in some sense, but not
absolutely.”
In that process of entering into that Depth and then
apparently coming back from It and rejoining, apparently
rejoining, conditional existence-all the while in this
Contemplation of Me in that profound sense-something starts
to be noticed about that. Its not even a noticing in the
mind. Theres some feeling that theres something
very curious about this. It disappears suddenly-the sense
that theres a difference. The dissociation from
conditional existence in order to enter into the Depth just
stops. Jnana Samadhi is not lost. It becomes Most Perfect.
It never stops. But the dissociative act to get into that
Depth stops, disappears, utterly. The difference between the
Transcendental Self and conditional existence absolutely
disappears. And everything is Recognizable. The “you” that
is a thoughtless feeling is still the ego-“I” in some
in-depth sense, is an individuated feeling also. When you
enter into its Depth, you go beyond that individuated
feeling in some sense, but not absolutely.
And thats the curious thing thats noticed in
each of these passages in in-depth meditation, and the
“Perfect Practice”, and then apparently reassociating with
something thats not That, and so on-see thats
whats curious about it-the feeling of “difference”. And
suddenly it is gone beyond, in a moment. Its not even a
moment. Its just like waking up. Its the usual State, which
youve totally forgotten. And its no longer simply that
you are a thoughtless feeling over against all that
youre seeing around-that you inside are a thoughtless
feeling-its no longer that, you see. The Divine
Self-Condition is Realized.
“The sixth stage Realization
is not the Divine Self-Condition Realized as such. It is the
depth of the separate person, but allowed to open into the
Divine Sphere, and suddenly Recognizes It, that the
separation was imagined. And so it is the Samadhi of “Open
Eyes” as Ive described it-there is no difference
whatsoever between conditional existence and the Divine
Self-Condition.”
The sixth stage Realization is not the Divine
Self-Condition Realized as such. It is the depth of the
separate person, but allowed to open into the Divine Sphere,
and suddenly Recognizes It, that the separation was
imagined. And so it is the Samadhi of “Open Eyes” as
Ive described it-there is no difference whatsoever
between conditional existence and the Divine Self-Condition.
Theres a difference between the thoughtless feeling,
the separate person, in that sense, and everything else. But
the seventh stage Awakening is Awakening to the Divine
Condition Itself, and there is no “difference” between That
and apparent arising, none whatsoever. And it is obvious as
such. Its not known to be such in some philosophical or
mental sense. One Is That. And everything is Recognizable as
That.
I Am, My Self, no longer just a thoughtless feeling
within somehow, but the Thoughtless Feeling in Which all is
arising, merely apparently, no more substantial than smoke,
utterly transparent to the Divine View.
Well, to know what that Position is, you must Realize it.
But youre entered into It in every moment of your
devotional Communion with Me done as the true Yoga Ive
Given you, always going beyond that knot, opening it,
flowering, Radiant instead of contracted, in open Communion
with Me . It is an absorptive meditation in Me. Its not yet
Perfect Identification with Me, but it is Communion with Me.
So whats the difference ? There is none. But perhaps some
presumption on your part that theres “difference”, to
some degree effective. But ultimately theres only the
Divine Self-Condition, and everything and everyone is That,
but directly known as That, no “Im a thoughtless
feeling inside”, no “Im a body-mind among other
body-minds”-no. All those are flawed presumptions based on a
separative notion.
In Truth, Always Already, I Am the Case. All this and you
is Me, not merely in the philosophical sense or intellectual
sense. As literal experience, literal Realization. In
Realizing Me, you Realize no “difference” from Me. You Are
That. You Are in this very same Condition. But you
dont Recognize what is apparently arising. The whole
matter of Realization can be summed up in this one
understanding.
And what is that?
[Devotees all talk at once.]
DEVOTEE: No “difference”?
AVATARA ADI DA: No.
DEVOTEE: Realizing this in You, our Lord.
DEVOTEE: That theres only one.
AVATARA ADI DA: The matter of Realization is simply a
matter of Recognizing what is arising, rather than
persisting in the condition in which you now presume to
exist, in which you do not Recognize anything. You recognize
this and that through convention, based on ego-principle and
so forth, body-mind activities. But you dont Recognize
it as it is . So youre confused within it and seeking
and suffering and separate even from your own Native
Disposition.
You must be in that Position to enter into the ultimate
sadhana. But Realization is simply about this-simply stated
anyway. Its to transcend the state in which you do not
Recognize anything and to Realize the State in Which you
Recognize everything.
But to Recognize everything, you cant stand in the
position you are now presuming. You cant Recognize it from
the point of view of the body-mind. You dont Recognize
it when you simply enter into the Native State of
thoughtless Feeling, you see. You Recognize it only in the
case of the seventh stage Awakening, when you are That in
Which everything is Recognizable.
The first five stages of life in the Way of the Heart are
done from the point of view of the body-mind, or in the
position of the body-mind.
The sixth stage of life in the Way of the Heart is done
from the point of view of the in-depth Self, Transcendental
dimension of Self, until it is gone beyond.
And so the seventh stage of life is not a part of the
psycho-biography of the ego. It is the Divine Demonstration.
That Demonstration, rather than sadhana, is done from the
Divine “Point of View”, in the Divine Condition, Recognizing
all and everything.
So there are three fundamental stages to the
process-everything thats done in the context of the
body-mind, and then the first two dimensions of the “Perfect
Practice” where its done from the point of view of the
Conscious Witness and such, and then the seventh stage of
life.
So everything preliminary to the “Perfect Practice” is
really about one thing. Its this process of being purified
of entanglement, so that attention can fall or dissolve in
its Source, the Native State. All the agitations,
entanglements, functional, practical, relational
limitations, all of this must be purified, such that you are
concentrated in Me, altogether, and Spiritually. But its
just this process of purification, becoming established in
the Source-Position.
Full
Talk
THE “BRIGHTENING” WAY TALK SERIES
Index