Unblemished Infinity

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.

Index

THE “BRIGHTENING” WAY TALK SERIES

The Yajna Discourses of Santosha Adi Da (1995-1996)

Volume 1, Number 7

The Unblemished Infinity

A Gathering “Consideration” with Beloved Adi Da Samraj in the Manner of Flowers on January 12, 1996

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, last night we spoke about how much more of these “consideration” gatherings were going to be useful. You all didnt feel you could be definite about it last night. But one thing I did observe when we first gathered, the first one or two gatherings, we very fully “considered” the whole matter of hearing, which is pertinent to your practice at the moment. And then we passed on from there to all those “considerations” that relate to the “Perfect Practice” and so on, and pretty much persisted in that for the next three or four evenings, I guess. And what I noticed last evening was that that was not done as intensively as the previous evenings, and instead there was a lot of, I guess you would call it, medium talk or something that filled a lot of our hours, particularly toward the end of last evening. And that seemed to—whatever you feel it may mean altogether—suggest that everybodys sensing this “consideration” has covered everything basically, and now youre sort of anticipating the ending of this “consideration” group meeting and going back to business as usual sort of thing, showing yourselves making that transition by being sort of mundane. And that would tend to be the quality of our gathering this evening, unless you were able to reconnect with the seriousness of the “consideration”.

STANLEY HASTINGS: Beloved, one of the things that we were talking about was the matter of something You illustrated in this conversation that You and I had in the office, which was that, using Dennis and Frans as an example, You said that is basically the mentality of leadership, and that its useful and good-hearted in some way, but also it lacks the profundity of what an LRO is, and what a body of people are that can actually speak about the profound practice that goes beyond just the day to day social and practical and relational disciplines.

And one of the things that Nina said when we were talking is that a lot of what these “considerations” have been about with You are her receiving—I cant remember what the word was—if it was “realizations” or “Revelations” from You, Beloved, and then “considering” what shes was going to do about it. And I think thats really what the key in this “consideration” is at this point.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: But thats already bullshit, you see?

NINA DAVIS: Yes.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Shes going to go through what shes going to do about it, as if there are options?

DEVOTEES: Yes, right.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: [kind of laughing] If thats all that Krishna could get out of Arjuna, He probably would have just eaten them Himself. [laughter, Beloved laughs.] “Now that I have Given you My complete Word, and you choose what you will do”, you know, [mimicking a tentative Arjuna] “I dont know, Lord. I dig where Youre coming from about me going back to battle, you know, and its my duty and all that, but Im sort of scared. [laughter, Beloved laughs.] I think Id like to take a retreat in the local tavern for a month or two and really just really hash out what Youve been telling me, “consider” it in relation to my overall life.” [laughter] [in a deepish voice] Chapter 19 of the Bhagavad Gita.

NINA: Yeah. [in a repulsed voice] Oooooh.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: So is that what you were suggesting, Nina? Some hemming hawing double-mindedness and . . .

NINA: Well, I didnt think so.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: . . . thinking of options relative to this matter?

NINA: Thats not how I felt it, but, I mean, I know what Youre saying. I know what Youre saying, of course.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: A couple of nights ago when we were “considering” these matters, you all had no doubt about what you were going to do. You were even pressing hard in the direction of the “Perfect Practice”, and you were just going to just snicker-snack handle whatever life-business loopholes youve got, and get down to this most intensive process altogether. And then now, and the quality of the conversation later last evening, suggests youre just thinking about it again, or its like youve got options. And maybe youll get real intense about it, and maybe you wont so much. Its kind of a bargaining time, when you get into that disposition. You make the “consideration” somehow objective to you again, in the sense that its not involving you. But youre sort of relating to it somehow—sometimes interested, sometimes not so much.

Whereas the right result of this week of “consideration” should be that all of you are truly established in seriousness relative to this listening-hearing process, and just very directly, very systematically even, enduring these days of noticing the loopholes in your discipline and so on, and just dealing with it very readily.

So you shouldnt leave these “considerations” detached from them, as if theres some sort of subject matter to mull over and quibble about or bargain about. You should leave these “considerations” very seriously focused, and just turn in your vacation chit to the front office. [Some laughter, Beloved chuckles]

FRANS BAKKER: Beloved?

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm?

FRANS: Ive certainly felt that seriousness all through the days that Ive been with You. And I was “considering” with myself why I otherwise dont tend to do that, along the line of the criticisms that You Gave to Dennis.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

FRANS: And it was particularly because being with You in the room here has been so incredibly intense for me in terms of practice, because literally everything has come up, you know—all my stresses and ways I go about things. But, being in Your Company, it was impossible to buy it. I just had to practice in all the hours that Ive been here. And that has stayed with me, and I feel will stay with me, because I dont feel I have any other options.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Maybe. But youre already in that disposition where youre making earnest affirmations at Me about some change of life, you see. Whereas you should just be seriously involved in this “consideration” right now instead.

FRANS: Mm-hm.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Right life, intensifying your life and practice altogether, is just something I expect. Why should we even have to make reference to it?

(25) FRANS: Yes. I was trying to say that thats what Ive been doing.

(26) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes, but youve vacationed into your solemn affirmation mind.

(27) FRANS: Right now?

(28) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes.

(29) FRANS: Yes. I can see that.

(30) ADI DA SAMRAJ: To relate to Me rather in social manner, as somebody toward whom you make affirmations, you see, . . .

(31) FRANS: Right. I see that.

(32) ADI DA SAMRAJ: . . . trying to sell it to Me. And youll just have to do all that stuff. If that is going to be the case, then right now you should be seriously concentrated, not just trying to do what you ordinarily call practice—Ishta-Guru-Bhakti Yoga and so forth—but truly embracing the “considerations” weve entered into here, and be seriously applying that. And that will make all the other aspects of your practice profound because it will have a profound, constant core. And its not just a bunch of superficial arrangements with peripheral personality, all that outwardly looking good and so forth in terms of the religious life, but not dealing with the fundamental matters. Its like a kind of religious garb, you know? Its a kind of way of having the status-in-the-club kind of obsession. Its all ego-based social concerns. You tend to gravitate back into that constantly, along with all of your entanglements, and desire plan, the seeker plan, relative to this, that, and the other thing.

(33) So by identification with the body-mind, youve inherited this complex entanglement of seeking and so on, and yet it binds you more and more intensely to the thing that you fear, as a cover-up of that fear. This was actually how our “consideration” began here—just addressing this particular point again.

(34) So you desensitize yourself constantly to your real feelings about being a mortal organism. No matter how much you try to keep yourself amused superficially, its still there, that root fear and anxiety, which you cover up—never to the point of total relinquishment of all anxiety, but you cover it up as best you can, try to be distracted, and pretend that life is just so damned amusing. You know?

(35) I remember as a little boy sitting in front of the television set, right around the time we first got it, I guess—I was around ten years old—and at the time feeling something like this. Ive watched these people on what were then something like talk show programs, I guess. A number of known personalities, and they would sit around gabbing about one thing or another. And I observed how they were always smiling and glib, full of the lingo of social amusedness. It always seemed strange to Me. [Beloved chuckles.] I remember sitting there, around ten, looking at this and feeling how incredibly strange this is. What the hell are these people smiling about? [some laughter]

(36) I mean, of course you smile sometimes, but its constant. I dont know—you must be familiar with people like that on television. [Devotees murmur affirmation.] Theyre all so out there and interested in life and smiling, just super-positive and so forth. Its amazing, going through that song and dance standing in front of the guillotine. So it seemed very strange to Me. But of course, now Ive long since realized that its show business—social show business, being more exaggeratedly happy as social personalities than any of the viewers could possibly be, in order to reinforce that whole point of view that the more body-based ordinary worldly you are, the happier you get.

(37) These are the successful people. Look at them. Theyre all smiling. Theyre incredibly enthusiastic about life. They have no sense of anything else whatsoever. Theyre just totally fastened in chit-chat, and ordinary amusedness, and so forth, as if they are immortals of a kind. People on TV are all sort of like gods of some kind—and goddesses. So it just suggests, to the masses of people who watch these kind of programs, that that thing theyre being indoctrinated into—which is just to be a body-based, social personality—really works. The president is happy, you know? All the celebrities are happy. They are somehow the sources of happiness. [Beloved chuckles softly.] Theyre so damn happy that they go on TV, and theyre in magazines, and they hold things up and tell you how terrific these things are. [laughter]

(38) Theres a kind of cultural show business that goes on all the time that reflects the disposition of the people altogether. These are hired fools who suggest to everyone that this mortal bondage, which underneath youre very anxious about, is just a lot of fun you should be just really interested in, and it really works. Someday youll be rich and famous too, and youll be on TV yourself telling people the same story, like Frans tells the advocacy groups.

(39) Were just a bunch of nice, smiling, social personalities over here, “we Daists”. You know? We Daists, were just like you. You dont have to get involved with us, because were just like you! [devotees make sounds of feeling what Beloved is saying]

(40) STANLEY: Oh, Beloved.

(41) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [Beloved laughs.] Youve all become for those people, the non-devotees yet, something like those characters on TV when I was a boy. Youre selling everybody a bill of goods with all that social personality rap, just trying to have a pleasing occasion so everybody can shake hands or hug or whatever, say, “By the way, your Masters photograph is very beautiful.” [Devotees make more sounds of feeling the bite of what Beloved is saying.]

(42) Nothing ever comes of it. The mission is hardly effective at all. Advocacy work is minimally effective. And this has a lot to do with it. Youre not connecting people with the profundity of this Way. Youre not connecting them with Me. Youre connecting them with some sort of institutionalized revision of Me. And when you present examples of My Teaching Word and all the rest of it, you present it in banal terms, revised somehow to suit this image you have of what public people are like, you know. Theyre not really available. They cant really understand this. They dont really understand this kind of thing altogether. Or theyre reactive, even, and problematic and so forth, extremely ordinary. So when you talk to them, you got to talk to them in these institutionalized, worldly terms about “your overall life” and all the rest of it. But you know, “Relax a little bit now here, feel a little feeling, isnt that terrific? And thats basically what were about.” [Devotees oh woundedly, Beloved chuckles.]

(43) You ought to go in there and bop them with The Liberator and The Lion Sutra and some other very important things that Im really all about. And get beyond their superficial inclinations and just having a pleasant occasion and deal with real business. Put them in touch with what this sadhana is really all about. Put them really in touch with Me.

(44) But you cant do that if you dont go beyond the superficialities of the people youre addressing. And if you presume that theyre just so damned superficial theyre just not going to understand, then youre not doing missionary or advocacy work. So you need to provide them directly with every kind of communication and experience that gets beyond their superficiality, so they can see Me truly and understand the profundity and uniqueness of this Way, and see it addresses something profound and not merely that ordinary buzz of trouble of the social character. And youre basically—approaching it the way youve been doing it—serving that universal pop-religion culture, when it really comes down to it. Life is about being yourself and doing your thing and getting as much pleasure out of it as possible, but keep the edges as round as possible. Be nice and smiling to people. The message is love. Love everybody. Even though you dont do much of that, still all religion gets reduced to it.

(45) So you all do that with Me in this Way altogether. You trivialize it by adapting it to a model of human ordinariness that has no profundity. You reduce this Way to sort of friendly messages.

(46) There doesnt need to be any more religions like that. You see? Theres already plenty of that exoteric appeal. Thats not the Way that Ive Given you. So youre not here to change it into that.

My “consideration” has always been most direct and profound since the first day I began to address you all formally. Never done it any other way. So why should you do it any other way with the people that you come in contact with? If they had come here, I would have addressed them straight on and dealt with whats really going on with them and got beyond the superficiality, got down to business about things of importance. So if they had come around instead of you, I would have done it with them. So when you associate with them, you should deal with them. Be serious, and not the smiling, social personality merely, and put people in touch with things that are real issues for them, real disturbances, real motives of seeking, real responses to Me—real stuff, not just the chit-chat of social religiosity.

Fine to be positive characters. What is there to be negative about? But its another thing to be just slightly balding, smiling, social personality businessmen, [mild laughter] whatever.

We also spoke this afternoon about another one of the techniques of the mission that always seemed to Me to be remarkable, and which has been played out over and over again, year after year. There are many aspects to that particular kind of missionary strategy, but one of them was this technique which has been played out over and over again, year after year. Its based on this idea that the public is not really ready for the Way of the Heart, what its really all about, you know. So instead of doing direct missionary work, in extension of Me, you decided to do specialized kinds of things—Easy Death seminar, or trip around the world or whatever, or dietary or whatever, some emotional-sexual seminar—and attract people to presentations because of their interest in that kind of subject matter. And, you know, a little bit of reference to Me maybe here and there in the midst of that, and maybe then theyll say theyre interested. Its kind of a religious show business approach where you presume that youre out there to give entertainments to the public somehow, or just have pleasant contacts so that you can feel that you and this whole organization is loved. So you just turn the mission into a series of self-help lectures or something, or some secondary reference to Me. You dont do direct missionary work.

And for years when I would talk to those involved in mission here, this is the constant plan that they would propose. So theres always this sort of tendency in the mission to be sort of off-the-mark or superficial in its communication to those who arent practitioners yet, also sort of conforming to social mortality expectations or what kind of religious group or quality in them is acceptable. And then you go about trying to look like that.

So youre more and more concerned about the social personality content and effects and so forth of everything you do, including the mission. Instead of it being an activity that converts people to Me and this Way of life altogether, it becomes just endless chit-chat and trying to establish some sort of friendly contact, or always have it be at ease and some social personality kisses at the end somehow. That always becomes the concern, to have that be the way everything turns out, the way everything is experienced. So instead of doing missionary work, what youre doing is pursuing your own anxious need for some sort of social harmlessness or positiveness. Youre not converting people to anything. Youre being very strategic about your fears relative to their qualities in ordinary contact. You want it all to be pleasant and smiling, and reduce your social anxiety.

And so more and more that becomes the whole purpose of missionary work, advocacy work, is just to have these chit-chatty hugging sessions with people. And they feel friendly enough toward you, fine. But theres never any real “consideration” of this Way. Theres also, therefore, no conversion to it—minimal of all that, but lots of smiling talkativeness.

So when I was talking to Stanley, we were noticing something of this in Dennis and Frans, who are among those—when I go back to Purnashram—who are going to be back here, as individuals, principal ones, functioning in the whole area of culture and mission and so forth. And something of the quality Ive noticed in the two of you Ive noticed in the cultural and missionary servers altogether. And it squeezes the profundity out of the gathering to have its leadership, so-called, be reinforcing this ordinariness in everyone.

STANLEY: So thats what then becomes the LRO.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes.

STANLEY: Thats simply just the LRO list then—just a list reaffirming the status quo.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes, things are this way, have been this way, and now Im supposed to put My imprimatur on it. “Youre LRO.”

DEVOTEES: [feeling His criticism]: Mmmm.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: “Now its all been Blessed.”

So I saw that happening. When we were at Sugar Bowl, it was the night before I was supposed to receive the list of LRO possibilities, and I was talking to Brian about it in our conversation at Sugar Bowl, and how I felt clearly what kind of a list I was about to receive, and it would be, generally speaking, basically a list of all those who are in positions doing cultural work or whatever, prominent functionally in the gathering, and basically it would be a list of such people. And I pointed out, if I were to declare these people LRO, well what in effect Im doing is saying that the state of things in this gathering is right, you see?

If there were a real LRO, the quality of the gathering would be different. The effect you would be creating in leadership positions and so forth would be profound, positive, really orienting people to the profundity of this Way of life. So Id be seeing all those good signs. After all, they are the leaderships stats. This is the result youre creating here.

So Ive got no more of LRO than I have a right exemplary gathering in effect, in the midst of everything. The purpose of the LRO, you see, is to, as an extension of the Free Renunciate Order, guarantee the integrity of this Way of life in the institution, culture, community, and mission, by being its clear exemplars of what it is to be done rightly, but also being in charge of it. Thats the role of the LRO principally, speaking of it as a total group. But now Im looking at those things for which the LRO is supposed to be responsible, and I see the state its in, and then I get the list for the LRO, and its the list of the people who have those responsibilities.

I really dont even have to talk further about it, except that Ive got to get you all to understand what this is all about. I mean, just right there is proof theres no LRO. So why should I put an LRO in parenthesis after the names of these people and everybody be told this is the Lay Renunciate Order? Its just to suggest that the way things are is the Way of the Heart.

So thats why there is a preliminary process preceding actually becoming a member of the LRO in which you prove your application so to speak, by everything about your practice, but also in your service in the manner of what the LRO is supposed to do.

How do you affect the culture, the institution, the mission, the community, and so on? And you cant be Instrumentality for Me, if your effects are not coincident with the most serious practice of this Way. Then youre not My Instrument, youre not an extension of Me, in that case. Youre an exemplar of the revised, nominal version of the Way of the Heart.

So generally speaking, the gathering has to do it like I do it—like I did it, in like circumstances. Thats why, at one time or another, Ive had just about every cultural position in this gathering. And the purpose was to Give you the sign of how to handle such responsibilities, and then youre supposed to do it yourselves.

So youve seen how Ive related to even people right off the street or people who are just interested, not really involved in any profound sadhana yet, and so on. Youve seen Me work with them. Theres nothing indirect about it, or just about social personality exchanges and so forth, and wanting to have the lovey-dovey, universal pop-religion effect. It was always, one way or another, entering into the real thread of “consideration”, self-understanding, Communion with Me. So I always spoke directly to that which is on the other side of that social face there and all the games it wants to play, and always spoke to that directly.

So “considerations” in My Company are always about something. So you cant reduce that work to social personality exchanges and no intention but just sort of share some sort of good will. I mean, thats fine, and there shouldnt be any bad will generated, but thats all there is to it, it seems, so often anyway.

So weve decided to hang both of you right now, [laughter] yeah, and nip this thing in the bud. [laughter]

STANLEY: Beloved.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm?

STANLEY: I was noticing today, and actually a couple of others mentioned this as well, since we began the “considerations” seven days ago now and have been through—as You said, there was the hearing “consideration”, and then that was done, and then we went on to the “Perfect Practice” and the Witness “consideration” and that was done, and then it seemed to slip back into ordinary conversation.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

STANLEY: And one thing that Ive noticed about it in the midst of it all, that there have been more . . .

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Sort of like the cycle you all experience in sexual activity, you see. [Beloved laughs.] Theres the initial arousal and stimulation and so forth, getting into it stuff. And then theres the climactic, big highest energy part of it all. And then it starts to recede quite automatically, quite naturally. And you return to your non-erotic state, whatever. Well, something like that is not just found in sex, its found in human doing altogether. And youve done something like that here, started to notice it already—not just last night, the night before. So its starting a little bit. And last night there was a lot of all that. As I said, I took that to be a sign, just sort of a natural sign, that the “consideration” has basically been completed relative to all the things we addressed, and now youre going through the relaxation into normalcy and “back to business as usual” mode.

But as I said, thats not good enough. This was not supposed to be just an interesting way to spend some time for a while and sort of a little vacation together. It shouldnt be left just on the basis of that natural cycle by which you just readapt back to your ordinary life. The end of this period of “consideration” should be associated with the sign of all those here not only promising to be involved in serious and intensive practice in the future, but everyone here clearly established in the profound core of your sadhana, and not disregarding it or being superficial about it all, so that, yes, youll go back into whatever your life will be in service and practice, but not as before, not in the superficial, egoic manner, but always attentive in this serious thread of the listening process and so on.

So I do see the signs of the natural “cycles over” kind of qualities in you, but we shouldnt end this period on that basis. And Im sure we have essentially, yes, gone through those “considerations”, but the result should not be merely, “Well, thats the end of that,” and you print it and gab about it, you see. If you all are not transformed in your disposition by this direct “consideration”, then what is going to happen with everybody else when you go and use it in booklets and education and such?—and culturally? Nothing more than what has happened with you. Everything is just games then. You play a little game of being profound for a few minutes, and then you go back to business as usual.

So whats the point of Revelations if you refuse to incorporate them into your overall life? [some laughter]

[Beloved chuckles.] I was just thinking of Scrooge before, you know. I mean, what if after this terrific service that Ebenezer Scrooge received from various spirits and so forth, [Beloved laughs, and devotees laugh.] he had just gotten up the next morning, you know, shaken, disturbed, or in wonder, or whatever, because hed been so absorbed in this dream, but then realized it was just a dream. And then, you know, brushes his teeth and gets on with his day. It just recedes—its gone by breakfast, and he just grumbled back to the office to do it the way he always did it before. I mean it could have been written that way. It would have been a rotten story, but . . . [laughter]

ANIELLO PANICO: And a rotten ending.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, according to the way it was written by Dickens, he didnt just have some revelation experience and it was just a brief moment, rather dramatic, but then it just passed and he went back to his ordinary life. No, he allowed himself to be changed by the revelations and the revealers, as the story goes. And he did change his overall life. Thats very Western of him. [some laughter] But it wasnt just about outer behavior. It was a change of his disposition. He was made happy. He understood something about how to live and his error, and he let go of that. But he also found a fundamental happiness, deeper than just being gratified by positive social behavior.

So you could say that he became a kind of a Contemplative—in the sense of a fulfilled Contemplative—in a kind of samadhi of wisdom and joyfulness. I mean, thats how the storys told. Right? So he allowed himself to be transformed utterly and most positively for the rest of his life, because he was able to take revelations seriously—seriously in terms of what they showed him about himself that he had to correct, and seriously in terms of being located Contemplatively, finding that which is great, and making it the basis of your existence altogether.

So its basically a religious conversion being pictured in that story. And it is pertinent to “consider” it relative to your own situation. Most of you, all but a few, have been here all of these seven days, where mostly this is what we have done—”consider” these serious matters, with a few hours off in between. Its like Scrooge being visited by grim Marley warning him, and then giving him the opportunity to get out of it. If you take the other spirit seriously, be converted.

So thats a way of describing something about why weve gathered and what weve been up to with it. And the question is the usual one—what will you do?—with such Revelation Given, shown how to be serious, and what there is to be seriously done. Are you going to do that? Or are you going to make a really stupid story of A Christmas Carol?—by not responding, by not being converted, not being changed, reoriented so that you thereafter perpetually live the right life and enter into serious practice in Communion with Me.

And that ought to be what comes of it. Thats what you expected Scrooge to do. Right? Everybody would have spat on Dickens A Christmas Carol if he had written it that other way.

DEVOTEES: Right.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: Its just a bad story, with a bad ending, you know. [some laughter]

MICHAEL WOOD: Sure is.

ADI DA SAMRAJ: So you expected it of the guy just reading a book or watching a movie about that story. And its very logical to you, his enlightenment and change. You feel quite naturally thats the way it ought to be. But then, in your own case, for some reason you feel you have the right to make a bad story for everyone all the time in your tendencies. In other words you are showing the unconverted, un-Enlightened disposition, unmoved by Revelation.

So if you come out of this period of “consideration” weak in your involvement in this serious core “consideration”, then it wont have done its job for you, or you found your way out again—became enmeshed in your egoic patterns again and forgot about it. This is why one has to have a Guru—obviously one of the reasons. And that means you have to be attentive to Me. The reason Realizers are called Masters is because their disciples or devotees are established in a bond of service to them, the vow of being a servant in relation to them.

(91) This was literally the case—still is literally the case, but it was literal in a very obvious, extra-obvious sense long ago, when in the Upanishadic era, for instance, if you wanted to enter into a Masters sphere, you entered into his family, his extended Dharmic family, or gurukula, and you took a vow to be the servant of the Master—thats why he was called “Master”—and completely accepted his Mastery. You no longer have an egoic, self-“guruing” enterprise with your life. And serving the Master at the beginning literally had all the qualities of a life of what you would call being a servant.

(92) And one of their principle occupations, for instance, was to, early in the morning, go out and cut wood for the Masters fire—not just his cooking fire, his Vedic obligation to keep the sacred fire. They would do that, do his cooking, his housekeeping. They would do clearly all the kind of things of a menial servant. And it is forms of association like that that are fundamental to the Guru-devotee tradition, but tend not to be remembered, especially when this whole matter is introduced to people outside that traditional culture, as in the West. To have a Guru means you have gotten a technique, or it can mean all kinds of things. But to have a Guru in those ancient settings meant that you didnt get anything first. You get to become a servant.

(93) Its in the context of being the servant of the Master that you get practices or whatever else. So you dont even get to listen until youre a servant, a bonded servant, of the Master. You give your life over entirely, and live the life of a servant. And thats the first instruction. In that process, of course, you have various opportunities to observe the Master, how he works and how he relates and when hes obviously showing the sign of being pleased with you and when hes not. And theres all that kind of learning in the context of service. That is the context of the Guru-devotee relationship.

(94) As I was saying to you, in quoting Shankara the other day, “From the point of view of the body, I am Thy servant. From the point of view of the mind, I am a part of You. From the point of view of the Self, I am You.” Well, this covers true religion generally, and the first disciplines are at the ground level of your bondage, at the level of the body. And the first, or the root, means whereby life-changes occur in the devotee is that first of all he or she becomes literally the servant of the Master. Its on that basis that you add all the life-disciplines—functional, practical, relational, cultural—by entering into My Gurukula, entering into this relation where you, as a bodily individual, are a servant to Me. So all your actions, then, are done in Communion with Me, ultimately for My Sake, and handling responsibilities Ive Given you, but always directed to Me so that, in every moment of the doing of it, you are Mastered, you are Contemplating Me, you remember Who youre serving. One who does activities for his or her own benefit has no Master to serve, and is serving self.

(95) So the ground key to the Guru-devotee relationship is the establishment of this kind of relationship. On its basis, you start being moved inwardly, in toward Communion with Me or being one with Me, until ultimately you can do the sadhana in My Place, Where I Stand, Where you Stand Natively, the Self-Domain.

(96) So that quotation I just gave you from Shankara contains a very similar understanding to what your relationship to Me is all about, and what the process is all about. And if you really did understand what this vow of devotion and perpetual service was about, you would see how profound it is and what it really requires of you. No more self-“guruing”. You dont tell your Master what youre going to do, you ask. But you dont even have to ask a lot of questions, because its all right there, its all Written, its all put right in your hands immediately.

(97) So Ishta-Guru-Bhakti, Ishta-Guru-Seva are keys to a transformation in disposition that is essential to this relationship. So we began this sequence of “consideration” at Sugar Bowl talking about some of this matter of your relationship to Me as My devotees and what its really all about, what it is to have a Master, a Guru, Realizer. It requires a complete change in orientation. Its not just another bit of identity you pin on your shirt—”You have such and such, hes your guru” stuff—you know?—the social exchanges of religious affiliation information. But to actually have a Master is to be Mastered, and to make no allowance for egoity. So the context for accepting My Word of Instruction is to take on the relation of servant to Me, to make yourself, as a bodily being, one whos related to Me through Ishta-Guru-Bhakti and Ishta-Guru-Seva. Thats quite a different understanding from the egos point of view—different from that. The ego is without a Master, is self-directed by its own patterning. And the current politics suggests that you are nobodys servant. You bow to no one. There is no authority higher than Narcissus. [pause]

 

(98) So you have to prove you have a Master by living as a servant, utterly devoted to your Master. And the more pleased your Master becomes with you, the more your relationship grows into that of Communion—that stage in Shankaras statement where he talks about from the point of view of mind, then, “a part of You”—in other words, a deeper disposition that moves toward a state of Oneness with the Divine. That grows from being a servant—you see?—a devotee servant. Attentive to the Master and the Masters Word, you become more and more directed to your Master in the most profoundly surrendered sense, so that you begin to Commune with your Master.

(99) So all of that was understood to be how it is, even in the ancient days. That is the culture of true religion. And remarkably I have had to keep reminding everybody in this gathering about this—that theyre all in My Gurukula, and they all have obligations to Me, an eternal vow, which they are to fulfill without fail, regardless of tendencies, and theyre related to Me as the devotee-servant. They must cultivate this relationship through service and devotion—not just by being a member of the club, but by being known to Me, as the devotee-servant. Show Me the forms of all the results you create, and let Me see your gift, your sign that you are there. And make sure you come on retreat and so forth. And be serious.

(100) So you must understand, then, the true context of the Guru-devotee relationship, what it has always been and what it must be because of the nature of sadhana, and true Realization. So devotees must understand this, so they can go through this change of disposition and show it through all of the signs of practice that Ive Given you.

(101) So we talked about these matters at Sugar Bowl. And then as that kind of relationship to Me is supposed to work, you clearly indicated that you are taking on all your responsibilities, all that would be done and so forth, and you understand now this relationship is one in which you dont tell Me what youre going to do, you ask, live by My Word as Law, and practice your vow of devotion. So all that was indicated. And then spontaneously from that, or on that basis, we entered into a profound “consideration”. And thats the way the ancient tradition is supposed to work. Establish the right relationship to the Master, fulfill your obligations, and get to know him better. He brings you into a sphere of “consideration” that makes you even more profound.

(102) So then thats what Ive been doing this last week.

(103) And really there should be no question, then, what youre going to do. You should do what Scrooge must do.

(104) HELLIE KALOGEROS: Beloved, this period of time with You has been so wonderful. It has truly been like Your description of the Ordeal of Being Retreat, where you just drop out like that.

(105) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. Tcha.

(106) HELLIE: And even though Ive been working, Youve been with me completely, Instructing me and Guiding me. And its been completely wonderful.

(107) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm, Tcha.

(108) HELLIE: And I appreciate all of the Gifts Youve Given us, Beloved—The Gift of tapas . . .

(109) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Right diet. [laughter and people talking at once] Uh-huh.

(110) HELLIE: My body has taken on a natural economy . . .

(111) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Economy, Tcha.

(112) HELLIE: . . . in terms of diet and all of the disciplines Youve Given us. In other words, its taken on a greater intensity. And instead of reacting to it, Im really appreciating it, because it keeps me connected to You in a way thats so tangible. Its been truly a demonstration to me, whole bodily, of what Youve been describing to us.

(113) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm, Tcha.

(114) Is that supposed to be two eyes, a smile, and a nose? [Beloved is gesturing toward the way the gifts of flowers and fruits have been arranged on His bed in front of Him.] [laughter]

(115) DEVOTEES: Brian did it.

(116) BRIAN OMAHONY: I did it that way deliberately, Beloved.

(117) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Then maybe a beard down here or something?

(118) BRIAN: Yes, thats exactly what it is. I didnt have a nose. I didnt have a nose. [laughter]

(119) BETH KANTOR: The mike.

(120) JANIS OHKI: The mike is the nose.

(121) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Nose here, banana mouth, and two tangerines for eyeballs. Either a garland or a beard down here. Very amusing, Brian.

(122) Where are My cookies? [referring to the cookie-art that He made for the celebration of Danavira Mela]

(123) KANYA NAVANEETA: Right.

(124) ADI DA SAMRAJ: We have Brians sculpture on display here.

(125) KANYA NAVANEETA: Oh, the cookies.

(126) ADI DA SAMRAJ: None of My Works are here. What is the story on these cookies? [laughter]

(127) STANLEY: Beloved, the last thing that I was told was that they were still drying.

(128) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes, yes. And you havent heard in a couple of days, is that it?

(129) STANLEY: Uhhhhh. Thats correct. [laughter] Two days!

(130) HAL OKUN: I knew that sounded familiar.

(131) BRIAN: Or two years, maybe.

(132) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So the whole cookie thing may be actually happening. Youre just not informed.

(133) STANLEY: Yes. Thats probably the way it is.

(134) ADI DA SAMRAJ: When next we meet, later today, after our gathering, I want you to actually be able to provide Me with My cookies or, [affecting a very stern voice] let Me know the reason why. [laughter]

(135) BRIAN: That is an ultimatum.

(136) RODNEY GRISSO: What time is it?

(137) ADI DA SAMRAJ: 3:30 or something?

(138) BRIAN: 3:30.

(139) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So—what is there to “consider” then? [pause]

(140) STANLEY: Beloved?

(141) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Hm?

(142) STANLEY: I think theres something interesting in what just took place when You were talking to me about cookies. [laughter] Beloved, You just spoke about, in the Upanishads, the tradition of serving the Master, and what that . . .

(143) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes. In other words it goes back that far. Its continued ever since. [a few people laugh] Westerners dont want to hear about that part.

(144) STANLEY: But its clear what that . . .

(145) ADI DA SAMRAJ: They want the Santa Claus/child model of the Guru-devotee relationship.

(146) STANLEY: Beloved, its clear that the rela—

(147) ADI DA SAMRAJ: You know what I mean?

(148) STANLEY: Yes, I do. I do indeed. But, Beloved, its also the . . .

(149) ADI DA SAMRAJ: But its the servant/Master relationship, not the child/Santa Claus relationship.

(150) NINA: Right.

(151) ADI DA SAMRAJ: You hear a lot of talk these days about the humor of the Divine Person, and so on.

(152) BRIAN: Only from You.

(153) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Thats all true enough. You also have to understand that the Divine Person is incredibly serious . . . [Some laughter, Beloved chuckles.]

(154) BRENDA PHILLIPS: Incredibly.

(155) ADI DA SAMRAJ: . . . fiercely serious. [pause] The humorous side is friendly enough, generally speaking. Its just a Play on the very, very serious Person, and its a Play thats supposed to bring you into Communion with that Most Serious Person. And so the humorous Play is not an end in itself. Its the circumstance in which you feel beyond your limitations.

(156) And yes, you were going to say, then, Stanley?

(157) STANLEY: The Revelation is made, Beloved, in that act of service, but something more profound is Revealed through that, also through your Humor. Always that seriousness is Revealed in this . . .

(158) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes? And what am I serious about?

(159) STANLEY: Our Realization, Beloved.

(160) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes?

(161) STANLEY: About Who You Are, about God.

(162) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Self-Existing, Self-Radiant Being, All Love-Bliss is very, very serious. You notice, theres no other descriptive terms in there like “laughing”, “joking”, “smiling”. [Beloved chuckles.]

(163) STANLEY: Beloved, its that Revelation that I think is a profound aspect of the “consideration” that weve had over these days, because throughout the entire “consideration” and all of the Samadhis that were Given, the one thing that is all illustrated very clearly is that everything I do thats apart from that is self-contraction. Thats been Revealed in terms of everything that Im constantly doing, anything that is a “do”, or to do, already is that contraction.

(164) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(165) STANLEY: And that is the thread that has carried throughout the “considerations” and throughout the days or time that were apart from this meeting. Even if it lasts for a minute or two—maybe something, some kind of action, lasts—its right away recognition that its again just that same thing, and the whole entire spectrum of whatever that can be, from laughing to indulging the body, to feeling that I am “considering” something, rather than actually entering into the “consideration”.

(166) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well if youre serious, you understand Me about all this, then, you know that the self-consideration is always the happening, unless it is not.

(167) STANLEY: Right.

(168) ADI DA SAMRAJ: And the only way for it not to be is if you literally go beyond, flower beyond, radiate beyond this self-contraction. Otherwise it is constantly active. So to be serious means that you understand this in some basic terms. And know that you have to be constantly dealing with this contraction, engaged in that listening process in relation to Me in which you are more and more profoundly and directly noticing this as the root of all of your seeking and all of your activity, all of your experience—this knot, this dis-ease, this force of contraction rather than Radiance in your disposition altogether. So its the seriousness of examining that, noticing that, understanding that, in the moment to moment process of this devotional Communion with Me, yielding all of the faculties.

(169) This is why Ishta-Guru-Bhakti Yoga must be moment to moment—because without it, all the faculties fall into their entrapment mode and perform the egoic search. Any moment in which you do not practice this devotion and are seriously moved to go beyond self-contraction, beyond self-reference, any moment in which that is not occurring is the moment of the dramatization of Narcissus—which is a vast, complex dramatization. It seems like in all the roles and patterns of life, in what Ive pointed out to you, that no matter what the pattern looks like, its still this guy looking at himself, dissociated from all, and everything, in self-meditation, meditation on the ego-knot, and its motive.

(170) So to be serious is to be involved in this thread which becomes hearing, flowering beyond self-contraction. That means you have to be serious about the Yoga, the true Yoga of Ishta-Guru-Bhakti moment to moment. So Ive Shown you how to have it be so.

(171) Hm? So you do this Ishta-Guru-Bhakti Yoga constantly in the midst of conditions, all of which have been rightened by your embracing My Instruction. So every moment, then, is this giving through all the faculties—yes, giving yourself into Contemplation of Me, and doing it in the context of right practice as Ive Given it to you, under whatever circumstance youre in at the moment. It is to live the life of the servant-devotee. Not an employee, but someone who has been “sold” to a Master, so to speak sold.

(172) If youre doing all of that, and just handling that basic business out front, those adaptations very directly, and really entered into this seriousness of disposition moment to moment, then the “consideration” of My Instruction relative to hearing—you see, how could it not become fruitful very quickly with all the signs and characteristics weve discussed in this week? The only thing that weakens it is this bad story of Scrooges non-conversion, or his delayed conversion, certainly. He wants to think about it. Having started that, its not likely hes going to take it up seriously.

(173) So thats what interrupts it. You dont take your vow seriously. You think of yourselves as employees or friends instead of “Bonded” servants, given absolutely—having discarded all the options. You do it with utmost seriousness and no ambiguity, because youre serious about this whole affair of Communing with the Master, Realizing his Condition. And the ground impediment is this oblivious self-contraction which must become your responsibility. Well, thats what hearing is all about, then—establishing all the conditions of right relationship to Me, all the disciplines, obligations, and seriously “consider” this matter of the self-contraction.

(174) Rather than addressing your seeking and fulfilling it, address this root of it, this disturbance, until, in response to Me, in Communion with Me, and by address to My Word, this hearing is simply clear, clearly so. After which you begin to practice on another level of growth, or in a process of growth on another level.

(175) The first responsibility, however, is for the self-contraction, if you cant enter into this Spiritual process with Me when I “draw” you to the Perfect Place of practice. You must, in the midst of that, be able to feel beyond the self-contraction in Communion with Me, or you will dwell on experiences, superficiality, and so on. But the ground is this responsibility for the self-contraction in the Samadhi of Communion with Me, or as the basis for it. The process becomes one of ego-transcendence, then, simply and directly. But it is all preliminary practice, the fundamental import of which is responsibility for the self-contraction such that you relinquish it utterly in Communion with Me. And that truly established, then, the “Perfect Practice” is inevitable. Because in Spiritual Communion with Me, rather than just giving you a bunch of experiences to expand your sense of egoic self, I “draw” you into the place of the Heart on the right, and the Witness.

(176) Because no matter what is arising, even at this moment, Aniello, you are the Witness of it. Isnt this true? Isnt it true now?

(177) ANIELLO: Yes, my Lord.

(178) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Even attention itself. Youre Witnessing it. So youre not the body-mind. You are That which is Witnessing it. What is that? This is what must be Realized. This is what must be entered into. So that profundity begins only when you Stand prior to the body-mind, in the Witness-Position, and have that become the ground of your sadhana, rather than identification with the body-mind.

(179) But even now, its true at any moment that you respond to the “consideration” of it. Even now, no matter what is arising, you are the Witness of it. Simply that. It is object to you. You are in the Witness-Position. It has no body-mind in it. So even now its true of you, but other things are curiously true of you, also. Your entanglements and so forth.

(180) Last night I was reminding everyone of the story in one of the old Upanishads. I believe the setting of it is some wise man instructing a potential disciple, walking along and seeing a tree, or some such circumstance anyway. But what is described is a tree with two birds in it. One of them is constantly busy eating the fruits and so forth of the tree, and the other simply stands by Witnessing.

(181) Theres all kinds of things that can be made of that, what its suggesting about what to do, be the good bird, bad bird, and all that stuff. But, first of all, what it is is a universal description of the human being in the egoic state. And anyone can notice this. You notice how you are, if you understand the tree as the body-mind, you notice how you are always actively involved in it and its relations. You see that busyness, that entanglement, everything that that is. But it is also true, in any moment that you “consider” it, you are simply the Witness of what is arising. You can feel, observe, or notice something about this, as now. Its just that you dont rest in that Position. But its always already true of you because you can relocate it, if so directed.

(182) So effectively every human being, prior to Realization, is like this tree with two birds in it. You seem to be very preferential about wanting to be the busy bird, but on the other hand, something in you wants to be that merely Witnessing bird, and be free. So you have both motivations.

(183) And we were talking about this last night because after “considering” this “Perfect Practice” and so forth for some days, those who were in the group were starting to ask the question—how do you stay in the Witness-Position? And they were saying things like, in the midst of their “consideration”, yes, they were in that Stand, but then as soon as they begin to think about something or “consider” some other matter, they would lose a sense of Standing in the Witness-Position. So everybodys presenting Me with this paradoxical description of themselves. Yes, you are the Witness and so forth, and yes, you are entangled in the body-mind and thats something quite different.

(184) Its not that you are in some bizarre state in the sense that nobody else experiences this. This is what a human being is like, prior to Realization. Its not like you have two personalities. You have two positions or dispositions, lets say, that are possible for you—the disposition of identification with the body-mind, or the disposition of the Witness. They are both immediately available to you as a presumption, at any moment. Its just that, by tendency of attachment, you tend to be involved in the entanglement with the body-mind, principally. And any movement toward the Prior Position is just that. You are always “considering” it, or conceiving it, in terms of you are this entanglement of person and you want to get into a greater condition. You want to move toward it and not be what you are now, in some sense.

(185) So in other words, you tend to think that you are not the tree with two birds in it. You tend to think you are the tree with one bird in it, this busy one. And the other one is somewhere else. Anyway, its not what you are about at the moment. So this is how you delude yourself in the midst of your entanglement. Because that other option is always there, you can always recollect it, if you used My Word and directed yourself that way, you could see that it is so very directly. Its just that you dont tend to assume that Position. You tend to assume the entangled disposition. And then about the matter of Realization, you want to know how to get there.

(186) You cant get there from here, you see? [laughter]

(187) JANIS: I was just thinking of that Talk.

(188) ADI DA SAMRAJ: You cant get from the busy bird to the Witness bird by doing something with the busy bird. When it comes down to it, you can either be the Witness bird or not.

(189) So you see how you propose religion in the ego-based sense. You then begin to think in religious terms, if its this matter of God-Realization, or Communion with God, or however you want to describe it, as a process of going toward that, somehow or another. And eventually achieve some kind of remarkable intimacy with it or combination with it, having used your busy self as the means.

(190) Its a sign of relative immaturity, or earlier stage practice, that you dont do the sadhana of Standing in the Witness-Position, but instead presume this entangled psycho-physical existence, and yet have a heart-motive toward Divine Communion. But you always “consider” it in terms of the self-reference, the reference to the body-mind. Whereas the Perfect Position, the only ultimately right Position for sadhana, for Realization of That Which Is Beyond, is the Position Beyond. It is the Beyond Position of the Witness. Thats the ground of sadhana that is most profound.

(191) And you see how its just an automaticity to assume that youre the busy bird, so to speak. You know, try to do something with it to get into union with the Witness bird. But that, in fact, is the gesture made in the sadhana until this Great Matter is understood—that you are in the Witness-Position, and not in the body-mind position.

(192) So first, being ordinary human beings adapted to the body-mind, you tend to do things in that manner. You seek. Contraction is at the root, and you seek this, that, and the other thing—the way of the body-mind, the problem seeker, problem-based seeker. But then when you have heard Me, even though the body-mind still continues to be the mechanism of your Yogic approach to Communion with Me, the fundamental practice is that of Radiating beyond the self-contraction. So you do that, but in the context of this Yoga of yielding the faculties, yielding the body-mind in Communion with Me. But you see its all still the doing of sadhana from the body-mind position. Even though youre yielding the root of egoity, youre still assuming the body-mind position.

(193) So there must, following hearing and the Spiritual process of seeing, be the allowance for this Awakening to the Position in Which you Always Already Stand. So you dont turn the busy bird into the Witness bird. You spontaneously, firmly, without effort, assume the Position where you Always Already Stand. And thats the Witness. Not the Witness watching the busy bird—of course in some ordinary life-context that is done—but the great Contemplation, the great Sadhana done on the basis of the Witness, is entering into Its Well. The Well of Self-Radiant Consciousness, by non-“difference” from Me, attracted by My “Brightness” into that Depth beyond objects, the Infinite Domain.

(194) So until there is that Awakening, people create religion—not only on the basis of egoity and the satisfaction of its seeking, but they create it on the basis of fantasy. Theres a lot of fantasy in it, or misconception because its like the busy bird trying, by gesturing towards the Witness bird, to somehow be magically transformed into it. Thats not how it works. You have to Stand in that Position instead. The busy bird can never become the Witness. So until the Witness is realized, the ego (“I”) is your position, and religion is full of a lot of fantasy. Just like this idea of yielding the body-mind until you become One with That Which is without form. Its nonsense.

(195) And yet it is a gesture you must make, and then go beyond it. Because thats how youre structured. You see? But people build all kinds of fantasies and myths on top of such things. So in the first five stages of life theres all kinds of indulgences and imaginings of psycho-physical conditions that are it, you know? A lot of the imaginings even relate to the gross physical existence—the Yogic blisses youre going to enjoy in every circumstance, including sexual, and meditation, the kind of utopian brightness youre going to be yourself (alone and together), and all the powers youre going to have. [chuckles from devotees]

(196) Then you start fantasizing other places that you want to ascend to, and the fulfillment of your reaching whole bodily toward God, you see?

(197) STANLEY: Wow.

(198) ADI DA SAMRAJ: We amused ourselves talking about some of those kinds of fantasies last night. Dennis and some others, I guess, were talking about some of these fantasized religious pictures they used to respond to. Just the whole imagining of the perfect world that somehow, because youre making this psycho-physical gesture towards God, you imagine it being glorified, so that ultimately all of your egoic intention is there to be fulfilled . . .

(199) STANLEY: Utopia.

(200) ADI DA SAMRAJ: . . . by doing all of that, yes. Utopia here, utopia on some other plane.

(201) STANLEY: Mm-hm.

(202) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So the earlier stages of life, the first five stages of life, are the circumstance of illusions. You can use them rightly to be purified and move beyond the ego-disposition. Thats what I Call you to do, so that you can take up the “Perfect Practice”. Thats the purpose of it. So I havent just Given you an idealized outer life. Ive Given you a profound process at the core, which is about going beyond all the entanglement and contractedness of egoic existence, of conditional existence altogether even. And as long as you maintain the point of view of the body, you are Don Quixote, you see. An absurd religionist. [laughter]

(203) DANIEL BOUWMEESTER: Beloved, last night, You asked us about what beliefs we still carry over from our childhood religions.

(204) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes, did you remember something?

(205) DANIEL: Well, I know the thing that frustrated me when I was involved with the Catholic religion was this indirect approach to God.

(206) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(207) DANIEL: And I now understand, just from what Youve just said now, what the mechanism of conventional religion is, and how I aligned myself with that and became frustrated with it.

(208) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(209) DANIEL: And then Ive also noticed how that also anathematizes Standing in the Witness-Position.

(210) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(211) DANIEL: That particular religion didnt have anything to do with the Witness.

(212) ADI DA SAMRAJ: No, its very righteous about not assuming a disposition of non-“difference” from the Divine. All the Semitic traditions have this point of view in their exotericism. So theres this righteous demand that you live the social personality life, and if you are a kind of an official mystic, you still have to maintain the separation-from-God notion and the creator-God notion and a lot of other things as part of the structuring of your mysticism. And it must be this psycho-physical mysticism, like it is always in the first five stages of life—this yearning toward God through the human things, through the body-mind, externally and internally.

(213) So those are all characteristics of the first five stages of life—all those kinds of things. Its a structuring of approach to the ultimate Position via the ordinary position. So its a sign of human immaturity—all the aspects of religion associated with the first five stages of life are signs of human immaturity. That doesnt mean that they have nothing to do with anything. It just means that they describe human beings gesturing in paradoxical and absurd ways even, because of a fundamental misunderstanding, which they must out-grow. Theres only one real Position, and that is the Position of that of the Witness Prior to the body-mind, and the whole Depth to My Divine Domain that is the Well of all that.

(214) So in this Way all of this is clearly communicated, and youre supposed to understand what this process is all about, what its for. Its not done from the ego-position and the pursuit, the search, to glorify it here or anywhere else, but of going to the root of this search, the disturbance at the root of it, and understanding it, feeling it. And then understanding and feeling it, you are in the Position to feel beyond it, the means is clear.

(215) DANIEL: Well, its also how Youre Drawing us into the Position where we actually Stand rather than believing in the illusions of who we think we are, where were at, and all the rest of it. Your description of the practice as it really is, and being drawn into the Well of the Witness.

(216) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Is that?

(217) DANIEL: Well, as part of the process.

(218) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Of the “Perfect Practice”?

(219) DANIEL: Yes.

(220) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes.

(221) DANIEL: I was feeling how thats where the seriousness comes from—Your Attractiveness. And also as You described just before, the characteristic of the Divine Person is seriousness. And through Communion with You, and through Contemplation of You, is how this seriousness comes. I was “considering” it over against how traditionally its “considered” . . .

(222) ADI DA SAMRAJ: You become what you meditate on. If you Commune with That Which is serious, you become serious. If you seriously Commune with it. [laughter] Seriously! [laughter]

(223) DANIEL: But the traditional admonition is you get serious through suffering.

(224) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. Thats one of them, yes.

(225) DANIEL: Whereas that still keeps you in the domain of conditionality.

(226) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes. So, if your religious practice is one of making gestures with the body-mind—you already know its mortal and all the rest of it—then it must be clear to you that this is not it, yet, you see? That was My disposition in the whole course of My “Sadhana Years”. Firmly established in the “Bright”, but with all this apparent entanglement.

(227) The Truth is what is Always Already the Case. Its one of the ways I described it in the college experience. There was a basic sense of Reality expressed through that. And all the course of practice, experience and so on, still it was always some permutation of the body-mind, or use of the method of the body-mind. It obviously wasnt it.

(228) This is also My observation after being in Baba Muktanandas Company in 1968—Realizing Nirvikalpa Samadhi by the fifth stage means, and then seeing it disappear. Not only the return of conditions, but still feeling the glow of that ascent. But with the return, then just the pattern of the same entanglement. And all of a sudden it becomes the mood and the sign of experience—that, along with the fact that the process itself depended on the exercise of the body-mind. It was utterly clear to Me that that was not it. But still the process just had to go on, and didnt come to an end until it came to an end. There is the Realization of That Which Is Prior to conditionality, Prior to the body-mind. Truly That Which Is Always Already the Case, not a modification of It in time.

(229) So on this basis also, in the Garbage and the Goddess period, people had all kinds of experiences around Me, representing all the different stages of life and so on. And I would constantly address them after theyd come to Me with their “great” leela of their experience. I always came around to pointing out, what are you doing? What are you always doing? What is this? This is not it, you see? This is garbage. Why? Because anything that is a permutation of the body-mind, or that depends on the body-minds exercise, is conditional. It is not satisfactory. The achievements are all temporary. Nothing final about it.

(230) So the process just went on, in This Case, until there was only That Which Is Always Already the Case. It is the context of the Samadhi entirely. [pause] Not mixed at all, then, with the efforts and content of the body-mind.

(231) So the “Perfect Practice” is the practice done in the Perfect Domain, which is the Domain of Non-“difference”. And the body-mind is not exercised there, except that the Doorway to it is related to a last gesture at the point of contact with the body-mind, which is a gesture of disassociating from it—turning, inverting, so to speak, on the Self. Thats the last gesture to be transcended. But only after drowning in the Well.

(232) You cant get to the Divine Domain without your death. But its not of mere physical death. You can have lots of those. Its the utter death relinquishment, Outshining, out-feeling, of the knot of separateness.

(233) So its in that profound depth of Jnana that it suddenly is noticed that there is this gesture of disassociation from phenomenal existence. It is unnecessary. All of this apparent arising is nothing but the Divine Self-Condition, Self-Radiant, all Love-Bliss. Hasnt the slightest effect, in the bondage sense, on the Divine Self-Condition. So it is Recognized in that last conditional gesture of having to dissociate from it in order to enter the Well. Its released. Theres no leaving the Well. Youve drowned.

(234) The Divine Self-Position is not left behind. Its that all phenomenal arising is Recognized in that. And the sign in the body is the Yoga of Amrita Nadi in the body-mind, wherein the Divine Self Radiates from the Heart-Position through Amrita Nadi into the Circle, simply Recognizing what arises, not clinging to it at all, Recognizing it in the Divine Samadhi, the Ultimate Degree Where that Shining disposition Shines through and beyond all conditionality. Not by being disassociated from it, but by being Recognized. No impediment to the Shine. So it Recognizes all, passes through all, Outshines all.

(235) That is Divine Translation. But in the meantime, the seventh stage of life is that very Samadhi. And the apparent arising of conditions makes no “difference” whatsoever to that. Neither does it make any “difference” to the Witness. The Witness is not the body-mind. It has none of the troubles of the body-mind. The Witness must Realize its Source-Condition Most Perfectly. But it Stands in that very Position, about to Realize it.

(236) So the sadhana of the “Perfect Practice” is the sadhana of the Divine Self-Condition, which is not a psycho-physical exercise. Its held in place yet, though, by that last gesture made, that holding the world off, so to speak, to enter the Well. So that is the last relinquishment, when Jnana Samadhi becomes Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi in the seventh stage sense. Open-Eyed, infinite Samadhi. Recognizing all. [pause]

(237) So the beginning of that Awakeness and of Existence in that Perfect Domain is to Realize the Witness-Position in the fullest and Spiritual sense, as being the Position that Is Always Already the Case. Preliminary to this, in basic terms, is the relaxation of your entanglement, the fixity, the mechanicalness of your adaptations, so that you have free energy and attention for this Ultimate noticing.

(238) So you do have to use the body-mind as means of sadhana during all of that. But its just being a servant in My house. Its poor practice. You see?

(239) DEVOTEES: Mm-hm. Yes.

(240) ADI DA SAMRAJ: All the first five stages of life—poor practice compassionately Given because it serves the Awakening of true practice, ultimately. “Perfect Practice”, ultimately. But its still silly. Its still poor practice.

(241) I still see you being deluded there, you. [DEVOTEES: Mmmm.]

(242) Still functioning under a presumption that is obviously not true but that you feel somehow forced to accept tentatively while you enter into this Communion with Me constantly.

(243) So, except to get a little playful with you in the midst of all of that, if I werent able to relate to it that way, I would find you all incredibly boring. [Laughter, Beloved chuckles.] It would just be—[groans from devotees] boring. [laughter] Not interesting.

(244) And it is boring, and not interesting to Me. But Ive always maintained the disposition of Play, you see? The Submission to you of Play, allowing that to be the circumstance of serious “consideration”. But it is all poor practice—to see you all doing that there like youre back at kindergarten still. Me showing you how to put your rubber boots on so you wont get your feet wet on your way home to mommy and daddy. [laughter] It is something like that, you see?

(245) So we did seem to have some sort of agreement yesterday, or the day before, about how I wasnt going to have to do that anymore. I have made My Revelation about all that, Given you all My Full Instruction, and now I just expect you to do that, and theres no reason why I should have to take on your form or be so congenial with you that I assume a likeness to what youre about altogether. But that I will simply show you My Sign, free of that, and if I ever Talk it will be about the Great Matter. [murmurs]

(246) So we sort of agreed about that, I thought. [devotees affirm] And it was only then, having reached that agreement that you began, much more intensively than any day before, to start involving Me in the most extraordinarily mundane conversations. So, in fact, what you said you were going to do with Me, you did not do. And I had to volunteer to meditate on these lesser things with you, and thereby we all become it, you see?

(247) So you all entered into this lower vibratory sphere here of talking about the local pastorate. [in grim low voice] Like Frans and Dennis. [laughter]

(248) STANLEY: Oh, boy.

(249) ADI DA SAMRAJ: I suppose the reason that happened is because you all were showing Me the natural signs I was talking about earlier, sort of going back to the business as usual, “consideration” over. And that obviously is not the right Scrooge ending. And we talked about that you must leave with this true seriousness and be focused in the listening-hearing process.

(250) So it seemed like I had to just go through this banal period with you so that when the “consideration” is over youll be serious. But nonetheless, you all did this, even though you made this promise to Me, which is based on your seriousness. Then you started to suggest to Me you werent going to quite be all that very much serious, after a few days. You might think about it or something. Or just in the natural cycle, move back into your ordinary entanglement, more or less.

(251) So, in order for you to get serious again, Ive got to guide you back into this hearing matter. So Ive got to be talking about all that—and I find this incredibly boring! [chuckles from devotees] Because Ive already covered it thoroughly, at the beginning of these meetings. You swore to hold onto the thread of that, and I dont want to repeat it! [laughter] If you didnt get it, if you forgot it now, then youve got to go through the transcripts of these conversations and re-orient yourselves because I already did that Play with you. I dont want to do that anymore. Its boring to Me.

(252) So you may not be ready for the “Perfect Practice”, but I dont see any reason to talk about anything else, really.

(253) BRIAN: Right. [laughter]

(254) ADI DA SAMRAJ: But its also not all that amusing to talk to someone, then, about that Great Matter who isnt up to it. [murmurs of agreement] So then I just tend not to talk about it. [long pause]

(255) And if youre always already in a Position that is Prior to the body-mind, totally apart from the body-mind, dont you think its not only necessary but profoundly interesting, then, to find out about that?

(256) DEVOTEES: Mm. Yes.

(257) ADI DA SAMRAJ: But remarkably, then, otherwise you show the sign of it as if its not interesting. But what youre really interested in is all these searches, entanglements, and problem-solving games you play because youre identified with the body-mind. But youre not even there. Its a joke. Its a lie. Its bad Yoga. You meditated on some bad shit and became it. [laughter] And then you forgot how to do the Yoga, so you cant figure out how to get out of it. But you got there by Yoga, by concentration to the point of utter immersion in some thing or another such that you become it.

(258) So you did that, but then you forgot. Having identified with that, you forgot how you got there, you forgot the Yoga of staying loose. And then stuck with it, no Yoga that amounts to all that much anyway, you try to do what youre supposed to do, do whats interesting, or fulfill your aspirations, your searches and so on. And all it does is get older and sicker and deader, to death. Because you never get to fulfill all those programs absolutely—never to the point of absolute Happiness in any case.

(259) And you were never there, except you believed you were. You were actually Standing in the Witness Well, and you never investigated It. You gave it up in order to be identified with a mortal play, full of fear. You didnt even have enough sense to leave the door open behind you so at least you could be Witnessing it. [chuckles from devotees] You just went through the door, closed it behind you, and kept on going, and now theres nothing left but the body-mind. Bunch of dolts scratching their heads, talking about “matter”! [Laughter, Beloved chuckles.]

(260) Every school child knows that matter is light, matter is energy, everything is energy. Everybody says this over and over again. Its presumed common knowledge, isnt it?. All these forms are obviously just an appearance in light, you see? Of course, with all its elements, but when you get down to it, its just light. A base of light. Light is not divisible. Its not caused by something. Its ground.

(261) Likewise, enter into examination of yourself. The body, youre the Witness of it, its objective to you. Emotions, thoughts, attention itself—when you get down to the root of it, theres simply Consciousness Itself, Prior to the body-mind. It cant be reduced. It cant be broken into any parts. It has no cause. Its fundamental reality.

(262) Consciousness and Light.

(263) Light, the root of everything objective.

(264) Consciousness, the root of everything subjective.

(265) And they are One.

(266) Thats Reality.

(267) Irreducible, Always Already Is.

(268) That is Conscious Light. And thats your Position. Thats where what is Great is to be Realized. Not in the body-mind itself.

(269) So you have to stop being “Johnny Carson”, talking about matter. Take your Revelation seriously and enter into the Domain of Conscious Light. Practice the Law of that. And remember the Yoga by which you meditated and got caught. Get out of that.

(270) Radiate, instead of contract on that.

(271) Feel beyond it in Communion with Me.

(272) And enter My Domain of “Perfect Practice” and Realization.

[silence]

(273) So are we going to have to have a lot of, what is for Me, boring talk about hearing again?

(274) DEVOTEES: No. No. Oh, no! No. No!

(275) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So in that case, there should be no question about what are you going to do, now that you have had this week of “consideration” with Me.

(276) [to Nina] Hm? You making an utterance?

(277) NINA: It didnt come from me. I dont know where it came from.

(278) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Where did that utterance come from? It was a kind of a whimpering. [laughter]

(279) JANIS: It was Aniello.

(280) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Did you all hear a kind of whimpering? [laughter, many talk at once]

(281) JANIS: I thought it was Nina.

(282) ADI DA SAMRAJ: The Blender [referring to Brenda], was it?

(283) JANIS: Oh, it was Blender.

(284) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes.

(285) BRENDA: [laughing] I was blending.

(286) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes. She blends like the cat purrs. [Laughter, Beloved chuckles.]

(287) Ive also been talking about how human beings require this remarkable Revelation and “consideration”, this complicated process of disentanglement with all the limitations they put in the way in the midst of that and so on. And I was pointing out this is a rather unique requirement, this dealing with human beings. So weve talked a lot about the non-humans, everything that is not a human being, including all the plants and trees, and the chameleons in the kitchen, the birds and so on. [laughter] Bacteria. Tree moss. All the non-humans. Everything. All the elemental patterns, including the atmospheric ones and so forth.

(288) All the non-humans get the point very readily. They immediately grasp the nature of their situation and dont come up with vast programs, therefore, about exploiting psycho-physical possibilities. They live like renunciates and such. Theyre not trying to build a utopia here. They hang out in whats here. So you notice theyre not up to any big creative business like that because they get the point immediately.

(289) KANYA TRIPURA: [whispering] Thats right.

(290) ADI DA SAMRAJ: This, you know, this form here, in which you appear to be appearing, is really dangerous stuff. This is, [whispering in an exaggerated voice] “Im afraid!!!” [loud laughter] They immediately know theyre afraid. This is mortal. And theyre, you know, just a piece in the food chain. Theres several enemies all around. They dont look forward to old age or anything. They generally go earlier because theyre not the best eating, very often, except when theyre ripe, you see? [Devotees laugh.]

(291) So they see immediately their situation. Human beings, they got to read books, talk philosophy, delude themselves. You know? [laughter] They never get the point, even coming into My Company. These profound “considerations”, everything completely obvious. You know? [laughter] Talk to you a week or two later, you dont remember anything about it! Still seeking with the body-mind. Well, human beings are the only ones who do this.

(292) INEKE VAN AMERONGEN: Why, Beloved?

(293) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Thats what weve been “considering”. [laughter] And we have covered it very thoroughly, in fact. [loud laughter]

(294) Its not a “why” like a Cosmic why, or a Divine decree. Its not outside you. Youre doing it. And thats where weve located it. If it were universal, all the non-humans would be confused like you.

(295) DEVOTEES: Right.

(296) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Its not inherent. Its a strange characteristic of human beings, to play their egoity with such a free hand. Like fools oblivious to their situation. So all the non-humans notice this and immediately are converted to a life of Contemplation. In other words, theyre not, generally speaking, busy twenty-four hours a day just doing the business of life sort of thing. They economize that. They minimize their requirements. When the time comes for it, they do it very straightforwardly. But always looking to have it to be as brief an occupation as possible. And then they go off and find a place, they look around to make sure, they piss around it or whatever, they make a territory, shout out some noises so everybody stays away, seem real threatening, you know. “Ya ya yaaaa yaaaa!!!!” [Beloved sounds like an animal snarling.] [laughter] Like youre really a tough son of a bitch, you know. Where actually all you want to do is enter into this utter harmlessness of Divine Contemplation. [delighted laughter]

(297) So you handle the business of life as quickly as possible, you simplify your requirements so its not a big deal, and then you spend a lot of time Contemplating, utterly relinquishing the body-mind, and going beyond. All the non-humans do this. And the only time you see them not clearly this sign—if youre observant, youll see this sign in them—but the only time you see them not doing so, as weve discussed here, is in situations where they are threatened or confined somehow, in some kind of way, so that their usual way of going about things is interrupted and they feel threatened. So they are always wary instead of relaxed, and they go through all kinds of changes, as you see animals in zoos, and even often domesticated animals or pets or whatnot. But if you find right conditions for them, or otherwise observe them in their natural habitat, undisturbed, they are all Contemplators. They can find ways to be Contemplative even in very difficult circumstances.

(298) So all the non-humans immediately are converted. They all do this life of Contemplation—and human beings do not, readily. And you all are examples of that, having been, all of you to one degree or another, rather retarded in your serious practice of this Way.

(299) So what was Ineke wondering about? [chuckles from devotees] How to what?

(300) DEVOTEES: “Why?” “Why?” “Why?”

(301) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [in an accent] Why? Why? [laughter] I was trying to imitate a Dutch accent there.

(302) INEKE: You were very good.

(303) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, as if she hasnt got the Teaching yet, and the obligation to do just that. Shes waiting around to be convinced or to find out what it is. Thats being “Johnny Carson” forever, you see? [pause]

(304) Do you know what I mean, Ineke?

(305) INEKE: I do, my Lord.

(306) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Ill bet. [in an exaggeratedly deep voice] Youre not going to get off the hook that easily, Ineke. [laughter] A little social assurance and a smile—you saw the whole technique there in one stroke? Doesnt want to get into any serious “consideration”, but just here to have a pleasant conversation and be friendly, right? [laughter]

(307) [Beloved sighs then whispers.] Ayeee, these householders. What do you do with them? [laughter, Beloved laughs soundlessly]

(308) Well, do you have anything more to say about it?

(309) INEKE: I totally feel Your criticism, Beloved.

(310) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. [pause] Well, that was certainly an elaborate conversation. [laughter] Really got down to it there. [laughter]

(311) STANLEY: Beloved?

(312) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm?

(313) STANLEY: I think an interesting—one of the things that Ive noticed as interesting since weve been back here is . . .

(314) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Back—here in California, you mean?

(315) STANLEY: Yes, I mean back here in California—is this common reference to having to “really hear the criticism”. And then sit in that until you get it, until you can receive it emotionally. [laughter] Ive found this very amusing ever since Ive been here.

(316) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [coughing] What is that exactly? Im totally involved in coughing.

(317) STANLEY: Well, I was just reminded of it when Ineke just said that she felt Your Criticism. Theres this presumption that goes on about how you have to really receive a criticism and then sit in it and feel it until you get it emotionally.

(318) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(319) STANLEY: And something about that seems very absurd in the midst of what weve been “considering” recently. I mean, it seems like a simple matter of addressing things on the basis of what You say, and then taking care of business. But this whole matter of sitting in the criticism and sitting in this feeling until you really get it. [laughing] Its is not what you want to get anyhow.

(320) ADI DA SAMRAJ: What are you going to get anyhow?

(321) STANLEY: Thats not what you really want to get anyhow. Meditation on that is not what you want to get.

(322) ADI DA SAMRAJ: No, not just meditation on that, but you do have to understand it, and not merely as an object to yourself.

(323) STANLEY: Yes.

(324) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So you do have to get into its position, and feel beyond it, you see?

(325) STANLEY: Right.

(326) ADI DA SAMRAJ: But you can get somehow close to it and just look at it. And nothing ever happens in that case.

(327) MICHAEL: It seems like Scrooge feeling really criticized.

(328) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Hmmmm?

(329) MICHAEL: I think what he means is, like, as if Scrooge felt really criticized, instead of making the conversion.

(330) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Right, yes. And so?

(331) STANLEY: That was just an observation actually. [laughter] [Stanley laughs] I was just saying it to be said. [more laughter]

(332) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. [pause]

(333) I told you we were in danger of zeroing in on Dennis and Joan, Frans and Ineke, and Aniello and Brenda. [laughter] And limitations that somehow or other you are identifying with them at the moment. And that if we werent going to do that, if we didnt carefully make sure we didnt do that, it would be inevitable.

(334) Remember I was telling you this?

(335) STANLEY: Oh, yes, Beloved. I passed it on also.

(336) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, you see what weve been doing, then? Just as I said. Hmmmmmm?

(337) STANLEY: Yes, its absolutely true.

(338) ADI DA SAMRAJ: I told you not to allow this to happen, Stanley. [laughter] Youre supposed to be the sarvadhikari around here.

(339) BRIAN: He really feels Your Criticism, Beloved. [loud laughter]

[Beloved and everyone take a break. Carl and Kanya Tripura are the first to come back into the room with Beloved.]

(340) CARL PENGELLY: Beloved, Im feeling that I need Your Instructions in whatever form that is. Its something that I know that I have to do.

(341) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Whats that?

(342) CARL: I cant think of it now. I cant—[laughs]

(343) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [laughing] This very important thing that you have to deal with and you want My Instructions about, and you cant remember what it is now? [laughter]

(344) CARL: I lost my mind. [laughter]

(345) STANLEY: [laughing] For the rest of his life, this thing will trouble him. “I had my moment with Beloved alone. I had a question. And I forgot it.” [loud laughter]

(346) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Do you have these kinds of problems at home?! [loud laughter, Beloved laughs] [to Hellie] He doesnt start conversations out with you and then all of a sudden forget about them in the middle? [laughing]

(347) HELLIE: No.

(348) ADI DA SAMRAJ: This looked like it was going to be a big one, too. [laughter]

(349) KANYA TRIPURA: Yes, Beloved. He wanted Your total Instruction on something.

(350) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [to Hal] Did you happen to leave the tape recorder on when you left?

(351) HAL: Yes, I did, Lord.

(352) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, when I came in here out of the bathroom, there was no one here but Tripura and Carl, right?

(353) KANYA TRIPURA: Right.

(354) ADI DA SAMRAJ: And maybe because it seemed like theres nobody else around, and he has this opportunity, he was here with Me alone, he, Carl, decided he was going to initiate a very serious discussion with Me. [laughter] So he starts telling Me, in a very serious tone of voice and manner, that he needs My Instruction about some particular thing. My Help. “Theres something,” he said, “theres something I have to do.” [laughter] He sounds very serious. [laughter] So I said, “Yes, well whats that?” And then he tells me he forgot! [loud laughter] Finally gets down to the ultimate question. [pause] Hm?

(355) Well, if you do remember it, youll have to bring it up here again. Well, maybe people started coming into the room, and he didnt feel comfortable about others listening to what he was going to say, . . .

(356) KANYA TRIPURA: Hellie came in. [laughter]

(357) HAL: Ah-ha!

(358) ADI DA SAMRAJ: . . . and he does indeed remember what he was talking about, [devotees make noises as if suspicious] but he would prefer not to mention it in present company. Is it something like that, Carl?

(359) CARL: No, I think I could follow it through.

(360) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Did something change about your interest in communicating to Me about this when people started coming into the room, including Hellie?

(361) CARL: Uh, not with Hellie, no.

(362) ADI DA SAMRAJ: People otherwise?

(363) CARL: Yes, oh yes.

(364) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So you felt less free to talk about it?

(365) CARL: Yes.

(366) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Do you feel free to talk about it now?

(367) CARL: Sure, Ill talk about it.

(368) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Oh. What is it? [laughter]

(369) CARL: I guess what Im hearing is that I have to turn over my entire life to You. And I was just trying to just express that.

(370) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. Are there any particulars about that that youre not certain about or something?

(371) CARL: Well, I felt theres something there, but Im not quite sure what it is.

(372) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. Well, what is it like, that [in a low voice] thing. [laughter] You must know something about it.

(373) What?

(374) CARL: The self-contraction.

(375) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [in an exaggerated voice] Oh, I know about that!

(376) BRIAN: Speaking in over-all terms. [laughter]

(377) ADI DA SAMRAJ: I mean more specifically, in terms of the extensions of that.

(378) CARL: Well, it just feels like a pit in my stomach.

(379) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. Everybody has a pit in their stomach, supposedly, but its just that in your case its uncomfortable? You have some sort of stress in the pit of your stomach?

(380) CARL: Well, its, a little bit—nothing that I would feel its a big deal.

(381) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. And what else? [pause]

(382) CARL: I dont feel much else. [Beloved laughs, laughter.]

(383) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, that sounds simple enough to Me, then, Carl. It should be a very easy practice for you. [Loud laughter, Beloved laughs.] What else?

(384) CARL: But it doesnt feel comfortable at all, really.

(385) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Hm. Right. What else can you say about it? [pause]

(386) CARL: Its painful.

(387) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. [pause]

(388) CARL: Its separation. Feelings of separation.

(389) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. [silence]

(390) Anything else about it?

(391) CARL: I feel like, I feel like I have to . . .

(392) ADI DA SAMRAJ: You feel like you have to do what?

(393) CARL: I feel like I have to respond.

(394) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. And what kind of a thing, what kind of doing is associated with that—that youre wondering about?

(395) CARL: Whats associated with it?

(396) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes. Is there something unusual that you feel that you need to do about all of this?

(397) CARL: I feel like I have to get it to stop.

(398) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Which?

(399) CARL: That feeling of having to do something about it.

(400) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm. But all of that is busyness, preoccupation with the sensation itself. Just that. The process of moving beyond it, and even understanding it in the process, is simply this Yoga, Ishta-Guru-Bhakti, in which you take all the faculties that would otherwise be combining with this, that, or the other thing of self, and turn them to Me. Forgetting all of that, you see?

(401) So its not by working on the sensation or whatever that you go beyond it. Its by practicing this Ishta-Guru-Bhakti. And you will observe some sort of limit on it, to the point of self-forgetting Communion with Me, some limit on that. You still must feel beyond it. But in the moment, you notice some limit, and then you have to apply the discipline to it thereafter. And whatever limitations or obstacles are in your life that get pointed out in this movement toward Me, those are the things youll have to deal with, make right somehow, including a change of attitude.

(402) STANLEY: Beloved, You said the other day when we were gathering here, You said as soon as you feel that you need to do something . . .

(403) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(404) STANLEY: . . . then this “consideration” has come to an end.

(405) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(406) STANLEY: And its interesting to see how there is a constant impulse to actually go out and do something thats going to make the difference. That is, it seems like an inherent anxiety that comes up. “I have to go out and do some kind of practice or some kind of something that is going to really make the difference.”

(407) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, thats just another way of describing seeking, you see?

(408) STANLEY: Right.

(409) ADI DA SAMRAJ: In any form, or for any object. If you examined yourself in the midst of your seeking, youll see this disturbance thats at the root of it. And its not by seeking to the point of getting the fruits of whatever that search may be about, because every time that happens, the whole thing begins all over again. So you must understand and deal with this root-disturbance. If you seek, you intensify it. In any case, its always there.

(410) STANLEY: And if you seek, its as You said, this “consideration” comes to an end.

(411) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(412) STANLEY: Whereas when you dont, this “consideration” actually certainly continues even outside the sphere of this meeting or gathering here.

(413) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(414) STANLEY: But its continuous.

(415) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yeeees.

(416) STANLEY: Yes. [chuckles from devotees]

[silence]

(417) BRIAN: Beloved?

(418) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm?

(419) BRIAN: You were talking, or You asked several times last night if there was any belief that you had in place that was an obstruction to our Communion with You, from our previous religious beliefs. And then I mentioned a few things that were predominant in my culture when I was growing up.

(420) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(421) BRIAN: But I didnt really feel into what You were saying until You mentioned something tonight, and it really struck a chord with me, which is that any Semitic faith has this basic presumption or taboo that you cannot become One with the Divine.

(422) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(423) BRIAN: And I was really feeling that. And I realized that there is something about that presumption thats still the case with me in one respect. And I just kind of got the Revelation from You in the last few moments, which is that since theres a kind of a hidden taboo against being One with You, this matter of reception of You gets obstructed.

(424) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Mm-hm.

(425) BRIAN: And I realized in these several moments in which You allowed me to fully receive You, that there was an effective obstruction there in my case where I felt that it wasnt right somehow to fully receive You—to allow that ecstatic full reception of You.

(426) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Because its not only the taboos that you receive culturally or whatnot—the self-contraction is the reason why you would seem to be fulfilling those admonitions, you see?

(427) So, once again you are just suggesting non-hearing in your own case, then.

(428) BRIAN: [laughing] Every time I open my mouth! [laughter]

(429) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well good, then you reveal things you have to deal with, but you may think taboos or whatever influences are the reason why. Then you can play your life out on the basis of that presumption, working on this, that, and the other thing. But its the self-contraction which you yourself are generating that is dissociating you from Me. So that, rather than any dealing with the taboos in your head and whatnot. Just not using that in Communion with Me.

(430) So youre suggesting youre in the listening position still.

(431) BRIAN: Mm-hm.

(432) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Because relative to these particular kinds of things, this taboo-mind, youre just without arms.

(433) BRIAN: Mm-hm. I didnt think it was quite that bad. [loud laughter]

(434) ADI DA SAMRAJ: But now you know it is. [laughter]

(435) BRIAN: Im in deep shit now, Beloved. [laughter]

(436) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Extremely bad. [laughter and amused comments]

(437) Another amusement is that you have to go through the discipline of transforming your speech so that it corresponds to you. Ive had to do this in some unique way all these years, trying to use the language to communicate something that the language has never been adapted to communicating. It has all kinds of rules or shapes in it, like a house, architecture determines life, you know? So Ive had to work with all of that to find a way to be fully communicative. But you all likewise, becoming My devotees, and then going through—and then certain experiences developing, and then advancements in your practice, in your sadhana, in your realization, your understanding—when these transformations occur at the level of depth, they must be registered all throughout the life, or itll be rather hidden and tend to be forgotten. You have to live on the basis of your revelations, like Scrooge. Not suppress them.

(438) So part of it, then, is conversion of speech. How often, even in this period of gathering, has somebody said something or other and after we discourse about it for hours, basically claim that it was just a way of speaking, that they didnt really mean it that way. Its a rather common experience on the part of you all. Its a common experience I have talking to you all. In other words, at the core you feel a basic unique profundity in your life that wasnt there before, and yet your words and your doings dont seem to suggest it very much. So you have to go through that creative exercise of being transformed by your revelations, making the changes they require. If this is so of you, you will speak differently, rather than assume another position or point of view because its common or conventional.

(439) So if you dont convert your own body-mind once youve gotten the Revelation, then it does not affect your overall life—Dennis. [laughter]

(440) DENNIS DUFF: Yes, Beloved. One of the things that Ive really been feeling here tonight, you know, hearing Your Criticisms, is that the practice in relationship to you must be moment to moment, or the true seriousness isnt there. [laughter]

(441) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [to Dennis] Yes? Is that it, or is there something further? [silence]

(442) DENNIS: [laughing] Well, I feel . . . [Devotees laugh.]

(443) STANLEY: [laughing] Hes progressing as planned. [laughter]

(444) [in a Scottish accent like Scotty in Star Trek] Right on course, Captain! [loud laughter]

(445) ADI DA SAMRAJ: [mimicking the commanding voice of Captain Kirk in Star Trek] The thermal bollux stimulators need to be checked, Scotty. [laughter]

(446) STANLEY: [in the same Scottish accent] Aye, Captain. Right away! [more laughter]

(447) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Get a message to cojones control! [laughter]

(448) STANLEY: Chief Engineer OMahony! [laughter] [Beloved laughs.]

(449) HAL: Thats the liveliest theyve ever sounded!

(450) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Ramming speed, Scottie! [loud laughter]

(451) STANLEY: We have no more shields, Captain!! [laughter]

(452) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Try Trojans. Theyre just as good. [laughter] [Beloved laughs.] [pause]

(453) And so?

(454) BRIAN: Beloved, one of the things that I felt very clarified . . . [laughter]

[Aniello is pouring some espresso out of a thermos, Beloved notices and raises an eyebrow at him.]

(455) ANIELLO: I knew it, I knew it.

(456) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Is that something your Mama made for you? [loud laughter]

(457) ANIELLO: Introduced me to it. Its espresso.

(458) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Well, you see? A little contact with Mama going on here right now. [loud laughter] A little rush to security. [laughter] [silence]

(459) I saw in a book that I reviewed recently for The Basket of Tolerance—Desmond Morris, you know him?

(460) DEVOTEES: Yes, he wrote The Naked Ape.

(461) ADI DA SAMRAJ: It was in a book about—I guess its general subject was intimacy, I think was the word he used. He analyzes human beings with reference to the approach that would be taken by scientists to study animal behavior. He presumes human beings to be animals, as weve been discussing here a few times. And so, why not observe them just with that kind of an eye—as animals. Talk about their behaviors the way you would talk about animal behavior and some such. So his books kind of have this quality, then.

(462) And in this particular book that I reviewed, he was talking about intimacy and the need for contact and so on. And he was talking about the gestures people make touching their own bodies, under all different kinds of circumstances, different emotions, or just patterns of speech where they use physical gestures, touching themselves or doing this or that with their hands. His point of view about that, it seems, is that because human beings systematically seem to be depriving themselves of touch, of intimacy, that when people are touching themselves in various ways, they are giving themselves the feeling of contact. Its like having a teddy bear. It gives you the impression of relatedness, in My language. The illusion of relatedness.

(463) Of course his point of view is a critical one of all kinds of things, but ultimately a criticism of the distance that gets created in bringing up children or living human life according to convention. There is a basic requirement for the human animal to have a ground of physical openness with others—physical touch, not just verbal association and speech mannerisms and adjacency. And that one of the signs of human beings needing that and not having it, not getting straight with that, is so much of this touch-your-own-body kind of fidgeting to generate, in effect, the illusion of relatedness, through contact.

(464) Heres another example of someone like Freud, who made over much of one aspect of things and misinterpreted everything as a result. [laughter] It produces some interesting insights and so forth, perhaps, on some level, but also its a false view, a wrong way of viewing human beings. Yes, there is the dimension of the animal, clearly. Thats not whats wrong about it. But its reducing the examination by assuming that point of view. Human beings viewed in totality cover much more ground than a variety of ape form. Even the apes have a lot more to them than apes as they are studied. They are great Contemplatives, for instance. [pause]

(465) So there could be a lot of ways to account for gestures people make, including touching their own bodies. But as an element of it, its true enough. Even bodily, in other words, you show the sign of disconnection or the avoidance of relationship. You feel separate, and you show this by all kinds of illusory contact you make on your own body—what games you play to enjoy the feeling of relatedness without actual open association with anything or anyone.

(466) Also, you show the signs all over your body-mind of the absence of contact with God. There are all kinds of symptoms of that. You see? You show as much symptom relative to that as you do relative to touch deprivation. More so, in fact. So youve been acculturated and adapted and “ego-fied” to the point, not only where youre showing all kinds of physical dissociation, absence of touch, but youre showing utter dissociation from the Divine Condition. Youre out of contact, missing the mark, relative to your own condition. So you show all kinds of signs in the body of that, and all of the other things, interior, so to speak, just as much as you show signs of reactions, adaptations, and so forth relative to what is gross and exterior and all the rest. But its universal to the person. It cant be accounted for by external interactions between the body and its environment and others. The whole thing is true. The contraction, then, is the source of all of these—from the grossest dimension to the doorway of God-Realization.

(467) So youre showing the signs of self-contraction, of the avoidance of relationship. And thats relative to other human beings, but its relative to the Divine. Its relative to Me altogether, in all forms. But its not going to be cured just by making sure that, from the time you are an infant, your relations always touch you physically and show you affection. Oh, that would be nice. You should try and do that. But still, youll be showing all kinds of signs of separation from Me, among all kinds of other signs of separativeness from all kinds of sources, apparently—but ultimately just this one source, which is your own self-contraction. It binds you to the body-mind and it separates you from the Divine Condition. [long pause]

(468) Last night I was talking about Dennis and Frans. [Devotees laugh as Dennis and Frans groan in anticipation.] The symbols of evil here. [laughter] And I was particularly elaborating on it with Frans, but I was talking to both of them, and others to whom it applies. In fact, I even associated it with something about the male character in general. With this strategy based on reactions in the physical, emotional, life dimension, the bodily dimension and so forth—you dont want to be there, you dont want to be just that. So you withdraw to the intelligent observer kind of think-or-figure-out-problems position. And may even in all those cogitations there “consider” Samadhi, Divine Realization, and so forth. But basically, youre fascinated with the grosser dimensions of your existence, experiences, and relations associated with all of that. So that youre really working on some sort of way to have a comfortable, pleasurable association with physical existence, and being emotionally open in it and so on, and improving your overall life kind of stuff, altogether. [laughter] Always anxious, always troubled, always in this high-up-there intelligent observer position, but not really making the choice to go beyond.

(469) Your real fascination, when it comes down to it, is with that place where youre feeling troubled. And you have the feeling though that there is a lot of enjoyment that you could get out of having a different way of involving yourself in all of that [that you are troubled with]. So youre working on that all the time. Working on utopia, or a perfected physical life where youve got no problems.

(470) So this is a way I had of characterizing something the two of you are showing us. Theres something about it, as I said, that is rather characteristically a strategy that men assume—women tending, generally speaking, to rest in an emotional solution rather than a mental-discriminative one. Rightly, anyway.

(471) Its also interesting that the two of you are physically very similar. Both tall, lean, rather elongated, stretched out vertically rather than horizontally. [laughter] And rather generally lean of body. And you have a very similar manner in all kinds of ways otherwise.

(472) Its interesting that their physiognomy corresponds, dont you think? [devotees agree] Because there are a lot of similarities between them which weve been observing, and its curious. Its a whole kind of guy. Its a pattern, you see?. [laughter]

(473) DENNIS: [laughing] And it doesnt feel very good! [laughter]

(474) ADI DA SAMRAJ: That stretched out, tall maleness is a sign of the yin male. I dont mean effeminate, but I mean yin-dicked, yin-typed, rather than yangish, more yangish, robust, horizontal about it all. You see? And you function psychologically like I just described, and this is your game. And it seems to each of you to be a very personal matter, a very personal invention. [laughter] Its just your particular thing, so to speak. You see, youre not perhaps so sensitive to the fact that there are large numbers of human beings who are doing exactly that same thing. And in none of your cases is it because of associations and familiarity during your present lifetime. Thats not what determined it. The structure determined it. You, apparently alive in the body, got involved with it, entangled yourself. But the pattern enforced itself.

(475) If you show up in a shape like this, [laughter] its very likely youll have qualities like the two of you guys. [pause]

(476) Hals another example. Just looking at the physiognomy of them. Those three in particular have this quality among all the men here. And they also have a lot of similarities, then. We havent talked about Hal in relation to—Dennis and Frans. [Beloved says their names in an exaggeratedly “bored” manner.] [laughter]

(477) BRIAN: They were the “Meditation Bros.”

(478) ADI DA SAMRAJ: But you could just as well look at Hal and his manner, his qualities, his assumption of the intelligent observer kind of thing, and being fascinated toward the physical and all that, just like you two guys.

(479) So theres a structure associated with the patterning, that you think is personal. Its a structure that enforces itself, like the DNA enforces the structure in terms of the physical form. Theres all kinds of structure associated with your appearance in this Great Unity. And there are a certain few, discernible few, basic kinds of structure, although there are lots of combinations that make it seem a little more complicated. But there are very basic possibilities.

(480) And its interesting to observe yourself in terms of that structure thats enforcing your life, rather than thinking of it as all this personal stuff. And see what that pattern is in your own case also. Not so you can meditate on it, or dwell on it, or identify with it further. But so that you can apply further discipline knowing more about how the pattern operates in your case. Youre bound to the pattern once you make the self-contraction. Its not that once you make the self-contraction you are infinitely creative about manufacturing psycho-physical associations that work just right, you know? [chuckles from devotees] The pattern takes care of all of that. But you signed up—by identifying with the self-contraction. [pause]

(481) So what we see in the case of Hal and Frans and Dennis is a similar physiology to begin with, physiognomy, body form and all of that. Even similarly made faces. There are some little bits of differences because of particular physical inheritances, but overall very similar heads—and bodies. So thats already there. Its interesting then to notice what the other similarities are and see what that pattern is like by seeing it in more than one example simultaneously. There are some other types in here, men and women.

(482) ISABELLE ROCHER: Beloved, I was noticing that Your three sarvadhikaris [Stanley, Brian, and Dan] also have the same type of features.

(483) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Yes. [laughter] But its not like the three men we were just “considering”.

(484) JANIS: More square.

(485) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Quite different, in fact. Theyre all relatively short, [laughter] rather than tall and stretched out. They are even foreshortened! [loud laughter] Theyre not midgets or anything, but they are, as is usually said, below average height. So they are a shorter type, first of all.

(486) BETH: Vertically challenged.

(487) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Vertically challenged. [laughing]

(488) JOAN HAMMERSCHMIDT: Thats a new term. [Loud laughter, Beloved laughs.]

(489) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Vertically challenged!!! Give Me a break. Being short is called vertically challenged? [loud laughter]

(490) BRIAN: Horizontally challenged would be overweight.

(491) ADI DA SAMRAJ: Theyre all basically trim and in good health, but they all have more of an expansion in the mid-section of the body. They dont have that characteristic leanness that the other three do. But nonetheless, theyre not tending to be very large, either, which is another possibility, but they dont display that. All three of them are more expansive in the horizontal than the tall guys, and theyre shorter, which is another sign of that. And theres a certain quality that they all have in common relative to the kind of energy they have—that short people have, you know? [laughter] So theyre very compact—vertically and horizontally. The other three are compact horizontally, but theyre not at all compact vertically. [laughter]

(492) And then of course, theres the . . . ideal form. [loud laughter] Neither too tall nor too short. But quite expansive. [Beloved chuckles.] Well, thats another type, you see?

(493) And its the same, male or female. I mean there are the male-female differences to take into account as well, otherwise, but physiognomy, as weve been looking at it, the physical form, does have significance as a sign of what the person is about altogether, what pattern they are basically associated with—horizontally and vertically, in the form of the body.

(494) So its immediately obvious to you at a deep level of sensitivity, which you may not notice very much, but its there. You do make an immediate judgement just seeing somebody. Its not a snap judgement, like an arbitrary thing, though. You read the physiology at a depth level. You know whats in front of you. Just by that. Because everything about the person is otherwise an extension of that or part of the same pattern. And so if you know what youre looking at when you see the form, you know what all the rest of it is. And you can be, to varying degrees, sensitive to that, all the rest of it.

(495) So people do make a basic judgement, then, whenever they encounter anyone—any form for that matter. Because on some level they read the signs. And then you immediately lock in the methods you have devised to deal with that kind of type. Sometimes those methods work well, sometimes they dont, you see. But the adaptations to that type immediately click in. Its all very mechanical. So you find yourself habitually relating to certain kinds of people a certain way and others another way, right?

(496) You can know where anybodys at if you just look at them. At least thats how I do it. It must be the salesman in Me. [laughter] You gotta know the territory, and you gotta know your customer, know what I mean?

(497) ANIELLO: [laughing] Youve got it down, my Lord.

(498) ADI DA SAMRAJ: So, the more you understand yourself, the more familiar you are with all the things that there are to be observed. Well, the more you notice things like this, too. But you can know anything about what anybodys about just by looking at them. If youd allow yourself that luxury of using that law, which has all kinds of machinery behind it, youd have a basis for much clearer judgement, and straightforwardness and everything about your overall life. [Devotees chuckle.] But that would be all that you would have, so far. [laughter]

(499) So there are these interesting insights and whatnot that can develop. But they are just stuff of the pattern to which you feel bound, you see?

(500) So what are we “considering” about that? Oh, the three Sarvadhikaris. They look very similar to one another, dont they? [laughter]

The “Brightening” Way Talk Series – Index