Bubba Free John and Ramana Maharshi – Non Dual Teachings

ADI DA SAMRAJ: I mention him at the
end of this essay, “The mere “I” though is not now an
indicator of the Great One”. The “I” is Narcissus, more than
a thought, but a profoundly complex pattern of destiny. Now
perhaps this would remind you of the teaching of Ramana
Maharshi, who recommended to people, simply to concentrate
on the “I” thought and observe and intuit the consciousness,
or the condition in which that is arising. Well, for him,
this made complete sense. For him the whole force of egoity,
the whole force of the “I” had been transcended. And from
the Advaitic point of view, the “I” thought is a pointer to
the Atman, which is ultimately identical to the Paramatman,
or Brahman.

In the case of lesser teachers, the
recommendation to concentrate upon the source of the “I”
thought would be considered to be a perfectly and sufficient
recommendation, sufficient for instant enlightenment,
Maharshi was not a fool, you see. He knew full well that the
ordinary individual, concentrating on the “I” thought,
feeling into, or intuiting its source, was still ego bound.
So therefore he presumed that this method was a sadhana, a
lifetime practice, that would gradually dissolve the force
of the ego. In other words he didn’t belong to the talking
school. He didn’t mean to concentrate on the “I” thought,
see that consciousness underneath that and realize that’s
Atman, that’s Puja Brahman, that’s Brahman and now you’re
enlightened, now go and be enlightened, you see. No. That
wasn’t his sense of teaching. But rather he followed the
traditional Advaitic approach in the general structuring of
his philosophy. He knew full well that the ego is a great
force, and that the “I” is the ego.

But from his Advaitic point of view,
he thought a good technique for people, instead of
fulfilling the motivations of the ego, the motivations of
the “I”, to constantly fall back from the activity, and rest
in the Atman. Doing this over time, would purify the “I”,
undermine the ego, dissolve the ego. And eventually this
meditation would become self-realization. So it is implicit
in his teaching that the ego must be transcended. He’s not a
representative of the talking school.

Also you should understand the
Maharshi did not presume the role of a teacher. People asked
him what he had realized, and what was it all about, and how
could they realize it and so forth. And he spoke in the
terms he did. He didn’t elaborate beyond that, all of the
kinds of associated means and processes and so on, which
would have to be communicated to people, if your going to
presume the role of a Siddha in their company, or counteract
a total teaching for their benefit.

Now I’m aware of the fundamental
truth associated with Advaitism, and the teaching of Ramana
Maharshi. I’m also aware of the implicit realities that are
behind this Advaitic recommendation. Those implicit
realities or realities of the ego, are there to be undone,
there to be overcome. They can’t be overlooked. You cannot
reduce the Advaitic recommendation to the academic or
logical exercise of the talking school. And therefore I have
elaborated a complete teaching, that involves all of the
kinds of disciplines that must necessarily be associated
with life and practice if the ego, the force of “I”, the
force of Narcissus is to be transcended. And I have
established this practice in my company, and have accepted
the role of the Siddha in your company. So this produces a
much more elaborate culture of practice that is suggested in
Mararashi’s company, and is altogether outside the kind of
mediocrity that belongs to the talking school.

But to consider further the
implications of this notion that you can trace the “I”
thought back to its source – in the case of the beginner,
the ego-bound individual, as I’ve said here, the “I” thought
is not merely a thought. It is the name for a whole complex
of existence. The “I” thought exists only in the plane of
waking consciousness. What about the rest of it? It exists
subconscious, unconscious, walking, dreaming and sleeping,
bodily, emotionally, and so on.

Merely to trace the “I” thought and
feel the consciousness behind it, is not to be
self-realized, transcendentally self-realized it is perhaps
in Advaitic terms, to begin a kind of exercise that should
be associated with a whole life of disciplines and profound
practice, in which everything that is “I” would be
transcended, and the Atman would cease to be merely this
individuated consciousness.

What you must enter into through
this conscious process, is not merely the consciousness
behind thought. That is simply attention. And attention is
the fundamental, or ground mechanism of Narcissus or the
ego, as it says at the beginning of this essay, quoting from
The Liberator: “Be Consciousness as the feeling of Being,
and Realize that it is Radiant Happiness.” This ultimate
intuition breaks beyond the framework of manifest
consciousness. It breaks beyond the framework of attention,
mere attention. It is associated with the most profound
intuition. It is not like a thought in any sense then. And
it is not like attention standing off here, next to objects,
viewing whatever may seem to be arising, witnessing whatever
may seem to be arising. It is more to be likened to feeling.
It is formless, centerless. It is not something separate, or
separable from objects. It is not interior. It is not
self-conscious in the conventional sense. What’s behind the
“I” thought is merely attention. What must be realized that
is far beyond the “I”, is the feeling or Condition of
Being.

Transcendental Consciousness is the
consciousness of this feeling of Being, mere Being, Being
without qualification. The Being that is the Condition, not
only of the conscious self, but of all of its objects, all
of nature. When we’ve entered into that condition of Being,
when our consciousness is that fullness of being, then we
realize that it is Happiness, Self-Radiant Love-Bliss. It is
the Substance of the universe. It is That to which Maharshi
points in his considerations. It is That to which the
Advaitic tradition ultimately points. It is That to which
the Buddhist tradition points. In fact, it is That toward
which all traditions are pointing. But apart from the
Realization of it, all kinds of lesser conceptions and
perceptions and senses of it may substitute for
enlightenment.

And so you cannot take heaven by
storm. There is no method of immediate self-analysis that is
equivalent to Enlightenment. Self-observation, self-knowing,
self-transcendence is a lifelong exercise. It never comes to
an end. It is always going on, always developing, there’s
nothing instant about it.

The ego that is behind the “I”
thought. Its not the Transcendental Self. The Self is
Realized.

Maharshi really enquired of
everyone, “Who, who, who, who?” Well, he said yes,
“concentrate on the ‘I’ thought. Well, who is aware of the
‘I’ thought?” Well, its the ego that’s aware of the “I”
thought. Its the individual consciousness. That’s not the
end of it. He would again say: “Who? Find out who.” Well; if
you persist in that, that becomes a whole life of
discipline. It even becomes the life of submission to the
influence of the Adept, quite naturally, quite
spontaneously.

And that in fact is what occurred in
the case of his true devotees. And that is a form of the
ultimate question. Who is it ultimately that you are? Who
are you arising within? In whom is all of this arising, you
see. But its not a question with an immediate answer. Its
not really a problem to find this out. It is a process. It
is found out through a process of self-transcendence. His
questions are indicators of it. They are queries to help
people become oriented toward the profundity of
self-transcendence. And he had his peculiar way of doing
these things. And as I said, did not presume the role of the
teacher in the fullest sense, did not feel obliged to
communicate a total teaching.

He appeared within the context of
traditional Indian society. For those who weren’t ready to
be awakened very directly in his company, he presumed they
would just go elsewhere, they’d find countless numbers of
teachings, and teachers and means and so forth. He was
simply certain that ultimately, all these ways would fulfill
themselves in Transcendental Self-Realization. So his
considerations are limited to this fundamental query, this
fundamental suggestion that what you must discover is the
Condition in which the self is arising. But to discover that
condition, you must transcend the self, not merely ask
yourself a question, not merely invert upon attention
itself, because attention is the ego. The “I” thought like
any other thought arises to the ego. The ego is what must be
transcended. Merely to put attention on the consciousness in
which the “I” thought is arising, is not to realize the
Transcendental Being. It is to make a gesture toward
realization. If you made that gesture those means,
ultimately you would break through the egoic limit, the
illusion that’s associated with attention. That is a
profound complete, if if occupied the whole of your life,
then by all of process. Now we do not … we consider the
same truth, this Realization, we do not consider it in the
context of a traditional society, with a long history of
involvement with the quest for Transcendental
Realization.

And I have accepted the role of
Teacher, the role of the Siddha in the company of devotees.
So I have assumed the obligation to communicate the Way
fully, and to communicate its in the company of those who
will practice it, you see. So there is a difference between
my historical role and the historical role of Maharshi and
many others, as there was a difference between Maharshi and
his historical role and all kinds of other
teachers.

The same ultimate truth is realized
by all free Adepts, and they communicate it in a particular
fashion in their time and place. Some aren’t very
communicative, some communicate in part only, some assume
the role of the Adept or Siddha in relation to devotees, and
some do not. Some function as the Siddha without accepting
the role of the Siddha. They are the Siddha by virtue of
Realization, and for those who somehow or other develop a
real practice, they make use of that though the Adept
assumes no personal responsibility. In your case there’s no
ambiguity about it however. I make this Teaching plain, I’ve
communicated all the details of its practice, I accept this
role in relationship to you, I’ve explained to you all of
the aspects of the process that takes place in my company,
and therefore its up to you, without any ambiguity, to
practice it as you will. If you will, then the kind of
process that I’ve just described in this essay, will develop
in your case, and you will see all the signs of it. If you
will not take it on, in the forms indicated in this essay
and elsewhere, then you may in some fashion be attached to
this Institution and this community, even have some
familiarity with me, but this does not necessarily mean that
the process described here will take place. The process
required your responsibility, for hearing and developing the
means of practice, which constantly, moment to moment bring
you into the sphere of my Influence. And you must maintain
that responsibility always, not merely occasionally when I
happen to be sitting with you, or when you happen to be in
my company, or when your in meditation or when you feel
good, or when you feel bad, but always you must develop the
full force of this profound practice.

A fundamental aspect of the Way is
the progressive recognition of the Spiritual Master. In
other words entering into that Company, the sphere of the
Spiritual Master’s Influence more and more profoundly. By
entering into more and more profound levels of recognition
of the Spiritual Master, beginning with obvious
acknowledgment of the Spiritual Master, as a Living Master,
but then going on to recognize and locate the Spiritual
Master as Siddha, as Siddhi, as that Influence, which is
directly present to every practicing devotee, in every
moment, not merely in occasions of being in the Spiritual
master’s human company, or being in meditation, of being in
an empowered place, or being in the community and so on, but
always. Those who truly practice begin to locate and
recognize and acknowledge this Influence in every moment of
life and meditation. it is always available. It is a matter
of turning to it, of acknowledging it, recognizing it,
locating it, making your practice into communion with that
Influence. Therefore allowing that Influence to transform
the conditions of existence that are arising from hour to
hour, moment to moment, not only in meditation, but in daily
life. In daily life all kinds of changes occur, all kinds of
moods, all kinds of circumstances, physical, emotional and
mental states, relations, changes in relations and so forth.
Those are just as much within the sphere of Transcendental
Influence, as any of the activities that occur in the
subjective realm of meditation. Therefore these also, you
will discover, remarkably, are constantly being changed, in
various ways by this influence.

See full talk:

The
Conscious Process – The Non
Dual Teachings