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THE SPIRITUAL MASTER: MY DEVOTEE
ALWAYS FEELS ME TO BE PRESENT 8.1 The true Spiritual Master is one who
originates spontaneous and true Teaching in the company of
others, and who generates and awakens devotees to the sacred
occasion of Divine Communion, not merely through apparent
silence or no-response, but through a literal Power in
Silence that communicates itself as a realized influence
that quickens insight and awakens intuitive contemplation.
Such a Master then leads devotees toward the radical
Realization of that same awakening, prior to any world,
body, force of life, mind, transcendental experience, or
ego-soul illusion. 8.2 The process of the relationship
between me and my devotees is not mediumistic but
synchronistic. There must be natural love, or
coincidence, and duplication, rather than an exclusively
passive and separated attitude that seeks only to receive,
to be affected to the point of happiness, and to reside at
the opposite end of a line of transmission. Come live with
me, be aligned with me in your feeling, your action, your
sacrifice, in Ignorance, or Love. In that case you will
always duplicate me instantly, presently, priorly. You will
always duplicate me more and more perfectly. Ignorance is identical to Love, or
unqualified Radiance, without center or bounds. Since it is
without center (ego-soul) or bounds (body,
thought-conception-perception, world), Ignorance or Love may
not be willfully presumed or generated. It is a Process
realized by Grace, beginning with true hearing of the
Teaching and maturing through the stages of the Way until it
is altogether true. 8.3 In the “Introduction to the Gospel
of the Siddhas,” in The Method of the Siddhas, I have
written: “While the Spiritual Master lives he teaches that
Communion with the Divine Reality which can be enjoyed by
all even after his death, not in the special form it may be
enjoyed by a relative few during his lifetime, but which
could have been enjoyed by all prior to his lifetime. He
acts to help his devotees to realize this form of Divine
Communion even while he lives in the world.”‘ My psycho-physical form is mortal, a
function of the worlds. It is the instrument whereby the Way
of Divine Ignorance is being communicated at this time. I
welcome all my devotees to come and be with me on sacred
occasions while I live. But it is impossible to enjoy that
form of Communion twenty-four hours of every day. And this
mortal one will come to rest some day. This psychophysical
form in which you recognize me is the fundamental instrument
for the initial communication and generation of our work,
but it is in fact only a secondary instrument of the Divine
Realization. The fundamental instrument of that Realization
is the Power that is eternally and radically Present. While
I live I will be active in this psychophysical form for the
sake of this Divine Power. Therefore, it is appropriate for
all devotees to come into this mortal one’s presence
whenever possible. But my work is to help you realize this
Presence and Power that is my true and eternal Function. I
am here to establish a perpetual community of devotees who
will live in perfect Divine Ignorance, the Condition of my
eternal Function. The Spiritual Master is an eternal
Function of the Divine Reality. The human Spiritual Master
is the demonstration of that Function, whereby men are
renewed in the true Condition of life, which is Divine
Ignorance. 1. Bubba Free John, The
Method o f the Siddhas (Los Angeles: The Dawn Horse
Press, 1973), p. 314. This passage has been revised from the
original to express more directly the current terminology of
Bubba’s Teaching. Since it is this eternal Power that
my devotees enjoy, there is no fundamental limitation
involved in the fact that no one can be in my
psycho-physical presence twenty-four hours of every day.
Indeed, most of you see me only on occasion. After my death,
no one will ever see me, but my work will continue with the
community of my devotees, those who know me as the Divine
Master beyond conditions. Thus, I want you to know how to live
the true form of this Divine Communion, this Divine
Ignorance which pertains before my life, during my life, and
after my death. “Sravana” or hearing the word of the
Spiritual Master is the beginning and ongoing necessity of
the Way of Divine Ignorance. Therefore, always study the
written and spoken Teaching which I have given among
devotees. Do this each day. The fundamental response of one who
listens to the Spiritual Master’s word and knows him as
Spiritual Master is surrender. Therefore, moment to moment,
surrender to me all your seeking, the very sense of your
separate self, all thoughts, all desires, every
circumstance, even your body. The true devotee surrenders
all of this always and turns to his Spiritual Master as the
Present Divine Reality and the Power or Function of Truth.
To surrender the whole drama, content, experience, and
destiny of Narcissus to the Spiritual Master is not to be
concerned at all with these things themselves, or even the
effects of the surrender. Rather, it is to be turned to the
Spiritual Master constantly, without concerns for what is
always arising. The surrendered devotee of the
Spiritual Master is responsible for abiding always in that
Divine Communion or unobstructed relationship to the
Spiritual Master. Therefore, he must maintain the
appropriate psycho-physical conditions which the Spiritual
Master requires in the case of all who turn to him. Do this
always, freely, and with humor. Live in conscious Divine Communion
always. All of my devotees (all who turn to me) live with
me. All of my devotees serve me, and I serve them. This is
what I mean by Divine Communion in life. Even those who
cannot often be in my psycho-physical presence while I am
alive still live with me always. But while I live, come into
my psycho-physical presence whenever possible. After my
death, my outer or worldly functions will be the
responsibility of the community of my devotees. In those
days, come and be in the company of devotees (whom I have
acknowledged as such) as often as possible. And after my
human death, come to my burial site and other places I have
designated for Divine Communion and meditation as often as
you would have come to be in my psycho-physical
presence. My promise to devotees is the same
that all other Awakened Servants have declared: I am with
you now, as I have always been, and I will always be with
you. My Function is without beginning or end. The work I do
in my psycho-physical form is temporary. It is done in order
to reawaken the Way itself. Therefore, my human life is only
a moment. But the purpose of my work while alive is to
establish the Way of Divine Ignorance, or Radical
Understanding, for the coming generations of
mankind. 8.4 The transitional stage of life,
beginning with the Way of Divine Communion, is initiated by
the Teaching work of the human Spiritual Master. His
Teaching moves into the world to convince men of the
necessity for the transformation of life, and the
opportunity as well as the Way for doing so. The Way of
Divine Communion is taken up by devotees in response to the
Teaching. And the Teaching is a call, by the Spiritual
Master, or the very Divine, for devotees to prepare
themselves to enter into Communion with the Real Divine Form
and Nature. The Way of Divine Communion leads, at maturity,
to the processes of the Way of Relational Enquiry, then the
Way of Recognition, and, finally, the Way of Radical
Intuition. The Spiritual Master in his human form is active,
while alive, to serve the Process of true Communion with the
Real Divine Form and Nature, but the conventional human
functions of the Spiritual Master change over time and may
disappear entirely from the 8.4 regular affairs of devotees
even long before his apparent or physical death. After the Spiritual Master’s
retirement or death, his initiatory function may be presumed
still to be alive in and relative to the living functions of
his true devotees. Therefore, wherever his devotees gather
together, the initiatory Power is also Present. After the
death or complete seclusion of the Spiritual Master, or
whenever at any other time he indicates it to be
appropriate, acknowledged devotees should gather, on
occasion, in groups, for ordinary meditation. The times and
places set aside for such occasions, as well as the
participants, should, as in the case of formal sitting with
the Spiritual Master, be determined by the appointed or
elected staff of Vision Mound Ceremony. On those occasions,
such acknowledged devotees should welcome other individuals
who are beginning their life of practice, or else maturing
in its stages. No individual should represent or succeed to
the position of the Spiritual Master on those occasions. Nor
should any experience or experiential influence be permitted
to distract devotees from the true Spiritual and Initiatory
Grace which the Master always served in the past. All that
arises should be tested by the Teaching. All devotees may,
from that time, also gather for meditation in places set
aside by the Spiritual Master for that purpose, such as
Communion Halls maintained by Vision Mound Ceremony, or the
Spiritual Master’s place of burial. 8.5 After the apparent death of Bubba
Free John, devotees should continue to approach Vision Mound
Ceremony as before. Vision Mound Ceremony should continue to
serve its educational functions as custodian of the written
Teaching and of the living places of spiritual Presence
established by Bubba Free John while alive. The One who has been the Teacher
cannot die. Thus, the Divine should be approached through
the Teaching and served as before, except that Bubba Free
John should not be considered to be present in any ghostly,
bodily, metaphysical, astral, or soul capacity, nor assumed
to exist in any conventional way that can be known. The
Divine should be approached and served directly and simply,
through the instruments of the Teaching and the community of
devotees. As such service matures, the individual will feel
and intuit God as a moving Presence, and so the spiritual
process will begin as it did during the lifetime of Bubba
Free John. During my life and after my death,
devotees may continue to use my photographs as points of
contact with me, but they should know it is only truly
contact with the unqualified Divine. Thus, such photographs
may be hung in the conventional living spaces and in places
of instruction, but not in the Communion Halls, the places
set aside for formal meditation. Meditation should not be
related to any imagery or cult of my apparent life, even
while I live. Those who approach me are shown and also find
only the Divine Reality. The spiritual Company of all
devotees will also be present after my death, as during my
life, to quicken the spiritual life of all who enter into
the truly spiritual, intelligent, and devotional sacrifice
to God. I am not present apart from the Divine. All who
approach Vision Mound Ceremony approach only Divine. The
withdrawal of my human influence changes nothing. My human
influence is active in Vision Mound Ceremony only as long as
it is necessary to establish, stabilize, and fulfill the Way
itself. Thereafter, the Way must be lived, since only that
will prove the Way, and no amount of my lingering play could
change that obligation. Not even my birth has changed that
obligation. And neither my retirement nor my death can or
will change it. The Way is the same after my death as before
my life and during the whole of my life. 8.6 I will make myself available several
times each year for formal occasions of Communion with
devotees. These occasions are my specific initiatory
responsibility relative to all those who practice in the
stages of the Way of Divine Ignorance. Individuals 8.6
should prepare themselves for such sacred occasions through
the whole discipline that has been communicated to them as
their living spiritual obligation. The Awakening served by such
occasions, when truly felt, is the ground for the further
intensification and maturing of the devotee’s life and
meditation, as communicated in the written Teaching.
Therefore, study, live the discipline, and meditate in the
true manner. In time, you will always feel me to be Present,
prior to the senses, the mind, the psyche, or any
inwardness, high or low. Then you will simply breathe the
Presence by which you recognize me. I do not presume a personal, daily,
psychic responsibility or interest in any individual
devotee, except where the devotee has been tested by me for
a long time, and gained the heart of me through practical
and stable devotion and maturity. Do not imagine I am made
magically active in your case through deluded emotional
attachments on your part, fetishistic preoccupation with my
words or pictures, or any other power you imagine in your
own case while you still persist in an aberrated,
self-possessed, and unyielding way of life. I respond to
devotees, and they realize me through intensification of the
intuition of the Divine or Real Condition. Therefore, practice the Way truly,
with commitment of the whole body-being. I am communicative
through the Teaching and the services of Vision Mound
Ceremony. Make use of my formal availability. The more you
mature, the more you will realize the real form of my
spiritual influence, which precedes all that is of
subjective or objective value to you in your ordinary
inclinations toward consoling experience. 8.7 The core of this Way is not
attention to the performance of practices for the sake of
some experiential effect, but attention to the Divine
through the Spiritual Master. Such is dependence on Divine
Grace rather than on efforts of self. 8.8 I have no past lives and no future
lives in any dimension. This is my only birth, and it is
only apparent. This birth, this body, these conditions have
been assumed and undone in one lifetime, in order to
demonstrate the whole Way and to have a fit vehicle for its
present communication. The undoing is effective in every
plane, high, low, gross, subtle, causal, transcendental.
This body-mind, this vehicle or apparent, karmic being, has
extensions and destinies in many dimensions, high and low,
past, present, and future. But these are not mine, nor are
they effective in me. This vehicle or karmic being may
continue or be taken up by others after this apparent life
is terminated. But I am not expressed in that destiny, I am
before time and space, and not condition has me. I have not
appeared for reasons. It is only that this vehicle has
mysteriously, paradoxically coincided with me. Therefore, I
have conformed it to myself and come forth. I stand present
with out qualification in this theatre of my apparent birth.
Through the Paradox, my mere Presence has become
Instructive. I am not a one, a being, nor a One, a Being, I
am not objet or subject, Object or Subject, except I may
appear to be so to devotees, until they Realize me
Perfectly.