The Life of Understanding – Week 5

The Life of Understanding Series

Week 5

Lessons on the Knee of Listening

A twelve week course taught by Franklin Jones

January – April/May 1973

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So let’s go over some of this material on the Meditation of Understanding. I describe here on page 165, I give a kind of diagram of the process that occurred in every case where I was involved in exploring some aspect of the problem of existence through some method or other, approaching consciousness through the problem of mind, whatever. I would go through some adventure of some sort and the end result in every case, of each particular form of the spiritual adventure I went through, was what I called understanding. I arrived at the same thing in every case. As I went through a particular form of the problem of existence, this led to concentration and observation, then insight, then freedom, then recognition of understanding as prior to the search.

A number of times I’ve spoken in the Ashram, and I’ve talked about how understanding is the fruit of Satsang. The first form of Satsang is simply coming to the Man of Understanding, coming to the Guru and listening to him, being attentive to him. And that’s the first form of Satsang, these people on the student course are essentially listening to the word of the Guru, listening to the teaching. And depending on the intensity of their interest, they are more or less concentrated while listening in this way, and as the process of listening or their involvement with the teaching goes on they become more interested by a natural process of attention, their attention becomes more concentrated, more direct, more attached to the teaching itself and ultimately to the Guru so that Satsang takes on a more practical life form, a more intense form. So the beginnings of the process of understanding in every case is one of attention, listening, concentration and this listening becomes hearing, comprehension in various ways, self observation. So I mention here, this led to concentration and observation, so the acts of attention become natural and this becomes self observation and the self observation becomes insight, all these things follow on one another.

So the next thing I mention here is insight and where there is insight into any form of dilemma, any form of the problem of existence, wherever the insight itself is alive, in any moment where this insight is alive, there is freedom from the condition of the dilemma itself, freedom from the search itself at that point, and then what follows on this is recognition of understanding as being prior to the search. In other words this fundamental understanding is the end phenomenon of this natural process of attention or Satsang. This middle line here, the recognition of understanding as primary and prior to the search, this is perhaps the most basic statement because at the various moments in my life and finally as an absolute stable recognition, there was understanding and the recognition of understanding as itself being prior to all seeking, and as understanding itself being the fundamental condition, fundamental knowledge.

So when understanding became stabilized in the midst of this whole process, became true, became real, then all the motivation through dilemma, the whole process of seeking as the foundation for spiritual life disappeared. It disappeared in individual cases in terms of particular approaches at various times, but ultimately the whole affair disappeared. The search in any form ceased to be a principle by which I could be motivated. It wasn’t simply that I got turned off to seeking in any way, but this fundamental enjoyment, which is understanding, replaced it. So it was after this long period of adventure in my life and passing through all the levels of the comprehension and transformation that was necessary, that I became founded in understanding itself, and understanding then became my radical path, my very approach.

Franklin never synthesized the activities of his seeking. He only realized the fruitlessness of each search and of seeking in any form. In other words in my own case there was a radical comprehension of all approaches. There wasn’t, “Oh yeah, this little thing here that I get from this yogi is good and I add this to a little bhakti here, add this to a little of that, and add this to a little of that, and gradually build up a system to be followed by which one approaches in motivated ways, release, liberation, whatever.” No, there was radical comprehension at every point of the process that I was involved in. So there was a realization of the fruitlessness of every form of seeking.

“He abandoned the meditation of the chakras and the entire yogic process for enquiry.” It wasn’t that the yogic process or what we’ve named the yogic process that the various primary centers, subtle centers, it wasn’t that I decided that they were all unreal, untrue, false, or to be discarded as having anything whatsoever to do with conscious life. It’s just that the approach, the spiritual approach itself ceased to be one of motivated involvement with the path of the chakras, the path of the yogic activities, instead of having any concern for these processes in themselves and these centers in themselves, this process of enquiry went on constantly. All the things that ordinarily one would suppose would come about by following yoga and concentrating on the chakras came about spontaneously from that point. But the process that I was consciously involved in was that of enquiry.

“He saw that the activity of Narcissus underlay every kind of remedial activity.” Well this was the basic criticism of every form of seeking, remedial activity is activity that seeks to remedy something, it’s the search, it’s the activity that is generated in response to the dilemma, no matter what form it takes, whether it’s a spiritual search, or spiritual technique of some sort, or even techniques in relation to physical life, where the reaction is to the dilemma or the problem itself, the dis-ease, the symptom itself and the path is one motivated attempt to be free of that dilemma, problem, sensation, dis-ease, symptom. Wherever that is the principle of one’s activity, the concept or adventure or activity of Narcissus is always its principle. In other words it is always a form of the avoidance or relationship, contraction. The ultimate analysis then of all forms of remedial activity, although they seek to be open and be free, are in fact stimulating the process of contraction and separation. That is their principle. So the principle of life as well as of Truth, of spiritual life, is not one of reaction to the prior dilemma, but of recognition, understanding of the dilemma, it’s not one of remedy and seeking to be free of symptoms, but of standing in the position that’s already free of the dilemma and of the symptom.

“He saw that understanding is motiveless,” well that’s an extension of what I was just saying. Motivation is reaction. There’s no motive without something against which it is pressing, from which it is generated. The motive of seeking is a problem, a prior dilemma, a prior dis-ease. But understanding is perfect activity, unqualified activity, it is unmotivated, it is not a reaction. It is not generated in response to a prior dilemma. Understanding involves perfect penetration or recognition of the dilemma itself. Everything else is motivated by the avoidance of relationship again. That is the quality of Narcissus.

So understanding then was simply a matter of observing oneself in a relationship, action, and life. And this, of course, is the beginning of Satsang. The beginning of Satsang, the first form of Satsang is attention to the Guru, listening to the Guru, and this listening begins to become hearing or self-observation, quite spontaneously, just like sitting in the presence of the Guru, (begins) without your even attempting it, begins to become a form of self-observation. And self-observation necessarily begins, spontaneously begins, whenever the condition of relationship is consciously assumed. The avoidance of relationship is one in which you continually remain unconscious, in which you do not observe your own action. Whenever you are arbitrarily placed in a situation in which relationship is your condition, in which you must assume it, when you are face to face with someone, some condition or other, it’s under those situations, even if you’re not otherwise trying to know something about yourself, but it’s in the condition of relationship itself, consciously or arbitrarily assumed, that you naturally begin to observe yourself. The condition of relationship always reflects your own activity to you. So if a person is put in a condition of relationship, self-observation is this natural result, without his even trying to observe himself. He sees himself, because he is turning from relationship.

So if he’s forced in the situation of relationship, he has to see his own turning, because he’s always trying not to be in relationship but he is always being reminded of it, and this is the secret of the sadhana, the practical sadhana of Satsang, because Satsang is the condition of relationship by grace and seemingly arbitrarily put upon you and required of you, and it has many forms, it has the form of the teaching, the form of the relationship to the Guru himself, the sitting with him, the sitting at home in Satsang with him with a picture or whatever. In all of these situations you tend to see yourself turning away, because the thing that you’re always being reminded of is the turning toward, the being in relationship. So the secret of sadhana, the secret of understanding, is the condition of Satsang. Without it there is no understanding because the whole process of self-observation is lost, never comes about because the turning is constant.

So understanding is a matter of observing one’s self in relationship, in action and in life. Satsang begins as this attention to the Guru and it becomes self-observation in the various conditions of relationship. This form of understanding, understanding itself becomes most profound, it becomes perfect realization obviously, but the principle of it in itself is not unusual. It says here, “Understanding is not unusual, it is simple and used by everyone every day.” The basic principle of understanding that becomes so profound, so subtle, is actually a very simply matter that everyone uses all the time. It’s simply that they use it in the midst of a life of avoidance. But the principle, the activity, this intelligence is peculiar to all of our activities throughout the day.

We are always assuming, more or less arbitrarily, and to various degrees, relational conditions, because there isn’t anything else, there is only relational conditions, interdependence, contact, that’s all there is at the level of the manifest cosmos. So we’re always more or less consciously placed in those situations and whenever we assume them more or less consciously we have reflected to ourselves, our own activity, we begin to observe ourselves, and so the whole universe, the whole cosmos is a kind of feedback mechanism, simply by virtue of the fact that it is a relational condition always, because in every instant you are being reflected to yourself, you are seeing your own turning night and day, and so people are always seeing things about themselves night and day. Why are you always thinking, why are you always thinking about yourself, why are you always touching yourself, noticing things about yourself, why is this always occurring. This is the natural feedback mechanism of the cosmos. You are in a relational condition and this is the form of your turning always. That’s why when there is understanding, thought, nervousness, separate self sense, all of the ordinary things we suffer, disappear when there is understanding. Why is this so, because the avoidance of relationship has stopped. And the condition of relationship is perfectly assumed, so the reflection is no longer taking place, this seeing of your own turning is no longer taking place.

In other words, the image in the water, the face of Narcissus is no longer being seen. Narcissus is meditating on his own image, his own reflection in the midst of conditions of manifest existence. But when Narcissus comprehends himself he no longer is fascinated, he no longer sees only his own reflection. He is returned to the ordinary or prior state. This is the perfection of understanding, but understanding in itself is an ordinary principle. It is the ordinary intelligence that’s always spontaneously going on by virtue of the fact that we are in a relational condition always. We are always in a relational condition, and we are always turning. If we don’t assume the relational condition, we don’t see that we are turning, so the ordinary man is going to death, going mad only, suffering only. But whenever he is fully reminded of his relational state, his relational condition, he constantly sees his turning, and this is the principle wherein men are released, this is the principle of Satsang, this is the principle of the Siddhas, this is the principle of the Truth as it becomes active in the world.

So this simple matter of observing yourself in relationship, action, and life gradually replaces seeking and consciousness and activity become simplified, free of prior dilemma. So the more there is of understanding, or recognition under the conditions of Satsang, under the conditions of relationship, the less there is of this turning being always reflected, the less there is of this self obsession, the reflection of Narcissus, and the less there is of that, the more there is simply relationship, the less there is of seeking, and the mind or the states of consciousness and the states of activity become harmonious, true.

So consciousness becomes less like Mind and becomes more like the Heart, and activity becomes more and more appropriate and becomes more and more a conductor of Light, and more and more like the Light itself. So when a man is true he is becoming more and more like the Heart or very consciousness and more and more like the Light. The more he is involved in this contraction, this separative activity that is Narcissus, the more he is becoming dim, unconscious, the more like mentality, separate self sense, obsession, pain, contraction, separation.

So “Because the principle itself was this simple, he saw that man could easily be turned to self observation.” Well man can obviously, very easily be turned to self-observation. The principle (of) by which this work is generated is very simple because the universe is already built on this basis. The universe is already a relational condition, and whenever a man is forced into the position where he must feel himself in relationship, the more he has reflected in his own conscious states, the observation of his own ordinary activity, this avoidance, this separativeness. So men could easily be turned to self observation? By entering into relationship with them, by communicating to them the condition of relationship. Wherever this is done, men observe themselves. (The true) The point is not to tell them to observe themselves, that’s another form of the search. The way of the Siddhas is to put men in the condition of Satsang and they will observe themselves. So the Guru acts not by, “Yes, observe yourself, observe yourself,” giving him all kinds of techniques for observing themselves. No, he enters more and more into relational states with them, he requires more and more, he demands more and more of relational and appropriate conditions in the one who comes to him. And the more he demands, the more the guy observes of his own turning, his own resistance, his own reluctance.

Those who have no capacity for the pressures of relational life and what it reflects in them, become very angry, very obsessed, and separate themselves from the Man of Understanding very quickly. That’s why you see people going through all these problems, and their whole strategy from beginning to end, from the time they enter til the time they leave the Ashram, is to try and justify their leaving. But all they’ve done is bought the thing they came with. They have resisted and gone back to zero, they have taken on the form of Narcissus, and Narcissus always dies, that’s what the story of Narcissus is about. Narcissus dies, Narcissus drowns, Narcissus is killed by the Maidens in the fields, or he always winds up getting done in. He’s a contraction, he turns in on himself, he becomes dark.

So men can easily be turned to self-observation (and the true) and the way of doing that is not to tell them to observe themselves, but simply to enter into relationship with them. Whenever you enter into relationship with someone and require relational activity in them, the acknowledgment of relationship, and the living of that as a condition in them, the more upset they tend to become, the more resistive they begin to become. And this always occurs in Satsang, this always will occur in our work, we will always have difficulties with people because of what Satsang is, because of what the principle of Truth is. But the more a person is able to pass through the process of Satsang, or self-observation, of understanding, the quicker he becomes within, the more he is able to take on the conditions of appropriate activity in life, and also the more the internal process of conductivity will begin to show itself in him and as these phenomena begin to demonstrate themselves in a person, then we intensify the form of Satsang, which is to increase the conditions that are given to him, to increase the responsibilities that are given to him, increase his contact.

So the next point in this is “the process of observation can easily be maintained by proper guidance or hearing.” Well again this is the first level of the approach in the Ashram, it’s the one of hearing, of listening to the teaching, of attention to the Guru. It’s not one of absolute commitment to the Man of Understanding as Guru, it’s not one of taking on fantastic responsibilities in the Ashram, of fully participating in all the things that are made available, no, all of that is not laid on the individual at first. He must grow, adapt to the condition of Satsang. The first form of it is simply his being put in a position to listen, to be attentive to the word of the Man of Understanding, to listen to the teaching.

As a person continues to observe, fundamental insight emerges. Then the radical nature of seeking, Narcissus, and the life of the avoidance of relationship can be understood. Then understanding can be applied to moment to moment experience. Understanding replaces the confused activity of seeking. Then understanding becomes enquiry in the form of understanding itself which is “avoiding relationship?” Abiding in relationship with the use of enquiry becomes the fundamental activity of conscious life moment to moment. This is just sort of naming the stages from the beginning of attention and listening, to where insight begins to develop, to where real intelligence begins to develop. And in the Ashram this is represented by the guy becoming stable in his life in the Ashram, able to carry on and adapt to the conditions of appropriate action in life and in the Ashram, able to carry on and adapt to the conditions of appropriate action in life and in the Ashram, with basic ease, he’s taking on more responsibilities, in the Ashram, the internal processes are awakening in him, he’s basically stable, and the signs, the life and emotional signs are there, of stability in him. All these are signs of the condition of Satsang, which become self-observation, having become insight, understanding, in which now, as I said before, he is free of the form of seeking, free of the very condition of dilemma, in a relative sense, of course. When insight is developed in a fundamental way in relation to many areas, he has listened and seen and understood and had moments of insight awaken in relation to many aspects of his life. He’s (he’s) usually seen peculiar characteristic areas of his life that are the forms of this avoidance of relationship. So when this understanding, this recognition of the avoidance of relationship has become very basic in him, most profound, most stable in him, it’s at that point that the insight can itself be brought to moment to moment experience in a positive way, a direct way. So at this point the insight is turned into consciousness itself and becomes the approach to life in a positive way, hour to hour, particularly in the times of meditation.

And the form of understanding which is the recognition, the observation, the radical observation of the avoidance of relationship, the form on enquiry, this active intelligence becomes the enquiry into the process of avoidance, “avoiding relationship?” then is the natural form of enquiry. And then this approach, this intelligence of which the verbal enquiry is simply an extension, this very intelligence, this over whelming insight, this prior self knowing that’s alive before the dilemma awakens in the man, this activity, this intelligence then becomes the approach to life moment to moment rather than the vague dilemma, the suffering, the search, the motivation. On page 169 here it says, there’s a summation, “But the Truth of real life is simply what is when there is a removal of contradictions, no dilemma, no search, it cannot be described nor is any name appropriate for it, there is no motive to name it. It is not an object nor a supreme and other subject. It is not separate from the one who understands nor can he separate himself from it. It is simply no problem, no search, unqualified reality without implications. It is also the form of reality, which is the most subtle structure of the world and everything, even the form on consciousness. All of this is obvious to one who understands and continually enquires.

So these are various ways of using language to point to the fundamental enjoyment that is this real understanding, this radical understanding, this perfect intuition. It is that very enjoyment, that very reality that is prior to the search, prior to dilemma, prior to the ordinary strategy and motivation, prior to the reaction to relationship, prior to self-observation even. And so that ultimately this understanding becomes a perfect intuition, of even the subtle structure of the world and everything, the very form of consciousness. And that form is Amrita Nadi, and Amrita Nadi is the subtlest structure of our life through which we intuit the ultimate reality, the very nature, the God Form. All of this is obvious to one who understands and continually enquires. In other words, the revelation of that Truth, or the ultimate form, is not a matter of seeking for it, or conforming by way of practice to some internal insight. Understanding is that process in which all obstructions are obviated, undone spontaneously, and the ultimate form stands out obvious to such a one.

Now we begin that section in which the process of meditation is described. “The usual meditation is only a consolation, and does not reverse ordinary consciousness.” In other words, the usual meditation is the motivated meditation method which is just a way of distracting consciousness, regardless of what you meditate on, what you’re motivated to meditate on. The only thing you can be motivated to meditate on is some form of an object, some place, something to concentrate upon, and it doesn’t make any difference what that is, it could be anything, and there are (all) vast numbers of traditional objects on which meditation is recommended. Some a little more sublime than others. But the essential event is always the same, it’s concentration on an object or point. And you can do this by concentration on a so-called name of God or a place in the body or on some subtle manifestation in the body, like internal sounds, internal vital lights, on a image within the mind or externally. All kinds of things can be put up and toward which you can be motivated to concentrate for the sake of the traditional goals of concentration. But these forms of traditional meditation, which seek to understand, which seek realization or liberation, do not begin already with understanding, they do not begin with an awakening. They begin with ignorance, and they are methods to be applied in ignorance for the sake of becoming conscious. But real meditation is already conscious in some fundamental way.

The principle of understanding is active already in real meditation, whereas in the usual meditation the principle of ignorance is active. So regardless of the sublimity of the object you may be concentration on or what Divine source you got the meditation technique from, it is activated in ignorance in the ordinary man. And so it only consoles him, only distracts him, it only fascinates him to the degree he is capable of being fascinated by something as difficult as concentration. So it does not reverse the ordinary consciousness. It does nothing to the fundamental condition with which it begins. It only modifies it, it changes state. So control over identification, differentiation, and desire is lost outside of meditation. In other words you may concentrate arbitrarily through some technique or other and as a result feel the mind quieting, feel the body quieting, feel somewhat sublime, feel somewhat happier. But this does not produce any radical or even revolutionary transformation of the principle of conscious life. So when you step out of the meditative state or out of the conditions that are like meditation, our of your monastery, out of your rules, your controls or whatever; as soon as you step outside of them, the processes of identification, differentiation and desire come one you without any control whatsoever, in other words separate self sense, thought and the movement of desire are alive in the ordinary man, even the ordinary meditator, because what he is doing does not affect the principle in which the separate self sense and thought and desire are generated. So the typical story of the guy who meditates in the wilderness for years and has managed to be able to get into various kinds of trance-Samadhi and he thinks he’s enlightened, so he goes into town to preach the Truth and everything is in town of course, women and fantastic food and movies and books, money and people who want to send him to America to be their Guru and all of this. And so he loses his state, because all he’s done through his traditional method is distracted himself. So he has no fundamental control over the things that he is suffering, because he’s not living prior to them, he has not penetrated them by his method.

So radical understanding is the only recourse, knowing that every motive and action is made of avoidance. When you begin to see that all of your motivation, all of your remedial activity is actually the adventure of Narcissus, is this contraction, this avoidance of relationship, then it becomes clearer and clearer to you that you have no resort apart from perfect understanding. You have no resort apart from the condition, the very condition of Satsang. Radical knowledge, which is another word for radical understanding, is real bliss, dependent on nothing. In other words the bliss or Ananda is one of the words used to describe the ultimate goal or the ultimate realization pursued by the traditional means. But real bliss, the true realization, is not dependent on the artifices of the search. The seeker motivated in his dilemma can turn on various states like you can turn on with a drug, but they are lost as soon as the condition on which they depend is taken away. So as soon as you take away the spiritual practices, the spiritual experiences disappear, the traditional ones. And just so, the forms of created bliss, the artifices of bliss, the trances and whatever, are dependent on certain deliberate activities, certain conditions that must be maintained in order for them to manifest. Only this radical comprehension, perfect understanding is real bliss, and it is not dependent on anything so it is perfectly lasting.

So the bliss of the Man of Understanding is not contaminated, not changed, not lost, once it is begun, it is endless, under all conditions, and he is also free to live under all conditions. He can seem ordinary, he can live essentially in the ordinary way, I don’t mean he can be any kind of a libertine or whatever without effect on himself, but by ordinary I mean he can participate in the full range of manifest life. Whereas a seeker must fasten himself to certain particular limited exclusive conditions in order to hold onto (his) states that he desires.

So, “Understanding arises when there are true hearing and self-observation in relationship.” I have spoken of this a number of times. Whenever there is relationship, wherever there is Satsang, there is self-observation. “Therefore, observe yourself when you seek or suffer. Observe the activity of identification, differentiation, and desire and the patters of your existence. When you see the patterns of Narcissus: seeking, suffering, dilemma, identification, differentiation, desire, etc. understanding is emerging. When you see what already is, you have finally understood.” In other words, again, there is a process of observation generated whenever there is attention to the condition of relationship, attention, or listening to the Guru in Satsang. And if this goes on, this natural process of observation begins to observe in detail all of the dualities of conscious existence, all of the dramas in life, all of the ordinary conditions. And when this begins, understanding is truly coming alive. But the ultimate event is when you see or when you perfectly intuit what already is prior to the dilemma, prior to any condition that arises.

So, again, when understanding becomes the foundation of your life all life is approached by enquiry. Most people have tried it one way or another and have had this and that problem about it, and have stopped using at times. A number of people have replaced verbal enquiry with something that is peculiarly non-verbal, but in some way corresponds to what I mean by understanding, and this is good and true. In fact, enquiry is transcended by subtler processes of intelligence and intuition. But still, the fundamental activity of verbal enquiry is significant, just as self-observation is significant. And it must become stable and available to you.

So continue to study this work. Return always to this whole description of meditation in The Knee of Listening and in other places where I talk of it. And allow this whole process beginning with listening and self-observation and insight and full insight that finally becomes enquiry in a very practical, spontaneous, living, intelligent form. Allow that whole process to take place and (you) become very firm and stable in you, so that this verbal enquiry does become a tool of yours, not that you use in a kind of repetitive, mindless way, the way people want to use a mantra, but which you use randomly, which is available to you. Only when verbal enquiry is stably available to you, in the midst of this whole process I have described, do you have the genuine activity of recognition or non-verbal enquiry and of radical intuition as stable possibilities in you. So throughout the life of understanding, as long as there is a mind and life at all, verbal enquiry is randomly appropriate. Not repetitively, but occasionally. So that when you sit for meditation it should arise in you appropriately, at least a few times while you sit there.

So continually return to this study and observe your own activity as is suggested here, and also be mindful of the process of enquiry and how it’s developing. I’m not saying, “Start enquiring.” I’m saying, “Study this whole process,” and (see) be mindful of how the whole process sits in you at any time. And if this process does begin to develop in significant ways in you, and the process of enquiry begins to develop in you and I would like to see that reflected in the diary you keep too, so I know something about how this is developing.

And the last three points in this lesson, “Use understanding in any experience instead of remedial action to handle the problem of life. Make understanding and enquiry the radical approach to life until they become realized permanently as your form. Enjoy and create according to the wisdom of your own form.” This “your own form” that I’m talking about here is God. I’m not talking about some creativity, I’m talking about the perfect realization in which you are generating the Divine play. At that point you are perfectly free. At that point your life has become truly random, truly formless, truly lost and truly found at the same time. Then without thinking, without motivation in the ordinary sense only the Divine activity takes place through you here.

 


 

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