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Below is the Breath and Name
adaptation (The words in CAPITALS were in the
original letter but left out and/or changed).
The original
letter is at the bottom of
this page.
THE WAY OF DIVINE COMMUNION IS
THE WAY OF LOVING SUBMISSION AND ATTENTION TO
GOD
For those who are becoming available
to the process of transformation in the Divine, I have
established the Way of Divine Communion, which is the simple
way of loving submission and attention to God. Many will
(COME TO ME) respond to my Teaching, and all are
welcome to approach me through the Teaching and the services
of Vision Mound Ceremony, who are simply suffering the
common failures of life. To all of them I simply say, come
happily, with the urge to happiness, to peace, to love, and
to a better realization of your born life. The Lord of all
the worlds is Radiant before you. If you will simply direct
yourself to the service and awareness of the Divine, the
Services of God will be given to you.
It is not necessary or even possible
for you to “believe” in God or know the Character of the
Divine (PERSON) Reality. But if you can see that you
do not exist by your own creature power, and if you can
begin to consider the alignment of your life with the
unspeakable Source or Condition that is truly responsible
for and ultimately identical to your very existence, then
you can do (SADHANA) the spiritual practice of Communion
with God. I urge and welcome all who can manage such
sympathy (AND WHO FEEL THE CONTACT WITH GRACE IN MY
COMPANY) to accept the simple and pleasurable
disciplines I will recommend. (AND TO VISIT ME IN MY
ASHRAM OR ANY PLACE WHERE I COME, EITHER IN PERSON OR IN THE
FORM OF MY DISCIPLE AND DEVOTEES.)
For those who would thus adapt
themselves, (AT LEAST WITH A LITTLE OF THEIR LIVES) I
recommend a way that is easy to conceive and fulfill. Simply
turn to God. Submit, surrender yourself to God (THROUGH
ME) . Love and receive God (THROUGH ME). The
Divine is a Presence you will come to know. That Presence is
only God. If you will devote or sacrifice yourself to that
all-pervading Presence, God will transform your knowledge,
and you will realize only God at last.
You should assist this process of
Divine Communion through two natural disciplines, one which
is practical,(OR HUMANLY BASED) based in ordinary
action, and one which is spiritual, based within the heart
or boundless psyche.
The practical discipline which
assists this turning or Communion is the practice of
minimizing the degree and kinds of exploitation of life in
your own case and bringing your life into coincidence with
the special psycho-physical and relational laws of manifest
existence as well as the great Law or Principle, which is
sacrifice. This involves (TO WHATEVER DEGREE YOU ARE
ABLE) participation in a life of devotional service to
God through all your actions, including practice of the
living Sacrament of Universal Sacrifice; study and listening
to recitations of the Teaching of the Way of Divine
Ignorance and its first two stages, the Way of Divine
Communion and the Way of Relational Enquiry; the study of
and simple listening to traditional teachings about God and
Divinely realized individuals; the maintenance of a
productive work life; the keeping of a clean, orderly,
healthful, and pleasurable environment for yourself and your
companions; the adoption and strict maintenance (except
perhaps on special occasions of celebration) of a pure,
healthful, vitalizing, and intelligently conceived
lacto-vegetarian diet1, the responsible
confinement of sexuality to love-desire within the
relationship of heterosexual marriage (or its equivalent
commitment in the case of a true homosexual relationship);
and a continuous, active orientation toward human community
and energetic, compassionate, and loving service to the
common life. To whatever degree you (FAILY OR) find yourself
reluctant to fulfill this discipline at any time, simply
observe yourself, be easy, be full of enjoyment, make your
actions (AT LEAST AN INDULGENCE THAT DOES NOT HARM
OTHERS) a service to others, and continue to turn to the
Divine Grace with feeling, from the heart. The more you
mature, the more easily you will fulfill this discipline.
The more perfectly you fulfill it, the more you will see of
your turning from the Divine Condition. And the more you see
of this turning away, the more responsible you will become
for your turning or yielding into the all-pervading
Presence.
The spiritual discipline should
begin at a later stage, when the practical discipline has
become stable and true, and when you feel the Divine clearly
in the form of constant Presence, through direct initiation
in the formal enjoyment of my Company. The spiritual
discipline that should begin to accompany the practical
discipline of this Way of Divine Communion is a voluntary
exercise of the remembrance of God from the heart that
coordinates the body, the life-force, and the mind with the
breath. Thus, sit, in privacy, as a formal responsibility,
twice a day. Turn attention to the Divine Presence,
surrender to the all-pervading Presence, yield your life and
circumstances to God, and, at random, breathe the Presence
of God, with attention to the Divine as the Reality or Real
Condition that is prior to or beyond the body, the mind, and
the world. Breathe with your heart. With random exhalations
surrender your self, your mind, your emotions, your life,
your desires, your body, and all the conditions of your
existence from your heart to God. Then, with random and
following inhalations, with your heart and your whole being,
receive, draw upon, and become full of the Presence, Power,
and Consciousness that is God. Such is the spiritual
practice of the Breath of God. Whatever you yield from the
heart will, over time, be replaced by Divinely transformed
conditions and/or by intuitions of the significance of any
limitations you must bear in time and space.
This spiritual practice (MAY)
should (BE EXPANDED AT TIMES TO) include random
heart-felt remembrance of God through the “Name” of God.
(MY RECOMMENDATION) I ask that you use the Name
“God,” and not any traditional mantric Name, such as Ram,
Krishna, Jesus, or Om. “God” is the Name of God with which
all men are familiar and to which they are naturally
attached through body, breath, emotion, mind, and soul.
Therefore, at random, with surrender in exhalation, inwardly
or vocally, and with feeling and love in the heart,
recollect and breathe the Presence via the Name “God.”
Likewise, with random inhalations, feel and breathe the
Divine Presence with the heart via the Name “God.” The
practice of heart-felt recollection, or conscious yielding
of feeling-attention.
BUBBA’S ORIGINAL LETTER DATED DECEMBER
1, 1975
ANNOUNCING THE WAY OF DIVINE
COMMUNION
For more than five years I have been
at work with individuals in intimate company to communicate,
demonstrate, and awaken in them the sadhana of the way of
Understanding. This way is the special form of instruction
which was implied in my own birth and sadhana. Only recently
have I found, in the case of a small group of those with
whom I have worked in this way, the evidence of maturity
which is the necessary foundation for the realization of
this way. I have given this group of disciples all essential
responsibility for the future management and instruction of
the student community of my Ashram. I am now, and in the
future, personally and intimately involved only in the
instruction of such mature disciples and devotees. I have
completely put into writing all of the necessary
instructions relative to the final and technical realization
of this way of Understanding. Therefore, except for the
occasional verbal instruction of mature disciples and
devotees, my special teaching work is, in its essentials,
complete. Now my responsibilities are not great or pressing
in the world. I need only be present for the random
occasions of Satsang, or sitting in the company of those who
come to me.
Because of this change in the status
of my work in the world, because the way of Understanding is
secure as a communicated path, I have become willing also to
accept another kind of condition in those who approach
me.
There are very few individuals in
the karmic plane of this world who are truly capable of
fulfilling the profound requirements of this way of
Understanding. The experiment of my own community is the
most practical evidence of this. The times are weak and
overwhelmed, and human beings are like children, alive
without defenses in a terrible or, at least, complicated
place. The karmas of this time and place must be penetrated
and undermined by a Divine and sympathetic strategy, full of
Compassion and Grace. My special teaching work has been a
service for a few. The way of Understanding is not itself a
saving gospel that can affect the world at large. It is a
way for the special few who were given to me in the
spiritual planes above this world before my present birth.
Those few were with me then, and, because their karmas
obliged them to be born on earth again, I have taken the
present birth to complete my work with them. The way of
Understanding has thus been established as path on earth,
and it will remain here, through the responsible services of
my devotees, for all future individuals who have attained
the spiritual status above this world of those whom I have
presently been born to serve. Apart from such individuals,
for whom the karmas of the lower planes are weak, there are
very few who, by virtue of sheer sympathy and persistence,
will be able to adapt to this difficult way. It requires an
intelligence that constantly exceeds the power of life’s
theatre, and an attachment to the spiritual intimacies and
disciplines of my Company that cannot be attained by mere
effort or conventional inclination.
But I am willing to serve all beings
in this place. My special work has been for a few, but I am
an incarnation of the Divine Form, and my special work, once
fulfilled, can stand by itself in my Presence. I have become
willing, and now capable, to assume a more general role for
the sake of the spiritual life or salvation of
men.
All who come to me may participate
in the eternal Grace of God. It is not necessary for every
one to belong to the special class of individuals whom it
was my unique obligation to serve in the way of
Understanding. For those few, sadhana in my Company is like
the resumption of a course of study after a period of
recess. Such individuals are already used to my discipline,
my wildness, and the special character of my appearance and
play. But others cannot identify me in this manner, and they
are sensitive and available only to the most direct
expression of the universal and unqualified Divine in me.
For these many, who are only now becoming available to
sadhana or life in Communion with the Divine Person, I am
willing to do service in another way, which is the simple
way of loving submission and attention to God.
In the future, my community will
serve the world for the sake of the universal path of God. I
will continue to serve disciples and devotees who
demonstrate the special interest and capacity necessary for
realization of the way of Understanding. And the
instructions relative to the way of Understanding will
continue to be available to all who approach me in my
Ashram. But my disciples and devotees, even the whole of my
community, will be devoted to the service of mankind in the
spirit of a universal effort, for the sake of the Grace of
God among all living beings.
Therefore, many will come to me, and
all are welcome, who are simply suffering the common
failures of life. To all of them, I simply say, come to me
happily, with the urge to happiness, to peace, to love, and
to a better realization of your born life. The Lord of all
the worlds is Radiant before you. If you will simply direct
yourself, with whatever power or capacity you can find
within yourself,to the remembrance of the Divine in my
Company,the Services of God will be given to you.
It is not necessary or even possible
for you to “believe” in God or know the Character of the
Divine Person. But if you can see that you do not exist by
your own creature power, and if you can begin to consider
the alignment of your life with the unspeakable Source or
Condition that is truly responsible for your existence, then
you can do the sadhana or spiritual practice of Communion
with God. I urge and welcome all who can manage such
sympathy, and who feel the contact with Grace in my Company,
to accept the simple and pleasurable disciplines I will
recommend, and to visit me in my Ashram or any place where I
come, either in person or in the form of my disciples and
devotees.
For those who would thus adapt
themselves at least with a little of their lives, I
recommend a way that is easy to conceive and fulfill. Simply
turn to God through me. Submit, surrender yourself to God
through me. Love and receive God through me.
You should assist this process
through two natural disciplines, one which is practical or
humanly based, and one which is spiritual.
The practical discipline which
assists this turning or Communion is the practice of
minimizing the degree and kinds of exploitation of life in
your own case. This involves, to whatever degree you are
able, the study of listening to teachings about God and
Divinely realized individuals; the maintenance of a
productive work life and the effort of service, compassion
and love for all human and earthly beings; the keeping of a
clean, orderly, healthful, and pleasurable environment for
yourself and your companions; the adoption of a healthful
and “harmless diet (an essentially lacto-vegetarian diet
that involves, to whatever degree possible, non-killing of
higher creatures, who possess the sense of independent
existence); the confinement of sexuality to a single
partner; and an orientation toward human community and
service to the common life. This practical discipline should
be fulfilled by you to whatever degree you find the capacity
in yourself. To whatever degree you fail or find yourself
unable to fulfill this discipline, simply observe yourself,
be easy, be full of enjoyment, make your actions at least an
indulgence that does not harm others, and continue to turn
to God with feeling, from the heart.
The spiritual discipline that should
accompany the practical discipline of this way of Communion
is a voluntary exercise of the remembrance of God from the
heart that coordinates the body, the life-force, and the
mind with the breath. Thus, sit with me, or in privacy, once
or twice a day. Remember me, surrender, love, and yield your
life and circumstances to God through me, and, at random,
breathe the Presence of God, with attention to the Divine as
the Reality or Real Person which is above, beyond, and also
surrounding and permeating the body, the mind, and the
world. Breathe with your heart. With random exhalations,
surrender your self, your mind, your life, your body, and
all the conditions of your existence from your heart to God
through me. Then, with random and following inhalations,
with your heart and your whole being, receive, draw upon,
and become full of the Presence, Power, and Consciousness of
God through me. Whatever you yield from the heart will, over
time, be replaced by Divinely transformed conditions and/or
by intuitions of the significance of any limitations you
must bear in time and space.
These represent the essential
discipline of the way of Divine Communion. The spiritual
practice of the breathing of God from the heart will, over
time, show itself to you as a process in which you are
breathed and lived and loved by God. The spiritual practice
and the practical disciplines should both be exercised more
and more under whatever conditions arise in life. The
spiritual practice itself need not be reserved only for
those occasions when you sit with me or sit in private, but
it should be exercised at random, at any time, while awake,
or even while dreaming or asleep. Allow it to develop and
reveal the Divine to you according to its own pace. Simply
use the spiritual exercise and the practical disciplines as
a way of Communing with God through me under all
conditions.
The spiritual practice may also be
expanded at times to include heartfelt remembrance of God
through the Name or Mantra of God. My recommendation is that
you use the Name “God,” and not any traditional mantric
Name, such as Ram, Krishna, Jesus, or Om. “God” is the Name
of God with which all men are familiar and to which they are
naturally attached through body, breath, mind, spirit, and
soul. Therefore, at random, with surrender in exhalation,
inwardly or verbally, and with feeling and love in the
heart, breathe the Name “God.” Likewise, with random
inhalations, feel and breathe the Divine Presence from the
heart with the Name “God.” This is the spiritual practice of
the “God-Mantra” or “God-Name.”
Those who would try as much as
possible to do this sadhana or practice of heartfelt Divine
Communion should do it in my personal Company or Presence as
much as possible. They should come to me in my Ashram as
often as possible, or sit for meditation and instruction in
the company of my disciples and devotees, who will at times
travel about or present themselves in the places of my
Ashram in order to serve those who are interested in trying
to live this practice.
My Ashram community will, in the
future, be composed of all who come to me, to extend their
involvement either with the way of Understanding or with the
way of Divine Communion. Those who come will be given the
option to engage in the study of either path, and anyone may
choose to change their practice from one path to the other.
The obligations of the way of Understanding are more severe,
and its communications are more complex. The way of Divine
Communion is simpler in concept, and its disciplines are
obligatory only to the degree each individual chooses or
finds the capacity in any moment. In any case, I am Present
always for the sake of anyone who comes to me, and I yield
to each the Grace or consideration he or she requires in
God. May all beings find God and Happiness in good
Company.
Bubba’s written
instructions
December 1, 1975
All members of the Ashram should consider what I have
written about the two ways of sadhana in my Company. Each
should consider the obligations of the two ways and their
own capacity, and communicate their intentions relative to
which path they intend to follow to the disciple
group.
For those who are assuming the way
of Divine Communion there need not be any courses of study
relative to the way of Understanding (unless they desire
it), no sadhana groups, no interviewing (unless they request
it) and no obligations to the community other than the
tithe. Disciples and some others will have the essential
responsibility for instructing groups (and the public) in
the way of Divine Communion as well as the way of
Understanding. Study for those in the way of Divine
Communion is essentially to be in the form of traditional
God-literature, and my own writings in this vein. In such
study meetings, discussion should be about God, life in God,
and the qualities of Communion and life in my Presence.
There should not be endless, complicated and personal
discussions of problems, yoga, esotericism, etc. A program
should be developed to manage service to individuals in both
paths. A public education and meditation program should also
be developed.
Those who live at Persimmon and in
the formal community of the Dawn Horse should generally
(absolutely if possible) be those living the way of
Understanding. All others should have a formal relationship
with me and the community, but one that permits easy access
to me and the services of the community.
A person newly entering the Ashram
should simply study the two forms of approach and begin the
practice of practical disciplines and the formal approach to
me through Prasad and the conditions. When they decide which
approach to follow, they may then take up either the
spiritual practice of the way of Communion or the study
courses of the way of Understanding.
Bubba’s written
instructions
December 1, 1975
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