The following is adapted from The
Illusion of Relatedness a book by Adi Da Samraj published in
1986. The adaptation if part of Beezone’s
Relatedness
The Illusion of
Relatedness: Essays on True and Free Renunciation and the
Radical Transcendence of Conditional Existence.
Da Free John (Adi Da
Samraj)
***
Section XIV.
Consider
this:
“I” is the body-mind.
The body-mind is
a product of Cosmic elemental
forces.
The body-mind is
constantly dependent on those
forces,
and yet
it is separated from them
by its own independence
or individuality.
Consequently,
the body-mind is
constantly related to
(and yet contracted from)
the same elemental forces
of which
it is itself made,
and of which
all other forms
or products
of elemental forces
are made.
Indeed,
the body-mind is
always related to
and yet separated from
(or in tension with)
all elemental (or Cosmic) forces
and their forms
or products.
The body-mind is “I”,
or attention,
or self contraction,
or the feeling of
relatedness.
Because this is so,
the mature practitioner
of the Way that I Teach
should
constantly return to
(or Always Already Abide
At)
the Place
Where he or she Stands.
That is to say,
one should constantly
return
from the field
in which one wanders,
or, better still,
there should be
no wandering.
(And attention is the
wanderer,
expressed
as the
body-mind,
or will
and desire,
in relation
to all
kinds
of Cosmic,
or elemental,
objects,
relations,
and states.)
The mature practitioner
should
constantly allow
attention
(and its objects, including every
aspect of the body-mind)
to subside,
or be at rest,
in the bodiless
and mindless,
or thoughtless,
imageless,
speechless,
soundless,
and heart-silent,
feeling of relatedness.
If this feeling of relatedness
is simply
or merely
and steadily
contemplated
(or fully felt),
both the feeling
and the contemplation
will dissolve
spontaneously
(like a mirage of water, when it is
approached and inspected).
In that instant
of dissolution,
the “pond of Narcissus”
disappears
(with its illusions of
self),
and What Remains
Is the “Gaze in the Heart”,
or the Feeling of Being,
the “Aham Sphurana”,
or the Form That Is
Consciousness
Itself.
Therefore,
merely to contemplate
steadily
(and thus to dissolve
or directly transcend,
and even cease to notice)
the feeling of
relatedness
is to Be,
Free of the arising of
attention
in and to
the forms
and relations
of mind and body.
This is because
the feeling of
relatedness
is itself
the contraction
that precedes
(or is the essence and background
of)
attention,
mind,
body,
and their objects
or relations.
To steadily contemplate
the feeling of
relatedness
(and, spontaneously,
to Feel
and Be the Condition
That Is Prior to it)
is to Stand
(or Be)
Where neither
attention,
nor mind,
nor body,
nor any objects,
others,
places,
or conditional state
arise.
Therefore,
do not seek
any object of attention.
Do not seek.
Do not casually “wander”
as attention,
or via attention.
Do not identify with
attention,
for it is
the self contractions
itself,
and it is
inherently
and always
moved toward object,
others,
and conditional states.
To Release attention
(or Be, Released from it)
it is only necessary
to Stand Prior to it.
To Stand Prior to
attention,
it is only necessary
to steadily observe
and contemplate
and “re-cognize
and transcend
the essence of attention,
which is the simple,
thoughtless
heart-feeling of
relatedness
that is naturally
associated
with the right side of the
heart.
When this has become stably
clear
and obvious to you
(through real practice in the stages
of the “Yoga of Consideration”),
such that
you have no other
or contrary motives
(or binding attachments
to the psycho-physical point of
view
(characteristic of the first five
stages of life),
then meditate thus:
Constantly submit
to feel
(rather than put attention on the
thoughtless feeling of relatedness).
Do this moment to moment,
rather than
follow attention itself.
In every moment
of this natural and
easeful
feeling-contemplation,
“re-cognize”
the feeling of relatedness
as self-contraction,
or simply feel
into
(and, spontaneously,
beyond)
the heart-feeling of
relatedness,
and thus Feel
That In Which
the feeling of
relatedness
is arising
(or in Which
or Of Which
the feeling of
relatedness
is a contraction).
What Is That
In Which the thoughtless
feeling of relatedness
is arising?
What Is
That In Which
or Of Which
thoughtless feeling
of relatedness
is an apparent
contraction?
Feel,
Locate,
and Be
That,
Until
It Gracefully
Reveals
Its Own Nature,
Status,
and Inherent Bliss,
even to the degree
that apparently arising
conditions
are Always Already
“Recognizable”
In and As That.
Consciousness Itself
Prior to
(or Free of)
all apparent
modifications
(“gross”, “subtle”, and
“causal”)
is “Love-Ananda”
(Inherent “Love-Bliss”,
or Self Existing
Happiness).
If any apparent modification
arises,
the Self-Existing Being,
or Consciousness Itself,
or Happiness Itself,
is apparently diminished,
or limited
and reduced
to the quality
of that “gross”,
“subtle”,
or “causal” modification.
Therefore,
Be Free
of all modifications.
Stand Free
and Be Free
of identification
with the body,
the mind,
the total body-mind,
and all the worlds
of the apparent relations
of these illusory
or merely apparent
versions of conditional,
or limited
and temporary,
selfhood.
Stand
and Be Free
As the One
(or the Transcendental Divine
Condition)
Who is merely
“Witnessing”
and Who is apparently
modified
by
or as
all that arises
conditionally.
Even When You Have
Realized
(and Are Awake As)
That Very
and Self Radiant
Consciousness,
simply allow
all apparent conditions
to arise
and pass
as they will,
but
(rather than cling to
or follow what arises)
simply
and spontaneously
“Recognize”
whatever arises.
In this manner,
let all apparent
conditions
be Felt
As Is,
or Felt
Beyond,
as if they are,
all together,
like a shawl of gauze,
or an insubstantial
vapor,
transparent
to the inherent
Self-Light.
Do This,
and all this conditional
seeming
will be “Transfigured,”
“Transformed”,
and, finally,
“Outshined”
in the Self-Radiant
and
Unqualified Feeling of Being,
or Absolute Consciousness
Itself.
XV.
Always Feel, Breathe, Love, Trust,
Have Faith In,
Surrender To, and Inherently
Identify With The Divine Person and The “Ishta-Guru”
(or The “True Heart-Master”),
Both As Your Very Self, or
Consciousness Itself,
and As The Conscious Energy or
Self-Radiant Person
Who Lives and Breathes
and Is Your apparent body-mind, all
apparently other beings, and all apparent worlds.
Allow The Divine Person
and The “Ishta-Guru”
To Stand As all that arises
and Thus To Stand Even As Your Own
bodymind
(Within it, As it, and In
Relationship To it).
If You Allow This With Love, Faith,
Devotion,
and No Withholding,
The Entire Process Associated With
Realization
and Liberation Will Be Given To You,
Spontaneously and
Exactly.
All You Need To Do Is Respond and
Cooperate.
Give Your “self” To The One Who Is
Always Already Realized and Liberated.
Respond To That One Heartily.
Then The Very State Of That One Will
Be Realized By You,
Quite Naturally, As A Gift.
This Is The “Secret” Of The Way That
I Teach.
At Last You Will “See” The
“Ishta-Guru”
(The Very Form Of The “True
Heart-Master”)
As “Atma-Murti”
(The Image Of Inherent Happiness, or
The Very Form Of Consciousness Itself),
and You Will Thus Transcend The
Illusion Of separation and relatedness.
May all beings Be Blessed To
“Hear“
and “See“
and “Practice“
In The Free Radiance Of This True
Heart.
May all those who Suffer The Bondage
Of attention Be Released,
Even Now,
By The Power Of My
Contemplation.
Let The Power Released Through My
Realization Of The Truth
Be Sufficient For The Liberation Of
all beings.
Let It Be So.
