The Dreaded Gomboo or The Imaginary Disease That
Religion Seeks To Cure.
A Collection of Essays and Talks on the “Direct”
Process of Enlightenment.
By Da Free John.
Compiled and edited with an introduction and commentary
by the Renunciate Hermitage Order.
THE DREADED GOM-BOO
Part II: Renunciation
CHAPTER 16
Are Celibacy and Asceticism Necessary in the Enlightened
Condition?
March 31, 1981
MASTER DA: I have written an essay called, “Are Celibacy
and Asceticism Necessary in the Enlightened Condition?” I
will read this essay to you, and then we can discuss it
further.
Are Celibacy and Asceticism Necessary in the Enlightened
Condition?
an essay by Da Free John
Those who are Awakened in Sahaj Samadhi, in the seventh
stage of life, are free of concerns for the body-mind and
its relations. They simply recognize what arises, abiding in
That of which all conditions are a modification (or That in
which all conditions are arising, or may arise). But neither
are such individuals concerned about the Divine or
Transcendental Self as an Essence independent of phenomena.
The Transcendental Self (or Radiant Transcendental Being) is
the Context of phenomena, or the Disposition that always
stands in free or right relation to phenomena, if phenomena
arise. Thus, in Sahaj Samadhi, phenomena are recognized, but
they are not suppressed. They are seen in the Context of
Reality, rather than in the context of mere egoic
separateness and limitation.
Sahaj Samadhi is the Realized Condition in which the
body-mind is itself Enlightened (or allowed to be the
circumstance of Enlightenment) by virtue of an Awakening to
the Transcendental or “nirvanic” Context of phenomenal
existence or “samsara” (rather than the merely “samsaric”
context of “samsara”). Thus, in Sahaj Samadhi, the Radiant
Transcendental Being is Realized to be the Context of
manifest existence, whereas, in the conventions of the six
stages of ordinary human existence, the ego, or
self-contraction, is the presumed context and originator of
manifest existence.
When the ego is thus viewed to be the source of manifest
existence, manifest existence is presumed to be merely
karma, the negative Maya, or a Great Problem. Thus, the
conventional strategy is world-negative, body-negative,
self-negative, etc. But when the Radiant Transcendental
Being is Realized to be the Context of existence, prior to
the self-contraction and the merely negative conception of
phenomenal destiny, then manifest existence, or “samsara,”
is Realized in Truth. For this reason, Sahaj Samadhi is a
stage of spontaneous expansion, or Radiation of Free Being,
even in manifest terms. Then the Force of Radiant
Transcendental Being Transfigures and Transforms the
conditions of the manifest self, while the manifest self is
priorly free of the force of self-contraction, or the
separate and bound self-concept. Transfiguration and
Transformation are free expressions of the unqualified
Radiance of Transcendental Self-Existence.
Therefore, ultimate Enlightenment, or radical Realization
of Transcendental Existence, is not based on, nor does it
support or imply, a negative view of phenomenal existence.
Rather, it is simply a matter of freedom from the false
presumptions, problem-consciousness, and mechanical
contractions of ego-based rather than Reality-based
existence.
Thus, in Sahaj Samadhi, the functional conditions of the
total body-mind, high and low, are seen in the Context of
Radiant Transcendental Being. And in every moment, the Force
of Radiant Transcendental Being is thus free to Transfigure
and Transform the body-mind.
As this Process of Transfiguration and Transformation
develops, three primary expressions tend to appear: (1) the
free Realization and expansion of Love-Bliss, (2) the
spontaneous development of “siddhis,” or uncommon
psycho-physical powers, and (3) the release or Outshining of
the motions or tendencies of the manifest body-mind or
persona. All of these changes develop on the basis of the
freedom from self-contraction (or egoity) that is native to
Radiant Transcendental Being.
The true disposition of Sahaj Samadhi is not inherently
ascetical, nor is it conventionally self-indulgent. It is
simply freedom in Reality, transcending all conventions of
limitation, whether worldly or religious. How any individual
in the seventh stage behaves is a matter of his or her
personal characteristics, presumed function in life, the
cultural context of his or her activities, and so forth.
Thus, some may seem ascetical, and others less so, while
some may act in the “Crazy” fashion, at times seeming to be
strictly self-controlled, and at other times rather
unconventional, self-indulgent, and even wild. (In general,
unless the individual has the function of Crazy Adept, he or
she functions in Sahaj Samadhi in a balanced manner, neither
self-consciously ascetical nor self-destructively
indulgent.)
Thus, in Sahaj Samadhi the individual is Transcendentally
Free, and the manifest personality is established in the
Radiant Context of that Freedom. Since the egoic contraction
is thus inherently transcended, the manifest being expresses
the Love-Bliss of Free Radiance in all directions, in all
relations, under all conditions. Without ones seeking or
working to attain them, higher evolutionary or spiritual
powers may spontaneously appear, grow, change, and perhaps
pass away again. Just so, the manifest being becomes more
and more Full, to the point where its various limits, being
unnecessary in the Radiant Transcendental Being, begin to be
Outshined. That is, the conditional being begins to relax
and simplify. The mind becomes transparent. The body and the
world become less and less defined apart from the One Light
of Blissful Being. Therefore, as Sahaj Samadhi continues, it
begins to become a transition to Bhava Samadhi. This
transitional stage of Sahaj Samadhi is its second or late
phase. On its basis, incidents of Bhava Samadhi may begin to
occur. And Translation, or Bhava Samadhi in death, follows
eventually.
This second phase of Sahaj Samadhi is what could be
called the ultimate or true renunciate phase of existence.
It is not based on any ascetical or other-worldly ideal. It
is simply an ultimate expression of Bliss, and it tends to
occur in the later phase of the life of a Realized
individual.
Even though this second phase of Sahaj Samadhi may begin
to appear, it does not necessarily imply that the individual
will or must, on that account, become immediately ascetical,
celibate, and so forth. If an individual is
characteristically inclined toward extreme simplicity,
apparent asceticism, motiveless celibacy, and the like, then
these qualities will become naturally apparent even before
entrance into the seventh stage of life (and so they will
tend to continue in that event as well). But if the
individual is characteristically a more active, creative
type, then such qualities tend to be apparent both in the
early stages of practice and in the seventh stage as well.
Even so, as the process of Sahaj Samadhi moves into its
second phase, every such individual, whatever his or her
characteristics by tendency, becomes outwardly more simple,
expressing Transcendental Occupation of a kind that
generally reduces the motions of the body-mind. But even
when this phase appears, some may continue to be to a
significant degree active in an expressive manner, both
culturally and personally, while others may seem more
reserved, passive, and uninvolved.
Because of these possible differences in character
between individuals, it must be understood that the second
phase of Sahaj Samadhi, although it is generally marked in
every case by some degree of apparent calming and reduction
of the movements of the manifest being, may not necessarily
be expressed in the strictest form of ascetical behavior.
Some may remain sexually active (although in a
self-transcending and yogically conservative fashion, free
of conventional sexual bondage), and yet otherwise
relatively inactive in social terms. Others may be
motivelessly celibate, but quite active in one or another
social or cultural form. There are many variations of
demonstration.
Of course, in Bhava Samadhi, all action is transcended,
the body-mind and the world are Outshined, and the
individual in that Mood (or approaching it in a relatively
suspended or simplified awareness in Sahaj Samadhi) appears,
in that case, to express the most extreme detachment,
dispassion, and mindlessness. But until this Mood becomes
(insofar as the present lifetime is concerned) permanent in
death, the active qualities of individual existence will
tend to reappear in one or another form (and such
reappearance has no binding power).
In any case, the Realization which is the foundation of
the seventh stage of life is such that all those who enter
into It are, inherently, renunciates. What they renounce (by
virtue of Realization, not a strategy based on conflicts,
fears, presumed problems, or conventional ideals) is the
self-contraction that distorts existence (both manifest and
Transcendental). Enlightenment is free of the power of
self-contraction that creates bondage through false views,
desire rituals, and all the kinds of conventional dilemmas.
Thus, Enlightenment is free of the false conception of
Reality as a Condition inside, behind, and independent of
manifest phenomena. (Rather, the Transcendental Reality is
Realized to be the inherent Context of phenomena-as long as
phenomena appear-and It is also Realized to be the Simple or
Single Condition of Existence when Bhava Samadhi Outshines
phenomena.) Just so, Enlightenment is free of the binding
power of egoic conventions, separative logic, the
presumption of the necessity and independence of self or
phenomena for existence, the rituals of desire (both
ascetic, or other-worldly, and worldly), and so forth.
Enlightenment, in the form of Sahaj Samadhi, is the
Realization of the coincidence of Radiant Transcendental
Being and phenomenal appearances (free of the egoic
contraction and its conventional presumptions). Thus, Sahaj
Samadhi always expresses, through whatever behavioral form
it takes in any moment, the non-difference between the
Transcendental Reality and the phenomena of manifest
existence. And Bhava Samadhi is the same Realization when
Radiant Transcendental Being priorly Outshines phenomenal
appearances. Thus, until final Bhava Samadhi, the apparent
individual in Sahaj Samadhi is Awake to the Great Wisdom,
but actions and personal qualities will tend to continue in
a characteristic manner, only gradually and to one or
another degree simplified, as Sahaj Samadhi achieves its
second phase, thus becoming a transition to Bhava Samadhi.
Incidents of Bhava Samadhi may then develop on occasion,
followed again by phenomenal existence in Sahaj Samadhi.
Then death becomes a final incident of Bhava Samadhi – final
at least in terms of the present lifetime. But just as Sahaj
Samadhi may follow Bhava Samadhi in the present lifetime,
another apparent lifetime or another configuration of
phenomenal awareness may follow death in Bhava Samadhi – but
that phenomenal condition will be lived in Sahaj Samadhi (or
it will basically be founded in Enlightened Consciousness,
even though creative struggle may be necessary to adapt the
new condition or life – circumstance to the full
intelligence of Enlightened Being).
The philosophical point of view of the sixth stage of
life, particularly evident in the traditions of Hinayana
Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, bears some likenesses to this
seventh stage point of view. Both sixth and seventh stage
schools speak of or point toward Transcendental Being (as
opposed to conventional ideas or ideals of God, mystical
objects, conventional meditative experiences, and so forth).
But the primary difference between sixth and seventh stage
schools is that sixth stage schools generally conceive of
the phenomenal world as a problem to be escaped, and they
likewise conceive of the Transcendental Self or Reality or
Enlightenment to be inherently and logically different from
the phenomenal self and world. Thus, sixth stage
“Realization” tends toward the viewpoint of ascetical
inversion, or ascetical dissociation from phenomena, and the
reduction of the dynamic paradoxes of existence to a
conventional monistic equation. The seventh stage
Realization is free of the “problem” of existence created on
the basis of the self-contraction which creates the limited
philosophical and psychological point of view of the schools
of the first six stages of life. Thus, in Sahaj Samadhi, the
schism between Radiant Transcendental Being and phenomenal
existence is utterly overcome. And Bhava Samadhi is not a
return to the inverted disposition of the sixth stage, but
it is another fulfillment of the same point of view that is
Awakened in Sahaj Samadhi. (Bhava Samadhi is not an escape
from phenomena but the ultimate recognition of
phenomena.)
Because of the unique understanding at the basis of Sahaj
Samadhi, abiding in Sahaj Samadhi neither requires nor
implies a necessary asceticism. No fool can Realize This.
The Transition is most subtle. And what characterizes all
who Realize This is the Freedom of Love-Bliss, the Great
Siddhi of recognition, and an intelligence that is
compatible with paradoxes rather than reductionism.
MASTER DA: In Sahaj Samadhi there is freedom from
concerns about the body-mind. Celibacy is not necessary in
the seventh stage of life, although it may occur in the case
of certain individuals. In general, celibacy and asceticism
are associated with religious ideals or philosophical
persuasions that conceive the ultimate Reality or
Enlightenment to be a Condition separate from phenomena. In
the movement to Realize that Reality, therefore, various
forms of subjectivism, such as internalization of attention,
dissociation from phenomena, and asceticism, including
celibacy, are generated culturally as a means to Realize the
Truth, the Ultimate Reality, the higher world, the
Divine.
Our Way is based on a different understanding, the
understanding that is the actual Realization in the fullness
of the seventh stage of life. That understanding transcends
problem-based consciousness or the egoic self-contraction
and therefore all the philosophical and psychological
presumptions that stem from that false view. The seventh
stage orientation transcends the sixth stage orientation,
and the difference between the two is a critical
difference.
It is easy to fall into the pattern of conventional
thinking that belongs to the fourth, fifth, and sixth stage
schools of the traditions and to feel, therefore, that the
radical considerations of the seventh stage are more or less
restatements of the point of view inherent in the fourth,
fifth, and sixth stages of life. But the point of view of
the seventh stage is a radical and unique point of view. If
that point of view is then brought to the conditions of the
stages of life, as it is in our Way, then it transforms the
disposition at every stage of life.
Adepts or practitioners, Realizers of a kind, in the
sixth stage-and the Realizers of the sixth stage that we
read or hear about generally appear in the traditions of
Advaita Vedanta and Hinayana Buddhism-speak of the
Transcendental Reality or the Transcendental Self, but a
great deal of the language of their doctrine is associated
with the problem-consciousness, with the notion that the
Ultimate Reality is Realized independent of phenomenal
existence through some sort of act of dissociation from
phenomenal existence. The sixth stage schools reduce Reality
to what is profoundly within or profoundly separate from
phenomena. Thus, even though sixth stage practitioners speak
of the Transcendental Reality or the Transcendental Self and
use some of the language that may also be used by the
Realizers of the seventh stage, they are referring to the
Ultimate Condition of existence through the medium of the
self-contraction and problem-consciousness that inform all
the earlier stages.
The seventh stage Realization transcends the reductionism
that belongs to the logic of the ego-the “not this, not
this” kind of logic in which the Reality is always something
else and what is apparently arising in the moment is a
problem, a something to be escaped, a condition to be
solved. The seventh stage point of view is Enlightenment to
the point of Paradox. The Condition or the Context of
phenomenal existence is Realized – yes, it is the
Transcendental Self – but it is no longer conceived to be
Something within or separate from phenomena. Phenomena are
recognized in their Condition. That recognition is
Enlightenment. It is Freedom.
Phenomenal existence is utterly coincident with That
which is Transcendental and Infinitely Radiant. As the great
Realizers in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions of
Buddhism proclaim, Nirvana and samsara are the same. This
formula is a seventh stage conception of Reality. Thus,
within the Mahayana and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism we do
find Adepts of the seventh stage, generally among the
individuals called “Maha-Siddhas” and various of the Tantric
Adepts. But we also find such seventh stage Adepts arising
among all the traditions.
DEVOTEE: Master, in The Knee of Listening , in the
section “The Meditation of Understanding,” you say that
understanding is being in relationship even to the activity
of the avoidance of relationship. The seventh stage Wisdom
seems to be such a paradox.
MASTER DA: Yes. We are always trying to discover a
one-sided principle that is somehow different from all other
possibilities. Such motivation makes even monism a kind of
dualism because it proposes that it is not the same as a
great many other philosophies. The ultimate Principle
realized in Truth is the Single Reality, but it is an
utterly unifying conception or Realization of existence. The
separative consciousness or the self-contraction must be
transcended. When it is utterly transcended, then manifest
existence is not a problem. It is seen as it is, in the
context of Reality, whereas until this contraction is
transcended, phenomenal existence is perceived, instead, in
the context of the contracted self, and the contracted self
gives us a false view of phenomena, as it likewise gives us
a false view of the Transcendental Reality.
Some people develop the problematic conception of the
ordinary world or phenomenal existence. They acknowledge
their false views about manifestation and they feel
profoundly that life is suffering. Consequently they want to
eliminate the imposition of existence through the force of
asceticism, seeking thereby to realize the Reality, the
Transcendental Truth, the Divine. They do not understand
that their conception of the Transcendental Truth, the
Reality, or the Divine has been just as profoundly falsified
by the ego-contraction as by the phenomenal world. They are
suffering both aspects of the paradox of their existence. In
Enlightenment we are liberated from the self-contraction and
all its conventions, its problematic conceptions of the
phenomenal world and the phenomenal self, and its
conventional views about the ultimate Reality or Truth of
existence.
We could say that when people begin to fulfill this Way
to the point of entering into the seventh stage, or Sahaj
Samadhi, they will be an acknowledgeable group of people who
are an important dimension of the institution in every
generation. They will naturally be the elders, the group
principally associated with the Wisdom of this Way by virtue
of their having fulfilled it and Realized its Truth. There
very well may be celibates in that group. Certainly everyone
in that group will be completely responsible for the sexual
process. But they may not actually be celibate. In the
common mind, however, renunciation is generally associated
with celibacy.
The true force of renunciation is an expression of
Realization, which, as well as the growing maturity of the
spiritual process, is always associated with the real
quality of renunciation. But renunciation is not necessarily
associated with asceticism, other-worldly idealism, or
conventional celibacy. Clearly, the life of the maturely
spiritual individual becomes simplified, dramatically
transformed, his or her relationship to the processes of
functional existence is profoundly changed, by the Wisdom of
Realization. It is not possible to be Realized and also to
be a self-indulgent fool! But people who have Realized the
Truth and entered into the seventh stage of life do not
necessarily live as conventional ascetics, although you
would certainly call them renunciates, if you understood
what they were about.
You are practicing in the fourth stage of life, perhaps,
or the fifth stage, or the sixth stage of life, not from the
point of view of the fourth, fifth, or sixth stage but from
the point of view of the understanding that reflects the
seventh stage disposition. You bring that understanding to
bear on the stage of adaptation or growth you are presently
living. When we point to practice in the fourth, fifth, or
sixth stages of life in the setting of our institution,
therefore, we are not talking about the fourth, fifth, or
sixth stages of life as they appear in the traditions. The
point of view of our practice transcends the traditional
conventions.
As practitioners of the Way that I Teach, you must come
to an understanding, through a certain amount of study, of
the point of view that is expressed in the traditional
setting of the fourth, fifth, and sixth stages. I have
constructed a long reading list that could provide you with
years of study. You have heard me criticize all kinds of
traditional points of view. You must, as you study the
traditions, also study the conceptions and criticisms of
this Teaching and apply them to your study of the
traditions. When you just pick up a book of traditional
spirituality and read it, your mind takes on the form of
that tradition. Whatever you are reading at the moment will
become your point of view somehow or other.
Therefore, you must read with discrimination, not just to
be entertained or to enjoy personality change. Do not read
spiritual literature to be stimulated. You must read with
discrimination, just as you must live with discrimination.
Otherwise, you become whatever you are associated with in
any moment.
I have all these years spoken of the Divine Self, the
Transcendental Being, Radiant Transcendental Being,
Consciousness-Radiance, using all kinds of descriptive
language for the same Reality or Realization. You could
perhaps at times, if you have some background in the
traditions, feel a likeness between what I am saying and the
point of view of some traditional school or other, the point
of view of bhakti, the point of view of yoga, the point of
view of jnana. Unless you really “hear” and understand my
Argument, you will not see the differences, and there are
critical, significant differences that are matters of
understanding, not just dogmas to be believed. Pick up the
literature, look at and examine the literature on our
reading list, look at the other literature.
You should begin now yourselves to develop an
understanding of the unique disposition of the seventh stage
and make it the basis of your practice. You must come to
this same understanding. You must represent this
intelligence. If, of course, it is your consideration, then
it is your understanding as well, but you must grasp it in
its fundamental terms. Thus, if life itself confronts you
with some conventional option, you must understand yourself
in that circumstance. If I propose some conventional point
of view to you in a discussion, you must be able to
understand it! You must be able to cut through its limits
and your conventional inclinations toward it. You must be
capable of intelligent, discriminatory thinking, or
understanding of the conditions of existence.
Discriminative intelligence is one of the special
requirements for entrance into the esoteric order, and a
person entering the esoteric order must be capable of its
rigorous application. One need not necessarily have a
college degree, but you must be capable of dealing with the
arguments of this Teaching, you must be able to use the
philosophy, and you must be able to bring the power of
intelligence to the conditions of life. Another basic
requirement to enter the esoteric order is both an
orientation toward and a capacity to practice yogic
disciplines.
DEVOTEE: Master, what are the characteristics of somebody
who is capable of the practice of yoga?
MASTER DA: First of all it is not a matter of whether or
not they are capable of yogic practice, but whether or not
they are qualified altogether. The individual should
demonstrate the intelligent, rigorous application of
discriminative intelligence. He or she should show the signs
in meditation of yogic phenomena, which will naturally
appear at a certain level of maturity. Conductivity is
essentially a yogic process, and the conscious process is
essentially a process of intuitive intelligence. The special
form of these disciplines in the esoteric order is a
relatively rigorous and technical one. You must demonstrate
the qualifications for it.
The Dreaded Gom-Boo – Table of Contents