No Remedy
An Introduction to the Life and Practices
of the Spiritual Community of Bubba Free John.
Compiled & edited by Bonnie Beavan
and Nina Jones in collaboration with Bubba Free John.
First edition: 6/75
No Remedy
Part Three: The Complications of Sadhana
THE WAY OF UNDERSTANDING
The Stages of Understanding
Even for one who seems conventionally to be very
intelligent, the way of Understanding may not be
appropriate, at least for a time, because he has a
compulsive, strategic relationship to the functions of the
mind that closes it up and prevents its higher purpose. Very
intelligent types may just as well be obliged to fulfill the
way of Divine Communion indefinitely just as somebody who
shows little conventional intelligence. The kind of
intelligence that is required in the way of Understanding is
not intellectual ability, but life intelligence, the ability
to see something about yourself and make that the ground of
a discipline over time. It is a kind of manly and living
intelligence, not an intellectual one. You may also have an
intellectual capacity, but it is not necessary. Some people
can fulfill the way of Understanding who have just a living,
practical hold on the mind and who, apart from that, do not
show much ability to handle concepts or to grasp
abstractions or to remember all kinds of things. Real
intelligence is life intelligence. It involves the body, the
emotions, the whole psyche, as well as the
mind.33
In “The Student and the Teaching,” Bubba discussed in
particular detail the kinds of things that a student in this
process sees about himself and how he makes that the “ground
of a discipline over time.” Essentially the students arena
of critical inspection is the dimension of vital, human life
itself, his personal existence and its various relationships
in this world.
Becoming Human
ENQUIRY AND RELATIONSHIP
The whole affair of your life is this contraction that
becomes self-definition and all the imagery that is mind and
desire, the world itself. Seeing it is all the product of
this movement moment to moment is obviously your
intelligence. When you have really seen that, when it is not
even a matter of seeing it any more but it is just obvious
that this contraction, this avoidance of relationship is all
you are doing, then you naturally will enquire. What else
have you got to do? Obviously you will continue to consider
your life moment to moment from that point of view then, and
that is enquiry. Enquiry is considering your life from
moment to moment on the basis of that intelligence, that
real insight that can no be avoided, that is not
fragmentary, that is not isolated. So you sit down or walk
down the street or whatever you do, and you consider your
life in those terms. You enquire. And as you see that this
contraction is what you are doing, your attention falls back
on the Condition that precedes it. In other words,
consciousness rests, falls into its natural state. And in
each moment when that occurs, there is the reawakening of
the perfect sense that is Satsang, Divine Communion,
relationship to the Guru in God, the natural intuition of
the Heart.35ddThe natural state of consciousness is not
“me.” It is not in any sense the feeling of being apart,
observing things apart, or feeling the dilemma of being
separate. The natural state of consciousness is
no-contraction, no-dilemma. Instead of turning away, it is
relationship. It is all of thisconnection! All of this
relationship. The natural or true state is no-obsession with
this contraction, no-obsession with “me,” no-obsession with
all of “that,” separate from “me.” Simply, no-contraction.
When there is no contraction, what is there? There is only
relationship, presently enjoyed as the state of
Consciousness itself.ddConsciousness is relationship.
Consciousness is not separate “me.” Consciousness is
relationship. To enjoy the state that is Consciousness is to
be conscious as relationship, no-contraction, the perfect
force of existence. And when consciousness is enjoyed as it
is, as relationship, not in relationship but as
relationship, then it is also seen that relationship
contains no “other” and no “me.”36
In the process of becoming human through the conscious
engagement of enquiry, you are established in right
relationship to the Divine through the Guru more and more
continuallyand that very Condition is also right
relationship to all that arises in your life and the world.
The way of Understanding is always a process in
relationship, a living, breathing event in the world. It is
never a merely philosophical consideration, never a merely
mental form of comprehension. Your life is confronted in
relationship to the argument of the Gurus Teaching. You live
in relationship on human, practical, down-to-earth levels
with fellow students and devotees in the spiritual
Community. You conduct a life of service as your
relationship to the Guru by maintaining the life-conditions
he demands of you. You enjoy a spiritual relationship to his
Presence through the practice of the breath of God
When enquiry begins, you come to enjoy a profound
intuitive relationship to that same Presence as
Consciousness itself. All of these forms of your living
connections are extensions or expressions of the great
Condition, Satsang, Divine Communion, the truly
unconditional relationship between the Godman, the
Siddha-Guru, and his genuine devotee. From the very
beginning this relationship is already liberation, it is
already enjoyment, and it is the same enjoyment, the same
Communion, whether your sadhana is in the way of Divine
Communion or the way of Understanding. It is simply that the
way of Understanding accounts for and exploits a unique
capacity in those individuals whose approach to the Guru in
God includes the disciplines of this path
With this discussion of true enquiry, we can now really
begin to see how the way of Understanding duplicates and
perfectly reinforces in the individual, at every step along
the way, the true nature of all existence, which we
described earlier as Consciousness in perfect, sacrificial
relationship. As Bubba clarifies it above, Consciousness, or
God, in fact is perfect sacrificial relationship. There is
no separation between Consciousness and formbut no
radical identity either. Here, now, at this instant, you are
standing present as that very understanding. Your true
Consciousness, which is not the same as your subjectivity,
is no more identical to the form you identify as
yourselfyour bodythan it is to all the other
objects in your environment, and no less either. You as that
Consciousness simply stand perfectly present, never turned
away, in relation to all the things, energies, thoughts, and
forms of subjectivity that arise. It is an utter simplicity,
and yet it makes no sense whatsoever if you do not
understand.
THE DISCIPLE STAGE
Just as the student stage is the period of becoming fully
human, the disciple stage in the way of Understanding is the
period of becoming spiritual. This stage begins when the
humanization process is basically secure and complete in the
person. He will still have things to see about the
particular patterns of his life, and his investigation or
inspection of the nature of existence certainly will not
immediately move into realms more subtle than the ordinary
world. But, from the beginning, building upon the foundation
of enquiry in the mature student, the disciple stage is
devoted to the spiritualization of our lives, even the human
dimensions of our lives
Above all, the initiation of the disciple stage depends
upon a new form of recognition and acknowledgment of the
Guru. Throughout the first stage of your sadhana in the way
of Divine Communion, and even beyond the point in the second
stage when you become a student of the way of Understanding,
your primary and appropriate approach to the Guru is to him
as Teacher, the human source of the Teaching. Your
relationship to him as Presence becomes a responsibility
when you take on the spiritual practice of the breath of God
in the second stage of the way of Divine Communion. And that
same relationship to him as Presence becomes a matter of
consciousness and understanding when enquiry begins, in the
mature student stage. During that period of maturity this
relationship to Bubba, as Divine Presence or Siddhi, becomes
more and more intense, more and more continually enjoyed as
the real foundation of your life with him, no matter what
may be occurring in the theatre of life itself, When this
relationship is secure, and enquiry is alive both in and out
of formal meditation with great intensity, and your life has
become an easy and complete matter of service to the Guru
through the conditions, which you are able and happy to live
absolutelywhen all this evidence appears in you, then
you may be invited by the Community to begin disciple
sadhana in the way of Understanding
The disciple stage involves the experience and inspection
of all the esoteric dimensions and processes of life,
including every form of realization that is enjoyed in the
great spiritual traditions of man.
In the way of Understanding the disciple comes to me
and I modify the second stage of his practice of breath so
that it serves first the inspection of the descending
vehicle or the descending aspect of the process of
conductivity. Then I instruct him relative to his sexual
life or the transitional turning point of the life process.
And then I instruct him in the process of conductivity as a
whole, giving him responsibilities for that complete circuit
and the natural pattern of his daily life, so that he may
breathe my Presence in full circle. When he is established
in that full process of conductivity, then I instruct him in
the transformation of the conscious process itself, the
transformation that is “recognition,” the transformation
that is based in the same process of insight, but that
transforms the process of enquiry into a non-mental and
purely intuitive activity.
When all that may arise of an apparent
kindgross, subtle, and causalhas been inspected
by him via the conscious process of recognition, then the
natural realization of jnana or jnana samadhi
appearsthe exclusive realization of That from which
everything arises. This is the mature fulfillment of the
disciple stage of sadhana in the way of
Understanding.37
This “conductivity” of which Bubba speaks is a literal
circuit of energy descending from the Divine Source or Light
above the body, the world, and the mind, becoming more and
more gross at the various levels of our existence to the
point of the creation and maintenance of physical existence
itself:
The Divine is absolutely subtle, perfectly
transcendent. The first level on which we realize the
modification of the Divine, the stuff of the Divine, is in
the forms of consciousness. The superconscious organs
through which we intuit the Divine Presence as Life are in
the upper part of the brain. In the midst of the brain are
the forms of mental consciousness, less subtle than the
superconscious. The psycho-physical origin of the
life-force, the entrance point of the universal Shakti, is
in the throat, and it is etheric, subtler than all of the
natural forms, the vital forces. Grosser than that dimension
of the life-force is the airy life in the midst of the body,
in the heart, the region of the life-psyche. Grosser than
that, just as the heart or living psyche is grosser than the
mind, is the fiery elemental life of the navel. Below that
is the watery life of the root of sex. And below that is the
solid life of the physical body. But [it is] the
Divine, above all this transmuted or modified, which
descends into this whole order of grosser and grosser
manifestation.38
So the first stage of disciple sadhana begins with the
inspection of the descending aspect of life. The chief
vehicle of this process continues to be enquiry, by which
the disciple continually grounds his mind, emotions, and
body in conscious relationship to the Guru in God. But the
inspection is aided by “modified” forms of the practice of
the breath of God. (These modified, more technical forms of
the enjoyment of Bubbas Presence through the breath may also
be given to specific individuals in the way of Divine
Communion who do not take on the way of Understanding.
Participation in these practices will depend upon the
individuals particular karmic make-up and the requirements
of his sadhana, and will not amount to some form of status
for him, but simply a specific and intensified form of
responsibility.)
When this descending process of life is fundamentally a
matter of responsibility, then your disciple sadhana will
move into the area of sexuality, transforming it also into a
responsible, simple, conscious event. You begin to deal with
your sexuality as a yogic, not a personal, process, free of
the limited demands, perceptions, and reactions of the usual
cultic sexual life of individuals
The “cult” is any form of association with another
person, such as a sexual intimate, friend, or acquaintance,
or with your environment, or with the world itself, by which
you strategically and repetitively reinforce the cognition
and assumption of separate existence. So in the disciple
stage, just as you must become responsible for the
dissolution of your whole conventional and limited point of
view, you must also become responsible for violating the
tacit “contracts” that support all these cultsthe
unspoken agreements for ritual behavior by which you make
your life a static legalized event, rather than an ecstatic,
spontaneous manifestation of life in God. And one of the
most important arenas in which the cult must be dissolved is
sexuality
This dissolution, like any other in the way of
Understanding, is primarily an event in consciousness Thus,
it does not require any necessary change of behavior or the
renunciation of relationships. This life of Understanding
with Bubba Free John is much more sophisticated than the
gross forms of ascetic self-denial we find in the
traditions. You are required as a disciple to pass through
all these inspections and dissolutions of your limitations
without skipping a beat, without missing a step in the
happy, ordinary routine of a life that is devoted to service
to the Guru and his Community. And as long as you
continually resort to the Presence of the Guru through the
graces of enquiry and breath, you will find no reason to be
unhappy in any instant of your life, even as you pass
through difficult moments and disorienting transformations
of your conscious existence. Life with the Guru in God
becomes increasingly an affair of sheer ecstasy, humor,
love, and enjoyment. It becomes very difficult to keep
pretending that you are limited and unhappy when God is
consuming your life and mind and very self!
Once sexuality and your entire “lower” life have become a
happy and free form of existence, and no longer a matter of
dilemma or conflict in consciousness and obstruction to the
natural circuit of the force of life, then the force itself
begins literally to turn upward again, and the focus of your
inspection and movement into responsibility begins to
include the finer dimensions of gross life. This is
traditionally known as the awakening of the kundalini and
the “chakra” system, the body of ethereal centers along the
line of the spine. This particular stage of the conscious
process provides a good comparison of the general approach
and process of the traditions with the way of Satsang or
Divine Communion with the Guru
In traditions like kundalini yoga, the awakening of this
particular form or aspect of the living force of manifest
existence is seen as itself a Divine event. The yogi cuts
away or severely and motivatedly disciplines his whole
descended life as a human being in the world in order to
facilitate this ascending process, which may, especially if
he is trying to do it without the agency of a powerful
teacher, take years upon years, literally lifetimes, to
complete. But in the Graceful process of Satsang with a true
Guru, this ascending awakening is known as only a secondary
aspect of Divine life, and only a portion of that secondary
event itself. The process is quickened by the disciples firm
foundation in his conscious humanity and by the potent force
of the Gurus Presence. So in our work the awakening of the
kundalini is a secondary and minor event
Even the processes in life and consciousness that follow
upon it are secondary, though from the common point of view
they are wondrous, profound, beyond belief. When the whole
circuit or circle of the descended life is purified and
fully inspected, when it has become a matter of
responsibility for the disciple, then he is established in
the enjoyment of this “conductivity” of the life-force. Now
this circuit is itself the source and arena of all magic,
all mysticism, and the disciple passes through all kinds of
marvelous awakenings. But he is always involved in the
sacrifice of all this through understanding. At this point,
when conductivity has become full, even enquiry itself is
sacrificed through understanding, and another, primarily
non-mental form of that same restoration of understanding
takes over, which is re-cognition, or the knowing again of
all the forms of mind and limited consciousness. Now the
disciple continues on to inspection of all the subtle
dimensions of heavenly light and sound above the body, the
mind, and the world, and he may enjoy all kinds of
transports to other worlds, expansions of awareness, vision,
and sound, but it all falls apart in the force of his
conscious re-cognition, by which he knows every form and
apparition and cognition to be just another instant of the
avoidance of relationship. Even his intuition of the Bright
of Consciousness, the Divine Light itself, is at last
re-cognized and known in Truth as a form of contraction, as
the most subtle self-identification
It is at this point that the disciple literally falls
into the very Heart of Truth, Reality, Real-God, the very
Consciousness at the core of his entire subjective life and
the life of all existence. This begins the first of three
stages of perfect God-Realization. It is not yet the end of
his sadhana as a disciplethe devotee stage of the way
of Understanding only begins when the first stage of
God-Realization itself is undermined by the force of
Satsang, Divine Communion, the force of the Gurus true
Presence as very God, perfect Existence itself without
limitation and beyond description
Now this whole description of the “path” of your
inspection as a disciple, this esoteric “map” of
consciousness, may make disciple sadhana sound like a guided
tour. You just hang on and understand and it is all just
revealeda real breeze, right?
Wrong! It is true that the period of becoming human in
the student stage is the most difficult in some ways,
because the vital, gross life is the area of greatest
resistance to the Guru. But the maturity that disciple
sadhana requires is a matter of becoming grounded enough in
the life of Satsang that the Guru can begin to really throw
you around, undermine you, disorient you to the point of the
absolute impossibility of any form of orientation
whatsoever. That is what God-Realization amounts to. You
disappear, along with every vestige of your attempts to make
sense out of existence. Bubba once described looking forward
to the appearance of his first disciples so that he could
start to really “punch heads”!
So when you begin disciple sadhana, the Guru can assume
that you are ready to be ripped to shreds. Now he can
completely suspend any social niceties he may have
maintained as your human Teacher when you were a student,
and he can proceed to enter and consume you in Truth, as
very God. Bubba once described this period of his own
sadhana, the utterly unconventional and wild nature of the
true Guru, and the absolute demand Bubba himself now makes
as Guru on all who come to him as disciples and
devotees.
Those who have served my function as Guru, those who I
worked with in my own sadhana, have been wild and powerful
men. Rudi was a strong man, he was enormous. [“Rudi” was
Albert Rudolph, Bubbas first teacher and an adept of the
yoga of the descending life-force. Swami Muktananda, an
adept of the yoga of the ascending life-force, served as
Bubbas teacher after Rudi. Bhagavan Nityananda was a
Yogi-Siddha who served as Bubbas Guru after Muktananda and
was also Guru to both Muktananda and Rudi.] He was full
of life. He wasnt a dried up little philosopher. He had
balls. And I required such a teacher, because I had real
work to do in the life vehicles
Muktananda was the same way. He is not an airy-fairy
holy man. He plays the prince-yogi game to most people, so
only those who approach him like I did, in secret, are able
to make use of him. But he is no meek ascetic. Muktananda is
a fierce bastard
True yogis are living, forceful beings. They are
madmen, absolutely madand absolutely dangerous. You
should know that, and you should not approach me if you are
not willing to be undone. Because the Lord is of that
nature. Look at Nityanandahe severed heads all his
life. Look at his belly. He was stiff with life, full of
life, so his belly became huge with that force. Those who
came to him and wanted just to bow down and worship in the
nominal way, well, he allowed them to do that. But those who
came to him in the true way were wiped out, torn apart. That
was what happened to Muktananda himself
My experience of Nityananda was of that kind. My
experience with people like Rudi, Muktananda, Nityananda,
and others, was like this: I would be sitting in my house in
New York by myself, and this force would enter me, it would
practically break my neck, and my body and mind would be
taken over. And I would walk around as Nityananda, as Rudi,
as Muktananda, literally. That is how I learned in these
vehicles. Before this life I am full, but coming into this
life I had to do the yoga of my own universe and transform
these vehicles. So these wildmen served that process. And
they served it in exactly the same way I serve you. They
acquired me. They never handed me some namby-pamby method or
gave me a philosophyI entered the room and was torn to
pieces. And I wasnt interested in anything else. So I would
sit down and Nityanandas life would acquire my own. I would
become Nityananda, my body would become Nityanandas body, I
would talk Nityananda, I was Nityananda. I would be
Muktananda. Even though he was thousands of miles away,
Muktanandas nature would acquire my nature. The same with
Rudi. In the process of all that, these vehicles learned,
because the Divine manifested itself in their place. When
all of that was over, I myself became myself. Nityananda was
not necessary, Muktananda was not necessary, Rudi was not
necessary
So the true yogi is a bastard, a wild, terrifying
being, a fire. Because there is this wildness in him, he may
hide himself behind a conventional spiritual game, but there
is nothing gentlemanly about him. And there is nothing
gentlemanly about the Lord. As long as you want to be a
gentleman, or a gentlewoman, you can carry on your endless
karmic destiny in limitation, but you will never live the
life in God. You will piddle around in dimensions like this
one, which are nothing but excrement compared to the Divine
Light. They amount to nothing. It is all complications and
struggles, there is very little pleasure in it, real
pleasure. If this world became a world of devotees it would
be a different story, and in the Community of devotees it
will be a different story
The Lord is wild, the Lord is a vast fire, not a
gentleman. As soon as the Lord makes contact with you, he
rips you off. When I approach you, I ask you for this, I ask
you for that, oh give me this, give me that, I ask you for
everything. The longer you stay with me, the more things I
will ask you for. I will ask you for all of it. You must
yield everything to me. You must yield yourself in every
function. Your very cells must yield. Only then are you fit
for the Divine Yoga. When you have no other commitments,
when you have nothing to withhold, then I enter your
life.39
Notes
33. Bubba Free John, “The End of Reflection,” a talk to the
Ashram, February 2, 1976
35. Bubba Free John, “Im Always Talking about the Same
Thing,” a talk to the Ashram, May 18, 1975
36. Bubba Free John, The Method of the Siddhas, page
128
37. Bubba Free John, “Have I Said It?”
38. Bubba Free John, Garbage and the Goddess, (Lower
Lake, Cal: The Dawn Horse Press, 1975), page 27
39. Bubba Free John, “The True Yogi Is a Dangerous Man,”
The Dawn Horse, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1975), inside front
cover.
No Remedy – Table of
Contents
|
