The Life of Understanding Series
Week 7
Lessons on the Knee of Listening
A twelve week course taught by Franklin Jones
January – April/May 1973
The Meditation of Understanding: Part Three (Section 7)
By Bubba Free John
(Franklin Jones)
This section to be read this week is one whole long series of paragraphs that runs from page 176 to 197, and this is an important portion of the text on meditation. It deals in a very concrete way with the event of meditation that occurs when you sit in Satsang at any one time. So it’s a technical description of the process of real meditation. “Understanding is seated in consciousness, it is conscious realization. It is not seated in dilemma or any effect. It is not seated in the unconscious or subconscious, nor does it wait upon these as if they contained the source of its true intelligence or content. Neither is it seated in the super-conscious planes or wait upon them, by excluding consciousness or what is below consciousness as if exclusive super-consciousness alone were the center and source of its only mind. It (understanding) is reality functioning on a level of consciousness or the conscious mind, which is the focal point or medium of what is above and below.”
Implied in this first paragraph is a description of the functions of conscious life, that I just mentioned a few moments ago. The lower functions, the psycho-physical functions, are really four in number. There are four major areas. There is the gross physical life; the solid physical, apparent material life; there is the vital life which supports it; and then subtler than the vital life is the astral or emotional being. And then subtler than it is the mental being.
Generally, the astral or emotional being, the vital being, and the gross physical being are what are called the lower life, and the mind, the conscious mind, is the link between this lower life and the higher life of the soul and spirit. So, if we want to use this form of the description, then the mind, the conscious mind, is the…this link between the lower life and the super-conscious life. There is the conscious mind, and then there is the subconscious and unconscious dimensions below it. And the subconscious and unconscious are the astral emotional being, the vital and gross physical being. These are what we call our subconscious and unconscious life.
The gross physical and the denser forms of the vital being are unconscious. They have no consciousness. The solid body is here and has nothing whatever to do with your conscious mind, you are not creating it. You are not sustaining it. You have no awareness whatsoever, in the conscious mind, of what this is or where it’s come from. It is unconscious, non-conscious. And even the vitality that moves through the body and lives the body in its denser levels, is completely unconscious, has no volition behind it, no sensitivity, no sensation, nothing like consciousness behind it. The subtler forms of the vital being more voluntary aspects of it, and we sense these in relation to breath and general level of energy, and the emotional life. These are subconscious activities. They are not entirely voluntary, but they are associated with consciousness. They are hidden for the most part, but consciousness does participate in them in some sense.
But understanding as an activity is not a function of the unconscious and subconscious life. It’s a function of the conscious mind, the deliberate, present, active, mind. This is the viewpoint from which meditation is generated. Just so, the whole function or activity of understanding is not an activity of the super-conscious life…that activity or force of consciousness that transcends the conscious mind, or the thinking mind, or the volitional mind. The process of understanding is not an activity of the Divine states. It’s a human activity that arises in relation to the lower life, the functional life, and ultimately begins to include also the higher or super-conscious life. But it is generated from the beginning in the conscious mind. This is the point of view from which understanding as an activity is generated.
“Thus, the seat of understanding as a free activity at first appears in the head.” In other words, it is awakened as a mental process. Insight, self-observation, listening, hearing, all of these are activities of the mind, of the conscious mind. And so enquiry, that is the expression of that whole process, is generated also from the conscious mind, in the conscious state, in the waking state.
So this affair of meditation, the meditation of enquiry, begins from the mental point of view, not the intellectual point of view, it begins from the real mind. It begins from the point of view of real insight, as we have discussed it, and it begins from the point of view of the conscious mind. Now, through the process of real meditation, the mind which at first is sense as being generated from the brain mechanism, the head, realizes its true source, which is the Heart. The mind truly is in the Heart, and so the force of the realization that’s involved in real meditation brings us to the realization of the Heart. It is generated originally from the point of view of the mind. “A point in the very center of the head is the seat of the force of the conscious mind.” And generally it’s at this point, behind the eyes, the root of the nose, the point between the eyes, the mid-brain. This is generally the area we feel we think from.
So when we look consciously at our life, when we take the mental point of view towards our emotional, vital, and physical life, we are generally centered in the head. So Western man is generally said to be centered in the head, centered in the intellect. Because he chronically takes this point of view. But he exclusively takes this point of view. He doesn’t have any relationship to the lower life or the higher life. He just has this point of view, and he is identified with it. Whereas this activity of understanding is not a matter of being identified with the mind, it is simply a matter of functioning from the point of view of the conscious mind, but in a true way, from the point of view of understanding.
Now that point of awareness, this point in the mid-brain, this point of the conscious mind in the brain, is openly receptive to the stream of consciousness above and below. The mind, the conscious mind, is the mediator, the midpoint between the lower life and the higher life, so-called lower and higher. So we really have the lower life of the gross, vital, and emotional being. Then there is the mental being. And then above that is this super-conscious being with its various structures and levels. So the mind is receptive to both movements, it is receptive to what is above itself and to what is below itself. “Thus it is linked to the processes below which are unconscious and subconscious.” The emotional or astral being, and the higher vital are the subconscious. And the gross vital and the lower vital and the gross physical being are the unconscious life. So the mind is linked to the processes that are unconscious and subconscious, as well as those above, which are super-conscious or non-mental…the whole range of intuitive consciousness that transcends the life and all its forms, the range of light is the superconscious or supra-conscious. It’s those functions that are above the mind.
“In the process of enquiry, which is real meditation, a man simply rests in understanding. In formal meditation, he merely sits comfortably, and free of the need to respond to activities in this environment.” So, I’ve said it’s simply appropriate when you get up in the morning or just before going to bed, to sit in a place where you are not going to be disturbed, where you can, and sit in a comfortable position. Sit in Satsang. Sit with the Guru. So have a place where you do this regularly. And this place becomes more purified, more intensified, the energy, the shakti of that area becomes intensified as a result of your daily meditation there. So use this place regularly. Have the Guru’s picture there. Make it a place of Satsang. He already understands, the one who sits there.
We’ve talked about this before; this activity of enquiry is the fruit of Satsang. It’s not something you do just because you read a book. This whole process of listening, hearing, self-observation, and insight, precedes this activity that is being described here. “Such a one has already examined the nature of suffering, or dilemma, and of action. Thus, he sits and enjoys the fullness of understanding in his form at that moment. “Enquiry begins at the point where he becomes aware of movements or representations to his conscious awareness.” In other words, such a one simply sits, and he would only sit for eternity, he would never do anything again, unless something arose in consciousness. Well obviously things arise in consciousness. That’s all that is ever happening to us. So he doesn’t just sit there forever. But in any case, the process of enquiry, the active process of understanding, doesn’t begin until he sees, he feels, he becomes aware of something arising, in consciousness, movements or representations to conscious awareness. In other words, sensations, feelings, thoughts, images. Now here we are talking about the conscious mind approaching, at this moment at any rate, the lower life.
Now how does the lower life communicate itself, what arises that is the lower life? It includes the emotional, vital, and gross physical. So how does it make itself known? First of all, conditions in the gross environment, but you’ve essentially handled that by sitting yourself in a place where you are not going to be disturbed, where you have nothing to do, and where you are comfortable physically. But one of the ways at the gross level, we have of receiving communications to the conscious mind is by changes in the gross physical condition. But you’ve handled that by sitting there, quietly and undisturbed. How else can it communicate itself then? Well, through the…first of all, through the vital and gross physical interaction, which create sensations. And these can be energy sensations in the physical body or they can be cramps, whatever, feelings of discomfort in the body that make you want to shift the body or whatever. So there are sensations and feelings in the body. Then there are emotions, feelings, this is the emotional being, the astral being. So the gross physical, the vital, and now the emotional being, these are all communicating themselves. And then apart from emotions and feelings, and whatever, that are arising in relation to conditions in life, in relation to the gross physical life, the vital life, and the conditions of life. That’s how emotions arise. They don’t arise in a vacuum. And the fourth quality that tends to arise in consciousness are the qualities of the mind itself, images and thoughts. So the things that tend to arise when you sit in meditation are the qualities of the lower vehicles, mental, emotional, or astral, vital, and gross physical — through conditions, through sensations, through feelings, and through images and concepts.
So enquiry begins at the point where you become aware of any one of these qualities arising in the conscious mind or to the conscious mind. “Depending upon the stresses of his life expression at that moment, his awareness will tend to move or become associated with attention to movement or tension, thought or feeling, in some areas or plane of the body.” Well I’ve just described these qualities that may arise, movements, tensions, thoughts, feelings. Depending on the quality of your state, your karmic condition, at that moment, qualities will be generated to consciousness, always different, depending on your situation, your condition at that time.
But what’s interesting is that as these things arise and you become aware of them, attentive to them, you will find the conscious mind moving toward some center or plane of the physical body. In other words, wherever one of the qualities of the lower life arises, if you put your attention to them, you will find that your attention is directed to some area of the body always, some specific area of the body. So whatever quality arises in consciousness, relates to a specific area in the body — it’s a quality of the psych-physical life, in other words. So it has a place, a region, associated with it. “Thus his awareness will be directed from the center of awareness in the head, analogous to the view point of his eyes, which should ordinarily remain closed, toward some area of his form, above or below.” Now generally it will be below. What is above the conscious mind, is super-conscious. So generally it will be forms of cognitions, sensations, emotion, imagery, thought. And these are all in the mind or below the mind.
Now here, I have said the eyes will remain closed. Generally the eyes will close in a very natural way. If you sit with the Guru, you sit in Satsang, generally the eyes are open, but you tend to move into an inward condition in the Guru’s presence, even at home. So very naturally, your eyes will most often tend to close, not necessarily, but they will just…if you are involved in the kind of activity that is being described here, just very naturally the eyes will tend to close, so that the mind is free to move. It is the mind that is active here, not the eyes. You can’t look with your eyes at these things that are arising. So generally it is the mind that is moving so the eyes close so that the mind is not distracted in the environment.
Now this place, this point of view from which this activity is generated, is…corresponds in general to what is called the ajna chakra, this place, this seat behind the brows. Alright, “in general, we will probably move naturally in attention toward some process analogous to the lower body,” particularly in the early stages of the life in Satsang. The activities that you are involved with in meditation are generally in relation to the mental, emotional, vital, and gross physical nature. It’s these areas that understanding, the sadhana of understanding is moving in these areas. It’s generally at in these areas that his attention is always being drawn. It’s these areas that he’s chronically fitted to, the dilemma is chronically perceived in relation to these qualities.
So when a person sits in meditation, normally things will arise and attention will be drawn to areas below the brows, in the bodily life, in the psycho-physical life. “He will be aware of some sexual tension, or some energy below or some feeling. These sensations also correspond to the lower chakras, the creative centers of energy at the base of the spine.” The anus or perineum, the lowest seat in the body, the place between the sex organs and the anus, is the turning point in the body. And this generally corresponds to the chakra called the muladhar. The sacral center, the root of sexuality…well the sacral center is the…corresponds to the level of the body that’s about even with the base of the spine, not the very bottom of the spine, which corresponds to the perineum, the lower back, the sacrum. That whole plane of the body is generally the plane of the sacral center. It’s the food center, the vital center. And the navel or solar plexus, the center of personal power, the center of money; money, food, and sex. The lowest one, we could say, corresponds to the sexual movement. The next higher corresponds to the whole process of energy transformation. And the next higher, the navel chakra or the area of the region of the solar plexus, corresponds to the activity of money, or of communication, broad communication or involvement, with the environment, the higher vital.
We could say that the two lower chakras generally correspond to the unconscious life. And the region of the navel is the beginning of the subconscious life. So that food and sex are relatively unconscious, vegetal, kinds of activities, spontaneous kinds of activities. Money or involvement with the environment is a relatively subconscious activity, but it is voluntary. Its creative at the levels of consciousness. “The enquiry, which is the free activity of understanding, should thus be allowed to confront whatever area the mind tends to pursue.” In other words, whatever arises, whatever one of the kinds of these communications arises, and whatever area attention tends to be drawn to…the mind will always tend to go to where these things are arising, will very naturally tend to do that.
So whatever occurs in a sense, you should allow the mind to move in that area. And then enquiry should then move, be generated specifically in terms of what is arising, and the place from which it is arising. “When this movement begins, he should enquire, avoiding relationship?” Whatever arises, thought, image, feeling, sensation, condition, the mind should be allowed to do that, and you should enquire, in that state, “He should not seek to remove the tendency itself.” You know, something arises, you shouldn’t try to suppress it, or try not to suppress it. You should simply enquire. “He should only enquire. If the tendency remains, he should only enquire.”
In other words, something arises and you enquire of it, and you move at least momentarily beyond it into what is prior to this avoidance, and yet the tendency is still there, the obsession, the sensation is still there. Well this is no time then to start suppressing it. Continue to enquire. Remain in the condition of enquiry, remain in the condition of understanding. Maintain the point of view of the mind toward what is arising — and the mind in its most fundamental sense, because normally we mean the mind, the thinking mind itself, we mean the process of thinking in images or concepts. But images and concepts arise to the mind. The true conscious mind, in relation to the lower vehicles, is essentially a kind of witness to the whole affair. Active in this sense, but nonetheless not identical to the qualities itself, the qualities that are being enquired of. “If he becomes disturbed that the tendency does no vanish, he should only enquire of the disturbance. Whatever arises, he should only enquire.” In other words, enquiry is the activity that’s going on.
If you enquire, and you are not satisfied, the thing that you are trying to get rid of is not disappearing, you should be enquiring of this whole process that you are involved in, enquire of your disappointment. Enquire of whatever condition is arising at any moment. Even the reactions to the conditions that are arising at this moment, whatever is your condition at this moment, and now at this moment. That is what you are enquiring of.
So at first there is the awareness of something arising in consciousness, the movement into it, and the enquiry at that place. And this goes on from moment to moment, continually, with whatever arises. “This enquiry can be done as an internal mental activity. Either as a silent verbalization of the mind in understanding, or as an intention of understanding, without internal verbalization.” In other words, there are times when you actually mentalize the question, vocalize it even in the mind, there are other times when just the intention of it, the significance of it is what you generate. And it is the same enquiry. And you know you are enquiring, but yet the words do not arise in the mind. So either form of this may go on at any particular moment. Though beware of this tendency never to use the verbal enquiry. This is a form of identification with a state of the mind itself. So the quality of the specific asking of the question is always usable. It will continue to be used randomly, always. It’s just that there are times, long periods of time perhaps, when the verbal form is not used. And in actual practice, when you sit down in this process of enquiry, the use of the verbal enquiry may be once at the beginning, or just occasional, random. “The frequency of the enquiry should be determined by the individual as he perceives the practical effect of his approach.” In other words, it’s not to be done repetitively, it’s not to be done at certain fixed intervals. It’s a living process. And it’s only alive in one in whom it is alive.
The whole process we discussed last week and which we’ve talked about many times, precedes this enquiry. This understanding and enquiry must be a living activity in the individual. And now this is a the technicality, these are the technicalities or how it is lived in practice. But it must already be alive in the individual. And because it’s alive in him, he will know what its appropriate rhythm is at any moment. And he will know when it is appropriate to ask the question again. The force of enquiry and understanding is continuous. It is periodically generated again in the mind, in the conscious mind, in order to initiate its intensity, re-initiate its intensity. “As the enquiry proceeds, the tendency of attention will begin to break up and dissolve. The enquiry is understanding, and so the form of consciousness will begin to disassociate or detach from the area of attention and rest in understanding.” In other words, this quality that arises and draws attention into its place will tend to break up under the force of enquiry. This is the tendency. This doesn’t mean that every time you enquire, it must disappear. But the tendency, of the qualities that attract attention, is to dissolve under the force of enquiry. And so the form of consciousness begins at any moment, to detach from the form of attention to which is being attracted, and to fall into the condition of understanding itself.
So the person in whom enquiry is most intense, most perfect, is also least distracted by anything, in the lower life. Movements in the mental, emotional, vital, and physical being, barely arise or they are continually dissolved, spontaneously dissolved, in one in whom understanding is most radically alive. But the tendency in any case, in anyone in whom understanding is quickened, is for the qualities that attract attention, in this instance, begin to dissolve, break up, cease to attract attention. Something else may then arise that attracts attention. But the tendency of this activity that is continually attracting the mind, is to dissolve under the force of enquiry…and to dissolve perfectly in one who understands perfectly. “And the experience in the case of this dissolution, will be one of relief or release of attention and a return to rest in a kind of fullness. Something arises, it grasps attention. It draws attention into a place. Enquiry arises, and re-cognizes this moment as a form of the avoidance of relationship. Consciousness then is released from this contraction, that draws attention in this moment, and falls into the prior state, that is prior to this contraction, prior to this thing that attracts attention. And the sensations that accompany this state of unqualified relationship are feelings of relief, of released attention, and of fullness. “As one area of attention dissolves, another tendency will replace it and gather the energy of consciousness.” In other words, you may sit down, very obsessed with something or other, and you enquire of it. And it subsides, attention falls away from it. Then something else begins to attract you.
You sit down, and you are very aware of your physical state. You get up in the morning, and you are still drowsy and still aware of the body and all of this. But after a few moments or a few minutes of whatever, of sitting in enquiry, the body comes to a kind of harmonious rest. And you begin to become involved in thoughts or feelings, or images. So when one thing subsides, another thing tends to replace it, and when it does, the enquiry should follow it as before, and continue until it also dissolves or is replaced. The activity that’s going on always then is appearance and dissolution or movement on to some other form of attention, replacement.
“The man who is beginning the way of understanding is likely to feel the tendency of consciousness to move in a chronic pattern of attention in the lower body.” Now as I have said, the beginnings of understanding are generated in relation to the lower life, the mental, emotional, vital, and gross physical being. So attention will naturally tend to be drawn into these areas. This is only natural, since we chronically associate with the life processes, the energies of the lower body, as human beings suddenly awakened into this condition. What we gain by being awakened into this condition is mind, emotion, vital gross physical conditions. That is what we acquire. That is what is added to consciousness by life, by the waking state, by waking, dreaming, and sleeping, by the human condition. What is added to us, to what we already are, is mind, emotion, vitality, and gross physical conditions of these four varieties. So it is only natural then that meditation should move into association with these, because this is what life consists of. “Food, desire, sex, vital communications, etc. are the basic and chronic content of ordinary life. Real life, true life, life in Truth, is not opposed to such energies or experiences.” Spiritual life, in other words, is not opposed, does not stand in opposition in a negative sense, to life. They are not the problem, these qualities. Nor are they necessarily destructive. Indeed, they are in the form of life, and are part of our present fulfillment. We are not constrained to transcend these centers of energy and look them out. Meditation is not fitted with a purpose to eliminate the lower life, the mental, emotion, vital, and gross physical condition. We are not sitting down in meditation in order to get rid of these things by acts of attention elsewhere, motivations elsewhere. We are not sitting in meditation to get out of this world. This is not a specific purpose. This is not our motivation.
Understanding is not a motivated activity. We’ve discussed this enough. So, just so, as these things arise, the forms of the life manifestation, we are not fitted with an intention or a motivation to eliminate them. “Thus, there is no peculiar dilemma or lowness involved in the tendency to concentration in the lowest dimensions of our creative existence. We remain in understanding even then, and suffer no motive to escape or destroy them, apart from understanding. Such concentration is the root of suffering, of separativeness and the motives of dilemma. Thus it is only necessary to abide radically in understanding and not despair of it. It is only necessary to enquire and not turn to some activity apart from understanding which seeks to abolish the lower energy itself.” In other words, it’s not the qualities of life, the qualities of life themselves are not the dilemma. Dilemma is always the form of our relationship, our association with the qualities of life.
Dilemma is the quality of our relationship to the four dimensions of life. So the tendency of the functions of consciousness is to become involved through the processes of identification, differentiation, and desire, with the four fundamental qualities of life. And it’s this enforced concentration that separates us or draws us out of our real condition, that creates dilemma. So to try and eliminate the qualities of life is a kind of artifice, it’s an artificial resort. It’s something like treating symptoms of disease, rather than treating the body lawfully. It’s a matter of restoring the lawful or prior condition, rather than of eliminating the things that arise because they always arise in the form of dilemma, until there is understanding. But where there is understanding, the qualities of life remain as long as life itself remains, but without dilemma.
I was mentioning to you how in the lower chakras, we have the sex and food, relatively unconscious, vegetal life. Somewhat higher than that, in the higher vital life, getting into the psychic level of life, or the emotional level of life, that whole movement that is associated with the larger activity that I call money, is awakened. And money includes all of our activity in the environment, work, creativity in the environment, relationships with people. Money desire is quite a different thing from food and sex desire. Food and sex desire can be felt in physical ways, as having specific origin in relation to the body. When you have sex desire, it has an obvious local in relation to the body. The same thing when you have a food desire, general feelings in the vital base of your lower body. But where is money desire seated, and all of the activities related to money? Well it doesn’t have a seat in the body. The energy that fees the psych at this level is related to the naval chakra, the solar plexus, this region of the body. But its desire can’t be characterized in relation to that region of the body. So our activities in relation to the environment, this whole activity of money, is generally accompanied by images and sensations that relate to the seats of food and sex. So the whole process of money, and activity in the environment is chronically associated with sex desire and food desire. When we are frustrated in our ability to work creatively in the environment, and the like, for instance, we tend to compensate by exploiting food and sex desire. So those who fall in life, what do they indulge themselves in, food and sex. So the frustration of the activities in the environment tend to be reflected in the lower life of food and sex desire. And the whole process of money in general, and activity in the environment in general, is usually associated with images and sensations and desires that have the quality of sexuality and of food taking. So, you know, wheeling and dealing in money and all of this, has an erotic quality along with it, that’s part of the game. And making money is also something like eating. And the whole process of our activity in the environment that’s associated with this general activity of money, is filled with the images of sexuality and of taking of food, of survival. But actually, the whole affair of survival through sex, maintaining the race, and of taking of food are the maintenance of the body. These qualities are not properly identical to the whole affair of force in the environment, of creativity in the environment. So one in whom the process of money is purified, in whom relationships in the environment is purified, no longer creates in the environment, through the imagery of food and sex, at least in this chronic and unconscious way that the ordinary man does.
So the man of understanding continues to function through all of the ordinary mechanisms, but he does not play the same games. If he needs to function in the environment to create sources of income and generate things in the environment, he does not do it through the games of sexuality, the erotic games. He doesn’t do it through the games of the efforts of survival, organic efforts of survival, that are behind the taking of food. In him, the activity of money is a pure activity, a more direct activity. It’s an intensity that is free and just so, the taking of food is freer. His diet is always appropriate and adequate. His realization of sexuality is always purified, simplified, and appropriate.
Getting back to the top of page, 180, “over time, the man who understands, will experience gradual relief from symptoms of his problematic life,” because of this tendency of the things that arise and attract attention to dissolve under the force of understanding. “In his ease, he will naturally and voluntarily change the patterns of his life.” The more profound and direct his understanding in relation to the qualities of life, the more at ease he is in life, and the easier it is for him to adapt life to an appropriate order of activity. The more his life will tend to take on an appropriate and harmonious form. So the forms of money, food, and sex will tend to become simplified. The forms of the mind, of the emotions, of the vitality, and of the conditions of gross physical existence, will tend to become harmonious, purified, realized in a natural order. He will voluntarily become capable of transforming the pattern of his life in relationship. It becomes less and less the kind of thing that requires tremendous effort, tremendous sacrifice. It becomes very easy, very obvious. One day, these symptoms will simply fall away in the force of understanding and the full bliss of his consciousness. His consciousness becomes less the quality and mentality of emotion, of vitality, of gross physical existence. It takes on the quality of bliss, rather than these qualities. This fullness becomes the quality in which he lives in Satsang. And so, quite naturally, all of the tendencies of the lower life, dissolve, become less oppressive, attract attention less. They begin to become full of this bliss that is his natural state. And they begin to acquire then, the natural quality, the sattwic quality, the harmonious and appropriate quality. “Indeed, even before a man begins to adapt to the processes of enquiry in meditation, he must have understood.” We have spoken of this. “And he will already have modified his behavior in the direction of an easy internal control.”
Even those who begin to enter the Ashram, have already begun to adapt to appropriate conditions of life. They’ve begun to adapt to the appropriate changes in the diet. They’ve begun to fast to some degree. They have eliminated the willful promiscuity and self-indulgence sexually. They have become responsible for the basic qualities in life. They are working. They have control over their environment, their household, their bodily cleanliness, all of this. And through the process of listening to the teaching, something of this natural intelligence and ease within, has begun to develop in him — in such a one. “Understanding, even before it develops into a profound internal enquiry, is already a purifying force that relieves a man from much voluntary self-exploitation that he previously added to chronic difficulty.
“This enquiry continues to attend to the tendency of consciousness in meditation. Where understanding has become well developed through this experience or in a man relatively free of enforced concentration in the lower energies, the attention will gradually move into higher areas.” In other words, through this process of meditation in this way, the things that attract attention tend to become less and less of the gross and lower variety. And attention tends to be drawn gradually into the subtler levels, drawn up from the gross level into the subtler forms of vitality, then into the emotional life, and into the more of the psychic, mental life.” Then he may tend to the emotions of the Heart, and even its psychic depth. Abiding in understanding, he should enquire also of these, “Avoiding relationship?” So even these subtler qualities, and for one who has been chronically involved in the vital dilemmas, to suddenly be moving into the psychic and emotional forms of his inner life, seems to be a kind of enlightenment.
But whatever arises, even these forms, he should continue to enquire. “And so this concentration will also ease. He will tend to move out of the emotional forms of attention, in time. He may move higher and deeper, into the subtle center, which is in the throat, which is also the seat of Shakti, and so witness the display of power, the higher psyche, the vibrations and glowing mentality of profound internal regions.” In other words, the process of attention may move out of the representations of the gross, vital and emotional life, and he may begin to have internal perceptions of various kinds, subtle perceptions of various kinds. Subtle qualities may attach themselves to his consciousness. Forms of vision, forms of insight may arise. “He should abide in understanding and continue to enquire.” In other words, whatever arises, even more, these more subtle, more profound things, are simply qualities arising in consciousness, attracting attention to a certain place. It’s always the same activity, whether it’s being generated at a low level, or a subtler level.
“No matter where his mind tends to move, he should continue to enquire, gently, but intensively, directly to the content of his involvement…In any case…in other words, no matter what arises, whether it’s these subtle forms or the gross forms,…” the field of his attention is always a separative movement, as he will discover by enquiry, by radically holding to understanding, which is the source of enquiry.” In other words, by continuing to enquire, or maintaining the condition or the position of understanding, you will begin to recognize, know again, see for what they are all of the qualities that arise, even what are typically thought to be spiritual or psychic forms. You will see that these also are the forms of this avoidance, this contraction. And you will move always beyond them, into what is prior to them, what is prior to mind, emotion, vitality, and gross physical life. “The result of this process of understanding appears to be a kind of ascent, as if there were an abandonment of the lower. This is, however, not in fact the case. There is simply a relaxation of attention.” In other words, the qualities that tend to attract attention first, are of the grosser kind. And as enquiry moves in relation to these things, attention relaxes in relation to them, and attention then tends to be drawn into what is a little subtler than that. Well, the appearance then, is that you have arisen from a denser to a subtler quality. And when that quality also is dissolved, you move into a subtler one. So there is the sense, the appearance of ascent. But what is actually occurring is simply the relaxation of attention. And when attention is perfectly relaxed, or perfectly resolved into the prior condition, there is no longer any sense of up or down. One really hasn’t ascended. One has simply seen all of the levels, or all of the qualities in a range from gross to extremely subtle toward super subtle. And all of these qualities arises within consciousness.
“Ordinarily we are drawn into enforced, chronic and exclusive attention in various centers of energy or experience. These became the foundation of our point of view, and so man who is profoundly and exclusively concentrated in some complex of experience, feels that energy overwhelmingly, and everything else, including the centers of his conscious life apart from that, appears over against it. This is the mechanism whereby men acquire the root consciousness of separateness and the chronic activity of separativeness. But when a man clings to understanding, this complex concentration eases and relaxes, so that the regains the natural contract with the total circuit of conscious life, which natively and already knows its freedom and wholeness.” In other words, the qualities of life are arising, and they tend to attract attention. And we tend to become identified with them, because they are within the field of consciousness. And we tend to become chronically associated with these qualities. And our chronic association with essential qualities of life, mental, emotional, vital, and gross physical is the separative existence. Our chronic identification with these qualities, is the avoidance of relationship. This is the contraction. This is the dilemma. So this is the separative activity, this process of identification, differentiation, and desire.
“As a result of the way of understanding through enquiry, the forms of chronic concentration however, are relieved, and the man abides in understanding rather than the exclusive centers of concentration.” Whatever arises in awareness is a thing apart, it’s a specific quality. It is differentiated from all other qualities. So every act of ordinary attention, is a form of exclusion or contraction and separativeness. So all forms of concentration are exclusive, separative, until there is perfect understanding. Then these qualities that arise no longer have the same force or implication.
“The process of enquiry is not a search for understanding or any effect. But it is understanding maintaining itself and knowing itself under all conditions.” This activity of enquiry, which is awakened as a result of living in Satsang, to the point of insight, is simply the activity of that very understanding knowing itself, seeing itself under all conditions that may arise, seeing itself in relationship to all of the qualities that arise moment to moment over time. So now, it is being brought positively into life and is becoming exhaustively aware of the qualities of life.
Previous to enquiry, one was in a more or less passive relationship to the qualities that arose until real insight was quickened. Now one is positively engaged in the qualities that arise, and involved in a continuous experience and recognition of all of the qualities that may arise. “Thus, in one who continually understands, fear, and chronic reactivity are gradually stilled.”
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every quality that arises in consciousness, there is a quality of reaction to it. And reaction is always in the form of withdrawal or of identification. Fear is the classic sense of withdrawal or separation. “What in fact has happened, is that he is no longer concentrated in some separate complex of energy, some portion of the circuit of being.” This is one who understands. He’s no longer concentrated in these exclusive center of energy or of chronic attention. “The man who is fixed in animated sexuality and acquisition, which tend to exhaust and dissipate life energy, becomes vital, healthier and stronger, as his concentration is eased, and he restores the internal connection with the highest center in the solar plexus.” In other words, one who is chronically identified with the processes of money, food and sex, who is always enervating himself through sexual activity of various kinds, either through the sex act, or the endless dwelling on it, just the dissipation of life energy through this constant awareness of sexuality. Or one who is always acquiring, acquisition is like the taking of food, using money in order to acquire things, or doing things in order to acquire money. These are all using the life process at the level of money, in the…by the analogy of food.
But in one who understands, he becomes free of these enervating activities, so, we are just talking about the man who is involved with animated in sexuality and the processes of acquisition. He becomes more vital, healthier, stronger as concentration is eased, as he is no longer fixed in his attention in the gross and lower vital life. He moves up, into the…or appears to move up, his attention is allowed to move into the subtler levels of life and energy. Just so, a man experiences as an emotional expansion and a true relational ability, as he restores the connection to the creative center at the Heart.” This is the next area typified in the traditional books as the center of a chakra, the Heart chakra, in this case we are talking about. This is generally the region of the astral emotional life, this region of the solar plexus or higher vital, leading into the Heart chakra and the throat chakra, this whole region is the subtle life of the emotional, psychic being, the astral being. So when attention is released from fixed attention in the lower activities, the gross and more unconscious activities, into these subtler, more like subconscious activities, his relational ability is restored.
Well now his activities in the environment are not fixed in identification with, or by analogy with, the processes of sex and food acquisition. So now, he acts in the environment from a freer point of view, in a relational point of view. So, the generating of money, and of activities in the environment, creating in the environment, tends to take on the quality of what is above the solar plexus, rather than what is below the solar plexus. So, he takes the qualities on, you know the quality of the benefactor of men, who gives money away, who’s free of the hang-ups of money, all of this sort of thing. This is the kind of man in whom the force of the somewhat higher energies of consciousness have been allowed to move into the relational functions. “His effectiveness and power increase as he opens even higher in the throat and the mental centers in the head. Thus, we see that the ascent which this process involves is in fact, not an abandonment of the lower, but a greater and greater inclusiveness, so that the man begins to function as a whole and experiences creative control over life processes.”
In other words, attention has simply ceased to be fixed in operating from the point of view of these lower areas, but it hasn’t excluded them. It’s just that the more exclusive energies of conscious life are beginning to function at all of these lower levels. So now, sexuality has taken on a more humanized, relational and blissful form. It’s losing its chronic and obsessive forms. The whole process of the taking of food is likewise changed…his relations to environment, his activities in the world. He has begun to become more and more inclusive. And the way they become more inclusive, is by consciousness gradually ceasing to be fixed or chronically attracted to fixed areas of attention. This inclusiveness, and not any kind of exclusive ascent or decent, is the form of real existence, of creative life. And the way of understanding is the root of that inclusive and real life.” In other words, he is not exclusively going upwards and getting away from these things. And he is not exclusively plowing down into them. He is becoming more and more inclusive. He is finding all of the regions of life, and he finds them first by feeling things arise within them. But through the process of enquiry, the qualities of fixation are dissolved. And he simply includes these regions, without being fixed in them in the form of dilemma.
“As the process of real meditation increases its radical intensity, the man will find that the mind tends less and less to concentrate in the centers below the head,” really, below the brows. In other words, less and less he will find himself drawn and fixed in chronic attention to the activities of mind, emotion, vitality, and gross physical life. The qualities that fixate him exclusively in these areas will dissolve, be broken up, become harmonious. And so attention will tend to be drawn by qualities arising in these areas. They will exist in a kind of fullness, stillness, completion, in the form of conductivity, quite naturally. And so attention will not be drawn to points in the lower life. It will…the mind then will gradually come to rest. And it is said that the quality of meditation is that the mind-stuff stops being modified, stops taking on form. The mind becomes quieted. All of those who talk about meditation, typically talk about meditation as a way of stilling the mind, of getting away from the continuous transformation of mental qualities. Well, we see how that relates to the real process. As the areas of fixed attention dissolve, from the grosser levels up to the subtler, in terms of the life, the subtlest form is the mental form, the fixation of attention gradually breaks up. Well, the last area in which the fixation of attention breaks up, is the area of the mind itself, which is the meditator between the lower and the higher. So one in whom meditation at this level has become matured, experiences the quieting of the mind. “In time he will have achieved such ease of internal relationship to life, and he will have come to exercise such creative control of use of the life process, that he will not be drawn excitedly to the impressions of the life complex. His enquiry will quickly move through these movements and he will center easily in the form of understanding, in a fullness that is silent and blissful. He will enjoy the radiant calm and certainty that is natural to the center of consciousness in the head. Such a man has achieved creative realization of the unconscious and subconscious life process. He has not abandoned life, nor does he minimize it. It has simply become an area of creative enjoyment that is usable to him, and free of necessary dilemma.” In other words, in one in whom the process of understanding has become full in this sense, is one in whom the life process at the unconscious and subconscious levels has become sattwic, harmonious, full. And even the mental level itself then, the conscious mind, at last begins to become quieted and full of bliss as well. So it tends to take on less and less of the continuous qualities of conceptualization and image making, and becomes still, full, blissful, light. Once attention is free, chronic attention, fixed attention, attention tending to go to one point or to something that is arising specifically in consciousness, as this whole process subsides dramatically, the mind itself at last becomes quiet. And it’s at this point that the mind becomes receptive to what is above it. As long as the mind has not obviated the qualities of what is below itself, it will always be tending to take on those qualities, physical, vital and emotional qualities, as well as the qualities of its own which reflect those, which are all of the forms of conceptualization, imagery, and the like. So the mind is always busy, always turned below, until understanding has become mature in relation to life. Then the mind will turn upward, will be…simply because of its stillness, be receptive to what is always flowing to it from above. So, it’s at this point that natural receptivity to the super-conscious life develops. Now this is the conscious process I’m describing.
In Satsang, with the Guru, randomly and arbitrarily, all kinds of experiences may arise. The person may have all kinds of experiences of sudden quieting, or freedom from these things, or dramatic events may occur internally, or he may have intuitions or super-conscious impressions, all kinds of phenomena may arise randomly in him as a result of the graceful communication that arises in Satsang. I am talking here about the conscious process that awakens in the disciple in Satsang. And he perceives the transformation, in his conscious life, in these stages. So these are the stable and conscious realizations of the things that otherwise may occur randomly in Satsang. “Such a person will then also feel the mind at the center of consciousness or conscious understanding, turn upward toward what is in fact super-conscious, super-conscious prior to life individuality,” and thus prior to mind itself.
“In meditation he will experience a new form of enquiry. The problem in the mind and the creative centers below the head, is generally one of the refusal of relationship in a concrete sense.” In other words, the problem that arises, the thing that is always being generated in consciousness, the thing that is the avoidance of relationship as it arises, is always a form of, some concrete form, some life form of avoidance, of the refusal of relationship through the media of mind, emotion, vitality, and gross physical life. “It is life abandonment, the refusal of life processes, the life of love and inclusion, of intelligence and human creativity, the whole pattern of desire. But when enquiry is drawn above, toward what is not conscious,” and certainly already what is not unconscious or subconscious, “but super-conscious, and thus not presently included in the field of mind, the individual begins to comprehend the avoidance of relationship on a new level. Then it is not a matter of relationship on a new level. Then it is not a matter of avoidance of concrete relationship by separating yourself as an entity from other entities. Personal existence in the world, is not an immediate function of the higher conscious life.”
So the qualities that are arising at this state, are no longer those of mind, emotion, vitality, and gross physical life. They are the subtler variety. Because they don’t have the qualities of the lower life, the condition that’s implied in the lower life is no longer generated. The condition of the lower life and these various qualities and the quality of avoidance is always a concrete one. But in terms of super-consciousness, the entity in that concrete sense is no longer generated in awareness. And so also, the activities of avoidance in relation to super-consciousness are of quite another kind than these concrete ones, like you running away from your wife or something, or your husband, quite a bit subtler.
“Thus as the individual is drawn above, toward the aperture at the top and slightly to the rear of the head.” In other words, if this general process of conscious mind in understanding is, can be seen and felt, conceived as being generated from the point behind the eyes, at the root of the nose, in the mid-brain, when it turns upward, away from what is below, when it’s free, of, in other words, chronic attention to what is below, and just becomes attentive quite naturally to what is above, it will tend upward and toward the rear, toward this, what they call the aperture of brahmin, that little sort of hole or indentation that you can feel at the top and toward the rear of the head. There is usually some sort of slight impression there in most people. So this is where the attention tends to be drawn then. If you see people, or you yourself have had the experience of the force, the Shakti of meditation active in you and the eyes close and you feel the eyes turned up. You not only feel that sort of tension between the brows, that point of concentration there, but concentration is actually drawn up. And you can feel that sort of tension between the brows, that point of concentration there, but concentration is actually drawn up. And you can feel the eyes being pulled up. The eyes may even stutter, open and close quickly sometimes. It’s all straining toward this point here, it’s tending toward the sahasrar.
So, “he should remain in understanding and enquire as before.” Even as this is occurring. Enquire randomly either as a mental verbalization, or as a tacit form of enquiry without verbalization, should continue even in this case.
“But his realization will not be one of relational ease. Instead, he will perceive that the very concept of his individual existence as it functions on a conscious level and down into the subconscious and unconscious life levels is in fact the source of dilemma or separateness. He will simply see that it does not apply, indeed, does not exist, and the separative movement that creates it on the mental level will simply dissolve.” In other words, the form of avoidance of relationship that is perceived at this level of enquiry is that of the separate self-existence, itself. Just the sensation, the sense of separate existence. Even before the mentalization of I, just the sense of the separate self, is what is dissolved in this perception of super-consciousness.
“In that intense perception in understanding, the fundamental activity of identification and differentiation will reveal itself and subside, at first for brief moments, and then easily, for longer periods, until it becomes a…constant that also affects the operating basis of the conscious mind.” In other words, as the process of understanding continues, in relationship to the super-conscious nature, the whole quality of separate self-existence breaks down, just as all of the qualities of mentality and of desire broke down previous to this, or dissolved previous to this. So that the moment to moment condition of being without separate self-existence begins to be felt even in the mind, even in the life. So one in whom the enquiry has gone on and matured and intensified over time, exists in his ordinary relations, in his ordinary activities, already without this sense of separate self-existence. This is no longer the implication of his existence. He lives as the unqualified Self, in the world. Even in the mind, his separate self-existence doesn’t arise. The mind is used for its ordinary functions, but the separate me is not contained in it, it is not the implication or the operating basis of his life. In other words, the enjoyments of understanding in the super-conscious states, infects even the mind, infects even the life.
“Those who pursue this very perception as an exclusive goal call it enlightenment, or Self-realization, a kind of once and for all attainment. In fact, it is only the natural perception of super-consciousness.” In other words, this is not an end phenomenon, this is not a goal. This fixation, eyes closed, turned intensely upward intuiting the super-conscious states, is not to be maintained. This trance condition is not to be held onto. Enquiry is to be continued, even while all of these phenomena arise. Now suddenly held onto, anymore than you would have held onto any of the lower phenomena, the lower forms of desire. All of that is occurring in these trance like enjoyments, these intuitive enjoyments, that transcend the mind and life, is the natural perception of the super-conscious life.
“If a man has manipulated himself in dilemma to the point of temporary abandonment of the lower life, and even the living mind, he will feel he has attained reality, in this case, and so await the dissolution of his personal existence at death.” In other words, many traditional yogic seekers, for instance, have attained this sort of trance samadhi, that involves the turning of the mind into the super-conscious dimension, as an end phenomena, or at the end of a long period of sadhana, in which they have eliminated the unconscious, subconscious and mental processes from the field of awareness. They have deliberately sought this fixation of attention. They deliberately seek this trance condition, as a permanent, or more or less permanent condition. So, they look to maintain this trance condition without involvement in mind and life, until death. And that’s their notion of moksha or liberation or nirvana.
“But the man who understands, does not abandon understanding or life. He has no motive for doing so. He will not be troubled by the return to mental life and human existence. He simply understands that he has begun to include an even higher center and source of true being in life.” In other words, one who understands and enquires, living in Satsang with the Guru, will have such experiences as this that I am describing. And they will occur in meditation. And gradually the qualities of the super-conscious will move down into the conscious states. The mind will become free of this assumption of this separate existence. And the human activities, the emotional life, the vital life, will cease to be generated purely from the point of view of separate life, the life of avoidance, the unharmonious points of view and quality of existence. But the one who understands and lives in Satsang with the Guru does not assume then that there is any dilemma involved in the moving down of the trance state, or trance like states of meditation, into ordinary conditions. He doesn’t feel like, I can’t wait until I can sit in meditation and get into trance again tonight. Or I can’t wait to have that experience again. Or, at least if he has such feelings, he understands full well what they represent. He understands that what is always occurring in this process of understanding in him, is the release of fixated attentions and the movement into the inclusive form of reality, both his own real functions, and the ultimate reality that includes him. So, every time he moves again, is restored again to the qualities of life, these qualities are that much more transformed by his contact with what transcends them.
“In any case, whatever arises in meditation, you should abide by understanding and simply enquire. In time, the movement of consciousness will not even tend to the point of super-consciousness above.” In other words, this being drawn to the super-conscious states is another form of something arising in consciousness to attract attention, just as the form of life did the same thing earlier. The super-conscious does the same thing. It becomes a form of fascination in consciousness and draws attention. And that’s all that’s occurring in these kinds of experiences. And in time, these also begin to break down, that form of fixation begins to break down. You don’t lose the super-conscious dimension. But the fixation, through the necessary trance like states that occur at the beginning, in order for us to become aware of the super-conscious life, become unnecessary. And the super-conscious is always part then of your conscious state, just as the unconscious and subconscious levels are continuously a part of your complete condition.
“The enquiry will become radical knowledge, prior to every kind of activity and perception. Then you will find that understanding even ceases to function as a mental activity. It will have become radically concentrated in that to which the enquiry always leads. That silence, incomparable depth, the formless object of contemplation will become utterly absorbing. Then, suddenly, you may find that you are seated in the true Heart.” In other words, when enquiry and understanding has matured through the witnessing and comprehension or re-cognition of all of the levels, all of the functions from unconscious becomes your very condition regardless of what arises from any of these levels and the mental activity with which understanding began, that’s how we began this discussion, itself tends to subside. That process of understanding, understanding as a present activity that is reinitiated moment to moment. Even that begins to dissolve and this is that quality of understanding that I have always already generated. It is not generated intensely or regenerated moment to moment. It is continuous and consciousness itself will have fallen out of specific activities. Even the specific activity of understanding and continually remains in that condition to which it is always brought as a result of enquiry.
So that…which, to which enquiry is always bringing consciousness becomes already one’s condition. Eventually it becomes already one’s condition, rather than that which comes whenever enquiry is reintroduced. So in other words, one in the mature form of enquiry, one has again simply fallen into Satsang, into the condition in which one already is. One is simply abiding in that enjoyment, which is “silence incomparable depth, formless object of contemplation.” You become utterly absorbed in this real force or form, that nameless, formless, but somehow absolutely attracts consciousness perfectly.
And “then, suddenly, you may find that you are seated in the true Heart,” the seat on the right. In other words, the forms of attention the acts of attention have gone from the lowest form of the body, gradually into subtler forms, further and further upward, toward the highest center in the head and above the head. The super-conscious dimensions transcend the physical body. So it has gone in this apparent upward movement, but now it has fallen apparently, descended into the Heart on the right. In other words, at the point where the mind ceases to be the point of view of understanding, or the point of view from which understanding is generated. When that has ceased, when radical intuition has become the form of understanding, it is simply that the mind has fallen into its own source.
And the source of the mind, the source of the conscious mind, which is the mediator between the super-conscious and the subconscious and unconscious, the root of the mind is the Heart. It is the prior formless root of conscious life. Now that everything has become conscious, or no longer differentiated from consciousness, consciousness itself has fallen into its own prior conditions.
“All of the movement of consciousness on every level will have fallen away. And you will remain tacitly aware as no-seeking in the heart, to the right side of the chest. You will possess unqualified knowledge of reality and enjoy untouchable bliss. And it will be the same bliss you knew as understanding.” It’s the same quality enjoyed in simple Satsang with the Guru, this turiya, it’s the same bliss that’s enjoyed in every instant of enquiry. Whenever this re-cognition has actually occurred, when one has gone beyond the avoidance of relationship into unqualified relationship, whenever that full realization, that unobstructed uncontracted enjoyment has been found, if only for a moment, this condition that is enjoyed by one this case, is the perpetual enjoyment of that, the original or prior enjoyment of that, dependent on nothing. “But do not seek this state, and if it comes, continue to enquire as soon as you possess a mind with which to enquire.” In other words, understanding and enquiry remain continually and forever the point of view of conscious life. And one may fall into the Heart, into the root of the mind, the root of Amrita Nadi, but when the mind is resurrected again, when the qualities are generated in consciousness again, continue to enquire. This is a subtle and extremely important stage in the life of understanding.
“As your enquiry continues, you will discover that you rise again out of the heart, or you will release the power of the heart upwards, while yet remaining founded in the heart. You will experience the current of bliss and joy, rising again to the sahasrar. And this current or circuit of bliss will remain even under the conditions of enquiry, as your fundamental form. It is the Amrita Nadi, the “bright.” It is enjoyment, no dilemma. And it contains every creative faculty. In that form, as you continue the life of understanding and enquiry, you will enjoy the continuous flowering of every kind of wisdom and knowledge.”
This point here is very important. You will release the power of the heart upwards, while yet remaining founded in the heart. At this point, when the heart realizations has become stably realized, when the faculties again arises and enquiry again continues, one does not move out of the Heart to someplace else. One does not move out of the Heart, up through Amrita Nadi, toward the Divine states, these qualities arise out of the Heart. One remains in the Heart at the same time that one enjoys the full ascent and manifestation of Amrita Nadi. The Heart is the permanent foundation of Amrita Nadi. One always abides in the Heart. But, exclusively being contained in the Heart, Self-realization in that sense, is not one’s permanent or eternal or present state.
Amrita Nadi is one’s present and eternal state. The Self, which is the root of Amrita Nadi, is the root of one’s continuous existence. But so is also the perfect reflection, or the light of the Heart, which rises out of it. So, when this Amrita Nadi becomes one’s condition, it is enjoyment, no-dilemma, and it contains every creative faculty. Everything exists within Amrita Nadi. All worlds exist within it. The very form of Reality is perceived within it, intuited through it. Everything, all faculties of life and consciousness, unconscious, subconscious, mental, super-conscious, all of the qualities that may arise are comprehended in Amrita Nadi and known to it and through it.
So, one who abides as Amrita Nadi, who lives as understanding, once this enjoyment has flowered in him, and who continues to maintain the life of understanding in the most radical sense, enjoys the continuous flowering of every kind of wisdom and knowledge as a spontaneous event. So, this is the Siddhi of Amrita Nadi, or the miraculous power of Amrita Nadi. Everything is realized in Amrita Nadi. Understanding, from the beginning and forever, is the source of our true and real life. It is possessed of no exclusive goal, and thus it is not motivated to concentrate above or below. Its motivation is its own and very form, which is already inclusive.
“Thus, just as we, in our ordinary humanity, suffer by exclusive concentration in what is below understanding, we would likewise suffer by exclusive concentration in what is “above” it. To concentrate in the centers or realms of the super-conscious is a separative activity, not an inclusive one. It is enforced and recommended by the teachings invented in the great search. Real life, radically founded in understanding, maintains the form or circuit of conscious life,” this circle of descending and ascending functions. In other words, the whole process of understanding does not involved a motivation to ascend and get away from all of this by simply cutting it away and going into some exclusive super-conscious realm. The whole process of understanding is always present, immediate, and self-purifying, relieving one of dilemma, the condition of contraction. One who understands, might secondarily, in his activities in the world, tend to be drawn into subtler and subtler worlds, even into the unmanifest or uncreated worlds. But that is not an expression of his willful desire to separate. It is simply an expression of his…the tendencies that are awakened in his free state.
“The full life of understanding is not one in which the unconscious and subconscious become conscious activities of the mind, although such is at least experimentally possible, as proven by certain yogis.” Certain yogis by acts of concentration, are able to manipulate the heart beat, gain control over activities that are ordinarily conscious and involuntary. So it is possible to do this, but the specific process that is understanding, does not involve making what is unconscious deliberate, or what is subconscious always conscious. In other words, the man of understanding doesn’t have to continually be involved in the endless display of subconscious forms of psychism. It’s possible to become psychic and to use psychic means to gain knowledge about something or someone. And in the man of understanding it may very well happen that psychic events occur and generally they do occur with some kind of frequency, depending on the qualities of that individual. But the specific process of understanding does not involve resort to making the subconscious levels conscious, in other words, to becoming psychic.
Rather the man of understanding knows directly, as I have described before, completely apart from whether psychism arises in him as an event more or less frequent. Essential process of knowledge in him is direct, immediate. He doesn’t use something else to communicate knowledge to him. In other words, he doesn’t have to look at you, and to know your state, he doesn’t have to look at you, and to know your state, he doesn’t have to see pictures over your head or auras or colors or peculiar psychic phenomena. Things like this do not have to arise to communicate to him what he wants to know about you. He just knows that instead. It’s not a process in him then where the subconscious becomes conscious. The subconscious remains what it is and depending on his peculiar qualities, psychism is more or less awakened in him, just as he may have more or less control over various unconscious functions.
“Nor,” this full life of understanding, “is it one in which the super-conscious becomes a conscious process under the control of the conscious mind, although such control of consciousness appears to be represented in the attainment of certain great saints.” There are siddhis of the unconscious and subconscious life, which I have just described. There are also siddhis of the super-conscious life. So there are certain individuals who manifest the extraordinary siddhis of power over this dimension, or of miraculous events. These are ways of making the super-conscious conscious or active, at the level of life, operative at the level of conscious life. So all of these manifestations of making things appear in the air, the kind of miracles that we usually hear about, the kind of miracle stories that are in books, traditional books, like the bible, or stories about traditional saints. They are all tales of super-conscious miracles, whether or not they occurred in any particular case is beside the point. This specific generation of super-conscious phenomena in the conscious and life planes, is something obviously that does take place at times. It’s happened enough times and in enough cases that we can have certainty of it. And in our own experience, this certainty may arise. But the specific processes are brought down in the form of miraculous conscious exploitation in the life plain.
“The full life of understanding is one in which the unconscious and subconscious processes remain as such, and so also with the super-conscious processes. The difference is that the dilemma is removed and the link or circuit between them all, the process of consciousness and conscious understanding, is attained, asserted and enjoyed.” In other words, the full life is open and removed of its problematic condition and implications in one who understands. Whatever else arises in him, in the form of conscious power over unconscious, subconscious and super-conscious phenomena, is a secondary matter. It’s like his physical body, how it appears. It’s a karmic affair. It’s a peculiar quality of its own. But these things are not qualities that relate specifically to understanding itself.
And so it is very possible in the man of understanding, that he manifests none of the extraordinary phenomena, manifests none of the forms of yogic control, of psychism, or of miraculous and other kinds of super-conscious activity. It’s possible for such a saint to exist, who manifests none of those things, neither outwardly nor inwardly, has no such experience. Ramana Maharshi was such a one for the most part. But then you have others, who are full of siddhis of various kinds, and full of miracle working. But there are other ways to determine the genuineness of such a person, because obviously, control can be gotten over the faculties above and below the mind, completely apart from the realization of Truth and understanding.
“Thus, the real man is creatively present. He operates in the mind of understanding, which is fully bathed in the higher light,” the super-conscious light, “and it moves into the creative realization and even evolution of life.” In other words, by the natural realization, or the non-problematic realization of life, life tends to evolve and flower and become true, not by virtue of some siddhi or other wherein one exploits unconscious and subconscious and super-conscious phenomena. They will naturally flower, all of these qualities will naturally flower in the man of understanding. In their natural forms, the super-conscious life instead of necessarily being manifest in the form of miracles is manifested in the form of intuition, continuous intuitive life.
And the mental life is manifested as that mind which is free of limitations, free of smallness, free of the ego, which is full, full of the higher light, and manifests in the ways that a genius mentality operates. And the subconscious and unconscious life becomes, the physical and vital being becomes healthy, functional, full of energy. The emotional being becomes love rather than all of the limited forms of emotion, the concentrated forms of emotion, which are all of the forms, of…from enthusiastic, aggravated enthusiasm, to anger, sorrow, fear, hate. So these are the realizations in such a one, rather than necessarily the miraculous phenomena. Although these other phenomena may arise, depending on his qualities.
“This real man is the future man of all of the universes. In him the creative movement coming out of the heart will find fulfillment in the great realization of manifest existence.” In other words, such a man, the man of understanding, is the man in whom the manifest worlds can be fulfilled. And it’s by the growth of the process of understanding, essentially as I have described it, it’s by the growth of that activity in consciousness, that kind of freeing of consciousness, that the manifest human life and the manifest life on all planes will develop, will evolve, in its natural order. Any individual man of understanding, any such individual, may or may not tend to remain in the manifest world, depending on his qualities again.
“Such men, who abide radically in understanding, and so realize life apart from dilemma, apart from dilemma, search, and fear, are creatively involved in maintaining and using the form of Reality. They operate to restore that form, by constantly regarding the circuit of consciousness and power that begins in the heart. And they move to make that form the basis for all actual existence, even what we call the human.” So they are creatively involved in maintaining and using the form of Reality. That is the Siddhi of the man of understanding, using the form of Reality, his own form, living and operating from the point of view of the Amrita Nadi, in the form of Amrita Nadi.
This is the peculiar Siddhi of the man of understanding. There are siddhis or peculiar powers that belong to all forms of experience, ordinary and extraordinary. But this is the peculiar or fully realized Siddhi. And this is what is meant in that earlier portion of the book where it says something to the effect of, “create and enjoy according to the wisdom of your own form.” Exactly what that means, exactly what that is is something you realize when you start doing it. Because it’s a spontaneous, self revealing activity.
So that a revelation of Amrita Nadi, the revelation of spiritual life in the man of understanding does no…does not come to an end. There is no terminal point where you stop learning, stop developing the powers of Amrita Nadi, or the manifestation of Amrita Nadi. It’s endlessly manifesting. It’s a creative existence. The fundamental Truth is already accomplished, always already known. But it’s expression is continually enlarged. It’s always working to transform the conditions in which it appears. So in our own work for instance, the fundamental nature of it has been expressed since the day we began. But the quality of its manifestation is continually changing. Because it’s always transforming the event that it confronts. So beyond a certain basic formulation of the communicated teaching and instruction, nothing specific can be said to limit the ultimate spiritual process. It can develop in an infinite variety of ways.
Life of Understand Series – Table of Contents