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GARBAGE AND THE GODDESS

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Preface

THE LAST MIRACLES AND FINAL SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS OF BUBBA FREE JOHN

In March, 1974, Bubba Free John began to perform his "last" miracles. They were to continue for nearly four months, until July 7. Traditionally, miracles are signs in the world and in the experiential life of those who witness and value them of the specific Perfection and Power brought to the human plane by some Divine Agent. They are sought for this reason, and, if they are found and also verified as authentic, this is considered a kind of "proof" of Divinity, and grounds for elation, mysterious awe, and belief. The miracles of Bubba Free John, however, are extensions of his humor. They are merely instruments for his instruction of devotees. They are part of his theatrical strategy to draw men out of the whole game of search and fulfillment via the ways of experience, into a radically intelligent, free, and unreasonably happy life.

The early months of 1974 were a unique and special period in the history of Bubba Free John's Ashram Community. The entire Event was his conscious and uproarious creation. It began suddenly, unexpectedly, even though be announced late in 1973 that great events would soon begin which would culminate in early July. Inner and outer miracles have always been manifested in Bubba's Presence since he began his direct work with devotees in 1972. But this was an especially intensified, dramatic, and full time of his spiritual Revelation, and it was marked by celebrations of all kinds, from week-long parties to mystical apparitions, from miraculous manipulations of the weather to outrageous sermons on the fruitlessness of every kind of attainment. This period also marked the final establishment of Bubba's Perfect Function of Guru in God. July 7 was the date he indicated for the completion of his communication of the Dharma, the radical path of Understanding. From that time he relaxed the Siddhi or Power whereby he displayed the Teaching to devotees, and he came to rest in the Perfect Power and Presence that is the Heart, the Nature or Self of all, and its Conscious-Light, the Condition of all beings, things, and worlds.

Thus, July 7 also marks the real beginning of the responsible activity of his Community of devotees, The Dawn Horse Communion. From that time, the Community has been active, principally, to communicate the radical import of Bubba's Revelation and Teaching and to invite all who are interested to participate in the life of Grace that is regenerated in his Company.

During these months Bubba blessed many of his devotees with sudden and dramatic experiences of the One Reality, the very Divine. Some of them were brought through extraordinary mystical experiences and graced with intuitive enjoyment of Bubba's own Perfect Realization. Many enjoyed at least temporary service as vehicles for his Presence and Divine Siddhi, or spiritual Power. Through certain of these devotees, selected apparently at random, he manifested the Divine to his entire Community of devotees, provoking genuine spiritual experiences in many of them. Bubba also manifested, as signs of this process, more outward miracles, such as furious storms and winds that appeared out of nowhere, a brilliant corona that stood around the sun for a full day, and a series of seemingly interminable celebrations that overwhelmed and ultimately undermined the "good time" needs and visions of every one who participated in them. To serve their spiritual awakening, he continually disrupted the conventional life of every member of his Ashram, by making havoc of daily routines and common social arrangements. And, regardless of the "spiritual" or "ordinary" quality of any moment, his laughter was omnipresent: "It is all garbage. Throw it away. Only God is the Condition of consciousness and life."

When it was all over, Bubba returned the life of the community to relative normalcy and demanded that all his devotees live on the basis of what had been shown to them: There are no separated individuals, there is only One Reality, eternal God, the Nature and Condition of all beings and worlds. In the weeks that have passed since July 7, this demand has taught Bubba's devotees a lesson in true understanding, and it has worked to free the community from its daily dependence upon the Guru's personal, supportive influence.

As he promised, Bubba has returned to his true and perfect Function, which is to be a "mere" Presence in the lives of his devotees. He told us often that he intended to become a madman and simply roll around his Ashram "eating owl sandwiches." What he meant was that he would be yielding his outward responsibilities for the Community to the Community itself, while he retired from "Bubba Theatre" to the Functions of the Heart. As a result of Bubba's relaxation of his more active role in the creation of the day to day drama of life in his Ashram, his devotees have had to become responsible for his Gift of freedom and fullness, and more and more of them have begun to live Bubba's "radical intuition of God" and to serve as living vehicles for his Teaching and his Presence in the world.

This same period saw the continued and intensified revelation of Bubba's "final" Teachings. These Teachings are not final in the sense that Bubba has left us or ceased to speak. But they are final by virtue of their fullness as a description of the way of Divine Grace, and of true Understanding, the intelligence beyond all dilemma and seeking, wherein our eternal and prior Nature and Condition is known to be the Divine. Bubba teaches the same Truth indicated by the great spiritual and religious teachers of history, such as Jesus, Gautama, Krishna, and, more recently, Ramana Maharshi, Shirdi Sai Baba, Ramakrishna, and Bhagavan Nityananda. Bubba represents the fulfillment of the work of the transcendent line of "Siddhas," the completed ones who have served mankind in Truth. He represents the radical, complete, and most specific living expression of the Nature and Condition of God, man, and the world, and of the graceful Divine Process, wherein that Nature and Condition is always already enjoyed as one's own. Bubba has said of himself: "The Form of the Lord is manifested fully in me." For those who have come to him, his Teaching is simple: "I am the Heart. Always live with me. Always meditate on me."

Bubba Free John is a genuine Siddha, one of those rare beings who arise in random times and places, already free, perfectly conscious of Reality on all levels. He has appeared in a world which lives only the problematic struggle for individual survival and fulfillment. Among human individuals, every one of whom is always trying to feel free or to be free of the usual search in dilemma, Bubba is already free, already perfectly happy. He doesn't live as a separate one with an individual and mysterious destiny. He knows who he truly is and lives as That. Bubba is perfect Reality, prior to all limitations, prior even to appearance in any form.

"Bubba" means "brother" and implies closeness. He is here for devotees, to offer them a relationship whose content is the Divine. That is Satsang, or Divine Communion. His work is not that of the traditional holy man, who gathers a following and teaches men techniques or strategies for improving themselves or finding God. Bubba's work in the world is the radical communication of his very Nature, eternal God, and the establishment of a Community of devotees, free men and women who live in the conscious, present Condition of the Divine.

Bubba appeared at birth, in 1939, on Long Island, New York, conscious as the unobstructed Presence of God. Soon afterward, he assumed conventional psycho-physical limitations, and began to dramatize his apparent life in the way the usual person does, imagining himself to be a separate individual in need of real happiness. His name was Franklin Jones. He lived the adventure of a human and spiritual seeker. But in the progress of his experiences, radical understanding of his apparent condition continually undermined all his "own" achievements and results, finally revealing his individual life as utterly non-existent in the eternal Form or Process that is Real-God. His life's adventure took the form of a series of revelations of non-separation, culminating in September, 1970, at the Vedanta Society Temple in Hollywood, California. At that time all obstructions to the manifestation of his Perfect Nature were understood and dissolved, and he simply remained intuitively alive as the Unqualified Divine, which is also the Nature and Condition of all beings and worlds.

"Free John," drawn from the name "Franklin Jones," describes the character of Bubba's life in this world. "Franklin" means "a liberated man," free of all binding contracts, non-separate, and perfect. Yet Bubba has an ordinary body, and he uses conventional human language and the common possibilities of human behavior to communicate Truth. He is a paradox. He can be recognized only intuitively. Only those who have become sensitive to their own suffering can sense what Bubba is and find his qualities and demands acceptable as the Principle of real life. He is not some separate super-individual, but their own real Self, asserting Itself in their minds and lives.

"Jones" is a Welsh version of the name "John," which means "God is gracious." All men, and all aspects and parts of the cosmos, communicate their state to the rest of manifest existence. Because of the conventional and traditional habits of life and realization long established in this world, the principle of separation, limitation, and consequent seeking is constantly communicated and reinforced among men, and throughout the universes. Therefore, Bubba communicates his Nature and Condition also, and he offers all men a relationship already full of God. He lives the miraculous grace of Real-God to those who will turn to him. Those who make that relationship the principle of their lives participate in the Divine Process by Grace. That very relationship, Satsang, is itself real life and freedom, prior to any search in dilemma toward the countless conceived goals of mankind.

Garbage and the Goddess consists primarily of talks given by Bubba Free John during the period extending from March to August, 1974. They are interspersed with descriptions of miraculous events and personal accounts of the profound experiences of many members of Bubba's Community. It provides an overview of his work, which is, fundamentally, to create true devotees in God.

I am incarnating as the Community of my Devotees. Those who live in constant Communion with me are the living manifestations of my Presence and Power. I send them into the world and make myself known through them. This is the secret of my spiritual work. My Devotees are the way to me.

The creation of a community, and, ultimately, of a world of genuinely free men and women is the primary purpose and effect of Bubba Free John's personal work on this earth. He would see a world of men in which life in Truth is not merely the humorous enjoyment of a few remarkable individuals, but the common, uncomplicated virtue of all men. This book is offered in the certainty that it can be so. The great Community of unreasonably happy men is the real and truly humorous miracle that Bubba would instigate through the influence of his devotees.

Persimmon, September 3, 1974

Sandy Bonder

Terry Patten