by Bubba Free John (Adi Da
Samraj) From a talk to his devotees March
27, 1976 The Dawn Horse Magazine, number
5. BUBBA: Are there any questions? I
don't believe that none of you has any questions; so let's
hear them! Are you afraid I'm going to get you? Or haven't
you got a question good enough to get me? DEVOTEE: You have said that the path
of shabd yoga does not involve dissolution of the ego, but
rather it is a search to attain the highest region by
following the internal sound. You had access to these subtle
regions in your sadhana and I myself followed this path. I'd
like to know more of your experience with the subtle regions
and why the Truth is not involved in their
attainment. BUBBA: The principle of shabd yoga
and the subtle paths in general is the ego. They seek
through effort to purify the ego or the soul and lift its
attention out of the lower manifest planes into the higher
manifest planes. And that is it. That effort obviously does
not have anything to do with Truth. It has to do with
transferring the attention from one region to another
region. The motive of Truth is not involved in such a path
any more than it is involved in transferring attention from
the boredom of an afternoon to exotic sexual pleasure this
evening, or going from one loka to another or one place to
another or one form of distraction to another. The ego is
the principle of both approaches. All forms of the pursuit
of the transference of attention rest upon the ego. The
difference is that if you pursue the transference of
attention into some subtle realm, you must purify it of its
lower distractions. Whereas if you are already much involved
in the gross life, like the usual man born here in this
plane, then you do not have to do any purifying or much
modifying to transfer the attention from a low level of
enjoyment to another level of enjoyment in the gross
dimension. You simply exploit yourself bodily. In any case, the highest region is
not attained by any projection of attention in the path of
ascent. The so-called highest region is not a region at all
but the source of the manifest planes, the God-Light, which
is not visible, which may not be seen, which may not be
attained. The God-Light in Truth is not known apart from the
dissolution of the ego or causal principle, the seat of
subjectivity, in the Heart. Until that dissolution occurs
there is no right knowledge of the God-Light. The God-Light
is known only through reflections, in manifestation, through
shaktis, appearances, shabds, sounds, vibrations. The
God-Light is the reflection of Brahman or Very
Consciousness, and out of the God-Light come the subtle and
gross regions and all their variations, none of which are
themselves the Light. If you happen already to be
manifested in the gross plane, at whatever level within it,
the subtle region becomes a possible salvation, a way of
getting loosed from your troubles and the distractions that
weigh you down and annoy you. It's really no different from
a bored person pursuing a kind of salvation or relief
through worldly distractions in the gross plane. Some people
seek to relieve themselves of gross annoyances by projecting
themselves into a higher level of the gross plane, as in
psychism, spiritualism, moving into the etheric realms, and
magic. Such gross paths, kundalini among them, pursue levels
of enjoyment within the gross plane, but above the elemental
aspects of the gross plane. On the other hand, shabd yoga,
bhakti yoga, and other paths of ascent toward the God-Light,
pursue the subtle realm itself as a form of salvation by
exploiting the current of manifestation, which may be
listened to or which may just be joined through devotion. It
is not necessary to listen to it as the shabd yogis do-there
are other ways of projecting yourself into that current and
allowing it to carry you. And such paths simply transfer you
into different possibilities from the one in which you
already rest. So you can change your state by
pursuing subjective paths of various kinds, including shabd
yoga. What has that got to do with Truth? What has that got
to do with the inherent suffering of the manifest state? The
desire to change your state is essentially a childish
motivation, not based on any profound insight into the
nature of your present situation. If you were able to
comprehend the nature of this moment, to see it as
suffering, as the limitation it is, you would not go for
distractions high or low. You would not view either of those
possibilities as salvation. You would have to penetrate
intuitively the root of suffering, which is in
consciousness. And all that arises in consciousness is
essentially of the same variety. The ego appears to be the
principal form of this contraction or suffering, this
self-definition, but in Truth it is not any more fundamental
than any object arising in consciousness. The distractions of the subtle realm
are no more consoling ultimately than the distractions of
the gross realm. And the path itself is terrible! It is
long. It requires cutting away the life, a process that
tends to make you a little balmy! The people who really
succeed at it are generally those who for karmic reasons
have only the lightest connection with the gross realm. You
who have the ordinary man's profound involvement with the
gross realm and who try to project yourselves into the
subtle realm will drive yourselves crazy-there is no doubt
about it-because in you the force of karmic involvement with
the gross plane is so strong that the attempt to get out of
it, to suppress it in other words, will disorient you
entirely. And apart from that, it is beside the
point! Such an attempt is not based on any
direct insight into the nature of your situation. Real
insight into the nature of your situation is much more
overwhelming than the reaction to yoga, to conventional
ascending paths. Real insight into the nature of your
current experiencing will not permit you such a reaction.
Such a reaction is not true enough. It is itself a kind of
disorientation. It is itself a reaction. The only reason
yoga seems hopeful to you is that you are suffering and do
not really know what that suffering is. And also you are
promised all kinds of delights! The subtle realm is a kind of whore
to yogis. Do this and that mechanical thing, pay your dues
in the right way, meditate the right number of hours, give
up the right number of things, get serious enough, do this
and that enough, and you will start having incredible,
far-out experiences. Better than dope! The subtle paths, for
those Americans in particular who get the idea that this is
a good way to go, are an extension of drug culture. Shabd
yoga and kundalini yoga especially are an incredible "hype,"
attracting Westerners who like these concrete mystical
pleasures. They are an alternative to Heaven and Jesus and
all the things they cannot really believe. The other traditional paths are not
nearly as interesting because they do not promise so much
consolation-planes and visions and ecstasies and such.
Basically what you are given in the other traditional paths
is a lot of work to do, a lot of seriousness, a full
lifetime of discipline, and a lot of teaching about "Don't
get distracted by these experiences!" They are therefore
rather boring. Thus paths such as kundalini yoga and shabd
yoga are very promising, very distracting. But very few
people have the talent for them. Thousands of people by now
must have been initiated into shabd yoga in this country,
and how many of them are truly realizing it? Almost anybody
can have some sort of diddly experience eventually, but how
many are really becoming saints? I have discussed the difference
among the traditional approaches and related them to the
three great bodies of experience-gross, subtle, and causal.
In general the yogas and the traditional paths begin in one
or another of these bodies or realms of experience and
exploit the possibilities in them. For example, magic and
religion exploit the gross realm of experience, as does
kundalini yoga. The path of kundalini yoga is one of
the gross paths, even though it may eventually extend one's
experience into the subtle realm. Kundalini yoga pursues a
change of state, a change of experience, a projection of
attention into some higher state than this gross life, by
exploiting a principle that is in the gross realm, that may
be conceived, perceived, and manipulated in the body. That
principle is the kundalini shakti or the elemental energy,
and the various techniques that are applied in this yoga are
an attempt to bring the energy and the attention up toward
the crown center. Various experiences occur on the way that
indicate the levels of phenomena or of experience that are
being penetrated. There are other paths that I call
subtle paths in other words, paths that begin in the subtle
region itself, or at least begin at the medium or connection
between the subtle and the gross planes, and that
immediately attempt to project the attention into the subtle
realms. Shabd yoga is one of these subtle paths, and it is
distinct from kundalini yoga. In the path of kundalini yoga
it is said in general that the kundalini is awakened at the
base of the body, at the muladhar or the lowest terminal of
the body, and the energy is worked up toward the crown. In
the path of shabd yoga the focus of attention is not at the
base of the body but in the midbrain or the third eye, the
ajna center, which is the place relative to this gross body
at which the subtle dimension of mind or consciousness joins
with the gross dimension of energy and form. The shabd yogis first of all try to
eliminate or bring to a state of quiet the various gross
functions. They are not absolutely ascetic, but in general
they pursue an ascetic or very clean path of everyday life,
in which there are moral obligations, dietary restrictions,
various sexual responsibilities, and such. These disciplines
are usually combined with the repetition of a series of
mantrams or names in meditation, all of which should serve
the withdrawal of attention from the gross bodies, both the
physical, elemental body and the energy body in the lower
plane, enabling the attention to be concentrated in the
midbrain. Such a yogi will sit down to meditate with the
eyes closed and concentrate on a point somewhat up and
behind the eyes, relaxing and perhaps repeating the mystical
names until there is a state of relaxation of the body-even
a complete relaxation of attention from the body-and strong
concentration between the eyes. This mere concentration, repetition
of names, and other ascetic practices are combined with
attention to what is called the audible life stream or
shabd. If the attention through the senses in the gross life
is withdrawn and if particularly the attention that goes to
the sense of hearing is withdrawn and concentrated within,
then the inner side of the senses may be
perceived. In a sense this same effect is
exactly what is happening in the kundalini path. The path of
shabd is essentially withdrawal of the attention through the
hearing mechanism toward its root, and the kundalini is
withdrawal of the sensory attention toward the root of the
sensual or gross being. The root in both cases is the life
current. It is felt through kundalini yoga and it is heard
through shabd yoga. Shabd yoga usually combines
concentration on the life current as sound and as something
that may be seen. In the natural maturing of the kundalini
process sounds and lights within will also be heard because
the life current under the name of kundalini is not
different from the life current under the name of shabd.
They are the same current. The two paths are simply ways of
joining the attention with the current that is manifesting
this life. Bhakti yoga is another way of doing
it without concentrating on a yogic element. Bhakti yoga is
directed toward God ideas. It involves concentration on a
mantric name or a so-called name of God, without a yogic
technique associated with that concentration. Still it is
purely a devotional effort turned upwards, as both the
kundalini and shabd paths are. But it also becomes, through
the extreme sacrifice of devotion, an instrument for
connecting the attention or the consciousness with the
current that is manifesting as subtle and gross
phenomena. Thus, there are many ways of uniting
with this life current, all of them directed upwards. Each
begins at a different level of experience. The kundalini
begins in the root of body. Others begin with bodily life
itself, through moral disciplines and the like. Shabd yoga
begins by linking the attention to the audible sound current
and to visual phenomena that may be perceived in association
with it. Bhakti yoga projects the attention through devotion
and concentration on the name. There is a vibration at the
root of all appearances and all traditional yogas are
efforts to join the attention with that vibration-not to go
down with it into the planes of manifestation where in
general the individual is already living, but to go up with
it. I have mentioned to you very often
how existence is manifested through a cycle, descending and
ascending. That cycle is the current or ring or cycle of
vibration that all the traditional yogas exploit in one or
another way. What is unique about shabd yoga fundamentally
is not the experiences that may occur because they may also
occur at some point in many of these paths. What is unique
about it are its specific techniques, the internal center
above where it begins, and the special kind of fairly
ascetic relationship it assumes to gross life. The shabd
yogi contemplates this current that may be heard within as a
Divine gift. He also engages in the devotional relationship
to the Guru in human form, who is assumed to be necessary in
that path and who is also identified with the phenomenon of
the light or the internal subjective current that appears
when the attention begins to dissociate from the
body. Eventually through this method of
yoga, when the individual sits down for his meditation
(which is prolonged to a couple of hours every day), he will
begin to experience loss of body consciousness, extreme
absorption in the internal or subjective vibration, and loss
of physical sensation. First there are numbness and a
tingling in the body. Then the sense of the body is lost
entirely and the attention is projected out of the physical
body into various phenomena that are common to this
practice. Everyone who pursues this path will have
essentially the same experiences. Just as any of you in this
world can have any number of unique experiences while also
having a fundamental experience in common, shabd yogis
experience fundamental mystical appearances in common and
they assume that these represent regions of more and more
subtle existence. Basically there is nothing
mysterious about the shabd or sound current. It is
essentially a physical phenomenon in its origins, a way of
tapping into the same life current in ascent that the
kundalini yogi taps into, but by means of a different
practice. The kundalini yogi must in general engage in
breathing exercises and stimulation of the elemental fire in
the gross body, either through his own practices or through
intimate contact with a yogi who can transfer the energy by
look or touch or thought. And he must, through other
disciplines, maintain that concentration so that the process
can go on day by day and mature. The shabd yogis, since they
do not want to be involved in the gross life, seek to be
projected immediately into the subtle plane. Since they do
not have to engage the disciplines assumed by kundalini
yogis, they do not have any such experiences of the lower
centers or the stimulation of the elemental fire of
kundalini. Yet they tap into the same current, at a
different place. They get a helicopter to take them onto the
ladder and then they step out the window! Kundalini yogis may also begin to
hear sounds and see lights and lose body consciousness and
so on. The kundalini path has its origins in the gross
plane- that is why I call it a gross path-but its greatest
practitioners may become saints and be projected into higher
realms just as the shabd saints who tune into the life
current through a different practice. Just so, the bhakti
yogis may do the same and so may great religious
saints. Except for those paths that directly
pursue the undoing of the ego in the causal center and that
therefore involve another kind of process, all conventional
paths, including religion, belong to the gross or subtle
range of seeking, and all their practices amount to
fundamentally the same thing: the linking of the conscious
being with the aspect of the current of manifestation that
ascends. By linking the attention with that current one can
pass through ranges of experience that lead beyond this
gross, bodily life. All yogas are that process-all of them.
And regardless of how simple they are in concept, each has
its complications based on where it begins and what it wants
to accomplish and how it interprets the phenomena that
arise. All saints, all those who go as high
as can be attained through the attempt at ascent, talk about
this ascent as soul-realization. In general they all
conceive of a distinction between their own conscious
existence and the Divine. And in general they associate the
Divine with some sort of phenomenal or apparent experiential
possibility. They talk about the light and have experiences
of light, of absolute consuming brilliance in which
everything is resolved, but nevertheless it is a visible
light and it is seen by someone. It is soul-realization, not
God-Realization! The root of consciousness, the root
of subjectivity, is in the Heart. Until there is penetration
of this root of definition, of consciousness, there is no
knowledge in Truth of the Light from which this current
descends and ascends. The saints do not know that Light in
Truth because they remain in the ego, they remain souls,
their salvation is not perfect. It is a conventional and
karmic salvation. The way of the saints is a karmic path, a
path of tendency, inclination, and effort. It may be done by
anyone, perhaps not very quickly, perhaps not even in this
lifetime. Perhaps barely any success at all can be achieved
in this lifetime, but any living being can do it. It is a
matter of persistence, and it is a matter of choice, a
conventional interest. It does not touch upon what suffering
is, what in fact all of this life is. The subtle worlds are just as
mechanical as this one, yet you do not even see this one as
being mechanical. You think you are very creative and do
your thing and so forth. But the appearance of the world is
an automatic display, a dream. Every moment is being cranked
out, predetermined. There is nothing new about this life. It
is suffering and illusion. You know it as something in
itself and so you pursue various ways of consoling yourself
for it, among which are spiritual and religious paths. But
you do not undo it. To undo it you must become sober, you
must become free of your karmic illusion, you must become
free of your path of tendency. You must become free of your
consolations, your goals, the changes of state, high or low,
that are desirable to you. You must really appreciate the
nature of this condition and the inherent suffering that it
involves. When this freedom begins to appear, then another
kind of perception arises that is intuitive in nature, not a
matter of tendency, of decision, of strategy. In that new
perception, all that arises is to be sacrificed and
understood. This radical process does involve an
element that appears within the traditions in such paths as
jnan. The root of subjectivity, the root of the fundamental
definition of consciousness-and everything is that
definition, everything from a body to a perception to a
world to the ego sense itself-that root of spontaneous
modification of consciousness must be undone. The root of
the causal being, the contraction in the causal being that
we call "me' or the soul, the self, the person, the
individual, the karmic entity-that must be undone. Its
essential nature must be comprehended. It must be sacrificed
in its own nature. The consciousness must be restored to
itself, not to higher modifications of itself as in the
traditional paths, but to its very Self, its very
Nature. In the process of the unfolding of
real sadhana, which does not pursue secondary goals and does
not exploit secondary motives or strategies, this event
appears. It is the first stage of God-Realization, which is
the realization of the Nature of the subject, of "me," prior
to world, prior to the body, prior to the life and the
life-force, prior to the mind in its lower or higher forms,
prior to the "me." It is the realization of perfect,
unmodified Reality. When this enjoyment replaces the
convention of self-consciousness, the disposition to be
consoled by any arising phenomenon is absolutely
undone-absolutely undone! Distraction, modification,
contraction lose their force and become
unnecessary. There is a second stage that follows
naturally upon jnan when the facility of discrimination is
relaxed. Great jnani Siddhas or Godmen, individuals such as
Ramana Maharshi, pass into this second stage. It involves
what I have called the regeneration of Amrita Nadi, or the
real knowledge of the Light, which is appearing as all forms
descending and ascending. This knowledge is of the Light
itself, not the Light as an experience, not as an object
over against the consciousness as it is known through the
conventional paths, but the Light known directly,
intuitively. In that knowledge the God-Light is
not seen by consciousness, but is realized to be the
consciousness. Consciousness knows itself as the Light of
the world, as that of which everything arising is the
modification. There is no illusion of the fixed identity, no
illusion of the mind, no illusion of subtle possibilities,
no illusion of gross possibilities. All that arises is known
to be not other than that very Consciousness that is also
the root of one's conventional subjectivity. In other words,
what makes it a further realization than jnan is that in
jnan the ego is realized to be pure consciousness. In this
regenerated stage or second stage of God-Realization that
same Consciousness is realized to be that of which
everything is the modification. So nothing is excluded and
nothing is included any longer in such enjoyment. What
arises is known to be not other than That. Against such a
description you can see the import of traditional
motivations such as shabd yoga. And you should
also see that shabd yoga is not a unique path. It is a
special path but not a unique one. It is simply a way of
linking the consciousness with the manifest current
descending and ascending. All yogas do precisely that. They
employ somewhat different techniques, begin at a different
level of the manifest being and so forth, but they all seek
to get involved with that current and surrender to it, so
that they may be drawn up to as high a state as
possible. Essentially this process is
happening in any case. All of manifestation is participating
in that process of moving down through many, many, many
births into more and more gross states of existence and back
up again, changing karmas for karmas, learning lessons, and
going to other places. Everyone is doing that anyway. The
yogas are ways of exploiting the laws of that process,
quickening it and deciding for certain kinds of destiny. But
it takes extremely skillful individuals to bring it off as
it is described in the books that really are meant to
persuade you to follow a path by tantalizing you with what
can happen to you if you do it. Most people who arbitrarily
take up some path because they are sold on the experiences
it offers do not even come close to the beginning stages of
fulfilling it. And most of the communicating about shabd
yoga is a "hard sell," an attempt to sell this salvation
path, regardless of whether or not you have the ability for
it. Part of their sales pitch is the emphasis that you must
be initiated by a living Master. However, for what
initiation amounts to these days there does not have to be a
living Master. Anybody can tune in on the sound current. It
is there. You do not have to have a living Master to be able
to hear it. Anybody who has experienced it can show you how
to do it, and then you have to practice it. A living Master
is of no ultimate value in such a path to the usual
practitioner. The living Master is of use to those who are
mature practitioners. At some point there may be a kind of
contact between a highly advanced practitioner of that path
and a devotee that quickens the ascent. But a living Master
is not necessary for communicating what is being sold as
shabd yoga these days. Just so, in our own sadhana the
living Master is absolutely necessary, useful, and
appropriate. But at this stage at any rate I am not
necessary for most of you. You do not use me spiritually.
You use me in very conventional ways. You are always
wondering about whether you want to do sadhana or not. So
every week you all get together here and I talk you into
doing sadhana again. By Sunday night it is already running
out, and by Tuesday, forget it! The significance of my
appearance here is for devotees. I cannot have an intimate
spiritual relationship with someone who is not really doing
sadhana. I do not even want to see such people! I couldn't
care less. You might just as well be a bunch of people in a
subway somewhere. I do not walk through subway cars or
through the streets to save people. How absurd! You must make your connection with
me, you must do this sadhana, you must assume the
discipline, and you must do it forever. And if you do not,
there is no intimacy with me and no connection that I can
use for a spiritual purpose. So most of life in the Ashram
is a culture, not a spiritual process. It is a culture of
preparation for spiritual intimacy with me. Not that such
culture is not necessary-it is absolutely necessary-but you
have got to do sadhana. If you do not, you spend all your
time in that culture and never come to the point of
spiritual intimacy in which it can truly be said that the
Guru is necessary. Did I answer all of your
question?
"The
perfect among the sages is identical with Me. There is
absolutely no difference between us"
Tripura
Rahasya,
Chap
XX, 128-133
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