The following
excerpts have been taken from a variety of essays and talks
from Adi Da Samraj covering over 30 years of his teaching
demonstration.
This style of
presentation is called the ‘White and Orange Books” project
and is based on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Blue and Brown books.
The Blue & Brown Books of Wittgenstein’s were dictated
as a set of notes to his student in 1934-1935. I have been
collecting materials from Adi Da that I find would be
suitable for the same format.
from the teachings of Adi Da Samraj on
the topic of
“What
arises“
In
the Heart there is no adventure and no world, no one who
thinks or acts, but there is only understanding. It is no
place, no affect, no reflection, no exclusive force. It is
perfect, unqualified existence, consciousness and bliss. It
is conscious existence as bliss. And such also is the very
nature of every quality of life for one who understands and
lives as the Heart. He is eternally the same, whatever
arises. He does not arise, but what
arises, arises.
And what arises has not other
implication for him than its very fact. It does not imply
his existence in or as what arises. It
does not imply his consciousness of, in or as what
arises. It does not imply any other
bliss than what always already is prior to what
arises. Thus, by grace, he appears in
and as what arises. By grace he is
aware of, in and as what arises. By
grace he moves to find endues kinds of enjoyment in all that
arises. Such is the great activity of
the Heart.
No matter what arises, whether you tend
to react appropriately or inappropriately from a
conventional point of view, you always present yourself as a
limit on Feeling. And this, as you might gather, from My
“Point of View” is inappropriate!
Suffering is your action. Therefore, it is the action of
contraction, of self-definition, of obsession with what
arises in itself, independent of its
ground or substance or its true Condition. The action that
is suffering produces the usual life as karma, illusion,
negative destiny, unconsciousness. Thus, the Way of Divine
Communion involves a life of counter-action, of other
action, as a specific responsibility. Whatever is not used
becomes obsolete.
This is the essence of renunciation, to recognize what
arises. And in that case there is
infinite energy. Not energy for a purpose, energy for its
own sake. It expresses itself as all kinds of transfigured
transformations, samadhi, developments. That’s your
business, in the 7th in stage of life, you are utterly
responsible.
But in (this relationship) of the Heart what
arises is confronted by silence without
and the Heart within.
Therefore, the highest form of detachment is life-positive,
not dissociated, but understanding very well why things go
on as they do, seeing clearly that what
arises in the world does not have the
power to destroy our suppress one’s spiritual response,
one’s spiritual practice. That is true detachment. It is not
the conventional detachment of turning away and withdrawing
sympathy. contractions, do not appear as limitations to the
Enlightened person.
Love or not. That is all there is to it. If you can come
again to the position of loving, of being sustained and
being a sustainer in the natural flow of things, then you
will continue to grow, and the very structural dimensions
toward which you are experientially disposed will show
themselves in the form of experience. You must be
responsible for the effects of those things. You must be
responsible in every moment, so that, no matter what
arises, the contraction of feeling-
attention is not your destiny, not your disposition in the
moment. You must be able to cut through that contraction,
whatever the experience, high or low.
The ultimate fulfillment of the Law-which is sacrifice,
ecstasy, or love-is to abide as this intuition in every
instant, eternally free and full. It is no answer. It is
simply free. All questions are simply dissolved in
it.
What of life then? It is not that
it is a problem. What arises,
arises. It does not merely arise to
oneself. It arises inclusive of oneself
and as oneself. Therefore, life is ultimately and wisely
lived with humor and in freedom, allowing all to pass and
also to be bright in the present. But there is no fit or
frenzy of living.
The Spirit is not merely behind what
arises, pervading it as some sort of
invisible essence. The Spirit is this, just this exactly, as
it is all the other forms of appearance with which we might
become associated. The Living or Spirit-Current pervades all
of this, is all of this, and we may contact It intimately
through the submission of our body-minds to It.
Exchange the now or radical habit of observing what
arises for the old or conventional
habit of engaging what arises. That is,
simply remain in relationship to whatever
arises, aware of whatever
arises, rather than identify with,
enter into, or avoid whatever arises.
We still stand in the world even as we rest in this current.
But then you may notice in your private meditation that you
also are released even of this experience here from time to
time. As the currents of the gross being begin to harmonize,
become naturally reoriented, the body comes to rest, the
breathing becomes slow, simple, the heart rate goes down. We
hear the breathing and feel it, but then we become aware in
such a way that we do not hear it any longer, we do not feel
it any longer. The current itself becomes visible and
audible to us, and we may simply forget the gross body and
pass into the subtler dreams, all the while being in the
disposition of this Ignorance, in which we truly identify
what arises rather than automatically
becoming attached to it, rather than getting into patterns
of craving on the basis of gross or subtle experience.
Why don’t you just understand and be quiet then. If it’s
that simple and in some sense that’s true. No matter what
arises, even attention himself, any
thought, anything at all, no matter what
arises, you are merely the witness.
The Teaching and the Community are themselves the
communication of Satsang, Divine Communion. What is
apparently given or experienced in the midst of a life that
responds to them is also a Grace, but it may not be earned,
taken, or held. Therefore, what arises
is never the point, but it is always only a paradox and a
test, a form of the always prior Demand, which is itself the
Divine Person, the Maha-Siddha, the Siddha-Guru. A
sacrificial life, founded in humor, love, and understanding,
is the sadhana made possible when Divine Communion is thus
given as Grace, not promised as a reward or a future gift.
And no other apparent reward or gift adds one iota to that
Gift.
The first five stages of life all represent one or another
kind of false submission to energy, or one or another kind
of illusion based on submission to energy. Therefore, I
consider existence with you in another light, or from
another point of view. And that point of view is also
suggested by your own description. You described a state of
existence in which there are basically two fundamental
quantities or categories. The one is yourself as awareness
of whatever may be arising, and the other is everything
else, everything that consciousness is aware of. And
everything that consciousness is aware of ultimately amounts
to Energy Itself. In other words, no matter what
arises in this moment, no matter what
object or objects arise, no matter what experience
arises, no matter what particularity
there is in this moment, it’s still a form of Energy.
DEVOTEE: That attention varies. Sometimes I feel very
attentive towards you, and at other times my mind is very
vague. Should I sit longer when I feel most attentive, when
I am observing what
arises?
BUBBA: This self-observation does
not take place only when you are sitting here with me. It
takes place under all kinds of circumstances. And it
requires attention. If your attention is not free, you
cannot observe what arises. You become
what arises. Then you only exercise
what arises and become involved in it.
And if that kind of obsessive involvement is characteristic
of your present state, then you should move yourself into
practical, functional conditions instead of sitting in the
Satsang Hall. You should not be sitting here vaguely trying
to generate attention. You should do something functional,
because function always includes your attention. Function
requires attention in ways that are easy to fulfill. Then
you work with your hands or your body or your senses. You
use your mind. So dont sit trying to battle what
arises. Move into functional conditions
with real attention, and then you may also, under such
practical circumstances, observe the turning away, the
distraction, the games. Therefore, living these practical
conditions is real meditation, self-observation in the form
of insight, or return to the natural condition of happiness.
Enquiry is not a process of self-analysis. Its purpose is
not to draw the mind into all kinds of formulations and the
deep self-consciousness of endless patterns. Enquiry is not
“concerned” with the nature and forms of avoidance. Nor is
the analytical awareness of the whole pattern of one’s life
of avoidance the same as understanding.
One who enquires remains
attentive to the question, to the one who receives the
question, the place where the question is received, and to
what arises. Until something
arises, he only remains in the enquiry
in its place. Finally, by his remaining in the enquiry, what
arises will reveal itself to
consciousness as the avoidance of
relationship.
It makes no difference what
arises or what is the character of the
particular form of avoidance, for, as soon as it is
consciously recognized, one ceases to exist in that form of
separation and avoidance. One is not concentrated in the
recognition or the analysis of avoidance. Instead, one
becomes aware of relationship. The unconscious image of
separation is replaced by the conscious awareness of
relationship, of unqualified, present relationship
Meaning is an unnecessary, secondary, artificial, and
ultimately binding attribution of what
arises. To be free of it, we must be
free of mind.
The function of the experiential mind is to know, directly,
what arises. When the world is known
directly, then one can abstract oneself. Thus, the play
between these two functions produces the traditional
convention of liberation.
However, the mind in both its
forms must be undone if there is to be realization in Truth.
When confinement to what arises as well
as the search to escape or transcend what
arises no longer distract, then Only
God becomes the Condition and the Enjoyment
Wherever you live fully in relationship to someone, all the
qualities are generated happily in relationship to them. For
it is not liable to identify with anything, to dissociate
from anything, or to pursue anything by these means in
desire. Then there is only the perception of what
arises, and the direct, creative
participation in what arises. There is
no involvement in ignorance, conflict, compulsion or
search.
If you are troubled by what
arises, you are simply not in your
proper relationship to things. You are not existing in
relationship to what arises at all. You
are avoiding relationship by an act of identification with
what arises, differentiation from or
within what arises, or some form of
desiring or motivation produce by these and which seeks to
overcome their implications in cognition and experience.
The ultimate fulfillment of the Law, which is sacrifice,
ecstasy, or love, is to abide as this intuition in every
instant, eternally free and full. It is no answer. It is
simply free. All questions are simply dissolved in
it.
What of life then? It is not that
it is a problem. What arises,
arises. It does not merely arise to
oneself. It arises inclusive of oneself
and as oneself. Therefore, life is ultimately and wisely
lived with humor and in freedom, allowing all to pass and
also to be bright in the present. But there is no fit or
frenzy of living.
“But the communication of the Heart is essentially a process
in silence, whereby what arises gets no
response, no reinforcement.” Again, the activity of the man
of understanding is mere presence, that is what he does. His
mere existence, his mere presence in relation to his
disciple, mere Satsang – this is the method of the Siddhas
“But in the ‘Satsang’ or conscious company of the Heart,
what arises is confronted by silence
without and the Heart within.”
You are not separate ego. No matter what
arises—waking, dreaming, or
sleeping, no matter what
arises—you are the Witness of it,
Prior to it, not bound, not separate, the Only Condition
that is Self-Evident, that is non-separate and Indivisible.
There is no separate self. And there is no not-self. There
is no not-self to dissociate from by introversion. There is
no separate self to expand by extroversion.
he must fulfill the Law of sacrifice regardless of past
history, present circumstance, or any condition that may
appear in the future. And then the individual must become
committed to that principal discipline with the whole force
of his life. No matter what arises to
distract, console, or frustrate him, he must remain as love
in God- Communion. When he is in love, convinced of the
Teaching, full of energy and delight in ordinary relations,
then the individual may come to the Spiritual Master for
initiation into the higher or spiritual dimensions of
adaptation and sacrifice. But not before that time.
“Then what arises is confronted with
silence. This company of silence, this confrontation with
silence while remaining in conscious relationship to the
teacher, causes the individual to be simply aware of what
arises.” (Simply aware.) There’s a
difference between simple awareness and sitting there
equipped with all kinds of methods to deal with what
arises. When one is truly living in
Satsang, the condition of Satsang being the process you are
living, then the things that arise simply arise. You witness
them, you see them in the midst of the freedom of
Satsang.
So this Satsang “causes the
individual to be simply aware of what
arises, without the possibility of
indulging or avoiding it.” The very condition of Satsang
eliminates, undermines the seeking activity, the ordinary
methodical activity of the disciple, because it puts that
utterly in doubt. So it eliminates from his quality in
Satsang, in his meditation, the possibility of indulging the
qualities that are arising in himself, or the possibility of
avoiding them. In other words, the mere condition of Satsang
tends to put him in the turiya state of witnessing the
qualities that arise. Sitting or living in the mere presence
of the Guru tends to awaken the turiya state, the fourth
state beyond waking, sleeping, and dreaming, and awakens
this function of witness in the face of the qualities that
arise. And whenever this mere witnessing, this turiya state,
this quality is awakened in consciousness, the possibility
of real understanding has awakened.
“So he is allowed to see what
arises, rather than to become further
identified with the stream through the unconsciousness of
ordinary conversation and action.” The process of Satsang,
the meditation of Satsang precedes all strategies, all
methods, all philosophies, all verbalizations, all
conceptualizations of Truth, all egoic preferences, all
Narcissistic approaches.
“And the ‘space’ between him and
what arises is the place where the
power of the Heart works to draw him from within.” In this
turiya condition of mere witnessing.
The specific “practice” in this most radical form of the way
is simple, moment to moment observation and recognition of
the Condition of whatever arises in the
field of awareness. Therefore, that practice is described as
follows: Simply observe whatever
arises, whatever attention finds in the
field of awareness. Do this moment to moment, under all
circumstances, in times of relative activity, and in times
of respose – waking, dreaming, or sleeping. Do not force
attention to go within (either toward internal mental and
psychic objects or toward the root of the “I” thought and
the root of the gesture of attention itself). Do not force
attention to go outward (toward physical or perceptual
objects and relations). Simply observe whatever is arising
as the effect of the spontaneous movement of attention,
within or without. Remain as surrender–that is, simply
allow whatever will arise in the field of awareness to arise
and be whatever it will, or to change or disappear as it
will. Exchange the now or radical habit of observing what
arises for the old or conventional
habit of engaging what arises. That is,
simply remain in relationship to whatever
arises, aware of whatever
arises, rather than identify with,
enter into, or avoid whatever arises.
Whatever arises is nothing more than a
modification of the Energy or Consciousness or Being that is
awareness itself. Therefore, simply allow and observe
whatever arises, and, in every moment,
“see” or recognize whatever arises to
be simply a modification of awareness itself. Do not be
troubled by anything that arises.
Simply allow and observe and recognize it. Do not become
motivated by anything that arises.
Simply allow and observe and recognize whatever
arises. (Participate in thought and
action only to the degree that is necessary within the
ordinary economy of your habit or obligation, and, even
then, remain in this disposition of surrender, simply
allowing, observing, and recognizing the conditions, states,
and relations of the body-mind. Thus, over time, you will
become less and less occupied with activity and thought and
you will abide more and more in simple recognition of all
conditions in the Radiant Transcendental Being.)
All the conditions and states that arise are his own form
just as his speech comes from his own silence or very
nature. All of the three ordinary states also arise within
him, within his own fundamental nature but without
identification, without illusion, without mystery, without
noncomprehension. I am the one about whom there is no
mystery and no deeper part. He is not mysterious, he finds
no mystery within himself or within the world. The world is
obvious. Everything is obvious that
arises. So for such a one there is no
depth. I think it’s in this book or at some point I speak of
the man of understanding as being a profoundly superficial
man. Not in the sense that we ordinarily use that term to
refer to somebody as being superficial, only in the sense
that his quality is not mysterious. He is as he appears to
be. There is no dilemma within him, no division within him
and so nothing to him and for himself that is peculiarly
mysterious. He is involved in the obviousness of things and
what is obvious to him is the divine. I am the one who
always appears exactly as he is. I am the one who is always
present. He is not hidden, he is not elsewhere, he is not in
another time and space condition. His quality, his
fundamental nature is presence. I recognize myself as
everything, everyone, every form, every movement. Whatever
arises he realizes to be his own form,
his own quality, his own nature. No separation is created in
him. No sense of separation is implied to him on the basis
of what arises, either in the form of
his own states, waking, sleeping and dreaming, or if the
qualities that seem to be other than himself within those
states, other people, things in the waking state, worlds
that arise in visions. Whatever arises
he no longer discovers them to be other than himself. He no
longer becomes involved in the implication of separation. He
recognizes whatever arises to be
himself, his own form.
To whatever degree you fail or find yourself unable to
fulfill this discipline at any time, simply observe
yourself, be easy, be full of enjoyment, make your actions
at least an indulgence that does not harm others, and
continue to turn to God through me and in the form of my
Presence with feeling, from the heart. The more you mature
in my Company, the more you will fulfill this discipline.
The more you fulfill it, the more you will see of your
turning from the Divine Condition. And the more you see of
this turning away, the more responsible you will become for
your turning to God
through me.
Samraj
“Notice what is affecting you. In
one fashion or another, through the Grace of Truth Itself,
you must handle business – even after the fact, at a later
date. You must. You cannot continue to grow, you cannot move
on in the Way of the Heart, until you handle your business,
until there is nothing left over, nothing unforgiven,
nothing unspoken, nothing unthought. You must be physically,
emotionally, and mentally purified of memory, of insult, of
moments of pain and separation. You must be. You can make
great leaps in that process, because Truth is a great Force,
but nonetheless you must endure it. You must handle your
personal business, the business in your past, the business
in your friendships, the business in your blood relations,
the business in your intimate relations, the business in
your friendly relations, your business with the
world.
You are suffering many concrete
things in life, and others are also suffering. By the power
of Truth erase what you and they are suffering. That is the
Way of the Heart, and nothing else, nothing less, at all.
You have very real things to do, very real things, very
human things, even very ordinary things. You must do these
things. There are conversations you must have. There are
things you must say and things that must be said to you.
Energies must be released, feelings must be exposed,
thoughts must be expressed, bodily signs must be given. New
society must be generated. The entire culture of My devotees
must be changed by this exercise. Do not tell Me I am Free
to give you My Native Sign until you do that and give Me
your sign.
You can see what a cave the
ordinary life is, what a wilderness it is, what tapas it is,
what sannyas it is, what self-mastery it requires, what
manliness it requires, male or female. It is in precisely
those moments that you must make the great Choice that is
the measure of My devotee.
Especially in the beginning of
your sadhana in the Way of the Heart there is so much gross,
petty nonsense. Because you are only at the beginning, you
are dealing with all the ordinary, first-threestages-of-life
stuff. But do the real sadhana and it becomes-I would not
say “easier”, necessarily, but it becomes more
straightforward, subtler, more refined, more profound. You
must endure that beginning, the handling of life-business,
and be purified of the grossest part, which is there at the
beginning.”
For more on the teachings of Adi
Da Samraj