“There
is a disturbance, a feeling of dissatisfaction, some sensation
that motivates a person to go to a teacher, read a book about
philosophy, believe something, or do some conventional form
of Yoga. What people ordinarily think of as Spirituality or
religion is a search to get free of that sensation, that suffering
that is motivating them. All the usual paths — Yogic
methods, beliefs, religion, and so on — are forms of
seeking, grown out of this sensation, this subtle suffering.
Ultimately, all the usual paths are attempting to get free
of that sensation. That is the traditional goal. Indeed, all
human beings are seeking, whether or not they are very sophisticated
about it, or using very specific methods of Yoga, philosophy,
religion, and so on.”—Avatar Adi Da Samraj
|
During the course of His sadhana (His time of “Learning Man”),
Avatar Adi Da was involved in an intense investigation of life,
including the whole matter of why human beings suffer. While in
college, He discovered the single motivating logic apparent at the
root of every action and presumption in life—a logic exemplified
by the archetypal self-lover, Narcissus.
“The more I contemplated him, the more profoundly I understood
him. I observed, in awe, the primitive control that this self-concept
and logic exercised over all my behavior and experience. I began
to see that same logic operative in all other human beings, and
in every living thing—even in the very life of the cells,
and in the natural energies that surround every living entity or
process. It was the logic (or process) of separation itself, of
enclosure and immunity. It manifested as fear and identity, memory
and experience. It informed every function of the living being,
every experience, every act, every event. It “created”
every “mystery”. It was the structure of every imbecile
link in the history of human suffering.
He is the ancient one visible in the Greek myth, who was the universally
adored child of the gods, who rejected the loved-one and every form
of love and relationship, and who was finally condemned to the contemplation
of his own image—until, as a result of his own act and obstinacy,
he suffered the fate of eternal separateness and died in infinite
solitude…
The ordinary state of human existence—although it is usually
kept intact and relatively calmed by the politics of society—is
founded in the madness of a prior logic, a schism in reality that
promotes the entire suffering adventure of human lives in endless
and cosmic obstacles. I have known since I was a boy that this round
of conflict, of contradiction and unconsciousness, was neither natural
nor ultimately Real.” –Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Knee
of Listening |
Avatar Adi Da discovered that it was the constant act and presumption
of separation that was preventing the Realization of Truth. That
separation was symbolized by the total (and totally self-absorbed)
dissociation of Narcissus from all others. He had uncovered the
single logic of egoic life: The logic (or process) of separation,
of enclosure and immunity, itself informs every function of the
living being, every experience, every act, every event.
The presumption that “I am separate (or distinct) from everyone
and everything else” is so fundamental to ego-consciousness
that it is difficult to imagine how it could be otherwise. From
the point of view of ordinary “common sense”, it seems
undeniable that the human being exists as an individuated (and therefore
separate) physical-emotional-mental organism. But Avatar Adi Da
had discovered that this apparent reality is simply something we
are compulsively doing. Separation is not at all an irreducible
fact—rather, it is our constant activity. He came to call
that basic ego-activity “self-contraction”.
|
“All seeking is based on a fault—which is self-contraction
(or egoity) itself. That is what must be transcended—the ego,
or the act of self-contraction. The ego is not merely an entity—a
“flame” in space, a separate anything. The ego is an
act, an utterly false act—one that is not commonly inspected,
and not commonly transcended. It is an act that is not even noticed,
and not understood. Rather, it is merely dramatized. And all doings,
all paths, all traditions are founded on it.” –Avatar
Adi Da Samraj |
This basic principle of seeking underlies all egoic activity—not
only activities of an obviously negative kind (such as becoming
addicted to alcohol or drugs in the attempt to feel pleasurable
intoxication, or seeking revenge when one feels angry), but also
the higher human pursuits (scientific research, artistic creativity,
philosophy, religious and Spiritual practice, and so on). Indeed,
all of human life is based on this principle—except in those
moments when the ego is spontaneously transcended in some manner.
Such was the extremely sobering conclusion of Avatar Adi Da’s
investigation into the fundamental problems of life. However, this
conclusion is actually good news: If the self-contraction is something
we are doing—rather than something we are—then there
is the possibility that we can stop doing it.
Avatar Adi Da discovered the unique means for going beyond the
compulsive commitment to the search—not as a matter of philosophy,
but as a matter of living experience. He called this unique means
“‘radical’ self-understanding”, and it is
absolutely core to Avatar Adi Da’s Teachings and the Way of
Adidam. “Radical” self-understanding is the process
of:
| 1. |
Observing that one is enacting the self-contraction |
| 2. |
Understanding it as one’s own activity |
| 3. |
And thus, transcending that self-contracting activity |
|
“It is not just that you are feeling bad—you are making
yourself feel bad. That is what you must find out. The self-contraction
is the ‘why’ you feel bad. It is the bad feeling. And
you are doing it. That is what you must find out. And that is what
you must become capable of transcending, moment by moment.
You have all kinds of techniques in your life that sometimes produce
a little bit of good feeling—and after a while, you basically
conclude, ‘Well, that is all there is—just here and
there feeling a little better.’ So you make a total life out
of it—because you never deal with the self-contraction itself,
the illusion it produces. You never deal with your divorce from
Reality. You never Realize the Inherent (or Native) Condition of
Perfect Non-separateness.” –Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Da
Love-Ananda Gita |
The responsibility of self-understanding is essential to the real
Spiritual process Revealed by Avatar Adi Da. However, there is a
“catch”. As soon as one hears Avatar Adi Da’s
description of self-understanding, the ego is instantly at work
trying to make self-understanding into a technique to feel better!
Consequently, to take up self-understanding a “self-guided”
process is utterly useless—because it is impossible for the
ego to engineer its own surrender. Ego-surrender can only occur
by non-egoic means—by means of Divine Grace.
For the devotee engaged in the esoteric Spiritual process, it is
the devotional relationship to the Guru that makes real Spiritual
growth possible. The esoteric Spiritual process also requires the
practice of various disciplines, forms of meditation, and so on—but
no regime of disciplines and techniques is sufficient to lead to
Realization. The ego will inevitably use any and every discipline
and technique as a means of reinforcing its own entrenched position—even
in the midst of the most apparently sincere efforts to surrender
egoity. No matter how well equipped with disciplines and techniques,
the ego, on its own cannot Realize the Truth. Only the Guru can
Grant Realization, as a Gift of Grace. |
