From: Judy Royster <royster@think.com>
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Da Avabhasa
Date: 11 Oct 1992 23:11:44 -0700
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Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu

	>From: hughg@brutus.ee.su.oz.au (Hugh Garsden)
	>Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern


I can respond to some of your questions and points.

>I'm just wondering why someone who discovered that we are already
>enlightened, that there is no need for seeking, and that the enlightened man
>is the same as the ordinary man, and that meditation does nothing for
>you, then writes 50 books about how to live, about spiritual "practices",
>about God-realization and how to "get it", and goes to live on an island
>surrounded by devotees.  

Da Avabhasa teaches that we *are* enlightened but are so bound by
self-identification and seeking that we are not Aware as Consciousness
itself/merely Being/or Happiness. "Once the Naturally Threatened (or
mortal) born-condition Is Accepted or Assumed In Consciousness, the
body-mind Contracts Upon Itself...and the physical and the psychic (or
mental) Become Two.  In that 'birth event' the ego-'I' is born" (from "The
Dawn Horse Testament" p. 239-40).  

That identification is what Da Avabhasa calls the self-contraction or
egoity, which is not a thing or an entity, it is rather an activity that
*can* be observed, understood, and transcended.

Through self-enquiry and through devotional self-submission, this process
of observation, understanding and transcendence becomes possible. This
process is a purification which frees up attention and energy to abide in
Real Freedom, Real Happiness.

As you said, there is no need for seeking. In fact, the feeling of dilemma
and the urge to seek are not the means for the discovery of Truth, but are
the evidence of the very state that must be transcended if Truth is to
Realized.  So, as you said, truth is not a matter of seeking and, we are
already free, prior to the self-contraction.

The process that we all need help with and the purpose and full commitment
of Da Avabhasa's life and work is to help us Realize our already free and
happy (enlightened) state which is a profound *ORDEAL* as anyone knows who
is engaged in a spiritual process.  The process of transcending the ego for
one who is identified as the ego is not simple or painless in the
beginning, even for Great Ones such as Ramana Maharshi who did not require
a human Teacher.  So this is the reason that Da Avabhasa has written 50
books and lives a life passionately dedicated to serving the awakening of
those around Him.

In the references that I have heard Him make to the ordinary man being the
same as the enlightened man, He was making the point that even in the
awakened state, our character and tendencies may *appear* very much the
same.  We may not look like "saints" or look much different at all, but the
identification with the body/mind/self has dissolved. This can be tested by
a Teacher and can be recognized by other practitioners.  It is most notably
the absence of fear, the absence of the self-contraction.

I've never heard Him say that meditation does nothing.  He instructs us
specifically in our meditation and we are meditating 2 and 1/2 hours each
day at this time (novices meditate much less) -- that's in addition to
other spiritual practices including daily chanting, recitations, puja,
study and so forth.  (There have been times however, when we did not
meditate at all and this may be what you are familiar with. We sat silently
pondering and using self-enquiry during this period.)  This was because at
one time Da Avabhasa felt we were making the error of identifying as
meditators and becoming attached to this self-image -- and who knows what
else He may have purifying.

Discipline is a part of our practice but only to serve the purpose of
self-observation and self-understanding.  Understanding is the release from
the drama.  Discipline is not about perfection of behavior.  Again, this is
why when enlightened we may not appear much different superficially,
because behavior isn't the point.

	"Until you *understand*, you always relate to the self-contraction
as something outside yourself, a substance, a thing, a machine, an object,
something you can only endure and put up with.  But truly, as I have
mentioned a number of times, it is a little bit like pinching yourself and
not realizing you are doing it.  You feel pain in the body, a little bit
like fear.  A terrible feeling of pain overcomes you.  When you realize you
are pinching yourself, you look beyond the pain into the act of which the
pain is only an effect, or a sign of something else.  Getting in touch with
that something else is like taking your hand away.  When you stop pinching
yourself, the pain disappears mysteriously, no matter what the immediate
origin of the pain may be.  The operative effect of this widom, this simple
understanding, will always demonstrate itself as liberation, a return to
equanimity or fundamental Happiness."
			Da Avabhasa in a discourse with a devotee in 1982.


>If you have a contact in Australia I'm interested enough to follow it up.

In Australia you can contact:

The Free Daist Communion
173 Victoria Parade
Fitzroy, Victoria 3065
(03) 417-7069


>>His autobiography, "The Knee of Listening" was
>>recently published in its original, **unabridged** format (twice the length
>>of the previously published book)

>Let me know the details.

You can get a copy from the center in Australia listed above.  Or, you can
get a catalogue of books, audiotapes, videotapes, coursework, etc from The
Dawn Horse Book Depot, P.O. Box 3680, Clearlake, CA 95422, USA
(707)928-4936.

Thanks Hugh.