July 30th, 2010
just diary notes here, about travelling and how it forces us to confront the present arising state, much more so than in the safety of regular living
20/7
“There must be someway out of here said the joker to the thief” ~Bob Dylan
A thick fog has descended on me in relation to Beloved Adi Da and Practice. I have seen this happen many times (almost inevitably) when travelling. It forces me to contemplate arising “reality”, motel rooms, roadhouse meals, hotel lobbies, confined spaces, endless driving and all the objects that flash by. The only conscious moment then becomes “this” and slowly this arising life event, right in your face, the so called “here and now” starts to show signs of the Guru.
Did you read about my find in the Cairns bookshop? here, to others may be dismissed, but in my present “available” state it was like finding a dream object (and photographing it for proof) in so called “reality” gob-smacked and mind-blown perhaps but very happy
..in progress..
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July 28th, 2010
I came across this 1986 pristine hardback in a 2nd hand book store in Cairns North Queensland Australia. It even had an insert updating the original. Its beautiful orange cover with the 3 Heart Station icon is just wonderful, I have never seen this copy before and even though I have some basic paperback versions from the same era, nothing matches this Gem.
I walked into the shop without motive, perhaps looking for a bit of local reading, but this appearance left me stunned and ecstatic, I said to the woman owner- “How much for this little gem?” . She picked it up and half in jest ( I think) said “$110″. ” You must be joking ?” I replied (would have been happy to pay that much) “OK- 5 bucks!” she said,
“Done” I said. She pranamed in Eastern style to me and I could not reply, just walked out into the bright sunshine. I was over the moon, bought a spirulina and juice smoothie nearby to celebrate and sat to enjoy this great find. An intoxicated man staggered passed me and said “Looks like a great little book!” Its brilliant orange cover sparkled in the sun.
Posted in Adi Da, Adi Da Samraj, Books, Da Free John, Guru's Grace, Spiritual Books | No Comments »
July 2nd, 2010
There is a chapter in The Enlightenment of The Whole Body (1978 Bubba Free John) titled “The Mood Of Enlightenment” one of my favorite talks from all the books, I had forgotten about, it’s a truly great essay on the Humor and Perfect Freedom at the heart of 7th Stage Enlightenment. Click here to read full chapter. Short quote below.
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“But the seventh stage, the Enlightened stage, is not serious at all. In that stage we Realize our native Transcendence of everything. There is the tacit Realization that there is nothing serious whatsoever about experiential existence. It could end in this moment, casually, and that cessation in itself would not have the slightest significance. Or, it could continue for infinite eons of time, through infinite permutations and transformations of experience, and its continuing would not have any significance either. That is the Disposition in Enlightenment-Realization of the non-necessity of everything. Absolutely nothing is of serious consequence or of ultimate necessity-absolutely nothing.
The ordinary reactive personality, who is basically in despair and hysterical, can also say that life is meaningless, but such a person is very serious. The Enlightened man, however, Realizes total Freedom. He is no longer serious, but neither is he self-destructive. He has passed into Ecstasy. He has not suppressed or separated from himself-rather, all that he is has been transcended in the Radiant Transcendental Consciousness. Thus, he is full of humor and delight. He is not aggressively opposed to the world, nor is he clinging to it. All the tension in his heart has been re-leased. To speak of Enlightenment without that sign is nonsense. There is no Enlightenment without the release of the heart from all of its seriousness, all of its clinging to phenomena, high and low.”
Posted in Adept, Adi Da, Adi Da Samraj, Books, Bubba Free John, Crazy Wisdom, Enlightenment, Quotes, Radical Dharma, Spiritual Books | No Comments »
June 27th, 2010
Adi Da Samraj said the Way of Adidam could be described as “no-seeking” or “searchlessness” as a fundamental description of its primary characteristic.
In contrast to this every bone in your body wants to turn it into a path of seeking. However Bhagavan Da stated this hundreds if not thousands of times, it is a perfectly searchless practice. Not a little bit of “no-seeking”, but completely, utterly from “day one” –without seeking.
In some sense then you may say that no-seeking is a discipline inherent to Adidam practice. There is a chapter in The Aletheon titled “Transcendental and Non-Conditional Spirituality”. It covers a lot of ground and many profound points, but here I am only highlighting fundamental difference made between Adidam Practice and conventional 6th stage meditative practice.
Adi Da states that even in the most rarified forms of mentalized 6th stage practice, there is a “search” going on. It is really interesting to consider this and see if its true. Many people coming to Adidam have done some form of this practice, from Buddhist Mindfulness to Ramana Maharshi’s “Who Am I?” style of subtle inquiry and many variations of these approaches.
Certainly in my case I tend to carry on this approach (example here) within Adidam itself. Most of the time it seems inevitable and absolutely and undeniably necessary to have the mind or attention engaged in some form of method or technique in order to deal with arising conditions.
In “Transcendental and Non-conditional Spirituality” Adi da writes :
In the preliminary “Perfect Knowledge” listening-practice, there is no intervening thought on which to concentrate. Therefore, the preliminary ”Perfect Knowledge” listening-practice can be engaged in any and every moment, because that practice does not interfere (so to speak) with the naturalness (or the otherwise exercised concentration efforts) of moment to moment participatory existence.
Here Adi Da suggests that the practice does not interfere with ordinary functioning including concentrating on a task at hand (for instance)– “there is no intervening thought on which to concentrate” He says. Get that, that is the clincher! Perhaps you can feel the profound liberation inherent in that statement, I certainly can. That’s right : no seeking-no method-no technique-not ever. Not required; even though it nearly always “seems” to be absolutely necessary and most of the time to suggest otherwise would appear absurd. The conventional mind would cry out “that’s ridiculous!” in protest.
In conventional meditation there is always an intervening method, no matter how subtle, rarefied or hidden, it’s always there. Anyone interested can test this in their own life and practice.
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June 23rd, 2010
My experiments in testing Adi Da’s Word in the reality of everyday life has led me on many adventures and will continue to do so.
As my taste for Adi Da Samraj’s mature Word–examples:The Aletheon & Not Two Is Peace comes to fruition (at times not without great internal resistance), something of a breakthrough is emerging in my understanding of all this.
Adi Da once said we become priests in our own dissolution (paraphrasing); we become interested participants in dissolving the “ego” or “self” at root (or where it first arises). Remarkably this is not a call to the extreme of Divine Enlightenment or the full 7th Stage of Life Realization through The Reality Way of Adidam, but a non-sectarian call to ordinary men and women to educate themselves in the pragmatic possibility of living from a new perspective, that is “egolessly”.This Adi Da calls “Zero Point Education” or considering the root of egoity via His Teaching Word and by this means allowing it to reveal the Truth inherent to all.
The concept of “egoless” living, seems to imply many things. My own experimental approach, in which I test everything in my own body mind (which is what Adi Da suggests all devotees do) finds it is a “stripping down” of self-importance and self-centeredness, it has a peculiar effect in that the mind also becomes still or less chronic, I would say ‘no-self’ equals ‘no-mind’.Thinking still goes on but it may be more directed rather than random compulsive & chronic.
Adi Da’s Art compliments DaPlastique
Some concepts that arise; the unmirrored life: It is as if I carry a mirror with me at all times, in that mirror I is always seen, that mirror creates a chronic sense of self, this reflected self is mind and all the imagery of self. It is complete nonsense, fiction and fundamental suffering, a sort of madness.The life without egoity is thus unmirrored without reflection, or as little as necessary to function fully in life.
Adi Da explains all this in precise detail over and over, that is why we study the texts as a “meditative” means, available to anyone with the capacity or willing to develop the capacity.
I find by tendency no interest whatsoever in concepts such as “no self” or becoming “egoless”, it sounds way too rarefied and beyond my capacity; yet I now find my interest is growing there, because Zero Point Education is very potent, very interesting, very effective, can be proven, it “works”
Further Reading : Not Two Is Peace
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June 17th, 2010
Above : A senior Adidam Renunciate performing a ceremonial service (Puja) on a Holy Site at The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary
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In this talk Adi Da comments at length on the book Black Elk Speaks and goes into great detail on the role and validity of Shamans and Shamanic cultures and practices.
“A likeness naturally exists between those who live the Way of Adidam and those who are otherwise yogis, mystics, shamans, magicians, medicine men, witch doctors, and so forth. It is simply that the Way of Adidam has its own cultural and Spiritual uses of the psychic faculties.” ~ Adi Da Samraj
Click on to play or
Download as Mp3 
Tags: Shaman
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June 16th, 2010
If you read my post here, you will see the extent of “doubt” as a specific culturally imbibed mental & emotional state in my case (and if you look closely, perhaps in your own case)
I wrote : Faith was lost or nebulous, that doubt always outweighed it. Well, lately Faith as a tangible force has again begun to become ascendant, incarnate (or bodily felt)
It appears to be the single most effective quality of real change in my life, it appears to descend down through the front of my being and into the vital center.
Its effect is transforming, and actually changes “reality”.This is clearly seen. The world takes on more of a fluid character, less solid and immovable. It becomes “psychic” or more like the psyche itself.
It has something of a strange and “freaky” nature from the conventional point of view. The universe starts to talk back to you (in effect) A lot of fear may arise, naturally, because the basis of security the solid, dependable–real world–starts to be seen as just as undependable as a dream or subjective state.
Faith changes the world view. I am just writing about what I am actually feeling or seeing. Adi Da often wrote about what He called “Conversion”; well it’s of this nature. Faith is felt as a joyous fullness that changes everything, you can clearly see how an adherent of any particular religion would see various saints, deities and spirit forms. In Adidam there are none. The psyche is empty, unless you want to pursue various forms that appear, fleetingly. The form of The Guru is utterly sufficient, nothing needs to be added or embellished.
Faith becomes the asana or position we view all things from, rather than the common, modern and culturally informed one of doubt.
By observing it closely you can see it needs to be protected, nurtured and allowed to grow otherwise the mood of doubt returns. The discriminative facility (normally associated with doubt) can be freely used without the burden of negative emotional content. So it’s not the naive and vulnerable faith of childhood but the maturing Faith of adulthood.
“And the world is a psychic phenomenon. In other words, we never experience the world except psychically. We never experience it except as knowledge and perception. We never experience it except as a condition that includes us. We are not separate from it. What we are at the level of the psyche and at the level of consciousness is just as much an inherent part of the world as the so-called material, objective forms. When we associate with the world on the basis of the totality of all the conditions of our existence, we participate in the world of forms as a psychic process. By participating psychically in the psychic phenomena of the world, we learn the laws whereby we can influence the phenomena of the waking state. We generate a process wherein we can become sensitive to the phenomena of the waking state so that we can observe unusual coincidences of form and psychic significances that our verbal mind tends to exclude from what we are observing” ~Adi Da Samraj
Further Reading : The Bridge To God
Tags: Doubt, Faith, for devotees
Posted in Guru's Grace, Religion, personal views | No Comments »
June 13th, 2010
Image Compliments E.Fenz Facebook–click to enlarge
Recently went to the Melbourne Adidam Centre and noticed there was a huge stack of old Laughing Man, Free Daist & Crazy Wisdom magazines for sale for “peanuts”. My good fortune perhaps, I bought all I didn’t have.
I have always thought that devotees should have a sense of history to fully appreciate “The Event”; without that historical perspective it’s all so localized, history adds or shows the great dimensions that it spans and continues to. Not to mention the intellectual and aesthetic enjoyment in all of this. Adi Da Samraj certainly displayed this quality, His historical perspective on everything, was second to none.
Tags: Adidam History, for devotees
Posted in personal views | 3 Comments »
June 8th, 2010
I have met a handful of men and women during my life who appear to have fulfilled and even grown passed the 3rd stage of life, they all have been involved in some form of spiritual practice, either formal or informal.
From what Adi Da has said and from my own observations it appears that the 4th stage of life informs and matures the 3rd stage, in other words it is necessary to be “spiritually open” for the 3rd stage to mature properly and structurally.
Someone with no sense or intuition of Spirit or that which is greater than “matter”, could not truly grow passed or fully integrate in the 3rd stage of life. That is not to say mere belief has anything to do with this process.
The ideal situation according to Adi Da Samraj would be for a young person to grow up in a spiritual community, culturally influenced by people mature in and beyond this stage and by the age of 21 (or adulthood) naturally to have adapted to all that is required for maturity there.
Some qualities that may be evident, there is no idealistic vision necessary, of what is typical here.
- Full integration as an autonomous (rather than chronically dependent or independent) personality, having dealt with and continuing to deal with both childish and adolescent personal strategies.
- Fundamental or natural free attention of mind–the ability to think, feel and be happily embodied and thus breathe and act with clarity and ease.
- A self disciplined life- taking responsibility for money, work, food, sexuality and everything related to a happy functional life.
- A life of conscious active service, rather than chronic self interest and random action.
- The focus of life practice in the 4th stage of life, that is one that is centered in real and self-generated (rather than imposed from without) spiritual practice.
- Having dealt with and continuing to bring to awareness the patterns of sexuality and un-love that tend to dominate the psyche.
- The ability to confess “I am not an addict” to be able to choose freely non addictive patterns.
- Social adeptness, the social level of life would be developed and non problematic (maturity in the 2nd stage of life)
- An ease with the functions of bodily life and grounding, a life positive association with bodily existence (maturity in the 1st stage of life)
“But most people you see do not adapt beyond the third stage of life, do not even come to a point of maturity in the third stage of life. Very few people enter into the fourth stage of life in this society which is without culture. As a result we don’t see much of higher adapted personalities in this culture, this society. We see people more or less of the same kind everywhere. And not much gracefulness, not much serenity, not much bodily confession of the existence of God. If God exists, you should be able to see it in the body of old men and women. Because such bodies have been in the fire for a long time you see, a body submitted to God for 80 years looks a lot different you see than a body that’s just been indulged for 80 years. So the old should be a principle witness within the community”.
___Adi Da Samraj
“Because of their developmental tendencies toward either childish or adolescent ego-dramatizations, those who are yet bound to the unfinished “business” of the first three stages of life are not yet truly ready to enter into the esoteric process …”
___Adi Da Samraj
Further Reading
You must become human before you can become spiritual
Tags: 3rd stage of life
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May 30th, 2010
Or the importance of understanding our structural limitations in the 3rd stage of life
“I have never, in all my various travels, seen but two sorts of people I mean men and women, who always have been, and ever will be, the same. The same vices and the same follies have been the fruit of all ages, though sometimes under different names”
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The realists of mankind have often said mostly with some regret when reporting the actions of a good man or woman failing in some shape or form, “it’s human nature”. That is the accurate view that structurally explained in a simplistic manner the seemingly endless failing of individuals to act other than within a predictable model.
For instance war and conflict between nations and states is seen as a predictable model, no matter what seemingly good intentions are brought to bear, there is never any real movement passed this. Thus war and conflict are part of “human nature” it’s an openly fatalistic prediction that is apparently inevitable.
Adi Da’s model of the seven stages of human life, allows a “realistic” or structural explanation and true possibility of actual and demonstrable growth beyond the inevitable and constant “failure” of humankind.
The constant failure of humankind and individuals and the apparently inevitable victory of ordinary ends and means wherein the lowest outcomes always prevail may now be understood in structural terms, similar to organic growth patterns and inevitabilities such as childhood, puberty and old age.
The recognition of inevitable structure would be part of the growth to maturity of a human being. Without recognition(in some shape or form) or acknowledgement of a current limitation which will be in almost all cases, you may as well say universally, the third stage of life, then we will be stuck with just the inevitability of more of the same. This is in contrast to the idealistic view that there is a current spiritual evolutionary movement going on that will transform the human race.
You could say truthfully that what is commonly referred to, often philosophically, as human nature is merely but accurately expressing humanities failure to grow fully into and beyond the third stage of life in Adi Da’s model.
Tags: 3rd stage of life, human nature
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