Archive for the ‘Adidam’ Category

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Adidam as a Mountain-Yet To Be Climbed

Friday, September 3rd, 2010


Often I feel this about Adidam–meaning the practice and its ultimate outcome–It stands like an unclimbed peak, unchartered, unknown and pathless. It can be talked about, speculated on but no one has managed by Grace or effort to get passed the lower slopes

Adi Da Samraj particulary in His later years, closed all loop holes that may have allowed an egoic foothold here or there, so on first inspection it looks like a sheer climb, an ice chasm, with nowhere to start and no summit visible from the ground, a conundrum of sorts

I have looked at it from many angles and speculated on a possible approach that would allow a means to make a start, to get a foot hold, even a cleft of rock to pivot upon, each time I thought I may be on to something, the grip has given way upon testing and shown itself not to be workable.

Even now I think it may be possible, a new approach that will meet all the criteria and yet allow a passage… harder than passing through the eye of a needle, perhaps. One thing is for sure no “ego” can get even a foothold here.

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Any room for “adventure” then, here? Can the separate self be driven to creative heights, regardless of his or her impending and absolutely required “death”,  like the Master Himself, so wonderfully feelingly Intelligent in all His creative movements, anything from writing to the perfection of glass  paper weights?  It seems to me that the the yearning for the continued “adventure” of self puts off the inevitable, as He says “You are the stave in the wheel”. However I don’t see a bland, boring life springing from all of this. The ‘westerner” in all of us craves his or her born destiny, oh; how we want to live, enjoy, laugh, love, create and find  (however brief) at least an apparent immortality of sorts. This is the middle class “enlightenment” everywhere now coveted (East or West). So to answer this question truthfully, yes there is huge room for the adventure of self, but it would be seen and reported and even enjoyed by “another”, since if you consider the Master’s own massively creative and adventurous life, it was all a Sacrifice performed without a “self”, allowing creativity to move through Him without any obstruction at all.

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I always enjoyed hearing about Adi Da Samraj’s creative life, His love of Intelligence, Class, Beauty, True Spiritual Form, Conscious Environments, all the Arts and arts of Culture, His love of very good documentaries, movies, comedians, creative human characters in real life or fiction and particular sports, including pugilism. Always found this just marvelous, just wonderful, hope someone writes a book on this alone. It somehow did and does demonstrate the Truth of Enlightenment in this very ordinary humble condition.

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Adidam (Practice) in a Nutshell

Friday, August 20th, 2010

This Youtube video is the most concentrated description of Adidam Practice, it could have been spoken in the No Remedy book, printed out in the early 70’s. A must listen if you are interested in the subject.

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Q:Is Adi Da Teaching Exclusivity-One Way or Path to God

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

A relative asked me this question some time ago, and feel it needs addressing, below is one way of viewing it.

Is Adi Da teaching one exclusive means to God or The Divine, through him and the institution-Adidam-alone, or are a multiplicity of paths and religions all leading to God?

Here the question itself is the problem (or creates a dilemma) where there need be none. To start with, Adi Da does not teach any sort of path to God (no matter how contradictory this statement may appear) and secondarily, Adi Da does not use or define God in the usual manner (and again this is not a mere language device ) Adi Da uses the terms Real God or Reality (and many other more literal terms) to point to what is actually “Really God”; rather than a believers God, a creator God, a personal God, God the parent( mother or father ) or any form of illusion that is considered God or a god. The point he makes over and over is that God actually is Real and it does not require belief-illusions and the bondage (that comes with it) to make that the case.

Adidam (which can mean the institution itself, and the practice of Adidam) is based on a most radical assumption- that all beings already are even now completely one with Real God, clearly then no one is ever separated from Real God or can ever be damned or denied that same condition so in that sense there can be no exclusive means or path to the Divine including any religious means because none are necessary, since the condition sought can never be attained or to put it another way “can never be lost or found ” or to put it even more realistically, all traditional paths and religious means are doomed to fail in there quest for Ultimate Realization, that is not to dispute all the traditional states of realization, samadhi or enlightenment, they certainly are attainable, that is not doubted and there have always been and will always remain great and lesser Realizers of these most honorable traditions (Including Christianity, Judaism, Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism and all the other major and minor genuine traditions) By the same token (and Adi Da has stated this many times) if Adidam is practiced incorrectly it becomes another seeking means to God , Realization and Liberation and therefore cannot be and will not be fruitful and must fail in the individuals case for the same reasons as above (unless graceful influence can make a difference)

So no, in the sense outlined above Adi Da and Adidam do not represent an “exclusive” path or means to God, Adi Da absolutely champions what is great in the religious traditions and absolutely criticizes what is illusionary and binding in those same traditions (as a compassionate, Avataric voice in the midst of often great confusion)

In considering this question it is so important to remember genuine spiritual traditions are greatly honored and respected by Adi Da and Adidam, great compassion, tolerance and universal co-operation are part of his teaching and I have found this to be the case. A devotee of Adi Da can freely go to any religious figure, temple, holy site or institution and honor what is great there in a sensitive and tolerant manner. In fact I have found a deepening of my appreciation of many spiritual traditions and Realizers and Teachers within those Traditions as I study the works of Adi Da Samraj. There is a universal thread that is honored, enjoyed and respected via these agencies, that underlying universal thread could be said to link Adidam to all other Divine Honoring traditions whatever form they take.

However having said all of that, there is only One means to the Divine Realization and the Absolute Freedom that is the Seventh Stage Realization of Reality Itself or Real God and that is through the means of Avatar Adi Da Samraj and His Agency: Adidam. So yes it is “exclusive” in that sense and there is no use saying it is otherwise. Adi Da Samraj makes it abundantly clear, overwhelmingly clear that this is exactly the case. An example is the constant use of the “Only-By-Me-Given”. It is constant and the devotee or regular reader of Adi Da’s Work may get a little immune to it, but it remains a blunt reminder for anyone who starts getting too universalistic, egalitarian and idealistic about the process (as is my own tendency).

As with many others my own tendency is to dilute that aspect of Adidam, in my own case because it smacks so much of the hideous “One Way” messages of Christianity and many other (if not all) exoteric religions. To date I have tended to deny this reality of Adidam and be almost an apologist for its possibility, but I clearly note this is an internal conflict of mine, and many others have no problem with it all, and are very clear on the matter as is Avatar Adi Da.

Posted in Adi Da, Adi Da Samraj, Adidam, Enlightenment, Reality, Religion, The Great Tradition, personal views | 1 Comment »

The Perceptual & Conceptual Mind

Monday, April 5th, 2010

This text is quoted from an earlier copy of The Dawn Horse Testament (chapter 19) it describes the difference between the two observable functions of mind and  may shed light on other traditions such as Buddhist mindfulness practice, as well as Adidam’s “conscious exercise”  discipline

The Right “Consideration” Of My Teaching Arguments Sensitizes You To The Two Principal Functions Of mind. The First Function Of mind Is The perceptual Function Of mind. The Second Function Of mind Is The conceptual Function Of mind.

The First Function Of mind Is The Natural and Naturally Intelligent perceptual Awareness Of arising conditions, Without Any Necessarily Accompanying Effort To Separate From them. The Second Function Of mind Is The conceptual Awareness Of arising conditions, and It Is Necessarily Associated with An Effort To Separate From arising conditions and To Exceed arising conditions, Because It Is Always Associated With An Effort To know About arising conditions.

The perceiving mind knows whatever it perceives. What it perceives, Exactly as it is perceived, is what it knows. Perception, Prior To verbal, Abstract, and Interpretive thought, is Participatory conditional knowledge.

The conceptual mind knows whatever it thinks. Whatever it thinks, Whether Or Not the thought is Informed or Confirmed By perception, is what it knows. Conception, Loosely or Not At All Associated With perception, is Abstract conditional knowledge.

The Right Employment Of The conceptual Function Of mind Can Serve A Very Useful Purpose In The Original and General Inspiration and Guidance Of The Ordeal, Discipline, and Practice Of The Way Of The Heart. Just So, the activities Of The conceptual Function Of mind Generally Serve A Useful Purpose In the common world, Which Is The Communication and Development Of conventional knowledge and practical invention. Even So, all conceptual knowledge Is An Abstraction, The Purpose Of Which Is To Give conditional beings Power Over themselves, their objects, their environments, and other conditionally Manifested beings. Therefore, If This Function Of mind Is Not Kept In Right Perspective, The Motives Of Power and Control Tend To Dominate mind itself .

Secondary mind, or conceptual thought, Must Be Disciplined, If it Is To Be Effective In its Proper Sphere. Likewise, it Must Be Understood, Kept In Right Perspective, and, At Will, Freely Set Aside When The Analytical and Interpretive Function Is Not Presently Necessary or Useful.

You Must Realize The Natural Ability To Set Aside The Secondary or conceptual Function Of mind, or Else You Will Be Dominated By A Compulsive and Obsessive Effort To think conceptually, To Seek knowledge About, To Interpret, and To Separate From the perceived conditional worlds.

You Must Enjoy The Natural, Inherent, moment to moment Ability To Merely perceive, To feel, To be with, and To Wholly Participate In the phenomenal conditions Of Your psycho-physical Existence, or Else You Will Not Truly Understand what arises conditionally, Nor Will You Transcend the limitations Of conditional Existence.

Through The Ordeal Of The Way Of The Heart, and By Means Of self-Observation, Developing self-Understanding, and The Progressively Awakening Natural Feeling-Practice Of Mere and always present perception, You Must Realize The Inherent Ability To Intentionally Relax The Chronic, Compulsive, and Obsessive Tendency Of attention To Become Associated With the past and the future and Even the present. If moment to moment Mere and Also perceptible Existence Is Intolerable To You, So That You Are Unable To perceive each present perceptible moment as it is and To feel and Participate In it Without Recoil, You Will Exist Only In the Secondary or Reflected world of time and mind.

Ultimately, You Must Realize Inherently Perfect Transcendence Of mind itself , or Else You Will Only Be Defined By and Bound To conditional or phenomenal states. And the Total mind Is Transcended Only In The Direct Intuition Of The Transcendental, Inherently Spiritual, and Divine Condition In Which mind, body, and all conditions, relations, and states of mind and body Are arising, continuing, changing, and passing away.

Chronic, Compulsive, and Obsessive verbal thinking or Abstract conceptualizing Is A Disease. It Is, Ultimately, A Fruitless or Futile Effort, and it Is A Symptom Of self-Contraction, egoic “self-Possession”, and The Absence Of Transcendental, Inherently Spiritual, and Divine Realization. Effective and “Creative” conceptual thinking Is A Generally Useful and Characteristic Sign Of the human being, but When The Efforts Of the conceptually thinking mind Become Compulsive, Obsessive, and Dominant, So That verbal and Abstract Analytical thought Cannot Be Relinquished At Will, and things and beings Cannot Be perceived as they are and, Ultimately, Divinely Recognized As they Are , Then the thinking being Is Diseased, Bereft Of Wisdom, and Separated From Reality.

Chronic conceptual thinking Is A Compulsive and Obsessive Withdrawal or Contraction From perception, From Direct experience of Natural or Cosmic forms, and From sensory or bodily Existence Itself. Chronic conceptualizing Effectively Creates An Alternative conditional Reality and One That Is Not Really physical, Not Even psycho-physical, or Even Truly psychic, but Most Basically conceptual, or Made Of mental Abstractions. And Fixed Identification With The Process Of conceptual thinking and the conditional self as conceptual thinker Is Identification with a False or Un-Real self, A Mere Contraction From The Real or Transcendental, Inherently Spiritual, and Divine Self.

Even So, The Effort To Avoid or To Escape conceptual thinking, conceptual thought, or the conceptual thinker Is A Futile Strategy. It Is Futile Because It Is Itself An Expression Of The Very Same Effort That Is The Stressful Origin Of Chronic conceptual thought-mind and the conceptual thought-self. Therefore, The Effort To Stop conceptual thinking Only Intensifies the self-Contraction, Reinforces The Cycle Of conceptual thinking, conceptual thought, and the Presumed conceptual thinker, and Generates Despair Relative To The Ability To Stand Free Of The limiting Capability Of the conceptual mind.

The Cycle Of conceptual thinking, conceptual thought, and the Presumed conceptual thinker Is Truly Transcended Only Through The Real Ordeal Of self-Observation and Effective self-Transcendence, Which Must Become The Inherent Realization Of The Native Condition In and As Which the body-mind-self and all of its conditional relations Are arising, continuing, changing, and passing away. And, In The Way Of The Heart, This Ordeal Develops Progressively, and Either Via The Primary Devotional Exercise Of **Insight Or Via The Primary Devotional Exercise Of Faith**.

You Can Transcend the conceptual mind, or All Analytical Interpreting and knowing, By Observing, Understanding, and Transcending The Act Of self-Contraction, To The Degree That You Relax Into Simple experiencing.

You Can Transcend the perceptual mind By Utterly Not knowing.

© 2010 The Da Love-Ananda Samrajya Pty Ltd, as trustee for the Da Love-Ananda Samrajya. All rights reserved. Perpetual copyright claimed

** note : These are no longer practiced as described here in Adidam

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Adi Da on Facebook

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

An interesting change in the past 12 months or so, has been the rise of the social network site, Facebook as a benign and friendly means for devotees, friends, interested people & readers of Adi Da Samraj to keep informed, keep in touch, read choice quotes and  media and also perhaps to get  a feeling for the culture of Adidam to some extent.

Many non-establishment religious and spiritual interest groups are finding such sites congenial. It is a lightweight form of doing things, not a place for complex discussion or great discrimination, more an “oasis”, fairly peaceful and untroubled.

Such places are definitely how people may come in contact with unorthodox views and traditions without a lot of the plain old prejudice, nastiness and stigma that may have had to be endured on the earlier forms of Internet media (and is certainly still around, and it’s naive to think this will vanish) This medium Just seems far more civilised, respectful & happier and allows praise without scorn, the friendship network adds a natural degree of trust and ease.

Try these links to see if it may be of interest to you

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adi-Da-Samraj/80356242469

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24960725312

Adi Da’s Art

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-Adi-Da-Samraj/223457052008?v=info

Naitauba

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adi-Da-Samrajashram-Naitauba-Fiji/112909385390562

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Terms in Adidam: “Sadhana Murti”

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

I met my first “Sadhana Murti”, literal meaning-the image of spiritual practice-on retreat at Naitauba Hermitage Sanctuary in 2006,  I will call him Ralph and on first meeting, he totally offended me, I mean everything offended me about him, I could never love this man even as a fellow devotee. I just wanted to get as far away from Ralph as possible. Ralph was everything I did not want to be, yet we were like the same poles of a magnet.

As it happened Ralph was to be my constant service companion 24/7, for several weeks. I described my predicament to another devotee and he laughed out loud  ” Friend” he said ”you have met your-sadhana murti-be grateful and use the opportunity” (the first time I had heard that term used)

It bothered me that I was so mean spirited to Ralph, clearly I was no saint in this circumstance, just a rather loveless character and that above all else was clear to me, over time my relationship with Ralph softened slightly but it could never become  a friendship.

Sadhana Murti described this relationship so well I wondered where the term came from, recently it came to light that the famed  Indian Poet Bhakta Tukaram used it to describe his shrewish wife who he prized mightily for testing him so -Adi Da (then Bubba Free John) and a devotee visited Tukaram’s tomb in 1973.

Tukaram with his Beloved-Sadhana Murti

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Last pilgrimage to Naitauba-partial journal

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

This is a partial journal  from my last pilgrimage to Naitauba (Adi Da Samrajashram) in November 2008, just prior to the passing (Mahasamadhi) of The Great Sage, Adi Da Samraj

(Airport Taveuni)

I love arriving in Taveuni, the small Fijian island where we wait for the boat ride to Naitauba Hermitage Sanctuary, Adidam has a little cottage there used by devotees and guests as a simple sleep over while waiting for the boat to arrive.

The cottage is in an idyllic setting and nobody bothers guests, other than a shrewd Fijian Indian fruit farmer who may knock on the door to sell bananas or papaya but other than that it’s a place to enjoy the company of Gurubai and prepare for the journey to Naitauba. It’s a complete chill down, tempered with the  anticipation of the journey ahead

There is a simple yet powerful meditation room, set-apart in the cottage and that becomes a focal point of preparing oneself for the Spiritual Retreat that is Naitauba, a beautiful young Sri Lankan woman did the pujas in this tiny little room and the beauty and unexpected quality she brought to the occasions was spellbinding.

When I arrived there November 1, 2008 I had the company of Anthony, a long time devotee of Adi Da, Jacqueline a talented musician and vivacious personality, John another great musician and unstoppable comic, and his friend and guest Robert also with a musical background.

I particularly enjoyed the company of Anthony a man of natural humour and equanimity, we talked long and walked and swam in the little beach below the cottage. Anthony was happy to tell me great stories of his time with Adi Da Samraj, this form of oral communication is priceless and considered a personal gift from the teller of the Leela (spiritual story)

If I was asked to characterize devotees of Adi Da as certain type, I could not give an honest reply, if pressed I would have to say “varying from extremely quiet and inverted to courageously out there, vocal and extroverted! ” I could write all day about the marvelous, ordinary and extraordinary range of people who have turned up at the door of Adi Da Samraj (and that’s only the few I have met). On one level “everyone you have ever met, loved and unloved”, is there

There is a extremely good little restaurant on Taveuni, not far from the cottage, it is run by a friendly American woman who is very hospitable to devotees and caters for many unconventional food requests including green smoothies  using some local greens.

The stop over in Taveuni gives people time to adjust to a slower pace, but also the difficulties inherent in living in a developing country in the Tropics, including heat, bugs and bodily discomforts, there is also a deeper level of preparation to accommodate, a necessary shedding of both bodily and psychic accumulations, there is always a degree of purification to go through which begins as soon as the pilgrimage is undertaken and continues and intensifies when Adi Da Samrajashram is reached.

 It is fair to say that pilgrims to Naituaba who have been coming to this island since 1983 “tread lightly” and are hardly noticed by the local populace, there is no feeling of intrusion or cultural difference, many factors combine here, including a laid back and welcoming attitude by locals (it is normal to greet everyone you pass with the customary “Bulla”) cultural sensitivity by devotees and multi-faith tolerance due to Indian influences

On another level this is grand adventure, in the sense of stepping way outside of conventional living and entering into another world quite literally, all your normal ties and duties are vanished for a long or short period and even though Naitauba is always a very demanding situation, you feel liberated set free and entering into  a vortex of force and Grace never encountered in the tedium of everyday, a new pattern, becomes very tangible to you the closer you get to The Guru

The boat was to be delayed for some reason and we were overjoyed to hear that we were to get there by motor launch a fast and exhilarating 2 to 2.5 hour dash across the often wild ocean, which can at times be a horrendous ordeal of up to 7 hours of fighting (or yielding to) seasickness, if the seas are rough.

(devotees waiting for boat , image compliments of www.adidaupclose.com)

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Early Books & Later Work a Schism?(2)

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

 

Quote from B.M

Adi Da is asking a huge amount of people, just looking at it from the average joe-seeker’s point of view, I would say too much is asked of him or her and outside of the cloisters of Adidam, my friend, it’s gob-smackingly-freaking-obvious, which is tragic, because this great wisdom should be available to all surely, as this was the point of this Incarnation of the Adept in my opinion – since it is what will always bring many people to the Master.

The other thing to consider is that the spiritual market, has changed mightily since we were new, young and fresh seekers of Truth, there may have been 30 or 40 present sources of spiritual influence available to westerners at that time, hanging around spiritual bookshops and reading posters on health food notice boards for sources of wisdom, was as good as it got for us. These days the numbers of such sources and influences is massive and they pander to individual taste, even. The waters are so muddied in present time, the guy looking for Truth in all of that, has so many more options than the dude reading “The Method of The Siddha’s” in the 70’s and even 80’s The questions may be exactly the same, but the potential answers by all the Guru’s of now, has become overwhelming, I pity the poor devil moving through all of this hype and possibility. We had it easy, in fact. I sometimes think if I was was a young person trying to make sense of it all, could I have found my way, even to “The Knee of Listening” and if I did would I have been able to recognize the Adept’s appearance or gone on from there to be lost in the miasma of all current possibilities in the spiritual marketplace, or more to the point, If I came across some of Adi Da’s more recent and demanding texts would I have the capacity to persist through them ? Hard to say, perhaps, but it was certainly more clear cut, then, than now.

(Response)
Well, agree on some points, but things are not necessarily how they seem. Grace has to be there, right. No matter what the circumstance, now, in the future, after death, in another state, we depend utterly on Grace that is fundamental to the Way and has always been the case.

Anyway take heart brother, this young hero proves it is currently possible to Recognize- The spiritual Master, and will continue to be in any time and space  and his quote (below) is really pertinent to our conversation

I found The Knee Of Listening to be an amazing book and was fascinated by Adi Da’s life story. I enjoyed reading His Writing and reading about His childhood and His time in India, and everything else. I found it very humbling. And His Writing was so sophisticated, intelligent, and creative. I was fascinated with the technical precision in His use of language. I remember reading the first essay “Do Not Misunderstand Me“; it was full of capitalization, underlining, and parentheticals. I did not feel intimidated, but immediately felt that whoever Adi Da Is, He is very serious.

I never felt offended by His claims of Divinity or Avatarhood, but was more struck by the way He said it. His Written-Word was absolutely confident, firm, and unshakable. I felt that there was no trace of uncertainty in Adi Da about anything. His Writing was so strong, with the underlining, the capitalization, everything. I did not care if He was the Divine Avatar or not, I could at least respect His utter seriousness and confidence about it. He did not feel weak at all, as if He was someone who needed to make claims about himself for the sake of identity, or self-esteem, or megalomania. His strength was overpowering to me. I did not even question Him, nor did I believe Him, but I just kept reading. I was fascinated and attracted to Him and His claims, that someone would even say something like that was startling and amazing to me. I couldn’t get enough. I continued to read passages where Adi Da would say that He was the Divine, and sometimes would even seek for these passages, just marveling that someone would say such a thing! Why would a man say that? And with such Force?

Posted in Adept, Adi Da, Adi Da Samraj, Adidam, Books, Enlightenment, Green Smoothies, Guru, Guru's Grace, Spiritual Experience, knee of listening, personal views | No Comments »

Early Books & Later Work a Schism?(1)

Monday, August 24th, 2009

(B.M) – A lot of readers and friends of Adi Da felt there is a real schism between the early works & writing and audio’s of Adi Da especially starting in the 1990’s, it seems to me that when he started to use phrases like “Only-By-Me-Revealed-Way” and an apparent claim to exclusive Avatar-hood and the massive use of “Me” in text, he lost his audience to a large degree, at least many who followed him through the changes of his remarkable life would have struggled mightily with all this. I often read and play media from early years and feel this is the Master whom I can relate to, and will always relate  to. His world view was one of him being an “Adept” or “Siddha” in an infinite lineage of other True Adepts and Siddhas appearing forever in the past and future. This was to me and many, a beautiful, cohesive cosmology and world view which made perfect sense in the light of the great tradition of religion and spirituality

(Response) Could write a lot about the demanding language, but from my point of view the constant “Me” ism and “Only-By-Me-Revealed-Way” style phrases is an ego prickling device, it is part of the necessary demand put on the serious reader to go passed “me” or “self”. This language also gives the reader a great opportunity for self understanding, in that here is the constant reflection of the action of self, or self-contraction, back to consciousness. As the egoic self in its ordinary enjoyment and reading capacity we just want to be entertained, gather information or whatever, but we are given the opportunity to do sadhana , just by reading these sacred texts. Yes its tough, demanding, hard work at times this is exactly how Adi Da Samraj wants it to be, then its as if we crack the code and briefly feel what he means by all of this.

Ultimately the ” Me” he champions so relentlessly, the “Reality” he pounds us with so harrowingly, when ego is fully dead, vanished, is our state, our Realization.In other words the ” Me” that is so offensive to “you” as that tiny ego being is the only “One” that is. In “The Boundless Self Confession” there is a chapter titled ” I am alone in My House” – you would understand the “My House” to be the “Divine Domain” used extensively in earlier works, therefore you could say there is only one being here called “Me” but it is not “me” now or ever, “me” is the one that prevents ” Reality” from currently being the case, thus you are forced to stand outside of “me” in order to enjoy “Reality” or “Me” ( our ultimate post egoic condition) That is why Adi Da also uses the phrase “Realize Me” you can’t Realize something (one) who is not already your ultimate condition.

So you start getting a lot more sympathy for this formerly troublesome “ Me” language, its coded, a seemingly endless “prickle” to the conventional self, yet for those that persist yielding a great and awesome Intuition.

Having said that, there is also the constant falling back into the conventional viewpoint and thus again a constant resistance emerging when ever the texts are read, recited or listened to, I don’t think there is any alternative to this engagement.

The other point you raise about Avatarhood  and the only 7th stage Realizer, seems to me to be something arrived at spontaneously by Adi Da, I don’t think there is any doubt that He assumed there were other 7th stage Realizers and over the years spoke of certain individuals and sometimes a whole tradition of such Realizers (Great Siddhas) but upon great testing he appeared to come to the certain knowledge that this is not the case, so no matter how much we would like it to be so, how symmetrical it could be, and even painful this may be to accept, according to Adi Da these concepts and possibilities fell short of “Reality” or how things actually are, but of course it would be far better for Adidam as a believable missionary offering if it had turned out otherwise (in my opinion) or again pehaps this is just a “santa claus” type of illusion.

Posted in Adept, Adi Da, Adi Da Samraj, Adidam, Ego Death, Enlightenment, Guru, Non duality | 2 Comments »

Early Books & Later Work a Schism?

Monday, August 24th, 2009

More conversation with B.M

(B.M) – A lot of readers and friends of Adi Da felt there is a real schism between the early works & writing and audio’s of Adi Da especially starting in the 1990’s, it seems to me that when he started to use phrases like “Only-By-Me-Revealed-Way” and an apparent claim to exclusive Avatar-hood and the massive use of “Me” in text, he lost his audience to a large degree, at least many who followed him through the changes of his remarkable life would have struggled mightily with all this. I often read and play media from early years and feel this is the Master whom I can relate to, and will always relate  to. His world view was one of him being an “Adept” or “Siddha” in an infinite lineage of other True Adepts and Siddhas appearing forever in the past and future. This was to me and many, a beautiful, cohesive cosmology and world view which made perfect sense in the light of the great tradition of religion and spirituality

The sudden refutation of this in the early 90’s was devastating to me and I had to put this all on hold for some time in order to deal with it and got quite narky about the whole thing and for a while posted along these lines at the other forum. However as you know I have never lost my great regard for Adi Da and consider him a true Buddha and the penultimate Enlightened Master of all time ( never doubted this)

I have had a read of some recent stuff mainly from short books and essays you have sent me and admit there is powerful stuff there, but it takes a huge amount to get into it, your post here points that out, now from my short readings of the recent work,  Adi Da is asking a huge amount of people, just looking at it from the average joe-seeker’s point of view, I would say too much is asked of him or her and outside of the cloisters of Adidam, my friend, it’s gob-smackingly-freaking-obvious, which is tragic, because this great wisdom should be available to all surely, as this was the point of this Incarnation of the Adept in my opinion - since it is what will always bring many people to the Master.

The other thing to consider is that the spiritual market, has changed mightily since we were new, young and fresh seekers of Truth, there may have been 30 or 40 present sources of spiritual influence available to westerners at that time, hanging around spiritual bookshops and reading posters on health food notice boards for sources of wisdom, was as good as it got for us. These days the numbers of such sources and influences is massive and they pander to individual taste, even. The waters are so muddied in present time, the guy looking for Truth in all of that, has so many more options than the dude reading “The Method of The Siddha’s” in the 70’s and even 80’s The questions may be exactly the same, but the potential answers by all the Guru’s of now, has become overwhelming, I pity the poor devil moving through all of this hype and possibility. We had it easy, in fact. I sometimes think if I was was a young person trying to make sense of it all, could I have found my way, even to “The Knee of Listening” and if I did would I have been able to recognize the Adept’s appearance or gone on from there to be lost in the miasma of all current possibilites in the spiritual marketplace, or more to the point, If I came across some of Adi Da’s more recent and demanding texts would I have the capacity to persist through them ? Hard to say, perhaps, but it was certainly more clear cut, then, than now. 

{Response Coming}

Posted in Adept, Adi Da, Adi Da Samraj, Adidam, Da Free John, Spiritual Books, Spiritual Teachers, knee of listening, personal views | No Comments »

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