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.

“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.”

The laughing monks (Hanshan and Shih-te) are often portrayed as an icon of liberation within ritual form, which in their own historical role was within the loose formality or more likely boundary of Taoism and Zen Buddhism

Adidam is supposed to be an institution and practice that would welcome these iconic figures as they are metaphorically portrayed (their historical lives are another matter)

In fact a practitioner of Adidam should display something of their quality of prior freedom and liberation from mere ritual and ceremony. This is one of the many potential gifts of Bhagavan Adi Da to his devotees and to those who formally take up the Way of Adidam, at any time, now or in the future.

Though they may be used in this manner, the laughing monks do not merely represent adolescent or rebellious figures just poking fun at formality. Perhaps they were just plain mad, but the metaphor or intuition they seem to represent at least, is actually true sanity rather than a disturbed mind.

Adi Da often spoke and wrote about the crazy wise Master and also crazy wise disciple/devotees, as displayed in most religious traditions.

These laughing monks symbolically point to our inherent Freedom and what Adi Da often described as true “Humor”,  that which cannot be “lost or found” by any means whatsoever.

I want to see the laughing monks within the freely chosen disciplines of Adidam practice, again not as mere adolescent display of rebellious zeal, but more subtly and truthfully Free, even expressed as absolutely quiet equanimity, but necessarily always indicative and communicative of our prior and unbreakable Freedom in Reality. Exactly how this would appear within Adidam is unknown, obviously it would not be in a similar form to these tricksters.

This begs the question what would an enlightened devotee look like, how would he or she behave ? Again my own adolescent tendency,   would mentally  paint them in the light of  these monks, sort of free spirits, always laughing, joking and speaking in paradoxical  riddles. Most likely they will be very quiet intense characters, no time for chit chat (no social face), almost bland and even boring ascetic types, nothing what so ever to distinguish them from their fellows, more like 6th Stage Realizers. Hard to believe (for me) but much more likely to be the case, of course what is going on in consciousness (for them) would be beyond Profound. Even the concept of this disappoints this same character (the child/adolescent). It’s something of a bitter pill for the ego and you can clearly see why the talking school- neo-advaita- programs are so popular, though based in error.

Rules of Behavior in the Seventh Stage of Life

The strict maintenance of conservative or regenerative dietary, sexual, and other personal disciplines is necessary for growth in the first six stages of life, once commitment to the self-transcending Way of God-Communion truly begins. This is because the essence of practice in the developing stages is literal and even intentional submission of the body-mind to the Current of Life, rather than to mere experience, or sensual and mental or psychic objects in themselves. However, in the seventh stage of life, such disciplines are no longer necessary-since all processes of the body-mind have ceased to limit or bind the Radiant Heart. Even so, those disciplines have by then become natural, ordinary, and appropriate to the body-mind itself, which is under the Law of Nature. Thus, in the seventh stage of life, the conventional disciplines of the lower functions continue as a general rule-not because they are necessary, but simply because they are natural, ordinary, appropriate, and inevitable. However, the non-necessity of conventions of behavior in the seventh stage also accounts for the sometimes bizarre, unconcerned, unconventional, and even apparently worldly behavior of perfectly Enlightened individuals, particularly in their instructive Play with others.

The rule of practice is indeed the conversion and restraint of the tendencies of the body-mind. But the essence of Enlightenment is self-transcendence, or humorous freedom from the conditions of the body-mind. Therefore, even in the seventh stage of life, some individuals have taken occasional exception to the rule through humorously unconventional behavior. Mere self-indulgence is, of course, not the principle behind such behavior. Divine Humor, or Freedom, is the principle, which at times Communicates Itself through the unconventional or paradoxical behavior of Enlightened beings. In general, however, the individual in the seventh stage appears quite austere, pure, and Life-positive in his daily behavior, although he is under none of the restraints of Nature, and his actions are quite spontaneous and Full of Love.

Adi Da Samraj: The Enlightenment of the Whole Body
© 2010 The Da Love-Ananda Samrajya Pty Ltd, as trustee for the Da Love-Ananda Samrajya. All rights reserved. Perpetual copyright claimed

This is taken from the 1992 edition of The Knee Of Listening (editorial). The process after Divine Enlightenment has never been previously detailed  in any traditional  literature.

The Ultimate, or fully Awakened and seventh stage Practice unfolds in four progressive phases of the Perfect Demonstration of the Heart And each of the four phases of the seventh stage Demonstration is an expression of the “Bright” Yoga of Amrita Nadi.

Divine Transfiguration is the phase in which the Divine or ‘Original Spiritual Current of Love-Bliss is reflected from the Infinitely Ascended Terminal, or “Head’ of Amrita Nadi into the descending circuit of the body-mind of the Awakened individual, thereby Transfiguring the body-mind. This results in great Heart-Service to others and signs of (even sometimes visible) bodily Illumination and Infusion by the Self-Radiance of the Heart.

Divine Transformation is the phase in which the Divine or -Original Spiritual Current of Love-Bliss’ is reflected from the Infinitely Ascended Terminal of Amrita Nadi in the full Circle (both descending and ascending) of the body-mind of the Awakened individual—resulting in the spontaneous manifestation of Siddhis. or extraordinary Powers of Blessing Both the Divine Transfiguration and the Divine Transformation phases aft founded in Descent—as the “Original Spiritual Current of Love-Bliss’ is reflected from the Infinitely Ascended Terminal of Amrita Nadi into the descending (or descending and ascending) circuit of the conditional body-mind. It is this very ‘Descent’ that allows the apparent conditional embodiment Of the Realizer to take place.

Divine Indifference is the phase in which the Divine. or ”Original Spiritual Current of Love Bliss”. Abides in Amrita Nadi Itself, and It is only minimally, and less and less, reflected in the Circle of the body-mind of the Awakened individual. Thus, the conditional body-mind and all experience are only minimally noticed (and less and less engaged), as the individual being Inheres in the Prior and formless Well of Love-Bliss or Divine Being Itself. This was Sri Da Avabhasa’s Disposition at the time of His Birth until the age of two, and the State to which He Returned after the Event of His Divine Emergence in 1986.

Divine Translation is the phase of the seventh stage Demonstration in which all conditions (including Amrita Nadi) are Recognized and Outshined in the Divine Self-Condition. in the Perfect Space and ‘Bright’ Domain that is Consciousness itself. Realized as the Native Love-Bliss-Feeling of Being.

Adi Da passed into the final phase of Translation in 2000

In Divine Translation, the movement of Descent whereby the Awakened Adept Appears in a conditional form comes to rest or is dissolved. In Divine Translation. Absorption-Identification with the Self-Existing and Self-Radiant, Infinite and Divine Person utterly Outshines the Structure of Amrita Nadi, the conditional body-mind, and all the possible worlds of experience.

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

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?

(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.

A teacher will set him or herself up, as a “realizer” in some shape or form, then attempt to transmit their realization to others by some means of argument, it can be very creative, often with good motive apparently, and most often with no conscious harm intended. The teacher may then allow students to do likewise build their own hedge and propagate the same delusion.

It does tend to suggest a deeper flaw-a sort of house of cards mentality peculiar to modern western spirituality in general. This also includes many who are critical of neo-advaita as such, but still remain within its wider framework

Who owns “nonduality” ? Do a google search and it will show a small, very influential group of personalities associated with websites and books. By “owns”, I mean it in the sense of being a limiting center of influence and directing viewpoints to “specific” possibilities, you have “specific” teachers, teachings and books, rated, ranked and recommended to seekers.

Is there any value to such things ? Yes there is–the knowledge of humanity’s inherent freedom should be freely communicated via education of some form, to all who are interested.

It should also be taught that no one “owns” non-duality, it is the inherent condition of all, this is primary knowledge.

Causal influences via the Internet in particular allow “enlightened egos” to exploit others, since they are “selling water by the river”, in this case.

Give it the Talking School Test :

“‘Talking’ school” is a phrase used by Avatar Adi Da to refer to those in any tradition of sacred life whose approach is characterized by talking, thinking, reading, and philosophical analysis and debate, or even meditative enquiry or reflection, without a concomitant and foundation discipline of body, emotion, mind, and breath. He contrasts the “talking” school with the “practicing” school approach—“practicing” schools involving those who are committed to the ordeal of real ego-transcending discipline, under the guidance of a true Guru.

Further Reading :

Adi Da on J. Krishnamurti from an early magazine “Krishnamurti is himself an essentially honorable and serious man. He is attractive, even fascinating, by virtue of a certain intellectual purity and a superiority founded in a profound sense of separate, subjective, and personal freedom”

What is the conscious process

“It is because of the absence of profound practice of supportive disciplines involving total psycho-physical submission into the Life-Current that the Way of the conscious process gets reduced to a kind of “talking school” obsession with “consciousness.” Many people read and even write books and give lectures about the primacy and freedom of consciousness, as if they could, merely by analyzing consciousness out from the mass of thinking, knowing, and experiencing, achieve the incomparable State of “Jnana,” Enlightenment, or Transcendental Realization. But all such talk is the mediocre chat of the waking mind. In order to Realize the Transcendental Truth that Is Consciousness, the entire process of attention must be liberated from functional bondage to the states and functions and emotions and thoughts and relations of the egoic or self-contracted body-mind”- Adi Da Samraj

This one is more Esoteric and reveals a strong Transmission of Spiritual Potency ( Shaktipat)

Stories of devotee’s bringing the Master into life, communicating Him directly to others seem more prevalent in the 1970’s to early 1980’s, I can’t account for this, it is fundamentally mysterious, as are many things connected with the Adept’s Work, I don’t think it is either possible or necessary to try an explain this If you do want to speculate about it, here is my own addition, the 60-70’s were a completely energetically and psychically different time–weird stuff happened a lot more often

Some examples:

A man was standing in the Darshan line waiting to see UG Krishnamurti, a man in front of him turned and either spoke to him or others and said (paraphrasing) “If you want to see God, go to the Ashram Bookstore in L.A (at the time Adi Da was using this facility) He is there”. The man listening later became a devotee.

I met a devotee on Naitauba in November 2008, he had been so since 1974, both formal and informal, in that year he met a man named Bill C., who told him that Franklin Jones, a man in California was the “Living Siddha Master, without a shadow of doubt, the Real Thing”. Merely on the say so, of Bill, he went to California and became a devotee.

In the mid-late 70’s I went into a bookstore and found this incredible stack of books right down the back of the store in Melbourne, Australia (which was a conventional bookstore) It was truly mind blowing, they seemed to have tangible almost glowing, energetic quality, as if I had suddenly been thrust into another realm, the titles included : “Garbage And The Goddess” and “No Remedy” by someone called Bubba Free John, and some other books about Ramana Maharshi The humorous thing was I had previously read “The Knee of Listening” and did not know the author was the same, I bought a copy of “Garbage and Goddess” Talking to the sales assistant he seemed to be perplexed by the mysterious books as well, almost whispering about them. Later I learned that a very close devotee of Bubba Free John, had come to Town and distributed the books directly to that store.

I recently spoke to a lady H. who told me of seeing a friend called Terry (circa 1981-2) who had been practicing as a Tibetan Buddhist Monk, on his return to the West, he spoke of an amazing being called Da Free John and a book called “Garbage And The Goddess”, these 2 impresssions stayed in her mind.

Some time later in a 2nd hand bookshop, she saw GG and bought it, H. was a very poor english reader, being a native of Poland and expected to struggle with reading it, on the contrary the book came alive to her, she understood it completely, she told me of her profound experience merely by reading this book and feeling her connection to Adi Da via the photos’s inside, which stays with her to the present (2009)

There are dozens of true accounts recorded and unrecorded, just like these, another good example has recently been added to adidaupclose.org here, apart from being very well written it also clearly demonstrates the necessary influence of Adi Da’s devotees in making the Way available to others.