Adi Da Causal

Adi Da talks with great wisdom and insight on the religious traditions of mankind, which he calls in total “The Great Tradition”, he mentions one of the services he performed as Adept Realizer in service to humanity, which was to review the very best spiritual literature and media available called at the time of this talk “The 7 Schools of God Talk”, this list and its eloquent reviews, later became called. “The Basket Of Tolerance”, which may appear in book form in the future.
Adi Da’s scheme or map of Seven Stages of life, based on His personal exploration of the esoteric anatomy of man is explained here. This talk may be of interest to anyone with a passion for religion, esoteric traditions, eastern religions, religious philosophy & comparative religion.

 Notes on a meditation experience

Today had an insight into that which stands Free or is never implicated in all the arising conditions of the body-mind with which we normally identify.

That which stands Free, just “rest-abides”, it seems to be where our attention would naturally rest if it was not constantly disturbed by stressful demands in our association with the body-mind. Ordinary life as we know it is a constant demand on our attention, in my life I conceive of it as “survival stress”, or the most basic form of self-contraction.

The place I rested today briefly, was free of any bound implication, any need for my attention to be absorbed in the ordinary round of events-money, food, sex, society, or to respond to any environmental demands. There was just profound rested-ease, it felt like my (our) native condition, free of disturbance, unperturbed, moveless, thought-free (though thinking was possible and clear) searchless, without dilemma and completely free of primal fear

It can also be described as natural, wherein the life lived in my conventional manner is unnatural, rooted in stress, craving and fundamental disturbance. To be absorbed there in motionless ease, seems to be what Adi Da calls “at-root” or “in-depth”. He also says that many non-humans (sentient beings) abide here whenever they are at rest, after having handled business they “contemplate’, he does not describe this contemplation as of a something, just the act of contemplation itself, everyone would allow this condition (beats any vacation, strategic meditation state, or entertainment possible), “Handle business and drop out !” is the Adept’s advice.

By convention a human being tends to do nothing other than “handle business”, here to “drop out” means to fall into the Heart Depth, rest there, abide there, the Sages and Great Ones did not hesitate about it, just dived in. It is not enlightenment as some claim, just native to all beings.

If you want to get technical it may be resting attention naturally at the causal root(1) of the being, not by any method or technique, it’s just where attention natively “sits” when all the hub-bub of life demands really fall away for periods of time. It feels structural or a natural progression or evolved state of our essential being, what I mean by this is it is not ephemeral (or at least less changeable) like so many internal states that come and go, but more like a stage of life of human possibility.

(1)The causal dimension is senior to and pervades both the gross and the subtle dimensions. It is the root of attention, or the essence of the separate and separative ego-”I”. The causal dimension is associated with the right side of the heart, specifically with the sinoatrial node, or “pacemaker” (the psycho-physical source of the heartbeat). Its corresponding state of consciousness is the formless awareness of deep sleep

Some may find this image a strange choice but others will know exactly why I chose it, over time my choice may change but as it stands this is my number one image of the Miraculous Great Sage-Adi Da Samraj- here as Master Da Free John, most likely taken in 1983 shortly before or after the acquisition of Naitauba Island.

His almost naked stance, has a timeless, unconcerned, ease and fearlessness, I immediately think of the Avadhoot tradition, His Freedom in striding effortlessly and indifferently through the water with a remote island in view, is a waltz through the universe of samsara. Most of all look at that Blessing Hand and Arm, it’s the gesture of Divine Victory- All forms will ultimately dissolve in Divine Love- no doubt of this expressed here.

“The Avadhoot in unshakable equanimity, living in the holy temple of nothingness, walks naked, knowing all to be Brahman”  -Avadhoot Gita

Ah, I long for the vanished gardens of Cordoba, where no thing hangs or rises up desirous to be sucked in or forced out, where all beings are sublime, tasting only the nectar of Love-Bliss in their mouths, their tongues clinging to the roof of their tooth-hood only for Happiness, without the slightest thought of self, without the slightest thought of clinging to another.

Such Bliss is not heaven! It is nowhere, nowhere at all, not then, not now, not in the future. Such Bliss has never been experienced by beings at all except in their moment of vanishing when they slide upon the Light from which forms are made. When nothing even in the slightest is experienced or known or presumed, then there is only the Infinite Light of Bliss, the same state in which you now exist, but without the compartments of your atrocious thought, without even a parcel of it hanging out.

Now we are free. Then we are free. Then we were free. Then we will be free. This space of time is only a figment of your imagination. This body here is the lie by which you are bound. Be willing to give up your body, even now, even now, even now. And your mind, which is your body.

Let it go. Let it go. Cling to nothing. Let it go. This is my recommendation.

Adi Da Samraj (published date says 1983, was spoken spontaneously earlier)

There are a whole series of YouTube Videos similar to this here

Part 2

 

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.

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}

With the forthcoming The Aletheon people will have the opportunity to review Adi Da’s final work which is relatively unknown compared to earlier writing. On this point a friend asked me this question, he has been a longtime student of Adi Da but never a formal devotee. It’s an ongoing discussion and perhaps will be much thrashed out over time with increasing clarity. I think it is an interesting consideration and perhaps on the mind of many

Q : (B.M) With the passing of Adi Da, would not his whole life as Avatar, Realizer, Guru, Teacher become the source of study by Adidam now, rather than the last years wherein the Master is sort of polarized or frozen in time as that exclusive form and teaching emphasis. I realize that this may be seen as a sort of heresy in Adidam, if it does not have the capacity to inspect its own dogmatism

A:(my answer) Adi Da is unique in the manner that He clearly wanted this period, even closer than this, perhaps the last 2 years of His life to be his legacy to All. His Enlightened Leela only came to Real Fullness or Completion- post 2000 after the Ruchira Dham Event. He made the point that only after this Event, His Teaching & The Reality Way of Adidam fully came into being.

Q: Yes I understand this, but surely if you inspect the life of anyone after they have left the body, their whole life, not just how they were at the end of their life becomes the Event, in other words Franklin Jones, Bubba Free John, Da Free John, Da Kalki, Da Avabhasa, Adi Da etc all represent distinct periods of wisdom study, all unique all with a specific emphasis, if you only emphasize the last few years, the greatness of each period is lost. I can go to YouTube and enjoy ( for instance) The humorous play of the Adept as Da Free John as a distinct and marvellous period of instruction and Leela and read books from the era with great joy.

A : No one in Adidam would deny you any of this and many may do the same thing, there is obviously no taboo against reading and listening and watching and enjoying any of the great media available from the past, however the ego being what it is, we may not see the earlier work as one in transition and a compromise, or submission to the approach of devotees and what they represented, at that time and place. In other words all of it can be an enjoyment and a study, but from what I can understand of Bhagavan Adi Da’s final instruction and that given to His Renunciate devotee’s whom He definitely personally instructed was that He clearly wanted His word and emphasis to be as it was at the end of His physical Incarnation. Again this was without a doubt Adi Da’s Blessing Intention, so Adidam is correct in trying to manifest the Masters Instruction. Others will naturally take whatever position they will on His lifetime, but Adidam will always represent what the Master Himself conveyed as His Demand.

I have been feeling the paradoxical liberation and freedom at the root of the genuine and ancient Guru devotee tradition.

Adi Da said “My devotees are Free”

What this means to me, is from the beginning of that relationship True Freedom is known, It’s not the traditional search for Freedom at the end of a long journey of struggle and adventure. It’s a given-from-the-beginning Intuition or direct Knowledge, that given Knowledge just matures over time and guides the life.

A lot of  people feel that the Guru devotee model is bondage, this is not the case. It’s more like being married and in love, keeps you straight, stops you going off the rails, getting full of “self” and calling it “The Self”, getting lost in internal  delusion which is bottomless and endless, or remaining an always hungry seeker without prior and present fullness.

It’s not popular, few are recommending it, but it is truly Liberating from the beginning.

Another thing that may not be so obvious is that Satsang or the primary relationship with The Guru, protects you from exploitation, in that fidelity, we become searchless and unexploitable having found our Source our True Ground

We find our True Ground at The Masters Feet just resting there, no problem, no dilemma in sight.

Then, what appears as bondage is Liberation, and what appears to be liberating is bondage.