Summary

In this article, we have introduced the notion of exegesis: the exploration of the meaning of a text — most commonly, a sacred text from one of the world's religious or spiritual traditions. We have mentioned how all the world's great religions have extensive tools for exegesis of their sacred texts. Often these tools draw upon commentaries on the sacred texts created by the greatest religious scholars and spiritual Realizers within that tradition.

The need for such extensive commentary — both for Adidam and for other great religious traditions — is great, because the full understanding of even a single line of sacred text often requires a tremendous amount of contextualization: technical words are used; allusions are made, but not elaborated; the line was spoken or written during a specific period, and the reader would benefit from knowing about that period; moreover, that period was part of a larger history, and so knowing at what point the line was spoken or written in this larger history gives a fuller sense for how to rightly understand it.

The Teaching Communications of Adi Da spanned 38 years, during which His Work — and His manner of writing and speaking — underwent dramatic changes. A reader cannot fully or rightly understand the meaning of a particular communication from Adi Da, without knowing the full context in which it was spoken or written.

Naturally this can lead to confusion, especially for people who are new to Adi Da's Teaching, and who (via the Web) are coming across that Teaching not only in its final "2008" form, but in every form that it took from 1970 through 2008. Without fully knowing the history and the context, one could easily think that something Adi Da said in 1974 could "contradict" something said in 2008; or one could end up "preferring" Adi Da's 1978 teachings over His 2008 Teachings — for the wrong reasons.

To eliminate such confusion, misinterpretation, and, in effect, mis-use of Adi Da's Teachings, we have provided a framework for rightly understanding anything Adi Da said or wrote at any point, by fully understanding the context in which it was written. In this article, we have suggested that seven dimensions are sufficient to pin down that context for almost everything Adi Da wrote or said:

1. Where Adi Da was in His Seventh-Stage Process
2. Where Adi Da was in His understanding of the significance Of His own life, work, and Agency
3. Where Adi Da was in His process of "learning Man", and His assessment of the relative strength of the Force of the Divine versus the force of egoity
4. Where Adi Da felt the culture of Adidam was at in its maturity relative to practice and providing a circumstance for practitioners, and its ability to support His Work in the world and corroborate the Communication of Who He Is and What He is Offering
5. Whether the communication represented a particular temporary phase (or "stance" in a larger consideration) or a conclusive "summary statement"
6. Which "voice" Adi Da was using when He spoke or wrote
7. Where Adi Da was in the development and use of His special terminology (for increased precision and closing loopholes) and innovative use of language altogether

Not everything Adi Da said or wrote requires knowing where that communication stood along all of the seven dimensions above. But many things He said or wrote do require knowing where that communication stood along at least several of these dimensions, to really rightly and fully understand what He was saying.

A major future direction will be to actually apply this framework to a number of Adi Da's talks and essays, and "label" them appropriately, i.e., answering the above seven questions for that particular talk or essay. As a very simple example of applying this framework, we could label The Aletheon (as a whole) along these seven dimensions as follows:

1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.
Divine Translation	Third Stage	Final Stage	some real recognition	summary statement	Mostly the voice of the Very Divine	Final stage

Ideally, if we have created a useful framework for exegesis, the student of Adi Da's Teaching who has assimilated such a framework and mastered its use would be able to read a quote from Adi Da (for example, someone has just posted the "raw quote" on Facebook, with no further context — a very common occurence these days), and be able to do all of the following:

1. Make an intelligent guess as to when Adi Da said or wrote it. (Some quotes are more easily "dated" than others, of course.)
   
   
2. Contextualize it appropriately (along the seven dimensions we have just presented).
   
   
3. If it was an early communication, suggest how Adi Da would have re-worded or qualified the communication in later years.
   
   
4. In particular, be able to identify those quotes from earlier years — for example, "Dead gurus can't kick ass" — that made sense in the context Adi Da originally communicated it (e.g., it was a key communication during the "Teaching Years" because the "Teaching Years" were all about Adi Da's submission to, and work with, devotees), but which no longer made sense at all after a certain point in His work with devotees, and be able to explain why this is the case. (It is these quotes especially which, when taken out of context, can create the greatest confusion for people new to Adi Da's Teaching.)

It is my intention to keep developing and refining this framework to the point where it does indeed enable the student who makes good use of it to readily be capable of all of (1) through (4), upon reading a quote from Adi Da's talks or writings.

Related Reading:

• Jonathan Condit, Beloved Adi Da's "Map" of the Practice of the Reality-Way of Adidam, Adi Da Samrajashram Journal, Second Quarter, January 17 - April 26, 2011. Jonathan discusses some of the differences in the form of practice of the Way of Adidam over the years.