Club Rat poster: AdiDaUpClose speaker: Chris Tong length: 01:04 date added: July 6, 2021 language: English listens: 951; listens this month: 10; listens this week: 0
On July 7, 1992 (Fiji time), at Adi Da Samrajashram, Adi Da created "Club Rat", a most unusual gathering during the height of a Celebratory period. For those unfamiliar with Club Rat, you can read Chris Tong's story about it here.
Music plays a central role in the story. For this reason, in celebration of the 29th anniversary of Club Rat (on July 7, 2021), Chris has recreated part of the rock song he wrote and performed that evening, Club Rat, so you can at least get a taste of the actual music from that night. (Adi Da had called for an evening of rock music. Club Rat was the opening song of a night of music that would go on to include much more than rock music. . .)
If for some reason, the player above doesn't work, try this player:
Club Rat. Club Rat. The funky place where God is at. Club Rat. Club Rat. The funky place where. . . only skanks and whores walk through its doors. There you find Your Self and lose yourself. When the Lord's in town Everyone gets down. Club Rat. Club Rat. The funky place where God is at. (etc.)
CHRIS: This recreation is just as we presented it to Beloved Adi Da during the Club Rat gathering, except for some improvements due to better musical equipment and technology (e.g., drum machines instead of upside-down, plastic "piss buckets" 😜 — read the full story for more about that! ).
I wrote Club Rat, keeping in mind the intensity and "badness" of the pop rock music Beloved Adi Da was listening to at the time (like Michael Jackson's Beat It).
The lyrics are drawn from Adi Da's instructions to us about Club Rat, such as: Club Rat was to be the most "funky" place ever; participating devotees had to be "skanks and whores" — in other words, no suppressed energy or emotional-sexual complication (so He could work with our entire energy, not just the superficial part we usually show to or share with others socially); etc.
The lyrics also drew on current, ongoing considerations Adi Da was having with devotees at the time, such as His Calling to us to "get down" (He was riffing on the popular 1970's slang phrase, giving it His Own unique meaning): a reminder for us to incarnate whole bodily (rather than being merely a "point" in the head, refusing to "get down" below the head).
The line, "When the Lord's in town" was a reference to Beloved Adi Da visiting the "village" of Qaravi: the area of the island of Naitauba where His devotees lived and where "Club Rat" (Hymns To Me) was located.
Purnima poster: NAADA OM length: 06:13 date added: November 6, 2018 event date: 2017 language: English views: 2552; views this month: 8; views this week: 5
NAADA OM is a World Music collaboration between composer, singer, and harmonium player, Felix Woldenberg, and percussionist and arranger, Alan Corne. In 2017, Felix and Alan made two trips to the beautiful island of Naitauba in Fiji to offer Sacred music for a variety of celebrations: Da Purnima, Naitauba Padavara and Da Jayanthi.
This is an excerpt from the Purnima album, which can be purchased through NAADA OM's online store.
[Ths video is currently not playable on the Adi Da Up Close site. Click this link to watch it on YouTube.]
As sacred musicians and devotees of Adi Da, Felix Woldenberg and Alan Corne have been involved in providing music as part of the devotional culture at Adi Da Samrajashram for two decades. They were involved in many sacred musical occasions offered in honour of, and gratitude to Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj during his lifetime at celebrations held between 2003 and 2006.
Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj instructed Felix and Alan in different ways and settings about the devotional relationship to the spiritual master, as well as the function and purpose sacred music and chant serves in the context of that relationship and in the sacred culture of practitioners who respond to the master.
Though Felix and Alan have undergone all sorts of musical training both in the East and West, the instruction they received in Bhagavan Adi Da's company is directly responsible for the devotional musical aesthetic which the NAADA OM collaboration encompasses.
NAADA OM's music can be divided into three categories: 'Devotional Songs or Bhajans'—based on traditional call-and-response chanting; 'Mantric Chants'—generally slow chants sung in unison utilizing mantras; and 'Sacred Offerings'—musical works encompassing elements of Western classical harmony, Bhajans, and Indian Dhrupad, Hindustani, and Qawwali classical traditions -- in which the audience participates only as listeners.
Traditionally, Bhajans and Kirtan tend toward stimulating the participant emotionally and physically, in contrast NAADA OM's orientation aims to move the participant to a depth of feeling in a space of stillness where the body-mind is brought to equanimity rather than being stimulated, thereby supporting the participant in a greater awareness of, and heart response to the Source-condition of his or her own being.
To continue the yearly service to the devotional culture of Adi Da Samrajashram, NAADA OM is releasing four albums made up of recordings from live performances that occurred during the 2017 celebrations.
All proceeds from the sale of these albums will go to support NAADA OM's return to Naitauba on a yearly basis, and thereby the creation of new musical offerings and future album releases.
poster: Wisdom Tools for Humanity length: 04:59 date added: March 26, 2017 event date: January 21, 2005 language: English views: 4732; views this month: 28; views this week: 9
Adi Da: "Sex is fundamental ego-identity, lived. And generally speaking, it is a problem for everyone. . . The social pattern of 'self' and 'other' is founded upon emotional-sexual patterning to a very great degree. . . So it certainly is an important dimension of bondage, and therefore an important aspect of sadhana. The Perfect Practice is not based on any reference to the body-mind, or any method of the body-mind."
In this Avataric Discourse (from January 21, 2005), Adi Da explains why the Perfect Practice (the most advanced development of the Way of Adidam) has nothing to do with sex (or the ego-"I" altogether), and is not a "method" of the body-mind or something to be applied to the body-mind. The Self-Condition prior to the body-mind is the domain of the Perfect Practice. The Self-Condition is not a separate "self", but the Nirvanic Condition that is always already the case, and that inherently transcends the body-mind.
This excerpt is from the DVD, Beyond Sex, Science, and self. Subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Czech, and Hebrew.
Surrender Without Limitation poster: DawnHorsePress length: 02:57 date added: March 5, 2017 event date: December 30, 1983 language: English listens: 2764; listens this month: 9; listens this week: 3
In this beautiful and intimate Discourse given on December 30, 1983 at Adi Da Samrajashram, Avatar Adi Da speaks with a man who suffers from claustrophobia. Avatar Adi Da points to the self-generated cause of such terrifying experiences, describing them as symptoms of feeling-contraction from the Field of Divine Existence. He calls this man—and all who are sensitive to suffering and anxiety—to find the Bliss of Divine Existence in His Company, and to intensively practice feeling beyond all emotional limits on living in That Bliss.
You Do Not Think poster: AdiDaVideos length: 06:53 date added: October 1, 2016 event date: October 10, 2004 language: English views: 4170; views this month: 6; views this week: 1
This is an excerpt from the DVD, Locate What Is Real, an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da on October 10, 2004.
In this excerpt, Adi Da explains how all the beings and things we tend to presume have an independent existence are in fact only apparitions arising in a single, universal Consciousness and are modifications of a single, underlying Divine Reality. Adi Da notes that the presumption that we are generating our actual thinking process is a part of this apparition. He says that even thoughts themselves are only an activity arising in Consciousness, and, if we truly examined this activity, we would notice that we are not generating the thinking process.
On the full DVD: * Adi Da describes how Reality is the true “first experience” for everyone — more fundamental to existence than identification with the apparently “born” being. * He speaks about how music and other arts can function as extensions of Spirituality. * He talks about Ramana Maharshi and the sixth stage orientation, in contrast to His seventh stage Reality-Way. * He addresses a devotee’s experience of emotional trauma, and how such events can affect one’s life. * He describes His own Submission, in His early life, to the process of Christian mystical experience.
[Contains Dutch subtitles. For the version without subtitles, click here.]
Adi Da: "Sex is fundamental ego-identity, lived. And generally speaking, it is a problem for everyone. . . The social pattern of 'self' and 'other' is founded upon emotional-sexual patterning to a very great degree. . . So it certainly is an important dimension of bondage, and therefore an important aspect of sadhana. The Perfect Practice is not based on any reference to the body-mind, or any method of the body-mind."
In this Avataric Discourse (from January 21, 2005), Adi Da explains why the Perfect Practice (the most advanced development of the Way of Adidam) has nothing to do with sex (or the ego-"I" altogether), and is not a "method" of the body-mind or something to be applied to the body-mind. The Self-Condition prior to the body-mind is the domain of the Perfect Practice. The Self-Condition is not a separate "self", but the Nirvanic Condition that is always already the case, and that inherently transcends the body-mind.
This excerpt is from the DVD, Beyond Sex, Science, and self. Subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Czech, and Hebrew. A CD version is also available.
Beyond Sex, Science, and self poster: AdiDaVideos length: 09:59 date added: December 16, 2013 event date: January 21, 2005 language: English views: 6255; views this month: 16; views this week: 7
Adi Da: "Sex is fundamental ego-identity, lived. And generally speaking, it is a problem for everyone. . . The social pattern of 'self' and 'other' is founded upon emotional-sexual patterning to a very great degree. . . So it certainly is an important dimension of bondage, and therefore an important aspect of sadhana. The Perfect Practice is not based on any reference to the body-mind, or any method of the body-mind."
In this Avataric Discourse (from January 21, 2005), Adi Da explains why the Perfect Practice (the most advanced development of the Way of Adidam) has nothing to do with sex (or the ego-"I" altogether), and is not a "method" of the body-mind or something to be applied to the body-mind. The Self-Condition prior to the body-mind is the domain of the Perfect Practice. The Self-Condition is not a separate "self", but the Nirvanic Condition that is always already the case, and that inherently transcends the body-mind.
This excerpt is from the DVD, Beyond Sex, Science, and self. Subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Czech, and Hebrew. A CD version is also available.
What Do You Do With Emotions? poster: TheBeezone length: 04:31 date added: November 17, 2013 event date: 1973 language: English views: 2096; views this month: 2; views this week: 0
In this 1973 talk, Adi Da Samraj responds to a question from a student about the tendency to either suppress, rise above, or indulge emotional states. He makes clear that "doing something else" - namely, the sadhana - is a different (and inherently right) alternative to all these other choices, in every moment.
Dr. Sally Taylor serves the Adidam culture by helping devotees with their practice of the Way of Adidam.
In this video, she talks about her voluntary participation in Adi Da's considerations about the emotional-sexual dimension of life. She describes the instructions she received, and the profound benefit she has derived by being "grown up" beyond childish patterns of self-suppression, shutting down of the life force, promiscuity, and limitations on love.
For more about Adi Da's wisdom on the emotional-sexual dimension of life, visit our Crazy Wisdom section.
Locate What Is Real poster: DawnHorsePress length: 05:49 date added: February 23, 2012 event date: October 10, 2004 language: English views: 4162; views this month: 6; views this week: 2
This is an excerpt from the DVD, Locate What Is Real, an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da on October 10, 2004.
On the full DVD: * Adi Da describes how Reality is the true “first experience” for everyone — more fundamental to existence than identification with the apparently “born” being. * He speaks about how music and other arts can function as extensions of Spirituality. * He talks about Ramana Maharshi and the sixth stage orientation, in contrast to His seventh stage Reality-Way. * He addresses a devotee’s experience of emotional trauma, and how such events can affect one’s life. * He describes His own Submission, in His early life, to the process of Christian mystical experience.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, Frank Marrero length: 14:12 date added: February 13, 2011 event date: February 6, 2011 language: English views: 5284; views this month: 5; views this week: 1
Beezone editor and teacher Ed Reither interviews devotee and teacher Frank Marrero about the second stage of life (age 7 to 14), as taught by Adi Da Samraj.
The second stage is life is an expansion from the more physical aspects of development to the feeling/emotional/socialization aspects of life and the discussion moves around teaching children and adults to understand their development through this stage of life and how to mature with it.
In this part, they focus on the transcending of any limitation in the expression of love and service.
More information on children and use of the teachings of Adi Da Samrai in childrearing can be found here.
This video is part of a more comprehensive video webinar on the seven stages of life. An introduction and index to all the videos in the webinar can be found here.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, Frank Marrero length: 14:03 date added: February 13, 2011 event date: February 6, 2011 language: English views: 4794; views this month: 12; views this week: 3
Beezone editor and teacher Ed Reither interviews devotee and teacher Frank Marrero about the second stage of life (age 7 to 14), as taught by Adi Da Samraj.
The second stage is life is an expansion from the more physical aspects of development to the feeling/emotional/socialization aspects of life and the discussion moves around teaching children and adults to understand their development through this stage of life and how to mature with it.
More information on children and use of the teachings of Adi Da Samrai in childrearing can be found here.
This video is part of a more comprehensive video webinar on the seven stages of life. An introduction and index to all the videos in the webinar can be found here.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, Frank Marrero length: 11:57 date added: February 13, 2011 event date: February 6, 2011 language: English views: 4997; views this month: 12; views this week: 3
Beezone editor and teacher Ed Reither interviews devotee and teacher Frank Marrero about the second stage of life (age 7 to 14), as taught by Adi Da Samraj.
The second stage is life is an expansion from the more physical aspects of development to the feeling/emotional/socialization aspects of life and the discussion moves around teaching children and adults to understand their development through this stage of life and how to mature with it.
More information on children and use of the teachings of Adi Da Samraj in childrearing can be found here.
This video is part of a more comprehensive video webinar on the seven stages of life. An introduction and index to all the videos in the webinar can be found here.
A Shuffle of Shapes poster: AdiDaUpClose length: 10:49 date added: June 5, 2010 language: English views: 2382; views this month: 4; views this week: 1
Adi Da: "It's amazing how controlled people are, in their whole pattern of feeling and living, by patterns that have affected their emotional-sexual impulses, activities, thoughts, concerns. The process of people's experience of life is so arbitrary in many respects. . . . It's just a shuffle of shapes!"
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