I’ve sung Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to Beloved Adi Da many times over the years — at the Manner of Flowers, at Adi Da Samrajashram, at First People / Great Food Dish, etc. (as one of a small group of singers, and usually also as the keyboardist) — and I’m singing it to Him again (and all of you!) here. It is one of my favorite songs at this time of year.
For me (starting with Judy Garland's original film version), it has always been an emotion-filled song, by turns joyful, playful, nostalgic, and wistful — so that is how I sing it here.
This song as a bridge to God. In Beloved Adi Da’s Company, everything (from Mickey Mouse to cookie-making) becomes “a bridge to God”.
ADI DA: “You must Awaken and discover the Divine World wherein everything is a bridge to the Infinite, One Being.”
And so for me, the words of this song have always taken on a significance beyond the usual secular understanding of the song. They lead me through a consideration that I’ll share with you here.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the Yuletide gay From now on our troubles will be miles away.
Here we are as in olden days Happy golden days of yore Faithful friends who are dear to us Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together If the fates allow Hang a shining star upon the highest bough And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
That wistfulness: Raymond’s problem. On the surface, the words of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas are purely joyful — "faithful friends" coming together each year in a joyous Christmas celebration. And yet, one of the emotions I feel when I sing this song is wistfulness. So where is the wistfulness coming from? It's that big "IF" in the song: "if the fates allow". In fact, as every one of us knows (more and more, with each passing year), fate (conditional existence) only allows such reunions for a limited number of years. As I sing, I have a vision of a photograph of a gathering of friends, from a Christmas or Danavira Mela many years ago, and, in this vision, each face in the photograph — one by one over the years — turns "ghostly", either through our circumstances (high school, college, living near each other) no longer being shared, or life paths that have moved in different directions, or the passing on of that person. My awareness of that inevitable reality is the source of the wistfulness and nostalgia. The inevitable disappearance of the (mortal) loved one is “Raymond’s problem”, a phrase Adi Da uses, based on the central character of The Mummery Book.
Danavira Mela: A Divine Celebration in the midst of a conditional universe. The joy and playfulness of the song comes from the celebration we can still have together, even in the midst of an ever-changing, conditional universe. One of my (and many other devotees’) favorite quotes of Beloved Adi Da has always been this extraordinary prayer, from “Death is a Perfect Insult” in The Enlightenment of the Whole Body:
“Let us surrender into Infinity with all our friends and hold on to no thing or condition that ever appears. Let us forget all things in present Happiness, and so forgive the universe for all its playful changes. Let us always love one another, and so forgive one another for appearing, for changing, and for passing out of present sight. So be it.”
When I sing this song, I hear it giving further guidance for just how to do this.
As part of our commemoration of renowned actor Kenneth Welsh (who passed away on May 5, 2022), we have created this enjoyable "peek" inside Ken's process of preparing to play the role of narrator in the January, 2000 ten-hour long performance of The Mummery Book.
The video excerpt was edited (by Chris Tong) from a much longer, unreleased documentary (created by well-known film director, Terence Gross) about the making of The Mummery Book. (Consequently, the audio and visual quality are a little spotty in places.)
At a certain point in the process (3:02), Avatar Adi Da (“Beloved”) sits in at a rehearsal, and then begins to actively participate in making suggestions for the production. Finally (at 5:45), there is a brief glimpse of the end of the actual performance, after which Adi Da expresses His appreciation by coming up and embracing Ken.
Big Philosophy for Little Kids poster: The Integral Stage speakers: Frank Marrero, Layman Pascal length: 60:55 date added: October 2, 2021 language: English views: 917; views this month: 9; views this week: 0
For the fifteenth episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman Pascal sits down with author and Adi Da devotee, Frank Marrero, to talk about, not a book this time, but an affective writing curriculum that he developed for children. Drawing particularly on Vedic and Greek sources, but also contemporary knowledge, the curriculum introduces students to the major stages of development they can expect to pass through on the way to becoming healthy, mature, wise, affectively fluent individuals and moral agents. In the discussion that follows, Frank guides Layman through lucid, engaging descriptions each of the stages, and offers some reflections on the integration and "clean up" work adults can do if they have not successfully passed through them all.
Frank Marrero is an educator, a disciple of Adi Da, and the curator of the Beezone website. As he says about himself, "I fell 4 meters (head-first) into concrete at age 6, inflicting me with life-long dysgraphia, or the crippling of handwriting. Sixty-one more times around the sun, I am the unlikely author of 9 books (thanks to computers!). As you may notice, my non-fiction ranges from biographies to fasting to education to spirituality. Writing is such a joy for me, I pray some of it leaks through!"
Adi Da Beloved poster: AdiDaUpClose speaker: Chris Tong length: 03:04 date added: December 23, 2020 language: English listens: 1825; listens this month: 7; listens this week: 0
Problems with the audio player? Try the MP3 download link below. ---------------------------------------------------- Chris Tong sings "Adi Da Beloved" — a devotional version of the traditional Christmas carol, "Angels We Have Heard On High".
Words, musical arrangement, and performance by Chris Tong, in the manner of other ecstatic, dramatic, immersive musical pieces like the “Hallelujah Chorus” (the finale of Handel's Messiah) and “Ode To Joy” (the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony).
Thanks to my dear friend, Crane Kirkbride, whose own beautiful singing of music like this inspired me to create Adi Da Beloved. Crane also gave me some very helpful singing tips after listening to an earlier version.
Parama-Sapta-Na poster: DawnHorsePress length: 02:38 date added: December 15, 2020 language: English listens: 1652; listens this month: 15; listens this week: 3
This excerpt is from "Parama-Sapta-Na", track 6 of the album, I Am The Heart.
I Am The Heart contains six tracks of beautiful devotional music and chant, written and recorded by Antonina Randazzo and Elaine Dixon, with one traditional chant.
Antonina and Elaine write: "We offer this CD in loving regard, devotion, and gratitude to our Divine Heart-Master, Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj, who is our inspiration. 'I Am The Heart' is His Divine Confession and True Nature, which He Reveals and freely Gives to all. May His Blessings flow through this offering, and touch your heart."
Joining Antonina and Elaine on "Parama-Sapta-Na" is Steve Brown (vocals).
Elaine (with Rosa Guilfoyle) has also released another album, The Teaching Manual Of Perfect Summaries, which includes chanting and recitation of Adi Da's Teaching.
Da Adi Da poster: DawnHorsePress length: 02:36 date added: December 15, 2020 language: English listens: 1128; listens this month: 18; listens this week: 4
This excerpt is from "Da Adi Da", track 5 of the album, I Am The Heart.
I Am The Heart contains six tracks of beautiful devotional music and chant, written and recorded by Antonina Randazzo and Elaine Dixon, with one traditional chant.
Antonina and Elaine write: "We offer this CD in loving regard, devotion, and gratitude to our Divine Heart-Master, Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj, who is our inspiration. 'I Am The Heart' is His Divine Confession and True Nature, which He Reveals and freely Gives to all. May His Blessings flow through this offering, and touch your heart."
Elaine (with Rosa Guilfoyle) has also released another album, The Teaching Manual Of Perfect Summaries, which includes chanting and recitation of Adi Da's Teaching.
[Contains Finnish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]
Adi Da kritisoi uskonnollista kultismia. Hän kiteyttää sanomansa aiheesta tässä puheessa vuodelta 1978.
This discourse, "Mitä on kultismi?" ("What Is Cultism?"), was given at the Mountain Of Attention on December 16, 1978, three weeks after the Jonestown Massacre.
Adi Da criticized religious cultism long before the subject gained any popular attention. For an audio clip of His earliest criticisms — in June, 1972 — click here.
This 1978 talk is one of His summary addresses on the subject. Adi Da observes that the primary characteristic of a cult member is shared enthusiasm (like enjoying the energy of the crowd at a football game). For example, in "the cult of the Spiritual Master", everybody is enjoying the enthusiasm (their own and each other's) associated with having "found" the great Master; but no one is actually engaged in significant deepening of the devotional and spiritual relationship with the Master, and practicing on that basis — hence no Spiritual growth or Realization occurs.
Adi Da: "My purpose in My Teaching is to make it possible for you to duplicate what I have done — not to be eternally separated from Me, but to be in Communion with Me — to be intimate with Me in Spiritual terms, so that you, yourself, may live this practice, and fulfill it in your own case."
poster: Aniello Panico speaker: Aniello Panico length: 09:48 date added: January 21, 2020 language: English views: 1742; views this month: 14; views this week: 1
Longtime devotee Aniello Panico tells a story from one of the happiest days of his life: the day Bhagavan Adi Da met and Blessed his mother (when she was 79 or 80 years old) at the Mountain Of Attention, during the Ten-Day Gathering of 1995-1996. This video tells the whole joyous story.
ANIELLO: "I like to share this story because it shows the human compassion and humor of the Guru."
The cookbook Aniello and Brenda helped create for Aniello's mother, Elodia Rigante's Italian Immigrant Cooking, and a New York Times article on the book, Recapturing the Flavors of an Era (August 27, 1995). Aniello, quoted in the article, "We all got heavier putting this cookbook together. . . I gained seven pounds."
For a photo of Adi Da with Aniello's mother, click here.
For a photo of Adi Da holding Aniello's mother's hand, click here.
For more stories and videos from Aniello, click here.
[Contains Italian subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]
Adi Da critica il cultismo in genere e in particolare quello religioso. Questo discorso, che risale al 1978, è uno dei ricorsi sullo stesso tema che si sono susseguiti negli anni.
Adi Da criticized religious cultism, long before the subject gained any popular attention. (For an audio clip of His earliest criticisms — in June, 1972 — click here.) This discourse, "Cos'è il Cultismo?" ("What Is Cultism?"), given in 1978 at The Mountain Of Attention, is one of His summary addresses on the subject. Adi Da observes that the primary characteristic of a cult member is shared enthusiasm (like enjoying the energy of the crowd at a football game). For example, in "the cult of the Spiritual Master", everybody is enjoying the enthusiasm (their own and each other's) associated with having "found" the great Master; but no one is actually engaged in significant deepening of the devotional and spiritual relationship with the Master, and practicing on that basis — hence no Spiritual growth or Realization occurs.
Adi Da: "My purpose in My Teaching is to make it possible for you to duplicate what I have done — not to be eternally separated from Me, but to be in Communion with Me — to be intimate with Me in Spiritual terms, so that you, yourself, may live this practice, and fulfill it in your own case."
This brief excerpt is from Track 2, "Ruchira Avatara". This was recorded during the first sacred occasion in the temple, Is-Da Happen, after the cyclone. (More information about album tracks here.)
Proceeds from this album will go toward equipment for Sacred music at Adi Da Samrajashram (e.g., better amplifiers, microphones, etc.).
[If you enjoy this album, help us let others know about it! Write a review on Amazon.com or CD Baby.]
The exquisite devotional offerings on Radiance bring us all directly to Bhagavan's Holy Feet at His Great Hermitage and remind us that, despite the damage wrought by the cyclone, His Divine Presence remains Sublimely Untouched and Present there. Devotees and friends from all over the world came together to serve and restore the Holy Places and we offer this Sacred music at His Blessed Feet with all our love and devotion. All the recordings were made by the Adidam Sacred Music Guild during live occasions in the various Temples on Naitauba.
The painting by Nara Wood on the CD cover is of the "chanting room" at Samraj Mahal (on Adi Da Samrajashram), where countless musical offerings were made to Avatar Adi Da during His Lifetime when He was spending time there.
[Contains French subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]
Adi Da critique le sectarisme religieux. Ce discours, donné en 1978, est une de ses allocutions récapitulatives sur le sujet.
Adi Da criticized religious cultism, long before the subject gained any popular attention. (For an audio clip of His earliest criticisms — in June, 1972 — click here.) This discourse, "Qu'est-ce que le Sectarisme?" ("What Is Cultism?"), given in 1978 at The Mountain Of Attention, is one of His summary addresses on the subject. Adi Da observes that the primary characteristic of a cult member is shared enthusiasm (like enjoying the energy of the crowd at a football game). For example, in "the cult of the Spiritual Master", everybody is enjoying the enthusiasm (their own and each other's) associated with having "found" the great Master; but no one is actually engaged in significant deepening of the devotional and spiritual relationship with the Master, and practicing on that basis — hence no Spiritual growth or Realization occurs.
Adi Da: "My purpose in My Teaching is to make it possible for you to duplicate what I have done — not to be eternally separated from Me, but to be in Communion with Me — to be intimate with Me in Spiritual terms, so that you, yourself, may live this practice, and fulfill it in your own case."
Czym jest kult? poster: Adi Da Video Polska length: 19:00 date added: June 2, 2017 event date: December 16, 1978 language: Polish views: 3417; views this month: 13; views this week: 8
[Contains Polish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]
Adi Da krytyka kultu religijnego. Dyskurs ten, wydany w 1978 roku, jest jednym z jego podsumowań na ten temat.
Aby uzyskać więcej informacji o Adi Da Samraj i Drodze Serca proszę pisać na adres: adidavideo.pl@gmail.com.
Adi Da criticized religious cultism, long before the subject gained any popular attention. (For an audio clip of His earliest criticisms — in June, 1972 — click here.) This discourse, given in 1978 at The Mountain Of Attention, is one of His summary addresses on the subject. Adi Da observes that the primary characteristic of a cult member is shared enthusiasm (like enjoying the energy of the crowd at a football game). For example, in "the cult of the Spiritual Master", everybody is enjoying the enthusiasm (their own and each other's) associated with having "found" the great Master; but no one is actually engaged in significant deepening of the devotional and spiritual relationship with the Master, and practicing on that basis — hence no Spiritual growth or Realization occurs.
Adi Da: "My purpose in My Teaching is to make it possible for you to duplicate what I have done — not to be eternally separated from Me, but to be in Communion with Me — to be intimate with Me in Spiritual terms, so that you, yourself, may live this practice, and fulfill it in your own case."
A report in June, 2016 on the state of Naitauba, three months after the devastating destruction wrought by Cyclone Winston on February 20, 2016.
Interviews with Michiel Vos (Samrajya Administrator), Grace Evans (retreatant from California), Carol Smith (resident), Susie Bagshaw (Taveuni Support and Fijian Advocacy), Naamleela Free Jones (daughter of Adi Da Samraj), Joy Harland (resident), Andrew Savio (retreatant from Melbourne, Australia), Nicholas Wagner (public guest from Cape Town, South Africa), Da-vid Forsythe (resident), Ruchiradama Nadikanta (Ruchira Sannyasin Order), Jeff Hughes (retreatant from Taveuni, Fiji), and Ryan Bass (retreatant from Cape Town, South Africa).
While much has been done to restore Naitauba since the damage of Cyclone Winston (some of it reported in this video), much more recovery and restoration work and work aimed at minimizing the damage from future cyclones is still needed. You can find out more here.
The Vision of Love poster: Gerald Sheinfeld speaker: Gerald Sheinfeld length: 05:41 date added: August 2, 2016 language: English listens: 5765; listens this month: 16; listens this week: 9
On his new downloadable album, At the Feet of the Spiritual Master, devotee Gerald Sheinfeld tells leelas — true stories of his life of over 45 years with Avatar Adi Da Samraj. These stories begin before the first ashram opened in 1972. They provide details of how Avatar Adi Da awakened ordinary people into devotees of Real God. These stories are based on the awakened recognition of the prior Unity of Divine Reality. They are full of lessons of self-understanding and brightening heart-joy in finding the truth about God, the truth about life and death. The truth of prior Happiness which is the true Condition of all, prior to the ego-I act of separation.
Gerald has been a devotee of Adi Da since the beginning of Adi Da's work with devotees. He accompanied Adi Da on His 1973 trip to India, and has participated in countless sacred occasions and events in the company of Adi Da in the intervening years — so he has many stories to tell!
Some of those stories are on this downloadable album. This audio excerpt is track 8, "The Vision Of Love", on Gerald's downloadable album.
At The Feet of the Spiritual Master poster: Gerald Sheinfeld speaker: Gerald Sheinfeld length: 78:54 date added: June 13, 2016 event date: April 2016 language: English listens: 7058; listens this month: 23; listens this week: 11
In April, 2016 (close to the end of his tour), Gerald hosted several events at The Mountain Of Attention. This hour-long audio clip contains excerpts from those events — so if you were unable to attend any of Gerald's events. . . here is a taste!
Gerald has been a devotee of Adi Da since the beginning of Adi Da's work with devotees. He accompanied Adi Da on His 1973 trip to India, and has participated in countless sacred occasions and events in the company of Adi Da in the intervening years — so he has many stories to tell.
The quality of this audio clip is not perfect, but clear enough to understand. For higher quality, and more material, you can now purchase a downloadable album, At the Feet of the Spiritual Master.
Stops on Gerald's worldwide tour: July, 2015 - May, 2016 Melbourne, Australia Sydney, Australia The European Danda, the Netherlands Berlin, Germany London, England Cambridge, England Tiperary, Ireland Florence, Italy Natick, Massachusetts Portland, Oregon Seattle, Washington Vancouver, BC Canada Walk About Joy, Trinidad, California Santa Rosa, California Marin, California Los Angeles, California Joshua Tree, California Palm Springs, California San Diego, California Natick, Massachusetts Ripton, Vermont Montreal, Canada Sutton, Canada Piedmont, New Hampshire Los Angeles, California Tucson, Arizona Santa Fe, New Mexico Fort Worth, Texas Houston, Texas Slidell, Louisiana Birmingham, Alabama Atlanta, Georgia Jupiter, Florida High Springs, Florida Durham, North Carolina Richmond, Virginia Potomac, Maryland Kenilworth, New Jersey Long Island, New York New Paltz, New York Brooklyn, New York Cleveland, Ohio Chicago, Illinois The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary, Northern California Gold Coast, Australia Byron Bay, Australia Melbourne, Australia Auckland, New Zealand Adi Da Samrajashram, Naitauba, Fiji
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