Adi Da Up Close
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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).

instruments: synthesizers, horns, flute, piano, violin, bass, drums, bells.

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.

This audio is also part of an article, Adi Da and Holiday Music.

Tags: music   Danavira Mela  

[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.]

Avatar Adi Dan antama puhe vuodelta 1981, joka käsittelee Aidon Ilon luonnetta ja sen Toteutusta hetkestä hetkeen, joka ei onnistu sitä etsimällä.

This is a video excerpt from Adi Da's classic talk, "The Bodily Location of Happiness", which He gave on November 28, 1981. This talk was originally published in the book, The Bodily Location Of Happiness. The full talk is available on CD and on a new DVD, The Location Of Happiness.

Tags: CD   DVD   Finnish  

[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.]

Oto fragment rozmowy Adi Da, "Gdzie w ciele jest szczęście?", którą wygłosił 28 listopada 1981 roku. Poniżej publikujemy fragment tekstu z tego nagrania.

"Duchowy Proces w trudnych czasach" ("The Spiritual Process in Troubled Times") is a video excerpt from Adi Da's classic talk, "The Bodily Location of Happiness", which He gave on November 28, 1981. This talk was originally published in the book, The Bodily Location Of Happiness. The full talk is available on DVD and on CD, and as an online transcript.

ADI DA: Życie jest głupotą, ale to nie są czasy na tolerowanie głupoty. Świat jest szalony, to straszne czasy, a w nadchodzących latach wcale nie będzie łatwiej. Proces duchowy zawsze przeżywano w trudnych czasach. Dlatego proces duchowy nie toleruje głupca. Sam Proces Duchowy pokona cię. Nie jest to łatwe osiągnięcie, to nieprawdopodobnie trudna sprawa. Nawet to, czego dzisiaj słuchaliście, zostało wysłuchane tylko przez ułamek rodzaju ludzkiego w całej jego historii. Możliwość praktyki jest niezwykle rzadka, a spełnienie jej jest praktycznie nieznane.

W pewnym sensie można powiedzieć, że to życie jest piekłem. W naszym języku religijnym mówimy o tym, co może się z tobą stać po śmierci. Cóż, można iść do nieba, można iść do czyśćca żeby się oczyścić lub można iść do piekła. A potem być może udasz się do czyśćca czy tymczasowego piekła, i może będziesz miał szczęście urodzić się jako istota ludzka i poświęcić się duchowemu procesowi. Natura tego piekła polega na tym, że jesteśmy opętani sami sobą. Rodzimy się w nie-Szczęściu i nie przekraczamy go łatwo. Nieustannie dążymy do szczęścia poprzez wszelkiego rodzaju niezwykle złożone środki i nigdy go nie osiągamy.

Gdyby Urzeczywistnieni Adepci nie wracali by nauczać, to tutaj byłoby naprawdę piekło, a nie coś podobnego do piekła. Gdyby nie było możliwości Oświecenia, gdyby nie był Nauk, nie było Boskiego Prawa, Adeptów, Świętej Drogi, Świętej wspólnoty, ani możliwości samo-transcendencji, to tutaj byłoby naprawdę piekło.

ADI DA: Life is foolishness. This is no time, in any case, to be tolerant of foolishness. The world is mad, and these are dreadful times. Things are not going to be easier in the years ahead. The spiritual process has always been lived in difficult times. Therefore, the spiritual process tolerates no fool. The spiritual process itself will spit you out. It is not an easy attainment, but a profoundly difficult affair. Even what you have listened to today has been heard by only a fraction of the human race in all of history. The opportunity to practice is extremely rare, and the fulfillment of practice is practically unknown.

In some sense you could say this life is hell. . . The nature of this hell is that we are self-possessed. We are born in un-Happiness and we do not transcend it readily. We constantly pursue Happiness through all kinds of incredibly complex means, and we never attain It. . .

If Spiritual Realizers did not turn about and Teach, this would truly be a hell instead of being like a hell. It would truly be a hell if there were no possibility of Enlightenment, if there were no Teaching, no Spiritual Masters, no sacred Way, no sacred community, no capacity for understanding or self-transcendence.

Tags: Polish   DVD   CD  

[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.]

Sanat kuten "vapaus" ja "rakkaus" määritetään yleisesssä maallikkoympäristössä erittäin rajoitetusti. Tässä Adi Dan esseen lausunnassa hän avaa näiden sanojen aitoa merkitystä.

Slides from a Darshan occasion of Avatar Adi Da at Adi Da Samrajashram.

The audio recording is an excerpt from a recitation of Adi Da's essay, "Freedom Is The Only Law and Happiness Is The Only Reality". This is the Epilogue from Adi Da's book, The Truly Human New World-Culture of Unbroken Real-God-Man, which was originally written in 2001, and updated on November 13, 2019. The essay is read by a student of Adi Da. In the secular world, words like "freedom" and " love" are given a very limited definition. In this essay, Adi Da expands the true meaning of both of these words.

ADI DA: I Am here to Divinely Liberate all beings.

I Am here to Grant True Freedom to every one.

“Freedom” is one of the principal words associated with the politics of this “late-time”. The general trend toward the democratization of the entire world carries with it an intensified interest in the concept of freedom and in the pursuit of freedom. However, in the context and circumstance of this “late-time”, the word “freedom” is used in such a way that the true import of the word is lost, and its meaning is transformed, and even vulgarized.

The same process of vulgarization has also occurred in the case of other words, such as (for example) the word “love”. The word “love” represents a profound concept and reality, but the word itself tends to be used very casually. People commonly say that they “love” this or that, meaning something quite different from what the word “love” rightly and truly signifies.

“Love” is a word that rightly refers to the universal Sacrifice of ego-“self”. Real love is a matter of transcending “self” (or going beyond your limitations in relation to others)—but, in the “late-time” circumstance of vulgarized culture, the word “love” has come to be used in relation to whatever satisfies your inclinations, or fulfills your desires, or (otherwise) somehow compensates for limitations in your life by pleasing you and (thereby) supporting your egoic disposition. None of that has anything to do with real love.

So it also is with the word “freedom”, and the notion of freedom. The world-culture of this “late-time” is essentially an ego-culture associated with complications in the first three stages of life. It is essentially an adolescent culture. And it is in the context of that culture that great words like “love” and “freedom” become vulgarized. In the adolescent disposition, the word “freedom”, like the word “love”, is reduced to an egoic meaning. People say they want to be “free”, or want to act “freely”, or want to be “free” to do this or that—but what they actually mean is that they want to be able to fulfill their desires without limitation. An adolescent reacting to parental authority or parental expectations regards any such authority or expectations to be oppressive or limiting. Therefore, such adolescents say that they want to be “free” to do whatever they please. And that is, in general, what is meant in this “late-time” by the word “freedom”. Even in the larger political sphere, the word “freedom” is used to express the (personal, and also collective) intent to be able to fulfill desires—and those desires are (necessarily) fundamentally ego-based.

What does the fulfillment of desires have to do with true freedom? Rightly, the word “freedom” is synonymous with the word “liberation”. To “be free”, or to “be liberated”, means to “go beyond bondage”. The opposite of “freedom” is “bondage”. If one is truly moved to be truly free, one is moved to relinquish (and go beyond) bondage. Such is the true Wisdom-understanding of freedom.

Neither true freedom, nor real love, nor any other great concept is rightly understood via the words and concepts of adolescents. There must be human maturity (and, therefore, growth in Wisdom) for the great meanings underlying these concepts to be understood and actually lived.

Be moved toward real love, without limit. Be moved toward real happiness, without limit.

Be moved toward true freedom, without limit. You should (and, ultimately, must) be so moved. But to actually realize love (or real happiness, or true freedom) without limit, you must deal with yourself most profoundly. You cannot merely be reactive, like an adolescent or a worldly person.

If you want to be truly free, you must first understand that you are bound, and you must understand how you are bound, and then you must do something about that. If, on the other hand, you are merely reactively inclined to fulfill desires, and you want to be (so-called) “free” to do so, then you are not examining your bondage—what its roots are, what its signs are, what its characteristics are—and, if you are not examining your bondage with real discriminative intelligence, you are also not doing what you must do in order to be truly free.

Tags: Finnish  

A devotee confesses to Adi Da that, when he reads Adi Da's Teaching, he feels a direct Transmission from Adi Da Himself. Adi Da then talks about how His Teaching Word is a form of Spiritual Transmission, that enables Divine Communion with Him (if the devotee is in the right devotional disposition), in the same way that a Murti photograph does, or any of the other forms of Agency that Adi Da has created for this purpose.

For more on this subject, read our section, The Mantric Force of Adi Da's Word.


Tags: Avataric Discourse  

In October of 1978, in Land Bridge Pavilion at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary in Northern California, devotees of Adi Da Samraj gathered with Him for an occasion in which He responded to their questions. At one point, a young boy stood up to ask a question. With quiet determination, he asked Avatar Adi Da if he could help him find a way to stop being self-righteous with other people. Avatar Adi Da gave the boy a radiant smile and began to speak to him with great gentleness and love. This is a video excerpt from that Talk. This is track 6 on the DVD, Surrender of self Is A Koan. It is also available in audio form as Track 3 of the free, downloadable CD, The Liberating Word of Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Volume 1.

[Contains German 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.]

This video excerpt, "Das große Geheimnis" ("The Great Secret") is from the DVD, The Great Secret, which is Volume 3 of the 20th Anniversary Series.

There is a great Secret that has been known since before recorded history to those who are most serious about Spiritual life. It is the Secret of Liberation from the dead-end of seeking and a life of unhappiness. To discover this Secret is the true heart-desire of every being.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj describes the Realization of Truth and Its necessary practical foundation in these excerpts from Discourses given in 1988 at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary in northern California and at Adi Da Samrajashram Hermitage in Fiji.

ADI DA: Since the ancient days it has been said that if Real-God-Realization, Liberation, or Enlightenment is the purpose of your life, the best thing you can do is spend your time in the Company of a Realizer. It is by sympathetic association with the Realizer, Communion with the Realizer, that Realization is accomplished, and not by "self"-effort.

Tags: German   DVD  

Excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

In recent decades, yoga and meditation have become a regular part of the daily lives of millions of people around the world. Through these and other practices, people develop stronger bodies, more personal discipline, better health, more loving relationships, and a greater ability to manage the stresses of modern life.

In the last few months, however, it has suddenly become universally apparent that these benefits are not be enough. Life is not programmed to produce lasting satisfaction and immunity to the challenges, inherent suffering, and mortality of existence.

In this Avataric Discourse, Avatar Adi Da Samraj describes how "positive disillusionment" with ordinary life is a necessary prerequisite for entering into the truly liberating process of spiritual practice.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moment's suffering and loss. You must know the place you're in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled."

Tags: Avataric Discourse  

[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.]

Adidam, droga serca, ezoteryka, praktyka duchowa, Bóg, Mistrz duchowy, guru, medytacje, koan, metafizyka, maindfulness.

From a question and answer session with Adi Da on October 28, 1978, in Land Bridge Pavilion at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary in Northern California. This is track 1 on the DVD, Surrender of self Is A Koan.

In this excerpt, "Prawdziwe poddanie się to koan" ("Surrender of self Is A Koan"), Avatar Adi Da speaks directly and humorously to a beginner who assumes her lack of devotional self-surrender is a "problem", rather than a process. He contrasts the beginner's necessarily muscular, “tear your guts out”, tapas-filled practice of relatively superficial surrender (counter-egoically cutting into lifetimes of self-possession) with the mature devotee's spontaneous, profound, and complete surrender. A central principle of the process is “just do it” persistence.

Tags: DVD   Polish  

[Contains German 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.]

In this video excerpt, "Die Freiheit von allem Verlust" ("Human Loss and Grief"), Adi Da Samraj talks about the pain of loss, and about liberation. This is in response to a devotee's question about the Devotional Prayer Of Changes and the death of the devotee's grandchild.

This video excerpt is from the DVD, Easy Death. Subtitles in English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Polish, Czech, and Hebrew.

Tags: death   Devotional Prayer of Changes   DVD   Avataric Discourse   German  

[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.]

"Questo Posto Non E' Utopia" ("This Place Is Not a Utopia") is an excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moments suffering and loss. You must know the place you’re in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled.”

Tags: Italian   Avataric Discourse  

"To Serve His Own" is by Simon Llewelyn Evans. It is track 7 from Disc One of the double CD, May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts.

May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts is a deeply moving, sacred, contemplative CD that celebrates Adi Da's Life of Love and Blessing. This tribute to Adi Da Samraj includes music from many different genres, ranging from Indian classical to jazz to world music and other contemporary styles.

With over two hours of devotional songs filling this double CD, you can listen to pieces composed and performed by many devotee artists, including Naamleela Free Jones, Tamarind Free Jones, Ray Lynch, John Wubbenhorst, John Mackay, Sally Howe, Crane Kirkbride, Antonina Randazzo, Katya Grineva and many others.

Some of the twenty-five pieces on May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts were written and offered in the days immediately following Adi Da's Passing on November 27, 2008, or in the year-long period of formal mourning that followed. Other songs were offered to Him in person during His Lifetime. This CD also contains new songs never released before by Naamleela, Tamarind, and other musicians.

Tags: music   CD  

"Moce Dau Loloma" is by Alifereti Ledua and his Fijian band. It is track 6 from Disc One of the double CD, May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts.

May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts is a deeply moving, sacred, contemplative CD that celebrates Adi Da's Life of Love and Blessing. This tribute to Adi Da Samraj includes music from many different genres, ranging from Indian classical to jazz to world music and other contemporary styles.

With over two hours of devotional songs filling this double CD, you can listen to pieces composed and performed by many devotee artists, including Naamleela Free Jones, Tamarind Free Jones, Ray Lynch, John Wubbenhorst, John Mackay, Sally Howe, Crane Kirkbride, Antonina Randazzo, Katya Grineva and many others.

Some of the twenty-five pieces on May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts were written and offered in the days immediately following Adi Da's Passing on November 27, 2008, or in the year-long period of formal mourning that followed. Other songs were offered to Him in person during His Lifetime. This CD also contains new songs never released before by Naamleela, Tamarind, and other musicians.

Tags: music   CD  

"Om Sri Turaga Dau Loloma Vunirarama" is by Felix Woldenberg. It is track 5 from Disc One of the double CD, May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts.

"Turaga Dau Loloma Vunirarama" is a title given to Avatar Adi Da by the native Fijians of Naitauba: "The Great Lord [Turaga] Who Is The Divine Adept [Dau] Of The Divine Love [Loloma] and The Self-Radiant Divine Source and Substance [Vu] Of [ni] The Divine 'Brightness' [Rarama]".

May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts is a deeply moving, sacred, contemplative CD that celebrates Adi Da's Life of Love and Blessing. This tribute to Adi Da Samraj includes music from many different genres, ranging from Indian classical to jazz to world music and other contemporary styles.

With over two hours of devotional songs filling this double CD, you can listen to pieces composed and performed by many devotee artists, including Naamleela Free Jones, Tamarind Free Jones, Ray Lynch, John Wubbenhorst, John Mackay, Sally Howe, Crane Kirkbride, Antonina Randazzo, Katya Grineva and many others.

Some of the twenty-five pieces on May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts were written and offered in the days immediately following Adi Da's Passing on November 27, 2008, or in the year-long period of formal mourning that followed. Other songs were offered to Him in person during His Lifetime. This CD also contains new songs never released before by Naamleela, Tamarind, and other musicians.

Tags: music   CD  

"Avadhoota Stotram" is by Alexandra Fry. It is track 4 from Disc One of the double CD, May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts.

"Avadhoota Stotram" ("Hymn Praising the Avadhoot") is a traditional hymn that Swami Muktananda adapted to praise his Guru, Bhagavan Nityananda. In this English version, Adi Da's devotees adapt the hymn to praise their Divine Avadhoot, Adi Da.

May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts is a deeply moving, sacred, contemplative CD that celebrates Adi Da's Life of Love and Blessing. This tribute to Adi Da Samraj includes music from many different genres, ranging from Indian classical to jazz to world music and other contemporary styles.

With over two hours of devotional songs filling this double CD, you can listen to pieces composed and performed by many devotee artists, including Naamleela Free Jones, Tamarind Free Jones, Ray Lynch, John Wubbenhorst, John Mackay, Sally Howe, Crane Kirkbride, Antonina Randazzo, Katya Grineva and many others.

Some of the twenty-five pieces on May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts were written and offered in the days immediately following Adi Da's Passing on November 27, 2008, or in the year-long period of formal mourning that followed. Other songs were offered to Him in person during His Lifetime. This CD also contains new songs never released before by Naamleela, Tamarind, and other musicians.

Tags: music   CD