Introduction > Adi Da as Spiritual Master

For Visiting Professionals:
Adi Da as Spiritual Master


Chris Tong, Ph.D.




When we write, "visiting professionals", we have in mind readers from the art world, the literary world, the world of theater, the political and social circles dedicated to advancing world peace, etc. . . . in short, any of the areas in which Adi Da has made artistic contributions, or in which He has communicated wisdom that can have a beneficial impact for others working in that area. You may perhaps be more familiar with Adi Da in the capacity of artist, writer, etc. This introduction serves as an orientation to Adi Da's additional function as Spiritual Master, which is the focus of most of this site.

About the biography, Adi Da, one journalist recently wrote:


Adi Da

Adi Da will rank as a classic in the spiritual field, telling the remarkable story of an extraordinary Being — a writer, a playwright, artist, visionary, philosopher, photographer, and most important of all, a Spiritual Master of the highest order.

— Randall Fitzgerald
investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post,
contributing editor for the Reader's Digest.


Quandra Loka image
image from The Virgin Suite
by Adi Da
In addition to His many contributions to the world of art, literature, and society altogether, Adi Da is also the founder of the Spiritual Way of Adidam. There are a few precedents for Spiritual Masters also excelling in other areas of human endeavor: the Zen Master, Hakuin (1685–1768) created extraordinary "Zen paintings"; the Sufi Master, Rumi, is famed for his poetry; the Dalai Lama has made extensive contributions toward cultivating world peace. But, to our knowledge, there has never been a historical precedent for a Spiritual Master communicating His Teaching to the world through so many and diverse means and media. Adi Da has made many innovations in the areas of art, theater, and literature.
painting by Hakuin
painting by Hakuin

These artistic contributions are matched in creative expression by the profound principles He formulated in the area of social wisdom. His desire to "save the world" (as He put it to His family and friends when He was a teenager) was later articulated as an absolute passion for helping to keep a downward-spiralling world from destroying itself. Describing Himself as "World-Friend", He summarized His wisdom for a sane and peaceful world re-organization in His book, Not-Two Is Peace: The Ordinary People's Way of Global Cooperative Order.

What is in common to all of these expressive forms is their basis in Adi Da's Spiritual Realization. It is common knowledge that what artists and innovators express reflects their own human (and spiritual) maturity. Just so, their expression is limited to the same extent that their own human (and spiritual) maturity is limited. This reality extends to writers as well, and similarly, to those who labor on the world stage to bring the world to a more harmonious state. When someone of great Spiritual Realization enters into all these various modalities of communication and expression, the opportunity for a radically new expression arises — whether that expression is artistic, theatrical, literary, or social wisdom.

It has always also been Adi Da's intent that His creative expression in each of these areas not only move people aesthetically, but that it should also stir the spiritual impulse in the human heart, and serve the higher purpose of Spiritual Awakening.

Thus, His art gives others a direct glimpse into how He "sees" Reality in truth. His art is designed to work on (and communicate to) the root cognitive mechanisms that govern how human beings visually perceive Reality.

His literary works use words in innovative and startling conjunctions that can dissolve the conventional mind, allowing an opening to Something Greater. His plays introduce archetypes that characterize and caricature the human condition and the source of human bondage, even as other archetypes point to the very means of freedom from all bondage.

His inspired communications about world peace instruct all players on the world stage working for world peace to presume "prior unity", and change their behavior accordingly. This admonition is aimed at putting politicians and other social movers and shakers directly in touch with the non-separate nature of Reality. If intuited for real, this completely undermines all one's aggressive tendencies toward the illusory "other" (whether "individual" or "nation-state"), and allows one to be a completely different, more benign, more collaborative, and more constructive presence on the world stage.


Adi Da at the United Nations in Geneva, 1996
Adi Da at the United Nations building in Geneva, 1996

As in all religious and spiritual traditions, those of us who are practitioners of the Way of Adidam have a particular understanding of who Adi Da is, and our references to Adi Da reflect that understanding. Thus, here and there you will see us refer to Him using titles such as "Divine World-Teacher", "His Divine Presence", "Adi Da Samraj", "Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj", etc. Just as Catholics refer to the pope as "His Holiness" and Tibetan Buddhists refer to their leader as "the Dalai Lama", we too have names and titles for Adi Da that reflect our love, respect, and devotion for Him as a great Spiritual Realizer. And as in these traditions, we ask that you extend Him the same courtesy, respect, and understanding as you read the materials on this site.

Our references to Adi Da go even further than the respectful titles accorded to a spiritual leader. Our capitalization of words like "He", "His", "in His Company", "Teaching", "Life", reflect our further recognition of Adi Da as a fully Enlightened, human Incarnation of the Divine And that recognition of Him as the Divine extends beyond His names to how we write about Him altogether.

One extraordinary advantage we have is that we have been alive during (or only shortly after) the human lifetime of the founder of our Spiritual Way. Christians sometimes imagine what it would have been like to have been alive when Jesus walked the planet; so too with Buddhists and Gautama Buddha. As practitioners of the Way of Adidam, we don't have to imagine — our Founder has been right here with us, and has only recently passed away, and His entire life and work has been documented in detail via many media.

And so when we say we recognize Adi Da to be a "fully Enlightened human Incarnation of the Divine", this is based on our direct experience, which is extensively reported on this site. As you might imagine, we feel fortunate beyond words! And this site is filled with the personal accounts of our direct and living relationship with Adi Da, and the Spiritual Revelation we have received in His Company.

So it is our hope that the personal accounts you read here of Adi Da functioning in the capacity of Spiritual Master, purposed toward the Spiritual Liberation of all beings, will supplement and enrich what you already know about Adi Da (as an artist, an author, a playwright, a social commentator, etc.), and will provide greater insight into the Spiritual Wisdom and Realization that both informs and inspires all other modalities of His creative expression.


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Quotations from and/or photographs of Avatar Adi Da Samraj used by permission of the copyright owner:
© Copyrighted materials used with the permission of The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd, as trustee for The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam. All rights reserved. None of these materials may be disseminated or otherwise used for any non-personal purpose without the prior agreement of the copyright owner. ADIDAM is a trademark of The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd, as Trustee for the Avataric Samrajya of Adidam.

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