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Audio/Video Library

Adi Da: "The world is not physical in nature; the world is psycho-physical."

This talk excerpt is track 1 of the CD, Science and the Myth of Materialism, a collection of talks from throughout the 30 years of Avatar Adi Da’s formal Teaching-Work that brings together samples from His vast Divine Instruction relative to the psycho-physical nature of the world, the limits of scientific materialism, and the Inherent Unity of Existence.

The album is available through iTunes, Microsoft, and The Dawn Horse Press.

Note: This video may not be available or viewable in every country.

Tags: CD  

An excerpt from the talk, "The Grace of Suffering", given by Adi Da on January 18, 1976.

This excerpt is track 1 of the CD, The Impulse to God-Realization, a collection of talks focusing on Adi Da's clarifying Wisdom on the Impulse to Realize God that is inherent in all beings, and His Divine Offering and Instruction on the Ultimate Means to cultivate this heart-Impulse, thereby allowing it to become the guiding force of one's entire life.

The album is available through iTunes and The Dawn Horse Press.

This selection of Talks by Avatar Adi Da Samraj focuses on His clarifying Wisdom on the Impulse (inherent in all beings) to Realize God, and His Divine Offering and Instruction on the Ultimate Means to cultivate this heart-Impulse, thereby allowing it be the guiding force of one's entire life. As Avatar Adi Da points out, the real Spiritual Process cannot be truly initiated until and unless one’s Impulse to God-Realization becomes the governing principle of one's life.

The full talk, "The Grace of Suffering", is available on the CD, The Grace of Suffering, and on DVD as Volume 2 of the 25th Anniversary DVD Series.

Note: Due to distribution policies set by CDBaby (and beyond the control of this website and Adidam), this video may not be playable in every country. However, sometimes, even when you can't play it on this page, you may be able to play it on YouTube: click here.

"The Grace of Suffering" is a beautiful talk by Adi Da. But it IS very compressed, making quite a few points in a short space, and depending to a significant degree on a familiarity with Adi Da's spiritual teaching. Here are some notes that may help.

Throughout the talk, the technical term, "sadhana" (spiritual practice), is used.

Genuine spiritual practice is not about belief systems, mere rituals, or a little "peace of mind", but rather about actually locating the Divine, through the tangible Transmission of the Spiritual Master.

After a recent illness, a devotee mentions to Adi Da that he notices how the physical suffering of illness was distracting enough that he was not "able" to find Adi Da's Transmission when he is ill.

Adi Da acknowledges this, and responds with three more general points.

1. The illness didn't "make" the devotee lose the thread of practice; rather, he allowed himself to be distracted from God by the illness. When the devotee gets this, and sees how he himself is "doing" the turning away, he'll be able to "do better next time" by not turning away even when ill.

2. Until Divine Enlightenment — in other words, until there is no limit on one's spiritual practice — sadhana (spiritual practice) is always only reflecting back to devotees the remaining limits in their practice: where they are still turning away from the Divine, where they still need to become responsible for not turning away.

In the beginning, the "turning away" is very "crude": even mere physical suffering is enough to distract one from God. (If we find ourselves saying, "what do you mean, MERE physical suffering?" that definitely identifies us as spiritual beginners! :-) ) But as one grows in practice, and ceases to turn away in such a crude manner (as one becomes a "saint", "yogi", "sage", etc.), one discovers that one is still turning from the Divine at an even subtler level of the being (in the mind, the psyche, etc.)

It is only when that "turning away" has been inspected, understood, and transcended in every dimension of the being that Divine Realization occurs.

In this sense, for the genuine spiritual practitioner, physical suffering — along with every other circumstance that reveals to us our turning away from the Divine — is truly a Grace, enabling us to grow in our practice.

3. Where we are turning away is a reflection of what we are identifying with: the body, the mind, the soul, etc. (For example, if physical illness is enough to distract us from God, then the physical body is what we currently are identified with.) God-Realization only occurs when all "identities" less than God are understood and transcended.

In this sense, "there are no winners in God" — the Way is not about seeking, accomplishment, or winning, but rather about surrender to God, sacrifice of self, and ego-death. There's no "one" left to "win"! But the One Who Remains is perfectly, eternally happy.

Tags: CD  

An excerpt from the talk, "The Gorilla Sermon", given by Adi Da on June 22, 1972.

This excerpt is track 2 of the CD, Death and the Purpose of Existence, a collection of talks and recitations that exemplify Avatar Adi Da's essential Wisdom-Teaching on death and dying.

The album is available through iTunes, Microsoft, and The Dawn Horse Press.

Note: Due to distribution policies set by CDBaby (and beyond the control of this website and Adidam), this video may not be playable in every country. However, sometimes, even when you can't play it on this page, you may be able to play it on YouTube: click here.

Tags: CD   death  

Darshan of Adi Da Samraj, at Da Love-Ananda Mahal Sanctuary.

Tags: Darshan  

James Steinberg is interviewed on the podcast, Vajra Body Vajra Mind. Vajra Body Vajra Mind is a provocative podcast that explores the outer limits of spiritual practice and human development. James Steinberg is a longtime devotee of Adi Da, and the author of Divine Distraction and Love of the God-Man.

In this episode of Vajra Body Vajra Mind, we discuss James' life with Adi Da. We talk about the practice of Guru Yoga, challenges in reading Adi Da's Teaching, anti-Guru sentiment in contemporary culture, sexuality in spirituality, the importance of discipline in the Way of Adidam, the unique Transmission of Adi Da's Revelation and Presence (through photographs, videos, Image-Art, etc), resistance to the Guru by the ego, positive disillusionment (aka "the Lesson of Life"), and more.

Comments: 2

This video clip includes:

• Commentary from Jonathan Condit (at 0:00) — Jonathan Condit was Adi Da's senior editorial assistant, and is Senior Editor for the Adidam Editorial Department. Jonathan talks about "The Function of the Spiritual Literature of Adi Da Samraj", and how Adi Da's Teaching works as Transmission of His Transcendental Spiritual State, and serves the Spiritual Realization of the reader.



• Excerpt from an Avataric Discourse by Adi Da (at 5:35) — The Discourse is "My Teaching is a Direct Transmission of Me", from October 28, 2005. Adi Da 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.



• Commentary from Megan Anderson (at 12:44) — Megan Anderson is an editor in the Adidam Editorial Department. Megan talks about Adi Da's great, final masterpiece, The Aletheon as the purest communication and Transmission of Adi Da Himself (among all His many, extraordinary books), and describes receiving the Revelation of Adi Da as she was proofreading The Aletheon before its publication.

Tags: Avataric Discourse  
Comments: 1

Track 2 from Pauline Chew's album, Shapeless As The Water.

Words are from poem 13 ("Hymns To Me") in Adi Da's book of poetry, Crazy Da Must Sing.

Hymns to me,
am I the song,
the untouched glamour of the poem,
the word and rhythm of the Real.
Then sing.
And sing of me,
am not the soul.
The type whose singing sings the Heart,
the vowel and consonants am I.
Then sing.
And say of me,
he is the sound,
the syllable who is my form,
and hymns me, is me, song to song.

And I will sing you all the more.
Then sing.

Tags: poem   music  
Comments: 2

“The Ascent of Orpheus” exhibition of Adi Da's art ran from July 9 - October 11, 2015, at the Bargello National Museum, Florence.

This video clip is a final walk through of the exhibition, on October 11, 2015.

For more information about the exhibition, click here.

videographer: Matt Braithwaite

Tags: Image-Art  

Adi Da reads an excerpt from His short story, "The Killers", in 2006. "The Killers" is a chapter in Adi Da's The Happenine Book (Book Three of The Orpheum Trilogy), and was also the first literary work ever written by Adi Da.

For more on "The Killers", click here.

Comments: 1

This clip is an excerpt from Adi Da's talk, "The Fire Must Have Its Way", which was given on July 17, 1978. In this talk, Adi Da clarifies that real Spiritual practice is not about "feeling good", but an intense purification of all limits on feeling. This fire of purification occurs by coming into contact with the Pure Radiance of the Spiritual Master. By persistently granting feeling-attention to Avatar Adi Da’s Living Divine Presence, all ego-patterns are "burned up" by His Grace—ultimately enabling egoless participation in the Perfect Ecstasy of Real God.

An additional (videoed) excerpt from this talk is available here.

The full talk is available on the CD, The Fire Must Have Its Way.

The talk also appears in written form in the book, My "Bright" Sight.

Tags: CD  
Comments: 1

This clip is an excerpt from Adi Da's talk, "The Grace of Suffering", which was given on January 18, 1976. In this talk, Adi Da describes how sensitivity to one's own suffering is the beginning of real ego-transcending practice. Such sensitivity moves an individual out of the usual life of effort and search, into inspection of the nature of existence and availability to Him as Divine Guru. Adi Da reveals the real nature of suffering—the action of ego—and draws the individual beyond egoic suffering into the True Source-Condition.

Additional (videoed) excerpts from this talk are available here and here.

The full talk is available on the CD, The Grace of Suffering, and on DVD as Volume 2 of the 25th Anniversary DVD Series.

Tags: CD  

Adi Da 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  
Comments: 2

Ruchiradama Nadikanta is a senior devotee of Avatar Adi Da and a member of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order. She served as Adi Da's spiritual ambassador at the groundbreaking exhibition of Adi Da's Image-Art, The Ascent Of Orpheus, in the renowned Bargello Museum in Florence, which ran from July 7 - October 11, 2015. In this unique presentation (filmed on July 7, 2015), Ruchiradama Nadikanta takes us on a guided tour of the exhibition, describing the extraordinary nature of Adi Da's art, and providing us with an esoteric understanding of "The Ascent of Orpheus", and how it reflects Adi Da's incarnation and liberating work.

videographer: Matt Braithwaite

Tags: Image-Art   Ruchiradama Nadikanta  
Comments: 4

This album of Adidam devotional music from The First Amendment Choir was originally released on audiocassette tape in 1981. (The name, "First Amendment Choir", was chosen for the choir by Adi Da, which performed for Him on several occasions.)

The album begins and ends with "The Divine Invocation":

Radiant Da,
All-Pervading Current of Life,
Consciousness where I appear and disappear,
Hear My Breathing Heart.

Awaken me
To feel the Heart of Light and Love,
Where this life and mind and body may dissolve.
I hold up my hands.

"The Divine Invocation" was an early version of what we now call The First Great Invocation. Now we would begin with the First Great Invocation and end with the Second Great Invocation — but Adi Da had not yet created the Second Great Invocation at the time this album was created.

Many of the songs on this album were composed by Billboard Award-winning composer Ray Lynch or by JoAnne Sunshine. Ray Lynch is also the guitar player. Eric Leber is the choir director. Besides Ray Lynch and JoAnne Sunshine, vocalists include Brad Crawford, Robin Richardson, Kathleen Ewart, Sylvia Hayden, Carol Mabin, Janet Kopieki, Rita Gordon, Happy Hayden, Ginny Leber, Maggie Roberts, Lynzee Elze, Ron Guba, Steve Benson, Chris Cardullo, Phyllis Hyde, Karen Booth, and Antonina Randazzo (among others). The album was recorded at Prune Production Studio, in Mill Valley, California, and was released by the Laughing Man Institute.

The volume is low, so you may need to turn it up. The sound quality of this digital version is not up to contemporary standards, but many listeners — old and new — may find it just as heart-moving now as so many found it when it was originally released.

Tags: music  
Comments: 3

Track 5 from Pauline Chew's album, Songs For Baba Da. . . And The World.

Words are from poem 43 in Adi Da's book of poetry, Crazy Da Must Sing.

My loved one sits upon my knee.
My left hand is on her head.
My right hand guides
her listening to my Heart.
My touching awakens her need,
her love for me,
and makes her know me while I speak.

My loved one lies with me.
Our loving appears as every form
of all the worlds.
Our sounds together
make all sounds.
We are the thing that is seen and heard.
We are the rhythmed mind of everything.

Troubles arise for one
who does not know the act
in which he lives.
Therefore, I display the image
of my loved one and me.
One who does not understand
gains power for his lust in holy places.
But one who understands
becomes the lovers’ act that is.

Tags: music   poem  
Comments: 2