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: Avataric Discourse
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
True Faith is Trust in Our Real Condition poster: AdiDaVideos length: 04:53 date added: August 28, 2017 event date: January 7, 1994 language: English views: 2639; views this month: 11; views this week: 7 Audio excerpt from a Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj at Adi Da Samrajashram, on January 7, 1994, accompanied by a slideshow of more recent photographs of Adi Da.
Adi Da leads us to inspect all the unconscious presumptions that determine our sense of what is "real" - including the core presumption of being a separate "self". "Notice the chronic disposition of mistrust and fear that accompanies this core illusion", He says, "and allow your heart to trust What Is Real."
In this excerpt, 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 comments: 1
What is Cultism? poster: AdiDaVideos length: 19:00 date added: January 2, 2014 event date: December 16, 1978 language: English views: 5418; views this month: 14; views this week: 9 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."tags: cult
What Is Doubt? poster: AdiDaVideos length: 13:25 date added: September 26, 2015 event date: July 20, 1986 language: English views: 4036; views this month: 19; views this week: 10 In 1986, Adi Da made His first visit to the European community of His devotees. He travelled through England, France and Holland. In the South of Holland, in the village of Maria Hoop close to the German border, a former Catholic monastery was found which could be rented for a few weeks. Devotees swiftly cleaned buildings and the grounds. Adi Da stayed in a specially prepared wing of the monastery for several days. During this time, He granted Darshan and held "Question and Answer" occasions in the chapel (now called Adi Da Kapel) with German, English, Dutch, French and American devotees. The former monastery has since been acquired by the European community of Adidam and is now known as The European Danda.
In this rare, never before published excerpt from one of the "Question and Answer" occasions, Adi Da addresses the primal human emotion of doubt in a most direct and simple manner. He describes how doubt is not ultimately a sign that we have been "betrayed" in some way. The radical solution to doubt is to identify with the Divine Itself, beyond the temporary cycles of the body and mind and beyond the sense of being a separate self.tags: European Danda comments: 1
What is Fear of Death? poster: AdiDaVideos length: 14:09 date added: November 22, 2016 event date: September 18, 2004 language: English views: 4550; views this month: 24; views this week: 17 Throughout the years of His Divine Avataric Teaching-Revelation, Avatar Adi Da spoke at length in response to devotees' questions on all subjects relative to the human circumstance — including death, and all the sorrow and fear inherent in the circumstance of human mortality.
This video excerpt is from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da on September 18, 2004. In this Discourse, Adi Da points out that all fear is fear of death or fear of extinction. This fear is like a constant background noise, from which we constantly try to distract ourselves with the games of life. Adi Da describes the choice we face: to live in fear, the "native mood of the ego" — or to realize the profundity of the inherently fearless Condition.
Avatar Adi Da calls us to a surrendered life that is about Realization and all that is relevant to Realization, including compassionate service. Such a surrendered life is the key to an "easy" death.tags: deathDVDAvataric Discourse
What is Fear of Death? poster: AdiDaVideos length: 14:09 date added: September 14, 2022 event date: September 18, 2004 language: English In this excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given on September 18, 2004, at Adi Da Samrajashram, Adi Da points out that all fear is fear of death or extinction. This fear is like a constant background noise, from which we constantly try to distract ourselves with the games of life. Adi Da describes the choice we face: to live in fear, the "native mood of the ego" — or to realize the profundity of the “inherently fearless condition”.tags: Avataric Discourse
This video is an excerpt from Second Evening: Track 6 on the DVD, A Tribute to the Life and Work of His Divine Presence, Adi Da Samraj. More than 7 hours long, this Tribute DVD was filmed on the occasion of the first Anniversary of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, when devotees, family, and friends of Adi Da Samraj gathered at Adi Da Samrajashram, Fiji (Adi Da's principal Hermitage), to acknowledge Adi Da as the Divine in human form, to praise His Greatness, and to express their heart-felt gratitude for the Blessings they have received from Him.
A list of all the tracks on this DVD can be found here. Other excerpts available on this site can be found here.tags: childrenmystery comments: 1
Why One Needs A Guru poster: AdiDaVideos length: 07:04 date added: November 17, 2013 event date: December 27, 1988 language: English views: 4561; views this month: 12; views this week: 10 In this video clip from the 1988 talk, "What Is Your Intention?", Adi Da criticizes the "do-it-yourself" approach to spirituality that is popular in the world today, and speaks about why a teacher is necessary.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 07:42 date added: November 4, 2012 event date: August 30, 2004 language: English views: 5073; views this month: 11; views this week: 10 A video excerpt from part 6 ("The Glasses of Consciousness") of the DVD, You Are The Question You Ask, which was drawn from Adi Da's Avataric Discourse of August 30, 2004.
Adi Da talks about how human beings presume that they are just a body and a mind, and this creates the mistaken sense of separation from others and the Divine.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 02:30 date added: May 20, 2020 language: English event speaker: James Steinberg "You Become What You Meditate On" is a video excerpt from the award-winning documentary, Conscious Light, about the life of Adi Da Samraj. Drawing on an extensive archival collection of film, photography, and audio recordings, as well as interviews with students who have lived with Adi Da and who practice His teachings. Conscious Light takes the viewer on a journey from Adi Da's birth, through His thirty-six years of Teaching and Blessing, to the legacy and spiritual relationship that is eternally available to all after His passing.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 08:18 date added: July 22, 2017 event date: July 7, 2005 language: English views: 3547; views this month: 19; views this week: 13 Video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.
In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.tags: Avataric DiscourseDVD comments: 4
You Can't Get There From Here! poster: AdiDaVideos length: 07:05 date added: October 14, 2013 event date: October 24, 2004 language: English views: 2870; views this month: 9; views this week: 4 Excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da at Adi Da Samrajashram on October 24, 2004.
In this Discourse, Adi Da explains why Liberation cannot ever be achieved through science or conventional religion.tags: DVDAvataric Discourse comments: 1
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