Adi Da Up Close
Audio/Video Library

Excerpt from the Avataric Discourse of August 23, 2004 at Adi Da Samrajashram.

Adi Da explains how ordinary meditation techniques accomplish nothing more than relaxation. They don't touch the egoic identification with the body-mind. Only the Way of Adidam (practiced in every detail) does that. Practice of the Way of Adidam does not require one to stop fear (which continues to serve a useful, practical role for the survival of the body-mind). But in every moment of real practice of the Way of Adidam, one is released from identification with the body-mind, and so one is not bound by any fear the body-mind may be experiencing.

Tags: Avataric Discourse  

Adi Da: "Nothing in [the devotee] is one with God. So the Divine Activity is generated to make that person one with God. The Divine does the Yoga. The Divine Assumes His Oneness with the devotee. He does not create means, methods to be generated in dilemma, experiential paths by which to realize that Oneness — He simply Establishes It."

"The way for such a devotee, then, is simply to be a devotee: to simply live that relationship as the Principle and Condition of his life. And if he does that, then the conscious and formal Qualities that are native to the Divine Condition are generated spontaneously and intelligently within him."

At Da Love-Ananda Mahal, on December 17, 1982, Adi Da gives the talk, "The Baptism of Immortal Happiness".

"The ego is such a heavy grip, such a clench on the Divine Light, that Spiritual experience through Spiritual Transmission in life does not amount to much for most people. They cannot make it part of their existence. This is why I expect My devotees to prepare themselves by listening to and then hearing My Wisdom-Teaching. Then My Spiritual Baptism can Awaken you to My Spirit-Presence, and you will begin to practice the Way of Adidam in Spiritual relationship to Me."

A devotee reads an excerpt from Adi Da's essay, "Searchless, Lawful Management of the Body", from the book, Green Gorilla.

In this essay, Adi Da addresses "lawfulness" in relation to diet, in contrast to the fascinated preoccupation with food that characterizes people in the modern world. This preoccupation is based in the egoic search for fun and pleasure, and inevitably results in suffering and pain. The lawful diet is not an end in itself, but a simple, ordinary practice that establishes "the 'position' of well-being of the body" and is part of a larger practice of what Adi Da calls "right life".

For more on this topic (as well as the text of the complete essay, "Searchless, Lawful Management of the Body"), read the Adidam Revelation Magazine's article, Searchless, Lawful Management of the Body. Further excerpts from Green Goriila can be found here.

Tags: Green Gorilla   diet  

Dr. Sally Taylor serves the Adidam culture by helping devotees with their practice of the Way of Adidam.

In this video, she talks about her voluntary participation in Adi Da's considerations about the emotional-sexual dimension of life. She describes the instructions she received, and the profound benefit she has derived by being "grown up" beyond childish patterns of self-suppression, shutting down of the life force, promiscuity, and limitations on love.

For more about Adi Da's wisdom on the emotional-sexual dimension of life, visit our Crazy Wisdom section.

Tags: emotional   sex  

On November 25, 2004, at Adi Da Samrajashram, one of Adi Da's devotees asks Him: "Is there any way to know . . . what is the relationship of ancient Realizers to the traditions that they were associated with?"

Avatar Adi Da responds by illustrating the process of myth-making around Realizers, both in ancient and modern times. He explains that, regardless of what is historically true of any Realizer, any tradition can be understood in terms of the underlying structure of the human being. Throughout the Discourse, Adi Da makes use of examples from numerous traditions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity.

Adi Da: "Traditions do not really depend on there having been an historical individual, whether or not there was one. They can nonetheless still be understood in terms of the structure of the psycho-physical anatomy. And the psycho-physical anatomy, not mythology extending from it, but the psycho-physical anatomy itself — and this is My Instruction to you, to all — that structure itself determines what is regarded to be religious truth, or esoteric truth. Underneath it is a structure, not merely Truth. That structure must be transcended, or there is not Truth Realized."

In this excerpt, Adi Da specifically talks about the Christian tradition, and the importance of distinguishing a "faith" (or system of beliefs) from factual observations of phenomena throughout recorded history.

The full Discourse is now available on the 2-CD set, Myths, Realizers, and Divine Revelation.

Tags: avataric discourse   CD  

[This interview is in Dutch, with English subtitles.]

On February 24, 2013, Dutch devotee Tom Jacobs (currently a resident of Adi Da Samrajashram) was featured on the popular Dutch TV program, De Reünie ("The Reunion"), which is seen by two million viewers.

Each episode of De Reünie focuses on the lives of a few members of a particular school class from decades ago. This week featured members from Tom's class - including Tom.

The full interview explores Tom's life as a devotee of Adi Da Samraj, and then explores a tragedy in Tom's early life (the trauma of which was completely relieved by Adi Da, as Tom describes). The interview is in Dutch, but English subtitles have been added. The interviewer (and show host) is Rob Kamphues.

For a fuller account of how Tom found Adi Da (written by Tom), click here.

Videographer: Matt Braithwaite

Note: Unlike most of the videos in our library, this is a Facebook video; we have discovered that, for some reason, some people are not able to play it.

Tags: Dutch  

Adi Da visiting rescued sea turtles sent to Adi Da Samrajashram.

Slideshow by Andrew Dorfman.

Music is "What Will You Do If You Love Me?" from Naamleela Free Jones, Eyes in Other Worlds.

Andrew writes: "Bhagavan Blessed the release of rescued sea turtles, shipped to us by a neighboring island, for safe release into the waters off Adi Da Samrajashram. The turtles are hunted now more vigorously by humans than in the past, so in addition to the natural forces with which hatchlings must contend, there are now human adversaries as well. This occasion with Bhagavan broke many hearts."

Tags: animals   non-human  

Adi Da teaches children all about the Mystery (aka Divine Ignorance) beyond knowledge and death, expanding their awareness beyond the materialistic. He invites us all to enter into a relationship with Him through the Mystery.

Recitation is from Adi Da's book, What, Where, When, How, Why, and Who To Remember To Be Happy. Recitation is by a 7-year old child, accompanied by Ray Lynch on piano, from Ray's album, Truth Is The Only Profound.

Tags: children   mystery  

James Steinberg reads from Adi Da's Teaching on how Adi Da's Presence is felt as a "pressure" that offends the ego, and how Adi Da's devotee must endure this pressure.

From the March, 2012 Retreat at The European Danda. For future retreats, visit our Special Events section.

Tags: European Danda   retreat   James Steinberg  

Adi Da Samraj: "The force of primary geometric forms is everywhere in the world. . . once you begin to get the sense of shape, then you can see that the world of perception is actually made of primary geometries. It is just that there are so many of them all at once that the natural world seems to have feathered edges."

Choreographers and Dancers: Susana Weingarten & Tom Evert
Costume Design: Luzano Rey & Janet Bolick
Lighting Design: Deb Malcolm
Music: The Cinematic Orchestra
Sound engineer: Jordan Davis
Video: Alejandro Rivera

Projected Image Art:
The Scale of Perfection, Part One: NYC, NYCSTET I (from Geome Three) 2006, by Adi Da Samraj, © 2013 ASA

Tags: dance   image-art  

An hour-long interview with Meg McDonnell, author of Tasting the Moon: Adventures in the Meaning of Life, the story of her life, in which the focus is the 33 years she spent in Adi Da's Company.

Interviewer: Ed Reither of Beezone.

Tags: leela   Meg McDonnell  

In this Discourse, Avatar Adi Da responds to a question about the "problem" of mind and the presumption of a separate "self".

Tags: Avataric Discourse  

In this seminal discourse (at The Mountain Of Attention), from the early years of His Teaching Work, Adi Da speaks about the inevitable process of self-revelation and self-understanding that prepares the being for true Spiritual life.

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   DVD  

A few scenes from the preparation at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on March 14, 2013. Some views of the famous old theatre itself. The use of back projection for the video produces very crisp images of Adi Da's art, without the projection being interrrupted by the dancers (who would stand between the projector and the lower part of the screen in a traditional forward projection system).

For more on the performance, click here.

Videographer: Matt Braithwaite

Tags: Image-art   Florence Dance Company   peace