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 DVD and on CD, and as an online transcript.
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.
poster: CDBaby length: 10:08 date added: December 22, 2018 event date: November 28, 1981 language: English views: 3536; views this month: 42; views this week: 30
This is a video excerpt from Adi Da's classic talk, "The Bodily Location of Happiness", which He gave on November 28, 1981.
This excerpt is track 2 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.
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 talk, "The Bodily Location of Happiness", communicates several core insights:
1. Everybody is intuitively familiar with happiness. You don't have to be a devotee of Adi Da! This was part of the reason Adi Da chose "happiness" as the focus of this Teaching period: because the subject was so accessible. Everyone knows what it's like to be happy (at least a little). It's just that most people are not aware that Perfect, Eternal Happiness is possible and Realizable. (And it certainly isn't, through ordinary human means.) Adi Da: "All beings are always already Happy. You always know, at this very moment you know exactly, what it would be to look and feel and be and act completely Happy." The esoteric reason everyone is familiar with happiness is because everyone is always, already happy. And the esoteric reason everyone yearns for complete happiness is because complete happiness is realizable — and everyone's heart knows that.
2. Adi Da's "Lesson of Life":"You can't become happy; you can only be (already) happy." People are always seeking for happiness. The "pursuit of happiness" (not happiness itself!) is even enshrined as an "unalienable right" (alongside life and liberty) in the preamble of the United States Declaration of Independence. Its author, Thomas Jefferson, knew better than to think a government could guarantee happiness itself — hence only the guarantee of "pursuing happiness". Only a Divine Incarnation can guarantee Happiness Itself.
Adi Da reveals that happiness is the native state of beings. It is already the case. Every attempt to seek for it (or mis-identify the source of happiness as some object or other) in fact serves to dissociate one from it. Adi Da: "You think that you can seek Happiness and find it. Your search for Happiness is itself a confession of un-Happiness. You cannot realize Happiness by persisting in un-Happiness, persisting in the method of un-Happiness. All seeking is an expression of un-Happiness, all seeking is the method of un-Happiness, the practice of un-Happiness. This must be understood. It is not merely true — it must be understood."
Self-understanding allows one to get this point. Based on self-understanding, one can devote oneself to Happiness rather than to seeking for It and settling for the little bit of Infinite Happiness that "bleeds through" the clench of ego into conditions. This ultimately enables the Eternal Realization of Infinite, Perfect Happiness. Adi Da: "Understand your un-Happiness. Then you will be capable of locating Happiness, and, having located Happiness, you will be capable of practicing the Way of Adidam, which is nothing but the devotion of life to Happiness."
3. The Transmission of the Divine Guru is How One Locates Happiness. The subtitle of the book, The Bodily Location Of Happiness, is: "On the Incarnation of the Divine Person and the Transmission of Love-Bliss". In other words, you can't apply "The Lesson of Life" by somehow "locating" happiness directly, by yourself (or in yourself). Happiness is our native state, but that doesn't mean it can be located by an egoic, "do it yourself" process. We locate happiness directly as a Grace-given Gift, through devotion to the Transcendental Spiritual Transmission of Adi Da. Adi Da: "Happiness is presently the case. In this moment you are already Happy. Sitting with Me, locate this Happiness." We locate our "Native State" by recognizing and submitting to our "Native Person" — our Very Self appearing here in bodily (human) form.
4. It is a Process of Whole Bodily Location. "The bodily location of Happiness" is not primarily a reference to some place where Happiness resides in the body (although Adi Da teases His listeners with this idea: "Look for it in your toes, in your fingers, in your shirt, in your head"). It refers to a process ("the bodily location of Happiness" = "the locating of Happiness with the whole body-mind") that involves the surrender and transformation of every aspect of the body-mind, immersed in the Perfectly Happy State of the Divine Guru, through recognition of Him as the Divine in every moment. Then the secondary and supportive practices of the Way of Adidam become means for staying immersed in that Divine State in every moment: "Having located Happiness [having recognized Adi Da as the Divine], you will be capable of practicing the Way of Adidam, which is nothing but the devotion of life to Happiness [Adi Da, recognized as the Divine]. The practices of this Way are not methods for attaining Happiness, but they are the expressions of Happiness. The disciplines of money, food, and sex are not a way to become Happy. Discipline is difficult enough — why should we also burden it with the obligation to make us Happy!"
[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.
[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.
[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.]
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 DVD and on CD, and as an online transcript.
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.
[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.]
Tämä on ote Adi Dan puheesta "Ilon ruumiillinen sijainti", jonka Hän antoi 28. marraskuuta 1981.
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 DVD and on CD, and as an online transcript.
ADI DA: Elämä on typeryyttä. Nyt ei ole muutenkaan aika suvaita typeryyttä. Maailma on hullu, ja nämä ovat karmeita aikoja. Asiat eivät helpotu tulevina vuosina. Hengellistä prosessia on aina eletty vaikeina aikoina. Hengellinen prosessi ei siis suvaitse typerystä. Hengellinen prosessi sylkäisee sinut ulos. Se ei ole helppo saavutus, vaan syvästi vaikea koettamus. Jopa se, mitä tänään kuulitte on vain ihmiskunnan murto-osan kuulemaa kautta historian. Mahdollisuus harjoittaa hengellistä prosessia on erittäin harvinainen, ja sen täyttymys on\Nkäytännössä tuntematon.
Jossain mielessä voisi sanoa, että tämä on elämä on helvettiä. Uskonnollisella kielellämme puhumme siitä, mitä voi tapahtua kuoleman jälkeen. Voit joko nousta taivaaseen tai joutua puhdistautumaan kiirastuleen, tai voit joutua helvettiin. Ja sitten ehkä joudut kiirastuleen tai tilapäiseen helvettiin, mutta ehkä sinulla on riittävästi hyvää onnea syntyä ihmiseksi, jotta voit omistautua hengelliselle prosessille. Tämän helvetin luonne on, että olemme itseemme käpertyneitä. Synnymme ilottomuudessa emmekä helposti pääse tämän ilottomuuden yli. Tavoittelemme iloa jatkuvasti kaikenlaisin uskomattoman monimutkaisin keinoin emmekä ikinä saavuta sitä.
Jos Hengelliset Mestarit eivät olisi alkaneet opettamaan, tämä todellakin olisi helvetti eikä vain helvetin kaltainen. Tämä todellakin olisi helvetti jos täällä ei olisi Valaistuksen mahdollisuutta, jos täällä ei olisi Opetusta, ei Hengellisiä Mestareita, ei Pyhää Tietä, ei Pyhää yhteisöä, ei kykyä ymmärtää tai ylittää itseään.
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.
[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.]
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.
Contains Spanish 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.]
Un discurso clásico dado por Avatar Adi Da en 1981 sobre la naturaleza de la Verdadera Felicidad y cómo puede ser Realizada momento a momento, pero no a través de su búsqueda.
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 DVD and on CD, and as an online transcript.
[Contains Spanish 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 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: 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.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 06:45 date added: October 30, 2012 event date: October 28, 1978 language: English views: 3357; views this month: 12; views this week: 7
[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.]
"Czy nauczyłeś się czuć doskonale?" ("Have you learned to feel perfectly?") is an excerpt from the longer talk, "The Fire Must Have Its Way". The full talk is available on the DVD, The Fire Must Have Its Way. It is also available as a CD. The talk also appears in written form in the book, My "Bright" Sight and online here.
The bottom line: If you want to feel good, you have to learn how to feel good!
ADI DA: Jakoś w tym wszystkim zdajesz sobie sprawę, że możesz czuć się dużo lepiej. Możesz czuć się absolutnie błogo. Możesz kochać absolutnie. Możesz być całkowicie wolny. Ale to stoi w sprzeczności z twoim wspólnym stanem. Widzicie, jesteście uzależnieni od wszelkiego rodzaju reaktywnych emocji, niskiego poziomu energii, fiksacji uwagi, przeszkód psychofizycznych. Jesteś uzależniony od tego wszystkiego. Masz milion, niezliczoną liczbę programów, które są mniej niż miłością, do których jesteś uzależniony. Umysł jest przymocowany do programów pożądania, uwagi. Każdy z tych programów ma swoje obiekty iw każdej chwili umysł dąży do jednego lub innego rodzaju obiektu. Twoja uwaga porusza się w kierunku jednego lub innego rodzaju obiektu. Twoje uczucie w każdej chwili jest wyrazem programu umysłu, w którym jesteś zamknięty w tej chwili.
Czego nauczyłeś się przez całe życie? Czy nauczyłeś się czuć się doskonale, czuć się absolutnie? Czy kiedykolwiek przechodziłeś przez okres nauki, w którym nauczyłeś się czuć do Nieskończoności, czuć Absolutną Boskość? Zobaczysz. Nie, nauczyliście się wszystkich wzorców reakcji życia, wszystkich pragnień zwykłych rzeczy, widzicie. A ty ich znałeś, zanim ponownie zapoznałeś się z nimi w tym ciele. Więc nie możesz czuć się lepiej niż możesz się czuć. I jesteś uzależniony od mniej niż miłości, bycia mniej niż ekstazą.
ADI DA: Somehow in the midst of this round of existence you realize that you can feel a lot better than you now feel, that you can feel absolutely blissful, that you can love absolutely, that you can be absolutely free. But feeling blissful stands in contrast to your common state. You are addicted to reactive emotion, low levels of energy, gross fixations of attention, psycho-physical obstruction. You are addicted to countless programs that are less than love. In every moment your attention is moving toward one or another object, and your feeling in every moment is an expression of the program of mind into which you are locked in that moment.
Now, what have you learned in your whole life? Have you learned to feel perfectly? To feel absolutely? Did you ever go through a period of study in which you learned to feel to Infinity, to feel Absolute Divinity? No, you learned all the reactive patterns of life, all the desires for ordinary things. You knew them even before you became familiar with them again in this body. You cannot feel any better than you can feel, and you are addicted to feeling less than love, to being less than ecstasy. When you come to see Me, you will realize that you cannot feel any better than you can feel.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 14:47 date added: July 16, 2019 event date: July 17, 1978 language: English views: 1341; views this month: 11; views this week: 8
This is an excerpt from the longer talk, "The Fire Must Have Its Way". The full talk is available on the DVD, The Fire Must Have Its Way, on which this is track 1. It is also available as a CD. The talk also appears in written form in the book, My "Bright" Sight and online here.
The bottom line: If you want to feel good, you have to learn how to feel good!
ADI DA: Somehow in the midst of this round of existence you realize that you can feel a lot better than you now feel, that you can feel absolutely blissful, that you can love absolutely, that you can be absolutely free. But feeling blissful stands in contrast to your common state. You are addicted to reactive emotion, low levels of energy, gross fixations of attention, psycho-physical obstruction. You are addicted to countless programs that are less than love. In every moment your attention is moving toward one or another object, and your feeling in every moment is an expression of the program of mind into which you are locked in that moment.
Now, what have you learned in your whole life? Have you learned to feel perfectly? To feel absolutely? Did you ever go through a period of study in which you learned to feel to Infinity, to feel Absolute Divinity? No, you learned all the reactive patterns of life, all the desires for ordinary things. You knew them even before you became familiar with them again in this body. You cannot feel any better than you can feel, and you are addicted to feeling less than love, to being less than ecstasy.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 08:16 date added: July 17, 2019 event date: July 17, 1978 language: English views: 986; views this month: 10; views this week: 3
This is an excerpt from the longer talk, "The Fire Must Have Its Way". The full talk is available on the DVD, The Fire Must Have Its Way, on which this is track 5. It is also available as a CD. The talk also appears in written form in the book, My "Bright" Sight and online here.
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 15:27 date added: August 19, 2019 event date: July 17, 1978 language: English views: 896; views this month: 12; views this week: 3
This is an excerpt from the longer talk, "The Fire Must Have Its Way". The full talk is available on the DVD, The Fire Must Have Its Way, on which this is track 3. It is also available as a CD. The talk also appears in written form in the book, My "Bright" Sight and online here.
[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.]
Jest to fragment dłuższej rozmowy „Ogień musi mieć swoją drogę”. Cała rozmowa w języku angielskim jest dostępna na płycie "DVD " The Fire Must Have Its Way".
"Nie ma Światła bez ognia" ("There Is No Light Without Fire") is an excerpt from the longer talk, "The Fire Must Have Its Way". The full talk is available on the DVD, The Fire Must Have Its Way, on which this is track 5. It is also available as a CD. The talk also appears in written form in the book, My "Bright" Sight and online here.
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