Surrender Without Limitation poster: DawnHorsePress length: 02:57 date added: March 5, 2017 event date: December 30, 1983 language: English listens: 2779; listens this month: 19; listens this week: 8
In this beautiful and intimate Discourse given on December 30, 1983 at Adi Da Samrajashram, Avatar Adi Da speaks with a man who suffers from claustrophobia. Avatar Adi Da points to the self-generated cause of such terrifying experiences, describing them as symptoms of feeling-contraction from the Field of Divine Existence. He calls this man—and all who are sensitive to suffering and anxiety—to find the Bliss of Divine Existence in His Company, and to intensively practice feeling beyond all emotional limits on living in That Bliss.
The Grace of Suffering poster: DawnHorsePress length: 03:48 date added: November 26, 2015 event date: January 18, 1976 language: English listens: 2761; listens this month: 25; listens this week: 11
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.
poster: DawnHorsePress length: 08:00 date added: February 27, 2014 event date: August 20, 2004 language: English views: 5819; views this month: 29; views this week: 9
A video excerpt from part 1 ("A Question Too Boring to Answer") of the DVD, You Are The Question You Ask, which was drawn from Adi Da's Avataric Discourse of August 30, 2004.
In addition to some of His most potent Instruction about the nature of devotional turning to Him (previously only available on CD), in this DVD, Avatar Adi Da addresses a broad range of topics including:
how questions themselves are a signal of the ego-activity that is at the root of the questioner's suffering and seeking
practice in the later phase of life
the great potential for unity in this “dark time” of pervasive conflict
poster: DawnHorsePress length: 03:27 date added: May 18, 2016 event date: September 4, 2004 language: English listens: 3639; listens this month: 27; listens this week: 15
In this excerpt (from September 4, 2004), Adi Da Adi Da speaks to a questioner about her mother’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and the transcending of attention that becomes possible with maturing spiritual practice.
Adi Da points to the depth of existence that is always the case regardless of the changing states of awareness (waking, dreaming, and sleeping). And He Calls for ego-transcending practice (sadhana) to be engaged at this depth—so that What Is Prior to all conditional states can be Realized.
This recording of Above the Clouds was made in November 2010, during a three day, 24-hour-a-day vigil of meditation and puja on the veranda of Aham Da Asmi Sthan, Adi Da's home on the island of Naitauba. Devotee John Wubbenhorst speaks of the sacred occasion of being dropped out into the space of being 'not really there' while the Guru plays the musical instrument (and the instrument that is one's body-mind).
"Above the clouds, There Is Always The Sun — Forever Free Of Earthly Weather. By Tendency, You Are Always Looking At the local weather, and Not At The Sun Itself. That Is What egoity Is About — Always Suffering The Changes Of The local Patterning That Is the body-mind In its egoic Bondage. Instead, You Must (In every moment) Turn To Me . . . "
poster: realityway speaker: Elizabeth Lowe length: 09:50 date added: February 7, 2009 language: English views: 5426; views this month: 29; views this week: 14
Elizabeth Lowe, a Jewish woman born in Austria the day that Hitler marched in, describes the extraordinary healing process she went through as Adi Da worked with her and through her blessed all the Jewish people.
poster: realityway speaker: Elizabeth Lowe length: 09:58 date added: February 7, 2009 language: English views: 6230; views this month: 42; views this week: 21
In this part, Elizabeth tells of the extraordinary healing play she became involved in with Adi Da during her retreat on Naitauba. She describes how Adi Da healed her of her fear and search regarding the holocaust, and, through her, blessed and healed the pattern of suffering of the Jewish people.
Ego as Process poster: TheBeezone length: 00:35 date added: October 6, 2012 event date: 1972 language: English views: 2532; views this month: 19; views this week: 11
Adi Da describes the ego as a process or action, and our suffering as the result of that action ("pinching oneself"). Therefore, merely analyzing the "I" thought (for example) is not sufficient for self-transcendence. Transcendence of the act that is ego is a matter of counter-egoic behavior.
[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.]
Adi Da talks about the presumption of the egoic "separate self" sense that is the root of human suffering. He contrasts this with our actual Position in Truth: the Position of Conscious Light.
This talk is from the first occasion in many years in which Avatar Adi Da spoke directly to a gathering of His devotees in California. Questions from devotees about intimate, familial, and social issues are met with Avatar Adi Da's Compassion and Humor, as well as His Liberating Wisdom.
[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.]
Come spiega Adi Da, la pratica spirituale diventa possibile quando la dipendenza e le limitazioni relative alla vita ordinaria sono del tutto chiare e comprese.
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.
This 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.
[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.]
"Le formiche hanno un ego" ("Ants have an ego") is a video excerpt from a humorous and profoundly insightful Avataric Discourse (given by Adi Da on October 20, 2004 at Adi Da Samrajashram), Adi Da considers the difference between self-consciousness and egoity, referring to both humans and non-humans (including dogs, ants, and trees).
ADI DA: [Laughs] You generally attribute egoity to human beings, but you wonder about everything else. For instance, what about not something relatively inert like a rug or even just standing there and not seeming to be particularly responsive, like a tree. But what about a dog? Is a dog, do you think dogs are egos when you see them, just as readily as you think of human beings as egos? But, why do you draw the line? I mean how far does it go? Where do you stop thinking of living entities, at least, as egos? Do you just presume everything bigger than a cricket is an ego? Or is everything that moves in your, from your perspective experientially or in your natural presumptions, how far do, does the fact of egoity extend in your presumption.
Well, is an ant an ego in your presumption?
The word “ego” is actually a Greek word which means “I”. I consider it with you and talk about it in terms of self-contraction and so forth, but, so that’s the elaboration on its meaning, but the word simply means “I” which means the reference, self-reference, the reflexive, reflexive pronoun as it’s called of self-reference. So, does an ant feel self-referential?
You observe them protecting themselves and struggling with others. Couldn’t do so without some kind of self-consciousness, could it? So, you naturally presume that even something like an ant is, is a self, an ego, self-aware. Does something have to move from its spatial location? Does it have to be able to take a walk or, such as an ant or a human being, or can a tree? Does a tree have self-consciousness, exhibit self-consciousness. . .
What about trees? They are entities with apparent self-consciousness of a kind. They are in that sense, egos. But are they egoic? Are they functioning egoically? Are they feeling that they are in bondage and moved to seek as human beings are and as you feel in your own case, you see? Trees don’t seem to behave, generally speaking, in quite that way. They are self-conscious as organisms, but they don’t seem to be particularly disturbed about being trees. They seem more characterized by some kind of contemplation in which they don’t feel disturbed.
But if you observe non-humans, virtually all of them show signs of setting themselves apart and entering into a contemplative state that resembles some kind of a samadhi or meditative condition.
Why do you think human beings are disturbed? You see, why is human egoity what it is? If you observe how it appears in evidence in non-humans, suggests that human beings are the way they are because they’re confined, and not just confined by walls and bars. Some people are, and they get very disturbed there, and walk back and forth or get catatonic.
Your bondage is your own activity, and it also extends from conditions. Conditions can reinforce or seem to justify self-contraction. But still what you’re suffering is self-contraction itself.
So, human beings are actually confined, and they are self-confined, and otherwise, also, living in various modes and degrees of confinement by conditions of life and in fact, human beings feel confined by bodily existence, because however healthy you may be at the moment, you know you’re going to die, and are potentially, potentially, you could suffer any number of great happenings. And you anticipate that inevitably, you will, sooner or later, experience some fundamental difficulties that you would prefer not to have to endure, including disease and death.
Well, everything that’s physically living is going to die. The trouble, the difference is does it drive you crazy, make you seek, or are you at ease, because you haven’t lost touch with what transcends that possibility?
[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.]
Adi Da Samraj risponde compassionevolmente, ma da un punto di vista radicale, ad un devoto che ha perso il nipote.
In "Perdita della Vita e Dolore Umani" ("Loss of Life and Human Suffering"), Adi Da Samraj talks about the pain of loss, and about liberation. This is in response to a devotee's question about the Devotional Prayer Of Changes and the death of the devotee's grandchild.
[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.]
"Questo Posto Non E' Utopia" ("This Place Is Not a Utopia") is an excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.
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.”
[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.]
Discurso por el Maestro de todo el mundo, Adi Da Samraj.
"La Condición Perfecta Es" ("The Perfect Condition Is") is a video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.
Adi Da talks about the presumption of the egoic "separate self" sense that is the root of human suffering. He contrasts this with our actual Position in Truth: the Position of Conscious Light.
This talk is from the first occasion in many years in which Avatar Adi Da spoke directly to a gathering of His devotees in California. Questions from devotees about intimate, familial, and social issues are met with Avatar Adi Da's Compassion and Humor, as well as His Liberating Wisdom.
[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 de Avatar Adi Da Samraj "La Gracia del Sufrimiento", Enero, 1976.
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.
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