poster: AdidamPodcasts length: 12:45 date added: March 17, 2012 event date: 1978 language: English listens: 6195; listens this month: 14; listens this week: 9
In this talk from 1978, Adi Da notes that cultism is rooted in the childish need to believe and to depend on a person, group, myth, or symbol — without assuming responsibility for oneself. He then points out that the tendency to create a cult (of whatever kind) is present in everyone, every level of human society and culture. Adi Da criticizes the tendency toward cultism in the world at large and within His community of devotees. He calls His devotees to understand and relinquish all modes of false and childish dependency on Him as a Spiritual Master, and to make only the most serious and mature approach to Him, for the great purpose of Spiritual Awakening and Divine Enlightenment.
What is Cultism? poster: AdiDaVideos length: 19:00 date added: January 2, 2014 event date: December 16, 1978 language: English views: 5421; views this month: 16; views this week: 5
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."
Czym jest kult? poster: Adi Da Video Polska length: 19:00 date added: June 2, 2017 event date: December 16, 1978 language: Polish views: 3432; views this month: 27; views this week: 15
[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.]
Adi Da krytyka kultu religijnego. Dyskurs ten, wydany w 1978 roku, jest jednym z jego podsumowań na ten temat.
Aby uzyskać więcej informacji o Adi Da Samraj i Drodze Serca proszę pisać na adres: adidavideo.pl@gmail.com.
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."
You Must Not Believe In Me poster: EvenStar303 length: 15:32 date added: October 8, 2017 event date: December 16, 1978 language: English views: 966; views this month: 11; views this week: 2
In this talk from December 16, 1978, Adi Da Samraj criticizes cultism and a cultic relationship to Him.
[Contains French 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 critique le sectarisme religieux. Ce discours, donné en 1978, est une de ses allocutions récapitulatives sur le sujet.
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, "Qu'est-ce que le Sectarisme?" ("What Is Cultism?"), 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."
[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 critica il cultismo in genere e in particolare quello religioso. Questo discorso, che risale al 1978, è uno dei ricorsi sullo stesso tema che si sono susseguiti negli anni.
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, "Cos'è il Cultismo?" ("What Is Cultism?"), 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."
You Must Not Believe In Me poster: TheBeezone length: 15:32 date added: December 9, 2018 event date: December 16, 1978 language: English views: 1172; views this month: 15; views this week: 9
This talk about cultism was given on December 16, 1979, three weeks after the Jonestown Massacre. Adi Da mentions how He has always criticized all forms of cultism, including "the cult of the spiritual master", which devotees have created around Him repeatedly. In the "cult of the spiritual master", members of the cult make Him the center of a club in which everyone feels good because they're members of the club and they've "found it", unlike the rest of the world. But devotees who turn Adidam into a cult fail to actually practice and Realize anything; they get sidetracked from actual practice by the "feel good" energy they create in each other's company. Adi Da is here not to be the center of a cult, but for us to Realize Him.
[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.]
Adi Da kritisoi uskonnollista kultismia. Hän kiteyttää sanomansa aiheesta tässä puheessa vuodelta 1978.
This discourse, "Mitä on kultismi?" ("What Is Cultism?"), was given at the Mountain Of Attention on December 16, 1978, three weeks after the Jonestown Massacre.
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 1978 talk 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."
poster: AdidamPodcasts length: 11:00 date added: October 5, 2010 event date: 1977 language: English listens: 3725; listens this month: 8; listens this week: 5
This podcast is an excerpt from a 1977 discourse, in which Adi Da responds to a devotee's question about the difficulty — and apparent inability — to love.
[Note: there is nothing further on the audio clip after 11:00.]
poster: CDBaby length: 12:21 date added: February 17, 2016 event date: January 18, 1976 language: English views: 6423; views this month: 34; views this week: 15
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.
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.
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.
The Sacred Arts in Adidam poster: satsang length: 03:39 date added: February 5, 2009 language: English views: 2679; views this month: 3; views this week: 1
The true and sacred purpose of music and art is to connect the viewer or the listener with the Divine. Adi Da has created a complete sacred culture in which all devotees are called to take up a particular sacred art as a part of their practice of the Way of Adidam.
poster: realityway speaker: Max Rykov length: 07:42 date added: September 30, 2009 language: English views: 3915; views this month: 7; views this week: 5
In the second part of this three-part series, 20 year-old Max Rykov continues to describe the process he went through before becoming a formal devotee of Avatar Adi Da Samraj, including some of the difficulties he initially came up against.
poster: GlobalCooperationProject length: 07:53 date added: November 7, 2010 language: English listens: 3896; listens this month: 9; listens this week: 4
Renowned actor Kenneth Welsh recites selected chapters from Adi Da's book, Not-Two Is Peace. In this audio, he recites: "The Transition beyond Ego-Culture".
Endorsement for Not-Two Is Peace poster: swaybone11 speaker: Theo Cedar Jones length: 01:59 date added: February 1, 2012 language: English views: 3539; views this month: 8; views this week: 4
A commercial (from Theo Cedar Jones) for Adi Da's book, Not-Two Is Peace, which describes how the human race can save itself by adopting a new form of global cooperative culture based on "prior unity".
In The Field of Sacred Camels poster: SacredCamelGardens speaker: Stuart Camps length: 23:12 date added: June 17, 2012 language: English views: 3426; views this month: 10; views this week: 7
This documentary shows the development of the cooperative process between camels and people that fosters the spiritual growth of both cultures.
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