We are happy to share this special video about Fear-No-More Zoo. This video includes: * short excerpt of Bhagavan Adi Da talking about the non-humans * meeting the non-humans and zoo team from the European Danda Fear-No-More zoo * footage from Winter solstice of the Mountain Of Attention Fear-No-More Zoo camel herd * meeting the Mountain Of Attention Fear-No-More Zoo team human and non-human * Darshan of Bhagavan Adi Da with His non-human devotees
TO DONATE: go to fnmzoo.org and click on our paypal donation button.
Music: Facing Beloved - No One Like Me Toby & Matt Braithwaite - Time with Freedom In Between Colin Kenniff – Wind and Distance Naada Om - Opus 108, The Beloved
This video is a remix edit of a dance done by the Florence Dance Company at the Bargello Museum in Florence in September 2009, set to the music of Jon Hopkins and with the Image-Art Of Adi Da Samraj.
My name is Megan Van Niekerk. I am a 24 year old Youth Fellowship devotee of Avatar Adi Da Samraj. I am a South African, and am currently living in Cape Town studying a Eurythmy BA degree at the Centre for Creative Education. I am currently in my third year of study.
I have been a formal devotee in the Youth Fellowship for over a year now and I would like to make my transition into the Second Congregation this year. I have been invited to travel up to the European Danda to meet the community living there and to make my transition. I would like to travel up at the end of June 2024 as this is the best time to do so during my college holidays.
It my heart’s desire to travel to a space that has been Empowered by Adi Da, and to experience the living quality of a community devoted to Him. There are only five South African devotees and we are scattered across the country, far away from each other. So I have not yet experienced Guruvaras or Celebrations with other devotees, despite having taken part online. I would love to experience what it is love to collectively invoke and praise Adi Da!
Unfortunately, I am not earning an income at the moment due to my studies and am living on a simple student allowance. And due to the short amount of time between now and June, it does not feel possible for me to save up the amount that I need to make this journey happen.
This CD contains a selection of Discourses from 1974 to 1997, which cover a broad spectrum of Avatar Adi Da’s Instruction. They provide a basic introduction to His Wisdom-Teaching and include Adi Da addressing principle matters of Spiritual life.
These Talks encompass the relationship to the Spiritual Master, the principle of Attraction, what occurs in the death process, the fundamental error at the root of all seeking, the limits of conventional religion and scientific materialism, and more.
[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.]
Klasyczny dyskurs Awatara Adi Da z 1981 r. Adi Da rozważa naturę prawdziwego szczęścia i tego, jak nie szukając szczęścia można je realizować w każdej chwili.
"Gdzie umiejscowione jest szczęście?" ("Where is happiness located?") 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.
The talk 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 "the pursuit of 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 (mis-identifying 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.]
Gerald Sheinfeld, uczeń Awatara Adi Da od wczesnych lat 70-tych, opowiada wspaniałą historię o tym, jak odnalazł swojego Guru i natychmiast rozpoznał wyjątkowy Stan Adi Da: Miłość, Szczęście i Wyzwolenie. Gerald mówi o tym, w jaki sposób rozpoznanie Adi Da budzi człowieka do Stanu Inherentnej Jedności.
Gerald Sheinfeld, a devotee of Avatar Adi Da since the early 1970's, tells a wonderful story about how he found his Guru, Adi Da Samraj and his immediate recognition of Adi Da's unique state of Freedom, Happiness, and Liberation. Gerald speaks about how that recognition of Adi Da has the capacity to awaken others to that state of Prior Unity.
Adi Da calls devotees to consider whether there is any evidence that a God exists Who one can hook up with through mere belief; and Who will then, like a Parent with Infinite Resources, start granting the believer a better life: reduced suffering, all kinds of earthly benefits, etc.
Is God a Being, or the Being, taking care of everyone?
If there is a God, then why isn't God obviously just in charge?
Why do individuals who don't believe in God very often seem to have a relatively enjoyable life, and believers just as frequently suffer?
If God is a Parent-Force, then why doesn't the commitment to God bring into your life evidence that you are being protected and sustained?
These are some of the questions that Avatar Adi Da considers with devotees participating with Him in the gatherings from the 1980's presented on this CD. What unfolds is a lively consideration that you too can participate in, wherever or whenever you are, by listening to this CD.
poster: DawnHorsePress length: 05:03 date added: June 23, 2012 event date: December 23, 1973 language: English
An excerpt from "Guru As Prophet", a humorous and penetrating Discourse from the very earliest years of Avatar Adi Da’s Teaching-Work. Adi Da speaks of the Guru's role as prophet in the world, which is to create "an aggravation, a criticism, an undermining of the usual life". He speaks of how the Guru in the function of prophet is always working to produce a condition in which people's illusions may be undone.
May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts is a deeply moving, sacred, contemplative CD that celebrates Adi Da's Life of Love and Blessing. This tribute to Adi Da Samraj includes music from many different genres, ranging from Indian classical to jazz to world music and other contemporary styles.
With over two hours of devotional songs filling this double CD, you can listen to pieces composed and performed by many devotee artists, including Naamleela Free Jones, Tamarind Free Jones, Ray Lynch, John Wubbenhorst, John Mackay, Sally Howe, Crane Kirkbride, Antonina Randazzo, Katya Grineva and many others.
Some of the twenty-five pieces on May You Ever Dwell In Our Hearts were written and offered in the days immediately following Adi Da's Passing on November 27, 2008, or in the year-long period of formal mourning that followed. Other songs were offered to Him in person during His Lifetime. This CD also contains new songs never released before by Naamleela, Tamarind, and other musicians.
[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.]
Kolejny fragment wczesnego dyskursu (29 lipca 1973) Adi Da Samraj:
ADI DA: To, co dzieje się w procesie Satsangu, czyli prawdziwego życia duchowego, nie polega na tym, żeby się wznieść na wyżyny i już nigdy nie upaść. Praktykując stajesz się całkowicie identyczny ze stanem przed wzlotami i upadkami, przed bogiem i diabłem, przed duchem i ciałem i wszystkimi tymi przeciwieństwami. Prawdziwa błogość rzeczywistości i prawdziwego boga staje się twoją urzeczywistnioną naturą.
Zaczynasz obserwować to w świadomości - a także w życiu codziennym bo proces Satsangu działa nie tylko subiektywnie. To nie jest po prostu ujawnienie twoich skłonności, uczuć, myśli i snów. Ten proces przejawia się również zewnętrznie, powodując nieustanne zmiany okoliczności w twoim życiu, przynosząc zmieny stanów wewnętrzny. Z cazsem zaczynasz obserwować, że cykl wzlotów i upadków - sam cykl - nie znika. Ale już nie masz wątpliwości co do charakteru zachodzących w cyklu zmian. Teraz możesz obserwować cechy życia i świadomości, ale ich cykl przestaje być dylematem.
Watching this DVD will transport viewers to a special moment in Adidam history. July 29, 1973, was the day Avatar Adi Da left Los Angeles for a Yajna (sacred journey) through India and Nepal. He returned as “Bubba Free John”, His first spontaneously revealed Teaching-Name. Thus, this was the last Discourse He gave as “Franklin Jones” (Avatar Adi Da’s birth name).
[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.]
Taipumuksiltaan ihmiset ovat sidottuja elämän luonnolliseen aaltoilevaan kiertoon. Ruumiillinen nautinto tai hengelliset harjoitukset eivät tuota todellista vapautta tästä jatkuvasta liikkeestä. Ensimmäinen valinta korostaa ainoastaan laskevia (tai ruumiillisia) kokemuksia, ja toinen nousevia (tai mystisiä) kokemuksia.
Tässä varhaisessa keskustelussa Avatar Adi Da selvittää, miten suhde Guruun (eli Satsang) mahdollistaa vapauden tästä loukusta, koska Guru on sen Olotilan Ilmentymä, joka on Aiempi kuin tämä konemainen kierre, eli hän elää sen tuolla puolen.
"Guru on muuttumaton vakaus elämän aallonharjojen ja pohjien keskellä" ("The Guru is Constant Stability Amidst the Highs and Lows of Life") is an excerpt from the DVD, The Relationship To The Guru Is The Constant In Life.
Watching this DVD will transport viewers to a special moment in Adidam history. July 29, 1973, was the day Avatar Adi Da left Los Angeles for a Yajna (sacred journey) through India and Nepal. He returned as “Bubba Free John”, His first spontaneously revealed Teaching-Name. Thus, this was the last Discourse He gave as “Franklin Jones” (Avatar Adi Da’s birth name).
I’ve sung Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to Beloved Adi Da many times over the years — at the Manner of Flowers, at Adi Da Samrajashram, at First People / Great Food Dish, etc. (as one of a small group of singers, and usually also as the keyboardist) — and I’m singing it to Him again (and all of you!) here. It is one of my favorite songs at this time of year.
For me (starting with Judy Garland's original film version), it has always been an emotion-filled song, by turns joyful, playful, nostalgic, and wistful — so that is how I sing it here.
This song as a bridge to God. In Beloved Adi Da’s Company, everything (from Mickey Mouse to cookie-making) becomes “a bridge to God”.
ADI DA: “You must Awaken and discover the Divine World wherein everything is a bridge to the Infinite, One Being.”
And so for me, the words of this song have always taken on a significance beyond the usual secular understanding of the song. They lead me through a consideration that I’ll share with you here.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the Yuletide gay From now on our troubles will be miles away.
Here we are as in olden days Happy golden days of yore Faithful friends who are dear to us Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together If the fates allow Hang a shining star upon the highest bough And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
That wistfulness: Raymond’s problem. On the surface, the words of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas are purely joyful — "faithful friends" coming together each year in a joyous Christmas celebration. And yet, one of the emotions I feel when I sing this song is wistfulness. So where is the wistfulness coming from? It's that big "IF" in the song: "if the fates allow". In fact, as every one of us knows (more and more, with each passing year), fate (conditional existence) only allows such reunions for a limited number of years. As I sing, I have a vision of a photograph of a gathering of friends, from a Christmas or Danavira Mela many years ago, and, in this vision, each face in the photograph — one by one over the years — turns "ghostly", either through our circumstances (high school, college, living near each other) no longer being shared, or life paths that have moved in different directions, or the passing on of that person. My awareness of that inevitable reality is the source of the wistfulness and nostalgia. The inevitable disappearance of the (mortal) loved one is “Raymond’s problem”, a phrase Adi Da uses, based on the central character of The Mummery Book.
Danavira Mela: A Divine Celebration in the midst of a conditional universe. The joy and playfulness of the song comes from the celebration we can still have together, even in the midst of an ever-changing, conditional universe. One of my (and many other devotees’) favorite quotes of Beloved Adi Da has always been this extraordinary prayer, from “Death is a Perfect Insult” in The Enlightenment of the Whole Body:
“Let us surrender into Infinity with all our friends and hold on to no thing or condition that ever appears. Let us forget all things in present Happiness, and so forgive the universe for all its playful changes. Let us always love one another, and so forgive one another for appearing, for changing, and for passing out of present sight. So be it.”
When I sing this song, I hear it giving further guidance for just how to do this.
poster: AdiDaUpClose speaker: Steve Alexander length: 13:17 date added: July 8, 2012 language: English
Steve Alexander describes his experiences of Huichol shamanism (while in his twenties), and his aspiration to become a shaman. Then, while on a Huichol pilgrimage in Mexico, "everything that could possible go wrong, did". For a "suburban kid from Los Angeles" it was like "trying to put on someone else's shoe".
Steve returned to focus on his university education in fine art. All the while, an awareness of a Divine Presence in his heart was growing. He describes how he cultivated his relationship with that Presence, even as he became increasingly aware of his own egoity and the ways it would tend to shut down that Presence.
Steve describes how his formal relinquishment of Huichol shamanism opened the door to the intensification of that Presence, and ultimately, to his devotional relationship with the human form of that Presence: Adi Da.
poster: AdiDaUpClose speaker: Steve Alexander length: 14:15 date added: July 8, 2012 language: English
Steve Alexander describes his experiences of Huichol shamanism (while in his twenties), and his aspiration to become a shaman. Then, while on a Huichol pilgrimage in Mexico, "everything that could possible go wrong, did". For a "suburban kid from Los Angeles" it was like "trying to put on someone else's shoe".
Steve returned to focus on his university education in fine art. All the while, an awareness of a Divine Presence in his heart was growing. He describes how he cultivated his relationship with that Presence, even as he became increasingly aware of his own egoity and the ways it would tend to shut down that Presence.
Steve describes how his formal relinquishment of Huichol shamanism opened the door to the intensification of that Presence, and ultimately, to his devotional relationship with the human form of that Presence: Adi Da.
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