Self-Contraction poster: TheBeezone length: 00:53 date added: November 30, 2012 event date: 2004 language: English views: 3134; views this month: 23; views this week: 13
Adi Da speaks about our failure to notice the Divine Reality and why this is so: self contraction of the body-mind as "Narcissus", the separate self.
poster: Wisdom Tools for Humanity length: 04:59 date added: March 26, 2017 event date: January 21, 2005 language: English views: 4781; views this month: 58; views this week: 19
Adi Da: "Sex is fundamental ego-identity, lived. And generally speaking, it is a problem for everyone. . . The social pattern of 'self' and 'other' is founded upon emotional-sexual patterning to a very great degree. . . So it certainly is an important dimension of bondage, and therefore an important aspect of sadhana. The Perfect Practice is not based on any reference to the body-mind, or any method of the body-mind."
In this Avataric Discourse (from January 21, 2005), Adi Da explains why the Perfect Practice (the most advanced development of the Way of Adidam) has nothing to do with sex (or the ego-"I" altogether), and is not a "method" of the body-mind or something to be applied to the body-mind. The Self-Condition prior to the body-mind is the domain of the Perfect Practice. The Self-Condition is not a separate "self", but the Nirvanic Condition that is always already the case, and that inherently transcends the body-mind.
This excerpt is from the DVD, Beyond Sex, Science, and self. Subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Czech, and Hebrew.
Audio excerpt from Adi Da's talk, "Sex, Laughter, and Real-God-Realization" (now available on CD).
Sexuality, humor, and Awakening to the Divine Condition are three forms of ecstasy, or unbounded feeling, that disrupt the conventional sense of “order” in society. Pleasure undoes the body. Humor undoes the mind. And Realization undoes the sense of “self”. The Fullness of Real-God-Realization Comprehends and Transcends the limitations of social norms, spiritual presumptions, and self-identification, granting the capability of Real Happiness and True Freedom.
In this excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given at The Mountain Of Attention in early 2006, Adi Da responds to a devotee's question about the difference between sixth stage and seventh stage non-dual Realization. He also distinguishes between the "imperfect" sixth stage practices in the Great Tradition, that involve the body-mind in a conditional activity of turning the faculties to Consciousness Itself; and the Perfect Practice of the Way of Adidam, which does not involve the body-mind at all, but involves a Self-Abiding in Consciousness Itself that is an Acausal Gift of the Divine.
Spectra Suite poster: Francesco Rampichini length: 10:36 date added: August 2, 2017 event date: 2008 language: English views: 4673; views this month: 76; views this week: 36
As part of the 2008 Inverno a Firenze (Winter in Florence), Adi Da's Image-Art was featured in the medieval church, the Cenacolo di Ognissanti, strikingly juxtaposed with Domenico Ghirlandaio's Last Supper (1480). More about this art exhibition here.
This video was a part of that exhibition. It is an animated work that combines art drawn from Adi Da's The Spectra Suites with new electronic music by Francesco Rampichini. It was conceived and directed by Valeria Patera, and edited by Valeria Spera.
The Spectra Suites. Between 1998 and 2006, Adi Da focused on camera-based imagery, creating a highly complex body of work (in both black-and-white and color) that now exceeds 60,000 images and a great many hours of videotape. The Spectra Suites is a consequence of His work from that great library. In these suites, Adi Da combines digitally generated imagery with images He created using still and video cameras. To achieve each finished work, He then meticulously crafted every detail by digital means. Each of the ten Spectra Suites is based on one or more of His fundamental images — many of which are a powerful visual and philosophical complexity.
Francesco Rampichini. Through his music, master guitarist and composer, Francesco Rampichini, has created a wide range of sound and image interconnections, composing for theater, dance, digital art and collaborating on important exhibitions and museum installations. He taught at the Civic Music Schools in Milan, Opera, Locate Triulzi and at the Ateneo della chitarra and the European Music Institute in Milan. He teaches at CPSM at the Conservatory of Milan (of which he has been vice president) and at the Civica Music School of Locate Triulzi (guitar, ensemble music, computer music). He is President of the Jury of Guitar Competition Rocco Peruggini, artistic director of the Lyric Competition Principessa Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso, and was the first Italian President of the Jury of the Django d'Or International Award under the High Patronage of the Embassy of France in Rome (1999). More about Francesco at his website.
Valeria PateraValeria Patera studied philosophy of science at Università degli Studi di Milano, and graduated in dramaturgy from the Civic School of Art.e Dramatic Paolo Grassi. She is a playwright, director, actress and scholar of the relationship between art, science, and philosophy. She collaborates with prestigious universities, research centers and European foundations including University of Sheffield, State University of Milan, ROME THREE, La Sapienza, La Sorbonne, University of Leeds and Portland, Gulbenkian Foundation, Sigma Tau Foundation. Since 2002, she has written, published and staged live work shows and life stories that have radically altered our way of seeing the world, including "Alan's Apple" about Alan Turing, the inventor of the computer; and "I, Charles Darwin: Traces and voices of my life", on the father of the theory of evolution.
Valeria Spera.Valeria Spera has a degree in "Communication Sciences and Technologies" and a specialized degree in "Television, Cinema, and Multimedia Production" from the University of Milan. She currently works with the Feltrinelli Group's La Effe TV in creating new formats for their autumn television season.
[Contains Czech 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 recites "Srdce Porozumění" ("The Heart of Understanding"), the Prologue to His autobiography, The Knee Of Listening. "The Heart of Understanding" also is the Prologue to His book, Easy Death.
The recitation is accompanied by photos of Adi Da.
"The Heart of Understanding" is extraordinarily good news: death itself can be transcended! The death of the body-mind is not a problem, and is utterly acceptable, if one realizes and stands as Consciousness Itself, in which all mortal forms and limited worlds are arising.
In the final words of "The Heart of Understanding", Adi Da reveals that He is That: Consciousness Itself. Because this is so, He transmits that Revelation to all beings, and provides (and is) the means whereby all of us finally can be free of mortality and the mortal vision.
This excerpt is track 1 of the CD, Death and the Purpose of Existence, a collection of talks and recitations that exemplify Avatar Adi Da’s essential Wisdom-Teaching on death and dying.
[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.]
Tässä varhaisessa puheessa vuodelta 1978, Adi Da käsittelee hengellisen harjoituksen alkuvaiheiden kamppailua ja häiriötekoijöitä, mutta myös sitä suurta apua, jota saa suhteesta hengelliseen mestariin. Huomion vartalo-mielen ylä- ja alamäkiin voi ylittää tuossa suhteessa.
"Suhde Hengelliseen Mestariin mahdollistaa antautumisen" ("Communion with the Spiritual Master is What Makes Surrender Possible") is from a question and answer session with Adi Da on October 28, 1978, in Land Bridge Pavilion at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary in Northern California. This is track 3 on the DVD, Surrender of self Is A Koan.
In this excerpt, Adi Da addresses the fact that although the struggle and distractions in the early stages of spiritual practice are great, there is also great help in the relationship with the Spiritual Master. Attention to all of the ups and downs of the body-mind can be transcended and surrendered through that relationship.
Adi Da speaks about the use of the internet as a means of Sighting Him and practicing in His Company.
He speaks of the constant stimulation of the body-mind that people are involved in and how this is a block to noticing Reality Prior to the separate self. He admonishes devotees to practice and thus deal with the bondage that is the human condition.
[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 Dan väkevä kehoitus ymmärtämykseen ja elämän ja kuoleman kehän ylitykseen "Sydämen muuttumattoman Tuntemuksen ja Nautinnon" kautta.
Adi Da recites "Sydämen muuttumattoman Tuntemuksen ja Nautinnon" ("The Heart of Understanding"), the Prologue to His autobiography, The Knee Of Listening. "The Heart of Understanding" also is the Prologue to His book, Easy Death.
The recitation is accompanied by photos of Adi Da.
"The Heart of Understanding" is extraordinarily good news: death itself can be transcended! The death of the body-mind is not a problem, and is utterly acceptable, if one realizes and stands as Consciousness Itself, in which all mortal forms and limited worlds are arising.
In the final words of "The Heart of Understanding", Adi Da reveals that He is That: Consciousness Itself. Because this is so, He transmits that Revelation to all beings, and provides (and is) the means whereby all of us finally can be free of mortality and the mortal vision.
This excerpt is track 1 of the CD, Death and the Purpose of Existence, a collection of talks and recitations that exemplify Avatar Adi Da’s essential Wisdom-Teaching on death and dying.
poster: CDBaby length: 02:29 date added: October 27, 2018 event date: January 3, 1974 language: English views: 1662; views this month: 32; views this week: 12
"Take This Body as Prasad" is an excerpt from Adi Da's talk, "Guru Enters Devotee", from January 3, 1974.
This excerpt is disc one, track 2 of the double-CD, After My Lifetime, an exceptional collection of Adi Da’s Instruction covering the significance of His Divine Mahasamadhi (the passing of His physical Body), the ever-present Gift of the direct relationship to Him, and the never-ending Nature of His Work to Bless and Awaken all beings.
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.
[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.]
Awatar Adi Da ponownie analizuje powierzchowne podejście do życia i medytacji; ponownie oświetla źródło strachu jako samo-ograniczenie, które tworzy oddzielne życie. Żadna technika nie cofa strachu, tylko radykalne samozrozumienie i radykalna odpowiedzialność usuwa źródło i substancję lęku i separacji.
"Techniki medytacji nie usuwają lęku" ("Meditation Techniques Do Not Touch Fear") is an 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.
This is a short talk where Adi Da describes the beginnings of reception in the body of spiritual energy, the 'conductivity' of it, and the yogic pattern of it. This is something He has talked a lot about, and is one of the main parts of His teachings and our practice.
The Bodily Location of Happiness poster: AdiDaVideos length: 13:12 date added: May 4, 2016 event date: November 28, 1981 language: English views: 7846; views this month: 86; views this week: 43
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.
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 "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!"
poster: CDBaby length: 10:08 date added: December 22, 2018 event date: November 28, 1981 language: English views: 3623; views this month: 119; views this week: 53
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!"
In this discourse excerpt entitled "The Body Arises in a Universal Field", Avatar Adi Da examines our mistaken belief that we are a separate "me". He reveals our true nature as being one with the Divine Life Force that pervades us.
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