The Sunshine Makers poster: frizz lefryd length: 07:43 date added: May 8, 2010 language: English views: 10767; views this month: 56; views this week: 17 One of Adi Da's favorite cartoons, "The Sunshine Makers" is a classic from the golden age of animation. Released on January 11, 1935 (an auspicious day of the year, in the sacred calendar of Adidam), the cartoon was directed by Ted Eshbaugh, the first artist/technician to figure out how to create animated cartoons in color. This restored print is the highest quality available, and is from the DVD, Toddle Tales & Rainbow Parade Cartoons.
"The Sunshine Makers" is the third cartoon in the "Rainbow Parade Series", which was produced by Van Beuren Studios to compete with Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies". The series consisted of 27 full color, animated shorts, and was distributed to theaters by RKO between 1934 and 1936. (You can watch more of these here.)
"The Sunshine Makers" later became a regular on 1950's television, after the sale of RKO's film library. In his book, Of Mice and Magic, well-known film critic Leonard Maltin writes that his childhood (in the 1950's) included "countless viewings" of the cartoon.
"The Sunshine Makers" is also one of Adi Da's favorite cartoons, because of its depiction of Light and Happiness (magnified and spread by the "Sunshine gnomes" in the cartoon) dissolving and outshining the force of egoity (the "gloomies").
In his article, "The Sunshine Makers cartoon from 1935", James Steinberg writes, "Bhagavan Adi Da loved that cartoon! He thought that it showed the simplicity of the argument of the open hand and the closed fist, or that our un-happiness is just something that we presume. Just like He used to tell us when we came to the Mountain of Attention, or came to see Him altogether, that we could 'leave it at the gate'. There is no reason to presume the dilemma in the face of the Divine (or truly altogether). We used to watch 'The Sunshine Makers' cartoon with Him when we had to watch it on a 16mm projector. I saw it multiple times with Bhagavan and He would laugh heartily as it was shown and watch our faces to see our reactions beaming with Happiness. He always used to tell us that we could just 'drop it in the moment' (our self-contraction) and that it was 'just an act'."
Further notes on the cartoon:
* It's a musical! Almost all speech is set to music.
* At 0:43: The "Sunshine gnomes" start their morning with a conscious exercise routine that begins with bowing down to the Transcendental Sun (the source of their sunshine): "Hail, His Majesty, the Sun!"
* At 7:00: When the "gloomies" refuse to "take their medicine", the gnomes force "sunshine" down their throats. In the words of the great Spiritual Master, Sri Ramakrishna: "There are three classes of physicians: superior, mediocre, and inferior. The physician who feels the patient's pulse and just says to him, 'Take the medicine regularly' belongs to the inferior class. He doesn't care to inquire whether or not the patient has actually taken the medicine. The mediocre physician is he who in various ways persuades the patient to take the medicine, and says to him sweetly: 'My good man, how will you be cured unless you use the medicine? Take this medicine. I have made it for you myself.' But he who, finding the patient stubbornly refusing to take the medicine, forces it down his throat, going so far as to put his knee on the patient's chest is the best physician. This is the manifestation of the tamas of the physician. It doesn't injure the patient; on the contrary, it does him good."tags: cartoonanimation
poster: adidatribute speaker: James Steinberg length: 15:07 date added: July 5, 2011 event date: November 28, 2009 language: English views: 6898; views this month: 20; views this week: 6 Longtime devotee, James Steinberg, offers this testimonial to the life and work of Adi Da Samraj.
Excerpt from First Evening: Track 4 on the DVD, A Tribute to the Life and Work of His Divine Presence, Adi Da Samraj. More than 7 hours long, this Tribute DVD was filmed on the occasion of the first Anniversary of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, when devotees, family, and friends of Adi Da Samraj gathered at Adi Da Samrajashram, Fiji (Adi Da's principal Hermitage), to acknowledge Adi Da as the Divine in human form, to praise His Greatness, and to express their heart-felt gratitude for the Blessings they have received from Him.
A list of all the tracks on this DVD can be found here.
3WBC Radio Interview of James Steinberg poster: AdiDaUpClose speakers: James Steinberg, Jan Bucknell length: 53:05 date added: October 16, 2014 event date: October 16, 2014 language: English listens: 6327; listens this month: 31; listens this week: 11 Devotee James Steinberg is interviewed about Adi Da and Adidam on 3WBC 94.1 FM, Melbourne, Australia on October 16, 2014, for the program, "Jazz and Spiritual", hosted by Bill Livingston, Minister at Unity of Melbourne. Australian devotee Jan Bucknell also joins in the conversation every now and then.
The program ends (at 47:14) with a recording of Adi Da reciting from The Spiritual Gospel of Jesus of Galilee, Adi Da's rendition of "The New Testament" (available on CD).
Divine Distraction with James Steinberg poster: AdiDaUpClose speaker: James Steinberg length: 50:54 date added: February 1, 2016 language: English listens: 6230; listens this month: 22; listens this week: 7 James Steinberg is interviewed on the podcast, Vajra Body Vajra Mind. Vajra Body Vajra Mind is a provocative podcast that explores the outer limits of spiritual practice and human development. James Steinberg is a longtime devotee of Adi Da, and the author of Divine Distraction and Love of the God-Man.
In this episode of Vajra Body Vajra Mind, we discuss James' life with Adi Da. We talk about the practice of Guru Yoga, challenges in reading Adi Da's Teaching, anti-Guru sentiment in contemporary culture, sexuality in spirituality, the importance of discipline in the Way of Adidam, the unique Transmission of Adi Da's Revelation and Presence (through photographs, videos, Image-Art, etc), resistance to the Guru by the ego, positive disillusionment (aka "the Lesson of Life"), and more.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: James Steinberg, Ed Reither length: 14:32 date added: February 13, 2011 language: English views: 5568; views this month: 5; views this week: 2 Ed Reither of The Beezone interviews longtime devotee James Steinberg about Adi Da Samraj's development of His Teaching about the Great Tradition in which He clarifies and makes sense of all humankind's exploration of religion, spirituality and truth. James talks about Adi Da's description of the esoteric anatomy of the body-mind and the process that a person has to go through to realize the truth.
Testimonial from Longtime Devotee James Steinberg poster: AdiDaVideos speaker: James Steinberg length: 15:07 date added: January 25, 2014 event date: November 28, 2009 language: English views: 5154; views this month: 35; views this week: 10 Longtime devotee, James Steinberg, tells the story of how he found Adi Da. He offers this testimonial to the life and work of Adi Da Samraj.
Excerpt from First Evening: Track 4 on the DVD, A Tribute to the Life and Work of His Divine Presence, Adi Da Samraj. More than 7 hours long, this Tribute DVD was filmed on the occasion of the first Anniversary of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, when devotees, family, and friends of Adi Da Samraj gathered at Adi Da Samrajashram, Fiji (Adi Da's principal Hermitage), to acknowledge Adi Da as the Divine in human form, to praise His Greatness, and to express their heart-felt gratitude for the Blessings they have received from Him.tags: DVDJames Steinberg
poster: Adidam Europe speaker: James Steinberg length: 04:27 date added: March 13, 2012 event date: March 2012 language: English views: 5063; views this month: 12; views this week: 2 James Steinberg tells a couple of incredible (and humorous) stories about Adi Da's extraordinary Spiritual Power and the psychic awareness that comes from being the Consciousness of every being.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: James Steinberg, Ed Reither length: 05:42 date added: February 1, 2011 event date: January 26, 2011 language: English views: 4725; views this month: 8; views this week: 3 Ed Reither of The Beezone interviews longtime devotee James Steinberg about his early life up to and including becoming a devotee of Adi Da Samraj. James talks about the early times of Adidam and people's desire to have transmission experiences from Adi Da Samraj and how Adi Da Samraj constantly emphasized that Spiritual Realization had nothing to do with any conditional experience regardless of whether it is spiritual or material.
[This clip is actually only 5 minutes and 42 seconds in length.]
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, James Steinberg length: 11:02 date added: January 29, 2011 language: English views: 4654; views this month: 10; views this week: 3 Ed Reither of The Beezone interviews longtime devotee James Steinberg about his early life up to and including becoming a devotee of Adi Da Samraj. James talks about the early days of Adidam and people's desire to have transmission experiences from Adi Da Samraj and how Adi Da Samraj constantly emphasized that Spiritual Realization had nothing to do with any conditional experience regardless of whether it is spiritual or material.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, James Steinberg length: 12:20 date added: January 29, 2011 event date: January 26, 2011 language: English views: 4519; views this month: 15; views this week: 4 Ed Reither of The Beezone interviews longtime devotee James Steinberg about his early life up to and including becoming a devotee of Adi Da Samraj.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, James Steinberg length: 11:00 date added: February 13, 2011 event date: January 26, 2011 language: English views: 4302; views this month: 11; views this week: 6 Ed Reither of The Beezone interviews longtime devotee James Steinberg. James shares the story of his obsession with India and traditional spiritual books, and how Adi Da used His "Power Foot" and His "Beauty Foot" to make the point that the actual spiritual practice in relation to Him was what mattered, not books.
poster: TheBeezone speakers: Ed Reither, James Steinberg length: 12:59 date added: February 13, 2011 event date: January 26, 2011 language: English views: 3901; views this month: 8; views this week: 1 Ed Reither of The Beezone interviews longtime devotee James Steinberg. James tells how, even though he came to Adi Da because He was "a teacher who can deal with me", nonetheless there were moments when James resisted Adi Da's "dealing" with him. He tells the story of one such moment and how studying the details of the Guru-devotee relationship in the spiritual traditions helped move him into right relationship with his Guru.
poster: Adidam Europe speaker: James Steinberg length: 06:32 date added: April 4, 2012 event date: March 2012 language: English views: 3559; views this month: 9; views this week: 1 James Steinberg discusses the importance of keeping attention on the Guru and staying in relationship to (and Communion with) the Guru.
poster: Adidam Europe length: 03:55 date added: May 20, 2013 event date: July 2012 language: English views: 3432; views this month: 10; views this week: 2 James Steinberg reads from Adi Da's Teaching on how Adi Da's Presence is felt as a "pressure" that offends the ego, and how Adi Da's devotee must endure this pressure.
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