Diet and Climate Change poster: A Better World Radio speakers: Mitchell Rabin, Abel Slater, Dina Lautman length: 66:42 date added: April 1, 2016 event date: March 30, 2016 language: English listens: 6432; listens this month: 19; listens this week: 8
[Show actually begins at 00:56, after a commercial and a brief excerpt from Mozart's Symphony No. 40.]
In this episode of the radio show, A Better World, host Mitchell Rabin conducts a Round Table discussion on the relationship between diet and climate change. He raises the tremendous possibility for both personal-planetary transformation and spiritual growth.
Joining Mitchell are Abel Slater and Dina Lautman. Abel and Dina have been devotees of Adi Da for over 25 years, and have spent significant time in Naitauba, Fiji at Adi Da’s principal Hermitage Sanctuary, Adi Da Samrajashram, where they received direct guidance from Adi Da, both in practical life wisdom and esoteric spiritual practice. Now based in New York, they also travel extensively throughout the world presenting Adi Da's spiritual teachings about right life, including diet, sexuality, meditation and conductivity. Recently, they have been focused on raising awareness about the benefits of the raw vegan diet by promoting Green Gorilla raw treats across the U.S. and around the world.
What occurs at the micro level of each individual's diet is effectively magnified at the macro level of the collective global ecosystem. Today, over 70 billion land animals are killed annually to support human meat consumption. A recent United Nations environmental impact study determined that livestock is the source of 18% of global greenhouse gases, now exceeding emissions from all transportation sources globally, which account for 17% of global greenhouse gases. Meat consumption is growing exponentially and is increasingly jeopardizing the health of the planet. Today’s Round Table will address these issues in depth. This conversation and the information we consider is vital to our personal health and to the collective survival of our species and all sentient life.
[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.]
"Tohle místo není utopie" ("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 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.]
Uczeń Adi Da, który jest Indianinem i który służy w Adi Da Aszramie na Fidżi, omawia próbę pogodzenia jego zobowiązań kulturowych i rodzinnych w Indiach, z pragnieniem służenia i praktykowania jako uczeń Adi Da. Adi Da odpowiada na jego pytanie ze współczuciem, humorem i uznaniem silnych wymagań kultury, z której pochodzi Jego uczeń. Adi Da również wskazuje na to, że decyzja, którą on sam musi podjąć, zależy od tego, do czego zmierza w swoim życiu.
"Nie jesteś w stanie spełnić wszystkich oczekiwań" ("You Cannot Satisfy Everyone's Expectations") 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.
In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.
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 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: „Ludzka rozpacz i straty są dla mnie wstrząsające i straszne, to ogromny ciężar. Nieuchronnie współczuję i błogosławię ludzi w ich kłopotach. Musisz jednak zrozumieć, że taki jest charakter tego miejsca. To nie jest Utopia. To nie raj. To miejsce śmierci, zakończeń, cierpienia, ulotnych rozrywek, to zbyt mało. Ale jedynie reagować przez lata na twoje problemy i próbować z tego zbudować twoje życie to bezowocny wysiłek. Musisz wznieść się ponad reagowanie na chwile cierpienia i straty bo twoja kolej nadchodzi. Pewnego dnia to będzie twoja śmierć. Wszyscy przeminą. Wszystko przepadnie. Wszystko się straci. Wszystko się zmieni. Każda możliwa separacja nastąpi. Musisz poznać to miejsce, w którym się znalazłeś i żyć zgodnie z tą wiedzą. A nie godzić się z przyjmowanym fałszywym obrazem bytu czy świata, i próbować idealizować jakiś aspekt potencjalnego doświadczenia, które sprowadza się do uzależnień i powtórzeń tego samego. A wszystko po to, aby uniknąć wiedzy o życiu i o całym piekle, które nadciąga nad Ziemię i jest tutaj, w tych strasznych, ciemnych, czasach niewiedzy, w tych złych, morderczych czasach. Bez względu na to, co tutaj jest twórcze, szlachetne czy interesujące musisz poważnie traktować rzeczywistość warunkowej egzystencji i zrozumieć, że nie spełnisz się tutaj”.
Adi Da następnie mówi o tym, że to zrozumienie w naturalny sposób doprowadzi osobę do wyrzeczenia się poszukiwania spełnienia na tym świecie i do otwarcia się na Prawdę i Rzeczywistości, które On i Jego Nauczanie oraz inne Dary Wyzwolenia oferują.
"To miejsce to nie 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 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 intialainen omistautuja, joka palvelee Adi Data Hänen Erakkola-Ashramissaan Fidzillä, keskustelee tarvettaan sovittaa yhteen hänen vahvat intialaiset kulttuuri- ja perhevelvoitteensa sekä hänen halunsa palvella ja harjoittaa Tietä Adi Dan omistautujana. Adi Da käsittelee hänen kysymystään myötätunnolla, huumorilla sekä tiedostamalla tämän omistautujan kulttuurin vahvat vaatimukset. Adi Da myös huomioi, että tämä on asia, jonka tämän omistautujan täytyy päättää suhteessa siihen, mikä on hänen perimmäinen aikomuksensa elämässä.
"Et voi tyydyttää kaikkien odotuksia" ("You Cannot Satisfy Everyone's Expectations") 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.
In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.
[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.]
"Tämä paikka ei ole 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.”
In response to a devotee's question about Spiritual Transmission, Adi Da discusses how the various schools of religious and Spiritual instruction fit within the Great Tradition.
("Great Tradition" is Avatar Adi Da's term for the total inheritance of human, cultural, religious, magical, mystical, Spiritual, and Transcendental paths, philosophies, and testimonies, from all the eras and cultures of humanity.)
Avatar Adi Da also describes the qualities of genuine Spiritual Transmission and offers guidance in transcending naive belief and all forms of limited thinking.
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.
Orpheus Ascending poster: AdiDaUpClose length: 05:03 date added: October 13, 2015 event date: October 8, 2015 language: English views: 4930; views this month: 17; views this week: 10
Excerpt from the Florence Dance Company's performance of the multimedia dance event, Orpheus Ascending, with Adi Da's Image-Art in the background. The music is Ray Lynch's "Passion Song", from his album, Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening.
Orpheus Ascending was a highlight of the October 8, 2015 Finissage Event for The Ascent of Orpheus, the exhibition of Adi Da's art at the Bargello Museum in Florence that ran from July 9 to October 11, 2015.
Choreography: Keith Ferrone Artistic direction: Marga Nativo Featured dancers: Daniel Sandwiches (Orpheus) Ylenia Mendolicchio (Eurydice) Emilia Giubasso (chorus) Virginia Montel Brains (chorus) Jane Llaha (chorus) Elisa Torrigiani (chorus)
The video clip is from a longer Toscana TV News clip with noted journalist Fabrizio Borghini reporting on the Finissage Event.
This Place Is Not a Utopia poster: AdiDaVideos length: 10:38 date added: July 4, 2018 event date: October 6, 2005 language: English views: 1622; views this month: 10; views this week: 3
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.”
In recent decades, yoga and meditation have become a regular part of the daily lives of millions of people around the world. Through these and other practices, people develop stronger bodies, more personal discipline, better health, more loving relationships, and a greater ability to manage the stresses of modern life.
In the last few months, however, it has suddenly become universally apparent that these benefits are not be enough. Life is not programmed to produce lasting satisfaction and immunity to the challenges, inherent suffering, and mortality of existence.
In this Avataric Discourse, Avatar Adi Da Samraj describes how "positive disillusionment" with ordinary life is a necessary prerequisite for entering into the truly liberating process of spiritual practice.
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 moment's 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."
poster: AdiDaVideos length: 08:18 date added: July 22, 2017 event date: July 7, 2005 language: English views: 3545; views this month: 17; views this week: 11
In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.
Dancing on the Bridge of the World poster: An Hana length: 05:56 date added: October 3, 2014 event date: July 24, 2014 language: English views: 4566; views this month: 8; views this week: 4
On the evening of July 24, 2014, The Florence Dance Company performed the multimedia dance event, Quattro Maggiore ("Four Seasons") — set to the music of Vivaldi (his most well-known work, "Quattro Maggiore", performed live) and the art of Adi Da Samraj. The performance was called "Dancing on the Bridge of the World", because it took place on the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval multi-arch bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy. The Ponte Vecchio is one of the most historic bridges in the world, and the earliest bridge at this spot is believed to have been built in Roman times.
This slideshow includes photographs of "Dancing on the Bridge of the World" by Richard Osbourne.
poster: ANDREANEADAR length: 06:03 date added: February 26, 2013 event date: July 22, 2012 language: English views: 4152; views this month: 10; views this week: 6
poster: ANDREANEADAR length: 01:59 date added: February 26, 2013 event date: July 22, 2012 language: English views: 4423; views this month: 12; views this week: 9
Our multimedia library currently contains 1205
YouTube video clips and audio clips about (or related to) Adi Da and Adidam.[1]
Enjoy! indicates
a video, and
an audio. Special categories of interest include:
Thanks to the many videographers who took the footage, to the many editors who
created these videos and audios, and to the 132
people and organizations who posted these videos and audios on YouTube and other places on the
Web. Special thanks to Lynne
Thompson, who did a lot of the data entry for our audio/video database.
