My Divine Avataric Word is, primarily, a Spoken Message.
Written language is, basically, a representation (or a picture) of spoken language. Therefore, My Divine Avataric Word is (in Its Written form) a visual Representation…That Extends (or Self-Radiates) My egoless Self-Nature, Self-Condition, and Self-State – Which Is the egoless Self-Nature, Self-Condition, and Self-State of all-and-All.
Aletheon – Adi Da Samraj
Beezone Study
Old and New Dharma
Listen to Adi Da speak in 2008
Beezone · Old And New Teaching 2008 Adi Da
DEVOTEE: Perhaps I don’t understand in any fundamental way what the Dharma is.
ADI DA SAMRAJ: The Dharma is the totality of this Satsang. Only one aspect of it is the verbal Teaching, and there are also other kinds of communications that are considered in the stages of sadhana. But the Dharma in Truth is not different from the Guru, not different from the Divine. It is realized as a process in which, piece by piece, individuals become responsible for the totality of their existence. In Satsang, the Dharma, which is Truth itself, is communicated always perfectly, absolutely, without limitation. It is not that this much of it is communicated today, and tomorrow this much, and this much the next day, but always all of it is given. The Truth is fully communicated in Satsang. It is the perfect condition of Satsang. But you realize it as a process in time. You see its evidence, its revelation, in stages. But my work with you, in its fundamental and most perfect sense, is always the same.
I do not start with you at the bottom and push you up. I do not assume your limitation. The assumption of limitation is not the nature of this Satsang. In this Satsang your perfection, your real Condition, is assumed, the Divine nature of this life is assumed, lived and known. You are included in the Divine by the force of this Siddhi, and you are polarized to it. The very process of your own life is turned around and repolarized relative to its native functions. But you do not see your real Condition in Truth, in its perfect form in this moment. Instead, you see the beginning of movements, the signs, new things to be responsible for, new things in the midst of which to understand. But Satsang is the same for realized devotees as it is for new devotees. Thus, the Dharma is not other than the Guru, not other than Truth. It is the process of Reality entirely. But the service I give to those who do this sadhana is given in stages that speak to the dimension of sadhana that is absorbing them in the moment
The verbal Teaching, which we also call the Dharma, does have several aspects, including the stages of practice. But Truth itself is the Dharma. It is this Satsang. And apart from these times of discussion, we just come and sit together. There is no speech. There is no special little thing I do sitting with new devotees and a really big thing I do sitting with perfect devotees. Satsang is the same for everyone.
***
This study by Beezone is purely academic and is intended only to be potentially instructive. The study aims to examine and understand the changes Adi Da made in his final instructions, and thereby explore how (or whether) his teaching word evolved. Any conclusions about his intentions, their meaning, and significance are left solely to the reader.
In August/September 2006, a ‘new’ presentation and emphasis began to develop in Adidam, referred to as ‘new dharma.’ This was later interpreted by some to mean that only the last three or four years of Adi Da’s life reflected his Teaching, rendering his earlier work irrelevant.
It is clear from this communication that Adi Da was bringing forth ‘new dharma’ as part of his revelation. However, there may be some confusion about what this ‘new dharma’ signifies. Is the communication suggesting that the ‘new dharma’ is fundamentally different from the previous dharma? Or is it indicating that Adi Da was writing ‘more’ dharma and thus communicating in a new literary style?
From Beezone’s perspective, the essence of the teaching dharma has never changed. The language, symbols, and maps are merely pointers (the map is not the territory). Word choice, emphasis, style, grammar, and other linguistic devices are simply tools that point toward something fundamentally beyond language and words.
2008 ………………………..1987
The following are two selections from Adi Da Samraj. One is an essay from The Aletheon (2008) and the other is from a talk published in Crazy Wisdom magazine (1988).
Aletheon – Concentration versus True Surrender
“Practice in My Divine Avataric Company is not about “making an arrangement” with life, not about “bargaining” with “God”. Practice in My Divine Avataric Company is not about persisting in mediocrity. Rather, practice in My Divine Avataric Company is about passing tests, such that the total body-mind constantly goes through ego-transcending changes and makes an always greater and always new ego-transcending demonstration. Practice in My Divine Avataric Company is a “hard school”, a persistently ego-transcending life-based upon the Great Purpose of transcending all limitations, transcending the body-mind-complex itself, and transcending the cosmic domain itself.
To rightly and truly engage the ego-transcending practice of the Reality-Way of Adidam is (inevitably) demanding, and even (at times) difficult – but the practice is, itself, never mere and egoic suffering. Rather, the practice is the ordeal associated with the transcending of egoity. It is the ordeal of right and true renunciation, right and true “self”-discipline. That ego-transcending ordeal of “self”-discipline is necessary. That ordeal is, itself, the substance of change, the alchemy of change. That ordeal is the “fire on the pot” – into which you must throw everything.
The only-by-Me Revealed and Given Reality-Way of Adidam is the transcending of everything, Liberation from everything, in the Utter Freedom of egoless Most Perfect Divine Self-Realization.
Aletheon – Concentration versus True Surrender – p. 817
Due to copyright restrictions the link is non-operative. Beezone is unable to provide more of this essay by Adi Da Samraj – See copyright letter to Beezone from Adidam.
Sadhana Hurts
“People who understand this principle get down to it, handle business, and bring me signs. They don’t wait for fifteen and a half years and then tell me to wait more. They don’t do nine months here with me and change nothing. You people are indulging yourselves in my Company. You are coming to lectures. You are being amused. You are indulging yourselves in my Company. To practice is to suffer, but it is not egoic suffering, you see. It is the suffering associated with transcendence of egoity. Therefore, we do not call it suffering. We call it tapas. We call it the ordeal of practice. We call it renunciation. We call it discipline. It is necessary! That’s it. That is the substance of change! That is the alchemy of change. That is the fire on the pot. Everything must be thrown into it.”
Sadhana Hurts, a talk by Da Avadhoot December 19, 1987
The following shows the changes and similarities from the two selections above.
The Aletheron’s essay is in BOLD and the Sadhana Hurts talk is in BOLD ITALICS.
Practice in My Divine Avataric Company is not about “making an arrangement” with life, not about “bargaining” with “God”. Practice in My Divine Avataric Company is not about persisting in mediocrity.
People who understand this principle get down to it, handle business, and bring me signs. They don’t wait for fifteen and a half years and then tell me to wait more. They don’t do nine months here with me and change nothing. You people are indulging yourselves in my Company. You are coming to lectures. You are being amused. You are indulging yourselves in my Company.
………….
To rightly and truly engage the ego-transcending practice of the Reality-Way of Adidam is (inevitably) demanding, and even (at times) difficult – but the practice is, itself, never mere and egoic suffering. Rather, the practice is the ordeal associated with the transcending of egoity. It is the ordeal of right and true renunciation, right and true “self”-discipline. That ego-transcending ordeal of “self”-discipline is necessary. That ordeal is, itself, the substance of change, the alchemy of change. That ordeal is the “fire on the pot” – into which you must throw everything.
To practice is to suffer, but it is not egoic suffering, you see. It is the suffering associated with transcendence of egoity. Therefore, we do not call it suffering. We call it tapas. We call it the ordeal of practice. We call it renunciation. We call it discipline. It is necessary! That’s it. That is the substance of change! That is the alchemy of change. That is the fire on the pot. Everything must be thrown into it.
Old and New Dharma
2008 ………………………..1987
Here is an example from the newly published Pneumaton (2011) and The Bodily Sacrifice of Attention, 1981:
In the fifth stage of life this harmonizing trend is continued, as well as the ecstatic gesture toward Union, but the plane of self-awareness ascends, to become dominantly subtle (or psychic) rather than gross (or merely physical), and the Realization of Union involves experiences of ascended attention that eventually go beyond physical references and, at last, even beyond mental references.
The Bodily Sacrifice of Attention, p. 29-30 – 1981
In the context of the fifth stage of life, this process is continued, but the plane of conditional “self”-awareness ascends, to become dominantly subtle (or psychic), rather than gross (or merely physical) – and the Realization of conditional union with the (all-and-All-Pervading and all-and-All-Transcending) Divine Source (or Source-Condition) involves the ascent of attention, that eventually goes beyond the physical references, and (at last) even beyond mental references.
Perfect Liberation
Aletheon
Adi Da Samraj
The Bodily Center of
Self-Realization and
God-Communion
A free rendering of the
Mahanarayana Upanishad, 3 section thirteen, verses six through twelve,
by Bubba Free John (Adi Da Samraj)
Beezone presents two articles written by Adi Da Samraj, one written in The Enlightenment of the Whole Body (1977) – The Bodily Center of Self-Realization and God-Communion – and the other – Perfect Liberation – was written in the Aletheon (2006). Both articles stem from the Maha Narayana Upanishad.
The Aletheon
PERFECT LIBERATION
Hear and Awaken to This, the Divine and Perfectly all-and All-Liberating Truth, Which Is Divinely Avatarically Self Revealed and (now, and forever hereafter) everywhere Divinely Avatarically Proclaimed and Given by Me:
The Perfectly egolessly Self-Existing and Perfectly Acausally Self-Radiant Divine Transcendental Spiritual Self-Nature, Self Condition, and Self-State of Reality Itself, In and As Which the entire cosmos conditionally arises, has Its psycho-physical locus (with reference to the body-mind-complex of the human being) below the throat and above the navel, in (and Always Perfectly Prior to) the right side of the bodily apparent heart.
Within and Perfectly Prior to the right side of the bodily apparent heart, there is a narrow (Infinite, but dimensionless) space.
Within that narrow space, the True Divine Self-“Brightness” Self-Radiates the Conscious Light of Reality itself throughout the body, the mind, and the “world”.
There, in that narrow space within and Perfectly Prior to the right side of the bodily apparent heart, Is the Great Eternal Self Radiance, the Limitless Acausal Energy of Perfectly egoless Consciousness Itself, Self-Shining in all directions, Limitlessly.
The Self-Radiant Energy of Consciousness Itself Is the Transcendental Spiritual Current of Self-Evidently Divine Self-Light in (and Always Perfectly Prior to) the body, Which Current Pervades the body from the crown of the head to the toes.
At the “Root” and Core of That Self-Radiant Current of Conscious Light Is the Perfect Shining Center-the “atom”, most subtle, Beyond the causal event of ego-“I”.
The One and Self-Evidently Divine Conscious Light, the Perfectly egolessly Self-Existing and Perfectly Acausally Self-Radiant Divine Transcendental Spiritual Self-Nature, Self-Condition, and Self-State-Which Is Reality Itself, Truth Itself, and Real (Acausal) God, Divinely Avatarically Self-Revealed by Me As Da, the Source Condition and the Perfectly egoless, Indivisible, and Acausal Divine and Intrinsic Heart-Master (or Transcendental Spiritual Reality Guru) of the body-mind-complex and the “world”-Is Self-Evidently There, Self-Radiating in and Via and As the heart-“root” of the human body.
Aham Da Asmi. Beloved, all-and-All and every one, I Am Da Divinely Avatarically Self-Revealed by Me As Me, As I Am.
In the only-by-Me Revealed and Given seventh-stage-of-life Self-Awakening, Da-the Perfectly egoless, Indivisible, Acausal, Transcendental Spiritual, and Self-Evidently Divine Self-Nature, Self-Condition, and Self-State of Reality Itself-Is Intrinsically Self Realized (or Self-Recognized and Self-Apperceived) to Be Absolute Consciousness and Eternal Light, or Divine Transcendental Spiritual Conscious Light, the Divine Self-“Brightness” That Intrinsically (and, at last, by Perfect Demonstration, or Divine Translation) Outshines the “world”.
Da Is Perfect Liberation. Conscious Light Is Me. Conscious Light Is all-and-All.
There is no ego here-but only pattern patterning everywhere, in Prior Unity, As One and Indivisible and Acausal (Transcendental Spiritual and Self-Evidently Divine) Conscious Light, Perfectly without “difference”.
Perfect Liberation Speaks This.
From the Enlightenment of the Whole Body
Due to copyright restrictions the link is non-operative. Beezone is unable to provide more of this essay by Adi Da Samraj – See copyright letter to Beezone from Adidam.
The Bodily Center of Self-Realization and God-Communion
A free rendering of the Mahanarayana Upanishad, Section XIII, verses 6 through 12, by Bubba Free John
That which is Infinite, Eternal, and Unchanging is also Perfect Consciousness, the true Self. The ocean of experience is ended There. All seeking is satisfied only in That. Only This is the very Happiness of the World.
The true Self is Awake in your own heart. Consciousness Radiates from the heart, which is shaped much like the bud of a flower, but upside down, with the broad part above and the narrow part below.
One must be Awakened to this Truth: The Radiant Self, in which the entire World arises, has its locus in the heart, in the body of Man, below the throat and above the navel.
The heart is indeed very much like the bud of a flower, for it is surrounded and supported by the arteries and nerves, just as a flower bud is surrounded and supported by the various parts of the living plant.
In the midst of the heart there is a narrow space. Within the narrow space, the true Self Radiates the Light and Life of the body, the mind, and the World.
There in the narrow space is the Great Eternal Radiance, the Energy of Infinite Consciousness, Shining in all directions. It is the Current of Life in the body, which Radiates from toe to crown. Therefore, Life pervades the body, providing a natural heat, and the powers of every function.
In the core of that Radiant Life is the Shining Center, the atom, most subtle. It may be seen by inner vision, golden and amazingly Bright. It stands out like a flash of lightning in a dark and rain-filled cloud. And yet it seems no larger than a grain of rice, slender and subtle as the edge of a flame.
The Divine Person, the Radiant Self, the Truth, the Real, God, the Source and Master of the body-mind and the World is There, in the Radiant Center of the heart. That One is Realized to be Absolute Consciousness and Eternal Life, the Brightness that Overwhelms the World.
Section XIII, verses 6 through 12.
XIII-6: One should meditate upon the Supreme the limitless, unchanging, all-knowing, cause of the happiness of the world, dwelling in the sea of ones one heart, as the goal of all striving. The place for His meditation is the ether in the heart which is comparable to an inverted lotus bud.
XIII-7: It should be known that the heart which is located just at the distance of a finger span below the Adam’s apple and above the navel is the great abode of the universe.
XIII-8: Like the bud of a lotus, suspends in an inverted position, the heart,surrounded by arteries. In it there is a narrow space (or near it there is a narrow space called Susumna). In it everything is supported.
XIII-9-11: In the middle of that (narrow space of the heart or Susumna) remains the undecaying, all-knowing, omnifaced, great Fire, which has flames on every side,which enjoys the food presented before it, which remains assimilating the food consumed, (the rays of which spread scattering themselves vertically and horizontally), and which warms its own body from the insole to the crown. In the centre of that Fire Which permeates the whole body, there abides a tongue of Fire,of the colour of shining gold, which is the topmost among the subtle, which is dazzling like the flash of the lightning that appears in the middle of a rain-bearingcloud, which is as slender as the awn of a paddy grain; and which serves as a comparison to illustrate subtlety.
XIII-12: Paramatman dwells in the middle of that flame. (Although He is thus limited) still He is the four-faced creator, Siva, Vishnu, Indra, the material and efficient cause of the Universe and the Supreme Self-luminous Pure Consciousness.
see full text of Maha Narayana Upanishad
Back to Enlightenment of The Whole Body rendering
Due to copyright restrictions the link is non-operative. Beezone is unable to provide more of this essay by Adi Da Samraj – See copyright letter to Beezone from Adidam.
Even as early as 1975 Adi Da (then Bubba Free John) was adapting and changing his written communications. The the changes Adi Da made to his letter to the community announcing The Way of Divine Communion and then compare it to the same letter published in Breath and Name.
Below is the Breath and Name adaptation (The words in CAPITALS were in the original letter but left out and/or changed).
The original letter is at the bottom of this page.
THE WAY OF DIVINE COMMUNION IS THE WAY OF LOVING SUBMISSION AND ATTENTION TO GOD
For those who are becoming available to the process of transformation in the Divine, I have established the Way of Divine Communion, which is the simple way of loving submission and attention to God. Many will (COME TO ME) respond to my Teaching, and all are welcome to approach me through the Teaching and the services of Vision Mound Ceremony, who are simply suffering the common failures of life. To all of them I simply say, come happily, with the urge to happiness, to peace, to love, and to a better realization of your born life. The Lord of all the worlds is Radiant before you. If you will simply direct yourself to the service and awareness of the Divine, the Services of God will be given to you.
It is not necessary or even possible for you to “believe” in God or know the Character of the Divine (PERSON) Reality. But if you can see that you do not exist by your own creature power, and if you can begin to consider the alignment of your life with the unspeakable Source or Condition that is truly responsible for and ultimately identical to your very existence, then you can do (SADHANA) the spiritual practice of Communion with God. I urge and welcome all who can manage such sympathy (AND WHO FEEL THE CONTACT WITH GRACE IN MY COMPANY) to accept the simple and pleasurable disciplines I will recommend. (AND TO VISIT ME IN MY ASHRAM OR ANY PLACE WHERE I COME, EITHER IN PERSON OR IN THE FORM OF MY DISCIPLE AND DEVOTEES.)
For those who would thus adapt themselves, (AT LEAST WITH A LITTLE OF THEIR LIVES) I recommend a way that is easy to conceive and fulfill. Simply turn to God. Submit, surrender yourself to God (THROUGH ME) . Love and receive God (THROUGH ME). The Divine is a Presence you will come to know. That Presence is only God. If you will devote or sacrifice yourself to that all-pervading Presence, God will transform your knowledge, and you will realize only God at last.
You should assist this process of Divine Communion through two natural disciplines, one which is practical,(OR HUMANLY BASED) based in ordinary action, and one which is spiritual, based within the heart or boundless psyche.
The practical discipline which assists this turning or Communion is the practice of minimizing the degree and kinds of exploitation of life in your own case and bringing your life into coincidence with the special psycho-physical and relational laws of manifest existence as well as the great Law or Principle, which is sacrifice. This involves (TO WHATEVER DEGREE YOU ARE ABLE) participation in a life of devotional service to God through all your actions, including practice of the living Sacrament of Universal Sacrifice; study and listening to recitations of the Teaching of the Way of Divine Ignorance and its first two stages, the Way of Divine Communion and the Way of Relational Enquiry; the study of and simple listening to traditional teachings about God and Divinely realized individuals; the maintenance of a productive work life; the keeping of a clean, orderly, healthful, and pleasurable environment for yourself and your companions; the adoption and strict maintenance (except perhaps on special occasions of celebration) of a pure, healthful, vitalizing, and intelligently conceived lacto-vegetarian diet1, the responsible confinement of sexuality to love-desire within the relationship of heterosexual marriage (or its equivalent commitment in the case of a true homosexual relationship); and a continuous, active orientation toward human community and energetic, compassionate, and loving service to the common life. To whatever degree you find yourself reluctant to fulfill this discipline at any time, simply observe yourself, be easy, be full of enjoyment, make your actions (AT LEAST AN INDULGENCE THAT DOES NOT HARM OTHERS) a service to others, and continue to turn to the Divine Grace with feeling, from the heart. The more you mature, the more easily you will fulfill this discipline. The more perfectly you fulfill it, the more you will see of your turning from the Divine Condition. And the more you see of this turning away, the more responsible you will become for your turning or yielding into the all-pervading Presence.
The spiritual discipline should begin at a later stage, when the practical discipline has become stable and true, and when you feel the Divine clearly in the form of constant Presence, through direct initiation in the formal enjoyment of my Company. The spiritual discipline that should begin to accompany the practical discipline of this Way of Divine Communion is a voluntary exercise of the remembrance of God from the heart that coordinates the body, the life-force, and the mind with the breath. Thus, sit, in privacy, as a formal responsibility, twice a day. Turn attention to the Divine Presence, surrender to the all-pervading Presence, yield your life and circumstances to God, and, at random, breathe the Presence of God, with attention to the Divine as the Reality or Real Condition that is prior to or beyond the body, the mind, and the world. Breathe with your heart. With random exhalations surrender your self, your mind, your emotions, your life, your desires, your body, and all the conditions of your existence from your heart to God. Then, with random and following inhalations, with your heart and your whole being, receive, draw upon, and become full of the Presence, Power, and Consciousness that is God. Such is the spiritual practice of the Breath of God. Whatever you yield from the heart will, over time, be replaced by Divinely transformed conditions and/or by intuitions of the significance of any limitations you must bear in time and space.
This spiritual practice (MAY) should (BE EXPANDED AT TIMES TO) include random heart-felt remembrance of God through the “Name” of God. (MY RECOMMENDATION) I ask that you use the Name “God,” and not any traditional mantric Name, such as Ram, Krishna, Jesus, or Om. “God” is the Name of God with which all men are familiar and to which they are naturally attached through body, breath, emotion, mind, and soul. Therefore, at random, with surrender in exhalation, inwardly or vocally, and with feeling and love in the heart, recollect and breathe the Presence via the Name “God.” Likewise, with random inhalations, feel and breathe the Divine Presence with the heart via the Name “God.” The practice of heart-felt recollection, or conscious yielding of feeling-attention.
BUBBA’S ORIGINAL LETTER DATED DECEMBER 1, 1975
ANNOUNCING THE WAY OF DIVINE COMMUNION
For more than five years I have been at work with individuals in intimate company to communicate, demonstrate, and awaken in them the sadhana of the way of Understanding. This way is the special form of instruction which was implied in my own birth and sadhana. Only recently have I found, in the case of a small group of those with whom I have worked in this way, the evidence of maturity which is the necessary foundation for the realization of this way. I have given this group of disciples all essential responsibility for the future management and instruction of the student community of my Ashram. I am now, and in the future, personally and intimately involved only in the instruction of such mature disciples and devotees. I have completely put into writing all of the necessary instructions relative to the final and technical realization of this way of Understanding. Therefore, except for the occasional verbal instruction of mature disciples and devotees, my special teaching work is, in its essentials, complete. Now my responsibilities are not great or pressing in the world. I need only be present for the random occasions of Satsang, or sitting in the company of those who come to me.
Because of this change in the status of my work in the world, because the way of Understanding is secure as a communicated path, I have become willing also to accept another kind of condition in those who approach me.
There are very few individuals in the karmic plane of this world who are truly capable of fulfilling the profound requirements of this way of Understanding. The experiment of my own community is the most practical evidence of this. The times are weak and overwhelmed, and human beings are like children, alive without defenses in a terrible or, at least, complicated place. The karmas of this time and place must be penetrated and undermined by a Divine and sympathetic strategy, full of Compassion and Grace. My special teaching work has been a service for a few. The way of Understanding is not itself a saving gospel that can affect the world at large. It is a way for the special few who were given to me in the spiritual planes above this world before my present birth. Those few were with me then, and, because their karmas obliged them to be born on earth again, I have taken the present birth to complete my work with them. The way of Understanding has thus been established as path on earth, and it will remain here, through the responsible services of my devotees, for all future individuals who have attained the spiritual status above this world of those whom I have presently been born to serve. Apart from such individuals, for whom the karmas of the lower planes are weak, there are very few who, by virtue of sheer sympathy and persistence, will be able to adapt to this difficult way. It requires an intelligence that constantly exceeds the power of life’s theatre, and an attachment to the spiritual intimacies and disciplines of my Company that cannot be attained by mere effort or conventional inclination.
But I am willing to serve all beings in this place. My special work has been for a few, but I am an incarnation of the Divine Form, and my special work, once fulfilled, can stand by itself in my Presence. I have become willing, and now capable, to assume a more general role for the sake of the spiritual life or salvation of men.
All who come to me may participate in the eternal Grace of God. It is not necessary for every one to belong to the special class of individuals whom it was my unique obligation to serve in the way of Understanding. For those few, sadhana in my Company is like the resumption of a course of study after a period of recess. Such individuals are already used to my discipline, my wildness, and the special character of my appearance and play. But others cannot identify me in this manner, and they are sensitive and available only to the most direct expression of the universal and unqualified Divine in me. For these many, who are only now becoming available to sadhana or life in Communion with the Divine Person, I am willing to do service in another way, which is the simple way of loving submission and attention to God.
In the future, my community will serve the world for the sake of the universal path of God. I will continue to serve disciples and devotees who demonstrate the special interest and capacity necessary for realization of the way of Understanding. And the instructions relative to the way of Understanding will continue to be available to all who approach me in my Ashram. But my disciples and devotees, even the whole of my community, will be devoted to the service of mankind in the spirit of a universal effort, for the sake of the Grace of God among all living beings.
Therefore, many will come to me, and all are welcome, who are simply suffering the common failures of life. To all of them, I simply say, come to me happily, with the urge to happiness, to peace, to love, and to a better realization of your born life. The Lord of all the worlds is Radiant before you. If you will simply direct yourself, with whatever power or capacity you can find within yourself,to the remembrance of the Divine in my Company,the Services of God will be given to you.
It is not necessary or even possible for you to “believe” in God or know the Character of the Divine Person. But if you can see that you do not exist by your own creature power, and if you can begin to consider the alignment of your life with the unspeakable Source or Condition that is truly responsible for your existence, then you can do the sadhana or spiritual practice of Communion with God. I urge and welcome all who can manage such sympathy, and who feel the contact with Grace in my Company, to accept the simple and pleasurable disciplines I will recommend, and to visit me in my Ashram or any place where I come, either in person or in the form of my disciples and devotees.
For those who would thus adapt themselves at least with a little of their lives, I recommend a way that is easy to conceive and fulfill. Simply turn to God through me. Submit, surrender yourself to God through me. Love and receive God through me.
You should assist this process through two natural disciplines, one which is practical or humanly based, and one which is spiritual.
The practical discipline which assists this turning or Communion is the practice of minimizing the degree and kinds of exploitation of life in your own case. This involves, to whatever degree you are able, the study of listening to teachings about God and Divinely realized individuals; the maintenance of a productive work life and the effort of service, compassion and love for all human and earthly beings; the keeping of a clean, orderly, healthful, and pleasurable environment for yourself and your companions; the adoption of a healthful and “harmless diet (an essentially lacto-vegetarian diet that involves, to whatever degree possible, non-killing of higher creatures, who possess the sense of independent existence); the confinement of sexuality to a single partner; and an orientation toward human community and service to the common life. This practical discipline should be fulfilled by you to whatever degree you find the capacity in yourself. To whatever degree you fail or find yourself unable to fulfill this discipline, simply observe yourself, be easy, be full of enjoyment, make your actions at least an indulgence that does not harm others, and continue to turn to God with feeling, from the heart.
The spiritual discipline that should accompany the practical discipline of this way of Communion is a voluntary exercise of the remembrance of God from the heart that coordinates the body, the life-force, and the mind with the breath. Thus, sit with me, or in privacy, once or twice a day. Remember me, surrender, love, and yield your life and circumstances to God through me, and, at random, breathe the Presence of God, with attention to the Divine as the Reality or Real Person which is above, beyond, and also surrounding and permeating the body, the mind, and the world. Breathe with your heart. With random exhalations, surrender your self, your mind, your life, your body, and all the conditions of your existence from your heart to God through me. Then, with random and following inhalations, with your heart and your whole being, receive, draw upon, and become full of the Presence, Power, and Consciousness of God through me. Whatever you yield from the heart will, over time, be replaced by Divinely transformed conditions and/or by intuitions of the significance of any limitations you must bear in time and space.
These represent the essential discipline of the way of Divine Communion. The spiritual practice of the breathing of God from the heart will, over time, show itself to you as a process in which you are breathed and lived and loved by God. The spiritual practice and the practical disciplines should both be exercised more and more under whatever conditions arise in life. The spiritual practice itself need not be reserved only for those occasions when you sit with me or sit in private, but it should be exercised at random, at any time, while awake, or even while dreaming or asleep. Allow it to develop and reveal the Divine to you according to its own pace. Simply use the spiritual exercise and the practical disciplines as a way of Communing with God through me under all conditions.
The spiritual practice may also be expanded at times to include heartfelt remembrance of God through the Name or Mantra of God. My recommendation is that you use the Name “God,” and not any traditional mantric Name, such as Ram, Krishna, Jesus, or Om. “God” is the Name of God with which all men are familiar and to which they are naturally attached through body, breath, mind, spirit, and soul. Therefore, at random, with surrender in exhalation, inwardly or verbally, and with feeling and love in the heart, breathe the Name “God.” Likewise, with random inhalations, feel and breathe the Divine Presence from the heart with the Name “God.” This is the spiritual practice of the “God-Mantra” or “God-Name.”
Those who would try as much as possible to do this sadhana or practice of heartfelt Divine Communion should do it in my personal Company or Presence as much as possible. They should come to me in my Ashram as often as possible, or sit for meditation and instruction in the company of my disciples and devotees, who will at times travel about or present themselves in the places of my Ashram in order to serve those who are interested in trying to live this practice.
My Ashram community will, in the future, be composed of all who come to me, to extend their involvement either with the way of Understanding or with the way of Divine Communion. Those who come will be given the option to engage in the study of either path, and anyone may choose to change their practice from one path to the other. The obligations of the way of Understanding are more severe, and its communications are more complex. The way of Divine Communion is simpler in concept, and its disciplines are obligatory only to the degree each individual chooses or finds the capacity in any moment. In any case, I am Present always for the sake of anyone who comes to me, and I yield to each the Grace or consideration he or she requires in God. May all beings find God and Happiness in good Company.
Bubba’s written instructions
December 1, 1975
All members of the Ashram should consider what I have written about the two ways of sadhana in my Company. Each should consider the obligations of the two ways and their own capacity, and communicate their intentions relative to which path they intend to follow to the disciple group.
For those who are assuming the way of Divine Communion there need not be any courses of study relative to the way of Understanding (unless they desire it), no sadhana groups, no interviewing (unless they request it) and no obligations to the community other than the tithe. Disciples and some others will have the essential responsibility for instructing groups (and the public) in the way of Divine Communion as well as the way of Understanding. Study for those in the way of Divine Communion is essentially to be in the form of traditional God-literature, and my own writings in this vein. In such study meetings, discussion should be about God, life in God, and the qualities of Communion and life in my Presence. There should not be endless, complicated and personal discussions of problems, yoga, esotericism, etc. A program should be developed to manage service to individuals in both paths. A public education and meditation program should also be developed.
Those who live at Persimmon and in the formal community of the Dawn Horse should generally (absolutely if possible) be those living the way of Understanding. All others should have a formal relationship with me and the community, but one that permits easy access to me and the services of the community.
A person newly entering the Ashram should simply study the two forms of approach and begin the practice of practical disciplines and the formal approach to me through Prasad and the conditions. When they decide which approach to follow, they may then take up either the spiritual practice of the way of Communion or the study courses of the way of Understanding.
Bubba’s written instructions
December 1, 1975
The following is from a friend of mine who has been and editor and writer within the Adidam Community for over 40 years. Here he writes on the subject of OLD DHARMA and NEW DHARMA
Bhagavan Adi Da continued to write and modify and reword His Written Teaching until the very end of His Life. He rather famously changed the subtitle of The Aletheon on His last day of His Life.
His Teaching was in some real sense already fully formed and complete from the very beginning, as it is based on His Divine Self-Realization. And that never changed. The essentials of the Way are already all there in the Knee of Listening, the very first book. And if we commented to Adi Da that He had “changed” His Teaching, He would always correct us and tell us that this is not the case. The whole Teaching can be summarized as the Open Hand vs. the Closed First. (Sometimes when I get asked on an airplane or in the public to summarize Adi Da’s Teaching, I just show those two hand gestures.) Narcissus, the self-contraction, the relationship to the Guru, the transcendence of the ego, Amrita Nadi all of that is there from the beginning.
Yet Adi Da was always working with the language of Adidam to make it more precise, more descriptive and to eliminate any areas in which there might be misunderstanding. He developed the practice itself in relationship to the devotees who came to Him. In that process, He found that some things were useful and effective and other things were not.So the recommended practice changed over the years.
Also Adi Da’s own relationship to devotees and the world also changed over the years as He went through the dramatic changes in His Life, such as coming to know Himself as “Da” in 1979, the Divine Avataric Self-Emergence in 1986, the Santosha event of 1994, and the Ruchira Dham event of 2000. So when He would sit down and write after these events the Teaching would be expressed differently, based on the transformation that Had occurred in His Own Person.
Also there were some things that Adi Da told us later that He had not revealed or communicated earlier because He felt that we were not yet prepared to receive or understand them. Three come to mind 1) His communication only in 1993 that He was the only7th stage Realizer or the completer of the Great Tradition, 2) the inevitability of celibacy in the Perfect Practice, not as a strategic matter, but because the function simply falls away, and 3) His deeper personality connection to Vivekananda-Ramakrishna. Relative to the fact of His being the only 7th stage Realizer, earlier books, and specifically The Enlightenment of the Whole Body and Nirvanasara speak of other individuals as 7th stage Realizers. Whereas later these individuals were at best people who enjoyed or exhibited a “premonitory” intuition of the Seventh stage of life, but were actually sixth stage individuals. Ramana Maharshi was in my own experience the most interesting and dramatic of these, because for years Adi Da had spoken of Him as a seventh stage Realizer. But this changed with the Revelations of 1993.
So while I would never say that you should “throw away” the old books, when you read them, it is important to be aware that certain things may have been modified.
Now what are people getting at when they say you should “throw them” away.
Of course Bhagavan Adi Da went to tremendous lengths to present us with extraordinary Divine Writings up through the very last days of His Life. And He has written in the essay “I Am The Not-“Other”,
The Aletheon (first and foremost), The Gnosticon (relative to the traditions of the sixth stage of life), The Pneumaton (relative to the traditions of the fourth and fifth stages of life), Not-Two Is Peace (relative to the political and social issues of the first three stages of life), and Transcendental Realism (relative to the traditions of the cultural arts in general, and relative to the necessary characteristics of right and true image-art in particular) Are the Five Principal Books of My Forever Comprehensive Seventh-Stage Address to all-and-All. pg. 1861
This is a wonderful and extraordinary statement, and these were the five books that Bhagavan Adi Da Worked on very intensively in His Final period of writing. He obviously wanted us to be aware of the specialness of these final five Works which He labored on sitting in His Office at Indigo Swan, particularly in 2006-2008.
But lest we focus in too exclusively on these five books alone, the very next sentence written by Bhagavan Adi Da states,
In and by Means of These Five Books, and Fully With All the Books of Mine, I Am (now and forever hereafter) Calling for the “root” re-culturing of global humankind .” The Aletheon pg 1861
Note how non-exclusive this sentence is. Just after talking about the special importance of the Five Principal Books, Bhagavan Adi Da immediately in the next sentence extends out to make sure that we understand that All of His Books are that same “Calling”.
At another point in The Aletheon, in the essay, “Alpha/Omega” on pg. 321, Adi Da writes:
The Aletheon and The Dawn Horse Testament Are with all the other “Source-Texts”, or True-Water-Bearers, of My Twenty-Three-Course Divine Avataric Reality-Teaching the Summary of My Divine Self-Discoveries (Made by Means of My Divine Self-Submission to Avataric Incarnation) and My Divine Self-Revelations (Made by Means of My Avatarically Given Divine Self-Confessions of My Own Divine Secrets) pg. 320
So we can speak of the last five books, and then The Dawn Horse Testament and all of the other “Source-Texts”. In fact, Jonathan Condit and the editorial staff are preparing a final edition of The Dawn Horse Testament that will be much expanded. Some of the new material that will appear there has appeared in recent shorter publications from The Dawn Horse Press, such as Recognition of Me is Liberation. There are final clarifications that Bhagavan Adi Da made in the last years of His Life which were extremely important to Him. For example, the growth in practice in Adidam is no longer associated directly with the stages of life in any way. So the language of the new edition of The Dawn Horse Testament will exhibit this change in perspective and understanding.
There is one other key essay in The Aletheon where Bhagavan Speaks in such a way that would lead one in the direction of throwing away one’s older books. In the essay, “The Universally Consequential Event at Ruchira Dham Hermitage” Bhagavan Adi Da speaks of how
“In some sense, I As I Am First Appeared here in the year 2000.
In some sense, I As I Am Was only “on the way” to here before the Ruchira Dham Event.
The Way I have Revealed and Given Is Adidam Ruchiradham and Its Fullest and Most Complete Revelation Began with the Ruchira Dham Event:
My Divine Avataric Self-Revelation-Word Became a completely different kind of Utterance.
Most essentially, My Divine Avataric Self-Revelation-Word has Become The Aletheon.
The Communication of My Full and Final and Perfect Divine Avataric Instruction does not require the study of the vast archive of transcripts of My Dialogues with those who approached Me during My Years of Divine Avataric Self-Submission.
My Divine Avataric Reality-Teaching Is now Straightforward.
That Is It.
That Is What There Is. ” pg. 1705,1715, 1719 The Aletheon
So all of this is making it plain that His Final Revelation is His Gift to all, and is primary. So everything that we might read of the earlier talks and essays of Bhagavan Adi Da should be seen in the context of His Final Instruction in The Aletheon and other final texts. The Way itself has become the simplicity of whole bodily devotional recognition-response to Him.
But this does not mean that the earlier Teaching essays and talks should be “thrown away” or not studied and referred to.
In fact, in the last year of His Avataric Lifetime, Bhagvan Adi Da added some of the very early books of His to the Epitome of Seventh Stage and Traditional Esotericism bibliography. These additions made it plain that Adi Da wanted these books kept in print always. Of course, some of the language in these texts would be brought “up to date” by the editorial staff. Adi Da was always refining the language that He used in His Source-Texts, to make it more and more precise and descriptive. So the Way of the Heart became technically the “Radical” Reality-Way of the Heart. And the Way of Adidam itself became the “Reality-Way of Adidam”. Hridaya-Shaktipat became Ruchira Shaktipat. So you will see in the new editions of these older texts, that all of the terms are brought to the current language usage “protocols”. Here are some of the books that Adi Da Himself added to the booklists at the end of His Life: or approved for them to be there:
Love of The Two-Armed Form: The Free and Regenerative Function of Sexuality In Ordinary Life, and The Transcendence of Sexuality In True Religious or Spiritual Practice
Scientific Proof of The Existence of God Will Soon Be Announced By The White House!: Prophetic Wisdom About The Myths and Idols of Mass Culture and Popular Religious Cultism, The New Priesthood of Scientific and Political Materialism, and The Secrets of Enlightenment Hidden In The Body of Man, by Da Free John [Adi Da Samraj]
The Transmission of Doubt: Talks and Essays On The Transcendence of Scientific Materialsm Through Radical Understanding, by Da Free John [Adi Da Samraj]
The Eating Gorilla Comes In Peace: The Transcendental Principle of Life Applied To Diet and The Regenerative Discipline of True Health,
Nirvanasara: Radical Transcendentalism and The Introduction Of Advaitayana Buddhism1879. Crazy Da Must Sing, Inclined to His Weaker Side: Confessional Poems of Liberation and Love, by the “Western” Adept, Da Free John [Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj]
Conscious Exercise and The Transcendental Sun: The Principle of Love Applied To Exercise and The Method of Common Physical Action–A Science of Whole Body Wisdom, or True Emotion, Intended Most Especially For Those Engaged In Religious or Spiritual Life
And these two books by devotees:
Divine Distraction: A Guide To The Guru-Devotee Relationship, The Supreme Means of God-Realization, As Fully Revealed For The First Time By The Divine World-Teacher and True Heart-Master, Adi Da Samraj
Love of the God-Man: A Comprehensive Guide to the Traditional and Time-Honored Guru-Devotee Relationship, the Supreme Means of God-Realization, As Fully Revealed for the First Time by Da Kalki (The Divine World-Teacher and True Heart-Master, Da Love-Ananda Hridayam [Adi Da Samraj
So clearly Adi Da was not asking us to “throw away” these old books. Instead He was asking for them to be read, as all of His books, with real discrimination. And as I mentioned, the new editions of them will be brought up to date
It is a useful exercise to actually see what Adi Da has done to some early essays as He has redone them. For example the essay much beloved by devotees, “What Will You Do If You Love Me?” which originally appeared in The Enlightenment of the Whole Body~is now in The Aletheon, entitled, “What is a Greater Message Than This?” Some of us who have read the earlier essays for years, do not like it much when Bhagavan Adi Da changed the language of His Own Essays (as in this one). Often, it has seemed that what were archetypical and poetic sentences, were now perhaps more cumbersome. And so a full inspection of the old essay and then the new version is a useful exercise. What you will find is that in the newer version, Adi Da is making it more precise and less open to misinterpretation. He is putting the essays in forms that will be able to last into the future without confusion. It is fine to read the earlier versions sometimes for their poetic quality or as a way of studying Adi Da’s historical consideration. There is no taboo on this. And if all we had were the earlier versions, they would have been enough and wonderful and ecstatic Gifts. But as Bhagavan Adi Da has gone to the trouble to redo materials, based on His later technical elaborations of His Teaching-Word, if you can access the newer versions, that is most highly recommended.
You will also find in The Aletheon parts of essays and talks from the past that have been incorporated into the book. Adi Da at times would ask what essays or talks devotees found most useful from the older books or magazines, and would find a way to make them more current in the essays in The Aletheon.
However, many of the earlier books contain considerations and essays that are simply not in the later books. You found this with the elaborations that are contained in “the Seven Gifts of Sri Da Avabhasa’s Grace”. The title used for Adi Da of “Avabhasa” dates the course to 1991 or so. And I am not currently up to date on what is specifically in that course book. But yes, it is true that most devotees would not know what the Seven Gifts even are. Probably could not tell you all seven from memory. And so refreshing these gifts is a good idea. Recently someone send me a text asking where they could even find them listed (look at the Epilogue to The Dawn Horse Testament). I would think that in that course book there would be material that is likely not in print anywhere else that might be useful and relevant to your practice. But there would also likely be usages of words and even some practices that are no longer current. If you are completely familiar with what practice is currently and what are the ways that Bhagavan uses language, then taking a tour into these past books will not be confusing. Instead it would be an interesting look at things that have changed, as well as wonderful ways that Bhagavan Adi Da might have expressed things in the past. Or even topics and discussions that are useful, that do not appear elsewhere.
But be wary of old practices that are no longer used. In the course of Adidam there were many such practices. For years I practiced “self-enquiry” using the phrase “avoiding relationship”. For a time I meditated using the word “God” as my “mantra” under Adi Da’s Instructions. (When Adi Da found out I was till doing this some months later, He commented that I was in the “dark ages” of Adidam practice). So as I say, you must be aware of what the current and final Instructions for practice from Adi Da are, otherwise there might be some confusion in encountering the old practices.
All of which to say that I still recommend The Knee of Listening as the first book for people interested in Adi Da and practice, and sometimes My “Bright” Word. (I find that it is a individual matter and that it is good to pick a recommended first book for the person in front of you, rather than rotely choosing one.) And some of the earlier books are often “easier” to read, with a language style that is very user-friendly. But if one is to practice the way, you must be informed by The Aletheon and Bhagavan’s Final Word of Instruction and the practice of whole bodily recognition-response. But as this is really just turning, then if you were doing Ruchira-Avatara Bhakti Yoga, or really any of the earlier practice, you would likely be doing the same thing!