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
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 meant only to be
possibly instructive. The study is designed to see and
understanding the changes Adi Da made in his final
‘instruction’ and therefore understand how his teaching word
has changed (or did not). Conclusions about what his
‘intention’ was and its meaning and significance is solely
left up to the reader.
In August/September 2006 a ‘new’
presentation and emphasis was beginning to develop in Adidam
that referred to ‘new dharma’. Watch below:
It is clear in this communication
Adi Da was bringing forth ‘new dharma’ and it was part of
his revelation. There may be come confusion with this
communication of ‘new dharma’ and what it means. Is the
communication saying that the ‘new dharma’ is somehow ‘new
and different’ from the previous dharma or is the
communication saying Adi Da is writing ‘more’ dharma and
therefore communicating in a new ‘literary
style’?
As far as the Beezone is concerned
the teaching dharma has never changed in its essence (the
language – symbol – (the map is not the territory) is only a
pointer). Word, emphasis, style, grammar, etc. are all
language devices that only ‘point’ to something that is
fundamentally beyond language and word.
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.
Beezone
Study
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.
Revelation, p. 60 – Pneumaton – 2011
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
one’s one heart, as the goal of all striving. The place
for His meditation is the ether in the heart – 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”,
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!