How Did Adi Da’s Dharma Change Over the Years?
…or did it?
Exercise by Beezone
It is well known that Adi Da’s approach to working with His devotees evolved significantly over the years, as reflected in his literature. This progression is often marked as a movement from “Teaching” to “Blessing,” and finally to “Standing” in His later years, known as the period of His “Final Revelation.“ Adi Da once mentioned that scholars might one day examine the changes He made in His literature and His interactions with devotees over time.
In this article, Beezone explores two key examples of these changes, spanning over 20 years, to illustrate the evolution in His emphasis and expression. The first example comes from a talk published in Crazy Wisdom magazine in 1988, titled Sadhana Hurts, which was later republished in The Aletheon in 2008. The second comparison examines a section from The Bodily Sacrifice of Attention, originally published in 1981, alongside a 2011 version published in Pneumaton.
***
Summary
Adi Da’s teaching literature reflects a profound evolution over the years, marked by a shift from a focus on self-effort to an increasing emphasis on Divine Empowerment and surrender. His writings transition from urging devotees toward rigorous, self-driven discipline to inviting them into a more mature understanding of spiritual practice, one rooted in reliance on Divine Grace. This progression, often described as moving from “Teaching” to “Blessing” and finally to “Standing” in His “Final Revelation” period, shows a shift from self-Understanding to the Recognition of Divine Reality as the ultimate Agent of liberation. Through an examination of key texts spanning over two decades, this article explores how Adi Da’s teachings increasingly emphasize the surrender of individual effort to the Transformative Power of Divine Grace.
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
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
Beezone Commentary
The 1988 and 2008 versions of this essay reveal subtle but significant shifts in emphasis, particularly regarding the dynamics of self-effort versus divine effort in Adi Da’s teachings. The earlier version, titled “Sadhana Hurts,” highlights the rigor and personal responsibility involved in the practice. Terms like “get down to it,” “handle business,” and “bring me signs” suggest an urgent call for active self-effort, framing sadhana as a personal undertaking that demands unwavering commitment, struggle, and self-sacrifice. The repetition of “you people are indulging yourselves” reinforces the expectation that practitioners must go beyond superficial engagement with their teacher and the discipline of sadhana.
The 2008 version, titled “Concentration and True Surrender,” while still emphasizing discipline, broadens the focus to situate individual effort within the overarching framework of Divine Reality. This later text is more explicitly centered on “ego-transcending practice” as a collective discipline in “My Divine Avataric Company,” subtly shifting the practitioner’s attention from their own isolated effort to a surrender within a divinely empowered path. Phrasing such as “rightly and truly engage” implies a humility in the approach to practice, recognizing that while individual effort is necessary, it is within the divinely revealed path, the “Reality-Way of Adidam,” where transformation occurs.
The difference between “making an arrangement” with life (1988) and transcending “the cosmic domain itself” (2008) illustrates a deepening from personal endeavor to ultimate liberation beyond all egoic attachments and cosmic constraints. By 2008, Adi Da emphasizes that the “Reality-Way” involves liberation as an act of Divine Grace that encompasses yet transcends individual struggle. The addition of “the only-by-Me Revealed and Given Reality-Way of Adidam” underscores that this is not solely about personal discipline but about surrender to the Divine self-transcending reality that Adi Da embodies and reveals.
In summary, the 1988 version focuses on intense self-effort and personal responsibility within the rigorous structure of practice. The 2008 version shifts toward the role of divine empowerment, portraying self-effort as an essential but ultimately subordinate part of a larger divine alchemy. This change reflects an increased emphasis on surrendering individual will to the transcendent Divine Reality that governs the process of liberation in Adidam.
The Bodily Sacrifice of Attention
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
Pneumaton
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.
The Seventh Stage Revelation, p. 60, Pneumaton, 2011
Beezone Commentary
In comparing the 1981 and 2011 versions, we can observe a shift in Adi Da’s emphasis from a more personal, experiential understanding of “self-awareness” in “The Bodily Sacrifice of Attention” to a more nuanced and transcendental framing in Pneumaton’s “The Seventh Stage Revelation.” This evolution parallels the change seen in the previous works: a progression from a focus on individual effort to a broader view that incorporates divine influence and transcendent realization.
In the 1981 version, “self-awareness” is presented as ascending through subtle and psychic planes, emphasizing an “ecstatic gesture toward Union” and a process that moves “beyond physical references and, at last, even beyond mental references.” Here, the language focuses on the practitioner’s individual journey of ascension and self-awareness, with an emphasis on “Union” as something that can be experientially realized. The reference to “ecstatic gesture” suggests an active, perhaps passionate movement toward realization, which resonates with a sense of personal engagement in the spiritual journey.
By contrast, the 2011 version in Pneumaton rephrases “self-awareness” as “conditional ‘self’-awareness,” signaling a more explicit awareness of its limitations and emphasizing that all stages of conditional awareness remain distinct from the final stage of Divine Realization. This later text emphasizes “conditional union” with the Divine Source, a description that subtly redirects focus from the practitioner’s journey to the Source itself, the “all-and-All-Pervading and all-and-All-Transcending” Divine. This framing positions the practitioner’s ascent as a relative realization compared to the absolute, all-encompassing nature of the Divine Source, further clarifying that conditional awareness—even in its ascended, subtle forms—remains distinct from the ultimate realization.
Additionally, by specifying the “Source-Condition,” Adi Da underscores the ontological foundation of this process as rooted in Divine Reality, rather than in the practitioner’s individual efforts. The earlier “ecstatic gesture” is now understood in the context of a “conditional union,” reframing the process as a form of conditional surrender to a reality beyond self-generated effort.
Overall, the 2011 text suggests a more mature perspective that acknowledges the role of Divine influence in transcending even the subtle layers of self-awareness. Where the 1981 version emphasizes self-effort and experiential union, the 2011 Pneumaton points toward a transcendental realization that is contingent upon surrender to the Divine Source, thus situating the journey within the context of Divine Grace and the Recognition of conditional self-awareness as distinct from ultimate, Divine Union.
Conclusion
Over the years, Adi Da’s writings reveal an evident shift from emphasizing self-effort to a more profound focus on divine empowerment and surrender. In earlier teachings, such as those from the 1980s, there is a strong call to personal discipline, urging devotees to take active responsibility in the transformative process of sadhana. This stage is marked by a focus on self-effort—on rigorous, self-driven practices where devotees strive to transcend egoic tendencies through direct personal engagement.
However, in Adi Da’s later works, the tone changes, reflecting what He described as His “Final Revelation.” Here, the emphasis moves from self-generated transformation to an increasing recognition of Divine Grace as the primary agent of true liberation. Adi Da redirects the focus from individual effort and understanding toward a deeper reliance on surrender to Divine Reality. This evolution from “Teaching” to “Blessing” to “Standing” in His final years points to a shift in understanding: while “self-effort” (RESPONSIBILITY) remains a part of practice, it is ultimately through surrender to the Divine that true, ego-transcending transformation is realized. Adi Da’s later literature invites devotees to recognize that while disciplined self-effort is essential, it is ultimately subsumed within the Divine Alchemy of Grace, where individual will is transformed in the “Utter Freedom of egoless Most Perfect Divine Self-Realization.”