How to Become a Practicing Member of Adidam Ruchiradam
Becoming a practicing member of Adidam Ruchiradam and preparing yourself to come into Avatar Adi Da’s Personal Company on retreat is an intensive, but relatively quick, process that takes approximately 6-9 months. During this period of time you are part of the “outer temple” of Adidam Ruchiradam, The “outer temple” includes:
those who are considering Avatar Adi Da’s Teaching, but not yet practicing
those who have decided to come under vow as His practicing devotees, and are preparing to take the vow
those who have taken the vow and are preparing for His direct Initiation into the devotional and Spiritual relationship to Him on retreat.
The first step is to begin a program of guided study, which can be pursued either by attending classes associated with the regional center, or, if you live at a distance, through Internet or correspondance mechanisms. From the beginning you will be in direct contact with an instructor who will guide your progress.
For information about becoming a member of the second congregation of Adidam, please email us at: correspondence@adidam.org or fill out our
contact form and someone will be in touch with you.
The Eternal Vow
Avatar Adi Da Samraj is eternally Vowed to Serve the Liberation of all who become His formally practicing devotees. And so, membership of Adidam Ruchiradam is also initiated with a vow of devotion and service on the part of everyone who takes up the practice of Adidam Ruchiradam. This vow is profound. Through the vow, you establish a Spiritual link to Avatar Adi Da Samraj that goes beyond this lifetime. Your vowed relationship to Him is an eternal commitment, an inviolable heart-matter, just as Avatar Adi Da’s Commitment to you, is Eternal. You take this vow when you are certain that your true heart-impulse is to be a devotee of Avatar Adi Da Samraj, embracing Him forever as your Divine Heart-Master.
Entering the Second Congregation of Adidam Ruchiradam
As soon as you take the vow, you begin to participate as a student-beginner in the Lay Congregationist Order of Adidam Ruchiradam. As a member of the Lay Congregationist Order you are a part of the second congregation, which accounts for the great majority of Avatar Adi Da’s devotees, those who embrace the Way of Adidam in the lay context of ordinary life-obligations. (Some devotees, at the point of readiness for the ultimate stages of practice of Adidam, may be invited to enter the first congregation of Adidam Ruchiradam. At this point, they relinquish their lay status and become legal renunciates as members of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order. Only the Ruchira Sannyasin Order are members of the first congregation of Adidam Ruchiradam.)
The student-beginner stage involves intensive study of Avatar Adi Da’s Teaching and a fully accountable process of adaptation to a range of foundation disciplines. The focus of this stage is preparation for your first Sighting (or Darshan) of the Divine Avatar, Adi Da. When you come into His Company on retreat, you realize the purpose of all disciplines to which you have adapted, which is to equip you for the esoteric process of “Searchless Beholding” of Him. During your first retreat in Avatar Adi Da’s Company, He Initiates you into this practice, and you enter the “inner temple” of Adidam Ruchiradam.
The “inner temple” is the gathering of Avatar Adi Da’s devotees who are receiving and participating in His Ruchira Shaktipat, and practicing all the disciplines responsively, in the context of His Divine Spiritual Transmission. As you grow in the process of the “inner temple” there are further moments when it is necessary to come on retreat in Avatar Adi Da’s Company, in order to receive His Initiation into greater reception of His Ruchira Shaktipat, and a more advanced level of responsibility for the practice as a whole. At the point of transition to the ultimate stages of practice (or “Perfect Practice”) of Adidam Ruchiradam, you become a member of the Lay Renunciate Order, the senior lay order within the second congregation of Adidam Ruchiradam (except for those few individuals who are invited to enter the Ruchira Sannyasin Order.