The
different types of human destiny and Spiritual Realization
— What
Spiritual Realizations are possible? How does Spiritual Realization
relate to ordinary views of human potential? What is the ultimate
Spiritual Realization? Is there such a thing? If the ultimate Spiritual
Realization is our aim, it is very good to know the final destination
before setting out, both in order to choose a vessel capable of
getting us there, and to avoid sidetracks (leading to lesser Realizations)
that prolong the journey, even indefinitely.
Why
settle for less than Perfect Happiness? —
Most of us are not aware that Perfect Happiness is actually possible.
And so instead we throw in our lot with one of the common alternatives
of our time: self-fulfillment
based on scientific materialism;
some kind of religious belief system;
or some kind of do-it-yourself "spirituality".
But which of those common alternatives actually leads to much happiness
now, let alone Perfect Happiness? Commenting on the mindless adoption
of one or more of these alternatives, simply because they are the
familiar ones, Adi Da Samraj puts it this way: "If you go with the
flow, you go down the toilet." Created by Adi Da Samraj, the Way
of Adidam is a lesser known alternative that makes Perfect Happiness
possible for ordinary human beings like ourselves.
The
Nature of Reality: Perfect Happiness is Perfectly Possible
— Every tradition
— whether religious, spiritual, philosophical, or scientific — is
associated with a particular view on the nature of reality. Just
so, Adidam is associated with a particular view on the nature of
Reality, which we summarize in this section. This view is not an
intellectual synthesis of previous traditions and viewpoints. Instead,
it is the view of Avatar Adi Da Samraj as Fully Awakened Spiritual
Master, describing Reality directly from the Ultimate Vantage Point.
And in this view of Reality, Perfect Happiness is
perfectly possible through Perfect God-Realization.
Spiritual
Realization requires a Spiritual Master — The highest human
potential is God-Realization, the complete awakening from this "dream"
of limited existence, awakening as
the One in Whose Consciousness the dream is arising. And the way
to perfect Realization of God is through a moment-to-moment process
of communing with God, by feeling God and self, and feeling beyond
self to God. But how does one find and feel God for
real? All the wisdom traditions of humankind point to
a single answer: we locate God through the Transmission of a Spiritual
Master. So the "how" of Realizing God actually has a simple answer:
find a genuine Spiritual Master and become a devotee of His or Her
Spiritual Transmission. To Realize God most perfectly — to awaken
completely from the dream of limited existence, rather than moving
to a somewhat better "realm" within the dream — requires linking
up with the Transmission of a Divinely Realized Spiritual Master.
The
devotional and Spiritual relationship to Avatar Adi Da Samraj
— True
Spiritual practice that leads to actual Spiritual Realization is
not based merely on a belief system, and a set of rituals or do-it-yourself
techniques. Spiritual practice that bears fruit is always based
on the Spiritual relationship between the Spiritual Master and the
devotee. The liberating relationship between the devotee and Avatar
Adi Da Samraj is by nature, a devotional relationship. Love Itself,
Happiness Itself, God Himself, is appearing through Adi Da Samraj's
form, and the devotee very naturally and spontaneously falls in
love with That One — not the human being in himself, but the One
Who is being Revealed transparently through that egoless human form.
The character in the dream is more and more distracted from the
dream by the supreme Attractiveness of the Awakened State, in the
form of Avatar Adi Da Samraj and His Divine Transmission.
The
Spiritual necessity for self-understanding and self-transcendence
— Even the relationship with the Divine Presence through the
Agency of the Spiritual Master isn’t sufficient, by Itself, to Fully
Awaken a human being. This is so because both our awareness of the
Divine Presence, and our reception of It (our ability to be Melted
in and Awakened by It), are cut off, hindered by the ego. Therefore
it is essential to Spiritual growth that we understand and transcend
the "ego", the "self", as it is the primary obstacle to Spiritual
Realization. We conventionally view the ego as a given; it simply
goes without saying. "Obviously", there’s “me” here, there’s “you”
over there, etc. But what is this “me”? We are literally re-creating
our sense of being a "separate self” in every moment through a separative
activity of self-contraction,
that is something like making a fist. As soon as we understand that
we are doing this activity of self, we can stop
doing it, we can stop making the fist.
Practice
in the Way of Adidam —
In order to fully receive Avatar Adi Da Samraj's
Transmission, the body-mind has to be in a very specific position
and disposition. Avatar Adi Da Samraj describes this “surrendered
position” in terms of a specific orientation for each of “the four
lower faculties” of the human being: mind, body, emotion, and breath.
Adi Da Samraj calls the practice of turning the four faculties of
the body-mind to Him in every moment, Ruchira
Avatara Bhakti Yoga. Practice of Ruchira Avatara Bhakti
Yoga is assisted and deepened by engaging disciplines that curb
our otherwise endless and overt seeking, and require us to feel,
rather than to immunize ourselves from feeling. Through Ruchira
Avatar Bhakti Yoga, one becomes absorbed in the Divine. With steady
practice, in time, there comes a moment of Grace when we stably
shift from practicing absorption
in the Divine Being, to practicing Identity
with the Divine, standing as, what Avatar Adi Da Samraj calls “The
Witness-Consciousness”. Thus begins the first stage of the Perfect
Practice. The Perfect Practice has three stages, all
taking place in the Domain of Consciousness, that is, in direct
relation to the Awakened State and the Divine Person in His Ultimate
Identity as Consciousness:
- Be
Consciousness.
- Contemplate
Consciousness.
- Transcend
everything in Consciousness, Recognizing all objects in and as
God.
The
third stage of the Perfect Practice is Divine
Enlightenment: complete Awakening from the dream of limited
existence.
Growth
in the Way of Adidam —
Adi Da Samraj's framework of the seven
stages of life is described. All religious, spiritual,
and philosophical traditions and ways can be categorized according
to this framework. This framework also describes the ultimate spiritual
realization, Divine Enlightenment, associated with the seventh stage
of life. While traditional spiritual paths would take eons of time
to realize the seventh stage of life, Adi Da Samraj's Way of Adidam
makes Divine Enlightment possible even in a single lifetime, for
the profoundly moved individual. The unique milestones in growth
associated with the Way of Adidam are described.
Who
is Adi Da Samraj? —
In a very real sense, the Way of Adidam is all about getting to
know who Avatar Adi Da Samraj is, better and better. Indeed, taking
up the Way of Adidam is based on a degree of genuine recognition
of who Avatar Adi Da Samraj is, in Spiritual terms. There are extraordinary
Spiritual Revelations ahead, for all those who take up this Spiritual
practice! And the final Revelation — the most extraordinary, and
the most intimate — is that Avatar Adi Da Samraj is our Real Self,
the Real Self of all of us apparently real, apparently separate
selves. He is appearing here in human form to Awaken us from this
dream of mortality and limited existence to the Perfect Happiness
of Infinite Divine Existence, our True State. We discover this most
perfectly when we have been Awakened most completely.
The
nature of Divine Incarnation — All Spiritual Transmission
Masters enable their devotees to realize Something Greater: a
Spiritual Realization that is happier than the usual worldly destiny.
But the revelation of Adidam is Divine
Realization — Perfect
Happiness. Avatar Adi Da Samraj is not only a great and true Spiritual
Master; He is the Divine in human form, fully incarnating here
in Person. Only the Divine in Person can Awaken individuals to
their Divine Nature.
Common
questions of spiritual beginners and people interested in Adidam
— Why
do we suffer? What can we do to be happy? What can we do about the
fact of our own mortality? What does happen after we die? Is it
possible to go beyond just talk of (and belief in) God and a Greater
Reality, and actually have direct experience of that Greater Reality?
Does God exist? Why are we not aware of God right now? Every heart
yearns for the answers to these questions. The spiritual practice
of Adidam provides answers; but it goes further — it dissolves the
questioner who practices the Way of Adidam in perfect happiness.
The
Hermitage Ashrams of Adidam —
Traditionally,
Spiritual Masters have been provided with set-apart places that
were set apart — geographically, psychically, and socially — from
the conventional world, where they were free to do their Spiritual
Work in an appropriate and secluded circumstance. And these places
became Spiritually Empowered through their Presence and Work, and
— as a result — continued to Spiritually Transmit the Blessing of
the Spiritual Master beyond His or Her human lifetime. In this traditional
manner, devotees of Avatar Adi Da have provided places for Him —
His "Hermitage Ashrams" — where He is completely set apart to do
His Blessing-Work for the sake of humanity as a whole, as well as
His specific Spiritual Work with devotees who come on pilgrimage
to receive the Initiatory Spiritual Blessing of being in His physical
Company on retreat.
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