Fundamentals of Adidam: from About Adidam

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:

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.