Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi
and Adidam In Perpetuity

His Divine Presence, Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Has Departed from the Body — Official announcement of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi (on November 27, 2008) and a brief summary of Adi Da's Life and Work.

Love Is How I Got To Here — Excerpts (text and audio) from a discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on at Adi Da Samrajashram: "There will be a time when I am not physically present, just as most hours of every day, devotees don't have Me physically present anyway; they're somewhere else. When this body passes, it will be the same. Exactly the same. . . . You are always able to enter into Communion with Me. That capability for Ultimate, Most Perfect Realization has been made possible only by this Divine Avataric Intervention. This Divine Avataric Intervention having been Made, It is Eternalized." (April 16, 1995)

I Will Not Leave — Excerpt from a talk by Adi Da on August 11, 1995. "No one will feel Me leave when this Body dies, because I will not leave."

This Bodily Lifetime-Form Will Eventually Be Outshined — Excerpt from Avatar Adi Da Samraj's Essay, "Atma Nadi Shakti Yoga". (from The Aletheon, April-November, 2008)

I Will Forever Stand and Wait For You — Passage from the Prologue to The Dawn Horse Testament.

I Am Always Merely Present — Passage from Sutra 41 of The Dawn Horse Testament.

I Taught You How To Notice Me — Avatar Adi Da speaking to devotees at Adi Da Samrajashram. (December 7, 1994)

This Is My Only Birth — "After the Spiritual Master's retirement or death, his initiatory function may be presumed still to be alive in and relative to the living functions of his true devotees. Therefore, wherever his devotees gather together, the initiatory Power is also Present." (from Breath and Name, 1977)

My Function is Absolutely Identical to the Divine And Yet it is Specific and Unique — "My influence remains with those whose connection is with me, even those who are now on this earth and who do not know Bubba Free John in the body. That influence is working on them at this moment. They are having dreams, they are having experiences because of my work. And yet they have never read a book about Bubba Free John, have never heard about him, have never seen him in a vision that they can remember! Nevertheless my work with them is just as specific as it is with you who know me in this body. And it is the same after my death." (November 20, 1975)

I Bring the Gifts — You Must Respond — "My Incarnation is associated with Divine Powers That I have Brought into this plane. My Divine Powers are now Eternally Established here. . . .The Divine Process is not magic. You must respond. Beings must respond. You must do the work. Otherwise, you are controlled by the structures of your own adaptation, and no great thing occurs." (March 23, 1994)

The Dawn Horse in Adidam — In 1970, Avatar Adi Da had a vision. He found Himself in a subtle realm, observing a Spiritual Master demonstrating to his disciples the Yogic power of manifesting objects spontaneously. Avatar Adi Da watched as the Master began the process of manifestation. After a time, although nothing had yet materialized, the Master's disciples departed, apparently satisfied that the work was done. Avatar Adi Da has commented that, like the Dawn Horse, the effects of His Liberating Work in the world will appear only gradually — just as, in the vision, the horse gradually became visible only some time after the Adept had initiated its materialization.

Creating an Immense Mandala of Transcendental Spiritual Transmission — Adi Da's beautiful, succinct description of the purpose of His Life and Work. (April 23, 1984)

Everything That I Am Purposed To Bring To Here — Adi Da describes the essential elements of His "Immense Mandala of Spiritual Transmission". (February 26, 2008)

At Last This Community Must "Be Me" and Assume All My Life-Functions — One of the earliest descriptions Adi Da provided for how His "Immense Mandala of Spiritual Transmission" would function after His human lifetime. It is remarkably similar to His final vision. (early 1970's)

The Death and Birth of the God-Man — A talk given by Avatar Adi Da. "The incarnation of devotees is the birth. . . . And so you can see that the birth of the God-man implies sacrifice, or death, of the God-man, and it must occur quickly. Such a one cannot live to be an old, old man or woman. Such a one can live only as long as it takes to prepare the being of devotees, of lovers." (July 12, 1976)

The Time of My Death Is Determined By My Work — "It may seem like the Work has not been completed, and yet I may go." (from Garbage and the Goddess, 1974)

Incarnating My Pattern Here In Perpetuity — Adi Da summarizes progress to date in the creation of His "Immense Mandala of Spiritual Transmission": "My Spiritual Transmission of My Very Person will be continued through various means of Agency and Instrumentality. They will simply be vehicles for My Transmission of My Own Person, My Own Presence. And this will be obvious to devotees—not a cultic invention. But it will not be obvious until this integrity is established, until there are renunciate orders, and the Sangha, the gathering itself, has real integrity, conformed to Me, fulfilling its obligations, and there are significant numbers of people practicing in the advanced and ultimate stages. This is urgently required. . . . In terms of My Own Work, I must be active developing Instrumentality and Agency. This means I need a body of devotees, level two and beyond. And I must concentrate in working with them, and they must fulfill their service role in the gathering. When that occurs, then other dimensions of My Pattern will be established here, and more of the service this Body has been Born to do, to accomplish, will have been accomplished." (November 10, 1996)

My Devotees Must Do the Instrumental Work While I Do the Source-Work — "My devotees, who devotionally recognize Me, are the necessary Instrumentality that must serve the Extending of My Gifts to all-and-All.. . . Now, and forever hereafter, Instrumentality Is the Absolute Necessity. Instrumentality is how everything works." (excerpt from The Aletheon, August 2008)

The Incarnation of the Purusha — "Whether my birth and my association with people can represent the force of some great age, a great transformation of the world, is to be seen. My work can be relatively modest and local, as Shirdi Sai Baba's work was in his lifetime, or my work can be associated with a global transformation. It will depend on recognition, surrender, and acceptance of a lawful order of existence by many, many, many people." (excerpt from The Bodily Location of Happiness, 1982)

A Functioning, Global Institution — "The Treasures cannot survive without a major, truly existing, functioning, global Institution." (March 15, 2006)

The Survival of That Influence — "Devotees, through the whole life of spiritual sacrifice, must continue to maintain their own Community as an Agency for the survival of that Influence." (from The Enlightenment of the Whole Body, 1978)

The Need for Living Agency — "Without such Living Agency how will that Process take place in the future? Perhaps, as in the past, people will resort to the pieces of it that men and women of experience represent. People can always experience a little Yoga, a little psychism, a little internal energy, a little insight. But when the Total Representation of Divine Self-Realization is Demonstrated in the literal bodily (human) form of one individual, you must make use of it. It is an Advantage that is unique in human time." (from The Enlightenment of the Whole Body, 1978)

An Unknowable Spirit in the Year 2300 — "When I Say My Work is Done, I mean . . . The Work does not rest on Me anymore. It rests on you. . . . I am an unknowable Spirit for My devotees in the year 2300 unless My devotees in flesh and blood sit there, sublimed by this Realization, which they will not get unless you get it!" (November 30, 1985)

It is Up to Humankind to Accept My Gift — "I cannot Force you to do it. The choice is up to you and everyone." (August 13, 2004)

Always Already Free — Natalja: "The Force of His dropping of the body literally opened a hole through time and space . . . The air became so incredibly still it felt as if the atomic structure of things could break by a single breath."

For Lovers of the Bright One — "I was a few hundred meters from Adi Da at the time of His leaving the body. Thank you, Lord . . . You did not leave us. Your Presence is brighter and more attractive then ever."

There Is No Loss — "When I arrived at Beloved Adi Da's House (about thirty hours after His Passing), I felt such an incredible sense of personal loss of my dearest, dearest Loved One, that I burst into tears. In His Company, I gradually stopped crying, and began to feel Beloved Adi Da Present in the most extraordinary manner."

Touched By Him — "On December 1st (2008), the day after the interment of our Beloved Master's physical remains, I went up back to the "Brightness" Temple in the early afternoon.The entire area seemed to vibrate with a tangible Presence that was very familiar to me as Bhagavan's Spiritual Form. As I sat down on the ground, I became conscious of the fact that this was only about thirty feet away from the chamber in which Bhagavan's physical form was buried."

His Answer To My Question — "Since Bhagavan Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, I had felt an urgency to know why and what happened. And so I participated in discussions as well as many private conversations conjecturing about all of this. But over time I realized that I was more and more disturbed about all of this. My dearest Heart-Master was gone, and I felt that I truly needed to know why and what had really happened."

A Dream About Adi Da's Mahasamadhi — Through a dream, a devotee is led to be with Bhagavan at the time of His Divine Mahasamadhi and to feel the miracle that He has not left at all.

A Word On His Passing — from poet, Dimitrios Otis.

To God Knows Where — Reading an article in an Israeli newspaper revealed to Kiam the identity of the face that had been appearing to him.

A Glimpse of Him in Truth — "I was never fortunate enough to have been a true devotee of a Guru. I was closest to Adi Da. I was an appreciator of Him, and occasionally let into His world by Grace to catch a glimpse of Him in Truth."

An Island On Fire — John: "I am far from that island but I see it shining in the middle of the black sea. I knew he had come."

He Awakens Me To Love — Nancy: "No one can comprehend what this being represents. . . . With him it always goes deeper."

A Mahasamadhi Horoscope —Devotee PM cast a horoscope for the moment of Bhagavan Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi. The most striking feature was that Neptune was very close to the Midheaven.

Time To Return — David: "About a week ago [shortly before Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi], I had a dream about Beloved Adi Da."

Adi Da's Successor
Question: Who will be Adi Da's "Murti Guru" or successor?
Brief answer: Since Adi Da is Eternally Present, and the direct relationship to His Eternal Presence is the Way of Adidam, there can be no successor for Him (and there is no need for one).

Use of the term, "Mahasamadhi"
Question: You describe how Adi Da passed away due to natural causes, but you refer to it as His "Mahasamadhi". I thought the term, "Mahasamadhi", was reserved for when Spiritual Realizers, in a moment of their own choosing, intentionally leave the body. But what you describe could just as well fit Joe Smith down the street, dying of a heart attack, no?
Brief answer: The term, Mahasamadhi, more generally indicates the passing of any great Spiritual Master, regardless of what form that passing may take. More specifically, we use the phrase, "Divine Mahasamadhi", to indicate the passing of a human Incarnation of the Divine.

The Way of the Bone vs. the True Way of Adidam
Question: I'm a devotee. While Adi Da was still alive, my whole practice every week was oriented around Adi Da's newest gifts to us (His books, His image-art, His communications to devotees, etc.) I'm somewhat at a loss as to what to do now, after His Divine Mahasamadhi.
Brief answer: In the relative quiet after Adi Da's Passing, we may finally have the space to feel a fundamental error many of us may have been making in our practice: that the Way of Adidam is not just a matter of receiving Adi Da's Gifts, but is a relationship, characterized by mutual gift-giving. No significant growth in the Way of Adidam will ever happen otherwise.