2. A Simple but Powerful Example of Crazy Wisdom:
The Call to Surrender
At the Feet of a Spiritual Transmitter

This is Part 2 of Chris Tong's eight part article, An Overview of Adi Da's Crazy Wisdom and "The Way That I Teach".

Avatar Adi Da Samraj, 1986

When you have surrendered at the lotus feet of the Master, From the chains of this world you will break free. Then, in complete control of your mind and your senses, Within your heart, you will find the Lord. Adi Shankara, Bhaja Govindam ("Follow Your Heart")

Some kinds of "unconventional behavior" may be a normal part of a particular Spiritual tradition, but may seem odd to someone who does not practice that tradition until he or she better understands its basis — ideally through a firsthand account from practitioners who are in position to fully understand and appreciate its purpose.

For instance, all the world's spiritual traditions talk about the virtue of surrendering at the Master's Feet — it is a kind of metaphor for spiritual practice altogether. "Surrendering" at the feet of an ordinary person — a king or pharoah, for example — is one thing, and there is a virtue in our modern world having outgrown that sort of tradition, because, whatever else such a person may have (power, fame, etc.), spiritually, he or she is an ordinary person like ourselves. But in requiring their subjects to bow at their feet, such kings and pharoahs are mimicking something that is genuine, profound, and ultimately, spiritually liberating: devotees surrendering at the feet of a Spiritual Transmission Master.

Adi Da elaborates (bold is mine):

What is the significance of the Guru's feet? The Guru has all kinds of body parts, you know. Why the Guru's feet? First of all, to relate to anyone at the level of his or her feet, you yourself must assume a physical position that is different from the usual stand-up, handshaking, egoic mode. The attitude of surrender is suggested, then. . . . Another aspect of relating to the Guru through His feet is Yogic. The current of Divine Transmission passes through the Guru's Feet. Every aspect of the Guru's body-mind is registered in various parts of the feet. [ed: This is a well-known principle of reflexology and acupuncture too.] The feet are the epitome of the body. So various Yogic aspects of Transmission are epitomized in the feet of the Sat-Guru. Avatar Adi Da Samraj in James Steinberg, Love of the God-Man

Here is an example:

[Adi Da Samraj] was most obviously Demonstrating His Divine Mood, clearly Indifferent to any sense of limitation, Shining with Blessing Force, replete with native Freedom and the certainty of unqualified Love, Transparent to the pure, sweet Grace of God. . . .I threw myself face down and full-length at His [Adi Da's] Feet. His Feet, somehow, were a perfect point of contact with this Blessing Force. I wept and kissed His Feet, wetting them with tears of relief, joy, gratitude, and also with the anguish that I could not completely let go of myself. Still I tried to surrender, straining with my heart and brain to open more. But I could surrender no more. Quietly, Adi Da lifted His Feet and placed them on my head. All stress left my being. A golden balm of sweet light poured through every cell in my body. A knot opened. I let go, and His brilliant Radiance washed through me. I was Home. Wes Vaught

Here is another story, from Antonina Randazzo, who often sang for Adi Da at Sacred Offerings:

Over the years, musical occasions with Bhagavan Adi Da became what He referred to as "Sacred Offerings". Musicians were there to make an offering to Him that serves everyone's participation in the fact that He is there granting His Sublime Darshan. It creates occasion for people to give Him their attention. The attention was not on the musicians, we would be there simply to serve the occasion by providing contemplative music. I remember one occasion in 2004 in Samraj Mahal, an exquisite Temple on the island of Naitauba. It is a beautiful open-air Pavilion overlooking the ocean. Tropical breezes waft through the environment and it is wholly conducive and pleasurable to sit in such a pristine setting. This particular evening a lounge-type chair was set up for Bhagavan that allowed Him to sit either cross-legged in His accustomed manner, or to extend His legs and feet out down the length of the chair. I was particularly appreciative of this change in His chair, as from where I was sitting, and with the chair angled off center a bit, His hands and feet would point directly at me. We sat to the side, but only about five feet away from Him. For a time he did sit cross-legged, but when He unfolded his legs, I felt a Transmission flowing from His Feet that was almost too much to conduct at times. I felt His Divine Touch Infusing my entire being. It rested me in deep contemplation, and the music poured out of me from a much deeper place. It was that feeling again of having my throat and the entire frontal line wide open, and He drew everything out of me effortlessly. Antonina Randazzo Devotional Singing: "The Focus Is On The Divine"

Here's yet another story, from my own experience.

In late 1995, Adi Da made Frans Bakker and myself the co-directors of the Adidam Word and Mission Division.[1] We were both living at The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary in Northern California. He invited us to be with Him at Adi Da Samrajashram (in Fiji) on December 24 (Christmas Eve), in time for the Celebration of Danavira Mela. It was clear that He wanted to directly work with the heads of His Mission in the most wonderful way (at the most wonderful time!), for the sake of their practice, and for the sake of His Mission.

	Adi Da welcoming Chris with a kiss (Christmas Eve, 1995)

We arrived in Adi Da Samrajashram, and gave Adi Da our gift. (It was a beautiful glass globe of the world, signifying our intent to bring Him the world, so He could liberate all beings — which He then placed in His most sacred temple, the Sukra Kendra.) He then had Frans and I sit at His feet all evening, even as He was receiving gifts from His other devotees, and kissed and embracing each of them, one by one. It was a wonderfully happy evening.

At some point, I spontaneously took hold of both His feet. This is not something I or any devotee ever would do in their "right mind"! But I was not in my "right mind" — Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission had shifted me into a completely different state, in which I was profoundly drawn to Him, even to the point where my mind was dissolving and my body was animating itself to be closer to Him in this way. In fact, I barely noticed that I was holding His feet in my hands, so entranced was I by the Brightness radiating from Him and all around His body. As it would turn out, Adi Da let me continue to hold His feet for the next half hour or so — an extraordinary gift of Grace, almost unbelievable as I look back on it. And at the same time, He and the room got Brighter and Brighter — with Him as the obvious Center and Source of that Brightness — until it became directly obvious that Beloved Adi Da, the room, and everything were all a Unity in this Brightness. It was a sustained moment of clear recognition of Adi Da as the Divine Person. And in that moment of recognition, the Brightness enveloped me as well, and "I" disappeared in It.

Because He Is the Great and Only and Very One, devotees should surrender and forget themselves at the Feet of the Divine Heart-Master. Because He Is the Great and Only and Very One, the Graceful Radiance That Flows from the Divine Heart-Master's Feet Releases attention from the ego-"I" and the world. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Ruchira Avatara Gita You may sometimes objectively see The Divine Self-Brightness of My Avatarically Born Bodily Human Divine Form. I Always Self-Magnify My Inherent Self-Brightness, Where I Stand, Where You Stand, Where It Stands, From The Inside Out, White As The Spiritual Current Of Being Is. . . I Am Always Dissolving (Myself, and all-and-All) In My Own "Brightness". This Is What I Do. This Is What I Am Always Doing. This Doing Is Who I Am. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, p. 706, The Knee Of Listening

The next thing "I" knew, I was outside the gathering hall, in the open air, after some unknown time had passed. I have no recollection of the time between when I disappeared, and when I "reappeared" — to discover I was being supported on either side by friends who were taking me to lie down. Mind you, I hadn't passed out — I had passed in . . . to God knows where.

Adi Da has always said that, whenever we gather with Him (as we did that night), He works to bring us to a point in the evening where we "disappear", and lose a period of time in our memory; He has said that if we could only allow that to happen, we would never be the same again. It happened for me . . . I was in a state of continual bliss for the next three months. And I can vouch for it: I haven't been the same since. And in my heart, I am still there, holding His Feet.

* * *

"Surrendering at the Guru's feet" is an appropriate metaphor for our practice altogether in every moment, because reception of Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission is possible in every moment (it's not in any way limited by physical distance) — if we are in that same "entirely surrendered" disposition — regardless of whether we are literally at His feet, or at His feet in mind and feeling.

It is not just My devotees who are noticing the signs of My world-Blessing-Work. Others also are feeling My Presence and are responding. . . . My experience is every one. I Extend out and I Touch you. When My Divine Spiritual Body Extends out, Its Touch Touches every one. Every one has felt My Spiritual Touch, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. I am Touching every one right now. If you were to lie down and extend your body and touch someone's body, he or she would feel it. Well, I am Extended everywhere like that. I am Experiencing all as My own Form. . . . All is in My View, My Touch-Field. No one is unfamiliar to Me. No one feels as an "other" to Me. All is in My Sphere. That suggests How I Work. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Adi Da

And so, to return to our main point about "Crazy Wisdom": Without the context of understanding that Adi Da is a genuine Spiritual Transmitter, and that something very tangible and very profound literally takes place "at His feet", the fact that devotees "surrender at His feet" as often as not gets miscommunicated to the conventional world as: "There's this cult leader named Adi Da, who is on a 'power trip' and makes His devotees kiss His feet. What an ego! What a megolomaniac!" Which, of course is nothing like what devotees such as Wes Vaught, Antonina Randazzo, and I actually experienced (and report here).

Part 3: The "Evil Superman" Form of Misunderstanding Genuine Crazy Wisdom

[1]	This included the Dawn Horse Press and the Adidam Mission. The idea behind combining these into a single Division (an idea that Adi Da Blessed) was that the needs of the Adidam Mission should inform what mission-supportive books were being published by the Dawn Horse Press — a sensible idea!