The Maturity of the Adidam Culture

In the extreme case — before there even was a culture of devotees, as when Adi Da wrote the original version of The Knee Of Listening in 1972 — Adi Da's manner of writing (especially how He communicated about Himself and Who He was) was very much impacted by the reality that He had no devotees who could speak out in support of His fullest communication. He felt compelled to downplay the communication of Who He was, and so the story of The Knee Of Listening was written primarily as the story of a spiritual seeker who, through the Gifts of Grace and self-understanding, is finally Awakened to and as the Divine.

[Adi Da] has Said that because the world was the way it was, and people had no way to estimate His Significance or relate to Him rightly, He had to compose this book, when it was originally published in 1972, as a "popular" document. He had to design it to Attract people to His Wisdom through the capability to sympathize with His apparent human ordinariness. For these reasons, His Autobiography is Written in the "voice" of Franklin Jones.

from the Introduction to the 1992 version of The Knee Of Listening

This, then, was the form The Knee Of Listening took, rather than the story of the Divine Incarnating in human form — although all the "clues" that that was, in fact, the real story being communicated were there from the start, if one knew what one was looking for. It was even there on the very first page of His life story, although one might easily pass over it, mistakenly thinking Adi Da was writing "poetically" about the delight of being an infant:

I have played in the problem of my alternatives, but from my earliest experience of life I have Enjoyed a Condition that, as a child, I called the "Bright". . . I was the Power of Reality, a direct Enjoyment and Communication of the One Reality. I was the Heart Itself, Who Lightens the mind and all things. . . Even as a little child I recognized It and Knew It, and my life was not a matter of anything else.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Knee Of Listening

For this same reason, Adi Da would also speak and write in generic terms — "the Guru" does this, "Spiritual Masters" do that, "The Man of Understanding" is such and such — even though over time, it would become clear that He was talking exclusively about Himself: there were no other "Gurus", Spiritual Masters", or "Men of Understanding", who matched the descriptions He was communicating in His Teaching. Nonetheless, it was a useful style of communicating at the time, because it avoided the controversy that would naturally ensue were He to communicate His Uniqueness.

He would only do that when He felt He had a strong enough culture of devotees that could corroborate that more direct Communication about Who He is, based not on belief, but their own direct recognition and experience of Him — their response to His Revelation. I was the production manager of The Dawn Horse Press in 1995, and was deeply involved in the editing of the introduction to The Knee Of Listening. When we published the 1995 edition of The Knee Of Listening, we included this note in the book's introduction (bold is mine):

After Adi Da first wrote The Knee Of Listening, He decided, in consultation with the publisher, to reduce the manuscript to about half its original length. This abridgement was published as the first edition in 1972. The complete manuscript was published as the second edition in 1992. Now, for the third edition, Adi Da has gone over the second edition in great detail, expanding His account of many incidents and adding new accounts of others. His purpose is to make the full and final communication of His early life — not only in terms of the content, but in His manner of writing. When Adi Da first published His spiritual autobiography, His devotees had not yet begun to approach Him, and so He wrote of Himself and His experiences in a way that He felt could be directly understood and received by the public reader. More than twenty years later, the picture has completely changed. His Work is established, and thousands can testify to the authenticity of His words and of their acknowledgement of Him as the Da Avatar. Thus, in this third edition, Adi Da speaks openly of His Divine Nature and Purpose, even as it was shown from His earliest years.

"Note on the Editions of The Knee Of Listening"
1995 edition of The Knee Of Listening

Similarly, the edition of The Method Of The Siddhas that we published at the same time included a similar note:

When the Talks in The Method of the Siddhas were first given, Adi Da was speaking to brand new devotees and the public, and He therefore used language accessible to people with no real experience of Spiritual practice. Thus, in preparing people to rightly enter into the relationship to Him as Guru, He would most often speak of this relationship in general terms, referring to "the Guru" and "the disciple".

However, as was clear to His devotees even at the outset of His Work, Adi Da has always been the only Guru who completely fits the description of "the Guru" in The Method of the Siddhas. Thus Adi Da no longer speaks of "the Guru" and "the disciple", but, rather, of "I" and "My devotee". Now, more than twenty years later, when Adi Da's Work is established, and thousands acknowledge Him as the Da Avatar and can testify to the authenticity of His words, Adi Da openly expresses Who He Is. And so, like the [1995] edition of Adi Da's Spiritual autobiography, The Knee Of Listening, this [1995] edition of The Method of the Siddhas presents Adi Da's full communication about Himself as the supreme Siddha-Guru.

Note, 1995 edition of The Method Of The Siddhas

I can add a personal story here, with a similar theme. In 1996, I was living with Adi Da on Naitauba, and my services included providing the weekly education classes for the Ashram, and serving as part of the cultural board for the resident devotees. No doubt my focus on carrying out those functions had something to do with what I am about to describe. One night I had a curious dream: I dreamed that the name of our practice of devotion to Adi Da, "Ishta-Guru Bhakti Yoga", needed to "evolve". "Ishta-Guru Bhakti Yoga" literally means the "yoga" (or practice) of devotion ("Bhakti") to one's chosen ("Ishta") Guru. In my dream, I saw that, by itself, the phrase, "Ishta-Guru Bhakti Yoga," could sound like it meant: "choose a Guru (any Guru), and then practice devotion to that Guru in the manner Adi Da described in His texts." But it was clear at this point that "Ishta-Guru Bhakti Yoga" could only be practiced in relation to one Guru: Adi Da. So my dream suggested the name of the practice should be changed to incorporate and reflect Adi Da's Own name. I wrote to Adi Da about my dream, and He very much liked the idea (and even seemed to especially like that it came in the form of a dream). The consideration begun in that moment eventually led Adi Da (as the one and only Ruchira Avatar) to select "Ruchira Avatara Bhakta Yoga" as the primary name for the devotional practice, with "Ishta-Guru Bhakti Yoga" still being usable, but secondary.[1]

This story also illustrates that, to a great extent, Adi Da preferred that the process of when He would communicate details about His Uniqueness be initiated not by Himself, but by His devotees' recognition of Him. He was very much against simply making pronouncements about Himself; rather, He waited for a confession of recognition from a devotee (based not on belief but Revelation), and then He would confirm it, and elaborate upon it.

Conventional "religion", traditional "religion", typically expects to be believed on the basis of making grand pronouncements. That is supposed to be sufficient to enforce belief, to justify belief. The Reality-Way of Adidam is not based on that. That is why I have not been spending all these years simply Telling you Who I Am and Telling you to believe it. I am always in "consideration" with you . . .

Adidam Ruchiradam is based on your experience of Me, not My announcements about Myself. Where that experience is in you, and confessed by you, yes, I can Address it. And I do and say things about it, say things about Myself, but on the basis of your responsiveness, of your real experience.

But when you simply ask Me to tell you something for you to believe, what am I to say? I am not interested in doing that.

I am not interested in being here merely as an authority, saying things that you should believe. I am not here inviting pious belief. I am here Dealing with you directly, in most realistic terms. Ours is a "Reality-Consideration" together. I Am Present As I Am, but you have to find Me out.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj

One who loved the Master most was sitting close to Him in the Divine Light-Fall, when, in That Sudden of His Avataric Self-"Emergence", her face — like His own — became translucently "Bright". Merely Beholding Him, in ecstatic love — forgetting herself in the all-at-once of true love's devotional Contemplation of Him — the Divine Self-"Brightness" of Adi Da Samraj Filled (and Over-Filled) her heart, and His Eternal Love Bliss-Radiance Un-Fractured the Whole of every living part of her. . .

This Gracefully heart-Awakened devotee said out loud, and from her heart, for even all to hear: "Divine Heart-Master, Adi Da Samraj, 'Bright' Before me, I Surrender. You Are the Divine Heart-Master of the entire world. You Are Supreme. You Radiate the 'Bright' Realization of the Supreme. All beings should always heart-recognize You and worship You with true devotion.

You Are the One — the Supreme Being, the Source and Domain of all true worship and right praise.

Radiant Heart, Domain of Truth, please Sing to us the Great Secret of devotion to You, the Divine Heart-Master.

Reveal to us the Secret Method whereby living beings may Realize You, the Transcendental and 'Bright' world-Outshining Real God. I bow down to You, the True and Spiritual and Self-Evidently Divine Person. I worship Your Feet. Kindly Teach the Way of You to all of us."

When the Divine Heart-Master, Adi Da Samraj, Saw this 'Bright' face of Awakened devotion and Heard this confession of Great Sight, He Spoke the following Words, His Heart Overflowing with His All-Outshining Joy:

"This is the Secret of all secrets. I could not Speak This Me-Revealing Word until one of you first confessed you see the Vision of Real God in My Avatarically-Born Bodily (Human) Divine Form. I shall Tell you This now, because of your true heart-recognition of Me and your Greatly Awakened devotion to Me.

My Beloved, every one and all — you are each arising in the One 'Bright' Divine Being. This request, made by one who heart-recognizes Me, will benefit all of you, and even the entire world. Therefore, I shall Reveal the Truth and the Way of This Vision to you, for the Sake of all and All."

Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Ruchira Avatara Gita

I have made use of certain devices for associating with you and for Describing My Divine Nature at different times in the progress of the last quarter century.

In the beginning, I emphasized the Franklin-Jones-iness of the Me here. I even called Franklin Jones a "fictional character" at one point. I Identified Myself with a common persona, Describing Myself as such even in the first Writing of The Knee Of Listening, when there were not yet any devotees. I was Writing to everyone. In that book, I emphasized the common "I", and spoke of "we". I always Identified Myself with people in general. I did not Reveal Myself in any full sense. I Described My Experience, My Realization, but always spoke of Myself in common with everyone else. This was My manner, and it was a deliberate, intentional matter. In that moment of My Work, no purpose could be served by Communicating Myself fully.

Then a bit later on, I emphasized My Bubba-ness. By then, I had already Communicated the Talks that became The Method of the Siddhas. That was a kind of next step, a level of Self-Revelation on My part, so that people could relate to Me as their master, and I could do a certain kind of work with them.

Then I went to India and Said, "Well, you should call Me 'Bubba Free John' now." I was your Master, but I was also "Playing" it in the common way — still Speaking of "we", and Functioning by great Submission to commonality. I was the Master in this "Wild" Manner — Appearing to be like everyone, Reflecting them to themselves. And yet, I was the Blessing-Master — and, Through this Transmission Process, I was Awakening My devotees to all kinds of experiences, and then "Considering" absolutely everything. I "Considered" great Spiritual matters, but also very ordinary matters — "money,food,and sex" — very directly, not just in hush-hush puritanical tones. I "Considered" everything by Immersing Myself in that commonality.

Then I began to Communicate more about Myself, to make more of My Self-Revelation to you, so that you could begin to practice in a devotional manner in relation to Me and could do the Yoga of devotion to Me.

Then, in 1979, I Told you My Name "Da", and told you more of Myself.

True Revelation is Coincident with Divine Avataric Work, the Process of preparing people for What is to be Given. The Fullness of Revelation Occurs only in due course. I have had to Do My Leela in your Company as I have Done It. It is because of your nature, your mode of bringing yourself to me, your level of comprehension and readiness as you displayed it to Me over the years.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj, August 19, 1995

Working with the "cultic" tendencies of immature devotees. Mature devotees recognize Adi Da as the Divine, and respond accordingly. In contrast, immature devotees can feel a little of Adi Da's Divine Transmission in their bodies or minds (which is not the same as recognizing Him as the Divine), add to it the belief that "Adi Da is God" (because He must be, Who Else could be creating such effects?), and think that they are engaging the practice of Adidam. But it is precisely such beliefs that Adi Da criticized in devotees and called "cultic" (because to be such a believer is to not be different in kind from the followers of conventional belief-based religions). For years, Adi Da felt compelled to be what He described as "aggressively ordinary" (see the video clip below) so that devotees wouldn't project a cultic "God-idea" onto Him. But all the while, what He was actually waiting for was devotees' direct recognition of Him as the Divine (not merely their belief in Him as the Divine). On that basis, practice of the Way of Adidam could truly begin.

And so right interpretation of Adi Da's words (and actions) over the years has to take into account this play of "aggressive ordinariness" that Adi Da would engage in, to counter devotees' cultic tendencies — as well as take into account how that play diminished over time (along with all the other forms of "Submission" to devotees).

Dimension 4: The Maturity of the Adidam Culture

Dimension 4:
The Maturity of the Adidam Culture