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Adi Da and Holiday Music

Q: What kind of holiday music did Adi Da listen to at Danavira Mela?
A: All of it! But He especially enjoyed open-hearted performances.

Chris Tong: I played holiday songs for Avatar Adi Da (as the keyboardist and singer in a larger group of devotee singers and musicians) in The Manner of Flowers, at Great Food Dish, and at Adi Da Samrajashram. We covered the whole gamut, from traditional sacred songs, to contemporary secular songs.

Michael LaTorra: "Adeste Fideles" ("Oh Come All Ye Faithful"). There is an old video of Adi Da singing this. He bellowed out these words with special force: "Oh come let us adore him!"

Charles Syrett: When Adi Da was staying at Tat Sundaram during Danavira Mela in 2005, I often had to serve His House, and sometimes I was asked to make sure the Christmas CDs kept playing. He had all of it going. . . from English boy choirs to crooners (Bing Crosby, etc.) to chanting to pop holiday stuff. He took it all in!

Chris Tong: While He did appreciate all forms of holiday music, He particularly appreciated those performances that were open-hearted (and not "stiff"), regardless of musical style. Here's a leela about that.

On the night of December 23, 1995, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary, in Great Food Dish (the primary kitchen facility on the Sanctuary, formerly known as "First People"), Adi Da Samraj made cookie portraits of devotees with Him in the kitchen. He was accompanied by more devotees singing holiday songs and playing instruments just outside the kitchen window next to Him. The Guru gave loving and humorous instructions to His devotees, inside and outside the kitchen, all night long. Here is just a taste. . . ADI DA (to Marie Masek): That choir sounds a little too "Methodist"! Pour some liquor down the keyboardist's throat! Marie relayed the Guru's instructions to Chris Tong, the keyboardist, who happily agreed to let Marie pour vodka down his throat while he continued playing carols. Five minutes later. . . ADI DA: "MUCH better!"

Chris Tong: Here's an excerpt from a video of the occasion. You can hear the choir singing AFTER I had vodka poured down my throat. (That's my head in the lower right of the choir scene, as I play the keyboard.)

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Cookie-Making Occasion: First People, December 23, 1995 length: 00:58 event date: December 23, 1995 views: 850 Adi Da Samraj at a cookie-making occasion in First People (now called "Great Food Dish") at the Mountain of Attention Sanctuary on December 23, 1995, as part of the Celebration of Danavira Mela. Outside, devotees sing holiday songs for Him, as He looks out the window, listens to the music, and sings a few notes Himself. Inside, devotees attend Him as He turns cooking-making into an art form.

Chris Tong: One of the songs I've sung and played for Adi Da on several Danavira Mela occasions was Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I sing it here again for Beloved Adi Da (and everyone who finds it) in 2023, as a devotional offering, with my heart opened by Adi Da as I sing. The lyrics of this song can be understood to communicate an esoteric message, as described below.

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Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: A Danavira Mela Consideration length: 03:49 views: 833 CHRIS TONG: Happy Danavira Mela to everyone! I’ve sung Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to Beloved Adi Da many times over the years — at the Manner of Flowers, at Adi Da Samrajashram, at First People / Great Food Dish, etc. (as one of a small group of singers, and usually also as the keyboardist) — and I’m singing it to Him again (and all of you!) here. It is one of my favorite songs at this time of year. For me (starting with Judy Garland's original film version), it has always been an emotion-filled song, by turns joyful, playful, nostalgic, and wistful — so that is how I sing it here. The karaoke arrangement is based on Michael Bublé's version. This song as a bridge to God. In Beloved Adi Da’s Company, everything (from Mickey Mouse to cookie-making) becomes “a bridge to God”. ADI DA: “You must Awaken and discover the Divine World wherein everything is a bridge to the Infinite, One Being.” And so for me, the words of this song have always taken on a significance beyond the usual secular understanding of the song. They lead me through a consideration that I’ll share with you here. Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on our troubles will be out of sight Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the Yuletide gay From now on our troubles will be miles away. Here we are as in olden days Happy golden days of yore Faithful friends who are dear to us Gather near to us once more Through the years we all will be together If the fates allow Hang a shining star upon the highest bough And have yourself a merry little Christmas now. That wistfulness: Raymond’s problem. On the surface, the words of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas are purely joyful — "faithful friends" coming together each year in a joyous Christmas celebration. And yet, one of the emotions I feel when I sing this song is wistfulness. So where is the wistfulness coming from? It's that big "IF" in the song: "if the fates allow". In fact, as every one of us knows (more and more, with each passing year), fate (conditional existence) only allows such reunions for a limited number of years. As I sing, I have a vision of a photograph of a gathering of friends, from a Christmas or Danavira Mela many years ago, and, in this vision, each face in the photograph — one by one over the years — turns "ghostly", either through our circumstances (high school, college, living near each other) no longer being shared, or life paths that have moved in different directions, or the passing on of that person. My awareness of that inevitable reality is the source of the wistfulness and nostalgia. The inevitable disappearance of the (mortal) loved one is “Raymond’s problem”, a phrase Adi Da uses, based on the central character of The Mummery Book. Danavira Mela: A Divine Celebration in the midst of a conditional universe. The joy and playfulness of the song comes from the celebration we can still have together, even in the midst of an ever-changing, conditional universe. One of my (and many other devotees’) favorite quotes of Beloved Adi Da has always been this extraordinary prayer, from “Death is a Perfect Insult” in The Enlightenment of the Whole Body: “Let us surrender into Infinity with all our friends and hold on to no thing or condition that ever appears. Let us forget all things in present Happiness, and so forgive the universe for all its playful changes. Let us always love one another, and so forgive one another for appearing, for changing, and for passing out of present sight. So be it.” When I sing this song, I hear it giving further guidance for just how to do this. The line, “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough”, is a call to a sacred puja, that “surrender into Infinity” of the separate self. The “highest bough” is like the reference to a “Higher Power” in the AA tradition: however you understand God or what is greater than you, surrender yourself to That, commune with That, and allow that Communion to transform you into a “shining star”, a radiant light that you share with others during this season. For devotees of Adi Da, of course, that “highest bough” is the Very Divine, in the human form of Beloved Adi Da. Just as the word “light” has two senses, so the admonition, “Let your heart be light”, has two meanings. The first meaning is: “Be light-hearted”. This is a call to self-understanding, released of the primary knot of self at the heart, and so free of all sense of dilemma. “Our troubles will be out of sight”: the dilemma we thought we were in vanishes when the heart is unknotted. The second meaning is: “Let your heart be Light”. This is a call to the heart to commune with the Divine, and so be heart-awakened by the Divine, and thereby serve as a “shining star”, a “light”, a radiant beacon of light and love for all, through feeling to Infinity, feeling to, through and beyond the changing (including all the mortal beloveds) to the Changeless (the Immortal Beloved who is all of us), in all directions in every moment — the call to serve the awakening of Light in everybody. When the heart is Light, the second sense of “our troubles will be out of sight” is clear: they are Outshined. And so it is in this spirit that I sing this song and this wish for all my friends: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas”! ADI DA: Know that I Bless you through and beyond time and space. Live a life of celebration. True life, ego-transcending life, is a celebration, a joyous occasion of meeting with others in the universal circumstance of prior unity and in the joy of Communion with the Indivisible Divine Reality. That is why I look forward to this season every year. It is the greatest season of the year. It is a marvelous season. I hope it is a happy time for you and for all of your friends.

Chris Tong: Another Adidam tradition has been to take the words to a traditional holiday piece and rewrite them for our context of Danavira Mela and Beloved Adi Da. My strong recommendation: if you choose to do this, do it well! Tacky lyrics detract. Here's my version of "Angels We Have Heard on High" — which has the same high, dramatic quality as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" or Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus", so there is a kind of obligation to do it well, if one is going to do it at all.

AUDIO

Adi Da Beloved length: 03:05 listens: 2186 Problems with the audio player? Try the MP3 download link below. ---------------------------------------------------- Chris Tong sings "Adi Da Beloved" — a devotional version of the traditional Christmas carol, "Angels We Have Heard On High". Words, musical arrangement, and performance by Chris Tong, in the manner of other ecstatic, dramatic, immersive musical pieces like the “Hallelujah Chorus” (the finale of Handel's Messiah) and “Ode To Joy” (the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). instruments: synthesizers, horns, flute, piano, violin, bass, drums, bells. Thanks to my dear friend, Crane Kirkbride, whose own beautiful singing of music like this inspired me to create Adi Da Beloved. Crane also gave me some very helpful singing tips after listening to an earlier version. This audio is also part of an article, Adi Da and Holiday Music. ---------------------------------------------------- ADI DA BELOVED All the world awaited Him, Praying for the Promised Lord. Then He found a Way to here. . . Now He's here forever more. Da, Adi Da, Adi Da Beloved. Da, Adi Da, Adi Da Beloved. He is Consciousness Itself, All-Pervading, not apart, freeing us from separate self, Shining "Bright" in every heart. Da, Adi Da, Adi Da Beloved. Da, Adi Da, Adi Da Beloved. All will feel His Presence here make this world a Sacred Place. Praise Him for His Sacrifice! Praise Him for His Blessing Grace! Da, Adi Da, Adi Da Beloved. Da, Adi Da, Adi Da Beloved.

Chris Tong: Yet another Adidam tradition has been to set Adi Da's Own Words to music. That is what I do here, in this sacred offering for Danavira Mela (in 1993) from the Adidam New England Choir.

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I Am Here length: 06:27 event date: December 1993 views: 1024 words: Avatar Adi Da Samraj music: Chris Tong sung by: the Adidam New England Choir (with all devotees joining in) choir members: Chris Tong, Paul Caswell, Patricia Rydle, Lisa Alexandra Fry pianist / choir director: Chris Tong date: Danavira Mela, 1993 CHRIS: I just ran across an old audio tape with this recording. The quality is not the best, and the choir is not professional, but there is so much heart-feeling in devotees’ singing, and our Beloved Heart-Master’s Words are so beautiful and heart-moving, that I felt compelled to share this for Danavira Mela. ———————————————————— I AM HERE I Am here. And that is all you need to feel. I am your hungry heart’s Full Meal. Touch My Heart and all My Secrets are Revealed. I am most accessible. You’re the one who hides your heart. I am always waiting for your heart to find Me. Fall in love with only Me. Be, by that act, Consciousness, And be the mindless Feeling Of Happiness. ———————————————————— I drew Adi Da's words from many sources. For example, "Fall in love with only Me" is drawn from “My Most Secret Revelation of Only and Absolute Adherence To Me” in Always Enact Fidelity To Me: ADI DA: I Am The Only Lover In The Cosmic Domain. If You Do Not Yet Love Only Me, You Are “Narcissistically” Luxuriating In Being With Me — Until You Truly Wake Up To Me. I Am Jealous For My Devotee’s attention To Me. Whenever It Is That You Truly Find Me, You Will Spend Only a little time With Me here In this place. The Great “Time” You Must Spend With Me Is Beyond this place. That Great "Time" Is Eternal, and That Great "Place" Is Boundless — Without perimeter or parameter, Non-conditional, Beyond psyche and thought. I Am That One. Find Me Out.

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