Spiritual Transmission:
Adi Da as Spiritual Transmission Master

This section is organized as follows:

• Introduction
  • The Spiritual Transmission Master
  • The Need for a Spiritual Transmission Master
• Stories from devotees and appreciators of Adi Da's Wisdom
  • Spiritual Transmission as Teaching Work: "Garbage and the Goddess"
  • Spiritual Transmission as Initiation
  • Spiritual Transmission as Purification
  • Descriptions of Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission
  • The Silver Hall Transmission Sittings

Introduction

The very first time Adi Da watched a video of Himself, He beamed and exclaimed, "It transmits!" It is fortunate for all of us and for all future generations that it turned out that way. We can receive His Transmission without Him needing to be humanly alive.

AUDIO

The Sphere of My Inherent Radiance length: 15:42 event date: July 3, 1988 listens: 4901 In this talk, given at The Mountain Of Attention on July 3, 1988, Avatar Adi Da Samraj discourses on His Spiritual Transmission, which He describes as transcending space-time and occurring in the "True Realm of Reality". He Reveals the mystery of how it is "very easy" for Him to Spiritually Bless the entirety of the cosmos with His Transmission. ADI DA: "If you walked into a room, and there were a light shining in the ceiling, it would be shining in all directions. You would see the light at one point, depending on your position in the room, and say 'It's shining on me', as if in some sense the lightbulb noticed you! But in fact the lightbulb is radiating in all directions indifferently. You are in a position to notice it. Of course you had to come into the room to notice it. If you didn't come into the room, if you stood outside the room, in other words, if you stood apart from this Transmission, from My Company, through some barrier or other, of your own obstruction in mind and emotion and so on, then you wouldn't come in contact with Me, you wouldn't be able to receive this Transmission." For more, visit our Spiritual Transmission section.

		The Spiritual Transmission Master If there is a single greatest point of confusion about Adidam and Avatar Adi Da, it is this: the idea and the tradition of the Spiritual Transmission Master is completely absent from contemporary culture. This article explains how Spiritual Transmission Masters transmit their Spiritual Realization to their devotees, and how devotees Realize the Master's State by duplication, in accord with the principle: "you become what you meditate on."
		The Need for a Spiritual Transmission Master Q: I had an extraordinary Spiritual Revelation without the help of any Spiritual Master. I'm not sure why a Spiritual Master is necessary? A: That was a moment, and now you have a wonderful memory. But if you want not just a momentary Revelation (or just the memory of it), but a permanent Realization, you need a Spiritual Transmission Master, and a practice that enables you to meditate on His or Her Transmission, while transcending your "self", for however long it takes in your case (generally many years; often, many lifetimes) to Realize what is being Transmitted. In general, the more profound the Realization, the more profound the help required, and Adi Da's Revelation is the ultimate (seventh-stage) Revelation of Divine Enlightenment.
		Spiritual Transmission as Grace: The "Outside Force" That Liberates Man the Machine Are we machines? Certainly the signs of "man as machine" are everywhere. We see "man as machine" on the individual level in our habits, our addictions, our oedipal and other egoic patterns. We see "man as machine" on the global level in centuries-old conflicts endlessly, mechanically re-ignited by "an eye for an eye". "A body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force". What "outside force" is profound enough to be able to move us along a spectrum with "machine" on one end and "free being" on the other? The Grace of God, also known as Spiritual Transmission.

Stories From Devotees and Appreciators of Adi Da's Wisdom

Spiritual Transmission as Teaching Work: "Garbage and the Goddess". The period in the Sacred History of Adidam known as "Garbage and the Goddess" — occurring during the first half of 1974 — was a time when Adi Da deliberately intensified His Spiritual Transmission, and communicated it in powerfully tangible ways, to make a variety of Teaching points. One of those points was the basis for the name, "Garbage and the Goddess": He was demonstrating that what He humorously called "the bangles of the Goddess" — meaning all the fascinating Spiritual experiences that were manifesting around Him — were really only "garbage" compared with the Prior Happiness Revealed in His Divine Company, and, like all garbage, should be "thrown away", rather than held onto or valued in themselves:

		Garbage and the Goddess, Part 1 — Newcomers to The Mountain Of Attention during the first half of 1974 found themselves entering a place of Divine Power. They became immersed in a sea of energy, visions, and other psychic experiences, awakened through contact with the Spirit-Force of Adi Da Samraj. But, as their stories show, what was fundamentally occurring was the utter and overwhelming Revelation of Real God — and, therefore, of the true Nature and Power of Avatar Adi Da.
		Garbage and the Goddess, Part 2: Guru Enters Devotee — Aniello Panico describes his personal experiences of the "Garbage and the Goddess" period: "I felt the Divine Force — literally, tremendous Light and Force — Coming Down and Filling my entire body, Consuming me, as if it was turning every part of me inside out." Hridaya-Shakti versus Kundalini Shakti — More about the distinction between the traditional Kundalini transmission and Adi Da's Hridaya-Shaktipat, or "Transmission of the Heart".

There have been many people who have come to Me and very quickly became involved in the experiential dimensions stimulated by the yogic aspect of the Divine Power. They had all kinds of experiences. But it did not change them one iota. They were just as stupid, just as committed to their arsehole destiny in the midst of kriyas, blisses, visions as they were before they ever heard of kundalini. They failed to understand just as completely, and they were very quick to leave as soon as some fascination in their personal life or somewhere in the world presented itself. My Teaching Work over the last two and a half years has thus been associated with inner and outer miracles, but it was all a way to demonstrate how the fulfillment of experiential life in individuals does not amount in any sense whatsoever to Illumination. The arising of miraculous or extraordinary experiential phenomena does not produce the Enlightened Man, the Wise Man. Enlightenment or Radical Understanding depends entirely on the conscious process, not on the experiential one. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, August 11, 1974

Spiritual Transmission as initiation. Apart from special periods or occasions like Garbage and the Goddess, the reception of Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission is the regular experience of every devotee. Each will have their own story of the first time they experienced It, what that was like, and how that experience supports their understanding and recognition of Who Adi Da is.

		When There Is Surrender — An account of Leroy Stilwell's first direct, tangible experience of Avatar Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission.
		Perfect Love Touched My Heart — Meg Fortune McDonnell describes what occurred the first time she sat with Adi Da (then named "Bubba Free John").
		Holy Cat Grotto Initiation — Frank Marrrero tells of the day in 1979 when he was initiated into the heart-relationship with the Divine Power and Person.

Spiritual Transmission as purification. Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission serves many purposes. One of its functions is purification: relieving the body-mind of the devotee of the force of a lifetime (or even many lifetimes) of egoic patterning. The following stories are dramatic examples of such purification. To be free of the force of a limiting character pattern — whether it is shyness, difficulty in feeling, chronic anger, or whatever — is something all of us would appreciate, even from the conventional standpoint of an ordinary life. But in the Way of Adidam, in the context of a life dedicated to Spiritual Realization, such purification serves a greater purpose. To the very same degree that one's energy and attention is bound by such limiting egoic patterns, one cannot devote one's energy and attention to Something Greater. Thus there is an entire phase of the Way of Adidam during which Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission serves this purpose of purification. As Adi Da puts it, the "dog" is washed from "head" to "tail" (as His Transmission "Crashes down" from above the devotee's head to the bodily base, cleansing what He refers to as the "frontal line", and all the associated egoic patterns).

		An Immense Burden Had Been Lifted from Me — Toni Vidor tells a story of the impact of Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission on her: "When it was finally over, I felt as if an immense burden — eighty tons of whatever it was I had been carrying around all my life without even realizing it — had been lifted from me."
		"That is My Work" — Elizabeth Lowe tells a similar story of being washed through Adi Da's Power: "I suddenly found myself kneeling in front of His feet on the chaise, with my head buried between His knees. I was weeping and then screaming with enormous force, my hands resting on His Divine legs for strength and reassurance. I could hardly believe my own ears as the screams seemed to fall out of me into the chaise and the ground below, filling the air with the horror that has always resided in me. There was no particular content — just generalized agony over the horrors of the world."
		My First Retreat and a Miraculous Healing — Dan Sleeth: "Suddenly, I was howling with utter abandon. . . . The sounds felt torn from my intestines, and sent scuttling out through my lungs in a gruff and horrific shriek. It was obvious to me that something was being pulled out from of the depths of my being, perhaps even demonic. I could literally feel the blackness, coarse and oily, like a mechanic's rag, passing through my throat. Beyond any doubt, I was being purified of some horrible foulness which I could not even name."
		A Sphere of Love and Compassion — Mary Anne diFranco tells of being drawn in meditation into a Sphere of love and compassion, which purified the difficulties in her relationship with her intimate partner.
		Divine Love Heals Everything — Dennis Bumstead's story about gathering with Adi Da on Naitauba in 1992, the Divine Love poured out endlessly by Adi Da, and how that Divine Love healed Dennis at a profound level.

See also: Adi Da and Instantaneous Liberation from Karma


Descriptions of Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission. Adi Da always transmits His Divine State to all beings. Ultimately, the devotees who "receive" this Transmission most perfectly are Awakened to the same Divine State, as their permanent Realization. But until that moment of Divine Enlightenment, the very same Transmission is experienced differently (in "stepped-down" versions) by different devotees. What exactly they experience is a reflection of their particular body-mind and their level of practice. It should be noted that Adi Da's Transmission remains completely available to all devotees after the passing of His human form. Indeed, the conscious purpose of Adi Da's finite human life was to make His Transmission available to all beings in perpetuity.

		After Darshan — The letters included here were written to Avatar Adi Da after occasions in which He sat in Darshan with devotees, transmitting His Divine State to them.
		Everything Was Love-Bliss Radiance — Adi Da's dentist, John Metcalfe, was once so overwhelmed by Adi Da's Transmission of Love-Bliss that he completely forgot he was there to do some dental work for Adi Da!

The Silver Hall Transmission Sittings. There is a room in Adi Da's residence, Aham Da Asmi Sthan, on the island of Naitauba, Fiji, that houses a meditation hall for use by His devotees. The room is formally called Danavira Peetha. More commonly it is referred to as "The Silver Hall", because many of the objects which surround Adi Da's Chair and Murti Image in the hall are made of silver. It is a place especially potent with His Divine Transmission. The unique import of The Silver Hall, however, is that it is where Adi Da Samraj initiates His First Congregation devotees into the Transcendental Spiritual practice in His Company, a practice that has no precedent in the history of religious and spiritual traditions. The Silver Hall process, as it is called, is the leading edge of practice in the Reality-Way of Adidam. The confessions of those participating in this process are (in a very real sense) "mind-blowing". Not only inspiring, they are proof that Avatar Adi Da's Gifts are like those of no other teacher or teaching, and a possibility for all His devotees.

The doors to the Silver Hall (click to enlarge)

It was Avatar Adi Da's Intention that this most potent Hall always be the Place of His (formal) Transcendental Spiritual Initiation. Beginning in 2006, Avatar Adi Da began to sit regularly in the Silver Hall, Granting His Transcendental Spiritual Initiation to those who were prepared to participate in this process. By sitting with devotees on so many occasions in this Holy Place, His Divine Presence deeply Empowered the Silver Hall as the circumstance for His unique Initiatory Transmission-Work with His devotees.

The outer courtyard to Aham Da Asmi Sthan.
To enter the Silver Hall, devotees go through the center gates and turn left.

devotees entering the Silver Hall (click to enlarge)

Adi Da described the Silver Hall as part of the Transcendental Spiritual "Paradise" that He Established on Earth:

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The Silver Hall length: 05:57 The Silver Hall is a set-apart hall in Adi Da's home on Naitauba, Fiji. Adi Da uses this hall for the purpose of "Transmission Sittings" during which He Initiates his mature devotees into the Spiritual dimension of the relationship to Him. The Silver Hall continues to be used for this very special purpose, after Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi. Interviewed immediately after a Silver Hall Sitting, Jonathan Condit, Ph.D., describes his experience of Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission.

		Ripples in the Deep of Feeling — Bill Somers: "Sitting in the Silver Hall is the most extraordinary circumstance I have experienced in this life. To be with Avatar Adi Da in that concentrated pure place is to leave the world and be immersed in His Divine Transcendental Spiritual Presence." . .
		The Divine Mahasamadhi of Adi Da Samraj — Longtime devotee Michael Shaw talks about the significance of the Silver Hall sittings, in the context of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi.
		The Graceful Touch of My Master — Paul Litchfield tells the story of his time with Adi Da on Naitauba, during October and November, 2008, up to and beyond the day of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, including his sittings in the Silver Hall.