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An excerpt from Track 5 ("A Basic Education In The Great Tradition") of the CD, Human History Is One Great Tradition, an Avataric Discourse given by Avatar Adi Da August 19, 2004.

In response to a devotee's question about Zen Buddhism and Spiritual Transmission, Avatar Adi Da discusses how the various schools of religious and Spiritual expression fit within one "Great Tradition".

Adi Da Samraj discusses how the various manifestations of Buddhism fit within the Great Tradition of human religion and Spirituality. Avatar Adi Da's Schema of the seven stages of life provides a tool for understanding all traditions based on the actual three-part structure of the human mechanism — the gross (or "outer" physical) dimension, the subtle (or "inner") energetic-emotional-mental) dimension, and the causal (or "root") dimension (which is the presumption of existence as a separate "I").

Avatar Adi Da also describes the qualities of real Spiritual Transmission in various traditions, and closes with a discussion of belief-based myths and how “religious provincialism” is transcended through the guidance offered in His Basket of Tolerance.

Tags: CD   Avataric Discourse  

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.

Tags: Danavira Mela  

[Contains Spanish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

"No Puedes Satisfacer Las Expectativas de Todos" ("You Cannot Satisfy Everyone's Expectations") is a video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.

In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.

Tags: Avataric Discourse   DVD   Spanish  

[Contains Czech subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

"Tohle místo není utopie" ("This Place Is Not a Utopia") is an excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moments suffering and loss. You must know the place you’re in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled.”

Tags: Czech   Avataric Discourse  

[Contains Italian subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

"É impossibile soddisfare le Aspettative di tutti" ("You Cannot Satisfy Everyone's Expectations") is a video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.

In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.

Tags: Avataric Discourse   DVD   Italian  

[Contains Finnish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

Adi Dan intialainen omistautuja, joka palvelee Adi Data Hänen Erakkola-Ashramissaan Fidzillä, keskustelee tarvettaan sovittaa yhteen hänen vahvat intialaiset kulttuuri- ja perhevelvoitteensa sekä hänen halunsa palvella ja harjoittaa Tietä Adi Dan omistautujana. Adi Da käsittelee hänen kysymystään myötätunnolla, huumorilla sekä tiedostamalla tämän omistautujan kulttuurin vahvat vaatimukset. Adi Da myös huomioi, että tämä on asia, jonka tämän omistautujan täytyy päättää suhteessa siihen, mikä on hänen perimmäinen aikomuksensa elämässä.

"Et voi tyydyttää kaikkien odotuksia" ("You Cannot Satisfy Everyone's Expectations") is a video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.

In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.

Tags: Avataric Discourse   DVD   Finnish  

Excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

In recent decades, yoga and meditation have become a regular part of the daily lives of millions of people around the world. Through these and other practices, people develop stronger bodies, more personal discipline, better health, more loving relationships, and a greater ability to manage the stresses of modern life.

In the last few months, however, it has suddenly become universally apparent that these benefits are not be enough. Life is not programmed to produce lasting satisfaction and immunity to the challenges, inherent suffering, and mortality of existence.

In this Avataric Discourse, Avatar Adi Da Samraj describes how "positive disillusionment" with ordinary life is a necessary prerequisite for entering into the truly liberating process of spiritual practice.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moment's suffering and loss. You must know the place you're in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled."

Tags: Avataric Discourse  

[Contains Italian subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

"Questo Posto Non E' Utopia" ("This Place Is Not a Utopia") is an excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moments suffering and loss. You must know the place you’re in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled.”

Tags: Italian   Avataric Discourse  

Avatar Adi Da responding to questions from devotee Andrew Johnson in 1975. Adi Da humorously criticizes the abstract, intellectual questions Andrew is bringing to Him, that have nothing to do with Andrew. The kind of question from a devotee that would touch Adi Da's heart and draw out His response is one based on the devotee's deep need: he or she is at the edge of their practice, and is stuck, not knowing how to continuing growing, and in great need of the Guru's guidance.

[Contains Finnish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

"Tämä paikka ei ole utopia" ("This Place Is Not a Utopia") is an excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moments suffering and loss. You must know the place you’re in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled.”

Tags: Finnish   Avataric Discourse  

[Contains Polish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

ADI DA: „Ludzka rozpacz i straty są dla mnie wstrząsające i straszne, to ogromny ciężar. Nieuchronnie współczuję i błogosławię ludzi w ich kłopotach. Musisz jednak zrozumieć, że taki jest charakter tego miejsca. To nie jest Utopia. To nie raj. To miejsce śmierci, zakończeń, cierpienia, ulotnych rozrywek, to zbyt mało. Ale jedynie reagować przez lata na twoje problemy i próbować z tego zbudować twoje życie to bezowocny wysiłek. Musisz wznieść się ponad reagowanie na chwile cierpienia i straty bo twoja kolej nadchodzi. Pewnego dnia to będzie twoja śmierć. Wszyscy przeminą. Wszystko przepadnie. Wszystko się straci. Wszystko się zmieni. Każda możliwa separacja nastąpi. Musisz poznać to miejsce, w którym się znalazłeś i żyć zgodnie z tą wiedzą. A nie godzić się z przyjmowanym fałszywym obrazem bytu czy świata, i próbować idealizować jakiś aspekt potencjalnego doświadczenia, które sprowadza się do uzależnień i powtórzeń tego samego. A wszystko po to, aby uniknąć wiedzy o życiu i o całym piekle, które nadciąga nad Ziemię i jest tutaj, w tych strasznych, ciemnych, czasach niewiedzy, w tych złych, morderczych czasach. Bez względu na to, co tutaj jest twórcze, szlachetne czy interesujące musisz poważnie traktować rzeczywistość warunkowej egzystencji i zrozumieć, że nie spełnisz się tutaj”.

Adi Da następnie mówi o tym, że to zrozumienie w naturalny sposób doprowadzi osobę do wyrzeczenia się poszukiwania spełnienia na tym świecie i do otwarcia się na Prawdę i Rzeczywistości, które On i Jego Nauczanie oraz inne Dary Wyzwolenia oferują.

"To miejsce to nie Utopia" ("This Place Is Not a Utopia") is an excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moments suffering and loss. You must know the place you’re in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled.”

Tags: Polish  

[Contains Polish subtitles. If the CC icon ("Subtitles/closed captions") has a red line under it, the subtitles should appear. If you don't see them, just press the CC icon to turn them on.]

Uczeń Adi Da, który jest Indianinem i który służy w Adi Da Aszramie na Fidżi, omawia próbę pogodzenia jego zobowiązań kulturowych i rodzinnych w Indiach, z pragnieniem służenia i praktykowania jako uczeń Adi Da. Adi Da odpowiada na jego pytanie ze współczuciem, humorem i uznaniem silnych wymagań kultury, z której pochodzi Jego uczeń. Adi Da również wskazuje na to, że decyzja, którą on sam musi podjąć, zależy od tego, do czego zmierza w swoim życiu.

"Nie jesteś w stanie spełnić wszystkich oczekiwań" ("You Cannot Satisfy Everyone's Expectations") is a video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.

In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.

This talk is from the first occasion in many years in which Avatar Adi Da spoke directly to a gathering of His devotees in California. Questions from devotees about intimate, familial, and social issues are met with Avatar Adi Da's Compassion and Humor, as well as His Liberating Wisdom.

The complete Avataric Discourse is available on the DVD, Relinquish the Mummery of This World.

Tags: Polish   Avataric Discourse   DVD  

Excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on October 6, 2005, at the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary.

ADI DA: "I find people's sorrows and losses to be heartbreaking and terrible and an immense burden and I am sympathetic and bless people in their trouble. However you must understand that is the nature of this place. This is not utopia, it is not paradise. It is a place of death, endings, suffering, brief amusements. It is not enough and merely to react to your difficulties for overlong and try to make an entire life out of it is fruitless. You do have to move on beyond that reaction to any moments suffering and loss. You must know the place you’re in and live in accordance with that knowledge instead of being sympathetic with some false view of the world or self or trying to idealize some aspect of potential experience, indulging in what amounts to addictions, repetitions of experiences, in order to avoid the knowledge of what is inherent in life, as well as all the hell that is coming on earth and is here. You will not be fulfilled.”

Tags: Avataric Discourse  

As part of the 2008 Inverno a Firenze (Winter in Florence), Adi Da's Image-Art was featured in the medieval church, the Cenacolo di Ognissanti, strikingly juxtaposed with Domenico Ghirlandaio's Last Supper (1480). More about this art exhibition here.

This video was a part of that exhibition. It is an animated work that combines art drawn from Adi Da's The Spectra Suites with new electronic music by Francesco Rampichini. It was conceived and directed by Valeria Patera, and edited by Valeria Spera.

The Spectra Suites. Between 1998 and 2006, Adi Da focused on camera-based imagery, creating a highly complex body of work (in both black-and-white and color) that now exceeds 60,000 images and a great many hours of videotape. The Spectra Suites is a consequence of His work from that great library. In these suites, Adi Da combines digitally generated imagery with images He created using still and video cameras. To achieve each finished work, He then meticulously crafted every detail by digital means. Each of the ten Spectra Suites is based on one or more of His fundamental images — many of which are a powerful visual and philosophical complexity.

Francesco Rampichini. Through his music, master guitarist and composer, Francesco Rampichini, has created a wide range of sound and image interconnections, composing for theater, dance, digital art and collaborating on important exhibitions and museum installations. He taught at the Civic Music Schools in Milan, Opera, Locate Triulzi and at the Ateneo della chitarra and the European Music Institute in Milan. He teaches at CPSM at the Conservatory of Milan (of which he has been vice president) and at the Civica Music School of Locate Triulzi (guitar, ensemble music, computer music). He is President of the Jury of Guitar Competition Rocco Peruggini, artistic director of the Lyric Competition Principessa Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso, and was the first Italian President of the Jury of the Django d'Or International Award under the High Patronage of the Embassy of France in Rome (1999). More about Francesco at his website.

Valeria Patera Valeria Patera studied philosophy of science at Università degli Studi di Milano, and graduated in dramaturgy from the Civic School of Art.e Dramatic Paolo Grassi. She is a playwright, director, actress and scholar of the relationship between art, science, and philosophy. She collaborates with prestigious universities, research centers and European foundations including University of Sheffield, State University of Milan, ROME THREE, La Sapienza, La Sorbonne, University of Leeds and Portland, Gulbenkian Foundation, Sigma Tau Foundation. Since 2002, she has written, published and staged live work shows and life stories that have radically altered our way of seeing the world, including "Alan's Apple" about Alan Turing, the inventor of the computer; and "I, Charles Darwin: Traces and voices of my life", on the father of the theory of evolution.

Valeria Spera. Valeria Spera has a degree in "Communication Sciences and Technologies" and a specialized degree in "Television, Cinema, and Multimedia Production" from the University of Milan. She currently works with the Feltrinelli Group's La Effe TV in creating new formats for their autumn television season.

Tags: Image-Art   music  

Video excerpt from an Avataric Discourse given by Adi Da Samraj on July 7, 2005, in Land Bridge Pavilion at The Mountain Of Attention.

In this excerpt, Adi Da responds to a devotee from India who asks for Adi Da's guidance on how to reconcile his traditional family obligations with his impulse to serve His Spiritual Master.

Tags: Avataric Discourse   DVD