Adidam Study Group — Also known as "Area Study Group". Adidam Study Groups enjoy a monthly video program that includes stories from devotees of Avatar Adi Da, listening to His Teaching, and an opportunity for discussion. These programs are designed to create a feeling-space in which to consider Avatar Adi Da's offering. To see a listing of the currently available Adidam Study Groups around the world, click here.

Advaitayana Buddhism — "Advaitayana" means "Non-Dual Vehicle". The Advaitayana Buddha is the Enlightened One Who has Revealed and Given the Non-Dual Vehicle. "Advaitayana Buddhism" is another name for the Way of Adidam. The name "Advaitayana Buddhism" indicates the unique sympathetic likeness of Adidam to the traditions of Advaitism (or Advaita Vedanta) and Buddhism. In His examination of the entire collective religious tradition of humankind, Avatar Adi Da has observed that these two traditions represent the most advanced Realizations ever attained previous to His Avataric Divine Incarnation.

The primary aspiration of Buddhism is to realize freedom from the illusion of the separate individual ego-self. The primary aspiration of Advaitism (or the tradition of "Non-Dualism") is to know the Supreme Divine Self absolutely, beyond all dualities (of high and low, good and bad, and so on). Advaitayana Buddhism is the Non-Dual ("Advaita") Way ("yana", literally "vehicle") of Most Perfect Awakening ("Buddhism"). Advaitayana Buddhism is neither an outgrowth of the historical tradition of Buddhism nor of the historical tradition of Advaitism. Advaitayana Buddhism is the unique Revelation of Avatar Adi Da Samraj, which perfectly fulfills both the traditional Buddhist aspiration for absolute freedom from the bondage of the egoic self and the traditional Advaitic aspiration for absolute Identity with the Divine Self.

For Avatar Adi Da's current discussion of Advaitayana Buddhism, see The Gnosticon and The Only Complete Way To Realize The Unbroken Light Of Real God. Adi Da originally presented Advaitayana Buddhism in His book, Nirvanasara.

the advanced and the ultimate stages of life — Avatar Adi Da Samraj uses the term "advanced" to describe the fourth stage of life (in its "basic" and "advanced" contexts) and the fifth stage of life in the Way of Adidam. He uses the term "ultimate" to describe the sixth and seventh stages of life in the Way of Adidam.

Agency — In the following passage (from Sutra 10 of The Dawn Horse Testament), Adi Da elaborates on what He means by "Agency":

...(Even After, and Forever After, The Avataric Physical Lifetime Of My Bodily Human Divine Form), I Will Remain (Thus, and Inherently Most Perfectly, and Most Directly) Effective By Means Of The Continuous Work (or Always Me-Extending Agency) Of My True (and Formally Acknowledged) Agents, Which Agents (or Unique Means of Agency) Consist Of My Avatarically Self-Revealed (and Always Me-Revealing) Divine Word, My Avatarically Self-Revealed (and Always Me-Revealing) Divine Image-Art, My Avatarically Self-Revealed (and Always Me-Revealing) Divine Leelas, and The Formally By-Me-Transcendentally-Spiritually-Empowered Ruchira Sannyasin Hermitage Ashrams. Therefore, Now (and Forever Hereafter), My Every Devotee Will Be Given Appropriate Access To My Avatarically Self-Revealed Divine Word, My Avatarically Self-Revealed Divine Image-Art, My Avatarically Self-Manifested Divine Leelas, My Avatarically Given Divine Sign, and All My Avatarically Given Divine Spiritual Blessings (As These Are Preserved, and, Otherwise, Transmitted, Within The Serving Culture Of All The Formally Acknowledged and True Instruments Of My Avatarically Self-Manifested Divine Spiritual Work). . . . and The Realization (By Means Of My Avatarically Self-Transmitted Divine Transcendental, Spiritual Grace) Of My Inherently egoless (and Self-Evidently Divine) Person (Which Is The Inherently Perfect Self-Condition Of all-and-All, and Which Is Also, or Inherently and Necessarily, The Inherently Perfect Source-Condition Of all-and-All) Will, In This Manner, Always Continue To Be Served By My Great Avatarically Self-Revealed Divine Means.

Note: Adi Da Samraj often uses "Agency" and "Instrumentality" as complements of each other. The creation of sufficient Agency and Instrumentality has been Adi Da Samraj's primary means for replicating His Pattern here and thereby ensuring the survival of Adidam in perpetuity.

All and all — Avatar Adi Da uses the phrase "all and All" (or "All and all" or "all-and-All") to describe the totality of conditional existence from two points of view. In Aham Da Asmi, He defines lower-case "all" as indicating "the collected sum of all Presumed To Be Separate (or limited) beings, things, and conditions", and upper-case "All" as indicating "The All (or The Undivided Totality) Of conditional Existence As A Whole".

All of us are familiar with the lowercase "all": the universe of apparently separate objects and beings. But the "All" that is the "Undivided Totality Of conditional Existence as a Whole" (or "Light" over and against "Consciousness") is not something experienced by most of us as a tangible Reality. It is a byproduct of Great Realization (particularly, Divine Realization, in which the root egoic act of separating Consciousness and Light is transcended) and occasionally devotees of Adi Da have experienced It by virtue of being in His Company (e.g., here and here). Adi Da has also indicated many times how the "All" can take a personal form that He has called "The Goddess": the subtle Personification of the Creative Universal Spirit-Energy. "She lives and is alive as everything and sometimes you can even actually have a vision of Her and see Her in human shape and form, both in Her benign and in Her wrathful aspect."

The worlds, in and of themselves, are the conditionally manifested modification of What is traditionally described as the "Divine Goddess" (or "Mother-Shakti") and no one is moved to throw Her away. Every one is fascinated by Her. So the Principle of self-sacrifice is not served by the "Divine Goddess" in Her "veiling" aspect — as "Maya" (or the endlessly modified and modifying Source-Energy of the conditional worlds). The Principle of self-sacrifice is served by Me, to Whom the "Divine Goddess" (or the conditionally Manifesting Energy of Reality) is "Bonded" (as a "Wife" to the "Husband" of Her Heart) even if She does not, from your point of view, seem to know and show it. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Promised God-Man Is Here

Adi Da describes His relationship to "all-and-All":

I Am the Truth of Reality Itself. I Stand Prior to all-and-All — and I Transcend all-and-All. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Aletheon

Arati — A traditional Hindu ritual, performed one or more times a day, in which lights are waved around a picture or statue of the Guru or deity (sometimes around the Guru Himself or Herself), and chants of praise are sung. A form of Arati — the Ruchira Avatar Arati Puja — is used in the Way of Adidam.

The "5:05pm arati" is a special arati, engaged each day at the moment of Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj makes a poetic reference to Arati when He ends one of His poems, "I am the One who waves the lights for you." [in Crazy Da Must Sing, Inclined To His Weaker Side]

Ashvamedha — "Ashvamedha" means "Horse-Sacrifice", and is the name of the most revered and most mysterious of the ancient Vedic rituals. Avatar Adi Da has Revealed that the ultimate significance of this ritual is as a prayer-prophecy invoking the Avataric Descent of the Divine Person into the world, because it was intuitively understood that only the Divine Person is able to Liberate beings. Avatar Adi Da's Essay on the Ashvamedha as a description and prophecy of His own Life and Work is "The True Dawn Horse Is the Only Way to Me", which is the fourth Prolegomenon of The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar. Adi Da as the Ashvamedha Horse Sacrifice is celebrated each year during the Celebration of the Divine Avataric Self-"Emergence".

Ashvamedha-Guru — "The Guru Who is the Divine Sacrifice and (therefore) the Means for the Divine Liberation of all beings."

Avatar, Avataric Incarnation — "Avatar" (from Sanskrit "avatara") is a traditional Eastern term for Divine Incarnation. It literally means "One who is descended, or 'crossed down' (from, and as, the Divine)".

Avatar Adi Da Samraj is also called the "Avataric Incarnation", or the Divinely Descended Embodiment, of the Divine Person. The reference "Avataric Incarnation" indicates that Avatar Adi Da Samraj fulfills both the traditional expectation of the East — that the True God-Man is an Avatar, or an utterly Divine "Descent" of Real God in conditionally manifested form — and the traditional expectation of the West — that the True God-Man is an Incarnation, or an utterly human Embodiment of Real God.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj Confesses that, simultaneous with His human Birth, He has Incarnated in every world, at every level of the Cosmic domain, as the Eternal Giver of Divine Help and Divine Grace and Divine Liberation to all beings — and that, even though His bodily (human) Lifetime is necessarily limited in duration, His Spiritual Incarnation in the Cosmic domain is Eternal.

For a more elaborate discussion about these terms in relationship to Adi Da Samraj, see "'Avatar' and 'Incarnation': The Complementary God-Man Traditions of East and West", in The Truly Human New World-Culture Of Unbroken Real-God-Man.

Avoiding relationship? — The practice of self-Enquiry in the form "Avoiding relationship?" was spontaneously developed by Avatar Adi Da in the course of His Divine Re-Awakening (as Avatar Adi Da describes in The Knee Of Listening). Intense persistence in the "radical" discipline of this unique form of self-Enquiry led rapidly to His Divine Re-Awakening in 1970.

The practice of self-Enquiry in the form "Avoiding relationship?" was the principal form of the "conscious process" practiced by devotees of Avatar Adi Da who chose the Devotional Way of Insight. In September, 2006, Adi Da instructed devotees that practice of the Devotional Way of Insight (and the Devotional Way of Faith) is no longer to be engaged, because these practices were associated with His "Submission Years" (or "Teaching Years") work with us.

Bhagavad Gita — The "Bhagavad Gita" (literally, "Divine Song") is one of the most revered Scriptures of the Hindus, and a religious text of universal appeal and profound esoteric significance.

Bright — By the word "Bright" (and its variations, such as "Brightness"), Adi Da refers to the Self-Existing and Self-Radiant Divine Reality. As Adi Da writes in His Spiritual Autobiography, The Knee Of Listening:

From my earliest experience of life I have Enjoyed a Condition that, as a child, I called the "Bright". I have always known desire, not merely for extreme pleasures of the senses and the mind, but for the highest Enjoyment of Spiritual Power and Mobility. But I have not been seated in desire, and desire has only been a play that I have grown to understand and enjoy without conflict. I have always been Seated in the "Bright". Even as a baby I remember only crawling around inquisitively with a boundless Feeling of Joy, Light, and Freedom in the middle of my head that was bathed in Energy moving unobstructed in a Circle, down from above, all the way down, then up, all the way up, and around again, and always Shining from my heart. It was an Expanding Sphere of Joy from the heart. And I was a Radiant Form, the Source of Energy, Love-Bliss, and Light in the midst of a world that is entirely Energy, Love-Bliss, and Light. 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. I was the same as every one and every thing, except it became clear that others were apparently unaware of the "Thing" Itself. Even as a little child I recognized It and Knew It, and my life was not a matter of anything else. That Awareness, that Conscious Enjoyment, that Self-Existing and Self-Radiant Space of Infinitely and inherently Free Being, that Shine of inherent Joy Standing in the heart and Expanding from the heart, is the "Bright". And It is the entire Source of True Humor. It is Reality. It is not separate from anything.

The "Brightness" — The most sacred Place of Adidam, The "Brightness" (or The "Outshining Brightness Temple", or "Atma Nadi Shakti Loka") is the secluded Temple on the island of Naitauba which Avatar Adi Da established in 1993 as His burial place, and which has housed His physical remains since His Divine Mahasamadhi on November 27, 2008.

In various sacred traditions, it is said that the body of an Adept-Realizer should not be cremated — that (in the case of an Adept-Realizer) cremation is actually a form of desecration. It is traditionally said that you should put the body in a sacred place, and visit the place, and tend to the Spiritual Master there, in perpetuity — and you should not presume that the Spiritual Master is like an ordinary man, an ego, who needs to be helped in the transition to the next stage of development by the purifying act of fire, the cremation process. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Recognition Of Me Is Liberation

It is an Eternal Intention that I Demonstrate and Speak about during My physical Lifetime, a Work to go on forever. I Established a Place of My Radiation. It is the Place where this Body in Its end-time will be fitted. I have Accounted for everything. My Mahasamadhi Site will ultimately become the Principal Locus on the Island. The "Root"-Place, the Source-Point is here, at Adi Da Samrajashram, where people will have the most immediate contact with Me beyond My physical Lifetime. This is the Principal Seat, the Blessing-Seat, the Source-Position — in perpetuity. People are to come to Me, where and As I Am. That is how I will Transform humankind and the Earth-"world". Avatar Adi Da Samraj, November 20, 1993

chanting — In Adidam, "chanting" generally refers to call-and-response chanting, typically accompanied by traditional instruments such as a harmonium. A lead singer chants the "call". Then everyone else joins in with the "response", which repeats what the lead singer just sang. In contrast with Western church hymns or Western music altogether, chanting does not have to move linearly through a piece (from a pre-established beginning to a pre-established end). Rather, it is deliberately repetitive, with the purpose being a deeper contemplative state for all participants:

People look for chants to be bodily and vocally interesting. The chanting mode is not interesting. It is calming and conducive to dropping bodily and mental activity in a calmer sense. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, March 26, 1992

For more, click here.

Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche (1939 -1987) — Buddhist meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and recognized within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as the current reincarnation within the Trungpa lineage. He is widely recognized, both by Tibetan Buddhists and by other spiritual practitioners and scholars, as a preeminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. He was a major figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, founding Vajradhatu and Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method. His controversial career is characterized by his style of "crazy wisdom" by his Western followers.

Chögyam Trungpa's recognition of Adi Da is described here.

Circle of conductivity — One of the unique aspects of Avatar Adi Da’s Revelation of the Way of Adidam is His complete description of the esoteric anatomy of the human being and how this relates to the Spiritual process. Just as the human body has a gross anatomy (of bones, flesh, nerves, and so on), there is also an esoteric anatomy, consisting of three primary structures. The esoteric anatomy of the human body-mind is the basis for all dimensions of human experience — of the ordinary, extraordinary, mystical, and Transcendental kinds.

One of the structures of esoteric anatomy is what Adi Da calls "the Circle of conductivity". The Circle is a pathway through the body composed of two arcs—the descending arc (or "frontal line"), starting at the crown of the head and going downwards to the perineum, and the ascending arc (or "spinal line"), starting at the perineum and going upwards to the crown of the head. The Circle is the primary energy pathway in the body, through which both the natural energy of life and the Divine Spirit–Energy flow. As one becomes more sensitive to the subtle dimensions of experience, one can feel energy moving in the body through the Circle.

The Spiritual Initiation that Adi Da gives to His fully prepared listening devotees is the Infusion of His Divine Spirit–Energy (or Spirit–Current) into the frontal line of the Circle. As one matures in the practice of the Way of Adidam, the Circle becomes more and more tangibly full of Adi Da’s Divine Spirit–Current — first in the frontal line, and then also in the spinal line. On certain occasions in the practice of a Spiritually mature devotee, the entire Circle will become utterly full of His Divine Spirit–Current — so open to His Divine Infusion that one ceases to be identified with body or mind in the usual sense, and becomes aware (instead) of existing as a vastly expanded spherical form of the Divine "Brightness". This is the Samadhi of the "Thumbs" — a form of Samadhi uniquely Given by Adi Da. Eventually, the experience of the "Thumbs" becomes constant, such that the presumption of existing as body and mind no longer "rules" one’s life. Then one is ready to receive Adi Da’s Gift of the Awakening to the Witness–Consciousness, which makes possible the beginning of the "Perfect Practice".

Because there is a "downward–and–upward" quality to the Circle (with its descending and ascending arcs), Adi Da refers to the Circle as the "vertical" dimension of esoteric anatomy (complementing the "horizontal" dimension of the stations of the heart). Most of the world’s Spiritual traditions are focused in processes that relate to the Circle — seeking, as an ultimate result, some kind of "ascended" Union with the Divine (found by subtly ascending beyond the body–mind, through and beyond the crown of the head). In the most advanced traditional developments of this "vertical" approach to the Divine, there is, in fact, ascent to the Source–Matrix of Divine Light which is infinitely above. Such ascended Union with the Divine, however, is not permanent (or eternal), because it depends on the effort of the individual — the effort to "go up". Thus, such ascended Union with the Divine is not most perfect Divine Enlightenment. Rather, it involves choosing the "Light" (or "Energy") aspect of the Divine over the "Consciousness" aspect.

conductivity — "Conductivity" is Avatar Adi Da's technical term for participation in and responsibility for the movement of natural bodily energies (and, when one is Spiritually Awakened by Him, for the movement of His Divine Spirit-Current of Love-Bliss in Its natural course of association with the body-mind), via intentional exercises of feeling and breathing.

More detail can be found in Conscious Exercise and The Transcendental Sun and Conductivity Healing.

congregations of Adidam — Avatar Adi Da has created four congregations in order to make it possible for everyone to enter into devotional and Spiritual relationship to Him — both those who are moved to practice the Way of Adidam in the fullest and most profound manner (first and second congregations) and those whose life-circumstance makes it right and appropriate for them to practice a simpler form of the Way of Adidam (third congregation and fourth congregation). For each of the congregations, there are particular qualifications for membership and there is a particular form of practice of the Way of Adidam to be engaged.

Which of the four congregations you should apply to for membership depends on the nature of your response to Avatar Adi Da Samraj and on your life-circumstance. Membership in any of the four congregations establishes you in a direct devotional relationship with Avatar Adi Da, and all four congregations are essential to the flowering of His Blessing-Work in the world.

• The First Congregation is comprised of individuals who engage the complete, full, and intensive process of the Reality-Way of Adidam, including devotional response to Avatar Adi Da, right practical living, and the practice of "Perfect Knowledge". They are eventually accepted into a Transcendental Spiritual process with Avatar Adi Da that ultimately leads to Divine Self-Realization, by His Grace.
• The Second Congregation is the congregation of devotees who practice devotional response to Avatar Adi Da and practical right life disciplines, as well as rudimentary study of Avatar Adi Da's "Perfect Knowledge" Teachings. Anyone who intends to practice in the First Congregation begins his or her adaptation in the Second Congregation.
• The Third Congregation is made up of people whose commitment to Avatar Adi Da is primarily a simple devotional relationship to Him, together with advocacy and financial support of His Work. The Third Congregation also includes individuals who maintain a traditional religious affiliation.
• The Fourth Congregation is comprised of people from indigenous and/or traditional cultures around the world whose approach to Avatar Adi Da is one of simple devotional relationship to Him.

conscious exercise — In the Way of Adidam, the practice of "conscious exercise" integrates the faculties of the body-mind: body, mind, breath, and feeling. Through the yoga of devotion to Avatar Adi Da, "conscious exercise" sensitizes one to, and enables one to conduct the universal life-energy that pervades and animates the psycho-physical being. Additionally the exercises magnify the unobstructed flow of energy (both natural bodily energy and Spiritual Energy) in the body. As Adi Da describes in the essay, "Conscious Exercise Is Mature (or Truly Human) Activity" in The Aletheon: "The principal (or basic) physical regimens of 'conscious exercise' I have Given (for all of which regimens I have Given fully elaborated Descriptions in Conscious Exercise and The Transcendental Sun) are Da Namaskar, Da Fours, Da Chi Gong, a recommended sequence of Hatha Yoga poses (and breathing exercises), a recommended sequence of calisthenics (engaged in a vigorous manner, but not to the point of excessive hyperventilation), and principles of ordinary bodily posture and movement (including conscious walking, standing, and sitting, as well as postures that support right 'conductivity' practice and right physical balance in repose)."

Conscious Light — Adi Da describes Reality as "Conscious Light": the two essential characteristics of Reality are Awareness (or Consciousness) and Radiance (or Light). Adi Da states that Conscious Light is the essential Nature (or the "One and Only Self-Nature, Self-Condition, and Self-State") of every thing and every being in the universe. For more, read our article, The Uniqueness of Adi Da's Transcendental Spiritual Offering.

conscious process — The "conscious process" is Avatar Adi Da's technical term for those practices through which the mind, or attention, is surrendered and turned about (from egoic self-involvement) to feeling-Contemplation of Him. It is the senior discipline and responsibility of all practitioners in the Way of Adidam. (Avatar Adi Da's descriptions of the various forms of the "conscious process" are Given in The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar.)

consideration, reality consideration — Avatar Adi Da uses this phrase to refer to "a process of one-pointed (but ultimately thoughtless) concentration and exhaustive contemplation of a particular object, function, person, process, or condition, until the essence or ultimate obviousness of that object is clear" [p. 1, Love of the Two-Armed Form]. Such a process was originally described by Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, as "samyama" (Sanskrit: "holding together, tying up, integration").

The word "consideration" in our Way has a technical and special meaning. It literally means to inspect the stars, from "Sidus", meaning "Star". "Con" means "with" or "together". You could speculate that to "consider" originally meant "to bring two stars together", or, in other words, to realize the non-contradiction in two opposing sides of a problem. Consideration, then, is the process of giving yourself completely to some force, problem, or subject, entering into a completely, with full concentration, full seriousness, even whole-bodily or psycho-physically to the fullest extent, intensively, entering into it with such concentration, such fullness, that it becomes a kind of contemplation until the contradiction in it or the problem is resolved in a Singleness, a perception that is free and in which the nature of that which you contemplate has become obvious, the Truth of it is revealed. Avatar Adi Da Samraj Crazy Wisdom Magazine, Vol. 6 #3

The Way of Adidam is a reality consideration, not a religious "belief system". This is true both in the way it was developed by Adi Da, and in the way it is practiced by devotees.

I Brought My Divine Wisdom-Teaching out of My Self—through My Avataric Self-Submission to the Great Process of "reality consideration" with My devotees and with the world altogether. I am not here merely reading books and passing on an old tradition to people. Nor am I here to believe and to support the illusions of humankind. The only-by-Me Revealed and Given Way of Adidam, in Its entirety and in Its every aspect, has been Brought out of Me. The Way of Adidam has Appeared only through the Avataric Divine Process of My own Lifelong "reality consideration". The Way of Adidam is the Divine Process of My Own Avataric Self-Submission to conditional reality—Which Avataric Self-Submission Started at the moment of My Avataric Human Birth (and Which Avataric Self-Submission Continues—now, and forever hereafter)." Avatar Adi Da Samraj "I Am The Divine Self-'Emergence'" in The Only Complete Way To Realize The Unbroken Light Of Real God

Contemplation of Avatar Adi Da's bodily (human) Form — The core of practice in the Way of Adidam. Contemplation is based on the Revelation that is recognition of Adi Da as the Divine Person. The principle behind contemplation is "You become what you meditate on." Recognition of Adi Da means that contemplation of Him is contemplation of the Divine Person and State. Through such ongoing contemplation, the Divine is Realized.

Traditionally, devotees have produced artistic images of their Gurus for the purpose of contemplating the Guru when he or she is either not physically present or (otherwise) no longer physically alive.

Modern technology makes possible (through photography, videotape, film, holographic imagery, and other means) accurate representations of the bodily (human) Form of Avatar Adi Da Samraj for devotional use by His formally acknowledged devotees.

Crashing Down — "Crashing Down" is a description Avatar Adi Da has given for the Descent of His Divine Spirit-Force "From The 'Place' Infinitely Above the body-mind and the world, Down and Most Deeply Into the body-mind and the world — Even To The Degree That the ego-'I', or self-Contraction, Is Utterly Confounded, Utterly Yielded, and Utterly Vanished In My Avatarically Self-Revealed, and Self-Evidently Divine, Person, or Self-Condition, Which Is Real God, and Truth, and Reality" [The Dawn Horse Testament].

Crazy / Crazy Wisdom — Avatar Adi Da has always had a unique Method of "Crazy" Work, which, particularly during His years of Teaching and Revelation, involved His literal Submission to the limited conditions of humankind, in order to reflect His devotees to themselves, and thereby Awaken self-understanding in them (relative to their individual egoic dramas, and the collective egoic dramas of human society).

For Me, There Was Never Any Other Possibility Than The "Reckless" (or Divinely "Crazy" and Divinely "Heroic") Course Of All-and-all-Embrace — and I Began This Uniquely "Crazy" and "Heroic" Sadhana, Most Intensively, At The Beginning Of My Adult Life. Indeed, I Have Always Functioned, and Will Always Function, In This Divinely "Crazy" and Divinely "Heroic" Manner. The Inherently egoless "Crazy" and "Heroic" Manner Is One Of My Principal Divine Characteristics — Whereby I Can (Always, and Now, and Forever Hereafter) Be Identified. Therefore, I (Characteristically) Functioned In This "Crazy" and "Heroic" Manner Throughout All Of My "Sadhana Years", and Throughout All The Years Of My Avatarically Self-Manifested Divine Teaching-Work and My Avatarically Self-Manifested Divine Revelation-Work — and I Have Done So (and Will Forever Continue To Do So) Throughout All The Divine-Self-"Emergence" Years Of My Avatarically Self-Manifested Divine Blessing-Work (Both During, and Forever After, My Avataric Physical Human Lifetime). All My Avatarically Self-Manifested Divine Work Is A Divinely "Crazy" and Divinely "Heroic" Effort That Avoids Not anything or any one — but Which Always Divinely Blesses Everything and Everyone. Avatar Adi Da Samraj The Truly Human New World-Culture Of Unbroken Real-God-Man

For more, visit our Crazy Wisdom section.

Crazy Wisdom Fellowship — The name Adi Da gave to the culture of devotees, during the early 1980's.

Crazy Wisdom magazine — A magazine published by The Dawn Horse Press in the 1980's (February, 1982 - February, 1989).

Danavira Mela — This celebration period (also known as "The Season of Light-In-Everybody") in Adidam lasts from early November to the January 11th Celebration of Avatar Adi Da's Divine Self-"Emergence". It is a time when devotees celebrate their relationship with Avatar Adi Da Samraj and their intimacy with one another special ways such as gift making, gift giving, and special occasions of sacred offerings from the various guilds in Adidam. It is a time for telling many stories of Avatar Adi Da's life and devotees' interaction with Him. Danavira Mela means literally "the Celebration (Mela) of the Hero (vira) of Giving (Da)". Previous names for this celebration include "the Feast of Acception" (the "Celebration of Acception" now refers to a period lasting from October 23 through January 11), "the Feast of God in Everybody", and "Ruchivravana Mela". You can read more about Danavira Mela here and in The Danavira Mela Book.

Dasya Mandala — The "Dasya Mandala" (also known as the "Adi Dasya Mandala" or "vigil group") was the circle of devotees around Adi Da who held the greatest responsibility for serving Him and His work of liberating all beings. "Mandala" means circle. Besides containing Adi Da's name, "Da", "Dasya" was a reference to the way devotees served Krishna, as described in the Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu:

When the Supreme Lord in His human incarnation is recognized as the Divine by a true devotee who thus understands his subordinate position, not only does he surrender to the Supreme Personality of God, but, due to his subordinate position, he desires to render some service, and thus he becomes favored by the Supreme Personality of God. . . . A devotee in dasya-rati has no attachment for anything but Krishna's service.

Adi Da sometimes referred to the Dasya Mandala as "the travelling party" because most of its members would accompany Him on the occasions when He left Naitauba and travelled to other Adidam Sanctuaries (or around the world altogether).

Dattatreya — Dattatreya was a God-Realizer who appeared early in the common era and about whom no certain historical facts exist apart from his name. Over the centuries, numerous legends and myths have been spun around him. He was regarded early on to be an incarnation of the God Vishnu, later associated with the tradition of Saivism, and worshipped as the Divine Itself. He is commonly venerated as the originator of the Avadhoota tradition and credited with the authorship of the Avadhoota Gita, among other works.

The devotional sect worshipping Dattatreya presumes that he continually reincarnates through a succession of Adepts for the sake of gathering and serving devotees. The belief in the continuing incarnation of Dattatreya should be understood as a popular religious belief that is peripheral to what the Adepts in the Dattatreya succession actually taught.

Dawn Horse — In 1970, Avatar Adi Da experienced a waking Vision. He found Himself in a subtle realm, observing a Spiritual Master demonstrating to his disciples the Yogic power of manifesting objects spontaneously. Avatar Adi Da watched as the Master began the process of manifestation. After a time, although nothing had yet materialized, the Master's disciples departed, apparently satisfied that the work was done. Avatar Adi Da was left alone, standing before the Master. Then gradually a vaporous shape arose before His eyes. As it became more clearly defined, He saw that it was a perfectly formed, living and breathing horse, perhaps three feet high. Later, when He saw a documentary on "eohippus" (meaning "dawn horse" in Greek), the smaller ancestor of today's horse, He decided to name the horse of His Vision the "Dawn Horse".

In 1984, Avatar Adi Da spoke about His Vision:

I was at once the Adept who performed the miracle of manifesting the horse, and I was the one who was party to the observation of it and its result. And I did not have any feeling of being different from the horse itself. I was making the horse, I was observing the horse, and I was being the horse.

Avatar Adi Da has explained that this Vision was a sign of the future manifestation of His own Work in the world. The Dawn Horse was also a sign of Avatar Adi Da's own Person, taking form in and as the conditional universe. And so the Dawn Horse became a symbol for His Life and Work, and for the Coinciding of the Divine Reality and the conditional worlds.

For more about the Dawn Horse, click here.

See also: The Dawn Horse Testament; The Dawn Horse Press.

The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar — The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar is one of Avatar Adi Da's primary "Source-Texts", summarizing the entire course of the Way of Adidam.

developmental stages of practice — For all members of the first and second congregations of Avatar Adi Da's devotees, the Way of Adidam develops through a series of (potential) developmental stages of practice and Realization. These stages of practice, and their relationship to the seven stages of life, are described by Avatar Adi Da Samraj in The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar.

When discussing the stages of practice and using the phrase "necessary (or, otherwise, potential)", Avatar Adi Da is referring to the fact that His fully practicing devotee must practice in the context of certain of the developmental stages of practice (corresponding to the first three stages of life, the "original" and "basic" contexts of the fourth stage of life, the sixth stage of life, and the seventh stage of life) but may bypass practice in the developmental stages that correspond to "advanced" context of the fourth stage of life and to the fifth stage of life.

devotional group — Earlier name: "reality group". Practitioners of the Way of Adidam are aided in their practice by belonging to a devotional group. A devotional group is a key element of the culture of Adidam. Its primary purposes are to provide occasions for collective devotional invocation of Adi Da, and to help each other grow in ego-transcending practice. Through time and intimacy, members of a devotional group get to know each other well, and therefore, get to know each other's egoic patterning as well. Group members are thus in a unique position to serve each other's practice, by seeing things a particular member might not see about himself or herself, by helping members take on disciplines that cut into their particular egoic patterns, and by helping members stay accountable for fulfilling and persisting in the counter-egoic disciplines they take on. Such reflection and disciplining of egoic patterning is essential for growth in practice of the ego-transcending Way of Adidam. For more about devotional groups, read our article, The Artfulness of Helping Each Other Take Up (and Persist in) Disciplines, and listen to Adi Da's talk about the primary function of devotional groups, When the Tiger Disappears.

Devotional Way of Insight / Devotional Way of Faith — For a period of years, Avatar Adi Da gave Instruction on two forms of the fundamental practice of feeling-Contemplation of Him: the Devotional Way of Insight and the Devotional Way of Faith. Each of Avatar Adi Da's fully practicing devotees was to experiment with both of these Devotional Ways and then choose the one that is most effective in his or her case. Both Devotional Ways require the exercise of insight and faith, but there was a difference in emphasis.

In the Devotional Way of Insight, the practitioner engages a specific technical process of observing, understanding, and then feeling beyond the self-contraction, as the principal technical element of his or her practice of feeling-Contemplation of Avatar Adi Da.

In the Devotional Way of Faith, the practitioner engages a specific technical process of magnifying his or her heart-Attraction to Avatar Adi Da, as the principal technical element of his or her practice of feeling-Contemplation of Avatar Adi Da. Avatar Adi Da's extended Instruction relative to both Devotional Ways was given in The Only Complete Way To Realize The Unbroken Light Of Real God.

In September, 2006, Adi Da instructed devotees that practice of these two Devotional Ways is no longer to be engaged, because they were associated with His "Submission Years" (or "Teaching Years") work with us.

disciplines — The most basic functional, practical, and relational disciplines of the Way of Adidam (in its fully practiced form, as embraced by devotees in the first and second congregations) are forms of appropriate human action and responsibility (Adi Da calls it "right life") for diet, health, exercise, sexuality, work, service to and support of Avatar Adi Da's Circumstance and Work, and cooperative (formal community) association with other practitioners of the Way of Adidam. The most basic cultural obligations of the Way of Adidam (in its fully practiced form) include meditation, sacramental worship, study of Avatar Adi Da's Wisdom-Teaching (and also at least a basic discriminative study of the Great Tradition of religion and Spirituality that is the Wisdom-inheritance of humankind), and regular participation in the "form" (or schedule) of daily, weekly, monthly, and annual devotional activities and retreats. For more on disciplines in the Way of Adidam, click here.

Divine Emergence — More formally: Avataric Divine Self-"Emergence". On January 11, 1986, Adi Da passed through a profound Yogic Swoon, Which He later described as the Yogic Establishment of His Avataric Divine Self-"Emergence". Adi Da's Avataric Divine Self-"Emergence" is an ongoing Process, initiated at His Birth, in which His Avatarically-Born bodily (human) Divine Form was ever more profoundly conformed to Himself, the Very Divine Person, to the point where His bodily (human) Form (even now, after His human lifetime) is forever hereafter an utterly Unobstructed Sign and Agent of His own Divine Being. That conformation of His own bodily (human) Form was only the initiation of His Divine Emergence. The Divine Emergence continues through devotees practicing the Way of Adidam, and by that means, Invoking, Communing with, and ultimately Realizing the Divine. For Avatar Adi Da's extended description of His Avataric Divine Self-"Emergence", see:

• Part Three of The Knee Of Listening
• section III of "The True Dawn Horse Is The Only Way To Me", in The All-Completing and Final Divine Revelation To Mankind

You can also read more in our presentation on The Holy Day of the Divine Avataric Self-"Emergence".

Divine Ignorance — "Divine Ignorance" (also known as "Perfect Ignorance" or "Perfect Knowledge") is Avatar Adi Da's term for the fundamental Awareness of Existence Itself, Prior to all sense of separation from (or knowledge about) anything that arises. As He proposes, "No matter what arises, you do not know what a single thing is." By "Ignorance", Avatar Adi Da means heart-felt participation in the universal Condition of inherent Mystery — not mental dullness or the fear-based wonder or awe felt by the subjective ego in relation to unknown objects. Divine Ignorance is the Realization of Consciousness Itself, transcending all knowledge and all experience of the self-contracted ego-"I".

For Adi Da's most recent Instruction relative to Divine Ignorance, read "Perfect Ignorance", the Prologue to The Aletheon. For more, see What, Where, When, How, Why, and Who To Remember To Be Happy, Part Two: "What, Where, When, How, Why and Who To Remember To Be Happy", and Part Three: "You Do Not Know What even a single thing Is" and "My Argument Relative to Divine Ignorance". You can also watch this video.

"Perfect Knowledge" (Which Is Perfect Ignorance) Is Perfect Philosophy—or the Only Right and True Basis for all right and true understanding of "self", "world", "other", all-of-"not-self", and "What" Is Divine. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, "Perfect Ignorance"

Divine Indifference — See Four phases of the seventh stage of life.

Divine Re-Awakening — Avatar Adi Da's Divine Re-Awakening occurred on September 10, 1970, in the Vedanta Society Temple in Hollywood, California. For a full description of this Great Event and its import, read chapter sixteen of The Knee Of Listening. You can also read our article on the Great Sovereign-Avataric Holy Day of the Divine Re-Awakening.

Divine Self-Domain — More simply: Divine Domain. Avatar Adi Da affirms that there is a Divine Self-Domain that is the Perfectly Subjective Condition of the conditional worlds. It is not "elsewhere", not an objective "place" (like a subtle "heaven" or mythical "paradise"), but It is the always present, Transcendental, Inherently Spiritual, Divine Source-Condition of every conditionally manifested being and thing. Avatar Adi Da Reveals that the Divine Self-Domain is not other than the Divine Heart Itself, not other than Himself. To Realize the seventh stage of life (by the Divine Grace of Avatar Adi Da Samraj) is to Awaken to His Divine Self-Domain.

For Avatar Adi Da's extended Instruction relative to His Divine Self-Domain, read The All-Completing and Final Divine Revelation To Mankind.

Divine Transfiguration — See Four phases of the seventh stage of life.

Divine Transformation — See Four phases of the seventh stage of life.

Divine Translation — The ultimate stage in the four stages of the seventh stage of life, which Avatar Adi Da describes as the "Outshining of the cosmic domain". In the case of any other being, Divine Translation necessarily coincides with physical death; but in Avatar Adi Da's unique case, He remained bodily active and alive for eight and a half years after He entered the Divine Translation phase of the seventh stage of life on April 12, 2000.

Dreaded Gom-Boo — The title of a 1983 book by Adi Da. The subtitle is "The Imaginary Disease That Religion Seeks to Cure", and the core theme is similar to that of His earlier book, No Remedy. Adi Da uses the phrase, "Dreaded Gom-Boo", to caricature the notion many religions communicate that there is something wrong with a human being ("original sin", "desire", "suffering", etc.), that is in need of a cure. That message sets one on a search to remedy the problem, or to take up the specific cure offered by the religion. Adi Da offers a different communication: perfect truth, freedom, and happiness is always already the case. It is the search itself (and egoity itself) that must be transcended, and the perfect transcendence of egoity coincides with the Realization of perfect truth, freedom, and happiness.

emotional conversion — During one period of His Teaching Work (around 1979 - 1980), Adi Da referred to "emotional conversion" as the primary transformation that needs to occur in the shift from a beginning practitioner to someone who was sufficiently humanly mature that he or she could truly grow in spiritual practice. This was a running theme in Adi Da's talks and books that were published at the time (Compulsory Dancing: 1980, Scientific Proof: 1980), and in the practice considerations of devotees.

The Salvation or Happiness of Man is in emotional conversion, or the conversion of the heart from the automaticities of self-possession to the conscious Realization of Ecstasy, or self-transcending Love-Communion with the Universal Principle or Being that is Life. Such emotional conversion is awakened through constant study and hearing of the Teaching of Truth and constant seeing or intuiting of the Living Divine Presence in the Company of the God-Realized Man and the Community of devotees of the Living God. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, "The Great Principle of Life-Practice", Scientific Proof of the Existence of God Will Soon Be Announced by the White House!

You must create this theatre of Divine Association in relation to God and to me. Your emotional conversion is not outside your power to effect. You must practice, and practice is something you must do. This is how you do it: Rather than willfully trying to conjure up the emotion of love, you must understand yourself and maintain total psycho-physical association with the One with Whom you are in love in the fullest spiritual sense — in other words, with God. You must choose to do this. You must come to this point of clarity in yourself, wherein you realize that to practice this Divine Association is all that life is. Everything else is an expression of what life is when it fails to be that. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, "Emotional Surrender To God", Compulsory Dancing

En-Light-enment — En-Light-enment (or Enlightenment) is not just a state of mind, but rather it is an actual conversion of the body-mind to the state of Divine Consciousness Itself, or Light Itself. Thus, Avatar Adi Da sometimes writes the word "Enlightenment" with "Light" set apart by hyphens, in order to emphasize this point. See also: Divine Enlightenment.

esoteric anatomy — One of the unique aspects of Adi Da’s Revelation of the Way of Adidam is His complete description of the esoteric anatomy of the Spiritual process. Just as the human body has a gross anatomy (of bones, flesh, nerves, and so on), there is also an esoteric anatomy. Understanding this esoteric anatomy is a key to understanding what makes the Way of Adidam uniquely complete, and why the Divine Enlightenment that Adi Da offers is an unprecedented Gift.

In Adi Da's Revelation, human esoteric anatomy has three structures:

• the Circle of conductivity is a pathway through the body composed of two arcs: the descending arc (or "frontal line"), starting at the crown of the head and going downwards to the perineum, and the ascending arc (or "spinal line"), starting at the perineum and going upwards to the crown of the head. The Circle is the primary energy–pathway in the body, through which both the natural energy of life and the Divine Spirit–Energy flow.
• the three stations of the heart — The "left side" corresponds to the physical heart and the gross dimension of the being. The "middle station" corresponds to the "heart chakra" and the subtle dimension of the being. The "right side" is the "seat" of the causal dimension (or root–dimension) of the being.
• Amrita Nadi is a radiant energy structure, the "Bright" Itself as It Manifests in the context of the human body–mind. Amrita Nadi is shaped like the letter "S", extending from the right side of the heart (as its "lower terminal") through the chest, throat, and head, and then to the Source–Matrix of Divine Light infinitely above (as its "upper terminal").

For more, see Circle of conductivity; stations of the heart; and Amrita Nadi.

Fire Puja — A puja is a ceremonial form of devotional attention, or worship and invocation. A fire puja is a particular form of puja that uses the elemental force and display of fire to hold attention. In Adidam, a fire puja serves as a means for contemplating Adi Da (as the fire), and as a means for carrying out purification of various kinds.

Fire pujas can be used for specific purposes. Here are a few examples: Each year's celebration of the Divine Avataric Self-"Emergence" culminates in a fire puja, in which a wooden horse is offered to the fire. Each year, a prosperity puja is held at The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary. Devotees from around the world send intentions which are printed on paper and burnt in the fire. A perpetual fire puja has been performed at Aham Da Ligni Sthan at Adi Da Samrajashram,ever since Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, for the sake of the world and all beings at this critical time in world history.

Fire pujas can be performed anywhere, even inside a devotee's house (for example, using a fireplace). However, special locations are also often set aside for exclusively performing fire pujas. For example, each of the Empowered Sanctuaries has special holy sites that are set aside for performing fire pujas, for example: Agni Lingi Sthan at Adi Da Samrajashram; Red Sitting Man at The Mountain Of Attention; and Fire Keeper at Da Love-Ananda Mahal. (Click here to watch a video clip of a fire puja at Da Love-Ananda Mahal.)

See also: puja.

First Great Invocation — The First Great Invocation and the Second Great Invocation are used to formally begin and end almost every kind of cultural event in Adidam, including daily Sat-Guru Pujas, meetings, and devotional groups. In general, everyone turns to a picture or Murti of Adi Da, and raises their hands, as they engage in the Invocation.

The First Great Invocation

leader (often ringing a singing bowl):
Now let us offer the First Great Invocation.

all participants:
Divine Heart-Master Adi Da Samraj,
All-Pervading Giver Of Spirit-Life,
Consciousness where I appear and disappear,
Hear my breathing heart.

Awaken me now, By Your Sudden Grace,
To Find You here, Before me, and All-"Bright",
Dissolving this mind and body in Your Heart.
I Hold Up my hands.

(All bow to Adi Da.)

forms of practice in the Way of Adidam — Avatar Adi Da has Given a number of different approaches to the progressive process of Most Perfectly self-transcending Real-God-Realization in the Way of Adidam. In this manner, He accounts for the differences in individuals' qualities — particularly relative to their capability to make use of the various technical practices that support the fundamental practice of Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga and relative to the intensity of their motivation to apply themselves to the Spiritual process in His Company.

Ruchira Avatar Adi Da refers to the most detailed development of the practice of the Way of Adidam as the "technically 'fully elaborated'" form of practice. Each successive stage of practice in the technically "fully elaborated" form of the Way of Adidam is defined by progressively more detailed responsibilities, disciplines, and practices that are assumed in order to take responsibility for the signs of growing maturity in the process of Divine Awakening. A devotee who embraces the technically "fully elaborated" form of practice of the Way of Adidam must (necessarily) be a member of the first or second congregation of Avatar Adi Da's devotees. The progress of practice in the technically "fully elaborated" form of the Way of Adidam is monitored, measured, and evaluated by practicing stages (as described in detail by Avatar Adi Da Samraj in chapter seventeen of The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar).

Most of Avatar Adi Da's fully practicing devotees will find that they are qualified for a less intensive approach and are moved to a less technical form of the "conscious process" (than is exercised in the technically "fully elaborated" form of the Way of Adidam). Thus, most of Avatar Adi Da's fully practicing devotees will take up the technically "simpler" (or even "simplest") form of practice of the Way of Adidam.

In the technically "simpler" form of practice of the Way of Adidam, Avatar Adi Da's devotee (in the first or second congregation) engages a relatively simple form of technical means of supporting his or her fundamental practice of Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga, and this technical means remains the same throughout the progressive course of developmental stages.

In the technically "simplest" form of practice, Avatar Adi Da's devotee (in any of the four congregations) engages the fundamental practice of Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga in the simplest possible manner — as "simplest" feeling-Contemplation of Avatar Adi Da, together with the random use of Avatar Adi Da's Principal Name, "Da" (or one of the other Names He has Given to be engaged in the practice of simple Name-Invocation of Him).

Avatar Adi Da's fully elaborated descriptions of the technically "fully elaborated" and the technically "simpler" (or even "simplest") forms of the Way of Adidam are Given in The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar.

gross, subtle, causal — Avatar Adi Da has confirmed the three traditionally described dimensions of the human body-mind and its environment:

The gross is the material and physical dimension of existence. It is associated with the waking state. The subtle dimension includes the etheric (or energetic), lower mental (or verbal-intentional and lower psychic), and higher mental (or deeper psychic, mystical, and discriminative) functions. It is associated with the dream state and meditative experiences. It is senior to and pervades the gross dimension. The causal dimension is senior to both the subtle and gross. It is the root of attention, or the essence of the separate and separative ego-"I". It is associated physically with the right side of the heart, and in consciousness with the formless awareness of deep sleep.

For Avatar Adi Da's discussion of the gross, subtle, and causal dimensions, see Santosha Adidam: The Essential Summary Of The Divine Way Of Adidam, Part Three, section III.

hearing — Hearing is one of the major milestones of progress in the Way of Adidam. Listening is the process that precedes hearing, involving increasing disciplines, devotion, and self-understanding. Hearing occurs when the "listening" devotee understands the ego at a fundamental level, such that the mechanism of self-contraction can be recognized in any moment and felt beyond and the devotee can fully Commune with Avatar Adi Da. Hearing is the culmination of the process Adi Da calls the "listening-hearing process".

heart-recognition — The entire practice of the Way of Adidam is founded in devotional heart-recognition of, and devotional heart-response to, Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj as the Very Divine Being in Person.

The only-by-Me Revealed and Given Way of Adidam (Which is the One and Only by-Me-Revealed and by-Me-Given Way of the Heart) is the Way of life you live when you rightly, truly, fully, and fully devotionally recognize Me, and when, on that basis, you rightly, truly, fully, and fully devotionally respond to Me. . . . If you rightly, truly, fully, and fully devotionally recognize Me, everything "in between" vanishes. All of that is inherently without force. In heart-responsive devotional recognition of Me, a spontaneous kriya of the principal faculties occurs, such that they are loosed from the objects to which they are otherwise bound — loosed from the patterns of self-contraction. The faculties turn to Me, and, in that turning, there is tacit devotional recognition of Me, tacit experiential Realization of Me, of Happiness Itself, of My Love-Bliss-Full Condition. That "Locating" of Me opens the body-mind spontaneously. When you have been thus Initiated by Me, it then becomes your responsibility, your sadhana, to continuously Remember Me, to constantly return to this devotional recognition of Me, in which you are Attracted to Me, in which you devotionally respond to Me spontaneously with all the principal faculties. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Hridaya Rosary

For more on heart-recognition of Adi Da as the Divine Person, click here.

high or low / high and low — In Adi Da's descriptions, Reality has physical dimensions (the dimensions we are familiar with) and subtle or astral dimensions. "Low" is a reference to the physical dimensions of Reality (or even "lower" dimensions — click here for a story that describes such a dimension); "high" refers to the subtle dimensions. "High or low" includes all these dimensions of Reality. What is not included by this phrase is Reality Itself (in its perfectly non-separate Prior Unity), which is the Realization only of those who are Divinely Enlightened. Thus Adi Da will often contrast people who have experiences "high or low" with those Realizers who enjoy the Perfect Freedom of Divine Enlightenment. The phrase is particularly meant for those of us whose experience is primarily limited to the physical realm, and who may be seduced by stories or experences of subtle or astral realms — experiences, powers, etc. Adi Da's Revelation is that, extraordinary as these may be compared with the physical realm, they in turn are nothing in comparison with the Perfect Happiness of Divine Enlightenment. The Way of Adidam provides the means for turning our attention to the Divine Itself, rather than anything lesser, "high or low".

Holy Cat Grotto — Holy Cat Grotto is an outdoor Temple at The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary whose name honors Robert the Cat and his relationship with Adi Da Samraj. The Grotto also holds Robert's ashes:

I recognized that Robert had been my teacher in the wilderness. He had filled my eye and owned a thread of attention in my heart. I Knew him and he Knew me. Nothing could replace that state of life or console its absence. I treated him in death like a saint. I had him cremated, and I kept his ashes.

Holy Cat Grotto is a wild and profound place of healing and meditation. You can read more about Holy Cat Grotto here.

Hridaya Rosary — Hridaya Rosary (Four Thorns Of Heart-Instruction) — "Course" Four, The Heart Of The Adidam Revelation. This book is Avatar Adi Da's summary and exquisitely beautiful Instruction relative to the right, true, full, and fully devotional practice of the Way of Adidam, through which practice Avatar Adi Da's fully practicing devotee Spiritually receives Him with ever greater profundity, and, ultimately (through a process of the Spiritual "melting" of the entire psycho-physical being), Realizes Him most perfectly. More here.

Hridaya-Shakti; Hridaya-Shaktipat — The Sanskrit word "Hridaya" means "the Heart Itself". "Shakti" is a Sanskrit term for the Divine Manifesting as Energy. "Hridaya-Shakti" is thus "the Divine Power of the Heart", Which is Given and Transmitted by Avatar Adi Da Samraj.

In Hindi, "shaktipat" means the "descent of Divine Power", indicating the Sat-Guru's Transmission of the Kundalini Shakti to his or her devotee.

"Hridaya-Shaktipat", which is Avatar Adi Da's seventh stage Gift to His devotees, is "the Blessing-Transmission of the Divine Heart Itself".

Avatar Adi Da's extended Instruction relative to Hridaya-Shakti and Kundalini Shakti is given in Ruchira Avatara Hridaya-Siddha Yoga. You can also read an article here.

Indoor Yajna — The "Indoor Yajna" refers to the Instructive Work engaged by Avatar Adi Da Samraj from April 1987 to March 1988 at Adi Da Samrajashram in Fiji, during which He comprehensively recapitulated His Teaching Work, and significantly updated His Source-Literature (most especially The Dawn Horse Testament). The term "yajna" is Sanskrit for "sacrifice". Adi Da's devotees use the word, by extension, to mean Adi Da's travels of Blessing, which were a sacrifice on His part. In "Indoor Yajna", Adi Da "traveled" by sending the transcripts and audiotapes of His Discourses to His devotees around the world while remaining at His Sapta Na Sannyasin Hermitage in Fiji.

Instrumentality — Avatar Adi Da uses the terms "Instrumentality" and "Instruments" to indicate the collective of His devotees who devotionally recognize and respond to Him as the Divine Person: "All those who devotionally recognize Me must work at the whole-bodily-response-position, or the position of Instrumentality and implementation." Most obviously, these are devotees in the advanced stages of practice: "In terms of My Own Work, I must be active developing Instrumentality and Agency. This means I need a body of devotees, level two and beyond." Of particular importance are devotees in the Ruchira Sannyasin Order, especially those in the seventh (or Fully Enlightened) stage of life. They are fully accountable to Adi Da Samraj and profound in their devotional recognition of and response to Him. Because they are thus conformed to Him and therefore transparent to Him, they can function as a collective "point" of contact for His Spiritual Blessing-Work, and as a means of focusing the devotional resort to Him:

You must all become energetic in your devotion to Me. You must all become un-knowable to yourselves in the Play with Me. You must all become so disturbed in your center that you have no reach to yourself — but in spite of your reach, in your simplest activities, you express Me without knowledge. This Is the Force of My Intrusion upon Which I Depend, and by Which My Continuation is Guaranteed. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Eternal One, p. 204

Note: Adi Da Samraj often uses "Instrumentality" and "Agency" as complements of each other. The creation of sufficient Agency and Instrumentality has been Adi Da Samraj's primary means for replicating His Pattern here and thereby ensuring the survival of Adidam in perpetuity.

Jnani — A person who is "Self-Realized", having realized Brahman (or the Universal Self) to be his or her Own Self. Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta are recent examples of jnanis.

Kanya — Sanskrit: "A young woman given to the Divine." A title given by Adi Da in 1988 to four women devotees who showed exemplary devotion to Him, and who, on that basis, were able to confess their true renunciation in response to the magnification of His Revelation and Blessing that was initiated by His Divine Emergence (which began on January 11, 1986). Adi Da fiercely tested the practice of His Kanyas in the traditional manner, making the point to them (and to all His devotees) that the ego is always there to be dealt with, until the seventh stage of life. As part of this process of testing, some of the Kanyas were required to leave His physical Company for brief or extended periods of time — going through deep purifications of karmic tendencies (associated with attachment to His physical form) obstructing their Spiritual growth in relationship to Him.

By March 1994, Avatar Adi Da's testing of the four Kanyas had already indicated that it was most likely that only two of them had the unique depth of renunciate practice sufficient to remain in His most intimate sphere. But it was only three years later, at the end of the 1997 gatherings in the Manner of Flowers (at The Mountain Of Attention), that Adi Da indicated that this comprehensive testing was over. On March 7, 1997, Avatar Adi Da indicated that the Yogic and Spiritual Union with Him manifested by Ruchiradama Quandra Sukhapur Rani and Ruchiradama Nadikanta had become full, irrevocable, and unique.

Karma Yoga — "Discipline of action". One of the four traditional Indian paths to realization (along with Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Raja Yoga). When one is a practitioner of Karma Yoga, one acts in accordance with one's duty without consideration of personal, self-centered desires, likes or dislikes. One acts without being attached to the fruits of one's deeds, as described by Krishna in The Bhagavad Gita:

Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.

Kaya-Kalpa — A traditional, intense Ayurvedic regimen designed to serve the rejuvenation of the body. It involves an extended period of ingesting specific herbs, restricting oneself to a very low-light environment, and an intense spiritual practice. The kaya-kalpa process reputedly enabled Sriman Tapasviji Maharaj to live to the age of 185, as detailed in the book, Maharaj. Adi Da experimented with a 40-day period of kaya-kalpa treatment in 1991.

kirtan (Sanskrit: "to repeat") — As the term is used in Adidam, a form of chanting that involves vigorous physical engagement:

There is a difference between [ordinary] chanting and kirtan. Kirtan is when you use a song and chant in a rhythmic, musical manner in which people are very active — sometimes rising up from their seat, dancing and jumping and spontaneously being moved. Chant, on the other hand, is different. It is quieter in tone, and it is musically less elaborate and less rhythmic. It is, instead, repetitive. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, March 26, 1992

For more, click here.

kundalini, kundalini shakti — The traditional name for what Avatar Adi Da has Revealed to be the ascending aspect of the total Circle of Spiritual Life-Energy in the human body-mind. The kundalini shakti is traditionally viewed to lie dormant at the bodily base, or lowermost psychic center of the body-mind. The kundalini may be activated spontaneously in the devotee or by the Guru's initiation, thereafter producing all the various forms of yogic and mystical experience. The kundalini shakti is importantly distinguished from Adi Da Samraj's Hridaya-Shakti.

Laughing Mama — Used by Adi Da to refer to the indifference of conditional existence toward the fulfillment of personal desires. As He puts it, the primary communication and lesson of the Laughing Mama is: "Your objections to anything don't mean shit." The Goddess Kali in the Hindu tradition represents a similar aspect of conditional existence. (She is sometimes depicted as wearing the skulls of human beings around her neck.) The Laughing Mama image also resonates with the first half of Adi Da's "Lesson of Life": "You can never become happy. You can only be already happy." Adi Da's "Laughing Mama" image is drawn from His experience as a boy of Laughing Sal, a large, female, coin-operated, animatronic figure in the Coney Island amusement park: fat, with exaggerated makeup and bright red lipstick, freckle-faced, missing teeth, dressed in rags, and mechanized to wave her hands, rock forward and backward, and cackle hysterically.

Laughing Man Institute — The Laughing Man Institute (LMI) is the public education branch of the Adidam Academy. It develops and provides a full range of public courses, lectures, retreats, and seminars about Avatar Adi Da Samraj and the Way of Adidam, and also about the Great Tradition of religion, Spirituality, and human development. Courses offered through The Laughing Man Institute allow the public to connect with Adi Da's Reality-Transmission, to get to know Him as He Is, and to benefit at heart in relationship to Him.

Adi Da (the "Laughing Man" of the title) chose the name as a reference to His purpose for appearing here (recorded in Chapter 1 of Adi Da's autobiography, The Knee Of Listening): to restore humor.

From the beginning, in the early Spiritual "Brightness" of my life, I directly perceived the guiding Purpose of my life: to restore True Humor (or the all-transcending quality of Happiness, that can persist, or, otherwise, constantly come forward, in the living being under all conditions, whether the conditions appear to be positive or negative). Throughout my life, I have been moved to Communicate (or to Reveal, to Transmit, and to Awaken) the fundamental Source and Substance and Condition of True Humor to others. Ordinary humor can appear in many forms, as the seemingly undauntable mood of life-enjoyment, as the hilarious pleasure of laughter, as the fairy-tale ease of faith, as the self-congratulating certainty of mental knowledge, and as the overriding excitement of even all the greater and smaller bodily victories. But True Humor has only one living Form (and one ultimate, or inherently perfect, Form), Which is Real God, Perfect Truth, or Reality Itself.

For more about the Laughing Man Institute, click here.

Lay Renunciate Order (LRO) — One of the two formal renunciate orders in Adidam. (The other is the Ruchira Sannyasin Order.) In His Essay, The Orders of My True and Free Renunciate Devotees, Avatar Adi Da describes the Lay Renunciate Order as "a renunciate service order for all intensively serving (and, altogether, intensively practicing) lay practitioners of the total (or full and complete) practice of the Way of Adidam."

Lesson of Life — Avatar Adi Da Samraj's term for the understanding that no seeking of any kind can ever achieve Happiness, because Happiness is inherent in Existence Itself. He succinctly summarizes this lesson especially in the form: "You Cannot Become Happy. You Can Only Be Happy." In the Way of Adidam, this "lesson of life" is the first understanding that allows one to truly engage the "radical" Way that Avatar Adi Da offers.

See also: positive disillusionment

listening — Hearing is one of the major milestones of progress in the Way of Adidam. Listening is the process that precedes hearing, involving increasing disciplines, devotion, and self-understanding. Hearing occurs when the "listening" devotee understands the ego at a fundamental level, such that the mechanism of self-contraction can be recognized in any moment and felt beyond.

Mahamantra — (Sanskrit: Great Mantra) The mantra, "Om Ma Da", was the original Mahamantra given by Adi Da to His devotees, as "an acknowledgement, an invocation, and a means of communion with Me." Since then, He has provided many more mahamantras.

"Om Ma Da" . . . Is Epitomized (and Ended) In "Da", and (Thus) In Me — As The One (and Perfectly Subjective, and Self-Evidently Divine) Condition That Is Self-Existing (or Eternally, Merely Present As The Non-conditional, or Transcendental, and Inherently egoless Self-Condition), Self-Radiant (or Inherently Radiant), Infinite (As all-and-All-Surrounding and all-and-All-Pervading Divine Spirit-Power), and Always Alive As My Love-Blissful Divine Spiritual Body For The Sake Of The "Bright" Divine Liberation Of all conditionally Manifested beings. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar

For an extraordinary recording of Adi Da intoning this Mahamantra, accompanied by a background track of His playing the tamboura, click here.

Mahasamadhi — The end of the human life of a great Spiritual Realizer is referred to as His or Her Mahasamadhi. In reference to Adi Da's passing, we use the term, "Divine Mahasamadhi" to indicate the passing of a human incarnation of the Divine Person. For much more about Adi Da's Divine Mahasamadhi, click here.

See also: The "Brightness".

Master Foody Moody — The name of the food cooperative Adi Da recommended that all Adidam regions around the world create. The name comes from the primary character in Adi Da's instructional story book for children, Vegetable Surrender.

The Matrix — Adi Da's residence near the devotee residents' village of Qaravi, at Adi Da Samrajashram, the Fijian island of Naitauba.

Murti — Sanskrit for "form", and, by extension, a representational image of the Divine or of a Guru. In Adidam, Murtis (or "Murti forms") of Avatar Adi Da Samraj are most commonly photographs of Him, used by His devotees as the focus of meditation and sacramental worship.

Adi Da has also made a distinction between Murti photographs and Murti-like photographs. A Murti is typically a photograph of Adi Da taken of Him during a formal Transmission occasion. Adi Da wanted Murtis to only be used by formal devotees. Because of how a Murti is used by devotees (in meditation, puja, etc.), it also is typically a full-body image of Bhagavan. During His lifetime, Adi Da Himself would select the images that would be used as Murtis. All photos of Adi Da are capable of Transmitting Him and serving as a devotional touchpoint, and in this sense, all non-Murti photographs of Him are "Murti-like". Click here for a site that provides Murti and Murti-like photographs of Adi Da Samraj.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi — A traditional Sanskrit term for one of the highest types of formless ecstasy, the culmination of mystical ascent. In some schools of Yoga, Nirvikalpa Samadhi is considered to be equivalent to God-Realization. See "Samadhi" for a more elaborate description.

non-humans — Adi Da's term for all beings that are not human. One reason Adi Da prefers this term over more conventional ones (e.g., "animals") is that the conventional terms tend to have pejorative connotations (less than human, not as conscious or feeling as humans, second class citizens of the world, etc.) Adi Da has pointed out that not only are non-humans just as feelingly aware of the world and their own existence as we are, but in many aspects, are more rightly aligned to their Divine Reality than most human beings:

Most non-human beings, you could observe, are spending a lot of time in Contemplation. Their times of non-Contemplation are associated with some kind of physical necessity. They prefer to be in a situation of not having physical obligation. Very often this is so. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, A Contemplative State of Exaltation

Ultimately, Adi Da's term, "non-humans", extends beyond even "animals", to all that is not human, whether animate or not:

But the simple lesson and advice from Sri Adi Da Samraj, in regards to all non-humans, of which the Avadhoot includes trees, plants, rocks, water and everything else non-human, is expressed in a sign that hangs in the home of the precious Avadhoot of Da Love-Ananda Mahal (Adi Da’s Sanctuary in Hawaii), that reads: "Be Kind To All The Non-Humans, or Else!" Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Be Kind To All the Non-humans, Or Else!

Adi Da has always emphasized that He is here for the sake of all beings:

All equally require Divine Compassion, Love, and Blessing, the thread of Communion with the Divine made certain and true and directly experienced. All. Therefore, the Sphere of My Work is all beings and things. Literally it is so. This is literally how I Work. I cannot size up one being or thing against another — the devotee against the non-devotee, the human against the non-human, the Earth against some other place. I cannot do that. I am Doing a universal Work. I Am here to receive, and kiss, and embrace everyone, everything — everything that appears, everything that is. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, I Embrace All Beings

For much more of Adi Da's Wisdom about non-humans, visit the Fear-No-More Zoo website.

Notes — Adi Da's daily, oral communications to His devotees. Often Adi Da would devote many hours each day to giving Notes. The Notes would be recorded, and devotees would transcribe them as soon as possible so that printed versions could be sent to the intended recipients of the Notes in a timely fashion. Some Notes were intended for specific individuals that Adi Da named in the Notes, while others would be intended for a larger group of devotees (e.g., all devotees associated with the Adidam Mission), and some Notes were for all devotees. While most of Adi Da's Notes were addressed to His devotees, He also would communicate with non-devotees in this way as well, for example: people who were responding to Him in one way or another, or people who were collaborating with Him (exhibiting His Art, publishing His Literature, etc.). Certain devotees (in the "Communications Department") had the responsibility for communicating Adi Da's Notes to the right people in a timely fashion, and for relaying responses back to Adi Da.

The Note cycle was one of the primary means Adi Da used to bring the traditional Guru-devotee relationship into modern times. In the traditional Guru-devotee relationship, a small number of devotees lived in (or near) the Ashram of the Guru; each would encounter the Guru face-to-face on a regular, natural basis, enabling the Guru to say whatever was needed in a completely spontaneous, organic fashion. Adi Da used His daily Note cycle (combined with modern technology) to do the same thing with thousands of devotees, who were spread around the world. It was called a "Note cycle" because devotees who were addressed by Notes typically would write responses to Adi Da, and He in turn might respond to that in the next day's Notes, etc. Thus, the Note cycle was a way by which Adi Da cultivated His relationship with His devotees, and enabled them to do the same with Him. Receiving Notes from the Guru was always a Blessing (and often a responsibility as well). Many devotees would describe how they would feel the Love-Bliss of Adi Da's Regard at one point in the day, and then receive Notes from Him later the same day (e.g., by email from the Communications Department), confirming that He had indeed given them His Regard (as well as Notes) earlier in the day.

All of Adi Da's Notes were recorded (either by audio or video), and transcribed. The Adidam Archives contains tens of thousands of pages of Adi Da's daily Notesets. Those of general use for many devotees, or even non-devotees, often appeared in His published books during His lifetime, and it is likely that many more of His Notes will be published in future books.

The Overnight Revelation of Conscious Light — In early 1998, Avatar Adi Da spent a concentrated period of two months giving hundreds of hours of Instruction to a small group of devotees at Da Love-Ananda Mahal, His Ruchira Sannyasin Sanctuary in Hawaii. Central to the "consideration" of the Overnight Revelation of Conscious Light is Avatar Adi Da's Communication of the Indivisibility of Consciousness (or Being) and Light (or Energy).

Paduka Puja — A puja performed on the Guru's Feet (on rare occasion) or (more typically) on a representation of them. A Paduka Puja is performed in Adidam regions around the world every morning, as a means for "installing" Adi Da in the devotee's heart each day. Devotees watch as the Pudaka pujarist washes a metal impression of Adi Da's feet or sandals that were Blessed by Adi Da by His having placed His feet in them.

The Primal Secret of devotee practice is to practice in Satsang — to practice in the Primal Space, as if always sitting in the Company of the Heart-Master. One reaffirms, re-establishes this context of Existence every day through the Guru Paduka Puja. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Primal Space (January 19, 1988)

See also: Puja, Padukas.

Parama — In Sanskrit, "Parama" means "Supreme" or "Greatest". The most common use of the word in Adidam is in the title for Adi Da: "Parama-Sapta-Na". "Sapta Na" is a reference used for seventh stage devotees who are most profoundly involved in the Divine Indifference stage of the seventh stage of life — sannyasins or renunciates of the ultimate kind. The title, "Parama-Sapta-Na" then sets apart Adi Da as the Supreme seventh-stage Sannyasin. You can read more about "Parama-Sapta-Na" here.

Perfect Practice — Adi Da's technical term for the discipline of the ultimate stages of life (the sixth stage of life and the seventh stage of life) in the Way of Adidam. The Perfect Practice is practice in the Domain of Consciousness Itself, as opposed to practice from the point of view of the body or the mind. The Perfect Practice has three stages:

1. Be Consciousness.
2. Contemplate Consciousness.
3. Transcend everything in Consciousness, Recognizing all objects in and as God.

Entrance into the third stage of the Perfect Practice coincides with the Realization of the seventh stage of life. For more, see stages of life.

positive disillusionment — One of the key prerequisites for actually advancing in the practice of the Way of Adidam.

Before the foundation phase (or first phase) of the ego-transcending Great Process of the only-by-Me Revealed and Given Reality-Way of Adidam can (itself) be complete, it must Realize a profoundly life-transforming and life-reorienting "positive disillusionment", or a most fundamental (and really and truly "self"-contraction-transcending) acceptance of the fact that gross conditional existence is inherently and necessarily unsatisfactory and unperfectable (and, therefore, a most fundamental — and really and truly Me-Finding and search-ending — acceptance of the fact that all seeking to achieve permanent and complete gross satisfaction of separate body, emotion, and mind is inherently and necessarily futile). Only on the basis of that necessary foundation-Realization of "positive disillusionment" can the functional life-energy and the attention of the entire body-mind-complex (or of the total body-brain-mind) be released from gross ego-bondage (or "self"-deluded confinement to the psycho-physical illusions of gross "self"-contraction). Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Gnosticon

Because all of us have engaged in illusions about the nature of happiness for lifetimes, it can take us quite a few years (or even lifetimes) to go through the "positive disillusionment" process. While conventionally, the word, "disillusionment", has a mixed connotation (e.g., "older but wiser"), Adi Da refers to the process associated with Him as "positive" because the disillusionment frees up one's life and destiny for a Greater Alternative.

The primal illusion that positive disillusionment frees us from is the notion that we are separate selves, separate from the Divine — an illusion that Adi Da has mocked with the name, "The Dreaded Gom-Boo". To be completely relieved of that illusion is to fully Realize God, to fully Awaken in the seventh stage of life.

For more, read "Perfect Dis-Illusionment" in Part 8 of The Aletheon and watch this video.

See also: Lesson of Life

Prasad Day — A monthly "Prasad Day" was the original form of Celebration within Adidam. Here is a description of Prasad Day from No Remedy:

"Prasad Day" is held once a month at Persimmon. Prasad Day is a special community celebration of the sacrament of Satsang, or Divine Communion. On Prasad Day, Guru-seva, or the function of service to the Lord in the form of the Guru, is celebrated and made visible in a special way. It is the time when each of us comes to Bubba with a special offering, usually of fruit or flowers, symbolizing our most significant gift, which is the search. On Prasad Day each of us acknowledges Bubba as Guru, the discovery of whom makes all seeking unnecessary. Several times every year, Prasad Day is held to commemorate some special spiritual event, such as the Realization of the Heart, or Bubba's Birthday, or Guru Day, which is a traditional annual celebration of the Guru's Presence. Those special celebrations are themselves unique versions of Prasad Day, just as Prasad Day is a unique version or celebration of Satsang itself. Approaching the Guru: Prasad and Darshan, No Remedy

Adi Da sitting in Darshan in the backyard of a devotee's home in Los Angeles on a formal Prasad Day, March 11, 1973. This is the same day He Gave His beautiful landmark Communication, "The Gospel of the Siddhas", now titled The Heaven-Born Gospel of the Ruchira Avatar.

See also:   prasad

premonitory texts — Adi Da refers to a handful of traditional books as "premonitory texts" — "premonitory" in the sense that certain passages in these books are suggestive of the Realization of the seventh stage of life, even while the bulk of these books do not reflect an author who is a Realizer of the seventh stage. Adi Da further clarifies:

The traditional premonitorily "seventh stage" texts are advanced sixth stage literatures that express a few philosophical conceptions, or yet limited and incomplete intuitions, that sympathetically resemble the characteristic seventh stage Disposition (in and of Itself), and thus somehow foreshadow (rather than directly reflect, or directly express) the Truly Most Ultimate (or Transcendental, inherently Spiritual, and necessarily Divine) "Point of View". Such texts communicate a "Point of View" in which discriminative intelligence and the effects of discriminative mind are completely discounted, and even made fun of, along with the practices that belong to the developmental stages of life and practice. However, none of the traditional texts otherwise communicate the truly and wholly seventh stage "Point of View" and Sign, in a form that is not mixed with or otherwise limited by the characteristic sixth stage point of view and orientation. And none of the traditional texts communicate the full developmental and Yogic details of the progressive seventh stage Demonstration (of Divine Transfiguration, Divine Transformation, and Divine Indifference). Nor do they ever indicate (or has any traditional Realizer ever Demonstrated) the Most Ultimate (or Final) Demonstration of the seventh stage of life (Which End-Sign Is Divine Translation). Therefore, it is only by Means of My own Avataric Divine Work and Avataric Divine Word that the truly seventh stage Revelation and Demonstration has Appeared, to Complete the Great Tradition of mankind. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, "The Unique Sixth Stage Foreshadowings of the Only-By-Me Revealed Seventh Stage of Life" from The Basket Of Tolerance

puja — Sacramental worship and invocation of the Divine in a bodily active form, including waving lights and incense, washing and anointing an Image of the Divine (or by extension an Image of one's Spiritual Master regarded to be Divine), offering flowers, and so on. Devotees of Adi Da Samraj do this in relation to "Murti" photographs of Him, and in very special occasions in relation to Him directly, bodily, in person. By extension, all outward directed activities (as opposed to meditative activities) are to be done as puja, or Invocation of the Divine. For example, devotees will often say they are doing something "as a puja", meaning doing it in the intentional disposition of calling upon or invoking Divine Help and Blessing for a specific accomplishment.

In the Way of Adidam, the secret is to do puja in relation to Me, the Avataric Incarnation of Real (Acausal) God, such that I, As I Am — My Perfect State — am Moved to Respond to your ritual. The secret is not in performing the ritual correctly. You cannot perform the ritual only and expect the puja to do the work. The Divine Responds to you only if you really respond to the Divine. Avatar Adi Da Samraj

In addition, a puja must be performed in a creative, participatory manner, rather than as a mere mechanical ritual. One must invest oneself in it:

Ceremony is an art, you see. You must be loose, even have a certain sense of humor without otherwise losing your connection with what you are doing. The ceremonial art should be something done really, not just done apparently. You must fully participate in the process, and that means you must be loose, like an artist making a painting. Only if you engage it as an art can you be attentive to the real details of the process rather than the mechanical details. You can play it freely. You can dance it. Religious ceremony is an art. Avatar Adi Da Samraj

This is the secret of effective puja: to participate in the world as a psychic phenomenon, not as a something you hammer out with your left brain, hoping that something will happen as a result of your merely external, physical acts. You must awaken to the psychic plastic of the waking state and realize that through changes of attitude, through surrendering things in the Divine, you can make changes in experience and the world. You must have the same free and liberal attitude as when you are awake while dreaming. You know that the dream figures are hallucinations and that when you can freely change your mind or attitude, all of a sudden conditions change. Avatar Adi Da Samraj

The term "Pazooza Puja" (humorously coined by Adi Da) refers to a special intentional disposition (and event) for raising money for sacred purposes.

When devotees refer to Avatar Adi Da's Puja, such as in "His Blessing Puja", it is used to indicate His Intentional Intervention as the Divine to infuse and transform a particular circumstance or condition.

pujarist: one who performs a puja.
puja article: an item that is used during a puja.

See also: Paduka Puja, Circumambulation Puja, Purification Puja, Prosperity Puja, Fire Puja.

Purification Puja — Adi Da created Purification Pujas for the purpose of psychically cleansing an environment, and helping any discarnate spirits "stuck" in the environment to move on. While Purifications Pujas can be performed whenever they are useful or needed, they are regularly performed by devotees (in devotee homes and in sacred environments) twice a year: in spring, and on October 31 (associated with the secular celebration of Halloween, or "All Souls Day"). Here is the Admonition associated with the Purification Puja:

This is the Sacred Domain of the Divine Avataric Master, Adi Da Samraj, Who has Restored Happiness to the cosmic domain and Revealed and Given the Liberating Way of Adidam for all beings. This is no longer your home or place to be. You are dead, and with the Blessing of the Divine Person, Who Is Da, leave now. Relax and continue your growth and destiny in the Great Process. So, do not struggle. Have no regrets. Go!

For more on Adi Da's wisdom about discarnate spirits, read our article, About Ghosts. For more about Purification Pujas, click here.

See also: Puja.

Radiant Life Clinic — The Radiant Life Clinic and Research Center is Adidam's official health organization. Based on Adi Da's extensive, life-positive wisdom about health, the Radiant Life Clinic has representatives in every Adidam region around the world, and helps produce practical guides for devotees such as Green Gorilla, which contains extensive dietary principles and guidelines.

"radical" devotion — Formerly known as Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga. The fundamental practice [yoga] of devotees of Adi Da Samraj. It involves moment to moment devotional turning of the four principal faculties (of mind, emotion, breath, and body) to Adi Da Samraj, or invoking, feeling, breathing, and serving Him in every moment, based on devotional love of Him and devotional recognition of Him and response to Him as the Divine. Adi Da originally described this practice as "Ishta-Guru-Bhakti Yoga", a traditional phrase meaning devotion ("bhakti") to one's chosen ("Ishta") Guru.

Reality Consideration — Consideration of the conditional self, with the purpose of understanding and transcending the conditional self. Reality consideration involves real self-observation in response to Avatar Adi Da, and intelligent response to His Teaching-Argument. See also consideration.

Robert the Cat — In His autobiography, The Knee Of Listening, Adi Da describes Robert the Cat as His first teacher:

Robert himself was nothing less to me than my best friend and mentor. He was more, not less, than human to me. I watched him with fascination. I followed him through the woods and watched him hunt. I tried to understand his curious avoidance of the sea, and how he could sit on the cliff above the sea, watching the evening sun, and the wind blowing his hairs heroically about his head. The mystery of his pattern of living, his ease and justice, the economy of all his means, the untouchable absence of all anxiety, the sudden and adequate power he brought to every circumstance without exceeding the intensity required, all of his ways seemed to me an epitome of the genius of life. And he communicated with me so directly that I was disarmed. He would call me when he returned in the evening. He would touch me whenever he needed my presence. He would lie with me as if with conscious intention to console me with his living presence. And I loved him as deeply as the universe itself.

At The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary is an outdoor Temple named "Holy Cat Grotto", which honors Robert and his relationship with Adi Da Samraj, and holds Robert's ashes:

I recognized that Robert had been my teacher in the wilderness. He had filled my eye and owned a thread of attention in my heart. I Knew him and he Knew me. Nothing could replace that state of life or console its absence. I treated him in death like a saint. I had him cremated, and I kept his ashes.

Holy Cat Grotto is a wild and profound place of healing and meditation.

Ruchira Sannyasin Order (RSO) — More formally: The Naitauba Ruchira Sannyasin Order of Adidam Ruchiradam. (Previous names: Free Renunciate Order, Free Sannyasin Order.) The senior renunciate order of Avatar Adi Da's most advanced devotees (along with Adi Da Samraj Himself) who have legally renounced all property and devoted themselves entirely to Spiritual and Divine purposes. The Ruchira Sannyasin Order is the senior of the two formal renunciate orders in Adidam. (The other is the Lay Renunciate Order.)

"Ruchira" is a title for all members of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order who are practicing in the context of the sixth stage of life, and indicates "a true devotee of the Ruchira Avatar, the Da Avatar, the Love-Ananda Avatar, Adi Da Samraj, who is, by His Grace, becoming Radiant, or 'Bright' with Love-Bliss, through uniquely one-pointed (self-surrendering, self-forgetting, and self-transcending) feeling-Contemplation of Him, and, Thus and Thereby, of the True Divine Person" (from "The Orders of My True and Free Renunciate Devotees", Eleutherios). "Naitauba" is the traditional Fijian name for Adidam Samrajashram, the Great Island-Hermitage of Avatar Adi Da Samraj. As a general rule, all members of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order are formal residents of Adidam Samrajashram.

Adi Da has indicated that the members of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order collectively function as His "Instruments", allowing Him to Magnify His Transcendental Spiritual Work for all time:

I Work through My Ruchira Sannyasin devotee-Instruments as "points" of contact (and, altogether, as My Instrumental Means) in the worldwide sacred cooperative cultural gathering of My devotee — and I Work through My Ruchira Sannyasin devotee-Instruments as concrete "points" of focus on the universal grid, for the sake of all-and-All. This is the unique Significance of the Instrumentality of My Ruchira Sannyasin devotee-Instruments in the only-by-Me Revealed and Given Reality-Way of Adidam. My Instrumental Ruchira Sannyasin devotees are (necessarily) individuals... who are (thus, during, and, otherwise, after, the physical Lifetime of My Divinely-Avatarically-Born bodily human Divine Form) fully accountable to Me, and profound in their devotional recognition of Me, and profoundly devotionally responsive to Me — and who are (necessarily) formally practicing the "Perfect Practice" of the only-by-Me Revealed and Given Reality-Way of Adidam. Because they are (thus) conformed to Me, I can (now, and forever hereafter) Use such Instrumental Ruchira Sannyasin devotees as a collective "point" of contact for My Divine Avataric Transcendental Spiritual Blessing-Work, and such Instrumental Ruchira Sannyasin devotees themselves can (now, and forever hereafter) collectively function as a Means of focusing the devotional recognition-response to Me (or the right devotional approach to Me and the right devotional Invocation of Me) in the total "world". In Working through such Instrumental Ruchira Sannyasin devotees, I Respond (and always will Respond) to everyone (including each and all of My formally practicing devotees, and including even all beings — both human and non-human), in all the various particular areas of this "world" (and in even all "worlds"). Avatar Adi Da Samraj "The Orders of My True and Free Renunciate Devotees", Eleutherios

RSO logo

For more, click here.

Samadhi — A Sanskrit word that traditionally denotes various exalted states that appear in the context of esoteric meditation and Realization. The traditionally described states can and do appear in devotees in Adidam. However, there are Samadhis unique to Adidam because they reflect Avatar Adi Da Samraj's Realization. Most fundamentally, Samadhi in Adidam is about entering into ecstatic self-transcending devotional and Spiritual Communion with Avatar Adi Da. For a detailed technical description of the various samadhis, click here.

The Samrajya — More formally, "The Adidam Samrajya", or "The Divine Avataric Holy Samrajya of Adidam Ruchiradam". The Samrajya is the organization responsible for Adi Da's circumstance (especially during His human lifetime), as well as the circumstance of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order altogether.

After Adi Da's lifetime, a primary responsibility of the Samrajya is to oversee bringing Adi Da's Gifts to the world. This includes serving as the holder and maintainer of the copyrights associated with Adidam's intellectual property (under the legal name, "The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd.", or ASA, for short). A related function is oversight of the Adidam Archives. Another function is oversight of the dissemination of Adi Da's social wisdom on creating a new and peaceful Global Cooperative Order (here and here).

Another function (which Adi Da indicates in "The Rose Garden of the Heart" in The Aletheon) is to have a final say (above and beyond the Cultural Services Division of the Holy Institution) on whether devotees within the sangha are in "good standing".

sarvadhikari — A term used by Adi Da to refer to a particular devotee who would assume responsibility for some area (for example, the worldwide culture) so completely that Adi Da would not have to be disturbed by any "religion business" in that area, and could instead completely focus on His functions as Guru. Thus, while a sarvadhikari had a specific management function (like managing the worldwide culture), in some sense his or her primary function was to act as a buffer between the world and the Guru, and keep the Guru from being disturbed (in accord with the traditional admonitions for Guru devotion, such as "Never disturb your Guru's mind.") Typically, Adi Da would be in direct communication with such a sarvadhikari every day. As a model for what a sarvadhikari should be, Adi Da used the example of Ramana Maharshi's brother, who one day simply assumed complete responsibility for Maharshi's Ashram, freeing up Maharshi to be the Guru only, and not a manager. Maharshi began using the term "sarvadhikari" for people who served such "general manager" functions in His Ashram, and Adi Da used the term in a similar manner, for a number of key functions.

Second Great Invocation — The First Great Invocation and the Second Great Invocations are used to formally begin and end almost every kind of cultural event in Adidam, including daily Sat-Guru Pujas, meetings, and devotional groups. In general, everyone turns to a picture or Murti of Adi Da, and raises their hands, as they engage in the Invocation.

The Second Great Invocation

leader (often ringing a singing bowl):
Now let us offer the Second Great Invocation.

all participants:
Divine Heart-Master Adi Da Samraj,
Realizer and Revealer Of The Heart,
Revelation Of The "Bright" Divine Person,
Hear my Heart-Call now.

Bless me now with True self-Forgetfulness,
By The Seven Gifts Of Remembering You,
That my Heart May Grow In "Brightness" and Be Gone.
I Hold Up my hands.

(All bow to Adi Da. The leader may strike a singing bowl three times.)

self-understanding / "radical" understanding — Avatar Adi Da uses the word "understanding" to mean "the process of transcending egoity". Thus to "understand" is to simultaneously observe the activity of the self-contraction and to surrender that activity via devotional resort to Him.

Avatar Adi Da has Revealed that, despite their intention to Realize Reality (or Truth, or God), all religious and Spiritual traditions (other than the Way of Adidam) are involved, in one manner or another, with the search to satisfy the ego. Only Adi Da has Revealed the Way to "radically" understand the ego (by "going to the root": radix = root) and (in due course, through intensive formal practice of the Way of Adidam, as His formally acknowledged devotee) to most perfectly transcend the ego in Divine Enlightenment.

Seven Gifts — Since the early 1990's, Adi Da has taught that the Way of Adidam could be understood in terms of seven Gifts of Grace that He gives to devotees (and that are simultaneously Gifts and responsibilities, if fullest use is to be made of them): "My Seven Necessary Gifts Of Avataric Divine Grace (Given At Every Stage Of Practice In The Only-By-Me Revealed and Given Way Of The Heart, or Way Of Adidam) Are Word, and Sign, and Devotion, and Service, and Discipline, and Blessing, and Blessedness. . . Therefore, The Way Of Adidam . . . Is (Itself, and Altogether) A Gift From Me." (Epilogue, The Dawn Horse Testament).

1. Ruchira Avatara Vani — The Gift of the Word
2. Ruchira Avatara Darshan — The Gift of the Sign
3. Ruchira Avatara Bhakti — The Gift of Devotion
4. Ruchira Avatara Seva — The Gift of Service
5. Ruchira Avatara Tapas — The Gift of Discipline
6. Ruchira Avatara Kripa — The Gift of Blessing
7. Ruchira Avatara Moksha-Bhava — The Gift of Blessedness

The seventh (or Completing) Gift, the Gift of Blessedness (or Divine Enlightenment), is "Realized Only On The Basis Of The Right Present Fulfillment Of Each and All Of My First Six Gifts, and Callings, and Responsibilities Of The Way Of The Heart)."

In the Second Great Invocation, devotees refer to the seven Gifts when they recite the line, "Bless me now with True self-Forgetfulness, By The Seven Gifts Of Remembering You, That my Heart May Grow In 'Brightness' and Be Gone."

For more on the seven Gifts, read The Epilogue of The Dawn Horse Testament, and The Seven Gifts of Sri Da Avabhasa's Grace.

Shakti — A Sanskrit term for the Divinely Manifesting Energy, Spiritual Power, or Spirit-Current of the Divine Person. Shakti, or Spiritual Energy, is Transmitted by a Spiritual Realizer to His or Her devotees. It is also often traditionally associated with the female principle of existence (as Shiva is associated with the male principle of existence), and sometimes with kundalini energy.

Shaktipat Yoga — The practice (Yoga) of receiving the "descent of Spiritual Power" (Shaktipat). Yogic Shaktipat — a process involving the activation of conditional energies or the Awakening of partial manifestations of the Divine Transcendental Spiritual Current — is typically granted through touch, word, glance, or regard by Yogic Adepts of the fifth stage of life. Although the term "Shaktipat" literally means the "descent" of Spiritual Power, the traditional Yogic Shaktipat is, in fact, typically a process of the ascent and circulation of Spiritual Power. This process must be distinguished from (and otherwise understood to be only a secondary aspect of) the Blessing-Transmission of the "Bright" Itself, Which Originates from Infinitely Above and Functions in a unique process in descent and is uniquely Given by Avatar Adi Da Samraj. Thus traditional Shaktipat Yoga is importantly distinguished from Adi Da Samraj's Hridaya-Shakti.

Shirdi Sai Baba — See Sai Baba of Shirdi.

stages of life — Avatar Adi Da Samraj has described human life in terms of seven stages. The first three stages of life are assocated with the general human physical, emotional/feeling, and mental/will development. The fourth stage of life is the awakening of the heart, devotion, movement towards God. The fifth stage of life is associated with mystical ascent. The sixth stage of life is associated with Transcendental Realization. The seventh stage of life is associated with the realization of utter non-difference, perfect Realization of Consciousness Itself, Reality Itself.

The seventh stage of life is not "seventh" in the sense of "following" the first six. The seventh stage of life Is Beyond and Prior to the first six stages of life. The seventh stage of life has nothing to do with "stages" of life. The seventh stage of life Is simply the Perfect Self-Demonstration of the Divine Reality-Truth, the Truth of the Divine Reality-Revelation. . . . The Always Already Self-Presence of Reality Itself Is the Secret upon Which right and true practice of the only-by-Me Revealed and Given "Radical" Reality-Way of Adidam Is Founded. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Aletheon

For a more detailed description of the Seven Stages of Life, see our introductory article, or read Adi Da's book, The Seven Stages of Life.

stations of the heart — One of the unique aspects of Avatar Adi Da’s Revelation of the Way of Adidam is His complete description of the esoteric anatomy of the human being and how this relates to the Spiritual process. Just as the human body has a gross anatomy (of bones, flesh, nerves, and so on), there is also an esoteric anatomy, consisting of three primary structures. The esoteric anatomy of the human body-mind is the basis for all dimensions of human experience — of the ordinary, extraordinary, mystical, and Transcendental kind.

One of the structures of esoteric anatomy is what Adi Da calls "the three stations of the heart". The three "stations" are:

• The "left side" — corresponding to the physical heart, and the gross dimension of the being.
• The "middle station" — corresponding to the "heart chakra" (or "anahata chakra"), and the subtle dimension of the being.
• The "right side" — which is the "seat" of the causal dimension (or root-dimension) of the being (equivalent to the primal presumption that one exists as a separate "self", or "ego"), and which is (simultaneously) the "doorway" in the body-mind through which the ego can be utterly dissolved, in heart-Identification with Avatar Adi Da.

As the practice of Adidam matures, the progressive Spiritual activation of each of the three stations of the heart can be tangibly felt.

The Spiritual Initiation that Adi Da Gives to His fully prepared listening devotees is His Spiritual Activation of the left side of the heart, which (in due course) also becomes His Spiritual Activation of the middle station of the heart. Avatar Adi Da’s Spiritual Gift of the Samadhi of the "Thumbs" is what makes possible His Spiritual Activation of the right side of the heart, which is coincident with the practitioner’s entrance into the "Perfect Practice" of Adidam.

The "root" and foundation of esoteric life is at the human heart. And the human heart is a complex mechanism. It has three primary regions. One is associated with your ordinary emotions and the physical action of the heart, and that is, it could be said, on the left side. In the center, there is the dreamer, the feeling dreamer, the place of visions. And on the right side — associated with the "pacemaker" that generates the heartbeat all across the chest, from right to left in rhythms — is the "root" of consciousness, the ultimate profundity of emotion. When all three of these are awakened, and not just one, you are alive in Absolute Unity with the Self-Radiant and Self-Existing Divine Being. And This True Heart — Which is not merely the heart chakra, not merely the heart on the right, not merely the physical heart and the round of conventional emotions, but This Great and Fundamental Being — Is the Foundation of esoteric practice. And it is from This True Heart that energies are Shined in the brain, Shined to the crown, Shined throughout the nervous system, Shined to the feet, Shined to the bodily base. What is sought to be Realized at the end of the course of Yoga is This True Heart. But what a pity to have to go through the entire process only to Realize It at the end, when It is, Itself, the Foundation of true practice, when It is, Itself, the Foundation of Realization. Why work to the end to Find God when you can make Communion with Real (Acausal) God the very basis of practice, when you can make Real-God-Realization the content of your life of practice? This is My Question to you, and this is a "Consideration" fundamental to My Reality-Teaching. Avatar Adi Da Samraj

Because there is not a "downward-and-upward" quality (as in the circle of conductivity) to the three stations of the heart, Avatar Adi Da refers to them as the horizontal dimension of esoteric anatomy. A minority of the world’s Spiritual traditions (principally certain branches of the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Taoist traditions) are focused in processes that relate to the horizontal dimension (and especially the right side of the heart) — seeking, as an ultimate result, an "interiorly secluded" Identification with the Divine (or Realization of Truth). In the fullest development of this "horizontal" approach, the practitioner does, in fact, experience an Identification with the Divine (or a Realization of Truth) that is achieved by excluding all awareness of body and mind and world. Such exclusive Union with the Divine, however, is not permanent (or eternal), because it depends on the effort of the individual: the effort to "go within", or to exclude everything that is apparently objective. Thus, such exclusive Union with the Divine is not most perfect Divine Enlightenment. Rather, it is a choosing of the "Consciousness" aspect of the Divine over the "Light" (or "Energy") aspect.

Sukra Kendra — Out of all the holy places and temples He has established at each of His Hermitage Sanctuaries (and at the European Danda), the Sukra Kendra is the most sacred of all the temples, set apart for Adi Da's (often daily) use in His Work of World-Blessing. As Adi Da described it, "I Am eternally seated in each and every one of My directly-by-Me Transcendentally-Spiritually-Empowered Sapta-Na Sannyasin Hermitages and Ruchira Sannyasin Sanctuaries — and most potently in each and every one of the Sukra Kendras I have established in those Hermitages and Sanctuaries." Often Adi Da would place objects or gifts that He wanted to Bless in the Sukra Kendra Temple for a period of time. There are four Sukra Kendras on Naitauba, and one at each of the other Sanctuaries. One of the Sukra Kendras on Naitauba is right above the Samadhi Chamber where Adi Da's body is located at the Outshining "Brightness" Temple.

My Sukra Kendras are My Houses, My Places in this realm, usable to Me even after the lifetime of this body. They must be preserved as My Houses. Any time in the future, even 10,000 years from now, the attitude of devotees must be: "The Master lives there. The Master maintains His Focus on Earth here. We must preserve these Holy Places." Presume them just as My Houses. That is where I Live for all time, always Focusing My Power of Divine Avataric Self-Manifestation through these unique Places. Everything must be done to preserve My Sukra Kendras and to keep them from being intruded upon. Devotees are not to be casually invited into My Sukra Kendras. My Sukra Kendras are the province of the Ruchira Sannyasin Order. Devotees, in general, are simply obliged to make sure that these Places are maintained and preserved. Avatar Adi Da Samraj

swadhyaya chanting — The musical recitation of sacred texts. Click here for an example.

Third Congregation — Avatar Adi Da has created four congregations in order to make it possible for all types of people to enter into devotional and Spiritual relationship to Him — both those who are moved to practice the Way of Adidam in the fullest and most profound manner (first and second congregations) and those whose life-circumstance makes it right and appropriate for them to practice a simpler form of the Way of Adidam (third and fourth congregations).

Members of the Third Congregation are individuals from all walks of life who have a clear sympathy, admiration and respect for Avatar Adi Da and are moved to support His Work in the world, without currently taking up the full practice of Adidam Ruchiradam, although that is their expressed longterm intention. The Third Congregation is also known as "The Society of Advocates". This is in keeping with the great esoteric spiritual traditions throughout history. It was traditionally understood that if one isn't ready to take up the practice itself, then the next most auspicious thing one can do is to serve the work of the Spiritual Master in the world. For this reason, one of the principal services of a member of the Third Congregation of Adidam is advocacy — effectively advocating Avatar Adi Da in the world — through one's individual skills, position, or professional expertise. In this way, members of the third congregation can make an extremely important contribution to Avatar Adi Da's work in the world by making Him known in all areas of society.

Transcendental Spiritual — A principal reference used by Adi Da to indicate the unique nature of the Revelation, Realization, and Way available in His Company.

Spiritual. A process is "Spiritual" if it involves a tangible, Grace-Given Spiritual Transmission pervading the body-mind. Such Spiritual Force is conducted in "the Circle of conductivity". "Fourth stage" practices are associated with the descent of Spiritual Force down the frontal line of the body. "Fifth stage" practices are associated with the ascent of Spiritual Force up the spinal line of the body. The ultimate Realization associated with the traditional Spiritual practices is fifth stage conditional Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the ascent to perfect communion with the Matrix of Light infinitely above the head. Adi Da summarizes these practices in His book, The Pneumaton ("The Book of Spirit").

Transcendental. A process is "self-transcending" if it is associated with transcendence of some aspect of the body-mind self complex. Different practices are associated with different forms and degrees of self-transcendence. Generally one is identified with the "body". Some self-transcending practices enable one to stand as the subtle body (or "mind"), transcending the physical body. Some enable one to stand as the causal body (or "self"), transcending both mind and body. And some practices — the Transcendentalist practices — allow one to stand as Consciousness Itself (in the Realization known as Jnana Samadhi), prior to the entire body-mind-self complex. In terms of esoteric human anatomy, that Realization is associated with the right side of heart. The Transcendentalist practices and Realizations are associated with what Adi Da calls the sixth stage of life. He summarizes these practices in His book, The Gnosticon ("The Book of Knowledge").

Transcendental Spiritual. The Spiritual traditions and the Transcendentalist traditions each realize part of Reality, to the exclusion of the rest of Reality: the Spiritual traditions enable perfect Communion with Light, but without the Realization of Consciousness; the Transcendental traditions enable perfect Identification with Consciousness, but without the Realization of Light. Adi Da's seventh stage Realization is that of Conscious Light — the simultaneous Realization of both Consciousness and Light ("Shiva" and "Shakti"): one is identified with Consciousness Itself, but one also recognizes all things and beings as a modification of Consciousness Itself. Thus Adi Da refers to this Realization as "Transcendental Spiritual". In terms of esoteric anatomy, the Realizer is simultaneously associated with the right side of the heart and the Matrix of Light infinitely above the head; the radiant, S-shaped, esoteric channel known as Atma Nadi (see right), that links the right side of the heart with the Matrix of Light above has been awakened and regenerated. Adi Da's seventh stage, Transcendental Spiritual Realization and Revelation is unique in the history of the world's religious and spiritual traditions. It is now Realizable by all through the practice of the Reality-Way of Adidam. Adi Da summarizes the seventh stage Realization and Way in His book, The Aletheon ("The Book of Truth").

God-Realization. All the great Realizations of the esoteric traditions are associated with some form of God-Realization. The Spiritual traditions Realize God as Light; the Transcendentalist traditions Realize God As Consciousness; and the Transcendental Spiritual tradition of Adidam Realizes God as Conscious Light.

turn/turning to Adi Da Samraj — "Turning" to Adi Da Samraj is a simple description of the primary practice of the Way of Adidam, which is also called Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga.

Upanishads — The Upanishads, of which there are over two hundred, are principal Scriptures of Hindu esotericism. They record the wisdom of non-dualism. The oldest Scriptures of the genre date back to the eighth century B.C.E, while the most recent Upanishads belong to this century.

Vision of Mulund — During Adi Da's first trip to India in April, 1968, He visited the small town of Mulund, just outside Mumbai (Bombay). His first impression was "a little dirt-roaded village with crowds of people — not a beautiful place." He later climbed to the roof of the small apartment building where He was spending the night. He described (in 1988) what He saw from the roof, which was clearly a waking vision, which He would later refer to as "the Vision of Mulund":

There was no way I could have presumed that anything like what I saw existed in this town. It was a large square with green at the perimeter. Everything was cleanly trimmed. There were decorative trees and plants and flowers everywhere, and walkways through a large park where a few people were calmly walking about, all of them very crisply and cleanly dressed in a style of clothing I suppose is characteristic of this group. They were all well washed and clean in their nice evening dress — families, women and children and men, walking together very calmly. There was no sound, no noise at all, in the park — whereas it was all noise beyond at the front side of the building. The park was a picture of serenity and order, of people who lived effectively, people who could choose a way of life and by cooperation with one another command the quality of life that they chose. It was quite different from what one sees elsewhere, in the little dirt-road towns that are called "cities" in the world, with all the noise and chaos of "put up with whatever your neighbor feels like doing" and "we all just do our thing". In such places, everybody puts up with what everybody else is doing. You hang a picture or set out a little vase of flowers, put in earplugs, and try, in your sheerest privacy and in the smallest place that you can call your own, to create something of the order of your own choosing. Very few people have the chance to choose an order together, a way of life that is based on the Truth. Rather, everyone is wandering, doing their thing, ego-wise, and disturbing everyone else. One of the virtues, then, of My devotees' choosing to practice the Way of Adidam together is that you can command the quality of space and time, at least on a much larger scale than you could otherwise, and more surely. If you do that, then your environments can become beautiful places where that order, that serenity, that quality of life that you live in My Company is shown, as well as places that are a sign of God-wardness and Divine Awakeness, or the Process that Awakens toward God and in God, and Most Ultimately As God. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, July 2, 1988

Adi Da based key elements of "Adidam cooperative community" on this Vision, and also named certain Adidam organizations after it (including The Vision of Mulund Institute, which provides education and other resources to support the human and Spiritual growth of children and young adults).

the Way of the Heart — Also known as the "Radical" Way of the Heart. An alternate name for the Way of Adidam, the devotional and Spiritual Way of relationship to Adi Da Samraj, which He offers to all beings. One reason for the name is that the Way progresses through realization of the three stations of the heart.

Witness, Witness-Position, Witness-Consciousness — When Consciousness is free of identification with the body-mind, it takes up its natural "position" as the Conscious Witness of all that arises to and in and as the body-mind.

In the Way of Adidam, by considering Adi Da's Teaching about it, one can have intuitions of the Witness-Position at any time. But the stable Realization of the Witness-Position is associated with, or demonstrated via, the effortless surrender (or relaxation) of all the forms of seeking and all the motives of attention that characterize the first five stages of life.

Identification with the Witness-Position is not final (or Most Perfect) Realization of the Divine Self. Rather, it is the first of the three stages of the "Perfect Practice" in the Way of Adidam, which Practice, in due course, Realizes, by Avatar Adi Da's Grace, complete and irreversible and utterly Love-Blissful Identification with Consciousness Itself.

For more about the Perfect Practice, click here.