Introduction
> Adi Da as Divine Incarnation
The Offering of Perfect Happiness:
The Divine Incarnation, Life, and Work
of Avatar Adi Da Samraj
It is obvious, from all sorts of subtle details, that [Adi Da Samraj] knows what IT's all about . . . One who knows that he is the Godhead doesn't have to use any kind of force to be that . . . a rare being.
Throughout history, the great Spiritual Masters appear on occasion, to re-Awaken human beings to their highest destiny of Perfect and Eternal Happiness. By "great Spiritual Masters", I mean something quite specific. Search the web and you may get the sense that "spiritual teachers" are numerous and everywhere: This one teaches Tibetan Buddhism; that one offers shamanic drumming; etc. All fine and good. But the truly great Spiritual Masters are rare. They have never been merely intellectual teachers, charismatic (but otherwise ordinary) human beings, or providers of piecemeal techniques or rituals. They are always Spiritual Transmission Masters, tangibly transmitting their own Spiritual Realization to their devotees:
I felt Beloved Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission thick in the room. I saw Him as the center of a field of visible, Love-Blissful, Conscious, breathable Light. He was simply Divine Love-Bliss. There was no longer a sense of being a separate self — just the profound peace of realizing there is nothing to seek, nowhere to go, nothing to attain. This was Reality Itself, and it was not separate from "me". I had no sense of my usual persona or contracted self. It was sort of like waiting all your life for a package to arrive, and then when it comes you aren't there — but you are so happy that you don't mind at all!
Different Spiritual Masters transmit different Spiritual Realizations, corresponding to different human destinies. God-Realization — Realization of Perfect, Eternal Happiness — is the greatest human destiny. And those rarest Masters ("Divine Incarnations") who appear here by "crossing down" (the literal meaning of "Avatar") from the Divine Domain spontaneously transmit that Divine Reality to others:
I didn't have any expectations when I first saw Him. But as Avatar Adi Da walked toward His seat, I looked at Him and felt He was only Love, walking around in a human body. I began to weep and weep, because I was literally seeing the Vision of God. And I was overwhelmed with gratitude.
The world's traditions are replete with spiritually significant stories about great Masters like Jesus, Krishna, and Gautama Buddha. However, sorting out the historical fact from the mythical embellishment is a formidable challenge. Even if we could discover what occurred thousands of years ago (and who actually really existed), is it still of spiritual use now? Are these Masters still "Spiritually Transmitting" in the 21st century?
Adi Da Samraj is a Divine Incarnation who is Transmitting now.
Often, Westerners react to the notion of a "Divine Incarnation" — our skepticism is born out of both the traditional Judeo-Christian notion of "God" ("How can the all-powerful God appear in limited human form?"), and our broader, materialistic doubt in the existence of anything spiritual.
Adi Da strongly critiques both God-less materialism and the notion that God is "all-powerful", the "Creator", "in charge of the universe", etc. He instead describes God as the Source: the Consciousness in whom all beings and things are appearing, as in a dream. It is possible for God to appear in the "dream" (as a "Divine Incarnation"), and for us to Awaken out of it (with the help of a Divine Incarnation); such "God-Realization" is our greatest destiny.
"Divine Incarnation" does not occur through a Divine act of will alone (since the Divine is not all-powerful in the Judeo-Christian sense). It depends on a rare and mysterious conjunction of circumstances that creates a "gateway" or "hole in the universe" for the Divine to appear here in the "dream".
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Adi Da as a child
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Adi Da Samraj describes how the Divine Being seized upon just such a rare opportunity to incarnate in 1939 as an American named "Franklin Jones" in Long Island, New York.
Thus, Adi Da's first thirty years are the extraordinary story of the Divine progressively Enlightening "Franklin Jones", and preparing that human vehicle for the Divine Work of Enlightening all beings.
Because it is a story of Divine Descent, Adi Da's early life is a radical reversal of the storyline of the lives of traditional saints and yogis, whose spiritual attainments reach up to God in vision and mystical union, and may even ultimately attain Identification with the Transcendental Consciousness (see the left column of Figure 1), over many lifetimes of spiritual effort.
In contrast, Adi Da's early life reflects the Divine Descending into the human vessel of "Franklin Jones", and awakening the various higher centers (and their corresponding Realizations) in the reverse order from the familiar spiritual traditions (see the right column of Figure 1), at the "God Speed" of a few years.
In September 1970, the process of Divine Acquisition reached the point where "Franklin Jones" consciously Awakened as the Divine. Almost immediately, the same Divine Process began extending Itself to all other beings:
It was as though the Divine had established a "beachhead" on Earth through "Franklin Jones", from which was launched a "campaign" ultimately capable of Awakening all beings to the Divine Identity through this same means of Divinely Emerging as them:
During the time of His Work with devotees from 1972 to 2008, Adi Da fully developed the Transcendental Spiritual Way of Adidam, in which devotees "link up" with this Process of Divine Emergence. That Divine Process distinguishes Adidam from other traditions. Conventional meditation, astral projection, and other aspects of "New Age spirituality" work by stimulating specific "higher" centers of human anatomy. The Way of Adidam places no ultimate value on such "higher" experiences. The same limited ego experiences them, and is not set eternally free by them. Instead, the Way of Adidam is about surrendering the whole body (and all of its centers, higher and lower) to the Divine, to the degree of complete Awakening.
The Way of Adidam is not based on any form of search for the Divine. Adi Da makes the point that the Divine — Reality Itself — cannot be sought, since It always already is the case. Seeking for the Divine only puts off and diverts one from the actual finding of the Divine. The only way to realize the Divine is for the Divine to be revealed directly. Adidam is a God-Realizing Way because Adi Da's Incarnation here directly reveals the Divine.[1]
A Divine Incarnation actively Transmitting now provides immense opportunities: most significantly, for Divine Enlightenment. The possibility of God Realization depends upon the Divine appearing in human form; the Divine Being and State are not otherwise accessible to humankind. (Figure 1 illustrates how the traditional processes of Realization stop short of the Divine State. One can't Awaken "oneself" from the "dream"; the Divine Person must initiate the process by "crossing over" into the "dream".)
Short of our own Divine Enlightenment, Adi Da's appearance here is also extraordinarily clarifying. He demonstrates what Divine Realization looks like in factual — not mythical — terms. And He provides the unadulterated details of how Spiritual Realization works, comprehensively addressing the questions of spiritual beginners in the 21st century. Here are some of those questions.
As one of Adi Da's devotees puts it poetically:
Invoking Him
this world crumbles
into pumice and ash
like Pompeii
when your tongue
touches the roof of your mouth
to pronounce His Name
the destruction
of self's ancient city
is Inevitable
when the Syllable of Him
rises out of your throat
like molten lava
an Eruption of Bhava
will rain down
to cloak your ruins
when The Master is Invoked
Is the Guru-devotee relationship archaic? Now that we're living in the modern world of the 21st century, wouldn't a "do it yourself" approach work? Like the laws of physics, the "psycho-physics" of how Spiritual Realization actually works does not change just because social trends do; the Guru-devotee relationship remains its very core. The "self" preferring the "do it yourself" approach is the very identity needing to be transcended. For more about why the Guru-devotee relationship is essential for Divine Realization, click here.
How can we know Adi Da is a Divine Incarnation? By the unique characteristics of the Divine State He Transmits — the complete dissolution of all sense of "separate self", the Revelation of Consciousness and Energy as a Unity, etc. — relative to which each of His devotees is a "recognizer" and "witness" (not a "believer"). Read the stories and testimonies on this site (or watch our videos), in which devotees from around the world, who are "tuning in" to His Transmission, describe the Revelation they have received of Who Adi Da is, and what He offers. Talk and meet with them. Read our FAQs about taking up the Way of Adidam. Then place yourself in a position where you too can receive His Transmission, and the Revelation of Who He is: view pictures and videos of Him; listen to talks by Him; view His "Image Art"; visit Adidam's Sacred Sanctuaries — all of these means have been Spiritually Empowered by Adi Da to channel His Transmission.
For much more about recognizing Adi Da as a Divine Incarnation, read our article, "The Significance of Recognition in the Way of Adidam".
In a world ruled by human egoity and by the "bad news" egoity creates worldwide, the amazingly good news is this: Beyond all materialistic expectations, Perfect, Eternal Happiness is possible; and the means for Awakening to that egoless Divine State is presently available through the devotional and Spiritual relationship with Adi Da Samraj:
You are just beginning to Awaken.
I am like the sunlight in the morning. I intensify the light of morning until you Awaken.
Until the Light Awakens you, even the Light of Consciousness Itself, you continue to dream, try to survive within the dream, manipulate yourself within the dream, pursue all kinds of goals, searches — none of which Awaken you.
Those who are Awakening in Truth begin to notice something. They begin to recognize the signs. They begin to recognize the activity of dreaming. They begin to sense something very unusual about Me. I Am your own True Self-Nature Appearing within the dream to Awaken you.
I Am your Awakening, and your Always Already Conscious State.
To
learn more about Avatar Adi Da Samraj and the Transcendental
Spiritual Way of Adidam, please read the many stories and
articles (as well as the many video and audio clips) on this site.
Editor's Note: An earlier (slightly different) version of this article was
reviewed (line by line) by Adi Da and blessed by Him for submission to an Israeli newspaper. After being
translated into Hebrew, it was accepted for publication by Ma'ariv,
the second largest newspaper in Israel, on July 23, 2006, a date that
Adi Da has indicated has special significance relative to the
future of the planet. (For more, read chapter XXI of Adi Da's
book, Not-Two
Is Peace.) No doubt the Blessing-Force Adi Da associated with this date
expedited the article's unlikely acceptance by an Israeli newspaper. It was
published a week later on July 30, 2006, and appeared on the front
page of Ma'ariv's Lifestyles section, and also appeared
on the Ma'ariv website.
The publication of such an unusual article — about a Spiritual Master who is an Incarnation of the Divine, and who offers Perfect Happiness, appearing in a prominent place in a major Israeli newspaper at the height of the Israel-Lebanon conflict — made news itself, appearing in some television news reports around the world (even as far away as Australia). Adi Da was pleased with the exposure, and called for us to replicate this degree of communication about His Offering on a regular basis. One of the ways we responded to His Calling was to create this Adi Da Up Close site a few months later (in February, 2007).
FOOTNOTES
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The primary point here (as suggested by the red "X" in Figure 1) is that one can't "Wake oneself up". The Divine must do that, by incarnating and making the Divine directly available. For more on this subject, click here. |
3 Comments
Scott B. - Greenfield, Massachusetts, United States January 20, 2015 9:24AM
Having had the great opportunity to be in Adi Da's physical Presence, I can attest to the Power of His Transmission. As devotees describe, the separate self-sense is washed, and His State of Being is What is awakened. All is Infused with the Divine Conscious Light, the "subject-object" dichotomy is Outshined.
Jackie F. - Richmond, VA, United States January 19, 2015 2:27PM
"The Offering of Perfect Happiness": Always worth considering. . . changed my life for the last 37 years.
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Peter - Cheltenham, United Kingdom January 22, 2016 3:33AM
Before the Sun can tan one, one must turn towards It. Adi Da is That Sun. Turn to Him and be made bright by His unending Brightness that is ones True Self. Allow Him to Awaken you to that Reality which is beyond the mayhem of this world. I can attest to this.