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"Radical" Understanding
All I have asked is that you understand. It is a simplicity, signaled in many ways. Do not imagine that it is more or less than my plain word, the time you heard me and understood.
THE FIRST ASHRAM - 1972
Adidam's first ashram opened on April 25, 1972 in Los Angeles. On that night, Avatar Adi Da Samraj sat silently for about an hour with everyone who was there.
Then He asked,
Are there any questions?
When no one replied, He spoke again:
Has everyone understood?
At that point one man said, no, he had not understood; he then asked Adi Da to explain what He meant by the word "understanding".
In His response, Adi Da described the process of Awakening that is one of the fundamental discoveries of His own life - a process which He calls "understanding". As you will read, it is a process that is profoundly different from traditional descriptions of spiritual life.
There is a disturbance, a feeling of dissatisfaction, some sensation that motivates a person to go to a teacher, read a book about philosophy, believe something, or do some conventional form of Yoga.
What people ordinarily think of as Spirituality or religion is a search to get free of that sensation, that suffering that is motivating them...
When one begins to re-cognize, consciously to know again, that subtle motivation, this is what I call "understanding".
People often talk about being involved in spiritual life by saying they are a spiritual seeker. Many people assume that a spiritual person must be involved in seeking - and perhaps at a very sophisticated level. But Adi Da is describing a process of awakening that is not the result of ANY seeking or ANY search, whether worldly or spiritual.
He points out that our continual acts of seeking are the obstacle to present understanding. Not only are we seeking, but we are powerfully focused in the details and complications of our search. We do not fall into the core, subtle disturbance that motivates us to seek - instead, we just seek. In fact, we commonly spend great energy to avoid feeling our primary disturbance.
The process that Adi Da discovered in His own life is the process of awakening to most fundamental Truth - Truth which is always and already the case, prior to all our seeking. And this awakening is not accomplished through any seeking at all.
When one begins to see again the subtle forms of one's own action, which are one's suffering, that re-cognition is "understanding".
When this becomes absolute, most perfect, when there is utterly, absolutely, no dilemma, no form in the living consciousness to interpret existence, when there is no contraction, no fundamental suffering, no thing apart from Consciousness Itself, this is what I call "radical understanding".
It is only Enjoyment.
Here Avatar Adi Da uses the word "radical" in its most basic meaning. "Radical" comes from the Latin word "radix", which means root or origin. The process of "radical" understanding returns the being to enjoyment of Consciousness Itself, the root or origin of existence. This origin is always, already the condition of everyone and everything, before we do anything at all. Adi Da explains:
The traditions variously refer to the Ultimate Enjoyment as the "Self", the "Heart", "God-Union", "Satori", "Nirvana", and so on - but it is simply Consciousness Itself.
Our lives are full of strategies, methods and techniques. We want to get "there", and so we use some method that we feel (or we are told) will get us away from "here" and over to "there". But the process of understanding is not that kind of process at all.
As understanding awakens, we observe the things we are doing that keep us from seeing the wonderful Truth: "here" IS the moment of God! Nothing needs to be added, nothing need to be changed - it's always already true.
We may still decide to do many things - and while we are alive we cannot avoid action in any case. But if we understand, we enjoy the Divine Condition in this moment. Then we cannot be motivated by any feeling that something essential is missing.
HOW DOES UNDERSTANDING AWAKEN?
Since there is no strategy or technique we can use, how can understanding awaken for us? In His spiritual autobiography, The Knee Of Listening, Avatar Adi Da describes the process.
Understanding arises when there are true listening to my word, and true self-observation in relationship.
Therefore, observe yourself in life. Observe yourself when you seek. Observe yourself when you suffer to any degree. Observe your motives. Observe the patterns of your existence.
When you see that you are always seeking, understanding is emerging. When you see you are always suffering, understanding is emerging.
When you see that every moment, when you are at your best as well as when you are at your worst, you are only avoiding relationship, then you understand.
When you see That Which already is (apart from the avoidance of relationship) then you have finally understood.
You might imagine it would be depressing to see this - that even at your very best, you are only avoiding relationship. But that reaction is only the conventional mind churning out yet another strategy; it's definitely not the enjoyment of true understanding.
Understanding doesn't reveal that somehow we are uniquely failing, so we'd better find a way to measure up. Instead, we understand that the avoidance of relationship we observe simply IS the structure of the separate self - and it is so in every case. That's just the way ego is put together, and now we see it. As Adi Da once said, "You are not the guilty party." But there's even better news than this.
ULTIMATE ENJOYMENT
In "Radical" Understanding we are refreshed from the whole disturbance of separate self - a disturbance which has troubled us over many lifetimes. In that great Awakening, we participate in direct enjoyment of That Which always, already is: Consciousness Itself, the Very Divine. And that is extremely Good News!
In the quote from The Knee of Listening that began this newsletter, Adi Da Samraj tells us that understanding is most simple. He is also very clear that the ego, the presumed separate self, cannot possibly work this awakening on its own. With its many complications, the feeling of being a separate self hides what is most simply True.
Avatar Adi Da IS the direct Incarnation of the Divine Self - and there is absolutely no presumption of a separate self in Him. Through the great work of His lifetime, and the spiritual relationship that He offers freely to each of us, He has made such understanding and Perfect Enjoyment available for everyone. However, He does not ask anyone merely to believe any of this.
All I have asked is that you understand. It is a simplicity, signaled in many ways. Do not imagine that it is more or less than my plain word, the time you heard me and understood.
MUSEUM WEBSITE
The complete transcript of Understanding is included in our new exhibit in the Sacred City Museum website. You can read the full text in the Chronicle (1972 - 1977) section, or perhaps bookmark it for a later time. In this newsletter we've only been able to give you a taste.
The Life of Adi Da exhibit documents Avatar Adi Da's entire life with multi-media files, photos, key Talks and Essays - accompanied by stories and remembrances from devotees who were with Him during those years.
In addition to Understanding, you will find:
- Guru as Prophet
- I Only Move Where There Is Fire
- Guru Enters Devotee
- Garbage and the Goddess
- Moving Beyond Childish and Adolescent
Approaches to Life and Truth
What you will read in the Museum Website is far more than a mere historical record. These Talks are forever alive with great Light and unsurpassed Wisdom.
Through the decades that followed the opening of our Los Angeles ashram, Adi Da addressed every detail in the process of God-Realization. In order to do this, He evolved new forms of language to make His communication exceedingly clear.
Nevertheless, His fundamental communication, made that very first evening in 1972, presents the essence of His Wisdom-Teaching for all time.
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1. Listen to Adi Da Samraj on CD
As powerful as it is to read Avatar Adi Da, there is added potency in hearing Him speak. The Dawn Horse Press has released a CD that includes excerpts from 9 fundamental Discourses, covering many facets of Ad Da's Wisdom-Teaching from 1972 - 2002.
2. Email Your Questions or Comments
Do you have a question or comment about something you've read? Would you like to learn more about becoming a devotee, or be informed about Adidam events in a regional center near you? Whatever topic you want to discuss, we value your correspondence.
- Email us directly from our Contact Page.
A devotee will answer you personally.
3. Read the Previous Newsletter
If you missed the last issue of News from the Sacred City, you can follow this link to the archived issue. That newsletter discussed the New Paradigm that Avatar Adi Da's Work has created for humanity, which includes the Seven Stages of Life.
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