Adi Da Samraj
Posted on Jul 11th, 2007
by 
Vanessa
Vanessa
The Grace of Suffering-- Adi Da Samraj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hK5NPJ5b2E
The Test of Human Existence-- Adi Da Samraj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_PZGFQPYk
I am aware of the immense controversy that surrounds the spiritual Guru, Adi Da Samraj. Wilber is one case in point for acknowledging the shadow sides that runs within his community based in Fiji.
That said, I still greatly enjoyed these two short video clips on you tube taken from his talks in the 70's. The first clip, the Grace of Suffering, speaks to the different levels of resistance that we experience on the spiritual path, staring with the gross and moving to the subtle realms. As we are increasingly and painfully stripped of our identifications on each realm we finally become so overwhelmed with suffering and pain that we "Fall". It is in this fall, when we have nothing left to protect us, that we find God.
My favorite line from this clip is "There are no Winners in God" (-:
The second clip is of Adi Da talking about the Test of Existence which he says is only Love. I find this video especially full of radiant clarity and beauty.
Anyways, just thought I would forefront this controversial figure as I still have a deep respect for his teachings.
Access: Public
December 2007 
OSho, Da Free John, Trungpa, Mary Magdalene, Bukowski, Kerouac, Arbus, Hunter Thompson..are just a few names of folks that influenced me througout my life. Their behavior has been questioned by some, but nonetheless it never stopped me from enjoying their work or their creative insights on the human condition. I remember years ago while in a bookstore, hungover so bad sangha was the furthest thing I cared to put my attention on. I picked up on Da Free's book “Easy Death” and while scrolling the pages some passage stopped me in my tracks and I had this existential experience. I realized that I will die, and I fell into a vacuum for a bit and then I came back to the book and bookstore. It was almost like I died for a moment. When I got back to my wits, I put the book back on the shelf and went back to work. The next day during lunch I went back to the bookstore to see if I could find that passage that had such an impact on me. I couldn't find it. The day after that, I bought the book but I never found again, the passage that hit home.This was probably 20 years ago. I still have the book. If you want it, I'll send it to you.
That is a cool story maze(-:
It is weird, how even amidst many possible and real shadows that individual spiritual teachers like Da can have, they still reflect such immense glowing light and intellectual clarity on the human condition. I think as we get more theraputically aware as a culture we should watch how easily we write off a whole person because of certain shadows in their relative being. We definitely need to be more discerning, but we can also end up being blind to their gifts and ignoring their insights because we can easily pick out their flaws.
Thanks for offering your book… actually a group of Da's students are coming here to Vancouver on monday to give a talk and have offered amazingly cheap prices on his books so I plan to pick up a few, along with a CD they are giving out for free.
In case anyone else is reading this and lives in the Vancouver area you can check out the website: www.easydeath.ca to pre-register for the event ($7). I have no idea what it will be like or if it will be worth attending but I'll be there anyways, just to check it out.
Hi Vanessa: Thanks for letting me know about this event…your point about the therapeutic culture is very relevant as well…I believe we need a broad-based discussion with respect to how to redefine therapy in an integral cultural context. Some folks cling to therapy in its green altitude incarnation….while others in the emerging integral culture trash it entirely (e.g. WIE folks, imho).
I'd like to attend the event, if I can…hardly leave the house these days it seems, between looking after the kids and working on dissertation proposal…but we'll see.
Thanks for your thoughts on this Durwin (i.e., the theraputic culture). I totally agree with you and think there are many discussions to be had on the topic.
About the event: it actually happened last Monday but they do have frequent meet up groups where they watch his lectures and talk about his work so you could check that out for sure! I bought his autobiography while I was there “The Knee of Listening”, I've been just eating it up! It is like a ridiculous 700 pages or some shit like that (I call it the Da Bible) but it is an amazing story!
{It is in this fall, when we have nothing left to protect us, that we find God. }
“The absunce of everthing except God is heaven;
the presance of everything except God is hell.”
from some Christian telecast i heard a long time ago.
{Test of Existence which he says is only Love.}
“This and many galaxies like these are bound by ties of Love”.
Lord Swaminarayan