“Adi Da Is Dead” Comments Forum
“As many have noted, this is apparently the first time this much interaction has taken place between current and ex-Daists/critics since the Ken Wilber forum days of the late nineties or so.” muddypractice blog
Over 1000 comments arising out of announcement of the death of Adi Da. If you have a dial-up connection, this page could take a while to upload. Click here to read the Adi Da Is Dead blog post, the comments to it, and to wrote your own comment.
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Thanks for your interest.
June 12, 2009 at 1:13 am
A few comments of differing perspective since it seems Da devotees are keeping active here. CL very graciously puts her finger on the essential issue with Da and his teaching. Da’s teaching and even the transmission of who he really is is filtered through his own narcissistic tendencies, and what most followers become devoted to is the energies and blisses associated with Da’s subtle vehicles and worship of same, that which devotees call call the “Radiant Divine Being” associated with Da. That does not affect Da as he is, but it does impact his transmission and impact in the relative planes. This type of phenomena and approach, is not unprecedented, it only appears to be, and it is a very dangerous game. Da devotees are correct that Da’s teaching of his exclusive Avataric role is different than that of traditional gurus. But that does not mean that is a good thing, nor does that mean that Da is a superior Satguru or for that matter qualified to serve as a Satguru. Therin lies the difficulty with Da devotees. They inevitably presume in discussions with those sympathetic to non-dualism that understanding non-dualism leads one to the understanding of Da’s teaching as the highest and most unprecedented non-dualism. And they rank the experiences and insights of others based on their own experiences and blisses based on this belief whose source is really the resonance with the blissful narcissism which Da’s teaching represented and his true lesson to others. This leads inevitably to judgment, as we see. Not that others are graciously pointing out the flaws of such exclusive identification with the Da experience (blissful as it can be), but that they don’t “understand”. Not that others may be speaking the truth as well about a very complex teacher and teaching (I know the person who was trapped on Naituba as well as some other critics and contrary to some comments here they are NOT lying). Da devotees, you are where you want to be and are there for karmic reasons, blind to what others can plainly see just as we all are in various ways. Blisses, however subtle, are still karmic and not realization. Your search for shortcuts based on the claimed supremacy of Da’s life and teaching will founder just as it has been known to throughout the period of the traditions. As several of us have pointed out, the Da devotees limited understanding of the traditions and inevitable filtering through Da dogma is not auspicious. Readers should not that your views on Da should not be taken as anything but a minority opinion of those familiar with Da in the scheme of things.
June 14, 2009 at 2:00 am
I see the “head trip” is back on here again. No one has ever been “trapped” on Naituba. How silly a thing to say. This guy is on a seriously arrogant head trip, about as far from “spiritual” as you can get. Arrogance and intellectualism are not spritual traits. Intelligence can be though. The real practice involves purification of mind and really more than that, the transcendence of mind., I am a practicing Buddhist and have studied mostly that tradition in some depth and just finished a retreat with Ammachi, who is from the Hindu tradition, which I have some respect for .l I have really no respect for the new agey so called nondualism that professes to sort of come from Ramana Maharshi, which it does not really. It just takes the heady talking school part of that tradition of Advaita Vedanta that appeals to the western talking mind of no practice. Ramana Marharshi and his followers actually recommnended practice and devotion to the Guru as the first principle of practice.,
I heard a talk by one of Ammachi’s senior swamis today about the absolute importance of literal worship of the Guru as God in spiritual practice. The Guru is simply the most potent form of the Divine, since that is in human form. So the tradition of devotion to the adept is still alive and well. you see Adi Da is not the only teacher in history to talk of these things, It is at the heart really of all the traditions, even the Buddhist one really, Flick Rahke
September 24, 2009 at 1:37 am
LET HIM GO TO REST
The sad exhaustion in Adi Da’s face towards the end was heartbreaking.
I was nothing but the breifest of students way back in the 80’s.
His teaching themes and methodology aside, he gave it a go!
I can’t help feeling for a teacher who, after trying every convievable method to assist others on their “way”, looks out one day to realise after all that- no one got “it” or is even close.
At that point he understands why teachers traditionally love their humble stone.
Appealing to the understanding of human beings can be like arguing with a rock, or trying to encourage sheep to begin thinking as individuals.
We are in a great and unprecedented time in the history of civilisation, when reason and spirituality are becoming reconciled somewhat.
For me, I hope and have faith that deep within our nature there is a kind of scale that constantly adjusts towards balance.
Most of us can barely see the world for what it really is, the appalling real suffering of the poor and marginalized, let alone recognize and celebrate the divine in all and sundry.
Perhaps that adventure has begun.
Good thing about baldness is that I wear hats. I can remove mine out of respect in the presence of an other!
On thing I really pray is that Adi Da, some part of him is not being preserved, pickled like Lenin or some extinct species.
That would be dreadful proof that none understood the simple Truth of the Matter.
Let him go now, let him rest!
Be happiness, talk to the person on the bus next to you sometime, you might be pleasantly surprized.
LUVLUV,
Dalmaz