The foundation practice of the
Way of Adidam is full when the devotee has firmly established the
fundamental practice of Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga and has thoroughly
adapted to all the supportive practices (including life-positive
disciplines and the disciplines of attention and energy). Once this
foundation preparation is complete, the devotee has fulfilled the
necessary preparation that makes it possible to receive Avatar Adi
Da’s Gift of His Ruchira Shaktipat (His Spiritual Transmission).
This Gift is Given entirely by the Divine Master Himself—in
the course of one or more periods of special Initiatory retreat
in His physical Company. This Initiation is Granted by Avatar Adi
Da when He is moved to do so, in the case of each individual, by
the demonstration of ego-forgetting devotion. He can tell at once
if a devotee is ready—if the Yogic signs of equanimity and
openness to Him are there.
Avatar Adi Da has spoken on many occasions of how, traditionally,
the Grace of true Shaktipat was rare, given only to the most serious
practitioners. Avatar Adi Da’s Ruchira Shaktipat cannot be
gained through an ego-based orientation (“If I follow this
program of practices, I will ‘earn’ Shaktipat, and then
I will ‘have it’ from that moment on.”) Avatar
Adi Da’s Spiritual Transmission is Him, His Very Person. The
circumstance of receiving His Shaktipat is surrender to Him, and
not the attempt to “get” something for oneself. One
must constantly continue to cultivate the devotional and Spiritual
relationship to Him on the basis of having received His Spiritual
Initiation—rather than running away, like a dog with its bone,
and presuming to take the Gift of Spiritual Initiation for oneself.
When Ruchira Shaktipat has been Given, one’s practice of
Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga is transformed. The turning of the faculties
to Avatar Adi Da now opens the being to receive His tangible Spiritual
Presence. Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga, engaged as Spiritual Communion
with the Divine Avatar, is called “searchless Beholding”
of Him—and this searchless Beholding of Him (or Spiritually
Activated Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga) becomes the primary form
of practice of Adidam from this point on.
| “I Am
the Divine Love-Bliss, Coming from Infinitely Above, and Surrounding
the body, and Entering it, Infusing it, Pervading it—Distracting
you from self-attention and Turning your attention to Me. Feeling
Me, breathing Me, Living in Me, Lived by Me. And My Characteristic
is Love-Bliss Itself, whatever other sensations there may be
in the body-mind itself. Spiritual Communion with Me is of this
nature.” – Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Ruchira Shaktipat
Yoga |
Avatar Adi Da’s Ruchira Shaktipat can be felt as a tangible
Touch that manifests in different ways according to the individual.
Most often, devotees first feel Avatar Adi Da’s Spiritual
Transmission as a pressure at the crown of the head, followed by
the descent of His Blissful Force into the body-mind. There is no
one way for His Spiritual Transmission to manifest—but typically,
the experience of Avatar Adi Da’s Ruchira Shaktipat registers
gradually, like a process of “saturation”. He has described
that, just as a sponge expands and fills as it slowly soaks up water,
the body-mind is gradually filled and permeated by His Divine Spiritual
Transmission.
As the body-mind goes through the process of adapting to Avatar
Adi Da’s Spirit-Force, various purifying experiences (kriyas)
may occur in body, emotion, mind and breath. The body may move or
shake in various spontaneous ways, even at times taking on unfamiliar
Yogic postures. There may be intense heart-feeling and emotional
release through weeping or sudden vocalization. Mind and thought
may become a speechless stillness, with attention deeply established
in Avatar Adi Da’s Divine Love-Bliss. And the breath may go
through all sorts of changes—becoming exaggeratedly rapid
or deeply relaxed, and even spontaneously suspended for periods
of time.
At times, receiving Avatar Adi Da’s Divine Spiritual Transmission
can also take the form of an overwhelming Spiritual “Intoxication”,
or the feeling of a forceful Infusion of His Divine Spirit-Force.
However, extraordinary experiences in themselves are not the goal
of practice in the Way of Adidam. Rather, they are simply phenomena
that may occur spontaneously. It is the process of devotional and
Spiritual Communion with Avatar Adi Da, developing more and more
over time—sometimes showing extraordinary signs, sometimes
not—that grows and deepens the devotee’s practice of
searchless Beholding of Him.
| “The Way I
have Revealed and Given is not any form of seeking. The Way
I have Revealed and Given is, most fundamentally, a matter of
merely Beholding Me.” – Avatar Adi Da Samraj, “No Seeking / Mere Beholding” |
Being Initiated into Avatar Adi Da’s Spiritual Transmission
is the most profound transformative event that could ever happen
to a human being. His Ruchira Shaktipat opens the being to the unique
Spiritual process that He has brought into the world through His
Avataric Incarnation. This process is a Divine Yoga, accomplished
by Avatar Adi Da in the body-mind of His devotee. And that process
continues throughout the course of the Way of Adidam—up to
the point of receiving His Supreme Gift of Divine Enlightenment,
and even beyond that, throughout the process that unfolds (by His
Grace) in His Divinely Enlightened devotee.
| “Adidam Ruchiradam
is not to be equated with the fifth stage orientation of traditional
Kundalini Yoga—or with the characteristic orientation
of any tradition that begins from below (and in duality, or
in the egoic domains of "point of view") and seeks
to ascend by whatever means. My Avataric Divine Spiritual Self–Transmission
Comes from Above and Beyond—Above and Beyond the head,
Above and Beyond the mind, Above and Beyond the body–mind
(altogether).” – Avatar Adi Da Samraj |
|
