Who would come to Adi Da Samraj if they were “already happy?”
Originally posted in February 2003 and sent in to the Adi Da Archives
One of the best known quotes from the early works of Adi Da was “come to me when you are already happy.” For some reason, I thought of that statement today as I enjoyed a Valentines Day that was about as near to perfect as I can imagine.
Adi Da’s spiel was that ideally one should not approach him as a seeker, but should come to him after having already “understood,” once one did not fundamentally need anything from him. The motivation for coming to live as a devotee was to share the enjoyable company of others, including Adi Da, who were free, and to live together in order to found a new order of man based upon shared realization.
“Come to me when you are already happy” -- how preposterous such a call seems today, after all that’s gone in the community over the past 30 years. Why would anyone who is already happy or even remotely content with their life subject themselves to the frantic, dysfunctional and debilitating lifestyle that this cult has had to offer? The answer, of course, is that they wouldn’t. Only a spiritual seeker, or a person who was fundamentally unfulfilled or disoriented at some level would subject himself to the things we all did.
Adi Da himself was clearly a seeker, although he claimed not to be, and he turned out to be a rather obsessive one, from what I could see. And all of those that I observed in the community, including myself at the time, were definitely seekers who pursued a practice and a lifestyle that was the epitome of seeking, exaggerated mightily through Adi Da’s influence. Some sought the holy grail of enlightenment, while others sought power and status, while others simply sought protection and refuge from the “world” or were looking to escape the former life of theirs that wasn’t making them happy.
Today, I would never even remotely entertain the possibility of associating with this warped and imploded cult. I’ve worked very hard to create a life filled with friends, family, wealth, music, intellectual pursuits, and circumstance filled with beauty. I am basically at peace and happy with my life, having been blessed by fate and whatever gods there may be, as well as having made what turned out to be some very good choices. Today I stand at what is likely the pinnacle of my journey through this world. Am I now “already happy?” Insofar as I think there’s anything real about such a description, I’d say hell yes.
Would a person like me become a devotee of Adi Da’s and live in his community? No way. And if everything I had were taken away in the wink of an eye by some devastating tragedy, what about then? Hell no. Who but an obsessive, desperate or fearful seeker would subject himself to the indignities of Adi Da’s delusional fantasy world and voluntarily infect himself with its toxic mind-forms? At this point in time, his game is a tough sell, an obvious failure that has lived on past its prime.
No, we were not already happy when we came to Adi Da, but then again neither was he. Over time, his unhappiness has weighed upon him, as is fitting for one who has imprisoned himself within a mythology built on lies and self-deception; aided by the sycophantic vampires who surround him and the sheep whose blood they suck.