"Leela" of Adi Da's Mahasamadhi?
Updated: Aug 19
Adi Da: "You, self-contracted in the midst of conditions, feel disturbed, full of stress, unhappy and so forth, and so you sometimes get the notion of indulging yourself in this, that, or the other thing, to feel better and then, having found that worked at least a little bit, you want to repeat it and so forth. And so you develop habits of self-indulgence, which in their repetition become less and less pleasurable, more and more addictive, and stressful in the seeking. Rather than become addicts then, of anything at all, seekers, you should “consider” this seriously, the fact that you don't feel good, that simply in the midst of this human condition here, you don’t just feel good. You’re not just happy. Its not enough. It’s all kinds of not enough. It’s a lot worse than not enough. But don’t make the judgement that because it doesn’t feel good you should become addicted, a seeker after this or that fulfillment, pleasure and so forth. That’s fruitless involvement.
But take the fact that’s at the origin of all addictions seriously – you’re very right. All addicts are right. They don’t feel good and they know it. And they want to feel good. And that’s good. [laughter] But the method of seeking and addiction and habit, and so forth, doesn’t achieve that. So, rather than becoming addicted or reactive, neurotic and whatever else, you should be made serious by this fact – that you don't feel good. And no kind of addiction or pleasure-seeking is going to make you feel good in the sense of Realizing Happiness altogether.
Allow this seriousness to generate the only choice that makes intelligent sense. And that is the religious life. Not the life of gleeful, cultic enthusiasm. I mean the life of real sadhana. That is the process, the serious and profound human process, that is about the Realization of Happiness. True, most profound Happiness, That Which Is Always Already the Case, that cannot be lost, cannot be destroyed-True Freedom. The true religious life is about that. Not the merely consoling, ordinary, exoteric religious life and all the variations of cultism around it, but the real religious life is about this seriousness. Its not about show business, you see.
The real religious life is about the serious ordeal of life committed to Happiness. It’s for one, for all, who cannot commit themselves to anything but Happiness – and true pleasure, therefore. It cannot be realized apart from the sadhana of the real religious life. And it is not realized ultimately, apart from the Realization of the seventh stage."
