The foundation of the Way of Adidam is the devotional relationship to Avatar Adi Da Samraj, rooted in heart-recognition of Him as the Living Divine Person.
This fundamental practice is Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga — the turning of the entire being (with its four principal faculties — body, emotion, mind, and breath) to Avatar Adi Da Samraj.
Once a devotee of Avatar Adi Da has become firmly established in the moment to moment practice of Ruchira Avatara Bhakti Yoga (in conjunction with all the forms of life-discipline Given by Him), then the devotee's body-mind has become a "vessel" capable of truly receiving His Spiritual Transmission, or His tangible Spirit-Baptism.
Without such preparation, the devotee is not capable of rightly conducting (and truly benefiting from) Avatar Adi Da's Spiritual Transmission.
Thus, the initial (or student-beginner) stage of the Way of Adidam is specifically a devotional practice, not a Spiritual practice. During this stage, the devotee is concentrated simply in cultivating his or her devotional relationship to Avatar Adi Da Samraj — because he or she is not yet equipped to enter into a Spiritual relationship.
Indeed, the student-beginner devotee must take care not to develop any delusions about being involved in Spiritual practice or in a Spiritual relationship to Avatar Adi Da. Such a misapprehension can only slow the process of preparation for real and true Spiritual Communion with Him.
In due course, with continued right application to the practice of the Way of Adidam, the devotional relationship to Avatar Adi Da becomes a devotional-and-Spiritual relationship.
This momentous transition can only occur by Avatar Adi Da's Grace. It is not something an individual can achieve through any form of self-effort. The Spiritual relationship to Avatar Adi Da can only be Initiated by Avatar Adi Da Himself — as a Gift of His Own Spiritual Being, in-Filling the body-mind of His devotee.
Thus, the devotee brings the "vessel" of a rightly prepared body-mind to Avatar Adi Da — and must continue to do so in every moment. But only Avatar Adi Da can make the relationship Spiritual, by Spiritually Infusing (or Baptizing) His devotee with His Own Current of Love-Bliss-Happiness — not in a single "moment" of Initiation, but continuously, in response to the devotee's constant turning to Him.
What Makes Spiritual Practice "Spiritual"?
When Avatar Adi Da uses the word "Spiritual", He means something very specific — the reception of His Spirit-Baptism (or Spiritual Transmission). His Spirit-Baptism is a Divine Energy Which He Eternally Transmits, and Which is tangibly felt (as an Overwhelming Force of Love-Bliss-"Brightness") in the body-mind of the devotee who is prepared to receive It.
In so defining "Spiritual", Avatar Adi Da Samraj is making the ultimate Revelation of the nature of esoteric Spirituality.
From the conventional (or exoteric) point of view, "spirituality" is a rather vague term — indicating, primarily, that one acknowledges the existence of a non-material (or beyond-the-physical, or "spiritual") Power, traditionally known as "God", and that one is moved to conform one's life to that Power.
However, from the esoteric point of view, Spirituality is, literally, to receive the Spirit, in body and mind — as an overwhelming and undeniable experiential reality.
The contrast between these two points of view may be summarized thus:
exoteric
esoteric
believing in the Spirit (as "God")
experiencing the Spirit (in the terms characteristic of the given tradition)
obeying the (primarily moral) rules presumed to have been established by God
undergoing profound life-transformation by the Graceful Baptism (or Infusion) of Spiritual Energy
potentially culminating in a moral life lived in the fundamental disposition of worshipping the Divine
potentially culminating in true Spiritual Realization of one or another real degree
The profound meaning of "Spiritual", when the word is used in its esoteric sense, is the reason that Avatar Adi Da consistently capitalizes it.
