central teaching of this path is that all seeking
requires constant activity, a factor that, in itself,
prevents conscious realization and perfect hap-
piness. Because the means used on any path are
always changing, no method of seeking is ever
permanently successful. Adi Da asserts that he
has attained the Most Perfect Happiness and can
transmit this divine Self-realization to others.
Thus, a devotional relationship with Adi Da is the
source of divine Self-realization. The Way of the
Heart employs meditation, study, worship, com-
munal living, and dietary and sexual disciplines
as means for “radical” understanding and com-
munion with Adi Da.
The educational organization of Adidam is the
Laughing Man Institute, which propagates the
teaching of Adi Da around the world. Adidam also
has a publishing vehicle, the Dawn Horse Press,
which publishes The Adidam Revelation Magazine
and books about and by Adi Da.
At the turn of the 21st century Adidam reported
over 1,000 members worldwide, the majority of
whom live in the United States. Centers have been
opened in New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain,
and Fiji. Ashrams currently are located in Fiji,
Hawaii, and northern California.
See also BONDER, SANIEL.
Further reading: Saniel Bonder, The Divine Emergence of
the World-Teacher Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda (Clear-
lake, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1990); Adi Da Samraj,
Avatar Adi Da Samraj and the First 25 Years of His Divine
Revelation Work (Middletown, Calif.: Dawn Horse
Press, 1997); ———, The Knee of Listening (Clearlake,
Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1973); ———, See My Bright-
ness Face to Face: A Celebration of the Rachira Buddha
(Middletown, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1997).
Adidam See ADI DA SAMRAJ.
Adi Granth See SIKHISM.
Adinatha See RISHABHA.
Adipurana
The Adipurana is an important SANSKRIT text of the
DIGAMBARA Jains (see JAINISM). It records the lives of
the 63 great men of Jain history and myth (which
are also recorded later in the larger compendium of
HEMACHANDRA, The History of the 63 Famous Men).
It was begun in Karnataka state by JINASENA around
the ninth century C.E. and completed by one of his
students, GUNABHADRA, whose addition bears the
separate name of Uttarapuranam.
The Adipurana was the first major Jain text
that openly integrated elements of Hinduism into
the Jain philosophical framework. Jinasena pro-
vides for Jain BRAHMINS (who are not, however,
allowed the haughtiness and privilege of Hindu
Brahmins), the caste system (which in the Jain
view is a political institution, not a birthright),
various Hindu life transition rituals, and elements
of Hindu temple ritual, which are given differ-
ent philosophical interpretations. For example,
Jinasena provided the first Jain fire rituals, which
are clearly Vedic, Brahmanical rituals revalorized
for the Jain context. Jinasena also establishes a set
of “traditional” Jain MANTRAs to mirror the Hindu
tradition.
See also JAINISM.Further reading: P. S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification
(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979); ———, “Jaina Pura-
nas: A Puranic Counter Tradition.” In Purana Perennis:
Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts.
Edited by Wendy Doniger (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1993); George Ralph Strohl, “The
Image of the Hero in Jainism: Rsabha, Bharata and
Bahubali in the Adipurana of Jinasena” (Diss., Univer-
sity of Chicago, 1984); Moriz Winternitz, History of
Indian Literature (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1967).Adishesha (also Shesha or Ananta)
Adishesha, the divine thousand-headed ser-
pent, is the couch for Lord VISHNU as he sleeps
between eras on the vast ocean of milk. When
the MILK OCEAN was churned by the demons
and gods to produce the nectar of immortality,Adishesha 7 J