The Bright Occasion

If you all would stop struggling in front of Me,
and walk behind Me, as I have told you—
then you would see Me.

Adi Da Samraj
from The Happenine Book

I painted this portrait of Adi Da Samraj walking through Samraj Mahal towards the beach after I was on retreat at Adi Da Samrajashram. During that retreat I served at Samraj Mahal every day and was blessed to see Adi Da walking through the breezeway or to Picture Perfect daily. The way He walked was a perfect sign of balance, equanimity, free ease, and grace.

This drawing of Adi Da Samraj was inspired by a story about a moment of instruction that He gave to Jeff Polson. One day Jeff was sitting in front of Adi Da at Owl Sandwiches, a thatched-roof bure at the Matrix, on the island of Naitauba. Adi Da looked down at Jeff and said "You have served me a long time Jeff. You serve me in my house." Jeff said back to him "I want to serve you in your house always". In response Adi Da said "Then it's like this". He dropped his feet to the floor, leaned forward slightly, cast his eyes to the ground, and sat there motionless. He said no more and neither did Jeff. Jeff said it was the greatest instruction he ever had. It is instruction to him every day.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This is a symbolic painting expressing the nature of flowers: open, full, brilliant, and alive. We humans can learn a lot about how to live life by observing flowers and how they are without the quality of contraction in the face of mortality. They continue to bloom and be beautiful signs of life despite the inevitability of death. This painting was inspired by these words spoken by Adi Da Samraj:

The felt quantity and cycle to death has not modified the fragility of flowers, even the flowers within our human body. Examine flowers, examine the delicate structures of the world. If death were what it seems to be, what we assume it to be from the point of view of our willful narcissistic attempt to survive in particular form without change, if it were what we conceive it to be, why wouldn't something as fragile as flowers, for instance, begin to show the effects? Why do flowers continue to manifest---open, full, brilliant, alive, without the quality of contraction, if death were what we think it is? Just so the flowers, the open, living, psychic, subtle life within us has not itself been made obsolete by the endless death that is periodically experienced by all entities. As soon as we turn to these functions in ourselves we see that they are alive, full, completely available. The only thing that suppresses them is in fact this notion we have of what life is, what makes life shrink and contract and become obsolete. Life in itself is not modified at all by the quality of death, nor is Consciousness, real Consciousness. Therefore our understanding of Consciousness and life must be turned to that inclusive quality, that clarity and wisdom, that power and untouchable gracefulness this evidence suggests. This evidence of the flowers.

This watercolor painting is inspired by Adi Da's words about the nature of flowers. Flowers are "open, full, brilliant, and alive, without the quality of contraction." A chrysanthemum floats in a gold circle of infinity above a calm sea. The chrysanthemum symbolizes happiness, purity, longevity and rejuvenation. The lotus flowers around the border symbolize awakening, transformation, and rebirth. I wanted this piece to feel like a thangka or a yantra that illustrates the disposition of flowering to infinity.

"The Heart’s within of One and Only flower is a living faith and not a happened mind’s idea."

On the night of Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj’s Mahasamadhi , His transition from the body, I was overcome with emotion. My Guru was no longer physically here in this world. This was devastating to me, and I longed to be with Him. I fell asleep briefly and had a powerful dream. I was flying over the island of Naitauba in Fiji, Adi Da’s principal home. At first I was flying very high so that I could see the whole island below me. Then I swooped down closer in to the island, at the level of the cliffs. I was flying clockwise around the perimeter of the island. The wind was blowing hard, trees were bending and the air felt wild around me. The ocean was churned up, waves were moving in every direction outside the protective reef. I saw many sharks and whales swimming around Naitauba. I sensed that they were there for a purpose. I flew all the way around the island, then I woke up.

I arrived on Naitauba two days later. I found out from the Fijians that it is traditionally understood that when the Tui (or Fijian Chief) dies the sharks come to the island to pay their respect to the Tui. When I heard this I felt that my dream had not been a dream at all. I felt that I had actually been there witnessing that moment . This painting is an illustration of what I saw, the image and the feeling of it was so impactful to me that it was easy to remember. Turaga Dau Loloma Vunirarama is Adi Da’s Fijian name.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This is a painting of Da Love-Ananda Mahal, the hermitage retreat sanctuary of Adi Da Samraj, on the island of Kauai. The property is at the base of Mt. Waialeale, a sacred mountain to the Hawaiian people, whose name means “rippling water” or “overflowing water”. It is the second tallest peak on Kauai, rising up to 5,000 feet. It is one of the wettest places on Earth. Waterfalls descend from the mountain and merge to form the beginning of the Wailua River. The sanctuary sits just above the river, you can hear the pounding and churning of the water from the grounds. This painting shows the top of the Dome Temple surrounded by lush foliage and trees. The mountain stands strong behind it, as water rises up as mist, and waterfalls descend into the river. The top of the mountain is often covered in clouds, but I wanted the full mountain to be seen, with the full moon shining just above the peak of it. There is great mana (or power) in this place. The feeling of the sanctuary and the mountain was of primal importance to me while I painted this.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This painting is of the The Outshining Brightness, the Mahasamadhi site of Adi Da Samraj, on the island of Naitauba. The building sits in a grassy clearing on a hill that is surrounded by trees and rock outcroppings. The time of day is sunset, the sky is filled with brightly colored clouds. A flag with “Da” in Sanskrit is planted in the meadow in front of the temple. This is a sacred place that is pristine, peaceful, and beautiful. I painted this with a feeling heart, with love, and in service and celebration of Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This is a painting of Adi Da’s house at the Matrix on the island of Naitauba. The cove there is spectacular, clear waters with a gentle tide that comes in to a curved beach. The house looks out over a wide view of the Pacific, with the neighboring islands small and distant at the horizon line. This place is very special to me. Some of the happiest moments of my life happened here. The sunsets are over-the-top dramatic and colorful, this is the way it often looks there. The time of day is just after sunset, when things get quiet and the fruit bats fly out from a tree on the hillside to begin their evening.

Radiance is mounted in an anodized aluminum frame with decorative hand-made paper matting.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This painting depicts the roofline of Adi Da’s house at the Matrix on the island of Naitauba. This is the view from standing inside the courtyard looking towards the ocean and the setting sun. I lived there at the Matrix and served Adi Da. I can remember how it felt to be there in the evenings. His house would be lit softly, light glowing out from the sliding screen doors on three sides of His bedroom. Only a few other lights from the bures lit up the far hillside. The air moist with salt and the dissipating heat of the day, the often wild wind calm. At these times I felt a real peacefulness, both in the natural environment and in me. I felt like I was home.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This painting was inspired during an afternoon at a house near Jenner on the Sonoma coast. I came around the corner of the house to see the sun setting over the ocean. There was a mask hanging on the wall, but the sun was so bright in my eyes I could not discern much detail in the mask, it appeared to be darkened in all the light. The profile of the mask seemed to be peering out over the sea. I liked the vision, so I painted it.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This is the way that the sky looked on the nights after Adi Da’s Mahasamadhi. In the boat laden with devotees from all over the world, this sky drew us through the reef to Naitauba. The crescent moon was hanging in the sky over the island, with two stars positioned above it. The light from the moon danced brightly over the calm waters. It was a beautiful and most unusual constellation, one that was impossible to miss. I made this painting as a way of honoring that moment, the pilgrimage to Naitauba. Then the pilgrimage to the Brightness , to offer Him gifts there and sit in attendance at His burial site. It was a time that was a mixture of sadness, raw emotions, heart openness, celebration, and letting go. The empty boat symbolizes His departure from this physical world, I draped a Fijian salu salu over the boat as an offering to Him. The sky I painted exactly as I remembered it. You can see the tip of the island and the beach that welcomes the arriving boats.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

I was thinking about how would like to paint three persimmons. The persimmons represent the three stations of the heart in Adi Da’s Teaching. The next thing I knew I had the design right there in my mind’s eye. All of the elements were there, which is unusual in my process. I immediately made a sketch of the design. The rolling ocean of patterned waves is the depth, the sea of bliss. The stylized gold leaf cloud represents spirit, breath, or air. The cloud moves across and behind the three persimmons, or the heart. The sun is light or radiance. The two triangles coming down are composed of paisley patterns. Winding around the paisley patterns are the words of the Beloved, I Am Da letter written by Adi Da in 1979. I was able to copy His handwriting directly from a copy of the letter that was given to devotees at that time.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

Pen and pencil drawing depicting advice given to a devotee by Adi Da Samraj..."Kick out the Neanderthal".

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

A painting of Holy Cat Grotto at the Mountain of Attention sanctuary....

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

This is a representation of Red-Sitting Man, a holy site at the Mountain of Attention Sanctuary in Northern California. This is a site where fire pujas are performed on the full moon.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

A chrysanthemum in its perfection being viewed with the light of the full moon. In Japan there is a tradition of inviting guests to your garden when the chrysanthemum is in perfect bloom, timing the gathering with the full moon. A night of taking in beauty, quiet wonderment with a little green tea.

Giclées are printed on Cold Press Bright White paper; 310g, water-resistant, and made from 100% cotton fiber, acid and lignin free.

A Perfect Night is available in high gloss metal print form for interior or exterior use. Have a look....