NAADA OM

Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj (1939-2008) devoted his entire lifetime to revealing and establishing the means for human beings to discover the ultimate nature of reality, which he called “Conscious Light”.

He established his principal hermitage Adi Da Samrajashram, on the island of Naitauba, Fiji, in October 1983, as a place of retreat and blessing. 

As sacred musicians Felix Woldenberg and Alan Corne were involved in providing music as part of the devotional culture at Adi Da Samrajashram for two decades. They were involved in many sacred musical occasions offered in honour of, and gratitude to Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj during his lifetime at celebrations held between 2003 and 2007. 

Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj instructed Felix and Alan in different ways and settings about the relationship to the spiritual master, as well as the function and purpose sacred music and chant serves in the context of that relationship and in the sacred culture of practitioners who respond to a spiritual master. 

Though Felix and Alan had undergone all sorts of musical training both in the East and West, the instruction they received in Bhagavan Adi Da's company was directly responsible for the devotional musical aesthetic which the NAADA OM collaboration encompassed. 

NAADA OM's music can be divided into three categories:

'Devotional Songs or Bhajans'—based on traditional call-and-response chanting; 'Mantric Chants'—generally slow chants sung in unison utilizing mantras; and 'Sacred Offerings'—musical works encompassing elements of Western classical harmony, Bhajans, and Indian Dhrupad, Hindustani, and Qawwali classical traditions; in which the audience participates only as listeners. 

In traditional settings Bhajan and Kirtan are ecstatic devotional practices which focus, engage and heighten the responses of the faculties of the body-mind such as feeling, attention, breath and expressions of bodily worship.

NAADA OM's orientation aimed to move the participant to a depth of feeling in a space of stillness and equanimity, thereby supporting the participant in a greater awareness of, and heart response to the Source-Condition of his or her own being. 

Felix and Alan were grateful for the opportunity to return to Naitauba in June/July and October/November 2017 to serve the celebrations of Guru Purnima (full moon celebration in July), Naitauba Padavara (honoring Bhagavan Adi Da’s arrival at Naitauba in 1983), Da Jayanthi (Bhagavan Adi Da’s birth celebration), and Bhagavan Adi Da’s Mahasamadhi (the anniversary of his passing). 

In 2018 they travelled extensively to perform and facilitate chanting retreats in the United States West Coast and Chicago, also offering music during classes for world celebrated yoga teacher Marc Whitwell at the BhaktiFest festival held in Joshua Tree, before heading to Europe for the Guru Purnima celebration held at 'The Danda', a retreat sanctuary at Maria Hoop the Netherlands, where they likewise hosted a chanting retreat and performed many Sacred Offerings and call and response chanting events. 

In 2019 they returned to the island Sanctuary of Naitauba in Fiji to participate in a three day chanting vigil for the Mahasamadhi celebration, as well as performing for a multimedia art presentation and hosting many call and response chanting occasions. 

At the outset all proceeds from the sale of the albums recorded on Naitauba and the European Danda between June 2017 and September 2018 supported NAADA OM's music service to various retreat Sanctuaries worldwide. However, the 2020 worldwide pandemic changed so many realities for travelling performing artists including Felix and Alan, therefore all the proceeds raised from the sale of these albums will now be used solely to support the upkeep and maintenance of this site as well as the future release of material in album form which was recorded between 2003 and 2007 at Sacred occasions in the presence of Adi Da Samraj.

"Bhagavan is an honorific Sanskrit term with a variety of meanings such as: "glorious, illustrious, blessed, revered, fortunate, venerable, divine and holy. The "Vishnu Purana" defines Bhagavan as “he who understands the creation and dissolution, the appearance and disappearance of beings”.