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 calls “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 and devotees of Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj, Felix Woldenberg and Alan Corne have been 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 2006. 

Bhagavan Adi Da Samraj instructed Felix and Alan in different ways and settings about the devotional 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 the master. 

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

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 emotion, attention and bodily worship.

NAADA OM's orientation aims 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). 

To continue this yearly service to the devotional culture of Adi Da Samrajashram, NAADA OM is releasing four albums made up of recordings from live performances that occurred during the 2017 celebrations. 

All proceeds from the sale of these albums will go to support NAADA OM's return to Naitauba on a yearly basis, and thereby the creation of new musical offerings and future album releases. 

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”.