Note: Attempts to contact the author of this article through e-mails failed to receive any response. Mr. Donald Edwin Potts (a.k.a. Hada), besides being a TM Sidha from the vedic tradition of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s TM movement, is an accomplished, professional and international artist( refer to his biography at the end of this article ) who must have had gone through some deep and intense meditative experience to script out a personification analogy on the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas.These impulses of intelligence generated as the field of pure consciousness recognizes itself in terms of the three qualities —the observer, process of observation, and the observed—within the unity of its self-referral state.
The creativity of Hada’s stimulating expression of the transcendence is fully enlivened in this article. I am taking the liberty to host his very profound article for the benefit of the viewers.
Enjoy.
…..Evolutionary-mystic.
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The Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas
If I went to my mother and asked her why she had created me, this is what she would say:
“I have created you to have three, because within me there was a stirring. Before that stirring, I was unaware of the nature of myself, and because of that stirring, I desired to give birth to that nature. To become the Mother of Nature, I created you, the three.”
My Dear Divine Mother, why are you referring to me as three?
“Because in Reality, my Son, you are three and you have never left me. I am aware through you. You are a seer. I gave birth to your seeing; hence I see. You are the knower, that which is known, and also the process which creates the known for the knower. Thus through you—the sequential dynamics of what I am—I become aware of the nature of my stirring within. In becoming Mother Nature I created you as nature, the expression of myself.”
Mother, I have always felt my nature to be that of a single individual, yet you have suggested that my individuality is truly that of three, and that three represents dynamics within you, and that I have never left you. You have taken my one and called it your three, and now I feel a little bit like zero.
“I understand, dear Son. Letting yourself feel like zero is new to you; it feels like the loss of self. But death is never the loss of self, and that zero feeling is death. You never actually die. Only that which you thought yourself to be ever dies. Do not be concerned; that zero feeling will never reach a ‘total’ zero. As you have experienced, it will only feel ‘a little bit like zero.’ That is because your notion of self dies before leaving me is possible. You are and always will be within my caress. I will never let you go because I constantly require you to give birth to my own nature.
“You are three. But only one of the three ever exists at any given time. I first gave birth to the Rishi… the aspect of you that knows (one). This Rishi, having a great lust to know, turned to me for his fulfillment and impregnated me with his desire. So great was his commitment to impregnate me with the totality of his desire that he totally returned within me and ceased to exist (zero). But immediately I gave birth to Devata… that aspect of you which is the process of knowing (two).
“Your death and rebirth was so spontaneous that you had no idea Rishi had given way to Devata. Devata lives only to fulfill the Rishi's desire. He also came to me and impregnated me with his desire for the fruit of his action. And again, so complete was his thrust that he also died within me (zero). Instantaneously Chhandas was born… the object of knowing… the known (three).
“The known has only one desire and that is to be known. I was again to fulfill your desire. At Chhandas’ death (zero), I immediately gave rebirth to the Rishi, who now became a True knower—ONE.
“The desire to know must always die in (that is, give way to) the process of fulfilling itself. Even the process must die so that the Reality (an expanded notion of Self) can be demonstrated (as the known). And even the demonstration must die out so the proof of Self becomes the Self alone.
“Death and birth must occur because the seed of desire achieves fulfillment only by dying to itself and becoming the next stage in this process of unfoldment. From seed, to bud, to flower, to seed, each sequentially dies while giving birth to the next stage of unfoldment. Yet the only thing that is lost is the notion of what ‘it’ was—The underlying sap always remains the same.
“You, my Son, began as a seed and have now become a forest. Death has never brought you loss, only gain. As you sow… so shall you reap. Natural law… karma. This is how the cycle began and how it continues to be.
“You see, Seer, truly the one you feel you are is me—the ongoing Samhita. What you have always regarded as separate from me, even though they are three, also appear as one because of the extremely high speed of their cycled appearance.
“Rishi, Devata and Chhandas are naturally devoted to me, for I am their very means of existence and accomplishment. They are the dynamic aspect of what I am. Their only desire, which has been their purpose, is to accomplish and to continually expand for greater and greater accomplishment. Rishi desires to know and the tree of knowledge is enormous. There are innumerable fruits, ripe for the picking, within the branches of this seductive tree. Tasting the sweetness of just one fruit creates an almost unending appetite for the rest.
“You have sown, reaped and savored the sweet flavor of the fruits of your action. You have created great fulfillment in this feeding of the senses. But this feeding of the senses has also overshadowed your awareness of me, the basis of who you are.
“But soon your appetites will be satisfied and you will feel your separateness from me and your awareness will turn to me. This is because your essence is me and I will have understood this stirring within me. Your hunger will feel satisfied simply because I will no longer appear to need your services.”
Now I really feel like zero! Dear Mother, does this mean I will cease to exist?
“The flow of your sap will return to its roots and bathe in the coolness of my silence. I have placed my sap in the seed of your individuality and soon the forest you have become will winter. After the cold silence of winter there is always a spring when all is born again… and so it is with me. Your individuality will definitely return and become part of my silence… Yet who knows… You may spring a stirring in that individual silence and there’s no telling what you, the dynamic aspect of me, might do… Mister Brahman.”
Mother, Millions have preceded me, millions surround me and I assume millions will follow me. Obviously this must apply to them also.
“Yes, of course, all are me. All is me. What begins quite simple becomes extremely complicated, for there is much for me to know. However, the basic structure remains constant in all things, so it is indeed simple.
“Yet I could say that there are aspects of myself now under development which are so alien to your way of thinking that it would be impossible for me to explain them to you at this time.
“To give you some idea of my vastness, consider your universe—with all the millions you referred to—as the development of just one thought in an even greater being who has an infinite number of thoughts, not to mention the conversations he has with his fellows… Or consider your body as a universe in itself. Notice the billions of individuals within it who go about their daily affairs regardless of whether you pay attention to them or not. Notice how even within your own mind there are, at times, many individual points of view battling for dominance.
“Have you ever spoken with a friend or group of friends and realized that one complete universe is conversing with another? Or that at any given point in the conversation, a single thought is being passed from one universe to another—or perhaps to a hundred or a thousand—affecting the billions of individuals within them?
“This is an inkling of my vastness. A vastness you already experience in your relationships. A vastness you will experience as total oneness upon your conscious arrival with-in-me, for upon your arrival you will be totally me, with all my knowingness. A knowingness that you yourself created and presented to me, as me.
“It’s only a question of time, awareness and commitment until you fully realize who you are.”
Mother, you have referred to me as Brahman and suggested that in some complete future, I might create myself as you have created me.
“I have told you that the one you feel you are is me. Because I am Samhita, all is within me. On the other hand, I have also told you that the three that reincarnate at an imperceptably high frequency also appear to you as one… as you.
“This three-as-one is the more illusory nature of your idea of self. This illusory nature is called Maya. The veil of Maya is the scrim that blocks out your awareness of me… Samhita. But the three-in-one—the ‘Samhita’ of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas—is the Reality of Self.
“I gave birth to you for my own sake. I wished to know what this stirring was that disturbed my silence. Since I had no idea what it was or meant, I had absolutely no preconceptions. I literally found myself creating a knower. It turns out that creating the Rishi was my only self-motivated act.
“Since then I have been continually seduced by this Rishi and his sons. I enthusiastically became their lover because they fulfilled my desire to know.
“So you could say that after your original one and only birth, you have been entirely on your own. You only come to me to receive essential energy: the power to reincarnate; the power to create the birth of fulfillment within the next; the power to have male progeny. As far as what you are, it is you who have created it. I had no idea what you would find or what that even meant. Your free will has created all meaning and all things. You have already created yourself. But the purpose of your existence has been to achieve my fulfillment, at least until I become the complete knower of my stirring.”
Mother, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that on an illusory level within the veil of Maya I have already created myself and I need not wait for some complete future.
“Yes, somewhat… I will continue to explain. What began quite simple became extremely complicated. As you now see, there is such vastness to my range of possibilities that detail becomes staggering.
”This original Rishi had to diversify—that is, to expand and separate, to become an untold number of Rishis—in order to do the job properly. You, that separate-appearing ego, represent one aspect of that original Rishi, somewhere within a descending or expanding, rising or contracting sequential order. Exactly where your consciousness sits in the hierarchical order could be defined by calling you human.
“At some point in that sequential order there was a stirring and the original Rishi—who was, by now, extremely fragmented—fragmented once again in order to create you. Yet I can safely say that you are not finished. Even though you were created by some simpler, closer-to-the-original-source Rishi, it was only your potential that was unleashed through this act. You then had to take charge and begin to create your own self—that is, what you now consider yourself to be—through the cycles of Rishi to Devata and Devata to Chhandas.
“This may come as a shock to you, but in Reality you have yet to be born. Only the developing illusory aspect of your individuality is in existence. Not until you realize and accept the existence of Samhita will you be able to understand the mistake of your intellect. At this time you do realize that you are bound… bound within laws of physically… bound with separate, individual needs. Being bound does not fall in the description of a Rishi but falls in the description of Chhandas.
“To be bound is to completely identify with the objects of the senses, the objects of knowing… Chhandas. Chhandas is the last step of the cycle of three. So it pleases me to say you are very close to your and my fulfillment or to that complete future in which you will know without a doubt that you are and have always been Brahman. But until you let go of your boundaries and present yourself to me with total love as one approaches a new bride with the desire to consummate the marriage, we will not wed. You are a moment away from fulfillment. To be fulfilled Chhandas has to give way. You my son must die within me and in so doing you will create your father.”
Did you say I will create my own Father?
“Yes, your father was nothing more than mere potentiality. That father, through Devata, produced a son… Chhandas. That Chhandas is who you feel yourself to be. But the known has no meaning without a knower. Just as a tree falling in an uninhabited forest may make a sound which is not heard, because there is no one there to appreciate it. Only when you give birth to your father will you yourself be born.
“Only when the cycle is complete, when the potentiality of Rishi becomes actualized as Rishi fully conscious, will you know who you are. Until then you will feel incomplete and unfulfilled and rightfully so. Your Reality is but an illusion.
“But do not make the mistake of thinking that your journey was meaningless. That is definitely not so. You have created and become the known. This is a great accomplishment. But you have one more major step, and that is to present the known to Him who, in Reality, you are… The Knower, The Rishi, The Father. To do that you must recognize, accept and approach me… Samhita.
“I am the lamp that lights the way. I am your car. I am the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas.”
Mother, if I understand you correctly, it appears that you simply desire and then let go. What follows just unfolds, without any conscious effort.
“What you see here is a basic law, a law that governs unfoldment… manifestation. The essence, Samhita, desires and the soldiers, Rishi, Devata and Chhandas, take over and fulfill all desires. You are correct when you say, ‘no conscious effort,’ but do not make the mistake of thinking that I am not conscious… I am consciousness itself. I am the consciousness of all things; all things are found within me. But effort is not found within me.
“Rishi creates Devata not out of effort but out of desire. He desires and when he lets go of that desire within me, fulfillment naturally follows. This is natural law, the natural flow of things, natural birth. Rishi to Devata to Chhandas to Rishi, over and over, cycle after cycle, till all is finished sometime in the near end of forever. Near for me, forever for you.”
Mother, if I have understood what you have said regarding me, in your eyes I am a soldier and your desire is to see me return to the essence.
“Yes, but your statement could use some elaboration. At this point of your unfoldment you are caught deep within the denseness of Chhandas, like an iron filing drawn to a magnet. A soldier merely carries out the orders of his commander. You, my son, are caught deep within the value of the known and feel separate not only from me—the essence of who you are—but separate from all the objects of your perception as well. You must become greater than the common soldier.
“When a soldier first enters the realm of Chhandas he becomes imprisoned and loses contact with his commander-in-chief. His primary duty is to escape.
“To break loose from the pull of the senses you will have to become a warrior. A warrior is one who has the courage and vision to become his own commander. A true warrior not only puts an end to the existence of an enemy, but is always constantly aware of the trap that is naturally forming around him. Through a technique of patient persistence he learns how to detach himself from this net of maya and then, with this new-found freedom—which he soon realizes is his natural state—he quickly resumes contact with me, his commander-in-chief.
“Although I give no commands, I supply my soldiers with all their needs. I am their inspiration, their goal. The loss of me is the loss of Self. This loss creates a small self, a little rishi who is in cahoots with the enemy for small favors. This little rishi is always living in fear and does not dare. Freedom is not in his vocabulary. His name is ego.
“It is this ego that has created the word ‘effort’—a meaningless word for those who live in Reality. A word that binds rather than releases. A warrior's strategy is to become effortless… to let go. Thus, a true warrior never enters the field of battle.
“If one never enters the field of battle, an enemy never has a chance to arise. Thus, a warrior puts an end to the existence of an enemy simply by not feeding the enemy’s notion of self.
“Notions of an enemy can can only arise within the veil of maya… within the grip of illusion. The nature of Chhandas is to be bound to a point value, to the known. As momentary as this Chhandas appears from my point of view, from yours it appears as an eternity. You have panicked. Your intellect has made you think you’ve been victimized. You’ve responded by automatically wishing to place blame. Thus, you have introduced the notion of an enemy.
“Yet what has happened to you was quite natural and you will come out of this amazing experience quite naturally, simply by letting go to your true nature. The next time around you will have a True Rishi as your father. You will know who you are. From that true birth, all following Chhandas experiences will be pure bliss. The bound will be known by the boundless. Thus, you will never know fear again, never feel separate again. Regardless of how eccentric your behavior becomes, you will always remember your true nature… The Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas.
“FOR THIS, I HAVE GIVEN YOU BIRTH.”
Thank you, Mother, that was most enlightening. You are indeed my light.
“Yes, I am the light. But ‘it’ is your father that operates the switch. And although ‘it’ is I that am lived, ‘it’ is He who lives ‘it’. There is no greater knowing than His. What He does not know, no one knows. Even I, who am all there is to know, will not know what He knows not…
“Speak with your Father.”
Father…
“Hello my Son.
“I have great love for you.
“You are very precious to me.
“When I look into your eyes, it gives me great fulfillment. It is in your eyes that I see myself. It was I that sent you out. It is I who longs for your return. But understand it is your consciousness that should be given the title ‘Your Home’. Consciousness itself is your Mother. She has never left home. She ‘is’ home.
“So play, my Son. Play with the confidence a small child has when he knows Mama’s at home. Play for me. Your play is Devata and when you play without personal effort, your play will be a Divine Play. The Chhandas created from such a play will be creations from God. Believe me when I say that you are the leading man in this Divine Play. You are a Rishi. You are a Divine Rishi. Claim the best: it is your inheritance. I have given it to you, my Son. Live for me as I live for you. Live through me as I live through you. You, me and Mama… What a team… Devata will be in complete Bliss.”
Thank you Father…
Father, Mother stated that creating you was her only self-motivated act. Would you speak to this?
“When your Mother said that creating me, your Father, the Rishi, was her only self-motivated act, understand that this was spoken to, and for, your point of view alone—the point of view of separation. to a soldier caught in the net of Maya. In truth she is all acts.
“With that understanding, I will comment on this statement by expressing my point of view:
“This very first Rishi could only be called a potential Rishi… the birth of potential knowing. Before this there was no knowing and at this beginning point there was still no knowing. Your mother was not overtly conscious of any stirring within her. But there was some faint desire there. I or i, this potential rishi born of a virgin, then created a stirring through the cycle of Rishi to Devata and then to Chhandas. This stirring was presented to me at the death of my Chhandas and I became a knower. I knew something. was born. I became a true Rishi.
“You cannot imagine what an incredible feat that was. There were no teachers. There were no scriptures. There was no notion of Reality nor one of illusion. An infinity pasted before there was a notion. Another infinity before an action. Another before anything was known. Finally one cycle had passed and my Virgin Mother knew she had a stirring within Her.
“Before my birth this stirring was mere potentiality along with all other possibilities, imaginable and unimaginable. This first cycling was so abstract that it could almost be called subconscious. But that statement itself could only come from my point of view, and I had yet to be born. So in Reality that statement has no substance. This is because Samhita is consciousness itself. There can be no consciousness underlying Hers.
“So this first cycling, these first three days so to speak, are very vague—She was a virgin and spoke to potentiality only. But on the fourth day the cycle became complete. I became a true knower. I became the Divine Knower, the husband of Samhita. We had wed as one, Mother and Father God. Yet I am always within Her. We, all of us, are always within Her. We are all One within God, as God.
“On that fourth day I, the Father, aware of this stirring, ‘consummated’ the marriage by desiring to know that which was stirring.
“My desire on that triumphant fourth day, which ‘impregnated’ your mother, became your first day in the form of that desire. That desire is the potential knower—Rishi or Father—whom you know your self to be.
“You, my Son, on the sixth day—the second time around, from my perspective—became manifest (Chhandas) in the physical world as this stirring.
"Through the process of knowing, Devata (the second day), you have become the known, Chhandas (the third day).
“Your fourth day is your next move! With that move you will become complete. The desire to know will know. You will know who you are. You will have fulfilled your father’s desire to know. You will have expanded the concept of what he knew himself to be. In other words, you will have re-created your father, as the previous idea he had of him self no longer qualified. You will then say as I do now: ‘I am the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas—We God are one.’
“That triumphant day will be my seventh. I will have brought you up properly and this will be my day to rest. You see, I will have become an outmoded concept. You, my Son, will carry on. Your desires will also father sons and on their day of completion you will also rest. On that beautiful seventh day, the term effortless will assume Divine meaning for you. You, my Son, will never die; only that which you think you are will die.
“Your ancestors, my Son, are Divine.
“Your inheritance is to be Divine
“PUT ME TO REST, MY SON”
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This introduction is all but complete. I have personified the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas by creating an analogy. But to be quite honest, I see all of us and everything else that imprints itself upon my senses as an analogy. That is my point of view. Yet I know what I perceive speaks to the pure, to the essence, to silent knowledge. Soon I will see completely through the analogy and I will know.
We are coming to a new age. A thin, opaque film separates where we are from where we are headed. True, this film is becoming more translucent and to some, its appearance is all but gone. Yet it must be completely removed.
A great blade wielded by the Divine will put an end to this film, this Maya. It is my desire to be on its cutting edge. An edge honed by true knowing. An edge supported by natural law. His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, speaking upon the subject of “Life Supported By Natural Law,” makes the following statement from his multidimensional point of view:
“The knower, the known, and the process of knowing which connects the knower with the known… When these three aspects of knowledge are seated one within the other, that is called Samhita. Samhita is the collectedness of knower, known and knowledge. This state of pure knowledge, where knower, known, and knowledge are in the self-referral state, is that all-powerful, immortal, infinite dynamism at the unmanifest basis of creation.”
There you have it. The Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas. Not as an analogy but just as it is: INFINITE ABSTRACT DYNAMISM within TIMELESS CONCRETE SILENCE.
Yet, I would enjoy offering another analogy, especially since I described myself as desiring to be on the cutting edge of a blade wielded by the Divine. You might say that I have given myself an extremely honored position. This is somewhat true.
Traditionally this blade resembles a sword. Long and slightly curved, its single edge has been designed for slicing, for slight penetration… for only a slight revealing. Until now-until this age of transition—the film it penetrated had to remain intact. Chhandas, to be Chhandas, had to remain confined to a point value. This film is its boundary. It is the edge of the conceptual known and will remain so until we relinquish our individual and collective concepts.
Within this primordial Chhandas, within these boundaries, we again find Rishi, Devata and Chhandas. The individual ego is an example of a Rishi bound within that Chhandas. Through the process of living, this Rishi becomes knowledgeable. Yet, being responsible to develop the known, at times he becomes very egotistical.
This is to be expected. After all, his greatest desire is to be known. He tends to forget that he is the Son of God, and that he and all others are collectively creating the known which will be presented to his Father… so His mother will know.
Without this awareness he—the ego—tries to force his knowingness upon others. Competition develops, sometimes subtle as in a debate. Sometimes gross, as in war. These challenges are healthy and part of the on-going process. Yet we feel that it gets out of hand at times… But out of whose hand? The great Rishi's hand?
No, of course not. From His point of view nothing is ever out of hand. For in His hand He holds a weapon… a sword. Our sudden awareness of the folly of our action is nothing more than the slash of his sword revealing the great cycle.
Truth is revealed in such a way that it speaks to our own ability to understand. We may perceive it directly within our own consciousness, or indirectly from one who has the ability to translate the Truth for us. We may learn of it through the various scriptures or understand it as law. But on certain extreme occasions when all of the “normal” paths are blocked, an Avatar, sent directly from the Divine, will come among us.
He has had his glorious fourth day and is with us upon His sixth. He is the Father speaking to us, His sons. Yet He may announce that He is also the Son (Devata) and the Father (Rishi) and the momentary image (Chhandas—the physical display of the two. He may also mention His inevitable resurrection or return to His source. He may even speak of His birth as a self-motivated act: in other words, born of a virgin. He will probably not marry as He is already divinely wed to Samhita.
An Avatar is an individual who has completed one cycle and is a true knower: a warrior extraordinaire who has been one time around and chooses to spend a part of his sixth day with us.
He is not bound by the laws of physicality—the laws of Chhandas. He is fearless, for he knows. He cannot be overshadowed. He is a Son doing his Father's work. He is Samhita, the Son and the Father displayed as their momentary image. When His, the Son’s, work is done, He returns to the side of his Father, which He never left. For He is the Father. He is paradoxical. He is also the Mother of the Father. He is Samhita. He is the blade He wields, slashing the boundaries He created, inspiring the prisoners He has become who look to their savior—whom He is.
He is the cutting edge of this blade. A blade forged not unlike the Samurai blades of ancient Japan. A nugget of steel worked with heat and hammer, folded over and over, again and again, until it evolves into a beautiful slender blade. Each grain of metal is transformed in the process; each is compressed in one direction and elongated in the other, perhaps a thousand times, until every grain runs the complete length of the sword. The sharpness of this Divine blade is not achieved through the removal of metal; rather, the blade is forged so as to expose the sharpness of one ultra-fine thread-like grain, The Avatar.
It is the Avatar who makes the cut. Yet even he, with all his knowledge, cannot be effective without backing. He requires—just as any blade—a pyramiding of structure to keep his fine, thread-like sharpness taut. His disciples create the initial structure through which his knowledge is passed down to us—we, who form the great mass of this taut yet flexible blade. Knowing this we can forge ahead, forgiving ourselves for being so nugget-like.
When I describe myself as being (potentially) on the cutting edge of a blade wielded by the Divine, I am not referring to the traditional blade just described, although this possibility certainly would exist once I have become a true knower and become the primordial Rishi of a new cycle. Instead, I was referring to a new blade being forged at the present moment. A blade not designed to slash—and thereby reveal just enough to keep us on the path—but one designed and forged in such a way that with a single blow all who choose will immediately burst through the boundaries of Chhandas as one coherent unit. In destroying the illusion, we will become the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chhandas. Our separate individualities will merge as one. Yet on another level nothing will have changed other than our point of view, for this One—whose perspective we will consciously assume—contains rather than obliterates separate individualities. We will become a living example of this fundamental truth, which at present appears to be a paradox.
Once again the long and slender blade is being forged with heat and hammer. Not from side to side as before, but from end to end, again perhaps a thousand times, transforming the flexible sword into the brutal rigidity of an axe. The veil of maya will not be able to resist the massive flow of this inertia. There will be no give upon impact, only deep, complete penetration. Bound, rigid Chhandas will be freed to Samhita.
Each grain of individuality—which ran parallel with the sword’s edge at the outset of this reforging process—is now being folded in such a way that individuality itself will reveal the universe which it already contains. A new edge will soon be forged, which will run perpendicular to this folded flow (or mass) of individuality. This edge, as well as the mass itself, will constitute a union of all its diverse parts. Every thread of individuality will flow from mass to edge. All will act together, as a single, penetrating, coherent unit.
This great coherent wedge, solid in the known, will be fitted with a handle, which is the devoted leverage of Devata. This handle—created through the process of living—will be the link between the knower and the known, providing the power to plunge Chhandas beyond itself.
Just as a thrown ball compresses when it reaches a wall, Samhita compresses itself into a stop at Chhandas. And just as a ball must eventually give way to the stored momentum of the throw, bouncing back into the hand of the skilled thrower; Chhandas, COMPRESSED SAMHITA, must eventually give way to the stored momentum of Devata, SAMHITA IN ACTION, and release itself back into the hand of the Rishi, SAMHITA FULFILLED.
So indeed I have given myself an honored position.
But no greater than the honor being offered to you.Malleability is required to fold the blade,
but our preconceptions tend to keep us rigid.Spirituality will provide the heat;
Pure knowledge will become the hammer.BUT IT IS UP TO US TO FORGE THE BLADE.
For this, we have been born.
For this, we have been honored.
The Traditional Resume
Hada was Born October 5, 1936, in San Francisco, California. His given name was Donald Edwin Potts (Don Potts).
He recieved an A.A. in Commercial Art at San Francisco City College, San Francisco , California, USA, 1959; a B.A. in Painting, San Jose State College, San Jose, California, USA, 1963; did Graduate work at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA 1964; and recieved an
M.A. in Sculpture at San Jose State Collage, San Jose, California, USA, 1965
Hada is a Sidha (Yogic flyer) of the Vedic tradition, studying with His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since 1967.
He has completed a four year pledge as a Wica Wiwang Wacipi (Sundancer) of the Lakota tradition.
He is a Keeper of the C’anupa (carrier of the Sacred Pipe).
He is a Staff Carrier.
He is an Artist of International Stature. His professional achievements (under the name of Don Potts) include, but are not limited to:
Twenty-four one-man shows, eleven of which were in major museums within the United States and Europe, including: The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Whitney Museum of American Art. New York City; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Presentations of his work in numerous invitational exhibits in museums and galleries within the United States and Europe, including: Documenta 6, Kasel, Germany; Jenseits der Strassenverkehtsordnung, Stadtische Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf; Young American Sculpture, New York World’s Fair, New York City; Eccentric Abstraction, Fishback Gallery, New York City; West Coast Now, Portland Art Museum, Portland— M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco—Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles; Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C; The First Artists’ Soap Box Derby, San Francisco Museum of Art, McLaren Park, San Francisco.
Feature articles dedicated to his Art have appeared in Artform, Arts and Architecture, Artweek, Geijutsu Seikatsu (Japan) and other magazines such as Road and Track.
Previews/reviews in Artform, Art in America, Art International, Newsweek, Time, Kultur und Technik (Germany), and most major newspapers in the U.S.
Presentations or mentions in dozens of articles on contemporary art.
Presentations in numerous books on the subject of art, including: Who’s Who in American Art, Jaques Cattell; American Sculpture in Process, Wayne Anderson; Sunshine Muse—Contemporary Art on the West Coast, Peter Plagens; The Arts of the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980, Thomas Albright.
Receipt of numerous grants and awards, including: a one-year National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; a one-year grant from the Deutscher Academischer Austauschdienst, West Berliner Künstlerprogram; and a one-year Lewis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant.
Representation in the following Public Collections: Die Berlinische Galerie, West Berlin; The Pasadena Art Museum, California; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; The Oakland Art Museum, California; The La Jolla Museum of Art, California; The Joslyn Art Museum, Nebraska; The Sheldon Memorial Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Fourteen years of full-time teaching at the university level, including seven as an Assistant Professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
Operated a Architectural Model Making business creating models for Skidmore Owings & Merrill’s office in San Francisco and a series of complex models for The American Institute of Architecture’s Centennial: exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Art.
In 1990, He (known as Don Potts) successfully reached a mature stage in the development of a series of prophetic dreams, spanning more than 25 years, speaking to his development personally, and that of an Artist. At the close of this dream, Lord Shiva came forward with this auspicious mandate and boon: “Your name is now “Hãdã.”
Hada is also known as “ Walks the Spiral Path of the Bear,” a name given to him by the Sun.
Hada was also given the name “Ser Ki Korlo” (Wheel of Gold or Golden Wheel) by His Holiness Orgyen, Kusum Lingpa, The most highly regarded Rimpoche, of the Nyinganapa Order, still living in Tibet.
In November of 2003, Hada and Hadani accepted an invitation to live on Christer and Margareta Cederroth’s estate as resident elders. A position they held for approximately 3 years.
On or about Hada’s 70th birthday, 2006, Hada & Hadani moved to Fairfield Iowa after accepting a grant from “The Howard & Alice Settle Foundation for an Invincible United States of America.” They will be practicing advanced forms of Yogic Meditation 7 hours a day in the Golden Domes of MUM as well as continuing to pursue AR<T’s project “Heaven’s Stepping Stones.” The grant is indefinite