Adi Da Samraj (born Franklin Albert Jones, November 3, 1939 in Jamaica, New York) is a religious guru and the founder of the new religious movement known as Adidam. He has used names such as Bubba Free John, Da Free John, and Da Love-Ananda ^* to correspond with changes in his work as a spiritual teacher (see the section on name changes below). Adidam claims to have close to 2000 members worldwide, and has published over seventy of Adi Da's books.

Life

The following is largely summarized from Adi Da's autobiography The Knee of Listening: Adi Da was born Franklin Albert Jones and raised in Queens, New York. He attended Columbia College, where he received a degree in philosophy, and Stanford University, where he completed his M.A. in English literature with a thesis on Gertrude Stein. In 1965, Adi Da became a disciple of Albert Rudolph, also known as Rudi or Swami Rudrananda. He describes that period as one of human maturation, extensive disciplining of the body, and his first acquaintance with "spiritual transmission" from a human teacher. Following Rudi's instruction, Adi Da married his girlfriend, Nina Davis. (They later divorced; she was then and has remained his devotee.) Adi Da described how he reached a point where he had exhausted what he could learn from Rudi, and in 1968, became a disciple of Rudi's Indian teacher Swami Muktananda, whom he first visited in India in early April of 1968, and who, he wrote, gave him extraordinary spiritual experiences and realization. For approximately one year, in 1968-1969, Adi Da was involved with Scientology (mention of which was omitted from subsequent versions of his autobiography). He returned to India in August of 1969 to see Muktananda, who subsequently gave Adi Da a letter acknowledging his yogic realization and authorizing him to initiate others. After a period Adi Da describes as including visionary experiences wherein he was guided by both Muktananda's teacher, Bhagawan Nityananda, and "the Goddess", Adi Da wrote that he re-awakened (as a divine incarnation) to his original divine state of full enlightenment, on September 10, 1970.

Adi Da founded his own group in April of 1972, operating out of a bookstore in Los Angeles, California. Initially known as the Dawn Horse Communion, the movement founded by Adi Da has been through several name changes: previous names have included The Free Primitive Church of Divine Communion, The Johannine Daist Communion, and Free Daism. It is now known as Adidam, or The Way of the Heart. Adi Da permanently broke with Muktananda after a meeting in India in 1973 in which Adi Da and Muktananda engaged in a discussion wherein it became clear they each had very different notions of what the highest, or most enlightened, spiritual state is. Adi Da would later say, however, that he still regularly "connected with" Muktananda in subtle planes, and that he always held a great love for his former guru.

Adi Da has three biological daughters (by three different women), and a fourth adopted daughter. (Feuerstein, 1991)

Teaching and community

Adi Da states that he is an "Avataric Incarnation", Therefore no one should misunderstand me. By Avatarically revealing and confessing my Divine status to one and all. I am not indulging in self-appointment, or illusions of grandiose Divinity. I am not claiming the status of the "Creator God "* First word , Page 19 , 2nd Edition 2000 a uniquely full and complete manifestation of the Divine in human form, and that his life and teaching fulfills the what he terms the "Great Tradition" of human spirituality. He describes his teaching as a "radical" (or most direct), original, and uniquely complete offering that, for the first time in history, has made the total way and wisdom of the "precosmic Divine Light", or the "Bright", available to human beings. In 1984, Adi Da said "I am here in my lifetime to change the course of human history, and I want to see some evidence of it. No one on Earth compares to me. ... I believe that before this body dies, all mankind will acknowledge me.""Mark My Words", A Talk by Da Free John, Part 1. December 30, 1983. Crazy Wisdom Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 16-17. text online.

Adi Da has described himself as a "Seventh Stage" Realizer. While other teachers, such as Jesus and the Buddha, are said by Adi Da to have attained the status of "Fifth" (or "Sixth") Stage Realizer, he maintains that he is the only teacher to have become a Seventh Stage Realizer--and even that he will be the only necessary Avatar or Sat Guru to function in this manner. Adi Da proclaims that his Divine Incarnation is the unique means for sentient beings to attain Seventh Stage realization now and for all future time.

Adi Da teaches that, in reality, there is Only God. That is, that there is only a single, Indivisible, All-Pervading, Self-Existing and Self-Radiant "Source-Condition", "Nature", and "Substance" that is Reality, in and of which everything and everyone arises as a spontaneous and unnecessary modification. Adi Da teaches the One Divine Reality is "always already" the human Condition, and therefore our task is not to seek for God or Realization but to become responsible for the action whereby we forget, obscure, and obstruct the prior State—which activity he generally describes as "self-contraction", "Narcissus", or the "avoidance of relationship". But Adi Da also teaches that one cannot Realize the Divine through one's own efforts, because all ego-based action cannot but fail to overcome its own original presumption of egoity itself. One must be awakened out of this "dream" by tangible Divine Spiritual Grace itself, appearing through the Agency of the God-Realized Human Guru.^* Adi Da teaches that his grace must be accessed by devotional submission and obedience to him as Satguru via joining and taking up the formal practices of Adidam.

Adidam claims to have close to two thousand members worldwideThere are a number of Adidam communities around the world. Devotees are generally expected to tithe and make other financial contributions[http://www.adidam.org/adida/religion/dhome.htm?go=money.htm. The number of ex-devotees has been estimated on the order of 10,000 or more. The number of people who appreciate Adi Da's teaching but have not made the decision to become his formal devotee is estimated to be vastly larger.

Artist and Writer

Adi Da has created a large body of spiritual writings with over 70 published books. He began the creative text now called the The Mummery Book in 1957 "when he spontaneously began engaging the process of examining his own conscious process"^*" target="_blank" >Askold Skalsky described it as "a novel in the mode of a vast parable, in which mystical and esoteric states of awareness are fleshed in poetic imagery. It is an experimental work — what Adi Da Samraj calls a 'prose opera' — that shatters the conventional limits of language and raises literary portrayal to radical levels of consciousness".[http://global.adidam.org/books/mummery.html

During the mid-60s to mid-90s, Adi Da also produced a body of drawings and paintings.In 1998, he turned to the medium of photography as what he wanted to intensively develop. Since that time he has created a body of work that presently numbers over 50,000 images^*

The artistic rendering he uses with the photographic images is described as "typically involving more than two (and even as many as ten or more) superimposed layers. He creates these multiple-exposed images entirely in camera, though he is not a photographer, as such. Rather, he creates large-scale works of "light-imagery," using photographic (and also videographic) technology. No manipulation in the darkroom (or by digital means) is used. He relates to his photographic negatives as "blueprints," referring to them as the basis for making "monumental fabrications." ^*

Criticisms

A range of critical opinion exists about Adi Da and Adidam. Adi Da's writings have been praised by a number of popular authors, though his claims of unique and ultimate enlightenment have been received more skeptically. Outside of Adidam, Adi Da's behavior is generally considered to be much more problematic than his teachings by some critics. Adi Da and Adidam have been the target of several critical allegations, primarily by disillusioned former students, and secondarily by journalists and anti-cult activists. In 1985 Adi Da and his church were sued by an ex-member for (among other things) fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, and assault and battery; the suit sought $5 million in damages (San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday April 4, 1985 ^*." target="_blank" > In 1986, Adi Da was again sued for fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress Washington Post reported: "The lawsuits and threatened suits that dogged the group in the mid-1980s were settled with payments and confidentiality agreements, says a California lawyer, Ford Greene, who handled three such cases."[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100724.html" target="_blank" >^* No new reports of such abuse have appeared in the news media since the mid-1980's.

Around the time of these lawsuits, Adi Da and Adidam (then known as Da Free John and The Johannine Daist Communion) were subjects of a report on The Today Show (transcript).

Among ex-followers, Adi Da's strongest critics argue that he shows a pattern of abusive, addictive and self-serving behavior (San Francisco Examiner, April 5, 1985 Others echo or acknowledge these criticisms to varying degrees, while still praising Adi Da's teachings and/or realization (e.g., Georg Feuerstein[http://www.wie.org/j9/feuerstein_madness.asp).

Popular author Ken Wilber has repeatedly commented on Adi Da, both positively and negatively In 1998, he wrote: "...I affirm all of the extremes of my statements about Da: he is one of the greatest spiritual Realizers of all time, in my opinion, and yet other aspects of his personality lag far behind those extraordinary heights. By all means look to him for utterly profound revelations, unequalled in many ways; yet step into his community at your own risk."[http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/adida_update.cfm/ Wilber has never at any point in his life been involved as a formal member of Adidam.

Complete Teaching Literature

Adi Da has authored over 70 books on spirituality and the process of God-Realization. Since the late 1990s, he has been working on a series of definitive volumes commonly referred to as the "23 Source Texts." Not all of the 23 source texts have appeared as of mid-2006. The culmination of these "Source Texts" is a massive volume entitled "The Dawn Horse Testament," which summarizes his teachings. ^*

The texts comprising this body of work—the Dharma (or Scripture) of the Way of the Heart—are distinct from other general or introductory Adidam books. The structure of this canon is as follows:

The Dawn Horse Testament

The Dawn Horse Testament Of The Ruchira Avatar - The "Testament Of Secrets" Of The Divine World-Teacher, Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj

This is the core text providing full instruction for the entire process of the Way of Adidam.

The Five Books Of The Heart Of The Adidam Revelation

1. Aham Da Asmi (Beloved, I Am Da) - The "Late-Time" Avataric Revelation Of The True and Spiritual Divine Person (The egoless Personal Presence Of Reality and Truth, Which Is The Only Real God)

2. Ruchira Avatara Gita (The Way Of The Divine Heart-Master) - The "Late-Time" Avataric Revelation Of The Great Secret Of The Divinely Self-Revealed Way That Most Perfectly Realizes The True and Spiritual Divine Person (The egoless Personal Presence Of Reality and Truth, Which Is The Only Real God)

3. Da Love-Ananda Gita (The Free Gift Of The Divine Love-Bliss) - The "Late-Time" Avataric Revelation Of The Great Means To Worship and To Realize The True and Spiritual Divine Person (The egoless Personal Presence Of Reality and Truth, Which Is The Only Real God)

4. Hridaya Rosary (Four Thorns Of Heart-Instruction) - The "Late-Time" Avataric Revelation Of The Universally Tangible Divine Spiritual Body, Which Is The Supreme Agent Of The Great Means To Worship and To Realize The True and Spiritual Divine Person (The egoless Personal Presence Of Reality and Truth, Which Is The Only Real God)

5. Eleutherios (The Only Truth That Sets The Heart Free) - The "Late-Time" Avataric Revelation Of The "Perfect Practice" Of The Great Means To Worship and To Realize The True and Spiritual Divine Person (The egoless Personal Presence Of Reality and Truth, Which Is The Only Real God)

These 5 texts summarise the essential process of the Way of the Heart.

The Seventeen Companions Of The True Dawn Horse

Paradigms of Reality: The Real Nature of God, Cosmos and Realization

1. Real God Is The Indivisible Oneness Of Unbroken Light - Reality, Truth, and The "Non-Creator" God In The True World-Religion Of Adidam

2. The Truly Human New World-Culture Of Unbroken Real-God-Man - The Eastern Versus The Western Traditional Cultures Of Mankind, and The Unique New Non-Dual Culture Of The True World-Religion Of Adidam

3. The Only Complete Way To Realize The Unbroken Light Of Real God - An Introductory Overview Of The "Radical" Divine Way Of The True World-Religion Of Adidam

Original Writings and Talks

4. The Knee Of Listening - The Divine Ordeal Of The Avataric Incarnation Of Conscious Light--The Spiritual Autobiography Of The Divine World-Teacher, Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj

5. The Divine Siddha-Method Of The Ruchira Avatar - The Divine Way Of Adidam Is An ego-Transcending Relationship, Not An ego-Centric Technique

6. The Mummery Book - A Parable Of The Divine True Love, Told By A Self-Illuminated Illustration Of The Totality Of Mind

Esoteric Principles and Practices

7. He-and-She Is Me - The Indivisibility Of Consciousness and Light In The Divine Body Of The Ruchira Avatar

8. Ruchira Shaktipat Yoga - The Divine (and Not Merely Cosmic) Spiritual Baptism In The Divine Way Of Adidam

9. Ruchira Tantra Yoga - The Physical-Spiritual (and Truly Religious) Method Of Mental, Emotional, Sexual, and Whole Bodily Health and Enlightenment In The Divine Way Of Adidam

Stages of Life: The six potential stages of ego-based life, and the Divine seventh stage of life

10. The Seven Stages Of Life - Transcending The Six Stages Of egoic Life, and Realizing The ego-Transcending Seventh Stage Of Life, In The Divine Way Of Adidam

11. The All-Completing and Final Divine Revelation To Mankind - A Summary Description Of The Supreme Yoga Of The Seventh Stage Of Life In The Divine Way Of Adidam

Process of Adidam: Five Comprehensive Views of the Practice of Adidam

12. What, Where, When, How, Why, and Who To Remember To Be Happy - A Simple Explanation Of The Divine Way Of Adidam (For Children, and Everyone Else)

13. No Seeking—Mere Beholding - The Always Primary Practice Of The Divine Way Of Adidam

14. Santosha Adidam - The Essential Summary Of The Divine Way Of Adidam

15. The Lion Sutra - The "Perfect Practice" Teachings In The Divine Way Of Adidam

16. The Overnight Revelation Of Conscious Light - The "My House" Discourses On The Indivisible Tantra Of Adidam

Great Tradition: The Total Spiritual "Effort" of Humanity as a Unified (and Progressive) Process

17. Basket Of Tolerance - The Perfect Guide To Perfectly Unified Understanding Of The One and Great Tradition Of Mankind, and Of The Divine Way Of Adidam As The Perfect Completing Of The One and Great Tradition Of Mankind

These 17 texts either elaborate and refine key aspects of the Dawn Horse Testament, or else provide additional information to serve the overall practice of the Way of the Heart.

The essay "First Word"^* appears at the beginning of each Source Text as a way of orienting the reader to the right understanding of the "point of view" expressed in the text, and to counter the inevitable cultic mind-set that most "unenlightened seekers" bring to their approach.

Name changes

Adi Da is noted for his frequent name changes in the past ^*. As a student of Muktananda, he was given the name Dhyanananda. Shortly after becoming an independent teacher, he took the name Bubba Free John, "Bubba" being a colloquialism for "brother" and "Free John" a loose translation of "Franklin Jones". In 1979, he began calling himself Da Free John, "Da" meaning, in Sanskrit, "the giver". From 1986 to 1990, he was known primarily as Da Love-Ananda, "Ananda" meaning, in Sanskrit, "bliss". From 1990 to 1991, he was known as Da Kalki, in reference to the Hindu avatar Kalki, the 10th and final incarnation of Vishnu, and from 1991 to 1994 as Da Avabhasa, "Avabhasa" meaning "brightness". The title his devotees currently use for him is the Ruchira Avatar, Adi Da Samraj, literally "the radiant avatar, primordial giver, universal ruler". They also frequently refer to him simply as "Beloved".

See also

• Naamleela Free Jones, a daughter
• Io Free Jones, a daughter
• Shawnee Free Jones, a daughter

References