Adi Da Samraj (born Franklin Albert Jones, at 11:21 A.M., on November 3, 1939 in Jamaica, New York) is a modern spiritual teacher and religious guru and the founder of the new religious movement known as Adidam. At various times, Adi Da has also 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). For clarity, in this article he will be referred to simply as Adi Da, as this is the name he currently uses.

Life and teachings

Adi Da was born and raised in Long Island, 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. In 1965, Adi Da (then still Franklin Jones) became a disciple of Swami Rudrananda, also known as Rudi, and, later, in 1968, a disciple of the Indian teacher Swami Muktananda. Muktananda was seen as a dangerous guru to some and as a powerful yogi and great siddha to others. Adi Da broke with Muktananda after a meeting in 1973[1] (http://lightmind.com/Impermanence/Library/knee/appendix2.html), shortly after founding his own group.

While some of Adi Da's teaching bears a likeness to aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other spiritual traditions, Adi Da states that his teaching is based on his own direct Spiritual Realization.

Adi Da's notion of the "Divine" or "God" is strikingly different from the Judeo-Christian notion. In his view, there is no "creator God", no "God in charge of everything", no God that is either omniscient or omnipotent. Instead, God is understood to be the "Source" or "Ground" of everything and everyone. [2] (http://www.aboutadidam.org/readings/parental_deity/index.html)

Adi Da teaches that, in reality, there is only God, and we are all living in a state of delusion, presuming that our own personal self and the "things" and "others" that appear so real have absolute reality. He teaches that our greatest destiny is to awaken from this "dream", to our real state as the One, Divine Being. But he also teaches that one cannot realize the Divine on one's own (as an ego); one cannot awaken oneself out of the dream. One must be awakened out of this "dream" by the Divine appearing here in human form. [3] (http://www.aboutadidam.org/readings/gorilla_sermon/index.html)

Adi Da describes his own appearance here as the result a rare conjunction of circumstances (described in detail in his 2003 biography, Adi Da [4] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2444)) that led the Divine to appear in human form, an event that prior to his birth had never happened, on this planet or indeed anywhere in the manifest universe. He says that the primary purpose of his appearance is not to communicate a teaching, or give out "spiritual" methods, but rather to provide a revelation of the Divine Reality through his devotees' devotional and spiritual relationship with him. Adidam is, according to Adi Da, a "Divine Revelation never given before" [5] (http://www.adidam.org/adi_da/index.html); no previous historical religious figure - not Jesus, not the Buddha, not Krishna - had ever fully realized the Divine, and in practice devotees are encouraged and expected to recognize this revelation as a condition of their advancement in his religious community. Through advance in the practice of Adidam, which he defines as contemplation of and direct service to his "Bodily (Human) Form", this relationship eventually leads to complete "awakening" from the unhappy and mortal dream of "separate self" and "conditional reality". In a number of books in the Adidam literature (including the 2003 book, Adidam [6] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2437)), his devotees describe the form that revelation took in their own case.

Such revelations notwithstanding, Adi Da himself has stated that none of his devotees has stably advanced beyond the beginning "stages of practice", and routinely chastises them for their failure to proselytize more effectively: "Why have people been so unresponsive to Me? Why is there such destruction of My Work? After 30 years there still aren't any missionary results. So what is the source of this non-event? What is defeating it? Why are there no signs of this resistance changing?" (July 25, 2000) [7] (http://lightmind.com/thevoid/daismreport-05.html)

Adi Da has repeatedly emphasized that, unlike belief-based religions (such as Christianity), Adidam is not based on the belief that he is the Divine Being, but rather the "revelation" that that is so. [8] (http://www.adidam.org/adidam.html) He has approximately a thousand devotees worldwide, who are expected to tithe generally at least 15% of their gross income and to engage in various devotional practices. There are a number of Adidam communities around the world (for example, [9] (http://www.adidamseattle.org),[10] (http://www.adidamla.org),[11] (http://www.adidamdc.org),[12] (http://www.adidamlakecounty.org),[13] (http://newyork.adidam.org), and [14] (http://www.adidam.org/events.html)).

The movement Adi Da founded is now known as Adidam, or The Way of the Heart. It was previously called the Dawn Horse Communion and the Johannine Daist Communion, and Free Daism. It has been the target of allegations primarily by disaffected former students, and secondarily by journalists and anti-cult activists, who note that Adi Da's behavior closely follows that of other charismatic gurus with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and charge that the organization engages in typical cult-like behavior. Specific allegations have included behavior considered unconventional from a Western standpoint (Adi Da had nine wives at one point), milieu control, severe emotional manipulation [15] (http://www.rickross.com/reference/adida/adida2.html), financial exploitation, casual violence, and sexual abuse of members. Since 1986, partly in response to these scandals, Adi Da has lived in near seclusion on a private island in Fiji. He travels on rare occasions but mostly involves himself personally with a small group of close disciples.

Popular author Ken Wilber has repeatedly and enthusiastically endorsed Adi Da's realization and spiritual importance. However, after the allegations against Adidam were made public, and Wilber "received an enormous amount of grief, from personal and professional quarters, for my endorsements" [16] (http://www.beezone.com/Wilber/ken_wilbers_letter.html), he then made a point of adding many cautions and caveats to his endorsements for his reading public [17] (http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/adida.cfm/xid,4572/yid,4887247), even while in private letters to his Adidam friends, he confessed "I have not, and have never, renounced Da as Realizer, nor have I in any way abandoned my love and devotion for Him. . . I hope my work will continue to bring students to the Way of the Heart." [18] (http://www.beezone.com/Wilber/ken_wilbers_letter.html) When his private letters became public, he explained the contradiction in the following way: "Contradictory? Perhaps, but only because Da is contradictory. Contradictory and problematic—deeply problematic. This is why, as a blanket statement, I can no longer—and do no longer—recommend Da’s community for the typical spiritual aspirant, and I have asked his community to cease using my name in this regard. Nonetheless, for those individuals who realize full well the extremely risky nature of the adventure, but who feel a strong pull toward complete and total surrender of their lives to a spiritual Master, I can certainly recommend Adi Da—with all the caveats of which I have written." [19] (http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/adida_update.cfm/)

Name changes

Adi Da is noted for his frequent name changes in the past [20] (http://names.adidam.org/). 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".

Opinions

"It is obvious, from all sorts of subtle details, that he knows what IT's all about ... a rare being" — Alan Watts, Author, The Way of Zen, Man and Woman and In My Own Way [21] (http://www.adidam.org/adi_da/testimonials/watts.htm)

"...my opinion is that we have, in the person of Da Free John, a Spiritual Master and religious genius of the ultimate degree. I assure you I do not mean that lightly. I am not tossing out high-powered phrases to 'hype' the works of Da Free John. I am simply offering to you my own considered opinion: Da Free John's teaching is, I believe, unsurpassed by that of any other spiritual Hero, of any period, of any place, of any time, of any persuasion." - Ken Wilber, 1980 (full text (http://www.beezone.com/Wilber/onherocults.html))

"The teaching is one thing, the teacher, quite another ... Da is capable of some truly exquisite insights, but in other areas, he has fared less well, and this has increasingly verged on the catastrophic." - Ken Wilber, 1996 (full text (http://www.beezone.com/Wilber/CaseofAdiDa/caseofadida.html))

"Do I believe that Master Adi Da is the greatest Realizer of all time? I certainly believe He is the greatest living Realizer. Anything beyond that is sheer speculation...If Da is the living Sat-Guru, then why did I say that I can no longer automatically recommend people to his Church? Only because, in this culture—where the guru principle is mightily feared and resisted, and where strategic legal and political forces are dedicated to its eradication—I cannot, as a blanket and public statement, recommend to people that they pursue that noble Path without also informing them of what a culturally and personally hazardous course it is indeed...But for those students who are ready, and who fully understand the gravity of the decision, I speak of Master Da as the Sat-Guru, and recommend that they pursue that Way to the extent that they are capable: student, disciple, devotee." - Ken Wilber, 1998 (full text (http://www.beezone.com/Wilber/ken_wilbers_letter.html))

"I regard the work of Adi Da and his devotees as one of the most penetrating spiritual and social experiments happening on the planet in our era." — Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D., Host, PBS Series Thinking Allowed, Author, The Roots of Consciousness [22] (http://www.adidam.org/adi_da/testimonials/mishlove.htm)

"Adi Da's Teaching is neither utopian nor dissociative; it is simply a radically new human politics based on the Truth. Even as He transcends the common bonds of the human, Adi Da remains the Great Teacher of the pragmatic human situation. How incredibly blessed that He is here at the moment when we need Him most!" — Dan Hamburg, former member of the U.S. Congress [23] (http://www.aboutadidam.org/testimonials/index.html)

"Frank's claim of exclusivity is enough to demonstrate to anyone who has a grasp of what realization is all about, that he is a 'befuddled' spiritual teacher who, for reasons we may never fathom, is driven to impose himself as an idol between his followers and the One Divine Reality. He takes the words of the Buddhas (steals them, really) and uses them to preach that all the Buddhas past present and to come must worship him and the supreme conditional expression of the One Divine Reality." - "Elias", a former student of Adi Da (full text (http://lightmind.com/Impermanence/Library/knee/frank-01.html))

"The life and teaching of Avatar Adi Da Samraj are of profound and decisive spiritual significance at this critical moment in history." — Bryan Deschamp, Senior Advisor at UNHCR (the United Nations High Commission for Refugees) [24] (http://www.aboutadidam.org/testimonials/index.html)

"There exists nowhere in the world today, among Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, native tribalists, or any other groups, anyone who has so much to teach, or speaks with such authority, or is so important for understanding our situation. If we are willing to learn from him in every way, he is a pole around which the world can get its bearings." — Henry Leroy Finch, Author, Wittgenstein—The Early Philosophy and Wittgenstein—The Later Philosophy [25] (http://www.adidam.org/adi_da/testimonials/finch.htm)

"A great teacher with the dynamic ability to awaken in his listeners something of the Divine Reality in which he is grounded, and with which he is identified, and which, in fact, he is." — Israel Regardie, Author, The Golden Dawn [26] (http://www.adidam.org/adi-da/testimonials/regardie.htm)

"One of them [a former Adidam student] said that he thought that Da had gone astray and was on the biggest possible ego trip imaginable and gotten paranoid and abusive and he said that even if Da were the World Teacher that he wasn't interested in having him as a teacher. My thoughts exactly. A bird was chirping from a high branch." _ David Chadwick, 2004 (full text (http://www.cuke.com/excerpts-articles/dc%20writings/persimmon.html))

Selected writings

• Adi Da and Adidam (2003) [27] (http://www.adidam.tv)
• Adi Da (2003) [28] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2444)
• The Way Of Adidam (2003) [29] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2437)
• The Knee of Listening (1972, 2004) [30] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2801)
• The Dawn Horse Testament (1985,2005)[31] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2863)
• Drifted in the Deeper Land (1996)[32] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=1086)
• The Transmission of Doubt (1985)[33] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2274)
• The Bodily Location of Happiness (1977) [34] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2275)
• The Seven Stages Of Life (2000) [35] (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com/products/ProductDetail_Main.asp?PID=2193)
• The Method Of The Siddhas (1995) [36] (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0913922013/thepracticals-20)

External links

• Adidam official website (http://www.adidam.org)
• Unofficial Adidam website (http://www.aboutadidam.org)
• Publisher of the literature of Adidam (http://www.dawnhorsepress.com)
• DaPlastique (http://www.daplastique.com) Adi Da's "Transcendental Realism" Art
• Fear-No-More Zoo (http://www.fearnomorezoo.org) Adi Da's teaching related to "non-humans"
• The Names of Avatar Adi Da Samraj (http://names.adidam.org) Comprehensive resource on Adi Da's previous and current names
• Another unofficial Adidam website (http://www.dabase.org)
• Profile of Adidam (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/adidam.html) from the Religious Movements Homepage Project
• Beezone (http://www.beezone.org), an outreach site for Adidam followers
• The Daism Seminar (http://lightmind.com/daism/), a critical site, with related links and research materials
• A critical appraisal of Adi Da's philosophy (http://207.44.196.94/~wilber/smith12.html), by Andrew P. Smith
• Collection of critical links (http://www.rickross.com/groups/adida.html) about Adidam, from Rick Ross
• The Strange Case of Franklin Jones (http://www.american-buddha.com/franklin.jones.htm), by Scott Lowe
• The Knee of Daism (http://www.lightmind.com/Impermanence/Library/knee/): Deconstructing Adi Da
• The Religious Movements Homepage Project (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/adidam.html)