





Adi Da and His Voracious, Abusive Personality Cult

(c) Copyright by Timothy Conway, 2007

"The true guru will never humiliate you, nor will he estrange you from yourself. He will constantly bring you back to the fact of your inherent perfection and encourage you to seek within. He knows you need nothing, not even him, and is never tired of reminding you. But the self-appointed guru is more concerned with himself than with his disciples." --Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), I Am That, Dialogue 83, Dec. 18, 1971

Over the years I have often been asked my opinion of (as eyewitnesses have alleged) the fiercely flamboyant, voraciously addictive, and alarmingly abusive spiritual teacher grandiosely calling himself “Adi Da” (meaning Primordial Divine Giver). Born Franklin Jones, he later re-named himself Bubba (Brother) Free John, then Da Free John, then Da Avabhasa, then Adi Da, and so on, with other self-given, self-exalting titles such as “Heart-Master,” “Kalki” (a Hindu name for the prophesied Tenth Divine Incarnation of Hinduism's Lord Vishnu), etc., and, most recently, “Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj.”

[--UPDATE ON ADI DA'S PASSING: At approximately 5:10 PM on Thursday, November 27th, 2008, without any prior warning, Adi Da suddenly fell over and within 1-2 minutes died of a heart attack while sitting in the presence of devotees at his private ashram on Naitauba Island in Fiji. He was 69 years old. Known according to different reports to have been an avid drug-user over many years, in the last decade or more he was evidently often using Viagra—a known danger to cardiac health—to fuel his chronic sex addiction.]

Numerous former Da students and devotees from his "Daist" church—in more recent years known as the Adidam community— have gone on record (see Adi Da Archives website here) to describe their experiences with Da, reporting both their positive experiences and, more importantly, their negative experiences, which give one great pause before calling Da the only true “God-man” or Avatar (Divine Incarnation) for our era or any era, the claim made by Da himself and by his devotees and their Church. Some ex-devotees have written spiritually cogent and psychologically insightful essays on what might simply be called Da’s “shadow side.” Much in their critical analysis can be usefully applied to other dysfunctional cult leaders, too.

The sagely tradition warns us not to "mix up levels," namely the Absolute Truth level (Paramarthika Satyam) and the conventional, pragmatic truth-level within the life-dream (the Vyavaharika Satyam). In other words, while clearly intuitively knowing WHO WE ARE as Absolute, infinite, boundless, birthless Open Awareness, in the every-day, experiential or phenomenal life of relativity and multiplicity, there are certain necessary and healthy distinctions to be made between, say, "appropriately helpful" and "inappropriately harmful," in how we are behaving. To put it another way, while all phenomena are ultimately (seen from Eternity) the "perfectly" manifesting, unfolding play of the Formless Divine (wherein all souls will eventually awaken to God), there are, meanwhile, matters of right and wrong, justice and injustice.

The evidence from eyewitnesses strongly suggests that through the years there was some VERY problematic behavior on Da's part, and this merits critique as a "public service" for those who have little training to discern functional from dysfunctional forms of leadership. Furthermore, for over three decades Da tried to posit a sophisticated but spiritually subversive and monstrously egocentric model of himself and his work as being uniquely far superior to all the sages of our sacred traditions--and this authoritarian claim, patently false, simply cannot be allowed to stand.

The tale of Franklin Jones (b. Nov. 3, 1939, Jamaica, New York) is a comic-tragic one, starting off rather promisingly but later degenerating into abuse of himself and of others. After a few years studying with the American renunciate Swami Rudrananda in NY beginning in 1965, Franklin made a few trips to see Rudi's guru Baba Muktananda in India (1968-9) and to experience the potent Shaktipat energy that Muktananda channeled from his guru, Bhagavan Nityananda. Franklin then underwent some Christian seminary training and assorted inner experiences, as well as a year of studying and working for the dysfunctional, exploitative cult group, Scientology (1968-9). He claims to have then enjoyed in 1970 a "final awakening" to the Goddess and infinite Beyond in the Los Angeles Vedanta Temple. He began publicly teaching out of a bookstore in Los Angeles in 1972 and gathering students, before moving within a couple of years to Northern California with his growing entourage of close associates and devotees.

Showing promise of becoming a great spiritual adept and brilliant teacher of self-inquiry and Self-realization (with a strong emphasis on grounding this realization in heartfelt relationship and “enlightenment of the whole body”), very quickly, within less than two years of public work, all evidence indicates that Franklin Jones / Da Free John fell deeply and dangerously into monstrous ego-inflation, abusively toxic relationships towards his disciples and wife/wives, and heavy addictions to personal power, sexual debauchery, drugs, and extravagant material possessions. We have here the sad story of a gifted and highly educated young man endeavoring for spiritual mastery who became, instead, an unknowing egocentric slave to aspects of a very needy, sick, “shadow” part of the psyche. If the many eyewitness reports are to be believed, he then exploited his trusting disciples and turned them into his own serfs in a slavish cult--often descending into a nightmare--that pretended to create a heavenly scene around the “Incarnate God,” Adi Da.

Many of us longtime spiritual teachers and aspirants enjoyed Da’s books of often quite brilliant talks and writings from his earlier years— e.g., his spiritual autobiography The Knee of Listening (which was later strategically re-written to delete certain things, amplify other things, and add lots of self-serving mythology), Method of the Siddhas, The Paradox of Instruction, The Enlightenment of the Whole Body, Nirvanasara, his book on death and dying, Easy Death (lauded by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross), and his book on sexuality, Love of the Two-Armed Form which argues (against anything that Da himself ever practiced!) for a sexuality rooted in and permeated by Divine Love, thereby cutting a middle path between indulgence and suppression of sexual drives. Much of Da's language and schemas have greatly influenced pundit Ken Wilber, as Wilber himself has acknowledged. It is bizarre that Wilber still remains a big fan of Adi Da, along with another abusive "bad-boy" teacher, Andrew Cohen (who has been exposed by several formerly-close disciples for repeatedly abusive behavior and finally in 2013 resigned from his "teacher" position).

But this webpage will indicate why many of us do not find Da a commendable figure. Read his early books, if you wish; much (not all) of the material in them is quite excellent. But be here forewarned about becoming personally involved with Da's seductive cult. As stated in 1996 by Jim Chamberlain (a devotee of Da for eight years from the mid-1970s to early 1980s): "Many of those familiar with his 'crazy wisdom' teaching style and personal behavior have concluded that he is as dangerous as he is brilliant.... I would no more recommend that anyone go further than studying his teachings by becoming his devotee than I would recommend skydiving without a parachute while on LSD." (bewareofthegod.blogspot.com).

Author Robert Augustus Masters has written a cogent, critical yet sympathetic eulogy for Adi Da:

THE DEATH OF ADI DA

by Robert Augustus Masters (Dec. 2008)



Adi Da died last week. It did not appear to be an extraordinary death, a graceful exit, a death consciously entered into and clearly foreseen — as has been the case with many great spiritual realizers — even though his devotees of course referred to it not as his death, but rather as his mahasamadhi, meaning the passageless passage that a fully Enlightened being makes at death. Many of them apparently did not even see it as including physical death, hoping and praying en masse that he would somehow “reassociate” with his body, thereby once again conferring upon him the superhuman status in which he had been held by them — and by himself — since the early 1970s.

In any case, he has died, felled by a heart attack. Those who adulate him will likely continue to do so, and those who vilify him will just as likely continue to do so, with very little overlap between the two camps. For one [the devotees], he was the greatest spiritual realizer of all time, and for the other [the vilifiers], he was spiritualized narcissism and megalomania rolled into one exploitive package. Both are, however, missing the essence of the man, either excusing his excesses or overrelying on them in evaluating him. There is much that bothered me about Adi Da and his terminally enthused cult, but at the same time I am grateful for what I got from him, however long ago that was.

I came across his autobiography, The Knee of Listening, in 1974, and was struck by it. At that point, he was going by his birth name, Franklin Jones, looking very young and soft, which only made his eyes stand out more. And what eyes! Clear, balanced, full of energy and presence, unusually steady. I was, however, not drawn enough to go seek him out, but he had definitely entered my psyche, and more.

His third book, Garbage and the Goddess, really got my attention. The year was, I believe, 1976. Much of the book chronicled his interactions with his community, featuring obviously spontaneous talks by him that I found not just invigorating, but dynamically alerting. There was a sense of powerfully embodied wisdom, however roughly articulated, mixed with a not-so-subtle arrogance and a wildness with which I resonated. He was clearly a star in his world, surrounded by an audience that hung on his every word.

Everything he did was presented as though it only arose in the context of spiritual awakening; if he, for example, took another man’s wife to have sex with him, that was, of course, for that man’s benefit, giving him the gift of an in-your-face lesson about attachment. Etcetera, etcetera. I didn’t know about such activities at the time, but nonetheless intuited that they were happening. Still, this did not stop me from reading everything that he — now calling himself Bubba Free John — wrote. His presence grew stronger, and his capacity to transmit a very forceful awakening energy continued unabated, as did his remarkably eloquence. But as much as he shone, I still did not feel much of a pull to meet him, which would have required of me that I become his devotee.

A few years later he, with characteristic drama, changed his name to Da Free John — and would continue changing his name and stretching it out up until the last decade or so. Not surprisingly, things got more and more cultic around him, even as he waxed eloquently against cultism. And he grew increasingly isolated, eventually making his home base on a relatively remote Fijian island. Along the way, he gathered some heady praise, especially from Ken Wilber, and seemed to be taking his place among many as a legitimate, even exemplary, spiritual realizer, a great adept. This was in no small way helped by having over a thousand people who were totally focused on — and arguably obsessed by — every move he made, every word he said, every wish he expressed.

Da did not handle this very well. There was a cult of, yes, personality, forming around him, and he didn’t address it nearly strongly enough to blast through it. Over-the-top grandiosity set in. When he began capitalizing the majority of his words, as well as repeating his teachings over and over and over, I lost interest in him. He had lost his freshness. He kept complaining about how his devotees were falling short, without ever, ever holding himself at all responsible — after all, he was the Godman! And not just the Godman, but THE Godman.

I lost touch at this point with his teachings, aided by the change I saw in him, both in his photos and in his videos. Gone was much of the spark, the clarity, the vitality in his face, especially his eyes, replaced by a dullness, a flatness, with more than a trace of sourness. He had, it seemed, stopped evolving. He was still playing the feudal lord, attracting only those for whom gurucentrism was immensely appealing. When he began stating that he was not only fully Enlightened, but that he was more Enlightened than anyone else who had ever lived — at best, they were what he termed “Sixth Stage Realizers” and he was the only “Seventh Stage Realizer” ever — I completely lost interest in what he was doing. Delusion, it seemed, could manifest at any stage of development.

Still, I appreciated, deeply appreciated, his earlier work, however much it was tainted by his arrogance. When I was invited to sit in darshan with him several years ago near Los Angeles, I agreed to go, but when I arrived at the L.A. airport, Diane and I got a message that her daughter was about to give birth, and so we went in that direction with not much fuss. [...] My link with him had weakened that much. And all the mythology with which he surrounded himself did not help.

Earlier today I was looking at some YouTube videos of Adi Da, including some that showed him simply gazing at those sitting in darshan with him. In places his love was obvious, his presence compelling, his gaze far from ordinary, reminding me of how he was at his peak. At that time, I was admittedly much younger — and not just in years — but his impact on me was considerable, spurring me into deeper spiritual practice, both in waking and dreaming states. He also mirrored my own arrogance, legitimizing it as something other than arrogance, something of course spiritual! So I look back and see him shining bright, and I see myself there too, also shining, hiding my weaknesses behind my strengths, assuming that I had attained something that I, in fact, had not, namely a truly integral maturity of being. Just like him.

So thank you, Franklin, Bubba, Da, Adi Da. May you dethrone your unacknowledged egoity. May you complete what you left incomplete. May you openly face whatever harm you did in the name of Crazy Wisdom. May you reclaim and fully heal your humanity. May you awaken beyond what you took to be Full Awakening. May you get on your knees before Ramana [Maharshi, 1879-1950, India's renowned saintly sage, whose teachings were a big influence on the early Franklin Jones]. You once said, “While we’re alive, we make mind. After we die, mind makes us.” I wonder how this is for you, as you attempt to navigate the Kosmic Mandala’s more challenging zones. Easy Death — or so it seems.

[End of Robert Augustus Masters' eulogy for Da.]

~~~~~~~~~~

IN SUM: There are numerous far more commendable spiritual adepts and teachers to help you come HOME to your own intrinsic Divine Nature—real Love, Freedom, Truth, Peace, Bliss and Grace. One does NOT need Adi Da / Franklin Jones as one's intermediary channel of access to God.

Therefore, as a public service to those who might endanger themselves by becoming involved with Da's now discarnate energy and his church group, which I and many others consider to be dysfunctionally cultic, I present the following materials: 1) links to essays, blogs and emails from his former devotees , including some extensive excerpts from "Elias" (Tom Veitch) one of the most spiritually and psychologically insightful of these former Da associates; 2) excerpts from professional religion scholar Scott Lowe's 1993 essay and 1995 addendum recalling time with Da and the community in 1974, a crucial transitional time; 3) my response to a letter from a former "reluctant" Da devotee whose spouse is still enmeshed with Da ; 4) my recent correspondence with a staunch Da devotee, with a long critical assessment of his even more lengthy apologia for Da ; and 5) a closing brief email confirming the terrible dysfunction permeating Da and his Adidam cult , by a 25-year-long former member.

I.

Insightful essays and written or spoken revelations have poured forth from former Da students and devotees including “Elias” (Tom Veitch), “Alice” (one of Da's ex-wives), Mark Miller, Conrad Goehausen, Scott Lowe, Connie Shaw, Jim Chamberlain, and numerous others (including persons who chose to remain anonymous except to the persons to whom they have revealed their personal testimony).

For several years, the most all-inclusive link for much of the revelatory material on Da was the large "Daism Research Index" at Lightmind.com, a veritable library of revealing documents on Da assembled by Tom Veitch, a former close devotee calling himself "Elias." (The URL was http://lightmind.com/library/daismfiles/.)

That Lightmind website in early 2008 was replaced by the crucial ADI DA ARCHIVES website at www.adidaarchives.org, which inherited almost all of these revelatory materials, added many new materials, and instantly became our best overall collection of articles about the dysfunctional cult leader Adi Da / Franklin Jones. At some point in recent years, that website ceased to become operational, but almost all of its contents were archived and are presently available at the Archive.org website:



*** Adi Da Archives ***



Beyond its opening homepage (well worth reading as an introduction), the Adi Da Archives contains over 100 essays and reports grouped by topic at several different sections, entitled “Claims to Divinity,” “Sex, Violence & Women,” “Adi Da’s Psychology,” “Rationale for Abuse,” “Adi Da’s Teachings,” “Media Coverage of Da,” “[Mark] Miller Criticisms of Da,” “1985 Lawsuits,” “Money & Labor for Da,” “Da’s History [e.g., with Muktananda & Scientology],” “Ken Wilber & Adi Da,” and “Observations & Stories” (by many ex-devotees).

Among other materials at the Adi Da Archives website, one can find the following notable items:

• Ex-wife "Alice's" brief but eye-opening revelation about just a few of the various forms of sexual abuse enacted by Da/Bubba.



• Various other reports of sexual violence, not just upon women by Da, but also upon men, such as forced anal rapes by other men (at Da's command) to humiliate and demasculate them.



• Reports of Da's heavy abuse of a wide range of drugs (amyl nitrate "poppers," alcohol, cocaine, pot, antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, viagra, etc.).



• Connie Shaw's revelations of documented abuses and crimes, entitled "Adi Da in the Media: A 1980's Summary: Twisted Examples of 'Crazy Wisdom' From Adi Da's Fantasy World."



• Jewel's revelatory article, "How Devotees Became 'Dissidents' in 1985", naming lots of Da's closest disciples and how they began to wake up from the nightmare of his cult.



• Mark Miller's several very insightful and richly detailed revelatory articles from 1985 (start with Mark's succinct "Letter to the Mill Valley Record--May 9, 1985," and then his more in-depth and well-organized "Letter to a Questioner"; his "Letter to Family Member of a Daist"; "An Open Letter"; and the legal text of his 1986 lawsuit against Da for fraud and infliction of emotional distress). These Miller essays are grouped under the special sections sub-linked at the Archives.org site as "Miller Criticisms of Da."



• The reports of the "Poaching Posse Leela," for a third-person account of how Da/Bubba went after Mark's girlfriend by criminally plying them both with excessive amounts of alcohol, an exploitative strategy also used on other couples.



• Reports of Da's insatiable demands for the money and labor of his devotees, an example of "getting the servants to pay you!"



• Reports by former long- or short-time devotees like Scott Lowe (with Da in 1974, later a professional scholar of religion), Conrad Goehausen, Sri Bob, "/m," Jo (who was with Franklin in the early 1970s) and others, of what life was like in the early years and transition periods with the seductive but increasingly dysfunctional and demanding Da and his community. (See especially the "Observations & Stories" section at Adi Da Archives for all this.)



• Jim Chamberlain's 1996 booklet and blog story, "Beware of the God," at bewareofthegod.blogspot.com/, also posted at the "Observation & Stories" section of the Adi Da Archives. This contains some useful biographical elements on Da/Franklin, lots of revelatory anecdotes, and much insightful analysis after his 8 years with Da from the mid-70s to early 80s.



• For those who claim that all dysfunction around Da ended in the mid-1980s, there's an article by "Hatley" about her experience of a fear-ridden, chronically manipulated, creepy cult-group when she visited Da's Fijian "communal paradise" in 1991, "Life on the Island" (Naitauba, Fiji), at the aforementioned Archives.org site.



• Last but not least from the critical side, many extremely revealing and astutely analytical articles by "Elias" (Tom Veitch) from his older Lightmind website and also from his (now defunct) web-log at lightmind.com/blogs/adiblog.html. Most of these are reproduced at the "Adi Da's Psychology" section of the Adi Da Archives website. (One can also read the earlier written book, Knee of Daism , co-written by Tom/Elias and Sri Bob.)



• There are numerous adulatory websites by Da's devotees that will give the "other side" of the controversy, i.e., the view that Da was and is God Fully Incarnate, the "greatest spiritual Master and Teacher who ever lived," such as the website for Da's church group: www.adidam.org. I have allowed a large amount of space further below in this long webpage for one ardent devotee's extensive presentation of these super-positive views about Da. But having just listed so many websites critical of Da, for the sake of some semblance of editorial "balance" (which you will NOT find at the pro-Da websites), I provide readers here with one more extremely positive website on Da, one which, moreover, tries to address the critics (albeit quite inadequately, as many of us would evaluate).

So here's a positive view of Da: www.adidaupclose.org



Note the link at the bottom right of that website to a page defending Adidam from "dissidents" and the claim that most ex-members are positively or very positively disposed toward Da and Adidam. This claim was based on a "pilot study" by James Lewis, with a terribly non-random, heavily-biased sample of a mere 33 former members suggested to Lewis by the Adidam community itself.

That imbalanced pilot study has been severely critiqued here by Conrad Goehausen, aka "Broken Yogi": http://brokenyogi.blogspot.com/2009/10/academic-pilot-study-of-fomer-adidam.html

Extensive criticism of Da and his exploitation and denigration of sacred tradition, by Tom Veitch

Tom Veitch / "Elias" in his various articles and posts has generated, even beyond the major contributions by Miller, Goehausen, Chamberlain, Lowe, et al., a wealth of cogent observations about Franklin Jones / "Adi Da" and his cult, which grew ever more slavish over time. Especially relevant are Tom/Elias' keen observations of Franklin or Da's "archetypal possession," his psychic "vampirism," his "self-apotheotic inflation," his raging Oedipal and Narcissus complexes, his complete lack of scruples in exploiting other persons for his own pleasure and privilege, his incessant defining of devotees and students as beneath him, and his chronic put-down of truly great spiritual masters as also beneath what he perceives to be his own entirely unique and exalted spiritual "stature," a not-so-veiled attack on the Great Tradition of authentic adepts and sages.

UPDATE Dec. 2010: For the sake of balance, it must be asserted that in the last 18 months or so, at his "New Lightmind Forum," Tom/"Elias," on the basis of some continuing dream-contact with the post-mortem Adi Da, has expanded his view to include not just his prior heavy criticism but also a larger view of Da as an event in Awareness meant to shake people up. (See www.lightgate.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=512) However, he admits in a P.S. to one of these posts: "Some people will say that Adi Da wasn't anything like I am claiming or suggesting. They will say I am inventing a new Adi Da, a version of him to lay to rest the inner contradictions I feel about him. Could be."

Here are just several relevant samples from Tom/Elias' many earlier very critical writings, and I would declare that most of his insights can pertain to numerous other dysfunctional cult figures, not just to Adi Da. Here and there i've added emphasis via italics:

"There are certain signs that point to archetypal possession (as opposed to a real integration and transformation of the archetypal energies). One of them is haughtiness and pomposity. For some reason those who suffer the inflation of an archetype almost always lose the quality of humility and start 'lording it over' [others].... The quality of real compassion that is a large part of our humanity, goes right out the window... having been replaced by an archetype. Buddha is about the inspection, penetration, and transcendence of the archetypes. Buddhism in its purest form is about the absolute negation of archetypal possession as a spiritual path.... Christ too is about Realization through sacrificing the 'old gods' of Rome and the archetypal possession of the Emperors.... Franklin Jones/Adi Da, on the other hand, is about the return of the old gods and of the days when the frowning archetypes ruled the earth. In my opinion, 'Da' is a 'walk-in,' a spirit who pushed aside the original karmic inhabitant of the bodily vehicle 'Franklin Jones.' Franklin the man allowed this, in a moment of weakness, in a moment of inflation, in a moment of pride, in a moment of wanting to be a Guru...and in a moment of breaking his connection to his humanity.... In spite of all their pomposity and 'airs,' the archetypes are of a lower order than Man." (--from "Adi Da and Archetypal Possession," by "Elias," 1997)



"Early on Frank [Franklin / "Da"] got into minor siddhis (yogic powers), and he has continued to push in that direction, becoming somewhat adept at manipulating mindforms in the field of psychic awareness that includes himself and other people. In the process he developed a yogic ego -- an enlarged self-sense that feeds on the adulation of weaker human beings. Over the years Frank has become extremely skillful in the use of intimidation, coercion, and manipulation -- and once you have capitulated to his 'power' (and signed 'vows'), he will ruthlessly exploit and drain you. Once you are used up he will discard you like the rind of an orange. Liberation? Daism has nothing to do with liberation.... I have a snippet of old video tape (which I may transcribe at some point) where he rips apart the whole idea of a unique avatar [Divine Incarnation], and puts down 'these gurus who start thinking they are the one and only messiah.' It's just a marvelous and accurate critique of the madman he later became!" (--from Elias' 2000 essay, "The Daist Inquisition.")



"Adi Da's agenda is simple, and ultimately life-denying-- he draws all value to himself, and he leaves his victims feeling utterly worthless and hollowed out.... To justify this vampirism, Frank accuses his followers of an interminable sin of 'ego'--a mysterious unhealing disease which he also finds afflicted Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, and every other spiritual teacher since the beginning of time. In other words, Frank finds all human lives, except his own, to be unredeemed, and utterly without value. ('The five billion slugs' he called us.) If you want to heal, if you want to be redeemed, all you have to do is fall down and worship 'Adi Da,' the embodiment of all value and all possible perfection.... It is a terribly seductive message to the weak-minded and to those who are given to project all value upon the expectation of a great messiah who will surely come to lead us out of this world of interminable suffering." (--from Elias' 2001 essay, "The Forbidden Planet.")



"Among the 'ex-Daists' who actively critique Adi Da and his dharma, I see most as being completely faithful to the practice of relationship without separation or contraction [a central tenet of Da's early teaching]. That is to say, we do not separate ourselves from Frank -- rather we bring all our spiritual feeling and insight to bear upon whatever reality (or lack thereof) that he represents. Speaking personally, I have NEVER closed my heart to the guy. My sense of the mutual dynamics is that over time he has continually run away, hidden, and walled himself off from myself and others -- even all others -- and he does this on many levels. He appears to have made an overwhelming commitment to the neurotic mechanism -- common to those who suffer from a deap-seated self-loathing -- of acting aloof and pompous and domineering. Such behavior is an attempt to control relationship by making others feel small, dominated, and even guilty.... The whole psyche that Frank animates is the mind-game of pomp and power. After 'the seduction phase' (using half-truths and false promises) he moves rapidly into 'the domination phase,' in which the person whom he seeks to control is pushed toward a contracted state by every means possible. (He even asks them to sign a 'contract'!) Separation is enforced in Adidam [the Daist community], not melted. Purported 'One-ness' is claimed for the ornamented facade of the 'guru' -- but any testimonies of full and unobstructed relatedness by the student or devotee are invariably criticized as egoic, unlawful, 'targeting,' delusional, and so forth. That said, I have no qualms about making the claim that ex-devotees are still holding up their end of the original promise. We are not avoiding relationship -- Frank is avoiding relationship. In fact, as his increasingly bitter rants reveal, he just can't hack relationship! (He has said it makes him physically ill to sit with 'beginners,' i.e. the entire human race.) The great Indian guru Ammachi [Mata Amritanandamayi] has hugged twenty million people world-wide [now some 28 million people by 2007], all the while remaining in the pink of health [beyond the orthopedic damage to her spine from the chronic torqueing by human bodies pulling on her], and Franklin Jones gets sick just sitting in a room with a few dozen Americans who have taken vows to worship him!" (--from Elias' 2000 blog "Always Already in Relationship with Frank.")



"Aham Da Asmi [a recent work] is the first volume of the '23 source texts of Adi Da Samraj.'... [Herein,] he delivers a 'prophetic' tirade condemning anyone and everyone who fails to believe in him, respond to him, and fall down and worship him: [Quoting Adi Da from this book:]

'Those who Do Not heart-Recognize Me and heart-Respond to Me-and who (Therefore) Are Without Faith In Me -- Do Not (and Cannot) Realize Me. Therefore, they (By Means Of their own self-Contraction From Me) Remain ego-Bound To The Realm Of Cosmic Nature, and To The Ever-Changing Round Of conditional knowledge and temporary experience, and To The Ceaselessly Repetitive Cycles Of birth and search and loss and death. Such Faithless beings Cannot Be Distracted By Me -- Because they Are Entirely Distracted By themselves! They Are Like Narcissus -- The Myth Of ego -- At His Pond. Their Merely self-Reflecting minds Are Like a mirror in a dead man's hand. Their tiny hearts Are Like a boundless desert, where the mirage of Separate self is ceaselessly admired, and The True Water Of My Constant Presence Stands Un-Noticed, in the droughty heap and countless sands of ceaseless thoughts. If Only they Would Un-think themselves In Me, these (Now Faithless) little hearts Could Have Immediate Access To The True Water Of My True Heart! Through Devotional Surrender Of body, emotion, mind, breath, and all of Separate self To Me. Even Narcissus Could Find The Way To My Oasis (in The True Heart's Room and House) -- but the thinking mind of ego-"I" Is Never Bathed In Light (and, So, it sits, Un-Washed, Like a desert dog that wanders in a herd of flies). The "Un-Washed dog" of self-Contracted body-mind Does Not think To Notice Me -- The Divine Heart-Master Of its wild heart and Wilderness. The "Wandering dog" of ego-"I" Does Not "Locate" Me In My Inherent "Bright" Perfection -- The Divine Heart-Master Of Everything, The Inherently egoless Divine True Self Of all conditionally Manifested beings, and The Real Self-Condition and Source-Condition Of All-and-all. If Only "Narcissus" Will Relent, and heart-Consent To Bow and Live In Love-Communion With Me, heart-Surrendering all of body-mind To Me, By Means Of Un-Contracting Love Of Me, Then -- Even If That Love Is Shown With Nothing More Than the "little gift" of ego-"I" (itself) -- I Will Always Accept The Offering With Open Arms Of Love-Bliss-Love, and Offer My Own Divine Immensity In "Bright" Return. Therefore, whoever Is Given (By heart) To Me Will Be Washed, From head To toe, By All The True Water Of My Love-Bliss-Light, That Always "Crashes Down" On All and all, Below My Blessing-Feet. My Circumstance and Situation Is At the heart of all beings -- where I Am (Now, and Forever Hereafter) Avatarically Self-"Emerging" As The One and All-and-all-Outshining Divine and Only Person (Avatarically Self-Manifested As The "Radically" Non-Dual "Brightness" Of All-and-all-Filling Conscious Love-Bliss-Light, Self-Existing and Self-Radiant As The Perfectly Subjective Fundamental Reality, or Inherently egoless Native Feeling, Of Merely, or Unqualifiedly, Being).' (Aham Da Asmi, pages 77-78)

[Tom/Elias resumes:] "What can we say? What can lowly unwashed dogs like ourselves say before such awe-inspiring megalomania? Well, first of all we can point out the 'them vs. Me' aspect of it -- the mountainous duality of the claim of his rule over all imaginary others. Secondly we can point out that he is, in fact, mimicking the prophetic voice, stealing words and phrases from the inspired speech of Spiritual Adepts, and recycling them into bombast.... What is the purpose of that kind of speech except to intimidate and push the mind of the listener into a conflicted state? And who would want anything to do with such a man, except to see that he is properly cared for in a State Institution? [And Elias contrasts Da's ridiculously self-exalting verbal style of the 1980s onward with Da's older message from books of the 1970s like the long-suppressed early text, Garbage and the Goddess, wherein Da plainly stated, on pp. 335-6, an exactly opposite message: 'The world is the Avatar [Divine Incarnation]... It is humanity as a whole that is the Avatar in human form, not some specific human individual. No apparent or exclusive manifestation is in itself the Avatar........ But people want the Guru to be the Avatar. They want that exclusive God image, whereas God doesn't exist in the exclusive sense. God is absolute.'] [Elias resumes:] A careful study of Frank's 30-year evolution of speaking about himself will show this: Throughout the years there has been a relentless expansion of the claim of 'Divine Me' and an equally relentless contraction of the admission of the divinity of 'the entire human race.' In 2001 Frank fully believes he is the exclusive avatar, the exclusive God image, the unique (for all time) manifestation of the Absolute." (--from Elias' 2001 blog, "The Gathering Madness of the World-Teacher.")



"My criticism of Adi Da really began the moment he began to trash the [great spiritual] traditions -- 'demoting' Gautama the Buddha and [India's great modern-era sage] Ramana Maharshi [1879-1950] to '6th stage.' My criticism accelerated the moment Frank proclaimed himself the First, Last and Only 7th stage Realizer-adept. Frank-ly I was content to cut Frank a lot of slack, for years after I disconnected from his whacky community. But at some point it became clear that his agenda was nothing less than the 'political overthrow' of the Great Tradition -- a tradition that, for thousands of years, has perfectly expressed the native state of enlightenment, and a tradition that has liberated many thousands to Self-Realization and Buddha-Nature. When the Lankavatara Sutra [of early Mahayana Buddhism, along with texts like the Vedanta works Ashtavraka Gita and a few others] gets downgraded to a document created by ego-bound '6th stagers,' by a teacher who previously proclaimed the same text an ultimate example of 7th stage teaching, something is terribly terribly wrong. (And I can easily discern that wrong by reading the Lankavatara Sutra and then reading something of Frank's own writing. With rare exceptions Adi Da's own texts, IMHO [in my humble opinion], are laboriously turgid mentalizations and prime examples of self-apotheotic inflation.)" (--from Elias' 2001 blog, "Adi Da, Defamer of the Great Tradition.")



"Far from honoring and bowing to 'the Great [Spiritual] Tradition,' Franklin Jones and his followers have conducted an ongoing campaign of belittlement and character assassination against the most honored spiritual teachers in history." (--from Elias' 1999 blog, "Refutation of Daist fabrications regarding Ramakrishna.")



"After 1991, when he demoted Ramana Maharshi from 7th stage to 6th stage, Franklin Jones began promoting the idea that Ramana's realization was an 'exclusive inversion' upon the witness consciousness, and a 'developmental phase' in the life of the ego.... Daist apologists, who previously looked to Ramana as the very pinnacle of spiritual realization, now began pointing to Ramana's periods of silence and apparent inactivity as a sign of this 'exclusive inversion.' Adi Da, they pointed out, has fully expressed the Divine through his insatiable appetites for sex, drug use, and hard drinking. Adi Da is immersed in life, they said, his body radiating the Divine in a way that no previous master ever did. According to Daists, Ramana Maharshi represents the weak, the ineffectual, and the castrated state of withdrawal from life. Ramana 'hides in the cave of the heart,' dissociating himself from all others in egoic identification with the samadhi of [mere] 'witness consciousness.' In their statements about Ramana, Frank and his minions demonstrate that they do not yet understand that the Heart-Realization Ramana described is truly all-inclusive.... In living contradiction to many of the great teachings he has mimicked, Frank's 'realization' is in fact not realization at all, but the self-apotheosis of an egoic 'doer' --an exaggerated fifth stage yogic answer to the 'problem' of getting by in this world as an isolated genius in a crowd. [Da's strategy is this:] You spend a weekend with a well-known guru like Muktananda, letting him possess you with his 'shakti force' until you are 'God-Realized.' He gives you a name and an official letter granting you permission to hang out your shingle in his lineage. A week or so later you go into business as a 'Spiritual Adept,' and this is how you will make yourself rich, acquire properties and expensive toys, and take coup on thousands of young women. From the point of view of Maharshi's realization, no such self-apotheosis or yogic siddhis or worldly ambitions are needed. Simply find out 'who' you are, as Being Itself, and then you will completely understand the world from the position of Being, in which no separate subject exists, and in which the 'problem of the doer' has utterly vanished. Contrary to how Ramana is painted by Daists and others who have seen a few photographs of him lounging about, Maharshi was fully engaged in the life of his ashram. According to reports he was the first one up every morning, going immediately to work in the kitchen, directing the kitchen workers and cutting up vegetables for the day's meals. He was the most unpretentious of men, i.e, a true realizer, who made himself constantly available to everyone. He had no illusions that you can 'teach' people anything by parodying (or 'reflecting') their sins [as Da has done so abusively]. And whereas Frank has always claimed that people 'can't see' his real purity due to their egos, Maharshi made his purity visible to all.... He was a powerfully attractive being, who drew thousands upon thousands of people to him, year after year. He sat in the communion hall and conversed with visitors day after day, right up until he died.... If Frank had anything even close to Ramana's power he wouldn't need to carry on like a clown the way he does, endlessly mind-gaming, endlessly changing his appearance, endlessly trying to distract people from noticing 'the man behind the curtain' [like the impotent "wizard of Oz"]. He also would not be such a whiner and a scold. Frank is a clear example of 'the ego standing apart' -- the mad subject that thinks it can swallow God whole. Put the writing of this [so-called] spiritual genius' aside for a moment and see how he runs: he wants all of existence to revolve upon his physical needs and desires, exactly like a baby whose primary adaptation is to impulsively demand all the food and attention it can get. If it is fed, if it gets 'Big Gifts,' then the infant is 'happy' (or at least satisfied) for today. If gifts are not forthcoming, he throws a tantrum. The honest fact is that Frank is a prime example of the very worst trait of Americans who go the East seeking the ultimate: he literally believes that 'God realization' can be owned by the ego and amplify the ego to cosmic proportions. The proof of this statement is the unfolding of his life since his possession by 'the goddess' in the Vedanta Temple in 1970 [in Hollywood, CA]. From that day forward he embarked on a megalomaniacal (yet sophisticated) program of transforming himself from a human being into 'The First Last and Only 7th Stage Adept Realizer,' the one man in all of history who could claim to be wiser and more compassionate and spiritually fruitful than Buddha, Krishna, Jesus...and Ramana Maharshi." (--from Elias' 2001 blog, "The Daist Attempt to Pigeonhole Maharshi.")



"Elsewhere I have argued that Frank's 'seven-stage' system is false dharma [false spiritual teaching]. However, for the purposes of this discussion I will generally assume that it has some validity. In his conceptualization of the spectrum of spiritual awareness, Adi Da (Franklin Jones) has placed himself and no one else at the pinnacle of achievement—the so-called '7th stage of life'.... In his early development of the system, a few rarified beings were allowed to share the '7th stage' with Frank. Now—at least since the early 1990's—everyone who ever existed is arrayed below Frank, in the lesser strata of consciousness. For instance, Frank has said very plainly that he considers Gautama Buddha and Ramana Maharshi to be '6th stage realizers.' Jesus Christ is 5th stage. Ramakrishna is somewhere between 4th and 5th stage. And so forth. For decades critics have pointed out that after 10, 20, 30 years of teaching a 'Way' to enlightenment, not a single one of Frank's students had been declared to be realized beyond the '4th stage.' According to Frank's own evaluation of his followers, most seem to be permanently mired in the second and third tiers of his system. Perhaps in response to his critics, or for other reasons, Frank has now announced that one of his wives -- Bonnie Beavan, aka Quandra Sukha Mai -- is practicing in the 6th stage of life. That is to say, according to her guru and husband, she has attained the same level of realized spiritual practice as Gautama Buddha and Ramana Maharshi. (Jesus Christ only gets to be 5th stage in Frank's system, so now one of his wives is more realized than Jesus!).... Frank, of course, has an agenda of keeping everyone locked at some 'stage' below himself. So Jesus, Buddha, Ramana, et al are still, in his view, '6th stage'...forever. This in itself is pretty interesting -- to imagine, as a Daist, that all the Realizers who have gone before are not responding to Frank's presence, in their living state, but remaining locked in egoic isolation in the '6th stage'! In conclusion, no one in Adidam has ever demonstrated, by word or action, any of the traditional qualities of the 6th stage. And their photographs (as published in the Daist literature) betray the obvious -- they are not Realizers in any sense of the word, but people practicing at the 3rd and 4th stage of life. Perhaps Frank has created a 'new kind of 6th stager' -- an ordinary bloke who lacks the originality and profound access to Truth of all the old-time 6th-stagers. In fact, that is probably what Frank intends with his invention of the 'murti guru' [who will never function outside of the Daist community with his/her own disciples, but must always show adherence to Da]. As for Adi Da -- because he demonstrates such a powerfully resilient yogic ego, Frank Jones is clearly awake at the 5th stage of life. Good for him, I say. That's quite an achievement for a spiritual seeker." ;-) (--from Elias' 2000 blog, "Has Any Daist Attained '6th stage' Realization?")



"I am well aware that Frank has said 'There is no separate person.' And yet his is a path of interminable accusation and abuse of this non-existent separate person! Unlike Ramana Maharshi, who made it obvious that 'no separate person' exists, Frank's conflicted teaching posits and reinforces the existence of this 'separate person' at every turn. Daism is a dark and ego-based view of the human condition. Great Spiritual Masters like Maharshi and the Dalai Lama teach that human beings are essentially good, and already living from a core of purity and divinity. The infamous 'self-contraction' [of which Da relentlessly accuses other people] is, [as described by Ramana, the Dalai Lama and the literature of the great nondual spiritual traditions] for most people simply a matter of ignorance or wrong view. Once human beings taste the nectar of real wisdom, they tend to respond like bees to honey.... Frank is unable to deliver the nectar that would attract real devotees, so he falls back on blaming the whole human race for 'failing' him!... I would go further to say that Frank himself represents a mode and process of self-contraction upon the formless divine. This has become fairly obvious to everybody except those who have been blown over by his sales talks about himself or bought his brutal description of themselves as 'loveless assholes.'... The humor and sense of self-worth of the healthy ego flows effortlessly into the ecstatic I AM of the ocean of divine Self. The guilt-ridden ego of Daists is simply neurotic and forever stuck in a psychic-loop that orbits the frowning authoritarian archetype of the Da-guru." (--from Elias' 1999 essay, "Daism and the Betrayal of Human Innocence.")

"The idea of transmission-of-state from Guru to disciple [turning the disciple into an authentic Guru] is ancient and venerable. However, transmission is unlikely to occur if the disciple is continually defined to herself (even after decades of service and surrender) as failing to please the guru. (And disciples’ failure to please the Da-Guru is the Daist mantra.) Ongoing approval-disapproval is one of the hallmarks of Daist ideology. Every action (and every thought) of every disciple is continuously vulnerable to judgment and evaluation by the Da-Guru, his subordinates, the community at large, and the disciple herself (through the internalization of the Da-Guru's demands). In Daism the authoritarian quality of the guru-disciple relationship caused it to long ago reached a stasis in which no awakening-transmission occurs. Year after year the Da-Guru only compounds the situation by endlessly berating disciples for failing to live up to his demands, and 'failing' to release the self-contraction! And so Daism developed not as a transmission of the Realization, but as a circular teaching of culpability.... Narcissus (a name for the ego or self-idea [and one of the central ideas in Franklin Jones' early teachings]) is defined then as an adversary of the Da-Guru and his Grace. The ego is defined as Da-Guru's self-contracted opponent, struggling in vain against the radiant transmission of the Perfect Liberation of Divine Realization. Throughout the Daist rubric there are numerous variations on this theme. However, in the earliest books, one finds the suggestion that the ego 'can be allowed to rise and fall, without awakening the motivating sense of dilemma.' In this regard, the earlier teaching is closer to the ancient [Perennial Wisdom] idea that Liberation is the natural state of existence which has been covered up by an error of view -- or, as Franklin Jones used to put it, 'the failure to Understand.' However, in its emphasis on Narcissus, even early Daist ideology is a philosophy of blame, which assigns a negative value to the conscious state of virtually all human beings (except, of course, Franklin Jones). As such, in the view of this commentator, the Daist ideology is not and has never been a teaching of Liberation, but a teaching of culpability, or sin, not that different from ancient patriarchal systems in which guilt was assigned (and forgiven) from a central authority." (--from Elias' 1999 essay, "Some Notes on the False Teachings of Daism")

[Here's another gem about Da/Franklin Jones' own colossal narcissism:] "The natural setting for a narcissist is a situation where the attention of other people is focused on him or her. The famous moment by the pond -- the moment of preening in front of the mirror -- is just the setup for the moment in the spotlight. Psychology tells us that narcissists, in general, have a distaste for solitude, and feel lonely and uncomfortable by themselves. They are enamored of their own image, for sure, but the proof and justification of their self-love is not in solitude -- it is in seeking the notice and attention of others.... Narcissus' greatest fear is that he does not exist, or that he might not be remembered. So Narcissus builds monuments to himself, temples -- even religious cults. Narcissus wants to be a Star, and he wants to be remembered as the Great One in a story of his own devising.... Traditionally the spiritual hero -- everyone from Buddha to Ramana Maharshi -- expressed humility, discouraged adulation, and turned the attention of listeners away from himself to his message, which was that Truth is found not outside yourself, but in your own heart.... Some of us have noticed that Frank is not content to wait for history to honor him -- he does the whole show himself. He builds the statues, erects the religion institutions around himself, and accumulates and spends the wealth. He looks for sycophants as disciples, and practices well-worn psychological techniques to control their minds and gain their hysterical adulation. He has given himself the honorific of 'The Liberator of All Beings,' and yet we don't find any liberated or enlightened people around him -- NONE. We do find people worshipping him according to his rules, and bowing to photographs he ordered taken. Virtually all his 'recognition' is self-generated. He owns the printing press and he prints the books. He micro-manages the magazines, he chooses the photographs, and he controls the lives of the community of devotees from morning to night. (I remember, as an employee of Dawn Horse Press, hearing him screaming on the telephone to my supervisor about the most minor details.) By the standards of traditional society, Frank is like the man in the madhouse claiming to be the Second Coming of Christ who has taken control of a few other patients and convinced them that he is in fact the Messiah. People walking around outside the walls of the asylum say 'Yes, you think you are Jesus Christ, but we don't think so. You claim to be the Most Enlightened Being Who Ever Was and Ever Will Be, but it just doesn't add up. Your behavior doesn't add up. Your pomposity and your self-important declarations do not add up. By even the most liberal standards, you are quite insane, totally nuts, absolutely bonkers, a real nutcase...' Frank is one man against the world...and less than a thousand people have bought his tune. Like the rats of Hamlin they have followed the mad piper into the mountain of doom." (--from Elias' 1998 essay, "Narcissism and Franklin Jones.")



"Frank's endless talking [about himself] can also be viewed as an attempt to prove something about himself to himself. His complicated self-justification includes reading all the classic spiritual texts and then emulating them, writing his own Gita, writing his own Upanishads, writing his own Buddhism, writing his own esoteric Christianity... Reading him I get the feeling I am being argued into believing in something and somebody...some hypothetical 'Liberator' who has come down to earth to 'save' me from myself. (I also get the impression of a man with a terrible Father-Complex, who is arguing his case before the Highest Court in the Universe.) What's missing in his endless rationalizing? The simplicity of truth. Where's the simple direct and spontaneous heart-speech of a Ramana [Maharshi]? I am sure Frank has tried to simulate that at times, just as he once tried to simulate the Christ of the Gospel of John. But to my knowledge he has never succeeded, because Truth cannot be simulated." (--from Elias' 2000 blog, "What Isn't Enlightenment?")



"Frank's self-apotheosis may be the most outlandish example of psychic-inflation in the history of yoga and transcendence spirituality. According to him, the One Divine Person has never been born or completely Realized until now, in the person of himself, and, as he has said in See My Brightness Face to Face (page 144), 'It is neither possible nor necessary for another seventh stage Adept to appear anywhere.' By his bizarre logic all previous 'Realizations' and 'Enlightenments' have been in some sense incomplete, and therefore dualistic. One Divine Person (Adi Da) existed--but was never Realized! Therefore for all Buddhas, avatars, spiritual masters, and ersatz 'realizers' until now, there must have remained a separation in Consciousness! Further, it follows from Adi Da's statements about himself, that all recognized Buddhas and Realizers -- including Shakyamuni, Krishna, and Jesus Christ --were 'mistaken' about their Realization and their Avatarhood.... There is a river of pure water and there is a madman standing by the river selling glasses of dirty water from his latrine. He tells you he is the only one who has ever really sold pure water and the only one who ever will sell this water and if you want this water you must bow down to him and give him all your earthly possessions. Frank's statement of his timeless and 'all-time' exclusiveness is not meant to be metaphorical. It is an unequivocal declaration of the primacy of the body-mind of Franklin Jones, born 1939.... It is the dualistic mental knot of yogic-ego upon which the entire bizarre psycho-drama of 'Da' turns. Daism, the worship of 'Adi Da' as an idol, is in reality a 'perfect' expression of a man who psychologically and sexually abuses others, who indulges his bodily cravings to the point of damaging his health, and who has sucked endlessly on the financial tit of his followers, until they are left impoverished and desperate." (--from Elias' 1996-8 essay, "The Self-Apotheosis of Franklin Jones.")



"Frank [Da] has skillfully pushed away the realities of life as it is lived by 99.99999 percent of the people on the planet, preferring to act out the age-old myth of a pampered god-king, his every want and desire fulfilled by willing sycophants. OK...that's old news. That aspect of Daism has been soundly trashed from all sides. What came to me now was the thought that Frank is a descender-- he escapes from reality (including spiritual reality) by descending into the vital. It's funny, because the man has always criticized '5th and 6th stage saints and yogis' who escape from this world by ascending into the spiritual realms of the sahasrar ["crown"--for yogic release into formlessness]. Even a good old fashioned nirvakalpa samadhi ('formless ecstacy') is, in Frank's view, 'limitation'--a contraction from the Real, and self-indulgent unenlightenment!... But if you examine how Frank has 'moved attention' after his own 'enlightenment,' a pattern of descent emerges--the manipulation of the body-mind into a conditional manifestation of infantile mental-physical self-gratification. That is to say, his 'spiritual' journey is one of seeking ever-more isolation and enclosure in a womb-like environment, where he will feel protected and cared for by others. The instruments of his search have been unvarnished greed, lust, thievery...and all forms of seduction and mental violence.... Frank and his mates' manipulation of the minds and lives of others to acquire a conditional heaven for themselves is, more than anything else, the definitive statement about what Frank is and what he is doing. Frank has written a few interesting philosophical tracts, which at one time or another impressed Ken Wilber, Georg Feuerstein, and several other religious scholars. Practically speaking, the books mainly serve as consciousness-traps for the young and the weak-minded -- once you enter their mental labyrinth, extrication can take years. But the lionshare of Frank's pitifully selfish existence has been spent on his own comfort and self-indulgence. In my view, he has given nothing of lasting value to the human race." (--from Elias' Oct. 1999 essay, "Frank's Escape From Reality.")



"The financial situation for most Adidamites is pretty scary. Their obligations to their guru include the following:

--15% of gross income tithe

--the Congregational Services fee

--the 5% Treasures support

--regional support fees

--book prepay (you buy books before they are printed)

--magazine and Internet subscriptions

--fundraisers and auctions

--emergency fundraisers

--financial gifts 'over and above established agreements.'

Curiously, after all these years, Adidam has never been able to develop a really successful community business -- one that would free devotees from the exorbitant drain on their personal incomes...." (--from Elias' 2000 article, "Daism Report #4: The New Pattern.")



"The funds raised to support Adi Da's 'circumstance' go for many other things besides his expensive hobbies [in Disney art, nude photography, and even more expensive paperweights, such as the collector-item he paid $159,000 to get at a Sotheby's auction in 1998]. He also regularly lavishes expensive gifts on his wives and children [e.g., vast sums for jewelry and sexy lingerie for his wives]. Large amounts are allocated to each person on Frank's gift-giving list -- sources say between $20,000 and $30,000 per person, for birthdays and Christmas. Expensive jewelery will be purchased, designer clothing -- the gifts of a King to his Consorts and his Princesses. These gifts are never reported to the community at large. And the recipients are generally careful not to wear the gifts in the company of devotees. One of the complaints of the so-called 'dissidents' who left Adidam in the mid-1980's was that the guru spent wasteful amounts of money on his own whims and personal appetites. All indications are that Frank's prodigal spending of devotee's money has never moderated, but over the years grown to grandiose proportions." (--from Elias' 2000 article, "Daism Report #3: Adidam Fundraising.")



"Sources paint a quite different picture of what goes on behind the scenes [than what most devotees think about him]. When the veil is pulled away, and 'the man behind the curtain' is revealed, Frank comes across as incessantly foul-mouthed, petty, nagging, totally self-obsessed and controlling. His life is a constant stream of decision-making about his hobbies and his possessions. He obsesses about money, and he micro-manages virtually every detail of ashram life. Among his intimates he often refers to the devotees as 'dummies,' 'damn phonies,' 'kiss-ass retards,' and 'high-faluting egos' who 'diddle me with their crap.' (And those are only a few of the nice things he says about his followers.) His private conversation is laced with obscenities.... Anybody who dares to stand up to his bullying is quickly sent packing.... Sources report that he has to be handled with kid gloves at all times. He will begin to ruminate obsessively about some detail and be unable to get off it, until one of his wives skillfully directs his attention to something else -- sort of like the way you treat a child or a mental patient....." (--from Elias' 2000 article, "Daism Report #4: The New Pattern.")



"One of the most bizarre characteristics of Daism is the facade of 'authority' it tries to present.... Like Scientologists, Daists are programmed to communicate a patronizing sense of their own superiority in all matters, spiritual, psychological, intellectual, etc etc...you name it, they are smarter than you or me in just about every department! This they learn from Frank, whose interminable 'one-upping' masks a profound inferiority complex. The purposes of this false front are to control the language of discourse and to grab the 'chair of teaching' away from the genuine sages. The 'mask' of Daism is also intended to push the interested observer's mind into a pre-determined shape below the threshhold of consciousness. Studying the scriptures of Daism is thus not simply a matter of meditating on a teaching and finding insight -- but a matter of being assaulted by rhetorical bombast and larger-than-life imagery.... In using these methods, Daism is much like any autocratic political movement -- it puts on the the dress, the uniforms, the symbols, the grand imagery, and all of the stage-props that will hypnotize an audience into submission." (--from Elias' 2001 blog, "Posturing and Intimidation in Daism.")



"I was watching a video somebody sent me from around 1997. There were three things on the video-- a Q-and-A [Question & Answer] talk by Frank, a walk through Fear-No-More Zoo [with footage of him trying to handle a squealing pig], and a darshan occasion [an audience with Da, wherein the "shaktipat" energies are flowing]. The talk he gave was one of those berating ones, about failure to practice etc. I was struck by the darkness in the man. All the light that had seemed to be there in former years was gone out of him. He had an aspect that was both disdainful and cruel.... OK, then [in the video] we cut to the darshan occasion. There was a purposeful editing juxtaposition here, because the devotees [under the influence of the Pentecostal-like shaktipat energies] were all making grunting and squealing noises, just like the pig. In fact, it sounded like a damned barnyard in the darshan hall! Frank had that slightly cruel look of amusement he is famous for.... At one point the camera pulled back, showing the crowd getting really worked up, all shouting and hooting and holding up their hands, and there was this sudden wave of inhuman sound, and you could feel their souls just leave their bodies, all at once, and go into him. I was stunned. I hadn't realized how retrograde the thing had become in the last 20 years. Back when I was involved there were some very intelligent and complicated people around, including people who had spent years studying and practicing under Eastern teachers. The group I saw on that tape were simple, average folks, the kind of people who easily accept being controlled and 'owned' by beings more powerful than themselves...and they were being eaten alive." (--from Elias' 2001 essay, "Adam Gave Names to All the Animals.")



"It has always been a 'paradox' that Franklin Jones criticizes [his guru] Muktananda's realization and yet relies heavily on Muktananda's naming-letter for his own claim of legitimacy as a 'guru.' In fact, according to Frank's current '7-stage' system, Muktananda isn't even a realizer-- he's at best a 5th stage yogi, an ego suffering self-limitation and contraction from the Divine Self.... Later came rebellion, when he didn't receive the support that he wanted and expected from Muktananda [or from his earlier teacher, the American-Hindu renunciate Rudrananda / "Rudi"].... Neither of them... was even close to true Realization. Both of them were curiously unfinished men... And these are the teachers [Muktananda and Rudi] that Frank chose, because of their perceived weaknesses, because they were 'pushovers' from whom he felt he could easily obtain the authority to teach a form of the Hindu religion. The result -- Daism -- is a teaching without a real foundation in tradition, and a teacher -- Franklin Jones -- whose central 'heroic-myth' is that of supplanting the father. In fact, there's the nub of Frank's psyche -- he 'kills' the father and 'marries' the mother [the Goddess, whom he claims to have 'fucked' and merged with in a culminating experience in the Vedanta Temple in Hollywood, CA, in 1970]. Frank has always been in an Oedipal rivalry, not only with his teachers, but with his own devotees. As many have testified, he is in competition with every male member of his community. He sleeps with their wives, strips their sense of self-worth, and systematically castrates them, both psychologically and spiritually. Most importantly, he is at war with every apparent masculine manifestation of the Divine, from Buddha to Ramana. In this ultimate Oedipal statement of having supplanted the father, he devalues all gurus except himself -- there is not one ounce of devotion or respect in him for those who came before. He is, quite simply, Oedipus the father-slayer." (--from Elias' 2001 essay, "Frank's Oedipus Complex.")



And one last observation from Tom/Elias on Da: "One good way to think about this is to ask yourself what you would expect of others, if you could, by the grace of God, show them their divine nature. Would you use your transmission as a means to acquire wealth and power? Would you use your siddhi [paranormal power] as a seducer of young women? Would you acquire a thousand slaves to do your every bidding? I'm willing to wager that the answer is 'no' to all of the above. And IMHO [in my humble opinion] only a psychologically undeveloped person would combine 'spiritual transmission' with the lust to acquire countless sexual partners and vast amounts of money, real estate, and material things.... According to Frank and his cohorts you and all the rest of us are 'totally bereft of Divine Truth,' hopelessly mired in illusion, and walking around seeking answers we will never find except by complete surrender to the Da guru. Then you sit with Frank, he shows you his extrordinary consciousness, and all of a sudden you owe your life to him-- he owns you." (--from Elias' 1999 essay, "For a Man Who Had a Vision of Frank.")

There's much, much more insight and revelation from Tom Veitch / Elias (see his posts from 2000 forward on the continuing insane dramas of Da and his minions) and from other former devotees on the strange phenomenon of Franklin Jones / "Adi Da."

If you or anyone you know is involved with Da's organization, please read further at the aforementioned Adi Da Archives site.

I have received a number of supportive and informative emails reinforcing what i have shared here from Tom/Elias and others who have written about their strange times with "crazy Da." I would add a bit more detail to all of the above with the following report. Anonymous source-persons (who have remained anonymous because they are concerned about reprisal if they speak openly), have informed me that Adi Da is a heavy abuser of diverse drugs, some for the sake of his sexual escapades.

As one correspondent wrote me: "The core of Franklin is very simple: drugs. An addictive personality, he has always lied about using drugs, made free use of them while he has proscribed [forbidden] them for others. LSD, poppers (i.e. butyl nitrate, very big), amyl nitrate, cocaine, lots of pot, and other stuff including anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants. So the self-declared Lord of all the worlds and his Sahaja Samadhi has to have his meds to maintain equilibrium? He uses lots of Viagra these days to fuel his sex addiction in addition to periods of non-stop pornography and sex parties. That's what the 'higher levels of practice' considerations are, and why they are so hush-hush. It's basically about sex abuse of adults. His fund raisers for 'art' and other causes -- the money is used to pay for the parties, drugs and lavish lifestyle. He thinks absolutely nothing of screwing his students over financially and physically. In what is left of his mind, others exist [only] for his pleasure and use."

II.

Brief Biographical background on Franklin Jones / Adi Da, quoted from Wikipedia:

According to Adi Da's autobiography, The Knee of Listening, he was born Franklin Albert Jones [in Jamaica, NY, on Nov. 3, 1939] and raised in the New York City borough of Queens. 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, which say that during this period he did not meditate, but "simply listened"). 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, and that Muktananda would not acknowledge his enlightenment. Adi Da would later say, however, that he still regularly "connected with" Muktananda (and Rudi) in subtle planes, and that he always held a great love for his former gurus....

----------

[Here is an abridged version of religious studies scholar Scott Lowe’s 1993 essay and 1995 addendum about Da and his community during a time of growing dysfunction, entitled THE STRANGE CASE OF FRANKLIN JONES (Adi Da Samaraj), posted in full at www.adidaarchives.org/scott_lowe_case_da.htm]

[Scott Lowe writes:] When I was asked by [Professor] David Lane [creator of the Neural Surfer website in the mid-1990s, the Internet's first major site to expose dysfunctionally cultic forms of alternative religions] to write an account of my brief period as a member of the community centered around Franklin Jones, I was initially reluctant, for several reasons. I had been involved with the guru for only a few months back in 1974….

[Sacred traditions] understand that… the distinctions modern persons make between spheres of action--physical vs. mental, spiritual vs. material, academic vs. personal, intellectual vs. moral, etc.--are both arbitrary and inappropriate when considering spiritual teachers. As these teachers usually claim, there is no spiritual world divorced from everyday life. The preceptor, or guru, claims the entire life of the disciple as his/her field of action; there is no area of the disciple's life free from the scrutiny and correction of the guru. Taking this claim at face value, it only follows that every aspect of the guru's life is also open to the critical examination of the disciple; there is no life of the spirit divorced from everyday human interactions and mundane concerns. The intellectual work of an English professor may be separate from his sex life, but a guru's is not. Given the inseparability of spirit and matter, the cosmic and mundane, what more relevant way is there to evaluate a teacher than by his or her relationships with persons, possessions, and the environment? While I will do my best to avoid all questionable, unsupported allegations, I will not hesitate to discuss actions taken by Da Free John that seem to bear directly on the question of character. It is my belief, or bias, that spiritual liberation does not free one from all rules of conventional morality.…

My experiences of Da Free John, though brief, occurred at a time of unusual openness. Although the guru has been extraordinarily reclusive for many years now, when I was in the community he was relatively accessible, and his activities were in plain view. With hindsight, it is clear that in 1974 Da Free John was planting the seeds of behaviors that would grow into luxuriant, noxious weeds in [his Northern Calif. community and in] the tropical isolation of his Fijian hideaway.…

In March of 1974 when I arrived in San Francisco, the Dawn Horse Communion [later known as Free Daist Communion/FDC and later as Adidam] was in a period of rapid change and growth.… The guru had no reservations about experimenting on his followers [in matters of diet, alcohol/drug use, sexuality, spiritual practices].… Members of the community were required to write spiritual journals in which they recorded their experiences in meditation, doubts, hopes, growing love for the guru, feelings of surrender, etc. These journals were collected weekly and read by a "big brother" or "big sister," assigned to each member by someone higher up in the organization.... It quickly became apparent that honesty in our journals was not a virtue to be rewarded; any expression of doubt, confusion, or uncertainty led to long, unpleasant probing from the higher-ups and the suggestion that perhaps we were not "mature enough" as disciples to deserve the experience of spending weekends in the master's presence. Our entries soon became formulaic and unrelentingly enthusiastic, loaded with the jargon of surrender and grace….

Overall the mood was exciting, fraught with anticipation of the profound spiritual revolution beginning before our very eyes. There was a strong sense that we were on the vanguard of a new spiritual order, that personal transformation was occurring all around us, by the grace of the guru. Since Da Free John worked his transformative magic by means of a mysterious process of osmosis, or transference of enlightenment [called shaktipat in Sanskrit], the highest priority of everyone was to gain access to the guru. This led to utterly embarrassing attempts to ingratiate ourselves with those in power. The greatest power lay with those who controlled access to the master, so nearly every member of the community vied to please these sternly right-thinking individuals by appearing to be the most surrendered, pious, obedient, hard-working, etc., devotee of all time….

Probationary members were expected to maintain celibacy, while full members were allowed to engage in "mature, responsible sexual relations" (apparently a euphemism for exuberant promiscuity)….

Between jobs, commuting, housekeeping, hygiene (remember the enemas!), meditation, and work on the bookstore, our days were very full; most of us had little time for sleep, and I recall that I was hard pressed to do the reading and writing demanded of a new community member. … [P]ossibly Da Free John wanted his followers to be too busy to think.…

His most intimate associates were roughly his age or perhaps a bit older. He appeared to be especially close to two men [including Sal Luciana, his friend from 1968; the two had been students of Scientology and later planned their own new religion centered on Bubba/Da]; the core of the inner circle seemed to be formed by the three men and their wives, though even members of this tiny elite were not immune to periodic banishment into the outer wilderness of the rank and file. In addition to this core group, there were usually several single men, notable mostly for their arrogance and expensive sunglasses, who flanked the guru like bodyguards when he went out, and a half dozen or so attractive, ethereal younger women, collectively known as the "gopis," making up the inner circle. The members of the inner circle did not appear to work, at least not at the heavy demolition and construction that occupied most weekend hours for the rest of us, and were greatly envied by everyone else. However, it appears that they paid a heavy price for their relative ease.

Like many gurus, Da Free John worked to undermine all attachments between individuals; ultimate allegiance is to the guru alone…. To this end, Da Free John ruthlessly separated couples he deemed too attached to one another, sometimes dissolving marriages or dictating that new relationships be formed. The guru also had sex with a large number of attractive women. This was hardly a secret, especially since many of the women so favored had no qualms about telling others the details. It was my distinct impression that Da Free John was already physically abusive towards women, pushing and slapping them around on occasion. [See earlier cited reports on Da’s sexual violence toward these women, some of whom needed to be hospitalized, one of whom needed to have her genitals medically sewn back up by an in-house doctor on more than one occasion]…. [The] abuse was always interpreted and reported in the context of shaktipat, the imparting of divine energy or grace through physical contact….

When he was scheduled to speak in the ashram's lecture hall, we would assemble early, most people struggling to get as close to the guru's chair as possible, several of us with attitude problems sitting in the back row, as if still in school. We would usually meditate quietly until Da Free John made his dramatic entrance, encircled by the fluttering gopis. The effect was often startlingly electric. These were strange days, even by ashram standards, and the shakti, or spiritual energy, seemed wild, almost uncontrolled. Individuals would writhe or cry out with eerie animal voices as waves of delirious exultation swept through the room. Suddenly, Da Free John would quiet the crowd and, seating himself on his elevated throne, begin his discourse….

During his lectures, Da Free John repeatedly, eloquently, and humorously attacked the narcissistic self-absorption that he claims has overshadowed our original enlightenment and become our habitual state of consciousness. Only by understanding and transcending our petty attachments, dropping our egos, and free-falling mindlessly into the sheltering arms of God can we recover the ecstatic, unreasonable happiness that has been our true condition all along. The way to reach this state of supreme happiness is to surrender to the guru at all times and in all situations….

When he had finished speaking and answering questions, he would abruptly rise and walk out, followed by his scrambling entourage. The rest of us would slowly collect our wits and trickle out into the warm, dark night.

Although Da Free John was most impressive, he was not at all approachable; he had no friends. Everyone was his student and everyone needed to be prodded, poked, cajoled, tricked, and even tortured into surrendering the attachments that prevented them from living the blissful enlightenment that was their true, already existing state. At the time I wondered what it would be like to have no peers, to be beyond correction, to admonish others but never to be admonished oneself, and concluded that one could only remain sane if one were "fully enlightened." Anyone less than a "perfect master" would be certain, I reasoned, to end up like one of those looney, sadistic pedophile emperors from the declining years of Rome. In retrospect, I suppose that Da Free John was already [by 1974, three years after starting his public “ministry” or “career”] losing his balance; he certainly seemed to enjoy stripping persons of their "attachments" with an enthusiasm that might seem cruel….

Towards the end of my stay [in 1974] I began to realize that Da Free John was gradually asserting a claim to be an avatar, an incarnation of God on earth. He actually sets it out in his first book, The Knee of Listening, when he describes his childhood experience of basking in "the Bright," his childhood term for the divine light that he experienced from birth…. [The] claim is that little Franklin Jones was uniquely enlightened from birth and is, in fact, God in human form. An avatar does not need the imprimatur of a mere swami or a western yogi....

While establishing his status as an avatar, Da Free John claimed to produce a number of miracles…. In retrospect, the "miracles" and, most importantly, individuals' reactions to them may provide a key to interpreting the group consciousness that Da Free John was constructing in his community. It seems most likely that no one actually saw the marvels the guru claimed to have produced, but the erstwhile devotees' responses to Da Free John's claims provided a litmus test to determine who had or had not fully surrendered to the guru's version of reality, thereby giving a reliable criterion for weeding the ranks of the rapidly growing community.

Although Da Free John was vociferous in condemning "cultic" behaviors and blamed his ashram members for repeatedly falling into the trap of blind guru worship, the entire organization of the community was designed to inculcate and enforce the very behaviors the guru ostensibly despised. Our "spiritual journals" provided an efficient means for monitoring individuals' attitudes and spotting ideological or behavioral deviations as soon as they arose, in addition to their previously discussed value as tools of self-imposed indoctrination. While it is possible that a controlling, totalistic ideology, with an accompanying "brain police," is almost certain to develop at some point in the life of any tight, committed religious community, it is my opinion that Da Free John was fully conscious of the intense, self-regulating socialization taking place in his community and was most likely the principal author of the systems of control. It seems that there were few areas in the management of the ashram that fell outside the guru's scrutiny. No matter what he said about the spiritual pitfalls of the "cultic mentality," Da Free John insisted upon a community that embraced the most slavish and unquestioning traditions of Indian guru worship….

Da Free John could not imprison anyone; rather than holding individuals against their will, he made them plead for admission. Given the constant scrutiny directed upon new members, it is fair to suggest that we were intensively socialized, but the pressure to conform came from within at least as much as without. The guru claimed to offer access to profoundly ecstatic spiritual realization, and the only way to gain access to that experience was by playing his game. The better you played the game, by showing your devotion and obedience, the greater your contact with the guru and the more frequent your opportunities for grace. We were all willing, ardent competitors in this game, though some of us came to resent the rules….

Obviously, the community had an absolute focus on the person of Da Free John, and he figured in nearly every conversation; members became saturated with an atmosphere of devotion and idol-worship, but there was little more coercion in this than one would find among a group of Elvis worshippers on a charter bus pilgrimage to Graceland. … [M]ost of the socialization I experienced was the product of my own will and desires; Da Free John was a splendid salesman, to be sure, convincing hundreds of us that he was the only true master of our time and the only route to liberation, but we coaxed, enticed, and cajoled ourselves and each other into accepting his claims. We are responsible for that choice….

The portrait that emerges from the [1985] San Francisco Chronicle articles is disturbing and plausible. Da Free John appears to have become a reclusive, binge-drinking misogynist, still brilliant and charismatic, but violent and sadistic towards his most committed and dependent followers. That one of the two men closest to him in 1974 was, in 1985, contemplating a lawsuit for "seventeen years of emotional stress" does not bode well. At the very least, it suggests that Da Free John is an ineffective teacher, since seventeen years of discipleship ought to be long enough for a follower to achieve some of the positive results of meditation, like stress reduction. It is even more alarming to realize that the guru's closest long-term followers felt that they had been manipulated and abused. After all, these are the persons who have been most intimately involved in Da Free John's work of transformation over the course of several decades. If in this time they have not benefited spiritually, could anyone else have?…

The only individuals who could possibly curb Da Free John's excesses are those who most believe in his divinity, and they blame themselves for their lack of understanding when his behavior seems unreasonable. Ironically, the self-obsession that he has diagnosed as the basic human predicament is reflected in everything he now writes; he has become the Narcissus he so forcefully critiques….

His first book, The Knee of Listening, has grown from an original two-hundred seventy-one pages to a mammoth six-hundred five page text. Not only have new prefaces, appreciations and appendices been added, but the descriptions of early phases in the Guru's life and spiritual search have been significantly rewritten.… It is hard not to get the strong feeling that, even more than before, Da is busily creating his own hagiography [holy mythology]….

Despite Da's many attempts to bolster and augment his "spiritual genealogy," it is clear that his later, most powerful realizations, the ones that have convinced him of his unique status and destiny, have never been publicly confirmed by any other living master….

In traditions where the belief in, and search for, a final realization is a dominant motif, there seem to be marked tendencies towards self-deception, grandiose ego-inflation, and antinomian excess--in short, all the problems that appear to be manifested by Da Free John….

In an excellent unpublished paper on Da Free John, the well known author, editor, and consciousness researcher John White makes a simple, obvious point about "service" that struck me with great force. What White notes is that our planet is in desperate straits… there are still vast numbers of vexing social and economic problems that need to be addressed, the sooner the better. What then is the focus of the selfless service promulgated by Da, a man supposedly in profound harmony with the entire spectrum of suffering life forms? The answer is straightforward and simple-minded: all service, from beginning to end, is to be dedicated to satisfying the personal needs of the Guru…. Can't the devotees serve Da Free John through serving the needy, much as Mother Theresa serves Jesus by helping the poor? How do the devotees serving Da differ from those Evangelical Christians who pay lip service to Jesus while doing absolutely nothing to alleviate the suffering of those around them? … [C]atering to the sexual, financial, and emotional needs of an avatar is [considered by Da and Daists] of greater cosmic significance than helping the homeless and hungry….

His message now is more clear than ever: despite the fact that we are all one and all equally enlightened in our true nature, we should worship only Da, think only of Da, and serve only Da….

… Adi Da spends most of his time being worshipped by a handful of especially devoted followers, while he lolls about half-naked in a tropical paradise. This gives the impression that the Guru is pursuing a rather oblique approach to enlightening the planet. The video footage of devotees bowing at his feet provides images more appropriately associated with medieval royalty than selfless saints. One can imagine Da in a previous lifetime as a minor European nobleman, exploiting his impoverished serfs, sleeping with their wives and daughters, and living a splendidly dissipated life of luxury, all in the name of the divine right of kings.

III.

Letter from a former "reluctant 'devotee'" (and my response comment):

----- Original Message -----

From: "Danielle" [name changed to protect anonymity]

Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Subject: Adi Da



Dear Timothy,



I came across your wonderful web page regarding Adi Da. I was a reluctant “devotee” of his for about 13 years, as my husband was, and still is, a devotee of his. Thank you for stating so clearly what I feel and felt for so long. I have not been able to put into words my “opinion, doubts, etc.” I felt much like the child watching the Emperor with no clothes. No one else seemed to notice. I must have been at fault.

We moved away from the ---- community [location deleted to protect anonymity] and I began to get some perspective on it all. Through much searching, I found Amma [Mata Amritanandamayi] (actually She had me in her clutches for probably many life times), my wonderful hugging mother and I am so happy. My husband feels I betrayed him. But we seem to be getting through it all. We shall see.

I find it so interesting how the Adi Da community is constantly asking for money for Adi Da’s “toys” as you put it, while Amma asks for money to build homes, hospitals, save women from prostitution, [adopt] orphanages… [etc.]. She wants nothing for herself and is actually disturbed if a devotee spends money on her when it could be going to someone who has real needs.

My husband sneers at the fact that I am a devotee of a mere 4th stage teacher. Oh, my!!! To be 4th stage!!!!

Anyway, thanks again for your wonderful work.

--"Danielle" [name changed to protect anonymity]

---------



Timothy responded:

Hi "Danielle":

Thank you for your email and kindly appreciative words. I'm sorry to hear of what you've gone through with Da (and your husband's attachment to Da), but i am so happy that you found Amma, or vice versa (yes, no doubt she's been your guide in other lifetimes and soul realms).

>My husband feels I betrayed him. But we seem to be getting through it all. We shall see.

Your husband some years ago likely became very "identified" as a Da devotee. He assumed that you were, too. When you broke the identification and the hypnotic fascination with the Da cult, it is predictably going to be perceived by your husband as an implicit threat to your mutual "oneness" and "comfort level" and "familial togetherness" with Da. Your husband is likely unconsciously experiencing cognitive dissonance, a deep-down lurking suspicion that he has not made the right choice but the wrong choice in identifying himself with Da and his cult. The fact that you have broken away from this identification and can now articulate how Amma is a much more "divine" manifestation (by all reasonable criteria [though see Gail Tredwell's 2013 book Holy Hell on how even Amma possesses an increasingly nasty side that began to emerge in private with Gail/"Gayatri," who was Amma's longtime personal attendant from 1980-99]), all of this disturbs what was for some years an unchallenged, complacent identification in your husband's psyche. So, on a subconscious or preconscious level, your husband most likely strongly resents both you and Amma. Hence his irrational emotional expressions of sneering resentment toward Amma and feeling "betrayed" by you--an emotion much more appropriately merited by Da, who has betrayed all his devotees by lying, manipulating and voraciously taking their money, energy, time and devotion all these years.

>My husband sneers at the fact that I am a devotee of a mere 4th stage teacher. Oh, my!!! To be 4th stage!!!!

Great line, Danielle! And yes, it's sad how some people can be so bamboozled by false schemas and negative spin from some of these deeply disturbed individuals like Da, et al., who always want to put themselves over others and hype themselves as "the highest." That is a mental/emotional disorder, not an expression of "divinity"!

Well, may Da and all beings be healed and genuinely liberated from the "me"-dream, ASAP, by Divine Grace.

And may your husband come to see that being fully conscious and loving in relationship with his wife is where most of his real spiritual work lies, not in going any further into the complicated web of duplicity and manipulation with the voracious pseudo-godman, Da, whose misuse of certain minor powers will, alas, one day or aeon come back to bite him in the bum. As for those "awesome powers" that Da and certain other pseudo-godmen are said to have (the shaktipat "energy-transmission" theatrics and fireworks), folks can realize that there are all sorts of seemingly powerful souls running around the multiple planes of the Kosmos--often showing a mix of karmas including deva (shining celestial being) and asura (callous demon); these complicated souls may appear to have very laser-like minds and powerful energy bodies (zapping you with animal magnetism and apparent charisma), and such souls usually try to impress and seduce other souls/persons with these formidable deva-asura karmic personalities. But there's nothing impressive about such figures when they take a human birth and, instead of clearing up their own samskaras or vasanas (selfish tendencies), play oneupsmanship games on other human beings. If your husband were truly clear, he would see Da for what he is--a complicated mix of deva, asura as well as ghost and hell-dweller samskara-tendencies (look at all those pathetic addictions to drugs, sex, and toys) pretending to be "free" and "Divine." As it is, your husband, like a number of folks, likely has some old karmic connections with Da that are being played out in this lifetime. Maybe they were once part of a tight group of soldiers or bandits or religious cult members hundreds or thousands of years ago and want to stay connected in this life.

Ultimately there is nothing to worry about--all souls, including your husband and Da, will eventually wake up from the dream and come back to Awareness as Brahman [Reality], because there is only Brahman. Alas, this may take aeons, but time is really nothing in Timeless Divinity. In the meantime, i do hope that all goes well for you and your husband, Danielle. I'm sure you realize that you can always penetratingly see through his (and your and everyone's) ego-tendencies, and lovingly view him and everyone as transparent for the Self-shining Atma-- Absolute Awareness-Aliveness-Isness-Emptiness-Openness-Fullness!

Love and Liberation for all beings (the One Alone)...

Om Namah Sivaya

Aum Amriteshvaryai Namaha



--timothy

===================

IV.

Featured for most of the rest of this long webpage is my correspondence with a Da devotee , a published psychologist with a clinical practice, whom I will here call “David” to protect his anonymity, with extensive point-by-point critical comments on his lengthy case for promoting Da.

The following can be read in the context of the very old tradition of debate in India, Tibet, China, and other sacred cultures, lovingly arguing the merits or demerits of a certain position. While it can be taken seriously on the pragmatic level of justice and injustice, right and wrong, healing and harm, on the ultimate level of Divine Consciousness all of this is but hilarious "dream-play"! I thank David for his passion and, yes, his devotion to spirituality in the context of his ardent relation to his beloved guru, Adi Da. I leave it up to the reader to decide whether the object of David's devotion is worthy of being worshipped or not, and to assess what might be the real cost of this devotion...

For what it's worth, i'll preface here (and repeat at the close of this rather long correspondence), the comment from a reader, a former member of the Da cult starting from the late 1970s for the next 25 years, someone who knows "David," who wrote to me after reading the following correspondence between myself and "David":



...Yes it [Adidam] is a cult and much more of a cult than you know. You were being nice to "David" but scholarly and relational—however, much nicer than I would have been... responding to his very deluded position. He regurgitated the same spiritual babble that all members of Adidam have brainwashed themselves with—simply repeating Franklin's language and reinforced constantly by and with each other. Folie a deux—more like "folly at 1000." And by the way, the Adidam cult has never been much more than 1,200 or so since 1982—exaggerated at 1,500 at times. It has never grown since 1982. And real practitioners: I'd say a handful—less than 100 worldwide—whatever "real practitioners" would be in Adidam. And I can tell you that Adidam is one complete delusion—bogus from beginning to end. And Franklin is also bogus from beginning to end (even before 1970 as revealed by studying his early unpublished writings).... Yes, a lot of misery Franklin has created—and yes, there is no demonstration [of God-Realization] at all in their community—much less 7th stage Realization (whatever that is). [It's] more like a community of childish immature 2nd stagers.... If you knew what I know, all of your insights would be further validated by 1000%.... To sum up: If you are an Adidam member, you've got your balls cut off. Franklin makes sure of that.





----- Original Message -----

From: "David"

To: Timothy Conway

Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 9:52 AM

Subject: Integral Therapy



> Dear Timothy:

I have completed a website recently oriented toward integral therapy, based specifically on the "Radical" Non-Dualism of Adi Da Samraj. You might be interested to see the therapy I make of nondualism, especially "Radical" Non-Dualism. […]

> I have been a devotee of Adi Da Samraj for over 25 years. Recently, I completed a doctoral program in which I based my dissertation on a comparative study of the ego in Freud, Jung, and Adi Da. I have several pieces from this work published at this time (The Humanist Psychologist and The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies).

> Several more are submitted to other journals. Perhaps you would be interested in having some of my articles appear on your website. Please take a look and see.

> Also, I am including a links sect