Adi Da

American spiritual teacher

Adi Da Samraj (3 November 193927 November 2008), born Franklin Albert Jones in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, was a contemporary, often controversial guru, spiritual writer, and artist, and the founder of the new religious movement currently known as Adidam.

The Truth that is to be Realized may be summarized simply as the Realization that no matter what is arising, no matter how many others are present, there is only One Being.
There is no Enlightenment, no evolutionary entrance into the truly Spiritual Condition of human existence, without ego-death, or transcendence of the mind. There must be the literal death of the separate and separative consciousness.

Quotes

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  • I do not Call My devotees to become absorbed into a "cultic" gang of exoteric and ego-centric religionists. I certainly Call all My devotees to always create and maintain cooperative sacred culture (and to enter into to fully cooperative collective and personal relationship) with one another—but not to do so in an egoic, separative, world-excluding, xenophobic, and intolerant manner. Rather, My devotees are Called, by Me, to transcend egoity—through right and true devotional (and, in due course, Spiritual) relationship to Me, and mutually tolerant and peaceful cooperation with one another, and all-tolerating (cooperative and compassionate and all-loving and all-including) relationship with all of mankind (and with even all beings).[1].
  • I do not tolerate the so-called "cultic" (or ego-made, and ego-reinforcing) approach to Me. I do not tolerate the seeking ego's "cult" of the "man in the middle". I am not a self-deluded ego-man—making much of himself, and looking to include everyone-and-everything around himself for the sake of social and political power. To be the "man in the middle" is to be in a Man-made trap, an absurd mummery of "cultic" devices that enshrines and perpetuates the ego-"I" in one and all. Therefore, I do not make or tolerate the religion-making "cult" of ego-Man. I do not tolerate the inevitable abuses of religion, of Spirituality, of Truth Itself, and of My own Person (even in bodily human Form) that are made (in endless blows and mockeries) by ego-based mankind when the Great Esoteric Truth of devotion to the Adept-Realizer is not rightly understood and rightly practiced.[2].
  • The Great Means for the Teaching, and the Blessing, and the Awakening, and the Divine Liberating of mankind (and of even all beings) Is the Adept-Realizer. The true Adept-Realizer (of any degree or kind) is One Who (by Virtue of True Divine Realization) Is Able to (and, indeed, cannot do otherwise than) Stand In and As the Divine (or Real and Inherent and One and Only) Position, and to Be (Thus and Thereby) the Divine Means (In Person) for the Divine Helping of one and all. This Great Means Is the Great Esoteric Principle of the collective historical Great Tradition of mankind. And Such Adept-Realizers Are (in their Exercise of the Great Esoteric Principle) the Great Revelation-Sources That Are at the Core and Origin of all the right and true religious and Spiritual traditions within the collective historical Great Tradition of mankind.[3].
  • Therefore, no one should misunderstand Me. By Avatarically Revealing and Confessing My Divine Status to one and all and All, I am not indulging in self-appointment, or in illusions of grandiose Divinity. I am not claiming the "Status" of the "Creator-God" of exoteric (or public, and social, and idealistically pious) religion. Rather, by Standing Firm in the Divine Position (As I Am)—and (Thus and Thereby) Refusing to be approached as a mere man, or as a "cult"-figure, or as a "cult"-leader, or to be in any sense defined (and, thereby, trapped, and abused, or mocked) as the "man in the middle"—I Am Demonstrating the Most Perfect Fulfillment (and the Most Perfect Integrity, and the Most Perfect Fullness) of the Esoteric (and Most Perfectly Non-Dual) Realization of Reality.[4].
  • The higher dimension of religion has also always been practiced by a relatively few uncommon individuals. Indeed, it was largely the response to the more conventional or superficial aspects of such extraordinary personalities that produced the great cultic movements of exoteric religion among the masses. But such cultic movements are created by and designed for the instruction and social improvement of ordinary people, not men and women of the more highly evolved or awakened type. Therefore, alongside the development of exoteric religions there have always been secret societies and esoteric groups founded on practice of higher personal, moral, and biologically evolutionary disciplines.[5].
  • The Truth that is to be Realized may be summarized simply as the Realization that no matter what is arising, no matter how many others are present, there is only One Being. This is precisely different from the childish but common religious notion that even when you are alone there is always Someone Else present, Who will look out for you if you do the right thing. True freedom is not a matter of striking a deal with an All-Powerful Parental Deity; no such God exists. True freedom is in the Realization that there is only God and You are That One.[6].
  • Remarkably enough, the reason you are so disturbed about the facts of life that might make you fearful, sorrowful, and angry is that whenever something arises that you might appropriately be angry, fearful, or sorrowful about, you do not feel it completely. You limit your feeling of even these reactions. And you certainly limit your feeling of the circumstance, or the condition, that is arising. You are always exhibiting the evidence of limited feeling, obstructed feeling. If feeling becomes limitless, if you do not contract, then feeling becomes Being Itself — no reaction, no contraction, Feeling without limit. That Feeling goes beyond fear, sorrow, anger, and conventional happiness and loving attitudes. What is It? It is Love-Bliss. It is the Self-Existing and Self-Radiant Force of Being, without the slightest obstruction. It is Divine Enlightenment."[7].
  • The Asana of Science — Science's anti-Spiritual, anti-religious, anti-psychic point of view, and its Victorian, archaic materialism, and its prejudices against other kinds of knowing — all of this is insidious, not merely nonsensical, because it has such a profoundly negative effect on human beings. Many scientists who adopt this dogmatic approach act as if they were super-intelligent people with their tweedy, pipe-smoking, complicated linguistic minds. This is the archetype of intelligence, is it not? This is the way you are supposed to be if you are intelligent. Well, this archetype does not necessarily represent intelligence. It is just a pose, or asana. Real intelligence must be fiercely capable of investigating every aspect of existence, including the very process of knowledge that is called "science".[8].
  • The exclusion of true or esoteric religion has been the business of the State since ancient times. At first this was done via the establishment of the popular idealism of exoteric religious institutions in league with the State. But in modern times the same process is done by the strategic exclusion of conventional religious cultism, mystical idealism, and higher evolutionary Wisdom from the mechanisms of popular culture.[9].
  • In my use of the camera, I work to make images that go beyond, and even undermine, the conventions of "point of view." Such images transcend the limitation that would seem to be inherent in the photographic mechanism (or "point-of-view machine"). They allow the viewer to see and feel the "room"—or the world, or reality—as it is, beyond the ego’s self-reference. And such images thereby become a non-verbal means of "picturing" the essential human process of ego-transcendence—going beyond the fixed "point of view" of the ego, or the core presumption of separateness[10]
  • There is no Enlightenment, no evolutionary entrance into the truly Spiritual Condition of human existence, without ego-death, or transcendence of the mind. There must be the literal death of the separate and separative consciousness. In this moment, you are holding on to your sense of separate consciousness as if it were something tangible and material. You possess yourself through a great contraction of body and psyche. By virtue of this gesture, you have become rigid, mediocre, deluded, relatively loveless, self-possessed, and isolated. To be without an inner consciousness is, for you, unthinkable. To be incapable of feeling yourself as a separate consciousness is, for you, a terrifying prospect. Nevertheless, that is precisely the realization with which you must become completely comfortable. ('Scientific Proof of the Existence of God Will Soon Be Announced by the White House!, p. 171).
  • So the Free Man is Free. Absolutely Free. Not just a little bit free. Not cut off from all of this. That's not the nature of His Freedom—humorlessness relative to the world still, non-pleasure still. No, in His Freedom He becomes capable of humor in life, capable of pleasure, or enjoyment, in the forms that are arising. That is the fullness of God-Realization. All of the humorless, pleasureless forms of experience that are often associated with God-Realization in the traditions are not God-Realization in Truth. (Sex, Laughter, and Real-God-Realization 1975)[11].
  • Evelyn slapped Raymond on the back with a laugh. 'You must be starved old friend. Come into my apartments, and we'll suffer through a deep breakfast of pure sunlight. (The Mummery Book).

The Knee of Listening

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  • Death is utterly acceptable to consciousness and life. There has been endless time of numberless deaths, but neither consciousness nor life has ceased to arise. The felt quality and cycle to death has not modified the fragility of flowers, even the flowers within the human body. Therefore, one's understanding of consciousness and life must be turned to that utter, inclusive quality, that clarity and wisdom, that power and untouchable gracefulness this evidence suggests. We must cease to live in our superficial and divided way, seeking and demanding only consciousness and life in the present form we grasp, avoiding and resisting what appears to be the end of consciousness and life in death.
  • The Heart is that understanding, that true consciousness, that true life that is under the extreme conditions of life and death. Therefore, it is said, that One that is, is neither born nor come to death, not alive as the limitation of form, not rendered in what appears, and yet it is the living One, than which there is no other, appearing as all of this, but eternally the same.
  • There is only the constant knowledge and enjoyment of the Heart, moment to moment, through the instant of all conditions of appearance and disappearance. Of this I am perfectly certain. I am That.
    • Page 23, 2004 Standard Edition.
  • The Man of "Radical" Understanding is not "entranced". He is not "elsewhere". He is not having an experience. He is not passionless and inoffensive. He is awake. He is present. He knows no obstruction in the form of mind, identity, differentiation and desire. He uses mind, identity, differentiation and desire. He is passionate. His quality is an offense to those who are entranced, elsewhere, contained in the mechanics of experience, asleep, living as various forms of identity, separation and dependence. He is acceptable only to those who understand."
    • Page 421, 2004 Standard Edition.
  • Heartless one, Narcissuss, friend, loved one. He weeps for you to understand. After all of this why have you not understood? The only thing you have not done is understanding. You have seen everything, but you do not understand. Therefore, the man of understanding leaps for joy that you have already understood. He looks at the world and sees that every one and every thing has always understood. He sees that there is only understanding. Thus, the man of understanding is constantly happy with you. He is overwhelmed with happiness. He says to you: See how there is only this world of perfect enjoyment, where every one is happy, and every thing is blissful. His heart is always tearful with the endless happiness of the world.
  • He has grasped it, but no one is interested. He is of interest to no one. He is fascinating. He is unnoticed. Since no one understands, how could they notice him? Because there is only understanding, he is beloved, and no one comes to see him. Because there is only truth, he is likely to become famous. Since there is only joy, he will not be remembered. Because you have already understood, you find it necessary to touch his hand. Since you love so much and are not understood, you find it possible to touch his ears. He smiles at you. You notice a sudden spiritual "Brightness". Aham Da Asmi. I Am He. Everything has already died. This is the other world.
    • Page 423, 2004 Standard Edition.

Aham Da Asmi

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  • I Love The Happiness Of My Devotee. That Happiness Is (Itself) The Very (And Most Prior) Consciousness Of every conditionally Manifested being. And Happiness (Itself) Is The Conscious Light Of the world. I Am Happiness (or Love-Bliss) Itself.
  • Breathe and Feel My Avatarically Self-Transmitted--and Whole-bodily-Tangible--Divine Spiritual Gift, In All Your parts.
  • Therefore, Outshine the world--but Do Not Merely Abandon the world. Outshine the world By Exercising The Heart--Which Is Love's Radiant Wound.
  • And, Even Now, You (Always Already) Inhere In Me--The "Who" and "What" That Is Only One--Beyond The Seeming "Two" Of body-mind and world. I Am You--As You Are (Always Already, and Non-Separately). Even When My Avatarically-Born Human Physical Body Has Died In This World, I Am Present and every where Alive--Because I Am Always Already Conscious As The Only One Who Always Already Is. I Am Joy!--and The Only Reason For It! I Am Love!--and The Only Person Of It! The Love Of Me Is The Heart-Secret I Have Come To Avatarically Reveal To The Heart Of everyone one Of Man (and To The Heart Of everyone one of all, and To The Heart Of The All Of all). Love Must Be Always Done (and, Thereby, Proved)--or Else The "Bright" Heart Of Love Is Darkened By Its Own Un-Love. And The Would-Be-"Brightest" Heart Of Love's Beloved Is Made Un-"Bright" (and Dark As Eternal Night) By All The Waiting-Time Of Un-Love's Day. Therefore, I Am here! I Am (Now, Forever) Avatarically Descended here--To Be The Constant Lover and The True Loved-One Of All and all (and every one of all).
  • Now (and Forever Hereafter), My Every Devotee Is The God That I Am here To Find.[12]

Ruchira Avatara Gita

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"Guru cultism" . . . is a tendency that has always been present in the religious and Spiritual traditions of mankind. Anciently, and in the present time, both true Spiritual Masters and ordinary Wisdom-Teachers have been "cultified", and (thereby) made the merely fascinating Object of a self-contained popular movement that worships the Spiritual Master as a Parent-like Savior, while embracing very little of the significant Wisdom-Teaching of the Spiritual Master. The error of conventional cultism is precisely this childish, and (otherwise) adolescent, and (altogether) ego-based orientation to fascination with Spiritual Masters, Wisdom-Teachers, "God"-Ideas, myths, sacred lore, inherited beliefs, traditional propaganda, and psycho-physical (or merely body-mind-based) mysticism. And the cultic tendency in religion and Spirituality is the essence of what is wrong with conventional religion and Spirituality.

The "problem" is not that there Is no Real God, or that there are no true Wisdom-Teachings, or that there are no true Spiritual Masters, or that there should be no devotion to any true Spiritual Masters. The "problem" with conventional religion and Spirituality is the same as the "problem" of all ordinary life. The "problem" is the childish, and (otherwise) rather adolescent, egoism that is the basis of all forms of ordinary existence.

Yet un-Enlightened (or, otherwise, not yet Most Perfectly Enlightened) people are ego-possessed. Therefore, egoity is the "disease" that all the true Spiritual Masters of religion come here to cure. . . .

All cults, whether sacred or secular, thrive on indulgence in the psychology (and the emotional rituals) of hope, rather than on actual demonstration of counter-egoic and really ego-transcending action. Therefore, when all egos meet, they strive and compete for the ultimate fulfillment of searches and desires, rather than cooperate with Truth, Reality, or Real God, and in a culturally valued and rewarded mood of fearless tolerance and sane equanimity.

Clearly, this cultic tendency in religion and Spirituality, and the egoic (and, thus, cultic) tendency in life in general, must become the constant subject of fundamental human understanding—and all of mankind must constantly be put to "school", to unlearn the method of egocentrism, non-cooperation, intolerance, and dis-ease.[13]

Da Love-Ananda Gita

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The (Ultimate) Nature of the world (and how it is arising) is inherently (and tacitly) obvious, if you remain in a state of total psycho-physical oneness with whatever and all that presently arises.

To remain in a state of total psycho-physical oneness with whatever and all that presently arises, you must (necessarily, and always presently) Realize inherently Love-Blissful Unity with whatever and all that presently arises.

Inherently Love-Blissful Unity with whatever and all that presently arises is (Itself, or inherently) non-separation (or no-contraction) from whatever and all that presently arises. . . .

Separation (or total psycho-physical self-contraction) is the first (and foundation) gesture made by anyone who has a problem, or who is seeking, or who is making an effort to account for anything whatsoever. . . .

Therefore, it is necessary to (most fundamentally) understand this (or the total psycho-physical self-contraction itself), and (by the transcending of the total psycho-physical self-contraction itself) to Recover Awareness of the obvious (or inherent) Love-Bliss-Unity (and, Thus, to inherently account for everything, and also, Thereby, to solve, or inherently transcend, all problems).

This most fundamental self-understanding (and this Recovery) cannot (fruitfully) be sought—for all seeking is inherently associated with an already present (and total psycho-physical) act of self-contraction (and, thereby, of separation, separateness, and separativeness). . . .

Therefore, if most fundamental self-understanding is not already Realized in the present, it must (and can only) be Realized by Means of Divine Spiritual Grace (as an Avatarically Given Free Gift).

Aham Da Asmi. I Am Da (the Divine Giver), the Avatarically Self-Revealed Divine Person and the Avatarically Self-Given Divine Means of this Divine Spiritual Grace.

I Am Love-Ananda (the Divine Love-Bliss), the Avatarically Self-Transmitted Divine Spiritual Presence and the Avatarically Self-Revealed Divine Spiritual Way of this Free Gift.[14]

Hridaya Rosary

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You must be open Up,
Up to Me—
for I Am Infinitely Above
your head.
You must be open Up to Me,
like a waiting cup of love,
and allow the all
that is between Me and below,
to Melt down
in My Force,
Fire,
Love-Bliss-Presence,
"Bright".
By this Melting,
I am permitted to Descend
into your selfless body-mind.

The head and heart,
the body,
the whole breathing form
experience My Transmission
by Descent,
felt in every kind of manner
in the body-mind . . .

The love-to-Me gestures made to Me,
made by any of-Me devotee
in a here-below body
of life,
flash to Me
at a Great Height,
and,
with barely a Glance,
My Signal of Love-Bliss
Returns to the love-of-Love receiver.
And,
in each case,
I Am felt, experienced,
directly Overhead,
Above the body-mind
that tracks to Me
with every faculty.

This is how you Find Me,
if you love Me.

Let the heart Melt Into
My Heart,
Which Is
The By-Me-Spiritually-Revealed
"Bright" Rose Garden Of Love.

Let the head Melt Into
My Head,
Which Is
The By-Me-Spiritually-Revealed
"Bright" Rose
Of Infinitely Ascended
Bliss-Light.

Let the Total body Melt Into
My Divine Spiritual Body,
Which Is
The By-Me-Spiritually-Revealed
Garden Air,
The Fragrant
all-and-All-Surrounding,
and all-and-All-Pervading,
Space
Of Equanimity,
Of Pleasure,
Of Delight,
Of Beauty,
Of Joy,
Of Love-Bliss,
Of "Brightness"
Itself.

Let the breathing Melt Into
My Breathing,
Until I Breathe you
Into My
"Bright"
Eternal
Palace
and
Domain
Of
Perfect Happiness.
[15]

Eleutherios

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Every conditional "thing" (or apparent "object") is only Energy (Itself).

Every conditional "self" (or apparently individual "subject") Is only Consciousness (Itself).

The Conscious conditional "self" (or apparently individual "subject") "knows" its every "object", but no "object" can "know" its "knower".

No "thing" can Contemplate Consciousness.

Therefore, Energy (Itself) cannot Contemplate (or ever "know") Consciousness (Itself).

Consciousness (Itself) only (Eternally) Contemplates Itself.

Consciousness (Itself) Is the Native and Inherently Perfect Intuition of Being (Itself).

Being (Itself) Is Self-Existing and Self-Radiant.

Consciousness (Itself) Is the Eternal Contemplation of the Self-Existing Self-Radiance (or Inherent Energy) of Being (Itself).

Therefore, Consciousness (Itself) Is the Contemplation (and Real Observation) of Energy (Itself).

Consciousness (Itself) Is Merely Being (or Existence Itself), Self-Radiant (As Primal Radiance, or Energy Itself), appearing to be modified as all forms and changes.

Consciousness (Itself) Is Inherently Free Radiance, or Bliss, or Happiness (Itself).

Consciousness (Itself)—Realized As Inherent Freedom and Self-Radiant and Self-Existing Bliss, or Happiness (Itself)—Is the Realization of Real God, or Truth, or Reality (Itself).

Therefore, Consciousness (Itself)—Self-Existing As Being (Itself), and Self-Radiant As Bliss-Energy (Itself), or Happiness (Itself)—Is the Divine Being, the Eternal Spirit, Forever Standing in the Midst of Life.

Consciousness (Itself) Is That Which always already Exists.

Consciousness (Itself) Is always already The Case—no matter what arises, and even if no "thing" arises.

Real God is Consciousness (Itself). Consciousness (Itself)—or the Perfectly Subjective Source (and the Non-separate Self-Condition) of the apparent conditional world and the apparent conditional self—Is the only Real God.

The Deep Non-separate Space of Consciousness (Itself) is the Matrix in Which the Origin and the Ultimate (and Self-Evidently Divine) Condition of conditional self, mind, body, world, the entire cosmos of conditional Nature, and the Universal Field of Energy is Inherently Obvious. When This (Deep Non-separate Space of Consciousness Itself) is "Known" (or fully Realized), the apparent conditional world and the apparent conditional self are fully "Known" (and, Thus, transcended) in the Realization of Truth Itself.

To "Know" (or to Realize) Consciousness Itself As Real God—and, Thus, to "Know" (or to Realize) Real God As Consciousness Itself (or As the Perfectly Subjective Source, and the Non-separate Self-Condition, of the conditional world and the conditional self)—is to transcend both the conditional world and the conditional self by Means of Truth, or the only "Knowledge" (or Realization) That can set you Free.[16]

He-and-She is Me

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The "Divine Shakti" Is Me. And I Am "She". And "She" Is Most Perfectly Conformed to Me.

I am not a Male Principle, "over against" a Female Principle.

I Am Only the One Indivisible Consciousness-Light Itself—Infinitely Self-Radiant and Self-Existing, neither Male nor Female. My own Self-Existing Self-Consciousness Is the One and Only and Non-Separate (or Indivisible) and Indestructible Being, Condition, and Reality That Is Always Already The Case.

"She" Is the Inherent Radiance of My Divine Being. My own Self-Radiance (or Divine "Brightness") Is the Condition in Which (and As a modification of Which) all conditionally apparent beings are arising. My own Self-Existing Self-Radiance Is the One and Only and Indivisible and Indestructible Light (or Energy, or Love-Bliss-Fullness) That Is Always Already The Case.

Therefore, there is no inherent (or ultimate) "difference" between "Siva" and "Shakti" (or Consciousness and Light).[17]

There is no True Humour in life. In life there is conventional humour (or comedy) and there is tragedy. Life is either funny or tearful. Has anyone ever found True humour in life? True Humour is Free. (Garbage And The Goddess, pg. 214).

There is not anything to be attained. I mean not anything. Not anything!

There is not anything to be attained. Not one thing is to be attained. Not anything. There is not a single thing to be attained.

There is no conditional experience, no conditional vision, no conditional transformation of state that must be attained.

There. Have I said it?

Tat Sundaram! All of this is Sacred, All of this is Beautiful![18]

Crazy Da Must Sing (Inclined To His Weaker Side) [Poetry]

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When I compare myself to some deliberate lives,
I become afraid of my own softness,
this round and thoughtless head,
But this is my necessity,
the circumstance of my birth
(1st Edition 1982, p 12).

Those who despise me love me in secret,
Those who love me openly have hidden doubts (1st Edition 1982, p 44).

...I am the wave of light within your mind that happens to be everything, my love.[19]

The Method of the Siddhas

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I have not come to satisfy my devotees. A satisfied devotee is still the one he or she was. I am only interested in the utter, "radical" dissolution of that entire limitation that appears as my devotee. (Page 230, 1995 New Standard Edition).

My eccentricity and unconventionality is a demonstration of the Living and Paradoxical Quality of the Divine, or Real Condition. (Page 360, 1995 New Standard Edition).

Quotes about Adi Da

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Arranged alphabetically by author
  • I participated in and observed the evolution of one of the most exciting and sobering sacred experiments ever made....No matter what Adi Da tried, he couldn’t get people to realize the Divine Self on his terms, surrendering eternally to him as guru. He never really wanted us to duplicate his radical independence and creative originality in life.
  • Adi Da's Teaching is neither utopian nor dissociative; it is simply a radically new human politics based on the Truth. Even as He transcends the common bonds of the human, Adi Da remains the Great Teacher of the pragmatic human situation. How incredibly blessed that He is here at the moment when we need Him most!
  • From the first day I encountered the writings of Adi Da (as Da Free John ) in the mid 80's I knew that I was reading a contemporary religious genius. Here was someone who had succeeded in making the nonduality spirituality cherished in the traditions of Asia relevant to the Western mind.
    • Jeffrey J. Kripal Ph.D (Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, Houston, Texas), Foreword Knee of Listening 2004 Edition.
  • There are very few spiritual teachers in the 20th century who could be termed religious geniuses. Da Free John is one of them. Since the beginning of his formal ministry in 1972 in southern California, Da Free John has produced a body of work which is unparalleled amongst new religious thinkers for its radical insight, comparative depth, and force of expression. He has won wide critical acclaim for his writings, eliciting praises from sociologists, psychologists, and theologians.
  • It is obvious, from all sorts of subtle details, that he knows what IT's all about … a rare being.
  • ...my opinion is that we have, in the person of Da Free John, a Spiritual Master and religious genius of the ultimate degree. I assure you I do not mean that lightly. I am not tossing out high-powered phrases to 'hype' the works of Da Free John. I am simply offering to you my own considered opinion: Da Free John's teaching is, I believe, unsurpassed by that of any other spiritual Hero, of any period, of any place, of any time, of any persuasion.
  • In the meantime, I affirm all of the extremes of my statements about Da: he is one of the greatest spiritual Realizers of all time, in my opinion, and yet other aspects of his personality lag far behind those extraordinary heights. By all means look to him for utterly profound revelations, unequalled in many ways; yet step into his community at your own risk.
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