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Sept. 10, 2006 During the winter of 1986-1987, when I was living in Honolulu , Hawaii , I found a wallet in the restroom of a public park where a night baseball game was in progress. The wallet contained no money or credit cards, but had several ID cards, some pictured. Apparently, the owner of the wallet was one “Da Free John”, who maintained some kind of “temple” or “presence” somewhere in Honolulu , but I found nothing with a street address or a telephone number, or I’d have delivered the wallet personally or called. The picture on the ID chilled me immediately. I saw at once a pseudo-Indian self-appointed guru or swami. What makes me remember this is that I called directory assistance and spent a few minutes trying to get a petulant operator to look up “Da”, and then “Free”, and then “John”. I couldn’t locate Da Free John, and I don’t recall what I did with the wallet. Anyway, at the time I didn’t realize that I was in possession of a personal effect belonging to history’s foremost spiritual teacher. I should have saved it for a museum! Da Free John, also known as Adi Da (Samraj), was born Franklin Albert Jones in Jamaica , New York in 1939. I can’t stand a man from the Queens who acts as if he came from somewhere in India . I wonder if he reads the Upanishads or the Bhagavad Gita with a New York accent. Anyway, this man argues that there is no enlightenment except through himself, and that he has advanced to a higher stage of realization than Jesus or Buddha. He has 2,000 to 10,000 followers on a worldwide basis and has expressed his disenchantment with the fact that his doctrine hasn’t swept the world off its feet. He maintained a commune or live-in in Los Angeles , where his disciples served him like robots and sexual slaves. He is supposed to have had a dildo collection, and he practiced polygamy, marrying as many as nine women at a time. Here is a picture of this impostor, too ugly for words. I cannot see myself sitting down at this man’s feet to listen to his spiritualities. The URL also has links to articles about Frank, I mean, Adi Da: http://www.rickross.com/groups/adida.html A lengthy open letter by Mark Miller sketches some of the revolting practices that Adi Da carried on. I have merely selected paragraphs describing the more lurid matters. Anyone who is interested in reading the whole account may visit the website below my excerpts. ‘DFJ’ stands for ‘Da Free John’: “While speaking against drugs and alcohol in his literature, DFJ has himself used many drugs during his years with devotees, including marijuana, hashish, peyote, psilocybin, nitrous oxide, LSD, other exotic hallucinogens more powerful than LSD, and most consistently, amyl nitrate. Did this all occur during the period of time erroneously labeled "the teaching demonstration" in 1976? Absolutely not. And DFJ has at times used drugs and alcohol to the extent of creating serious health concerns for himself. His drug and alcohol usage has continued into the 1980's. “The drug which appears to be DFJ's favorite is amyl nitrate. This fact raises some interesting questions. If, as DFJ claims, he is a ‘tantric master’, who practices the transcendence of orgasm, why does he take amyl nitrate during sexual encounters? Amyl nitrate, for those unaware, is a drug which is used to intensify orgasm. “DFJ has also physically beaten devotees, including his wives, to the point of causing significant physical harm to the victims and/or himself. These beatings have occurred within a timespan which includes the 1980's. “DFJ has participated in and required others to perform in sexual and related acts of a highly degrading and demeaning nature which have caused psychological and/or physical damage to those participating.” http://lightmind.com/library/daismfiles/miller-01.html Generally, one does not pay a settlement out of court when the petitioner does not have a legitimate actionable complaint. One defends. One settles only when he suspects he will be required to pay damages, because of the verisimilitude of the allegations against him. However, according to the Washington Post, Adi Da did pay settlements to aggrieved members of his organization: “In 1985 Adi Da and his church were sued by an ex-member for (among other things) fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, and assault and battery; the suit sought $5 million in damages (San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday April 4, 1985). The church, claiming extortion, counter-sued for $20 million. In 1986, Adi Da was again sued for fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In 2005, the Washington Post reported: ‘The lawsuits and threatened suits that dogged the group in the mid-1980s were settled with payments and confidentiality agreements’, says a California lawyer, Ford Greene, who handled three such cases. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Da ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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