Adi Da



Adi Da, born Franklin Albert Jones   was a guru/mystic/writer/artist born in Queens, New York.

He gained fame as part of the spiritual counterculture movement in the 1970s, writing 75 books, as well as lecturing, the new religious movement he established being called Adidam. Some followers reported having profound metaphysical experiences in Adi Da's presence, attributing these phenomena to his spiritual power. Other followers remained skeptical, witnessing nothing supernatural. He was also known, for various shorter times, as Bubba Ho-Tep, Bubba Free John, Da Free John, Da Love-Ananda, Da Kalki, Da Avadhoota, Da Avabhasa, Adi Da Love-Ananda Samraj amongst other names.

A main teaching was that "'ego'—the presumption of a separate self—is an illusion," rendering futile efforts to connect with divine truths from the traditional theistic stance of separateness. Adi Da declared himself a unique spiritual avatar, and you can only achieve enlightenment by following him and his Generic Eastern-ish Religion. His teachings were almost exclusively "Divine Self-Revelation" with "no outside sources" &mdash; which some would take as code for PIDOOMA.

He was also criticized for perceived isolationism, and controversial behavior. Although he died in 2008 leaving an undetermined number of followers, you can still buy his DVDs for the neat and tidy sum of $26.95. Allegations of sexual misconduct in the mid-1980s were met with countersuits, resulting in dismissal or settlement of the claims.