The NonDuality Salon Dialogue, Following the Death of Adi Da

At the time of this posting, a days long conversation between Daists, former Daists, and others has been occuring in the comments thread of this blog article (published at nonduality.org):

http://nonduality.org/2008/11/28/adi-da-is-dead

This conversation, with current and active Daists talking with former Daists, critics and others is something that hasn’t really happened before on the internet or via any other medium that I’m aware of.  There was a small scale and limited involvement by Daists at the old Ken Wilber Forum, but that was reportedly discouraged by Adidam (members posting there).

A lot of good information is being shared.  And, there’s a wide ranging consideration of such things as the guru function, various traditions, forms of sadhana, Adi Da’s behavior, and more.

And, it appears that some old friends and acquaintenances have “found” each other yet again, via this thread.  There are some real old times (in and out of the group) posting there.

Someone using the handle “blisscake” is posting from Naitauba and describing some of what’s happening there, with many people now arriving on the island.  His last post (as of this writing) describes some anger and pain he was feeling due to some of the critical postings at nonduality, then describes surrendering all of that.  Blisscake also is directing everyone’s attention to a ning group, where it seems there are already some forums underway. 

http://realityrevelation.ning.com

This ning group, near as I can tell from the dates on all the posted notes, was started in early October.  Ning can be a fairly useful and active tool of communicating information and setting up forums for discussion.  (Members can also post pictures.) 

Recap:  the teacher Adi Da died just over a week ago at his “Hermitage” sanctuary on the island of Naitauba in Fiji.  Adi Da was first written about at this blog in a post describing some very early influences in my life, which included some involvement with him and his group in the mid 70s (and including peripheral contacts through the eighties).  Here is that article (posted here on July 28):

http://atiasrama.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/those-were-the-days-my-friends/

I wonder what is going to be the “rest of the story” now?  Anybody have a sense of what might unfold now?

A big role now for Naamleela Free Jones?

The late Franklin Jones’ (aka Adi Da Samraj) daughters are very gifted.  One, Naamleela Free Jones is extremely gifted as a muscian and, according to a commentator at this blog, has long been set to be Adidam’s “Murti Guru” upon the passing of her father.

Above photo was lifted from an “unofficial” or site not formally part of Adidam: http://www.aboutadidam.org  No copyright notice evident there, but photo is possibly copyrighted somewhere.  Reposted here at a non-commerce site, as news/research/education.

Naamleela has her own website (which I first noticed a few years ago):

http://www.herstome.com

For readers who may be confused by the “Murti Guru” reference, it’s my understanding that a Murti Guru is someone who would be serving as some sort of vehicle for the “Transmission” of the deceased Guru’s spiritual power (which presumably is exercised from some sort of afterlife dimension).

Naamleela also maintains an active MySpace page (last logging on just 12 days ago):

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=72859521

Main address for her MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/naamleelafreejones

ADDEMDUM: Conrad Goehausen (“Broken Yogi”) in comments posted at the Naamleela thread over at http://lightgate.net/forum adds his thoughts and information on this subject:

Re: Naamleela reportedly to be Murti Guru

by Broken Yogi on Sun Nov 30, 2008 3:44 pm

Not yet. The general notion in Adidam has for many years been that Naamleela would one day become Murti-Guru, but only after she had become a seventh stage realizer herself (which is the long-stated requirement). Since that has not yet happened for her or anyone else, she can’t technically assume that role. However, I would predict that sometime over the next couple of years, she and several others will conveniently “transition” into the seventh stage of life, and most likely that she would assume the role of Murti-Guru. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how things shake out. There will certainly be some kind of power struggle for “authority”, which for the moment probably rests with Sukhamai (Bonnie Beaven). The thing is, Naamleela just doesn’t have the kind of powerful personality and drive that either Da or some of the others in the higher ranks of Adidam possess. She’s not much into the political games of Adidam, and has coasted by on her obvious family connection and rather sweet disposition. I’m not sure how much she really wants to seize the reigns of this organization and serve that role. I can think of a number of ambitious courtiers within Adidam who have fantasized for quite a long time about becoming Murti-Guru, and I would imagine that some of those fantasizers will reach for the stars during this time. Imagine the scene after Cinderella’s ball where all kinds of hopefuls try to fit the glass slipper on their feet. Without Adi Da himself around, it’s much harder to say who fits that role, and who doesn’t. As far as I know, he gave no acknowledgment of Naamleela as his successor, and certainly none that she had realized the coveted seventh stage. So it should be pretty interesting, from the point of view of dramatic theater, how this succession struggle comes out.

It was generally assumed in Adidam that Adi Da would not die until he had established at least a small group of seventh stage realizers around him, and an appointed Murti-Guru successor. So this sudden death is bad timing for the group as a whole and its future prospects for continuity. No matter how it turns out, because no future successor will have Adi Da’s own explicit approval and certification, there will always be some doubt as to who represents his real lineage. This leaves room for some very amusing spiritual politics.

One thing a friend of mine who is still a very active devotee mentioned to me is something Adi Da said about a month ago, about what happens after spiritual teachers die. He said that the teacher becomes an icon, and his teaching becomes a set of beliefs. Seeing as how this has already happened in Adidam long before Adi Da’s death, it’s a fait accompli. But as always with all things Adidam, a microcosmic example of how these things play out in modern western dress.

Broken Yogi