Jones, Franklin Albert (1939-)

Currently known by his religious name Avatara Adi Da, Franklin Jones is the founder of the Free Daist Communion, an advaita vedanta community that has undergone a number of changes since its founding in 1972. According to his own account, Jones was a fully enlightened being who gave up that enlightenment during the early years of this incarnation. As a young man he attended Columbia University (B.A., 1961), Stanford University (1961-62), and Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (1966-67). In 1962 he participated in some research on drugs at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Mountain View, California, an event that stimulated his recovery of his enlightened state.

In 1964 Jones sought out Swami Rudrananda (Albert Rudolph) and in 1968 traveled to India to meet Swami Muktananda, one of Rudrananda's teachers. In the summer of 1970, while meditating in the temple of the Vedanta Society in Hollywood, California, he felt a "permanent reawakening." He founded the Dawn Horse Fellowship and began a public ministry on April 25, 1972. His first book, The Knee of Listening, had just appeared. The following year he severed his connection with Muktananda and changed his name to Bubba Free John.

He gathered around him a small group of devoted students with whom he worked in a somewhat intense fashion reminiscent of Georgei I. Gurdjieff. Many of his teachings given orally were transcribed and edited into books. In 1979 he withdrew from this form of active teachings and changed his name to Da (giver) Free John. He now saw his work as that of transmitting the transcendental condition to his students. As a teacher of advaita vedanta, he emphasized the unity and identity of the human self with the Brahman, the soul of all things. He continued to speak and write, and a steady flow of his books continued to be published. He also largely withdrew from public presence to an island in Fuji.

In the late 1980s he changed his name to Heart Master Da Love Ananda (bliss) and to Da Avabhasa (the Bright). This period has been accompanied by the release of those books that are considered the most important of his earthly career, The Dawn Horse Testament (1985) and Free Daism (1992), a presentation of his mature religious perspective. Jones is also known by the name Da Kalki.

Sources:

Bonner, Saniel. The Divine Emergence of the World-Teacher: The Realization, the Revelation and the Revealing Ordeal of Heart Master Da Love-Ananda. Clearlake, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1990.

Jones, Franklin [Heart Master Da Love Ananda]. Dawn Horse Testament. San Rafael, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1985.

—— [Da Avabhasa]. Free Daism: The Eternal, Ancient, and New Religion of God-Realization. Clearlake, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1992.

——. The Heart's Shout. Clearlake, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1993.

——. The Knee of Listening. Los Angeles: Dawn Horse Press, 1972.