itz, 1977); Arthur B. Keith, trans., The Veda of the Black
Yajus School (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1967); J. Frits
Staal, The Science of Ritual (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute, 1982).adhyasa
Adhyasa, or “superimposition” of an unreal thing
upon a real one, is an important concept in the
ADVAITA (non-dual) philosophy of SHANKARA, the
renowned teacher of VEDANTA.
A pedestrian example would be a person look-
ing at a rope in a dark place and briefly seeing a
snake. This sort of superimposition involves two
physical objects, but the central superimposition
or adhyasa in Shankara’s system is the ignorant
superimposition of the empirical world upon
the attribute-free BRAHMAN or ultimate reality.
Humans imagine that the empirical world is real,
but, just as the rope is not the snake, so is the
empirical world not the brahman. Shankara holds
that the phenomenal world is false (mithya) and
illusory (M AYA). Ignorance (AV I D YA), leads us to
see the world as real, but when knowledge (VIDYA
or JNANA) dawns, we see the truth: that the only
existence is brahman, the actionless, attribute-free
ground of being that can be described as SAT-CHIT-
ANANDA, being-consciousness-bliss.Further reading: S. N. Dasgupta, History of Indian Phi-
losophy, Vol. 1 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975); ——
—, History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 2 (Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1975); Daya Krishna, New Perspectives in
Indian Philosophy (Jaipur: Rawat, 2001); Karl Potter,
ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3 (Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1981).adhyatma See VEDANTA.
Adi Da Samraj (1939– ) teacher of “Crazy
Wisdom”
Adi Da Samraj, a U.S.-born guru, teaches his
idiosyncratic philosophy and discipline to a smallbut devoted international following, mostly in
English-speaking countries.
According to Adi Da Samraj’s autobiography,
he experienced a state of perfect awareness of ulti-
mate reality from the day of his birth as Franklin
Jones on November 3, 1939, on Long Island, New
York. At age two he relinquished that state in order
to experience human limitations completely. From
1957 he studied philosophy at Columbia Univer-
sity in New York. Beginning in his college years
Jones engaged in a spiritual quest that led him to
Swami RUDRANANDA in New York City and eventu-
ally to Swami MUKTANANDA, the famous practitio-
ner of Shaivism and siddha yoga. From childhood,
Jones reported many experiences of KUNDALINI
(awakening divine energy), mystical revelation,
astral travel, and superconscious identification
with higher beings, but he found that these powers
were not valuable because they were not expres-
sions of his real nature. In 1970 at the Vedanta
temple in Hollywood, he experienced a reawaken-
ing and realization of his ultimate nature; he knew
his oneness with SHAKTI, divine energy. He left
Muktananda and became a devotee of Shakti.
In 1972, Jones began to teach his “radical”
understanding of a spiritual path that includes
devotion to a guru and self-observation. He
opened a small ashram in Los Angeles and began
to attract devotees. During a trip to India he
adopted the first of what would become many
new names for himself, Bubba Free John. At
first he worked with students in a traditional
way, but in the late 1970s he adopted the “Crazy
Wisdom” approach to spirituality. In 1979, he
changed his name to Da Free John. In 1986, his
name became Da Love-Ananda. In the late 1980s
he became Da Avabhasa (the Bright), in 1990 Da
Kalki, and finally, in 1995, Adi Da Samraj. The
completion of his work of revelation, he says, is
signified in this last change of name and his title
of AVATA R.
In 1983, he acquired an island in Fiji for
his community, then called the Johannine Daist
Communion. Today Adi Da’s spiritual movement
is named Adidam, or the Way of the Heart. AK 6 adhyasa001-518_hindu_a-z.indd 6 12/18/06 12:52:17 PM