From: Judy Royster <royster@think.com>
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Da Free John
Date: 5 Oct 1992 13:18:00 -0700
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Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu



	>>Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
	>>Subject: Da Free John
	>>Date: 21 Sep 1992 18:27:18 -0700

	>>I'd like to know what Da Free John is [not] doing these days.

	-- 
	>>Hugh Garsden
	>>University of Sydney 
	>>hughg@ee.su.oz.au


I haven't seen a response to your question, Hugh, so I thought I'd reply
and post it to the group for others who might be interested.

Da Free John (more recently known as Da Love-Ananda and Da Avabhasa)
continues his unrelenting, sometimes apparently wild, and unrestricted work
to awaken the hearts and ultimately liberate his devotees and all those who
come to Him for Blessing and Instruction.

He has more than 50 published books now, with an estimated total readership
of about 2 million people.  His autobiography, "The Knee of Listening" was
recently published in its original, **unabridged** format (twice the length
of the previously published book). His other books are on a variety of
subjects including: specific spiritual practices and disciplines, Guru
devotion, politics, social relations, child rearing, sexuality and
intimacy, death and dying, diet, exercise, etc.  The wisdom in these books
has been widely recognized -- I have included several endorsements at the
end of this posting.

Regional communities of devotees practice "The Way of the Heart" in 13
centers around the world including several in North America, and others in
Holland, London, Australia, and New Zealand.

Da Love-Ananda lives on a Hermitage Sanctuary island in the Fijian chain of
islands.  There are about 100 devotees in residence there. Practioners who
have prepared themselves through study and meditation, travel from all over
the world to go on meditation retreats and sit with Him, receiving His
Blessing and Heart Transmission.

In the early days His Work was more outwardly dramatic as the community of
practioners around Him experimented with many forms of experience, in the
process of learning about the mechanism of seeking and self-fulfillment
that must be understood and transcended in a spiritual path.

Today, He is working very much with the world situation in His Blessing
Power and Spiritual Transmission.  He often sits in silence with devotees.
Recently He entered into a period of about 6-8 weeks of celebration of the
"Unrestricted Nature of Human Love" where he gave instruction about our
ability to feel and demonstrate love with our parents, children, within our
communities and in our most intimate loving relations.  

He has the great gift of being able to inspire an awakening in his devotee
and then helping the devotee to work that awareness him or herself through
their own self-understanding and self-transcendence.

Da Love-Ananda Teaches two paths -- the way of Insight (using self-enquiry)
and the Way of Faith (devotion and remembrance of Him). As His devotee, I
practice feeling-Contemplation of His Form, Presence, and State, thus
surrendering attention on myself and enjoying His Good Company and
receiving His Heart Transmission.  Guru devotion, of course, is based on
the principle that you become what you meditate on and by meditating on
your Guru, you Realize His or Her Enlightenment.

About 1200 people around the world have, like myself, taken the profound
and happy lifelong vow that dedicates our lives to God-Realization in
relationship with our Teacher, Da Love-Ananda. He has said that, "The Way
of the Heart is a Relationship, not merely a technique."

Hugh, I'm not sure exactly what you wanted to know.  This is a very general
sketch together with a description of my own experience.  Please let me
know if you have specific questions.

Here is a quote from Da Avabhasa, followed by some recent endorsements of
His work and writings.

--Judy

>From "The Love-Ananda Gita"

	"Anciently, it was presumed that, in any generation, if one had at
least any interest in Realizing something more than the mayhem of one's own
suffering, one should go and find a Realizer.  It was presumed that one
should try very hard to find a Realizer, and that, when such a One is
found, one should throw oneself at that One's Feet and take His (or Her)
Instruction -- because that One is the only One, or, at most, One of a Few,
in that generation Who enjoys the capability to go through the ordeal and
discover what the Structure of Reality is and what to do within It.  This
discovery (and this capability) is not something that every individual can
find out on his or her own.  You are not born with the tendency to do it,
and you will not do it on your own.  Rare are the individuals who have the
capability to Realize even to any degree at all, and rarer still are those
who have passed through the entire Process and who can speak with authority
about it in its totality."
					Da Avabhasa


Endorsements:

I have followed Da Avabhasa's work since its early days and I consider
His Blessing Work of the greatest importance for the world today.
		Edith schnapper, author
		The Inward Odessy

I regard Heart-Master Da as one of the greatest teachers in the Western
world today.  
		Irina Tweedie, author 
		Chasm of Fire, Daughter of Fire

The teachings of Heart-Master Da, embodied in an extraordinary collection
of writings, provide an exquisite manual for transformation.... I feel at
the most profound depth of my being that his work will be crucial to an
evolution toward full-humanness.  
		Barbara Marx Hubbard, author 
		The Evolutionary Journey

My opinion is that we have, in the person of Da Avabhasa, a Spiritual
Master and religious genius of the ultimate degree....  Da Avabhasa's
teaching is, I believe, unsurpassed by that of any other spiritual Hero, of
any period, of any place, of any time, of any persuasion.  
		Ken Wilber, author		
		The Spectrum of Consciousness, Up From Eden

Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda has recast the latter half of our twentieth
century... the unique life of a Divine Incarnation signals that it is
possible for others, by entering into a profound relationship with such a
One, to be drawn by grace into the same Condition of transcendent freedom.
		Richard Grossinger, author 
		Planet Medicine, The Night Sky

Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda's vision is neither Eastern nor Western, but it
is the eternal spiritual pulse of the Great Wisdom which knows no cultural,
temporal, or geographical locus, it represents the apex of awareness of our
species.  
		Larry Dossey, M.D., author 
		Space, Time and Medicine, Beyond Illness

{Heart-Master Da's biography} will set the standard for God-Consciousness
for centuries to come.  
		Meditation Magazine

Easy Death is... a confirmation that a life filled with love instead of
fear can lead to ultimately meaningful life and death.  Thank you for this
masterpiece.  
		Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D., author 
		On Death and Dying