Introduction: The Realization “On the Steps” — Early Writings from Adi Da Samraj’s Seeker Period
The following passage marks a pivotal turning point in the life and work of Adi Da Samraj, then known as Franklin Jones. Written in 1970, just after what he would later describe as his final and irrevocable Awakening, this moment—experienced “on the steps” with a loved one—became the foundational recognition from which his entire teaching flowed.
It was during this Seeker Period that Adi Da emerged from a lifetime of intense spiritual effort and experimentation—not into attainment, but into the utter simplicity of what he called the “always already the case.” These writings are not instructional in any traditional sense; they come from early writings of his realization pointing beyond the mechanics of seeking to the effortless condition of Being itself.
For the full account of this period, including the trials, disciplines, and revelations that led to this breakthrough, readers are encouraged to explore his spiritual autobiography:
The Knee of Listening
***
“My god, I have seen it. All my life this consummate, natural perception has been delivered to me in sublime moments. But I have been a seeker like the rest. Only at last I am able to enjoy what simply is the case, the given world of relationships perceived through a mind already, naturally, without concentration or effort, absorbed in the source, the already one and powerful that includes all things. It has descended upon my life permanently, as an eternal communication and I feel that my continuation in it will bring the same revelation to those who are with me. It is the same truth or reality I suddenly knew with a loved-one on the steps.”
Franklin Jones (Adi Da Samraj) – 1970
The State communicated to me “on the steps’ is in fact the natural state of truth, the very truth itself. it is so simple, so radically obvious that it is impossible to communicate by any means. It is already the reality in which we are all consciously absorbed, but men are ordinarily distracted into a formulation of mind that is fascinated by consciousness. Therefore, since it is already the case, the one communication, no communication can be originated that can indicate it, for any communication will arise only in that original communication and so fail to indicate that truth itself.
Franklin Jones (Adi Da Samraj), 1970