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
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“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
THE “BRIGHTENING” WAY TALK SERIES – The Yajna Discourses of Santosha Adi Da (1995-1996) Gathering “Considerations” with Beloved Adi Da Samraj, at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort and the Manner of Flowers, December 29-30 1995, and January 3-16, 1996.
DEVOTEE: Beloved, I remember one time when I was driving up to the Mountain Of Attention here when I was living in Marin. I was a single person at the time. And I believe it was during the time of the Love of the God-Man Celebration. I had never seen You before. I was relatively new
Anyway, for a moment as I was driving my car, I happened to look across at these two people driving alongside me. They were an older couple. But it was like You Said, for a moment I was in the Witness-Position, just for-I don’t know how long it was. But it just became very clear that it was the state that I’m never in, or very, very, rarely.
AVATARA ADI DA: It’s not uncommon for people to report something like this, though, having either occasional or frequent experiences of that kind.
CARL: I did recognize that it was through Your Grace that I was allowed to Witness this.
AVATARA ADI DA: I’ve told you all about My experience with Sue Ellen Beckman [when Avatara Adi Da was a teenager], when I’d be standing on her doorstep? That’s similar to what you’re suggesting, Carl. It happened to Me many times, and it generally would always be in the same place, too.
I’d be saying goodnight to her at her house, she’d be about a step above Me, I’d be looking at her, and suddenly there was no familiarity whatsoever. No thinking about anything, no being a body, no recognizing names, faces, or what a face is and not only being the Witness as attention might be, observing, but more than that, such that there was a direct awareness of the infinite Field that is the True Domain of the Witness.
So this sense that Carl described and that I have Described is not an uncommon experience. Spontaneously it happens to people. Maybe sometimes people don’t really make much of it or notice very much about it. They just forget about it. But of course phenomena such as these are cultivated in this Way.
They are a potential, by Grace, in My Company, all kinds of experiences. So devotees commonly report experiences, even as beginners, that are in the domain of the advanced stages of life and the Witness-Position, and so on. These experiences should inspire you and give you a sense of what this Way is all about and so forth.