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Jan Olof Bengtsson

Spirituality ǀ Arts & Humanities ǀ Europe

All of the videos with Adi Da lectures which I posted in the Spirituality category have unfortunately been removed from YouTube. When I discover that a video posted here has disappeared in this way (as is often the case in the Music categories), I try, when possible, to replace it as soon as possible with the same video posted by someone else on YouTube, which means the date of the posting on YouTube will often be later than that of my original post. But I haven’t yet found my Adi Da videos reposted. Except, possibly, the one below, which is now available on the channel Adi Da Videos; it might be the one I gave the title Da Avabhasa on Discipline, but I’m not perfectly sure it’s the same. In this version a darshan – or what in the Daist community is called a “sacred silent sighting” – of Da towards the end of his life is added:



People in the Daist organization, Adidam, complained that I didn’t mention him only under that last and definitive name he used, Adi Da Samraj, but also under his earlier ones, or some of them: Franklin Jones, Bubba Free John, Da Free John, and Da Avabhasa.


The succession of names reflected his developing understanding of himself and of the nature of his teaching and mission. In the title of my essay on him, for instance, which is partly critical but explains the nature of my interest in him, I used the name Franklin Jones, since that was his first name, the name under which he was born, and the one under which the first edition of his first and best known book, The Knee of Listening, was published. And posting the mentioned video lectures, I called him Da Avabhasa, since I think that’s what he called himself at the time those lectures were given ((but it might still have been Da Free John, the name under which the first edition of The Dawn Horse Testament was published in the mid-80s).


His followers took this to signify a lack of respect, and of understanding of the significance of the final name, Adi Da Samraj, and the process of development leading to its adoption. But I don’t see anything wrong in using also his earlier names; indeed, it seems to me wholly appropriate, interesting, and perhaps even important to use the names that indicate his self-understanding at the time that he gave a particular lecture or wrote a certain book.


But not only does Adidam (which has gone through even more name changes than Jones/Bubba/Avabhasa/Da himself) and the Dawn Horse Press, which Jones founded and which has continuously published later editions of his earlier books under the name used by him at the time of those reissues, so that by now, Adi Da Samraj is the name of the author of all of them in their latest editions, not agree. Obviously Jones/Bubba/Avabhasa/Da himself didn’t either, and at least inasmuch as he himself also continuously revised and expanded his earlier books in order to bring them into accordance with his most recent understanding, this is reasonable. The situation clearly seems different with old, unrevisable speeches, but, anyway, I oblige Adidam by using the name Adi Da Samraj here.

Relativt AfD- och till populistnationalismen allmänt sympatiskt inställde socialistiske Europatänkaren Thomas Fazi sammanfattar kort det grundläggande rörande de östtyska valresultaten i UnHerd under rubriken ‘The AfD has Destroyed Germany’s Political Mainstream’; på sin Substack publicerar han också en något längre version av artikeln. Nu har vi två stora populistnationalistiska partier som inte gått över till motståndarsidan:


“The most interesting takeaway from the elections is…the emergence of a new – and unique in the European panorama – Left-Right populist spectrum, in the form of the AfD and the BSW which collectively make up almost 50% of the vote. This underscores that dissatisfaction with the established parties is even more significant than what Right-populists parties alone are able to capture – a lesson for other countries as well.”


Oroväckande är dock att möjligheten både av CDU-AfD- och t.o.m. CDU-BSW-allians överhuvudtaget diskuteras av populistnationalisterna själva. Den självklara vägen framåt är givetvis gemensam tysk enhetsfront i form av en AfD-BSW-koalition så snart som möjligt, mot hela atlantavgrunden:


“For now, the BSW has ruled out forming regional coalition governments with the AfD, which is understandable from a tactical standpoint: many disaffected voters from the centre and the Left are turning to the BSW precisely because it is not the AfD. But in the future the mood might shift. If the establishment refuses to respond to popular concerns, the demand for a Left-Right populist front could grow. Meanwhile, the fact that both ends of the political spectrum are converging on similar migration policies suggests that the issue may be approached more pragmatically…”


Sedan måste förstås, på längre sikt, BSW bli det dominerande partiet och koalitionen därmed övervinna AfD:s olika svagheter. Det är, som Fazi framhåller, i synnerhet BSW som “has put opposition to NATO and to the deployment US long-range missiles on German territory, and the question of détente with Russia, at the centre of her party’s platform”, även om “opposition to war and to the government’s belligerent approach to the Russia-Ukraine crisis” förenar partierna och attraherar i synnerhet yngre väljare till båda.


Även om AfD i jämförelse med svenska SD äger vissa intellektuella resurser – och i allmänhet en långt mer välutbildad ledning – som hindrar dem att reduceras till ren populistnationalism, har BSW genom den teoretiska och historiska förståelse som följer med deras socialism ett försprång också i detta avseende: för dem är populistnationalismen bara ett moment av accepterande av verkligheten, en identifikation av en legitim opinion, och ett avvisande av den kompatibla kapitalvänsterns atlantglobalwokeism. De har överhuvudtaget inte en populistnationalistisk framtoning i vanlig flaggviftande mening, även om termen är användbar för den nyorientering som skiljer dem från Die Linke. Vad som behövs är bara en åskådningsmässig fördjupning av deras kulturkonservatism.


I själva verket har även AfD en partihistoria som hindrar dem att reduceras till ren populistnationalism. Men i deras fall är denna bakgrund – skild från de nämnda intellektuella resurserna – en svaghet: de släpar på ett nyliberalt arv från den tid då de bara var ett EU-kritiskt missnöjesparti för etablissemangsekonomer. Ett program som, hur riktigt det än var på enskilda punkter, Frauke Petry och Alexander Gauland insåg var fullständigt otillräckligt för att växa till en stor rörelse och ett stort parti – som Junilistan i Sverige fick erfara. Partiet blev populistnationalistiskt och kulturkonservativt, men en spänning kvarstår mellan olika falanger ifråga om socialpolitiken eller vad SD kallade socialkonservatismen och hade med sig från början.

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Jan Olof Bengtsson

DPhil (Oxon)

"A Self-realized being cannot help benefiting the world. His very existence is the highest good."

Ramana Maharshi

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