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 [This
is part of a first draft of an essay on the esoteric
sexual teachings of Franklin Jones aka Adi Da,
Da Free John, Bubba Free John, etc. etc.]
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One of the curiosities of Daist
sexual practice is the teaching of "solitary
shaktichalana mudra", or yogic masturbation.
The written instruction for this
practice can be found in a book titled The Practice
Of Solitary Shaktichalana Mudra, published in
1994 and 1995. The table of contents for this
book are listed on the internet at www.dabase.net/shakmudr.htm.
The same website also lists the contents of other
Daist esoteric sexuality teachings at www.dabase.net/sexser.htm.
According to Adi Da,
Shaktichalana Mudra is not a practice
that I invented. It is a traditional exercise
that has been engaged for hundreds, even thousands,
of years in monastic settings. It is a secret
practice that has been passed on within esoteric
Yogic circles. It has not been openly described
anywhere. I am not aware of any literature that
describes the practice openly.
And there's the rub -- so to speak. I have been
unable to find any verification, in the traditional
literature, for Frank's assertion that yogic masturbation
"is a traditional exercise that has been
engaged for...thousands of years in monastic settings."
[Helpful readers have pointed on the modern day
teachings of the "Taoist" Mantak Chia
as another source of Frank's teaching on yogic
masturbation. If anyone can come up with ancient
sources and documentation on this practice, please
let me know.]
One assumes, naturally, that "non-yogic"
masturbation has been practiced, even for millions
of years! In fact, it must have been, for one
can find plenty of admonitions against masturbation.
But whether masturbation was practiced ritually,
as a yoga of spiritual awakening, remains an open
question.
Frank's principle source, it appears,
for claiming that the practice is an ancient tradition,
is a story he heard from a disciple of the 20th
century yogi Swami Kripalvananda.
If you read Swami Kripalvananda's
writings, knowing that this is what he did--and
I have been informed by one of his disciples
exactly what he did--you will see the references
there. There is a book showing photographs of
Swami Kripalvananda as he demonstrates various
asanas and mudras. In one of the photographs
he is sitting the the lotus posture with his
hand resting just below the navel. He does not
have his penis in his hand, but that is what
the asana means. He practiced this exercise,
as some of his disciples also did, in solitude,
for many hours every day, as a serious celibate
Yogic practitioner.
Swami Kripalvananda (also called Bapuji) was the
author of The Science of Meditation (1977) and
is the guru of Yogi Amrit Desai, the founder of
the Kripalu Meditation Centers. (Yogi Desai was
forced to resign from Kripalu in 1994 because
of sex-scandals and lawsuits. See more at webhome.idirect.com/~aum108/guru.html)
from the same website:
Swami Sri Kripalvananda (Bapuji) was Yogi Desai's
guru. Kripalu Yoga and the Kripalu Center are
named after him. His name means literally "the
compassionate one" in Sanskrit. Born in
Dabhoi, Gujarat in 1913, he was so frustrated
at his lack of spiritual progress as a young
man that he made several suicide attempts before
meeting his guru, Dadaji. After becoming a swami,
Kripalvananda renounced all worldly attachments
and travelled throughout western India, lecturing,
writing, and teaching. During one of Kripalvananda's
visits to Halol in the 1940s the young Amrit
Desai first met him and soon became his #1 student.
In 1977, Yogi Desai persuaded Sri Kripalvananda
to come to the U.S.A., and he spent 4 years
doing intense sadhana (10 hours a day) at the
Kripalu Center, then located in Sumneytown and
Summit Station, PA. Sri Kripalvananda returned
to India in 1981, because of failing health,
but also possibly because Kripalu was unable
to secure him a permanent visa or Green Card
so he could stay in the U.S. permanently. ...Sri
Kripalvananda was not only a master of Kundalini
Yoga, but also an accomplished musician and
classical Indian composer, who loved to chant
and wrote many bhajans (devotional songs) in
his native Gujarati language.
An introduction by Sri Kripalvananda to Kripalu
Yoga can be found at http://www.akyc.org/intro_yoga.html.
Kripalvananda's guru Dadaji was
a long dead spiritual master who was said to be
the 28th incarnation of Shiva. He is depicted
as the face of a Siva-lingam, with an erect penis,
holding what appears to be a pineapple (or yoni-stone)
and something like a dildo. (One of course wonders
whether the name "Dadaji" has a special
meaning for Frank, who has long used the name
"Da".)
More from webhome.idirect.com/~aum108/guru.html:
Sri Kripalvananda's guru
was Dadaji, believed to be an incarnation of
Lord Shiva. Although there was a teacher with
a human body who instructed the young Swami
Kripalvananda in the early 1930s in Bombay,
Bapuji did not discover his guru's true identity
until many years later when he visited Kayavarohan
and saw for the first time this lingam (a represenation
of Lord Shiva in his "formless" form)
bearing the image of a meditating yogi... In
an instant he recognized that his teacher Dadaji's
true identity was in fact Lord Lakulish, the
28th incarnation of Shiva. Bapuji's vision inspired
him to work to restore the ancient spiritual
centre of Kayavarohan and build a magnificent
temple as a permanent home for Dadaji. ...Dadaji
is the great-grandfather of the Kripalu lineage,
and Bapuji (Kripalvananda) the grandfather,
although there hasn't been much talk of a "lineage"
around Kripalu since the Guru-gate scandal of
1994. The Kripalu Center is now more of a New
Age retreat facility, health spa, or a low-budget
Canyon Ranch, rather than a traditional ashram.
Another interesting article by Swami Sri Kripalvananda
can be found at www.picknowl.com.au/homepages/jwexler/twopaths.htm.
In this article he discusses at some length the
control of the sexual urges and fluids. Indeed,
he appears to have been a firm advocate of celibacy
and of using yoga to prevent elimination through
the sex organs and "to cause the sexual fluids
to rise up the spine". (However, there is
no reference to yogic masturbation in the article.)
Among the techniques he does describe:
The genitals eliminate urine
and sexual fluids. It is not necessary for beginners
to try the following technique; however, if
they do try it, they must first practise the
techniques given above for one year. When urinating
one tries to stop the flow of urine once or
twice. In the same way, during sexual intercourse,
one eagerly tries to stop the flow of sexual
fluids once or twice.
The rectum is an organ of action
and eliminates faeces. It is not necessary for
beginners to try the following meditation technique;
however, if they do they should first practise
the first eight techniques above for one year.
When in the act of defecating, one tries to
stop the elimination once or twice.
More from Adi Da:
Traditionally, when signs [of movement of Spirit-Energy
in the lower chakras] appeared in Spiritually
initiated individuals, this practice would be
given. This has been done for thousands of years--not
to satisfy the sexual impulse but to draw the
sexual Energy up the spinal line.
The mudra of stimulating the genitals manually
in one way or another is typical, in the case
of the man simply masturbating the penis, and
in the case of the woman massaging the clitoris
or using a substitute for the penis--a dildo.
Practitioners would be instructed to do this
exercise at the beginning of meditation, and
they would meditate in solitude, not in a hall
with others but alone. They would practice this
at the beginning to move the Energy out of its
compression in the lower body into the spine
and upward.
Those who practiced this on the
basis of Kundalini Shaktipat, those who had
received great initiatory Spiritual Influence,
would practice in fact sometimes for many hours
a day. Swami Kripalvananda practiced it six
or eight hours a day, more or less continuously,
in meditative privacy. He had two purposes.
One was the basic Yogic purpose, to draw the
Energy upwards in the spinal line. The second
purpose was to achieve, by this ascent, a Yogically
Spiritualized body. The report about him is
that he did not achieve the second goal.
Not long after I met his disciple,
an American, Swami Kripalvananda died [Dec.
29, 1981], which suggests that he did not achieve
a Yogically Spiritualized body. On the other
hand, perhaps he did and he just went off somewhere.
It seems, however, that he did not. In any case,
part of his purpose was to have the body be
transformed through the Yogic fire by pervading
the body with Spirit-Force to the point where
the body is effectively immortalized through
a transformation of the elements, transformed
into a Yogically sustainable body that can be
maintained indefinitely, in principle even made
invisible. In the Yogic traditions, both of
these purposes exist, the one to assist the
process of the Kundalini Shakti, or the process
of Spiritual ascent, and the other to achieve
the Spiritualized body.
[December 2, 1994]
So far it appears that Swami Sri
Kripalvananda (and by extension, Kripalu Yoga),
and possibly Mantak Chia, are the sole sources
from which Adi Da derived the teaching of "yogic
masturbation". Needless to say, he adds his
own peculiar twists to the practice.
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Practicing Yogic Masturbation in the Way of
the Heart
The Typical Procedure For
genital self-Stimulation (In [Shaktichalana
Mudra] in The Way Of The Heart) Is, In The Case
Of male individuals, genital self-Stimulation
By Means Of full hand contact with the penis
(and rhythmic hand-friction on the penis). In
The Case Of female individuals, The Typical
Procedure Is genital self-Stimulation By Means
Of single or multiple finger contact with the
clitoris (and rhythmic finger-friction on the
clitoris), and, Perhaps (Whether Simultaneously
Or Alternately), Deep vaginal Stimulation By
Means Of a Suitable (and Comfortable) dildo
(or penis substitute). However, Generally, In
Neither The male Case nor the female Case Should
"vibrators" (or other Similar devices)
Be Used (Except, Perhaps, Very Rarely), As they
May Initiate Uncontrollable degenerative orgasm,
and, Otherwise, Because they May Tend To (At
Least Eventually) Desensitize the genital organs.
The introduction of dildos (or "penis
substitutes") into "sacred" sexual
practice may well be unique to Daism. Frank has
had a curious fascination with these "sex
toys" at least since the 1970s, when it was
common knowledge that "the community dildo
collection" was sold to raise funds during
an emergency.
Again, on p 30:
In the case of men it is
usually manual stimulation of the penis, using
not just a finger, or a couple of fingers, but
the whole hand, and typically the right hand.
The right hand is prescribed in the traditions
[sic], because the right hand is the yang side,
the positive side. The left hand, associated
with the left side of the body, is sex-diminishing
relative to the polarities in the body. One
must understand the polarities of left and right,
front and back, and top and bottom. What if
a man is left-handed? In that case, the left
hand, and the left side, is in some sense the
positive side and the dominant side...
The woman uses the fingers in
stimulating the clitoris and the exterior of
the vagina. A woman can also use a penis substitute,
or dildo, because only through such an extension
can the area of the cervix and the interior
of the vagina be stimulated, which is the purpose
of the exercise as it is done women...
Medical studies have shown that
there are almost no nerves in the cervix. A woman
may, for instance, undergo the medical procedure
of cervical cauterization without anesthesia.
(However, the idea of the cervix being massaged
by and even opening to receive the penis may have
erotic effect.)
Adi Da describes the practice of
"Solitary Shaktichalana Mudra" as one
that should be proceded by a full "cultural
consideration":
During this period of adaptation, you should
remain fully culturally confessed after each
occasion of practicing solitary Shaktichalana
Mudra. During this period (of a week or so)
of adaptation, you should remain fully culturally
confessed after each occasion of practicing
solitary Shaktichalana Mudra and should continue
to study My Instruction on that practice.
Finally, he seems to view yogic
masturbation as a principle method of transcending
his most fearsome opponent, "the cult of
pairs" -- and of achieving guru-union, or
"Realizing Me":
Yoga, the Process of Divine Self-Realization,
is the Process wherein the inherent integrity
of the "own-body" is realized and
submitted to the Divine Self-Condition, ultimately.
For all My devotees, this realization of own-body
integrity is a matter of dropping out of the
bondage of pair-"bonding" in its conventional,
or ego-based and ego-reinforcing, form...Yoga
is about the inherent bi-polar integrity of
the own-body.
If you are a male, plus or positive
or yang, instead of looking for the female,
the minus or negative or yin Force--or if you
are a female, instead of looking for the male
opposite--and just playing out the game of polar
opposites in the world, or the samsaric context,
or the circumstance of ego-bondage, practice
in the own-body context and become a sacrifice
to That Which is ultimately Single, through
the process of "Bonding" to Me. It
is a process of Realizing Me...the process of
Realization is submission to Me in the context
of the bi-polar integrity of the own-body.
This is the unique secret,
then, of Yogic practice, the cherished ancient
secret, never communicated before in its fullest
terms, or in its seventh stage terms, but, nonetheless,
in the traditions there is this very lore in
essential terms, actually practiced and engineered
into the sphere of esoteric Yogi practice, in
one form or another--without fullest consciousness
of what is all about, certainly, but it is there,
reaching toward Me, reaching toward the seventh
stage Realization.
Students of Adi Da are taught to
engage in the practice of solitary masturbation
while sitting or lying before the Master's photograph,
in their private meditation spaces. One masturbates
nearly to the point of orgasm, and then
In any moment when orgasm is impending there
must be this intense upward drawing so that
the degenerative down-the-spine-and-out flow
of energy does not occur. Rather, this in-and-up
turn toward the crown and above must be emphasized,
periodically, rhythmically, and obviously, especially
in any moment of inpending degenerative orgasm.
This upward tensing and right submission to
Me all the while, right breath, exhalation shooting
up the spine, inhalation down the front or through
the bodily base up to the top of the head, right
use of breath, just a feeling of the upward
motion through the spinal line--all these devices,
just as in sexual "conscious exercise"
or "sexual communion", must be used
throughout the process, as in sex with another,
Yogically, and also in the impending crisis
of degenerative orgasm most intensively. This
is the essential exercise.
...There is a relaxation from
the heart that is the devotional disposition,
Ishta-Guru-Bhakti Yoga. Such devotional relaxation
invades the body-mind and attracts you to be
responsible for the entire body-mind. It is
not exactly a relaxation into passivity, or
a kind of emotionless and energyless condition
of placidity. It is a heart-disposition, shown
through reponsibility for the body-mind.
You are to be turned to Me. Conform
the body-mind to devotion to Me. In the Way
of the Heart, solitary Shaktichalana Mudra is
not a self-based or stress-based practice. It
is a Yoga of "conductivity" with the
"conscious process" of Ishta-Buru-Bhakti
Yoga.
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COMMENTARY: What does sex have
to do with it?
The fixation on sexuality, in Daism,
has been justified as "necessary" because
of the devotee's "adolescent immaturity"
in that area.
Frank has said, many times, that
everybody is "hung up on money, food, and
sex", and therefore it is his job to show
you the way to growth and maturity in these areas,
so that you may progress onward to real spiritual
practice.
Fair enough. But as one investigates
what exactly he teaches, one discovers that he
himself is possessed by mythological ideas in
all of those areas of vitality and nature.
For instance, for many years he
has advocated a series of bizarre "regenerative"
diets, which have periodically left his inner
circle of devotees looking like emaciated cadavers.
To relieve the stress of malnutrition, he and
his followers then indulge in binge-eating and
"using accessories" (alcohol and tobacco).
His problems in the area of money
are well-documented: he likes to get it and he
likes to spend it on himself. Unlike the real
Spiritual Masters of the East, he has never been
known to use money for acts of charity.
In the area of sexuality he long
been involved in "picking off" the young
and beautiful members of his community -- including
the wives of his male devotees.
His "sexual teachings",
have included forcing devotees to engage in intercourse
while he watches and "critiques" their
performance. In at least two reported cases, his
violent use of dildos has resulted in the tearing
of a woman's uterus, so that she needed surgery.
And here we have his instruction
on "the ancient and traditional practice
of yogic masturbation."
Yogic masturbation, he makes clear,
is not "ordinary old masturbation" in
which the sexual fluids are "exhausted"
and released towards an object. Rather, it is
a practice based on the Hindu and Oriental idea
that the sexual emissions may be redirected up
the spine, thus preserving their "spirit-energy"
and bringing about higher consciousness.
There is no scientific basis for
this idea -- it is entirely imaginary and mythological.
In the case of a man, if one uses "yogic"
methods of closing the passage to pervent the
outward flow of the seminal fluid at the moment
of orgasm, it simply backs up in the genital-urinary
system, and is eventually flushed out in the urine.
If anything, simply not having sex of any kind
would be a more effective method of preserving
the "precious bodily fluids" (shades
of Doctor Strangelove!), since they will gradually
be reabsorbed by the body. (One assumes something
similar would occur in a celibate woman.)
But myth and science aside, what
does "yogic masturbation" have to do
with insight, higher consciousness, and God-Realization
or enlightenment?
Adi Da claims that the process of
masturbating regularly before his murti, and internalizing
the sexual fluids at the moment of "regenerative
orgasm", will assist in "conforming
the body-mind to Me". In other words, it
is a practice of bhakti-yoga, or putting oneself
in resonance with the (presumed) exalted spiritual
state of the Master.
My own personal view would be that
no greater nonsense has been foisted upon the
ignorant and the innocent since the days when
"tantric" cults held sexual orgies on
charnel grounds amidst rotting corpses in order
to "liberate" themselves!
Indeed, "The Practice Of Solitary
Shaktichalana Mudra" has the effect of binding
consciousness to the body and its reproductive
mechanism, while breaking the arc of male-female
love-awareness which usually (and naturally) encompasses
and includes the processes of bodily union.
It's another example of Frank intruding
himself between that sacred mystery he likes to
call "the cult of pairs".
Since he can't physically have intercourse
(or sodomy) with every devotee, then let them
do it for themselves with "own-body"
sexuality, while meditating on him!
And, he assures them, if they do
this regularly, they will advance to the highest
levels of enlightenment -- for this is a "seventh
stage practice", given by "the First,
Last, and Only Seventh Stage Adept Realizer."
My dears, whatever happened to "self-inquiry"
(Ramana)? Whatever happened to becoming "unsustained,
neither fabricating nor willing for the sake of
becoming or un-becoming" (Buddha)?
Whatever happened to "Radical
Understanding" (Franklin Jones)?
Spanking the monkey while thanking
Frank seems to be the New Revelation of God.
Elias
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