Theos: What I'm saying, Zen, is that Da creates duality. In practice, he pulls his devotees attention away from God unto himself. Of course, his writings state differently...

Zen:...but you're talking about what actually happens, the literal stuff, the practice as communicated and revealed.

Theos: Correcto! Da is a dualistic teacher, not a non-dual Guru. He doesn't rise to that level in actual practice. His words, which would seem to state otherwise, confuse the intellects of his devotee because his teaching actions are spiritually contradictory.

Zen: You know, Raj Yoga Gurus have a Non-Dual teaching on Prasad.

Theos: Raj Yoga Gurus?

Zen: It has to do with emphasis or cultivating the devotees awareness of his Divinity. While alive, the dream of Relativity persists. The Raj Yoga Gurus use the dream to transcend itself.

Theos: This is going in an esoteric direction...

Zen: It's simple. The Devotee is recognized as the Final Reality from the beginning. The giving of Prasad to the Guru is a way of honoring the Final Reality.

Theos: Is that it?

Zen: No! The Raj Yoga Guru teaches and transmits that when the Devotee is eating Prasad, she or he is literally feeding the Guru, feeding God. This is a crucial emphasis.

Theos: I think I understand. The True Guru, unlike Da, focuses and cultivates the devotees' understanding of his own Divinity. When the Devotee eats Prasad, he knows, further, he is told, further, he is imbued with the wisdom and experience of actually feeding the Guru, when eating Prasad, personally feeding the Guru -- as the Devotee -- not different from the Devotee not different from the Absolute Plenum Void.

Zen: Prasad is holy business. It is a great practice of exaltation for the Devotee who is the Guru. The Non-Dual Raj Yoga Gurus pragmatically lead their devotees into the non-dual.

Theos: What I was saying about Da is that he promotes duality. He doesn't even teach his devotees the non-dual meaning of Prasad.

Zen: He can't! The Non-Dual Sword of Manjusri Buddha is the Proof of the Guru's Worth. This Sword is sharp on both sides. This has great meaning!

Theos: Here I do know what you're saying. Manjusri's sword is sharp on both sides and is known as the Sword of Compassion. The two-edged Sword cuts both the person who uses the sword and the person who is cut.

Zen: You know! If the Sword only cuts the Devotee and not the Guru, it is not the Sword of Manjusri. The Sword of Manjusri cuts the Guru and the Devotee simultaneously! It removes all separation.

Theos: So then, the Non-Dual Ritual of Prasad is the Sword of Manjusri in action. It cuts away all separation between the Guru and the Disciple.

Zen: But not in dualistic traditions. It is not taught there! Likewise, you will never see this Divine Emphasis on Prasad put into practice in Da's community. It takes away attention from what you have called the "Da-Narcissus Guru" whose words confusingly talk about oneness but whose practice involves and evokes duality and separation. Unproductively, and that's the catch, it is a manipulation of the disciple's attention, within duality only! In practical terms, it doesn't work. Da himself can't figure it out. Whether by accident or design, he's confused! So you see these absurd escapades where Da blames his people for not responding, in itself, another heaping of dualistic communication on the full plate of confusion already heaped on his devotee's plates. A messy meal!

Theos: The devotees all seem to have the right answers.

Zen: But the wrong practice! Further befuddled by the smokescreen of the 7th Stage Teaching!

Theos: I don't believe Da pragmatically instructs or leads his devotees into a non-dual practice in general or in specific as you have mentioned relative to Prasad.

Zen: Obviously not! Despite his great writings, Da, in practical demonstration, is not a non-dual teacher. Sorry, Charlie. He functionally operates within duality and does not liberate his disciples from duality.

Theos: What you allude to is the spiritual schizophrenia between Da's Writings and Da's Doings.

Zen: Well, no kidding. Continue.

Theos: Da's 7th Stage Teaching has a sound ring to it but falls dead in practice.

Zen: The 7 Stages are a conceptual map, no?

Theos: Yes! And as such they exist within the conceptual universe only.

Zen: Yeah, the 7 Stages are basically something to think about. They exist and operate as a conceptual map within the realm of thinking only and...

Theos: You're correct. Let me get to my point which you're half-way to already.

Zen: Go!

Theos: The 7th Stage teaching is directed to the intellect and the intellectual stage. It is there for the intellect to chew on endlessly, a hamster wheel for the brain.

Zen: It's a trap!

Theos: More than that, it's a smokescreen. As you symbolically mentioned, Da has never taught or, of course, strongly encouraged, the non-dual nature of Prasad to his devotees.

Zen: This is highly symbolic!

Theos: It is also contrary to Da's teaching Emphasis. Da's 7th Stage teaching is a 3rd Stage trap, no more!

Zen: We can even use the 7th Stage map to blow away the whole illusion of Da's supposed Guru function. For starters, Da's 3rd Stage (intellectual) teaching cannot go beyond the intellect and does not rise to the 4th through 7th Stages. The 4th and 6th Stage never show up.

Theos: But look at what Da's actual function is. Here's a guy with a disguised 3rd Stage teaching who creates some great 5th Stage phenomena. But he does not manifest the 4th or 6th Stages at all in his actual function.

Zen: His 4th Stage Hole is covered up by his Remoteness and, as you've said, Da's historical need to Control Communications and never expose himself to any open forum -- in Practice. Of course, his devotees have been expertly trained to disagree.

Theos: Uh-huh, yet no matter how you cut it, Da doesn't function as a non-dual teacher. He doesn't use a 2-way sword. That's why his devotees are not turned to celebratory non-dual practices until some never-arriving hypothetical period instead of right from the beginning. Da doesn't cut to the chase because he doesn't have the Sword of Manjusri. Hence his lop-sided emphasis on meditating on him. The words seem to make eminent sense but just look at the practice as it shows up -- dualistic and never-arriving.

Zen: It's the practice, stupid!

Theos: It's not the economy, stupid, it's the practice. People's intellects are powerfully side-tracked by the writing.

Zen: Duped! Hypnotized.

Theos: That'll do. They're side-tracked by the writing so that they won't notice what is terribly missing in the practice.

Zen: A lack of generosity. This, Da is incapable of, it's his 4th Stage Hole which relates to his Remoteness and Communication Control psychological complex.

Theos: In other words, Franklin is still there!!!

Zen: Exactamente!!!

Theos: Bottom line is that Da doesn't rise to the level of what he calls a 6th Stage. His entire recommendations to devotees are dualistic. The writings are excusable as non-dual in sound but what actually happens in practice: duality, confusion, mind-churning and more mind-churning, add a few guilt trips on the side with a helping of abuse.

Zen: So the function isn't there.

Theos: The function isn't there.

Zen: It's the Function, stupid!

Theos: It's not the Writings!

Zen: It's the Function!

Theos: It ain't there!

Zen: It's all a smoke-screen.

Theos: Beautifully done!

Zen: But not the SatGuru function!

Theos: So without really discussing or weighing Da's own Realization, we can see that he does not have the Guru function.

Zen: There are people in what Da calls the "4th Stage" who have far more of the Guru Function than Da.

Theos: What were you saying about Da's 4th Stage Hole?

Zen: It's simple. The Guru traditions speak of the Guru as "You are my mother You are my Father."

Theos: Yeah, seems a bit dangerous or undeveloped.

Zen: No matter how weird or conventional the Guru was/is, the Guru is also like the best mom or dad you could ever have.

Theos: That's also the basis of cults, emotional weakness, the devotee's needs.

Zen: In the authentic Guru tradition, it's a matter of basic relationship and felt warmth, a relationship solid and real in the relative, accompanied with an absolute understanding of illusion. The True Guru, eccentric or not, lives his life out in the Open for everyone to see, everyone! Even when he's not around, when he finally does see you it's warm, ordinary, intimate and loving. It's a re-union. It's an exceptional thing.

Theos: Da keeps his life and his person continually at distance and rationalizes this in various ways. As I say, he hides behind Remoteness and Communication Control.

Zen: Franklin Jones, for all his Da-ness, is still working on some "4th Stage" material. Frank has all these big-opera Wizard of Da stage props to keep himself up. Franklin/Da can never live his life in a Continuously open way. No sobriety as Castaneda would speak of. This has nothing to do with living with a million people all around, or maybe it could. It has to do with hiding. And what Da is hiding is the Unfinished Franklin, his negative trophy. Definitely not on the mantle.

Theos: So I guess Da, no matter how many name changes, is stuck with his negative trophy, Franklin. He's not about to give up his parade-float world of capital letters and say, well folks, er, uh, I've still got a little more sadhana to do.

Zen: You can't even say whether he knows it or not. Like the say in AA, he's in denial, and Franklin's got the world's largest parade-float, Adi Da, to protect him. No one's ever going to break through that. I suspect some will try and try and try and try.

Theos: So the main point is that he is not a Guru.

Zen: And his recommended Practice is false. Ever notice how his devotees are trained to talk about Da's confession but they don't glow about the practice?

Theos: Of course, it's Da this and Da that and always in a felt dualistic way. They don't talk about the practice in a non-dual way.

Zen: That's because the Practice, which should be everything, is something to verbally defend, but -- in practice -- is nothing...a pain in the ass!

Theos: Even Wilber hasn't waxed on and on about the exalted nature of the practice.

Zen: The practice in effect -- forget what Da says about it for a 1/10th of a second -- is in effect, a practice within duality. It is not a non-dual practice -- in effect.

Theos: Are his devotees in love with their practice?

Zen: Not only are they not in love with their practice, they've largely talked themselves into being in love with Da through the agency of shakti/numinous experiences and teachings. But what's missing -- for Completion -- is the warmth, the basic, grounded sobriety of a life lived out in the open, a sacrificed life.

Theos: The True Guru says he would "give his life for the sake of the devotee's understanding."

Zen: Da is not as great the ancient rishis who lived their lives -- in principal, in principal, in front of devotees. Da/Franklin's life is a necessarily hidden life. Many good people have been fooled, not talking here about the measure of Da/Franklin's penetration into the Infinite, talking here only about his 4th stage hole, the hidden Franklin/remote Da and the spiritual poverty of his recommended dualistic spiritual practices.

Theos: What else to say, Franklin/Da is not "available". Da cannot, by Franklin's limitation, "respond". He is "avoiding relationship"....

Zen: That is why he lives a hidden protected life -- in principle.

Theos: Da should be renamed, the Seductive Detour.

Zen: Yeah, the road signs are really bad over there.

Theos: Strange country.

Zen: Awfully strange! The markings are all confused and smudged to look like something else!!!