Elsewhere I have argued that Frank's "seven-stage" system is false dharma. However, for the purposes of this discussion I will generally assume that it has some validity.

In his conceptualization of the spectrum of spiritual awareness, Adi Da (Franklin Jones) has placed himself and no one else at the pinnacle of achievement -- the so-called "7th stage of life" --

Realization of the seventh stage of life is an explosion of Divine Grace and Happiness, as the "Eyes Open" from the exclusive meditation of the sixth stage of life to Recognize that all beings and things and experiences are only modifications, permutations, or modulations of Consciousness Itself, the One Divine Being and Reality. The ecstatic and world-embracing confession "There is Only God" is native to the seventh stage Realizer -- who Stands Eternally and utterly Free of and Prior to every kind of experience through Most Perfect Identification with Consciousness Itself, but who also sees that Consciousness is not divorced from the world of forms, but is the very Nature and Spiritually "Bright" Source and Substance of that world.
(from The Knee of Listening, 1992 "complete" edition)

In his early development of the system, a few rarified beings were allowed to share the "7th stage" with Frank. Now -- at least since the early 1990's -- everyone who ever existed is arrayed below Frank, in the lesser strata of consciousness.

For instance, Frank has said very plainly that he considers Gautama Buddha and Ramana Maharshi to be "6th stage realizers." Jesus Christ is 5th stage. Ramakrishna is somewhere between 4th and 5th stage. And so forth.

For decades critics have pointed out that after 10, 20, 30 years of teaching a "Way" to enlightenment, not a single one of Frank's students had been declared to be realized beyond the "4th stage". According to Frank's own evaluation of his followers, most seem to be permanently mired in the second and third tiers of his system.

Perhaps in response to his critics, or for other reasons, Frank has now announced that one of his wives -- Bonnie Beavan, aka Quandra Sukha Mai -- is practicing in the 6th stage of life.

That is to say, according to her guru and husband, she has attained the same level of realized spiritual practice as Gautama Buddha and Ramana Maharshi. (Jesus Christ only gets to be 5th stage in Frank's system, so now one of his wives is more realized than Jesus!)

If you believe that, I have a heck of a bridge to sell you, complete with on-ramps.

However, my friend G. recently told me that he accepts Frank's statement that Bonnie Beavan is practicing at the 6th stage of life. Daist C. also has expressed similar acceptance of this new Adidam dogma.

Both men agree that Bonnie is practicing at the 6th stage, whereas it is obvious to me that if Buddha and Ramana are supposed to be examples of 6th stage realization and practice, then Bonnie Bevan cannot be 6th stage, not by a long shot. She is practicing at the 4th stage, if that.

By examining the history and teachings of Frank's "6th stage" Realizers, we can state the following criterion of "6th stage-ness":

If a spiritual practitioner is at the "sixth stage", they express themselves in a way other than mimicking the statements of their guru. A true 6th stager -- even if uneducated -- will always give the impression of being being naturally and spontaneously inspired. They sometimes recite from scripture, or from their guru's teachings -- but one always knows that at any moment they may open their mouths and emit spontaneous utterances of Self-aware Truth.

You can see this spontaneity in virtually every traditional 6th stager of Frank's ranking. You can hear it in the writers of the sacred texts that Frank has now demoted from "7th stage" to "6th stage with 7th stage intuitions": Shankara, The Lankavatara Sutra, Avadhoota Gita, The Diamond Sutra, Taoism, Ramana Maharshi, and that marvel of supposed "5th stage" teaching, The Gospel of John.

Furthermore, IMHO it is truly a bizarre "wisdom-teaching" that draws a line of demarcation between "6th stage" and "7th stage" -- as if the "6th stage" Realizer would come up to an unbridgeable gulf and call a halt to the very process of self-inquiry and awakening that brought him or her so far. ...Or as if the "6th stage" Realizer possesses a particularly hardcase kind of ego that nobody could crack until Adi Da came along.

In my estimation, The 6th stage is not very long-lasting. The ego of the 6th stage, such as it is, is so powerfully self-inspecting that it vanishes rather quickly into the 7th stage. I also believe the transition from 5th stage to 7th stage -- if properly nurtured -- should take no more than a few months at most. Often it lasts only a few hours!

But Frank, of course, has an agenda of keeping everyone locked at some "stage" below himself. So Jesus, Buddha, Ramana, et al are still, in his view, "6th stage"...forever. This in itself is pretty interesting -- to imagine, as a Daist, that all the Realizers who have gone before are not responding to Frank's presence, in their living state, but remaining locked in egoic isolation in the "6th stage"!

In conclusion, no one in Adidam has ever demonstrated, by word or action, any of the traditional qualities of the 6th stage. And their photographs (as published in the Daist literature) betray the obvious -- they are not Realizers in any sense of the word, but people practicing at the 3rd and 4th stage of life.

Perhaps Frank has created a "new kind of 6th stager" -- an ordinary bloke who lacks the originality and profound access to Truth of all the old-time 6th stagers. In fact, that is probably what Frank intends with his invention of the "murti guru".

As for Adi Da -- because he demonstrates such a powerfully resilient yogic ego, Frank Jones is clearly awake at the 5th stage of life. Good for him, I say. That's quite an achievement for a spiritual seeker. ;-)