Mahendranath (Dadaji), the 23rd Adiguru (chief guru) of the Adinathas, was born in London in April 1911, died 1992. From his early youth he had a deep interest in the spiritual systems of the world and in his twenties knew Aleister Crowley, meeting him after the infamous Justice Swift libel case. Crowley advised the young seeker to learn about the patterns of the East. But the Spanish Civil War, in which Dadaji fought in the International Brigade, and then the second world war, intervened.
It was 1949 before he left the shores of Britain to arrive penniless in Bombay. Here he was introduced to his guru in the Natha tradition and initiated as a sadhu (holy man). A sadhu may make only three demands -- for shelter the shade of a tree; for clothing rags and for food leftover scraps. In this the sadhus emulate the guru figure of all India, Dattatreya. He (see below) is the legendary founder and guardian spirit of many if not most of the Natha subsects.
For the next 30 years Dadaji wandered south
east Asia as a penniless sannyasi. His travels took him to Bhutan where he
received initiation as a lama of the Kargyupta Sect; Malaysia, where he became
a Taoist priest and studied the I Ching; Ceylon where he was for a time a
bhikkhu of Theravada Buddhism; and Thailand where he lives as a hermit. He was
also initiated into the Uttara Kaula tantrik sect and the Sahajiya cult of
Varanasi. What does Adinatha mean?
Who was Matsyendranath? Who
was Gorakhnath? Who is Dattatreya?
Do the Adinathas still exist?
What is AMOOKOS? What are
the aims of the Adinathas? What do the Adinathas
believe? What is Svecchacharya?
See the eight lotus chakra system of Matsyendranath.
Artwork is © Jan Bailey, 1995. Translations are © Mike Magee 1995. For more information, send e-mail to ac70@cityscape.co.uk