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The Life of Dadaji

Abstract

The man who became known as Dadaji and Shri Gurudev Mahendranath was not who he said he was and used false identities and fabricated stories to pass himself off as something he was not. He has only been found out many years after he died as he did not predict the power of the internet.

Introduction

Dadaji was born Lawrence Amos Miles on the 29th of April 1911 in Hackney, London, England. These details are known for certain because a copy of his birth certificate was published in a book after he died. But he was also known in later life as Anton Miles and it is this name along with something about the handwriting on his original birth certificate which started a chain of events which showed that he was not who or what he claimed to be. His writings on Tantra and the occult in general will not be critiqued here but evidence will be shown which disproves much of what he told people about his background and people he claimed to know. As he made contact with people in England in the 1970s and visited England in 1978 his life before that time is what will be scrutinised here as his movements since then are verifiable and well-known. The purpose of this visit was to set up two western householder variants of the Nath Tradition with two Englishmen heading them. These men were given the names Lokanath and Vilasanath and headed  the Arcane Magickal Order of the Knights of Shambhala, (AMOOKOS) and the Uttara Kaula Tantrics, respectively, but their real names will not be divulged here. Anything written by Dadaji in “Values” magazine featured here was written in the late 1960s and early 1970s and other works some time later. Exact dates are hard to find as they are not given on websites featuring his writings but links to those websites will be given. Many official records and extracts from electoral registers will be featured here. These need to be read just once so that confirmation of Dadaji’s whereabouts at certain times can be ascertained. These can be ignored on subsequent readings. The names Lawrence, Anton and Dadaji all refer to the same person and each name will be used depending on the time period and context.  A table of comparisons of his whereabouts all over the world according to official records and his own versions will be summarised in the Results section. Another table there will show comparisons of Dadaji’s own versions of his whereabouts with the whereabouts of someone he claimed to know - Aleister Crowley.

Discussion

The Lawrence Years: London, 1911-1937

Lawrence Amos Miles was born on the 29th of April 1911 in Hackney, London to Henry Miles and his wife Lilian Amelia, nee Palmer, and had an elder brother called Henry Thomas Reuben who was born in 1906. A duplicate copy of his birth certificate is shown below. You will see that there are two different styles of handwriting on the certificate. This is because the section in the middle which shows details of Lawrence’s place and date of birth and of his parents was photocopied in 1978 by the registrar from the original certificate which was produced when his birth was first registered in 1911. The handwriting in the top and bottom sections is that of the afore-mentioned registrar in 1978. Why Lawrence needed a copy of his birth certificate in 1978 will become apparent later. (This image here is not of the best quality. The original duplicate was copied into the hard copy of the book “The Amoral Way of Wizardry” (Dadaji, 1992) and then another one was photocopied from that. That copy then had blotches and gaps caused by photocopying fixed with the Paint program and a pen. It was then scanned and copied to this page.)

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Lawrence Amos Miles Birth Certificate.jpg

Lawrence was born about three weeks after the 1911 census was taken. But his parents and brother appear in it and this shows the circumstances into which Lawrence was born at 37, De Beauvoir Road, Hackney, London. The relevant page from the census found at www.ancestry.co.uk is shown below. His father was a Zinc Worker with a Heating Engineer business. The house where they lived then and others nearby have since been demolished and replaced with a 1960s council estate.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Dadaji's Relatives\1911 Census Original - Miles Family.jpg

His wider family tree which was built at the Ancestry genealogy website, www.ancestry.co.uk, is shown below. Anyone with an account at Ancestry can find this (and subsequent screenshots from Ancestry) by searching for “Lawrence Miles Family Tree” under “Public Member Trees”. Direct links for non-members cannot be given here. This particular screenshot has been chosen to clearly show Clara Palmer at the top left. The reason for this will become apparent later.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Miles Family Tree - Beatrice.png

Lawrence and his wider family members were baptised in the local churches where they lived. Lawrence’s baptism record is shown below and his entry is the fourth in the right page. His name has obviously been misheard, incorrectly written as Florence, then scored out and written as Lawrence.

There are records of his parents and most of his wider family on both sides having been baptised. If his family were not regular churchgoers they were at least Church of England Christians and had their children baptised into the faith. The baptism record of Lawrence’s brother Henry Thomas Reuben is shown below in the register of St John the Baptist Church, Hoxton, London. His is the second entry in the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Dadaji's Relatives\Henry Miles Jr Baptism 1906 Original.jpg

The reason for emphasising that Lawrence and his family members were baptised is because in later life Dadaji claimed that when he was eleven he was initiated into witchcraft by a female relative. This claim can be found copied in a slightly altered format in many places on the internet and in books but if we take an example from “Tantrik Yoga”, first published in “Values” magazine, written by Dadaji himself and found at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/tantrik-yoga/ the story he told of this can be seen.

Pagala Baba thought it was a most auspicious sign that my first guru, when I was eleven, was a woman. He thought this was a grand opening for the future life of a Shakta. Her name was “Clay,” – Madam Clay Palmer, related to me as a great-great-great aunt. She was known as the Witch of Rottingdean, a coastal village only a few miles from Brighton. As she had the patronage of Queen Victoria, her craft and fortune-telling activities were ignored by the police. Clay could have taught much to the witch covens which have recently mushroomed in Britain and America and given some more tangible taste to their claims of having inherited an ancient European tradition.

At http://www.shivashakti.com/dadaji.htm it states, “Shri Dadaji Mahendranath received the first Pagan Initiation in 1922 from his great great aunt "Clay" who used her initiatory name throughout her life. "Clay" was said to mean "Sword” .” She gave this initiation when the patriarch was only 11 years old, in her cottage at Rottingdean, near Brighton in Sussex. Her disciple was given the initiation name of "Rainbow."

At http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Shri_Gurudev_Mahendranath it states, “He was initiated by his Great Aunt Madam Clay Palmer, the Witch of Rottingdean, near Brighton, England, into her line of Hereditary Witchcraft when he was in his early teens …. “ However, this is not an exact quote from Dadaji and he may not have referred to ‘hereditary witchcraft’.

An internet search for “Madam Clay Palmer” or the “Witch of Rottingdean” or “Queen Victoria’s fortune teller” or other similar combinations only gives results from people connected to the Naths to whom Dadaji had related this story. There is no independent information regarding any of this. The only non-Nath result that can be found when searching for just “Witch of Rottingdean” is for a modern wife-swapping website. Queen Victoria’s private diaries are now online at http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do and a search of the site using appropriate key words provides nothing in relation to what Dadaji said about Clay Palmer.

Dadaji refers in the above to Clay Palmer as his great great aunt and other sources who have published this account refer to her as his great aunt. The only relative who comes close to fitting this description is his great aunt Clara Edith Palmer who was born in Clerkenwell, London in 1855 and died in Croydon, Surrey in 1897. All of his family on both sides had been born in London mostly in the Hackney and Islington areas going back to the early nineteenth century. There is no family connection with Brighton or the wider Sussex area and no connection with hereditary witchcraft. Also, Clara died fourteen years before Lawrence was born.

As 1911 was the last census to be made public under the hundred year rule, the only way of tracking Lawrence and his family from his birth up to the early 1930s is with any electoral registers which are available. These can also be found on the profiles of the relevant people at www.ancestry.co.uk and links to original sources will also be given there. The age of majority was twenty-one then so Lawrence first appeared on the register in 1932. The 1918 register shows that his parents (and presumably Lawrence and his brother) had moved house and were now living at 10, Seal Street, West Hackney, London. Here is the extract from the register where his parents are at the bottom of the right column. Another couple (who may have had children) were also living at 10, Seal Street. Properties in this part of Seal Street are currently advertised as one-bedroom flats so when Lawrence lived there it could have been the type of property with two flats, one on each floor and each with a ‘set-in’ bed with curtains in the living area, one ‘front parlour’ for Sundays, no bathroom, a small kitchen with a large sink and a toilet in the back yard. Henry and Lilian Miles can be seen near the bottom of the right column. Note also that at the top of the right column there is James Amos who is living with George and Sarah Ann Palmer. The Palmers could be relatives of Lawrence’s mother and Lawrence could have been given his middle name after a member, perhaps another Lawrence, of the Amos family. They could be related as well.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Lawrence Electoral\Miles Family Electoral Register 1918.jpg

Dadaji tells in the “Londinium Temple Strain” at http://www.shivashakti.com/london.htm of the garden of his childhood home.

During my childhood I had strange experiences. Our house in London had a nice garden and little freaky spots to play and hide. I was, by no means, the only inhabitant. I soon found it was also populated by goblins, fairies, gnomes, trolls, pixies and elves. Sometimes visible and sometimes invisible. I never liked mechanical toys and how could they fit into this enchanted garden? At some time in this juvenile history, a strange lady used to appear. She was tall, fair-haired and beautiful. I would suddenly notice she was there and just as suddenly she would disappear. We spoke in a way I could not understand for it was a conversation based on our thoughts and not on normal speech. Whenever anybody came into the garden she would vanish. As time passed I began to see and realise that this was perhaps a lady but often I had the strong impression of a beautiful man. Then I began to see that this lovely visitor was neither male nor female and yet a combination of both. As the contact became more stable I used to call the spirit by the name Pantoen. Only in the last decades did I realise this could be converted by notariqon to mean En To Pan, which means All Is One. As I grew older my life grew more complicated and I developed an inclination to study, and not always respectable or conventional subjects.

He moved from De Beauvoir Road to Seal Street between the ages of one month and seven years. His De Beauvoir Road home is no longer there but the Seal Street home is and can be seen on Google maps with Street View and Satellite View. Screenshots of these are shown below. Plaques on identical houses in adjoining April Street show that the houses there were built in 1884 so the house which stands there now must have been Lawrence’s home when he was a child. His home is the fourth house on the left past the three bollards at the start of the pedestrianized area. The satellite view of the house and garden when taken in context with the view from the street shows that the garden is extremely tiny.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Seal Street Street View.png

Below is 10, Seal Street, Hackney, London as seen from above. Lawrence said, “Our house in London had a nice garden and little freaky spots to play and hide“. That was not a garden it was a back yard and it is shown by the red lines which have been drawn on the image. Compare that with the size of the small terraced house/flats enclosed by the blue lines.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Seal Street from Satellite.png

The electoral register for 1929 below shows that Lawrence’s parents (and, presumably, Lawrence but not his brother as he was old enough to appear on the register) had moved again and were now living at 24, Somerford Grove, West Hackney, London. Their names can be seen half-way down the right column in the document below. But, like De Beauvoir Road, their house there has been demolished and replaced with a 1960s council estate. However, four houses, numbers 42-48, which look like they would have been built in the nineteenth century still stand. They look bigger than the properties at Seal Street with bigger gardens. But whether the houses which have since been demolished were like those is impossible to tell.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Lawrence Electoral\Miles Family Electoral Register 1929.jpg

The 1930 register shows that Henry Thomas (and presumably Lawrence too) is living with his parents again at 24, Somerford Grove, West Hackney. The family can be seen near the top of the left column in the document below.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1930 H, L & HT MIles, 24, Somerford Gr.jpg

In 1932, Lawrence finally appeared on the electoral register when he turned twenty-one. The register below shows that his parents were still at 24, Somerford Grove and that Lawrence and his brother Henry Thomas were there too. The family can be seen about a quarter of the way down the right column.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Lawrence Electoral\Lawrence Miles Electoral Register 1932 Hackney Original.jpg

The 1933 electoral register below shows that the parents were still at 24, Somerford Grove and Lawrence and his brother Henry Thomas were still living with them. They can be seen about half-way down the right column in the document below.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Lawrence Electoral\Lawrence Miles Electoral Register 1933 Hackney Original.jpg

The 1934 electoral register below shows that the parents were still at 24, Somerford Grove and Lawrence and his brother Henry Thomas were still living with them. The family can be seen about three-quarters of the way down the right column in the document below.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Lawrence Electoral\Lawrence Miles Electoral Register 1934 Hackney Original.jpg

But another electoral register for 1934 below shows that Lawrence was now living at 16, Downhurst Avenue, Hendon, London with, presumably, a married couple, Frederick and Emma Brown, and another man, George King. The entry for this address can be seen near the top of the left column. Lawrence should have been earning enough to be independent by then. That may be why he no longer lived with his parents.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Lawrence Electoral\Lawrence Miles Electoral Register 1934 Hendon Origianl.jpg

This house is still there and can be seen on Google Street View. It is the house on the left with the garage added to the front in the screenshot below. The electoral register for 1934 is the last time Lawrence Miles appears on any official records – until he applies for a duplicate birth certificate in 1978.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\16, Downhurst Avenue.png

The Anton Years: Spain and Brighton, 1937-1940

Anyone searching the internet for “Dadaji” should notice that when his real name is referred to some sources say that it is Lawrence Amos Miles and some say Anton Miles. Some even say Lawrence Anthony Miles. There is no doubt that Dadaji himself has referred to himself as both Lawrence and Anton. Why should this be when it clearly gives his name as Lawrence Amos Miles on his birth certificate? Some followers of Dadaji may have noticed this and just assumed that he did not like his real name and decided to call himself Anton instead. Some may have assumed that as he was interested in the occult and it is common in the occult to take a new magickal name that that is why he changed his name. But official records reveal that he was using the name Anton on applications on official records.

One part of Dadaji’s life that crops up in various sources is his involvement in the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. He told of this himself and that he took part in this is documented in websites about the Spanish Civil War. But it is not Lawrence who took part in it, it is Anton. As mentioned earlier, Lawrence disappeared from official records in 1934. The next time he appears it is as Anton in 1937 with the same date of birth as Lawrence. From http://internationalbrigadesinspain.weebly.com/british-battalion.html which gives details of the 15th International Brigade, the British Battalion, he is seen in a photo in his role as a ‘sanitario’ having worked as a laboratory assistant before enlisting. These details would have been supplied by Anton.

Picture

Anton Miles: born: 29/4/1911, London. Stapelton Villas, Wordsworth Road, London. Enlistment Address: 94 Southwold Road, Clapham, London. Age: 26. Occupation: Laboratory Assistant. Hunger Marcher (1932) Arrived in Spain; 22/11/1937. Sanitario, Medical Supplies. Brigade Machine-Gun Company.  Action's participated in: Belchite, Hijar, Caspe, Calaceite, Gandesa, Ebro Offensive. Repatriated on 01/12/1938 Moscow Archives, Fond: 545 Op: 6 Delo:

In the early twentieth century, a general laboratory assistant cleaned and fetched and carried, another assistant prepared nutritive media for the bacteriological production and several ancillary workers either looked after animals or bottled and labelled sera. Anton wrote of his work as a sanitario in the Spanish Civil War and his reminiscences can be found here https://archive.org/stream/SpanishCivilWarIntlBrigadesDocuments/Volunteer%209_djvu.txt. where he states, “Shortage of medical supplies can hamper considerably the work of the sanitarios. The sanitarios are at all times among the last to leave however dangerous the circumstances, the work of evacuating all the wounded possible, has to be carried on. Although they do not carry arms, they are among our best soldiers for so many depend on them and much can be lost if they fail.” Although the work he did as a sanitario was admirable, note that he said he and the other sanitarios did not carry arms.

Anton told the Spanish Civil War people that his birth address was Stapleton Villas, Wordsworth Road, London. At https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/london/wordsworth-road/stapleton-villas/n16-8de/ details of Stapleton Villas are given. Like Lawrence’s birth address, De Beauvoir Road, and his later address, Seal Street, Wordsworth Road is also in Hackney. It is in the posh part of Hackney just over a mile away from De Beauvoir Road and just under half a mile from Seal Street. The current description of Stapleton Villas as having four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two reception rooms is a world away from the tiny flat at Seal Street. Here is a screenshot of Stapleton Villas from Google Street View.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Stapleton Villas.png

Not only has Anton given a false birth address but he has given the address for his time of enlistment as 94, Southwold Road, Clapham, London. This house has since been demolished but original houses which still stand in Southwold Road show that at that time it would have been a large three-storey house. Here is a photo of some original houses.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Southwold Road.png

One other bizarre piece of information regarding Anton’s time in the Spanish Civil War is that his name appears on a list of Jews who took part in it. At http://archive.li/rjsk0 it states, “Many others had non-Jewish aliases (as Joe Garber and others have told me) and we may never know their religious affiliation or origin”. Above the list of names it states that, “A (?) [next to the person’s name] means that the person may not be Jewish and awaits further research”. There is no question mark next to Anton Miles’s name. At https://www.marxists.org/subject/jewish/spanjews.pdf it gives Anton’s birth address more fully as 1, Stapleton Villas. That is the house on the left in the photo above of Stapleton Villas.

A doctoral thesis written by María Luisa González Biosca at the University of Valencia in Spain in July 2016 which can be downloaded from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/71060533.pdf contains a poem written by Anton when he was in the Spanish Civil War and the following information is given about him.

 

He was an English Jew who joined the XV International Brigade and was repatriated to England in December 1938.

 

The Turn of the Tide

 

First published in the The Volunteer for Liberty II, nº 25, Barcelona, July, 1938 [the poem is from The Volunteer]. The translation is ours.

 

Anton Miles: The Turn of the Tide

 

Arouse all the soldiers, the dawn will soon break,

For none can sleep while the guns are awake.

Forward to victory, rise with the morning,

Today we the enemy’s strongholds are storming.

The men are tired and need a rest

But still they fight with determined zest.

In yonder trenches the enemy stands

So forward soldiers and free the land.

So let your voices rise to the sky,

All soldiers and workers will take up the cry,

“Viva República! Long Live Spain,”

And throw aside the binding chain.

The soil is stained and sodden red,

Red with the blood of the wounds that bled

That freedom might live and never die,

Upon this soil where their bodies lie.

The soldiers are ready and now it is light

The guns they do roar and into the fight,

Over the land and through the vines,

Advancing and breaking the enemy lines.

As the victors be honored when Spain you have won;

So clip on your bayonet and up with your gun

And fight like good comrades all side by side,

And let your advance be the turn of the tide.

More about Anton’s experiences with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War can be found in the “The Amoral Way of the Wizard”. At: https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1 a woman known as Lalitanath who knew Dadaji in later life in India relates what he had told her in this book. On page 38 she writes,

Dadaji told war stories. He had been in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. The Russians lectured the new soldiers on the technique of attack. He asked how to retreat.

“There is no retreat”.

His survival depended on his ability to think independently, and magick helped too. A huge bomb exploded in the field where he was trying to carry an injured soldier to safety. The dust cloud was so thick that he couldn’t tell which way to go, and which way led to enemy lines. The bullets were zinging past. Suddenly a bejewelled arm reached into the dust cloud and pulled him to safety. Dadaji had a number of encounters with God Indra who protected and blessed him throughout his life.

From Cairo, Canons and Camaraderie at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/cairo-cannons-and-camaraderie/ written in 1972 Dadaji states the following, “…. Since I was one of this unique International Brigade, I was able to experiment with my magick on the battlefield. I was graded as a `practicante', something between a first-aid man and a doctor”. But this is nowhere near being as qualified as a doctor. As mentioned above, he was a sanitario with Medical Supplies who was responsible for hygiene on the battlefield, ie to stop infection in injuries. In the modern army he would probably be classed as a medic.

Anton ended up in Brighton but why he did is not known. He returned from Spain in December 1938 as did Arthur Hirst. Arthur was originally from London but was living in Hove, which joins on to Brighton, when he enlisted for the Spanish Civil War. Arthur was also in the 15th International Brigade and is also on the list of members with Anton at the above link, ie http://internationalbrigadesinspain.weebly.com/british-battalion.html. Anton Miles is mentioned in passing on the profile page for Arthur Hirst on the genealogy website WikiTree. At https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hirst-491 it states, “On the 12th December we welcomed home comrades Anton Miles and Bill Sill (...) A few days later we were proud to welcome home comrade Arthur Hirst, who had been driving a mobile hospital unit in Spain for over two years”. As it mentions welcoming Anton home that could have meant that Anton had lived there before he went to Spain or that Anton had decided to live in Brighton with his friend Arthur. Arthur and Anton may not have known each other before Spain as Arthur had been in Spain for over two years so he must have enlisted a year before Anton. But Anton gave his address on enlistment as 94, Southwold Road, Clapham, London so presumably lived in London before enlisting. Anton could have told Arthur that he had had enough of London for some unknown reason and Arthur suggested he should move to Brighton.

Anton did not waste much time after returning from the Spanish Civil War before he became a political activist in Brighton. He was repatriated from Spain on the 1st of December 1938 and by the 4th of January 1939 he was in the newspapers as the leader of the National Unemployed Workers Movement in Brighton. The following four articles were published in early 1939 and can be found with a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive at http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjM7i286u1gIViJPtCh1PEweEEAAYASAAEgLv3fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CO7kjt7OrtYCFY-KdwodOagHfA . It is not clear if Anton himself was unemployed or if he was helping those who were themselves unemployed. But as he had just returned from Spain it is highly likely that he was unemployed.

                          

From the Midland Daily Telegraph                        From the Daily Herald

4th January 1939                                            28th January 1939

        

                        

From the Mid-Sussex Times                        From the Cinematograph Times

    31st January 1939                                    23rd March 1939

        

The story of 4th January in the Midland Daily Telegraph of Anton’s arrest and people protesting for his release was also captured on a newsreel. It can be seen at: http://screenarchive.brighton.ac.uk/detail/699/.

If Anton was unemployed in early 1939 he certainly was not in September 1939. Just after war broke out on the 3rd of September 1939, the British government compiled the “1939 Register”. Taken on 29 September 1939 it provided a snapshot of the civilian population of England and Wales and can be found with a subscription to Ancestry at www.ancestry.co.uk/. Details of around 40 million people were recorded in more than 65,000 volumes. Anton Miles appeared on it. He is fourth from the bottom in the record below and his address is 167, Preston Road, Brighton. His date of birth is 29th April 1911 and he is single. His occupation is Clinical Assistant in a hospital and also a Squad Leader in First Aid with Brighton Health Department. (The property where Anton lived has since been demolished and a Travelodge now stands there.)

But what happened six months after that is something that no one who has known or corresponded with Dadaji seems to know about – he got married. His marriage certificate is shown below. This is a copy bought in 2017 and all of the handwriting on it is that of the current registrar at Brighton. But the details are copied from the original register.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Anton Miles and Beatrice May Parkes Marriage Certificate.jpg

Note Anton’s occupation on the certificate. He is now a masseur and that is what physiotherapists were known as then. The father’s name is Henry which is the same as Lawrence’s father. Note also the father’s occupation. He is a hot water engineer. This ties in with the occupation of Lawrence’s father in the 1911 census when he worked for a heating engineer business. Anton’s age ties in with Lawrence’s date of birth and the date of birth given by Anton when he enlisted for the Spanish Civil War. (For reasons of privacy, exact details of Beatrice and her family will not be given here.) Beatrice and her family seem to have been comfortably off. The 1911 census shows that they were from central England and had a house in a decent area there. The address given by Beatrice on her marriage certificate and in the 1939 Register is for the house shown in the photo below. Unlike nowadays when houses like that are often split up into flats and bedsits, that may not have been the case when Beatrice lived there.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Parkes Family Home 1940.jpg

Beatrice’s is the twenty-fifth written entry (excluding blacked out entries) and she is listed as May B Parkes so could have been known by her middle name.

 

The exact date of her birth is unclear but she was definitely born in February 1910. She was single and that ties in with being married in March 1940. Most of the details of her occupation have been blacked out but it obviously begins with an S. In the magnified area of occupation for Beatrice and the other residents of the house, we can see that the man in the house was a coach builder called Champion and his wife Ena and two other residents – a widow called Emma Langridge and her daughter Hilda – were all listed as having Unpaid Domestic Duties as their occupation. If Beatrice had been a servant there may not have been another word in the occupation box. But there obviously is and it is possible that it could have said the same as was on her marriage certificate but in a slightly different order, ie Saleswoman – Furriers instead of Furrier’s Saleswoman. The parts of obscured letters which are showing fit these words. It looks as if whoever put the black lines on the document did not make a very good job of it as it is squint. So Beatrice’s occupation should not have been obscured. It is possible that some of the people whose entries have been blacked out were young servants who are still alive. But there are no servants on this page at all and plenty of women doing unpaid domestic duties. So perhaps the area was not affluent enough for the residents to have had even one maid.

 

The screenshot from Dadaji’s updated family tree from www.ancestry.co.uk showing his wife can be seen below.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Miles Family Tree.png

That Anton gave his occupation as a masseur on his marriage certificate leads to another baffling account. To get to the bottom of this, conscription and reserved occupations have to be understood.

The following details from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom give the conditions for conscription just before and during the Second World War.

27th April 1939 – Only single men 20 – 22 years old. Anton would not have been conscripted.

3rd September 1939 – All men 18 – 41 years old. Anton would have been conscripted. But police, medical and prison workers were exempt – ‘reserved’ occupations.

1942 – All men 18 – 51 years and all females 20 – 30 years old. Anton would have been conscripted. But police, medical and prison workers were exempt – ‘reserved’ occupations.

If he was still a laboratory assistant this was also a reserved occupation as is shown on page 17 of the list at the link below.

http://anguline.co.uk/Free/Reserved.pdf 

It said on his marriage certificate that he was a masseur, ie physiotherapist. That was also a reserved occupation. See here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/44/a6177044.shtml

The Anton Years: Egypt and Italy, 1940-1945

In the following four adjoining extracts from Cairo, Canons and Camaraderie at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/cairo-cannons-and-camaraderie/ Dadaji tells of his war service.

  1. I knew in 1936 that my own country would be forced into a war with Germany, and I hoped that my personal observations and experience would be of value to Britain when the big bang came. The details of these events must come from other pens than mine. When war did start in 1939, I wrote to the War Office to offer my services. The letter may have got through the cobwebs to the old men who still dreamed of the trench warfare of 1914, the parade grounds, the polished boots, and the blanco.

(Blanco is a white substance used for whitening belts and other items of military equipment.) He could have offered his services as he wanted to fight against other fascists, ie Hitler and Mussolini, as he had done in the Spanish Civil War. But he was a clinical assistant in September 1939. This may have been classed as a reserved occupation so he may not have been eligible for conscription, hence ‘offering’ his services.

  1. Anyway, I did not receive a reply. As I was by profession a physiotherapist, I volunteered for the Medical Corps.

This is badly written. Did he volunteer for the Medical Corps when he did not receive a reply? Did he volunteer again and was accepted? Was he conscripted? This is difficult to prove or disprove. It says only ‘masseur’ on Anton Miles’s marriage certificate. On the marriage certificates of members of the armed forces during the first and second world wars it states in the profession section what their usual occupation was before the war and also their military details and marital status. It does not give military details on Anton Miles’s marriage certificate. So he could not have been in the military when he married unless he gave false information. The two anonymised extracts from marriage certificates from the First and Second World Wars, respectively, shown below illustrate this. (These certificates have no connection with Dadaji or his family. They are only shown as examples.)

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Kerr Certificates\William Kerr and Margaret McCreadie Marriage Certificate.JPG        C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Matt Hannah's Family\Hannah Certificates\Matthew Hannah and Agnes Kerr Marriage Certificate.jpg                                

  1. Early in 1940, during the early period of the war, I was selected to go on a six month highly pressurized course in occupational therapy with several other delightful companions.

At http://www.csp.org.uk/frontline/article/life-during-wartime, the website of the chartered Society of Physiotherapists, a story about a wartime physiotherapist shows evidence of the normal length of training to become a qualified physiotherapist: “Shirley began her training in 1942 at the age of 17. Like many other physios, the war meant she was allowed to begin training at a younger age, and the length of training was reduced from three years to two and a half.” The link http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/44/a6177044.shtml  also shows that it took three years to train to be a physiotherapist. Anton married on 16th March 1940 so if he was in the military in ‘early’ 1940 this could possibly cover the period shortly after the 16th of March. If Anton was a clinical assistant in September 1939 and in Spain less than a year before that how could he have done the three years training to become a physiotherapist? He did say he was “by profession a physiotherapist” before he joined the military. Also, he gave his occupation as a laboratory assistant when he enlisted for the Spanish Civil War in November 1937. So it is not as if he had trained as a physiotherapist before he went to Spain. If he had been conscripted or was accepted when he volunteered, his clinical assistant experience and, perhaps, work in the Spanish Civil War could have meant that he was actually accepted to go on a six month highly pressurised course in physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy. But this does not make him a qualified physiotherapist. At http://jramc.bmj.com/content/jramc/107/1/169.full.pdf in the last paragraph on page 170 of the article “Physical Medicine in the Army” it tells of how a report in 1940 recommended that those trained by the army in physiotherapy and occupational therapy and similar should be appointed. It does not say how long the training lasted but this could refer to the six months of pressurised training that Dadaji said he had had. But this is not the same as the recognised training described above to be a fully qualified civilian physiotherapist.

  1. Ten of us were selected to go overseas - one a corporal, and the other nine, including me, were privates (a shilling a day men). Although we were privates in World War II in the modern army, either of these qualifications would entitle the rank of officer.

This is again badly written. If he means that corporals and privates would be entitled to the rank of officer in the modern army then that is incorrect. If he means that being a physiotherapist would entitle the rank of officer (when he wrote this in 1972) then that is correct but only if the three year’s civilian training had been done before joining the army.

Anton was possibly exempt but could possibly be telling the truth about volunteering. He could have been turned down though. Veterans of the Spanish Civil War were discriminated against by the British armed forces. Even those of the typical officer class were denied commissions and overseas postings. Some were even dismissed from the forces if it was discovered they were communists. See:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qTfLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT361&lpg=PT361&dq=%22british+army%22+discriminated+against+%22spanish+civil+war%22&source=bl&ots=PaLkkOuB6d&sig=wlix_gEca0YT9qDENxCjskc1vtY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjv68u42oHWAhUDLFAKHZ3bDlQQ6AEISTAI#v=onepage&q=%22british%20army%22%20discriminated%20against%20%22spanish%20civil%20war%22&f=false 

and scroll up as well as down to read everything.

Dadaji gave yet another account of his wartime experiences in “The Magick Path of Tantra” at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/the-magick-path-of-tantra/

My first experiment was made after World War II. I volunteered for service as soon as war was declared. I served in the Royal Army Medical Corp as a physiotherapist and occupational therapist. Due to the grotesque and bizarre paradoxes of the British Army, I only held the rank of Corporal, though serving as an unpaid, acting Sergeant. I was recommended for a commission five times, but as I had earlier fought in Spain with the International Brigade, I was suspected of political associations which I did not hold. If you criticized blunders and muddle, you would be classified as a dangerous agitator. I took the opportunity to investigate the occult world, and practice some spasmodic meditation, several times in the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx Temple at Gizah, as well as at many other ancient locations in the Australian West Desert and in Italy.

He mentions the problems associated with his political associations. But there is no evidence that he was offered a commission even once and those from his working class background who were tradesmen were not officer material.

Another version of Dadaji’s military connections was related second hand here: https://volesoft.com/2011/02/27/some-more-memories-and-reflections-of-dear-kenneth-grant/. “Mr Miles, having fought in the International Brigade, had nothing but contempt for the British Army – the Ministry of Defence had contacted him in 1938 when the mandarins realised something was afoot Hitler-wise and tried to award him a commission. Instead, as a physiotherapist, Miles fomented a riot on a troop ship to Cairo. He was, in his own words, arrested for mutiny, but turned it round and the captain of the ship got his come uppance.”

People like the occult author Dennis Wheatley who had a deep hatred of communists was a member of the security services during the war. He was in contact with Aleister Crowley and became his pupil but only in an academic sense. He did not practice magick. People like him would not have contacted someone like Anton and definitely would not have offered him a commission. Read more about Wheatley and Crowley here: https://espionagehistoryarchive.com/2016/03/05/occult-mi6-dennis-wheatley/ 

Crowley was declined for full time military or intelligence work but he seems to have been put on the Naval Intelligence Emergency list as can be seen in this page from the 1939 Register. Crowley’s is the nineteenth entry.

 

 

Here is a transcript of Crowley’s entry.

 

Name: Edward A Crowley (His real name is Edward Alexander Crowley.)

 

Birth: 12/10/1875 (This is correct.)

 

Address: 57, Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey

 

Marital Status: NK (not known?) has been written and crossed out then replaced with M (married) in red.

 

Occupation: Author Psychiatrist

 

All handwriting on the form is the same so was filled in by an official. But the red M is in different handwriting and shows an update at a later unknown time. This was standard procedure for everyone.

 

In the “See Instructions” column it says “Emergency List NID”. NID would be Naval Intelligence Division as there was an emergency list for that.

However, Dadaji himself said nothing in “Cairo, Canons and Camaraderie” at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/cairo-cannons-and-camaraderie/ about being offered a commission. He did, though, infer that his rank or profession would have rendered him eligible for a commission in 1972. He also wrote there,

Only a few days after enlistment, I was forced to realize that the fight against Hitler, his Nazi army, and his fat Italian ally was secondary. The real fight was between myself and the army brass, which ranged from senior NCOs who had been recruited from the most uneducated and stupid of Britain's lower crust. My first battles were against church parades and all associated with them. Also, in my army papers, instead of my statement that I had no religion, somebody had slipped in the religion as “Baptist''. It took two years to get it changed to atheist. I was not actually an atheist, but army officialdom maintained that in the British Army, nobody could be “no religion.

As was shown earlier, the full name of the church where Lawrence Miles and his brother Henry were baptised is St John the Baptist, Hoxton. On some people’s birth certificates their church baptism details are written on the back so it could have said on the back of his birth certificate that he was baptised at St John the Baptist, Hoxton. This could explain why the army recorded his religion as Baptist although that church is actually Anglican. But why would Anton Miles have given the army Lawrence Miles’s birth certificate? That question will be discussed later.

More about what Dadaji told the afore-mentioned Lalitanath about his military service in the Second World War can be found in “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” where he confirms the above regarding the discrimination against those who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. See here:

        

https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1  

On page 39 she writes,

The Second World War started right away, after the triumphs of fascism in Spain. Dadaji signed up again although anti-fascist fighters were not welcome in the British army. He caused a mutiny in the boat that sailed to the battlefields of southern Europe. He was put up on charges, but as he related with relish, the tables soon turned, his accusers were reprimanded for incompetence and he was exonerated.  Petty bureaucrats and officious officers hated Dadaji. He took such pleasure in being the cause of their discomfort. He enjoyed taking the side of the underdog against the blind injustices of the powerful. He was trained as a physiotherapist. To get him out of the hair of one high-ranking officer, he was shifted to Italy, and later Egypt. In Egypt, he had a chance to visit the pyramids and clamber inside unrestrained by tourists or authorities. Magic occurred. In Italy he made a pilgrimage to Assisi. Although considered sacred by Catholics because of St Francis, it is also claimed by Sufis and magicians as one of their power places. Assisi was yet one more of the endless connections that existed between us. I had been there a number of times as a child and an adolescent, and I was well aware of the power of that place. Once again he was given free run and got to see a certain crypt that is usually hidden from public view.

He was very proud of saving Yugoslavians. He treated many soldiers from there who were later being forcibly repatriated by the British. These were men who had fought the Nazis almost barehanded. They were partisans being forced back into the waiting arms of murderous fascist collaborators who executed every one of them. They told their story to Dadaji. Using his Labour party connections he was able to have the matter brought up in the British parliament, and the facts became known to the public.

On page 46 she writes, “Dadaji first picked to be a soldier – or to be much more accurate, he chose to attend wars. I never heard him mention shooting a gun. He was rescue and medical help on the battlefields of Spain, and rehab for the soldiers in the Second World War. He was always getting himself into trouble with the higher ranks, so he wasn’t planning to rise through the military. …. He was rejected by the military world. He was a troublemaker, a big troublemaker.” If that was the case, why was he supposedly offered a commission five times?

The Anton Years: London, 1945-1950

Anton Miles finally makes another appearance in official records when he turns up in the 1946 electoral register. He was living with his wife at 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16. They can be seen near the bottom of the left column on the right page in the document below.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Electoral\Anton and Beatrice Miles Electoral 1946.jpg

The only records from then until 1950 featuring both Anton and his wife are more electoral registers from 1947-1950. They are always at the same address. The 1947 register is shown below. They are at the bottom of the middle column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Electoral\Anton and Beatrice Miles Electoral 1947.jpg

The 1948 register is shown below. They are near the top of the right column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Electoral\Anton and Beatrice Miles Electoral 1948.jpg

The 1949 register is shown below. They are about a third of the way down the middle column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Electoral\Anton and Beatrice Miles Electoral 1949.jpg

The 1950 register is shown below. They are about a quarter of the way down the middle column on the right page.

Their home below at 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 still stands. As will be seen below, they had a small flat here, presumably on the ground or first floor if the attic had not been converted then.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Winston Road.png

Anton’s parents cannot be found in electoral registers between 1934 and 1945. They had various address after the war and the registers containing those addresses are shown below. In 1945, 1946 and 1947 there was a Robert Miles living with them. This could have been either Henry senior’s brother or nephew, both of whom were named Robert.

The 1945 register where their address is 232, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, London is shown below. They are near the bottom of the left column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1945 1 H, L & R Miles 232 Albion Rd.jpg

The 1946 register where their address is 232, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, London is shown below. They are near the bottom of the middle column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1946 H, L & R Miles 232 Albion Rd.jpg

The 1947 register where their address is 232, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, London is shown below. They are about two thirds of the way down the left column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1947 H, L & R Miles, 52, Lordship Pk.jpg

The 1948 register where their address is 12, Aden Terrace, Stoke Newington, London is shown below. They are near the top of the left column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1948 H & L Miles, 12 Aden Ter.jpg

The 1949 register where their address is 12, Aden Terrace, Stoke Newington, London is shown below. They are about a quarter of the way down the left column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1949 H & L Miles, 12 Aden Ter.jpg

The 1950 register where their address is 15 Shaftesbury House, Hawksley Court, Stoke Newington, London is shown below. They are about a third of the way down the right column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1950 H & L Miles, 15 Macaulay Ho, Hawksley Ct.jpg

But Anton appears on the 1951 register at his parents’ address. They are living at 15, Shaftesbury House, Hawksley Court, Stoke Newington, London. It is shown below. They are about a third of the way down the right column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1951 H, L & A Miles, 15, Shaftesbury Ho, Hawksley Ct.jpg

Another important event regarding Dadaji that he mentioned to someone (who will remain anonymous) but which has been confirmed in 2017 by the purchase of a birth certificate is that he and Beatrice had a child in the first quarter of 1950. (As before and for reasons of privacy, exact details of Beatrice and the child will not be given here. But the child’s birth certificate exists and, although not reproduced here, it can be produced if necessary.) The child was born in the same town in central England where Beatrice and her family came from. The address on the birth certificate for both Anton and Beatrice is in the same road that is on the 1911 census for Beatrice and her family. But it is not the same house. Neither of these houses are where the child was born. That was some miles away. Based on the information on this birth certificate and on earlier records featured here there are two possibilities regarding Dadaji’s whereabouts at this time.

 

1) Anton and Beatrice could still have been on the 1950 London electoral register as it may not have been updated until after they moved to central England. As Anton was on the 1951 electoral register at his parents' house in London he and Beatrice could have split up when they were in Birmingham. As will be shown later, Anton arrived in Australia in January 1951 so that shows that the  electoral registers take a while to catch up with people as councils update them about once a year.

 

2) It was Beatrice's signature on the birth certificate as the informant so Anton did not necessarily need to have been there for the registration as they were married. Anton's occupation was given as an exhibition painter. According to Anton's application to emigrate (see later), when the child was born Anton was working for a Display and Exhibitions business in London. So Beatrice could have left Anton in London when she was pregnant and moved to Birmingham on her own. That could have been why Anton was living with his parents in London. As long as Beatrice had her marriage certificate with her when she registered the birth she could have pretended to the registrar that she and Anton were still together.

During this time, Dadaji says he spent some time living in Epping Forest just north of London. He referred to it as his ‘retreat’. He tells of this and his living arrangements in “The Magick Path of Tantra” at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/the-magick-path-of-tantra/

After the war, I had the use of a small field at High Beech, on the edge of Epping Forest. I lived in a tent of three years. Near this field, on a vast tract of land owned by the Salvation Army, I noticed a small memorial. I climbed the locked gate and read the inscription. It marked the spot where Queen Boadicea took poison after her defeat by the Roman troops. She knew that if captured alive, she would be taken to Rome, to suffer the indignity of being sold, and of serving as a slave. What a woman! Walking a path without guidance, and one about which I had no previous experience, I assumed that realization would take place during one of my meditation sessions. It was not to be. As I had to attend to some mundane chores, I returned to my small flat for the weekend. I took a hot bath, then went to the lounge, put on the gramophone, and went back to the bathroom to collect a few oddments. It was a self-contained flat, so I was wearing no clothes. It was time for the freak-out. As I returned to the lounge and was crossing the carpet in the centre of the room, everything seemed to vanish, and I was floating above the houses. Before me there was a dense cloud. As I looked at it, it seemed to evaporate and to reveal a giant image of Shiva made of ice or some other transparent material. I looked down to see the dark grey slate roofs of the houses, only to find myself suddenly standing on the carpet in the middle of my lounge. I felt I knew everything, but most of all, I knew I had to go to India. There was to be some delay. I went to Australia to enjoy their delightful climate, and to save some money, I went on a population expansion which required one to pay only ten British pounds for the trip. After this delay, I did not arrive in Bombay until Guru Purnima, Sunday, the fourteenth of July, 1953.

This story was also told to Lalitanath by Dadaji and she recounts it on page 47 of “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1 

He said he had his first experience of enlightenment while still a young man in England. At that time he was camping out in a tent in a forest, where he could be alone and meditate without distraction. He had just returned from there to his tiny London flat. He had come to take care of his mundane reality and regroup before going back to the forest to continue his assault on the barriers to consciousness. He had just put a piece of music by Grieg on the phonograph and he was profoundly relaxed, sipping a freshly-brewed cup of tea, when …. Bom, Bolenath! Shiva Shankar Alakh! Alakh! Alakh! …. He was swept up in a towering vision of Lord Shiva. The image was overwhelming, but the power and information transfer were unspoken, unspeakable and knowable only in another state of awareness altogether.

Dadaji mentions his small flat but conveniently omits to mention his wife who also lived there. He also omits to mention that according to information he gave (and presumably provided documentary proof to back it up) when he applied to emigrate to Australia under the assisted passage scheme in 1950 that he was working as a painter and decorator in London at the time he was supposedly living in a tent in the forest. But it is possible that his wife threw him out and he lived in a tent before he moved back with his parents or he could have moved back with his parents first, then they threw him out and then he went to live in a tent. If there is a grain of truth to anything that people make up it is possible that he did leave his body and had a vision but perhaps that was because his wife might have whacked him round the head with a rolling pin or similar. That was when he realised he had to go, not to India, but to Australia as he could get there for ten pounds. On page 18 of the January 2015 edition of the Moulsham Times at https://issuu.com/itsyourmedia/docs/moulshamtimesjan2015issuu it states, “Dadaji had promised his mother that he would not leave England while she was alive, but when she was run over by a bus, and Crowley also died he began to think seriously about going permanently abroad.” Dadaji’s mother died in 1962, twelve years after he had left England and his father died in 1961. Aleister Crowley died in 1947 so this statement implies that Dadaji said his mother and Crowley died around the same time. That Dadaji freely admitted to having been in Asia in the 1950s shows that he definitely left England long before his mother died. His parents’ death registrations from www.ancestry.co.uk can be seen below and also in their profiles on the Ancestry website with links to sources.

Name:

Lilian A Miles

Death Age:

83

Birth Date:

abt 1879

Registration Date:

Sep 1962

Registration district:

Hackney

Inferred County:

London

Volume:

5c

Page:

565

Name:

Henry Miles

Death Age:

81

Birth Date:

abt 1880

Registration Date:

Mar 1961

Registration district:

Hackney

Inferred County:

London

Volume:

5c

Page:

838

Further proof that Dadaji’s mother (and father) were alive after he left England can be seen in more available electoral registers. But one person who does not feature in the electoral registers for London again is Anton’s wife Beatrice. So she may have remained in the town where she had her child as she had family members there. But this investigation is into her husband, not her. So no further speculation on her whereabouts will be given. Suffice to say, she seems to have outlived her husband by some years. Henry and Lilian Miles remained at Shaftesbury House until 1955/6 with no one else living with them. The available registers for this period can be seen below.

This is the 1954 register. They are near the top of the middle column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1954 H & L Miles, 15, Shaftesbury Ho, Hawksley Ct.jpg

The 1955 register is shown below. They are about three quarters of the way down the left column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1955 H & L Miles, 15, Shaftesbury Ho, Hawksley Ct.jpg

They then moved to 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington and Hackney North, London where they both lived until they died – Henry in 1961 and Lilian in 1962. The 1957 Kingsfield House entry is shown below. They are near the top of the left column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Miles Electoral\1957 H & L Miles, 3, Kingsfield Ho, Victorian Gr.jpg

The 1958 register is shown below. They are near the top of the left column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1958 H & L Miles, 3, Kingsfield Ho, Victorian Gr.jpg

The 1959 register is shown below. They are about three quarters of the way down the middle column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1959 H & L Miles, 3, Kingsfield Ho, Victorian Gr.jpg

The 1960 register is shown below. They are about half way down the left column on the left page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1960 H & L Miles, 3, Kingsfield Ho, Victorian Gr.jpg

The 1961 register is shown below. They are near the top of the middle column.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1961 H & L Miles, 3, Kingsfield Ho, Victorian Gr.jpg

Another 1961 register is shown below. Henry does not feature on it as he has died. Lilian is seen about half way down the right column on the right page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\√ Miles Electoral\1961 L Miles, 3, Kingsfield Ho, Victorian Gr.jpg

The Anton Years: Dadaji and Aleister Crowley, 1930s and 1940s

The events described above from 1934 onwards have not included someone who Dadaji claimed to know – Aleister Crowley. One example of this can be found at https://volesoft.com/2011/02/27/some-more-memories-and-reflections-of-dear-kenneth-grant/. “Miles claimed he had met Crowley during one of the infamous Crowley libel trials and often visited him at 93 Jermyn Street. …. Kenneth [Grant], having a huge collection of Crowley diaries ….  scanned the pages and failed to find the young Lawrence Miles recorded.” Indeed Dadaji writes of this himself in the Londinium Temple Strain at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/the-londinium-temple-strain/ he says,

I first met the Magus in the High Court in Chancery Lane, where his unfortunate court action against Nina Hamnett took place in the early thirties [1934]. The case began as a claim for libel damages against Mrs. Hamnett, but quickly developed into a trial of Aleister Crowley. I sat throughout the court proceedings as a young man, and had my first lesson in British justice, and how easily it could turn round and display its rear end. …. I often contemplated the story of Aiwass, the personal Guardian and the inspiration of The Book of the Law. The Magus often visited me in a little flatlet I had on the King's Road front at Brighton. He frequently came down from London and stayed at the Ship Hotel. One afternoon I put to him the question, ``Where is Aiwass now?'' Crowley looked at me and gave his head a minute shake and then spread his arms with upturned palms as if to say, ``Where?'' or even ``God knows!'' Then he spoke, ``I think the fault is mine.'' …. In spite of all this, Crowley was still able to help me much in my own Work, just as people are being inspired and encouraged by his writings now that he has passed on. …. The Mage invited me to visit him in his Jermyn Street flat, and these visits became more and more numerous. The press which had slandered him at every opportunity never once expressed any of his ideals or teachings. Thus when I had opportunities to meet him, he revealed a vast store of knowledge on a variety of subjects. …. During our conversations in London, he reached a conclusion and advised me to seek more knowledge of yoga and the I Ching; these, he felt, would help people to contact their Guardian Spirit more easily. …. Here in India, I have often mused on my meetings with Aleister Crowley. His advice for me to go to India was a path blocked by many obstructions. He estimated that I would need a minimum of £1,000. That was the greatest obstacle. In actual fact, I did not arrive in India until the 14th July 1953 [Guru Purnima], and not a single penny or new penny in my bag. I think that was all the work of my Guardian Spirit. I did not arrive in India until I was ready for India, and my penniless arrival was the right and correct way.

Dadaji claims he sat in the public gallery and met Aleister Crowley during his libel action against Nina Hamnett in 1934 in London. The 1934 electoral register reveals that Lawrence Miles was living at 24, Somerford Grove, Hackney, London and 16, Downhurst Avenue, Hendon, London. So this assertion is technically possible. Dadaji says that Crowley often came down from London and visited him in his little flatlet in King’s Road, Brighton. As shown earlier in relation to Arthur Hirst and the Spanish Civil War, there does not seem to be any link between Anton Miles and Brighton before December 1938. Crowley was living in London between December 1938 and March 1940 so again this is technically possible. He says that Crowley invited him to visit him in his flat in Jermyn Street. https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline shows that Crowley lived in Jermyn Street from November 1942 to April 1944. If Dadaji was telling the truth about his war service he should have been abroad or in barracks in the UK at that time. But, technically, he could have visited him when or if he was home on leave. But Dadaji is vague about his time in the war. The only time that can be worked out from what he wrote is that he started his six months of training to be an occupational therapist in early 1940. He says his last days in Britain were spent in Leeds so presumably that is where he trained to be an occupational therapist.

Aleister Crowley lived at Room 6, 56, Wellbeck Street, London in 1936-7 but Landlord Alan Burnett-Rae threw Crowley out of Welbeck Street flat for antisocial behaviour and non-payment of rent. See https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline Crowley moved out of 93, Jermyn Street, London on 1st April 1944. He then moved to the Bell Inn in Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire. After that he moved to Hastings on 17th January 1945. At https://killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/the-deathplace-of-aleister-crowley/ the recollections of Kathleen ‘Johnny’ Symonds the owner of the guest house Netherwood in Hastings where he stayed from August or early September 1945 until his death are stated,

‘He had many visitors,’ Mrs Symonds disclosed. ‘He had some people over from Germany who used to bring him lovely wine. And he had somebody who was in the army in Germany, who went afterwards to America.’ Crowley’s English visitors included Kenneth Grant, author of Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, Michael Houghton, the owner of the Atlantis Bookshop, John Symonds, who wrote The Magic of Aleister Crowley, and of course Louis Wilkinson.

Crowley died on the 1st of December 1947. Lalitanath tells of how Dadaji told her of knowing Crowley on page 47 of “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1. “He knew Crowley in the final years, when he was fairly derelict and addicted to pain-killing drugs.”  This would have been when Crowley was living in Hastings. But during that period Anton/Dadadji was living in London with his wife and working as a painter and decorator. Kathleen Symonds makes no mention of Anton Miles or of anyone who could match his description.

        

A comparison of the whereabouts of Lawrence/Anton and Aleister Crowley can be seen in tabular form in the Results section.

The Anton Years: Australia, 1950–1951

As was mentioned above, Anton went on what he referred to as a ‘population expansion’. He was one of a large number of people referred to as ‘ten pound poms’. The Australian government wanted to increase the population of Australia so they allowed people to emigrate there and only charged them ten pounds for their fare on the ship as long as they lived in Australia for two years to pay back the cost of the fare by contributing to the Australian economy. Anton went through the application and was accepted. But the information he put on his application form does not tally with the official records shown above. His application is held in the National Archives of Australia at https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5049134.

The application form is reproduced below with clarifications, if needed, below each page.

NAA: BP23/1, 2406

Note the address that Anton has given. It is the same as the one on the 1951 electoral register for himself and his parents, 15, Shaftesbury House, Albion Road, London, N16. So it would appear that he was living with them when he applied to emigrate. Also note that he has given his marital status as single. In small type underneath this it states the following. “For the purpose of this scheme, you will be regarded as “married” if you have a wife or husband living. If you are separated from your wife/husband or there has been a divorce, please state this.” Anton has not done this as his wife was still living. However, as he married under a false name his marriage was invalid and, technically, he was single. The following is a transcript of handwritten notes made by the interviewing officer at the bottom of the first page: “With the exception of 6 years in HM forces, has been employed for 16 years as painter and paper hanger. Non-indentured apprenticeship 1927-33 with uncle. Gave references signed and returned. Member of Amalgamated Society of Operative House and Ships Painters and Decorators. Regd. No. T150154. Average type. Medical average.”

NAA: BP23/1, 2406

In the section regarding full particulars of employment, Anton has listed dates and jobs with no gaps from February 1946 to June 1950. These are:

Period

Name and Address of Employer

Nature of Business

How employed

Feb 46 – 2 Sept 46

Cannons Ltd

Church St, N16

Builders

Painter & Decorator

2 Sept 46 – 8.3.48

C.D. Organisation

Pembroke Rd, N8

Decorations & Displays

Foreman Painter & Sprayer

10.3.48 – 3.2.50

Mr F. R. Gough

Barbauld Rd, N16

Display & Decorations

Foreman Painter & Sprayer

3.2.50 – 29.6.50

Art Display Service

Lupus Street (SW1)

Display & Exhibitions

Painter & Sprayer

29.6.50 -

Holloway Bros.

Millbank, London (SW1)

Builders

Painter & Decorator

He also gives details of his war service and these tie in with and expand upon what has been mentioned earlier. He was in the Middle East from 1942 to 1943 and in Italy from 1943 to about November 1945. His first job after the war was in February 1946 so he must have been unemployed for about three months on his return. If the above details of his employment are true then how did he live in a tent in Epping Forest for three years? It would also appear that he has returned to his earlier work as a painter and decorator. Note that he was not asked to give the details of his war service. It was only referred to in relation to his having resided outside of the United Kingdom.

NAA: BP23/1, 2406

Note that the signature of the witness to Anton’s signature is the same as that of the Interviewing Officer on the first page.

NAA: BP23/1, 2406

The following from the above page are quite illegible. Anton appeared to have had tonsilitis in the previous twelve months. He had had what looks like a tetanus vaccination in 1940. His intelligence is average. He wore an upper denture.

NAA: BP23/1, 2406

NAA: BP23/1, 2406

The interviewing officer has noted on page 1 that Anton gave references to him.

The passenger list for the ship Georgic from www.ancestry.co.uk for Anton’s voyage to Australia on the 4th of December 1950 is shown below. He is just over half the way down the page.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Ships\Anton Miles Passage to Australia 1950 Original.jpg

There is no further information regarding Anton after he arrived in Sydney, Australia on the 8th of January 1951. The next time any record of him being in Australia can be found is in 1959. But in the intervening years he had many travels and these will be dealt with next.

The Anton Years: Far East, 1951-1959

It is not easy to find accurate details about Anton in the 1950s. From https://volesoft.com/2011/02/27/some-more-memories-and-reflections-of-dear-kenneth-grant/

There is a huge gap missing in the sedimentary record of the 1950s – both in terms of Kenneth Grant and also Lawrence Miles.  According to Dadaji’s own account, he tipped up in India in 1953 or so, and was immediately recognised by Lokanath as a man that should have been a Nath. Yet, according to Dadaji’s own words, registered in the now defunct magazine “Values”, he went to all sorts of places in Asia. He was in Australia for quite a while, as an agitprop. …. the naths, attempted to find any record of Mahendranath, a white guru in Memhadabad. They couldn’t find any record. But then – who keeps these records? Mr Akasha?

As can be seen here, the internet keeps these records. A similar account again comes from Lalitanath who provides more information from Dadaji about his time in the Far East and his initiation as an Adi Nath in “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1. On page 43 she writes,

He said Crowley suggested he study the I Ching and visit India. He did both to his everlasting benefit. He finally sailed into Bombay harbour in 1954, landing without a single penny in his pocket. He had given away the last of his shillings to the ship staff. That very day he was initiated as a sannyasi and as an adinath by his new guru, Lokanath of Uttarkashi. This saint had been patiently awaiting a mysterious arrival for two weeks. A vision of Shiva had told him to leave his silent cave in the remote Himalayas and come down to the blasting hot, crowded coastal city and wait for the one who was to be his successor, his inheritor, his spiritual son. They must have recognised each other immediately. He was given the name of Mahendra, a name of God Indra who had blessed and protected him his whole life. Arriving penniless, no way back, was the magic pass for Dadaji, and he knew it.

As mentioned earlier, Dadaji himself states that he arrived in Bombay on the 14th of July 1953. He cannot be found on any passenger lists between January 1951 and July 1953. But that does not mean he did not go there by ship, just that sites like www.ancestry.co.uk only have a limited amount of records. But if Dadaji was initiated in Bombay/Mumbai in 1953 that would suggest he took a ship straight from Australia to India. A direct journey like that would most likely have been on a ship bound for Britain with a stop in India. Passenger lists for long voyages like that are available. Earlier on page 43 at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1 Lalitanath writes,

He told me about his time in Thailand in the 50s. He had fixed up a cave as his hermitage on Snake Mountain. He was able to accomplish furious amounts of meditation in that remote place. He had a great gift, talent and fascination for meditation. He became well known. One day the King and Queen of Thailand came to visit and they gave him a cup, a bowl and a plate of solid gold. After they left he took the precious objects and hammered and smashed them with a rock into the crevasses in the mountain cave. Symbolically the gold went back to its origin as a vein running through the earth. Shortly afterward his meditation was abruptly interrupted by a visit from God Indra and his ragtag crew of buddies who came to visit in a vision of godly mischief and humour.

See more about this cave here: https://southeastasiankingdoms.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/khao-ngu-the-forest-monks-of-snake-mountain/.

Dadaji also told of his arrival in Bombay in “The Phantastikos” at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/the-phantastikos/. “On 14 July 1953, I landed in Bombay to start a long sequence of happenings. …. I had been initiated in 1953 as Sannyasi in the Adi-Nath sect. The Adi-Nath was just one of many Nath sects. I was ordained by the aged Shri Lokanath, the Avadhoot from Uttara Kashi, but it seems there was no special teaching or outstanding patterns of the Adi-Naths to be learned. They had only the general Nath pattern and were opposed to the caste divisions of Vedic Brahmanism and its superstitions.”

One person who bears a resemblance to Lokanath above is Paramhansa Parivrajakacharya Shri Loknath Tirth Swami Maharaj who can be found at http://www.mahayoga.org/loknathtirth.aspx. He was born on 8th May 1892 at the house of Chakravarti in Dhaka, Bangladesh and died on the 9th February 1955 at Kashi (also known as Varanasi).  But there is no mention of Adi Naths or Dadaji at that link. Shri Lokanath, the Avadhoot (who Dadaji claims initiated him) came from Uttara Kashi and died in 1960. Paramhansa Parivrajakacharya Shri Loknath Tirth Swami Maharaj died in 1955 at Kashi/Varanasi. These are two different places as can be seen from the maps below. Uttara Kashi is on the left map and Kashi Varanasi is on the right map.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Uttara Kashi India.bmp                C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Kashi India.png

At http://shivashakti.com/dhooni.htm it states,

This is another work by Dadaji published in the Indian magazine Values in the 1970s. In a letter to me, Dadaji stated that he was on his way to meet the Maharaja of Mysore when he heard that he had died. So instead of proceeding south, he diverted to Hubli on the Narmada. The Narmada is a great river reverenced by all Nath sadhus. On arriving at Hubli, Dadaji was acclaimed by thousands of the ordinary folk as the reincarnation of their local saint Dadaji Dhooni-wala. The dhooni and its antiquity are explained in the article. Dadaji Dhooni-wala had declared before his death that he would re-appear as a white sadhu. So this strange and wonderful episode came into being. A similar story to this appears in the fascinating book, Experiences of a Truth Seeker, written by Sadhu Shantinatha and published by the Gorakhnatha Temple in the late 1940s.

The relevant extract from Experiences of a Truth Seeker can be found at https://volesoft.com/2011/03/02/dadaji-dhuniwala-dadaji-has-values-and-coincidence/. Note how this was published in 1949, some years before Anton/Dadaji had ever set foot in India.

This article is from from Experiences of a Truth Seeker, vol 1, part 1 by Sadhu Shantinatha, published by Shri Avedyanath, Gorakhnatha Temple, Gorakhpur, 1949 and printed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It is out of copyright.

When the train was about to pass by Gudurwada (near Jubbalpore) one Sadhu travelling in the same compartment with me told me that about fourteen miles from the nearest station on the bank of the Narmada lived an extraordinary Siddha Mahapurusa, whose equal could be scarcely found in the whole of India. Immediately I felt an inquisitiveness to have a sight of the great Mahatma and alighted at the Gudurvada Station. The Sadhu also followed me. We two walked on foot to the Mahatma’s place. He was known by the name of Dadaji Dhuniwala. He had no Ashrama of his own. I found Dadaji surrounded by many persons who used to assemble there every day. Dadaji was stark naked. He sat by the side of a fireplace (dhuni). Three of his disciples including one Mahomedan, were also naked and sat near him. I joined the party. I was also naked, though I covered my body with a blanket. Sometimes Dadaji used to feed me affectionately with his own hand along with Chota-dada, the Mahomedan disciple and another Bengali disciple. I saw him some times singing, sometimes dancing, sometimes beating people nearby and sometimes making obscene gestures. Never did I find him sitting calmly or meditating. When anybody put any question to him, he would not generally answer, or if, he happened to give any answer at all, he would utter something which was unintelligible or which had no connection with the topic. The special features which I noticed in his behaviour were that he did not care for the feelings or opinions of anybody, rich or poor, influential or uninfluential, that had no attraction for money and did not keep a single penny with him, and that he attached little value to the things which are ordinarily regarded as very precious, such as high-priced clothes which he sometimes burnt in the Dhuni. When he began to beat the people, he did not discriminate between men of high position and men of no position, between his admirers and those who occasionally came to see him. I did not find any occult power in him.

I marked some points of difference between Dadaji and Swami Sidharudha, both of whom were very highly respected by their admirers and both of whom were regarded as Siddha Mahatmas. Swamiji amasses money, while Dadaji has no concern about money; so Swamiji cannot behave with the rich and the poor in the same manner, while Dadaji makes no distinction between them. Swamiji collects rich clothes, while Dadaji burns them to ashes. Swamiji carefully answers the questions put to him, Dadaji does not. Swarniji seems to have a desire for name and fame, while Dadaji seems not to care a fig for it. Swarniji sits calm and quiet and has a meditative mood, while Dadaji appears to be restless. Swamiji’s manners are very sweet and enchanting, while Dadaji’s manners are rough and sometimes revolting to our sense of decency. Swamiji is surrounded by people who are interested in religious discourses and devotional practices which continue in his Ashram almost continually from 4a.m. to 10p.m; while Dadaji is generally surrounded by people who expect from the merciful exercise of his supposed supernatural powers such worldly gains as wealth, children, recovery from disease, success in litigation etc.

However, an independent account of Dadaji’s movements in the 1950s comes from page 10 at https://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/charisma6.pdf.   This is a book called “Charisma in Buddhism, A study of the work of Father Sumangalo, Ananda Mangala Maha.Nayaka Thera and Dr Wong Phui Weng in Malaysia and Singapore and Phra Ajahn Yantra Amaro”. Father Sumangalo was an American born in 1903 into a devout Christian family as Harold Newman. He gained a doctorate in literature and later went to Japan and China to study Buddhism. He returned to America and founded the Western Buddhist Order. He went to Penang in Malaysia in 1957 and stayed there until he died in 1963. A fuller biography of him can be found on page 1 of the above link. But Anton was not the only westerner there. Of the others, one was called Lokanatha. He was an American and had been a Buddhist monk for many years before arriving in Penang. He first appears on page 9 of the above link. The relevant extract states, “In 1958, Sumaṅgalo ordained Anton Miles as Mahinda, who had arrived from Australia where he had spent a year of rest after an arduous six years in many Buddhist countries of Asia. He took over much of the teaching and meditation classes which leaves Sumaṅgalo momentarily freer to engage in youth work and Sunday School promotion. His special interest in meditation led to the formation of the first local meditation centre, the ‘Dhyana Meditation Centre’.”

If this is true, then he had been in Australia in 1957 resting and then the previous six years travelling in Buddhist countries. That would mean he was travelling in Buddhist countries between 1951 and 1957. However, the rules for the ‘ten pound poms’ stated that they had to work in Australia for at least two years to pay back their fare. So he could not legally have left Australia before January 1953.

Again from http://www.shivashakti.com/dadaji.htm a list of initiations that Dadaji claims to have been given in Asia are listed:

  1. In Asia, Dadaji received his first initiation in India into the Sampradaya (sect) of the Adi-natha, on the occasion of the full-moon day of Gurupurnima (the day reserved for the homage to the Guru), July 1953. The day was therefore very auspicious and it could be of great importance also to the Western World as Dadaji was the first Englishman to become an Indian Sannyasin. The Guru was Shri Lokanatha the Digambar-Avadhoot of Uttarkashi (U.P.), India, who passed away in 1960. The succession Rites of the Adi-Nath Sampradaya have been passed on to Sir Michael Magee who was given the initiation name of Shri Lokanath Maharaj in honour of his first Indian Guru and because it was his own wish that the leadership of the Adi-Naths should be in the West where its real value will be appreciated.
  2. The next important initiation was given by Shri Pagala Baba ("The Mad Father") of Ranchi, Bihar, India into the Uttarakaula Order (The Northern Order Of Tantriks) and also his succession when he died. He was at that time recognized as the last surviving Kaula and authentic tantrik Guru in India.
  3. The Titles of Paramahamsa-- The Supreme Swan, meaning a realized Soul; Dadaji, meaning Patriarch; and Guru Dev, meaning literally Divine Guru, came later in his work in India and were the recognition of the Indian people themselves. They are not given at initiation but by the people to express their own acknowledgement of one's Spiritual development.
  4. Other initiations, but which are regarded as being of lesser importance were as follows:
  5. Dadaji is a Maha Lama of the Karguyt Pas sect and was given the lama initiation and the name Thalwai Wangpo Rinpoche by a Bhutanese Guru.
  6. Initiated through a Japanese Guru into the Soto-Zen sect, Dadaji was at this time recognized as a Meditation Master of considerable standing in Asia.
  7. In Penang, Malaysia, initiated as a Taoist Monk/Priest and given the initiation name Lung T'ien Shih.
  8. Also in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, initiation into the Chinese branch of Ch'an. The Chinese Guru was also his teacher and instructor of the Book of Changes (I Ching).
  9. In Ceylon (Shri Lanka) he was given the higher ordination into the Ramanaya Nikaya, a Theravada Buddhist Sect of which he is now a Maha Thera. Given the initiation name of Bikku Mahinda which, by coincidence, was the Pali equivalent of his earlier initiation name of Mahendra, yet this was something unknown to anyone in Ceylon at the time. Dadaji has never been a Buddhist but took the initiation as a Samanara and the higher ordination at their own prompting. Dadaji, in fact, has never belonged or accepted any religion but remained aloof from them all. His sole interest in life has been Spiritual Values and their practical aspects, especially those found in the secret teachings of the Tantrik, Kaula, Vama- Marga which is not a religion but a practical, natural Spiritual Way of Life.
  10. More details of these and other less important initiations will be revealed later. Their importance lies in the fact that they represent an unbroken transmission passed down through thousands of years and their real fulfilment is yet to be made manifest. A New Age is to begin and the old bottles must now contain new wine and new occult vitality.

Note that the earlier extract from https://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/charisma6.pdf  confirms initiation number 8 on the above list. But that source says that it took place in Penang. According to the above list provided by Dadaji initiation number 7 is said to have taken place in Kuala Lumpar.

If you look at the map below, it is possible that Dadaji ‘island-hopped’ by boat from the north of Australia to the Buddhist countries of Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma to the east of India and then across India to Gujarat in the west of the country. (Indonesia is and was then Islamic so he may have passed through there without interest or incident.)

http://www.vidiani.com/maps/maps_of_asia/maps_of_southern_asia/detailed_political_map_of_Southern_Asia_with_capitals_and_major_cities_1994.jpg

The Anton Years: Anton Sails Again, 1959-1961

Anton Miles is to be found on the passenger list of the ship Oranje which left Penang in Malaysia in March 1959 and arrived in Southampton in England on the 13th of April 1959. He is about a third of the way down. See a copy from www.ancestry.co.uk below.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Ships\Anton Miles Passage to England 1959.jpg

Under the heading for “Occupation, i.e. Profession, calling or kind of work done rather than industry in which engaged” is B. Priest. This is obviously short for Buddhist Priest. His intended address in the UK was B.C.M. Mahinda, London, WC1. But another address had been scored out with xs with a typewriter. This is what was underneath the new address:

xxxx_xxxxg_x_x_xxxpxx and the last word is obviously Temple.

Obviously he had needed to change where he was going to stay after he had booked his passage. There does not appear to be anywhere in London which ties in with a Buddhist temple in the 1950s but there is this: http://www.mahindaramatemple.com/. It is the Mahindarama Temple in Penang, Malaysia but it does not reveal much.

But Anton did not remain in England for long although it says on the passenger list that his country of intended future permanent residence (at least twelve months) was England. He left England on the ship Himalaya on the 3rd of July 1959. He can be seen just over half way down the passenger list below. The ship’s final destination was Los Angeles (sailing east) but Anton was contracted to land at Auckland in New Zealand. His country of intended future permanent residence was listed as Australia. Why he wanted to go to New Zealand first is unknown. Note that his occupation is now a painter. His address in the UK is 75, Rickmansworth Road, Watford.

C:\Users\Main user\Documents\Ancestry\Dadaji\Anton Ships\Anton Miles Passage to NZ 1959 Original.jpg

But on the passenger list for the voyage to Australia he states that his last country of permanent residence (at least twelve months) was England and his job was now a painter. First his intended address on arrival in England was changed, then he only stays in England for about three months and his job has changed when he leaves England. The reasons for this are unknown. But he seems to have arrived as a Buddhist and left as a Wiccan as we shall see next.

This leads us to another stage in Anton’s occult life – when he became involved in Wicca. From http://www.thewica.co.uk/Others.htm the following can be seen:

Anton Miles, originally a Buddhist Monk, was initiated into the Bricket Wood Coven in 1959. He subsequently moved to Australia and had a mail correspondence with [Gerald] Gardner and Charles Clark who appears to have given him some long distance training tips. Anton's Coven seemed to have more of a bias towards the male God Pan and Diana was their Goddess. Prior to meeting the Wica, it appears that he was connected with a Siam cult of Witchcraft.

 

 You can find a People (February 15th 1961) article featuring Anton here

 There is a brief biography about Anton Miles (full name Leonard Anthony Miles? or Laurence Amos Miles) as the 23rd Adiguru (chief guru) of the Adinathas here

He must have been initiated into the Bricket Wood coven between April and July 1959 and then left for Australia. Gerald Gardner of the Bricket Wood coven lived in Watford at the time so that would be why Anton had a Watford address on the passenger list. He may not have been staying at Gardner’s house but he was living in the same town. See http://www.blue-moon-coven.net/artikel/howard/gbgmmm1.htm as this confirms that there was a Bricket Wood coven although Anton is not mentioned here.

He wastes no time after arriving in Australia in July 1959 to appear in the newspapers.

From https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/121516458/ we find this from the “Sydney Morning Herald” of 16th August 1959. This is an article for which a subscription had to be paid. But a transcript is shown below.

C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Head Witch Story.jpg

HE SAYS HE IS A WITCH

‘Full time hobby’

 

A Brisbane man who claims to be a witch arrived in Sydney yesterday.

The man also claims to be a fully trained high priest of the Ch’an Buddhist sect and chief abbot of a Buddhist temple in Penang, Malaya.

He is Mr Anton Miles, 48, and he says his Buddhist name is Anoma Mahinda, “The Unfathomable” - and he arrived on the liner Himalaya.

“I’ve been studying magic and witchcraft around the world for 10 years, but I became interested in it over 30 years ago, he said.

“I’ve just spent two and a half months in London, where I attended a meeting of a witches’ coven (group) at Watford, in North London”.

 

Buddhist

 

I became a novice in the Ch’an Buddhist sect in India in 1953, and was fully ordained at the end of the following year.”

Mr Miles showed reporters a ring he was wearing, an oval black stone in a heavy gold setting.

“That’s a Siamese star sapphire presented to me when I completed my Buddhist training,” he said.

I am a master of a temple in Penang which is mine until I die.

It has no resident monks, but is used for services regularly. I visit it whenever I can.

Mr Miles said witchcraft was “practically a full-time hobby”.

He has been a physiotherapist, soldier in the Spanish Civil War, artist, house-painter and journalist in Bangkok.

“I’m on my way to New Zealand to study magic and witchcraft among the Maoris,” he said.

 

“Peace of Mind”

 

As he posed for pictures, he said, “Witchcraft is the oldest form of religion known to man.

It is based on fertility rites, and is generally carried out by covens of witches, that is groups of 13.

I find that witchcraft in its proper sense is a means of establishing harmony between man and natural laws – it has brought me great peace of mind”.

Mr Miles said there were three types of witchcraft in Australia.

·         The native witchcraft of the Aborigines

·         The evil type used by people interested in the Black Mass; and

·         The good type which is just another form of religion.

“From what I’ve seen witches in Sydney are not very well organised”, he said.

“In any case there aren’t very many of them and their practice is not very advanced”.

This proves that Anton was in Sydney shortly before the 16th of August 1959. He said here (in 1959) that he had been studying the occult for ten years and had been interested in it for over thirty years. So that would mean he became interested in it when he was about eighteen at the most. If he had been studying it for ten years that rules out what he said about his aunt, the Great Pyramid, Assissi and Aleister Crowley. Like a lot of people, he may have known there was such a thing as ‘the occult’ but books and contacts were hard to find. It may have been easier for art school and university types but difficult for a working class tradesman. Repeating from the above https://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/charisma6.pdf, “In 1958, Sumaṅgalo ordained Anton Miles as Mahinda, who had arrived from Australia where he had spent a year of rest after an arduous six years in many Buddhist countries of Asia. He took over much of the teaching and meditation classes which leaves Sumaṅgalo momentarily freer to engage in youth work and Sunday School promotion. His special interest in meditation led to the formation of the first local meditation centre, the ‘Dhyana Meditation Centre’.”

Anton was not the master of the temple in Penang and it was not his until he died. Sumangolo was in charge. He said he became a novice in the Ch’an Buddhist sect in India in 1953 and was ordained the following year. But the Sumangalo article says that he was ordained in 1958 in Penang in Malaysia. He said he was going to New Zealand so it is possible that his ticket could have allowed him to stop off for a while in Australia and carry on to his intended destination of New Zealand later.

The following was found with a search but there is no free access to this article. But this Google listing does confirm where Anton intended to be on Sunday the 8th of September 1957.

It is also confirmed here but there is no free access.

 

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/issue/singstandard19570907-1

RELIGIOUS TALK [ARTICLE]

Page 4

RELIGIOUS TALK ENGLISH authority on Buddhism, Mr. Anton Miles will speak on the religion at the new Buddha Jayanti Temple. Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday at 7.30 p.m.

Buddha Jayanthi Temple is located in the meeting of the two roads, Jalan Peel and Jalan Tun Razak near the Chan Sou Lin station in Kuala Lumpur.

The following short article confirms where Anton intended to be on Sunday the 31st of August 1958. From Strait Times 29/8/58 at http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/straitstimes19580829-1.1.2 

 

Click on “I Agree” after going to this link to see the article. Here is a copy of the page with the article on Dadaji about half way down the right edge. A magnified version of it is shown underneath.

 

 

The Jalan Senyum Shrine is in Changi Road, Singapore.

The first ‘here’ link mentioned in the bulleted points above is http://www.thewica.co.uk/anton%2061.htm and this will take you to an Australian newspaper article on Anton and his witchcraft activities in Australia. It is from “People” on the 15th of February 1961 and is reproduced here but the original is easier to read.

This leads to the second bulleted part of the above link – the 1961 article in the Australian “People” newspaper at http://www.thewica.co.uk/anton%2061.htm. This tells of the growth of witchcraft in Australia. It states,

The man who claims to have led the revival of witchcraft in this country and to be the master of all witches in it is Anton Miles, a 49-year-old Englishman. Miles earns his living as a decorator and house painter, and has studied the occult in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He became a Buddhist about 10 years ago, and in 1953 founded the first Buddhist society in Queensland. Later he returned to Asia, and travelled and studied in Thailand. On his own account, he studied witchcraft and magic during his Eastern travels. Later still he returned to Britain. His interest in the occult had dated from childhood, and in 1959 he attended a coven or meeting of witches in Watford, North London, that lasted two and a half months. He returned to Sydney in August, 1959, and, according to himself, the revival of the cult in Sydney dates from then.

A caption under a picture of Anton says, “Soon after this picture was taken in the Hermits’ Cave, Rajburi, Thailand, Australian head witch, Anton Miles, then a Buddhist monk, was initiated into the Siam witch cult.” He also mentions that he knew Aleister Crowley and it states, “By a coincidence, Anton Miles knew Crowley long ago but entirely dissociates himself from Crowley’s practices.” This is because Crowley is slated for sex orgies and various unsavoury activities in the article. Anton was trying to give a good image of witchcraft. But he still had to say that he knew Crowley. Details of the Hermits’ Cave mentioned can be found here http://monastic-asia.wikidot.com/tham-roesi.

The third bulleted part of the above link, the biography, is here http://www.shivashakti.com/dadaji.htm. It repeats much of what has already been said here.

The Anton Years: Uttara Kaula Initiation, India, 1963

As well as the afore-mentioned Adi Nath initiation, Dadaji said he was initiated into the Uttara Kaula line of Naths as well. These two initiations are the ones which were supposedly transmitted to westerners. At http://www.shivashakti.com/PersonalStatement.htm a now-deceased British psychiatrist known as Indradhanush who corresponded with Dadaji and had met him in Britain wrote in the early 1990s,

There are several accounts of Dadaji's visit to Pagala Baba of Ranchi from whom he had sannyas diksha in the Uttara Kaula Sampradaya. …. The most extensive of these accounts is in his Tantric Guru series printed in John Spiers' Values which was published in India during the seventies (TG) and there is another account, also from this period in another Indian published magazine which was republished in 1979 in Phoenix in the UK, as a photolitho reproduction of the original article.(NPI). …. This article is also included in Scrolls of Mahendranath but there the sections describing Dadaji's meeting with Pagala Baba have been omitted. This episode is covered instead in a much more recent script, The Magick Path of Tantra. (MPT) I have the original script of this last which Dadaji had sent me for typing. If the early accounts of the meeting with Pagala Baba are compared with this very recent account some quite striking differences emerge. …. In TG the request for diksha came after several visits to Pagala Baba and was refused as "quite impossible". In MPT the request was at the first visit and met with a change of subject and an invitation to return the next day. In TG, after the initial blank refusal there was an unexpected summons by messenger next morning to attend for diksha. The reason for the initial refusal - the death of the two previous recipients of this diksha - is given and four reasons for Pagala Baba's change of mind. One of these was a prediction in Meru Tantra that the paramparya would pass to a guru whose mantra was in the English tongue. In the TG version and in NPI the diksha process is spread over three days on one of which the proceedings were and have remained secret. In MPT the whole thing is compressed into one day. In NPI, in the complete version, Pagala Baba spoke only Bengali and the conversation was conducted through a householder interpreter who was also the messenger, who was unable to follow the sense of their discussions because of not having the initiated background information. In MPT Pagala Baba is said to speak quaint but understandable English. In TG the contact ends with Pagala Baba giving Dadaji six secret slokas and there is an account of his cutting the manuscript into six pieces for different translators. These were to be revealed when Dadaji had a sign that the time was ripe. This episode was omitted altogether from the MPT version. I have summarised these differences in the table below. The discrepancies between the early and late accounts of this episode disturbed me when I was typing the manuscript and I asked Dadaji about the refusal episode and got a rather curt rejoinder to the effect that Pagala Baba had never refused diksha to anyone. Occasionally I had asked Dadaji about minor things that looked like slips of memory and the response was on the lines of "thanks for reminding me". The implication of the response on this occasion was that Dadaji had not only forgotten his original account but had an alternative version in memory. The differences are not central to the account but nevertheless the two versions are incompatible and the episode described is one quite central to Dadaji's career as a holy man. In the ordinary way one would not expect such incompatibilities to occur. There have since been a variety of occasions when Dadaji's memory seemed to have become pretty unreliable though nothing as confirmatory as what I have described.

Again we see conflicting versions of a supposedly important event in Dadaji’s life. A summary of the above compiled by Indradhanush in tabular form can be seen in the Results section.

From “The Tantrik Initiation” first published in “Values” magazine and found at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/the-tantrik-initiation/ it tells of how in 1963 Dadaji paid his first visit to Ranchi in Bihar. He said he stayed at the house of an unnamed raja and received the Uttara Kaula initiation from Pagala Baba. He said he then went to Calcutta in West Bengal and then to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh where he lived for three months under a peepal (sacred fig) at the Hanuman Temple.

From https://volesoft.com/wp-content/uploads/.../nava-natha-a-new-nath-history-pdf-2.pdf Lalitanath writes around 2010,

I recently travelled to Sikkim to meet Kulavadhut Satpuranand, familiarly called Khyapa Baba. …. Although they never met, Khyapa Baba has a deeply friendly connection with Mahendranath. They were both initiated into the Uttara Kaula lineage of Pagala Baba of Ranchi, Kulavadhut by Baba Byomshankar Aghori and Ma Maheshwari of Vakreshwar, West Bengal. Hence the name “Kula”- avadhoot. This means that this lineage, the Uttara Kaula is still alive and active in India. Pagala Baba of Ranchi was the disciple of Baba Kalachand who was the disciple of Baba Pagol Haranath of Bangla Desh.

Note how she says that Dadaji and Kulavadhut never met.

At http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Shri_Gurudev_Mahendranath it states,

He [Dadaji] thought he was the last guru of both the Adi-Nath and Uttara Kaula tantric lineages, but was unaware that Pagala Baba's guru in the Uttara Kaula line, Thakar Kalachand had also initiated a female yogini, Mahaswari Ma who had in turn initiated Kulavadhut Sampranand, who survives into the 21st Century. C.E., alongside the Westernised groups Shri Mahendranath started. He [Dadaji] was therefore not in a position to merge the Uttara Kaula and Adi Nath traditions. The Adi Nath tradition is to rest in another Nath lineage as well as continuing in the various Westernised groups with Adi Nath origins that were begun with Shri Mahendranath's initiatives.

Note how Dadaji said that he was unaware that …. Thakar Kalachand had also initiated a female guru …. .

The Anton Years: India, 1963-1978

Nothing more seems to be known independently about Dadaji until the late 1960s when he starts to write articles in “Values” magazine. This was published by John Spiers, a Scot living in India. All of these articles and his other writings can be found online at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/writings-by-shri-gurudev-mahendranath/. This led to written contact with people in England and then later in the 1970s to the setting up of the western Nath tradition. All of this is well-documented and need not be gone into here as this investigation concerns Dadaji’s movements before this contact was established. However, it was his return to England in 1978 to further the setting up of the western Nath tradition which led to the unravelling of the mystery concerning his real name.

Results

Anton Becomes Lawrence Again: 1978

When Dadaji returned to England in 1978 he intended to stay for a while at least and needed to claim benefits or a pension. There was one stumbling block to this – he needed to produce his birth certificate. As has been shown above, he obtained a duplicate copy in 1978 and it could be that the reason for this is that he had lost the original on his travels. He was obviously able to travel the world under the name of Anton Miles and must have somehow obtained the official documents to do this. He had been known as Anton Miles since 1937 at least and, although he may have managed to join the International Brigades under an assumed name without producing a birth certificate, he should have had to produce his birth certificate to get married. He went through with his marriage under a false name. This was and still is a criminal offence under the Perjury Act 1911 and renders the marriage invalid as is shown below at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/1-2/6. (Ignore recent amendments to this Act regarding civil partnerships and gay marriage.)

Perjury Act 1911

1911 CHAPTER 6 1 and 2 Geo 5

3           False statements, &c. with reference to marriage.

(1) If any person—

(a) for the purpose of procuring a marriage, or a certificate or licence for marriage, knowingly and wilfully makes a false oath, or makes or signs a false declaration, notice or certificate required under any Act of Parliament for the time being in force relating to marriage; or

(b) knowingly and wilfully makes, or knowingly and wilfully causes to be made, for the purpose of being inserted in any register of marriage, [F4or register of conversions] a false statement as to any particular required by law to be known and registered relating to any marriage [F5or any civil partnership which is to be converted into a marriage]; or

(c) forbids the issue of any certificate or licence for marriage by falsely representing himself to be a person whose consent to the marriage is required by law knowing such representation to be false, [F6or

(d) with respect to a declaration made under section 16(1A) or 27B(2) of the Marriage Act 1949—

(i) enters a caveat under subsection (2) of the said section 16, or

(ii) makes a statement mentioned in subsection (4) of the said section 27B,

which he knows to be false in a material particular.] 

he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and, on conviction thereof on indictment, shall be liable to penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years or to imprisonment, . . . F7 for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine or to both such penal servitude or imprisonment and fine [F8and on summary conviction thereof shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F9£100]] 

(2)No prosecution for knowingly and wilfully making a false declaration for the purpose of procuring any marriage out of the district in which the parties or one of them dwell shall take place after the expiration of eighteen months from the solemnization of the marriage to which the declaration refers.

[F10(3)In subsection (1)(b), “register of conversions” means the register of conversions of civil partnerships into marriages kept by the Registrar General in accordance with section 9 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and regulations made under that section.]

If he did indeed serve in the army during the Second World War he would have had to produce his birth certificate. He would have had to produce it to emigrate to Australia and he did that under the name of Anton. The reason he could have got away with this is if he altered his original birth certificate. Here is how he could have done it. The two images below are, on the left, a scan of an enlarged part of the duplicate birth certificate in the original handwriting from 1911 shown above and, on the right, how it could have been altered (shown using the Paint program). Ball point pens were invented in 1931 so the original certificate would have been handwritten with a fountain pen. So he would have needed ink in exactly the same colour as that on the certificate and a pen whose nib produced strokes of the same width.

        C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Lawrence Amos Miles Birth Certificate Original Name.jpg                

                                

This changes Amos to Anton. But you may be wondering how he could have got away with just putting a line through Lawrence. The General Registry Office in London has confirmed that if a parent is in the process of registering a child’s birth in a registry office and the registrar has written in the first name that the parent said they had chosen then the parent can suddenly change their mind and say they now want to call the child by a different name. If that happens before the registrar has finished filling out the rest of the certificate then the registrar can legally put a line through the unwanted first name and write the new name the parent has chosen underneath. This is the story that Lawrence could have used with any officials when producing his altered birth certificate if they queried why there was a line through one of his names. Under the circumstances, Anton is the only name he could have used to pull this off. But although he (or someone else) altered the certificate that he had in his possession he was still recorded as Lawrence Amos Miles in the official register at Hackney Registry Office and at the General Registry Office. So if he ever lost that altered certificate and needed a duplicate it would have to be in the name Lawrence Amos Miles. That is why he would have had to tell people in England in 1978 that his real name was Lawrence. He could not get a duplicate birth certificate or benefits or a pension in the name of Anton. That is also why some people think his real name is Lawrence and some think it is Anton. It is because he had been using the name Lawrence up until about 1937, then Anton until 1978 and then Lawrence again until his death in 1991. But he must have served his apprenticeship between 1927 and 1933 in the name of Lawrence as he appeared on the electoral register until 1934 in the name of Lawrence. He stated on his emigration application (which was in the name of Anton) that he had served his apprenticeship under his uncle. If he had to provide proof of serving his apprenticeship when he applied to emigrate if he provided it in the name of Anton then surely his uncle would have had to provide false documents. But perhaps references from his current employers in the name of Anton were good enough. He appeared on the 1951 electoral register at his parents’ address as Anton so did they know he was using a false name? He could have filled out the form for the electoral register with the name Anton when they were not there. But he may have had post coming to their house in the name of Anton. Whether his family members knew of his change of name is something that cannot be determined. Whether his wife knew of his real name when they married or if she found out later is also something which cannot be determined.

To further back up this theory that he altered his original birth certificate as shown above, an application for a copy of a birth certificate in the name of Anton Miles born on the 29th of April 1911 at the address Stapleton Villas, Wordsworth Road, London was made to the General Registry Office in London. They were told that the Stapleton Villas address may not be correct and to search for Anton Miles at any address. This search was unsuccessful as the following email from the General Registry Office shows. The recipient’s name has been crossed out.

GRO Coladmin (col.admin@gro.gsi.gov.uk)To:you Details https://s.aolcdn.com/webmail-static/webmail/170825.2347/images/common/space.gif

Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Thank you for your order as detailed below.

 

Birth Certificate: ANTON MILES born 29-APR-1911 in STAPLETON VILLAS WORDSWORTH RD LONDON

 

We have been unable to process your application, please refer to the paragraph below.

 

We have searched the indexes for events registered in England and Wales during the years specified (1910-1912). We have been unable to find any entry with the details you provided.

 

For more information please read the frequently asked questions on our website under the heading, “Most Customers Want to Know”.

 

A full refund of £9.25 has been credited to your account via Worldpay.

 

If you have any questions concerning this order contact us using our online complaints formhttps://eforms.homeoffice.gov.uk/outreach/Certificate_Service.ofml or phone +44 0300 123 1837. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 9am to 4pm.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Certificate Production

 

Her Majesty's Passport Office welcomes calls via Text Relay services;

To use this service dial 18001 followed by 0300 123 1837

Even if various genealogy sites do not provide a register of a birth, etc. the General Registry Office definitely will. If they do not have it then it does not exist. They would not have said that there was no record of a birth based on a wrong address alone. If an Anton Miles born on the 29th of April 1911 with a different address had been found then the certificate would have been issued. So that is proof that Anton Miles was never officially born.

Comparison of Dadaji’s Addresses with Official Records

Dadaji gave various accounts of where he was at certain times. The table below has been compiled based on official records shown above and accounts given by Dadaji. Note that Anton Miles was living with his parents in 1951. But records show he had left for Australia in December 1950. Residents could have given their details to the council in 1950 and the electoral register was not published until after he had left. A * next to an entry below means that Dadaji is the only source for these addresses and there are no official records to back this up. His name(s) are in bold in the left column. A ? means that the records for that year cannot be found.

Dadaji and Family Addresses

Year

From Electoral Registers - Lawrence/Anton Miles Living with Parents

Lawrence/Anton Miles Living Away from Parents

1911

37, De Beauvoir Road, De Beauvoir Town, London, England (from birth certificate)

1918

Henry & Lilian Miles, 10 Seal Street, Hackney, London, England

1929

Henry & Lilian Miles, 24, Somerford Grove, Hackney, London, England

1930

Henry, Lilian & Henry Thomas Miles, 24, Somerford Grove, Hackney, London, England

1932

Henry, Lilian, Henry Thomas & Lawrence Miles, 24 Somerford Grove, Hackney, London, England

1933

Henry, Lilian, Henry Thomas & Lawrence Miles, 24 Somerford Grove, Hackney, London, England

1934

Henry, Lilian, Henry Thomas & Lawrence Miles, 24 Somerford Grove, Hackney, London, England

Lawrence Miles, 16, Downhurst Ave, Hendon, London, England

1937

?

*Anton Miles, 94, Southwold Road, Clapham, London, England

1938

?

Anton Miles, Spain

1939

?

Anton Miles, 167, Preston Road, Brighton, Sussex, England

1940

?

Anton Miles, 167, Preston Road, Brighton, Sussex, England

*Leeds?

1941

?

?

1942

?

*Anton Miles, Middle East/Egypt

1943

?

*Anton Miles, Middle East/Egypt

1944

?

*Anton Miles, Italy

1945

Henry, Lilian & Robert Miles, 232, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

*Anton Miles, Italy

1946

Henry, Lilian & Robert Miles, 232, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

Anton & Beatrice Miles, 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

1947

?

Anton & Beatrice Miles, 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

1948

Henry & Lilian Miles, 12 Aden Terrace, Stoke Newington, London, England

Anton & Beatrice Miles, 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

1949

Henry & Lilian Miles, 12 Aden Terrace, Stoke Newington, London, England

Anton & Beatrice Miles, 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

1950

Henry & Lilian Miles, 15 Macaulay House, Hawksley Court, Stoke Newington, London, England

Anton & Beatrice Miles, 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, England

1950

Anton & Beatrice Miles and child, Somewhere in central England (Address not given to protect Beatrice’s privacy. Anton may not actually have lived there.)

1951

Henry, Lilian & Anton Miles, 15, Shaftesbury House, Hawksley Court, Stoke Newington, London, England

Anton Miles, Sydney, Australia

1952

*Anton Miles, Buddhist countries in Asia

1953

*Anton Miles, Buddhist countries in Asia

*Queensland, Australia

*Bombay/Mumbai, India

1954

Henry and Lilian Miles, 15, Shaftesbury House, Hawksley Court, Stoke Newington, London, England

*Anton Miles, Buddhist countries in Asia

1955

Henry and Lilian Miles, 15, Shaftesbury House, Hawksley Court, Stoke Newington, London, England

*Anton Miles, Buddhist countries in Asia

1956

*Anton Miles, Buddhist countries in Asia

1957

Henry and Lilian Miles, 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington & Hackney North, London, England

*Anton Miles, Buddhist countries in Asia, *Australia

Anton Miles 8/9/57 Buddha Jayanthi Temple, Kuala Lumpur (newspaper)

1958

Henry and Lilian Miles, 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington & Hackney North, London, England

Anton Miles, Sumangalo’s Buddhist Temple, Penang, Malaysia (book)

Anton Miles 31/8/58 Jalan Senyum Shrine, Singapore (newspaper)

1959

Henry and Lilian Miles, 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington & Hackney North, London, England

Anton Miles, 13/4/57 BCM Mahinda, London, WC1 (Temple?)

Some or all of the time between 13th April and 3rd July: 75, Rickmansworth Road, Watford, London, England

After August: Australia (newspaper)

1960

Henry and Lilian Miles, 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington & Hackney North, London, England

Anton Miles, Australia?

1961

Henry and Lilian Miles, 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington & Hackney North, London, England

Anton Miles, Brisbane and Sydney, Australia (newspaper)

1961

Lilian Miles, 3, Kingsfield House, Victorian Grove, Stoke Newington & Hackney North, London, England

1963

*Dadaji, Ranchi, Bihar, India

Calcutta, India

Hanuman Temple, Varanasi, India

Comparison of Dadaji’s Whereabouts with Aleister Crowley’s

The table below shows in the left column Aleister Crowley’s whereabouts compiled from various sources including https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline

and in the right column Dadaji’s whereabouts based on his own accounts and on official records shown earlier. The dates are matched as closely as they can be.

Date

Aleister Crowley’s Whereabouts

Date

Dadaji’s Whereabouts from Official Records

1934

Nina Hamnett trial, London

1934

Lawrence, 24, Somerford Grove, Hackney and 16, Downhurst Avenue, Hendon, London

1936-7

Room 6, 56, Wellbeck Street, London

22/11/37-1/11/38

 

Anton Miles, Spanish Civil War

 

1937

Landlord Alan Burnett-Rae throws Crowley out of Welbeck Street flat for antisocial behaviour and non-payment of rent. He moved to Hasker Street, Chelsea, London.

29/9/39 (and possibly earlier)-16/3/40 (marriage date)

Anton Miles, 167, Preston Road, Brighton (Dadaji wrote that he had a small flat in King’s Road in Brighton at this time. This is possible as 167, Preston Road was recorded officially from 29/9/39-16/3/40 but he moved to Brighton in December 1938. He could have had more than one address in Brighton. Technically, Aleister Crowley could have come down from London to see him then.)

29/9/39

57, Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey

12/1/41

Grand Hotel, Torquay

1940

According to Dadaji he joined the British Army “early in 1940” and this could mean shortly after 16/3/40, his marriage date. It is legally impossible to obtain records to confirm or refute this. He may or may not have been in a reserved occupation. If telling the truth, he may have trained in Leeds for six months starting after 16/3/40 and then gone to Egypt after that.

29/3/41

Barton Brow, Great Hill Road, Torquay

9/9/41

10, Hanover Square, London

14/12/41

14, Lassell Gardens, Maidenhead

7/5/42

Moves to Hamilton House, Piccadilly

1942-1943

 

 

1943-Nov 1945

Middle East (This is according to what he put on his emigration application.)

Italy (This is according to what he put on his emigration application. If Dadaji visited Crowley at Jermyn Street it must have been when he was on leave from Egypt or Italy.)

2/7/42

14, Lassell Gardens, Maidenhead

Nov 1942

Moved to 93, Jermyn Street, London

1/4/44

Left 93, Jermyn Street, London

1/4/44

Bell Inn, Aston Clifton, Buckinghamshire

17/1/45

 

 

Hastings

Sep 1945

Netherwood Guest House, Hastings

1946 Electoral Register

With wife Beatrice at 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 whilst working as a painter and decorator.

1/12/47

Died in Hastings and cremated in Brighton.

1947 Electoral Register

With wife Beatrice at 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 whilst working as a painter and decorator.

1948 Electoral Register

With wife Beatrice at 153, Winston Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 whilst working as a painter and decorator.

 

The following situations regarding Aleister Crowley are, therefore, technically possible but not necessarily true.

Adi Nath and Uttara Kaula Lines

The question of the authenticity of the two Nath lines that Dadaji claimed to have himself and to have transmitted to others must be called into question.

In the diagram below from https://uttarakaulatantra.blogspot.co.uk/ the Uttara Kaula line is shown. Dadaji claimed to have been initiated into this line in 1963.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lgJWP7vkoSI/VlM_YJhwecI/AAAAAAAAAC4/wRCL8-aEPj8/s1600/Uttarakaula-Lineage.png

At http://www.shivashakti.com/PersonalStatement.htm Indradhanush responded to the above and also summarised Dadaji’s versions of his Uttara Kaula initiation in a table as shown below.

Dadaji’s Account in “Tantric Guru” (1974)

Dadaji’s Account in “Magick Path” (Late 1980s)

Several visits before diksha requested

Request at first visit        

Outright refusal

Met with silence, change of subject and appointment for next day

Reason for refusal given

Unexpected summons to diksha next day

Diksha spread over three days

Four reasons for change of mind by Pagala Baba

Secret six slokas given

Whole of diksha in one day

Notes on Pagan India

Pagala Baba spoke only Bengali

Communication by interpreter, a householder who did not understand what Dadaji and Pagala Baba were saying to each other

Pagala Baba spoke quaint but understandable English

Conclusion

Why did Lawrence change his name to Anton? This must have happened between 1934 and 1937. Why did he change his occupation from painter and decorator to laboratory assistant? Was he living in London or Brighton when he was a laboratory assistant? Most puzzling, why was he on a list of Jews who served in the Spanish Civil War? Dadaji has never mentioned anything about being a Jew. One possibility that links these questions concerns the activity in London in 1934 of Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists (BUF). At http://www.historytoday.com/daniel-tilles/myth-cable-street it tells of the persecution of London Jews by fascists.

This all changed over the summer of 1934 when a wave of organised anti-fascist disruption struck BUF events around Britain, prompting a violent response. …. Following discussion with his senior lieutenants Mosley resolved to incorporate anti-Semitism into official policy, announcing the decision in late September. …. In addition to the offensive and inflammatory language employed by his street-corner orators Mosley’s followers were also responsible for a growing number of physical attacks on Jews.

As this happened in 1934, the last time Lawrence appeared on official records, could he have invented being a persecuted Jew as an excuse to move to Brighton and/or join the International Brigades when the real reason he needed to get away from London was something else? If you look at photos of Dadaji when he was young he is quite dark. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that he could have passed himself off as a Jew. But if he wanted to convincingly pass himself off as a Jew he should have been circumcised. The first photo below is the one shown earlier when he was in the Spanish Civil War. The second is from the Australian newspaper article in 1959. The third one is of Dadaji naked at Memadabad in later years. It is hard to tell from the third one whether he has been circumcised or not.

        C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Dadaji Naked.jpgC:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Anton Miles Photo Chronology\Anton Miles 1937 SCW.jpg  C:\Users\Main user\Pictures\Dadaji\Anton Miles Photo Chronology\Anton Miles 1961 Australia.jpg          

If he faked his birth certificate could he possibly have lied about his schooling to get a job as a laboratory assistant, either in London or Brighton? He appears to have had a serious problem with authority and class. If he had been working as a painter and decorator in London and, especially when he was a young apprentice, he would most likely have been decorating the homes of rich people and that would have let him see into a world where people did not work but had plenty of money and also where he would have been ignored and expected to defer to his so-called betters. When he worked as a clinical assistant in the hospital at Brighton he would again have been in a subordinate position having to defer to doctors and nurses.

In later life at least, he seems to have made himself out to people as being from a higher social position than he actually came from and, as well as campaigning against the class system, he seems to have sought out the company of those who had been born into a higher class than he had been. It would seem to have been a case of “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Gerald Gardner was one of those people. He was well-known in occult circles and there is proof of Dadaji knowing him as was shown earlier at http://www.thewica.co.uk/Others.htm. At http://www.blue-moon-coven.net/artikel/howard/gbgmmm1.htm

 regarding Gerald Gardner it states,

Gardner was born in Lancashire on June 13th 1884, the son of a wealthy timber merchant. The family claimed descent from Simon le Gardiner in the 14th century, and another of Gardner’s ancestors was Baron Gardner of Uttoxeter. In 1807 he was Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet that faced Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet another was Grizell Gardner, who was allegedly burnt as a witch in Scotland in 1640. Her significance was to mean more to Gardner in his later life. …. The family’s nanny …. took the young Gerald on winter trips to the south of France, the Canary Islands and West Africa.

He also mentioned going to visit the Maharaja of Mysore. He said the King and Queen of Thailand came to visit him in his cave and brought him gold. He claimed to know Rene Guenon in Cairo. He claimed to have been offered a commission in the army and a secondary source said that Dadaji had said that the Ministry of Defence had contacted him in 1938 when “something was afoot with Hitler” as if he was “Our man in Brighton”, a sort of James Bond character who could stop Hitler in his tracks just by turning up.

He was not just a witch in Australia but he said he was the head witch. He was not just a monk in Penang but the master of the temple which was his until he died. He did not just serve in the military in Egypt but he got inside the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx Temple at Gizah and practiced magick there as well. Regarding Assisi, he did not just visit it but got to see a certain crypt that is usually hidden from public view. And, of course, he had to say that he had a connection with Aleister Crowley. Research has shown that some of these situations are technically possible but, based on other findings of things he has obviously made up, they are highly unlikely to be true.

Apart from what Dadaji said about his aunt Clay Palmer, there is no independent evidence of Dadaji as Lawrence or Anton being involved in the occult or anything mystical before 1958. It is possible that Anton completed his compulsory two years of work in Australia and then decided to go travelling in the Australian West Desert and then Asia. He could have encountered Buddhist monks on his travels there and that is how and when his interest first came about.

There is nothing more to add regarding Anton’s accounts of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War except to say that it is obvious that he did actually serve in Spain as a sanitario. But, in the same way that some men run away to join the French Foreign Legion to escape and do not have to give their real names, could this be why Dadaji joined the Spanish Civil War with a false name and background, including being Jewish? Genealogical research shows that many people find out that their ancestors have not been truthful about their occupations on their marriage certificates. They try to make themselves out to be further up the social scale than they actually were. This could be one explanation for Anton saying he was a masseur when he got married. But at the time of his marriage he could have been undergoing training with the army on the six month course but did not tell the registrar that he was in the army. If this is the case, there is no way of knowing if his wife knew the truth. As it states at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley that Crowley offered his services for the war but was declined, could this be where Dadaji got the idea from about himself?

The same reasoning could apply to his account of being offered a commission five times, ie he wanted to appear more important than he was. As it has been shown earlier that he could not possibly have qualified as a civilian physiotherapist he would not have been able to work as such when he left the army. He returned to London and his original trade as a painter and decorator after the war and as this was further down the socio-economic scale than a physiotherapist that would seem to back up this idea. If he had left London in the mid-1930s for some spurious reason, why did he return there after the war with a different name? If he had left because the police were after him then if we consider the case of John Christie, the notorious killer from 10, Rillington Place who murdered his wife and others there, he had many criminal convictions and had been in prison but actually managed to join the War Reserve Police later on. It was only after he was arrested for the murders that his criminal record came to light. It states at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christie_(murderer) “At the beginning of World War II, Christie applied to join the War Reserve Police and was accepted despite his criminal record, as the authorities failed to check his records. He was assigned to the Harrow Road Police Station …. .” There was no Police National Computer (PNC) and police records were nothing like what they were even in the 1970s just before the PNC was introduced. So he may have felt it was safe to return to London after the war. If Dadaji’s family knew of his name change they could have covered for him. He could have passed himself off as, perhaps, a cousin of his who bore a strong resemblance to him. He would still have had a full head of hair then but grey hair and wrinkles would probably have started to set in.

In a letter at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/category/letters-from-dadaji/ there is an explanation as to why Dadaji never told anyone he had been married.

No one can be ordained as a Sannyasin unless he: 1. Renounces the world and takes the Sannyas Mantra from the Sampradaya Guru; 2. He must not be married or living as a married man; 3. that he does not do gainful employment; 4. that he owns or rents not property; 5. that he has no dependents male or female; 6. that he has good and honest character; 7. that he understand spiritual life and its purpose; 8. that he wears always the outer cloth of a sadhu.

Condition 2 regarding marriage could be why he never mentioned it. But, as has been shown earlier, he never was legally married. But he was married in a sense. He could have told people in India that he had been married but no longer was. But it may not have looked good if he admitted to abandoning his ‘wife’. Condition 6 regarding good and honest character is another condition that he did not meet. He had been ordained and taken vows as a Buddhist monk but afterwards made up lies to an Australian newspaper regarding this. Dadaji has not met condition 5 relating to having dependants. For a reason or reasons unknown Dadaji left his illegally-married wife and, hence, illegitimate child in England and emigrated to Australia as a single man. In the first blue page of his application to emigrate to Australia it says, “Particulars of dependants you wish to accompany you” not “Particulars of any dependants”. So he was under no legal obligation to say if he actually had any dependants, just any who would accompany him to Australia. Whether or not Dadaji met his child when he returned to England in 1959 and 1978 or had written contact with the child and/or his wife is unknown.

Regarding Dadaji’s voyages by ship, how did he get the fare from Malaysia to England and then from England to Australia two months later? As Dadaji openly returned to Australia in 1959 under the name of Anton Miles, it can be assumed from this that he had completed his two year compulsory stay in Australia when he first emigrated. He would have found it difficult to enter Australia again as his name could have been on a list of people who had to be questioned if they returned. When you scroll down, you will see that it was legally possible to emigrate twice as a ‘ten pound pom’ at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hOG48C875pIC&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=could+poms+emigrate+twice&source=bl&ots=vHBobRCp4e&sig=ACfU3U3WsS1qx9nQxJqcECt5mXmVuCNEwg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjyrIqal_bjAhWJfMAKHb0iATkQ6AEwC3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=could%20poms%20emigrate%20twice&f=true

But a second emigration application for Anton Miles in 1959 cannot be found in the National Archives of Australia. To reiterate from earlier regarding his initiation from Lokanath of Uttara Kashi in Bombay in 1953, Lalita states on page 43 of “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1 that Dadaji said,

This saint had been patiently awaiting a mysterious arrival for two weeks. A vision of Shiva had told him to leave his silent cave in the remote Himalayas and come down to the blasting hot, crowded coastal city and wait for the one who was to be his successor, his inheritor, his spiritual son.

Again from https://volesoft.com/wp-content/uploads/.../nava-natha-a-new-nath-history-pdf-2.pdf Lalitanath mentions around 2010,

Time and again, those of us who have gone in search of information about the Adi Naths have come back empty-handed. It appears modern Naths have never heard of Adi Naths. My personal conclusions were that the Adi Naths were a pre-Gorakshnath group who held more to the Buddhist Tantric teachings of Matsyendranath and had become a one man at a time, mouth-to-ear cult over the centuries. …. Travelling among modern Naths in India I was struck by the fact that they did not resonate with any of Mahendranath’s teachings. Dadaji wore neither kundal earrings nor the janeu (nadi). He taught none of the daily rituals of modern Naths and his tantric teachings and nudity found absolutely no correspondence with modern Naths who are very puritanical.

Regarding his Uttara Kaula initiation, was Dadaji unaware that Thakar Kalachand had initiated Maheshwari Ma? Had he never met Kulavadhut because he invented his (Dadaji’s) initiation into the Uttara Kaula line? Lalitanath was struck by the fact that puritanical modern Naths in India did not resonate with any of Mahendranath’s teachings or with his nudity. Did Dadaji invent the character Lokanath and take the name of either Lokanatha the Buddhist monk from Penang (seen earlier at https://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/charisma6.pdf.) or Paramhansa Parivrajakacharya Shri Loknath Tirth Swami Maharaj (seen earlier at http://www.mahayoga.org/loknathtirth.aspx) for this man? There is no record of the latter having had any connection with Dadaji or the Adi Naths. Also, he died in 1955. In the earlier list of Dadaji’s initiations at http://www.shivashakti.com/dadaji.htm it states that the Lokanath whom Dadaji claimed initiated him in Bombay died in 1960.  Are both the Adi Nath and Uttara Kaula initiations which Dadaji claims to have passed on actually an invention of his?

One of the most bizarre statements that Dadaji made was in “The Splendour of the Bright Shining” in 1989 at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/1989/07/18/the-splendour-of-the-bright-shining-a-corrective-to-corruption/ 

This post from the INO category, “Letters from Dadaji” contains the views of Shri Gurudev Mahendranath regarding a schism within the INO which culminated in the appointment of a new leadership in 1989. …. “I [Dadaji] have never initiated anyone into the Adi-Nath sannyas sampradaya either in India or the West. In fact, I cannot do so. To be initiated into the Adi-Nath Sampradaya one has to first renounce world, family and everything. One must not be a householder or do gainful employment or own property. This is a way of life which has existed for thousands of years. I cannot, nor would I want to break this Hindu tradition.”

At http://www.shivashakti.com/PersonalStatement.htm Indradhanush talks of Dadaji’s memory problems due to strokes, etc. in later life but there is evidence of Dadaji making things up in the Australian newspaper articles of 1959 and 1961. Why do intelligent people believe the likes of Dadaji without question? Do they just assume that Indian holy men have special powers and that they can acquire them if they follow them? Could this have anything to do with the influence and peer group pressure brought about by the Beatles and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s? In the west, holy men, eg vicars and Catholic priests, were assumed to be good and truthful men (until recent child abuse scandals) although their beliefs seemed idiotic to many. Did hippies rebelling against their upbringing subconsciously assume that Indian holy men were also truthful? Did Dadaji encounter hippies in India in the 1960s and realise that they believed anything he told them? Even Indradhanush, an elderly psychiatrist of many years’ experience, seems to have taken him at face value before the events of 1989. People seem to have behaved (and still are behaving) like the people who followed Brian in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”. They just latch on to everything he said.

Peer group pressure in the young and the politically correct would not be kind to Dadaji if he were around today. In “The Tantra of Blowing the Mind” at https://www.internationalnathorder.org/the-tantra-of-blowing-the-mind/ Dadaji says,

All Tantrika is based on the female and masculine polarity,

And the psychic centres inflamed by sexual opposites:

Therefore this way of life has no place for the homosexual,

Nor for lesbians, eunuchs, or the castrated – Sorry.

Eunuchs or the castrated would cover the transgender community. Dadaji would be ostracised and/or persecuted and classed as homophobic or transphobic nowadays.

The animal rights people would have no time for him either. On page 37 of “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1  Lalita recalls, “My trite liberal beliefs, inherited and unexamined, would cause him to become dangerously angry. I made a remark about vegetarianism and non-killing. He gave me a dark and disgusted look and went out and killed a neighbor’s piglet that had been rampaging through the garden. He just smashed it with a big rock and left it there. I was silent, stunned, but a whole block of rules broke off the frozen iceberg of my belief system and floated away.” This was hardly a humane killing for food.

On pages 44 and 45 of “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1 Lalitanath tells of how Dadaji tried to commit suicide.

I was away at the time of Dadaji’s seventy-fifth birthday. I have no idea why he decided to commit suicide. When I returned, everybody, including Dadaji, was abuzz with the extraordinary tale. He told me this: “I was sick of life. You can live too long you know! I decided to leave this sordid world. I made sure of my success by killing myself in two ways at once. I took a large amount of rat poison and then I slit my wrists. It seemed I was unconscious for a long time, because I had quite an adventure in that in-between life and death place. [Often called the bardo.] It is always twilight and grey there. I walked a while until I ran into a group of saddhus sitting together in a circle. They were gambling. They had been gambling for a very, very long time. Behind them a bright road led somewhere. I asked the saddhus why they were just sitting there and not walking the road. They barely looked up, and gave a collective shrug. I left them and started towards the road. There I found Kaliben. [The grandmother had recently died and we all mourned her passing.] She and I had a final conversation.” This little bird of a woman, who had never been further than a few miles down the road, who couldn’t read or write, who knew nothing but domestic life set in a pattern a thousand years ago, this singing bird, always caged by cultural rules, was the woman Dadaji called his Guru. They blessed each other and went their separate ways. Apparently the rat poison counteracted the bleeding and the bleeding counteracted the poison, if you can believe that! So he came back alive and felt rather jolly and pleased with himself. Years later Dadaji fell down the cement stairs leading to the roof. He broke his hip and was rushed to the hospital. I was told that he spent the entire night breathing like a steam engine and he was dead by morning. It was said he had killed himself by yogic means, unwilling to be a burden on the family. Later, as I travelled among the Naths of India, I learned the true reason for his self-caused death. Naths never want to die of natural causes, depleted of energy and all played out. Death must be faced with energy and power. The spirit travels like a shooting star to free itself from earth’s limitations. It is customary for Naths of any standing and power to have themselves buried alive in a small crypt. When this is done correctly, the Nath remains both here and there and is effective in both realms, manifest and powerful. I met some of these “living dead” during my travels, and I have no doubt of the effectiveness of their tradition. I have been in a large room in a very ancient Nath ashram filled with fifty-two living dead graves of Nath leaders, each one having picked the time to go down into their tombs.

Notice how Kaliben is described as never having been further than a few miles down the road, being unable to read and write and leading a domestic life. She looked after Dadaji and he did not need to have a job. Perhaps that was all he really wanted – not to have to suffer the daily grind with which most unfortunate souls have to contend. There is a saying, “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. That could be how Dadaji, a man described as being of average intelligence, could have got away with fooling so many people for so long. Dadaji’s writings are not difficult to understand and contain none of the advanced mathematics and astronomy that were developed in India (but were covered up by the British Raj) hundreds of years before the likes of Isaac Newton developed them in the west.

Likewise, in the early years of AMOOKOS, sidereal astrology was part of the grade papers. At

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xFTzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=dadaji+amookos+astrology&source=bl&ots=9IiIjHReSM&sig=ACfU3U2NCmE8vMgCJXwV4Izx542glfQv7g&hl=en&sa=X&ved

=2ahUKEwjX1cqL7vTgAhVdUxUIHfDnCsMQ6AEwBnoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=dadaji%20amookos%20astrology&f=false 

the Englishman given the name Lokanath in 1978 by Dadaji who was charged with setting up AMOOKOS and was the author of the grade papers states,

Dadaji nagged me over and over to start this group up. …. First of all I had to create the so-called “grade papers” …. Dadaji never gave me directions as to what to write, and so I had a free hand to include material based largely on my own experiences.  …. He came to the UK and …. gave them an enthusiastic reception.

So Dadaji did not write the AMOOKOS grade papers and did not know Indian / sidereal astrology. Neither could he read, write or speak Sanskrit. All the translations of Sanskrit into English published by AMOOKOS were done by Lokanath. But based on the astrology in ‘his’ grade papers and his claims to have had contacts in the Ministry of Defence, it is surprising that Dadaji never mentioned Brigadier Roy Firebrace (1889-1974). He was was a British Army officer, who served as Head of the British Military Mission in Moscow during the Second World War and also worked with Churchill. He was also a sidereal astrologer, founder and editor of the journal Spica, and a co-founder of the Astrological Association of Great Britain. More on him can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_C._Firebrace 

Regarding military matters, one of the greatest stumbling blocks in researching Dadaji is the difficulty in gaining access to people’s military records from the Second World War without the person’s death certificate. If Dadaji’s military records could be obtained then his stories of meeting with Aleister Crowley could be compared fully with Crowley’s whereabouts. It may be possible to do this if his death certificate from India could be obtained.

But Dadaji makes one telling remark which sums up this investigation. On page 44 of “The Amoral Way of the Wizard” at https://issuu.com/dissolvism/docs/ultraculture-vol1 Lalitanath tells of how Dadaji said, “What are you talking about? I’m completely bogus you know”. A well-known saying from the above-mentioned “Life of Brian” also sums up Dadaji – “He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”

Anyone wanting to learn the occult should carefully check out anyone they propose as a teacher of it. There are many charlatans and inadequates fooling the gullible. It would appear that from what has been revealed here that the two lines of Nath initiation which Dadaji claimed to possess and pass on in Britain had not been given to him and, therefore, all subsequent initiations given are null and void. You should demand the following or similar of a prospective teacher: Create a tulpa, conjure an entity to visible appearance and draw up a sidereal horoscope with a very accurate birth time and tell what happened to the subject on certain dates in the past. For the latter you need something specific like a car crash or a heart attack, not vague nonsense like “You have a loving personality but tend to lose your temper if offended”. If they cannot do that, do not waste your time. Likewise, anyone who can do those things should be careful about to whom this knowledge is given. The Freemasons have their faults but at least they have a proper structure where people have to be of good character and perform charitable activity before they can join – and they have to be asked to join. Occult knowledge should not be for everyone.

References