Swami Nityananda Saraswati, the Rev. Adano Christopher Ley, N.D. was originally from British Guiana, now Guyana, South America.

NEW ADANO WEBSITE BLOG: Click here for the Adano Ley Blog: http://www.adanoley.com/aclwp

This is a place to post your requests for Adano information, comments, etc. It will also be where new material on the site will be announced. Please let us know what you would like to see / hear.

Born the 7th child of 10 near Georgetown, British Guiana, his parents were prosperous traders in raw materials and operated a general store in the village that his grandfather had helped to build out of the jungle when the British were opening that territory. At first in training to become a Catholic Priest, he was told that he was too much of a mystic to become a priest. (Adano told me that this problem came to a head when he asked the parish priest who was teaching him why all the books about the saints were not available to be read by everyone, whereupon his mentor replied that that information was not taught to the general church body, but rather the catechism was taught, and that he (Adano) was a mystic. Adano said he went home in tears, and told his father that he was a misfit!)

So at the ripe old age of 7 (!) Adano was apprenticed to a tailor since his father insisted that if Adano did not want to go to school (Adano said, "They can't teach me what I need to learn"), then he would have to work! As luck would have it (Good Karma?) the tailor was from India and had an extensive library of the world's religions from which Adano was freely able to draw.

Adano's father had a guru who foretold his life in America ("He will go to the Red Man's Land") so upon completion of his early studies, at the age of 15 he was given his father's inheritance and moved to the United States. He went to work as a technician with the RCA Company in New York City, making his home with relatives. Later he went to Canada to be on his own, eventually opening 2 restaurants in Montreal. (I once asked him, "Well, where did you learn to speak French?" And he told me he would go to the same restaurant every day to eat and point to something on the menu and ask what it was until he learned enough to get by!) While living in Canada, he served as director of the Self-Realization Meditation Center in Montreal. In this position he taught Yoga and meditation classes for a number of years, under the guidance of the great master, Paramahansa Yogananda.

In 1955 Adano fell off the roof of a building and as he was falling, he was given the opportunity to choose death and rebirth or to remain in the body in a life of service. Consequently he was hospitalized and in a body cast for a year and 9 months as a result of some 90 broken bones. During that time he went through many spiritual tests which culminated in his decision to travel for 7 years to follow the spiritual disciplines indicated in the first 10 Chapters of Matthew. This led to extensive on-site research on the prayer and healing techniques of the North American and Canadian Indians. He also spent time in Mexico with the Mayan and Aztec people, working in these areas of study. He was eventually made a blood brother of 2 American Indian tribes.


In 1969, Adano received the title of Swami Nityananda Saraswati. This event took place at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Swami Ananda Saraswati, of New Delhi, India, who was one of Mahatma Gandhi's foremost aides in the movement for India's independence, performed the ceremony and ordained him Swami Nityananda of the Saraswati Order. The Saraswati is an ancient Yogic order, and the name indicates a spiritual path through knowledge and wisdom. Nityananda means spiritual attainment through mastery of the fundamentals of truth. (Adano had meditated 8 hours daily for 21 years and had spent 5 years in solitary yogic retreat in the Mojave Desert of California before receiving the honor.) At least once during a Satsang, Adano revealed that "Nitya" actually means The Void, or Nothing, and that "ananda" means bliss. Consequently he often spoke about "ever new Joy" as being the mark of a spiritual person. It is also how he got his name, Swami Nitty Gritty!

Also in 1961 Adano founded the All Faith Fellowship in Tyler, Texas. A non-profit, non-denominational group studying the laws of life and soul growth, the ashram attracted devotees from all over the country to study and meditate. Many of Adano's students were trained as therapists during this time.

While continuing his work and teaching Yoga and metaphysics, as well as lecturing around the country, Adano also acquired an N.D. degree and was a licensed naturopathic physician as well as an acupuncturist and acupressure therapist. He was the Teacher and director of the Adano Ley Clinic, a center in Houston, Texas devoted to disseminating holistic preventive health therapies and instruction in self-transformation techniques.It is here that so many who could not find help through traditional avenues found their way to health. Adano's motto was, "Live to Live, don't live to die." The clinic was open to anybody who needed help for many years until Adano made his Mahasamadhi on October 11, 1989.