On the Divine
Person by Frank
Marrero , For Beloved
Avatara Adi Da Love-Ananda,
Samraj, Eleutherios, The Bright Ruchira
Buddha Chapter 3: The Secret Place Denise and I were living in San Anselmo,
California when on January 27, 1982, I received a
phone call from a friend who was now taking care of
Church business. "Hey Frank, how would you and
Denise like to go to the Hermitage retreat in
Hawaii and take care of it? It's six acres, cut the
grass, keep the place nice?" It's a precious phone call you only hear about .
. . . but it was happening to me and my wife. All I
wanted to know was how many hoops we would have to
jump through. One week later, on February 4th, we
touched down on Kauai, everything we owned was
stored or sold. As we touched down, the high
council decided we are not mature enough to be
taking care of a sanctuary, which we weren't, but
we were already there. Must be. But it was true: I had no idea how to take care
of a holy place. I thought I'd just be my usual
expansive egoic self, giving positive energy to
everything. I did not understand the dance of
ceremonial worship or formal regard. Instead, I
explored the jungle and river surrounding the
sanctuary with enthusiasm. Being a skilled rock
climber, I even found a way to the secret
waterfall. It wasn't really secret, everybody knew
it was there. You just couldn't get anywhere near
it, so deep was the canyon, so sudden the
precipices, it could not be visited and only seen
from the air. It was in the north fork of the largest river in
Hawaii, and coming off of Mount Waialiali often
quite full. In the steep "impassible" ravine next
to the Sanctuary, there were three waterfalls, an
11 foot one into a deep pool shaped like a 25' long
black banana, then it spilled gracefully through a
V thirty two feet into a beautiful swimming pool
40-80' across; a tropical paradise of dearest
imaginings, then the river collected again,
serpentined past a giant rock, and then gushed
eighty feet into a vast canyon. When I first went there, to the 'secret' place
between the falls, I said repeatedly, "This is the
most beautiful spot I've ever been to." Thing was,
getting there was physically easy, really. Of
course, one mistake and you're dead. I rushed and told Denise that I had found a way
to the secret waterfall and took her there. The
swimming area and crown of the giant water fall
were spectacular, flowers from the jungle were
everywhere, white cranes soared in the canyon
below. She had a hard time getting back up the 80'
cliffs though. She kissed the ground and prayed
thankfulness all afternoon, but agreed it was the
prettiest place she had ever been to. Late August 4th afternoon, exactly six months
after we first got there, Bill Roesler picked me up
from Lihue, the island's main town, looked me right
in the eye and said, "Guess who's coming to dinner
tomorrow?" The Master and surrounding staff would occupy
both buildings on the Sanctuary and even the house
we rented down the street for support. On our (ten
person) 24-hour to-do list was five acres of
manicure, paint and clean an entire house, prepare
a small dormitory, locate other housing, move five
families, and arrange transportation for the
incoming group. I thought it was fun. There was so much that
could be done, there was certainly no time for
sleep or bad attitudes. He would appreciate every
fraction, see details no one else would ever see,
notice every gesture. A few days after the arrival of the holy storm,
I was talking with Udi, aka Morton Whiteside, the
renunciate who took care of the sanctuary before.
He mentioned that nearby was a secret 80' waterfall
but no one could ever go there cause it was
impossible. I loved it. I told him of the place between the
waterfalls and said it was the most beautiful place
I had ever seen; I had even taken Denise there
(failing to mention of course it was also the most
harrowing experience of her life). She agreed it
was indeed the most beautiful place, and I wanted
to take the Master there. Well, Udi told the Master that I wanted to take
him to this dangerous place and the closest
renunciates begged him not to go, telling Him of my
reputation as being somewhat crazy. Well, the
Master tells Udi to go with me and evaluate it
himself. Udi and I went off into the jungle as I hacked a
path through the thickets with my machete. We came
to a crest and descended 50' down a very steep and
wet incline towards a 80' precipice. The edge is
impossible to approach except at one spot where
vines and trees have grown up a small crevice. We
approached the precipice and I took hold of the
tree for our descent when Udi slipped off the edge.
He quickly grabbed a branch and saved himself. We
got about a third of the way down this cliff, when
Udi flipped out. "You are crazy! What in the world
would ever make you think that I would let the
Master come down this cliff? The only reason I'm
continuing is that I might as well!!" After a swim in tropical splendor, we sat on a
great rock. Udi sighed. "This is the most beautiful
place I have ever been." He paused and looked back
up the treacherous route we had descended. "So just
how were you going to get the Master down
here?" I hadn't the slightest idea, but proceeded to
bullshit. I indicated stairs, platforms, and
ladders here and there, made it seem almost
sensible. "OK" he said, "I'm going to recommend it." It was the next day when Master Da wanted to
know when His ladder was going to be ready. Soon
three men were working on it full time. To me it
looked like the Bridge over the river Kauai when we
were done. Five flights of stairs dug into the side
of the canyon made a tunnel through the thick
jungle to a 80' drop. Railings out of native stock
adorned and fortified the creation. Off the edge, a
two story ladder down to a 12 inch gang plank,
across six feet to the main ladder, another four
story descent to a small platform, then a final
fifteen feet to top of climbable cliffs. The Master let it all sit for three days and
then sent me word. He's ready. I raced into the
jungle gathering flowers to line the path. I
gathered a safety rope if need be. I climbed down
to the gangplank to assist the high crossing and
when I looked up through the tunnel we had cut in
the jungle I saw Him coming. He was grinning from
ear to ear. At the bottom of the steps cut into the
hillside, Beloved Da looked off the edge, where I
was waiting two stories down and still near the
top. We see in each other's eyes. He laughs, He
loves it, it is crazy. First, the two male renunciates, Bodha and Udi,
descended. Daji Bodha, aka William Tskanis,
whispers that I should offer the safety rope to
everybody. Soon, the Spiritual Master stepped onto
the 12 inch plank with me fifty-five feet in the
air. It was my first non-formal time with him, and
I was nervous. I stutter and mumble something about a safety
rope. The Person of Love looked at me wide-eyed and
smiled. He then puffed his chest out, stuck out His
chin in a caricature of macho-ness and said, "If
those guys can do it, so can I!" then broke into a
laugh that relieved me of my fear. He is always
forever serving His devotees. Once everyone was down the Master performed a
ceremony there with rocks and leaves and water as
everyone was still and felt the place and His
service to it. Only then did they explore the falls
and swim in the pool. I was invited into the intimate company of the
party and after some talk about the site I pointed
out that we could all sit on the big rock in front
of us. Beloved Da instantly stood and commanded,
"Show me." I jumped up onto the rock, scurried to the top,
and turned around to extend my hand. It was a
moment I had forever wished for, touching the
god-man flesh to flesh. I remember perfectly the
sensation of His flesh against mine, the
ordinariness of perfect consciousness. I pulled Him up, then, one by one everyone else.
I don't remember much else after that cause the
Divine Person kind of took over. Huddled upon the
great rock, we all just stared for a long time,
mindlessly lost in untremored awareness and
beauty. Another swim was called for and we descended
from the great rock. I fell on my butt as I slid
off the rock, appropo since I was showing off. I
quickly dove into the water because I wanted to
show everyone something they might want to try. I swam to the side of the 32' falls coming into
the pool. There the falls hit the cliff and spray
out across the water. Just under the battering
falls, I had discovered a handhold that enabled me
to climb up through the edge of the roaring falls,
out of the pool and onto a 5" slot in the rock
beside and slightly behind the falls. I stood there
for a moment then jumped through the crashing
waters into the pool and current below. The tremendous turbulence of the falls pounds
and churns one under forever then suddenly spits
you out. I swam back and climbed again. Instantly
Master Da swam over to the edge of the falls and
extended His hand. The ledge I was standing on was
18" above the pool and very narrow, and 'just to
make sure he was OK', I threw my arms all around
Him when I pulled Him up onto the precarious ledge.
Touching Him was thrilling, thrilling, thrilling.
Since the siddhi or divine force coming out of Him
is intense across any distance, touching His body
is sacred nectar. So when I hugged him 'with a good
excuse', everyone laughed understandably. Later I
was teased for this. He screamed above the roar of the falls. "Is it
safe? Are there any rocks?" When I assured Him
twice that it was 30' deep and clear, He turned and
leaped into the crashing waters, His arms and legs
flying, screaming "whoopie!" at the top of His
lungs. The morning sunlight was coming up the
canyon and hitting the splashing vibrant white
water. I will forever remember His bright star body
jumping into white rushing wet sunlight screaming
whoopie.
The casual words and Footsteps of the Master
Build a Bridge across the ocean of our bondage.
Therefore, attend to the Liberator every day of
your life. Beloved Adi Da's The Hymn of the
Master Chapter
Two: I Didn't Understand Chapter
Three: The Secret Place Chapter
Four: Welcome to the Gom-Boo Chapter Six: The Cult of
Pairs Revisited Chapter Seven: The Thief
Chapter Eight: The Storm of
the Century Chapter Nine: The Christmas
Miracle
Table of Contents
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"The perfect among the
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Tripura
Rahasya, Chap
XX, 128-133
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