What If?

Crazy Wisdom – The Monthly Journal of the Johannine Daist
Communion (Adidam)

Vol. 4 No. 5. – May 1985

“Happiness is the Difference”

by Daji Advaita Bodha Deepika

Editors note: This a selected portion of the article, the closing section. – Beezone

I now turn to the present and to our own sacred and praiseworthy tradition. I do not need to seek confirmation from the more established traditions in order to acknowledge Master Da Free John and His Teaching. The spiritual greatness of this man and His Way have been “proved” to me Face to face, through countless acts of love, humor, and brilliant Teaching, and cultivated internally via the unceasing river of His spiritual Benediction, a Conscious Light that widens and deepens beyond the limits of the body-mind, revealing an uncharted sea of Bliss known by the ancients as “the Ocean of Immeasurable Happiness.”

Let me thus turn you to a day in the life of our honorable, even if a little unusual, Sacred History.

What if?

After a morning of writing in His tiny office at Tumomama, Master Da was persuaded by devotees, who thought He would enjoy a little leisure, to take His lunch at the seaside. The outing was attended by a devotee who had been serving at the Sanctuary and was invited to join the Master. This curious fellow is a much-loved friend of Master Da, and I have often likened their wonderful relationship to that of Ramakrishna’s love for Girish Ghosh, the skeptic, carouser, and renowned Bengali actor. His eccentricities notwithstanding, Master Da has a great fondness for His friend, and, when they were together, welcomed his frank and always endearing conversation.

While they were sitting on the beach, our friend began a lengthy dialogue about many subjects of interest to him. He began by asking, “My Lord, have You ever heard of ‘the Fibonacci sequence‘?” Master Da replied that He had not, but if the questioner felt this was pertinent to spiritual life, He would be willing to consider it. Hours of conversation passed between the two men, sitting in the Hawaiian sun, one full of questions about mathematics, spiritual personalities, economics, historical cycles, psychism, and the other-let me put it this way-simply Teaching.

The day was over, but their conversation seemed to have only begun. Our friend had become so engrossed in his conversation with Master Da that he insisted Master Da accompany him to dinner so as not to lose the thread of their dialogue.

My memory of this night is still clear. We were seated around a white wicker table in the corner of a garden patio, surrounded by beautiful large tropical plants, waiting to be seated for dinner. The image of their two contrasting faces, bonded in indissoluble union by speech, or really by some unspeakable, invisible adhesive, impressed itself upon my consciousness then, and the image is still with me today.

Master Da and His devotee in their trance are transfigured. It is there in the look on their faces. No fear or doubt is registered in the expression of Master Da – only the dignity and serenity of a Knower of Truth. His is the language of the Heart, a language that very few have understood. Now from His mouth the most loving words are falling upon the soul of this devotee. His rugged face softened, full of wonder.

“My Lord, You have been most gracious to me in answering all of my questions. And if You would be so kind, I have but one last nagging thought which I would put before You. It is this: What if something terrible happened to the American government, affecting the Constitution, and freedom of religion was no longer permitted, so that we could not openly practice our Spiritual Way of life? And what if America suffered a revolution like in China where all of the sacred books were destroyed, so that Your magnificent literature was no longer available to people? And what if,  forbid, devotees were separated from one another, dispersed to different countries, and unable to practice in community? What would become of You and the Teaching and the community of devotees?”

His weighty “what if’s” stunned everyone, because these were precisely the kinds of questions no one likes to think about. But they were serious questions for him, questions that had to be faced. Master Da replied:

“First of all, there is no reason for anything like that to happen. Even if it did, don’t you know that what I am Teaching can never die? The Way of Truth does not end. History changes. Civilizations appear and disappear. People and philosophies and religious movements come and go. But the Great One cannot be removed or replaced. No one can ever take that Realization away. The Adepts come again and again in every era. It is this very Realization that is the essence of renunciation. The true renunciate is someone who has given up the ego, someone who has transcended himself or herself and Realized the Radiant Consciousness That Stands Prior to the mind, the body, and the world of Nature. Nature is constantly beginning, changing, and coming to an end, but the Truth and the Great Way transcend the realm of changes. What we enjoy can never die. No one, no experience, not time or space, not even death can destroy this Supreme Realization. God is the Happiness for which all beings are seeking.”

Only in the depths of the heart is a man at peace with the world. By Master Da’s choice of words and the tone of His voice and the sublimity of His gestures, you know that here is a man wholly occupied withdrawing all into that depth, of holding open the eyelids of the world to that Vision of inexhaustible Light, until the truth of that Light is no longer deniable. All the faces were aglow, transparent to the Light Source in their midst. Not a single word was uttered. All the hearts were calmed by the Holy Presence.

Continue with the Article