A Touch of the Divine:
A Miraculous Healing at Ordeal Bath Lodge

The sonogram showed that Katinka had a cyst the size of a grapefruit on her uterus. She made the appointment for the surgery to remove the cyst, and until then she was confined to bed.

I had been living and serving at Da Love-Ananda Mahal, Adi Da’s Ruchira Sannyasin Sanctuary in Hawaii, for many months, and at this time had the opportunity to return to the Mountain Of Attention for a meditation retreat of ten days or so. The first evening I arrived, I went to supper with the residents, all old friends. I was particularly looking forward to seeing Katinka because she had stayed with us at Da Love-Ananda Mahal some months earlier. I had not heard anything about her present medical problems. She was not at supper, so I asked my other friends about her. They said that she was not feeling well. But toward the end of supper, Katinka came into the dining room and we greeted each other. We exchanged a few words, and then it was time to attend the evening event at the Sanctuary.
 
During this period of time, Adi Da was not feeling well Himself, and at each of the Hermitages and Sanctuaries, devotees performed a special healing ceremony, which was an occasion of collective Invocation of Him and prayer for Him. At the Mountain Of Attention, this healing ceremony for Avatar Adi Da was done in the early evening, right after supper, in the Sanctuary’s Bath House called Ordeal Bath Lodge. It was an old hot springs bath facility, now used as a healing Temple.

Ordeal Bath Lodge Ordeal Bath Lodge (click to enlarge)

Katinka and I walked over to the Temple together, entered, and took our seats near the front of the room. Katinka sat just in front of me to my right. I was sitting with my back against the ledge of a shallow reflecting pond in the center of the room.
 
The large cement and tile room was crowded with devotees — the residents of the Sanctuary, as well as many devotees from the surrounding community. The chant leaders and musicians sat together in the rear of the room with their instruments — harmonium, drums, cymbals, tambourines, etc. The acoustics in this high-ceilinged room were great for chanting, the sound soaring and reverberating in the space.
 
Having been at Da Love-Ananda Mahal with a group of only four or six devotees for so many months, I was overjoyed to be in this larger community circumstance, and to participate in devotional occasions that were so fully attended and energetically served.

As the ceremony continued and the chanting became more and more ecstatic, I was drawn by Beloved Adi Da's Grace beyond my ordinary state into a form of Ecstasy. I never lost awareness of my ordinary surroundings, but my experience and state were far outside the ordinary. With my eyes open, I literally "saw" Consciousness as the Substance of everything in the room. It was as obvious and tangible as walking into a steam room and noticing that steam filled the space of the room. I "saw" that Consciousness was the Being of everything, the Substance of all manifestation. Consciousness is WHAT IS. Everything was made only of Consciousness. Everything arose in and was sustained by and as Consciousness. Consciousness was Existence Itself. And Consciousness was Adi Da. Consciousness was His Personal Presence and His very Body. There was ONLY Consciousness, only this Divine Reality! Adi Da was manifested in and as everything that IS! And I felt a sense of "Aha! THIS is what Beloved Adi Da has always been Talking about!" It was the literal Revelation of His Wisdom-Teaching.

What a Blessing to be spontaneously and Gracefully drawn into such profound Communion with Beloved Adi Da that Reality became Obvious to my open eyes and His Divine State of Love-Bliss-Consciousness was Apparent as all and All!

The one remarkable physical sensation that I experienced during this occasion was a very strong pressure pushing me backward, particularly my head. My head would bend back as far as possible, but the force kept pushing my whole upper body. I struggled against it, because if I had fallen backward I would have landed in the reflecting pool full of water! This forceful backward pressure came and went a few times.
 
At a certain point, I noticed that Katinka seemed cold and uncomfortable. I took off my shawl, wrapped it around her shoulders, and briskly ran my hand up and down her back a few times, as you would to warm somebody up who was chilled. Then I let my hand simply rest on her lower back, to stay connected and supportive. I felt no unusual sensations at all. After a short time, a couple of minutes perhaps, she turned around to me and communicated her feeling of "Thanks, that’s enough." So I put my hand back in my lap.
 
After the occasion, as we were walking quietly away from Ordeal Bath Lodge, Katinka said to me, "Boy, that was INTENSE!" Your hand felt like a hot iron or a laser beam! It was burning my back. That is why I asked you to stop!"  Well, this was a total surprise to me! First of all, I had no idea what her health problem was. I had no intention of doing the laying on of hands. She just looked cold, and I was trying to warm her up and bring her a little energy!

Years later, Katinka told me more about her experience of the occasion.

KATINKA: The occasion was very ecstatic and I forgot myself in our Divine Guru’s Bliss. Then you put your hand on my back, right at the point where the cyst was located. At that moment, I felt this very strong heat coming into my body as a ray of energy. At the same time, a beam of light came down into me from above into the same area. This made it so very intense! This seemed to last forever, so I obviously have no idea if it was a couple of seconds or minutes or longer.

When I staggered out of the event, I saw the doctor who had been treating me, and I told him that the cyst was gone! He told me this was not possible. Again, I told him that I was sure it was gone, but he insisted this was not possible and that we had to go ahead with the surgery, which was scheduled for the next morning. I insisted that I wanted to get another sonogram done before the operation to check the cyst.
 
When I went into the hospital for the sonogram, I was greeted by the same technician who had helped me before. As soon as he saw me (before the test), he looked at me and said, 'The cyst is gone, isn't it?'
 
And so it was shown to be, and I did not have to have the operation.

ANN: My Beloved Guru, Avatar Adi Da, is the Living Manifestation of Non-Separateness! He Demonstrated This with such intimate and loving Compassion, extending His Divine Healing Touch through an ordinary devotee like me.

[Editor's note:] Katinka also sent this further update to the story.

KATINKA: Some time later, I travelled to Adi Da Samrajashram. When I arrived at Hermitage, it was Beloved Adi Da's birthday. He was having a gathering with the devotee residents on the island. He was living in Qaravi at the time (the village where devotee residents lived), and we were in His bedroom at His residence, Aham Da Asmi Sthan.

He decided to do laying on of hands on some of us who had health difficulties. He asked me to come on the bed and lie down. I told Him He had healed me already in the bath house at the Mountain Of Attention! He told me to come up anyway, and had me drink a couple of beers first, to relax. By that time, I was crying. I had not had any personal contact like that with Him since the 1970's, so it was very emotional for me. He was healing my heart mostly, but also my body, at a deep level. It was a most deep, intimate, mind-gone, healing occasion!