Three emus at Fear-No-More Zoo

Adi Da Visits the Zoo, 1997

A story by Stuart Camps

It had been about two months since Adi Da Samraj had visited the zoo, when He took a leisurely walk there with His family on a sunny morning in February. Wearing his sandals and an orange sulu, Adi Da first came upon the large, new emu and llama enclosure which we had just completed. The four emus and three llamas all came over to the fence line, where Adi Da could pet and interact with them. He jingled a set of keys for the emus, telling them in a deep voice, "This is the Truth!" The emus paid little attention to the keys. Laughing, Adi Da joked about their already awakened state, shown by their indifference to the shiny, jangling keys.

As He crossed the small wooden bridge, Fagin the raven came hopping down the path in his comical gate. He went right up to Adi Da, squawked, and tried to nip one of His toes. Adi Da bent forward, His hands on His thighs, and began cawing and croaking playfully with the bird.

Adi Da next proceeded to the finch aviary and then to the chameleon house. Fagin bounded along with the group a short way, trying to undo one of the devotees' shoelaces. As Adi Da entered the chameleon house, one of the devotees asked whether they should take their shoes off. No sooner than I'd said it wasn't necessary, Adi Da paused to slip off His sandals.

Meller's chameleon

Once inside Adi Da asked not to be told where any of the chameleons were, as He wished to find them Himself. Upon spotting the female Meller's chameleon, He asked if the male was larger than her. When I confirmed that he was the larger of the pair, Adi Da replied slowly, fanning His open hands toward their large enclosure, "That's why I can't see him.... He's a-a-l-l of this."

Meller's are big chameleons. Once Adi Da spotted the male, I brought him out for Him to hold. Adi Da sat in His chair, and the big Meller's lay across His arm, holding firmly with his strong 'hands'. The Spiritual Master sat quietly, smiling with the chameleon, enjoying its disposition of contemplation. I marveled at His intimacy with this creature. After a few minutes He began talking about the chameleon's profile, and how the face shows an individual's personality in its entirety, regardless of species or type. Later that night Adi Da developed this consideration further [please see The Personality In the Face in the talks section], explaining how non-humans, if captive, must be served according to their individual personality. He spoke about how all horses, for instance, do not have the same character. Each one is a distinct individual, and in order to grow as a being, its specific needs must be served. Each one should be given a circumstance in which to grow and mature as it needs.

Adi Da then viewed some of the baby chameleons, several only a day old, and also one which was still in the process of hatching. He held one of the babies up to His face, gently touching its little nose to His own nose.

Flash, a male lory

After about half an hour with the chameleons and frogs Adi Da went to visit Jingle Baba, the Bactrian camel, and then the Aldabra tortoises, and the red lories (parrots). We described to Him some of the new words and phrases which the male lory, Flash, had learnt. Adi Da tried to get Flash to repeat them back to Him, but true to form, Flash just sat there on his perch, looking kind of amused. Adi Da blew him a loud raspberry in response, laughed happily, and made His way up the path to Ordeal Bath Lodge.

In this particular visit to the zoo I felt Adi Da clearly initiate something new in the process of the zoo's development of becoming a sign of His teaching work, and of the breadth of His blessing work of all beings. It was wonderful to see Him enjoy the animals so much.