FORGET all those jokes about lawyers going to hell. This is a true story of divine inspiration: how Audrey Kitagawa, once Honolulu's most famous divorce attorney, closed her law practice and gave away all her active cases in November 1996 to serve God. A divorce attorney
turns spiritual leaderThe petite 47-year-old, who had the reputation of being a real fighter in court, gave up her substantial income to become the full-time leader of the Spiritual Family, composed of hundreds of worshipers who gather for meditation sessions six days a week at a modest home near McKinley High.
Most of her former colleagues in the Hawaii State Bar Association might mistakenly think Audrey Kitagawa, Esq., took down her shingle because of a bad case of pneumonia. Only partially true. The July 1996 illness made her realize it was time to choose priorities -- and to serve one master. Her real mission in life had actually been revealed to her in a premonition during her first year of law school at Boston College.
In that vivid vision, even before she joined the bar, Audrey saw herself giving up her legal career for a sacred calling, one that would lead her to spread the word of God throughout Hawaii and the rest of the world.
Until that happened, and for the next 20 years, she grew professionally and spiritually.
After graduating from law school, Audrey returned to the islands and learned the ropes from divorce attorney and state GOP chairman Tom Rice, before opening her own office at the Hasegawa Komuten building. She was the first to successfully file a "palimony" suit in Hawaii in 1977, and was much in demand, commanding a $200-an-hour fee.
Meanwhile, spiritually, she was following the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna of India, who taught universal tolerance and respect for all religions. These were imparted locally by the "Divine Mother," Flora Nomi, who chose Audrey to carry Sri Ramakrishna's light to the rest of the world.
When Divine Mother left her body on May 22, 1992, Audrey redoubled her efforts to visit followers and lead meditation sessions in cities on the mainland and in Australia.
Imagine: a successful family-law attorney, with the highest possible ranking by the Martindale-Hubbel national rating service for excellence in professional and ethical standards, who gave it all up to become a spiritual leader.
Believe it. She has already affected deeply her local followers -- doctors, other attorneys, housewives, business people, teachers, retirees and students -- who see Audrey as their beloved adviser and leader. Reverently, they bow to her in greeting; the crowd parts whenever she enters a room.
Her followers are (in a terrible economy, mind you) visibly happy and peaceful. In Hawaii, they stand out like sunflowers in a field of wilted weeds.
THESE worshipers, unlike most church-goers, are not asked to make monetary contributions to the cause. They meet to meditate in the simple living room of a house willed to them by Divine Mother, and it's getting more crowded every day.
They believe that the real joys of life are not "out there" in the form of material possessions or outside influences, but are deep within. Is it any wonder that -- in a state where political policy-making has degenerated into name-calling, and trash is uncollected because of a union/city dispute -- these folks have found the answers inside themselves?
This is no lawyer's joke: In the realm of the spiritual, this is going to be big.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.