November 7th, we celebrate the Day of Goodwill and the 78th anniversary of our dear Master, Sri K. Parvathi Kumar (it is the 79th anniversary in Indian counting). He was born on 7th of November 1945 in Vijayawada, a Wednesday at 07:20 AM in the month of Scorpio.

For over 25 years, he had deeply impregnated my life and he is continuing to do so even though he left the physical plane a year ago. For me and others, he is now immortal. When I was at the last May Call celebration the Master conducted himself in Bangalore, 29 May 2022, he explained:

“The work of the soul remains because the soul is eternal. The personality is not eternal. Only in association with the soul it can become eternal. So, the works done by seers, for example the temples built by the seers from thousands of years ago, they remain till date and give us good vibrations. If you build a temple in some road, it will not stay. It will suffer mortality. When you gain immortality, your deeds also gain immortality. When you do not gain immortality, your deeds do not gain immortality. The work of a seer is immortal because he gained immortality by aligning with the soul and the Super Soul. Therefore, the work that he does also remains.”

Master KPK gave a great treasure of Wisdom Teachings, of spiritual practices, and of practical guidance in innumerable dimensions of life. During the last few years of his physical presence, he speeded up his work tremendously in order to anchor it in the consciousness of those who follow the path he has shown – for us who are living now and for seekers in the future.
In the last years especially, he gave several profound books, he initiated different projects and he stabilized group structures and thus, he ignited a great Guiding Light for centuries to come.

For Masters like Master KPK, who are immortal and work forever, there is nothing like birth and death. We celebrate the birthdays of Masters because we are used to birthdays. The truth is that the Great Ones descent and give their presence whenever they are recollected. So, by recollecting the Master on the occasion of his birthday we deepen the inspiration he has given. In this spirit, we continue to celebrate November 7th as the ‘Day of Goodwill’, doing activities for the upliftment of the surrounding life.

By the way, a friend recently asked me why there was no communication done on 1 November about the anniversary of the day of the transition of Master KPK, 1 November 2022. I told her that the Master had explained, death days need not be recollected as birthdays. Thus, we have discontinued in the Astro-diary of WTT to give information about death days of Great Ones, except the White Lotus Day commemorating the work of HPB. We will continue commemorating the birthdays of Master KPK and of the other Masters related to WTT.

A new book of Blavatsky or a wrong claim? I was several times asked about this. Here are some explanations why Franz Hartmann should be considered the real author, not H.P.B. You also find fascinating information about Hartmann and the letters he received from Master Morya and Master Koot Hoomi.

A year ago, a friend informed me about a newly published book said to be of H.P. Blavatsky: “The Land of the Gods. The Long-Hidden Story of Visiting the Masters of Wisdom in Shambala” (Radiant Books 2022). Then, other friends also told me enthusiastically about the book.

I thought it would be a good travel reading for my journey to India in December 22 / January 23 and mentioned the book in the blog-post “On the Verge to India“. So, I bought it plus three additional copies as gifts for friends in India. However, too many other things kept me busy during the journey and afterwards that I didn’t read more of the book than the first 39 pages, the glossary at the end and scrolled through the book.

I saw that it is about journeys into inner dimensions with encounters of masters / adepts but I didn’t find any mention about Shambala inside the original text, only in the Publisher’s Note, the glossary at the end and the presentation of the editors. Although the story seemed to be interesting, I didn’t feel “drawn into the book” . Looking back, something didn’t make sense, and it didn’t really feel that this should be from Blavatsky.

For a group, I had translated to German (unpublished manuscript) two thirds of HPB’s book “From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan” containing stories which were of a different energy than the text of this Shambala book. Moreover, the two original versions of this latter book also weren’t published in HPB’s name but by Franz Hartmann:

In the ‘Publisher’s Note’ of the Shambala book it says: “This book was originally published anonymously by a mysterious ‘Student of Occultism’ in 1887 under the title An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians, yet with copyright in the name of Franz Hartmann. Helena Blavatsky reviewed it, describing it as: ‘A strange and original little story, charmingly fantastic, but full of poetic feeling and, what is more, of deep philosophical and occult truths, for those who can perceive the groundwork it is built upon.’
Those notes were originally written by H. P. Blavatsky because only she could gain access to the Holy of Holies on the Earth — the secret Abode of the Masters of Wisdom, known as Shambhala. In 1939, Helena Roerich, who continued Blavatsky’s mission in the 20th century, also confirmed her authorship: ‘This reporting about the inner life of the Brotherhood was recorded by Franz Hartmann, undoubtedly from the words of H. P. Blavatsky, conveyed with some changes in literary form.’
The Chief Stronghold of Shambhala is located in the heart of the Himalayas. However, the network of its Abodes is also spread within other mountainous and remote locations around the world, in the most inaccessible places. The notes that Madame Blavatsky prepared were, in fact, different stories that occurred both in the Himalayas and the Alps at various times, yet were later tied into one single story narrating the secret order of the Rosicrucians.”

Why should HPB not give her name for these stories or publish them with a pen name, like she had also done before? She never hesitated to give out occult stories. However, it definitely sells better when the new book is published in her name and as a rare new discovery.

What makes me more suspicious is the claim of the sub-title: “The Long-Hidden Story of Visiting the Masters of Wisdom in Shambala”. In esoteric folklore, there are quite a number of stories about a secret valley in the Eastern or Western mountains, be it Himalaya, Alps, or somewhere else, like Shangri-La or Lost Horizon, where adventurers have mystic experiences and meet sages like the figure of the Imperator in the said Shambala book, a mysterious world.

However, these stories have nothing to do with Shambala as described in the wisdom teachings. They are in a way distorted reflections of the reality of Sravasti, also called Shigatse or Tashi Lhunpo. The Roerichs, who had indeed come into contact with Shambala, through tremendous service, sacrifice, and self-offering, kept, as far as possible, silent about their visit.

Nicholas Roerich, however, did a number of paintings, like the last paintings of his life on “Order of Rigden Jyepo” a name of Sanat Kumara, the ruler of Shambala, or his painting ‘King of Shambhala‘ in the Zanabazar Art Museum in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia. Shambala is a very different reality than what has been given now in ‘The Land of the Gods’. See here.

I put the book aside. During a talk in August 23, a friend from Berlin mentioned the book and said that he had read the text of Hartmann (see here the PDF of “An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians” by Franz Hartmann, 1887) and that he is sure that this text is from Hartmann and not from Blavatsky. The editors of the ‘Land of the Gods’ had done various omissions and adaptations one of the omissions he found of particular interest in the original text:

On page 175f of ‘An Adventure…’, the author speaks about the sexual encounter with the Queen of the Nymphs: “A voluptuous sensation pervades my whole being…” and then he falls out of the subtle dimension and finds himself back on the physical plane, asking himself if all he experienced had merely been an illusion of his brain. Did the publishers omit this scene because they found it objectionable for giving the story in the name of HPB and as book about visiting the Masters of Wisdom in Shambala?

Last September, a friend from Miami asked me if I think that this book is from Blavatsky. I answered, I don’t know but I am sceptical. However, I didn’t know much about Franz Hartmann and wanted to know more about him. I searched the web and found information which fascinated me very much.

There is an article “Franz Hartmann: A Pioneer of the Theosophical Movement” by Susanne Hoepfl-Wellenhofer published in the Quest magazine in winter 2022 (you can download it here as a PDF). You get very interesting information about the life of Hartmann, who grew up in Bavaria. He spend the last years of his life in contact with an esoteric group of Rosicrucians in the pre-Alps, where you meet scenes as described in the said Shambala book.

Another article from a blog touched me even more: Franz Hartmann, ‘Correspondence with the Masters’ (see PDF here), a compilation of information about letters Hartmann received from Master Morya and Master Koot Hoomi. They give very interesting insights in why the Masters chose to work with Hartmann and what difficulties he faced. I don’t want to go more into this here but the texts are worth reading.

To close this article, I would like to give you here an extract from the biography “HPB. The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement” (PDF) mentioning Hartmann at various places. Although HPB was sceptical towards Hartmann at the beginning, until Master Morya told her to trust him, they quickly became very good friends. And Hartmann stayed true and loyal towards her and the wisdom teachings of the Masters she had given out. He stood as a stronghold of defence against all attacks brought forward by the ignorants.

Read the last passage and think of how the book ‘An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians’, published by Franz Hartmann and now re-edited in a re-worked form as ‘The Land of the Gods’ under the name of H.P. Blavatsky might have come into existence.

Yesterday, 9 October 2023, was the 149th birthday of Nicholas Roerich (9 October 1874 – 13 December 1947). On this occasion, the Anima team shared a video they recorded last August in the Roerich Museum in Manhattan about Roerich’s years in New York (“Who was Nicholas Roerich and what did he do in NY?”).

Even if it is in Spanish, you can activate the automatic subtitles or just enjoy the visual tour of the museum that is offered in the video.

See here the Anima YouTube channel with English videos.

Before humans coming, nature is there. Before and independent of our experiencing, the creative power of nature expresses itself and shapes the forms. Last Sunday, my wife and I were at a valley near the Eiger North Face. There is a small road going uphill from Meiringen through the Reichenbach (Rychenbach) valley in the Bernese Alps towards Grindelwald.

The valley was illumined by soft, golden autumn light shining through the trees. We had a look at some places and then stopped at the parking near the Rosenlaui glacier canyon.

Over eons of time, water from the Rosenlaui Glacier had dug a deep gorge into the stones, pressing through the rocks with great intensity. Humans had cut an uphill pathway into the sidewall of the canyon and through tunnels at medium height between the riverbed and the upper end of the gorge.

We experienced awe-inspiring moments when we approached the canyon and then stood inside, surrounded by rock faces. When we went through the gorge, the Sun just lit up the chasm and illuminated the drops of water falling from above. Rapids, roaring waterfalls, darkness, then spashing sunlight – intense impressions.

As the path became tight, I had to keep my hand at the handrail when looking downward or upward. It is an experience like going through a time of crisis, where you have to look for each next step only and go forward slowly. Along a path others have prepared before but which you have to walk yourself.

On this pathway through the rocks, you can only climb uphill, the path being too small for two directions. It comes again out of the abyss at the upper end. In a crisis, you will also come out again at the upper end when you have walked through into a new phase of life.

Outside, there was a small rock garden with many little towers of pebbles, “stone people”. Seen from the here, the chasm looks quite small.

We went down again and then through the valley to the Schwarzwaldalp (“Black Forest Alp”) on the pass road from the Haslital over the Grosse Scheidegg pass to Grindelwald; the small hamlet now consists just of a hotel, a simple tourist hostel with a restaurant, and an old sawmill.

The sawmill in its present size dates from 1896. It was constructed for building a spa house which burned down in 1943. An old man together with his grandson was operating the saw slowly cutting the trunk to wooden planks.

During lunch on the terrace of the hostel, we were surrounded by hikers, bikers and tourists which the post buses had brought uphill. Later, we we went a bit further along the road towards Grindelwald, which is blocked for non-public motor vehicles, and down to the Reichenbach river. When driving back from the mountains, we were still under the spell of the intense beauty and wildness of the Alpine mountain nature.

Time offers different qualities. Especially the solstices and the equinoxes carry specific qualities which are supportive for spiritual practices. It is very good to align to these specific energies time offers. 20 September 2023, I had given a short introduction about “Tuning into Autumn Equinox Celebration” at a Zoom equinox meeting of WTT-Global, illustrating the energies with some of my paintings.

Since 10 years, we have been celebrating the solstices and equinoxes at the Paracelsus Center of WTT in Einsiedeln. Whenever the weather allowed, we started with a fire ritual on the Etzel Pass mountain ridge. The day before, it had intensely rained but on Libra equinox morning the rain had stopped. We decided to go, while the clouds were hanging low.

There is a nice place in a small clearing at the ridge. The forest was wet but singing the mantrams of the the fire ritual created a sublime ambiance.

The low-hanging clouds created a mystic ambiance over the landscape.

Master KPK had inspired the creation of the Paracelsus Center and had accompanied it over the years. He pointed out the important of Paracelsus, a great spiritual Master whose impulses had a profound impact on the development of medicine, especially naturopathy. He was born at the place where the Paracelsus Center is located.

We prepared the room, did a little ritual of candle lighting and a guided equinox visualisation. Later in the afternoon, we studied a talk of Master KPK on the importance of Libra (autumn) equinox.

In the afternoon, the sun came out for a while and we walked along the Sihl river to a little shrine of Maria near a waterfall. She is an emblem of the World Mother.

The evening meditation closed our autumn equinox celebration. We were a small group but in the wareness of being linked to many who were also celebrating the equinox around the globe. We were thankful for being allowed by time to participate.

It was 1st of January 2020 in Visakhapatnam, India. In a talk with Master KPK, I spoke to him about the need of creating a digital archive to collect all video and audio material, publications and transcriptions and relevant photo material related to the World Teacher Trust, meaning mainly the work of Master EK and Master KPK. At that time, the material was dispersed on various personal computers and hard-disks. He agreed and found it an important idea.

9 months later, the archive project was started with a team of 7 members – highly qualified, living in different corners of the globe. In the meanwhile, it was Corona time. The need for digital collaboration had highly increased – and there was time for these members to come together – their jobs were on “home office”. For about 2 years, we followed an intense rhythm of meetings, of concept-discussions and of building up a cloud-based archive structure. And then we collected many terabytes of material, mainly saving video recordings from seminars and teachings in various languages.

I asked Master KPK to give a name to this archive. He said “Kombo Cave”. I didn’t understand what it means; and I didn’t find anything on the web. So, I asked again. He answered: “Kombo Cave is the name of the cave where the scrolls of wisdom of Pythagoras were stored – but don’t ask me more.” I understood. We named the cloud archives Kombo Cave. And: “Inspired by the lives and teachings of the great Teachers of Eternal Wisdom”.

It is non-public, just for those who work with the material. Later, an area is planned to be made accessible to interested seekers – but we are not yet there. The cloud space, however, gives possibilities for certain group collaborations.

When Corona started to recede, the personal job work load of the team members increased again. It became more difficult to continue with the pace of the free goodwill work for the archives. We did some re-structuring. Video editing – in a team work – takes a lot of time; qualified members capable of doing such work are very rare (video consumers are plenty….).

We searched for other ways. We wanted high quality, not quick “social media friendly video spots” but videos with wisdom teachings for seekers. It is a different level.

It took quite some time to create the intro and outro templates for the videos, with the motive “sunrise and sunset at the Master Mountain in the Nilagiris“, for the titles, with the right music. We finally found a very experienced Indian bamboo flute player to give some sequences from the “Maitreya song”.

For bringing out these videos, we just prepared a YouTube video channel for the WTT-Global and have taken over another channel, where several videos about Master KPK’s teachings etc. had been published already previously. We did a re-branding to give it a new outlook. The address of the new channel is https://www.youtube.com/@WTT-Global.

Now, in time for Libra Equinox, the video “Autumn Equinox Discourse” by Master KPK, September 21 2020, (59 min.) has just been published on YouTube. It is the first video publication with the new design. Other videos are soon ready to be published.

Each year during the 4th ascending moon phase of Virgo, we celebrate the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the lord of wisdom and the cosmic principle of Jupiter, as well as the birthday of Sripada Srivallabha, the first avatar of Lord Dattatreya in Kali Yuga. Dattatreya being the cosmic teaching principle, Sripada also expresses the energies of Ganesha.

3 September 2011, I did a painting uniting Ganesha and Dattatreya, called “Sagittarius: The Tree of Wisdom and the Waters of Life”. Here is the description.

Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, representing the teacher and the search for wisdom. In the Eastern teachings the cosmic Jupiter is symbolised by Ganesha, the elephant-headed God, the incarnation of divine wisdom. The principle of the Teacher on the cosmic plane is Lord Dattatreya, the higher potency of Lord Maitreya, who is worshipped as the world teacher. Dattatreya is illustrated as a youth with 3 heads. The tree related to Jupiter, wisdom and meditation, is the Ficus Religiosa.

I started with a photo of a statue of Ganesha reading a book of wisdom. Behind him there is the trunk of a Ficus Religiosa. In its crown there are the three heads of Lord Dattatreya. Above you see the eyes of Lord Narayana. Looking into these magical eyes leads you to the inner dimensions. The brilliance of the higher energies is visualised in the white flame between the eyes, hinting at the third eye, the divine opening.

I created with crayons the movements of the ascending and descending etheric flow and the flames surrounding the heads of Dattatreya. I was fascinated by the innocence of the childlike looks that are full of divine peace and radiance.

As for Lord Ganesha, he seems to enjoy sitting there under the Ficus tree and reading the book of eternal wisdom. Everything is a part of the flowing movements and the mystery of Creation.

The first newsletter came out for Leo Full moon 2000. It was called “Full Moon Round-Letters”, as a direct translation from the German word “Rundbrief” – I thought, it is not “news” but about eternal wisdom, so I didn’t want to call it “news-letter”…

The idea for this newsletter was given by Master Kumar, when my wife and I met him in the home of friends in Zurich in June 2000. Following a suggestion of the Master, the newsletter was called “The Lunar Messenger” from Leo 2004 on.

The topics expanded from spiritual astrology to general spiritual topics. “The Lunar Messenger” became the monthly synthesis of various aspects of the wisdom teachings, while the newsletter contained other messages related to the teachings, like book presentations or, from 2010 on, the Pictures of the Month. And the pictures are given with an extract of the wisdom teachings on the website of the Circle of Good Will, while they are given with a detailed explanation of the image and the symbolisms on the website ludgerphilips.org.

We are now in the 14th cycle of the monthly paintings giving facets of the symbolism of spiritual astrology. And with Leo, we are starting the 24th annual cycle of the newsletters of the Circle of Good Will.

Leo is experienced with the golden light in the heart center, the light of Buddhi. When our heart lotus is blossoming, we can ascend and reach from there the head center with the electric radiant light in the Ajna. It is not a technical matter but it requires inner work and outer acts of good will. For this, we receive support and inspiration from the teacher and the wisdom teachings.

The Images of Synthesis give short extracts from the wisdom teachings. And the 14 images for the month of Leo illustrate the related astrological symbolisms with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Or you subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts for putting wisdom into practice – the only way for character transformation.

Like in the last years, I spent a few days with friends in the Lake Constance area at the end of June / beginning of July. Sabine and Manfred are living in a beautiful house on a hillside in Heiligenberg with a wide view over the area of Lake Constance. With much dedication, Manfred has transformed the small garden into a paradise garden with many flowers and fruits.

They provided me with a lounger in the garden under an apple tree – when I arrived I was a bit exhausted from the very intense preceding weeks and I enjoyed it very much to slowly come down here with the activities. I had also prescribed myself a few days of computer diet without internet… The sound of the little fountain and the birds made me relax very quickly.

Sabine had planned some excursions in the surrounding area. There are beautiful spots along the lake. We made a small excursion on the first day and first visited the Cistercian monastery of Birnau. The beautiful baroque church offers a great view over the lake.

As we walked to the church gate, some padres came running with swinging strides – I had to smile thinking of my youth experiences as an altar boy in a monastery very close to my parents’ home.

Later in the afternoon we attended a presentation at the Raffin barrel organ builder in Überlingen. While they used to build barrel organs themselves, today it is mainly a hobby. They restore old instruments and produce music rolls. Of course, we were also given the opportunity to try out how to operate this small organ.

On Sunday we went for a walk along the lake. Besides excursion steamers, a zeppelin from Friedrichshafen also flew along the lake shore.

In the evening we picked up an elderly group member and drove to Betenbrunn, a small village with a pilgrimage church of St. Maria, a rococo shrine. In the church in the evening there was an organ and clarinet concert with classical and more modern music.

Sunday afternoon there was a small group meeting for Cancer Full Moon with a fire ritual.

Meditations, profound exchanges, relaxing and gathering raspberries in the garden… It was a very nice stay.

Monday after breakfast, I had to leave already because Franz had invited me to inaugurate his new house half an hour’s drive away. He is living in the small village for a while already, but there is still a lot of work to do. For the house-warming ceremony, we put candles in all the rooms, went through the house with incense sticks, chanting the mantra OM Namo Narayanaya, and meditated in his meditation room.

Then after lunch, it was for me back to the motorway, back towards Bern.

Today is the 73rd birthday of Sri Krishna Kumari (born 22.07.1951), the late wife of Master Kumar.
Kumari-Garu was a protecting and caring mother for the whole WTT, so she is also called Mother Kumari by many. There is a book about her life, “A Mother to Many” (PDF, short version) containing a biography by Guru Prasad, her son – he is now the 3rd president of WTT-Global, after Master EK and Master KPK), and many souvenir articles about her life.

There were many occasions where I had met her together with the Master. She was always a great support for his work. Her heartfelt attention and silent presence deeply touched me. During last year’s birthday celebrations, Master Kumar spoke a few words about Sri Krishna Kumari:

“Her coming into my life happened with the guidance and blessings of Master EK. By 1972, I completed my education and doing well with my profession. It was time for my marriage and I felt that I should marry someone who supports me well in my aspirations towards Divine. My aspiration for Divine is stronger than any other aspect of my life, right from my childhood. I wished to continue with the same aspiration even after marriage.
It was towards the end of 1971 that I started getting closer to Master EK after the foundation of WTT. I was getting many proposals for marriage in 1972 and I decided that I would follow the advice of Master EK in the aspect of marriage. Once I took the astrological chart of Krishna Kumari and me to Master EK and asked for his advice. He assessed both our charts for almost 1 hour and 40 minutes and told me “your charts are very well balanced and she is a very good match to you. So proceed ahead without any doubt.”
I then conveyed the same to her family. I even wrote a letter to Krishna Kumari garu about my aspirations in life and sought her support in that direction. She replied back to me that she too has similar aspirations in life and would be glad to join me on the path.
From them on we moved forward in the path and direction shown by the Master. What all I did is as per the will of the Master because I realised that there is no point in having personal will in this path. There were a lot of responsibilities that were entrusted to me which she did not expect but cooperated in everything that I did.
Her will is very strong and as a result she could stretch herself to do anything that is required to be done. Her body did not cooperate so well in her later years yet she did not let us hinder the work that she had to do. She worked purely based on her will to do.
She became a role model to many and inspired many women throughout her life. She became a motherly figure to many, not only in India but to many in other countries.”

For last year’s birthday anniversary celebration, a photo slideshow video had been published as a souvenir. And this year, a video has been published.

May her great example continue to inspire people.