New Moon Experiences
Our arrival at the WTT retreat centre in Visakhapatnam, India, happened to be on the day of Capricorn new moon – or, as it is counted in India, Sagittarius new moon. We were invited to join a water ritual at the World Teacher Temple: In the course of the ceremony water was poured over some lingams -egg-shaped stones symbolising the manifestation of divine will out of the space waters or cosmic ether -accompanied by rhythmic singing of mantrams. Later the lingams were decorated with flowers and with some cream of chalk. It was a very elevating and soul-stirring ambiance to experience the vibrations of the ritual on the veranda under a tree top, the night sky above. Sometimes a few persons from the paediatric hospital next door looked through the windows – a peaceful and totally normal scene hard to imagine in a European setting.
Decorated lingam at the end of the water ritual
After the ceremony was over, some delicious rice was distributed as a “Prasad”. Then we left with some Indian friends to the compound of Mithila East, where we participated in a New Moon meditation. At Mithila East there is a free school of the WTT for fishermen’s children plus a free homoeopathic dispensary and a vocational training centre.
The brother of our spiritual teacher explained to us the meditation structure: Visualising Mount Kailash, the spiritual centre located in Tibet, which is said to be the dwelling of Lord Shiva, the embodiment of divine will, with Lake Manasasarovar in the back, representing the quiet mind, keeping on looking at Mount Kailash and receiving the energy of the assembled Great Ones and distributing it to the surrounding, especially to people in need. The profound silence of the meditation elevated all to the sublimes spheres of the no-moon time. After the meditation three beautiful panorama photo posters of Mount Kailash were given to group members, and I received one for our group.
Tired, but filled with serene peace we returned back to the centre.
View of Mount Kailash, photo of a friend, summer 2005
