As a prelude to the Guru Pujas celebration the group went to Simhachalam to visit the temple of Lord Narasimha, the incarnation of the Man-Lion. Like in the previous years, the bus brought us uphill to the temple compound. From a sideway we came to the main entrance and then entered the inner Sanctum Sanctorum where an idol of Narasimha is covered with sandalwood powder forming a lingam. The priest performed a short ritual by chanting some suktams and lighting camphor flames. Then we received scented water and tulsi (holy basil) leaves as a blessings. Afterward we surrounded the temple through the inner court and at the end got a laddu (sweet) as Prasad (blessing). Then most of us took the stairway downhill the beautiful slope, along little temples and statues. There is a magical ambiance of sacred aspiration you perceive when pilgrims ascending the long stairway leading from the plane to the hilltop.

When we arrived in the valley the stream of trucks and tuck-tucks winding through the village brought us back into the “mundane” sphere. We went to our little “dining hall” in the backyard of a house in a side-lane. The cooks from the retreat centre had prepared a good meal for us. Afterwards we went with a bigger group of Western members to the nearby palm forest where we wanted to make “siesta” like in previous years. To our surprise the compound was surrounded by a fence and a farmer chased us away. He showed us a way to a barren field where the full sun was glaring. Most of the group returned. With two friends I went on and after 2-300 meters we found a field with some palm trees – an excellent place to rest.

In the meanwhile the Indian group members had set up the Guru Puja hall and the altar with the pictures of the Masters. It is always astonishing to see how quickly the hall manifests as the beautiful meeting place for the Guru Puja celebrations. It was set up in the forecourt of a pilgrim centre – the chairs and carpets surrounded bushes and trees which became decorations in the hall. On the stage there were the pictures of the great saints and Masters of Spiritual Hierarchy – a very inspiring sight.

Around 5 pm Sri Kumar and his wife opened the yoga conference with a ritual dedicated to Lord Ganesha, an embodiment of the cosmic principle of wisdom. Over the following 3.5 days, there was a series of discourses for about two hours after the morning and evening prayers/meditations. The discourses were held in Telugu and translated into English and from there to German and Spanish, with a live transmission to YouTube. This was the 57^th celebration – it was started in 1962 by Master EK; since 1978 they were held at Simhachalam. About 3-4000 persons take place. It is difficult to imagine how much work it needs to set up the whole structure and to maintain the purity of the place.

Each evening the group of Westerners returned to the retreat centre in Visakhapatnam, where we used to arrive around 10 pm; and each morning we left for Simhachalam around 4.50. Each morning there was a grand ritual: Thursday a fire ritual in honour of the Second Logos; Friday a ritual of the women in honour of the divine mother; Saturday a water ritual in honour of Rudra/Shiva. Afterwards, there were book presentations, blessings of children or other activities.

Friday morning there is always a session on “Spiritual Fusion of East and West”. Together with three other group members from Germany and Spain, I was asked to come onto the podium. Sri Kumar presented the latest WTT publications from Europe and spoke about his tours of last year. Then I was asked to start. I spoke about a Windows (creator) update of my laptop which happened during the December Call in Bangalore and drew parallels to the inner updates we receive by gathering for group lives.

A kitchen was set up for the Western members in the court of a house where we took our meals or partly passed “siesta” time. Besides the meetings I had exchanges with Indian group members and received a number of books.

The time quickly flew by. Yesterday evening there was a closing ceremony of “Guru Padukam” – worship of the feet of the teacher, a profound spiritual symbolism of linking to the divine. The Western members were told not to participate – we would have a meeting with Sri Kumar next morning – and so we returned early in the evening.

Sunday was Pongal/Sankranti, the lunar winter solstice, which is celebrated here as beginning of the year. In the early morning fires were burning in the streets while we went to meditation. The members from Bangalore joined us at Radhamadhavam. After morning prayer Sri Kumar distributed new publications to some of the group members.

Later after breakfast I went with a few members with a taxi to the Planetary Healing Centre outside Visakhapatnam. I love the place very much; however there was a certain decline over the last years. I better understood it after some observations during a talk with the owner of the site who invited us to tea and cookies. Later we went into the beautiful Healing Centre, sang 21 times OM and then did a small ritual in the garden. Afterwards we went to the beach an enjoyed the waves and the sand – a beautiful end of a very beautiful group life. Many group members have already left. Tomorrow at noon time my return journey to cold Switzerland will start.

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