Journey to India, part 3: Group meeting in Visakhapatnam
Part 3/5 Murthy, the caretaker of the WTT retreat center, was already waiting for us at the airport when we arrived 30 December evening. He had organised a small bus, and soon we were driving through the night.
Looking out of the window and seeing the traffic and the colourful lights along the roads, I tried to discover any changes: It was 3 years since my last visit, after a continuous annual series of regular visits since 2000 and then interrupted by corona. I was curious to discover what the visit would be like this time.
Due to the transition of Master Kumar on 1st of November, this was not a group life in Visakhapatnam but a gathering of members who wanted to stay together at the retreat center before the beginning of the Guru Pooja celebration from 10 January onward. Other members went on tours through South or North India or decided to come to the Guru Poojas only.
For those members from the West who wanted to stay in Visakhapatnam, the Indian brotherhood of Visakhapatnam had warmly invited us to come. They had prepared a 9-days program and we would join ongoing regular prayers and rituals at the WTT temple “Radhamadhavam”. I was very grateful for their offer and commitment, since this meant also quite some organisational effort from their side. It was a very profound time with many interactions and exchanges besides the regular daily rhythm.
1 January early morning there was the usual prayer meeting at “Master EK Sundaravanam”, a site with a statue of the Master maintained by members of the WTT at the beach road. It is impressive to see such a statue at such a prominent place, and to have there such an open-air prayer gathering with about 175 members – this would cause big eyes in the West, but not in India. It was the 28th Anniversary celebration of this site. Brother Sri Ch. Satyadev conducted the prayer and the Sri Lakshmi Narayana Pooja with Rudra Namakam mantrams, and after the prayer breakfast was served to the members who participated. Welcome greetings were exchanged, and then we strolled back to the retreat center.
In the evening, there was a small celebration after prayer for the inauguration of the Telugu calendar, together with the presentation of the star registration in the name of “Master KPK” on 7 November 2022.
2 January morning after prayer, we had an interaction with Sri Guru Prasad. Sabine M. and me had prepared a number of questions which we submitted to him, esp. about how we can contribute to maintain and develop the East-West relation, how we can keep the door open for the next generation and what we can do, how can we strengthen cohesion, globalize service activities and what could be next steps. I appreciated the way he answered the questions. (I have no record of his answers.)
In the afternoon we went with a small group to the Planetary Healing Center. The center had been created in 1996 on the basis of plans given by Master KPK. In the last years there had not been an interest from the side of the owner in maintaining contact with the WTT and during my last visits the site seemed to have suffered somewhat and did not make a very well-kept impression. This time, however, it was in a better shape and there were people active to maintain the garden. Nature had recovered very well. We enjoyed very much being there, sitting in the center and singing OM for a while. Then we sat around the Maitreya statue and chanted the song of Lord Maitreya.
In the evening, we had an interaction with Sri Navaneetam. He told us about the developments in the Indian brotherhood.
Next morning and on other days, we saw the videos of last year’s seminar of Master KPK on “Simple Steps to Synthesis”. In the afternoon we visited Ramadri, the beautiful temple site “Hamsavanam” with a huge Hanuman statue, a number of little temples, a training center for enhancing professional skills of women and a “Goshala”, a cow care project with 37 cows. The site and its activities are maintained by a team of volunteers, organised by the Circle of Good Will, India.
On 4 January we made a longer excursion to Borra Caves and Anantagiri resort in a mountainous area.
6 January, we visited the Balabhanu Vidyalayam School and the new Master EK Samskruthi Sadan service center. Some speeches were given, and then certificates for vocational trained women were distributed by WTT heads on this occasion. Also some flowers were planted and lunch was served to us as “prasad” (food gift after a ritual).
7 January we visited the Sripada Srivallabha temple in Pithapuram, about 150 km from Visakhapatnam. We could not start in time in the morning but arrived only 10 minutes before the temple closed at noon. I nevertheless enjoyed being again at this important and energetic place, where I had been already 5 times before. Read more aboutthe mystery of Sripada and the avatars of Lord Dattatreya here. Afterwards, we went to the Kukkuteswara temple and later to the temple of Annavaram – I had reported about this temple several times before.
9 January the group made a visit to the Simhachalam temple which we visited each time before the Guru Pujas conducted over many years in Simhachalam. Since it was no more possible to organise the Guru Pujas there, this year’s celebration was directly in Visakhapatnam, very close to Radhamadhavam and the retreat center.
The group meeting ended in the evening of the 9th with the prayer, a little celebration and dinner at Radhamadhavam. The ambiance over these days was good, the group experience intense, although the group cohesion was somewhat more challenging than in other years since it was not a normal group life, and therefore there were more fluctuations. But I enjoyed very much having more time for deeper exchanges. The program was very well organised by the Indian brotherhood and with much care. And being together again with other members from the West was like a big “family meeting”.
Guru Prasad had been very involved in making the group meeting run well and in supporting members with problems. I also had several conversations with him about issues concerning the development of the WTT.
During the celebration, Guru Prasad pointed out that such longer meetings are very precious. It needs time for profound exchanges which you cannot do with people not sharing the same focus and inner orientation. Especially the time of Capricorn and the energies of the Sun at the start of the ascending arc of the year are very supportive for deeper spiritual alignment.
Therefore, the January seminars and the Guru Pujas will be continued in the coming years, together with the May Call and December Call meetings in Bangalore, solstice and equinox meetings at Master Mountain and, from 2023 on, meditation meetings around Aquarius full moon at the Yoga Friends Society place in Kumbhakonam.
Go to part 1 part 2 part 4 part 5 of the series.
