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In the Eastern tradition, Krishna’s birthday is celebrated during the 8th descending moon phase of Leo, this being today.
I have written a number of blogposts and done various paintings about Krishna. Here is the story of a picture called “The Magic Flute of Krishna” realised seven years ago.
I used a picture of a Krishna statue in my room and did some transformations.
For the background I used a painting of Karl Friedrich Schinkel done for a stage design for Mozart’s opera Magic Flute (1815).
I fused it with a picture I had taken from a magazine 45 years ago – an extract of the Isenheim Altarpiece (1515), Colmar, by the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald showing the emanation of angels from God.
Then I integrated the image of a peacock (bottom left), Krishna’s bird. I put the statue to dark blue; so the image emerged in violet – the right magical colour for Krishna with a “magic flute”.
In “Music of the Soul” and “Man Sacrifice“, Master EK gives the following birth dates according to Eastern Scriptures: 1. Lord Krishna was born in the month of July, 3228 B. C. midnight at Zero hours between the nineteenth and the twentieth. 2. He dropped His physical body on the eighteenth of February, 3102 B.C. Thus, his birth chart looks like this:
From the background of space, there are periodic emanations of creation. They are seen as the radiations of the World Mother coming down through seven planes and in seven colours. Therefore, the Mother is symbolically depicted with a rainbow around her head. The Secret Doctrine speaks of sequences of time periods with a periodicity of seven like the biblical seven days of creation. There are units of seven planetary incarnations called a planetary chain and seven great cycles of humanity called the root races.
To illustrate the World Mother, I transformed a picture of Mary into the blue colour of the background. She is surrounded by a rainbow and seven globes of the planetary chain of our Earth. The globe at the bottom symbolises the physical manifestation of the fourth globe.
Radiant orbs around the Earth indicate the different stages of matter. The chain of seven smaller orbs above the Earth stands for the descent and ascent through the seven root races; the chain carries the glyph of Virgo. At the upper right corner, you can see the outline of the constellation.
Leo is the royal sign of the zodiac. Gold is its metal and the splendour of the golden sunshine represents the lion’s force of creation. The symbol of Leo symbolizes the cave of the heart. The principle of the heart is the principle of pulsation; it is linked to the soundless sound called anahata, the Sanskrit name for the heart centre. In the cave of the heart, the initiates tune into the pulsation as the music of the soul. The radiant golden face of the lion with golden rays emanating from his heart is a meditation on the qualities of this sign.
The central star of the constellation Leo is called Regulus and it is also called the heart of the lion. Through Regulus the transmission of Sirius’ spiritual energies into our system takes place.
I used a photo of a statue in Rajahmundry, India, to design the figure of the lion. I placed a radiant sun and the glyph of the sign at the heart of the lion. Coloured concentric circles indicate the pulsation. Above the head you see the constellation Leo; Regulus is directly above the head of the lion.
Spiritual Astrology regards Cancer as the time of dusk and as the moment where the soul enters into the body and thus, gets sealed in matter. Our mind corresponds to moonlight. It can reflect the soul, the Sun. Moon is the ruler of Cancer and Neptune is exalted in this sign. Like Earth is receiving the rays of Neptune via the Moon, our mind (Moon) is receiving the music of the soul through deep meditation (Neptune).
The image is inspired by the occult meditation no. 16 of Master CVV (see: Ekkirala Krishnamacharya, Spiritual Psychology; and: K. Parvathi Kumar, Occult Meditations): “Moon is silver. I AM the lake. Lake is moonlight, I AM healed. I AM silver. In me the moonbeam awakes. I AM moonlight. In me the Sun is sealed.”
The painting shows the Moon reflecting on the surface of the lake of mind, illustrated by the glyph of Cancer. And down below the Sun is sealed, spreading its light through matter. Behind the Moon you can see the bluish sphere of Neptune, and on its left you find the constellation of Cancer.
Gemini is related to the throat centre which is governed by the element akasha, the content of space; it is represented by the light of the blue or white sky. Gemini stands for duality in creation. In Eastern wisdom, it is symbolised by a male and a female and not by twins. The throat centre is governed by Mercury, the ruler of Gemini. The right use of speech enables us to rise above duality and reach the unity of consciousness.
To visualise the throat centre, I reworked the colours of a water lily. One of its petals forms the pathway leading through the portal of the glyph of Gemini, symbol of the vocal cords. The duality of male and female is depicted by the faces of Hermes/Mercury and of Aphrodite/Venus looking at each other. Over the head of Mercury there is a picture of the planet Mercury.
Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus is the Eye of the Bull, which exists in us as the third eye. This star is called Rohini in the East. It transmits the energies of divine Will. This transmission causes transformation of mental matter so that a reception of light from higher circles becomes possible. If we align to these energies, our will gets impregnated by the divine Will. The divine Will is represented by Lord Shiva who sits in the form of a lingam. His vehicle of expression is the great bull Nandi, an epitome of Taurus.
For the image I multiplied a photo of a lingam to create the different coloured layers of the lingam. I placed the glyph of Taurus at its centre. In the background there is a picture of the constellation of Taurus with Aldebaran at the centre of the glyph. Behind the glyph, I placed – now invisible – a picture of the eye of God from an old fountain in the city of Berne, and a photo of a sunset. A stream of light pours forth from the centre of the Eye of the Bull.
The solar year commences from 0 degrees
in Aries bringing the seeds of a new cycle. From out of the background of
eternity, a new aspect of awareness comes forth. It descends as the annual
impulse from higher circles to our planet to contribute to the evolution of the
planet and the planetary beings. The impulse is symbolised by the glyph of the
sign, the head of a ram. It represents the power to remove obstacles and to
re-adjust the form into better and more advanced states.
I visualised this impulse by fusing two photos of a sunrise taken from an airplane. The glyph of Aries pushes forth from the bottom of the image. I depicted the annual cycle with a circle and the sunrise in its centre. The constellation of Aries is seen behind the sun.
Nearly six months ago, I received a parcel sent by friends from an island in Thailand. It contained a small wooden box with 91 rudraksha beads and a rudraksha necklace, beautifully decorated with a piece of tree bark from a fallen branch of a rudraksha tree, a red tissue and a thread.
The parcel with the rudrakshas
Two years ago they found a first rudraksha in a waterfall area on Koh Phangan island and then started exploring the beauty and depth of rudrakshas in different parts of Thailand. They are publishing information about rudrakshas and other trees and plants and are exploring their sacred vibration and beauty. They are also giving courses on how to use rudrakshas. On the website inaturalist.org, they are maintaining a section “Rudraksha Planet” about observations concerning this holy tree. Originally from Russia, they are working in Thailand with a NGO based in Scotland, Kalos Fund. It is a very inspiring mission.
In a talk in Miami February 2018, Master Kumar spoke on using rudrakshas in the course of a question-answer session, see below. And he has published a booklet on Rudra (more; see here the PDF) explaining more about this lord of Will and of Fire, causing the vibration in the ether
“Question: I have been asked by several people about what you have mentioned that we should soak the rudraksha and change the water daily. The question is: should we drink or not drink that water?
Answer: Drink the water. A rudraksha carries vibrations. Rudra stands for vibration. The vibrations will rearrange the energies in you. That is the beauty of Rudra. There is a book on Rudra so you can look through. The Rudras, they destroy the darkness and build a field of light through their vibrations. A Rudraksha has the impact of these vibrations. That is why a lot of people wear these rudrakshas in the East. A tacha rudraksha daily is very very beneficial. Many people hold it like a chain with the rudrakshas touching their vibrating center at the heart. You daily touch a rudraksha and offer water to it, because it is a very vibrating energy, it is kept cool, kept in poise with water; and water is also electrical. The higher dimension of water is that it is electrical. That is how we originally produced hydro electricity because in the water there is electricity. So, it is electrical and if it is kept cool though you are very vibrant you remain cool. This is the idea of holding a rudraksha. So, daily relating to rudraksha will enable you to gain the vibrations. So, it is the matter of respect that every day you change the water for it.
In the morning you can set it in water and utter forth the mantra for Rudra, OM NAMO BHAGAVATE RUDRAYA. That is the mantra. A much more powerful mantra for relating to Rudra is, YO RUDRO AGNO YO APSUYA OSADISU, YO RUDRO VISWA BHUVAN AVIVESA TASMAI RUDRA YA NAMO ASTU. Like this, there is a mantra, which I also gave here before. In there it says 3 times to utter the mantra Rudra. Do it saying it 3 times, or 5 times or 7 times, maximum 11 times. Eleven are the Rudras. If you can do it, you do it. Otherwise you hold the rudraksha daily, change the water and the vibrations will be there at home.
Everything should be optional; nothing should be compulsory in spiritual practice. But once we accepted to do it, then you have to follow a rhythm. It is like a marriage. Once you are married you are committed. Isn’t it? You can’t change it. Like that, with any practice you can keep it at a optional level or at a level of consecration and commitment.”
Pisces symbolizes the eternal flow of energies. It is a cyclical movement in which the energies come down into the objective manifestation of creation; they develop and finally dissolve again to give way for new manifestations. This is called the movement of the waters of life. We can visualize it as a circular flow of water. It is also regarded as the wheel of creation, the descent and ascent of manifestation. This subtlest form of water is called spiritual waters or electric fire.
During some weeks of November and December 2018 I was in a rehabilitation centre in the Bernese Alps to recover from a cerebral bleeding. From my room there, I was looking over the Lake Thun to the Mount Niesen. The air was full of vibrant vital energy. The mount with its prominent pyramidal shape seemed to be an epitome of matter rising towards the spirit and spirit descending towards dense manifestation. The meeting of spirit/space and matter culminates in the nightly light on the top of the mountain. The lake and the lights of the town of Spiez at its foot receive the vastness of space and reflect the cosmic fire.
At the top of the image I put the arc of a nightly rainbow as a portal towards space. I increased the light spot on the mountain top and surrounded it by a sphere of light penetrating matter. I duplicated the reflections of the city lights to form an embrace. Then I covered the whole picture with a photo of a downpour of water from an old fountain.
The symbol of Aquarius is a man who carries a water jug.
From the opening of the jug, water continuously flows out without new water
flowing in. We only see the water existing as a potential at the moment when it
manifests itself. These are the waters of life that bring forth new unfoldment
every moment.
The figure of the Aquarius in the picture was created
with the help of photos of a fountain in Valencia, Spain, and the head of a
statue of the Sun God in the Capitoline Museums, Rome. Water and stars emerge
from the jug and glide into the waters of space.
Various NASA and ESA star images were used for the background. The constellation of Aquarius in the upper left corner resembles a lightning bolt or an electric fire: The energy of the Aquarius flashes like a lightning. On the right, Uranus, the regent of Aquarius, appears in the waters of the space in which countless suns move.
