Looking back to the journey to India 10 days after returning, the impact of the experiences slowly become clearer. The memories of details recede; exchanges with close friends or with my wife have given shape to certain moments by telling about them. But there is more to it, and it needs time to digest. It is one thing to be under the direct impact of situations and exchanges and it is another to observe transformations happening inside and to perceive how the trip was enriching to the inner growth of awareness. There were moments and observations which have contributed to it.

I have been at many group lives and seminars with Master Kumar over the last 25 years – journeys to India, in Europe, to North and South America. I have been keen on absorbing the teachings, on digesting them by intense taking notes, on developing a network of like-minded people. Friendships developed or were deepened. There were incidences and encounters which moved and partly challenged me – health issues, digesting situations and impressions, re-stabilizing in everyday life after some climax experiences. There were ideas for projects or service activities coming up which needed to be developed through months and years. This has been much enriching for my life. It was and is an unfoldment to many dimensions.

The last journey has been special – short but again very intense: two days of travelling, five days of group living, long hours of meditation, of rituals, of long lectures of the Master full of energy and with great presence, where he was surmounting all physical disabilities, radiating joyfulness, uplifting the large group present in the hall and outside and also participating online somewhere on the planet. Intense talks; eating in the hall with the other Westerners, where mindful and cheerful Indian ladies, group members, took lovingly care of serving us food; being accommodated as a group in the houses of group members in the surrounding. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor, short nights, getting up at a quarter to four, having time for bathroom and doing asanas before going to the morning prayers. Witnessing much attention of many helpers looking to the many details of organising – arrivals and departures of the participants, housing, transports – in an unexcited and efficient way… A strong presence of group consciousness with a pleasant absence of a commercial attitude. An experience of brotherhood.

After the journey, I try to distil what I should integrate into my way of life and add to my daily or weekly practices. This part goes more to the core and has a long lasting influence. There were hints of Sri Kumar which impressed me – on the importance of one-to-one relations in group building; on sharing one’s knowledge about the Hierarchy and the wisdom teachings and letting friends and relatives participate; on the inner strength needed for conducting ritualistic work and its magnetism; on the power of inner relating and visualising; on feeling the Master consciousness existing as ourselves and recollecting the presence of the Master. Not much can be mentioned here. But applying such hints is the essence of experience and development. Otherwise, things are quickly forgotten, and the journey would just have been an entertaining adventure.

When composing the new Lunar Messenger of the symbolism series on the symbolism of the monkey, for the Aquarius newsletter (still unpublished), I discovered that there is a profound difference between the Western and the Eastern understanding of the famous symbolic representation of the three monkeys:

While the three monkeys today in the West usually stand for “not wanting to see, hear or say anything” in order to ignore unpleasant things, in the East they symbolise three wise monkeys:

One monkey has his eyes covered, thus showing “I do not see the unimportant”. Another monkey covers his ears: “I do not listen to the unessential”. The third monkey covers his mouth: “I do not speak or eat unnecessarily”. These are instructions to be applied by a disciple of the Master’s precepts. In this way we prevent undesirable things and diseases from entering us.

When searching photos of the symbol for a future video on the three monkeys, I came across the following photo of the Indian Prime Minister Modi presenting the gift of a copy of statues of the three monkeys to the then US-president Trump and his wife Melania on 24 February 2020. The statues are in the garden of the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India.

The photo with these three persons and the three monkeys, chosen as a gift from India to America, is highly symbolic of the much-needed “fusion of the wisdom of the East and the strength of the West” to overcome the global antagonisms. “East” and “West” do not mean locations on the planet but “material” and “spiritual”. There is much “west” in the “East” and much “east” in the “West”.

Taurus is the first earthy sign of the zodiac. It belongs to the fixed cross and provides form and stability. Venus rules over Taurus and gives beauty to the form. Subtle forces radiate through a beautiful form bestowing splendour on it. This splendour is an expression of the subtle beings of light. At Taurus full moon the light descends in a great measure. Since ancient-most times, the Masters of Wisdom and their disciples assemble at the time of this full moon in the Vaisakh Valley of the Himalayas to receive a fresh impulse of energies of Will and to distribute them on the earth.

The symbolism of Taurus is visualised in the twelve Taurus paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and from the standpoint of light it is celebrated as the true beginning of the year. It is the sign of the birth of a new idea, which starts unfolding its activity. Each time a planet enters into Aries, a cycle is completed and a new one begins.

Aries is the highest point of enlightenment and at spring equinox the sun is also at the highest point at the equator. In our body, Aries is in the upper part of our head, it is the radiant light of the head centre. In the Vedas Aries is also worshipped as the head of the cosmic person called Purusha.

The symbolism of Aries is visualised in the twelve Aries paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Pisces speaks of the wheel of creation and of cyclical endings and beginnings. For seers, time is a flowing current or stream in which the past, present and future merge. The symbol of Pisces is a symbol of synthesis. It contains two fishes moving in opposite directions. Although the Pisces fishes appear as two, they are actually one. In truth, there is neither beginning nor ending, but a single continuous movement in which we think we see beginnings and endings, depending on our levels of perception and understanding.

The symbolism of Pisces is visualised in the eleven Pisces paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Winter is back with full strength in Europe. Yesterday evening in the online class friends from Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark told me about heavy snow and frost of minus 15° over the country. This morning it was also quite cold here but “only” about minus 10° C.

Since nearly 21 years, I am regularly doing a short fire ritual on Sunday morning, whatever the weather – except with storm/intense rain. So also this morning. It was a beautiful energy – and silence still all around, where normally during the week rush hour traffic pushes its noisy way to the highway. While I was singing mantric chants in a low voice, the rising flames were spreading their magic light.

After the fire ritual I did my “morning walk ritual” through through our neighbourhood and over the nearby field. It was just the time of daybreak.

It was so cold that my camera shut down after this picture – or was the battery simply empty?

This is part 3 of my correspondence (extracts) with the young Indian seeker. And the illustrations are again from an excursion to the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content.

She wrote about my remarks to her book draft on ‘The Planets’: “Your remarks gave me the motivation to pour my heart and soul into this book. I am planning on writing one chapter on each planet in the second section after introduction. Do you know where I can find more information on planetary chains Master Kumar mentioned in his Merry Life teachings? He spoke about every planet having a chain of seven planets. I tried searching for this on the WTT website and found some interesting things which are remotely related to this concept but that’s all.”

I answered: “The ‘Planetary Chains’ are an important and very profound subject. Master KPK has only rarely used this term, sometimes in reference to Secret Doctrine but you find the wisdom in many places. I haven’t yet picked it up in the text of the Lunar Messengers, but in several paintings, here the last one, with explanation.
Search in the book on Moon of Master KPK for “chain”. See also in the book of Master EK about Spiritual History of Mankind, his talk on Planetary Chains. On the WTT website you also find material by just searching “chain“, for example in the text on Pralaya…
Yes, the globe chains are an important subject. I below give you a short extract from the text of a future book (not enclosed here)…

As per these topics, I somehow feel like giving you a little word of warning, also in context of writing the planet book – I’m speaking about myself, my experiences….
Studying such topics / wisdom teachings can be like a drug, opium. It is extremely fascinating and I devoured many things – though they were not yet so easily accessible like today, in the pre-web times “of yore”. Myself, and many students, get lost in this ocean. It needs a sound stability, integrity, and focus on service.

If you are not stable in life but would write a lot, you might be triggered to do books and have a living by that. Wisdom is not for sale, given for free, passed on, as much as possible for free. One has to firmly stand in life and fulfil one’s obligations, and when this is well established, and necessary service orientation is there, then it is safe to go into the depth of the ocean without getting drowned. Often you don’t notice where the dangers begin but with a selfless life as per HPBs “Golden Stairs” (which we should regularly recite, as orientation), then it’s fine and most welcome.
Don’t neglect your studies, even though you will have to put much mental stuff into your brain, even against your values, like as you mention Big Pharma… Even there, we can work for light, with the “insulation” of a stable right inner orientation. But of course, naturopathy makes it easier.
Master KPK said, that he did not go in his professional life by what he wanted (study physics) but what his parents recommended, and so stood free financially, not as a beggar. (he told me, he never presented a bill to his clients, some gave something, others not, but all was cared for.)
I mention this to sound a note of balancing your life well when deciding to go into spiritual activities. When the outer is stable and well set, you are free to go inside. Otherwise, Saturn will stand there as the guardian of the threshold….”

She replied: “Thanks for your email. I now have enough info on planetary chains and I am thinking if I should write about it in the book. It is an important concept but also a difficult one. Let’s see how it goes.
I totally get your point about balancing both inner and outer worlds. This is something I did not understand before coming in contact with the WTT. My family’s ‘obsession’ for money and the regular spiritual icons made me believe that money is evil. Then I thought about Master Kumar who excelled in academics, career and spirituality. How we do one thing is how we do everything. After taking him as an example I understood that as long as we have rhythm and discipline, we will do well in both worlds. Doing well in both worlds is important.”

I answered: “Indeed, money is a very essential spiritual topic, and the Master often has spoken about a right use, also in professional life – here are, if you have not yet seen it, some of the basic thoughts on Money and Good Will.
I was also very impressed about Master Kumar’s excellence in academics as well in professional life – and that Master CVV’s 200 % life, objective and subjective is the right approach, not neglecting one side or regarding it as bad. However, we should be aware of the effect of our doing. I add below also an extract of my seminar notes of a meeting near Brussels from 27 June 2017 (not included here). A member mentioned that he left his job because he could no more stand for what he had to do in a big pharma company. I was thinking of him when hearing about your objections of getting into Big Pharma business…

I feel you fresh and profound search and like your creative approach to spirituality, and so staying in contact might be helpful for the unfoldment of light. Yes, with the right inner orientation you will go through all the challenges of your study, and in this you might be slowly of some good use in the work for the Plan.”

Here is part 2 of my correspondence (extracts) with the young Indian seeker. And again you find some illustrations from an excursion to the Lake Neuchâtel and the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content.

She wrote: “Our paths have so many similarities; I am really glad I found somebody who understands my ‘problem’. It is amazing how parents expect all these things from us forgetting the fact that we have existed for millions of years before taking birth through them. We have our own destiny with which others should not meddle. 

Our conversation about fire makes me want to read the book of Master KPK on Agni. I will start it after finishing the transcription (she is helping with transcribing a video). I hope I am not taking too long to do it. If so please tell me and I will hurry up. I really like this task and I want to do more of this with time but I am in the process of building self-discipline from scratch and I am trying not to overwhelm myself.”

I replied: “Interesting about the similarities – who knows what’s behind the curtain… Yes, for years, there were conflicts with the expectations of my parents as well…
The book on Agni is certainly good to gain a deeper understanding of the work with fire. …
Good to know about the progress of the transcript – go by your speed, not by expectations. If you keep the focus, it is the right speed. I would only ask if you would get stuck in it.
Yes, the transcriptions are part of your building of self discipline, and rhythm, and a great instrument – taking up some such activity kindles the inner fire and gets you into contact with the energy of the Master. Indeed, don’t overwhelm yourself, be friendly with yourself.

One thing came into my mind – if you don’t yet do so, you might think of keeping a spiritual diary / notebook for your experiences / impressions. / thoughts.
See here the extract about “Practical Instructions” from Master EK, “Spiritual Psychology” – go by what is practical for you. As per the recommendations there, take them also in a friendly way, not with any moral pressure.
Here are also remarks of Master KPK about the practice, chapter 7 – you can scroll through and just read the 5 instructions of Master CVV.

Reply: “My university reopened on Monday this week and I started attending online classes. I also enrolled myself in a gym. I am starting to feel positive about life again and it’s a great feeling…
I won’t even attempt reading hardcore Theosophy before listening to Master Kumar’s explanations. In my experience all the theosophical books I came across are very hard to read and to understand. I think a change began with Master EK whose works give a great volume of information and also captivate readers. Master Kumar uses simple language and does an amazing job in tuning our minds to the wavelength of Theosophy. Reading Jupiter really shaped my way of thinking and I am very grateful to him for bringing out this book.
I thought about keeping a spiritual diary but never got myself to actually do it. Thanks a lot for sharing these extracts from Spiritual Psychology and The Theosophical Movement. The fact that your last mail arrived exactly at 01:11 makes me think it is a hint from the Masters…
I would also like to share my work on “Planets” with you. At the beginning I thought of writing it as a long essay with many paragraphs but later it turned into a blog with several posts and now looking at the way it is unfolding itself, I think it will become an ebook. I am not in a hurry to make it public though. I want to take time to write it well and cover all the important points.
So please feel free to point out my mistakes and to give me a sincere opinion (which I know you always do). I shared it with some of my friends who are my age and who have never read anything related to spirituality before. They looked like they understood; they even went on to discuss these things with me.

My answer: “Yes, Master EK and more so Master KPK gave out the wisdom in a much easier style – HPB remains great, the books of the Tibetan are quite a challenge, I read a lot and forgot most of it, after having studied 18 years, nearly all books, before getting into WTT ….
For a while, I was very intensely taking notes in the diary over years, now it is more sporadic but I keep thoughts / impressions coming directly either on a piece of paper at hand or in the booklet – otherwise, they quickly vanish again, even if they seem to be very clear for a moment.
I read your text on “Planets” – chapeau! Very well digested thoughts from Spiritual Astrology / the teachings, and in fluid style. As per the content I didn’t find anything incorrect or unclear… Go ahead – it strongly seems that you are not doing such writing as a fresher but with a rucksack.

In yesterday’s meditation some thoughts came, I write them as per me – not as per you, because I can’t look inside you 😉
When working with the teachings of the Master, giving them in my words, for a very, very long time I tried to keep as close as possible to their line of thoughts not to get into the clouds of my brain and intellect. I felt “i” have nothing to say and don’t feel ripe for the sublime planes from where the brilliant thoughts of the Master(s) come. And though slowly, I got a bit more “fluent”, I feel like wanting to keep as close on their track as possible, though becoming more versatile over the years. I very deeply know that what “i” write then is not “from me” but just using my personality mask to express the thoughts they handed down from Eternal Wisdom. Then it flows fine. Otherwise, very quickly the intellect’s incapacity of dealing with supra-mental stuff comes to the fore.
It is very encouraging that you bring over the wisdom to some of your friends – may the soul seeds sprout well.”

Were it strange coincidences that I came across the topic of raising awareness for wisdom issues in the younger generation in apparently unrelated situations during the last week?

The topic is already longer in my mind since long but mostly in a dormant state. In a talk with Sri Kumar four weeks ago he gave some proposals concerning youth involvement which I carry in me in a germinal state since then.

Ten days ago, a group of younger people contacted me. They are developing a communication project to reach people who are not in new age groups and they wanted to share their plans with me, and so we had a Zoom meeting last Wednesday. I felt thrilled by their enthusiasm and I decided to accompany them in their project.

Last Friday, I was informed that the website of the youth forum Mithila will be closed on Saturday – inspired by a proposal of Sri Kumar it started 16 years ago and was first intended for a Jupiter cycle of 12 years. And so, it yesterday came to a close.

“Mithila” is the name of the ancientmost school of Wisdom and of wisdom education for the young generation. There are various groups giving Mithila classes and even Mithila schools in India for children from slum areas.

And there is a group in Venezuela especially dedicated to Mithila education who had a comprehensive website on wisdom teachings which, in a series of great challenges, had to be closed some years ago, and I supported an initiative to bring it back to life. Some days ago, I received a call for help due to another new difficult situation, and so I tried to initiate a group of members to support. The project is very dear to me, and there is much goodwill of the members behind.

I thought, one impulse dissolving, another coming up, others continuing and transforming.

About 15-18 years ago, we had a small Mithila group in our town. I was teaching the two boys of a friend and also our two boys basics of living ethics. My wife gave yoga classes to youngsters and we tried to lay a foundation for right living in a time with lot of counter-currents.

Over the years, I had tried to accompany a few young friends through the times of growing up and early adulthood. I felt they are carrying seeds for the future – but it needs much time and crises for growth. Flowers need time to develop.

Also my youngsters have become adults going their ways into life. The contents of what we tried to teach them has transformed into character and attitudes but not the contents – it is part of the transformation of life.

The last months, many roads and footpaths in our community were digged up. Also the pavement in front of our house was opened for a while: A fiber optic cable network is being installed successively in all quarters: ‘fiber to home’ – also to our home.

The marketing slogans highlight: “With fiber optics you surf faster and more stable; you can consume data over several devices at the same time – watch movies, play games or book holidays…”

Consuming data – until indigestion? Yes; I will also profit from it. And I observed what was going on – with the streets and with me.

The roads were opened, work was going on, the cables installed,the roads were closed again. And you could see some traces on the roads.

A little later, the roads and pavements were tarred and the wounds of the surface disappeared again. The cables were inside, ‘implanted’.

It made me think of the nadi system, the subtle energy network in our body which is not visible to the physical eye but which you can trace in meditation. Medical science considers them as inexistent but yoga science explains their details – if you try to dissect a magnet, you won’t find the magnetic field nor see any electron-magnetic waves but you can discover their functioning.

Of course, the fiber optic cables are more dense than the nadis, you will find them in the streets. But just like the subtle lines of force the cables are part of a great network of intelligence steering our consciousness.

The flood of stimulations is increasing. Information and the stories of the next generation multi-channel entertainment will do their best to keep us attracted – whereto?

It is difficult to withdraw the attention, to find the way through the hyper-active vibrations inside and outside. To discover the inner light and life.

But that is what is nourishing, not the maelstrom of busy-busy-busy. We need to learn swimming against the stream which is powerfully rushing from all sides. To turn inward, again and again, regularly and persistently .

A kind of wilful stimulation fasting helps keeping away from unnecessary pace-makers. You will be rewarded with experiencing your Self and the greater whole of life.