Like in the previous years, we met again on the day of the summer solstice at the the Paracelsus Center of WTT near Einsiedeln, Switzerland. It is the time of one of the four cardinal points of the year and it is important to align during during this time, where the energies of nature take to another direction. We were a small group of seven friends coming from Austria, South Germany and Switzerland. Around 9 am we met on a parking and walked to the fire place on the mountain ridge of the Etzel pass for a little fire ritual and meditation around the exact time of the solstice. There is a gorgeous view over to Einsiedeln and on the other side to Lake Zurich.

Later, we went to the Paracelsus Center near the old “Devil’s Bridge” (Tüfelsbrugg), preparing the room and the room. Then we started with a little ceremony.

We had a planetary healing meditation at 12 am followed by lunch with a hearty exchange. Later we went down to the Sihl river at the old Tüfelsbrugg. It was very hot outside but it cooled down near the water.

The evening meditation and cleaning the place closed this year’s beautiful celebration at the Paracelsus Center.

The sun was coming down already when, on the way back, we had a stop at the Lake Sihl near Einsiedeln for breathing in the peaceful ambiance. On the highway, the sun gave us its gorgeous golden light sharing with us magic moments between mountains and cars.

A few days ago, a friend shared via Telegram the link to a video of a huge open air concert in 2018 called “Lec, saulīte!” (Rise, Sunshine) by Latvia TV. An exquisite gem, a most impressive piece of music.

I searched in YouTube and discovered it – however not with the beautiful Latvian words in subtitles, starting: “I am the womb of the earth. You are my sun…”. You find this version here here:

Wikipedia has information about Rasa Bugavičute – Pēce, the writer of the words, and Raimonds Tiguls, the composer of the song. Here is his website in English, with more of his music and about his work. The name of the director of the orchestra is Māris Sirmais – I only found about him on Wikipedia in German. And here, in English about him and the State Choir of Latvia.

Enjoy the recording – sublime and uplifting, with flower crowns, traditional costumes and a great sense of togetherness. Rise, sunshine!

25 August we celebrate the 141st (Indian counting 142nd) birthday of Master MN (Sri Mynampati Narasimham). He was born 1883 in Naidupeta, a village in Andhra Pradesh, India, and passed over 11 March 1940.

The video “Master MN – The Pole Star of Master CVV Yoga” has just been published. It contains a few life events of Master MN narrated by Master KPK during the May Call 2011 seminar.

You find here the biography “Master MN – The Fiery Flame” (PDF) by Master KPK.

Below, there is an extract from the fascinating talk of Master KPK about Master MN during the during Master MN Birthday Celebration 2021:

Master MN is novel in his approach. His outer appearances were considered very modern in those times. We cannot know his inner side of life by looking at his outer appearances. Even while associating with Master EK, I used to think of Master MN. I used to feel “why is it that Master EK invoked Master MN in the prayer though Master CVV directly contacted Master EK? If Master MN is invoked, why not others like Master VPS?”
Once I asked this question to Master EK and he answered “Master MN is the fulfilled one in the path of Master CVV and he stands as a pole star in the yoga of Master CVV. What Swami Vivekananda is to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Master MN is to Master CVV. The work to be done mostly comes to us through Master MN and he is mainly responsible for the spread of Master CVV yoga in the west.”
From then on, I realised that we should relate to Master MN as well. Master MN looks to those who are sincere in their prayers. Master MN prefers to work in the background but I tried to bring him to the foreground by relating to him.
During initial years, there used to be only pictures of Master CVV and Master EK on the altar during the prayers. After Master EK left the physical, I felt that Master MN’s picture should also be added to the altar. I got an oil painting of Master MN done by a painter by name Sastry with a small reference picture I had. That is the picture that we mostly use on the altar now. I personally have some experiences with Master MN and he brought about some important changes within me. Many changes that happen during prayers are spearheaded by Master MN himself.
I came to know that the occult meditations copies with Master EK came from a place called Ongole, the place where Master MN resided. I felt like visiting Ongole once and I went there. I visited the house of Master MN which was renovated into a function hall at that time. I came to know through an acquaintance that when Master lived in Guntur, he used to visit Ongole every week on Sunday for almost a year and conducted prayers at a house in Ongole. This information affirmed to me the importance of Master MN in this yoga. I even visited that house a few times. Later, I visited Ongole few more times to participate in Lotus Congregations organised by followers of Master MN. In this manner, these visits helped me relate well to Master MN.
Another way to relate to Master MN is through fire ritual. That is why we have been conducting a fire ritual once a week at Radhamadhavam since 1988. Many people got their life problems solved by attending these fire rituals on a regular basis. Groups even in the west started conducting fire rituals during group lives and even some groups conduct it on a weekly basis.
Some of the contents of the book “Master MN” in English were dictated by Master MN himself. Even the language is his own which is why the language in some of the chapters is different from the rest of my writings. I prefer to write in simple words and simple sentences because I feel that the objective of language is to convey our ideas to others in a manner they can understand. This is what I learnt from teacher Sri CP Rao during my initial years of Chartered Accountant practice. That is why I try to avoid complex and compound sentences.
So parts of the chapters narrating Master MN’s crisis in life, his initiation, his practice and his departure are in the words of Master MN himself. So translating this book into Telugu is not an easy task. Do not feel otherwise but the complete spirit of the book cannot be carried into a translated version of the book. So the effect is different when it is directly dictated into a language compared to its translated version. I will always recommend reading books in the language originally written instead of translated versions. That is also why I keep asking people to learn English because Masters of Wisdom decided to disperse wisdom in the English language. In the present world, everyone would be benefited by learning English.
Master MN remained in the physical only for 57 years and in that short span itself he experienced splendorous objective as well as subjective life. He met Master CVV when he was 36 years old. If we observe the meeting was arranged by nature by bringing together different situations. He wanted to go to Srirangam with him family but got stuck in Chennai at the house of his maternal uncle Janakiram. That is when he came to know of Master CVV and got more intrigued. It was just a few days to December Call and at the instance of his uncle, he got to meet Master CVV on the December Call day. From that day itself, he was deeply connected to the path and had deep interactions with Master CVV. Some letters exchanged between Master CVV and Master MN are also given in the book. If you read them, you will understand the bond they shared.
Master CVV had a special liking for Master MN and he himself called Master MN as “Little Master”. I also gave some anecdotes of how some supernatural acts happened through Master MN after he reached a fulfilled state in the path. It is just to show that nothing is impossible for one who progresses in the path. Master MN also had a splendorous outer life yet he lived with no particular interest in wealth. His profession continued well while he kept growing in yoga as well. Master CVV always emphasized on one having a profession or business to sustain oneself without depending on others. Both Master MN and Master EK demonstrated that aspect in their lives.
Master MN kept working and money came as and when required. He never bothered to count or accumulate wealth. The law in creation ensures that work comes to oneself as per one’s karma and due reward also comes in tune with karma and time whether one seeks it or not. One who knows and believes in this law does not worry of reward or remuneration and only attends to the work sincerely. Master MN lived in such a manner. So whatever came was being continuously used to offer food to others. He became very courageous once he stabilized in this path and had no worries in life because he surrendered everything to the Master.
This is a message for all of us. For one who is oriented towards inner life and practice, the outer life moves on effortlessly. One just needs to have faith and work by completely surrendering to the Master. Remember that Master MN is actively present in all group activities that happen in the name of Master CVV. He will be invisibly present in all our group lives though we hardly recollect him. He works like an invisible fire. He is the fiery element in this yoga path while Master CVV is the airy element.
Let us all be sincere in our prayers and invoke Master CVV, Master MN and Master EK with intent. If you do so, the Master energy takes you over, works with you, causes transformation in you and uplifts you. How well it works depends on your aspiration and devotion. May the Master bless you all and may we all be blessed to walk the path. Let us all remain on the path without getting deviated and we will surely reach the destination.

A friend sent me the following question:

“I wanted to ask you if you know that when pets die they also have a space where they have a dimension? My little pet died, my cat was 12 years with me and was born here at home. It was very sad for me, that’s why I ask you this question, I still feel its presence, it’s hard for me because it wasn’t like an animal, it was like a person. I would be grateful if you could clear up any doubts.”

This interesting question leads us to the relation between the animal and the human kingdom. Many people have animals in their household or, like on a farm, they live with domestic animals. There are wisdom teachings saying that an animal can individualize only through association with man.

Humans have the gift of self-consciousness or the soul. Animals and plants have consciousness, a subjective side, but no self-consciousness, a soul. Cats and dogs can distinguish themselves from other cats and dogs. They have a little self-consciousness, and thus, they are on the way of developing individuality. This is what my friend observed when she said, her cat it wasn’t like an animal, it was like a person. This impregnation through individualisation is kept for the future stages of development. Therefore, it says that pet souls don’t merge into the group soul of their animal group but keep their individuality for further steps of development.

Through living together, a rapport is being established between humanity and the domesticated animals. This way, a bridge is developed between the higher animals and pets and the human kingdom. To tame, train and keep pets helps in building this bridge.

In the wisdom teachings, this bridge is compared with the bridge between the human kingdom, the fourth kingdom of nature, and the fifth kingdom, the spiritual hierarchy. The linking bridge between these two kingdoms is formed by the spiritually advanced humans who selflessly work for the benefit of the greater good. This group is also called in some teachings the “New Group of World Servers”.

Before humans coming, nature is there. Before and independent of our experiencing, the creative power of nature expresses itself and shapes the forms. Last Sunday, my wife and I were at a valley near the Eiger North Face. There is a small road going uphill from Meiringen through the Reichenbach (Rychenbach) valley in the Bernese Alps towards Grindelwald.

The valley was illumined by soft, golden autumn light shining through the trees. We had a look at some places and then stopped at the parking near the Rosenlaui glacier canyon.

Over eons of time, water from the Rosenlaui Glacier had dug a deep gorge into the stones, pressing through the rocks with great intensity. Humans had cut an uphill pathway into the sidewall of the canyon and through tunnels at medium height between the riverbed and the upper end of the gorge.

We experienced awe-inspiring moments when we approached the canyon and then stood inside, surrounded by rock faces. When we went through the gorge, the Sun just lit up the chasm and illuminated the drops of water falling from above. Rapids, roaring waterfalls, darkness, then spashing sunlight – intense impressions.

As the path became tight, I had to keep my hand at the handrail when looking downward or upward. It is an experience like going through a time of crisis, where you have to look for each next step only and go forward slowly. Along a path others have prepared before but which you have to walk yourself.

On this pathway through the rocks, you can only climb uphill, the path being too small for two directions. It comes again out of the abyss at the upper end. In a crisis, you will also come out again at the upper end when you have walked through into a new phase of life.

Outside, there was a small rock garden with many little towers of pebbles, “stone people”. Seen from the here, the chasm looks quite small.

We went down again and then through the valley to the Schwarzwaldalp (“Black Forest Alp”) on the pass road from the Haslital over the Grosse Scheidegg pass to Grindelwald; the small hamlet now consists just of a hotel, a simple tourist hostel with a restaurant, and an old sawmill.

The sawmill in its present size dates from 1896. It was constructed for building a spa house which burned down in 1943. An old man together with his grandson was operating the saw slowly cutting the trunk to wooden planks.

During lunch on the terrace of the hostel, we were surrounded by hikers, bikers and tourists which the post buses had brought uphill. Later, we we went a bit further along the road towards Grindelwald, which is blocked for non-public motor vehicles, and down to the Reichenbach river. When driving back from the mountains, we were still under the spell of the intense beauty and wildness of the Alpine mountain nature.

On 21 June, a group of 7 members came together at the Paracelsus Center of World Teacher Trust near Einsiedeln, Switzerland to celebrate the summer solstice. Summer solstice is a spiritually important time where time offers an opportunity to align to the energies of nature and to access to subtle planes of consciousness more easily.

We first met at the Etzel Pass for a walk along a mountain ridge. It took a little longer until we could start our hike along the mountain ridge; the road was blocked at the top of the pass due to repair work. So there were less hikers and bikers on the way.

At the fireplace, some curious cows came to visit, and when we started chanting the mantras, more cows joined us. At the end, during the Maitreya song, they listened devoutly, standing head to head. Then they spread out again over the large meadow.

At the Paracelsus Centre we decorated the room, did a little candle ritual and then aligned ourselves to the energies of the summer solstice.

In the afternoon we took a walk along the Siehl River to below the Devil’s Bridge. From there, a narrow path leads up to the house where the Paracelsus Centre is located.

After the evening meditation, we participated in the online Cancer Solstice Celebration, where a talk by Sri Kumar on the spiritual significance of the solstice season was translated into several languages. There was a magical spell over the whole day. In three months we will meet there again, for the autumn equinox.

The team of Anima Channel has just published on YouTube a video talk with Chuck Smith, a good friend of mine living at Mount Shasta, California. Chuck is a retired psychologist and professor, who could combine his academic knowledge with spirituality during his career. We met first in India in 2004, and our paths have crossed several times since, for the last time last January in India. It’s always interesting to exchange with him.

Chuck is living at the foot of Mount Shasta, a beautiful and spiritually highly important volcano in northern California.

Master Kumar published his May Call 2019 talks as “Shasta, Sambala and Sanat Kumara” (e-book versions: AZW3 | EPUB | Kindle), Chuck having worked on the edition.

In 2019, Chuck had invited three friends and me for a tour through Northern California and especially to Mount Shasta – there are a number of blog-posts here.

Chuck is also a co-founder of the “Yoga Friends School” (“Bridging Shambala and Shasta. Synthesis of East and West at all levels”).

Have a look at the video interview:

Yesterday, an Indian friend sent me a WhatsApp message remembering the passing of Master EK. In India, many people usually go by lunar dates. Yesterday was the full moon of Pisces, and the Master passed over on the full moon of Pisces 1984 – 17 March.

Over years, I had sent out a short remembrance of Master EK’s passing (and also of the passing of other great ones) to the WTT group mailing list and posted a blog article for 17 March. However, when I had shared the remembrance on Facebook, an Indian member remarked over two years that “We prefer relating to birthday, not death day”.

We submitted this to Master KPK (Sri Kumar) last August, and he replied: “Death days need not be recollected as birthdays.” We agreed to discontinue messages regarding pass-over memorial days and that they would be no more listed in the Astro calendar. However, our decision was not further communicated. When an Indian member wrote concerning remembering Master CVV’s pass-over date, I prepared a communication and Sri Kumar answered: “Let it be so. We celebrate birthdays only”.

A friend reacted to the communication: “Interesting conversation and final choice. The Tibetan writes the new birthdays are the days of death, when the Soul begins a new adventure.”

The places where great ones lived, and also the objects they used have been magnetized by their presence. Therefore, they are respected by those who know about this energetic impregnation.

Initiates often chose the month of Pisces, or another date in a watery sign like Scorpio or Cancer for their passing – watery signs mark the end of a cycle, and Pisces marks the end of the annual cycle, leading to the beginning of the new year with Aries. Master MN, Paramahamsa Yogananda and also his teacher, Sri Yukteswar passed over in Pisces. A friend remarked that yesterday was Yogananda’s day of passing.

I noticed with some of my friends of Indian origin / with a Hindu background that they use(d) to follow a rhythm of remembrance days for their deceased fathers. So I asked a friend, and he explained: Each lunar month, they conduct a ritual – or let it be conducted by a priest at the same moon phase the father passed, and this they do for a year. It is considered that one month on earth corresponds to one day in the subtle world, and one year on earth to one month. With the prayers, they help the soul of the departed one to ascend to the higher world, of Devachan. Then, no more prayers and rituals are needed. However, for all the beings who passed over and for whom no prayers / rituals are done, there is a day of collective remembrance with rituals some days before the festival of Dusserah / Vijayadashami (if I remember correctly. It reminds me of the All Souls’ Day for the remembrance of departed ones observed in various Christian churches on 2 November, in Scorpio.

Anyhow, with the development of the golden etheric body, the illusion of death is slowly overcome in the Aquarian age. We don’t die but just depart from the physical body. Once the continuity of consciousness is not broken while departing, we experience deathlessness. And we can consciously continue our journey to another incarnation.

A group member from California registered a star in the name of “Master KPK” on 7 November 2022. You can find the star in the sky with the “Star Finder” of Star-Registration:

• Step 1 Download the App “Star Registration” from App Store or Play Store.
• Step 2 Enter the registration number 2483149027388054
• Step 3 Move the phone towards the sky and the app will help you find the star in the sky. The circle with arrow will help you find the star.
• Step 4 Follow the arrow and you will spot the star in the centre of the circle.

Blogpost about sport, art and religion

At the moment, the attention of media and of millions of people is focused on Qatar and the FIFA World Cup. Without a particular interest in football, I therefore have also followed this global phenomenon a little. In meditation this morning I remembered that I had read an article a week ago:

In “Das Magazin“, a weekend supplement of our regional Swiss newspaper, a writer made fun of an installation by the Berlin-based world-class Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Elisasson, who had realised circular mirrors in the Qatar desert. The writer found it “completely ballaballa”, meaning crazy. It somehow caught my attention: In a video presentation about my paintings (Creativity and Originality), I mentioned Elíasson and his work.

I found it interesting: In the past, art and religion have been closely associated. Religion and art have much changed their roles and both have become much more mundane in most of their expressions. For millions of people sport has taken over the role of religion:

Quasi-religious fervour of ascetic aspiration in a hatha-yogic style drives athletes’ and sportsmen’s /sportswomen’s devotion to extreme efforts in their training to strive for their very highest. And huge crowds of people gather in the cathedrals and temples of sport for their quasi-religious devotional celebrations – at the moment, in Qatar’s soccer arenas. There are also very many sects and beliefs among the followers. A gigantic effort was made to hold the big celebrations in a desert state. Many discuss the sense and nonsense of such events. Some avoid them, others travel there to participate.

When Eliásson now says in his artistic and context statements that “There is no artistic connection between my sculpture and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022”, this might be his intention and understanding but the exhibition is financed and organized by the state of Qatar and the opening of the exhibition coincides with the FIFA World Cup – “honni soit qui mal y pense“.

Here are the photos of the circular mirror installations in the desert, reminiscent of the ball religion celebrated nearby in football stadiums. The ball, the sphere, the circle are deeply occult symbols of the world, of creation. May the world’s attention go beyond the mundane levels to understand and practise the deeper spiritual aspiration to the highest and thus gain the experience of bliss, mundanely aspired by sport.

All photos are press material giving installation views of the Northern Heritage sites, Doha, Qatar, 2022. Photos by Iwan Baan, courtesy of the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles © 2022 Olafur Eliasson.