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?

Last Monday, Winter Solstice, getting up like every day around 20 to 5, taking a shower, doing some asanas and preparing for breakfast. But the solstice energy was already very much in my awareness, a very special moment of the year. At the longest night, in the Northern hemisphere, when the Sun enters Capricorn and is about to begin its seeming northern journey until Cancer., it is helpful to lift oneself up from matter to spirit.

The morning meditation was the WTT group gathering via Zoom – a new ritual since the beginning of the “Corona age”. This morning with a nice solstice video presentation prepared by the Spanish communication team.

After breakfast, when I was about to leave the apartment, my little granddaughter, who had surprisingly come the night before, came out of the bedroom and asked me, “Where are you going?” “I have told you yesterday that today I will meet with some friends at the Paracelsus centre to celebrate Winter Solstice”. I explained to her that from today on, the darkest day of the year. the days will start becoming lighter again. And that there is a rhythm of the earth, so that we will come again to summer. in six months. “Ah, that’s how it is”, she said with wonder in her words; “see you tonight again”.

I picked up Mathilda at the train station. When we were about to enter the highway, we saw a strong orange light behind the forest. I changed direction and we drove to a little hill behind a nearby shopping mall. There was a breathtaking view of the Bernese Alps – a grand panorama. We greeted the solstice sun and received the golden light into us.

It was a short moment and the colours started quickly fading again when we took the highway. Soon it was grey all around and later foggy. About two hours later we arrived at the Sihlsee near Einsiedeln. Here, winter was still around.

We turned into the little side road and soon arrived at the Paracelsus centre. In the past years, we had frequently met there at winter solstice, but this year, for a longer time, it was not sure if we could do so. The day before, Austria closed its frontiers to Switerland, and so our Austrian friends could not come. Others also had withdrawn due to the present situation. But since the present Swiss regulations allow such little meetings with due hygiene measures, we decided to keep up with the ritual. And two other friends joined us at the Paracelsus centre – putting on masks.

Inside, we arranged a little altar with some fir twigs, flowers and candles. We we started with a small candle ritual and meditation.

It was a special day: 21 years ago, three times seven, in December 1999, the centre had been inaugurated by Master Kumar with a seminar on Paracelsus and his ways of healing. There was much snow around when the entire seminar group came in small batches from Einsiedeln to the centre. It is located above a restaurant, where we took lunch together. Exchanging about it brought back the souvenirs.

Now, at winter solstice, we read about “Sun’s Grandeur” and the ritual of Deergha Tamas (PDF), in the book on “Sun” by Master Kumar, p. 131ff, which is related to the mystery of winter solstice (see also the hymn in Appendix 1).

After the noon meditation, our two friends had to leave already. We prepared lunch and later did a promenade in the nearby area.

The path was full of snow and ice and there was profound silence around. A pale winter sun shone through the trees.

At one place we could see the house of the Paracelsus centre with the bridge.

Later, we did an inventory of the books in the centre and had an exchange. After evening meditation, the journey back home started. There was a strong rain and the lights on the highway were glittering on the street.

When I came back home, my little granddaughter was still awake. My wife told me that she wanted to wait for me. And so I told her about the day before going to sleep.

Three weeks ago, we had the annual General Assembly of the World Teacher Trust-Global for the year 2019. Normally, a general assembly is a matter of duty for associations. But this is not a “normal” association and the general assemblies neither are. And this year, it was very special, and I’ll tell a bit about it from my perspective.

Just some words about the background for those who are not familiar with the WTT:
The Spiritual Hierarchy is an expression of the one teaching principle in many forms. It includes every Master of Wisdom that guided the humanity on the planet. They are models and we try to live their teachings. There was an impulse received by Master EK (Dr E. Krishnamacharya) 50 years ago. It led to the foundation of the World Teacher Trust (WTT) in November 1971. This organisation is meant to help organising the activities of people who are inspired by the lives and teachings of the great Teachers of Eternal Wisdom. Master EK was the founder, assisted by Master KPK (Dr K. Parvathi Kumar), who is today’s president.

The impulse led to an “offspring” with a focus in the Western hemisphere, the WTT-Global. Its formation took place in Geneva in August 1983. Its seat continued to be in Switzerland. The executive members were always mainly Swiss, especially for practical organisational reasons. I was called into the Executive Board in May 2002. Thus, since 18 years, I am involved in organising and conducting the annual general assemblies.

Since it is a global association, the assemblies also were global – we met at special places in different European countries, in Argentina, Brazil and last year at Mount Shasta in California. It was always in connection with tours and seminars of Master KPK. (When writing “Master”, I must say that I was hesitating for many years to use this term, especially not when speaking to a general public. However, through long observations and experiences, I find it appropriate to use it here.)

In California, it was decided to do the next general assembly for 2019 in Visakhapatnam, India on 31 December 2020, since there would be no more global travels of the Master. And then the pandemia came. But at the same time the virtual collaboration dashed forth, especially with Zoom meetings. An incredible speed-up of global networking took place. In the global crisis, the global distances in a way disappeared.

A year ago it became clear that WTT-Global needed a new organisational set-up. First thoughts were discussed during the seminar January 2020 in India. In the coming months, big challenges came up with the disease of the Master and the passing of Kumari-garu, his wife who was an outstanding being though she kept very much in the background (I didn’t blog about it up to now).

After the return of the Master end of May / June, he quickly took up again the work. We had some Zoom meetings where he explained that the pandemic has caused a lift-up, and we connect now much more effectively through electronic communication. We find group consciousness and connect in our work for goodwill, even for the next incarnations. He proposed that we enlarge the Executive Board and the Advisory Board of WTT-Global by including representatives from every major group and thus form a synthesis of the WTT group.

He outlined the Next Generation project. It was envisioned by Master EK in 1976: This group should be called the “Youth of the Universe” (YOU) in the WTT all over the world. They belong to a generation which has a different way of expression. We should identify these young people, find out what they are doing and what are their ideas – not only about the teachings but their ideas about family, the economics, social and spiritual dimensions. We try to assist them if they are willing to fulfil some ideas coming from the teachings which they have heard, and which they are living.

Another project launched is Digital Archives. Its purpose is to collect all the teachings, writings and related videos, audios, pictures that have been gathered in various groups all over the globe. A team is now working to see how the vast material can be stored and accessed via electronic media. I was proposed to coordinate. Another team was formed which is responsible for organizing the Zoom meetings.

It quickly became clear that the general assembly cannot be held in India, and so we decided to do it in Brunnen, Switzerland, the seat of WTT-Global, with a global virtual participation. We had to deal with some organisational and technical challenges but finally we physically met with a small group at a hotel on the borders of Lake Lucerne on 23 November and a much bigger number attending via Zoom. It was a very beautiful day.

As an association, the WTT-Global is a legal person. It is like a personality for expressing the spiritual impulse in the physical. There were legal matters to be discussed for anchoring the activities through decisions by the assembly. This is not a dry matter but in all these matters you feel the living spiritual presence. And this will form the basis for tangible activity in the years to come.

A highlight were again the closing words of the Master, rounding up and giving an outlook: “We’ll continue the work and we tend to be silent relating to this work and enable its permeation as planned in the Higher Circles. Don’t think of our propagating it. … We don’t propagate but we make them available. That’s the way by which truth-seekers will any way find the teachings of the Hierarchy right from ancient most times. And that will continue and we should not do this work with overenthusiasm, which is common with new entrants. It should be done with considerate thoughts, and make sure that it is available to those who are looking for it….
You find so many things happening. This is only highly encouraging for all of us because it is happening. Up to a point we do, later it has to happen. Up to a point we do, later it takes hold of us and leads us into higher realms….”

After the meeting the group gathered for some time in the home at the seat of WTT-Global. There was a magic ambiance – some cheerful exchanges, a short meditation. When we started the journey back, the moon in its 10th ascending phase was radiating from over the mountains and reflecting in the waters of the lake.

Photos from the General Assembly meeting in Brunnen, Switzerland

In the correspondence with my young Indian friend we spoke about the demise of Sri Kumar’s wife during his stay in hospital in April (I did not blog about it) and she asked: “Will another Master in human form guide us after him”?

I replied: “Hierarchy is always guiding the earnest seekers. Master Kumar and the Tibetan Master said that there will be a new phase of the work of Hierarchy starting in 2025. There was a first phase of externalisation of the work beginning with H.P. Blavatsky, then a second phase with Alice A. Bailey / The Tibetan Master. For about 50 years, roughly from 1975 to 2025, there are Master EK and Master KPK as major exponents of the third phase, and then, with the new revelation going on, we will see…. Now, we are preparing for the transition, in many ways.”

She answered: “You are right about the revelation of a new phase in 2025. Even exoteric astrologers are predicting some majors paradigm shifts after 2024. I am very excited to see what will happen.”

My reply: “Over the last decades, there were often speculations / prognoses about great paradigm shifts – they came but not necessarily like expected, like 2012. Before, I “survived” several announced global catastrophes – but as the Masters say, we don’t know what Hierarchy does to prevent most of these.

But for 2025 and beyond, I feel an intense global boiling point rising, also in the more silent spheres of consciousness awakening. The last 50 years, which I consciously witnessed, were already a great speed-up. Here, vegetarianism and veganism have become part of mainstream trends – in the 70s people in my family thought us crazy and neglecting health when my friends and I started with vegetarian diet experiments, leaving away all meat and more.

As per expectations of catastrophes, I mentioned my 2008 blog-post about “Dealing with Prophesies” and wrote that I have survived a number of announced global catastrophes (she asked for a list – I don’t give it here…).

I don’t deride it. Hollywood has visualised many such scenarios…
It says that Spiritual Hierarchy is working hard to divert impending dangers and many seeds of disasters have been eliminated on the subtle and causal planes so that they did not manifest on the physical plane. And we, ignorantly, feel safe, happily playing our lives without any thought of what has been around.

At the same time (at the moment of writing) the protests of “Fridays for Future” are going on, with “Extinction Rebellion” or youth protests warning of global warming and flooding coastal countries and causing desertification.

I keep things which I cannot understand in my ‘inner broom closet’, trying not to judge but also not to close my eyes.

This post is again illustrated by photos from the excursion to the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content – showing groups of beech trees standing closely together like families and looking like one tree.

The correspondence with my young Indian friend went on touching numerous topics in an aphoristic way and much of it not “blogable”. In this and next blog-posts I’m picking out some strands of thoughts extended over a number of e-mails. This post is again illustrated by 2 photos from the excursion to the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content – showing groups of beech trees standing closely together like families and looking like one tree. Later some paintings by Nicholas Roerich.

When seeing the pics, my friend replied, “The beech trees from the second pic remind me of Lord of The Rings. Have you watched it? It’s an absolute must watch.”

My answer: “Lord of the Rings touched me very much – when it appeared in German (English books were not much around where I grew up) mid70s I took an off from university and kept reading the 3 books over 3 days. A little later a first, qualitatively poor movie in graphic / comic style presentation appeared – it didn’t give the ambiance. I later read all Tolkien books I could get, and then, end of 90s, the fantastic movie trilogy appeared – I went to see them in cinema with my then young sons, who also were thrilled. During my last flight to India I saw a new movie about Tolkien’s life – interesting.

There is lot of subtle occult knowledge in it. We also all were fans (except my youngest son who did only “read” mangas and then books on html, with 13, starting building websites) of Harry Potter, all books, audio-versions and films. Also much occult wisdom in them. Master EK mentioned that in teh future, wisdom would be given out via new means. – I can comment later on it. “

My friend was doing a transcription of a talk of Sri Kumar in which the word “supermundane” appeared. The following exchange developed:

“In the text the book “Supermundane” by Master Morya is mentioned, it was given out by Helena Roerich, the wife of Nicholas Roerich. In case you don’t know yet Nicholas and Helena Roerich – they are (were) great messengers of Hierarchy. A blogpost about Roerich’s paintings. And a nice impression from the book about Helena’s letters.

As per Nicholas and Helena Roerich – Sri Kumar said, he was a Master, she a high degree initiate. Helena Roerich channeled the Agni Yoga teachings from Master Morya, translated into many languages (for some time, I went deeply into them, not so easy because the teachings are dispersed over many volumes and you have to work them out yourself.)
Helena wrote a number of books (like Nicholas), they had a great global correspondence, and she also translated Secret Doctrine into Russian – HPB, though Russian, was trained by Master KH to speak and give it in English – HPB’s English first was poor but she had a very tough training.
Roerich’s came from Russia, fled to Paris at the beginning of the Revolution. In the mid-20s of last century, they did a long expedition to Central Asia, going from and returning to India, they managed to touch Tibet, which was strickly closed for foreigners, they went through Gobi desert with camels, under incredible hardships, to Mongolia, and him doing drawings all the time and then incredible paintings afterwards.
He painted over 6000 works, often big ones, which are in museums and private collections around the world. This is the excellent museum in New York (I once visited it 20 years ago, a very spiritual place) – have a thorough look through the site.
And this site from Estonia gives links to all his art work and much more.
Here a bit about his time in India.

There are also museums in India, and places dedicated to them (they stayed longer in Kullu Valley, not far from Dehradun (where my friend lives). One of their sons, Svetoslav, also was a well-known painter, having lived in Bangalore – though nice paintings but not of the power of his father. Take some time, when you find it, to go through – I’m always astonished to find paintings never seen before.
They had a tremendous artistic and political influence, creating an organisation for preserving cultural heritage in times of wars recognized by most nations and still valid today.
They were horribly defamed – like HPB – and their work nearly destroyed through attacks in the US – and now in Russia, the Roerich Museum in Moscow was recently closed down – though I heard from a friend from Moscow that this was a good step by the government because the heads of the museum were corrupt and non-cooperative – difficult to see behind.
I feel deeply inspired by him, and we named our youngest son Nikolas, because of Nicholas Roerich.”

My friend: “I haven’t heard of the Roerichs before. Thanks a lot for sharing about their work. I’ll check the book out this evening.”

Me: “The paintings of Roerich are extraordinary. I know them since 30 years and I’m always touched when I see certains of them – I have a print here behind me, ‘The Star of the Hero’.”

She: “It took me some time to go through the links you sent. I must admit that these paintings are breathtaking, especially King of Shambhala and Guardian of the Desert. I feel like they take me into a different dimension.”

The correspondence with the young Indian seeker continues – here are some more extracts. And again some illustrations from the excursion to the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content. First from the Creux, where a thunderstorm approached. On the way back we stopped at a place with groups of old trees standing very close to each other, like tree family meetings – fascinating.

My friend wrote: “I told you I don’t want to work for the big pharma because I was watching videos on Lord Maitreya recently and a woman channelled him. Through her he said something like ‘You can’t claim to be on the spiritual path and work for dark forces which create imbalance in the society. Your spirituality must reflect in all parts of your life.’
Hearing this made me think that working for regular pharmaceutical companies is a bad thing. Now I don’t know how seriously I should take this. Maybe I get influenced too easily. So I will just let the Masters take me wherever they want me to go and will stop making firm impressions.”

I replied: “Master KPK often spoke about people claiming to channel great beings – a big topic by itself. Those who work for / with Hierarchy / Masters don’t speak about it. I never heard him claim anything in this regard, though he keeps on ‘channeling’ the teachings of various Masters, in many of his books, in each Vaisakh News Letter.
It’s true that you cannot work for dark forces and at the same time claim to be on the spiritual path. However, there are many shades of black and white, as many states of ignorance. I am sure that the Masters will guide you when you stay ‘online’ with the invocation & practice. It needs people bringing light into darker places. Or you find a way to use your skills – in settings which you cannot even imagine now.
I feel your fresh and profound search and like your creative approach to spirituality. 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.”
I then added some seminar notes dealing with the topics mentioned above.

Her answer: “Thanks a lot for your previous mail, you sent very informative attachments.
I apologise for the delay in my reply, I am kind of swamped at the moment… I am meeting a lot of new people from university who talk about so many interesting projects and I am expanding in all ways except in my ability to maintain a rhythm. I haven’t mastered my Saturn yet and Jupiter is already here with all the good things he has to offer.
My professor told me today that by the end of this semester she wants me to write a review article on clinical trials for drugs used in covid treatment. She wants me to write it keeping pharmaceutical journals in mind. I really enjoy writing but science doesn’t come to me instinctively like astrology or philosophy do. I will have to work hard at it.
‘It needs people bringing light into darker places.‘ – this definitely makes sense. So I no longer want to think in terms of what I want to or don’t want to do. I’ll just allow the Plan to work its way through me.”

My reply: “Great that you enjoy diving into the university world, an intellectual incubation time.
Yes, especially in these strong waves / currents and counter-currents I always found it most important to try to have a certain rhythm, a regular ‘rendez-vous’ time with my Self, to ‘vent out’ my brain from too much mental stuff otherwise threatening to drown me, tear me away. If I lose myself, my wife said that I become ‘spiky’ like a hedgehog – and it takes time until I remark it myself.
This is very typical – when you lose the inner contact you don’t remark it yourself for quite some time, like in meditation when thoughts carry you away.”

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.”

Four weeks ago, I wrote a blog-post about the correspondence with a young Indian friend. The intense exchange on various topics of spiritual and everyday life went on, and she encouraged me to share about it in the blog: “You send me a lot of amazing information each time and I am starting to think that making our correspondences available on your blog could help other seekers. Please share your view on this. I know we both are overburdened with work at the moment ….” indeed, and so I could not immediately pick up the idea.
But I now grouped the topics of our exchange and will share parts of it now and in some future posts. The illustrations I use are from an excursion to the Lake Neuchâtel and (later) the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content.

As per the blog-post she replied:

“Thanks for making our exchange into a blog post. I see that a lot of youngsters these days are going through such crises and this post could help someone feel normal. I really like the part where you say it is personality integration and not spiritual progress. While I don’t entirely understand what a personality integration means, I have seen a handful of people misunderstanding this state as Vairagya or enlightenment or something else that sounds fancier. It never made sense to me because how can I think I am enlightened when I am unhappy and anxious? Losing interest in worldly things is probably just the beginning.”

My answer: “Personality integration sounds like a technical term but it is maybe the most important thing on the spiritual path, at least until higher initiations. It means orienting / transforming one’s life to be an expression of one’s soul, or better oneSelf, and not of one’s personality, the lower self. Please see here.
It very much has to do with finding a stable orientation in life, arranging one’s rhythms, activities – the everyday life, at home, in study/profession, in social relations…. in a way that the orientation to the soul becomes prime priority without neglecting the other needs. It should be so normal and decent that others might not perceive at all anything of your orientation, except maybe the very close ones. Master CVV calls it as ‘normal temperament’, being normal and not abnormal like most people who follow other things that the inner self, the inner Master.
In a way this means vairagya, orienting away from false values to the values of the soul. It needs no propagating as being spiritual or searching for anything.
Very rightly you wrote: ‘It never made sense to me because how can I think I am enlightened when I am unhappy and anxious? Losing interest in worldly things is probably just the beginning.’
This losing interest has to do, not with losing but with slowly finding the contact with the inner self. Master CVV speaks of giving 200 percent life, inside and outside, enjoying both, not one on the cost of the other, but living in a moderate way.”

Reply: “I understand personality integration better now and yes, this is exactly what I am going through. Being born into a Telugu Brahmin family I grew up with a lot of conditioning and suffered a lot because of the friction between my true self and my upbringing. At the beginning of my crisis my entire “value system”, which made me feel bad about myself fell apart and it was hard to accept who I really am without all these labels.
I started trying to get into a rhythm and like you said there were many challenges coming my way. First two days I managed to stick to my plans. Then I got a flu and was not able to work. There were many irritations and psychological disturbances each time….”

My answer: “Indeed, what you are experiencing is exactly what personality integration means – a lot of friction (this level is also called “fire by friction” in the books of the Tibetan Master & Master KPK’s teachings). You experience the same as I went through, having grown up in a very religious catholic family, where my parents wanted me to become a priest… – but that was not my plan, the plan of my soul. So I revolted against – and went through years of turbulences / intense search. It need not be like this but what you are experiencing is the work of the Master’s energy.
Master CVV was very unorthodox in his way of life and is in his means of training – it comes from inside, so your experiences are fine.
And it’s the best to ‘make friends with the personality’, as Master KPK says – not trying to change anything by pressure but with humour, continuous orientation to the soul and when something did not work, just see what is possible next time.
Yes, flu etc. are also means to ‘keep you cooking’…

I would like to share with you some extracts from a correspondence with a young seeker, a little adapted for publishing. There have been various e-mails before.
Answering to a remark that she had gone through a severe crisis on her path I wrote that I also went through longer crises deeply shaking me.

She answered, “It’s hard for me to imagine that you went through such a turbulence because now you look like the most serene person I’ve ever seen. … It gives me hope for my future.”

I told her a bit about some turbulences at the beginning of my meditation time, linking to a blog-post about how I started meditating.

She: “Your blog is really cool. I want to share it with my friends because you give an interesting perspective on TM and the hippie movement. The post you shared just shows how important it is to find a Sadhguru who has only our best interests in mind. …”

Me: “Although it seems that ‘we find’ with good luck an accomplished teacher, it is always the teacher who, for a long time, over several lives, observes a student and then slowly guides him to come closer – first to other students of the “ashram” (group of disciples, not a physical structure) and, when someone might start to be useful in the work, also a physical contact. It says that the student cannot recognise the teacher, only slowly coming to understand – it is the teacher who sees the student.
Hierarchy decided a century ago to do group teachings now because many – though it might seem to be few – approach discipleship and are no more dealt with on a personal, one-to-on basis. It is learning, practising and working together in groups, as a group. So it is up to us to prepare ourselves. You will face challenges…”

She: “You are right about my struggle to put things in order. I have absolutely no energy to do anything other than meditating or writing since January this year. I don’t even have the interest to do other things for now. My parents find this very strange and pressurize me sometimes to be ‘normal’. May be I will get better after going to university.”

Me: “I very well understand your having absolutely no energy to do anything other than meditating or writing… I experienced the same in the 70s / early 80s. No real interest in study or profession… It seems to be a kind of crisis of soul orientation. It is not a sign of spiritual progress but of personality integration. Your parents pressurizing you to be ‘normal’ is also no solution in this. When my parents told me this way, it never was of help, just causing me sometimes to feel bad.
Going to university is also not as per such a real solution – when you are yearning for the soul, it is the thirst of your soul – and this cannot be suppressed by directing it elsewhere. But study might help because, what we need to acquire on the spiritual path is a stable stand in the triangle of meditation – study – service. Meditation: going inward, Study: not an outer filling of the mind with information stuff but understanding the subtle realities, therefore reading spiritual teachings. Service: being of help for the surrounding life, not living for oneself.
This means: You need skills to survive in life and to be useful for service. If you do not acquire, you get stuck on your spiritual path. Saturn will block you as long as you haven’t got this lesson.”

She: “I know you advised me not to teach or promote anything till I became very stable in Master’s yoga and I agree with you but in June this year, I felt a very strong urge to write a simplified essay on planets incorporating teachings of Master EK and Master KPK. The intention was to help millenials with a short attention span understand these concepts.”

Me: “If you feel inwardly that you would like to share the text with friends, you have the OK from your soul, your inner Master. It is good to help millenials with teaching – be prepared that when you start you will need to continue, through years, maybe life-long. Don’t take it up just for writing a momentary article and then put off again – this is just a fancy. If you are ready to keep up – no need to know for how long but willing to do one step after the other, then do it.”