Celebrating the birthdays of the Great Ones always gives a good opportunity to reflect about their life, their work and their teachings. This strengthens our resolve to follow the Path and we can experience the Presence which expressed through them.

Master EK (Ekkirala Krishnamacharya) was born on 11 August 1926 during the evening hours at about 5:30 pm. Around 11 hours after Master EK’s birth but 95 years earlier, Madam Blavatsky was born on 12 August 1831. So we commemorate their birthdays together.

Below you find a short extract from Master KPK’s (K. Parvathi Kumar) talk at the “Master EK’s Birthday Celebration 2020” and some words from Master Kumar’s talk at the “Madam HPB’s Birthday Celebrations 2020” as well as two photos of these great Messengers of Light.

“In one of his poems, Master EK expresses to the Divine ‘I surrender my life at your feet. Please forgive me for any mistakes that I have committed out of ignorance. I believe that everything happens as per your will’.

Madam HPB also lived in the same manner with complete surrender to the Divine. She put everything in the Divine account. She was instructed by her Master to scold HS Olcott, the founder president of Theosophical Society, for no reason. She was given no reason except that she was told to scold him. She used to do so just by having faith in her Master’s word. Master EK also used to scold some people a lot sometimes and we used to find no proper reason. We realise later that the scolding neutralized karma of that person and he progressed in life in a much better way. Master EK saw such acts as the Divine working through him to put his children in the right direction. Therefore, he never worried of the consequences as he was acting completely under the Divine instructions.

Master EK never changed himself for the sake of others. He always lived in the same manner irrespective of who he met. He was there to show us the way and not to please us or do things as we like. He never played for the disciples or audience. He never did anything special to show to the world that he is a Master.

Master EK was always available to the needy, at any hour of the day. He never thought of rest. He used to tell that the Divine never sleeps and that the Divine would question him if he does not respond to someone in need. He never planned to sleep and he hardly used to sleep for few hours a day. In a poem, Master EK requests the Divine, ‘Please allow me to serve you at all times. Please grant me a state where I forget myself and only remember you.’ That is how Master EK forgot himself in service to others.”

“On occasions like this, we should recollect some of her teachings and writings so that we get inspired to read and understand more. It helps us come out of the ignorance and superstitions that we might have. Remember that we cannot walk the path shown by Master of Wisdom if our mind is filled with superstitions. Madam HPB writes, ‘Keep away your superstitions and put yourself to experiment’. If we start reading books of Madam HPB after recollecting her, she herself will show us the way to understand the book. We need to establish an alignment with her to be able to understand her books. This applies to the books of every Master of Wisdom. I started reading her books with Isis Unveiled and it took almost 3 years to complete that book. After that I read Secret Doctrine which also took many years to complete.

As aspirants, we should make it a point to read at least one page of wisdom coming from Madam HPB and Master EK. It expands our consciousness and our awareness increases. The same books can be read again and again because such books reveal themselves as our awareness grows.”

[Correction:] A friend just sent me the link to a video of Factly, an India fact checking site explaining that the video is not from the Olympic Games 2021 but from a visit of the Indian Prime Minister Modi in Mongolia in 2015. It is not from Olympic Games in Japan, so I changed the title of this blogpost . The video as such is authentic, the explanation not. It is nevertheless inspiring. So I keep sharing it.

A friend today shared a video from the opening celebration of the [wrong: Olympic Games 2021 in Tokyo]: A large group is performing Yoga Asanas in artistic arrangement, while “OM Maitrey Namaha” is being sung.

Very nice that this is being performed at such a major event, which is currently the focus of attention worldwide. May this be an example for other occasions and other countries.

Very often I get questions from spiritual seekers wanting to know something. I like the interactions, especially when I can help people this way. However, there is a danger. Some people tend to behave like little children wanting to be spoon-fed instead of learning how to find answers. There is a proverb saying, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Sometimes, the questions relate to details of the wisdom teachings, sometimes to doubts, sometimes it is curiosity resulting out of a very active mind (for these, there is no end of asking until the interest goes somewhere else). Often, the questioners are group members who do not find the e-mails they have received from the internal mailing list of WTT which I am operating.

This morning, I received the question from a friend: “How long is the Aquarian age to last? Where is the info about this and Master CVV goals for Aquarian age? 240 years ? 100 is already done ? Starting count from 1912.”

Quite a lot of questions in a short WhatsApp post (and good answering takes much more time than quickly asking). So instead of searching the answer on my PC, which I normally do, I better show here how to find.

Some people think that I know everything they ask for, and some started calling me “Ludgerpedia”. That is a wrong impression. I just have learnt how to search and I do this myself on many occasions. I have started this blog also to find things myself which I have written about. It has a very good search engine which you find at the top left, and I often use it myself. There are currently 1,582 posts.

For my own research I have collected over decades big quantities of book PDFs (mostly converted for better search into Word files; I bought for this the “Abbyy Finereader”.), seminar transcriptions (many of them I did myself because otherwise I quickly forget what has been taught there – and why should I always only forget after taking much effort to go to the seminars?) and other material. With these I have composed newsletters, esp. “Lunar Messengers” since 22 years – you find all topics on the good-will website or on the WTT website. There, easily searchable in full text. The search engine on that site is also powerful, you find it at the top left of nearly all pages. Together with friends, I have worked on this website for many years, to allow seekers to find a great treasure of wisdom teachings, especially with the books of Master EK and Master KPK, most of them available for free download in the download areas.

Coming to the questions of my friend: When you search on the WTT website “Aquarian Age“, you find many results. But at the very top of the page, you find “The Aquarian Age” (in various languages). If you click on this, you come to a page “The Aquarian Age“. You find the same text as PDF on the Good-Will website, download section.

In the beginning of this text, you find the explanation for all the questions my friend has asked for. For some details of the questions you need to read the text until the end.

Leo is the sign of self-consciousness. Sun in the heart lotus, is its symbol. The transit Sun moving through Leo is noble, straightforward and protective. But the self-conscious nature of Leo has its two-fold nature. A Leonine person can be excessively self-conscious leading to pride or can be deeply contemplative to be conscious of Self. Conscious of Self is different from self-consciousness. The former leads to soul awareness, the latter leads to self-pride. Pride is the threshold in Leo. This lion needs to be conquered.

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

Leo is related to our heart centre. The heart is the home of the soul. By turning inward, we enter the cave of the heart, lion’s den. The heart centre when opened transforms us into the man-lion.

In the Eastern Puranas, the opening of the heart centre is symbolically veiled in the story of Narasimha, the Lord with the head of a lion and the form of a man. The story tells of a father and his son. The son knows that the Lord is within as well as without, even within a pillar. The father doubts this, and he breaks open the pillar. Out of the pillar Narasimha manifests to help his disciple Prahlada and to kill the tyrannical father. Killing the father by ripping open the chest represents the transformation of man through the opening of the heart centre and overcoming the limitation of the lower self.

The image was designed with a photo of a lion’s head and a photo of a statue in the temple of Simhachalam, India. It depicts Narasimha opening the chest of Hiranyakashipu. The stone structures on the right and left indicate the opened column. It is a symbol of the column of consciousness, our vertebral column, from which the centres emerge like flowers.

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

Last week I did the first trip over several days, after 19 months “pause”. Good friends from Heiligenberg (“Holy Mountain”) in the German Lake Constance area had invited me for a visit. Since the pandemia regulations have now become less strict, I could cross the frontier again without any controls…

The couple lives in a house at the foot of the Heiligenberg mountain with a gorgeous view towards the lake and the Heiligenberg Castle above. On arrival, I noticed that my camera had taken holidays from me and stayed at home – so I borrowed the mobile of Sabine to take at least some shots.

Even without meeting physically, we have a lot of contact with group activity exchanges. But physical meetings cannot be replaced by zooming… It was a very hearty stay.

Thursday afternoon Manfred and Sabine took me on a trip to a beautiful ridge along the lake overlooking vineyards near Meersburg. And Friday morning we went to the Beuron Archabbey, a monastery now of the Benedictine order and in earlier centuries of the Augustinians. It was founded in the 11th century AD and is located in the upper Danube valley.

When we entered the church, a mass was going on. The air was full of frankincense smoke and organ music was filling the space. We preferred to do a little walk along the Danube and to come back later. The monastery has beautiful artwork of the Beuron Art School. The church ambiance brought up reminiscences of long-gone childhood times – I first went to a kindergarten in a monastery near my parents’ home and later served there as an altar boy over years. Parents and relatives wanted to make me a priest. I escaped to other directions but impregnations remained… In the souvenir shop, my friends bought for me a candle with a beautiful blue angel…

Later we drove to the nearby Campus Galli, a kind of museum and construction site (see their German website), where craftsmen and volunteers are using 9th century resources to create a monastery based on the St. Gallen monastery plan. It is the only surviving major architectural drawing from the middle-ages and copies of it were displayed at the site. The workers not only help with the construction, but also act as costumed interpreters. It was very impressive to see blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters, crockers, or coopers doing their work and to talk to them. How many steps were needed to come to the present way of living…. On the marketplace, we had our lunch with “dinnele”, a medieval kind of warm flat bread from a stone oven with cheese.

Sabine is a language teacher and Manfred is a former engineer and manager of a huge German electronic enterprise. He later deeply went into the knowledge about herbs and the healing powers of plants. He built up a large network of people interested in cultivating existing herbal knowledge, applying it and making it available in an understandable way. And he developed a beautiful garden with many kinds of roses and other plants – I very much enjoyed relaxing there under an apple tree, smelling the roses in the air….

Saturday morning Sabine took me to the market in Überlingen. A regional horticultural show is going on over the summer. Plenty of people were strolling along the lake and through the lanes. Near the ship landing point a group of artists was playing the “Pandemia Fairy Tale”… Life seemed to be nearly “back to normal”, with a Mediterranean ambiance.

In the afternoon two friends came for a visit – meditation and intense exchanges, which weren’t possible since a long time.

Sunday morning Sabine and I had an intense working session on the navigation structure for a future website of the German speaking WTT community – a team project. The time was running by, the sunny days as well. Soon I was back to the highway. Rich memories remain.

Some days ago, Ch. SathyaDev (Sattibabu), an Indian friend of mine from Visakhapatnam, shared the “Song or Lyric on Shambala“, which he had written on 10 June 2021 – new moon day:

OM Shambala –
Sreem Shambala !
Sham Shambala –
SanMangala !!

1.
Sri Krishna Devuni
Mandra Gaanam
Sanathkumaruni
Sannidhaanam !
Maitreya Buddhula
Paramaa Raamam
– Shambala !!

2.
Maruvu Devaapi Jwaalakuludu
Parama guruvula –
Param dhaamam !
Paramaaanandam –
Paramaayushyam
Nissreyasham! Nirmalam!
– Shambala !!

3.
Kalkyavatharanam-
Janma Kshetram
Lokaa Lokam-
Moksha Kaarakam !
Divya Darsanam –
Navya Sparshanam..
Sanaathanam! Sushobhitham
– Shambala !!

Simple word meaning of the Song on Shamballa:

OM is the name of God or Para Brahma or the Almighty or the Father in Heaven.
Sreem is the seed letter of splendour.
Sham is the seed letter of peace.
SanMangala means ‘That which brings auspicious things’.

Mandra Gaanam is the Music of the Soul.
Sannidhaanam means ‘The Presence’.
Paramaaraamam is the Highest Abode.

Viraajitham means ‘That which shines.’
Supoojitham means ‘well worshipped.’
Parama Guruvulu means ‘The Masters of Wisdom.’
Paramdhaamam means ‘The Highest Abode’.
Paramaaanandam means ‘highest Bliss or Happiness’.
Paramaayushyam means ‘bestows higher longevity’.
Nissreyasham means ‘which bestows liberation’.
Nirmalam means ‘pristine and pure’.

Kalkyavatharanam means ‘The descent of the future Avatar as Kalki’.
Janma Kshetram means ‘place of birth’.
Lokaa Lokam means ’causes salvation in both visible and invisible lokaas’ (planes of existence).
Moksha Kaarakam means ‘The cause of liberation.
Divya Darsanam means ‘Divine Vision’.
Navya Sparsanam means’new divine touch’.
Sanaathanam means ‘Ancient Most’.
Sushobhitham means ‘well illuminated’.

Sattibabu wrote, “With the Grace of our beloved Master E. K… Dedicated to The World Teacher Brotherhood”. He submitted the ‘Song on Shamballa‘ to Master KPK, who answered:
“Dear Sattibabu, I just listened twice the song. I also noted Siva’s inspiration. May the effort be blessed. May you two be blessed.”

Some weeks ago, a friend sent me a the link to a YouTube video of a monk dying consciously. It demonstrates the sublime art of spiritual living and leaving. You might be interested in the text on “Dying and Deathlessness” (with info about help during dying; see the text as PDF here) or about “Death, Birth and Continuity” (PDF here) . In the book “Enlightening Encounters” (p. 31ff) of Dr K. Parvathi Kumar you find the profound story of Sreeman Ekkirala Ananthacharya, the father of Master EK, who also departed in a yogic posture and with full consciousness -which is rare in the present times.

Cancer, the first water sign of the zodiac, symbolises the descent of the souls into matter. When matter prevails, we tend to forget our true nature and get conditioned in the ever-changing world of forms. Moon, the Lord of Cancer, represents the reflected state of the soul in the form and also the inconsistent movements of our emotions. We as souls are beyond reflection and are essentially light. But we tend to forget. A teacher who is also a yogi reminds us of the essential identity of the Soul with the Spirit. And he teaches us how to consciously relate to the origin. For this reason, it is an ancient tradition to worship the teacher during the full moon hours of Cancer and to reinforce the discipline of relating to the light of the soul.

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

Cancer is ruled by the Moon, which reflects the light of the Sun. Cancer is a water sign; it symbolises the impermanence of our mind, which, like moonlight reflected in water, is constantly moving. The original light of the soul, on the other hand, is stable and constant like sunlight. Through the mind, the three higher principles within us are reflected in our three lower aspects, the personality. In the wisdom teachings, the Sun is considered the Father, while the Moon represents the Mother. Through her, the souls originating from the energies of the Father are drawn in, nourished and born through the lunar principle. The sunlight is golden, the moonlight is silver.

The half of the year from Capricorn to Cancer is symbolically represented as a golden bowl; in Eastern wisdom it is called the divine arch or the arch of light. With the solstice at the beginning of Cancer, the descent of the souls into the bodies takes place as an annual drama. The half of the year from Cancer to Capricorn is therefore called the silver bowl or the royal arch.

In the centre of the picture, you see the figure of the divine Mother, created with the help of a statue of Quan Yin. She is surrounded by the Moon and a field of stars shining in the darkness. In the lily pond below lies a silver bowl. Inside it shines a white and silver triangle with three water lilies blooming at its corners. Above the Mother’s head is a golden bowl in which a golden triangle shines. At its corners there are three golden shining stars.

The bowls were designed with the help of a photo of a late antique Roman silver bowl, taken in 2007 during a visit to the museum of Augusta Raurica near Basel.

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