The 8th May is celebrated as ‘White Lotus Day’, in remembrance of Madam Blavatsky or HPB, as she was called by her friends. In his discourse on 8 May 2016, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar said:

“On this day, Madam HPB passed over in the year 1891 and after the departure, she attained a permanent place in the Ashram of a Grand Master in the Himalayas. Grand Masters themselves declared this day as ‘White Lotus Day’ because to fulfil their grand Plan, Madam HPB was born. She was a highly pure soul which can be compared to a white lotus. It is said that there was no other being as pure as her, at the time when she was in a body. She went through lot of hardships in her life and worked towards the establishment of truth and Divine wisdom on the planet. It is considered a highly difficult task because it is the age of Kali and lot of lies was spreading around and the messengers of Kali were very powerful in their work. Through her, the Divine wisdom spread all over the globe.
So on this day, we should recollect her. She keeps giving her presence to all groups which aspire to learn and practice the path to Divinity. She has a body of light and she is always prepared to grace sincere aspirants. She was given the title ‘Upasika’ by the grand Masters. It means she was highly devoted to the Divine and his work.”

Here is a text extract of HPB’s book “From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan“, where she speaks about her encounter with Master Morya, her teacher, whom she called there the “Thakur” or “Gulab Singh”. Have a good White Lotus Day.

“The Thakur went on smoking, and as for me. I sat on my folding chair, looking lazily at everything round me, till my eyes rested on Gulab Sing, and were fixed, as if by a spell.

“Who and what is this mysterious Hindu?” I wondered in my uncertain thoughts. “Who is this man, who unites in himself two such distinct personalities: the one exterior, kept up for strangers, for the world in general, the other interior, moral and spiritual, shown only to a few intimate friends? But even these intimate friends do they know much beyond what is generally known? And what do they know? They see in him a Hindu who differs very little from the rest of educated natives, perhaps only in his perfect contempt for the social conventions of India and the demands of Western civilization…. And that is all—unless I add that he is known in Central India as a sufficiently wealthy man, and a Thakur, a feudal chieftain of a Raj, one of the hundreds of similar Rajas. Besides, he is a true friend of ours, who offered us his protection in our travels and volunteered to play the mediator between us and the suspicious, uncommunicative Hindus. Beyond all this, we know absolutely nothing about him. It is true, though, that I know a little more than the others; but I have promised silence, and silent I shall be. But the little I know is so strange, so unusual, that it is more like a dream than a reality.”

A good while ago, more than twenty-seven years, I met him in the house of a stranger in England, whither he came in the company of a certain dethroned Indian prince. Then our acquaintance was limited to two conversations; their unexpectedness, their gravity, and even severity, produced a strong impression on me then; but, in the course of time, like many other things, they sank into oblivion and Lethe. About seven years ago he wrote to me to America, reminding me of our conversation and of a certain promise I had made. Now we saw each other once more in India, his own country, and I failed to see any change wrought in his appearance by all these long years. I was, and looked, quite young, when I first saw him; but the passage of years had not failed to change me into an old woman. As to him, he appeared to me twenty-seven years ago a man of about thirty, and still looked no older, as if time were powerless against him. In England, his striking beauty, especially his extraordinary height and stature, together with his eccentric refusal to be presented to the Queen—an honour many a high-born Hindu has sought, coming over on purpose—excited the public notice and the attention of the newspapers.”

You can read here the little brochure about Helena P. Blavatsky which I once published. And here you find my annual blogposts about the White Lotus Day.

Statue of H.P. Blavatsky by Alexey Leonov (c)

Two days ago, Sebastián, a friend from Buenos Aires, sent me the video he had done on the basis of my Taurus painting. (The last blogpost was about the creation of this image.)

The painting was inspired by the Taurus Full Moon seminar Sri Kumar held 20 years ago, 1998, on Mount Rigi, Switzerland. It was my third seminar and I was deeply impressed by it. These are some of Sri Kumar’s words from the seminar:

“Taurus is the bull. The bull is called Vrishabha in Sanskrit. Vrishabha also means the downpour of the energy of Will. The energy of Taurus is the bull. It is a bull of higher circles and the planet is the cow which is impregnated by the energies of the bull. This is an annual happening. The full moon of Taurus is an important event for the planet. The energy impregnates the earth and the beings on this earth. Therefore, Taurus full moon is known as the time where you can be impregnated by the Will.”
Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar, Taurus full moon 1998

The astrological sign of Taurus, a semi-circle above a circle, symbolises the moon through which the energies are received from higher circles and passed on to the earth. Taurus is called ‘Vrishabha’ in Sanskrit meaning the downpour of light. The star Aldebaran, which is called ‘Rohini’ in Vedic wisdom, is understood as the eye of the bull through which the energies are transmitted. When the sun passes through the constellation Rohini (between 11 and 24 degrees of Taurus), he is called the impregnating bull which impregnates the life on earth. It is also a spiritual impregnation which can give us a fresh dose of energy for acts of good will.

To illustrate this symbolism, I merged the image of the head of an Indian cow with the image of the crescent moon. I edited a photo of Aldebaran and placed it at the top as the sun from which a fiery drop comes down into the bowl formed by the horns of the cow. The earth indicated with a flower meadow shows the fullness of the freshly impregnated life.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings. If you want to print the image, you can download the file in medium and high resolution format.
The different zodiacal signs are clustered in groups – you can see here all my Taurus paintings.

20 December 2017, pencils and photo work

On the way back from the CVV Sharing meeting I visited several friends. First I travelled with Wolfgang to the place where he is living now, the community living project in Dahlem-Harmstorf, a small village south of Hamburg. Already during the two hours drive we had an intense exchange, also about his commitment in another project in South Germany – project peace, a fascinating one-year training and orientation for young people between 18 and 25. Wolfgang is now also active in creating a North German equivalent of project peace.

Wolfgang and his wife Karina are also the initiators of the community project in Dahlem-Harmstorf, “Gemeinschaft Mittendrin Leben” (Community Right in the Middle). It is a living community that develops without a hierarchy and where each one is and remains autonomous and responsible for themselves, also in financial terms: the community is the owner of the land and buildings by way of shares for constructing the houses.

Upto now they have a total of 12,000 square meters of land available, with houses of a former farm with  a former main house and residential house, stable building and a barn. The main house of 1889, with about 300 square meters of living space, is a listed building and was renovated by April 2017. Two new buildings (straw bale houses) have been created in 2017, and they are currently expanding their group house (the “Backhaus” – baking house). In the project, 15 to 20 residential units are supposed to emerge, as well as common areas (shop, office, workshop). There is more space around with a forest and meadow area; the group will decide what happens to the areas and buildings, how and where they will be developed.

When we entered the residential building, where Wolfgang is living, lots of children boots were lying in the entrance corridor – a children’s festival as well as a marriage had just taken place the previous days. Several young families with were around, partly community members.

Wolfgang took me on a tour through the site – first we visited the “Backhaus”, where renovation work is taking place; at the same time, it serves for organisational meetings.

Then we visited the two new “straw bale” buildings which had a very nice ambience. The first residents just had moved into one of the houses; everywhere signs of ongoing work were still to be seen.

The barn will be transformed into a big assembly hall for meetings, concerts etc. Wolfgang explained: “In this area there are many innovative people who have come in the wake of the Gorleben protests – against the construction of a nuclear repository. The university of nearby Lüneburg has developed to a centre for environmental and ecological development research.”

“Here we will have gardens and a parking”, Wolfgang explained.

In the evening I met several members of the project – they regularly meet on Sunday evenings for an open silent meditation in the living room of Wolfgang and Karina’s apartment. There was a 84 years old lady who is still living in the direct neighbourhood – she now has given her manor house to the community and plans to move into one of the new apartments: “I’m thrilled to start something new at my age.”

Next morning before leaving, Wolfgang and I made a little promenade along the countryside. He explained that the whole area belongs to two big farmers; the extensive use of the soil in great parts of the larger area has destroyed the foundations of life and big masses of slurry from mass pig farming is sometimes creating a pungent smell. “The economic pressure and the expectation of the customers for cheap meat has devastating results. Up to now the ecological awareness is still dormant or has not reached yet awakened an awareness of the consequences. It is private farming, and the state does not intervene.” They hope for a change in the attitudes by working for a change in consciousness.

Early morning, the day after spring equinox, I started my annual journey to North Germany for the CVV Sharing meeting. On the way, I visited some family members and friends before I continued further north to Hude in Oldenburg, Germany.
It was already the 9th “CVV Sharing” and the fourth time we met during the weekend after spring equinox at the seminar centre “Lichtblick” (“Bright Spot”).
The motto of these meetings is “Experiment – Experience – Expression” and the inspiration given by Sri Parvathi Kumar for the 2018 meeting was:
“The Master permeates within the cerebro-spinal system. Contact within and permeate in Presence.”

This year, there was an increased focus on meditation: we followed a meditative alignment every three hours with longer meditations – up to one hour – at 6 am and pm and at noontime.

There were profound exchanges in small groups and in plenary, where we spoke about inner movements and group experiences, and we did experiments with triangular group visualisations.

Friday evening there was an input with group exchange about Sri Kumar’s message for the New Year (contained in the Aries Vaisakh News Letter).

Saturday afternoon, two members gave a contribution on “Myth and Music” – one member presented thoughts about Greek mythology and the Lyra – the invention of the instrument by Hermes and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice; the other member transmitted the myths into guitar improvisations. Later, the group sang a continuous “OM” in different pitches for ten minutes – it created a strong synchronisation of the group. Afterwards there was an exchange about meditation.

Sunday after the morning meditation we assembled on the terrace for a short fire ritual. And while the group sung “Agnaye Swâhâ, Agnaya Idam Na Mama” each group member put a stick into the flames – a thrilling ambiance.

Later, a group member gave an input about the network of light and the experience of Buddhi, and we exchanged about group experiences. Afterwards, we went to a small lake in a nearby forest to speak the Global Peace Prayer and the Invocation for United Europe.

The final round showed that the group much appreciated the longer meditations and all felt very uplifted and inspired. Next year, we will meet again in Hude on the first weekend after spring equinox, for the 10th CVV Sharing.

« ‹ of 58 › »

Ritualistic work is the conscious following of a rhythm, aligning with the rhythm of nature. An important annual rhythm are the cardinal points of the year, the equinoxes and the solstices.

At spring equinox – 24 March 2018 – we met at the Paracelsus centre, like in previous years, to celebrate the beginning of the new annual cycle, the entrance of the sun into Aries. Outside, it looked still like winter; it was cold, snow and fog were covering the nearby meadows and hills. But the air was filled with the dynamic impulse of the transition which was taking place in nature. And we created spring ambiance with some primroses, candles and colourful fruit. It is always like magic when a little altar is set up – beauty and the geometry of the arrangement manifest a subtle magnetism uplifting the surrounding.

Our little group of seven members tuned up to the energies of spring equinox by lighting candles, singing mantrams and reciting the Equinox Prayers. Afterwards, I read and commented on the message of Sri Kumar for the New Year (contained in the Aries Vaisakh News Letter). In the South Indian cycle of 60 years it is called Vilambhi, meaning slow down – to clear hindrances and to lay the foundation for a deeper, sustained growth.

After lunch, we made a little walk along the nearby pathway which is part of the European pilgrimage network leading to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain. Later we had a vivid exchange about principles of yoga and how we apply them in daily life. After the evening meditation we set out for our journeys home.

« ‹ of 22 › »

The visible planets are the physical bodies of great conscious entities expressing themselves through these forms. Just as we have incarnated into our bodies to grow and to make experiences, these sublime beings also live in their planetary globes to undergo their evolution on a cosmic scale. All the stars in the sky are at various stages of evolution. There are planetary entities higher than our planet, and there are suns higher than our sun. Like a flower that grows and unfolds to bring forth seeds for future flowers, our planet also unfolds like a beautiful flower, preparing future stages of evolutionary growth.

I visualised the earth inside the petals of a huge flower. For this, I worked on a photo of a Brahma Kamala flower (Saussurea obvallata, transformed from a Wikimedia photo by Sujay25), making it glow like a lantern. I created the starry background with the help of the beautiful Stellarium software. The stars are like fireflies blinking in the darkness of a magical garden.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings. If you want to print the image, you can download the file in medium and high resolution format.
The different zodiacal signs are clustered in groups – you can see here all my Aries paintings.

During my last stay in January 2018 at the WTT Retreat Centre in Visakhapatnam, India I participated in a one hour video discussion moderated by Anuraag Saxena, an Indian from Singapore, originally from Visakhapatnam. See here my previous post.

Five other group members from the West also took part in the lively discussion. It was about our spiritual path in search of the eternal wisdom, in India called Sanatana Dharma.

With his videos, Anuraag is trying to inform Indians abroad about the rich heritage of India and make Indians aware of their treasures of Sanatana Dharma, the essence of Hinduism. None of us Westerners would coin ourselves as “Hindus” (the title of the video says “Why I became a Hindu?”) but we deeply agreed with the core values, esp. also “Vasudhaiva Kutumbaka” (see in one of the video links), meaning “all the world is one family”.

Here are the links to the video discussion as well as to the 10 4-5 min. snippets. These are his accounts on Facebook and on Twitter.

1.       Sanatana Dharma. What’s so cool about it?
2.       Singularity & Vasudeva Kutumbakam
3.       Katy Perry Vs. Spirituality
4.       Science Vs Spirituality: Opposing forces?
5.       Wealthy but lonely. The curse of Western Capitalism
6.       Digestion & Appropriation of Indic knowledge
7.       Is God a woman?
8.       Why is Catholicism against Diversity & Inclusion?
9.       Purushattva & the resurgence of Yoddhas
10.     In the end: Be Liberal

There is a cyclical movement of time in creation. It is like the growth of a seed to a tree bringing forth new seeds. The wisdom teachings explain that there is no end to existence. When a physical form is dissolved, it does not end but continues to exist on subtler planes. With seven cosmic pulsations the creation descends and ascends again. From innermost realms, it comes down to objectivity; and after a while, the direction is changed and there is again an ascent via subtle and causal states to the absolute state. Our earth is part of a chain of seven globes. There are earths in preparation in three preceding states, we are on this present earth in the fourth state, and there are earths in recession in three succeeding states.

I illustrated this great pulsation with the circle of the serpent eating its tail, a symbol of the eternal movement of time. I created three semi-transparent globes on the descending arc and three globes on the ascending arc with a crescent of the present earth at the centre. I transformed a photo of the gears of an old pocket watch (Wikimedia, Sachin Sandhu) and placed it in a desert-like surrounding symbolising the slow movement of time. From its centre grows a Brahma Kamala flower (transformed from a Wikimedia photo by Schwiki), a mundane replica of a celestial flower growing at high altitudes in the Himalayas, symbolising the sublime unfoldment of nature.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings. If you want to print the image, you can download the file in medium and high resolution format.
The different zodiacal signs are clustered in groups – you can see here all my Pisces paintings.

19 November 2017, pencils and photo work

On the way back from India we had a stop-over for eight hours at Delhi airport. While strolling through the shopping area with my friend, I saw a shop with devotional objects of a higher quality. A red figurine of Hanuman stood out between various white figures. It was well made but I didn’t want to buy anything. The situation was quickly forgotten in the bustle of the return journey.

Some days later I was surprised to find a little package in the mailbox sent by friends I had met in India. The envelope contained a present, a thank-you for some help. I opened the box and found a little red Hanuman statue. It touched me and I felt I had seen it before… I hesitated a moment and then put the figurine on my meditation altar.

It was only next morning that I realised, Oh, it’s the same statue I had seen at Delhi airport. My friends did not take the same return journey, so they must have found the little statue somewhere else… A subtle network of connectedness.

I pondered on the symbolism of Hanuman, a manifestation of the first Logos, of the Cosmic Fire. I have an inner relationship with him, especially since translating the Sripada Srivallabha biography where a chapter deals with Hanuman. I had no external symbol – so he seems to have come to me in this way.