An intense week of the WTT group life in Iguazu, Brazil, just came to to a close. It was a fascinating time in a hotel near the famous waterfalls with group members from different parts of the world.

The seminar on “The Temple” started Sunday morning with a fire ritual and later the seminar started. Here is a extract from the beginning words of Sri Kumar:

“At the very outset I should thank Sister Alicia for the sweet words about the relentless work that is happening through me. Normally I don’t count what is happening. It is not that I chose to work. I am not choosing to do the work, the work has chosen me, and it is using me in every possible way. It looks for you that I am doing so much but the truth is, the truth keeps happening and happening. We are all used for the work. The nature puts all of us into work. The moment you wake up till you fall into sleep, we are used by nature to carry out work according to the quality of the personality to do work. The nature uses the personality to fulfil the work on the planet as per the Plan. All are busy, including the birds. Even before the dawn they keep moving in groups and share things with the various places with the group until the sunset. Be it plants animals, humans, planets, solar system, all are used by one nature which is cosmic, solar and planetary work. To see that we are doing the work is childish. The nature does the work through us. The quality of the work done through us is not depending on the soul but the personality, and therefore work happens. In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, I am not the one who propels beings into work, it is my nature. It is the nature which propels the beings into work. It puts all beings into a kind of glamour. She puts them to work so that they transform themselves into mobile temples. The mother would like that every one of her children that they perform best. And then carry out the work. Even very early in the morning the roads are filled with cars. It is the nature within every being that propels the beings. The one who knows that he lets the nature do the work through him and he is witnessing what is happening through him and around him. He is an observer. He witnesses all that is happening through him and around them. We being the sons of the one father, we too should learn the characteristics and learn to be a witness.

We should first get out of the feeling that it is our doing, it is a happening. The seasons are happenings, all is a happening. We are grateful to nature. Alicia is thankful to me, I am thankful to nature. The work is happening for the well-being of so many persons. There are so many persons who are engaged with the work over three decades. They related to the work and the related transformations happen…”

During the week, we had 10 lectures on various aspects of the work of building the inner temple (If you are interested in my notes of the seminar please contact me). Besides, I participated in three organisational meetings of WTT-Global. It is always fascinating to witness the Master dealing with organisational matters.

Wednesday the group went to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls – the other buses were faster; our bus with the European members had to wait 1.5 hs at the frontier before the necessary custom procedures were through. In the afternoon again about an hour “enjoying the frontier”.

The national park of the Iguazu Falls is a splendorous area with gorgeous waterfalls. In the midst of the long falls there is the St. Martin’s Island – a place where you normally cannot go; there were no boat transfers. The Master explained that in the subtle dimensions there is the centre of an ashram of a great Rishi called Brahmanaspati. We aligned with the energies of this sacred area surrounded by thundering waters and varying rainbows. Eagles were circulating over the place and the sky was filled with brilliant blue. Other birds and butterflies were also flying around. It is most impressive to see the calm waters suddenly gushing downwards with millions of jumping drops.

We stood for a while at the “Devil’s Throat” – a roaring abyss of descending waters and ascending spray. After the pick-nick in a small amphitheatre we returned to the Brazilian side.

There were two more fire rituals, one Thursday morning at the moment of Cancer equinox – here in the southern hemisphere the winter equinox, in the northern hemisphere the start of summer; for the planet the beginning of the seeming southward march of the sun till 21 December. And another fire ritual at the close of the seminar Sunday morning. There was also a blessing of babies and introduction into first writing of a group of children.

Saturday the group went with the Master to the Brazilian side of the waterfalls – again breath-taking views to the sublime cascades on the Argentinian side, as symphony of water movements, majestic rainbow bridges and luxurious vegetation. I felt grateful to be able to witness.

Saturday evening there was a thanksgiving by the organising members to the Master and certain persons. All members received a thoughtful gift by the Argentinian group. And there was a special poster for thanking the staff of the hotel, which had been extremely attentive and caring. It was nice to see the team of nannies taking care of the group of children. When the expression of thanks were given to the manager of the hotel, there were tears in her eyes – she said they never had such a beautiful experience with a group.

It was later night when the plane took off from Zurich. And it was still night, when it landed about 11 hrs. later – on the watch just 6 hrs. – in Sao Paulo. Inside the plane it felt like being in some abstract space; only once when I could glance through the window there was the coastline of Portugal as a sign that the outer world was there below.

I was traveling with a friend of mine to a seminar with Sri Kumar at Iguazu, a beautiful place with its famous huge waterfalls at the border between Argentina and Brazil.

At Sao Paulo airport we met Sri Kumar with his son and three accompanying friends – and the group of friends who were coming via Frankfurt. Outside, it was fresh, 15° C, and later, at Iguazu, it was even a bit colder.

Approaching Iguazu – above the triangle between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay

At the airport, members from the Argentinian group gave us a warm welcome and then a bus brought us to the nearby hotel. I had been there already at a seminar with Sri Kumar in 2001, during my first visit to South America, but the hotel had been renovated and enlarged since then. There is a beautiful park going down to a little river in a jungle-like surrounding.

It is always very touching to meet the many friends from different parts of the world uniting at these group lives with the Master. Hearty exchanges, many faces who remember, partly vaguely, and many names washed away in my brain to be slowly retrieved.

In the evening we had our first meditation in the beautifully decorated hall – dipped into magical blue light.

The night was fresh, also inside the hotel – I had not discovered that the air condition could also work as a heater. After morning meditation nature greeted us with a gorgeous sunrise shining into the fog over the brook.

After breakfast our small German speaking group set out for a first visit to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. All clouds had been pushed away from the sky and a brilliant blue vault was filled with light. I had to get accustomed that in the southern hemisphere the movement of the sun is different from what we are used to in the northern hemisphere – its highest point is in the north, not in the south.

When we got out from the bus which brought us into the national park there were some coatis running around, waiting for some food falling down from the bags of visitors – or they tried to catch it directly from the bags or hands…

And then, like a curtain opening, the view fell on the vast panorama of the falls – breathtaking scenery. All tourists, including me, were standing, fascinated, and taking pictures. Plants were growing along the way which at home are just found in small pots. We walked along the slope where the foliage opened changing views over to the Argentinian side of the falls. And then the climax approached – the “Devil’s Throat”, Gargantua del Diablo (it should be called “Angel’s Throat”) with the thundering roars of water decorated with resplendent rainbow bridges. The rising sun slowly increased the intensity of the colours.

Early afternoon we returned to the hotel. After lunch, a short nap, and then saying “hello” to more members arriving. About 230 persons mainly from Argentina but also from other South American countries, different parts the US, the Caribbean, of Europe and even of India.

Some intense exchanges, evening meditation and dinner, then I dropped into bed – the jet-lag was still in my system.

With gratefulness I am looking at a new flower next to my office table – an audumbara plant. I would like to tell you the story of its background.

2015-16, when I was translating the biography of Srīpāda Srīvallabha to German, I came to know about the spiritual importance of the audumbara (ficus racemosa), which is said to carry the energy of Lord Dattatreya. In the book there are many mentions of the audumbara and in one part a saint is quoted saying:

“When the period of death approaches a sadguru may subject His disciple to terrible mental agony, horrible dishonours, unbearable troubles and losses and erase accumulated karma and grant him rebirth. An incarnation may subject His dependant to slight trouble and grant him rebirth. However, Srī Dattatreya attracts the life force of His dependants to the audumbara tree where He always lives and rescues the body of the dependant from the life force released from the audumbara tree. The ignorant dependant thinks that he is alive from the life force in his body, but the fact is that the life force emanating from the audumbara tree is conducting the bodily functions of the devotee uninterruptedly. The moment the period of death elapses the life force issuing forth from the audumbara tree firmly establishes in the devotee and the devotee lives for some more time. The audumbara tree will remain perfect however much the life force may be released from it. The reason for that is Srī Dattatreya remains well established at the base of every audumbara tree in a subtle form…
Whenever any difficulties arose in our house we used to solemnly go round the audumbara tree and present our troubles to that great tree. Our suffering was reaching Lord Datta. Our troubles were solved in an unanticipated way. The audumbara tree was acting like a bridge of friendship between us and Srī Dattatreya.
Sir, worship of the audumbara tree is a very important duty of Datta devotees. If an audumbara tree is in the house, it is as though Srī Dattatreya is verily in our house. However much the efficacy of the audumbara tree is described it amounts to an understatement only.”

When in January 2017, I presented the book to the temple at the birthplace of Srīpāda in Pithapuram, South India, I received some small fruits from the audumbara tree at the temple. I later gave them to Elli; she is a group member from Germany and regularly participating in the online study groups I am organising. Elli can make plants and flowers grow; she has a “green thumb” and a deep inner relation to plants. Two weeks ago, she brought 60 pots with audumbara plants for the members of the May Call celebration in Germany grown from these audumbara fruits (and she will distribute about 40 more plants at the seminar with Sri Kumar end of July in Billerbeck, North Germany). Their entire apartment had been filled with pots containing the saplings, and her husband had managed to store all the 60 plants in their camping bus, without accidents… I spoke a bit about the importance of the audumbara and Elli asked the members to chose their audumbara trees. Thus, the 60 saplings started their journeys to several parts of Europe – and one came to my home.

Audumbara trees on the window sill at the May Call celebration

When a member from Miami wanted to get seeds, Elli said to me that growing the audumbaras was not so easy: “I opened the small figs and put the tiny seeds, like yellow sand, on kitchen paper. And I sprayed water over them, several times a day. Over two months, nothing happened. Then 7 seeds started to sprout, and suddenly the entire paper was filled with green sprouts.”

Now, after more than a year, beautiful little plants have developed. Elli was very enthusiastic: “They were spreading such a lovely atmosphere all around. And when by accident a leave fell down, I rubbed them a bit and they emanated a wonderful smell.” And she felt the healing powers of the plants and described them to me. I was wonderstruck by her great love for the plants.

She then wrote a care sheet for those who got a plant:

Please note that the tree is growing in the tropics !!!! It cannot stand frost. The plant needs a lot of sun and heat.
Water: Test: Touch the earth with your finger to see if the earth is dry or damp.
Only water the plant when the soil is dry. The amount of water the plant needs is very varied.
If the leaves roll or hang down, the plant gets too much water. Please check if there is water in the planter. Pour the water out.
Place the tree, only in the plant pot, on a saucer 2-3 days in the sun. The audumbara tree does not like wet feet.

Plant mantra: OM Srim Hretaja Namaha
(Please contact the Devas for this plant to be beautiful.)

From July on every tree needs a bigger pot. The audumbara tree also requires a special soil: tub plant soil for “Mediterranean trees.”
If a leaflet is accidentally broken off by the audumbara tree, put the leaf on the spot causing pain or just on the forehead. If the leaf has dried for more than 2 days, it smells wonderful and the healing powers are more intense. Just try it.

My flower is now already in a bigger pot, of course with tub plant soil for “Mediterranean trees.” And with a little Dattatreya statue in front of it.

The primordial light permeating creation is called the Mother of the World. The seers realized different stages of reflection of this light into the various states of creation. The reflection is called with different names at different planes but all are understood as expressions of the moon principle. The satellite of our Earth is just one dimension of this principle. Neptune is seen as a higher dimension, and on a supra-cosmic plane the principle is called Soma in the Eastern scriptures. The reflective principle functions in us as the mind, mirroring the light of the soul. The sixteen phases of the ascending and of the descending moon phases are called the sixteen syllabled name of the Divine Mother. They correspond to gradations of light and of consciousness.

For the illustration of the Divine Mother I reworked a Chinese painting of Quan Yin. The halo around her head is formed by merging an image of the Sun and of Neptune. She holds Neptune in her hands, lying in the crescent. From there, water, the vital energy, pours down to Earth. For the downpour I used a photo of the Staubbach Fall in the Bernese Alps. The bottom is created from a view over the lake of Geneva seen from an airplane. In the background of the Mother there is a dark blue moon representing the background of the cosmic moon principle. It is surrounded by the bright and the dark halves of the moon phases, where the lower sphere forms another crescent. Above the upper half you see a sphere of stars indicating the vast dimension of the Divine Mother.

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 Cancer paintings.

The video:

Last week there was an international May Call celebration in the Bildungshaus Neckarelz, in South Germany – a beautiful place near the river Neckar. It was conducted under the auspices of WTT Germany and organised by the WTT group of Lake Constance. The group life started on Sunday but we, a small group, came already on Saturday for preparation. The May Call Day meetings are always very inspiring; last year we had met in the Vosges, France.

The team of the Bildungshaus (education center) of the Catholic church was very welcoming and we enjoyed the preparation work very much. Elli and Peter had brought about 60 little audumbara trees – sacred trees related to the energy of Lord Dattatreya – which Elli had nursed from the seeds I had received at the birth place of Sripada last year.

Little audumbara trees on the windowsill

Sunday afternoon all 60 group members had arrived – from Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland and from various parts of Germany. Manfred and Sabine had organised the group life and the program had many facets – besides the morning and evening meditations there were a water and a fire ritual, yoga and qigong exercises, talks about various topics: a short introduction to NLP, Sacred Geometry and the mystics behind numbers, Blavatsky’s influence on the art of the 20th century, an innovative project of community living and about Master CVV, the comet tail and the energy of synthesis.

May Call Day itself, Tuesday, 29 May, started with meditation followed by a fire ritual in the amphitheatre at the Temple House church. With the singing of mantrams, Agni, the deva of fire, was invoked and all of us offered a stick of wood into the fire.

Later, I could give an introduction to the significance of the May Call, and this was followed by the cake ritual and distribution of presents – the audumbara trees, natural ointments prepared by the Lake Constance group, honey, bookmarks and crystals. Since we could not do a candle ritual inside, the group formed the symbol of perfection, the symbol of WTT, with white roses.

In the evening, after some musical presentations and reading of poems by Tamara we gathered outside with candles in a big circle and sung some songs – a magical moment, with Venus shining above the dark trees.

Wednesday morning I spoke about “The Unusual Ones – Jewels of the Divine”. I had prepared a presentation with 10 short sketches of extraordinary Indian saints and yogis but time allowed only 6 ones. With a review and an outlook on how to continue with the May Call celebration this very uplifting meeting ended.
The same small group which had arrived one day before the group life stayed one more night to slowly conclude and reflect on the events. A touching time.

The point of the birth of objectivity from subjectivity is visualised as the gate of the temple linking the inner space with the outer space. It is symbolised by the glyph of Gemini ♊ or the Greek letter ‘Pi’, Π. Pi is the path from the circumference to the centre or the origin; it is called the path from visibility to invisibility. Pi stands for wisdom; the upper line of the symbol projects two vertical lines meaning that the duality emerges from the unity. Gemini is worshipped as the birth of the first Androgyne, the male-female God, the divine pair of Shiva and Shakti.

The centre of the image shows the gate of the temple formed by a duplication of the Greek letter Pi. The gate is standing on the periphery of the circle whose centre is the sun. The sun is located in the middle of the upper line of the symbol. The circle reflects again in the lower part of the image representing objectivity. On the surface of the water the light reflects like a path of light leading to the gate. In the inner of the gate there is a lingam of light, a symbol of the divine. From out of it comes forth the first pair.

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 Gemini paintings.

The video:

2 February 2018, pencils and photo work

Today 18 years ago, on 16 May 2000, I passed a threshold in my life. It happened at the beginning of a group life with Sri Kumar at the then Taurus full moon, and it was my active joining the World Teacher Trust. I already wrote about it in two blogpost four years ago, “How I joined the WTT” (WTT: World Teacher Trust), and “Fire and Flame for the Fire Ritual”. I do not want to repeat these memories but I would like to share some facets of the unfoldment which started from that date on and was speeded up ever since.

Step by step, new activities and responsibilities crept into my life. For a long time, I did not realise their inter-relatedness. But looking back, I notice that while the scope and intensity of activities grew new skills developed. New activities build upon existing ones, and the latter always had to be maintained as a basis. For example, when I started publishing a newsletter, the related activity  had to be maintained and incoming new activities had to be integrated.

This way, the activities gradually started spreading into other fields, mainly by writing, structuring, condensing. The growth took partly place in my profession but it was more so in the realm of my volunteer activities for the wisdom teachings. For a long time, the two fields developed in parallel. Later, when I left my job, I focussed intensely on the latter activities.

I don’t want to give a list, but looking back, I see that the inner blessings came following the power of rhythm. I think this is nothing specific with me but of a general relevance. When you pick up an activity of goodwill and follow it with the related attention and continuity, its rhythm generates a magnetism attracting new and similar aspects.

I witness that although I do things with an active commitment, its impact is much better when it is not related to my personality. Things grow by themselves, through me as a doer but not by my feeling as a doer. It might sound strange to some but it contains the “magic trick”. Another, more “magic trick” is to stay aligned with the inner, the divine, to keep contact and follow the rhythm of inner work. Without this, the outer cannot thrive.

A basis topic in what I am doing since many years is: How to reduce complexity and make complex ideas or systems available in an easy manner. I started synthesizing themes of the wisdom teachings already in the 1970s with meditation seminar and in a way it has accompanied me in many forms. But only since I receive the conscious guidance of Sri Kumar, my mental structures became clearer and more fluid. And by following great role models, I got deeply formed, inside out.

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