While proof-reading and working on the German translation of the Sripada Srivallabha Charitamrutam – the biography about the life of Sripada Srivallabha (1320-1350), the first Avatar of Lord Dattatreya in Kali Yuga (I told you about it before), I work on an index of persons. The book contains numerous incredible events and there are also hints about future events and incarnations of people. Many of them already happened by now in previous centuries. When searching them on the web, especially in Wikipedia, I came across some extraordinary stories; two of them I would like to share here.

In the book there is a story of Madhava, a person who had died and was brought back after some time to life by a yogi, Palaniswami, through whom Sripada was working. Together with Palaniswami and the author of the book, Madhava goes into a deep meditation. In his subtle body, he meets Sripada who sends him to the nether worlds. There he encounters many Kala Nagas doing intense meditations and he speaks with two of them. (Kala Nagas are holy serpents living in subtle form in the nether worlds, Patala Loka.)

When Madhava later comes back to Sripada, the latter tells him: “One of the serpents that spoke with you will take birth as Jyoti Ramalinga Swami in the ensuing centuries. It will disappear also in the shape of radiant light. The other serpent that spoke to you will be born on the earth in the centuries to follow with the name of Sada Siva Brahmendra and demonstrate many miracles.”

When I searched Wikipedia I found that Ramalinga Swamigal, also called Vallalar, lived in the 19th century (5 October 1823 – disappeared on 30 January 1874). He was one of the most famous Tamil saints and also one of the greatest Tamil poets of the 19th century. There are interesting points about his life. Among them: “In 1867 he established a center for feeding the poor people. On the inaugural day he lit the fire of the stone stove, with a declaration that the fire be ever alive and the needy shall be fed forever… The oil lamp lit by him is kept perpetually burning.”
And further: “Perhaps one of the most notable factors of this sage is the claim that he supposedly attained a divinization of the physical body. He attained a total of 3 transformations. His first transformation was the transformation of his normal human body into the Perfect Body, between the supposed attributes of this body are total invulnerability to everything thus rendering him effectively immortal and impervious to any kind of damage as well as having the attributes of being omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient this body is apparently made of Divine Light. …
Ramalingar raised the flag of Brotherhood on his one-room residence Siddhi Valakam in Mettukuppam on October 22, 1873. He gave his last and most famous lecture, entreating his audience to undertake a spiritual quest and look into the “nature of the powers that lie beyond us and move us,” and asking them to meditate on the lighted lamp from his room, which he placed outside. …
On January 30, 1874, (he) entered the room and locked himself and told his followers not to open it. He said that even if they did open it they would find nothing… His seclusion spurred many rumors, and the Government finally forced the doors open in May. The room was empty, with no clues. The Madras District Gazetteer published by the South Arcot District in 1906 records his disappearance.”

The other Kala Naga serpent, Sada Siva Brahmendra, had an even more astonishing life. He lived in the 17th to 18th century and was a great saint, a composer of Carnatic music and an Advaita philosopher who lived near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. Read the article in Wikipedia. Here are 2 short events:

“While meditating on the banks of the Cauvery river, he was carried away by a sudden flood. Weeks later, when some villagers were digging near a mound of earth, their shovels struck his body. He woke up and walked away.”

“Once the naked sannyasi was seen walking right through a Muslim harem of a Nawab. As a brahma-jnani who sees nothing but brahman everywhere, he would not distinguish between the different human figures which cross his path nor would he be distracted by the sights or noises that his environment may present to him. It was in this state of trance that he was walking along. He, the naked sannyasi, walked straight into the harem, entering it at one end and walking out at the other all the while walking through a maze of inmates of the Nawab’s harem. The news reached the nawab, he had his men chase him, they cut off both his hands as he was walking along, the hands fell off and … still he was walking along silently as if nothing had happened. The Nawab got scared, picked up the hands that had been severed, ran to the Sage and offered them in total remorse. The sage stopped his walking, the severed hands were restored to their place, the hands became normal and the sage walked away! There was no conversation.”

Meditation creates an energy field around us. When done in a group it is much more effective. By uttering OM as a group it builds a huge funnel into the sky and brings in sublime energies. It has to be a prolonged intonation with full intent. In silence we can receive the energies descending from above. In this, the individual consciousness might experience group consciousness or even universal consciousness.

To depict this process, I used a photo of a group living which I fused with layers of blue. In the foreground I created a field of various light balls with the help of photos of oil lamps, city lights and flames. It symbolises the process of merging of the individual souls into group consciousness. The individual units ascend through a funnel to a point of light from where radiant white and blue rays emerge. Thus, the group is receiving the downpour of light and is uplifted.

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.

8 May is celebrated as the White Lotus Day, the day of the passing of Mme Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891). A day to remember this great messenger of Light who opened the doors of the Aquarian age – I blogged about it the years before. Please find here some words about her from the book “The Theosophical Movement“, by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar.
And below there is a well-known photo of the Lady in “Maycot”, London 1887. Have a good White Lotus Day

“Periodically man gets an opportunity to move into the Divine Wisdom and thereby to realize his own identity. The identity of every being is that he is a Son of God. Through cycles of time man forgets that he is a Son of God and again through cycles of time he is recollected that he is a Son of God. Time cyclically brings to us the wisdom. One such cycle of time which we know is the Theosophical Movement, brought to us by Madam H.P. Blavatsky, and hence we shall have to be grateful to her. She has brought light once again to humanity, from certain sublime centres of humanity. The wisdom did not flow from H.P. Blavatsky, but it flew through her. It could flow through her because she became a good channel to the wisdom. Without her becoming a channel or without her getting magnetized, she could not have given the wisdom to the world…

There was an opportune time around the end of the 19th century where wisdom decided to dawn itself. Then they found a vehicle pure enough, transparent enough, brilliant enough to reflect the wisdom, that is the vehicle whom we call Madam H.P. Blavatsky. She is the one through whom the wisdom could reach humanity from the Masters of Wisdom. Remember that even the Masters of Wisdom are not the givers. They act according to the purpose coming from the Higher Centres. It is the understanding of time that they carry and accordingly when it is dawn for humanity the light is transmitted…

In the words of the Masters, Madam Blavatsky was the purest vehicle available to them on the planet to transmit wisdom. The purity of her vehicle can be seen through the eyes which she carries, transparent and brilliant. She could control articles, persons with her eyes; that is the power she carried in her eyes. Where from has it come? It has come over a period of years of hard work. She always preferred to remain incognito and work. It is not necessary that she should be known to us. The Initiates don’t have the glamour that they should be known. She has been a colleague of Mary for 5000 years. She has chosen herself to be known only now, and even now very little is known about her. While the first disciple to Master Djwhal Khul is Mary, the second disciple to Master Djwhal Khul is H.P. Blavatsky. They have been accepted almost in the same year. Madam Blavatsky is as ancient as Mary and as pure as Mary. She was chosen to spread the New Age Wisdom upon the planet. The preparatory work she went through, nobody knew. Also we do not know how much Mary worked to be so pure. To give birth to a Saviour requires purity of a very high degree. Not all people can give birth to high souls. For the high souls to descend, pure vehicles are required. Vehicles have to be prepared for the descent of the Higher Ones. Even in our own case the three vehicles have to be kept pure for the birth of the soul, which is like the birth of the Saviour. Such is the vehicle Madam H.P. Blavatsky carried. It became possible to move the Divine Wisdom (Theo-Sophia) once again on the planet, due to the transparency of the threefold vehicle of H.P. Blavatsky.”

Helena P. Blavatsky in “Maycot”, London 1887

To be able to perceive the energy structures in the subtle spheres you need to develop the inner sense organs and purify your system through right living and spiritual practices. There are several energy centres in the body. In the process of unfoldment, a bridge is built between the pineal and the pituitary linking the related subtle centres. When this bridge of brilliant light is built, the centre of the third eye opens and allows subtle perception. When the consciousness is further raised, a connection to the centre at the top of the head gets established.

The centre of the third eye is related to Taurus; it is called the “eye of the bull” and it governs the power of clairvoyance. In the cosmos, it corresponds to the star Aldebaran.

To visualise these subtle realities I made a “selfie” of the upper part of my head. I superimposed a picture of Aldebaran with the surrounding stars of Taurus and constructed the bridge of light and the third eye with the help of other stars. I depicted the head centre by transforming the picture of a flower changing the shape of the petals to a mountain scenery. Then I worked on the colours and the radiance.

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.

Two weeks ago I received an e-mail of a person describing himself as partly living as a hermit and partly helping in a parish in Fribourg, Switzerland. He had found my paintings of the “Way of the Cross” series on the web. He wanted to use them to illustrate a brochure for a Way of the Cross walk on Good Friday of the parish St. Johann in Fribourg. A hermit with a website.

I was pleased – it was the first time someone showed interest in these paintings I had done  beginning of 1983, 33 years ago, at the conclusion of a profound crisis which had shifted my life into an entirely new direction. And so I told him that of course he can use the images but that I had “dissolved” nearly all my early paintings in 1997. The images on the web are reconstructed from photos. So I don’t have high resolution images.

Nevertheless, he wanted to use the paintings and he digitally worked them over to fit for print. He sent me some images of his hermitage – it reminded me of places in Siberia but not in Switzerland…

2 days ago he also sent me the brochure he distributed yesterday, on Good Friday, in the Parish, at the walk of the Way of the Cross. Thoughts of my youth came up – for some years I was an altar boy and grew up in a very catholic family environment  – a long way till now, over many stages of inner unfolding.

The topic of overcoming death and transformation is a profound theme on the path. It has often made me ponder upon – also when composing texts (also here) on the basis of the wisdom teachings of my spiritual teachers. And the symbolism of Good Friday and Pass-Over to the higher spheres is of most sublime significance.

“Resurrection”, 26 January 1983

For the 7th time, a group inspired by the yoga of Synthesis of Master CVV gathered for a weekend: “Experiment, Experience, Expression” is the motto of these group livings of meditation and sharing. (I blogged also about the last 3 meetings.) This time we met around spring equinox in a seminar centre on the countryside between Hamburg, Hannover and Berlin. The seminar house Drawehn in Kassau is a beautiful old farm with a round hall on a meadow called “Mandala” – an ideal setting for the CVV Sharing 2016. 18 persons came from Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, and even from Delphi, Greece.

The 7 members of the preparatory committee had proposed to focus again this year on meditation with a rhythm of alignments/prayers all 3 hours and exchange – no discourses, only short inputs/thematical introductions. The prayer times were longer to enable deeper experience. Additionally, there were pranayama sessions. The days concluded with the prayer of Mystic Mantrams “Dip deep…”.

As an introduction, all members were asked to bring something to create our own “mandala” in the space, be it an object, a text, a symbol… There were group sessions, based on practical and own experiences, on “What is my heart burning/yearning for?” or “What is meditation to me?” or a playful exchange about the 40 Criteria for Yoga given by Sri Kumar August 2014. In other sessions we discussed “What moves us/ what is happening and moving us inside?” or exchanged in “Open Space” meetings about topics based on practical spiritualism raised by the participants.

Saturday evening there was a sharing of inspirational inputs – a video clip on “The Aquarian Zodiac”, an inspiring text by Master EK, a little guitar concert… We also read and spoke about the words of Master KPK on the quality of the new annual cycle. Sunday morning we met at 5:15 am to celebrate the entry into Aries with some thoughts about the energy of the present time and a meditation. After the morning prayer there was a fire ritual in the courtyard of the farmhouse.
Towards the end of the seminar, we had an intense exchange about the future development of the CVV Sharing meetings. All participants felt deeply inspired and uplifted by the group living. And when we left, the fire of inspiration was shining in all eyes and hearts.

The three fiery signs of the zodiac – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius – are described as three fires. The cosmic or electric fire is the spirit, the pure energy. It expresses through the solar fire, the energy of the soul, and then through the terrestrial fire by friction or the visible expression of the energy. Before the energy consolidates into the star dust to form stars and solar systems the Eastern scriptures call it the great serpent Ananta, the cosmic Kundalini. It is identified with the constellation of the Dragon and described as moving on the great ocean of milk, the immense ocean of solar globes in various stages of formation.

I visualised the three great fires as three suns using the photo of a sunrise over the Mediterranean. The fiery globes are connected by a downpour of light, where the lower receives from the higher and distributes the light in its turn.

I constructed the serpentine movement of the cosmic Kundalini spiralling through the various planes of creation with the help of elements from a photo of a ring galaxy. The head of the serpent is above and the tail in the lower sphere. It moves around the three fiery centres and creates the matrix for the further consolidation to the visible universe.

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.

January 17, 2016, I was on a little pilgrimage with some friends in the surroundings of Bhubaneswar, India. Looking through the e-mails in the morning, I saw a mail of a lady from the French part of Switzerland. Rita writes that she had been together with Master EK (Dr. Ekkirala Krishnamacharya) in the early 70s, lost sight of him in 79 – and just found him back via the website of the World Teacher Trust. It was the beginning of an intense correspondence.

She told me the fascinating story of her meeting Master EK, then loosing sight of him and finding him back after 44 years. She also gave me the French version of the statutes of the World Teacher Trust of 1972 she received at that time – 30 years later, I had been involved in reformulating the statutes of the WTT-Global.

I asked her if she could write an article about her story, and she sent me the following text in French;  here is my translation to English:

Rita and Master EK, 1972, photo from the video Music of the Soul

“Don’t search for your way anymore”

This injunction at the bottom of the home page of Google suddenly got for me all its significance on January 12, 2016.

“Namaskarams Master Ekkirala Krishnamacharya! This is an incredible set of circumstances that took me back to you and allowed me to get in touch with your eternal SOUL, which IS now in another dimension.”

In December 2015, health problems lead me to consult the Doctor S, a psychiatrist that a friend recommended to me. At the first therapy session, the contact is immediately established and I realize that the doctor is open to the spiritual dimension what is very rare. When I told her I want to take a Mindfulness Meditation Course in the region, in addition to the therapy with her, she replies that she will give a course in January. Of course, I register at this course. All’s well that starts well …

During a private meeting, on 12 January 2016, we approach the subject of these faculties, let’s say “intuitive”, that make me perceive things, events, even remotely, that others do not perceive. She tells me about the book “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahamsa Yogananda; I reply that I met an Indian Sage in 1972, but I do not remember his name.

January 12, 2016 in the evening, that the name comes to my mind: Dr. E. Krishnamacharya. Driven by curiosity, I look for his name on the internet and there is an avalanche … an avalanche that does not bury me, but on which I glide with joy still today. This January 12, I discover the immense work he left behind: The WTT, the WORLD TEACHER TRUST, on a site with his books, his teachings, books and teachings of his successor, Dr. Parvathi Kumar, himself a Master of Wisdom too. The same evening I also found “by chance” on YouTube his videos “Music of the Soul“. I look first, also by chance … video 4. After two minutes, I SEE ME in the company of Master EK, during a course he gave in June 1972, at the private school where I was teaching at the time. I cannot believe my eyes! I also discover the circumstances of the death of Master E. K. at the age of 58, which I did not know.

The following days, I easily re-found and re-read the correspondence with Dr. E. Krishnamacharya between June 1972, when we first met (in this dimension) in Switzerland, and our second and final meeting in Lyon in June 1974. The last letter I addressed to him but which I did not sent, dates of 1979. I also reread my meditation notes: my orange notebook was near me, in my office (despite 2 moves) all these years but I forgot … Indeed, the circumstances of my life had temporarily removed me from my spiritual path.

On 17 January 2016, I decide to write to the WTT because I want to thank Master K.P.K. for beautiful videos accompanied by his narration that bring back the Master E.K: these films contain countless pictures and videos collected during more than 44 years, arranged from beginning to end and commented with love and care. This incredible work allows going through the path of the earthly life of Master E. K. and the construction of his work. What a gift!

The next day, not expecting to get an answer from the WTT, I find an email from Ludger Philips who is on pilgrimage in India and just followed a seminar with Master K.P.K. Thus begins a correspondence with Ludger, who helps me, by his advice and encouragement, and also by sending books published by the WTT that interest me.

Since 12 January 2016, my life changed: I took up the meditation that I had abandoned in the early 80s due to difficulties in the private sphere. I must add that August 31, 1987, I met the love and happiness in the person of a wonderful man who became my husband. He practices meditation for 40 years: it is the source of his balance, calm and wisdom.

Since I found the Master E. K., I feel a deep joy that is always present in me. He wrote me one day ‘More often you will find me meditating in you.” This is the source of my joy and I feel immense gratitude for such a gift. Day after day, I am guided in my research and reading about what others would call chance. This is not chance, but the Master E. K. who traces the way to follow, I am certain. I also know that, for now, my work on this earth is to achieve happiness in the company and with the help of my husband. When thoughts come to my regret because of lost time (between 1980 and 2016), I am comforted internally by the idea that to me in this life, knowledge is not the most important. What matters is the JOY through the practice of happiness. The knowledge to acquire will take me some more lives … “YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME. BE HAPPY ”

“Dear sister,
It is indeed a great return!
Returning home is ever joyful.
The Master is all encompassing and loving.
May rejoice relating to. ”

Master Parvathi Kumar’s response to my letter of thanks.

Rita, Master EK and Sri PSS Varna, who accompanied the Master, 1972, photo from the video Music of the Soul

Rita and her husband, Christmas 2015

Pisces is seen as the end of the zodiacal year which leads to the next annual cycle beginning with the vernal equinox. For a disciple on the spiritual path Pisces is the beginning of the cycle, since he moves in the retrograde direction towards the origin. In mundane astrology, Pisces corresponds to the feet, whereas for the disciple it is located above the head. In the body of the yogi, it is related to the pineal gland and the pituitary body which aid to produce light of the Higher Bridge to cosmic realms of consciousness. This light is the expression of the eternal NOW, the fusion of the beginning and the ending of creation.

The picture I received in meditating on Pisces consisted of two globes touching each other with a light in between and a head below. I understood the spheres of the globes as the contact of the past with the future in the light of the presence. The two touching spheres give the glyph of the sign of Pisces. I created it by fusing several photos of the Earth, the star Fomalhaut of the Pisces constellation and a lotus.

For the head I fused a wood-carved and a porcelain head of the Bodhisattva Quan Yin, the female correspondence of Buddha worshipped especially in the Far East. She is the Goddess of Mercy and thus a form of the World Mother related to Pisces. On the crown, symbolising the head centre, she wears a figure of Buddha, the light of the jewel in the Lotus. On her front I integrated the bridge of light between the pineal and the pituitary linking to the cosmic light.

The deep blue light of the background fuses the stars of the firmament with the night lights on earth and the aura of Quan Yin into one whole.

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.

One of the moments which deeply impressed me during my last stay in India developed its impact only slowly. It was during the farewell ceremony at the end of the seminar. Sri Kumar mentioned that those coming to future seminars should acquaint themselves beforehand about what has been taught in previous Indian seminars. This way they would not get lost and have a better understanding of the teachings. And he explained that he won’t come anymore to the West for giving seminars. He would continue teachings via YouTube, according to American and European time zones. He remarked that he has given so many teachings and that it has become a habit to ask for more without applying what has already been given.

Before my mind’s eye I saw the great sublime structure woven by these teachings given over many years in a grand sequence, bringing to the denser planes of our minds most profound concepts about cosmic dimensions of manifestation, development and re-merging of creation, about their correspondences in us, about the laws of divine unfoldment. And that this knowledge is helping to unfold our inner dimension and speeds up the evolution.

At the same time I noticed how very undeveloped are the inner sense organs of us listeners and of those people over the globe trying to assimilate these teachings. With most there seemed to be a rudimentary inner perceptive system. Many feel attracted by Sri Kumar’s magnetism and by the ambiance of the seminars but not by the teachings. I heard from a number of members that they are not really interested in the teachings or maybe just some small aspects. Some said they feel more drawn to Buddhism and its practices because they are not so complicated. The attitude of mindfulness is very appealing and they don’t want to bother about the cosmological dimensions, which Buddhism leaves out of sight. I answered to a friend that for me the teachings are some kind of a training for our “mental and Buddhic muscles” and that like with other sport training you might feel pain when the muscles are tensed…

The last two days, I heard this from different sides. I thought of the tremendous work done by Sri Kumar and the difficulty of transmitting the sublime teachings. I was reminded of people using a smartphone. It is quite simple to operate, just some clicks – but is it easy under the surface? Who really understands in depth how it is functioning? And how comparatively few know how to build, how to write the software – and how many cooperate, adding specific sub-aspects to the whole, the “simple device”.

A friend said to me, she told Sri Kumar that she cannot understand much of his teachings but that she loves to be in his presence, and he smiled full of love. She added: “A gardener knows, when the seeds sprout and the plants develop.”

A Bonsai Tree Nursery in India – trees grow slowly