The month of Sagittarius is related to spiritual aspiration and the teacher, represented by Jupiter, and thus also to the cosmic principle of the Teacher.  In India, this principle is also understood as Lord Dattatreya. Sri Kumar has written a profound book about the topic. Since long, I’m fascinated by Dattatreya and I just have published the Lunar Messenger for Sagittarius on Dattatreya (PDF); you also find the text here.

In this regard, I would like to tell you some events of the last weeks which touched me very much. It became quite a long blog-post but you won’t regret reading it till the end…

Sri Dattatreya is depicted as a youth with three heads leaning against a white cow and surrounded by 4 dogs.

On 20 October, I got an e-mail from Lakshmi, a young IT specialist from Chennai with whom I have e-mail exchanges from time to time. She wrote: “By the way, I wanted to ask you if you have any book in German related to Sripada Srivallabha, the first avatar of Lord Dattatreya on Earth.” I didn’t remember having heard the name before. So I looked it up in Wikipedia and found an article.

Sripada Srivallabha, picture from Wikipedia

In the next e-mail Lakshmi asked me if I would be able to translate a book about him into German, Sreepada Sreevallabha Charitaamrutam, if she provides me the English version. I answered her, “I think I would be able but I don’t know if I want to do it, there is other work around.” While I was writing these words, I felt a strange inner touch and that I should not decline the request. I told me wife, “I have the impression that a book translation is coming to me…”

When reading in the Wikipedia article that Sripada Srivallabha, who lived in the 14th century, is regarded as the first incarnation of Lord Dattatreya in Kali Yuga and that he was born in Pithapuram, I noticed that it is a place between Visakhapatnam and Rajahmundry and that I had passed nearby last January. Suddenly a memory flashed through my mind, and I opened my notes from the last group living in India. Sri Kumar, who could not accompany the group to Rajahmundry, told us before the journey:

“You will all start at 3 pm in the afternoon. On the way we will stop at a place Lord Dattatreya was born in this cycle of time. Lord Dattatreya comes from the system of Sirius. He lived, was incarnated to a place nearby and lived there for 16 years. Then moved from there to a place in Maharashtra for another 16 years. According to prophecy he was reborn and he said he would again be reborn and again in Maharashtra. And he would also come to many forms of Islamic community; it was Shirdi Sai Baba. … Their ashram is also in…, the place where you go. Many things he prophesied as per other religions; he continues to guide us to one religion or the other. The centre is the ancient-most place related to the system of teachers. The Lord came down via that place from the Sirius system. In this Kali age he took birth. There are books available in English, Telugu and Hindi. I strongly recommend that you pick up the English book and try to read it. It is full of knowledge and things he did on earth. When you enter from the entrance there is a bookshop, in the ashram itself there is a book available. After this you go to Rajahmundry.”
The bus came too late and so the group did not go to the place Lord Dattatreya was born for want of time. I was sad but then forgot about it.

I now felt electrified that Sri Kumar had hinted already at this book which now knocked at my doors. I also remembered a passage in the biography on Master KPK: “In his 24th year, another initiate in the line of Dattatreya visited the family and initiated Sri Parvathi Kumar, his mother and his only sister Parvathi into the path of Yoga.” It also came to my mind that several times I had seen Sri Kumar doing a ritual to Lord Dattatreya. I started an intense web-search and got more and more drawn into the matter:

Statue at the house of Sri Kumar in Visakhapatnam

Sripada Srivallabha had lived from 1320 to 1350 AD, it was a powerful life full of splendour and miraculous events. As prophesied,  he re-incarnated as Narasimha Saraswati (1378 to 1459) and worked in a similar style. At the end of this life he entered into a cave and went into Samadhi for about 300 years only to come out around September–October 1856 as Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot (who then died in 1878 – I remembered having seen his picture on the altar of the Guru Pujas). I found articles mentioning that during this time Lord Dattatreya had taken to other simultaneous incarnations, such as Vasudevanand Saraswati and Shirdi Sai Baba – a feat other high souls also have done. I had read a lot about Shirdi Baba before. I now was profoundly touched discovering so many mysterious details which I hadn’t known before. I also thought of Swami Ganapati of Mysore, whose ashram I had visited  last year and about whom I had blogged several times –  he is also regarded as an avatar of Dattatreya.

Click on pictures to see them enlarged:

I wrote Sri Kumar about the idea of translating the book on Sripada Srivallabha, and he answered, “Get the book and read. Then you can decide.” I mentioned the whole story to Robert, a Spanish friend. He said, “Don’t you think a Spanish translation of the book would also be great? I’d love to do it.” I told him the answer of Sri Kumar, and so we said, we’ll read the book and form a triangle for the project, with Lakshmi to provide us with explanations and background information.

Cover picture of the book Sreepada Sreevallabha Charitaamrutam

Lakshmi now bought the English books and they will reach us end of December in Bangalore, at the December Call. She also procured for us the translation and publishing rights for the book. In the meanwhile I discovered a source where I could get the English translation as a PDF (the print version will be of about 400 pages…).

I asked Doris, a German friend, if she would like to do a proof-reading of the future translation and she was interested to do it. She even transcribed a longer FAQ-session with Sri Kumar from January 1994, where he talked about Lord Dattatreya and his avatars. She also sent me 2 pictures from 1994 with Sri Kumar and two persons considered as avatars of Lord Dattatreya:

Sri Kumar with Sri Visva Yogi Viswam Ji, an avatar of Lord Dattatreya, Guru Puja 1994

Sri Kumar with Bhaktaraj Maharaj (1920-1995), 1994

In the fascinating FAQ transcript, Sri Kumar speaks about various incarnations of Lord Dattatreya, and he also mentions Sripada Srivallabha, Narasimha Saraswati, Akkalkot Maharaj (Swami Samarth), Shirdi Sai Baba and Satya Sai Baba. I wondered why Sri Kumar didn’t give these names in his book on Lord Dattatreya, and so I asked him. He answered:

“Dattatreya is the sum and essence of The Cosmic Principle of Teacher. It is too mystical to the west and hence we tread the path of Maitreya. There are many freaks of Dattatreya, meaning electric manifestations of him thru persons who are not consistent and safe to follow. I therefore did not prefer to present names. Akkalkot Maharaj is the last consistent one.”

In me the question arose, why the incarnations of Dattatreya, the cosmic principle of Teacher, are so mysterious and too mystical for the West, and so I asked again Sri Kumar. He answered,

“Teachers are essentially meant to transmit Presence. Teaching is but a feed to minds of students. Presence elevates. Teaching inspires the mind and may lead to Buddhic state which may not stay longer. The west is more with teaching and the related mental understanding. The Presence lifts unto Itself. Dattatreya and the like are beyond mental comprehension.”

I was grateful for this clarification, and while studying other transcriptions from seminars of Sri Kumar for the Lunar Messenger the image became still clearer, though questions remain, like, what is the relation between Agastya/Master CVV and Dattatreya/Sripada who both have come from the Sirius system? Robert visualised this by fusing the two with the picture of Lord Maitreya to one image which he sent me yesterday:

At the moment, I’m reading the PDF book on Sripada Srivallabha with profound fascination. There are a lot of thrilling stories and inspiring events. However, it is not an easy read for a Westerner, there are lots of Sanskrit terms and concepts quite unfamiliar to my Western mind – although I’m in touch with Indian philosophy since several decades. But a leisurely reading is very uplifting.

I asked myself why I feel so attracted to the topic of Dattatreya, having come out of “devotional” emotions in the course of the years. I thought, I have encountered quite a lot of teachers and teachings and don’t want to go on “collecting more” – I feel well with the path I’m going. I know that the different teachings are expressions of the One principle of teaching and the teachers are expressions of the One. And just as there is a personification of the teaching principle in the World Teacher of our planet, Lord Maitreya, there is also a personification of the teaching principle on a cosmic scale, Lord Dattatreya. But this understanding remained a bit abstract.

Now, the encounter with Sripada deeply touched me, I was thrilled to discover and experience that Dattatreya is not just an abstract principle or a mythological personification but is incarnating time and again through his avatars and thus is giving his blessing to earnest seekers. While reading the “Sreepada Sreevallabha Charitaamrutam” I realised that with the book, there are quite some veils to be lifted, in the form of lots of unfamiliar concepts of Indian thought and terminology – these veils will keep off a casual reader.

The book itself has a very mysterious background: it had been hidden for 32 generations and only resurfaced in 2001, in a form copied from the original Sanskrit text. The original old copy which was brittle was destroyed by immersing it in the Krishna River, as instructed in the book. The English version is a translation of the Telugu version, and it is not an old language. However, I clearly feel that it is not a modern fake. When you read the book in an unbiased way you will realise its authenticity, inspiration and greatness.

If you feel you also really want to read the book “Sreepada Sreevallabha Charitaamrutam”, with a pure heart, you can contact me for a softcopy, only for personal use.
You might also like to read my other blogpost about the visit to the birthplace of Sripada Srivallabha.

YouTube-Video on the Sripada Shrivallabha Temple in Pithapuram – the video could not be framed into the blog:

Video about Kuravpur, a place on an island where Sripada Srivallabha meditated for a longer time.

“The Tree of Wisdom and the Waters of Life”  – a painting about Lord Dattatreya (3 Sept. 2011)

A few days ago, I came across a nice video about the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society (TS) in Adyar, Chennai (Madras), India. I visited the place in 2011, see some pictures at the end of the blogpost.

In December 1878, H.P. Blavatsky (H.P.B.) and H.S. Olcott went to India. In 1882, they founded these headquarters in Adyar, in the southern suburbs of Madras.

This documentary gives a good impression of the beautiful site and contains film footage, archival photos and interviews with a number of persons, like Radha Burnier, the late president of the TS. If you don’t have much time, just scroll through the video, it is 57 minutes.

Statue of H.P.B. and H.S. Olcott in Adyar (own photo)

A tea-cup psychically produced by H.P.B.

The room where H.P.B. worked

A precious old Buddha relief donated by Annie Besant, over 1000 years old

An inscription by H.P.B.: With no kind regards….

The famous Banyan Tree, the 2nd biggest in India
(All photos except the first (c) from the video)

Today, the month of Sagittarius starts.

Sagittarius is the fiery sign of the archer, symbol of single-minded attention. It teaches us to direct all our forces to one purpose, the goal of our life. On the spiritual path, the bow and arrow stand for the meditative discipline of lifting up the energies to the higher centres and to align one’s own will to the divine Will.

For the visualisation of the divine Will I chose a representation of the Lord of the Divine Will: I took the face of a statue of Shiva on the banks of the River Ganges in Rishikesh, India. I cleared it from other symbolisms and placed a bow and an arrow over the bust. With the help of photos of the sun and of a lotus I created the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus over the head, the target of the alignment, the connection to the higher worlds.

For the string and the lower part of the bust I created shapes of bluish flames, expressing the electric tension of the fiery alignment. I emphasized it by intensifying the colours.

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.

08 August 2014, pencils and photo work

7 November is the birthday of Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar. He was born in Vijayavada (India) in 1945. So in India, they celebrate his 70th birthday, while in the Western way of counting, it is his 69th birthday.

This day has been named the Day of Good Will in his honour, for he has offered his life totally to the service to his fellow beings. If you like to read something about his life, you find some stories in the book “Master K.P.K. – An Expression of Synthesis“.

Below, I would like to share with you an occasion which has left a profound mark in my life.

January 2002, I went for the second time to one of the international group livings organised by Master Kumar in Visakhapatnam. For me, it was during a time of deep transformations: I just was in the process of liquidating the psychosocial counseling centre for refugees which I had managed during more than 7 years. I had to dismiss the entire team and didn’t know if I also would soon be dismissed. For the time being I was working as a scientific collaborator and, with a small percentage, coordinating web publications. It was the time of Pluto transiting my sun….

The title of the seminar was “Meditation – A Way of Life”. One morning, Sri Kumar invited me to come with him to his office. I was very much thrilled. He drove the car himself. It was strange for me seeing him so “down to earth” – I knew him more as the brilliant lecturer at seminars.

At his office Soudamani, where he worked as a chartered accountant, he presented me to his team and went with me to all the office rooms. He explained what the individual staff members were doing and also showed me a little shrine in front of the building where they daily did a small puja before starting to work. And there was a beautiful Ficus Religiosa which was regularly decorated and worshipped.

Then we went into his office room and he invited me to ask. I asked him some questions about the beginning of his WTT presidency and of another difficult situation of the WTT he had gone through, and he very openly explained to me the backgrounds which I didn’t know before.

He spoke about the principles which guided him in his office work – that he never charged anything for the accountancy work he did – some persons, for whom he had done a lot of work just said “thank you” and gave nothing, others, whom he had just given some small counsel, had given a lot. Without expecting anything, he accepted what came in. He also told me how his father had chosen this job for him – he had other ideas but accepted his father’s advice and thus became a chartered accountant. And he told me how the three offices he was directing had developed – one in Visakhapatnam, one in Hyderabad and one in Chennai – with over 60 collaborators at that time – and how he was also committed in the formation of young accountants. And he described how he integrates his professional activities with his wife and family and the increasing demands from the work of the WTT.

I was profoundly impressed. With a meticulous, loving attention he cared for the many different dimensions of his life, without neglegting anything. I felt, this is really a role-model for me – integrating all the different planes. I think, over 2 hours had passed, when he drove me back to the Retreat Centre.

Four months later, I got a new job at the headquarters of Swiss Red Cross, where I became the head of the newly created Web Office and where I served for over 11 years. And in the same month, at the May Call Day seminar in Wengen, Switzerland, he called Sabine and me into the Executive Board of WTT-Global. I got plenty of occasions to learn integrating the different planes of life and points of view, and I felt a continuous support from his side.

The Office of Soudamani (pictures taken in 2003)

The Ficus Religiosa in front of the Office

Sri Kumar in his office

We today enter into the month of Scorpio.

The work of Scorpio is the alchemy of profound transformation through rhythmic inner work. Rhythm, ritual and order are related to the 7th ray of violet vibration. The violet light is the most proximate subtle light; it helps us gain the vision, which reveals the subtle existence. The violet flame causes magical transformations, which slowly reorganize the energies of our life. The Master of the 7th Ray, the Count Saint Germain, is the Master related to Scorpio. He supports us to govern ourselves by following a rhythm and order.

For this painting I took some photos of a candle flame and arranged a picture of Count Saint Germain into several layers of flames transformed into violet light. In the background I merged the pictures of a rose window of a cathedral and a blue diamond. Then I started working with the colours.

After scanning the picture and further working on the colours I saw that the print-outs were quite different from the screen images. The colour tones did not give the right hues, and the violet did not render well. So I slept one night over it and then continued working: I divided the picture into two layers, worked on the layers separately. I then erased parts of the one layer and fused the two layers. After a number of print-outs the right luminosity was adjusted.

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.

09 July 2014, pencils and photo work

A short time after the landfall of the very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud around Visakhapatnam the first e-mails about its damages arrived via a Spanish friend. Visakhapatnam (or Vizag, as it is popularly called – though I prefer the long version) is the centre of the WTT movement and I have posted quite a lot about my journeys – I went there every year since 2000 for the annual seminars of Dr Kumar each January. So of course I was interested in the news.

But the first thought was, don’t overreact: I was reminded of the Tsunami 10 years ago – when the media reported the whole coast of India from the South up to Kolkata was destroyed but when 10 days later I arrived in Visakhapatnam I could hardly see any damage along the coast.

However, soon images arrived, and I saw some videos on Facebook showing the trace of destruction of the cyclone. The power of the images changed my impression. I forwarded the mails to the WTT mailing list, and the next day members sent mails expressing their sympathies with the victims and their prayers.

Further mails arrived via my Spanish friend, which I forwarded again: “In Visakhapatnam, they have no electricity nor water. ATM’s don’t work so they’re not able to retrieve money; convenience stores are closed anyway so they cannot buy food. Public and private transportation is very perturbed because of streets’ damage and fallen trees… There is some sacking. People are considering to leave the city and go to their home towns in order to be able to get water supplies and food…” I thought, oh, how severe is the situation?

Some friends called for action, how they can help with money, if we would do a collection. I was reminded of my time at the Swiss Red Cross where over years I published the disaster news and collection calls. I knew very well that for the emergency assistance  there needs to be an evaluation and an infrastructure, besides partners. So I sent an e-mail to Dr. Kumar, and he answered: “As such, we better wait and watch brother!” I thought, yes, that’s what I had expected. Later I got an update from him via a friend: “All are fine. But the city is destroyed substantially. Almost all trees are fallen. Except SMS no communications are possible. No electricity.”

More details about devastations at the different locations of the WTT arrived: Retreat Center: few glass window doors broke, prayer hall filled with water. School run in Ramadri premises needs some repair… What it meant I better understood when I saw some of the images Jayadev, a member had taken at this very beautiful temple site with a free school for the poor:

The school buildings at the temple site in Ramadri

School buildings and part of the temple compound

A little destroyed shrine with a statue of the divine Mother (Photos: Jayadev Pappu)

After the pictures I yesterday received an update from Jayadev writing: “I did visit the healing centre but I could not go inside because the path was completely blocked by trees. From what I could from a distance, the building is fine, some glasses might have broken, but almost all the trees around are down. That is the sad part.

The electricity in Vizag city has been restored in certain areas and in a week’s time almost the whole city will have electricity. All other basic amenities like water, fuel, milk, food, etc. are now available without much difficulty.”

It is quite different whether you hear about far away severe weathers in the news or when friends tell you from their first-hand experience. I know and love these places like the Healing Centre or Ramadri – sites with a sublime and serene spiritual ambiance. I will go there again in January, and I wonder how much of these devastations will still be visible – and how much restoration work will have been done – there is so much loving volunteer work behind these and other spiritual centres, silently carried out over the years.

Update: I just saw on Facebook a series of photos of Vamsi Chintalapati (“our school”) about the devastations the cyclone has done to the Bala Bhanu School – a beautiful school of the WTT at the outskirts of Visakhapatnam. May the sanctity of the place be soon restored!

A little shrine of Master CVV inside the schoolyard with the uprooted Ficus Religiosa tree

The schoolyard

The broken table with the picture of Master EK at the entrance of the school. Photos by Vamsi Chintalapati

For many, the “Autobiography of a Yogi” (PDF, HTML) has been a door-opener to the spiritual dimensions. This spiritual classic by Paramahansa Yogananda had a great impact in the West for promoting interest in yoga and meditation. Now in October, a new documentary, “AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda” comes out into the movies. Here is the trailer.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Two months ago, a young friend from Germany asked me if we could study together via Skype the book Spiritual Astrology by Master EK. The Skype study group was a very good experience and we read the book together several times a week. She reads, I explain.

Then my young friend came up with the idea to start another group study, “Music of the Soul“, also by Master EK. I very much love the book and had translated it to German in the early 90s (it is not the published version). I proposed to open the group for other members to join.

So we started an open study group, where we meet every second week on Friday evening, alternating with our little local group. We read the book in English and discuss in German. The book is very thrilling but not so easy for Westerners; friends told me they got lost in it. So reading and explaining in a group makes it much easier.

Then we opened also the study group on “Spiritual Astrology” (in German), and now we meet every Thursday evening to study . Both groups are with members from Switzerland and Germany. Both group studies were very stimulating and encouraging. And the exchange is very enriching. It is much more joyful to study the texts in a group, especially when unclear points are explained. And even though Skype sometimes gives problems with dropouts, it is possible to easily follow along with the books.

When I spoke about these study groups to an Indian friend from the States, he asked if we could also start a study group in English, on Saturdays. I proposed to study “Spiritual Psychology“, also by Master EK and mentioned it to other members from Germany, Spain and the States, and they also said they want to join. After a little pilot meeting last Saturday, we will now launch an English study group:

We will start next Saturday, 4 October. The meetings will be from 8:00 pm Central European Time (UTC + 2 summer time, UTC + 1 winter time) till 9:30 pm. (See here the corresponding time zones).

After I announced it via the WTT mailing list, quickly members from California and Oregon to Mumbai, from Danmark to Spain, and Germany joined. It is a fascinating experiment of the fusion of East and West, with people from very different backgrounds will come together.

I moderate the groups. We begin with a little guided invocation / visualisation. Then we read the text in small steps, sometimes just 1-2 sentences. Afterwards, I summarize and give some explanations, and we discuss questions or other thoughts relating to the text. I wrote a a little guideline with some more details about the group work.

If you would like to join the study group “Spiritual Psychology” (or, in German one of the other groups), let me know. Before starting, I need to include you in the Skype group, and so you have to make Skype contact with me (my Skype-ID is “good-will”, but since there are many who have good will in their names, please search me via: “Circle of Good Will” or send me an e-mail with your Skype ID). For a group mailing list I also need your e-mail address, and best also details about your location (address). Group members proposed to have a list with all the participants names and photos and some background information, so please also share these. I will inform via a mailing list, for example when a session cannot take place.

You don’t need to be a specialist – you just should be willing to participate regularly. It is OK when you stay away 1-2 times because of other obligations (the group also might pause sometimes when I’ll be away) but then you should read yourself the text which the group has read. You need the book “Spiritual Psychology” – either you get it from somewhere or I can send you an electronic version (PDF). You need a place where you can follow the study group in silence, best without external interruptions (in case of interruptions, you can just attend to the situation and join the group again). Furthermore, you need a device (computer, mobile) with Skype and a headset or any other sound system, which does not generate acoustic feedback with the other members.

The evenings of the group meetings, I will call your Skype account, whether you are there or not. We will do the meetings as audio conferences, without video.

Members have asked if each one can share a picture of himself/herself and a short remark about yourself so that it is easier to know who is in the group. So if you send it to me, I will make a document with the details and share it with the group.

If you don’t participate for a couple of times without informing me, I will take you out of the group. You can join again when your life situation allows you to attend regularly.

Sitting at the office table in contact with all over the world

Last Tuesday, 23 September, there was the Yogic point of autumn equinox, an important time for aligning with the annual ritual of the 2 solstices and 2 equinoxes (read here more about the spiritual impact of this festival). We gathered with a group of 8 persons from Germany and Switzerland near Einsiedeln at the birthplace of Paracelsus, the great initiate and revolutionary of medicine. On the way, a fantastic sunrise already announced an extraordinary day. The air was filled with golden light when we met at the Paracelsus centre.

After preparing the room with a thanksgiving altar, we started with a little candlelight ceremony (in the esoteric understanding, Libra, representing the unfoldment of objectivity or matter, is the midnight of the subjective side of the year) intonating the mantra of Durga. I gave a short introduction into the theme of the equinox and of the symbolism of Durga, the impermeable Mother. Then we did a group study about the deeper meaning of the ritualistic symbolism.

After the lunch prepared by the group, we went for a walk through the beauty of the surrounding nature, followed by coffee and cake and the discussion of some house rules for the use of the rooms, which we had prepared beforehand – and it seemed to be necessary for the center to run smoothly. The group also decided to make a “cleaning festival” for the rooms next year before Easter – two days of a group living with a cleanup of the centre.

We continued with an exercise which I had developed on the basis of the teachings of Master KPK on the directional intelligences of space and the inner planets, followed by a group exchange about some principles of Yoga. The beautiful day ended with a group meditation followed by a water ritual and dinner. On the way home, there was a radiant after-sunset glow in the air, the final of a day full of magic.

With autumn equinox, we just have entered into the month of Libra

In one of the Upanishads there is the story of two birds on the tree of life which are eternal inseparable friends. One bird eats the fruit of the tree; the other rejoices the first one eating. The bird below stands for the personality, which is experiencing the world. The bird above is the soul, which is a witness of the actions of the lower self. Both are eternally united. It is a beautiful representation of Libra, which stands for relationship.

Another symbol of relationship is the magnet. Its two poles create a field which attracts and magnetizes the iron filings.

In this picture I joined the two symbols: The upper bird in radiant white is hovering above and observing the lower bird. The latter is sitting on the ground, looking backwards. It is also white but a little tinged.

In the background you see the two poles of the magnet vertically arranged as two suns spreading their fields of force all around illustrating the poles of the soul and personality. They also represent the trunk of the tree of life with the lines of force as branches and roots.

I drew the lines on a photo of iron filings ordered around a magnet. Spiritual Astrology describes the colour of Libra as crimson-red for the average people living in a cloudy admixture of emotions and love. For a disciple who has developed the etheric lotuses the colour is violet; and when he is established in the thousand petalled lotus the colour is a blend between blue and pure white. You see these colour tones vibrating in the picture.

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.

04 June 2014, pencils and photo work