From Hamburg a one-hour drive brought us to the house of a friend and his wife living at the outskirts of a small town. Sitting in the garden, surrounded by flowers, we spoke about different stages of our spiritual journey through life, while our wives were exchanging experiences in the living room. Later we joined together.

For years my friend had had a spiritual bookshop and a publishing house for spiritual / astrological books. Later he sold the shop and focused on publishing as well as on managing the production of nice jewellery with spiritual symbols, in Asia.

In his life he showed a great love for freedom from limitating structures and a great aspiration towards cosmic depths. He is much interested in creating a space for people to meet in freedom. He told us of a round table group of men with different spiritual backgrounds and with an intense inner journey which a friend of his, a publisher, had formed a year ago where. They meet every 6 months for a weekend of exchange, contemplation and reflection. Our friend is planning to launch a free meeting with friends of our spiritual movement for next year, and he showed us his draft of a concept.

After evening meditation we continued our drive eastwards to meet a friend near the Baltic Sea.

A wind mobile in the garden of  our friend

Buddha meditating in the garden

On our tour through Belgium and Germany we are now in Hamburg. Yesterday and today were filled with lively conversations and exchanges. It is very fascinating to have a look into biagraphies and to get a closer feeling for the steps of  experience people have walked. These are all friends with a long spiritual history and a deep search for light, a committed expression in their surroundings, integrating spiritual living with professional life.

Yesterday afternoon we joined the group meeting of the WTT group of Hamburg, where after many years we met again the old lady at whose house they meet since many years. In my exchange with her we realised that very often in our past our paths had been touching very close points. She gave me insights “from the other side of experience”, and I could share with her information, insights andexperiences from my side, about joint companions on the path. It was very touching and heartening to see how we had been strolling our ways in zig-zag movements and had observed many an event in a similar way.

Other friends had joined the meeting, and there were many impressions shared in a short time.

These talks have a great intensity, which I enjoy very much.

Path to the light – staircase in the house of our friend, where we stay at the moment.

Buddha-statue in a house of a friend we visited yesterday

Herb garden on the roof, veranda-impression

On our journey we went eastwards to Germany. In Bonn we had a short but intense encounter with young friends. Then we drove on to Wermelskirchen, to the center of WTT Germany. Our friends gave us a warm welcome. the next morning we joined the fire ritual in the garden of their house, in an enchanted ambience. There is a beautiful statue of Krishna in a little pond, where dragonflies come out of their larva skins to start a new life in the air.

Later some group members assembled for a morning study group with a lively exchange on spiritual topics, where we fellt much at home.
But in the early afternoon we already set off again norhtwards for our next visit, in the direction of Hamburg.

Little Ganesha–statue at the entrance of the house of WTT-Germany

Krishna-statue in the garden, in a little pond

Some days ago a friend from Canada sent me a text with pictures about Mudras, the subtle art of hand position, which I also found on the web.

I looked up my seminar notes and found something my spiritual teacher Dr. Sri Kumar said in a seminar about White Magic, Arosa 2001, about mudras / the hands (my notes):

“Holding the hands is a science by itself, the science of mudras. There are many ways of holding the two palms of the hands: First establish the necessary purity and second the power of thought to direct the energy and third the use of hands for direction of energy….
When not used, keep the hands locked, in whatever way. When it comes to the posture of Namaskar, it is to bring the left and right energies together. The posture of Namaskar is to offer oneself to something higher then you. Holding the right in the left, the right by the left, meaning, you are looking for ascension, higher energies. The contrary is to bring down the energy. There are 16 mudras used in higher states. The right hand relates to the soul, the left to the personality. In any posture the thumbs have to join. In Namaskar the bottoms of the thumbs have to join. Many other usages can be learned later. All postures will be taught, when you have really begun. For the time being, use to close the hands and offer them to acts of good will. Mental, emotional and physical cleanliness and purity is necessary. Be aware of the power of the hands and hence keep them clean. … When we gain the necessary energy, the other postures can be given slowly. Also the eyes. First we work with the throat, which speaks of the personality. Normally we speak flattering ourselves and critical of others. We speak from the personality standpoint. The speech is constructive. The energy centres related to the hands relate to the throat. You speak with the hands. Many people do a lot of dances when they speak. First working with speech, silence, OM. Stop speaking about the personality, about oneself. Normally you speak about yourself much more as you are, about others less than what is there. These distortions must go. The true work of healing will come when man has learned how to speak and think: Thinking from the heart, not from the solar plexus.
Many of the group members lose energy for nothing. It would be helpful to join the hands or close the legs or feet. If you sit open, the energy flows out. When we are habituated to keep ourselves closed while not at work, the rest of the process can be safely explained.

Buddha with teaching mudra, Ajanta, India. Photo of a friend

Last week I went to North Germany, for a seminar with my spiritual teacher, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar and his wife, Kumari-Garu. For 2 weeks they had been on a tour visiting all groups of the World Teacher Trust in Germany, and the WTT-Group of Bünde, North-Rhine Wesphalia, had invited me to come to the meeting with the Master at their. They had worked a lot to beautifully prepare the house and the garden. In the evening of June 18th, Sri Kumar and Kumari Garu arrived, travelling from Berlin via Hamburg and Bielefeld.

After a hearty welcome we had dinner together. Next morning after meditation there was a question and answer session with the Master.

One question was about healing: “We want to work with healing, at the beginning we decide to first heal ourselves before working with others.”
Sri Kumar answered: “First healing ourselves and then healing others doesn’t have to be like that. In our effort to heal others we are healed. You can think of difficult situations on the globe where people are suffering, that can be our patient, where there is suffering on the globe. That is the object for healing. Then you feel that the healing energy is all around. That is the truth. There is the healing energy and then you are there, you can receive into you and transmit to the object of healing through the triangle. In this we don’t use any name, so it can be given to the people also. We relate to the God energy, healing energy. God is omnipotent, so healing is also omnipotent. You can call it healing energy or healing nature or God, whatever. That can enter into you with the view to receive. So you receive into your heart, you transmit it to the object of healing and also link it up to the healing energy. So it gets into you, the energy is transmitted to the object of healing and he is also connected to the healing energy. You can connect to the triangle. With every inhalation you receive, with every exhalation you transmit the energy, and in the gap before you breathe in again, it leads the energy . Like that you can do it 12, 18, 24 times, and later you can link it to the energy and come out.”

After breakfast the Master and Kumari Garu conducted a fire ritual on the terrace of the house. At the end the fire was brought around the house as a blessing. Later the Master gave some consultations, and in the afternoon we departed to Bad Essen, where the summer solstice seminar was taking place.

The group living started with a beautiful candle ceremony, followed by a short lecture about summer solstice and evening meditation. Later in the evening a group member gave a jazz concert with his saxophone.

Next day and Sunday morning the lectures continued:
“What is the magic that happens around summer solstice? The magic is true to some, as true and tangible as our eating breakfast. To some it would be an illusion. These are the dreamers who dream that they have had breakfast. Every question carries its answer in it. Some put themselves into an imagination and feel the related relief, and then they feel much about themselves, but the one who as eaten know those others who have eaten, because they are all around. When the dreamer says, I have eaten breakfast, those who all had breakfast know that he hasn’t eaten breakfast, but is dreaming. Imagination can lead to illusion, when there is no activity of service.
So there are those who experience it really, there are those who experience it through their own imagination and those who carry it as information into their head. They only speak of it to others. Let us experience the visit of the solar Lord in the heart. By tomorrow this time the solstice is around a quarter to 8 European time. This preparation should lead us to re-orient firstly to service, to help the suffering humanity even in a very small way….”

It was a heart-thrilling encounter, with many good exchanges. Filled with inspiration and joy we afterwards returned back home.

One week ago a beautiful thrilling seminar with our spiritual teacher, K. Parvathi Kumar, ended. About 500 group members from many countries all over the world assembled in the beautiful village of Engelberg (Angel Mountains) for the celebration of the 100th May Call Day (see the blogpost about the preparation). Nearly 130 members had come from India, most of them for the first time leaving their country.

For four days there were celebrations, lectures, concerts and presentations, and of course a lot of talks with friends. The common meditations created a strong energy field uplifting all. It was astonishing how smooth everything went. Our team of organizers at first had not thought that so many people would come, and more and more hotels had to be included. We had transformed a huge curling hall into the seminar place, so that there were no problems having enough space for all.

The lectures of our teacher were very inspiring. The main celebration on May 29th was a gorgeous feast with many presents brought by groups for the groups, a mutual exchange of joy. Next day there were a number of musical presentations. In the evening I had a special highlight for which I had worked a long time. I had prepared a presentation, “The Song of Fire. A Journey through Macrocosm and Microcosm” (now also on the website), with texts from the wisdom teachings and pictures I had painted over 2 decades ago and later destroyed. I had recovered the pictures from photos and presented them for the first time to a public. I was deeply moved of this occasion. Many people afterwards told me that the presentation had profoundly touched them. Also after the seminar I got quite a lot of feedbacks. For me it was like crossing a threshold, though I don’t know yet where it is leading to.

Path of Light, March 1982

Dawn over Engelberg

A friend from Spain sent today the following wisdom thoughts in Spanish, which my automatic translation program got over into English, with a little manual polishing:

Although you don’t write books, you are the writer of your life.
Although you are not an artist, you can make of your life a work of art.
Although you don’t understand anything of cinema, your existence can become a successful and extraordinary film.
Although you sing out of tune, your existence can be a beautiful song.
Although you don’t understand music, your life can be a magnificent symphony.
Although you have not studied in a school of communications, your life can become a model report.
Although you don’t have great culture, you can end up being a great sage.
Although your work is humble, you can transform your day into a master teacher.
Although you have 40, 50 or 60 years, you can be as young as you want.
Although the wrinkles already mark your face, you can have an extraordinary interior beauty.
Although your feet bleed in the obstacles and stones of the road, your face can smile.
Although your hands conserve the scars of the problems and of incomprehensions, your lips can be grateful.

An old Mongolian man in his tent drinking tea. Photo of a friend, 2006

In Hamburg, Germany, there was just the 14th German Trend Day. The topic was: “Social Wealth. Share and win”. On the invitation it says:

” ‘Yes we can’ is a motto that heralds a new beginning – and not only in the USA: the “we” stands for hope right across the globe. The ego’s claim to sole power imploded along with the financial markets. The self-destructive desire for self-celebration has been paid for with the loss of personal, commercial and social equilibrium. And it isn’t only consumers and investors who are changing the way they think – companies and states are doing so as well. As the successful chapter of “I” and “my” draws to a close, the search for the “we” is on.’ ”

This sounds very much what the wisdom teachings say, that satisfaction comes through sharing, not through egoistic dominance. A summary (in German) on Heise.de gives some thoughts of the talks: “You are what you share”, said Charles Leadbeater, “Social wealth comes from common interests, common communication, common action and common innovation,” Peter Wippermann explained. And David Bosshart of the Gottlieb-Duttweiler-Institut said that one way out of the lifestyle-crisis of the 20th century requires less consumption: “1. Eat less. 2. Consume less. 3. Throw less away.” And on the Social Wealth website the trend is summarized with the words of Keynote speaker  Lawrence Lessig who believes that, in future, the efficient handling of consumers’ creativity will be key to value creation. Lawrence Lessig is the inventor of the Creative Commons licence, a professor at Stanford Law School and founder of the Center for Internet and Society.

The future will need new forms of consumption, cooperation and living together. Have a look at “Good Will in Action“, No. 12 on Cooperation.

Living together is not just like sheep on a meadow, but focusing on the common ground.

Yesterday my wife and I were in Engelberg for preparatory works for the seminar and celebrations on the 100th May Call, which will start in 10 days. We met there with 3 friends of the WTT, who were already busy in the huge curling hall in the sporting centre to transform it into a seminar hall.

Over 450 people from all over the world will come to the meeting with our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar. Since several months there is quite some preparatory work going on, and many details have to be arranged. Most of the work is done by 3 persons, and not much of it seen from the outside.

We had quite a good time preparing the hall. There is a pleasant anticipation around thrilling all involved.

In the mirror at the end of the curling hall.

Cows right in front of the hall enjoying the sunshine in the meadow. The sound of cow-bells was ringing through the air.

I today got the link to the short YouTube-video “Bodhisattva in Metro“. It is a fantistic film without words, showing the contagious influence of a radiant good mood. Enjoy!

From the video