The holidays are past now and a first turbulent week nearly through. A theme of the first days in Spain with the family seemed to be “volcanic”. The first days I dived into a fascinating fantasy novel of the children, “Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony“, by Eoin Colfer, with sequences about a subterranean island, from where sometimes demons escaped through a volcano tunnel up to the earth.

Then we visited friends in the Olot, a city in northern Spain, surrounded by extinct volcanoes. We first went on a volcano located within the city and later into a volcano which was cut open, since it was used for a while as a stone pit. You can see the different strata of volcanic ashes – a scene kindling the imagination – the whole area full of extinct explosive matter, where in some far future the earth might erupt again.

My friend gave me a “bomba volcanica”, a volcanic bomb – a piece of stone like a pastry with folded corners once pressed out of the inner of the earth, a witness of some telluric catastrophy.

In the evening of this visit we had a talk about some other kind of volcanic activities: Two of our friends have gone through deep psychic crises and are now stabilizing their situation with psychotropic drugs. There is still an inner fire under the surface, from where “demons” might make their way through the pipe up into the outer life. You can somehow feel the echoes of the subterranean fires of karmic effects of the past.

Other “volcanic activities” we can observe where painful experiences of the past slumbering can violently come up with an emotional fierceness not explicable from the present situation. We are living in a volcanic world sometimes sitting on hot-spots without knowing.

An old chimney in the city of Olot, Spain.

This weekend we had been in Einsiedeln for a short, but very intense seminar with our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. P. Kumar. It was a very small group of 14 persons. We had been invited, but we even didn’t know that he would give lectures. So it was a surprise for us. And it were very deep talks about “The Scripture of Synthesis”. Saturday morning, he had written down 12 statements about existence, the basic truth of all that is. In the three lectures he first commented the sayings, then gave a number of stories and explanations in terms of spiritual astrology to illustrate them and make them more comprehendible. Since we were such a small group, he could go into subtleties of the teachings which normally aren’t possible in a bigger group.

Sunday morning he spoke about the life of the great initiate Vedavyasa, who lived at the times of Sri Krishna, about 5000 years ago. His final scripture, the Srimad Bhagavata, is a writing that synthesizes all knowledge and practices of discipleship otherwise known as the science of yoga. He gave a number of hints how the wisdom unveils to the one who has prepared himself and then takes in the knowledge with the right inner attitude. I was once more thrilled to  witness how he could bring these sublime teachings in a way suited to our level of understanding and illustrating them with numerous stories.

It was a hearty, leisurely ambiance, and also after the lectures, at the meals. I feel it very inspiring to listen to his expositions, uplifiting all who were present. I took notes, thought the talk went quite fast. It is my method of staying alert and focused. I hope I’ll find soon some time for corrections, in order to share the notes with friends.

Sunday morning dawn at Einsiedeln

At a seminar celebration Sri Kumar told the story of the man, who made him come to Argentina and prepared the groups, which are active today: Don Pedro Nahum. I found it very inspiring, so here are some lines are arranged from his talk.

Pedro Nahum worked day and night for 30 years to manifest the teachings of the Theosophical Society and those of Alice Bailey in Argentina. He was a very fiery man, to whom money never was a conditioning factor nor did he live for earning money. He was moving between three cities, Buenos Aires, Posadas in the north and Mendoza at the feet of the Andes, which are distant to each other by 1200 to 1500 km. He was moving from place to place by trucks speaking to the truck drivers who were his students and reaching places and teaching books. His teachings were always during the midnight hours until the early morning, because during the day the people had to work for the living. He respected it and travelled by day.

He was reading books and explaining the spiritual teachings to his followers. He never allowed anyone to record the teachings nor even allowed to make notes. He said, listen and register. That is the oldest method. In ancient times the teacher taught and the students listened, and it is to the student to register and to remember.

He had as many as 1000 followers; relentlessly he was teaching them. They were living in the forests of Argentina and learning. They stayed there day and night for a few weeks, learned and then went back – a very hard work, but he was a man of iron will. He created enough fire in all those who followed him.
He was saying to his students that another teacher would come and teach meditation, give the technique of yoga and also the rhythm and the technique of discipleship. When he came to know of Sri Kumar he suggested his followers to listen to him. In 1992 Dr. Kumar came for the first time for about 3 weeks. Pedro Nahum was planning to leave his physical body, not because of old age but because of the intensity of the work he did.

He attended Sri Kumar’s teachings in Buenos Aires and Posadas, and there he symbolically handed over to him a silver cup of mate, the traditional tea they drink there. He said: “I have done what is to be done, you please continue. I wish to leave. Teach them meditation, I did no teach them meditation. Give them the discipline of discipleship which I did not give. I have ignited fire in them, and they all carry the fire of aspiration. They are all very wild people. I know that you can handle fire. I am glad that you have come, I symbolically hand over the work to you and I will leave by the time you come next time. I know that you will come many times to Argentina.”

Sri Kumar listened carefully, accepted the silver cup, and next year when he was starting for Argentina, the day he left India, the same day Pedro Nahum left his body. As Sri Kumar landed in Switzerland, he had the news that Pedro Nahum had departed. Don Pedro had good extrasensory perceptions. He now lives in the heart of all his followers and continues to inspire.

The WTT-Group from Misiones edited some of his sayings in Spanish and in English, which you find here. Since for him the waterfall is very important and he explained everything about the falls to his followers, the group arranged his photo above the falls.

At the meeting in Iguazú for the May Call celebrations from May 26th to June 1st, there were about 300 persons from different countries from East and West: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Honduras, India, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, United States, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland as well as from Venezuela attending the seminar. Most faces were new, but many I knew from previous group livings.

Besides the seminar lectures on “Coexistence” by our teacher, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar. There were very interesting encounters with many different members – but this isn’t much for the blog. In case you are interested, I have typed the seminar notes…

One exchange was quite particular: I was sitting next to a lady from Honduras. When I asked her, what she was doing in her home country, she answered in a short, precise way, in perfect English: “What do you mean? I don’t speak English very well, but first I am a mother with two children, then I am a lawyer, and a politician. I am member of a Latin American international assembly, similar to the EU. I am in the commission working with the European Union, o.k.?”

I replied: “Oh, so you have a lot of responsibilities. How do you integrate all this with spiritual life?” She hesitated a moment, and I was wasn’t sure if she understood me well, but then she answered in a clear, decisive way: “First in my life there is God, since always, then come other things. I am a politician because I think it is right that I am at the place where I am. If I weren’t there, there would be someone else who might not do it as well as I do. o.k.?” Then she turned over to the other side, leaving me back a bit baffled.

Passion Flower in the Argentinean national park of the Iguazú Falls

In the afternoon of our arrival some friends asked me if I would like to join them for an excursion to the Cataratas, the falls on the Brazilian side. They are in a beautiful national park, full of luxuriant vegetation. I had been there 7 years ago, but now the weather was fine.

The public bus brought us right to the entrance of the park, where we changed into another bus which brought us closer to the falls. And then we saw them, the overwhelming range of cascades, large and small ones, falling from different heights over brown rocks, embellished by green spots.

Clouds of spray hovered over the falls, and the sun painted beautiful rainbows.

At the upper part of the Brazilian side of the falls looking at Garganta do Diablo / Devil’s Throat

It is a most enchanted scenery, with the continuous roar of the falling waters resounding over the valley. The path lead us closer and closer to the “Devil’s Gorge”, the big hole at the beginning of the falls, where huge amounts of water tower down into the abyss. The water sprinkled over us and gave a cooling feeling. The soul feels uplifted and inspired by all the natural beauty. Some coatis were running around, watching us tourists, and waiting for some food to be picked up.

The next day we went with some small busses to the Argentinean side, where you can go even deeper into the cascades, through forests full of tropical bushes. A little train brought us to a catwalk leading to the other side of the Devil’s Gorge. The waters seem to be so quiet before rushing down into the abyss – like in life, where surprises often come unexpected.

At the end you can look from a platform down directly into the white of the thundering waters, without seeing the bottom.

Flocks of birds were dancing in the clouds, sometimes disappearing in the waters. A friend said he had seen a film about these birds having their nests behind the falling waters, a safe place without any natural enemies.

We later went with a little ferryboat to the St. Martin’s island in the middle of the falls.

A boat in front of the rocks of St. Martins Island

Some huge black birds circled over our heads or sat in trees.

Some lizards darted over the rocks or enjoyed the sun. Signs warned of serpents, but we didn’t see any.

On St Martin’s Island there is said to be a power-spot, an entrance to the subtle Devic kingdom – and you could really feel the sublime presence, surrounded by the torrential cascades.

The sun painted horizontal rainbows into the mist over the rocks.

The energetic center is said to be around the rock in the middle – a superb, but inaccessible place.

For hours after the return there remained the impression of the thundering waters in my subtle bodies. It had such a strong impact of purification, power and upliftment.

In Eastern wisdom teachings the descent and ascent of water is seen as the movement of involution and evolution of creation. It is described with the “Narayana” mantram. A friend from Miami who was at the group living in Iguazú sent me today a picture of the falls writing:

“I selected this photo because for me it represents the synthesis of the message of the past group living: NARAYANA: Waters from heaven and waters from the earth. For me the mist that is produced from the fall of the water represent our souls going on the return path. Thousands and thousands of little drops that at the end merges with the immense, unlimited blue sky.”

A member of our local group had yesterday birthday and invited us for breakfast and a little excursion this morning after our group meditation.

The outing went to a nearby hill, the Belpberg (more in German) which in previous epochs had been the end moraine of a glacier. Our friend wanted to show us a surprise and didn’t tell us what we would see, we should just experience.

From the western side of the hill we took a little road, entered a forest and came along a beautiful waterfall.

A little further on there was a house directly next to the forest, with a magical ambiance around.

Our friend told us that until recently a man lived there, who used to do rituals and ceremonies in nature. She once was invited by him into his house. She was fascinated by the friendly way he lived in tune with nature. Only the nearby farmers didn’t like it, they were a bit irritated by this strange guy and so the owner terminated the contract. Though the man tried his best to stay there, it seemed that now he had left the place and other people were living there.

Someone of our group mentioned: “It is quite hard to live in a non-orthodox way in Switzerland, it’s very different from India, where everyone can live the style he likes, without irritating the others.”

We continued our walk and took a small, steep path through the forest,

and then saw some chalk cliffs with a little cave overlooking the valley, called the “Pfaffenloch” (Parson’s Hole):

Between two rocks there was a small entrance into a tunnel. We went in, but the passage got more and more narrow, and after some meters you had to creep.

I felt uncomfortable and returned. While the others crept to the other side, I looked around and saw remains of some rituals – candles, fire etc. – a beautiful place for celebrating nearness with nature.

And there was a fantastic view over the valley to the Alps. The cars and the railway down in the valley looked like little toys.

When the others came back, we sat down and intonated a few times the holy word OM – quite a contrast to the shooting going on in the valley – Swiss marksmen training.

Back at the foot of the hill we saw some farm houses, which now serve city people to live in. I’m always astonished how much energy some people put into making their houses representative dwellings. So much vital energy is being absorbed by these activities.

This morning my moped suddenly started to roar – the rust had eaten a hole into the mouth of the tail-pipe. With a lot of noise I continued to my office. On the way home in the evening I took the direction to a motorbike mechanic. When I crossed the bridge from the old town of Berne to the other side, I saw an old steam engine tramway going along, an extra-ride blowing white steam into the air.

The tram was quite slow, so I could easily double it with my moped. I stopped and took out my camera, but it passed by a bit too fast. I drove on and made some shots from the moped and then a last one from the side of the road, here they are.

On the plate of the engine you can read it’s from 1894. I thought about the incredible speed-up of technical evolution in these 114 years. In esoteric parlance this is a result of the starting Aquarian age – though in mainstream society they are laughing it off and give other kinds of explanation concepts.

A few minutes later I arrived at the motorbike shop, where just 2 ladies were returning from a test drive with latest models e-bikes – a new generation of city transport means getting quite frequent here.
And in the newspapers and on the web I saw today pictures of yesterday’s show of the “fusion man” – a Swiss pilot who, with small airofoils and little turbines on his back had given a demonstration for press people, flying at 300 km/h over the Alps – another air of the Aquarian wind.

Yesterday we went with a relative and her friend to the Niederhorn, a peak in the Swiss Alps in the Bernese Oberland near Beatenberg. The friend was a clairvoyant from Germany, who was for the first time in these mountains. Our relative had been at a geomantic seminar at Beatenberg some time ago and wanted to show us an energetic power place.

We first walked along a private road, through a series of tunnels, where the friend said she felt overwhelmed by the multitude of subtle beings in the rocks. I just felt a bit small under this huge mass of rocks. Afterwards the road went along the mountainside and after a few hundred meters we came at a place where a fault had cut a drop between the rocks. There was somehow a special energy around, which, when you paid attention, felt different from the part before.

We stood there for some time feeling the quality of the place. The friend started guiding us into a visualization of what she was perceiving. After a while I preferred not to go into the descriptions of her experiences, but to stay with my own experiences, and so I took a stand a bit apart. I tried to keep the stance of an observer and not to get into some fancies of imagination. Better just some small authentic experiences than a bunch which isn’t my own.

Afterwards we returned and took the gondola lift up to the summit of the Niederhorn. At the top there was still quite a lot of snow on the way, and a snowblower was cutting a new way. But it was warm and the view was fantastic. Daws were flying around the cliffs and paragliders jumped down into the valley, circulating over the precipice.

On the way back at the middle station we hired some scooters and rolled down through forests and meadows – a beautiful descent.

Daws observing the visitors

Paraglider with view of the Eiger mountain

Way down into the valley

Today is the White Lotus Day, in commemoration of the passing-over of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, also called H.P.B., the great messenger of spiritual wisdom of the 19th century. Till today she is much disputed, mostly by people who  haven’t prepared themselves for understanding the teachings. She had a fascinating life full of extraordinary venturing. Some years ago I published a little brochure, “H.P.B. – Trailblazer for the Aquarian Age” (PDF). Her Opus Magnum, the “Secret Doctrine“, belongs to my daily reading, one page a day –  I find it very uplifting, though not easy to read. My spiritual teacher, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar, has given some seminars about the book, which have opened an eye for a deeper understanding. He also has published a little booklet called “The White Lotus” (online version), about the symbolism of the lotus.

There is also another jubilee today – this is the 500th blog-post, which started on March 31st, 2006. With the time blog-writing became a favorite pastime of mine. May the inspiration continue.

A third anniversary today is the 180th birthday of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross movement. In his commemoration we celebrate the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day today.

Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891)

Some days ago I got a beautiful powerpoint presentation called “Power of 10 – From Micro to Macrocosmos” (you can also download it here as a PDF, of course without music and animation). It is a trip at high speed, jumping distances by factor of 10, until the limit of our imagination in direction to the macrocosmos are reached. Later the journey returns to the point where it started and continues in the opposite direction reducing distances of travel by factors of 10 into the microcosmos. An impressive visualisation which gives you a feeling of the infinity of the One Life.

Flower arrangement at a fair in Berne, last Sunday