Saturday evening we went to see the oldest homoeo dispensary of the WTT, which in the course of the last 30 years has developed to a multi-service centre organising homoeopathic help and training for thousands of people, not only in the city of Visakhapatnam but also at various rural areas. Besides homoeo-help they are organising feeding and distribution of clothes to the poor and meditation and ritualistic work in the upper floors of the centre. A number of doctors and certified homoeopaths takes care of running this substantial volunteer service activity.

Records of all the cases are kept in books in the centre

Sri Kumar explains the activities of the centre and presents to us the persons in charge.

Sunday morning we had another fire ritual in the garden of his house and later we went to the Planetary Healing Centre Harmony at the coast road north of Visakhapatnam. It has been constructed 18 years ago with the inspiration of Sri Kumar – and it is my favourite place here, a little green spiritual paradise in a beautiful surrounding. We sat around an old statue of Lord Maitreya under the Cashew trees and listened to the lecture of Sri Kumar

Kumari Garu

After the lecture we assembled inside the healing centre for a silent meditation while the sound of OM, which is continually played in the centre vibrated in the air.

The agate stone in the centre

After lunch we went to the beach – a fantastic long sandy beach without any other persons – and had a swim in the waves.

The Planetary Healing Centre

Afterwards we continued to Ramadri, a site where the WTT has developed an area with a free school for poor children of the surroundings, a number of small temples and a cow service station. The milk is distributed to the children and to poor people

The book of the cow service centre

The cows and view of the ocean

We enjoyed for a while the beautiful site overlooking the Bay of Bengal and then joined for an evening meditation, while the stars were coming out and the day changed for the night.

Before evening meditation in the little amphitheatre with view over the ocean

The seminar started last Wednesday, and it was the eve of Capricorn full moon. We are a group of 33 persons from 5 countries of the west – one being a young child – from Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. On the 14th we had a welcome reception in the garden of Sri Kumar and Kumari Garu, with a ceremony for blessing the children. There is a profound story behind this ceremony conducted on the eve of the lunar winter solstice which is celebrated each year around 14th January, and Sri Kumar explained the symbolism of it – going back to the incarnation of the Divine in the form of the Avatara of Vamana.

Wednesday evening we assembled again in the garden for full moon meditation and once more on Thursday morning for a beautiful fire ritual. These were days of very sublime energies. Enjoy the pictures of the meetings.

The children on a sofa in the garden. Flowers, chick-pea seeds and fruits of the season are being poured over their heads – blessings for a flowering life.

Kumari Garu welcoming the young visitor from Argentina

Young Manognya likes pouring flowers again and again over her head

The Krishna statue in the garden, with picture of the great Masters

Sri Kumar talking to some group members

Next evening, preparing for the evening meditation

A mystic ambiance

Early next morning during morning meditation

Ritual of decorating the statue of Lord Dattatreya

The fire ritual

An observer from the bird kingdom overlooking the scene

For the last  27 years, there had been a seminar in India for the Western members of the World Teacher Trust in the month of Capricorn. It is the month where the sun starts its northern coursing and it is a good time for re-directing the inner attention to the upward path. For me it’s now the 14th trip to participate in this intense time of diving deep into wisdom concepts and experiencing the group living. The meetings start with participating in a 3 day celebration, the Guru Pujas, in honour of the great Masters of eternal wisdom. This year I only arrived while the celebration had already started, one week ago.
Like in the last years, I would like to share with you some impressions from the tour. Here is the first part, about the Guru Pujas.

When riding through the tunnel at Zurich Airport to the departure dock it’s preparing for a jump into another world.

I “hopped” to India via Dubai and Hyderabad. At the arrival at Visakhapatnam airport I took a taxi to Simhachalam. The driver asked me.”You go to the Guru Pujas?” and I replied, yes. Then he told me that he is living in this little village, and he even knew the place of the new location – it changed this year because more space was needed to accomodate all the 3.500-4.000 participants.

On my arrival the fire ritual of the first day was already approaching the end. Friends had reserved me a seat at the table of the technic support where I could plug-in my laptop and even later got a stick for mobile internet connection.

Sri Kumar and Kumari-Garu conduction the fire ritual, spreading beautiful elevating vibrations throughout the surroundings.

The huge tent-hall was very nicely decorated, and I enjoyed the colourful sarees of the ladies and the white dress of the men – such a contrast to the black and grey of the coolness in Switzerland.

However, I was quite tired from the journey – though it went quite fast, except a 2.5 hs delay due to fog in Vizag – and spent the first and also part of the second day between sleep and phases of wakefulness, somehow feeling like in a soft dream.

In the evening: Lighting of butter-lamps in front of the podium

A beautiful light decoration along the street to the assembly hall

Sunday morning the western group members were meditating with Sri Kumar on the podium

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Preparing lunch – many such pots were filled with vegetables

The women arranged in long rows for celebrating the Lalitha Puja in honour of the Divine Mother

Jayadev translating from Telugu to English for the online transmission of the Guru Puja

Ravi Shankar conducting the Water RItual in honour of the Cosmic 1st Logos

A butter lamp on the podium

The book stand

Fusion of East and West – an Indian and a German violonist playing in the nearby palm forest, while a farmer is listening

On the backside of the hall a Ganesha statue

Here is the link to a short video showing the journeys of HPB, from her childhood to 1875 – very impressive, how much she travelled the globe – a very courageous woman. (Spanish but you’ll understand….). If you like to read something about her life – years ago I wrote a short biography.

Friends had invited us to Munich and so we went there last weekend. It turned out to be a very intense time.

It was a rainy day when we stopped for a short nap at a highway parking in Bavaria. My wife wanted to sleep a bit longer, and so I strolled a bit along the parking area, which was longer than other places. I suddenly realised that 4 years ago, on the way back from our last trip to Munich we had stopped on the other side of the highway. On both sides of the road there was a work of art, a small chapel and a grey shelter in the form of a half-chapel. A path in the form of a big “8” connected both. I suddenly was captured by the atmosphere: I was touched by a sublime presence and though it was directly next to the highway, it felt like a sacral space opening. There was a beautiful view over the fields and forests, a very soft and pleasant ambiance. I sat down in the shelter for a short meditation and later went there again with my wife. Strange, how “from out of the blue” (or better “grey”, because it was raining) there can be an opening into subtle spaces.

In Munich we stayed in the apartment of Benjamin, a friend and his family. He is a consultant and a programmer. Since years he is intensely working with spiritual astrology and has created a very good program for spiritual astrology and the 7 rays, which he had given me as a gift last year.

This was the beginning of a friendship, though we had come into contact via the web about 10 years ago. The last 10 months we had been working together on the relaunch of the WTT-website. For me is has been a very inspiring cooperation, and now the team of collaborators has increased to 7 persons – the first site I still had done myself, but it had grown over the years. It will take some more months till the launch, there is no haste…

From his home we went for several other visits. I first went to a friend who gave me a small Moringa-tree, originating from the Himalayas, which is a very healthy plant. In her room I saw some “waste mandalas” she had created with garbage she had fished out of a river in Munich:

She had a set of 6 videos, “Music of the Soul” published last May Call in Bangalore, India, about Master CVV and Master EK. It’s a very good presentation of their biographies. So I borrowed the DVDs to copy them (I should have got them in June, but a “mix-up” made them go to someone else – but this way they arrived at me); I enquired in Bangalore and came to know that soon these videos will also be published on YouTube – I’ll let you know… I copied and saw the videos at home, they are really very inspiring and well done.

Master EK and Master KPK, a screen-print from the video (c)

In the evening and next morning we met in the house of an artist-couple and had some intense talks. Later I was invited to a 86 years old friend, a well-known spiritual astrologer and former opera-singer. She had invited Master EK to come to Munich in the early 80ies. We had heard from each other years ago but it was only in the last weeks that we had some e-mail exchange. She gave me a fascinating reading of my chart, and afterwards we sat together for a dinner with some friends. In the evening Benjamin took me for a walk through the city of Munich.

The Bavarian lion on the portal of a university building

A false colour “violet ray” pic of the park

Dancing in the park

Munich sunset

The next day I stayed together with Benjamin and his family while my wife was visiting friends. He explained to me some astrological intricacies and we had a beautiful walk through the nearby Westpark before finishing the day in a Vietnamese restaurant and going home again the next morning.

Balancing in the Westpark, Munich

The last day of our journey started with a fire ritual in the early morning – after another bath in the Godavari river.

Around 9 we set out to the last part of our trip. After about 2 hs we left the highway at a little village and went up a hill to the Satya Narayana temple of Annavaram. It is a unique temple in so far as there Lord Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi are worshipped together with Lord Shiva – an expression of synthesis.

Entering the temple portal

A beautiful pipal tree- the flowers smell deliciously

At a little Krishna statue with cows we were blessed with “cow water” – sprinkling cow urin

Offering fire

A statue of Lord Ganesha

Walking through the temple area

After the visit of the temple we went down to the village and were received in a house, where first there was a ritual in honour of Sri Kumar and later we were presented a delicious lunch.

The delicious lunch prepared on “environmentally friendly” banana leaves

A keen observer

Later we continued the journey to arrive at Visakhapatnam around nightfall.

Friday we had our final lecture in the retreat centre, ending a very profound seminar about topics of Cosmogenesis. In the evening a little ceremony closed the group living: Words of thanks were spoken and clothes distributed to all the members who have helped to realise this beautiful group living. Afterwards we all sat together enjoying a festive dinner.

Julio from Argentina speaking about his experiences at the group living

Wednesday early morning after group meditation in the hotel we went again to the temple. I enjoyed very much the ambiance of the dawn and the chants vibrating over the temple complex. Inside the temple there were the statues of Rama Sita and Lakshmana which the devotee lady had discovered in a termite hill due to her search after a vision. The place was charged with the energy of mantric work over a long time – and we felt much uplifted.

Dawn inside the temple

Walking  with Sri Kumar over the dam to the Godavari river

The “engineers” inspecting an old boat motor on the beach

Flowers seen from the tree top of the hotel balcony

After breakfast a 1 hour bus ride brought us to a place related to the Ramayana, the life of Rama, the avatar of the Treta yuga. We were shown a place where legend told that during their exile Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were living for a while and where Sita was living each month during her period. Then we went to another place where according to the legends Sita was kidnapped by the demon Ravana. There was a little temple and some statues around.

The place where Sita stayed at a little river

Statues of the dwelling place of Sita and Lakshmana

After lunch we boarded again the bus for a nearly 7 hs ride back to Rajahmundry. We stopped for a while on the road, because some lorry drivers said that the road over the jungle pass was blocked due to stone falls. Some motorbike-drivers also were questioned about the situation. We wanted to hurry up to get through the jungle before nightfall. Sri Kumar’s car arrived and he told us to go ahead. So we entered the bus and came over the pass, slow, but without difficulties. The broken lorry we saw a day ago was still blocking one of the bends…

We were very happy when we arrived around 7 pm at the WTT centre and were received with a delicious dinner – and then fell into our beds…

Monday at noon time we left Visakhapatnam for a 3 days’ excursion to Rajahmundry and Bhadrachalam, where we wanted to visit a vibrant Rama-temple at the Godavari river. As a preparation Sri Kumar showed us a movie about the origin of this temple – how an elderly lady had a vision of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana and was guided to search in the jungle for them and found a statue of them. In deep devotion she worshipped them and later a young man, the hero of the movie, Sri Ramadasu, was lead to build there a temple. The film shows the tremendous hardships, obstacles and even torturing he underwent in his mystic search of the vision of Sri Rama.

A young German friend asked me for the title of the movie Sri Ramadasu and then sent me the link to it:

The bus ride took about 4 hs and we arrived at the WTT centre Rajahmundry in the evening. It is located in a temple disctrict near the Godavari River. Tuesday morning before 5am we went to the river to have a morning bath – a beautiful experience. Later, after morning meditation and prayer we again took the bus for the next stage of our trip, Bhadrachalam.

The WTT centre of Rajahmundry. They welcomed us with great cordiality.

At the centre with Reyes from Spain 🙂

Dawn at the Godavari River. Washermen beating clothes on the stones

A statue of Rishi Gautama meditating at the river – and a crow feeling inspired there 🙂

A stray puppy at the river

Sunrise on the roof of the centre

It was quite a long ride to Bhadrachalam – 6 hs on bumpy roads – but the countryside was thrilling. For about 3 hs we drove through jungle areas. Roaring in the first gear the bus moved very slowly up the narrow hairpin-bends over a pass. In one of the bends there was a broken lorry – very slowly we crossed that point and all applauded our bus-driver when we had passed by.

A little river in the jungle, we hardly met any humans.

Finally we arrived at our hotel in Bhadrachalam. You could hardly see any English writing in the town – only Telugu. I would be lost there… In front of the hotel there were the statues of Rama and Lakshmana with the devotee of Rama who discovered the statues in the wilderness in a termites hill, due to a vision she had (see the video above).

Around sunset we went to the temple which was located on a little hill. We were told not to take our cameras with us – but I could not resist (though in the very inner of the temple I didn’t take photos, respecting the religious feelings).

Evening prayer on the terrace in front of the temple

Meditating inside the temple – a thrilling experience

Sri Kumar and Kumari after the meditation


The entrance of the temple, with the moon in its 11th ascending phase

Since last Monday we are following the seminar with Sri Kumar. We – that is a group of 37 persons from the West, and we are here at the Retreat Centre of the WTT in Visakhapatnam.
The week passed by extremely fast. Monday evening we were received at the house of Sri Kumar for a sumptuous dinner in a leisurely atmosphere. The other days we had morning and afternoon lectures and good time for exchanges.

At the lecture

Sunrise seen from my balcony

Thursday early morning we were again at the house of Sri Kumar for meditation and fire ritual in his garden.

Afterwards the bus brought us to the Planetary Healing Centre, my favourite place here, a little paradise garden at the beach road north of Visakhapatnam. We sat under some cashew trees in front of an old Maitreya statue, which the group had beautifully garlanded and listened to the words of Sri Kumar. They were accompanied by the cra-cra of the ravens which were jumping about in the trees.

When we sung the mantra OM Namo Narayanaya and the Maitreya song together, I felt uplifted and thrilled by the magnetic ambiance.
At about 1 pm we assembled in the Healing Centre for a silent meditation of 15 minutes, listening to the continuous sound of OM being played in the hall. Sri Kumar had explained about the centre before:

„The centre is built with the inspiration of the Greek healer Asclepius in 1991. Asclepius was a great healer and he cured many incurable cases. He had a centre in the nature where he was healing and teaching. There were people coming to get cured in the healing centre. Three days and three nights the people were put to healing and were also given food that he distributed.
I was so inspired in Greece that when I came back to India a person wanted to have a good service activity I thought that we could do a similar work here and it was found in contemplation that this place was earlier used by a great saint who left healing energy in the place. It is also believed that in this state there is a snake with a gem in the hood. The place is dedicated to the Sun God. The temple is seven times 7 feet in diameters and 7 times 7 high and again a 7 feet cupola. Inside the temple there are 7 circles where you can sit and meditate. In the centre the pillar is of 7 inches. In the place there is a sphere from Iguazu falls. We got it here at 1st January 1995 and the temple was inaugurated. People come and meditate here. The only sound used in the temple is the sacred sound OM. Every year we do a class here, we pray and have our food to relate to the place.

And so it was also this year. After lunch and siesta we sat under the trees talking, and some of us went to the nearby ocean to have a swim or walk along the sandy beach.

Later in the afternoon the bus brought us to Ramadri, the place of Rama. Over the years the World Teacher Trust has developed the site lying at the foot of a hill slope overlooking the Bay of Bengal. A powerful atmosphere has been created there through some mantric and ritualistic work.

A huge statue of Hanuman, blessing the onlookers – with the moon in its 7th ascending phase above the head.

There is now a little school maintained by the group where village children are given free schooling and food. A growing number of cows is maintained there as a cow worship and to give milk for the children and the villagers.

And there are many little shrines and statues all over the place with beautiful flowers, especially Tulsi, the holy basil, Banyan and Ficus Religiosa trees.

The Sun God riding on a chariot with 7 horses, the 7 rays of light

Sri Kumar and his wife planting some new Tulsi plants

We had some tea and sweets and afterwards at nightfall our evening meditation before we returned back home to Visakhapatnam.

At the evening meditation

Friday morning around 3.15 I got up to get ready for the Guru Pooja celebrations – and to be in time in the bathroom… In the bus all were still quite tired, when we rode through the city still asleep. At the Guru Pooja premises, however, the morning rituals were already going on in the huge hall, which had been prepared with colourful cloth. The morning prayer was followed by the lecture of Sri Kumar – about the path of discipleship and the 5th work of Hercules – Gathering the Golden Apples of the Hesperides.

After breakfast a number of parents with the small children gathered before the stage for the small ceremony of introduction into reading, where Sri Kumar made the child write the sacred letter OM and intonated the mantram OM Namah Sivaya. Then the ladies sat in long rows for the Lalitha Pooja, a worship of the divine Mother. It is always a very sacred atmosphere, where the rhythmic hymns resound in the air.

The day passed fast, with the afternoon pause in the palm forest, the evening prayer followed by the lecture of the Master. It was again late when returned to the Retreat Centre and dropped into our beds.

Saturday morning the Western brotherhood meditated with the Master on the dais, a very uplifting experience to sit in the centre of the energies in front of the pictures of the Great Ones

Later after the lecture the Rudra Abhishekam started, the water ritual in honour of the first cosmic ray of Divine Will. Sri Kumar and Smt. Kumari intonated the hymns, while Ravi Shankar conducted the ritual on the stage. The water symbolises the waters of space, the cosmic ethers from which all creation comes out and into which it is dissolved again. The water is poured over an oval stone, a Lingam, symbol of the creative force of the divine will, Shiva. There is a statue of a 7-hooded serpent behind the lingam, symbolising the 7 aspects of the divine energies, the 7 rays. The water flows down over the Lingam into a receptacle. It later distributed to the participants. A sublime and serene atmosphere spread throughout the air with the rhythmic mantric invocations, spreading bliss and upliftment.

Around 11 am there was the part of the Fusion of East and West. Representatives from the different countries of the west present at the Guru Poojas – Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Argentina – came to the podium to speak about their experiences with the wisdom teachings and the related transformations in their lives.

First Sri Kumar spoke about the meaning of fusion of east and west. Here are some extracts from my notes.
“The fusion of East and West is conducted under the auspicious guidance of the Great Teachers of Hierarchy. The west is looking for the inner wisdom. Wisdom is compartmentalised and then considered as eastern and western wisdom, Greek wisdom Egyptian wisdom, Mayan wisdom… It is only one wisdom expressing in many ways. It is proposed by every true teacher that the student should dive into himself and find the truth within himself. The universal wisdom he realises; initially he was matter-bound or bound in the head. He travelled to the east in him. The travel is from the west in him to the east in him, from the base centre to the ajna. For each one of us the two have to meet in the heart centre. The east and west meet in the heart, that is where love, synthesis, truth prevail. From material to spirit. The soul is equidistant to spirit and matter. It is the point where spirit and matter agree. One is not denying the material world or the spiritual world.
That is the state of the yogi. That state should happen within oneself before one travels from east to west or from west to east. He starts thinking from the heart, working from the heart and he becomes hearty. That attitude is to be reached. It is transcending of mind to buddhi, mortality to immortality. That is the immediate work of Hierarchy, that we transcend the illusion of death… The related wisdom is taught in the morning and evening classes. Man is taught to turn within himself, conquer the obstacles and find the implements within himself.
The vertical energy which exists in him can lead him to the higher worlds or to the grosser worlds. That is the work of fusion of east and west. That is the work first envisioned by Madam Blavatsky – the importance of the ancient teachings that existed in the east and in the west and in between. These earliest schools of wisdom existed, but with the advent of Kali (the dark age) the wisdom disappeared and only the religions were there with exclusive attitudes. Through Madam Blavatsky the Hierarchy informed at large the entire globe that the wisdom had always been there and it had not been an exclusive concept. Seek first the wisdom within oneself and then see it in the east and west. And then the teachings of Madam Bailey coming from the hierarchy and about 3000 groups were formed around the globe. Wisdom came through Master CVV and his yoga synthesisis. It came from Europe, North America and South America.
From Europe it comes to North and South America, this was also said by Master EK and can be seen in the books. And the teachings through colour, sound and symbol, number and also form can only be realised through a specific way of life called the Path. Unless one consecrates oneself to the path one cannot discover the wisdom. The transformation happens when one undergoes certain exercises of discipleship. The universal group beyond caste, creed, religion. Satyam Nasti Paro Dharma – there is no religion higher than truth, Mme Blavatsky said. Today the world is divided by religion, this is Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Hindus, Christians, Hebrews, etc. This had a dominance the last 2000 years. To break these divisions is a major work of Hierarchy, to bring back the truth. The humanity at large is exposed to truth, when the universe is seen as macrocosmos and humanity as microcosmos. That wisdom is available in the western countries… In tune with the energies that came to the planet the religious idea must die. Religion is a sectarian approach to truth.
In this context people who were touched by the teachings of Mme Blavatsky, Mme Bailey, Nicholas and Helena Roerich came into contact with the World Teacher Trust. If we do the fire ritual, the significance is explained, if we do the water ritual, the significance is explained. If we do it without awareness it becomes a routine, if you do it with awareness it becomes a ritual.
Christ can be seen in everyone, in the heart of the beings. It becomes the heart. It is the Lord and if you exclude the Lord who is worshipped in another form it is a limitation. God exists in every name, form, every member. To see God in every form forms the basis of truth seeking. Those gathered in the World Teacher Trust are looking for this comprehensive truth. It is not that we are establishing a hierarchy of Master CVV, MN, EK. It is not propagating certain Masters, but the Masters. The World Teacher has an army of teacher, and all who have committed to the Hierarchy are in this work. In the occult meditations coming form Master CVV you find Egyptian, Hebrew, Christian, Eastern wisdom. In that we proceed. It is the case here and also outside India. We teach the child to transform, to transform the family system, all the sacraments, marriage, to develop a good way of life.”…

Afterwards the boys who participated in the Upanayanam ceremony (initiations into Gayatri came into the hall and received the blessings of the Master.

In the little palm forest – I love so much the idyllic atmosphere.

Sitting at the computer in the hall

Sunday morning after breakfast there was the grand fire ritual in honour of the 2nd Logos, the Vishnu Homam. Vedic hymns were intonated and the flames of he fire rose high while the different devas were invoked. Afterwards there was a presentation of the new publications of Dhanishta Editions, mostly in Telugu.

Early morning ceremony of Ganesha-worship – for a good beginning of the day

The butter lights in front of the altar

Fire ritual

Book presentation – new editions of Master EK’s works