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Aries – The Urgency of the Time

March 13th, 2025

Eons ago, a group of Solar Angels decided to descend into lower man and implant spiritual Light into the brain cells of humans. This spiritual Light is the Light of the Soul or the Solar Angel within each of us. It makes us identify as ‘I AM’. This event for humanity is called the crisis of individualisation in evolution. It was part of the grand Plan to make human being self-aware.

Two qualities were held back at that time, spiritual Love and spiritual Life. At the present time, the Solar Angel has decided on a new orientation. From the viewpoint of the Hierarchy, there is an urgency of time to inform people about this and thereby allow them to orientate themselves towards spiritual Love and Life.

The coming strong influence of the Aquarian Age is a second crisis; it brings forth the blossoming of the mind. Humanity is being prepared for a second initiation. It is a crisis for humanity to be reborn in the spirit. From the thought of ‘I AM’ we move on to ‘THAT I AM’. We work out identification with the greater whole on a higher level and develop detachment from the lower personality self.

The Solar Angel transcends the human realm to become master of the fifth kingdom of nature, the kingdom of the soul. Whether we are ready for it or not, the reorientation will come into our being. Either we agree or we don’t. Humanity is in a time of deep crisis.

The picture symbolically represents the influx of the energies of the Solar Angel and the crisis of humanity, which can lead to rebirth in the spirit.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Aries illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Aries paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

22 January 2025, coloured pencils and photo work

The Experience of the Woven Cross and the Etheric Christ

March 5th, 2025

A good friend of mine shared the following experience. which I am publishing here with his consent:

Before I leave this body, I have decided to share two experiences I had some years ago in the hope that it might be of value to others in the WTT. The first experience was in the nature of a very vivid vision. The vision was of a cross. The horizontal member of the cross consisted of several silver-colored bars or lines. The vertical member consisted of several gold-colored bars or lines. The two members intersected at the middle creating a woven effect. I called the cross the woven cross. Not knowing what the meaning of this symbol was, I asked Master Kumar. He told me that it was the symbol of “Cosmic Vishnu.”

As I meditated upon this symbol over time, I was inspired to add to the visualization the Mantram given to us by KPK which reads “Mind and Wisdom Married” (Occult Meditations, 81). Over time more of its meaning came to me. The silver lines (I visualized the two members as having 7 bars or lines) was the mental plane and the golden member was the Buddhic or Wisdom plane.

The Woven Cross

So too, I came to realize that the intersection of the two, mind and wisdom, occurred at the Ajna Center and related to the Pineal Gland or the marriage of the Pituitary and the Pineal. This marriage was very much the work of humanity in the particular epic. And also symbolized the work leading to the third initiation or the first “hierarchical initiation.” It is the experience of the coming down of the Soul’s Wisdom into the Mental Plane of the human.

My friend Ed created the symbol for me. Though not exactly what I saw, it gives the idea of the Woven Cross of Vishnu. See the attached below.

Another experience that occurred in the same time frame was that of an encounter with the Christ. The vision was of Lord Krishna. He was indescribably beautiful and glorious. Again, for some time I pondered on why this vision was given in meditation. Then I came across a teaching given by Rudolf Steiner known as The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, given January 25, 1910. In this teaching Steiner describes how a disciple in the present Aquarian Age may have the experience of seeing the Christ wearing the Etheric Body of Krishna, Master KPK has given us this same teaching. As with the experience of the woven cross this experience would seem to also correlate with the third initiation as the Christ, or Lord Maitreya, becoming a part of our very nature.

May these experiences be of use to others in their own understanding.

Namaste,

Brother C.
Mount Shasta, California

15 Pisces Paintings

February 25th, 2025

The two fish of Pisces indicate endless beginnings and endings. Every beginning has its conclusion hidden in the beginning. Every conclusion has its hidden beginning. It is an eternal cyclical movement. We can experience this when we stand beyond the cyclical movements. The wise ones call this, ‘living in the awareness of the background’. May we strive to live in the awareness of the background synthesis in these turbulent times.

The 15 Images of Synthesis for the month of Pisces illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Pisces paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Pisces – Fusion. Synthesis of Existence
06 November 2010, pencils, crayons and photo work
Pisces – The Mother Blessing the Earth Through the Grace of her Looks
22 October 2011, pencils, crayons and photo work
Pisces: The Alpha and the Omega
28 October 2012, pencils, crayons and photo work
Pisces – Ascension, the Light of the Higher Bridge
28 October 2013, pencils and photo work
Pisces – The Tablet of the Universe
17 November 2014, pencils and photo work
Pisces – Alpha in Omega, Omega in Alpha
12 November 2015, pencils and photo work
Pisces – The Great Fish and the Seed of the Universe
14 November 2016, pencils and photo work
Pisces – Flower of Time Cycles
19 November 2017, pencils and photo work
Pisces – The Spiritual Waters of the Sky
16 December 2018, pencils and photo work
Pisces – Spiralic Ascent
31 October 2019, pencils and photo work
Pisces – The Rod of Initiation
30 November 2020, pencils and photo work
Pisces – The Blessing of Lord Maitreya
6 December 2021, pencils and photo work
Pisces – Saraswathi and the Flow of Energies
3 December 2022, pencils and photo work
Pisces – Chintamani, the Philosopher’s Stone of Heavenly Origin
23 November 2023, pencils and photo work
Pisces – Colours of Pisces and the Cosmic Person
13 December 2024, coloured pencils and photo work

Pisces – Colours of Pisces and the Cosmic Person

February 17th, 2025

The human form is a reflection of the form of the Cosmic Person. According to Master EK’s ‘Spiritual Astrology’, the secrets of these correspondences are preserved and concealed in Pisces and are reflected in the depths of our consciousness as ‘photographs’.

In our perception of the objective world, we know colours as the effect colours have on us. How we designate a colour is an individual perception that differs from person to person. The colour of Pisces is described by some as light blue and by others as bright or transparent white.

The colour of the sign is difficult to describe in words. It corresponds to the clear sky in bright daylight. The colour has two phases. It appears blue but is actually white like the radiant magnesium flame. Spiritual Astrology says that the true colour is always imparted by the guru at the time of initiation.

Pisces is a sign of endings and beginnings. Past and future meet in the eternal present, represented in the glyph of the sign with the meeting and joining of two half arcs. For the background of the painting, I used a photo of the radiant sky and ocean with a small white island of clouds on a flight to Spain just before the Pyrenees. I placed a large semi-transparent Pisces glyph over the entire picture and placed above it seven white ovals symbolising the seven planes of creation.

Into this structure I integrated the image of a statue of Lord Dattatreya, the unity of the three Logoi, surrounded by a cow and four dogs. The statue is made of Panchaloha, a Sanskrit term of a traditional alloy of five metals (gold, silver, copper, zinc, iron) symbolising the five elements of creation – space, air, fire, water, earth.

Twice, after hours of work on the picture, everything created so far disappeared due to a power failure and a programme crash. At the third attempt the following day, this new form of the picture emerged. In creation, too, there is dissolution and new beginnings.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Pisces illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Pisces paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

13 December 2024, coloured pencils and photo work

Journey to India 24-25: Summary

February 8th, 2025

Pilgrimages to sacred places are of great importance and periodical pilgrimages are strongly recommended to aspirants.
This is what Sri Kumar explains in his teachings. And similarly, that group livings enable one recollecting the soul in each other to gain fitness to be in the group and to develop soul awareness.
This overview article is about such a journey.

When I came into contact with the biography “Sripada Srivallabha Charitamrutam” in 2024, I asked Master Kumar why he didn’t mention the avatars of Lord Dattatreya in his book on Sri Dattatreya. He answered, “The West cannot understand.”
I became curious and asked why? He answered, “The West wants to understand”.

My interest grew and the more I got involved by way of translations, studying related sources, creating a website, writing plenty of blogposts, conducting study groups on related topics, and approaching the reality of Dattatreya in various ways, the more dimensions opened to me.
I wanted to see the places mentioned in the books I had read, as first-hand experiences. I had to wait several years until now.

I wanted to give seekers, especially from the West, some keyholes to peep into the sublime reality of Lord Dattatreya, and to give them a door-opener, a guide by way of stories, the stories in the blogposts. For I had observed that it is difficult for Westerners to get access without a guide.

This guide you find in the series available here. There is also information about the January WTT group livings in Visakhapatnam, India for members from the West which have been conducted since 1987. I had regularly been participating since my first journey in 2000/01. May you go on your own discovery journey.

Here is an overview of my journey to India December 2024 – Jan 2024 together with two German friends, Karin and Katrin, documented with 11 blogposts – texts, photos and a video.
You find further information via the links to the places mentioned or to other websites. Especially the links to Google Maps give you a possibility to see many more pictures of the places visited.

Part 1: Pilgrimage to Places of Lord Dattatreya
– The Start: From Europe to WTT Divya Kalanjali, Hyderabad
– Mathangoud – Panchadev Pahad – Kuruvapur
– Gangapur – Kadaganchi – Ladchincholi
– Akkalkot
– Maniknagar
– Srisailam – Arrival
– Srisailam: Mallikarjuna Swamy temple, Aka Mahadevi Caves
– Srisailam: Temples and nearby places

Part 2: Group Life and Guru Pujas
– WTT Group Life in Visakhapatnam
– Master CVV Guru Pujas in Visakhapatnam
– The Last Days: Planetary Healing Center – Office of Rao and Kumar – Journey back home

Video:
– The Sprouting of Spiritual Seeds Time Cycles, Centennial Conclaves of Spiritual Hierarchy and the Importance of the Year 2025 (24 min).
Activate ‘Subtitles’ in YouTube for a better understanding, download here the transcript of the talk.

Sunrise in Visakhapatnam

Journey to India 24-25, 11: The Last Days

February 7th, 2025

Journey Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Summary: Planetary Healing Center – Office of Rao and Kumar – Journey back home

Immediately after the Guru Pujas, many members started their return journeys. A small group stayed a little longer. For 14th of January, we organised a bus to go together to the Planetary Healing Center outside Visakhapatnam like in other years. This is the name, Master Kumar gave to this beautiful place which had been designed by him and inaugurated in 1995. He spoke about the importance of the place in January 2013:

The Planetary Healing Center

„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.”

However, this was the last visit of the Master. In 2013/14, a cyclone had devastated the place and the orientation of the owner of the site who built it took a bit another direction. It is now well maintained; the name on Google maps, however, has been changed to “Harmony Center”, a change of orientation. It is difficult to find. There have grown plenty of buildings in the surrounding, while the place itself is like an island of peace.

We first went to the Maitreya statue and sat there for a short meditation and alignment and we then listend to the sound of OM inside the pyramidal temple.

The old statue of Lord Maitreya where we often had lectures of Master Kumar in earlier years
Inside the Planetary Healing Center – some people were sitting there already listening to the OM.
The Healing Center is located between a pyramidal hill and the ocean, a very conducive energetic location. Eagles were circulating over the hill.

We had a little walk along the ocean. Then, the bus then brought us to “Rao and Kumar“, the office which Master Kumar had develop to a leading enterprise of Chartered Accountants. It is now directed by a team of collaborators, among them Guru Prasad, the son of the late Master. He already waited there for us.

Guru Prasad welcoming us at the entrance

In front of the entrance, there is a statue of Lord Ganesha / Ganapati. I asked him to speak about the symbolism of the rat, Ganesha’s mount – he gave an interesting extempore talk: Wisdom (Ganesha) needs to control the clever mind which can cause havoc when left alone.

He showed us the rooms and explained how Master Kumar had been living and working, giving us fascinating insights in little details of the Master’s life.

Guru Prasad in the office consultation room

For example: Since his youth, Master Kumar often walked even long distances. In school time, he recapitulated during walking what he had learned and what tasks were to do. This habit he kept over years. When he had to go to a place, he always walked there by foot, it was a walking meditation. When people ask him how he did come, he said, ‘By number 11’. People thought, maybe he came by bus. It was not a bus. “11” symbolised the two feet walking.

Our flight back started on 15th of January. Via Hyderabad and Abu Dhabi I returned back to Switzerland.

Journey to India 24-25, 10: Master CVV Guru Pujas in Visakhapatnam

February 6th, 2025

Journey Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Summary

The Master CVV Guru Puja celebrations started on January 10th in the evening. I already went there two hours before the start of the celebration to meet friends and to observe how the site was being put up with many volunteers helping to set up the hall and the altar, beautifully arranging the images of the Masters with many flower garlands.

Setting up the altar
Entrance to the International Group Living compound

As always, there are three great rituals during the Guru Pujas. On Jan. 11th, it started with the Water Ritual, singing hymns to Rudra.

At the second day, there was the puja to the Divine Mother, the Lalita Puja conducted by women only.

On the third day there was the great Fire Ritual.

Children giving wood-sticks into the fire

During the Guru Pujas were given many talks, book publications and also musical presentations.

Sitar concert by Smt Padma Ravishankar
Receiving the newly published book on “Asvins. The Cosmic Twin Gods“
Bookstalls

12th of January, there was the Fusion of East and West function, where members of the Western Brotherhood were invited to the stage for the morning prayer and also sang the Aswins hymn together which we had learnt during the group living. Later, four members were invited to speak to the groups.

I gave a talk about “The Sprouting of Spiritual Seeds. Time Cycles, Centennial Conclaves of Spiritual Hierarchy and the Importance of the Year 2025” (24 min). Activate ‘Subtitles’ in YouTube for a better understanding, download here the subtitles transcript of the talk.)

It was a very joyful and inspiring gathering.

Journey to India 24-25, 9: WTT Group Life in Visakhapatnam

February 6th, 2025

Journey Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Summary

Coming to the group lives for the Western Brotherhood of WTT in Visakhapatnam is always a beautiful time – meeting with friends and new members, and exchanging and viewing profound wisdom teachings of Master KPK together. We stayed in the WTT Retreat Centre at “Angels Enclave”.

Early morning on 1st of January, we went to the Master EK statue at the beach road called SudaraVanam. There were the morning prayers followed by some rituals in honour of Master EK, joint singing of hymns and having breakfast together.


Later in the morning, we went to the AndariTalli project of Danishta Foundation in Vishakhapatnam where a food distribution project is conducted by Dhanishta Foundation. Many people receive daily food prepared at this center. It is also the center where a large part of the books of Danishta are stored and made ready for distribution.

The self-developed cooking machine
Guru Prasad explaining the food distribution project

In the evening there was the meeting with the Indian Brotherhood at the WTT temple RadhaMadhavam for the release of the yearly Telugu calendar of WTT India. And there was also the first meeting of the seminar.

The topic was “Asvins, the Cosmic Twin Gods” (see on YouTube), a seminar recording with Master Kumar from January 2019. It was a very profound seminar. A book has now been published at the Guru Puja on the basis of this seminar.

We had daily two lectures from this seminar and also meetings with Parvathi Varanasi, the sister of Master Kumar, who taught us the intonation of the Ashvins Stotram (hymn); this was a very profound experience.

Thursday 4th of January, there was a fire ritual in the morning.

Guru Prasad and Gayatri conducting the Fire Ritual

In the afternoon, the group went to Ramadri, a beautiful place with a service center of the World Teacher Trust.

Arriving at Ramadri
Hanuman statue surrounded by 108 small Hanuman statues
Women empowerment: Workshops conducted by the Circle of Goodwill India, which also maintains the site

A Shiva statue

There is a cow protection project (Go Seva) and there are also little little temples all over this place.

Cow project
View of the entrance with the ocean

We meditated at Ramadri in the evening and returned to Visakhapatnam.

On 7th of January we went to the school Bala Bhanu Vidyalayam school of World Teacher Trust for value-based education and saw many beautiful smiling children’s faces. And we had looks into different classes and then later sat together in the court of the school.

After this visit, we went to Master EK Samskruthi Sadan, a service Center for training women in tailoring and other activities to empower them for various kinds of professional activity like tailoring. During this visit, certificates were distributed to to the women and the accomplishments honored.

In the afternoon we went to Simhachalam temple outside Vishakhapatnam. It is always fascinating to see the Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple but this was the first time in the evening. We had a tour through the temple where many things were explained. There is a strong energy present at the innermost sanctum of the temple.

Entrance to the Simhachalam temple

During the seminar, the group was several times invited for a meal at the home of Indian group members – a very family atmosphere.

9th of January, there was the final meeting of the seminar on Asvins. It concluded with a little celebration, a valedictory meeting.

In the evening, after the meditation, the prayer, we came together for a dinner at the basement of RadhaMadhavam offered by the Indian brotherhood.

Journey to India 24-25, 8: Pilgrimage to Places of Lord Dattatreya – 7

February 4th, 2025

Journey Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Summary: Srisailam: Temples and nearby places

In the evening of the 2th, we meditated at GhantaMatam, a small and mystic place with several small stupa temples and lingams inside where one could go and meditate or do rituals. (See photos at Google Maps.)

Next morning, 29th December, December Call Day and 11th descending moon phase. Raju and taxi driver Raju picked us up early morning. For the meditation, we went again to the place where we had meditated the evening before, GhantaMatam. When the meditation ended, we noticed that directly next to us a special water ritual started. A couple conducts this ritual each 14th descending moon phase at this place, with 108 little Shiva lingams formed out of the excretes from the floor of a cobra cave. The lingams are arranged in the form of a lingam and the trident of Shiva. On top of each lingam, there was some camphor which was lighted towards the end of the ritual.

Rhythmic mantra chanting started, Raju later joined in. We slowly became part of the ritual team. It grew with more people joining. A group of monkeys larger than the other widely spread monkeys also joined, coming down from the trees and surrounding the little temple. Raju explained that these monkeys help keeping the smaller monkeys away. They are also sometimes trained by humans to protect temple sites from the other monkeys.

A monkey in front of a small temple
Monkeys watching the ritual

The ritual went on for over two hours. The day advanced from darkness to dawn and full daylight, shining through huge old trees. Some women were preparing food at an open fire by the trees, and the different stupas with lingams around – a magic ambiance. Our plans for going again to the Srisailam main temple early morning changed. We went there later in the morning.

At the temple, there were again large crowds. The queue was slowly progressing. A family with two little girls, maybe 7 and 9 years old, and with a younger boy jumping around and teasing the girls. Our guide Raju started speaking to them in Telugu about the importance of the temple. The girls were fascinated by his talk and we were together like in a space outside the queue. Beautiful moments. The girls were much interested in what Raju was telling and it was fascinating to see their brilliant eyes. How they were hanging at his lips a long time, and alter also the parents. We were slowly progressing and after the main temple, we were going to the different temples in the inner court, and we were all the while together with this family. And in the courtyard there was an old Audumbara tree at the place where Narasimha Saraswati had meditated before he went to the Kadali Vana cave for his centuries-long meditation.

There were lying some Audumbara seeds on the ground. I opened one and showed it to the girls. And the seed looked like powder, but I told them that this is not powder, but it is a potential tree or even many trees might grow from it. They were much astonished about it.

Later in the day we went to Paladhara-Panchadhara situatet some kilometers outside Srisailam, a place where way down into a valley there was a waterfall coming down and there were many visitors going to this waterfall. It was a beautiful place about which Master Kumar had told that Lord Maitreya and also Adi Shankaracharya had meditated. A little temple was standing there. We did our evening prayer behind the temple so that the other visitors would not see us.

Afterwards, we went to the nearby Hatakeswaram Temple, an old place where already Rishi Agastya is said to meditated on his way to the South. When we arrived there, people were just lighting candles.

Raju explained that at this place the pilgrims had come out of the forest on their pilgrimage to Srisailam and entered again the forest. They had walked barefooted through the jungle and over long distances as part of their spiritual discipline. And they also returned that way through the forest of today’s tiger reserve. It was dangerous, but the pilgrims just focused on their pilgrimage.

Monkeys playing at Hakateswaram temple

The next morning, 30 December, we went again to the little temple at the outskirts of Srisailam related to Master KPK’s earlier lief to say goodbye and from there start our return journey back to Hyderabad.

Statue of Narada, the cosmic musicians, at the entrance of Srisailam

We had a beautiful evening with the members of Hyderabad group and then, in the morning of 31 December 24, a taxi brought us to the airport, flying to Vishakhapatnam for the WTT group living of members from the West. Thus ended our beautiful tour to places related to Lord Dattatreya.

Journey to India 24-25, 7: Pilgrimage to Places of Lord Dattatreya – 6

February 4th, 2025

Journey Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Summary: Srisailam: Mallikarjuna Swamy temple, Aka Mahadevi Caves

For 27 Dec. evening, the date of our arrival to Srisailam, we had tickets for the darshan (“view”) of the main temple of Srisailam, the Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy temple and the Lingam in the center via fast line (no photos allowed). It took, nevertheless, about two hours to get in.

We left our shoes in the taxi at some distance and slowly proceeded into the innermost of the main temple, and finally arrived at the Mallikarjuna Lingam. The lingam in the center is one of the 12 Jyotir Lingams in India, lingams of highest spiritual light.

In the Sripada Srivallabha Charitamrutam, it says that there have been anchored very sublime energies. The grandfather of Sripada, Bapanarya, conducted intense rituals and anchored the solar energy at Srisailam and in some other places. And when Swami Samarth left his body in Samadhi in Akkalkot, his energies entered into the Mallikarjuna lingam in Srisailam. We tuned into these energies.

The next morning we went for meditation to a little pyramidal temple at the outskirts of Srisailam, where Master Kumar had told to have meditated for long times three lives ago. To meditate there was a special experience. We were three times meditating / contemplating at this place.

Directly next to it, there was a huge statue of Virabhadra, and we saw several other statues of Virabhadra. Raju told us more about the symbolism.

Later we took the rope way down to the Krishna River for a boat ride to the Akka Mahadevi caves.

Rope way down to the Patalaganga reservoir
Astrological and chiromantic consultation at the rope way landing point

We were about 30 persons on the boat. Raju started speaking to the people in Telugu about the life of Akka Mahadevi.

The story he had told us before the evening before. Soon nearly all passengers were listening to him in rapt attention. He also mentioned that at the opposite side, some kilometers behind a few hills, there was the plantain forest where Narasimha Saraswati, the second incarnation of Dattatreya, had meditated for 300. He had been there between the 15th and 18th century. And the end he transformed into Swami Samarth. Swami Samarth, as an age-old incarnation, had wandered naked through India for about 100 years unrecognized. Slowly, from the mid-19th century on, certain traces of his wanderings were discovered until he stayed in Akkalkot the last 22 years of his life. At present, it is very difficult to get to Kadali Vana, the forest cave where the transformation had taken place, the plantain tree forest.

And when Raju mentioned that here was the man that had translated the Sripada Srivallabha Charitamrutam to German as prophesied in the book, all the people in the boat wanted to hear from me the story.

The boat pontoon near the Akka Mahadevi caves. At the right side the forest area where there is Kadali Vana

The boat stopped at a pontoon from where we walked approximately 200 meters uphill and arrived at the Akka Mahadevi cave. A huge natural rock plate forms the roof over the place before the entrance.

Approaching the cave
View from the terrace of the cave
Statue of Akka Mahadevi at the entrance

We climbed in together with guides who helped me holding lamps. One by one we went through a narrow entrance. From inside, some bats were coming out. At the end of the small tunnel there was the cave room in which a natural lingam had been formed over time by dripping water.

Raju later explained that this lingam has the symbolic function of the uvula in the human throat. With yogis in high states of spiritual awareness, special secretions are secreted from the uvula enabling the initiates to stay for months without food and even drink. This is what Akka Mahadevi had done at this place. She is one of the very few known Shiva devotees who had wandered around and meditated “digambara”, naked, meaning, having her long hair and the directions of the sky as the only garments – a very mystic place.

Back at the entrance of the cave, Raju started singing ‘OM Namah Shivaya, Shivaya Namah OM’, pouring water over a lingam from a water bottle . All people present joined in and we stood in the magic of the ritual.

The spontaneous water ritual at the entrance of the cave
A striped squirrel joining the ritual, eating some fruit
Picture of Akka Mahadevi at the entrance

Later, we returned to the starting place of the boat journey. Many people were waiting at the little rope way, so we decided to take a tuk-tuk to go uphill. About 12 people sat pressed together in the tuk-tuk slowly climbing up the hill, shaking along the muddy road.