The return journey from India last Sunday/Monday was like a kaleidoscope whirlwind, in which situations and impressions followed with an increasing spin. First it took us away from the WTT retreat centre in Visakhapatnam, where we had been for 3 weeks, with the plane to Hyderabad. A friend, from the Spiritual Book Centre, picked us up at the airport in a small car, with another friend as a driver. Gliding through the city, conversations, different encounters, heartfelt hospitality. When entering into the road where the book centre is located, I had to identify at a police control – there had been a terrorist bomb blast directly around the corner some weeks ago.

At the police control. At different places along a small road there were desks with a few policemen.

On the roads motorbikes with women in burqas on the rear seat gave dark spots into the otherwise colourful Hindu surrounding. Nevertheless, it seems that there is a generally peaceful intermingling of the different cultures.

When buying a little lingam holder for a friend in a silver shop, I was impressed by the multi-fold oriental handicraft objects, none of these you would find in a Western shop. In a corner a little Buddha sitting on a heap of coins was covered with red kum-kum-powder, besides a receipt book.

In the night at the airport, faces of Western tourists and businessmen mixed into the crowd of Eastern travellers. Video screen announcements, neon-light, immigration and security checks. Waiting and dozing. Then being packed together into the belly of the airplane for the next jump, to Dubai. Here high halls full of artificial palms, with glittering pomp. Posters promised that when you buy an apartment, you’ll get a BMW or a Bentley for free and have the chance of winning a private jet or a private island – what might be the price of the apartment? Arab ambiance, somewhere in a no-man’s land of transit passengers. Back to check-in, meeting again a friend who had travelled via Chennai, with fever. Also my cold got stronger, preparing for the little fever of the coming days.

Then in the plane, in a virtual dimension we were passing over Iran, the Black Sea, Crimea, back to Europe – without noticing it except on the screen map with the route indications. In the meanwhile the on-board movie system took me to The End of the World with the Pirates of the Caribbean, and to Death at a Funeral with dark British humour. Sitting beside me a young Swiss lady was polishing her finger nails for about an hour – what a deep concentration on a profound subject. Other faces in the plane were also now again very Western: Piercings at a brow instead of brow marks like in India, blond coloured hair with gel, brown holiday faces in sport dressings. Western individualism was coming back to the fore.

When we were riding from Zurich airport back to Berne through a beautiful “warm” winter weather of 6 degrees – about 22 degrees colder than the day before, I thought of the question of the driver in Hyderabad: How can people live in such a cold surrounding in Europe? Do the offices close during the cold times? He had no idea about the living conditions we are used to in the West. I felt that people over here, though many know through travelling to other parts of the globe, have no idea of the worlds the inner journey can lead you. And that it might take some time for me to digest the many diverse impressions.

Inside the Spiritual Book Centre, Hyderabad

Saturday morning we visited the Bala Bhanu School at the outskirts or Visakhapatnam. This school of the WTT imparts spiritual, moral and social values besides the normal education and renders education to children up to Xth standard. We were invited to participate in the celebration at the eve of India’s National Independence Day. The celebrations started with a little parade and the hoisting of the flag of India, followed by a number of talks by students on the founding fathers of India’s independence as well as on the role of the students for shaping the future of the country. Afterwards Sri Kumar gave a talk to the students (extracts):

“In school the children are prepared to be servers for society and not exploiters. If we don’t learn this from the very beginning in life, then later it is difficult to bring order and rhythm into life. Whatever they are at home, at school teachers are to be angels for the little angels to inspire them to aspire in a right way to form into a very constructive unit of consciousness. It is a work of alchemy, transforming children, not imposing on them any form of fanaticism. The man turns out to be an educated being, when culture and civility are imparted.
This school transforms children into the path of life and gives them the right direction, so that the children of today can give their contribution to the society from in 20 years on during a period of 30 to 40 years. So much is inherent in the sacred Bala Bhanu, meaning ‘The Infant Sun’. It is expected that they will be like a sun and shed light all around. There is a grand life beyond routine, and when you lose your life in routine, the whole purpose is lost, and routine overtakes the inspiration and aspiration.

At school prayer is inculcated as a habit, and a plan to work, varieties of work are inculcated. Today children are too much exposed to routine, so they are exposed here to energies which strengthen them. It is all thanks to the inspiration of Master EK and of the Spiritual Hierarchy. When the same orientation exists at home like in school, then the child transforms faster.
Idealism is one thing, practicality is important. The management handles the school well so that I am free for other things.“

After the talk a number of students gave presentations of dance, yoga asanas, gymnastics, or singing. It was an impressive insight into the work done at that school – and the presentation an inspiring mix of discipline, devotion, national pride and Bollywood-ambiance with the music and dancing. A beautiful end for our stay in India.

A dance presentation at Bala Bhanu School, Visakhapatnam

“I love my India” – a kind of national pride and enthusiasm for learning hard to be found in the West

Early Wednesday morning after breakfast the group started for a journey to Rajahmundry. On the highway you could see ox-carts or motor rickshaws going on the verges of the road – and sometimes also a rickshaw came driving in the wrong direction – flexibility.

An ox-cart on the highway

In Rajahmundry the World Teacher Trust is constructing a 5 storey building on the banks of the river Godavari – the 2nd longest and a most holy river of India. On the banks of the river the Government has given to 12 spiritual organisations, who are doing service activities, ground to establish buildings there. Since over 20 years the WTT-Rajahmundry is doing substantial service activities and is well-known in the surroundings.

In Rajahmundry all 12 years, when Jupiter is entering Leo, there is a huge gathering of pilgrims from all over to take a bath in the Godavari during the auspicious time of 12 days. Especially around that time the WTT-brotherhood is caring for pilgrims, offering food and shelter, doing transportation etc. The building is still a structural shell, but will be finished during 2008. The brotherhood offered us a warm welcome and showed us the building, explaining the different activities to be held there in future.

After lunch we went to a landing stage and entered a boat, which took us on a 2.5 hours ride up and down the huge river.

The two bridges in Rajahmundry are the most attractive long bridges found in Andhra Pradesh.

We landed on a sandy beach to enter into the river and enjoy the scene. On the way back to the landing stage the group chanted Purusha Sooktam, Sri Sooktam and other mantrams, while a beautiful sunset shed its light over the river.

Afterwards we went to a silent place at the banks of the Godavari River. The river is dedicated to Rishi Gautama, who had been meditating there, and there was a statue of the seer at the river. We sat for a while on the banks for a meditation.
Then we had a short visit to some of the spiritual centres in the immediate vicinity of the WTT-centre: A temple of Lord Dattatreya, where a little pooja was being done, and an ISKON (Hare-Krishna) Temple, where we witnessed singing of Krishna mantrams and an arati (waving camphor light in front of the altar) and returned to the WTT-building for dinner.
The group of Rajamundri had prepared a gift for each of the Western group members, with photo of the future centre in a beautiful golden frame, for the ladies a panjabi dress and a small decorated box and for the men a towel and a little statue of Ganesha.
Later in the evening we returned back to Visakhapatnam, where we arrived after a 4.5 hours drive in the early morning hours.

Tuesday morning started with a fire ritual for Pushyama full moon (Pushyami is the constellation of the moon at that time according to Indian calender).

Sri Kumar explained that this full moon is to be regarded as Capricorn full moon:

“Though the solar god is already in Aquarius, this full moon is regarded still as Capricorn. When the full moon happens when the sun just changes sign, it is the full-moon of the completing month. So it is not the full moon of Aquarius. The impact of the full moon is more with the previous month, therefore the full moon has to be taken as the full moon of Pushyami, the full moon of Capricorn, where the energies of the solar and lunar gods are around the heart centre.”

In the evening the group went to the site with the statue of Master EK at the beach road of Visakhapatnam for evening meditation in the full moon energies.

On the way along the beach road – in midst of all the lower lights it is easy to ignore the greater light.

Later in the evening we assembled at 9 o’clock pm on the roof of the World Teacher Temple, Radhamadhavam  for full moon meditation, guided by the Sri Kumar. It was an enchanted ambiance with the light of the moon and the sound of the mantrams reverberating through the night sky.The atmosphere there is particularly charged with strong spiritual vibrations.

Monday afternoon the group went to Hamsavanam – Ramadri, where the World Teacher Trust has developed over the years a temple compound with a big statue of Hanuman and a number of little statues and temples.

All over the place there are installed little stones carrying pictures of Rama, Sita and Hanuman. Under them there are stone coffers containing thousands of booklets, in which disciples have written many million times the mantram Sri Ram. R is know as the seed sound of Cosmic Fire. The sound “rha” is known to the American Indians as their Sun God as well as “Rha-aam” is also the Fire God of the Egyptians. This sound uttered and written repeatedly burns up the impurities of the physical, emotional and mental planes, making thus the personality transparent and receptive to the higher energies. Thus at Ramadri the vibration of that mantram of cosmic fire has been “earthed”, emanating protection and healing power into the surrounding.

Three couples of our group, my wife an me among them, were invited to join the ceremony of installing 16 new coffers with mantram booklets. There were about 150 persons joining the ceremony. With the sound of the mantram RAM, flowers were spread over the booklets, followed by kum-kum and turmeric. Then the coffers were closed with a plate and a small stone monument with the pictures and a flower was put atop. A coconut was broken and the content poured around and camphor-light and incense waved over the coffer – symbols of the personality opening to the soul, and the soul merging with the super-soul.

After this ceremony the group assembled around a tree, under which a new statue of Lord Shiva was to be ceremoniously installed. In the beginning the black statue was carrying a red scarf, a sign that its “eyes” weren’t yet opened. When they are opened in a ritual it is an important moment: The eyes spread light, and through the eyes you can see the soul of a person.

During the ritual a mason built a pedestal onto which several men lifted the statue. Sri Kumar and his wife Kumari, assisted by other persons, started washing the statue with different materials – coconut water, milk, curd, ghee, honey, a turmeric paste, sugar and other materials were poured over all parts of the statue and then washed away again. This Rudra or Shiva Abhishekam (or water-) ritual is a means of charging the statue and the environment with the vibrations of the ritual.

After the washing over, the statue was decorated with flowers and camphor light was waved over it. It was a magnificent ambiance – the lights, the flowers, the smells at this beautiful place overlooking the Gulf of Bengal, with the sounds dispersing into space and the radiance of the full moon lighting the place.

The ritual took about 2 hours. Afterwards “Prasad” (food gift from a ritual) in the form of spiced and sweet rice and bananas was distributed to all those who attended the ceremony.

On the way back from the Borra Caves and Anathagiri Hill, we stopped in a little forest, where there was a railway station a bit deeper down the valley. We left the bus and went to the railways. A train was standing there near a tunnel. We heard from our Indian friends that some terrorists had just taken away part of the rails, so that the tourists coming by train had to stop here and take a bus to go to the Borra Caves. On the uphill ride I saw everywhere along the road signs of the communist party with hammer, sickle and pentagram and slogans in Telugu language.

Our friends guided the group into the tunnel until it was totally dark, and then we went out again: It seems that there are only few tunnels there, and that it is some kind of an attraction. We had to laugh – back home in Switzerland, you find tunnels everywhere.

Entering an Indian railway tunnel – a modern kind of a cave.

Yesterday the group went to the Borra Caves and the Anathagiri Hill Resort. Before the journey our spiritual teacher, Dr. Kumar, gave us an introduction to the tour of the day (notes from memory):

“In many parts of the world there are caves, and especially in India many caves were used by initiates for meditation. Caves are ruled by Scorpio and these caves represent the caves of the heart. Through the outer cave you can reach the inner cave more easily during meditation. In the innermost part of many caves there is a lingam, an oval stone symbolising a double-pyramid, as a symbol of the cosmic egg, the first spring-up of creation. So inside the Borra caves there is a little hill on which there is a little cave with a lingam. You can be there for a while with an incense stick. singing Om Nama Sivaya. Many of the caves are subtly connected to the holy centres in the Himalayas. Later in meditation you can envision sitting in the cave meditating there, this will facilitate the meditation experience of entering into the cave of the heart. The innermost is being opened from the other side.

The lingam at the innermost of the Borra Caves, the symbol of the cave of the heart.

When going to a holy place, you should go like pilgrims and not like tourist. Most go like tourists and only experience the outer. Try to see the inner and keep contact with the experience. I never go on picnic tours, there is always a purpose behind. I will accompany you in thoughts, meaning I will not come with you on the journey.”

At the outskirts of Visakhapatnam the bus made a short stop near a yellow house, in which Master EK had been living for a while. After 3.5 hours bus-ride – the old bus climbed up the serpentine roads in the 1^st and 2^nd gears only – we reached the Borra Cave area, where there were many Indian tourists around.

The bus climbing uphill

On the way down to the caves monkeys were jumping around and observing us. On a table there was written that the caves were about 150 million years of age. And the scientists had found traces of settlement dating back some 50.000 years ago. Deep down the valley a river was running, also nourished by the waters going through the cave the river was called Gosthani, meaning cow-udder. The mouth of the cave opened wide and from the top of the first huge hall light was falling in from holes covered with trees.

The huge entrance of the Borra Caves with the stairs

The stairs run down and lead to other huge caves with stalactite and stalagmite formations. We climbed up a number of stairways to reach the rock with a little temple-cave within the cave, the innermost of the heart. A priest was sitting there besides some pictures of Shiva and a lamp and gave a blessing to the pilgrims. In the cave there was place for 2-3 persons. Standing on the stairs, the group intonated OM Nama Sivaya, the sound reverberated through the hall, through the atmosphere charged with strong, but soft spiritual vibrations, which my wife called “condensed heart energy”. Later in another part of the cave the group assembled singing the holy word OM for a while, before coming back to the surface – an impressive experience. On some of the photos I later discovered again that energy balls could be seen, which I have already described some months ago.

Energy balls appearing on the photos of the meditation inside the Borra Caves – signs of the energy of subtle beings.

A hole at the top of the first part of the cave

Afterwards the bus went along the slopes of another hill to bring us to the Anathagiri Hill Resort, a tourist resort, where a beautiful lunch was already waiting for us. After a pause we returned back to Visakhapatnam through the beautiful sunset colours and the nightfall.

Last Saturday afternoon a yoga teacher, Mr. Narayana, came to the Retreat Centre with a number of his disciples to give us a demonstration of hatha yoga exercises. His yoga school is a voluntary organisation for the development of physical and psychic heath.

He first explained how he came to practice yoga, having been practicing for years medical hypnotism and how he experienced the invigorating influence of yoga practices. Then his disciples showed us a series of exercises in a silent, but very disciplined way, demonstrating their skill in mastering the body.

Afterwards Mr. Narayana himself demonstrated a number of advanced asanas with an extreme control over his body. He could bend it to most extraordinary positions, make his stomach withdraw to the spine, letting it rotate, showing different kinds of breathing. He then went into a lotus posture and a disciple gave him injection needles. He pierced them into his left arm and through his ear, explaining that he has control over pain in the different parts of his body. While his face was radiating with enthusiasm, some of the more sensitive group members had to look away…

I wonder if anybody feels inspired by such extreme exercises to practice them himself. I prefer to stay with my simple set of exercises, helping me to keep the body smooth and vital.

A friend from Mexico sent me the following lines with an article about New Science and Technology, and she writes:

“I’ve found this article about the Correas, pioneering in Science as Nikola Tesla did before, for infinite source of clean energy available – aether – that is what we now need for the transformation of the planet. This also relates to Keely’s motor refered by HPB in the Secret Doctrine.”

H.P. Blavatsky writes in the Secret Doctrine (Vol I, p. 555f):
“Mr. Keely, of Philadelphia, was, and still is, at the threshold of some of the greatest secrets of the Universe; of that chiefly on which is built the whole mystery of physical Forces, and the esoteric significance of the “Mundane Egg” symbolism. Occult philosophy, viewing the manifested and the unmanifested Kosmos as a UNITY.
For the etheric Force, discovered by the well-known (in America and now in Europe) John Worrell Keely, of Philadelphia, is no hallucination. Notwithstanding his failure to utilize it, a failure prognosticated and maintained by some Occultists from the first, the phenomena exhibited by the discoverer during the last few years have been wonderful, almost miraculous, not in the sense of the supernatural* but of the superhuman. Had Keely been permitted to succeed, he might have reduced a whole army to atoms in the space of a few seconds as easily as he reduced a dead ox to the same condition.”

There is a book on “Experimental Aetherometry, The Discovery of the Aether Motor (1): (Re-)Discovery of the Orgone Motor”, by Dr. Paulo Correa and Alexandra Correa. See also here about their inventions.

Not quite etheric energy: Steering Wheel of the bus that drove us yesterday

A friend from Canada just sent me the following quote from His Holiness The XIVth Dalai Lama:

“As Shantideva says, there are many beings to whom one can make charity, but there are very few beings with respect to whom one can practice patience, and what is more rare is more valuable. An enemy is really most kind. Through cultivating patience one’s power of merit increases, and the practice of patience can only be done in dependence upon an enemy. For this reason, enemies are the main instigators of the increase of meritorious power. An enemy is not someone who prevents the practice of religion but someone who helps practice.”

This quote reminds me of a story, how Master CVV taught a disciple how to deal with enemies, from the book The Aquarian Master, Chap. 3:

“It is interesting to note as to how Master cured a disciple of his limitation of dislike. This disciple had dislike towards many persons and was always complaining. A friend advised him to meet the Master and said that He would make his life sweet.

The disciple went to Master CVV. Instantly, Master understood the disciple. So, the Master enquired the disciple: “Do you have enemies in life?” The disciple felt very happy that Master understood his problem and said “Yes Master. I have many enemies, my life is miserable”.
Master said “Don’t worry, I will take care of them” and gave him a mantra “ENEMY! BE AWARE OF YOURSELF”.

The disciple was happy that he got a mantra to get rid of his enemies and practiced. But, even after 40 days, they did not disappear. So, he went back to the Master and told Him “Master, nothing has happened to my enemies. Your mantra did not work”.

Master said, “You are not doing the mantra properly. I will help you. Please collect the pictures of all your enemies and bring them to me”.
The disciple had difficulty in getting the pictures of his enemies but Master would not budge. Finally, after great difficulty he obtained all the pictures. He had to befriend his enemies to collect their pictures. He returned in a hurry to the Master with the pictures. “Frame them well”, said the Master. The disciple had to further attend on the pictures, frame them at his cost and quickly returned to the Master. He enquired the Master: “Master! where shall I display them for you?” The disciple thought that the Master needed the pictures of the former’s enemies to do some magic on them. The Master answered “They shall be displayed for you and not for me. Keep them in your shrine room, displacing my pictures. Worship them as you worship mine”. A thunder bolt! The disciple got dismayed. “See the Master in those forms” – another thunderbolt. The disciple returned home and practiced as instructed. The disease of dislike gradually disappeared as he started looking for the one person among the many pictures. He developed friendship with the same persons, in due course of time.”

Reflection in the eyes of a cow