During lunch at the Planetary Healing Centre two men were picking coconuts from nearby palm trees: One climbed up the tree only with ropes as a help, the other picked the coconuts up from the ground – an adventurous view. It reminded me of the adventure of climbing up the spine in ourselves to reach the sahasrara, the head centre or thousand-petalled lotus, which is also a very long adventure in developing our consciousness:

In the morning after prayer there was a fire ritual in the retreat centre, conducted by Sri Kumar and Srimati Kumari. The mantric chanting accompanying the ritual charged the air, while the flames of the fire were growing high, invoking the presence of the Devas, Agni. After the ritual some flavoured rice with sweets was distributed to the participants.

At 10 o’clock the bus came to bring us to the Planetary Healing Centre Harmony, beautifully located near the road running along the seaside. Last year it was still a small road, now 4 ways were giving a much faster ride.

The Planetary Healing Centre

Sri Kumar explained: “This Healing Centre is energised by a seer who lived here long ago and whose energy is present here and vibrates much healing energy. It is therefore an important place for healing purposes and healing meditations. The centre is perceived, conceived and constructed according to the solar principle which is the basis for all life, the Solar Lord functions with number 1 and 7. He bestows health, he bestows the light of wisdom, he is seen as the basis for the life and light to pay homage to this seer we gather once a year amidst so many programs, once in a year we gather.”

In the shade of the old cashed trees there is an old Maitreya statue, around which the group gathered for the lecture of Sri Kumar.

After the lecture (I’m typing my notes to make them available after the seminar) we moved into the healing centre. There are circles around an onyx globe where we gathered for singing 21 times the holy word OM and meditation.

After lunch we went to a nearby beach to enjoy the beauty of the Gulf of Bengal. I had a short swim in the ocean – a beautiful refreshing feeling.

Yesterday was a day of rest and getting things ready for the coming days of the seminar. At noon time Sri Kumar came to the Retreat Centre and invited us to come to his house in the afternoon for a ceremony of blessing the children, evening prayer and dinner.We assembled in the garden of his house at Radhamadhavam, which had been covered by a canopy. A festive mood was in the air, while the talks went on. After evening prayer chairs were arranged and the smaller children seated on them. Kumari Garu, the wife of Sri Kumar, and some other ladies started blessing the children by pouring flowers and a little brown fruit over their heads. Then the ladies of the group were invited to bless the children (this ceremony was only for the ladies…). This blessing was followed by waving a camphor light before the children, singing some song.

Afterwards Sri Kumar explained the meaning of the ceremony: “According to the lunar calendar the sunrise tomorrow is the beginning of the winter solstice. Therefore this evening is already marked as the conclusion of the darkness of the night and the beginning of the light of the day. The darkness is now receding… The equinoxes are the days when the sun crosses the equator, and you have equal day and night on the equator, two times a year, once around 20^th of March and then around 22^nd of September. Day and night are equal. When they are equal, the soul is in its best state, equidistant to matter and to spirit. At summer solstice the day is big and the night small, this is not a state of yoga. At winter solstice the night is far bigger than the day. This is also not a state of yoga. From summer solstice, when the day is very long, the day slowly decreases until it is equal to the night, on 22^nd of September… When they are equal, they agree in each other, matter-spirit equal. Then there is what is called in the scriptures synthesis, neither spirit nor matter dominates, neither female nor male dominates. The lady in us is the material energy. The lady is not the woman in the scriptures. Man means human, not male. More spirit or matter is not good. When day is too strong, night comes, when night is too strong, day comes. That is what is happening tomorrow according to the lunar calendar. According to the solar calendar it is December 21^st. In India we use both calendars.

The soul now starts rising and then dominates the personality: a soul-infused personality. The personality is made small and the soul big. The ritual done to the children is to see that the soul grows, not the personality.” There is a Vedic story about it, which is told on this day, which you find enclosed as a comment. For the children the blessing is done so that the soul grows in the right way.

Afterwards a delicious dinner was served. Then a firework lighted the scene: The group members rejoiced waving sparklers, and Bengal lights flickered all over the garden veranda.

Seeing the many wisdom books at the stands at the Guru Pooja celebrations here – all the books of the World Teacher Trust and many theosophical titles – I was tempted again to buy books, but stopped myself: In the past I had read more than I could digest. There is still a thrill when seeing books on profound occult wisdom themes, but I try to have a quick look inside to listen, or better feel, whether this or that book is important for me to read, and mostly there isn’t any green light saying “go ahead”. So I put the book back to the others.

With certain books there is a magnetism deeply attracting me, and I even have translated a number of such books into German and I like giving such books for free to interested seekers. But when there isn’t this resonance, the book will certainly remain in the bookshelf at home, only taking away some space and collecting dust. So sometimes I’m happy when there is an occasion to pass such a book on to someone who is eager to read it.

Every year I saw an incident repeating: An old village lady with crutches forces her way through the many participants to the dais and tries to get to Sri Kumar, who is guiding and directing the festivities. This time she came again and reclaimed access to him in a loud voice. Some helpless helpers talked to her, but she continued, until another helper took her, lifted her up and placed her some meters aside. Sri Kumar then came from the dais to her, listened a while, spoke some sentences and gave her his blessing. She gave him some fruit and then silently sat calmly at the ladies’ side. Later she took her crutches and went back again.

She must have some kind of a deep  devotion, even if her way of expressing it might be irritating to on-lookers.

Technology has become an unquestioned part of the ceremonies here: Cameramen build up their tripods plus big cameras directly in front of the dais, while the jumble of cables is running along the floors. Of course, since years big loudspeakers belong to the necessary equipment to transport the voice through space. Here you partly see very old-fashioned loud-speakers. But now also the latest beamer technology with screens is helping to transport the view to the rear lines, and on a side-table there are laptops for registration and online-transmission of the functions and the lectures from this remote village to groups in other parts of the country. They asked me if we should give also access to the Western groups, since the main language used here is Telugu, I said it wouldn’t be of much use.

Here, though we don’t understand what is being said, it is very fascinating to participate: The ambiance is very uplifting, and hearing the melodious flow of the voices and being in this serene atmosphere lets the mind “chill out” and get into subtler planes. A deep inner rest settles, and even occasionally falling asleep helps increasing the experience.

Trying to capture the thrill of the spiritually charged ambiance

Cameramen in front of the dais during a talk of Sri Kumar

Small and big photographing the fire ritual…

… while others are registering the sound, sitting in front of a canvas with a waterfall

When walking through the village where the Guru Pooja celebrations took place, we repeatedly saw a naked man crawling through the dust of the street – a mentally disabled person. In Western countries they would have taken him away and placed him in a mental hospital or some home – with professional care, but away from his familiar surrounding.

Here nobody seemed to take note of him, it was totally normal: He was playing with the dust or some sticks, while chicken were running around of him and cows eating from the garbage bin. People were sitting in front of their doors, chatting or pursuing some activity. The motor rickshaws passed around the man like around a street dog, and he seemed not to take notice of them, living in his own world. Worlds within worlds.

Four days ago we went to the Simhachalam temple beautifully located on the hill above the village where the Guru Pooja festival took place. Through rows of shops and beggars we entered the temple, went through the outer and inner parts into the innermost, where in a dark room there is a huge lingam – an oval shaped stone representing the power of divine will – covered with yellow and orange cloths. The group stood around the silver shrine, in which a priest conducted a little ceremony for us: He waved some camphor light around the lingam and offered the light to us, as a sign of inner purification through fire. He gave some flowers and water to each one of us.

We then went around the temple, the walls of which are covered with sculptures with numerous lion-figures (Simhachalam means Lion temple, the temple of the Lion of the Heart, where the sign of Leo is located) and scenes from the 10 avataras of Lord Vishnu. When leaving the temple, some sweets were distributed as “prasad” – gift after a ceremony.

Afterwards we went down the stairs into the valley. The way runs along huge banyan trees with their air-roots hanging all around, little shrines and statues, and the air was filled with some rhythmic Indian music – a beautiful scenery.

Beggars on the way to the temple, waiting for pilgrims

In front of Simhachalam temple

The seat of the Lion in the inner court of the temple

The Narasimha-Avatar of Lord Vishnu – the Man-Lion, symbol of opening the heart centre

The way down to the valley

At the moment I’m sitting in a little village about 35 km outside Visakhapatnam, in Simhachalam, an old temple village, where for 3 days the Guru Pooja celebrations of the World Teacher Trust are being helt, in honour of the great Masters of Wisdom. Ever since 1962 these celebrations have been done here, and people from different states of India as well as our group of about 35 Westerners are attending. There are approx.3-4.000 people around, participating in the rituals or listening to the talks of our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar.

Today’s topic was “Spiritual Fusion of East and West”. All Western members were invited this morning for the group meditation to come to the stage, in front of the large open air hall (there is a huge space between two rows of houses, which is covered by a long palaquin). Afterwards there was a lecture – in Telugu, like most of the lectures here. Though I don’t understand anything, I enjoy being in this atmosphere charged with spiritual energies. It is very relaxing for the mind – and sometimes I also fell comfortably asleep on the chair 🙂

After breakfast there was a water ritual in honour of the divine aspect of Will, expressed here in form of a lingam- an oval shaped stone. Water was poured over the lingam and afterwards it was decorated with flowers, accompanied by the rhythmic chanting of mantric songs. A very uplifting energy charged the atmosphere, while the ceremony went on for about 1.5 hours.

Afterwards there was the presentation of new publications. I was asked to come unto the stage, together with Dr. Kumar and Navaneetam. Navaneetam was presenting the different books – again mostly in Telugu. Then the people who had worked with the publication of the different books came to the stage and unveiled the parcel with the fresh publications. In all there were 16 different publications, mainly in Telugu, but some in English, and one even in German, my mother tongue.

Then I was asked to speak a bit about the work I’m doing with electronic communication. I explained how several impulses I got from Sri Kumar had developed over the years in an astonishing way, such as the newsletter “The Lunar Messenger” or the activity of the last months with the lectures and powerpoint presentations on “Meditation – Experiment and Experience” (I have written about it in several previous blogposts…).

Now the afternoon pause is coming to a close, and you can already hear the sounds of a musical presentation. So I’ll come to a close for today.

Of course inner and outer purity don’t always agree. You can have a clean carpet with a lot of ugly things hidden below, and also reat inner purity can hide under a cover of seeming filth. It’s not always easy to distinguish both.

This afternoon I had a little walk down to the seaside at Visakhapatnam. Along the roads the open waste water channels were filled with garbage, and where they flew into the ocean, litter also decorated the greyish-black way of the waste waters, with the particular smell of rotten materials… Though in the early morning people are sweeping the nearby streets, all kinds of papers and plastics are decorating free spaces. Some dogs were searching their food in a garbage container, which was surrounded by rubbish. Of course at home in Switzerland, which is famous for cleanliness, the littering is getting more and more a problem of the cities, too.

On the other hand here in India you see little idols decorated with flowers at many corners. And on the rickshaws you find prayers or pictures of saints and gods, being an expression of spirituality present in everyday life. But where do outer and inner beauty and purity meet?

A garbage container with stray dogs opposite a little street altar