Virgo represents the “womb of time” wherein the spiritual seeker is slowly matured through profound crises. He needs to grow into the light of knowledge and learn to use his free will in a responsible way. When nature considers him mature she leaves him to himself for further evolution to higher consciousness. Our earth is also in a slow process of ripening in the womb of the Mother Nature.

Virgo stands for the virgin nature of the Divine Mother. She is depicted with an ear of corn in one hand and a light in the other. They symbolise the spiritual food for the souls and the spiritual light which lightens the way.

For the illustration of the Virgin I reworked a photo (by Sailko, Wikimedia) of a statue of Hera, the Greek queen of the gods. In her womb I placed a human silhouette on the globe surrounded by a field of light. The goddess is walking on a forest path. In her right hand she carries two ears of corn and in her left hand she carries a flame lighting the way. The ears are pointing to the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, the mothers of the seven aspects of form life. In esoteric astrology, this constellation is deeply linked to Virgo.

18 May 2018, pencils and photo work

See more pictures on the site with my paintings. If you want to print the image, you can download the file in medium and high resolution format.
The different zodiacal signs are clustered in groups – you can see here all my Virgo paintings.

The video:

I recently had an e-mail exchange with a good friend and collaborator about handling the pressure of today’s life, balancing the professional and private demands with spiritual practice – and how to avoid getting one’s energy depleted. At the end of this correspondence he suggested, “You might consider sharing these tips in a blogpost. They will be helpful to others as well.” So here are extracts from our exchange.

It started with my friend sending me his proof-reading comments with the remark, “I apologize for the delay in getting back to you…” I know that he has tough times, and so I answered, “The doors of time sometimes don’t allow much passing through.”

He replied, “Your statement regarding the doors of time sometimes not allowing much to pass through is very true for me, at least for the past several months. These days there is lot of working piling up for me — both personally and at work — but not much is getting completed.  I have been praying to improve my capability to handle things better. Any suggestions from your experience would be very beneficial for me.”

I then wrote him the following lines:

30 November 2012: Aries – Birth of a Diamond

“I know only too well these tight times, esp. during my professional years. For many years, I worked just 80% meaning 36 hs/week in my job to be able to care for the family and, more so, spiritual activities.
And now the time is again tight, the last months were. Each year, the rising half of the year, esp. Aries to Cancer, is speeding up.
The most important for me was to maintain the meditation schedule. And I split up my work, working on it rhythmically – meaning, I tried to use any minute available, was doing WTT correspondences / corrections during breaks at my office. I now do correspondences or activities demanding low concentration in side hours and try not to let myself be interrupted with non-essentials (there are many).
I try to prioritize: I can concentrate best for creative work of writing / researching (Lunar Messenger texts etc.) during the morning until noon, and again for a certain time after dinner. When I try to do it in the afternoon, it does not work. When I first do non-essential things, it is much more difficult to get to essential things later than the other way round.
I lose lot of time if there is not the right sequence, meaning when I am tired at a certain level – not much, it blurrs the access to clear thinking. In these times I either do non-prio activities, household activities, or I lay down for a short nap. Master Morya in his Agni Yoga teachings recommends to change regularly the topics with which one is active (instead of resting) to keep the mind freshly interested. Of course, relaxation and some time in nature, be it a park, a river or some green, gives back pranic/psychic energies.
This is most important to me, and if I don’t respect, my condition goes low. For me, about 10 minutes asanas in the morning (since many years, I just have the same sequence) are also most essential to feel well in the body, and thus with a better condition – these things are not time spent but enable to stay better stable.
Another thing is, I try to avoid “energy vampirism”, meaning I close my energy system (double pyramid visualisation for protection) before going into any kinds of mass assemblies (work, supermarkets, transportation); even in the car you are not immune. Keeping the protective aura stable (I had to learn this!) enables keeping the energy level higher. In any case of depletion, washing face (neck), arms and hands (quickly during work at the toilet) cleans away subtle dross. Good aeration is also essential, besides the light food and the spiritual alignment.
These are some thoughts to the topic energy management.”

My friend replied, “Wow! Thank you very much, Ludger for taking time to share all these practical, simple yet profound suggestions. I am doing some of these. I have been doing double pyramid once a day since you told me few years ago on a Skype call. It has been very helpful. I see your point in doing this more frequently than once a day. I will try to bring others into my routine as well.”

I would like to add an extract of my notes from the seminar of Master Kumar in Iguazú, lecture of 22 June 2018, morning. It is about building the protective double pyramid:

“As we attempt to build the personality in the temple there would be many elements which we call rogue elements. They try to obstruct, to destroy, to digress, to distract our pure intention to transform our personality into a temple. There are always forces in nature which are constructive and which are otherwise also. Nature contains varieties of forces. As much as there are beneficial forces there are also other forces which work contrary to self-transformation. They emerge from us on account of the deficiencies and weaknesses we have in us. Our weaknesses one by one get exposed and we start working with our personality; the undesirable, the weaknesses and limitations hidden in us would come up. When we boil the water the impurities emerge and by another boiling they are destroyed.

When we are on a journey to light there are elements of darkness which would like that we are not on the program of transforming ourselves. On the basis of our previous actions, thoughts and speeches they do not let us move forward. Therefore there is a regular ritual suggested to us every morning to build a diamantine temple around us so that there are no more digressive elements from the surroundings or from the past. We did many times prayers for the benefit of supporting the good intentions of the governments; we worked with the Diamantine Network from 2007 to 2014. It can be done by each one of us. We can be protected from within from the forces trying to attack us. Even when we are in the midst of a crisis or an accident, the accident does not have an impact on us. Even while a fire is around the fire does not touch is. We can do the ritual every day in the morning. It is conceived by the ancient most seers: We build a double pyramid of light so that nothing can touch us by way of untoward events. With an accident we even don’t get a scratch on the body. You do not get hurt by an accident, be it on the road, in a plane or a flight. You remain untouched by any element that attacks you. It is a beautiful Vedic ritual and it is done by all the knowers in the East as part of morning prayers.

The methodology is very simple: Stay oriented to the east either in a standing posture or in a sitting posture. Look to the east and visualise that a ray of light is passing from your heart centre towards the east. Then you bow down to the east and the angel of the east and receive the light of the east into your heart. First you project through imagination a ray of light to the east. Then you bow down to the angel of the east and then you imagine that a beam of light is moving to the south. Imagine that a beam of light is emerging from your heart to the south and you bow down to the angel of the south. The energy of the south will come and join you in the heart centre – in sitting posture you may imagine that the light is emerging from your heart and going to the south. In standing posture you can turn to the south. Then from the south the angel is blessing you and joins you in the heart.

Similarly you let an energy of light go to the west, bow down and receive a ray of light from the west into your heart.

Then you see a ray of light going to the north, you bow down and receive the ray of light into the heart.

Then you link up all the four directions. Then there is a square around you. From east to south, south to west, west to north. There is a field of light with beams all around. It is around you, by way of four right angles.

Then imagine that you are moving up vertically and bow down to the angel of that which is above. And then imagine that the energies from above are descending into you. Then connect the four directions to the light from above. It is the headlight. There is a pyramidal lighted dome that builds with your heart as the base. There is a pyramid built over you.

Then imagine that your energies are moving down below, connect all the four directions to what is down below you to your feet. You form another pyramid downwards. You are very much secured in this double pyramid. When this happens you have a lighted shield around you, when you regularly do it during the sunrise hours with the sun-rays. You have a dome upwards and a dome downwards. You are protected from the surroundings and from within and outside. You are at all times saved by this structure: I bow down to the east and the angel thereof, I bow down to the south/west/north and the angel thereof, then to the headlight up, then from below up.

It is regularly done by many people in the east; they chant it in Sanskrit. If you do it we are in the shell of light. The light is of diamantine nature; you are protected by a diamond all around us. This would allow not to fall into temptations all around us, nor the outer temptations can approach and affect you. In this insulated state you can build your temple without impediments.

Normally there would be many impediments or the other, starting from ill-health and personal karma. There would not. While the problems emerge, your practice would not be affected. Not that you would be protected from your karma. Your karma will not come into the way of your practice. Once your karma gets exhausted and slowly you build the temple, the temple becomes a place of service to the surroundings. You have the will to build a lighted temple. The six directions around them, a field of light around them, so that they are insulated within by which their practices are not infected. Even if you have a domestic problem your practice will not be affected. And the temple will be formed and the karma will not touch you. The karma will be exhausted and neutralised.

People say, “I am not very regular with my prayer, with my practices.” A small impediment, worldly influence will bring you off from your practice but the double pyramid will allow you to attend to the worldly duties.

There is a mantra called “let things wait”. This is possible only for those who work with light. Until your work with light is over, the problem would not come. When you have finished your practice you will attend to the purposes which need to be attended immediately.

Shirdi Sai Baba had the habit of living in a dilapidated mosque. He took his residence in that and from there he was doing his work. He had a fireplace in the corner where there burns fire day and night, now since over 140 years. There is another place where he made other preparations. He put his hand into boiling water to cook and serve the people. He did so for about 60 years. For special occasions he invited people from the village, prepared the food himself and served. Once while he was serving people the roof started giving way to fall. The people who took meal got fear and wanted to leave. He said, “The roof won’t fall.” Only few of them stayed there, took food and then he said, “You can go out,” and he also came out and said to the roof, “Now you can fall.”

That is the beauty of this practice, nothing will fall on you. If there is an impending accident, you would be averted of it. There are many such experiences when you work with this mantram. …

This practice will prevent you from falling into problems. You have to have complete faith. Through a small doubt the accidents may enter. … When you do this you are protecting the practice of light which you carry out, it will not be affected. … It is one beautiful practice. You have to do 6 utterances. It can be in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Telugu, without language. It is not the language which is important but the thought. Bow down to the east and imagine light entering from the east, then south, west, north, then you move up and down – even in the worst cases nothing will happen to you. The practice is given to those who are willing to build the temple within to be born again into light.”

3 August 2013: Sagittarius – Pre-Dawn Meditation

We celebrate the birthdays of the Great Ones and recollect facets of their lives. By linking to them, we receive their blessings and grace.

The birth times of Master EK (Ekkirala Krishnamacharya) and Madam Blavatsky are only 11 hours apart. Master EK was born 11 August 1926 at 5:30 pm; HPB was born in the early morning hours of 12 August 1831, at 4:30 h.

Both are great messengers of the Eternal Wisdom and of those who gave it to us, the Masters of Wisdom. Master Kumar said:
“Master EK was highly inspired by the writings of Madam HPB. In his room in Radhamadhavam, there used to be only 2 pictures, one of Master CVV and another of Madam HPB. Most of the grand wisdom that he gave comes through her. He used to give many discourses on the wisdom coming from Madam HPB.”

Below you find a short extract from Master Kumar’s discourse about Master EK on 11th of August, 2016, followed by an extract of his discourse on Madam Blavatsky on 12th of August, 2017.

Extract from the discourse by Master Kumar on 11 August 2016, Master EK’s Birthday Celebrations 2016:

Master EK used to give great importance to time. He used to say that any work is to be done when it is to be done. When someone is hungry, you feed him at that time, not at your convenience. The purpose of an act is lost when it is not done at the right time. When someone needs help urgently, help if you can. Don’t delay it until it is convenient for you.

Once a marriage in Guntur was stopped because the bride did not have enough gold ornaments. The groom’s family did not like it and they wanted to call off the marriage. The bride’s father came to Master EK for help. Master EK gave all gold ornaments at his house to that man and told him to conduct the marriage. Can we do like that? Can we give away all our wealth in that manner when someone is in need? That is Master EK. It is very difficult to follow him in such aspects. He used to give away all the money that he had when someone was in need. He never thought of repayment and never asked for the money again. That was the kind of renunciation he had towards worldly things. He was never interested in accumulating things.

He used to never live in the past or future. He only cared of the present and the work in hand. For him, life is to live in the present and remain in service of the needy. That way of life was highly joyful to him.

Extract from the discourse by Master Kumar on 12 August 2017, Madam HPB’s Birthday Celebrations:

She stayed in Master Koot Hoomi’s ashram in Tibet for three years and she underwent lot of transformation to be able to comprehend and gain the grand wisdom which was to descend through her. She gained knowledge of all the books and Scriptures present all over the globe including in many museums.

While she gave dictations later to her disciples, they used to be surprised when she quoted statements from those books. She never saw those books physically but could see and dictate statements from them. Henry Olcott visited many of the museums to verify the statements. Madam HPB quoted from those books and the statements used to be exactly as in those books. That is how she was trained. When she wanted some information from a book, the book used to appear before her in subtle planes and she could refer to it.

She was dearest to many Masters of Wisdom. They used to protect her at all times. They showed her many parts of the world which cannot be seen by ordinary people. Through her, they brought down grand wisdom of cosmo-genesis and anthro-pogenesis for the access of the beings of this planet. Until then, this wisdom was not available to the public. It was present only in manuscripts which were present in some hidden caves of the planet. She told the whole story of how this planet was formed and how our bodies were formed and how evolution happens and so on. She cleared away lot of wrong propaganda that was happening at that time in the world. As a result, she faced lot of opposition and criticism in life but she did not care for that. She first wrote Isis Unveiled and then Secret Doctrine which is like a more organised and detailed version of the content given in Isis Unveiled.

During her lifetime, there were lot of times when people tried to kill her because they couldn’t counter her with their arguments. They did not have knowledge to counter her and they were facing existential crisis because of her. They tried to defame her a lot. They called her as the medium of Satan as her teachings were indifferent from what was taught by the those propagating Christianity. It was actually due to her that we know the actual story of Christ. We cannot understand her writings easily. It requires lot of background knowledge before we can understand her teachings in depth. We need to gain the right keys required for understanding.

She lived the last years of her life in London. She used to help many of those who came to her seeking advice. She always worked to fulfil the plan coming from the Masters of Wisdom and she had no other agenda in life. Master Morya called her as “the only white lotus we have in our pond.” It was to indicate how pure, how compassionate and how self-offering she was. She continues to work on this planet even today and she is now present in one of the cave Ashrams in Himalayas. We can gain her presence and grace by recollecting her and reading her books.

Master EK was greatly inspired by her writings and he himself writes in his diary, “To the train of my life, Madam HPB is like the engine while Madam Bailey is like the guard.”

So on this day, we try to recollect her and remain in her presence as much as possible.

You haven’t seen the moon rotating. Given modern digital technology, however, combined with many detailed images returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a high resolution virtual Moon rotation movie has now been composed.

Picture capture from the video, (c) Video Credit: LRO, Arizona State U., NASA

Who would not like to fly over the mountains like an eagle, looking around over icy peaks? The following video has been done with a 360° camera mounted on the back of an eagle flying over the Dolomites. Awe-inspiring perspectives – and you can zoom around, in all directions. (You don’t need to log in with Facebook, just click on “Not now”.)
It is not by chance that the eagle is a symbol of our consciousness lifted up to the peaks of awareness, rising from the Ajna centre into the vastness of space, beyond the bodily limitations.

Click on the picture to see the video

Picture capture from the video (c)

In meditation, the awareness is raised from the heart to the head, linking the personality to the soul and finally the soul to the super-soul. The head centre is the point of the highest illumination. A yogi meditates on the correspondences to higher centres: in relation to the planet, the head centre corresponds to Shamballa; in relation to the sun it corresponds to the cosmic sun. The other dimensions of the sun are the heart of the sun and the physical sun. With the planet, the corresponding other dimensions are the Spiritual Hierarchy and the humanity.

For this image, I used the picture of the head of a Buddha statue as the head of a yogi. I placed the symbol of sun at the Ajna centre, which is governed by the sun. I visualised the meditative ascent with a stair leading to a gateway of light (using elements of a photo by Till Krech, Wikimedia) in the form of a lingam symbolising Shamballa. I fused two images of the planet, depicting the Himalayas and beyond, Shamballa. They are shining through the head of the yogi. The crown of hair of the yogi is like a receptacle for the downpour of light. I created the flow with a picture of the physical sun (photo: Nasa), visualising the heart of the sun and the cosmic sun with other photos of the sun.

To represent THAT which cannot be portrayed – the inexpressible Oneness expressing into trinity and multiplicity – I positioned the three heads of a statue of Lord Dattatreya at the place of the spiritual sun, at the top, and surrounded them with an array of multi-coloured rays on a starry background.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings. If you want to print the image, you can download the file in medium and high resolution format.
The different zodiacal signs are clustered in groups – you can see here all my Leo paintings.

The video:

From 5 to 8 July, the 4th group life of Sri Kumar 64th tour to the West took place at Platja d’Aro at the Costa Brava in Spain. After Iguazu and Rio, I joined again the tour. At Barcelona airport a friend picked me up, together with another friend from Hamburg. The seminar hotel was located on the tops of rocks with a fantastic view over the coast. (For me it was a special souvenir – in October 1972, when I was 18, I went with a friend in an old Volkswagen to Spain, two weeks before I started studying at the university. We had no idea where we would land; it was the camping site next to the hotel where now the group life took place.)

At the group life, we were about 160 participants, mainly from different parts of Spain, but also from the USA, Germany and Switzerland. It was again like a “family gathering” with many friends and intense exchanges, and of course the discourses of the Master. The topic was “From Devotion to Synthesis”. Here is an excerpt of one of his lectures:

“We emerged from One. This unity is regained by those who are tired of seeing the diversity. When you keep on seeing the details – on the way you get perplexed and lost. This idea of getting back is what is making humanity to think of synthesis. In earlier times a physician had a good knowledge of the entire body.
Today there are specialists due to knowledge of different parts of the body. There are doctors of eyes; they do not care for the nose. There are doctors for the nose, for ear, nose and throat, for nervous depressions, for human psychology, for children – every limb is taken care of by a doctor but no doctor knows the whole human. If you have heart problems you go to a cardiologist. If you have other problems, he sends you to another doctor. Go to ear doctor. If you have some problems with the nervous system, you to a neurologist. No one deals with the entire human being. They are not worried about the entire body. The say if you have heart problem, go to a cardiologist. The science of health has gone so far that no doctor is able for diagnosing one problem that detailed into many problems.
The analysis has brought us out of unity. It is so in every field. If you go to finance field, there are many specialists, the same with accountants. No one has a complete view. We have only viewpoints but not vision. Analysis can know but losing the basis of synthesis, lands you in a complex, very confused situation. From generals to particulars is more important than to try to get from particulars to generals. In ancient times they tried to go from the seed to understand the whole tree, not from the leaves. It is one seed that sprouts, develops a trunk and gives many branches and gives out many sub-branches, leaves and flowers. If you cannot see the one unity of the entire tree you lose sight of the basic knowledge.
Therefore there is the need to devote ourselves to see the One in all. Unless you devotedly see, you cannot see the One in all. Devotion is an attitude, not an emotion. If you are devoted you can see everything. Then you find the One in a different seed. The same seed we see in a different seed. There is only one water – call it Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, but it is only one water. It is all one but for an understanding of the mind we have done divisions. The apparent is seen as real and the real got obscured.
When you start accepting the apparent as real, the real gets hidden. Even if we see the sun we don’t see the source from which the light is coming through the sun. The sun is the form through which the light is coming. It is an illumined globe through which the light is coming. The eye does not see; it is you and me that see. The eye is the window, the window cannot see, the window enables the sight. Who is seeing? The inner being. It is his eye that comes through the eyes.
That is what we have to see when we see the people. We see the eyes of the people, not the other parts of the body. Don’t look to the lower torso. People see not the other person. Oh, you lost your hair, you look a bit older. The inner being neither grows out nor thins down. We say, may the light in me be the light before me, but we don’t see. That is our problem.
When the One is lost, what is it? The One is the basis for all.”

From inside the hotel you could go down 4 storeys to reach a public path along the rocks. In a distance of about 100 metres there was a beautiful little bay and next to it the beach of Platja d’Aro. There were breath-taking sunrises later transforming into resplendent light transforming the water into multiple shades of turquoise. In the morning, before the beaches filled with sunbathers, I went for a swim in the crystal-clear water with some friends. With the goggles of a friend I felt like flying over silent underwater landscapes, where groups silvery fishes were looking for their breakfast. And when the day slowly cooled down again, we went for another swim.

Sunday morning, the group life ended with a question-answer session followed by a marriage ceremony of an elderly couple and the blessing of children. And then, some gifts were presented to the Master and the accompanying team. From a dissolved activity at WTT-Global, I had brought a small bag with crystals from all over the world as a present to the group. The Master presented them to the group: “Let the stone select you.” It was a very special situation for me to let all members take out a stone from the sack, without knowing what stone it would be – and then looks of joy and surprise. And thus, I looked into the eyes of most of them.

It had been planned that after the seminar I would visit a friend for 3 days, together with another friend. However, due to a private situation popping up on Sunday morning, this was not possible. So we decided to stay at the hotel for 3 more nights, together with some other friends who had planned their stay. This way, we had a beautiful conclusion of the group life with some more swims, meditations and exchanges. Then, Wednesday very early morning, a shuttle took us to Barcelona airport. Flying back to Switzerland, I felt deeply grateful for having been able to participate in three group lives of Sri Kumar’s 64th tour to the West.

Sunday, 24 June. A part of the group from the WTT seminar at Iguazú joined the flight with Master Kumar to Rio de Janeiro. At the airport in Rio some members of the group of Rio gave us a warm welcome, and soon we were in the bus which took us to the hotel in Niteroi, a quarter of Rio on the opposite side of the bay.

While we were crossing the bay via a long bridge, black birds flying over the water caught my eye. I never had seen them before but they later also appeared flying along the beaches near the hotel or at the places we visited – frigadebirds, elegant wind gliders.

The hotel had 20 storeys, and from its top there was a breath-taking view over the bay. The evening started with a grand sunset symphony full of intense colours. We had a short look into the seminar room – a great canvas with the statue of the Christ and pictures of Master CVV and Lord Maitreya at the dais and a poster of Master CSG at the backside – beautifully realised by Gustavo, a group member and designer from the Posadas group in Argentina.

The next morning after some welcome greetings, Sri Kumar started the seminar on “An Approach to Synthesis”. He gave a brilliant introduction into the foundation of the hierarchical work and the mission of Master CVV:

“I have been travelling since 1981, sharing wisdom at various parts of our planet and many times on my way to Argentina I have first landed in Rio and then to Buenos Aires. I was always fascinated by the city of Rio, it has its special beauty and depth and it promises much for the future. Brazil is very much connected to India, if we understand the combinality of the rays. ‘I hide the light’ is the message coming from India. The keynote of Brazil is ‘I hide the seed’ One hides light, another hides the seed of light, meaning, the hold the light for the future. That means, in future, Brazil and India; they tend to be leaders in matters of light and wisdom. That is what is said by Master Djwhal Khul in his book on Destiny of Nations. Master Djwhal Khul says many things about the future of Brazil. Brazil has been going through many changes. There is also a plan for manifestation of light. It is in tune with the Plan of the Hierarchy the manifestation of the teachings and the related service in tune with the plan as conceived by the Hierarchy the events keep happening for manifestation of light…
The major teaching that the Hierarchy intends informing the humanity is that there is one light that manifests through many forms. At different times through different forms the light manifests. But always the teaching is the same. The teaching is always in relation to the knowledge and in relation to the light. The teaching is always in relation to light and the related knowledge. The knowledge and the related light is more important than the forms. We may study under this light or that light. To relate more to light than to form is the work of the Hierarchy. When our emphasis shifts to the light and life, then we come out of the various differences we have in the name of religion. There are so many religions, there are so many sects, so many belief systems and people only see how different they are. They don’t see what is common between us. Among all humans there are many things that are common. Every human has two eyes and every human has one nose and one mouth. We have an upper jaw and a lower jaw, two shoulders, five fingers at every hand. From head to feet we have so many things in common. There are a few things that are different, for example what you eat can be different from what you eat, what dress I wear can be different from the dress you wear, but these are all peripheral. We are all common because we wake up and we keep on thinking like every human does, we have the same activity of senses. The energy and the Masters of Wisdom, they want us that we unite in what is common with us. … . Essentially we are all humans. Other identities, they cause differences. That is why when a Master of Wisdom speaks, he speaks to the entire humanity. He does not speak the to the French, the Germans – wisdom is to humans. Once wisdom is gained, we realise that we are humans. We realise that we are global citizens.”

The seminar concluded already in the afternoon with a question-answer session. Next morning, the group went to Mount Corcovado. A mountain railway took us up to the famous statue of the Christ. There was a deep blue sky and a grand view over Rio and the bay area. The Master explained earlier that at the Christ statue there is the presence of the second ray of love-wisdom and at the nearby Sugarloaf Mountain there is the presence of the first ray of will – it is a huge lingam-shaped rock. Together with the Master we stood at the feet of the Christ and intonated 21 times the sacred OM. Later, the group went to the Sugarloaf. We took the ropeway in small groups. On the top of the “lingam” I did a little “water ritual” spreading some water onto the rock and together with some friends a visualisation of the energies present there. Later we assembled in a larger group singing mantrams from the water ritual.

Cancer (Lunar calendar: Gemini) full moon over Rio. I slept outside on the balcony, a great experience.

Next morning after the prayer, there was a small good-bye celebration, where the Master spoke about the seeding of impulses through this meeting which would eventually sprout in the future. The Brazilian group members presented to Sri Kumar a box with a beautiful amethyst and all participants got a manually decorated little violet box with a crystal.

Later we went for a boat ride through the bay to a landing near the old town of Rio and later returned to the hotel.

The end of our stay was already approaching, while a small group walked to the nearby seat of the “Fundação Cultural Avatar” (Cultural Foundation Avatar). It was founded in 1973 by Jayme Treiger, a disciple who had done the tremendous work of translating the books of Agni Yoga (Helena Roerich) and of Master Djwhal Khul (A. Bailey) into Portuguese. I remembered having met him at conclave meetings 20 years ago in Europe. The institute was in a little villa, and there were paintings by Boregar, a Russian painter and disciple of Nicholas Roerich. In the hall at the front side you could also see pictures of the Masters. Sri Kumar emphatically spoke about the need to focus on the oneness of the Light and not to fall again into divisions in the name of the various Masters of Wisdom.

Jayme Treiger

Painting of the bay of Rio de Janeiro with view of Corcovado, by Boregar

I had to rush back to the hotel, quickly pack the suitcase and then say good-bye to the members. Some moments later, the bus took our small group to the airport.

In the night, while the plane was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, I saw a science fantasy film, “The Wrinkle in Time“. It reminded me of what the Master had said – the wisdom teachings are given out in many forms as per the demands of time and place; and the exuberant fancy of the movie also carried some wisdom messages. At the end of the journey I felt tired but filled with many seeds of light.

An intense week of the WTT group life in Iguazu, Brazil, just came to to a close. It was a fascinating time in a hotel near the famous waterfalls with group members from different parts of the world.

The seminar on “The Temple” started Sunday morning with a fire ritual and later the seminar started. Here is a extract from the beginning words of Sri Kumar:

“At the very outset I should thank Sister Alicia for the sweet words about the relentless work that is happening through me. Normally I don’t count what is happening. It is not that I chose to work. I am not choosing to do the work, the work has chosen me, and it is using me in every possible way. It looks for you that I am doing so much but the truth is, the truth keeps happening and happening. We are all used for the work. The nature puts all of us into work. The moment you wake up till you fall into sleep, we are used by nature to carry out work according to the quality of the personality to do work. The nature uses the personality to fulfil the work on the planet as per the Plan. All are busy, including the birds. Even before the dawn they keep moving in groups and share things with the various places with the group until the sunset. Be it plants animals, humans, planets, solar system, all are used by one nature which is cosmic, solar and planetary work. To see that we are doing the work is childish. The nature does the work through us. The quality of the work done through us is not depending on the soul but the personality, and therefore work happens. In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, I am not the one who propels beings into work, it is my nature. It is the nature which propels the beings into work. It puts all beings into a kind of glamour. She puts them to work so that they transform themselves into mobile temples. The mother would like that every one of her children that they perform best. And then carry out the work. Even very early in the morning the roads are filled with cars. It is the nature within every being that propels the beings. The one who knows that he lets the nature do the work through him and he is witnessing what is happening through him and around him. He is an observer. He witnesses all that is happening through him and around them. We being the sons of the one father, we too should learn the characteristics and learn to be a witness.

We should first get out of the feeling that it is our doing, it is a happening. The seasons are happenings, all is a happening. We are grateful to nature. Alicia is thankful to me, I am thankful to nature. The work is happening for the well-being of so many persons. There are so many persons who are engaged with the work over three decades. They related to the work and the related transformations happen…”

During the week, we had 10 lectures on various aspects of the work of building the inner temple (If you are interested in my notes of the seminar please contact me). Besides, I participated in three organisational meetings of WTT-Global. It is always fascinating to witness the Master dealing with organisational matters.

Wednesday the group went to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls – the other buses were faster; our bus with the European members had to wait 1.5 hs at the frontier before the necessary custom procedures were through. In the afternoon again about an hour “enjoying the frontier”.

The national park of the Iguazu Falls is a splendorous area with gorgeous waterfalls. In the midst of the long falls there is the St. Martin’s Island – a place where you normally cannot go; there were no boat transfers. The Master explained that in the subtle dimensions there is the centre of an ashram of a great Rishi called Brahmanaspati. We aligned with the energies of this sacred area surrounded by thundering waters and varying rainbows. Eagles were circulating over the place and the sky was filled with brilliant blue. Other birds and butterflies were also flying around. It is most impressive to see the calm waters suddenly gushing downwards with millions of jumping drops.

We stood for a while at the “Devil’s Throat” – a roaring abyss of descending waters and ascending spray. After the pick-nick in a small amphitheatre we returned to the Brazilian side.

There were two more fire rituals, one Thursday morning at the moment of Cancer equinox – here in the southern hemisphere the winter equinox, in the northern hemisphere the start of summer; for the planet the beginning of the seeming southward march of the sun till 21 December. And another fire ritual at the close of the seminar Sunday morning. There was also a blessing of babies and introduction into first writing of a group of children.

Saturday the group went with the Master to the Brazilian side of the waterfalls – again breath-taking views to the sublime cascades on the Argentinian side, as symphony of water movements, majestic rainbow bridges and luxurious vegetation. I felt grateful to be able to witness.

Saturday evening there was a thanksgiving by the organising members to the Master and certain persons. All members received a thoughtful gift by the Argentinian group. And there was a special poster for thanking the staff of the hotel, which had been extremely attentive and caring. It was nice to see the team of nannies taking care of the group of children. When the expression of thanks were given to the manager of the hotel, there were tears in her eyes – she said they never had such a beautiful experience with a group.

It was later night when the plane took off from Zurich. And it was still night, when it landed about 11 hrs. later – on the watch just 6 hrs. – in Sao Paulo. Inside the plane it felt like being in some abstract space; only once when I could glance through the window there was the coastline of Portugal as a sign that the outer world was there below.

I was traveling with a friend of mine to a seminar with Sri Kumar at Iguazu, a beautiful place with its famous huge waterfalls at the border between Argentina and Brazil.

At Sao Paulo airport we met Sri Kumar with his son and three accompanying friends – and the group of friends who were coming via Frankfurt. Outside, it was fresh, 15° C, and later, at Iguazu, it was even a bit colder.

Approaching Iguazu – above the triangle between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay

At the airport, members from the Argentinian group gave us a warm welcome and then a bus brought us to the nearby hotel. I had been there already at a seminar with Sri Kumar in 2001, during my first visit to South America, but the hotel had been renovated and enlarged since then. There is a beautiful park going down to a little river in a jungle-like surrounding.

It is always very touching to meet the many friends from different parts of the world uniting at these group lives with the Master. Hearty exchanges, many faces who remember, partly vaguely, and many names washed away in my brain to be slowly retrieved.

In the evening we had our first meditation in the beautifully decorated hall – dipped into magical blue light.

The night was fresh, also inside the hotel – I had not discovered that the air condition could also work as a heater. After morning meditation nature greeted us with a gorgeous sunrise shining into the fog over the brook.

After breakfast our small German speaking group set out for a first visit to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. All clouds had been pushed away from the sky and a brilliant blue vault was filled with light. I had to get accustomed that in the southern hemisphere the movement of the sun is different from what we are used to in the northern hemisphere – its highest point is in the north, not in the south.

When we got out from the bus which brought us into the national park there were some coatis running around, waiting for some food falling down from the bags of visitors – or they tried to catch it directly from the bags or hands…

And then, like a curtain opening, the view fell on the vast panorama of the falls – breathtaking scenery. All tourists, including me, were standing, fascinated, and taking pictures. Plants were growing along the way which at home are just found in small pots. We walked along the slope where the foliage opened changing views over to the Argentinian side of the falls. And then the climax approached – the “Devil’s Throat”, Gargantua del Diablo (it should be called “Angel’s Throat”) with the thundering roars of water decorated with resplendent rainbow bridges. The rising sun slowly increased the intensity of the colours.

Early afternoon we returned to the hotel. After lunch, a short nap, and then saying “hello” to more members arriving. About 230 persons mainly from Argentina but also from other South American countries, different parts the US, the Caribbean, of Europe and even of India.

Some intense exchanges, evening meditation and dinner, then I dropped into bed – the jet-lag was still in my system.