Last Sunday after the morning lecture, Sri Kumar presented an Indian from Singapore, originally from Visakhapatnam, Anuraag Saxena. He came to hear about the WTT and Sri Kumar the day before only and was fascinated to see so many Westerners at the seminar. He is committed to inform Indians abroad about the rich spiritual and cultural heritage of India and make Indians aware of their treasures of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal Law. For him, Sri Kumar’s activities are along similar lines and he wanted to make a video talk with some of us Westerners to be published in YouTube. So the Master proposed some members for the talk.

We later assembled in the hall at the retreat centre: Anuraag explained to us that he is committed to bring back to India its pride and returning stolen art to India.

By profession he is a teacher in Singapore; he experiences with his children the difficulties of growing up in a society which is not always tolerant against differing religious attitudes. He himself had grown up in the 80s with heavy metal music from Europe and only later set out for a search for his spiritual roots.

His target public are mainly young Indians abroad of the age group 20-30 years. We were six Westerners of various age groups, from Germany, Spain and me from Switzerland. The talk should be like a conversation between friends in a bar – and it turned out to be a very lively discussion about how we came on our spiritual path, how our surroundings react upon it, challenges of bridging professional and social life in the West with spiritual aspiration.

Anuraag moderated the discussion and you could feel that he was experienced in doing so. He kept the discussion close to “burning points” like going to parties and trying to follow a spiritual discipline, family issues, value conflicts… He wanted to know why we were coming to India and what it gives to us. It became very clear that all of us were searching for deeper experiences and trying to put spirituality into everyday lives. In this, religious or spiritual concepts play a secondary role – “Truth is higher than religion.”

Anuraag had planned to hold a 40 minutes’ discussion but it ended after 60 minutes – we were so intensely talking with each other that time flew by. He told us that he will upload the talk within a week and that he won’t edit it. So as soon as I will get the link to the YouTube video, I will share it here.

P.S.: I now have written a new blogpost about the video – Anuraag has subdivided the total recording into 10 small snippets of 4-6 min each.

Anuraag Saxena

Saturday after the morning lecture the group went to the Balabhanu school of WTT. It is located on the western side of Visakhapatnam directly in front of a hill, so that it is close to nature unobstructed by buildings. To arrive there it took about 40 minutes for our two buses. About 200 metres before the school the road was congested and so the buses just stopped there and we walked over to the school.

Two rows of pupils were standing there already to greet us. We went around the three floors of the school buildings, looked into the classrooms were curious children were looking at us – and in some classes they were reciting texts or singing songs. I remember well how, 14 years ago, my two sons were totally astonished about the discipline of the pupils there… There are classes from 1st to 10th standard plus pre-school. The school is run by the WTT and recognised by the government. It is offering the normal school curriculum besides spiritual education. The classes contain also a number of pupils from poor families where the costs are sponsored by contributions of WTT members.

Sri Kumar, the founder chairman of the Balabhanu school

Statue of Master CVV inthe courtyard of the school

Later, we received tea and sweets while the team of teachers was presented. Then Sri Kumar spoke some words about the activities conducted there. It is always very inspiring to see these youngsters growing up in a conducive environment. Many of the previous pupils have now gained good professions and posts in responsible positions and are supporting the school as well.

On the way back, we stopped at a slum area and went to a place with a very simple construction of a hall. There, for many years a Mithila school for the poor had been conducted and is now continued elsewhere. The hall will soon be replaced by a bigger building with activities for adults – job training and also support for destitute elderly people. A great amount of energies is being conducted. Some of the co-workers presented works of the tailoring program and Sri Sati Babu explained to us the different activities conducted there.

Later, we returned to the Retreat Centre.

Since one week we are now in Visakhapatnam for the seminar on „Pruthu – The First King of the Planet“. The story which Sri Kumar is commenting is from the Bhagavatam Purana. Often his talks contain interesting hints to situations people here were just experiencing. Tuesday morning there was the Capricorn full moon fire ritual; Thursday morning the weekly fire ritual – these are always very uplifting ceremonies.

Here are some lines from the beginning of yesterday morning’s lecture:

“I hope that now that you can comfortably enjoy here. There were changes of food, of residence. By the time you feel well you are back to Europe. The seers don’t stay more than three days in a place. In three days the mind, the senses and the body settle down at a place and finds comfort and then the senses also find comfort and then they get accustomed to it. And then the body looks for a bedroom and gets stuck to the bed. First, second, third day not, and then it is comfortable. Not that it is comfortable but it has adapted. After three days you get localised, put roots. The seers therefore say, we don’t stay anywhere more than three days because they know they get stuck very easily at a place. They understood the quality of the earth with its attraction. If you stay longer you form a habit. Therefore they do not stay more than three days so that they do not get localised.
When we feel very uncomfortable – there are many people who feel very uncomfortable when they have to move. But they get stuck. Discipleship is a practice of delocalising yourself. If at Barcelona you may not feel like moving out of Barcelona, in Münster, it is so comfortable to stay there. This kind of localisation has its own limitation. Brother Navaneetham can explain it better. Brother Navaneetham is the best example of localisation; he never got out of India. He should be able to see what exactly caused the localisation. He has not much travelled. Saturn itself is a localising planet. He causes the localisation. Now you are already here from three0th December night – four nights you have attended, so you get localised. Better you dematerialise the place so that you don’t develop roots around. There is a saying in Sanskrit: Man is better off by movement. If he does not move he gets stuck and then he loses the globalness….
Where you see many ways of variation you know that there are thousand ways of living. For an Indian to be outside of India he is totally upset when there is no Indian food. Likewise you stay in Germany or Spain. The material part of the being always looks out for rest. If you are daily sit in a personal chair, one day when someone else sit there you get upset. You are accustomed to it. In a matter of four days such a settlement get sedimented. The muddy water in a glass keeps on settling itself. Likewise we encounter localisation. This one has to overcome. We have to settle in Brahman and not in anything else. Our abode is Brahman, then there is no further place, no further localisation.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Ramadri, a beautiful place overlooking the Bay of Bengal. There the WTT has developed a stony hillslope over the years into a beautiful garden with many little temples, a free Mithila school for children of the fishermen colonies and a “Gosala”, a place where cows are maintained with a sacred attitude. The milk is used for the calves, the children and temple rituals. Ramadri is a place of vibrating spirituality.

After going through the different places of the site we gathered in the little amphitheatre, where the children of the school presented to us recitations of mantrams, hymns and things they have learnt. Furthermore, some children presented traditional dances.

Sri Kumar with his daughter Shanti and children of the Mithila school of Ramadri

Afterward the Master spoke about the service activities done at Ramadri, which is also called “Hamsavanam”, the Swan of the pulsation of life.

“Ramadri is a fivefold service centre – serving the earth, the plants, the animals, the humans and the Devas. Service in health and education, uplifting the poor to better conditions, transforming the hill-slope. A small but effective team of workers took charge of this work under the chairmanship of Mr. and Mrs Murthy with the help of children. Every Thursday bananas are offered, from the banana trees around. Where there is offering without expectation it is an act of goodwill. There is transformation through meditation, sharing of wisdom and charity activities. Here we have a very clean view of the ocean. The sound of the waves brings the sound of OM…”

After the evening prayer the group returned to Visakhapatnam.

Christmas morning was cold and a bit rainy. Saying good-bye on the railway platform, my thoughts were already set on the great jump to India. From the local train to the inter-city to the airport… My friend Herwig arrived nearly at the same time at the check-in. Some hours later we were sitting aboard the jet heading to Delhi where we arrived shortly after midnight. Yes, there it was again, this feeling of arriving in a familiar but different world – in the shop where we bought bottles of water you saw at the same time business and spiritual books, wooden elephants besides Swastikas and colourful shawls, then Ayurvedic health products made with “Swiss technology” …

The airport was foggy – smog or early morning fog? (It was smog, as we came to know later.) Soon after the airplane reached the travel height there was a golden line at the horizon which slowly grew to an ocean of golden light. Like fanfares of the Devas the rays grew stronger and then Surya, the Sun God, lifted his head over the horizon – what a majestic sight! All colours of the rainbow were seen coming from indigo blue to violet, green yellow and brilliant white.

When the airplane went down for landing in Bengaluru clouds were approaching from below and enveloped us – how to find the runway or landing? But soon the iron bird touched the ground and a little later busses brought us to the arrival. At the exit a driver was already waiting. The traffic became increasingly dense when we approached the city. At some point I fell asleep and when I woke up again I soon recognised already the bumpy road – yes, we were fast approaching Sadguru Tapovana, the centre of the WTT Bangalore.

After a short stop at the centre the driver brought us to the apartment building where the group had hired some apartments for the members of the west – we were 12 persons staying in 3 rooms – a “camping feeling” but very cordial.
Some members from Europe were already there, others arrived next morning. We were altogether 29 members from the West.

Two eagles flying above the WTT Bangalore centre “Sadguru Tapovana”

Wednesday morning the Master gave a short welcome and spoke some words about aligning the personality with the soul and the super soul. Then he invited the Western members for a get-together at 11 am. When I took out my laptop to take some notes he asked me smilingly to shut it again – it would be a casual meeting. He asked some members about their journey and presented a little booklet (which had appeared only in Telugu, as I later found out) about 180 teachings of Master CVV which he had received while he wanted to go into instructions given by Master CVV. – he was told to give teachings afresh.

Later he talked about the importance of unification and not separating. In this he commented about some political situations where people prefer to separate, to look for the well-being of their region instead of the greater whole: The rich countries and regions have to learn to sacrifice. Unity and unification is the goal and not separation for the benefit of smaller units. This is a lesson to be learned by many nations. When Germany was re-united and did sacrifices for this process or when they took up many refugees from Syria, this was seen as an important act of sacrifice by the higher circles and it will bring a lot of advancement to the country.

Wednesday afternoon the December Call celebration was inauguration. In 1910, Master CVV started celebrating the May Call on 29 May and the December Call on 29 December as days of transmission of the energy of group consciousness. Since many years, both days are celebrated in the WTT. At these dates Master Kumar is holding group livings at the WTT group of Bengaluru which are always very inspiring events. Here is an extract of the talk at December Call morning (from my notes):

“Right action comes when you develop right action in the mind. An enlightened mind enlightens all actions. It does not have fear. When the sunlight comes, where is the darkness? Fear or anger, that is the darkness in the mind. The seers invoke daily the sun to enlighten us. Sun carries the energy of awareness. Light is but an offshoot of awareness. When you relate to the light and receive it to your forehead on a daily basis you get right ideas and this improves your knowledge.
… Everyone should have the habit of learning, if not we are moving from one group life to the other but we do not learn. We learn to change for the better. Buddha with five others tried to contemplate without eating and drinking. A seer came and told him, ‘How can you contemplate well without eating and drinking?’ Of the five, only Buddha took to the advice of the seers. The others said, ‘The seer tempted us and we don’t want to eat and drink. Buddha said, ‘What the seer said is to our benefit. You have to use it.’
All learning is for the change. We just fall into the old patterns. Our eating patterns don’t change. Thinking patterns, patterns of movement don’t change. If the habits do not change it is a wasteful exercise. After eating, Buddha had better perception then.
You have to clear the obligations to the surroundings. Many times the pictures on the wall are not well arranged. If there is a broken glass, make sure that it is replaced. If there is a break in the watch, replace it. Many do not even see the disorder. If you see the disorder put it to order. There are people who are blind to disorder.
Around a Master of Wisdom everything is in order, from the tip of the toe to the top of the head. Do you properly dress your hair? Don’t think it is unimportant. If the hair is not in order the reception of thought is not good. There are ladies who have one strain of hair on one eye and then throw it to the side. After some time it becomes a habit. In Ramayana, there is the description of the people in Ajodhya and in Lanka. In Lanka people do not dress their hair; in Ajodhya they keep their hair in a very good way, this giving a very good thinking.
If there is disorder in your thought the perception is also in disorder. A great scholar once went to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and explained about the state of the world and asked Ramakrishna what to do. Ramakrishna said, ‘I do not see the disorder. It depends on your view. The disorder of the mind sees disorder around. Will, love and light – if you include one you are with the other as well. If you intelligently act it is acting in a manner that is beneficent to all and does not create consequences to others.”

Besides the lectures, there were cultural presentations with recitations and Indian dances by children of the group, a water ritual and a fire ritual. During these rituals, the air is vibrating by the energies manifesting through the ritualistic activity and all feel uplifted.

The group life ended on 30 January in the morning. In the early afternoon, a bus brought us to the airport. The plane was three hours late. Later, we came to know that there were many delayed flights because the airport of Delhi had to be closed due to smog and air pollution. We happily landed in Visakhapatnam. It was past midnight when we arrived at the WTT retreat centre in Visakhapatnam. Tired but happy I fell into bed.

In the inner of the vertebral column there is the essential flow of awareness and light. It is like a lighted axis called Sushumna. We can enter into it and experience ourselves as a column of consciousness going from the top of the head to the base centre. This column is the central axis of our existence. The seven energy centres and the related planes of consciousness emerge from it. In our meditation, we can visualise that we move up and down in this column and ascend through it to the higher planes.

A photo of the shaft of a water turbine served as the central axis surrounded by a spiral. I eliminated the rungs of the mount and created the conical shape of the central column of bluish white light. The Sushumna column is surrounded by a yellow and a golden-yellow line representing the subtle energy lines of Ida and Pingala nadis. And the spiral indicates the spiralic movement of the ascending energy of Kundalini.

Lotuses in different colours show the energy centres along the central axis. They are surrounded by oval forms symbolising the various planes of existence and awareness. The half circle at the very top surrounded by radiant light indicates the entrance from where the unlimited consciousness descends into the vertical column as an individual spark of light – the I AM. You see it as the star-like jewel in the lotus of the head centre.

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 Capricorn paintings.

11 September 2017, pencils and photo work

I came across a number of beautiful digital gifts (videos and photos), see the links below. There are fantastic collections of pictures and plenty of good commercials – partly with a profound, touching message. Some of them are real treasures – enjoy!
I put short comments to help you to orient.  May you have a good Christmas time and all the best for 2018!

1. Photos

• Advent Calendar with space photos – a must-see ! The calendar is still running
• 2017 in Volcanic Activity – fiery world!!!
• Winners of the 2017 National Geographic Photo Contest – sublime
• Hopeful Images from 2017 – Touching

2. Commercials – Videos 1 (Not Christmas commercials)

• “We’ll take care of you, wherever you are.” – Samsung India Service (SVC). Great! Very well done and touching! More than 150 Mio views. Showing a technician on his way to a particular repair order in the Himalayas.
• Ping Pong Trick Shots 3
• Kia Niro commercial 🙂 Funny
• Marconi Union – Weightless (Official Video) Relaxing Video – A ballet of drones dancing over a mountain lake. About the band – Article about the video

3. Commercials – Videos 2 (Christmas commercials)

• Christmas in the Andes – together it will be better! – by OTTO – Extraordinary, very well done. My favorite
• Christmas – a time for reconciling – A moving commercial from Penny
• Gifts of a homeless man – German Railway / Deutsche Bundesbahn
• “Miracles don’t happen, you make them” – a demented women from an old age home, sees again the home of her youth – well done!
• Christmas, a festival of love – A robot in search of Christmas. Nice Edeka “end time” commercial 🙂
• Becoming friend of a monster – John Lewis Christmas campaign, something for children.
• London Heathrow Bears – cute
• Find your fairytale Christmas – a modern Cinderella
• Apple: A “christmas-neutral” spot, playfully dancing
• “Beautifully normal” – celebrate your kind of Christmas – a bit weird but “it need not be perfect….”
• A Christmas Miracle of animals in a forest – in German

 
Picture from the Video: Gemeinsam wird’s Weihnachten – Der OTTO-Weihnachtsfilm 2017

Fire is the essence of creation, the cosmic force which ignites the process of manifestation. And we are also sparks of the original fire, descended into forms. We, as souls, are enclosed with sheaths of dense body cells and the tissues of our jackets of karmic textures. We dived into objectivity with coatings like diving suits. What happens when the oxygen supply is getting blocked?

The fire of our vital force dies down and we are suffocating. Many feel like suffocating today. When you are cut off from your origin you lose the awareness of who you really are, of what you have come for. People are running their lives in zombie mode, with their fires nearly extinguished. Many chase after pseudo-fulfilments: The kick of extreme adventures, of body/sport challenges, of careers… They don’t nourish the the soul fire.

However, these are still much better than the hunt for darker satisfactions. And worse is an extinguished fire or a destructive fire of frustration. Societies can also live on dangerous fires of polarisation and splitting, can exhale poisonous gases – in the physical, emotional and mental planes, like lies, manipulations and divisions.

Sagittarius has just started. It can give us the power to uplift the spirits from the morass of stuck life force. Ignite the fire in you for high aspirations. Sublime aspirations, well grounded and effective, are rare. Kindle the fire in you. And with an extra-breeze of prana, the vital force, ignite yourself! Continuously!

For the image “Sagittarius – Sagittarian Contemplation” I had created a silhouette of the Cosmic Person with a NASA photo of a star field in the Sagittarius constellation. I took it as an image of its own and reworked it a bit as per the shape, the stars and the colours. Thus, the second image “The Cosmic Person” came about. Here you find the descriptions:

We are a microcosm containing all the intelligences that constitute the Cosmic Person. When contemplating on this relation we realise that we are essentially the same as the cosmic being and we slowly regain the original perfection.

Our body is anchored in matter at the Muladhara, the base centre. Esoterically, the higher Muladhara is linked to Sagittarius. It is presided by Ganesha, the cosmic Jupiterian principle. When worshipped, Ganesha enables experiencing the brilliant light inside the spinal column and a speedy upward movement from Muladhara to Sahasrara. The ascent of consciousness is symbolized by the eagle.

I created a silhouette of the Cosmic Person with a NASA photo of a star field in the Sagittarius constellation. Since Sagittarius represents the time of pre-dawn, I fused a photo of a dawn with the stars. At the feet of the golden yellow Ganesha statue there is a lotus as a symbol of the Muladhara. The central axis of the cerebrospinal column of light is formed with a water jet. The soaring eagle is located at the Ajna centre of the Cosmic Person and a radiant blue star forms the top of the Sahasrara.

15 August 2017, pencils and photo work

The Cosmic Person

According to the wisdom teachings the basic pattern of the human being comes from the structure of the Cosmic Person called Purusha in the East. We as an inner person are in essence the same as the Cosmic Person. When we look within it creates the contact with the Person within and thereby opens the doors to meet the Cosmic Person outside. The Inner Person is called the Higher Self or the Soul. Its outer shade is the lower self or the personality. The outer Cosmic Person is called the Super-Soul. When we contemplate on the Person within we start realising our identity with the Cosmic Person.

For the image “Sagittarius – Sagittarian Contemplation” I had created a silhouette of the Cosmic Person with a NASA photo of a star field in the Sagittarius constellation. I now took it as a stand-alone image and reworked it a bit as per the shape, the stars and the colours.

24 August 2017, 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 Sagittarius paintings.

Scorpio is a time of letting go, of death and profound transformations. We yesterday were at a funeral in a small town in the Bernese Alps. Dori, a dear friend of the family of my wife, had passed over a week ago at the age of 84. I knew her from a distance and there wasn’t much contact during the last decades but both of us held Dori dear. My wife had visited her last summer and there, they also had spoken about passing-over. Dori said that she didn’t fear and was ready to go – although she wasn’t frail. She was a warm-hearted person who welcomed life with open arms and took a lively interest in other people.

It was a cold and windy day when at noon time the family members and friends assembled at funeral hall. It was fascinating to see and feel these mountain people. Many had come to say good-bye to Dori whose presence we could clearly feel like an umbrella under which we were uniting there.

An elderly family member approached us: she had recognised my wife although over 40 years had passed by since they had met for the last time. My wife explained to me “who is who” as far as she knew. Then the protestant pastor made us stand around the urn; he spoke some words about Dori and explained the sequence of the ceremony. You could feel that it was not his first funeral service but he did it with an inner participation.

Later, when we stood on the burial ground, I let me eyes go round to absorb the ambiance – there was a solemn presence, where you could feel the visible and invisible meet. I took some photos without wanting to be remarked but the alert eyes of a granddaughter caught me. The urn was sunk into the ground, then roses were put on the grave. Although it was a deeply unique moment, the acts were of an archetypal nature.

We later assembled in the beautiful old church for the farewell ceremony. Besides some church songs which reminded me of times long gone by two of Dori’s sons spoke about her life in a warm and partly humorous way. Also the friendship link to the family of my wife was mentioned, it dated back to the 50s.
It was impressive to hear that only 3 weeks before the pass-over Dori had realised he wish to cross Paris by foot for the second time, the first time had been years back. So she made a 27 km walk from north to south, accompanied by family members. Later, at a train station in Paris, a grandson discovered a piano where he played her a song – and the same song he now played in the church – an incredible moment of completion of a life cycle. Three other grandchildren, teens and twens, came to the front and spoke about what her “grosi” (grandma) meant for them – they had wanted to speak and express their thanks, and they did it in a touching way. Some more words, songs and music concluded the ceremony.

We participants were invited into a nearby restaurant, where we had time to exchange with several family members and friends of Dori. Normally, I feel a bit lost at such gatherings. But here it was different. We were surprised to hear and feel how Dori had woven a great network between different people with her interest in their lives. It is something unique, and with this impression and a feeling of gratefulness we started the journey home.

The activity of Scorpio is characterized as the spirit coming down into matter in the form of a converging spiral. From the higher planes, the consciousness falls into the dense material states and gets imprisoned in the space like in an egg. This fall is compared to an inverted cone with a coiled serpent hidden within. Likewise, when the human soul descends into the womb of the mother, it loses the spirit-consciousness. It takes eons of time until the soul overcomes the limitations of matter again and reaches its source, the union with the spirit.

For illustrating the descent of the spirit from cosmic planes, I created a serpent-like spiral surrounded by star-dust. The shape of the inverted cone is formed with a picture of a mollusc shell. On both sides, it is surrounded by a downpour of star-dust.

In the lower part of the image I placed three eggs: a small egg at the womb of Eva, the first woman according to the Bible; a bigger second egg at the lower half of Eva’s body as a symbol of overcoming the lower self; the third egg is surrounding Eva and merging with the spiral – a symbol of the individual soul which, on the path of ascent, opens up to the super-soul. The original statue of Eva realised by Jacob Ungerer in 1910 is at the city-hall of Hamburg.

The bottom line is dark. From out of it raises a reddish city skyline made with a photo of house façades in Buenos Aires. The mega-cities are places where many human souls are living under the pressure of modern material life.

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 Scorpio paintings.

25 July 2017, pencils and photo work