During my last stay in January 2018 at the WTT Retreat Centre in Visakhapatnam, India I participated in a one hour video discussion moderated by Anuraag Saxena, an Indian from Singapore, originally from Visakhapatnam. See here my previous post.

Five other group members from the West also took part in the lively discussion. It was about our spiritual path in search of the eternal wisdom, in India called Sanatana Dharma.

With his videos, Anuraag is trying to inform Indians abroad about the rich heritage of India and make Indians aware of their treasures of Sanatana Dharma, the essence of Hinduism. None of us Westerners would coin ourselves as “Hindus” (the title of the video says “Why I became a Hindu?”) but we deeply agreed with the core values, esp. also “Vasudhaiva Kutumbaka” (see in one of the video links), meaning “all the world is one family”.

Here are the links to the video discussion as well as to the 10 4-5 min. snippets. These are his accounts on Facebook and on Twitter.

1.       Sanatana Dharma. What’s so cool about it?
2.       Singularity & Vasudeva Kutumbakam
3.       Katy Perry Vs. Spirituality
4.       Science Vs Spirituality: Opposing forces?
5.       Wealthy but lonely. The curse of Western Capitalism
6.       Digestion & Appropriation of Indic knowledge
7.       Is God a woman?
8.       Why is Catholicism against Diversity & Inclusion?
9.       Purushattva & the resurgence of Yoddhas
10.     In the end: Be Liberal

There is a cyclical movement of time in creation. It is like the growth of a seed to a tree bringing forth new seeds. The wisdom teachings explain that there is no end to existence. When a physical form is dissolved, it does not end but continues to exist on subtler planes. With seven cosmic pulsations the creation descends and ascends again. From innermost realms, it comes down to objectivity; and after a while, the direction is changed and there is again an ascent via subtle and causal states to the absolute state. Our earth is part of a chain of seven globes. There are earths in preparation in three preceding states, we are on this present earth in the fourth state, and there are earths in recession in three succeeding states.

I illustrated this great pulsation with the circle of the serpent eating its tail, a symbol of the eternal movement of time. I created three semi-transparent globes on the descending arc and three globes on the ascending arc with a crescent of the present earth at the centre. I transformed a photo of the gears of an old pocket watch (Wikimedia, Sachin Sandhu) and placed it in a desert-like surrounding symbolising the slow movement of time. From its centre grows a Brahma Kamala flower (transformed from a Wikimedia photo by Schwiki), a mundane replica of a celestial flower growing at high altitudes in the Himalayas, symbolising the sublime unfoldment of nature.

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 Pisces paintings.

19 November 2017, pencils and photo work

It is certainly not the purpose of the Lufthansa commercial “Dance with the Arctic Ocean” (#LifeChangingPlaces Lofoten) to stimulate pondering upon the adventure of turning inward. No, this is an amazing video to deliver the feeling of the thrill of extreme experiences. It shows the surf photographer Chris Burkard changing his old life in warm California against a new life in Norway’s ice, storms and cold. The solitude of surfing in the surge of the Lofoten at minus 23 degrees as the ultimate kick, after feeling bored with the most beautiful surf beaches at the top spots of the world: “In this moment I knew: This is exactly what I have been searching for… I came here because I didn’t want to do always the same. Now I know, I don’t want anything else.”

This sounds like the words of someone who has overcome all bodily limitations and experiences the Yogic state of bliss; whose thoughts and desires have been burnt in the inner fire and who is in deep inner peace. Yogis too, are sometimes living in extreme climatic conditions without being touched by them – their path is just a tiny step ahead of the search of extreme sportsmen and photographers.

The inner journey, however, goes deeper than the thrill of ecstasy brought about by all kinds of extreme experiences which many are searching for today. Maybe the craze of high performance sports with their celebration at the Olympic Games or football championships is just a preparation for the ultimate step towards oneself and from there to the One Source.

Photo: Lufthansa video #LifeChangingPlaces Lofoten (c)

Normally, this blog is not the place to speak about private topics. But since yesterday (12 February) my wife and I completed a 30 years of marriage cycle – a bit more than a cycle of Saturn – I would like to share some thoughts. Especially since what I am doing towards the outside would never be possible without her support from the background.

We intensely live together but also in “different worlds”, treading our paths each in our own ways. From the very beginning, our relation was oriented to spirituality; however, it also was a training camp for both of us – partnership, children education, bridging the gaps between the different challenges of life.

We decided to marry in Aquarius, not yet knowing much about the astrological significance. However, it was meaningful and quite a shaping experience. Mutual freedom together with trust is a great value for us. For our marriage, I had created a symbol expressing our relation which we used on the invitation and also on the marriage candle.

When we selected the wedding rings, we chose one which was not closed but open – for us, it meant to be open towards greater things, towards the divine. At the open part, there is a pentagram. In the inside there is, besides the date and our names, the symbol you see at the header of the website with my paintings.

Around the time of selecting the rings in 1987

For the marriage, we designed a ceremony ourselves and looked for a priest who was willing to cooperate, and he was. Besides the exchange of the rings, there was a candle ceremony, where we spoke the invocation of the Tibetan, “We are a small light within a greater Light… and thus we stand.” This “thus we stand” was probably the most important for our path. From the candles in the centre, all participants lighted their candles.

Later, the wedding party took place in a nearby restaurant on a mountain, “Mänziwilegg”; it included the drama of my father getting a stroke and intense snow fall in the afternoon…

For our wedding jubilee we wanted to visit again this place. On the web, we saw that the restaurant had been closed for some years but recently re-opened on a smaller scale by the retired owners. Last weekend was a bit turbulent. Our granddaughter Lina (2) was there during three days; she now has learned to move all different things from one place to the other, spreading them all over our apartment. It is a challenge in which my wife is better than me. She said she can well activate the learnings from the education of our two sons and she is good in dealing with “child management”. We nearly had given up the plans to go to the Mänziwilegg but finally decided to go there on Sunday afternoon.

There was rain mixed with snowflakes in the valley but intense snowfall started on the mountain, like 30 years ago. We nevertheless wanted to walk the last kilometre from a parking. Instead of a beautiful view of the Alps, however, it was partly difficult to see the tops of the nearby trees. But we enjoyed it. We felt a bit like arriving at the South Pole when we saw the “closed” sign of the restaurant and laughed that both of us had forgotten the opening hours – Sundays closed.

We carefully drove downhill, bought an ice-cream in a service station shop and celebrated the marriage jubilee with Lina at home, in our “training camp” or “family ashram”.

On the way back from India we had a stop-over for eight hours at Delhi airport. While strolling through the shopping area with my friend, I saw a shop with devotional objects of a higher quality. A red figurine of Hanuman stood out between various white figures. It was well made but I didn’t want to buy anything. The situation was quickly forgotten in the bustle of the return journey.

Some days later I was surprised to find a little package in the mailbox sent by friends I had met in India. The envelope contained a present, a thank-you for some help. I opened the box and found a little red Hanuman statue. It touched me and I felt I had seen it before… I hesitated a moment and then put the figurine on my meditation altar.

It was only next morning that I realised, Oh, it’s the same statue I had seen at Delhi airport. My friends did not take the same return journey, so they must have found the little statue somewhere else… A subtle network of connectedness.

I pondered on the symbolism of Hanuman, a manifestation of the first Logos, of the Cosmic Fire. I have an inner relationship with him, especially since translating the Sripada Srivallabha biography where a chapter deals with Hanuman. I had no external symbol – so he seems to have come to me in this way.

According to the Eastern wisdom teachings, the whole creation is brought forth through an impulse coming from the background of existence. It is described as a light emerging from the “Eye of Shiva”. At the end of one creation, all is again absorbed into this eye of Shiva, the lord of divine will until the next creation is brought forth.

The passage of emergence and mergence is called the point of Aquarius. In the human body, it corresponds to the higher third eye at the top of the forehead. When this “Eye of Shiva” is opened in us, it is like a lightning expressing the divine will and passing through the whole system. This eye can create and destroy; therefore, the knowledge about it cannot be given to the present humanity which is selfishly oriented.

To visualise the first impulse I fused images of ripples on a water surface, of a galaxy and of sunrises. I transformed a photo of a statue of Shiva (Wikimedia: Kachnar City, author Shivam S.) holding a trident with a drum and a mala, symbols of the vibration of sound and of the ether. The serpent around his neck represents the kundalini energy lifted up to the creative planes. From out of his third eye, the impulse of electric fire penetrates all planes of existence.

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 Aquarius paintings.

17 October 2017, pencils and photo work

As a prelude to the Guru Pujas celebration the group went to Simhachalam to visit the temple of Lord Narasimha, the incarnation of the Man-Lion. Like in the previous years, the bus brought us uphill to the temple compound. From a sideway we came to the main entrance and then entered the inner Sanctum Sanctorum where an idol of Narasimha is covered with sandalwood powder forming a lingam. The priest performed a short ritual by chanting some suktams and lighting camphor flames. Then we received scented water and tulsi (holy basil) leaves as a blessings. Afterward we surrounded the temple through the inner court and at the end got a laddu (sweet) as Prasad (blessing). Then most of us took the stairway downhill the beautiful slope, along little temples and statues. There is a magical ambiance of sacred aspiration you perceive when pilgrims ascending the long stairway leading from the plane to the hilltop.

When we arrived in the valley the stream of trucks and tuck-tucks winding through the village brought us back into the “mundane” sphere. We went to our little “dining hall” in the backyard of a house in a side-lane. The cooks from the retreat centre had prepared a good meal for us. Afterwards we went with a bigger group of Western members to the nearby palm forest where we wanted to make “siesta” like in previous years. To our surprise the compound was surrounded by a fence and a farmer chased us away. He showed us a way to a barren field where the full sun was glaring. Most of the group returned. With two friends I went on and after 2-300 meters we found a field with some palm trees – an excellent place to rest.

In the meanwhile the Indian group members had set up the Guru Puja hall and the altar with the pictures of the Masters. It is always astonishing to see how quickly the hall manifests as the beautiful meeting place for the Guru Puja celebrations. It was set up in the forecourt of a pilgrim centre – the chairs and carpets surrounded bushes and trees which became decorations in the hall. On the stage there were the pictures of the great saints and Masters of Spiritual Hierarchy – a very inspiring sight.

Around 5 pm Sri Kumar and his wife opened the yoga conference with a ritual dedicated to Lord Ganesha, an embodiment of the cosmic principle of wisdom. Over the following 3.5 days, there was a series of discourses for about two hours after the morning and evening prayers/meditations. The discourses were held in Telugu and translated into English and from there to German and Spanish, with a live transmission to YouTube. This was the 57^th celebration – it was started in 1962 by Master EK; since 1978 they were held at Simhachalam. About 3-4000 persons take place. It is difficult to imagine how much work it needs to set up the whole structure and to maintain the purity of the place.

Each evening the group of Westerners returned to the retreat centre in Visakhapatnam, where we used to arrive around 10 pm; and each morning we left for Simhachalam around 4.50. Each morning there was a grand ritual: Thursday a fire ritual in honour of the Second Logos; Friday a ritual of the women in honour of the divine mother; Saturday a water ritual in honour of Rudra/Shiva. Afterwards, there were book presentations, blessings of children or other activities.

Friday morning there is always a session on “Spiritual Fusion of East and West”. Together with three other group members from Germany and Spain, I was asked to come onto the podium. Sri Kumar presented the latest WTT publications from Europe and spoke about his tours of last year. Then I was asked to start. I spoke about a Windows (creator) update of my laptop which happened during the December Call in Bangalore and drew parallels to the inner updates we receive by gathering for group lives.

A kitchen was set up for the Western members in the court of a house where we took our meals or partly passed “siesta” time. Besides the meetings I had exchanges with Indian group members and received a number of books.

The time quickly flew by. Yesterday evening there was a closing ceremony of “Guru Padukam” – worship of the feet of the teacher, a profound spiritual symbolism of linking to the divine. The Western members were told not to participate – we would have a meeting with Sri Kumar next morning – and so we returned early in the evening.

Sunday was Pongal/Sankranti, the lunar winter solstice, which is celebrated here as beginning of the year. In the early morning fires were burning in the streets while we went to meditation. The members from Bangalore joined us at Radhamadhavam. After morning prayer Sri Kumar distributed new publications to some of the group members.

Later after breakfast I went with a few members with a taxi to the Planetary Healing Centre outside Visakhapatnam. I love the place very much; however there was a certain decline over the last years. I better understood it after some observations during a talk with the owner of the site who invited us to tea and cookies. Later we went into the beautiful Healing Centre, sang 21 times OM and then did a small ritual in the garden. Afterwards we went to the beach an enjoyed the waves and the sand – a beautiful end of a very beautiful group life. Many group members have already left. Tomorrow at noon time my return journey to cold Switzerland will start.

Last Sunday afternoon Sri Kumar had invited the group to coffee, tea and cakes on the roof platform of his house. There you have a beautiful view over the city and part of the ocean. We took some group photos and enjoyed the sublime array of evening colours of the setting sun.

Next day after Morning Prayer I went with two friends to the nearby beach where some youngsters were already playing cricket. The rising sun was transforming the ocean into a field of golden light from where the waves were running towards the beach. For a while we walked through the wet sand leaving our imprints for some short moments on the beach before the next wave washed them away again. There was a little temple with a statue of Krishna and Radha. The sun reflecting from the waves looked like a radiant halo around the couple.

Afterwards we looked for the flower show where we wanted to buy a plant for as a gift to the Master and his wife. It turned out to be a flower nursery. A man who was watering the flowers told us that it would open a little later. We returned after breakfast. One flower captivated our eyes and we knew that this was the right one. The lady owner came over to put it into a pot and soon we left with the little messenger of the plant kingdom.

Tuesday morning there was the final lecture of the group life. It was full of profound wisdom, rounding up the whole serious of talks:

“If we relate to the great Masters and the Avatars, we relate to their virtues. Relating to the teachings and lives of them is of great virtue. If we do not relate it is a great loss. We relate every morning and afternoon for 1.5 hours. There is a subtle upliftment. That is why we meet again and again to the group livings. The personalities may not seek the meetings but the souls bring you here. When you come to India there are problems to the personality – change of ambience, of food, of place – why does the soul wants it? The soul is related to the will, knowledge and action – Iccha, Gnana and Kriya. Gradually you are relating to the virtues of the incarnations or the teachings. Thus, a transformation happens. Speeches would manifest a magnetic impact. If people do not manifest virtues in their lives their speeches would not manifest a magnetic impact. When some speakers speak we do not feel like listening again and again even if they are speaking with great knowledge. The related magnetic impact would not be there. Unless you practice and utter there is no magnetic impact on others. That is how the seers say, those who live wisdom and follow the laws of Manu and of Jupiter and experience the energies of Neptune and relate to the 16 grades of the Moon, when they have realised themselves they have a magnetic impact. The teachings of Jesus, of Pythagoras, of any great initiate, they inspire through cycles of time. Such speeches enable an upliftment.”

In the afternoon there was the valedictory function – giving thanks to the various helpers and, above all, to Sri Kumar and his wife Smt. Kumari garu. Group members from 9 different countries expressed their gratitude through word, poem and song; then Sri Kumar and his wife presented gifts to every member. After the evening prayer they invited us to a grand dinner served in the ground floor – a beautiful end of this 31^st January group living for members from the West.

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.