12 August is the 181st birthday of Helena P. Blavatsky and a good occasion to write some lines, especially about my experiences with her opus magnum.

It took a long time for the Secret Doctrine to get into my life. It must have been around the end of 1973 that for the first time I saw the volumes on the bookshelf of an acquaintance who for two decades played a strange role in my life. He told me that they contain very profound wisdom, but it is difficult to unlock. With a frisson of awe and at the same time a sceptical distance I looked at the books. Over the years I saw them again each time I met this peculiar friend. In 1982 he tried to “initiate” me into secrets of the teachings, but I refused – the time wasn’t ripe yet.

In 1986 I started teaching languages in a Rudolf Steiner school, and there were annual Christmas bazaars. At the bazaar there was an antiquarian bookshop, and there I saw again the black volumes – 6 big books including the index. I wanted to buy them, but didn’t dare – I didn’t want that the other teachers in the school knew about my interest. Next year, the books were still there, and again I didn’t dare. The same the following year.

In 1989 my mother-in-law was also at the bazaar, and I asked her if she could buy the books for me, which she did. So I got “my” volumes, put them on the bookshelf – but still couldn’t start reading. I had read about the importance of these teachings in the books of Alice Bailey – but they kept closed. I read great amounts of other books, I felt the thrill of these black volumes which I sometimes opened, but still I couldn’t start reading them.

In the beginning of the 90ies finally the time approached. I set up a daily discipline of reading 2 pages and making synopses which I later typed down. In about 2.5 years I had finished reading them, had tried to understand what I had read, but many things I didn’t get. I read my abstracts, got a vague idea of the topics. In the later 90ies I set out for a second march through the books, with the same method – and a little more understanding grew.

Around 1994 I read a number of biographies about H.P.B. and thought, some movie director should make a film about this extraordinary women. I wrote an article about her life and send it to two film makers, but without any reply. Later, in 2005, I made a little booklet from this script – “H.P.B. – Trailblazer for the Aquarian Age” and put it online. In 1995 I was at a spiritual conference in Santa Fe and saw there the biography of H.P.B. by Sylvia Cranston, which just had appeared, and “devoured” it. With the time I discovered there were more and more materials online. But at the same time a lot of “dust” and delusion.

On June 27th, 2004, at a meeting of the Executive Board of WTT-Global (at that time WTT-Europe), Sri Kumar gave us some hints how to study Secret Doctrine in a group. He recommended:
–    Start studying the “Laws” given in Secret Doctrine, the law of alternation, periodicity, time cycles….
–    Then study the Races / Root Races
–    Then the Manus
–    Then the Globe Chains
–    Then read “Anthropogenesis”, till the end of the book
–    Then “Cosmogenesis”
Thus you will have a sound foundation of the Secret Doctrine.

In our local group we started reading like this, everything about the laws, the races, and then decided to go through “Anthropogenesis” – where we still are. We meet every Sunday and read, after morning meditation and a short fire ritual, just for 30-40 minutes. Slowly a deeper understanding dawns. I read the books in English, the others in German – and sometimes we see that the translation was unclear or even irritating. Though it seems to be “a long march” the three of us who come together want to stick to it. And I read some pages every Saturday morning in the 3rd volume published by A. Besant, which isn’t counted among the “orthodox” 2 volumes.

It was fascinating for me when in January 2005 Sri Kumar gave a 2 weeks’ seminar about the Secret Doctrine, and I often came back to my notes. It was a grand panorama and a deep explanation of the interrelations.

I have gone through so many books in my life, studied so many eastern and western philosophies, but there isn’t any book which has left such a lasting imprint, though I don’t dare to say that I have fathomed the depths of the teachings.

I have seen that there are now videos and presentations on YouTube about her life. For me, however, it is more an inner “film” which stirred me and gave keys to a deeper understanding.

The black (German) and white (English) books in the bookshelf

Video: Who are you Madam Blavatsky?

A fantastic video with symphonic music and scenes of unleashed powers of the elements – earth, water, fire, air – awe-inspiring. Have a look into the centre of a hurricane!

There is a most beautiful powerspot on earth at the border between Argentina and Brazil, the Iguazu Waterfalls, one of the biggest of the world. At the centre of the falls there is an ashram in the subtle spheres – and you can feel the radiation of this sublime center. I had the good luck of having been twice at this magnificent place, at seminars of Sri Kumar in 2001 and 2008.

A  good friend of mine, Omar Nahúm Sheikha, has now just launched the project of the “Iguazu Universal Peace Center” – IUPEACENTER. Its purpose it to consider Iguazu Waterfalls and their surrounding environment as a location for the individual and group reflection, prayer for, and meditation on Universal Peace. Its motto is: Consciousness, Peace, and Prosperity.

In the presentation of the project which has been done on 3 August 2012 it says:

“IUPEACENTER is a kind invitation and a loving call of conscience to let oneself become inspired, interpenetrated, magnetized, and stimulated by these supreme qualities being permanently present in the expression of Iguazu Waterfalls, so as to progress from ‘one’s passive admiration’ to ‘one’s active and constructive integration’ with this universal energy center, allowing Iguazu Waterfalls to elevate us and transform us positively, such as the water falling through them goes raised and subtilized from the liquid state to the gaseous in an explosion of Pulsation, Vibration, Sound, Magnetism, Balance, Order, Harmony, Beauty, Power, Abundance, Prosperity, Universality, and Synthesis….
What IUPEACENTER is not:
IUPEACENTER is no political, religious, institutional, ideological, commercial, tourist, or business initiative or project.”

And in his last mail Omar added the words: “May your heart pulsate in unison with IUPEACENTER.”

The symbol of IUPEACENTER is an electric violet dot around which there lies an equidistant circle in the same color. You can read more about this symbol and the idea of the IUPEACE project here in English or in Spanish.

If you like to have a virtual walk around the Iguazu Waterfalls, please see this fantastic  Panorama presentation.

The Iguazu Falls. The centre of the etheric ashram is around the rock in the middle of the picture.

On 4 August is Master CVVs birthday. 1868, 144 years ago (12 x 12; in Indian counting the 144 years were completed already last year), he took birth in the South Indian city of Kumbhakonam.

His purpose was to transmit the Aquarian energies to the planet and to the beings living on it. He was the carrier of these energies of synthesis which were supposed by theosophists to come through a young man whom in the beginning of the last century they had prepared for this reception – the later J. Krishnamurti – but the energy took another way and manifested unnoticed by those who had done their own plannings. Many thought that the whole was a funny story of the theosophists – which caused many to leave the path or turn to other movements -, but it was only another way things developed.

When I first came to know of Master CVV in the 80ies I felt strangely “hit” by his energies, but it took a number of years before there was the second impulse: In 1996 when reading the book “The Aquarian Master” – it was for me like a clap of thunder. I felt more and more attracted by the profound energy he transmitted. When in January 201o I came to his birthplace, where, together with Sri Kumar (Master KPK), we had a group meeting with about 200 persons, the intense meditations there were for me a tremendous experience which left a deep mark in my life.

Master CVV was born under the sun sign Leo, the sign of the heart centre. During the seminar on Agni in 1991 Master KPK pointed out the importance of the mission of Master CVV in relation to the heart centre. Please find below some lines from that lecture.

“There is an internal journey that will be conducted through heart lotus. That is why it is said: ‘Heart is the gateway for the interior and exterior understanding’ – The meeting of the inner man and the outer man is in the heart centre. Hence the importance of working with the heart lotus. And it has such syllabus as covering the four triangles to meet the light, to develop the body which we call ‘the body of light’. And the Master whom we call Master CVV, He started pushing light from that centre into the petals, because in the scheme of the divine plan, time has come where humanity needed to be evolved rather quickly. And hence, He started emitting the Ray of Uranium from the heart lotus. So, when there is the invocation of the sound CVV, there is the piercing light of Uranium functioning from within the heart lotus which is a quality of the planet Uranus. And as this light shines forth into the lotus of the heart, there is the unfolding of the lotus quickly. That is why events happen very quickly in the personality life of the people.

And as many brothers and sisters expressed here in the beginning of the class, invariably everyone expressed that there is so much change ever since the last group meeting or the meeting before the last group meeting. And if we listen to the cassette which is recorded when they were speaking, many people said: “Many things changed in my life!” And the others said: “Everything changed in my life!” It is the stimulation of the Aquarian energy from within the heart lotus that makes it possible. That is what is called ‘the Mission of the Master CVV’ which you all can receive and then work with it. I told you yesterday that a flower cannot be opened from outside. Until there is an effort from within, there cannot be much cooperation coming from external sources. I also told that more often, if we try to open the petals of the flower from outside, the petals break. Even a high initiate like Madam Blavatsky has written that there is an eternal law where unfolding cannot be done from external support, unless there is an impulse from within to unfold. The outer is ready to help us, but the inner is not ready to receive the help. So, with much love, compassion and understanding, the Sons of Light have been waiting all through.

Then came a brilliant new law. Why not we work from within outside? And that law descended upon the planet, and that energy linked up the Cosmic Kundalini with the Earth Kundalini, and consequently the new energies started functioning from within outside with a new impulse. This is the extra dimension which the planet and the planetary beings are witnessing in this century. And hence, the speed of functioning and the progress achieved! In respect of all kingdoms, there is very speedy evolution. The speedy evolution is there with metal, with plant, with animal and with human beings. All this is attributed to the visit of the new energy. And what is witnessed by the man of the 20th century was not witnessed in the previous ten centuries. To scope up with the speed, man is also prepared from within.”

Receiving the energies of synthesis – a painting I did in 2011

Here are two beautiful documentaries of BBB. The first is about about the magnificent nature of the Himalayas, the land of the Gods.

The second is about the sacred river Ganga or Ganges, flowing down from the Himalayas. There is a beautiful story of the descent of the Goddess Ganga told by Sri Kumar, which I have given elsewhere in the blog. Enjoy.

The picture for the month of Leo discloses itself intuitively to the observer, but some words might help for a better understanding.

The wisdom teachings tell us that the sun we see is just the physical appearance of the soul of the sun, called the heart of the sun. And this one is hiding the central spiritual sun. Our sun is an inlet gate for the higher planes. In us the physical heart corresponds to the physical sun. It is the seat of the pulsating principle of life, the sound of which is also called the roar of the lion. So you see in the picture the radiating lion in the centre of the lotus.

When we listen to the sound of pulsation and fall into its rhythm, the mind comes to rest and we slowly get uplifted out of personality to unite with the ajna centre on the forehead, the heart of the sun. This is depicted as a huge flower like a sunflower with a pulsating heart in the centre. The spiritual sun corresponds to our head centre, the sahasrara, where the spark of the eternal light rests in the centre – the jewel in the lotus. This is represented as a sun globe opening its petals into space.

In the background you see the window of a cathedral. I constructed it from out of three cathedral windows and transformed the colours into fiery golden yellow. It represents the inner subjective side, the holy space within us, which opens up and allows the fusion of the different planes of light to happen.

You can download the high-resolution version from the Good-Will website.

A great flashmob concert in Sabadell, Spain, with the Ode to Joy. The video description says:
“On the 130th anniversary of the founding of Banco Sabadell we wanted to pay homage to our city by means of the campaign “Som Sabadell” (We are Sabadell) . This is the flashmob that we arranged as a final culmination with the participation of 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l’Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs.” Enjoy.

Although the time of midsummer-night dreams is already over with the sun entering Leo today, the enchanted pictures of Phil McDarby will carry you off into fairyland. In his sublime images Phil combines photos with digital art. His painstaking paintings are magic worlds with minutest details – see the fantastic Greenspindle fairies – incredible. A number of his paintings were at an exposition at The Copper House in Dublin.

Phil McDarby: An Encounter at Greenspindle, 2011 (c)

BBC has done a beautiful documentary about the important events of Buddha’s life, interspersed with some interviews. There is a good quote of Buddha at the description of the film:

Do not believe in something because you are told to.
Do not believe in something because a holy person said it.
Do not believe in something because you read it from a book.
Follow and practice the teaching without prejudice.
If it brings happiness to you and others and does not
encourage self harm or harm to others then follow it.

A worthy topic for the 1000th blogpost of Flowers on the Wayside:

USA Postage has published a series of 7 stamps with pictures of Hindu gods. These spiritual designs are targeted to the Indian community in the United States, which makes up 1% of the total population. For the first time, USA postage depicts Sri Krishna, Shiva-Parvati, Sai Baba, Murugan, Lord Venkateshwara, Vinayaka and Lakshmi on beautiful 20-stamp commemorative sheets.

By the way: I started blogging on 31st March 2006 – at it still gives me joy posting about all the many flowers I find along the wayside.

Stamps of USA Postage