On Saturday December 11th, 2010 over 1,000,000 children gathered at Dhammakaya Temple, in Thailand, and sang a song, “Let’s come together to change the world”. At this occasion the children took a pledge to do good deeds and to be virtuous leaders. The gathering was in the context of a project for the moral revival of the world was created and initiated by  Phrarajbhavanavisudh, the abbot of Wat Phradhamakaya. An impressive assembly. A real good will initiative.

For over 3 months I had been publishing the 106 pictures I did from 1981 to 1990, about one picture a day. I restored them from photos, since the originals had nearly all been dissolved in 1997. Artefacts of the scans had to be removed, the faded greyish colours of the photos revived and some other little mistakes corrected. Now they look fine, as good as possible.

I wrote comments for each picture, explaining the symbolism of the painting and sometimes also in which situation it was created. For me the editing was quite an adventure. Many inner pictures rose up; I again saw situations like through a telescope. And with this long distance I could much better put into words what I had expressed 25 to 30 years ago.

I sometimes hesitated before publishing certain images, they still were very close to me, and to unclose them by publishing was like opening inner windows into parts of my life hitherto hidden. The presentations in Flickr and in Facebook reminded me of an Advent calendar with many little doors into subtle worlds.

It was also very nice to see the “likes” in Facebook that “friends” took notice of the pictures; some were regular visitors or gave comments, which was very encouraging. Thank you, also for the mails. A quote from one of the mails a friend from California wrote me: “I tell students we must praise and appreciate everyone’s gifts (which helps everyone evolve) and we must bring forth our gifts into the Light. It takes courage and it takes Love to do this.” And: “Your paintings are an expression of deepest Love & revelation. This is not given as a compliment. Your essence is in the paintings. Thank you for showing them to the world.”

The story of these paintings has now been told and they are “set free to sail to distant horizons”. I think I will soon begin to tell also the story of the new paintings which started in 2009 and reveal a bit of the backgrounds. It is still an ongoing story.

Part of the “Flickr Advent Calendar” with the Early Paintings.

Like most of us you might not have the occasion to climb on Mount Everest. But you can enjoy the magnificent 360 ° panorama view made with photos of the Australian photographer and mountaineer Roderick Mackenzie, who reached the summit on May 24,1989. Here you can read more about how this panorama came to be.

View of Mount Everest as seen from an airplane (Wikipedia)

I would like to share a short personal-impersonal group experience.

Each year when I go to India I order books of the WTT to replenish what has been going out during the previous year with the free book distribution. This year I am traveling along and two days ago the balance of a friend showed that the weight of my exceeded by far the luggage limits.

I listened inside what to do and then informed yesterday morning the group about it. I said, whosoever wants to help taking books and bringing / giving them for May Call in Switzerland in May could come to my room, even if if it is just for one or 2 books. Although all also had full suitcases, many came and took a few books. Now many of the books are traveling different ways and my luggage is again well within the limits… And I feel thankful about this experience.

The theme of the seminar was The Pythagorean Decad – the Cosmic Person in relation to us as the microcosm – I didn’t mention it in the blog, might be too specific of most readers… This morning I had to think of a paper artwork I did autumn 1990. It was about the manifestation of the cosmic person and the macro-micorcosm relation. The work was done with transparent paper glued on the glass of a door and I dissolved it when we left that apartment in April 1992. It shows how from the One the Three come out, then the 5 and man, the microcosm, surrounded by the 5 elements. You can see it as a little visual summary of the seminar. I haven’t published it elsewhere up to now – it’s a primer 🙂

So like the first post on my journey to India started with a painting this last post also concludes with a little work of art. I’ll depart this afternoon and might visit a friend during the stop in Hyderabad.

Yesterday afternoon we were blessed with the visit of the Master of Bhimili, Sivananda Murthi Garu.Normally he comes to give his blessings at every Guru Pooja, since 1972, but this year he could not come. So we were happy to have him with us for a short stay in the retreat centre.

The silent energy of his presence filled the whole room when he entered, and it was very beautiful to witness the two masters together.

I couldn’t follow typing the words he was saying, I just noted a few sentences I give here as a short extract:

“The Jagad Guru (World Tacher) has so many forms, yet one guru, one God, one form. The worship is to every form. We don’t know where we go, from where we have come. But man is not his body, man is not his mind. Jivatman is in the body. Together we are here for a while. We meet in truth. God has to be experienced. Is it my experience? No, we are with God. He is in air, water, earth, fire, ether. Each one of us we should be conscious that we are beyond the body. I have passed through many births and lives. The light shows you the path, that is the Guru. There is no language, no classification. His silence is , he is our father, protector. That is behind, the Sat Guru. Mind is talking too much. Mental silence makes you get out of the noise. Silence is there, we call it pranava, OM. God is not man-made. Think of one Guru in many gurus, one God in many forms. What is not truth is not the light.”

Sri Kumar honouring Sivananda Murthi Garu with a shawl and touching his feet

The Master of Bhimili, Sivananda Murthi Garu

We immediately afterwards left for another beautiful concert with Dr. Balamurali Krishna and his musicians, it was very impressive. Again Sri Kumar led a short meditation before the concert and afterwards honoured the musicians.

This morning Sri Kumar told us some interesting points about what he had said yesterday to the musicians and the public, for all was in Telugu. Again my notes are not complete and might contain mistakes:

“Balamurali was asked to sing some things from the book, but it was not good. That he did 50 years ago. Now he is in a kind of creativity, he is so far away into creativity, you can’t make him do things which are so much back. I spoke to the public, you should learn of such persons to be creative. It is only non-creative minds that go by structures. By 7 years he knew the musical system. He did not learn music in this life, he came back to give music. He is different from those who learn and accomplish. He has accomplished in previous lives and has come back. I also said, he is chosen by music, he did not chose. I also said, there are people who chose wisdom and try to follow, there are some others whom wisdom chooses. He belongs to the second category, not the first. Some people are born, even by birth they have not to learn, they cannot be compared with others.

He once was given 10 minutes time to sing in French (before members of the French government), he went back, looked to the language and music, came back and sung to the astonishment of all. This would be impossible for a normal mind. He was always very humorous, even yesterday. He said, there is a beautiful young lady by my side, I cannot sing. He is a very humorous person, very simple. He always says, I don’t know music, music knows me.

He comes from Andhra Pradesh, he has been given 14 doctorates all over the world, doctorate of letters. It is an honour. Outside India he has many awards, but not here. I said yesterday that no prophet is ever recognised in his native land. Yesterday I spoke of him, he told me he felt happy about what I said. He wants to come to my bureau now at 10 o’clock, so I wait for his phone call.
Our honouring him is nothing for him, it is honouring ourselves. He is above such things.”

At Guru Pooja an Indian friend sent me a newspaper article which I was able to read only now. It was from The Deccan Herald of 23 October 2011 about the Russian artist Svetoslav Roerich (23 Oct. 1904-30 Jan. 1993), the son of the famous mystic and painter Nicholas Roerich and of Helena Roerich, also a profound writer and mystic. Svetoslavand his elder brother George had been born in St. Petersburg, but had been living nearly all of his life in India, mainly in Bangalore where he died 3 February 1993.

The occasion for the article was the close of a long legal fight, a drama over the legacy of the Tataguni estate owned by Roerich’s wife, the late actress Devaki Rani, niece of Rabindranath Tagore. The litigation had started right after Roerichs death and only now came to and end with a decision of the Indian Supreme Court entrusting the State government with the responsibility of maintaining the estate, which contains numerous paintings by Nicholas ans Svetoslav Roerich. However, the paintings have suffered fungal infestation with many of them flaking. Experts are now chemically treating each of these affected paintings, a process that might take over a year.

I was happy to hear about this news, for I love Nicholas Roerich’s paintings very much and have blogged about him already at several occasions. There is a website of the Roerich and Devika Rani Roerich Estate Board, which gives paintings of Svetoslav and Nicholas Roerich – though it hasn’t been updated for years.

I had to think of Nicholas Roerich yesterday evening when two items were distributed to the group which members from the Littoral Group, Santa Fe, Argentina, had brought: A red sign of the Agni Yoga society founded by Roerich and his wife, with the 3 red dots in a circle, and a photo from the highest mountain of the Andes, the Aconcagua, shining in blue like Roerich’s paintings and saying – From the South of the South,with love – thank you Marta!

Newspaper clippings from the Deccan Herald

Wednesday after the morning lecture we had the visit of the famous Indian musician Dr. Mangalapalli Balamurali Krishna (see Wikipedia  – “He is acclaimed as a poet, composer and respected by all Indian classical musicians for his knowledge of Carnatic Music” or google his name for videos and more).

It was a very special encounter. In spite of his high age – nearly 82 – he is full of vital energy and joy. One of his disciples explained a bit about him, he then gave us a short taste of his beautiful dynamic voice.

Sri Kumar presented him to us as the most respected Indian musician of today. We were invited to ask him questions about music, and there was the question about how a traditional musician can be creative, being traditional. He said that like the day is always following the tradition of morning, noon, evening and night and there is all life being expressed in it. Sri Kumar added that life, being original, is always “apurva”, never before, always fresh and new.

We were invited to listen to a concert by Dr. Balamurali Krishna – the first of 3 days of concert in a big hall. Before we had our thanksgiving meeting in the afternoon at the end of an outstanding and fascinating seminar. The group expressed their thanks also in a traditional Indian, but ever new way by presenting clothes to Sri Kumar, Kumari Garu and the Indian members who had done a great job to make our stay so well.

Dorle, who did the German translation, saying some words of thanks – Julieta, who translated into Spanish, followed next.

At 5.15 pm we left with the busses – I was in a real “old-style” Indian bus, with a coconut-offering in the front of the bus and a motor roaring like an old ship engine.

In the bus some ladies were decorating their hair with flower garlands….

And then the ride through the evening traffic began. I enjoyed observing the traffic jam, but wouldn’t have dared to drive myself.

At one crossroad at the red lights I observed the meeting of old and modern India – a lady phoning and a saddhu sitting under a tree in mids of the traffic noise.

Finally arriving at the hall I was lucky to get a seat in the second row – but in the cold wind of air condition – brrr. Nevertheless, I said to myself, observing the huge hall filling, I think, with about 1500 persons.

At first Sri Kumar conducted a short evening meditation. Then Dr. Balamurali Krishna and the musicians were given a warm welcome and the concert began.

The singer was presented with the words that in his early childhood he was celebrated as a child prodigy and that now he is an ageless prodigy – and this he really is. I very much enjoyed observing him on the screen, where you could see his face bubbling with joy, while his voice produced sounds of an incredible lightness and variety, and the musicians adding to the splendour.They were playing raga compositions he had done himself. There was a flute player without, whose whistling was a real art, sounding like a piccolo flute. And a mouth-harp player creating sounds like an electronic percussion. The vina player and the two percussionists also were very impressive.

I liked one story told about the musician: In 1975 or so he gave a concert in Kerala. Suddenly while performing in the open air a little girl came onto the stage and sat on his lap. He immediately started to compose a song about this encounter – which he was singing to us. After the song was over, the girl stood up and disappeared into the crowd. Nobody knew who she was and she couldn’t be found again.

This morning, Thursday, we first had a fire ritual, later followed by a question-answer series, before at 11 o’clock 2 of the musicians came into our retreat centre – the whistler and the mouth-harp player (an Indian friend wrote to me that it is called morsing). Together with a young Indian brother who is a well-known percussionist, they explained to us their art and gave us a beautiful short concert in the lecture hall. In the evening we will go to the second recital  –  while already a number of group members are leaving. I’ll be departing tomorrow afternoon.

Playing flute without a flute

Monday morning the area was full of fog, when we went to the house of the head of the temple for morning meditation. Afterward my program was over – while the others went to visit the temple again and later a Hanuman temple, I went to bed – with “Indian intense intestine cleaning program through all channels” and sleeping till the moment of departure. And then 7.5hs bus ride, doped with allopathic medicine and looking like a ghost… I was very happy when the bus ride was over – but the group took very well care of me. Of course, I wasn’t the only one being treated by the “inside washing”.

Crossing the Godavari river bridge at Rajahmundry on the way back in the evening

We arrived past 10 – a quick jump into bed and up again early next morning. This morning, Tuesday, we had the final lecture by Sri Kumar followed by a first question-answer session. Again very intense – and though the look into the calendar says that the end is quickly approaching, I can’t “believe” it, the time is running so fast.

In the afternoon the busses brought us to the Daspalla hotel for a conference organised by the WTT and the Circle of Good Will India. Besides our group and members of WTT India there were a number of guest like the mayor of Visakhapatnam, the head of police and of another department the name I have forgotten. And quite some media people taking photos of the speakers and us. An Indian brother had told us before that normally they don’t invite the media, but they wanted to inform the public that the work the WTT is doing is beyond being a “Homoeo dispensary organisation” as they are perceived in the public.

First we had our evening meditation, then the conference started. The theme of the talks was Spiritual Fusion of East and West. Sri Kumar gave the introductory note. I liked very much how he spoke about the foundation of the World Teacher Trust by the establishment of Spiritual Hierarchy at the transition from Dwapara to Kali Yuga, the dark age in which we are living now. Some extracts from my notes, not literally:

“The World Teacher means Jagad Guru. We worship him in every person as the 2nd Logos or Vishnu who presides over the creation and who establishes and protects the law and order. The divine energy functions and expresses through the outstanding persons who contribute to the well-being of society serving the fellow beings and helping them to uplift society… The World Teacher is a principle available to those who seek from the Divine the ability to serve society better… The key is not to seek for you but for others. Many politicians were guided by Lord Maitreya and the invisible government.

He explained how Maitreya was a disciple of Parasara and how Krishna installed him at the time of his passing as the world teacher for this dark age, how he had learned before to live in several bodies at a time and continue living. This is mentioned at several places in the Puranas, but the Indians in general haven’t realised the role and importance of Lord Maitreya and the group of Masters he formed for this work, they have focused more on worshipping Krishna than on understanding the work Maitreya does. He is the teacher for the entire humanity and not the east or west. It is an all-inclusive path and not a path of sectarianism or exclusion. Each one can relate to him, the one cosmic energy, through prayer and meditation. “I could meet many truth seekers that seek the truth beyond religion. There is not religion higher than Truth”, as theosophy says.

Afterwards there were talks by 6 members of the group from the 6 countries present at the group living, speaking about their experience with the teachings in their lives. And then the two guests of honour. It was impressive to observe the different characters expressing.

Afterwards an excellent dinner was served – and I had to pay attention to my diet…

The group before the start of the conference

After dinner talks

ads through forests and tiny villages – we were quite away from civilisation. Suddenly I saw some temple towers in the wilderness, then some houses, and then a new big guest-house building where our busses stopped.

Where are we, we asked ourselves. What kind of a temple is it? We got nice big rooms, took a shower, then went with the busses to the temple compound.

At the beginning of the compound we left the busses. We saw a huge statue which we didn’t know. Later I heard it is representing Annamacharya, a singer-initiated who lived about 500 years ago and inspires many people even today.

We entered the temple through a huge gate and went around the inner temple.

The name of the temple is Dwaraka Tirumala, but I still had no idea what it was all about. We could read nothing, only Telugu letters. I followed closely Sri Kumar and Kumari and had the good luck to go with him into the innermost part of the temple. Two Vedic priest conducted a ritual and Sri Kumar was being honoured. We received flowers and sweets, then we went to a little side-shrine in the inner, where a mother goddess was standing, and then to another little shrine with another mother goddess. Some meters away Sri Kumar sat on the floor. There was a carpet and I sat there directly in front.

Then the Vedic priests came, offered him a seat, decorated him with a pink shawl and started reciting. Different priest sang in different modes.

Then they showered rice over him and also spread rice over us. We received a laddu, an Indian sweet. Then Sri Kumar started to talk, explaining what we had been witnessing, but not understanding

He said that in India, there are 4 most energetic spots, and we are at one of them. One is in the north, one in the south, one in the east, and this one is in the west. 5.500 years ago, after the departure of Lord Krishna, a sage went from Dwaraka, where Lord Krishna lived at the east coast of India, to this area to meditate. After intense worship he realised in himself the cosmic person in his upper 4 centres, the sahasrara, the ajna, the heart and the solar plexus centre – and as a sign of his realisation there was a stone statue of the Lord manifesting from out of the earth, but also only part of the four upper centres. After his realisation he went away from this place, not telling anyone of the place. But a king in the area had a dream where he saw all that had happened. He ordered his soldiers to seek everywhere in this forest area to find the manifested statue, and he explained where he had seen it in his dream. They found it after 4 days of search and were thrilled. The king had another dream where the Lord told him to construct a temple there. Since the feet are worshipped as the expression of the divine, but there were no feet at this statue, they made a stone statue of the same kind as the manifested statue and put it behind the smaller statue. The one of the forms of the Divine Mother represents Bhur-Devi, the gross matter, the other Sri Devi, the subtle nature. This is what we had seen in the innermost of the temple, but not understood.

Sri Kumar continued saying that the priests are continuously magnetising the place by singing mantrams and hymns, and we had listened to short extracts of the four vedas. There are many marriages conducted at this place, often 100 a day, and they are said to be very stable. The Lord worshipped at this place is Lord Venkateshvara, like in Tirupati, and it has the same energy as the place of the Lord of the 7 Hills. The head of the temple had organised the hounouring of Sri Kumar and gave him 2 new DVDs about the temple and everybody received a little commemorative shield with an image of the Lord in the two forms.

We were all very touched by the holy vibrations of the place and the auspicious ritual we participated in. Tomorrow morning we will be again at the temple for morning meditation.

In the dormitory there was a sprightly mood, with some Argentineans making music and the youngsters playing card.

After breakfast we started a little barefooted tour to see two temples in the surroundings. The first was a huge temple of the Hare Krishna-movement. Of course there was again “photography prohibited”, but I remembered well that Krishna didn’t obey to what his step-mother wanted him to do nor did he follow imposed rules – so I prefered to follow him and tooks some nice pics.

There is a bridge-walk around the temple with 10 little shrines with statues of the 10 avatars.

Inside the temple.

There were a black statue of Krishna and a white one of Radha as well as three figures of Krishna, his brother Balarama and his sister Subhadra. Whereas Krishna (meaning black) stands for the background of creation, Balarama symbolises time and Subhadra the existence protected by the two others, as Navanetam explained.

Some people of the temple then started explaining about the Iskon-Society, the Hare-Krishna movement and distributed a booklet about their mission, which I discretely put back on a chair and went down to take some pics of the beautiful lotuses in a little pond.

We went through a little park with statues of avataras of Vishnu, had a look into the devotional objects store and then continued to the next temple. It was very different – grey colours with black and grey ornaments – a temple of Lord Subramanyam, a son of Lord Shiva representing Mars. There was a huge copper pillar in front of the temple, the metal of Mars.

In a side-shrine there was a black Ganesha and in the main shrine there was a statue of Subramanyam all in gold and silver. Navaneetam said they used several kilos of gold and silver, symbolising the solar and lunar energies, to manifest a powerful energy for the statue. I loved the sober, focused energy, which had nothing emotional. There was a fire place and they were giving us some vibhuti – holy ash – as a blessing.

The priest conducting a little ritual with camphor

A triangular mirror reflecting the shrine

The group sitting in front of the shrine

There was a beautiful view from the terrace of the temple over the Godavari river over to the long bridge of Rajahmundry.

We then returned to the WTT centre for breakfast and a little pause. At 3.30 pm we will leave the centre to spend the night at a temple 2.5 hs away from here.

The WTT building in Rajahmundry