Flying to India in January is always a very special experience for me. Starting with the train, ther had been fresh snow outside, after a night of storm. In the train I try to observe who will be traveling to Zurich airport like me. There was a young lady opposite me whom I later met in the airport restaurant and later at checkin to Dubai – we smiled to each other.

Entering my “flying caravel” heading to India

In Dubai I was looking out to fellow travelers to Visakhapatnam, but there was none, neither in Hyderabad. But while I was reading infront of the checkin a thrilling book, “Odonate“, by Julie Oxford (she sent it to me as a gift in December), on how she came into contact with theosophy and the Masters of Wisdom and also the World Teacher Trust (I was thrilled to see that when telling about her discovery of WTT she just took from the WTT website several point I found most thrilling when I did the site 5 years ago…), suddenly an Indian came to me and asked me, “Are you going to the Guru Poojas of World Teacher Trust? I will be there, too.”, I smiled and replied “Yes”. I knew I was being guided well. Outside the temperature had changed to 35 ° C- a bit warmer than at home. (I later heard that this year January is hot as never since long…

In Visakh Murthy was already waiting for me with a taxi – a great service. We tried to pick up another friend, but she wasn’t on her flyer.

And then the arrival at the retreat centre. So many “hallo’s” and “NIce to meet you again”. This year there will be more people than in the previous years, about 115, mostly from Argentina, but also many from Spain. The retreat centre being much to small for all of us, a number had to stay in a nearby hotel and in appartments at the sea. I thought I would “camp” in the hall, but I got a small single room in the 4th floor – how happy I was. And on the table there was a nice orange tableclothwith golden embroderies – and the beautiful spiritual symbol of Lord Venkateshvara – I really felt blessed. After such a stressful time having come “home”, tears shot into my eyes, I was deeply moved.

The symbol of Lord Venkateshvara reminds me much of a theme I used in my paintings in the 80ies.

In the evening Sri Kumar came to guide the evening prayer. Afterwards he just greeted us saying: “I wlecome you all to a very enlightening group life.” We then had a small gathering with him, just a few members from the national groups. Sri Kumar said, “The groups really inspired by spiritual hierarchy just have minimum outer structures, there is inner growth and just the minimum growth inthe outer. We are also nearly not known here in Visakh, the work is more done in silence. We don’t have big structures to accomodate people, we donb’t have an ashram. We rent the locations for Guru Poojas. Nobody knows how much the movements grows, it is mostly in the homes of the people, not in any outside structures where the eyes of the public, the govrnment and politicians fall upon. We believe in inner growth and not much in outer. It is the same with our groups. ” (notes by memory)

Tomorrow many more people will arrive. I’m tired but happy to be here.

(I didn’t have internet connection yesterday, so this post had to wait a bit. For want of time I don’t answer for the moment all the mails I get….)

In half an hour my son will bring me to the station – the journey to India begins. This afternoon I’ll fly from Zurich via Dubai/Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam to attend the seminar and Guru Pooja celebration of the World Teacher Trust (WTT). It’s my 13th journey to Visakh and the 17th to India, but each time it is a little adventure.

Yesterday a Swiss friend skyped me from Visakh and told me that because of the scarceness of rooms in the Retreat Centre I will be “camping” in a hall. OK, I thought, better to be there than to stay outside. There are more people coming this year than the other years, mainly from Argentina – I saw the lists of participants and look forward to meet a number of old friends. I’ll try to blog a bit about the journey.

I’m really looking forward to this journey – very turbulent and challenging weeks at my office kept me on high speed the last months, with a climx in December. 2 days ago I talked with our director and he understands the difficulties – we will deal with them in February. Directly after my return. I will have a talk with him and my superior to see how we can find a solution. So for the moment the job has a little pause and I’ll take off…

The last weeks I enjoyed digitally restoring my old paintings from the 80ies – fruits of an intense inner experience in 1981. Every day, also this morning, I had been publishing a picture with some lines of comment. There will be a bit over 100 paintings, 70 have been published on Flickr and about 35 are still waiting. I wonder whether I will find time to continue my project in India.

Here is one I did in August 1987 – “Spiritual Hierarchy VI – The Ascent”. You can read my comment on Flickr, if you like – and also post a comment, or on my Facebook profile. Enjoy

A video with the sublime sounds of Tibetan Singing Bowls (48 min.). Sit down and relax.

An Indian friend sent me the following nice story:

A man was sitting by a lake. He was throwing small pebbles into it from time to time. A young boy happened to cross by. He was intrigued to see that after every few minutes or so, the man would toss a pebble into the lake.

The boy went up to the man and said, “Good pastime, this stone throwing, he?” “Hmmm,” said the man. He seemed to be deep in thought and obviously did not wish to be disturbed.

Sometime later, the man said softly, “Look at the water, it is absolutely still.”

The boy said, “Yeah, it is.”

The man tossed a pebble into the water and continued, “Only till I toss a pebble into it now do you see the ripples?”

“Yeah,” said the boy, “they spread further and further.”

“And soon, the water is still again,” offered the man.

The boy said, “Sure, it becomes quiet, after a while.”

The man continued, “What if we want to stop the ripples? The root cause of the ripples is the stone. Let’s take the stone out. Go ahead and look for it.” The boy put his hand into the water and tried to take the stone out.

But he only succeeded in making more ripples. He was able to take the stone out, but the number of ripples that were made in the process were a lot more than before.

The wise man said, “It is not possible to stop the movement of the water once a pebble has been thrown into it. But if we can stop ourselves from throwing the pebble in the first place, the ripples can be avoided altogether! So too, it is with our minds. If a thought enters into it, it creates ripples. The only way to save the mind from getting disturbed is to block and ban the entry of every superfluous thought that could be a potential cause for disturbance. If a disturbance has entered into the mind, it will take its own time to die down. Too many conflicting thoughts just cause more and more disturbances. Once the disturbance has been caused it takes time to ebb out. Even trying to forcibly remove the thought may further increase the turmoil in the mind. Time surely is a great healer, but prevention is always better than cure.”

Before you allow a thought or a piece of information to enter your mind, put it through the triple filter test of authenticity, goodness and value.

At a little nearby river, spring 2008

A friend sent me the link to this impressive video about good will: “Change For A Dollar“, by Sharon Wright (see also here). The description of this price-winning short film says:

“Is he asking for Change, or is he asking for CHANGE?” Follow a man as he affects multiple peoples’ lives with just one dollar, proving that it doesn’t take much to be the change in someone’s life.

And Sharon Wright writes: “If you enjoyed this film, please help me make my next one! Click the link below and donate a dollar. Let’s keep making films that inspire the world!” So here is the link.

There are parallels to the video: “Life Vest Inside – Kindness Boomerang – “One Day””.

Two days ago I took the train to North Germany to visit my brother and sisters over Christmas. One year had passed since my last visit, I was looking forward to meet them again.

I’m always observing the changes in atmosphere when passing over the border or when coming to other areas. Often you notice quite a sudden change of ambiance, and so it was also this time.

Though I hadn’t experienced it very consciously, I remember very well that the region where I grew up had a heavy, dense atmosphere – not just because the town is an industrial area at the periphery of the Ruhr area, but also that there is some feeling of gravity over the countryside. At times it had been suffocating for me.

In Dortmund I had to wait half an hour on the platform to catch the connecting train. I observed the faces and the energy fields of the passengers around. Again this feeling of density and gravity so well known was there in the air. It grew even stronger when I entered the regional “Westfalen Express” train. I just could get a standing place in the crowded entrance. The physiognomies were quite familiar to me, though I hadn’t been there with a train for years.

At my hometown my sister was already standing on the platform. Yes, there it was again, this feeling of my youth, gray and heavy. I breathed in the air. We entered her car and she drove me via the bypass road around the city. Strange but at the same time very familiar.

Yesterday morning my old friend came to pick me up for a walk. Since many years we meet around Christmas to exchange about what had been going on and which inner processes we are in. I love these talks. He is a very sensitive person, in a responsible professional position as a professor of literature.

I told him about my feelings when coming here, and he said that they are very familiar to him, too. His youngest child, a son of 12, is suffering from his classmates mobbing him, and he is struggling his way through school – very intelligent, but little motivated.

We talked on the difficult paths of the souls through their lives and the intense training we ourselves had gone through. It needs a special steadfastness not to be driven away or to get drowned in the currents of time. My friend had grown strong with the years, having found his expression through the writing of books.

I had a phone-call with a desperate woman stating that she feels her life had been destroyed the last years. I listened, tried to hold her a bit. Another phone call with my eldest sister who has to pass Christmas in hospital because of a broken ankle which got surgery 2 days ago. But out of the sojourn in hospital there arose interesting encounters and a time for relaxation. And other talks I had showed me, how, in spite of the difficult times many people take up the challenges of life and grow through them, using the difficulties as steps of experience.

Impressions from the walk yesterday afternoon: Light and Darkness meeting.

An incredible shadow play presentation form Calcutta – “Let Calcutta Surprise You”:

An Indian friend forwarded me an e-mail from his doctor-friend who introduced a beautiful video with a hymn by Adi Shankara:

“Both the videos are similar. Please insert the name of the God that you worship in place of “Shiva” at the end of each stanza. Adi Shankara believed in no caste or religion. His God was himself (Shiva), who is none other than the God you and I worship. Call Him by any name that you want to. For those who do not understand Sanskrit, the meaning is given in English.
I find it very enchanting and beautiful. Thanks, Anand.

The introduction to the video says:
“The great Adi Shankara of the eighth century summarized the entirety of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualistic philosophy) in six stanzas. When a young boy of eight, while wandering in the Himalayas, seeking to find his guru, he encountered a sage who asked him, “Who are you?” the boy answered with these stanzas, which are known as “Nirvana Shatakam” or “Atma Shatakam.” “Nirvana” is complete equanimity, peace, tranquility, freedom and joy. “Atma” is the True Self. The sage the boy was talking to was Swami Govindapada Acharya, who was, indeed, the teacher he was looking for.”
These few verses can be of tremendous value to progress in contemplation practices that lead to Self-Realization.”

Every year we publish from WTT-Global an Astrological Diary running from Aries to Pisces. I just published the information about ordering the diary 2012/13. It is helpful if you want to work with the subtle rhythms of time and use the constellations for meditation – a fascinating inner work.

It is quite an intense work to prepare the diary with all the daily ephemeris and indications. I did it once some years ago – it needs a lot of concentration… The Astro-Diary is published at cost price just in a small number for those who order it. You find more information here. Orders are possible till Dec. 14th.

For interested persons who cannot afford the print version we will also make it available in PDF form. The monthly important dates – not the daily ephemeris – can also be found here.

A page of the calendar:

A friend teaching in Oregon, at Bastyr University, wrote me today:

It is my lot to be teaching World Religion starting in January. In preparations for this class I came across a rare group of interfaith friends and colleagues. They call themselves the “Interfaith Amigos.” This might interest our group members as well (they have a YouTube site).”

Their website presents the Interfaith Amigos with the following words:
“Known for their unique blend of spiritual wisdom and humor, Imam Jamal Rahman, Pastor Don Mackenzie and Rabbi Ted Falcon openly address the usual taboos of interfaith dialogue — the “awkward” parts of each tradition — in order to create a more authentic conversation.”

And they ask: “With so much divisiveness splintering our world, how do we Get to the Heart of Interfaith?” And one of the interfaith amigos, Imam Jamal Rahman, answers: “As the Prophet Muhammed said, we need to move from ‘knowledge of the tongue’ to ‘knowledge of the heart.'” – Perfectly true.

Here is a video from TEDxDU