(I now inserted the pictures to my last blog-post from Doha. I still could not get to my e-mails; the mailings from the seminar will go out later, from Vizag.)
Sunday evening the shuttle bus of the hotel in Doha brought is to the airport. Check-in, boarding, a few hours in the air and then landing in Bangalore around 2.40 am – and the smell of India came back.
At the exit of the hotel 2 group members were waiting for us with a taxi. A short stop in the hotel to put off the luggage and change clothes, then we went to Tapovana, the beautiful colony of WTT-members with the assembly hall, the “Wisdom Temple”, where the celebrations of December Call (29 December) were going on. We just arrived on the main day. Mantric chantings were filling the air when we approached the hall. We slipped in and joined.
Morning prayer, water ritual, lecture, breakfast… It was a day passed in some kind of a trance state – not having slept the whole night but now during the day, I was changing between moments of wakefulness and short naps, which interrupted my listening to inspiring talks of Sri Kumar or the silent moments of meditation
Besides the seminar, the group living was filled with encounters and exchanges. Here receiving some new books, there hearing news from friends from all over the world who had come to the celebration, or just the joy of meeting other known and unknown faces. Many stories could be told here, about adventures of friends or little surprising events happening in the ambiance charged with spiritual energies. It was an extremely intense day.
One special moment: In the afternoon, Siva Shankar, the brother of Sri Kumar came to me. I was happy to see him again for he had gone through a very long time of transformation through a prolonged disease. He told me if I could release a book mark he had got printed in Visakhapatnam but didn’t want to release in the assembly hall. I smiled and said, yes. He replied, “Master Ludger is now releasing the bookmark”. I answered, “Yes, we are all Masters in the making.” I unpacked the bookmarks while he got an Indian standing nearby to take some photos and I showed the bookmarks to the camera.
There was a saying on the bookmark, “It is better to have prayer without praying hall than have a praying hall without prayer” and then “Funlawn Master, Master FM”. I said, “Oh, the Master who is making jokes on the meadow”. He replied, “Yes, I have written sayings from Masters from A to Z.” – “Oh, so there is also a “Tea Master?” – “Yes, Torturing Master or Teasing – the Master is very often teasing you.” He bubbled with joy – and I very much enjoyed his humor. He gave me a number of these bookmarks to distribute them to all Western members present. I did it with much joy, explaining the “occult work” of the Funlawn Master. For some people it took a moment to understand the story….
A short night in the hotel with about 4 hs sleep followed, getting up again around 3.30 am. Around 5 am we were back at Tapovana. The pathway through the rows of houses to the hall was beautifully lighted with blue and green garlands between the trees. About 400 people had assembled in the hall. The day started with a ritual to Lord Ganesha, followed by different hymns and the morning meditation. Afterwards Master Kumar started his morning talk introducing a questions-answer session closing the celebrations. Though it was difficult for me to follow acoustically it was a beautiful ambiance.
While some members from Europe and various Indian groups started their ways home, I used the time for talking with friends, taking pictures or writing notes. Since I couldn’t get an internet connection I prepared these notes offline.
Tomorrow, the last day of 2014, our flight to Visakhapatnam will be around noon time, and on 1st of January the seminar with Master Kumar shall start there. I remembered his remarks in his closing works that while we can celebrate the New Year as it is now the convention, the date of 1st January is just a date fixed by human minds and has no correspondence in the rhythms of the year giving the beginnings of new phases with the solstices and the equinoxes and that best the New Year is to be celebrated at spring equinox, the 21 of March.
