Christmas morning was cold and a bit rainy. Saying good-bye on the railway platform, my thoughts were already set on the great jump to India. From the local train to the inter-city to the airport… My friend Herwig arrived nearly at the same time at the check-in. Some hours later we were sitting aboard the jet heading to Delhi where we arrived shortly after midnight. Yes, there it was again, this feeling of arriving in a familiar but different world – in the shop where we bought bottles of water you saw at the same time business and spiritual books, wooden elephants besides Swastikas and colourful shawls, then Ayurvedic health products made with “Swiss technology” …
The airport was foggy – smog or early morning fog? (It was smog, as we came to know later.) Soon after the airplane reached the travel height there was a golden line at the horizon which slowly grew to an ocean of golden light. Like fanfares of the Devas the rays grew stronger and then Surya, the Sun God, lifted his head over the horizon – what a majestic sight! All colours of the rainbow were seen coming from indigo blue to violet, green yellow and brilliant white.
When the airplane went down for landing in Bengaluru clouds were approaching from below and enveloped us – how to find the runway or landing? But soon the iron bird touched the ground and a little later busses brought us to the arrival. At the exit a driver was already waiting. The traffic became increasingly dense when we approached the city. At some point I fell asleep and when I woke up again I soon recognised already the bumpy road – yes, we were fast approaching Sadguru Tapovana, the center of the WTT Bangalore.
After a short stop at the center the driver brought us to the apartment building where the group had hired some apartments for the members of the west – we were 12 persons staying in 3 rooms – a “camping feeling” but very cordial.
Some members from Europe were already there, others arrived next morning. We were altogether 29 members from the West.
Two eagles flying above the WTT Bangalore center “Sadguru Tapovana”
Wednesday morning the Master gave a short welcome and spoke some words about aligning the personality with the soul and the super soul. Then he invited the Western members for a get-together at 11 am. When I took out my laptop to take some notes he asked me smilingly to shut it again – it would be a casual meeting. He asked some members about their journey and presented a little booklet (which had appeared only in Telugu, as I later found out) about 180 teachings of Master CVV which he had received while he wanted to go into instructions given by Master CVV. – he was told to give teachings afresh.
Later he talked about the importance of unification and not separating. In this he commented about some political situations where people prefer to separate, to look for the well-being of their region instead of the greater whole: The rich countries and regions have to learn to sacrifice. Unity and unification is the goal and not separation for the benefit of smaller units. This is a lesson to be learned by many nations. When Germany was re-united and did sacrifices for this process or when they took up many refugees from Syria, this was seen as an important act of sacrifice by the higher circles and it will bring a lot of advancement to the country.
Wednesday afternoon the December Call celebration was inauguration. In 1910, Master CVV started celebrating the May Call on 29 May and the December Call on 29 December as days of transmission of the energy of group consciousness. Since many years, both days are celebrated in the WTT. At these dates Master Kumar is holding group livings at the WTT group of Bengaluru which are always very inspiring events. Here is an extract of the talk at December Call morning (from my notes):
“Right action comes when you develop right action in the mind. An enlightened mind enlightens all actions. It does not have fear. When the sunlight comes, where is the darkness? Fear or anger, that is the darkness in the mind. The seers invoke daily the sun to enlighten us. Sun carries the energy of awareness. Light is but an offshoot of awareness. When you relate to the light and receive it to your forehead on a daily basis you get right ideas and this improves your knowledge.
… Everyone should have the habit of learning, if not we are moving from one group life to the other but we do not learn. We learn to change for the better. Buddha with five others tried to contemplate without eating and drinking. A seer came and told him, ‘How can you contemplate well without eating and drinking?’ Of the five, only Buddha took to the advice of the seers. The others said, ‘The seer tempted us and we don’t want to eat and drink. Buddha said, ‘What the seer said is to our benefit. You have to use it.’
All learning is for the change. We just fall into the old patterns. Our eating patterns don’t change. Thinking patterns, patterns of movement don’t change. If the habits do not change it is a wasteful exercise. After eating, Buddha had better perception then.
You have to clear the obligations to the surroundings. Many times the pictures on the wall are not well arranged. If there is a broken glass, make sure that it is replaced. If there is a break in the watch, replace it. Many do not even see the disorder. If you see the disorder put it to order. There are people who are blind to disorder.
Around a Master of Wisdom everything is in order, from the tip of the toe to the top of the head. Do you properly dress your hair? Don’t think it is unimportant. If the hair is not in order the reception of thought is not good. There are ladies who have one strain of hair on one eye and then throw it to the side. After some time it becomes a habit. In Ramayana, there is the description of the people in Ajodhya and in Lanka. In Lanka people do not dress their hair; in Ajodhya they keep their hair in a very good way, this giving a very good thinking.
If there is disorder in your thought the perception is also in disorder. A great scholar once went to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and explained about the state of the world and asked Ramakrishna what to do. Ramakrishna said, ‘I do not see the disorder. It depends on your view. The disorder of the mind sees disorder around. Will, love and light – if you include one you are with the other as well. If you intelligently act it is acting in a manner that is beneficent to all and does not create consequences to others.”
Besides the lectures, there were cultural presentations with recitations and Indian dances by children of the group, a water ritual and a fire ritual. During these rituals, the air is vibrating by the energies manifesting through the ritualistic activity and all feel uplifted.
The group life ended on 30 January in the morning. In the early afternoon, a bus brought us to the airport. The plane was three hours late. Later, we came to know that there were many delayed flights because the airport of Delhi had to be closed due to smog and air pollution. We happily landed in Visakhapatnam. It was past midnight when we arrived at the WTT retreat center in Visakhapatnam. Tired but happy I fell into bed.