This is the story of my first meeting with Sri Kumar twenty years ago.
Profound processes often take a long time to grow. It took about ten years from my first hearing about the Master until the first meeting. Since the beginning of the 90s, I was in a group called the Agni School, which was quite secluded. From 22 to 27 August 1997, however, the whole group went to a group life of the WTT with Sri Kumar at Grosse Ledder near Wermelskirchen, Germany. The seminar was about “Music of the Soul“, the beautiful book of Master EK about Spiritual Hierarchy and events that took place at the time of Lord Krishna, 5000 years ago. The book just had been published in German.
For me these were very thrilling days – to listen to the lectures of Sri Kumar and the magic of Krishna. I had read the book already several times and even done a private translation. But the way he presented it revealed many details unknown to me up to then. And there were hearty exchanges with WTT members I met for the first time but it seemed to me that I knew them already since long. I very well remember how, sitting on a terrace, the Master informed us that he just was informed that Andhra University had conferred on him the honorary doctorate as Doctor of Letters. Towards the end of the seminar, there was a blessing of the children, where my two sons participated in the small ritual of first introduction into writing. Of course, they could already write but it was an exciting moment to sit close to the Master.
In the afternoon of the last day the group was invited to the garden of Doris and Günter for the inauguration of a Krishna statue. It was a hot summer day and the garden was filled with group members. The statue was placed on a small platform in a little pond surrounded by an octagonal glass temple and a big crystal ball on the to. First there was a fire ritual followed by three hours of Vedic chanting. The vibrations created a magic ambiance full of peace and harmony.
I later came back to this place at several occasions and each time I was touched to see this beautiful little shrine. 18 years later, in March 2015, I was there for the last visit, two months before Doris and Günter moved to another place. I again took some photos, one with a squirrel looking at the statue in a meditative attitude. The magic of Krishna’s presence touches all beings.
The touch I had received at this first meeting did not leave me. However, it took three more years before I felt free to join the WTT. My commitment grew over the years. It was not just a “honeymoon time” but full of crises. Profound questions and challenges use to come up from time to time. However, the thrill of my soul remained, in essence not coming from anything outer but from the presence within.