Nicolas and Helena Roerich, by Joao Gomes

AN IGNIUM COUPLE

“Artists, objectifiers of the Real, liberators of sadness and pain, builders of joy that encourages and renews, should be considered as true patrons of the New Age.

By establishing a sensitive point between the inner world of beauties, meanings, values ​​and ideas, and the world of external forms, they live a close relationship with the characteristics and virtualities of the 7th Ray, which governs the newly initiated Era. They are also intimately linked to the 4th Ray (of harmony through conflict), which governs the Human Kingdom as a whole (since it is the 4th Kingdom of Nature in the ascending arc). Thus, within these energetic and qualitative tonics, they have an important contribution in the advent of the New Man ” (1)

Throughout the history of mankind there was always a rare and beautiful lineage of igneous marriages, of couples who joined together to sacrifice themselves for an ideal much greater than them, ideal that set them on fire, demanding total surrender. Let us remember, in an absolutely exhaustive way, the royal couples of Ancient Egypt: Aquenaton (Amenophis IV) and Nefertiti; Seti I and Tonya; Ramses II and Nefertari. In the field of science, Marie and Pierre Curie. In politics and social action, Mohandas and Kasturbai Gandhi. And finally, in modern occultism, we have a series of “marriages”: Henry S. Olcott and Helena Blavastsky (in this case and in the following there was no carnal and marital relationship. However the fundamental idea remains, that is, the union of a man and a woman based on mutual admiration and friendship, and on a common ideal and mission: Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater; Foster and Alice Bailey, and the one that concerns us today, Nicolas and Helena Roerich. Feudal couples did not cease, but continues, and many of us are fortunate to observe them in the struggle and work for a better world. To them, to all of them, those of the past, the present and the future, we leave here our gratitude and we offer you our prayer: "May the divine fire set you on fire and consume you, Solar Marriages, in the construction of the Kingdom of God on Earth."

Helena Roerich

Let's start with Helena Roerich. Just as the "Old" Helena, (not that of Troy, but the pioneer and large Blavatsky) was born in those flat and icy lands of Russia on February 13, 1879, and as is her land, it was a mixture of the West and East, of Asian fragrances and Greek colors. This frowning Helena, with big black eyes, dared like Prometheus to steal the fire from the gods, and burn in a burning aspiration the world of men.

Daughter of a preminent architect, Archduke Chapochnikov, was extraordinarily sensitive and frequently became ill. While she was prostrated, two very tall men appeared to her (the masters Moria and Koot Hoomi?), Who helped her.

His mother's sister, Princess Putyatune, had a farm in Bologoye, where little Helena spent the summers. There he learned to love nature and animals. It is said that pets ran to her to greet her every morning when she left home to feed them.

He learned to read very soon. He appreciated philosophers and meditated on the Bible. He had a talent for music, played the piano, painted and drew.

When he discovered Nicholas, he discovered that they had a lot in common. They spent time together, going to concerts and exhibitions. They fell in love, and finally married on October 28, 1901. They had a happy family life and from their union two children were born, Jorge and Svetoslav. The latter became an excellent painter (like his father), and a very pretty woman is perceived from his mother's portrait.

In 1915 Nicolás Roérich became ill with pneumonia, so they left their home in St. Petersburg to live in a more benign climate. After a stopover in England they arrive in New York in 1920, for the first exhibition of Nicholas Roérich in the United States. It was around this time that Helena comes into contact with her Master and writes the first book “Leaves of the garden of Morya I”, whose first edition would come out in 1924. More than 14 titles will follow in the Agni-yoga series, where her Master exhibits for First time to the world the foundations of the yoga of the 6th Race. The last published volume, "Supramundo II", would come to light in 1938, on the eve of World War 2.

books

His Master, the Lord of penetrating gaze, conveyed through him a set of sublime teachings referring to new yoga, the Yoga of Fire, Life and Sacrifice. He stated from his own experience that his books cannot be read in the common way. They are pages of meditation, paragraphs that are slowly digested, phrases that in the synthesis of lightning, burn the mind and illuminate life.

In “Leaves of the Garden of Morya I, ” says the Master, through Helena's pen, in that his compact and imperious style: “Life thunders. Be vigilant. ” "A Temple for all, for all one God." "My Friends, Happiness lies in serving the salvation of humanity." "When I order to tell the Book of Joy, don't forget the call to battle." And the disciple, before the call of the Master, responds: In spite of my weaknesses, in spite of my myopia, in spite of my betrayals, Lord accepts my Roman spear, my pierced shield, my dented armor. I am ready for the contest!

In "Agni Yoga" the Master affirms: "Remember the baptism by Fire, the Igneous Cross, all the Flaming Chalices that I revealed to you a long time ago, as symbols of the next yoga". And more than once the masterful voice of the disciple responds to the Master; Lord, I was baptized by the priests in the icy waters of the world; I now long for the baptism of Fire, of the Lord of the Golden Flame, despite knowing that I will lose everything I loved in the journeys of the past.

We suggest to all those who feel within themselves the flame of the Fire of the Era of Maitreya that, in a slow and slow way, meditate on the words of the Master. They are seeds of the New World, they are embryo of the New World, they are the motto of the New Consciousness. Begin with the first book, Leaves of the Garden of Morya I, and hear the urgent appeal of the future; then go ahead and stop long in Volume II; turn then in the afternoon, rest meditating on New Age of the Community . Another day, in the morning, ascend to the Infinito, Vol. I and II ; tired of the day, in a night vigil, pray with Jerarqu a ; descend to the initiation well of Coraz n ; Fearless, blindfolded and open minded, penetrate into Burning Worlds, I, II and III; then shout at one voice with the Universe in AUM ; then, in a vast and long hug, immerse yourself in Fraternity ; and finally, at the end of the day, rest with Supramundo I and II .

Helena and Nicolai (Nicholas is the translation of his name into English, which the painter used frequently in the Western world) had a fertile life in events. Perhaps the most significant are his travels in the East. In India they organized an expedition to Central Asia and toured China, Mongolia, Tibet and other countries. Although few details of his life are known, it is known that Helena was a participant activist in the great questions of her time. She was a Spiritual Instructor with a large number of disciples. His wisdom, the wisdom of an enlightened one, is scattered in hundreds of letters that he sent to his correspondents and students. These epistles were published in Letters by Helena Roerich, I and II . In these letters Helena showed her concern and interest in the matters that were contemporary.

She was a precursor to the New Age. And before this expression became fashionable (in bad taste, incidentally), with all the folklore that accompanied it today, he wrote in 1929 the following: The Book of New Discoveries and of the light of daring is open to humanity. You have heard about the approach of the New Age. Each epoch has its call, and the founding call of the New Age will be the power of creative thinking; and the first step in this direction will be the opening of consciousness, the liberation of all prejudices and of all the tendentious and forced concepts (2).

The woman of the future

Another of his concerns was the condition of the women of his time. He will write: “The next great era is closely linked to the rise of women. As in the best days of humanity, the future era will again offer women the right to their rightful place, side by side with their eternal travel and work companion, man. You must remember that the greatness of the Cosmos is based on the dual origin. Is it therefore appropriate to belittle one of its two elements? (3). Like all great souls, Helena anticipates her time; she felt (truly intuited) that the great cultural transformation that was expected in the future would imply the full participation of women, and today we know that it is so, and it will continue to be so.

In the same letter, later, Helena again addresses the issue of women, integrating it into the problem of culture and education: “Yet, in her effort for education, women must remember that all educational systems are only means for the development of a knowledge and culture of the spirit and the heart. Only this combination promotes that synthesis without which it is impossible to realize the real greatness, diversity and complexity of human life in its Cosmic Evolution. Thus, as soon as she strives for knowledge, may the woman remember the Source of Light and the Leaders of the Spirit, those great minds that truly create the conscience of humanity. Humanity will find the way to true evolution by approaching this source and the guiding principle of Synthesis. ”

When we still see people with some intellectual and spiritual maturity using their time in Hatha Yoga practices, it will certainly be useful to remember their words about this matter: “… we should not overvalue the results of Hatha Yoga and think that the followers of this Discipline are equal to those of Raja Yoga in their ability to awaken the Kundalini (4) and to acquire the different types of siddhis (5), and that they attain bliss and free themselves from matter. In fact it is not like that. The degree of bliss achieved by such adepts is very relative, and through Hatha Yoga you never get freedom on the subject (in the sense used by the Great Instructors). As the teaching says, we don't know anyone who has reached the goal on the path of Hatha Yoga.

Even the development of the lower siddhis, which hatha yogis acquire using terribly difficult and mechanical exercises, are not lasting; in their next incarnations they could lose all of them. Only those conquests that come naturally are valid and permanent, because they will be the result of inner spiritual development. Only in this way can manifestations of true power be achieved. Hatha Yoga exercises should not go beyond a light and careful pranayama that strengthens health; otherwise it can be dangerous, leading to mediumship, obsession and madness. ”

We believe that this way, once again, the dangers that the applicant runs when practicing certain physical disciplines are clear. Let us repeat that the yogas for the average type of aspirant are Jnana or Raja Yoga, and can be complemented by Karma and Bahkti Yoga.

Helena Roerich is also the works "On Eastern Crossroads" and "Foundations of Buddhism", although using different pseudonyms for each of them.

In 1930, with her husband Nikolai and inspired by her Master, the Lord of the Blue Ray, she founded the "Agni Yoga Society". Regarding Agni Yoga, we wrote in the past the following: “Very little is known about this spiritual development. It is only known that he will be the yoga of the next race, the Sixth. The disciple of this yoga already has his buddha and intuitive body reasonably unwrapped and is polarized in the cardiac chakra and in the corresponding center of the head. This is the way of the advanced disciples of the initiated. Very synthetically one can say that it is the path of life, of spiritual synthesis, of fire, of intuition and sacrifice. The 2nd (Love - Wisdom) and the 4th (Art, Beauty and Harmony) rays govern this journey.

She was also the first Russian translator of Blavatsky's very important work "The Secret Doctrine." With regard to this book, it never hurts to emphasize its importance, greatness and depth. In my modest opinion, it is currently the most important work, not only of occultism, but of world literature, Nothing compares to it, nothing equals it. It is for me like a hurricane, a tornado that passes through the mind, and that in an impetus of strength and movement, purifies it from its miasmas, superstitions, limitations and illusions. It is like an explosion that leaves nothing standing, and yet, in an act of miraculous magic, reconstructs everything in a more beautiful, more imposing, more powerful way. Studying and meditating on the Secret Doctrine is as if someone will grant us an initiation in the sense that their reflection inevitably leads to an expansion of consciousness.

Helena Roerich disembodied in 1949, and it can be safely said that her books are better known than they were throughout her life.

Nicolas Roerich

Nicolas Roerich was born in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on October 19, 1874. His father, Constantine, was of Scandinavian origin and a prominent notary. His mother, Maria Kalashnikova, belonged to an old family of Russian nobility. His childhood was in Ishvara. It was there that Nikolai deepened his relationship with nature. The elements, the sky, the earth, the water, became their confessors and friends. With a solitary temperament, he easily entered into communication with nature, and we can affirm that his first teacher was the natural world. It was at that time that he began his interest in the legends, traditions and poetry of his country.

Soon he became fond of archeology, and often made expeditions to reveal the past and interrogate the rocks. "It seemed, through a paranormal intuition, with subliminary memories, to know the great lines of human evolution." His activity in this area made him one of the greatest archaeologists in Russia.

At the desire of his father he began studying law in 1893, simultaneously entering the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. His first teacher, Kuinji, perceived lucidity in him, and anticipated his genius. It gave him full creative freedom. His painting was strange, full of mystery and magnetism. He spoke to the soul of the beholder of distant lands, of legends still alive, of heroes, of warriors and of priests, of tramps and pilgrims, who furrowed the great adventure of life.

The exodus of the peoples, the impressive warriors, the flushed skies, and the large, dense and black clouds, appear on their canvases, giving them a prophetic tone, reflecting at the same time the battle that is locked inside each human being and inside the collective heart of humanity.

The mountains, the huge Himalayas, were other of his inspirations. They represent the transcendent, the superhuman, what is beyond the sensory. If imposing, its strength, the whiteness of its presence, symbolize the ethereal, the subtle, the spiritual.

A Universal Man

In 1900 he visited the Universal Exhibition of Paris. This encounter with the culture of the world impresses him deeply, beginning within him a process of universalization, which would mark him for life.

From 1909 to 1916, together with his wife Helena, he visited Italy, Germany, England and the Netherlands. In 1917 he settled in Finland, where retired from the world, and in deep contact with nature, produced the famous series of canvases about that country.

He returned to Paris and painted the stages, designed the wardrobe and came to write the scripts for Sergei Diaghileo, for the operas of Rimsky Korsakov and Borodin. He lived with Paulova and Nijinsky. He conceived the scenarios for Maeterlinck's works and for Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." For the Ballet “The consecration of Spring, Stravinsky, painted in the theater of the Champs Elysées some scenarios that would be admired throughout Europe. It is possible to say that, by the way for this ballet, not only conceived the stages, but also designed the dress, thus giving a colorful and an exoticism unmatched to the spectacle.

He exhibited in Helsinki in March 1919, and in that same year he met Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize for Literature) in London. The following year, responding to an invitation from Robert Harshe, he visited New York, and exhibited his work in 29 cities in America. He gave lectures and met great figures from the world of arts, politics and science, establishing a strong friendship with Huxley, Einstein and Milikan. I create art schools and encouraged the emergence of research groups inspired by the ideal of culture, as a door to peace and unity.

Everywhere he is received as a prophet of the new times. Those who approach him are inspired by idealism, a sense of beauty and belief in a future of hope, where Love can govern social life, economics and education. His creativity, optimism, humanism and universalism sacudi to statesmen and religious leaders, who adopted him as an instructor and inspirer.

He returned to Europe in 1923, and together with his wife Helena and his son Jorge began a trip to India with the aim of making an expedition to Central Asia. This expedition, which had artistic, ethnical, cultural and spiritual mobiles, departed from Darjeeling, in the direction of Kashmir and Ladakh (Little Tibet). Nicolai painted numerous paintings in Sikkim and in But n, began a journey along the caravan route (the highest in the world), and met landscapes and lands that he will always remember. Deeply impressed by the East, his works begin to speak of archaic legends, of Atlantis, of Shamballa and of the Adepts (6). And this trip is where Nikolai, Helena and Jorge will come in contact with the Mahatmas of the Himalayas.

On May 29 the Roerich cross the Russian border, and arrive in Moscow on June 13. To the Commissioners of the People and Education Nikolay offers a canvas Maitreya the Conqueror, which was exhibited in the Gorki Museum. In September 1926, the painter and his family would return through Central Asia, in the direction of India, again taking serious risks, and withstanding the temperatures of the Tibetan winter (forty degrees below zero). During this voyage five members of the expedition and ninety animals will perish. Meanwhile, it is in those moments when Nikolai paints the most beautiful paintings of his work (more than 500 canvases), landscapes of Asia that no painter had previously recreated. These works are now scattered throughout the most important museums and collections in the world.

Art, Culture and Peace

Nikolai never adhered to any "ism"; He was not a painter of aesthetic fashions and schools. His “fashion” was the search for Beauty (which search for the Grail), and his school was the spirit and the eternal. "Intelligence" ignores it or pretends it is unknown; and he left a work (only the canvases are about six thousand), that only the human being of the 21st century and the 3rd Millennium will really understand.

At the end of 1928 he settled in the town of Naggar, Kulu, in India. At the beginning of the thirties Nikolai Roerich promotes a project the size of his soul, "The Covenant and the Peace Flag". This initiative, launched in New York in 1929, was welcomed a year later by the League of Nations (UN prototype), receiving enthusiastic approval of political and cultural figures such as Albert I, King of Belgium, of Rabindranath Tagore, by Maurice Maeterlink, and the president of the United States, Roosvelt. This project stipulated that all educational, artistic, scientific or religious institutions, as well as all buildings that possessed cultural or historical significance or value, should be recognized as inviolable centers and respected by all nations, whether in times of peace or war. . With this objective a treaty was established that had the purpose of being ratified by all the nations of the world. Roerich designed the symbol that would be known as the Flag of Peace and Culture: a red circle containing three incarnate circles on a white background. This sacred symbol is found in all civilizations and cultures of all time. There are several meanings that can be attributed to it: the three circles symbolize art, science and religion, surrounded by the circumference of culture; also the past, the present and the future surrounded by the eternal; or even the subconscious or instinct, the conscious or intelligence, and the supraconscious or intuition surrounded by the circumference of consciousness; and finally, in the same line, the temporal or animal soul, the human or immortal soul and the spiritual or divine soul, surrounded by the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World.

The first international convention took place in 1931, in Bruges, in Belgium, arousing an enormous interest in the worlds of science and culture. In 1932, in the same city, he made a second convention and created the Roerich Foundation for Peace. Government representatives, thinkers, humanists and religious attended both conventions. Between November 17 and 18, 1933, the third convention was held in Washington, where representatives from 35 countries attended; A month later, members of the 7th Conference of the Pan American Union unanimously signed the Pact for Peace.

Henry Wallace, then Secretary of Agriculture, and later Vice President of the United States, showed a deep interest in the personality and the remarkable work of Nikolai Roerich, as well as the profound philosophy of the East. Unfortunately, the selfishness and hatred of Humanity spoke louder. The message of the prophet, the mystic and the visionary lucid were forgotten, and once again the war broke out in an unprecedented madness, World War II.

Nikolay lived his last years in Naggar, in the Himalayas he loved so much, and disembodied on December 13, 1947, being cremated according to the tradition of the "people of the spirit."

As a final reflection, his words remain: “Art will Unify all Humanity. Art is one and indivisible. Art is the manifestation of universal synthesis. Art belongs to everyone ... Take Art to the people, to whom it belongs. We must have not only museums, theaters, universities, libraries, train stations and hospitals decorated and full of beauty, as well as prisons. When this happens, we won't need more prisons ...

True peace, true unity, is the desire of the human heart ... (man) wants to love and be open to the realization of the Sublime Beauty. In the superior understanding of beauty and wisdom all conventional divisions disappear ... all the symbols of humanity have the same meaning, the sacred prayer: Peace and Unity.

Joao Gomes

Deacon of the Liberal Catholic Church; Aquarium Service Unit coordinator, inspired by World Goodwill

Bibliography

  1. Shambala (Foreword), Nicolás Roerich, Book Group

  2. Three Remarkable Woman, Harold Balyoz, Altai Publishers.

  3. The New Scriptures, Vol., IV, CLUC 1996

  4. Letters from Helena Roérich I -3ª. Agni Yoga Society, New York, 1954.

  5. Letters from Helena Roérich I- 2nd Idem.

  6. This force, also called "igneous power"; it is one of the mystical powers of the yogi, and it is "buddhi" (intuition), when it is considered as an active principle; It is a creative force, which once awakened, can kill as easily as create. (Helena Blavatsky, Theosophical Glossary).

  7. Psychic faculties, abnormal or extraordinary powers of the human being. One of the types comprises the inferior, gross mental psychic energies; the other demands the highest education of spiritual powers (Helena Blavatsky, Theosophical Glossary.)

  8. The Adepts are "men" who, having come (through innumerable incarnations in a common or evolutionary effort) to a very high degree of spiritual maturity, are considered in different cultures as exceptional beings, geniuses, saints, prophets and mahatmas. Only by way of example belong to this Fraternity, to this Planetary Spiritual Hierarchy of Perfect Men and Children of God, occupying different hierarchical levels and functions, figures such as: the Lord Jesus, Sri Krishna, Patanjali, S. Pablo, S. Francisco de Assisi, Leonardo da Vinci, Lord Gautama Buddha, Lord Maitreya, Muhammad, S. Thomas Moore, Akbar, Pythagoras, Plato, Moses, Mary Magdalene, Gandhi and the Infant D. Henry.

- Seen in: revistabiosofia.com

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