THE WORLD OF ROERICH

by Alan Senior

‘The Messenger’ by Nicholas Roerich

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INTRODUCTION: THE WORLD OF NICHOLAS AND HELENA ROERICH

I am sure that the name Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), Russian artist, author, philosopher, educator,

explorer and archaeologist is familiar to most readers, but this was not the case when I first

discovered his paintings in the early 1960s, and a little later the Agni Yoga teachings. Since then his

influence has grown, particularly in America and Russia when Mikhail Gorbachev dedicated a large

building in Moscow in 1989 to house the creative works, now the International Roerich Museum.

This versatile genius has left a lasting impression and, together with his wife Helena, precious

teachings and ideas even more relevant today than when they first appeared in the first half of last

century. Time passes and the world’s problems grow ever more acute, but the thoughts and writings

of Nicholas and Helena Roerich, who had a profound love of humanity, do not fade; neither do the

colours of those bril iant paintings by the man known as ‘Master of the Mountains’. Indeed, the

majestic Himalayas are sometimes cal ed ‘The Realm of Roerich’, which he often peopled in

approximately 7,000 paintings with saints, heroes, messengers or Avatars, and he was the first

outsider to paint this most mystical part of the world – northern India, Tibet and Altai-Himalaya…

intensified by a sense of magic and mystery, with colours seen only in those sublime heights at

various times of the day, painting in a style free of detail and enhanced by poetic titles.

Here, then, were two emissaries of the Great White Brotherhood, sent to help further humanity’s

spiritual awakening in an age when disaster and destruction threaten the collapse of civilisation

amidst needless suffering, selfishness, corruption, greed and unending wars, with societies

seemingly built on personal gain and materialism in al its forms. But the vision of the Roerichs –

father, mother and sons George and Svetoslav – was impersonal and universal, to turn men’s minds

to spiritual realities, to unify people in a synthesis of East and West, and to found an enduring order

that wil revive beauty, harmony and peace, so important for the future of al Races.

So we are concentrating here on the work of the Roerich family, particularly the paintings of

Nicholas, and I have drawn heavily on two important books by Jacqueline Decter and Ruth Drayer, as

wel as the expertise of Kenneth Archer, art historian and author of many books and scholarly papers

on Roerich, and Australia’s Michael Breen who toured gal eries and museums around the world from

1975-91 to photograph the paintings, later producing a DVD, ‘Master of the Mountains’, in 2003.

Final y, Frank Perry has spent many years composing music with Tibetan singing bowls, creating

sounds which he associates with the feelings gained from Roerich’s paintings. Al three have devoted

the greater part of their lives to furthering the work of Nicholas and Helena Roerich, forever

influenced by their spiritual endeavours.

It is virtual y impossible to cover the vast accomplishments of this unique family, but by

concentrating on their creative outpourings, so often achieved amidst the glories and splendour of

the world’s highest places, one can perhaps be aided in finding one’s true place in the universe, with

oneness of mind and heart… then, with the inspiration gained from their sacred work, we might also

help provide the necessary response to an increasingly secular world. Throughout their lives the

Roerich family worked with the principles of universal brotherhood and a love of humanity, as did

H.P. Blavatsky whom they always revered.

Final y, I have to thank those museums and gal eries displaying Roerich paintings, also wikipedia and

wikipaintings, for the many images needed to il ustrate the articles seen here.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION – The World of Nicholas and Helena Roerich 2

A PAINTER’S PROGRESS 4

‘A FLEETING VISION’: ORIGINS OF ‘THE RITE’ 6

THE WAR YEARS AND AN EXPEDITION 8

THE POEMS OF NICHOLAS ROERICH 9

THE ROERICH PACT AND BANNER OF PEACE 11

ROERICH’S HIMALAYAN PAINTINGS 12

THE LAST YEARS AND THE TEACHINGS IN RUSSIA 14

‘SHE WHO LEADS’: THE INFLUENCE OF HELENA ROERICH 16

‘THE MOTHER OF THE WORLD’ 18

ROERICH ON THE POWER OF ART 19

‘THEOSOPHY AND AGNI YOGA’ – Natalia Kovaliova, PhD 20

ROERICH’S ‘THE BURNING OF DARKNESS’ – Frank Perry 24

ROERICH’S PHILOSOPHY OF FIRE 25

A TESTIMONIAL – Roza & Margarita Riaikkenen 28

MAITREYA SANGHA 29

THE ROERICH MUSEUM, NEW YORK 31

‘THE MASTER’S COMMAND’ 32

SOME IMPORTANT BOOKS ON ROERICH 33

‘THE MESSENGER’ 34

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A PAINTER’S PROGRESS

Isvara was the name of the Roerich family’s country estate, 55 miles south-west of St. Petersburg,

and it was here that the young Nicholas gained his love of nature, whilst the library provided him

with many tales of warriors, martyrs, saints, heroes and great battles of the past. But the ancient

tumuli amidst the mossy hil s, and the influence of a family friend, the archaeologist Evanovsky, led

to a lifelong interest in unearthing ancient artefacts and collecting plants, minerals and birds, which

he often il ustrated.

Nicholas had been destined for a career as a lawyer like his father, a St. Petersburg notary, but he

was al owed to enrol at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1893, where the Symbolists, with their

search for religious truth, ancient wisdom and beauty, provided a constant source of inspiration, and

as a very young man he was writing and il ustrating articles in literary and art journals, excavating in

Pskov and Novgorod, also publishing poems in Russian magazines.

But painting predominated and under the influence of the influential teacher Kuinji, with his

visionary sense of inwardness in his landscapes, Roerich travel ed widely and began a series of

paintings depicting legends, folk-tales and saints of old Russia. He also lectured at the St. Petersburg

Archaeological Institute on the results of his excavations, becoming a Professor, and at the same

time developed a love for Wagner’s music-dramas, which were performed regularly in the city, and

felt a close affinity with the composer’s love of ancient legends.

Whilst in Novgorod in 1900 Roerich met Elena

Shaposhnikova, the niece of Prince Putyatin, an expert on

Stone Age Russia. She was descended from Tartar princes, a

gifted pianist and was related to the composer Mussorgsky.

Nicholas proposed and she became a lifelong companion and

inspiration. He cal ed her Lada, an old Russian word meaning

‘harmony, Inspiration and strength’. She introduced him to

Theosophy and it is said that they studied ‘The Secret

Doctrine’ together in English before they were married in

1901. Both were inwardly certain of the inner guidance of the Mahatmas and regarded themselves

somewhat as guardians of Blavatsky’s teachings. She, inspired by the Master Morya, would later

write down a whole cycle of teachings ‘for those preparing for a new era and the coming of

Maitreya.’

Now Roerich studied the French artists Gauguin and

Degas in Paris and we’l see their influence in Roerich’s

daring colour combinations – clear pale yel ows,

phosphorescent jades, violets and magentas, al

conveying the sought-for luminosity, together with a

monumental quality. ‘The Idols’ is a scene before an

early morning sacrifice taking place on a hil top in

prehistoric Russia, with tal wooden idols and horses’

skul s guarding the sacred space, a painting from a

series which reflects the artist’s search for authenticity

and man’s early co-existence with nature. On his return

to Russia, although he continued to paint scenes from

long ago, the canvases would now contain more

intense colours, the essence of the Roerich of the future. ‘The Idols’, 1901, Roerich Museum, New York

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Like Van Gogh, Roerich painted rapidly, as though under tension and driven by a creative flame,

which lasted for 45 years and involved painting nearly every day, though some pictures were worked

on for months, even years. He never used models or drew preliminary sketches, so he cannot be

regarded as a pure realist. He used oils, tempera, aquarel es, pastels and combinations, always

intent on producing the luminosity found in old Russian paintings. But oil was rarely used as he

deplored what he cal ed the ‘sad changes’ that came with age as the paintings often cracked and

darkened into ‘the colour of old boots.’

So he preferred a form of tempera on canvas to achieve his remarkable clarity of tone and spoke

openly about the therapeutic power of colour and its symbolic attributes – red as courage, blue as

peace, green as wisdom. He preached continual y about the beauty and importance of Russia’s

national heritage and ancient art, when man and nature were in harmony and nature seemed

animated and possessed with mysterious powers, the land stretching endlessly with man only a tiny

speck amidst nature’s grandeur.

‘St. Procopius blesses the Unknown Travel ers’

Roerich and his wife travel ed through Russia in 1903-4, where he painted ancient churches,

monasteries, castles, city wal s and towers, as a way of drawing attention to the need for preserving

them. He designed modern icons, murals and mosaics for several churches but, influenced by

Helena’s profound interest in Eastern religions and the St. Petersburg orientalists, he grew to value

the great Indian epics and the poetry of Tagore.

In 1906 Roerich became Director of the School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts,

where the children of tradesmen and peasants studied alongside the offspring of generals, and the

students included the penniless Marc Chagal , who was given a scholarship. Soon the School became

one of the largest in Russia and by now Roerich’s easel paintings were produced almost entirely with

tempera and pastels, giving his works the characteristic pure, bright colours and a flat, velvety

surface, creating unexpected effects and unique colour combinations.

But the theatre was inseparably linked to his easel painting, and stage designs and costumes now

occupied much of his time…

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‘A FLEETING VISION’: ORIGINS OF ‘THE RITE’

Nicholas Roerich designed sets and costumes for many bal ets, operas and plays, some echoing the

primeval world, ancient folk tales and legends found in his paintings, and al paying close attention

to ethnographic, archaeological and architectural detail. There were set designs for Wagner’s ‘The

Ring’ in 1907, a composer whose music and vision had been a great influence, and the rich, multi-

coloured sounds of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Snow Maiden’ in 1908 inspired a pantheistic view of nature,

where every stone and tree seemed endowed with an animate quality. Then came costumes and

scenery for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Paris production of Borodin’s ‘Prince Igor’ in 1909, depicting

the austere and endless expanse of the Central Asian Steppes, the bril iant colour and ornamental

primitivism of Rimsky’s ‘Invisible City of Kitezh’ in 1911, and a year later sets and costumes for

Ibsen’s dramatic poem ‘Peer Gynt’.

But I’m writing this in 2013, the year of a much-publicised centenary, so it seems appropriate to

concentrate on ‘The Rite of Spring’. It’s said that Diaghilev asked Roerich to come up with an idea for

a new bal et and introduced him to the young, talented composer Igor Stravinsky, who, speaking in

1935, related how ‘a fleeting vision’ appeared in his imagination. “I saw a solemn pagan rite,” he

said, “Sage elders seated in a circle watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were

sacrificing her to propitiate the gods of spring.” But how true is this?

When Stravinsky published that recollection he had already given other contradictory variants on

the story, whilst Roerich was saying that the original inspiration had been his. In 1913 their

relationship was definitely one of collaboration, and Stravinsky referred to the bal et as ‘our child’.

Roerich had been utterly absorbed in dreams of prehistoric life, according to a fel ow artist, which is

born out by his paintings with titles such as ‘The Stone Age’, ‘The Idols’ (see above) and ‘The Elders

Gather’. There were also the previous stage sets of primordial times and Roerich’s numerous

archaeological excavations of historic Slavic tombs and burial mounds, where he unearthed axes,

bones, urns and ritual objects.

In 1912 he’d also written an essay which conjured up a primitive scene… ‘At the mouth of a river

stands a row of houses. On the banks… canoes and huts. Hides are drying on the kilns – bear, wolf,

lynx, vixen, beaver, sable, ermine… A holiday. Let it be the one with which the victory of the

springtime sun was always celebrated, when swift dances were danced, when al wished to please,

when horns and pipes of bone and wood were played. The people rejoiced. Among them art was

born.’

So it seems more probable that

Roerich brought Stravinsky his idea

for a Stone Age bal et, already titled

‘The Great Sacrifice’, whilst conflicting

accounts say that Stravinsky sought

out Roerich to put flesh on the bones

of his ‘fleeting vision’ of a dance of

death and rebirth. But it is unlikely

that Roerich merely provided the

settings (see opposite) and Stravinsky

the ‘dance element’ in music to bring

life to the concept. Together they

studied antique folk customs on

which Roerich based the décor and

costumes for the bal et, and he

‘A Kiss to the Earth’ – set design, not used, by Nicholas Roerich

briefed the press even before

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Stravinsky’s score was complete, saying that there would be scenes from a ritualistic night in the

time of the ancient Slavs, ‘a reincarnation of antiquity’ he cal ed it. For Nijinsky, the choreographer,

Roerich’s sets and costume designs proved inspirational and the basic postures and movements of

the dancers appear to owe much to the carved wooden idols appearing in Roerich’s paintings of

ancient Russia, as he wished to emulate this spirit of the early inhabitants.

Before that famous opening night – May 29, 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées – Diaghilev was

wel aware that ‘The Rite’ would chal enge al previous conceptions of bal et’s meaning but he didn’t

anticipate the audience’s reaction. From the first movements of the dancers the theatre erupted

with shouts, whistles, hissing and stomping that drowned out the orchestra led by Pierre Monteux.

Some fights broke out, leading in one instance to a duel being fought the next day. At one point,

when the maidens held their hands against their cheeks, there were shouts of “Is there a dentist in

the house? They’ve al got toothache!” The rioting continued even during the brief intermission

between the two acts, but things quietened down somewhat during the mystic circle dance at the

beginning of the second act. But the ritualistic stamping of the bearskin dancers around the Chosen

Maiden led to more shouting and booing, which subsided only when she began her sacrificial dance

which would end in her dancing herself to death to placate Yarilo the sun god.

Nijinsky was tremendously upset by the reaction, as was Stravinsky who had left his box after the

first act, whilst Diaghilev may have been secretly pleased by this scandalous spectacle which would

ensure world-wide publicity. And Roerich? He commented that the bal et had unleashed this

brawling, bel owing mob’s primordial instincts. “Who knows?” he said later, “perhaps they were

inwardly exultant, expressing their feelings like the most primitive of peoples. But such wild

primitivism had nothing in common with the refined primitivism of our ancestors, for whom rhythm,

the sacred symbol, and subtlety of movement were great and sacred concepts.”

The Bal et would be performed only eight more times that season, in Paris and London where there

was a more favourable response. Diaghilev revived it seven years later, again with sets and costumes

by Roerich, but this time with less controversial choreography by Leonid Massine. But it wasn’t until

1987, seventy-five years after the première, that a re-creation of it was staged by the American

Joffrey Bal et Company, and

thanks to the supreme efforts

and extensive research of dance

historian Millicent Hodson and

Roerich expert Kenneth Archer

– see his book featured on page

33. The two painstakingly

reconstructed the Nijinsky

choreography and Roerich’s

costumes and sets, and the

response was a testament to the

elemental power of the Roerich-

Nijinsky-Stravinsky evo-cation of

that eternal phen-omenon, the

rebirth of spring.

Later, when Roerich was travel ing through the vast expanses of Kashmir, he suddenly came upon

The Rite’s exact setting. “Fires were burning,” he said, “there were the same costumes, the almost

prehistoric dances, even the same style of music. When we composed ‘The Rite of Spring’ how could

we conceive that Kashmir would greet us with its very setting?”

Above: The Chosen One, Gaia Straccamore, in ‘Le Sacre du printemps’ at Rome Opera, by Kenneth Archer

and Mil icent Hodson after Nicholas Roerich and Vaclav Nijinsky (photo by Shira Klasmer, 2007)

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THE WAR YEARS AND AN EXPEDITION

But now Roerich saw the Great War approaching, leading to the expression of his feelings in vast,

gloomy canvases such as ‘Conflagration’, ‘Cry of the Serpent’, ‘The Doomed City’ and ‘Battle in the

Heavens’. But later, amidst charitable activities, came a more optimistic phase, lighter in tone and

with imagery drawn from the oriental dream-world of the Baghavad-Gita and The Arabian Nights…

pictures with lotus flowers, waterfal s, priestesses, dawn on the mountains – al conveying peace and

serenity in time of war. ‘St Panteleimon – the Healer’ (below) was one such symbol to turn men’s

minds to peace, healing and tranquil ity, and we see this gentle saint searching for medicinal herbs

on the hil side, this later version displaying a halo around the saint’s head.

But gradual y Roerich drew closer to

the mythologies and perennial philos-

ophies of the East which spoke to him

in a positive way, encouraging him to

write poems about love, goodness,

peace and unity. Such works would,

with the added inspiration of Helena’s

writings, evolve into the system of

Agni Yoga – a yoga of fire and action,

rather than contemplation. He wrote:

‘The world is in turmoil. Strive for sal-

vation. In creation realise the

happiness of life and into the desert turn thine eye.’ But the strain of trying to paint and write

through the war years took its toll, leading to a collapse and pneumonia in 1915.

Soon after his recovery Roerich decided to leave Russia for London, foreseeing the revolution to

come. Here, in 1920, he exhibited his paintings under the title ‘Spel s of Russia’ and designed sets for

Covent Garden. In October of the same year he arrived in America with his family and exhibited 400

paintings in New York, followed by a tour lasting eighteen months through 29 principal cities. But al

the time it was the East he yearned for, and in 1923 he, Helena and their 18-year-old son George

embarked for India on a tour of sacred cultural sites.

Roerich was persistently drawn to the Himalayas and a quest for the legendary city of Shambhala,

which he had heard of in St. Petersburg many years before, whilst involved in the construction of a

Buddhist temple there. Shambhala was rumoured to lie hidden in a remote val ey amidst snow-

capped peaks. Was it only a state of mind, a spiritual symbol of enlightenment achieved in

meditation, or an actual place reached by physical pilgrimage, the dwel ing-place of Maitreya, the

future Buddha who would return to initiate a new cycle of world-peace? Whatever the answer, the

Roerichs would mount two ambitious expeditions (1924-8, 1930-31), covering fifteen and a half

thousand miles and some 35 mountain passes at heights from fourteen to twenty-one thousand feet

through Sikkim, Tibet, Kashmir, Ladakh, Siberia, Altai, Chinese Turkestan, Siberia and Mongolia. It is

an amazing story adequately dealt with in Ruth A. Drayer’s ‘Wayfarers: The Spiritual Journeys of

Nicholas & Helena Roerich’ and Jacqueline Decter’s ‘Nicholas Roerich: The Life and Art of a Russian

Master’, as wel as the writings of Roerich himself – ‘Heart of Asia’, ‘Altai Himalaya’, ‘Shambhala’ and

the important monograph ‘Himalaya’. Other objectives of the Expedition were to create a record (in

words and paintings) of the lands and people of Inner Asia, to survey the possibilities for further

archaeological exploration, and to secure art treasures and ethnographical collections revealing the

culture of Asiatic peoples. Meanwhile, in New York, the first Roerich Museum had been opened and

groups were formed which later became Roerich Societies, proclaiming his ideals for Peace, Beauty

and Knowledge, recognising him as a great humanitarian and spiritual leader…

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THE POEMS OF NICHOLAS ROERICH

Between 1916 and 1919 Roerich compiled a significant collection of 64 blank verse poems, published

in English as ‘Flame in Chalice’ which can now be purchased from the Roerich Museum, New York or

read online. Like the English composer-theosophist Cyril Scott, who was also writing poetry at this

time, he searches within and there is always a quest, told in a direct way but with the same depth

and intensity to be found in his paintings. ‘I summon the heart, wisdom and labour,’ he declares in

lines fil ed with spiritual responsiveness, prophecy and the necessary pilgrimage to achieve that

expansion of consciousness, a theme brought out in so many of his artworks. There are three main

themes in the poems; ‘Sacred Signs’, where readers are directed to the workings of the divine spirit

within; ‘To the Blessed One’, the Light guiding man on this earthly path; and ‘To the Boy’, a kind of

lecture to an adolescent outlining the necessary patterns of transformation which wil lead to the

Eternal. The last group includes the narrative verse ‘To the Hunter entering the Forest’, where

‘Hunter’ can also mean ‘Catcher’ as in ‘catcher of men’ ( fisherman in the New Testament).

Many of the poems are reminiscent of H.P. Blavatsky’s ‘Stanzas of Dzyan’ and sometimes reflect her

‘Voice of the Silence’. Roerich was forever a believer in the progress of Self (from darkness to light)

with the promise of a brighter future for humanity, and the soul’s realisation of its divine, eternal

origin is continual y spoken of in an archaic language like ‘The Voice of the Silence’, but with an

intimacy and wise simplicity aimed at those seeking truth. The divine principle governing al creation

is shown as belonging to no particular time or environment, and we are encouraged ’to think of that

which for al is unchanging. To think of the eternal’ (from ‘Of the Eternal’). Theosophists often use

the phrase ‘live in the Eternal’, for only by so doing is true happiness possible. Again like Cyril Scott in

‘A Lakeside Cemetery’, Roerich’s poem ‘Into the Earth’ tel s us not to mourn over those who have

passed out of the physical body but al ow the mind instead to identify with eternal things. ‘Thou

ancient one, imperishable, Thou everlasting, eternal, thou striving to the heights, Joyous, reborn.’

The true seer is always a poet, and it is only the poetic spirit that can see beyond ‘the Veil of Isis’.

The intel ect cannot do it – it can only go so far before it meets the Guardians of the Gate of the

Temple. In ‘At the Last Gates’ Roerich sees how spiritual development wil eventual y al ow us to

penetrate that which is ‘forbidden’ and instead be permitted to pass, after conquering the il usions

of recurrence, passing-time, habits and appearances – to achieve a new consciousness and self-

transformation, penetrating to the eternal reality of our being, with realisation of the Al . Although

the road is steep and thorny it leads to the heart of the Universe and once we have passed through

the Last Gate it closes firmly behind us, as we have ful y committed ourselves and there is no turning

back. In ‘Tomorrow’ we see the aspirant having taken on a new body, and in this present incarnation

he regrets not being able to remember the experiences and wisdom gained in past lives. There is a

longing for greater comprehension and higher knowledge… ‘When wil it come – the tomorrow?’ But

his study of the Ageless Wisdom taught him that memories are submerged, not destroyed; when

we feel intimate with a stranger on first meeting, memory is there, the spirit’s recognition of a friend

of ages past. The mind-body, the brain, are new, we are the result of the past but without memory

of past events, and no brain could store the memory of the actions of numerous lives.

The poem ‘Light’ attempts to describe the Absolute which has no form, no sound, no taste, no end,

no beginning… and he chooses light as a definition. When the soul gazes on the One Pure Light that

is free from affection, the disciple has summoned the heart-wisdom and strives to apprehend the

divine Image. ‘Everything gleams through Thy light. In the darkness are shining particles of Thy glory.

And in my closed eyes dawns Thy wondrous light,’ or, in ‘The Voice of the Silence’, ‘Behold! Thou

hast become the light.’ Having shaken off the ‘dark garments of il usion’, this inner light, which is

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always present, is al owed to shine through, overcoming the deceptive, il usive brightness of the

personality. We have to identify with the divine Self within us, not the personal self.

In ‘Drops’ Roerich has experienced an ecstatic, direct moment of communion with the Highest,

finding himself suddenly out of time, no longer confined to the earth plane. But the wisdom gained

is too much to be grasped, it flows through his fingers to be lost, like a drop in the ocean. ‘Thy

benevolence fil s my hands. In profusion it is pouring through my fingers. I shal not keep al .’ He is

unable to bring back that mystical, ecstatic vision, in order to aid others. At this stage of his

development, to be one of God’s messengers is too much to cope with, but he must not shy away

from labour, facing al obstacles in tireless self-training, one-pointedness and proceeding step-by-

step on the Path of Perfection.

‘Drops of Life’, 1924

In conclusion, the poem ‘To Him’:

‘Final y I found the hermit. You know how difficult it is to find here on earth a hermit. I asked him

whether he would show me the path and would he accept graciously my works?

He gazed a long time at me and asked what is the most loved that I have. “The most beloved?”

I answered, “Beauty it is.”

“The most beloved thou must leave.”

“Who commands it?” I asked.

“God,” answered the hermit.

“Let God punish me – I shal not leave the most beautiful that wil lead us to Him.” ’

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That was Roerich’s Gospel of Beauty. “Find God through beauty.” “Make the World beautiful.”

“Create beauty in yourselves.” He would readily disobey God’s commands rather than abandon the

commands of Beauty.

THE ROERICH PACT AND BANNER OF PEACE

In 1929 Roerich launched the Roerich Pact and Banner of Peace, and as a result he was nominated

for the Nobel Peace Prize. This unique project stipulated that al educational, artistic, scientific and

religious institutions, and al sites of cultural and historic significance and value, should be

recognised as inviolate and respected by al nations in times of war and peace. A treaty was

eventual y drawn up, hopeful y to be signed by al nations. It had great educational significance. “A

pact for protection of cultural treasures is not only needed as an official body,” said Roerich, “but as

an educational law that, from the very first school days, wil educate the young generation with

noble ideas of preservation of the whole of mankind’s true values.”

Roerich’s idea was later signed in the office of President

Roosevelt in the White House in Washington in 1935. At

first, 21 countries of the American continent ratified the

document. After the signing, Roosevelt said, in an

international broadcast: “It is most appropriate that on this

day, designated as Pan American Day by the chief executive

of al the republics of the American continent, the

governments (members of the Pan American Union) should

sign a treaty which marks a step forward in the

preservation of the cultural achievements of the nations of

this hemisphere. In opening this Pact to the adherence of

the nations of the world, we are endeavouring to make of

universal application one of the principles vital to the

preservation of modern civilisation. This treaty possesses a

spiritual significance far deeper than the text of the

instrument itself. Let us bring renewed al egiance to those

high principles of international co-operation and

helpfulness, which, I feel assured, wil be a great contri-

bution to civilisation by the Americas.”

Subsequently, in 1954 the Pact was placed at the very

foundation of The Hague ‘International Convention for the

Protection of Cultural Values in the Event of Armed

Conflict’. Roerich also suggested a special flag, the Banner of Peace, seen here in the painting

‘Madonna Oriflamma’ of 1932. Together with the motto ‘Pax Cultura’ it would mark al treasures of

culture and art as inviolable objects and has been cal ed the Red Cross of Culture. This symbol has

been found al over the world throughout history and contains three magenta spheres on a white

background enclosed in a circle. This sign of the triad is interpreted as a symbol of past, present and

future, enclosed in the ring of eternity. Others consider it as religion, science and art, held together

in the circle of culture, a medium for meditation. To this day, the flag waves above many cultural and

educational institutions in many countries.

How possible is it for the world’s nations to agree on international currency, free trade and

disarmament treaties? Efforts of this kind must continue but at times like these we should

endeavour to present, wherever we can do so, the ideal of the oneness of the human heart in its

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reverence for beauty, culture and education for al , thinking less about rights and more about duties

and the bonds that hold us together. In ‘Cultural Unity’ Roerich said: ‘Real Peace, Real Unity is

desired by the human heart. It strives to labour creatively and actively (as a) source of joy… The heart

speaks its own language; it wants to rejoice at that which is common to al , uplifts al and leads to

the radiant future. Al symbols and tablets of humanity contain one hieroglyph, the sacred prayer –

Peace and Unity.’

ROERICH’S HIMALAYAN PAINTINGS

Roerich’s mountain paintings are a constant focus for meditation, also creating a longing in the

viewer to experience the chal enge of gaining those heights, both physical y and spiritual y. At one

level the paintings are masterful studies in light and tone, at another one feels that the artist is

making an unprecedented effort to raise the thought of the world.

The Himalayan paintings number about 2,000 executed over 20 years, part of a staggering total of

around 7,000 pictures. For Roerich they were always a symbol of transcendence representing

regions he cal ed ‘the treasure house of the spirit’, and they forever present us with a profound

sense of peace. ‘Kanchenjunga’ from 1944 (below) means ‘The Five Treasures of the Great Snow’.

The painting has a peculiar radiance, an iridescence that is his alone; into it he has resolved

something of the light of his known world… other shores of the spirit.

So, like the pyramids, mountains are symbols of ascent from the earthly plane to the spiritual, and

mystics quite frequently use the analogy of mountaineering and spiritual ascent, speaking about

climbing to the heights, whilst depicting mountains as beautiful and uplifting emblems of the stable

and the eternal. St John of the Cross, the great Spanish mystic, wrote a work cal ed ‘The Ascent of

Mount Carmel’, describing the way of the mystic as the climbing of a mountain.

These summits symbolize a spiritual world accessible to those who are attuned to the higher

realities. In the words of Roerich, from his ‘Himalayas - Abode of Light’: ‘Al teachers journeyed

to

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the mountains. The highest knowledge, the most inspired songs, the most superb sounds

and

colours are created on the mountains. On the highest mountains there is the Supreme. The high

mountains stand as witnesses of the great reality. The spirit of prehistoric man already enjoyed the

greatness of the mountains.’ The paintings are meant to inspire and teach, uplift people and awaken

in them that quality of universality and our inner connection with it. A solitary mountain often

stands as a sentinel, a tower of strength over the countryside and, by contrast, val eys are low-lying,

at the opposite pole from the highlands. Most of us live in the ‘Vale of Tears’; al the hurry and

bustle takes place here below, where humanity is living largely at a lower level, engrossed in the

cares and high-speed living of the material world. But, as we are cal ed to the heights (on the path

to self-il umination) that which lies at a higher level within beckons, urging us to “be stil and know

that I AM God.”

But, as with mountain climbing, this new level cannot be reached directly; it demands effort and

some instruction on how to reach it, how to apply the given Truth, living it sincerely by one’s own

inner efforts. Then il umination wil take place on the Mountain of Vision, achieved through silence

and meditation after years of striving for the inner truth, applying the disciplines necessary to

correct the many errors before embarking on the next great step. But, on reaching the summit the

disciple looks around and – sure enough – there are even higher mountains to be climbed until he

reaches that Mount of Transfiguration (which means, in the Greek, metamorphosis or

transformation of form, going beyond ordinary form).

‘ Kanchenjunga’, 1936

Thus, transformation has often been described in terms of ascending a high mountain to show , as

Christ showed, that the transformation of Man is a reality, entirely possible. So we should let our

consciousness stretch to those great heights in the vast wilderness… let the mountains renew and

regenerate us, so that the energies from the mighty Mountain Devas may flow through us. Again,

the words of Nicholas Roerich: “Where can one have such joy as when the sun is upon the

Himalayas; when the blue is more intense than sapphires; when from the far distance, the glaciers

glitter as incomparable gems. Al religions, al teachings, are synthesized in the Himalayas…”

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An inner impulse irresistibly cal s people to the blessed path of self-denial and sacrifice but the

highest strivings of the spirit involves a cal to action. Like mountaineers we must surmount al

obstacles, building and joyful y creating for the welfare of al people and coming generations. The

great esoteric teaching, the Doctrine of Supreme Enlightenment (which is transcendental and

inconceivable) must be intuited, though it is understood completely by those yogis who dwel in the

heights, endowed with the highest serenity and al -pervading cosmic consciousness.

THE LAST YEARS AND THE TEACHINGS IN RUSSIA

The amount of material that was gathered during the Central Asian expedition had to be

systematized and studied, so in 1928 the Roerichs decided to settle at Naggar in the Kulu Val ey,

North India, at a height of 6,500 feet where Nicholas had bought an estate from the Raja of Mandi.

The Himalayan Research Institute they founded here was cal ed ‘Urusvati’, from the Sanskrit ‘Light of

the Morning Star’ whom the son George often cal ed Helena. The Institute translated rare ancient

books, collected the earliest art of the Asian peoples, studied Tibetan medicine, searched for cancer

cures, often carrying out archaeological excavations, and gathered botanical and zoological

specimens amongst many other enterprises.

‘Krishna (Spring in Kulu’), 1933

But it was not a region easily reached in those days; author Penelope Chetwode cal ed it ‘the end of

the habitable world’ and it involved crossing the plains of Haryana and Punjab, through steep hil s

outlying the Shivalik range, then winding one’s way through gorges along the Sutlej and Beas rivers

before reaching the narrow Kulu val ey. Final y, a path led to the estate from Naggar’s town centre

to where a signpost read: ROERICH MARG, with stone statues of important deities. Definitely no

place for the curious or idle, and not a retreat for rest and leisure but one for deep reflection on one

hand and intense creativity on the other, where one is immediately aware of an atmosphere of the

sacred. The background in the painting above is the view from Roerich’s studio window.

In 1934-5 Nicholas and George organised a further expedition to Manchuria and China. Most of the

family remained in Kulu until 1948, though the other son Svetoslav married the famous film

star/producer Devika Rani and moved with her to a suburb of Bangalore. India was always a second

homeland for the Roerichs and they were treated here with enormous respect. As the Secretary of

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the Institute remarked: “Roerich worked very conscientiously and methodical y… I never saw him

inactive, distracted or nervous.” The people he met on walks through the val ey cal ed him

‘Maharishi’, ‘guru’ or ‘Gurudeva’, and he was deemed wise or a prophet. He continued to paint to

his last days, always the mountains and holy places from his travels – monasteries, temples, deities,

yogis, hermits and lamas. The family often dreamed of returning to Russia, impossible because of

conditions in the Soviet Union, and Nicholas died in Kulu in 1947. On the spot of his funeral pyre,

facing magnificent snowy peaks, a big rectangular stone was instal ed on which the following

inscription was carved: ‘Here, on December 15th, 1947, the body of Maharishi Nicholas Roerich – a

great Russian friend of India – was committed to fire. Let there be peace’. His wife, and companion

for almost 50 years, declared: “he wil come back in a better time, to a purified world, and wil finish

his sowing and service to al humanity.” She would follow in 1955 .

But that was not the end of the story. After the passing of Svetoslav in 1993 new groups began to

appear claiming they were continuing the Roerichs’ mission by producing books on Agni Yoga, and

saying that those written by Helena had become obsolete (the same thing happened, of course, with

the works of Blavatsky and the earliest theosophical writers). One website creator also asserts that

he is a reincarnation of Roerich living in Siberia (how many times have we heard of people al eging

they are a reincarnation of Blavatsky?) There are also many spurious editions of the Agni Yoga books

now available with enticing, attractive promises for the reader and teachings ‘from the highest

source’. But we know that the Mahatmas have given out al that was permissible, though it is said

there are manuscripts of Helena Roerich’s not yet published. But how can the Ageless Wisdom

become obsolete? True, understanding of the Great Reality wil grow in the coming centuries as we

gradual y advance towards that Divine ideal of truth, beauty and perfection… through spiritual

development, creative ability and true brotherhood which are only achieved through many lifetimes.

Back in Russia the Soviets suppressed the Roerichs’ works because of the spiritual content (some

people actual y went to prison for owning them). But in the summer of 1989 things changed when

Svetoslav proposed to the Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, who had long been an admirer of

the Roerichs, the creation of a Nicholas Roerich Centre and Museum in Moscow, together with a

Foundation. When the building was finished Svetoslav presented the Russian people with paintings,

family archives and his mother’s manuscripts to be put on display.

Courtesy of International Centre, Moscow (Museum by the Name of Roerich)

In Russia today, amidst great confusion, crime and corruption, there are many groups functioning

from seeds sowed by the Roerichs, and I’ve been told there is no city without a Roerich study group,

with thousands reading the books of Living Ethics, and others by Roerich and Blavatsky.

The devotional feeling is very intense and the Roerich groups create their own specific goals. 5,000

copies of Helena’s Russian translation of ‘The Secret Doctrine’ were printed by the Adyar Vasanta

Press for distribution in Russia in 1991 and restoration work began at Isvara which now houses

paintings, photographs, documents and Roerich’s archaeological finds in the neighbourhood.

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Alongside the Roerich groups there was a recent First Congress of Russian theosophists in Novgorod,

where Roerich did much of his early work, and before it the Second Al -Russian Theosophical

Conference in Moscow, with a hundred delegates from twelve Russian cities. Thus the work

progresses, slowly and tirelessly; in Roerich’s own words: “The world is hastening towards

reconstruction. Human hearts are tired of wrath. We pass here for mutual labour, for knowledge, for

enlightenment. Let us then take hold of this Universal Light; let us achieve the transfiguration of the

world, the pre-ordained, the pre-destined.”

‘SHE WHO LEADS’: THE INFLUENCE OF

HELENA ROERICH

In Roerich’s iconography it is women who sustain universal

culture and bring peace – an outlook which completely

reflected Helena’s own point of view. As she wrote to a friend

in 1937: ‘… Woman should realise that she herself contains al

forces, and the moment she shakes off the age-old hypnosis

of her seemingly lawful subjugation and mental inferiority

and occupies herself with a manifold education, she wil

create in col aboration with man a new and better world…

Cosmos affirms the greatness of woman’s creative principle.

Woman is a personification of nature, and it is nature that

teaches man, not man nature. Therefore, may al women

realise the grandeur of their origin, and may they strive for

knowledge’ (‘Letters of Helena Roerich’, Vol. 2).

Many of Roerich’s paintings resulted from her visionary ideas

and intuition, depicted in the great female deities such as

‘She Who Leads’ (below), ‘Madonna Oriflamma’ and one of

Elena Ivanovna Roerich, painted by Valentin

Serov in 1909 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

his most inspiring images, ‘The Mother of the World’ (see the

following article). The union of Nicholas and Helena was a

lifetime’s collaboration, with mutual endeavours in the field of her Living Ethics, and she inspired

him throughout his life. He dedicated his books to his ‘wife, friend, travel ing companion, inspirer!

Together we worked, we studied, we broadened our consciousness.’

But although her creative work in compiling the books on Living Ethics was so important, to help

lead people to new heights of consciousness, she seemed very modest, a woman of feminine

delicacy, charm and refinement, her features remaining young over the years. Yet she always

displayed great courage in adversity. Whilst travel ing on horseback during the expedition, suffering

from frost and hunger, and with a weak heart, it was she who kept up the spirits of the others. As

Roerich said: “Al difficulties and dangers were overcome under her vigilance and guidance. Her

pulse was 140 but stil she

participated in settling al problems.

Nobody ever saw a sign of low

spirits or despair in her face… she

was always ready to support, to

cheer us up, to explain. You can’t

help wondering what gave her such

strength, particularly bearing in

mind her weak heart.” As their son

Svetoslav recollected : “Both in my

father and mother there was the

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unique balance and harmony of two perfectly synchronized beings who realised the great ideal of life

and lived their chosen path as a perfect example of dedication and fulfilment. Their radiant image

always remains my greatest inspiration, my great source of happiness.”

Helena was not without her critics and detractors. In Kulu some locals believed that she was the

sister of the last Russian Tsar, that she kept slaves and was the mother of a nest of spies for the

Americans. A scathing Internet article cal s her a false messenger of the Planetary Hierarchy, unable

to convey knowledge, clarity of concepts or mental perspectives. But she wouldn’t have let al this

undermine her mission of conveying the Teachings in the 13 Agni Yoga books, the first one, ‘Leaves

of Morya’s Garden’, having been written in 1924 in America. Other books appeared using

pseudonyms, showing her modesty, and the two volumes of Letters were written through the years

to friends and aspirants al over the world. Many of these were concerned with the advancement of

women, resulting in her often being label ed a feminist, but she was much more than this.

‘There exists a most ancient saying,’ she wrote, ‘Where women are revered and safeguarded,

prosperity reigns and the gods rejoice. The New Epoch under the rays of Uranus wil bring the

renaissance of women. The Epoch of Maitreya is the Epoch of the Mother of the World…’ She said of

herself: ‘I am fond of the word ‘warrior’ and admire every heroic and courageous deed… Every

mother must bring up her children in the spirit of great deeds, heroism and self-denial for the

General Good… Courage and fearlessness are the qualities which a disciple of the Masters of Light

should develop… The approaching great Epoch is closely connected with the ascendancy of woman…

to offer woman her rightful place alongside her fel ow-travel er and co-worker... Remember that the

grandeur of the Cosmos is built by the dual Origin… The woman who strives to knowledge and

beauty, who realises her lofty responsibility, wil greatly uplift the whole level of life and transmute

the spiritual life of mankind…

‘The mother, the life-giver, the life-protector – let her become also

the Leader, the Al -Giver, the Al -Receiver. Where there is

knowledge there is power. Ancient legends attribute to woman the

role of the guardian of sacred knowledge. The Teaching says:

“Woman, who gives life to people, has the right to govern their

destiny. We want to see woman taking part in government, in the

councils of ministers, in al constructive activity… It is woman’s

intuition which should, again, as in the better periods of history,

lead humanity on the path of progress… In the entire Cosmos there

is no passive element. In the chain of creation each manifestation

in its turn becomes relatively passive or active, giving or receiving.

Cosmos affirms the greatness of woman’s creative principle.”’

Many of these pronouncements show that Helena was, indeed, a

forerunner of the movement for female equality, though her brand of ‘women’s rights’ was never

associated with the more bizarre elements in the later 20th-century. She declared: “The first task is

to insist in al countries upon ful rights and equal education… to develop thinking faculties and

realise woman’s great destiny as a bearer of the higher energy. But she should not limit her self-

sacrifice to the narrow concept of home life, but apply it on a world-scale.”

It is interesting to note that the three main people who have conveyed the esoteric teachings were

al women: H.P. Blavatsky, Alice A. Bailey and Helena Roerich, each with a common purpose – to

end separation, create brotherhood in humanity and help develop the freedom necessary to pursue

spiritual goals, in order to learn the necessary techniques needed to communicate with the Higher

Forces in the Cosmos. The Roerich family, inspired and led by Helena, was a prototype of a family of

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the future when the spiritualisation of everyday life wil become an integral part of a way of life.

Then a family wil be able, like the Roerichs, to fulfil creative accomplishments and increase the level

of consciousness in many people around them.

‘THE MOTHER OF THE WORLD’

Besides the Himalayas, a powerful concept influencing Roerich’s paintings relates to the idea of ‘The

Mother of the World’, which in India is associated with Sita or Durga as Jagatjanani. ‘The New

Epoch,’ said Helena, ‘must manifest due respect to the Mother of the World, to the Feminine

element. “The bird of the spirit of Humanity cannot fly with only one wing” – these are the words of

Vivekananda, who meant to affirm the great significance of the Feminine Principle… The star of the

Mother of the World is the planet Venus. In 1924 this planet for a short time came unusual y near,

pouring its rays on Earth and creating new powerful and sacred combinations to yield great results.

Feminine movements were kindled by these powerful rays.’

Many regard the World Mother as an exalted office in the Hierarchy, functioning at the planetary

and cosmic levels and held in the past by a number of entities, such as the Egyptian goddess Isis.

Thus The Mother is one of many archetypes through which the Divine Feminine has manifested, and

she is described as expressing beauty, tenderness, grace, sacrifice, purity and joy. She is also

involved in service to humanity and the natural world through her nurturing qualities, always

inspiring people to undertake world service. Greater awareness of the Divine Feminine emerged

with the appearance of H.P. Blavatsky, Mary Baker Eddy, Helena Roerich, Dion Fortune and Alice Ann

Bailey – those at the forefront of the esoteric teachings. Helena Roerich in particular was influenced

in her early years by the reverential tradition of Sophia, the expression of Divine Wisdom in the

Russian Orthodox Church.

In the painting she is veiled, to conceal the

mysteries as yet unrevealed to humanity, but

now is the time for it to be lifted and for her to

participate in human affairs this century. In

1928 Annie Besant declared March 24th (the

Feast of the Annunciation) to be World Mother

Day, whilst Geoffrey Hodson described her as

an archangel, the embodiment on earth of the

Feminine Aspect of the Deity and an Adept in

the Inner Government of the World…

womanhood and motherhood in their ful est

perfection, whilst undertaking the role of the

birth of Christ consciousness and a new World

Order of environmental and social harmony.

Now there are almost 80,000 Internet websites

devoted to her. Roerich’s blues here are the

tone of eternity, explained by the Byzantine

Church Fathers as a yearning for heavenly joys,

and the figure displays the light-bearing

essence which radiates from within her. She is

enclosed in a cloak embroidered with flora and

fauna, highlighting her concern for the natural

world, and she is cushioned on a semi-circular

stone throne. The river of life flows beneath

her and her hands are formed in prayer. Tiny

figures of light (golden bodhisattvas) twinkle like stars in the background and two females kneel in

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adoration before her – one Western, the other Eastern as symbols of unity. As Roerich said: “To

both East and West, the image of the Great Mother is the bridge of ultimate unification.”

ROERICH ON THE POWER OF ART

‘Tibet’, 1933

‘Art will unify al humanity. Art is one – indivisible. Art has its many branches, yet al are

one. Art is the manifestation of the coming synthesis, Art is for al . Everyone will enjoy

true art. The Gates of the ‘Sacred Source’ must be wide open for everybody, and the light

of art will influence numerous hearts with a new love. At first this feeling wil be

unconscious, but after al it wil purify human consciousness. How many young hearts are

searching for something real and beautiful! So, give it to them. Bring art to the people –

where it belongs. We should have not only museums, theatres, universities, public

libraries, railway stations, and hospitals, but even prisons decorated and beautified. Then

we shal have no more prisons.

‘The values of great art are victoriously traversing al storms of earthly commotions. Even

the ‘earthly’ people already understand the vital importance of active beauty. And when

we proclaim: Love, Beauty, and Action, we know verily that we pronounce the formula of

the international language. And this formula, which now belongs to the museum and

stage, must enter everyday life. The sign of beauty wil open al sacred gates. Beneath the

sign of beauty we walk joyful y. With beauty we conquer, through beauty we pray, in

beauty we are united. And now we pronounce these words – not on the snowy heights,

but amidst the turmoil of the city. And realising the path of true reality, we greet with a

happy smile the future.’ – Nicholas Roerich Over two thousand years ago, Plato gave us this message:

‘From beautiful images we shal go to beautiful thoughts,

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from beautiful thoughts to a beautiful life,

and from a beautiful life to absolute beauty.’

THEOSOPHY AND AGNI YOGA

by Natalia Kovaliova, PhD

This Russian author of numerous writings on Agni Yoga, Theosophy and Helena & Nicholas Roerich is also a

member of the Russian Theosophical Society. This is a shortened version of her Website article.

About thirty-five years after the publication of ‘The Secret Doctrine’, the Roerich family set about

recording the new teaching, which continues to explain the main themes of Theosophy, but in a

rather different, more practical manner. This teaching became known as Agni Yoga or Living Ethics.

Master M. transmitted the teaching to Helena Ivanovna Roerich, and it was recorded by her in 1924-

1938. Subsequently, in letters to her followers, Helena Roerich wrote multi-volume comments and

explanations on the Agni Yoga Teaching, which is now extremely popular in Russia.

The close link between Theosophy and Agni Yoga is beyond doubt: the same concepts and principles,

the same methods, the same interpretation of the most important metaphysical laws. In the words

of M.: “One may wel ask what the connection is between our new Teaching and our previous

Teaching that we handed down via Blavatsky. Tel everybody that every hundred years, after the

emergence of a profound revelation, a final culmination is granted, which actual y moves the world

along a more human path. Thus our new teaching completes Blavatsky’s ‘Secret Doctrine’. This was

the case when Christianity served as a culmination for the universal wisdom of the classical world,

and the commandments of Moses served as a culmination for the wisdom of ancient Egypt and

Babylon. It is only necessary to understand the significance of key teachings. The only thing we

desire is that people should not only read our books, but that they should accept them immediately,

since I am very concise regarding what has to be remembered.” (‘The Fiery World’, Part 2, 79)

The connection can be seen from the themes highlighted in the two Teachings: Theosophy explains

the theoretical basis of the Mahatmas’ Teachings, ontology, cosmogony, philosophical anthropology

and the teaching of evolution. The Agni Yoga Teaching examines the practical aspects of spiritual

self-improvement; this Teaching is significantly devoted to ethics and psychology. Furthermore, if

Theosophy, by virtue of its metaphysical depth and complexity, was original y geared towards

society’s intel ectual élite, the Agni Yoga Teaching (with the exception, perhaps, of the complex

book ‘Infinity’) is accessible to a wider section of society. The basic philosophical/ethical principles of

this Teaching are described in a fashion reminiscent of the Jataka – a type of ancient Indian

philosophical literature that refers to fables and parables that are accessible to people of any level of

development (this type of teaching – i.e. speaking about complicated things in a simple way – was

especial y peculiar to Ramakrishna).

In the books there is no traditional classification of material in terms of specific problems or issues,

and there are no chapters or sections. The books (with the exception of the two volumes of the first

book of the Living Ethics – ‘Leaves of Morya’s Garden’) are divided into paragraphs, each of which is

devoted to one, two or three topics. Agni Yoga is characterised by a unique way of explaining

material, which its authors describe as ‘spiral’. The texts represent a series of specific themes and

problems, which are examined from various viewpoints in separate paragraphs. Furthermore, with

each new paragraph material that is devoted to some specific concept or theme subsequently

becomes more complex and profound. It is obvious that the purpose of this textual structure is to

strive to adapt rather complex philosophical material to the consciousness of a reader who does not

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have any special training in the sphere of esoteric, Indo-Tibetan philosophy. The sequence of

Teaching and the gradual complication of the structured material thus correspond to the universal

principle of any teaching system – from the simple to the complex. Agni Yoga says the following

about this system of explaining materials: ‘the spiral reading of books on the Teaching – when these

books should be read one after the other in sequential order – is more productive, since in such

instances the consciousness fol ows a pattern of growth and deepened understanding of the

Teaching’ (‘Facets of Agni Yoga’). Furthermore, the sequence of specific themes and concepts in the

texts creates a particular state of consciousness in the reader’s mind, which activates his/her

spiritual intuition. One of the specific features that characterises the internal structure of the Agni

Yoga texts is their semantic significance and – if we can put it this way – multi-layered structure.

Each paragraph comprises a number of levels of understanding of the problems considered – from

the most simple, superficial level to the most profound, which embodies a sacred, esoteric meaning.

Accordingly, every reader is able to interpret the knowledge set out at the level which corresponds

to his personal spiritual and intel ectual development.

The reason for presenting the material in this way is to ensure that the most sacred aspects of the

Teaching reveal themselves and become more accessible each time he/she re-reads the Agni Yoga

books. In the foreword to the first book, ‘Leaves of Morya’s Garden: The Cal ing’, it says: ‘Dear

reader, if you don’t understand, wait a while and then read again.’ Nevertheless, the information

which has not been stored in the conscious mind is a property of the ‘super-conscious’ level of

understanding. Moreover, the intuitive-spiritual origin of humankind, without our being aware of it,

assimilates the received information and, thanks to this process, what the reader cannot understand

at the first impression may become accessible with repeated readings. Then he/she may feel to be

encountering the texts for the first time, or has somehow missed out some paragraph in the book

during that initial reading.

It is said in the Living Ethics Teaching: ‘You can read this teaching many times, and as your

consciousness expands, you can find ever newer thoughts in it: even if the consciousness has been

able to expand to some degree since the last reading, something completely new wil always be

found. If the consciousness has not expanded, but remained at the same level, any subsequent

reading wil yield nothing, and it won’t be interesting to read it. Therefore, when your spirit is

growing, every time you re-read the Teaching, it wil provide you with ever-newer revelations’

(‘Facets of Agni Yoga’).

Though it focuses general y on ethics and psychology, the Agni Yoga Teaching nevertheless presents

very diverse themes (as is the case with Theosophy). Among the themes that are particularly

interesting and topical for the modern reader, one might mention changes to the human Race, the

higher energy centres of consciousness, contacts (both conscious and unconscious) with the Subtle

World, the psycho-energetic potential of consciousness, and the spiritual aspects of creativity. But

probably the most fascinating topic described in detail in Agni Yoga is the spiritual activity of the

White Brotherhood. In theosophical literature this theme has been hardly touched upon, since at

that time the Mahatmas themselves did not reveal this topic. Even Blavatsky herself did not

general y write about the supernatural abilities of the Adepts, but this topic, not revealed to a wide

readership, was unexpectedly written about in detail in the Agni Yoga Teaching, in the two last and

largest volumes (from the whole series – The Brotherhood and Supermundane, which were

dedicated to that mysterious Retreat, Shambhala). The information contained in these two books is

truly unique. If you wish to appreciate its merits, you have to read them yourself: simply to say that

the information given is enthral ing is to state nothing …

One other theme – which is perhaps the most topical in a social sense – is the period of cosmic-

planetary change, to which we wil become witnesses in the near future. Since the theme of the

21

imminent Apocalypse has been discussed in society for many years, I would like to mention briefly

the views of the Agni Yoga writers on this issue. According to the Teaching, the new cosmic period,

which began at the turn of the third mil ennium, wil be characterized by unusual astronomical

phenomena that wil , in turn, result in sudden changes to the natural environment. As far back as

1934, Elena Roerich wrote: ‘Cosmic cataclysms occur as the result of a deviation to the earth’s axis.

Today, scientists are able to record with considerable accuracy this ever-continuing deviation, which

stil threatens to cause disasters’. A number of modern astronomers and physicists consider that the

effect on the earth of this so-cal ed ‘parade of the planets’ began to make itself felt in the second

half of 2003, and that future consequences of this phenomenon wil be ever more severe. The result

of the new astronomical position of the planets wil be serious natural and cosmic changes, first of

al a change to the tilt of the earth’s axis. And in both ancient prophesies and in the forecasts of

modern specialists, it is claimed that this process wil result in the north and south poles changing

position. The celestial map (i.e. the location of the constel ations above the planet) wil also change,

and new celestial bodies wil come closer to the Earth. As a result, the Earth’s electro-magnetic field

wil become ful of new, super-powerful cosmic forces, which wil be a new phenomenon for the

Earth’s inhabitants.

How wil the new energy affect people? It is claimed in the Agni Yoga teaching that its effect on each

specific individual wil be determined by the moral-spiritual level of his/her development. This

conclusion may seem strange to many people, but according to esoteric doctrines of the East,

everything in the world constitutes, first and foremost, various types of energy. Human

consciousness is also a type of energy field, which may or may not correspond to energies reaching

our planet from space. The thoughts and feelings of people are basical y energy-bearing, and this

Agni Yoga axiom has been confirmed by modern science. Such thoughts and feelings are not only

weak electrical brain impulses, but also the result of powerful cosmic energies that accumulate in

the human bio-field and in the aura of the whole planet. The qualitative nature of people’s thought

energies (and at the same time their impact on the whole environment) is determined by the moral

content of their thinking. An altruistic frame of mind, a striving towards goodness, love and mutual

assistance are liable to help people and al living things on the planet. Self-perfection and following

high moral ideals engender in the human micro-cosmos high-vibrational and pure energy, like the

type of energy reaching the Earth from space. On the other hand, base and selfish thoughts and

feelings in a spiritual sense are at a low vibrational level, the diametric opposite of the new cosmic

energies.

It is explained in Agni Yoga that new energies may be assimilated (i.e. taken in and processed in an

individual’s micro-cosmos) only by spiritual y developed people, whose bodies and bio-poles have

not been contaminated by negative psycho-energies. People whose consciousness radiates positive,

high-vibrational thought-energy into their surroundings wil be spiritual y prepared to assimilate new

cosmic influences. But individuals that have brought negative karma upon themselves, i.e. selfish

and immoral people, risk becoming the victims of new il nesses that are unknown to medical

science. The cause of these il nesses wil be the elementary conflict between high-vibrational cosmic

energy, which reaches this planet, and low-vibrational energies in the human aura. In the ancient

prophesies the highest cosmic energy was cal ed ‘the Fire’ (in Sanskrit ‘Agni’, which also gave the

Agni Yoga teaching its name). Pneumonia, which has recently afflicted a number of countries and, as

scientists have warned, wil definitely return, is one type of particularly dangerous fiery il ness that

the authors of the Living Ethics warned humanity about. In Agni Yoga, this il ness is cal ed ‘plague of

the lungs’ and has afflicted the planet on more than one occasion, thus preparing the consciousness

for the possibility of a disaster. Strange types of cough that you’ve heard about are also similar to

this il ness. Everywhere the il ness affects children, adults and even animals. But people do not want

to pay heed to this preparatory manifestation of a terrible disaster. They superficial y regard it as any

22

one of a number of diverse il nesses, rather than considering it as anything unusual, but it was

mentioned in the Agni Yoga books as far back as 1933…

It is possible that the ancient tales of a purifying cosmic fire blazing down onto the Earth to destroy

al evil and to free the Earth from depravity are not as naïve as they appear at first glance. It

sometimes merely suffices to substitute the word ‘energy’ for ‘fire’ for the purpose of

comprehending the ancient philosophical writings in scientific terms. So this very factor – the

emergence of new cosmic energies in the planet’s aura – wil be the main reason for natural

cataclysms, which wil be inevitable during the change of cosmic eras. Most people don’t even

suspect that it’s not just physical factors – i.e. global warming, climate change etc. – that play a very

important role in upsetting the balance of nature: psycho-energy factors also play their part. The

energy of negative thoughts and feelings, when radiated into space by human beings, de-stabilizes

the Earth’s aura, which in the end results in even more catastrophic ecological disasters…

earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, regular floods, unusual y powerful and frequent hurricanes, terrible

forest fires, unprecedented variations in the climate, etc.

As explained in the Agni Yoga teaching, negative thoughts and feelings have led to a stifling

accumulation of negative energy in the Earth’s aura. The emergence in this aura of high-vibration

cosmic energies which are not compatible with humanity’s low-vibration psychic energies wil result

in an even greater upset to the balance of natural phenomena – mainly unprecedented seismic

activity and, as a result, dangerous natural cataclysms. Therefore, the Authors of the Living

Ethics think that the most ‘striking feature’ of the Apocalypse wil not be natural changes in the

environment, but rather the low level of spiritual development of the greater part of humanity,

which may result in cataclysms and deaths of a huge number of people.

At the same time, as the writers of the Teaching emphasize, it would be a mistake only to see the

negative aspect of the changes faced by our planet. The Living Ethics, unlike religious teachings, do

not consider the period of transition from one Cosmic Era to another to be the ‘end of the world’.

The Mahatmas state that the emergence of a new energy in the Earth’s aura wil purge the planet of

anti-evolutionary forces and bring about a new, progressive era in the development of both the

planet and humanity. According to Agni Yoga, after the period of global, natural and social-spiritual

changes that face society, the new bright epoch of Satya Yuga wil come into being. To sum up, it

must be stated clearly that, in bestowing their teaching on the world, the Mahatmas wanted, first

and foremost, to warn humanity about impending natural changes and thereby to help people to

survive a difficult time of transition from one Cosmic Era to another. For this very reason, Agni Yoga

has a very clear, practical purpose and any new Teaching of the Mahatmas is intimately linked with

Theosophy and needs to be assimilated by theosophists. (Courtesy of Urednik-Editor, see

webmaster@teozofija.info)

23

‘Maitreya’, 1932

ROERICH’S ‘THE BURNING OF DARKNESS’

This is one of many paintings in which a Casket is depicted. In a beautiful landscape of deep blues

we see a ritual with three Mahatmas present – perhaps indicative of the Three Major Rays (of Wil –

Love – Wisdom). The figures have descended a row of steps leading down from the cave. In the sky

we see the constel ation of Orion. The scene itself is where the Star Sirius would be. This could be a

hint that the ritual is taking place here because Sirius is connected with the spiritual Hierarchy of the

White Lodge, according to H.P. Blavatsky and Alice Bailey. The casket contains treasures, the most

obvious of which is the radiating light that il umines the darkness. The ancients linked the fire sign of

Leo to the heart whilst the Tibetans associate the heart chakra to the element of Fire – or Agni in

the Vedic tradition. In a Gnostic vein, within the ‘cave of the heart’ the Christ Child is born; that is,

within the Heart Chakra the birth of the spiritual Light of Divine Love takes place, il uminating our

own darkness alongside the darkness of the outer world.

24

The constel ation of Orion is low down in the sky, which is the position where it was worshipped in

Egypt as being the beginning of its cycle. Orion is also one of the two constel ations that the Great

Pyramid is oriented towards. The casket contains sacred gifts from another world that wil doubtless

assist in the burning of darkness (perhaps even this dark Kali Yuga Age) in order that there can be an

entry point for these supermundane energies to enter into the consciousness of earth’s humanity.

The coming New World Teacher Maitreya, some say, also comes from Sirius.

One of the figures in the group has a beard, very similar to that of Roerich himself. Yet another looks

distinctly feminine, possibly intimating that during their trans-Himalayan journey the Roerichs were

present at such a profound ritual. The landscape and the night sky merge into one, which might be a

subtle way of informing us that this event is either at one with the Cosmic Divine Wil , or that visitors

and spiritual vibrations from Sirius have manifested here on earth. The colour blue, meanwhile,

awakens religious feelings whilst also conveying a beautiful deep peace of the spirit. The treasure

valued by the creators of the casket is that of spiritual light… divine fire… agni, over and above

material or worldly treasures. With the birth of the cosmic fire within our hearts, we may each act to

broadcast the light from the spiritual realms and thus raise the vibrations of this dark planet.

So mote it be. – Frank Perry

ROERICH’S PHILOSOPHY OF FIRE

The ancient Slavs conceived human origin as being from fire – with the sun, the mountain top and

fire pictured as the cauldron from which has sprung the Slav Race. Roerich had a similar approach in

his artworks, saying “Create in flame as nature creates,” which determined his thoughts and

attitudes. “Even the Lord of Shambhala is a Fiery Mover of Life and of the Fire of the Mother of the

World,” he declared. “His Breath glows with flame and His Heart burns with the fire of the Silvery

Lotus.”

Every Eastern country shares the thought of fiery gods and

heroes. The Persians had Mithras, the Egyptians their solar

god Horus, the Greeks Apollo with his aureole of golden

hair and whose chariot was the sun. Pythagoras said ‘The

body of God is composed of the substance of light,’ whilst

Vishnu was the Hindu sun god and the Armenians had a

fire god named Mihr, with their hero King Vahagn said to

have been born out of a flaming lake, his name coming

from the Sanskrit Vah (to bring) and agni (fire). In the Rig-

Veda the god Agni, with flaming hair and golden beard, is

born from the rising sun to the accompaniment of thunder

and lightning, and in the cults of Zoroaster there is

represented the Chalice with a flame, the same flaming

chalice that was engraved upon the ancient Hebrew silver

shekels in the time of Solomon. In the book ‘Altai-

Himalaya’ Roerich observed how Hindu excavations have

revealed the same powerful y stylized image, with the

‘Fiery Thoughts’, 1930, courtesy of Chitra

Art Gal ery, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala,

Bodhisattvas seen holding the chalice blossoming with

India

tongues of flame, reminding one of the Druid Chalice of

Life and the Holy Grail, al in the language of pure fire. This is not something abstract, living only in

the mind and reason, but in the heart as something vital and life-bearing… ‘Agni Omniscient and al -

ascending, al -penetrating, and before which human word is superfluous.’ (‘Realm of Light’, p. 2).

25

These legends and ancient philosophies were the inspiration for so many of Roerich’s paintings, not

imitating nature like the academic Western artists but taking the Eastern approach, seeing the

reality behind the appearance and opening the soul to beauty, to become one with nature. He

produced scenes that are recognisable but have become entirely new creations, beauty by

suggestion. In a passage from an Essay, ‘Nicholas Roerich’, Garabed Paelian declares: ‘One does not

tire of the presence of such a painting, for its value increases with the owner’s relative spiritual

development… That which it expresses is limited to no race or country. Such vision can have no

boundaries (and belongs) to humanity.’

Dale Jordan, writing in ‘Meditation Monthly International’ in June 1994, had this to say about the

Philosophy of Fire. ‘Spiritual y, the fiery forces of our being do reflect a minute portion of the

transcendent radiance and ineffable luminosity of the central Al -Consuming-Fire that God is said to

be… since we are, in fact, such sparks in the Great Flame of life… Evolving artistic awareness can

bestow receptivity to Beauty, which leads us to the higher worlds and adds fuel to our spiritual Fire…

In the Teachings of Living Ethics, or Agni Yoga, it is written, ‘the pledge of happiness for humanity lies

in beauty. Hence, We assert Art to be the highest stimulus for the regeneration of the spirit.’ Art

remains essential y spiritual. It can awaken our longing for Beauty, for the Highest. The greatest

significance of Art is its ability to bring the human consciousness closer to the comprehension of

Beauty’.

Agni stands for both creative and destructive spiritual fire, and the practice of Agni Yoga, or fiery

yoga, is a method to bring spiritual fire into consciousness. It is also about the power of thought —

that energy underlying al energy, the most powerful force in the Universe. The Fiery World,

sometimes cal ed the Highest World, is the world of the Spirit, the realm beyond the astral. Fiery

energy is accumulated through striving toward perfection and devotion. The accumulation of

fiery, or spiritual energy, makes possible ascension into the higher spheres.

The practice of Agni Yoga brings spiritual consciousness into the moment. But there are no mantras,

asanas, or meditations, and there is no teacher or Master. Helena Roerich wrote: ‘Many are stil

convinced that it is permissible to approach the higher Sources through dead rituals and repetitions

of senseless mantrams [whose] value lies only in rhythm. Nothing external, without the inner striving,

can be of real value. Rituals, if they are beautiful, can assist in creating a certain exalted mood, but it

is impossible to look upon them as an independent, self-sufficient condition for spiritual ascent.’

‘Burning of Darkness’ (above) shows the

sacred fire being carried from inside the

mountain, and ‘Treasure of the World –

Chintamani’ of 1924 similarly il ustrates

Roerich’s belief in the Divine fire (Agni). We

see a pony transporting the sacred stone

Chintamani down a mountain pass, with the

surroundings il uminated by the casket’s

bril iant blue flame. As the Tibetan legend

declares, this is the preparation for the New

Era when human consciousness wil be

il umined and the army of Rigden Djapo,

Ruler of Shambhala, working under the

Banner of Light, wil defeat the forces of

darkness. But the story behind this image

now takes a mysterious and fantastic turn, especial y when Roerich was determined to carry this

26

stone, or ‘wish-fulfil ing jewel’ (spoken of in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions) into the heart of

Central Asia during the expedition, and he also believed it to be of extra-terrestrial origin.

When, in 1912, Roerich had presented ‘A Kiss to the Earth’ (with the large oak tree – see above) as

the design for Act One’s setting of ‘The Rite’ it was criticised by Diaghilev. So Roerich chose instead a

background of the sacred stone of the elders with its large boulder… very similar to the one found in

Mongolia known as ‘The Silver Camel’ or ‘Saddle’, showing that he had seen photographs of this

large stone, general y identified as moldavite, a large meteorite that had fal en to earth many

centuries ago. So was the

Chintamani Stone a fragment of a

large meteorite? In Frank Perry’s

commentary on ‘Burning of

Darkness’, the Star Sirius was

mentioned and legend has it that

emissaries from that system came

to Earth many thousands of years

ago and presented the Stone to

the current Ruler of Shambhala,

intent upon promoting a

civilisation based on unity, love

and equality.

With Helena’s psychic guidance Roerich discovered a Sanskrit message engraved upon it, which was

translated to read: ‘Through the Stars I come. I bring the chalice covered with the shield. With it I

bring a treasure, the gift of Orion.’ Roerich had heard from his guides on the expedition many stories

about treasures from the dawn of history secreted in the mountain fastnesses, and the guides also

believed that such a stone could increase a person’s ‘higher vibrationary rate’ to al ow him or her to

see into the past and the future. But wherever the truth lies, in order to separate fact from fantasy

and legend, a further mystery remains: did Roerich reach Shambhala or only Shigatse’s Tashilumpo

Monastery, the headquarters of the Panchen Lama and the location where Blavatsky had studied

with the Masters? Yet another legend states that there are many underground tunnels connecting

the Monastery with Shambhala and the Great White Brotherhood, a legend depicted in other

paintings by Roerich.

You may ask, quite rightly, how can we possibly pursue further lines of inquiry, when so much in the

Teaching lies beyond the ordinary, everyday, mundane way of thinking? Meanwhile the stone given

to Roerich in 1923 (possibly by a member of the League of Nations, with an interest in a united

world free of hatred and warfare) appears to have travel ed with them, perhaps acting as an

inspiration or even an ‘instrument’ for Helena’s psychic work during their travels, and to

communicate with the Master Morya. Certainly Roerich had great belief in the talismanic powers of

sacred stones in his life’s work to aid humanity, believing this one to be charged with psychic force

to increase spiritual vitality. He believed, too, when he heard the constant cries from monks

encountered in Tibet and Mongolia: “It is the time of Shambhala!” , that Rigden Djapo would, with

his forces, somehow bring about a transformative process to destroy evil, using the power

emanating from Shambhala to further the evolution of al life on this planet, leading to the dawn of a

New Age for mankind when the ethical ideas in the Teachings wil be established and a new

consciousness wil come into being. Many people today are working with those ideas, so the

paintings, as wel as the Agni Yoga teachings, are there to inspire, uplift and help establish this

transformation.

27

‘Book of Wisdom’, 1924

A TESTIMONIAL

Yet again we are turning the pages of the books of Agni Yoga. Like many times before, at significant

moments in our personal lives or in the world around us, we are searching in these books for solace,

encouragement and wisdom. And we are finding al we searched for and much more. This

Yoga operates with the finest fiery energy of the universe, Agni (see Roerich’s 1929 painting below).

Agni Yoga is a teaching of spiritual philosophy, of a synthesis that embraces science, ethics, art and

culture, as Oriental as Western from the point of view of esoteric knowledge. It gives a multi-faceted

view of life on Earth as in different places and

dimensions of the universe, and it lights up many

aspects of universal Truth. The very goal of Agni

Yoga is to show us the way of inner transformation

and evolution into the higher states of spirituality.

Just open any of the books and find advice on your

spiritual path, on health and spiritual practice, on a

possible psychological problem with explanations

on how it is connected with the current world

condition, and much more.

Agni Yoga doesn’t feed us with niceties, but we can

find answers to a lot of our questions. It is a

rigorous teaching of selflessness, courage,

compassion and sacrifice, also of collaboration and

co-creation, of collective action and personal

heroism, of scientific discoveries and self-discovery,

of aspiration and achievement. ‘Understand the

28

beneficence of fiery joy. It expands the consciousness, and draws al the best accumulations toward

itself, as a fiery magnet. The essence of man is transformed and his outworn nature is burned away’

(‘Supermundane’ IV).

This is a teaching of esoteric science, with its strict laws and mechanisms, with the abundance of

treasures of wisdom here and there. And the Heart Chalice behind the physical heart, ful of Love

energy, is proclaimed as the source of everything a human being is able to achieve. Agni Yoga also

gives us some glimpses into the future of humanity, and it is of particular interest because the

Master is speaking from the strata of existence where time is different than here in our solid world

and it al ows him to see the future much more clearly than us, though we also have the potential to

become conscious observers and co-creators of the future. However, ‘only devotion and

understanding of the wisdom of the Plan insure the reality of the pictures of the future’ (‘Leaves of

Morya’s Garden, Il umination’ ). Understanding of the Plan helps us to become aware of the

wholeness and meaningfulness of our life in its past, present and future.

It is impossible to review al aspects of Agni Yoga, but there is a possibility for everyone to read and

enjoy it in its ful ness, either as a hard copy or by downloading it from the webpage of the Agni

Yoga Society (www.agniyoga.org). We highly recommend these books for anyone interested in understanding the working of the world.

–– Roza and Margarita Riaikkenen

MAITREYA SANGHA

On the book covers of al the Agni Yoga books you wil

find this inscription, Maitreya Sangha, which is no mere

decorative ornament and appeared for the first time in

the fourth book, ‘Agni Yoga’ of 1929. Helena Roerich, in

a 1934 letter, wrote of how Gautama Buddha, speaking

to Ananda, his disciple, said: “I am neither the first

Buddha to come on the Earth nor wil I be the last… At

the right time another Buddha, an incomparable leader

of mankind, a ruler over heaven and earth… wil put his

law into force. His disciples wil number many

thousands. He wil be known as Maitreya.”

So already Buddha announced the future Maitreya and

al over the world we find myths, doctrines and

prophecies with the same theme – al talking of a

hidden kingdom from which a god-like redeemer wil

come forth in a dark period when discord and

destruction have brought about an unbearable state in

the world. Many of Roerich’s paintings and writings

point the way to this event… how the Hindus await Kalki Avatara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who, on

a white horse, wil destroy the wicked with a flaming sword and restore Dharma; how the Tibetans

and Mongolians are awaiting Gesar, the future hero and deliverer associated with Shambhala.

The Vishnu Purana describes the drastic state of affairs, identified as the Kali Yuga or end times, and

one can easily recognise our present time and the alarming circumstances al over the world being

spoken of here: ‘Prosperity and devoutness wil decrease day by day until the world has been

completely ruined. Possessions alone wil decide rank. Only riches can ensure devotion. Passion wil

29

be the only link between the sexes, falsity the only way to success. Women wil be degraded to

objects of lust.’ But the teaching tel s us that ‘when the practices taught by the Vedas and the

institutes of law shal have nearly ceased, an aspect of that Divine Being who exists in the character

of Brahma shal descend upon the earth. By his irresistible might he wil destroy… al whose minds

are devoted to iniquity. He wil then re-establish righteousness and the minds of those who live at the

end of the Kali Age shal be awakened, and shal be as pel ucid as crystal.’

Maitreya, ‘The Loving One’, is expected as the final earthly Buddha. When wil that be? ‘The Secret

Doctrine’ says: ‘This belief and this expectation are widely spread throughout the East. But a new

saviour wil never appear in Kali Yuga, our present terribly materialistic age of darkness, the black

age.’ So opinions differ but the Living Ethics speak of the Age of Maitreya, the Age of the Struggle,

and that no other name wil evoke as many attacks as that of Maitreya because it is associated with

the future. On many effigies his feet are on the ground, indicating his readiness to appear as the

coming Teacher of the World.

So what does ‘Maitreya Sangha’ mean? Literal y translated in the Hindu tradition Sangha means

crowd or throng; that is, a group gathering around a Master to attain spiritual knowledge and

realization of the highest truth. In Buddhism Sangha stands for the Buddhist community to which

both monks and nuns, as wel as novices and lay followers, belong so that Maitreya Sangha means

‘Maitreya’s Community’. The present teaching emphasizes the importance of fel owship and

community to accelerate the evolution of the planet and the conquest of matter. ‘The basis of

community is scientifical y confirmed, and each principle expressed by a community wil be activated

by conformity with the World Community… One must reorganise al human undertakings in order

that the consciousness may approach the Community of the World… Only a broadened

consciousness can give an invincible formula for community. When the world is convulsed, the sign of

Maitreya is given as an antidote. When the foundation of Our Works has been laid, the forces of the

spirit have been strengthened. Thus the sign of Maitreya has been affirmed… Wisdom in al , co-

operation in al shal accompany the Age of Maitreya… Brotherhood, once established, is inviolable…

During al existences Brothers wil meet together and affirm labour in common. One should rejoice at

such a possibility, which wil not be exhausted throughout the ages.’

Thus Maitreya Sangha means that people who today walk the path of the Living Ethics, and in this

life meet one another on the Path, must have met many times before in other lives and wil meet

again and again – as groups united in the Brotherhood of Maitreya. But they are often not aware of

it. In the rarest of cases they recognize one another or they have a faint idea of realising a close

connection to a particular person. It is surely one of the greatest moments in an individual’s life

when, in an instant, he or she recognizes someone from another life and sees the unbreakable bond

joining the two of them.

Therefore let us recognize one another in the conviction that Light conquers Darkness. The struggle,

the Armageddon is already underway and only appears to be a struggle for material predominance,

but in reality is a struggle against the power of fanaticism and the ego, in order to create that sense

of community, true brotherhood and spiritual supremacy. A huge network stretches around the

world creating points of encounter, co-operation, responsibility and knowledge. No-one who knows

can escape this responsibility and the emissaries of Light have become countless.

30

‘Mount of Five Treasures’, 1933

THE ROERICH MUSEUM, NEW YORK

I cannot claim, like so many people I’ve met, that I came to New York on a pilgrimage to spend some

time at the Museum, though before this visit I had devoted almost a lifetime to a study of Roerich’s

works alongside those of H.P. Blavatsky. But I was invited to this city to lecture at the Theosophical

Centre on Theosophy, and imagine my surprise when no one I spoke to had actual y been to the

Museum at 319 West 107th Street, just as most New Yorkers seem completely unaware of its

existence. But that address was indelibly woven into my consciousness and I was delighted when a

lovely black lady-member of the Centre, who also had never visited it, volunteered to take me there.

It wasn’t a quick journey by car through the endless stop-and-start traffic, and we were unsure if it

would stil be open when we final y arrived, but the Roerich flag fluttering outside al ayed any fears.

This building was constructed in 1898 and is very narrow due to a high tax being imposed on the

front of buildings facing the street at that time. That’s why most of them are restricted in width but

stretch a long way back. If a house in this area does have normal proportions, it is evidence of the

wealth of the first owner. Today’s tal , sky-high buildings, characteristic everywhere in New York

(and not very beautiful), were also impossible to erect here because the buildings were declared

important landmarks.

The inside of the Museum definitely shows the need of some renovation, but we were not

interested in the décor, statues of the Buddha or red velvet chairs – only the wonderful colours

bursting from the 150 paintings on al three floors. As we gazed in wonder at the Himalayan vistas

that seemed to echo the messages contained in Roerich’s writings, we were hardly aware of the

music coming from a grand piano, a Brahms Sonata being played in the middle of one gal ery by a

31

concert pianist, to add yet another dimension to the viewing experience. But why wasn’t he playing

some Skryabin, Roerich’s Russian contemporary who was also a student of Theosophy?

What a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours, only a few blocks from Riverside Park and easy

to reach by subway. There is no admission charge but a suggested donation is $5 and, as you can

see, there are postcards, prints and books to buy there. My companion came away with many of

these, determined to pay more than one visit with her fel ow theosophists. Her enthusiasm

suggested that she wil have no trouble persuading them, and my daughter, who has studied most of

Roerich’s works, says: “My only reason for going to New York would be to visit the Roerich Museum.”

– Alan Senior

‘THE MASTER’S COMMAND’

In Blavatsky’s ‘Collected Writings’, Vol. III, p. 40, we read of recluses in the Himalayas who dwel at

heights of 15,000 feet or more. These icy and inaccessible places are said to harbour ‘men of

venerable presence, permanently engaged in sacred pursuits… quite unknown to the world.’

Preparative yogic training al ows them to reside there ‘without serious discomfort.’

In Roerich’s painting below, ‘The Master’s (or Teacher’s) Command’, a great white bird is seen flying

towards one such recluse who is meditating in the lotus position atop an isolated peak. Fragment

1:22 in ‘The Voice of the Silence’ seems to il ustrate this scene when the Teacher tel s us: ‘In order

to become the KNOWER of ALL SELF… you have to give up Self to Non-Self, Being to Non-Being, and

then you can repose between the wings of the GREAT BIRD.’

What is the meaning of this Great Bird and why should the bhikshu repose between its wings? One

feels that Roerich was wel aware of that quotation when he produced this, his last (unfinished)

painting, in 1947. H.P. Blavatsky has three references to Self – ALL SELF, which is the Cosmic or

Universal Self, Self which is the Higher Self, and self, the ordinary or non-permanent lower

consciousness. In the painting we observe the sannyāsin in serene, rapt meditation on the heights,

functioning at the level of the Higher Self which wil take him ‘between the wings of that which is not

born, nor dies, but is inexpressible LIFE throughout eternal ages.’

In other words he resides beyond duality and separateness, indifferent to pleasure or pain. He has

truly become ‘one who knows’ (jñāni). The Great Bird is Kāla Hamsa, symbolizing the manifested

Cosmos, the life force or Cosmic Breath. But it also stands for OM, the indissoluble union between

32

Man and the Universe, meaning ‘I am that I am… I am in you and you are in me.’ Thus the bhikshu

dwel s in spiritual affinity with the forces of the Cosmos; any self-centred egotism has been

completely transcended. Before him lies the great vista of towering peaks, which seem to stretch on

forever as the new day dawns. It also suggests that the true Self wil explore new realms in an

endless voyage, il umined by ful spiritual consciousness acquired through many lives dedicated to

the service of humanity.

And what of the title, ‘The Master’s Command’? At this evolutionary stage the Master, or Teacher,

is no longer a gurudeva but the Master within, the Higher Self in operation. So the command comes

from deep within himself as he prepares to ‘fly’ bestride the Bird of Life, which wil take him beyond

time and space, from the alone to the ALONE. There, the light of pure awareness shines ever

brightly, there lies bliss beyond description…

SOME IMPORTANT BOOKS ON ROERICH

Of the four works displayed here, the most lavishly-presented in ful colour is the first one by

Jacqueline Decter, ‘Nicholas Roerich: The Life and Art of a Russian Master’ (with the Nicholas Roerich

Museum), first published in the USA in 1989 by Park Street Press, Rochester, Vermont, then the

same year in Great Britain by Thames & Hudson. It has proved to be the most popular one, having

been reprinted in America in paperback under the title ‘Messenger of Beauty: The Life and Visionary

Art of Nicholas Roerich’ (Park Street Press, 1997).

Ruth A. Drayer’s ‘Wayfarers: The Spiritual Journeys of Nicholas & Helena Roerich’ (Bluwaters Press,

2004) is the result of a 15-year study and contains the same substance as the Decter, plus material

from interviews with Svetoslav in India, travel diaries and scrapbooks in the Roerich Museum, and

33

reports previously held in British Secret Files, the Library of Congress and National Archives. The

travels are wel -documented with photographs and there are interesting quotations from Roerich’s

own works and the Agni Yoga series.* Ruth Drayer has since produced a new edition, the third one

here, ‘Nicholas & Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers’

(Quest Books, Wheaton, Il inois 2007) which outlines the couple’s arrival and work in the USA after

being caught in the impact of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, before focusing on the Agni Yoga

writings, the Roerichs’ connection with Tibetan Buddhism, and their travels in remote parts. (There

is also a DVD available, with rumours of a movie to be made from this account of their lives).

Lastly, ‘Nicholas Roerich’ (Parkstone Press, 1999) by Kenneth Archer, an author who has, as already

stated, devoted the greater part of his life to furthering the history, art and philosophy of the

Roerichs, and he wil shortly be publishing, with dance historian Mil icent Hodson, a book on ‘The

Rite of Spring’ and Roerich’s theatrical designs for that Bal et. Archer and Ruth Drayer have also

contributed to an important new book of essays, beautiful y il ustrated: ‘Nicholas Roerich: A Quest

and a Legacy’, ed. Manju Kak (Nyogi Books, 2013) where Archer gives a detailed account of the

Roerich Peace Pact whilst she writes about the crossing of the Gobi Desert. Roerich’s own 1930

book, ‘Shambhala’, also speaks about the journey through Central Asia and Tibet in terms of a

spiritual quest, with details of visits to monasteries, meetings with lamas, dramatic episodes of snow

blindness, floods and electrical phenomena. It also contains legends, parables and notes that

perceive what the people he encountered thought – their hopes and beliefs. The frontispiece to the

1978 edition (Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York) has the portrait of Roerich by his son Svetoslav

(see below) showing him in Tibetan costume, holding the Casket associated with the Chintamani

Stone, and the Museum has many more Roerich works for sale.

* In John Algeo’s review of this book (‘The Theosophist’, Nov. 2004) he clears up the question of the Roerichs’ membership

of the Theosophical Society, stating that they were admitted to membership of the American Section in June 1921, and

were also members of the English Section. But they became inactive (i.e. lapsed) in June 1924 after leaving for Asia on the

first of their quests for Shambhala.

‘THE MESSENGER’

Final y, a few words about the picture on Page 1. From the 16th to the 18th of January, 1925

Nicholas and Helena Roerich visited Adyar to present the Society with this painting, and they were

hosted by James Cousins, a leading administrator and lecturer there. The work depicts a woman

(perhaps H.P. Blavatsky herself whom Roerich greatly admired) in a Buddhist monastery opening the

door to admit 'The Messenger', probably the Master who, through her, brought the Teachings to

dispel spiritual darkness. In the words of Helena Roerich: “It is said by the Great Teacher (M.), ‘Only

Blavatsky knew’, and it is our duty to rehabilitate the memory of this great woman martyr.”

The face of the woman is concealed as she bows reverently before the visitor. The expression of the

Messenger is veiled too – a deliberately ambiguous scene for the viewer to interpret in his or her

own way. Roerich dedicated the painting to Blavatsky's memory. In a short speech before the

unveiling, amidst a group of Adyar residents, he said: "In this Home of Light, let me present this

picture, dedicated to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, as the nucleus of a future Blavatsky Museum of Art,

whose motto shal be: B eauty is the garment of Truth ."

Earlier, in a letter to Annie Besant, he had written: ‘The great Foundress of the Theosophical Society,

H.P. Blavatsky, in her last article pointed out the importance of Art. She foresaw the future

significance of this great creative force which wil help to build the coming world, as Art is the

nearest bridge between different nations… and the simplest way to keep it always in mind would be

to found at Adyar a Museum of Art, dedicated to her name…’ The painting is stil there, and in the

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1930s Cousins visited the Roerichs in New York, where he was the president of a committee for

distributing the Roerich Banner of Peace around the world.

In the year of the presentation Adyar published a smal book, ‘The Messenger (Roerich’s Paintings)’

containing a black-and-white reproduction of the painting and seven articles previously appearing in

journals published in New York, London, California, Calcutta and Adyar, including ‘The Theosophist’

and ‘The Herald of the Star’. Some of these articles pointed out how Roerich was a direct descendant

of the Viking house of RURIK, from which had originated one of the oldest Russian ruling dynasties at

the invitation of the Slavs. Others contained quotations which are often used in books and articles

on Roerich, such as N. Jarintzov’s ‘Everything in Roerich’s works, viewed from the ordinary

standpoint, looks fantastic; yet al meets the eye of the onlooker as if it had always existed in the

depths of his own vision… He is above theory, above tendency, even above style as such… But he

devotedly fol ows his own path, linking up… humanity with the spirit of the Cosmos. One without the

other is impossible for him.’

‘The Messenger’ Portraits of Nicholas and Helena Roerich by Svetoslav Roerich

BOOK REVIEW

NICHOLAS ROERICH: A Quest & a Legacy, edited Manju Kak, Nyogi Books, New Delhi, 2013, pp. 258,

colour + 130 photographs.

Amongst these essays by 22 contributors there are chapters devoted to al the phases in Roerich’s

varied life – the Russian archaeological and ‘theatrical’ period, the Central Asian Expedition, the

Roerich Peace Pact and Banner of Peace for the protection of cultural treasures, Agni Yoga (or Living

Ethics), the search for Shambhala, the crossing of the Gobi Desert and the work at Urusvati, the

Himālayan Research Institute he founded in 1929.

Roerich’s art and literary work after 1915 are seen by some contributors as an expression of his Agni

Yoga practice, transcendental visions attempting to realign humankind with some higher truth in the

expansion of human consciousness, a sacred art within the Eastern tradition and fostering utopian

hopes. Mention is made of the Roerich family’s ‘closest collaboration with the Cosmic Hierarch’

with reference to three canvases, but we are made aware (not usual y the case with books on

Roerich) of their Russian detractors, some of whom projected him as a pitiful political adventurer

trying to create an independent state in Central Asia, whilst Helena Roerich’s Living Ethics was

described by some critics as ‘mediocre esoteric writing.’

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But the coverage here is mostly sympathetic to writings received from the Master Morya,

recognising in Roerich’s art the luminosity of the artist’s mind and liberation from worldly bondage

and suffering. This being an Indian publication, emphasis is often given to what he felt about India,

where he dwelt for much of his life and which, alongside Asia, failed to live up to the family’s

idealised expectations. The chapter on ‘diamond of consciousness’ is particularly valuable for

theosophists in the quest for self-realisation and finding one’s place in the universe whilst

transcending the world of Māyā, and the many references to the spiritual centre Shambhala show it

to have alternative meanings with links to the Vajrayāna school of Buddhism – a necessary practice,

according to the present Dalai Lama, for those aspiring to reach this haven of peace without

obstacles.

This is a book to be approached and studied many times, particularly, as one writer observes, when

we learn to cultivate an internal attitude of attention to the subtle and invisible aspects and

meanings of everything that happens on the physical level, in a commitment towards the building of

a new world in obedience to the Higher Laws. With regard to Roerich’s 7,000 paintings (where

sometimes not the best examples have been selected) one writer states: ‘The paintings… are

mystical in the sense that they lead us from the seen to the unseen… (a) tremendous civilising

influence against dogmas, absolutism and consequent violence… It is a spiritual journey from the

world of space and time to the timeless omniprescence of cosmic consciousness.’ An intriguing

book, then, which explores Roerich’s multi-faceted personality, with many quotations, especial y

from diaries during the mountain expeditions. One wonders if the last word has been said on

Roerich; yet, with so many paintings in collections al over the world, there is scope for further

analysis of little-known or unknown works. Neverthelesss it is difficult to see this work being

superseded.

– Alan Senior

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Document Outline

- TheosophY AND AGNI YOGA

Table of Contents

TheosophY AND AGNI YOGA