The White Island

Wisdom Teachings
Eternal Wisdom
Sanat Kumara / Shamballa

The Wisdom Teachings explain that creation is of a seven-fold nature, which we find in the macro-cosmos as well as in the micro-cosmos. The seven centres in us mirror the seven planes of creation and also the seven natural kingdoms on earth. The mineral kingdom corresponds with the base centre, the plant kingdom with the sacral centre, and the animal kingdom with the solar plexus. Humanity stands for the throat centre which is connected to language and ether. Enlightened thinking has its seat in the Ajna-centre, the spiritual Hierarchy in the heart, and the highest spiritual centre of the planet, Shamballa, corresponds with our head centre.

Between the centres, there are planes of life which are described as oceans in the books of Yoga. In man, these planes are organized as one within the other. Between the base centre and the sacral centre lies the salty sea, which forms the basis for all that is dense-physical. Abundant consumption of salt binds man to his physical existence. The sugary sea is located between the sacral centre and the solar plexus. Here, a person predominantly wallows in emotions rather than truth. To clean this plane, a person on the Yoga-path is advised to exercise a moderate consumption of sugar. Between the solar plexus and the heart lies the sea of alcohol. Here, man is poisoned by his own ideals and thinks that his ideas are the only truth. Many people live with a poisoned idea of God, money, power, or sexuality. Human consciousness must rise above those ideas. Through the sea of alcohol, people tend to fall asleep when confronted with subtle, spiritual topics because thinking in a heavy body is tiring. Between the heart and the throat centre lies the milk sea where much light dominates. Milk cleanses the bodily tissues and provides the body with minerals and vitamins. Thanks to the effects of civilization, however, we have managed to pollute even milk. The yoghurt sea is located between the throat centre and the Ajna-centre. Yoghurt, here, means “slightly gelled” and refers to how stable light has become in us. Between the Ajna and the head centre are the crystal-clear waters of heaven, and above it lies the White Island – in the midst of all seas. We should contemplate upon this plane through meditation. Through the travels of our thoughts, we can reach the White Island by closing our eyes and simply thinking of it. Every day, we can visualise the White Island, and although it will only be an idea in the beginning, it will eventually become reality. The initiate, who has built a continuous contact with it, is able to assist in the manifestation of future.

The White Island, also called Sweta Dwipa, is the plane of radiating light, the seventh plane of our planet. In regard to the living beings on this earth, it is the highest world, the plane of pure existence and of perfect knowledge. It exists in us as the diamond consciousness in the head centre. It is the solar centre of our existence, like the sun is the centre of our planetary system. Our earth, too, has a solar centre – that is Shamballa. Every living being carries a solar centre within, his own consciousness as I AM. It is the centre of its circle, horizon, or focal point. If we meditate upon the I AM as the sun within us, we can realize that the I AM in us and in the sun are the same. It is also called Atma, the atom. The term atom is derived from this. Atma releases the life-energy. In the triangle of Atma-Buddhi-Manas, Atma refers to Shamballa, Buddhi to the Hierarchy, and Manas to humanity.

Shamballa, the White Island, is now a hidden place on the etheric plane of the Desert Gobi to which only initiates have entry. In ancient times, it was an island of incomparable beauty situated in an inland lake. In the very beginning, human monads used to live there in a dream-like state. The founding of the Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet also took place in the White Island; this happened in the midst of the third race, when the Sons of Will and Yoga were born there in an immaculate way, separate from the rest of mankind. The Puranas say that all avatars of Vishnu originally come from the White Island. According to the Wisdom Teachings, the White Island is the only place that escapes the fate that comes upon all continents from time to time: the destruction by either fire or water. It is the original, eternal land.

The name Gobi derives from Gopi, meaning “the hidden one” or “he who carries a secret;” and the White Island is secret and hidden from the mortal eye. Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World and leader of this ashram, lives there in the second ether. He is referred to as the “blue boy.” Blue means in Sanskrit “shyama” and boy means “bala.” Thus, of Shyama Bala came Shamballa.

Shamballa is the place “where the will of God is known” and our head centre is directly in contact with the Lord of the World. Astrologically, this centre corresponds with Aries. In the course of the year, Aries stands for a new beginning. From the beginning of Aries to the full moon, Sanat Kumara aligns with the higher circles and receives the plan for the earth. The plan is not a thick book, but a vibration, a seed sound, upon which the beings in Shamballa meditate. In Taurus, the sound of the Hierarchy is revealed and, in Gemini, it is transmitted to humanity. If we can discover and recognize the sound in the inner chamber, we can work in accordance with the plan all year long in silence. Thus, the months from Aries to Gemini are of special importance. By paying attention to the quality of time and preparing us in appropriate ways, we are filled with fresh energies and renewing life force.

In Aries the primal impulse of the new life force is unleashed with great power, which destroys old forms and breaks way for the new. All energies for the planet are received by Sanat Kumara in the White Island through the higher circles. Hence, a tremendous stream of will energy flows through the Lord of the World which is dimmed for the Hierarchy by him and his team. Would the stream of energy flow directly to the Hierarchy or to humanity, they could not bear it and would burn immediately.

There is a very beautiful, poetic description to this in the Eastern Wisdom Teachings: It is said that Shiva, the Lord of Divine Will, calls Ganga, the flow of waters in space, to his head, Shamballa - to the well-being of all earthly beings. In his hair, he dims the power of the stream and transfers it on to his heart. The heart is the Himalayas, the seat of the Hierarchy. From the mountains streams the life-giving Ganga then to the people of the planes and on to the ocean. There, it is lifted up again by the sun god. Thus, the divine stream descends in four levels, and if man uses these energies wisely to the benefit of all humankind, he may ascend again to heaven. The rays of the sun transform the water of the salty sea and ascend it in purified form. That way, Ganga returns to space through the sun god, only to return from there once again because of its love for humanity. We can visualize this path in our spinal column.

To receive inspiration from the High Beings, we have to work out the steps directly in front of us; otherwise, our dreams of the White Island will remain without meaning. Each time we return from a journey to the far away worlds to our physical bodies, we experience pain. It feels like we are being pressed into a dress that is too tight. So, each experience of that sort is wonderful, but also difficult. Eventually, there is a condition in which the individual soul merges with the universal soul, the White Island. The challenge is to reach infinity from out of limitation. As long as the connection with the infinite is broken over and over again, we are called “animals” in spirituality. Only when we live in infinity, we are “man” because this is the potential of every man. Each one of us carries this seed of the highest mastery within, which will bear fruit one day.

Sources used: K. P. Kumar: Wisdom Buds/ Jupiter /seminar notes/ E. Krishnamacharya: Spiritual Astrology. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.