The search for alternatives as a rule brings dreamers to the thought of teleportation to Tibet. The exotic theories of spirituality have made this Asian territory a Mecca for the modern seekers of knowledge, a fixed idea. But this amazing place is thousands of kilometres away from here.

While there are many places where the power of energy is constructive. Even if you do not belong to a certain spiritual community with its mystic topography, you can still find networks of energy sources, which can cure your stress and open your senses to the beautiful. In the context of our busy schedules, and lack of money, the fact that Tibet is not unique sounds encouraging.

I don’t know what it is like in Tibet, but I have the feeling I spontaneously got in touch with the magic of this “launching into the orbit of the spiritual” in a simpler and quite native way. So, if you have not yet put a rucksack on your back and stuck up a thumb to hitchhike a plane to the Himalayas,

go to the Seven Rila Lakes
and imagine you are angels. Greet silently every leaf of grass and vein of the rocks. If you can put together the views, sounds and sensations in a whole and if suddenly its meaning is revealed to you, you need not travel to Tibet (at least for the time being).

Before I set out from the dusty, hot and nervous city, I was wondering about the meaning of everything happening around. Night had set in my soul, the darkest moment before dawn. Today I drift in the air through the darkness, but I know I will not lose my way. Today I am used to flights without knowing where I am going, and I can patiently wait for the light, because my mountain yesterday lives in me. When I set out to it, the situation of my inner discontent with civilisation had reached its boiling point and long after the sign “Sofia” was behind my back, I could not relax.

The mountain met me suspiciously and amused itself with my breathless climb along the winding trail to the Seven Lakes Hut. Every year at the end of August the White Brotherhood gather there. Brothers and sisters from all parts of the world meet by the elevation behind the little white hut on the bank of the Ribnoto lake to see the new year in and pay homage to the Master. They call this place the Hill of Prayer and the effort to get to it is commendable indeed. For this purpose they transport kitchen equipment, food, tents and all sorts of household goods on horseback from Vada Hut.

In recent years the onlookers and the curious have grown in number and her majesty the fashion has ousted spirituality from its deserved throne. On the other hand, it’s not bad, let people come and wonder at the white brothers. They might catch something from the atmosphere.

I find a bed and set out to the Spring of the Master. Its water is curative, of course, and helps wishes to be fulfilled. Several feet away from the spout there is a drawing of the astrological sign of the sun. When you stand in the circle and relax you feel something coming to you, bathes you, and if you are not mad at the world you could forget everything for a moment

and experience the wonder of your existence in this moment,
outside the orbit of the paralyzing time beam of past, present and future. Strange symbols are carved in the rock, from which the healing water springs. My tendency to make parallels is provoked immediately. In Albrecht Durer’s famous gravure Melancholy there is a magic square. The sum of the numbers in it along the horizontal, vertical and diagonal is invariably 34. The runes on the rock are with the same layout. What is their sum equal to and what do they mean? Perhaps some day I will find out…

time for evening prayer. Everybody goes up the hill. Stand before an inscription God is Love, made of stones on the ground. We are saying goodbye to the day. The songs are quiet and restrained. Angelic ring-dance to the music of violins praises the Glory of the Father. Stunning, if you manage to ignore the strange expressions on the faces of many. I did not. Perhaps I was too eagerly awaiting the Wonder, and everything is so relative, isn’t it? Because

if there was no wonder, at least there were many stories
Like Bobby’s, who having adopted the principles of the brotherhood quit taking heroin. Looking at his shiny pure eyes, you say to yourself, things are not so bad after all. (Good luck, my friend!)

Otherwise the situation with the followers of Danov is not so bright. The instinct of dualism inherent to man is manifest here too. Splits and conflicts rend the brotherhood. This spiritual movement increasingly resembles one of those newly born organizations, which cover their markedly economic interests by missionary appeals.

I shall not go into the benefits which our “civilization” draws from something so profound and exciting as the philosophy transmitted to us by Beinsa Douno. I’d rather think of the stars above. Everyone realizes one’s inner darkness for oneself. If he has enough faith and optimism he set out on the long way to the day in his soul.

Before daybreak I slowly climb to the highest point of the Hill of Prayer. I greet the mountain’s silence. The sun slowly emerges from the clouds at the horizon. I here exact answers to my old questions. Could it be the Master is whispering them in my ear? I feel how the chaos

in my soul is replaced by indescribable peace
I feel I am a part of the whole. I realize where my place is and I take it up in the ranks. Thank you!
The day has come! Keep the freedom of your soul. Keep your heart pure. Keep your mind bright. Keep the strength of your spirit.

I pass by this inscription on the way to the kitchen. The traditional glass of hot water for cleaning is waiting for me. I find out there will be Paneurhythmia at 10 o’clock by the Lake of Purity. I am walking between the stones and in my ears I hear clearly excerpts from conscious conversations. On my left they are discussing the fact that every thought of ours, every movement and action reflect on the general condition of the world. A bit further down, a good-looking lady with a pretty hat explains the origin and essence of the Universe; round the spring recipes for healing through songs and music are shared. I am impatient to reach the large clearing at the foot of Mt. Haramiyata. One of the women I meet is the seventy-year-old Dimitra. She believes dancing inspires her with youthfulness and strength and hurries to get charged for the winter. I follow in her steps. Soon I see the Circle. Hand in hand, dressed in white, hundreds of men and women are performing ritual movements to the accompaniment of violins, guitars and a small choir. At first sight the dance resembles physical exercises, but gradually the concentration grows, the songs do not sound naive and at some point you feel the visible world is loosing its familiar outlines and seems to bloom into a new, amazing and vivid face. Paneurhythmia has to be seen, experienced and felt. There is no point in talking about it. It simply works. I have never been a fan of religion-oriented organizations (or any organizations, for that matter). But this experience shook me. And now, distanced from the emotions, I cannot but admit that for a month the area around the Seven Rila Lakes

really becomes a spiritual capital of the world
If I was able to get in touch with the atmosphere of the White Brotherhood, surely no less impressive were the mantras of the followers of Sri Chinmoi or the disciples of Visarion, who came here all the way from Tiberkul (Siberia). To top it all, in the new hut not far away were staying the participant in an international seminar on spiritual teachings and public lectures were delivered every day.

Therefore, my friend, pack your rucksack next year and come to the Rila Mountains – despite the attempts of the poor in spirit to turn every knowledge into institutionalized religion and any freedom into law. As you know, “they don’t know what they are doing”. The wisdom that the mountain and the sky whisper is that everything is one. We are one, but we are not the same. Up there and down here it is the same.

The deeper the religious wise men dig at their places, the closer they get to one another, to the core. Until they finally realize they have taken different paths from the night in their soul to reach the same goal – the light of the eternal day. This is why it is not a bad idea to go along with them from time to time… who knows, you might find your Tibet.