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| H. Roerich during the Central-Asian expedition |
From 1924 to 1928, Helena Roerich participated in a grandiose expedition organized by N. Roerich over difficult of approach and little explored regions of Central Asia. She was the only woman who passed the whole extremely difficult itinerary. Helena Roerich shared with the rest expedition members all hardships and dangers of the way. “To offer help, cheer up, explain something without sparing herself – to all Helena Roerich is ready… Often you cannot help being amazed from where her energy comes, especially knowing her weak heart <…> On horseback together with us, Helena Roerich passed whole Asia, Nicholas Roerich wrote, she was frozen and starved in Tibet, but she was always the first to show an example of vigor to the whole caravan. And the more was the danger, the more vigorous, ready, and cheerful she was. She had pulse 140, but she still tried to personally participate in the caravan arrangements and settlement of all the way concerns. Nobody ever saw her in depression or despair, and there were enough of all kinds of reasons for that”[6, p.162].
In 1926, in Mongolia (Ulan Bator), where the expedition was at that time, H. Roerich’s manuscript “Buddhism Foundations” was published. That book interpreted fundamental philosophic notions of Buddha’s teaching, such as reincarnation, the law of Karma, Nirvana, and spoke also about the deep underling moral principles of this teaching, which refutes one of the main stereotypes of the Western thinking imagining man in Buddhism a worthless, forlorn by the God creature.
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| The Living Ethics Teaching Books |
In 1927, still there, in Mongolia, one of the Living Ethics book – “Community” was released.
In 1928, after return from the Central-Asian expedition, the Roerichs settled down in an ancient picturesque valley of Kullu in the Western Himalayas. There they founded the Institute of Himalayan Studies “Urusvati” – “The Morning Star”. H. Roerich was elected the honorable President of this unique scientific institution and took most active part in its work organization. There, in Kullu, Helena Roerich again dedicated herself to the main work of her life – the books of the Living Ethics and continued this work till the end of her life. Being a philosophy of cosmic reality, the Living Ethics contains a unique system of cognition based on general and partial laws of Cosmos, integral part of which is the Earth and the mankind. This Living Ethics system of cognition corresponds to the new evolutionary turn in the mankind development, when cosmic world perception comes to substitute for scientific thinking. The name of the philosophy itself – the Living Ethics – unites man and Cosmos into a single spiritual system.
In 1929, in Paris, under the pseudonym J. Saint Iler, H. Roerich’s study “Cryptograms of the East” was published. Those compositions (or apocrypha, that is texts which were not included in canonic scriptures) convey information of legendary and historical events of days long past, tell about unknown sides of life of the Great Teachers of humanity – Buddha, Christ, Apollonius of Tian, Sergey of Radonezh. To the image of Sergey, Protector and Defender of the Russian land, Helena Roerich would dedicate a separate study, in which perfect knowledge of history and theology, would be combined with deep and reverent love for the ascetic.
Perfect mastery of foreign languages and deep knowledge of philosophy allowed H. Roerich to translate into Russian the “Secret Doctrine” – an outstanding study of the founder of Theosophical Society Yelena Blavatskaya, and selected letters of Mahatmas (“The Bowl of the East”), what gave an opportunity to acquaint Russian-language readers with these very important theosophical studies.
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| H. Roerich’s letters, published by the ICR |
A special place in Helena Roerich’s heritage belongs to her letters to people studying the Living Ethics. If the Living Ethics teaching was created by Helena Roerich in collaboration with the Teachers, the “Letters” present a brilliant sample of her individual creative work. Possessing an amazing gift of an enlightener, using simple and easily understandable language, she explained to her correspondents most complicated issues of being. Including those concerning the place and role of man in the Universe, laws of interaction between man and cosmos, peculiarities of relationship between spirit and matter. She gave real and practical advice. Reading those letters, one cannot help being amazed not only at her profound knowledge of ancient philosophic teachings, studies of Oriental and European thinkers, but also at her broad, clear understanding of foundations of being. That is why H. Roerich’s “Letters” make necessary and integral part of the Living Ethics itself.
The two volume edition of “Helena Roerich’s Letters” was first published in Riga in 1940, and has been many times reissued since then. Helena Roerich’s letters complete collection is being published presently by the International Center of the Roerichs. They include part of never published before correspondence which will allow to appreciate this outstanding woman’s participation in the movement of the Banner of Peace related to Roerich’s Pact in an absolutely new way. One can say with all confidence that signing the Pact would have been impossible without Helena Roerich. It was she that, during N. Roerich’s Manchurian expedition (1934 – 1935) kept all business correspondence with International cultural and educational organizations and coordinated their activities. The result of her dedicated work was signing Roerich’s Pact by the heads of 22 countries, including the USA, on April 15, 1935.
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| S. Roerich. Portrait of Helena Roerich. 1937 |
In January 1948, soon after her husband’s death, Helena Roerich, together with George Roerich, left the valley of Kullu, and, after a short stay in Delhi and Khandala, settled in a little resort city of Kalimpong on the Eastern Himalayas slopes.
H. Roerich always strived to come back to Russia. Her applications concerning return to her Motherland submitted to the Soviet Embassy were not answered. The same happened to the letters and petitions addressed to the government. The Academy of Arts did not help either. But, despite all refusals, Helena Roerich hoped to come back, to bring all collected by her treasures, and, for at least a few years, to work for the Best Country – this is how she called Russia. The hope to see Russia would not leave her until her very last days: “It cannot be that I do not come. I must come!” – she repeated just before her final departure [7, p.63]. But this return never happen. The country refused her great daughter in entrance. On October 4, 1955, Helena Roerich passed away.
The more time passes, and the deeper we penetrate into the spiritual and philosophic heritage of great Russian philosopher Helena Roerich, the more obvious becomes the greatness of what she has done for the evolution of the planet and the whole mankind.
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