Live Three Incarnations in One

By Konstantin Serebrov

After some time, Master G sent Konstantin to learn on his own from G’s former followers in Moscow. Each of them had absorbed a small part of the alchemical teaching and Konstantin had to persuade them to teach him that small part. But these former followers had no wish whatsoever to teach him anything at all. The reason was, as G put it, t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Serebrov Boeken
• Release date: Jun 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9789077820568

Book preview

Trilogy ‘Lessons of Master G’. Book II.

Live Three Incarnations in One

Konstantin Serebrov

Serebrov Boeken Publishing, The Hague

© Publishing House Serebrov Boeken, The Hague

Publisher: Guram Kochi

Telephone: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.serebrovboeken.nl

English translation of the chapters 1-5 of the Russian book ‘Мистический Андеграунд’ by Konstantin Serebrov, Moscow, 2001

1st edition: ‘The mystical Underground of Moscow’, 2006

2d edition: ‘Live Three Incarnations in One’, 2016

ISBN: 978-90-77820-56-8

Editor of the 1st edition: Robin Winckel-Mellish c. s.

Editor of the 2d edition: Gouri Gozalov c. s.

Translator: Gouri Gozalov

Design: Konstantin Serebrov, Gouri Gozalov, Maria Toonen

Cover image: the Fifth Key of Basil Valentine

The illustrations used in this book have been taken from the alchemical treaties of the 17th century: Viatorum, Tripus Aureus and Atalanta fugiens by M. Maier; The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine; De Lapide philosophico by Lambsprinck; Mutus Liber, courtesy of Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam a.k.a. J.R. Ritman Library. Reprinted with the permission of the J. R. Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy and recording, or stored in a retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is in memory of Vladimir Stepanov a.k.a. Master G

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword by the Author

About the Author

Chapter 1. The upward Flight and the Fall

Chapter 2. The Path of the Robber

Chapter 3. The Mother of a cultural Revolution

Chapter 4. Silver, the Pirate

Chapter 5. No turning back

Endnotes

Books by Konstantin Serebrov

List of Illustrations

Engraving 1. Cover image. A Master of Alchemy, with bellows in his hands, depicted on the left side of the engraving, is full of Heavenly Fire. With the help of this fire he provides an ongoing process of cleansing and sublimation of the male and female origins.

Engraving 2. The close Bondage of Love

Engraving 3. Master of Alchemy

Engraving 4. The Mountain of the Alchemical Work

Engraving 5. The seven Stages of the Great Alchemical Work

Engraving 6. Uroboros in the alchemical Fire

Engraving 7. The seven alchemical Planets

Engraving 8. The Examination of the Master

Engraving 9. The female and the male Principles

Engraving 10. Pleading for God’s Blessing

Engraving 11. The Nigredo Stage

Engraving 12. Another Degree of alchemical Purification

Foreword by the Author

After many years in the search for the Path which leads to Heaven I met a spiritual Master, the man who new how to find man’s Highest Self. ‘Call me just G,’ he said when we met. Having studied with him for a while I thought that I’d reached a higher level and that I could crown myself with the laurels of victory. However exactly when this thought had become especially powerful G suddenly told me: ‘I cannot guide the way for you any further, because you are not ready yet.’

I was stunned.

‘Despite your statement,’ I could only answer, ‘I want to continue studying with you.’

‘Then you must do your best much more than before, in order to learn from those who felt the wind of Tradition before you and absorbed it insensibly for themselves and preserved it in the depth of their souls.’

I had to comply with his demand and continued my journey along the alchemical ‘statues’ in the endless initiatory labyrinth, collecting zealously the seeds of secret knowledge which the wind of The Ray brought into their souls. It felt often just like an old Russian saying goes: ‘go there, you don’t know where and bring back you don’t know what.’

G called his teaching methods ‘homeopathic’. Though their effects seemed almost imperceptible indeed, a great number of people have discovered their hidden spirituality and they have become prominent mystics, philosophers, artists, thinkers, writers or simply, decent persons who could live as responsible human beings in the deepest meaning of these words.

G however remained for almost all of them a lonely, odd, wandering philosopher.

G used to say sometimes that a book is a dead thing and that it is better to give your energy to working with living people. At the same time Gouri, another of G’s disciples, and I had to keep a diary, in order to be able to describe once the Path on which G had guided us and the others, who where ready to receive his, still incomprehensible but so ardent, inspiring and elevating impulse.

Finally, I should like to express my gratitude to my friends Gouri and Maria for their help in writing this book. They did a great job of preparing and editing the materials for it. In addition to it Gouri has enriched the text with many details which had almost disappeared from my memory.

Konstantin Serebrov

Moscow, December 2003

About the Author

I once had the pleasure of meeting the Russian writer and mystic Konstantin Serebrov. He turned out to be a thin man of about forty years with fine features and dressed shabbily. He told me extraordinary stories of Russian mystics and their search for spirituality. I found in his stories the good-natured humour of someone whose interests belong in the transcendental sphere. I became interested in his personality and his background. Each time I met him I questioned him about his spiritual path. His answers led me to believe that he had a mysterious connection with the Spirit. I was quite well acquainted with mysticism and the spirituality of the Far East and I felt that with Serebrov I was experiencing something completely new.

I decided to put together an image of Serebrov’s life and his spiritual Path, by using fragments of his stories.

He told me that he was born in a small resort town in one of the most beautiful areas of the Northern Caucasus. His parents moved there after fleeing from Nazi occupiers. On the slope of the mountain close to the town, was a ruin of a convent. When a cold wind blew across the deserted silver domes, a barely discernible singing of prayers could be heard.

When Konstantin was about twelve, he met his first spiritual mentor, a mystic from St. Petersburg, called Alexey Zhoukovsky, who moved to the Caucasus. The core-principle in his method of educating was that the disciple should first experience for himself that life after death and the astral world do exist really. Only through deep meditation could Serebrov, according to his mentor, gain sufficient power to walk on the spiritual Path. Zhoukovsky taught him Hatha Yoga and meditation in order to experience the astral vision. Serebrov practiced these techniques daily. When Konstantin was sixteen years old, Zhoukovsky revealed to him the techniques of Kriya breathing.

At a certain point Zhoukovsky disclosed to him that he could teach Konstantin nothing more and that he should look now for his real Master. Konstantin was still meditating daily. He felt supported on an astral level by such gurus as Shri Yukteswar, Babaji and Rossul Moria.

After graduating at Kishinev University Konstantin worked for several years in a laboratory as the head of a small group of programmers. Meanwhile he became acquainted with many different people in the south-west republics of the Soviet Union who also followed the spiritual Path. He met practitioners of Agni Yoga and followers of Sri Rajneesh, Sri Aurobindo, Sai Baba, several Tibetan spiritual schools; followers of Castaneda, Theosophists, Anthroposophists, occultists and Sufis. All such meetings were held privately and in secret because when the Communist Party was in power in the Soviet Union, everything related to the spiritual Path was forced to remain underground. When esoteric books were found in one’s possession, the authorities took them and one risked ending up in a psychiatric institution or even in prison. The official doctrine of society was materialistic. Those who were not willing to share that aggressive, oppressing materialism were considered potential enemies of the people. For this reason even the way of thinking of people was monitored by authorities in all possible ways and by all kind of means in order to track down and to keep an eye on all nonconformists.

It was around his thirtieth year that Konstantin’s long-awaited dream came true: he met a remarkable man whom he recognised as his spiritual Master; and this was a Master of the Christian Hermeticism. The Master, who called himself G, was prepared to accept Serebrov as his disciple.

The meeting with this Master and the first stage of his unusual apprenticeship is described in the first book of the Trilogy ‘Lessons of Master G’, entitled ‘Follow me’.

Konstantin describes in this book how the Master created spontaneous ‘teaching situations’ for him and other disciples, which were characterized by an ‘increased alchemical temperature’. In the Art of Alchemy, which is the practical part of the Christian Hermeticism, a disciple with all his shortcomings is thought of as the ‘ore’. With the help of the ‘increased temperature’, caused by the so-called ‘secret, or heavenly Fire’, which is the central power in the Art of Alchemy, the Master first tries to extract the ‘semi-precious metals’ from this ‘ore’, such as Copper and Tin. These are painful processes, through which one has to overcome shortcomings, and this painful process is often called ‘the inner conscious suffering’. In the smelting of ‘semi-precious metals’ characteristics such as kindness, susceptibility, a warm heart, the capacity for friendship, responsibility, sincerity and honesty are promoted. After undergoing further alchemical transmutations, the precious metals Silver and Gold ripen in the disciple. Alchemical Silver means that his or her spirit is purified and has received contact with the Universal Soul, the Anima Mundi, the Mother of God. Alchemical Gold means that his or her spirit has become purified and elevated and awakened and has received contact and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

After each teaching situation, an evaluation took place of the process Konstantin and his fellow-disciple Gouri had gone through, in which the Master corrected them. They had to learn to turn their negative emotions into positive ones, and to create a refined, mystical atmosphere.

After some time, G sent Konstantin to learn on his own from G’s former followers in Moscow. Each of them had absorbed a small part of the alchemical teaching and Konstantin had to persuade them to teach him that small part. But these former followers had no wish whatsoever to teach him anything at all. The reason was, as G put it, that they deviated from the Path and had become some kind of ‘statues, frozen in ritual postures in the alchemical labyrinth’. G advised Konstantin to try to worm the knowledge out of them by going with them through ‘the school of servitude and humbleness’.

In the present book, which is the second book of the Trilogy ‘Lessons of Master G’, entitled ‘Live three Incarnations in One’, this latter stage of the teaching process is described. The reader learns of the incredible situations Konstantin and Gouri, who sometimes joined him, had to go through to carry out the task given to them. Konstantin knew, however, that he could only proceed on the spiritual Path if he succeeded in his task.

Konstantin told me that during his studies with G’s former followers, he had to stop meditating because these pupils taught by means of the ‘art of reaching goals’ and this method applied to daily life as well as to spiritual life. They also used certain methods from Western traditions. In this difficult time, he learned to develop humbleness, alertness, spontaneity and a fighting spirit .

He discovered also that because of the stagnation of their development, he also had to digest negative energies such as pride, coarseness, arrogance, envy and suchlike. The word ‘statue’ is used as a metaphor and implies that the personality of such a disciple has been crystallized in such a way that he cannot develop himself further. Of course, this description is, in some cases, also valid in the West …

G’s training was characterized by a total freedom of choice for the disciple. Thus, Serebrov had to discover more than once that a meeting with death was very instructive for him.

G assigned Serebrov the task of communicating his learning experiences to those who are ready to receive the new spiritual impulse, which G called sometimes The Ray.

While carrying out this mission, Serebrov realised that the Path of spiritual development also implies cultural development, and that the alchemical teaching leads to the transformation of the total human being.

Maria Toonen

Engraving 2. The close Bondage of Love

Chapter 1. The upward Flight and the Fall

It was the end of 1982. The wheels of the night train Pskov- Leningrad rambled comfortably. I brought grilled chicken from the restaurant and served it on the small shaking table of the railway compartment.

‘Well, little brother! I didn’t expect such generosity from you. In that case, I must confess that I can also contribute something,’ G said, showing a bottle of red wine called ‘Lydia’.

‘We may mark the end of the visit of Brambilla’s¹ caravan to Pskov² with a celebration. Despite all obstacles, we’ve managed to build a mystical oasis there. Now, at least one noble soul will try to bring the impulse of the Argonauts’ Ship³ into the utterly horizontal life of the city.’

‘Are we going to build the mystical oases in Piter⁴?’ I asked.

‘Well, you will have to first become acquainted with the existing ones and help me with their renovation,’ G said smiling.

‘Could you please tell me how they came into being?’

G took a sip of red wine, looked attentively into my eyes and spoke:

‘At a certain point in my life I had become completely disillusioned about the circles of Moscow philosophers, where I belonged because of my occupation in those days. I sorrowfully realized that it was downright impossible to organize an inner School in such an environment. Their souls were full of assumed scholastic scepticism. So, I decided to dive fully into life and search for the means of building a mystical, alchemical labyrinth which would become a real, existential School. Having parted from the arrogant scientists, I attained full freedom of action. To start with, I decided to go to the spit of Kurshi⁵, which is situated not far from Köningsberg⁶. In the spit’s centre, I would plant the flag of St. Andrew⁷; a symbol of spiritual freedom. I believed that by acting that way, I could manage to form a new mystical tendency. I took two companions with me on this deeply symbolical trip: one of them was Anatoly, who claimed to be an experienced guide in mystical Petersburg and the other was Constantino, an old disciple of mine.

On the way to Piter, Anatoly animatedly described the secret potentialities of this mystical city and he swore he’d immediately admit us into all the spheres of its mysterious life. But upon our arrival in the city, he began unexpectedly to pull the wool over our eyes. He led us along dusty streets, scratching the back of his head every now and then with an expression of great importance and secrecy on his physiognomy. In the evening, when we were finished, he put on a cunning face and said:

‘I led you along each and every one of the secret mystical houses, but none of you felt the atmosphere of the people of spirit living there. As you didn’t pass this first test, I leave you forever,’ and he smiled spitefully. Then he vanished into the throng.

So a moping Constantino and I sat down on a bench and fell to thinking. Right there and then, some friendly pensioner sat down next to us, took me in with a shrewd glance and inquired:

‘Would you like to have a drink, boys? Besides, if you haven’t got a place to pass the night, you can always have a place to stay in my house. I kind of like your company.’

‘My intuition tells me that he’s some kind of retired major Pronin⁸,’ Constantino whispered fearfully.

‘Well, if he’s retired,’ I smiled, ‘then he can’t be a threat to you, little brother.’

It was in this way that we obtained the first foothold for a rapid expansion in Piter. We settled down in the flat of the good-natured pensioner and began familiarizing ourselves with the mystical Underground. Within several days, we penetrated the esoteric circles of artists. Then we got acquainted with the well-known mystics of the city. In every new salon we saw the confused face of Anatoly, who would ingratiatingly ask:

‘How did you manage to penetrate into this secret place?’

‘You underestimated our level of being, little brother,’ I would answer.

‘I don’t want to even look at you, you pain in the neck,’ Constantino would turn his back on him.

Once my disciple and I dropped in at the atelier of a famous artist. It was situated directly opposite the Cathedral of the Saviour-on-Blood. To my surprise, one of his paintings, a huge canvas, hanging on one of the walls was a representation of the flag of St. Andrew. Its radiance overshadowed the fanciful splendour of the atelier. It reminded me of the symbol of our reviving Universe, and I realised that my search would be crowned with success, as this painting was a sign that I was on the right path. That same day, I met Cathy - a tall aristocratic-looking blonde. I managed to get into conversation with her and told her about the purpose of our travels. She scrutinised my face for a while and then, as if she had remembered something, she said:

‘Tonight I’ll be leaving for the Crimea⁹ for a month, and my four-room apartment will be empty. You may live there until my return.’

‘Everything happens according to the plan of ‘The Master and Margaret’¹⁰,’ Constantino whispered delightfully into my ear, ‘Styopa Lihodeyev¹¹ was also sent to the Crimea by certain forces.’

Having left us a small amount of money as aid, Cathy left. Constantino and I continued getting the feel of mystical Piter. I was getting acquainted with esoteric groups and I was linking to each other the scattered circles of the mystical Underground. Thus, little by little, I created an alchemical labyrinth, filled with the strong influence of the Ray of the School. These were golden times.

Once, in one of the ateliers, I met an unusual young woman with bright magical abilities in love. All the men worshipped her. She told fortunes with cards, and all her predictions came true. Her name sounded French; Nathalie. It fitted her romantic and somewhat enigmatic image. I succeeded in making friends with her and together we arranged lots of exciting sketches in life. One of them had consequences which will have great importance for you and Gouri in the future. I became acquainted in one of the ateliers with a jazz musician, Alexey by name, who was a talented saxophone player and composer. Alexey was a rebel, and now and then he played on his concerts fragments of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, after which the police would take the musicians and half of the audience in custody for a while in order to express their disapproval of religious ideas and Western culture. Alexey confessed to me that he had been searching for spiritual guidance and that he directly had the impression that I could help him. Natalie and I had an invitation of Natalie’s mother for that very evening to eat her pancakes, and I invited Alexey to join us. When three of us came to her flat, we found there another two guests, two young, sympathetic Negroes as black as tar from Paris, who turned out to be members of the White Brotherhood of Deunov and Aivanhov. Natalie’s mother also belonged to this Brotherhood and this was the reason of the presence of these two young gentlemen. Alexey found their stories so fascinating that after dinner with indeed very tasty pancakes he received initiation from them and joined the Brotherhood. He left that evening loaded with a number of books by Aivanhov, and thanking me enthusiastically for this opportunity. He also told me that he wanted me to become his advisor and help him to create an elevated, mystical atmosphere in his jazz-rock-band. However I was already bound by my word to Norman, but there is a chance that we will sail in the future on Alexey’s ‘jazz-rock boat’.

Back to my story: within a month, charming Cathy returned home with her athletic husband Nicholas and their naughty daughter Liz. When Constantino saw the husband he became confused, rushed to the terminal, bought a ticket and left the same evening.

Nicholas was the best bodybuilder in the city. He was constantly winning the first prizes in bodybuilding contests and was extremely popular among women. Aside from his success with his sport, he was preparing a doctoral thesis in mathematics ahead of schedule. After every love affair, he wrote long erotic poems in which he praised his phallicism as he called it. As for Cathy, she kept her eyes shut and claimed that she had found the best representative of the male sex for building and keeping a happy family. After several conversations with me about the Path, Nicholas said that he definitely enrolled in the list of my disciples. He strolled in the alchemical Labyrinth, following me closely as he carried a ‘gentlemen’s set of Vanyka Zhukov¹²’ – wine, vodka, snacks - in his leather attaché-case.

Having gradually been filled with the wind of the mysterious Ray, he got the idea that he was John the Baptist. So he went out on the Nevsky Avenue where he prayed loudly and called to passers-by to let him baptise them. Hearing him, the crowds showed aversion and dispersed in all directions.

Nicholas couldn’t find anybody who wanted to be baptised by him, so he went to his professor and locked him up in the lab. He promised the professor he’d let him out immediately if he would permit Nicholas to baptise him.

Thus Nicholas pretty much tarnished his heretofore irreproachable reputation. After all of this, I did manage, with quite some efforts, to calm him down. Cathy was rather shocked by the behaviour of her ‘ideal’ husband. In order to cheer up her fighting spirit, I brought an important figure from the Moscow Underground to Piter. It was Ali, who soon won Cathy’s heart with his magnificent mystical myths. Her husband looked quite unattractive in comparison with Ali, and Cathy fell in love with the new hero. Nicholas was immediately forced out from the flat to one of his female admirers, and Cathy lived with the brilliant philosopher. Without wasting even a moment, Ali set about to educate Cathy and to help her to integrate into the mystic life. While educating her, Ali often mentioned an alchemical Master called Admiral, and Cathy became intrigued by this man before she even met him. When his disciple was ready, Ali decided to show her to Admiral for a check-up. Ali brought her to Moscow and proudly went to the night meeting of the master of alchemy. As soon as Cathy saw Admiral her left eye began to twinkle. She came up to him and whispered: ‘how can you live among these bastards? Let me take you with me to Piter!’

Whispering sweetly, Ali’s loving disciple poured brandy regularly into Admiral’s glass until he consented to take a cab and let Cathy personally convey him to his place, the house of his girlfriend and disciple, called White Tiger.

Admiral came to his senses in the early morning at the Moscow terminal in Leningrad.

‘Where have you brought me?’ asked the Master of Alchemy. ‘What shall I say to White Tiger?’

‘Tell her that now you’ll be staying with Queen Cobra,’ Cathy said, grinning.

Admiral reluctantly set out to see the apartment of the exulted Cathy and he stayed there without further questioning. The days of Admiral’s tough instruction had begun for Cathy. He was a genius who, under my guidance, had learned the theory and practice of Western alchemy. Cathy couldn’t have perceived such a master in even her wildest dreams. She had always chosen only the best, the most exquisite stuff. This time, however, she had exceptional luck.’

‘My strongest desire is to go through the alchemical labyrinth in Piter!’ I exclaimed in a fit of excitement.

‘First, your will should be in accordance with the supreme will,’ G answered, thoughtfully as his eyes flashed with an otherworldly light.

After arriving in Petersburg we unloaded the equipment of ‘Cadarsis¹³’ in the Lenkoncert¹⁴ music hall, and then we went to the ‘Sovietskaya’ hotel to join the musicians. The manager of the jazz band, called Pussycat, gave G the key to his room. I pretended to be a porter by carrying G’s luggage, and thus slipped by the concierge into the hotel.

The room looked common: there was a spring bed covered with a yellow blanket, a dark-brown bedside table, and a light carpet on the floor. When all the things were laid out on the shelves, G decided to have some rest.

I felt nervous because I was forced to stay inside with the Master while a thrilling life pulsed on the other side of the window.

‘If you are in a rush to visit the city, you may go,’ G offered sympathetically.

‘If I go out in the streets without you, I definitely would miss some interesting instruction.’

‘Your face reminds me of the donkey of Bouridan who died of hunger,’ G looked at me attentively.

‘Why?’ I asked, surprised.

‘He also couldn’t make the right choice.

Before going out,’ he proceeded, ‘we should immerse in our own depth in order to attune ourselves to the current of the Ray, otherwise the city will flatten us and we’ll turn into ordinary philistines who don’t carry a higher impulse within. As long as we hold our ground on the front line of an invisible battle, we have no right for a sheer ‘horizontal’ conduct .

A spiritual life always conflicts with the secular life. ‘I came not to send peace, but a sword (Mt 10:34),’ said Jesus Christ. The Spirit should prevail on ordinary life at every moment. A disciple is weak, and if he loses contact with the atmosphere of the School, he will at once become helpless. It often happens that a disciple is not really in the School but is just attached to it. He hangs about, leisurely waiting for the moment when his magnetic centre becomes strong enough to meet reality. Everything that is connected with the School is in opposition with secular life. If one has developed a magnetic centre within oneself that pulls him against the stream common life, then one has a chance to hold one’s ground. On the contrary, if one yields to the pressure of common life and pities oneself, one won’t reach the goal. For instance, in a monastery the superior makes sure that a monk says about five thousand prayers a day. In the School, the Master takes care of the correct growth of the magnetic centre in a disciple’s soul. TV, or any kind of information at all, gives a type of energy - but there should always be a cell in the soul, where a continuous prayer will sound. Otherwise, Martha suppresses Mary. It’s totally useless to search for spiritual meaning within the sphere of the soul; it would result in the loss of energy. All one’s energy of essence would then be wasted on useless struggle, while the roots of man are in the cosmic life. A disciple should develop within him or herself a warrior and a chess player in life, he should learn to perform any range of roles. However, I repeat, next to the flow of his daily life there should be the parallel flow of a mysterious inner life. That means that, in his or her everyday situations, such a disciple is still attached to the golden vibration of the spirit of his masters. A disciple who, on his own, is able to keep a resonance with any tradition is a rare bird. Such a disciple may gradually become a Master and organise a School that will unite those who follow the Path. To meet such a Master is a wonder. These are people with the finest energy; they come from distant stars.

In the School, the disciple is educated through real-life situations; through living words. Above all, the passions of the disciple become transformed in the hermetic cauldron. On the level of the disciple’s essence, a real initiatory life is led which requires a huge effort constantly. The disciple begins a time of ordeals and unexpected challenges…’

I tried to realise what it was exactly that G had just told me, but it wasn’t that easy.

‘I’m wondering,’ G concluded enigmatically, ‘which route the mayor of Saint Petersburg will offer to us. Maybe it would be possible to guide you through the alchemical corridor I’ve built with the help of Admiral. For this to happen, however, a sequence of coincidences must take place.’

G went to the telephone and dialled a number, glancing now and then into his tiny telephone book that fitted in half of his palm.

‘Hello Cathy, darling!’ he said, animatedly. ‘Would you like to take part in the staging of the second part of ‘Le Mystère de Petersbourg’?

I heard the metallic