"Helena Roerich & A Holy Stone" (Part I)

In Kalimpong, India stands a stupa dedicated to Helena Roerich, known as ‘She Who Leads”, with an epitaph that reads: “Helena Roerich, the wife of Nicholas Roerich, thinker and writer, old friend of India”.

A stupa that once stood all alone on a hill now sits in the compound of a Buddhist monastery named Sang Dhok Palri Phodang that was consecrated in 1976 by the Dalai Lama.

Helena lived the last years of her life in Kalimpong, near the future site of this now bustling monastery until she died in her sleep after suffering two heart attacks. She was cremated and her ashes scattered on top of the Kanchenjunga Mountain.

Helena Roerich was a writer, philosopher, peace activist, and to many, a prophet who lived from 1879 -1955. She was also known as Tara Urusvati translated as "The Light of the Morning Star”. Helena bore two children, George who was born in 1902 and died when he was 58 years old and Svetoslav, born in 1904 who lived in India until his death in 1993.

According to Joy Kam, a contributor to the blog of TsemRinpoche.com, who is now known as Lobsang Chökyia, a Buddhist nun, “Her husband and sons admired Helena and she was considered the foundation of the Roerich family as well as their spiritual leader. Always supportive of Nicholas’ initiatives and projects, she would study deeply whatever subjects he was exploring. They travelled together often and explored around forty ancient cities in Russia searching for places of national history and culture in 1903 alone.

Helena was not just a great philosopher; she was an inspiration, a great leader and a prominent contributor to the world of art and culture. She was the founder and honorary President of the Institute of Himalayan Studies, also known as ‘Urusvati’ in India. Among her many publications are translations of two volumes of Helena P. Blavatsky’s ‘Secret Doctrine’, and a selection of Master Morya’s letters known as ‘Cup of the East’. She also co-wrote the ‘International Treaty for Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historical Monuments’, better known as the Roerich Pact, and is still revered around the world for her wisdom and her profoundly spiritual books.”

Helena was married to artist, writer, philosopher, fellow peace activist and businessman Nicholas Roerich whose collection of paintings are well known to the world including many works representing and dedicated to his wife Helena including ‘Agni Yoga’, painted in 1929, ‘She Who Holds the World’ in 1933, and the painting ‘She Who Leads’, in1943. In the same year Nicholas painted Agni Yoga, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the University of Paris. He would receive two more nominations for the prize, one in1932 and again in 1935.

Sina Fosdick, the closest disciple of the Roerichs during their lives said of their marriage in her diary that was published in a book titled “My Teachers: Meeting with the Roerichs”, Quote: “During walks they always hold each other’s hand, They love each other so beautifully; there is so much tenderness between them, so much sensitivity and understanding, such devotion in their eyes when they look at each other-I have never seen a more beautiful and harmonious love between husband and wife.”

Suggested Websites:

Roerich Museum New York - https://www.roerich.org/

Tsem Rinpoche - https://www.roerich.org/

Suggested Reading:

*Purchasing any of these books using the links below helps support SHE Life

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Helena Roerich

📖 The Leaves of Morya's Garden I: The Call (1924)

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📖 The Leaves of Morya's Garden 2: The Call (1925)

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Philip Coppens

📖 The Canopus Revelation: The Stargate of the Gods and the Ark of Osiris (2004)

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📖 Servants of the Grail: The Real-Life Characters of the Grail Legend Identified (2009)

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Sina Fosdick

📖 My Teachers: Meetings with the Roerichs (2015)

Amazon.com Sponsored Link https://amzn.to/43nF7CE

John McCannon

📖 Nicholas Roerich: The Artist Who Would Be King (2022)

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Jean Robin

📖 Operation Orth, The Incredible Secret of Rennes-le-Château

Amazon.com Sponsored Link https://amzn.to/44skqXk

Wolfram Von Eschenbach

📖 Parzival (1300)

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Paramhansa Yogananda

📖 Autobiography of a Yogi (1946)

Amazon.com Sponsored Link https://amzn.to/3rtnOmu