Contents | Books in English

Nicholas Roerich
Madonna Oriflamma
The Invincible

PREFACE

Portrait by his son, Svetoslav Roerich

Portrait by his son, Svetoslav Roerich

Nerushimoye, the book by Prof. Nicholas Roerich, was published in Russian in 1936 in Riga by Uguns — the publishing house.

The preface to that book is significant enough to repeat in this English edition:

"In the present eleventh volume of his works, called by the author Nerushimoye ("The Invincible"), N.K. Roerich, indefatigable and widely recognized as a cultural leader of humanity, remains faithful to his task and to the goal that he sets before himself. He stands invincibly on watch over culture; invincibly and yet steadfastly he molds the steps of the consciousness of the new man; invincibly and strongly he lays the stones into a beneficent, true, spiritual culture as the basis of the structure of new life; invincibly and fearlessly he battles with ignorance, superstition, and prejudices and, in spite of the attacks of numerous adversaries, he continues to carry out unalterably the ideas of a peaceful, cultural structure of life.

"Vigilantly watching all that happens in life upon our planet, the author in this work also reacts constantly, like a sensitive barometer, to all events and manifestations of life, positive as well as negative. Any and all, the great and also the smallest manifestations of life find a living response in his many faceted heart, and a just, impartial evaluation by his all-embracing mind. There is no realm of knowledge or sides and issues of life that would be unattainable to his understanding and are not widely examined in his numerous letters and articles.

"Standing on guard over culture, Roerich dedicated his entire life to the battle with ignorance, for culture is to him the hearth of Light, a constant saturation and transmutation of consciousness by the light of higher knowledge and active love".

"In this incessant drive for the annihilation of darkness is disclosed the astonishing quality of his spirit, which ever delighted his friends — to approach everything without negation and intolerance, to observe in each cultural endeavor something positive, and to incorporate this actuality into the common evolutionary treasury of the world. This is precisely that high ideal of cultural constructiveness which N.K. Roerich brought into being in the many organizations and societies in which he realized a League of Culture —  precisely that affirmatively synthesized undertaking in which is revealed that all-creative spirit of unity, cooperation, and service, and where are put together the bases of the best future for humanity."

There is little we can add in 1974 to this just evaluation. Let The Invincible summon forth and exalt the best qualities of the human spirit.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

FEARLESSNESS

Free, unlimited science — Long forgotten discoveries.

AESOP'S FABLE

"Tell me thy company, and I'll tell thee what thou art." — Bestiality and brutality — Earthly and spiritual indebtedness.

THE FAR-SEEING EYE

The traveler in Asia — Watchfulness — Speed of transmission of news in remote parts of Asia and Africa.

CULTURE, THE VICTORIOUS

Culture and civilization defined — Festivals dedicated to culture — Coarseness excluded — Establish real days of culture.

SELF-DESTRUCTION

Unexplainable clashes — The masses wish to learn — Simple, hearty word is needed — Newest and most ancient now combined.

BENEVOLENCE

Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Peking saved by Tashi Lama — Good signs — Antagonists of enthusiasm — Confusion and fear — Rapture.

THE UNREPEATABLE

The Radlov expedition — Destiny of antiquities — Marauders — Grave gold — "Stone babas" — Vandalism — Destructive fanaticism — Know more.

ANCIENT SOURCES

Truth of ages in commands or proverbs and fairy tales — Importance of details — Poor translations — The art of thinking — Need for quality.

WORTH

Changes of government — The realm of the heart — The Chalice of Great Service -Epics.

MADNESS

Tiredness — Colds — Depression — Change of labor — Symptoms of madness — Striving for equilibrium — Cruelty.

STARS OF DEATH

1936-1937 — Sunspots — "Stars of death" — Rays from Regel — Stars of blue color — Hallucinations — Experiments with transmission of thoughts — Responsibility for thought.

ATTENTIVENESS

Effects of weather on sick organisms — Taking medicine — Effect of thought on plants — Difference in weight of dead body — Weight of higher energy and of thoughts — Photographs of invisible world — Attentiveness.

KITAB-UL-AGHANI

"People cannot find the Sea of Knowledge if they do not renounce all else." — Coming of a prophet — Prayers in the desert — What virtue is.

FAIRY TALES

Pearls to be found in fairy tales — Epic works — Need to publish fine examples of Russian literature in popular form — Translate these into many Eastern and Western tongues — Treasures of Eastern and Western wisdom must be issued in Russian — The Bhagavad Gita — Accessibility needed.

SEROV

His sincerity and honesty — His portraits — Always remained himself.

THE WINGED PLAGUE

Suddenness of its appearance — Experiments to determine height above Earth at which all life ceases to exist- — Role played by storms and cyclones in spreading infectious diseases — Upon some wings salvation comes flying — Threatening subterranean and submarine processes — Investigation of thought.

INEXHAUSTIBILITY

The physical and spiritual planes — Psychic energy — Attentiveness — Enthusiasm.

STEADFASTNESS

Issues from equilibrium.

EPIDEMICS

Of madness — Madness of public officials.

ARTISTS

Russian artists, musicians, composers, writers, philosophers — Franco-Russian understanding through culture.

TACTICA ADVERSA

Genghis Khan — Coordinated actions — Value of mobility — "Give a thief a rope" — Justice.

OEUVRE

Judgments about creative process — Separate works only petals of entire oeuvre.

THE MOST SIMPLE

Questions and answers — Flaming hearts — Simplicity understood in heart.

LIGHT REALIZED

Radiations of human body — The aura — Condition of blood — Role of medicine — Magnetic currents — Light rays — And sound — Expansion of consciousness.

CAREFULNESS

Watching oneself — Squandering other's forces — Rash actions — Cautiousness — And cooperation — Unexpected tests.

WILD ANIMALS

A feeling in animals akin to man — Killing must be abandoned — Meat eating — Dogs.

THE INVISIBLES

Invisibility — Folklore enters life — Benevolent properties of human spirit — Straight-knowledge — Teachings of hermits — Strange ailments — Thoughtlessly provoked energies — Results of mechanization of industry.

NEW LIMITS

Actual and apparent death — Noting down facts — Examine reality without negations -Recognition of the past.

FRAGRANCE

Chinese gardens and women — Condemnation — Destination of women.

WAVES OF LIFE

Lucky days — Life's three kinds of rhythm.

SOURCES

Languages — Ornament, music, art an expression of human feelings — Research of these.

FORWARD

Sven Hedin an example of striving and invincible labor — True creativeness is optimistic. EASY DIFFICULTIES

Difficulties created by imagination — Two types of people, some come to surface, others sink — Need for contact with nature — Adaptability — Mirages — "Blessed be the obstacles."

MYSTERIES

On Karakorum Pass — Hidden treasures — Great Guardians — Subterranean folk — Secret magnets.

MONSALVAT

Exercises and sports — Greek games and Roman circuses — Importance of thought -Life of labor and usefulness — Sports causing illnesses — Limited thinking — Spirit alone shall receive the crown.

THE BANNER

The Pact and Banner of Peace — Safeguarding cultural values - Choice between Light and darkness.

ESSENCE

Essential nature of people is good — Experiment with projecting subtle body — Ignorance — Power of good thoughts — Unusual manifestations — Apparitions — There is no death.

PYRRHIC VICTORIES

Depletion of forces — Spirit must be cognized — Spiritual battles — Dark enemies — Straight-knowledge — Napoleon and Kutuzov.

THE TRUE FORCE

Experiments with suggestion — Power of thought — Primitive state of thought.

ATTRACTION

Attachment to places — Journeys — The longed-for home — Attractions and antagonisms to people.

RUSSIA

A many faceted image of Russia — V.V. Stasov — Roerich's painting, "The March" — Tolstoy — Moussorgsky — Elena Ivanovna — The Kutchka — Peredvizhniki — National art — Roerich's painting "Three Joys" — Calls.

THE INEXPRESSIBLE

Absolutes — Some factors elude formulation — A new infinity — Shifting the consciousness — Art of thinking — Arresting thoughts — A sigh — Voluntariness.

RECIPROCITY

The basis of agreements — Violence ends in destruction — The human heart — Brutalized ignorance — Responsibility — Tests in daily life.

ANTAGONISM

Its source small and shallow — Obsessive aversions — Irrational partiality — Careful attitude about conduct, thoughts, and words.

DELAY

"Delay like unto death" — Reasons for delay — Need to think about effect on the future — Everything must be cultivated and tested.

ANONYMITY

Anonymous creativity — Mongolia — "Stone babas" — Roerich's painting "The Guardians of the Desert" — Bronze figures — Nestorian crosses — Learning associated with great antiquity.

THE COMPLETELY NEW

Rhine's experiments with thought transference — Phenomena encountered by Prof. Dyhrenfurth in the Himalayas — Electrical apparatus — Should record observations.

IMITATION

Close to emulation — Slander — Properties of ignorance — Gratitude — Betrayal — Do not be embittered — Strive for quality.

VIDEBIMUS

A deadly saying — Isabella d'Este — Cesare Borgia — Delay — And neglect — The earthy burden.

SERENDIPITY

Accepting success — It must be caught — Need for quality — Filling space the greatest responsibility of humanity — Pessimism — Dark forces — The destined.

COMPARISON

Need for support of medical research — Great sums available for military purposes -Creative cultural activity should be increased.

GATES INTO THE FUTURE

Durability — Art materials — Colors — Tempera — Oils — Italian and Flemish primitives — Van Eyck — Icon painters — Teaching art — Quality.

THE GREAT IMAGES

Heroes and heroines of antiquity — Images, from recent past — Judgment — A remarkable feminine image — Finding the good signs.

FREDUM

The price of peace — Honor and dignity — Conquest a medieval concept- -Byzantium — The dead word — Protection of cultural treasures — Tolerance and patience needed.

SIGNIFICANCE

Idle talk — Simplicity — Coarseness — Thought energy — Should be silent -Converse meaningfully and think constantly — Sleep.

ARCHIVES

Fragmentary notes — Preserving archives in great order — Clarify circumstances -Correct errors.

KING ALBERT

Institute in Bruges — A heroic knight — Life is dismal without a hero — Heroism -1914 — Roerich's painting "Fire."

UPON THE FACE OF EARTH

Russians who have contributed through their work to many countries — Creativeness for good — St. Sergius — The cooperation of peoples.

WELCOMED LABOR

Improves results of work — Person who speculates on a fall — Lack of desire for labor — A holiday of the spirit — Beautiful marathons — The seed of the spirit.

"THIS, TOO, WILL PASS"

Learning patience — Tolerance — Sincerity — No place for condemnations — Dispersing darkness — Achievement — Creating good — Thresholds — Instilling vigor.

LET US REJOICE

Joy and depression — Purpose of meetings — Inception of valor — "The first glimmer before the dawn" — Useless complaints — Messengers — Building the temple — Evil is transitory, good eternal — True joy.

THE MIDDLE AGES

"The All-Seeing Eye" a Masonic symbol — Dark periods — Superstitions — Confusions — Poisons — Sowers of darkness — First impressions — Inquiry — Friends of culture on watch-  Disperse darkness — The heart.

PROPHECIES

Dr. Thomas Midgley — A new supply of energy will have to be found — Inhabitants of other planets — Improvement of health — Spiritual development — Psychic energy -Sleep and narcotics — Earth and infinity.

CATACOMBS

Psychology of catacombs — Rome — Persecutions — Carrying the chalice — Service to humanity — These times a special period — Difficulties — Readiness.

THE DROUGHT

Destruction of Quetta — Prophecies about Kali-Yuga — Present signs — Derision by ignoramuses — Archaeology — Spiritual drought.

THE LETTER

Striving — Children full of inner burning — "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you" -Dark forces — Discuss the Forces of Light — Prejudices — Fidelity so needed. REGENERATION

The idea — Seeing that which was to be — Blok — "The Annals of Russian Art" and Russian history — What we Russians need — Regeneration — Thought about culture — Creativeness.

SEALS

Ancient Chinese seals in Ireland — Ancient international relations — Archaeological findings — Forgotten discoveries — Usefulness of travel — Marco Polo — The price of peace — Archaeology.

ESSENTIAL NATURE

Degrees of ascent — Forcing — Naturalness — Rebellions — Prejudice — Narcotics -Natural condition of the essence — Sweat of labor — Definitions of good.

TESTS

Everything tested endlessly — As in the body, so in the spirit — Dark conduits — Man seldom inactive — Constant labor of the spirit — "All worlds on trial" — Planet exposed to danger-Contemporary life — Man makes own destiny — Warnings — To love.

IMAGES

Tests through fear — Knowledge essential — True visage always revealed — Masks -Tolerance of evil — Fearlessness a natural quality — The hero.

INVINCIBILITY

Stability of construction — Doubt and envy — Obsession_ The enlightened heart — True cooperation — Good is victorious.

GOLDEN PRAGUE

Thirty years ago — Beginning of foreign exhibitions — Traveling rare — Settledness — Slavs — Advance of culture — Masaryk — "The Pact and Banner of Peace" — General Kletchanda — Memories — Joy of the spirit.

DEFENSE

Defense of Motherland — Culture — People not satisfied with abstractions.

COMBATING IGNORANCE

Knowledge an expanding process — Science — Infinite learning — Inspiration — Thought transmission — Martyrs of science — Astrology — Human radiations and psychic energy - Clairvoyance and clairaudience — Denial of Truth — Good, culture, and enlightenment.

GORKI

His death and funeral procession — Tributes to him — Last minutes — Attitude toward other writers — Hindus — Roerich's painting "The Doomed City" — Gorki as Harun-al-Rashid.

MIR

Peaceful labor — Homer — Endless war — Prayers for peace — Bloody food and killing — Defenders of culture — "Festival of-projectiles" — Dangers of new war — Defense justified, assault condemned — Universe and peaceful creativeness.

SIGNS OF THE ERA

Liberated science — Spiritualization of science — Battle with ignorance — Power of thought — Psychic energy — "Know thyself — Seekers of knowledge — Unity a real force — Experimentation with psychic energy.