1927_08_19_1 THE WAY OF THE DISCIPLE

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From  The Way of the Disciple, AlphaDar

 

THE WAY OF THE DISCIPLE

 

Now I shall read to you a part of the 49th chapter of Isaiah from the 15th verse to the end. This is the teaching of the Old Testament people. Their ideas of old time are expressed here.

 

I shall also read to you the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and shall make a parallel between these two chapters. Again I shall start with the 15th verse.

 

This assembly is the first one of its kind. The first day begins with the day of Love.

 

We separate people into four categories: of the Old Testament, of the New Testament, righteous people of new times, and disciples. You could find what were your thoughts and views on life in the past in the Old Testament. What are your views on life as men of the New Testament you can find in the New Testament itself. But if you look in the Bible for a description of the way of a disciple, you will not find it. Therefore, the way of a disciple is the New which God gives us today.

 

Someone says: "This is the way I speak, this is the way I think." No, noone in the world can speak; noone in the world can think. It is only God who manifests Himself in the world, while all people bear the August Divine Wisdom. It flows through them. And every man who monopolizes the Divine and calls it his own is not a real man. One of the greatest spirits of the first universe had once seen himself in the Divine mirror and upon seeing his beauty, which had been greater than the beauty of any other spirit, had exclaimed: "This is me!" But the moment he had said: "This is me", his beauty had begun to fade and darken. Why? - That beauty had not been his own. We call this spirit "Day spirit".

 

Some people ask: "What is sin?" - Sin is the perversion of the external, physical life, i.e. of the great Divine life. When we speak of sin, we do not imply the spiritual life, but the material life of people. In all material worlds sin follows people in the way the shadow follows the wheel. This is inevitable. When there is sun, there is shadow, there is also sin. When there is no sun, there is no shadow and no sin. However, in the physical world there is an illusion that the sun rises and sets. In fact, the sun never sets, therefore the shadow always appears behind the wheel.

 

Today there are certain contradictions in the consciousness of all people. For instance, sometimes you think that you are on the right way and you have found God. Then you are happy, contented and you think you know everything. In this case you are right. You are righteous to the extent one is capable of being righteous. You are saintly to the extent one can be saintly. You have gained knowledge to the extent one is capable of gaining it. In all these cases there are certain limits. When we speak of knowledge, we do not mean the whole knowledge of God, nor the whole knowledge of the angels, but we mean the knowledge which is in the human mind. When we speak of goodness, we also speak of the goodness which is in the human heart. When we speak of power, we mean the power which is in the human spirit.

 

Thus, in the first place, you must have a clear idea of the Old Testament man; you must have a clear idea of the New Testament man; you must have a clear idea of the righteous man - the man of the new epoch, and lastly, you must have a clear idea of the disciple. These categories are phases which the disciple must know.

 

Consequently, when we speak about riches and material possessions in the world, we have in mind the efforts made by a certain type of people. These are the Old Testament people. They are right in their efforts, that's why God allows them to have possessions. While they are in the old life, they have the right to have fields, oxen, different kinds of cattle, ploughs to plow with, spades to dig the earth with; to be born and reborn, to kill one another - they can do everything. This is an environment of the physical world. The potter, who makes pottery for sale, produces large numbers - some are good, some are bad. Some of them will get cracked, but others will come out whole and he will sort them according to their quality. This depends upon his knowledge and abilities as a potter. He will send all his pots to the market, but according to his idea, he will separate the good ones from the bad ones and put aside the good ones to serve a better purpose than the bad ones. There is a market for all the pottery in the world. If the pots had consciousness, those of the lower quality would have said: "Why did this potter behave like this? Why did he give the other pots such a good shape, while we look so ugly? Why did he give them honour and glory in the world, but left us in such disgrace?" I ask you: Is the potter responsible for all this? This is the external, physical side of life; this is only a temporary conception of things.

 

This example shows not only the state of the potter, it expresses the living nature which operates within us. Today people face this important problem in living nature which they must solve. With regard to this I ask you: Does your stomach have the respectable place which the lungs have? Do the large and the small intestines occupy that respectable place which the brain occupies? Do the feet have the respectable place of the eyes? How can you explain all these contradictions in life? However, all organs of your body, regardless of the place they occupy, constitute living cells, living souls which have one common soul. And if one day favourable conditions for their development are created, they will become as beautiful and wise as you are, and they will possess as much knowledge as you possess. They will be able to take the same respectable position in society, as you now take. But today these cells have been diminished and placed in such unenviable places, in order to learn humility. They are contented with this insignificant service.

 

You ask: "What is sin?" I will tell you. Sin begins with great things, while good begins with small and insignificant things. When the great things become smaller, they produce sin which is destructive. And vice versa: when the small, insignificant things expand and grow, they produce the good. The difference between good and evil lies in the following fact: when the good grows, its cells multiply, unite themselves into one whole and form an organism. But when these cells, after their multiplication, begin again to disintegrate, an individualization begins to take place among them, and thus evil is born. Consequently, it is enough for two, three, four, five, six or ten persons, who had previously been in consent to begin to get individualized, in order to wish to become prominent in some way or another and to begin to insist upon their own. These people are already at the threshold of evil, at the threshold of sin. They become dissociated and finally they do not have a common purpose. Sin is a digression from God. When people digress from God, they have different purposes - different aspirations. There is a great variety of ideals in sin, a great variety of forms. In the life of the righteous there is an apparent uniformity of purpose, which they pursue. They are all aiming at one and the same thing - to be righteous. The sinner never says that he wants to be sinful, but says: "I want to see life, to experience everything in the world and that's why I have come to the earth. My father has great wealth, I must use it. When I grow old, after having tasted everything in life, after having acquired knowledge and wisdom, I shall consider the question how to serve God with these acqusitions. Then I shall be more experienced and shall know how to serve God". This is the way a wise man speaks of sin.

 

So, I say to you: As disciples, you must have a clear idea of the way of the disciple. Considering what must be the way of the disciple, we criticize absolutely noone, we do not undertake any actions. From this point of view, we do not moralize anyone by saying who is right and who is wrong. We have absolutely nothing to do with the mistakes of people. Mistakes do not exist for us. We are concerned only with the regular life - the life of Love. I say: God is a God of Love, of Light, of Peace and of Joy. Therefore, these are also qualities of the disciple. If you should ask me what your ideal must be in the present conditions of life, I will say that your ideal must be: Love, Light, Peace and Joy for the souls. This is not an ideal for eternity, but an ideal which can be achieved even today. You can not say that you love Truth and Wisdom and that you want to achieve them. Another epoch will come for Truth and Wisdom. They are not for today, for the present times. Now at the start, you need Love, but not without Light. You need Light, but not without Peace. You need Peace, but not without Joy. Thus, you need Love with Light, Light with Peace, Peace with Joy. All these are united into one entity.

 

What is Love worth without Light? Did not all Old Testament people have Love without Light? What did they gain? What is Light worth without Peace? Did not all New Testament people have Light without Peace? What did they gain? That's why you must understand correctly the inner process of life. After you acquire knowledge, that knowledge must give you Light. Is it like this in fact? You have much knowledge, but you are not satisfied with your life, you do not have Peace within yourselves. Religious people do not only lack Peace, but they have no Joy within themselves. That's why when some religious and educated men share their experience, their views and conclusions are ordinary. When a disciple shares his experiences, he can speak of an experience of Love, in which there is Light. The disciple can tell of an experience of Light, in which there is Peace. The disciple can tell of an experience of Peace, which brings Joy to his soul. All disciples of the Universal White Brotherhood have lived among Old and New Testament people. Today they live also among the righteous.

 

I call righteous those who have courts of justice with an established order and ceremony. Everyone seeks justice in life, everyone wants to achieve it, but has no methods to apply it. Today people are still asking: "How must the world be made better?" By the word "world", I mean the present life in all of its manifestations: individual, social and that of humanity as a whole. How can all these kinds of life be revised? Through Love, Light, Peace and Joy. In the present life, Love is not given, Light is not given, Peace is not given and Joy is not given. I am speaking of the new life which is coming now. It will come through the new Love which is already entering the world. This is the way of the disciple. You must know how to receive this Love. You must know how to welcome the new Light, which is coming into the world. You must know what place in your soul you must give to the new Peace. You must know what a rich banquet you must give to the Joy which is coming now into the world. A banquet can be given only when Joy is found.

 

I shall read the 15th verse of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John: "No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you".

 

Those of you who are listening to me, must understand me well and think right. None of you must be discouraged, or tempted. The Old Testament people are discouraged, the New Testament people are tempted, the righteous become sad, but the disciple meets gladly all the contradictions in his life. He knows that every contradiction is a great problem in his life and he must solve it. These contradictions are not only facts, as some people call them, they are the result of the four kinds of life flowing in our organism. The old life flows in your tendons, in your large intestines. You can not get rid of it. Consequently, it bears a number of contradictions within itself, which you can not escape from. The new life flows in your lungs, spreads through your sympathetic nervous system, in your solar plexus. The life of the righteous occupies the lower part of the brain, while the life which implies the way of the disciple, flows in the highest parts of the brain. It occupies the best place. That's why this life represents the ideal in people.

 

How can a disciple be recognized? You will recognize him by the following qualities: he bears within himself a soft light which does not cause any pain or hurt your eyes. He speaks with such a soft tone of voice, that he never disturbs your ears. He can feed you with such food, which will never spoil your stomach or taste. You must understand these things not by form, but by inner meaning. When you have joy which throws all contradictions out of you, you have barely experienced a small part of the life of the disciple. This joy shows you what you must be like as a disciple.

 

During the different epochs, many people have been striving to reconcile all these trends of life and to expel the contradictions which have appeared as natural results of these different lives. However, the results of these different kinds of life themselves are unreconcilable. You can not reconcile the result of the action of a man who is burning down a house, with the result of the action of another man who builds a house. You can not reconcile the result of the action of one who burns a sacred book, with that of another who writes a sacred book. You can not reconcile the result of the action of one who kills a man, with the result of the action of a woman who gives birth to a child and brings it up. How can you reconcile these two kinds of results? Someone, after killing his neighbour, starts speaking about Karma, about God's rights, about the creation of the world, etc. These are all fictions. Has that man been an adviser to God to be sure that everything is just as he says? If this is a general law, it must be the same for everyone. Why does not the righteous man speak the same way? He says, for instance, that it is the will of God that this house should be built, this sacred book written and this man educated and well brought up. I ask you: Which is better, to build a house or to create a man? And which is worse, to burn down a house or to kill a man?

 

These are elementary problems which I will not solve. You have passed through these phases of life. You have in yourselves the old life, you have in yourselves the new life, the life of the righteous and now you are at the door of the way of the disciple. These are four "indefinite" problems, which you must solve. I am just touching the old life, but I must explain it further. If I have the time, I will explain what kind of life it is. I say, if I have the time, because one can speak only if he has enough time. All of you live in time and space, but many of you want to act in a way incompatible with the laws of living nature. You say: "How is it that he can not do everything he wants to, or speak at any time one wants to?" For instance you want me to give a talk on the old life, but suppose that while I am speaking, such an earthquake takes place that all the stones in the hall we are in and the walls begin to fall, the sun outside darkens and because of the powerful shaking of the earth, you find yourselves at half an hour distance from the hall. I ask you: How many of you will remain in the hall to listen to my talk? When the sun rises again, I will find myself all alone in the hall. This may happen. Therefore, in order to discuss this philosophy, it is necessary that there should be calmness in nature, that no earthquakes should be raging.

 

In the second place, you want me to explain to you the New Testament life. Well, I start speaking, but suppose that at the same time someone brings a paper in which you read that the credit bank "Girdap" has gone into bankrupcy. However, you have deposited your capital in this very bank. You are horrified of the awful situation and from that moment on, whatever I may say to you will be ineffective, since the thought of the failed bank will occupy the place for my thoughts in your mind. How will you understand the new life in such a case? These are facts in life which distract your attention every day. When someone is speaking to us, we must be so sincere, our minds and hearts so open and free for receiving the words, that nothing from outside can distract our attention. We occupy ourselves with things which resemble the earthquakes in nature. We keep ourselves busy with the bank "Girdap", and with a number of other material questions and say: must we not live, must we not have means to live? Of course, we must live, undoubtedly we must employ the conditions of life advantageously. Every person who has come to life on the earth, must have the necessary conditions for that; he must have food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear, and a house where to live and rest. Some people say that God has foreseen everything. Yes, He has foreseen everything, but you must go yourself to the fountain to take water. No angel will come down from heaven to bring you water. One of the great prophets of Israel, mighty in knowledge and power, once having remained in seclusion, felt the need of food, but angels did not come down from heaven to bring him food - ravens were sent to serve him. They took bread to him in their bills. That great prophet understood God's law and was satisfied with it and thanked God. I ask you: "How much food can a raven carry in its bill?" Do not think that it has taken a large piece of bread to him. Not at all, it took a very small piece of bread to him, as much as the bill could carry. But the prophet was pleased with that small bite of bread.

 

Now I shall make a comparison. Suppose you were in the state of the prophet Elijah, who spent his days in seclusion far away in the mountain. The ravens there took bread to him. You know in what a difficult situation Israel was at that time! There were years of famine. For three years it had not rained -the land was parched dry. Almost everything had burned and withered. The wheat barns of Israel were empty, there was very little bread. Only the rich had some wheat, while the poor fed on roots. Suppose that you find yourself in such a desperate situation as that of Elijah! What will you feel, if a raven should come to you bringing you a small piece of bread in the mouth? - Divine Joy.

 

Then I ask you: What is Divine Joy? It is the small bite of bread which the raven brings to you in its bill. But you, like the Old Testament people, take this bite of bread and say: "It would have been better without it, it will only stimulate unpleasantly my stomach! I do not need such a small bite. I need, at least, 30-40 such bites!" You are not satisfied, you protest. I say: Wait a moment, do not hurry! The raven will come again on the next day and will bring you another bite. After starving like this for ten days, you stop being a man of the old life, you become a man of the new life. When you receive this small bite, you say: "This bread is not enough for me, but I will try to satisfy my hunger with it." You take the bite and eat it, but you remain hungry. On the next day, the raven brings you another bite. While you are discontented, you are an Old Testament person, but after you understand the great Law of God, to be pleased with the small bites, which the raven brings to you, you pass into the category of the New Testament and become a person of the new life. You stop feeling embittered, begin to reason and to justify the raven by saying: "Truly, how much food can this small raven carry in its bill? As much as it can eat. I see its wings are small and young. I am grateful for even this much". Now you are no more embittered, no more full of doubts and from a New Testament person, you start preparing yourself to enter into the life of the righteous. And as such, you begin to grieve that there is no more food, saying: "Can there not be found more such ravens, at least ten, so that they might bring me more food?" If once this question comes forward, it can easily be settled.

 

In the present world there are many righteous people, who say: "We must have more food!" The beggar who sets out to beg round the world says: "I wish there were more righteous people round the world, so that one could give me a few cents, another a penny and altogether, they will come up to a nice sum of money, moreover in gold!" I present to you the three kinds of life pictures.

 

What must be the life of the disciple? He does not wait for the ravens to bring him bread. The disciple has already a real experience, he has a conscious contact with the invisible world, because he has passed through the three phases of life: the old life, the new life and the life of the righteous. Now he is taking the way of the "disciple" in which way he must have quite different conceptions and views on life. Jesus Christ says: "You who have passed through these ways of life, must deny life". Which life ? The life of the Old Testament. What other life must you deny? The new life. And at last, you must deny the life of the righteous. While you are in the old life, you become embittered. In the new life, you doubt. In the life of the righteous, you grieve. These are not sinful, but natural states, which all people pass through. These are cultures, which have existed in the past. Due to the lack of other terms, we use the words old life, new Ufe, life of the righteous and life of the disciple.

 

If we read the pages of the Old Testament, we will see that great things are expressed there, but the great things have not remained in the Old Testament. They have passed into the New Testament. There are people even in our own culture, who say that a sinful man can be righteous. No, a sinner can never be righteous. However, he has the chance to correct his sins and to become righteous. Today when people wish to support their idea that the sinful man can be righteous, give the following example. They say: "See this man who was in debts' from ear to ear, he managed to arrange his life, to put his affairs in a good state and now he wears a frotk tail coat, fashionable trousers, patent-leather shoes, a top hat, colourful tie, has a gold watch on a solid chain, and cane in hand walks like a gentleman, like a noble man, taking his hat off at every acquaintance he meets. Wherever he passes, every one says: "Look a noble man, a real gentleman!" But I say: I wish those people who praise him so much never hear what others say about him! The hatter passes by him and says: "This top hat is mine!" The tailor passes by him and says: "These clothes are mine, they are not paid yet!" The shoemaker passes by and says: "These patent-leather shoes are mine!" The goldsmith passes by and says: "This watch is mine!" And after all, we call that man a noble gentleman! He has robbed the world, dressed himself well in someone alse's clothes and passes as a man of noble birth! No, that man is a sinner! I call sinful people "those who decorate themselves with the virtues of the righteous". They put on their clothes and pass for righteous. The Bulgarian man, after having understood the philosophy, says: "What belongs to other people can be taken from you even on Easter!" How can it be otherwise! There will come a time when all stolen things will be taken away from you. There is a law about this! There will come policemen, who will take hold of the well-dressed gentleman, will deliver him to the jury, will take off his clothes, his top-hat, his patent-leather shoes, the golden watch on the chain - all these things will go to their own places.

 

Therefore, I want you to understand me well. If you are embittered, or enraged, you must know that's the old life which flows in your veins. But do not think that you personify the old life. Do not take your personality, your individuality and personal views on life for deep inner aspirations of your soul!

 

When we speak of the new life, we mean certain currents which flow within you. The life of the righteous is considered in the same way. These are general, collective trends of the human consciousness. Those are the views of all people in the past. Christ says: " Temptations will inevitably come, but woe unto him through whom they come!" What does the word "woe" imply to? It means that this man will inevitably suffer. The Old Testament says: "Many are the trials and sufferings of the righteous, but God will save him from all of them". For the disciple, Christ says: "If you have Love, i.e. if you have entered this new epoch as disciples and love me, you will keep my commandment and will have Peace and Joy in your souls". The disciples will bear Joy in their life as a solution to their problems. I do not speak of a joy which changes, but of the Joy of the disciple, which nothing in the world can overshadow, which nothing in the world can cause to fail. It is the highest peak in the material world. No cloud can ever reach it. The Divine sun always illumines it. There are no storms on this peak. Love reigns there, Light and Peace reign there, Joy itself reigns there. This is how we understand the Joy of the disciple.

 

Love is the eldest sister, the eldest daughter of God, born in eternity. Light is the eldest brother, also born in eternity. Peace is the most beautiful home which Joy can inhabit. In the future if you want to build your body - your home, Peace must come to help you. This is the law. And then Joy will come to live in this body. Joy is the youngest, the most favourite sister, whom all like to caress. Where Love is, there is also Joy.

 

Where Love is, there is Light, there is Peace and Peace brings Joy. Peace prepares the home for Joy. If you have no Peace, Joy can never come to the Earth. It will not come, unless you have prepared a home for it. Love, Light and Peace have ceded the highest peak on earth to Joy.

 

Later on, if we have more time, we shall consider the question: How the disciple must heal himself and also, what are the laws by which he can build a new body for himself. For this purpose he must study the laws of Peace. This fact is true for the ordinary life as well. For instance, what kind of children will be born by a mother whose mind is not disturbed nor perplexed by any storms and contradictions in life and whose spirit is calm and quiet? Such a mother will give birth to healthy children. All mothers who have peace in their souls bear healthy children. However, a mother, who worries during the whole time of her pregnancy - be it for bad conditions of life, be it for the unfavourable changes in life, such a mother bears sick and feeble children.

 

We apply this law upon ourselves. Every man who enters the way of the disciple will bear and create new thoughts and new feelings, not only once a year, but almost every hour, almost every minute. In what state will you find yourself then? How did the fish solve this question? In the past, they had an advanced culture, but what did they do? They threw out into the water all their thoughts and feelings in the form of small eggs. They threw out over 200-300 thousand eggs at one time and left them alone. Similarly, at times we write our thoughts in books and leave them alone to make their way into life, just as the fish leave their eggs, but this is not a correct solution of the great law of God.

 

I do not wish to have your attention for a long time and to develop in a philosophic way the new idea of the old life, the new life, or the righteous life, because this will make you feel tired. Who will remain here to listen to me? No one. But if I start talking about the life of the disciple, you will say to me: "Speak, Master, I am ready to listen!"

 

Now I consider the question psychologically. What you will look for in your life, is happiness. You seek also wealth and knowledge in the world. Your aspiration in this case is right. It is said in the Scripture: "Ask, knock, seek!" The fault does not lie in the fact that you seek happiness, wealth and knowledge, but in the ways you choose to achive these are wrong. There are diversions from the right way in your methods. Consequently, the disciple must have only one idea about each thing and not two ideas. In case he has two ideas about one and the same thing he will be in contradiction with himself.

 

I will use an example from the Holy Scripture. When the Universal White School was established, it had only two disciples. Later came two others - Adam and Eve, created after the image and likeness of the first two. They were the second initials of the School, whom God directed into Paradise and to whom He gave the first problem to solve. He called them to Himself and said to them: "You will take care of all the trees in Paradise, you will eat the fruit of the tree, called "tree of life", and all other fruit as well but here is a tree which you must not touch and you must not taste its fruit. The day that you taste its fruit, your mind, your heart and your soul will be poisoned, because it keeps all the poisons of life". I speak to you in a modern way, because this is said in different words in the Scriptures. And God said: "The day you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will die". Bear in mind that those were not simple people, but at least candidates for disciples.

 

One day the mate of one of the disciples was walking through the garden of Paradise, studying the different trees. He was looking at them, taking notes and making pictures of them. All of a sudden, he approached the tree of "recognizing the god and the evil", and began to study it. He counted its leaves, calculated the number of fruit, their shape, colour, etc. At that moment a man of comely countenance approached the same tree, he had a black beard, black mustaches hanging down, and was dressed in a long black frock coat like those of the ancient men; a black cloak over his clothes spread open, a black necklace with a black cross was handing on his neck; a golden crown on decked around with black diamonds was on his head. He quietly asked the disciple: "May I know what are you busy with, what are you studying?" "Our Master gave us a problem which I am solving." - "What do you know about this tree?" -"Our Master told us that the day we taste of the fruit of this tree, we shall die." - "No, your Master has a different understanding about this. He tells you all that, in order to test your minds. You have not understood Him well. By His words, one may con-elude that the day you taste of the fruit of this tree, you will become like your Master and even something more than Him." - "Is that so?" - "Yes, see these symbols which I wear - they show that I know this thing, for I have graduated from this School which you are just entering. I am already an adept of the School. The necklace which I wear, is given to me as a proof of completed education. At one time, I was examined just as you are today by this tree, but I was not as simple as you are and I solved this problem." - "Is that so?" Since you have solved it correctly, everything becomes easier. And the disciple stepped backwards at once! This adept continued on: "I know your Master. He sent me to come to you and enlighten you on this question". And they believed. In what? That if a man eats the fruit of this tree, he would not only be free from death, but would also become like his Master and even greater than Him. And actually, both disciples ate the fruit of the forbidden tree and sinned.

 

I say: These candidates for disciples had two ideas about the tree of recognizing the good and the evil. The first idea was that the day they eat, they will die. The second idea was that the day they eat, they will not only be free from death, but will also become like their Master, and even like God. Which thought proved to be true? The first one. The first thought, the first ray in the world is the Divine ray. The second ray is a reflection, but the reflection has an opposite direction, it does not lead to the purpose. Each time you have two ideas about one thing, you are not in the reality, but in the reflection. And if you guide yourself by the reflection of things, you will not achieve any results. You will come back to the same place where you have started from. Therefore, sinful people will also return to God one day, but through the place where they have left Him. Do you know the place which people have originally come out of? It is the narrowest place one can pass through.

 

Thus, those of you who want to be disciples, must have only one conception of things. You can have only one Master in the world! I am talking about the disciple. Everyone may speak to you and you will listen to the end without opposing him. What should the disciple, in the garden of Paradise, have done when he listened to the speech of the adept by the tree of knowing good and evil? I would say the following things to that adept: "Your Honour, you are one of the first disciples of this School, but I do not wish to be the first one. I want to wear a white apparel, not a black like yours. If you, after having studied for so many years this tree, have acquired this black appearance, I will put off this science for another time. I thank you for your complaisance and readiness to instruct me, but I am not ready for this yet. This School recommends to the weak disciples to avoid to study this question. It is a very complicated question and I shall put it off for the future when I shall become stronger. When we meet a second time, we shall speak about this subject. Now, good-bye!" I shall prove all this to him scientifically, without offending him in the least.

 

Christ says: "I don't call you servants anymore, but friends". Many times you have heard the word "slave". Slavery is the lowest state one can reach in this world. To be a slave is to obey everything people require from you without opposing them. There is no other way than to obey. I am not speaking about the states of life, but about that conscious slavery which one may become a subject of. There is slavery in the mental world - you are not free to think as you want to. There is slavery in the spiritual world - you are not free to feel as you wish to. As long as others impose a credo on you, as long as others impose a teaching on you, you can not be free. Why did God give freedom to the two disciples in Paradise? Could He not place two angels by the tree of recognizing good and evil, who would not allow the two disciples to eat the fruit of that tree? - He could, yet He did not place any guards by the tree, but left it unguarded, free. What would have been the solution of the problem, if those angels had stood with fiery swords by that tree and had not allowed anyone to come near it and touch it? - We would have remained righteous to this very minute. Freedom obtained by a negative way is preferable to any kind of limitation. There are limitations everywhere. There are limitations, for instance, in the old life. There are limitations in the new life. There are also limitations in the life of the righteous. There are no limitations, however, in the life of the disciple. Every act of the disciple is conscious.

 

There are three situations in the world in which you can act. The first one is the following: you are an intelligent creature which the invisible world has sent to the earth and has given you a physical body without asking you whether you want it or not. This is the situation the Old Testament man is in. The second situations when you are sent to the earth, you are given a body and have only one freedom - to choose where you want to go. Thin is the situation the New Testament man is in. The third situation is: you are sent to the earth by the invisible world in the most favourable conditions to study and you are given a comparatively greater freedom. This is the situation the righteous man is in. In the Old Testament life you will expiate your sins and will suffer. In the New Testament life you work for your perfection. In the life of the righteous you will help others, but when you come to the earth as a disciple you will learn the first rule by which love can be applied in your life. When I come to love I have reached the state when I define myself, my actions, my attitude to the people and to the perfect beings. If someone comes to you your attitude to him is definite, you know how to act. You may speak to him very calmly and yet your attitude will be unnatural. You may speak to him in a brutal way and your attitude will still be unnatural. I ask: Which is the most correct way to speak to a person? You will speak to him, as you would to yourself. You will be as lenient to others as to yourself.

 

I say: Those of you who want to take the path of disci-pleship must have a high ideal. You must study inner restriction. Those who live in the Old Testament life say: "We are sick of this life, we no longer want to live." Someone else says: "I don’t want to live any longer, I want to die." I tell him: This is right, but is there anyone who will take care of your funeral? Since you want to die you must find someone to bury you. The You say: "This is the first Love." You all speak about your first Love, but none of you has retained it. Some of you have tasted the first love for a second; others have tasted it for five seconds; still others - for ten seconds, but only a few have tasted it for 60 seconds. Manifested Love is of a great magnitude. It is great to taste it only for 60 seconds. But since physical life is of a grand scale, I do not know of what value would be such a small bite brought to one by a raven. Elijah did not know at that time the law of reduction, but when he fell under the limiting conditions of life, he learned it. When the raven brought him small bites of bread, he was no more a great man, but took the place of a small butterfly and thus the food was enough and even there were left-overs. He said: "God, the food You send me is abundant"! Thus Eliajh became small and was contented with the food, which was enough to feed only a raven. This law is true for God as well. Sometimes God comes to us in a reduced size, in order to raise us. The blessing of God is not found in great, but in the small things. The small grain of wheat, for example, contains all the possibilities for a great life. You also contain all the possibilities for a great life. Where are they hidden? In your mind, heart, soul and spirit. But this requires time. In order to be disciples, first at all you must enter the School, but you need time to understand Love, Light, Peace and Joy in a planet, and God has given you as much time as you may want. Time is boundless - it has neither beginning, nor end. And with regard to time, God sometimes says: "Wait for a while!" You die prematurely and you weep, so then God says to you: "Wait for a while, there is time, I will call you again. Then I will give you as much time at your disposal, as you may want". You say: "Lord, I want to live 60 years, to continue my work!" He asks you: "Don’t you want more years? I give you 20 years more". None of you has lived up to 120 years. In what state would you find yourself, if you were 120 years old and looking around you see that you are alone on earth, dear to noone? All our friends are gone away, the new generation does not know you, does not respect you. Everybody looks at you and says: "Why does not this old man leave the earth? What else has he to do on earth? His mind can not comprehend the new times." You will say: "This old man, at least, will have some experiences." W'hat experiences?

 

I will give you an example with the old man Stoyan Penjursky, who was 100 years old. One day he called children around himself and began his story like this: "Oh, children, children, do you know what things your grandpa has learned in Life? Do you know how much his head has been knocked about? Once upon a time, when I was 20,1 went to Austria to earn my living and became a gardener. One day I got a letter from home saying that they have engaged me to a girl. I took what money I had and left for home at once, happy and delighted. While passing the Balcan mountain, Turkish robbers caught me, took my money and I arrived at home poor and wounded. There went my fiancee! I could not get married. Do you know children what it means to someone who has worked 10 years, as I did in Austria, to lose all his money in a day? I went back to Austria, took two partners to work together in a garden and after having worked together for 10 years, my partners robbed me. And again I returned to Bulgaria with my rags on, without being able to get married. Thus, I became a man of 45 and thought to myself: once robbers robbed me, a second time - my partners. What shall I do now? At last, for good or for bad, I decided to marry a rich maiden - I sold my freedom. What came out of this marriage? - This woman beat me twice a day. Do you see, children, what your grandpa has suffered by this woman? Not only that, but I became a father of a son and a daughter, who were like their mother. When they grew up, my son caught me by the feet and my daughter by the hair, while my wife gave me a good thrashing with a piece of wood. God keep you from such an experience!"

 

This is the experience of grandpa Stoyan Penjursky. I ask you: What philosophy is there in the fact that robbers had robbed him, partners had robbed him, and his wife, son, and daughter had beaten him? All of you have such experiences. Who has not been beaten? But wherein lies the solution of this problem? Grandpa Stoyan turns to the children and asks them: "Children, although you are young and I am so old, can't you tell me what must I do now? I do not know why I had to pass through such suffering. Alone I did not make any money; with my partners - the same story; in my marriage - plenty of trashing, nothing more! Tell me, children, do I pay for my own debts, or is it that my mother and father have sinned and they hold me responsible for that now? Why is all this?" We do not know, grandpa. "Keep your eyes open, children, so that you would not have to pass through all that I have passed through!" This was the conclusion of grandfather Stoyan Penjursky.

 

I beg you, if there is anyone among you called Stoyan, do not feel offended that I have taken your name, for whatever name I take, there will be someone bearing it. I am speaking of grandpa Stoyan Penjursky.

 

This example illustrates the three kinds of life one must give a solution to, here on earth. The robbers represent the old life; the partners - the new life; the daughter who beats her father indicates the way which the righteous must pass through. Tell me, is there a righteous man, who has not been beaten like grandfather Stoyan Penjursky? Which painter has not been beaten by all rules? If you ask me why is everything like this, I can not answer you, but I say it is a fact. This is the problem which all of you must solve. I shall not stop to solve the problems of the old and the new life, since I consider you wise and capable enough to solve them by yourselves. I am giving you directions, as to what must be the way of the disciple. The way of the disciple must be the way of Love,Light, Peace and Joy. Can you state on this path, not in the future, but right now, at this very moment? Love does not depend upon your knowledge. Knowledge is a secondary issue. Love dos not depend on your power, or on your beauty. Knowledge, power and beauty are only conditions which your soul can take advantage of, in order to solve the problems of life. Love can, with very few exceptions, solve all difficult problems. In the present state in which you find yourselves, Love is capable of helping you in 75% of your difficulties. All difficult situations are problems, which the disciple must not try to escape. In case he grumbles and complains why God has given him such problems, he can not be a disciple. On the contrary, he must say: "Lord, I thank You for giving me such a difficult problem." When God, or your Master confronts you with some difficult problem, they have a high opinion about you. The evil will come when your Master does not examine you, or give you any problems. If you live the old life, you will be embittered. If you live the new life, you will be tempted. If you are righteous, you will feel offended. All these are different conditions, which you might experience. If you are confronted by a great trial what will you do? If the old life has a predominating influence on you, you will be embittered and say: "Am I the greatest sinner that God is sending me such trials? My hair turned white from sufferings!" If the new life has a predominating influence on you, you will be tempted and will say: "Why do these sufferings come to me? So, I pray three times a day and read the Bible, but when I am called upon to recite my lesson, after studying all day my teacher gives me a grade of three, while that disciple over there who studies less than me, receives the highest grade - six. There must be some reason, probably the teacher is not favourably disposed toward me." If you determine the character of your teacher by the grades which he gives you, you have only partly understood the old and the new life.

 

So, I repeat: The problems which you have to solve in your life are difficult. Why? Because you find yourselves in a difficult situation, but you must know that God is a God of Love, of Light, of Peace and of Joy. God rules and owns heaven. Life belongs to Him. The eternal happiness and peace for the soul are found in Him. What does the weather show us this morning? Today I speak about the disciple and I see how clear the sky is, how beautiful God has made it! This clear, bright and beautiful sky is for the disciple, who is the beloved one of God. God gives the best to the disciple, who wants to study. The disciple says: "God, all that You have planned for me is good. I am happy that I can solve the problems which You have given me. This beautiful day is not for those of the old life. This beautiful day is not for those of the new life. This beautiful day is not for the righteous. This beautiful day is for the disciple who wants to study - for the beloved one of God. Therefore, only the disciple can say: "This day is beautiful!" He will not say this aloud, but he will feel in his soul, that this is the benevolence of God. This day shows that if you walk in the way of the disciple as I reveal it to you, your inner sky will be clear and your heart will be pure as the sky is today. Similarly, your mind and your soul will be like the cloudless, clear and bright sky.

 

Now I wish to be understood correctly. I am careful when I talk, not to call forth in you some illusions, that you may expect more than can be given to you. For instance, I have often made the following experiment: I give to someone a pear, but he is not contented, he wants a bigger pear. I give him a bigger pear, but still he is not contented, he wants one for his daughter. I give him a pear for her too, but still he is not contented, he wants one for his friend and so on, until he has about ten pears in his hands. Whether he will give them to those for whom they are meant is questionable. However, I see him seated under the shade of a tree eating them one after another. At this moment he represents also his daughter and his friend! This is his understanding. The evil does not lie in the fact that this man wants more, but in the wrong distribution of the good received. He has not understood the essence of things. However, the disciple who enters life must understand its essence, in order to realize its beauty. Some people say: "The ideas of the New Teaching which is preached to us, are not for those times, they can not be realized today." On the contrary, this is their time, but you must know how to apply them. You can not bore a hole through a rock with a wooden rod, but if you take a diamond augur, you can easily make the hole.

 

In Africa there are special machines which can help men bore holes in the earth nearly 800 meters deep, in order to draw water out. Such machines may go down 2000 meters deep. Down there the water is of better quality. Still very little is known about the earth. There are certain layers which present day geologists have not discovered yet. It is an aspiration of the disciple not only to descend 2000 meters down in the earth by means of instruments, but also to raise up into space columns nearly 500-1000 meters high. Do you know what energy will start to flow down these columns? We might create a perpetuum-mo-bile by it. Do you know what an ocean of energy lies hidden in the atmosphere? Similarly, your brain hides an enormous amount of energy which requires time and space in order to be manifested and realized. The only reason why you can not realize what God has given you, is that you are occupied by ideas which are of secondary importance. These are the ideas of the old life. You will leave aside the old life; you will also leave aside the new life. Some people want to be righteous: You will leave aside the life of the righteous. You must try to attain one thing: the life of the disciple. This is new' in the world. You will not liquidate the old life, but you will keep it aside not to get mixed with the new life. The first three kinds of life flow in the roots of humanity, but we can not isolate them at once. Their isolation must be gradually accomplished, as we achieve the real knowledge of life. Can we isolate these kinds of life before we have achieved the life of the disciple? No, we can not. The question is not to isolate them, neither to utilize them, but to raise ourselves above them.

 

Thus, you will know: if you become embittered, that's the old life; if you are tempted - that's the new life; if you are grieved and offended - that's the life of the righteous. You suffer, because you want to find someone in life to love you, you want to have Love in this world. Who else can love you, exept your Master? Only He who instructs you can love you. If you love an animal and raise it to your state, what philosophy can it bring into your life? Tomorrow this animal may die and you will grieve for it. Therefore, what you love must be immortal. It must not die, or lose its beauty and intelligence, its kindness and goodness. I am not talking about external goodness, but about the goodness of the soul. Sometimes I watch someone who is speaking in the wrong way, but I see something beautiful, good and noble in the soul, by which he influences other people. Such men are good, generous and do not pay attention to the odds and ends in life.

 

I say: The desire of people to be loved is right. But if it is a question of modern love, which lasts overnight, what can we gain by it? Only disappointments and sufferings. We have tasted this kind of love many times. Some people ask: "Can a man stay thirsty?" It is true that we can not live without love, as we can not live without water, bread, heat or light. Light and heat in life are currents which move with a great speed. In this case, if you block light and heat, they will cause you the greatest sufferings. Today people block the way of these currents, that's why they suffer. Therefore, you have no right to stop what flows. Why? Because all currents must follow their natural way freely, as they spring from life. There are certain light-rays, which once emanated by you, travel through space and in ten years, after making a circle, return to you. But for you, as a man, in order to accomplish a similar circle and return to the same place where you have started from, are required at least ten million years. That's why do not embarass, do not weep! Light which travels in space will come again to you after 10 years and will say to you: "Good day!" The energies of light and heat move with a great speed, that's why you must not stop their way, but let them flow freely! Love travels with such great speed that the human mind can not imagine. If you attempt to block the way of the Love which God is sending you, you will experience the greatest misfortune in your life. Let Love flow into you! What God is planning for you is something great. He has provided great things for each person. Your Master will find you a friend with whom you could study. This friend of yours will be one of the wise disciples and not as that adept who came to the tree of recognizing good and evil and caused the greatest suffering to the two disciples in Paradise. At this time, disciples are needed who must return to the tree of knowing life. Life flows from Love. Therefore, everyone who wants to find this life, must not walk in the way of the old life, of the new life, or of the righteous life, but they must take the way of the disciple.

 

Christ turns toward His disciples and says to them: "I dont call you servants anymore, for you have passed this state, but I call you friends, for all that I have heard of my Father, I have made it known to you". What has He heard? He has heard of that powerful, great knowledge in the world, which they will experience themselves. Christ acquainted His disciples with the forces of nature, that's why on a given occasion, they asked Him: "Teacher, as you taught us, shall we let fire descend from heaven as Elijah did, in order to frighten these men?" Jesus Christ answered them: "The time for this fire has not come yet. You will make fire descend from heaven for the hearts of men, but not outside of them. You will let fire enter their hearts. If you make this fire descend outside, you will lose your way as disciples. I have not come to kill and to destroy, but to give life, and a more abundant life". This means: I am not of the old life, neither am I of the new life, nor of the life of the righteous, but I am a Teacher. "Whom do you teach? - The disciples. That's why in the Bible says: "Without me you can do nothing". A model is what the world needs!

 

Now, as disciples you should know that the disciple is free to listen to anyone, whether he speaks correctly or not, but when it comes to the application of something, he must say: "My brother, I must begin first with Love, then with Light, then with Peace and at last with Joy." This is the inner bond of the disciple with God. I can listen, without becoming tired, to anyone who can talk to me of Love, Light, Peace and Joy all day, even all my life. Some of you who are listening to me will say: "Our Master wants us to leave the world!" No, I am not of those who want you to leave the world, neither of those who want you to leave school. I want you to solve all difficult problems in the program of the disciple. I want you to give a solution to all troubles in life. Everyone who would overcome the greatest troubles in life, will have my respect. I met a righteous man who passed for a disciple and he told me: "Master, today I was beaten by some friends. I have lots of blood so I gave them some of it. They greeted me in a particular way, but I thank God, for there were certain faults in me which the beating shook out of me". After that he smiled and went on his way. Then, one of the sisters was telling me one of her experiences out of which she had successfully come out. "I was walking", said she, "in the pine forest of "Izgrev", and in front of me at a distance of 4-5 feet was walking another sister, who was in a hurry. All of a sudden, she took hold of a branch to clear her way and let it go, just as I was very close behind her. The loosened branch hit me terribly in the white of the eye and blood came out of it". I said to her: "Be thankful that you got out of it like this, the branch might have hit you in the dark of the eye which would have been very dangerous. Go and wash your eye with pure water! You should have walked at least 20 feet behind her and not a as close as you have been." If this sister had been of the old life what would have she done? She would have given a good shaking to the sister before her and said to her: "Why do you walk so carelessly, could you not keep hold of the branch until I could take hold of it?" But she said: "I am to blame, I should have walked farther behind her". Thus, all people have the weakness to walk close to each other. When you pass through a forest, you must walk at least 20 feet away from each other. Many people have been blinded by such carelessness of passengers in the woods. People like to live close to each other but this proximity hides no virtue in itself. When travellers pass through a forest, they must walk at a distance of at least 10 meters one from another.

 

I repeat again: This beautiful day which we have today is for the disciples. It shows what kind of a way is the way of the disciple. As you see this way is wonderful and great.

 

Christ says: "Go, sell all you have, distribute it to the poor and come to follow me". And I say to you: "Go, free yourselves from your old life which you are still in. Distribute to others your new life. And lastly, distribute your righteous life which is in you and after all that, go to your Master. He will welcome you." But if you go to your Master with a wide-open cloak, and necklace on your neck, with a puffed feeling of your dignity, He will know how to welcome you. He will smile at you and say: "You will come later on, at present there is no place for you in this school. When you come next year, you will appear at the competitive examination, and then we will see what the requirements will be". Thus, year after year, you will be put off until you are old and you say:" I am sorry that I could not enter the school! But one must enter the School. The best thing in life is to enter as a disciple in this School." You ask: "When, next year?" No, this very day. Do not wait even till this afternoon. If you do not enter it now you lose time. Now, at this very minute, while I am still talking. Once I stop talking, everything is finished. Once I have finished my talk, you may knock as much as you want to, you may break all doors - all of them will be already closed. Now you may enter in, but without your baggage. Remember the verse where Christ says: "It is easier for a man to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

 

The first thing by means of which we can succeed, is the inner process of liberation which is taking place within us. All of us must become free! How? By mutual obedience and help. This individualization which distinguishes present-day culture, leads to a wrong direction in life. Today there are many people, who, under the burden of ignorance, destroy their life.

 

When the soul experiences some great offence it is a hard time. At this moment such a person must be helped, be it by a kind word, or a kind regard. Sometimes, you find yourself in a financial crisis, without a cent in your pocket. At such a time, it does not matter who it may be, but some rich man must come to help you. Another one, sunk from ear to ear in debts, comes to me and says: "Speak to me, speak to me more, encourage me! Put yourself in my place and see what am I passing through!" Looking at him, I see that he has a large bill of 20 000 leva to pay within a certain period of time. Of what help could be my words to him, if I start telling him not to fear, not to worry, God is great and He has many angels at His disposal, who will come to help him. See how they helped a certain man in America, etc. However, I cut my speech short, take my check book, sign a check for 20 000 leva and giving it to him, I send him to a certain bank from which he can draw out this money. He takes the check and goes away. Thus, the problem is solved. Something must be given to the world. When God speaks, He always gives.

 

So, only in the way of the disciple can we give a correct solution to this life. In the three other kinds of life the methods and ways are different. People must keep themselves from falling into the delusion that one can enter the Kingdom of God by lighting candles, doing good deeds, bribing men, etc. Noone can enter the Kingdom of God by lighting candles, by doing good deeds, or by bribing people. Someone has taught you something and you say: "I can pay him back for it." How? By giving him money. No, this Teacher does not accept anything. He does not work for money. The lessons of this Teacher are very costly! I ask you: How much have we paid, in order to come to this world? If you set yourself on solving a mathematical problem, to figure out what is the cost of the conditions in which we live, you will see that for everyone, life energy for milliards of leva is being spent. This energy can not be so easily found. If you should, for example, lose your vitality, or the light of your mind, you will see that you can not supply it very easily. This energy is not found on the earth. Many people today suffer from neurasthenia. Why? They have lost much of this living energy, of their vitality, and consequently a certain blasting in the nervous system took place. Then the vital magnetism and the vital electricity flow out of man and he feels an inner weakness, an inner lack of life. Such a man loses interest in life.

 

All this, however, does not represent any philosophy of life. Man must study in the school of life up to his deepest old age. Even at the age of 120 years, he must still study. Man must study to the last hour, to the last second of his life. As soon as he becomes liberated from his body, he becomes young again. Man’s soul is always young. He puts on another body which lives in eternal youth. When the body becomes old, sorrow comes to man. Why? Because he has separated the life of the body from the life of the soul. In each body that becomes older, flows the old life which leaves its deep furrows on it. The new life leaves deep lines on man’s body as well. So does the righteous life. As a whole, these three kinds of life destroy the man's body and his mission in this world remains unfulfiled. That's why upon entering the other world, we face and experience a great contradiction.

 

Jesus Christ says: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." "I am the Way". One is the Way and this Way has three branches. "I am the Truth". In order to have the Truth in himself, one must have Peace in his soul, but only he who has Wisdom on his side, can possess Peace in himself. "I am the Life". One is Life and this life flows out of Love.

 

So, I say: Some disciples who enter school now are only auditors, that's why they must take lessons from the experience of the other, more advanced disciples. There must be a way of fair competition among you. Now all disciples want to come close to their Master. This is not possible. Sometimes you will instruct each other. You will ask the more advanced to help you with your lessons. There must be mutual respect among all disciples. The young disciple must have respectful relations with the older one. If the young, new disciples do not respect the older ones, that is those who have studied more and know more, will find themselves some day in the same situation -"with what measure you mete, it will be meted unto you", says the Scripture. You say: "We know all this." You know it, that's true, but you have not yet acquired the essential knowledge about life. For instance, you are an honest man, but the bank does not give you any money on credit. You are an educated man, at that, having finished your studies in three different fields of science, but conditions in Bulgaria are such today, that it has many officials and clerks at its disposal and you can not find place for yourself. You have a high opinion about yourself, but people do not share it. You can write well, you are a poet, but after you have written something, people do not appreciate it and pay you so little for it, that you regret the time and efforts spent in writing it. You have artistic talents. You paint a picture, but people do not appreciate it. As you see, there is something essential in life which people are ignorant of, and consequently, they do not get along as well in their work, as they should.

 

Some days ago a painter came to me and offered to sell me two of his pictures. As a rule, I do not give money for pictures, and even more, I did not need those pictures. But in order to encourage him, I took the pictures and gave him some money for them. After that, he made a painting of the spring down by the river. I paid him for that work, too. What was the result of that? He did not spend the money in the right place. I did not say anything to him, but thought to myself: the way this man has taken will lead him finally to a loss. Why? One should not sell his works of art. An artist who sells his pictures can be compared to a mother who sells her children. Every picture is a child of the artist. He must send this child away to find and bring him money. How? By making an exhibition of his pictures, each one of which will be saying: "Anyone who wants to see me, must pay something for me without taking me away".

 

So, I say: According to the new understanding of life, you must give an impulse to the more talented among you, and be interested in their fine works. I have listened to the same old stories again and again, which has taught me to be patient, but have you gained anything by these old stories? Many years ago an Evangelical student came to preach the Gospel to me. He began to quote verses from the begining of the Bible to the end. He continued like this for three whole hours. At last I asked him: Have you already finished? - Yes, I have. - Well then, as I am quite satisfied with all this, I will ask you to go out for a walk with me and to think over those beautiful verses. He answered: "Yes, you must be satisfied for noone has quoted them so well as I did. Do you know how much time I have spent learning them by heart? I have consecrated to these quotations for 20 years!" Yes, these quotations are fine, I answered. Now I say to you: As disciples you must learn to be patient. If anyone wants to preach to you, listen to him to the end, but try to learn something from everything that happens to you.

 

I told you that this Union is the first of its kind. In what respect? The first day of this Union begins with the day of Love. That's why you must apply Love on this very day. If you start with Love, everything will proceed smoothly. Then, the Light will visit you. How can you know what Love is doing within you? When you get up in the morning, if you do not feel poisoned, it shows that Love is already working in you. However, one day is not enough to verify this fact, you must wait for 2, 3, 10,100,500,1000,10 000,100 000 days to pass and if during all that time you have not felt any poisoning, any indisposition or confusion taking place within you, it means you have attained the new Love. But let us not speak of time on such a large scale taking 10 000 or 1000, 500 days as a test. It would be good, if at least for 100 days of your life without interruption, your sun should not set, or your heart lose its Love. The New Love comes from God, from the angels, from all your brothers, who live on the earth and up in heaven, and from all the disciples of life. When you go to bed at night and give yourself over to meditations, you will feel this Love coming from everywhere: from outside and inside, from above and from below. It will send someone to give you a telephone call and will ask you: "How are you?"

 

Every night it will send you greetings by someone and will say to you: "Today I sent you a basket of grapes, a basket of pears, a box of honey, a pair of new shoes, a new hat, new clothes." You sit and listen to all this list of things sent to you. Besides, the mail brings you each day such a number of letters from these creatures of Love, that you do not know what to do with them, so you answer: "Please, brothers, stop mailing packages and letters until I get all the ones sent before from the post-office." This is the way Love acts, for it is characterized by an inner abundance.

 

And now, I wish that the best fruit which exist on earth - grapes, pears, apples, plums, dates, oranges, should be delivered to you. Translate all this into its spiritual meaning. Thank God for the goods, the benefits given to you by Him. Thank God for the good words, which He has spoken to you. It is only God to Whom you must offer your thanks. If you do not thank

 

Him, no matter what you say to me, or to any other person, you will not gain anything. God is the Primary Source of all good. You will thank Him alone and turn your mind and heart to Him. You will thank God for the beautiful weather, for all life, for its good conditions; you will thank Him for sending you to earth in this very nature; you will thank Him for being a member of humanity, that you are connected with the angels and that, at times, He Himself talks to you. Some of you can sing well, some can paint, others can write well and you admit that you have a small talent! You will thank God for this talent and know that even the smallest talent can be developed and become great some day. I compare the small talents to small crevices through which light can enter. The more you enlarge this crevice, the more light can enter. To enlarge the crevice or not, depends on you alone.

 

So, I say to you: You will proclaim and preach Love in your life. How? I will give you an example. Once upon a time two goats and a monkey lived in a farm on cooperative terms. Each night the goats returned from pasture, their hair was stuck with thorns. The monkey, upon seeing them in such a state, would go and take all the thorns out of their hair. After finishing, the monkey, not having anything more to do, would start jumping on their back, pulling their ears, pulling their hair by which it wanted to say: "Bring some more thorns!" The goats would cry and jump, but could not get rid of the monkey. What conclusion can you draw from this example? As soon as troubles come into your life, you must know that the monkey has finished its work and you must go to the forest.

 

Before I come to an end, I will give you one more example. This incident has taken place in recent times. Count Berozi had a good friend, an Italian named Nunzio. All of a sudden Nunzio fell in love with a rich girl, who had another candidate. The latter, upon hearing about Nunzio’s love, began to detest him to such an extent, that he finally decided to poison him, in order to get rid of him and marry the girl he loved. How to do this? He wanted to do everything secretly. However, Count Berozi, who loved his friend, became aware of the thought of his friend’s enemy. One day, Nunzio’s rival went to his home and offered him a glass of sweet wine in which he had poured one of the most modern poisons, which acted slowly but surely. Death came six months after drinking this poison. At that moment, Count Berozi happened to be at the house of his friend. When he saw Nunzio raise the glass of wine to his lips, Berozi took his gun and aimed right at the glass. He broke the glass into many pieces. Nunzio and his friend were frightened, but Count Berozi calmly said: "Excuse me, I wanted to see if I am a good shooter and whether I could break the glass without harming anyone." Nunzio had not even suspected that in that way his friend saved him from death, neither had his rival understood that this act had been premeditated, to save the life of Nunzio. Both men had praised Count Berozi for his skill to shoot so well.

 

I say: When you see a glass of poison being offered to anyone, raise your gun and aim at that glass! Which is that gun?

 

Your right thought. Aim at the glass of poison and break it to pieces! The only destructive act, the disciple has a right to, is that of breaking the glass of poison. This is a method practiced from ancient times. The glass symbolizes the human pleasures, which enslave man. You all know what these pleasures are. 1 use the word "pleasures" in the broad sense of the word. They are a sort of slavery for which men have had to pay in the course of thousands of years. That's why the glass, which enslaves men, must be shot to pieces. I ask you to reject the glass which poisons your life! Help your soul, help your mind, help your heart! You can help yourself and one of the ways to do this is by praying.

 

We regard prayer as a conversation with the invisible world, a conversation with God. To pray is to learn to talk. One must talk. We suffer today, because we have not learned the heavenly, Divine language. It is not enough for one just to pray - prayer must be a form of expression in which one’s entire spirit, soul, mind and heart take part. What a man wants of God must have a single inner meaning. When you pray, say: "Lord, Thy will be done! I will accept all that comes from Thy hand gladly, and will fulfil Thy without breaking Thy law." The disciple must say in the same way to his Teacher: "Master, I will solve all problems, which You have given me in this life. I will bring them to You for approval and whatever correction You make, I will gladly accept it." This must be the new way. If you take this way, you will notice, even today, that a great change will begin to take place within you. You will become conscious of a new light which will be poured upon you. You will feel such a peace and joy in your soul, as you have never experienced in your life. Only this way will your life become significant.

 

Now, let youth not tempt you. In the first place, be interested in Love, not in youth. In the second place, be interested in Light, not in youth. After that, be interested in Peace until you come at last to Joy.

 

And now I greet you in the name of Love. What does this greeting mean? Whom do we greet? Do we greet the person we love? It is the stranger we greet, while the one we love, we smile at inwardly and offer him the best we have. We must open up our soul for him, as heaven opens up for us. We must smile at him inwardly and say: "Welcome, it is a long time I have been waiting for you. I am so happy that you have come to pay me a visit!"

 

Now all of you will open up your souls for your Master. Those who can, let them do it today, this very minute, before my talk is finished. Let this be an accomplished act. Then there will be an inner harmony among you. I want you to harmonize your minds, to think the same way about Love. You can apply Love in different ways, the way you think is best, you are free in that. In the application of Love no guards, no angels stand beside you with their fiery swords. You are free to manifest Love the way you like it. Noone has the right to judge you. If you act in this way, you receive a blessing. We look at the motives which provoke the manifestation of Love.

 

I say: We will all open up our hearts for the new day. It is a day of Love, it is a day of the eternal life. I believe that you have all come as candidates for the new life. It you occupy yourselves with the old life, your coming on earth is meaningless. If you have come on earth hungry, bare-footed, poor, in torn, dirty clothes and we send you back in this same state, your coming on earth is meaningless. I want you to return well-dressed, well-fed, but not over-fed; well satisfied with pure, good water; to have listened to the best sermon which has pointed to you the way to the great purpose of life; to have written out a program which goes by and work out in the future, so that all the troubles in your life would not be able to cause you to digress even a hair's breadth from the right way you are now taking.

 

I know that many of you are poor, many of you are sick and ignorant, many of you have shortcomings, many of you are not educated, I know everything. You say: "Does not our Master know all this?" I know it, and because I know it, I am showing you the way which will reveal to you the greatest riches; I am showing you the place where you can find them. You say: "Master, come with us, give us of this granary!" We do not distribute grain by the bushel. We do not weigh the wheat. Everyone must be absolutely free to go and take as much of this wealth as he needs. Everyone must be sincere and know that this Teaching can be applied to life and give good results.

 

God reigns in heaven! God reigns on earth! Every intelligence, every knowledge, every goodness and every power, be it of man or of society, be it of the nation, or of the entire humanity, is due to Him, Who has created the world. This world has an external expression also. We are members of this world and we must fulfil the will of God whatever it may be. This is the Great Law of the eternal life. This is the Great Law for the disciples, who want to realize the good as it is written in the Divine book, not printed yet on earth.

 

I wish all of you to start with Divine Love and liberate your minds and hearts. May the Divine Spirit and the Divine Love be with you, so that you may be happy and joyful throughout this whole day!