DEVELOPMENT OF THE VIRTUES

[Ani]

DEVELOPMENT OF THE VIRTUES

 

After the lecture before the Youth Esoteric Class and after the gymnastic exercises, we turned back to the hall. We all had in us the lively ideas, which the Master had presented. He talked about the Virtues, which a disciple shall develop, in order he to have an achievement and the powers and gifts of his soul to develop. One sister said: "Master, thank you for today's lecture. It made clear one of the tasks of the disciple."

 

It shall be known from where to be started with the development of a Virtue. In order you to have Gentleness, where shall you start from? Or you want to be merciful; where from and how shall you start? It is very hard to start. First of all man shall have unselfishness at the School - when he goes to study, he shall have no self-interested aim. In general, when you go somewhere, you shall have no self-interested aim. Go to the super-consciousness. Be selfless, because everything that man has is given to him internally. He shall keep it, but he shall not think that this depends on him. He will be given tomorrow more or less.

 

Another quality of the disciple is Rationality. When good desires are not premeditated, they are dangerous. If man is rational, Heaven is with him. Under the word "Heaven", it is understood the Rational, with which things happen. Quickness of mind is close to rationality. An internal balance is needed. Man shall be a Divine child by heart, and he shall not be a child by mind.

 

Mildness is another quality of the disciple. Be mild like the water, without being water. Be mild like the air, without being air. When somebody is pushed, he begins to cry: "Don't you see me that you push me?" Do not do so, address with Mildness. God is everywhere. He is that Mildness. We live and move in Mildness. Everything will come, if Mildness comes. If somebody has no service, when Mildness comes in him, service will also come. You have no this and that. When Mildness comes in you, what you do not have will come. Because Mildness is the good soil, on which everything good grows. In order you to have normal Warmth, in which Life grows, you shall be mild. If you want to be good, be mild. If you want to love, be mild. Goodness and Humbleness are Divine seeds, which grow on the soil of Mildness. At mildness you are a valley. Everything gathers there. Humbleness is a seed, and Mildness - soil. Lots of contradictions, which you have, are solved by this rule. If one has made a mistake, show Mildness towards him. He has already judged himself. Why would you judge him? Show Mildness towards the one, who has fallen. Make him a bandage and tell him that everything is fine. This is a philosophy, a teaching, which may be applied. One, who does not know it, will go to look for it everywhere and he will say that he could not find it. If you listen to the Mildness, it will make you good, clever and impartial. And if you do not listen to it, it will tell you: "Go away and do whatever you want!" The old man rejuvenates by Mildness, and the young one gets old without Mildness. It is Mildness when man answers in a good manner to the one, who insults him. And gentle is the one, who is not affected by that internally. Storms do not affect him. The Gentleness is a deeper state. And Humbleness is even deeper than Gentleness. It is said: "The Gentle shall inherit Earth." Nobody fights against one who is humble. You cannot fight against him. When insulted, one who is gentle asks for the reason and arranges things well, and one who is humble, has no obstacles.

 

In order man to accept the Divine, he shall have Mildness. Mildness is a condition for becoming perceptible to the Divine. That is why man shall manifest Mildness, tenderness, no rudeness and asperity. Do not think of doing something if you do not have Mildness. An official from the Post Office was rude and he was always beaten on his way. He used to say: "I am sick and tired of those people!" He complained to somebody and he advised him to change his behaviour - to receive people mildly. He did so and after a year everybody changed their attitudes towards him.

 

Another quality of the disciple is to estimate the importance of small things. One, who cannot do the small things, cannot do the big things, either.

 

An important quality of the disciple is the punctuality. The Invisible world does not like you to promise lots of things, which you cannot fulfil. Do everything that you promise. Nature is great in small things. It is very precise and that is why it is happy when it sees that somebody is precise in small things.

 

Another quality, which a disciple shall develop, is pliability. Lawyer Bachvarov committed an offence and he was in gaol of Sofia for four years. He read the Gospel there and became religious. When he was discharged from prison, he had to take back lots of debts and he said to somebody: "Are you ready to give me what you owe me without interest?" - "I am ready." - "All right, give it to me." He asked another man, and he said: "I cannot, but I can give you one-third." - "Give me one-third then." He asked a third man: "Are you ready to give half of it?" - "I am ready." - "Give it." And things went well for him. He had argues with nobody. And he used to say: "I argued earlier, I prosecuted them, but Peace has settled in my soul and those people became my friends. They considered me an extortioner earlier, and now they say that I have changed."

 

There is a bottle of clean water, but two people want to drink first from its single neck. And evil is born there. The one, who takes water first, gives birth to the evil, and the other, who is not pleased, maintains the evil. They shall give way each other. If you argue with somebody else for a loaf of bread, give him the whole of it. He will look at you then and give you a slice. Do not fight for that loaf of bread. There is no arguing without a material reason. Another quality of the disciple is Self-denial. Do not think that you have only one brother and one sister. This is a delusion. Jesus says: "One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers." This is the Truth, which shall penetrate into the soul. Self-denial shall be explained in a new light. Man thinks that he will lose his personality by self-denying. To self-deny means to gain what no one in the world may give you. If you self-deny as a mammal and begin to live as a man, that self-denying has sense. If you self-deny as a man and go up to a higher sphere, in the sphere of the Angels or other Higher creatures, this self-denial has also sense.

 

Another important quality of the disciple is generosity. You say: "We shall be generous!" But what is generosity? One pipe has a diameter of three centimetres. We say then that its generosity is three. If we have a pipe with a diameter of six centimetres, its generosity then is six. The installation is such. Hence, first of all we have to fix the installation in our minds, hearts, and wills in order to make our thoughts, feelings and deeds generous. There is a law: flows come from everywhere towards generous people. Generosity, but not wastefulness! Nature does not like its energies to be wasted unreasonably. All people, who overspend, are hold responsible by Nature. Everything shall be useful and be at the right place. In order you to wash your feet, 10 kg of water are prepared and if you use 20 kg, you will be held responsible.

 

Another quality of the disciple is Renovation. Turn attention to the new, which God has introduced in you. Every day He introduces something in you. You renovate every day. As Life is a school, methods shall be always changed. Methods now are different from the ones, which existed thousands of years ago. Lots of old views, which are obstacles now, shall be changed. Once they were true, but today they are not. We are for the absolutely new! When I speak in this way, you clash your believes. You have played for years "Nice flower, colourful flower". Leave aside the old, of which you are tired. Get rid of the old rags.

 

An important quality of the disciple is the scope. Look for and value the Divine in man. Turn your attention to the Divine in him, and if you look for his mistakes, it is humanlike. Meditate on the following sentence: "When you look for the precious stones, you shall know their natural form and the way, in which they refract the light." The precious stones are the human souls, i.e. God in them. In order to recognize God in man, you shall know the distinctive features, which God has put in him. Which is the specifically Divine, which God has put in him? I will give you a rule for the scope: you shall see the nice things in everybody, give him a stimulus and not miss the case, in which you to notice it. When you see something bad in somebody, you are in hell, and when you see the good things - you are in Paradise. Somebody says: "Be good!" How could you be good if you do not see God and Good things everywhere? One rule for a meeting with somebody: talk at first with God in him and after that with him himself. Internal connections are needed and when you love, the inciting reasons shall be absolutely selfless. Love is stable then. But when there is self-seeking, it is like a worm, which destroys. We may define always how long Love will be stable. For example, a poor man becomes to love somebody, who is rich; for how long will his love last? - Till the rich one has money. When the rich one gets poor, there will be no love; the wealth was the reason. Or you love someone, who is in power, but when he cedes the power, love disappears. These are superficial reasons. Man shall find out the reasons for all feelings, which arise in him. When you have a friend, you shall find in him one of the noblest features, for which you will become to love him. If you cannot find that good feature, you cannot withstand in your love. If you find it, you can form a relationship with him. Otherwise, a mediocre friendship will be established. When you go to somebody, find one good feature in him, keep it in your mind and you will have an open door.

 

There is no a better thing than that a man to know how to walk himself. The Invisible world will also put a note for you how to walk yourself and will see to where you have reached in your development. You meet somebody and see only the cover of the book. You have not opened it to read it. There are new ways, through which relationships between people shall be established. These new ways are based on Love. The scope is based on Love. We are not so careful: a flower has bloomed on the road, but somebody passes and stamps upon it. This is not scope. I stop near the flower, talk with it and after that I go away. I tell it: "For how long have you been here? Where are your brothers and sisters? How is your master? Does he water you on time?"

 

You shall not announce to people that you are from the New teaching, but they shall recognize you by the scope, which you have.

 

Do not speak badly about a man. He was created by God. You may pay for these words of yours with your life in two or three days. You are very responsible when you speak badly about somebody. Every person is a picture, which is being painted by God. The picture is not finished and do not smudge it. When it is finished, it will be beautiful. When somebody speaks to you, do not be in a hurry to answer, but keep silence for a while and after a long consideration, when you understand what it is about, speak then or do something. The occult man shall be silent for a long time and not to be in a hurry to speak, but to think and after that to say what he thinks. Do not say your opinion immediately.

 

When you send a thought to the dog and it leaves, then you are a disciple. If you make the dog angry by stones, then you act like the others. When somebody insults us, the evil passes first through him. At first he is smudged. The following is also included in the scope: when man is amongst people, he shall be at least 35 cm away from them.

 

Another quality of the disciple is to feel the unity of all creatures. It is so nice man to see himself in the others. When you see one good man, you shall see yourself in him and be happy and when you see a bad man, you shall see yourself in him again.

 

One of the important qualities of a disciple is Obedience. And that means to listen to yourself and hear what God speaks to you from inside and fulfil it. The disciple shall have obedience in relation to God's voice, speaking to him from inside. He shall perceive God's thoughts and fulfil God's Will.

 

Another quality is persistency. You have hit one stone ninety- nine times. You say that it will not open and you are ready to go away, but if you hit one more time, the stone will open and you will enter the New world. Man shall be stable. You shall spin one thin thread each day - one nice thought. One, who is able to spin a thin thread, is also able to make a thick robe, because all thick robes are made of thin threads. Man has to be hard, steadfast. Nothing shall be able to distract him from his idea. The saints were such. Somebody is inspired for a moment, but soon that feeling leaves him. The constant enthusiasm is a Divine state.

 

Another important quality of the disciple is Patience. The first thing, which you will learn, is Patience. You will rarely meet Patience in today's age. Quite a few people have it, and that is why misery may be found everywhere. The patient man is quick-witted. Wherever he goes, he evokes no contradiction. Sometimes the Invisible world will put us in such a place, where we will study Patience. Patience is something conscious. You will come to the School of patience and hard tasks will be given to you. It is not an easy job. Jesus passed through the School of patience. There are strong souls above on Heaven, but when they come to Earth, they are weaker. Patience comes from the knowledge that everything comes on time. That ill man, from Ovcha kupel, has studied patience for thirty-eight years. This was Dedication. Patience is for strong people. One woman will bear her bad husband because of God. If she does not bear him, there is no Love towards God. It is easy one to be good towards the good man. When a bad word is told you, you take offence and are angry. This means that you are weak. When you talk with somebody, take off your personality and hang it on a nail. Patience is the first step, on which it is stepped, in order to go to Love. One English company had suffered losses for ten years, and on the eleventh year it earned so much that all losses were covered and there was a profit, too. After that it began to make money constantly and became famous. Only one, who is free, may have patience. The righteous man is free, he has patience, and the sinner bears the misery. You are patient towards the one, whom you love and you are not patient towards the one, whom you do not love. When you get irritated, you lose your power. The opponent wants to irritate you, and there is nothing to be afraid of for one, who is patient. The dark spirit is also afraid of one, who is patient. When you are patient, the dark spirit stands aside. It tries to distract you, in order you to lose patience and it to attack you then. You are about to do something and you say: "Nothing will come of it"; then you lose patience. You say that you are patient; wait, because the Patience is the future ideal of mankind. Patience is a whole science. We have studied it for millions of years, but we have not learned it and will study it more. Each man, who loses Patience, dies. Somebody says: "I cannot bear it anymore!" You shall have patience for an ideal. Misery is not Patience. Patience is for reasonable people. I talk about Patience, with which you will be a master in all conditions. Patience is at various degrees.

 

It is very hard for a man to have Patience. There are lots of people, who have patience, but it is a sham. Man shall leave behind the ordinary moral. While you are swimming in water, which is knee-deep, is one thing, but when you are swimming in water, which is four or five heights of man deep and you are over it, you are a true swimmer then. Now you are good, because the water, in which you are swimming, is low.

 

When you are nervous, you disperse your happiness! You shall be patient. You shall try not getting nervous. Sometimes you get irritated and nervous for nothing. Those, who were calm, have finished the school and they will be employed. You have not finished the school yet. Somebody wants something, which is not suitable for him. What you want cannot happen at once. There is a process, which is needed in order things to happen. Patience is balance. The snake, which is in man, shall be defeated by him. You shall have Patience in hardships. Hardship is pressure, which may give you expansion. That is because the hardship gives you a task and if you do not have that task, you will not have that experience and you will have no a chance to solve it.

 

Man shall be very patient in everything in order his things to be realized. There is a chance for him, too. His turn will also come. You ask what will come of you after thousands of years. The tart fruit will become sweet. We shall have Patience and wait for things to mature. Waiting for what is defined by God is Patience. Patience is a result from the internal understanding of Life. This understanding is gained when we see God in everybody and everywhere. God has hidden Himself in things, but you shall find Him.

 

Another necessary quality of a disciple is the application. In order sugar to melt, water is needed. If the water is frozen, fire is needed. The laws of application shall be studied. Everything that you learn shall be applied. I have given lots of things in my lectures and talks, which you have not applied. Read, study what is already said and make efforts to apply it. Small rules are important. When man strives for applying small things, something big will come after that. When a place is dug, at first the river will begin to flow by little quantity of water, but big water will come after that. Power is in the application of one Divine thought. One seed shall be sown and not only sown, but we shall also know when to sow it. Sow each nice thought, which comes to you. Fulfil each beautiful thought, which comes into you. And people say: "It is all the same with or without it."

 

Application shall not be imposed on you after a law. Do it by free will. The little knowledge, which man has, shall be always used. When somebody praises me, I will tell him: "You like this Teaching, don't you? Think then with what we can help this brother." He likes this Teaching, but he is not ready to realize the least application of the ideas. Work shall be varied. Rationality shall be applied in eating, breathing, looking. Everything is due to work. There is nothing achieved without efforts. Do not think that you will achieve something without efforts. All, who have achievements, have worked a lot. You can enter the Kingdom of God this very day by applying the methods, which I give to you. The best things are very hard. Lots of precious things are hidden there, but you do no value them, because you don't see them. Three disciples listened to their Guru; when he finished, the first of them went to thank him and show his delight. The second one appreciated that the one, who has learned those things, is lucky and went away, and the third one said nothing, but just went to work for God. The third one is on the right side. Everything, which is known, but is not applied, is detrimental to man. Apply one tenth of what you have learned. We talk a lot, but fulfil a little, and we shall talk a little and fulfil a lot. What you apply is profit. The talks and lectures contain methods of application of the New. Everybody speaks about the New, but applies the old methods. Make experiments with the laws and methods, which I have given to you. Man cannot speak about things, which he has not tried. Belief shall be based on real experience. There shall be a School for practical rules. What you have studied by now is only an entrance examination. There are certain practical rules and methods, which you will study from now on.

 

Diligence is a quality of a disciple. God loves those, who are diligent. You may make mistakes, but God wants to know if you are diligent. You fall and pick yourself up, fall and pick yourself up, but God sees that you have worked.

 

Another Virtue of a disciple is: "Without delay." Now, when you go home, you will say: "This is so. It is nice, but it cannot be applied today." Today, people use only the policy of postponing. They will say to a youth: "It is early. Sow your wild oats, get married, and after that see how matters stand." No. When you have inspiration, when you want to sing or play, do not postpone it - sign or play. Also, when a thought for a pray or another Divine work comes to you, do it and do not postpone it! Man shall not wait for the most harmonious, perfect conditions in order to work on himself, but he shall use the conditions, in which he is. For example, you shall carry a book with you, and when you are not busy in the course of another business of yours, you shall use that time for reading for a while. Man shall get used to concentrate even in the greatest noise and uproar. So, when we work for deepening in our internal life and improving of the internal conditions, the external ones will also changed. We shall know that the external conditions depend on the internal ones. Everybody says: "I am not ready yet." When are you going to be ready? If you are not ready, you are late! Do not hesitate and do not say: "Wait till I arrange my life and I will be ready then." One nice feature may be noticed in youths - they immediately perceive and are ready to apply. Youths, who start along the road to religion, shall work. They shall not wait till they get old to look for God. You have all opportunities from sunrise to sunset. This is a whole life - the millions of years, during which you have lived are gathered in that one day. Every day is a new life. But man puts off with years and that is his mistake. As if things, which he puts off, will wait for him.

 

Another quality of a disciple is independence. All people today are influenced by thoughts of others and are not independent. Man cannot give up meat at once, because he is opposed by the thoughts of the others. When man declares himself to belong to a certain Teaching, for which he has to make sacrifices, he shall be very careful. Thoughts of people jostle like flies. Sometimes we accept their thoughts like waves, which we have to transform.

 

Another quality of the disciple is endurance. People discourage each other. This is not from God. Today you have joy, tomorrow you will lose it. It is good man to have the quality of the oak - to endure, and of the pine - to strive upwards.

 

An important quality of a disciple is self-control. Getting into a passion is very often done unconsciously. If you say nothing in that case, you win. Let us say that somebody has insulted you; you have told him that offending word in the past and now he tells you the same. When somebody tells you an offending word, you are ready to blow up at once. Let us not give them a weapon, let us even disarm them by giving them a good example. You change their states by a good personal example. The hardest thing is to change the state of somebody. When somebody insults you, say nothing. Do not tell anybody about that. Keep it for yourself; there is philosophy in that.

 

One sister asked the Master: "What shall we do, when somebody insults us?"

 

When somebody speaks badly about you, he ties you by ropes. And if you say nothing, if you keep your head and calmness, an internal holy Fire will come down into you, which burns the ropes and you get liberated and lots of other people on Earth get liberated together with you. But if you answer him, you answer the evil by evil then and the ropes, with which you are tied, remain and you both are tied. Hence, from an occult point of view, when man is being insulted, he shall say nothing.

 

Having harmonious thinking, not be troubled by the world, debts or something else for half an hour, this is self-control. If somebody is tired, he will light a fire, warm water and drink. One, who does not understand, will drink cold water. The same is done by somebody, who wants to achieve something by less effort. It is the same in life: some people want to enter the Kingdom of God by less effort, without many hardships, by little prayers. However, they gain what they have given. If a well-doer comes and gives you two million leva and takes them back after that, you shall show your self -control, without batting an eyelid.

 

One sister shared: "I am impulsive and when somebody does something bad, I say words, for which I am sorry later."

 

First of all, put yourself in his place in order you to see what shall be done. An Angel saw that a man sins and told God: "How do you bear him?" God sent him to the place of that man and the Angel made twice more mistakes.

 

A necessary quality of a disciple is calmness. Big contradictions come to world, but do not embarrass by that. We live and move in God. Everything depends on our love. When you visit Turkish people, they have a good custom - they will take off your shoes and give you comfortable slippers. The same law is also valid for the internal life: when you go in your secret room - the room of your mind - leave your ordinary troubles and worries behind, do not bring them in the house of your internal life. You shall throw away the troubles; you shall think that you live in a world of Harmony and Rationality. You shall turn back to that childish state, that angelic state. Be strong, without being rude. Be loving, without being weakling. The storm will come into you and you will understand that quietness is stronger and more powerful. The storm also has its place, but the thing that gives orders to the world is the quiet one. That quiet thing, that Divine thing is the powerful one. It penetrates everywhere. If I would write an opera, I would put life in contrasts.

 

If man wants to look at the stars, the sky shall be clean, without clouds. The same law is valid for the internal life: nothing shall embarrass you, because if the Heaven is cloudy, you will not be able to perceive things from above. I would like some of you to make an experiment and have a joyful face for two months, without becoming sad. You are joyful today, but tomorrow you will throw away that weapon.

 

There are some spontaneous movements, which you make, without thinking, and you remember them after that. We shall control us. Somebody pulls you and you are startled; hence, you are not a hero yet. When you walk down the street, a bomb explodes all of a sudden, but you shall be ready and be not surprised by that. You know the old things, through which you have passed, but you do not know the new things, which come for you. And because you do not know them, you shall be interested in them. What worries you is past and not future, because future is bright. People worry about the wind and from where it blows or try to solve problems, which cannot be solved by anybody, for example for how long they will live, etc. Do not worry about this and that. Do not be impressed by the clothes in which you are dressed - bright or rags. You shall be always one and the same. You shall have that quality and not worry that some things does not happen in the way you want. There is a law, which say that if you hesitate for a while, you cannot achieve what you want. It is hard to find the soil of balance in yourself, i.e. to keep balance. You need a point of support. There is no a better thing than the gaining of an internal Peace. Somebody says: "They will rob you!" They cannot. Everything in the world is yours. You shall believe in that. And you believe in the opposite - that things will not arrange. You fall ill and you say: "This illness will not go away." It is very hard to introduce positiveness in man. You discourage and say: "I will die. It is over." Lift your hand and say: "It is not over!" Somebody has broken an earthen jug and what is the use of worrying about that? Another earthen jug can be easily obtained. You cannot stop the wind. What do you worry about? You say: "People are not amicable." There may be somebody, who thinks that you are not amicable. Which is the straightforward thought? When you are ill, say: "There are no diseases in the the Divine world. I will be healthy!" Noting else. Even if the illness progresses, say: "I will recover!" If you continue in this way for a month or two, or for a whole year, this illness will finally go away. If you want to be healthy, do not think about anything negative. Think that you have come to fulfil God's Will. One occult disciple shall think in this way and he will get rid of the clashes of life. Strike a balance in the evenings how much you have won and how much you have lost. Be careful the present decisive everyday life not to distract you from being watchful about yourselves. Man shall be calm and not embarrass despite today's cataclysms, storms, catastrophes and patchworks in peoples' lives. The dark powers will try to introduce embarrassment in him, in order to divert him from his spiritual work and state, but he shall not lose his internal wealth. He shall not lose calmness, Love, Peace, Joy, Belief despite those events; this is one of the tasks, which he shall solve correctly.

 

Stop worrying that your sesame ring has been taken. If they take one from you, they will return you five; if they take eight from you, they will give you sixteen. You cause yourself suffering for nothing. Be careful, because while we are at times joyful, at others sad, we abandon the Divine and cannot obtain what we have to. This looks like words, written down in the sand, which are obliterated by the sea waves. If there is a stone on your way; you will stumble if you walk against it, but if you surround it, you will walk ahead without clashes. Life is bright for initiated people, and dark - for the uninitiated ones. One, who is uninitiated says that he is tired of his life, and one, who is initiated, says that he enjoys Life.

 

One important quality of a disciple is Courage. We shall have boldness, determination, Courage. Christianity breaks people of fear. While you shake with fear, you cannot develop correctly. The hard thing is to break ourselves of fear! Man shall have courage and Belief. He shall understand things. Fear is an animal state. There is not a more dangerous thing than living in fear.

 

The Writ says: "The Evil One runs without being chased." The more sins people have, the more faint-hearted they become. God helps one, who is bold. Fear shall be only a precaution - human consciousness and conscience begin with fear. Now you shall be brave and not be frightened by the bears. Under 'bear' I mean any hardship. After that, you will meet a Shining creature, an Angel, in the Invisible world, which will tell you: "I was the bear, which frightened you." Enjoy what you have no matter how small it is. If you have not passed along that road, which you have passed along, you would not have had the wealth you have at the moment.