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1916_04_24 The Truth


Jackline Spasova-Bobeva
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The Book - The Spirit and The Flesh. Beinsa Douno

Translation from Bulgarian - Vessela Nestorova

 

THE TRUTH

 

The truth shall make you free29.

 

Pilate put a question to Christ, "What is Truth?" This is a profound philosophical question. It is easy to ask this question, but difficult to answer it. The Truth in itself is something concrete, real, unchanging. It is eternal Light, eternal Wisdom, eternal Love, eternal Righteousness, and eternal Life. However, this definition requires a more concrete determination of what Truth is. I shall stop on the thought, "The Truth gives freedom."
 
Freedom is an aspiration of the human mind, heart, soul, spirit; freedom is life and life is destined to our seeking the Truth and to seek it not as Tolstoy speaks in his book, My Conversion. There he speaks of one of his dreams, which clearly describes his psychic state before his conversion. I shall tell you briefly his story. "In my dream I find myself," says Tolstoy, "lying in a bed, but I feel neither comfortable, nor in a pleasant state; I start moving to find out what kind of a bed it is, what it is made of— iron or wood. At once I noticed that the bars of my bed started to fall one by one, starting at my head-side until only one bar remained just below my waist. At this moment I heard a voice crying, "Do not move either your head or your feet anymore! Keep balance!" I saw below me a large post and a bottomless chasm." I say, there are such philosophers who are lying on their back, investigating the Divine World, but only one bar remains under their waist and God says to them, "Keep the balance!" So as soon as you pronounce the word balance, the catastrophe is avoided. When you investigate the Truth, you should stand up straight on your feet, not lie on your back. I take the word dead in a figurative sense—a limited person who does not think. You must be turned to the East so when Christ appears, you should meet Him. Many act as Tolstoy did, but Christ says to them, "Balance!"
 
"The Truth shall make you free." The Truth is real, it is real life. Do not think the Truth is something imaginary. No. It is a world which has its beauty, its colors, tones, music—a world which has always existed and will always exist. Christ says, "Those who understand this world, these Laws and forces, will be free." In another place He says, "To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world, that I would bear witness unto the truth." Then Pilate asked Him, "What is Truth?" People today have strange ideas of God. God is the Truth. When you feel joyful and happy and start singing, the Truth— the living God—is in you. Think well, do a good deed—God is in you. The Truth is movement, impulse. And when Christ says, "I am the Way," He means a person must move and not stay in one place like a tied animal. In this world all things are strictly mathematically determined; there is nothing unforeseen, accidental. Your life, your sufferings, tortures and anguish—all is foreseen. These things are plus and minus. Within the Truth enter the four rules of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Those who have much—they add, those who have little—they also add, but the addition in both cases is different. For instance, you have two thousand leva but with a minus or a plus—that is, you either have to give or to take. If you say, "I have two thousand years" and put a minus; this means that in the past you have lived two thousand years of vicious life. If you say "Two thousand years plus"—that means you have lived two thousand years of excellent life; therefore, you are truly a rich person.
 
Christ says, "The Truth shall make you free." Freedom is a necessity for the man as well as for the woman. The whole social structure rests on the Truth. Everyone is striving for freedom. Actually, everyone has the right to live in freedom, but this freedom will be given to us to the extent that we can benefit by the blessings of the Truth. Sufferings are necessary for every nation, as well as for each individual. Torment and torture are human contrivances. Let us say a man gets a monthly salary of 50 leva which is barely enough for a month. The wife says, "Easter is coming! There is no money for Easter bread, the sugar and eggs are expensive; there is no money for shoes and a hat. Only a hat costs 50—70 leva. Why don't we have now 150—200 leva?" I say, in order that there may be peace, leave the Easter bread for next year. Easter is not only once in a lifetime! "No, now or never!" If God has allowed you only 50 leva, be satisfied with what you have and do not spoil your Easter! In this case the wife must give freedom to the husband and he—to his wife. Down with the Easter bread! This is freedom! This is the Truth! That is why the Scriptures say, "Be thankful for everything!" Do not think that God has not given you riches. You are all rich, but you must discover this wealth.
 
In the perception of the Divine orders, you must have inner freedom and not be biased. The Truth is independent of your and my conceptions: whether you think one way or another, whether you approach it or draw away from it, will not change its relations. In this world, which is wisely created, the Truth always exists such as it is. The illumination one has proceeds from the Light of the Truth. Love comes from above—from the Truth. And when the Truth conquers the world, it will make you free. Love always aspires for the Truth—what beauty is in relation to a person such is Truth in relation to the Divine World. It is the one face of this world which is a world of harmony and beauty. And when you ask why you are unhappy, the Truth answers, "You are unhappy because you are ignorant, because you violate God's Law." In Varna in the past days Gagaouz women would fall in love with Bulgarian men and would marry them. They thought the Greeks were drunkards while Bulgarian men were as gentle and nice as little donkeys. No, this is not a conception of the Truth. The Truth is a science of the mutual, sensible relations of people. Before a person has achieved balance in their mind, their heart and their will in accord with the Truth, they cannot be free. As soon as they attain this, they will make contact with the Divine World.
 
Many ask, "Can we live without suffering?" You can. "Without torment and torture?" You can; why not? But sufferings are necessary for the evolution of humankind. A person wants to learn about the world; that is why they must suffer by all means. The Earth is a place of suffering. You say, "How should we know?" Why did you not ask the rational beings what the Earth is like before coming down? One time a little angel who had heard much about people said to a bid angel, "I want to see the people very much. Why don't you take me to the Earth so I can see them?" The angel brought him to the Earth. Then the little angel said, "I wanted you to take me to the people, but you took me to hell." "Hell—that is people on this earth," answered the big angel. Indeed, hell—that is us. By the word hell, people in our country understand something boiling from underneath, bubbling up, people taking each other by the throat, brother fighting with brother because one has taken a larger part of the inheritance, and so on. Today everybody says, "Equality is necessary!" I ask you, what is wrong in taking a larger part? One of the brothers is older, let him take more.
 
Thus, people on the Earth have just such relations as God has ordered and of which His Laws witness. If you apply them according to the Truth, their result will be freedom. Those who want to study the Truth must study the quality of freedom. If you ask me what is music in reality, I cannot define it, but I can describe what music gives expression to. The result is harmony—relations between the tones. Sit at a piano, or play any other instrument, and you will see what music is. Three things are necessary for the expression of music: first, an idea in your mind of a song; second, an instrument and third—an artist. Therefore, a musical ability of the mind is necessary, a sensitive ear and an artist who can play. If you ask me what a teacher is, I can tell you only what a teacher produces. A teacher gives knowledge. When you learn what knowledge is, you will be near the teacher. You ask, "What is Virtue?" Better ask what it gives birth to. Before going into a study of the essence of things, study their results.
 
What is the distinguishing feature of freedom? It gives a large scope to action. In necessity you have only one way; you are harnessed. Your reigns may be golden, but you must go only one way—forward; in case you stop, the whip will lash your back. In freedom it is just the opposite—you have a choice. You have a choice to climb a mountain top from any side, but when you are rolling downwards, you have only one direction. "But why does a person think that way?" They are free to think. "But he is an atheist." This is a temporary delusion. "She is a bad person." Her consciousness for good is not developed in her yet. "He makes mistakes." His will is not regulated yet. "A woman has an unlawful child." Settle the relationships between the sexes.
 
I consider humans free. Only the fearful are not free and it is they who commit crimes, they have not the heroism to assume responsibility. Which people are strong? Those who are free and who can bear hardships, sufferings, getting spitted on, being dishonored. These are trials for people and those who can bear them are considered heroes. Sufferings are given to people to test them—who are heroes and who are cowards. Those who do not want to suffer, but want to be served by others, are enlisted in the catalogue of the cowards. If you suffer, you are a hero. Whom does the Bulgarian nation glorify: the cowards who betrayed the country during Turkish times, or those who suffered for the liberation of this country? How much will those who suffer for the Truth be glorified? The principle is one and the same. That is why the science of the Truth is a science of social life. The Truth always makes people free. Those who die for others make them free. If the martyr Stephen had not died, Paul would not have been born. When Stephen died, his spirit entered Paul. Then both started working together for God. Stephen taught Paul to suffer and to bear three times thirty nine blows with the whip. Paul became famous namely for this patience.
 
Do you know why they lashed Paul thirty nine times? The numbers 3+9 equal 12. The number 12 is the Law of rounding up the evolution of all the days of human life. And whoever undergoes so many blows with a whip on the Earth will not be beaten any more in the next life. If you ask why Christ was beaten, He will answer you "I suffered that you might be made free." When people beat you on the Earth, it shows you that a cord that holds you tight to your evil fate is torn. That is why Christ says, "If they hit you on the one side, give the other one also." Only the strong one can beat and when the strong one beats you, it is a blessing. What do the peasants do? When they want the field to yield more produce, they let the sheep thread on it. They know this Law about the fields, but do not know it about themselves. Let the sheep of the world thread on you a little.
 
Christ says, "For this cause I was born." The birth that Christ speaks about is not an external, but an inner process. It takes place in every heart and mind, in order that this Truth may be witnessed. When the Truth is born in you, you will feel freedom. When a woman marries, she wants to have children, because she is aware of the Truth that this is the only way the Law can be observed—that she may have an inheritance. It is the same in the spiritual world: if you have not the Truth in yourself, you cannot inherit the Divine riches. Therefore, the Truth must be born in you. Then you will have riches and spend your life more easily. A legend tells the story of Moses. When he was going up the Sinai mountain, he saw a shepherd who was very happy, and he asked him, "Why are you so happy?" "I am happy because today the Lord will come down to visit me, so I killed a lamb to give Him a feast." "The Lord does not eat lambs, you are deceiving your mind!" answered Moses and went away. However, the shepherd was saddened and lost his joy. When Moses reached the Sinai Mountain, he noticed that God is displeased with him for having made such a big mistake. He returned to the shepherd to tell him that God would visit him and eat of his lamb. After telling this the shepherd, he hid in a nearby bush to see what would happen. At one time he noticed that the shepherd fell asleep and fire came from heaven burning up the lamb. When the shepherd woke up, he said, "I am very happy that the Lord came down and ate up the lamb!" So, when the Truth enters us, its fire—Love—will make a sacrifice pleasing to God. This is the real world of the Truth. For some people it is not real, but a great number of people—thousands on this earth know this world—the world of Truth.
 
I say, much time will pass before the Truth is planted and understood by all. See how beautiful the flowers are! They are yellow, red, and blue. You pick them, but have you understood their meaning? You say, "This flower smells very sweetly," but what does this fragrance mean? It shows the great sorrow of the flower. Out of its grief is formed a nectar necessary for your life. There are people who, in the midst of their wealth, say, "There is no God!" As soon as they lose their wealth, health, or social position, and God takes them in hand, they begin to emit fragrance, "There is a God." The wealth would have stunted their mind if God had not taken it away from them. Thanks to that, they began to take a right view of things. What takes place on the Earth is something transitory, not a reality. You see beautiful, little girls, but as soon as they come of age, their faces begin to wrinkle and in time they become old women. I ask: where are those little girls gone whom you admired so much at one time? The same thing happens to the boys. You do not know yourselves yet. When you learn the Law of the Truth, it will give you power over matter that you may understand its inner combinations and perfect your life. This is the Law of motion—that a person should constantly undergo a change and pass from the temporary to the eternal, in order to understand the unchanging essence of the Truth.
 
People say that Christ was born to preach the Truth. What is this Truth? Christ wants to invigorate your mind and give you an impulse for right thinking that you may make contact with the Divine World. You are eternally bound to God. In the world you have many friends; however, if at times these friends are insensitive to you, it is due to your relations which spring from ignorance. Paul says, "God despises human ignorance and has let people follow their way, but now He is calling them that the Law may be fulfilled." What should a mother who is called upon to fulfill the same Law do? First of all, she should bear good and sensible children. This is her first task. Some women complain of their state and say, "Why are we women?" I ask—who should have been in their place? The man should prepare material for thought, will and character. He should pass all this on, but the woman should give birth.
 
People today are looking for comforts in the world, but they must understand that essential Law, also expressed in the music—in the minor and major scales. God has placed some people in the minor scale, in the flats—sorrow, grief, depth of the feelings; He has placed others in the major scale, in the sharps, on the surface of life, since they have no depth of feelings. In a dance, or a march, what can one see? Dancing, marching and finally—fatigue. In a sad song you cannot move—there you will keep still and reason. God has placed you under a minor tone that you may think of the other world, while in a major tone you will think of this world. At times you want to play another's part and say, "Can religious people dance?" They can, but what kind of dance? When David was carrying the tabernacle, he was jumping and dancing but his wife rebuked him saying, "Look how you are contorting your body in the presence of the whole nation of Israel!" "Why should I not hop before the Lord?" he objected. God does not limit us, He gives us great freedom to do good and evil, but in certain cases good may be evil. You will say, "How can this be?" Here is an example. A man and wife are leading a good life. Christ says, "Give away your goods." In his desire to fulfill the teaching of the Savior, the man wants to give his property away, but his wife says, "Are you crazy? You want to make your wife and children unhappy?" "No, I want to fulfill God's Law." "But I do not need this Law." I say to the man, "You have no right to give away the property of your wife and children, for it is theirs! If you have 100,000 leva divide them as a brother among your wife, children and yourself equally, and you have right to give away your share. You have no right to serve God with another person's money. This is Christ's Law. "But I have the right to do this." "You have not! Who gave you this right? Where did you take this woman from? God did not make woman your mate out of your feet, but out of your rib and you have no right to torture her!"
 
Now this appeals to the women and they say, "That's right, let the men know this!" No. You should never consider a question from your own point of view. In the universal life there are many possibilities: in this life you are a man, but in another life they may make you a woman. And the opposite is true. If in this life you write, "I give no freedom to woman!" in the other life when you are made a woman, you will taste the benefits of this provision of the Law. Then you will say, "This is not a good Law," but it was you who wrote it in the past. Men, make good Laws, because when you come a second time on earth as women, you will be placed under their power of course, not only men, but women also write Laws and as a result they create limitations of each other. Many women have written bad Laws in their sons and daughters; for instance they have written that they should hate their father. They say, "Your father is a good-for-nothing, a vagabond." Do not write such Laws, because one is your Father. This man or this woman whom you call father and mother have become an instrument of the Divine Spirit in order that an idea should be clothed in form. And when you complain of your state, you murmur against God. You must not change the basic features of the incarnated idea in a form. You can make some changes in the shades—to make them lighter or darker—but the main substance, which personifies the Divine idea, must be preserved.
 
Sermon held on April 24, 1916, in Sofia.
 
_________________
29. John 8:32

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From The Truth

 

The Truth

 

"And the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)

 

Pilate asked Christ a question: "What is truth?" Here is a deep philosophical question. It is easy to ask, but difficult to answer. The truth in itself is something concrete, real, unalterable - everlasting light, everlasting wisdom, everlasting love, everlasting righteousness, everlasting life. But this very definition requires us to more concretely establish what sort of a thing the truth is. I will dwell on the thought: it is the truth which gives freedom. Freedom is an aspiration of the human mind, heart, soul and spirit; freedom - this is life; and the purpose of life is for us to search for the truth, and to search for it but not in the way Tolstoy describes in his book: "My conversion". He speaks there about a dream of his which clearly characterizes the state of his soul before his conversion. "I find myself", Tolstoy says - I am relating his story concisely - “lying in a bed in my dream, it is neither very comfortable, nor do I take pleasure in it; I move about to see what [the nature of] this bed is, what it is made of - of iron or of wood; I notice at some point that the bed-slats near my head and my feet begin to fall one by one; finally only one slat is left below my waist. At this time a voice calls out: "Do not move any more, neither with the head, nor with the feet - keep balance!" And I see down beneath me a large column and a bottomless pit". Often, there are philosophers who lie upon their backs and investigate the Divine world [in this way], but only one slat is left under their waist and so the Lord says to them: "Keep balance!" And you, as soon as you utter "Balance [Equilibrium]!", the catastrophe is avoided. When you investigate the truth, you should stand on your feet and not lie upon your back; only the dead lie like this. I take the word dead metaphorically - a narrow-minded [limited] man, who does not think. You should be turned towards the East, so that when Christ comes into view, you may receive Him. Many act as Tolstoy did, but Christ tells them: "Balance [Equilibrium]!"

 

"The truth shall make you free". The truth is real, it is actual, immediate life itself. Do not think that it is something imaginary. The truth is a world which has its beauty, its hues, tones, music - a world which has existed and which will always exist. Christ says: "Whoever understands this world, these laws and forces, shall be free". And also: "For this was I born - to bear witness unto the Truth" (Jn 17:37). And then Pilate asked him: "What is truth?" Contemporary people have rather strange conceptions of the Lord. The Lord - this is the Truth. When some day you feel joyful and glad and start to sing, behold, the truth - the living Lord - is within you. You think something in goodness, you accomplish a good deed - the Lord is within you. The truth - it is motion, instigation. And when Christ says: "I am the Way", He implies that man must have motion, and should not stay in a single place like some tied-up animal. In this world [all] things are strictly mathematically defined, there is nothing unforeseen, nothing accidental; your life, your sufferings, your sorrows and torments - all this has been foreseen. They are plus (+) and minus (-). The four arithmetic operations are included in the truth: addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. Whoever has much, adds; whoever has little, also adds; only the addition here is different. You have two thousand levs, but with a minus or a plus – to be able to give or to take away. This will determine the relation. If you say: "I have two thousand years" and put a minus, I infer that in the past you have lived two thousand years of a dissolute [immoral] life. If you say: "Two thousand years plus", I infer that you have lived an excellent life, and, therefore, you are indeed rich.

 

Christ says: "The truth shall make you free". The truth is a necessity for the man and for the woman: the whole social system rests upon it. Everyone strives for freedom and is entitled to live freely; but this freedom will be given to one insofar as he one is able to make use of the gifts of the Truth. The sufferings of a nation are [just as] needed for the latter as they are for the separate individual. The torments and torturings are our inventions. Your husband receives a salary, say, 5 levs, which are barely enough to carry you through the month: "But Easter, you say, is coming; there is not enough for an Easter cake [1] - the sugar and the eggs are expensive, there is not enough for shoes, for a hat 50-70 levs are necessary, why shouldn't we have 150-200 levs?" For there to be peace, leave the Easter cakes for next year -there is not only one Easter in this world. "No, now!" But the Lord has granted only 50 levs, be content with what is there already, do not spoil the Easter. The wife [2] in this respect should give freedom to her husband [2], and the husband - to the wife. Down with the Easter cakes! This is what freedom is, and also the truth. And this is why the Scriptures say: "Be grateful for everything". Do not think that the Lord has not given you wealth; He has given it, you are all rich, but you have to search for it.

 

In comprehending the Divine precepts [3] we should have internal freedom, we should not be mannered [4]. The truth is independent of both your conceptions and mine; whether you will think in one way or another, whether you will draw near or drift away from it, you will not change its relations, it will always exist, as it is, in this world which has been created very wisely. The light {videlinata}, which we have, originates from the light {svetlinata} of the Truth. Love comes from above, from the Truth, and, when it conquers the world, it will make you free. Love always has an aspiration for the Truth. Beauty is also an expression of Truth: what beauty is in relation to man, Truth is in relation to the Divine world; it is one face of this world which is a world of harmony, of beauty. And when you say: "Why are we miserable", the Truth replies to you: "Because you are ignorant, because you transgress the Law". I know, once upon a time in Varna the Gagauz [5] women would fall in love with the Bulgarian men and wanted to marry them; the Greeks were allegedly drunkards, while the Bulgarians supposedly resembled good and gentle little donkeys. But this is not an understanding of the Truth. Truth is a science to learn what the mutual intelligent relationships between people should be. Until man brings his mind, his heart, to equilibrium, to an accord with the Truth, he cannot be free. Only in this way will he be able to unite with the Divine world.

 

Many ask: "Is it not possible without sufferings?" It is possible. "And without sorrows and torments?" It is possible, of course! But the sufferings are necessary for the evolution of man. Man wants to study the world, which is why he inevitably suffers. And the Earth is a place of sufferings. "But", he says, "how could I know?" Why, before descending, did you not ask the intelligent beings above? Once a little Angel, who listened to much being spoken of men, said to a big Angel: "I would very much like to see these people; do take me to the Earth to see them". He took the little Angel to the Earth. The little Angel then said: "I asked you to take me to the humans, but you took me to Hell". - "But Hell - this is the people", answered the big Angel. And in truth, hell - this is us. Under the word hell is understood here boiling, bubbling from below, flying at each other's throat, brothers fighting one another - why one took more from their father's inheritance, while the other took less. "Equality is required". He is bigger [6] - let him take more.

 

We on the Earth have exactly those relations which God has established and to which His laws bear witness, and, when we apply them according to the Truth, their result will be freedom. And whoever wishes to study the Truth, has to study the quality of freedom. If you ask me what music is in its essence, I cannot give you a definition; but what music gives birth to by itself - this I can define. It is harmony, a relationship between tones. Sit in front of a piano or any other musical instrument, play and you will see what music is. But for the manifestation of music three things are necessary: firstly, an idea in your mind of some song; secondly, an instrument, and thirdly, an artist. Consequently, what is needed is a certain musical ability inside your mind, a sensitive ear, and then an artist to perform. And if you ask me what a teacher is, I can tell you what a teacher produces. He gives knowledge. If you learn what knowledge is, you will be close to the teacher. You ask what virtue is; it is better to ask what virtue gives birth to. Before you embark on studying the essence of things, study their results.

 

By what is freedom distinguished? By this, that it gives broad scope for action. In necessity there is only one way - you are harnessed. Your bridle may be made of gold, it may be quite nice, but you must only walk in one direction - forward; if you stop, the whip will land on your back. In freedom, conversely, you have a choice. You have the choice to climb a mountain peak, to climb from any side, but when you roll downwards, you are already going in only one direction. "But why does man think like this?" He is free to think. "But he is ungodly". This is a temporary delusion. "He is mean". The consciousness for goodness had not developed in him. "He errs". His will is not regularized. "Such-and-such gave birth illegitimately". Set the relations between the sexes in order. I consider people free. Those who are not free are the fainthearted, and it is precisely they who commit crimes; they do not have the heroism to take responsibility. Which people are strong in the world? Those who are free and are able to endure predicaments and sufferings, bespatterings, dishonorings - these things are trials and, whoever endures them, performs [an act of] heroism. The sufferings are given as a test to find out who is a hero and who a coward. Whoever does not wish to suffer, whoever wishes others to do the work [7] for him, is considered to be in the catalogue of the cowards. If you suffer - you are a hero. Tell me now, who do the Bulgarian people revere - those cowards, who during the time of the Ottoman Empire would betray the people, or those [men], who suffered for this people? And how much more exalted will those be who suffer for the Truth! The principle is the same. This is why the science of Truth is a science of the public, of the social life. The truth always makes people free. Those who die for others make people free. If [st.] Stephen had not died, [st.] Paul would not have been born. When Stephen died, his spirit entered into Paul and then both began to work together for the Lord. Stephen taught Paul how to suffer, how to endure three times 39 rods. Paul is renowned for this endurance. And do you know why there were 39 rods? 3 + 9 = 12: the number 12 is the law of rounding the evolution of all the days of a man's life. And whoever is beaten thus on Earth, will not be beaten any more in the other life. If you ask why they scourged Christ, He will answer you: "I suffered, so that you may be free". When here on Earth someone strikes you, one thread, which keeps you attached to your ill fate, breaks. This is why Christ says: "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also". Only one who is strong is able to beat, and when he beats, it is a blessing. What do the peasants do? When they wish the field to bear more fruit, they send sheep to trample on it; they know this law with respect to the fields, but with respect to themselves, they do not know it. So, finally, let the sheep of the world trample on you a bit. Christ says: "For this was I born". [Jn 18:37] Birth is understood here not externally, but internally - in every mind and in every heart, so that this Truth may bear witness. When the Truth starts to be born in you, you will begin to feel freedom. A woman, when she marries, wishes to have children because she is permeated by the Truth that only in this way can she observe the law - to inherit a property. And in the spiritual world it is the same - if you do not have the Truth, you cannot inherit the Divine riches. Therefore, the Truth must be born in you. Then you will have wealth and you will pass through your life more easily. There is a legend about Moses: when he was going to Mount Sinai, he saw a joyful shepherd and asked him: "Why are you so cheerful?" The shepherd replied to him: "Because the Lord will be my guest today, I have slaughtered a lamb to give a treat to the Lord". - "The Lord does not eat lambs; this is a confusion of your mind" objected Moses and left. However, the shepherd began to feel sad; he was deadened in spirit. When Moses reached Mount Sinai, he noticed that the Lord was displeased with him because he had made a big mistake, and so, he went back to the shepherd to tell him that the Lord will visit him and will eat from his lamb. When he had told the shepherd what the Lord had instructed him, he secretly began to keep a close watch on what would happen. At one moment he saw that the shepherd quietly went to sleep, while fire descended from the sky and burnt the lamb. The shepherd got up and said: "How glad I am that the Lord descended and ate the lamb!" And when the Truth descends in you, its fire, Love, will make a sacrifice pleasing to God. This is the real world of the Truth. For some it is unreal. But there are many, not one or two, nor ten, but thousands all over the whole world, who know this Truth. It must be planted for a long time yet. You see how beautiful these flowers are in front of you - yellow, red, blue - and you pick them, but have you understood their meaning? You say: "This flower has a very pleasant scent." What does this scent mean? It shows the profound sorrow of the flower. From its affliction is formed the nectar intended for your life.

 

There are people who in the midst of their wealth say: "There is no Lord", but once they lose their wealth or their health or their social status, the Lord fastens them - they begin to give off a scent: "There is a Lord". The wealth would destroy their mind and, when the Lord takes it away from them, they begin to look at things correctly. What you observe on the Earth is something transient, it is not real. Young, beautiful girls, when some time passes, their faces become lined with wrinkles, and in a short time they become old grandmothers; I ask, where did those young girls go, which we had admired so much earlier? Likewise the lads: where is their handsomeness? You do not know yourselves yet; when you learn the law of Truth, it will give you power over matter, to understand its internal combinations and to perfect your life. This is the law of movement - man must constantly alter and must pass from the transient to the eternal, in order to understand the unalterable nature of the Truth.

 

People say: "Christ was born and he preaches the Truth". Let us see what this Truth is. Christ wishes to introduce vigor into your mind, [He wishes] to give you instigation for a particular thought, for you to enter into communion with the Divine world. You are all eternally connected with God. You have friends in the world, and, if these friends occasionally show themselves to be insensitive, it is because of your relations, due to ignorance. [st.] Paul says: "God despised man's ignorance and left people to follow their ways, but now he calls them for the Law to be fulfilled". What should the mother do, who is also called to fulfill the Law? First of all she should give birth to good and clever children - this is her task. Some women complain and say: "Why am I a woman?" Who, then, should have been in their place, I ask. The man [male] must prepare this material of thought, will, character, to impart [it], while the woman should give birth. People seek comforts in the world, but they have to understand that essential law, which exists in music as well - about the major and minor scales. The Lord has set some [people] in a minor key, He has put them in flats - in grief, in sorrow, in the depths of feeling; others he has set in a major key, he has put them in sharps, in the shallowness of life, because they do not have depth of feeling. What can one see in a dance or a march? Dancing, marching and ... exhaustion. In the sad song you will not move, you will keep quiet and will reason. In the minor tone the Lord has created you to think about the other world, while in the major tone - about this world. Occasionally you wish to take someone else's role; but can religious people dance? They can dance, but what kind of dance? David, while he was carrying the ark, leaped and danced, while his wife said: "Look, why are you wiggling before the whole people of Israel!" (1 Chron 15; 2 Sam 6:15) - "Why should I not leap before the Lord?" he objected to her. The Lord has not restricted us, He has given us great freedom to do good and evil; but good in certain respects may be evil. But, you will say, how can this be? Here [is how]. A husband and wife live very well. Christ for His part says: "Give away your possessions" (Mat 19:21), the husband, in his desire to fulfill the teaching of the Savior, wants to give away his possessions, but his wife tells him: "You have gone mad, do you want your wife and children to be miserable?" - "But I want to fulfill the law of God", - "And I, however, do not want this law. You have no right to give away the possessions of your wife and your children, they belong to them. You have 100 thousand levs, divide them duly, equally between you, your wife and your children, and only the share which is apportioned to you, only that you have the right to give away. You do not have the right to commemorate the Lord with their money [8]. This is the law of Christ". - "But I have the right". "You do not have the right. Who gave you this right? Where did you take your wife from? Not from your legs, but from your ribs the Lord made her your companion, and you have no right to torment her". This, of course, is now convenient for the women, and they say to themselves: "Just so, just so!" Never observe the issues from your viewpoint, but from a mutual point of view. In the universal life there are many possibilities; in the present life you are a man, but in another they may make you a woman or vice versa. If in this life you write "I do not allow any freedom to the woman", in the second life, when they make you a woman, you will experience the sweetness of this provision of the law. "This law, you will say then, is not good". - But it is you who wrote it earlier. Men [males], set good laws, because the second time, as women, you will be under their supremacy. Of course, the man [male] is not the only one who writes laws, but the woman writes them as well, and they themselves create restrictions for each other. Many women have written bad laws for their daughters and sons, to hate their fathers - "your father is a good-for-nothing, a vagabond". Do not write such laws, because your Father is only one; this man or this woman have become an instrument for the Divine Spirit to clothe a certain idea in a certain form, and, when you complain, you repine against the Lord. You should not alter the main outlines of the form-embodied idea. In the shadows you may change something, making them lighter or darker, but the main-substance, which gives countenance to the Divine idea, must remain.

 

24 April 1916

 

--==[][][]==--

 

_____________________________

Notes:

 

[1] kozunak is a traditional Bulgarian bun, which is also made for Easter. The equivalent in the US and other English speaking countries is the hot cross bun.

[2] In Bulgarian, there is a single word for "husband", "male" and "man", and similarly for "wife", "female" and "woman"

[3] or: orders, regulations

[4] or artificial, even snobbish

[5] The Gagauz are Christians (Orthodox or Catholic) who speak a language belonging to the group of Turkish languages. There are different opinions about their origin. The Gagauz lived until the 19th century in the European territories of the Ottoman Empire.

[6] or "older"; In Bulgarian the adjective describing a brother/sister as 'older' also means 'bigger'

[7] This is a colloquialism, which literally means: others to do the housework or chores for someone, without that someone putting any effort themselves

[8] This sentence is built around a Bulgarian proverb, which can be literally translated as: 'To commemorate the departed using someone else's damper/loaf', which means: to do something at someone else's expense.

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Note 4

 

The Truth

 

‘The truth shall make you free.’ John 8:32

 

Pilate asked Christ the question: ‘What is truth?’ Here is one profound philosophical question which is easy to ask, but difficult to answer. Truth in itself is something specific, real, and unchangeable – it is eternal Light, eternal Wisdom, eternal Love, eternal Justice, and eternal Life. But, on the other hand, this very definition requires defining more precisely what Truth is. I am going to dwell on the thought: ‘It is Truth that gives us Freedom’. Freedom is an aspiration of the human mind, heart, Spirit; Freedom is Life; and Life’s purpose is to seek Truth. And seek it in a way different from the one Tolstoy relates in his book ‘My Conversion’.

 

In this book, Tolstoy recounts one of his dreams, which is a clear illustration of his state of the mind before his conversion. ‘I am, says Tolstoy (I am giving a brief account of the story he tells), asleep on a bed. This bed is neither comfortable nor agreeable; I turn over and over to feel what this bed is like, what material it is made of – whether it is made of wood or iron; and I notice, at one point, that the bars of the bed on the sides of my head and feet are starting to fall down, one by one, till finally only one is left under my waist; and at that very moment I hear a voice shouting: ‘Do not dare to move either your head or feet – keep your balance!’, and I see beneath myself a huge pillar and a profound abyss.

 

Very often, you may come upon philosophers who are lying on their backs and from that position are studying the Divine World; however, in the end, only one bar is left under their backs and God says to them: ‘Keep your balance!’ The moment you articulate the word balance, the catastrophe is evaded. When you are studying the Truth, you have to stand upright on your feet instead of lying on your back – only the dead lie in that posture. I use the word dead in its figurative meaning, to describe someone who is narrow-minded, one who doesn’t think. It is better if you turn to the East, so that when Christ approaches, you are able to meet Him upright. Many are those who do as Tolstoy does, but Christ says to them: ‘Balance!’

 

‘The Truth shall make you Free’. Truth is real; it is Life itself, do not think it’s something imaginary. It is a world with a beauty of its own; with colours, tones, music of its own; it is a world which has always existed and will always exist. Christ says: ‘Whoever understands this world, these laws and forces, he shall be free’ and also ‘To this end was I born … that I should bear witness unto the truth.’1, and then, Pilate asked him ‘What is truth?’ People of today have strange notions of God. God is Truth; and every time during the day when you feel joy and happiness and start singing, then at this very moment Truth – the living God – is within you; whenever you think Good and do a good deed – God is within you. Truth means progress, an impulse; and when Christ says ‘I am the Way’ He means that a man should make progress and never stand in one place like a tethered animal. In this world, everything is strictly mathematically defined and there is nothing unforeseen or happening by chance; your life, your hardships, pain, tortures – they are all foreseen; and they bear a sign - plus or minus.

 

Truth contains all four mathematical rules: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. One who has plenty can add; one who is in short supply can add, too, but using a different kind of addition. You have, for example, two thousand leva2, but with a sign minus or plus, i.e. borrowed or lent - that’s what will determine the correlation; if you say ‘I have got a two thousand year’, and put in a minus, I understand that in the past you have lived a vicious life for two thousand years; while if you say ‘two thousand years plus’ I understand that you have lived a life virtuous and therefore you are in truth a rich man.

 

Christ says: ‘The truth shall make you free.’ Freedom is a necessity for both man and woman; it is the foundation of the entire social order. Everyone strives for Freedom and has the right to live in Freedom; however a person shall be given this Freedom to the extent they are able to make use of the goods Truth provides. The sufferings a people undergo are as essential to the entity, as they are to each and every individual. Tortures and torments are man’s invention; for example, your husband is paid his salary, it is fifty leva, and the money is hardly enough to see you through the month: ‘Besides’, you say, ‘Easter is coming, how are we to afford Easter cake? Sugar and eggs are expensive, we have no money to buy new shoes, and a new hat will cost fifty to seventy leva. How I wish I had one hundred and fifty or two hundred leva instead.” To make peace, leave the Easter cake for next year; there is not only one Easter in this world, is there? – ‘No, I want the money now!’ - Well, but God had provided only fifty leva, so be content with what you have been given, do not ruin the Easter holiday. In that respect, the wife should grant freedom to her husband and the husband should grant freedom to his wife, and down with Easter bread! That is what Freedom is about; and Truth, too. That is the reason why the Scripture says: “Give thanks for all you have been given!” and do not think that God has not granted you riches, because He has; and you all are rich men; but you have the task to uncover your riches.

 

In our perception of the Divine principles, we have to have inner Freedom, and not to be preconceived. Truth does not depend on either your or my conceptions; no matter whether you think in one way or another; regardless of whether you are approaching or drifting away from it; you will never change its relations; it will always exist, as it is, in this world, which is very rationally created. The Light we have originates from the Light of Truth. Love comes from above; from the Truth; and the moment the Truth triumphs over the world, it shall make you free – as Love unyieldingly aims at Truth. Beauty is another manifestation of Truth; what Beauty is in relation to man, is what Truth is in relation to the Divine World – it is the one and only face of this world, which is a world of harmony and beauty. That is why when you ask: ‘Why are we unhappy?’ Truth answers: ‘Because you are ignorant, because you transgress the law.’

 

I remember how, once upon a time in Varna3, Gagauz4 girls used to fall in love with Bulgarian young men and wanted to marry Bulgarian men, because, as they said, Greek men were drunkards, while Bulgarian men resembled handsome and good-natured little donkeys. Yet, it is by no means an understanding of the Truth; because Truth is a science teaching what, in truth, should be the reciprocal mindful relations between men. A person cannot be free unless they bring their mind, their heart into balance and in harmony with Truth. Only in this way, will they be able to join the Divine world.

 

Many are those who ask whether we can do without suffering. - Yes, we can. ‘And without pain and tortures?’- Yes, we can, without a doubt, but suffering is indispensable for the evolution of men. Man wants to study the world, and that is why he is bound to suffer, and the Earth is the abode of suffering. ‘But’, man says, ‘how should I have known that?’ -Why haven’t you asked the Mindful Souls above before descending? Once upon a time, a little Angel, after having listened to the stories being told about the people, said to a grown-up Angel: ‘How I wish I could see these people. Please take me to the Earth so I can see them.’ And the grown-up Angel took the little one to the Earth. Then, the little Angel said: ‘I asked you to take me to the people, and you took me to hell.’ ‘But, hell are the people’ – replied the grown-up Angel. And, in truth, we, the people, are the inferno. By saying inferno we mean boiling; bubbling from beneath; seizing by the throat; brothers fighting for their father’s legacy – because the one has taken more than the other; while what is needed is fairness – let the elder brother take more, by the right of seniority.

 

What we have on the Earth are precisely the relations that God has laid down and for which His laws testify; and when we apply these laws according to the Truth, in consequence we obtain Freedom. Therefore, the one who wants to study the Truth will have to study the quality of the Freedom. If you ask me what music is, I will not be able to give a definition; yet what I can define is what music in itself can stir, and it is harmony and relation between the tones. Just sit at the piano or at any other instrument, start playing and you will see what music is like. But, for the manifestation of music we need three things: first, the idea of a song in our mind’s eye; second – an instrument and third – an artist; therefore we need some talent for music in our mind; an insightful ear and subsequently – an artist to play the music. And if you ask me what a teacher is like, I can tell you what a teacher makes: they deliver knowledge and if you learn what Knowledge is, then at that very moment you will find yourself close to the Teacher. You ask what Virtue is; but you should better ask what the fruits of Virtue are; or, in other words, before you venture to study the substance of all things, you should better study their fruits first.

 

How do we know Freedom? We know Freedom by the broad expanse of action it gives. The road of necessity is a one-way road, which you walk in harness. Even if you wear the finest bridle of gold, you still have only one direction to go – ahead; and if you dare to stop, the whip will crack on your shoulders. With Freedom, quite the opposite, you have choice. You have the choice to climb a mountain peak walking the track you choose; and, on the contrary, when you roll downwards, you go in one direction only. ‘But, why should a person think like that?’- Because he is free to think as he chooses. ‘But, he is an atheist!’ - Well, it is only a temporary misconception. ‘He is a wicked person.’ - His sense of Good has not developed yet. ‘He errs.’ - His will has not been fine-tuned. ‘So-and-so has given birth to an illegitimate child.’- Straighten out the relations between the sexes. I consider all men free; only cowards are not free and it’s them who commit crime, as they haven’t got the courage to undertake responsibility. Who are the strong men of the world? Those, who are free and who can endure hardship and suffering, discredit, disgrace – all these are tests, and whoever endures them, is a man of courage, a hero. Suffering is given to put men to the test, to see who is a hero and who is a coward; one who does not want to suffer, one who prefers, without making an effort, letting others do his chores is enlisted into the catalogue of the cowards; if you suffer you are a hero. Tell me; who are the men the Bulgarian people glorify: are they the cowards who in Turkish times5 betrayed the people; or are they those who suffered for their people? And those who suffer for the Truth will be even more glorified – the principle is the same.

 

That is why the science of Truth is a science of social life; Truth always makes people free – those who die for the sake of the others make men free. If Stephan had not died, Pavel would not have been born; when Stephan died, his spirit inspired Pavel and they both started working for God. Stephan taught Pavel to suffer, to endure three times thirty nine sticks; it is for this endurance that Pavel is renowned for. And do you know what the purpose of the thirty nine sticks was? Three plus nine is twelve; the number 12 represents the law of rounding up the evolution of all the days in a man’s life. And the one who has been beaten on the Earth like that; in the other life shall no longer be beaten. If you ask why they beat Christ, He will answer to you: ‘I suffered so that you shall be free.’ Whenever here, on this Earth, someone beats you, a string is broken which ties you to your evil fate; that is why Christ says: ‘And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other.’ (Luke 6:29) Only the strong one can beat; and when the strong one is beating, it is a blessing. What do village people do? When they want a field to yield more crops, they send sheep on this field to graze on it; when it comes to fields, they know the law, but when it comes to their own selves – they do not know it – so, eventually, let the sheep of the world graze on you.

 

Christ says: ‘To this end was I born into the world.’ By saying birth, he means not outer, but inner birth into each and every mind and heart, to testify this Truth. When Truth initiates its birth into you, you will start feeling Freedom. A woman, after getting married, wants to have children, because she is filled with the Truth that this is the only way to observe the law - to inherit property. It is the same in the Spiritual World – if you have not the Truth in you, you cannot inherit the Divine riches. Hence, Truth has to be born into you and then you will have riches and you will live an easier life.

 

There is a legend about Moses – when walking to the Sinai Mountain he met a joyous shepherd and asked him: ‘Why are you so happy?’ The shepherd answered: ‘Because today God was my guest and I slaughtered a lamb to offer Him a treat.’ ‘God does not eat lamb, it was your mind that fell prey to delusion,’ disagreed Moses and left. But sorrow overcame the shepherd, and he became downhearted. When Moses reached the Mountain of Sinai, he noticed that God was angry at him for making a great mistake and returned to the shepherd with the words that God will be his guest and will eat from his lamb. Moses said to the shepherd what God had told him and found a hiding place to see what would happen. At one time, he saw that the shepherd was sleeping peacefully and from Heaven fire fell and burnt the lamb. The shepherd got up and said: ‘I am full of joy, because God came down and ate the lamb.’

 

And when Truth falls into you, the fire of Truth - Love, will make a sacrifice that is pleasing to God. This is the real world of Truth; for some it is unreal, but there are many (they are neither one or two, nor ten, they are thousands in this world) who know this Truth, and its seeds have to be planted for a long time ahead. You see how beautiful these flowers in front of you are – yellow, red, blue – and you pick these flowers, but are you aware of their meaning? You say: ‘This flower smells very good’, but do you know what this smell means?

 

It shows the deep sorrow of this flower; and this sorrow generates the nectar, intended for your life. There are people, who, when surrounded by their wealth, say: ‘There is no God’, but the moment they lose their wealth or their health, or their social standing; the moment God limits them, they start to smell: ‘There is God.’ Wealth was about to kill their minds, and the moment God takes their wealth away, they start to adopt the correct outlook. What you can see on the Earth is something transitory, it is not real: you see young beautiful girls, but some time passes and their faces become wrinkled; and at some point they become old ladies; and I ask, where did those young girls go, the ones we used to admire so much? The same is with young men – where did their strong build go? You still do not know your own selves; when you study the law of Truth, it will give you power over the matter to understand its inner patterns and to perfect your Life. This is the law of motion, according to which man constantly transforms to pass from the transitory to the eternal; to comprehend the unchangeable nature of the Truth.

 

People say: ‘Christ was born and preaches the Truth” – let us see what this Truth is. Christ wants to introduce a lively spirit into your mind, to give you an impetus to one thought, to let you connect to the Divine World – you are all eternally connected with God. In the world you have friends and if these friends sometimes seem heartless, it is for a reason and the reason is that of your deeds, which are prompted by ignorance. Paul says: ‘God looked down upon men’s ignorance and let men go their own ways, but now He is calling them to abide by the law.’ What has the mother to do, who is called, too, to abide by the law? First of all, she has to give birth to good and intelligent children – this is her task. Some women complain, saying: ‘Why am I a woman?’ – And who should have taken their place, I ask. The man is intended to prepare this material of thought, will, character; to pass it; and the woman is intended to give birth.

 

People look for amenities in this world, but they have to understand that essential law, which is valid for the music, too – the law of the minor and major scales. God has placed some in a minor key; has put them in flat – in the grief, in the sorrow, in the deepness of emotions; while others He has placed in the major key; has put them in sharp, in the shallow waters of Life, as they have no depth of emotions. What can one see in a dance or a march? Dancing, marching, and… exhaustion. With the sad song you will not move about, you will stay peaceful and contemplate; with the minor tone God had created you to think of the other world; with the major – of this world. Sometimes, you want to assume another role: ‘But can religious people play? ‘Yes, they can, but what kind of game? David, when carrying the coffin, was jumping and his wife said: ‘Look, why are you fidgeting before the entire people of Israel!’ ‘Why should I not jump before God? He objected. God has not limited us, He gave us the glorious Freedom to do Good and evil, but the Good can, in certain aspects, be evil, too. You may say: ‘How can that be possible? Look at a man and woman, they live together very well; and when Christ, on His behalf, says: ‘Give away your wealth’; the man in his desire to follow the teaching of the Savior wants to give away his possessions, but the wife says: ‘You must have gone mad; you want your wife and children to be made miserable, don’t you?’ – ‘But I want to follow the law of God.’ – ‘And I do not want this law.’ You have no right to give away the property that belongs to your wife and children, because it is theirs; if you have one hundred thousand leva, divide them equally and fairly between yourself, your wife and children; and only the share that falls to you is the one you can give away; you have no right to do something in the name of God at your family’s expense – this is Christ’s law. – ‘But I am right’ - No, you are not, who gave you this right? Your wife, where did you take her from? Not from your legs, it’s from your ribs that God created her to be your friend and you have no right to torment her.

 

That, of course, suits the women and they say: ‘That’s right! That’s right!’ Never approach the issues solely from your point of view, but from the reciprocal point of view. In the universal Life there are plenty of possibilities: in this life you are a man, but in another life you can be created a woman and vice versa. If, in this life, you write: ‘I give no freedom to the woman’, in your second life, when you will be created a woman, you will feel the sweetness of this provision of the law. ‘It is not’, you will then say, ‘a good law,’ although it was you who wrote it beforehand. Men, set good laws, because the second time, as women, you will come under their rule. Of course, it is not only the man who writes laws, the woman also writes laws and set restrictions to other women. Many women have written bad laws into their daughters and sons – to hate their father: ‘Your father is a scoundrel, vagabond.’ Do not write such laws, because your Father is only one; and this man or this woman, they are a tool of the Divine Spirit wishing to become clothed in a form or idea; and when you are complaining, you are grumbling against God. You should not change the fundamental traits of the idea incarnate in form. Within the shadows you can introduce some changes, make them brighter or darker; but the foremost, the one which embodies the Divine Idea, has to remain unchanged.

 

April 24, 1916

 

(May 7, 1916, Sofia - Old Style)

 

 

1 John 18:37

2 lev – Bulgarian National Currency, pl. leva

3 Varna – a city in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast

4 Gagauz –in Bulgaria: an ethnic group, Orthodox Christians, speaking a language related to the Turkish language

5 The Master refers to the period of the Ottoman dominance over the Bulgarian people (1396-1878) and the struggle of the Bulgarian people for Freedom.

 

 

 

 

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