The Bible

[Ani]

The Bible

 

The Master always came to lectures in the Hall with a Bible in one hand. He began by reading a chapter or at least a verse from the Bible.

 

In one of his lectures he assigned us the task of studying the Bible - Old and New Testaments.

 

I knew that the Master did not ask this from us just by chance - he surely had a good reason for it-but for me personally it was very hard to read this thick book in which I had no interest and no understanding. Some of the stories in there seemed to me stupid and some even too immoral. Several times I started reading it and after some pages put it aside . . . after a time I started it again, and again laid it aside after several pages, etc. I knew that the first published book of the Master-"The Testament of the Colored Rays"contains verses from the Old and the New Testaments. I had heard older pupils say that it is a sacred book and that it contains the keys to life. All that made me think of the Bible but with no wish to read it. Once, talking with the Master, I dared tell him: "Master, I want to read the Bible but it is not interesting to me, even . . . "

 

The Master interrupted me so that I would not voice a negative thought.

 

"Listen to me: Every pupil must study life as a whole as well as the life of the individual human being. Reading the books of the Bible you will study the character of each of the personages described therein. For instance what is the main characteristic of Abraham?-his obedience. He left his father and mother and went to Egypt to study. It is necessary that you read consciously and try to understand. In order to accomplish a certain task it is necessary that man assigns to himself a nearer aim.

Time passed. I don't remember how many times I started and left off reading that big book. Then once there came to me the idea of studying the Bible and rendering it in stories for children. Now I had an impulse and at the new crescent of the moon I started reading the Bible again. Now I read it more carefully because I had an idea, an aim in mind.

 

Sometimes, but not very often, for which I am very sorry now, I turned to the Master for special explanations.

 

"Try to understand the inward meaning of each of the books. The first book is Genesis - the beginning of things. The second  - Exodus - going out. The third-Leviticus - an instruction-book for those who had begun to walk. The fourth-Numbers-estimating the time in which man could learn to walk alone. Deuteronomy-when there is law, application is necessary. Then comes the book of Joshua, one of the heroes who had studied under Moses. Judges - there is something deep in the appearance of Judges. The book of Ruth tells about the influence of woman in the world. Then come the books of Kings-Samuel I and II; Kings I and II. The most famous of the kings are Solomon and David. In the time of Solomon, culture reached its full growth. He was a wise man but he entangled himself within the heart of woman. Solomons still exist on earth; and that question-of woman-is not yet solved. Adam, about whom it is written in Genesis, also couldn't pass his exam on this same question-woman. The books of the Prophets bring a different culture to mankind. They turn man's attention towards a future life, towards the new culture of the world.

 

"Reading the Bible consciously, you will understand that the life of the past, described in this book, is the life of the single individual too. Every person passes through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, etc. The wise, the new man must break off with the past and must acquire a new way of life."

 

In another discussion the Master gave me the following explanations.

 

"Adam and Eve are not individuals-they are whole generations. If man wants to acquire a blessing, he must work on himself and must achieve some results. Adam prematurely wanted to have a wife. The first men were hasty and the Jews were hasty too. In the person of Moses and Jews made the same error. Moses had knowledge but he was hasty in applying it for the liberation of the Jews from the Egyptians. He tried to free them in an incorrect way, and didn't succeed.

 

After he killed an Egyptian, he became afraid and ran into the desert where he lived for forty years. When did Moses lose his eloquence and become a snuffer? - When he killed the Egyptian. Moses was an Adept, a member of the White Brotherhood and it was not permisible for him to kill. In order to fulfil his mission, God sent him his brother Aaron to help him. Moses freed the Jews but he himself could not enter the land of Canaan."

 

In another talk on the Bible the Master said: "Each Psalm contains the situations and experiences of David. Take out the essence of each Psalm. There are important and forceful Psalms which conceal within their verses strength and light.

 

"When you read the Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekielcompare their characters and the conditions in which they worked. Do not read hastily but read and reread carefully. Many laws are given in the Bible and you will acquire much light through reading it. In each book you will find the manifestation of some law enlightening the path of humanity."

 

With these explanations the Master directed me to read with care and interest this thick book - the Bible. I read the Old Testament four times, took down notes and rendered it in 33 stories for children.

 

When I came to the New Testament, I decided to buy also some additional books on the subject. Among others I bought a translation of Charles Dickens' "The Life of Jesus." I liked it immensely and decided that I could not express it better than had that great author and therefore I read the New Testament without the aim of re-stating it for children.

 

I am very grateful to the Master that with his help I could understand at least some of the mysteries of life described in The Bible.