Jackline Spasova-Bobeva

Crystallization_of_the_human_soul.pdf Note 1e Crystallization of the Human Soul Mathew ch.17 Children like childish things; adults like adult things; old people like old things. The rich speak only about their riches; the poor speak only about their poverty; the educated speak only of their knowledge and the saints about the great and beautiful in the world. On the whole, everybody speaks about what he likes and understands. No matter in what phase of life one may be, young, adult, old, rich, poor, educated, or ignorant, he must be awakened. Who must awaken him? God must. Why? Because God is the son of life. When this sun awakens man, it opens his eyes, so that he may see and understand the world correctly, and work in it. When one awakens from sleep, he must expect something. If there is nothing for him to expect, life becomes senseless for him. Expectation is an incomplete process. Man sees how things gradually come into his life. You go to a concert or theatre and you expect the curtain to rise. After that, you expect the prelude to the performance. Then you expect the inner contents - the development of the events or pictures - and then comes the end. Similarly, there are three main divisions in a speech: introduction, exposition and conclusion. When a spiritual man begins to talk, he will first deal with the question of God - what He is. If you want to hear what God is, call the children. They will define more clearly what God is. If you leave this question to the philosophers and the scientists, you will be thoroughly perplexed. Your own knowledge of the question will be confused. Scientists make mistakes sometimes, too. An educated archaeologist found a golden coin which was so stained that its inscription was not clear. In order to read the writing on it, he gave it to his servant to clean off the spots and dirt. The servant set to rubbing it hard, in order to remove the spots. After some hard rubbing, the coin was polished and he took it to his master. What incredible regret there was on the face of the master when, looking at the polished, glistening coin, he saw that the inscription had been rubbed off and nothing remained of it. The value of an ancient coin is in its inscription, not in the gold of which it is made. Many contemporary intelligent men and philosophers, like that archaeologist, rub the truth well and make it shine like gold, but they erase what is written in it. However, the importance of archaeological objects is in their inscription. Such mistakes are made not only by the educated, but also by ordinary people. They do all this unconsciously. They want to show themselves to be good, moral and saintly before the people, and in that effort they erase the beauty God has inscribed in them. They shine, but their light is not real; it is reflected light like that of a candle in a mirror. What will you see in a mirror? A reflection of your image, but the reflection is not the real you. You read a book and find something nice in it, but the book is not you. Man is a living book, a living light in which everyone can read; its light delineates the way and arouses his consciousness. The awakening of the human consciousness is a great act. In this process, man sees simultaneously his past, present and future. He finds himself in a peculiar state; all that is hidden in his subconscious and his superconscious awakens; life is displayed before him and he reads. He finds himself alone, abandoned by everyone; not a living soul is by him; his mother, father, sisters and brothers, relatives and friends are all dead and he finds himself alone with only a naked consciousness. He weeps and laments his doom. All of a sudden his father comes from somewhere and touches him on the back. - Son, why are you weeping? Then his mother comes. - Son, why are you weeping? In this manner all his brothers, sisters, relatives and friends come to him, and he begins to wonder why he has wept. Such is the state of every man whose consciousness is awakening. Therefore, life is not as terrible and difficult as people imagine. A frog sits like a philosopher, silent and in meditation. A fly lands upon his nose; the frog opens his mouth and the fly goes away. Then it lands upon him again and flies away. The frog sighs and says: "Life is difficult!" The life of the frog is only difficult when? When it is in the pond. Its conditions for life are there and its power is there. On the same basis, man must not grumble and complain about his life, but rather take advantage of the conditions given to him, and draw strength from them. Whether he is poor or rich, ignorant or educated, sinful or upright, these are all conditions necessary for his growth and development. If he is sinful, he should work and produce goods; if he is upright, he should sell the goods he has produced. "But I am sinful!" Since you realize your sinful state, nothing remains for you but to start working and spinning the wool which is given to you so that you will have something to sell. The power of man lies in work. Wherein lies the power of the merchant? In the goods he has to sell. When his shelves are full of goods, he is happy and feels a power within himself. Wherein lies the power of the educated man? In the books he has studied, in the work he has accomplished, and in the documents he has obtained. When he looks at his library, he feels happy and secure, having something to rely upon, material proofs are required of man, not only empty words. Life cannot be studied theoretically, as many people think; it needs to be applied. There are scientists, for example, who know all of geology by heart. They know what every other geologist has said about the subject of geology. But if they go out into nature, they do not know it. Why? Because, theory is one thing and practice is quite another. Many singers today sing over the radio, or on victrola1 records. However, I would like to hear the singer himself. Someone comes and begins to recommend to you one or another victrola record of some noted singer. Whatever the record may be, it disturbs the ear. Put away the victrola. It is good entertainment for children. The record reproduces the voice of the singer, yet many things are lacking in it. He, who listens, must fill in the gaps himself. Victrolas and movies are allowed on the earth, but in the Divine world they are not admitted. He, who enters the Divine world, and dreams of a movie, is sent to the earth. In the Divine world there are living movies, living victrolas. If you have a great desire to see a movie, they may produce one there also, but it will differ radically from an earthly movie. There are no authorities in the Divine world and you cannot depend on any authority there. Everything there is submitted to experimentation. The experiment proves things. If you conquer your opponent, you are considered a hero. If you do not conquer him, you are not a hero. Every man has a strong opponent with whom he will fight someday. When he meets him, his muscles will bulge out and his hairs will stand on end, but he will fight until he wins. Your opponent is black, but you will fight him and not escape. The victory is first in the physical world, then in the higher worlds. Therefore, man should develop first his physical power and gradually move to the mental and that of the heart. Where does the power of man lie in? In his faith. One must believe in what is deposited in him, believe that he can use it wisely. The power of man lies in his correct breathing. Breathing is connected with the thoughts and feelings. He, who breathes correctly, thinks and feels correctly also. This is the path of human development. Thus, everything which surrounds man must be a stimulus in his life. If you meet a man, a tree, a stone, a lake, stars, the sun - everything must stimulate your life. The Divine Spirit Who works and awakens the consciousness of all living things is hidden in all things. When God wants to awaken a person, He gives him good conditions: a good mother and father, good brothers and sisters, and friends who love him. Whichever way he turns, he finds love. When God does not want to awaken a man, He will send him to live under the most unfavourable conditions for development. When does a man sleep? When he thinks, feels and acts incorrectly. What deeper sleep is there than that of denying life, love, wisdom and truth? Life is sometimes meaningless and can be denied when one lives it monotonously - when one eats, prays and thinks monotonously. Monotony kills life. Then what must you do? Never pray twice in the same way. Never eat twice in the same way. Do not think twice in the same way. When you are happy, you are glad that sweet things are given you. When you are unhappy, you complain of the bitter things. What is bad in the bitter things? The bitter pills cure many diseases. Bitter things protect man from many evils. When the organism becomes used to certain poisons, one becomes immune and cannot become ill or be harmed by the evils and poisons of life. As the doctors can inject man with a serum against scarlet fever, in the same way they can inject his blood with a serum from the poison of the cobra and make him immune to that poison. He, who doesn't have this serum in his blood, may pay with his life. Man must become immune and invulnerable to sin. What is sin? A bite by a spiritual cobra. If this cobra should kill you, it shows that you are weak and that you have no faith in God. You say that you believe in God, but you die. What is this faith? In order to resist the poison of the snake, or the cobra, your consciousness must be pure and awake. There are fakers in India who can resist the poison of a cobra. They have immunity and are not killed by any snake-poison. A Christian Hindu describes an experience of his. One evening he slept in a cave. In the morning, he saw at the entrance to the cave a great cobra twisted in a spiral. He had to go out to his work, but the entrance was blocked by the cobra. To pass it by was risky, since the cobra might sting and kill him. What should he do? He was not immune to cobra poison. He could rely only upon God, on his faith. That is why he turned to God with the words: "God, help me to pass by the cobra without being stung. Tell it to move a little, so that I can pass." Then he started for the entrance. The cobra looked at him and carefully moved away, making way for him to pass. Not everybody can pass by a cobra safely. That Hindu was a real Christian with a strong faith in God. I ask you; what kind of believer is the man who in a difficult condition, a hard inner trial, cannot see the power of God? What kind of a believer is the man who can be stung and poisoned by a cobra? What kind of a believer is he who cannot pray to God to make the cobra move away from his path and make way for him to pass? The believers of today do not turn to God in prayer to protect themselves from the cobra; they begin to reason about whether or not the cobra will sting them. After that they try to hypnotize it by looking into its eyes. They fix their gaze upon it, but the cobra is strong and does not yield to their gaze. A Bulgarian man once tried to control bears by his gaze. He went to the forest and saw a bear at a distance. He concentrated his eyes upon it, but the bear neither stopped nor turned back. When he saw himself in a tight place, he said to himself: Why has God given me hands? Mow I shall apply my acrobatic skill. He climbed a tall tree. He understood that it would be safer for him to climb the tree of life than to remain down in the rude matter. The bear passed by the tree, sniffed a little, and went away. The bear represents the troubles in human life. There are big and small troubles, big and small bears. How will you cope with them? There are also lions and tigers in life. How will you deal with them? There is one way, one science which can help man in such cases. However, he must know this science and put it to a test. What is this way? It is self-control. No matter what troubles one is experiencing, he must keep his presence of mind. If he wavers, or loses his presence of mind, he breaks all the ties through which the Divine power works and is manifested. Moreover, one must know himself and distinguish his own habits and states from those of other people. You experience many states that are not your own. You do many things under the dictates of external forces, and you yourselves do not know why you do them. You are like a child who is reciting a poem. The mother chooses a poem and reads it several times so that the child learns it by heart and recites it. It is good for the child to recite, but the mother must know whether or not that poem is useful for him. In the same way the mother gives the child food which he does not like. However, she insists that he should eat it, because it is good for him. The child eats that food out of necessity, but his organism does not accept it. From this and many other examples in life, we see how rude and careless people are. They often use violence under the pretext that they are doing it for our good. He, who has applied the law of violence even once, has inevitably tasted its consequences. An acquaintance of mine was telling about an experience of his for which he paid dearly. "One day," he said, "I visited a friend who was suffering from fever. I wanted to know his condition and when I saw him suffering from illness, I did not say a word, but went out and filled a bucket with cold water. My friend did not realize what I intended to do when I entered his room with the bucket and I quickly poured all the water over him. He began to shiver and cry from the cold, but his fever left him at once, as if cut by a knife. He was cured, but I became ill and suffered for three whole months from the same fever. I applied violence, but I experienced its consequences. Then I asked my friends to pour cold water on me two times, but my fever did not leave me. After a time, when its time had expired, I got rid of it." Why did the cold water produce good results in the first case but not in the second? The effect of the cold water in the first case was due to the interchange which had taken place between the sick and the healthy person; the healthy person passed his faith on to the sick person, while the latter passed his illness on to the healthy one. In the first case we see the power of faith. Someone wants to help a person uplift himself, and he succeeds in that but in the process he falls himself. Thus, when a man helps others, he must be strong enough to resist their negative states. When people do good, they receive evil in return, and since they do not know the law, they say that one must not do good. As long as you live in the human order of things, you will always receive results contrary to what you do. Why? Because when you do good, you expect to be rewarded. You must do good for the sake of the good and not for the sake of any reward. Do not be disturbed by what people will say or by whether or not they will appreciate your acts. Do the good according to the rules of the Divine law in which there is no exception. Whatever you decide doing, do it according to the requirements of the Divine love, not to the human love. What is the difference between the Divine and the human love? In human love, there is decay, disintegration, sickness, sin, crime and death. In the Divine Love there is no room for sin and crime, decay, illness and death; these do not exist in it. In human love there is poverty, hardship, discontentment, and disappointment. In the Divine Love these do not exist. The Divine Love includes all that bears life, knowledge and freedom. He, who has the Divine Love, has at his disposal everything that he could wish for. Apply this diagnosis to your life to find out which love you are operating with, the Divine or the human. We speak about a human and a Divine order in the world. They appear as a result of the two kinds of love - human and Divine. As long as you live in the human order, you are in a world of constant changes, in the transitory side of life. The human order is not bad, but it must not be mixed with the Divine. The human order can be correct or incorrect; that depends on people. The good and prudent people live in the correct human order, but the imprudent live in the incorrect human order. The correct human order leads to the Divine order of things. It is a natural transition to the Divine order. Now I shall use an analogy in order to explain the difference between the correct human order and the Divine order. The human order can be likened to a piece of coal which can burn and turn into a gaseous body; it can absorb particles of dirt, but' it can by no means reflect the sunbeams like the diamond. In order to be turned into a diamond, the coal must be put under great pressure and high temperatures. The greater the pressure and the higher the temperature, the better the diamond will crystallize. The Divine order is beautiful. There is a reflection of rays there which causes the appearance of many collared rainbows, different tints and lights. There exists a certain analogy between the laws of the physical and the laws of the Divine world. Therefore, whatever methods are used for turning the coal into a diamond, the same are used for the passing of the soul from the human into the Divine order. The human soul must be put under high temperature -the fire of love - and under great pressure - the pressure of wisdom - in order to become Divine. After the soul has crystallized and turned from a coal into a diamond, then the high temperature and the great pressure will decrease and become lighter to bear. Then the soul - diamond - will be placed on the crown of some king to shine from a distance and reflect the rays of the Divine sun. When the "soul-coal" crystallizes and turns into a "soul-diamond," everyone likes it and stops to look at it and enjoy it. It is loved by gods, angels, men, plants and animals. While the soul is a coal, nobody stops before it or casts a glance at it. Christ did not come into the world to save people, but rather to turn coals into diamonds. In order to accomplish this, men must pass through high temperatures and great pressures, which people call sufferings, hardships and trials. The Sacred books also speak about this fire. This is the fire of the Divine; Love and the pressure of the Divine Wisdom. The fire and the pressure will purify the human soul and crystallize it. When the soul becomes Divine, or diamond, it will reflect the Divine light and form around itself an aura of light and delicate tints. Such is the soul of every perfect man. The human soul aspires toward that perfection. "And He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him. And Jesus came and touched them and said: "Arise, and be not afraid. Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." Up to this day religious people dispute about the question: what did Moses and Elias speak about with Christ. They were telling Christ about the fire, the great pressure His soul had to pass through, in order to crystallize. They were explaining to Him the results of that crystallization. Since you know this, should you become disappointed? If you realize that you live in a world directed by God, should you be troubled? Why should you be afraid when you know that all good, upright, lofty and perfect beings who have completed their evolution, are participating in what is being created today? Present day people become discouraged because they think that nobody cares about them. Yes, while they are coals, nobody thinks of them as much as God does. He thinks what greater fire and pressure to put them under, in order that they might shine, crystallize and turn into diamonds. He will put them under a great glass or metal bell, turn on the switch of a powerful electric current and before they have realized it, everything will be finished. The pressure will be great but it will last a short time. I wish all souls to crystallize and turn into diamonds. This is attained by the path of Love, Wisdom and Truth. Love is a path for the crystallization of the human soul. Wisdom is a path for the reflection of the Divine Light-Truth is a path for the realization of the Divine Light which bears freedom. October 6, 1935, 10 a.m., Sofia, Izgrev. --------------------------------------------- 1 Victrola - a brand of acoustic gramophone

Obedience. I will now read the second chapter of Genesis. As you read this chapter, you turn back to the distant past when God created the world and man. The first man was a child from whom was expected obedience. God placed man in Eden where there were four rivers. These four rivers represent the four directions of the worlds East, West, North and South. East represents Justice, North stands for Truth, South is the Good, and West symbolizes Obedience. This is the only correct interpretation of these four rivers in the Garden of Eden. If man suffers even at present, this is due to disobedience. Because of disobedience, he had to leave the Garden of Eden and go into the world to meet with sufferings and difficulties. An insignificant cause created great consequences. It is true that insignificant causes can create great misfortunes. That which happened in the Garden of Eden with the first man occurs also today in the world. All people were in heaven and departed from there because of their disobedience. When they find themselves facing sufferings and trials, the people ask what they must do in order to free themselves from these sufferings and trials. This is very simple! When they listen, the people will be able to cope with their sufferings easily. Why is obedience necessary for man? So that he may not run into any misfortune. What must a man do when he walks on the streets of a busy city? He must open his eyes and ears on all sides so that he can see and hear from which direction a car or a truck approaches, and in this way avoid an accident. If a man does not hear well enough, he can run into a number of misfortunes. The same can be said about the divine paths and laws. He who does not know the paths and laws in the divine world will run into a number of conflicts, misfortunes and sufferings. This is due to human weaknesses. Many people think that if they say a short prayer in the morning or if they accomplish a small good deed, they have fulfilled the requirements of the day. That is not so. Man must be constantly in touch with God, must unceasingly listen to His ordinances and obey them. When he is constantly in touch with God, a man can profit from the light that comes from God, and in this way he will see where he is going. Wherever he may go, whichever path he may follow, a man must be constantly alert. He must open and close his eyes and ears quickly in order to hear and see what happens around him. However, whether or not he keeps his eyes and ears open or he keeps them closed, man must pay attention to three things in his life: first, he must be careful not to stumble; secondly, he must guard that which he has; and thirdly, he must support the conditions for the development of that which nature has implanted in him. And so, disobedience creates the evil manifestations of the flesh: adultery, jealousy, murder, etc. These cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, meekness, temperance. He who develops these virtues has awarded himself with the fruits of the Spirit. He who has these virtues at his disposition will know how to use them in each instance. For example, in different life situations love manifests itself in different ways. It is true art when a man knows when and how to manifest his virtues. He who has attained this art is never anxious, afraid or nervous. If someone owes him something, he is not disturbed nor concerned over it. He never judges anyone; he never wants anything from anyone. He realizes that there exists no one who can be perfect in his obligations. If someone is satisfactory in one respect, in another he may not be perfect. Today people do not meet their obligations precisely, but, in spite of that, the law is not strict with them. Yet the day will come when the law will keep them responsible for the smallest obligation. Life will hold them responsible, not only in respect to people, but also in respect to animals and plants. Whatever fruit he eats, he will have to plant its seed to give it the opportunity to grow and develop again. If he does not plant its seed, the law will hold him responsible. Today it is expected that all people manifest an inner, mystical understanding of life. The present concepts of religion are more like entertainment. This is not religion. True religion has an inner, mystical aspect which must be studied and understood. You listen to some preacher speak about something from the Old or the New Testament. You can see that he himself has not understood the deep meaning of that about which he preaches and, as a result, cannot apply it. One priest or preacher talks on the verse of Christ from the Scripture: "If someone has two shirts, let him give one of them to his neighbor." The preacher talks about this verse but, at the same time, he cannot understand how it would be possible to give one of his two shirts to his neighbor. One Sunday morning a priest was speaking to his congregation about giving. For this purpose he quoted the above-mentioned Scripture verse. His wife was moved very much by his sermon. When she went home, she was sure she understood what she heard. That morning a poor beggar knocked at their door. When she saw him clothed in rags, she decided that she would give him one of the priest's two good shirts, since he had preached the idea that morning in church. Hadn't he said we must think of the poor people? When the minister returned home after spending the morning sweating in church, he wanted to change into a clean shirt. Great was his surprise when he discovered what had happened to his second shirt! His wife reminded him of the sermon. She told him she thought she had done the right thing. "That which I said in church concerns other people, not us. You can't give the shirt of a minister to a beggar." Many people say that if one wanted to fulfill God's will according to the Scriptures, his affairs would be in chaos. On the contrary, if a man fulfills God's will properly, all his affairs will come to a good end. People are not ready to fulfill God's will because their hearts and minds are filled up to the brim; they are overburdened with the problems of life. Some nine men were gathered to eat soup from one common bowl and with one common spoon. The spoon was passing so quickly from mouth to mouth that when a hare ran by next to them no one could even make a remark. The mouth of everyone was filled. They were all busy sipping the soup. Such is the situation of modern men. They cannot pray to God; they cannot fulfill God's will because their mouths are filled, their hearts and minds are burdened. In order to fulfill God's will, they must free themselves of the burdens in their hearts and minds. How should a man pray? How should he fulfill God's will? If he is a wanderer, he must take off his pack and then enter the church. If he is a soldier, he must leave his gun and sword outside and then enter the church. If he has a family, he must forget the affairs of his family. If he is a scientist, he must free his mind of all formulas. The pack of the wanderer, the gun of the soldier, the family responsibilities, the formulas of the scientist — these are all secondary matters which lead man away from the right path. This is a misconception of life. The farmer rises early in the morning and, without stopping to say a prayer, he rushes to plow and seed the fields as quickly as possible. What is the use of such rushing when, after he has plowed and sown it, in time a heavy rain and hail will destroy his wheat? What is the use of rushing if God does not provide favorable rainfall to water his fields and garden? What does this indicate? This indicates that every work and effort, great or small, are in place when God is blessing them. If they are not blessed by God, they are not in their proper place. True work, true effort is that which is blessed by God. Therefore, work little, but your work must be blessed. In such case, the little work that is blessed gives as much return as a great work. Such is the relation between the fire and the match. A big fire or only a small match can produce the same result. When blessed by God, both the great labor and the small give equal results. Now I will put my attention on the ideas of work and calm. Man can rest only after he has worked. Retiring follows working. Without work there is no rest. In the Scriptures we read that God rested after working for six days. "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Therefore, true resting implies well-performed work. The unnatural life, however, tires man. Such a life will leave man tired always. What do the sins of unnatural life represent? Thorns and thistles. It is terrible to walk with bare feet on a ground covered with thistles. Having once tried such a thorny path, man inevitably will search for the smooth, clean path. Yet, before being able to move freely on this path, he must stop to remove all the thorns from his wounded feet. He must rest for awhile until they heal and, only then, can he walk on the clean way. Modern men walk more often barefoot, and, as a result, their feet are bruised and prickled. When you see someone's feet are bruised and prickled, you will know he has been walking barefoot. Such a man constantly complains about the thorns, or about the sins that he has committed. If a man wants to be good, righteous, he must be well shod! It has been said that Adam and Eve were naked in Paradise. Their nakedness did not imply sinfulness. They both were good, but, because of disobedience to God’s order, they had to leave Paradise and go into the world, where they encountered great suffering and misfortune. To help them withstand the outer raw conditions, God clothed them in garments of skin. Therefore, as long as the first man lived in Paradise, he was naked from without but within he was clothed. When he left Paradise, from without he was clothed but from within naked. The inner nakedness implies the sinfulness of man. In order to be clothed from within and from without, man must live a pure and holy life. He must listen and obey that which the Spirit from within speaks to him. If he lives in this way, he will complete successfully the work he has begun. A man may have worked well all of his life and, at the ends ruin his work. There are mothers who work and labor all of their lives and, at the end, have no accomplishment. Why? Because they have manifested some disobedience in regard to the Spirit. This happens not only with mothers but with farmers, scientists, musicians, poets, etc. A man lives a good, spiritual life for twenty years but after that deviates from the right path and wonders what has happened to him when he has lost everything. The answer is simple. By mistake, he has struck his jug somewhere and the water has run out. As a result, he feels a great emptiness in his life. Whose fault is this? It is his own. Therefore, if the good, the enlightening cannot remain in a man's heart and if his mind is void of evolving thought, he himself is responsible for that. From this, we can draw the following conclusion: No one can become rich as long as God’s blessing is not with him. Where there is the blessing of God, there is also achievement. Where God’s blessing is not present, no achievement can be expected. This is the right understanding. Modern men toil, labor and work, and at the end remain disappointed. Why? Because they have worked without the blessing of God. The following is a law: Where the blessing of God is absent, disappointment is present. In order for the blessing of God to come upon man, inevitably he must be obedient. To whom? To the divine within himself, to the Spirit of God. God's blessing is that great seal that is placed upon every human achievement. Only such achievement has the power of currency in life. We can say the same about coins, too. Only the coin with the image of the ruler of the country from which it originates has the power of currency. All coins which are in use bear the image of their ruler who gives them value. With what currency should man deal? With the good. Working with the coins of the good, man inevitably knows the evil too. Pure, true coin is that on which is stamped the image of the good. If the image of the good is not upon it, then it is a counterfeit. Can a man profit by a counterfeit coin? Thus, the four rivers spoken of in the Bible represent the four virtues which every man must have. A man must be just, truthful, good and loving. A man must have in himself righteousness, truth, virtue and love. Outside of these virtues, man can achieve nothing. The reason why men can have no achievement is due to the fact that they look toward the West. They admire the sunset and sleep when the sun rises. The West represents the material life, for which all people are awakened. It is good for a man to admire the sunset, but he must also look at the sunrise. God expects all people to be just, truthful, good and loving. This is not foreign to man because he expects this relationship from others toward himself. Therefore, just as man requires of the people to be good, just, truthful and loving in respect to him, so he, too, must be such in respect to them. If people live this way among themselves, they will create strong inner ties — the ties of love. Only love is able to bind all people into one so that they may feel like brothers to each other. Nothing can break these ties except disobedience. It entered between the first men in Paradise. They broke their ties with God, and it drew them away from Him. Ever since, people bear the consequences of this disobedience which follows them like shadows everywhere in their lives. The first thing expected of all people is to turn over the page of their lives on which is written the law of disobedience and pass on to the new page — to obedience. People have followed until now some kind of obedience, but they have been obedient to the serpent. They were obedient among themselves but have not listened to the voice of God. Those to whom they have been obedient have lead them into suffering and misfortunes. Now they must turn to God and listen to Him. Disobedience to the good, to God, implies obedience to the evil. Turn now the old page, the page of obedience to the evil, and apply the contents of the new page — obedience to the good, obedience to God. In order to divert the first people from the law of obedience to God, the serpent made great promises that were never fulfilled. I tell you now, turn to the page in your book on which is written "obedience to God." The very least that will happen is deliverance from suffering. What more than that can you expect? Only he who walks in life with open eyes and with awakened consciousness can escape from suffering. Not understanding the law of obedience, people run into a number of difficulties and sufferings and ask themselves what is the meaning of life. For a man to be good, just and truthful, he must fulfill God’s will. In the fulfillment of God's will lies the meaning of life. Christ says, "I have not come to fulfill my will but the will of Kim who has sent me." The most sublime task of man on earth is obedience to God, that is, to fulfill God's will. Therefore, he who applies the law of obedience in his life is a first class singer, musicians artist, or scientist. Until he reaches this law, man will experience many difficulties and suffering which will make him strong and great. Disobedience has made men feeble and fearful. They speak of fearlessness, but fear is in every step they take. A hare armed himself with two guns and took a walk through the woods, saying to himself, "Now I need not fear anything." The branch of a shrub rubbed him gently on his belly. He threw away the two guns and ran as fast as he could. Seeing that in reality there was no danger, he turned back to arm himself again with the two guns. He thought again that he feared nothing. Yet, during the whole day he did nothing but Throw away-the guns and arm himself again. I say to you: Once you arm yourselves with the guns, do not throw them away. The guns represent the good with which one must arm himself. Once one has armed himself with good, he must never reject it. If you say that you need not be good, patient, just, truthful and loving, you have thrown away the guns with which you were armed. Always keep your guns attached to your belt so that when the evil comes your weapons are ready. Be courageous; do not fear the evil. If you want to develop correctly, I would advise that you should not attempt to climb the highest peak when you first climb a mountain. When you go hiking, first climb the lower peaks until gradually you are strong enough to climb the highest ones. If you try to climb immediately the highest peaks first, you will suffer inevitably. In the highest regions rage strong winds and storms, and if you are not prepared you may not be able to withstand them. When we speak of obedience, people ask themselves how they must fulfill this law. When they have been punished for some time, they will learn themselves how to be obedient. In this respect they will be in the same situation as some poor people who were going to the home of a Turkish governor who was to provide them with food. The governor was a good and generous man. However, everyone who entered his home to eat afterwards received a good thrashing, according to the orders of the governor« The people were wondering why this man, so generous and good in providing them with such a quantity of food, was punishing them. A poor but very pious man, after starving for three days, decided to go also to the home of the Turkish governor to eat from his table. "You will be beaten," he was told by the others. "I am ready to bear any punishment, if only I can eat." He entered the home of the governors, paid respect to him, and patiently waited until he received some food. The governor gave his servants orders to serve this man with special care. The poor man was eating, blessing the food and thanking God. After he had a satisfactory dinner, he received from the governor different gifts and money and was sent off with blessings. The poor man turned to each direction of the room as if expecting something. "Do you want something else, also?" the governor asked. "I am waiting to be beaten. I was told that everyone who receives food gets a thrashing." The governor explained to him that this is done to those who» after having received God's blessings, never thank and praise the Lord. "When food is served to them, not having yet eaten any, they say, 'Enough; that's enough!' In this way they interfere with the flow of the blessing. You were the only one who acted differently, and for this reason I am providing you with additional gifts without beating you." And so, when the suffering comes in your life, never say, "Enough;" do not interfere with the flow that comes from the divine faucets. If you stop the sufferings, you will stop the joy also. Whoever stops the divine faucets will be beaten inevitably. In whatever home you enter today you will find all faucets stopped. If you want to use the water of these faucets, you must pay. All human things are locked with keys; all divine things are free of locks and keys. Therefore, the easiest and the best life is that in which the law of obedience is applied. When people complain about their lives, this indicates lives without obedience to God. Such a life creates hardships and misfortune. The unnatural life is very hard. Realizing this, a man must correct his life. Sinning is an act of heroism, yet greater heroism is manifested when one corrects his mistakes. One of the reasons for people's mistakes is that they do not think correctly. The right thought doesn8t need any arguments, proofs. The closer a thought is to the human mind, the better it is understood. Thought understood is that which has been tried and verified. In ancient times, a learned man went to a great master and asked him how he ought to live. The master gave him many methods by which to live and concluded with the orders "Love for God and one's neighbor." When the disciple heard that, he said to his master, "Enough; now I must go into the world and apply this order so that I may see what I can do." Two years later he came back to report to his master how he had applied this great divine command and what he had learned. You, too, as disciples must make experiments to see what you can achieve. If you do not try, you will never learn self-confidence. When he lacks self-confidence, a man knows nothing about himself, about his capabilities, his chances. When a man works, everything can be achieved. Walking on his path of life, he must accept everything which is determined for him. Every man must walk on his own path and not interfere with anyone receiving light directly from the sun. Let the light enter freely into the eyes of all people. This is the meaning of obedience to God, of freedom. The manifested Love of the Spirit, the manifested Wisdom of the Spirit, the manifested Truth of the Spirit bring fullness of God's life, of the one, Eternal God, source of all blessings in life. MORNING SERMON OF THE MASTER, September 30, 1934, in the town of Rousse. Obedience

Note 7 The Sublime in the Human Being Wednesday, 5.30 a.m. (The sky is clear. The weather is calm, warm and pleasant. There was a beautiful sunrise) "The Good Prayer" I am going to read you from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 6:6: "But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers" /The Holy Bible, ABS/ Science is a necessity in life. All people stumble over what they know. A child stumbles over what it knows, because what it knows has to be changed as it is appropriate for this age only. Each age has its knowledge, its potentialities. I shall give you a simple example: You are invited to have lunch. You are most of all interested in the meal – not whether it will satisfy you, but whether the meal will be tasty or not! You are interested in the outer appearance of the meal, in its taste, in its fat in order to receive an external satisfaction. It is an external understanding of the feast. Even when you know something, again you are interested in its external side. You say: "He is a good man; but that man is better." May one be better? If he is good, he is good. How shall you understand the word 'good' and the words 'better' and 'best'? A good man has little of the Good in himself. The better one has more. What is the difference between the good, the better and the best man? It is analogous to the comparison: This man is beautiful, that one is more beautiful, but the third one is the most beautiful. A garment may be qualified as good, better or best. What is the difference between them? Everyone here would like to wear the best garment. But once you have the best garment, how will you benefit of it? It will by all means add something to your mind. These are now only comparisons, leading us to more essential issues. Let us assume that you are coming into class to learn something. What will you acquire after leaving the class? What will you acquire today, for example? You by all means will acquire something – never mind if you mind or not. You by all means will be filled with something. No one can stay empty. Empty things do not exist. You say that a bottle is empty. It is empty of water, but there is air inside. What is the difference between the air and the water? The water is heavier and the air is lighter. The bottle is empty in respect to the water, but full in respect to the air. Even if you empty the bottle of the air there will be again something in the bottle, some other substance. What is the most essential thing for you today? What is that essential thing which is able to transform your state? Some of you are indisposed, but later on their mood is improved. Someone is gloomy. Why? The Sun is shining so lovely! Why are you gloomy? You were told something unpleasant, someone has uttered a thought. But this thought is neither a stone, nor an iron or something sharp to stab you or to hurt your head. Even so you are indisposed. Or you saw something in the distance and you got scared. I am asking: "What are the reasons, what is this, which is modifying your disposal? We are claiming: "The Spirit of God is acting in me". All that is true. It is right: the Spirit has been always acting; but nevertheless, when a small thought comes to us, we forget about God and our disposal is modified. When the darkness comes, you say to yourself: "Who knows if the way I am going along is right?" And you start doubting and hesitating. Sometimes we would like to show that we have knowledge just as somebody likes to show his strength, by carrying a certain weight. We have to abandon the delusions. Let us assume that somebody is carrying a sack full of sacred books on his back. You say: "I am carrying so many books, what have you seen!" Someone else may carry only one book under his arm, but he has already opened it, read it and learned something from it. The first one is just carrying the holy books, but he is not reading them. Which case is better then? What is tormenting you now? What can you rely on? There is always something you can rely on. There is one process, which is mechanical and one process, which is organic in man. Slaughter a lamb, take his hide and make a Bulgarian bagpipe of it. How will this bagpipe differ from the lamb? The lamb had walked and breathed; but the pipe would tell you: "Put something in me, inflate me a little, so that I may show the people, that I can play." The bagpipe would always mumble, but the lamb would say: "Give me freedom, I shall graze grass and breathe." Which state is better: to be a lamb or to be a bagpipe? Someone is saying: "I cannot think in my way, but in the way the Spirit teaches me!" It means that he is a bagpipe. Which state is better? A bagpipe is useful only to play at weddings, feasts, but when it comes to work – to write, to plough, it can do nothing. The bagpipe – it is like a human world. Man has taken the hide of a lamb and he has made a bagpipe. He has put also a drone. Sometimes we play like a bagpipe- we have some morality, some understanding. But it is a human understanding. It is a mechanical process – coming to a specific point, you say about it: "I do not know it!" You shall hold the other process – the Divine one. It does not already resemble a bagpipe. So, first of all you have to study these two powers acting in the world and changing the state of man. The collective consciousness of all beings is mighty enough to change your consciousness. And the consciousness of God, the Spirit of God is also ruling. In the same way as your consciousness affects all beings, their collective consciousness acts upon you. And if you do not realize that law, problems will appear for you. The collective consciousness of all beings may change your consciousness and your way, pushing you in an unwanted direction. When you are seeking your way in a period of suffering, the higher beings and God stop you and start asking you: "Where are you going?" You say: "To grow up and to become a great and a rich man." When you grow up, becoming rich, does it matter? What is the difference, if a creature was a little donkey and becomes a big donkey? The master will load the little donkey less, but he will load the big donkey more heavily. If you have knowledge, knowing also why you need it, what is your position? You have morality, you have love, but you say: "Let me receive the great love, the great inspiration. I have a little inspiration now. When the great inspiration comes to me, then I shall start working." I am asking you: Is it practical to wait for the great inspiration? What is the difference between that one who loves you very much and that one who loves you a little bit. If you cannot appreciate the Love of God, what have you realized then? The Love of God is the greatest Love. You all are expecting some great inspiration, some great Love, etc. But some of you have started to lose what they have. You, the dearly loved children of God, have been bent with the great Love of God. And all people get older with Love. Love actually makes people older. It brings anxiety and troubles. Who of you had happy days being fallen in love? Giving birth to a child, you will have troubles – you will care his eyes not to get hurt, his stomach not to ache, his school activities to be successful and so on. What philosophy exists in that? Then you will become a religious man. You will start worrying: "What is the attitude of God towards me? Am I a good man or not? What, if I cannot go to heaven? What, if I meet a devil? What, if I meet a woman? What, if I meet somebody to grasp my neck?" Is there something improper, if a woman meets you? You say: "Women are bad." You meet a man – you say: "Men are bad." You meet a merchant – you say: "Merchants are bad." You say of somebody: "Stay away from him, he is a devil." There is a misunderstanding in the world. What is in fact evil? Somebody will say: "I do not understand evil now, but I shall understand it in the future." You will not understand it in the future either. In the future you will understand that you have not understood many things. Nothing could be understood following this very way. You will get an understanding for some time, but then the opposite process will start. From the morning at sunrise till noon – that is the apogee of your understanding. And then at sunset, you will understand as much as you do at sunrise. It has come in as much as it has flown out. At sunrise something of the Love of God has entered in you, but at sunset it has gone out of you again. You cannot hold Love. The whole error in you is that you want to hold Love. You cannot do this. You cannot hold Light either. Love could not be held. It is the point, where people are breaking their heads. You want to hold Love. You want to tempt it somehow. You cannot tempt Love with anything. It is said in the Scriptures that the only thing you can attract the attention of Love with – it is the Truth. It is said of God that He has loved the Truth, which is in man. The Truth presents the human soul, or what has come out of God. God has loved in us that Divine part, in which we are unchangeable. God considers the other things, which we gathered around – our clothes, our houses and knowledge – as entertainment, as our toys. They are not important to Him. He leaves these toys onto our account; but He is interested just in our soul. The only precious thing in man is his soul. And if you do not pay attention to your soul, then what will you pay attention to? If you do not know your soul, how will you know the souls of others? If you cannot love your soul, then how can you love the others? What can you love in the others? Their souls. Everything else you love in man – you love his clothes. If you consider the modern world, the whole contemporary system – it is violence from one end to the other. There is silent violence everywhere. Can you tell me something else? The violence is not only among people. Somebody is saying to me: "How beautiful Nature is, how beautiful the green grass is, how great the world of God is!" I have observed the grass too. I watched with a magnifying glass, with a magnifier, two little creatures gripping at their necks. The one was gnawing the other and vice versa. Sufferings exist there as well. These two creatures tortured each other; they were quarrelling to divide something. One of them was at the one hole, the other – at the other. The distance between them was small, that was the reason of their quarrel. We say: "How great God has made the world!" We also say: "How great God has made man himself!" Where is the grandeur of the human face, for example? I see: the human face has darkened being with pale lips and dull eyes. Where is the grandeur of man? It is revealed only in that moment, when you come to an ordeal, but you do not hesitate – for something constant has remained in you through all the hardships. That is man himself, but not what you think. When you come to a big hardship and you do not tremble – that is precious in man. All the blossoms that bloom and all the fruits that grow are valuable, but the long-staying fruit is the most valuable. There may be thousands of fruits but only a few of them are remaining. They are of the greatest significance. Every one of you is saying that something evil exists in man. Well, I agree with you, I am on the same opinion. Since we are bad, what shall we do? What shall we understand by 'a bad person'? Define for me now what you understand under these words. Define explicitly to avoid the need of a second definition. Whoever does not behave in the way we expect, is a bad person. I am going my way. A man there hits me, so I say that he is a bad person. If he has swerved right or left, I would consider him a good man. You also can be bad for him as well as he can be bad for you. Who is good? Everyone who thinks like us and who acts according to our desire is a good man. At least, that is the practical wisdom of the world. That is the present morality. People speak about one kind of morality, but behave according to another. In the contemporary legislation you are asked: "Why didn't you observe the law?" You may believe in God, you may love Him, but the judge is telling you: "Your love to God does not matter. You did not keep the law here." So the judge convicts you. Even though you love God, the judge sentences you to one-week imprisonment. Because you did not behave the way the judge wants you to, you are convicted. A policeman will abuse you if you do not behave the way he wants you to, if you do not think the way he thinks. If a son does not behave the way his father expects and wants him to, he will be reproached right away. But this knowledge cannot help you too. What is helpful then? I shall take an anecdote for example. Once upon a time there was a ruler, a rich man. He was a man of variety. Everyone wrote to him and he received requests all the time. "My most dear Sir, there is nobody like you, you are the most good-hearted, the most beneficent of all. You are the only one who can help me, kindly grant me a little sum." They always wrote to him like that. Reading such letters, the rich man did not give anything to anybody and finally he wrote an announcement – always, when people wanted to get something from him, they should write letters to him not in the standard way, but in a way to please him. "If I like some letter, I shall do something, but I am not going to answer dull letters." The people wondered how to write to him, everybody wrote and wrote, but nobody received an answer. But one man wrote to him like this: "Sir, I do not know how to write you. But I have two boils that appeared on my body. I need money – I need two bandages. Don't you have some little cloth – please, send me two little cloths with your servant to put them on my boils." The rich man immediately took two banknotes, put them in an envelope, sent them to the man and wrote: "Dear brother, I am sending you two cloths. If you can use them, it will be good. If necessary I can send you some more cloths." That man wrote a second letter: " My things do not go well. Besides these two boils, one bigger boil came on my other leg. So I need a bigger cloth." The rich man put a bigger banknote and sent it to him. That man wrote to him again: "I do not know what to do, I wonder that scabies break out now in a big area. I need a much bigger cloth." And so after the rich man had sent those cloths, at last the man wrote: "Thank you very much, but because I am dressed now only in cloths, I do not know how to take them off, as I think of going to the baths. Won't you give me a towel?" The rich man wrote to him: "I am glad that you need a towel, but after you get out of the bath, you will come to me with the towel." All that needs a translation. It is symbolical. Things have to be translated. We are living an artificial life with imaginatively big sorrows. You say: "I am very grieved!" But it is not true: you have not a big grief, but a small one. We have not yet learned to tell the Truth. I made some psychological findings; usually the cause of the biggest sorrows is very small. But as it gets polarized, it seems to be very big, when in fact it is very small. Throw it out of your soul. And the cure is very simple. If a big suffering comes to you, say: "God has made the world, He will take care of me, then I shall take care too." The essential thing is not in observing things. The only thing that can help you, the needed power will be given to you. Light and everything else will act in unity for you. I say, we shall use the small God granted gift every day. If you expect full barns, knowledge and power as the angels live, you will waste your whole life in vain. Somebody wants to become a great man, he thinks about the future, what a saint he will be, how famous he will be, and whether he could become a teacher, etc. First use life as it is revealed in you, use even the smallest possibilities in life and sustain your sacred thoughts. Every one of you has at least one sacred thought, which to sustain. When you injure your leg, you say: "When my leg gets better, I will believe in God." How many times did your leg ache and then got better, but you did not believe. The same will be happen this time too. And how will you prove that your leg is aching? You have not examined the origin of the pain. Some illness you have might be not yours. Its cause might be very remote; it might be found in America, for example. Probably someone in America is ill and you by sympathy are connected with him. And since he is painful, you are painful too. We are placed in the following position: a man lived in a village near the city of Varna who liked to pull out teeth and was very skilled in this. Once a bey /*title of a vassal in the former Ottoman Empire/ came to that village with his wife, who had a bad tooth. The bey visited that Bulgarian to pull out the tooth of his wife. The bey waited downstairs, his wife went upstairs. The man took the pliers and the woman started to cry upstairs. The bey who loved her very much was also crying downstairs. Though the bey did not have his tooth pulled, he cried together with his wife. The same is with you now. Somebody is having his tooth pulled, but you are crying and groaning. There are sorrows out of sympathy. Something pricks you in the breasts, but it is not real. It is just the feeling of a thought coming by reflection. So first of all, we shall abandon the delusions of life. A thought may come to you: "If I break my leg, that and that will happen to me." Thousands of similar thoughts may come to you in one day. All that may happen, if you assume it, but if you do not assume it, it will not happen. I say, stop assuming things. All of you imagine such things and all of you sit pondering over how the New Teaching will advance in the world; whether the way you are going is right or not; when, in how many years the kingdom of God will be established – here on Earth. You are like children. The Kingdom of God cannot come to Earth in the present conditions. But it is not far away and we benefit from it. One day we shall go there. Some of you – by a carriage and others – on foot. But if somebody mentions the world beyond, you start bothering. You say: "A sister passed away, a brother passed away." Where did the passed away brothers and sisters from the Brotherhood go, where are they? They are here, amongst you, sitting around. What will you say? They are sitting and laughing and saying: "We are here again!" Once they had their own houses and now they are coming like tenants. They had sold everything and everyone rented now a small room; he is coming for the lectures and then going back. Let us suppose that you think about somebody. He has passed away. You can often notice that when a brother from the other world has come, if he enters in the body of another brother, the last starts to resemble him a little bit. His ears bent, his eyes change. When the passed away brother leaves him, the face of that brother acquires its former appearance. So, first of all, you shall distinguish between your states, to know whether it is really you or not. Every day you should give an account to yourself when you are alone and when you are not. Do not consider it as something bad. If a small window is a token only of little light, much more light will pass through a bigger window. Where is the transgression then? The law is: the knowledge that comes from God, the Divine light, to become a fortune of our souls. It is better, if the light is greater. But we are afraid that if too much light comes in, we shall lose our ground. You should have as much light as needed in the given case. The same law applies to Love too. Sometimes you want more love than you need. Love also can be unbearable in some cases. You should have as much love as to make you joyful. For in every given moment Love will come and leave in front of you more and more of the visible world. It is not necessary for you to see all the blossomed flowers. You may see just one flower and you will fill with joy, then you will see another one and so on. You will see one river, then a second one, a third one and so on. Gradually, going from one subject to another, you will experience the manifestations of the world. You think of a brother or a sister and you expect to meet some saint. In fact you go among saints here. The saints, first of all, do not have time to invite you to pay a visit to them. How will you benefit, if you see a saint? How do the saints look in your vision, how do you imagine them? Are they painted as in the church? The saints are always merry and well disposed. They have not troubles. When a saint meets you, you say to yourself: "Now I am stuck!" But he says: "You are not stuck at all. You go the very right way." You say to him: "The devil took hold of me." The saint will tell you: "The devil had entangled himself alone." The following law exists in the world: The devil tries to push you in all the snares he is making, but he wants to stay out of them. As you eat the morsel in the snare, you will be sentenced, you will be imprisoned, but he will escape. If you have trust in God, being prone to some temptation, God will catch both you and the devil in the snare – and then you will get released from evil and you will get free from the devil. Once the devil was caught, all your affairs will go better. If your affairs do not go well, it means, that the devil has not been caught in your snare. You say: "I am a bad man." The devil has not been caught in the snare together with you. You say: "I am out of luck." The devil has not been caught in the snare. As soon as he will be caught, you will be lucky. Then you should have a childlike faith: God is the one who reigns. Whatever may happen in the world, turn your mind towards God. If you have some pain, pause and say to yourself: "That is for good. I do not know it, but it is for good." Somebody will say: "But how is it for good! You do not know it, but it is for good." Even if it is not for good, you say: "It is for good." While the devil is cheating you, cheat him too. He wants to push you in the snare. Take his arm, let him in the snare and say: "We are both here." I do not know how to say it, but we love the devil very much. After he has fallen into the snare, out of love we open the door with the words: "Come on, you may go, I shall stay here for you." We are very generous. The devil says: "Thank you very much." And he goes away. The rule is: when a devil has been caught in the trap, do not let him go! Tell him: "I love you very much. Since I caught you we will have a much more pleasant conversation here in the trap." The people are always caught. Do not open the trap and do not let the devil out! I see now your devils laughing, but I have a devil who is always crying. Yours are laughing, mine is crying. My devil often says to me: "Look at those devils, they are always joyful and I am all the time crying." I reply: "They are joyful, but you will cry." Let your devil cry a little. If your devil is happy, you will cry. And when he starts crying, you will rejoice. It would be much better to change your roles: he to cry, you to rejoice. Now I wish you that your devils cry and you rejoice! The Lord's Prayer 30th lecture from the Common Occult Class, April 18th, 1934, Sofia, Izgrev Translated by Martina Yovcheva, Bulgaria Source

From The beauty of life Sensible Comprehension Lecture given by Beinsa Douno on March 22, 1934, 05:00 a.m. local time, Sofia, Izgrev Now, I am going to speak about the significant things in life that you should know. What you have learned up to now should be solidified, i.e. organized. When students enter school, they are supposed to learn everything that is taught there. When they finish school and enter into life, they will face another teaching. The words solidifying and organizing differ in meaning. Solidifying or cementing is not an organic, but a mechanical process. The persons of the world are being cemented; the persons of the Spirit who serve God out of Love are being organized. In this sense, the Divine world is organized. The believers who strive for spiritual life are to be organized, but their way of living deprives them of this experience. Why? – Because they also hesitate in implementing what they know. I will not explain why and in what way they hesitate, because the explanation of some truths sometimes causes more darkness and obscurity to appear in human minds instead of introducing more light. For example, can you explain to someone why humans see? Light is a world that is necessary for human minds. I say, it is important for all those who desire to serve God and to be His servants to know that serving is a process leading to advancement. Neither progress nor advancement will be possible in the world without serving. Life cannot have meaning without serving. Contemporary people think that only the ignorant, weak and poor persons serve. This is not true. The ignorant, weak and poor persons do not serve, but slave. There is a great difference between slaving and serving. When someone does something out of Love and voluntarily, we say that this one serves. When someone works consciously, we say again that this one serves. But when someone is forced to work or to act, then we say that this one drudges and slaves. When a patient is made to do something in order to be healed, this is slaving, not serving. This patient acts out of necessity, not according to his good will. When do people undergo a treatment? – When they are ill. They take treatment, but we cannot say that they work. We say that they suffer or torment themselves "depending on the way they fulfil the doctor's prescription". Whether they will or not, they will call one, two or three doctors out of necessity, in order to be able to recover in one way or another. Diseases and painful states in humans refer to the human world, to the world of contradictions; health and the states of health in their turn refer to the Divine world. Therefore, when you are ill, when you reveal certain weaknesses of yours, you should know that you are in the human world, in the realm of the human. If you are ill, say to yourself, "I am a human being!" When you are encouraged, when a good, bright thought visits your mind, you should know that then you are in the Divine world, in the realm of the Divine. The good side of human nature is included in the rectification of one's weak points. Listening to what is spoken concerning these questions, many of you ask, "Which is the way we should follow?" The way you should follow is the way followed by the children. Which way is this? The children follow the way of their parents. Sons follow exactly the way of their fathers, and daughters – the way of their mothers, with just a slight inner difference. Many worry about how they will grow, whether they will develop properly. I say, one will grow and develop and in the end one will become exactly what one has been destined to be. If you want to be convinced of this, perform the following experiment: take an egg from a snake, an egg from a duck and an egg from a hen and put the eggs in suitable conditions to be hatched. You have three eggs similar in appearance, but after hatching, from each egg will appear exactly the being that was lodged in it. A form adequate to what was hidden in the embryo of each egg will come out. Someone may say, "What will come out of me?" Exactly what was initially lodged will come out of you. Someone may be disturbed about the end of their life. How will a wolf finish its life? It will finish its life like a wolf. How will a sheep finish its life? Like a sheep. How will a snake finish its life? Like a snake. How will a person finish their life? Like a person. Under the words finish one's life I mean the understanding of Life. When a wolf has eaten a sheep, just then it understands that what it did was wrong. When a sheep has come to the end of its life, just then it understands that it has not achieved anything. When someone is at the final stage of life, they understand that none of their desires were achieved. When a man was born and became grown up, he started dreaming of becoming a king. Finally he realized this dream and became a king: being crowned, bowed down before, listened to and obeyed by everyone. He enjoyed the health, power, glory and authority that were at his disposal. But the time came, when the king's strength started to fail, the king's hands and legs did not function and began to quaver; the king's subjects began to disobey and dethroned him. Day after day his high position was eroding until he lost everything he had possessed and he said, "I was a king, but what did I win?" You won the experience that each king had. You played the king's part on the stage and after that you left the stage and entered the real Life. Playing the part of a king had not yet become the actual state of a real king. Until one becomes a Son of God, they will come on the stage and go off the stage; they will pass through various transitional states. To be a Son of God means to live in the real world, where no changes exist. Only the Son of God understands the real world. The entire Universe is at His disposal. I ask, what is the state of contemporary people? They live in the limiting conditions of life, in the world of changes and they say, "Where will this life end?" There is no sense in thinking about the end of life. "What will be the beginning of life?" It is better not to think of this as well. "What is the purpose of all things in life?" Do not think of this either. All things have their purpose. Each thing that seems to have no meaning at the beginning receives its value at the end. What meaning will you give to Life? What meaning will you give to Love? You should know one thing: Love excludes any sacrifice. Why? Love is more than sacrifice. Love excludes any giving – Love is more than giving. Love means fullness and satisfaction of the soul. This fullness and satisfaction will grow unceasingly. Love includes all acquisitions, for which the human soul strives. If today, in the name of Love, people do not fulfil their desires, the reason is that they want to be like others; they imitate one another and thus they are hindered. One is supposed to be like others only in one aspect that is, living in Love. People shall follow only the example of Love. Those who live in Love are not like others. The point is not to think like others, but to act like those who live in Love. Many will think that it is contradictory, even impossible, to act like all others. You should behave as the snowdrops and the oaks do. Shall a snowdrop wish to become an oak? A snowdrop can never become an oak; it will remain a snowdrop forever. The snowdrop's life is determined to be one, two months long. In this term the snowdrop will sprout, grow up, bloom and then fade away. The snowdrop has the right to exist on Earth for no more than two months. This is its term. The oak, however, is destined to live one, two, three hundred years or more. When I give you this example, I want to direct your attention to the argument existing among people about why some of them should take the position of the snowdrop and others – the position of the oak. The same law also exists in the Divine world. If a human being wishes to become an angel, they should not imitate an angel, but take its place; at the same time the angel should come down to the position of the human being. This is good, but what will you do tomorrow, when someone else will wish to take your position as an angel? This one will take your position, but you shall also take their position. Therefore, do not consider that when you become angels, no one will hinder you. Many will desire your position, which will cause you to go down and up again all the time. And in this constant descent and ascent you will study Life. You ask, "Where will it end?" There is no sense in thinking of the end. You will rejoice, when you come to the state of being an angel; you will also rejoice, when you go down to the state of being a person. You should be pleased with both ascending and descending. What is bad about descending? Your room is on the top floor of the house. You go upstairs in order to spend the night and you go downstairs, to the first floor, in the morning. If you can go only upstairs and not downstairs, why should you build up houses of several stories? Which floor is best for living? At present the masters of the house or the hosts live on the first floor and the renters live on the second floor. The servants live on the top floor or in the attic. At present the world is turned upside-down. In my view, the masters are supposed to live in the attic, and the servants – on the first floor. Why? – Because the mountain air is fresher than the valley air. The first floor represents a valley, and the top floor – a mountain. The present masters are clever. They live on the first floor, i.e. in the valley, in order to be closer to the basement, where the food supplies are stored. The biggest facilities are to be found on the first floor. However, let every one of you conclude what is essential for yourself and apply it to life. Everyone will understand me according to their level of development. A five-year old child understands life in one way; when it becomes twenty-years old, it will have another understanding; at the age of thirty its understanding will be quite different; at the age of eighty or a hundred, one's understanding of life differs completely from that of a child. Therefore, the understanding of life of one and the same person is different in the different ages of life. This indicates the progressive nature of understanding. As a matter of fact, if you watch a child of five and then you watch the same person, but as an aged person of a hundred and twenty, you will find an enormous difference between these two images. Why? – The states, in which they are placed, are completely different. But these states also influence the difference in understanding. This same person was joyful and content with life as a child of five; the child loved its parents, hugged and kissed them. And when grown old, the same person stooped as someone of a hundred and twenty years, so they started to walk with a cane; they did not trust anyone and they said, "Do not trust people, because they are bad-natured. Do not trust your servants, because they are thieves and will rob all your properties. Do not trust your neighbours too, do not trust anyone!" I ask, whom shall you trust then? Shall you trust only this old person? This one is discontent with life, with people, with themselves alone and will teach others from this point of view. No, this is not a right understanding of life. This is the reverse view of life. When old and young people are discussed, this concerns the physical life, i.e. the life on Earth. In Heaven, however, all are thirty-three years old. They do not have beards like people on Earth, and all are similar to one another. If you go to Heaven and wish to see a child, right then one of the great angels will diminish and become a child. If you wish to see the same angel, he grows again and takes his initial image. Whatever you wish will happen, when you are in Heaven. But this is not so on Earth. In Heaven there are no sick, discontented or old people. No complaints, no groans will be heard there. When angels want to comprehend the nature of discontent, they come down to the Earth. In this way they receive some entertainment. The Earth is a place of entertainment for them. The angels go to the old people, to the old men and women, in order to listen to their life stories and get acquainted with discontent. An angel will smile listening to the story of an old person, who is introducing discontent to him. The old person will say, "You do not value my experience that is why you are smiling." – "How could it be true? I have come down to the Earth in order to study." – "So, you should take interest!" – "We do not know what discontent is." Discontent is not available in Heaven. And such examples as those amongst humans are also excluded there. I say, the meaning of Life is not in aging. The meaning of Life is in Love, in Eternal life, in the process of everlasting rejuvenation. Those who do not become old cannot rejuvenate too. Those who do not make errors cannot become righteous too. If you can understand these thoughts, you will be blessed; if you cannot understand them, you will be like your grandparents. Why is this so? Asking why it is so is like asking why God has formed humans with only one face, not with two or three faces. If a boy falls in love with a girl who has three faces, he will not know at which face to look and will be confused. Humans must have one face, because there is only one God. Humans must have one mouth, because there is only one Love. However, humans have two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two arms and two legs. Why do humans have two ears? The one ear corresponds to the male, the other ear – to the female; the one ear corresponds to the brother, the other – to the sister. The one ear corresponds to the master, the other – to the servant. Therefore, the number two indicates that humans should receive and transmit the Divine gifts simultaneously. The five fingers of the human hand represent the five open doors to the world, through which one comes in and out in order to get acquainted with the laws of Life. Therefore, when you have five senses, you will see, hear, smell, taste and touch well. The five senses are the five doors through which one receives knowledge. In the future, humans will have more senses, but only if they have succeeded in developing the five senses that they use today. Contemporary people even with their five senses are still not able to understand and study the surrounding environment. They have mouths and tongues, but they have not yet learned to speak musically. Do you know what power is hidden in speech! If you knew the laws of speech, if you knew this musical language, it would be enough to say only three words in order to open the heart even of the most stingy banker. And now, as you do not know this musical language, as you do not know the key to use, when you go to a banker, you speak to him for hours, but you close his heart instead of opening it. And then you say, "I went to this banker, but I cannot go out." I ask, how is it possible to go to a banker and not to be able to leave? If you cannot leave his room, it shows that you must give him something, but you cannot open his heart. Indeed, you own him a hundred thousand. He catches you and says, "Money now!" – "Let me go!" – "No, you will not go. Repay the money or I will turn you over to the court!" You cannot pay, so you are like that dervish, who went to take a bath, but he had no money to pay it and said, "I will take a bath and the Lord will think of me." He entered the baths, took a bath and said to the person at the exit, "Many thanks for the bath!" – "First you pay and then you thank." – "For God's sake, let me go." – "If God has sent you to the baths, He will take care of the payment." – "I have no money, I cannot pay." – "No, you will pay! Otherwise, I will not let you go. Ten pennies total." – "Allah, give me ten pennies to pay this person or destroy the baths, so that I can exit!" The reason for the misfortunes of contemporary people is that the person from the baths has caught them just for ten pennies and does not let them go out until they pay the amount due. When some people share their sufferings with me, I see the funny situation in which they are placed; I see that the person from the baths has caught them and does not let them go, and then they tell me that they are suffering. They ask me for some advice. What advice will I give to them? If I tell them not to bathe, I will not be right. I see that they need a bath at any cost. There is no other way than to pay that person from the baths. "I am money-less." I say, so it is with this one who has no sweet words; but for the one who has soft, sweet words to say, the banks are open. If you know how to turn the key of your language, you will be able to do miracles. The wealth, the future of humans is hidden in their language. Someone may say, "I will not become a conscious person this time, but in my future life." Why do you say this? You have already come to the Earth; God has deposited something valuable in you, which is to be developed. It is funny, when some professors who have completed four degrees say that they cannot teach their students. If they cannot teach, why have they become teachers? The same refers to you. Place in your mind the thought that you, like a professor with four specialties, can fulfil your purpose on Earth. You say, "How can we know what we are supposed to do?" I ask, does a woman not know that she is a female? Does a man not know that he is a male? Does a child not know that it is a child? Do masters not know that they are masters? Do servants not know that they are servants? Do military persons not know that they are in the military? Everyone knows the purpose of one's birth. Therefore, your task on Earth is to do what you were sent for. For this purpose you should enter the world of thoughts, or the Causal world; then you should enter the spiritual world, or the world of Love, the world of warmth; and finally, you should enter the Divine world in order to learn what the Will of God is and how to do it. Therefore, you have to study three things: the laws of mind, the laws of heart and the laws of will. Humility is also included in this science. One is to become meek in order to act reasonably and appropriately. The human life remains incomplete without humility. Humility is a way, a door, through which you can enter the Divine world, so that you may learn how to work. Those who want to become wise may go to the Angels[1] to study; those who want to cultivate their hearts may go to the Cherubim[2] and Seraphim[3]; those who want to learn to work on Earth may go to the Divine world, to God. One may be wise and good-natured, but without humility one cannot fulfil their ideas and desires. But if one has visited the angels, the cherubim and the seraphim, finally they can also visit God. Only in this case can one fulfil the Will of God. There is no greater thing for humans than to do the Will of God. The entire science of the past, the present and the future is hidden in the fulfilment of the Will of God. The ideal of both small and great beings is to do the Will of God. God's Love, Wisdom and Truth are revealed in the fulfilment of the Will of God. Therefore, if you do not fulfil the Will of God, you cannot understand His Love, Wisdom and Truth; if you do not fulfil the Will of God, you cannot attain His Life, knowledge and freedom. The ideal of each soul is hidden in the fulfilment of the Will of God. One should be prepared for any sacrifice for the achievement of this ideal. One should not have two opinions, when the Divine is concerned. It means to be a master of yourself. Mastering the situation does not mean that you will sacrifice yourself, but you shall don the garment of humility in order to fulfil the Will of God. Humility is a beautiful world! The real work starts in this world. The humble person has passed through all the phases of life and has diminished oneself, taking the position of a child. Christ referred to such souls, "If you do not become like little children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of God." Such a little child has passed through big trials, through all realms of Life and now it has come to Earth for a specialization. This specialization is nothing else but understanding of Life, its treatment as a Divine manifestation. Only meek people do the Will of God and that is why they know Love. Only God's Love makes Life meaningful and takes away any difficulties, obstacles, contradictions, making one master of the circumstances. The entire world is at the disposal of such a person. It means to be in the world among people who love you. They all will take care of you, so you will not have any problems, but in turn you should be attentive to others as well. Now, being disciples, you are supposed to study. You will all pass through the experience of Job, who was at his time one of the advanced disciples. God wanted to test his patience; that is why He submitted him to big trials. Only a long-suffering person can do the Will of God. Without patience one cannot come into contact with the Divine world, one cannot know the Great Source. Without patience people can only ask themselves why the world was created in this way, why the trials were given to them, why they carry one or another form, but they cannot answer in the end. Gradually humanity will become able to answer all these questions by developing patience. When one is able to answer positively all questions, finally one will say like a certain Bulgarian, "Day after day life becomes better; and it is best today." What is the meaning of these words? The Bulgarian worked in his field all day long and in the evening he came back home to his wife and children; he washed, put on clean clothes, ate a meal and said, "Day after day life becomes better; it is best today." One day, when you will be at home too, washed, dressed in new clothes, nourished and satisfied, you will say, "It is best today." Your life will become meaningful only in this way. Today, March 22nd, is the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of spring. All will meet the sunrise, rejoice, sing and celebrate the coming of the first day of spring. When one meets the sunrise, they should have an idea about it. The Sun is an emblem of the Great Source in the world. It is seen to move around the Earth, to go from the Northern to the Southern hemisphere. When the Sun is in the Southern hemisphere, the Great One comes down to the Earth. When the Sun is in the Northern hemisphere, He goes back to His world. Then we go to Him, to the Divine world. Never mind whether the Sun is in the Southern or in the Northern hemisphere, Love and Truth should be known to us. Therefore, this year you have to study and implement Love and Truth in your life. Only in this way you will become free. Many think that they are free, but nevertheless they worry about many things. You are not free until thoughts, feelings or actions can disturb you. You are not free until children, servants, people around you can disturb you. You are also not free until cold and heat can disturb you. One shall become a master of everything that is inside and outside them. I say, one shall pass through certain limitations and big pressures in order to become a master of the situation; one shall hit an obstacle, so that their consciousness may be awakened. A sister told me about a dream of hers: she dreamed one night that she was in front of a frozen lake. She wanted to get water, but she could not. She hit the ice hard, made a hole and went into it; she filled her pitcher with water, but she could not get out. It came to her mind that she could fly. When she tried to do it, a wall obstructed her. If she were to come near it, she could hit her head and break it, so she stopped. An inner voice said to her, "Do not be afraid, hit the wall and you will go through it". She obeyed this voice. She flew up, hit the wall with her head and right then she felt released. She passed through the wall without any damage. When she woke up, she understood the meaning of hitting an obstacle. She solved an important problem with this hit on her head. So, if one comes to a hard and dull state, they should hit their head a little bit, so that their consciousness may be awakened. Some years ago, when I was in Tarnovo [4], a forty, forty-five year old woman came to me and started to complain of life and people. I asked her, "Are you the only righteous woman in the world?" Then she turned another page, she started to speak about herself that she was bad, unsatisfied with her life and so on. I listened to her and asked again, "Why did you come to me? If you want to tell me what people are, what you are, I know this. What new can you tell me?" – "I want to tell you that my mother has sent me here. She passed away several years ago, but I dreamed of her last night. She came to me angry and discontent, with a pitcher in her hand. At once she lifted the pitcher and hit me right in my head. Some yellow liquid started to flow from my broken head. I was scared and decided to run away, but I heard the voice of my mother: "You will become a good person, or an even greater evil will befall you!" What a bad mother, I thought. Instead of meeting me with joy, she broke my head. I saw, however, that she was sitting and watching me. After some time she opened the door, lifted up her hand and went out of my room. I got up in the morning, but I noticed that some change had occurred in my thinking; I started to think about God, about people, about the goodness in the world. When I thought in this way, an idea came to my mind to pay a visit to you and to hear what you will say to me." Then I told her, "Thank your mother that she hit you on your head. This hit caused the awakening of your consciousness. Follow the Divine way and do not worry. Until you go in this way and do the Will of God, no pitcher will hit your head anymore!" Therefore, only those who do the Will of God can enter the world of freedom. I wish you all to enter the world of freedom! How will you attain this freedom? You will attain it, when you enter the world of God's Love, God's Wisdom and God's Truth. What will we do there? This is none of your business. You should not think about this. When you enter into these worlds, you will be taught what to do. It is said in the Scriptures, "God will teach you all." Therefore, when you enter the world of Love, the world of Wisdom and the world of Truth, you will be taught there what to do, how to fulfil the Will of God. If you do not enter these worlds, others will teach you what to do. Now, I wish you all to fulfil the Will of God! There is no more beautiful, more magnificent, more meaningful thing for one than to fulfil the Will of God! In other words: there is no more beautiful, more magnificent, more meaningful thing for a person than to enter the world of Love, the world of Wisdom and the world of Truth! I wish you all to enter these three worlds and to be taught there what to do by One God. Now you will go into the world of Love, where you will be until September. When you come back from this world, we will meet again and have a talk. So, now you are going into the world of Love, where you will spend six months. I wish you a bon voyage! Have a good journey, all of you! May God of the whole fullness fill us with His Sweet Spirit! May we fulfil His Good Will! [1]Angel – bearer of life and vegetation [2]Cherubim – brother of Harmony [3]Seraphim – brothers of Love [4]Veliko Tarnovo – the former medieval capital of Bulgaria, a university, cultural and tourist centre in North-Central Bulgaria, famous for its archaeological and architectural heritage. Translated by Maria Braikova

The Great Formula All men use the word "attention." The teachers tell their students to pay attention to the lessons they are taught. The parents tell their children to pay attention and not to do any mischief. Therefore, everyone must understand the meaning of the word attention. Attention implies the idea of a wakening. Man cannot have any relations without attention. The relations man makes in his life depend upon his attention. At times man is attentive out of fear. He is like a child just learning to walk who is very careful not to fall and moves his feet very cautiously. The heart of that child is full of fear from falling. Such attention is similar to that of a thief, who walks slowly turning this and that way to see if anyone is watching him. At times, man is attentive not out of fear, but out of expectation. He is like a prisoner being condemned to death who is straining his ears to hear from which place his salvation will come. He is attentive, listens carefully with the hope that someone might come to bring him the good tidings of his acquittal. Therefore, the best and most beautiful thing in life is attention. Man has come to earth to rejoice. About what? He must not rejoice at his clothes neither at the position he occupies, but rather rejoice that he has come into the world of God to expect the rising of the sun. All his attention must be concentrated upon the rising sun. The rising of the sun does not depend upon the clothes of man, neither upon his wealth and conceptions of life, nor upon his power and beauty. The rising of the sun is in power to comfort the human soul. The rising of the sun gives an impetus to the human spirit. One may be well-clothed, but of what use would his clothes be, if he were blind? Or if he were dumb, of what use would be his nice clothes? When the sun is rising, the most important thing for man is that which he can see. When nature is awaking, the most important thing for man is that which he can hear. How I say to you: be careful how you see and what you see! Be careful of how you hear and what you hear! Make it a daily problem in your life to see only that which is beautiful and to hear the Word of God which is speaking to you from within. Whenever you come across something negative, put it away from you and give your attention only to the fine and beautiful in the world. This is the natural state of man. When you are entering a flower-garden or an orchard, upon what do you stop your attention? Upon the beautiful flowers and fruit. In the same way, the odorous flowers draw your attention. What more natural than that? This is a fact out of actual life, but it is not the truth. Why is it not the truth? Because the truth sets men free. Every beautiful flower spreading its perfume far and wide can cause you joy but it can not change your life by any means. That flower says to man: You can also do what I do, but you must be careful in your life. What do people do today? When they see a flower which attracts their attention, they pick it. No, do hot pick the flowers, but see what they do. You may see a pure beautiful spring. Do not desire it to flow in your own garden! See what the spring does and you do the same. You see a fine book. Do not desire to have it in your own library, but read it and see what is written in it. The book says: Read me through and take for yourself only that which you can understand. The rest, which you do not understand, is not for you. You find a big treasure on your way. Stop carefully in front of it and take only one golden coin out of it. The rest of the gold is for the other people who will pass that way after you. This is the way the prudent man will act, while the foolish man will take all the money, after which he will be caught and proved guilty by the court that he has taken money which belongs to other people. There are a number of cases which men have not thought about. You your selves have not thought about them either. You come across contradictions, sufferings, misfortunes and difficulties, which you explain in different ways, but all these explanations are of no profit to you. For thousands of years men have tried to give an explanation to these questions, but they always regain unexplained. For thousands of years people have tried to study these problems, but they always remain ignorant about them. What is the reason for that? They have the desire to find an explanation to these questions and are striving to study them, but their fault is that they have chosen a wrong method for that attainment. That is why up to this day, men have not had admittance to the great reality of things. The predestined purpose of this reality is to inaugurate man into the knowledge of the Truth. The acquirement of the Truth, on the other hand, determines the meaning of life. To attain to the Truth, is to enter into the Eternal life which we seek and strive after. This morning I want to speak to you as to people in perfect health who have no contradictions in life. I shall not speak, at that, neither about sickness, nor about health. Illness is the contrary to health and inversely health is the contrary to illness. However, to speak about illness is to lose the good disposition of the spirit one has. If the healthy man speaks about illness, he admits that some day he may become ill. To think you can become ill speaks of a certain experience you must have had, in consequence of which you think that the same experience can be repeated. Illness takes from the human body certain elements, but does not add anything to it. He who has been ill, has always given something of his weight. After he becomes well again, he restores to his body that which he has lost. Therefore, he who gains is a healthy man; he who loses is a sick man. He who lives well is healthy; he who does not live well is ill. This is enough for you to know illness and health represent, so do not try to go further in your investigation about these two states in life. One of the qualities of health is cheerfulness. The healthy man is always cheerful, vigorous and ready for work. The ill person is indisposed, discontented and has no desire for work. When anyone asks him to work, he considers the weather, whether it is good or bad. To the sick man either the weather is not nice, or people are bad etc. His illness causes him to look negatively upon all things. The poor man is also like the sick person: for him also the weather is bad or the people are evil and cruel. It follows that poverty is illness, while wealth is health. All people today are striving after the essential thing in life. What is the essential in life? Some people maintain that the essential thing lie in the reality of things. One of the qualities of reality is repetition. This repetition of things is characterized by an eternal diversity. In the world of reality, there is a repetition of phenomena and facts, which are never the same. Repetition in which there is monotony brings death. There is nothing more dangerous than monotony. Suppose that a friend of yours has given you a thousand leva and comes every day to your home to tell you that he has given you a thousand leva. He tells you that today, tomorrow, the next day and continues to do it for years on end. What would be your state? One day a village squire, a great miser, had bought a sheep's liver for a poor man. Everyone he met, he told him about the liver he had bought for the poor man. Each tine he met the poor man, he told him he had bought a liver for him, until the poor man became tired of that. He bought a liver one day and threw it into the face of the rich man, saying to him: - I do not want your liver or your help! I say: do not imitate either the squire or the poor man! This example is not for imitation, but for a lesson. When you give or say anything to a man, leave him free. He will think about it himself and learn his lesson. Do not ever cause a man to get out of patience. Leave him free to express his gratitude as he finds best. Remember the following rule: Do not oppress people or your own spirit who guides you. It says in the Scripture: "Do not oppress, i.e. grieve the Spirit Who directs you!" How can you grieve the Spirit? Man grieves the Spirit by his constant discontentment and ingratitude. He is always discontented for not having this or that thing, or that he is not given the things he wants, as some rich men whom he sees have everything in life: meat, nice clothes etc. That is the state of the poor man for whom the rich squire had bought the sheep's liver. The rich man grumbles and the poor man grumbles: the rich man has a special way of grumbling for certain things and the poor man has his own day of grumbling for other things. When the poor man grumbles, some rich man will buy sheep's liver for him, but he will pay dearly for it. When the rich man grumbles, there, will come a poor man who will throw the liver into his face and thus express his ingratitude. A great self-control is required of both poor and rich. According to my opinion, the poor man must not envy the condition of the rich man, but when he sees him eat and drink, he must thank God for having given him the possibility to enjoy the blessing of life, while he should be grateful, at the same time that hi is deprived of them. In case he desires to have the goods of the rich man for himself, he would cripple his own life, his own soul. Therefore, the great and beautiful in life lies in man's gratitude to God for that which God has given him. That which God has given to man is only temporary - for that given moment. It can never be repeated. Things are not repeated in the life of eternity. Knowing this, man must appreciate that which God has given him. This evaluation of things depends upon the understanding of man. The misfortunes and sufferings of people depend upon their ideas of life. Someone is unhappy, because such is his idea and comprehension of things. For instance, you give a nice pear to an old man, but he takes it, looks at it, turns it this way and that and sighs. Why does he sigh? Because he has no tooth and cannot chew. But since the pear is nice it tempts him. He cuts it up into pieces and swallows them up. After half an hour, he feels pains in his stomach and says: Am I the only one who always suffers from such pains? What suffering is that? He has received the best thing - a nice, ripe pear, but the cause of his suffering lies in another place. In order not to suffer, the old man should have acted in the following way: he should nave called a small child and asked him to pound the pear in a small mortars. Then he would have given half the soft pear to the child and eaten the other half himself. In that way the child would have been contented and the old man would not have suffered. Therefore, every man must learn to share with his neighbour the blessings God has given him. In sharing their blessings, men must be prudent not to bore one another. There is nothing better in life than to do a good act on time, to say a kind word on time, or to cast a glance at the right place. There is no greater, science than this. What greater knowledge than to know when to speak and what to speak? Many of the sufferings of people are due to the very ignorance and disregard of this science. It is a great, Divine science! It is an art for man to know how to listen, what to listen and what not to listen to. All people strive after riches. They are right in that. It is good for a man to be rich. God also has the desire to give riches to all people. Wealth has two sides: an external and an internal side. Thus, it is important for man to know what sort of wealth he desires, and seeks. The healthy man is rich; the enlightened man is rich; the good man is rich, etc. Man must pass through all the phases of wealth. He who chooses the material wealth expressed through money and possessions, will attain to the external side of life, such a rich man may, or may not be educated. However, these riches will, by all means, cause him trouble. Material wealth is a burden for man. If you load a horse with gold or precious things, he will perspire, at least, ten times before he takes it to its definite place. If you make the saddle, the reins and the shoes of the horse golden, he may look handsome, but he will say in the end: I do not want anything, but my freedom. Neither the golden load, nor the golden saddle and shoes make me happy. There is nothing, more beautiful, both for the horse and for his master, than liberty. And yet, the condition of the horse is better than that of his master. The horse will leave his load in the house of his master and feel light and free, while the master will receive his gold, rejoice over it, but, at the same time, will load himself. Man cannot be happy, if his horse is unhappy. The horse groans and suffers under his heavy load, while the man is happy over his riches, but his happiness is temporary, consequently - external. The horse says: My back is bruised by the heavy load. The master says: Never mind that your back is bruised, I will be happy. No this is a wrong understanding of life! This is not a Divine order of things. Tomorrow the roles will change: the master will take the place of the horse while the horse - that of the master. It is impossible for the master to be happy when the servant is unhappy. And inversely: it is impossible for the servant to be happy when his master is unhappy. You say: But that is a horse, he does not feel like man. - If you regard things externally, only their forms, that is true. However, as a soul the horse does not differ from man. The form, which the soul of the horse has entered into, is limited and does not give it the possibility to manifest qualities which the human body manifests. If the soul of the horse should enter, into a human body, it will manifest human qualities which the form of the horse does not permit it to manifest. Therefore, you should know that the horse understands and feels the things in life much more keenly than you can imagine. When a master is rude and cruel towards his horse, the latter turns to God with the words: God, put more love in the heart of my master that he may be more patient and condescending towards me. I am ready to carry all his load, but let him be more calm and not hurry so much. This is the way the horse prays within himself. This is the way the wise master must act toward his horse: he must take half the load and put it on his own back and the other half - on the back of the horse, thus they will start together and have a friendly talk on their way. What sort of a man is that who cannot make himself equal with all souls? What does it mean - to make oneself equal with all souls? This means - to acknowledge the Divine in every soul. He who acknowledges the Divine principle in every soul, will never say: That is a horse, or that is a bird, or a tree! What are you then? I am a man who is solving the great problems of life. He who reasons in this way will inevitably come against many contradictions in life. God is watching at every moment how a man acts toward the animals and plants and then draw: his conclusion about that man. Thus, as God watches us, at all moments, He either grieves or rejoice. He grieves when our thoughts, feelings and acts are wrong and rejoices when our thoughts, feelings and acts are high and noble. God does not rejoice the upright, but rather at a sinner in whom He sees the minutest good in thought or act. He immediately takes out His note-book and marks down the time, the day and the hour when that sinner has done a small good act. And because of that small joy which the sinner has caused God, some day He will give him a great blessing. What could be more pleasant, for anyone than to cause, at least, a small joy to God? We have come to the earth exactly for that reason - to cause, at least, a small joy to God. This must be our ideal! Now all men want to be happy and they can be happy. But how? If we cannot, by a small thought, feeling or act cause joy in the One Who has given us everything, we cannot have a foundation upon which to build our happiness. Therefore, men lose their happiness for the sole reason that the foundation upon which it is built, is not solid. And anything not placed upon a solid foundation disintegrates in the end. Thus, the happiness of man depends upon his aspiration to cause the smallest joy to God. You say: God is perfect, He has no need of us, or of our causing Him joy. - You do not understand what perfection means. Imagine that several people write the letter “L” on the blackboard. One of them will write the capital letter “L”, another - the, small “l”, while a third one will write the same letter broad, or narrow, etc. No matter how they write the letter, they will all write the same letter only with a small difference in the writing. When someone writes the letter “1” small, it shows that he is a miser who is careful not to waste much time or paper. He says: If I write a letter to someone with large letters, I shall waste much paper, ink and time. It is better to write the letters small, thus make some economy. No, when a man writes a letter to someone, especially a love-letter, every word must emanate perfume, sweet odour such as the flowers emanate. Every letter a man writes, bears the stamp of the condition the writer has been in while writing that letter. One can judge about the life of a man by the first letter of his letter. And notice that a person can never write a letter twice in just the same way. As many times as he writes it there will be a slight, barely noticeable difference. As the thoughts, feelings and acts represent symbols through which is manifested the life of people, in the same way the letter determine the character of each man. If you observe the writing of a man in childhood, youth and ripe age, you will see that the way he has written the letters in these three phases of life are thoroughly different. The letter: are the same, but their writing is different. In the three phases of his life, man has imported something particular to every letter, which corresponds to his thought at each stage. The letter reveals the character as well as the state man has been in, while writing it. If you are sensitive when you receive a letter you can guess whether it is written with love or not, only by touching it. A letter written with love is in a state to transform even the most negative disposition of the spirit. It is enough for you to hold that letter for a while in your hand without reading it, in order that your disposition may change and that you may pass into a higher octave of the spirit. However, if the letter is not written with love, as soon as you touch it, you will feel a certain coldness. Such a letter is in a state to lower, not to raise your spirit. The whole nature is full of love letters written by God. Every fruit is such a letter. When you take a fruit, close your eyes, concentrate your thought and see what you will feel. Whatever you feel, that is what the fruit says. The power of the fruit is hidden in that which is written in it. If you do not reason in this way, you will never acquire the strength hidden in that fruit. In the same way man must acknowledge that his thoughts are the fruit of his mind and his feelings - the fruit of his heart. If he does not recognize the qualities of his thoughts and feelings as qualities of fruit, he will never profit by the power and knowledge deposited in them. Great is the world of God! It is created for us. It is created for each one separately. A day will come when you will receive a ticket to traverse at liberty the expansive, boundless world of God. When will that be? - It may be today, or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow - but it will be some day. It is not important when it will be - that does not matter. There exists one day of God. The day of God is not of 24 hours like the human day. The Divine day consists of, at least, one thousand earthly years. Then how many days of this kind will form a Divine year? Thus, after you have lived 365 thousand years on the earth, you would have lived one Divine year. And when you grow old - a man of 365 thousand years, you will be a child of one year in the Divine world in need of a mother to carry you in her arms, to fondle you and be happy with you. A small Divine child knows much more then an old man who has lived 365 thousand on the earth. And than we say that the real profit of man is for him to pass from the human into the Divine world. This is possible only when man has acquired knowledge which can be of use to him in the Divine world. Man will understand the deep meaning of life only when he has passed from the human into the Divine world. This means - to live on the earth and to understand things from a Divine point of view. From that point of view every form is imbued with meaning and acquires a definite expression. And then, as a clarification of the question, the head may be compared to the Divine, while the body - to the physical world. The head is a radio-station of Divine thoughts. Every thought of this kind is the result of the food which man takes. If the food man eats does not turn into thoughts, it remains in the stomach where it forms unnecessary accumulations, which cause man different kinds of suffering. Now I shall give you a magic formula by which you can get rid of these accumulations. This formula must not be only written on paper, or spoken with the lips, but also printed in the heart. It is difficult to write it, difficult to express it, but still more difficult to understand it. In order to say this magic formal and to profit by its power, one must do three things beforehand. The Turks say: "It is easy to call the spirits, but difficult to send them away." Therefore, it is easy to go down a well, but difficult to come out of it. When you take hold of the rope, you can go down easily, but how will you come out? Man has done the easy thing when he has come to the earth, but now the most difficult task awaits him - that of going up into the Divine world. In order that he may do that, someone must by all means, come to his aid. He has gone down the wall - an easy thing to do. The difficult thing is for him to come out of the well. When a student go to school, he does the difficult thing - he climbs from storey to storey, and/as he passes from first class into the second, the third class, etc. When the time comes for him to go out of the school, he runs down the stairs easily. In the spiritual world, however, it is just the opposite. There, all the classes are on the lower storeys, that is why it is easy to enter into the school there, but difficult to come out of if. This is the difference between the heavenly and the earthly school. Then let everyone say in himself: if a student of the earthly or heavenly school makes efforts to enter or to come out of the school, why should I not also make some effort to attain one of my ideals? He who wants to enter the school with difficulty but to go out of it easily, can be a student only on the earth. But as a student on the earth, he will have a smaller and more limited knowledge than the spiritual student. You ask: Can the human life not be set in order in a different way? - What do you want? Now you enter the school with difficulty and go out of it easily. If you want to enter into the spiritual world, you must prepare yourselves for new conditions. There it is easy to go in, but difficult to come out. And really, it is easy to come to earth, but difficult to rise to the Divine world. Man goes to God with difficulty. Why? Because it is difficult to ascend. The way to God is a way of ascending, No matter how difficult this way may be, everyone must pass it. Upward! - That is the aspiration of every soul. You say: How shall we go to God? There are three things everyone must do. The first thing is: whether you are in a village or a city, find the poorest, most unhappy man and pay him a visit. You will sit beside him, talk with him and ask him how he lives, what is the condition of his family, etc. He will call his family in - his wife and children, and you will be polite with them, observing how they are clothed and what they need. You will talk with all in the family until you impart something beautiful to them. When you see that they are cheered up, you will go away. The second thing you must do is to go out on a stormy day and meet the rising sun. The day may be stormy and rainy, but you will have the patience to meet the sun and then go back to your house. Only under such circumstances can you have a real idea of what the rising sun means. Only under such conditions can man feel a real pleasure that he has been able to meet the rising sun amidst the rain and storm. The third thing you can do is to observe a small child learning to walk. By observing him consciously, you will learn a great lesson. Otherwise you will say: That child is creeping! No, that child is praying to God. He stand on his feet for a moment and then falls all of a sudden. Then he puts his toes on the floor again, gets up from the floor, raises his head and stand to pray: - God, I want to understand life. Help me to attain that! The child gets up and falls time after time and prays: — God, forgive me for not having learned my lesson, yet! All that You have created is beautiful and fine and I want to understand and study it. That child either creeps on the ground or stands up and casts joyful glances at his mother, happy that he can walk alone. Walking is a whole science. And the small child is studying that science. I say: You have also been such children and have studied this science, but you have forgotten it. Many ask: How must we pray? - Like the small children learning to walk. - What position must we have in life? - The position of the small children learning to walk. When you become like small children, you will comprehend the meaning of life. Thus, after you have done these three things, you will be filled with a sacred thrill and will be in a position to pronounce the great magic formula of life: God is love! As soon as you pronounce this formula in such a way, a great, unexpected wonder will take place in the world. The sun will rise in your souls in a way you have never seen it till now. All the 12 doors of heaven, which you have never seen, will open. And from there you will hear the voice of all those who have passed your way end have finished their development. They will all together pronounce the magic formula: God is love. Wherever you pass you will hear: God is Love! What will be the great wonder which will come to pass? - All sorrows and sufferings will vanish. The ignorance you have been in until that moment will vanish. Then you will realize what sufferings and death have meant and say: All that has been an illusion, a vapour. Then your faces will shine and you will see the brightness of the great world. The great in the world is the Divine Love. The Divine Love can be understood only when a man can write, pronounce and apply correctly the magic formula in life. He who can do these three things: visit. the poorest man, meet the rising sun in the stormiest day of his life and learn the prayer of the child learning to walk, can pronounce and comprehend the magic formula in life - God is Love! The magic formula - God is Love - contains the new understanding of the Kingdom of God. 3. Congress talk of the Master held on the 3rd of September, 1933, 5a.m., Sofia – Izgrev The Great Formula

One Link John 4 ch. The greatest thing which we know in the world is life. It is not a question, how we conceive life, or how we feel and think about it. These are all particular and incomplete conceptions. We are speaking about life as a whole, which consists of that which we see outside, as its manifestation and that which is to be its future manifestation. Contemporary humanity is in the state of a child. People have an indefinite idea about life itself as well as about its manifestations. By the word 'life' we understand that which man desires. Man desires life. Knowledge, wealth, power, and all the external settings are pleasant only when life exists. All these things are only the conditions of life itself. If life did not exist, they would be of no purpose. Light is of no purpose without the eyes. Music-sound is of no purpose without the ears. The word is of no purpose without the human tongue. Today, all people speak about the new in life, but wherein does it lie? You see a picture and you say: There is something new in that picture. - But you do not understand what is new in the picture. In order to realize the new in the picture, you must paint it. Another person says that the picture is beautiful. What is beautiful in the picture? You say that a person is beautiful. In what does his power and beauty lie? One must have tested everything he speaks about. It is not enough for you only to say that sugar is sweet, but you must have tasted it. Only the white colour does not distinguish the sugar from the other things of the same colour. There is an inner quality which determines the sugar. It is its sweetness. Therefore, every man has certain feelings in himself by means of which he recognises reality. As far as reality is concerned, you will find a number of philosophic conceptions according to which reality is something incomprehensible, just as Cod is invisible. I have an entirely different idea about the word "invisible" than the philosophers. When they say that God is invisible, they are expressing their literal conception of Him. That God is invisible is but one side of the question. He is visible, at the same time. Where is God visible? - In His smallest forms. For instance, all men see the sun, but who has seen it in its grandeur? The sun is one million and 500 thousand times larger than the earth. Who has seen it in that size? We all see the sun as a small ball, which we can carry under our arm. You say: How beautiful is this light ball! If I could take it into my house that it might shine there! - There is a great difference between that which you perceive and that which exists in reality. When the philosophers say that God is invisible, you understand exactly that which you have no conception of. You have no idea about the inner construction of things. Often times scientists speak about things which they do not know on the inside. For instance, someone starts speak about the sun and makes an analogy between the sun and the earth. He says that on the sun there are mountains, valleys, great oceans, rivers, planets, beautiful gardens and people similar to those on the earth, only much more beautiful and stately. As you hear that man speak about the sun you ask him whether he has seen that which he is speaking about. He has no seen anything, but supposes that all is as he says. And after all that, there will be people who will believe that. Many people believe in the assertion of some philosophers that God is invisible. And they repeat that assertion. On the one hand this is true, but on the other hand, it is not true. Every truth is halfway true and every falsehood is halfway false. But there is truth in every lie and in every truth, there is some falsehood. This is an aphorism. When I say that in every truth there is some falsehood, I do not consider the truth in its absolute sense, but I rather consider it as a fact which is regarded as a truth. Here is a state considered by people as a truth. They say: life is unhappy. This is not a truth. Why? There is absolutely no unhappiness in life itself. Only the life of some people is unhappy. Thus, in that truth, there is something false. You also say that the water is muddled. No, the water can never be muddled. It can contain different sediments and admixtures in itself, but these admixtures can by no mean change the constituency of the water. These elements may only dim the external appearance of the water, but absolutely no change can take place in its essence. Some years ago, I listened to a talk of an American professor who spoke to a great audience about the purification of water. He wanted to demonstrate to the public by a number of experiments, that no matter what admixtures are put in the water, it can be purified in such a way as to remain pure water again, without changing its chemical properties in the least. There were several bottles of water on the table, taken from different dirty places in New York and Boston and through a process of distillation he obtained absolutely pure water. As a proof of that, he drank of that already purified water. By those experiments, he proved that water can not be polluted. On the basis of the same law, I say: We are in such a phase in which life can by no means be stained. Certain material admixtures, as man's thoughts and feelings, can temporarily and only externally stain the purity of life, but the essence of life can by no means be stained. For instance, some man is unhappy for the sole reason that the thought of being persecuted by someone, has entered into his mind and he is always expecting to be killed. Day and night he thinks that someone is pursuing him with the desire to kill him. He says: They are persecuting me. - Who is persecuting you? - I do not know, but someone is after me. And now, someone must come and try to take that thought out of his mind and convince him that no one is persecuting him. How will he convince the man? He must try to convince him by a number of proofs that no matter what a blow his enemy might inflict upon him, his knife could never stab his body. That knife is of such a nature that it cannot harm the human body. Contemporary men are under the same delusion, that death can drive its knife into our bodies and we may die. At the same time, people preach that we can resurrect. However, how can one convince in the resurrection those ministers who maintain the idea that only the upright will resurrect, while the sinful can not resurrect since they are condemned to eternal fire and torment? On my part, I add: only those who have not died can not resurrect all who have died and who die will resurrect. How can you resurrect now while you are living? The resurrection implies a new life in a new form. Can the worm turn into a butterfly while it is still living? So long as it is worn, it can not become a butterfly. As soon as it stops being a worm, it turns into a butterfly. Consequently, man, such as he is, can never resurrect. The idea of the resurrection is not abstract, but it is difficult to speak about it, since every one has his own views about it. When people discuss a certain question, they do not consider the facts, reality itself, but rather their own personal views and theories and give their opinion whether their theory is right or not. It is not of importance to me whether a given theory in physics, chemistry, or some other science, is right or not. For me every scientific or philosophic assertion is true to the extent that it is an expression of the truth which exists in nature. If a certain theory is in accord with the truth, it throws light on the mind and satisfies men to a certain extent. However, if it does not throw any light in people's minds it may be excellent outwardly, but it does not satisfy people. Every theory of this kind is like a well-prepared meal, pleasant in appearance, but after half an hour causing certain reactions in the stomach, which shows that the food had not been as good as it had looked. Therefore, every teaching must have a calming effect on man. The new direction of life is in a position to produce such an effect. There is a danger for the religious people in that they deny knowledge by saying: We have no need of knowledge. If we love God, love will give us everything. This shows that they do not understand love. Love does not exclude knowledge. He who excludes knowledge has no love in himself. You will quote the verse in the Scripture where it says that knowledge is the cause of pride. Yes, knowledge without love makes one proud, but knowledge with love imbues life with meaning and beauty. How you can answer that knowledge limits man. On the contrary, it gives man freedom. The truth can not abide in man without knowledge. Life, knowledge and freedom must become an indivisible whole. Do not allow any one to drive a wedge into your conceptions. No power in the world, be it of the physical, the spiritual, or the Divine world, is in a position to disintegrate the composition formed by life, knowledge and freedom. I say: no matter what you think or how you philosophise, this is the foundation upon which you must place your life. If you do not have this philosophy, whatever you think will come to nothing some day. Today you think one way, but on the next day you say that you will die. Then you look upon your house and become sorrowful. There is sense in having a house, but if you do not die. Today you have children, but tomorrow they die. There is sense in having children, if they do not die, but if you and your children die what is the use of your coming into this world? You will say that God has created the world in this way. No, God has not created such a world as we have today. A world in which men die is not the creation of God, but of men. When God created the world, He wrote an inscription which He gave to Adam. It stated: You will live in the garden of Paradise through all eternity and you will never die. On the basis of these words, Adam was figuring out how many thousands of years, he would live. God said to him: Do not think about the years. If you can imagine a number composed of the number one with 15 zeroes after it and live through these years, I shall tell you after that how many years you will live. Do you know what an enormous number that is - the number one with 15 zeroes? It is something more than quintillion. This is all fine, but in life there must be something incomprehensible, i.e. unattainable. There exist two contrasts: the small and the great, i.e. the whole. The small can never envelop the great, i.e. the whole. That is an impossibility for the small, that is why it has ah eternal aspiration toward the great, an aspiration toward learning and obtaining knowledge. The small always studies. Therefore, when a man can not put himself in the position of a small child, but thinks he knows much, or that he is strong and great, he loses his beauty and exposes himself to great and unpleasant surprises in life. When anyone tells you, you are strong, do not admit it until you have tested your strength. Make an experiment and see what weight you can lift. If you can raise a stone of 50 kilos weight, your strength is not great. The horse can carry a load of 500-1000 kilos. Therefore, the horse is much stronger than you. The elephant, on the other hand, is much stronger than the horse. Thus, you must avoid to make comparisons between different things. If you compare things, you spoil their beauty. When two maidens compete about their beauty, they lose it. People lose their beauty for the sole reason that they admit in themselves certain elements foreign to the nature of beauty. The beautiful girl who wins the beauty-contest, becomes proud, while the one who loses it, is embittered. In the first case, the pride and in the second - the anger are the foreign elements which spoil beauty. The girl who loses in the contest, says to the one who wins: You will see what I shall do to you! - How many famous beauties have lost their beauty, on account of jealousy! What misfortunes in life have come upon so many beautiful girls and men! You read often in the papers of people who attack beautiful girls in many different ways, in order to spoil their beauty, as throwing sulphur acid in the face of someone etc. It is good for a beautiful person to wear a veil on the face, in order that other people may not see him. Beauty is an inner quality. The only place where the real worth of beauty may be rightly evaluated, is the rational world. By the words rational world, I mean - the Divine world. Beauty may be appreciated properly only in the rational world. Beauty is something living. The external side of beauty is expressed by power. Therefore, the power of man lies in his beauty. The power of man is determined by the degree of his beauty. There is a certain correspondence between power and beauty. This correspondence is due to a harmonious combination of the forces operating in man. The beautiful person may not be conscious of the harmonious combination of his forces, but nature has already given him credit. She herself takes delight in his beauty. Wherever the beautiful person goes, all doors open before him. Wherever he goes, all bow before him and say: - Come in! The beautiful person sheds happiness to all people. And really, only the beautiful people bring happiness in the world. Beauty has several qualities which distinguish it: goodness, power, delicacy and wisdom. The beautiful people are wise. Some may answer that the ugly people are also wise. No, an ugly person can not be wise. If he is wise, his wisdom is due to the beauty which he has possessed at sometime in the past. His present ugliness, on the other hand, insures his future ignorance. It has been note that when a person loses his knowledge, and becomes ignorant, he begins to grow ugly. I shall cite an example from life, to show you how a handsome young man gradually lost his beauty. Many years ago there was a handsome youth in the High school of Varna - almost the nicest looking person in the whole school. When he walked in the streets, people turned to look at him and to admire his beauty. What was my surprise when several years later, I saw that man in Sofia - his face grown rude, his eyes swollen, his body grown stout - there was not a trace of his former beauty! When he saw me, he stopped and began to speak to me: See what life did to me! I am no good. Nothing remained of my beauty! Where are those happy years? I missed something in life, which I can never find now. He suffered from heart disease and his days were numbered. Until he had not lost his beauty, he enjoyed perfect health - he was a healthy, strong and stately youth and very talented at that. I say: when a person loses his beauty, he falls into a peculiar state in life. By this example, I want to make you consider the fact that Providence has deposited certain things in man, which he must guard carefully, in order not to lose them. He can preserve these qualities only when he understands the material world. The material world is composed of all those things which are mobile. From the human point of view, all those forms which comprise the material world, are in a state of rest, i.e. they are not organised. Therefore matter in itself is inert, immobile. The slightest movement, on the other hand, is a sign of life. Life gives an impulse toward motion to all matter. Therefore, when life penetrates matter, it cultivates that immobile inert mass and produces numberless different forms out of it. That is why we may rightly say that life gives form to matter, as a consequence of which a process of refining and ennobling begins to take place within it. In a word - the immobile, the indolent begins to evolve. Wherever there is evolution, there is movement. Wherever there is movement, there is life. Life, on the other hand, is one of the elements of the spiritual world. The Divine world is characterised by thought and rationality. Thereby we draw the conclusion that every kind of movement includes an element of rationality. Thus life imbues that which is inert and irrational, i.e. matter, with rationality and motion. When you connect an irrational form with motion and the conscious life, it becomes significant for you. Thus, man is composed mainly of three elements: of an inert element, which is matter; of a mobile element, which is life and of a rational conscious principle. These three elements represent the idea of life. So long as you connect motion with life, you can heal yourselves and be healthy. But as soon as you admit the thought that the motion can be stopped, you will come to the inert element in life. And then you begin to ask the question whether matter really exists. Of course, matter exists I do not maintain the theory that matter is an illusion. The material world is a real world. Matter is a reality which serves as a foundation for the manifestation of life. Motion, on the other hand is the foundation for the manifestation of rationality. However, this does not mean that motion depends on matter, or rationality upon motion. They do not proceed one from the other, but each element serves only as a basis for the manifestation of the other. The beauty of matter lies in that it is immobile. When it acquires mobility, its nature changes. In the same way when motion becomes immobile, it changes its nature. Often men have a desire to be more in a state of rest than in motion. That desire, however, is dangerous. Why? Man can not remain in a single position, as only in rest. If he comes to such a state, he must know that such state is proper to matter. Only matter rests and remains immobile. When he comes to life, he must be happy that he works and moves, because motion is the quality of life. And finally, when thought comes, he must be happy for that element. It shows that his thought, his reasoning powers become active. Man must be happy about the three elements in his life: rest, motion and thought, and know also, that he has not come to earth to solve all the questions of life. The Creator of the universe has not sent man to earth to give an explanation to life, or to determine the bounds of this world, or to figure out how many worlds exist. No one till today has solved these problems, neither you can solve them. According to the occult science, the present universe has existed for millions of years, but one day it will disappear and will be replaced by a new universe. This is to say that throughout eternity, numerous worlds have existed and disappeared, and new worlds will be created. Therefore, in the situation as it is, do not attempt to count out the number of those worlds. There are millions of worlds in the universe and you can never count them all. Do as the Turks do when they come to so difficult problem. They say: "Seven storeys up and seven down" - and then they stop. How many are seven storeys? If you take one storey as ten metre you will have 70 Meters in all. How high is 70 meters? Even if you take one storey as one thousand meters, you will have seven thousand meters. What height is seven thousand meters? Now let us consider the question of education. Why? Because if you do not come to the new outlook of life, yon can not rectify your present life. All men are frightened by the crisis and the catastrophies in life. Whether you read the papers, or talk with, people, you always hear them tell of different misfortunes and losses: a car had run over a person; a train had killed a man; so many houses had burned up; so many ships had sunk, etc. All men are under the spell of a terrible insinuation and every one expects something awful to happen in his life and to listen to his funeral-speech from his grave. What sort of life is this when you are expecting your last hour like a man condemned to death by hanging who is expecting the executioners to enter his cell and to lead him out to the scaffold? If you are man of learning, yet you tremble at all times at the thought that you are going to die, what sort of knowledge do you possess? Real knowledge is that which can set man free from the eternal fear and anxiety about his life and to make him say: I am one of those men who do not die. I can change, but I can not die. And in fact, we are continually changing. You see a beautiful child today, but you meet him after several years entirely changed - he has become a grown up person who has lost his beauty. The child has changed, he has matured. The apostle Paul says: "We shall all change, but we shall not die." I ask you: what life is this in which men always suspect one another? The son meets his father with a young girl and immediately suspect him. The daughter meets her mother with a young man and suspects her. The sister meets her brother with a beautiful young girl and suspects him. The nobility of man lies in this: when he sees his mother, father, brother or sister with young men or girls, to feel his heart throb joyfully and to think the best and the finest about them. Why must you think the worst? You say: It is impossible for man not to sin. What an absurd idea! How have you coma to the conclusion that man can not live without sinning? - But we see that he commits sin. - Man sins, because he wants to sin, not because God has created him to sin. Man is good by nature, but he stains himself. He stains himself at least, ten times a day and God constantly cleans and washes him up. As soon as he is washed, he goes in the mud like the buffalo, and becomes muddy again. Why does the buffalo roll in the mud? He says: If I do not roll in the mud, the flies will bite me. Thus, the small flies have forced the big buffalo to roll in the ponds and become muddy. What sort of philosophy is this? The great buffalo with horns and hoofs is frightened by the small flies and has gone into the muddy ponds to keep them off his back! A new philosophy is being given to the world today, which man must begin to study. In this respect, every man must ask himself what is his pre-destination and what place he takes in nature. As soon as he comes to this state, he will stop to worry. Worry is a secondary thing in life. Man must ask himself each day and solve the important question for himself: why he has come to earth and what work he must accomplish. Each man has a certain work assigned to him which he must accomplish, by all means. Let every one ask himself what is his position and work in life. If you observe the life of the bees in a hive, you will see that there, the work of each one is strictly determined. The queen lays eggs, while the workers gather honey by going away and returning into the hive continually. There are other bees which produce music and they also fulfil their work by that. They are musicians. During hungry years, the workers kill the players and say: We have no need of lazy players; however, when fruitful years come and they become rich again, they give place to a greater number of musicians and do not kill them. People call the players in a hive lazy bees, but I call them 'the beautiful musicians of the bee-hive'. So long as these musicians make music in the hive, you can take honey from it. When the workers begin to kill them, it is bad for them, but it is bed for the people as well. You must wish that there might be players in the hives, for there will be honey them; but as soon as the workers begin to kill them, it is not good both for them and for the people - there will he no honey. Therefore, so long as beautiful people exist in the world, there will be honey; but when they begin to disappear, the honey decreases. Why? Years of crises have come in life. As long as there are strong men in the world, there will be freedom; But as soon as the power and strength of people decreases, slavery comes into life. While rationality exists in the world, happiness visits mankind. When rationality is decreased and disappears, all misfortunes come. Someone asks: Shy am I unhappy? - Because you are not wise. Why am I weak? - Because you have no strength - you are not beautiful. Every man must desire to be beautiful. For this purpose, he must bear in his mind the image of some beautiful person. As you walk along the street and see a man with a beautiful forehead, or eyes, stop your attention upon him and try to paint his picture. In this way, you will learn to retain beautiful image in your mind. As you walk in a mountain, stop your glance upon some beautiful landscape and try to paint it. Therefore, if you want to develop some noble qualities in you, stop like the painter upon some beautiful image and work upon yourselves. Only in this way you can advance. If you go to heaven among the angels, you will find yourself surrounded by beauty. The angels are very beautiful beings. If an angel should come down to the earth, all men and women, all men of learning will begin to follow him. The beauty of the angels is great and no one can stand it. And if the angels do not want to come to earth today, it is because they do not want to cause unhappiness to people. In this respect they are high and noble. Since they know that man cannot attain their beauty at one breath, they keep themselves out of their sight, in order not to disappoint them. When hey must come to earth, they put on the humblest clothes, in order not to tempt people. However, there are cases when angels have visited earth in all their beauty and glory and he who has been able to see one of them, has immediately fallen prostrate on the earth. Deniel, a famous prophet of Israel, upon seeing such an angel, had lost his consciousness and fallen on the ground. The angel had been forced to approach him and make him stand on his feet. This shows that people can not yet bear, the powerful, the noble, and beautiful in the world. The angels are men who have lived on _the earth at some time in the far past, and who have passed through a special zone of suffering and conflict before attaining to perfection. Therefore – they have passed from the human race into the race of the perfect, or into the state of angels. The perfect people, or the angels serve as models for humanity. There are not artists today, who could paint an image of angelic beauty. Why? Because beauty is an intangible quality. The beautiful man has self-assurance and never gets discouraged. He does not know what discouragement or loss of faith is. And being conscious of his beauty, he is as natural as the really rich men who has no fear, whatever, of impoverishment. However, the day that man loses his beauty, he falls, into a state where only a good outward appearance is maintained without any wealth back of it. To sum up: we said that matter is distinguished by inertia, life - by motion, while the spirit - by rationality. Hereby we can draw some rules by which man must live. In certain respects, man must be inert like matter. When must he be inert? When it is a question of crime, of temptation and evil. As soon as he falls upon one of these states, he must be inert and not move from his place. But when he falls upon the good, he must be mobile like life. This is the true moral. However, if he should do the contrary thing, namely be mobile as life in the evil and inert like matter in the good, he will cause the greatest misfortune to himself, as he will thus give way to the evil in him. Immobility is one of the good qualities of matter; mobility is one of the good qualities of life, but if both are not employed in their own place they will give rise to the evil in the world. Therefore, in time of sorrow and suffering, be immobile like matter; in time of happiness and joy, be mobile like life. Then in time of joy say: May all Bulgarians, all Englishmen, all Americans, all men on the face of the earth live in the good! By the word 'good' I understand that which is mobile. If all people lived in the good, life would of itself become meaningful. In this way, people would attain to an inner liberty in life. Now, you often come against contradictions in life which you can not deal with and you say: What does that person think of me? - If you wont to know what a person thinks about you, observe his eyes and his mouth. If his eyes move much and if his mouth moves, he has, by all means, two opinions about you: so long as you give, you are good for him, but when you stop to give, you become bad. If you smile at him, there is no better man than you, but as soon as you become serious, there is not a worse man than you. If you meet a person whose eyes and mouth are calm, he wants to tell you by that calmness: Look calmly upon all things created by God. When you meet a sage he will not tell you to look at him, but he will attract your attention by the calmness of his eyes which speak to you. They say: I acquired, this state of calmness by looking upon all things in nature created by God. Since God is calm, why should I be unquiet? - But I owe to such and such a person ten thousand leva. - In that case, you must apply your prudence. Here is what you must do: you should go to the men who has lent you a thousand leva several years ago and which sum has increased to ten thousand with the interest and say to him: Brother, you want your money back and you are right in that. However, I can give you only one thousand leva - the mother of the money, but the remaining nine thousand leva and the interest, is impossible for me to pay. You are a rich man; agree to accept the thousand leva. If he does not agree to that, by any means, invite him to go with you into the forest, in order that you may dig out your wealth and. then pay him. When he is in the forest with you, say to him: Do you agree to give up the nine thousand leva, and to accept the one thousand which I am offering you? If you do not agree to renounce that sum, I shall take out my revolver. He will immediately give up his desire for the interest and accept the sum of one thousand leva. As you see the question is easy to settle. The rich man will see that he has dealings with a good man. If the debtor was not a good person, the life of the creditor would be taken. You will say that the debtor threatens him. I ask you: does not the creditor frighten his debtor by requiring such a high interest of him? - Yes, but that is a deceitful way of acting. - The creditor is using deceitful means also. Therefore, the acts of both the rich and the poor men can be wise, but they can also be extremely senseless! Intelligence and sense is required of both poor and rich. The eyes of both the poor an£ the rich men must be immobile while they are facing evil, while they must be free, i.e. mobile, while looking at the good. This is the teaching which present-day people must be taught. The preset education does not give men a way out in their life. Why? Because they have no foundation upon which they could place their life. All the experiments 1 have made till now for the rectification of humanity by the old methods, have proved unsuccessful. However, all the experiments I have made according to the new methods, have turned out successful. You say: Which is the new method? In order to learn the new method, you must put yourself in the position of a horse, while the one who will give you that method, should mount you, put a bridle on you and start to direct you, observing you whether you will subject to the new teaching or not. If he should leave to wander wherever you want to, you will be lost, by all means. The Divine principle in man constantly liberates him from the limitations of the old life, but much time does not elapse before he takes the old way again. Then the Divine bridle comes again and puts him back on the right road. Which are the Divine reins? They are the constant sufferings, births, death and reincarnations. - Man's hair has become grey from reincarnations. You say: - How long shall we be born and reborn? - Until you learn to subjugate yourselves voluntarily to the Divine laws; until you become as immobile for the evil as matter and mobile for the good as life; until you become as intelligent as the spirit which has come out of God and works within man. As soon as you have attained all this, all the chains which oppress you, all mischance, failures and unhappiness will vanish and you will find yourselves in a world where you will have at your disposal all the wealth which nature has bestowed to this world. This wealth is the universal inheritance of all the beings created by God. He knows the needs of these beings for which reason, He has provided a special budget for each being, in order that every one may live a peaceful life of growth and development. Now I want to give you hope and tell you upon whom you may rely in life. You may rely upon a rich man who loves you; you may rely upon an intelligent man who loves you; you may rely upon a strong man who loves you. Thus, you can always rely upon a person who loves you and never upon one who does not love you. If you rely upon those who do not love you, you are on the wrong path. Rely only upon those who love you, no matter how small they may be! Do not be angry with those who do not love you, neither reproach them or want anything of them. You say: Are there people in the world whom we can rely upon? - Of course, there are. I shall cite an example from life to show you that men are not such as you sometimes think them to be. Some years ago I travelled from Varna to Sofia by foot with an acquaintance of mine - a man who was an extreme pessimist. He had very perverted ideas about the Bulgarians, especially about the military officers and said that he had never met any officer in his life who was capable of doing good to a person. I listened to him without answering anything back. We passed across the river Kamtchia and reached Messemvria (Nessebar) at 12 midnight. I said to him: This night we shall go to the officer on guard. - How is that? Are you joking with me? They will arrest us immediately at that spot. - Never mind, let us try it. We went to the house of the border-officer, knocked at the door and immediately a young office- core out and invited us pleasantly to enter in. He asked us where we came from and a long two-hour conversation thus began. After that he offered us tea and a light supper and invited us to spend the night with him. In the morning, we prepared ourselves for the journey. The young officer walked a certain distance to see us off. He walked with us as far as one kilometer outside the city limits. Then my friend turned towards me and said: There are good people among the officer class as well. I say: There are good people everywhere in the world, but you must find yourself at 12 midnight by that young officer, in order to be convinced in this fact. Therefore, rely upon the good people in the world who are inert like matter in regard to evil; mobile like life in regard to the good and wise like the Spirit which is working within them. 4. Congress Talk of the Master given on the 3rd of September, 1933. Sofia, Izgrev. One Link

The Last Blow Luke 4 ch. There is a dark side in the human life, which has been under, solution for thousands of years and it still remains unsolved to this very day. This dark side refers to the trials in life. All men ask: Why are there trials in life? Can we not do without them? Which people are tried? Only the strong, not the weak, the enlightened, not the ignorant. On the whole, the weak and ignorant people have the least trials. Therefore, only those who do not understand the laws and order of nature, can ask the question why there exist trials in life. This shows, that these people have a peculiar conception of life. They want to be happy, not knowing wherein happiness lies. It is the same if you seek the truth without knowing what truth is. The truth makes man free. He who obtains the truth becomes free. He who does not understand the truth, constantly meets with contradictions in his life. To establish a fact is not the truth. Why? Because after you have established the fact, you still meet with contradictions in life and are not free. People today are dissatisfied with the order which exists in nature. I say: this question can be solved very easily. How? Let all who are dissatisfied with the present world, as well as with the order of nature, give their own better and more rational plan. Since thousands of years the invisible world has given freedom to all who are discontented with the laws and order in the world to give their own project. If that project proves better, they will apply it on the earth, in order that all men might benefit by it. He who wants-to correct Nature must, by all means, be wiser than her. An ignoramus can not correct a famous violinist. He who wants to correct some famous violinist, must, by all means, know how to play better than him. In this respect, Christ was one of the wisest and most enlightened parsons. He was initiated into a science still closed for people today. And in that state as a son of God, Christ passed through great trials. What need did He have of fasting 40 days in the wilderness? Christ made an experiment to see how many days a man can live without food. During those 40 days He lived only on the Sacred bread - the Word of God. When the devil tempted him, he said to Him: "If you are the Son God tell this stone to become bread!" Christ answered him: "It is written that man shall not live by broad alone, but by every Word of God." People are afraid when an ill person does not eat, or a healthy man eats little. They begin to advise him to eat more and to use more fat foods. They recommend to him roasted or boiled chicken, or chicken soup with a larger amount of butter. Today people deceive themselves by thinking that fat food or meat will contribute much to their general well-being. However, that is not true, for the foreign elements to your body always remain foreign to it. The life of the other living beings belongs to them and not to man. Man has no right to dispose of the life of the other living beings. - But How and what shall we eat then? By the word ‘food’ in a broad sense, I understand the Divine. In this respect, only the Divine can serve as food for man. Outside of It, all other things are foreign properties which man has no right to dispose of. Thus, he who uses as food something which is not Divine, stores in his organism certain poisons. -The foreign elements entering an organism leave their poison. All sufferings and contradictions in life are due to these elements in the human organism. The problem of man is to rid his organism of all foreign elements. Only the Divine must regain in his organism. As soon as that which is foreign to man goes out of him and only the Divine remains, his face brightens up and his will assumes its normal condition. So long as man is disturbed, he has foreign elements in his heart. So long as he thinks one thing today and another tomorrow, he has foreign elements in his mind. It is not important to know who has deposited these elements in him; the important question is for him to rid and clean himself of them. May be his grandmother, or his grandfather have injected him with these elements - that is not important, however. He should clean and free himself of them, that is his work. I say: you need a positive science which can introduce you to the essence of life, not to the illusory and transitory things in life. The transitory things always bring suffering and unhappiness to people. Suffering is caused by the fact that these things are easily lost. Therefore, one can not rely on them. For instance, you expect to receive an inheritance, but you are on the wrong path. If you expect a saint to pray for you - you are wrong. If you expect other people to plough your field, but you only to gather in the wheat, you are on the wrong path. If you want to enter the right way, you should start to work and rely on yourself. For this reason, you must regard life as a whole. Man must find his place in this whole and accomplish his work within it without hindering the other organs of life in the performance of their work. The leaf of a tree must not meddle with the work of the other leaves. Every leaf of the tree has its definite place and work. Apparently, all the leaves of the tree fulfill one and the same function, but in reality that is not true. There is no monotony in nature. When life becomes monotonous, it shows that people meddle in the affairs of each other. For example, someone asks why God has created the ox with horns on his head and hoofs on his feet. The man asks why he was created a man. According to me, the woman even till this day do not know whether they are women; the men also do not know whether they are men or not. Only to think they are men or women is one thins, but to know that positively, is another thing. The woman is discontented with her state that she was created woman. The woman is a great power. Should she be discontented with her state at that? The woman is an image of the Divine Love. If she does not bear that image within herself, she is not a woman. Such a woman can not understand life. You say: There is nothing to understand about life. Life is a struggle. — No, life is not a struggle, by any means. And there is no reason for man to fight and struggle in life. If he does that, a stronger one than him will come against him and knock him down. There is not a hero in the history of humanity who has not been conquered. Even the greatest heroes have been conquered in the end and have died. Every hero has a monument on which we read the inscription: Here lie one of the great heroes of the world. I say: those men are heroes, but they are not real heroes. Therefore, do not regret the loss of transitory things. - But we lost our love. - Do not regret that love which can be lost. That love is the hero who dies. One can not rely upon such a hero. Someone says: Once upon, a time my heart burned with love, but today my love has died. Love which sets the heart on fire and then dies, love which springs forth and then dies up, is superficial. If you become inspired and say that you are ready to do all things for the Lord, but give up your idea on the very next day, what sort of love is that? Peter also said to Christ that his love is unwavering and that he will never leave Him, that he is ready to defend Him with the sword, but he did not hold out to the end. Until the cock crew twice, he thrice denied Christ. After that, Peter realized his mistake, repented and wept bitterly. He saw his weakness and realized wherein lies the heroism of man. Where fear exists, heroism can not thrive. Therefore, the first tack of man is to become free of that inner, unnatural fear he has within himself. The only fear which is in its right place, is the fear man must have of losing his (ability to) love. It is a sacred fear. As soon as man loses his (capability to) love, he ends his life - all is finished with him. There is nothing else about which man must fear in life. All other fear is of no use. One may be afraid to die of hunger, or of losing his house or reputation, or his position in life, etc, However, all these things which cause fear in people are temporary and one must not be engaged with them too long. If you believe in God who has created you, there is no reason for you to cry and to despair, for you will never die of hunger and desolation. In the whole world there are spiritually advanced brothers who will never leave you alone. I say, no matter into what state you may fall in life, take example from the prodigal son. After he had squandered all his money eating and drinking, he was forced to feed the swine, for he was not capable of doing any other work. What do the swine- symbolize? If you, from morning till night occupy yourself with negative thoughts and desires and with your sorrows, is not that the same as feeding swine? What must you do in such a case? Find a way to free yourself from that occupation. The swine are greedy animals. They ate up everything and did not leave even acorns for the prodigal son to eat. After great sufferings, the consciousness of that son was aroused, he repented and said humbly: My father has so many servants who work for him and he feeds them. I shall also go to him as the least of his servants. There is no reason for me to stay in this foreign land, among people who do not love me. And truly, the negative thoughts and feelings of man can not have love towards him. In that state man can not live among beings who do not love him. The sufferings and misfortunes of people are due to the fact that they want to live in an environment in which love does not function. But why this is so, is not a question for discussion. In ancient times the disciple of a Hindu teacher went to him to ask him for some rules in life. The teacher answered him: you must go to the cemetery and from grave to grave tell the dead the best things which will come into your mind. Then come to tell me what they have told you. The disciple went to the cemetery and spoke the finest things to the dead: that they are great people, saints, that they have done much for humanity etc. Then he strained his ears to hear some answer, but no voice could be heard. After returning to his teacher, ha told him what he had done. The teacher answered him: Now you should go to the dead to tell them the worst things possible, and see what they will answer you. The disciple went to the dead and told them the worst things. Upon returning to his teacher he said: Again there was no voice whatever. Then his teacher told him: "If you want to understand the meaning of life, learn a lesson from the dead - when they praise you and when they blame you, when you are happy and when you are unhappy - never say a word about it! I say: All people have the weakness to find some one when they suffer and to tell him about it, thinking that will relieve them. When fortune visits them, again they seek someone to share their joy with. Do you know what these people can be compared to? They are like those rubber balls or rubber dolls with which children play. Those rubber balls have in the middle a small opening and when they squeeze the ball it gives a sound. The children are amused by these balls, press them and make then produce the sound. In the same way when suffering presses you, you utter a sound and begin to complain before people that a great misfortune has befallen you: I say: if you can examine suffering from a scientific point of view to see what lies hidden in it, it loses its sense for you. If you examine suffering calmly, you will see that there are reflex sufferings and direct sufferings which have relation to that special man himself. Reflex suffering, for instance is that tension and fear which you feel while watching a rope-walker perform different stunts. He walks on the rope without any fear, with absolute self-assurance and says: This is an art! But you who observe him are tense and full of fear that he may fall or lose his balance. And after you go out of this circus you say: - How I suffered for those people! I ask you: if that acrobat walks on the rope calmly, courageously with a perfect self-assurance, without fear, can you not, who believe in God, have as much courage and faith as he has? He who does not understand life will say about the acrobat: See by what means that scamp earns his living! If I where in your place, I would say, on the contrary: Behold a bold and resolute man! He has no faith in God, but only relying upon himself, he risks his life. Yet, I, who believe in God, am afraid even to voice my opinion, for fear people might think something bad about me. You, who believe in God, pray three times a day, yet even your own shadow frightens you, a dead man or bad dreams disturb you! What sort of faith is that which can not help you deal even with the smallest adversity? Man has come to the earth to study. If he walks in the right way there is no reason for him to be afraid. What is there to fear in a bad dream? A sister from Tirnovo once told me one of her dreams: "I dreamt that my mother came to me and without saying anything, took a jug and gave me a blow on the head with it. The jug fell on the ground and broke into many pieces, while a certain yellow liquid substance started to flow from by head. I said: How strange! Could not my mother tell me a kind word which would make me happy, instead of breaking my head with a jug? Upon getting up in the morning what did I notice? My consciousness was awakened and I began to regard and study my life in a very different light. I saw my mistakes and was aware of a certain diversion from the right path of life. Thus I decided to return to the path God had drawn for me. I realized that the jug gave me a good lesson. It was an object lesson given to me by the invisible world which meant: If you continue to walk in the old way of life your head like this jug will be broken into pieces." Therefore, man must not be a jug in the hands of fate which can break into pieces by a single blow. Does the jug gain anything by breaking? No, on the contrary, it loses something. However, the head of man gains something, for one begins to think and to see the mistakes in his life. When a jug breaks, take a lesson from that and be grateful that it broke instead of your head. After you break it, you will buy a new and better jug than the first one. You must be careful in life not to break your head like that jug. Thus, whatever misfortune comes to you, learn a lesson from it. Know that there are no casualties in nature. Every suffering or trial in its place, will bring enormous wealth in the future to those who understand it. If you survey the history of human evolution, you will see that this is the way toward the attainment of perfection. A great future lies ahead of man, for that reason he must study. The earth is a great school, a great university where the men have come to study. Christ also spent 33 years in this university. After He passed His final examination, He returned to heaven where He took the place assigned to Him. That is why Christ said to his disciples: "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth." Another time He said: "Go ye, also, to preach and spread my teaching." I ask you: should you be afraid, if you believe in Christ? He said Himself that all power was given to Him in heaven and on earth. Christ passed through great sufferings until He obtained that power. He carried His cross up to a certain place then He put it down by which He wanted to say: This is as far as I will carry your cross, from here on, I leave it for you to carry. I say: if there is something to marvel at, in the life of Christ, it is not the great suffering He passed through, but His unequaled endurance. In the face of Christ we see a soul which endured great contradictions. That endurance is worthy of imitation. He said: "I must fulfill the will of God no matter what comes!" This is character! Then He continued: "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Let Thy will be done!" I ask you: was Christ deceived in His faith? The One who had created Him, to Whom He had devoted His life and in Whom He believed, raised Him up. And after two thousand years, 500 millions of people walk in His path and work with Him. A day will come, when those who have not believed in Christ will follow Him also. Should you be afraid after all that? People today are afraid like the young maidens who are in love. The young maiden is always on pins and needles - she decks herself up and her heart constantly trembles: - What if my beloved forsake me? - What shall become of me, if he finds another more beautiful maiden than me? Then she throws away the flowers from her hair and become discouraged. But later she becomes gay again, she puts on her flowers and forgets her fear. At noon, the temptation comes again: But what if he forsakes me? If he finds a prettier girl than me? That which the young maiden experiences is just what you experience. You say: What shall I do, if God forsake me? Will He always occupy Himself with me? It says in the Scripture: "I inscribed your names in my palm." And really, in what better place can man's name be inscribed than on the palm of God? It is enough for God to look at His palm in order to see your name written there. Thus, at the present time, as well as in the past, there is need of heroes. Heroism, not faint-heartedness, is required of people. Work and not vain talking is required of people. The Turks have a proverb: "Many words at the mill." And really, the mill makes much noise. Its noise is greater than the work it performs. However, the last place of the mill is in the fire. They will chop it up and put it in the fire. The mill-stone is also doomed to self-destruction. In general, the grinding of wheat at the mill does not represent an ideal for man. In the future, the wheat will not pass through such trials as it does today. People today grind the wheat and turn it into flour; then they knead it and make bread of it, which they eat after it is well-baked in the oven. Thus, the wheat undergoes certain trials until it becomes bread. I say: as you see, the trials and contradictions are necessary in the present life. They are a privilege for the man who understands them. Man can not draw near to God without trials. The greater they are, the nearer man draws to God. If man has not experienced poverty, faithlessness, hopelessness, lovelessness, evil and darkness in life, he could never approach God and know Him. Only through trials can he understand what real love, hate and hope represent. Only in this way can he understand that love is stronger than lovelessness, hell and death; faith is stronger than faithlessness; hope is stronger than hopelessness; good is stronger than evil. It says in the Scripture: "One righteous man will pursue a thousand sinners, two righteous men will pursue ten thousand sinful men." That means that the strength of one righteous man is equal to that of thousand sinful men, while the strength of two righteous men is equal to that of ten thousand sinners. Therefore, if you are an upright man and meet a bear in the forest, do not run away from it, but rather stop it, take it by the ear and begin to talk with it. There is an example of this kind in the Scripture in the person of David who had fought with a bear and a lion and who finally fought with Goliath. Saul said to him: "Thou art not able to fight with Goliath, because thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul: "The servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. The servant smote both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them." I say: he who has fought with a lion or with a bear can easily deal with a man also. You often, consider yourself weak. Yes, you are weak in one respect -in love. The power of men is determined by the quality of his love; the power of man is determined by the quality of his knowledge; the power of man is determined by the quality of his will. Therefore, he who has not come to know the Divine Love, the Divine knowledge and the Divine will, is a feeble man. When man is outside of the power of love, he is weak. When Christ was fasting 40 days in the wilderness, He was led to a mountain by the Spirit where His love was tested. And really Satan came and began to test Him by saying: "Behold, all these kingdoms are mine. If you bow before me, I shall give them to you." Christ answered: "My kingdom is not of this world." If one of these kingdoms were offered to a man of today, to become say, prime-minister of Bulgaria, he would immediately give up his creed. For the affirmation of this thought, I shall tell you the following story. In the first days of Christianity, there lived a saint and a stone-cutter in the region of Alexandria. The saint made baskets and on his way to the city where he sold them, he passed by the hut of the stone-cutter who greeted him every time and invited him in his home to rest. After that he washed the feet of his guest and gave him to eat whatever he had to offer him. The saint was very pleased with the way that stone-cutter treated him. One day he turned to God with the words: “God, this stone-cutter does so much for me, he is a good and a honest men, but he is very poor also, for he works from morning till night and barely earns a living. I pray Thee, help him to become a little richer and to live like other people”. After he had prayed three times for him, an angel came and said to him: “Your wish to change the fate of this men is good, but he is not ready yet for a different position. If wealth be given him, he will become a bad man.” – “I think, on the contrary, that if wealth he given him, he will become better.” (Said the saint.) – “Let it be according to your wish”! (Replied the Angel.) “Go and tell the stone-cutter that in a certain place lies hidden a great treasure. Let him dig it up and dispose of it as he finds best”. The saint went to the stone-cutter and told him all the angel had said. The stone-cutter dug up the gold and immediately had a big house built in the city of Alexandria. He began to live luxuriously and soon become famous throughout the whole region. After that they made him first lord of the region. When the saint went to the city, the stone-cutter did not invite him in anymore, because he was busy with other affairs. One day the saint went to his home, but the stone-cutter pretended not to know him. – “Do you not know me?” – “No, I do not. Go your way. I have no business with man like you”. The saint continue on his way, but quite anxious, since he had realized that things were going from bad to worse. The angel met him on the way and said to him: “Do you see what you did? Did you now understand that the man was not ready for better conditions?” After that the angel caught him by the neck, gave him a good beating and said: “remember well what it means to change the fate of people!” After seeing his mistake, the saint turned a second time to God with a petition to restore the original state of the stone-cutter and for himself to be given a chance to correct his mistake. This time also God heard the prayer of the saint. A great persecution had arisen against the stone-cutter in his role of a lord: suspicions, black-mailing, dismissals etc. He lost his social position and his riches and remained without a house and without money. When he saw himself in such a desperate condition, he took his tool again and started his stone cutting. Whenever the saint passed by him, he welcomed him in, rendered him services and excused himself for having been so careless towards him while being lord. – “I do not know what devil had taken possession of me that I did not welcome you into my house! I knew you very well, but was afraid of what people would say upon seeing I had dealings with such a poor man”. The saint smiled and said: - “Never mind”. Was not this affair settled well? After a few years the stone-cutter said to the saint again: -“Pray for me that I may become rich again.” – “No! I do not want to pray for you a second time. I do not want to be beaten anymore. Certainly you can have a better position than the present one”. Thus, the stone-cutter continued to cut stones. I say: every man makes these stones and must cut them himself. These stones are necessary building material out of which man must, make his house. These stones are not to be sold, but rather to be cut and polished. What do the stores represent? They are those rude thoughts, feelings, acts and traits in the character of man which must be cultivated. Herein lies the inner meaning, the inner work of man. One day when we will have polished these atones, God will be satisfied with our life and we shall be contented. This does not mean that man can become learned or a saint in a very short period of time. Knowledge, talents and abilities are gradually attained. Therein lies the beauty of life. Sometimes people wish to become learned, rich, saintly and talented at once. I say: there does not exist such an order in the world. There is a certain correspondence between the great and the small: the small wealth, the small knowledge, the small thoughts and feelings which visit you, cost more than the great riches and knowledge. - When? When you retain them and cultivate them within yourself. Now I shall give you an explanation of this idea. Imagine that you have a bottle or a vase made of some precious stone or diamond. This vase may be full of pure water, or it may be full of some poison or acid. The bottle itself may cost millions of sterling gold, but of what use can it be to you when it is full of poison? In case it is full of pure water, its price is greater. And inversely: you may have a pot made of clay, but full of crystal water. In case of thirst, the simple pot of pure water is preferable to the diamond bottle full of poison, I ask you: of what profit are your external riches, if you bear within yourself poison which is constantly gnawing you? The bodies of people today are not made of diamond, nor of a matter similar to precious stones, consequently they sin. A day will come when their bodies will be made of pure, fine matter like that of saints and angels, and they will not sin. It says in the Scripture: "He who is born of God does not sin." Only the man who has passed through all the phases of human development and has reached a state of complete stability, is born of God. Nothing in the world can draw him away from his right conception of life. The apostle Paul says: "Nothing in the world can separate us from the Love of Christ." Yes, nothing in the world has power to separate man from the love of God. If someone wants to know what heaven is like, I say: heaven is a place of love, of knowledge and of good acts. He who enters into heaven has theno problem to manifest his love, his knowledge and his good acts. Since the inhabitants of heaven live in perfect harmony, they have need of nothing. If someone there has a temporary need of something, they all unite in helping him. The happiness of people depends upon their uniting together. If their consciousness awakes and they desire to receive and manifest love, all will be settled rightly. Only love is able to solve all the problems of life. But this love must not penetrate only the soul of one person, or one nation but of all nations on the face of the earth. When love manifests itself in the soul of a mother, she will love all children as her own. This is what true motherhood means! When a mother loves only her own children, it shows that her love is still at the animal stage, or at the most - at the human stage of development. That mother has not yet come to the state to love all children as God loves them. You say: how can a mother love all children as her own? - If she can not love in this way, she is not a mother. How can we love all nations as our own? - If you can not love in this manner, you have not any love. I ask you: what is your love for God, if you love only one person, or if you do not love everything He has created? Why do you love a certain person? You will say that you like certain things in him, that is why you love him. I ask you: would you love that man, if his love did not hold out? A young count once fell in love with a young, beautiful German lady and often paid her visits, taking to her as a token of his love all sorts of gifts and flowers. Their relations came almost to the point of marriage. One evening they decided to take a walk around the city, but in order to do that, they had to pass across a near-by river in a boat. The servant rowed the boat and they reached the other bank safely. But just as they got out of the boat, several robbers ran against them who had waited for booty in the near-by forest. The count succeeded in escaping, but; the robbers, encouraged by his flight, attacked the lady all the more forcibly, in order to take from her all the money and jewels they could find. She started to cry and to defend herself, seeking the count with her eyes, that he might help her, but she remained bitterly disappointed when she saw that he had taken to flight, leaving her alone. However, the servant who had followed her, came immediately to her aid. He gave a heavy blow with his fist to the one rubber, then another blow in the face of the other and chased them away. Then he accompanied his mistress to her home. On the next day, the count went to the house of his fiancée with a bouquet in his hand to congratulate her on her safe escape, but she answered him: “Please, do not come a second time to my home!” I ask you: what must be your character - like that of the count or of the servant? One must have the character of the loyal servant, who can come to your aid in the most critical moment of your life. I ask you: if in a given case you can not take the side of Truth, of Wisdom and Love, wherein lies your dignity as a man? What will recommend you when you go to heaven? The inhabitants of heaven are distinguished by their great patience. Contemporary religious and spiritual people can not tolerate one another and constantly complain of offences, but in spite of that, they hope to go to heaven and to be met their with music and songs. When they go to heaven they will complain there too, about the wickedness of men on earth. However, you must know that no complaints, whatever, are permitted in heaven. There all beings live only in love. Now you all must endeavor towards an inner life. Only in this way can you stand firm through all the adversities and contradictions in life. You all have contradictions, but you are also given the possibility to solve them. There are occasions where you must be silent. It is an art to be able to keep within yourself your sorrow so that no one would even suspect it. When man is sorrowful, he must think. What must he think about? He must think about all the people who are sorrowful. There are people more sorrowful then him. If he is poor let him think that there are people poorer than him. If he is rich let him think about the rich people who, just like him, have not fulfilled the will of God. In his sorrow, in his poverty and in the state of a rich man, one must fulfill the will of God. What does the fountain do? It cleans up everything on its way. At first it forms mud, however after it has poured its water for several years, it cleans up all the place around it. The upright man is like a fountain: he cleans up everything on his way. Therefore, do not become discouraged, because of your difficulties! Christ was not discouraged; the upright men and the saints did not become discouraged. In the same way, you must not become discouraged. When I turn on my radio, I constantly hear murmuring and complaining: the woman complains that her husband does not love her; the man complains that his wife does not love him; the son complains that his father does not love him; the students complain that their teachers do not love them. A strange thing indeed! The sky, the stars and the sun - everything loves you. What greater love do you want? You are enveloped by love and yet you seek the shadow of love. Why do you not appreciate the love which you have, but seek some other love? If you want me to love you, I will say: Look at the sun! Then I shall take you to a pear-tree and say: Take a ripe pear! Then I shall take you to a shop and say: Choose for yourself a nice suit of clothes! - But who will pay for it? - When Christ sent His disciples to the village to take the colt, did anyone pay for it? You say that everything in the world belongs to God, yet when it comes to the application of this, you do not think in this way. You must have the deep sacred faith that everything in the world belongs to God, but not to use this idea only for your own good. The benisons of God are for all people. All men must profit equally by them. I say: we must all live for the One Who loves us. If we live for Him, we shall love one another. If we do not live for Him, we can not love one another. Therefore, if we live for God Who is in us, we shall love and understand Him and along with that, we shall love and understand one another. It we understand the Love of God in us, we shell understand all the other manifestations of love. Once we understand those things, all the goods will come to us. Therefore, kindle, first of all, the Sacred Fire in your own hearth! Take some coal and start the fire in your hearth! Do not take coal from your neighbors! As soon as you start the Stacked fire in your hearth, all love becomes meaningful. In that state, the love of the mother, of the friend and of the servant acquire sense and become comprehensible for you. The Divine Love gives meaning to all the manifestations of love. Feelings without love are of no use. Thoughts without love are of no use. They, resemble a beautiful, but dead body abandoned by its soul, i.e. by love. The Divine Love makes the feelings, thoughts and acts of people meaningful. Deposit this love deep within your soul and do not say anything about it. Your lips should be sealed with seven seals in regard to that love. Once one of the great adapts of Egypt was asked to say something about Love. He only pressed his lips and answered nothing. One can only be silent about the Divine Love. I have spoken much about Love, but not about the essence of Love. I have spoken only about the manifestations of love, but when I come to the essence of Divine Love I stop talking. Each time I come to the Divine Love I keep sacred silence. There is nothing more beautiful than that silence. It is a silence which speaks. When a rational man is silent, he is emanating something beautiful. The stove is also silent during the winter, but a pleasant heat emanates from it. The lighted candle is also silent, but it gives a soft light by which you read and study. The sun is also silent, but it emanates heat and light which give life to all beings. When Christ was in the wilderness, Satan came to Him to tempt Him. He said to Him: "If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge over thee, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." But Christ answered him: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!” The Stones which you can climb upon are not the stones of the temple of God. The temple is within man himself and no one can climb upon it." Someone says that he has been to church - in the place of light. No, man can not be in the light, but the light can be in men. You say that you are in the White Brotherhood. This is also impossible. The White Brotherhood can be in man, but man can not be in the White Brotherhood. The White Brotherhood can enter and leave man, but man can not enter and leave the White Brotherhood. If the White Brotherhood enters into a person, he acquires a real understanding of life. If anyone thinks that he can enter the White Brotherhood, he is on the wrong path. The Spirit must enter into man and not man enter the Spirit. Christ says: "I abide in my Father." That means: Christ abides in the Divine Love and the Divine Love abides in Him. I say that you, also, must abide in the Divine Love, receive it and manifest it. May God also abide in you! Therein lies the power of man. If you abide in God and He in you, pray secretly in your soul. Do not become discouraged; no matter what trials you are passing through. Know that you will attain everything you desire. When? - This very day. If you fulfill the will of God you will receive today that which your soul desires. If your mother, father, brother and sister love you, you will never be in need of anything. If your teacher loves you, you will also never be in need. Why? Because God lives in you. In that state, everyone will fix his own lamps when they are damaged. He who denies God in himself, expects someone, from outside to came and put his inner installation in order. Let us return now to the essential thing. You are all sent to the earth to work, to study and to become citizens of the Kingdom of God. You are sent here with the confidence that you will fulfill your mission as it ought to be fulfilled. God has endowed you with an excellent body, a sound mind, a noble heart and a strong will, and you are, obliged to preserve these qualities. God has endowed you, moreover, with a powerful spirit and a great soul, as a recompense of which, you must voluntarily, out of love, fulfill his will. When you realize this fact, you must say: "We will work in the way all awakened souls in the world are working for the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth." A call for work is sent forth to all the awakened souls. Everyone must desire the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth! Everyone must desire to fulfill the Will of God on earth! Everyone must stand on the side of Love and desire the coming of the Eternal life. Everyone must stand on the side of Wisdom and desire the coming of light and knowledge! Everyone must desire the attainment of freedom! Only in this way can you become transmitters of the Divine and overcome all difficulties. You ask: Why do difficulties come? Difficulties are a necessity, in order that the human will may become inured and fortified. How can the will of man be fortified? By perseverance. For instance, you are given a hard stone to break into pieces. You take the hammer and give it a blow, but the stone does not break. I say: Continue to hit the stone, it will break up into pieces. You hit it ten, a hundred, two hundred times, but still the-stone does not break. You become discouraged and put the hammer away. - Take it again and give the stone one more blow! You do it again - once, twice, three times. - Give it one more blow! You take the hammer - the last blow! and the stone breaks. I say: The last blow will break the stone and the Kingdom of God will come on the earth. 2. Congress talk given by the Master on September the 2nd, 1933 Izgrev. – Sofia. The Last Blow

The Future Creed of Humanity There is a beautiful side in the reading of the Word. It lies in its comprehension. In the comprehension of things there is variety, while in the lack of comprehension, lies all the monotony of life. Man may regard the world from four different points of view: first, he may regard the world through, a small opening; second, he may regard it through the windows of his house; third, he may regard it outside of his house, and, lastly, he may regard it from a height - from above. These are the four ways for comprehending the Word. Therefore, you must distinguish the inner comprehension of the Word from an external, or literal comprehension of it. When someone says that he has read and comprehended the Word, he must know that the Word is expansive as the world. It says in the Word: "All things were made by Him." This means that all the manifestations of life as a whole are effected by the Word. He who comprehends the Word, comprehends all the external and internal processes of life. No process whatever can take place in the human soul without the Word. The soul is an environment through which the spiritual world, i.e. the world of reality, is manifested. Therefore, the spiritual world is manifested through the spirit, the soul and the body. The physical world, on the other hand, is manifested through the mind, the heart and the will. Men are slowly beginning to regard the soul and the spirit as a reality and the body, as the fruit of their activity. The mind corresponds to the spirit, the heart - to the soul, while the will corresponds to the body. The text I read in the Scripture is connected with a great soul – with Christ. You can not understand the Scripture, if you are not connected with the One out of Whom it has issued forth. If you drink water far from the spring, there will be much deposit in your idea of it, while if you drink at the spring, your idea of it will be perfectly clear. In this way, you will know why, at times, you do not have a clear comprehension of things as they are in their primary state of purity. There are things in life which deceive men. These things are nothing but their external wrappers. These wrappers are the product of past generations, who not being able to comprehend the questions of life, have left them for a solution to the future generations when conditions would be more favourable. Men of today act in the same way. When they want to preserve something valuable like money, wheat etc. they hide it in a secret place - they bury the money in the earth, while they place the wheat in a barn. In such a state, neither the money nor the wheat is properly utilized. Why? Because the wheat left in the barn and the wheat sown in the field are two different things. The wheat left in the barn, gradually decreases its worth: either insects attack it, or mice spoil it and in the end there is not any increase, while the wheat sown in the field passes through suffering, but it increases its amount. In this sense, the wheat sown in the field can be compared to a suffering man. The man who suffers passes through trials, like the wheat, but acquires something in the end. The wheat in the barn does not suffer and has no trials, but it does not acquire anything. The wheat in the barn and the wheat in the field are two symbols for whose comprehension a number of explanations are necessary. The millions of grains of wheat in the barn press one another for when the master comes, he stores the wheat inside and goes away. He leaves it to the grains themselves to get in order, but they can, establish among themselves no order whatever. However, grains of wheat, placed in the Divine barn, do not press each other, but everyone of them has its proper place. They are arranged in a system as the books in a library. Everyone would wish to be a grain of wheat in the Divine barn rather than in a human barn. So I say: in life there are some things desirable and others - undesirable. There are desirable things, which belong to the external life, while there are other desirable things, which belong to the inner life. And inversely: there are undesirable things, which belong to the external life, while there are undesirable things, which belong to the inner life. It is desirable, for instance, that a man should be well-dressed outwardly. It is undesirable that he should be naked with ragged clothes and shoes. It is desirable for man to have bread to eat and undesirable that he should stay hungry. Now I shall give you the first article of "the future creed of humanity": I believe in the Only Sacred bread, which all men eat and without which no man can live. Every religion, every doctrine must start at this point. He that does not believe in the Sacred bread, does not believe in anything and nothing can become of him. You must believe in the Sacred bread and you should taste it three times a day. You should caress it with your hand, kiss it with your mouth and say: The Sacred bread - that is my creed. You can philosophize as much as you wish; you can believe in anything you want to, but in the end, you will test the first article of "the creed of humanity." You say: - I believe in God. - How can you believe in God whom you have not seen? God - that is only a word. To believe in the Sacred bread, has sense and meaning, since you have seen and tasted it. That is exactly why Christ says: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." Thus, the power, the knowledge of man lies in his ability to distinguish and select the desirable from the undesirable things. It is important that man should know what his soul desires and what it does not desire. The important thing for man is that which he can not do without, that which is not essential to him is only a loss of time. It is desirable for man to put on new, well-made clothes. It is undesirable for him to go naked, but if he does not wish to clothe himself, nakedness itself will come upon him. It is desirable for man to be healthy, but if he does not desire to be healthy, sickness itself will find him. Men themselves must seek health, while sickness itself finds them. Health is a natural consequence of the observation of the first article of "the creed of humanity." This is not the creed of one nation, but of all nations; it is not the creed of one man but of all men over the whole face of the earth. This is the creed not only of all men, but of all angels, of all gods who inhabit heaven. All believe in the Sacred bread, which is their food. This is a symbol which includes everything which the living beings - men and gods - have tasted. You say: But can we not do without bread? He who says that one can do without bread, is an unbeliever. What is unbelief? He who does not eat is an unbeliever; he who eats, is a believer. He that eats, he that clothes himself can be called a believer. Let anyone attempt to call such a man an unbeliever, he will immediately say: How is it possible for me to be an unbeliever when I taste the Sacred-bread three times a day? I believe in the Only Sacred bread. - This is the simplest definition of the idea of God. Contemporary people discuss the question of what God is, but all discussions all philosophies on this question have not contributed anything useful to humanity. These philosophies are good, but they have their place. You can read what the philosophers, the mystics, the occultists and saints have said about God, but you must keep one thing in mind: Only he who has eaten of the Sacred bread of life can speak about God. The real philosophy of life will appear only when men begin to eat consciously of the Only Sacred bread. The Sacred bread bears the Word in itself. He who does not eat of this bread can not have the Word manifested in him. Eating, as an external process of the Word, and comprehension as an inner process, go parallel. If man does not eat correctly and if he does not comprehend things correctly, the Word can not operate within him. Then come the evil consequences in life. All sicknesses, misfortunes and contradictions are due to the fact that man has not eaten well and has not comprehended things well. It is not a question whether man should eat according to the rules of modern science, or use the elements which it recommends. I am not speaking about bread, as a material object composed of several elements. I am speaking about bread as a spiritual manifestation of life. The Sacred bread, known by all people, contains mainly a spiritual element, which all the rest of the chemical elements are supplemental forces of, in order that the Word, the bearer of life, might become manifested. Everything contemporary science maintains is true, but that is only the external side of the question. The bread contains a great idea without which the human life can not be manifested. If you want to manifest this life on earth, do not believe in that bread which is fresh today, and stale tomorrow, neither the bread which moulds, but rather in the living bread, which all men eat. He that eats the living bread, feels an inner calmness, an influx of energy and power and is grateful to nature for having given him the possibility to live. This is what the first article of the new Creed contains. The Creed of humanity, however, contains four main articles, which are as follows: I believe in the Only Sacred bread which all men eat. I believe in the Only Sacred water which all men drink. I believe in the Only sacred air which all men breathe. I believe in the Only Sacred light which all men receive. These are the four articles of the new creed. Every other creed proceeds forth from this one. Why? Because this creed contains the four necessary elements of life. All men eat the Sacred bread. All men drink the Sacred water. All men breathe the Sacred air. All men live in the Saered light and receive it. No matter what world you may go into - heaven or hell - everybody needs these four elements. Both believers and unbelievers are benefited by the four sacred elements. There is a difference, however, in the way the inhabitants of heaven use these elements from the way the inhabitants of hell use them: the former profess them and put them to an inner as well as an outer use, while the latter profess and use them only externally. As far as their inward application is concerned, they keep quiet about that. From this point of view, hereticism does not exist. Therefore, if you call any one a heretic, it would imply that that man does not eat of the Sacred bread, drink of the Sacred water, breathe the Sacred air or receive the Sacred light. In such a case, that man is doomed to death. He who lives, he who does not die, is not a heretic, for he lives by the four sacred elements - bearers of life and immortality. Who gave the idea of these elements to humanity? Christ brought this idea. He preached about it among all people. When? Not only two thousand years ago, but since unremembered ages, for Christ has always existed and worked for humanity in many different ways. The sun has always shone and is shining, but at times we see it, while at other times, we do not see it. That is, however, a temporary condition, a changed environment depending either on the position of the earth, or upon ourselves. The sun is always shining for those whose consciousness is always awake. The present conditions of life divert men from the right path, 3ince they prevent them from comprehending the development of life in its entirety. People today, like small children, worry and are disturbed by things which they must not even raise a question about. What do children worry about? The child, generally, is impatient. As soon as he ask his mother for bread and hears that the bread is not ready yet, he begins to cry. His mother speaks to him and tries to convince him that in one hour, or in half an hour the bread will be ready, but he does not want to listen to her and continues to cry. As soon as the mother takes the bread out of the oven and breaks it up, the child smiles, stops crying and starts to eat. Thus, the essential thing for life is food. Why? Because the Word comes through the food. As soon as the Word comes, we enter the world which God has created. Only in this way can we understand the words of Christ: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." You have all read 'the Blessings' and will read them many more times, but they will remain mere sentences for you up to the time when an inner comprehension will illumine you. No matter how you may explain a thing to a man, he will not understand it until he has experienced it. How can you explain sweetness, or bitterness to anyone, if he has not tasted them? How can you explain to people the verse "The pure in heart shall see God," if they have not experienced this state? No matter how you may explain it, they can not understand this verse, if they have not seen God. After they have seen Him, they will understand the meaning of this verse. The man who would speak about this verse must have passed through the same experience. When a painter lives in nature and paints its beautiful spots, his pictures bear a sort of character which they would not have, if the artist should paint the same pictures away from nature, out of his memory, or imagination. These are two entirely different things. Often people want to form an idea of what a good man is. What idea can they have about the good man? Three things distinguish man from the other living beings, according to me. They are: the head, the hands and the feet. These are the external features of the visible man. All other features and organs of man are secondary. Therefore, the head is the essential thing in man. The important part of the head is the face with all its organs. The face is linked with the brain and the better the brain is cultivated, the more beautiful and expressive is the face. The feet of man are the expression of the good. Thus, the good, virtue, has created the feet. When the serpent told the first lie, it crippled its body by losing its feet. In this respect, the feet are the expression and the symbol of the good. If men lose their goodness, they cripple themselves and become invalids. Such is the great law of life. Therefore, when a man loses or neglects some virtue, at the same time he loses or cripples that organ which is in service of that special virtue. When man enters the region of sin, he gradually becomes atrophied: his feet and hands become atrophied until nothing is left of them. If you put a log of wood in the fire, at first it starts to burn and it burns until it disappears and turns only into smoke and ashes. Sin is an analogous process. It is fire, but not fire which purifies, but rather fire which burns everything up. Sin, evil in the world in a destructive force, while the good is creative and constructive. The good is the first fruit of life. With that good, i.e. with our feet, we walk over the face of the earth. By and through the good we receive those energies which are necessary for the sustenance of the bodily life. Who has not experienced a great joy when after a long sea voyage, he has touched ground again. The child experiences a great joy, also, when he stands and walks on his feet for the first time. Both the adult and the child rejoice for having a solid base under their feet. Thus, the feet are the expression of the good. To stand on your feet is to step on solid ground, on the real creed, on a deep, solid understanding and inner self-assurance. To stand on your feet is to be out of all deceit, unbelief, cowardice and evil. He who lives in the Divine Love walks on the earth and feels that it is sacred ground. Which is the sacred ground? It is that ground upon which wheat is born. It is out of that ground that the wheat draws all its necessary elements which the ground has been storing up during the course of ages. Contemporary people follow two contrary courses of life, in consequence of which, they obtain two different results. The one way lies in much speaking and little working, while the other - in more work and less speaking. The first way is of no profit. For instance, people say to someone: you must study; you must understand; you must be prudent. The results of this method are similar to those of the four sons, heirs of their father. After receiving their inheritance of fields, vineyards and gardens, they had begun to eat and drink and to sit all day long saying: the fields must be plowed, the vineyards must be digged, the gardens must be watered, but they themselves did not do anything, leaving all the work to their servants to do. But after a time, they became very poor and naked and began to ask one another: What is the reason that we lost everything? Why did not our father tell us the secret how to work and what to do? I say: one must not only say what must be done, but rather work. It is the same thing as to sit in a chair and to repeat to yourself: I must be good! - In this way you will become the last pauper, but you will not become good. You will become good when you give the good that is within you, a chance to manifest itself. The good is in man, it can not be manifested externally. The power, which makes the grain of wheat sprout up, is within it, it can not come from outside. Outside of it lie the possibilities and conditions for its growth, while the power for its growth is hidden within. Therefore, when you do not have success in life, you must know that you live in the first way - that of merely speaking about the things which must be done. If you want to reap success, start to live in the second way, which is the way of work. As soon as you say that something must be done, begin immediately to work for its realization. Now as I speak about desirable and undesirable things, I find that a number of contradictions appear within them too. For instance, someone say: I would like to attain something for which I am making great efforts. - There is no need of making efforts. When you go to work, or study, efforts are not necessary. Only the sick and the lame man make efforts. The healthy man does not make efforts. To study, to work, to be good are natural states for all people. Efforts must be made only when a man is overcoming some defect or infirmity. In all other cases of life, effort must be excluded. Do not make efforts, but rather say: I live, I love. Do not allow any thought with a double meaning to stay in your mind. For instance, you say: I must be good. - That means, that you have not been good till now and from now on you will become good. This thought has a double meaning and can cause you to stumble. Again you say: If I can not realize my desires in this life, I will leave them all for another life to attain what I want to. - Do not divide life. The present and the future life are one and the same life. Life can not be divided. Therefore, do not put things off for another life. How do you know what conditions you will have in the future? If you can not benefit by the present conditions which you are given, how can you use the future conditions to your benefit? If you can not learn the lesson which your teacher has given you today, how will you learn tomorrow’s lesson? Putting things off for the future life, is one of the dangerous sides of the theory of reincarnation. I am not against this theory, but I say: every life has a definite program which must be fulfilled. Everyone must benefit by and solve the problems of his present life and not think about the future. Many are hindered by the thought that they are old and can not do anything more. How old are you? Those who think they are old, are barely 4O-45 years of age. I ask you: By what means do you determine youth and age? If by the words "an old man" you mean an invalid, that is another question. But if by 'old' you mean a man of experience and sound reason, you are on the right path, Since you have become wiser through age, you need not be hindered by it, but rather continue to march on. But if you are invalids, you must know the reason why you have come to such a state. If you say that God has created you invalids, you are not speaking the truth. It is dangerous for man to think he is an invalid, for he would expect others to take care of him in that case. It is the same thing as when a father, expects his children to grow up and take care of him. In case he has no children, he would expect some rich uncle to make him heir of his riches. Yes, the rich uncle may come, but he also may not come. Then that man would expect his fortune from some lottery ticket. But the chances there, are also small - he may buy lottery tickets all his life and still gain nothing by them. Here is how the question stands: if there is need of a lottery ticket, you already have one - you have brought it with your coming to the earth. Which is this ticket? - Life. This lottery ticket is full of possibilities for the attainment of your ideals. What more do you need? This lottery ticket contains a number of rules and laws which you must observe. If you eat the living bread on time, your lottery ticket will be always full. The healthy man observes the rules and laws of the lottery ticket, while the sick man can not do that. Whom do you love more: the sic or the healthy man? Who is sick and who is healthy? There are healthy people who, in reality, are sic. There are sick people who, in reality, are healthy. At times you can love the sick people. The fact that you love them shows that they are healthy ‘sick’ people. In this sense, the healthy man can always be loved, while the sick man can not be always loved. The healthy man is contented, but when? Only after he has eaten well. He is not contented before he has eaten bread. He is contented with the knowledge he has, but not with his ignorance. However, knowledge springs, from the Word. Only the healthy man has knowledge and can know something positively. A healthy man, in the full sense of the word, is the man who believes and whose faith is acquired by experience in the three worlds: the world of the human body, the world of the soul and the world of the spirit. The human body represents the external - the physical world - the world of external nature. That of the soul represents the invisible, the spiritual world, while the world of the spirit represents the Divine world. Now I shall not explain to you what these worlds represent. You yourselves must think and form some opinion about them. Some day when you visit these worlds, yea will learn many things. And whatever you learn, that will remain with you. That which one can see there, is very difficult to describe. Haw, for instance, can you describe the angelic world? Some people ask if there is day and night in the other world, as here on earth. - In the other world there is no night as here on earth. It is only day there. On earth, however, there is day and night, because it receives its light from the sun. The day and the night show that people on the earth live outside of the reality of life, under peculiar conditions. When the consciousness of man is darkened, in consequence of which certain changes in his condition take place, it is night for him; when his consciousness becomes clear and his ideas corrected, day comes in him. You say: we wonder what our life in the other world will be. If your consciousness does not darken when you are in that world, it will be day for you. Man's consciousness can be darkened by many causes. Sometimes the most insignificant cause can darken your consciousness. For instance, you have a good disposition, but your friend comes and pricks you with a needle. You lose immediately your good disposition and begin to think and worry over the pain your friend has caused, you. If one string of the violin of some famous violinist breaks, he loses a quarter of his certainty; if the second string breaks, he loses two quarters of his certainty; if the third string breaks, three quarters of his surety are lost. However, as soon as one string is left, he stops playing the violin. No violinist can play with a single string on his instrument. What sort of violinist is that who can play on a single string? Thence, I draw the following comparison: what sort of man is he whose spirit, soul and body do not function? That is a violinist with a single string on the violin. What kind of a man is he whose mind does not think, whose heart does not feel and whose will is not active? The real man is he who believes in the Divine Spirit out of Whom he has proceeded forth and who works in accord with Him. He should also believe in his soul, which feels at all times and lastly, he should, believe in his body by means of which he is in contact in mind, heart and will with his neighbour. The mind, the heart and the will are the manifestations of the body. Man cannot believe in that which he does not see. He should believe in that which he sees outside of himself, and that which he feels within. When he believes in everything outside and inside himself, man will come to a number of external and inner methods for work. You can not attain anything without this creed. The whole humanity will come to the new creed through the Sacred bread which they eat. The Sacred bread will lead man to the Word, while the Word will reveal the real life to him. It says in the Scriptures: "All things were made by the Word." As soon as man attain life, along with the Word they will attain the Sacred water, the Sacred air and the Sacred light. Now I shall tell you a legend about the origin of the human tears. Tears appeared for the first time in the world after Adam and Eve were chased out of Paradise. Up to that time Adam had not known what tears are. The first woman who has wept is Eve. Eve was a beautiful woman. After leaving Paradise, she realized her fault and deeply repented. Then God gave her a book saying: "The first commandment I gave you was not to ear of the forbidden tree - the tree of knowing, good and evil, but you ate and violated my law. Now I give you this book that you may read and study it. As soon as you stop reading it, you must close it and hide it away carefully. If you leave it open, a greater misfortune than the former one will befall you. You wanted to attain knowledge, did you not? Therefore, take this sacred book. Read and study it!" After taking the book from God, both of them had the idea that they possessed a book upon which their salvation depended. One day after reading it, Eve distracted by something, forgot it open. At that moment the devil arrived and after covering the book with a black sheet of paper, he went away. Upon returning to her book, Eve was terribly surprised when she could not read its pages any longer - a black sheet prevented her from reading the book. Then she thought to herself: "This time again we did not fulfill the command of God." She realized and repented for her fault and started to cry and to pray. A long time she wept until the black sheet melted away before her eyes, the book opened itself and she started to read it freely again. Thus came the first tears into the world. So I say: man must weep and pray a long time over the Sacred book before the black sheet can melt away and the book open and become readable again. As soon as the book opens up, one must begin to read it, by all means! It is the Sacred book of life. You ask: why must man weep? - It is dark before his eyes. He must weep until the darkness is dispersed and everything shines clear before him, until the Sacred book of life opens before him and he starts to read it. Never leave your Sacred book of life open! If you do that, the devil will come immediately, place a black sheet over it and go away. As soon as you have read some part of that book, close it up immediately. When you need to, open it again. Do not give it to anyone else to open it. Everyone must open and close this Sacred book himself. The book may be open while you are reading it, but as soon as you stop reading, close it up and then go away. Everyone must open his own book with a sense of deep reverence and respect, He will open his book, read something in it, reflect upon it then close it carefully and go to work. After he returns from work, he will open his book again to read and reflect, then he should close it and rest. The reading of the Sacred book represents the great bond which the soul must continually sustain. What bond must the soul sustain? An inner bond, an inner communion, With whom? - If I say with God, this word will not be clear to many. What God is for the human soul can be comprehended only when you have a friend whom you love much. When you see you friend, your whole being is transformed - you are deeply glad to see him. Everything which makes things meaningful, is due to the presence of God. Wherever God is present, there life appears; wherever God is absent, death is present there. Where God is present, there light appears; where light dwells there bread is born, water springs forth abundantly and the air encompasses all things, Where God is absent everything gradually diminishes and disappears. Therefore, the sufferings in the world show the absence of the Divine Love in people. When the Divine Love is in men then joy and gladness are found there. Thus, when you grieve, love is absent. This does not mean that love does not love you, but rather that there is some obstacle between it and you, some black sheet which prevents its manifestation. What must we do in order that love may come? You must shed tears a long time over the black sheet until it melts away. Therefore, water must come to the aid of man to quicken the arrival of love. Water satiates the thirst of man and saves him from death. Therefore, the bread is the bearer of the good; the water bring life; the air brings power while the light gives knowledge. These are four cardinal states which must be known by everyone. If man is not good, if he has not life, power and knowledge, these four elements are absent in him. Power flows into mail through the Sacred air which he breathes. The Hindus who know this from their initiates, have created a whole science about breathing with all its different methods and rules, in order to restore the strength of the human organism. When someone is in a negative mood, or sick or finds no sense in life, let him drink water. Everyone has experienced the effect of water at such times. When a traveller is passing across a mountain and begins to feel his legs giving way under him and his strength failing fast, he stops at a spring, drinks some water and feels his strength restored. This is why I say: believe in the Sacred bread, in the Sacred water, in the Sacred air and in the Sacred light through which the Word is manifested. When you believe in the Sacred bread, you will pray God to receive it inwardly and along with it to receive the Word of God. You can see how Christ regards the bread as the symbol of the Word, that after he broke it and fed with it several thousand men, he gave orders that all the crumbs should be gathered in a basket and not be scattered all around. As soon as you comprehend the meaning and significance of the bread, as the symbol of the Word, you will be in a position to form among yourselves sacred relations and have a sacred attitude toward one another. I wish you to form such sacred relations among yourselves and learn to understand and appreciate them. Let these relations and attitude which you have among yourselves, include all living beings for the sake of the love you have for God. You may see a snail insect creeping, stop a while beside it, consider its life and draw some lesson from it for your own life. You see a fly or a bee - stop before it and think about the One Who has created them and Whom you love. You see a worm - do not mock at its effort to creep, but try to penetrate into the difficulties of its life. The worm is the symbol of humility. If the worm did not work, the Sacred bread would not some forth. That small worm, despised by many, does a great work. What a ploughman it is! It has done a thousand good things whereby you and millions like you profit! The New Teaching needs men of a new outlook on life. Today the young people disregard the old men who, in their turn, disregard the young people. The young man says about the old man: This man has grown old, he is of no more use to anybody. The old man, in turn, says about the young man: This youth is still green, he is not a ripe fruit. Who can wait for him to become ripe? If the youth thinks about the aged in this way, he is a sick man and if the aged thinks in this way about the youth, he is already on his dying bed. He will die tomorrow, men will bury him and write on his grave: Here lies such and such a philosopher, a learned man! If the old and young people continue to think in this way, it will follow according to their views, that Christ is in the grave up to this day. In reality, Christ did not spend even three days in the grave. On the third day He rose. People today still keep their Christ in the grave. It is time for them to roll off the stone from His tomb so that He might resurrect for them! And after all that, men expect Christ to come a second time to the earth! If Christ does not rise within you, He will not come outside of you by any means! When Mary went to the tomb of Christ and did not find Him there, she started to weep. They asked her: "Woman, why weepest thou?" And she answered: "Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him!" And after saying that, she turned her head and saw Jesus standing there and knew not that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her: "Mary!" And she turned and said to Him: "Master!" I say: how many times in the past you have met Christ! But in spite of that, you continue to ask: Did you not see who took His body away? Now I am speaking to you, in order that you should not be deceived by external things, but rather hold to your inner illumination such as Mary experienced. When that illumination dawned in her, she knew Christ. External things can never be understood without that inner illumination of the consciousness. There is an example of this idea in the Bible. When Christ asked some of his disciples whom men thought Him to be, they answered Him that some say He is one of the old prophets and some - Elias. However, Peter answered: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Christ answered him: "Flesh and blood have not revealed this unto thee, but my Father Who lives in heaven." This is why man must study that truth which God reveals to him. If some man comes who calls himself Christ, must you believe in him immediately? In order to test him whether he is really Christ, lead him to a sick man and ask him to put his hand over the head of the sick person. If after the laying of his hands over the sick person the latter does not regain his health, what kind of a Christ is that man? Must man balieve in such a man who does not give them any knowledge or throw any light in their minds? It says in the Scripture: "As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bread." And Jesus said to them: "Bring of the fish which ye have now caught!" This is what it means to be with Christ, or to have Christ come into your home. When Christ comes to your home, you will have everything in abundance. If you are deprived of certain things, if you are not fully satisfied, Christ is not among you. Those who want to follow the way of Christ must have such an idea of Him. How many ask when the end of the world will be. - The end of the world is a philosophic question. - When will Christ come? - This is also a philosophic question. When they asked Christ about the end of the world, He answered them: "My Father only knows this. It is not given to you to know the times and the seasons which my Father hath appointed." So I say: there is a knowledge which is not necessary now to people. It is unnecessary as a bride's dress is to a five years old girl. All the flowers, wreaths and jewels which the bride wears are not necessary to the little girl. Therefore, I say to you: do not deck the child's clothes given to you by God with any flowers and jewels! Do not exchange your child's dress for that of the bride! I have often seen small girls who wear flowers on their heads like young maidens. Some years ago I had a chance to test a little girl and to see how prudent she was. I held forth a lovely rose to her which she refused to take under the pretense that she is not a maiden - she has not come to the state to deck her hair with flowers. This was the external side of the refusal, but inwardly she meant that she did not wear flowers picked from their root. Since she could not give them life, she would not pick them, or deck her hair with them. Let the one who had picked the rose bear the consequences of his crime - she meant to say. I had received the rose that day and wondered to whom I could give it. As you see, it served as an object lesson to all. When you say a bitter word to anyone, is not that equal to the giving of a picked rose to him? Do not pick the flowers and do not give them to, any person! Keep the following rule: approach all people with a deep consciousness that originally God created then good. If you find that some people are not good, that shows that they have committed a faulty sometime in their life, on account of which they have lost their goodness. You must think in this way both of yourselves and of others. If you have some defect it is due to certain other causes. It depends on you to remove that defect. However, you must constantly keep in your mind the thought that God has deposited the good in you as a foundation for your life. He has sent you to the earth as to a school where you can study. Therefore, you must study well. The only thing which makes God happy is when you study well. I am also happy when I see you study with love and readiness. When I sea a man facing temptation, I say: It is dangerous for a man to go astray from the path assigned to him. I shall use an example from the Old Testament about the bad consequence of a diversion from the right way. Once God sent one of the young prophets to the king of Israel - Jeroboam to deliver His Word to him. He said to the prophet: "Do not eat bread, do not drink water nor return by the same way you went." An old prophet reached him on the way and told him: "Come with me to my house to eat bread." - I can not go back with you, neither can I eat bread and drink water, nor return by the same way I came. This is what the word of God tells me to do. - I am also a prophet like you and an angel spoke to me the Word of God saying: "Take him back with you to your house that he may eat bread and drink water." The old prophet thus told a lie. The young prophet returned and went to his house to eat bread and to drink water. While sitting at the table the old prophet told him: "Since you did not obey the voice of God and did not keep His commandment, your body shall not lie in the tomb of your fathers." The young man continued his way, but a lion met him and tore his body into pieces. The old prophet found his body on the road, and took it to the town to lament and bury it. I ask you: why was it necessary for the old prophet to deceive the young prophet and put him in such a temptation so that a lion had to devour him? And why should he lament him afterward? The right thins was for the old prophet to advise the young one not to go astray from his road. There is an inner cause for which the old prophet had to put the young prophet to a test - the stability of the latter was tested. By that test it was seen that the young prophet had not a firm and solid character. Often people understand things as the young prophet, in consequence of which they make mistakes which cost them their life. The young prophet should have said to the old prophet: I shall continue along the way I have taken and not stop or go right or left. The same thing applies to you: if you stop anywhere, you will be hindered in your development. For instance, you rely on something, you follow a certain way, but someone comes and say to you: The way you are going is not right. - Must you believe that person? You must answer: Since I eat the Sacred bread, I am in the right way and I have absolutely no doubt in that. Therefore, man can not walk in the way of Truth, if he does not eat the Sacred bread, drink the Sacred water, breathe the Sacred air and receive the Sacred light. And when Christ says: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," He means exactly these four elements - to eat the Sacred bread without the least doubt, whether you are in the Way or not. As you receive everyday the Sacred bread, i.e. the body of Christ, you must know that you are in the right way. As you drink the Sacred water, breathe the Sacred air and receive the Sacred light of the rising sun, you must be grateful at all moments, that you are in the right way. This is the first state man experiences in the physical world. The second state is higher - it penetrates all the worlds. Now you should meditate on these four elements, as symbols, and try to see what in life each one of them corresponds to. After that you will enter the other reality of life which will give you that which you seek. You want to be happy, healthy, rich etc. However, it is not necessary for man to obtain everything he desires. Why? Because all things are not essential. In this sense some things are desirable and essential which have a relation to the present moment. Other things are desirable, yet unessential and can be put off for a later time. I wish you to obtain that which is essential for you. For instance, love and truth are essential for you. Whatever might be said about love, it is unique. Love brings life; wisdom brings knowledge and light, while truth brings freedom. You say: We want to know the truth. - The truth can not be spoken on the earth. Here we can display only the facts of life, but not the reality itself, i.e. the truth itself. For instance, I say: reality has two sides - light and dark, sweet and bitter. These are facts about reality, but they do not represent reality itself. You say to someone: You are not a wise man. - This is only a fact, but not reality. The truth can be spoken only to the slave when you release him from his chains; the truth can be spoken only to the hungry man when you feed him; the truth can be spoken to the thirsty man when you satiate his thirst; - the man suffocating - when you take him out into the pure open air; - to the lost in a dark night when you illumine his way. Thus, the truth shows you the way you must go; it liberates you from the limiting conditions of life. All people expect to be welcomed with music, songs and wreaths when they go into the other world. One thing is true - that you will all go to the other world, but how they will meet you there is quite a different question. How will you appear before the face of your Father? What account of your life will you give Him? You say: It means that suffering is expecting us in the other world. Few have experienced real suffering and real joy. Imagine a young man full of life and energy condemned to death by beheading. They take hold of him, bind his hands and feet, put him in prison where he knows that the next day his life will be taken. What is the state of that young man who knows that his head will be taken off the next day? What greater suffering than this can there be? Such is the state of a sinner who realizes his sins, and must appear before the Lord. Imagine now just the opposite of this condition. This young man has prayed and wept a long tine, but no one has given attention to him and he is beheaded. But the Saviour of the world comes Who love the young men, takes his head from the ground, puts it in its place and says: - Be free now and sin no more! Follow the law of Love! What will that man experience? - Unspeakable joy. When someone asks what suffering is, I say: real suffering lies in this - to see how your head falls off your neck by the knife of your brother, in spite of the fact that you desire with all your, might to live and to enjoy this world of God. What is joy? Real joy is experienced when you see your head put back in its place. What is suffering? - Deprivation of Love i.e. taking your head away. What is joy? - The coming of Love, i.e. putting your head back in its place. This is the way to understand life in all its manifestations. All other ideas have not the power to throw the new light on life. Man’s head must stay in its piece! The upright man is distinguished by the fact that no power in the world is capable of taking his head off his shoulders. No arms can take his head off, either. When man's head can fall off his shoulders, it is a sign that he is exposed to some inner danger. The blessings we read in the chapter of Matthew are methods toward the realisation of an inner bond with God - with Love. As soon as you achieve this bond, an angel of the Lord will knock on our hearts and take you to the spiritual end Divine world where they will welcome you with wreathe, music and songs. If you are not ready and refuse to go with him, he will cut off your head with his sword. I describe to you this state not because it will be your fate, but in order that you might know what darkness and suffering mean. Every man is not condemned to be beheaded, but everyone must sympathize with the one who will pass through that suffering and feel his condition. You speak with such a man, but you know that after one day he will lose his contents — his head will go. You look at his muscles, hands and feet, but the man is not there. Where is the real man? Some will say that the man is in the soul, others - in the spirit etc. Now we are expecting the elevation of the human soul, the liberation of the human spirit and the resurrection of the human body. Thus, the physical man must resurrect! In the physical world the resurrection represents the new life of man; in the spiritual world the resurrection implies the coming of love on the earth; while in the Divine world, it means the descent of the spirit to the earth. Therefore, man must resurrect simultaneously in the three worlds: in body, soul and spirit. This is the true resurrection. When a man dies and is born again - that is a resurrection only in the physical world called reincarnation. The resurrection in the spiritual world is the entrance of man into a world without contradictions. The resurrection in the Divine world implies the attainment of the Eternal life. People today live in a world in which they eat mouldy bread from morning till night; drink polluted water from morning till night; breathe impure air from morning till night; walk in dim light in which they constantly stumble. These are the inner states of man. It is not enough only to say that God is good and to sit and wait for this goodness to become manifested. This is an old philosophy which you must put aside. The question is about the new life which requires faith in the Sacred bread, as a foundation of life out of which proceeds the Word. Believe that originally God has deposited many talents and abilities in man which he must develop. How? - By working in the right way and by loving disinterestedly. Then he will appear before the face of God as before a good Father and show Him all the talents he has developed. He who has worked on the earth will appear before his Father as a good son; ho who has not worked will appear as the prodigal son about whom Christ spoke in one of His parables. The prodigal son returned to his father penetant and humble, for which reason his father killed the fatted calf and gave a feast in his honor. He said to his good son: "Son, you must not be angry. Your brother was dead and is now come to life. All that I have is yours. You do not understand yet the deep meaning of life, that is why you are angry. Rejoice that your brother has come!" As I observe the relations of people, they are very much like those of the two brother, when they see that a new person enters a society where he is met with a certain respect, they all attack him saying: This man has just come and so much honor is accorded to him, while we have worked for 15-20 years and no one pays any attention to us. I say: the prodigal son did not return to his father for any honors, or feasts. He said to his father: "I am not worthy of your love. Will you, kindly, take me in your home as a servant?" In order that man may be given a banquet like the one the father gave to his son, he must have a broad mind, a big heart, a spacious soul, a great spirit and broad views. This concerns all who have an awaken consciousness who want to love, to study and to prepare themselves for the coming of the Kingdom of God within them. It is time for all people to take off their prisoners robes and to free their feet chains. It is terrible to listen to the noise of men's feet in chains! How awful is the noise of the iron chains! All men today are in chains. I meet a certain man in such a state and free him from his chains. Hs begins to walk freely, but when I meet him on the morrow, he is in chains again. I cure some sick person, but after he is cured, he comes to me sick again - again in chains! Someone comes to ask me what food to eat and how many times a day to eat, but after I tell him everything, he does not apply my advice, continuing to eat as he is used to. What can one tell such a man? Another man asks me whether to eat potatoes and tomatoes. I say: It is not an easy thing for one to eat potatoes, since they have absorbed certain harmful elements by staying a long time in the ground. The wheat, also, by being kept a long time in the barn acquires certain harmful elements for the human organism. Man must know how to rid himself of the harmful elements the different foods contain. When you eat grapes you must wash carefully every grain you put in your mouth, as that it should be free of any microbs or dirt. People today eat quickly and o not give enough attention to the purity of the fruit they eat. It is good that they have no fear of infection, but fast, careless eating has bad consequences for the organism. Man must not eat fast. When he takes a bunch of grapes, let him look it over carefully, wash it well and start eating it grain by grain, counting the number of grains the bunch of grapes contains. In fact, all this is in regard to the external side of eating, but when one learns to eat correctly, he will gradually begin to comprehend its inner meaning. Now as you read the Word of God, you come to the conclusion that man must live rightly in order to please God. How can we please God? - By loving one another. How can we love one another? What is the rule, according to you about the way to love a person? To love a man means never to trespass his Sacred enclosure. How should this be understood? - Never to eat the bread which he eats; never to drink the water, he drinks; never to desire the house for yourself in which he lives; never to regard with envy his clothes, his hat, or the shoes he wears; never to cross the path he walks upon; never to take the place in which he sits. This is what love means. Someone comes and tells me that when he loves a person he wishes to embrace him a little to press him against his bosom. There is no greater misfortune, according to me, than to embrace and press a man against your bosom. Why? This is binding. You can bind only a sick person. The doctor comes, examines the sick person, binds him and goes away. They bind the sick in hospitals, also but that is not love. To love your neighbour is to give him within yourself all the rights which you want to have yourself. Who are our neighbours? They are those rational souls by whom we are daily put to a teat. Our neighbours are the angels who manifest themselves on earth through the people. You meet a poor, feeble man trough whom they teach you a lesson; an angel is manifested trough him who wants to test you and see how you will act. Christ says: "That which you did to the poor, the sick, the suffering and the prisoners, you did it into me. I was in them." Therefore, if you do no render some service to the sick, the poor and the suffering, you have not rendered a service to Christ. This is the external side of the test. After you have passed it, you will come to the inner side of the test which is more difficult. After you pass that one also, you will meet the One Who loves you and Whom you love. Today people live on earth not knowing whom they love and who loves them. We see who is our neighbour in the parable of "the Good Samaritan." Now as I tell you to work upon yourselves, I want to turn your attention to the inner danger of self-criticism. Self-criticism is a temporary method of no profit for you. I do not recommend this method. If you, or some other person commit a fault, do not hurry to pass your judgment about it, but make an inner interpretation - learn something from it. You hear that a wolf has devoured the sheep of your neighbor. Do not hurry to say for what reason wolf has done that crime, but draw a lesson from that for yourself. You say that the wolf has not done well. It is true that the wolf has committed a crime, but you, who criticise him, are committing the same crime you kill the lambs and eat them. I ask you: what difference is there in the crime the wolf commits from that of man? You will answer that it is allowed to people to kill sheep, but it is not allowed for the wolves to devour them. Another case: you criticise a person that he has made a mistake, but as soon as you go home, you make the same mistake. What will you say about this? So, it is easy to see the mistakes of another, but difficult to see your own. Therefore, judgment and criticism do not set things right, nor help people. You go to the house of some man and want him to receive you in. He gives you a piece of bread and excuses himself that he can not receive you in, because he has no bed, no covers, no fire. You do not believe him and are read to label him as insincere, since he does not want to receive you into his home. I ask you: what can that man do? He is also poor and has not a cent in his pocket. This condition is similar to that, of a poor man spoken of, in the story "King and beggar." In a certain kingdom, in ancient times, the king had fallen seriously ill, almost at the point of death. After all the doctors had in vain tried to help him, a simple man had arrived at the palace, saying that the king could be healed, if he could put on the shirt of a happy man. Men had gone on had to all the corners of the kingdom searching for a happy man. Finally, they had found an utterly poverty - stricken person without shelter, without clotes and shoes, almost always hungry, but happy and contented with his lot, continually singing and thanking God for the life He had given him. The messengers of the king, had gone to ask him for his shirt, but had received the calm answer: - I have no shirt! Men often speak about move and in the Scripture we read about it, but everyone must apply it in life according to his deep understanding of it. Man, moreover, must not impose his own conception about it, on other people. In regard to love, I have come to the following rule: Apply love in your life according to your deep inner comprehension of it, disregarding what other men think about this question, without, imposing your own idea on others. Love is a great, sacred law through which God is manifested- Therefore, apply love in your life in the way God is manifesting it towards you. Do not be influenced by other men's comprehension of it, neither impose your own conception upon others. However, do not disregard the manifestations of others, but learn by them. In this respect you must be models one for another. If you are models for one another, everyone will be free in his manifestations. This is the way the artists, musicians and poets act. When a musician listens to the performance of another musician, he observe carefully how the latter moves the bow, how he executes and interprets a piece and learns from him. When an artist observes some greater artist than himself, he observes carefully how the latter moves his paint-brush, how he applies the different paints on the canvas, and learns from all that, drinking in the beautiful. All men must observe and receive the beautiful in life. If you are not a great artist, or musician, no one will receive anything from you Thus, I am not for the imitation, but for the reception of the beautiful. Let people receive that which is beautiful in you; but you must receive also that which is beautiful in them. I take a delight in all that is beautiful and lovely. I rejoice at every pretty leaf, at every pretty flower, at every living creature, child and man. I see in all things this manifestation of the rational/(Inteligent, Sentient) Power and learn something from all things. I say: we must all rejoice at that which God has created. Only in this way can we understand the inner meaning of things. Therefore, all that you have read and understood of the Word of God, must be received and applied in life, because it corresponds to your mind, to your heart, to your will, to your soul and to your spirit. Only thus can you attain the Truth which shall make you free. Now I wish the blessing of God to come upon you, as God wills! I wish all the promises God has given you to be fulfilled!. And let those promises serve for the elevation of your souls! 1. Congress talk of the Master; held on the first of September, 1933. Sofia. — Izgrev. The Future Creed of Humanity

You Are Blessed Meditation. I shall read the 23 Chapter of Mathew’s Gospel. While I am reading that Chapter, you are asking yourself: Who had Christ talked about? — About the then scientists — scribes and Pharisees. With that sermon Christ had wanted to show his disciples and other people, which is this thing that hinders the correct development of people. Understanding of scientists that were reputed to be the leaders of the mankind hinders the people. Plain people could not hinder you. That law works today too. The present clergymen and scientists are not better than the ones of the past. — Had the mankind not bettered from the times gone by until now? — There is a microscopical betterment, that is hardly visible. I do not know if the wolf had bettered for a thousand years up to now? At least, I do not know such case. I know no charity society of wolves. If the point is to say something good for the wolf, I could do it. The wolf has never eaten sick sheep. This is a good wolf’s feature. It could pass near hundreds of sheep and it will examine them only and if it turns out that they are sick, the wolf will not touch any of them. After that the wolf will boast: Here is, I passed through so many sheep, and no one of them was injured. — Why? — The wolf has its own considerations. From hygienic point of view, the wolf does not eat sick sheep in order to avoid falling ill. And people, like the wolf, boast sometimes with their virtues. Talking about that point many people will ask me: To whom it does concern? — Nobody specially. If the clothes on your back are muddy, I shall tell you to clean them. That concerns you. The muddy clothes must be cleaned! — You insult us. — The insult is in the mud itself. If you cover yourself with mud, you insult yourself. Take the mud off your back — nothing more. There is no reason to feel offended and to justify yourself. The more you justify yourself, the more you cover yourself with mud. The mud is the sin in the man. If you justify the sin in yourself, you cover yourself with mud. — But I have not erred. — Do not justify yourself. As you are walking along the streets, you produce the mud yourself. The mud exists in the nature, and a man mixes it by stepping in it. — Which is bad in the mud? — It soils the clothes and shoes. — What is the mud made of? — It is made of soil and water. The mud soils the body often and so, it blocks the skin pores. Many diseases are due to it. When the body pores are blocked, the man breathes with difficulty. That blocking has an adverse effect upon the nervous system. There are two types of mud: physical or external and psychical or internal. Both types of mud stick to man’s back. When a man is covered with mud psychologically, for him is said that he is a person with a defect. He could not see it, but it is written on his back like an announcement. If somebody tells him that he has an announcement on his back, he answers: I do not know anything I have not put it on my back. — It is not important, who has put it there. It is important that there is an announcement on his back. You are required to take the garment off your back and to take away the announcement. As soon as you take it off, you are free. It does not matter that you have worn that announcement on your back? — Sometimes it does not matter, but sometimes it causes a lot of trouble. Imagine that someone attaches to your back the following announcement: This man is a criminal. He has committed a murder. It is sufficient a policeman to read the written on your back for catching you and taking you to the police-station. You wonder why you are taken to the police-station, why this misfortune has befallen you. That is simple enough; it is written on your back that you are a criminal. You had to take away this sign in time. It is not possible a misfortune to happen to a person if he does not wear his crimes written on his back. Whether you deserve these sufferings and misfortune it is another question, but the sign for your deeds is on your back. You may clear yourself with the policeman as much as you like, he does not care about it. You should establish your identity and give a proof that you are an honest man. The read chapter of Mathew’s Gospel is one of the strong speeches of Christ. It concerns many people. It cleans as the broom sweeps the house. Christ says: „Woe betides you, Scribes and Pharisees! Woe you, hypocrites!” We could say: „Blessed you, future preachers and priests that speak up for the God’s kingdom.” I could make a new interpretation of all lines of that chapter. Why should I interpret them? — Because the negative should be taken away. If it is not taken away, the positive could not come. When I talk for Christ, some imagine him to be strict but merciful, other —– soft-hearted, always gentle and smiling. And one and the other are true. He is strict, merciless to those who break the God’s law. If today Christ comes among you what he will tell you? He will proceed with you, the same way as a healer had proceeded in America. He became famous as a big expert not only of diseases of the people but of their inner psychic life. Due to this he did not take up with healing of all people. When some evil, complicated person had come to him, he had told him: Out of here! I cannot heal you. There is no place for you here. I say: A person who kills the good in himself deserves no condescension. I call such person a criminal. — What impedes the person? — His personal life. Today the personality in the man is so strong that the least wry glance or wry smile is able to offend him. Due to his private life the man does not know whether he performs the God will or not. When you have had some trouble, you say: “I have done a sin. - — You have done a sin, but where and how, you do not know. You say, that you are a bad man. It is not sufficient. In what lies your wickedness? Do you lie or steal? — Still worse. — Say, what manifests your wickedness? Talking with general words manifests a proud and vainglorious person. Once, I travelled by the train in 1914. There was a man in the same compartment who took part in the War with the Serbs and he related for his experience there. One day, he said, I jammed 17 Serbs in a trench who I pricked with my bayonet. Listening to him I thought that they were not dead, nor hens. These Serbs have riffles like you and they will not allow you to prick them. He is speaking and I am smiling. I thought over. The question is another if he found them dead. So, he could prick them. When he saw that I was smiling he said: It is possible they were less than 17, I did not count them. — In my opinion, it is impossible a man to prick 17 persons. That man wanted to boast. What kind of boast is this that he had killed 17 men? The rational beings do not approve his action. This is a crime. Is there a sense a man tmake boast with his sins and crimes? So,when you pray to God to forgive your sins, say: God wash me, clean me! I will not mention my sins and stain myself any more. Wash me with Your water in order not to repeat my sins again. The feeling of vainglory is hidden in the man. He will confess once or twice, will take out his sins due to his vanity. So, the people could see how he could sin. It is pleasant for the manto take out his sins in front of the God. He wants God to carry him in his thought. Somebody says: I have stollen the money from so many people. I have taken 1,000 leva from this man, and 2,000 leva from that one, and 5,000 leva from third person. I do not know what they will do with me in the kingdom-come. He smiles after that and he wants to pass for a hero. This is vainglory. That man boasts with his ailments. Another boasts with virtues he does not possess. He says: I have not done harm anybody; I have helped many people financially. — He is dying of hunger but boasts that he supported this and that one. He boasts with mere triffles. What has he given? — Two leva to one man, five leva — to another, a piece of bread — to a third one. The more he relates, the more he carries away with his benefactions. I am going to retort to such person saying: Do you know what I have done? As many killed people I have seen on the battle-field, I have encouraged and raised back from dead all of them. — Is it possible? How you could raise back from dead so many people? — As much I could raise them back from dead, so you did.it. It means, what am I, the same are you. An order exists in the world that should be kept by all. It is the Godlike order — the order of the good. Every one might be a carrier og the good. You say: I have not done good to anybody. — You will do good but I shall do good for myself. You are going to the spring with a glass. Dip out of the water and say to the spring: I am drawing from you, I am relieving you. Otherwise, your water will spill and it will get mud. Here is one good thing. Sometimes the water enters the man in a clean place, and other time – in a dirty place. Then, it is preferable the water to spill along the road than to enter unclean person. This is the inner side of the life. This is the spiritual life. Sometimes in his life, the person yields to temptations, trials. — What presents the trial? — When the man comes up against the good and evil, he comes up against trials inevitably but he does not know what is good and what – evil. You say that one man is good and other — bad. — By what do you know them? The bad is not so bad, but the good is not so good. There is something untrue in both cases. And there is something good in the bad man, and there is something bad in the good man. Whether you are good or bad, these are notices. The notice does not do the things either good or bad. If you dress the wolf in a sheepskin, will it become a sheep? Will it become better? If you dress a sheep in a wolf skin, will it become a wolf? There is a saying: „Wolves dressed in sheepskins; and sheep dressed in wolf skins .” These are symbols. Is that wrong that the sheep has put on a wolf skin? Is that wrong that the wolf has put on a sheep skin? If the wolf becomes better, the wolf wins. If the sheep becomes worse, the sheep loses. But if there is no change, it is pointless to put on in someone else’s skin. If the sheep puts on a wolf skin and feels fear, the sheep is not a hero; and if the wolf putting on a sheep skin started to feel fear, the wolf is not a hero. — Very naturally. When the sinner takes the part of the holy, he will be frightened; and when the holy man takes the part of the sinner, and he will be frightened. The common holy man yields to temptation easily and could become a sinner. However, the perfect holy man — never! He stands above the conditions, nothing could tempt him. There are some conditions under which even the holy could be tempted, also there are conditions under which wou could transform the water into wine. I am saying: We do not need neither the wine of a sinner, nor his meal. I prefer to starve three days but I am not going to eat the sinner’s food. I shall pass by him without being tempted by his food. There is one position that does not excuse the person. Only he who is in the state to do what is unaccessible to the others, he could excuse. For expamle, could the common person make a precious stone? — No, he cannot. But there are high-developed creatures that have differing view points than the common people. Their thought is as pure as a crystal. It stays higher than all common creatures. Then, he who tries to transform their thought into a common one, as the precious stone into a common one, he certainly will fall into a contradiction. Who could afford to transform the precious stone into a common one? He who does not have knowledge he could be mistaken and to accept the common stone for a precious, but who has knowledge, he cannot be mistaken. Many people come to me and say: Do not think we are bad people. — How do you know what do I think about you? What give you cause to think that I have not a good oppinion for you? When I look at a person, first of all I measure his height. I say: You are 165 cm tall., you are not a giant of a man. Your hands are soft, slight, not for physical labour. You are not for a hammer and hoe. You are 40 cm wide., you cannot work much. You are not very handsom, the features of your face are not very symmetric. There is no symmetry between your forehead and your nose. You say that your father and your grandfather were that sort of people and you look alike them. — I am not interested in your father and grandfather. You were a copartner with them, and this does not give you grounds to attribute all your defects to them. Today you bear inbred features from your father and mother, but four generations ago you were a father of your father. It means, that what you have inheritted from your father today, that you have inserted in him in the past. Therefore, do not oppose against yourself, against that what you have inserted in your fellowman in the former times. Do not justify yourself with your father and granfather. Say to yourself: This work is mine, i.е. this sin is mine, I shall correct it myself. If you say that you have been created such sort of a man by the God, you are not right. It means, that God has created you such sort of a man to do evil. — No, you created the evil; you have created the fear, the contradictions, and not God. He creates good things, and that you have created, God bequeathed it to you. He adorn people with their own deeds. He has a treasury where he puts that what you have acquired. And when you come on the earth, He adorns you with what you have acquired, indifferently whether it is good or bad. He says: This is what I found in your store. This is why, if you live well, you store the good in God’s stores, and when you come back again on the earth, you will have what to put on. If you know this, do not complain against your life. Courage is wanted from you. Brave is that one who has no fear of his sins. When you see the sin in yourself, catch hold it by the head and tail and ask it where has it come from. — It has come from somewhere. Hold it, until it make a confession. And when I grip the devil who has done harm to me thousand times, I sit astride it. I tell it: Once upon a time you were a master, now I shall be your master, and you – a servant. Have no fear of the devil. He has a whip but do not be afraid of it. Take its whip and lash davil’s back with it. It was said in the Revelation: „The prince of this world is tied.” Therefore, until you do not tie the evil in yourself, you will serve to the devil always. Heroism is to tie the devil, i.е. the devil in yourself. Under „tying” I understand to tie the eveil in yourself, but when you become one with the God. As you are in a contradiction with the God, the devil will tie you. — When we shall be free? — When you become one with God. You are asking: How we shall become one with the God? — You have two bottles of water. I tell you: The water of these bottles should become one and the same. — How we shall do it? — You shall take one large bottle, you will pour into it the water of both bottles and it will become one. Once the water is mixed, and you will become one with God. I am not talking about the ordinary firm of every person, but about the mutual firm — servant of God. — I want to be strong, rich. — No, you will become a servant of God. It is better to become a servant of the peace, than a master of the anxiety and turbulence. I prefer to be a servant, to owe nobody, than to be a master with large debts. One day that firm will bankrupt. It is advisable to be a servant who never bankrupt than a master who is foredoomed to bankrupt. Now I am getting out these notions in order an idea to come into your heads. By this could be seen how far gone you are as disciples. But your progress does not depend on you. What you have reached up to now, it is important; if it should depend on achieving something from this time onwards, all is lost. How far is gone a person it could be seen in his childhood. The child bears his/her talents in himself /herself. He/she was given the possibility to develop his talents in the school. One impulse is sufficient to help for their development. If an untalented person enters the school, he leaves it soon. I am talking for you as talented persons. So, there is no need to ask me if you are gifted or not. Every person was been tested out, in order to know himself. You have to know that nobody could hide himself. All is written in the person. The virtues and vices are written in the man – it is open and above board. It is hidden for the man who does not know anything. But for that who knows, it is all open and above board. This morning I am going to give you several rules. When you get out of bed, wash well your ears. Regard them as big bosses. They represent a very large firm in the world. Larger firm than theirs does not exist. Any of its clerks make a mistake he goes out of the firm. So as not any to make a mistake, take hold your ears slightly and thank for them. When you lose heart, take hold your ears and thank God for them. Tell yourself: Once upon a time, I was worse, I am better now. If you have ear wax in your ears, ask yourself, why the ears wax was collected there. I know what it means. Clean the ear wax, wash your ears well. Then at least a quarter of your difficulties will be eliminated. Second rule: Wash your nose well. Even you get up in the morning thank God that you have a nose. You have to know that God has breathed life in through this nose and you have become a live soul. Thinking that the Godlike life has passed through this nose, wash yourself with a sacred thrill. You are saying: Where is God? – God comes in through the nose every day. The nose is a door for the Godlike. By means of the air God enters through man’s nose and comes out through the mouth. And when God comes out you will open your mouth and thank. Thank for having a mouth and for your possibility to say the best words. The mouth is a place which could save the man. After that wash your eyes well and thank for the possibility to see by them the most beautiful things. The man is an institution financed by four large firms: the firm of the ears – the God’s wisdom, the firm of the nose – human mind; the firm of the mouth – the God’s Love and by the firm of the eyes – the God’s truth. These four firms are included in the Godlike world. If they do not support the man, no work could be completed. You have to understand this matter internally; do not say this to others who could not use it. If you are sorrowful, be pleased with your ears, your eyes, your nose and your mouth. Being pleased this way you will come in touch with the powers acting through the eyes, through the ears, through the nose and through the mouth. If you do not assess the visible things you have how you will assess the invisible ones? You look for God, angels and you do not appreciate the visible in yourself. If you do not know how to manage with your ears, eyes, nose and mouth, angels will not come to you. The angel must see your ears and if he likes them he will stay with you. Afterwards he will look at your nose, eyes and mouth. If he does not like them, he will not have a subject to stop on. Through his ear a man connects with the music of the external world and also with God. This way he hears the silent voice consoling and encouraging him. In this way the life is given a meaning only. The person perceives the blessing that comes by ears, eyes, nose and mouth. The parts of man’s body are blessed! Read the lecture “The Disciple’s way” from 150—153 page. People are displeased often with the nature, with that what is given to them. It was given to you much more than what you could use. This is why, everybody may give of that, what is given to him. — How he will give? — Through the eyes, ears, the nose and through the mouth. I am saying that you cannot do a good. — How you cannot? When you see a sick man, hold his hand, take him for a walk on pure air. If you meet a poor man — take him to a concert, to listen to music for a while. He is put out of courage, nothing is a pleasure to him, but while he listens to the music, he will become in good spirits. And you will give a good meal to the hungry man. That is, this all is good. You should not wonder, what good to make to a person? You will give meal to the hungry without thinking that he has no hat and shoes. He might be barefooted and bareheaded; for him it is important to have his meal. So, you are blessed if you understand why were given ears, eyes, a nose and a mouth. You are blessed if you understand why the sufferings are coming. Christ says: „Woe betides you, Scribes and Pharisees! — Why? — Because you do not understand the God’s Truth. You are blessed if you understand the God’s Truth. Thank for that. — The manifested love of the Spirit, the manifested wisdom of the Spirit, the manifested truth of the Spirit bring the complete life of the God, of the United, Eternal God of the life. 22. Morning Lecture held by the Master Beinsa Douno on 26 February, 1933 Sofia. — Izgrev. You Are Blessed

His Will Meditation. I shall read the 22 Chapter of St. Mathew’s Gospel. The life has internal side except the external one, inaccessible to people. The people try to guess only from the closed book. The people are full with desires, but they do not understand the inner content of these desires. For example, not a few would like to go somewhere without knowing why. If I make you to choose a place, you will not know which one namely to choose. You want to be a king without knowing why. According to some people, the best thing is to be a king, but why, what you will achieve by this, you do not know. It is important for you that as a king whatever you want will be fulfilled. I am asking. What will be your position, if you are kings but nobody obeys you? The wish of people to marry hides in it, just the same idea, to become kings and queens and to have nationals – children, who to obey them. — That is it, but what will say those kings and queens if their nationals do not obey them? However, the children revolt against their parents; they do not want to obey them, and they want to become kings and queens as well. The sons and daughters fight against their parents; they want to set free from their guardianship. I am asking: What happens with the king after his death? — He was buried, a tombstone was put saying that he was a king. Also, the father and mother leave tombstones after them. At the end, one is satisfied with the fact that he was a good student, finished school, worked something. — This is good, but when he enters the other world, the things are taking another turn: the first become last, and the last – first. Everybody wonder how it happens that the clever pupils become last ones. Really, you could not imagine this fact. The world gives us the following explanation. Do you think that by praying three times a day without following the God’s will you will be the first pupils? Who believes in your God? You are a banker, who jingles money for days and you say: Do not speak to me about God. I believe in the money. The cook clatters the lids of cooking pots, opens them, closes them and says: There is, what I believe in. There is no other God for me. You want him to have you a bite, but he told you: I do not give anything without money. How you could reconcile this contradiction? I say: The strength of the pitcher is not in the external moisture. Water should be inside the pitcher. If there is no water inside but it is wet outside, it is no worth. This is why, if the talk concerns a person, it is not important what is his external life. It is the moisture of his pitcher. When you lift it, you realize that it is light, there is no matter in it. Would you keep at home a pitcher that is out of water? Therefore, the pitcher should be solid and to contain water in it. You complain that you are short of something. — Your pitcher is empty. — What shall I do? I have no servant who to fill in it. — You will become a servant of yourself and fill it in alone. — My legs do not hold me. — You will practice them to hold you. — I am disabled person. — Nothing, you will go to the spring with your crutches and you will fill your pitcher yourself. After that you will through out the crutches and you will bring back cheerful at home. So, a person could not set free of his difficulties until he does not go to the God. You walk with crutches – they are the difficulties. You have misunderstandings, contradictions – these are the crutches. When you have come back from the spring all the contradictions will disappear. There you will have acquisitions, which nobody could deprive you. You will say that it is a temporary acquisition, a temporary proficiency. Proficiency that has been lost is a temporary condition. It is not a real acquisition. The reality implies going to the God where you had solved forever one of the most important issues. — This is not clear for us, we need more explanation. — No matter how long you were explained, it will remain misunderstood. Here is one clarification. You have got a candle made of whale fat. It is worth, if it is lit. Therefore, if your candle does not burn and you cannot light your way with it, what sense make it that the candle is made of whale fat? The fact that the candlestick is golden, that it is a souvenir of your grandmother and grandfather, it does not matter. The candle should light. If there is no light in the dark night that to lead you, what will you do? Somebody is said that he does not speak properly. What is the speech? — Light. If the speech does not set free the person of his hardships, like the burning candle sets him free from the darkness that means there is a noise. Not every body can speak but every body can make a noise. Therefore, a speech that does not set free the person from hardships and difficulties is a noise. If you put your hand on the tender knee and cannot draw out the pain, it is not a magic one; it has no power in it. However, if it could draw out the pain, it is a magic hand. People having such hand are said to be doctors. If you have a headache, it is sufficient such a doctor to touch the sore spot and you will recover your health. Not only the hand should cure but the prayer should do it as well. Any pain should be drawn out too by one-two prayers. Not a few of you have the reputation of religious ones, you have listened to lectures, you have read the Gospel, but when an examination comes to you, you cannot pass it. The examination could be large or little one, but in both cases you will fail. Imagine that you are visiting a friend of yours and you expect to have a good reception of him. It happens that he cannot give you a reception and treat as good as you expect. You return home unsatisfied and whole day long you are grumbling why you have gone to your friend to waste your time. What do you gain from this grumbling? You are saying for your friend that he lacks strength of character, cold-hearted and cannot serve the God. You, who in the certain case, are grumbling, do you serve the God? You are free, you could grumble as much as you want, but your friend is free to treat you or not. From where do you know he could be very busy? A thief came to a banker and told him: I am a thief but I believe in God. I want you to give me 250 napoleons. — You want much, furthermore, you have not worked anything. — If you do not give me voluntarily them, I have a method by which I could take them. — There is order and law in the country. I am going to call the policeman to arrest you. — I can arrest you before you could arrest me. Before you have rung the bell, you will enter the prison. Before the banker has touched the bell, the thief has lifted a stick, aimed a blow with it in the air and lulled the banker to sleep. After that he wrote him a note:Second time, when a learnt thief comes to you, give him as much as he wants. The learnt thief is the human destiny. It comes to a person and says: You will give me such and such amount. — Give it, and do not make an issue. Otherwise, the destiny will come again, it will aim a blow with the stick in the air; it will lull you and it will take as much as it wants. Before you have coped with it, firstly it will cope with you. In other words: What God wants of you, give it and do not think about it. Do not deny to the God. Do not refuse to accept the smallest thought coming from the God to you. It could be realized always. After all, do not refuse to fulfill one God’s thought. You say that you have no time. — You will find some time. Otherwise, you will find yourself in the position of that Bulgarian who went to dig his vineyard without praying before. He told his wife: I go to dig our vineyard. Tonight when I will be back I want to find a cooked hen. She answered: Say God willing, if all goes well. — There is no need to chatter to me “God willing, if all goes well or not” I am going to the vineyard now and when I will be back in the evening, I want to find a well-cooked dinner. He has left for the vineyard but he was met by Turks[1] that caught him. They have taken him round to show them the way. He has come back home late, clattered the front door and said: God willing, if all goes well, wife, open the door. There is nobody of you that was not taken round by the Turkish “deli-bashi”[2]. “Deli-bashi” are discontent, suspicion, failure and hardship in the life. The rich as well the poor pass through them. Only some people relate stories about hardship and the other felt shame to tell about them and do not tell anything. The poor usually tell about their misfortune, and the rich abstain from telling about them. Person should execute the God’s will for coping with his misfortune. His power is in the execution of God’s will. This should happen voluntarily. It means that the man struggled for the real life. Somebody has not executed the God’s will, or he has not lived well; we have no right to deprecate him. To live well, this is a great art. Many know to write and not many write correctly as per the requirements of the grammar. This means that all people live but few of them keep the laws and requirements of the life. For example, an acquaintance of mine masters several languages, but he dislikes working. One day he told me: Do you know what I have done? As I needed money, I wrote to three acquaintances of mine in America asking them to send me some amount. Let us see, how much they are going to send me. The three men answered that they had no money provided for him. I am asking. Who of you have not written a letter to the God? And what kind of letters you have sent! However, some people obtain answer to their letters, but others do not. Whose is the mistake? — Yours. You will say that your letter is full of mistakes. You are writing to a letter to a banker asking money. Your letter is written without mistakes, with all the punctuation signs required, but you do not receive money. Other one writes a letter full of mistakes and receives money from the banker. — Why — The banker loves him, and he loves the banker too. It means that the letter, as well the words should have a deep internal content and a deep meaning. So, if somebody else reads this letter he will be content. Sometimes a person is happy with his deeds, but sometimes is unhappy. Since he is happy, the people around him are happy with him. You are doing something and you are unhappy. You are saying:- How could I do that? As many times as you remember that deed, you will feel ashamed and unhappy internally. Contemporary people came to a stage of life when they should give the advantage of the Godlike part of themselves. If they do not do this, they will suffer and will be unhappy always. To be happy and satisfied by you means to be satisfied by the Godlike part in us, by the Divine voice which talks us. Who listens to this voice always will receive a 20-thousand leva cheque. A friend of ours told me about an event of his experience. He had a very bad cold. Doctors examined him, gave him prescriptions but the illness did not pass. One day he heard the quiet voice to tell him: Pray and you will be restored to health. He prayed all the day long zealously and he broke into perspiration so much during the night that he had to change clothes several times. He woke entirely healthy on the morning. Other his acquaintance fell gravely ill too. Also he heard something inside to give him advice how to restore to health. He carried out the advice but did not restore to health. – Why the first one has restored and the second could not? – The first followed the advice of the God’s voice without any doubt but the second had doubts. People often complaint about the fact that they cannot realize their wishes. This happens both with worldly-minded and religious people. – Why do they not succeed in their life? — Because they look on the things in materialistic way. The religious person says: I do not dare to want something from the God I am not pure and holy. You have a human notion for purity. You are right that you should be pure and holy but the purity and sanctity are God’s properties. Firstly you will connect with Him and after that you will talk for purity. I would like to be a righteous man. — And the justice is God’s power. — I would like to love. — And the love is God’s power. The thing you call love is a shadow of the love. Love that appears and disappears constantly is not true one. It is as like today you are healthy, tomorrow – sick. The love excludes all diseases, all pains. It is not a shame that you are sick and suffering. Sometimes the sin causes diseases that are given for obtaining of experience. And the misunderstood disease leads to poverty. After restoring to health, the person will achieve wealth. Hence, you will learn both, by the health and the disease. If you do not learn, you are looking for the easy way in the life. Speaking about the inner life, not a few think that they understand it. You say that the life should be good. What do you consider under “good life”? When the life is good there is not a doubt, lack of faith and dissatisfaction. Such person is satisfied even if the world is topsy turvy turned, he does not see any contradiction. I call such person “a person of happiness”. He is a righteous person. I liken the righteous people to the sun rays. — Are there such people on the earth? — There are, of course. If those who live on the Sun were not such people, no light will reach us. You say: What do Sun creatures think of us? — They do not think anything. When they see some unclean, muddy person, they put him in the water to be cleaned. They consider it is a privilege that they can clean and give someone a bath. That is why Christ says: „Larger is the joy on the sky for a sinner who repents himself than for 99 righteous ones.” — Why? — Because these 99 righteous ones think that they are pious and sinless. The sinner however knows that he has broken the justice law and repent of it. He has such experience that the righteous one has not. And when he was lead into temptation, he says: I tried this work once I am not going to join the dance for the second time. You will say that this is a contradiction, the sinner to be familiar with the justice, and the righteous one — not to be familiar with it. — No matter what do you think, the life cannot run without contradictions. Contradictions come for approaching the man to the God. — Why am I getting ill? — For approaching the God. — Why do I become weaker? — For approaching the God. — Why people hold me in low esteem? — For approaching the God. There is nothing best than approaching the God. — I will lose my freedom. — Not only you will not lose your freedom but also it will make your life worthwhile. — What means approaching the God? — It means to be present at a table fit for a king; if you are dead to come to life again; if you are ill to recover your health; if you are barefooted and tattered to become dressed in new clothes and shoes; if you are in chains, they will fall down from your hands and feet. Approaching the God means that all negative features in you, as hatred, envy, suspicion — all of them should disappear. Speaking for the man’s approaching to the God you will say that this is not the right time now. — This is an old philosophy. What is the result of this philosophy? A poor poet had gone in the house of a banker with the intention of borrowing a certain amount of money. When he understood his intention, the banker told his servant: Told him, I am not at home. The poet heard his words and went home. Later, it happened that the banker needed the poet to write something for him; therefore he went to his house. After he had rung the bell, the poet’s servant went to open the door and asked the banker what he had wanted. — I am looking for the poet. At the same moment the poet called out behind his servant: Tell him that I am not at home. — How is that, I hear his voice. — I am here, but not for you. — answered the poet. And you are answered often: I am not here.— It means, I have no time for you. You must have faith both in yourself and in your fellow man. — We have faith. — Yes, your faith is for beginners. With that faith nothing could be reached. The faith of people today is beginner’s faith. You cannot move mountains with it. It is not that deep and absolute faith. The true faith is God’s power. Could you have doubts with such faith? Someone comes to me asking to borrow him some money. I am putting him to a test. I am telling him. Squeeze your hand. — There is no need to squeeze my hand. You want to give me an examination, but I am not such a fool. You could say so to the others, but not to me. — Once, you do not believe, go away, I will not give you a brass. — But, you insult me. — What should it cost to you to bend your hand? You will have the thing you wanted. You had to do an attempt. If you bend your hand and open it, you would find something in it. — Then, tell us, to bend our hand, too. — I am not saying this to you. I told him this on purpose, because I knew that he did not bend his hand. For bending his hand, a man should know the properties of his thumb and also the properties of other fingers. Power is hidden in the fingers. There are certain conditions in which if you bend your hand something will come though it. The hand power is connected with the rationality in the man. A man could be given an examination as Abraham was examined to sacrifice his son to the God. As a matter of fact did God need that sacrifice? However, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son to the God. Why and for what was it necessary that sacrifice, he did not consider. But, at the moment when he had to give the offering, he was told: Stop! So, if our acquaintance had bent his hand, I should have thrashed my hand in my pocket and given him some money. I had done only one such attempt with one Bulgarian who had written to me from America: Many times you had said that there is Providence, but I have not had a case till now to check up whether your words are true. This is something imaginary. Tell me, from your point of view, how could I have my matters straightened out? I have a debt of 205 dollar but I need another 20 for clothes, for books. I am a foreigner; I cannot obtain that money from anywhere. Tell me, how to cope with this situation. I replied him: When you will obtain my letter, you will already have the money. If you have not the money, write to me to be aware of it. He wrote me next week: Yesterday was the happiest day for me. I have got money, do not worry for me. — How does it happen? — I know, how works the law. The man should have a child’s faith. I am not speaking about belief but about absolute faith, for absolute confidence. A Divine Law exists that satisfies all needs of the life. Each Divine need was satisfied in time. However, first, the desire to complete the God’s Will should appear in the man. Today a man lives for himself only. And if his works do not happen as he wants he becomes discouraged. For realizing his wishes he should follow the God’s will. So, first, you will complete the God’s will, and later – yours. Many people complaint against their poverty. A man is poor because he does not complete the great God’s law. You will say that so and so is rich but some else – poor. You encounter a loaded horse. Has it loaded itself alone? — No, somebody has loaded it. — The rich man represents such thing. And he was loaded by somebody, and the poor man was unloaded by somebody. As soon as the horse is unloaded, it becomes satisfied, but as soon as the rich man was unloaded he is unsatisfied. There is one load against which the people do not complaint. This is the wealth. If they were put four, even five loads, they do not complaint; there are pleased. They are strong; they carry the loads on their backs and say: We are ensured already. Let us come to the internal understanding of the things. There is something more essential than the wealth. It is to become conscious of the presence of God’s Love in your soul. This is the most realistic, the most essential. At this Love all contradictions disappear. Strive to understand it correctly. Listen to the quiet voice in you. Prophet Elijah should endure severe trials till he hears the quiet voice of God in himself. He realizes that the God is not in the storm, in the fire but in the quiet voice. As soon as he come to know the God, Elijah ascended to the sky with a fire chariot. Each person will realize the life secrets after he passes through big sufferings and hears the quiet voice of God in himself. The first order is:„Come to love your God with all your mind, with all your heart, with all your soul and all your power.” „And if God is on our side who will be against us?” You all should be bearers of God’s Love, to be models, to be successors of God’s possessions. As soon as the man does not come to the big spring, he could not understand the abundance of life. Today I give you to think over 17th line, 22nd chapter, the Revelation. And the Spirit and the bride said: “Come! And who has heard, let him say come, and who is thirsty, let him come, and who wants let him have for nothing the water of Life”. — The manifested love of the Spirit, the manifested wisdom pf the Spirit, the manifested truth of the Spirit brings the complete life of God, of the United, Eternal God of the life. _______________________________________ [1] The story happened when Bulgarians were under Ottoman yoke. [2] ‘Deli-bashi” – undisciplined Ottoman soldiers in the end of XVIII century His Will

Three Thoughts Thinking. I will read chapter 18 from Mathew. That one who has taken bath two times one after other, does he need to take bath for third time? That one who has eaten two times one after other, does he need to eat for third time? Since you don’t need anything, either, there why I will not speak any more. - Manifested love of Spirit, manifested wisdom of Spirit, manifested truth of Spirit bring the full life of God, of the One, Eternal God of life. 18. Morning Speech from Master, delivered on January, 29th, 1933, Sofia. – Sunrise. Three Thoughts

From The beauty of life Let The Children Come Lecture given by Beinsa Douno, August 14, 1932, 05:00 a.m. local time The Seven Rila Lakes Reflection on the verse: The Head of Your Word is Truth I will read verse 16 of chapter 18 from the Gospel of Luke, "However, Jesus called them to Him, saying: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." You say, "What are the children like in life?" Children are the uniting threads in life. The weak in Nature is a uniting thread. When people say about something that it is not so important and valuable, they should know that their life depends exactly on that weak, unimportant thing. It is the uniting thread in their life. Without this uniting connection it would not even be possible to think about great things. So, when we speak about children, many people take this verse literally, in its external aspect. However, in its outer interpretation it cannot explain Truth. By the word children Christ means the smallest thought, the smallest feeling and the smallest action, which arise in one's soul. These smallest quantities appear to be weak as children are: you cannot expect anything from them, they have no meaning; but actually, they are significant connecting links in life. So, about these little quantities in life, Christ said, "Let the little children come to Me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." And it is true that a big person – one who is aware of their mind and heart, but does not pay attention to the little things within them, cannot enter the kingdom of God. To those who wish to enter the kingdom of God, I say, "Do not despise the little thought, the little good, the little loving feeling emerging in your soul". Many people view the little loving feeling with neglect and say, "This is a small thing!" They rely on great and prestigious affairs. You may ask that big strong horse what it has achieved after carrying big and heavy loads its whole life. Ask the big salesman what he has achieved after participating in big deals his whole life. Ask the famous writer what he has achieved after writing great works his whole life. All large animals and great persons would say in conclusion as Shakespeare said long ago "To be or not to be?" I will translate that sentence in the following way, "To be a big horse and to carry a big load or to be a little horse and to carry a small load; to be a big salesman and to be engaged with big deals or to be a simple one and to deal with little deals; to be a great writer or poet and to write great works only or to be a simple writer or poet and to glorify the small in life?" I say, everything depends on application. Usually one begins with great ideas, with big projects, but eventually ends their dealings with small things. A law of unity exists, according to which there is a close relation between the small and the great things. It was said in the Scriptures, "I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of all things". The great ideas are the beginning; the small ones are the end. If the great thoughts do not connect to the small ones, they will not be realized. So, a person should reconcile the great impulses in the self with the small ones. If people know how to do this, they will use both of them in their development. Sometimes a little impulse or a small wish can make a very important connection, which will save a person from a big disaster. How do contemporary people behave? Very often they neglect their little impulses, thoughts and wishes, and after that they expect happiness, huge success and achievements. A young woman dreams of meeting the king's son riding his horse and coming to marry her. One day she decides to run away from home and she goes to the forest with the hope that the king's son will come to save her. But what eventually happens? She goes to the forest, loses the road and meets not the king's son riding his horse, but the shepherd's son riding his donkey. The young woman says to herself, "From where did this shepherd's son come? I expected the king's son but was deceived." This young woman thinks that she is unhappy, because she does not understand the deep meaning of things. As she has not this understanding, she interprets things in a wrong way that is why she encounters many misfortunes. In this example the donkey represents the king's son, whom the young woman is expecting, and the shepherd's son represents the small beautiful feeling being carried by the king's son. You can place a jewel in a wooden box and a lentil in a gold box. Which one would you prefer: the jewel in the wooden box or the lentil in the golden box? The jewel, of course, costs more than the wooden box and the golden box costs more than the lentil, but if you experience a year of famine, you can prepare something with the lentil to satisfy your hunger, while the gold and the jewel cannot help you. The lentil can be put in the soil and in a few months it will grow and bear fruit that will save you form starving in a year of famine, while no one will want to buy the gold box and the jewel. You can make rings, earrings and other jewelry from the gold box, but who would buy them then? There is a law of unity in Nature, which is honored everywhere in life, in science and in arts. For example: if we consider knowledge, we will see that there is a unity between all its parts. In this case true knowledge is that one which can serve as a source of inspiration, support and light for a person. Knowledge that is neither an inspiration, nor light or an aid to a person is just a burden and nothing more. Knowledge is the greatest good that God can give to someone. By it one should evaluate equally both the small and the great thoughts, feelings and actions. Having great knowledge, the sage evaluates equally both the small and the great things. God evaluates both the Sun and the human being. The Sun hides powerful forces, but God renders the same value to it as to the human being. A person asks, "What can I do? In what does my worth lie?" Your worth lies in the connection you can make. The human mind can make a connection between the Sun and the Earth. People have come to the Earth exactly for this – to make this connection. Whoever does not want to make this connection passes for a great person. Such people pay more attention to the great quantities in life than to the little ones. They neglect the children, i.e. the small things. God puts these great people somewhere in space – to turn around like wheels. The unhappiness of today's people is due to their greed for great plans and big deals. According to an ancient legend, the Earth is a young beautiful maiden whom God wanted to marry to a young beautiful shepherd. She said, "Lord, I do not want to marry such an ordinary man. I dream of something great, of great worlds. If a king's son comes over, I will marry him." God agreed to fulfill her wish and married her to a king's son. Soon she gave birth to sons and daughters – they were all criminals. The Earth married a king's son, but all this while she has been passing through hard trials because of these sons and daughters she bore from him. She became aware of her situation and used to say to herself, "I should have married the shepherd's son! I would not have had such hard experiences with him as I am living through today". Not only she, but also her children are saying, "Our mother would better have married someone simpler, without a title and a name, but who would bring happiness to the whole home." Actually, it is better to prefer the shepherd's son who carries inner happiness than the king's son who brings unhappiness. So, these are allegories, about which it is necessary to think. People reject the small ideas, which God has invested in them at the expense of the big ones, which come from outside. One wants to be a king, to be beautiful, rich and strong. And this is not bad, but happiness does not lie in beauty, in power and in wealth. To be a king – this is still not happiness; to be beautiful – this is not happiness. When a young woman is beautiful, everyone wants her. When all people wish something at one and the same time, it brings unhappiness. In this case, the beautiful person needs to stand against others with a knife in their hand in order to defend what belongs to them. So, the main thought is that people should not enter into conflict within themselves and say, 'I lived for nothing. I wasted so many years and achieved nothing!" It is not good to talk in this way. I would like to know what you are thinking when you say that you have wasted a year, for instance. In a year the Earth makes one turn around the Sun. So in this time she has done a lot of work; she has given at least one lesson to everyone. Therefore, when someone says that the year has gone for nothing, I understand that they could not learn the lesson given to them. If they had learned their lesson, they would fulfill God's will and receive a little blessing. A wasted year means a small thought, a connection that one has neglected. If so, one can easily regain this year. How? By completing this small connection, i.e. not neglecting the little thought. The little thoughts, not the great ones, correct mistakes. That is why when you make a mistake, go to the small thing – there you will correct it; if you lose something – go to the small thing – there you will find it. That is why the mother finds what she has lost in her child. What has she lost? – Her love. Every woman who has lost her love should become a mother and give birth to a child in order to find her lost love. Why are children born? – To bring their mothers the lost love. Why do the little thoughts come to a person? – To bring them the lost love. The little thought is the small light that shines here and there in a pitch-dark night. Suppose you are walking desperate in a dark night, you have lost the way, but suddenly you catch sight of a bright light in the distance. The light makes you feel happy that you have found the way. A small candle in the darkness brings you great joy. We have to thank God for the small things that serve the big ones. The small thoughts, feelings and actions, i.e. the young children, are the little angels that come down to the Earth to save people. Take an example: was Christ a great man? Was He a king? Did He have an army at His disposal? He was called a Judaic King Who had came to save the Jewish people, but the high-priests, the scribes and the Pharisee as well used to say, "We do not want this man. Take him away; let him go! You cannot expect anything from him. He cannot be the Messiah." That is that – people have strange ideas. They expect the good to come from a direction from which nothing can come. I have observed how a young woman behaves when she has her eye on a nice young man. She examines his hands, his legs, and she says to herself, "He is a strong man. He could be a support in my life". She thinks of that which cannot happen. I keep silent and say nothing to her, but I smile and think, "What a thrashing you will get from this strong and healthy man! You will be the first who will taste his strong muscular hands." In a year's time I meet this young woman, already married to that man, and she tells me, "Oh, I am disappointed in him. He appeared to be a good person before we married but what happened? He beats me very badly – he beats me and does not think that it hurts me. If I had known he was like that I would not have taken him." I say, the great is good but frightful. The small and weak will not allow oneself to beat you, but the big and powerful can beat you even three times a day. And when one asks in which way we could serve God, I answer: Love is the only Divine power, which deals with the smallest things in the world. Besides, Love is that mighty power, which takes care of the non-essential things, to which no one pays attention. In the small things lies the solution of all difficult questions; the secrets of Life are hidden in them. When Love comes, she brings all lost things with her. So, if you want to be strong, make friends with the small and weak beings; after that, work on the idea of Love and apply it in your life. When you meet a little child or a weak-minded person – do not despise them. See first what they need and help them immediately. Do not despise the small and the weak in yourself. If a little thought comes into your mind or a tender feeling – in your heart – give them way, act on them. They will bring you a great blessing in the future. Many people want to know whether or not they will be happy, whether or not their children will study well in school, will they be well in life and so on. For this purpose, when they hear about a fortune-teller, they go immediately to see them for some prediction. They may tell these people something or they may not, but first they want money. All should know one thing: God determines the destiny of people – no one else. After all, people's destiny is not something fatal. It is determined in accordance with their thoughts, feelings and actions. Therefore, no one has the power to deliver another one from their own destiny. If there is someone who can help, this is the person alone. How? – Through changing the direction of their thoughts, feelings and actions. As soon as they change their thoughts, feelings and actions, then God will change His decisions for them. However, people want things to happen according to their wishes without any sacrificing on their side. No, if one would change one's thoughts, feelings and actions in the right way, God will also change His conclusions for that person. In the Old Testament it is said, "According to your thoughts, feelings and actions you will be removed from His face forever." After that the Jewish people realized their mistakes and repented. God told them, "In case you repent, turn to Me and I will delete your sins." And they turned and God was graceful and merciful to them. I ask, "Is it possible to forgive the sins of someone who never repents? In other words: can one eat in an inn where they prepare the worst food?" – No, it cannot be. That is why, the good thoughts, feelings and actions are the greatest thing that one can do and give. For this aim one should keep absolutely pure thoughts without any self-interest. Let one make a step in this direction – let one imagine that they have sacrificed everything they own for God without expecting anything in return. Or let a king attempt to give up his crown and go to preach for the Lord. How many times will this king decide and postpone – and eventually, he might do it or not. This is the situation, in which all people are to be found now. It will be easy for a person to give up the crown, if this person knows that even without a crown he is still a king. Everyone is a king of themselves, but there are some people who externally also play the role of a king. However, you should bear in mind that the reign supposes obligations. The king's situation is not easy. If you are the king of a nation and you succeed in showing it the path of Truth, you will be a lighted candle for it. Before you have not become a lighted candle for your nation, no one can see you, but afterwards everyone can see you. And everyone can notice even your smallest mistake. When someone decides to do a good thing or even only thinks about it, they are submitted to trials in that very moment. For instance, one wants to be loved and to love others. Right away they will be examined to determine whether they deserve to be loved and to love. Everyone has passed through similar experiences. You love a friend and the friend loves you, but in a few years they find something wrong with you and reject you, looking for another friend. Why? Everyone is looking for something perfect in life. The only thing a person cannot reject in life – these are the small things – for example, the children. The mother can never reject her children. If she does that, she would delete her maternity – nothing else. If one pushes Love away from oneself – in any form it may be, one deprives oneself of joy, happiness and the blessings they could achieve. All these things leave them one by one. Those who reject Love subject themselves to the greatest sufferings: their life loses sense, its meaning so they become dissatisfied, sad and gloomy. Someone says, "I do not know why I am so sad." You are sad, because you have despised, you have rejected one of the little children of Love. When you reject one of her children she says, "If you reject my child, I will reject you too." Love leaves and passes you by, she goes away and you remain with your great thoughts and feelings. Afterwards you will say that you serve God, but people do not love you, they do not understand you and so on. This is possible too, but if you are actually in compliance with the Great law of God or with Love, you will not be disturbed about whether or not people love you. However, if you are not in line with the Great law of Love, even if people love you and respect you – you will feel an inner anxiety. What I am referring to are the inner states and relations of people, not the outer ones, as they are based on rules, which are quite different from those of the inner ones. The power of a person lies in the inner unity that can be achieved. And for this unity one should strive. It can be achieved only by applying the small things in life. You give someone a little exercise, but he says, "What can I achieve by this elementary exercise? What will happen, if I raise my hand forward or put it to the side?" If a writer takes the pen and says that he cannot write anything by means of this simple pen, he will really not do anything. But if he persists, the pen will write many lines and pages and will create something good. If a writer wants to do something great at once, he will write nothing. For instance, see what the human tongue does in the world. The best things have been said by means of this small organ. The salvation of the world depends on this small organ, too. When it begins to move, it does great things even though it is so small. It smoothes, tames, settles many affairs. The eyelids also do a lot. You see them – two small organs, but we cannot go without them. Apparently they do nothing, but open and close; however, they are keepers of the eyes; they protect them from dust, small flying insects and other damage. They are small organs, but very important. People do not pay attention to them, but they do not take offence, they silently do their work – protecting the eyes. Contemporary people are often guided by ambitions, saying that they can interpret different verses from the Gospels. Spiritual people claim the same. I say, there is a difference in the interpretations. But only one right way of interpretation exists. If we talk about the usual interpretation, everyone can do it, as everyone can say that two times two is four. The philosopher says that two times two is four, and the little child says the same. Both of them have the same result, but there is a difference in their way of solving this task. The difference is in this: if you go into a garden with the philosopher and the child, the philosopher will say that two times two is four and will give you four small apples. The child will also say that two times two is four, but he will give you four nice big apples. Which of the two will you wish to solve the problem for you: the philosopher, who comes to the solution literally and gives you four small apples, or the child who will give you four nice big apples? Two persons have a dispute about which one of them has more love in their heart. They both have love, but the one who keeps the most love is the one who after calculating that two times two is four, will give you, at the same time, four nice ripe apples. He counts better than the other one. So, the power and greatness of a person lies in applying God's law. According to this law, one should behave with others the way one behaves with oneself. However, a perfect behavior is that, in which one treats others the same way that God treats them, i.e. the same way as God keeps them in His mind. In the mind of God everyone has a particular place. Even the smallest being has a high place in the mind of God. And whatever it may want from God, its request is heard. Someone says. "I pray to God every day, but – no voice, no reply." Why? – Because this person either does not know how to pray or has cut off their connection with God. Twelve bishops met in a forest to pray for something. They prayed for a long time, but received no answer. At the same time an ordinary pious countryman passed by, carrying wood for sale on his donkey. The bishops stopped him with the words, "Listen, we ask you to pray to God to settle a very important matter." He prayed eagerly to God and the affair was settled in the best way. This means that the prayer of the ordinary person was accepted. The bishops later gave praise that, thanks to their prayer, the result was achieved. They met for a second time to pray for something, but again their prayer was not heard. This time the woodman did not come to them and the deal was not arranged. Whenever the woodman prayed to God, he received a reply to his prayer. Whenever the bishops prayed to God, there was no voice, no answer. I say, there is nothing greater for a person than to realize that they hold a respectable place in the mind of God. If one is aware of this, when they pray to God and ask for something, their prayer will be heard. That is why you all should strive for this – to be pleasing to God and to take a high position in His mind. This should be the ideal of every soul. It cannot be achieved by crying and with tears. God does not need human tears and weeping. If you want to achieve your ideal, deal with the smallest things, from which God has created the world. For this purpose you should hold sacred the idea of God in your soul. Exclude any negative feelings towards God! All that was created by God does not admit any modification, any critique. When you approach the Divine, whether you understand it or not – it is always right. When you approach the Divine – it is necessary to act first and then to think. You want to serve God, but you start thinking about what will happen to you, if you take this way. Once you have decided to serve God, do not worry any more; will they kill you or hang you, or cut you in pieces – do not think about anything. Everything may befall you, but at the end such a miracle will happen as has never been seen. If Christ had been afraid, he would not have come to the resurrection. He was nailed on the cross, where He received the worst violations and mockeries – that He was God's Son and wanted to save the world. He was told, "If you are really a Son of God, come down from the cross and prove that to us, so we can believe you." Christ bore all this with the greatest humbleness and Love. And in His last moment He sighed deeply and said, "Father, into Your hands I entrust my Spirit. Let it be according to Your will!" (Luke 23:46) Christ suffered the worst violations on the cross, for which He was elevated: He was given all the power on Earth and in Heavens. What happened with Him had never occurred before – He arose from the dead. Now many people want to go in the Divine path, but if they do not have before them the life of Christ, they will not be able to follow Him. You say that you want to live for God, for your fellows. You can live for God and for your fellows also, but you should know that violations, persecutions, mockeries will come. You should be ready to meet these trials. Is it like this today? You meet a follower of Christ – they are disturbed and make protest about an offending word. They may say, "I do not know what to do now. I am not good for anything; no one respects me, no one wants to know me." If you have come to the Earth for people to respect you – you are on the wrong path. You have not come to the Earth for people to love you and respect you, but to express Divine Love. After that, God will show His Love for you. Christ said, "Just as the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you." (John 15:9) Therefore, you should first express Divine Love to others and after that God will reveal His love for you. If you cannot understand God's Love, you will also not be able to understand people's love. Doubts, hesitations and some delusions will come, and as a result you will learn a little, but lose much time. One thing should be considered: to understand a great truth you need to always look for the shortcut. By the shortcut I mean the right way for achievement. So, if you want to be saved, look for the right way. You say, "We want to be strong." If you want to be strong, give way to Divine Love to be expressed through you. If you express Divine Love – Life will also express itself. While Life is still unrevealed, you do not know what could come from you. As to the question what will happen with you, leave for someone else to solve it. When you plant the grain of wheat in the soil, does it ask what will happen to it? It leaves this to the Sun. A child is carrying an acorn in his hand and he asks it, "What will come from you?" The acorn replies, "Plant me in the soil and leave me in peace – the Sun will say what will come from me. Come here after one hundred years and you will see what has come from me." Only God knows what will be with you. You are a small seed, which God has planted into the earth. After some time you will see yourself what will come from you. If you will leave yourself to people, they will pass you from hand to hand like a little child, but nothing will come from you. At the end – God through the little child will plant you in the soil where you will grow next year; you will blossom and give fruit. As it is like that, stay close to the little children – to the small thoughts and feelings hidden deep within you, to the little blessings, which emerge in your soul. Hold to them and do not despise them, if you want to receive God's blessing. God will bless you not for what people think of you, but for your own thoughts, feelings and actions – and not for your great thoughts, feelings and dealings, which are well known to others, but for those small thoughts, feelings and actions, which are deeply hidden and submerged in your soul, which no one knows, no one even suspects their existence. God will bless you for the small, hidden seeds in you, which have unrealized potentials, because you have already received your pay for the things completed. Now I wish all of you to rise from the dead as Christ did. But until you come to this all of you will be persecuted, mocked and profaned as Christ was. I wish that you, when you are being crucified, say, "Father, if you wish, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, let not my will, but Your Will be done." (Luke, 22:42) Without suffering resurrection is not possible. Christ went through sufferings – people will also do this. If children suffer – their mother will suffer too. I do not hang around for sufferings, but there are inevitable ones. Some events can be avoided, but there are things that cannot be escaped. There will be a time when all sufferings and pains will disappear. Apostle Paul said, "Today's sufferings cannot be compared to the future glory of those who love God." Many people say, "Who knows how it will be, so let us live now." Where are all those who thought only about how to live? – In the graveyards. There you can find the monuments of scientists and uneducated people, of poor and rich ones, of young and old, of all who have lived according to their understanding. All great people who had been respected and honored went there. So, nurture the little children whom God has loved, if you want your ways to be good and pleasing to God. Translated by Maia Atanasova Edited by Maria Braikova and Jana Roupchina

From The beauty of life The Two Paths Lecture given by the Master Beinsa Douno, July 31, 1932, 05:00 a.m. local time The Seven Rila Lakes There are two paths, which all living beings on Earth follow: the path of bread and the path of water. The first path is called hunger, the second path – thirst. Bread visits only the hungry; water visits only the thirsty. Bread and water represent the reality of Life. So, when Life intends to emerge, to become visible, it reveals itself in the form of bread and water. When Life visits someone, it is dressed in the garment of Love, which is called bread and water. When the hungry ones see Life, dressed in the garment of Love, they remove the garment and put it on themselves. Therefore, bread and water are the visible side of revealed Life. Without them, Life cannot be revealed. In other words, without bread and without water, Life is not accessible to living beings. Only those who have bread and water with them live. Only those who have bread and water with them grow and develop. That is why Christ said, "I am the Bread of Life coming down from Heaven (John 6:33, 35) and the water of Life coming out from human hearts." When He was crucified, Christ said, asking for water, "I thirst!" (John 19:28) He asked for that thing through which Life is revealed. It is said in one or two verses of the New Testament, "Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put on it hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." (John 19:29-30) Why did Jesus die? – Because He was not given water, but sour wine. I say, good thoughts and feelings represent the water of Life – the Living water. Bad thoughts and feelings represent the sour wine, from which all will die. Those who drink sour wine will undoubtedly die. Good deeds represent bread – Living bread. Bad deeds represent normal bread, from which people die. Why do people die from this bread? – Because it easily becomes moldy. So, if one does not drink only from the Living water and eat only from the Living bread the same thing that happened with Christ will befall on him. And in the end this one will also say, "It is finished!" The dew falling at night and the rain falling in the daytime bring the Divine blessings – the blessings of Life. Every good thought, every good feeling and wish is like dew, falling at night. Every good deed is like rain, falling in the daytime. If you receive the dew and the rain, you will be happy and joyful like the little blades of grass in the morning and in the evening. If you receive the dew and the rain, you will be like a rich blossom, which will bear fruit and will ripen. If you do not live well, you will be like Pilate who crucified Jesus; if you do not think well, you will be like the soldier who twisted a crown of thorns and put it on the head of Jesus. And then, if you do not behave well, you will be like the servant who gave Jesus sour wine to drink. When the Divine in you has gone, you will die, too. When the Divine leaves this world, you will disappear, too. Why was Jesus crucified? – So that people could see what they represent and how they keep the Divine law. Why did Jesus die? To show people what the real person should be – one of obedience who is not afraid even of death. To conclude everything said this morning I will give you the following thoughts: Where Love exists, fear stays away. Life is present, where Love is revealed. When one puts on the garment of Love, "it is finished": this person will either become reborn or dead, resurrected or buried, growing or withering. When one lives, Light has come. When one dies, darkness has come. Light is the life, which comes. Darkness is the life, which departs. Good thoughts, feelings and wishes represent rays of Light: they give food to Life and also to the soul that is coming to the Earth. Good deeds represent rays and colors of Light: they provide the Living bread for the soul, so that it can know The One Who gave birth to it. Translated by Dimitrina Daskalova

Note 1 A Solid Rock The Good Prayer We have to read the entire Gospel of John and to apply the smallest [piece] of it. It reads, ‘In the hour he had said, his son was cured’1 Students have to study. If one does not study, one is not a student. The way you behave now, you will soon get old, and then what are you in for? What will happen to you? You are students; however, you do not study. You are like the young people who get old, while I want you to be like the old people who rejuvenate and like the young people who study. God has to come and live within you and only if God lives within you, you will rejuvenate. There is one thing that you lack – the same what Christ was talking about to the young person. And I will tell you: it is Love you lack. When Love comes into you, you will then rejuvenate and all the good will come. Love will rejuvenate you. But when will Love come unto you? When God starts living in you. I do not mean that physical love, but that Love, which endures everything, that Love, which is a solid rock and all the misfortunes are suffered with Joy. It is Love when everyday you are grateful and you say, ‘This is my best day! I have never had a day like this!’ Tomorrow you will say the same. If we are not content and [if] every day we are sorry for this and for that, we shall grow old. Being grateful – this is Love. When we go to work in the world and when we are asked what we have to do, we shall tell every one, ‘We have to live like Christ!’ ‘You should first look for the Kingdom of God and for His Justice and everything else will be given to you. You wait for Christ to come. Who knows how you wait for him! It is said, ‘The Kingdom of God is within you.’ Christ will come within you. For those who implement God’s Will because of Love, the Kingdom of God has already arrived. The angels and the saints would prefer to have our suffering. This is considered a privilege by them. Now you live like the children – you eat, drink and sleep, while you have to study. You think you are doing spiritual work, while the important thing is to live like Christ. Now, as I am looking at you, you have one window. You have to make one more window in order to let more light in. Light does not break the door and the windows, but it waits to be freely let it in, in order to enter. Now, as I am looking at you, you will soon grow old. What are you waiting for now? You will be growing old day by day and you will be called up above. Because you do not study, God will say, ‘Call these recalcitrant students to Me!’ You should not be thinking that you will grow old, but that you have to study – This is God’s law. The young one who studies does not grow old, and the old one who studies rejuvenates. It’s not Divine for a newly wed woman to make her husband not love her mother-in-law. Because a day will come when she will get her son married and she will be treated like this. The mother, in order not to torment the child, does not make the child study. What will happen with this child then? If Heaven spoils us a lot, nothing will come out of us. This world is a reflection of the Invisible world. This world is like the bears, lakes and nature painted in pictures. You are not afraid to touch a painted bear, but if you go to a real bear, you will be afraid to touch it. The true reality is up above, and the physical world is a reflection of the Spiritual world. The spiritual world is a real world, and here everything is [painted as] in a picture. When you want to give something to a person you will ask him to empty his bag and you will then fill his bag with what’s in yours. You will tell him, ‘Mine is better, get rid of that, in order to take some of this.’ If someone has bread in one’s bag and says that he is full, you tell him, ‘No, mine is better!’ As soon as he takes from yours, he will be convinced, which means he will free himself of his old convictions. Make an experiment in some villages if they can give you a whole pita-bread; if you are with God, you will be given a whole pita-bread; if you are not with God, you will not be given a whole pita-bread. If you are going somewhere and the door is open, enter, but if the door is closed, do not enter. In other words, if one’s soul is open, talk to this person; if however, it [he] is not open and he does not receive, do not talk to him. When you get into a house, you will clean it, you will sweep it, you will knead pita-bread, so that the hosts on coming back be surprised [for the hosts to be surprised on coming back]. Put in other words, if you find a prepared soul, work within in a way that one can surprise oneself and say, ‘What’s happening with me?’ Sometime you eat to your heart’s content and go to a place where a pastry is made. Do not take a bite, you have eaten to your heart’s content! You start for a place and something tells you, ‘Do not go there!’ In such a case do not go! Lord’s Prayer The Lord’s Prayer Lecture delivered by the Master On 2 June 1932 16.00h, Sofia, Izgreva 1 Not exact quotation from John 4: 53: ‘So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus had said unto him, "Thy son liveth." And he himself believed, and his whole house. Source

Note 1 A Self-Training Task The Good Prayer I will cheer I will read Chapter One of the Proverbs of Solomon. The Spirit of God I shall give you a task that I want you to perform for one week only. Those who perform it can learn and those who do not perform it cannot learn. The implementation of the task starts tomorrow: you will take a small writing pad of ten pages or you may make one for yourself; three times a day you will note down what the weather is like, what your heaven is, what your condition is – whether it is clear, cloudy, whether it’s raining or snowing or whether it is stormy. You will note it down as meteorologists. You will draw a column and three times a day you will note down your comments. If you have a bad thought, you will note it down, as if you are teaching a student. You will put a mark to yourself: a one, a two, a three, a four etc. Let’s see how many good thoughts you will have. This you will do until next Thursday, you won’t forget! As soon as a bad thought comes to your mind, you will note it down; when a good thought comes to your mind, you will note it down too. The fisherman catches fish when he throws out the net, doesn’t he? Whichever is good is placed in the basket, whichever is no good, is returned. Let’s see how many good thoughts you will catch, let’s see how much your capital will be. When saying that a trader is rich we define his wealth. Under the present conditions, can a person having one or two thousand levs be [considered] rich? You can hardly make your living with two thousand levs. Five thousand or even one hundred thousand is no wealth. A person in order to be rich, at that [be] not an ordinary rich person, must have one million. This is valid for Bulgaria, but an ordinary rich American must have one million levs. One million dollars make five hundred thousand golden levs; multiply it by one hundred and forty levs, as per the value of the dollar: this is one hundred and forty million levs. So, a Bulgarian is rich with one million levs, and an American is rich with one hundred and forty million levs – such is the American consciousness. What can an American do with ten thousand dollars? A trip to Europe. On coming back the American won’t have a fiver in one’s pocket. When saying ‘a good person’ we must know what his goodness rests in. We must know that the safe of this trader is full. When saying that a farmer is rich, he must have land, a rich shepherd must have a flock of ten thousand sheep, a rich gardener must also have something. We say that somebody is educated; what does his education rest in? Or we say that somebody is beautiful. Beauty is in the quality of the human mind, of the human soul and it has its external expression. Many times have you looked at yourselves in the mirror: sometimes you are beautiful, some other times you are ugly. A statue made of wax is always beautiful, but a human being is not always beautiful. What is always beautiful is beautiful; and what is sometimes beautiful, and not beautiful at other times, is not beautiful. What does beauty rest in? You will say, ‘He has beautiful eyes.’ What does the beauty of these eyes rest in? The beautiful eyes have to be mellow, expressive, not to be vacant [wandering], not [to be] looking at somebody and seeing somebody else. A lady comes to visit you and starts looking here and there – her eyes are not beautiful. A beautiful person is not interested in anything. A beautiful person on coming into the room sees everything at once and afterwards does not pay any attention either to the chairs or to the other objects. The eyes of a person who sees the chairs and the other objects are not beautiful; such a person is interested in petty issues. As long as one is interested in your dress, one does not have beautiful eyes. If your dress wears out tomorrow, he will say that it is not beautiful. You will then resemble Nastradin Khodzha who went to a horse racing riding his old ox. He was told, ‘You can’t contest with this old ox’, but he replied, ‘When it was a young calf, it ran very fast!’ You will likewise say, ‘Time ago when we started along this Path, what people we were! We prayed all day long, our hearts were fervent! But this was time ago. And what was our Love! But it is no longer so…’ Everybody talks about past times. Which is the essential [point of time] – the past or the present time? Young people growing old lose their Love. Some of you say, ‘I grew old.’ I say, ‘You have lost your Love’. The old person says, ‘We will die’. You have lost your Wisdom. I ask then what use [good] is it that we have grown old and that we have died. You say we will die. What philosophy is there in the point that we will die. Why people now grow old? The little child that has given up the dolls, is no longer a child, but it deals with big issues. When a young person abandons [leaves] the nice things from one’s youth, he grows old. When an old person abandons [leaves] the nice things from one’s old age, he dies. I do not know who you are yet. You all have pseudonyms for me, you all write under false names and none of you has come under one’s own name. You travel with a title, the way certain notable people travel like counts. The name under which you are known in the other world, not here on the earth, this is what is important. You have forgotten even your name. You resemble a prisoner who bears a number – number 1, number 2 etc. The prisoner is asked ‘Who are you?’, and he replies, ‘I’m number one or number two.’ The policeman asks him, ‘Who are you?’ and the prisoner replies, ‘I’m number one hundred and twenty-five.’ And you bear the number only. I ask: can a person bearing a number only be called a human being? The policeman bearing number one is a man, [the one] bearing number two is a woman; number three is a child; number four is an old grandfather – having already fathered a generation; number five is an old grandmother; number six is a great grandchild; number seven is a great grand father. All the physical policemen are disguised. So, I was saying: you have never had a clear idea what you represent. You are sometimes standing discontented, but you have never asked yourself the question what you represent outside your body. A human being cannot go out of one’s consciousness. A human being is what does not change. As soon as you come to a state in Life where nothing disturbs you, this is [what you are]. As long as grief affects you, you are not a human being. What does not change cannot be affected, this is the human being. You want to be free people, don’t you? Whichever of you, even the most patient one can be derailed. Some of you pass for very meek, very patient, but imagine that all have agreed and made their minds to pour over you heaps of slander. You say, ‘What have these sisters done to me?’ A sister comes, talks to you and scolds you. Is it possible for pure water to come out from a spring at a certain moment, and at another moment bad water to come out? Is it possible that both good and evil come out from one and the same mouth? After I spoke the sisters started uttering something negative. Is this their consciousness or not? This is a partnership, a company that goes bankrupt easily. Don’t you think that I blame you! You say about somebody that this person is such and such. Reasoning like this it is easy to tell [recognize] gilded items from not gilded ones. What rubs out is gilded, what does not rub out, is not gilded. If your good rubs out, it is gilded; if it does not rub out, it’s not gilded. The Life that you live on the earth is a school. This is a place for utter ordeals [tests, trials]. You won’t see even one thousandth of what you expect implemented. You are beautiful in the beginning, everybody talks about you; all of this disappears after forty to fifty years. Your hair used to be black and smooth, earlier on you used to be slender, upright, and all this vanishes and you say, ‘This Life isn’t worth it.’ Why? Because you have an idea that is not true. Life is a trial school. All people are sent here to the earth to manifest themselves. When it comes to sending an angel to work in another solar system, God sends the angel first to the earth to try [test] it. An angel may be sent to the earth in the form of an ox to plough [together] with a Bulgarian farmer; it will plough for the farmer for ten years, the farmer would prod it, and the angel would say, ‘He does very well!’ When the angel comes back afterwards, it would tell others that it had studied at a Bulgarian university for ten years. What will you say to this? Literally it’s not so, but I give it as an example which is approximately true. It is said that those angels, who were cherubim, transformed themselves into a serpent in order to beguile the first people. What a humiliation this is! And after that these angels remained in the shape of a serpent, lost their hands, hence lost their will. All bad people are recognized by not having will; they have brains, but they have no will. They cannot catch you to strangle you, but they can set the others against you. They constantly look for somebody to come and carry them on his back. Serpents always need assistants, servants. You have read Faustus haven’t you? What did Mephistopheles gain in the end? Nothing. He wanted to slander man. Sometimes you are in hesitation and you say, ‘Is this me or not?’ This is an external power. This power you will put to work and it will plough for you all day long. For instance, you are enraged [furious]; you will harness your rage [fury] to work. People prone to rage are most hard-working, and those who do not work are not prone to rage. The scripture reads, ‘Be enraged [infuriated, furious, angry] but do not sin.’ Rather than the rage [fury] harnessing you, you should harness it. There is a joke about an old Bulgarian chorbdjia1 who would go and wake up his servants in the tailor’s market very early in the morning, at one or two o’clock after midnight, to start work. Then he would return home and go back to sleep. He says, ‘Let the young work!’ Finally his servants decided to teach him a lesson. There was a rumour that there was a goblet in the graveyard. When the chorbadjia went out one night to wake up his servants, two of them had disguised, one of them climbed on the back of the chorbadjia, and the other one kept leading him around the graveyard for two hours. Then they let him go and he went home. His wife asked him, ‘Did you wake up the servants?’, and he replied, ‘This is a dangerous task.’ From then onwards he never got up at night to wake up his servants, he waited for the Sun to rise and said, ‘Let the boys sleep, there is no point me disturbing them at night. You, God, will bless even the smallest piece of work.’ He never said the goblet scared him. Let’s make an analogy: a pusillanimous thought comes to you; you are ridden, the goblets prod you. So, you haven’t complied with the great law of Divine Love. Why does the world go this way, why does not it go along the straight Path of Love? Unhappiness is due to the lovelessness of the entire humankind. Just like the first people deviated [from the straight path of Love] the other people also deviated in the same way. Whatever you are told, you may say that the Master speaks very well. If I speak well, this is for me; but you have to listen too and you have to apply [what you have heard] well. The first requirement is that one must have patience, so that one can persevere when others talk evil of him or her. At the Pythagoras school an applicant was placed with other students who slandered him, called him the worst of words. If he could persevere, he was admitted. They ridicule him, while he keeps his balance and smiles slightly. Which sister out of you would pass this test? Pythagoras worked like this over two thousand years ago and few were admitted to the school. Why? Because the Divine riches can be entrusted only to people who can persevere. One can be recognized as knowing little by the fact that one loses (wastes) one’s youth and one’s old age. Then where is the human being? When one becomes rich, one reaches a certain point and one dies there, if one cannot stop. If one cannot find one’s place in the other world, where is the human being then? What use is it to a person after one’s death that one was rich and had millions. What use is his wealth to him, if one loses one’s eyesight, taste, and cannot eat? Eyes are important and useful, inasmuch as one can use them. Only the food that can be received in a particular case is important in life. And also important is that thought that can motivate one to a harmonious Life. One is proud saying that one is a believer; that one belongs to a certain school. One may as well belong [to a certain school] but important is the knowledge one possesses; the Virtue that one possesses – that Virtue that one is blessed with. Who is loveable to God? The one that acts upon His Will. We must be aware when acting upon His Will. The Scripture reads, ‘Try God’s Will!’ At any moment we must know whether or not we act upon God’s Will. We may act upon His Will at a certain moment, and we may not act upon it at another moment. Human nature is very complex. When someone is angry, this does not mean that he is bad, and sometimes when one is gentle and predisposed, this does not mean that he is good. If you pray when you are predisposed, this does not as yet show that you are good. But you have to pray when you aren’t predisposed. Some bad thought may come, but this does not mean anything. A good person may be dressed in a simple robe and he will remain a good person, while even if a bad person is covered in gold, he will remain the same. When a spider is making its web, you bear with it, don’t you? Why? Some other time you cannot stand the spider at your home. Why has this spider made a web? It waits to catch a fly and to eat it. It catches a fly today, another fly tomorrow, three, four flies; it eats them, but you stand this scoundrel. You say, ‘Why God made the world like this?’ I am asking why you stand this spider eating a fly before you. I have often had experiments with spiders: I see that a spider has caught a fly; I tell it, ‘Let the fly go!’ The spider flurries up. I tell it, ‘If you do not let the fly go in my presence, I shall not leave your web intact. You will let the fly go now!’ The spider breaks the thread and lets the fly go. I tell it, ‘You are an intelligent spider!’ If it had not let the fly go, I would have used my stick and would have sent it on pilgrimage, but I would not have killed it… This spider may come to your mind too. One has to be a master of oneself. I told this spider, ‘You are free, but you have no right to eat a fly in my presence.’ And neither do flies have the right to say that one of them was eaten in my presence. I do not want to be summoned as witness to the court for such a thing. You need self self-control. You pass through a stage of self-training. One’s strong will is recognized by one’s self-composure [self-control]. It’s not enough to restrain oneself only. Some pass for patient. What do you understand under the word patience? A young lad wanted to get married, he found a maiden, who was very careful in her dealing with him, he got engaged and said, ‘I found a fiancée; there is no second to her!’ Once he tripped her by chance; she fell down, spilt the glass she was carrying, but said smilingly, ‘It’s all right; the glass spilt.’ When she went out to refill the glass the young man said, ‘See what a character; what a self-composure!’ The one who was told so, replied, ‘Blessed you are, God granted you so beautiful a being, you will live well!’ But when he married her things were not the same and he told her, ‘You were like an angel; when I tripped you once, you behaved like an angel.’ She responded, ‘But when I went downstairs, I thumped with anger upon the table!...’ We are presented with an object teaching in the Invisible world. You also present an object teaching. The more elevated Beings look upon you the way you look upon the trees and upon all the inferior animals below you. You perform an act and the more elevated Being scrutinises you why you behave like this. They scrutinise you the way I scrutinise an apple. There is someone who is interested in you. All those thoughts that you experience – be they good or bad, show that you pass through different worlds. When you have bad thoughts you pass through an area where bad beings live, and when you have good thoughts, you pass through an area where good beings live. Some other time you have sad thoughts, musical thoughts etc. You have to take a lesson from all the areas you pass through. So now I am saying: you have to have a method to study the Scripture. God put the prophets through the greatest ordeals [trials] before he sent them preaching. Only after passing through this school they were entrusted with knowledge and were sent to preach. Similarly Christians pass through many tests. You too have come to the earth to learn something. The first thing you have to learn is patience, the second thing is to learn abstinence and the third thing is to be able to cope with any difficulty. A bad thought comes to mind; a mosquito has bitten you. You may blow it away. When a mosquito bites, blow at it to go away. It will fly away, and then another mosquito will come. You may press it and kill it, but it’s better to blow it away and to tell it not to come for a second time. You will know when it comes for a second time. There was a very intelligent mosquito in Varna. When it was close to bed time for me, he would purr; when I wake up it would go away and hide, and then I can’t find it all day long. I talked with it. It was very intelligent; it knew when I was asleep and when I was awake. As soon as I was awake it would disappear; so, it knew when I was leaving my body. How comes it knew [all this], is its business. We have to draw certain conclusions in our lives. Man is placed on the earth. What is man’s purpose on the earth? – to improve and to self-train oneself. Man will pass through one self-training, through one unpleasant regime. Everybody imagines a life that cannot be accomplished on the earth. Sometimes you walk up to a certain place all right, but then exactly the opposite happens. The only rule is: the attitude to you of all the Powers, acting in Nature, will be just like your attitude to the spiritual [world]. But the law of Love is intelligent. If you have the law of Love you will as well pass through certain difficulties, but you will come out easily and you will manage. If you do not live in the law of Love, the greatest difficulties will come. When one has Love, one has foresight, one foresees things, one gets prepared and knows how to act. And when one loses one’s Love, one loses one’s equilibrium. You have to watch [observe], not to judge, yourselves. You will study yourselves. Sometimes you cannot recognize yourselves; you have lain down in a certain way and many inferior beings come and you cannot recognize yourself among them. You mix your consciousness with the other consciousnesses [the consciousnesses of the others?] and you do not know how to act [behave]. For instance, you are told something, you are patient for some time, after which you fly into a rage and spoil [ruin] everything. The one learning how to be patient resembles that Bulgarian who dances the horo dance, kneels down and yells ‘yihoo-hoo’. Once a person told the dancer, ‘You will dance, but you won’t yell ‘yihoo-hoo’ and then I will give you a cow and a calf.’ The other one started dancing, but he said at a time, ‘I spit on your cow and calf!’ and he yelled ‘yihoo-hoo’. Similarly, you say that you will persevere [be patient], but you come to a point and you say, ‘It cannot be endured any longer!’ Sometimes you try to persevere and you observe how many times you have succeeded. When you persevere you experience a new enlightenment and you rejoice persevering. At other times you come to an upper limit, you flare up, you feel like telling the other one not to think that you are an imbecile. You believe you will set things right by telling him, but it becomes even a greater mess. Two married women quarrelled, and there was a river between them. The one of them was talking and the other one was listening to her so calmly that the first one shouted, ‘Say something, because I will burst out!’ Likewise something within you says, ‘Say something, because I will burst out!’ But when you say something, it’s not it that bursts out but you. When a water jug bursts out, it’s no longer any good, you only glue it, but it’s no good for any work. When it comes to patience you have to make the other one say, ‘Say something, because I will burst out!’ Let him or her burst out, but you should be patient and make sure you don’t burst out. You are very generous, and in order for the others not to burst out, you burst out. As I see you keep bursting out. Do not spare your enemies, let them burst out, but you should not burst out. The person of the New Teaching should stand out by a character. God does not give people more suffering and hardship [desolation] than they can endure [bear]. Each one has very little suffering in comparison with the others. For instance, somebody complains that he has a very great suffering, but when you take him to the others, he says, ‘Mine is nothing [compared to yours]’ If you take the second one to a third one, he also says, ‘‘Mine is nothing [compared to yours]’ Nobody can trace the depths of suffering. Similarly the good deeds are also boundless – from good to better. I call school the condition when you have the power to climb up while you are going down. The power of man rests in one’s capacity to correct one’s mistake. I draw your attention to the typical side of Life; if you attain this Power, life will improve. A magic Power exists in man, through which Life becomes easier. And when one demagnetizes, one weakens, becomes nervous like a squeaking car[t]. One should not become poor, one should be rich. Sometimes one loses heart and says, ‘I did not use the conditions. I used to think so and so, but one should not live in this way.’ We have to live in the way the saints lived. One should be rich, but rich can only be people who have internal wealth. You have to have a wealth that you cannot lose, a wealth that will stay together with you. Rich is that person who on leaving for the other world takes his wealth with him. And Christ says, ‘Gather wealth that you can carry with yourself.’ It’s fine that many of you sleep. Sometimes I am glad to see that somebody is asleep, because if I am laying a table for ten people, but nine of them are asleep, I will feed only one. This is why I am glad if the others sleep for a longer time. Those who are awake benefit. Some [other] time I will explain to you why you fall asleep. Sometimes those who sleep gather at one place. I have a different view about sleeping: sleeping is blessed by God, but one is supposed to sleep when one has to. If one cannot understand me here, one goes up above to understand me and this is good. But if one goes up above and still does not understand me, then there is no point sleeping. To sleep and to rest – this I understand – but to sleep and still be tired is pointless. The blessed sleep can be recognized: then the sleeping person resembles a saint. If one falls asleep in the chair moving one’s head to and fro, this is no good. You will first grow out of the habit to move your head to and fro when sleeping. I allow you to sleep. I can wake up the one who is sleeping with ammonia very easily. A sister falls asleep because she is overburdened, she needs money; she is tired. However, if I give her a bag of gold to carry, then she does not sleep. Falling asleep is due to the accumulation of lactic acid. Due to great worries and troubles lactic acid accumulates in the brain, which has the capacity to shorten the tentacles of the brain cells. When these tentacles are connected all the energies flow properly, otherwise the currents cannot flow and one falls asleep. A lot of worries, a lot of talk about this and that causes this poisonous lactic acid to accumulate. There is always one sleeping person out of a hundred people. Sleeping is not a big disability. The one who sleeps is a person who endures [perseveres]. I would rather have somebody sleeping than chattering. Which is better? Sleeping is the smallest of mistakes that exist on the earth. You now need self-training. What should distinguish the adult sisters who are advanced in the Teaching? What should young people be distinguished by? Dexterity [adroitness, agility, dexterousness]. While the old people should be distinguished by knowing the methods applied in a given area. The young should be ready to serve, ready to do something. The old should know how to do this thing and how to produce the best of plans. The young and old [person] work simultaneously within man. As soon as a good thought comes to mind and you understand the best method to apply it and you implement it, then you are old and young at the same time. Then the laws of Love and of Wisdom operate simultaneously within you. Now, you will laugh at yourselves a little bit. What difference does it make if somebody slept here at the meeting or at home? Here it feels better to sleep. A preacher told a congregation, ‘I preach to those who are sleeping.’ Both those who are sleeping and who are not sleeping are equally responsible; suffice it to apply what is being talked about. Let’s say that ten sisters are sleeping and implementing the task, while those who are not sleeping, are not implementing it. Who is then worthy of praise – those who are sleeping or those who are not sleeping? Certainly those who are sleeping and implementing the task are worthy of praise, because they perform even when they sleep. Well, best of all is for one to implement without sleeping. The Scripture reads, ‘Get up, you, who are sleeping!’ Parables talk about intelligent knowledge. Man should have knowledge about one’s nature, man should not be afraid of one’s deeds [manifestations]. Thousand of deeds [manifestations] will come into him. If man does not understand one’s nature, man will fall into big contradictions and will say, ‘I used not to be like this! [‘I did not use to be like this!’] However, a human being having all the good talents [endowments] has got only to work. If you spend two hours of your free time thinking [reflecting], you will accomplish a lot. I can give you a self-training system. One should not be coached, but self-trained. Self-training can eliminate the existing disabilities. For instance, upset stomach, particularly related with the nervous system or other similar conditions can be eliminated. Then one gets a cheerful look, a Divine change takes place within him. When you meet a person, you are in communication with him. Sometimes you are among people, but you do not see them, as if they are made of wax. While some other time you see the person and you establish a bond with his soul. Nowadays, the person is not there in most of the cases. However, in order to wake up your soul, new conditions have to be established. Only then will a resolution appear. Without this wakening constant disappointment will come only – you will be indisposed today, indisposed tomorrow, then again [you will be] predisposed etc., until in the end you will say that you do not know what is the meaning of life. So now, the main idea is for you to work on perseverance [patience] first. So, when a desire to talk comes to you, you should ask yourselves whether or not to talk; whether or not to think in this way; whether or not to say this. You will impose control upon yourselves for a week. You will note down the thoughts that come to you in your notebooks. For example, a good thought comes to you in the morning, a bad one - at noon, and again a bad thought in the evening. Or a bad thought comes to you in the morning, a good one - at noon, and a medium one in the evening. You will see how many thoughts will come to mind for a week and you will note them down in a notebook three times a day. Thus you will have statistics of the doubt for a week. You have now only entered a Teaching. You have to study Nature from now on, which is a book sealed by seven seals for you. You have to study it from now on. You wait to go to the angels in Heaven, to play the guitars for you. In Heaven, [in order] to listen to a choir, you have to understand the music and to take part in the singing; you cannot be just a listener. It is like this on the earth as well: one has to actively [eagerly] participate according to the level of one’s development. Somebody says that it’s not the right time as yet. Time for everybody has come. The time for everybody to become perfect and omnipotent has not come, but time for everybody to be good and intelligent has come. You say that you have money. Each one of you has to apply the Good as an internal Power; this is a job that one has to keep doing all the time. The Good is progressive. You will do what you can accomplish [do]. Then read the Proverbs once again. Knowledge is needed. One cannot serve God and implement His Will without knowledge and without Good. The Lord’s Prayer Lecture delivered by the Master on 2 June 1932, 16.00h, Sofia, Izgreva 1 Chorbadjia – land owner, landlord; wealthy man Source

Note 1 Bearers of the New The Good Prayer I will read part of Chapter ten of John’s [Gospel] from line one to line nineteen. “God is Love” The first line of the chapter reads, “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” Jesus takes one very ordinary word ‘door’. Everything has a door. Every room has a door. The door is a natural way. When a robber wants to come into the room, he drills a hole and comes in through it. Hence, the one who does not come through the door has different intentions. This is a simple fact of life, but you want to know what Christ wanted to say. He makes a comparison saying that the thief, who enters into a sheepfold, comes to take a sheep or to sell it, or to eat it. Sometimes you ask why the evil exists in the world. But if you were in the place of a sheep, how could you explain the condition of a thief entering the sheepfold? What are his motives when he enters and pinches [a sheep] from the sheepfold? He’s got [vested] interest. You may now ask what evil you have done to him, whether he hates you. He does not hate you, he loves you; out of a great love for you he enters the sheepfold and robs. On the same basis, when a thought enters you, it can cause trouble. There are certain thoughts which come in like living beings and incur great damage. Each thought that comes in stealthily has an aspiration of its own. How can you recognize such thoughts? A thought entering you and incurring trouble to you, is not coming through the door. For example, you are absolutely convinced that God loves you, but somebody comes and tells you that a friend of yours spoke ill of you. Without verifying it, you purse your brows, frown, you purse your lips, you become indisposed, you start thinking why he spoke like this. You haven’t verified it, but you [start] threaten[ing] in yourself, “I shall teach him a lesson, how dare he speak like this!” People are very gullible. You don’t believe the truth, but you believe a rumour. If an evil thought is spreading among you, you will believe it. In this century you first have to learn to recognize the features of your thought. Because thoughts are Powers that build [construct]. Like the thoughts like the person. As soon as simple thoughts start coming into him, his face roughens. All day long he pays attention to simple [ordinary] thoughts. Simple [ordinary] I call the thoughts of material nature related with the earthly life. Such a person related with the material life, roughens in the same way just like a person doing tough labour has corns and boils on his hands. The strength of a scientist lies in the fact that he knows [has got knowledge of] things. Many of you can tell certain differences, but you cannot even determine in what certain fruit trees differ. For example, the leaves of an apple tree, cherry tree, plum tree, apricot tree, medlar (Mespilus) tree and others differ. People consider these things insignificant. Some of you cannot tell the difference between one face and another. You say that the face is beautiful, round, that the eye-brows are beautiful. But you cannot describe the eye-brows. You say that the lips are very beautiful, but you cannot describe them. Similarly, you know nothing about the ears; you have a vague idea only. Then you say that his hair is very beautiful, but you know not whether the hair is thick or thin. Nice hair is smooth as silk. If you pluck a hair from somebody’s head and run it through your fingers, you can describe the character of the person. The entire life is written on one hair. If you are nervous, this is written on the hair and nervous is the hair too. If you are stingy, the hair is stingy likewise, it has certain uneven bumps. If your character is rough, the hair is similarly rough and thick. If you have a kind, sophisticated, noble character, the hair is smooth from one end to the other and it feels pleasant on touching as if something is flowing into you. The hair of a saint, having spent thirty years in the mountains, is unusual. Why do saints wear their hair long? Because hair cutting stands for physical freedom and you do not cut your hair, you say, ‘Let whatever God says be!’ And nowadays when cutting their hair people say, ‘Let whatever we say be!’ Some of the women stick to ‘Let whatever God says be!’, and some of the women have their hair cut and say, ‘Let whatever we say be!’ But let’s leave this aside; this is the external side… If you run your fingers along a hair of a saint, from the one end to the other, your indisposition will disappear, you will be pleasantly predisposed and you will think that life is meaningful. This is why people like holding something from a saint in their hands. If you have a hair of a saint and [if you] run it through your fingers, just like women run the thread when spinning, the hair will transfer what it has to you. The same is true about food. If your organism doesn’t run the food through itself in order to extract what God and the Sun have put into it, it cannot benefit. Every thought, every feeling are printed upon your mind. For example, your friend has said a kind word and when you keep repeating it your mood changes. This is true in respect of the Gospel too: when you read it some words touch you, they haven’t lost the deep meaning they contain. Therefore, each thought that comes in through the door is good. Bad thoughts can be recognized by their different colours, different vibrations, their sounds are completely different. Bad thoughts are utterly ugly. Each thought has the form of a human being – like the human being, like the thought. Because if you intend to steal a lamb, your thought expresses how you make off with the lamb, how you kill it and so on. If you say something in relation to a friend of yours, in the end you start regretting it. Why do you regret? The very thought contains poison within itself; not only when you receive it, but also when you send it to somebody’s address, this thought passes through you. The person sending the thought is doing an ill turn to oneself, just like a bee pays with its life when stinging someone. Each thought, coming out of a human being and causing [any] damage, will die. This dying has a reverse effect upon the human consciousness. Contemporary suffering is a result from the unnatural application. Sometimes you wonder how comes certain bad thoughts attack you. Bad thoughts always come from the material world. It is enough one of you, having a good religious mood and Love for God, to go out and visit a friend of his, who has nice furniture and disposable resources, in order for this person to come back indisposed. A person, when visiting well-off people, sees houses with carpets and on coming back home such a person tells himself, ‘Why don’t I have these riches that well-off people have?’ There is one difference in life. If a big whale living in the sea has a big body and can move everywhere, and if a person regrets not being such a big whale, which one is better – to be a human being or a whale? A rich person is a big whale living in the water. You visited him and you want to be like him, but whales are exposed to great dangers. You covet the situation of the rich, but the rich have great sufferings. Poor people have external sufferings – sometimes they are underfed, but they do not have the sufferings of the rich. God has so determined things, that wealth has its good and bad sides. Poverty, and studying, and religious life also have their good and bad sides. Because in order to be religious you have certain obligations: you live in a society and you cannot do whatever you feel like. For example, if you live in a good mannered society you will speak what is decent, what is moral and what will not be condemned by the people. People have an internal consciousness and they know when a person is good internally. Even animals know. In the region of Varna there was one utterly poor person, called Deli Vassil. Wherever he happened to walk in the village, even by the worst dogs, which tore the clothes of other people, they would not even bark at him. How will you explain this? And everybody called him Deli Vassil – the crazy Vassil. I am asking why dogs did not bark at him. Because this person loved them. If you love a dog, as soon as it sees you, it knows that you love it and starts wagging its tail. Dogs are very proud, they have one feeling; they are the litmus test for attachment. If you look at them and if you have no feeling for them, they start barking at you and say, ‘You are not noble!’ Dogs are a paragon of attachment. How comes they have such a feeling? This is a psychological phenomenon and if people could have even the dogs’ attachment, they would have lived a much better life. Apart from the feeling of attachment, dogs have a feeling of chivalry too: a male dog will never throttle a female dog, nobleness it does have. There may be certain exceptions with the trained dogs, but I [at least] haven’t seen any. Is this true about people? So, dogs have a noble feeling of attachment and a feeling of self-consciousness, of a responsibility to the other sex. People should take these features as example [to follow]. What is the purpose of religion? To impart the most beautiful, the noblest into the human soul. But in the present century there is a danger of moralizing. You say, ‘We have to live in this way! [‘This is how we have to live!’]’ I am in for the teaching. Every single person should aspire to apply [the teaching], because the beauty of Life rests in the application. Someone was telling me how he ate cherries, how delicious they were. If this person gives me some and [if] I try the cherries, he may tell me; then I will also share [with him] and I will say, ‘It’s true, I tried some [cherries], indeed they are delicious.’ You say that you have to be good people. There is one stagnant good in the world. Others say that you have to be rich. There is a condition under which everybody can be rich. If a person is intelligent, everyday there is a moment when he can become rich and happy, but he misses it. When the moment of one’s happiness comes, one is busy with side issues. Only after the beautiful moment has passed, when there are no more chances for happiness, one starts looking for it and says, ‘There is no happiness in the world.’ One starts looking for good people and says that they do not exist in the world. There are good people, but good people always pass through the door – through the king’s gates, while those who pass through the barriers, are not good people. If two sisters quarrel, they are on either side of the barriers. If two neighbours quarrel that the hen of the one lay an egg in the yard of the other and they cannot divide the egg, I am asking you if they quarrel through the door? Over the barrier, over the fence they quarrel about one egg. Let’s assume that the hen lays eggs for a week in somebody else’s yard; if we price an egg at 20 levs, is it worth quarrelling over 20 levs? If it were about a couple of million of pounds sterling, you will say that it is a lot of money, while it is about twenty levs, which amounts to less than a Swiss franc. Thus one loses one’s good mood and it is sometimes the case that a person wastes all the opportune occasions throughout the year and in the end one roughens. One would often pronounce an inconsiderate word, makes a mistake, but one justifies oneself afterwards by saying, ‘I have the right to say it, I am not stupid!’ Do you think that a person who has one’s own rules and who quarrels with people is very intelligent? If you go around saying that this one is doing fine, that the other one is not doing fine, I ask if there is someone who has thanked for you vilifying him or her. At least I haven’t met such a person. Sometimes there is an internal talk within a human being. There is an internal talk, and there is an external talk. Sometimes one argues with oneself and says, ‘This one is like this, and that one is like that, why did God make them such people, couldn’t He make them different?’ Such a person grumbles, then he goes to pray and during the prayer he says, ‘God does not listen to me.’ What will you achieve when you start with your own rules? God does not need any rules; these are absolutely useless for Him. God made the people so perfect that there is no need whatsoever to additionally polish them. If that caterpillar, which eats leaves, knows how to transform its character, which professor will give instructions to it? It climbs this tree and it keeps climbing that tree until it becomes a butterfly. A sister wants to teach another sister good manners. It would be very interesting to me if there is an instance in your experience when two sisters managed to polish another sister so well that the latter became a saint. There is no such case. I know a sister who met another sister who sinned a lot and told her, ‘Sister, I love you very much, I would like to be like you and I’m sorry I can’t. How pleasant it is to be a friend of yours, I am so lonely.’ The other one said, ‘I am also lonely, I am considered very bad. Let’s get together!’ I think that the first sister reasons [thinks] very well. Often we do not know the underlying reasons behind what we call evil in the world. Neither do we know what reasons made a person add good in a particular case to any of his deeds… (a cat lingering around the Master) This cat is an object teaching. It listens to the lecture without understanding it. It has its way – it will smooth its tail, because it has something on its mind. I know why it smoothes its tail – it wants something material, nothing ideal does it want. Translated into a human language this cat tells me, ‘If the sisters bring nice things to you, leave some for me! If they bring nice cheese to you, you should give some to me, don’t you forget!’ As a cat is a gregarious animal, those beings from the Invisible world want to express something completely different. They want to say that you have to have a character, not to be ashamed of yourselves. The cat says, ‘I understand well and am grateful to the Master. I’m ready to be obedient; as long as I am called, I am ready …’ Let’s leave the cat now, as it distracts our attention. In one’s up-bringing a person should never self-torture oneself. At the current stage of development one should constantly correct one’s mistakes. All the mistakes are collective. For example, sometimes it rains and the wall gets muddy; you will take the brush and will paint it. Someone breaks the window; you will buy a new glass and fix it! Someone soiled; you will clean! Such things happen all the time. The world is full of good and bad thoughts. A person who does not understand the laws is exposed to an external influence and if you join a society, you will immediately take in its mood. If you happen to be among scientists, musicians, religious or others, you will take in their mood. If you bask in the sun, you will take in the mood of the Sun and you will be predisposed. If you bask in the moon-light, you will have a completely different mood. From a spiritual point of view the world has come to a situation that demands an internal understanding, each one of you is required to have a strong thought, not to be influenced by the environment where one lives, and to enter a more highly developed environment. For example, a Divine thought enters you; how do you recognize that this is a Divine thought? Somebody comes to visit you and a thought comes to your mind to give him two thousand levs to leave you. Or it comes to your mind to buy him clothes and to see him off. A third thought may come to your mind to receive him to stay with you and to see him off on the following day. Which one of the three is a Divine thought? Someone will think that to give two thousand levs is Divine. Another one will think that the second thought is Divine. From my point of view Divine is the third thought and I would act like this. Money and clothes I shall not give, but I will feed him. Because what shall I do, provided the law requires that I give clothes or money, [if] God sends a bird to me? A bird visits me, purches on my window, walks along the sill, wants to get in, stays there waiting for several hours. What does this bird want? This bird has come to visit me. If the Divine law requires that I give money or clothes, this bird needs none of those. It needs food. Therefore, Divine is what is common for all in a particular situation. In other words, you have to give what is common for birds, human beings and angles. This is Divine; this is the Divine thought, while the other things are specific. Those who act like human beings will find themselves in contradiction. If you give a person two thousand levs he will get scared and will say, ‘Come on, send your servant to guard me not to be robbed!’ But if you feed him, he won’t be scared. And if he wants me to send my servant, I shall not do it, because he is sent by the Invisible world not to be served, but to serve. Every human being is sent to serve and the one who does not understand the law and waits for the others to serve him, has forgotten one’s promise. Many diseases come to the world when you say, ‘I’m fed up with household work; I need a rest!’ At the moment when you make a wish to have a servant, you will fall ill. God will send you a servant. I am talking to [those of] you who are willing to implement God’s Will and I don’t understand how it is possible for a servant to want other people to serve him, being himself a servant to a greater master. So, he wants to be a master of another servant. The Divine law says, ‘as long as you are in a position to serve, be willing to serve and you will be healthy! As long as you want to serve God, you will be healthy; your legs will be all right, nothing more. You shall not say, “I’m fed up with serving!” As soon as you conceive the thought of having a servant, as soon as you want to be a master, your daughter, your husband – everybody will be discontented with you, because they perceive your thought. Your thought is transferred to your husband and then he also yearns for being a master. Thus everybody at home start fighting. Your daughter does not obey either and she says, ‘I do not want to serve either!’ You often create trouble for yourselves at home, because whatever you wish for, the others start wishing for it too. You wish to have a nice garment, but your son, your daughter and the others also wish to have such a nice garment, while there is not enough money for all. Then they start quarrelling why one has got a new garment, and another one hasn’t got. There exists also another law in the world, which is most visibly seen with the birds: the longer they wear their clothes, the more beautiful they become; if a feather falls, another one comes up. If you observe this law, your clothes shall not wear out. I know people who have worn the same suit for ten years and it hasn’t worn out. Wearing a new suit for ten years – this is saving. Those who live according to God, make savings of one suit at two thousand levs for ten years. If you live according to God your clothes will always be new. A saint was with the same cloak for thirty years which remained new. The cloak of any saint who does not pass the exam wears out. Christ did not take his clothes off his back, did not hang them when entering a house. I want to take you to the main point about that great faith in the Divine that delivers [bestows, grants] Peace and serenity to the human thought, that self-consciousness by virtue of which you can overcome difficulties every day. For example, you are grieved, you feel sad; when you direct your thought your grief disappears. Or you have an argument; you direct your thought to God and say, ‘God, settle this work!’ If a garment is soiled, you will wash it and the job will be done! Somebody has told you something; you will try to understand it in the Divine context. After each bad word, after each ordeal, if you overcome it, you will experience a great blessing of which you are completely unaware. Ordeals are Divine goods that are hidden, so that God can try you. God will send you a great good, which is so formidable externally, that you will say, ‘I don’t want it!’ You do not understand the Divine path. Therefore the Scripture reads, ‘All those who endure what happens to them, who resolve the issues properly, will have an internal serenity and internal strength.’ Each one of you can be made lose one’s temper. For example, you are walking in the forest at night and somebody shouts, ‘Ambush!’ There is no ambush; what ambush can there be where God is! There is no obstacle whatsoever to approach you, if you listen to God. Even a bear will come and pass by. But if you do not listen to God, the bear will deliver a lecture to you and will ask you, ‘Why didn’t you do God’s Will?’ The Scripture reads, ‘he that does not enter by the door.’ This door is the Divine Love – to believe that there is no change in God. What God said does not change. There is a Science that does not depend on human knowledge. Because if a child and a scientist plant a seed, the results will be same. Both the child and the scientist will bury the seeds in the ground and they will bear the same fruit. You think that if you are educated you will be better. No, learning will be an appendage to you and it will benefit you to a certain degree. Ignorance won’t benefit you either. Under the present circumstances you have to cope with certain hardships. Let’s assume that you want to develop clairvoyance. Somebody says, ‘Teacher, why don’t you open our eyes?’, but I am silent. I will tell you why I don’t open your eyes: imagine that you are in a room and you want to see the mountain. You have to go out of the room in order to see the mountain with your own eyes, but you ask if there is a telescope or binoculars at hand. I say - you will go out and see the mountain on the spot. When you climb the high peak on top, you will see what you cannot see under ordinary conditions. Those who do not want to develop this gift will say, ‘It’s very high up there in the mountain. Our hearts will burst. It’s cold and there is snow there. When special roads are made we shall go there by bus or by plane.’ You have to wait for two or three hundred years for these conditions. While now, you can go without having to wait for an airplane, and you can attain what you need. You have a concept that clairvoyance can be granted from outside. I will tell you how you can attain clairvoyance: imagine that you live in a parlour, but your ancestors have never cleaned the windows, they are dirty and little light comes through them. I look through them and say, ‘Nothing can be seen.’ You wash them everyday, but still nothing can be seen. I say: you have washed them from the outside, and now you will wash them from the inside and your eyes will immediately open and see clearly through the windows. A sister may say, ‘This is not for us, we may fall down from the ladder, let a servant come and wash them!’ Never can a servant wash your windows either from the inside or the outside. I am asking how windows are washed. If you cannot wash your mind, you won’t be able to drive away the flitting bad and side issues attacking you at times. One should erect a wall in one’s mind and not allow useless thoughts to disturb him. Just like students have to cope with the material the teacher has assigned to them, rather than dwelling on the teacher’s attitude to this or that student. When you sit for an exam, you won’t be asked whether you like your teacher or not, but whether you know or not, whether you have studied or not. In the Invisible world those who do not study, are not regarded well; there studying and high regard go hand in hand. Here, on the earth, there are, however, students of very high regard who do not study. There is something bad in an absent-minded student; there is something bad in a person who is of high regard but does not study. This is psychologically true: such a person is seemingly good, but his mind is distracted, and according to Nature, which cannot be beguiled, he has a bad habit that distracts his mind. This absent-mindedness may not be resilient: you are sitting and thinking that you are a daughter of a prince, that you have a nice room, children, servants and have everything at your disposal; you imagine many things and thus you distract your mind. You have to pull yourself together and say, ‘No Prince, no Princess!’ One of our sisters was telling another one ‘our Princess Raina, our Heavenly servant’… To be able to work, to be able to study, to rely on what God put in you! Only what is put in you can you develop. You can develop your gifts. The Spiritual science gives those methods that you can use to develop them. And any teaching in the world can be accessible to man only when he loves [to human beings only when they love]. If you love a person you will remember his words, if you do not love him, you won’t remember them. If you love a school subject, you will make progress in it. Your memory will be as much as is your love. Memory fades when you remember things automatically [mechanically]. A capable student studies, studies and studies. The gift is given, but he works in order to be worthy of what he has attained. You have to take him as an example. A good person not only has a gift, but has also worked [for it]. A musician has also worked. This is true in respect of any other gift. Now, I want to put you to a test, as Pythagoras did. Let’s say you are in a Pythagoras’ school where prince’s sons came and for about three-four years they were subjected to utter ridicule, that were meant to deeply affect them. And if the applicant passed the test, he was admitted to the school to study the secret sciences after four years. And if you are ridiculed, I do not know how many people will survive [endure, carry on]. If you are ridiculed for a month I do not know how many of you will endure. You will experience things you haven’t even dreamt about and you will say, ‘Why does God allow this [to happen]?’ This is a test. If the student does not retaliate to the ridicule, he will endure for four years. He has to think and after passing this exam, he will be admitted at the school. If one wants to be admitted to Heaven, does he have to pay attention when he is told that he is perverted and crazy? You may be told that you pray three times a day to God, but you are not rich, you live in a gypsy’s cabin but those [people] without praying have palaces; people may try to persuade you to leave this crazy stuff and you may start asking yourself whether these people are not right? I am asking this question to you, who are not crazy, ‘Do you have graveyards; do priests bury and perform the funeral service for you?’ We at least are crazy! When we die, we may or may not be buried. It’s all the same to us even if we are not buried; we do not leave money for a funeral. You will say that people who die should be buried. Christ gives a parable: nobody buried the poor Lazarus, he was placed in a cart and was given a simple funeral; a rich person dies and is given a ceremonial funeral with music and cymbals. The rich person was placed in hell in the other world, while Lazarus, who was dragged there in a crate, was taken to Abraham’s bosom... Death and funerals are the old order of things. Man will not die in the new order. There will come a day when there will be no dying [death] – when the time comes, man will simply leave consciously for the other world. He will start, he will leave and nobody will know where he has gone; nothing more. Now everybody knows. Iliya left his fur-coat when he left for the other world and Eliseus [Elisha] took it. A sister talks very eloquently; this sister actually presents a puzzle to you – she says one thing, but it is understood allegorically. This is a puzzle. She says, ‘Ivan, Dragan1, you are like this.’ However, there are thousands of Ivans and Dragans. According to this theory each student is put to a great internal test. While under the current conditions these issues are incomprehensible. Now, there are no material conditions for everybody to be happy. There are not sufficiently intelligent sons and daughters in the family in order to make home a happy place. They haven’t reached this stage of development. People should prepare from now on so that they can understand that they have to work according to the great law of God. You too have to understand God’s paths [ways]. There are different methods to study the Bible: there is a mechanical method, however, there is another method to study as well. Some study the Bible like that man who had ten barns [full] of stones from plums, seeds from apples, pears and medlars; each year he counted the stones and the seeds – he took them out, counted them and then returned them – thus he knew how many stones and seeds there were in each barn. People know the Bible in the same way, but this is no knowing. Knowing rests in planting: the stone have to be first planted, then the fruit has to be digested, so that it becomes flesh and blood in the human being [man]. If you do not receive the juices of the cherry, you cannot gain [acquire] its strength. The cherry is a letter – when you read this letter, you will understand. The current understanding is utterly [entirely] mechanic. Now people want to become healthy, but health depends on the human thought, feelings and deeds. Every one can be absolutely healthy when there is a unity between one’s thoughts, feelings and deeds, without any contradiction. Let’s say you have potatoes and you want to bake them. Certain thoughts resemble potatoes that have to be baked in the Love of this Divine Fire. The fruit of the trees is also baked in the best of Light. A Turk loaded a cart full of cherries near the town of Varna and went to sell them in Dobrich. He ate cherries [together] with the stones along the road. And when he arrived in Dobrich he could not climb down from the cart, and he had to undergo an operation to have eight kilogrammes of stones taken out from his intestines. There are unnatural wishes in people. You put in one desire, a second desire, a third one, you fill your heart with stones but do you know what can happen then! Eat the pulp [meat] of the cherry, chew it, and plant the stone! It is enough for you to eat ten cherries, there is no point in eating cherries all day long. We want to resolve the issues like this Turk. He thought that by putting eight kilogrammes of cherry stones into him, he will resolve all the issues, but he had to undergo an operation to have the stones taken out. The stomach is not a place for stones; it’s a place for food. The human mind is not fit for a slaughter-house, but it is a sacred place for you to think. Sacred has to be the mind; good thoughts does it have to have. Likewise the heart is not a place to fill with trouble, but it is a carrier for the best of desires and feelings. If you act like this everyday, then your life will acquire a new meaning, you won’t fear death. Each one of you is scared that some day you will die. Everyone who was born will go through death anyway; death in itself is not frightening. Christ has also been through it. All martyrs and saints, all people willing or not, will anyway go through death. You have to acquire a proper understanding: death is dangerous when you die without Love; and when you die with Love, this is no death. Each one who does not enter Life through the door, each one who does not study the Truth in this way, is a thief and a robber – a robber of the goods granted by God [that God gave him]. Such a person is a thief and a robber for oneself too, because he will be sentenced to one hundred years in prison and he will spend his entire life there. But he can, in spite of the diseases and misery, spend his life the way a good person can have a good life in the middle of the stormy sea of human hardships. This is the situation for those who understand the laws. The Law of God, the Divine Providence, is above all the conditions. There is common providence in the world; there is one common Consciousness, which takes care of and guides all beings. This is true for peoples too – whatever happens with them, whatever people in the world think, there is one other thing that helps, that man can always rely on. One can be as happy as one is conscious [aware] of and true to this law. God said that those who love Him and implement His law, He has them written on His palm. This is a symbol showing the care God takes. His Spirit always removes the hardships, the suffering that man experiences. You torment yourself, but the conditions are removed and something nice comes. Have no fear, because there is such an example in the Scripture: when Apostle Peter was imprisoned, one hundred and twenty people prayed for him and an angel came in the evening and told him, ‘Go out and don’t come back!’ This is so, if one believes. Someone may say that this was a long time ago. It is the same now too. The present times are the same time. It’s always the time when one believes; and it’s never the time when one does not believe. As long as one believes things can be [happen]. I mean that alive faith of Love that performs miracles. This should be the common thought: everybody should be a bearer of the New in the world! One should be a conductor of the Love of God. Someone will say, ‘What can depend on me?’ Light comes through one window, but when there are many windows, a lot of light will come in. You will take one step, then a second one, a third one, a thousand steps will you take. Every human being has a great future in this regard. What has to be achieved is incomparably much more than what man has already achieved. Now, man is in the area of grief, but after grief suffering comes and after suffering man will enter Joy. After suffering Joy will come. Christ says, ‘Now you have grief, I will see you and your grief will transform into joy.’ Lord’s Prayer Lecture delivered by the Master on 19 May 1932, 16.00h, Sofia, Izgreva 1 Ivan, Dragan – popular Bulgarian male names. Source

Note 1 Paths of Wisdom ‘Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets’ Proverbs: 1;20. The Good Prayer ‘God is Love’ You may read the entire first chapter of Solomon’s Proverbs. The reading makes it evident that all the suffering in the world results from the fact that people do not walk along the path of Wisdom. A person who stops before discontent [dissatisfaction], before torture or before grief, such a person does not understand Life. These are indeterminate variables. You know not what suffering is. You have a house, but you are not happy with it, you do not like the windows. What is the beauty of the windows? Does a window resemble a nicely dressed young woman? No, it doesn’t. The beauty of a window is that it lets a profusion of light come in. Small windows are not beautiful; the larger the windows, the more beautiful they are. You say about a person that he is not handsome, but his face is good-looking. Which one is better – to have a good-looking face or a good-looking something else? Does the face have to be large in order to receive more light and power? In fact, the power of a face is not in what it receives, but in what goes out of it. If nothing goes out of the face, such a face is ugly. When a person frowns, when he purses his brows and lips, he takes, he does not give. Beautiful is a face that gives when every part of it gives. Most beautiful is the face when all of its parts are alive and when all of them give. Now, you have to grasp things properly. All of you in life hold a lottery ticket. Some of you are forty years of age and have always waited to win something. Others have waited for twenty years. Each one of you has a lottery ticket and takes a look at it three times a day, sits down, goes to bed, prays to God to win something from the lottery ticket. At times you wait for sixty years, and sometimes you leave for the other world without having your ticket drawn. Sometimes you wait for sixty years, your ticket number is drawn, but it turns out it is empty; you are given a receipt reading that your ticket wins nothing. Each ticket to life costs sixty leva. So, you have waited for sixty years to receive something, to have your ticket number drawn, but apart from not winning, you have wasted sixty years, and have wasted the money that you paid. One expects something like success [achievement]. One is right to expect, but one has to know whether what one expects will happen or not. Some of you may say, ‘A fortune-teller predicted that the person will become rich.’ He is right, but under what circumstances? I will predict that somebody, who has two or three hundred decares1 of land and who develops it and makes ten decares of vineyard out of his field, in twenty to thirty years such a person will be rich. But he may say, ‘I will let this field to a tenant to rent it.’ If you rent out, and the tenants use without giving you anything, what good is there for you from what you possess? This is true also with regards to life as well. Everybody is self-deluding oneself in one way or another. Some are under the self-delusion that when they finish school they will be appointed at a high position and will be well off. This happens sometimes, but at other times it does not. When man was first called to the earth, which at that time was the Garden of Eden, he started choosing what craft to learn. He thought of gardening, but he told himself that this job is not for him, because there was nobody to shoo away the flies on the leaves. He reached a man who was spinning and told himself, ‘This is easy to do.’ That man explained: — I pull thin threads to tie the flies who eat the trees. Then the spider appeared and said: Will you take me as your apprentice? I will. The spider studied with him, started spinning, became a better master than his teacher and finally the spider said: I shall not chase them away from the trees, but I will make a loop and when a fly lands in it, I will ask the fly why it goes to the trees and eats the blossom. You are laughing at this spider that it could choose a craft. He was angry with the flies and butterflies that they go in the trees. This refers to the man who often has a craft not matching one’s life. This is a waste of time. Just like you expect your ticket to win, in the same way this spider sometimes has to wait for ten days to catch a fly and goes hungry because it has no other craft [skills]. In the beginning the flies were not aware of it and were caught, but then they learnt and the spider started going hungry. Hunger in the world is non-accomplished desires. The desires of anybody, waiting like the spider to catch a fly but catching none, are non-accomplished. Non-accomplished are those desires that do not follow that Divine Path. Somebody says that a man has to be young, healthy and to eat well. Man was born healthy, but fell ill afterwards. One has to know how to eat. According to a mechanical law you can place as many wheat grains as you like in a sack, but you cannot place many wheat grains in your stomach, because it will be damaged. The cells of the stomach are intelligent. Sofia is not intelligent but Sofians are intelligent. You haven’t met Sofia, but you have met Sofians – they are intelligent, educated, some are more intelligent than others. The stomach is like Sofia, but the cells of the stomach are very intelligent and are specialists. If you place inappropriate food in the stomach, all the cells will go hungry and will throw the food away. These stomach cells are much more intelligent than their master. But people resemble that Greek priest who baptised ten children in cold water and they died. Whenever one cannot deliver something that has to do with an intelligent idea, it dies. Suffering is the necessary link that shows what the relations in the world should be. Now, you have been attending the meeting for some time. What does piousness upon? Why does God need your faith? If somebody comes to school and believes in one’s teacher, what use is this student to the teacher? Students have to study. The strength of the belief depends on the diligence of the student. If the student is very diligent and if he has acquired something while studying, he has faith in his teacher. Faith should arouse affection and Love at the same time and if it fails to arouse Love and diligence, it is not a true faith. You can try out the strength of your faith at any time and each one of you should try oneself out to find out how strong one’s faith is. Your happiness depends on the faith that you have. You have to know how strong your faith is. Sometimes you have a headache or your eyes are sore. You do not know the reasons and call this an inflammation of the eyes. However, this inflammation has not come out of the blue. The tip of the nose of people who drink a lot is always reddish. Hence a reddish nose is a result of drinking. Likewise, if one has unnatural desires, one’s nose will become reddish again. Neither wine, nor rakiya2, nor unnatural desires [should one have]! One should not place a burden bigger than one can carry upon one’s brain. Do you know the weight of the tiniest particle placed in the eye? A thought can incur tremendous suffering to you. Take for example the thought that someone can kill you. Where has this thought come from? Some other time an idea comes to you that you are not loved. This is irreconcilable; if nobody loves you, you would have never been able come to the earth. Now that you are on the earth, at least two persons love you. In such a case your statement that you are not loved is not true. The point is that there is somebody who loves me, but I do not love him. This issue can be examined in two ways: what is the reason if somebody does not love you and you do not love him; and what is the reason if somebody loves you and you do not love him? The reason is one the same in both cases. The reason if you are not loved is the same as the reason when you do not love. I am asking then, why don’t you love the one that is not loved? You say, ‘I don’t like him.’ In that case, the other one does not like you either. You see no fault with yourself, but the others do. Where is the Truth then? It is said that ‘the Truth will liberate [free, release] you.’ When you have proper concepts, suffering will disappear or at least you will cope with it intelligently. For example, you have to trim your nails. There are body parts, which are not sensitive, and there are body parts, which are sensitive. Why certain parts are not sensitive? The only reason for the nails not to be sensitive is that they are a written book. When you take a look at the nail of the thumb, you can read what there is within you: whether you are stingy or not, whether you are inquisitive or not, whether you are noble or envious. Each nail shows the underlying reason for things to have happened. Some trim their nails in order to erase what was written, but they fail to. The more one tries to erase this book the more it grows. You have certain gifts that you have to develop. Your idea about the other world is the same as a young maid’s idea about a young man: she fantasises that her beloved will come, that she will live like a queen and that there will be a lot to eat and drink and that she will only linger around. There is an intensive life in the other world and no ignorant people, saying that they don’t know this or that, can get in there. If you behave there the way you behave on the earth, you won’t be allowed to set foot in for [the next] ten thousand years. For just one fruit the woman has been banished from Paradise for over eight thousand years. For two apples only have the first people been banished from paradise for eight thousand years. You think it is easy to go to the other world. It takes a pure and Divine life in order to go to the other world, to the Divine world. You will say, ‘Who will then enter Heaven?’ Under ‘Heaven’ we mean the intelligent people who are perfect. They cannot let ignorant people stay with them. Assume that your sense of smell is developed; can you let a leprosy contaminated person near you? Disease is one thing, Love is another. Love does not mean that we should put up with all the smells of the sick; we are everything but grateful for such ‘love’. The purpose of Love is to support Life, not to support the sick. When somebody is sick, he can be taken care of, but the purpose of Love is not to take care of the sick. The purpose of Love is not to put up with the sinful; these appended items. The purpose of Love is to develop virtues. You say that one has to be patient [put up with]. Patience goes with a world where people do not live well. Talking about patience [putting up with] we mean a world where people do not live well. When one person is good and another one is bad, we say that the latter has to be put up with. But when both of them are good and love one another, what need is there for them to be patient [put up] with each other? If you are fed up with putting up, you can also substitute it for something else. What can you substitute patience for? (a Voice in the audience): For self-control. Self-control has certain features in common with patience. You can be patient when something is taken away from you, when you are being done injustice. Let’s assume that you are at the end of your tether [patience] and you say, ‘Man should not be patient!’ If you do not want to be patient, what do you have to do? Patient people are lazy. So, you have to replace patience with the Intelligent word. Man can easily be brought up well. You have children; you talk and talk to a child but you have no method for up-bringing. You say, ‘This child cannot be brought up.’ A professor in America made the following experiment: he furnished a small room with a window, and the entire floor was made of copper so that he could run electricity. The recalcitrant child is put into the room and the child starts pushing things around. Electricity comes out as a result of the pushing and the current goes through the child. Having done this several times, the child gives up and starts looking at things respectfully. The same is valid for you when you start doing something. God runs the current, but you break the wire. This is why the child starts beating the mother at an old age. From your point of view there should not be any storms, the leaves should not be rustling, everything has to be quiet. In the world where you live, the wind, causing seemingly great storms and suffering, is also of great benefit to the plants – strengthens their blood-circulation, supplies them with food, facilitates the sunshine and incurs an internal renovation of plants. If there were no torments, grievances, suffering, you would resemble fragile pottery which breaks when touched. But hardships make people nimble and elastic. It is easy for those who have been often sick to overcome a new disease, while others that haven’t been sick may die. You are in such a room under whose floor electric current is running. A preacher was telling me, ‘What came to befall me, I was saying that women should not wear expensive silks, but when my daughters grew up, they wouldn’t listen to me either and started wearing such silk. People tell me now, ‘You were teaching the others but failed to teach your daughters!...’ So, talking only won’t do! [Talking does not do the trick!] If I were in the shoes of the preacher I would say, ‘Buy yourself even a better hat, a better garment, buy the best of the best!’ This is what I would have preached and the result would have been better: The father would be in trouble, would become poorer and at last the time for his daughters to go hatless would come. They will go into debts; electric currents will start shaking them, and there would be no need for any external people to teach them. Nature teaches in this way: it grants whatever wishes you may have, but after all these hats you will become broke and you will come to a point where you will suffer. Nature will give you what you wish for, but you will be accountable for everything it gives you. Now, what do I mean by the phrase ‘a nice hat’? I don’t mind nice hats, but it takes a corresponding head too! And the hat is not worth a penny on an empty head. A nice garment does not become [suit] a feeble body! If there are no nice thoughts in the head, the hat is out of place. We often go to one other extreme. Nature is not stingy like us. It wants her children to be dressed perfectly and it does not spare resources for the garments you want. If God dressed the butterflies, whose garment you won’t be able to make even if have five hundred thousand leva, what richer garment can a person put on. A human being must put on a garment but this external garment must have something in correspondence to a certain virtue. For example, you want to have a golden ring; you must have gold inside. You want to have a precious stone, but you have to have such a precious stone inside you. Some may fool themselves that their stones are precious. You have to wear and give vent to the great virtues. This is the only way that a man can be well-bred and intelligent. And all of you have to become well-bred, strong, to become people knowing that they have to study. There are things that cannot be bought, things that one has to make by oneself. Virtues are not to be purchased, they are to be developed. For instance you have to develop your [sense of] justice, so that you can know what will happen to you, to be able to foresee it, to feel it.... or to know how to preserve the good relations; to know how to keep friendship. You say that God is Love, that God lives in every human being. Then God lives in the minds and hearts of people. And every day the angels from the Invisible world listen to you talking nonsense. Even the best of you talk nonsense. After talking with a sister you say, ‘She is nuts, she has a tile loose, she has no manners. Look at her hat!’ It’s not bad for a person to criticise, but to make worthy criticism that corresponds to certain truths; not only to surmise, but to say it aptly [in place]. If a person only criticises all the time, what will the world look like? The world needs very few criticisers. The good and the bad aspects should be brought forward. You take the place of the criticisers but what do you have to do when you criticise? You have to write an anonymous letter to someone: ‘In my opinion you have to act like this and like that.’ Write him a very nice letter, so that one can benefit from reading your letter. Sometimes you don’t need to mention your name. You will say, ‘Sister, you have strong points but you also have weak points: your tongue3 is too short, you think a lot and speak little; you sometimes say lies.’ You have to extend your tongue. Human tongue is short. I would like you to have tongues like the tongues of the animals. It is often the case that what people say is not their thoughts. For example, somebody comes and tells a piece of news that you haven’t verified. It is often the case that an elderly woman in the country hears a piece of news and says, ‘I will tell it only for your ears.’ She goes to another place and says the same there; shortly after the entire village is in the know. If the news has travelled all over the village, what has the elderly woman gained? And afterwards, after being caught, she says, ‘I haven’t said it.’ You say at ten places what you have heard, and you think that these people will keep it for themselves. No. Things that are not accurately verified should not be said. We have to say things that are accurately verified. Often there are beings who sell to you their pieces of glass telling you that these are precious stones. Instead of dealing with the great law of Love, one deals all day long with things that contribute nothing to him. For example, the husband of one of your neighbours brought her some riches, a silk dress or patent leather shoes and this is what everybody talks about for a whole month. Then there appears a bitter feeling as to why your husband hasn’t brought you a silk dress. Let’s assume that you have a silk dress; what have you gained? You will be buried in a silk dress. What will you take with you from your silk dress on your way to the other world? Some say, ‘Let’s live our lives!’ There is no philosophy in such a living. I would not put on my back a dress that is worn out and fades within a year. A garment should never be worn out, as is with the birds. Such was the garment that man had on time ago. While nowadays they put on clothes that are not hygienic at all and subsequently many diseases appear. What has the current fashion done? If the [textile] material is very simple, it is not healthy. The material must breathe air. Moreover, you like wearing tight clothes. Arabic horses were tied by straps underneath so that they can be constantly on the alert. The garment must be loose, healthy, for the blood to circulate properly. Similarly high-heels shoes used to be worn earlier, which tightened the toes. Many diseases, corns etc. come out of this tight fitting of the tightening of the toes. Moreover, previously men wore high collars and looked like harnessed oxen. The back part of the neck should not be very tight in clothes; it should be elastic, soft. In the old times women used to wear velvet hats, but now they wear more hygienic hats. You have to comb your hair all the time for the hairs to be in the same direction, because the thoughts of a man are just like his hair. Hair should not be unkempt; you have to smooth your hair all the time so that your hair lies smoothly. If your hair does not obey your mind, how will you be able to work in the world? I consider the skill to blacken one’s hair to be knowledge [understanding]. Now the hair of some people goes grey because of ignorance, torment, grief. There is a natural greying for the hair, and there is also an unnatural greying, similar to the rooms that are not white but only the walls are white-washed. The grey colour of hair indicates that a person does not have mercenary objectives, that one gives away the entire wealth one has, that one is not thinking of oneself. And at other times you see people with grey hair who think more of themselves than of other people. Such people have false grey hair. White soil does not bear [fruit]; it is the black soil that bears. Then from your point of view what should the colour of one’s hair be? According to me the hair should be white, but white as a tuberose, natural; not gone white because of grief. Hair should change colours, should acquire at least three colours during the day: it should become black at dusk, before the sunset; it should be fair in the morning, and when the Sun is in its zenith, it should be white. When the hair changes its nuances, it is healthy and it feels healthy on touching. One has to have an intelligent thought, because the world we live in is intelligent and those who govern it are beautiful. They are not old; they are fresh; they have alive [lively] looks, nothing hardened will you see in them. You won’t understand how old an angel is when you see the angel; you will keep thinking that the angel is thirty, while the angel has lived for thousand of years. The angel’s face is young. Why don’t angels grow old? Because they do not suffer. Only people who suffer grow old. Troubles, grievances make people age. You are looking for God, aren’t you? God speaks to you internally at every step that you should not live the way you live now. This life[style] belongs to the past and you have to alter it a little bit. For instance, some suffering or a negative thought comes to you; why can’t you alter [change] it; look at it quietly and at ease; smile a little bit at the suffering, consider it a privilege of yours? I want you to open yourselves, because you have erected dikes in yourselves. Open all of these dikes; let the current run so that you can be absolutely natural! This does not mean to talk whatever comes to your mind, this is not natural. The tone for a musician is specific [determined]. When you meet someone, how many words do you have to tell him and how do you have to begin? You say: — Where do you come from? — I do not know where I come from, says the other one. — Where are you going? — I do not know. — Where are you staying? — At the London Hotel. — How long are you going to stay there? — When I leave I shall let you know. — How much do you pay? — Fifty leva a night. I do not know where I come from and I do not know where I am going to, but I know where I stop and how much I pay. Where does this money come from though? There is a habit in America, when you accost somebody at a big hotel of ten-fifteen floors, to be told, ‘Here is a big hook and a long rope, in case of fire for you to escape.’ There are no such ropes in Bulgaria. Self-education requires that you have knowledge in all the hardships and adversities in Life. You dwell upon one thought and say, ‘Why did God made the world like this?’ Thousands of people have asked this question before you, but no answer has ever been provided because the world is so made. For flies the world is made according to the flies; and for oxen the world is made according to the oxen; while for people the world is made according to the people, and for angels – according to the angels. Each world corresponds to the beings living there. I don’t see anything bad in the world, but there is something that is not understood in this world. You are left with the thought that that something is missing. No one is richer than your father, but not only your father has to be rich, you have to roll up your sleeves as well. Not only teachers have to be able, but you have to get down to studying too. If you go in rags, it is due to the fact that you do not work and do not study. And if there is somebody ignorant, he will complain that his father does not send him to school, that there was no school in his day. The whole world is a School. I shall once again render to you the story about that famous peasant woman from Varna region, who was thought to be lazy, had two servants, but after becoming poorer towards the age of forty-five, she became a teacher and started teaching the others how to weave and spin. How will you learn to talk to people? Man can never convey to the others what one has not experienced. You can never talk about Love that you haven’t experienced; you can never talk about faith that you haven’t experienced; you can never talk about knowledge that you haven’t experienced. You can talk, but you cannot convey, in the absolute sense, this knowledge that you haven’t experienced. Hence you have to start with the things that you have experienced. Some of you are superstitious and say that no work should be started on Tuesdays or Fridays. Why does work not go [down] well on Tuesdays? Because on Tuesdays there were wars, fighting and whoever goes out was shot in the head. And Fridays are dangerous because love affairs take place then and if you go out, you may make a mess. Then, Mondays are left for the Moon, Wednesdays – for trading, Thursdays – for nobleness and aristocratism, and Saturdays are for pious people who have to pray. Saturdays are even more dangerous than Tuesdays and Fridays. If you do not pray on Saturday, things are not all right, therefore when Saturday comes you have to pray during the whole day so that no evil afflicts you. Well, why should Friday be considered a bad day? If you go out on [a] Friday and [if] you do not know how to love, things won’t be all right and you will come back with a broken heart. For those who do not know how to Love, Fridays are dangerous! On Fridays your heart should be in place. Why are Fridays bad? Because your heart is not in place. Why are Tuesdays bad, Because your will is not in place. You say, ‘Love does not do the work’, but what do you understand under the word ‘love’. Love brings Life, abundance; all the goods in the world come according to the law of Love. This, however, is not that seeming politeness that people have. The one, who loves you, will bring you something and will go. When light comes and goes, it loves you; it brings something to you and goes out; it travels. This is the law of Love. Light and warmth when they come together, they bring everything – fruits and all the goods. When you go out on Fridays, you have to be like the light and the warmth. If you are not like the light and the warmth on this day, you will look like candles, which cannot be lighted and everybody will shove them away. Someone will ask if a man can be light [in colour]. Man is a lighted [lit] candle and his Light has to be intensified. All of you have to be intelligent, wise you have to be and then your new home, that you will build, will be transformed. You will get old in the future and your life will lose its meaning even more, won’t it? When you get to the age of seventy, eighty and some of you probably to ninety, where will you find comfort within yourself? Comfort is that Love that brings eternal rejuvenation. Man has to enter the law of rejuvenation. Although you are getting old, do not believe in getting old; although you are dying, do not believe in death. What do you have to believe in? You say, ‘You think I don’t see this?’ If I disguise somebody to make him look old, do I have to believe that he is old? At the theatre, young people in their twenties are disguised like old people. You believe you are old while you are on the stage, but when you come down from the stage, you are no longer old. Tell yourselves, ‘We are actors and the circumstances of acting demands that we are old, but we are not old! Acting demands [from us] that we sometimes weep, but we are not tearful [cry-babies]!’ Sometimes you shed a profusion of tears, but who would believe the tears of the actor? The point is to come to the sincere Life. A man who is suffering can carry the entire Earth upon his shoulders. If he cannot carry the entire Earth upon his shoulders, he has not suffered. I seek people of suffering; I am eager to see a person who is suffering. Very beautiful is the suffering face! I haven’t found a suffering person yet. Someone says, ‘Do you know how much I suffer?!’ I look at him and reply, ‘You haven’t come to suffering yet; you have come to grief; and there is something renovating, there is hope in the suffering.’ A man in hope is like a snake having shed its skin; his eyes are alive, [full] of hope, not of despair [discouragement], serious. Suffering brings the best of gifts in the world. And the Joy man has is an angel’s quality. It means that a man has entered their [of the angels] life. Suffering is something sublime; noble. All the saints suffered; Christ suffered; all the Masters suffered. Suffering is the last [stage] that completes evolution. John, on moving to the Invisible world, asked, ‘Who are those in the white garments?’ And he was told, ‘These are those who have passed through the great suffering; they have been through suffering and now they are clad in white clothes.’ I do not want to present life to you the way it is not and to tell you that you will be lucky. I will tell you that during the first phase you will be discontent [displeased], you will be tormented during the second phase, you will grieve during the third phase and you will suffer in the fourth phase. If you can transform your discontent [displeasure], you will have a wealth; if you transform torment, you will have another wealth; if you transform grief, you will have a third wealth, and if you transform suffering too, you will have all the wealth [in the world]. You are discontent [displeased], tormented, you grieve, you suffer – these are states that you have to transform. Epictetus4 lived in the house of a rich patrician, who had two thousand slaves and was very weird. He would often beat Epictetus, but the latter would only smile a little. The Roman patrician would get so very angry with this, and Epictetus would tell him, ‘You will understand one day.’ It so happened one day that the master squeezed Epictetus’ foot strongly, and the latter told him, ‘By squeezing my foot like this you will break it, and when it breaks I won’t be able to serve you.’ The patrician wondered at his self-control, gave him a lump sum of money and let him free. Epictetus went to Greece where he lived the life of a free man. If a man, who did not have Christian knowledge, lived like this, then you, who have it [the Christian knowledge], how should you live? You were brought up in a slightly different way, you are of a different up-bringing: a student goes to his teacher and tells the teacher to give him a higher mark, so that the student can pass to the next grade. The teacher might give him a higher mark, but he will have poor marks in life all the same. What you gain now, will be with you during the entire Eternity. Therefore it is worth studying the paths of Wisdom. The first requirement is to have faith, to be full of Love – Love, which even cures. If you love a disease, if it becomes very pleasant to you, then it will leave you. I have seen people who, when feverish, take the pot and go to fetch water. After a month or two the fever leaves them, while those who are afraid of the fever can be feverish for years. Wake up the Divine in you; think about the Divine so that it frees you of all the hardships! Man has to wake up the Divine in oneself and when he wakes it up, it will be omnipotent in him. If he does not wake it up, he will have to go to the water tap, but when he wakes it up, he will have a spring of water inside him. You have to understand the main point. If you are discontent [dissatisfied], subject the discontent [dissatisfaction] to a scientific examination; if there are hardships, subject the hardships to a scientific examination; if you grieve, subject the grief to a scientific examination; if suffering comes, subject the suffering to a scientific examination and see what God put in it and what are the reasons. When the days of suffering come, you have to be ready. You have to walk along the path of Wisdom now, so that when the days of suffering come, when you turn to Wisdom and call it, it will talk to you. Listen to the Good that lives in you. Don’t say that there is no Good in you, there is Good in everybody. One has to listen to oneself and believe in this Good. When someone says that there is no Good in himself, this means he has not developed it, has not used it. Now, be strong in the Word. Apply the Word, apply patience, talk to yourselves. Talking to oneself is most interesting. You have to tell yourself, ‘You are very gifted, but your gifts are not developed; a lot of Love you have, but you have not manifested it; a lot of Power [strength] you have, but you haven’t developed it; you are an applicant to Heaven but you are not ready yet.’ There is a long time ahead for you to study on the earth and you will pull yourself together to study. If you want to go to the Royal [King’s] Gates, you have to paint a nice picture. If you work, you will be admitted. You will have to sing a nice song, to weave a fine cloth, to write a good paper in order to get admitted. Imagine, you are asked to say something from the Gospel and you cannot. Some of you do not know even the Gospel. For instance, what does line ten in Chapter ten of John’s Gospel read? You will say that the Spirit will talk to you. What does line one of Chapter fifteen read? ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.’ You have to know at least the first line of each chapter. I want all of you to learn the first line of every chapter of John’s Gospel. For next week you will learn the first lines of the first seven chapters. You should not resemble that American professor who went to the post office, but forgot his name and had to go back home to ask his wife. This is already a painful situation. One has to learn to remember. Weak memory shows that there is a collision between the mind and the heart. When your thoughts and feelings are diverging, when they are not in harmony, then it is always the case that memory weakens. Somebody told me, ‘Why are you talking to me about philosophy, I am dying out of hunger’, I told him, ‘Even if you have a lot of money, you will die out of hunger anyway [all the same].’ All the people die out of hunger. You should not think that you will die out of hunger. You won’t die out of hunger, but when you are dying, you won’t be allowed to eat, not to be full when you are served dinner above. Or put in other words, you can’t have dinner there if you do not go hungry for some time here; so that when you are given an angels dinner there, you would say, ‘[An] Excellent dinner!’ Therefore suffering on the earth is a preparation for you to appreciate the goods that will be bestowed on you. If you suffer here, you are assistants to the joys that you will have. The way you are assistants to the suffering, the same way you will be assistants to the joys too. What is given to you on the earth is in order to acquire greater goods. This is the true creed which you have to have with yourselves along the right Path of Life. If you have another creed, you will have disappointments. This life, that you are having now, is partial. Neither the King is satisfied, nor the mother. Not a single mother had sons and daughters like angels. If two angles are born by her, she won’t want to have children once again. She looks for these two children. If we take this in a mystic sense: man lives partly until one desire and one thought are born in him, which will be the centre of the entire human life. This centre is Love for God that has to give meaning to your life in such a way that this God is with you everywhere and when you call Him, he will listen to you. When we are dissatisfied, when we are tormented, when we grieve, suffer, if we call Him, He will respond. This is Love. When we hear His voice, discontent [dissatisfaction] disappears. When God starts talking, discontent [dissatisfaction], torment, grief and suffering disappear and are transformed into Joy. Establish a complete bond with Love and start studying! Study the lines, study the proverbs! You think about getting old. When you go to the other world, you will prepare to work and you will return here on the earth invisible to preach from one house to another for twenty years. Somebody has lost heart and you will make him hopeful. You will visit another one, a third one, a fourth one – you will preach for twenty years like this. Some of you twenty years will teach people not to drink wine, others will preach to the single young women for twenty years not to marry; still others will preach the same to the single young men. Some of you for twenty years will teach people not to lie, others will teach them for twenty years not to be afraid, still others will teach people to be moderate in eating. This is a science. God has placed you somewhere. Now, you want great gifts and knowledge to be given to you all of a sudden, so that when you preach people would say, ‘What a learned man he is!’ In the region of Varna a fortune-teller appeared years ago, who people from all over the region went to visit; she read fortunes on a big sea snail and she knew everything. This fortune-teller was robbed by rascals [rogues], but she could not see in the sea snail that she would be robbed. Therefore one may have all the knowledge [in the world], one may foresee everything, but one has to know also when one will be robbed. Each job on the earth does not have to be completed. I will also do the same - there is something which I won’t say, I do not want to be robbed… Lord’s Prayer Lecture delivered by the Master On 12 May 1932 at 16.00h, Sofia, Izgreva 1 One decare = 1000 square meters 2 Rakiya - traditional local liquor made of grapes or plums 3 There is one word in Bulgarian ‘език’ [ezik] meaning both ‘tongue’ and ‘language’ 4 Epictetus – a Roman philosopher lived during 1st century, born in Phrygia, was a slave to Epaphroditos; the basis of his philosophy was ‘Endure and restrain!’, and his ethics was based on internal freedom; he influenced Christianity and Tolstoysts (notes of the editor of the original edition) Source

Note 1 The Ripe Fruit The Good Prayer „The Spirit of God" I will read Chapter twenty-two from Solomon’s Proverbs. “God is Love” Children first learn to walk; they start with crawling. Cowardly people when faced with great danger start crawling on the ground. When you read Chapter twenty-two of the Proverbs you will learn the true Path, along which a man develops properly. You have heard about it many times, but there are paths that take you nowhere. There are certain paths in the forest which cannot take you to any end; you reach a river or a mountain peak. Here we understand a Path that has meaning – along it you can come back with everything that you have gathered; you can carry everything with yourself. There is an internal experience and those who are aware of it can do every single thing. You ask what Path I mean. All of us are accustomed to feeling at ease, to have a convenient house and everybody would like to have somebody else doing the house work. A person is not inclined to get oneself down to work. Some people, not working for themselves, would like other people to work for them. How much would it cost me to have my parlour cleaned? They consider it all right to enter the parlour in their shoes, but they do not consider it all right to clean the parlour. You will say that you will get cold. Well anybody cleaning the parlour may get cold… In the Spiritual world one should first learn to be clean [pure]. You will leave your shoes outside. Moses was told on coming to that sacred place ‘Take off your shoes!’ Many times you insist on me telling you certain things. Why I am not telling you? Because you all have put on your shoes. I shall be talking to you about onion and pepper, but about an important issue – I shall not. You will say, ‘Does a man not have to have one’s shoes on?’ Was man born in shoes? Why then do you insist so much on having your shoes on when coming in and you consider it a shame to be barefoot. You are right in a certain respect: there are some places where it’s a shame for a man not to have one’s shoes put on. Feet should be put in virtues. The virtuous skin from which these shoes are made does not mar. A bird flying in the air is entitled to get into the parlour. Perhaps some day, when people start flying like the birds, people will not have to take their shoes off. I’m not saying that shoes should be taken off, but I am saying that everybody entering the parlour should clean it. And now I would like all the sisters to pay off back изкупят their sins. Young and old alike; be an example! Why do we have to clean the parlour? Why did you make it dirty, you come in with your shoes on? You have to start with a rule that you should first introduce Purity everywhere. You will start with Purity in the physical world. If you see a stain on yourself, you have to clean it. Do not leave it to stay, if you want to cultivate a good habit. If you see that your hair is a little bit unkempt, comb it; if you see that your feet stink, wash them right away, in order to be in consistence with that Divine rule. The present day life is a life of postponement; you postpone once, twice, thrice. As long as you postpone, God postpones as well. A good thought comes to you and you postpone its implementation and you say, ‘Hang on’. When you go to God, He in turn says to you, ‘Hang on’, because this thought is His. He says, ‘If I wait, you will also wait.’ A man went to a rich merchant but the latter told his servant, ‘Tell him that I am not in’. Then the merchant needed something and went to ask this very man for a favour. The man told him, ‘Tell him that I am not in.’ The merchant was surprised, ‘Well, I can hear his voice, how comes he is not in?’ The answer was, ‘He is not in for you.’ The Spiritual world is utterly demanding; there are no excuses there. When you go there, you will see an absolute Purity, absolute correctness. Such should be the future life. We want to straighten out our life here, but it still remains non-straightened and will never straighten out. The rule is: ‘a man who wants to straighten out his earthly life, should straighten out his Divine Life. There is no exception to this! Do not try to settle it only externally, you should first settle the Divine Life and afterwards the material life. When you get up in the morning, you should first pray, even spend an hour praying. If you do this, you will succeed better in your other work. Note that the eyes which are made of the most delicate substance are constantly washed by the eye-lids. The eye-lids wash them about ten times a minute because purity is required in order to see clearly. And human thought has to be even purer in order to be clear. If you neglect it even for two-three minutes, you won’t see clearly in your thoughts. You make a mistake, you postpone, you postpone again and you justify yourself that even kings make mistakes and angels make mistakes, and you are righteous all the same. People have made mistakes and have suffered the consequences; you will also suffer, somebody else’s sin cannot justify you. What use is it to you that somebody else made a mistake? None. Because the sin of one man is a problem to the others. Our responsibility becomes greater as other people are affected and the more people affected by our sin, the bigger the responsibility. This law is also true in respect of the good that you do: the more people influenced by your good, the bigger the good. This law has the same effect for the evil and the good. Somebody will ask why God did not make it so that the evil influence does not spread. Then the good wouldn’t spread either. But since the good is stronger, its influence will always be greater. Although bad people are more in number, the good people are stronger. If a thousand people do something evil, it can be compensated by a good done by one person. If you are a good person you are worth as a thousand bad people. This is why bad people always want to attract a good person to them because this is a great capital. I shall give you several rules now. There are certain issues that you are studying now. For example, you study handwriting. What use is this to you? If you are a young maid and your beloved is very demanding, you will immediately change your handwriting. (The master wrote on the board ‘My dearly beloved’.) Why should you call your beloved ‘dearly beloved’? For you he is above all, there is nobody else except him and you tell him, ‘Ever since I met you, my life became meaningful!’ Why did it become meaningful? In order life to become meaningful you have to have understood something. You have met somebody but you did not recognize him. When you met the young lad, you were looking only at the physical man – whether his hair is long, whether his brows are thick or thin, what is his forehead like, whether his hair is curly. This is why this man will turn sour later on, because he has the feature to turn sour, to ferment and to become wine. When you drink from this wine, you will get drunk and when you get up in the morning you will have a headache. I shall now clarify what I mean: a disharmony is generated among you, because you haven’t seen the Truth, you haven’t seen the one who loves you. You are looking for the one who does not love you at all. This very same one, who is on the earth, sometimes wonders how you fell in love with him. You haven’t fallen in love with him, but have fallen in love with somebody. And the other one is wondering why and what for you fell in love with him and cannot account for it. How can you fall in love with a person you do not know? You cannot like a book you haven’t read; only a fine book that you have read can you like. Sometimes you may be misled by the good binding. A man you should read at least forty-five years in order to get to know him. You will read him from cover to cover for forty-five years and after that you will return and comment on the reading so that you can see what is inside his soul. If you have a friend and make a remark about him, your love shall not survive. If you start along the path of love for God, will you make a remark to God for giving you such and such troubles, will you say, ‘Doesn’t God know how much I love Him?’ Let’s assume that God does not love you, but do you love God? Love covers many mistakes. If God has allowed certain things then what can make us draw the conclusion that these are inappropriate? Let’s assume that a young maid has got engaged to somebody, and the Invisible world is in the way and tries to put a stop to it. I ask what’s wrong with this. God knows that this young lad will ruin the young maid. He is for another maid, but not for you, but you say, ‘I cannot [do] without him!’ If we feel like that all the time it is the others that are wrong and we are right, where is then the love and where is the mistake? If the maid married the lad, after seven years he would tell her, ‘You did not cook the beans properly!’ From then on the ‘dearly beloved’ becomes ‘beloved’. After the remark about her dish he becomes ‘beloved’. The Greeks have a form of address Ivanaki. But after overcooking the beans three more times, there is no more Ivanaki. At first there will be Ivancho, and then only Ivane1. In this situation how can you make your life meaningful? I want to drive you to that great law: each thought coming into life in a person has a certain impact. Seemingly very little things can interfere with the law of Love. This is done by men and women alike, by teachers and priests and others. Never place an obstacle to clean waters. Do not place a barrier to the pure spring that flowms, not to gather mud. Because each remark that you make to a person who loves you is mud. And then you yourself have to drink this water. Because Love is a great law that comes from God; this water cannot go back, the mud will remain in you and Love will go away. You will clean the mud – this is the law! You cannot evade the consequences: if you say one bad word the water will sieve, the mud will remain in you and it will take years to clean yourself. It takes a proper understanding of Life. You have to know the power of the human thought, the power of the human feelings. You have to know what consequences a word said by you will have. One should be pleased with what you say. Every word of yours should be understood. Somebody may have made a mistake – leave it aside! If a fountain runs from God and some have blocked and mudded this water, do not become one of them. The Scripture reads, ‘Everybody will carry one’s burden.’ Everybody will suffer the consequences of one’s thoughts, feelings and deeds. This is a law that is true in one other aspect as well: both the good and the evil that you do, will pass through you. The good thought that you have will pass through you and will leave its print. This is a method according to which you have to work upon yourselves. Sometimes you feel embarrassment when you say ‘dearly beloved’. You are embarrassed because you haven’t said the truth. When you say ‘dearly beloved’, you should not change [your attitude] during your entire life. If you change, your conclusion is not correct, because precious stones do not change, but are the same all the time. A stone that is not precious remains forever simple2. Simple[-minded] people even if placed among educated people, with good people, remain simple[-minded] all the same. While good people even if placed among bad people, remain good all the same, they can even contribute something to the others. Precious stones are not influenced by the external atmosphere but they are influenced by the life of people. There are diamonds that lose their lustre if worn by certain people and they are forced to give them to other people to wear them so that the diamonds can recover their lustre. There are people who show themselves as bad but they are good deep at heart; they are bad only externally, but internally they have pure hearts and each of their words has meaning, without saying one thing and meaning another. Precious stones do not lose their value with such people, but become conductors of Divine Power. Saints transfer something nice to their garment which is lost in time. Similarly one has to be good so that aura, an internal scent, forms around him or her. When a person forms such an aura around oneself, he starts feeling that he is in a home of his. You often worry, you are sad that you do not have a good aura and that it is pierced here and there. Create a good aura of yours! This can be accomplished within one, two or ten years of Spartan life – a serious, not ascetic life. You have to know that only the good is strong in the world. Say, ‘God is Love, God is Wisdom, God is Truth! Nobody dies with God and I shall not die either! Everybody lives with God and I shall also live!’ But you say that you will die. Dying is one thing, going to God is another. Those, who die, are carried out of the house in a wooden stretcher; while those who are leaving, they close their houses themselves, they leave and nobody accompanies them, only sometimes can there be seers off. And those who die are buried. So, I’m saying now: I do not want a negative thought to enter you in the course of your development. Evil has settled in human beings not only from this generation, but for the last hundred, two hundred, three hundred generations. The evil has come to you along this line, but so has the good, left by your grandfather, which is also a legacy for you. If you are not paying for the evil you shall not be granted the good either. Whether the external world approves of us is insignificant. All of you live in a world that is good. How can you explain that at two or three kilometres of depth, under the most unfavourable conditions precious stones, that cost millions of pounds sterling, develop [take shape]? A piece of coal for which you would not give a fiver becomes a precious stone; the consciousness of the coal is elevated. Precious stones are stones whose consciousness has progressed. These are the righteous precious stones while the other ones are pieces of coal. When a precious stone comes to the surface it already has a price. It has lived a pure life in the depth of the earth. If coal turns into diamond under the worst conditions, why shouldn’t human beings, under their living conditions, become saints? They can, if only they want to! But those who think that they can easily enter the Divine Kingdom shall be simpler stones at first. There are many types of stones below the diamond, until you reach the lowest type of simple soil, of ordinary mud. Mud is trodden upon by everybody, all sorts of bugs are generated within it, it is exposed to constant suffering, decay etc. The same law is valid for human beings too: if they do not aspire to God, they will constantly suffer. Suffering is given so that people can have an aspiration to achievement. Aspiring to God means acquiring the riches that God has prepared for us. When we become good we do not contribute anything to the Spiritual world, but we become instruments conducting what God has put into the world. Some day when we become precious stones, an angel may place us at a window. However, there is no way for you, in the state that you are now, to come any nearer the other world. If you enter you will impart stench and the angels will have to clean themselves from the smell that you will convey. I have told you about that monk, haven’t I, who visited the monastery, said where the money was, but afterwards the monastery was abandoned... You should first start with cleansing [purifying] the body. This is one of the tasks. You say that one is beautiful while one is young. No, one is beautiful while one is virtuous. When one is younger, one has a more generous heart, and when you ask an elderly man for something, he does not want to oblige you. I have been observing certain elderly women: they grope in the bag full of walnuts and give only two walnuts to the child bringing them water. Then they promise, ‘Tomorrow I will give you again.’ The elderly woman tells herself, ‘If I give ten-twenty walnuts, I will run out of walnuts, and nobody will bring water to me.’ I have seen only one elderly man who was playing the gadulka3 and the children were dancing. Then they would bring water to him and the elderly man would tell them, ‘I will play the gadulka again tomorrow.’ Who is a greater master – the one giving away walnuts or the one playing the gadulka? The elderly man does not bribe with walnuts, but with playing. So I was saying: you should not allow to be bribed with two walnuts but the elderly man should play to you. Playing is the thought. You have to voluntarily, without being given something, fetch water. Everybody loves the elderly man; he is smiling, generous, plays for half an hour, all the children hop; everybody is pleased. But the elderly woman gives two walnuts and trembles. Under ‘elderly woman’ I mean the old life. You say, ‘Let’s do good!’ This is an elderly woman’s good, this is giving away walnuts. The children shall not improve in this way, because these walnuts are not hers. You all have to learn the Path of Love. When one is intelligent and one’s soul is filled with Love, one does not in the least have to think how one will spend one’s life on the earth. One has to think how to implement God’s Will and how to be useful to one’s neighbours [the people close to him]. And thinking about one’s neighbours, one has to think about oneself at the same time. Because only running water remains pure and its bottom remains clean. A practical application is needed and you should keep what you know. For example you are inclined to get angry, you flare up all of sudden, but make it a task for you to overcome your anger. Anger has a key; turn the key and tell the anger, ‘Hang on, I have some work to do now!’ If you stop the anger within yourself, you can transfer its energy to an upper area of your brain. You will use this energy to think about the saints, about God. What does it matter if a bottle broke? So many factories produce bottles, a bottle costs only ten leva, but losing your equilibrium for a whole day costs millions. You have a wealth and you lose it because of a bottle of some kind. Do you know that a Greek philosopher who after learning how to live a natural life, left only one pot for himself; but as soon as he saw that some people drink water from their hands, he threw it away also. If a bottle can disturb your peace, is this bottle on its proper place? If you have a bottle that can break and make you angry, keep it put at a high place in order not to be broken. It will be possible to make cups that do not break in the future. I would like all of you to become elastic like a rubber ball that recovers its shape after falling down. Make mistakes, but afterwards, like a rubber ball you should resume your initial position! Let’s assume that a certain sister of yours has a habit for which she is disliked. She is so beautiful that she is being envied. Or everybody is scared by her because she bites and pecks [picks on]; they do not like her, but they tell her nothing. What should you do? Two sisters should get together and pray for her to acquire certain gentleness. Then more than two sisters should get together, pray again and see if there is some gentleness. Carry on like this and you will see that after several months this sister will have more gentleness and will say, ‘I’m fed up with it, I also want to be a little bit gentler!’ You will assist one another with mutual efforts. Let’s say that one sister talks a lot. Let her talk, but I would help a sister who loses heart, does not feel like living, wants to commit a suicide, wants to leave the house, does not want to work. Let two sisters get together and pray for her to gain heart; then let five sisters pray. And after one year she will become better, more cheerful. The law will take effect; she will become one of the good workers. If a sister is sick, pray for her, even if she does not know, for your faith to get stronger. You say, ‘What has to be done?’ If you help a sick or despondent sister, you are helping yourself. Everything that you can do for the others will have an impact on your spiritual life. Now, what do you have to believe in? You have sufficient faith and sufficient love. However, your love is closed in a tub full of grapes – a big tub having a volume of a hundred kilograms out of which you let out only a little trickle from the spout. You also have a notebook where you note down who has paid and who has not. You give to those that pay. So far your love has been a love by the spout. I shall tell you a joke from a village near Varna: the mother of a young boy and his sister said, ‘Make a fire and knead some bread if you can!’ They started doing the housework and they let the wine out of the spout… The old wine should be let out of the tub. Never stop over your old habits. There are many habits but these are [like] old wine. The objective of the Invisible world is to transform the people. This is a New Teaching. The beings come from the Invisible world and everyday they will tell you something new. You not only have to believe, but to get in touch with the more advanced brothers and sisters. And if you love them, they will love you too. If they come every day then things progress all right; then you are cheerful and good. Because these Beings that come from the Invisible world, demonstrate a life according to the law of correspondence. If a man lives among mammals, he cannot learn anything, but if he lives among the intelligent people, he will learn many good things. One psychological law postulates: a solution of the problem about the internal individual life must be found. What should be done when nobody sympathises with man? If a man knows how to take in air, how to eat, how to think, he can be healthy. People nowadays constantly lose their temper. They get embarrassed and lose their temper ten or twenty times every day. Therefore today it is hard to come across people who are not nervous. Some say, ‘It’s a hard time’, others say, ‘The conditions are bad.’ But all these conditions can be improved. They are worsened by the people. One person can worsen the conditions for thousands of people. One person may set an entire city on fire; one person can come and teach the good to the people. The issue is that a man should be a conductor of the Divine Love; should be in touch with reality and should know what it is. Just like a person comes into contact with the light of the Sun, in the same way a person should come in contact with the Divine thoughts. One has to have such an experience. Somebody may tell you one of their experiences, but this can only be the urge, because you can benefit only from you experience directly. You should always elevate your mind! Never dwell on the negative aspect of Life! Because everybody, no matter how he thought, if he thought poorly, there is no gain out of it. Put figuratively, if the water has become turbid, there is a reason for this. If people have become bad, there is a reason for this. Reasons do not stem from the very existence itself. There is an internal deviation and then the evil in the world is created. As soon as you allow the minutest negative thought, it can become a conductor for a future misfortune [unhappiness]. Now, you have to direct your thought towards the following: first, a man is capable of improving one’s life; secondly, everybody has a desire to improve their lives, only that they do not know how to. An engineer may construct a building, but the one who has not studied can hardly construct it. Now, you need to know where you have to begin. You say that one has to live well and to speak well. But there must be examples [to follow]. How will a man live well? A man must think well; and in order to think well, he must have an object. You may make the best of water fountains, but there must be a spring of water flowing into it. Then this water fountain has an internal meaning. In order to put meaning into your life, you have to have an internal object; an internal Divine spring. Otherwise you will come to a place and you will say, ‘We know everything.’ Religious people have a small experience but they haven’t been to the Spiritual world to see it, they do not have such an experience. They only suppose, they have read books, they have imagined the Spiritual world to be like the world on the earth, without having the experience of somebody travelling to America or France. A Christian has to be like that student who spent four to five years at an educational establishment. Such should be the religious life for a Christian. Somebody may say that man will enter the religious life when he dies. Somebody may go along this way, but one does not attain anything from such a going. Christ says, ‘If my words live in you, then me and my father will come and will make a dwelling in you.’ I say: such is the experience that you have to have. Those of you, who want to attain the substantial in the future, have to have this experience. You say that this is not possible. However, for these who study it is possible. Therefore it is now necessary for you to have this experience. When you meet a person, whoever he may happen to be, ask yourself the question why you meet this person. A person that you meet – it’s either that you will influence him or that he will influence you. God lives in every person; then what will God who lives in you tell him; what will God who lives him in tell you? God who lives in him will leave you something one way or another; every person whom you meet, one way or another, will give you something that nobody else can give you. You too will give him something that nobody can give him. Everyday you will give something to people and you will be given something. And everyday your life will reflect these beings that come and will be formed by them. They will copy it and will take it above as a memory. You feel at times certain supreme feelings, don’t you? They come like an influx from outside, from these Beings. Sometimes you say, ‘It was different in the old times.’ Those who start talking about the old times have grown old. You already tried the old good. We have to try the present good and to try the future good, so that we can be entitled to speak about the old times. You have tried the old and have started with the present. The future is in front of you. Young people say, ‘We are young, we have to live our lives’, and the old people say, ‘We are already old.’ Who will then live for the future? The elderly man says, ‘Let the young people play, I will mind my old age.’ A young person says, ‘If the elderly man gives me a walnut, I will fetch water for him.’ However, the old man has no walnuts and there is nobody to fetch him water, nobody is interested in him. Aren’t the people interested in a fountain with running water? Everybody is interested – animals too, and bugs too. But when it runs dry everybody loses interest in it. A man, regardless whether young or old, should be a spring. In this way you will never be old. And in this way children when they come will fetch you water and everything else. Do not be waiting to get old. A man gets older only in one aspect – a man has to grow old so that he departs to the other world. An old man is like a ripe fruit, only old people are eaten. The young people are unripe fruit, and the old people are ripe fruit. As soon as you become old [those] from above will come and will place you in their bag and will take you up there. What’s wrong with this? Somebody says, ‘What if we die!’ I do not want you to die, but want all of you to become ripe, all of you to live. A man has to live in the world and to become a ripe fruit. The Lord’s Prayer Lecture delivered by the Master on 5 May 1932, 16.00h Sofia, Izgreva 1 Forms of the name “Ivan”: Ivancho – is endearment; Ivane – is the regular form of address (a noun in the vocative case) 2 There is one word in Bulgarian “прост” meaning a) simple, as in simple stones & B) simple-minded, as in a simple-minded man 3 “Gadulka” is a local style of violin used for playing folk music Source

Note 3 Truth and Life „God’s Spirit” Secret Prayer I will read chapter three of the Epistle to the Corinthians where Apostle Paul addresses the young Christians having entered the Path recently. All of you need a new understanding and I call your existing understanding the understanding of caterpillars. According to it you are specialists: wherever one may put you, you peck at the leaves all the same; on whichever tree you may be placed, you do your work according to all the rules. It is true that in order for one to live, one has to peck, but this is the old life, the life of the flesh. When you take a look around, having lived such a life, you find out that the leaves are gone. But I ask what happens to caterpillars after eating. There are people more intelligent who give caterpillars something to eat and after the caterpillars transform into chrysalises, people take them, steam them, take out the fibres and make fine silk clothes for themselves. Caterpillars and trees suffer for these people, but they say, ‘Let caterpillars suffer, we have made silk clothes!’ You will say, ‘Silk outside, but nettles inside.’ The external aspect is nice but it needs an internal life. The external has meaning when there is an internal content. If a philosopher lives in a small house, this house acquires meaning. A house may be a shack, but if a saint lives inside it, the shack becomes a saint’s shack. Well, the house may be a church, but if vagabonds live inside it, the church also becomes a vagabond’s church. So now you have similarly opened a dining place and want to profit, so that you will be greeted like rich people when you go to Heaven. Do not say, ‘We pray to God!’ I do not mean to reproach you, but there is a prayer, which is not for praise, there is one prayer, which has no effect. Somebody says, ‘I have prayed to God for twenty years, “God, my wife is sick, I need money!” If your son goes abroad and keeps asking his mother for money, he resembles the saint who prayed to God three times a day for twenty years. The saint says, ‘I live for God, I believe in God’ and he only prays. While somebody else, who has not prayed but has ploughed the field, brings in whatever he has profited and places it in the Divine granary. Both receive diplomas. The saint says, ‘I have prayed three times a day for twenty years’, while the son writes to his father, ‘Father I need money.’ And the father keeps sending a loving letter each time: he places a thousand leva, two thousand, three, four, five thousand leva, he sends shoes. The son asks for something every morning and the father keeps sending something each time. I ask which son, who loves one’s father, wants so much. Now you say that you pray a lot. I praise you for praying, but every time you ask God to send you something. And some say, ‘I am already fed up with praying!’ And indeed you should not pray like this. Now you have to learn what to do when you do not pray. Because the one who prays in this way, will also live, but cannot be happy. Imagine that you go to a banker and he lends money to you; you go today, you go tomorrow and he lends money to you all the time – one thousand, two, three thousand leva. If you go to the banker everyday for twenty years and if he keeps lending you a thousand leva each time, which you deposit in the bank during the whole time, how much will you have in twenty years? You have been begging so far, ‘God is good!’ When you prayed you wanted something, but you already have to transfer something. Now you yourself will go to sow in the field, and after harvesting you shall give everything to the world and shall keep only the seeds for yourselves. All your profit you shall give! You need a new understanding. Everybody says, ‘Now God gave to us, and in our old age after having taken care of our children we shall work for God from the bottom of our heart.’ This is an excellent programme, but I haven’t met a single old person who has completed his programme. When one becomes old, one says, ‘My legs are feeble, God, I promised, but I can’t fulfil my promise, can’t I postpone it for some other life?’ He also prayed when he was young and he prays as well in old age, he borrows constantly and as soon as he goes to the other world, he is told, ‘This is one of the borrowers.’ But he won’t be told anything in the other world, he will be returned. Transform the rule now and apply it on yourselves when getting up in the morning in order to understand it. If you have a son or a daughter who prays three times a day every year and you have to pay three thousand leva daily per each of their prayers, you will have to give three hundred and sixty-five thousand leva for the whole year. If it keeps going on like this, you will have to pay – for twenty years, three hundred and sixty-five thousand leva – millions and even more till the end of your life. Taking this into consideration, will you be pleased with your son or daughter that they pray three times every day? But you do not think so and you say, ‘God is rich, He can receive prayers.’ He can receive prayers, but not in the way you want. And this is why God gave suffering. Suffering in the world results from wrong prayers. When we pray we always want God to give us something. God gives us, but afterwards prayers have another effect, because when we go to Him, we stay longer than we are supposed to and we take up part of somebody else’s time waiting outside. In such a case when you get out with what you received from God, the person whose turn you took robs you and says, ‘Go to God again to get what you need!’ This results from a wrong understanding of God’s Love. There is one law in Love: if you pray to God on the first day and you take three thousand leva, you have to pay back three thousand leva on the second day. You will take again on the third day, but you will have to pay back money on the fourth day. This is what is right, but Love does not allow taking ten times and paying back once. You will borrow once and you will repay, you will then borrow again and you will repay again. And Christ says, ‘Collect treasures in Heaven.’ If you do not pay back what will you do when you go to Heaven? Nobody will lend to you there and this is what will happen to you: since you can be a guest for only one day there, on the following day you will take your passport and you will descend again. You are not even allowed to stay like guests there. Moreover, in Heaven you can’t say that you are hungry; there is no such thing there. If you go to Heaven, you must be rich - you must have collected treasures. The entire Heaven must lend to you, you have to have deposited something. Only then will you be glad, because you have one co-worker both above and below. The Scripture reads, ‘Let’s be co-workers of God.’ Not only to spend but to take and to pay too. Now I ask what your profit should be in the world. You have to gain souls! He, who has gained one soul, has gained something good. What is it like to gain a soul? Let’s say that a soul is captured by an evil spirit, its wealth is robbed and if you succeed in returning this soul to God, you already have wealth. When you meet this evil spirit – the devil, no matter how strong he may be, stop and try to free the soul. Now you are required first of all to free yourselves. Learn to free yourselves! Make your best to put to bed the devil, which in many respects is still awake within you. He is not put to bed due to one single reason - that you doubt. When you envy this also indicates that the devil is not put to bed. Not that the devil is bad, but he sniffs and when he sniffs that you go to God, he conveys envy to you. Then when he sees that your faith is getting stronger, he becomes scared and conveys his fear to you. No matter whether you fear or you lose faith, he nonetheless conveys these to you as legacy. When he leaves you, then other devils come looking for this one where he lodged and you pay all the expenses of the devil. But where can one find him, everything has been eaten up, everything has been drunk up, and you are the only one that is left. This is an allegory from which you can understand the internal meaning: one may free oneself and become strong not in a mechanical way. You want to be happy, to be helped from the outside, you want to make mistakes while you want God to work for you. If the others work, only they will get stronger and become righteous, while nothing will come out of those of you who do not work. He who ploughs becomes rich, and he who becomes good, lives, because Life is a great work. Somebody sits idle and asks what to do, while somebody else says, ‘Pray!’ What do you have to pray for? You will first pray in the morning and you will ask, ‘Shall I work here?’ Ask one station, ask another, ask a third one, when you find work go and get it. Or go to a department and ask, ‘Is there any work here?’ For example, you go to a banker and want him to give you something, but God made the work so that if you can make the banker turn to God, he will pay whatever it is you want. Well, if you can’t make him turn to God, he says, ‘I give only to the one who can free me from the hands of the devil. To the one who can’t, I do not give a halfpenny!’ The man says, ‘My wife, my children do not love me. If you can help me, if you can show me a way out, I am ready to give you half of my wealth.’ You reply, ‘God is good!’ I know that God is good, but I am a trader and I need something in black and white. So, the people walking along the present path will come to a place and they will say, ‘It was different when we were young, but now our faith weakened.’ The young one is more industrious, the old one is lazier. Now, how will you explain to yourselves why older people become lazier? A young person does not rely on anybody, and because an older person has sons, daughters, friends, this one and that one, an old person relies on them and says, ‘They will help me’. Thus an old person becomes lazy and gets older, while a young person works on one’s own and says, ‘I have no acquaintances. I have to pull my act together!’ It’s sometimes nice for one to be young to rely on others. I consider other people’s help false promises. What does a man going to marry a maid say to her? Those of you who are gathered here are married and now I will quote for you to see whether what I say is true: the young man talks the young woman into, ‘I am capable to take care of you, my father is well off, I have a nice house, I also have nice land, my sisters and brothers are very smart [intelligent], you will live very well with me, you will wear nice clothes, you will be like a princess, nice hats you will wear, patent leather shoes, nice gloves and you won’t walk on foot, you will have at least one cart etc.’ And the maid on coming to the young man’s place thinks that it will be so. However, her husband’s business becomes sort of messy and he says, ‘I intended so, but it turned out a little messy this year, but next year everything will improve. I have a friend who told me that next year we would start an enterprise and you will have a new costume then.’ The next year is out and he says again, ‘I had no luck with the business.’ And the same goes on for twenty years: this reason, that reason and the woman keeps living in deceit. This is the comparison I can make. In Yambol1 I was told about a horse before which a sack of hay was placed in a certain area. The area was moving, but the horse, while going for the sack of hay, sets a carding machine in motion. The horse kept going for the sack of hay and at last when the wool was carded the horse was given the sack of hay and the horse says, ‘I reached the sack of hay!’ Then the horse starts going for the hay again, carding the wool and in the evening the horse says again, ‘Good Gracious, I reached the sack of hay!’ In the same way people chase such bundles for twenty years running, keep setting the carding machine in motion and fail to reach it anyway. Nothing is gained from such promises. Wool is carded but a horse remains a horse. This is the old teaching; you should not beguile yourselves like this. Somebody says, ‘I will improve things’, but things do not improve. You, by working for God, have to make deposits in God’s bank. Only then will your work improve. You say we should pray to God. You will pray, you will excuse yourself and you will say, ‘God, I am late, I did not pay, but now I make deposits in God’s safe. You will pardon me, I am a little late, but next year will be better!’ In this way the man finally gets to see that this work makes no progress. Why doesn’t it make any progress? What is important is what you can accomplish today. The small job done during the day, the small addition to your thoughts and feelings – this is what counts. Not what people see in your work is essential for your work. In the work we do for God there should always be something recommending us before those who have completed this Path; our work should be visible to them. And when we come to their level, then we have to be an ideal for those coming behind us, we have to raise our light and encourage them. And thus walking along the Path everybody should be able to see this light. There is no point looking for your torch. We sometimes resemble those people who like Diogenes light their torches in the day and walk along the Path. Diogenes was asked what he was looking for and he replied, ‘I’m looking for people.’ The new, which all of you aspire to now, is to become like those good workers in the world. Rich people do favours to themselves. They find a precious stone; make a necklace out of it or place it on one of their fingers. The people of the New Teaching have to be like these jewellers: they have to find out where there is a sinful, fallen soul and they have to buy not only it but all the rest that are around it. Afterwards they have to place them on a necklace or on a ring. Jewellers you have to be! Now everybody says, ‘May God forgive our sins!’ We pray only for ordinary things. It will be ridiculous if I, being a student in a school, after the teacher had taught the lesson, go on the following day and make an excuse that I have not learnt it. I make an excuse on the following day too, and again on the third day. If I keep making excuses for not learning my lesson for a whole year, what will the teacher think of me? You should not make a single excuse throughout the whole year and you have to go to school having learnt your lesson. If, by chance you have made a mistake, this is a matter of course. You will correct yourself when you have a second chance and on the third chance you will have corrected your mistake. This is how one is elevated. And the difficulties that you now have are certain tasks. Somebody says, ‘It’s not possible without suffering!’ These are also certain mistakes. If you had no difficulties in your life, you could not learn anything. If students at school were given only solved problems, what would they have learnt? If they are not assigned a topic to develop or a picture to draw, what can they learn? Sometimes they will work, sometimes they will sing, but if left doing nothing, what will their life be? Such a life is meaningless; it is a life of secular people. Secular people only make eyes at this and at that and say, ‘This one is religious; the other one is rich, has a big house’ etc. Now you will also say, ‘I know this person, he is a good one.’ You can attain nothing by making eyes at others. Whichever bank went bankrupt. So what? If you have money there you will cry together with the bank. Deposit your money in the state bank, why do you need a private bank! Neither do you need your son’s bank, which is also a private bank. Deposit your money in the Divine bank, where nobody can eat it up. The saved money of many of America’s bankers was eaten up. People keep saving money for rainy days, but the rainy days washed away the money. Had they deposited their money in the angel’s bank, their money would have been secure, but they deposited it in private banks and the money was washed away. This will happen to any of you who deposit one’s money in one of these doubtful banks. Bear in mind the following rule: deposit your money in the Divine bank! You may deposit a hundred leva in every bank. A hundred leva in each one of a hundred banks – this makes ten thousand leva which is enough. That capital that you have should be deposited where money is secure. Now you will say, ‘We have heard this, Master!’ A mother was teaching her child lessons by saying to the child, ‘Do not disturb me but make yourself a kite.’ The child goes to the mother’s loom, takes the scissors and starts cutting threads to make the kite from. The child cut off the upper threads and made the kite. The mother, on entering, is surprised: she sees the threads of the cloth cut off and her son sitting by the yarn-beam holding a kite in hand. Never again did this mother leave her son near the yarn-beam, so that he won’t cut off the cloth again with the scissors. Similarly you too often cut off the threads of the Divine yarn-beam. I say: when you have to weave something on the loom, keep the door locked so that no one can get in and spoil all of your work. How many times have your children cut off the threads of your yarn-beam! So, it is good to have a desire born within you to be disciples. Disciples should acquire knowledge from childhood to old age. Disciples should always work for God, then – for their neighbours and for themselves. Disciples should work for three people: first for God; what is left should be deposited in the bank of the neighbours, and what still remains, should be deposited in one’s own bank. This is the secure way of life which requires that a disciple’s mind should be calm, a disciple’s heart and soul should also be calm. This is the Divine Path. And if all the people lived in this way there would not be any contradictions in the world. Somebody will say, ‘Don’t you believe me?’ I certainly believe you! I believe that you are capable of not fulfilling your promise, as all the other people. What will you do when you have no money? I believe you, my eye! Take statistics for example, how many people who have made promises have not fulfilled their promises. How can they excuse themselves then? … Now, it’s not important what one was previously; it is in the past. What one will be in the future is another matter. But it is important what one can be now. You say, ‘How shall we live?’ This is the new way! Through the law of suffering God wants to teach us to be grateful for our present life. Having done something you have deposited it in the Divine bank and you should not worry about tomorrow. Do not think about your husband, but when you get up in the morning thank God that you are healthy, thank God that your children are healthy. And when they fall ill, you should thank God again. The disease is from you, while health is from God. Your son or daughter may have lost something; thank God that they have not lost everything. This is their business. We say, ‘Why did God allow this?’ Some come to me and complain that they have no luck. A maid comes to me and tells me, ‘I am not lucky, it’s been ten times that I got engaged and disengaged.’ And she starts telling me the name of the first man. And I reply to her, ‘If you had married him, he would have victimized you. The second one would have sold you in slavery; you would have been a servant with the third one and you yourself would have wanted to escape; the fourth one would have taken you to pubs to eat and drink, while you would have had to pay his bills. The fifth one would have made you a vagabond, an accomplice in his crimes; the sixth one would have stuck a list on your back of all the chores you have to do and in the evening he would have scolded you for not doing as much work as you had to. Providence wants to rescue you; you are not destined to marry. You may marry, but I will tell you that if you do so your husband will beat you black and blue three times a day. There is something which God does not allow, but if we insist a lot, He says, ‘Let him have it!’ But this is not destined for you. You will say, ‘Is it possible for one not to marry?’ There is nobody who is left unmarried. The moment you come to the world, you are already married. And when you love, you connect with the one whom you love. What is marriage? Marriage without love does not work. Whenever there is love between two persons, this is a relationship and it is from God. Wherever there is no such relationship, why should you be cheating each other? Two oxen are brought together, are harnessed and they get married. I have seen also that two cows get married. Some other times I have seen an ox being married to a buffalo-cow or an ox to a cow. I say: this is more natural. But there are combinations which are not quite according to God. Now people follow a natural way. There are already tractors and no cattle will be harnessed, cattle are released because they have other work. Oxen have served long enough, oxen have to be released. Our mind, heart and soul have already to be released from strenuous labour. We sometimes spend all our life tormenting ourselves and after twenty, thirty, forty years we say, ‘There is no way out any longer.’ There is a Way out in life! You come to a dead-end street and you cannot proceed ahead; you have to go back. Now, the easy path is the path of the Divine Love. When you work for God, you will get up in the morning and you will say, ‘Today I will do a piece of work for God!’ The smallest piece of work – it will be for God! Someone may say, ‘How is this possible?’ It is possible! This is what I will do if I were in your shoes: when I get up in the morning, I will write a love letter to a widow. I will address her as ‘Sister’, and she will be wondering who this letter is from. I will write the address and afterwards I will prepare a parcel with two small loaves of bread. This is something too – I will send a small loaf of bread to each of her three children. This is God’s Will! If I were in your shoes, I will send to her a packet where I will place stockings or gloves. Altogether there are various ways of implementing God’s Will. Or I will send her a nice book – non-expensive, not big. This I would do every day, if I were you. But you start hesitating, ‘It’s not OK with books, not OK with small loaves of bread, and not OK with love letters…’ No, you will say that it’s OK for you to send small things! It’s nice for people to write love letters like this to each other. What an encouragement these letters are! Would you lose heart receiving such letters! Now, somebody is not satisfied with little, he or she wants to be promised a thousand and five hundred leva for this or that. This person has twenty leva for himself and says, ‘I will be very grateful to you, I will pray to God for you!’ Are you going to pray for one thousand and five hundred? Well, if you give ten leva to a priest the priest will pray twice as much. This is the way of exception: if somebody asks me for one thousand and five hundred, I will send fifteen leva to such a person and I will say, ‘You will dip ten leva into the water and it will become as much as you want. If it does not, you write to me; you may not know what the method is.’ And I will also tell him to do this experiment in the morning, when the Sun rises. Some other time he will do the experiment at midnight, a third time he will dip the money in cloudy weather and a fourth time – at a starry sky. If he does not succeed, I will tell him, ‘You are rather ignorant!’ Now, you are in dismay and you say, ‘How can this be possible?’ I will clarify my thought a little bit for you: imagine that you ask me for one thousand and five hundred leva and I send fifteen wheat grains to you and I say, ‘Now it is autumn. Plant them in line with the latest system existing in America, and I assure you that after five years you will have a profit not of one thousand and five hundred leva but of more than twenty thousand leva.’ You have to know how to utilise things. If somebody believes when dipping this money ten times in water, it will become more, it will multiply. If someone needs money it will multiply. When the son of that poor widow was going to be sold in slavery, she went to Elisha and he told her: Do you have empty vessels? I do. Do you have anything else? I have a glass bowl for oil. Get as many vessels as you can from your neighbours, close yourself and start pouring the glass of oil into the empty vessels! When she started pouring, she filled the vessels and said: Give me vessels! There are no more. The prophet says: Go now, sell the oil and buy back your son! If you have a substantial need the oil will start flowing. This law is true. Each thought and each single feeling in a human being can deliver its fruit. So I am saying: you have to come to the positive side. Sometimes the work may come out unsuccessful; the mistake is with you. Make a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth experiment until your method changes and you acquire substantial knowledge and understand the mystic, spiritual aspect of things where one’s power lies. And when you acquire this Power, you won’t use it for yourself, but it will be good for the others. Because when a person makes a water fountain, this person is the only one who does not drink from it. When the fountain becomes famous, everybody will drink from it. When you have done one good [deed], everybody becomes aware of it, everybody will drink from this good. You cannot fit taps to the fountain to close it; when the fountain is completed, both animals and people – everybody will drink from it and will be grateful that there is one intelligent person who resolved one of the important issues. Now many of you suffer, are sick, live in poverty and misery, but these are tasks which you have to resolve. If you resolve them correctly on your own, this is one good for you, well, if others resolve them, you will only learn. But there are things specially given for you; and be grateful to God that these were meant for you. If you carry a pain for a day, two or three days you will leave it in the end. If you have disharmony in your back, it is an unresolved task. When rheumatism besets you and stays in you for three days, you send it away on the fourth day. If it stays for a long time in you, this shows that you are not of the very able disciples. This is how I see things: if I were in your shoes I will look upon it in this way, while you look upon it in a slightly different way. Rheumatism when made work can plough the field like an ox. Some lad, when he falls in love with a maid, will first take her hand and won’t let go of it, but she has to pull back and go home. So you also have to pull back at last and go home. These are altogether souls who do not have work to do, they engage you and say, ‘You do not understand, have sympathy with me.’ They get hold of you and they establish private property, they fence themselves with wire, they want to build something. You will tell them that this place is narrow. Take them a little bit away, give each a hoe and tell them, ‘I have a more spacious place, while here there is no space even for me.’ By talking to them so, they will come out and they will leave you. These are outcomes that result from certain thoughts. Now the danger is elsewhere. If you understand the internal law, you will come across something else. Therefore, the main objective of Life is to live for God. Since the whole Life is of God, we shall live for Him. It is not what other people describe it to be. We have to think that all the goods, everything intelligent is taken from God. For the One who gave us Life, for Him we shall work. We shall say, ‘We know the Truth, the way we know water, the way we know that the wind blows. Truth and Life we know. This Life has come from God!’ You all have to arm yourselves with a mighty Power and send something every day, if you want your life to be meaningful. I sometimes watch the present people and make my conclusions. At other times I am busy with a nice thought, but suddenly something takes my thought back into my past. I understand that this thought is not mine - somebody has decided to visit me. And indeed, before an hour or two are out somebody comes offering his past life to my attention. This thought is not mine; this person is occupying my attention with affairs that are not mine. I will tell him, ‘You have not done this, you have not done that and subsequently you are having these implications. You have to change your life, because otherwise you won’t make progress in your work!...’ There was a rich merchant in Varna, Yanev was his name, living in Balak2-market. One day he became an Evangelist, started reading the Gospel and his affairs started making progress. He says, ‘Now I will be a good grocer!’ At some time his affairs took a course backwards. He says, ‘I used to put in action any lies before these Turks who came from the Deliorman3 region. They wanted ten kilograms of sugar but I gave them eight. Everything that I have gained ever since, I have now lost. Now I will have to make profit anew – according to God, by honest means. Everything gained through injustice will go its way, and everything gained though honest means will stay. The life I have lived in injustice, will pass, there is no blessing in such a life! Now, you will begin the pure, sacred Life, now you will begin the life of Love. Living according to Love, I have to sell in such a way that we all should live according to Love. This world is not only for me, but it is Life for all people. All people should live well. Sacred Life is a good Life. When you live it, there is nothing in your mind troubling you and you are cheerful all the time. Now, I want all of you to live in the new way! Once you enter this Life, when you sell, you will always measure by ten grams more from you. No undermining! When you talk about somebody, stop yourselves, because sometimes you exaggerate, interpret, and criticise his or her mistakes. If you buy, you increase them in order to pay less money. When you assess them without any exaggeration, you will affix a higher price; you will see that this sister is not so bad, that she is better than you thought she is. You are the intelligent woman, while the bad one is for sale; if you say that she is very bad, you devaluate her. When someone is being reproached, this person is being sold at the market. Such was the yoke years ago: when a slave was sold, his or her evil was sold – something was feeble, something was worn out. They would do everything to pay less money. Likewise the devil takes you away to some place to sell you. The devil comes and on hearing that someone is being reproached, the devil sells such a person. And when somebody is being praised, this person is also being sold. A person is devaluated when being reproached, and a person is appreciated when being praised; but in both cases such a person is sold in slavery. And afterwards such a person is told, ‘Do you know how well I spoke of you? You will also do something for me!’ He will say, ‘Do you know how much evil you have inflicted upon me? I will respond with evil to you!’ Therefore, when this brother comes, you should say, ‘This one is not as yet for sale, he is not worth it, do not buy him!’ So when I say that people should not be gossiped about, I want to thwart the sale. You get to know this person a little bit and you do not take him or her for a second time to the market. This is what you do for several months or for a year. Sometimes one is in slavery, something torments him or her and he or she wonders, suffers; they, from the Invisible world, come to free him or her and he or she says, ‘Thanks God!’ After this he or she is praised again and sold again; and this is tormenting again. A Prince married his beloved and they had to go to a ball. He told her, ‘You will dress according to the fashion!’ She did not feel like, but he insisted that she should dress according to the dress code of the ball, and he gave her a nudge to this effect. And she dressed up. But when they came back he gave her a nudge again, because she had violated a certain rule at the ball. I say: You will be given a nudge both when dressing up and when being praised. Nudging there is both at the beginning and at the end of the ball. In other cases there is another kind of nudging, which is of a completely different nature. This concerns the internal aspect of life. So, when these nudges appear you have to elevate spiritually. Do not succumb to the weakness saying, ‘God has forgotten me’ or ‘We have to take some rest.’ Rest is a fact, rest lies in good thoughts. If we think about good things we relax; this is physiologically true. In order to relax you have to completely replace your thoughts by pleasant thoughts. For five minutes you can replace a thought that burdens you and get some rest by opening one’s thought. When you come to a negative thought, replace it and say, ‘There can be no change in God and there can be no betrayal!’ God, who has given you all the goods, who has given you your life and body - you have to work for Him. The remaining years of your life you will dedicate to Him, because when you go to Heaven, the big Life will testify for the work you have done. The others who have been watching will also testify for your method of work. The whole school knows a student, who is capable, who is gifted, doesn’t it? When I visited various teachers they pointed at certain students and said, ‘These are very capable, very talented.’ While when pointing at some poor students they said, ‘These are no good; they are dull.’ If you are a duffer, everybody knows that you are a duffer; if you are gifted everybody knows that you are gifted. The law is true also in a spiritual respect: if you live well in the Invisible world, you will also be pointed at; if you do not implement God’s Will, you will be pointed at too. The rule does not change. So now, all of you have to acquire the first teaching. You started all right, but you stopped at a certain place. One Saturday night one of the best Bulgarian priests had a vision of his guide and he touched him upon the eye and said to him, ‘One of your eyes started looking at the ground.’ When he got up in the morning there was a black spot where the guide touched him. ‘I do not like you; you have hurt yourself today. It seems your eye is bruised. Where did you hurt yourself last night?’ ‘I burnt incense to God’ the priest did not say the reason, did not admit that he was warned to look upwards, not at the ground. Eyes should look upwards. If you look downwards at the ground, your work will progress with difficulty. You all will be workers; you shall not look downwards, but you shall look upwards. This is the law of Love. Whatever happens to you, you shall look upwards! God’s Love should permeate your hearts. No discouragement! Discouragement will come, weeping will come. Discouragement depends on whether you all follow the law of Love. You have to follow this law and to be co-workers of Love, because very good workers are needed now. The present time is difficult and it shows that it’s time for school-leaving exams, the academic year is just about finishing and you will pass from one grade to another. You have to sit for an exam; the final deadline is already close. It will be good if you improve your marks. You will either improve your marks or you will have to re-sit the exam. Those who have to re-sit the exam know who they are. Now, let the thought ‘We are co-workers to God, we work for God!’ stay with you. This is the good thought, ‘Let’s work for God!’ This is a good thing. As long as we work well for God, we shall work well for our neighbours as well; we shall work well for ourselves too. And then our work from morning till night will be blessed and happy. Secret prayer Good prayer Lecture delivered by the Master on March 17, 1932 Sofia, Izgreva 1 Yambol is a county town in Bulgaria 2 Balak – means simpleton in Bulgarian 3 Deliorman (from Turkish) was called the North-East part of Bulgaria, not far from the town of Varna. Source

He Imprinted Today you will think upon 33rd verse from chapter 3 from the Gospel of Joan: “Who accept his testimonial, he imprinted that God is real.” Many want the Truth to be said to them. The Truth may be said only to this, whose heart vibrates from Love; the Truth may be said only to that, whose mind is full with Light. When in the heart of the man there is no Love and when in his mind there is no Light, he can’t understand the Truth – when the heart of the man is divided and when his mind is darkened, he can’t understand the Truth. You say: “What the divided purpose consists in?” Imagine that you fall in love in one of the fingers of your friend and when you go to him, you always occupy with his finger – you say: “I can’t if I don’t touch the finger of y friend.” I ask what you win if you constantly bring in your mind the thought for the finger of your friend, what idea there is in this finger? First of all it is one small part of your friend – the finger of your friend is a finger of the God. Therefore when a mother falls in love in her child, she fell in love in the finger of the God; when somebody falls in love in his friend, he fell in love in the finger of God; when a master falls in love in his servant, he fell in love in the finger of the God; when a servant falls in love in his master, and he fell in love in the finger of the God. No matter who the man will fall in love in, he falls in funny situation. Some says that when he had fallen in love, his heart had kept and had fired – what happens after that? When his heart fires a little, it becomes on ash. What is this love, which transform the heart of the man in ash? Love which transforms the heart of the man in ash is not real Love – this ash may be used only as medicine in some cases, but nothing more can give to the man. Therefore if you want to love the God, you don’t have to fall in love only in His finger; everyone may catch the finger of the God as a result of which will appear a controversy between the people – you have to fall in love in the eternal, in the unlimited beginning of the God, i.e. in His Spirit. Who falls in love in the finger of the man, he may steal this finger: young man falls in love in girl and steal her, a girl falls in love in young man and steal him. The finger which the people fall in love in is a symbol which has to solve. Some says: “So and so love me.” Where you know it, today he loves you, tomorrow he betrays to you. Love which appears and disappears, it is not real; Love in which the frogs croak, it is not real too – it is marsh. If you drink from the water of some marsh, in which the frogs leaves their filths, you can’t become a man. If somebody examines some religion in which the frogs croak, do you think that he will attain to the Truth? If some man goes to preach the Truth, what Truth will preach he, if first come to you to want bread to have meal – this preacher is not sent from the God. And Christ preached the Truth but he haven’t wanted bread from anyone, on the contrary – with five breads and two fishes He had meal a few thousand people, after that some baskets with fishes left. I say: in the Love the people come upon to number of delusions, which they have to free from. For example is there a right the first finger from the arm to subordinate all rest fingers and to order them as a master? It hasn’t that right, of course – the five fingers have to be always together, and when their master orders them to do one work, they have to execute it simultaneously: they will flex, will reach to given object, will catch it and move from one place to other; through repeatedly execution of this process they finish the work defined from their master. If only the one finger wants to finish the work, and the others don’t take part, it can’t reach anything alone. If man, as the one finger of the arm, thinks that can finish everything alone, that there is no other like him in the world, he is on wrong way; thousands people may think the same for their selves but they all are far from the Truth. Two men fight; the one brings down the other to the earth and says: “You have to know that I am stronger than you, you can’t fight with me”; Third comes, he brings down and the two men, saying: “You have to know who I am and who you have work with”; fourth comes, he brings down and the three men; at last the master comes who brings down them all and says: “Get down soon!” These heroes are the fingers of the arms which rise upwards and each thinks for itself that it is some special, but when their master comes, he says: “Everyone down!” – the fingers one after other go to their places. Let this example use you as a theme of thinking. Now all people want to be free; I ask if they serve to their passions, could they be free? For example some man spends all day in the public houses and wants to be free; such man can’t be free – he is slave of his passion. If the people serve exceptionally to their selves and to their nears, could they be free? What earns the servant, who work all the day in the field of his master – he raise and take down the hoe in the whole day, gets tired, sweats and in the evening he comes home exhausted, toil-worn, already capable for nothing. The master earns much and the servant – little; isn’t the state of this servant slavery? With this I don’t set against the work but it has to be moderated. When the father sends his sons on the field, has the one to work and the others to rest at his expense? All sons have to work harmoniously – everyone according to his powers. Before the fall of man the people hadn’t work on the fields; then the wheat had grown alone and it had come to the man, and not the man to it; also the pears, apples, all fruits had grown alone and had gone directly to the man – man had had only the care to leave the basket under the tree and the fruits had entered alone. Now, if I go on to talk on this question, you will say that these are stories from “Thousand and one nights”. Today these are stories, really, but before the fall of man these things were facts. You say: “What thing is the life, why it is so dear to us?” Imagine one young man who wants to live, but lies seriously ill from some illness; he wants to turn to one or other side in his bed – he can’t, he lies always on his back; wants to raise his leg a little – he can’t; to open his eyes – he can’t again; he starts to cry and say: “Nothing can become from me, I shall die – nothing more!” Why this young man cries? He wants to work, feels that he hadn’t finish his work – how could be helped to him, who will raise him from the bed? It has to come to him some man to convince him that he can get up from his bed, he can open his eyes and to eat something. If the man makes it, he starts to move, to walk in the room, to eat a little and his grief transforms to joy – he convince himself that God hadn’t put him on the bed to lie on his back with months, but send him in the world to work, to solve some questions. Therefore the life of the man is mill because he realizes in him that he hadn’t finished his work, and has to go away to that world unprepared. Some says: “I sleep as a horse” – what he wants to say with this? He wants to say that he is too awake; it means: as the horse is awake when it sees his master, as and he is always awake. I say: in the real Life there is no sleeping, who sleeps, he is not in the real Life. The horse sleeps upright but with the first appearing of the master, he is awake. Man sleeps more; when he lies down, he winds well in his quilt and when his master comes, he can’t wake up, can’t unwind immediately; through whole night he turns now to one now to other side, looks outside if it is dawn, again he covers to sleep till at last it dawns well and says: “There is no what, I have to get up!” This is unnatural sleep; that is the way how many of you do – lie, get up, sleep again, look if it is dawns and say: “How it wasn’t arranged to get up lately, after the Sun rises?” But in one moment they start and say: “Let’s get up, if we continue to sleep, something bad may happens to us” – such people are early-rising only from fear; these are mankind works. The real dawn of day in the Life is the moment when man stand up on his legs and feel that he is in connection with all the people in the face of the Earth: the real dawn of day is the moment when man thinks, feels and acts free – then he can understand and look at the sense of everything which God created. If in the life of the man the real dawn of day doesn’t come, he will live one interrupted, broken life, separated from all the creatures. But the sense of the Life stands in the uninterrupted ness – man to see the connection between all the phenomena. And so, first man has to serve to the God – it is said in the Writing: “Don’t be slaves to the men!” The people fall in slavery very easy, if they meet some man who knows little more than them, they say: “This one is big authority.” He is not any authority – one authority there is in the world, this authority is God. Some says: “Who man may be called a brother?” Brother is only this who in the Love of you leaves you absolutely free; if he restricts you, he is not any brother. It is said in the verse: “Who accept His testimonial, he imprinted that God is real”; therefore only that one may give you Free, who had imprinted in himself that God is real. And then, if God had free somebody, the brother has got no right to enslave him. Who gave right to the master to enslave his servant and to the servant to enslave his master? You say that God arranged the things in a way that he defined the relations between the people; this is a lie – it will turn out that God created one people masters, others – slaves; ones he created healthy, others – sick; ones created to live in joy and happiness, and others - to be raped; this is not any creed. So when you say that had created the world with all the restrictions, contradictions, illnesses, forces and number more negative phenomena, this is a delusion – God is free and you may be free like Him. The son asks his father: “How I can be free?” – As you do like me. The daughter asks her mother: “How I can be free?” – As you do like me. It means that if the son and the daughter do this what the mother and the father do, they will be free. The little chicken which walks after its mother, digs whole day, searches food; some says: “What to do?” Look what the little chicken does. – “This is hen’s work.” It is truth that it is hen’s work but the little chicken knows what to do – it walks after its mother and after she pecks at, and it pecks at; but man doesn’t know what to do. You say: “We don’t want to be like the hens.” You don’t have to be like the hens but as they listen their mother, so and you have to listen your great mother – the Love. Go and you to this your mother as the little chicken goes to its. – “How to find the God?” If the little chicken finds its mother, enter under its wings and acquire knowledge, why man can’t find his mother, to hide under her wings and to acquire Knowledge? Man finds some Petko or some Dragan, hide under his wings and stays there, nothing learns – this place is marsh, only frogs croak there, in it you can’t find the God. Christ says: ‘I am the live bread, I am the live spring.” If you eat from this bread, you will never become hungry, but knowledge will receive; if you drink from this spring, you will never get thirsty, but knowledge will receive. Man has to realize that God put in the Truth in him – the Truth consists in this man to realize that God lives in him and he lives in the God. If man doesn’t realize this, he will live in Petko, in Dragan, in Stoyan and will wait only to the people. Go to the mousse and learn one lesson from them – do they stay in empty barns? If they enter in some empty barn, they immediately go out; but if the barn is full with wheat, they enter in it and whole day and whole night squirt, do work. After the barns empties, they leave it and say: “We can’t live here any more!” It is wonderfully how the people live in empty barns – the mouse doesn’t remain in empty barn, and man stays inside, doesn’t go out from the barns. I say: “Live in full barns where there is wheat, where there is what to be eaten and drunk – there is the sense of the Life! Said in other way, the Life is where God had put the man – the Life is in the Divine Love, in the goods which he gives; the Life is in the Divine Wisdom and Light; the Life is in the Divine Truth and Free. The first work which is imminent to the man is to free from all negative features of his character – in this number and his self-education. For example, if the clerk or the violinist doesn’t move the fingers of their arms free, they can’t do anything – how the clerk will be able to write if he doesn’t move his fingers quickly; how the violinist will be able to play if he can’t move his fingers quickly; what you can do without fingers? Some says: “I can’t live without the finger of the God – if I don’t see it, I can’t do anything.” Well, you may have opportunity to watch the finger of the God whole day, but in this time not to take bite mouthful bread and not to swallow drop water. – “Ah, it can’t be like this.” So, not everything is in the finger. Christ says: “I am the live bread. Who eats me, he never will become hungry.” The live bread is the live air which man accepts in him. The first finger of the God, the forefinger, represents the Divine low – when God raise this finger up, with this He says to the man: “You have to subordinate to My low!” The low doesn’t search Love but execution. I ask can the man fall in love in the low – it means can the man fall in love in one stick. Man has to stay at least four-five meters aside from the low, not to touch it; the more little breach of the low leads and to the friendship relations with it. It is necessary to observe the Divine Low in order the Love to come; the Love doesn’t bear any mistakes, it shows itself only in the perfect ones – God shows the Love because He is perfect. On equal reason who wants to show the Divine Love, he has to be perfect – said with other words, when man wants to shoe the Divine Love, God has to live in him and he has to live in the God. These are two important states for expression of the Love: to love somebody, you have to penetrate into him and he has to penetrate into you. For example the light loves us because it penetrates into us; the bread loves us because it penetrates into us – in general every thing which penetrates into us, it loves us. One stone falls upon us and crush us – is this stone loves us? The stone doesn’t penetrate into us and there why it can’t love us. Every thing which penetrates into the man and brings Life in him, it loves him; if it doesn’t penetrate into him, if it doesn’t bring Life in him, it doesn’t love him. God penetrates into us because He loves us – when somebody is sad, burdened, God penetrates into him and says: “Don’t discourage, everything will be fine!” Some took the finger of the God and thinks that only he has right of it; nobody can keep the Divine finger only for himself – why? Because this finger is a spout of the great spring of the Life from which constantly water is running, therefore everybody has right to take part of this water. The water of this spring represents the great Life of the God, i.e. the great Divine lows. When I say that God penetrates into us, I understand the Divine Spirit – it means that the Divine Spirit penetrates into us and there why it loves us. Christ says: “Who loves his father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of My love” – what this verse means? Some says: “I love so and so, I can’t without him.” I ask if you want to enter in the Divine Kingdome, have you to take with you and your sweetheart? – “I can’t without him.” What you will do if your sweetheart can’t enter in the Divine Kingdome together with you? – “Why and he can’t come with me?” Because every one enters in the Divine Kingdome alone. But every one has to strive to the Divine Kingdome because there is the real Life. The ordinary life is a life of the wheat grain – the light and the dampness which enters and come out from the planted in the earth wheat grain, represents the Divine Kingdome for it. On the same way everybody who love us and who we love, have to enter and come out from the Divine Kingdome – there we all have to be in unity, in unanimity. Some men will say: “We don’t think like this, we have other opinion on this question.” It is very naturally that our opinions will differ. If two painters paint same kind of picture, their pictures by all means will differ – for example the one will put darker, other lighter colors, afterwards the shades in the picture of the one painter will differ from these of the other; which picture will be closer to the reality? First of all, none painter can paint the image of some man – why? He can’t represent his features such, as they are in reality, there is no way in which he can paint the man as live. Who is master, let blow this picture to revive the man who he had painted. The good painter may do the following: upon the picture of some man he may express the lows and the powers which worked for his creating – these lows and powers express the inside life of the man. The nose, ears, eyes, the forehead, the mouth, the chin of the man are important points which characterize the man, there why when some man don’t like to listen, he has to catch himself for the ear and to say: ”Listen, you have to be sensible, to listen attentively in the advices of the more advanced than you!” If he had hit on wide life, he has to catch himself for the nose and to say: “Listen you have to think right, to think what you are doing!” In general, man has to examine himself, to know his character features and where it is need to correct himself. Often between the scientists is talking for the physiognomy as science, but it exists ordinary and unordinary physiognomy. The ordinary I call physiognomy of the prisoners, and the unordinary – physiognomy of the free people; except these two physiognomies exists and third which I call physiognomy of the Sons of the God. The physiognomy of the prisoners examines the features of the criminal types, the physiognomy of the free people examines the features of the just people and the third physiognomy examines the features of the Sons of the God. But if man wants to examine whichever from the three physiognomies, he, by all means, has to examine them comparatively – to make comparisons the three types and after that to draw his conclusions; only on this way man will grasp the difference between the three types and will attain to one positive science. I say: and in the biggest difference between these three categories people always there is something common – they all strive to the Free. The prisoners looks to the chains on his legs, looks to the iron bars of the windows, looks to the guard who stay in front of his door with drawn knife, and sighs deeply and say: “I can’t set free, may be here I’ll finish my life as a prisoner, deprived from free forever”; I hear the sufferings of this prisoner, enter there and ask him: “Do you want to set you free?” – “How?” – “I shall light you to burn out and in a mode of gaseous body will go out through some tiny hole without see you anyone.” If this man doesn’t agree and prefers the prison, I shall leave him to lie there, but if he agrees, I strike a match, light him and as a gas I let him to free. After that the guard enters in the room and what to see – the chains lie on the ground, the door is locked, the windows are closed but the prisoner is not there. Where is he – nobody knows it. Afterwards I come back the life of this prisoner but already free, far from the prison, from the pains, from the iron chains; after that I say to him: “ Now you will live correctly and will say to nobody that you are from the free people, acquired your free through burning.” You say: “How you restored the life of this man?” There are methods and for that, as there are methods for the transforming of the man in gas. And so, when you ask why the people die, I say: the people die in order to free from the prisons on the Earth. Everything has to be burned out to be cleaned – and the people have to burn out in order to purge away their selves and to free from the prisons. It is said in the Writing: “The Earth will burn out to purge away”; if you believe, or no, it is not important, but when this time comes, everybody will believe – when the Divine fire comes, it will remove all conditions which restrict, torment and enslave the man. Sometimes the people come upon to their thoughts, desires and actions which enslave them, they can’t free from them – who may free them? The Divine. That is the way how the Russians did with us in the Liberation war – they came and where they found Bulgarians and Christians in the prisons, they set free them and left them out. In the same way one day your friends from the Invisible world will come, will crush the doors of your prisons and will say: “Go outside on free!” Today all contemporary people find under the spiritual slavery of the Turks, which they have to set free from. It is said in the verse: “Who accept His testimonial, he imprinted that God is real.” You say: “It is good man to set free from the chains and the prison but it is dangerous to catch him again.” No, if man set free once, he has to define himself to serve to the God and there why every morning, when he gets up, he has to ask himself: “Does God live in me and do I live in the God?” – there is no more beautiful thought from this one. If you check yourself on this way, you always will be free, the whole day you will be joyful and happy – what work you start, it will goes well. Only on this way man will think right and will have correct relations to the God and to his nears, only on that way he will understand that God is real and true. If God is in you and you – in Him, your life will have a meaning and you will start to live in a new way. This new life I call Life of the just people – Life on break of day. It is said: ‘The way of the just is a way of break of day” – think on this thought and will understand that this is the only way which you have to walk on. Some says: “I believe in the God” – what comes from that you or I believe in the God? We have to believe that God is Love, Wisdom, Truth, Pravda, Virtue, kindness, forbearing, charity etc., we have to believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing. If the people really believed that God is all-powerful, they would hope to him, even and they are fallen in the hell – they will know that God is in power and will take them out from there; when He takes them out will say: “Who gave you right to mistake?” As you listen me to talk like this, some says: “We haven’t lingered on still, we haven’t our sleep out as we have to.” Eight thousand years time already how the live and sleep more than it have to, but what did they acquire with this? They reached nothing. There why I say: if the people don’t wake up and get up after five minutes, all the quilts, which they cover in, will burn out; all the houses, which they hide from the outside conditions, will burn out; all that the man had created, will burn out – everything will burn out, will reduce to dust and ashes! Who thinks that there is more time to sleep under his quilt, he lies himself – the sleeping was to now. It is said in the Writing: “Get up, you, who still sleep!” – the time of sleeping have finished. Now and I am telling you: when you come home, strike one match and light your quilts – let the old quilts burn out! But if you burn out the old ones, and start to search new – with them to have your sleep out, you haven’t understood the sense of my words. If you haven’t understood me, I’ll sorry that I have become reason to burn out your quilts. Under the words old quilts I understand all that which bring death in the body and dismay in the heart and in the mind of the man – the old has to be burned out! Who burns out his old quilts and his old house, he has to give a treat to his friends and to thanks to the God that he have set you free from everything old in himself. I shall adduce the same example in other form: imagine that some man is being ill ten years with leprosy but God wants to help him to cure him – what this man has to do? After he sees that God comes to the assistance of him, the first work is to take one box of matches, to strike and to light his clothes to burn out. After he burns out his clothes, has he sorry for them? No, he has to thanks to the God that he have set free from them, because till he is with them, he will do harm and to himself, and to his nears. If you want to walk straight, you will walk straight; if upwards, upwards; if you want to think right, you will think right – no compromises are allowed in the new life. This is the new philosophy of the Life, this is the way to the Truth. The Truth disposes only with one method; when I say that the Truth, I understand that this method includes in itself all the rest methods – the Truth understands Free which includes in itself all kind of frees; the Truth disposes with such Knowledge which all the rest kinds of Knowledge include in; who has this Truth in himself, he has all rest in the world. After God is with the man, and Angels, and saints, and just people – they all will be with him; if God is not with him, he will be alone, left from everybody. Do you know what thing is the loneliness – there is no more awfully thing in the world from the loneliness! The lonely man may compare to finger, cut off from the arm and threw somewhere away from it – there is no bigger unhappiness for this finger than that, to stay far from the whole. And there is no bigger happiness for the finger to stay on the arm, to do its post in the whole – if this finger raises up, all put eyes on it, it uses with esteem and respect. Now I wish you all to be free! Today I give you on one match, and when you go in your home to light your old quilts, to liquidate with them. But don’t hurry up, think if you are ready to do this or no. If you are not ready, keep the match for other time when you will be ready – I don’t want to act too hastily, to burn out your quilts and after that to sorry that you have got no quilt and to go to search another’s quilts. You say: “How to understand this thing?” You understand as you wish – to understand or not to understand, this depends from your inside preparation. Who doesn’t understand how he has to act, he will find in the state of one king from the antiquity, who didn’t know how to eat cherishes and because of this, he couldn’t taste them. One gardener from his kingdom decided to bring to the king in one baking-dish from his best cherries to taste them and try: as he walked on the way, from time to time the gardener tasted one of the cherries to enjoy, they were very nice. When he reached the palace in the baking-dish remained only one cherry, but the gardener said to himself: “Nothing that only one cherry has left, I shall bring it to the king to see how beautiful cherries I have in my garden.” When he entered to the king, he bowed and said: “Happy king, have some from my cherries to see how beautiful and sweet they are!” The king took the cherry, looked it from here-there and said: “I don’t know how to eat cherries.” The gardener took the cherry, put it in his mouth and showed the king how to eat cherries. The king already learned how to eat cherries but it was late – the last cherry went again in the mouth of the gardener. I say: if you ask me how to understand this thing, I shall take the last cherry, I shall put it in my mouth, but you will taste nothing from it. There why, take this what I present to you, even and only on one piece, and taste alone how to eat – don’t ask the other how to eat it because you will remain and without it. If you hold the match in the arm, don’t ask how to light; till you ask this one and that one, I shall take the match, shall strike, shall light your quilt and all will finish - your quilt will burn out but you will earn nothing. If you want to learn something, you have to be free, brave. If till now you haven’t learned much, it is because you have been enslaved; today I open the doors of the prisons and like the Russians say: “Brothers, go out, throw your dressing-gown, take down your fetters from your legs, go to the bath to wash yourselves and be free!” If you stay longer in the prisons, others will come to light them outside but you will burn out together with them. It is time already all the prisons to be burned out, there will not remain a prison in the world which will not be lighted and burned out – this is the Divine desire, and what God wishes, He will execute it. Now, look what redness there is on the sky; look what cloud there is with image of sword – it is the Divine sword, directed to north. Simultaneously between the clouds on the sky clearly had been delineated one door – it is the door of the prison. This shows that the time has come to go out from the door of prison; if you don’t get out voluntarily, the sword shows what waits for you. And so, leave the Divine name, thanks the God for all goods which He has given to you from times immemorial to now! Let your hearts today be joyful and happy and say: “Let the Name of the God be blessed! Let we walk on the Divine ways!” Only on this way God will be with us through all the centuries and we will be with the God through the whole eternity, and we will taste from all His goods – the Divine goods will be our goods. Remember the today’s picture of the sky – it is one of the most beautiful pictures which you have ever seen. None painter can paint more beautiful picture from this one. Now you thank to the God for the water, for the air, for the light and for everything that He has gave you. Secret prayer 8th of August 1931, 5 p.m. Source

Note 1 These three things The Love is a way for everybody who lives for the God; the Wisdom is a way for everybody who God shows to; The Truth is a way for everybody who learns to serve to the God. For thinking through the day you will take 25th verse from chapter 5th from the Gospel of Joan: “Truth, truth I tell you that it’s coming hour and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of the God and who hear it, they will revive.” Let this morning remain memorable, unforgettable image in your consciousness. As the sky is clean and brightly, as the morning is quite and pleasant, like that to be and in your soul. The nice in this morning speaks for the Divine presence – this day is Divine day and there why it has to remain for you live image, as the Sun is live. Let in your souls be so brightly, so clean and clearly what is the today Sun. I say: if the Love is away for everybody who live for the God, if the Wisdom is a way for everybody who God shows to and if the Truth is a way for everybody who learn to serve to the God, it will be as I wish you, without any exception. If clouds appear on the sky, this show that it’s meeting two or more opposite air draughts, i.e. in the atmosphere become some collisions or deviations. The same may be said and for the Life of the man: after man deviates from the God, i.e. from the way he is put to walk, he by all means will get confuse in some dwarf pine or bushes, as a result of it his clothes will start to tear. If man walks in the right way, every day of his life will be as the today’s; said with other words, every day from the life of the man has to be a day in which the Love reigns – the Love is the way of the Life. Every day from the life of the man has to be day in which the Divine Wisdom shows; every day from the life of the man has to be day in which the Truth teaches him to serve to the God. Now all have to know that this hour in which we have gathered, is the hour in which all the creatures direct their mind to the God. After everyone accept what is necessary for him, the sky covers with soft clouds; the clouds are necessary for protecting from evaporation of this which is acquired. Therefore when the weather is cloudy, this shows that the people had taken something from that which goes out of the God and get down on the Earth to work. In this relation the clouds are an emblem in the Life – they are good for the people, because before them everyone had taken what is necessary for him and rich, satisfied comes back on the Earth to develop the acquired. After it get cloudy, not only the people is being glad, but and the animals, and the plants – in general who grows rich, he is satisfied from the clouds because they cover him from the looks of the people. Now, when I talk for the nice day, in many in old habit appear the thought: “For whom this nice day had been created?” I say: be glad that God had created such day as the today’s; be glad that all alive, sensible Creatures are gathered hear in order to give glory to the God; be glad that and you participate together with them in giving glory of the God! Some says: “Which place I take in the meeting between the Sensible creatures?” Every man takes exactly this place which is defined for him. You say: ”Will we have such a day tomorrow?” Why you have to think for tomorrow – only one day is need for you, and not many days, the many days are Tovar for the man. How many springs are necessary for the man – one spring is enough for him; it is better man to drink water for spring in which the water is clean, crystal, than to drink water from hundred best cisterns. This nice day, only in your Life, you have to bring everywhere – if you go in Sofia of another city, if you go in Bulgaria or another country, bring this day with you. If you can’t bring it everywhere with you, it is the same as you never came to Rila. It is not enough to bring this day in Sofia but Sofia has to live in this day; it is not enough to bring this day everywhere in the world, but the whole world has to live in this day – this day includes everything in itself. What we acquire this day, we have to bring all with us, to scatter it between the people. You say: “But if the Sun sets?” If today the Sun sets, this shows that this day was an ordinary. The Sun of this day will never set – for this day namely is said in the Writing: “And the sun will not set anymore.” And so, I wish you three things: let the Love in you be lighted in order to bring life; let the Wisdom in you be lighted in order to bring the Divine light; let the Truth in you be lighted in order to teach you hoe to serve to the God! Who serves to the God, only he can be free. Nobody can enslave the free man, nobody can shake the free man. Man may live as he wants, he may work as he wants, but man may be free only if he serves to the God. The man to be free- this is the sense of the Life. Who serves to the people, he is not free man; who the people serve to, and he is not free. It is said for the God: “He felt in love the Truth in the man” – why? Because the Truth understands the inside serving of the God which is in position to make the man free. Therefore the new Life will come – the Love, the new Light will come – the Wisdom, the new serving will come – the Truth; these three things includes in the today day. Now we will come down on the bivouac to breakfast a little, to perpetuate this day in order to remain memorable for us; after that we will go to the Lake of the cleanness. Here, to this lake, I shall read some verses of the Gospel of Mathew, 19th chapter. “And Jesus said to his disciples: I tell you the truth, it will be hard for some rich man to enter in the heaven Kingdom (verse 23).” Why Christ says that the rich man will enter hard in the heaven Kingdom? Because the rich man, according to the wealth which he has, acquires many sins – when man wants to become rich, he starts to have many sins. In a way that this verse, translated in other language, means: sin man will enter hard in the heaven Kingdom – why? Because his sins and crimes will hold him, they will not let him in the heaven Kingdom. In this sense the word rich understands a man full with sins and crimes – this Christ had understood in the cited verse. Therefore with such wealth anybody can’t enter in the heaven Kingdom, this wealth removes the man from the God. The wealth is the biggest good which the people in the world strive to, they don’t have bigger ideal from this – in the world only the rich man uses with the respect and the esteem of the people, but if the man with the earth wealth decides to enter in the Heaven, the camel will outstrip him in his way. There why namely Christ says: “It is easier a camel to pass through needle’s ears, but not a reach man to enter in the Divine Kingdom (verse 24).”In the Heaven the reach can’t use with such respect and esteem what he has on the Earth. And so, it exists two diametrically opposite lives – earth life with ordinary understandings and heaven life with higher understandings. I will not explain these questions but you have to have in mind that all in the world is strictly defined, and not mechanical. For example the Sun goes in defined way, the plants grows in defined way, the rivers run in defined way, the winds blow in defined way, in general all which happens in the life of the man, is exactly defined. But the people consciously, for their personal benefits, change this defined way of the things; for example they meet some streamlet and when they see that its water is good for water-mill, they deviate it from its way to use it for work. Some tree is a sorrel in natural, wilding, but experienced farmers and gardeners engraft it with some noble tree and with this they change it – they can change it in what they want. In the same way many people are grafted with grafts which don’t answer to their origin natural; many ancestors had worked upon them and they had changed them in a way that they wonder to their selves, can’t know their selves. They compare to brood-hen which they set with hen’s, duck and drake’s eggs; when the eggs hatch, the little start to go after it and it wonders what is this various nation which follow it. When they come to some river, the little ducks and the little drakes throw into the water and start to swim, the brood-hen stays in the coast, wonders and says: “It is Divine work”; afterwards the little drakes go out from the river and fly away in the air. In the same state and the contemporary people find: they think some work, take into account number conditions, but in the end they find their selves in front of surprise – their little ducks enters in the water, some of their little drakes fly away in the air, and with them remain only the little chickens. I ask what the little ducks and the little drakes represent in the life of the man? They represent his rude desires which enter in the water. But there is no bigger sufferings from the life in the water, there is whole hell; in the water big criminals are making for which there is no any law-court, there is no any culture there, any moral – the fishes for example swallow whole ones others. The contemporary people use the water for different aims, and also and like means for cleaning. Why the people drink water? To clean them from these crimes which they had made once in the water. It cleans in special way as a result of this, it represents redeeming means. I say: in the end in the man has to remain only the Divine; all rest things in him are appliances given only for some time. The soldier has to have rifle and knife but only when he goes on the battle field; if he goes in church to pray, rifle and knife are not necessary. The clerk has need from feather and ink when he is in the office; after he goes in church, feather and ink are not necessary any more. When the trader makes his trade operations, he has need from bag full with money, but if he goes tin church, way back outside the guards takes his bag and say: “You will leave your money here, in the church trade is not making.” In a way that if you look at the entrance of the church, you will see whole heaps from weapons, from feathers and inks, from bags with money, etc. Who goes to the God, he has to free from all crafts and arts which he acquired in his life and to enter to Him only with what God sometimes gave him. What God gave to the man? One lighted, bright mind and one lighted, lofty heart. Therefore the wealth of the contemporary man stays in what the mind and the heart consist in their selves; all the acquisitions out of the acquisitions of the heart and mind, remain aside. When the soldier goes out of the church, he takes his knife and rifle and use them where there is need; when the clerk goes out of the church, he takes his feather and ink and goes in the office to write; when the trader goes out of the church, he takes his bag with money and again start to trade; when the ploughman go out of the church, he takes his wooden plough and hoe and start to ore the earth. And so, one is important for you: to know that all people together constitute one organism on which they are organs, as the roots, the stem, the leaves and the branches are organs of the tree. Every man has to know for himself what organ from the tree he is, and on which place is put; for example if he is a branch, he has to know is he big or little, in which direction he looks – on east, west, north or south. If man knows this thing, he will know and how far he depends from the other people – the dependence of one man from other defines from the contact between them and from the function which they execute in the common organism; one man is important for other in so far as he has some relations with him. The little branches are important for the big in so far as they accept the Divine blessing from above and deliver it to the whole three – the Divine blessing which comes from below, from the earth, deliver to the whole tree through the roots, as a result of this the whole is in dependence of its roots. So in one case you may be useful for somebody, and in other case he may be useful to you; if some branch decides to separate from the whole three, the independence breaks and this branch in the nearest future dries. In the equal reason if man decides to separate from the whole, and he already dries, can’t be useful neither to himself, either to others – the post and to the little and to the big organs in the whole is equally important. Why the little branch has to exert itself by all means to reach the big branch – for every branch is defined how much it has to grow. Besides its growing is in dependence of the whole tree, as and of the big branches – if they grow, and the little branch will grow; if their growing stop, and the little branch stops. No matter how much exert the little branch to become as the big, it will never reach this – this its desire will not use it in nothing; it is better to be little branch on the top of the tree, but always to have fruit, than to be big branch without any fruit. It is better to have in your mind one sacred idea and in your heart one sacred feeling which you be glad to, than to wear on your back big wealth like loaded animal – the loaded man is not free. The free understands humaneness, and in the animal states there is no low; and for the animals itself there is no a low. Today they load one donkey, they load it tomorrow and every day they increase its Tovar without to has a low which defines how much they it has to be loaded; also they may beat it how much they want – there – there is no low and for the beating. I say: every man is exhibited to torments from his old masters. If you want to set free from them, you have to confess that the only master in the world is God. If you confess the God for your master, the halter from your heads and the fetters from your legs will fall, then you will do your work without goad, without outside violence. This means Free – the master only will ask you: “Have you plough up the field?” – “We have ploughed up.” – Have you reaped it?” – “We have reaped.” Namely to this Free all the nations strive today, as and all the people in the World, but this Free acquires with right understanding of the relations in the parts to the whole and to the whole to the parts. If man learns what place he takes in the whole, i.e. if he understands his relations to the God, he will set free from all restrictions. Only in this way the man will come to the majority of his Life or he always will be in the state of little helpless child or in the state of ill man. More you give to the ill man, more he gets upset, but if you chose for the ill man food which fits him, he will improve with every new day. Therefore as the food for the man has to improve every day, as and the Knowledge, and the Wisdom have to improve every day; if they don’t improve, you will come to the situation in which Salomon had fallen and you will say like him: “Vanity of the Vanities, everything is vanity!” I interpret his words: Knowledge without Love is vanity of the vanities – in this knowledge there is no any achievements. The real Knowledge achieves for every man in special way. As the sun goes in its defined way, as and you have to go in the way that God had defined for you – no one has right to deviate from this way. Till you are in the way, you will have the Divine blessing; after you deviate, number of unhappiness will come on you – every unhappiness owes to some deviate. Till you are in the Way, you are free; if you deviate, you lose your Free and don’t know where you go. Till your finger is on your arm, the arm uses with your respect and esteem; if you cut your finger, and your arm loses its respect and esteem. In a way that the respect and esteem of the man depends from his consciousness that he lives in the God, takes a place which is defined from Him and does his work. I say: the main thing that you have to bring in your houses as a memory from your spending on Rila is to penetrate into you the idea that as the Sun, the stars, the Moon and the rest planets have its defined way of movement, as and you have your defined way which inevitably you have to follow. The Sun for example rises every morning in exactly defined time and evening it again sets in defined time; it never rises and sets earlier or more late from the defined for it moment. So much thousand of years when the Sun rises and sets, but never till now it deviates from its way – neither it acted too hastily or late in its movement. Do you know what will happen with the life of the Earth if the Sun deviates from its way? Big crash will set in on the Earth even in the more little deviation of the Sun from its way. In the base of the same law, a big crash will set in the life of the man if he deviates from the way which God defined to him. When man finds himself in front of such crash, everything for him is loosed and he lives like in desert – he deprives of his nicest thoughts and feelings, from all lofty and sublime. There why namely any power hasn’t to be in position to deviate the man from his way – this position of the man speaks for his absolute Faith in the God. If man walks in his way, every work which he has to do is sacred; and every work has to bring its fruit. This Christ had understood when he had said the verse: “Every stick which doesn’t give fruit has to be cut and to be thrown aside.” In this relation and the Life is been given meaning in so far as we bring fruit in the whole. When one man works for the God, he is valuable and for the Light spirits of the Heaven, as and for the good people in the Earth – then everyone is ready to help him, to come to the assistance of him when he is in straitened circumstances. If he deviates from his way, everyone leaves him, everyone forgets him – isn’t it the same and with people who live and work only for their selves? Till one man is reach, everyone bows, respect him; if he become poor, everyone leaves him. If one man has some goods in himself, and the people crowd around him; if he loses these goods, everyone leaves him. Who is the reason the man to lose his wealth and goods? The Devil; for him it is said in the Writing: “The robber doesn’t come, but to steal, destroy and slit.” He gives bad advices to the people till he pushes them in some uncertain undertakings, they lose their wealth and remain perfectly poor, homeless and friendless for everyone. After that he remains them to pay their debts alone – how much shelves the devil had signed, they are all at their expense. This shows that this old master loves his subjects – with his love he had stripped till now at least two hundred skins from the back of every man. The fact that he loves the people can be sawn and when he takes down their skins – there is what to be taken from them, many sandals ha had been made from the human skins; but I don’t know why the people love their old master who had led them to extreme reducing to poverty with his advices. I say: if in the present life the people knew what there is to happen, they would discourage. The present life is built on false base, on inside absence of rights; from outside this life is built upon number of rules and laws but in it is missing inside lawfulness. The banker for example gives money to the people, he does a service them, but in him he has in mind that he will take one big interest for this, at least twenty five per cent; it means that behind his service it hides some self-interested desire. And this is not bad but it is a crime when they perfectly use some man; when one man works all day, he has right to expect some reward, but he has got no right to use the others. Now the thought which I want to leave, is your consciousness to wake up, to be thankful to everyone who does a service or give something from Love – this Love comes from the God, this man is conductor of the Divine Love. But if someone comes to you and start to boast that he has made some service or some good to you, this man doesn’t speak the truth. Christ says: “I haven’t come to execute My will, but the will of the Father who had led me. I came to tell you what God has taught me – from the good which He has given me, I give and to you.” And after that some will come to tell he has given you so and so money or that he has made you so and so good, etc.; this man hasn’t stayed on sure soil, he works with foreign capitals which he represent for his. One preacher says to one of the worshippers: “Do you know that I have turned you to the God?” – “I know, what you want after that?” I thank you but and you, from your side, thank to the God that he gave you possibility to manifest yourself; but every day to tell me the same, I can’t bear.” Many of the contemporary preachers act with his followers as one adherent acted with one his disciple who he had occupied with the occult sciences. When he taught to his disciple some lesson, he had put on the table in front of him one of the most beautiful meals and said: “This is a dish fit for a king, but you are still not worthy of it.” The adept stayed on the table and had eaten the meal, and the disciple only looked to it but he had known that he is not worthy of such dish fit for a king. The disciple often asked his teacher: “When and I will be worthy to eat from the dish fit for a king?” – “I don’t know, we will see; if you was worthy, you could receive from this meal.” Today and preachers, and philosophers, and writers – they all speak for the Love but everyone holds it for himself, they consider that the others are not ready to taste from it – the Love is a dish fit for a king. Who speaks to somebody for the Love, he shows him one dish fit for a king, as he adds: “Your time still hasn’t come to taste from this meal” – so for this who listens the time still hasn’t come. What this disciple had made in the end? One day, as he sat in front of the full plate of his teacher, he turned to the God with the following prayer: “God, already ten years how I zealously serve to you, am I not still worthy to taste from this dish fit for a king, till when I shall be only spectator to this king’s table?” One angel answered to his prayer in the following way: “Tomorrow, when you go to your teacher and he put in front of you a dish fit for a king again without giving you from it, raise carefully your teacher from the chair, sit on his place and eat the meal in the plate.” The disciple liked this advice and he made like this: when he went to his teacher, the last put a plate with a dish fit for a king in front of him again, but in the moment when he prepared to eat, the disciple softly raised him from the chair and sat on his place, saying: “Teacher, in the name of your worth today I shall eat from the dish fit for a king – I am already from the worthy disciples.” Today in all contemporary people hide one of these adherents, who says: “God is far from the people, the Love is still not for you, you are not worthy of the dish fit for a king, the Knowledge is not for you, you are still little children, you are not ready for the beautiful Divine works.” I say: raise your teachers from their thrones and sit on their places – after that start to eat with the meal of the Love; raise your teachers from the thrones of the Wisdom and start to use from the Light of the Knowledge; raise your teachers from the thrones of the Truth and start to serve to the God – the time for this had come! Your first serving will be to your teachers who you took down from their thrones because they are invalids. I ask who man is invalid. Who discourages and things that from him will not become nothing; this man gives his discouraging and to the other people. What the farmer does when the first sowed seed doesn’t grow, is he discourage? No, he ploughs up the field well, throw out the old seed and sow new. I say: it is time to liquidate with the old, to be thrown out and to be replaced with new – everything which till now had worried the man and had put smut in his soul, has to throw out and replace with something new. You say: “What the new will introduce?” The new will introduce Peace, Joy and Fun in the soul of the man. If you want to reach this position gradually, every morning direct your mind to the God! This moment is great because then little and big, good and bad creatures direct their thoughts to the God and acquire something. In this moment and the wild beast is good; after that every one appears his nature. Therefore when some man is good, this shows that or he directed his thought to the God, or without doing that he is good, because his nature is such. It means that the man can be good in two causes: or when God works in him, or when the man works in the God. For example you meet some mother and watch her relations to her child: she is tender, attentive, good to her child; afterwards she meets some other child but to him she is not already so tender, so attentive and good – why? In the first case God works in her, and in the second case she doesn’t work in the God; said with other words, in the first case she direct her thought to the God, and in the second case she doesn’t direct her thought to the God. And so, two standings are necessary to the man: to be good when he directs his mind to the God, and to be good when he doesn’t direct his mind to the God. The first standing is especially necessary, in order the second to come. When one man feel that he is not good, let him direct his mind to the God – as much more often he directs his mind to the God, as he becomes better. For the man to direct his mind to the God, this understands to change of the states; in this way man acquires perfection. Perfect man is that who and when doesn’t think, and when think for the God, is always good; perfect man is that for who God is always good, but and he is always good for the God. When God is in us and work for us, we are always good, but from us it is wanting and when we are in the God and work for Him, to be good again. In the second case it is noticed that namely then most people are not good; in this relation man has to teach from the God, to be good and then when he works in the God, as he is good when God works in him. Most people today are always good when God works in them, but are not always good when they work in the God; when you know this, you will distinguish the natural good man from the temporary good one and will strive to acquire the first Kindness. After you know this, you will work consciously, will acquire, will learn as from your experience from the past, as and from your knowledge which you acquire now. I say: for the man are important the strivings of his soul and of his Spirit, for the man are important his gifts and abilities which have to be developed every day and to grow up. These things may be reached when you walk in the way which God had defined to you – there is no easier way from this. It is harder for the man to make bad than to walk in the way which is defined for him for ages. Imagine the standing of a man who think to steal from some rich man one sum from two hundred leva; where he goes, he always plans, make plans how to attain to these money – he walks whole year, go about around the house, watch to the windows, always thinks how to make the theft without catch him. He finally decides to make the acquaintance of the servants of this rich man; he makes the acquaintance of one, with second, with third, studies them, wants to know who from them could be bribed – the whole plan costs him time, efforts, anxieties, fear. But if one man decides to make good, it will not cost him anything – neither fear, neither anxieties, neither disturbances. The robber worries that they will find his plan, that they will catch him, etc.; if a man who thinks to make some bad or crime would use this energy and this time for some good, useful work, he would wonder the people with this which he can make. If he decides to serve to the evil, in the end they will catch him again, they will imprison him to lie around ten years; what this man earns with the evil? He loses, and don’t earn. And so, the way which God had defined for the people, is ten times better from this which they now walk and live on. And now from the contemporary people is wanted heroism, in order to walk in the new way – said with other words, to come back in the way they had been deviated from. Only in this way they put strong base of their earth life. Then and if they fall in the worst conditions, they will always keep their equilibrium – their ship will toss amid the roughed sea, but the waves will not pierce it and it will reach the port safely, it will step upon solid ground safely. 6th August 1931, 5p.m. Source

Note 1 The place of God Many people today are interested in God, but they hardly have any idea what exactly God is; what is the shape of God, they do not know. A man can have a clear idea of some shape if those things are clear in his mind. When an object or a body is not clear in your mind, you can not have a clear idea of its shape. You can say: “We can not understand what exactly God is, but we would like to know where His location is.” The location of God is where at the moment of waking up everybody directs their consciousness, mind and thought. All creatures from the smallest to the largest, everything directs their minds in one direction upwards-this direction exactly is the location of God. This happens in unison everywhere in the world-among all living creatures in all levels. There is not a greatest moment for a man and for all living creatures from that moment, when they wake up to address their conscience upwards-where all others have already directed their minds. Only this way can a man accept the Good, which comes from God; that man, who refuses to accept this Good will stay in darkness and loneliness. A person will say:” Why should I pray?” A prayer is necessary, because when praying a man directs his mind towards God, in order to derive something from Him-in this case a prayer can be compared with colours which are ready to accept light and warmth from the Sun. I say: if you want to develop yourself, always keep in your mind a thought of God as the only place, as the only focus where the consciousness of all Sensible creatures congregate together. What do other people think, it is not your business-you just keep your thought in that only direction, from where Light and Warmth of your life comes. If you redirect your mind from that direction you will lose your way of life and will stay in darkness. A man is a traveller in his life- if he decides to stop somewhere and enjoy himself he will lose his way and will not reach his mates any more. When all creatures address their minds in the direction of God, they move forward a step; not retreating to wait for that man who was late or who got lost. If these people on the second and on the third day do not address their minds towards God, they will stay behind all others, and one day their life will not have any value. Those people who think about God and address their minds in His direction will go ahead, this means big progress in their minds and progress is positive. Even in bed a man can address his mind towards God and think about Him, and this way he will go ahead- everything is there in man’s mind. If somebody who goes out very early in the morning for a prayer, but regrets about that and says: “Why did I get up so early, I have got tired, why should I do that. I could stay in bed longer instead.” This man, even he has come for a prayer, is behind the others, because his thought is not right. If you want to progress in your life, to advance in life perfectly, wherever you are, whatever situation, just spend a half an hour or so to think about God- if you want to achieve a Light in your consciousness, think about God. You can say:” What will happen if we look in God’s direction?” It is not important what will happen just do it without asking any questions!-“What I will see?” You do not have to know that, too- just stare at it”. You say:” We see that the day is clear.” Yes, the day is bright and everything around us is nice, but you have never seen how the Sun of Life rises- you have just seen a physical sunrise, but you have never seen the dawn of the Sun of Life. Sometimes you see a physical sun through the clouds and you enjoy it, but if you just once have the opportunity to see the Sun of Life, when it rises you will never forget it and nothing will be possible to cover its place. In the sun of Life you will see God, who will speak to you. How a physical sun rises is the same manner as the sun of the Life; the difference is just in location where those two suns are-in man’s consciousness these two locations are in completely different places. I declare that a physical sun affects a man one way while the sun of Life – in an entirely different way. When a physical sun rises a man is happy, he moves, works and he has an ambition to correct his lifestyle, to plough his fields, to plant his gardens, to build a house and etc. When the sun of Life rises he wants to get on well with all people; at the same time all living creatures from smallest to the largest become loved and dear to him. Only a man who has been warmed from the sun of Life can understand all people who suffer, he can understand all people who commit a sin and he will try to help them. For him, that man who has committed a sin is as a prisoner who wants to get free; he will stop and will give him the following advice. “My brother, get out of this prison, because you will starve here; if you remain in this place even a little bit more you will be left behind others-you will be late for the train in your life and nobody will come back for you, nobody will give you bread and water, even other people would not want to do this to you, but it will happen, on all your way problems will follow you one after another. It will happen because you are alone on your way, you are at a stand, and you are in a fog.” A man must go ahead, nobody must stay on the same level in his consciousness, and nobody can do this. For each day there is a certain limit which a man must walk in his mind; if a man does not walk it he will stay behind the others and all troubles will come to him. This is the meaning of a new philosophy of Life. A person can say: “What will happen if I travel a short distance in my mind, what I can achieve from it?” You can achieve a lot: it does not matter how small is the distance that one has travelled in his mind, if he goes every day forward he will draw closer and closer to God –even if a man travels every day 10 centimetres or he draws closer to God every day by 10 centimetres, this is equals to millions of kilometres in a physical world. You can say:” What will happen if I look at God and think about Him” To look at Him or to think about Him is much more valuable of all the material goods that one has on Earth- this one is of the greatest truth of the Life. If you know that then do not make them less valuable, do not devalue them! A person can say: have too many things to do and to think of where God is or to think about Him I am too busy. I have to work and to look after my material necessities!” I insist that the only place from where you can get all you need in your life is the place of God-if you start thinking about God, if you join your consciousness all other creatures that address theirs to Him, this is enough. I’ll ask you:” how much does it cost for a man to live for the sake of God- a man knows this knowledge. Imagine that you are staying at a dry artificial stream where is placed a water-wheel; a water-wheel wants to move, but the dry stream says to it: “How can I turn you around your axle if I do not have any water running” but after water comes a water-wheel starts moving and turning around. Water knows how and is able to move the water wheel, water does not have to learn how to do that; water then says to water-wheel: “Listen to me and follow that direction I will show you.” Water –wheel promises to obey that but it does not do it. When water reaches it first thing it produces is to rise up and then it goes down- its motion is up and down, it does not follow the motion of the water forwards. People do the same like water –wheel: they often promise:” I will go forwards; I will follow the motion of the water.” However, when water comes closer they immediately change their promise and go up and down while water goes forwards they stay at the same place. When water and water-wheel talk-water says” Why you are staying on the same place and do not work anything?”-“How can you say that I do not work anything, look how much flour I have grinded.” I compare water-wheel with a physical life of people-if they do not follow direction and action of water then they will stay at the same place Forever and they will just grind flour. People like water-wheel really do some work, but their work is not the same as water does; water has passed trough many places, it has irrigated countless plants and animals, it has given life to a million creatures; water-wheel has grinded millions of small grains, has turned them into flour and always boasts: “Do you know how much flour I have grinded?” However, if you compare that job with the job of water you will make a big difference. Not a few people today get a similar idea in their heads as water-wheel does, that they have done a big job. Their job is physical, while the job of water is the real one-it has irrigated many flowers, gardens, people and animals. It has improved conditions of all living creatures-everywhere it has passed it has left its blessing. Water means Life that all we must follow. We do not need water-mill, lets water-wheel stays in its place; water will not stop its action in order to talk to water –wheel, water will continue its way. Using this example I want to focus your attention in two type of consciousness that people have: the first one is a consciousness of a water-wheel, that turns around its axle-around the physical consciousness of a man; while the second is the consciousness of water, that turns not just one centre, but also goes up to a higher ideal and in a result it goes forward and does a good job. Addressing our thoughts to God is a stream upwards, while the opposite stream is downward, when water runs downward-the stream of water shows the Divine consciousness toward us, from up to down. When we think about God we move upward, after that He moves downward and sends us His thought. This way God always send us something from a higher level, but we also must send something to Him. So, every morning you should focus your thought upwards, to Him where all living creatures direct theirs-this way you will take part in common prosperity. Someone can say:” I do not want to think”; you do not have to think about one or another person or thing, for the small things in your Life, but about God you should think- you are obligated to direct your thought to Him, in that direction where all the living creatures address their thoughts. There is enough room there– it is not possible to appear any disagreement-this area will bring unity and a harmony among all people. When people address their thought in one direction, they draw closer to God, and their relationships get on with better; this way people will be healthy, cheerful and they will have Peace in their souls, they will become younger and will jump as young calf does. That man who addresses his thought toward God will get free from all illnesses. Illnesses are parasites in human’s aura, nothing else, and a man must break free from them; parasites are negative thoughts that pump out a man, and he must get rid of them. In conclusion we can say that if somebody says that, in his opinion, he does not have to think about God, he becomes in a situation of an orphan without mother and father; you know very well what the status of that child is –if nobody takes care of him he is down and out, dirty and hungry. If you look at his head, you will see that his head is full of parasites; his face is pale and exhausted from them. He walks in poverty, until somebody finds him and decides to bring him up. After that he gets over very fast-his clothes look washed and tidy, his head is clean, his hair well brushed. In very short time he strengthens, becomes cheerful and enjoys everything around him, everything that surrounds him. So, if a man gets into a situation of an orphan, he must know that he has already stopped to think about God-then parasites begin attacking him and he loses the meaning of Life. I say: there is just one right direction in life and everybody must follow it. A person can say:” What will we do if we go this direction? Isn’t it enough to read the bible and the new scripture?” You can read the bible, the new and the old scripture, but in reading these books there is a certain philosophy. When you read about Jesus, about the prophets and about good people, lived that time, you should make a spiritual connection with them and direct your thoughts in the same direction where they did. When you have this connection, you do not need to ask weather Jesus understand you or not, you do not have to ask whether God listens to your prayers or not-when you direct your mind in that only right direction where all sensible living creatures do you will gain something from that common goods, it does not mater whether you deserve or not. It is enough just to direct your mind upwards in order to gain “a loaf of bread “. In other words, if you do not direct your mind there you will not receive anything, no matter how hard or how long you will plead for something. God does not like to deal just with one person. To your prayer He will say: “You will wait until tomorrow.” On the next day you must wake up early and you must wait for the right moment when all souls direct their minds towards Him and do not ask is this the right direction or not, do not ask whether you will see God. These are miner issues, it is important for you to direct your mind there and to wait-you will receive something from common goods anyway. A blind man can not see, but when he rises his head upwards, always somebody else will come and will put in his hand a loaf of bread; He says:” I have not seen the Sun, but I have got a loaf of bread” –this is enough for him. These figures explain the idea very well. So, people must direct their minds towards God. Where is God? God is where all the sensible and good people direct their minds. Not just people, but all living beings, from the smallest to the Largest, direct their minds towards God. Somebody asks:” Where is God?” Do not ask; just rise your mind upwards! When I speak about the place of God, where all you must direct your minds, it does not mean, that you have to be in contradiction with your work-whatever you do everybody is in his place. In this meaning even the water-wheel is in its place, water is in its place as well: the difference between the water-wheel and the water is, that a water-wheel revolves around its own axel and thinks just about itself while the water goes forwards and thinks about everybody else. That man who thinks only about his own necessities is a water-wheel; this man all his life thinks just about himself-about money, he needs, about the clothes, he thinks that other people must respect him and look up to him. This is the philosophy of the water –wheel. However, it also does some work-it grinds wheat; when you go close to it you will hear “brr-brr-brr”-wheat is grinding, one after another bags are filled with fresh grinded flour, which is transported by traders in order to be sold. This job you also do in your life, but you are not satisfied. Can you give as an example even one worker in a water-mill who has become a philosopher, a writer or a poet; I have never met such a person who has written a book so far. Shepherds have written books, while water-mill workers-haven’t; water-mill workers grind wheat, they do not have time for anything else. How can this water-mill worker save himself? When he becomes a shepherd or a ploughman; it is not necessary to grind the -wheat –it is enough to bray it and eat it this way. Grinding wheat does not solve the problems in Life. If a man is able to understand what is the right way of eating wheat, that man will be able to understand the meaning of Life. These are secondary questions which just can be used to clear up the idea. A worker in a water-mill can solve his problems solely if people stop bringing him wheat for grinding. In this case they will be made him leave this job; when he stays one or two days without a job, he will say: “I can not go on this way” and eventually he will start a new job. For that reason you do not have to worry about what will happen with the outdated people or things; the outdated will leave by them and the new ones will come. Your tusk is to follow the new things and ideas. You can say:” Which is the new thought?” The new thought is the following one: Focus your mind, your heart and your will on God! Getting up in the morning, your first work is to direct your heart and mind in that direction where at that minute millions of minds and hearts direct theirs. These hearts and minds have dissimilar vibrations, different understanding, but all they are attracted by one thing-God or the place of God in there lives. And for the sake of this place all living creatures integrate: you can see a king, to whom everyone worship, but when this Moments comes he focuses his mind on God like a child does, nothing is able to disturb him. In that moment a child and a king are in unison; after that moment a king takes his sceptre, goes up to his throne, starts his daily routines. On the next day, the king again does the same thing in unison with all other creatures that are subservient to him, the king focuses his mind to God- on that place all people know each other. Therefore, true Love manifests in focusing thoughts of all living creatures in one direction. When the consciousness of all living creatures directs in one direction, then all they will have a lot of common points, whereas if a man starts going just around his own centre, around himself, everything is lost. Somebody says: “Life does not have any meaning for me”; I say: if you want to fulfil your life with meaning, then direct your mind upward! This is not so difficult job at all- what can be easier from that to focus in one direction only. In my opinion, it is much more difficult to focus your mind in two or three directions, which most of contemporary people do, instead of focusing in just one direction. Many times people have been focusing their minds upward-they know very well this direction, but they have never thought of the fact that there is one moment, when all living beings in unison focus their minds towards God. Whether they want or not, this happens as a result of an inner obstinate law; that man who does not want to obey this law will be forced to follow it. How? He will catch an illness and will look for God, then he will focus his mind towards Him and will thank for having this illness, because it made him think about God. It is not just an illness that can force a man to think about God, there are plenty of ways with the same result, to focus on God. One hour, one minute or just one second is necessary in order all living beings in unison to focus their minds toward God-how great this hour of the day is, how great this minute of the hour is, how great this second of the minute is! Now, I am going to read chapter eight from John, the Apostle, starting from verse 31. “And so Jesus went on to say to the Jews that had believed him: “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples” (Verse 31). And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (Verse 32). These words, interpreted during the language of a new teaching, mean: “If you all focus your minds towards God, you are My disciples; and then you will know the Truth which will set you free.” It means that when a man focuses his mind towards God, he will be in touch with His Love; because God at the same time is Truth, a man will take in the Truth that will set him free. “They replied to him: “We are Abraham’s offspring and never have we been slaves to anybody; How is it you say, ‘you will become free?(verse 33). Jesus answered them: “Most truly I say to you, every doer of sin is a slave of sin (verse 34). Moreover, the slave does not remain in household forever; the son remains forever (verse 35). This mean: Everybody, who does not focus their mind in God’s direction is a slave of sin, and the slave does not remain in household forever, the Son remains forever” Therefore, the water-wheel can not stay forever; when it finishes certain work, it destroys itself and water carries it away-it can not stay for a long time on its place. “I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, but you are seeking to kill me, because my word makes no progress among you (verse 37)”. Jesus did not understand just killing the body, He meant inner killing. When a man sacrifices his own divine feelings for nothing it is as he kills it and after that becomes a son of a killer. “What thing I have seen with my father I speak and you, therefore, do the things that you have heard from /your/ father (verse 38). In answer they said to him: “Our father is Abraham.” A physical man speaks this way, water-wheel-man, and he does not know his Father. “Jesus said to them: If you are Abraham’s children do the work of Abraham (verse 39).” Abraham knew God-you believe in Abraham, but you do not believe in That, in whom he believed. “But now you are seeking to kill me, the man that has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this (verse 40). You do the works of your father (verse41).”If you do God’s work, why you blame His Words? That is why you come from father devil-everything that keep a man in a distance from the God comes from father devil; everything that depraves beautiful, high-descent and noble characters in a man and removes him from God comes from father devil. “You are from your father the Devil and, and you wish to do the desires of your father (verse 44). Because I, on the other hand, tell the truth, you do not believe me (verse 45).” “But I do know him and am observing His Word (verse 55). It is not enough for a man to know God, but he has to observe His word, he has to fulfil His will. “Therefore they picked up stones to hurl /them/ at him, but Jesus hid and went out of the temple.” Therefore, that man who throws stone at the Truth will remain in loneliness, because the truth will hide from him. Since Jewish People has thrown stones at Truth, they have wandered all over the world in disgrace. For 2000 years they have been rambling in the world like no one other nation, though today God’s mercy is on them. The same experience will have every man who throws stones against the Truth-weather a man or a nation will do this, the consequences will be the same. If you want to have God’s mercy you must focus your mind in His direction every morning, where all the living beings direct theirs. You say: “How we can understand the verse in which Jesus hid from the people?” Visualize that I was holding a candle and was directing hundreds people to go out of a tunnel, but they did not understand my mission and started arguing and fighting who of them would take the candle. In order to get rid off this argument I would put off the lighted candle, they would not be able to see me, for them I would have hidden. The same thing did Jesus-he blew the candle that was carrying and their minds went dark, they did not see anything. This is the meaning of the words” Jesus hid.” Strength of a man is in the Light of his mind; when somebody takes this Light, a man loses his strength. When a man stays in darkness, he walks clumsily, he is not confident in his steps; when darkness comes, the motion stoppage is a restriction in one’s progress. The same things are valid for a man’s mind and consciousness; as long as in man’s mind Light exists, he thinks correctly and behaves appropriately; when the Light in man’s mind dies away, he does not know how to behave; after that he stays without any direction in his motions, aimlessly. Turkish people have got the an old custom, which is: when somebody visits them they lock the door of the room at night where a guest sleeps and in the morning the guest must knock at that door, the guest must wait for the owner to come and to open his door. I say: The Light is the most important thing for a man who has been left into darkness; for the thirsty one the most important thing is to come closer to the spring of Life; for that who is ignorant, who is bad educated the most important thing is to get closer to the books of a library; for a man who prays to God the most important thing is a temple- a temple is the place where God is, everybody looks for this place. People look for that place here and there, but they can not find it-temple is on that place, where all living beings direct their minds in unison. Somebody says: “I think that having a silent prayer is sufficient”- this is the situation with water- wheel that turns round its axes. Having a silent prayer is a kind of consciousness, but it is not that great consciousness in which all souls take part in-when they at the same time derive and offer benefits from general goods. It is just enough for a man when directs his own mind towards God in order to get a piece from general goods-this is the law. When a man directs his mind towards God in unison with other people, just for half an hour he will receive the same quantity from general goods which he would obtain if he was knocking at God’s gate all day. Even if you are the last person in a queue it is sufficient when you arrive on time; if you just for one moment join collectively consciousness, you will receive God’s blessing-God does not make any difference whether somebody arrives first or last. Everybody will derive from general goods-that person who arrives first and that who arrives last - General good is for everybody. Everybody waits for the moment when God’s blessing will come upon them; it lasts just one moment, after that the door of Blessing shuts down. You say:” What shall we do after that?” Everybody should go and work on his own in order to progress. If God does not get down into the man and a man does not work on his own, he would not be able to do anything; if God does not get down into a man, whatever a man works he will be in a situation of a woman, that all day round works in her loom, but does not produce anything because there’s not any thread. That man, who had visited God, will work all day and will produce something valuable, because he has got enough yarn in his loom. Having this idea in your mind, you will form a clear picture of God’s place and what benefits a man will gain if focuses his consciousness in His direction. There are three moments during the day when a man focuses his mind towards God: in the morning, when the sun rises; at noon, when the sun is in his zenith and in the evening, at sunset. Sensible beings are in these three areas, in these three phases of the Sun, but when they congregate together, sunset does not exist for them anymore- for the living beings, which focus their minds towards God just Sunrise exists. When God comes out, everybody derives His blessing; this Sun remains shining for all the day long. When somebody says that he does not know where the place of God is, this mean that this man is behind, he has been lost; there’s not anything else for that man except to keep on walking along the stream of the river. So, that man who looks for God by himself has taken the wrong way. Hindu people say that a man must concentrate his mind in his inner world and he will find God; this philosophy is wrong. People have been looking for God this way so far, but they could not find Him there. When it is said that God is inside the man, you must know where exactly He is-somebody looks for God in man’s mind, other looks for Him in man’s heart, but they have not found Him there. A man will find God, when he pays attention at all other people who like him look for God at the same time; they must be like students who look up at their teacher. The teacher has got some materials which uses, and the disciple looks at these materials and learns, the disciple gains from master’s knowledge. His master looks up at another master, that one –at another and so on; the disciple must take in that knowledge from the same source where his master does- from that place where all creatures gain their knowledge. If a man focuses his mind in the place where all living beings do, he will derive as mush as he would have derived if he was knocking at God’s gates for thousands years. This is the only way for a man to take the knowledge of God; he will say after that:” I know what God is and what Love is”. I say: a man must focus his mind in the direction where his Master’s mind is focused –this is the idea of salvation of the world. If a disciple does not do the same as his Master does, nothing will be in a position to help him. Raise your mind upwards-there is your salvation! If people speak to you otherwise do not trust them-just focus your mind upwards, where gods, heruvims, Angels, Saints, mothers and fathers, righteous and wicked people and animals focus theirs! Observe a cricket and see how it in unison with others focuses its mind upwards; just watch at him and see how it is sitting in front of his small hole and is thinking of something special-what exactly it is thinking of? It is focusing its mind upwards. You can say: “Cricket is a mindless creature, it does not realise how it acts.” Cricket is not mindless; it thinks about God and speaks to itself:” Only the thought of God is in power to get me out of this hole”. It thinks about God one day and another day and eventually it will find itself out of that hole, turned into another form of life. Therefore, only the thought of God is in power to help the man to get out of restricted conditions in which he is at that moment; this thought will set him free from his debts, too. When God comes down to the people, He will do everything for them, He will salvage them, He will salvage the world-there is not another philosophy in the life than this one. Somebody can ask: “How can I understand this philosophy?” There is nothing for understanding here, when you focus your consciousness in the direction where all living beings direct theirs-the knowledge will come from higher level following by the blessing. When a traveller comes to your home, hungry thirsty and cold you do not ask him where he is from? First of all you invite him to come closer to the fire, to get warmth, after that you give him a cup of hot tea or hot water, next you give him some food to eat and later, when he gets relaxed well he starts talking about himself, where he is from and what he has experienced in his life. Let this thought-thought about the place of God in your life – be for you something very valuable, something without you would not be able to sustain, you would not be able to cope, you would not be able live, let it be for you as a talisman. If you have this talisman inside your mind, whatever situation you are you will survive, you will be safe, when only you think about God. Tomorrow morning we will climb up the new peak towards which we has cleaned the path where we will pray to God and will thank Him. Then we will go to the Babreka (Kidney - it is the name of a lake in Rila Mountain), the fifth lake in order to wash down our hands and feet after the long way. As long as a man looks for God his legs are always muddy; Once finding Him, a man washes his legs. Washing legs not outside but inside is a logo in a man’s life. When a man finds God he does not think about anything any longer, because he had already achieved everything-what will happen to dead, to poor, to those who suffer, he does not think about this. In God’s world there is not dead, there is not poor people, there is not people who suffer; everything is settled down. 5 August 1931, 5 a.m. Translated by Maria Ivanova Source

Combination, application, and implementation Today, I will speak about three words – combination, application, and implementation; these words have to remain in your minds forever. You say, “We will write these words down, so that we do not forget them.” It is not enough just to write them on paper; you have to open your minds and your hearts in order to understand them – your progress will depend on these three words. I will now explain the meaning of these three words. Combination stands for the correct juxtaposition of all real things created by God – there can be a combination in the thoughts, feelings, and deeds of a person; there can be a combination among spirits, among people, among Angels, just as among gods; there can be a combination between two or more tones. The combination among tones has to happen not only theoretically, but practically as well. If you want the combination to turn out right, sing these tones one, two, three, or more times until they begin to sound harmonious. If you want to perform a certain musical piece, to play it or to sing it, repeat it in your mind many times until you perform it well inside you; once you perform it well, you will feel satisfied with yourselves, for you can sing or play correctly. I say: when the combination, application and implementation among all the parts of the human body turn out right, the person feels healthy, joyful, and satisfied. If this harmony between the body parts is absent, the person loses their health, mood, and happiness. For example, you get up in the morning, but you feel pain in one of your legs – in this case the sick leg is an aristocrat telling the person, i.e. telling its servant: “Do you know that I am sick, that I want you to move me slowly, to massage me, in other words, to heal me – whatever I say, you will do it!” You will be telling the leg that you have a wife, children, work to do, that you are a merchant and cannot leave your business unattended. – “No, wife, children, business – you will leave everything aside except me, except my pain, nothing else should occupy your time – everything else is nonsense.” – “I want to pray, to talk some with God.” – “You will pray here by me, you will not go anywhere now!” So it is that if one of your legs hurts – you have one master, if both of your legs hurt – you have two masters. You say, “It is not easy to serve even just one master.” When the time comes to serve two masters, this equals slavery – you massage one leg, you flex and extend it, turn it left or right; then it is the same story with the other leg, and before you know it the whole day is over. Of course it will be over – it is not easy to serve two masters. What is the situation of a person with healthy legs? From the very morning the legs are ready for work – they go to the person, i.e. they go to their master, and say, “Master, what will you order?” The master goes to work – they go with him too; in this case the master is satisfied, and so are the two servants, i.e. the two legs are satisfied and happy – this means that the combination, application, and implementation are correct. I say: many people in religion are also like the sick leg. Someone religious is sitting down, keeping quiet, thinking, being unsatisfied with something – why is he unsatisfied? He has a life – he is unsatisfied, he has a mind – he is unsatisfied, he has a heart – he is unsatisfied, he has wealth – he is unsatisfied, he has a wife, children, friends – he is still unsatisfied. Why? His leg hurts. What is the reason for the pain in the leg? – This is unimportant; what matters to you is the fact that your leg hurts and that the pain is making you have a particular point of view on everything around you. The cells in the sick leg are arguing with each other, splitting their wealth, fighting – anarchy has taken over their kingdom. Until an end is put to the war, the cells will keep fighting with each other and will tell their master, “You should know that now we are at war; once the war is over we will do whatever you want. Your happiness also depends on this war – if we win, you will benefit too; if we lose, you lose too.” The master observes carefully, follows who is winning the war – the victory is represented by the healing of the leg. Once the leg is healed, the cells are now free; they come back from the battlefield and say to their master, “We won, and from this moment on you can rely on all the strengths of your body.” Consequently, the real victory comes with the correct combination of the thoughts and feelings put in a person. People have to combine correctly only that, which God has put in them, and should not accept anything external. Until when? Until the war within them ends. Once people end that war, once they give way to the Divine within them, they will be able to accept external things, which are created by the other people and the gods. Until people have not developed the Divine within them, they will not have a point of support in Life, because people by themselves are egoists – they think only about themselves. In this aspect egoists are like stones; if you sit down by a stone and you start crying, telling it about your suffering, there is no way that the stone will sympathize with you – you can beg it for a thousand years, but it will stay distant, closed to you, it will not understand you. Should you cry and beg, asking for money from a banker, who cannot and does not want to sympathize with you; should you go into a church and pray to the crosses and the icons? The crosses and the icons say, “We are not interested in what you want; we are only interested in what people can give us.” If you are hungry, go work – if you are working, you will be able to feed yourselves. I am asking what the icons have given you so far. Despite that, everyone has at least one icon. Usually people have three icons – one in the mind, another in the heart, and a third one in the body. The only Reality, to which people can pray, and from which they can receive a response, is God, who manifests through the combination of things. God has put a certain wealth, a certain capital in every person – this capital is situated in the person’s head, in the person’s thoughts, which need to be developed. The implementation is put in the heart of a person; indeed, there needs to be a desire in the heart for something to be implemented. Someone says, “Where is God?” You will not find God where people want to show Him, but where He wants to manifest Himself. For example, someone goes on a trip to peak Damga and tells his friend, “If you want to meet me, you will find me at peak Damga exactly at seven in the morning.” Consequently, you will not look for me neither at peak Musala, nor at Belmeken, just at Damga, where God has determined. Sometimes you too look for God where He is not; no, you will look for Him in His combination – where He manifests Himself. Today, many people want to see things clearly, but they cannot achieve this until they understand the law of combination. For example, you come to me, wanting to see what there is in my room, but it is dark in there, and you cannot tell the different objects from one another – your eyes are healthy, but the light is not enough, so you cannot see. I am holding a candle and a match in my hand, and if I want to, I can immediately light the candle, and make a clairvoyant out of you. If I am completely confident that you are an honest person and will not be tempted by the riches in the room, I will light the candle, so that you can take a look at them. If you are an honest person, you will be pleased by what you see in the room when I light the candle; however, if you are not honest, you will get the urge to steal something from what you have seen. Then I immediately blow the candle and you remain in the dark once again. The same thing happens in everyone’s life: once people find themselves in hardship, they begin to cry, to pray, to search for help from somewhere. I am holding a candle in my hand – I light the candle and they immediately find their way, see where they are. Once they have a little doubt, once a dark thought passes their minds, the candle immediately dies out – they start crying again, praying, and saying, “I do not know why things are not working out for me.” Many are concerned; they worry about their situation and say, “What does the world think about the state of things?” The world thinks exactly what you think: “What will happen with us?” Go to the cemetery, there you will see what will happen to you – as long as you have the old way of thinking, what will happen to you is exactly what has happened to those before you. “Can we get rich?” Go to the bankers and ask them if you can get rich and how. “What will happen to us if we do not follow God’s Will?” Go to the poor neighbourhoods, to the hospitals, to the surgical rooms, go to the battlefields and you will see what will happen to you if you do not follow God’s Will – those people have reached that state because they all knew too much. When I talk about combination, application, and implementation, I take these words in their broad sense. If people do not understand these words in their breadth, they should not be tough on themselves because they cannot do this or that. Those, who have not fulfilled some of their duties to the First Reason, are not completely healthy. Someone comes to me to have a talk, and all of a sudden starts complaining that his leg hurts; I bandage his leg, and he leaves. He comes again the next day – the same story. It goes like this for a week, two, three, and he keeps complaining that his leg hurts and he cannot do his job. It is said in the Scripture that Heaven is God’s throne, and Earth – Heaven’s pedestal. If Earth is Heaven’s pedestal, everyone has to learn the laws of combination, application, and implementation, which will take them to Heaven itself, i.e. to the Divine world, where Good reigns, where Love reigns. If you put effort in this direction, the sick leg will heal – it is impossible to study the law of combination and to have a sick leg. Now relate this thought to people’s personal lives. Someone has a wish, but cannot make it happen – for example, he wants to visit his friend, but he cannot do it because his leg hurts. He tries to get out of bed today – he cannot, he tries to get out of bed tomorrow – he cannot. Finally, he becomes convinced that until his leg heals he can only write a letter to his friend, but not visit him. Consequently, one cannot go anywhere with a sick leg – neither to one’s friend, nor to God. If the mind of a person is sick, can they go to God? They cannot. If the heart of a person is sick, can they go to God? They cannot. In this case the mind and the heart represent the two legs of a person. And then, if a person goes to God with a sick leg, they will immediately start praying for the pain to go away. The pain in their leg can go away very easily. How? If they come to love God. You say, “How can I come to love God?” You know the answer on your own – this knowledge has been put in you. The knowledge of how to sing or play has been put in the musician. If the musician leaves it to his teacher to show him how to sing or play, he will not learn anything. The teacher only gives the right tone to the student and corrects him from time to time in his implementation, while the student sings or plays according to the true rules of music, which have been put in his soul – the student understands the combination of the tones and implements them by himself. The same applies to Good, to Love – they are similar to the musical feeling put in people; hence people know on their own how to love. When people do Good according to how it is written within them, their faces shine and their lives become worthwhile. You say, “Should we love only God when it is said to love our fellowman like ourselves?” I say, the Love for God includes the Love for the fellowman, but not vice versa. Many love people but soon get disappointed by that love – their love lacks something. What is missing in that love? One essential element, mainly: when people love their fellowmen, they have to love the God in them. Tell me about a case in life when someone, who loved people, has won something; give me an example from the history of humankind when someone, who loved those like him, has achieved something substantial. Those, who loved their fellowmen first, have achieved nothing; a real achievement comes only to those, who love God and serve Him. There is nothing better than serving God; those, who serve God, will treat people correctly – such people are always rich, not poor. Why? Because by going to God, they always accept, enrich; and when going to the people, they always give, apply. Those, who take correctly and give correctly, they live by the law of combination – this law is expressed through the application and the implementation of the Good, which is put in the heart and the mind of a person. The law of application is expressed through the heart, and the law of implementation – through the mind. So, if you give people from the wealth, which God has put in you, an inner connection will form among you and you will understand one another. By doing so, you will be rich – those who love are always rich. There is no poverty in the Divine world, for it is not allowed there; however, there is poverty on Earth. There is sin on Earth, but not in the Divine world; there is disease on Earth, but not in the Divine world; mistakes happen on Earth, but never in the Divine world; there are negative things on Earth, but such things are not allowed in the Divine world. Those, who think this way, are getting closer to the Divine world; those, who do not think this way, remain to live on Earth. If a person lives on Earth and complains that their leg hurts, they cannot fulfil any promises they make; once their leg is healed, they can fulfil anything. If someone does not keep their promise to do something, their leg hurts. You are a student and school is not going well for you – why? Your leg hurts. You are a merchant, and your deals are not going well – why? Your leg hurts. You cannot live in agreement with yourself, with people – why? Your leg hurts. I use the sick leg as a symbol of a sick mind and a sick heart. Someone tells a friend: - I will do anything for you, any favour, any sacrifice. - If you say so, could you come to my house tomorrow to help me with something? - Of course I can. - Is that so? Will you really come? I say: if the latter man asks his friend whether the friend will really come to his house, this shows that he already doubts his friend – some doubt has entered his mind, which can lead to a bigger misfortune later on. Why? Because the smallest doubt, which enters a person’s mind in regards to the Divine, is able to postpone God’s blessing with a day at the least. Many complain of disease, of suffering, and say, “Is it not possible without disease and suffering?” In light of the way contemporary people live, it is not possible to go without disease and suffering. Today the diseases and the suffering represent particular experiences in the lives of people. People have come to Earth to learn, consequently they will learn from suffering as well. You say, “Those, who have not experienced disease and suffering, know nothing.” Who has not experienced those masters on themselves, who has not had bandages on their legs? On top of all this, you will see how aristocratically the man with the crutches walks: he walks a little, then stops, starts again, and stops soon after – his walk is solemn, like the walk of a bishop. Whoever meets him, says, “Is this man praying when he stops like that – whispering something and then continuing on his way?” No, he does not pray; he gets out of breath and mutters to himself. You also get out of breath when you climb the steep mountaintops. Some say, “Could the Teacher not find a level place to gather, instead of making us climb these heights?” They walk and mutter to themselves, while others think they are praying. It is a law: when one walks on level ground, some organs develop, while others atrophy at their expense; however, when one climbs heights, the way is diverse, with both level and steep parts, which activates all organs, and people feel healthier as a result. The same can be said about the thoughts, feelings, and deeds of people: the more diverse and higher the thoughts, feelings, and deeds of people, the healthier people are. This is a way to stimulate for work all the strengths, which one has, and a way to become very productive. By all means people have to make the effort to develop all the talents, which God has invested in them; they have to combine all their strengths and all their talents correctly. God has endowed each person with one key talent, which the person has to develop – their happiness depends on this talent. Someone says, “Once the world gets fixed, everything else will fall into place on its own.” No, you should not wait for the world to get fixed – you have to work in order to become happy before the world gets fixed. Our goal does not depend on waiting for the world to get better; we should not even depend on society, so there is no reason for us to wait for an improvement in the social system to bring improvements for us. Everyone has to solve their own problems, regardless of all other circumstances. If someone decides to wait for the bettering of all mankind, that requires a long period of time; if you wait for the Bulgarians to wake up, to reach this consciousness or combination, which many have already reached, that requires thousands of years more. The Bulgarians, for example, love very much to destroy: as they walk through a forest, they grab the ax without putting much thought into it, cut into this tree here, that tree there, and then continue on their way; and they often do this needlessly, just for the love of destruction. These days a herdsman came to me to have a talk; as he looked around, he saw a couple of watermelons, which were brought to me from the city, and said: - You have watermelons here! - Yes, I have watermelons. He acted nobly and did not ask for a piece of watermelon. He just noticed the watermelons. I am asking him: - Have you had a watermelon before? - Who will bring me a watermelon out here! I am also a poor man and cannot buy one by myself. Then I take one watermelon, cut it, and give him three quarters of it. - You give me too much. - It is not just for you, for you will give to your friend too. He sat by me and began cutting from the watermelon with his pocket knife – he cut himself a slice, ate it, and threw the peel four or five steps behind his back; he cut a second slice, ate it, and threw the peel behind his back once again. After he ate the two slices, he said: - I will bring the rest to my friend. As I observed how that herdsman was throwing the watermelon peels, I translated that example to myself into a higher world. I say: we have the right to use the goods, which God has given us, but we have to use them wisely. Should you, as you accept a nice thought, eat the good in it, and throw the peels randomly for someone else to pick up? When the herdsman threw the peels from the watermelon, I bent down, collected them, and put them aside. He should have collected them and brought them to his cattle. From his deed, I conclude that he is a stingy person, a miser, who also does not think about his cattle – the watermelon peel can be of use to them. This herdsman thinks only about his own good and not about the good of others – such a person can have no capital. These are basic positions, principles, which you have to have in mind in life. From the outside they appear common, thus you think that you have understood them. For example, the thought enters your mind that you are independent, that you have found the Truth; a person can be independent only when they can play a musical piece of their own combination, application, and implementation – if a person can play for themselves in this manner, they will be able to play for others too. If the person strikes even just one wrong tone, they should not come out to play in public, to disgrace the music; if they come on the stage to play unprepared, they also discredit their teacher – for everyone will want to know who the teacher is. The same applies to people’s lives: until people learn to live well, God does not give them the opportunity to express themselves; once they learn to live well, once they could play God’s musical pieces correctly, then they will be able to bring forth God’s great goods. Now, as you have gathered here, you are waiting for the fire to be built, for the water to be boiled, and for the food to be cooked. I say: take out your magic wand and tap with it for the food to come to you. You will probably say that your turn has not come yet to be able to use the magic wand. When will your turn come? If you could tap with your magic wand and have your food come here, that would mean you are strong people. As I speak to you this way, I want from you to do the possible – in general, the Teacher can never demand from the students to do what the Teacher himself or herself cannot do. However, you can do the following: to go to your tents and to bring the food here, on the hill. If you can do this, your legs are healthy; if you cannot go down and bring the food, your legs are sick. If a person can order their legs, this means that the legs are healthy; if a person cannot order their legs, the legs are sick. You can arrive at the same conclusion also regarding your mind and your heart: if your mind and your heart are not healthy, you cannot implement what you say that you will. Every word you say has to be understood in its deep meaning, and then to be applied, to be lived. For example, you say, “God is Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Sanctity, Purity, and so on.” If you say so, you have to be deeply convinced in those words; is it so in reality? You say that God is just, while at the same time you say that so and so enjoys privileges in front of God and is in God’s good graces. Only those, who follow God’s will, enjoy privileges in front of God; to be in God’s good graces means to have God manifested through you – in this aspect everyone can be a channel and have God manifested through them. You say, “God will teach us what we need to do.” Such teaching comes from the inside, and it comes when God manifests in the person. This can happen any time, not just now. God has sent you on Earth for a little experiment – to see how He can be manifested through you. One day, when you get back to Him, He will again put something in you for further development. If you cannot become channels for God, you will grow old prematurely; you will lean on your crutches; your sons, daughters, friends, and close ones will leave you, until finally your life too becomes completely meaningless. Once a person reaches such a state, they have to do as the prodigal son did and return to the father to be of service to him; this is in order to acquire new friends, new sons and daughters. One cannot have sons and daughters, nor friends or close ones, if one does not know God – who wants to have sons and daughters, has to be a father. Someone says, “I gave birth to sons and daughters, I created them.” You gave birth to them, but you did not create them – a human being cannot create a human being, which means that no human being can create a human soul. If the potter makes a nice pot and fills it with water, has he created that water? No, he just fills the pot with water, but the water has not been created by him. And so, the first thing for everyone to do is to develop correct relationships with God. This is achieved when one has bright thoughts in mind, noble feelings in heart, and beautiful deeds at will. People can do this by themselves, or someone can help them from outside. Listen to all, who carry bright, unblemished thoughts within themselves and can spread them; do not listen to all those, who carry impure, blemished thoughts within themselves. The same applies to Love, Virtue, and Knowledge: love, virtue, or knowledge, which is superficial and fools people without giving them anything substantial, has to be avoided. People need Love that brings eternal Life; people need Virtues that can make them strong, and mighty; people need Knowledge that frees them. You say, “This is a difficult job.” It is not difficult to walk when one’s legs are healthy – there is a thrill within, a strong desire to walk, to move. There is nothing better than having healthy legs; the mind and the heart have to be healthy as well! Now, as I am observing you, I see many crutches among you. Do not take this as a reproach, I am speaking the Truth. Many will object, “It has been many years now that we have been serving God, are we still with crutches?” I am asking who among you is perfectly healthy. Anyone you meet will complain that their stomach hurts, or the lungs, or the brain. I would like for all people to be completely healthy, but this requires following the three basic laws in Life – the combination, the application, and the implementation. If a person applies these laws within themselves, their mind will never be clouded, their heart will never run into contradictions, and their will, will never be shaken. For instance, a student wants to learn to play the violin and goes to a great violin player, but the violin player does not accept the student. If the student has within himself combination, application, and implementation, he will stand in front of the door of that violin player a year, two, three, ten, until the violin player finally says, “You have a great desire to learn. Take your violin and come to me, you will be my student.” The renowned violin players are special people, unlike the common people. When a student comes to such a violin player, the latter does not explain to the student how he has to play; the violin player only points to where the student does not strike the tone right, and then lets the student figure things out on his own and leaves him to correct himself from then on. If the student comprehends easily, the teacher is satisfied; if the student does not comprehend, the teacher knits his eyebrows and wonders how it is possible that the student has not developed his talent yet. What do many students do? They take their violin, scrape a little, and say, “I will play again some other time, I am not lucky now.” The next day they take the violin again, scrape again, and throw it aside. No, this is not the way to learn – playing in this manner is like learning “Dear flower, pretty flower”* and playing it every day; it is the same if the sinner tells himself each day, “I am a sinner”; it is the same if a person tells themselves, “I am weak. There is nothing I can do.” I say: a person can play many things, not just “Dear flower, pretty flower”. How? By exercising. A person can be righteous, not just sinful. How? By working, by moving. While people have bandaged legs, they will keep serving the devil, singing one and the same song, sinning; once their legs are healthy, they will be strong and will carry out God’s Will. Consequently, people should not be occupied by thoughts of what they have been in the past, for people’s past is made of externally imposed thoughts. If you dress someone in a prisoner’s clothes and put shackles on his feet, what would his state be? He will walk back and forth, the shackles will rattle and bother him, but he will know that both the clothes and the shackles are imposed on him externally – he is not in the clothes and the shackles. People are outside the clothes, outside the shackles; those, who know this, will be infused with a deep desire to set themselves free. Those, who know the laws of liberation, will create in their minds bright, pure thoughts, and the shackles will immediately fall off their feet. Once the shackles fall off, the clothes will fall off too, and the people will find themselves out of the prison – how will that happen? Through their thoughts – their thoughts will become so strong that they will be able to put to sleep those guarding them. Then at their suggestion the guards will unlock the door and take the shackles off their feet. The people will throw the clothes off by themselves and will walk out of the prison, breathing fresh air, freedom. After that, again at the people’s suggestion, the guards will put the shackles and the clothes back in their places and will lock the door; the guards will do all this in a sleeping state, and when they wake up, they will ask, “What has happened here? Where are the criminals? How did they get out through the locked door?” When they investigate the matter, they will realize that those criminals were unusual people. Those, who know the laws, will be able to put to sleep and invisibly pass an entire posse if chased by one. Until people learn how to put to sleep the posse chasing them, they will keep serving time in prison. The prison is represented by Life’s limiting conditions; once people go to prison, everyone orders them around and they obey whatever they are ordered to do. You say, “How can we leave the prison we are in?” Today, even if people leave the prison, they will go back to it – why? Because they cannot yet live in the new way – they begin with the new and end with the old. In this aspect, people are like a bird that lived in a cage for a long time – once it is set free, it goes back to its cage soon after. Here is why you all have to be strong, independent, if you want to free yourselves from the limiting conditions, internal or external, which impede your development. You all have to have a clear idea of yourselves, of the abilities hidden within you; then you will know that whatever you wish for in the Name of God, you will achieve. It is said in the Scripture†, “Those, who love God and follow His Will, will receive what they wish even before they wish for it.” In such a case your legs and your arms will be healthy, your minds – bright, your hearts – pure and truthful. Once you have all this, you will not live by rules and laws; you will live by freedom and consciousness. There is nothing worse for people than setting rules to one another on how to live; everyone knows on their own how to live. If you want some rules, I will give you the following words to contemplate: Justice, Purity, Faith, Hope, and Love. Those, who have a faithful mind and a faithful heart, know how to live. The sick ones will unintentionally walk astray, for they cannot walk straight. For example, someone has taken the right path, has found a teacher to lead him, but at the same time he is also looking for other teachers to learn from. He can look for other teachers, but he will not go far this way – such a student will only live in lies and deceit; and lying will cause a painful state within him. So remember: do not lie either to yourselves, or to others. If you are lying to yourselves and to the others, how will you be different from the people of the old teaching? Now, I am talking about those of you, whom God has already tested in the past. God wants you to develop your gifts, the talents He has put in you. Those, who consciously work on themselves, will develop their gifts; developing their gifts means that they now know to play well. What greater wealth for a person than having developed at least one of their gifts properly? Today I meet gifted, talented people, who despite their inner wealth, keep turning to God to beg. So far I almost have not met a person, with such great wealth as represented by their talents, who goes to God and says, “God, you have put millions at my disposal, but I do not know what to do with them; please tell me how to use them wisely.” I say: if we are not ready to invest our wealth for God, to work for Him and in His name, we are not going to achieve anything. If we do not put our mind, heart, and will to work for God, nothing is achieved. Some say, “Once I get my matters settled, it will be easy afterwards” – no, until people work for settling God’s matters, their matters will never be settled. If you want to have your matters settled, work for God first – why? When you work for God, you put your capital in the Divine bank, where it earns its interest annually. So it is that God settles the matters of those who work in His name. I say: talking to you in this manner is not to say that you have not worked for God already – all of you have made and make efforts in this aspect, but you have to know how to work. The sick also make efforts to get out of bed, but the results are tiny; they make big efforts with small results – they struggle to get out of bed, but soon get exhausted and return to bed. They have to know how make efforts. Some say, “If a person wants to serve God, they have to give up their life” – this idea is misunderstood. “We have to be good, to love one another” – this is good, but you have to know how to make these efforts. You have to have the correct methods of application for everything that you wish to achieve. As I observe contemporary people, I see that they all strive for superiority. If someone has a certain status in society, he wants to be number one; if someone is a student, he also wants to be number one, to be close to his teacher. This is a nice aspiration, but only the student who plays together with the teacher can be number one – such a student can also play first violin; those, who do not play well, determine their own position. This does not mean that the teacher has favourites because the gifted, virtuous student always takes first place effortlessly – it is the gifts and talents that determine his position. Those, who have a lighted candle in hand, who carry Love in them, take first place – to light up the path for their fellowmen, to show them the way. Such is the law in both the Spiritual and the physical worlds. Consequently, it is not important what the teacher can give the student, but how the student works to develop that rich material, which God has put in the student’s soul. The student has to work with the three laws – combination, application, and implementation. I tell you too: if you understand these laws correctly, you will take advantage of them; if you do not understand them correctly, regardless of the efforts you make, you cannot achieve anything. These efforts will exhaust you, without you having any real results; these efforts will create fatigue within you, which will make you feel unsatisfied with yourselves. For example, these days we went to chop some wood, and I noticed how one brother was chopping the wood – he slammed the ax with such power that could have soon made him exhausted. Indeed, in a little while he placed the ax on the ground and said, “I am already tired!” I took the ax and showed him how to chop wood without getting exhausted – there are special methods, which one should know. Then I saw a group of brothers who were struggling to lift the tree stumps – this method is good for developing physical endurance, but I advised them to use a lever instead. They took a lever and the work got done easily, pleasantly, without much effort. I say: if people do not want to get tired, let them use levers – they are necessary in everything in Life. So, remember the three words: combination, application, and implementation. The combination represents the Divine capital put in a person – this capital has to definitely be developed. The combination is followed by the application and the implementation. Some put the implementation first. The music student will first learn a set of rules, which he will combine; then the student will correctly apply what was learned, and the implementation comes in the end. The implementation is in the end, when the student finishes the music course. The implementation infers true Knowledge, which is talked about in the Scripture‡, “And the earth will be filled with knowledge about God.” Many say, “When we read the Holy Scripture, we find a series of contrasts, of analogies, which make us think.” I say: the contrasts and analogies are necessary for clarifying the symbols and some of the philosophical thoughts; otherwise, the analogies on their own do not represent anything. For example, if you combine two analogous examples without them having any common application or implementation, they remain unused. However, there is a secret in the application and the implementation of things that has to be known. If people are not strong in the application, they cannot achieve anything; the implementation comes after the application – those, who apply, can implement. For example, if you apply the Good in your life, you will have implementation, an achievement of something. Imagine that I tell you to cross the lake – can you do that? Some can, while others cannot because they are not prepared, and if they attempt to cross it, they will drown. The same happens in Life: if you put the unprepared at work, they will drown in it. If people want to be successful in Life and not to drown, they have to follow God’s laws, and not God’s laws to follow them. A saint was travelling from one village to another. On his way he met a Turk with his horse and cart, and with his wife in the cart. The Turk signalled the saint from far away to turn off the road, not to look in the cart – the Turks are very particular about keeping their wives away from other men’s eyes. Then the saint told himself, “I will give you a good lesson, so that you know what to do next time.” The saint found a way to frighten the horse, which started running away, almost falling into the precipice. The Turk started begging the saint, “For goodness’ sake, help me!” The saint held the horse, and the falling of the cart in the precipice was avoided. The Turk thanked the saint and continued his way. It was a small price that he paid, for this Turk and his wife could have fallen into the precipice and remained there – the Turk learned the lesson that the saint gave him. The saint should not have had to turn off the road, but the Turk should have passed a little sideways with his cart, and the adventure would have been avoided. When the saint passes by the wife of a Turk, let the wife put her veil on her face, so that nobody can see it. The saints are not interested in your wives; let the one, who does not want a saint to see his wife, turn off the road, not the saint. It is a law: a saint cannot turn off the road for the wife of this one or that one. In translation this law means: God’s laws cannot submit to people, but people have to voluntarily submit to them – not to subordinate God, but to submit to God. This is the right position – if you think in this manner, you will be successful in everything; if you are fulfilling God’s Will, then you will have good results. So, I wish all of you to work in accordance with the laws of combination, application, and implementation. If you work this way, you will acquire new methods; the new methods will justify your efforts. I wish you to throw the bandages off your legs – it has been so many years that you have been walking with bandaged legs, but starting today I wish you all to throw the bandages off your legs! If a person has walked with bandages and crutches for ten years, it is now time to throw them away. I tell you too: free your legs from the bandages and your arms from the crutches and walk freely, without any obstacles! You say, “Can we free ourselves from the crutches?” Those, who have will, can throw the crutches away and be free – those living by the law of combination can free themselves from anything that hinders their development. Throw away everything unnecessary, everything negative. You have some tumour in your body – throw it out, you do not need it! You have some negative thought, some negative feeling – throw them out, they are parasites just sucking out the juices of your body without giving you anything in return! These negative thoughts and feelings could beg you to not throw them out, but you should not listen to them – as you are throwing them out of yourselves, tell them, “Every morning I can leave a little food for you at a certain place, so that you do not starve to death, but I do not allow you to remain, live and multiply in my mind and in my heart.” Consequently, every impure thought and every impure desire are parasites, and everyone has to definitely free themselves from these parasites. You could say that this impure thought and that impure desire are from a noble descent; regardless of their descent, regardless of their label, if they are negative – out! I understand if a negative thought can carry a person, but I do not understand if the person carries that negative thought; I understand if the horse carries the person, but I do not understand if the person carries the horse; I understand if God carries the person, but I do not understand if the person carries God – we live and we move in God, thus it is Him who has to carry us. Someone says, “I carry God’s thoughts within me.” It is one thing to carry God’s thoughts within, and it is another thing to carry God within. No one can carry God within themselves, and no one can carry the Teacher within themselves. When I say that you have to be free, I mean to say that God, in whom you live, is absolutely free; if God is free, you also have to be free. God has created the world for us to learn, to know God’s manifestation, and to serve Him – and if we serve God, then the world, for which you say that it is not fixed, will be fixed. I am asking: what is it that you acquired through this morning’s exercise? The laws of combination, application, and implementation were given as a result from this morning’s reflection; nonetheless, there needs to be much more reflection on these laws, on these ideas, so that they become clear in the consciousness of each of you. Some ideas are tiring; for example, there is not a more tiring, a more unpleasant idea than someone constantly repeating to you that you are a good, rich, and holy person – hearing this once is tolerable, but hearing it repeatedly is tiresome. Whoever talks like this can too become holy – how? By lighting them like a candle – then they will burn like I do. “But there is no one like you.” It is true that there is no one like me, but there is no one like you either. Someone says, “I want God to love me.” God can love you, but you have to love Him too. Why do people want to be loved by God? People want and look for God’s Love in order to achieve what they want. I say: people can achieve what they want in two cases – when God loves them and when they love God. When God loves people, they see what God can do in them and for them; when people love God, God sees what people can do for Him. However, in both cases, to be loved and to love, people have to manifest something. So, there are two positions to consider: for God to love us or for us to love God – this is the only way to know Him. When we know God, we will pass to the second law: Love for the fellowman. The relationship in this law is the same: for us to love our fellowmen or for our fellowmen to love us. Overall, people’s treatment of God and God’s treatment of people comprise a law of combination, application, and implementation. When God loves people, all their matters get settled in a magical way; and when people love God, again their matters get settled. You say, “When will we reach that state?” You are already in this state, but you still do not realize it. For example, someone has to pay a bill of a hundred thousand leva§, and he wonders from where to get the money for it. He walks back and forth deep in thought, worried, unable to find the money from anywhere. The day the bill is due he receives a message from the bank that the sum of a hundred thousand leva, which he owes, has been paid. He says, “How did this happen? Who paid my bill?” Contemporary people are afraid of debts, of sins, and say, “What will happen with our sins? How will we free ourselves from them?” I say: your sins have long been paid for, just like the bill of a hundred thousand leva was paid – you will receive a message from the Divine bank that all of your debts, all of your sins have already been paid. Should you after that doubt whether God loves you or not? The health that you have shows that God loves you; the wealth that you have, represented by your mind, heart, and will, shows that God loves you. People have to see God’s Love even in the smallest things. What stronger proof of God’s Love do you need here, in the mountain – it has been a month already since we came and we have enjoyed the best of conditions. If God did not love us, He would have sent storm, wind, rain, snow, and hail, and we would not have been able to remain here even for a day. However, we are sitting here comfortably, reading, taking walks, keeping warm, and discussing various topics. How many dwarf pine trees fell victim to us? Still, they are satisfied because many beings, which were closed in them, were set free this way – this is the way to justify burning them. When you set someone free, everything is at the right time and in the right place; when you enslave someone, nothing is at the right time and in the right place. The same can be said about people themselves – when people are set free, everything is at the right time and in the right place. Now I wish all of you to be joyous and cheerful, with hearts wide opened, realizing that God’s goods are given for you and you should use them wisely. However, we have to be carriers of God’s thoughts and have to work for His glory; for if we work for God, we will enjoy His blessing, and people will know us wherever we go. If you pass by people who quarrel, stop and look at them from a distance – wish deep inside yourselves that they stop quarrelling. In case they start fighting and hurting one another, knock them down on the ground, and then invite them to your house to cover their wounds. When you cover their wounds, talk to them about God’s Justice, about God’s Love. People have to speak about God’s teaching and to follow God’s will everywhere in life. If you meet someone, who talks about God, have in mind whether he listens to God and whether he follows His will. You can listen to those who listen to God and follow His will, and you should not listen to those who do not listen to Him and do not follow His will. We will serve those who serve God; we will love those who love God – this represents the implementation of the Divine teaching. So, the combination represents Love, the application – Wisdom, the implementation – Truth. If people do not have Love within themselves, they cannot combine anything; if people are not wise, they cannot apply anything; if people do not carry Truth within themselves, they cannot implement anything. Consequently, if you want to combine things, call Love; if you want to apply things, call Wisdom; if you want to implement things, call Truth. The teacher cannot constantly show the students how to hold the bow and how to tune the strings of his violin – the student has to do this by himself. He has to practice all the time, until he begins to utilize the laws of combination, application, and implementation. Someone says, “What are the combination, the application, and the implementation in life?” When two reasonable souls come together, this is a combination; when two reasonable souls work together to achieve a certain purpose, this is an application; and lastly, when these two reasonable souls have achieved their purpose and now eat and drink, participating in the good thing they have achieved, this is an implementation. It should also be known that the combination, application, and implementation are not single in time, but repeated, eternal processes. Now, I will present a few contrasts to clarify the idea. Imagine that someone comes to you and hits you a few times. They hit you once, and you say, “I hope there is not a second hit.” They hit you again, and you say, “I hope there is not a third hit,” and so on. Now imagine that after that someone comes to you and gives you a piece of bread. You are hungry and you say, “I hope there is another piece.” They give you a second piece and you say, “I hope there is a third piece,” and so on. Consequently, those, who hit, have the desire to hit again – hopefully they come to their senses. When they give bites of bread one after the other, they say, “I hope this piece is enough because my hand got tired of giving him pieces of bread.” So it is that those, who are hit, want to end the beating; those, who hit, say, “I will hit once again to bring this person to reason.” Those, who are fed, say, “I hope they give me one more piece of bread.” And those, who feed, say, “I hope this is the last piece because my hand hurts from breaking and handing out pieces.” I will now give you another situation. You meet someone and begin hitting them. However, a whole handful of gold comes out of your hand each time you hit. Will the person you hit make you stop if they see that with each hit there is so much gold falling in front of them? On the contrary, they will be silent, will not say anything – even if they get fifty hits on their back, they will be silent. So I say: every suffering, about which we have realized that it brings a certain great good to our lives, is meaningful. This is why Paul says**, “Our suffering today cannot be compared with that great good that will come in the future.” One day, when people realize what their suffering has brought, they will say like Paul, “It was good that I felt hurt.” Now, I talked, and you got tired of writing. If you have understood what I talked to you about, you will be able to tell the bread to come to you. Do you want to have breakfast here or down by the campsite? (-Here) Are you then going down yourselves to bring the breakfast or will you tap with the magic wand for the food to come by itself? Come on, throw your crutches away already, untie your bandages, and free yourselves from these obstacles, go down to bring your breakfast! 3 August 1931, 5:00 o’clock * A simple Bulgarian tune † A translated quote. ‡ A translated quote. § Leva – the multiple for the Bulgarian currency “Lev” ** A translated quote. Source

Note 6 Blessings in small things Today we are going to think about the following statement: “The name of God lives forever.” Now I am going to read from the fourth chapter of John the Apostle. I am saying, every man needs five things in his life, and they are strong legs and arms, good ears, good eyes and a well-developed brain to facilitate right thinking. If one is good, then one’s legs will be strong-without Goodness legs cannot be healthy; if one is fair, then his arms will be healthy - without Justice one’s arms cannot be healthy; if one is sensible then the ears will be healthy - ears cannot be healthy without sensibility; if one loves Truth, then one’s eyes will be strong - without loving the Truth, nobody can have healthy eyes; If one loves God then one’s mind will be very well developed - without loving God, man’s mind cannot be developed in the right direction, and consequently will be incapable of correct thinking. Some people will say, “The most difficult thing is for a man to be a good man.” However, this is not so. Believe me, the easiest thing for a man is to be a good man, there really is nothing simpler. And if one does not start from this, the easiest job, then it does not matter what tasks one undertakes, they will remain unfinished. People should always start from the easiest job and finish with the most difficult. A man, who starts with the most difficult job, will invariably go back to an easier one. Sometimes the smallest good thing that one does can be even more precious than the largest thing imaginable. For example, if you are in a widow’s house along with her several small children and it is a cold winter day, and wood has been placed in the stove, but there is nothing to light it with, you can do a very small thing by providing a match. Then the cold room becomes cheerful with light and warmth – the children are happy and so is mama. Your very small gift – a match did it. This little match, this very small gift could be considered even more significant than creating a town or saving a whole nation. Why? Because, once lit, it is conceivable that this fire could burn forever. If you save the life of a man who is drowning, he could slip and fall into the water again. If you prevent an entire nation from committing a great wickedness, it could revert to that same plan again. Blessings in small things are limitless in the broad panorama of real life and especially if the body: legs, arms, eyes, ears and brain, are healthy and well cared for. In general, one cannot preserve one’s life if one’s legs, arms, ears, eyes, and brain are not healthy. One can be saved from drowning merely by praying. If one loves God when one prays, then God will send somebody to fulfil His Will and save that life. When one prays, he is demonstrating evidence of a healthy attitude, and God immediately sends someone to help him, saying: “Go and help this man, because he wants My help!” The man, who goes to save the other, must realize that he is simply fulfilling God’s will; he is a witness to the Goodness of God. When you love somebody, you are a conductor, a witness to the Love, which God sends via you - this is the way to think of it, this is the right way to think. If a man starts thinking how to do Good for someone, about how to love God, and how to help people, he will come to understand that alone, without God, he can do nothing. Well, in the sensible world everything must be placed in its rightful place. Therefore, I am asking, what exactly is burning - the wood or the fire? The wood cannot burn without fire, or can a fire burn by itself, fire burns only in the place where the burning is in progress. The heart beats, give rise to a pulse and sends blood to the whole body, thereby bringing warmth to the body. Thus, there is fire in the heart. Where life exists there is burning, and the opposite, where burning is in progress there is life. When you want to light a fire, you need wood. The wood is cut and carried and then the fire is lit. Those who do not take part in this job think that it is easy to light a fire; it is better for everybody to take part in cutting and carrying the wood; then, when you warm yourself by the fire, you will feel much more pleasure from it, because you joined in a communal task. Now I would like to make the following suggestion, let each of you get a notebook and make some notes about the desires you have. You should record how many times during the day you want to receive something from someone, and how many times per day, you want to give something to others. It is interesting to work out later how many impulses you had to get something from somebody and how many to give something to others. Start collecting this data today and discover which desires predominate. Consider, for example, that you are starting to collect money from people to put in your bag. It is natural for a man to receive, but also it is natural to give to others. Now you have a right to receive, but afterwards, we will see if you give from your collection to others, or if you put it all into your bank. A beggar works all day begging from people, collecting things, placing them in his bag and saying to everyone, “God has sent me to you to give me something.” In fact, he is lying. God sent him not to all the houses, but just to one place to beg. I am saying that mendicancy is a negative characteristic, which also exists in the Spiritual sphere. For example, someone might have a small joy, but he is not satisfied with it and he wants more joys to store and fill it up. If you have a small joy, be happy with it. Thank God for it, and do not ask for more for that day. You should learn the law, which regulates the joys and the sorrows of Life. Imagine that your clothes, your hat, and your shoes are ragged, and you are wondering what to do, how you will go out to meet other people. Then a friend comes to you and gives you a pair of brand new shoes. Do you have to think about not having new clothes or a hat? No, you do not. You should go to a quiet place and express your gratitude to God for that gift. If you thank God for that, then other things will follow. Give thanks for the shoes and do not think about other things. If you brood about not having new clothes and a hat, then the shoes will disappear. Gratitude gives you the power to cope with all the miseries of Life, no matter how great they are. When you are grateful the misery and the problems are overshadowed by the gratitude, and you can bear them more easily - this is the Spiritual law. When you are grateful for a small blessing and cherish it, additional blessings will follow to help you; this is the reward for everyone who values small blessings and shows gratitude for them. If you separate a small blessing from the rest, this small blessing will not be able to stand alone and there will be a gap in your consciousness. When a man has a new pair of shoes, but thinks about the old clothes and hat, he is in the same situation with God. For example, God says that he had forgiven us all our sins, but we have doubts and we say, “Is it not possible that he has forgotten one of them?” In other words, when we have new shoes, how long will we have to remain without new clothes and a hat? On the other hand, do we have to stick with the old ones? The first thing that you have to achieve as a disciple is to be firm and to have unshakable Faith. Your Faith should not be like that of the beggar, who on meeting a rich man, begged him for help. The millionaire gave him 50 stotinki1 and said to him, “Come tonight to my house and I will treat you handsomely.” The beggar was unhappy with the money and thought, “What can I do with this money? I cannot even buy a packet of cigarettes! This millionaire was not prepared to give me more money and I am expected to go to his house in the hope of something more. I do not believe that!” It is the same as you. You meet God and ask him for help. He gives you 50 stotinki and asks you to go later to his house for more money and fine treatment. However, because you do not know God, you do not believe Him and you say, “This man gave me barely half a pound. How can I trust him to give me more and to treat me well tonight? I do not believe that! He is a miser. First of all, what shall I spend this money on? On shoes, clothes, or a hat? Who would wait until tonight?" No, you should wait for a moment, you should go to that rich house, as he said to you, and you would have everything - shoes, clothes, a hat and what is more you will be given food to eat well. I am asking you, if we are not used to trusting small blessings and to be grateful for them, how we can trust bigger blessings. People nowadays always expect something big and they do not see the small valuable things. A young man says, “If I had rich father to graduate from a university in a foreign country, after that I could become a professor or a minister.” A young girl says: “I would like to get married to a young prince, and then I could do whatever I want. “ All people expect something good to come into their life from outside. Even if you become a professor, a prince, a princess or a minister - life cannot be changed from the outside. When somebody says, ”If I was married and had a child it would be better.” I am asking you, what you would do if you had a child. The child means the smallest goodness that someone has in their soul. If someone does not have this goodness in their soul, if he does not develop it, and does not cherish it then it does not matter how many children he will have he will stay childless - this is the great Truth in Life. Some people say, ”When I get married everything will start going in the right direction in my life.” No, until love comes into your soul, you will stay single; even if you had a relationship with a girl and you thought that you were married; this is not the real marriage. When the man falls in Love, then he is married. Love comes just once in our life, and we can be married just once. When Love comes the man does not looks for anything else, he does not thinks about anything. Today everybody is looking for love - married and unmarried, well educated and not so well educated, childless and people with children, young and adults - everybody. When Love comes they achieve everything, and their life becomes meaningful, they live in peace and obey God’s laws. I say that everything people do on the earth is considered as symbols of the Spiritual world - this way the Spiritual world will lead you to real life. The physical world without the spiritual world is a world of illusions. People get married and they stay single at the same time - they have children, but they are lost, they melt and disappear as ice. When a man of Love has a child, this child follows him in immorality as well - this child follows his father all the time and addresses him as father; these words he wants to say, “Father, you are the source of Love.” The same happens on the Earth, when the child grows up, he follows his father and calls him father; this means, you, who have come from Love, start all your work with Goodness and Love. Goodness is a witness of the great Love. So, when a man is given new shoes he begins to see more clearly. Why can he not see properly, wearing the old torn ones? Because his legs are cold, he is looking constantly towards them, and cannot think clearly. When people are cold, they cannot think properly, they close their eyes and see nothing. When they warm up, they open their eyes. Therefore, one should always wear good shoes. You can say, ”Where is the connection between the shoes and the ability to think?” When a man put on his shoes, i.e. when Good comes to his legs, they become healthy, and he walks pleased and happy with open eyes and can see everything - this is a law, that refers to man’s conscience. Needs and weaknesses charge him with useless ballast, which deviate him from the real aim in his Life. For example, somebody lives a religious live for 5-6 years, but one day that man says, “Why Should I pray God, what I have acquired, I do not need these prayers anymore, I do not need the Gospel anymore, I can live without them.” I can say, that this man cannot live a religious life, because his legs are naked, because his legs are not healthy; if he was wearing his shoes, if his legs, arms, eyes, ears and brain were healthy, he would go to the mountain and would pray to God, he would give his gift to God and would consider it a privilege to serve God. In the old scriptures of the Bible, people offered a sacrifice to God, and people now go to God without anything, with empty hands. What does the sacrifice mean for the people before Jesus Christ? Today, people go to a lawyer, but if their hands are not full, he does not accept them - it does not matter how good this lawyer is, after telling him what one wants, he will say, “You have to pay for these service 5000 leva.” Hearing that you have to prepare 5000 leva for his services your eyes open wide. - Why? One has to prepare money for him, because he does not work for nothing. One says, “It depends on winning the case?” However, the lawyer says, “It does not matter whether I win or lose the case, I must earn money." When a lawyer asks money from people, he does not open his eyes; when he hears the sound of the golden coins only then does he open his eyes. Today, whatever people do, they expect to receive something for their work. There is nothing wrong for a man to receive compensation for their work, for their efforts - this is normal, but when I say that a man should work for nothing, I mean the following idea; the law of Love, should do every work without connecting it with money, which you might receive for it. It is not possible to be paid with money for each work done with true Love. For each work that is done without Love, people pay money. A lawyer says, “I want the certain amount of money for that case,” - this man works without Love. You go to another lawyer, who does not speak about money, takes the case, investigates it, defends it and wins the case; his client says, “I will not give you 5.000, but 10.000 leva, because I am happy with the results of your work; I cannot pay for your efforts, but I would like to give you a small reward.” This kind of relations exists just among sensible people. When you go to a grocery and ask for a kilo of sugar, and the grocer measures the sugar, gives it to you and he neither ask for money or says how much it costs; you get sugar and you give him what you think is valuable for it. These are the relations between people who have Love for each other and for God. However, according to the attitude nowadays between people, a grocer says, “You must pay for the sugar 25 leva,” - the buyer pays 25 leva for the sugar. In accordance to the law of Love, the tradesman would say nothing, but the buyer would get a note of 50 leva and would say, “I am happy, that I have found some sugar in your grocery, and about the price I am ready to give you 1000.” What a wonderful world we could have if the relations among people were like this? I say, you cannot force people to Love each other because Love does not accept force, but God gives good lessons to people. For example, when people do not give anything to God, He sends thieves to their houses and says, “Because these rich people do not give anything to others." For my sake, even they are very rich let them give to you. Then these thieves break into somebody’s rich house with guns in their hands, steal what they want and leave the house. When they leave those rich, people will say, “These thieves have stolen a lot of goods from us, but thank God we are still alive.” This example is given to make the idea clear. We should understand that everything we have does not belong to us, is not ours, it belongs to God. How can somebody talk that he has deposited or withdrawn some money from the bank - nobody deposits any money into the bank, money exists anyway, without him. Other people stroke coins, and think they are the owner of that money; nobody owns the money. Man can say, “I have worked very hard for this money, how you can say that I do not own it?” The efforts and work are from Life, they are not yours. If somebody named himself as a master of the Life, he must be a man of deathlessness. Deathlessness will come when all people follow the law of Love. Now they are studying the law of deathlessness; when they learn this law, they will know how to love each other. People do not live in accordance with the law of Love if they are still dying. Jesus says, “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God,” when you achieve the true knowledge of God, He will give people as a present Everlasting life - the life of deathlessness. You can ask, “When is it going to be, after how many rebirths?” This will be in the future, in the very far future; the eternity is an area of Truth. So, when somebody speaks about eternity I get the idea of Truth - eternity is an image of Truth and Truth is unlimited. Consequently, everything can become reality in the area of Truth. Whether an idea becomes a reality in a year or two, one hundred, a thousand or more, all these are the borders of the Truth - a minute or a century, a year or one million years, these all are borders of the Truth. It means that a man can achieve something in a minute or in million years - what is the difference? If one can get the things he wants in one million years, he will experience many difficulties, and uneasiness of things, if one achieves his desires in one minute, he will hardly have any problems. For example, somebody says, “Do you know how many problems I had until I achieved this wealth, which I am enjoying now?” However, all these things, he has achieved are external, and they are not the subject of the Truth, nor the subject of Life. I met an acquaintance once, who is a priest, and he told me something concerning his life. He said, “I do not know what to do. I have a house, children, and concerns about them, but God took my wife, and left me alone to cope with all these problems. When she was alive, I was poor, our children were small, and our life was difficult. Then they grew up, life got better, but she passed away. Today, even if I want to get married again, I am not allowed, because I am a priest. However, I am tired of these problems, how can I struggle away from djubeto? I miss my wife.” He is right. What is life without his wife? It means one can not live without experiencing Love. Life without Love is similar to the priest’s life without his wife. Nowadays, everyone complains that there is no love in their life. This means that the signification of life exists just in Love. It does not matter how rich a man is, if he does not experience love in his life. One’s life is meaningless without Love. Then I said to that priest: Your wife can come back, she can resurrect again, because Love never dies. Your wife can resurrect and she can come to you tonight. - How? - If you fall in love with God? - How do I find God, and how I can fall in love with Him? I said: - If you have preached to God for a long time, you have spoken about Him, but you, yourself do not know where and how to find Him, why have you then misled people by speaking and preaching about God? - I will ask God to forgive me, because I have been confused. It would be better if you could give me advice on how to move away from all these problems, and how to find a new wife. Moreover, he is right. I will translate, djube means the people’s sins that alienate them away from Truth. When a man takes off this cloth called djube, when a man turns away from sins, and when Truth enlivens within him, then he will find his wife2. And I said to that priest: - Take off your djube and come with me. - I would like to think about your offer for a while. And he has been thinking since then. Now I am telling you to get rid of your djubes because your love is everywhere. Do not put hope into your life for everything. Build your life based on the three most important things - God’s Love, Wisdom, and Truth. Do not make a differentiation in any kind of work. If any work, even the smallest one, is done for the sake of God’s Love, Wisdom, and Truth, then it is good. If work is done for the sake of God’s Love, Wisdom, and Truth, it becomes very valuable. One can ask, ”How to experience Love or how to achieve God’s Love, Wisdom, and Truth?” I will answer you the way I have answered the priest. You have written love letters for so many years and you say that you do not know how to experience Love - this is a contradiction. The priest fell into the same contradiction. He serves God, preaches to people for Love, and when he was told that there exists a new way of serving God, and in this way, he can resurrect his love, he does not believe and accepts just the old way. However, if he just follows the new way, he will find God, and God’s Love. To achieve this Love one should make just a step forward, and this step is when one decides to give something from himself, to sacrifice for the Beginning of everything, for God - when he makes this step then his problems will be solved. Therefore, I would like you to remember the main meaning of this lecture. All useless things should be thrown away and the main thought should be kept - it will be the basic thought. Someone will ask, “How can we understand what is useful, and what thought is useless?” Imagine you have received a precious ring placed in a small box wrapped in lots of papers. The ring itself is 25 grams, but with all papers wrapped around it, it weights more than a kilo. What will you do in this case? You will take the ring out of the box, and will put it on your finger, and all the other paper you will throw away. Do you need to wear all the paper as well? After getting the Good opportunities in Life - they are a guarantee, a referee who signs under the reference letter to the bank in order to receive a loan from the bank. Everybody should have this kind of reference letter. Consequently, the reference letter is a Faith. You can go nowhere without faith. Faith is a rope on which the acrobat is performing; will is the stick that the acrobat holds in his hands in order to keep equilibrium. If the equilibrium is lost, he still can keep his body on the rope, but if the rope tears, he is hopeless - he needs a new rope. This is to say that without faith you cannot go from one side to the other side of the rope. If you want to go from one end to the other end of the rope, you need to tighten it first, to hold the stick in your hands and to cross it. When you get to the other side, you will be paid. The violinist is paid after playing. Whoever goes to dig the vineyards he is paid after the job is done - the worker is paid after the job is done. The lawyers make an exception to this rule. When a lawyer is given some case to defend, he says, ”I will take this case, but I want to receive in advance at least the half of the price for it.” They have lost the reliability of people and say. "We have worked for too many people, who did not pay for our efforts and we want to insure ourselves in advance." In the spiritual world, the law is the same as in the physical one - you are paid after the job is completed. Now the essential matter you have to consider is for the things you need and for the things you do not need. The things you need are like the ring in wrapped papers; what does the ring mean? The ring means healthy legs, arms, eyes, ears and mind - this implies a warm heart, bright mind, strong will, broad soul, and powerful spirit. When I am listening to what everybody should have, this sometimes means that people restrict themselves in its meaning. When I say that one should have faith, this does not mean that one does not have faith. Everybody has faith, but not the faith that he should have. You cannot impose the faith mechanically. Because of that, I am saying, you will go without faith; how can it be understood? Unless somebody becomes faithless, he cannot get real faith; in other words, nobody can find the right way or the Truth unless he stops believing in false things, in temporary things. For example, you follow some direction for years, while one day you will say, “I have not achieved anything following this direction!” When a man stops believing in unattainable things, and gains Truth, then he passes into the faith; sometimes the opposite can happen – some people goes from faith into the faithless. Some people go from Love towards the loveless, whereas others go from loveless to Love - these are the ways that people go. When I speak about Love and loveless it does not mean you do not have any love. It means that many people now understand love the wrong way - they always connect it with the face of young men, and women. In addition, they know that when the love comes they have to give a gift. A young pretty girl goes to an American millionaire and asks, “Do you want anybody to love you?” He looks at her, bends down his head, and is thinking about the answer - he knows that, if somebody loves him, many dollars will go out of his wallet; he knows that the pretty girl will cost him too much money. After thinking for a long time, he replies, “This question is very difficult, come in a few days and I will give you the answer.” He finds himself in a struggle between the love of his money and for a pretty woman, whom he must love. If he falls in love with a pretty girl, his money will run out. Contemporary people want to love, they know how to love, but they think about the big sacrifice that Love requires. When we say to somebody that he should love God he says, “I want to live without any special arrangements.” That man is not ready to offer a big sacrifice, he is a banker who loves money and says, “I will think about it and after that I will give the answer.” Thus, a new understanding for Life is required from everybody. For that reason one should think about the way one goes - everybody should see his own weaknesses. When somebody for example says, ”We should love each other!” Then my reply is, without God’s love people themselves cannot bring anything good to anybody. That love is similar to a wheat bean, which is sown in a rocky place, or it is similar to an empty wheat spike. Have you ever seen how erected the empty spikes are? When a farmer looks at them, he takes a deep sigh and says, ”These strikes are empty, I cannot rely on them.” After that he looks at full strikes and says,” How nice this wheat is!” I say, there is nothing better than full strikes in our life - full strikes present God’s Love to people. When Love comes to us it fecundates everything, it develops one’s activity, rationalizes our thoughts, feelings, and actions. When Love comes to us, we become strong, cheerful and happy. When we love somebody or something, we look like a sunny day with a bright sky, when the Sun shines and the weather is warm and serene. 1 Bulgarian currency - a coin equivalent to 50 pence 2 Here in the meaning of love Source

Note 4 How to clear the Consciousness [mind] Now I am going to give you a few of the basic rules of the spiritual science regarding clearing the consciousness [mind]. Here they are: do not wish to have what you do not need, never think of tomorrow, do not look upon the past as the ideal of your life, do not think that the future includes everything. If you keep these rules, they will become the directions that lead you up and ahead – they must be the true directions of the mind. Imagine thinking now what you are going to have for lunch or supper tomorrow. It is important for you to know what you will have today, and tomorrow should be left aside. You should not think of tomorrow if you have not eaten today. Besides, you should consider one more thing: anything that is against the laws of Nature is a sin. Therefore, any thoughts, feelings or desires that are against the laws of Nature are sinful, unnatural or abnormal. For example, if, in the hottest summer, someone has the urge to put on a fur coat, this is an unnatural desire, not in accordance with the laws of Nature; or if in winter, when it is -35 degrees C, someone decides to put on a silk hat, this is also unnatural. Such desires we consider to be unreasonable. Can it be considered a reasonable desire when someone always wants to be the centre of attention? Such a wish is impossible, unnatural – even if people were willing to do it; they would not be able to watch someone all the time. How, for instance, would they be able to watch someone in their sleep, or how could they possibly watch him or her at night when it is so dark – the very conditions make it impossible. Hence, constantly watching someone requires full awareness of the mind, and such alertness can only be possible on three conditions: when the soul is under the influence of the law of Love, under the influence of the law of Wisdom, and under the influence of the law of Truth. So, if one is unable to raise one’s awareness to God, believe in Him and aspire for the lofty, great Creatures, one cannot know oneself. If people cannot draw conclusions from the results they see, they cannot know themselves, either. Such people cannot have an alert and active consciousness. They will be very much like the Bulgarian who went to the public bath, tied a piece of thread around his ankle and said to himself:” Let this thread stay on my leg, so that I will not get lost among so many naked strangers. I will easily recognise myself by this thread.” However, human consciousness has one feature, a quality by which we can always recognise ourselves, otherwise we would get lost forever in the world. There is a quality by which we can always recognise ourselves as individuals. Does one know oneself when asleep? No, one does not. It is not possible to know yourselves in your sleep. When you wake up, you already know yourselves, you are aware of your self; this awareness refers only to the physical world – when one falls asleep, one forgets again. This shows that there is no relationship between the physical world and the law of Love. If there is no relationship between Life and Love, then there cannot be a relationship between Life and Wisdom, between Life and Truth. I say - when there is no connection between Life and the laws of Love, Wisdom and Truth, people cannot establish any connection between Joy and suffering. For instance, when Joy comes in life, they say that this is only natural, but when suffering comes they find it unnatural. I would like to ask why only the advent of Joy is considered natural and the advent of sorrow unnatural. People do not understand that Joy and sorrow are two states inextricably bound up together. Suffering and Joy are brother and sister – Joy, the sister would come at a point, next would come suffering, the brother. When Joy enters someone’s home, she opens the window, looks down the road and when she sees the suffering, she calls it in right away – she ignores the fact that people in this home are not glad to see the suffering. Why should a person be displeased with suffering, and pleased with Joy? I am going to explain this through the following example. Imagine that you are in a positive state and Joy pays you a visit - you are glad because it is negative in condition. It appears in front of you as a pretty lassie, whom you are glad to see – you represent the mind, and she represents the heart, which you immediately fall for. This lassie has a brother, who is positive, like you are, and she summons him to come to her; the moment he comes, you are displeased. The brother stands for suffering, which causes your discontent, therefore your discontent comes as a result of the fact that the brother takes his sister and is off with her. Then you say, ”Where did this good-for-nothing come from? How could he rob me of my Joy?” These are images or figures that serve to explain what effects the advent of Joy and sorrow have on people. So, if people have desires they dearly cherish, they are already disinclined to any other desire that comes to oust or take the place of the first one. They have doubts and suspicion that once robbed of their desire, which they have cherished like the apple of the eye, they will no longer be happy. Joy sometimes comes as a negative state in the shape of a woman and sometimes in a positive state in the shape of a man. If your state is negative in the form of a woman, your Joy will be positive, in the shape of a man, and he will call in from the road the sorrow and the suffering, which will come in the shape of a woman. This shows that there is female sorrow and male sorrow. Female sorrows differ from male sorrows: female sorrows are male, while male sorrows are female. The same applies to joys: female joys are male, and male joys are female. This means that the person who can give a woman Joy can only be a man and vice versa – a woman can receive sorrow only from a person of the same gender - a woman. The same refers to men: a man can afflict sorrow only to a person of the same gender - a man; and a woman can give joy to a man. When someone of the same gender comes to a person, he or she becomes anxious and displeased that the Joy will be taken away. In scientific terms, this means the following: when the idea comes to mind that one can be deprived of something they need, they become dissatisfied. For instance, you are hungry and you have a chunk of bread that you keep as the apple of your eye. Just at this moment someone comes towards you, the man is also hungry and you feel disgruntled because you do not want to give him any of your bread – you think that there will not be enough bread for you. So, that kind of person always wants to take something away from their own gender. Therefore, suffering comes as a result of deficiency, emptiness or failure to understand Life. When people do not understand themselves, they suffer; when they want to be rich and they cannot, they suffer; when they want to get knowledge and they cannot, they suffer again. Why can't people understand themselves, and be rich, strong, or learned? There are a number of reasons why one cannot achieve what one wants; sometimes one suffers for others, because they cannot understand Life or because they cannot achieve their desires – so one suffers for oneself, but one also suffers for people. Now you have come to Rila Mountain1 for a walk to relax, but how many of you have come to see God, I do not know. You would say,” How come you don’t know? Don’t you know us? ” I say: There are things which even I don’t know. For instance, when I am asked to give my opinion of a person whether he or she is good or bad, and I am not willing to express it, I say that I do not know – only the person can tell you. If you ask me about myself, then I can tell you. You will say, “If so, tell us where do you come from?” I come from Heaven. “From Heaven? Is that true? Where is Heaven, then?” If you do not know where Heaven is, then there is no point in telling you; then I will tell you that I come from hell. “Where is hell?” If you do not know where hell is, then I will tell you that I come from the Earth. Therefore, one can come from three places – from Heaven, from hell or from the Earth. Put in other words, one can descend from God, from the devil, or from people. Speaking of the devil, many people imagine it as an animal with horns and hooves. This is not the devil, this is an animal. The word devil means a creature, whose consciousness is preoccupied all day long only with itself. The devil thinks that if its deals are arranged, then everybody’s deals will also be arranged; if things go wrong for the devil, then everything will go wrong – that is the devil’s idea. You can decorate this idea of yours with horns or hooves – that is your business; the horns can be either short or long – that is also your business. What counts is that you should not expect the devil to turn up from a forest. It is always near you, stalking. It takes different shapes to disguise itself. It can transform into an eagle and scoop to grab a hen’s chicken. Today it will carry off one, tomorrow another, and the hen will get interested in the devil. It can transform into a wolf and attack a shepherd’s flock. Today it will take one sheep; tomorrow another and the shepherd will get interested in it and know it. The devil intrigues people because it takes something from them. What the eagle does to chickens and the wolf to sheep occurs in human consciousness. You have a dozen sheep that you take tender care of, and one morning, when you get up you see that one is missing - the wolf has carried it off. You have a dozen or two chickens but one morning you see that one is missing – an eagle has grabbed it. The sheep keep disappearing one after the other, the chickens become fewer and fewer and in the end you say to yourself, “What a miserable person I am.” Why are you unhappy? – “Because I have nothing to enjoy.” Somewhere in the region of Varna2, in a village, an eagle had the habit of hunting through the hencoops, carrying off a chicken or two every day. A village woman told her husband,” How about putting a net over the hen and the chickens. Let’s wait and see what this bird of prey will do.” The eagle, after its old habit, scooped down to the chickens and without noticing the net, thrust its beak through one of the net holes to grab a chicken. The eagle pulled and pulled, trying to get the chicken out. It stayed there for quite a long time wondering and it never occurred to it to let the chicken go and get away without it. Then the village woman, whose chickens often fell prey to the eagle, caught it and said. “Now I will give you a piece of my mind!” So I say - if you do not want your consciousness to be robbed of your sheep and chickens, then you should put a net, just like the one the village woman used, over it. In this way, you will keep them intact. It is a law: the devil never gets into a hole with its two legs together. First it steps in with one leg, and as a result it meets some obstacles. Once the devil has come upon some hindrance, it starts fighting it, trying to tear up its knots, and this is how it gets caught. The same happens to human consciousness every day. When suffering appears, people start moaning, walking to and fro, trying to get rid of it, but they cannot. What has happened? They have put a foot into one of the holes of consciousness and are now unable to get rid of it. This foot represents one of the desires. How will they get free? I say - let go of your desire. You have seized your desire with the foot and you can't release the foot or the desire. This desire is not yours. If you have an unnatural desire, you will not achieve anything good. You will fail because unnatural desires are not in accordance with the laws of Reasonable Nature. Such desires inflict suffering and sorrow. In addition, any desire has to come on time. Just as joy and sorrow come on time. There are times of Joy and times of sorrow. Jesus said,” When a woman is in labour, this forebodes sorrow, but after she has given birth, her sorrow turns into joy because a child has come to life.” So a woman is unhappy while she is in the pangs of childbirth, but when she gives birth to a child she forgets her sorrow because a person has come to exist. You say, ”Why did God make us suffer? Can we not live in a world without suffering?” God created a world of harmony, and suffering is a human deed. The human desire to eat is Divine, but if one eats more than necessary, this is already human; any human desire brings sorrow. When Jesus said that every woman in labour is sorrowful, He meant that this sorrow is caused by the uncertainty of the woman’s situation. She says, ”This child will either be born or not. No one knows what might happen to me or the child.” After such sorrow, Joy will come by all means. Here is another situation: imagine eating some unnatural food, which brings about sorrow; the reason for this sorrow is that you do not understand the food you have eaten. At first, you will be glad that you are going to eat. You are hungry, you have not eaten for two or three days, but when you are offered some food, you immediately start eating. You do not care that the food has gone off and that the bread is mouldy. You are eager to have something and do not care about the food. However, once you have eaten, the bitterness comes. The bitterness causes suffering. After that you have to empty your stomach from that food and get rid of it. In this way you will feel relieved and your suffering will turn into Joy. The law of clearing the consciousness is the following: there is always sorrow hidden between two joys – first comes Joy, sorrow, the suffering is in the centre and after it Joy comes again; such a situation is the most natural. Someone wants to be joyous always – this is possible only on condition that the person keeps to God’s laws and fulfils His will. Modern people cannot always be joyous the way they live. I say - the physical world is a world of changes. It fluctuates from joy to sorrow, from pleasant to unpleasant moments. Imagine that your child has the weight of a few kilograms and you are carrying him or her in your arms. You enjoy this but the child is growing heavier and heavier and when the weight reaches 35 or 40 kilograms, you can no longer carry your child because it is too heavy. If you have been carrying it for ten kilometres you get tired and you want to get rid of your burden, which has become unpleasant. By the same token, no matter how good a desire is, if you keep it too long in your consciousness, it starts burdening the mind, and the mind wants to get rid of it. If you want your desires not to burden you, then you should harness them to do some good3. By working this way, you will get to the new philosophy of Life. Then you will say, ”What is new is good, but we cannot do without what is old.” This reminds me of a case with a Bulgarian. This man went to the nearest town to buy some new clothes and the merchant wrapped them in some paper. On the way back to his home village, he felt like having a nap, so he lay down for a while in the shade of a tree, left the bundle aside and fell asleep. Some time later a thief passed by, saw the bundle with the new clothes and took it. The man woke up and saw that the bundle was gone – not a trace of his new clothes. I would like to ask you now what do you do when your sorrow turns into Joy. You immediately take off your sorrow, i.e. your old clothes and dress in Joy, i.e. your new clothes. True Joy is the Joy in which you forget about your sorrow. This is why Jesus said,” When a woman is in labour, this forebodes sorrow, but after she has given birth, her sorrow turns into joy because a person has come to life.” Therefore, if the joy you experience cannot erase your sorrow, then it has not given you anything valuable. If you want to develop, you always have to consider the law of clearing the consciousness. Someone says, ”Have I made progress, have I chosen the right direction?” This is something only you know. It is the same as when you ask yourselves whether you have had enough food. You are your own authority. If an outsider comes, he or she can only guess whether you have had enough or not. The only person who has the answer is you. Someone else asks, ”Do I believe or not? Am I happy or sad?” Only you know. There are things that only you know best of all. Which are these things? - What refers to you. With equal reason I know best only what refers to me. We should use the things that we know about ourselves. These are the tools that we can always use in our lives. Now every person must clear his/her consciousness in order to clear it from anything useless. If you want to know how to do it, go to some greengrocer and look at what he does. Everyday, he sorts his fruit. He takes out the rotten ones and throws them away. He puts those that are good in baskets and crates. If he does not sort them out, the good fruit will also go bad. Apply the same method to clearing your consciousness. Every morning, when you get up, search through your consciousness for some rotten fruit. If you find some bad fruit, throw it away. Sell as many useless desires as you have, at least you can get some money. Can you imagine having ten baskets full of desires? What are you going to do with so many? It is enough to have one basket of desires. You can sell the rest. A basket of desires is worth 10,000 leva. If you sell nine baskets, you can become rich. As I say that desires can be sold, most of you would find this funny and ask, ”Can desires be sold?” What does the word desire mean? Sell and pass mean one and the same thing. Sell only those desires that do not love you and do not sell the desires that do love you. The same refers to thinking. There are thoughts that love you. Do not sell these thoughts. There are thoughts that do not love you. You can sell these thoughts; drive them away as far as the woods. Why is it important to sell the desires and thoughts that do not love you? Because anything that does not love will do you harm by all means. Any desire, any thought that does not love you has instincts and inclinations similar to the ones a mouse has. Just as the mouse makes its way through here and there to eat into some item of clothing, so the desires and thoughts that do not love you will always find a small inlet into your consciousness to worm their way into it and do some harm. They do not do it deliberately, yet they do it because they are rodents and such is their nature. So, both good and harmful desires occur in human consciousness. For instance, there is hardly a human being that does not want to be beautiful. Everyone wants to be beautiful and such a desire is quite natural. However, being beautiful without Truth is impossible. Beauty without Truth is able to cause the greatest possible evil to people. Just as Beauty cannot exist without Truth, so there are a number of desires that are impossible without Love. If you ever have such a desire, it can inflict upon you the greatest harm. If there is Love in this desire, then it comes from God. If there is Love, there is Beauty, there is Truth. If there is not Love in this desire, then God is not present, and if God is not there, it means that Beauty is not there, either. If Beauty is not present, then Truth is also absent; therefore such a desire is out of place. If there is Love in a desire, then there will also be Beauty and Truth, and it will undoubtedly be good. Whoever has the Truth is a beautiful person. Truth is basic to everything in Life. People find someone honest and someone else dishonest. On what does it depend for a person to come across as honest or dishonest? If two extremely poor people meet, can they steal anything from each other? Neither has a rag to his name. There is nothing to steal. So, they will look at each other, they might laugh and say, “Here we stand two paupers.” When do people steal from one another? If a rich man and a poor man come to a place together, under the circumstances (cold and hunger), the poor man will be compelled to rob the rich man. It is only natural that the poor man should have the urge to steal at least a suit from the rich man as he has a few. The poor man will say,” Why should this rich man have several suits while I do not have a single one and I am wearing rags in this bitter cold?” The rich man, in turn might think that the poor man’s deed is not fair. So, every desire comes as a result of Love. If you say that you have some desire, it suggests that you should love people. The law of Love is the law of the change of consciousness. Loving people, means that if they are naked and bare, you should give them clothes. If you meet such a person, you should approach him/her and say, ”Come with me to a clothes shop and I’ll buy you some clothes.” He will be glad, and you will be glad. If you meet some other man who is sad and dejected, you should call him aside and say something kind to him. Do not ask him why he is sad. He might be sad because he is in rags, or because he is poor, or because he is hungry. Generally, people can be from all walks of life. I say - people can find themselves in funny situations and expect others to make them glad or happy. To expect others to make you happy is the same as to expect your relatives to dress you when you get up in the morning. Is it not ridiculous when a grown up girl or boy wait for their mother to dress them in the morning and undress them in the evening? Someone is sad. Why? It is because he or she expects someone to come and dress them and put the rucksack on their back. I say - fling the straps of your rucksack on your back. It’s no use waiting for anyone’s help. An acquaintance of mine told me the following story: “There is a man who doesn’t like me at all. Whenever he meets me, I feel that he thinks ill of me.” “Really? You are wrong. I met the same man a few days ago. He was on his way to the bank. He was going to invest 25,000 leva in your account” “I can’t believe it! It’s true I received a cheque for 25,000 leva but I had no idea who could have sent it. So the man I thought didn’t like me turns out to be my benefactor! Who would ever think that this man is so kind-hearted!” So, you do not know who likes you and who does not. There should always be a friend to tell you who likes or loves you. There should always be a friend to tell you that God has lodged Good in you and all you have to do is show it. When you know this, whenever you have some desire, you have to reveal it either through the law of Love, the law of Wisdom, or the law of Truth. If you want to exist, do not give up your desires. You only have to examine them carefully to see which category they fall into. If a certain desire refers to Love, take it to its mother. If the desire refers to Wisdom, take it to its father. If it refers to Truth, take it to its brother or sister. Everybody must know where to take their desires – to its mother, father, brother, or sister. To put it differently, everybody must know whether the desire refers to the law of Love, Wisdom or Truth. Any wish that refers to these laws is natural and if it does not refer to any of these laws, then it is unnatural. You should bear in mind that the science dealing with clearing the consciousness is just making its first steps. People have just begun to clear their consciousness and they will keep doing it until there comes the day of full awareness and enlightenment. It is not easy to clear the consciousness. The change of consciousness, i.e. clearing it, is the subject of one of the greatest, most appealing branches of human knowledge. You ask, ”How can we clear our consciousness?” Clearing your consciousness suggests working as a farmhand on somebody else’s vineyard. You should dig, plant, weed and finally gather the grape harvest. You do not have your own vineyard but you find someone who has one, hire yourself out and work there until grape harvest comes. At grape-harvest time you pick the grapes, put it in the basket and you can eat for free as much as you want – the master will not forbid you to do this. Therefore, the law of tilling, weeding and harvesting the vineyard is pretty much the same as the law of clearing consciousness. If you want to clear your consciousness, then you will have to work for some owner of a vineyard. You will work on it, dig it over and over again, and weed it until you finally gather the harvest. You will fill the baskets for your master and put them aside. As for the grapes you have eaten, they are all yours. In the evening, when you call it a day, the master will pay you. What you get paid is experience, while the grapes you have eaten during the day are your real profit. Somebody will say,” I earned some money today.” You have earned nothing. All you accomplished was a wild goose chase. Your true profit is what you have eaten while you worked on the vineyard. So, while you are in the process of clearing your consciousness, any teacher you turn to, will invite you first to work on his vineyard, to clean it and then at grape-harvest time to taste the grapes. No teacher will fill your basket with grapes, but he will say, ”While you work on my vineyard, you can eat as much as you want.” There are teachers who might fill your basket with grapes but it could happen only if you have made great progress. Now, you all have to learn how to think correctly. If you happen to have some difficulty or trouble, go to somebody else’s vineyard, dig it, weed it, and at grape-harvest time, eat as much as you want. When you eat from those grapes, you will feel happy. Most people are willing to have a vineyard of their own. They say, ”It is quite a different matter if you have your own vineyard as you can eat whenever you want, as much as you want, whatever sort of grapes you like.” No, it is not true. Above all, you should learn the following law: everything that you understand is yours; what you cannot understand is not yours. The difference between personal affairs and other people’s affairs lies in understanding matters. When you go grape-harvesting, you say,” Let’s fill our baskets to the top, so that we could have some for tomorrow.” No, you shouldn’t do it. Eat as much as you can while you are at the vineyard. Tomorrow you will go there again. If you are in the Spiritual world and want to have some grapes, you should climb the mountain where it is harvest time every day. Do not think of tomorrow. When you work in the Spiritual world, you can have fresh grapes every day. In the evening when you go back home, you will have the experience of being paid. Someone might say," I don’t want to work on a vineyard, and I don’t want to pick grapes.” If you do not want to pick the grapes, then you will not experience any joy. Jesus said,” If you want to work on someone’s vineyard and gather the grape harvest, you should find some very poor man in rags to do him some kindness.” You do not know who this poor man could be. Although in rags and tatters, he could be a saint. If you do him good, then you will learn a lot from him. There is a story about an American professor in theology. Once he felt bitterly disappointed with both himself and his science and said, ”I have been giving lectures at the university for so many years, and yet I am a failure. I friend of his who saw him in this frame of mind advised him to visit a poor widow who was bed-ridden for twelve years. The professor paid her a visit, had a short talk with her and on leaving her house, he said. ” This poor, sick widow taught me a lesson I never succeeded in giving to my students. I learned really a lot from her. She has been in bed for a dozen years, but what she has learnt, she knows perfectly well. She gave me true encouragement. Now I know what it is like to work on a vineyard with rich vintage.” From then on the professor would visit her every day to work on her vineyard, always taking her a small gift. I say – all of you should visit people who are outwardly unhappy but inwardly happy. Such people we call saints. Now I wish you to be outwardly unhappy and inwardly happy. The lecture I gave you this morning remains a bit incomprehensible to you. This is because of the fog, which did not lift today. All this comes to show that you have little understanding. 31st July 1931, 5 p.m. 1 Rila – the highest mountain in Bulgaria 2 Varna – a big town in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast 3 The word should read Job / work Source