Jackline Spasova-Bobeva

Note 1 Our Place Now some of you say that today is cold, there is wind and they consider that the time has come. The cold shows that in the atmosphere there is gathered much electricity. What have to be done in such case? I ask, when the trader has heaped up much capital, what he has to do? He has to invest his capital in trade, in turnover. The stagnant capital is as stagnant water; what happens with the water which stays long time on one place? It begins to smell bad. On the equal reason, when on the fingers of man heap up more capital, and he begins to smell bad; and every beginning to smell bad produces pain. If man may imagine that he has nothing on his fingers, he will not feel any pain. It is not enough man just to think like that, but he has and to feel the same; if he just thinks but doesn’t feel, he will feel some pain by all means. This state is similar to the relations which exist between two good friends when some outside element comes between their relations: in first time they live in piece, in agreement, they understand each other well; but one day between them appears some outside reason which force them to become a clash. From this moment the harmony between them breaks and they feel themselves embarrassed, in a hostile manner disposed each other. I say: in the same way every man has came in clash in something with his friends and wonders why he doesn’t understand with them now. He says that nothing is sprung up between him and his friends, but in fact there is something. You will say that the electricity is the reason for this, but the electricity doesn’t solve the questions. You pray but something tightens your fingers, you can’t pray as you have to and interrupt your prayer. If you pray, you have to forget everything – the fact that there was something on your fingers which tighten you means nothing; the tightening in the case is given for self-control. The sufferings, the difficulties, which the Invisible world or the Sensible Nature send to man, have for aim to educate him, to study him on self-control. After man acquires self-control, the sufferings and the difficulties in his life disappear by themselves. Now, who are dissatisfied from the wind, let they make attempt to stop it. If your state changes, becomes ideal and if your Love to God becomes irreproachable, the wind would stop instantly. The most little disharmony in Nature owes to a number of reasons – it is a consequence of some breach of its laws. If man is absolutely harmonious with Nature, it will be in harmony with him too. Man is not sent on the Earth to lord it over Nature, but Nature has to be a school for him. Therefore Nature answers for man – as man is, as and it will be in attitude of him; the outside life of man correspond to his inside states. When I speak for the connection between man and Nature, I don’t understand man individually, but have in mind the whole humanity, the common harmony in life of all the people. To be in harmony with God means to understand the complete Life. For example, from your viewing, many people say: “We will become better in future.” If man is not good today, he can’t be good and in future. Some says: “In the past I was good man, now I have become bad.” This is wrong conclusion; if man has been good in the past, he will be good and now – otherwise a conclusion will be rushed that in the past he was rich and now he has become a poor man. May one man has been rich in the past, and in the present to be a poor man? If man was rich sometimes and after that became a poor man, it shows that he hasn’t real wealth – his wealth was some load which he brought on his back; afterwards they take down his load and he becomes a poor man. This enrichment and becoming impoverished represents mechanical processes. The Good which God has given to man nobody can deprive from him; if some may deprive the good from man which God has given to him, it means that he is stronger than god. But to be thought like that, it is wrong thinking, wrong conclusions. The Good which God has given to man, is essential for his Life, and the essential no one can’t deprive to anybody. And so, in conclusion I say: if in past you were good, you are good and now; if you are good now, you will be good and in future; if you are not good now, don’t think that you will become good in future. This is the way how it has to be thought; if you don’t think like that, you will come upon some contradictions. The contradictions owe to inside dissonance in man, independently if he realizes it or no. But wherever he is, in life of man always will have some contradiction, some misunderstanding; this contradiction may come on inherited way, may be and a result of some wrong human understanding. I say: three important factors exercise influence over the human life: The first factor is his personality, the human egoism; the second factor is the society and at last big influence over man exercise and Nature itself. For example, as you are gathered here, you influence each other and there why some of you say: “What we acquire when we get out every morning on prayer?” As an answer of this asking I shall put the following situation: if you have one big boil somewhere on the hand or in your leg and it causes you big pain, which state will be better for you – this boil to continue to fester, always to take, or to become generous, to give all what it gathered in itself? This boil is rich trader and in the case for preference is he to give something from himself, to credit the people than to take from them. Therefore when man gets out in the morning on prayer and thinks that he has to take something with him, he doesn’t understand the law – he has to give something from himself by all means. Greater man is this one who gives than that one who takes. If somebody says that he prayed so much years and he won nothing, he is on wrong way in his life. Who gets out in the morning on prayer with aim to win something, it is better for him to stay at home and not to pray – with prayer trade can’t be done. If we get out in the morning to meet God and to thank to Him for everything which He gives to us, this prayer has sense and is always accepted. Some says: “It is cold, there why we don’t want to get out.” I would like you to explain what thing the cold is and if you want to sell it, I would buy it. But there are things in world which either can’t be caught, either can’t be sold; the cold is namely from these things – it either can’t be caught, either can’t be sold. It shows that any cold doesn’t exist; when we say that outside is cold or warm, these are our notions for the things – we think that it is cold or warm. As I say that cold doesn’t exist, I have in mind this cold which you imagine; it even doesn’t exist such cold which the scientists imagine. There is something in world which influences are similar to the cold, but it is not cold. For example, if you have little trees and the stove doesn’t burns strongly, you will say that your room is cold, but if you have enough trees and the stove burns well, you will say that your room is warm and will feel yourself joyful and disposed. If your heart is health and the circulation of the blood becomes correct, then and your arms, and your legs will be warm; if the circulation of the blood doesn’t becomes correctly, the limbs of your body get cold and you will feel cold. If you send little more blood to the limbs of your body, they will become warm. In the same way you can say to the wind not to blow and the whether will become warm. Now many people say that these things are not so important. I ask, from your viewing which things are more important? According to me the most important thing for the organism is all its parts, all its organs to be on their place; the second important thing is, when it comes time for work, all the organs to take part in the common work of the organism; third important thing is these organs to take something from the goods which are acquired from the common work. Therefore the most important thing for us is to be on our place. Which is our place? This which God has put us on. Afterwards – we to take part in the work which God does, and in the end – to participate in the goods which will be acquired from this work. These are the most important things for man. Who understands the important things in his life on this way, he will never come upon contradictions. Between the contemporary people many contradictions appear by the only reason of that they don’t understand which things are important, and which – unimportant. The contradictions appear by reason of that the people are not on their places, don’t take part in the work which is defined for them, and don’t use from the goods which this work may bring. After man doesn’t understand these three things, he will come upon three kinds of contradictions; who understands these three things in his life, for him every kind of contradictions disappears. To be on your place, to take part in the work which is defined for you, and to use yourself from the goods of this work, in this the new teaching stays, in this the new philosophy of Life concludes. If you say that this work is not for you, you alone come upon contradictions. You get up in the morning, turn on one or other side and say: “Who will climb now on the top, I don’t want to go on prayer, it can pass one day and without a prayer.” No, the prayer is the most pleasant thing which man may do – there is no more beautiful thing for man than the prayer, from his talking with God. Some meets you and says: “What have you risen to walk on the mountains, how you can walk so much way in these high places of Vitosha, on Rila; it is better to rest, this work is stupid!” This man advices you to stay on one place, not to go on the mountains, because he himself doesn’t like to move. He is an aristocrat, he likes the easy life – he gets up in the morning, dresses well and go in some café to drink coffee, tea or milk. He considers our work as stupid, but we think his work for stupid. If we are on his place, we also may go in the café but we will act in our own way – we will take part in the work of the cafe keeper and after that we will use together with him from the goods of this work. If man decides to come in the café on warm and to drink a coffee, he has understood only the first important thing in his life – the café keeper will come to him immediately and will ask him what he wishes. And this state is good – he will order a coffee, tea or milk, but after that the café keeper will come and will say: “Now pay!” If you acted correctly, the café keeper hasn’t to want anything from you - he will only bow to you and will say: “You are welcome and other way!” If you want, you will give something to the café keeper; if you don’t want, you are free to go out. But today there is nor one place of resort in which to be acted in the new way. If every man who goes in the café, brings his milk or coffee and pours out it in common vessel, the café keeper will deliver to every visitor how much milk he wants; this café keeper will have the only care to warm the salon and to accept everybody with joy. If all the people went in the café to give something, not only to take, the situation would be absolutely different – then neither the visitors of the café, neither the café keeper would come upon contradictions. If we go out in the morning to pray to God and we think only to take something, but and not to give, in the descent of the height the café keeper will catch us and will say: “Now pay!” The cold which you have today is nothing else but this café keeper who says: “Now pay!” You say: “It is cold” – no, this is café keeper’s work. If you think on this way, you will explain many of the contradictions of Life. Now, when I observe some science question or science situations, I smile a little because I see that the phenomena in Nature are absolutely other from what people understand. The scientists understand many natural manifestations and phenomena in perfectly special way, they are far from the Truth. They interpret many of the manifestations of Nature in original way till the aim of Nature in this case is perfectly different from what they interpret. For example many of the disharmonic manifestations of Nature are not its. You say: “How is possible some of the manifestations of Nature not to be its?” I shall explain this with the following example: imagine that you have a child which you dress always with clean new clothes; till is with you, this child is happy, he joys to its new clothes. But the child go out on the street to play with its companions, but in this time near it passes one dyer and soils its cloth with his brush; he starts to cry and comes back to its mother but already with soiled, unclean clothes. I ask has the mother soiled the clothes of her child? No, she herself wonders who has soiled the clean clothes of her child and asks it: “Who soiled your beautiful clothes?” Often and in Nature meet manifestations which are imagined as disharmonic to us, not correct. This shows that people have to change their old viewings for Life. Till they live with these old viewings, it can’t have any progress in the world. Till man lives with the old, no matter how much he prays, whatever efforts to make, everything will be in vain – a day after day will pass and he will not see how he gets old, the legs will start to hurt him, they don’t hold him anymore and he sees that the oldness has come. Some thinks that how much they climb on the mountains, as much better they will feel, but it doesn’t happen always like that. Therefore the rejuvenating doesn’t stay only in the climbing of the high places, but mainly in the new viewings, in the new and correct thought. I say: when man becomes to get old, it shows that he has enriched much, he is very loaded up, as a result of it he moves with big difficulty; if he gets down his load from his cart, he will start to move easily. Now, and you write something over the theme reasons for the growing old. Some scientists say that one of the reasons for the growing old owe to exhausting of the nerve system, exhausting of the general activity of the organism, as a result of which it becomes big heaping in the muscles, in the joints and etc. And this is truth but for the old man is important that he is loaded up with many superfluous things. Now the old ones represent a point of conversation because they can rejuvenate – every thing which can be set up straight and rejuvenate, has to be examined, to be explained. If I examine the mistakes of people without to explain them, they don’t use at all. If all the people are good, I would be glad because there will have what to take from them, but if they are poor men, they have got no what to give me – the poor man knows only to beg, the old man is loaded up with many contradictions. Therefore if you want to rejuvenate yourself, you have to set free from the contradictions in your life. Some sits and occupy with unimportant works – that this hadn’t become as it has to, that his clothes was very thin, they let through wind, that he hadn’t this, that he hadn’t that, that so and so hasn’t looked him as it has to and etc.; this man occupies with thousand unimportant works but he forgets the essential. Which is the essential? The essential is that he is not on his place, he doesn’t take part in the work which is defined form him, and at last he doesn’t use form the goods which this work may deliver to him. Now, when I exhibit you to the wind and speak, you will say: “The Master tests us how far we may stand on the wind.” I say: if I test you, I test me too, This thing is happens and in the contemporary schools – the pupils come in class, after them the teacher comes in, it doesn’t pass much time and in the class come inspector, director, in order to listen how the teacher teaches. The pupils embarrass themselves, but and the teacher is not absolutely free. After the commission gets out, the pupils say: “The teacher examines us much, he tormented us much”; and the teacher says to himself: “They haven’t tormented and me less.” And so, the first thing for which we get out early in the morning is to set free from the unnecessary luggage – we have to set free from this luggage! You say: “How we can set free?” There are many methods through which man may set free from the unnecessary luggage, but it is still not time these methods to be given, because the people are not in state to accept them with absolute faith and they will start to ask why it has to be acted in this and not in other way. Who asks without applies the methods, he will compare to the Czechs which was come between us and asked what has to be done with the melon – is it boil or it can be ate directly. One sister brought to them one big cut melon and they asked her what has to be done with this thing, has it to be boiled or it can be ate raw. – “It doesn’t boil, it can be ate directly.” – “How it can be ate?” People are right to ask – they haven’t eaten a melon other time, they don’t know how to eat. So the methods which I would give to the contemporary people, are so new and wonder for them that and they would asked what to be done with these methods, have they first to boil and to be ate after this or to be ate directly. The real science stays in unloading of the human consciousness – man has to know how to unload his consciousness from the unnecessary luggage which comes from three places: from his personal life, from the society, from people he is surrounded with, and from Nature. For example we go from Sofia to Rila seven-eight men and we order to send us the needed number of horses; after little time few other men join to us – we become totally twenty men; they walk with us and they don’t think of that they have to order horses – they think that after there is for us, there will have and from them. But when they got down from the train, they found themselves in wonder – they will go, but there are no horses, and their luggage is big, it can’t be brought easily on heights. On the same reason if you get out early in the morning on prayer, you have to say to yourself still from the evening: “Tomorrow morning I shall climb on high place there why I need a horse from my luggage.” If you don’t order a horse yet from the evening, on the other day you will remain without it. It is not easy man to climb on high mountain places with big rucksack on his back. Who hasn’t brought big rucksack on his back, he may philosophize as much as he wants, but who has walked with big rucksack on the mountains, he knows what the rucksack represents in this case – the whole his philosophy remains backwards. Who climbs on the mountains, he has to bring little luggage on his back. Now I shall not speak any more, in order not to hear the café keeper, because he is a man from the old teaching and he will say: “It can’t happen on this way how you think.” If we stay longer time here, he will catch us and will say: “Please, pay – you have drunk at least on five coffees and you have to pay!” You say: “Can’t we pay other time?” – “No, you will pay just now!” this what I tell you from the old café keeper is a sketch, but if he hears what we speak for him, he will touch – it is good that he is occupied with work and he doesn’t hear. Anyway, if you will pay just now, or no, it is important for everything to set free your consciousness from the unnecessary load. For this aim you have to attain to the respective method; this method is very difficult – there is one easier method which has to be applied in first time. I say: everyone has right to want, but if he comes to some place, every kind of wanting stops. For example you want to receive one book, they give you the book – with this the wanting already stops, then you close yourself and start to read the book. Therefore if somebody says that he wants some book, they give it to him immediately and let him free; if he takes this book, he can’t want other till doesn’t read this – when he reads it, he will start to want something else. In general, the object of the wanting changes constantly. And so, as I observe you, I see that the old café keeper has caught all of you and you just thrust in your pockets to pay him what you owe. Some people look round when he will come to them to want and they to pay their debt – you all are on the alert as soldiers ready for fight. Now I believe that you have understood the main task which is given to you – to set free, to clean your consciousness from the unnecessary load of the past, to set yourself free from the surpluses of your personal life, to set yourself free from the surpluses which have remained from the society, from the people who surround you, and at last, to set yourself free from the surpluses or from the unnatural, disharmonic manifestations in Nature. 30th July, 1931, 5a.m. Source

Note 4 THE MAN OF THE NEW TIME Now I will read Chapter 20 of John's Gospel. No matter what is said to people, they have always had external beliefs about Life. We can see that even after Christ's resurrection people looked for His body in the grave. Moreover, according to the traditions at that time the body of the dead had to be smeared with some oil. The Jews, as a nation are extreme materialists, they wanted to see the body of Christ, to be sure that he was really dead and his body was buried. Contemporary people are not less materialistic than the Jews – when one of their fellow-men leaves this world, they do not cry for the actual person, but they cry for his body – that they cannot see him anymore, they cannot talk to him anymore. Translated into simpler words this means that we cry more for our clothes than for our body. I say, when solving certain issues a man must always have in mind two important things. First, a man cannot solve the problem about Life with his heart; second, a man cannot solve this problem with his mind either – why? Because with his heart a man always becomes attached to visible things – he does not believe in what he does not see. With his mind, a man is always attached to the form of things. In this respect, there is always a kind of competition between the heart and the mind. The word ‘form’ has the implication of something established, having definite borders and frames. We can often hear people judging someone, expressing opinions about the moral, the characters, and so on; on what basis does this happen? It happens on the grounds of certain norms and rules, for which people have a definite form. For example, many people consider that a good man is the one who receives people at home in a generous manner, offers them rich meals, talks to them in a pleasant and friendly manner. If the person does not do that, if he does not receive them in that way, this means that he is not a good man. I am asking, what is the morality of the good man? Imagine that a person joins a society of good people; one day these people start on a trip and he wants to go with them. However, it turns out that one of the man's legs is broken and he cannot walk in the mountain. What should these people do? They will climb up the mountain and he will remain at home, because he cannot walk with them. Despite their good desire for him to be together with them, they cannot take him – the conditions for climbing up the mountain determine that only a man with strong legs can climb up and reach the mountain top. In this case, should the people be regarded as bad? Imagine another situation: the man has strong legs, but he has been late a little, he has started about five hundred – one thousand paces behind the big group, so that they are already on their way down the mountain and he is still climbing up. Should this man get angry and name these people bad just because they have not waited for him? Moreover, they did not even suspect that he was walking behind in order to wait for him. What will he gain if he climbs up the mountain together with them? Now, imagine that the man is invited to a wealthy feast, but his stomach is upset; he goes to the event but he cannot eat; he just watches – everyone eats cheerfully, in good spirits, and he cannot taste even a bite. Who is to be blamed for that? People have invited him, they have served him food as for everybody else, but he himself abstains from eating. How does he benefit from the feast and the invitation of these good people? There is something else that can happen: the man is invited to a feast, his stomach is well, but he arrives five minutes later than the other people – all the guests are already eating. He also takes a seat and starts eating. His stomach is healthy – he falls a little behind the others but he finds the food tasty, he is satisfied with the food; he will catch up with the others, he is calm, does not hurry, does not worry. Does he lose anything because he is not together with all the rest? Therefore, the man must understand the sense, the spirit of things. So, first is the one, who can adopt the Truth and apply it; last is the one who cannot adopt the Truth – if he cannot adopt it, he would not be able to apply it. Someone says, „I was first to have reached such and such a place, I was first to have read the Gospel, I was first to have listened to such and such a speech, and so on.” First is not the one who has done something in time and space, but the one who has applied it – such a man knows if he is the first or not. Should he ask the others if he applies the truth in his life? It is funny if a man who has had a good meal asks other people if he has had a good meal or not – he knows that, he is the master of the situation. When talking about Good, Goodness, we have to consider the following law: The Good always comes after Love. This means that if a man does not love you, he cannot be good to you; if he loves you, he will surely be good to you. Somebody says, „I am a good man.” If you love, only then can you be good. The fruit cannot come first before the tree, and the tree is the fruit of Love. Therefore, you cannot expect a fruit before Love has come. When Love comes, then the fruit will appear. I say, many of the contemporary people have shallow conceptions about Life. These conceptions can be compared to one-day-flowers or one-year trees that do not bear fruit. The positive concepts of Life are like flowers or trees, bearing fruit. Of what use is it for you if the flowers or trees in your garden do not give you any fruit? The flowers that give no fruit are called heralds. For example, the snowdrop and the crocus are the first messengers or trumpeters of Love - they are telling people: „Why are you still sleeping, what are you going to do, wake up, Love is coming!" These flowers affect the sense of smell, the eyesight, the hearing of people, in that way urging them to wake up. One day they will ask people, „Do you know why we remained fruitless - because you were sleeping.” If everyone wakes up on time, then the fruitless plants will give fruit. When people are asleep and cannot wake up, this means that they have not believed in God yet. When everyone begins to believe in God, there would be no flower left on Earth that would not give fruit. You say, „Why are there so many flowers and trees that wither each year?" Because many people commit sins. Why do so many springs dry up? Because many people die - when a human dies, at the same time there is a spring that dries up; when a human comes back to live, the spring would run again. Why do some lakes dry up? Because many people do not live according to God's rules. Why do some mountains crumble to ruins? Because the credo of many people is in ruins - they do not have a positive credo. Now I will give the following example to explain people's lack of faith: imagine a schoolboy who has complete confidence in his teacher - whatever his teacher tells him, he does it and obeys. Some time later, the schoolboy meets another teacher, who seems to him more erudite, more intelligent and he gets closer to him, recognising his authority. However, the consciousness of this boy is divided. People are in the same situation with respect to God. Why don’t people believe in God? Because they believe in the world. Many people believe in the learning of human beings, in their inventions and considering this they forget the real authority in Life. What philosophy is this? When the black adherent arrived in Heaven at the tree where Eve was sitting, he said, „If you eat the fruit of that tree you will become gods like God and will do everything that He does. Why do you have to listen to God for everything like children - without Him you can also follow the right way." Eve listened to the adherent, but for that reason, she tasted the consequences of her disobedience to God. So, contemporary people do not believe in God, because they themselves are gods. Therefore, if someone says that he does not believe in God, this means that he is God for himself. And if you watch how this person lives and acts, you will see that he aims to show himself especially to other people. However, twenty - thirty years later you see that this "god" is carried in a special car, in front of which a priest is walking with a censer in hand, performing a funeral service for him. Then he is buried in the ground and a stone is put on his grave, saying: „Here rests such and such a man, with special merits to society, to his fatherland." You meet someone else - he considers himself a divinity, but in two - three days, you see him with tears in his eyes - why is he crying? Some people have hurt his feelings, by saying bad words to him. I am asking isn't this situation funny, should divinities cry? Therefore, today everyone cries - why? Because when they become gods there is no one to believe in them - only they believe in themselves, this is one of the explanations for the crying. When people do not believe in God, He leaves them to feel the consequences of their lack of belief. Somebody says, „Then what do we have to do?” Everyone must ask himself the question: „If I fancy that I am a god, where are the Heaven and the Earth that I have created, where are the luminaries, where are the plants and animals? If I am really a god, I must have done something outside and inside me, which would maintain my divine nature. If I cannot see deeds, created by me, on what grounds do I require people to believe me?” Someone comes to me and asks me: „Do you know who I am?” I know, you are a human who has created nothing yet. If you have created nothing, you'd better say nothing; if you have created something, say what you have created. Someone has written a book or a poem and boasts that he has created something. I say, since this man lives on Earth and has seen many things, now he describes them with his pen, as the artist does with his brush, but these are not yet deeds, created by him. Many times, he has seen the Sun rising and setting, the Moon and the stars coming up and going down, and now he describes them. A man should have a clear vision about things, to know what original creation is, and what a copy is. Contemporary people often ask themselves what do they have to believe in. I say: believe in what grows up; believe in what gives fruit, believe in what springs out, believe in what slakes the thirst; believe in what gives Light and directs people; believe in what brings Knowledge; believe in what Life gives to all creatures. And finally, believe that there is only one God in the world! If you believe that there are many gods in the world, your consciousness will be divided. Many people confuse their notions when interpreting the three faces of God and say: „Who is God, who is Jesus and who is the Holy Spirit?” God is one. If you know Him, He is the one; if you do not know Him, there are many gods. If you know Him, no one is better than Him. You say, „Then why do people suffer?” Because they do not know God. Why they are happy? Because they know God. Somebody says that he does not know God and that he is happy - it is his Joy that means knowing God. When is the man delighted with the pear? When he sees, smells, and tastes it - only in that way can he know the pear. And then someone will come to advise him not to touch the pear, not to eat it, because he will cause great sufferings to it. According to this philosophy, when is the man delighted with the candle - when it is burning or when it is not? Of course, when it is burning. And the candle enjoys burning, because then it shows its life - the candle is thankful when you light her up and says: „Although I will live just for a day, I want to see my life and enjoy it.” The life of the candle is worth thousands of days. Unless the candle is lit, it is a dead, embalmed candle - in this state it can stay for a year but will remain dead. A one-day life, but wisely used is worth more than the life of the whole eternity, which is unreasonably used. So, the man cries because there is no one to believe him. He suffers, mourns, because there is no one to believe him. Every human is alone in the world. If someone comes to me to complain that he is alone in the world, I will tell him: „I know One, who like you, is alone. Come with me to take you to Him.” Who is he? He is the creator of Heaven and Earth. When he sees you, He will believe in you and will say, „There is a man that will get somewhere. Since you want to become a divinity, I will come into you and will reveal myself by enjoying everything that you do - I will work inside, and you will work outside.” This is the idea that Christ has said in the verse: „The words that I am telling you are not Mine. I speak what the Father has taught me.” Therefore the man thinks, feels, and acts, but he has to realize that inside him it is God who works - this is the real situation.” If a man thinks that he does everything alone, he is already on the wrong way. When you say I, you, he, we, you, they, you have to realize that God always shows in these people. Someone did something and fancied that he was the author of this deed, but ostensibly, for showing external piety, he says, „God did this.” No, man must be honest inside, must realize that God works inside him and he shows himself only externally. Now I am talking about that state of the people that hinders their correct development. Often they fall into the following situation: for instance, a man has regular meals, eats three or four times a day and you see him lively, merry, and happy with his situation. If he does not eat regularly some days, he becomes sour, dissatisfied, and his mood changes. This happens not only with the ordinary man, but even with the saint - keep a saint hungry for ten or fifteen days and you will see how discontented he will become, he will walk back and forth, he will be angry with the people around because they keep him hungry. Every person has to eat, and the saint has to eat, too. Many people say that we should not eat much; it's true, we should not eat much, but we should not eat little, either. Eating is a process through which the human perceives the Great life. Therefore, Christ says: „The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood will have Life inside him.” Therefore, whatever is the bread for humans is also the faith - the bread and the faith are the food for maintaining Life. Bread gives Life and maintains Life, so we have to be in constant relation with it. To perceive the bread, i.e. God's speech inside us, means to be free, independent. If we perceive the Speech only from outside, we are dependent. Of course, there must be someone who must come from outside to teach us, but it is our duty to recognize this Speech and within us to remake it, to turn it into flesh and blood. The baker has to make the bread, the farmer has to sow the wheat, the gardener has to grow the fruit trees. In the future, the bread, the fruit, all food will be in the very person - it is enough to think about the pear and it will immediately appear in front of him. If he is in the mountain, it is enough just to think about a spring and it will gush in front of him. This will happen only for those who believe in the Only God; those who believe in many gods will go to plough and dig. So, people suffer because they believe in many gods. While they believe in many gods, they will be born and will die, will get married and divorced, and so on. In this situation, people will lose faith in each other, they will also lose faith in themselves. While a father is rich and maintains his children, they will believe in him; when the father becomes impoverished, the children will lose their confidence in him - they say, „We do not need such a father!” The same thing happens with the father: while he believes that his children will look after him when he gets old, he believes them, if his hopes do not come true, he also will lose faith in them. The attitude of contemporary people to God is exactly the same as the attitude of the children to the fathers. Nowadays, people move around the wide world, created by God, enjoy the Sun, the Moon, the stars, all the plants and animals, but they do not know who has created all that. Contemporary humans do not know their Father and do not believe in Him. While they do not believe in God, they say that this belongs to John, to Peter, etc. However, if they turn to Him, they already understand that everything in the world belongs to God. When they come to that way of thinking, they become Sons of God and heirs of His entire wealth. Some people would say, „Why did we come to that mountain to be like savages?” No, you have come here to look at the domain of your Father. You have been living for so many years and you do not know what riches your Father has. For instance, the other day we climbed up Elenin peak. Some of the people hesitated whether to come with us or not; one of the older sisters could not make up her mind to come, but finally said, „I am already so old and if I do not go now, one day I will regret that I have not seen the beauty of Nature.” However, on our way back, tired from the hard way, she said, „I would not take such a long trip through rocky peaks and stones.” The good point of every climb up and down is that this happens also in the consciousness of a man. The sister I told you about, after having rested for an hour or two, said, „Now I am already ready for a new trip, I'm feeling lively, fresh and completely satisfied." If during the fourteen-hour trip we saw such splendid views, what would it be like if we travel over the domain of our Father for a whole year? Because we have come to this world to see what God has created, to get into contact with Him, to take part in His work - this means to think, to feel, and to work like God. It is said: „We are strangers, newcomers in this world.” I am saying: the man is a stranger, but he is a stranger in his delusions, because he thinks that he can do many things, and in fact, he has nothing real in front of him. The man is a stranger, because he believes in things that people do, but people's deeds are as trustworthy as they themselves are. A man goes up in a car and believes that it will take him to the determined location; however, on the way, a wheel breaks and he gets out of the car and continues walking. So, real is only what belongs to the Only, the live God. In this sense, Love is the first manifestation of God - where the Love is, where the Good is, shows itself there. Love and Good are the real things in the world, therefore, God says: „Try Me and see that I Am good-hearted.” A man is passing by the garden of a brother, which was well fenced, and he sees inside good, ripe pears, hanging on the trees. He jumped over the fence into the garden and picked a pear or two. The master of the garden saw that, quickly grasped the man by the arm, and asked: - Who has given you the right to pick fruits from the trees in my garden? - The one who made the garden, and who created the fruits; He gave me the right to pick some of these fruits. - Who is that one, who gave you that right? - God. - Really? There is no God here! - Then, pardon me, what do your pears cost? - They cost twenty leva. - I will give you forty leva to be entirely free. - Thank you, you are a gentle man. - Yes, you have to be thankful that I came here to taste your fruit and in this way, we were acquainted. I am asking which of the two moralities is better. Nowadays, if you give someone something, he considers it as a bad deed; if you do not give him anything - again it is bad; what is it right to do then, which is the real morality? The real morality lies in what the man does to be inspired by Love and Good. Everything in which there is no Love, everything where the Good is missing, is a crime, everything that contains a lie is a crime. You say, „How can you distinguish who is telling the truth and who is lying?” Imagine that you go to a person, who gives you a glass of pure, fresh water and tells you to drink from the glass, to taste it. You drink the water and say, „This person is telling the truth.” Why? - „Because the water he recommended as good really turned out to be good.” If you drink from the water and you find out that it is impure and stagnant, then the man is not telling the truth, he has lied to you. Therefore, where there is no Love, there is a crime, a lie, and evil. In this case, a man will always feel sorrow. He can grieve when other people do not have Love, or when he himself does not have Love. If he grieves when people do not have Love, he must give them from his love. If he grieves about himself, that he does not have love, he must go to God and ask for His Love. I am asking, should he cry in these situations? There is someone, sitting in his room and crying because he is thirsty; I am saying, why do you have to cry, go to the mountain, there you will find good springs and you will drink as much water as you want. - „There is no one to go with.” No, there is - first tell your head that you want to go to the mountain and wait a little. The head will order your arms and legs to go with you and they will listen to it; when all of them are ready, you will start. - „I will be alone there.” Never mind, go alone. - „And if the spring is too far?” The further the spring, is, the purer and fresher its water is. The closer things are not as good as the distant things - the things that are near can be easily achieved. Now, this is a set of rules that you must use as a basis in your life if you wish to get rid of the false gods, of the wrong beliefs. For instance, a man considers himself to be clever, very good, strong, and that he can do many things. For every person, there must be a little programme that he by all means must follow. For example, today, on Sunday, everyone must do something that corresponds to the plan for that day. Someone can do something that corresponds exactly to that day, while someone else may think about things that have nothing in common with his life. This person can dream to get on an aeroplane or on a Zeppelin, and go around in the air. I am asking what would he gain if he gets on an aeroplane? In all cases, he will achieve something - he will see how cowardly he is: when he reaches the height of ten kilometres, he will start shouting and begging to come down to earth. When he gets down to earth, he will say, „It is not possible to live at such a height.” However, if a man believes in the Live God and serves Him, he will come to the situation when he can get on an aeroplane or a Zeppelin and fly to the Moon, the Sun and stay there as long as he wants. Moreover, these Zeppelins will be designed so that they will stop at every station you want - for example, it will stop on the Moon, you will talk to its inhabitants, who will show you all the spectacular places. Then they will give you gifts and finally will see you off in festivity. It also will be possible for you to travel to the Sun. When you come back to Earth, you will speak about what you have seen on the Sun, on the Moon and so on. While listening to me, many people would say like the Turks, „Even if it is so, you should not believe.” I am asking, if a man believes that he is a god, then why shouldn't he believe in my words, too? The new must be already sown - the man must be pure, consecutive in his beliefs and never to hesitate. For example, a man accepts the New doctrine, but soon he begins to hesitate and says, „Isn't it better for me to return to my old beliefs?” A pig was set free in the woods; it spent several months there but when winter came, it got afraid and said, „Why don't I go back to the sty and to my old master, there I got food five times per day.” This is the situation of a man who sticks only to the temporary, to the transitory. If a man depends only on food and thinks about what he would eat and drink, he is in the situation of an animal, of a pig, i.e. his concept of Life is like the concept of the pig. Talking about the pig, I consider it as a symbol of the shallow thought. The pig does not think in depth - when rooting about, it thinks that everything is in the ground and it must root about to take everything out. God has given a man an intellect and in that way he wants to tell him that he should not root about. So, a man must give up his habit to rummage. For example, when a man is asking questions about things that he cannot understand, he is rummaging. Someone asks, „Who created the world, how has the world been created?” These questions are not yet appropriate for his mind. Another man asks, „How has the pear been created?” Nowadays everyone can create the pear; how? Take a pear pip, make a finger hole in the ground, and sow the pip - after some time the pear tree will grow and will bear fruit. Then take one of the fruits, eat it, and see what will happen in your mouth - in half an hour a whole pear tree will grow and shut your mouth. - „I don't want my mouth shut.” If you don’t, then don't ask who created the pear. The same happens to the thoughts that you accept from outside - if a thought goes into your mind, it is implanted there and after some time bears fruit. When the tree bears fruit, it changes its place, i.e. the fruit goes to a different place, where it is planted again. Therefore, the fixed concepts about things are nothing but concepts of dead people. The concepts, the thoughts of people must be the same through all times and ages, but the methods for their application must differ. Somebody says, "When I was young I thought in one way, now as I am older I think differently.” I say, what in one's youth is one thing, and in one's old age is a different thing, is not True. The Truth is the same in one's youth and old age. The Sun is the same when rising and when setting; it is different only in the way it rises and sets. I say, man must rejuvenate every day. Rejuvenation is an idea that shows that only one God exists in the world, Who reveals in Life through Love, through Wisdom, and through Truth. If a person starts believing in Life, then God will set him free of all limitations. Then he will see that there is sense in everything. God is in everything that is meaningful. Everything that does not make sense – means that God is not there. Wherever God is, there is Good. Wherever God is missing, there is evil. Therefore, the one who follows the right way is on the way of the Good. The one, who follows the wrong way, is on the way of evil. The moment that God reveals, a man is good; the moment that God is not there, a man is bad. When God comes into a man, the latter gets merry, joyful, and ready for any service; if he refuses to serve, God leaves him. Nowadays, everyone wants to be loved and if there is no one to love him or her, they suffer and complain about being lonely. I am asking what does it mean to be loved by someone. When you love the pear, what do you do with it? You put your teeth on it and taste it. When people love you, in the same way they put their teeth on you. So, when people love each other, they start eating one another as we eat the pears - this is the wrong side of love. If someone wants you to love him, you have to eat him. If someone loves you, he will eat you. Someone says, „I don't want to be eaten.” If you don't want someone to eat you, don't expect to be loved. - „I am sad when nobody loves me.” Then you have to choose one of the two possibilities - either you will be loved and you will let them eat you, or you will not be loved and not be eaten. When you love something, at all costs you will eat or drink it. For instance you like water, therefore you drink it. When you talk about the love of a physical person, you should know that he is not the real person yet. So, when someone loves you, he lives in your thoughts and feelings - in that way you will try him and understand him. It is said in the Scripture: „And the Words turned into flesh.” This means that when a man accepts God's words inside him, it gets inside him as a live body, as a whole entity that does not come apart. If the Words, having turned into flesh in the man, could fall into pieces, then everybody would want for the love of him to have a piece cut. To everyone, that loves you have to say, „I will not let you make kebapches* from my flesh [*kebapche is a grilled oblong rissole].” While a man lives only a physical life, he would want to cut from your flesh to taste you – that is the love of the meat-eater. I say, in his Love the man should rise one step higher, to move to the phase of vegetarianism and go into the spiritual life. If such a man comes to you and asks if you love him, take a nice apple from your bag and give it to him; if he asks again if you love him, give him a nice pear; if he continues asking, give him a bun. After all that, is there any sense to ask if this person loves you or not? The apple, the pear, and the bun that he gives you are written letters that speak. - „I wish to know if you give these things with all your heart?” If I didn't feel that way, I wouldn't give them – I bear these things in my heart and I take them out of it. The heart is the bag out of which I take these fruits and give them to the people I love. So, when we meet in the new life and you ask me something about Love, I will say, the one who has a bag is the one who has Love; the one who has no bag, has no Love inside. Today, you can believe only the human that has a bag. When I see someone, from a distance I will look if he is carrying a bag on his back or not; then I look whether his bag is full or if it is empty. If his bag is full, he is a man of Love and I say, „This is the human, who believes in the Only God.” When I meet someone, who talks about Heaven, the Angels, about God and carries an empty bag on his back, then I say, „This is one of the students of Nasreddin Hodja.” If you want to become real students of Christ, you have to get free of everything old that hinders you. Take all your old concepts and your old beliefs and throw them away in some lake. If they withstand the waters, take them back; however, if they do not resist and melt in the pure water of the lakes, leave them there and be grateful that you have gotten rid of the transient, of the contemporary. Then take new theories, create new beliefs, and try what it means to have a friend in Life – these theories and beliefs will follow you everywhere – in this world, and in the hereafter. Now all the people are talking about Love, they long and sigh for it, they look for someone to love them. You say, „My relatives do not love me, my friends do not love me.” It is true that your relatives and your friends do not love you, but you do not love them, either. To whom have you given anything? They are closed for you, but you are reticent for them, too. Everyone has to open his or her bags and give. You have to set in your mind the thought to be generous. God is generous and you have to be generous. God is big-hearted and you have to be big-hearted. God is Light and you have to be Light; God is Love, and you have to be Love, too. The one, who worries about the daily things, does not bear Love; the one who does not worry about the ordinary, little things in Life, he bears Love inside himself. Many people worry if there will be a gathering this summer or not. There have always been gatherings and now there will be one, too. What is important, however, is what the person will acquire at this meeting. - „Will there be brothers and sisters from the countryside?” As always, they will come now, too, but all of them will carry empty bags. This is the right situation – to come with an empty bag, to fill it up and throughout the years, there will be enough for you to have and enough to give to the other people. I met a sister, who was going somewhere, but with an empty bag. I said to her, „Sister, the people that you are going to do not want empty bags; come to me to fill your bag to the top and then go on your way; on your way give out of what you have received - when you go among the people, continue to give out what you have, learn to give!” „You have for nothing, you should give for nothing” - is said in the Scripture. If I meet someone who has come to me before, I know that he has something in his bag and can give everybody an apple, a pear, and a bun. If he is ready to give and does not hide what he has received, that person has Love inside - he recognizes only one God. If there is no apple, pear or a bun in the bag for everybody, then that man recognizes many gods; he does not give anything to anybody, because the many gods have eaten up everything that he had in the bag. Now you see that I am laughing, but why - you do not know. I am laughing at the empty bags. When I see a person with a full bag, I become serious. Someone is dissatisfied, indisposed, because his bag is empty; another one is complaining because he has no money. I say, the one, who has no money, bring your bag to me to fill it up to the top. Do you know what the law is for filling the bags? The law is as follows: everybody must carry his bag alone. If he wants a lot and cannot carry it, and looks for someone else to help him, he is not on the right way. The invisible world knows how much one can carry - someone can carry ten kilograms, another one can carry twenty kilograms, a third person - thirty, but few people can carry seventy kilograms on their backs. You should know one thing: no matter how many kilograms of gold you carry on your backs, only three coins are yours, all the rest are for the other people. Wherever you pass by, you have to give. When you reach the capital town Sofia, your bags will be completely empty. The one who wants to have his bag full only for himself, will remain with an empty bag. For example, today, on Sunday, there is a gathering. It is a gathering day for those who understand and can use it. For people that do not understand, no matter how many gatherings there are, they would achieve nothing. For instance, everyone talks about Christ's Resurrection, about the Angels, but I am asking what will they gain if they do not understand what an Angel is, what the Resurrection is? For people, who do not understand this, both the resurrection of Christ and the existence of the Angels means nothing - why? This is because they have not seen Christ, neither have they seen Angels. When I see a pear, I talk with her and say, „This is Christ.” You would say, „Is it possible that Christ, in his greatness hides in such a little pear?” It is possible, of course. As the pear gets into my organism and is accepted, in the same way I am talking to Christ. And when someone asks me where Christ is, I say, Christ is everywhere, he is in all fruits and plants, in all trees, in all springs, in all stones, in all animals and people. Therefore, people must come to the state when they would not die, would not get old, would not grieve and cry, would not fall in states of disbelief, cowardliness, etc. All these negative states are remainders of the past ages, which now should not be repeated. You would say that you have already grown old. The one, who bears old age in his mind, has not recognized God; the old age is a worn garment, which the man must take off and put on a new one. - „Well, we already have white hair, our eyes are half closed, the stomach does not work well.” This is because you do not believe in God. If you start to believe in the Only God, you will be entirely renewed; a man must get renewed every day - this is the new philosophy of Life. I say, at any moment you should be awake, active, ready to take any new work, any new impulse. Imagine that someone offers you to climb up a high mountain top; you will immediately refuse on the pretext that you feel indisposed, that you have been on trips and you have seen many high mountain tops. No, you still do not know what a real trip is, what wealth it is to climb up a high peak. Somebody says, „I have climbed up such and such a mountain top and have learned a lot.” You have not learned anything yet. For us, the day is meaningful as far as during that day we have managed to see God, hidden somewhere in the infinite Nature - this is the sense of Life. Because if you go to Elena's peak or no matter which other peak, you have to consider that there you will see God. When you see God, say to yourself, „I would like to see God throughout my whole life!” When a man who says that he is tired and does not intend to climb up mountains again, this shows that he has not seen God. Even now, when we have to go out every morning, some of us say, „Why do we have to go out so early, what shall we gain from this?” We go out early in the morning in order to see God. Today, for example, God talked to us a little through the rain. Since the brothers and sisters had not washed their tents from the dust for a very long time, God sent them a little rain so that they could wash the tents well. This rain washed them not only outside, but also it washed their floors inside. In that way everyone could check how solid his tent was. Now you have to understand what the essence of the day is. For that purpose, I will discuss before you one general Godly idea, namely what lies in the essence of each day. For the present day, I would say, the essence of this day is the Love in connection with the Good. The same thing relates also to each day that follows. Life is in the present; it bears the conditions and possibilities for the day of tomorrow that again becomes present. Therefore, for today a man should know that there is only one God and one Love, one Wisdom and one Knowledge, one Truth and one Liberty, one Justice and absolute balance, one Virtue, one bag of goods. The one who believes in the Only God, in one Wisdom, in one Truth, in one Justice and in one Virtue, only he is a man of the new. Beyond all these measures, everything is mere words. Who wants to be a student in the full sense of the word, he must understand and apply this lecture, which I consider to be inaugural when the student enters the school. If you do not have full bags, whatever efforts you make, you cannot be students. Somebody says, „I will study a lot, I will read a lot.” Yes, you will read as long as you are able to give an apple, a pear or a bun from your bag, to every person you meet; in the evening when you go back home, you will count how many pears, apples, or buns you have given, to whom you have given them and you will write all that in a special diary. Then you will study why the Moon waxes and wanes. Many of the contemporary scientists do not know the real reasons for the waning and waxing of the Moon, and discuss the creation of the Sun, why it has been created and so on. The scientists have created a number of theories for the creation of the Earth and the Sky, but they are still far from that absolutely positive truth about that issue. How have the Sky and the Earth been created, why does the Sunrise and set - these are questions about which the science of the future will give its final word. When a man begins looking for the Truth, his Sun rises. While he is searching, his Sun is constantly shining; when he says that he has found and recognized the Truth, his Sun sets. The same thing happens when a man starts and finishes reading a book: while he is reading and studying a book, it stays open before him; having read and studied the book, he closes it. The opening and reading from the book is like the Sun rising; finishing and closing the book is like the Sunset. Opening the Bible and reading it is a Sunrise; closing the Bible is a Sunset. So, at the Sunrise the man starts learning, and at the Sunset he has already learnt his lesson and repeats it, not to forget it. When the man is happy, when he has gained something, there is a Sunrise inside him; when he is sad when he has lost something, the sunset is inside him. Therefore, when the Sun rises, the man learns; when the Sun sets, he has already learnt his lesson. If he has not learnt his lesson, he should beg God to prolong the day a little bit more. For the most gifted, for the most talented students the day has twelve hours; for the less gifted the day has twenty-four hours; for the ordinary students the day continues for six months. So, the ordinary people come from the North Pole, because for them the day lasts for six months until they learn their lessons. The words north pole in this case means unfavourable conditions. When a student is in unfavourable conditions for his development, this shows that he is not very gifted. Somebody says, „I have suffered much.” Why? Because you are not of the gifted students. - „I had a big heritage from my father, but I gave it to people and now I am suffering.” Be happy that you have given it to others - do not regret what you have already done. When you regret, this means, „I have loved many people, I have scattered my love, but now nobody loves me.” Be happy and while you have it, give from your bag and do not regret it. If your bag does not get full and empty, you are not on the right way - your bag must always be full. - „I already do not love anybody.” - Why? - „Because nobody loves me, either.” - Then this means that you are a tradesman, who has only takings and giving's, losses and profits. As far as people think in that way, they cannot create anything new. If in that way a kind of society is formed, the people in it will also die, suffer, and will create nothing new. A real man is never sorry for having loved people - he loves and is not interested if the others love him. The one, who loves you, thinks that everything in you is good. Take for instance the mother: whatever her child does, she is happy. She finds everything good in the child. I say, the man of Love is a man of the new. If you want to get free of the old, take Love inside you. Today the old is worth nothing; in the old days it meant something, but now no one is interested in it. The one, who wants to get rid of the old doctrine, must replace it with the new one that can help him do good. - „What shall we do with the old doctrine?” - Sell it to me, I will buy it as an antique, I will give a stiver for it. The one I buy it from, I will write down his name. You say, „Then what is sure in Life?” Only what can withstand all hardships in Life is sure. Somebody says, „I was ill for some time and I turned to God as the safest place, but my prayer was not accepted.” So, there must be a reason for that. You should not be discouraged, pray again until you receive an answer to your prayer. The reality or security of Life lies in our connection to God - if we are connected to God, our prayers will always be accepted. Somebody says, „When I die, I will learn many things, then I will get to know God.” I am asking if you are sure that when you die you will go to God and you will recognize Him? If you die and you do not go to God, then neither suffering nor death have sense. However, if after your death, you go to God and you know Him, then both suffering and death are justified. When the young maid goes to the mountain to meet her beloved, all difficulties are justified if her date is fulfilled. However, if she goes to the mountain and does not meet her beloved there, her suffering will not be justified. You should know one thing: the beloved of the human soul is only God. And then if a man goes to the mountain to meet God, he will always have success. If you find God, you will find everyone. If you find God, you will become stable and you will say, „Now I am already a rich man, my bag is full and I can give to everybody who needs it.” Without God, every person is unhappy - why? Everyone is complaining that he has no money, no house, no friends and so on. I say, whoever believes in the Only God – in one Love, in one Wisdom, in one Truth, in one Justice and in one Virtue, will have everything in the world. Now, which situation would you prefer: that you would go to God or that He would come to you? Whoever goes to God, his bag must be full, so that from a distance it can be seen that he is doing something good. And Good will look at him to see if there is something in the bag of this man or if it is empty; God does not like people with empty bags. In other words, the man must have a heart filled with love. When God sees that the heart of a man is full of Love, God will give him something, but the man must also give something to God. If God comes to the man, He would give him a full bag; full of what? Gifts. The gifts that God gives to people, these are the reasonable sufferings – in this the great secrets of Life are hidden, which people should understand and study; there is spiritual experience in them, that should be used. Contemporary religious people, not understanding the language of the Spiritual world, fall into a number of fallacies and self-delusions. For instance, someone says, „I saw God, dressed in a white coarse woollen mantle typical for the Sofia region.” I am asking why God was dressed in a piece of clothing from the Sofia region – probably out of love for you, who are from the Sofia region. Indeed, when God visits somebody, he comes down to his level – for that reason, man hesitates whether God has visited him or not. To understand and recognize God a man needs not one, but several eternities. So, if God visits somebody, he should only be happy without delving into himself if it was God who visited him or it was someone else; a man must get rid of the old habit of digging. He must say, „In the old times as a pig I used to nuzzle with my snout, but now I will dig with my fingers, I will make holes in the ground and in each hole I will put in a seed.” If that kind of desire for digging comes to you, you will take a pen with your fingers and instead of digging, you will write down some nice thought. In that way, you will educate the pig instead of nuzzling with its snout, to put seeds in the ground and to write down nice thoughts and poems with its finger. Now I will make an interpretation of the word pig: it is a symbol of an unwise life, of an unwise philosophy. The bad thing in the pig is its habit of digging – when it goes into a garden, it immediately begins nuzzling, without paying attention to the fact that it will damage the nice flowers and fruit trees. Don’t some of the contemporary people do the same thing – they enter somebody’s home or in some religious society and start teaching the people how to live, how to pray to God and so on. If you want to teach somebody how to pray to God, take him to a fruit garden, stop at a tree heavy with fruit, and say, „Raise your hands to pick a nice, ripe fruit!” When he raises his hands, you will tell him, „This is how the man should pray!” Then you will show the man how to kneel; when the man raises his hand to pick a fruit and he cannot reach it, he must kneel down on the ground and take it from there. So the man will kneel down to take the fruit that has fallen from the tree and will say, „God, I sinned, I could not take the fruit, created by the Tree of life.” However, on the ground only that man, who bears humbleness inside, can kneel. If a man is not ready to kneel down at every suffering soul and help her, he has not kneeled. If you see a suffering soul, do not ask it why it is suffering, but give it a fruit, not teaching it how to eat it; tell this person, „Brother, the whole world – the Sky, the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the stars – all of that is created for you, why do you have to suffer?” - „Aren’t you telling me lies?” - „No, I am telling the truth – God has created everything for people to learn and work.” Then give him some golden coins and tell him, „Brother, you are a young man, you have a beloved girl who does not want to see you in that pitiful sight – buy new clothes, put them on and go to her; buy a watch, to determine the time.” Every person must have a watch as a time measure – in that way he will get oriented in Life and will be able to solve some of his tasks in the right way. When I am talking about a watch, I consider it as a symbol of Life. Every touch to the watch is a reminder of the hours, the minutes, and the seconds. This keeps man awake – not to lose even a second of his time. There are people who have come to the situation not to lose their hours; others have gone further ahead not wasting their minutes; a few have come to the position not to lose the seconds. The man of the minutes meets somebody on his way, quickly takes out a pear from his bag, and gives it to the man. - „Why are you giving me this pear?” He takes the pear back, puts it in the bag, and continues on his way. The other person is wondering why he was offered a pear. What makes someone not to take, makes the others give. This man has prayed for some fruit for a very long time, and when it was offered to him, he wonders why this happens. This pear is nothing but an answer to his prayer. Who carries a bag of fruits is a postman and whoever he meets, he gives him a fruit. And everyone would ask him why he was giving him the fruit. This asking is similar to the question that people ask themselves: „Does this man love me or not?” the fruits of those, who love you, are perfect, with no defect. Take the fruit they offer you, taste it and you will see that it is extraordinarily delicious, fresh, just picked from the garden. Many people say, „We have to settle our life.” How can Life be settled? Without Love, Life cannot be settled, without the Good, Life cannot be settled, without the participation of the mind, the heart, and the will, Life cannot be settled. Some people think that life on Earth can be settled and say, „The way you were born, in that way you will be gone.” Others say, „Let’s hope that after death it will be better.” No, death cannot solve the questions of Life. Death comes when the man is dissatisfied with what God has given to him. It says, „God sent me to teach you to become grateful.” Death is a stick, telling the man, „Open up your bag!” He opens the bag and the death starts beating, taking everything that is in the bag. Love gives everything, death takes everything. Therefore, death has a meaning only when it emancipates a man from evil; however, it has no sense if it frees a man from Love. For a man to die for his old conceptions there is sense in this; to die for the goods of God, there is no sense in it. The sense is in Life, not in death. We also have come to the mountain to live, to enjoy the domains of our Father. When you have come here, forget about everything at least temporarily. There must be a great volte-face in the conceptions of everybody – you have to renew, to start thinking, feeling, and acting in a new way. I am talking about those, who are interested in these matters – only they will receive something from the bag. Those who are not interested, they would receive nothing. Many people ask, „Which is the way, the method that I could become a student?” Whoever wants to become a student must have a full bag, i.e. a heart; and his heart must be full of Love. Sometimes the heart of the human beats harder than usual and he gets frightened. There is nothing frightening about such a beating – this heart is constantly opening and closing, i.e. it is giving and taking. What is frightening about the opening and closing of our bag – this is how the circulation of blood occurs. When the bag opens, it shrinks; in the moments of opening and closing of the bag, a man takes out or puts something inside. The opening and closing, the contracting and expanding are two processes that occur also in the very Nature. When the heart contracts, God takes something from it; when the heart expands, God gives something to it – God gives, God takes. I said to a person, „You will give!” - „What?” - „What you have in your heart.” Press a little and your blood will immediately come out of your heart – you give blood to one man, to another and everyone is glad. Arterial blood goes to one side, and venous – to the other. Only in that way, can a man see all processes through which God teaches us how to love. A man must keep in his mind the thought that he will receive as much as he gives plus a little addition, equal to the interest of the given amount. For example, if a person does a good deed, even till the same evening he will be paid back, but with interest. If someone makes an effort to climb up the mountain, when he gets back he will have a little addition that will have a wholesome effect on his organism – this is the law. Hence, every day man should do the least Good, expressed in a thought, a feeling, or an act. The Good can be done to a spring, to a plant, to a little fly, or to a person. No matter how little the Good is, it must be done – the least Good is an expression of God's teaching, of the man's internal law. If a person lives in that way the Angels, the saints, and the good people will know and visit him. Finally, his Teacher will visit him, too. Only then, man will have a correct and deep understanding of God. Now, I would like to present to you God's teaching in a simple form easy for application right now, not in the future. If it is left to be understood and applied in the future, it is a teaching not understood. For instance, many people are waiting for the gathering; I say, if they cannot understand the gathering today, they would not be able to understand the other one, too. To understand God's Wisdom, this is a gathering; to understand God's Truth, this is a gathering. If we gather together all this, it is the greatest council in the world. If we gather at one place to interchange our Love, our Good, to send our thought to the world, to soothe the poor, the suffering, this is the greatest council. Because the purpose for which we have gathered here is again a council. Somebody says, „Will God forgive my sins?” I say, God cannot but forgive the sins of the one who loves Him, no matter how big and whatever his sins are. Love erases everything; without Love no one is forgiven for his sins – this is a law. If Love is set as a basis in Life, all sins that exist will disappear, everything old will burn out. The Good is the condition for the realization of Love. When a person is good, the Love will surely show in his life. Someone says, „Do people deserve my love?” you should consider the following rule: every living creature deserves Love, i.e. it deserves to be loved – why? Because every creature has originated from God. If this creature does not look like you, it doesn't matter; the fly also deserves Love, although it bites. The fly bites because the superior creatures also bite – even the man bites sometimes. The fly should know that by biting it would not go far – if somebody forgives it, another one will punish it for the biting. The fly uses the excuse that this is a habit, which she cannot get rid of; however, for that bad habit it pays with its life. I am asking why the flies bite. The fly says, „Once upon a time God sent us to the world to bite the animals, because they were very lazy – our biting was a goad for them.” Today, the fly does not only bite cattle, but it also bites a man, who has graduated from four faculties and does not need a goad. This person can easily deal with this fly: he closes the window of his room, catches the fly, fixes it on a special pin, and starts studying it. Then he writes down the date of his research, the place where it was caught and its Latin name – with that the life of the fly is over. I say, people have habits, similar to those of flies, snakes, lizards, etc. They are abnormal remainders from the past. If a person has one of these habits, he must say to himself, „I should not go back to the past and repeat it in that way; in the old times I used to bite, sting, but now I am a human and I must act gently.” By saying so, a man gives a meaning to the existence of all living creatures below him. Today, man must lead a pure and sacred life. Love should pour out of the heart like a spring; he must follow God's Will and enjoy everything surrounding him - the stones, the trees, the springs, the animals. When a man climbs up a mountain, he should look around, and scrutinize all the pictures that are revealed before his eyes. When you are looking at the picture of some artist, you know that he has considered which colours to use in order to present the object as truthfully and exact as possible. Sometimes the colours, the features of the picture are successfully represented, but sometimes they are not. In the same way, every little stone, every tree, or every spring in the pictures of the Live Nature are put in place, according to the view of the artist or the scene-painter. You are faced with the nice task of studying these pictures - from Nature man will study the laws of perfection and will apply them in his life. So, a man must aim for perfection. This can be achieved when a man has the right attitude to Love, when he is ready to make any sacrifice for it. If a man comes to this position, his bag will always be full. When the bag of some person is full, and things are not well, what is the reason for that? The reason is his reticence - he either opens his bag very rarely, or never opens it. Many of the contemporary people have nice bags made of silk, linen, or another fine cloth, full of all kinds of fruit and buns, but since they are rarely opened up, the fruit inside has dried and the buns have turned into rusks. Somebody says, „Do you know what I have in my bag?” I know what is in it - dried apples, pears, plums, buns, etc. in my opinion every heart that does not open from morning till evening, to give everything that it has, and to take everything that is given to it, is abnormal - a heart that does not beat in the right way. The normal heart is a bag that constantly opens up and gives what it has to poor, suffering people; it will leave for itself only one apple, one pear, one bun and will thank God for everything that he has given. Then God will look at this heart with favour and will say, „This heart has understood the meaning of Life.” So, the bags of all people must be full so that they can give. That is why it is said in the Script: „ You have for nothing, you should give for nothing!” In that respect, Nature gives us an example of absolute disinterestedness. For instance, we have been here for the long time, we are here, and we use free wood for heating, for cooking. In the evening, gathered around the big fire, we have the possibility to sing, to play instruments a little and to thank God that for the goods that we have used during the day. Our brothers, who were playing the fiddle, gave a good example of disinterestedness: one of them came, took his fiddle, and gave; the fiddle is the bag from which he takes a music piece instead of an apple, second - instead of a pear and third - instead of a bun. Every brother and sister, who plays, should perform three pieces at most - every evening each of them will play three pieces, and every time they will be new; the real fiddler had a great repertoire. These are the new concepts that everyone, who wants to be a student, should apply. The bag of the student must be full and he should give out generously. Somebody says, „Will my sins be forgiven?” If you love, they will be forgiven; if you do not love, they will be not. - „Will my faith deepen?” If you love, your faith will get deeper. - „Can I become an erudite person?” If you love, you can become an erudite, and a philosopher, and a poet, and an artist. If you love, if you have inside you and you give it out to all living creatures, you can become whatever you want. All opportunities and conditions for growth and development are hidden in Love. If you want something more than Love, you will receive a stick. Apostle Paul says, „Shall I come to you with a club or with love and gentle spirit?” Often the old teachers used the club as an educating method; when they taught their lessons, they used the club for the student who did not know his lessons. The contemporary teachers use a stick, but changed into numbers - for example the mark one or two are a club for the students; when the student gets a mark one or two, he goes home unhappy, sad that he could not satisfy his teachers. This lecture concerns those students who want to finish the school. One of the basic rules in this school is that every student should have a nice bag full of good fruit. The second basic rule is that the student should open his bag on time and give to everyone who has a need. That should be the man of the new time! You say, „How do we have to preach?” You will preach as the bun-seller and the fruit-seller. You will load a horse with two panniers - one full of apples, the other full of pears, and in your hand you will carry a basket of buns and you will set out from town to town, from village to village, shouting, „Come on, pears, apples, buns!” The people will start gathering around you and ask for apples, pears, and buns. To the poor you will give for nothing, to the middle-class people you will give cheaply, and to the rich - more expensively. When these people meet, they will tell each other: - It's a strange thing, I met a dealer, who gave fruit to the poor people for nothing. - I bought fruit from him, but very cheaply. The rich man says: - To me he sold them a bit expensively. However, all these people are very happy with the fruits of this tradesman. As soon as possible, I would like to see you with a horse, loaded with two big panniers full of fruit, and with a basket full of buns in hand. You would say that you do not feel comfortable to do that. I am asking what would you do if the entrance examination for the student was namely like that? You would not only sell, but you also have to shout: „Come on, here are the nice apples and pears!” Somebody would say, „I can do anything else, but this task I cannot accomplish in no way!” Who wants to be a student, he should accomplish all tasks that are assigned at school. If he chooses from the assignments - to do one and not to accomplish another, he is not a student. Now you would like to know if there will be another lecture today. I say, all day today my bag will be open and I will give an apple, a pear, or a bun to everyone who comes to me. Now I gave everybody an apple, at noon I will give you a pear, in the evening I will give each of you a bun. The apple, the pear, and the bun are symbols that have to be interpreted. The apple represents Life that is born out of Love; the pear represents the Wisdom, and the bun - the Speech, i.e. the Truth. It is said, „The Truth is the Head of the Speech.” Therefore, in God's Love, Wisdom, and Truth lies the complete Life, the whole eternity, as well as the happiness, the welfare of all souls. If you want to enter God's School, the Love, Wisdom, and Truth must lie in the basis of your Life. Only in that way you will understand the sense of everything that God has created. That's why we have come to the Rila Mountains - to learn and understand the meaning of God's creations. You would say, „Our brothers and sisters that are not here will be sorry about it.” Imagine that all of them are here but their stomachs are disordered; what will they benefit from the goods that God has given? - „They should have done at least two or three trips.” Imagine that they are also here, but their feet are dislocated and they cannot walk, and they are only making a fuss; in this situation how will they benefit from the high peaks? If you think about your brothers and sisters that are not here, this is what you have to do: you will load everything that you have acquired on a horse and when you go to Sofia, you will give to everyone who has not been together with you. Now you have to interpret the meaning of the horse and the donkey as symbols. No one can enter the law of devotion if he does not lead a donkey with him; no one can fight if he does not ride a horse. Therefore, the donkey is a symbol of devotion and the horse is a symbol of fighting. When the Invisible world wants to teach man the laws of humbleness and sacrifice, it will make him get on a donkey, that will start singing its sweet song and every day will make him pray. The horse, on the other hand, that the man is riding will tell him, „Master, every day you have to whet your knife, to be brave and decisive, steadily to defend your concepts.” The big ears of the donkey show that a man must be generous. The boldness, the decisiveness of the horse when warring show that a man when fighting should also be bold, decisive and take everything, to make a clean sweep of those with whom he is at war. Then he would take everything he had taken and would say, „Let it go.” Because with the donkey a man gives, and with the horse a man takes. The distinctive feature of the horse is devotion. The horse easily becomes attached, while the donkey - difficult; there is creativity in the horse, and in the donkey there is a striving for the Truth, for Justice; the donkey likes to lead the herd, therefore it always walks at the front; the horse likes being at war, it says, „I cannot lead sheep.” I say, these are side issues. The first thing, important and essential for everybody, is to have full bags, full hearts. The heart must be full of Love, of Light, of Freedom - the one who has a heart like that always rejuvenates. Now, people grow old because they live only with their hardships; they say, „What the situation was like in the old times, and what it is now!” It is not important what it was like in the past, it is the present time, the present day that matters - the present day is worth more than yesterday. The past has played its role, it is the old time, and now is the new day, the day of youth. Today the man should get younger - he must renew his heart, his mind, and his will, to bring in it a striving for the Truth. Somebody says, „I am disappointed, I lost my youth, strength, life.” Leave the disappointments aside, leave what has been lost aside, do not look for what you have lost. If you are looking for a modern watch that does not work, what would it mean to you? What God gives you today is worth more than what he has given you in the past. - „In the past I ate jam.” How you have eaten in the past is not important; today's lunch for instance is worth more than the lunch yesterday - it costs [is worth] thousands of joys. Forget the past, use what the present moment brings. Do not think about the following day - it will take care of itself alone. The past has taken care of itself, the present day takes care of itself, therefore we also, being in the present day, should think and take care only of it. Many of you, who have come here, are burdened, worried that they do not have enough money, that their tents would not stand for a long time and so on. I say, until the man stands in front of the good apples, pears, and buns, he should forget everything, let him think about them and say, „God, thank you for everything you have given to me.” When the man feels that gratitude to God, everything else - knowledge, virtues, wealth - will come alone. The virtues come to the man like the Angels - when an Angel meets a good person, he immediately tells the other Angels that he has seen a good man on Earth; one by one, these Angels start visiting that man and each of them brings him a precious gift. I am asking what is better than a man being an object of the Angels, the saints, and the good people - there is no other greatest meaning that Life can have. You say, „How can we get younger?” Open up your bags, give to the suffering and the needy and you will become younger. The one, who has become old and is down on his luck, never opens his bag and does not give to anybody. Open and close your bags if you want to be young and joyful. And if sorrow comes to you, be delighted; when Joy comes to you, again be delighted! The difference will be that you will be delighted with the Joy only once, and with the sorrow - twice. It is said in the Scripture: „When a woman is giving birth, it is a sorrow, but when the baby is born, her sorrow turns into joy that a human was born in the world.” In the education of contemporary people, the new should be introduced, which would radically change their concepts of Life. For instance, what is so bad about grief - in every grief something new is born, something great in the soul of a man. Man grieves until something new is born in his soul; when the new is born, he does not remember his grief any more and his joy is double. In grief, a man sees God; therefore, he must be delighted. We called today the day of the manifested Love of God, the day of God's goodness. Moreover, you should note how much preparation there was for that day on the part of the Invisible world. Today is 19th July, and there is also a full moon. Yesterday and the day before there was a great cleaning - the rain washed the tents outside and inside. Also there was a bit of humidity, which means that some things must grow. Together with all favourable combinations of Nature, you had the opportunity to row in boats on the lakes. You would say, „What a nice coincidence that one god from the Czech Republic, a guest to the Rila Mountains, had a boat, by which we went boating on the lake.” Ostensibly, these are coincidences, but they are symbols with a deep internal meaning. Wonderful and great are the deeds of God! God is great in the little things, and when we follow God's will, He writes down everything. Now I too opened my bag and gave everybody something. You should thank God that I have opened the bag on time; you should also be thankful for what you have heard! When I come again my bag will be open again and I will take better things out of it. Better and greater things will be taken out of that bag, but you have to use them wisely. I wish all of you to be like the weather today - with clear and fresh minds as the sky, with hearts warm and loving as the sun, with a brisk and fresh spirit as the air. 19 July 1931, 5 h.

Note 4 Day of Good The day today we shall call the day of Good. A worldly wisdom, a worldly philosophy says, "When a man finishes his meal, he should not worry how the food will be digested." Hence, sitting at the table, men should first feel gratitude for the opportunity to eat, to taste the Goods of God; next, he should start eating, enjoying the food he is eating; and last – he should give thanks for satisfying his hunger. There is no need to make an issue of how the stomach will digest and process the food. When a hungry man happens to find food, does he think how he is going to eat, where the food will go and how the food will be digested? - No, the concerns of the hungry man are whether he will find food and how much food he will find. Modern people often think what will happen to them in the future. Yet, this is none of their business. When you buy a quill and put it in the penholder, do you think what will happen to it? – No, you do not spend time on thinking, you simply insert the quill into the penholder and it starts writing. When you put the spout of a fountain on, do you think what job it is going to do? – No, you simply fit the spout without thinking anything. Yet, whoever happens to look at the fountain, he already knows what job the spout does. Moreover, do we expect the spout to abandon all its work and start telling everybody what its job is instead? The spout does its work without saying anything, yet whoever comes to the fountain understands that the spout is in place. The horses pulling the cart, do we expect them to stop in the road and tell everybody what job they are doing? Do we expect the driver to stop the cart and start informing the passers-by who is pulling the cart and who is driving the horses? – No, only one look at the cart is enough to understand who is doing what. It is none of our business to discuss the issue of who is pulling the cart and who is driving the horses. It is useless to stop the cart to ask who is driving it. Likewise, if someone stops you to ask why you have come to this world, you should answer, "I have come to this world for the same purpose that you have." – "But I do not know for what reason I have come." – "Neither do I." Beauty is in not knowing. If we knew why we had come, we would not have come to the Earth at all – we have come to learn what our job on the Earth is just because we do not know what it is. The moment we learn, we shall return to the place we came from. If a fish gets caught on the hook and then manages to get unhooked, will it get caught a second time? – No, it will not make the same mistake a second time; it will leave the bait hooked on the fishing-rod. I say, in the world today there are many people who take an interest in fish and want to catch them. You will see that in the world, there exist many archaic, backward things that serve as bait. The temptations in this world are nothing but fishing-rods, designed to deceive men. In that sense, the world is a rough sea abounding in innumerable fishing-rods and man is a fish swimming freely in the sea until the moment he comes across a fishing-rod. The moment man catches sight of a fishing rod, he heads for it straight away thinking that on the hook he will find something very special. But once caught on the hook, he departs from God. And, on departing from God, he loses his Freedom. He is no longer the master of his situation and you may see him either on the trivet over the fire, or in some pot, or in the stomach of another man. One day, when this man returns to the sea, they will ask him, "What did you find on the hook of the fishing-rod that dragged you out of the sea? What did you learn from this experience?" – And he will answer in just the same way as the American who got in a well-tarred and sealed barrel to ride down the stream of the Niagara Falls; when they asked him how he felt in the barrel, he replied, "Get in the barrel and you will find out for yourself. I myself learned one very important lesson – even if they offered me the whole world, I will never again cross the falls in a barrel." This man wanted to become famous, he wanted to see his heroic deed depicted in all the newspapers, yet after his attempt he said, "What the newspapers will write about me does not matter to me any more; what I know for sure is that I will not get in a barrel whirling to all sides a second time. The moment I got in it I lost consciousness. So, I did not learn anything new from that experience." So, the barrel stands for the chaotic life some people live. The one who lives such a life, in the end will know as much as he did in the beginning. On living this life he will have acquired a sort of experience, but will eventually say, "I will not live this life a second time!" Using this example I want to prompt the thought to you, that barrels were created to tempt you. Who has the most barrels? – The tavern-keeper. His cellars are full of barrels containing old wine and new wine. Who else has so many barrels? – The merchant of olive oil and other vegetable oils. He sells these oils to people. And lastly we reach these people who haven’t got any barrels – they pour hot water in their flasks and go on an excursion to the mountains. Hence, the tavern-keeper has the most and the largest barrels. I ask what kind of barrels we should choose to hold our thoughts in, large barrels or small barrels. The one who has got some big thought or big aspiration closed in a large barrel; he is in a tavern. The big thought, enclosed in the large barrel, will some day explode; it will burst the barrel into pieces and set itself free. Such a thought is like new wine that has not fermented yet. Like young wine enclosed in a barrel can burst this barrel and pour out, the big thought on entering man’s mind can cause the same kind of explosion. Then we would say that this man is drunk. On the contrary, each high, each beautiful thought is as small as a seed or a grain of wheat. It does not need large barrels; the tiniest shell will suffice. Yet, the moment it finds good ground, this thought will start to grow and develop. Such thoughts need neither barrels, nor barns. If stored in barns, they change their purpose. You may say, "These thoughts can be stored in barns. Barns will preserve them." – No, all thoughts stored in barns have one purpose – they are intended for sale. We compare the high thoughts to the grain of wheat, because in it Nature conceals its wonderful secrets. Wheat is the symbol of the noblest sacrifice in Life. Only men who have completed their development know why wheat has come to the Earth. One of wheat’s missions is to improve the Life of men; to assist in their evolution. If in eating bread man can not comprehend and recognize the value of the sacrifice wheat makes for him, he will never be able to understand the words of Christ in the verse – "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live…"1. If you understand the deep meaning of this verse, you will put the bread into your mouth with a feeling of wonder and reverence, as you will know that through this bread the Divine comes into you. How do people today approach bread? Some of them collect the crumbs of bread from their meal and throw them aside to feed the hens or birds; there are also people who give them to the ants. And that is not a bad deed, because the crumbs will come into use. Other people do not use the crumbs at all but instead leave them on the ground, where everybody can feed on them. Yet, what men should do on finishing their meal is collect all crumbs with care and wash the places where they had fallen. Next, men have to leave the crumbs in some special place where neither people will tread on it, nor water will sweep over it. In this way, the crumbs they have put away will be used properly on certain occasions. In truth, if man wants to live properly, he should have the correct outlook on how he acts in Life. For instance, man should know how to eat; how to wash himself; where to pour out the water he had washed his face and hands with. Now people wash themselves anywhere, pouring out the used water within reach left and right. You may say, "If every single minute we look out where we have thrown away the crumbs from our meal or poured out the water we use for washing, then we are going to live in perpetual fear." – But, living their way, modern people trigger in their life abnormalities that produce a harmful effect on their organisms. If you are in the mountain and you need to wash your face, what will you do? - Stop by a spring, scoop up some water, step a little bit aside and then wash your hands and face. If there are lakes nearby – like here - go to the nearest lake, walk two or three steps in the water and wash so that no water spills from your face outside the lake. If you are in a place where flowers grow, then wash over the flowers so that the water falls on the flowers. Today, the distinguishing feature of many people is their extreme disobedience. These people may think they are obedient, but in reality they are not. Man has lost two of his essential traits – his obedience and his meekness. In return, he has grown within himself excessive pride. Pride is the greatest enemy of men’s growth. Even a man who has reached the level of an adept but nourishes even the tiniest pride within him will be immediately turned down the moment he arrives at the door of God’s Kingdom. Even the minute imperfection in a man can stop him at Heaven’s door, as no impurity, no imperfection is allowed in Heaven. Occult science says that the one who wants to enter the Kingdom of God has to be one of perfect purity. Without purity, without meekness nothing can be accomplished. Pride in a spiritual man is a very dangerous thing. The proud man is like the high, rocky peak that gives nothing away; the proud man is stingy – he thinks only about himself, he wants everybody to speak only about him; he thinks that the whole world was created for him only. All aspirations of the proud man are the result of his egoism; of his desire to become big, great. For eight thousand years now man has been striving to become big; yet he has not only failed to do so, but has also become petty in his thoughts, emotions and deeds. Modern people boast with their great achievements in the fields of religion, science, art and life. They say, "See what inventions; what pictures; what great things we have created!” Years ago I was invited to a city church in Anchialo2 to see what an outstanding artist had painted. On entering the church I saw a picture hanging on the wall – an image of Christ. The painter had wanted to draw Christ, but instead of the image of Christ he had painted a disproportional big head and a face featuring the face of a criminal. There was no art in this picture; it should have been thrown out of the church. Not long after, this church was destroyed by fire. I say, on the same grounds, every man should ask himself: "Does my image stand for the Divine in me?” You may hear someone say, "You have no idea who I am." – "Who are you?" This man thinks he has been created in God’s own image. I say, if he thinks so, let me ask him what the distinguishable features are of an image, created in God’s own image. If you encounter a face created in God’s own image you will see, that each pore of this face is glowing with radiation, electricity oscillations and magnetism that make this face one of impeccable purity – no mud can stick to a face like that. Now I will give an example of a positive thought taken in both its literal and figurative meaning. Someone comes to me and asks me, "Do you like me?" I tell him, "You are the first at the table and the last at work." He starts considering what I have said and does not understand me. I say, I do not mean anything insulting. It is a real situation taken in both its literal and figurative meaning. Before starting work, man eats first and works next; having done some work, he eats again. As you see, work takes place between two meals. Man eats in the morning, works till lunchtime, at lunch he eats again – so, the meal always comes before work – because it is an urge, an inner need of man. Now, I will interpret the following law: all man’s deeds, all man’s actions always follow Love. Man can not get any work done until he has had at least a bite of the food of Love. Without at least a small piece of this food he cannot work. That is why when I say that someone is the first to eat; I mean that he is the first in Love. One who feeds by Love will be doing an excellent job from the very beginning to the very end. Such a man should not bear any mud on his face to clog his pores; such a man’s thoughts should be pure and clear. Then, if any contradiction gets into his heart, it will be resolved immediately. Even such a man can go through contradictions and hardship, but he will be able to resolve them correctly. Even such a man’s way will not be perfectly straight and may turn and curve, but he will walk it with unfaltering steps. Going through the dangerous parts of his life, he will put his leg onto the ground as if fixing it; the moment he lifts his leg, he will be free again – that is what it means to be a righteous man. The excursions you go to in the mountains represent the outer side of Life. Poverty, ill health, hardship, and failures stir in the life of people just the same terror and fear, do they not? These Life experiences represent steep mountain sites, like those you encounter on your excursions. Looking at these sites you panic and say, "How are we going to live our life, how are we going to make a living? There are evil people in this world, what shall we do?" I say, this is the least evil; what if some day you lose your faith in God; or the meaning of your life; or you lose all the light so complete darkness falls around you; and what if some other time you come upon devastating earthquakes, and there is nothing but thunder and lightning around you; and the horizon dims into clouds, and rain starts falling; and rocks are falling around you and your hopes are turning into ruins, and perish, one by one? What are you going to do then; is there anything more terrifying to man than those conditions? Yet, the one who walks in the law of Love, he will see that all these conditions are an illusion – they will vanish before him like soap bubbles. Someone I know told me how one evening he was very cold, and when going to bed, he put under his feet a hot stone to warm them. But, the whole night he kept dreaming that he was walking on burning mountains. On waking up he recalled his dream and realized that the dream was provoked by the hot stone he had put under his legs for the night. The temperature of the stone was not higher than 34 or 40 degrees, but in his dream the perception of it was exaggerated. On the following night he did not put a hot stone under his legs and did not have a dream that he was walking on burning mountains. Consequently, there is a certain correlation between dream and reality. Now, the thought I want you to keep in your mind today is that the day of today is the Day of Good. Man has to fight for the Good in the world, but he has to know how to fight. Therefore, man should not be peaceable; if we speak about peace, man has to be at peace with Good, and not with evil. Between Good and evil there can be no peace, no agreement, and no balance. Evil always strives to overpower Good, to become its master and use it; but Good on its part also strives to overpower evil. In the end, one of the two principles will overpower the other and make it its servant. Until now Good was the servant of evil; but from now on evil will be the servant of Good. If you want to be free, become the masters of evil. You cannot be evil’s friends, but you can become evil’s masters – the time has come. The position of evil changes: the one, who used to be evil, will now become a servant. Once evil becomes a servant, it is very easy to predict its future. In the past the good people were servants and the bad – masters; now they will change places: the good people will be the masters and the bad – the servants. Or, in other words, we are going to have good masters and bad servants. Thus, the danger that threatens modern humanity comes from the servants, and not from the masters. In the past they used to say that the master is on the wrong track and the servant is on the right track – but only because evil was the master and Good was the servant. Today the opposite should apply – Good should be the master and evil – the servant. In the past Good used to complain of its master but now, to set everything right, evil should praise its master. Only in this way the thought announced by the prophet Isaiah will come to life: "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy…"3 Now, the purpose of our being here is to connect with the Invisible, the Real World. You think that here and now you are alone; you think that this mountain is deserted. But you are not right – countless eyes dwell in the mountain, they follow you and put you to test. Where there are eyes, there are ears, too. When Moses brought the Jews out of Egypt, he led them into the wilderness and there he had to teach them, like he would to children, where to walk and how to preserve absolute cleanliness. He told them, "As God is walking among you, you have to keep flawless cleanliness, so that He will not come upon anything unclean." Yet, even now the Jews are not living in that Cleanliness. Neither are the Bulgarians – they do not observe that cleanliness; if they had applied Cleanliness into their life, they would have made faster progress. The citizens of Elena4 are the cleanest people in all Bulgaria – in that respect they stand higher even than the Americans. Our camp has to be perfectly clean, to the satisfaction of everyone who happens to pass by it. Therefore, if you want to use the goods of Nature, you have to wash your legs to the knees at least three times a day: wash them in the morning with warm water; at lunchtime you may wash them in the lake and in the evening – wash your legs again with warm water. Wash your legs and do not fear. It will do you good to make partial baths of your body; sometimes they are better than the baths of the whole body. As a rule, Nature loves variety. The German doctor Loui Kuhne, has grasped this law and recommends sitting baths to weak, sick people, i.e. washing only half of the body, while the other half remains dry. For instance, if one day a man washes the upper part of his body to the waist, the other part, the lower, should remain dry; on the following day he will wash the lower part of his body from the waist on, and the upper one will remain dry; or, if in the morning the man has washed his face, at lunchtime he can wet a little the back of his head. In this way, he will induce proper circulation in the body. One who knows how to wash his hands, by washing his hands will influence positively his legs and vice versa – the legs, if properly washed, will influence the hands. Keep in mind as well that while washing your legs you should be in no hurry to wash them at once – washing fast shows poor understanding of the law. Dip your legs in the water and remain in that position for a while – meanwhile, in your mind’s eye, wash your legs until you feel some pleasure, a certain reaction in your hands; then slowly start washing your legs. When you wash so, the forces in your organism distribute regularly. The moment you feel the instigation of a reaction in your organism, you can start washing all the parts of your body, one by one. Only in this way you can stimulate the balance of the energies in your organism. Very often, people suffer harmful effects from baths, but only because they do not know how to use them. Let’s say, someone takes a warm bath first and a cold shower next. Such contrasting impacts over the body are not fit for the ordinary man, they become only gods. If you are not inured to contrasting temperatures, take warm baths only and let the energies of warmth act on your body. The cold showers you find in Nature are good, but only under certain conditions. Someone says, "I take cold baths to become strong." But meanwhile, until you get strong, the contrasting changes will cause various reactions of stiffening in the body, and as a result the organism will accumulate excessive electricity, which is difficult to cope with. Speaking about cold baths, I would recommend to everyone rain baths – especially in the months of May, June, July and not later than the first half of August: the raindrops during these months are warm and abound in electricity and magnetism. I do not recommend you to take rain baths in the rest of the months. When you cannot take rain baths, it is advisable to bath in water, heated at the most to thirty-five or forty degrees – a temperature that approaches the natural body temperature. Such is the temperature of the majority of the natural springs. Above that temperature water exerts a force of extension, which is not pleasant to the body. It is advisable to bathe in rain water through some fine piece of clothing, and not directly on the body. By such a bath the drops of rain acquire specific energy that has a favourable effect on the organism. Take the animals as an example – Nature has clothed them in special attire and through it the raindrops do their job very appropriately. Their clothes guard them against the unfavourable conditions of life – through their fur they take in the energies Nature provides and uses them properly. Therefore, men should keep his body impeccably clean. One has to make numerous experiments until he finds the proper and positive manner of washing one’s hands, face, legs and the all other parts of the body. There exist many methods of proper body washing, but it is the task of everybody to find the one only, which suits his individual needs. In that respect, I have made a number of experiments and have come to positive results. You, too, should make experiments until you reach the one result, specific to you only. I will give you some advice, do not take cold showers; do not on any occasion wash your legs in cold water, especially if you have just had a meal. A person we all know had his meal on a hot summer day; afterwards he washed his legs in cold water and took a short nap. This washing caused an extensive outflow of body energy and as a result his condition became so critical that we spent a great effort bringing him back to the world of the living. Before having a bath, man should take into account his state of spirit – he should be perfectly free and disposed in spirit; he should forget all his difficulties and troubles. Then, the bath will bring great pleasure to him as well as gratitude to the warm water – such a bath is the utmost good for man. The same law applies to eating and sleeping – man should eat and sleep in the utmost disposition of his spirit. Man should be the master of his life under all conditions. You say, "Man has to beware of winds and draughts, or he will catch a cold." Yes, it is true that man has to beware and not expose himself to strong, powerful winds, but there is one pleasant, soft wind he should not hide himself from. This particular wind induces great pleasure within man; I call this wind the breathing of God. Those beings from the Invisible World who love us send this soft and pleasant wind to tenderly breathe out on us. Yet, there exist strong and powerful winds, warm currents that can harm man by extracting the moisture of his body. Such warm currents sometimes occur during the day and at other times during the night. The soft winds are especially pleasant for air baths – man can expose himself to them without any fear. Nowadays, people all over Europe take such air baths but rarely obtain good results because they do not know how and when to take them. When man becomes aware of the proper method for taking air baths, he will understand the law that guides his thoughts. At the same time, he will learn the law according to which he will correctly schedule his daily work – he will know what to do in the morning, what to do in the afternoon, and what to do in the evening. Modern people live in a great chaos – they do not know how to plan their work and as a result spend a lot of energy to accomplish poor results. If you want to work efficiently, the moment you wake up and you are still lying in your bed, thank God for everything He has given to you. You will ask, "Where is God?" God is in the Sun, in the sky, in the Earth, in the water, in the air, in the wind, in the rocks, in the plants, in the animals, in men – God is everywhere. There is nothing in this world in which God is not – everything inside us and outside us; everything that surrounds us represents a background of the picture of which God is the great painter. He wants to put us to test; to check our understanding of everything. If I look at Nature and understand it, I already know that behind me, above me and all around me – everywhere is God. I feel joy for everything He has created and when I think about God – he is in front of me; the moment I stop thinking about God, he is behind me. Therefore, when God is before you, you will be in one condition; when He is behind you, you will be in another condition. Which of the two conditions is the better one? The better one is when God is before you. Imagine the following situation: you are in the forest, alone, you have lost your way and you do not know which way to go, and suddenly you see a man before you – you are happy that there is someone to show you the way. Last night, a sister went for a short walk and found herself away from the camp. On realizing she was alone, she started to shout and pray, but no one called back. Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps, turned around and saw a brother. It did not matter to her who this brother was and what his name is – she was happy she met someone close to accompany her on her walk back to the camp. She shouted and prayed without even supposing that God is behind her. In this case, in the face of this brother she saw God. Very often, men experience such situations in their Life. For instance, someone is in a difficult or even desperate situation and does not know what to do, and all of a sudden another man turns up from behind his back and says, "Do not worry, it’s me." At first, the man is startled but then sees that the other man is his friend and has come to deliver him from the difficult situation he has found himself in – this is a manifestation of the Love of God. So, even in the hardest trials, sufferings, and difficulties that come upon man, God will appear in one form or another to give comfort, to give help. I say, we have come here to learn the acts of God, to see what God has done, and after that we shall meet Him and talk with Him for a while. If you tell someone who does not belong to our circle that you have talked to God, what will he think about you? Should you tell people who do not understand you what you have seen and who you have talked to? If I happen to meet the artist whose pictures I have seen, I am going to tell him, "I am happy I saw your pictures, I like them very much." Should I tell someone who does not understand art about the pictures of this artist? Shall I tell a man who does not love excursions and does not go to the mountain why I go on excursions to the mountains? No matter what I say, he will not understand. But if I tell this man that somewhere in the mountain there is a huge amount of gold buried in the ground; well, he will immediately understand what I say. No matter how much he dislikes excursions, and in spite of the fact that he has never been to the mountains – he will immediately get ready and set off – the desire to find the buried gold will give him the strength to walk even the hardest route. One day, I mentioned to some of my friends that in many places in Rila there is gold. They all said at once, "Tell us where in Rila we can find gold, because we can’t stand poverty anymore." I say, in many places in Rila, where no man has ever set his foot you can find this essential, vital element that the ancient alchemists had been searching for in their time. It is enough for a man to step on the spot where this element is to be found, and he will immediately rejuvenate. If he was old – he becomes young; if his beard had grown white and thin, it will become black and thick in an instant; if his hair had grown white, it will become black in an instant. Looking at himself, man will wonder how this transformation took place. If someone spends a certain time in the Rila Wilderness and returns among his friends so transformed and rejuvenated, what will they say about him and will they believe his story? No one will believe, they will all ask, "Who are you, we haven’t met you." No matter how much he tries to convince them that he is the same man, their old friend, they will not believe him. Apostle Paul says, "We shall not die, but we shall change"5. It means that you should all change to the extent that no one will recognize you. Some day you will stand on such a place and this will be the moment when a new age will set in for you and in your life. It is the kind of place once Moses set his foot on and God said to him, "Take off your shoes, for the place you are standing on is holy ground."6 From that moment on Moses became strong, powerful, and able to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. Still, it took Moses a long time to decide whether to undertake this task or not. Ever since God started talking to him, he became a meek man. Moses was a learned man, but he did not have the courage to accept the work that God sent him to and said, "God, this work is difficult for me to do; I am not prepared to put myself through such trials; I am stuttering; please send someone else to this duty." God said to him, "I assign this mission to you as it was you who set his foot on holy ground." And what God said, was done. Moses’ stuttering shows that he was a timid man. He was not stuttering until he killed the Egyptian. Man starts to stutter after a serious fright. Moses had no right to kill, because he was a member of the White Brotherhood and there was a severe punishment for a brother who had killed. To make up for this sin, Moses had, for a period of forty long years, to tend to sheep in the desert; then, he had to get married, so that the killed Egyptian could reincarnate through him. As you see, there is severe compensation for each sin – a long time will pass in grazing sheep before a man is discharged from his sins. You say, "Moses is quite a different matter, but we are in a difficult situation." The situation Moses was in wasn’t easy, either – a learned man like him, famous in all Egypt, had to graze sheep for forty years to be redeemed of his sins. He needed great meekness and patience to do so, but in this way Moses was studying the ways of God. One day God appeared before him in the desert and said, "I heard the suffering and wails of my people; and because of that you will go and save it from Egyptian bondage." The life of Moses is the history of trials men undergo. Every man should pass through these trials so that he could one day, when God appears before him, know what to do. God appears before man only to send him to work. And whatever day God sends him to work, man should be prepared. At first, man can hesitate for a while, but afterwards will become strong, undertake the assigned work and do it to a good end. God appeared before Jonah and sent him to Nineveh to preach penitence to the citizens of this town – because otherwise they would all perish. Jonah didn’t take on this work, but sailed by ship to Spain. When he got on the ship and set off to Spain, a sea storm rose and they threw Jonah overboard into the sea, where a big fish swallowed him, and in this fish’s belly he spent three days and three nights. When the fish finally realized the mistake it had made, it threw him on the sea shore. When Jonah saw himself out of the fish’s belly, he turned to God with the following words, "Please, God, forgive me, I am ready to do any work you send me to!" God asked, "Will you go and preach now?" – "I will go, God, any place you send me to." And he went to Nineveh to preach to the people to repent, because otherwise they were to perish within forty days. After that, he mounted to a high place to see whether the word of God will be done. When he saw that the word of God was not done, he said, "I knew that it will happen like that. God is putting me through a severe trial, now everybody will say about me, here is a big liar!" Then, God asked, "How do you think, shouldn’t I give mercy to those people, who – from king to last – humbled and repent?" Then, God taught him a good lesson. Jonah had built a booth for himself, and to deliver him from his grief, God arranged a gourd to keep him out of the sun. But, in the morning, a worm overran the gourd. It withered and Jonah was again in the sun, without a shadow to hide in. He turned to God with the words, "God, You sent me to preach and deliver your word to the people of Nineveh, but it did not come true; You gave me a gourd – but you took it back; You should have let me keep at least this gourd." And he felt sorry for the gourd. God asked him, "If you feel sorry for a gourd you did not labour for; should I not have felt pity and spared a whole people, which repent?" I say, the ways of God are glorious and unfathomable. If we want to learn the ways of God, we should not fear like Moses or Jonah. We should follow no matter whether the word of God has been fulfilled only after we preach in Nineveh; should we grumble before God, if God gave us a gourd and the gourd withers; should we, like Moses, renounce the work God gives to us just because we stutter? God asked Moses, "Who made the eloquent speaker? What's more, you know why you are stuttering." Now you, like Moses, are reluctant to leave your sheep and go to set your people free. When God appeared to Moses, he was 80 years old and thought, "How is it possible for a man that age to undertake such a hard task, to set his people free? I should graze my sheep, like I always did. What is more, I stutter; I’m not an eloquent speaker." God said to him, "Take this work and everything else will come out right – I shall call your brother Aaron to help you. Take your rod, i.e. your knowledge; leave your sheep and go." Moses’ sheep represent the people of Israel. God said to Moses, "For as long as you were a shepherd, for the same number of years you will lead the people of Israel in the desert, and there you will take care of living sheep." On one occasion Moses turned to God with the words, "God, the sheep you gave me, they almost killed me with stones." I say, like Moses, you used to be shepherds, you grazed sheep in the desert, but from now on you will graze living sheep. Through all the time the Jews were in the desert an Angel of God constantly followed them and told them what to do. From his stay in the desert, Moses acquired new learning and passed his exam, and as a consequence settled his karma. On completing his work, he left the Jewish people in the hands of his substitute and continued his way to the Land of Canaan. So, the new way you are going towards now is the way of learning. Whatever happens in man’s life is determined by God and everything is in its place. The first thing required from you all, who have come on an excursion to Rila, is Absolute Cleanliness – physical cleanliness, cleanliness of the heart, and cleanliness of the mind. What I mean is that you have to analyse every single thought, every single want, and every single act in you, and recognize which is animal, which is human, and which is Divine. Then, man should separate them from one another, as they separate metal from admixtures or elements that metal is compounded with, and lastly, having separated and classified all wants according to their place, let man select among them and take only the Divine. There are wants man does not need – those he will let go of; there are wants he needs – those he will use as a building material for the erection of the Holy building. The second thing you need to do is get up early and not be idle. Once you have come here, you will all sing together, work together, pray together, and so forth. Do not think that you will do a mountain of work if you stay on your own. You can be on your own even in the midst of civilization, as seclusion is not an external process. Imagine that someone is steering a ship in the midst of the stormy sea, what does his safe arrival at a given destination depend on? - On his intelligence, on his skill to steer. However, he will not spend all his life on the ship – the ship is a place of seclusion. Hence, man’s seclusion is temporary and cannot last a lifetime. Seclusion is a condition that puts man to trial – once he has passed the trial, seclusion comes to an end. After that, he has to go out into the world, among the people, and work with men and for men, being aware that all souls are one, as all souls have come from God. It’s a privilege for man to communicate with a soul, a plant, an animal, or water, or air, or rocks, and etc. – Why? – Because everything has been created by God. Therefore, the one who does not have this outlook will remain with his elementary education. The secondary and higher levels of education begin with a deep understanding of Life. Whoever has such education can see perfect order everywhere in Life. Without this outlook man sees the world in disorder, but even that state constitutes subject education. All rocks around us are in disorder – they are waiting for someone to come from the outside to put them in order – they are the material people work with. Now all mountains on the Balkan Peninsula undergo a certain lowering down and in several thousand years will turn into valleys, into fields. New mountains will appear in the place of the fields of today. So, today’s mountains will turn into valleys, into fields, and today’s fields – into mountains. Or, in other words, the soil that used to be under water will emerge above water and turn into fields for cultivation, and the ones that used to be over the water will go under the water. This means, that the high places in our country that have never been cultivated will lower down and become valleys and fields where wheat, corn, and various fruits will grow. Then, people’s life will become better. It is cited by the Scriptures, too, "The Mountains will lower down," i.e. the conditions unfavourable for Life will become favourable. Now, when I am delivering this lecture to you, the following example comes to my mind: an ardent evangelist had a small child, and this child would often ask its father to take it to church to see how people pray. The father refused the child’s request, thinking that it was too young to be taken to church, but the child kept insisting. At last, the father agreed and took the child to church. Their preacher was in the habit of remaining on his knees in the course of the prayer and the sermon, and so did the congregation. The father said to the child, "You, too, have to stay on your knees." The child obeyed its father and kneeled down. After half an hour in that position, the child got tired and asked its father, "Daddy, how long are we going to stay on our knees?" The father said, "Be patient, the preacher is still in the desert. He has to exit the desert first, then go through the Old Testament from the beginning to the end and finally advance into the New Testament. It will take him a long time to do that." The preacher usually started with Genesis and ended with Revelation, and the child, having stayed for so long on its knees, said to its father, "Daddy, I am very tired, maybe I will not come to church the second time." Now, when I am talking to you, you also may be thinking, "It’s a very difficult matter, we have to think it over and see if we can make it." This child had to stay on its knees for only fifteen minutes and after that had to sit on a chair to listen to what the preacher was saying. I say, each Truth that can be applied in Life has a form that corresponds to man’s state of the mind; the heart and the will – therefore, everyone will apply it according to his abilities and views. You say, "And what if we make a mistake?" It is better if you apply the Truth first and then have your say, if you make a mistake. Imagine that someone you know meets you and asks you to tell him something about God – what are you going to tell him first? Here is what you should do, every time you go out of town, you should always carry with you a bag full of apples, pears, plums, peaches, and so on. When someone asks you to tell him something about God, take an apple out of your bag and say, "Here you are. What do you feel?" He takes the pear, but again asks you to tell him something about God. Go on; continue taking more and more fruits out of your bag, till he stops asking. Then, on parting, say to him, "When we meet the second time, we will talk again." This man is puzzled, later he meets a friend and says to him, "How strange – a little while ago I met someone I know, a very strange person – I asked him to tell me something about God, but without saying anything he took an excellent apple out of a bag and gave it to me; I ate the apple and repeated my question – and he gave me an excellent pear, and I ate the pear. Every time I asked him something about God, he gave me a fruit without replying. Finally, when I stopped asking, he closed his bag and said to me; we will talk a second time. What do you think about this man?" – "He is putting you to some sort of a test." – "He might be." So, I am giving you the same task – every one of you should carry a bag full of fruit, so that if someone asks you to tell him something about God you may offer one of the fruits you carry. If you do not want to carry a bag full of fruit, you may carry a pouch of golden coins - to give to everyone who may ask you about God. But this method of preaching is very expensive – only the millionaires can preach like that; the first method is for you – to preach with fruit. That is why all of you should have a bag full of all kinds of fruit of the best quality. When you carry this bag, there will be fruit for you and for your neighbours. Is there a more practical and more real method for preaching? And then, the verse that the lamb, the wolf, and the snake will feed together, and will hurt no one, will come true. July 14, 1931. 8 a.m. 1 John 6:51 2 Anchialo, now Pomorie: a town in South-East Bulgaria, situated on the Black sea coast, a Famous spa resort 3 Isaiah, 65:25 4 Elena – a town situated in the North Central region of Bulgaria 5 We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51 6 Take off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’ Exodus 3:5 Source

Note 5 Simon Peter “And Simon Peter answered and said: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” Matthew 16:16 ”You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Besides outer sense, life has an inner one as well; that is why man should know from where to begin. When a pupil wants to study at a school, either a secondary school or a university, what should he do for this purpose? First, that pupil should hand in an application to the respective school to be considered. His application should be accompanied by documents showing what school and with what results the pupil has finished. The second situation the pupil is faced with is to wait for the day when the professors will meet to consider his application. The third and most anxious situation is to receive an answer whether he has been accepted or not. Now, the three talks I held today represent the situations that the pupil will be faced with until he is accepted by the school. The morning talk represents the handing in of the application and the documents of the pupil; the second talk represents the meeting of the professors in order to consider the application and the documents of the pupil; the third talk, the present one, represents the reply of the professors that the pupil has been accepted by the university. What should the student do after that? The student should begin to study. I say: your situation is similar to that of the student already being accepted by the university. He has handed in his application and documents, has been accepted and now nothing remains but to study. And you, too, are now going to study only without explaining to the people that you are disciples. The diploma you have from the lower school was only necessary until you were accepted by a higher one. If you had not been accepted by the higher school your diploma itself would not be of great importance. And now, if the pupil does not study he cannot improve himself; if he studies he will improve himself. If the pupil does not study, his professors will expel him from the school and he will finish the course of his studying prematurely. In this case, he will also receive a diploma but it will be similar to a pear that has prematurely ripened and fallen to the ground. Falling, however, is an unnatural process. In the present life, a danger exists that people should keep away from. For example, they want to acquire fresh emotions, fresh thoughts, fresh learning in order only to enjoy themselves but in the end they fall into the position of loaded camels. People should assimilate all acquired, should develop it in order to avoid any stratifications. If such stratifications appear they should free themselves from them. Seeing the dangerous situation people get into and not being able to help themselves, Nature says: “That’s enough!” and sets a limit. When someone is hungry, unsatisfied, this shows that he has handed in his application and documents to the professors’ staff and is waiting for their reply. When someone begins eating, this shows that he has already received the favourable reply of the professors’ staff for his acceptance to the university. As soon as man finishes his meal the process of thinking comes, i.e. the distribution of the food all over the organism. Someone says, “I had a good meal, I will not think of eating anymore.” No, after four or five hours you will get hungry again and will begin thinking about eating again – you will have to hand in your application and documents and to wait for the reply of the professors’ staff. A single handing in of an application and documents is not all – every morning you will hand in your application and diploma and will wait for a reply. This is what you will do every day until you finish the school course. If every day you do not do it in this way your life will be made senseless, there will be no connection between the states you experience every day. I ask, “What is the difference between the lives of a young person and an old person?” The life of the young one could be compared to a lighthouse, placed in the sea to light up, to direct the movement of ships to the harbour. The life of the old one is similar to the life and the duties of a lamplighter – his duty is to clean the lighthouse every day, to provide fuelling in order to light it when needed. So, the young and the old differ in the duties they fulfil: the function of the young is one, while of the old is another. While you are young your concern will be to light up, to show the way to ships; when you are old your concern will be to clean the lighthouse every day, to set it in order and to push the button to light it when the time comes. One who understands Life in this way makes life worth living. Then the old one will say, “I have grown old already, i.e. I stopped lighting up but instead my duty is to clean the lighthouse and to light it.” The young will say, “I have only one task – to light up!” Someone, old or young, says, “I live well.” What is understood by a good life? That means: I, as a young person, do light up, i.e. my lighthouse is always lit up; or I, as an old person do clean my lighthouse well. Someone says, “I do not live well.” That means: I, as a young person, do not light up or I, as an old person do not clean my lighthouse well – that means that both the young and the old have got into trouble in their lives. Youth and old age are two states that one experiences at the same time. This is understood in the way that one will light up but at the same time will have the duty to clean his lighthouse. In other words, one who lights up serves people at the same time. I ask, what is understood by the words “You are a Son of the living God”? This shows a degree of consciousness. Therefore, everyone should realize that from the position he is at a given moment, he can grow and develop until a day comes to be called God’s Son. What is understood by the word day? These are the opportunities that lie in a day. Saying night we understand the opportunities that lie in a night. The words health, wealth, intelligence, goodness, beauty, wisdom, love, truth are a number of opportunities that are held in these terms. Each of these words expresses forces, worlds in which one can grow and develop. For example, saying the word love you already have at your disposal the opportunities of a great world – these opportunities give conditions for you to grow and develop. And then, if you are a disciple, everyone you get in touch with will do you a favour: you enter a university – all students, all professors will be at your disposal. If it is true on the Earth then how much more so is it true in the Divine world, which is governed by absolute perfection and everything is in complete order and discipline. Many are afraid of the work they are faced with, and say, “I cannot be God’s Son.” To say that you cannot be God’s Sons is the same as to say that you cannot learn. If you are a pupil at a school, will you be unable to learn? To say that you cannot learn is equivalent to renouncing your Life. Only the one who learns lives and vice versa - only the one who lives learns. Someone says, “I have already lived so many years on the Earth and have not achieved anything yet.” This thought is not correct, what do you want to achieve? What do you want to achieve when sitting down to take your lunch; how is the achievement expressed – in the quantity of the food or in the way it is taken, digested, and used? One may eat ten kilograms of bread or one hundred grams only and may have the same result in both cases. Therefore, the true achievement is in that the food taken in by the organism is digested, converted into a dynamic force, and becomes flesh and blood in man. Under the words flesh and blood we understand an organization of forces. As soon as the forces in man get organized, he becomes powerful, strong; until the forces in man are not organized he is weak, he needs someone else’s help. Now, if I had been looking on things in a human way I would not have had to speak this evening. But in the Divine world this matter is placed in another way, everything is used wisely there. For example, if someone has come to the situation of being God’s Son, he may speak somewhere in his room and at the same time may be heard by all the grass, the flowers and the animals, as well as by a million other people. So, by saying that he cannot do anything himself one does not understand the law. If one has a sacred idea in himself, it is not possible that this idea will not be perceived by thousands of other people. What do some people do nowadays? They say, “We have great ideas in ourselves but we do not want to entrust them to anyone because they will not comprehend them.” No, do speak out about your idea and do not think further about who will comprehend it, and who will not comprehend it – thousands of people will hear and perceive your idea. I will give you an example to see how ideas are transmitted. In antiquity, there was a king who committed a number of crimes and as a punishment God put on his head two horns to always keep him awake in order to keep in mind his crimes. The king carefully hid the horns from the people, and for this purpose in most cases, he wore a hat on his head. When a barber was called to serve him, the king ordered that the barber be beheaded after finishing the work so as not to reveal to anyone the secret that the king had horns. One day a young barber was called to the palace but knowing what he was in for he told the king after finishing his work, “Happy King, take pity on me and do not behead me! I promise that I will not reveal the secret to anyone and will serve you as you want.” The king took pity on him and let him go taking into consideration his promise. The barber went out of the palace free, joyful that his life had been granted. He kept the secret of the king for a long time but at one time, he felt that he was deeply tormented with something from within – he was not able to keep the secret to himself anymore. What to do, how could he free himself from this torment, to tell someone – his head would be taken. One day he went to a forest where a bright idea came into his mind – to make a hole under a tree and to speak in it quietly, “Our king has horns.” He did as he had thought of. After a time a shepherd cut a twig from the tree under which the barber had made the hole and made a whistle. What the surprise of the shepherd was when his whistle sang, “Our king has horns.” And so, if you have a certain thought in you do not be afraid whether it will be realized or not. Do speak it out, share it and it will spread through space. Thoughts spoken out by people thousands of years ago have begun their realization only nowadays. What the prophets have said in the past or what Christ has said in the past begins its realization only nowadays – such is the Divine law. In such a case, each one is important as much as he is a bearer of Divine ideas. He is a member of the Divine organism as man’s arm is a member of his body. For example, the arm neither generates the ideas nor generates the Good but it is a mediator in doing any good. After the mediation of the arm in the Good, it is worthy to be thanked. However, if the arm is separated from the body then it loses the conditions to be mediator in transmitting the Good that one plans. I say, you should comprehend the inner power of things. This power lies not in the old understanding but in the new one. When God created the world He drew the wheel and put it in motion. The wheel began boasting, telling everyone that God had made it. After that, God asked the wheel, “What do you want to be given now?” – “I want to be given an axle in order to become a grindstone to grind people. Besides people, I want to grind all the knives in the world to know that I can do work too. And the knives that are being ground on me can do work too.” All knives that had been ground on the grindstone came to thank it that they could be of use. Not long after that, the knives got discontented with the grindstone because heads of people began to be chopped off by them – one day someone’s throat was cut, another day – someone else's until at last people complained to God that their heads were falling down from the shoulders. And so, modern people want to grind their knives on the grindstone. What are these knives? The knives represent human tongues. Therefore, the grindstone that grinds the knives of people grinds at the same time the tongues of people. Being ground in this way, the human tongue ground the minds of people and in a moment this sharp knife began cutting this one and that one until all people began complaining about it. Then God called the wheel and asked it, “What did you do to cause so many complaints against you?” The wheel replied, “God, I taught my lesson very well but they did not comprehend me.” And really, God had made the grindstone for the good of people, but not comprehending Him they used it for harm. Seeing that the lesson He taught the wheel was used for harm God set the wheel to work in the cart and turned the knife into an axle of the wheel. So, all knives will be turned into axles and all wheels will be turned into carts to carry people. Only in this way the world will be put to rights. After that God told the wheel, “Now I will teach you another lesson – how to move from one place to another.” In the past man was sitting from below but his affairs were not going forward; now he will be sitting above the cart. As soon as the sensible man gets on and puts the horses to the car, all his things will be settled. In the past man had ground knives but now, being a master he has converted the knife into an axle of a wheel in order to turn, to do work. He has put the wheel in the cart, has harnessed the horses to pull the cart and has got on it to drive. Till now you have been satisfied with one wheel only but now dozens of wheels are needed to turn. The wheels represent the abilities in man. And now, if one follows this way of thinking he will come to a right solution of matters. As far as one thinks rightly he will be able to influence himself in the right way. As soon as one thinks, he will be able to curb his tongue. What is the sense in saying some bitter or insulting words to someone? That person will get sharp as a razor against you. So, before saying insulting words to someone do think which is better: to let that one correct himself or to sharpen him like a razor with your untimely, insulting words? You ask, “What should be done when someone provokes me?” I will give you an example by which you may learn a lesson in what to do in such cases. Two people were walking in the street. The one was a poor, old man bent and with a stick in his hand; the other was also an old, bent man but a rich one; he was walking with dignity, carrying weight, like an aristocrat. A child passed the poor old man, bent down, took a stone from the ground, and threw it behind the old man. He turned to the child and said kindly, inoffensively, “Come to me, sonny. Till now I have not known why children throw stones behind me, but now I understood; you gave me an excellent lesson. Here I have forty leva[1] in my pocket, take it to buy something.” The same child passed the rich old man, took a stone, and threw it behind him. The old man turned to the child angrily and said, “Come to me so that I can give you something.” The child came nearer to the old man and he gave the child some slaps. The poor old man realized why the child had thrown a stone at him and thanked him; the rich one did not realize and punished the child. The child, on his part, contradicted himself too – he did not realize why the poor old man thanked him and gave him some money; also, he did not realize why the rich one punished him for his deed. Both the old man and the child learnt something. You say, “It is a foolish thing; why had the old man thanked the child that had thrown a stone at him?” I say, modern people make the same mistakes as the child does. You are in the position of a child and you go to dispute with a philosopher who knows many things; but that philosopher is a high-minded person, he does not say anything but thanks you for the lesson you give him. In the second case, you read the book of a philosopher, you oppose him and write your opinion in a newspaper, or in a review; that philosopher meets you, fetches some sticks for you, and passes. No, having read the book of that philosopher, do write, “The book of that philosopher is excellent. He should write another one – more serious, stricter than the first one.” So does Nature: it gives evil an opportunity to show itself to its utmost limit in order to be cured. Evil cannot be cured in its beginning – while in the beginning it can be only used as a labour force. Therefore evil can be used in the beginning while Good – in the end. That means, at the end of evil is the beginning of Good and at the end of Good is the beginning of evil. Such are the relations between Good and evil in the physical world. You say, “What will happen with us?” As soon as you stop living bad Good will come; as soon as you stop living well evil will come. Once you begin with Good you will acquire happiness, wealth, health, friends; Peace will come to your soul and Light – to your mind. Once you lose this state the opposite process will come – then you will say that both God and people have forgotten you. But no, the matter stands differently – you have made a deviation or an error in your life and as a result these misfortunes come. Small deviations cause great consequences. In the Old Testament there is a talk about a prophet sent by God to king Jeroboam to pass him God’s Word. And the king told God’s man: - Come with me to my house and take your lunch and I will offer you a gift. God’s man told the king: - I do not want because I was ordered through God’s Word neither to eat any bread nor to drink any water or to go back the same way I came. And an old prophet overtook him on the way and told him: - Come with me to my house to eat some bread! - I cannot because I was ordered neither to eat any bread nor to drink any water or to go back the same way I came. - I am a prophet, too, as you are. And an Angel spoke to me through God’s Word and said: “Make him come back to your home to eat some bread and to drink some water.” He lied. And the prophet went back with him, ate some bread at his home and drunk some water. And God told him: - Because you did not listen to My voice and did not obey My order, your body will not be put into the grave of your forefathers. And God’s man went away but a lion came across him on the way and killed him. I say, whatever the old prophet says to you do not turn off your way; if he invites you to his home do tell him that you will come some other time. Do God’s Will as you have been ordered and next time when passing this place call in at the house of the old prophet to have a talk with him. First do your job with the king as you have been ordered. If you do not do God’s Will as it should be done, thus you break your connection with God. It is a law: once you begin a good deed you should do it as you have been told. If some new plan comes to your mind keep the first one; when you finish your work look at the new plan. If you do not do God’s Will as you have been ordered, a lion will overtake you on the way and will kill you. This is the right philosophy of Life. Someone has already started along the Way – God directs him, but he is met and told, “You are not in the right way.” These are words of the old prophet, do not believe in these words – you are already in the Way. Once you listen to the old prophet a lion will strangle you on the way. Go forward and rely on the One Who has directed you up to now. You say, “We want to go into the world to study.” You do not need to go to the world to study – the world is created as a field for work, as a theatre. For you it is enough to go there for a while, to see how people live there, to learn from them and to come back. You see on the scene particular sights – water, forests, mountains, seas, but are they all real? Then you see how the actors have their meals, but are they real? These are sights only, temporary states which do not correspond to reality. What will you acquire from these unreal things? Real is only what you can do for God today – it gives strength, power to move, to live, to enjoy God’s earth. Now, for five minutes we will concentrate to send an elevated thought all over the world. If this thought falls into the right place, it is able to make an effect greater than the work we would have done in all our born days. It is a law: if someone works intensively for one hour, his work will be equal to the work done by someone working all day by small efforts; in both cases the pay will be the same. One who expects that he will receive more if he works the whole day is wrong – the Invisible world has another estimation measure. One hour of work may be compared to a whole day’s work – why? Because good work is determined by the zeal, by the intensity and not by the time spent. Someone may work all day but be angry that he is sunburnt, tired, and so on. The amount of time, no matter how much it is, does not determine the worth of the work. You may grind knives all your life not acquiring anything in the end – by this work you have got into a number of troubles. For example, you tell someone, “Listen, you must not express your opinion so freely, be more careful, try to put your affairs on the earth in order – build a house, buy a vineyard, a cornfield!” I ask, what base do you lay in the life of that person? You grind him; you make him sharp as a knife. A good deed, good advice, good thoughts are known by their fruits. In confirmation of the last thought, I will give you the following example. A saint often passed a stone-cutter cutting stones. The saint used to stop by him to have a talk, to ask about his situation. The stone-cutter complained of being in a very hard situation, he could hardly provide the daily bread; and his wife, his children and he himself were forced to be poverty-stricken. The saint sympathized with him and for that reason, he always prayed to God to help that stone-cutter somehow, to improve his situation. Finally the prayer of the saint was accepted and the stone-cutter grew rich in a way. How surprised the saint was when the stone-cutter stopped cutting stones, forgot God, forgot his home, forgot his friends and embarked on an easy life. Only then the saint realized that he did a kindness inopportunely and untimely. I say, Love is the only and the greatest opportunity in which the true Life begins. In this Life man can do everything. There are no exclusions in the law of Love: if you begin a job with Love, it will certainly be successful – the world may turn upside down but this work will be finished successfully. Both storms may arise and a deluge may happen but in the end Love will win. Wasn’t Christ examined in the same way? He was put on the cross where Satan was telling him, “You wanted to put the world to rights but could not; others, too, tried prior to You. I wanted to give You the power to rule over all worlds if only You made a bow to me but You did not agree. Now You will stay crucified and I will show You who I am. Crimes will be committed in Your name and You will look at all that.” Christ sighed, raised His eyes to God, and said, “God, why did You leave Me?” But right after that, he looked at Satan and said, “I can see now who you are and what you can do but later you will see who I am and what I can do.” And really, Christ was resurrected thus showing people what He could do. He endured all sufferings and after that said, “I was given every power in the Heaven and on the Earth. Go and preach; I will be with you forever!” I say, a lesson should be learnt from the sufferings of Christ. Everyone will be put in the pillory and he will have to withstand it. Then Satan will ask you as well, “Do you know who I am and what I can do?” You will answer him, “I know what you can do, but you will also see what I can do!” You ask, “Will be there sufferings for us?” For those who have not suffered there will be sufferings; while for those who have withstood the sufferings through there will be no more sufferings. Strange are the people asking whether they will suffer or not! Is it possible for a pupil to go up a form or to pass an entire course without studying? You will study four years at an elementary school, three years – at a junior high school, five years – at a high school and four years – at a university until you finish the course of education. Can a four-year old child do the work of a young man of twenty-five years old? The growth and development of people is a long process; they learn from the earliest age till maturity. Although the consciousness of a small child is in a sleeping state, its Spirit is unsleeping and the child takes in and learns from it. Man studies at three schools simultaneously: the body studies on the Earth – all living cells in the organism do a certain service, but along with this they study; the soul studies in the Spiritual world; the Spirit studies in the Divine world. So, man studies at three universities at the same time. If you do not comprehend the deep sense of Life you will say, “We come into the world, live and die.” What does the word death mean, why are people afraid of death? Death represents the greatest limitations in Life. Why do people enjoy Life? Life comprises in itself the most favourable conditions for growth and development – it bears the greatest treasures, the greatest Freedom which man cannot imagine. One who knows that should not use his Life as a grindstone. And so, the young should light up, should be lit lighthouses. They should not want to become old because they will go out. Many old people have left their lighthouses, have become wise men prematurely. Every old man should have a lighthouse to take care of. There are as many young people as lit lighthouses; there are as many old people as lamplighters. If there is one young person more than the number of the lighthouses, which are lit up; and if there is one old man more than the number of the lamps they take care of, things in the world will not be going correctly. With each young man there should be an old man and with each old man there should be a young man. In this respect, I compare these things in the following analogy: the soul is the lighthouse that lights up; the Spirit is the lamplighter that takes care of the soul to light up. If someone says that the soul does not exist, it is understood that his lighthouse has gone out; if someone says that the Spirit exists but the soul does not exist, it is understood that the lamplighter is in his place but the lighthouse does not operate. In that sense these terms are strictly determined. Someone says, “My Spirit has fainted.” – That means that the lamplighter who cleans and lights the lighthouse is absent. One should have a lighthouse but should have a lamplighter at his disposal as well. Today the Ninth youth council was opened. Why do people collect? The most beautiful thing in Life is collecting. The opposite process of collecting is taking away, which in Life is called scattering as well. When there is no intelligence in the taking away, then there is scattering. And collecting has sense when man collects Good in him. The number 9 in the Ninth council means making a report on what has been done so far in the years passed. The previous councils have been taking place in Sofia; therefore, many people thought that there would not be a council this year. In past years, music features and recitations had been prepared by brothers and sisters; but here, too, some music features were performed without any preparations from your side. Today in the morning, on the occasion of opening the council, an orchestra with people from outside arrived from the country with mandolins and guitars and played with love, without any reward. They came as delegates sent by the Invisible world to replace our brothers and sisters from the country who used to come to the council. This shows that there is a close bond between all phenomena in Life. God runs all affairs, He opens and closes the councils – everything happens by His Will. You cannot imagine that the council can take place in the Rila Mountain without any music, without any particular preparations. When I told you that this year there will not be a council I wanted to call your attention to the fact that the council will not be held in the usual way which you know but will be held in quite a special way. This year’s council was open today on St. Peter’s day, while in the past years it had finished on this day. In the proverb about the sower Christ says, “Another one fell in good ground and gave fruit: one – a hundred, another – sixty and another – thirty.” So, the first seed fell on the road and the birds ate it up. The road represents the physical life which is transient, passing – nothing can be expected from it. Other seeds fell among thorn-bushes and in stony places where they soon grew but could not bear any fruit – those conditions represent the Spiritual world. And finally, one seed fell in good ground and bore fruit – thirty, sixty and a hundred; so real fruits should be expected from the Divine world. “You are a Son of the living God.” When Peter told Christ that He was a Son of the living God he meant the force hidden in Christ. Hence, Peter made a parallel between God and Christ and found that Christ was God’s Son. And if people believe in God they will see that the Earth they live on is an opportunity for them. When the Sun, the stars, and the moon rise, they represent delegates sent by God. When you meet good people they, too, are delegates, messengers of God. Every work that someone does with Love is nothing else but the implementation of God’s Will. For example, those volunteer musicians, all educated and intelligent people implemented God’s Will. They set you, too, a good example. Playing for nothing they wanted to tell you “Do work for nothing as we do, of Love and for God.” And the Invisible world wanted to show you that when God arranges things they happen without any program. There is a program in the Divine world as well but not as in the physical world. And so, if a trial comes to you, do thank God – trials are a privilege for people. After every trial one acquires something good. One of the trials in the mountains is rain. When we came here it began raining heavily on the very next day as if it was pouring from the heaven and at the same time was gushing out from the ground as well. The brothers had huddled together and had become silent – watching what would happen. At that the rain was so heavy that a strange rumble was heard from underground. At a time a resounding thunder of guns was heard while flashes of lightning were breaking the sky. I say, “There is nothing to be afraid of; these are the mountaineers that bid us a welcome with a thunder of guns.” Besides, they gave us a concert with loud music tones that were very large. All spent the whole night in prayers. In the morning everything lulled and they began laughing, saying how they had been afraid of their tents being torn. After this trial, all felt brisk, fresh, and young as children. I say, People should bear in themselves the qualities of a child – should have Divine purity. While living on the Earth they should always be young, should work, and should be on like a lit candle; they should be lighthouses in the sea that light up the way for the ships from afar. As to the suffering of people – those are temporary things – they can disappear immediately. While suffering, people think they will never get out of this situation; once they are free from the suffering they forget everything and keep only the experience they have acquired. Now, the essential idea that you should keep from this council is the idea of God’s Son. The word young understands the possibility of man to light up, to have God’s good-will, to be God’s Son. Only that one could be called God’s Son who does His Will. And through us God may do everything, indeed; and we should be happy about this. If we do God’s Will we will have God’s blessing and the respect of people. Doing God’s Will – this is the true philosophy of Life. But when man comes upon his attitude to God and people he hesitates. Why? - Because he comes upon the problem of his education. To educate himself, to control himself, to curb himself – this is the most difficult job. There are forces in man that he should first know. At the same time he should know the laws that those forces submit to; this is not a mechanical process. In man, there are thoughts, wishes, and deeds, which he cannot use as he would like. For example, the feeling of hatred should be transformed in man in the most correct way. When one hates someone else he hates himself too – he causes harm to the other one but at the same time he causes harm to himself as well. When one loves someone else he loves himself too – he does the other one good but at the same time he does himself good as well. Hatred destroys while Love builds. Why should you hate, why should you seek revenge? Do not forget that God’s eye watches everything. When someone attacks you do not be in a hurry to have it out with him – do leave this matter to God, He will have it out of him in a way that you never suspected. And so, the Ninth youth council is already open. We, that came here, will get up early morning and will send good thoughts all over the world. Good thoughts are God’s thoughts – they should pervade wherever there are God’s workers. What will the first telegram be that you will send now to Sofia? All of you that came here do send short letters to some of your friends in Sofia or in the country to delight them. Write something about man, about his connection with God. After the talk you will make a good meal and after that you will be able to serve the others too. First man serves himself and then his fellow men. From morning till night, man should constantly thank God for all the opportunities He has offered him. The true Life begins from now: knowing this you should not lose heart. Once man loses heart he loses the right direction in his Life; once he takes heart he finds it again. So does a little child – as soon as it loses its mother it cries; as soon as it finds it, it is glad. I say, we are here as at a radio station, and should keep clear, nice thoughts in our minds, to send them afterwards all over the world. As thoughts are being transmitted by telegraph stations so we will send our good thoughts through the space. It is a law: In Nature, nothing is either lost or created; hence thoughts are neither lost nor created but are only being transmitted from one station to another. The stations are human minds. Now we will thank God for the Word, for the food, for the abundance that is given to us here. You should be careful that your lighthouses are always lit up and the lamplighters clean and light them on time. Secret prayer 12th July 1931, St. Peter’s day, 6 pm [1] Bulgarian currency

Note 2p LOVE FOR GOD The greatest war that Christ took part in and suffered, was the accusation against Him that He called Himself the Son of God. Christ had to suffer and people suffer too, so sufferings are inevitable whatever causes them. Why and for what does man suffer? If he suffers because of his sins, he deserves these sufferings, but if he does the Will of God and suffers as well, what is the reason for these sufferings and how are these sufferings to be understood? So there are two things that one should mind in his life: if he is to suffer for Truth or for his own sins. There is no greater suffering than to suffer for Truth! I ask, what is Freedom. The bird is free when flying – if she cannot fly, it is wrong; a fish is free when it swims – if it does not swim, it is not right; fire is alive if it burns otherwise it is dead; the wind is doing its work when it blows – as soon as it stops blowing, it is not able to do any work, it is dead; water is alive and is doing its job when it flows – if it stops flowing, it is not capable to work, it is dead; and at last, man is free only when he thinks – if he would stop thinking, he loses his Freedom - so, the bird flies, the fish swims, the wind blows and man thinks. Which is the first quality of thought? How does Life, in which we are, express itself? Through movement. So every movement goes along with feeling too. Imagine a man having only one sense, for instance the sense of touch and tests all things through it – if they are solid or soft, cold or warm, etc. If it were so, what could his idea about Life be? He would have a very elementary idea about Life. Imagine another sense appears – the sense of taste through which one perceives things as sweet or bitter, salty or sour etc. This sense provokes in man the desire to eat. And so, man eats for the only reason to taste things. The next after the sense of touch and taste is the sense of smell in man. Now he wants to know things from a distance or closely, to test how it smells – if it is pleasant or not. Next comes the desire in man to hear how living beings around talk and to discern between them. Hearing is of help here; and last comes the interest to see the outer appearance of things – man wants to see what has been written on each object and the sight helps him in this. Through these five feelings or senses man enriches his understanding about Life. So, by the sense of touch one tests the quality of objects; by the taste he understands their content; by the sense of smell he distinguishes different smells, good or bad. By hearing he studies the sounds of living beings and comes into relations with them. By the sight man studies the whole outer appearance of objects. So, through his five senses man comes to meet the outer world around him. However, how can he know the Divine Love, how can he know God? Unless he can feel, man is not able to know God and to accept the Divine Love. So, if one cannot feel the Divine Love, he cannot think; if he cannot think, he cannot be free, he is dead. So, who does not have the Divine Love in himself, he cannot think, he is not free, he is dead, and via versa – if one thinks in a right way, he is free, he carries in himself the Divine Love. Many people want to know the reasons for suffering. I say: there are many reasons for suffering. For instance, if someone’s head, chest and stomach are in good health and if one leg is bad, he will feel pain and will suffer; or if his hands and legs are healthy but his ear is not well, he also will feel pain and suffering. The painful conditions may cause inner disharmony in the organism and the inner disharmony is a result of that sinful condition, which one has done himself. You say: “Why does man suffer?” – because he has gone away from God and does not know how to come back. And being away from God he is in a state of one who cannot walk on earth well – while walking he is slipping all the time and falling down. This happens to everyone who does not love God. The first man being put on the path of Love, manifested that he did not love God – through his first step on this path he slipped and could see his weakness. He had no Love for God, because he ate from the forbidden tree. People’s suffering today, manifests that they also do not love God. God said to Adam: “You must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil!” However, the black adept came to Eve and said: “If you eat the fruits of this tree, you will achieve a lot of knowledge and will become gods”; she felt convinced by his words, ate these fruits and gave Adam as well to try – and they realized that they were naked. You want to know how this happened with the first man and woman – it happened exactly as this happens now with you. Every day you repeat what your ancient father did – what Adam and Eva had done in the past, today’s people do every day. And they create a wrong philosophy, saying: “We actually eat from the forbidden fruit but today and tomorrow we will make our life right.” No, this is a philosophy that does not exist, there is no philosophy for tomorrow – the true philosophy is for the moment of now. The very moment we go wrong, the day ends and the night comes. The tragedy of life is that people want to make right their things [A1] in the night. Imagine you walk through a dark black night – no star, no moon in the sky and you take the wrong way and say: “Well, I will find the way, anyhow.” What way can you find, don’t you see there is no ray of light and you are completely in the dark – you can only go a wrong way and not be able to find the right path. People today often call to mind the story of the first people and say: “What were Adam and Eva thinking about?” Exactly the same as you are thinking about now. For example, someone who believes in God, is thinking: “I want to have a nice house, to wear nice clothes, to drive a nice car around the town, to be visited by rich people, but I have no money in my pocket.” And in a short time this man comes up to another’s safe full of gold coins. Now he is thinking: “If I take some of this money, my wishes will be fulfilled.” He is hesitating and fighting within himself and in the end he says to himself: “Who will see me if I take some of these coins only once and that is all and all my things will go well.” I say: the other’s safe represents the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. I ask if there is anyone whose things[A2] went well after he put his hand into someone else’s safe? No one. If one has done this he put his deeds in more troubles than before. Alas, one can walk near another’s table full of food and think: “If I eat of this food my things[A3] will be fine and my life will go better.” And he takes of someone’s food and his things[A4] keep being in the same condition. I say: “It is necessary to consider in a right way the phenomena of Nature and Life. The present-day world, since it was created, is like a rich table full of food and lots of possibilities that lead into temptation. Everyone is in a hurry to sit around the table and take from the food. However, being in haste he can sit at one of these places of temptation and this is the very moment he loses his health. The same about books – there are books that you shouldn’t even touch. You pass by a book and think: “I will open it only to have look at it, to see what is written there.” This is the way soldiers behave at war: when walking to do a task to another army unit, one sees from a distance something flashing on the road; he thinks that someone lost a nice pocket knife or purse and he drops quickly to take it. However, it turns out to be a bomb and if you touch it, it would explode in your hands. I say: taking another man’s belongings is a bomb which will explode in your hands unavoidably. You need neither the knife nor the purse of your fellowman – you do not need anything that belongs to someone else. Whoever understands the law of Truth, will agree with this. God has put everything in its proper place so that no one could take away what He has ordered. Many people think that if they go to a library they can rummage and take books without permission. No one can touch books or other things without permission. Nowadays people are very odd, because they do wrong things every day, rummage into other people’s safes and libraries, however they say to everyone they meet: “Let me tell you how to love God, how to love your fellowman and what to do for yourself.” They do not know what to do themselves but wish to teach others; they have not seen Angels or God but preach about God and Angels. However, when alone they ask themselves: “Is what we are preaching true?” I am only talking of a fact happening to you; the same happens to priests, to preachers and to governments as well. For instance, someone comes to power and says: “I will put Bulgaria in order.” How is he going to do this? If he would be able to, he would not become a minister first of all. Someone becomes priest and says: “I will put order in the world.” Who would be able to settle the world, would not become a priest. One can say: “I will become a man.” If you have not become a man yet, this will be more difficult in the future. To become a good man does not depend on you – He who has created you, only He has the right and the power to make you a man. If one gets rich and is not able to use his richness in a proper way, he will be in the situation of the donkey that has only to carry the burden of his master. If one becomes powerful and cannot use his power properly, he will be in the situation of the buffalo that is only pricking with his horns. In the true sense of the word, man is only one who thinks in a right way. So, the first quality of a true man is Love. Without Love one is an animal – he will bring in his life only sins and crimes. And however he thinks and feels for his life as a whole, from the beginning till the end, there will be only sins and crimes. As soon as one is left by Love he will be exposed to sufferings. People without Love in themselves cannot stand the man of Love. If they meet him they say: “Let him out of here!” Isn’t this the way the Jewish people behaved to Christ? They said: “Take away this man, crucify him because he calls himself the Son of God.” The Jewish people wanted to subjugate Christ - some of them wanted him to make them happy, to help them to marry good women, to have good children, etc. However, Christ used to say: “I came to do neither My will nor yours but I came to do the will of My Father who sent Me here. I am the Son of God, sent to Earth to teach people how to live.” They did not feel contended with His reply and said: “Such a man who does not want to do our will, we will put on the cross.” Isn’t that same story repeating itself in the world today? Who has not crucified the Divine in himself? One can say: “There is some inner torment in me.” What is it? This is because you have lost your Peace. Whoever is not saying the truth loses the inner Peace. Most of the people today lie to each other. Also, many people do not admit the lack of Love and say: “We have Love but outer conditions and people around us cause us difficulties.” No, the outer conditions are not the reason for difficulties in Life but the inner conditions in men cause all sufferings, troubles and contradictions. Why does a hungry man suffer? Because he has not the inner food, which is the Word. Why does man suffer? Because he has no Love. Did Christ’s disciples suffer? They endured a lot of persecutions, victimizations and tortures but they did not suffer – they were great martyrs and endured everything because of Christ. They had the Love of Christ in themselves. Whoever has not Love will not be able to endure even the slightest suffering. You say: “If Christ comes on Earth for a second time, we will meet Him as we should.” If Christ comes on Earth now and if you have no Love in your hearts, you will put Him on the cross again. You will ask Christ for rich tables, for nice clothes and houses, you will want cars and cabs and if He will not satisfy your wishes, you will crucify Him as you did two thousand years ago. I ask if all your wishes be realized what would you benefit from this? What do kings benefit from having all their comfortable things, what happened to the Russian king who had possessed such richness? History gives us a good example through the life of one of the most ancient and wise kings, Solomon. He used to live in the best richness and glory with three hundred women with him and nine hundred concubines. God gave him a test how to learn God’s Wisdom and knowledge but he couldn’t pass it. He wanted, with these women as his secretaries and counselors, to sort out the world, to make reasonable laws. However, he didn’t succeed, he gave himself up to eating and drinking, to a rich life and thus he only threw the world into more confusion. Due to this fact the Jewish people have not been able to sort out themselves yet. I say: if one wants to marry, he should have only one woman. Who is she? – Love. Who has no Love, he cannot become a man. A woman, who wants to marry, needs one man. Who is he? – Wisdom. So, who will not accept God’s Love, he can have, like Solomon, three hundred women and nine hundred concubines but he will not be able to do anything. The number 300 presents the extreme limit in one’s Life – no one can have more that three hundred women. It is enough for him to have a quarrel with each one of them and he will be like an empty barrel. And what do people do with empty barrels? You know – they take them outside and roll them. One can say: “I am going to marry”- this means he wants to go away from God. Many of the marriages today are related to evil. If you understand by marriage as matching two sensible souls, this makes sense. People today want to marry and to be happy. No, if one will marry, he should cherish to find God – one should look for God in his every wish. Someone can say: “I wish to eat” – so you have the wish to find God through food and to know the Love of God. As soon as one can find God and know His Love, he will achieve everything. You say: “We know God, we have seen Christ.” You may have seen Christ but man does not benefit from such a vision. He can see many things but the important thing is the way he sees them. It is likely if one’s leg is in pain and he can know this; however, but this is not enough, one should know the reason for this pain. If one knows the reason for his pain, he can heal it. There is one important question nowadays people have to answer: Did the fruits in the ancient times fall down from the trees? At the beginning of their life they didn’t – they were on the branches until someone would come and pick them. However, after the fall of man the fruit also began to fall, for many reasons, because of the wind or something else. So, until man is a fruit on the Divine tree, until he lives a pure and holy life, he will have the Love of God in himself and will never fall down from this tree – he will be on it forever. If he has no Love, he will fall down from the tree like a rotten fruit and will get dry. What will happen with man then? Someone who will know nothing and will be more foolish than him will come to teach him how to believe in God, how to repent, how to turn to God, etc. What does it mean to turn to God? If one turns his face to the world and his eyes are opened to it but he has no Love in himself, he will succumb to temptation. How and why are people from the world being tempted? A young woman looks at a young man and likes him and immediately wants him for herself. And visa versa – a young man meets a beautiful girl, likes her, wants her for himself. The temptation comes through the desire. There is nothing wrong if the girl likes the man or if the man likes her but the very wish to have him as her husband and the wish for her as his wife, that is wrong. And they begin to go after each other, to be jealous and so on. Who has given the woman and the man the right to keep an eye on each other, to follow each other as the shadow follows the man? They should know first of all that what they are looking after is the shadow and not the person. If I have a candle in my hand and you follow it, what would happen to you? Imagine the candle burns down – what will happen to you? You will lose sight of me and will fall into darkness again. That reasonable thing in man you are looking for is somewhere behind the candle where your look cannot reach. The Sun is rising up and you can see its light, however, like the candle, you have not yet found that reasonable thing in man, which means that you have not reached the Truth held by Sun. Your wish is nothing but a lit candle, held by some reasonable Being. You run after this wish, i.e. after this candle and as soon as it burns you lose your wish. And you feel shame later for not being able to achieve it. This happens to everyone who falls in love in this foolish, fleeting way. After some girl has been with her beloved, with her love, she was feeling ashamed to say where she has been, so she says instead: “I went somewhere”. She does not dare to say she went to her love. Why? Because she went to see what he was doing, whom he was meeting, etc. She worries whether the candle he is carrying will burn soon and if she will find herself in the dark again. The same happens also to the young man – because of the same reasons he does not say that he is going to his love. I draw now an inner conclusion about things to help you to see where unhappiness in Life comes from. For example, an idea comes into someone’s mind to build a house; he begins to think that if he will do this all his things[A5] will be all right. And he is thinking about this house all the time. I say: “God has given everyone a nice, well built house. What would you like more? What better house can exist than the human body? If with this house given to you by God, you are not able to become human beings, you will be less human with houses made from stones and bricks. You say: “I would like at least to earn some money, to become a rich man and all my things[A6] will be all right.” If you are looking for riches – what bigger riches than those given to you by God? He has given everyone inner riches. If you cannot be a man with the inner riches, given to you by God, you cannot become a man with your outer riches. The idea that people’s happiness is in the houses, in the outer richness – these are delusions one should release. Delusions are the lures in the world and you should stay far from them. As I watch people all round the world I see them as slaves of their ambitions. They are like gunpowder – if you touch them they flare up right away. Everyone has a high opinion of himself. It is not bad, only you have to prove it. I go near somebody and say to him: - Your clothes are dirty and not good. - It is not possible, it was costly some time ago! - Well, but not now. - How can you offend me! - You can feel offended but I am telling you the truth. I say to someone else: - You do not think at all. - It is not possible, I have a mind! - Well, you have it and you were thinking well before but now your mind is not good and you cannot think in a right way. To another one I say: - You do not have Love in your heart. - How it can be, my heart is burning with love and you say I have no love. - Well, it was before but now it is only fuming. You used to say: “When Christ comes, everything will be all right.” What will Christ find on Earth when he comes here? He will find minds that glimmer and hearts that fume. It is not enough for you to wait for Christ to come to put a garland on your head, to take you on a chariot and go to Heaven, and to say: “Here is a man amongst the great people on Earth who was a reformer and was ruling the world.’ The words of Christ must be truth. If Christ would say something like this about someone, he should really be such a person. No one should think he is a great preacher or reformer, or majesty. What is important for man is to do God’s Will as a Son of God despite the situation he is in – whatever God would order him to do, he should do. And whatever he does, he will carry it with himself through times and eons. Is it necessary for the apple tree that gives fruit to be recommended by people? Its fruits are its recommendations – the apple tree with its heavy fruits is saying: “I did what God ordered me.” And someone will come to me to ask if he is a believer or not; if he has found the Path or not. You must know this by yourselves. If you suffer, you are already on the Path; if there is dust around you, you are following the Path. The dust represents the temptations in the way – you should understand all these things. Everyone goes the way but falling down and getting up. When he falls down, it means he is being expelled from Paradise. He prays and repents and the next day he will be accepted in Eden again. He goes the right way for some time and when he does something wrong – he is put outside again and after he cries and prays – they accept him later. The same way Adam sinned and appeared to be out of Paradise. He went down to hell where he cried, repented until he was accepted into Eden again. Since Adam had sinned, he had been in Paradise and out of it many times - in the morning he stays in Paradise, in the evening he goes to hell. Nowadays people are also in Paradise in the morning, being joyous and when they do something wrong, they are cast out of Paradise down to the hell. They cry there and pray – and they are accepted in Paradise again. This story is repeated again and again until the day comes when man will no longer do wrong and will keep his place in Paradise. Teach one now how to live and put him in Paradise and after some time he goes wrong and finds himself in hell in the evening. When a man cannot keep his place in paradise, he says: “Well, I couldn’t go right this life but the next time I will. I see I was not able to stay on the Path so I would like to marry, to set up my things[A7] at least.’ God had not sent you to Earth to marry. “Well, I would like to be rich at least.” God has not sent you to Earth to accumulate riches –richness and marriage come later. God has sent you to learn – to acquire Love. I say: if you see Life through the eyes of Love, you will understand the meaning God has placed in it. Life is meaningless without Love. For instance, the stones that surround us have meaning only in connection with Love – without it they are just ruins. When you climb up some of these rocky peaks around you, it is possible to fall down, hurt yourself and then you will say: “These stones are so bad!” As soon as you look at them from a distance, you will see their beauty and if you fall you say they are bad. They are bad because God has not created them - the ruins around you are not Divine creatures. I mean by the word stone a reasonable being who has the characteristic of Love. If you fall down on a stone that has love in itself, you will be taken gently in his hands, will be put next [A8] and will be told: “You fall in a good way, you have learnt the art of falling.” And you will say to the stone: “And you can catch one very well and protect him from being hit.” However, if you fall on some of those other stones you will hit your leg and will be told: “Who gave you the permission to jump on me? If you can do this, I also can hit someone’s legs.” So, I would like you to keep the thought that suffering in your lives is due to lack of Love. This does not mean that you have no Love but that your love for your desires is stronger than the Love for God. The example about the young woman and the young man can make my thought more clear: she wants to serve God, however, as soon as she meets some young man whom she likes, she leaves God because of him. And vice versa – the man wants to serve God and when he meets a girl, he follows her and leaves his ideal behind. Eventually they can get together and marry because they want to help the world. How can they help the world – they both are unhappy and their things[A9] go bad. This situation is similar to the next example: two crippled people are in hospital, their legs amputated. The one tells the other: - I am thirsty, can you get up, please, and give me a glass of water! - How can I do this, my legs have been amputated. You go and bring me too! - So am I in your situation too. I ask who will help whom. This shows that the Good in the world has not been applied completely. So, the young man follows the beautiful girl, however she is like an empty purse. She is pretty and nice physically, but inside there is nothing. The young man is like an empty purse as well. Why do you need empty purses in your life? Life does not need the forms of the purses but their content. The gold coins in the purses mean the inner riches of man. I say: if people’s wishes have any content, they are in their right places. And only when the Divine, given to you by God, is Life’s content, Life is meaningful. Some of you now who are at the bivouac, say: “Let’s go up the mountain!” By the word mountain, high peak, I mean the reasonable principle in Life. And when we climb the mountain to know what God wants from us, this will be meaningful. And when we go down to the valley to bring what we have achieved on the mountain, this will be meaningful. So if we go up to God no[A10] taking anything from Him and when going down amongst people for giving [A11] them nothing, we are people condemned to suffering. An important question asked by many people today is: Why did Christ come on Earth if He knew He would be crucified? No one among ordinary people wants to be crucified. Anyway, everyone who comes into the world among people to preach a new idea will be crucified in the end. What should you do with the ideas you preach to people? You have to appeal to God and He will put you in a more advanced society that will understand you and say: “A prophet came among us.” One can say: “I love God.” If you say this you will be tempted to think you are righteous and know everything, that you can heal many illnesses and can do all you want, etc. It is a delusion to think like this. One who has Love inside should know that Love itself does not cure people neither gives riches but only makes a connection between people and God. When man makes a connection with God, he will solve all the problems immediately. However, Love itself does not give anything. It happens that one comes to me and says: “You do not love me.” “Well, the truth is, when I sleep I do not love you.” “But you have to!” If you want to know if I love you, you need to know first of all if I love God. If I love God, I will love you too; if I do not love God, I will not love you. Life begins with the love for God. The Love for God is an inner, mystical relation. Life is meaningful only with God; out of Him Life is meaningless and is a mass of contradictions. And whoever you love then will tell you: ”I do not need your love.” For instance, you say: “I love the king.” Why does the king need your love – he does not suspect even that you love him. Or, you can love a saint and keep his portrait in front of you and look at it the whole day. However, there are saints who are not saints at all, they themselves wonder how people have announced them as saints and have put them in the churches to bow to them. Only the person who holds inside himself living Love and in whom God manifests Himself, can be a saint. One can think he is righteous and knows everything, and that he is a saint, but I say: to think you are a saint is one thing and to be really like this, is something else. As I am talking about this to you now, there is something hidden inside you that tells you: “Do not listen to him, this is not exactly the truth that he is talking to you.” This whispering comes from entities that seduce you and have no understanding about Life. They are telling you: “Is it possible for one to live without money? First of all, we have created money and one should live for it because it will save him.” I ask, where have these beings taken this gold from? It is obvious; as if they had robbed God and have put their name on this gold. No, this is not truth. Gold belongs only to God. When Christ was asked if it was necessary to pay a duty to Caesar, He answered: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”[1]. So, something that is God’s, someone used it and put his signature on it and presented it to people as its own. The verse: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” I translate this way: give your delusions to people, tell the Truth only to God and keep Love. What do people do? They tell the Truth only to themselves. Today I want to remind you of something you used to know and were told about many times. For instance, you often ask yourselves: “When will we save ourselves, when will we achieve our desires?” And when you do not achieve what you want, you say: “This is hard work!” No, this is the easiest one. As long as your love for things that are temporary and transient is stronger than your love for God, you will be always in the transient and temporary life and will not achieve what you want. And you will get older untimely, will prop up on sticks and will say to yourselves: “Oh, we have already got old.” I say: when one is getting old, he is getting poor as well. However, the word old age means, in its right sense, achieving of experience and in the Scripture it was said about it: “Whoever relies on God, he will rejuvenate and his body will renovate.” Who lives in God is never getting old and achieves Eternal life. Christ said: ‘This is life Eternal, to know Thee, the Only very God.’ Who knows God will never get old and will never die. People now have things before them that are passing, so they say: “Why has God created the world as it is?” I will give you an example to help you to explain who has actually created this world. So, someone made a nice pigsty for his pigs and fed them few times a day and you went to see as he was feeding his pigs. I ask if you need to be angry for he didn’t make such a nice place for you too? Do you need to be angry that this man didn’t give you food? People watch the world now and look at the pigs eating from their wooden bowls and say: “It is wondering why has God created the world like this and some people have what to eat plentifully and others have to strive?” I ask what kind of philosophy does your complaining contain? This world, where, according to your opinion, some people eat plentifully and others have to strive had not been created by God. Someone goes in a car, drives around the town and you feel angry that you have not got such a car. You do not need this car – it is like pig’s wooden bowl where they eat from. You better walk by yourself than go into such a car – if you do this you will not be a man. It is all right when pigs eat from their bowls but it is out of the right order of things if you feel jealous of them for that. By the word wooden bowl I mean all man’s unnatural thoughts, feelings and wishes that lower his worth. One should be strict with himself about this and say: “As I see the food eaten by the pig, I am glad she is satisfied and I shouldn’t be angry that I don’t have her food – mine is different.” Would the pig be jealous of the man? As she sees man’s food she would only say: “This food is not for me.” Therefore, one should not take part in deeds that lower his worth. You say: “Let us go and raise the world!” What would happen to you? When you die, there will be a nice tombstone and the words on it: “A great man, such and such, who wanted to make the world right, is resting here.” Is God interested about someone who eats several times a day and drinks and does nothing useful in Life? What will he do if he is only digging? If one diverts people’s heart from their path and put them later in the earth, what good has he done? You can say that one contributed a lot for people because he taught them how to pray, how to read Lord’s Prayer and how to understand it. The most important thing is whether you yourself believe in our Father? A poor man went to a preacher who told him: - You have to pray, to read the Lord’s Prayer. - How can I pray when I have not eaten anything for three days! - First you have to learn how to pray and God will feed you later. - You are not the first person who advises me how to pray. Ten preachers had taught me and I am still hungry. This person had prayed and waited for God to come and feed him. No, you who teach him how to pray, invite the man into your home and tell him: “We will eat first and after that will read the Lord’s prayer together.” You read: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors” but you do not believe in these words, why? Because you are at odds with the people close to you and cannot forgive them; you also feel angry and discontent because of others who are rich, educated, etc. So, when Christ came on Earth, He suffered for the sins of people in order to save them. It means that the righteous man has to suffer to save the sinful one and this is one of the greatest secrets in Life. What will your inner professor say about these words? He will say: “It is hard work, who among the righteous will come to save us? As we can see, we will prove nothing, we have tried for many years and have achieved nothing. It would be better for us to go back into the world. We got old and cannot climb the mountains any more, to renew, to develop. God is merciful, even if we go wrong, He will save us one day.” It is the truth that no one will stay unsaved, because God’s desire is to be known by everyone. However, the salvation will come through the law of Love. The day you love God, the burden will fall down from your back. Unless you love God, you will lose your salvation even if you achieve it. Man will need to struggle a lot for a long time until he is ready to be saved and to accept the Divine. And then he will become powerful and will not lie, will not feel alone and will have lots of brothers and sisters. I say: today’s man wants to have at his disposal servants and slaves – and why? To carry his burden. He has taken a lot on his back and because of not being able to carry it, he says: “Let someone come and help me!” And a servant comes, and another one, a third, and a fourth – they try to take up the burden but without success, it remains as it is. This is because it can be done only when there is mutual aid and they work all together. Many people think: ”How will my affairs go this year?” They will go well, if you love God. So, I say both to young and to old people: you should first of all be such a reality by yourselves that nothing from the outside world could shake or move you. If there is a force able to remove the Divine from within you, it means you have no Love. There are thousands of trees around you, do not touch them, do not cut them but say: ”We can live without them – life is not outside but inside.” You have had many experiences about this. Can you show me, for instance, who among the young women is happy after she has sacrificed her sacred, Divine idea because of some young man; or can you show me a young man who feels happy after he has sacrificed his sacred idea because of a woman. When a woman says to a man she fell in love with him, he should take her to his father and say to her: “If you love my father and he likes you, I can marry you.” The same should be about the woman – if a man tells her he loves her, she should say to him: ”I would like you to meet my father and if you love him, I will agree to marry you; otherwise I will not give you my heart – there were many young men who lied me and I do not believe them any more. The same happens to your every thought or feeling you like, you should first present them before the eye of God for His approval and if He says they are good, then you can keep them inside you. Of course you can also choose not to do this but you will delude yourself and will suffer. You will not be able to know who is talking to you, who is whispering and imposing thoughts and feelings to you. An English preacher went to the office of his friend, a rich tradesman and began to teach him; “It is necessary to serve God!” He suddenly heard a voice behind him: “Beyond doubt!” He turned and saw a parrot. It seemed the parrot had repeated: “No doubt, we have to serve God!” The preacher liked the parrot and asked if he can buy him. The man agreed and sold the parrot for two hundred and fifty English pounds. The preacher took the parrot home, showed him to his wife, and told her: “You know, this parrot approves that it is necessary to serve God and the meaning of life lies exactly in this service.” One day the preacher made a big mistake and said to his wife: “You know, I made a great foolishness.” The parrot repeated again: “No doubt!” So, what is the parrot? It is nothing but the conscious of man giving an opinion about good and evil, what one thinks, feels or does. The man’s conscious shows him where and when he can hesitate or suspect. For instance, one can hesitate about Love or hesitate about the lack of love, on the other hand and this is something different. I say: everyone has a professor within who teaches him every day what to do and what not to do. This professor can say to you, for example: “One who wants to become a man and to impose respect to people should be strict, sullen, dissatisfied, etc.” If you listen to this, you will feel sorrow, sadness and you will suffer. I ask, why do you feel like this, there are no reasons for suffering. – “But I feel sad.” Why? You have these feelings because you ate a hen yesterday, which is still in your stomach and is crying there, because you ate it without Love. Someone complains that after being married for only a year he feels he is not able to live with his wife anymore. This man has really made a great mistake being married with no Love. When he married his wife, he was not loving her and he is complaining today that she does not understand him and wants all her needs to be satisfied, but he is not able to do this and has to steal. I ask what makes one steal? These are the ravenous human desires that make one steal and commit many crimes. There are wishes committed to man every day and make him lose his peace, his high, light thoughts, and feelings. One can say: “There is nothing wrong in desires.” No, human’s wishes are good, it is not good that man’s love for his wishes and desires is greater than his Love for God. Due to this one loses the meaning of Life. I am clearing now the false side of Life. If you understand it you will comprehend the right side. And you will know that one’s salvation depends only on Love. The moment your love for God becomes greater than the love for your wishes, you will be in the realm of eternity. And if you fall into hell, it will be enough to grip on the machine that produces Light and you will be out of hell. Your enemies from hell will grip you too but you have to be still and keep getting up. As the light becomes stronger you will feel free and your enemies will leave you – until you free yourself completely. While moving up your Love becomes much stronger. As soon as you free yourself you will say: “Thank you God, I am free now and no one can torment and pursue me.“ So, if you have no love within, everyone can get on your back and suck you like a bug. You say: “We want to know if Christ loves us or not.” Christ has already proved if He loves us or not – what is important now for you is to prove your own Love for Christ. It is important now to check if your love for your wishes is stronger or weaker than the Love for Christ. And do not feel flattered when someone loves you or not but tell yourself: “The most important for me is that my Love for God is stronger than the love for this man.” You shouldn’t also feel worried about your money if it is gone or your house has burnt. It is important that your Love for God is stronger than money and the house, than all material goods and wishes. The real benefit in Life is in people’s Love for God – when they love God, they will benefit. You can not lose in this Love. So, the Love for God is the great Truth in Life. Who agrees with this philosophy should apply this love in his life and his things will go right. When Love comes into the human soul, the true Life will begin. The world will go well when people start applying this Love. Today’s people live in a world that is closed, locked like the life of the egg in the shell. They neither know what will happen to them, nor what their things[A12] will be. Many people ask themselves: “How will the world get right, how and when will our things[A13] go well?” It depends on you – if you love God, he will put you under His brooder and in twenty one days you will make a hole in the shell and will go out of the egg, will look at God’s world and will be free. If you achieve this Freedom, you will be free from fear as well. He, who has got out of the shell, has set himself free from suffering, so he will not fear anything. This is the meaning of the words born by God. Such a birth is the right one – it brings the blessing of God. One can ask: “Was God amongst Adam and Eve when they sinned in Eden?” What do you think, would the first human beings sin if God was next to the Tree of knowledge of good and evil? The very fact that they have sinned means that God was not there. They yielded to temptation because their Love for God was weaker than their wish to gain knowledge and to become gods. This is the obstacle of people today. Love for God should be understood as an inner meaning – it shouldn’t be expressed through words only but through pure, enlightened thoughts and feelings and high acting. This is the only way one can be strong and powerful. The happiness of the powerful man lies in the Divine – the whole world has been created according to this law. It applies to Angels, people, animals. Animals are far from this law, but the Divine has also been put into them yet unexpressed. Man has been placed in a realm where the law of Love needs to be learned, so whatever you do must be penetrated with Love. The idea of God should be in your mind, in your heart, will, soul and Spirit. All your things[A14] will go in a right way if you consider the Love for God. Without this Love you will suffer a lot. People’s suffering indicates hell – where God is absent, hell is there. As I watch today’s people I see them as they laugh at each other. There were American millionaires who went bankrupt and decided to meet for a treat, and everyone was to wear the shabbiest clothes they had at home. As they saw themselves in this funny and pitiful situation, they began to tease one another: “How nice your dresses are, you couldn’t find something like this anywhere!” “And your shoes – look, they are so smart!” “And look at the hat of that one – he is like a prince!” So they were joking and laughing at each other the entire night about their shabby clothes and wondering how all this had happened. The people today also are likely to sit down and discuss the facts of the life of this and that man, saying: “He is such a sinner!” But what about you – are you less sinful than him? Another situation in people’s life can be illustrated with an example. In an ancient kingdom the beggars organised a large partnership of beggars, of poor people who set up some goals in their life. When the king learnt about this association, he gave them part of his riches. The beggars were informed about the king’s decision and they met together at a feast to divide the money among themselves. All of them came to the meeting well dressed but with the beggar’s sticks in hand. As they saw each other with the sticks, they smiled and said: “We know what we went through to achieve this state. Thanks to our sticks we deserve these new nice clothes.” Which one of the two situations is better – to put on your shabby clothes like the American millionaires or to put on the best clothes like the beggars? The second state is preferable. The beggar should put on nice clothes and take away the beggarly ones. I ask what the beggar’s shabby clothes present. They are the man’s wrong conditions. So have as a task for today, to make no mistakes in order not to be expelled from Eden. You are in front of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil now and ask if you can go to Paradise. You are in it and it is up to you not to eat from the fruits of this tree in order not to be expelled away. You can say: “God will help us, He knows everything.” Yes, He knows, but the important thing is what you know. “God is merciful.” Yes, it is the truth, but what about you? – “God is Love.” Yes, God is Love and He loves all of you, but what about your Love for God? - “God will give us His Love.” This is begging and you can do nothing in this way. You should not be beggars, begging is laziness. This means that someone relies on others to work for him and he can only remain waiting and wanting to be given this or that. If people want the world to be right, all the preachers, bishops and rulers should take off their rich garments and put on aprons to get down to work to be in the service of other people. The world is not going to be put in order while present day people wear their parade clothes, have crowns on their heads and wait others to work for them. Also, mothers and fathers should behave in the right way. You can meet now a mother carrying her child in her hands and saying: “This is my child, I gave birth to him.” You meet her the next day crying because her child has gone to the other world. How could it have happened if the child was hers? You can also meet someone boasting of his richness; the next day it disappears, he was robbed. How has this happened? His riches went where they belong. – “The devil robbed me!” I say: only someone who was your partner can rob you. I would like you now to understand my thought in the right way because I show you facts and experiences from Life itself. By talking to you about the devil, I mean the temptations you meet on your path every day. You need to be very careful to keep away from them. You ask: “Have you seen the devil?” I do not want to see him neither to have any partnership with him. When I meet him on my path I will ask him:” Have you learnt how to love God?” –“Is there God in the world?” – “Go your way, I do not want to deal with you!” He wishes to lie and that is why he asks if there is God or not. He asks me: “Is there Love in the world?” – “Go your way!” – “Is Life meaningful?” – “Go your way!” He wants to come and to teach me if there is God or not, is Life meaningful or not, etc. I do not need his philosophy, let him go his way! If one comes to the point to discuss the existence of God from reasons to consequences, he will be finished – he will come to nothing and will be dispelled away from Eden; you have lost God you knew before and now you can do nothing but to go your way. An unbeliever went to an American preacher and said to him: “Prove to me the existence of God!” The preacher caught him and beat him. – “Please, brother, oh, God, leave me! There is God in the world, have mercy on me!” I do not want to laugh at you now only to say that you are often in the situation of this unbeliever. Unless suffering will come to you, you will keep going to some high Spirit to ask if there is God or not. As soon as suffering comes to you and you are being beaten, you say: ”Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, yes, there is God!” If you deny God and do not believe in Him, suffering comes; as soon as you accept Him and believe in Him, suffering disappears. If you ask if there is Love, suffering comes again. – “Does God love me?”- this is the doubt in you. You do not need to have any doubt about God but see if Love for God is greater than the love for your wishes. If the Love for God is weaker than your wishes, your deals will go wrong; if your Love for God is stronger all your things[A15] will go well. Compare your Love for God and for your wishes every day to understand what your success and failure in life are due to. There is no other settlement of the things[A16] . If you look for another solution you will have more problems. You do not need to stop before temptations in order to understand them – when it comes, just say: “Go your way!” I say: if you keep on this endless philosophy of discussing, which does not lead you to positive results, you will be in the situation like a Bulgarian during the Turkish yoke, who used to boast about himself before his fellow-villagers, about knowing everything including the Turkish language and he used to say he could even speak to the sultan. One day a Turkish Bey came over to the village, so he needed someone to translate for him. That man was asked to do the translation. However, he was not able to understand what the Bey was telling him and made the wrong translation. And when he went into the room the Bey has a fight with him and told him: “You should learn the language properly; you do not speak good Turkish!” When the people waiting outside asked the man why he had been fought with, he said, because of the fact he out-spoke the Bey. No, one can be beaten only when he doesn’t know what he is saying and how he says it. And after all this, one says he is suffering for God. Man suffers because he does not know how to speak - this is the truth. Someone can say: ”Why do I need to dispute with people if they do not understand me?” Can you show me at least one person in the world who has been understood by other people? There is no such a man. Christ did not say that people didn’t understand him but said: “This is the Will of God.” Pilate told him: “Do you know I possess the power to crucify you and the power let you free?” Christ answered: “Every power has been given by God. It was given to you to test Me but I am not from those people who decline – I am ready to bear all consequences. My Love for God is so great that I can bear this cross.” As you know, Christ had to bear so much suffering and humiliation but today’s people want to live their life without any suffering. Well, it is possible to avoid suffering, but when? When one will love God with all his soul, with all his heart, with all his mind and power, and to work consciously to transform suffering into Joy, i.e. to bear suffering and sorrow with Joy. If man will not Love God, his suffering will be unendurable burden for him. Let’s now come back to the main point – the Love for God. Many people ask constantly: “Does God love us?” You will test this from the first to the last day of your life. However, you will test yourselves too. If your Love for God is stronger than your wishes, you are on the right path. However, if the Love for God is weaker than your wishes, suffering and contradictions will be unsolved in your life. The Love for God is a mystical, inner experience, which one person understands in one way and someone else - in another way. The magic power of this experience is the moment when man directs his mind, heart and soul to God without hesitation and doubt. When one achieves this moment, he can do anything. Only then can he understand the meaning of Life – only God can reveal the meaning of Life. If you hold in your hand a seed deprived of soil, of moisture, of light, of warmth and air, how can it grow? How can you understand what kind of fruit the seed has without giving it the conditions to grow, to bloom and to give fruit? Out of these conditions you will not be able to understand the seed. According to the same law every thought, every feeling and every wish can grow only with God’s Love and Warmth, and only in these conditions will you see their power. Therefore, every thought, every feeling and every desire are seeds where God’s Love and Wisdom are. And these seeds are waiting for the good conditions to grow. So, whatever I am telling you now, unless you come to love God you will never understand the Word of God and this is what is required of you. The same will be if I do not love God, I would never be able to pass to you His Word. So the law is the same for me and for you. When you love God, you will understand if what I am telling you is the Truth or not. If I love God, I will tell the Truth. When you do not understand the Word, it does not mean that you do not listen or hear but that you have no Love for God. And if you do not love Him, then the love for your wishes is very strong. And whatever you can be told it will be useless. So, when I speak and listen to you, the Love of God must be inside me. If I am speaking with this Love, I can transfer on everything; when I listening with this Love I can accept everything. The same happens to you: if you listen with the Love of God you can understand everything and if you speak with God’s Love you can express everything. All the people want to listen and talk having God’s Love inside them, but what do they do instead? They take an empty pitcher, put it under the spout of a source and listen as it fills up, murmuring. After filling up the pitcher, they put a cork on it, put a label on and write a label: “In this pitcher there is such and such quantity of water from this or that source at this or that date.” A professor comes, opens the pitcher and begins to teach the students. When the water from the pitcher finishes, the professor also will finish his lecture. Now, he becomes a student again and has to go to the spring to put the empty pitcher under the spout and listen to the sound of the water: ”kul-kul-kul’. The professor takes the pitcher to the university, where he will have his second lecture the next day. This is an objective lesson teaching. Let us now put aside the topic about the meaning of Life that young people ask so often about. What is important for you is to speak and listen to God’s Love when you enter the world. However, what happens? One enters the world wishing to improve it, to set it right but gets into contradiction with other people. If you go to the world you should first of all deal with yourself and check if your Love for God is stronger than your wish and thought. As soon as you come to terms with yourself, as soon as you try, only then can you talk to people. You will tell them then, that if they want to be joyful and gay and to have on their side all elevated, good and reasonable people, they should Love God more than all their wishes. One sister told me: “I came to the Lakes to these high places and this pure air to refresh myself, to solve a problem.” I asked her: “How will you solve it?” “I will pray to God constantly.” I say: you can pray throughout the day but it is an external prayer. The true prayer can be expressed through Love. You need to ask the question: “Am I able to Love God more than my wishes?” The meaning of Life is in the Love for God. Man was born to Love God and to make an imprint of this Love upon his life and not to be people’s servant. If you achieve this, all your problems will be solved. This is the meaning of the verse of Christ: “This is everlasting Life to know You the Only true God.” When one has Love for God, wherever he goes the path will always be open – even into hell among the sinners he will be joyful and gay forever. I will not wish you to achieve this now but will ask you if you love God. You say: “How can you recognize who loves God?” If you do Love God, you will be like that boy, riding a donkey and catching up to an old man, who began talking to him: - Let us boy have a talk about things that can be possible. The boy replied: - All right, we can have a talk. - Well, my boy, come down from the donkey and let me ride for a while, because I feel tired after the long walk. - All right, it can be. The boy got down right away and the old man got up on the donkey. After a long walk the boy felt tired and said to the man: - Let us talk again about things that are possible. Let me now ride the donkey to have some rest and you can get down. - Oh, no, my boy, it is not possible! So it was possible for the old man to get on the donkey but not possible to get down. I wish you now to be young like the boy and ready to get down from the donkey when someone would like to talk with you about possible things. I do not wish you to feel old like that man and not be willing to get down from the donkey if someone wanted to talk with you about possible things. The one who has learnt only to get up on the donkey and not to get down, he cannot achieve anything. If you can get up, you will know how to get down and this means humbleness. You will come down, and will stand on your legs. i.e. on the law of Love and will say: “For God I am ready to do everything.” When you say you are ready to do everything for God, this does not mean that you are engaged for thousands and millions of years but right now at this moment for one thousand part of the second. If someone is thinking to do something bad to another person, he will be fighting within himself, will be thinking and in the end will decide: “My Love for God is stronger than any of my wishes or thoughts.” This is what it means for one to Love God. What would it cost him to choose the right, the good path? What is better than being young? The old man will meet you and will say: “Son, let us talk about possible things.” – “Well, let’s talk.” Can we love God? - Yes, we can. Can we win through the world? - Yes, we can. Can we overcome all the difficulties? – We can. We can do everything when we have the Love of God inside us. God is Love – the Reasonable source that has given everything in life. If we constantly keep this thought in mind, we will realize that our mind, heart, soul, Spirit have been given to us by God. Being aware of this fact we will be as right before God as He is before us. What would stop us from loving Him, realize all this, why not love The One who has given us everything? When we have a mind, heart, soul and Spirit, what more would we like? The mind given to us by God can be supported only through Divine thoughts; the heart, given to us by God can be supported only by Divine feelings; the soul given to us by God can develop only with the beautiful and good things that come from God. This is the only way our minds, hearts and souls can give fruit. I say: the first relation of man is for God and the second is for his fellowman. If the first one would not exist, the second would not exist either. A young man meets an ugly woman and goes by not looking at her at all. She says to him: “You do not look at me and do not love me because I am ugly.” – “I do not love you not because you are ugly but because you are not virtuous.” And there is actually an ugliness in the world, which you are not able to love. The same young man meets later a beautiful young woman, looks at her, thinks for a while and goes on. She asks him: “You looked at me because you love me and you love me because I am beautiful.” The man replies: “It was not because I love you, I only looked at you and thought, because you are beautiful but not virtuous.” Therefore, there is a beauty in the world that you cannot love. The same man meets later another woman and says to her: “I can love you because you are virtuous.” So, man should be virtuous. By the word virtuous I mean the Divine in man. One can be ugly outside but he must be virtuous inside. The ugliness is nothing but a test for man and there is something beautiful hidden behind. Everywhere something exists deluding people and deceiving them to change their opinion about things, because things are not as they appear to be. The true beauty as well as the power of Life is in Love. One can say: “It is cheap to stay here on Rila Mountain, we have spent very little money.” The matter is not about money – whether you have spent a little or a lot. What is important is do you use the time properly. If you stay here not doing the Will of God, your coming here is useless. You came because of the pure air but you also have to express your Love for God. Does this cost a lot? First of all, you are now at the crossroad. What does it cost you to go in the direction leading to the right path? You say: “It is a long way!” If one goes without Love, the path is long and difficult and the desires are unattainable. When you keep the Love of God within you, whatever happens in life will be transformed as Good. I am telling you now how Angels, saints, good and reasonable people live. I also describe to you, in a very light way what the Divine world is like. There are very few people on Earth whose life is Divine. If there are these kind of people, even if they are a few, you can also live like them. I am not interested how the present day people live. A true man for me is the one who has Love for God within. The very moment one has identified himself and begins loving God, he has defined himself as man. Such a man attracts the attention of others who are good and sensible people who say: “There is something Divine that happens today!” The one who has not Loved God has not become a true man; he can eat and drink but no one will be interested in him. The moment you feel you have Love for God, this is the most glorious moment in your life. This means to flourish, to scatter your fragrance; it means to burst as a source that only gives. At this moment all reasonable desires will be attainable. You say: “This work is very hard.” Why? Because you have slept, i.e. have put a lot of soil above your seed. I say: put on only one or two centimetres of soil, do not dig it and you will see it growing in some time. Do not bury your desires too deep! You say: “We wish to be scholars.” Studying too much makes you suffer. – “We want to be powerful.” You are, anyway. You need one thing - to have Love for God! There were two fishermen coming to fish over the lake a few days ago. We were working nearby and could look the fish playing in the water. Some fell victim to the fishermen and were caught in their fishing nets. I say: there is sense in sacrificing the fish if she moves to better conditions; however she goes into one’s stomach. The next day the fishermen went to the lake again and were trying the whole day to catch fish but they couldn’t – the fish did not make the mistake to come out. The fishermen were evangelicals but materialists. They said: “Now we will stay hungry.” We gave them some food and they became calm. I say: who goes with God, will have fish and bread too; without God there will be nothing. Someone says: ”I have converted one to God.” How have you done this? – like the fisherman who takes the fish. You have taken the man into your net, baked him and then ate him. If you have improved the conditions, the life of this man, the conversion is meaningful. You may do the same with your wishes – take them one by one into your net, put them on fire and eat them then. They will process inside you and come out later. The fishermen represent the people of the old life and Christ used to tell them: “I will make you fishers of men now.” You are also preaching a new teaching now, but you still remain at the lake’s edge with your fishnets saying: “Let us take at least one fish!” You think that if you take three or four kilos of trout you will be provided for. No, you will not be provided for but will be fishermen forever and will stay hungry. In the New life man should live according to the law of Love. The one, who goes on this Path, will be content by taking only one sheat-fish. This lecture that I am giving you now, is a serious one. If you have understood it, you will be able to apply it to yourselves and tell it to others as well. If you apply this lecture, it will make your life significant. Life can be meaningful only with God’s Love. It is like a small sparkle of fire, shed in time and in the right place. When it will be like this it produces happiness in Life. If it would fall not in time and in place, it produces unhappiness. July 12, 1931, St. Peter’s day, 5 o’clock [1] Matthew 22:21 [A1][their affairs or life right] [A2][life or affairs] [A3][affairs] [A4][affairs] [A5][affairs] [A6][affairs] [A7][affairs] [A8][put next to it] [A9][affairs] [A10][not] [A11][and give] [A12][life or future] [A13][lives or affairs] [A14][affairs] [A15][affairs] [A16][situation]

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul COMMUNION WITH GOD Life, as it reveals itself, possesses one real and one unreal side. The manifestations of Life have their practcal and theoretical meaning. Faith, for example, is one of the theoretical aspects of Life. Regardless of what you think about it, faith is still a theory. In this respect, people differ in their theoretical views about faith and Life. However, regarding what is real in Life or, in other words, regarding the essential aspects of Life, in general all living beings, including humans have similar perceptions, experiences, and perspectives. This implies that within the reality of things unity exists. For example, when Joy comes, it creates the same conditions and transformations among all living beings. However, they are most evident in humans. When someone is joyful, his pulse quickens, the blood flow from the heart increases, and all organs expand. In general, Joy brings expansion to people. Prayer is another real element in Life. Whoever does not know how to pray can only theorize. However, theorizing about prayer cannot be called genuine prayer. Many people of today believe that prayer, in general, is mostly for the ordinary people. They consider prayer to be quite simple for scholars, geniuses, and saints. In reality, if the life of these people is reviewed, it would become evident that it is prayer from the beginning to the end and nothing else than prayer. Their life begins and finishes with a prayer. For example, the prayer of a genius indicates inspiration coming from some great idea, which the genius wants to fulfill as a contribution to the world. The genius’ life is completely selfless. For this reason, we state: Neither a genius nor a saint strive for personal benefits in life. Therefore, only those who are ready to perceive prayer in an intrinsic and intuitive way are able to grasp its deep meaning. None of modern languages can express the profound idea hidden in the concept of prayer. And in the different languages of today because of the lack of suitable words we use substitutes, which can only approximately convey the concept of prayer. Praying means to direct your mind, heart, soul, and spirit toward the Source of Life from which you have come. A person may become unkind, if he rarely thinks about the One Cause or, in other words, about the Primordial Source of Life. Therefore, the downfall of the present humankind has one profound, intrinsic cause: the negligence of the First Principle from which it originates. People of today are negligent in their attitude toward God and that is why you often hear someone saying, “I am a free human being. I can do without God. I can do without praying as well.” This is the reasoning of a person who believes to be free. And yet, this reasoning is obviously incorrect for the sole reason that the Real, or in other words, the Absolute in the world cannot be divided. As God who has created us cannot forget us, in the same way, we do not have the right to forget Him. Should God forget us, everything will come to an end for us and we are going to die; likewise, if we forget God, we are going to die as well. You ask, “Why are we going to die?” I will tell you why death comes. When you ask: Is it not possible to live without praying, it is just as if you suggest that you can live without breathing. If you think that you are free and independent, try to stop breathing only for one hour. If try to do it, you will realize the necessity of breathing. In the same way as with breathing, the conscious awareness of God is not only vital, but even a thousand times more important than breathing for the human being. The more you remember God and keep Him in mind, the better your character becomes. The noble character depends on your mindfulness of God. It implies that if we desire to hold sublime ideals, we need to recognize this truth: God is the Essence that flows through all of us. In all situations that occur in our lives, whether joyful or sorrowful, we need to remember God. Education, sublime ideas, sciences, religions, arts, mastery cannot exist without God - none can exist without God. Someone may say, “Culture can exist without God.” I reply: Culture can exist without God as far as earthly life without sunshine. Culture can exist without God as far as plants without water. And Culture can exist without God as far as people without air. These comparisons show the great need of prayer. Human thought cannot develop without prayer. We do not consider the distorted human thoughts, in which the idea of God is presented in a twisted way. The idea of modern people about God is one of the fallen humankind. What they consider reality, in fact, is not Reality at all. How many times have people prayed to God without receiving an answer? Why are the people’s prayers not answered? Praying to God without receiving an answer is like when a thirsty person dreams that he is drinking water; but waking up from his sleep, he is still thirsty. The water he drank in his dream has not quenched his thirst. It means that this water was not actually real. Reality is distinguished by its capability to satisfy any inner need that one feels. In Reality, one can advance continuously and unceasingly. The gathering this evening is dedicated to the true nature of prayer so that you could understand how to pray. I would like to hear from you how you pray. When you pray; in other words, when you go before God, you feel meek. Can you pray properly, when you are timid? And what is the reason for your timidity? When a student has learned his lesson, he rises hand bravely and decisively, and gives a good answer to every question asked by the teacher. And vice versa, if the lesson is not prepared, the student feels timid and tells himself, “The teacher is going to fail me.” When you pray to God, keep in mind the following quality of His: God is very patient, but expects us to make efforts. When you pray, pray for what is real and genuine. God does not like us to pray for superficial things, which we can do by ourselves. We should not expect God to act upon such things. It is ridiculous, for example, to go before God and say, “Lord, teach me how to eat,” or “Teach me, Lord, how to drink water; how to shake hands with people; how to dress.” Many prayers of today are of this nature. I say: People of today need such a prayer that will set their lives right and will eradicate any self-indulgent behavior. Self-indulgence is a vice like an ulcer that eats away at the human soul. Like a cloud, it darkens one’s consciousness and hardens one’s heart. The self-indulgent individual thinks all day long only about oneself: to have a good meal and warm, comfortable home, to be healthy and well-dressed. As to the suffering of others, such person says, “It has nothing to do with me.” The lack of interest in others is an alien state which could be quite susceptible. It is rare but so offensive that one will need a long purification to be able to release it. And so, remember the following truth: there is nothing greater in one’s life than prayer. People may tell you whatsoever, but you should not forget the foremost importance of prayer and communion with God. Neither knowledge nor love or wisdom on Earth can be compared to prayer, to the communion of the human being with the First Cause. The power of prayer lies in this: at worship people need to set all their virtues to work. Prayer in which it does not happen is not genuine. Prayer should include the qualities of Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Virtue, Compassion, and many other virtues. When you go before God with a prayer like this, you resemble a tree covered with ripe fruit. Seeing you so adorned, God will be pleased that a wise child stands before Him and knows how to speak in the sublime, Angelic language. You say, “We cannot all be wise children.” It does not matter as God is patient toward His foolish children as well, but there is a difference between the wise and the foolish child. The foolish child will never achieve the results of the wise one. We see this everywhere in Life: the wise child studies; while the foolish child always procrastinates. The wise child is rewarded, while the foolish child indulges oneself. I say: If people of today do not know how to pray, they will lose even the little they have preserved. All good, great, and beautiful that is preserved in them is due to the Spirit of prayer acting in their souls. Therefore, as a result of praying, although it is not so well applied in the modern society, something good was preserved and something new was attained. Thanks to the prayers we offer we have become channels of the sublime powers and noble values through which the entire humankind is sustained. The soul needs intrinsic, spiritual nourishment that can be attained only through prayer. Now, when I look at you, I notice that you are enriched by the knowledge I have passed to you; and yet, you have not still learned how to pray. In many aspects you think, preach, and speak as I do; but there remains something unknown for you: and that is how to pray as I do. The only thing that I cannot teach you is how to pray. I never allow myself to teach anyone how to pray. Why? From my point of view, prayer is the most sacred act that belongs to the soul itself. Someone asks me, “How do you pray, when do you pray?” I cannot tell you how, but I am always praying. I pray when I eat and drink water, when I read and work. At all times and everywhere, I pray. You might ask, “Do you not feel burdened by so much praying?” On the contrary, I feel uplifted. Life consists primarily of the act of praying. Should one cease to pray, Life will disappear. Prayer is something great. It is not expressed through the mumbling or whispering of prayers. When you learn how to pray, your life will become meaningful. Christ’s disciples did not know how to pray either, that is why they turned to Him with the words, “Master, teach us how to pray.”[1] Christ answered them, “When the Spirit of Truth comes, It will teach you.”[2] However, they had a model of true worship in the presence of Christ. I say: Everyone can learn how to pray. Prayer is determined by one’s virtues, so you should place Good as a foundation of Life. When the foundation is placed, you will not even notice how the ability to pray will come as a natural result of Life. Then your soul will get to blossom like a tree with thousands of fragrant blossoms. When a person goes in the mood of supplication, malice ceases to exist for him. He is kindly disposed to every one. He rejoices in everything and gives thanks for all. Even if he sees a crawling worm, he will stop to help it in one way or another. When he looks at a tree whose branches and leaves sway in the breeze, he feels well-disposed toward it and desires to help it. Everything is alive to this person. He sees God’s Spirit working and assisting everywhere. This awakens within him the impulse to work too and to free oneself from the limiting conditions of Life. You ask whether only human beings pray. Every living being prays including animals and plants. The fragrance that the plants disperse throughout the air is their prayer. When they lose their fragrance, they wither. As long as a plant is fragrant, it grows and develops. There are plants, whose leaves in addition to their blossoms disperse a fragrance. Therefore, when people pray, they produce some fragrance like plants. The more they pray, the more fragrance they produce. If praying ceased, the fragrance will gradually dissipate. Those who have never prayed or forgot how to pray have this fragrance lost. It depends on the quality of their development, on the virtues they have. The more developed virtues are, the stronger fragrance one emits. Therefore, prayer is the most valuable work in Life. As far as the way one should pray, it is a personal matter and you are going to learn it on your own. You will hear just an echo, if I teach you how to pray, so you will find it tiresome at the end and will cease praying. Prayer is genuinely precious only when it comes from the depth of your soul. If you ask someone to teach you praying, he will answer, “I would better pray for you, but you will work for me.” This is the Law: If you work for someone, he will inevitably pray for you. If he does not, you, in turn, are not obliged to work for him. Such are the manners among spiritual people. If you pray for someone, that person will work for you. This evening I would like you to pray, while I am going to work, or vice versa, I will pray and you will work. We can divide into two groups: one-half will work, the other half will pray. Whatever you agree upon, one thing is important: all of you need to participate and direct your attention to God. There is not a moment that is more solemn than raising our minds and hearts toward the One Who has granted all Blessings to us. If you do this continuously in the course of a whole year, you are going to be joyful and cheerful all the time, experiencing the presence of God. Prayer can be helpful in all circumstances of Life. Without prayer, anything: whether science, religion, or love remains uninspired. Without grace even nourishment is wearisome. All you do without prayer deprives you of joy. There are worshippers who are very precise in their prayers: their prayers are rigid, measured, reserved. However, there are others, especially among the poor, whose prayers go freely and fluently with the flow of their feelings at a given moment. After such a prayer, the faces of these people become luminous and get to smile; at the same time, a change occurs in their souls as well. You may listen to a poor person who is praying like this, “Lord, I have an inner desire to pray, but I do not know how. I am aware that You bestow Your time and care upon me, but I have not yet learned how to pray. I make efforts to do Your Will, but do not succeed always, as I make mistakes. If You should strike me down, Your arm will crush me. Have mercy upon me. I will not repeat the same mistakes again.” Receiving this prayer, God sends a Blessing to this soul and says, “This is a wise child of Mine who will readily improve.” I am presenting things in the human perspective as they happen among people. Who has never met in life a candid and sincere person speaking from the depth of one’s soul? Listening to his words, you feel that person’s readiness to offer you any service, and do any sacrifice for you. So you feel well-disposed to such person. Even when he has caused you some harm, you are ready to forgive him right then. I say: Your transgressions will not be forgiven, unless you forgive the transgressions of your fellowmen. Often you turn to God with a plea to learn some secret. Many things will be revealed to you, but only when you learn to pray properly. Now, looking at you this evening, I notice that there are both young and old people among you. You all say that you love one another and have brotherly feelings among yourselves. What distinguishes the old from the young? The old wants to render service to the young and the young is willing to work. It implies that they both are ready to do any assigned work. All human beings should have in their souls the absolute willingness of serving God in the same way as Angels and Advanced Beings are ready to help anyone regardless of the difference in the living conditions. You say, “In which direction should we face when we pray?” You should know one thing: worship does not tolerate rules or limitations. When praying properly, one is always facing God. You cannot pray if you are not facing God. If you pray to God, but think of someone else - it may be your friend, mother or father - then, you are praying to that person. If you pray to God while thinking of your money or home, you are praying to those. If you pray to God while thinking of a saint, you are praying to that saint but not to God. If you want your prayer to be received by God, your thought should be exclusively focused on Him. During prayer, your mind should be free of any extrinsic thoughts. Therefore, the image of God should be the focus of your mind while praying, no other image. You may say, “We do not know the image of God.” No, you know it and you should only recall it now within yourselves. There is an instant in Life when all beings - from the least to the greatest ones - pray to God. In this case, the mystical aspect of praying lies in one’s ability to recognize this instant and unite with the collective prayer, saying, “I turn my mind, heart, soul, and spirit to God Whom all others address at that very moment.” At that point, all will send forth their thoughts to God according to their own development. God will answer this collective prayer by sending to each one as much Light as needed. Now, let us say “The Good Prayer”[3] directing our minds toward God Whom all beings are appealing to tonight. This is a collective prayer not only for the humankind but for the entire Universe: for all Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Dominions, and Powers. Prayer is the only way to obtain God’s Blessings so that we can grow and develop according to God’s Will. Lecture of the Master Beinsa Douno held on November 23, 1930, Sofia, Izgrev. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. See also Luke 11:1, “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’” 2. See also John 16:13, “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” 3. A prayer given by the Master.

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul ABSOLUTE TRUTH Have you learned the Prayer of Daniel? Let each one of you read the Gospel of John. It is good to have the text of this Gospel with you. I say: Whatever you do - do it for God. When you enter the classroom, keep silence and stay focused. As spiritual students, you must speak the Truth. Falsity is not admissible for a spiritual student. It represents a double transgression. When you make a mistake and do not want to admit it, then you are living a lie. You should sanctify the Name of God. If not so, others will come and will do it. If you love God, you will keep His Name sacred and will honor all people at the same time. Some say that at times I act in a human way. If so, from now on I will always act in a Divine way. But regardless of the way I act, people are always ungrateful. God has given them Life; He has given minds and hearts to them along with all blessings, but they are still ungrateful. God has been working for you thousands of years, but still you are not grateful. As it is mentioned in the Scriptures, an ox knows its owner, but Israel does not know God.[1] If you cannot take control over your mind and heart, how will you come to know God? If you quarrel with people, how can you serve God? It concerns all of you without any exception. There is none among you to be as they should be. I speak to every one of you today. If you are not satisfied, go into the world where you will be met with a whip. If you do not perform God’s Will, I feel sorry for you. You need to know this! The deeds of those who do God’s Will are shining. The Scripture says, „Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”[2] I am going to make an experiment now to see who of you is perfect and who is not. If I pour a little gasoline on you and strike a match, I will see whether you will ignite or not. If you catch fire and burn, you will know by yourselves who you are. If you do not burn, again you will know who you are. One needs to be knowledgeable. If knowledge does not improve human life, it is not real: it is like a burden that cannot be handled. If knowledge cannot become the Light in which to read, it is not real Knowledge. One’s Light will increase with the awakening of consciousness. Knowing this, make efforts to keep your consciousness awake. Do not lull it to sleep. Only those who have awake consciousness can enter the Kingdom of God. „Old” people with trembling hands and legs cannot enter there. Remember: only „young” people are admitted in the Divine School. „What will happen with the old ones?” you ask. They will rejuvenate. The young will become like the Sun and will shine. The Divine Teaching requires this, thus creating order and organization everywhere in life. Spiritual students have the fragrance of flowers. The Divine Teaching excludes any impurity. Some of you are still holding to the formal church and attending the sermons of preachers. You are free: you may go there to be preached. You may go to the world, if you think that the teaching of the world is good. Then I will be free. Remember one thing: If you search for an easy path to salvation, you will find it nowhere. No salvation can exist if Divine Love is corrupted. You can find temporary diversion there but not what you seek. As I am observing you, I see that some of you come to me only with the purpose to have certain secrets revealed. Should they stay even for thousands of years with me, I am not going to reveal anything to them. Why? It is because they have not been prepared yet for such Knowledge. They will complain afterward that I have not treated them as I should. How could they expect me to behave to them as they wish, when they are trying to deceive me? „The Master does not treat me well.” How could I treat him well, when he is trampling on the Truth? What kind of relationship can I have with someone who defiles the Divine Knowledge with his mind and tarnishes God’s Love with his heart? This is addressed to all of you, I do not exclude anyone. There is not even one truly righteous person among you. For this reason, I say: You cannot advance, if you do not transform your iniquity into Justice. If iniquity in the world is transformed into Justice, we could expect some positive change worldwide. Try to tell someone of today that he is not righteous. He will answer, „My father is a man of noble character. My mother is righteous too.” I ask: If the king’s son, himself, is stealing, what will be the honesty of this nation? Therefore, if you do God’s Will and yet, you steal, where is your honesty? „But I have fulfilled everything that is required from me.” Do you think that to be diligent once or twice is enough? Do not become servants of the dark, negative forces. If you do not apply Divine Knowledge, you will encounter the knowledge of the forces of darkness, from which all misfortunes come. „But God will help us.” How will God help you, when you do not have a single great idea? „We will pray.” You could pray, but your prayer will not be answered. The failure of your endeavors is a sign that you do not have God with you. Until you become one with God so that to have continuous peace in your soul and perform God’s Will, you can never be fully successful. You all are required to discipline yourselves and get control over that company of spirits raging in you. You are in charge of that company. If you fail to put it in order, you are to be pitied. Do not try to excuse your employees. No lie is allowed. Do not distort the Truth. Do not misinterpret my words as well. Do not lie in my name. I do not permit that. Remember: Pity will be on that one who lies in my name. Someone may claim, „But the Master said this or that.” Verify it ten times, but do not lie in my name. Moreover, do not lie in God’s Name! Absolutely no falsehood is allowed in the School. After all that, someone will come to speak about Love. What can you tell the hungry person about Love? Give him food, nothing else. Doing this, you will fulfill God’s Will. Someone comes to share that God has appeared to him. That is a superficial understanding. The time of such misinterpretation has already passed. If God can speak to us from now on, where has the Truth remained? The bud, which is going to blossom today, has prepared for this process for a long time. This same bud has blossomed many times. You say, „The Sun is rising.” The Sun has risen so many times, but you have not seen it. Therefore, if you have not blossomed yet, make sure that you can do it. The human power lies in the opening of the soul bud and its blossoming. Young and old - all should have a good understanding of Life. Some among you think that they do not need to study any more. Have you studied the Law of Sacrifice? Do you know how it relates to Life? As you live, you will be learning to sacrifice. You are required to live properly so that you may set your life right. If you do not set it right, I will do it for you. But pity on you then! You cannot even imagine the redressing that will befall on you! You will see what will happen yourselves, but do not wait for that day to come. If you think that with the beginning of war, your affairs will be settled, you are doomed. Do not wait for the sunset to put your affairs in order. No, your affairs should be arranged while the Sun is shining. Make use of this time. Purify your hearts after the God-gifted freedom that you have - for we reap as we sow and the Law is really strict. Everyone will bear the consequences of each of their actions. In the future, fathers will not be responsible for their sons, and mothers - for their daughters. The time of parental responsibility has passed. At one time, the retribution for one’s wrong-doing was repaid to the fourth generation of this person. Now everyone is responsible for their own mistakes. No one will pay for anyone else. Therefore, everyone who comes to class should maintain the harmony. Everyone should have inner peace. When you come here, instead of talking, open the Scripture and read. Next time, everyone should bring the New Testament and read it. If you do not want to bring the whole Book, copy the chapter chosen for reading. Otherwise, what is the purpose of being together? If God's Blessing is not coming upon us, what is the reason for our gatherings? It is not permissible to play games with God. It is the most dangerous thing in the world. For instance, you stand before God to ask Him for this and that, but follow your will. You give promise, but do not act to it. No, once you promise to do something for the sake of God, you should perform it. Once you avow that you will serve God, you should keep your word; even with the cost of your life, you should serve God. When I watch you, I see that you are slacking off; you are not working as before. You wish that you are free. However, this indolence is not true freedom. Live and work in such a way that everyone can see there is something special in you; that everyone can see the Divine in you. „But we have weaknesses, are we not humans?” Everyone can have some weaknesses, but they exclude falsehood. Lying is not allowed to anyone! I have the greatest repugnance for falsehood. Everything can be forgiven, but a lie is never forgiven! Your other wrongdoings can be remitted, but untruth is never excused. When I meet you, there is one thing that I want from you: to be free from hypocrisy. I want to see you advance but without any deceit. Absolutely no lies! Do not permit untruthfulness to stay as an obstacle between you and God. Everything is disrupted, all your affairs, by the presence of a lie. Do not place any barriers between God and your soul. Do not ask to whom it applies. I speak to all people. It applies to all of you, without any exception. I do not speak about Absolute Purity only. To be able to come to It, you should exclude falsehoods from your life-path. Untruthfulness interferes with any development. It leads to death. Those who lie break for themselves the link with their life. Work upon yourselves to get free from lack of Truth. Only in this way you will attain Peace. Peace cannot come where lying exists. Some are dishonest even while speaking of Peace. Peace will come only when there is no deceit whatsoever. Peace should be reigning between God and us. Christ said, „I give you My Peace.” Now, when you leave the class, you will say that the Master has scolded you. This is not scolding. Say, „The Master invites us to absolutely free ourselves from lies.” This is the Truth. If you do not speak the Truth, it is another way of lying. Why will you speak of something that has not been said? I met a young sister and looked at her. Why? I wanted to tell her to be truthful. I told her mentally: You are young. You are entering the world now and have already begun to lie. I met an elderly sister. I looked at her too. I sent her these thoughts warning her in a mental way: Sister, you are on the edge of dying. Be careful not to lie. And so, both young and old people should speak the truth. Sometimes people look at me in disapproval. They want to tell me, „Why do you permit your followers to be dishonest? Why do you also permit spirits to deceive us?” Thus they make me an accomplice to those who lie. No, I cannot be their accomplice. There is one thing I cannot partake in - and that is falsehood. You will say, „It is impossible to go without twisting the truth.” No, it is quite possible. From now on, no lie will be used. I am quite lenient toward you. All your wrongdoings can be excused except lying! Any other transgression is preferable to lying. If someone has never committed a single transgression except being untruthful, it is equal to having committed all transgressions. Therefore, this person will be the greatest wrongdoer and will be beyond redemption. The devil is the father of lies. No one can save liars. If they stop lying, the rest of their transgressions could easily be remitted. Remember: There is no excuse for lying. „What should I do when a false thought comes to my mind?” Take it by the ear and let it go with the words, „No lie!” You ask, „What should I do next?” You should speak the Truth. And when you are asked what the Master has told you, say, „The Master tells us to cast out lies.” You speak that I was angry. That is not true. Anger is not useful. What will I accomplish with my anger? It implies frowning, raising voice, and shouting. No, nothing can be accomplished in this way. I repeat: No lies! Remember: Renounce any falsehood, if you want to receive Divine Blessing this year. Otherwise, you are going to lose everything. I do not like anyone of you to be harmed. I support your wellbeing. Should I leave you with falsehood, you would be completely confused. Falsehood is not an original quality of humankind - it was adopted from a different culture. You cannot love it as it has a bestial origin. I will read some verses from the first chapter of the Gospel of John. „In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”[3] By „Word,” I understand the Intelligence. It means that the Intelligence was in the beginning. „And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.”[4] Why not? It is because the Intelligence was there. „And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth.”[5] Absolutely no falsehood can exist where there is Grace and Truth. No Grace and Truth, no Word and Wisdom can exist where there is falsehood. „No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”[6] Why has no one seen God? It is because most people are untruthful. The one who lies cannot see God. If you want to see God, free yourself of falsehoods. „He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’”[7] Though the prophet Elijah was a courageous person, he was frightened by a woman and fled to the desert. This fear remained also in John the Baptist. For this reason, when they asked him whether he was Elijah, he denied. Whom did he renounce? The faint-hearted Elijah. „He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.’”[8] John wanted to say that he was not the Elijah who killed the prophets. He is the voice saying, „Make straight the way of the Lord!” It implies that John is not the old, but the new Elijah. „And they asked him saying, ‘Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’”[9] „I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”[10] He speaks the Truth. The Spirit cannot descend upon that one who lies. „And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”[11] Who is the Son of God? The one who is always telling the Truth. „Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), where are You staying?’”12 „He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where He was staying and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).”[13] There is only Truth where Christ abides. „‘We have found the Messiah (which is translated, the Christ).”[14] It means: we have found the One who never lies. We have found the son of Joseph. „And Nathaniel said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’”[15] In other words, can a person who does not lie come out of Nazareth? „Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward Him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.’”[16] It implies that he is a man who is ready to speak the Truth. „And He said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see Heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’”[17] The Son came when falsehood needed to be cast out. And so, work this year on what is good before God. Do not think only about yourselves. If you believe that God lives in all people, then work for the common good. Then God is going to see through the eyes of anyone and everyone that you are fulfilling His Will. You come to borrow one hundred leva from me. Yet, I see that with this money you intend to buy a rope in order to hang someone. Will I fulfill God’s Will if I give you the money? I will fulfill God’s Will much better, if I send two people to give you a good thrashing; after that they will carry you on a stretcher to your bed. After that, I myself will come to heal you. This is the meaning of fulfilling God’s Will. Therefore, suffering comes to prevent you from committing the crime, which you have considered to do. You will be beaten; you will be ill for a while, but you will make the amends. While walking, you fall and break your leg. Why? You have done something inappropriate. The leg suffers instead of you, but it will teach you not to transgress. It has refused to serve you. It says, „God has made me to serve you, but without any deceit. Should you force me to be untruthful, I will not move from my place.” Truly, there is nothing more beautiful than a truthful person in whom there is absolutely no lie. There is no more beautiful face than the one that is always truthful. It is an angelic face. It can say anything, but it will never lie! That one who is honest and true is able to carry people’s transgressions. Those who lie deliberately bear their own transgressions because it is difficult to get redemption for them. These are the devil’s transgressions. If someone asks you, „What did the Master tell you today?” answer, „To live without falsehood.” This is the Truth. Appeal to God like this, „Lord, my soul desires Peace and may it come to me in all its fullness.” Where does Peace abide? Peace abides only where lie does not exist. Now, throughout the week, all who live in Sofia need to get up at 4:30 A.M. to carry out the assignment. Immediately upon awakening, say to yourselves, „Without falsehood!” You should break your links with all lies. You should divorce from it. I divorce you from the lie. No one has the right to marry falsehood. You must remain pure! The lie is the first woman - the adulteress. If you unite with her and give birth to children, do you think they will be good? Do you think they will have sublime desires? Absolutely no union with the lie! If you want to marry, I advise you to unite with Truth. Someone asks me whether to marry or not. You can marry but the Truth only. Should we marry? Yes. Whom? The Truth. Those who attend the class should divorce from falsehood and marry the Truth. If your father is married to the lie, you should leave him. If your relatives are bound to deceit, quit them too. This is the meaning of the verse, „Renounce your father and mother.” Renounce yourself and all those who incite you to be untruthful. Whom should we marry? The Truth. Whom should we love? The Truth. You will love your mother and father who serve the Truth. You will love your brother and sister who serve the Truth. You will love your relatives and friends who serve the Truth. You will love animals and plants that serve the Truth. Absolute Truth! This is the ideal of the New Teaching. Absolute Truth! This is the ideal of the New Humankind. Keep this ideal within your souls. First morning lecture by the Master Beinsa Douno, held on September 21, 1930 in Sofia, Izgrev ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. See also Isaiah 1:3, „The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master ’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” 2. See footnote 2 on page 91. 3. See John 1:1. 4. See John 1:5. 5. See John 1:14. 6. See John 1:18. 7. See John 1:20–21. 8. See John 1:23–24. 9. See John 1:25. 10. See John 1:33. 11. See John 1:34. 12. See John 1:38. 13. See John 1:39. 14. See John 1:41. 15. See John 1:46. 16. See John 1:47. 17. See John 1:51.

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul THE VOICE OF GOD The human path is defined by the existing inner philosophy of Life. In order to attain this philosophy, you need to make conscious efforts; to work on yourself. If you are questioned on the reason and purpose of your coming to Earth, you will say that God knows the answer; He has created you so He knows your predestination. This is a general assertion; that is how one speaks without thinking. Yet, all should know why they have come to Earth, what their special purpose is. If this question is directed to an ox, bird, or fish, each one of these beings would answer according to the degree of its development. The ox will say that its specific work is to go from one place to another and defend itself with its horns, if attacked; the bird will reply that the purpose of its life is to fly; the fish - to swim. What will a person answer to this question? If you have thought about it, you can give yourself a satisfactory answer. All who have the answer about their life mission on Earth can be called happy - they have attained inner peace and tranquility. Therefore, those who perceive the meaning of Life have reached a high level of awareness and understanding, due to which they can evolve properly, walking on their path with confidence and open eyes. Such people resolve any difficulties and contradictions they may encounter with ease and they are interested in everything in Life. The person who is ill will also open his eyes, but only for the medicines and food, which are substantial for his recovery. After he takes them, he will close his eyes and begin to moan again. Why is he moaning? It is because he is passing through a difficult part of his life. So, the ill man moans because of the perilous path ahead. At the sight of what he needs to endure, he closes his eyes not to look at it. The ill person is faint-hearted. When one is healthy, this one walks with open eyes. Why? The path ahead is beautiful and easy. As long as people have not run into difficulties, they are not frightened. But encountering challenges, they close their eyes and begin moaning. The wise person, however, who understands the meaning of Life, goes with open eyes regardless of all difficulties. Humans have come to Earth for learning lessons. Students of Life should aspire for positive knowledge that will bring a profound inner peace to them. For this reason we say that your first task is coming to know yourself and work upon yourself, and after that - coming to know the others and work with them. To take the improvement of the world upon yourself is not in your power and abilities. Can you provide food for all people? Can you say what is happening to the dead and where they go? Can you keep account of the lives of all who are born? Why is one born, why does one die? Life brings the same things as death. Both life and death bring the human being certain blessings and adversities simultaneously. Death is happiness to someone and unhappiness - to another one. Happiness and unhappiness are relative things. It is up to you to make your life happy or unhappy. Living consciously and observing God’s laws prolongs one’s life. Disobeying God’s Laws shortens one’s life and brings suffering. While living, it is good to perceive Life as a great blessing. God’s Will must be observed in order to make the best of this blessing. Religious people claim that they do God’s Will. What is the meaning of the words “fulfillment of God’s Will”? Only those who are healthy, strong, and wise are able to fulfill God’s Will. Their prayer is always accepted as they are in connection with God. What would you say about someone who is bragging about having a millionaire friend and at the same time goes with an empty purse? It is impossible to lack shoes on your feet, to be hungry and in rags when you have a rich friend. It is impossible to be fulfilling God’s Will and at the same time to be ill or live in poverty. In spite of whether you fulfill God’s Will, God has not deprived you of the good things in life. He provides an abundance of water, air, light, and food for all people, but many of them are ill or suffer of hunger and deprivation. Who is to be blamed for that? When one’s jug is cracked, what is poured in it will run out, but who is to be blamed for that? The jug. Who cracked the jug? Either the potter or its user. Whatever the case is, it will not help the person whose jug is cracked. What is important is to replace it. He has the right to replace the broken jug with a new one. And so, when you hear someone complaining of not doing well, you should know that his jug is cracked. Whatever he pours in it is running out. Ultimately, he becomes a permanent loser. Sometimes the losses are big, sometimes they are small. If you pour water in a cracked jug and it runs out, the loss is not so big because there is plenty of water in nature: you pour it from one side, it flows down from the other side. However, when it comes to rose attar, for example, the smallest loss of it affects badly not only the individual, but the whole household. The human body is nothing else but a pot given to the person to act through it and do some work. This pot needs to be solid enough to preserve the precious attar for a longer time. The precious attar that is poured into the human body represents Life itself. When the pot cracks, the attar runs out and the process of aging begins. When Life is running out of someone, he becomes indisposed and begins to complain that his legs do not hold him, that he feels often dizzy, his chest is hurting, he cannot think sensibly, his eyesight is failing, and so on. This indicates premature aging, which is a sign that this person has broken the good relationships with the Intelligent Nature. What should be done in this case? One needs to restore the proper relationship with the Intelligent Nature and as a result to begin rejuvenating. Everyone, righteous or sinful, may disrupt the relationship with the Intelligent Nature, but can re-establish it too. The righteous person may disrupt the connection with the Spiritual World by some wrong doings. Yet, with good deeds this connection can be re-established. It is quite natural. If the wrongdoer lives in an area with clean air, he will be healthy. If the righteous one lives where the air is polluted, he will get ill. However, each of these situations could be temporary or permanent. The righteous person who lives wisely would not probably stay for long in an unclean atmosphere. On the other hand, the wrongdoer could not always make use of the pure air. Also, if the righteous man worries constantly, he will lose his health and if the wrongdoer does not worry, but keeps his inner peace, he will always be healthy. God gave mind to the human being to be able to think, not to worry. “But why is the world created in this way?” It is none of your business. “Which is the appropriate creed?” These are issue, which cannot be solved only in theory - they need a practical application. To answer the question about the true creed, one needs to experience the results of a given creed as applied in Life. The Scripture says, “You will know them by their fruits.”[1] The same is true about any creed. If you are healthy and strong, your creed is good. If you are sick, ignorant, and weak, your creed is not appropriate. Even if you can explain the reason for your weakness and ignorance, it will not help you much. Whatever explanations and excuses you may give, the weakness and ignorance are not overcome. A person should be aware of the connection existing between God and the human soul at any moment of being and guard oneself against interrupting it. Without this connection you cannot create a concept neither of God nor of yourself. You can see people, you can see yourself too, but without having an idea about the humankind as a whole. You know that a person has eyes to see; ears to hear, nose to smell; mouth to speak, but this is not enough. You should know the purpose of each organ in the human body. You say that you have hands and feet; but you must know both their external and internal functions. The purpose of hands is not only in the work they do. The purpose of feet is not only in walking. All organs of the human body have their external and internal purpose. Christ put clay on the eyes of the blind man and he began to see. The learned of that time gathered around Christ to question Him on how it happened that the blind man could see. They wanted to know if he was blind by birth and if so, what was the reason for this: had he or his parents sinned? Well then, according to the philosophy of that time, it was impossible to be blind by birth without any reason. Christ answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.[2] The people of those days lacked understanding of what Christ spoke to them, but people of today do not understand it either. Some people do, but most do not understand Christ’s Teaching. After asking Christ about many things, people wanted also to know why he opened the eyes of the blind man. It makes sense to ask why someone’s eyes are gouged, but to ask Christ why He has opened the eyes of the blind man is out of place. Blindness is a limitation that needs to be eliminated. Christ met a blind man and opened his eyes. Could there be more natural act than this? At that time there were many blind people living in Israel, but Christ did not help them, He opened only the eyes of that particular blind man. Why? It is because He had a special attitude toward him. In fact, that person became His disciple after his sight was restored. Christ came to Earth to help those who externally or internally were blind, but at the same time, they were ready to fulfill God’s Will. Those who are not ready and willing to do God’s Will are going to listen and look without hearing and seeing anything. It means that it is not destined for everyone to have their eyes or ears opened so that to see and perceive God’s Word. Now apply the story about the blind man to your spiritual life and see if there is such blindness in you too. When will one’s spiritual sight awake? When there is a deep desire coming from the heart for recovery of the spiritual sight in order to be used for serving God and fulfilling God’s Will. The man born blind, whom Christ helped to see again, was cherishing the inner desire to fulfill God’s Will. Guided by this desire, he was waiting for someone to come and help him. Someone may say that according to the Hindu philosophy that man had paid his karma and that is why he was able to see again. Yet, we say that the karma itself left him. What is the meaning of this statement? When will the karma leave someone? When it is clear there is nothing more to be taken. Looking at that person, the karma says, “There is no more to be drawn from that one.” Does the wolf not act in the same way? When meeting a sick sheep, the wolf will push its belly and will leave it with the words, “I do not eat sick sheep.” However, when meeting a healthy sheep, the wolf will quickly get the better of it. The sick sheep will remain free as the wolf will not attack it, while the healthy sheep will be exposed to its teeth. It is a figurative explanation of the karma, in order to understand that Law. The fundamental interpretation of a topic is like a circle and all other relevant issues are arranged around it in concentric circles. Such circles are formed and exist around a person as well as in Nature. Where in Nature do we find them? When we look at the cross section of a tree’s trunk, we see that it consists of several concentric circles. We can define the age of the tree by counting them. Why are these circles formed there, why not squares or any other geometrical forms? It is because the circumference as a curved line meets less resistance than the straight line. It indicates that while growing, the plant searches the path of the least resistance. It is one of the Nature’s ways. She always searches the way of the least resistance so as to avoid the needless consuming of her energies. And so, by proceeding on the path of the least resistance, a person observes one of the moral rules in Nature. People of today often speak about morality, judging or approving deeds of their fellowmen. However, if they want to examine their own actions, they will see that only a few of them correspond to the moral rules. Morality exists also for one’s manner of speaking. If its rules are not observed, the speech is rough, unexpressive, and unpleasant. Only the person, who is soft, can speak according to the rules of morality. People say that someone speaks sweetly. If there is no softness in the character, whatever one may say, it will sound alike. Whether you wish all the best or tell someone that you despise them - it will sound identically. Therefore, one needs to be gentle. Gentleness will give expression and modulation of the voice so that the content of the words may become notable. An example for this is the Prophet Elijah’s prayer when he wants to prove to the pagans that only one God exists in the Universe Who can hear and answer people’s prayers. Every word in this prayer contains gentleness, power, and proper intonation. When God answered his prayer, fire came down from Heaven and lit up the sacrifice, which he had placed on his sacrificial altar. The pagans were praying to their gods as well but to no avail. They were shouting, boasting, and injuring themselves, but their gods remained deaf to their prayers. It is said about Elijah’s prayer that it came from the depth of his soul. That is why one should pray with all his soul. When does a prayer come from the soul? When someone is on the stake waiting to be burned. In such moment he has eliminated everything around, he does not see and hear anything. His being is fully engaged with the thought of God. There is not any barrier between God and his soul. He has a direct connection with God’s Consciousness. When you come before God in prayer, you should be like a child willing to confess or admit all its mistakes without justification. Why did a person err? That is not important, but recognition is what is required. In respect to justification and acquittal, it is none of your business, it is God’s Work. God knows that humans cannot always understand things with such clarity so that not to make any mistakes. Facing their wrongdoings, some people excuse themselves pleading that the human being is weak and it is not possible for a person to avoid mistakes. This does not resolve the situation. When you do harmful actions, you must rectify the effects from them. If not, you will come to an inner state of sinfulness, whereby you will lose your dignity and strength. You will realize that you have lost what brings you strength and impulse to grow and evolve. In this situation, in spite of people’s opinion about you, what really matters is your inner state. Once you correct your mistakes, you will reconnect to God and begin to feel strong and courageous again. Calmly you could look into people’s eyes and will not be disturbed by their opinion. People of today need new concepts, which would create new attitudes and a new creed for them. Today all say that they believe in God. What kind of faith is this that makes no sacrifices? Someone says that he is ready to jump from a rock in order to prove his faith in God. Easy to say, but not everything one speaks can be fulfilled. Mindful and not foolhardy faith is required. When Satan tempted Christ, he asked Him to jump from the temple to see whether the Angels would really hold him so that He might not fracture His leg on a stone as it is said in the Scriptures. Christ did not give in to the temptation and answered, “Go away and do not tempt God!”[3] If it was a question to try God, let the one who tempts others jump first. One should be wise. To jump from a rock for God - this is an inner process. In some case, someone may fall from a rock and remain unharmed. It can be achieved by changing the body weight. It is based on some physical laws, which are still unknown. Therefore, each action needs to be mindful. If one wants to gain some kind of experience, then a jump from a rock will make sense. But if this jump will cost one’s life, that is tempting of God. Such a jump is irrational and makes absolutely no sense. And so, true Faith and Love imply work. If you believe in a person, you will work for that person. If you love a person, you will work for that person. Love is a Law of Service. Because God loves us, He is constantly serving us. He has created the world so that we may learn and evolve. Under the same Law we, too, shall work for Him and do what He desires. This means to fulfill God’s Will out of love for Him. It is a Law: If you love someone, you should do what will please that person. If you hold the image of the beloved in your mind and heart in Purity, this person will be pleased with you. If you do not love a person, you are not ready to do anything for that person. People enjoy life, health, and powers thanks to the Love and Care of God and the Advanced Beings for them. If God should stop thinking of humans, they will disappear from the face of Earth. Your life is sustained by the love of your mother and father, your brothers and sisters, as well as your friends. Because they love you, they want you to live - thus they support your life. Therefore, Love sustains Life. If there is Love, there is Life too. If there is lack of Love, there is no Life either. As long as your family and friends want you to live, you will live. As soon as they want for you to die, you will lose your life. It is one of the intrinsic Laws of Creation. Knowing this, always maintain your connection with God. If you break your connection with God, your life will also be broken. And when Life is interrupted, adversities come one after the other. Therefore, if you suffer, do not search for the cause of your suffering outside yourself. Know that you have broken your sacred relationship with the Prime Cause. What should you do then? You should restore your connection with the Prime Cause. As soon as you do it, your life will flow normally again. You have studied mathematics at school and know the law of ratio, so you have observed that when one quantity is changed, the total ratio changes too. If this law is valid and observed in the physical world, how much more it is observed in the mental world, where matter is more refined and requires greater organization. When you are given a straight and a curved line, you should know if there is something in common between them and if so, you should know the ratio. Straight and curved lines have an application in Life. When you meet a magician, you will see that he has his magic wand, in other words, he uses the straight line. When you meet a soldier, you will see that he, too, carries magic in his saber, in other words, he uses the curved line. The devil also carries a wand - his arrow, and shoots at whomever he meets. Today all people fight with straight or curved lines, which they use as weapons. Whether they fight for the right or wrong cause, for good or bad, they fight unceasingly. All people fight with firearms. There is no person on Earth without a firearm. The human tongue is also a weapon that can be used for bad or good. If people want to insult you, they immediately use their firearm - their tongue for this. What can one gain from injuring others with the magic wand of the tongue? The Scripture says, “A person will account before God for every empty word.”[4] When will this happen? On Judgment Day, in other words, on the day when the destiny of humankind will be reviewed. Everyone is responsible for their words, for every single word because we live in a harmonious world of complete and systematic order. When you find yourselves in God’s Court, you will answer why you have created words like firearms, with which you disrupt the harmony of the Divine World. God’s World is harmonious itself, only that humans bring discord into it due to their ignorance and lack of understanding. However, they think that the world as a whole is disharmonious. The human world is disharmonious, that is true, but the Divine World is not. As these worlds are intervening, it seems like the world in general is disharmonious. No, disharmony is partial and belongs to the human world. To remove it, humans need to pass through suffering and karma-determined destiny, in order to see their mistakes. Writers are responsible for their poorly written books through which they have implanted temptation and impurities in life. Artists will be kept responsible for those of their works, which introduce something depraved in the people’s minds and hearts. Some artists for example, paint Love either in its human image, or in the image of Cupid - the god of love, with an arrow in his hand. No artist has been able to capture and present Love up to now. Whatever form they try to give it, it is far from the ideal of Love. What kind of love is that, which is using an arrow? It represents the love of someone who could stab you with the knife at any time. If he is not pleased with something, he will immediately draw out the knife. When I point out at the unsatisfactory work of poets, writers, scientists, philosophers, artists, and musicians, I compare it to the future work that will come as a result of the meaningful inner life of humankind. Every thought and feeling coming from the depth of human soul, is reflected on one’s face and whole body. Human thoughts and feelings give self-created lines and define one’s bright or gloomy perspectives for the future. With their positive thoughts, people can improve the condition of their bodily organs. For example, continuous worries and monotonous thoughts and feelings kept in one’s mind and heart will soon weaken the physical sight. People who have wept a lot, who have passed through immense worries and anxiety, have weak eyesight. A child has passed away and the mother is mourning all her life. What will she change with her crying? Will she help herself? As much as she cries, she achieves nothing. Weeping does not solve the problem. Someone has lost one’s love and begins to weep. Love cannot be gained through crying. If you wish to attain Love, turn to That One in Whom Love lives. God is Love. Therefore, if you search for Love in God, you will find it. As spiritual students, you need to know that the relationships of people are defined by their relationship to the Primordial Cause of all things. People cannot have good relationships with one another, if they do not have the right relationship with God. Rising from sleep you need to turn to the Great Consciousness of Life, uniting with It and perceiving at least one of Its thoughts and feelings. When this union is achieved, your work during the day will be good and you will be joyful, ready to serve all your friends and acquaintances. There is nothing greater than to have God speak to you through His thoughts and feelings giving you an impulse for work. That is to say, to find your true purpose in life. For those who have meaningful life, all doors are open. Whenever they knock at a door, it will open and people will say, “Welcome.” People of today need a new philosophy and concept of Life. They need a creed able to unite them with God. If they cannot make this connection, their creed is not useful. They move on the wrong path, the path of delusions. In order to resume your contact with the Primordial Source, think about the One Who has given you Life every time when you wake-up. You will search and think of Him until you perceive at least one of His Thoughts. How will this happen? Read quotes from the Bible, take examples from the life of saints and good, great people. After that, you can begin your work. If you have not nourished your mind and heart, do not begin to do any work. Should you begin your work without God, do not expect any success. It is an advice to those who desire to begin conscious work for self-growth. Those who are busy, dedicating themselves to home, children, and personal affairs, they are free. In my view, every work should be preceded by your thought and feeling for God. People of today do not succeed in life as they begin their work without a thought of the Great in the world. They come to life, marry. and die without God. If you intend to create something or to get married, ask Him who has created you. He knows what is necessary for every one and gives what is needed. You say that a young woman needs to look out for a rich, learned, healthy young man, as for love among them, it will come by itself. However, I will advise the young woman not to go into marriage until she has found the young man she loves and who is in love with her. How will you know who loves you? Those who love are ready to give everything they have. Therefore, if both the young woman and man are prepared to sacrifice everything they possess for one another, they love one another. Should one of them try to conceal whatsoever, they defile their love. Love does not tolerate any kind of deception, falsehood, doubt, mistrust. Love is pure, sacred, and immaculate. The relationships among people who love each other are and should be like the relationships between humans and God. By loving us, God constantly thinks how to help us and satisfy our needs. When you know this, you should be ready to sacrifice everything for God. Seeing this, God will begin to speak to you and will tell you just one Word, but this Word will help you rise in your path and will add meaning to your life. If you cannot make this sacrifice, you will be doomed to death - not physical but spiritual death. Spiritual death implies a loss of Love. When people lose their love, they begin to search it anew. You hear someone saying to have lost the first love, but found another one. The second love is the beginning of strife and misunderstanding. The first Love is pure and selfless and it opens a world of bliss. One’s transgression begins with the first Love loss. You hope to find it again, but you are deceived. You are like a ship rocked by the ocean waves. A long time will pass until you come to maturity and Love again. Once you have regained the first Love, it is impossible to lose it any more. Now the aim is not to make you discouraged, but to give you a clear concept of things: to see them as they are. Why deceive yourself that the stone on your ring is precious? Why should you deceive yourself that your love is genuine, pure, and sacred? Listening to someone talking about the Great Love, many say it does not interest them, as they desire to withdraw from society and become monks. The question here is not about monkhood, in other words, about living in solitude. We are not interested in this kind of service because it is deprived of any science and progress. In contrast to these people there are others who say that they are ready to put themselves into God’s Hands. This is also not right, it is like distorted speech. Why should they lay themselves in God’s Hands? They are not criminals. Man is expected to serve - to serve God with all his soul, mind, heart, and willpower. Therefore, one may surrender oneself into the hands of the Angel who is in charge of collecting souls. After passing this process one surrenders completely to God. The young girl gives herself up into the hands of the young lad. When? When he is stronger than her. Christ too, gave His soul into God’s Hands because God is strong. Christ said, “Father, into Your Hands I commit My spirit.”[5] In other words, Christ turned to God with the following words, “Lord, because I have karmic bond with the sins of humankind, I have taken up to bear them. To a certain place I carried them on my back, but then I understood that there was no need to carry them to the end. Here, now I turn over My spirit laden with the sins of humankind.” After this difficult trial Christ’s resurrection came. Christ’s resurrection marked a new epoch for the world - the karma eradication. Christ himself could not resolve this problem, but He conceded it to God. In the name of God, Christ wanted to make the Jews trust God, but He failed. He said to God, “I did what I could, You will finish the rest.” Therefore, the work of humans is to sow the seeds in the garden and leave the rest to God. You should know that it is God Who makes the things grow, He uplifts and purifies everything. One day, when you accomplish your work on Earth, like Christ, you will say as well, “Lord, into Your Hands I lay my spirit.” One should have a diamond steady faith to lay oneself into the Hands of God. But before coming to this faith, trust in one’s fellowmen is required. Today people have lost their mutual trust in themselves. Whomever you meet, you see lines of conflicts on their faces. On the surface, people may present themselves as believers, but in fact they live in inner contradictions, which have thoroughly shaken their faith. This is not a pure life. Purity implies identical inner and outer life. Why should you doubt? Why should you waver? By itself, Life is pure and sublime. Hold on to this Life, not to the human version. The human life is continuously changing like people themselves, while the Divine Life is stable and harmonious. Use the present conditions to make your way in this lifetime so that you can put your own matters in order. If you do not do it today, you will never be able to do it. You say, “But we will pray to attain Divine Life.” Prayer implies work. If you do not work, no prayer can help you. If spiritual students do not act, but only pray, the Teacher will not be able to promote them to higher classes. The Teacher has an equal attitude to all and as a consequence, he demands from all students to learn and apply what is studied. As spiritual students you need to work consciously and attain something new every single day. The knowledge you have today is not sufficient neither the achievements you have obtained. Who of you can, by compressing a stone in a hand, make a fire come out from above the stone, and water - from below? What is the meaning of this? The stone represents the unyielding human thought, while fire and water represent the conditions for life. Therefore, if you cannot hold your unyielding thought tightly in your hand, producing water and fire, in other words, providing the conditions for life, you have achieved nothing then. In this case, you cannot pride yourself with faith or knowledge. I do not want to discourage you. But if a physician must spend 10 - 15 years in studies in order to become a good doctor, qualified and acknowledged by people, do you think that a student of esoteric science needs to work less? To be a spiritual student, you should evolve your mind, heart, and willpower so as to become a master of life in all conditions. If you fall among an agitated mob, you should be able to calm them only with one wave of your hand. If you get in a storm, again, you could stop it with your wave. If you experience a headache, in the same way, you could remove it with one wave. This is what the true students of the spiritual school can do. What they say - it happens. But if they utter for example, one hundred prayers and only one of them is received, this is an indication that God is not listening to him yet. They have not become saints so far and are not prepared enough to serve others. Saints work for the entire humankind and their work is blessed. People of today need cleansing. They must purify their thoughts, feelings, and wishes and free themselves of all layers of the past. They must purify their consciousness so that it becomes luminous. It implies pure life. When one’s consciousness is purified, one’s life becomes pure as well. Do not dwell on peoples’ outer manifestations, thinking that they are not pure. Purity and impurity are inner processes. If you do not think in this way about things, you will fall into false piety; you will look only at the external devotion. No, one needs to be devoted both externally and internally. Do not pay attention only to the external, but look at the deeds accomplished for God. All that is done for God is pure and sacred. Whether one is a poet, preacher, or scientist is not so important. If poets do not glorify and live for the Great in life, they are not true poets. Poets, scientists, preachers teach and glorify the Great, but they also live for It. In this sense, everyone can be a poet. If you cannot use your tongue as a pen and write according to all rules of poetry, you are not a poet. If you cannot use your mind as a pen and write according to all rules of poetry, you are not a poet. True poets use not only their tongues but also their hearts and minds. They pour out and give generously from the abundance of their hearts and minds. True poets share the experiences of their hearts, minds, and souls; and for this reason people appreciate their poetry. It is my wish for you to meet Christ so that He may open your eyes. When you begin to see, He will ask you, “Do you know Me?” If you recognize Him, you are ready to work and to apply this Teaching. It means that in the process of consciousness awakening, there are two important moments: you open your eyes, in other words, you begin to see and perceive and then you get to apply the Great Laws of Life. Some have come to the first phase of opening their consciousness eyes, while others are applying the Law of Service. Service implies acts motivated by Love. Those who apply the Law of Love are strong. It is said in the Scripture about such people that the righteous will rule the world.[6] Religious people affirm that God will set the world in order. God created the world perfect and if there is any disharmony whatsoever, it is due to the distorted human life. Humans have corrupted the world and they must set it right. Even now God is working and creating new worlds, but they require enlightened people who will not to destroy the new that is under construction. By saying that humans have ruined the world, I mean the human world. No one can destroy God’s entire creation. It is impossible. However, you can cause harm to your fellowman by your negative thinking: if you say to him that he is ignorant and does not understand anything, that he is on the wrong way, and so on. Every person is susceptible to the negative influence of others and can become distracted from the right Path. If someone calls you godless, be not disturbed; rather ask about their achievements through their faith. If your “godlessness” provides you with food, clothing, and living quarters, you are on the right path. And if with your “faith” you stay hungry, barefooted, and in rags, it shows that your “faith” is not genuine. True faith is nourishing, it will make the believer strong, healthy, and rich. True God helps people to go out of their misconceptions and place them on the right Path. True God removes people from wrongdoings and crimes, providing them with conditions that will uplift them. Whoever degrades humans and pulls them down from their present position has nothing to do with God at all. True God creates beneficial conditions for one’s spiritual, intellectual, and emotional health. He purifies all poisons that deprive humans of inner peace and make them discontented. I would like you to hear God’s Voice as you wake-up in the morning, the same way as Adam heard It in the Garden of Eden. God turned to Adam, “Adam, Adam, where are you?” “I am here, Lord, but I cannot come out.”[7] Why was Adam not able to appear in front of God’s Face? It is because he was naked. I also tell you: when you hear the soft Voice of God, give a prompt reply and say, “Here I am, Lord!” Be courageous enough to stay before His Face. There is nothing greater for the human soul than the moment when you hear the still gentle call of God. Along with His Voice, a Light will appear in your soul and you will be already prepared to work and serve God. Without God’s Voice, it is very easy for the human being to fall into darkness. Strive for pure life so that you may unite with God and hear His Voice. Become like good soil, to be able to receive His Word. If you are like stone, the Word will pass by you without a trace. It is easy to irrigate good soil, but the stone diverts the water away from it. To be like a stone not receiving the water into yourself, represents a life full of contradictions. To let go of the contradictions, you should be good swimmers. Entering the stormy sea of Life, you should hold heads above the water not to get drown. People of today fear life and worry what will happen to them. If students ask such questions, it is an indication of their fears. What will happen when their teacher passes away? This kind of fear is inappropriate. The conscientious teacher is like an experienced captain of a ship. He will never stop the ship in the middle of the sea. Once on his way, he will safely lead his passengers to the designated harbor. If the teacher departs, his students will be in the same situation as before, when they were with him. The good and conscientious teacher brings Light into his students’ minds and because of this, they will continue to study without his physical relation to them. If this is true about an ordinary teacher, how better it would apply to an Enlightened Teacher who is a presentation of God’s relationship to human beings. A Teacher transfers some part of his Light to those around him, in the same way as the candle gives some part of its light to everyone who wants to make use of it. The Teacher is a manifestation of the Divine Light. The more one absorbs this Light, the more this one is connected with the Teacher, not by form but in content and meaning. The Word comes from the Teacher, but It belongs to God. Christ says, “Believe in God and believe in Me!”[8] This is to say that it is sufficient to believe in God and in Christ. If you believe in this and that person, in saints and good people, your faith will be limited. Believe in the One and you will see Him in all. The One in Whom you need to believe is God. Believing in God, you are going to believe in all people as God is revealing Himself through them. People ask themselves about the person they hear of: Who is that man, where does he come from, who has sent him, and so on. Some people ask me, “Who are you?” I say: I will tell you, if you are ill; I will tell you, if you are students. Therefore, if I am a physician and I can heal you, my knowledge will be tested. If you are a spiritual student and I can teach you, my work is not in vain. Whom is the Sun created for? It is created for those who can make use of its light and heat. This Sun is created by God. If you cannot benefit from its light and heat, it is not created for you. Remember: There is one Master in the world. If you want to enjoy His Blessing, keep His Name sacred in your mind, heart, and soul. It is the ideal of the human soul. One God exists in the world Whom you should ever trust. Do not doubt His Love for you. People doubt Love because they expect more than it can give them in a certain case. God’s Love is the only measure with which we are to measure things and distinguish between good and bad. If you apply this Love in your life, whatever you wish will come true. When you have this knowledge, beware of your wishes because every wish, good or bad, comes true. Now, knowing the essentials in Life, try to preserve your connection with God. If interrupted, make your best to restore it. This is the way in which the New is coming into the world. The old has already been stepping back to be replaced by the New. The Turks have a saying, “When the downpour passes, the mud remains.” At the beginning the mud is wet, but gradually it dries out. The important point is what you can make out of the dried mud. Hearing that the old life is flowing out, many people are scared that something horrible will befall them. There is no reason for fears. The old knowledge will give up its place to the New one. The old life will be replaced: what is terrible in that? Christ says, “He who wants to be my disciple let him lift up his cross and follow me. He who wants to be my disciple let him renounce his mother, his father, even himself.”[9] Renouncement means releasing your soul from all contradictions and obstacles that you meet in life. Renouncement implies inner freedom for the soul. Some people say they have renounced themselves, but at the same time they die. Those who have renounced the old life do not die but ascend. When the time of departure comes, they invite their friends to a feast and receive them. They bring their letters to the relatives beyond and after taking leave with all, they head to the “heights” - far away from the world where they have lived in. And so, you are all required to maintain a conscious connection with God, to be able to enter the New Life and hear the still Voice of God saying, “Adam, come out! Leave the old life and enter the New where Love, Light, Knowledge, Freedom, and Infinite Space reign.” Lecture of the Master to the General Esoteric Class delivered on August 27, 1930, Sofia, Izgrev. -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. See Matthew 7:16. 2. See John 9:3. 3. See also Matthew 4:5 - 7. 4. See also Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in Heaven and you on Earth; therefore let your words be few.” 5. See footnote 9 on page 282. 6. See also Psalm 37:29. 7. See also Genesis 3:9 - 10. 8. See also John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” 9. See also Mark 8:34, “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ”

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul THE IDEAL HUMAN BEING As students of the Great School of Life you are going to explore the music existing in Nature. When you make your way to the music of Nature, you will learn those natural, creative scales through which the world is formed. The conditions of all living beings change according to these scales, in other words, musically. With the changes of a scale, the conditions change as well. Knowing this, through music you can transform your thoughts and feelings and uplift yourselves. Often people lose the basic tone of their life and as a result, an inner dissonance appears in their state. If you are nervous, indisposed or irritated, begin to sing - silently or aloud - until you transform your state of mind. Music and singing help with the development of one’s talents. All great people and geniuses, who have endured grave sufferings and trials, were musical people. They had high and well-developed foreheads. Unless you begin to have idealistic thinking and bear the inner image of the ideal human being, you cannot achieve anything. Do not search for the ideal human being outside of yourselves. The ideal image is innate in all people, but needs to be revealed. If the ideal image is not within you, how do you know then what is good or bad, what is moral or immoral? What are the distinctive features of the ideal human being? Try to describe them not as they are presented by the poets and artists, but as you personally perceive them. If your opinion about the qualities of the ideal candle is needed, you can give it right away. However, regarding the ideal human being - it is not easy to say. A good candle burns uninterruptedly without smoke. It melts not so quickly and gives out a bright, clear, and clean light without dripping. Which of the above qualities are also qualities of the ideal person? The ideal person shines like a candle. The ability to shine lies in the ability to pay attention to everything without dwelling on the defects. People’s shortcomings cast a shadow on their consciousness and dim it. In Nature, shortcomings do not exist; they are just in the human mind. If you could cast them out of your mind, you would become pure and bright. Therefore, if you desire to come closer to the image of the model person, do not keep people’s shortcomings in your mind and consciousness. The less you dwell on people’s shortcomings, the closer you will be to the image of the ideal human being. The more you pay attention to people’s weaknesses, the further you will go away from the image of the ideal person. The more you burden your consciousness, the more you depart from the Path of the ideal human being. Imagine that you have two wires through which an electric current flows. The upper wire is made of metal that is a good conductor of electricity and lights up when heated. The second wire is less conductive - it heats up less and does not light up, but retains the dull dark color it had before. From this we conclude that brightness of the wire depends on its ability to easily conduct the electric current. The lower wire, which is weakly electro-conductive, remains dull dark. The same is true about good and bad people. The good person is a good conduit of the energies coming from the Sublime worlds and has light and brightness. The bad person, on the other hand, is a poor conduit of the energies from the Sublime worlds. So, this person is without light and brightness. Therefore, if someone admits to be bad, it indicates that he is not a good conduit of the energies coming from space. How can one manifest the Good from within? Replacing the wire through which the energies flow, the bad conductor could be transformed into a good one. It means to change your state from bad to good. You can try to change your state until you find such a wire that will be in harmony with a given scale of Nature. It means to find a wire that will be a good conductor of Nature. The wire that is shining white represents the Divine Origin of human being, whereas the dull dark wire relates to the human inferior nature, which needs to be developed until its coarse manifestations and states are refined. People of today ask themselves why sufferings come. Very simple: sufferings represent the fire by which one is tested. How long will one be tested? Until one becomes enlightened and luminous. Why do you need to suffer? To become good conduits. The poorer conduit someone is, the greater is Nature’s desire to make him better. As soon as Nature directs a flow toward someone, this person begins to shine. Suffering is caused mainly in two ways: when you refuse to yield the way for the Nature’s Powers to manifest themselves; and when Nature does not give you what you want. She puts it close, but when you open your mouth to take it, she immediately pulls it away. Nature’s intent is not to make people suffer, but make them happy. But they cannot be happy unless they are conduits of Nature’s energies. What is happiness? From a scientific point of view, only raising of consciousness to a higher level will allow people to overcome the old traditions and concepts of Life. Traditions are not related only to humans, but animals have them too. For example, wolves traditionally suffocate sheep. Sheep traditionally eat grass. From a scientific point of view, grazing is nothing other than mowing of grass. Sheep mow the grass and collect it in one place. One day, when sheep evolve to humans, how will they manifest their old habits? People do not eat grass, but from time to time someone bends, picks a few blades, and continues on the way - this is a remnant from the tradition of sheep. We sometimes pick flowers and smell them - it is another remnant from the desire of birds to clean their beaks in the flowers. They pick flowers to clean their beaks. People can understand the background of their actions and traditions by self-observation and analysis. A person can have desires through which traditions are manifested. It sometimes takes years for someone to overcome some of these desires. Some sufferings are natural; others are not. Especially at present, some of the natural traditions have become unnatural and useless. It will take a long time before a wolf could give up its desire to suffocate sheep. Therefore, remember: You can be happy only when you are good conduits at all times of your life. If there are occasions in life when you do not act as good conduits, your happiness will disappear. To preserve happiness, you should know how to train your body, your thoughts and feelings. This is the aim of the new education. What new methods do psychology and ethics offer for human education? One of the methods of the new ethics of education is the application of Purity in a broad sense as cleanliness of the human body, clarity of the human mind, and purity of the human heart. One should maintain cleanliness of body by means of regular washings and baths, perspiration, changing of clothes, combing of hair, and so on. After achieving good physical hygiene a person begins to think about purity of emotions and thoughts. Pure feelings exclude any kind of self-interest and selfishness. Nobility of the human feelings implies the presence of organic gold in the blood. Gold supports the condition of health in the organism. Less gold in one’s blood supposes more pre-conditions for suffering and diseases. Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Therefore, the organic gold in human blood conducts the energies of Nature. Knowing the power and value of gold, people strive for it; they want to be rich. Everyone wants to have a gold object as an adornment. If one cannot afford to wear gold jewelry, it would be good for him to carry a gold coin in his pocket. The human love for gold is a natural aspiration imbedded as an inner impulse for nobleness. There is not a person in the world not to love gold. And so, gold is an element needed in the human education. However, it does not mean that one needs to spend one’s whole life acquiring gold. When someone has acquired the necessary quantity of gold, that person begins to search for other elements. The human body needs different elements, not only gold. If only one element is acquired, the person will come to uniformity that is detrimental. In general, you should avoid the monotony in life. Coming to the monotony, even the rich person will give up his wealth. When someone overeats, even the best food will generate a morbid condition. As a consequence, the stomach refuses to accept this food. One needs to take various foods. In the future, in self-education, the elements which the body needs and their quantitative ratio will be taken into account. One should know these things not to take anything more than necessary. When it comes to gold, you should know that everyone should have a few grams of gold as an inviolable reserve within oneself and externally as well. Those who want to be morally pure should have a certain amount of silver within themselves; silver purifies. Without silver, one cannot be pure. Gold is a bearer of the vital energy of Nature, whereas silver purifies any impurities in the organism. Iron strengthens the human body. In case of anemia, doctors prescribe iron pills or drops. However, if someone takes more iron than necessary, they will become coarse. Every element serves its purpose for the human organism only if it is used in the appropriate quantity. If it is more than prescribed, it will cause harm. When there is a surplus of certain elements in the human body, microbes and parasites appear to consume this surplus. As microbes and parasites consume the excesses in the physical body, in a similar way, some thoughts and feelings as parasites attack the human mind and heart and provoke certain withering. It implies that some thoughts and feelings bring about emaciation, while others cause obesity to people. Therefore, in order to be healthy and develop normally, one should attain inner balance among the powers acting in the body as well as between thoughts and feelings. Music is a method for maintaining balance. Those who are familiar with the Laws of Nature’s music can stop the destructive activity of the parasites in their body and improve their health condition. As soon as you begin to sing, the parasites stop creating harm. Orpheus - this wonderful singer, was able to tame even the most ferocious beasts. He was a shepherd; and as there were wolves, bears, and tigers where he grazed his flock, he constantly played his flute and sang in order to tame them. Because he was preaching the Teaching of Peace and Love, he refused to kill animals. Instead, he was constantly singing and playing music in daytime. The animals began to play after his singing and forgot to attack and harm his sheep. If Orpheus managed to tame the wild beasts with his songs, could you not also overcome the difficulties and unfavorable conditions in your life through music and songs? You may comment that it is easy to speak about these things, but difficult to apply them. It is easy to play music, but one should do it in such way as to tame the beasts within. You say that you cannot play and sing without making any effort, thus building a barrier within yourselves. Everyone can sing. If a frog, that is not a singer begins to sing when a snake is biting its leg, you can be much better singers and musicians, can you not? If someone is sentenced to death and he should sing a song or perform a good deed in order to be pardoned, would he not learn to sing a song and do something good? Only at the thought that he would be pardoned, he will become a singer, he will do good deeds. Nature imposes great punishments upon humans, but very little is required to avoid them. Many think that for their salvation they need to do big things or become prominent singers and musicians. This is true for the human world. But in the Divine World, it is not so much that is required from you. It is sufficient to come across one of Nature’s Scales and begin to sing. True singing implies thought. When one thinks rightly, this one can sing well. Therefore, when you wake up in the morning, begin to sing - silently or aloud, but without any hesitation or doubt whatsoever. Never say that you cannot sing. Through singing, you enter into the foundation of Life. Life, in and of itself, is music and harmony. You are sent off from Heaven with music and song; therefore, music is not foreign to the soul. The human being is immersed in music by nature and that is why one can sing and play music. So one needs to step back, return to one’s initial state of music and song, of harmony and melody and from there, move forward. Knowing this, cherish the sacred thought that Life is music and song. Within Life, all is good and harmonious. God’s Love brings the full and abundant Life. Lecture of the Master Beinsa Douno to the Youth Esoteric Class held on March 7, 1930, Sofia, Izgrev.

Note 4 The Centre of Life Two main elements determine the direction of human’s life: thoughts and desires. Therefore, in order to understand the direction in which one’s life is moving; we should know our thoughts and desires. If we do not know our thoughts and desires, we will never understand the direction that our life is taking. Imagine that you have two points outside of a circle, points 1 and 2. In order to be connected these two points would need to pass through a third point situated in the circle – for example through point A; its centre. For an idea to be fulfilled, to make it a fact in one’s life, there should necessarily be a desire behind this idea. If there is no desire behind the idea, the idea is like an empty bottle. And why would one need an empty bottle? No matter how beautiful the form of the bottle is, if it is empty, a person does not care about it. To us, what is inside the bottle is more important than its form. The same goes for a house. A house is important as long as there is life in it. No matter how beautiful the building is, if it is empty, it is of no particular worth. What type of house would that be, how would the people live in it – depends on how intelligent they are. If the owner of the house decides to build it with small windows facing the north, after some time he, his wife, and his children would feel physical discomfort and serious diseases might appear. What is the reason for this? It is the small amount of light that enters the house. There should be big and wide windows facing the east and the south. Now, when you look at the drawing1, you might ask yourself, why the numbers 3, 6, and 9 are missing. Those numbers are results. The numbers 1 and 2 are creative; there is a relation between them. The number 3 is a result, achieved by combining 1 and 2. The number 6 is achieved by adding 2 and 4; 9 - by adding 4 and 5. The numbers 2 and 4, 4 and 5 are creative ones too. Writing down the ratio - 1:2 - shows that you have a ratio of a thought to a given desire. This ratio could be written in reverse order – 2:1. In the first case the thought is stronger than the desire, therefore the action, which is the number 3, the result of 1+2, depends on the characteristics of the thought. In the second case we have the ratio 2:1, the ratio of a strong desire to a thought. In this case the desire has supremacy over the thought and the result 3 has the characteristics of the desire. With the help of ratios between the real numbers it can be explained why in a family there are sometimes more girls and other times more boys among the children. When the mother is the stronger one, more girls are born, and if the father is the stronger of the two - there are more boys among the children. Contemporary people strive to change the direction of their life; they want to bring in certain improvements. People are not able to change the direction of their life, if they do not understand the laws of their own thoughts and desires. A person cannot transform a thought into a lofty desire or a desire into a glorious thought, if there is no centre or holy idea after which this person aspires. Faith in God is a centre, which transforms human’s thoughts and desires. So, people should believe in God in order to change the direction of their life, to put it on the right path, corresponding to ambition to bring in a better life. If one does not aim to be the centre this person would never be able to live a good life. If one does not have good thoughts and desires, this person cannot be happy. Good thoughts and desires do not exist somewhere out of the human like something abstract, something unattainable. They are inside the human and they bring joy, first for the individual, and then for the people surrounding that person. The first aim of humans is to coordinate the direction of their own thoughts, desires, and acts. By determining their direction the people would be able to determine the direction of their own life. Only by achieving those things, a person can work on the question of human’s soul. Before going into the abstract questions, people should take care of their own relatives. What is a human being? It is that one who understands the direction of the one’s own thoughts, desires and acts. A human being is someone who understands the direction of one’s own life. They say that a human being is a One. Why is a person like a One? A person is a creature full of feelings. That a person is full of feelings does not imply that this person is full of Love. Feelings do not stand for Love. Love is a powerful force, which combines all together in one. Love is outside human’s thoughts, desires, and acts. It moves in a direction different from human life. It would be possible for the people to understand Love only if they have understood the direction of their personal thoughts, desires, and acts, and understood the direction of their own life. Being separate, people are the result of the direction of their own life, thoughts and desires, which are like the ratio 1:2. When someone feels discomfort of the soul, it means that this person is only left with the ratio 1:2 or 2:1, but without a centre through which one could pass in order to transform the thoughts and desires. What does the centre look like? In a wide concept, the centre is the point in which, a person finds the realization of the thoughts and desires they have. For example the person A has a thought and a desire – 1 and 2, for instance to buy new cloths. The person has the desire and thinks about its realization, but the one’s pocket is empty. The person is looking for the centre. In this case the banker is the centre, who will give the one the chance to realize the one’s own dream. Therefore, if there is a centre at which a person aims, this person can find anything there. So, as number 1 you felt the desire to buy new cloths. Then you go through the centre which helps you realize your wish, and then you continue to the point number 2, where the fulfilled idea takes place. The same can be said about the points 4 and 5. At point 4 the idea, the desire takes place, which should go through a centre and to take the way to point 5 where the desire is already a fact. The same goes for points 7 and 8. By moving from 1 to 8, the person’s path forms a circle, in which this person’s thoughts and desires alternate from each other. If people’s thoughts and desires are not fulfilled, they become fruitless. By living, people should seek the realization of their own thoughts and desires. If a person does not aim at their realisation, if one does not have any accomplishments, then one’s thoughts and desires seem like fallen but unpollinated flowers. In order to have accomplishments, the person’s thought, ideas, and desires should be worthy, so that they give the person the impulse to work out their realization. Who can be the centre of a human’s desires and thoughts? – Jesus Christ. If the thoughts and the desires of a person do not travel the path through Christ as an internal centre of the human life, they would never end up being realized. You should strive to Christ as a centre, to which you guide your thoughts, so that they transform into glorious desires. In the next moment you will direct your desires to the same centre – Christ and that way you would be able to transform your life. So no matter what a person does, one should go through the centre of Christ’s Life. This is the only way by which the person’s thoughts, desires, and acts would take the right path. Moving around point A, a person creates a circle, which expands constantly. Going through the centre of Christ’s Life a person starts feeling Jesus’ own thoughts and desires, starts looking into peoples’ sufferings and difficulties. Though a person does not have the power, there is a desire in one to save the World. These are the thoughts and desires of Christ. This task is easy for Christ, but for the human it is impossible. As spiritual students you should find out which of the thoughts and desires that you have are yours and which are not. Your thoughts and desires are those, which you can use at any given moment. Do you think that basket full of bread that you are carrying on your back is yours? Only one kilogram of this bread is yours, the rest does not belong to you. On your way you will meet a lot of poor, hungry people, who will take the bread from you and will leave you with an empty basket. What is not yours cannot secure you. What makes you happy today, and is gone tomorrow, can you call that joy? Joy that comes and goes is not yours. Therefore Christ’s life can be the centre for only those, in whom this Life is revealed. If Christ has not been revealed to a person, the Life of Christ cannot be the centre of this person’s life as well. The people today have an attitude to Christ, since He has once appeared on Earth. If He had not appeared among the people at all, they would not have an attitude to Him. Can you pray to a being who you do not know, and a being who does not know you? The child calls out to its mother and she turns her back to her child, because the two know each other. A lot of people turn to Christ, pray to Him, ask Him for things, but without first knowing Him. Their prayers stay unanswered. Why is that? - Neither they know Him, nor does He know them. Others do not pray, however they work hard on their land, plough, and sow, and the land produces abundant food. They work and they labour. Their work is their prayer. They know God through the corn, God made, and by working on it, they connect with Him. So they know Christ, and He knows them. If two friends want to keep their relationship intact, regardless of the direction of their thoughts, they should in any case meet in the centre A - in the reality of Life. When people talk about Christ, a lot of them think of Him as a great philosopher, like the ones who lived in the past. There is an enormous difference between Christ and the philosophers. Christ has given Himself the task to save humanity, whereas the philosophers just wanted to help people live easier. When saving the people Christ takes them away from their world and shows them an entirely different one - His world. When the philosophers want to help the hungry people, they bring them bread, but they leave those people living in their old houses. The bread the philosophers have left would suffice the people only for one day, on the next day they would find themselves in the same old condition – they would be hungry and unhappy. Christ brings the people to the reality of Life, to the essence of life, to the place where the water springs. Christ brings people to the source where the people could drink by themselves, whenever they want, and the amount they want. He secures people for their whole life. If one chooses to live only with the help that people offer him, he would receive a glass of water, but tomorrow the person would be thirsty again. Use the philosophy of Christ to meet the great achievements. You can have achievements without this philosophy too, but those would be the achievements of the sick, the unenlightened, and the weak. In those accomplishments one has always fulfilled others ideas and desires, which never lead to a good end. Someone decides to build houses. The person builds two - three houses and gives them for rental and then goes once a month to collect the money. One made those houses under someone else’s influence, not according to one’s own desire, and then regrets it realizing how much trouble those houses bring the owner. The critics are the same; they go from person to person and criticize, they collect rent. One house is enough for a person. This house is the body in which the person lives. If the one can become the master of this body, then the person has accomplished the idea of Life. So, if the people want to master themselves, they should accept the new ideas and apply them. By accepting the new ideas people should refuse the old ones. The new ideas and the old ideas cannot live together. If they meet somewhere there is always a collision. As long as you inhabit the old houses you would never enter the new one. Leave the old, unhygienic houses and enter the new ones, which are bright, spacious and hygienic. In order to be able to do this one should apply. Without practice there is no accomplishment. A person is not satisfied, because there is no practice. Unhappiness also shows that you missed the centre. “I cannot pray.” – You do not have a centre. – “I cannot think.” – You do not have a centre. – “I don’t feel good” – You do not have a centre. – “What should I do?” – Draw a circle, and then draw the three lines. Start thinking about them, and about the centre until the idea becomes real. – “Why don’t I receive an answer to my prayer?” – Because you are not ready to sacrifice yourself for Christ. When the person sacrifices everything for Christ the prayer will be accepted. When a person renounces oneself and sacrifices everything for God, then everything that has been lost comes back. That is what happened to the righteous Iov. He suffered, lost all his wealth, sons and daughters, but when he renounced himself and lived his life for Christ, he received everything back, but this time prettier and more plentiful. An American preacher, a good and devout person, preached Christ’s teaching for 20 years among the heathens on Ceylon Island. One day, giving himself an account of the work he had done, he fell into a great contradiction. He thought: “I worked for a period of twenty years, but I didn’t achieve anything, I couldn’t turn any of the heathens to Christ.” He searched for the reason of the lack of success both in himself and outside of himself. Unsatisfied with his work, one day he burnt his diploma, and gathered all the heathens. He told them: “I preached to you for a long time, but there is something that I didn’t do, I didn’t apply Christ’s teaching appropriately. Well, He said that if someone has two skirts, he must give one of them to the person next to him, who has nothing. So now I invite you to take whatever you wish from my house. I leave everything to you.” The heathens went into his house immediately and everyone took the things they needed – a chair, a table, and cloths. When the preacher came back he found his house empty. However, he felt great relief that he fulfilled something from the teaching he preached. In that moment two of the pagans turned to Christ and became true followers of Christ’s. The rest of the pagans started thinking about what they had done, and one by one they started returning everything that they had taken from the preacher’s house. They realized that what they had done was not right. They came to love their preacher and began attending his sermons regularly doing everything that the man preached about. What does this show? – That a person must test himself. Some might say: “Ok, if everything one loses will come back. But what if it doesn’t come back?” – Whether it comes back or not, the acquisition comes from the fact that two of the pagans turned to God. Their souls are worth a lot more than any material goods. Therefore when a person comes to a contradiction, he should first pass the centre and then look for the reason of the contradiction. When a person takes the road of the advanced creatures, the aware creatures, only then would this person receive the true knowledge of the world. In other words, things become clear, when God’s commencement is awake in the person. This means: what is impossible for a human is possible for God. The impossible things on the periphery become possible in the centre. Now, when you are here on Earth, you must adjust your thoughts, desires and actions. All that could be accomplish in one moment, but only when the person lives in the centre. And once achieving that, if the person does not settle down and put all this wealth, knowledge, thoughts, feelings, and capabilities in some great work, then it is in vain that this person lives in good conditions. If someone’s cattle-shed is full of horses which one feeds, but does not put to work, then they are worthless. When someone feeds horses, then one should use them. If a person cannot use them, then it would be better to leave those horses free in the forest. It is worthless, if a person has horses and talks about their breed, shows them to other people, but does not use them. To give a meaning to life, a person must have a centre. Without a centre he would fall down, and then get up, without understanding anything. All the talented, genial people, all the saintly people have a centre in their life, and as a consequence they create science, music, poetry, art and help humankind. Their life is meaningful from outside and inside. Today all the people are situated in front of this centre and they are afraid to pass it. Why? – The centre is hot. If people pass through it, they would melt. What is bad about melting? If you are ice, you would melt down and become water. When you were ice you were inert, you had thought only about yourself, and as water you would water everything that comes into your way – flowers, trees, animals and people. Everyone greets you and wishes you a good journey to the sea. Which is better for a person – to stay at one place or to move constantly? The rational life is the movement to the great centre. If the movement of the conscience stops, a person turns into ice and says that there is no meaning in life. If life becomes meaningless to a person, then the salvation is in the centre. There the person would be able to test if one’s thoughts and desires were stable, what is their direction and so on. A lot of people talk about their past. The past is already outlived. The present must be fulfilled. If it were not fulfilled, it would become meaningless exactly like the lake which dries up or vaporises when there is no new water to refill it. If there is no flow of new water into the lake, the lake would by all means vaporize. Therefore, as long as a person lives with the old understandings and talks about Christ’s sufferings, about His life, without applying His Teaching, soon the person would vaporize, would become like an old lake. In order not to come to this condition, a person should everyday realize one beautiful idea and one elevated wish. This is worth more than the whole philosophy around the world. As students you should work on yourself, trying not to be narrow-minded. As a good method to work, you should aim at the centre of Christ’s life, to relate to Him. Once related with Him, you would regulate your thoughts and wishes, you would achieve self-control. All this would bring the meaning into your life. Every night you should think about the great idea of your life, and every day you should work for the fulfilment of this idea. October 23, 1929, Sofia 1 - There was no drawing supplied Source

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul THE KEY OF LIFE I will read the 20th Chapter from the Book of Revelation. I am not going to give you any interpretations. Let everyone interpret it according to their own understanding. There is a fundamental Law stating that food is utilized by every living being according to the degree of its development. Pay attention to the fourth verse of Chapter 20, “And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” All want to rule on Earth today. As you know, people have different ideas about Nature and the place of the Kingdom described in this verse. Where is it located: down on Earth, up in Heaven, or somewhere else in space? People in our society often resemble the little children who are eagerly awaiting what their parents will bring them in the evening. In the same way, theatre and cultural fans anticipate what actors will present on the stage when they go to a performance. After sowing, the farmer relies on the fruit that the field is going to yield. Having his vineyard planted, the vine grower is anticipating to see what grapes the vineyard will produce. All people are waiting for something. When expectations are fulfilled, people rejoice. If the performance is good, they will say, “The roles were presented well; it was great!” When the harvest is rich, they say, “This field produced well.” When the vineyard bears fruit, they say, “The grapes are fine.” When the father brings something at home, children are joyful and say, “Our father is good.” However, this is only one side of life representing the human understanding about the world of today. The reverse side is that sometimes the father would bring nothing at home, the field and vineyard would bear nothing, the performance could turn out to be not as good as expected, and so on. Then people experience total disappointment. The first situation when abundance comes from all sides corresponds to people’s expectations and in this case all are content. Even thieves are satisfied when they succeed in stealing and sad when they fail. In the same way, the righteous people are happy for their achievements and unhappy for their failures. I ask about the difference between their joy and sorrow. They both have their desires fulfilled or not fulfilled. You have to distinguish whether you feel like the righteous or like the thief, the wrongdoer. These are two different situations, upon which you need to ponder. Someone may say, “I am happy.” Then ask yourselves whether your feeling is like the joy of the righteous person or that of the wrongdoer. If you are sad, again ask yourself whether you feel as the righteous person or as the wrongdoer. In my opinion it is better to be realistic and have no illusions as for example, those Bulgarian peasants from Sofia district who, some time ago, went to conquer Istanbul only with their big shepherd’s staffs. The residents of Istanbul captured them, took their staffs and tossed them on a pile. Then they dispersed the peasants, chasing them back to Sofia. I ask: Is it possible to seize a town like Istanbul with shepherd’s staffs only? No, it is not. If your beliefs and convictions, prayers and tears are like the shepherd’s staffs, those who are stronger than you will easily take and toss them on a pile and you will accomplish nothing at the end. If you want to conquer, you must be well armed! With what? If worldly people arm themselves with the best and most powerful weapons in order to achieve their goals, I ask, then, what shall be the arms of spiritual people? I am going to give you an example to see what is reliable in your life. A rabbit stands before you armed with two guns and tells you, “I am with you, so fear nothing! Not a hair on your head shall be touched. Have faith in me! You can rely on me!” A bear comes after the rabbit - it also carries two guns, standing in front and speaking to you, “I am with you so nobody can touch you; rely on me!” I ask you: Who are you going to trust: the rabbit or the bear? You will certainly answer: the bear. It is true that if you rely on the rabbit, nevertheless if there is some danger or not, as soon as it hears the first gunshot, it will run away. The rabbit will be first to react and you will be last. Should you rely on the bear, however, what will happen in case of danger? Let’s say the bear sees a bigger bear in front: it will not flee. This time you will be first and the bear - last. I ask: What will you achieve in each case, if you actually rely on the rabbit and if you rely on the bear? If you think that they can really protect you in life, you are deceiving yourself. The rabbit and bear are symbols of certain external manifestations in the human life. We can interpret them. To rely on the rabbit means to rely on the pleasures of life. As the rabbit flees from the least danger so the person of pleasure is discouraged even by the smallest suffering or trial. The easiest way is when someone desires to indulge in entertainment and have everything in life to his taste. But the legs of pleasure are long like those of the rabbit and it runs fast and far as the rabbit does. The bear, on the other hand, symbolizes the rough life, which I relate to the hard earthly labor. However, neither the life of pleasure nor the life of labor are going to save the world. Those who have only pleasures damage their stomach; those who work too hard damage their hands. Is there any use to ruin your stomach or hands? This is the external side of the issue. Think about the deeper, intrinsic side of it too. Today we all need to get true awareness and understanding of our God-given gift of Life. What should we strive for? Eating and drinking is not what we live for. Neither knowledge and wealth, nor home, family and children is the purpose of our life. What, then, is the intrinsic purpose of Life? Presently, if you desire to solve one of the greatest tasks in your life, first you should know the meaning of Life in its totality. Some people ask, “Is it possible to live without eating and drinking?” It is pointless to discuss that. Eating and drinking are only conditions for preserving life. These conditions are external, so we do not need to talk about them. Everything that is external is not helpful to us. Ponder upon this idea until it becomes clear to you. Imagine someone who has one thousand kilograms of wheat in his barn. He keeps it locked and does not use it to make bread. He is fasting. Staying hungry, he says, “This wheat is stored in the barn for hard times; I am not going to eat it.” Another man has only one kilogram of wheat, but he takes it from the barn, grinds it at the mill, makes bread out of it, bakes it and eats it with the words, “I thank God for what He has given me to eat.” I ask who holds the power: that one who has one kilogram of wheat and makes use of it or the other one who possesses a thousand kilograms of wheat, but keeps it locked in the garner and does not eat it? Whoever uses their kilogram of wheat for nourishment - they hold the power. Someone says, “I want to become learned and holy.” It is the same nonsense as with the person who has one thousand kilograms of wheat in the barn, but fasts. One’s power comes from one’s achievements at every given moment; but it is also found in one’s awareness. God manifests Himself though everyone’s consciousness. Outside of the human being and consciousness, God does not exist. Even if God existed outside of our consciousness, we do not know Him. We do not know what this God would be like. We know God only by His manifestations in our consciousness. You often say, “God can do everything.” It is true that God is all-mighty and can do everything, but it depends on the potentials that you have. Imagine that you are in front of a well and hold a bucket, tied to a thin rope. You are not so strong and cannot draw more than 10 liters of water. On the other hand, I am stronger and with my rope I can draw not only 10, but 100 liters of water. I am observing how you act: you draw only 10 liters of water as you drop your buckets with the thin rope. As the rope is intelligent, it is not satisfied with the small quantity of water and says, “I can draw 100 liters of water, cannot I?” I say: Try! You then take a bigger bucket that can hold 100 liters of water, tie it to your thin rope, and plunge it into the well. You pull the bucket up, but the rope tears and the bucket remains in the well. You wonder at this and say, “Could God not draw 100 liters of water with this rope?” God cannot draw 100, but only 10 liters of water with this thin rope. If you think it is possible, it shows that your conscious perception is wrong. When you say that God is Almighty, it implies God in His Totality, not in His parts. In every single part, in every individual person, God is powerful to the extent to which one can receive, process, and reveal the Divine. Therefore, intelligent people invest time to accomplish what is beyond their actual capacities. They will drop the bucket into the well 10 times in succession in order to draw 100 liters of water. However, if they want to accomplish all this work at once, shortening the duration, they need to find another solution. Otherwise, the rope will break. Often people make mistakes in their lives because they rush. They want to save time. Someone asks, “Why did God not give me wealth? Why did God not make me rich?” Your rope is thin. God Himself is capable of drawing millions and billions liters of water from the well. As to you, you can draw not more than 10 liters because the rope of your consciousness is not strong enough and if you try to draw more, it will break. Now the second process comes: you ask whether this problem could be solved in a different way. There is an alternative. What I give you is a philosophy that can be applied right now, in the present state of your consciousness and being. The solution for the conscious one is to take 10 thin ropes, to wind them in a thicker rope and tie a big bucket to it, dropping it into the well and drawing 100 liters of water. The result will be the same as if you drop the thin rope 10 times into the well, yet the gain will be different. When you do your work yourself, your joy will be greater than if you have resorted to somebody’s help. All ropes that participate in drawing the water are intelligent; therefore, each one will ask for its part, for its share of the accomplished job. After drawing out the water, you may want to keep everything for yourself, but the ropes will begin to quarrel among themselves for their part of the gain. One rope will say, “If it was not for me, you would have accomplished nothing.” The second will say, “If it was not for me, you would have accomplished nothing.” The other ropes will say the same. Yes, all have participated in drawing 100 liters of water, but none of them is able to do it by itself. It means that the 10 ropes together, as well as each rope itself, will receive the same gain; yet, in the first case, the gain will be divided by 10. Each rope will get 10 liters of water. Now you say, “Let’s work in the field or bring water together.” If you work, each one of you alone for the same time, you will have an equal gain as your share of the common work. I ask: Is it worth to share work in this case? Yes, it is. The true worth lies in the encouragement you give to one another. You all will work hard, but will be enthusiastic and happy and will come back home singing. This will be the small added value to the gain. If you work alone, you will spend the whole day in silence. For this reason, when people are conscientious, they could work together in small groups. When unscrupulous people work, each one should work alone in order to avoid conflicts. Someone says, “I want to work alone.” I understand that people around this person are bad and he is not good either. When all people want to work by and for themselves, it is an indication that there is something negative among them. They lack some accord and their thoughts are not right. People often say these and those do not live well, do not live in God’s way. I ask: Which is the criterion for good and bad in the world, for defining what is done in God’s way and what is not. I say that none can do anything in God’s way. Why? Man does not do his work on his own. When you do something, you would better say, “Lord, accomplish my work as You see it.” Why? Every work that God performs is excellent. After that say, “Lord, now in turn I am going to accomplish my work in You. After I complete my life mission, You, my Lord, will evaluate it.” When I am performing my work, I do not evaluate it myself. I let God say how it is done. When it comes to God’s Works, I have only one opinion, not two. I appreciate them all, saying, “God’s Works are always good!” All philosophers and scholars in the world may gather and try to dissuade me, but they will not succeed. I know for sure that all God’s Deeds are good. No matter how you examine them, I say that God’s works are perfect. The Divine in the core of the human being can really appraise God’s Works. God in turn, evaluate human deeds. If you want to know what I can accomplish, ask God, not me or any other person. Therefore, do not dwell on what people think of you. Trust God’s thought about you. The Law says: If God in you approves your works, you are blessed. Many people of today have certain philosophy or system of beliefs. In order to please the world, they say, “We will go into the world to show who we are.” I ask: For so many years has the world said anything new about good people? Only God has the right to evaluate human actions and only a highly intelligent person can speak of God’s works. Why? It is because when doing some work for God, the person has no private interests; while in human works, the personality is involved. When it is said that we will be put on trial, it implies that we will be evaluated for our deeds, life, for everything we have done for God. Only God is the One to assess. I do not worry what I say about God’s Works. In the same way, I do not worry what God will say about my works. I have only one opinion about God’s Works. It implies that God will treat me in the same way as I treat Him. If you have any doubt about this, you will say, “God may treat us differently.” Yes, but if God treats you differently, it would indicate that you have had ambiguity about Him. The Law is the same. I say: First of all, you should fully perceive that the fundamental Truth of God is active in your soul. Greatness of the soul, greatness of the genius, talented, gifted, or righteous person is in the awareness that all is due to God, all that evolves within us at any given moment is a manifestation of God in action. Christ says, “My Father works.” Where? Within me, in my soul and consciousness, in my heart and mind. God works in different places. As a result of this work, all people strive to do something wonderful. Many ask what to do now. There is a Great Law stating that if you do not love God, you cannot do even the smallest good. Therefore, it is paramount for you to love God. If you do, God will reveal Himself to you and your love will merge with His. Now I am going to give you the following rule: Work with the positive laws of Wisdom and the positive methods of Love! You have applied the negative laws of Wisdom and the negative methods of Love by now, that is why you have negative results in your work. There are no laws in God’s Love; it is a Law in itself. No law ever existing can limit Love. Should you live according to whatsoever law of Love, you are going to fall into many mistakes and delusions. In Love there are methods, the best methods at that. Therefore, the life of Wisdom is represented by Laws, while the life of Love - by methods. Now you will begin asking endless questions: What are these Laws of Wisdom and what are the methods of Love? They are inscribed in our souls. Look for them there and you will find them. If you ask such questions, I assume that you have one kilogram of wheat in your barn and have started to eat from it, but you want to gain one thousand kilograms. If your aim is one thousand kilograms, you are of the fasting people. Some say that they have fasted a lot. I ask: Has God benefited anyhow from your fasting? He has only losses. If you eat too much, God loses again. When you eat moderately, you do God’s Work. If you eat and give thanks for the food, God is pleased with you. If you overeat, you suffer and God within you too. You say, “My throat is dry!” God is saying to you, “I have given you a lot of water; drink the purest water so that your throat does not get dry!” I will give you a Law with two methods of application: negative and positive. Imagine that a person who is an alcoholic from an early age stands in front of you. You want to direct him in the right path and advise him not to drink wine. He replies to you: “I cannot do without drinking wine. I have inherited this weakness from my parents. It is not easy to give it up!” And so, he continues to drink. In this case you applied the negative method. After that you apply the positive method saying to this person, “Drink of the purest nectarous water that exists in the world!” The salvation of the alcoholic lies in this method. Do not tell him not to drink wine, but tell him to drink of the purest nectarous water. Should he drink of it, he will never think of wine again. You often say, “We should not hate!” This is another example of the negative method. It is the same as saying to the alcoholic not to drink. What can be achieved with this method? Nothing. In other words, it gives negative results. Apply the positive method in your life. Instead of saying you should not hate, fill your soul with the highest Love, which the most elevated and noble souls have applied on Earth. You say, “We should believe!” No, apply faith! Apply the sublime noble faith, which saints, righteous, and good people have and which can move forests and mountains. Have this mighty faith and say to the mountain, “Move!” If it is the Mount Vitosha, go there and see the results. First it may seem to you that it has not moved at all, but when you arrive there, you will see that it has slightly moved. Have you performed such an experiment to test the power of your faith and thought? In reality, the human being is the biggest mountain that needs to move. If I move, the Mount Vitosha will also move. If not, it is a sign that I am a dead person. The living, wise person of strong faith always moves on. In this case, the Mount Vitosha - it is me! If you understand me literally, you will have one kind of outcome. If you understand me in essence, you will have a completely different result. If you have a strong faith and powerful thought, you will prove this Law and see that the Mount Vitosha has moved. If it has not, that is for the sole reason that your faith is weak. If the mountain has not moved, the rope that you have let down into the well is weak. This does not imply that God is weak; but, rather, that your rope is weak. Therefore, you should find a strong rope: not to break, when let down in the well and able to make the Mount Vitosha move. If you have such faith, you will be able not only to make the mountain move, but also the Sun rise in the west, not in the east as normal. If the Sun would rise in the west, the order in the world would not be disturbed. On the contrary, the world would be much better and more harmonious. What is the philosophical interpretation of the fact that the modern day Sun rises in the east and sets in the west? If east represents everything positive in the world and west - everything negative, then what is the contribution of the Sun rising from the good and setting to the bad so far? Would it not be better if the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east? In this way it would lead the world from bad to good. Where is that one who can make the Sun rise from the west? When I speak to you like that, if you take it literally, you would ask, “Does all this apply to the physical world?” The physical manifestations are a reflection of the manifestations existing in the Spiritual World. When Christ says that strong faith can move mountains, it concerns the essence of faith. The Mount Vitosha exists in the Spiritual World too. If its place or the place of any other object could be changed in the Spiritual World, its shadow in the physical world will also move. As soon as an object moves, its shadow moves too. However, if we wish to move the shadow of an object, this is a difficult task because the shadow moves by a different Law. Only the Sun is capable of moving the shadow of objects. Yet, if I fully comprehend the Law, I will be able to lift my hand and move the shadow wherever I want. Once you lift the Mount Vitosha, you can move its shadow then wherever you desire. And so, application is required of you as well as deep inner thought. If you have such thought, in one day or minute you will be able to complete your development. You say, “After we complete our development, what are we going to do?” You will come back to Earth to serve others. If you have 40 days at your disposition to harvest all your fields, you will accomplish this in one day and the remaining 39 days you will use to help your fellowmen. One day you will work for Ivan; the second day, for Dragan; the third day, for Stoyan, and so on. You will go to Ivan and tell him, “Ivan, have you not finished harvesting yet?” “I have not.” “Come on, I am going to help you.” Within one day you will finish his work and will go to Dragan. “Dragan, have you already finished your work?” “I have not.” “Come on, let’s finish it together.” The two of you will get down to work and in one day will finish everything. The third day you will go to Stoyan and will help him as well. In these 39 days you will finish the work of all your neighbors. They will reach perfection and, in the same way, will go to help still others. Work is required of all: in this world and in the World beyond. Some people think that, when they pass to the World beyond, they will be greeted by the Angels with garlands and songs and sitting with them, they will play music on harps. No, work awaits you there too! Many say that they have completed their development and the Almighty God has spoken to them directly. They have completed their development, but cannot draw even 10 liters of water from the well. The Almighty God has spoken to them, yet no one wants to give them some bread. How is this possible? Do not be deceived. It is a delusion. It is like in the case of a drunkard who, under the influence of the alcohol taken, says, “Do you know who I am?” Boom! And he breaks a window. One should attain the Truth that will set him free in order to overcome the delusional state. You have not yet learned what Freedom is! The Scriptures say, “Do not be slaves to people!”[1] Do not be slaves to beliefs that delude you. Praise the Lord and be free! That one who wants to be free should give freedom to people. Often people fix on the negative manifestations of Life. It is true that Life has negative sides, coming as a result of the karmic Law - the Law of Cause and Effect. Karma implies destiny, but people must free themselves of destiny. God says, “I will erase your sins. I will erase your past life, your crimes. Not a trace will remain of all that! And then I will instill the new within you.” Freedom is the first thing you need in order to manifest Life in its positive side. You say, “What should be done with the world?” You should know that the world does not exist outside of you. God who lives in me is the Creator of the world and for this reason I do not need to search for the world outside of myself. Only God, who has created the world, knows the true ways and methods how to put it right. Therefore, I do not need to worry about the world and its redemption. The redemption of people and of the entire world is not my task. Only the Almighty God can put things in order and save the world. People ask, “What will be the result of our lives?” If you have lived with the negative methods of Life, you are going to have negative results. If you have suffered all your life without any understanding of this suffering, so will be the results of your life. Someone who has fasted for 10 days says, “I tormented myself with this fast, but have understood nothing.” Yes, if you have fasted and have only tormented yourself, without learning anything, this fast does not serve its God-intended purpose. Fasting is not bad. It is needed, but when it is used in a conscious way, so that to give good results. The meaning of Life is not in fasting. However, it is necessary as a conscious discipline. Christ, too, fasted for 40 days. He went to the desert where he spent 40 days in fasting and praying. Completing this experience, he attained a great enlightenment. When he returned to His disciples they asked him, “What should we do now?” Christ answered them, “One cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from God.”[2] It implies the existence of another way of eating. Fasting shows that one can be nourished otherwise - by the Word of God as well. The New Life lies in this way of nourishment. I will make a comparison between the old and the new way of nourishment. Take, for example, a rich man, a gastronome who loves to have abundant food at his meals. He sits down to dine and immediately his table is piled with roasted chicken, duck, geese, all sorts of fruit, and all other dishes and drinks. There is nothing that he has not tasted. He says, “This is the way one should live!” This is the old way of eating. However, one day the stomach of this man gets upset, he gradually loses weight and sends for a doctor to examine him. The doctor says, “From now on all geese, duck, chicken, lamb, pork, apples, and pears are banned. You can eat only rice soup: two teaspoons every two hours. This is the only way that you can be cured.” When his wife comes to his room, he asks, “Dear, what time is it? Is it time for my rice soup?” The man is punctual; he does not want to miss the time; he wants to save himself. He knows that his salvation lies in this rice soup. When friends and relatives come to visit him, they ask, “How is your health?” “I feel better, thank you. The doctor told me that if I continue to eat in the old way, I will die.” This is the new way of eating. I am referring to the rice soup as a symbol of the new way of eating. It represents pure, high-quality food. Today people fast and limit eating only when they are ill. One says, “The doctor ordered me to eat two teaspoons of rice soup every two hours.” It is neither a conscious way of fasting, nor a new way of eating. This person eats like that by necessity. Do not take it literally. Only the healthy, intelligent, and high-principled person can eat in a new way. If you eat in the new way, it will introduce peace and strength into your souls. What can you accomplish in this world if you lack peace and strength? Many say, “Let God be at our side!” By saying this, they exclude God from themselves. God is in us, not outside us. Someone says, “I have a very difficult problem to resolve.” The Scripture says that God constantly works within us.[3] Since God works constantly within us, our consciousness needs to be vigilant in order to observe how God in us thinks, feels, and solves our problems. If you get into a difficult situation, stay calm - begin to contemplate and observe how God in you will solve it. Not even five minutes will pass and you will see how the problem is going to be solved. After that you say, “My problem is really solved. I have only one opinion of God and now it is confirmed once again. All God’s Works are perfect.” You may say, “This is theoretical but not practical.” No, the same is true in practice. I will give you an example from the real life in order to demonstrate to you that theory and practice are the same for the one who listens to his inner guidance and fulfills what God is telling him from within. Two brothers quarreled with each other over the inheritance left by their father. The older brother took a bigger part; the younger brother took the smaller part. For 15 years they had been quarrelling among themselves. They hated each other and each one spoke badly about the other. One day the older brother awakes for the Divine speaking to him, “What you did to your brother is not good. Go, make peace, reconcile with him and give him everything. You will work and make a living with what you earn by your labor.” The older brother obeyed this inner Voice and went to the home of his brother. At the same time, the Divine began speaking to the younger brother as well and so he said to himself, “I am already tired of this quarrel! I have been embroiled with my brother for so many years and what is my gain from this? I will go to reconcile and tell my brother that I leave all legacy from our father to him. What I can earn by myself is enough for me.” As spoken, so was done. The younger brother also headed toward his brother to make peace and reconcile. As he was on his way, the brothers met on the way to each other. The older brother said to the younger, “Brother, I come to make peace with you. Everything that I took from my father, I give it to you. I am going to live on what I earn with my labor.” “Is that so? I, too, decided to do likewise,” said the younger brother. “Then let the two of us work together!” The two brothers got together, made peace, and began to work together. I say: This is the way you can solve all problems and inner misunderstandings. I ask: Should we divide the Divine in us? Should we argue over it? No, let us sanctify the name of God who lives in us. Let us place God high in us, in our consciousness in order to act there. Many are interested to learn more about the New, the Divine Teaching. The Divine Teaching is in this: allowing God to act in our consciousness and God allowing us to act in Him. What is the foundation of the New Teaching? God works in me and I work in God. How are you going to understand this? Only after you try it. You cannot determine the New Teaching without trying it. Someone says, “I have made an attempt.” How many attempts? Only one. In the Divine Teaching the attempts are unceasing and without interruption. The Divine manifests Itself unceasingly. And so, I am going to define the difference between the Divine and human. The Divine manifests Itself and remains for eternity. The human manifests itself and remains only for a day. All that is unceasing and eternal in us is Divine. All that is short-lived is human. Happiness and joy that soon disappear are human. Happiness and Joy that never disappear are Divine. The goodness that manifests itself and disappears is human; the goodness that manifests itself and does not disappear is Divine. Love that appears fast and burns up is human. Love that does not fail in any circumstances, but constantly increases and lasts forever is Divine. Knowledge that cannot solve your problems in life is human. And knowledge that is helpful in all difficult situations in life is Divine. The Divine lives eternally; there is no interruption in It. It is the Great Presence that works in our souls. Only through the Divine can all your ideals and aspirations be attained. I say to those who are willing to follow the Divine Path: Put your packs on your backs and go forward. Do not turn back to look at what is happening behind you! Do not occupy yourselves with the old. God who lives in us will create the New world - the New Heaven and Earth. It is said in the Scripture, “Earth and Heaven fled from His Face.”[4] Which Earth and Heaven is it spoken about? The old Earth and Heaven, in other words, the old beliefs and concepts. The New Heaven and Earth, the new beliefs and concepts are being created now. When the old scene falls down, the new one comes up. When the old sun sets, the day is not over. The New Sun rises! The sun of today will set, it will die; but the New Sun will come tomorrow. God creates a New Sun every day. Can you imagine this? Every belief that goes down does not represent the true faith, as it dies and is buried. People of today say, “What have we come to! In the old days, in our youth, we loved each other. We got along, but nothing of this love has remained by today.” I will give you an example with a grandfather named Stoyan from the village of Golyama Mogila (Big Hill). He liked to brag about his great heroism when he was young. Now when he was 90 years old, he took his staff, walked to a big ditch and said to himself, “Way back, when I was young I easily jumped over the biggest ditches! Let me try and see if I can jump over this ditch.” He started running and oops! He found himself in the ditch! Caught in this situation, he said to himself, “How strange; in my youth it was not like this, not at all! With the age one becomes a laughing stock to people.” When he got out of the ditch, he looked around to see if someone could hear him and said to himself, “As it was in the youth, so it is in the old age.” It is true: a strong person cannot become weak. And vice versa, weak people cannot become strong because they are weak by nature. If the human is strong in someone, they are weak. If the Divine is strong in someone, they are strong too. We can draw the following conclusion from this: If your love is human, it is weak; if it is Divine, it is strong and constant. Divine Love is the same when one is young and when one is old. Human love is hot in the youth and cold in the old age. It is just the opposite with Divine Love: it is weak at the beginning and strong at the end. Only the love of mother remains unchanged at all times: from the embryo stage of her child in the womb until its old age. There was once a 90year-old priest who addressed his 60-year-old son with “my little boy” while patting him on his back. He did not see him as an old man with a white beard and mustache but as a little boy. The same relationships exist in Divine Love that calls its children gently with the words, “My child; my little kid!” If people are deceived by the outer appearance of things, life becomes meaningless. Everyone who grows old in the Life of Love walks in the human path. Everyone who weakens in Knowledge walks in the human path. Everyone who makes mistakes in his life walks in the human path. There are two paths in life: human and Divine. Someone excuses himself saying, “Sorry that I am a bit abrupt, rude, I have my weaknesses.” He must not excuse himself, but simply say the truth, “I am following the human path.” Nobleness is expressed in one’s constant improvement. When people of noble character make mistakes, they say, “This is human” and put these aside. When they do good deeds, they say, “This is Divine” and put these aside too. The most prominent philosophers and learned people also make mistakes. There is not a faultless human being in the world. A famous writer wrote a remarkable novel. He wanted it to be flawlessly printed. The whole book was really published without mistakes except one, which was made in the title of the novel among the block letters. So what? If there is one mistake, you are going to correct it. Human mistakes are allowed and are inevitable. If you want to find perfection in the human, you are on the wrong path. Perfection exists only in the Divine. The human represents a method to apply the Divine. If you do not understand things in this way, you are on the wrong path and you will achieve nothing in the end. All great and righteous people, whether religious or worldly, believed in God’s Path. In my opinion there are two categories of people: those who walk in the God’s Path and those who walk in the human path. The first have their inner life regardless of being religious or worldly people. The second follow the human path and their focus is outside, regardless of their belonging to any religious society or to the world. The results of the human path are one; those of the Divine Path are quite different. These two paths need to come together. When the weak, the human, comes under the control of the Divine, it will strengthen and improve. Only God in us has the Power to liberate us from our weaknesses and only we are able to use God’s Power for good. Everyone wants to use God’s Power and can do it, provided that that person has only one opinion of God: whatever is done by God within is good. All is over for that one who says that what is done by God is not good. Whatever happens to you, say, “This is for good!” Some people of today ask themselves why things happen in one and not in another way. I say: Everything happens by the Great Laws of Intelligent Nature. Others ask, “What is the right way of praying? Where should we gather for praying and settling some issues?” I say: Behold where the birds gather. They make their meetings and gatherings in the air. Many birds gather, exchange important thoughts, and then disperse. Can you not, like birds, make your meetings in the air? The Samaritan woman asked Jesus the same question two thousand years ago. She said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where we must worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.”[5] The true service to God is not in the external form; it is not on the physical plane. In respect to serving God, we should be perfect! Those who worship God need to worship Him in Spirit and Truth! Moreover, if you want to be happy on Earth, you should not search for happiness in the sand, as some gold-seekers who constantly mix and wash the sand away in bottles full of pure water. No happiness can be found in this way. Whoever is willing to serve God should know that God lives and acts in all people. If you think like that, your relationships with others will be genuine. Many people say, “Everything takes time. Everything evolves.” Yes, I agree with you. Time and evolution are necessities, but for whom? For the weak person. Evolution exists for the weak, not for the strong one. The strong evolve by helping the weak, uplifting them on the path. These are the great, enlightened people in the world. If someone has a thin rope and can draw only ten liters of water with it, but he needs one thousand liters to draw from the well, what must he do? He is weak himself; so, it will take him time to use the thin rope and drop the bucket in the well one hundred times, so that to draw one thousand liters of water. However, if the same person has had a stronger rope, he could draw one thousand liters of water at a time. This example indicates that evolution is for the weak, not for the strong people. For people of might and power things happen instantaneously. I believe that you have already understood this concept. To those who have not, I say: Go to the well once, twice, three times, one hundred times! When you come from there, I will ask you what you have learned. If you have learned something, you will no longer go back to the well. You have already acquired some experience and now you have certain knowledge. If you have not attained the necessary experience and life knowledge, you will continue to go back to the well. The following Law exists in Nature: Water will appear by itself on the Earth’s surface as wellsprings in order to serve the enlightened individuals - therefore, they will not need to draw it mechanically, by pumps. I say this again: Water goes to the enlightened people by itself; they do not need to make efforts to reach it. Our relationship to water is like our relationship to God. When we love God, He will abide in us; when we do not love Him, He remains outside of us. We will then search for Him left and right, up and down, but will not find Him. Then, like the psalmist, we will say, “I bathe my pillow in tears, but You are not here, Lord.”[6] What is the reason that we cannot find the Lord? God is in you; do not search for Him outside of you. Everyone understands things as they are innerly displaced. I say: The proper way to understand things in life is to know how God has created them. Observe yourselves and you will see that, as your consciousness expands every day, things reveal newer and richer expressions every day. The bounties of the world and the world itself, everything in it is hidden in the human soul and spirit. Now, do not think that anyone can extinguish the small, microscopic light shining in your soul and spirit. That is the imperishable Divine Fire in the human being. It never burns out in spite of the conditions and circumstances in one’s life. The human fire, on the other hand, is like a fire made by linen and hemp. In some villages maidens make such a fire for their work-bee gatherings - the flames rise high, but after 10–15 minutes they die out. Remember that everything that is like the burning hemp and linen bursts into flame fast, rises high, and burns out quickly. The human does not last for a long time. Therefore, you should not place your faith in the human. If you desire to be strong, rely on the Divine within you! Place your faith in it. The moment you lose it, you are weak. The moment you gain it, you are strong. Should you interrupt your connection with God’s Consciousness, you will enter the human and therefore, will fall under the Law of Evolution. Should you connect with the Divine, you enter into the World of God’s Manifestations. The human world is a world of reincarnation and entanglement into matter, while the Divine World is a world of spiritual presence. I know two worlds. If you are strong, you join the manifestations of the Divine World and the Law of Spiritual Presence. If you are weak, however, you enter the Law of Incarnation - descending into the material world. Someone says, “I believe in evolution. Only through evolution will our ideals come true.” I agree; nevertheless, evolution is for weak people. As for strong people, the Divine needs to prevail over the human. Do not mix up these two worlds. Rather, begin to purify your consciousness of all minor things so that you can discern at any given moment in which world you are now. I ask: Which is the most important concept you have ever heard of? To me, the most important concept for every person is that one, which is best understood and applied in life. It is like the quantity of one kilogram of wheat from which one can prepare bread to eat. All other, which is not understood and applied, is like one thousand kilograms of wheat staying in the barn. The same law is valid in mathematics and some other branches of science. If you can work with the numbers from 1 to 10, you will also understand all other rules and manipulations in mathematics. Whoever does not understand the digits cannot manipulate the rest as well. All religious people speak about serving God. There are two ways: serving with beliefs and serving with devotion and faith - without any doubt and hesitation. In such service, when suffering and trials come, the person smiles a little and says, “It is God’s Will; everything is for good.” When Poverty comes, you ask, “Who has sent you to me?” “God.” Then you say, “I will tell you why you are such. You are Poverty because you do not obey God.” Right after you have dealt with Poverty, Ignorance comes. You ask, “Who has sent you to me?” “God.” “You are Ignorance because you do not listen to God and do not want to learn.” After Ignorance Illness comes. You ask, “Who has sent you to me?” “God.” “You are Illness because you do not love health and do not care about it. If you want people to love you, bring them health instead of diseases. Go away now, I have no free time to deal with you.” Finally, Transgression comes. You ask, “Who has sent you to me?” “God.” “Go and serve God, fulfill His Will and soon you will have wings.” “But I am a wrongdoer.” “Go ahead and err no more. Do what you have never done before!” “But I have an addiction, I drink much alcohol.” “It does not matter. You may drink, but drink from the nicest nectarous water.” That is how people of true faith deal with all negative situations in their life. It is the right way of action and all can acquire freedom by it. All who seek freedom should apply this method. Many think that their life is empty and meaningless. No, your life, as small as it is in comparison to the entire Life, holds some meaning, though not the essence of the Whole. As an ant’s life does not affect the entire life of Creation, neither does a separate person’s life. Only the Divine within the human being can arrange Life in all its phases. There is nothing more wonderful and beautiful than living in God! Only then can one perceive God’s Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Virtue, Mercy, Kindness, Restraint, and others. Everyone who meets such a person will greet him with a smile. All Beings who live with God and in God are smiling. In one of the deserts there was a crystal pure lake reflecting everything. Every evening, at the peak of heat, all animals: bears, tigers, lions, rabbits, and snakes gathered there to drink water, yet none of them did any harm to others. Why? Because every animal bent down to drink water and after quenching their thirst, they all went peacefully to their homes. The big thirst had fully absorbed their attention and they had not even given a thought of fighting with others. Tigers, wolves, bears, rabbits, and snakes - they all drank water together. I say: In the same way there is a place where all people can come to a mutual understanding. Which is that place? The pure crystal lake. Go to this lake, all of you! It is the Lake of Divine Love, where the human souls need to go as to a drinking pool. You may ask, “How will we find this lake?” Go to the animals. They will tell you how they find the pristine wellsprings in the mountains. The soul that is thirsty will find this wellspring on its own. However, a soul that is not thirsty cannot find it. Now I am not going to draw any conclusions. Remember: When God begins to act through you and your consciousness, it is the beginning of things and this beginning is good. When God works, the beginning is good as well as the end. As the beginning, so is the end - the fruit of the work. God says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” When one works in the human way, human is the beginning and God is the end; however, when one works in the Divine way, God is the beginning and human is the end. That is why the Scriptures say, “And the Lord will be your rear guard!”[7] In the Divine it is vice versa - we will be the rear guard, while God will be the beginning. If you can understand and apply these ideas, you will have the best results. If not, you will remain in the old life. I say: Begin to work and do not think about the old life. Do not ask about your past. Live in the present turned to the future, where the New Life lies. If you are wise and observe the Laws of Great Nature, you are able to change your own destiny. When the Divine is prevailing in you, your life will improve. The sage is able to beautify everything, while the fool can ruin even the loveliest things. Everything is up to us. If God lives in us, we will be strong and can do everything. Do not speak to people that God lives in you. You would better demonstrate your power by example. If God lives in you, you will be able to solve even the most complicated problem. You are asked for example, about the square root of a given number and you give the answer immediately. The Divine resolves things instantly. What are the features distinguishing the student of the New Teaching? Heart as pure as crystal, mind as bright as the Sun, soul as noble and vast as the entire Universe and spirit as powerful as God and one with God! When you have some difficulty related to your heart, bring out its principle and say, “As a student I must have a crystal pure heart, without any filth left in it.” When the difficulty is mental, say, “My mind should be as bright as the Sun, without any darkness.” When difficulty comes in respect to your soul, say, “My soul should be as noble and vast as the entire Universe, without any kind of small-mindedness.” Lastly, when you have difficulty related to your spirit, say, “My spirit should be as powerful as God and one with God!” Every time, when you find yourself in a difficult situation, take the principle corresponding to the case and say it several times throughout the day. Evil comes to you and tells you, “You can transgress a little bit.” Answer, “No, I should keep my heart as pure as crystal!” You read this principle and put the text in your pocket. Evil comes to you to test your mind, “This work can be done in another way.” “No, I will preserve my mind as bright as the Sun.” “Could it be less bright - like an electrical lamp?” “No, it cannot!” After that, evil tries to tempt your soul. But you will reply, “My soul should be as vast as the Universe.” Finally evil is going to probe your spirit. But you will tell it, “My spirit should be as powerful as God and one with God.” After all these attempts, evil will wonder what to do and will say, “These are learned people; I cannot tempt them with anything.” I want you to be absolutely free: in your views and beliefs, in your feelings, thoughts, and actions. Imagine that you lived in the time of Christ and some people from His circle were trying to persuade you that He is the true Christ and the expected Messiah. Yet, others were trying to persuade you the opposite. Thus a conflict arises in your soul. You search for Christ, but you are confused. I advise you to trust your inner creed, your deepest conviction. Do not search for Christ here and there; He is in you, within your soul. Only the free person can find God and be one with Him. When we meet, we should have only a high opinion of one another. Why? It is because God lives in every one of us. If you think in this way, you will say, “This brother is excellent because God works in him.” This Teacher is excellent because God reveals through him.” If we are bearers of the Divine, our hearts get purified, our minds - enlightened, our souls - expanded, and our spirits - strengthened. Only God in you can do this. You say, “Our life is hard and difficult.” Stop suffering! “It is difficult to love one another.” Why do you struggle to love? When God comes to live in you, He will show you how to love. He will teach you the methods of Love and the Laws of Wisdom. You will come to love through Him then and your Love will become sacred. It will be a blessing both for the one you love and the one who loves you. And so, I address you all: young and old, spiritual workers and those who are not, and I invite you all to begin your service. Some say, “We have not learned everything yet.” Yes, Knowledge cannot be poured into your heads with a funnel. Virtue cannot be poured either. Allow the Divine to act in you and when manifesting, behave as the two brothers. Sacrifice your personal welfare for the Divine in you. If you do not do it, there will be a conflict arising in you. Many ask, “Should we be learned?” Of course, you should. We are not satisfied with common knowledge, with ordinary love, wisdom, truth, virtue, and justice. If it is about knowledge, we strive for God’s Knowledge. If it is about love, wisdom, truth, justice, and virtue, we strive to attain God’s Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, and Virtue. The trivial things do not exist in our dictionary. The Divine, Great, Sublime, Real is our ideal - all that, which creates shadows, but is not a shadow Itself. You say, “I am ignorant.” Do not speak about ignorance. “I am sinful.” Do not speak about sin. “I am weak.” Do not speak about weakness. Apostle Paul said, “We, who are strong, need to carry the weak.” I say that God, Who is strong, will carry our weaknesses. Every one who has God living within him can carry the weak. I say to the weak: God can live in you and then you will become strong. God can live in all of you and make you strong. Therefore, give God unlimited freedom to act in you. Do not give Him instructions how to do it. Do not ask God for clothes, shoes, or hats. Instead, begin with the essential: with Life. Clothes, shoes, and hats will come by themselves. Once the Divine Life flows into you, you will have everything. It is a beautiful life bringing freedom to our souls. When you get up joyful in the morning, know that God’s Face is smiling in you. There is no greater blessing than that - to see God’s Face joyous and pleased. Many of you are buried in the tomb groaning and shouting underneath. I say: Raise the stone from your grave and come out! When they placed Christ in the grave, they put a gravestone on Him and there was a big rock over that. Could He remove the rock of His grave by Himself? He had received eighty thousand hits from the Roman soldiers and had wounds from the four big nails hammered in His hands and feet, so He was too weak and could not remove the rock from his gravestone by Himself. An Angel came from Heaven, removed the rock from the grave and Christ rose from the dead. Today you are weak too, as Christ was at the Cross. You are all crucified. You have nails in your hands and feet. But there is one essential difference between you and Christ. Christ died and resurrected, while you are nailed to the cross, but have not yet died. I will give you an example to clarify what I have in mind. A preacher in America sermonized about generosity. He was telling people that, for salvation, one should sacrifice oneself for God: in other words, one should sacrifice the human for the Divine. One of the listeners, a very rich man, attending the sermon, said, “No, one can be saved without sacrifices, without great generosity. How did the villain who was crucified next to Christ save himself? What sacrifice did he make?” The preacher answered him, “The villain on the cross was dying, while you are still alive.” The same is true for each one of you. You are crucified, but have not yet died. When you die, it will be a different matter. All the difficulty is while you are on the cross. You are crucified and you cry out. You make noise. Christ too, while He was still alive on the cross cried out, “God, why have you left Me to be mocked and profaned by people?”[8] God told Him, “This Work is finished.” Christ replied, “If so, let Your Will be done! Father, into Your Hands I commit My Spirit.”[9] After Christ passed on, they took His body down from the cross, laid it in the grave, put a gravestone and a rock on it and left it there, where it stayed for three days. On the third day an Angel came down from Heaven, removed the rock from the gravestone, lifted the gravestone from the grave and Christ resurrected. You, too, will cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you left me to be mocked and profaned by the world?” God will say, “It is all finished.” Nicodemus will come then and will ask for permission to take your body down from the cross. He will wrap you in a shroud; will place you in a grave, closing it with a gravestone and a rock over it. After that the priests will seal your grave so that your disciples could not come to take your body. Three days later an Angel from Heaven will come to remove the rock and roll off the gravestone: then you will resurrect. I say: It is easy when you are taken down from the cross. The trial is before that, when you are still alive on the cross. Finally, you need to die! By “death” we imply transformation of your consciousness. When Christ died on the cross, His consciousness was transformed. He received enlightenment about the Great Order in the world and the New Life that is coming into being. When you awake, the old life will give way to the New one and you will be taken down from the Mystical Cross of suffering. After that an Angel will descend from Heaven to roll away the gravestone from your grave and so, through resurrection, you will enter the New Life and enjoy its freedom. Only then God will come to live in you and you will begin your true service on Earth. After resurrection, Christ spent full 40 days among his disciples, invisible to the world, but continuing to preach to them. It is written in the New Testament, “Then He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.”[10] Only the resurrected one attains the Real, eternal, essential life - Life of immortality. Now, I believe you have understood everything I spoke to you. These are words of liberation. Those who have understood my words, create among yourselves a Divine home of harmony and unity - unity of thoughts, feelings, actions, and aspirations in all possible aspects. We stand for the Great life manifesting itself in all directions: physical, spiritual, and Divine of the United Divine Being. Be bearers of this unity! It is the essence of the Divine Teaching, which you should apply every day in your life. If you do it, you will need no other philosophy or teaching. After you have applied and tested it, you may tell other people how you have found this Path. And so, work hard throughout the year and apply the Divine Teaching. I call this year Divine - a year of purification. Last year was a year of Love. A mother, after delivery, begins to clean the baby because it cannot do it alone, being weak and helpless. In the future, this one may become a genius, saint, or a great scientist, but in the infant age the mother does the cleaning two or three times a day until the child grows up. Adults need cleaning too, until the Divine becomes strong in them. Cleaning is as natural and needed for adults as for little children. When the Divine in you gains in strength and prevails over the human, you will become capable of living a sublime ideal Life. Until then, you must purify yourself constantly. All people have weaknesses. The human weaknesses are conditions for the manifestation of the soul. When the soul finds itself in these limiting conditions, it begins to ramble here and there like a bee that dashes and hits against the closed window of a palace until it gets free. The soul does not see that there is an obstacle ahead. The obstacles in the world are necessary for our progress. When the Divine comes into us, it will liberate our souls from all obstacles and limitations. I say: You all need an absolute, positive faith! This Teaching may look difficult to you. You say, “We can understand and apply the Divine Teaching, but our faith is weak.” That is not true! Your faith is not weak. You ask, “Shall we abandon the world in order to serve God?” No, you will live in the world. Everyone will complete their duties wherever they are. “How to do it, which methods to use?” The methods of the Divine Teaching. You all know the results from using the old methods of the past. People of the past lived in the forests. They served in monasteries and worshipped God in churches, but still their assignments were not completed. What is needed now is serving by inner freedom. May each of you listen to the inner voice deep inside oneself in order to find out the true methods for spiritual work. Thus one can be free. Only when the Divine awakes in a person, It can make this person free. I will give you an example with one of the American criminals, who was arrested for a number of robberies and crimes. He was bound with ropes and put on a cot, so people were sure that he could not escape. One night the jailer who was responsible for him entered his cell with a candle and, in his haste to leave, he left the candle behind. Seeing himself alone in the cell, the criminal looked at the candle and exclaimed, “This is a way for my escape!” He lifted his feet toward the flame, burned the rope and freed his legs. After that he burned the rope on his hands too and without the ropes, free from his limiting conditions, he opened the window and ran away. If your hands and feet are bound by the evil in the world, but God has left a candle in your room, will you ask what to do? Burn the rope! “But is it allowed?” It goes without saying! Was evil allowed to bind you? Everyone, by his own will, can place the rope on the candle flame to burn it and become free. “Should I go out through the window or through the door?” Through the window is better. If it is closed, go out through the chimney! Get out from where you can. You do not need other philosophy. Everyone must win freedom of the soul by oneself. It is an entire process. Attaining freedom, one is going to change, advance, and become a great moral bearer of Life. Evil will never again be in power to bind his hands and feet with ropes. Only thus the New Life will come into the world and you will realize all desires of your soul and spirit. Only thus we are going to please God and God will please us. Only thus we could rejoice in God and God will rejoice in us. When will that be? When God comes to live in us. I ask you: Are you going to give space to God within yourselves? It does not mean that I do not trust you. I believe that you will do this because I am telling you the Great Truth. I am sharing my own experience with you. I have attained my freedom in this way. Remember: I have only one opinion of God. All that God is doing in me is good. And God, too, has only one opinion of me. Everything that I am doing for God is good and righteous. Christ said, “My Father lives in Me and I live in Him.”[11] I confirm that this is the way of attaining inner spiritual freedom. This is the way for all blessings in the world to come true. There is no other way. If not today, then tomorrow, or some other day. It is the only way to be free. Whoever you ask, if they know the Truth, they will tell you the same thing. If they do not know the Truth, they will fool you with this or that, with different words. Christ said, “I and My Father are one. My Father lives in Me and I live in My Father. God works in Me and I work in Him.”[12] I want you to be free because only then will you be able to manifest yourselves and develop your talents and gifts. Only then will Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, and Virtue, which you manifest, be in their right places. If you apply this Teaching, you will be lively and joyful, deep as the sea and vast as the sky. You need profoundness now! If you live in this way, whatever suffering may come to you, the thought that God is with you and you are with God, will stand out in your mind. If you think in this way, God will take you down from the cross on which you are crucified. Now you may wonder, “What should we do, should we not pray?” I ask whether one needs to pray for one’s freedom. Get to work! Burn the ropes on your feet and hands by using the candle! You ask whether you should sing. When do people sing? When they have completed their work. When do the harvesters sing? When they go or come back from the harvest, but not while they are working. When you were coming to work you sang. Now you are working so you are not going to sing. When you complete your work, you will sing again. One does not always sing. If I ask you to go to the Mount Vitosha to do some task on a hot summer day, would you be able to sing? While you are climbing you may sing within your soul only, but after you have climbed the mountain and have completed the assigned task, you can sing freely. There is time for everything. There is time for singing too. This day is for work - it is the first day of your conscious awareness, the first day for Divine work. You have not worked so far. Today’s work will define your future for all eternity. Remember, your future is created today. It is one of the most beautiful days in your life of the entire eternity. Christ said, “My Father works and I work as well.” Now I wish you all to be at work because you are in the Day of work. Do not say that you will work in the evening. No, this day has no evening. It is an eternal day, in which the Sun never sets and there is no evening. It is a day of eternal dawn and sunrise, in which things have a beginning, but not an end. It is the most beautiful day of Joy and Happiness. The Scripture reads, “When I see Your Face, my soul will rejoice.”[13] This verse relates to the reality of this beautiful working day. Only when working for God, one can see His Face and rejoice. Now you speak, “It would be great if all brothers and sistersfrom the country were here!” I am telling you that theyare all here. How is it possible? All brothers and sisters in thephysical world, who are included in lists of the Brotherhoodof Light, have two representatives of theirs: one in the DivineWorld and one in the Angelic World. So, if one thousandpeople have come here, in reality they represent three thousandpowerful heroes - one thousand in the physical world,one thousand in the Angelic World, and one thousand in theDivine World. The strength comes not from you, who are inthe physical world, but it is rather in these three thousandsouls, gathered together. They are also working; it is not onlypeople in the physical world who work. Can you imagine whatthese helpers from above can accomplish? They will completethe work of God. God acts through them. And so, no songs, prayers, and hand kissing today! All getto work! From above they observe who is ready to serve andwho has already begun to work. I greet you all with the Great Day of work. May you becomeheroes and co-workers of God. This Great Day has alreadycome. Begin with the Divine Work because it will determineyour life in the future. Lecture of the Master Beinsa Douno to the General EsotericClass, held on August 22, 1928, Sofia, Izgrev. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. See also 1Corinthians 7:23, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” 2. See also Luke 4:4. 3. See also 1Thessalonians 2:13. 4. See also Revelation 20:11, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose Face the Earth and the Heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.” 5. See John 4:19–24. 6. See also Psalm 42:3, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’” 7. See also Isaiah 52:12, “For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” 8. See also Luke 23:35–37. 9. See also Luke 23:46. 10. See Luke 24:45. 11. See also John 10:30, “I and My Father are one.” 12. See also John 10:37–38, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in Him.” 13. See also Isaiah 61:10–11.

Note 1 Easter Present Lesson of the Master given to a group of young friends on Easter, April 24, 1927. What is the best way to celebrate Easter? Everything man possesses must be actively used, must be applied. Without such use and application, things "become sour", as we say, or ferment. Feelings, for example, may ferment. Now, with you young people great reforms may be undertaken. If you are not in touch with the laws of Nature you will get the same results as the old people. You must begin with your bodies. For example, do you know the results of the accumulation of uric acid in the human body? Or the meaning of feeble breathing? And do you know the cause of inner inertness, that laziness specific to man? There is a sacred laziness in man. Men call it sacred rest or sacred repose. There should be no difficulties, no sufferings. Man desires to be silent and relaxed, to be completely inert. And thus, to you young people, I say: in order to be strong and healthy you must make use of the morning air and sunlight. For tomorrow, if one becomes sick, even a dozen doctors might not be able to improve his condition. A few years later he will have lost the chance to learn to become skillful. Diseases destroy the body. All the doctors are appointed to prevent diseases, but they have not succeeded. The life of man must change from the roots. I notice on your faces, from the construction of your blood vessels that something is wrong. Here are young people of 22 years and there is premature aging. This untimely aging is due to the accumulation of certain uric acids and poisons in the body. Besides, there is also an accumulation of calcium. The aged person dies because of dust. This calcium hardens in the human body, causing sclerosis. The arteries harden, the brain cannot think, the lungs harden, and finally the whole body hardens. Then the person passes away. Old people say that one should not think much. He who speaks this way has sclerosis. They also say, "We must eat everything we find". In such cases food becomes only a source of all these morbid conditions. In order to eat correctly, the whole of man must participate: his mind, heart, his will, and each individual cell. Living nature has created the home of man very intelligently. She has made millions of windows so that Tirana and vital energy may penetrate, and thus the body of man may be renewed. These windows must be kept always clean, and open, not clogged. Dust collects not only on the surface of the body, but also in the inner organs through the accumulation of acids and poisons. If you don't have sensible thoughts, there are inner congestions of the cells and pores. This is the source of all morbid conditions of the body, as well as of the spirit. The first thing to do is to open the pores of the body, and this can be accomplished through water. First you learn the magic power of water. Without water no culture can exist. Do you know how much water you must use? Water is a good conductor of magnetism. When you study the different temperaments, you will notice, that the skin of nervous people easily becomes dry. In people who are skinny, evaporation occurs very easily and, as a result, moisture disappears. In people with a high rate of evaporation, a dry temperament is born. Such a person becomes nervous, restless; he cannot sleep well; he cannot think calmly. Therefore, he must use water. Besides, the water which must remain in the body must be the purest water. There are certain muscles, certain parts of the body, which must be absolutely clean. Man must be clean so that this water may be filtered. The inner moisture must be always filtered. If this filtration is not properly done, all the impurities from the food enter into the blood stream, either as liquids or as gases. The gases pass through the pores and through the tissues of the whole body. Gradually, they condense and form sensitive hardenings. For this reason, water is necessary to wash away these impurities. To free yourself from thoughts about the symptoms of diseases you must think about the beneficial function of water in the body. I don't like to speak about bad influences because I don't want to leave a negative image in your consciousness, an image of disease with which might be obsessed wherever you go. But I want to tell you that in this coining season after Easter, you must go out in nature each morning and for at least one hour, breathe deeply, and take for yourself food and water, and think your best thoughts. If you want to be healthy and strong you must do this every day. When you come back, then you start serious work and study. Every one of you must do this without fail. Learn to breathe correctly, broadly and deeply. When I observe you, I think sometimes that you are trying to smell a flower, but in reality you are breathing. Yet everyone of you can learn to breathe deeply. Learn to be your own masters, to master your breathing. Sometimes you may feel as if something is obstructing you. In order to have complete respiration, all the pores must be opened. This can be accomplished with water. Respiration should occur not only through your lungs but through the skin and each cell, too. This then is a healthy person. According to the diagnosis of the iris of the eye, all diseases start from the clogged condition of pores which cause certain organs to be sick. The channels of the spinal column become blocked with these impurities, when these are blocked man's vitality diminishes. The vital energies which revive the human body come through the spinal column. The brain of the spinal cord has the capacity to absorb prana or living energy from the air and to conduct it throughout the whole body. You know how this occurs in plants -through osmosis, through imbibition. In nature there is one process which emits and one which receives. There are certain energies which flow in to the center, and others flow out from the center. Where these energies meet, there is the activity of life. When this inner flow is blocked morbid conditions occur, like nervousness, doubt, suspicion. First, there is the blocking of energies after that there is the clogging of the circulation, either in the arteries or in the veins. When there is not enough" pure blood in the arteries to feed the body, the veins become clogged. Instead of being excreted, the impurities remain in the blood. Now, here are young people 25 years of age and in their organisms large quantities of impure matter is stored. What is accumulated is not living organic matter but layers of fat, excess semi-organic matter, which at the slightest weakness of the body supplies the right conditions for germs to enter the blood stream. In this way all morbid conditions come about. If there is fat behind your ears it must disappear. None of you should have a double chin. The bony part behind the ears should be visible and not covered with fat. All of you should follow a Spartan regime. Cultivate your body so as to be healthy and strong, and the most favorable time is now. Each day in April is worth 10 golden coins. What you can gain on those days can be found in no pharmacy but only in nature. One might say about you that you walk in water but still are thirsty. Now you are stingy, but in one month you can collect such energy, you can become so vital and joyous so filled with new ideas, that wherever you go you will bring inspiration to people. Magnetic energy gives inspiration. It infects people, and all people want to be fresh, cheerful, and healthy. The desire to work toward the application of these methods must be born in each man. Now, when you go out in nature, you remain slack, you retain a passive condition. When you walk again you droop. This is not right. You must learn to move with awareness alert. Tour consciousness must participate in everything. You must be brave and decisive, but still you are feeble and weak. You must remember that nature does not love feeble people, for she has set a rich table, and when one of her children does not enjoy the food she serves, she reserves her opinion, but to her such a one is not one of her smartest children. When you gather together now there is a certain tension. This is not correct. Among you there must be vitality, health, and pleasant dispositions and a flow of common inspiration. If someone's morbid condition is pointed out to him he may be distressed, so we will start with the positive side. If one's heart beats fast, this indicates an accumulation of uric and lactic acids, as well as toxic gases. His inner nature whispers to him, "You need water. You must filter all these poisons, acids and gases". People fear that it is the heart that is sick, but this is not true. You may feel restless and unable to sleep well. Get up; heat some water; drink one, two, three, four, or five cups of boiled water, drinking slowly and carefully and when you begin to perspire take a dry towel, rub your body well. Starting with your arms up to your shoulders and then gradually down to your feet. Give yourself a good massage. After that, get dressed, and drink one more cup of boiled water. You may add about 10 drops of lemon juice. This will restore the heat in your body. Do this experiment to learn what your condition will be afterwards. Do this not just once, but at least twice a week. You must do this during this coming season, so that you may be healthy. In this way, all the pores in your body will open, the circulation will improve, and an influx of prana will take place. After that, sit quietly and start breathing like this. Uplift your thoughts and start receiving the magnetic flux from the atmosphere. Your achievement may not be the best right away, but if you persist, in a month's time, or maybe two or three months, if you drink hot water and do your breathing exercises, you certainly will feel renewed. One must go out in the fresh air and breathe. Each time you have free time, use it for breathing. If somewhere you can find pure water, don't be lazy, but go and get it. It may be far away but you should go anyway and bring for yourself the best water you can get. There are no real diseases in the world, only morbid conditions. The task of today's people, of all humanity, must be to learn to be pure, to be free of impurities, of residues and deposits. From time immemorial cleanliness and purity was taught. Drink four to five cups of hot water until you perspire. With a cloth wipe off the sweat and rub yourself well. If you do this twice a week, you will feel a great improvement. Let this be your assignment. Don't forget to dry your body well with a clean cloth. Do this for ten weeks, beginning on April 27th and ending on June 4th. After these ten weeks, you will see the results. You may do this in the morning or at night. When you drink warm water you will not get chills. Also, try to do breathing exercises for an hour or so each day. Ten minutes, three times a day, will do. In this way, you will store energy for the winter. And remember this, no laziness. When you rise in the morning, don't tell yourself that you are sleepy. This is laziness. When you do this assignment, you may loose some weight. This is to be expected. I want you to become thinner. You should not be afraid of this. This will give you a good figure. The spiritual side of this assignment will be to avoid thinking about diseases. Keep thinking about a world where there need be no sick people, no diseases. All of nature breathes health and life. The sun is full of life which it is sending down to earth. These exercises should become a habit. How do you recognize true health? When two healthy people meet, they always become friends. A man, who loves is healthy. If he gets in a condition where he cannot love, know that this indicates a morbid condition, even though it may not yet be an organic disease. You must come to the following decision — to love everything which lives. An exchange of love must come about. Your sacred rule should be: never want to be loved but always look forward to love. And when you love you should be glad that you manifest love. Everyone can love. Become positive. All people who love are positive, and proceed in an ascending direction. To love means to be like God, The law of love is to be like God. God takes initiative in everything. Let us embody God in ourselves. In this way all problems will be solved. Begin to manifest the qualities of God. Aspire to love and to be content. This must be your sacred rule. When you enter the world let yourself be distinguished by your readiness to help everyone. This should be your new experience. Source

From The beauty of life For The Glory of God Sunday lecture given by Beinsa Douno, July 11, 1926, Mount Musala, Rila Mountain In summary I will discuss one basic thought, i.e. what is the true manifestation of Life. How can the words the Glory of God be interpreted? Glory can be explained only through the law of Wisdom or knowledge. Science reveals the Glory of God but when people acquire knowledge, they do not use it for the Glory of God. They use knowledge for their own glory and as a consequence disharmony appears. I examine people as separate units. For each unit there are two possibilities in life: to take the right way or to make a swerve from that way. So, every soul as a separate unit has the possibility to expand and to contract. The esoteric science explains this phenomenon in several ways. The Western occultists explain it with the so-called thermal ether. Ether means that from which things are born and fostered. The particle "et" is the primary beginning from which things are born. "Ther" is what fosters things on Earth. Ether is not a thick matter. Thermal ether, i.e. the primary energy, which started acting, has a connection with Love. Consequently, Love reveals itself in the primary manifestation of Life. That is when the thermal ether became effective in the matter. Hence Life manifests itself through warmth. When warmth appeared, the flow of life started its descent to the Earth to organize it. It is said in the Bible: "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth." (Genesis1:1-3) This flow is the Divine Spirit Who comes down to organize things. At your present state of development you have to understand the law of the thermal ether. It is a movement from the outside to the inside. When we say that we have to love other people, we get the idea of the thermal ether coming from the outside. People demand our love. Someone wants to love you and to be loved by you. Why? – This is a kind of energy in Nature that strives to manifest itself. When you do not understand the law, you distort things. When a spring wants to reveal itself what should it do? – It should spring out. When water springs from it, the spring reveals itself. This happens with people too. When an angel loves a person, you will see an emanation coming from this angel. What the angel emits is liquid, while your love is denser. When you love someone, you also emit something. If at this moment an angel, returning from a long journey sees you, he will say, "I will rest at this spring". The angel will fill his cup with some of your water and will be able to determine correctly whether your spring is good or not. When people love each other in the physical world, there are purely physical displays among them. It is not like that in the Invisible world. There, Love is a spring. These are abstract concepts for you. You simply say, these people love each other. Yes, that is right. You should know however, that Life corresponds to the thermal ether and if you cannot receive this stimulus from outside, then Life cannot manifest itself in you. Life, which comes from within, is a display of the thermal ether. When Life manifests itself, your life-giving ether will be in the center of the Earth. The life-giving ether is what creates. To reveal this life first a wave has to come from outside. When I talk of the Earth you resemble it. That is why this thermal ether has to come to you by all means as an external stimulus to arouse your heart to action. Sometimes you want to love. Thus, when you adopt one external stimulus within yourselves, another impetus should spring out from the center of your heart for life to manifest itself. Consequently, everyone who wants to live will interact with the solid matter. Everyone who wants to love will interact with the solid matter. People who cannot work with the solid matter cannot live. In this respect, from the point of view of Life, instances of suffering are stones through which you will build your future. After that Light, which is equally necessary to Life, comes. It is also a flow that is called light ether. All these external manifestations of Life have their own form. Warmth creates certain forms in people. Light also creates certain forms. Life has certain forms as well. Every flow creates its own particular forms. The warmth and light of the Sun have a big impact first on the religious state of people as well as on science. You shall strive to preserve this warmth and light within yourselves. You shall never lose the small warmth that you have in the solar plexus! This warmth should always exist in you. It is necessary to you. If you have this warmth you are invulnerable. No one can harm you. However, if you lose this warmth the biggest misfortunes may come upon you: storms, catastrophes. They can destroy you entirely, so that nothing will remain from you. If you keep this warmth in you, Light will eventually come. When Light comes it bestows knowledge on people. Thus the light ether has an impact on the brain. The thermal ether has an impact on the heart. A number of chemical processes take place in the human heart directed from the inside to the outside. They determine in which way a person will manifest oneself. Do not be held back by the different manifestations of human life! The outside world may be held back but not you. You should know that regardless of the way in which people manifest themselves, it is all for the Glory of God. Your mistakes and omissions represent opportunities for the elevation of beings that are more advanced than you. When you make a certain error, these beings that are invisible for you will use this error for the formation of a great virtue. Everything in the world is created in such a way that these conscious beings will use every error of yours to create a new virtue. Now, be aware of saying: if everything is for good, let us make mistakes! No, that is not right. When you have unconsciously made a mistake or an omission, then I say that you should not be sorry for it. This mistake of yours will be used by another being for something good. You should know that as long as you are on Earth you will make mistakes. They are inevitable. However, mistakes should not be made on purpose. The only danger coming from the Brotherhood of darkness is that they have the task to implant a fault-finding spirit in each person: a spirit that makes one think that he or she does do not live well. We know that a person cannot become a saint in one day. To be saints we must know all laws of Nature, even our own future. When someone comes to me saying, "I am a holy person" I answer, "If so, tell me about my future". If this person cannot tell anything about my future, I say, "You are not a saint". A saint can predict people's future. An advanced person has to have a certain inner knowledge – a presentiment for future developments. For the time being all of you have the opportunity to be influenced by the external world. You are reflectors of the external world, but you must know that the light of others is their own light while yours is your own light. However, if you only reflect their light, the moment it stops you will lose it too; but if the Light is in you, you will keep it forever. Only the Light within you is real. If the Light comes to your reflector from outside, you should be even happier as it will intensify your own light. In this case and always you should keep your own light and warmth. Now we have climbed the Musala[1] peak. Here all of you are in a good state of mind, but down in Sofia you are not like that. There you have bad, hostile feelings towards each other. A sister comes to you, you cannot stand her and you want her to go away. What are the reasons for these feelings? – These are small, ordinary problems, but they do not resolve the issues. You do not love a sister; you want to free yourself from her. Why? Now I do not want to resolve these issues among you, but I say that these situations exist all over the world. You do not love a certain person, but another person does not love you. At the same time you love someone else a lot. Sometimes you cannot stand someone; however, this person comes to you all the time. We also observe the opposite: you love someone, you want this person to come to you, but they avoid you. Why does this happen? This is due to the flows in space (i.e. the thermal ether and the light ether). The law of Love is the following: when a feeling of Love descends upon me it always comes from above, from Heaven and in turn I have to give something by all means. If I do not give something, I cannot manifest Love. When God Who loves us, manifests Himself He gives us something. Similarly, whenever we want to love God we must also give something from ourselves. We have to sacrifice something. We have to give out our fruit as God also wants something from us. We read in the Holy Scriptures that the Jews offered sacrifices to God. What will we offer? What should we give – sweet fruit from our garden? – No, we will offer fruit from the garden of our heart and bring it on a special tablet, made of gold and diamonds. Up there, at God's place an angel will meet us and will receive the fruit from us. You will say all of this is phantasmagoria. Yes, these things are elevated and difficult to comprehend. Now, let us consider the facts the way they manifest themselves on Earth. When you love someone, how do you behave? A mother will first give socks to her child, she will saw a dress, a hat, a shirt and thus she will continue until her child reaches an old age. She will manifest her love at all times. When Love appears in a son or a daughter, the same law will hold. To realize this law in us, we should always be in contact with the Invisible world through our consciousness. To be in contact with the Invisible world we have to know someone from that world by name. How do you communicate with the Invisible world? – While you are sleeping, you should pray and think. What are your translators like? When I return to the distant past I see that on many occasions you did not use the opportunities which you had to develop yourselves. You made such errors that you raised huge barricades in front of you. You alone erected whole mountains in your life. Now you come across these errors. Currently you must deal with what you once did to others. That is why today you are given favorable conditions to improve your life journey. Your present life journey is an opportunity to liquidate all contradictions that exist. You can liquidate them now. These contradictions are not big. Now when we look into that matter, each of you has to place oneself in a circle. Each of you has a definite circle in which you can act. Every thought has its planned periphery and it cannot manifest itself outside this periphery. For example, would you like to sing so that all of Bulgaria listens to you? The time will come when all of Bulgaria will listen to you as though you were singing over the radio. There will be a special instrument for everything. If people listen to you via the air, what a roar, what a scream they will hear! How strong does this sound have to be to be heard all over Bulgaria? In the present conditions to transmit the sound to a distant place it has to be produced very strongly, because when it passes via the air it loses its strength. In the future people will develop their inner abilities and when one talks and sings somewhere the sound will be transmitted through the ether to remote destinations and others will perceive it. The sound will go through the air without obstacles. For example, if you sing in Varna[2] your voice will be heard everywhere. Therefore, you shall study the thermal ether, which has a connection with Love. You shall study Light or the light ether, which has a connection with faith and Wisdom. You shall work with the chemical ether or with the volitional manifestations of the human soul – with water. The ancient alchemists and occultists made the following classifications: earth is the life; water is the chemical processes; light is the air and heat is the fire. People should master these elements: earth, water, air, fire, light and heat. People should be able to make their own fire. If your heart is cold, you should be able to warm it up yourself inwardly. You should not wait for someone to warm it up from outside. You will say, "Let God do it! It is God Who acts from within." God can do everything Himself, but He wants to make us master our own selves alone. God wants us to love. In this way you are learning a great art. If you have fire and can master it you may even descend to hell. A person, who cannot master water; who cannot master air; who cannot master light and who cannot master warmth – such a person is suitable for nothing. These are all opportunities when it comes to humans. If people do not use these opportunities, they will accomplish as much as the fish – it lives in water, but it does not master it. They will accomplish as much as the mole – it lives in earth, but does not master it. What have birds accomplished? They live in the air, but they do not master it and so far they have accomplished nothing. They have no culture. When we come to those who deal with fire we see that they do not master it either. They make big fires: they set a house on fire; they explode a bomb, which produces a big earthquake, and then they leave. Our houses are destroyed and we suffer, while they celebrate. Hence we are required to study these forces. However, there is one danger in revealing secrets to you – you may not be able to use them reasonably. Thus I say, when you see a person you shall not pay attention to the weaknesses, but to the virtues of this person. You often say, "I thought that you were a friend of mine, but you have such and such weakness." No, to understand someone we have to look at virtues because what is bad in a good person is only a shadow in their life. Only an extremely good person can have shadows in their life. Only such a person can provoke evil to be manifested. Do wolves go to a shepherd who does not have sheep? Wherever you see sheep you will also find wolves and bears. Do lice spread on a dead person? If you see someone with lice and flea, you should know that this person is alive. Where do lice go? – They go to the living. I say, a noble character should be formed in each of you. Your souls should be widely open, so that whoever meets you may feel that you are a breath of freshness and life. Inner fullness and goodness should exist in you without any effort. You should manifest yourselves naturally in a Divine way. You should be good in your very being without wanting to be such. You should be good in such a way that even when sometimes you do not want to be good you will still be; and if you do not want to do good, you will still be unable not to do it. I call such people good. The most important thing for you now is to retain something from this excursion to Musala. What will you retain from this day? Will you remember anything from it one day when you become 60-70 years old? You may say, "Leave our white hair alone, these matters have nothing to do with it!" Where is your faith then? Not only you must not grow old, but you have to rejuvenate each and every day. Not only you do not have to die, but you have to come back to life every day. You have to live in joy constantly! And when you go to the Other world you will climb Musala again. However, you will see it in a different form there. It is essential that we are making this excursion, because we have certain matters on Earth that we have to resolve. Every ascent to Musala gives us an impulse. Here we are at the summit and no one can stop us. Our elan is so great that we can take over the summit from anywhere. We are at a height, where the Lodge of black darkness is powerless. It can do nothing as we will break through everywhere. However, if we had returned without climbing Musala, we would have retreated from this position as Kuropatkin[3] and as the Germans in the siege at Verdun[4]. An elan has to be present in every person, in all of us! The mistake that all of you make is that you do not have elan. You must have an ideal! If you stop at the smallest difficulty, there is not an elan in you. If you have elan, you will be like birds – you will come by and fly away. If you have an elan, if you have an ideal, no devil can stop you. So the high ideal – striving towards God – brings warmth. You see even here at Mount Musala, at this height we have a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. What does it show physically? When we add up two plus two, we get the number four – the strongest number at the highest place. The fire of these energies, of these forces acts in one square. Whatever ends up there gets destroyed. So here we have the square of Life. At 22 degrees Celsius Life can destroy all obstacles that may come across one's way. Here Nature demonstrates this principle. Everything is destroyed at Musala. It means that the number 22 corresponds to Musala. There are also 22 letters in the Jewish alphabet. The Jews interpret their entire philosophy in line with the Cabala. Therefore, all separate units live for the common unit. The common unit is God with Whom we are connected. And all our ideas are corrected in line with this common unit. We constantly think of God, but we do not realize it and there is no need to do so. However, a sacred idea is lodged in us. When we come to a certain place we always correct our mistakes exactly according to this idea. God is the One Who corrects our errors. God says, "Do not do this!" and you happily accept it. There is no person on Earth who is not corrected by God. Sometimes you cry until God comes, looks at you, holds your hand and you are release from all hardships of life. Now we will not talk about your hardships. They are a blessing for you and you will carry them. You should know this. We will not free you from the hardships. To release you from the hardships means to do the biggest evil to you. We give you knowledge and opportunities to use them for good. Your entire wealth is hidden in these hardships. Someone says, "I wish God could take away that hardship from me." You should not say this, instead say, "God, give me knowledge to overcome all hardships in my life!" You have special hardships in your life that you cannot be share with anyone. A doctor is needed! If you are a bankrupt trader and share your misfortune with another trader, who is your adversary, nothing will remain from you. However, if you share it with a friend who loves you and can understand you, this friend will give you an advice through which you will overcome your difficult situation. It is said in the Bible: "Entrust your load only to the Lord." You can entrust your load only to the One Who loves you and Whom you love. If you connect to a person you love, he or she will take your load. But if this person does not love you and is not loved by you, he or she will not take your load. Now, the fog that surrounds us shows that this year the world will go through big hardships. The worldly people will be surrounded by very thick fog, which they have to overcome. It will be like this throughout the entire year. However, at the highest place there will be a lot of warmth and many forces. There are forces in the fog. Whatever may come, do not be afraid! You shall be courageous and decisive as you bear a sacred idea. Even if they throw you ten times in fire, you shall not worry, you will not burn. You will be like Daniel who was put in the dyke with the lions. Did the lions eat him up? You will be like the three youths in the fire furnace. Did they burn up? You will be like Christ on the cross. Did He die? Did He stay in the grave? Many saints were buried in earth, but after that they were not found there. Neither earth holds them, nor prison. An Englishman knew about the Universal Brotherhood of Light, he had expertise of the Indian yoga but was not liked by the English government. That is why they closed him in India and put guards in front of his cell. When they went in the morning to the prison they saw that he was not there. They caught him for a second time, put ten people to guard him, but he disappeared again. Finally he wrote them a letter, "You cannot keep me in confinement. Leave me and walk your way! I am not against the laws, but I also have certain rights, for which you have to leave me to go my way! Do not think that you can imprison me." The power of this man lies in his faith. You can have the same experience, but faith is required. They may lock you as much as they want, but God will set you free. That is the Beauty of the world! If anyone of you had had this understanding, then despite being locked up with ten guards, you would have gone out and would have felt free being a master of your state. You have faith as well, but much more is needed for it to grow in strength! You have knowledge, but a lot more has to be acquired! You have virtues, but these virtues have to be developed further. Your wisdom, righteousness and mercy – all these virtues within us must be and can be strengthened. You have all the opportunities to strengthen these virtues. Thus, I will not talk over a certain philosophy to those of you who are listening to me now, because no philosophy can be discussed at Musala. Instead I will give you some practical points for application. Musala is solely a place for experiments. Now I must leave you here at the peak for at least one hour to lie down. During this time you will learn three times more than if I hold a lecture. When you go down the first thing that you should do is to make the following experiment: concentrate your mind up towards God and say, "God, as we walk Your way; as we want to serve You, let this small warmth come, so that we can feel it! I am ready to carry my suffering, but give me this warmth, let me feel it!" Do not ask God for big things! You always want big things from God and that is why you lose the small ones. You should ask for the small ones! When this small warmth comes, it will bring the new age into your life. This is the first experiment, the first condition. After you sense this small warmth, you will say, "God, give me the small light to feel it!" When you say so a small light will flash in your mind. You will notice this whitish light in the center of your brain. This light will be as small as a pin. Thus you will have two opportunities: warmth and light. Then you will already commence with life. Warmth reacts on life, light – on chemistry and religion. You must become courageous and decisive. So when you wake up in the morning there are two things you should ask God for. Now, you will apply one, two, three methods and finally when you find yourselves going through hard times you will say: "God, give me the small warmth and the small light!" When you feel them you will say, "God, let it all be for Your Glory!" When suffering and hardships come, you will say again, "God, let it be again for Your Glory!" You will say about everything that happens in your life, "For the Glory of God!" This will be your profit from Musala. If they ask you what you were told at Musala, you shall say, "May all be for the Glory of God!" This is the summary of everything I spoke to you at Musala: Let everything be for the Glory of God! Currently, we are learning about the smallest warmth, which can exist in us as well as about the smallest light that can manifest itself within us – Warmth and Light! Now you must know for the entire year: everything happens for the Glory of God! Next year when we come here I will tell you: show me your small warmth and light! Now, we will make an exercise. You will spread out at a considerable distance, at least a meter away from each other. You will turn south and will pronounce the formula: Let Virtue be enthroned and all bad thoughts in the world scatter! You will turn east and will pronounce the formula: Let God's Righteousness be enthroned in the world and all wrongs disappear from our life! You will turn north and you will say: Let God's Truth be enthroned in our life and all slavery disappear from our soul! You will turn west and you will pronounce the formula: Let God's Wisdom be enthroned in all manifestations of our life and evil disappear from our way! You will turn east again and you will pronounce the formula: Let God reign and be glorified in all His Love, Wisdom and Truth! Let God be enthroned in His Love, Wisdom and Truth! Let us accomplish everything for the Glory of God on Earth! Amen. [1]Musala – the highest peak in the Balkans, 2925 m, located in southwestern Bulgaria, Rila Mountain. The name is derived from Mus Allah, "the mountain of Allah", being so named during the period when Bulgaria was part of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. According to the Master Beinsa Douno the oldest esoteric school on Earth was situated in Rila. [2]Varna – the third largest city and a major sea port in Bulgaria, economic and cultural center. [3]Alexei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin (1848-1925) was brought back from effective retirement in 1915 to serve as an entirely unsuccessful field commander in the Russian army. Kuropatkin was chief of staff during the Russo-Turkish War, commander in chief in Caucasia in 1897, and minister of war (1898-1904). In the Russo-Japanese War he commanded the Russian troops in Manchuria; he resigned after the Russian defeat in the Mukden Incident. [4]Verdun – the longest and one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. Translated by Martina Iovcheva and Jana Rupchina

Note 3 Bending & Breaking Be always faithful, true, pure, and kind! Reflection There is a situation when a person constantly studies and never learns. Has a woman done her work well if has half-kneaded the bread or if she has not baked it? Has a seamstress done her work well if she has sewn the clothes helter-skelter? And if you wait for the angels from Heaven to come to carry you with their hands, to give you a guitar and to award you with wreaths on your heads, will you be ready for this situation? Your desire is excellent, but can you put a guitar in the hands of a person who cannot play, and can you place wreaths on a stupid head? I mean a head, but an intelligent one! Now, I am telling you this in line with the progress you have made in your development. When you feel a desire to weave and when you first go to a trainer good at this art, when she starts explaining things to you, will you understand her? You say that you understand and she leaves you alone. But if you have not mastered it, you will be weeping at the loom. Now, you have to know that the Master won’t be among you forever. One day you will be left alone and then we will see what will happen. There are two things that you need: the soft person should bend and the strong one should break. So, the soft person forms a circle and the strong person forms the diameter. You have a certain feeling for unbending will. What should be done with your will? It should be bent. But when? In case an unbending will lead only to evil, it has to be bent. This is true for both men and women. If a woman has taken a devious way, she has to bend properly. Bending is a transition from one condition into another; only then can there be bending, only at a curved line can there be life. Some say, ‘I do not want to bend’. There is no bending in ordinary life, but bending is inevitable during a transition from one state into another, from physical to spiritual life. This is part of the course of development. If the Earth had not bent, what would our situation have been? If the Earth has remained round as a ball, nothing would have grown on it; it would have been smoothly covered with water all over and nothing would have grown on it. But the Earth bent and valleys were formed; the Earth broke and mountains were formed. When you bend you will form valleys, when you break you will form mountains. This is how you will provide conditions for the development of your life. The word breaking is wrongly understood today too. Breaking means when you walk exactly into one direction to take a direction perpendicular to the original movement. Therefore, these are features or methods of Life itself. Many of you have to bend, at that you have to bend at a place where it needs to, not everywhere. You have to bend properly at the required place, so that you form a continent there. You have to break exactly at the place where a mountain peak can be formed, similar to the Himalayan ones and your ideas may be born on this high peak. These are the conclusions that are to be encountered in nature. Nature works in this way and one should work in the same way. What are your eyes like – bulging or sunken? – Sunken. So it takes a sinking inside in order to create the eyes. Then there is a sinking again in order to create the ears. If you say, “I do not want any sinking’, do you know what you will look like? If there was no sinking in your face, what would it look like? Beauty is born thanks to this sinking too. There is a breaking in the nose, while there is a bending in the eyebrows. Now, you will perceive this in the most profound sense: one should bend and one should break, but where one has to! There are people who bend before everything, but this is another matter. Bending is actually taking the right direction of development. Bending is an indication of kindness, while breaking is an indication that one can endure any pressure. Sharp items always make their way; you have to break in order to form a blade to attack your enemy with. Breaking means taking another direction. Now, some of you have to take a perpendicular direction of development as compared to one’s views. For instance, you have made many decisions, but tell me which decision you have implemented so far, which decisions you have acted upon? I am not saying that you have no aspirations. When certain points are argued, one has to bend in the good sense of the word, to take a perpendicular direction as compared to one’s original situation or one has to move in a circle, to perform harmonic movements. To put it more precisely one has to move either along the diameter of one’s circle, or perpendicularly to one’s circle. However, these are scientific terms that have to be translated. Take the word crack open. This word has both positive and negative meanings. Indeed, it is bad if your bottle cracks open, but when a wheat grain cracks, when your iced water cracks, this is the good sense of the word. Things sometimes have to crack open! When intelligent people crack open, when good people crack open, fragrance comes out of them. But when stupid people crack open - stench comes out of them. This is why I say, ‘Evil people should not crack, but good people should crack! And when God wants to interrogate somebody, He takes that person, squeezes and tests him or her. You also sometimes take a strange leaf of a plant and having squeezed it you see that it stinks. Thus sometimes, and it is from the Invisible world at that, you are being cracked and you let out fragrance, but having stayed for while you start stinking. This is why you should be squeezed often! Let’s assume that you have a seed; if this seed cracks open on its own accord we call such cracking an opening, an intelligent cracking. But if it does not crack open on its own accord, can the Sun rays get into it? Therefore, one should often crack one’s soul in this way, and in order to crack one’s soul, one has to free oneself of certain temporary prejudices. Temporary prejudices are to be encountered in all social strata, in all social classes. Women have special types of prejudices. When you get together at a place, one has to have a phonograph to hear what you are talking about. When you get together in your intimate life, what are you talking about? About news, aren’t you? In this respect it is all right for one to take interest in the news, to talk, but it needs an intelligent discussion. When one enters this Path, one has to find exactly these appropriate methods that Nature uses, so that one can do more with the least efforts and to have sufficient time to pay attention to the useful things in life. Whenever a disciple reaches a certain stage of development, the disciple is always exposed to certain tests; the disciple is already exposed to conscious tests. This is part of the laws in Nature. This is also true in life: when you have a small child, you do not send the child anywhere – neither to the mountains, nor anywhere further. But when the child becomes fifteen-sixteen years of age, you send the child to the grocer’s and further away. Why? Because you rely on the child. And when you send the child, there will be wind and hail and rain and storms and troubles but this is a matter of course. So now you have become a little older and you will be put to certain tests: you will be sent to the grocer’s, you will be sent to fetch chopped wood, you will be sent out of town etc. If you go to the Elena1 region for instance, you will see that a woman carrying more chopped wood on her back is considered a heroine. However, if any Sofian woman places chopped wood on her back, this will make the front pages of all the newspapers. The newspapers would write, ‘This is unheard of – Sofian women carrying chopped wood on their backs!’ I am asking whether one has to carry chopped wood on one’s back. No, one does not. This is a need we have created artificially. You will examine yourselves along these lines, you will examine your condition along these lines, you will examine your disposition along these lines, you will examine the people around you along these lines too; you will examine everything. You will examine the weather too. Now, I will give you the following exercise for ten days: you will take a notebook and you will note down the weather and your condition in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. You get up in the morning, you are indisposed; note down what the weather is like! And at noon, according to your condition you will note down the weather again! And again in the evening. You will continue with this exercise for ten days, i.e. thirty times. This exercise will show whether there is any correspondence between your beautiful conditions or your indisposition and the weather outside. Sometimes you are cheerful, the weather outside will be cloudy, and some other time when you are aggrieved, the weather is clear. It is of interest to see in how many cases your condition will correspond to the weather. You understood how this will be done, didn’t you? You will put down a note like this in the morning, ‘I have a severe indisposition of my Spirit.’ At noon you will put down, ‘Terrible doubts seized me’, and in the evening, ‘Deep jealousy seized me’. You will write on the following morning, ‘Awful pusillanimity’, at noon, ‘Acrimony’, in the evening, ‘Dreadful vengeance.’ On the morning of the third day you should note, ‘Strong faith’, at noon, ‘Great hope’, in the evening, ‘Immense love’. This is how you will write – not much. You will put down the time and what the weather is like: whether it is cloudy, or windy, whether the Sun shines or not. For instance, you will write, ‘The Sun is shining off and on’; however, if the Sun is not to be seen, you will write, ‘Absolutely cloudy or windy.’ You will first take notice of your condition, and then of the weather outside. You will start the exercise tomorrow morning and you will see how each one will start. But you will be calm and you will simply chronicle certain conditions of yours. One has to study one’s nature and not to worry about the conditions that one experiences. Often the joys that you have are not yours. In America or England2, for example, when a gentleman is invited to a ball or to a sumptuous dinner and he does not have a nice suit, as it takes a couple of thousands, he goes to a well-known company and rents a suit. If he needs accessories he will rent them as well, he will dress up and this is how he will appear. On the following day he puts on his old clothes again. You likewise are cheerful some days, but you have rented joy from elsewhere. But I am not to be deceived: I see somebody springing with joy and I say, ‘This one has rented this joy from this-or-that company.’ Later on I see that this person has returned it. I say that you will be invited again; you will rent again and people will see you dressed up, according to the latest fashion. One has to have one’s own suit. One thing I know for certain: the spiritual Joy of a person is something constant, it never alters, it cannot be rented. This is what I know and what you know is something different [another matter]. There may be storms outside, unhappiness, but deep down in one’s soul a spiritual person sees Eternal Joy. A spiritual person endures suffering well: such a person may weep twenty times a day, but he or she is nonetheless glad internally. This is experience: the important thing is the internal condition, and not what one manifests externally. Joy is never wasted; this is my understanding! The same is true about Faith: hesitation, doubts and other things may come from outside, but it does not alter. The same is true about Hope and about Love. Love never fails, it does not cool down. This is what we know, and what you know is another matter. This is how I understand things for myself. One may fall down and may get scars; this falling means nothing. Is a ray, descending from above and falling onto the Earth, more sinful than the other rays? No, it has come to do its job and after completing it, its condition alters. Having done its job it must have acquired something anyway. Loss in one respect is a gain in another. God, for our sake, sends us to the Earth to suffer temporarily, so that we acquire something fine and beautiful. This is what I know! Somebody says, ‘Why did I descend on the Earth?’ You have made an excursion. Now you have chosen a day slightly inappropriate for an excursion, but nonetheless this is pleasant. Anyway after the clouds and after the rain the weather will improve, it won’t last like this forever. Christ says to His disciples, ‘Now you have grieves, the world will rejoice and you will weep, but then I will see you and you will rejoice and nobody can deprive you of your joy.’ In this way you will work practically, i.e. you will work experientially. You are taking a test and no one can help you, not even angels can help you. Even if they want, they won’t be able to, because everything takes place according to the law of absolute freedom. Well, how can you help that lazy student who does not want to study? The teacher can get him or her into another grade, but human beings need knowledge, they need virtues. The virtues within us have to grow! When I talk to you about that ideal world, I mean that a human being has to develop all of those virtues, all of those abilities. Then a human being will have strength for oneself. And there should be no animals around oneself, because animals are an indication of one’s weaknesses. This is how I understand this Life! While now you are rejoicing and you are saying, ‘How nice it is!’ Yes, this is a plaything for children; this is how they are spoken to. This Life has to be built out of those internal virtues. If you do not have them, no one can help you. Anybody can live on the alms basket, but you know what the alms basket is. I have told you so many times and I am asking you again whether you can join a contemporary symphony orchestra if you cannot play? You will be merely listeners there. You may want to play, but after pulling the bow for ten times, the bandmaster will tell you, ‘Be so kind as to listen only!’ And there is no point taking offence, because only the one who is able has the right to play. This will be the case when you come to the other world. But there is Blessing! Blessing there is for that beginner who practices the violin all day long, but there is no Blessing for the virtuoso. It is said about the virtuoso, ‘’Blessing is over for you, you have to manifest your art and to play beautifully, nothing more!’ Now, I am talking to those of you who are virtuosos. For those of you, who are students, there is Blessing [bliss] as much as the ocean, but there is no Blessing for the virtuosos. Only a virtuoso has rights; a virtuoso has the right to play the way he or she finds appropriate. While a student has no rights, a student will play according to the rules, the methods given by the Teacher [Master]. Being a student you will observe the discipline of the school: you will make no scandals with your class-mates, you will not laugh in class, you will not talk in class; you will answer, you will be silent and you will study intelligently. Moreover you will not dress the way your fancy takes you, you will not eat seeds, peanuts and any other similar food in class, because these are not allowed there. You will enquire whether you are not free. There is no freedom - this has to be observed in class! When you fast – this is an indication that you are students. Abstinence is required! Only a student fasts. If you adhere to these rules in your life, you will achieve certain good results, but even if you do not adhere to them, you will study your lessons anyway. Why is the Invisible world so strict and just! So far, since the creation of the world, not a single angel has succeeded in getting one’s way through without studying. Anybody, who has attempted to, has always descended to the Earth. These are rules for everybody, there is no lenience whatsoever, no hypocrisy. The law is the same for young and old alike. For those who have consciousness, who want to be in the other world, the law has to be the same. Don’t you think that there is any hypocrisy in the other world, as in this world! No, there is no hypocrisy there. When you enter there you will be expected to be pure, while Purity is a feature only of the immortal souls. This you have to know. If you are mortal, you have no Purity! Intelligence is also a feature only of the immortal souls. A mortal soul cannot be intelligent. Truth, Justice, Virtue – all of these virtues are features of the immortal souls. When a human being becomes immortal, he or she will also have virtues, he or she will also have one’s own way of understanding, but they will all be different. Sometimes one feels so under the weather, that one feels like taking one’s head and running for the woods. Well, if only the woods could heal wounds! How many times have we been to the woods without succeeding in healing our heads! Heads can be healed only when the Truth comes to live within a human being. So now, you will get into your head the thought that there is no hypocrisy in the world you are aspiring to. You should not look at the contemporary life now, do not be superficial; do not be beguiled by any temporary appearances. You may have a friend who loves you, but do not be beguiled by the first manifestations of love. Love is known by its end results. Do not be beguiled by any temporary appearances. The one who loves you on the Earth, he has to show you the Path upwards. As long as he shows you the Path, he loves you, if he does not show you the path, he does not love you; nothing more! We understand love as an urge to the objective, to the good for the soul. If somebody hinders my soul, if somebody enslaves it, if somebody detracts me from the Path to understanding God, what do I gain from his or her love? So, Love with its internal meaning can be known by the fact that everybody who loves you has to give an internal impulse to your soul. This is what we call mutual labour, mutual work towards self-improvement. This is the beautiful! And when you reflect, you will know that each sister, who can give you an impulse, loves you, and the love of any sister who cannot give you an impulse, is not strong as yet. You say, ‘But she does not love me.’ This is a temporary and subjective understanding. There is such a love in the world, when I will smile at you, I will offer you a chair to sit, I will treat you at the table; but this is not love as yet, because I can have vested interest. If you go to a modern American teacher and if you pay him or her twice or three times higher a fee than a poor student, he or she will receive you well and will send away the poor student, to get rid of the poor student, although the poor student also pays a fee to the teacher. I am telling you, ‘Do not waste your time with such a teacher.’ So, during these ten days, when you get up in the morning you won’t be in hurry to wash, but remain reflecting in bed for ten minutes in order to receive the God’s rays of Truth. In the evening before you go to bed spare ten minutes for reflection again. Be in a quiet and calm condition and thank God for all this. Direct your soul upwards to the Invisible world, so that you can receive the Great, the Divine. In the morning – ten minutes, in the evening - ten minutes; this is where the good of the human soul resides, this is the beautiful, and this is the delightful. One minute spent with God is worth millions of minutes spent with people. This is what I know! One has to live millions of minutes with people in order to attain one minute with God. Not that people are bad, but what I am looking for is not to be found with them. They have to work for a long time in order to be able to deliver such a thing. This can only be provided by the Eternal. Therefore, we have to be going closer to God, thus we shorten our time. Christ says in the Scripture, ‘Rejoice and be cheerful when grieves come onto you; rejoice and be cheerful when your mind is troubled; rejoice and be cheerful when people say bad things about you; rejoice and be cheerful when your work makes no progress; rejoice and be cheerful when you have nowhere to sleep; rejoice and be cheerful when you walk barefoot; rejoice and be cheerful when you are hungry etc.’ And if we establish an internal law we would say: strong is the person who can be a master of oneself. We could make the world go our way, but we are afraid who will do our job. For instance, I ask you how many hours do you need to sweep your room. I need only five minutes to sweep clean four rooms; I need ten to fifteen minutes to cook you a meal; five minutes to get dressed, one minute to wash myself. How many minutes altogether? Seventeen minutes. Then I need five minutes to see to the children at home, five minutes to receive visitors etc. So that it will be approximately sixty minutes until I do all of your work and afterwards I will have a lot of free time. For example, it often happens that somebody comes to me with a whole string of questions, intending to have a talk with me for four or five hours, but he or she tells me, ‘Master, I have written all of these questions, but I resolved them on my way to you, there is no point for you to waste your time any more, everything became clear to me having talked with you for four or five minutes.’ So, these were clarified to him from the Invisible world. Otherwise I would have had to tell him, he would have argued, I would have had to prove things to him and after four or five hours he would have left with certain reservations anyway. While now, both of us are grateful. It is different when you clean your house. But there is no dust in the house of a righteous person. When dust reaches his or her house, it stays in the air and when you open the window it goes out. For example, a saint when getting up in the morning, performs his duty by saying ‘fie, fie’ and thus cleans his room. He cleans it very well, with the best broom and there is no dust left there, everything goes out. Work will shorten; this is exactly the future of the civilization – to shorten the work and to get free of this exhausting labour that we are having now. Indeed we work a lot nowadays. Three hour’s work a day is enough, while now we have all become slaves to work. Another work is needed already: less physical work, more work for the mind and for the heart. Now somebody says, ‘What shall I gain now that I walk along this Path?’ This is what you will gain: for fifteen minutes you will cook the meal, for fifteen minutes you will get your work done in the room, for several minutes you will see to your visitors and you will never live in deprivation. Of course this is for the future. If you live like this you will gain time. While now you cook for four hours a day, two hours go on sweeping, three hours you spend with your visitors, four hours – with the kids, two hours – on sewing and in the end the woman says, ‘Whatever work remains undone, I will have to do it on the following day.’ So, not only that she could not finish her job on that day, but there is work for the following day. Even if she works the whole week long, she cannot finish anything, but this work is to be done for twenty-five minutes. Now, you have not studied the art of making people feel happy. Why can’t you make your folks at home feel happy? You say, ‘Only God can do this.’ But you can make your folks at home feel happy. Now I shall not tell you how; this is the greatest art. You can make both your husband and your children feel happy. This is the greatest art, but I shall not tell you about it now. It’s not a difficult job, but it is a science. I shall not dwell on the method, but imagine that I can see you coming from the street and you are annoyed and I know that you like rose oil. You enter and smell around, it feels pleasant and your mood immediately changes, doesn’t it? So, the rose oil can save the situation in this case. But this is not my art; I am only saying that you can apply this method. If, however, this person has an aversion to rose oil, you may make a mistake and lose completely. You know what this person is supposed to like – rose oil or violet oil, or any other oil. I used to know a person in America who left his wife and do you know why? He had an aversion to the colour black. One day he went to see to some of his commercial transactions and while he was away his wife furnished the room in black. On seeing this when he came back he broke with her. One has to study both oneself and one’s own tastes. Sometimes you want to know what you yourselves like, so that you can please yourselves better. I call love the profound desire of the soul, the Divine in a person. By soul and Spirit I mean the Divine human being, while by heart and mind I mean the human aspect of life. Get your soul and Spirit started, so that everything hidden there can develop. This is your good. Leave your heart and mind to develop on their own accord, do not interfere with their development. In order to educate one’s mind, in order to educate one’s heart, one has to be knowledgeable. When I use the word grief I mean those intelligent conditions under which a certain virtue can develop. We will feel grief all the time while it is developing. These are conditions under which these virtues can develop. Therefore, grief will bring Joy, because it provides the conditions for the virtue to manifest. This is precisely why we have to understand that each grief brings something nice to the world. If you have grief, something fine will be born within you. I do not mean suffering, but grief. These are laws of Nature; it has arranged things like this. Somebody says, ‘I am already fed up with grief!’ No, rejoice, because you can’t imagine how nonsensical, how empty life on the Earth is without grief. Be glad while you have grief. You have not tested Life without grief. You have to understand Life: as soon as grief comes, let Joy appear in your soul. Somebody says, ‘Well I suffer a lot!’ Fine, be glad, something nice is maturing within you! When the nice fruit ripens within you, they will be good for your soul and you will then understand them. (A voice from the audience): What is the difference between grief and suffering? Suffering is meant for the stronger ones. Grief is only a way to develop certain virtues. When one aspires to create something new in oneself, one suffers. Suffering creates new things, while grief facilitates the development of virtues. This is the Truth: the soul grieves, and the Spirit suffers. When the Spirit wants to create something new, it suffers, but not because of being weak. People have imparted a distorted understanding of the concept of suffering. When we say suffer, it can be replaced by effort, by overcoming of circumstances. Be always faithful, true, pure, and kind! Master’s lecture delivered on February 18, 1926, 16:00h in Sofia 1 Elena is a small town in the mountains in central Bulgaria. 2 The Master refers to USA (America), and Great Britain (England). Source

Note 3 No Science, No Success Be always faithful, true, pure and kind! Reflection I shall take a line that reads, ‘No science, no success’. In other words success depends on science. In general contemporary humankind is in a clash with its old beliefs, with its old convictions and this is only natural. Imagine a horse that is in the habit of kicking; this is in his culture, it is related with the evolution of horses and for thousands of years horses have used it as a weapon against their enemies, to safeguard their life. Kicking is not a bad habit of horses, kicking is a defence mechanism. But imagine contemporary horses, harnessed to a cart, trying to kick in the same way. It is ridiculous, isn’t it? In this case horses should cure themselves of the habit to kick. Sometimes all people have such habits like kicking, which was useful in the past, but which is harmful under the present conditions. They cannot be eradicated completely but they can be made harmless, because they are already out of place. You have to keep in mind their harmful aspect: a harmful habit can never be of use; it was useful previously, but now it is not useful. You say, ‘No science, no success.’ Can anybody become a tourist without travelling, without visiting high places; can anybody become a violinist without training how to play; can anybody become a singer if he or she never studied this? Whatever the art, one has to dedicate long years; one has to dedicate a whole life in order to learn the art. And it is strange that contemporary people (not all but some of them) thought and still think that Christianity can be acquired very easily. No, according to the same law, the principles of Christianity require a whole life to apply. And not only has a teaching to be applied, but the results that come out should be safeguarded. Everybody talks about the nice voice of a singer that nature has endowed her with, but if she does not safeguard her throat, if she likes eating spicy food and drinking cold water, if she is negligent to her voice, do you think she would have this beautiful voice for long? The human heart should also be safeguarded according to the same law. Some say that the human heart is broken and subsequently there is no point in safeguarding it. This is quite so, but when a human being turns to God, one’s heart is renovated and it is exactly these hearts that we have in mind. You want to walk along the Path and already to apply [the teaching], because your hearts are renovated, but I ask whether you will expose these renovated hearts to the external changes. It takes safeguarding! This is already a science! Some may feel weak and may think that somebody else must safeguard them. Thus for example, mothers take care of their children at their early age. When the child is one year old, the child needs somebody to take care of him or her, but when children become five, ten or twenty years of age, they will take care of themselves. This is the case in intelligent Nature. God has made it so that these features are implanted in each human being and human beings have to safeguard them. There is another condition requiring that one should always be busy working. Nobody should be idling around! As soon as one starts slackening, one falls into idleness. Take for example the most prominent violinist, who can play very well, deprive that violinist of his violin and he starts getting nervous. Give him back his violin and he will immediately cheer up. Take an educated person, deprive him of his work and he will start getting nervous. Take whichever housewife; deprive her of what she needs at home and she will immediately start getting nervous. You should all be working! Now you will say, ‘We do not have the right conditions to work.’ I do not know, perhaps you do not have the conditions needed for a king, or for a Prime Minister in Britain or the conditions for a certain billionaire in America, or the conditions of a shah in Persia, but I say that the conditions you have now are thousand times better than the conditions of crickets and of sparrows. I watch sparrows: when the weather is bad, they go into a hole, then they come out, they cannot remain in there. They go under the tiles of a roof, they come out, call their friends, get in together and say, “Thanks God, we found a place where to shelter, we shall stay here!’ These are the reflections of birds. We say, ‘They are birds, they can be happy having little.’ What should we have in order to be happy? The good thing that I like about these two sparrows is that they are happy. They having found a hole, thank God and say, ‘It is nice here, and there is no wind to blow against us.’ Both of them huddle up; they are happy. Is there anything better than this? And these two birds are happy throughout the whole night. They have God’s benediction, because the Scripture reads about them, ‘Not a single sparrow can fall on the ground against the Will of God.’ Their guiding angels tell them where they can find a hole, direct them to this place by instinct and they are grateful. Under the present circumstances that you have life cannot be so pleasant. People do not have ideal concepts about things, because humankind is now under the most difficult conditions, it passes through the densest environment. Matter is at its densest now and there are no favourable conditions for work. Imagine a farmer having four to five thousand decares of land, but not a single drop of rain has fallen for ages. He has all the ploughs and devices, but the land is as hard as stone. I ask how one can plough such a hard soil. Therefore, he has to wait for it to start raining, to become humid, and the humidity in the Spiritual life should be generated by each one of you personally. I shall give you an example: when the Bulgarians have no flint and steel, they take two pieces of chopped wood and start rubbing them against each other and after an hour, after two or three hours when they become very hot fire is generated. Similarly you, Bulgarians, will insist, will keep rubbing and it may take an hour or two until you produce fire. Once you produce it you will already be able to cook a good meal on this fire – you may bake bread, you may boil water too. Now, we shall apply this in life, because this very same law is also true in regard to the human feelings. If one is involved in the external world, one will not be able at all to distance oneself from the world; if one’s full attention is absorbed by the world, all one’s energy will be sucked out. Imagine a doctor recommending to a fat person to bathe in the sea. What will happen with this fat person if he is all day long in the sea? If he stays in the sea for four hours everyday for a whole month this will be enough to ruin the little health he has. If he has to bathe in the sea, let him get into the water for five minutes only, this is enough for him. Somebody asks, ‘Don’t we have to live in the world?’ You will live in it for only five to ten minutes. By world I mean the conditions, i.e. the water. The favourable conditions are pleasurable at times, while at other times they are not. Let’s assume now that you are in a position to go to performances or to concerts or to other similar events every evening; if you attend such functions every evening, what will you attain in the end? If you are familiar with all the performances, if you know how each play was performed, what will you gain? One or two performances per life are useful, but the numerous visits to the theatre or to concerts become boring. So now similar is the religious life of people and I do not recommend religious life to people. By religious life I mean the external aspect of things. Religious life should be measured. And when we talk about spiritual life, it is the essence of human beings. Each single being is spiritual in its essence. But religious people should implement. But if all one’s attention is absorbed in the external, ritualistic aspect, the internal essence is lost. You, being students, should safeguard yourselves. As soon as your consciousness is filled only with external forms, an internal shaking is started, one becomes displeased with oneself. One grows in height until a certain age, and then one comes to a standstill. Growing up and stopping of growth alternate regularly in you. There will be a standstill and this standstill is nothing but the moment when you stop growing and the growth of another being is started. You will accumulate certain energy during this time for the following year, in order to be able to continue your growth then. You want to be always cheerful, to hop around, but this is impossible. A child, having hopped around for not longer than ten hours, falls asleep, and the child stops hopping, and as soon as the child awakes the child feels a certain fatigue in the feet. There is no success without science. You have to study the fundamental rules in your life and you will strive for satisfaction with the little knowledge you have attained. This knowledge serves as a pediment for a new acquisition which you can apply everyday. You all want to serve God, but can you define in what way can one serve God if you are asked to? God can be served everyday in thousands of ways. One can serve God by cultivating one’s thoughts and ennobling one’s feelings, by steeling one’s will, by strengthening one’s body, thus re-constructing it. After this one can enter society, can serve all the people, can study their life and can help them. Consequently, the first phase of each life has to begin with the cultivation of the human feelings. I talk to you about cultivating but I do not know whether you have taken the pains to cultivate your feelings. Contemporary religious people have a habit which they inherited from their ancestors, namely: some rich people, on becoming poor, do not go to work, but stay idle and start searching their mind to find a rich uncle of theirs in order to write to him to send them some support; or they start taking interest in their old and rich aunt. They probe everywhere in their notebooks and they expect something to come to them for free from somewhere. Few are, however, those who can work on their own. Contemporary religious people resemble those who take the easy way: they go to church, they light a candle, they cross themselves three times and afterwards they sit down doing nothing. Such people will go to church three times a day but will not get any work done: they will go to church in the morning, they will go to church at noon and they will go to church in the evening too. It’s not a difficult job to pray for three times a day. You can pray at home too, this is easy, but when you are told to go to a town to help poor people, you say, ‘This is a difficult job, it is not for me.’ Yes, this is also God’s work. You will go through certain suffering, but you will go and help! Then another situation comes up and you say, ‘But I want to hear God’s voice, and only then shall I go!’ There is such an example: Yon, when he heard God’s voice, packed his luggage, boarded a ship and started running away. Sometimes people do exactly what God does not want. When God said to Ananiah, ‘Go to this street, there is a person praying there’, the latter replied, ‘I know him, he is a dangerous person, I am scared to go near him.’ Then God told him, ‘Have no fear, he is praying; go to him and I will tell you what you have to do!’ Thus one gets into talking out of fear not to fall in a similar trap. Therefore I say: it takes science! No science, no success! And this spiritual, internal experience is also needed; you all have to strive for this! You have to use and to apply the little experience that you have. And you also have to distinguish your situations: it is often the case when extraneous feelings and thoughts find their way to your heart and mind, which hinder your progress, desires that are not yours or thoughts that are somebody else’s may find their way in. Each one of you will work on oneself. Self-education starts exactly with what belongs to your life. Sometimes there appear feelings of suspicion or of an internal fear. A period will come to your religious life when you will start feeling fear without any reasons. When you stay at home an internal fear takes hold of you. Why does it happen? You will all go through this. Some other time you will start thinking that your heart will stop; that you will die and won’t be able to prepare yourself. All of these situations are thoughts of somebody from the external world. The first rule is: no science, no success. In the purely spiritual life when you walk along the Path of God, things cannot take another course except the way God has determined. There is one thing that hinders you, sisters, and it is the following: when this science is not among you, i.e. you do not know how to value one another and the required harmony is not to be found among you. You will all agree that it is not to be found. This is not bad; when people are together in a choir, can they all sing; can all of them read the notes? No, that bandmaster will teach them the notes and before one year is out the singers will be in harmony. We can create harmony! When one wants to sing one can learn singing. When one does not want to sing, even the best teacher in music cannot teach such a person to sing. Now, this harmonization is not an external process and words cannot do the trick. We can say, ‘Let’s get harmonised’, but nothing comes out of this. There are various methods in the Invisible world: God starts first by advising and suggesting. If one does not want to listen, there are external methods as well: earthquakes, plague, famine, diseases, poverty etc. will come. These are all corrective methods for people. Do not think that God has no weakness. His patience is long lasting, He waits for the people to correct themselves and to implement His Will, but once the last hour of obedience comes, then all the sins of people should be corrected. We do not have to be like those waiting for the Divine stick before they get into the right Path. I believe that all of us have a fervent desire to attain the internal Truth. Many say, ‘We want to know the Truth.’ I translate the word truth: you want to be free. But in order for one to reach freedom, one has to have Life, one has to have Light. Above all one has to have Life, then – Light, knowledge, and freedom comes after knowledge. After freedom you will learn what Truth is. The Jews told Christ, ‘We are free’, but He replied, ‘Anybody committing a sin is a slave to sin, so one is not free.’ As long as one makes mistakes, one cannot be free. Consequently, such a person will be deprived of one of his or her best feelings – to experience the internal Joy of the Spirit. And freedom is a relation with the most intelligent Beings. If you belong to a modern symphony orchestra, you won’t be asked about your origin, but everything will depend on your playing. You won’t be asked about your origin, this won’t even be mentioned, but you will be given a chair and the piece that you have to play, and the one conducting the orchestra will immediately understand which place to assign to you. If you can play well, you will be given the first place; if you do not play well, you will be assigned to the last place. This is what happens in an orchestra, this is what happens among the army men – the strongest gets the first place, and the weakest gets the last one. This is what happens in society too, the situation in the Invisible world is also the same. One who utilises the conditions granted by God, who has progressed and attained knowledge, is successful and the Beings from the Invisible world have a very good opinion of him or her. When they open his or her life and see that this person is righteous in every single respect they have a good opinion on him or her. While in respect of someone else, who has been righteous to a certain extent, but has scored many black marks afterwards, what opinion can they have about such a human being? Somebody will say, ‘We want to live our lives for a while and then we shall correct ourselves.’ As soon as you say that you may correct yourselves, these Beings open the book of the past and check whether there is a beautiful life somewhere in your previous existence. They will take and transfer this life [here and now] so that they create something beautiful for you now. When talking about human self-education I understand that you have to call forth everything beautiful from your past in your mind. Or put in internal language, one will pray to call forth the fine beautiful feelings that one will work with in the future. Now, I do not know what test I have to put you to, so that we can see how harmonised you are, sisters. I would not like anything of what is going on and talked about in here to be let outside, not a word should be let outside. Nobody from the outside world should know anything before a month is out. Well, can you do this? You will say, ‘We can do it’, but you will leak something. Where does it leak through, where does it find a vent to go out? The fact that you like talking outside is not bad (this is a good habit, because this is how culture is shared), but it resembles the kicking of a horse. If you have such habits you have to be on your guard. You will say, ‘There is no kicking!’ Sometimes silence is gold. This does not mean that one has to be silent all the time; if you have habits, if you have no obligations, you may talk to your heart’s content. Now, all of you have learnt the art of talking. There are such correspondents; there are many of them particularly in America. People gathering news to fill in newspapers are paid a lot of money. Well, what does it resemble? If I give you a task, you will spread it before you have accomplished it. I do not mind if you spread it after having done it. But you will be blabbing all over and afterwards the task won’t be completed and you will be trying to find the reason for this. Not that you do it out of evil will. I will request you to be silent, because I think that you have already grown up, that you understand things. People have acquired habits. For instance there is a preacher in America1 who when talking shifts his shoulder. These are bad habits and everybody should be trying to control one’s habits. The people listening to this preacher laugh while he is not aware that he shifts his shoulder. This is all the weakness: many times we have wanted to correct a weakness of ours, but when we talk we forget about it. No, you will control your arm! It’s not bad that he shifts his shoulder, but there are cases when the arm should follow the commands of the human consciousness. It has to obey, nothing more than this! There must be discipline! What if the eye starts behaving the way it feels like? Or the face? Do you know what grimaces you will make? No, the face must obey! In general there is no desire that one cannot implement. In this particular case everything can be put under control. Now, I will give you an exercise and next time all of you, who are now listening to me, have to take part in it: every Friday, i.e. four times this month you will get up at 4 o’clock sharp and you will spend a whole hour in reflections, but deep reflections. You will pray for blessing and harmonization for both you yourselves and for the small group here with which you have to harmonise internally. You will spend a whole hour in reflections and you will pray. You will know: at 4 o’clock sharp – get down to spiritual work! When you come here to our next meeting, those of you who have observed the rule should tell us so. You will write your names for us to see who you are. Or you do not want anybody to know who you are? Because if it becomes known here, it will be spread all over Sofia and everybody will get to know. This is the bad aspect of talking. This is why the second part of the task is difficult. The first part is easy, but when it comes to admitting it in public, you will spoil everything. I will do another experiment: I will find out how many of you have not done the task properly, without you having to admit it. Next time we shall have arithmetic: I will receive only numbers from you and I will know how many of you have not accomplished the task. Next time we shall have fun in arithmetic. The internal harmony is needed for the development of the human mind and heart. It is needed for the health of the body and for its wellbeing. The Invisible world is a world of internal harmony. Those from the Invisible world are always ready to render a favour, as long as there is harmony, but if people are not in agreement, those from the Invisible world are not predisposed to assist. And if your affairs are at a standstill, you have to know that there is something wrong in your life. But as soon as harmony comes, the Invisible world is very precise. Everybody stops at a beautiful flower; everybody visits delightful springs, picturesque locations; musicians, poets, artists – everything is elevated and beautiful, everybody likes to listen to it, to watch it, because it is Divine. I do not mean the human stuff, but everybody with no exception enjoys listening to the Divine stuff. If we talk about something in a Divine way, it has its price. The Divine Life, no matter in which being, has its price. When we talk like people it is another matter, but when we talk according to God, there is a special Blessing there. I would like all of you to talk in a Divine way. Take a break, tell yourselves, ‘What I say, do I say it according to God or according to me?’ And if you are silent, ask yourselves again, ‘When I am silent, is it according to God’s Spirit or is it human?’ Because there is silence due to considerations. Stupid people, when being silent, are considered smart. If I am silent when somebody talks this is not due to lack of respect, but I spare some of my time for this person. When somebody else talks I am interested in his or her speech. This silence within me is Divine, I am interested in what he or she wants to say. While somebody else, when sitting, shifts either his or her left or right hand, shuffles on the chair, this is the human aspect of keeping silence. The Divine patience is listening; it is the most beautiful thing. If you acquire the skill of listening, this is a lot. However, this is not well represented in your meetings. On the other hand, there is a danger in human talking: when a person has been teased for a long time, such a person resembles gathered water, which all of a sudden is released. Such a person starts talking and then falls silent again. However, this is not the law in the Divine talking. There when you place your jug under the spring, you hear the voice. Then God says to you, ‘Take your jug back from the spring, because no matter how long you will stay not a drop will get inside it! Take your jug back!’ As much as there is inside should be sufficient for you. Things are pleasurable as long as they arouse a desire within us. Because if you talk for a long time, there are people who are rather sensitive and they say, ‘Do not talk to me any longer, because my mind is troubled!’ And there are others who say, ‘Tell us more, keep talking!’ Some say, ‘Enough, I am very tired, I can’t stand any more!’ Do not be in a hurry and do not covet more than you need for yourself. Sometimes you are in low spirits; you are tired, despondent, as if you are abandoned. Well, this is a wonderful state. Not that you are abandoned, but God says, ‘You have not learnt your lesson.’ The suffering is a path to pull yourself together [within yourself]. What does suffering stand for? It is a beautiful state of the Spirit! Those who are strong and who are grateful for their suffering all of a sudden will feel all enlightened within less than an hour. A Slavonic woman was grieved, but two hours after she did this experiment she started dancing. Likewise with children. In order to give expression of our joy we will start dancing. We think that dancing is a sinful situation. No, but you have to dance when you have to, and to sit when you have to. David also danced before the Israeli people, but his wife was ashamed of him and said, ‘Look at the King dancing in such a democratic way!’ He dances, while she condemns what he was doing. Now, one of the rules is that you misunderstand these grievous and sad situations of disheartening that you experience. The greatest illusion is sometimes the following: you stand there thinking that you are abandoned by all. But have you been in the situation of that one who was buried in the grave? You have not been to the dead to see what their situation is; it is by a thousand and million times more terrible than your loneliness at home. The buried one is in the ground and waits to get free and then all the spirits fly at him. He weeps, suffers, until he is unravelled and only his bones remain. And then he gets free and says, ‘I’m gone already!’ Only one last thread remains and he is glad in his soul that the whole body dissolved and that he is free of it. Because the physical body, one is in, is a prison. Consequently the situations that you might find yourselves in, should not worry you; you should tell yourselves, ‘There is a worse situation than mine.’ You should remember this! You will strive for the beautiful, and you will regulate your low spirits with the other bad situations. This is a science! And this science you should apply in your life! Place yourselves in the shoes of the ones similar to you! Try to develop a feeling of compassion within you. It is not bad for one to become embittered, but do your best to arouse the Divine feeling of compassion within you. Because otherwise one harms oneself above all, let alone the other bad aspect. When one’s heart hardens, one ruins the best one has within. First of all for your sake you will turn and say, ‘I shall not harm myself!’ Bitterness is harmful for the very person because the bonds between this person and God are severed. If a disciple gets embittered, he or she loses the bond with his or her Master. The first condition for God to act within you through His Love is that the human heart should be merciful and kind. No embitterment whatsoever! The situation when one is ready to receive, to forget like a child – this is compassion [mercy]. Only this is enough, did you understand me? Now I shall tell you more about the exercise: you will get up at 4 o’clock sharp. You will do your best to forget everything and to devote yourselves to deep reflection. After reviewing your life, wishing something good for yourselves, considering how to improve your life, you will think also of all the good people all over the world. In America, in Australia – you will travel all over around the world, you will get to know the best and most educated people in the world, and then if you have the time, you will go to Heaven, to the angels and you will try to get to know them. Thus within an hour you will go for a nice walk, an excellent spiritual walk all over the Earth and all over Heaven. But you should not fall asleep; when you go to Heaven, you will do your best to remain there. Be always faithful, true, pure and kind! Lecture delivered by the Master on January 21, 1926, at 16;00h in Sofia 1 The Master refers to USA when using America. Source

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul THE LITTLE BLADE OF GRASS Every stalk coming up from the ground will see the rays of the Sun. You ask why we are sitting in the rain. It is a learning experience. If the field is sown, the rain will be a blessing. If not sown, it will be a disaster. Whenever the field is sown and the rain falls on it, wheat will sprout. But if the field is not sown, only thistles will grow with the rainfall. Therefore, when the Divine Blessing comes into your life, but you have not sown - only thorns and thistles will grow and the disasters will come one after the other like a shadow following the wheel. Do not delude yourselves. The meaning of Life is not found in the external manifestations. The external does not always show the Good; the Good is something intrinsic. One should be good within one’s heart. If you are not able to appreciate the Life that God has breathed in you and cannot value your soul; if you are not familiar with the essence of Purity, how could you teach others? If you cannot attain Purity for yourself, then, how could you impart it to others? People are strange when they want to show that they are knowledgeable, intelligent, or of genius so that they can amaze the world. God has given everyone a mind. Then, why do some people possess an enlightened mind unlike others? It is because they have cultivated their mind, whereas others have not. Those who have not put their God-given mind to work are walking on a broad but slippery slope. We say about them that they lack an enlightened mind. We have come to Earth to learn. The Earth is a sacred school. This truth needs to be understood! Humankind has defiled the planet with its sinful life. Because people do not understand what it represents, they say, “The Earth is impure and sinful.” In fact they impute the results of their negative actions to their home-planet. And yet so many precious things: wheat, apples, pears, potatoes, and others continuously come from the womb of that “sinful” Earth, on which all these crimes and transgressions were committed. It shares with us all blessings received from Above. Nevertheless, many call it “this sinful Earth” and spit on it. Why? Who is to be blamed? Is it the Earth’s fault that things are the way they are? No, the children of Earth should not spit. What is the meaning of this spittle? It represents all bad that has been gathered in our minds and hearts. It is a toxic substance to be discarded. The human spittle is very toxic, especially when one is in a state of agitation or anger. Why did you climb Musala?[1] Why did you meet thunder, rain and snow there? This is the language of Heaven. God told me, “Pass to these people that if they do My Will, I will pour all My blessings onto them. But they should be pure to be able to walk with you and ascend. They cannot serve Me with their feeble desires and thoughts, or with their egotism - no matter how little of it has remained in them.” Today you are better than other people, but compared to the Angels who do God’s Will, you are weak and cannot serve God. You may become either demons or winged Angels. These are opportunities for you. Angels are excellent servants. They bear God’s Blessing throughout the entire world. It is beautiful to bring the small gifts of God placed in our souls to fruition! It is beautiful to do what God wants from us. You may ask me, “How does God speak to you?” It is not so important, but you should know that these are the words which God has addressed to you - literally, but also in a figurative and ideological sense. I can sense the arising of noble zeal in you. Zeal can be something beautiful when it is for Good. It is blessed when it comes from a sown field. But originating from a field, which is not sown, it might bring considerable suffering. Many of you have left your virtues in potential; that is to say, many of the seeds in your field have not sprouted. I am now speaking only about virtues. In my opinion, your imperfections are due to underdeveloped virtues. We are all inter-connected in Life so that one’s transgressions are everyone’s transgressions and one’s virtues are everyone’s virtues. What is a transgression? It occurs as a consequence of holding onto God’s Blessing. The human being should always serve as an agent of God’s Grace. Therefore, if preachers do not fulfill their obligations, if they do not come on time whenever God calls them, everyone will suffer because we are all related to their life. If he does not want to fulfill God’s Will, another one will come to fulfill it. In God, possibilities always exist. In this case, you who are called to be bearers of the Divine Blessing, open your hearts and souls, so that God’s Grace would pass through you and go out to all people! God wants His Grace to be shared with every soul. Do not believe that you are small, underdeveloped, inferior beings, that you cannot accomplish great things. It is a misunderstanding of things. If you cannot accomplish great things - small ones you can. It is sufficient to do this or that good. You should say, “Now I am opening my heart and mind, so that God’s Blessing may come.” This is God’s Will: His Blessing to reach us as the sunrays do. Do you think that you will be able to receive the sunrays, if someone has nailed down the shutters of your windows? If nailed from outside, I am going to free them. But if nailed from inside - that is really bad. Some say that people are not good by nature. What kind of philosophy is this? I interpret it in this way: for thousands of years, people have shut down their souls. As a result, an excess energy has been accumulated in them. If they are not able to use it wisely, it will cause harm both to them and others. What should we do? We are going to put this energy to work and make the most of it in the same way as we use dwarf pines for burning. The pines will say, “These people climbed Musala and we helped them. We have sacrificed so much, even our lives for them. Let’s see what they will do now.” The dwarf pines will be witnesses to your lives. At present, they are sleeping beings. However, on the day when you go before God, you will meet them and they will begin to speak. Remember, these are living beings. You believe that it is possible to hide one’s crime. It is not true. In Nature, nothing can be concealed. Even the stones will tell of the good or bad you have done. You believe that Nature is dead. She is alive. All that you see around - these are sleeping beings. If they begin to speak, they will tell you, “Once upon a time, we, too, were unruly like you, but now we are learning the first lesson - the lesson of silence and humility.” For millions of years, the Divine Hammer has been working on these stones, but they have not yet learned their lesson. You will say, “We are not sleeping beings: we have become alive.” You who have come back to life, why were you led to climb Musala? It is to come to know God. He is speaking to you from Above, but you do not understand His language. God’s language is not difficult, but still you do not understand it. He is telling you, “Love one another.” “Lord, how should we do it?” I ask you, “How should you love one another?” You reply, “By forgiving one another all mistakes and offenses.” It is halfway true. Can you forgive, as well, the one who does not repent? Now I want to interpret your words. What will happen to a dead donkey if it is exposed to the Sun all day long? It will begin to decay and smell bad. What will happen to a dead person if we keep him too long? Even if we pray for him, he will still begin to smell bad. The dead must be buried or taken somewhere far away so that the flesh may decompose and be dispersed into space. After some time, God will collect this matter and will make a new human being out of it. Sometimes even a living person will give out a specific “smell” indicating that he is dead in one respect or another. What should we do for him? How should we manifest our love for this person? If a donkey is alive, we will give it some fodder and water. If it is ill, we will try to cure it. A soon as it is healed, it will bray; and its braying is a sign that it is healthy and able to work. You can ask the donkey, “What is it? Why are you braying?” “Now you can put a load on my back.” And what should we do for that person? Give him what he needs as well. Today we climbed Musala. That is good, but it is only an external achievement. Some turned back, which indicates that there is not full readiness in all of you yet. If we do not know how to climb to the summit, those who turned back would cause us to stumble. When can this happen? If those who climb Musala have many positive traits but also one serious weakness, this weakness will paralyze their efforts to do Good and their strive for God. Therefore, you should transform any imperfection into a virtue not to trip yourself or others. As I have mentioned, some human imperfections are acceptable, but when? When someone is under the Law of Development. However, coming to serve God, one should be perfect - without any fault whatsoever. When I speak about serving God, I am referring to that sacred moment of the soul when we come before God in all our purity and perfection, in the purity and holiness of all our thoughts, desires, and deeds. Only in the perfection of our spirit and purity of our soul, we become aware of what God requires from us in a given moment. I ask: How will you bring the New Teaching into the world? Your souls need to be open. If you enter the world with your imperfections; if you have the same desires as people of the world, what blessing will you bring to them? If I preach God’s Word, but expect a pay for it so that I could wear beautiful and most fashionable clothes - what do you think, will God be pleased with me? Do you believe that in this case I will preach the Kingdom of God in the right way? Tell me: Will a housewife dress in her wedding gown to either do her chores or go to work in the field? The prudent housekeeper goes to work in her old clothes. This is how it should be. She saves her new clothes for special occasions. What occasions? When she will go before God. We will go before God in the most beautiful clothes of ours: those that are spotlessly clean. Remember: the rain is a blessing for the sown field. Why is it raining today? It is because people have great imperfections and big egos. Are human beings bad? No, they are good, but only to themselves. Let us continue being good then but to whom? If it concerns being good to yourselves, you have already mastered this. The important, however, is to be good to God and for God. Good is revealed in three ways: being good to yourself, being good to your neighbor, but the most ideal is - being good to God. We have learned the art of being good toward ourselves and toward our neighbors too; but now we should learn the art of being good toward God. This is the most important thing that is required of us. Consider the mother who raises her children, is she not good toward them? She is good. The little bee overflying long distances to collect pollen and prepare honey for its fellow bees - is it not good to them? The bee is really good to them, but still it has not learned and come to understand the Great Law of Kindness to God. If you try to take some honey from the hive, the bee will sting you right there - it gives nothing for God. It has arranged everything perfectly for itself; it has also cleaned and tidied up its little home. The bees are industrious, but do not know the Law that requires from them to be good toward God. We, too, are like bees. We are very good toward ourselves and our neighbors; but when God comes to us asking even for the least thing, we show Him our sting. From now on, you will study the Law of Kindness to God. It is the greatest thing in life. When you learn and apply this Law, your life will gain meaning; and Living Nature will begin speaking to you. From all this, you can draw a lesson. If these stones begin to speak, what will happen? Your hair will stand on end with fright and this beautiful landscape will become too close for you. Do you know what terrible things you could see and hear? It would be hell for you! If these mountains could relate their history to you, the entire town of Sofia would become too narrow for you. Here you could see two giants - people of the past - who were killing each other. What would you learn from that? You would only be frightened, nothing else. Thousands of years are needed before these heroes of the past can rise. All around you are bones of the dead heroes, of the gods who dwelled in the past. And from now on, for thousands and millions of years, the Sun will be shining and much rain will be falling so that to wash away the human transgressions and enable people to learn the Law of God-Service. Humans have served themselves alone; they have also served their neighbors, but they have not served God. You ask, “Have we not come from God?” There is coming into being both from below and from Above. “What to do then? This is what science says, is not it?” Yes, there is science of the human being, but what I speak about is not this science. There is Science of Saints and Angels; and yet, there also exists Science of God. You say, “I am learned.” I am glad for you that you are learned, but this knowledge is human. Have you studied the Science of Saints? Have you studied the Science of Angels? The Science of Angels is for the distant future. Have you then studied the Science of God? I do not begin with the Science of Angels, nor with the Science of Saints. I begin from Above with the Science of God. It is one of the most profound approaches distinguishing my Science from the others. I begin with the most difficult science. People begin with the smallest numbers. The teacher asks, “Ivan, tell me how much is one plus one?” “One plus one equals two.” “Two plus two?” “Four.” “Three plus three?” “Six.” “Three times three?” “Nine.” This is the wide path - the path of easy science. For thousands of years we have been walking on it; and that is why we have not succeeded. Those who follow the easy path attain results with difficulty. In order to begin with the small denominations one should have the Mind of God. Only God is able to work with the small denominations. We, as human beings, must work with the large denominations. I am going to illustrate my idea with an example. Consider this: If you give a small apple to a crying child, will the crying stop? No. But ten kilograms of apples will do it, no matter how cranky the child is. It is the application of the Science of Divine Life and Abundance. In this Science, numbers speak by themselves. It is enough to call “number one” by name; it will come and present an excellent lecture. If I call “number two” by name, it will come and present another lecture. All numbers speak in this way. From them, you are going to understand the meaning of the Divine Science maintaining the balance of the entire Cosmos. The greatness of God is in His care for us - the infants, the small denominations as we are - and also, in His benevolence gifting us with His abundance. Before our departure from Sofia, God instructed His servants, “Prepare the way for these little children: clean everything around and up there, on Musala and welcome them as dear guests.” That is why we had rain, snow, and hail there. In God’s Science, which works with the small denominations, there is no eating and drinking. In the human science, it is the opposite: there is eating and drinking everywhere. People are good when they eat and drink. You say that we need to forgive one another. It is good to forgive and it is the greatest essential for the human being. God stands out with His quality of being longsuffering and forgiving. It is important for you to love like God, not like people. If you love in the human way, you are going to corrupt yourself. If you could enter the Divine World with your human love, you would attain nothing. Therefore, when you enter the Divine World, you shall love as God loves: you shall be forgiving and willing to work only for God. If a thought about God resides always in your mind, you will be blessed. Whatever you do, always think of God. If the thought that you are sinful crosses your mind, say, “I know that I am sinful, but I know something else too: there is One in the world Who loves me. Since God loves me, I will fulfill His Will. I will serve Him as I should!” If asked why I love and serve God, I will answer, “It is because God also loves me.” Love is responded with Love and Love manifests itself through service and work. Without loving God, you are not going to serve Him. Love is productive. Therefore, the productive person abides in Love. We love that one who works. God acts from Above and we work from below. And so, the high mountain peak you see from here is Musala. Work consciously in order to reveal and understand the Good instilled in you. If you study the Great Divine Science, you will progress in your development; you will learn many things that are necessary for you; and you will finish your development in the way that has been predetermined for each soul from the beginning of its existence. How will you finish if you begin with the Science of Saints and Angels? (The Master picked a little blade of grass.) You will shoot up like this little blade of grass. Each flower has a second meaning. If I pick a floweret and adorn myself, it indicates that I am living according to the Science of Angels and Saints. If you study this Science, you will come to the Law of Development, Selflessness, and Self-sacrifice. The blade of grass that I picked is happy now because it has become a learning object for you. One day, this little blade will meet you before God and will state, “I testify for these people.” For what? That you have been given talks about God and the Great Science of God. This little blade will announce it on its own. Therefore, you shall open your hearts and purify them; you shall repent and whatever transgressions you have made, you shall set them right. You need to open the Book of your Life and thoroughly review your good and bad actions. You shall rectify as many transgressions as you find. If you are not aware of some of your transgressions and in spite of your efforts and will, cannot rectify them, we are going to do this for you. Sometimes even the Master rectifies some errors. It is not important who corrects them. It is good if the students rectify their errors. If the Master rectifies them, it is also good. If the students cannot see clearly to rectify an error, the Master will rectify it for them. There always needs to be someone to rectify our errors. “But I have many imperfections.” It is alright. Assume that these imperfections have been allowed by God. For example, you become offended very easily. Why are you hurt so easily? When you return to Sofia, what are you going to bring back? “The desire to rectify our errors. We will love our brethren as God loves us. We will work in God’s field and will create a small channel by which God’s Blessing will flow to Sofia.” All that of which you think has already been projected; all that of which you speak will come true. This is in accordance with the Divine Science. The channel will reach Sofia, but the field needs to be sown. Who will raise the shutters of your windows? I opened them this morning. Not only this, but I also opened the roofs of your houses. I pulled down your heavy walls. When you look around, you will see that you no longer have shutters, walls, or roofs. This is the Light. This is the Freedom. I want you to preserve your Freedom, not to put your heads in a yoke and then to say, “Lord, how much longer must I bear this life and burden, these imperfections and misfortunes? Has my mother given me birth for this?” Now, you will remember Musala. But you should know that there are souls imprisoned for centuries at this place and throughout the Balkan Peninsula - and these souls are waiting for their liberation. They do cause you harm. Who does not want freedom? Two people fight with each other; they quarrel. Why? They fight for freedom. After they give each other a good thrashing, they say, “Now, do you know who I am?” Sometimes the spirits who caused this quarrel may come to you and ask for help. As you do not know how to help them, you begin to argue and fight among yourselves. It indicates the need for more Light. Whenever you go somewhere, first open the shutters of your windows and remove the roofs and fences of your houses. Today I will give a little blade of grass to each of you as a keepsake. It will serve as an emblem for you. As small as it is - whenever you look at it, say to yourself, “I shall learn the Law of Development, the Law of Angels.” Each blade of grass conceals within itself the formula, “The Great Science of Life is the service to God.” Here, I will give you all some of this grass. “Can we share it with others?” You can, but you will take in return their promise to serve God. And yet, you too, need to understand the Law of God-Service as something very important and to focus on it. If you do not hold this idea, the grass itself is meaningless. So, I could gather a full basket of grass for you, but it will not bring any connotation to you. Therefore, in the Great Divine Science, everyone is required to serve God. If you say that you serve God, you need to sow something. When you pick a blade of grass, it should visualize for you “the Word of God.” May it be an image of the idea of service to God. If you keep this blade of grass with you without the meaning of these words, it would be like a sacred book with lost meaning of the Word. Only when the Divine Words are inscribed in it, it is valuable. When you sit on the grass in the future, hold the idea of service to God. It will speak to you about the Law of Service. Understanding this Law, when you sit on the grass, it will welcome you. It will imply that the windows and roofs of those who have this grass will be opened. Those who undertake to study the Great Divine Science must have the roofs and windows of their homes open. The Sun will shine on them from all sides and the Earth will be their foundation. And so, pass the words, which I told you, to whomever you give some blades of this grass. Now, let’s finish our work. The word “finish” implies a new beginning of work in the light of the Great or Divine Science. When I say: Let’s finish this work, I mean that we are ready to begin a new work. When we complete a given activity, we will not rest, but will go to the vineyard and begin to cultivate it. After cultivating it, there will be yet another work. The day will come when we will go to the vineyard and taste the grapes. When we finish our mundane work, we will begin the Great Work for God. You say, “Let’s free ourselves from the world.” There is no need for this. As long as we work for God, we are free citizens. And yet, if we do not believe in this Science, the world will have an influence upon us. Therefore, if we hold the idea to go away from the world, it implies that we consider ourselves weak. “Service to God” is the fundamental idea of this talk. We begin with the most difficult science - the Divine Science - teaching us of all these things, which our soul is longing for and our spirit is striving after. Why are the great obstacles at work in the world? Where are the strongest bridges constructed? Over the big rivers. Why? It is because over the big rivers heavy loads are usually transported. The stronger the bridge is, the heavier loads can be transported over it. The stronger, healthier, and more learned one is, the more difficult and responsible is the service in which God places him. You say, “I will not be a bridge!” If you can be a bridge between God and humans, so that the Angels can cross upon you - is that bad? Each Angel crossing over you, will leave you a blessing. We will be bridges not for the human, but for the Divine. If we become bridges for the human, we will destroy ourselves. But if we become bridges for the Divine, we will be reborn. The word “bridge” implies a link between the Divine and the human being. Hold the idea that you are serving God. Keep repeating it. You should do every action - even the least action - consciously, with the awareness that you are serving God. Do not say that it is difficult to serve God and much knowledge is needed for this. Whoever goes to serve God should not bear much knowledge. When you go to a wellspring, do you carry water with you? When you go to an orchard ripe with fruit, do you bring food with you? But when you go to the desert, you must carry water with you. Science is the nourishment for people. When I say that we go before God, I have in mind that we need not the worldly, but the Living science. My point of view is that we require not the human, but the Divine knowledge - or the knowledge of Living Nature. You may say, “I do not want bread.” I understand that you do not want the ordinary bread made by people, but from now on, you will want the Bread of God and will eat from It. “I do not want science.” I understand that you do not want the worldly, human, but the Divine Science in the Light of which you are going to evolve. In this way, you are going to comprehend what is great and Divine in the world. Now, I am not telling you to be just good, but you all should be as God created you. In the human world, you do not usually treat those who you do not love, but send them away and leave them hungry. This is how the worldly science solves this issue. In the Divine World, it is vice versa: you take care for those whom you do not love and feast them most of all - at the same time, you give the least to your beloved. In Heaven, the lack of nourishment is a privilege given to few. While on Earth, if you are starving, you will complain wherever you go, “I have been left hungry. They did not feed me. They sent me away.” However, if you are left without food in Heaven, you will rejoice. This happens quite rarely - only once in a thousand years. It is a very special privilege. How is this understood in the profound Divine Science? That one, who has no need of food, possesses everything within oneself and can give to others. He says, “Let it be given to all and whatever remains at the end will be for me. May all have their fill. I will be happy for them to receive the Divine Blessing.” Translated into our language, it means to give way to one another. What does it imply? It is said in the Scriptures, “Pray for one another.”[2] We pray to God for sending His Grace to our beloved. We also pray to God for this or that to befall those whom we do not love; nevertheless, thus we send them a blessing. Therefore, we pray for those whom we love and whom we do not love. But we forget about the people who are in the middle. I want to remind you to pray for them too. As far as I know, you pray a lot. Your prayer should be delivered with all your heart; that is to say, with absolute sincerity! That is how you should pray! You say, “Such things to be accomplished, efforts and struggle are required.” You will struggle until your virtues take supremacy. Say, “I can serve God in all times and conditions.” When you overcome all obstacles in your life, you will be a true spiritual worker. We, too, have overcome a great obstacle now; we climbed Musala in the rain, snow, and hail. Those who will hear about it will wonder what we were thinking to have embarked for Musala at such an early hour, still in the dark and in such bad weather. People say that we are foolhardy. But our thinking is different. Anyone can climb Musala in good weather. And yet, the challenge is to climb it in bad weather. If they ask you whether that was a must, say, “It was a learning experience.” I want you to keep this outing in memory as something rare and unforgettable. If it remains like a dead recollection for you - as the cemetery monuments are - you have attained nothing. On some monuments, you may read, “Here rests a young hero who took part in 25 battles.” I do not approve such monuments and inscriptions. The monuments of our true heroes are living, not made of stone. When we visit some of them, we say, “Come out and demonstrate your bravery.” It is my wish for you to be like living monuments. I would like you to: firstly, rise (rise means “sprout” when regarding the process of growing); then - come back to life; and finally - resurrect. When I bring you once again to Musala, say, “We have learned how to rise and come to life.” If you are asked who your people are, answer, “Those who have risen.” As you see, we are in fog. What does it mean? When Moses climbed Mt. Sinai, thick clouds covered him. Thunder could be heard, but no one could see what was happening there. It was better this way. Today, as well, God is saying, “The external world has not been ready to see My Face yet, nor what is taking place here.” For this reason, the fog is spread out in front of us today. The Divine plough needs to work upon you for a long time so that you might be able to receive the Divine Light. Such a big quake will befall the world that no roofs will remain on the houses. What are these roofs that I have in mind? They represent people’s chains and shackles. God will come when you have all your roofs blown away and window shutters raised - and then you will get free. Is there anything bad in that? The chains will fall away from your hands and feet. If a stallion grazes freely in the wilderness, free of chains and bridles, is there anything bad in that? Where will you look for an untamed horse? In the wilderness. When I see him, I will pat his back and tell him, “I am glad that you are free of chains and bridles.” As the horse is grazing, he will lift up his head to look at me and will continue to graze. This is a form of speech for the horse and I converse with him in this way. By raising his head, the horse wants to tell me, “Have you studied the Science of Saints and of Angels? Do you graze like us?” The ox says the same. I ask: Studying the Science of Saints and Angels, do you know the reason why horses and oxen graze? It is said sometimes that someone chews and ruminates like an ox. According to me, people should learn how to chew their food and not gulping it down. Chewing is a symbol of life. When you see a horse in the wilderness, go to him, stop out of respect, pat him on his back, turn your eyes to God, and then continue on your way. If you see an ox, do the same. “What will become of us?” Strange question: What will become of you? The Divine in you will awaken and God will begin to speak to you. Your souls will open to the Sublime in the world and you will rejoice. Only thus you will come to know God. Your ears will open for the Word of God and your minds will perceive Him. Only thus you will become brothers and sisters among yourselves. I do not speak of the present-day brotherhood and sisterhood, which is erased in four generations without leaving any trace at all. I speak of that brotherhood and sisterhood, which cannot be obliterated by any power in the world. It is the genuine brotherhood. And friendship obliterated by nothing - whatsoever it could be, is a true friendship. May God’s Blessing come upon you! May God’s Love be with us all! May you walk in this Love throughout the whole year! Now you are kissing my hand. Why are you doing it? It seals the contract that you will serve God. Why do you shake hands with the right hand? It signifies that two people with awareness who have come together in one place are able to accomplish anything. You asked to have this lecture and it is done. If you really desire something, it is already realized. “Who can this lecture be shared with? - With all those who are devoted to the Divine Science. As it is said so it is. The grass, that is to say, the little blade of grass that I gave you, will not lose its meaning. It will always speak to you. As soon as you search for it in your heart, you will find it. Be cheerful, glad, and joyful. You are required to serve God. May we be humble like children. It was not possible to give you this talk on Mount Musala. Your feet were cold. As soon as we came down, the talk was given. Your courage to go to the summit in the bad weather is a token of your good nature. You were able to climb Musala in such difficult conditions and it is an indication that in respect to the spiritual, you can overcome all challenges and obstacles. Your act of courage makes me happy. From the perspective of the Divine Law, those who give always receive. Whatever you choose will be realized; but you should open your mind and heart for this to happen. We chose to reach the summit and we did it. Despite the bad weather, we succeeded to climb. The higher we climbed, the more the thunder abated and was gradually diminished. It was saying, “Whoever climbs to the top needs to be as pure as snow.” See, there is Sun shining now on the summit. We should climb once more to the top to see the Sun. People will ordinarily vie for leadership, for the first place. Those who fulfill God’s Will are “the first.” Those who do not fulfill it are “the last.” From this point of view, all can be the first. When we were climbing up the peak, some were afraid of catching a chill that is why they returned. Others wanted to descend to Chamkoria[3], as they feared of remaining with us any longer. They asked me, “Should we go back or remain here?” As I stand for freedom, I told them to go back, if they are afraid of catching a chill. I could have told them that all should stay because there will be a talk tomorrow. But I did not tell them this, so they left. I acted in accordance with the Law of Freedom. Within God, reversals of decisions do not exist. Whatever He promises will come to pass. God is the only Being Whose Words do not include reversals of decisions. He has never been unfaithful to His promises. He does not know that which is not possible. If God is not manifesting His Mercy, this is because He is waiting for the moment in which all will be able to understand Him. If God tolerates people, it is because He wants them to awaken and understand why the world is created. For example, you do not know why the grass has been created. It is not wrong that you do not know. I opened one page of the Divine Book for you today, but how many pages still remain to be open? By now, you have not thought why oxen and horses graze on grass. Which philosopher would have told you that? You say, “How good it would be if we could always be with you!” There is no time when you are without me. As you see, the weather is beginning to improve. The weather has smiled and you become joyful. When you are joyful, the weather is joyful as well. When you are crying, the weather gets gloomy - it is crying too. Many complain of being not loved. There is One Being Who loves you: it is God. When you say that no one loves you, it means that you have not found the One Who loves you boundlessly. As soon as His Light comes and fills your souls, you will all rejoice and be glad. It is important now for you to assimilate completely all that you have heard. Here are the most important things, again: a bright, joyful day, a day of God. When the day is joyful, it is always God’s day. When you possess a single day like this, all days become God’s days. Some of you complain of getting their feet wet. What does it mean to have wet feet? The Divine cannot be attained unless one gets his feet wet. Wet feet represent the unfavorable conditions in life. If you intend to achieve something and a number of obstacles occur - these are all like the wet feet. For example, you have decided to build a house, but you do not have the money for this; it is an obstacle. When we come to live in harmony with God, our homes will be more beautiful than at present. We will build homes according to our needs. We will have as much Light as we need. Often you become discouraged and say, “We have grown old.” What does it mean? When someone loses his faith, that person grows old. When someone loses track of one’s life purpose and the aspiration for God, that person grows old. Children are joyful when their mother has taken them outdoors - that is good. You are also joyful today and should be joyful. Why? It is because joy is like such an outing. And so, those of you who climbed Musala did well. And those who did not come - they did well too. In the end, we all must go down. “How wonderful it would be to stay here!” “Here” means “with God” - but we are going to be always with God. Talk of the Master held on July 13, 1925 at the Lakes of Musala, Rila Mountains. --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Musala is the highest peak (2,925 m) of the Rila Mountains in Bulgaria. 2. See also James 5:16, “Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” 3. Chamkoria is the previous name of Borovets resort in the Rila Mountains.

From The beauty of life The Conscious Life as an Entertainment Lecture given by Beinsa Douno, September 01, 1924, 07:30 p.m. local time I gathered you tonight for an entertainment – that is what I call it. Life has its serious aspect only when it is sinful. People are serious, when their life is sinful, when they are in someone's debt, when contradictions exist among their beliefs, or when they live in conflict. As long as people are righteous, they enjoy life. Thus, we should turn the serious life into an entertainment. From this point of view, the entire material world is an entertainment for the superior spirits. Sometimes they will watch how people live on Earth, because what they do is just an amusement for the Invisible world; it is not that serious. From our point of view, from the point of view of our sinful life, which is full of misfortunes, we live a serious life; but from the point of view of those sentient beings, Life is an entertainment. Hence, you should not be serious all the time. You are supposed to be serious, when you correct your mistakes, but once you do that, turn your life into an entertainment! To me, serious life is like the time, which one spends at night sitting in the darkness all alone; there is no one to talk to, and one is thinking about what to do. Whereas the life of enjoyment is a gathering of souls coming together in spiritual communion and living in Divine Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice and Supreme kindness. And everyone is happy that there is some entertainment. When this time comes, God forgives the sins of all people. Now, I use the word entertainment in its most literal meaning. By entertainment I do not mean the performance of a clown or an actor, but the pleasant, musical presentation, in which a poet, a musician or an artist can present beautiful songs and pictures from Nature. We contemporary people are used to showing only the bad things in life. You have not yet learned to see what is beautiful in people. You cannot imagine what you could see in contemporary people, in all contemporary animal kingdoms, in all plants and stones, if you only knew how to perceive them! Nature has two faces. Her first face is so frightening that people should be blind for it. If you happened to see this face, you would be afraid. A Bulgarian priest told me that once, when he was young, he had had a dream in which he met a big dog which swallowed him, but then put him back out of its mouth. When he woke up in the morning, he was sick. He lay there sick for three months. And now, very often, with the mistakes we make in our lives, we prepare the way for such dogs to swallow us and then, after we come out of their mouths, we are sick for three months, saying that life has no meaning. This only seems so. The lack of meaning does not come from God. We ourselves make our lives unpleasant and pointless. So, one of Nature's faces is very unpleasant and eerie, while the other is very beautiful. She has concealed it though, because She is still working on it. There are living workers in Nature who shape a vital face for the human soul. They are sculpting it now, so that it will be ready when humanity enters the new phase of its development, the new form, which no one knows. These are the most beautiful bodies one could ever imagine. You will notice that the hair of animals provides a means of concealment of the artists who have worked on the human face in them. These elevated artists are well disguised as in the case of the contemporary human being, and they are still working on its new face. This is the way every artist works. They work on their painting and then cover it with a cloth. They will not unveil it until it is finished. At one time or another, when the cloth, which covers our face is removed for a while and this intelligent face is revealed, you say, "What a face of an angel!" It is revealed for a short while and then it is quickly hidden again. This is the reason why you see yourselves as so beautiful sometimes. Then you say, "I never knew that I was so beautiful!" This is not an illusion – this is a real picture towards which we are constantly being invited. We are invited to this great entertainment, which God is setting up. Since these great artists are incessantly working on us, we should at least assist them and not ruin their work of art. If there is nothing we can do to help them, we should at least not mess with their paints and brushes, or stain and work on their canvas, but rather feel happy that something great is being prepared for us. And one day, when you lift up the cloth and the painting is revealed you will see that something magnificent, something vital has been worked on, something that gives meaning to life. Very often I will cheer you up with some symbols, I will point out certain mistakes of yours and you will say, "Mistakes, mistakes all the time, this is all we hear about!" Whose fault is this? When a teacher comes to school to teach Bulgarian and starts correcting the mistakes in your notebooks, is the teacher wrong? There are some rules and patterns in the Bulgarian language, which should be observed: you should follow these rules and put every letter in its place. A student sometimes will not keep these rules and will write one letter instead of another. What does the teacher do then? The teacher takes red ink and marks in the notebook. Then, the student is not happy that the teacher has covered the notebook with so much red ink, which is not good for their personal feelings. When this student is asked to show the notebook to others, the response is like this, "There is nothing to see", and the student closes the notebook quickly. So, some of you have red-colored notebooks. Do not worry, for the professor is teaching you and you should be thankful. This is an entertainment! The teacher does not say this is bad, but tells the student to write according to the rules. There is a rule in Bulgarian concerning when small and capital letters should be used. If you study English, you should apply completely different rules; if you study Hebrew – you will write from right to left; and if you study Chinese, then you will write neither from left to right, nor from right to left, but vertically. Every language has its own way of writing. This is an entertainment, is it not? The Chinese enjoy the greatest entertainment, as they have over forty thousand hieroglyphs. If a Chinese person learns these forty thousand hieroglyphs in the Chinese alphabet, they are considered to be educated. Similarly, the great beings in Nature have created their own alphabet, which one should study. For instance, take the following example. If you go out in the morning to welcome the sunrise, at first you will see a dim light, which will gradually become brighter and brighter until the Sun is up. Once the Sun has risen, this beautiful sight disappears and the picture is changed. My question is what does Nature want to reveal to us from the break of dawn until the Sun is up? What does She want to say to us from sunrise till sunset? There are two symbols in these moments in Nature. With the first moment, from the break of dawn till the sunrise, Nature teaches us the two great laws of Wisdom and Truth. This lesson lasts for two hours and it is full of sudden changes. After the Sun is up, however, Nature teaches us something else. She teaches us the law of warmth, i.e. the law of Love. At that time not so many sudden changes take place in the sights, but most changes occur in the temperature. At first it is cool, but after some time it becomes warmer and warmer until it gets very hot. This is similar to life. In the mother's womb, i.e. in the womb of Nature, one studies the principles of Wisdom and Truth for two hours, and during the rest of the day one studies the principles of Love. Therefore, most of our lives are spent studying the warmth and the changes, which occur in Love. So, when your life is at its sunrise, you will use the first symbol. When you go out every morning to meet the Sun, you should keep the picture, the idea of the rising Sun in your mind. And when I look at how the dawn breaks, I will fill myself with inspiration – my soul will be filled with the principles of Wisdom and Truth; but after the Sun is risen, I will say that the moment of Divine Love has come! Then all day long I will study the changes that occur in Love. This is the Beauty of Nature! Sometimes your love grows stronger; sometimes it grows weaker. And you say that Love is weak or strong. No, you have not yet come to the real meaning of Love. We are only in the process of studying the art of loving. For the time being, only God loves. The Holy Scriptures say: "God is Love." So we have not yet been given the art of loving. Therefore, when we come to God we will know the meaning of Love! When God teaches us humans this art, all the angels observe with curiosity and awe what He is doing with these little beings. They wonder when they see Him going down from His throne to teach humans how to love. Only God Himself knows the art of Love, and only God can pass it on to us, but we should be ready to receive it. What does it mean to be ready? Well, is it a small thing for the great God of Love to turn His eyes towards you and for you to be able to perceive Him? If your heart can tremble at the look of a friend whom you love, should it not tremble at the look of the One Who has given you Life with all its blessings? As for the sufferings that you are going through, these are just changes on your horizon. When the Sun is up, no matter how clear the horizon is, changes always occur: it gets dusty, cloudy; then it starts raining, snowing, and thunderstorms come, but after that the Sun rises again. These changes constantly occur in Nature, but it is the same in life. Consequently, from this point of view, Life is an entertainment, but for whom? – For righteous people. I am talking about them, not about the sinners. They have no place here. We sent them all on a pilgrimage. We gave each one of them a ticket and told them, "Hit the road! Tonight you cannot bother the disciples, because we are about to have a feast. You are too serious and we cannot get along with you." Then, why do you not thank God for this entertainment, for all the changes occurring in your life? So what is the problem, if your horizon gets a little bit overcast, if dust forms and thunderstorms come, if it is cloudy and rainy? Even the plants understand and appreciate these changes much more than you do! When it gets cloudy they open up, whisper to each other and rejoice. But you – the conscious children – run away from the clouds and hide. Why? – Because you have not yet learned the great, beautiful language of God. We contemporary people have distorted our minds so much that we do not recognize the beautiful. We see beauty only in those things, which actually have no beauty at all. For example, some people come to me and want me to love them. But in order to love them and for my love to be manifested towards them, I have to find the Beauty in them. I cannot love them for their knowledge. We do not love people because they know a lot. No, the principle or the foundation that connects people is neither their mind nor their heart; nor even their good will, but their soul. This is the loveliness, the Beauty in Nature and Life, for every person and every soul is necessary for you in your manifestation. What does the law state? Unless all souls come together in one place, no soul can be manifested. So, if Life is an entertainment, it should be an entertainment for all. If it is joy, it should be joy for all. Now, from this point of view, when Heaven enjoys, so does Hell. There is music and fun in Hell too. Do not think that it is so terrible there. Hell offers dreadful things, but there are pleasant moments and fun in it as well. When? – Whenever there is an entertainment above, there is also an entertainment in Hell. When they work hard in Heaven, they work hard in Hell, too. But in Heaven they work in one way and in Hell in another. For example, one sister who was an artist once told me this story. One day she painted a picture; she looked at it and was pleased with her work. Then she started doing her housework and at that time her little daughter took the brush and paints and started drawing on the canvas the way she had seen her mother painting. She was simply having fun. I ask, did the daughter do anything wrong? No. She gave her mother a lesson, saying, "Mommy, after you paint a beautiful picture, you should put it up, so that I cannot reach it. Since you have not done that, I will also draw; I will also show my art." God did the same. He put the nice things so high, that when we look up at them, we say, "We wish we were up there now!" When we are not given certain things, it is not because the higher beings do not want to give them to us, but because there are other actors playing on the stage now, others who enjoy performing, and our turn has not come yet. Until it comes, we should sit in the audience and watch. Sometimes you say, "Why do people suffer so much?" What is pain like? It is one of the most pleasant feelings. When people suffer, the best thoughts come to their minds. We can say that suffering has created the best ideas, the most pleasant impulses and aspirations in the human being. If they ask you whether you want suffering, you say, "Oh, God forbid! We do not want any suffering." And what is God supposed to give you then? Suffering is actually the greatest blessing for humans! Suffering always precedes entertainment. When you make a feast here on Earth, you create an entertainment for yourselves, but your chickens also have their fun. You take them out of the coop and tell them, "We see that your home is not very clean – sorry that you have lived in it for so long, but we will take you out of here, accept you as guests in our houses and show you how we have fun." The chickens start squawking, cackling and clucking. You cook them in a good meal, you sing to them and they are silent. I am asking, when the soul of a hen or a rooster emerges, what do they think about? They merge with the entertainment, i.e. they come into connection with the human souls. These chickens have not lost anything. It is a privilege for a chicken to be eaten by humans. I do not say that one eats it up, but rather that one accepts it as a guest, even though it goes through fire. In the same way you will also go through fire, if you want to enter the spiritual world. When they take you out of your coop, you will be screaming and shouting in the same way. After he came to know this great principle of life, Paul said, "O, death, where is your sting?"(I Corinthians 15:55) For when Divine Love comes to give life, death, together with all trials and tribulations, will be caught up. One day, all the sufferings you have been through will adorn your garments like pearls and you will say, "We are very happy that we came this way and learned such valuable lessons." Indeed, the entertainment is necessary. There is one thing needed in the entertainment: for you to renounce yourself and your animal instincts. For example, if I sit down somewhere, I should not be thinking about whether or not you are looking at me. Instead, I should be completely silent and peaceful and think of something else. This is how it should be with every one of you: you should think calmly, without observing yourself and considering that all around you is in order. This is one of the attributes of the entertainment. As long as there is observation, do you know what this looks like? It is as if you are in a prison. The guard comes and checks everything. He checks whether the handcuffs are in place; he searches through your pocket, looking for this or that. Then someone else will come and check your clothes, your collar. I say that this is being in a prison, but in the entertainment you need to be natural. At every entertainment people are beautiful. They will put on the attire that will impress others. And then when we look at these people's faces we will see those other faces through which God reveals Himself. And then we have to be like children – absolutely natural and free, and we should forget about our sufferings, troubles and misfortunes. All of us will have a free ticket to the Sun and we will be happy. Some will say, "These children are not sober." I am asking, which condition is the condition of sobriety? (The Master makes stern, serious faces.) I am asking, what is the meaning of this sobriety? What is the idea behind it? (The Master makes a more cheerful face.) What is the idea of this expression now? Which of these two faces is better? If you want to frighten a villain, you will make the first face, but if you want to cheer up your friend, you will make the second one. I say all soldiers and policemen are always rigid; they lift up their guns and march. Why? – Because of the coming danger. However, there is a third kind of face. It is the face of someone whose every movement reveals the greatness and the pleasantness in life. One should be like a wellspring. Imagine a wellspring is thinking as I do. What is most pleasant for the wellspring? – Wherever it gushes out, it needs a place to flow into. This is what is the most pleasant for the wellspring. Therefore, if I am given certain conditions in life, my life should have a place to flow into, to flow through all plants and to leave them its blessings. Wherever I will be passing by, I will meet all flowers, grasses and plants, insects and mosquitoes; I will be jumping and they will receive my joy. Is this not an amusement? I will push one, I will joke with another, I will sprinkle a third one and I will laugh with the fourth one. Is there anything better than this? Does every wellspring not do the same? Now imagine this water flowing quietly and calmly without making noise, but soon you see that it is covered with green scum giving off an acrid smell; now is that nice? I am asking, which one is better – the wellspring with running water or the isolated pond with stagnant water? Now, in the first case our body can be like a flowing wellspring, and in the second case – like a pond with stagnant water and that is how we become sour and dissatisfied. So, what is the concept of the entertainment? If you get up in the morning and say, "God has come and according to the law of entertainment I will learn that great principle of humility. At an entertainment everyone is lively and energetic according to their capacity and you should know what to do in each moment. Laziness is not admitted there. Just imagine that you are among the people at the entertainment. What would you have looked like? Now, if I tell you to laugh, you will ask me: why should we laugh? I am asking instead: well, why should we be serious? You answer, "Well, life is serious." No, Life is Love and seriousness just happens in life by chance. A conscious life full of Love and poetry is the Life of Beauty. This is what is positive. And when you meet someone whose soul is open, you can never forget him. This is the perfect person. This person is a crystal clear wellspring. What fault can you find in such a person? Is it not nice when one is such a wellspring and when others come to it, they feel calm and forget their sorrow? Here is another rule for disciples: you are not allowed to wear ragged clothes at a party! You should wash yourselves, put on the most beautiful clothes you have and that is how you should go. While you are approaching this Great spring of Life, you should be wearing new clothes and rejoicing in the great blessing it is giving you. Even the Scriptures foreseeing the Great law of entertainment said, "Time will come when people will not fear each other but everyone shall sit at the feast, each one of them, under their own fig tree." Thus, many of you need entertainment. Entertainment is the law of rejuvenation. Those who do not have fun cannot become younger. For example, you are watching some children playing and you say that these are childish things! No, the children are having fun. Even God has times when He plays with people and after that He continues with His work. Can we not also do this according to the same principle? – Yes, we can. You are looking at a friend of yours drawing something. You smile and say it is excellent, but then you take the brush and mess up the canvas. "Hold on, you cannot paint like that." And you are correcting him. If you want to correct your friend, you can, but you should not do this on the canvas. Instead, take a crow and tell your friend, "Ok, I will hold it for you and you will draw it." You will turn it to one side, then the other, and when your friend is ready with the picture, you will say to him, "As you saw, you drew and I drew, too. I was holding the crow, while you were painting it." Now, the word crow might startle you a little bit. In Bulgarian it originates from Turkish. What does it mean in Bulgarian and what is its etymology? It originates from the Turkish word black. So, the crow's fault is that it is black. Why is it black? – Because the sister of this crow died once. It was mourning for its sister and that is why it put on the black clothing. After some time, when its sister will resurrect, the crow will also turn white and will put on some white clothes. Similarly, when one dresses in black, someone close to them must have passed away; and if they wear white clothes, that shows their sister has resurrected. Hence, the soul requires inner changes. Seriousness makes life harder. The forces prevailing in a serious life exhaust the humidity of life. In that way, human nerves, muscles and bones become hardened and lazy in functioning. Young people, who listen to the Divine Voice and have fun, develop an inner expansion and a proper way of communication. That is why, each one of you needs to enjoy an entertainment; but however, this entertainment is given only by Love. There is no entertainment without Love. When we enjoy the same entertainment we all feel free. At the party everyone should be pleased with their manners, and should not feel inner tension. Expansion is one of the everpresent attributes of entertainment. In an entertainment we are not aware of the form of things, as much as we are appreciative of the present moment. We do not criticize God for His descent; rather, we rejoice in the moment He has come. This is Love. The only Being Who can give us happiness and make our life meaningful is God. Indeed, no matter how busy you are with your daily work, a moment will come – it might be in the morning, in the afternoon or in the evening, when you will feel a great joy. But since your mind is occupied with so many big deals, the beautiful things that God gives to us remain unnoticed and we wake up only after all of them are gone. We are so concerned about what is going to happen with Europe, with Bulgaria, with our sons and daughters, that we let these beautiful moments, with which God blesses us, pass by. God has endowed the body we have with the greatest beauty. We can see all the blessings from the past and future in this little body of ours, and as for the distant future, God is going to provide us with a new body, into which this new blessing will be poured. This new body is now being shaped. Now, for everyone a new, beautiful body is being prepared, which they will enjoy later on. So, it is time for us to abandon that dark philosophy of life. I will give you an example, if you want to benefit from the good side of the Gospel. It is about a man, who had been drinking for twenty years and who lived a pretty immoral life. He abandoned his children, brought his wife to death and lost everything he had, so he ended up all alone in a great depression and decided to kill himself. He had only one lev* left in his pocket and decided to buy a Bible with it. He bought it and read: God is Love. "Well," he said to himself, "I gave away and lost everything for Love. I finally found the One I loved and that is why I can do something good for Him." Then he went to the pub to have some fun. He said to the barman, "Give me a glass of wine!" He looked at the wine and quietly said to his inner friend, "Listen, I have been treating you for twenty years, but now I will teach you a new law." He put the glass aside and did not drink from it. Then he turned to the bartender, "Now give me a glass of the most crystal clear water." He put the glass in front of him. The one inside said, "Wine..." He took the glass of water and drank from it. Then the one inside said, "Wine..." again. "Well, now, my will be done. I found the God Whom I love. He taught me all this." He went to the bar the next day, and again on the third, on the fourth, and on the fifth day, until the tenth day, and every time he ordered a glass of wine and a glass of water, but he drank only the water. Finally he said, "I have willpower!" In the same way you can defeat a bad habit of yours as well. And why would you not, when it is so much fun? If you have this habit of drinking, sit in a pub; order a glass of wine and a glass of water. That is willpower! I say, a good person is the one who can manifest their goodness even in the least favorable conditions of life. It is most natural for people to reveal their goodness when the conditions are favorable. Therefore, even if the conditions are unfavorable, you should say, "Lord, I can do something for You!" And from this point of view, Love will expand and become Love for everyone, flickering everywhere. We should be equally well-disposed to others without showing favoritism to anyone. And when we look at people, we should wish them all the best that God wishes them. We should forget all their faults just as God forgets, because when Love comes It never sees the mistakes. Human weaknesses and sins disappear like dust and smoke before God's Love and that Divine fire leaves only purity, elevation and nobility in the human beings. Now, a spirit may come to you and suggest to you the thought that nothing will come out of you. "How is this?" you say, "I am already someone." Replace the "no"with "some"in the word nothing and say, "Something will come out of me." Set aside the opposite, because in every negative thought there is a positive side. The one who suggests that nothing will come of you keeps the positive thought that you can turn out to be a bad person. If you can turn out to be a bad person this also means that you can turn out to be a good one. Use your activity to become a good person. Someone who can be serious can also be cheerful and able to laugh. Life on Earth, however, from beginning to end, is just an entertainment. This is what you will be studying in the future. You should look not only at the external but also at the internal side of life. It will be funny, for instance, if I put a scary mask on my face, and you will be scared, but I will laugh behind it. Do not look at the mask, but rather at what is behind it. Or, I can put on a very funny mask and underneath I can be completely serious. It is not the mask that gives meaning to things but what is behind the mask. It is the human soul hiding behind the mask. Hence, I would like to leave you the following thought tonight: the greatest thing in the world is that God always comes down to teach the rule of Love, i.e. not the rule of Love itself but the rule of its transformations. Just as we measure the temperature with a thermometer, in the same way we measure the temperature of Love. To study the temperature of Love is a great thing! All plants grow under the temperature of Love. I am asking you this: is there a plant in the world that can grow without light and heat? No, there is not. Is there a source of a stream in the world, which will spring and flow into the rivers without light and heat? – No, there is not. Have there been any thunderstorms in the world without light and heat? – No, there have not been. For all these things to occur, light and heat are needed. All beautiful crystals and gemstones, all diamonds were created under the forces of light and heat. All animals came into existence under the forces of light and heat. It is the same with us humans as well. Therefore, our souls have been formed by the same principle under the inspiration of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom and Divine Truth. These are three great Spirits Who work for the creation of humanity. They call the human being a beloved child of God. There is a unique beauty and perfection in these Spirits! You will ask, "What about the angels, how do they look?" When humans acquire this beautiful, exquisite form, the souls of humans and angels will merge and make one whole. When their souls merge, God will come to live in them and they will rejoice in immortality. This is for what we are preparing. The New Teaching carries a great task, not like this petty work, with which you are dealing at the present moment. A great task lies before us, that of immortality: we will inherit Heaven and meet these developed souls for whom we are preparing, but in order to achieve this, everyone should give something and receive something. Sometimes you say that one should work for oneself. Yes, but when one works for one's own sake, while focusing on the self, one should also expand and include that universal self within, and since we live in God, everyone should live in us. When we embrace God, we should also embrace all other beings in us. This is what it means to love people and to wish them well. This is what it means to wish everyone well, to love God. Should you fulfill all this, all hardships and misfortunes which we are talking about, as for example, someone's shoes are torn, another's hat is torn, someone else has eaten nothing but bread, all these things will be solved within a week by Heaven. When Divine Love rises up and its warmth comes, we are ready to share our tiny bit of food with the one we love. When we have no love, we hide the morsel in our pocket. When Love comes, we smile and say, "Come on, brother, let both of us enjoy." God Himself is teaching us the art of Love and only in this sense, children can apply it. In this respect, I want you to be like children, because only they can have fun. Do not think that you are old. Get rid of these beards. When the devil envied people, he put beards on them to disguise them, but even through the beards, people can be seen. I want you to be like children in your souls, young, vivacious and joyful. Forget about your sorrows! When you go to bed, say to yourself, "Tomorrow at sunrise, God will come and I will meet Him." And when you go to bed, be happy again, not only externally, but also feel warmth being radiated from you, and then everyone will say about you, "I would like this person to come again." All of you should be like a spring that flows, like a flower that emits a pleasant fragrance. This is what our life should be like. This is the entertainment to which Christ referred, "I will see you again, you will rejoice and no one will take away your joy." This is entertainment! This is Beauty! This is Greatness! I am talking about very simple things this evening. Do not add any philosophy to them. "But in what way should we understand them?" One should feel happy, joyful and ready to give everything. You should feel complete and satisfied; I do not wish to see you frowning and serious. Those who disturbed you before are gone now; we sent them on a trip and when they come back, I will let you know. They will not be here tonight, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, they will be gone for a whole week, so do not worry; this week you can have as much fun as you want. After that, they will return, because it is impossible without them. You should smile at them and welcome them. They cannot do without you either. A change is taking place in your mind now and the forces of Nature are working in your favor. That is why in our gatherings there should be sudden shifts – from one state to another. We will go through all states: we will have philosophical, serious and joyful meetings. This gathering that we are having now is the first of its kind. At this entertainment we learned the following: God descends every morning to teach us the art of Love. He gently touches everyone and says, "I want you to listen." And then He goes away. He knows that we will be rolling all over the Earth, we will be falling down and standing up until we finally become as smooth as a pearl and say, "We are very beautiful now." You have seen a pebble rolling over and over again until it becomes perfectly smooth, have you not? All unpleasant things will disappear and only the lovely, beautiful things in life will remain. The day before yesterday I told you that the most important thing for human beings is to love, not to be loved. This is the same for the disciple. Love can come through the opening of the soul. Now, when you open the Gospel, there are many rules in it, but the human soul should be free, our virtues should be those which will help Love be revealed. As they live in the Invisible world, so we live as well. Translated by Martina Iovcheva Source

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul MINDFUL HEART Every activity and undertaking in the world should be set not on shaky but on a solid foundation. By “solid,” I mean unchangeable, indicating that in any conditions it remains the same. Such a foundation is the true one. Now, let us assume that while you are living on Earth, your foundation is solid. It implies that you can rely on your personality. Yet, what foundation will you use for your life after death? Therefore, the Earth is not a stable foundation on which you can stand. What then will the real foundation be? We call the mindful, intelligent, and wise human heart a real foundation. I consider the mindful heart not of the contemporary person, but of the Divine human being. Apostle Paul said that in physical form one cannot understand spiritual subjects because they could only be perceived in spirit. You need to set your life on a new course based upon your mindful heart. The Divine Spirit acts in it; so what you undertake based on your mindful heart is always right. Those who act in compliance with it never err because all errors are instantly resolved. The errors in the world originate from the human objective mind, which is the means of reasoning today. When a good thought comes into your mind, you begin to reason which way to apply it and in doing so, you are losing the opportunity. Often we say that if you go into the water, you may drown. Either you should be capable of swimming or you should learn to swim. I ask: In which school do little ducklings learn the art of swimming? In fact, it knows how to swim from its incubation. It had learned that art thousands of years ago. All this indicates the Divine connection existing in the human mind. What acts consciously and without exception is the Divine Spirit. And when we listen to this inner Voice (which I call “the mindful heart”), our thinking differs from the ordinary one. A simple experiment can be conducted. If you think with your head, you will think for a long time. You will do research on a certain subject for one-two-three-five-ten or more years until you come to some conclusion. Let’s say you think about the weather on Monday. Your mind begins to reason and says, “It will be beautiful.” Well, you need to verify this. After that, you will ask yourself if the weather will be totally or partially clear, if it will be rainy or just cloudy, and so on. You will put this question to stay clearly in your mind. Through such experiments you will notice that the responses you get through your mind scarcely prove true: one time in a hundred. It is a mental assumption that the weather will be nice. But if you ask your mindful heart the same question, it will state the weather on Monday with absolute accuracy. When the mindful heart is involved, there is no reasoning, no erring. As soon as you begin to reason, the Divine has already been lost. If you think with your mindful heart, you will experience a pleasant sensation in your solar plexus and then every one of you can say, “The weather will be such and such.” Ask yourself, for example, about your life this year: whether it will be good or bad. If your answer comes from your mind, it will give you either the most favorable projects or, sometimes - the most dismal ones. However, if you ask your mindful heart, it will give you a definitive answer. Not only this, but it will also indicate the difficulties you are going to pass through and at the same time, will provide you with guidance to safely overcome them. Good aspirations are also included in the concept of the mindful heart. Everyone has good aspirations. In some people they are manifested at a younger age; in others - later on. For example, there is an impulse coming to you: a good idea to do a favor for someone. Walking along the street, you see a poor widow. You put your hand in the pocket, but immediately start to rationalize and tell yourself, “I have money, but I need it today. Well, I will do a good thing another day.” By thinking in this way, you have already made the first omission. After some time you should pay a tenfold fine for not realizing your good impulse coming from the Divine. Therefore, we should follow the Divine Voice within us at all times. As soon as the Divine impulse begins to speak to us, it becomes a kind of a test in our life. God is testing us and we absolutely need to obey Him. As soon as you perceive the Divine, bring it to realization. It is not necessary to give all your wealth for the good you are willing to do; it is only a small service that is required from you. For example, a child fell in the street and had a leg fracture. Would it be a big bother to take him to your home and help him? You will lose only half an hour. But you say, “I have a very important work to do.” All misfortunes in our life come from not listening to the good impulses and aspirations arising in our hearts. We fixate on various philosophical arguments and speculations saying that we must put our lives in order. Our first delusion lies in the desire to arrange our lives by ourselves and in our belief that we are capable of doing it. According to the mindful heart, our life has already been arranged. All conditions under which we should live, all people whom we should meet and who will affect us has been predetermined. And as it was set so it will be. In this way, the entire Heaven works upon us. In reality, it is God Who acts in this world through us. Therefore, every good deed is a manifestation of God in us. So, whenever we resist a Divine Thought, we are creating our misfortune in the world. It is not required from you to carry the whole weight of the world through the good aspirations that you have. I have told you on other occasions that every good thought is connected with thousands of other good thoughts. Now, when you fail to realize a good thought, do you not admit that God has foreseen this? God has foreseen everything, but you are losing an opportunity. With each failure to realize a good intent, you descend and sink down; and thus your life becomes more difficult. Whenever you refuse to manifest a good thought, you debase yourself. The conditions will become harsher and harsher until finally, your willpower will be paralyzed. You will become a plaything of destiny, that is to say, of the external conditions. The sole cause for the appearance of these unfavorable conditions is that we have not listened to the mindful heart. How do we know that the mindful heart is acting in us? If it is so, there is always an expansion taking place in our souls. Doing even the smallest good, you will feel pleased as if you had taken on the entire world and have won. You all should not speak of the good you do. As soon as you declare it outwardly, you will stumble. When you do good things, you have already God’s approval and feel joyful. So, you should not commend yourself with this, God will commend you. Let’s say that someone was drowning and you saved him. After pulling him out of the water, do not linger for him to reward you. Leave it and let him search for you. If you write to the newspaper that you have saved someone from death, that you have done such and such good, half of it will be lost. The students of the Divine Teaching have a moral power hidden in their absolute faith in God. We might not know where Heaven is, where God lives, how far He is away from us, but we need to experience God. An English clergyman once said, “I do not know where Heaven is, but when I begin to pray to God in the privacy of my soul, I feel the presence of the Divine Spirit.” It is an indication that God hears him immediately. That is the important thing: to be heard at the moment when we direct our spirit to God. It is said by the Prophet, “Truly, God does not live in Heaven but within the hearts of humble people.” Who are humble people? I say: people of the mindful heart. If you all follow your mindful hearts, all disputes arising among you at times will disappear. For example, some of you have bad habits; sometimes you are losing patience. All this is due to the rationalizing of your mind that you have been insulted. In what does a person’s dignity lie? A person’s dignity lies in the fulfillment of the Will of God, in the application of the smallest virtues. You might have won one of the greatest battles. You might have uplifted an entire nation. Yet, if one day your heart tells you that you should tie the shoelace of an old man, but you do not obey it, every other accomplishment of yours will fall away. To tie an old man’s shoe is more valuable than to win a battle. Now I am going to tell you about two hermits: they have been living in the desert for twenty years constantly praying to God. One day, the first hermit noticed that his companion passing through a certain place, jumped and started to run. He wondered what his friend could have seen to frighten him enough and make him flee. He went over to this place and saw a big pot, full of gold. He thought to himself, “How naive one can be to run away from gold.” He took the gold out from the pot and went to Alexandria where he built a large inn. He began to help the poor and when he spent all the gold keeping nothing for himself, he returned to the desert. He prayed to God to let him know if He was pleased with him. An Angel appeared before him and told him that all his good works as a whole were not as valuable as the act of his brother. Therefore, if we take and assess what is accomplished by our present objective mind from childhood to passing away, it is all not as precious as one small act of our mindful heart. It is mentioned in the Scriptures that David contemplated with his heart[1]. It means that he contemplated with his mindful heart. That is what is now required of you all being in the second stage of your life: good behavior is a prerequisite. In other words, you should know how to behave respectfully to one another. For example, when you want to admonish someone, you can do it, but in a loving way, the same way as you would act toward yourself. When you admonish yourself, how do you do it? Do you judge yourself severely? You consider the circumstances, do you not? Why do we not behave well with others as we behave with ourselves? Therefore, we should make the truth known in a loving way. When we correct our brother for his mistake, it is good to make him realize that we are doing this out of Love and not because we want to mock at him. The principal thing that people lack today is noble, virtuous character. For example, in this School, you sometimes argue about the seats. Some ask me, “Do we not have the right to listen to you from the front places?” I ask: Whose character is nobler: of that one who is in the front or in the back? If you are a person of sweet tongue and fulfilling God’s Will, you may sit in the first seat. If you are someone using the rudest words, sit in the last place! Even if you are called to sit up in front, say, “Brother, I am not a person for the first seat. I will sit in the back now and will gradually move up to the first seats.” You say, “Let’s sit up in front!” I will be glad to see you in front, but you should know that I “read” these first rows. They should be the rows of Divine Love so that everyone you meet after sitting in them could feel that sweetness coming from you - that kindness and the power to help one another. You might say, “Yes, but these are inherited traits.” It is a lie: the concept of “inherited traits” is your fabrication. When God created you He implanted in you virtues and qualities like kindness, good intent, and noble heart. Therefore, in every case, we have as many opportunities to be good as to be bad. I have explained on other occasions what evil is. Evil always stems from our refusal to be good. Evil is the unaccomplished good. Let's assume that two students start to argue and insult one another; this is quite natural. How will they settle this dispute? If one of them tells himself, “Wait, I will act according to my mindful heart,” the other one will tell himself, “I, too, will act according to my mindful heart.” If both of them do this, the dispute will be settled immediately. What do you have in this world to contest? After all, what of that which you possess is to be contested? Is Divine Love not the best thing to possess? Only God can give power to our mind, heart, and will. He has limited Himself to be able to abide in us. There is One God in the world Who has limited Himself for our sake. That is a sign of God’s Sublime Glory. If you do not recognize the Sacrifice, which God has made to enter human heart, you will create inner conditions for death. Death ensues from there. We die and resurrect every day. If you decide this evening to be true to the Great Law of the Divine Manifestation, do you have any idea of the change that will take place in you? If you observe this Divine Law, whoever you meet in your way - it might be even the most wicked people - when you stop and look at them, God will smile at you through their eyes. You will say, “I recognize Him!” God is hidden deeply within the wicked people. They are such because they do not live well. When roads in the country get worse, shall we lay the blame with the roads or the people? The people who failed to repair the roads. Therefore, because of our disobedience to this Great Intrinsic Law, we have come to the state, in which the entire world is suffering under the conditions of the contemporary life. That is why, a mild and tolerant disposition is needed. Someone once said that death shines from the faces of the local cadets. I do not know whether death can shine or not, what I know though is that our faces shall breathe Life not death. Now, speaking about the mindful heart, you should know that for its development suffering should touch you deep inside; you should be shaken to the depth of your soul. What is needed exceeds those emotions, which touch you only superficially, like the waves that scarcely reach ten meters below the sea surface: radical revitalization is required of you. We should have Abraham’s character. Abraham had not any heirs. According to the Hebrew law’s line of succession, his inheritance would be left to one of his servants or one of his sons by his female slaves. And yet, God told him that He would give him an heir. Who was Abraham’s heir? Isaac, who was born thanks of his father and mother ’s devotion. God said to Abraham, “You shall offer your son as a sacrifice.” If you were in Abraham’s position, would you say, “Let God’s Will be done”? He took his son, put some wood on his back and went straight to the place where he had been told to offer his son as a sacrifice. He was being tested to the very last moment. When he raised the knife, God said to him, “Do not lay your hand on the boy, neither shall you harm him, for now I know that you are a man who reveres God. I know that you are a man of obedience; and for this reason, you shall not offer your son as a sacrifice.”[2] This quality of Abraham is worthy of praise! With this, he showed that he was ready to sacrifice even the most precious that he had. For this reason, Abraham is called “a friend of God.” I call him “father of the faithful” because he was a man of absolute faith, a man who has no doubt. Of course, you should apply this Teaching according to the situation in which you find yourselves in life. You will experience God and He is going to test you. He will test you as He did with Abraham. He will test you as He tested the apostles and prophets. You all shall pass through Fire - not just once, but seven times. When I say this, you get frightened. It is a necessity, but it is also the greatest blessing for each one of you to pass sevenfold through the Divine Fire. It is the sacred Fire of Love that will purify your minds and hearts so that you may come to know God’s Goodness and how to apply it in your lives. Never act in haste. No matter what you do, do not hurry up. One of you is a merchant. Your accounts are in disarray, you lack money. You go home, hold your head and are discouraged. Do not get in despair! When you go home, sit down and turn your mind to God - to your mindful heart - and listen to the advice that will come: what to do in this situation. Certainly, you will receive some answer. If you are a mother and have a daughter who is very disobedient, do not scold her, do not ask her to do this or that. Instead, turn to your mindful heart and ask it what to do. After one, two, three, or four days the best answer will come to you how to behave with her. You are a teacher, servant, or student - no matter what your position is, do not act in haste. I will give you an example illustrating that those who have faith always save themselves. About 250–300 officers were sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks. One of the officers was called forward and they asked him, “Do you believe in God?” “I do not.” They shot and killed him. The second, the third, the fourth - they asked each one, “Do you believe in God?” and the answer was negative. Finally they asked one, “How about you, do you believe in God?” “Yes, I believe!” and he made the sign of the cross. “At last, here is one believer. Go, you deserve to live.” They let him go free. Why? It is because God whispered to the executioners, “Let this one go free. He is My man!” This man had faith in his mindful heart; and he listened to his inner voice. I can give you many other examples regarding the counsel of the mindful heart, but the benefit of these examples is in their application. I know how difficult it can be for a person to apply a certain precept! When someone becomes angry, doubt and hesitation immediately follow. You can doubt anything in the world but never God! Be ready to sacrifice yourself for this Great Love - for God Who has chosen to limit Himself in order to come and dwell within us. Be prepared, in any instance, to sacrifice everything for Him! In this, Christ has distinguished himself. “For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the Will of Him Who sent me,”[3]said Christ. When they told Him that He must bear the cross of suffering, He said, “I will do everything that my Father has told me to do.”[4] Christ possessed both knowledge and power. He said, “Could I not ask for one or two legions of Angels to come and deliver me? I could, but I will not do it. I prefer disgrace, suffering, torture, as all of this is to be for the sake of my brethren.”[5] This is Divine Will! How is Divine Love revealed? In obedience. A time will come when there will be no suffering. Christ will never be crucified again in this world. Why? It is because such tree on which to crucify Christ does not exist. This Christ Who is living nowadays in the hearts of millions cannot be crucified - there is not such a big tree for this. Christ is already very powerful and His might will increase even more. We, too, can have such power. This is why Christ said, “And whatever you ask in My name, it will be done.”[6] In which name? In the name of God’s Love, in the name of your mindful heart. If you have a mindful heart, Christ can come and dwell in it. I can advise you, but cannot impose rules on you. I want one thing from you: to compete in showing respect to one another. This is a principal thing. You have enough philosophy; you could even be professors. You could hold lectures. You could preach to people on morality. You could even interpret the Scriptures, but what is required of you is the application, which is the most difficult thing. Whoever can apply the inner knowledge will pass into the second phase. One can already speak to that person who is listening to his mindful heart. You can rely on your good aspirations. You should know that you all have them. I can prove this to you. If I insult you, you will show me how I should have behaved. You will tell me, “You should have been kinder.” If you can speak to me on morality, it means that you understand the good aspirations. Why can you not behave accordingly? We all know how we should behave. Why are we unable to apply the knowledge which we have? We can apply it! All of you, without exception, can apply it. We have good aspirations and mindful hearts, in which God has limited Himself to dwell. If two thousand years after Christ we say that we cannot live a pure Christian life - that is a pity! I have been listening to you before the lecture. One brother said, “Brothers, let us pray!” I want only one of you to pray, not all. One of you can accomplish the whole job. How many engineers are needed to drive a train? One. If all become engineers, there will be a quarrel. One engineer per train is enough. He will get into the locomotive and all others will sit in the passenger compartments; then the work will advance. The good heart will begin to advance; this piston rod will operate according to the Great Divine Law and the rest will sit in the passenger compartments, quietly and calmly. You may ask, “Can we be sure there is no chance for mistakes?” The history of thousands of years tells us that all those who have been guided by their mindful hearts have acted wisely. Never have they caused an accident. For this reason, the psalmist said, “I have been young and now I am old; but I have not yet seen the righteous person to beg for himself. I have not seen anyone of mindful heart to beg for oneself or be subjected to profanity!” If the righteous have been subjected to profanity at times - this has occurred for the simple reason that they wanted to help their brethren. And so, we will now appeal to your good aspirations, to your mindful hearts. After that, we will appeal to Christ, to this living Christ whom I call the Son of Love, the world’s sole Teacher. We know His name - Christ. And yet, He has a Sacred Name that we do not dare to mention. When I turn to Him, I say, “Lord, in Your Name by which You are known in Heaven above, may Your Will be done!” Compete in showing respect! For the Bulgarian, this is essential. Among all Slavic nations, the Bulgarians are the coarsest. You need to accept this. Accept this. There is no shame about it: there is nothing wrong in being coarse, but polishing is needed. In order to become more polished, you need to compete in Divine Love. This Love will polish you. Then, like the oyster, you will produce a pearl out of your coarseness. First, you need to begin with good conduct. I am constantly hearing some of you saying, “The Master is kinder to some of us and tougher to others.” You are considering things according to the physical manifestation. We cannot show favoritism. Love manifests itself equally to all people. It is so, but not all people manifest God’s Love equally. Therefore, your souls differ: some of them are more prepared than others and because of this, God manifests Himself more intensely through them. However, you should know that you all have the same opportunity. God treats Angels in the same way as humans, plants, even the smallest stones - there is no difference. I do not speak of the external, physical world but of the living stones and plants; because in Heaven, both stones and plants can speak and are alive. Hence, you all need to manifest your good aspirations! I would like to see that the coarseness and complaining among you have disappeared because God’s Love is violated by such behavior of yours. All people complain, saying, “We need Love.” Well, Love is within us; you only need to manifest it! If your faucet is turned off, whose fault is it that the water cannot flow through it? Is it the fault of water or yours? Open the faucet and your mindful heart will immediately allow this Wellspring to flow forth. The principal focus for the young, as well as for the old among you, is to compete in showing respect. Spiritual students who do not show respect for one another will not show respect for their Master too. Spiritual students who cannot live in harmony with one another do not respect their Master. God says that He is not pleased with those who do not listen to Him. All hearts should be ready to fulfill God’s Will. All should do God’s Will through Love so that His Kingdom may come. Then we all will rejoice. We can apply this even tonight. No, this night will be a day. We can transform even the night into a day. I want you now to remember this: Each one of you should resolve in a specific way the issue of relationships and good behavior, regardless of how the others treat you. This is the main issue; and yet, you begin with the opposite. No, each one of you should resolve on your own how to treat others well with the awareness of whether God is pleased with your attitude or not. I do not say that God is displeased because it would be a judgment. You can rectify all your faults. This evening, God will take up all of your wrongdoings and put them behind Him. This will be done in an instant. Then a new state will arise: rebirth of the human being. A new uplift will occur with the human spirit. The newly born will be free of torments, being joyful and happy. This can come to pass even tonight; you can resolve this issue even now. Those who are ready - may they not be late. However, those who are not ready shall wait for their time to come. Those who are ready can resolve this issue instantaneously. God of Love is not God of the dead, but God of the living. Lecture by the Master Beinsa Douno for the General Esoteric (Occult) Class, held on April 2, 1924, Sofia. -------------------------------------- 1. See also Psalm 53. 2. See also Genesis 22:1–19. 3. See John 6:38. 4. See also Matthew 26:42. 5. See also footnote 3 on page 15. 6. See also John 14:13.

Note 1 The Language of Nature Ninth lecture of the Youth Esoteric Class, given by the Master Beinsa Douno on 16th December 1923 in Sofia - Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to Truth. - It constantly rejoices us. Summary of the works on topic “The difference between fear and conscience” was read. You should write on topic № 11 “The difference between moral man and spiritual man” and topic № 12 “The distinctive features of myth and fable”. Fig.1 These two lines AB and BC that you see on the drawing represent two ways in Nature, which differ one from another. Which one you see to be easier to you? (-AB). What about BC? (- It is a more terrible way.) The curved line AB and the broken line CB are two ways passed in Life. The way CB is a rocky place; all these broken lines form rocks. What have been the reasons for the curved line AB to be formed and what – for the broken line CB to be formed? What ways, in general, the heart likes? – Smooth ways. When the heart speaks, it wants everything to be smooth, to have no obstacles, everything to go on wheels. If we are in a society, we want to be met and seen with bays, with bunches of flowers, with congratulations, with speeches, with banquets – this is the way from A to B. So, the way AB is a way of the heart. The way CB is the opposite way – the way of the mind, the rocky way. Why is this way difficult? As personal interests are involved too. Where there are rocky places, people are also similar in character to the rocks. For example, people who live at the north mountainsides look like that places. And people who live at the south mountainsides look like the places there as well. In general, many of the features of the mountainsides have an effect on the character of the people. Well, looking at the broken line BC, how do you explain the breakings it has undergone so that the angles 1, 2, 3, 4 were formed? You know that when light passes through media with different density it is refracted. For example, if you want to ennoble someone, you should not speak to him mildly; you should not show yourself weak-willed towards him. If you are weak-willed, this will cause the results of the red colour in that one. Some say that we should be mild to people, in the sense of weak-willed, always ready to yield. Do this experiment with a child and watch the result: start to caress that child and you will see that the colour of its face is becoming rosy, red. Electricity gathers in it – energy of the red color – and the substance becomes unstable. This substance is still in its primitive development. Explosion may happen at the smallest joggle of this substance. Such bursting happens in animals too, as well as in plants sometimes. You would say, “Why is this not noticed in plants?” As red color is passive at times and active at times. You should visit mountain places to see in practice how even the smallest deflections of light happen when falling at certain conditions. Only thus, you will comprehend that even the smallest deflections of light, the smallest light energies are waves of different lengths. Once these waves meet a certain resistance they are refracted at once. This very law, refraction of light, explains the forming of the rocky way that the mind makes in Life. Contemporary physicists have not yet examined at what angle of refraction of light, at what collisions of light the red color is formed; they have not yet examined at what angles, at what collisions of light the orange, the yellow, the green, the blue, the purple and the other colors in general are formed. For example, if some discontent arises within you, the red color appears and you become active. When someone wants to offend you, you open your eyes wide and listen before even you have heard what that one is saying. When you hear the offending words, you perceive the corresponding color. After that, you knit your brows a little and an internal reaction starts within you. If you are stronger than the one offending, a desire to beat him conceives but if you are weaker, a thought conceives at what circumstances to revenge him. You have not examined what angles are formed when opening the eyes, when closing them, etc. All these things are interesting to be examined. Fig.2 When watching human eyes you will see that a beam is going out of them from the direction of which you can determine a human character. Point O on Fig.2 represents the apple of the eye. Suppose that the straight line CD determines the field of view. The beam going out of the eye has different directions for the different people – in some this beam is above the straight line CD and in others it is below the straight line CD. The beam turns perpendicular, i.e. goes to direction OA, when someone is put into a magnetic dream of forth or fifth degree at that. Then the eyes turn with the apple up and if you could open the eye of that one at this moment, you would see this position of the eye and the beam turned perpendicularly to the head. From the direction of this beam – whether it goes upwards or downwards – and from the angle that it forms, the moral power of man depends. This angle varies and takes position +1, +2, +3, +4… above line CD and position -1, -2, -3, -4… below line CD. As long as this beam is above line CD, man is good in the manifestations of one’s mind, one’s heart and one’s will. As soon as this beam turns and goes down below line CD, whatever promises makes, that one is not able to keep them; he or she is under other people’s influences. Whatever decisions for good that one makes, he or she will not fulfill them either – from one hundred promises hardly three or four will be fulfilled. When the beams are directed upwards such person is able to fulfill almost all their promises while when the beam is perpendicular the person fulfills all their promises. These angles are formed in the brain substance of man. They perceive and refract the Light and colours depend on their size. Therefore, examined from this point of view, brain is different in different people. Many of contemporary physiologists and physicians consider that all folds of human brain are alike. They have not examined the angles of these folds. An internal process takes place in the brain. The angles represent certain folds only, through which we could transform certain energy, eliminate certain centres, convert others and accept those colours only which contribute to our development. You should know that Light is one of the great factors not for the mental development of people only but for their character and long life as well. You should watch yourselves, should study the influence of the different colours on you. I have large statistics on this matter but cannot give any of these diagnoses, as you are very cowardly. Some of you are so cowardly that you fall into the situation of those faint-hearted students of medicine who, while studying the symptoms of the various diseases in the third year of their university studies, fall ill themselves – then they experience all the diseases. If a student of medicine falls ill, critical is the third year of their university studies when studying the symptoms of diseases. As soon as this year passes, the student is out of any danger. The same is in the esoteric science: there are certain symptoms, which if said to you, will generate opposite processes in you and you will be frightened instead of making use of them. When I talk about red colour you should not think that it accumulates in you to do you harm. No, it forms from excess; it is a result of unused energy. In your organism, many unnecessary substances are being accumulated which you do not use and after a time they will make a number of troubles to you. You are still young, that is why you should aim at giving a right, a natural expression to your face. As disciples, you should be careful of all unnatural grimaces, you have much of such grimaces. For example, you contort your body; scratch your head from here and there, fidget and so on. However, if you knew what every motion could bring you, you would be careful of your motions. For example, I keep the following rule: I cannot nail two trees crosswise. Why? You may say that this is superstition. No, whoever disciple, studying the esoteric science, would never nail two trees crosswise. Often, you make a cross by your fingers, hand it to someone and say, “Kiss it!” No, the cross is the greatest contradiction in the world. If the cross has some sense in certain cases, that is for special considerations. The two lines in the cross have sense as much as the rocks dressed in vegetation. The cross shows a wrong, disharmonious state in Nature. In the esoteric science, the cross is a place of fall, torment and suffering. The cross and a number of other symbols represent the language of Nature. Fig.3 Often, someone says, “I am a good person.” This means that he takes only a quarter of the cross forming the right angle A, that much is his good nature. Then he says, “I became better” – this means that he takes two quarters of the cross and forms the straight angle B. After that he says, “I became the best”, i.e. he takes three quarters of the cross and forms the reflex angle C. Finally he says, “I became very good”, i.e. he takes four quarter of the cross, forming the revolution angle D of the circle. That person is not quite good yet; he learned only to rotate that wheel. The danger of this wheel is that after the evil causing the torment of all people in the cross has gone out, another evil, the special evil comes. What is that evil? – You know it. Fig.4 You all know the gear wheels (A), don’t you? If such a wheel catches you by its teeth what would happen to you? Some people write the cross in another way – not as in drawing B but as in C. Then some people are inspired by it, putting a small circle C in the middle and beams around it; they imagine it as luminous sun (D). No, this is a dangerous circle; these are burning energies. Do you think that you can live in such a world? The stars inspire people today and when they admire someone, they say his eyes sparkle and he has shining eyes. No, these eyes, from which sparks go out, are dangerous. These sparks are not beams; they are intermittent. Long, continuous beams of Light should go out of your eyes, going to the object or to your friend. This Light should be harmonious, nice and should not just go to your friend but also come back – should do a circle. The motion of this Light should be circular. When watching, some people move their eyes very quick and dart glances from object to object. These are focuses in Nature that It punishes. They are a gear wheel. Why exactly you would lift your eyes upwards, would glance and would take them down right away; what are the reasons for that? Someone says, “It is a habit with me.” It may be a habit but where has it come from? Look at that pianist who moves the hands over the keys so proficiently, so skillfully, how has he acquired that habit? He had studied long time, he had played the piano much and finally he has acquired this habit, this art of playing the piano so easily. He sits at the piano and does not think of the fingers but plays and plays. He says, “I do not look at the keys, I do not think of the fingers.” Yes, you do not think but your fingers work according to certain laws. You have been playing hard all ten years and your consciousness has already been transmitted to the muscles of your hands. You do not think but the muscles of the hands are under the direct government of your consciousness. Someone says, “I do not know what to do.” You do not know what to do! – Learn to play. So, you should not justify yourselves for being simple all these habits that you have today, but you should know that you had studied long time to acquire them, you had played until finally they became unconscious. In the beginning, you had played and you had known the sense of your playing; but now you have lost it. Do you know what happened when you lost the sense of the inner original? Have you ever relied on your mind only in order to see in what state you would be? Someone comes, erases a note from the original and you say to yourself, “One note is missing, but which one was it?” – You do not know which one it was. You put another one in its place but you distort the original. Someone else comes – he erases a note too; you look in the original and say to yourself, “My memory does not fail me, there was a note here, it is missing. Which one was it?” You remember as if, you just put another note instead, but you distort the original even more. After a time you see that you have completely distorted the original, i.e. you have completely distorted your character and you differ radically from that initial person, from that initial way that you have been going. Often, I take you out for summer tours, but summer tours are very dangerous. In what respect exactly? – By the verdure in Nature. Green color predisposes to dreaming up, and thus people acquire idle habits, imagination in them works very much. Coming to a spring, their imagination begins to speak, “Oh! If only there was a lamb here, well baked, some wine; to settle down around this spring – it will murmur so nicely and we will eat, would have a good time.” Someone would say, “What should we think of the lamb?” How is that, there is what to think! Until this lamb is roasted, first, it should be stuck, then you should see how its blood flows out, after that, you should skewer it and should revolve it over the fire to brown it and finally you would put it before yourself, would eat and would fancy about this and that, would discuss on various ideas. This does not concern you but some others who would be pleased with the roasted lamb. However, do you think that such a tour can bring good to you? Then, you are walking along a forest and tell yourself, “This place is very good, just for hiding – when someone chased, he would hide here.” Yes, but chasing someone would not be for an idea, who knows what that one had done! It could be for an idea but would be one to hundred. For that reason, winter tours are recommended for the esoteric disciples – when the whole field is covered just with snow, no thought about any lamb, about any hen will occupy your mind. You will bring only one thought in your mind – the blue sky and the white snow! You may say from time to time, “Oh, if it could be a little warmer!” But when you take a look at the white color, it will generate a spiritual thrill, a spiritual lifting of your soul and you will tell yourself, “No, it is nice as it is – everywhere blue sky and white snow!” Who wants to have good influence on oneself, winter tours with snow are preferable to the others. From purely esoteric point of view, you may make imaginary tours in order to transform your states. For example, you are in low spirits, you are passing a crisis; then sit down and make a nice winter tour in your thoughts: going, return, the way you will pass – do all this in your thought. What thing are crises? They are not a bad thing, they are inevitable on the way of the disciple and depend on the place through which the disciple passes. Imagine that you are walking on the way AB. The climate here is temperate, no storms arise and you pass it without any crises. But you should pass the other way– CB, too, which is with an extremely changeable nature. Imagine that you start from C and walk upwards to B: it is summer time, you are dressed in light clothes, you have not taken into consideration the sudden changes, which you would meet on your way. As you are climbing to B, a strong draught appears, slush, you begin to shiver, catch a cold and pneumonia, with which you are ill three-four months. When you get well, you tell yourself, “Thank God that I got off with little. I will not go to such a tour another time.” All of you, the young, should know that storms arise in the sea that you are passing. From the first day of the first year up to the last day of your life, during the whole this circle, you will pass through crises. I call these crises moral crises. Some people befall smaller storms, others – more and bigger. These moral crises are out of your nature, they are not connected with your nature. They will come but you should not explain them in philosophical way, tell yourself, “This is a moral storm.” If a temptation comes, say, “This is a moral storm.” If any bad thoughts rush into you, do not be confused, say, “This is a moral storm.” If you are sensible, you will take safety measures – you will shelter yourself from the wind in your boat, in some saving place. If you are exposed somewhere in the open-air, you will suffer. Therefore, you should know that these are crises - moral crises, which take place in Nature, as well. You should know, however, that there are certain instruments within you, by which you are warned for what will happen to you in life. Such an instrument is your intuition, for example. It often warns you, it tells you, “Be careful, something is going to happen to you!” In what should you be careful? If you are in a city, you should walk in the end of the roads, not in the middle as, if you walk in the middle, some car may run over you. You should develop the intuition within yourself! It does not act as a thought in the mind but as a deep inner sense, as an inner whisper. It does not come out from the larynx either; it is a feeling coming out from somewhere under the pit of the stomach. It whispers gently and calmly to you, it only tells you to be careful. In what respect should you be careful? – You should keep away from bad friends. You have bad friends who do not want the good of you; they want to distract your attention in order to make you break your contacts with the source of your Life. This is the harm, which they can do to you. Wherever you go, whether you pass a sea or whatever road, you should keep a rule: not for anything in the world you should break the tie with which you have come down to the earth and with which you will go up not for the world. As long as you hold this tie, you may turn ten times around it and nothing will happen to you. If this tie is broken, you will be a feather already and may become a ball of fortune. When can this tie be broken? – When your consciousness is not awake. Now, when you examine life, you will notice that those people who like drinking; they get together, fill their cups, raise them, cross their arms and say, “Come on, my friend, I will drink from you cup and you – from mine!” They want to show that they love each other. Yes, this is the love of the fire crackling and showering sparks far away. There are certain places in Nature, to which is dangerous to go. It is lucky that you still do not understand the language of Nature. In the trees, in the springs, in the rivers, in the woods, in all mountain places, everywhere in Nature are recorded all virtues and all crimes and disgusting sins that people have done from the beginning until now. Some people say, “Let us understand the language of Nature!” There is no more awful thing than opening your eyes prematurely and seeing what bad things are written in it. There are nice things written in Nature but there are bad, too! You will ask me, “How to recognize where in Nature good things are written? In each one of you, there is an inner instinct, hinting, “Stop here, pass here, do not go pass there!” You should obey that instinct. You travel through a mountain place and tell yourself, “I do not like this place.” Why, how, do not philosophize any more – do not stop there! You should continue on your way, you should walk round until this feeling hints you, “You can stop here.” You may say, “But why not I stop there?” If you could read the history of that place, you would never stop there. Therefore, when traveling at the present conditions on the Earth, at the present culture, there are few places where we can stop and take a rest freely. What do I mean under rest? To take a rest in the middle of Nature means to feel an inner relief in you and to have a great thought gleaming in your mind. Sometime you want to have a rest but coarse thoughts rush in you. This is not a rest. One of the important points in this lecture was the point of the angles of eyes. First, you will start correcting your eyes – this will be a task for you. How will you correct them? You will take a clean, a clear mirror and will watch the direction of the beam going out of your eyes. No matter in which direction you look and how you look, your consciousness should be awake. You are looking towards the ground – your consciousness should be awake; you are looking upwards - your consciousness should be awake. When you direct your eyes upwards, you should think of God, of the Eternal, of the Infinite, of saints, of all disciples who have passed before you, of all disciples who are engaged in science; also, you should think of knowledge, music, and poetry – of everything elevated in the world. When you look down to the black ground, what does it mean? – The black ground, these are the sins of all beings. There are sins on the Earth and that is why it has become black. It is a life of powers; of thousands and milliard beings that have lived bad life and for that reason they are bound to it and cannot easily get free. Sometime we say, “How nice these young trees are!” Sometimes, a coincidence happens in Nature: the angles formed by the beams of your eyes, coincide with the angles of the substance in the Earth and that is why it happens someone to fall asleep in the forest and not to wake up anymore. Therefore, in mountain places, you can lie, but should not fall asleep. You should not be afraid but your consciousness should be connected with the Invisible world. You will lie down and get up but should be awake if you want to be in safety. If possible, you should choose south or east mountainsides – they are the healthiest places. There is more energy of the blue color gathered there. And, in the north sides there is more energy of the green, orange and red color gathered. Also, you should pay attention to your hats, to your hairs. You are buying a hat - you should see that the hat is round, if possible, to have no many folds, to be not much pleated or broken. A broken hat can bring you much harm. When someone breaks his hat, he breaks his character, too. I see that a poet has disheveled his hair; there is nothing worst than that. You should observe that your hair is tidy, if possible. Sometime it knows its way better than if you adjust it. When falling, every hair forms a certain angle. These angles of the hair play very important role in breaking of the light. You may consider these things very petty, but you should know that Life is united by petty things only. If you want to create strong-mindedness, you should know that these petty things in your hair create it. If your hair does not obey your will, once your thumb does not obey your will, you should keep your eyes open. Every move of yours should by under the control of your will. For example, you say, “I do not know what happened with me but I cannot bend my finger.” You should bend it; you should not remain it in this state. Also, you say, “I do not know what is going with my hair, but it is too much bristling, I cannot adjust it.” No, you should order your hair! If you cannot order your hair, who will order then? Do you know when a hair bristles up? – When man cannot control himself. Then anger gets the upper hand in him, he becomes impatient and his hair bristles up, does not want to obey. Once he becomes calm and quiet, once he becomes patient, his hair is put in order. Have you noticed how great people are portrayed? – With smoothly dressed hair and with straight parting. Some women have their hairs smoothly dressed and with straight parting. This is a good sign. The hair should fall the same way from both sides. Depending on the angle at which falls, every hair influences the character of people. Hair has its origin. Some day I will give you a topic, “When did hair appear in the world?” It is an interesting essay, but it is quite difficult. In fish, there is no hair and mustaches are rare to see. You need all things that I tell you, as you are still young. Do you know why I give you these precautions? As the sea you are passing now is rough and some of you will pass through crises – back and forth, up and down. The ship will not sink but the passenger may cannon anyway. Therefore, you should keep the connection with God! You should be careful that your eyes are in normal state, you should not make unconscious movements, by the hands, for example. What should be your gestures? You should make gestures that are pleasant to you – to be pleased at them by yourself. When you make a natural gesture, in accordance with the laws of Nature, you will feel a great pleasure within yourself. While, when you make an unnatural gesture, you will feel a sudden sharp pain. You should be very careful in the look of your eyes and in the behavior to the other people. You need it not for the others; you need it for your inner development. As esoteric disciples, you should be different! Sometime, when someone becomes frightened, he opens his eyes and when he wants to get less outside impressions, he closes his eyes. Sometime man holds his head bent to the left, sometime – to the right, sometime backwards or forwards, but all these gestures are not accidental, they are a result of something. These are all angles showing certain disharmony in man. The esoteric disciple should not be, as the French say, a dandy. What is dandy? That is when someone dresses up, makes oneself smart, tiptoes and just looks around. However, this is a contortion of the character. When walking, your gestures should always be in harmony with your general thought, with your general feeling. Under general I mean the human in you. Your will should be in harmony with your gestures, too. This is the language of Nature. Now, you should keep your consciousness awake and should keep your connection with God! This will be a task for a month (until 16 January 1924). You should think on this fifteen minutes everyday while walking your way at that. You should walk freely, your consciousness should be awake, without attracting the attention of people – you should be natural. You can pass from one pavement to the other, you will walk among people and no one will notice you. Awake consciousness and right movements of the eyes! According to this law, do an attempt to see how your look influences on the others. When you meet a sister of yours – look at her by directing your look upwards, to God, smile at her internally, faintly, escaping notice and see how she will feel. Looking at her in this way, she will see a soft, tender smile in your look and will be pleased. When you meet a young brother, look at him as if you know him. These looks have an excellent influence both on you and on the surrounding. Some day you may make an unsuccessful attempt – instead of directing the beam upwards, you direct it downwards. Then you will be fined. While attempting, one may make a mistake, but this should not get you confused. Secret prayer - Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to Truth. - It constantly rejoices us. Source

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul THE HIGH IDEAL Nature loves only those who have high ideals. She calls them her beloved children and knows them by name. Those who have no ideals are not listed in her Book. They are discarded and put into her cellar for the distant future. And so, whenever you feel abandoned by God and Living Nature, as if no one is paying attention to you, you should know it is your fault: you lack a high ideal. It is a Law. Everyone can organize their lives getting free of the adversities and sufferings and coming out of the long forgotten cellar of Nature. Setting a high ideal, even the most forsaken person, who is at the bottom of Nature’s cellar, will begin to crawl up like a snail and before long will come up to the surface enjoying the Sun shining upon him. Then Nature will say about him, “Behold one of my children who has risen from the dead.” What is death and what is resurrection? Death is related to the children forgotten in the cellar of Nature, in other words, to those who lack high ideals. Resurrection is related to the children who are coming out of the material world’s deep cellars, in other words, to those who have high ideals. However, to be able to come out of the cellar you should possess strong willpower and unparalleled faith. You may often hear someone saying, “I can eat any food available, I am not choosy at all; I can dress in any clothes, I am not particular about the color or the quality of the fabric.” Such a person wants to present himself as humble, as one who accepts the conditions of life. It is not right. Whoever eats all kinds of food indiscriminately is without an ideal or with a very low one. This is how the omnivorous animal eats, but the human being is not an animal. When you eat, you need to choose your food carefully. Nature has created a variety of food, but you should choose the purest and the best one, which will have a beneficial effect on your body. Then you are a person of a high ideal! Nature knows her children, she knows who of them have high ideals and who lack them. She is testing them all the time. Nature wants to discover what is hidden in the recesses of the human soul, in the depths of the human mind and heart. Nature wants to find out more about the human aspirations and impulses, so she lets you in her garden full of fruit trees, which are bearing various fruits of different properties. Then she observes which fruit you would reach for. If you choose to take from the best fruit, Nature will make a note in her Book, “Behold one of my wise children who has a high ideal and will become a true human being.” But, if Nature sees that the person is too lazy to climb a tree but picks fruits from the lower branches, she will form a different opinion. She will make a note in her Book, “You will not turn out to be a true human being! You do not have a high ideal.” “What shall I do then?” “You should climb up the tree and pick fruits from there.” “But it is too high, I may fall down.” You need to climb the tree even though you may fall down jeopardizing your life. Then Nature will make a note in her Book, “This child is courageous and will become a true human being.” Some people look up at the tops and stretch arms to them, but get frightened. So, they look down at the lower branches and search the ground for fallen fruits bending over to pick them up. For people like this one Nature will write down, “These are my children forgotten in the cellar who will not become true human beings.” Remember that Nature focuses on the intrinsic aspiration of the human being. She only registers the facts, observes them, and puts in her records whatever she sees. Therefore, if Nature has recorded the best about you, you are the reason for that. And if she has chronicled anything not recommended by her, again you are the reason for this. She simply records the facts as they are without exaggerating or diminishing them; and based on them, Nature draws her conclusions. The effects that influence your life are a consequence of the choices you have made. There was a young Egyptian woman named Eltamar, daughter of a poor villager, who was distinguished from her friends by the high ideal she had within her soul. She was wise and intelligent, chaste and modest. When she went to school, her teacher asked her, “Eltamar, will you remain a virgin or marry to somebody?” She replied, “I have only one ideal in my life and I am going to live accordingly. If I am to marry, it will be only to the king’s son. Whoever comes to ask me, I will refuse, if he is not the king’s son. This is my choice: I will marry to the king’s son or will remain a virgin.” You may say that this choice is foolish. No, this young woman is not foolish, but has a high ideal. What is the application of the great ideal to life? If you have faith, if you follow some teaching, if you apply particular norms, if you hold a certain image in your consciousness, all this corresponds to the high ideal. Your spirit will be powerful as the son of Truth. Who is the son of Truth? He is the king’s son, the ideal of each soul. Therefore, when you go out early in the morning to see the sunrise, be there on time, before the Sun has risen over the horizon. Meet the first ray of the rising Sun. It is the most important one - the king’s son or the son of Truth, who has all power and might of the Sun hidden in him. If you do not receive the first ray, you have missed the sunrise. Receive the first ray and then return home at peace. The first ray carries the riches of all the rays. The first ray is the first fruit of the rising Sun or of the Great Tree of Life. The other rays are its last fruits. The Living Nature says about those people who think that they can greet the Sun at any moment or can observe it at any hour during the day, “You will not become true human beings.” If you climb up a mountain and get thirsty, do not drink water indiscriminately. Stop where you are, look around and find the purest wellspring. Bend, take a handful of the crystal clear mountain water and drink it. If you do it in this way, you are a reliable person of a high ideal. If you say that you can drink from here and there, from anywhere, Nature will make a note that you cannot be relied on, you lack strength of character and have a low ideal. Students of spiritual knowledge are distinguished by their high ideals. When you go to a mountain wellspring, no matter what difficulties you have, you should bend and drink from the center where the purest water is. When you have climbed high in the mountain, do not rush to go down, but choose the most beautiful place and sit there for a rest. Look around and preserve the imprint of that beautiful scenery deep within your soul. And going down to the valley, bring the memory of that vivid picture - of the living peak, which you have climbed. High mountain peaks and pure, crystal clear wellsprings are full of life-force and will leave everlasting unforgettable traces in your consciousness. Apply the high ideal everywhere in your life! If you look for a book to read, find the books of the most renowned writers, of the most eloquent preachers. If you want to visit an art gallery, go to the exhibitions of the most prominent artists. You may ask, “Should we not see ordinary paintings as well?” You see such paintings every day in your life. It is enough to observe people watching how they eat, what food they use, at what time they have their meals so that you can see some ordinary pictures before your eyes. However, if you choose to see the paintings based on the high ideal, one is enough. It will be the work of the greatest artist, the artist of a high ideal. When you want to choose a friend, you should follow the same Law and find the wisest, most knowledgeable person who has the purest heart - the best friend ever. When one chooses a wife or husband, that person should be guided by the high ideal too. Those who deviate from the high ideal, cause themselves the adversities and sufferings in their life. Now we are speaking about those ideas and principles in life, which should be applied daily. Someone may point out that if your ideal is not a good one, it will not lead you to a good end. If your present ideal is not right, then set it right. The next moment in life is yours so you can choose another ideal. Thus, you will finally come to the ideal of your soul that is eternal and guides the human being onto the right path - the Path of Love. If you have missed the first ray of the Sun today, you can see it tomorrow. And if you miss it again the next day, the day will be lost for you. But if you meet the first ray of the Sun today, you can meet it the following days as well. Only in this way can your entire life improve. The most enlightened thought, the most sublime feeling, the most beautiful action contain the first ray of the Sun that imbues the human soul. How can the human life be set right? Find out your biggest and smallest errors and hold them to your attention until you free yourself from them. Even if you need to hold them for years, do not yield to them. Finally, your errors will say, “This is a person with a strong character who deserves to live. We surrender before you becoming your servants: you will go ahead and we are going to follow you.” Some spiritual students, who do not pass their exams and suffer a setback in life, easily fall into despair. They leave the battlefield denying their high ideal and saying, “Nothing decent will come out of us.” Those are people who do not preserve their high ideal. What is the purpose of the human existence on Earth? Attending a feast? The human being has been summoned to the experimental school of Earth for character testing, mind and heart studies, and coming to know oneself. Whenever you sit at the table to feast, Nature watches you with wide open eyes, observing how you hold the fork and the spoon, how you eat, what napkins you use. From all these details, she draws conclusions as to what kind of a person you will become. If you are invited to the second seating of the feast and you eat from an already used plate, do you think that you are a person following a high ideal? What do the holders of a high ideal do? They have clean plates, clean spoons and forks in their bags; and if the dirty plates are not replaced with clean ones, they say, “May we use our own plates, our own spoons and forks?” This is how students of spiritual science should behave. If you want to feast someone according to the high ideal, you should do it in this way: order ten loaves of bread made of fresh, high quality flour without any admixtures, that is prepared by the best, cleanest, and neatest baker. Then cover the table with a clean white tablecloth and place a clean plate and a piece of that warm bread in front of each guest. Place also a cluster of grapes, an apple, and a pear. The grapes should be picked from the best vineyard situated in a sunny, nice place. The apples and pears should be from trees that have grown up according to the high ideal. The guests will take their seats at the table quietly and well-disposed and will help themselves. Then they will all give thanks and will take a walk to the surrounding area, where they can drink water from a pure wellspring. This is the new way to give a feast. You encounter wealthy people who are very fastidious to their food, but they do not apply the high ideal to their mental and moral behavior. They allow both lies and thefts as normal things in their life. They begin well, guided by a certain ideal in the physical world, but finish badly because in the spiritual aspect they lack any ideal. Nature writes down about such a person, “You will not become a true human being.” Some people say that they can love anyone and everyone, but they are not telling the truth. I have not yet met a person who can love anyone and everyone. It is possible in words, but it doesn’t happen in reality. Love is being tested in Life. Saying “Love” you should feel its inner content and meaning. Those who experience true Love, will be able to transform their life in a second. Whom shall you love? God. First you shall love God, then your neighbor and last but not least - yourself. This is the Great Truth in Life. Whoever does not begin life with loving God, will not evolve into a true human being. If you want a confirmation of the Truth in my words, go through the history of humankind to find out at least one great person on Earth who has denied Love for God. All great people: the geniuses, saints, and enlightened Teachers of humankind did have Love for God. Some may object, “If we focus on Love for God, we will neglect people and our relationships with them.” No, we will not forget about people, but will introduce the high ideal into their lives. If all people have aspired for the first ray of the Sun and the Great Love for God, the world of today would develop properly and the contemporary people would enjoy good health, power, and abundance. Many say that they have big hearts embracing everyone and anyone, even the entire humankind. These are only words that do not correspond to the Truth. To love someone means to know that person. To love all people means to know them. But you know your neighbor only if you can correct his errors. Therefore, if you love all people, it means that you are able to correct the errors of everyone. Is that true? You say that you love the entire humankind and at the same time you cannot tolerate your wife who is a member of it. You have a son and a daughter, but you are not on good terms with them. It is impossible to know and love someone without being in good terms with that person. So, your statement that you love all people is not true. How can you come to know someone? By your love for God. It will lead you to know your neighbor and yourself too. This knowledge will make you happy and ready to fulfill the Will of God. It does not matter what people of today have been told about Love, they usually confuse Love with personal feelings and emotions, saying, “My heart burns with love, so I know love.” What burns and burns to ashes is not Love. These are the rays of the dark light that bring death and decay; they defile and distort the human soul. Do you think that human love can deceive the Great Creator of the Universe? Do you think that the manifestations of the Living Intelligent Nature can be mistaken for the human actions? God recognizes what is His, or in other words, what is Divine anywhere. God of the Eternal Blessing loves the good and truthful within human being. It is said in the Scriptures, “You have come to love the Truth in man.”[1] The Truth is the sublime, the purest, and the most beautiful in the human being. Someone wants to know whether the Spiritual World is interested in our everyday life. The ordinary things in life may interest people but not the Sublime Intelligent Beings. If you are the chief servant of a rich master and ten servants are at your disposal to obey you, should your master look after you? He knows that the other servants will consider and satisfy your needs. One of them will clean your clothes, another one - your shoes, still another one will tide your room, and so on. The master does not pay attention to your shoes, but he is interested in the servant who has polished them. If the servant has applied the high ideal and polished the shoes of his fellowman according to all the rules of his craft, he will attract the attention of his master. The master will say, “This servant has an ideal, I can rely on him.” How will you apply the high ideal in your life? If a wife wants to make a shirt for her husband and she is satisfied with the first available material she can place her hands on and makes it in a ship-shod way, then she does not possess a high ideal. If she wants to make a shirt for her husband, she needs to wander around all the shops until she finds the fabric that fulfills the requirements of the high ideal. Then she needs to sew the shirt according to all rules of this profession. This is a woman holding a high ideal. The husband should do the same. If he wants to buy a dress material for his wife, he should not buy the first one he comes across just to give something to her, but he should make an effort to find the best fabric and bring it to the best dressmaker to sew it. If the wife and the husband act according to the principles of the high ideal, Nature will write down about both of them, “Behold people of good character, who have high ideals and make the best choice!” You have a friend and want to give him a book for a present. You will go around all bookshops in order to choose the most valuable and instructive book so that your friend may read it, advance through it, and remember it for the rest of his life. Then your friendship is based on the high ideal. You want to write down a few thoughts as a keepsake for your friend. What will you do? If you copy whatever comes in hand, you are not holding a high ideal. You copy, for example some quotation by Petko Slaveykov[2] about money, “Money, money, you are an almighty queen” and you feel satisfied. But money is not an ideal and cannot be a driving force for humankind. You should write some thought that has been tested and experienced by you, extracting it from the bottom of your soul. And when your friend reads it, he will appreciate it and be grateful to you. And Nature will write down, “You will become a true human being.” A person says that he loves someone. Why people love others? Is it for their beautiful eyes and eyebrows? Is it for their beautiful mouths and noses? It is misunderstanding of Love. Love is not excited by some external features. To love others for their external features means that you do not have a high ideal. To love your friend means to see a good character ’s trait distinguishing that friend from all other people. This trait is unchanging - you can always rely on it. A good character ’s trait is neither in the beautiful eyes nor in the beautiful mouth or nose. It is in the highest place, at the peaks of this person’s life. When you find the good trait of your friend, you will embrace it and hold it within yourself as a sacred gift. And Nature will write down again, “You will grow up as a great human being.” You have a teacher whom you admire, so you say, “My teacher is well read in many sciences: physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy. My teacher is really a learned person.” Knowledge is not determining for the person. It does not make one learned. Something else defines the teacher. A lot of knowledge that is not processed is a burden which only a few can carry. The external knowledge is only an adornment of the hat; the hat is the essential, not its ribbon. A teacher tells a female student, “You could buy the most beautiful hat for yourself but without any adornments on it.” She goes with her friend to buy a hat. She chooses the best hat, but the hatter tells her that without a ribbon the hat is not impressive. “My teacher told me to buy a hat without adornments.” “Your teacher does not know anything about hats. If you add a ribbon the hat will look better.” Her friend insists to add one more ribbon. The girl gives up and puts two ribbons on her hat saying, “Now my teacher will be satisfied with my hat.” No, the hat has lost its value. Why? It is because it conforms to extraneous ideals. Imagine that you are a writer and receive a beautiful pen with a golden nib from your friend. Another friend visits you, sees the pen, and adds a big precious stone on it. Still another one comes and puts one more precious stone on it. You want to write with your pen, but it is difficult: the precious stones make your pen heavy and gradually your thought becomes also heavy; it does not flow as fluently and easily as before. What are the adornments in Life? Such are the temporal and transitional ideas of the contemporary humankind, of the spiritual students and believers of today. They do not comprehend the power of the Divine that penetrates the human soul like a spark, inflaming the eternal fire within it. Some people say, “I wish someone would hang a diamond around my neck even though this will not correspond to the high ideal.” It is not good. It makes sense to have a diamond hung around your neck, only if it is the biggest, most beautiful, and purest one. This is how your ideal should be. If someone wants to hang around your neck a small, barely noticeable diamond, do not accept it. Whatever you wear outside and within should correspond to the high ideal; otherwise do not even consider it. Strive for the greatest, for the most beautiful, for the best and purest in the world. This is the Truth to be placed within your souls, hearts, and minds. To talk about the high ideal to people means to follow the flow of the Great River of Life. Where is this River running? Tonight I have been speaking to you about the high ideal expressed through the greatest, the most beautiful, the purest, and the best in the world. It is the first ray emanating from the Divine Source. If you receive this first ray, you will become spiritual students and true human beings. You will be among those who perceive the Truth as a high ideal of their soul. If you were late and did not receive the first ray, you would fall into the situation of the children forgotten in the cellar of Nature. This cellar is for the ordinary, not for the special, or in other words, for the Divine children. The Great World has been created especially for them. Everyone talks about what exists within them. The holder of a high ideal speaks about it as the loving person speaks about Love; the truth-lover speaks about Truth; and the sage speaks about Wisdom. So, the person of love speaks about Love and the coward speaks about fear. Comparing them, who gains? The one who speaks about Love. The sage speaks about issues of importance, while the knownothing - about petty things. The wise one builds and the fool destroys; the wise one writes creatively and the fool copies. Who of them wins? The wise one, while the fool loses. A son of a rich man says that he has learned how to sign the money orders sent by his father. The life of many people consists only in signing. They have just signed to take something from this or that person. And when Nature looks at such a person who only takes and gives nothing in return, she writes down, “This child will not become a true human being. It has learned only to sign, but it cannot write anything else alone.” What is required from people of today? You should follow the Path of the Enlightened Beings, Brothers of the Light, and Assistants of the Universal Brotherhood. They all carry a high ideal within their souls. They think, feel, and act according to the requirements of that high ideal. And when one of these Beings decides to come down to Earth, all advised It to go among the best people, in other words among those who strive for a high ideal. Who will the Master pay a visit to? He will go to those students whose souls yearn for their Teacher. Visiting them, he will say, “Here are some of my students who live by the high ideal.” But passing by the house of a student who has not created a bond with him, the Master will say, “Here lives one of my forgotten students.” He will pass by and continue on his way without leaving anything for that student. The high ideal can be expressed in a few words: it is that, which is most beautiful, righteous, and truthful - all that is of best quality. Place the high ideal within your soul and see how your life will improve. Application is needed. If you say that your heart is empty, know that you lack Love. “What should I do to attain Love?” Rise early every morning and go out to see the sunrise. If you receive the first ray of the Sun, you have already opened your heart for Love. The first ray means the first thought and feeling that pass through your mind and heart. Write down the first thought and feeling that have come to you when you wake up in the morning. Nature is very strict in this respect. Nature listens attentively to the first thought crossing child’s mind at wake-up; as well as to the first feeling moving the child’s heart. And if you, a child of Life, think first of God from the moment you rise from sleep, think of His Love that fills your soul and awakens gratitude within you for all blessings, Nature will write about you, “This child is going to be a great human being!” Lecture of the General Esoteric Class (General occult class), held by the Master Beinsa Douno on September 11, 1923, Sofia. -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. See also 1John 3:18–20, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in Truth. And by this we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” 2. Petko Slaveykov (1827–1875): Bulgarian poet and supporter of the National movement for liberation from the Ottoman Empire.

THE BLOSSOMING OF THE HUMAN SOUL The separation of the human soul from God represents one of the greatest moments in Creation. This separation is known in the Angelic world as “Dawn of Life.” In the world of humans, it represents one Divine breath because with every breath of God new intelligent souls come into being. New worlds are created with every outbreath of God and with every inbreath some worlds are reabsorbed and the souls enter into the material world. So, with every Divine breath or with every exodus of souls from the Prime Source, they go straight ahead as Divine Rays in the infinite cosmos. Thus they enter the vast Universe of their mission or the pre-assigned work they are given to complete. Now, you who have gathered here feel this inner Divine impulse as an undefined aspiration. People of today call this “youth.” Do you know the proper direction of youth as it should be? It is the direction that is observed in plants. Modern people have lost it. Sometimes they move to the left, sometimes to the right. Youth is neither to the left nor to the right. It is an all-powerful path, defining and equally comprising all directions of existence. To be young implies that you know your path. To be young implies that you bear the most elevated, sublime ideas. Christ said, “Blessed are the children, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.”[1] The Kingdom of God belongs to the young, as they are free of moral taint and go neither to the left nor to the right. You all should possess the noble features of prince Hussenfrakh. Here is his story. He was once considered one of the proudest sons of the kingdom, totally unapproachable and unsociable. One day, while hunting in the mountains, he found a wounded abandoned shepherdess. Robbers had attacked her, had stolen her whole herd of sheep, and left her wounded. For the first time the prince felt his heart moved by compassion. Finding the shepherdess so abandoned, he treated her wounds and brought her to the palace on his horse. He took care of her until all her injuries were healed. After her recovery he brought her back to the mountains. He found the robbers, regained her herd from them and gave it back to her so that she could continue her usual life looking after the sheep in the mountains. Some may comment that the young shepherdess should have stayed in the palace with the prince. No, she needed to return to her herd in the mountains after she had experienced some of the prince’s noble qualities so that the sheep could experience these same qualities too. I think that you are like this prince and will find many shepherdesses in the world. I call “shepherdesses” the abandoned human souls, independent of their gender. Gender is of no significance in this case; it is only a method of self-improvement. I address all young people: Know that you are living, intelligent souls and you should accomplish one great quest in the world. If you do not raise your consciousness to the idea that you are souls, if you think that you are just your minds or hearts, men or women, lads or maidens, you are not going to accomplish anything. Many have already tried these methods. However, I think that if you engage your consciousness with the thought that you are living, intelligent souls, you are going to introduce something new into your life, setting it to a new course. In the present development of the human being, there is nothing more sublime than the state of the soul. It carries within itself all the conditions and opportunities of Divine Love. God can express and manifest Himself in His fullness only within the soul. Love can fully express itself only through the soul. If you manifest your love through the heart, it will be only a half of it. If you manifest your love through the mind, again, it will be only a half. All failures in the world come as a result of these halves. Do you know how Nature reconciles them? How is a cherry’s stem formed first and the blossom afterward? The stem is number one, is it not? It means that the path of the soul is circular: from its emergence from the Prime Source until reaching the destination of its journey. This circle is divided into two equal parts by its diameter. In the similar way, when a bud is formed, the stem beneath is formed first. A cross is formed by drawing a perpendicular diameter and the blossom, which was previously a bud, now bursts open. One can already see the stamen, which together with the blossom, heads toward the center of the Sun, toward Love. When you remove the stem, that is number one, the two hemispheres of the blossom remain, manifesting their new direction. Thus, number three is formed, which is represented as a triangle. This blossom, at the current moment, represents the human soul. So we could say that only now the human soul gets to blossom. Until now, it has existed in the form of a bud, but now, for the first time, the bud has begun to open. It is noted as one of the greatest occurrences in cosmos designated as “the blossoming of the human soul.” All Sublime Beings in the Divine World have been waiting for it. The chalice in which the soul manifests itself will then reveal its beauty and God will imbue it with His Light and Love. This is to say that now you are all facing one of the greatest epochs in the world, the blossoming of the human soul. You all will become aware that you are souls coming to blossom. And blossoming, you will emit a delightful fragrance that will spread throughout the world. Only thus, you will gather all these small bugs, little flies, and bees around your chalice because you will produce nectar for them to feed on. As soon as the human soul comes to blossom, all Angels who are servants of God will arrive. For millions of years, from times immemorial, they have been waiting the blossoming of the human soul and what is Divine in the human being in order to gather the nectars from it. The Angels will bring a New Culture with their coming, which will be called “Culture of Divine Love.” I would like you to keep one essential thought: Know that you are like buds, so focus entirely on your blossoming, as it is a paramount moment in your life. After your souls have blossomed, there is nothing greater than joining the Divine World and exploring the possibilities hidden in it. This is not an illusion. You shall come to experience it. For this reason, I say that you all need to be pure of heart and intents. Today you, the youth, bear the debts of the old, but this is only on the surface. Unrighteousness is only dust that accumulates on the surface of the human soul. Remember this: You are not defiled within. Be not deceived by anyone; the dust is only on the outside. Someone may come and say to you that you are sinful. He may cite the verse that says, “And in sin my mother conceived me…”[2] In truth, the human soul is conceived in Love at other place than Earth. You are souls, not bodies. Remember this: You are souls conceived in the Divine Spirit a long time ago. Now the opportunity has come for you to open, blossom, and bear fruit, which to be auspicious before God. I would like this essential awareness to be laid in you as a foundation. If it is not rooted, then the meaning of Life cannot be perceived. Whatever philosophy or science you may investigate and follow, still you could not attain the profound Truth you are seeking. There is one way to It. If you are aware of this, there will be no difference where you are going, left or right, upward or downward. You will live in oneness experiencing the omnipresence of God. When you get this, you will not fear hell. Paradise is where the soul is, in fact, the soul creates the paradise. A place abandoned by the soul turns into hell. Hence, hell is a soulless place, while paradise is a place of the souls. Now I would like to draw your attention to the weather outside and see what it tells about you. The day is beautiful, the Sun is shining, the sky is clear and all this is a very favorable omen. Only you can ruin such a beautiful day; no other power can do it. It is for you all, it is a day for each one of you. If you grasp the concept that you are souls and have come from God in order to serve Him, your life is going to be like this day. The Sun will shine in your mind and soul and your soul will see God. This Great Divine Spirit will dwell in you, therefore you are going to be strong and firm enough to fulfill everything that you desire. Everything in the Universe is possible, but only under one condition: when you are all aware that you are souls and God abides in you. Through this thought only you may feel that deep warmth and that deep connection, which exist among all beings. Then not only Earth but also Heaven will become more familiar to you. In this way, your present life now on Earth, representing a microscopic part of the entire Whole, will become meaningful only by this Great idea. Some of you might have some inherited shortcomings. They are only externals because all diseases and weaknesses are only on the surface of your mind or heart. The Great Day is coming now into the world, when all your shortcomings will disappear at once. When you open up for the Divine Light and receive the Divine Warmth, all your past shortcomings will vanish without a trace. You are going to sense then a special fragrance of Life and you will become so powerful and mighty, so joyous and happy, so young and energetic, as you have never felt in any of your lifetimes, births, and rebirths. The blossoming will occur as soon as you break all chains of slavery binding your soul. As soon as you get free of them, the Divine Spirit will come to your soul for re-establishing the union between you and God, between the human being and the Creator. I would like you to accept the idea that Heaven is something close and accessible to you. You should not think of it as some remote and inaccessible place. No, it is up to you to have it. When the Divine Ray illuminates you, if that same evening you go out and look at the sky, all stars will speak to you and tell you a sweet word. Thus you will come to know that stars can also speak. All these words will be combined in such a way as to form a new book of your life. You will then have the whole codex, all ordinances and laws, methods and ways by which to live. It all will be so clear to you that when you express intent to accomplish some work, each star at which you look up will smile at you to encourage you. So there will be not impossible things for you. You will be able to perform everything in joy and delight. I will be pleased if you consider yourselves students of the Universal Brotherhood of Light for which you are preparing now. May temptations turn to be not hindrances on which you stumble, but challenges that will make you heroes. Do you understand what heroes mean? Those who have no fear of darkness, but grow in Love and Light - I consider them heroes. It is my wish for you to have great success in the work that is to be done at this gathering. You need to write only a few lines, but try to write them well. You are now laying a foundation. Try to place it well. There should be unity and harmony among you and everything should be performed with Love. Do you understand? Lay as a foundation this: May all that you think, feel, and do of your free will be raised and is guided by the Great Principle of Love so that you can really experience it. And this Love will inspire the Great Divine thoughts in you. You all should have sublime ideas and such profoundness that everyone around you may feel that you are the bearers of something new. Each one of you should bring the unique, which is indeed the sacred anticipation of your soul. Protect this sacred anticipation; there is nothing more beautiful than that. When your heart is in a stir, when your mind is in a stir, do not be afraid. Do you know what the wind means for that blossom, which is slightly moved by it? This gentle stirring is one of the blessed moments in life. Some of you are afraid of such anticipation, but when your heart and mind stir, these are some of the most beautiful experiences in your life. Try to do everything according to the Law of Love. As I told you yesterday, try to be a model for people of the old ways. If you succeed in this, you will remain forever young. If you do not give this example, some other young people will come to do it and you will become old. But if you succeed to do it, you will be eternally young. I would like you to be the last generation of the old ways, thus breaking the line of those going in the old ways. True, the representatives of the old ways must pass away, is not that so? They are the people of transgression, delusion; they have caused the highhandedness and misfortunes existing today in the world. The young are the new human beings who come to life in the image and likeness of God. I say again: The young are those who will blossom and flourish in the image and likeness of God. I give you this great concept not only to have it while you are gathered here, but also to take it home with you! No greater idea may ever exist than that. Say, “We are anticipating that great moment when our soul will blossom and we are going to receive the Divine Light and Warmth. We will bring a new fruit so that to overcome all shortcomings of the humankind of today.” It is my wish for you to have the support and blessing of the Universal Brotherhood of Light, to receive the blessing of Christ, Who is the Head of this Brotherhood and to experience God’s Love, which is the meaning of Life. All this should be laid as a foundation in your souls so that you may become bearers of the New Teaching presenting the coming of the Kingdom of God and the fulfillment of God’s Will on Earth! Now, be so good to sing a song and begin your work. Lecture given by the Master Beinsa Douno at the opening of the First Youth Council Gathering of the disciples of the Universal Brotherhood of Light, July 2, 1923, Sofia. ------------------------------------------ 1. See also Luke 18:16–17, “But Jesus called them to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them; for of such is the Kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’” 2. See Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me.”

Note 4 Tenderness and Roughness Lecture thirty-one, read by the Master to the Youth Occult Class on the 27 of June 1923, Sofia - Only the bright way of Wisdom leads to the Truth. - It constantly cheers us. A secret prayer A synopsis of the essay “A method for correct breathing” was read. A synopsis of the essay “The influence of the powerful and of the weak words” was read. For the next time, write on the theme “Origin of the force and of the matter”. If you cannot write on this theme, don’t try to think up something. It is better not to write anything, than to deceive yourself that you know something. Write on the following theme: “Is the human soul a principle or not.” In order to be able to answer all the questions asked correctly, man should gradually open the windows of his mind, so that more Light can penetrate through it. Is this possible? As man can open and close the windows of his house, so can he open and close the windows of his Mental and of his Spiritual World. The spiritual world of the human is his inner world. Imagine that within the material world the human stands in the centre C and in front of him a certain field of vision is revealed – he sees things only at the angle ACB (Figure 1). This angle is one fourth of the whole circle and it is equal to 90 degrees. If he wants to see something in the Spiritual World, man has to turn in a direction opposite to the material world and to enter in the field of this world, which can be represented by the angle MCN. The material, Figure 1, the outside world, gives only outer impressions of things; in order to penetrate into the essence you should enter in the Spiritual World. If you have one bottle, which is sealed and full of fluid, you can take it in your hand and you can examine its outside form; if you would like to understand what it contains, you should turn it with its mouth downwards. After the fluid, which was in it, flows out, you will be able to know what it contained. The contents of the bottle, stands for the Spiritual World. Consequently, when you want to understand the spiritual side of things, you should examine it from a position just opposite to the material world. That is why, whenever you would like to understand the inner contents of things, you should absolutely disregard the form and appearance. On the same grounds, in order to understand the essence of the human, you should temporarily disregard his appearance. The difference between the appearance of things and the contents of things is great. Figure 1 Now let’s examine the practical side of this matter. Each man carries within himself ideas, thoughts, and desires from his past, which hinder him on his way. He reads, he is interested in the new ideas, he passes as a new type of man, but all this is only seemingly. As soon as they subject him to an exam, he cannot apply the new ideas and so he proceeds in the old way – according to what was put into him from his past. He has to work with the new ideas for a long time before they become flesh and blood for him. This is seen everyday in Life: you meet a learned man who has graduated three schools – on whatever subject you discuss with him, he knows everything, he knows all the philosophical systems, but if you put him in a fix, in spite of all his knowledge, he also will make the same mistakes as the uneducated man. In this case, the difference between the learned and the uneducated man is this – the learned man will do good or evil deeds as a learned man, while the uneducated man will act as an uneducated man. Consequently, it is not enough for a man to have knowledge; he should also know how to use it. The same applies to the occult students as well: it is not enough for the occult disciple to gain knowledge, but he should also be ready to put it into practice and to know how to cope with it. Otherwise, he will find himself in the position of the poor man who digs and works with the hoe against his will, instead of a conscious decision. Give money to this man in order to see what he will do with it – he will immediately leave the hoe, he will dress nicely and he will begin to visit theatres, he will begin to go to concerts and pubs with his friends – he will take to eating and drinking. Meanwhile he will wash himself, he will clean himself, he will take care to be clean from the outside – whether or not he is internally clean, he will not care. This man resembles the scientists who know the composition and the features of the foods, who know which foods are the best ones, but when it comes into question what foods they have to use, all their knowledge fails. This is not real knowledge, this is not science. The first thing that is required of the occult disciple is that he understands himself. To keep those feelings of his which constitute the foundation of his life. Which feelings are fundamental for him? For instance, one of the basic feelings of the disciple is that he should sympathize with all living beings and he should know that they too suffer at least as much as he suffers. No matter how small some being is, it still suffers. It is easy to say, “This is just a fly, this is just a mosquito,” etc. These creatures are small, but they also have torments and sufferings. That they do not posses the consciousness and intelligence of man is another question. The difference among all living creatures is in the degree of their consciousness; it is in the degree of their intelligence. As you study the life of vermin you see that they also have some degree of intelligence through which they understand; they know which parts of the human body has meat, which part is more soft and more greasy and in which spots of the body the blood is more clean and they attack there. The scientists call this special intelligence of the vermin an instinct. This is how you should look upon all living beings. If you deny the existence of any consciousness in small beings, if you deny even their smallest intelligence, then you cannot be called a noble man, still less can you be called an occult disciple. A disciple is the one, who follows the steps of the White Brothers. White Brothers view all living beings with the proper respect and esteem. They respect the life of even the smallest creatures because all living beings in Nature have their own great purpose. So, as disciples you should understand all living beings, no matter how small they are. If you understand the small creatures, so much more will you understand man himself. How much more should you understand each other as disciples of one and the same School! To understand all living beings – this is one of the tender and noble feelings of the human, which can be distinguished by its form and by its composition. If you analyze the tender and noble feelings in man, you will see that they fundamentally differ from his other feeling as regards form and composition. However, the tender and noble feelings are subject to constant changes. Such is the nature of the Spiritual world to which the feelings belong– everything changes and everything is in constant movement there. Changes happen also with the physical bodies – they also move, but all this happens slowly, almost unnoticed. If you build a house on the ground and after one hundred years you decide to destroy it, you will see that each brick, each stone, each beam is still almost in the same place as when it was first built. They have shifted slightly, they have shifted to one side or another, but this movement, this change remains almost unnoticed to the normal eye. Consequently, the continents, the rivers and the mountains are also shifting, but this change remains unnoticed. Thousands of years ago, the continents were not in the places that they are in today. In the future they will move, they will shift, but again they will not occupy the present places. But in the Spiritual World this movement is much faster – there things are moving so fast, that if someone suddenly comes into this world, he by no means would be able to find his way on his own. Where there is movement there is Life. The same movement occurs also within the cells of all the organisms. Such movement, such displacement occurs also with the cells of the human organism. For instance, after thousands of years the cells of the human legs will be in the brain and will change its function. The function, as well as the composition of the cells depends on its place within the human organism. No matter how much the cells resemble each other in the composition of material or matter from which they are made, there always exists, one delicate, scarcely perceptible difference. For example, oxygen, which is an ingredient in the cells of the human legs, differs in some way from the oxygen that is an ingredient of the blood. In its turn oxygen, which is an ingredient of the blood, differs from the oxygen that is an ingredient of the brain cells, etc. In its physical state, though, there is no difference and everywhere it is one and the same – everywhere it is the element oxygen. In the organic and psychic respect, oxygen differs in its properties from physical oxygen. Therefore, we can say that oxygen has external or physical properties, but it also has internal or psychic properties, which scientists call chemical properties. Both the physical as well as the chemical properties of various types of oxygen differ in place and function, though. In order to see where the force which forms, that is, which creates the things, hides – whether it is inside or outside, make the following experiment: take the valve of a mussel, cut it into small pieces, put it into water and see if you can restore its original shape. Whatever you do, you cannot restore the shape є; this shows that the force, which has worked for the creation of the mussel valve, is external to it. But if you dissolve several crystals of sea-salt in water and then you evaporate the water, the crystals of the salt will be restored; this shows that the salt, which has functioned for the formation of the crystals, is within them. This means that in some cases the forces of Nature function outside the bodies, while in other cases they function within the bodies. The same thing can be said for atoms as well; there are atoms with life outside; there are atoms with life within them. This is also noticeable in the realm of your ideas: for instance, there exist some ideas, in which the oxygen atom is from the outside; there exist other ideas, in which the oxygen atom is within them. This creates a difference in the ideas themselves. The atoms of elements change places and function in different ways, as well as the cells of the human organism that change places and functions. For example, after one thousand years the cells of the human legs will enter the human brain – people call this evolution. If the cells of the human brain cannot utilize the favourable conditions, though, after thousands of years, will descend to the legs and will occupy a lower position – this is what people call karma or doom. Based on the same law the human can be in the legs or in the head of the Cosmic Man as well - as a result of this he will occupy better or worse Life conditions. If he utilizes rationally the unfavourable conditions, he will proceed to more favourable Life conditions. When they hear such things, many people wish that they could be smarter, better, and that they could develop faster. The human being can be neither smart nor stupid; the human being can be neither good nor bad. Why? Because the part cannot be equal to the whole, the mind stands for the totality of the Great, for the Divine in the world. Consequently, only this person can be wise enough who know God - the person through which God manifests Himself. Without these conditions, no man can be wise – he will always remain a small particle, which has nothing in common with the whole. Imagine that you are looking at yourselves in a flat mirror and you see your reflection in it; does your reflection have the same characteristics as you have? Seemingly, the reflection bears some resemblance to you, but it doesn’t posses the characteristics which you have. You hear the speech of a notorious orator voiced by a gramophone; does the gramophone itself posses the characteristics of the man whose speech it reproduces, does it posses any rationality? There isn’t any rationality in the gramophone – it can only be a reflection of the human. Consequently, the reflection cannot be equal to the reality. Likewise, the human cannot be like God. It is said in the Scriptures: “Be like God.” This does not mean that the human can be like God, it means that he should strive to attain the manifestations of God. One of the characteristics of God is that despite the fact that He does great things – He makes suns and universes, He nevertheless takes charge of the ant as well; when He sees that an ant is drowning He immediately comes to the assistance of this ant. The Eye of God, the Consciousness of God is awake for all things that happen within the Universe. He sees everything; he puts everything in its place. If man cannot manifest these characteristics within the small world in which he lives, what can we say for his manifestations in the great world? As disciples you should work over yourselves, you should develop your attentiveness and your delicacy. This feeling is like the seeds of the plants; it needs certain conditions – just like the seeds, which need soil, water, air, and light. As you know this, you should grow the seed without getting discouraged. If in the first several years this seed does not bear fruit, it will produce fruits during the fifth or during the sixth year. The seed should be planted on time and in conditions favourable for it. Each lecture, which you listen to, stands for the favourable conditions for seed planting. Utilize these conditions, so that the seed planted can grow and develop. The Divine provides the conditions for growing. There is no respite and there isn’t any neutral zone in it. As you enter in the Divine world, you should by all means, take a certain direction. No one is allowed any rest there – all the beings there are engaged with work. Whoever tries to stay without working and rests, will get out of this world before he knows where he is. In whatever world the man is, he should work on himself. If he doesn’t work on himself then others will work on him. What is the Divine world? The Divine world is a rational, a conscious world – it is not mechanical, as some people imagine. If you are weak, but you utilize the conditions of this world rationally, you will become strong. But if you are strong, but careless, then you might experience greatest disappointments. Why? Because even the smallest mistake in the Divine world is able to produce bad results. In order not to reach such a condition, man should utilize the favourable conditions; otherwise, he will go to extremes as some people often do. If you hear someone saying, “God will think out everything.” It means that this man will stay and he will wait for God to think out everything for him – this is an extreme. Another one says, “I should work personally, I should not rely on anyone.” And you see, that this man strains, he makes efforts to overcome the difficulties in Life, but he doesn’t succeed – this is another extreme. One thing you should know, in some cases God will think out, in other cases man should think out; in some cases God will work, in other cases man should work. What do we understand when we say God works – when does God work? When man is weak, in other words, when the son is weak – his mother works for him; when the mother is weak – her son works for her. In the first case the child, the son stands for the man, while the mother stands for God who works for him. In the second case, the mother is the man, while her son is God who works for her. In this way an exchange occurs, when one of them rests – another one works. Without this exchange, people wouldn’t have been able to help each other. So, be attentive to the sufferings of all living beings and know that all those around you also suffer. Suffering is a beautiful thing! Suffering is just the language of God – nothing else. It is the Great Mother. Whoever wants to hear from God should be ready to bear the greatest sufferings in the world and he should be ready to be neglected by all people. And if in such a situation everything around him abates, then he will hear God’s voice – then he will connect with the reality in Life. Until man is healthy, until he is wealthy, until he has friends, God will not start talking to him – everybody might talk to him, but not God. Whoever has suffered has attained greater softness, greater tenderness, more knowledge and experience than the one, who has not suffered. Nevertheless, all people want to pass their lives without suffering. When someone mentions suffering, you say, “Let suffering stay away from me.” When someone mentions Joy, you immediately smile. But Joy and grief always go one after the other. If you call grief, Joy will immediately come after her. When grief talks with some man for a long time it in fact says to him, “Up till now I tilled and hoed –I know how to do this. After I break the ground of the field I will call my sister – Joy – to plant it – she is very good at planting.” If some man calls Joy before the field has been hoed and broken, she will tell him, “I have a sister who knows how to plough and how to hoe; she has to come prior to me and to do this job – then I will come to plant the field. We work together – she commences some job and I finish it; then I commence and she finishes.” Consequently, without Joy and Grief the life of man would be unhappy. As they work together they cultivate the human, they bring tenderness and softness within him. If only the grief worked on him, it would make him rough; if only the Joy worked on him, it would make him hard. Both of them though, bring soft, tender, noble feelings and noble aspirations into the human character. The same can be noticed among the learned people; while a man is preoccupied only with a single subject, as a result he gets rough. If a learned man devotes twenty or thirty years of his life only to the study of the butterflies, he will get rough. What will be the use, if during his life he has caught thousands of butterflies and stuffed them? What kind of art, what kind of science is the occupation of a man who stuffs various animals? A day will come when this man, who has stuffed thousands of the animals with a status lower than his, will be stuffed, too. The real art, the real science is when he studies animals without stuffing them. While occupied with stuffing animals, science takes a wrong direction. While it brings in the Good in Life, it also brings in the evil in Life, the rough and the cruel things. Except for stuffing animals, Nature can also be studied by another method, which differs from the former methods. So, beware of the roughening of the feelings. Upon studying natural sciences and mathematics, man can roughen. If he is not cautious, each man might roughen, no matter if he is a minister, a teacher, a priest, etc. If the Master beats his disciples, in less than ten years he will start to roughen. If the priest acts rudely with his congregation, he roughens. If the minister is rude to his dependent, he also roughens. Each thing might roughen man, so he should be careful and he should protect himself. There doesn’t exist a natural scientist who has not paid a high price for the stuffing which he has done; there isn’t a fisherman who hasn’t paid a high price for the fish caught; there isn’t a butcher who hasn’t paid a high price for the sheep and cattle he has killed. In general, there doesn’t exist a man in the world, who after he has violated the Divine law, has not paid for that. So, whoever studies Nature, should observe some sacred rules that the contemporary scientists do not know and do not apply. If, for instance, someone wants to study butterflies, he has to go to that Exalted Being which patronizes them and to he has to ask from this Being permission to study them. If this Being gives him such permission, it will also give him a way to treat them and a way to study them without causing them any harm. If this man decides to enter the kingdom of butterflies without permission, their protector will teach him a lesson, which he will remember forever. If someone wants to enter the kingdom of the elements as a chemist and to study them, he will nevertheless have to ask permission from the keeper of the elements – to ask if he is permitted to study them, to ask how many elements he is allowed to study, etc. To ask permission when you study some science, no matter what this science is – this is the first sacred rule, which you should observe. Otherwise, each of you will pay high price for the violation of this rule. This is the reason why many scientists pay dearly for their experiments; many of them have paid with their lives. Each area of science is sacred and whoever wants to study it, should obtain permission from those, who rule this area. If you would like to be a good medical man and to treat people successfully, first get permission from the Beings that rule this field and then practice. One thing is required from man - faith! He should have faith in what he studies. While he is under treatment, man should also have faith. The medicines, which the doctor prescribes to him, are effective to the degree of his faith. Things being as they are, man can be treated without medicines. Imagine that there are thirty paralyzed persons in some hospital: one has a paralyzed leg, another has a paralyzed arm, etc. If these sick persons have strong faith, all of them can get well with only one formula. The human faith is a mighty thing! So, as faith is a precondition for the curing of the sick person, so the school provides conditions for the development of the gifts and abilities put into the human being. Whoever might use these conditions, he can become a learned man. This means, that the school does not make man learned, neither does it gives him knowledge, but it does provide for him the conditions that are necessary for him to acquire knowledge and to become a learned man. The church does not make man religious, but it provides the conditions, necessary for the development of his religious sense. As you know this, you should have in mind, that the class in which you are will not make occult disciples of you at once, but it will provide for you the necessary conditions, so that you can become such disciples. If you use the conditions rationally, you will become successful disciples; if you do not make proper use of these conditions, you will not attain anything. The ideas, which are given in the School, should be so clear to you that they should not awake within your mind any ambiguity. In order to succeed in the adoption of the ideas, which are being presented to you, you should be like children. There doesn’t exist a funnier thing for man, than to think that he is old, that he is an adult and because of this he knows everything. This man has prematurely grown old – he is like a child who thinks that he is an adult man. A Frenchman is walking in the streets of a French town and meets a little boy with a cigarette in his mouth, he stops him and says, “Little boy, it is not good that you smoke – you are such a small child!” _ “Mister, don’t you know that there aren’t any children in France?” The misfortune of France is in this, that there are no children there. At the same time, everyone who you meet in Bulgaria will tell you, “How do you think – am I a simple man? You think I know nothing, don't you?” The misfortune of Bulgaria is in this, that all Bulgarians consider themselves learned people. When a man thinks of himself as a learned man, it is like when we have a bottle that has been full for years. No, as soon as your bottle is full, you should use its contents, you should empty it and you should fill it with fresh and clean water. Each of you should like to be filled up and to be emptied. When one gets empty, he should not regret that, when one is filled - he should be glad that he has acquired something new. For this reason all of you should have positive views of things – only in this way will you gain success and you will be able to develop properly. Now keep within your mind the following fundamental ideas from this lecture: when you suffer, sympathize with each other. Secondly: no matter what you do, no matter what you are occupied with, use it for the development of tender and noble feelings within you. Consequently, beware of roughening of your feelings and develop within your own self, delicacy and compassion. - Only the bright way of Wisdom leads to the Truth. - It constantly cheers us. Source

Note 3 Application Good Prayer I will read several lines from John, Chapter 4 – from line one to line twenty-nine. ‘God is Love’ What I have told all of you so far is that you need to apply things. I now challenge another word instead of can. Application excludes the negative sense of the word can, but you take it in its negative sense. The word can is positive. Otherwise you weaken the word can halfway. I say that we have to study and you ask, ‘Can I?’ Thus the word can is weakened. I see that this word has started losing its strength. Of course, if you encounter any obstacle, you won’t be able. What impedes the word can is always a certain internal obstacle. Obstacles in life can be in the mind – in one’s ideas, or in the heart – in one’s feelings or in the will – in one’s acts. Thoughts can be obstacles to ideas, that what one will do will be the best and there will be no other work second to one’s work. This is an inborn feeling in artists, in poets, in writers, in priests or in preachers. And anybody, who is alone, thinks that such thoughts and ideas that crossed his or her mind have never ever occurred to anybody else. But when one’s thought is realised, such a person begins to see its flaws. A renowned English preacher, while still at the university, read the Bible and said, ‘What an inexhaustible book the Bible is, one can preach on it for thousands of years and it won’t be exhausted!’ And later on he himself confessed that having preached on something for four times based on the Bible, he was at a loss with what else could be said. This is a mistake. A person that can be so easily exhausted shows that there are certain internal defects in his or her life. You have to know the origin of the cause you are defending now or of the ideas you want to get through – whether it is Divine or not. You certainly have to know it, beyond any doubt. You should not be as weak as that wolf who called his son and told him, ‘Listen, my son, I do not want you to distance yourself from the ideas of your grandfathers and ancestors. You have to observe the beliefs and attitudes they had, you have to observe them and you should not accept any other new teaching. The sacred religion we have had is the only religion existing in the world.’ This is what the wolf said to his son. So, what is the religion of wolves? Wolves say that each sin needs propitiating and offering, nothing more. When a wolf sins, he strangles sheep and they forgive his sins. This is how wolves think. Now you will be asked in society whether you are Bulgarians, whether you are Orthodox or heretics etc. Such a question seems to me a little far fetched, i.e. you as students of the Universal School of the White Brotherhood have to understand the question in a slightly different way. You won’t be asked whether you are Bulgarian even at a contemporary German university, you will be admitted freely. It does not matter whether you are Bulgarian or not when it comes to science. You may even be Orthodox, but Orthodox Christianity is of no importance to science either. You may be Orthodox; you may be Bulgarian and be one of the underachievers at the School. When you come to the School, neither your beliefs, nor your origin count. Above all you are required to study - this is sacred! A person who wants to study – this is a Divine impulse. And one’s desire to study, to implement God’s Will at a certain moment – this is what is sacred. This is the live human being manifested. What you think about are the traditions, while what you manifest – this is what is sacred. You want to serve humankind, to be useful to humankind. How will you be useful? Have you been useful to yourselves through what you wanted to serve others? I am asking you, which one of you has been useful to oneself in the true sense? If any evening, after having eaten too much, you feel a weight in your stomach, have you been of use to your stomach? If one day you are disconcerted and if your head gets agitated, have you been fair to your mind? If you become despondent, have you been fair to your heart? If you promise and do not stand by your word, have you been fair to your Will? And a person who is not useful to one’s heart, to one’s mind and to one’s will, cannot serve God. This is the law. If you do not respect your mind, if you do not respect your heart, if you do not respect your will, which is used for your elevation, how can you serve God? Now you watch only who has done what. We have to watch what God has done in the world or what people have done? The first sacred thing that I want from you is to settle your relations with God. What about the church? What about everything else? The first relation of the Universal White Brotherhood is the relation between God and you. I will prove to you why all the other relations you have in the world are unnatural relations. Take one of the noblest things: you have a child; you breast-feed the child, but the child cries constantly and wants to suck all the time. But the mother lives with the idea that this child will feed her and love her some day – it’s another matter whether this will be so. And I would ask how many happy mothers are there in the world, whose children have justified this love? So, what a mother does is not righteous, not noble, i.e. the relations between a mother and a child are unnatural. Why? This mother has conceived the child without knowing God. So according to the same law the child was born not knowing God. All misfortunes in the world spring from the fact that every job, that we start not knowing God, will be in the same relations with us. Therefore each thing in the world falls apart. Whatever we start very well will be destroyed in the end. Why? Because people do not have righteous relations with God. The attitude of God is righteous because there is only one answer to the Love you will manifest to Him, because God is one of the most elevated, noblest Beings. So, our attitude to God, who knows us very well, will be righteous and we will receive in return what we have given. And if we establish this righteous bond between God and us, then the third relation will be with the people close to us. When we descend, we shall know how to work, we shall set forth from the world of human beings to God. But on the Earth we do not know how to address God; we do not observe the conditions. As a result of all of this you all experience a desire to work, but you want to find somebody like you. No, one has to connect to somebody who knows God in the same way. You know God according to the philosophic and theoretic traditions, but you still do not know Him by essence, by nature, by experience, the way He talked to Moses on the mountain or to Christ. Some of you do experiments, but if you are asked a question you can easily fall in doubt. For those who have once spoken to God, this moment remains unforgettable in their consciousness. Everything may fade; everything may disappear, but this moment of talking to God remains absolutely unforgettable. The whole world may turn upside down, but no power can efface this Divine image. And consequently as the Scripture reads that God made man in His image after His likeness, what is meant is that during the creation God impacted Himself in the consciousness of the first man, that he could not be forgotten. The first people who saw God are coming now. They are the White Brothers; this is the culture that follows an absolutely different path of development. While the present people on the Earth are made of mud into whom a little of live soul was breathed in. They are a mixture of mud and Divine breath, which has resulted in a mess. This mess shall have to assume the image and likeness to God from now on. Now, you will have to eradicate your convictions. You will first have to invest humility in your soul. It is one of the qualities in each student who will be admitted at this School. Do you know what humility means? An absolute humility! Whatever position one may have – a tsar, a philosopher – everybody who enters the School, will forget about the top ranking one had. You will enter the School with no claims whatsoever. You will first learn your obligations, you will study everything, and you will not mention a word about your rights, you will have no demands. Others will take care of your rights. All the White Brothers will take care of your rights. You take care of your obligations, and they will take care of your rights. When you enter the School, you will study your obligations. If you do not observe this rule, you will stay out of the School. And do you know what you will resemble then – you will walk; you will go around the University of the White Brotherhood, you will see what there is outside, but you won’t know what there is inside. When you come back, you will talk about the external grandeur, you will know not what there is inside. Now, some of you will say that they have heard about these things. Fine, they have heard of them, but you have to understand these things now, and in order to understand them you have to get inside. So, the first thing in order to learn is humility, but humility as it is supposed to be. When one feels that one is humble one starts growing. Take for example those sons in the world who wait for their fathers to leave their fortune to them and think only of those rights that they have and tell themselves, ‘What shall we inherit from our father? There are six of us, our father has twelve million leva, so each will inherit two million leva.’ Every son regardless where he goes, keep saying this, ‘I have the right to, I have two million leva, I need no education, I need no work, I am provided for!’ And the present day Christians preach like this, ‘You are saved, Christ died for you, you have two million.’ Well, fine if you are saved! You stay here, you sing and you tell yourselves, ‘When we die we shall go to Heaven.’ This is a faulty understanding. What will you do when you go to the Spiritual world, now that you are not students of the Great School? So, a profound and grand desire has to start growing within you, a desire that you have never had so far. I sometimes see that you cry and I tell myself that great changes would be triggered if only you would shed these tears, which you have shed so far, for becoming students! And what do you cry about? You cry that somebody has insulted you, you cry that you have no money, you cry that you are no longer young, that you have grown old, that you do not have knowledge, that you do not have this or that, that you do not have any social position, that you have no strengths. Men and women alike keep crying. Crying is meant for the others. For you, however, it is supposed to be crying for going to school. To shed tears in order to become students is the greatest, the most desirable thing. Now that I am talking to you, you will say, ‘We have been looking for Christ for so long, we have been listening to Him, we love Him, we sacrifice for Him, we preach for Him!’ You have a faulty understanding. Imagine that you want to study music with a contemporary professor; you meet him along the road, you talk to him, you praise him, you tell him that there is no other second to him, you give him a bunch of flowers every morning for ten-twenty years, but you do not go to study music. I am asking you what you will gain. You will gain nothing. You will remain profanes in music and the professor will say, ‘This is a very kind student, brings me bunches of flowers, but I am very sorry, this student does not study.’ Now, imagine the opposite – you are in the school, you bring no bunches of flowers, but you study. He is pleased, he is glad that he has a capable student and he says, ‘This is a good student!’ What benefit is there if you meet God, give Him a bunch of flowers and tell Him, ‘God, you are good, you are such and such, there is nobody like you. You are Love! You are very good!’ You then say a prayer and afterwards you say, ‘I met my professor today, I gave him a bouquet and he is happy!’ This is good, not that I say that you should not do it, but having brought a bouquet to your professor, you should take the instrument, say a couple of nice words and start studying. Bouquets complement learning, and you will be able to transfer only what you have learnt. You want to influence certain people now and you say, ‘Let’s make this person one of us!’ How can you make this person become one of you? This is not a stone that can be taken by the one side and turned onto its other side. This is not a purse, which can be turned inside out and which can be emptied of its contents. A human being may take one direction in one’s development and the same human being may take another direction later on in one’s conversion. So I want us to have a correct understanding too. Now you all have one prejudice and you think that you know. You present yourselves as humble, but there is no humility in you. I am talking to you very frankly – the way I see things, you are seemingly humble, but you are proud in your heart. We can make an experiment: let’s assume that you are a highly placed lady and you are invited to a banquet at the top. Let’s say that you are religious, a believer and on your way to the banquet you meet an old woman in simple clothes carrying a basket of flowers who tells you, ‘Sister, can you take this basket and deliver this bouquet to a certain place?’ If this is a test and you are asked to take the basket somewhere, will you take it? You will say, ‘I am at a loss at this question, I am invited to a banquet, this is where I am going!’ Well, you actually have two invitations – on the one hand you are invited to a banquet, you are dressed up, you have spent some time in front of the mirror, on the other hand, Christ is inviting you to another banquet and is telling you, ‘You will take the basket!’ If you give up, this will be the end of it! And then you will join those who go around the university, watch what it looks like, what windows there are, the way they are arranged, but they do not know what there is inside the university. You are Christians, aren’t you? You have been studying with me for so many years. I have talked to you about Heaven and I want you now to describe to me what Paradise is like. Describe to me what there is in Paradise. Let one of you tell me that she has been to Paradise and let her describe to me the things that are there. Are there any volunteers willing to tell me what there is? You have been to Heaven, but the White Brothers know what you are like; they have a wide lake and after you come out of there, they dip you in this lake and they wash you. And then you say, ‘I was somewhere last night, but I forgot everything.’ None of this should seem strange to you. Sometimes you have a very clear dream and then you tell yourselves, ‘I will put it down!’ You get up in the morning, but the dream has disappeared and you tell yourselves, ‘I dreamt about something last night, but it’s gone!’ This is what happens with dreams – you have a dream, but you do not put it down and you forget it. When you dream about something, you will take a notebook and you will write everything in there, and I can tell you that those who do not write their dreams belong to those students who only go around the university. Now, being students you need humility and a complete Peace in your souls first of all – tranquillity and Peace. The Scripture reads, ‘God’s Peace!’ This Peace has to be acquired now. Peace can only be acquired when you establish a direct bond between God and you. This direct bond will give you such an impulse, as no other power in the world is not in a position to give you. It will not deprive you of anything. With such a bond you might be at the lowest position, you might be in the worst conditions, but apart from the fact that it won’t hinder you, this thing, the Divine thing, will transform all those elements, will extract the juices out of them and you will find yourself in more favourable conditions of life and you will be stronger. This is the Divine stuff. I see now that the same question is coming up in your minds ‘How can this be done?’ Christ says, ‘If you are not born again, you won’t enter the Kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus asked Him, ‘How is it possible for the old man, the manifested man, to be born again?’ Christ does not call ‘old man’ a person who is old in age, but a person who has knowledge, who has wisdom. I will interpret for you this conversation in another way. Nicodemus says, ‘Should one who has acquired knowledge, who has completed his studies, return, should such a person start again with the A, B, C. Christ says, ‘He has to return, to start with the A, B, C, to start from water and Spirit.’ Water – this is the New Life, the true Life, the Divine Life. Spirit – this is the intelligent, the Divine Life, which should dress the human soul again. This is one transitional phase in the journey from one life to another, which according to the Scripture means transition from the life that brings death to the life that brings eternal Life; it means a transition from the insane that brings insanity, through the sane that brings in sanity. Because where there is sanity, there is no sin. Only insane people can make mistakes. Sane people cannot make mistakes and each one of you, who makes mistakes at times, has been in a state of mental derangement. Each one of you, who commits the smallest sin, is all the same in a state of mental derangement. For instance, you get angry and you say, ‘Hang on I will take my revenge!’ Mental derangement is fast to come and you start thinking immediately how to avenge yourself. In the chapter that I read Christ showed this Samaritan the true path, which is studying and serving God, because we have to be workers. Workers you have to be! You want to be students and to apply the New Teaching. How can you define it? You may be asked, ‘Where is this White Brotherhood where you are students?’ Well, how will you defend your cause? We shall ask the contemporary scientists, ‘What do you believe in?’ ‘We believe in Christ.’ Where is this Christ? ‘Christ lived two thousand years ago, the apostles wrote about it.’ But have you been with Christ? You will be asked the same question. But you may have this experience. When you become students, when you acquire these qualities of humility and Peace, each one of you shall be introduced into the White Brotherhood by us and each one of you will see what it is like. Now a desire is surfacing in you to enter the Kingdom of God before you clean yourselves. Everything is possible in the world, but it is impossible for an unclean person to enter the Kingdom of God. Clean, absolutely clean you have to be! Do you know what clean means? Now, someone may ask me why I am not interested at times in this world. When asking me this question people think that they are intelligent. No, they are stupid and I will prove to them that this thing is sane, logical and plausible from our point of view. You want me to be more interested in this world than in that one. If you think it has to be so, you are stupid. You, who recommend this philosophy to us, do you act in accordance with it? You place a diamond on the table, as big as an egg and another smaller one. Well, I am asking you where your eyes will be set. You glance at the smaller diamond, but having afterwards looked at the big one, you won’t take your eyes off it any more. Which diamond do you want? You will say, ‘The diamond that is as big as a duck’s egg!’ If you are as intelligent as to take the diamond, which is as big as a duck’s egg, are we so stupid as to take the smaller egg? We are not so stupid. We see both this world and the other world. The other world is this big diamond and we act righteously not taking interest in it. So, we compare two truths, out of which first comes the beauty of your life. You will be told, ‘But we have culture!’ The culture that you have was taken from above, from us, from the White Brotherhood. The whole science – geometry, mathematics, natural history, astronomy, music, poetry, the fine arts – everything, everything was taken from above. This is not yours. They say, ‘We discovered something!’ You haven’t discovered anything. The people here on the Earth who say that they have discovered something, have not discovered anything. Everything was taken from the Invisible world and was transferred through the forms. Hence, this culture of the visible world was taken from the Invisible world and therefore it is a culture not understood, therefore the principles that they apply are not understood. Not only this, but sometimes you do not understand yourselves either and you ask yourselves, ‘What am I outside my body?’ Imagine that you take your clothes off some day and that you get out of your body and enter another world. How will you recognise each other? You feel your head, your hair and you say, ‘This is me, this is me Helen.’ Every evening an English philosopher asked himself whether it was he himself, to make sure whether it was not an illusion of some kind and after making sure that it was him he calmed down. Well, I am asking you – does one have a clear idea, outside of one’s thought, of who one is, or does one have a clear idea, outside one’s brain, of one’s thought. And if under the present situation you sometimes start thinking about yourselves as being something separate, you might get deranged and you will be scared. While now we can make an experiment or two at the School: we shall take you out of your body, we shall lift you up to the white lamp of the hall and you will be watching yourselves from there. Two things must be in your mind in order for you to contemplate. You will be watching yourselves outside your bodies and you will be wondering how this is happening. Only that the matter of that being, up there at the lamp, will be moving by virtue of the strength of the will, while the being down will need other conditions. Similarly some of your ideas stumble due to this simple reason. For example, you want to do something, you want to talk to somebody about God, but a thought immediately enters and paralyzes you ‘May I talk; will he or she accept what I will say; what if he or she ridicules me?’ Thus you find yourself in contradiction with you yourself and you think that you do not know. Do you think that I, who am a virtuoso, will be afraid to play in front of people? You will first play for yourselves and shall not think about anybody else. When speaking the truth, I say it to myself first of all, and as long as I say it the way I understand it, you will also understand it. Imagine that I am playing some beautiful piece and you are listening to it; I am glad and you are glad too. I am playing to myself; you are listening to me, and you say, ‘Very nice, thank you!’ I say, ‘There is nothing to thank about, I am playing for myself, while you, who have received the music, should be thankful for this.’ Our relations should be relations with God. When we reach this great Truth to serve God, then my words to you will be in fact a conversation with God, with whom solely I have a relation, and you will only be listening to this conversation. You have to have a direct relation with God and when you are in such a relation, your soul will be filled with internal Peace and all of your suffering, all of your present anguish will be so pleasant, that when you return home you will pardon your suffering. It will be so pleasant for you and you will be so sincere with it that you will tell it, ‘Up to now I have been wanting to get rid of you and to leave only a few children here and I intended to give you to others to be their servants, shoe-makers, tailors and seamstresses, cooks, basket-makers, but now since I visited God, I became so rich that now I would invite back all of you my children according to the law of Love!’ And the grief that has so far been tormenting you, will start leaping, playing and will say, ‘Mummy has become rich!’ But do you know why grief grieves? Imagine that you have one child, who is delicate and needs good food, but you do not have suitable food for the child and you give the child hard food. Will this child be merry? Do you know what grief is? I define grief as elevated spirits who are connected with us. So when we grieve, they also grieve and weep with us. While when we return to God, we will rejoice then, grieve will transform and this angel of grief will not weep. This angel goes around you and keeps telling you constantly, ‘You have talked very, very much. What you did today is not good!’ Then you turn and tell grief, ‘Listen, I need no advice from my children, you will obey, you shall not mess with my affairs, it is me giving the orders!’ ‘You may give the orders but do not commit evil deeds!’ You take your stick and you say, ‘Out, everybody out!’ ‘You may beat us, but you are not right, there is nothing more to it!’ Some day you will see that these children of yours, whom you now call grief, are your teachers. I call the whole of humanity recalcitrant students, nothing else. Not that you have an evil will, but all of you believe that these sufferings, all of this should disappear, and you, like gods, like some royal sons and daughters have to ring the bell only and everything should turn out according to your will. Even the poorest children in tattered clothes say, ‘Well, If only I were a prince or a princess, watch me what I will do!’ So, they also have an idea of princes and princesses. You say that poor children are unpretentious. Dress a poor child in new clothes and you will see how the child will meet you. The child will say, ‘I am not disposed.’ And this phrase ‘I am not disposed’ is merely a theatrical performance… I want to see how many of you will raise their hands if I tell them to and how many will say, ‘We decide!’ All of you will raise your hands, but I want you to raise your minds, to raise your hearts, to raise your wills. You will make an experiment: in the evening when going to bed you will say, ‘I want to go to the White Brotherhood, I will go to God!’ Some may ask themselves in advance, ‘Am I clean!’ Are similar thoughts righteous? When a sick man has been suffering from a disease for decades and he goes, in tattered shabby clothes, to a good noble and clean doctor, does he tell him that he is sick, does he ask him whether he needs to go to him? No, he goes to this doctor and says, ‘I will go to him, he will receive me!’ You have to have the faith of the sick in doctors. Students should have faith in their Master too. When they go to Him, the Master will receive them the way they are. If you take to heart the thought that he won’t receive you, this is the end of the story for you. Not a single doubt, not a trace of doubt about your nonsense, about your sins, about your weaknesses, about this or that! You will put aside everything at a given moment and will go full of faith to this Master in Life, whom you are looking for, and to these White Brothers of yours and they will receive you. This is a rule with no exceptions, not a single exception per hundred cases. If you adopt this rule in your soul, you can do your first experiment. The first experiment you will do in silence: you want to know whether God is with you and whether He listens to your soul. You are walking along a street and you hear a young motherless girl weeping or a sick person groaning. You will pass without saying a word, you will only approach the person, you will touch him or her unnoticed and you will pass away. You will then see the result of you touching the person. The result of your touch is that a current will pass from you and the person will run after you, he or she will recognise you; your hand will immediately have an effect. You shall not tell him or her that you will cure him or her. You will do experiments with one, two, three persons – you will bring Peace and Joy everywhere and you will see that you do it within a great art that you have never had. Now some of you will say, ‘Now that I have this art, I will pass by a millionaire, I will touch him and he will give away his or her wealth.’ This will also happen, but for the time being do the experiment with the sick. You will later on do it with the rich as well: a poor widow will beg a millionaire, and his heart will be cold as stone; you will pass quietly by him, you will touch him with your finger and he will immediately take out his wallet and give money. The strength lies in our hands, do you understand! We give orders to the world, not somebody else! Me, who is a disciple of the White Brotherhood, whose Head is Christ, it’s me who gives orders! I have said this so many times. You say that this will happen or that will happen. Nothing will happen. We know that things happen the way they are determined from above. Now I see that some of you have a weakness and say, ‘Let’s enter the church, so that we can be useful to our people!’ Which church? Does this church know Christ? I do not know a church that knows the Love for Christ. I still do not know a single church knowing Christ. All those who know Him must serve for free, without taking any money in return. It will be outrageous on my part if I go to a friend of mine to work for him and if I tell him in the evening, ‘Pay me now!’ No, I will work for free! It will be ridiculous when I love Christ to tell Him, ‘Pay me now!’ No, this has to be anticipation, a Joy for us! We consider this our duty and knowing this, He will also work for us. We for Him and He for us; God for us and we for Him; Masters for students and students for Masters! You have to be permeated by these principles. You say that this is similar to the old. No, these are two absolutely true positions. You may go to the other world, but if you do not work the way I tell you, you won’t achieve any substantial results. But if you work in this way and if you are a teacher for instance, this is what you will accomplish: the students that you have been teaching for four years won’t ever forget you and an absolute brotherly bond will be formed between you. While in the situation they are in now, they will meet their teacher with whom they have no relation whatsoever and they will say, ‘She was our teacher time ago, but now she has become poor.’ No, there are no such relations in the White Brotherhood. No power can belittle teachers there. Teachers can belittle themselves, but society can never belittle them. Society can belittle a teacher, students can belittle a teacher, but in the White Brotherhood this is impossible. There is no power greater than the power of the teacher there. Now the statements that I make are positive and they should not bother you; they should be an impulse to your strivings. You have not as yet experienced great trials. For example, you haven’t had the trials of Christ. Have any of you experienced the trials of Apostle Paul? He was beaten five times by thirty-nine following which he says, ‘Brothers, we shall enter the Kingdom of God with great grief’ We have to be through these sufferings by chapter seven.’ He was in your situation, he thought like you, he deemed like you, but having been beaten five times by thirty-nine, he entered chapter eight and then he understood what a relation suffering has, he changed his tone and said, ‘There is one way out of life and your present suffering is not in a position to alter us in our Love for God.’ And then Paul started telling a story, ‘I do not know whether I was in my body or outside my body, but I was taken to a place, I shall not tell you where, but I saw and heard things that I cannot tell you about.’ Where has he been? – To the White Brotherhood. He calls it the third sky, the future culture and he says, ‘The image of the external world passes and you are renovated, but until this future culture arrives, until John comes, these sufferings will last.’ John describes the present in the Revelation, he writes about the new town of Jerusalem. This is not a fantasy, but a real thing, which does not change. And under these conditions, you as students will continue to study. Do not think that in the White Brotherhood you will complete your studies within five-ten-fifteen years; it takes one, two, three, five and more lives. This is good because there is what to learn and the more time you have to study, the better. If you enter the White Brotherhood with your convictions, the way you study now, the way you are in a hurry now, you will have a miserable life. And when you see this material that you have to study from now on, you will be glad to find that you have the conditions for all this and that you will be useful. Whatever I tell you from now on I shall no longer dwell on what I have said so many times – to love each other, to have love for one another. But I will tell you that you have to have relations with God, that you have to love God, nothing more! I shall talk about nothing else – Love for God! Once we resolve this issue, all other issues will find their resolution so naturally, in a mystic way. All other social issues are resolved in a very natural way. If we can’t resolve this issue, we can resolve no other issue. All philosophers have been dealing with the resolution of this issue for eight thousand years. There is no other way out, apart from this one, ‘God loves me and I love Him!’ You may ask, ‘Well, does He love me?’ He loves you, there is nothing more to it! Whatever else may come to your mind, it is not true. The thing in you that may tell you that God does not love you, is satanic, it is from the devil. These are those spirits described in the Indian philosophy. Read about it some day and you will see how they are called. There is an Indian word for them, find it! This word designates the evil fallen spirits. Find the name the Indians call these fallen spirits. If you cannot find their name by the next time, I will tell you. I do not want to tell you their name now. So, when you say that you love God, you will hear something persuading you, ‘No, you do not love Him!’ Down there, below the belly button something tells you, ‘‘No, you do not love Him!’ And an argument begins: I love Him – I do not love Him - I love Him – I do not love Him… You have to say then, ‘God loves, and since He is infinite, since He neither changes nor alters, I do not have the slightest doubt in His love. Even if the world turns upside down, even if it falls to ashes, God loves, that’s it!’ There is no doubt in the first formula. You may step back, you may doubt the second one, but when you come to the first formula – everybody is silent. Now these are formulas, which will help you learn. Sometimes I have done experiments to find out whether you will lose heart. For example, I can tell you that nothing will come out of you. What does this mean? You tell me your intention to go to Varna. I reply to you that you cannot go to Varna and you lose heart. I wanted to say that you cannot go on foot to Varna within a day and you need seven days. You say, ‘I cannot go to Varna.’ You can. This is playing with words. Can – Cannot – this is abstract stuff. When you tell esoteric students that nothing will come out of them, you talk to them in a positive language and this is the best favour you do to them. They know that according to the law of negation everything can come out of them. ‘Nothing will come out of you’ means that everything can come out of you. While the expression ‘something may come out of you’ means that nothing can come out of you. For instance, a child is born and dies – such is the law on the Earth. I say, ‘This child will inevitably die.’ When? This is the question. Maybe after a month, after two months, after a year, after two years, after fifty, a hundred, two hundred years, but this is an event that will inevitably take place. Hence ‘may’ and ‘may not’, birth and death – these are opposite processes. Birth triggers death and death triggers birth. A student of the White School will never take offence. I say that your child will die, as the child is an underdeveloped soul that has smuggled into your home and it will be called from the other world. Another, much better child will be sent to you. What is there for you to be sorry about, then? Whether you are clothes to a rascal, to a criminal. Let it go with the clothes – what’s given is given. This is what language usage means, nothing more than this. I now want you to understand things in a positive way, in order not to allow a depraved thought to be born in your mind. All depraved thoughts are born outside Love. As soon as we come to this great Love of knowing God, no depraved thoughts can have any place either in the human mind or in the human heart or in the human will. The Scripture reads about all suffering, about all of your sins, whatever they may be, ‘I will obliterate all of your sins.’ When you return this evening, read line six from chapter six of Isaiah. You have to acquire the positive aspect of this Teaching, which should be a positive faith in your mind! You will endeavour to be free! If we are in a relation with God, we shall determine our relations on the Earth properly too; we shall fulfil our relations with people also. We shall not deal with any other questions. All of you will know that you have to resolve an important issue, which is so pressing and you already have the best of chances. I shall not call it a renovation, but I call this first step a conscious bond between you and the living God who is now active in the world. Once you establish this bond, then all of your relations, whatever they may be, will be settled in the best and perfect way. You will experience this. If you do not establish this bond, you will retain the same relations that you have now. And if sufferings start surfacing within you, nobody will be to blame, because everyone is responsible for oneself. Now, you live in Sofia and sometimes you ask yourselves what the church will say, what the priests will say. The Church – this is the White Brotherhood, nothing more! These are living Beings of the most elevated culture, this is what churches are; this is what the Kingdom of God is. This church we also know. And if someone says that we do not respect the church, this means that we do not want to beguile ourselves with what is not a church. We cannot be deceived by what is not a church. Now you will think! These are thoughts, which will take you a long time if you are to reflect on them seriously. You have to be like the small children in order to perceive these thoughts every evening without assuming that God won’t forgive you for your sins. No, there is no Being kinder than God, there is no Being more considerate than Him. He is so considerate! He is busy with so many issues, but He can hear the faintest sigh of all creatures no matter to what hierarchy they belong; He immediately pays attention to it in order to correct the mistake. There is nothing that can evade His sight and hearing. But as soon as you enter the School, where development is conscious, relations change. Since you are free at the School, you have to demonstrate your will there. God won’t force you to study, but He will leave you free to choose. We can’t make anybody righteous against one’s will. We cannot preach, we cannot help; we cannot influence such a person. A preacher, who wants to convert somebody, must take his or her place. God says, ‘Alter your role now!’ We do not want to exchange our role with anybody. Now, being students you have to adhere to these things. I want you to form a favourable atmosphere among you in the future. When gathering here, in the building, I want favourable influences among you to be formed, and when getting out, I want you to feel free. Silence and Joy should be manifested. I want you to be free. If you want your will to act freely, Love should come to you, which will bring breadth and freedom to you. The internal needs of all of you should also be satisfied. You have to be careful. When you stay in the evenings you won’t think of yourselves only, but you will think also of whom God thinks about, so that you think about them too. I shall ask you the following question: if you study in a class and if there are about thirty of you in class, is it possible, after having been together for several years, to be rude to each other? Hence, being students of the Universal White Brotherhood you have to stand out above all with your integrity. Do you know what integrity is? It refers to the personal dignity of a human being. It is not a supplementary means, but something moral, when you think intelligently. It does not become you to be dishonest. Once you make a promise, you have to be true to your word. Once you say a word, you have to stand by it. Moreover, students of the White Brotherhood have to be good, which is already a moral feature. Students of the White Brotherhood have to be so resourceful that they can give answers as to what one believes in to anybody. We also have to be valiant, noble and to have an elevated, inexorable and firm will, just like the firm Will of God. This is my desire. This should distinguish you from the others and when you pass they should be saying, ‘the students of the White Brotherhood are honourable people; they are people who complete whatever they start doing.’ What other recommendation do you need? Well, every kingdom, every society, every single state rest on this recommendation. The entire social order rests on this; the church rests on this. Can a church survive if there is no integrity? Can a church survive if there is no intelligence? Can it survive if there is no good will? We should establish these qualities at our homes as features distinguishing us from the external world. They say that they are like us, too. If they say that they are like us too, we shall not be like them, that’s it! Subsequently, for the external world, these should be the distinctive features of students. Now, I shall assign lesson one to the students before me, I shall assign an exam in integrity. Each of you who come in class, young or old, will earn an amount of three hundred leva by the end of the year and will transfer it into the safe. We shall collect a certain amount and afterwards we shall see what we can use this money on. The whole amount may be transferred, but money should be earned working, in an honest way. Let’s say that you have a husband; you will polish his shoes and you will ask him to give you five leva. Or you go to town and you may take the tram three or four times every day; you will give up travelling by tram, you will walk on foot and you will save the desired amount. Altogether whatever the work, it should be done honestly. You will write something, or you will learn something, but everything should be done in an honest way. This amount may be little for some, but it is a big amount for others. I want you to resolve the problem in an honest way, to make your money honestly. And afterwards we shall see what we will spend this amount on. We can solve this problem very easily in another way: some of you may take the money out of their father’s wallet. No way! If you cannot resolve the problem, I will tell how to do this. This is a nice exercise. Now, I do not want you to talk to anybody outside about this assignment. You will accomplish it according to a schedule, and everyone can spare fifteen minutes of one’s free time, but you should not come into any collisions. If you work along the way I am telling you, I believe we have understood each other. As long as the conditions facilitate you, we have understood each other. If you encounter great difficulties along the way, you have not understood me. If the conditions make it easier for you, you have understood me. If you say, ‘I came across many difficulties’ you have not understood me. If you have understood me you will overcome easily whatever difficulty you come across. If you do not overcome it, there is something, which is not all right and it has to be removed. There are no two opinions on this. This is one of the easiest tasks. We start with material tasks – three hundred leva. I am telling you that this is one of the easiest tasks for students, one of the easiest, which can be found in the tasks course book. If you think this task difficult, there is no simpler task than it. This should certainly be in the background, because it is not so substantial. I do not want you to start worrying how to find the three hundred leva. This is a minor issue. A substantial issue is the bond that has to be established between God and you. I will assist you in this respect. I will tell you about the relations between the bonds you have had so far, and this new bond, which is being formed now, so that you can see the difference. It can be difficult for you to imagine what the substantial difference between things is. At the present stage that you have reached, this bond can be formed because you have experience. This bond is a new element that will solve your problem, it will give meaning to your life and will regulate your future state. So you won’t be like the five silly virgins, but you will be like those five virgins who will come in with the bridegroom. I want you to be silent. Thus you will go home feeling free, inspired, and hopeful that you have to resolve a problem on which your entire future will rest. You won’t stumble. We know the professor, his life; we have enrolled in the school. I do not mean the external relations in the world, but the internal relations, which are Divine stuff. Now, I shall have to ask, in the old habit, whether you understand me. I shall not ask you. I put forward a new situation called by people wondering. When one is sitting up there and is watching downwards, one is wondering. When one has not been up there, but has only been marvelling at it, one sees the difficulties and wonders. And you all of a sudden find yourself in front of the mountain that you have to climb. Therefore the can and cannot are ruled out. You will say, ‘I will be a hero!’ since this is a process of movement. The phrase ‘I will be a hero!’, that’s it! Some say, ‘I will be a hero if God has so decided!’ ‘I will be’ implies that God has decided and I do not go over His will. Because God has decided, we shall enter the School; Because God has decided, we shall study; it will be the way He has decided! Now some will say, ‘Why aren’t we younger, why now when we are old?’ I want those of you who think that they are very old to tell me how old they are. We call a middle-aged person the one who is twenty million years of age. How old are we? We belong to the Solar system, and it takes the Sun twenty million years to complete one round. Then you are a young baby. How old are you in solar days? For instance, you are forty; calculate what part of the Solar system year your forty years represent. People cannot understand what person that will be who will be ten Solar system years old. A person from the Sun, who is ten years old there, will be two hundred million years of age by our standards. She will be a young girl there, will be hopping around and when asked how old she is, she will reply, ‘I’m ten’. The words young and old are only relations, various measures. Hence students cannot be old. Those who study are always young. You have to know that art of renovation in the White Brotherhood. One can renovate so easily using it as one renovates one’s house or one’s tree garden. What we consider difficult is very natural for the White Brothers – they constantly renovate, they are constantly young. You won’t meet such old people there. They can assume every form that human beings have. This is science; this is art, which we cannot perform. Now, you have to resolve the substantial issue. This is the issue of the future; this is a profound science. What is important is the bond that you have to establish. You have been told about this bond many times, you have made up your mind and you have reached this stage when you can already do it. So, you are absolutely prepared and you can do it! Lecture delivered by the Master on June 21, 1923, Friday. Source

Note 2 Tests Only the light way of Wisdom leads to truth. It amuses us all the time. A Thought The theme “Methods of correct breathing” were read. Do you know how to breath in the correct way? You will tell me that the right way of breathing assumes breathing with Love: another would say that the right way of breathing depends on the relevant thought. When you breathe, you can make different examples: to breathe either with your two nostrils or with one nostril. The natural breathing is when you inhale the air through the two nostrils. In accordance with science, during deep breathing in the human organism two modes of breathing are noticed. If one of the two modes prevails over the other, then a certain break in breathing occurs, in such case breathing is not efficient, nor is it correct. When you are nervous, in a rage about something, do the following exercise: put the thumb of your right hand on the right nostril and inhale air through the left while you count to seven in your mind. Then do not take more air and count to ten in your mind. Then put your hand on your left nostril and inhale the air slowly and rhymically through the right nostril while counting up to nine. This exercise helps for regulation of nervous agitation, for relaxation of the brain and for the reinforcement of the memory. This is essentially necessary when you are studying some subject. In the morning and before lunch take air through the light nostril and inhale it out through the right; in the evening take air through the right nostril and inhale it out through the left. Do this exercise twenty and one times per day – in the morning, before lunch and seven times in the evening. Many laugh at this exercise, it seems a trifle to them. They don't know that the one who can't do small exercises or can't solve small problems, that man can't solve big problems too. When you do the exercises correctly, you will experience especially pleasant feelings, a cheerful disposition of your spirit. When you inhale air into your lungs and hold it for some time, you will experience a kind of suffocation but this effect shows that you have benefited from the exercise. The breathing science is a great science. Many books are written on breathing, which you have to read as to see what methods for breathing are recommended there and which of them you can apply. In order to apply whatever method, you ought to have inside you at least one point of support. For instance, the point of support of the electrical lamps is the spot where energy comes out. Points of support are needed either in Life and in Nature. When you know that, you can comprehend the function of the occult schools. The purpose of such schools is to prepare students, who are to serve the reasonable forces in Nature, to God's designs. Therefore, whenever you find yourself in a difficult situation, ask yourself the question whether you are points of support of God's intention or whether you are not. What is the difference between God's and human thought? God's thought differs from human in its intensitivity, in its breadth, longitude and depth, as in its content. To make the exact difference between these two thoughts, you have to know God's thoughts in that pure state in which they come into men’s souls. To perceive a God's thought means to climb the highest mountain top and from there to perceive it. If in your mind comes one God's thought, it will be Light for your soul during your whole life. God's is Mighty! The one who lives with God's thoughts, he or she are always strong. If he or she falls under the influence of human thoughts, one begins to lose his or her strength - he or she will lose the connection between the God's thoughts and him or her. This man is exposed to constant doubts and hesitations. This is the reason for abnormalities in the life of contemporary people. All contradictions, each disharmony among religious people and societies is also due to the interruption of God's thought. Once you know that, you have to be careful in respect to God's thoughts because anyhow they don't come straight to you. While they reach your mind, they go through the minds of a number of Creatures of higher hierarchies and, in the end, only one ray from these thoughts comes to you. Moreover, remember that God's thoughts come to man when he or she finds himself or herself in the most unfavourable conditions in his or her Life. Someone can be King but it comes so that during his whole life not one God; s thought comes to him, someone can be a simple, poor, humble person but God's thoughts come to him or her flowing one after the other. This depends on the spiritual condition of a person. In one village during the summer a great draught happened, as a result of which all the crops were destined to burn, to dry up. The priest along with the villagers decided to call for a common prayer for rain where all the village would take part. On this occasion, a father took his ten year old boy so that he might be present at the prayer too. The child took with himself only an umbrella because he expected as an answer to the prayer some rain to fall down, the father went out of the house without taking an umbrella. Why? Because he said to himself: “ It might rain, it might not. ”He didn't believe in the strength of this prayer. Contemporary people don't succeed in life because they don't believe in the thing they are praying for. They don't have points of support in life as a result of which they hesitate and doubt in everything. However, the one who lives with the faith in the positive, he always has points of support in life. Where there are points of support, he or she will have good results. Figure 1 Imagine that you have two points A and B, connected with a thin silk thread (Figure 1). Under present conditions can a person walk on that thread? They can't. Under different conditions, however, this is possible but today no man can walk on such thin thread. A fly, an ant, a mosquito can but not a man. If by some manner the cohesion among the particles of this thread increases, then a person can walk on it. If you know the thickness of the silk thread, you will calculate how many such threads must coincide in one so that a person can walk on them as if he or she walks on a thick rope. It is measured that the thread of the silkworm is double and 0,026mm thick. Therefore the single thread is 0,013 mm thick. You have all written about breathing, each one of you has given at least one method for correct breathing because you think that you breathe correctly. However, if you trace the breathing of each one of you separately, you will notice that one of you breathes too quickly, the other – too slowly, the third – with big interruptions and so on. To certify the validity of your methods, do a test with them: you will apply the methods of such people, who do not breathe correctly and you will see what results you will get. When you study these different methods for breathing, look for the reasons at the same time for incorrect breathing. Why sometimes you feel the broadening of the lungs and sometimes a shrink? Have you noticed in which cases you feel wide and free, masters of the situation and in which restricted and constrained? When you find yourself among kids, you feel yourself above them, you talk freely, you think freely: this reflects on your breathing. When you are in the society of scientists, professors, you are at once refracted, you restrict yourself and can't think freely: this is reflected in your breathing. This constraint a man owns to his or her personal feelings, the personal feelings are connected to the human consciousness. The elderly man thinks that he or she knows much and when he or she finds himself or herself in the company of scientists, professors who know more than he or she does, they begin to restrain, shrink so as not to expose themselves. Before scientists, the personal feelings of people make them humble so as not to give out their ignorance, if they come among children, who do not know more than they do, they feel free, masters of the situation. Therefore, when you want to do exercises for breathing or whatever attempts and exercisesm you ought to have such consciousness the children possess. Only in this way, will you earn something. If you shrink the way you do before the elders, you will acquire nothing. For instance, if you want to apply some natural method of breathing but you worry about the results, you restrain and get nothing. Others then do breathing exercises but hurry to finish as soon as possible. No, no hurry is permitted: make the following exercise relaxed, concentrated in order to achieve results. Otherwise, you will mechanize it and will acquire nothing. Do this exercise for about five-ten minutes for breathing and think of nothing during this time. If you are in a hurry, you will resemble old, elderly people. Children are never in a hurry: when you give a child an apple, he or she will turn it that wards and up and down, look at it, have some fun and the eat it. If you give the apple to a philosopher, he or she will look it, will put it aside and will say: “I don't have time to attend to this small business, all great matters are waiting for me.” This philosopher knows that through the apple he or she will come in touch with a number of philosophical questions. For instance, when he looks at a leaf, its colour and form, he may trace the origin of the apple – an important philosophical question. However, if he looks at it in a slipshod manner and says: “This is an apple constructed from atoms and molecules: it belongs to the world of objects and I am involved in great, abstract matters.” The contemporary scientists want to convince us that they know what the apple is made of. The tests show that what the materialist scientists do are similar to those a simple, ignorant man can do in one scientific book. He takes the book but because he doesn't know to read, examines it from outside and says: ”This book is bound with such and such leather, the paper it is made of is Indian, inside it is printed with ink.” However, what the contents of this book are, what thoughts it contains, he doesn't know.” This is nor a scientific investigation. To examine an apple from the outside and to tell only what its matter is, what elements it contains, this is not a full test. The apple doesn't restrict itself only to its matter, it brings Life in it, which everyone can taste. The fresher the apple is, the more Life it contains. The one that tastes an apple and connects himself with her Life, only he knows what it in fact means. All plants are connected among themselves due to which Life pours itself from one plant to another. Each astrologist can check this thing. The whole realm of plants is on the other hand connected with God's world. So that no matter what fruit you take, know that it is connected with the Whole – with the fruits of God's world. When you keep this thought in your mind, you will use the fruit, from them you will draw sublime energies. Therefore eat fresh fruit each day. Chew it well, slowly so as to draw out the lively juices from them. Thus absorbed in the organism, they will initiate in you a strong reaction for a new life. In this respect, you have to make a series of attempts so as to verify the truth of my words. They have not to stand only as a theory but have to be put to the test. When you are not well-disposed, you have to make the following test: take half a kilo fresh, large, nice cherries and go out at 10 a.m., turn your face to the Sun and start to eat slowly and quietly to eat the cherries. Eat them for an hour so that from 10 to 11 you have to eat them all up. Apart from the cherries, you don't have anything else. After a half an hour, you have to notice a change in your condition, in your disposition – this is the result from the cherries. Those of you, who are officials, you will make this attempt earlier, from 8 till 8. 30 a.m. You have to know that for this attempt Nature determines only half a kilo cherries. If you do this attempt in good disposition of your spirit, you won't notice the result from it because you were nevertheless well-disposed. This attempt makes sense only when you are not in good shape. Now that I am observing your faces as the ones of the contemporary people on the whole, I find that you are strongly restrained as loaded guns, which at the slightest push are ready to discharge. You have to be work consciously on yourself so as to master this energy. If you want to get use of the knowledge given to you in the School, you have to transform your brain energy, to partition it correctly in all your brain centres. This is not easily achieved but the student is required to do the work. When you take the hand of a healthy person, whose thought is an intensive one, you will feel the discharge of energy from him. If a person is not healthy and his thought is not intensive, when you hold this person's hand, you won't feel a discharge of energy from him – his hand will be loose, passive, with no energy and life in it. This man is a stuffed tap. The healthy person, however, is an open tap, a flow and outflow of energies happens in it. An exercise: close your eyes and imagine a cherry tree of large cherries of good quality and think about it for five minutes. If, this time your condition hasn't changed, this shows that your test has failed. To achieve a better result, try with the cherry tree, clustered with ripe, large fruit. In this case the thought is more picturesque, more effective so that it can act upon your spirit. Because the atmosphere outside is strongly saturated with humidity, the exercise may not be very successful. Usually, the damp obstructs the flow of mind. For the next time you will write on the theme: “The influence of the strong and the weak words”. You will list only the strong and weak words in the positive sense. If you examine the words love and devotion, what do you think, which one of the two words will exert stronger influence on the person and the influence of which one of the two words will last longer. And the straight, and the contrary reactions of Love are stronger than those of Devotion. When you say to somebody be kind or be good which one of the two counsel will play a stronger effect on the person? Or if you say be merciful or be lenient, which would have a greater effect on the person? Being merciful will have a greater effect than being lenient. To pronounce on the influence on the words, for the degree of their strength, you have try them first on you. Say out loud the words: good, kind, merciful, just, patient etc. and see what influence they will play upon you. Make this test mainly with such words, which have content and a sense only for yourself. Now, when you do this exercise in the morning, before lunch and in the evening seven times, and at the same time write down in your notebook 3-rd lines from 3-rd chapter of the Gospel of Joan. This means that you will write these lines three times a day. With each entry, you will draw a line. Everything you write down, try to write neatly – on nice paper, equally large for all the entries. You will write carefully, cleanly and legibly. Once you have finished the exercise, you will give me your papers to make my notes on them. Write the lines before starting to breathe. The line you will write is the next: “Truth, the truth I am telling you that if someone is not born again, they cannot see the Kingdom of Lord.” Only the bright way of wisdom leads to Truth. It keeps us merry. Source

Note 1 Movement of the Sensible Forces Twenty-eighth lection of the Teacher, held to the Youth occult class on the 9th May, 1923 in Sofia - Only the bright road of the Wisdom leads to the Truth. - It keeps us merry. It is being read a resume of the fifteenth lection from the first year. There are read resumes of the themes „ What are symbol of the lime-place and the ash" and „The distinctive characteristics of the strong will". For the next time you write about the theme „The difference between the wisdom and the knowledge". What definition gives the relative geometry of the circle? The circle is a geometric place of points, which are equally removed from one inner permanent point, called a centre. The circle is the outmost limit, to which the conscious of a man can be broadened for every given moment. Imagine that you have two small circles. One of them looks like a seed of an oak - acorn, the other – a seed of a maize seed. Have you computed how many times bigger and larger is the acorn than the maize seed? Where is the difference between the acorn and the maize seed? The difference is in their functionality -the circle of the functionality of the acorn is larger than that of this of maize seed. As is concerned richness, the question is asked in another way. Often the pigs are fed with acorns, but that does not show, that they are richer than the maize. Which is older by origin - the oak or the maize? The maize is older than the oak. According to the temporary scientific can you say whether the acorn contains the same possibilities as the ones of the oak? Two theories exist on that question: the one affirms that every seed, in that case the acorn, contain in them all possibilities as in the whole tree; the other affirms that the seed contains in it the conditions but not the possibilities which it has. What is your opinion on that question? For the clarifying of that question we shall take the following example: imagine you have one thought; when a thought is expressed you appraise already its properties. Are its properties in the given thought? Every thought expressed outside defines its inner content. As you know that, you have to inspect, to study the thoughts, their properties and acts. As students you have to study, to acquire knowledge. The contemporary scientists are children of the science. In relation of the past they are scientists, pass for capacities, but in relation to the future science they are still children. In relation to the manifested they are genies; in relation to what is up to being shown, they are children. As you know that you have to carry the responsibility for recognize your ignorance in a certain area, to admit your errors. A lot think that if they admit errors, they will pass out for sinful people. No, a man must be sincere inside himself, to know the errors and to admit them. The artist, painted the portrait of a man; some come, look at the portrait, it seems to them that the nose is little curvy, they pay attention to the artist to make right his error, but he denies – he maintains that the nose of the man has been curvy. As some people line up to look at the portrait, which the artist has painted, all say out that the nose is not well expressed. At last the artist is engaged to make it right. After he does the correction, he remains contented with the portrait. As the artist works on a portrait, until he paints exactly accordingly to the original so the student must work on every own thought, until he makes it right. Many of your thoughts are curvy, distorted. You must work on them, in order to make them straight. Some consider that every their thought is Godly and as it is Godly, it is faultless. It is not so. Not every their thought which passes through the head of a man is Godly. You have to study the thoughts to come to the situation to say apart which are Godly and which are humanly. In the humanly thoughts there are errors, in the Godly – there are not. As you analyze your thoughts, you strive to apply them. If you do not apply your thoughts, ideas, you will look similar to a man, who wants to paint: for that aim he has bought brushes, colors, screen and is preparing to start his work. To all he tell, that he has an idea he is ready to paint, but still it does not start to work. Therefore ideas make sense only if they are applied in the Life. Somebody says that he wants to be good; this is an inapplicable idea. What does it mean a man to be good? Other says so that he wants to be кротък - this is another inapplicable idea. What does it mean a man to be placid? Which are the distinctive features of the placidity? When you paint a chicken, you will place her legs just exactly three fingers in front and one behind. If you paint a man, you will place five fingers on his hand –nothing more, nothing less. Every thing, which the Nature created, is exactly defined. These are the distinctive features of the placid, of the merciful man and so on. The one who wants to get to know if he is merciful, he can put to that test: you travel on a long journey and take in your bag a kilo of bread; the entire day you do not eat, but keep the bread for the evening, when you reach a the certain place. If during the time of travel you are overtaken by three men and they wish that you give them bread, because they were hungry, tired, but they do not have bread, what will you do? Suppose that you give them a little piece each, and the rest you keep for yourself, you are not a merciful man. If you break the bread in parts, so that you give everybody a quarter, you are merciful. Somebody wants to check out how much your thought is philosophical and asks you the question the chicken or the egg came first. These are two relative, but not absolute values. These are symbols, which do not solve the question. Some philosophers picture the Universe in the form of an egg, ready to be hatched, but this is just a symbol. Let's go back to the question if the qualities of the expressed thought are contained in the same thought. To be asked such a question, is the same as to ask whether the tones going out of the violin, are contained in the same violin, in the strings or in the bow. From the strengthening of the strings, the shortening and the lengthening are produced different tones. But the violinist who knows the laws of the music, as putting fingers on the violin, makes the same tones. The skilled violinist can make the same tones even without strings. It is enough to concentrate his thought to your hearing, in order to hear nice, pleasant tones of some song, going out of the violin. But this does not happen in the physical manner, by means of oscillations of the air, as usual is conveyed the sound, but in another way – by the thought. Hence we can infer the following conclusion: as the violin is a condition for conveying tones, which the violinist produces, so and the thought is a condition for conveying the qualities of those who produces it. Because the violin produces neither tones nor the thought contains in it the qualities of the one who produces it. These are a series of cogitations, needed for the developing of your thought, for wakening of the activity of different brain centers. Without these cogitations, the thoughts which go through your brain will remain just a theory without any practical application. And then when different thoughts pass by your brain without stopping, without reflecting on them, at all ends you will fall asleep. It is easily noticeable when the occult students study the law of concentration or collecting their thought, they often fall asleep. Why? That is why they are not used to wakening the activity of their brain centers yet. As a result, when they reflect on any question and they cannot follow their thought, they fall under the influence of the law of the suggestion, of the hypnosis and they fall asleep. Therefore, when the student thinks on any question, he must напряга his brain to waken the activity of all brain centers or at least the larger part of them. If in the process of thinking wakens only one brain center, a man definitely fall asleep, will hypnotize oneself. This explains why the rich man loses sense because he despairs when he is informed that the bank in which his money are invested, is bankrupted. During his whole life this man has directed his thought towards the money; as a result he has hypnotized himself. In that day he hears about the loss of that money, he loses sense, and the wish for living, for work. The sleep of that man is an especially mesmeric condition, which the Nature often imposes on him. If it places him in such a hypnotic condition, he is asleep. In the meantime, it takes him through the physical in the astral world, which creates different images, changes scenes with others. In this way it builds a variety of life, from which he will keep a memory of his alert condition and to begin thinking. By dreams the Nature wants to create the human thought in a man. The thought develops in a great variety. Thus all are demanded a conscious work – gradually to develop in you good qualities and abilities. For example if you want to develop patience, make the next experiment: 10 people, friends of yours, to pin you with a needle on ten different places one millimeter deep and follow during this time will you lose balance or will you keep it. In this way you will become steeled. Besides this experiment you can make another: take off your shoes and pass across a field, on which there are gipsy. As you pass from the one to the other end of the field, you will see how much you have kept disposition of your spirit. A man is run into the same situations in Life. People's bad thoughts and feelings are nothing except some thorns, stuck on a millimeter deep in the man's skin. Bad thoughts and feelings are like the biting of a mosquito or a flea - here you are pinched by one bad thought, there you are pinched by one bad feeling until you run off the rails of your patience. If your balance is not disturbed, this shows you possess patience. If your balance is disturbed, you will take а brush and paints, you will paint the portrait of your patience. You will repeat twice, three times the experiment, until at last you keep your balance and you will always be cheerful. Once you keep your balance, you will know that you finished the portrait of your patience. These experiments refer only to the students and to only those which are strong. The weak should not make the experiments, not to lose artificial disposition of the spirit. For them are only enough the experiments which Life imposes. The people's life is so arranged that they without go through hardships –such hardships will they have, that they will jump from the pain. Moreover they will not be pinched by friends, but by such disposed unfriendly towards them. All present people are put through such experiments. In Life these experiments are nothing else, but the hardships, pains and difficulties, which people experience. The invisible world constantly subject people to such experiments, in order to see how much they can stand. Nobody can covet whatever force of Nature, until he develops in himself the relevant qualities. For example somebody thinks he is honest, noble man, and nothing can seduce him; they give that man ten golden sterling and send him somewhere to do a job with them, later they give him ten thousand more golden sterling to do some other job. He takes the money, but as the money become more, grows the seduction with them. This man begins to think: „Can’t I take that money and do some job with them?" This means a man can be honest to a certain degree, as much the element of honesty is contained. Imagine that an honest man is jailed and has a death penalty; he gave a promise that he won't come out of prison, until the sentence is not fulfilled. But a very good friend of his goes in jail and proposes to him to go out – opens the door and says he can leave the jail free. This man begins to fight and to hesitate to go out or not, but cannot make up his mind, wants to keep his promise. If this noble man is a follower in the same time, and has plenty of knowledge, he can become dematerialized, but once he gave that promise not to leave prison until the day of his sentence comes, he will not take advantage of his knowledge. Still in the day of the executing of his sentence he becomes dematerialized and instantly vanishes in front of the eyes of everybody. In that way the judges, rulers will understand that they were wrong when they convicted a totally righteous man. The righteous can be convicted by nobody to death, as a law does not exist for him. Therefore, as the law has to different relations – to the common and to the righteous man, so and the moral has a two-side expression: the absolute moral – to God and the relevant moral – towards the people. This means: the absolute moral knows only the relations of the man to God. If there stands a question about the relations between a man and the people, it is used relative moral. The relations between the man and God always have one and same price, they never change, the relations of the man to the people and all living creatures are changeable. If the relation of the man to God is right, it is in force to cancel the rest of all relations to anybody. But all these relations are not able to cancel the relation between the man and God. For example, somebody wants to help his mother, father and the entire mankind, because of which he is ready to give up the Truth, thus to depart from his relations to God. This is a wrong thought, this is a wrong conclusion. It is impossible with one good deed only a man to help his mother, his father or the whole mankind. When the relations of the man to God are right and stand in first place, only then will he be able to help the people, as well as all living creatures. Keep in your mind the thought, that only the relations between the man to God have one and the same value for all times and, and the rest relations are lust relative and changeable. As students be careful with yourself not to accumulate in any part of your organism more energy than you should. Keep yourself away from gathering energy, the Nature does not allow any excesses. When a man accumulates more energy inside oneself? When he begins to think he is secure. Meet a man lean, bony; at some time his things go well and he gets rich. When he is rich, he starts thinking he is secure and lacks nothing. Getting rich he stops to think. You see – this man is gradually fattening, putting on weight, becomes like a boss, accumulates excessive energy in himself. Why a man wants some time to get fat, to become corpulent? Just to occupy larger space, to become more imposing, to pay attention to the people. In fact which defines the space? - The thought. The utter limit, to which one thought can spread its activity in space, defines its strength. The time defines its inner content of the thought, i.e. - its durability. The man's feelings determine the sense – the thought's spirit. This means every thought is examines first by volume – the volume it occupies in the space, i.e. the kind of her outer form; then it is examined as inner content of the thought and later – her meaning. The thought moves in a straight direction. Her inner content, i.e. feelings that carry out the thought give her a circular form. So the straight line defines the form of the thought, the circle defines the content of the thought. In such case you have an idea of the time and space. The explanation of this idea will serve with the verse, which apostle Pavel said: „The love is fruit of the Spirit." Love is the form; Life is an explanation, i.e. the contents of this form. The Spirit is the meaning – It gives sense to things. When we say: „God is Love", we understand the enlightened, manifested world. So that it is expressed the God's Love, means it is expressed in the World of God. When we talk about Life, we infer the special expression of God's Love to all living creatures. All living creature shows Love in its own way – this is its life. God is Love – this infers целокупния Life, the fullness of Love. Life, seen through all living creatures, represents partially, individually showing of Love. Now we express the idea for time and space in the following form: the entire man represents a т of time and space. The head represents the space, boundlessness, that's why it is insatiable. With the head a man thinks what and which place to occupy. The unsuitability of the head is seen from the man's lust for knowledge: as much knowledge it has, he wants more to acquire. He wants many houses, barns, but the clever sees he can live by even in one room. The man's body represents the time. So the body re presents the outer contents of the head. Actually the development of the head is projected by the body; the shown activity of the entire body represents the meaning of the head. The stomach, compared to the head accepts much little by little. As much food eats a man, his stomach easily fills. The head nevertheless takes more and always stays insatiable – as much is given to it, it desires more. And so, when it lives in his thinking, a man is always moving in space; when it lives in the heart, he is moving in time, in the things' matter. How do the present philosophers look on the conceptions of time and space – as reality or as relevance? Some say that things exist out of time and space. This means that things exist out of the world of three dimensions. For example, draw a picture of a canvas; this picture is placed on a плоскост, means it is extends in the world of the second dimension. But the same picture can be molded, made as a statue, to be presented in the world of the third dimension. At last the same picture can be presented outside the three dimensions – to be painted in the thought. This is called by the philosophers a condition out of time and space. What represents the circle, anyway? The circle does represent, but a small, microscopic part of the whole idea, of the reality. The circle is a part of the sphere, and the sphere is a body of a three-dimensional world. These are abstract idea leading into a misunderstood area by you, without any practical applications. These ideas of any application only in the man's conscience. For example, with the help of the man's conscience can a man guess if an individual is coming near or is going far off him. Why? - Because a man approaching another is not an outer process, nor inner. One man can physically come close to you, but вътрешно, spiritually to move far away and vice versa – he can physically, to be estranging outwardly, and to be coming nearly inwardly. This points the physical closeness always does not respond to the intimacy among the soles, brains and hearts. On these outer and inner estrangements and approaches of the people to one another are owed the conditions of happiness and grief, which they everyday experience. If to you comes near a man, who is not sympathetic, and you feel annoyance, and sometimes grief, especially if that man succeeds to take away something from you against your will. If that man moves away from you, you feel pleasance; you are happy, that he is not close to you physically, neither by brain nor heart. And the way round - when a man is close to you, who is pleasant to you, you are happy; if he moves away, you begin to grieve. So both of them produce in you happiness and grief, but only in totally different situations. When the unsympathetic approaches you with one and only aim to take away something, you feel grief; when he goes away you feel happy. When the sympathetic approaches you, you feel happiness; when he goes away you feel sorrow. What are these conditions due to? – To your mind. The man's mind carries a somewhat vague, distant memory, that the one, who is not sympathetic and sometime, caused trouble, some evil and today comes with the same thought. This can be a somewhat illusion or somewhat deception. Where would you know that the unsympathetic man comes to cause evil? Maybe today he comes to you with best intension to do one good thing, with which to surprise you most pleasantly. You are not sure for the hidden intensions of the people. Often the one, who has done to you the greatest evil, is in the mood of doing you the greatest goodness. The friendship is of the kind stable and unstable. Suppose that you build a friendship with a man. Do you know how much time this friendship will last? It can last for a year or two, three, five, ten and then to be spoiled. Why? - Because the friendship does not at all base on feelings. And every time, as feelings command, there are formed astral combinations, which are remarkable for their great instability. In order not to be stable, friendship must respond to the following formula: R.М.S.Т.S.E.F. The letters S представляват one element, so in the formula of friendship comprise of six elements. Every element is taken into a strictly definite percentage relation. In order to be your friendship stable, the reasonableness R must compounds of three percents of the whole, the милосърдието М- five percent, the conscience С – nine percent, the toughness Т – six percent, the self-esteem SE – seven percent, the friendliness F - seven percent. The same numbers can be taken as numerators of fractions, which denominators are: 6, 8,10,12,15 and 16. The total sum of the numerators are 3, 5, 9, 6, 7, 7 е 37; total sum of the denominators is 67. Then you will have the fractions: 3/6, 5/8, 9/10, 6/12, 7/15 and 7/16. You will put these fractions under a common denominator, which served as a method of work. The total sum of the numerators - 37 и the total sum of the denominators - 67 give a new fraction - 37/67. We sum numbers and get: 3 + 7 10 1+0 1 ------- = ------ = ------- = ----- 6 + 7 13 1+3 4 We sum the numerator and denominator: 1+4 = 5. This is a philosophical reducing of the fractions. So that, to be found the reduced formula of the friendship, you have to collect the numbers 1 + 4. As you collect them, you will get the number 5 – the man. The one is seen as the God principle, the four – the animal principle, i.e. a man, in whom the self - conscience is still not awake. In order to work out that formula of the man, he must find the Godly in himself – in that is found the sense of Life. As you are aware of that you start to work. You already have the foundation – the number 5, on which as a ground you can sow, i.e. build up your life. In the fraction 1/4 and the two numbers are acids: 1 is an acid of a first degree, and 4 –acid of a second degree. The degree hints the intensity of the acids and the bases. The number 5 stands for a base of a second degree. The acid – the one dissolves everything in it. And as the real friendship is made out of a fraction which has a numerator one and denominator – four, about the fractions 3/6, 5/8, 9/10, 6/12, 7/15 и 7/16 we can say this: 3/5 means part of the God's sensibility, 5/8 – part of the God's mercy, 9/10 –part of the God's justice. I take the word justice instead of conscience, because for God cannot be said he has any conscience – God is just, but not conscious. The fraction 6/12 means part of the God's patience, which by the language of a man we call firmness. Only the firm man and not the stubborn can be patient. The fraction 7/15 means part of the self-respect of the man - such a man can never break his word. The fraction 7/16 means part of the friendliness of the man, i.e. from the Law of Love. Now we gather the numerator and the denominator apart, we will get the following numbers: 3/6 -3 + 6 = 9; 5/8 - 5 + 8= 13, and 1 +3 = 4; 9/10-9+ 10= 19, and 1 +9= 10; 6/12-6+ 12 = 18, and 1 +8 = 9; 7/15-7 + 15 = 22, and 2 + 2 = 4; 7/16-7 + 16 = 23, and 2 + 3 = 5. The numbers work in the creating of the friendship between two people. In order to see if the friendship between two people will be stable, you must run through what the combinations of the planets in the moments of creating that friendship was. The friendship can be stable, but in the moment of its creation took part Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun. When Mars, Saturn and the Moon make their way into the friendship, they will certainly its bases – there won't take a long time, you will see that the bases of the friendship begin to shake. When Mars comes into your friend, every your word can provoke him; when Saturn enters in your friend he will begin to doubt every your word and later, when the Moon inters in him, he will begin to get into trouble. The Moon will see how Mars acted, how Saturn acted, will add some tails to all that and will more mess up things, after I the friendship disappears. When the Moon shines, they stop their process of growing; when it hides they begin to grow. Most quickly the flowers develop in the sun light. Because the Moon wakes the envy of a man, the flowers hide from it, in the sense that – they stop to develop. Therefore, when a man is envious, we say that the Moon has taken prevail over him. The student must study the astrology, to know the influence of the planets on him and to object to them consciously or yield – according to the bad or good influence. Sometimes a man is disposed warlike, ready to fight, to a knife – he is under the influence of Mars. And if in that time comes the Moon with its negative influence on the man, it will right away put tails, delusions and lies in its state an d he, as he is disposed warlike begins to draw a knife, everything becomes right. These are delusions, exaggerated states, which come from the Moon – it loves to delude, lie to people. That is because with its negative influence, its credit is in the lies and delusions. Saturn brings the doubt, suspicion in man. But you must know that every planet exercises good and positive influence on the man, not only negative. Venus as a planet of a female gender has a weakness to Love: if it falls in love with Mars or Venus, it takes their qualities, messes them with its own and then shows a descending influence on the man. When Saturn is in е с Венера, he has an influence on her and then in the love comes the negative element of Saturn - doubt, suspicion in the love. When Venus is in its ascending state, it influences Saturn – he obeys, pays attention to her and walks in her steps. Reflection – Only the bright road of the Wisdom leads to the Truth. – It keeps us merry. Source