Jackline Spasova-Bobeva

Note 4 The Living Circle Lecture twenty-seven, read by the Master to the Youth Occult Class on the 2 of May 1923, Sofia - Only the bright way of Wisdom leads to the Truth. - It constantly cheers us. The synopses of the lectures thirteen and fourteen from the first year were read. The synopses of the essays “Distinction between Consciousness and Self-consciousness” and “Distinction between Sub-consciousness and Super-consciousness” were read. For the next time, write on the theme “The Benefits and the Damages Caused by the Acids”. Fig. 1 represents a circle. How was the circle formed? The circle was formed as a result of the rotation of the radius OA round the center. What do you call the straight line T, which touches the circumference? A tangent. So, a tangent is every straight line which has a point of contact with the circumference. It is a variant of the catenary. After the pole reaches the circumference, the catenary becomes a tangent. Can the tangent influence the circle? Let’s assume that the circle represented in Fig.1 is a moving wheel and that its radius OA and its tangent T are in constant movement. Through its point of contact with the circumference, the tangent is constantly influencing it. Consequently, it can increase the movement of the circle if this circle is moving in the same direction, but if the circle is moving in a direction opposite to the direction in which the tangent is moving, its movement will be slowed down. Fig. 1 In occult geometry, the circle stands for a self-conscious individual. The center of the circle is the center of the consciousness of this individual – the subject. The circle stands for his inner, subjective world; the periphery or the circumference – this is the place where the consciousness comes into contact with the outside, with the objective world. Thus, it is clear, that the tangents stand for separate units of consciousness, or separate groups of consciousness, which influence the individual from the outside and restrain him. Consequently, each change within the human consciousness shows that some tangent has influenced him – through the point of contact, it brings a certain impulse within the human consciousness and it is able to bring some change in his thoughts, in his feelings, or in his actions. If the consciousness submits to this outside impulse and follows the direction in which the tangent is moving, it will have success in the outside matters. But if it opposes this impulse and if it moves in a direction opposite to the direction of the tangent, it will clash with the group of consciousness for which this tangent stands. Besides the outer influences, which the tangents cause on the human consciousness, there also exist other influences, which are inner and subjective. In our figure the circle S, which passes through the center O, stands for a higher consciousness, which touches the very center of the consciousness of the individual and influences his subjective life. Then this individual undergoes deep inner changes, which come from his very center, and the result of these changes is what we call widening, lifting, enlightening of the consciousness, etc. Only in this case the human can free himself from the limiting action of the outer tangents. Figure 1 represents the circle K with the three tangents – T, T1, T2, as well as the circle S, which passes through the center O of the circle K. The three tangents can be likened to three societies: T – the society of the tradesmen, T1 - the society of the agrarians, T2 – the society of the teachers. Each one of these societies will be occupied and will communicate about things that fall within the range of its interests. The tradesmen will talk about trade, about goods, about buying and selling; the agrarians will talk about fields, vineyards and houses; the teachers will talk about schools, students and books. The circle S and the Life, which manifests itself around its center, will have for their subject of communication other, more abstract concepts – the concepts of Love, Wisdom, and Truth. Whoever does not understand these concepts runs across a series of contradictions. However, these contradictions are imaginary – they are not real. Creatures that lack knowledge provoke each contradiction – they might be from the material world, they might be from the astral world, or they might be from the mental world. These worlds have a material side that influences the human life. Besides these worlds, there also exist other worlds – worlds with a high degree of knowledge, which we accept as streams in Nature. So, each world influences the worlds that stand above as well as the worlds that stand below this world. If man would like a positive change to happen, he should get in contact with the streams of the Nature that come from the higher worlds. The task of the occult science is to show the disciple the laws through which he can connect with the higher streams of the Nature. By so doing, his mind will develop normally. When the living circle S enters the life of the human, he should be ready to cope with the forces, to cope with the laws that control it. A man is not ready before he understands the laws of the environment in which he enters. For instance, if you take the fish out from the sea before its gills could turn into lungs it will certainly die. The environment of the fish is water – not air. If the fish succeeds – as did the amphibians, which are a transition stage of life – to adapt to the terrestrial life, it would be able to leave the water safely, to go from the water to the land and again enter the water. You might say then, that until you are ready for a new life you’d better keep with your old life, that is, if you cannot live on dry land it would be better to remain in the water. What you don’t know is that tomorrow this water will evaporate and – like it or not – you will find yourself on land, but unsuited for the life there. Nature will force you to leave the water. Nowadays all people feel that something strange is going on in the water. Many people already want to leave voluntarily these conditions, to come out of the water to the land. For instance, you meet a materialist, you talk with him and you notice that he is striving for a spiritual life and that he wants to leave the water. As soon as he leaves the water, he will free himself from the frogs within himself, which stand for the materialism. The frog is a symbol of extreme materialism. So, as soon as you fall under the influence of the living circle you already cannot resist – either you get into the stream of this circle and elevate, or you die. In other words, each person who has started along the way of Truth has to keep following it. There is no going back from the way of the Truth – whoever tries to go back from this way personally sentences himself to death. Man cannot oppose the movements within the living circle. As regards the tangents, this number is undefined – we can additionally draw a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth or more tangents. Each tangent causes some change within the consciousness of the human. The changes of the consciousness can be presented geometrically; then also the center of each tangent, which influences the human consciousness, can be fixed as well, as also the direction of its movement. How many tangents should the human have? Not a single one. But if man already has tangents – what should he do in order to free himself from their influence? The consciousness should retire into its center, so that the tangent can go to infinity. What should a person do with the circle – should it be widened or should it be narrowed? When the circle is being widened the tangents are gradually emerging. When the circle is being narrowed, that is when the energies are gathering around the center of the circle, then the tangents are gradually driven back. Hence, we deduce the following law: when someone wants to free himself from the influence of the world, he focuses on the center, he focuses on God, he focuses on his own self – he focuses his mental activity on God. This denotes the awakening of the Divine consciousness within man. Contemplate over the living circle and over the tangents of the circle. Exercise: reach forward with your left hand, slowly move your right hand over your left hand – the movement begins from the shoulder and reaches to the fingers of the hand and backwards – from the fingers to the shoulder. Reach forward with your right hand and make the same movement with your left hand until it reaches over your right hand, starting from the shoulders, reaching to the fingers and backwards. You should repeat this exercise several times with your left hand and several times with your right hand. A secret prayer - Only the bright way of Wisdom leads to the Truth. - It constantly cheers us. Source

Note 4 The Four Consciences Master’s Twenty-sixth Lecture delivered at the Youth Esoteric Class on 25 April 1923, Sofia Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to Truth. It keeps us merry. Reflection Summaries of lecture eleven and twelve from year one were read. The Topic the Difference between Sub-Conscience and Super-Conscience was read. What will you obtain when you add the following numbers? -1 –2 –3 –4 –5 –6 –7 –8 –9 + +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 ___________________________ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 When these numbers are added they will balance themselves or in other words one will obtain ‘0’ as a result. The zero stands for the real world out of which the phenomenal world was generated. If you add up two positive values, will you obtain the real world? Or if you subtract one value from another will you obtain the real world? What does subtraction mean? Taking out? One takes out roots from the ground when they are withered. Along these lines, subtraction shows that when something stops existing it inevitably has to be taken out or subtracted. A person takes out an idea from one’s head when it is no longer useful. Examining these issues I would like to make you think and reflect properly. You, for example, believe that you can solve all problems at once. This is impossible. There is no such process in Nature. Once you have eaten to your heart’s content, have you solved your eating problem forever? Even if you keep eating your entire life, or for several lives running, you still will not be in a position to solve the eating problem, as this is an insoluble issue. One cannot solve the issue of eating by eating or not eating. Having eaten, one does not think about eating, but when hungry, one keeps thinking only of eating, one is aware that something is missing. Human beings cannot solve the issue of eating and at the same time, they cannot answer many other questions. For example, one does not have a clear idea what conscience, self-conscience, sub-conscience, and super-conscience are. The word conscience is not compounded by adding the Latin prefix con-, meaning with to the Latin stem of the word meaning science. This word conscience also means life – it’s a derivative of the Greek word zoy, meaning life. Hence, sub-conscience means something covered below or under Life. Therefore, sub-conscience means a storing room where all sorts of things can be kept. Movement in sub-conscience is circular, which shows that things do not get out of it. But whenever one wants, one can take things out of this storing room – from the sub-conscience, just like one takes water out of a well: one drops the bucket into the well, fills it with water and takes it out. The sub-conscience keeps many virtues in store, but it also keeps many mistakes from the past. When one least expects one will take out a mistake or virtue from the sub-conscience and one wonders where these might have been hiding within oneself. Sometimes you go to the closet of your house where you have kept old clothes for years, clothes already out of fashion, and you wonder where these have been for such a long time. Where have you hidden them? In your sub-conscience. So if you compare sub-conscience to super-conscience, you will find that they are absolutely opposite items. Sub-conscience stores old things, while super-conscience stores new things. In the life of super-conscience, human beings will take wool from sheep, will spin yarn, will weave cloth and will sew new clean clothes. Sub-conscience stores old ideas, while super-conscience adopts and applies new ideas. However, both sub-conscience and super-conscience are elements, poles of Life. Christ said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." These are three elements of the same principle. Which of the three elements is most important? Some may say that Life is the most important one. But how can you get to Life if there is no Path for you? Others might say that Path is the most important. But how can you get to the Path if you do not have Truth and Light within? Therefore, Life cannot do without Path and Truth; neither can Path do without Life and Truth, nor Truth without Life and Path. Path, Truth, and Life represent three equally important and needed variables for the overall Life. The situation is similar with the four types of consciences – these are inseparably connected variables: sub-conscience stands for past lives, which encompasses the lives of minerals, plants, animals, human beings, and Angels; conscience stands for the lives of minerals, plants, and animals; self-conscience stands for the life of human beings; super-conscience stands for the life of Angels. Thus, conscience and sub-conscience represent the foundation of human life, while super-conscience is beyond this life – it has nothing to do with human life. Sub-conscience and super-conscience are two lives absolutely independent of each other; these are two poles moving in opposite directions. Sub-conscience generates conscience, self-conscience is, however, closer to super-conscience. Indeed, human life is closer to Angels’ life, rather than to the life of minerals, plants, and animals. Conscience is like a canvass, upon which nature paints various objects like a skilful artist, which in time it processes. I will now tell you an old esoteric story, which has not been told so far. A thousand years before Christ, there lived a poor artist in Egypt – Bar-Edin-Bu. One day he decided to draw a picture of the rising Sun, but he had no money to buy the canvass for the picture. It dawned upon him to go and ask one well-known canvass maker to give him a large canvass for the picture under the condition that the canvass would be paid for after the picture was sold. The weaver agreed but was thinking, ‘I will take the picture from the artist when it is ready’. The artist took the canvass and started thinking where he could get paints and brushes from, as he had no money for them either. He went to a shop selling such items and asked if they could give him paints and brushes so that he could paint the rising Sun, under the condition that he would pay it back after he sold the picture. The master of the shop had all the artist needed but thought to himself, ‘I will take the picture from the artist when it is ready’. The artist also needed a frame for the picture, so he went to a shop and asked, “Please, can you give me a frame, I am poor and have no money. I want to draw a picture – I will pay you back when I sell the picture.'’ The trader gave him a frame but thought to himself, ‘I will take the picture for myself when it is ready’. The artist started painting the picture and after a while it was finished. He put an advertisement in the newspapers that an artist had painted a picture of the rising Sun and wanted to sell it. The picture was on display in the house of the artist; many people wanted to see the picture and were captivated with it – the picture was breathtaking. The first to appear before the artist was the weaver, the trader in brushes and paints, and the trader in frames. The weaver said, "The picture is mine, because I gave you the canvass. How could you have painted a picture if you had no canvass?" The trader in brushes and paints said, "The picture is mine, because I gave you the brushes and paints. How could you have painted a picture if you had no brushes or paints?" The trader in frames said, "The picture is mine, because I gave you the frame. How could you have painted a picture without a frame?" Whose picture is it? You will say that the picture belongs to the artist. What proof do you have to this effect? The canvass belongs to the weaver, the paints and brushes belong to the trader, the frame belongs to the other trader – these are proofs all right. What proof is there that the picture belongs to the artist? You will say that the proof in favour of the artist lays in the making, in the idea that he put into it… At last there was a lawsuit and it was up to the court to decide who the picture belonged to. The claimants each had an argument – one provided the canvass, the other one – the brushes and paints, the third one – the frame. What does the artist have in his favour? Nothing. So, the reality itself is not available; it is absent. Does the canvass prove that the picture belongs to the artist? No, it does not. Does the frame prove that the picture belongs to the artists? No, it does not. Only the paints prove to some extent that the artist has placed the paints at certain places as we see them, but this however, is indirect proof. I am now asking you – can the picture belong to one person only? No, it cannot. Therefore, the weaver has the right to take the canvass only, the first trader can take only the paints, and the third trader can take the frame only. What if the weaver wants his canvass clean – can a clean canvass be returned to him? Or what if the first trader wants his paints back. Can this be done? Can the frame be given back to the second trader? Let us now translate what canvass, paints, and frames stand for in Life. The frame stands for the physical body of the person, the canvass stands for the heart, while the brushes and paints stand for the mind. Just like, while watching a picture, one sees the canvass, the paints and the frame, but the real substance you do not see. Hence, the real substance is what cannot be seen. Reality is always invisible – what the artist has put on canvass, is invisible, this is the idea. Only those who can relate to the artist’s mind can see the idea of the artist. Otherwise, whoever else sees the picture will not understand anything about it. What can a fly, a bird, or a dog understand from a picture of a genius? They will understand nothing. Well now, how will you resolve the issue of who owns the picture? Who has the strongest right over the picture? The artist? The weaver? The first or the second trader? What gives the artist the right to sell the picture alone? The canvass, brushes, paints, and the frame are not his. In doing a favour to the artist, the weaver, the first, and the second traders, told themselves that they would take the picture only after the artist finished it. And after this, the artist who painted the picture says that the picture is his. I shall now leave you to think over the story. The issue can be solved in four different ways. A solution can be reached from the point of view of conscience, self-conscience, sub-conscience, and super-conscience. Bar-Edin-Bu is the artist who had four real things available on hand – a canvass, paints and brushes, a frame, and a picture. Each one, in lending something to the artist, claims ownership over the picture. And you say that the picture belongs to the artist – you are biased. Does the weaver not have any share in the picture? He also worked and laboured until he wove the canvass. The paint maker also invested labour in producing the paints. The one who made the frame also worked in the forest looking for trees to make frames. If you compare the work done by the artist with the work done by the weaver and by the traders, who lent items to the artist, you will find that the artist invested the least physical work. Artist’s work is more ideal than physical. The artist takes the brushes, splashes paints here and there, and paints. Painting does not constitute much in the form of physical labour. Which is to say that when trying to solve the problem of whose picture it is and who has rights over the picture, you have to take into consideration all those who have taken any part in its painting. Otherwise, any teacher drawing upon the blackboard will say that he or she has a right over the blackboard too. No, teachers have no right over the blackboard. As soon as a teachers draws something on the blackboard, the picture is shortly afterwards deleted. So think over the issue of whose picture it is and who has the biggest right over it. The weaver has a material proof that he has invested something material in the picture; the same is true for the traders. What is, however, the proof that the artist has invested something material in the picture? Taking a philosophical point of view, you can refute many philosophical statements from contemporary philosophy. Contemporary philosophers argue that anything, which can be touched, seen, heard, and tasted is real; if something cannot be touched, seen, heard, or tasted it is not real. If so, what is the material substance that the artist invested in the picture? If it boils down to the artist’s idea, it cannot be touched, seen, heard, or tasted. I shall now clarify this point with the following example: if I touch the G string of my violin with my finger and if I hear this tone, is it me who put the tone in the string? Equally you may take any tone, is it you who put the tones in the violin? Do tones exist in Nature? Say, you meet someone and you say that his name is Stoyan. Is he indeed Stoyan? What is Stoyan? Just a name. Why was this person given this name? To make it easy to tell him apart from the rest. Names are arbitrarily created and assigned to persons. Not only names, many other things are also arbitrarily created. Therefore, you should be able to tell the difference between things arbitrarily created, the non-real things, and things which Nature has created and stated in its list. In Nature, there are vibrations, but no tones. Nature does not know what the tones of the octaves do re mi fa sol la si (C D E F G A B) mean. We use tones as an auxiliary system in music, as major points of departure, whereupon we can express what we feel and experience. Now that you are reflecting upon various issues, looking for a way to solve your problems, keep in mind the following rule: each problem, properly solved by you, generates a Light in your mind, which in turn makes you Cheerful. When the solving of a problem is not accompanied by Light generation, the solution is not the right one. This rule is valid everywhere – in life, in science. For example, there are many principles in contemporary mechanics, according to which whole machines or machine parts can be constructed. A wheel in motion has to be inserted in a machine. To this effect a number of calculations are carried out based on a certain principle, the calculations are applied to the wheel, but still the wheel does not move. One, two, three, four, ten experiments were made, until at last the wheel starts moving. As soon as a small Light shines in your mind and you cheer up, you can be certain that you have arrived at the right solution of the issue. This is to say that whenever you need to know if you have solved the problem correctly, you have to make sure that your wheel is in motion. Some say that certain issues are vague in their conscience. What is your understanding of the word conscience? To Nature, conscience is just a word. Do you see certain Light in your mind on pronouncing the word conscience? When you pronounce the words hungry or thirsty, you relate to the sensation these words generate within you. What feeling or sensation does the word conscience generate within you? For the time being the word conscience is just a philosophical term, it has not yet engulfed human conscience. As of now, you still do not understand what conscience is. Conscience is something divine. The moment you grasp what conscience means, your Life will change fundamentally. How will your Life change? Imagine you are in a big dark room and that you do not know where you are, where the entrance or exit is, you can’t find your way around and you wonder what to do. You have a candle and a box of matches in your pocket, but you have forgotten about them. Suddenly it comes to mind that you have a candle and box of matches. You immediately strike a match and light the candle, the room is lit and you can find your way around – you can see what there is in the room, where the exit is, where it leads etc., the whole situation in the room looks completely different now. You freely open the door and go out into the open, in the sunshine. So, one should not only live with the concept of conscience, but with conscience as reality. As long as one lives with the concept of conscience, one is in a dark room, candle and matches in hand, but candle unlit, and one is bumping into the walls of the room. As soon as one is engulfed by conscience as a reality, where one lives, one is already in a new situation in Life, one is facing a New Life. In this new Life, one always has a lit candle in hand. This is to say that the lit candle stands for the conscience of human beings – which burns forever without ever burning out – it shows the right path in Life. You can read everything in the light of this candle; you will find your way even in the thickest darkness with this candle in hand. Once you have this candle, all other issues such as; what is the wick of the candle, how many vibrations the light of the candle makes in a second, how burning takes place, how much air it takes etc., are of secondary significance. You are now aiming at achieving simplicity, clarity in your understanding of Life. Everything in Life and Nature is clear, simple, and understandable – Nature tolerates no ambiguity, no duplicity. It says, "If you do not understand simple things, you will not understand complex things either; if you do understand simple things, you will understand complex things as well." This is what Christ meant in the following line, "If you can’t understand Earthly things, how can you understand heavenly things?" You should make it a point to understand the simple things in Life, so that you can understand the simple manifestations of conscience. Once you understand the simple manifestations of conscience, you will understand its complex manifestations as well, i.e. you will understand the other forms of conscience as well. When you write your compositions, keep writing and re-writing until you like them. If the topic you write on is ordinary, the longer it stays with you, the less you will like it. If it is something good, ideal, you will like it better in time – you will not like it a lot at first, but the longer it stays with you, the more you will like it. What does this indicate? This indicates that ordinary things are nice in the beginning, while in the end they start looking worse and more foolish. Conversely, the unusual, valuable things look foolish in the beginning, but with time, they start looking better and better. Being students you are required to be precise in the use of words – in form, content, and sense. As to word forms, we say good, better, best. This is one word in various forms or degrees. By content, these words imply that someone is good in general, as compared to people at large, better – in respect of some people, and best – again in comparison with certain people. The comparison is between people. Such an understanding of things, however, is not correct; there is no point comparing one person to another, as no one can be taken as an authentic model to all. And finally words can be used by meaning: we say good, better, best, or a very good person. Compared to what is this person good? Compared to the principles of Live Nature. Human beings also change in respect of these principles, as one is constantly growing, and becomes good, better, and then very good. In such circumstances, Nature is an authentic basis against which to compare the Good in human beings – it measures and determines human beings. Reliable can only be the rules, measures and principles of intelligent Life as well as of Live Nature. When you come into contact with Live Nature, tell yourselves, "I am good in my aspirations. I accept all measures, all methods Nature uses to work upon me. I will do my best to be as unselfish as Nature is. I will love as God loves." Esoteric students should comply with the principles of Live Nature – these have to be considered indisputable. No philosopher can be considered authentic in comparison with Nature. Philosophers can be considered reliable by human beings, but inasmuch as philosophers can strengthen and support the views and understanding of human beings. If one does not think properly, no philosopher can prove anything to such a person. If a student does not have a musical ear, nobody can teach such a student to play an instrument. If a student has a musical ear, the teacher can teach the student to play, the teacher will impart his or her talent to the student so that whatever Nature has implanted in such a student can develop. It is important for human beings to know what Nature has imparted to them. Therefore, human beings have to work upon themselves to develop what Nature has invested in them in respect of gifts and abilities. Provided you work conscientiously upon yourselves, you will resolve your problems properly. It is only a matter of time: some may resolve their problems within one day only, others may take one or several months, still others may take a year, still others – ten years, still others – a lifetime, and still others – several life times. This depends on the person. For ordinary people it may take a long time, for talented people – less time, for genii – least time of all. Genii resolve their problems on the spur of the moment. But all are required to be patient. Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to Truth. It keeps us merry. Source

Note 5 Distribution of Energies Twenty fifth lecture given by the Master Beinsa Douno in the Youth Esoteric class on April 18, 1923, in Sofia – Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to the Truth. – It constantly cheers us up. Reflection A summary of the paper “The Benefit of Sleep” was read. The summaries of the ninth and tenth lectures from Year One were read. The paper “Difference between Consciousness and Self-consciousness” was read. Exercise: lifting your arms to the sides. You will hold your arms still in this position for five minutes while concentrating your thoughts on them. After that, while holding the left arm up pointing sideways, begin moving your right hand along the left arm by starting at its fingers, reaching its shoulder, passing under the chin, then bringing the right arm out to the side, to the front and down. You do the same circular movement around the right arm as well: lifting the right arm to the side, and moving the left hand along it. This exercise is repeated a few times by alternating the right arm with the left arm, starting fast and slowing down along the way. The exercises you do are needed in order for the energies of your body to become properly polarized. When a person does not live right, the energies in their system cannot be distributed properly; consequently some parts of the body accumulate more energy, some – less energy. Energy in Nature comes primarily from two sources: from the centre of the Sun and from the centre of the Earth. The predominant energy in Nature is the one coming from the Sun – it is positive energy. When the sun energy is mostly taken in through the head, the human brain becomes very active. If this energy is absorbed primarily through the stomach, then the stomach becomes very active; in this case, the brain becomes demagnetized, weakens, and a headache appears. For this reason the excess energy from the stomach needs to be redirected to the brain in some way. Sometimes solar energy can become concentrated in the elbow, the entire arm, the face, etc. In order to distribute this energy uniformly through all parts of the body, one needs esoteric physical exercises. If you have difficulty falling asleep, the reason lies in the excess energy in the brain. In order to release yourself from it, you have to do such exercises that help redirect it to the other parts of the body. This can be accomplished in a couple of ways: either through concentrating your thoughts towards the tip of the nose for five minutes, or through washing the feet in warm water in order to bring down some of the blood from the head. The accumulation of excess amounts of solar energy in some parts of the body, creates a series of painful conditions for the other body parts*. In general, disease comes to those parts, which are demagnetized, i.e. those deprived from the amount of energy they need. In order to heal them, one has to mentally supply them with the needed energy. When a diseased body part is supplied with the energy it needs, the body part recovers. So, when you want to regulate the powers of your body parts, do the following exercise: drop your arms down and concentrate your thoughts towards the centre of the Earth; after that, take that energy from the centre of the Earth and consciously direct it upward toward your brain. If you cannot do this, that energy will possess you and will have a destructive effect on some of your body parts. In order to prevent this from happening, you have to direct this energy not only toward your head, but also toward the centre of the Sun. After that, you direct that same energy toward the centre of the Earth. These two types of energy, these two currents will meet somewhere. The point where they meet in people is in the pit of the stomach – you will feel a little warmth at this point, a sign of Life. If the crossing of these energies takes place in the brain, you will be experiencing an upsurge of thoughts; if the crossing of these energies takes place in the lungs, your feelings will be expanding; if this crossing takes place in the stomach, you will be feeling a great desire to eat; if this crossing takes place in the muscles of the legs and the arms, you will be experiencing a desire to move. Overall, regardless of the body part where the crossing of these energies takes place, a person will feel within themselves a particular pleasantness and a predisposition for something nice. This is why a person has to study their thoughts and desires, to see what role they play in the person’s life, to distinguish from where they originate – from the centre of the Earth or from the centre of the Sun. Knowing this, it is expected from you as students to control your thoughts and desires. What does it mean to control a thought? To control a thought means to follow its course, its direction – where it is coming from and where it is going – and, according to your understanding, to either give way to it, transform it, or stop it. This is why you have to try to distinguish which thought is coming from where and where it is going. Without trying this, without applying it, you will accumulate a lot of unprocessed knowledge, which will cause you a lot of trouble. If there is a build up of a lot of unprocessed, unapplied knowledge, its energy will become accumulated in the back of the head where personal feelings reside. This excess amount of energy, will, in turn disturb the balance of the brain centres of the head. In order to restore the balance, a part of that energy has to be directed toward the front of the head. In this sense, the brain is a sensitive scale, which notes the smallest deviation, the smallest disturbance of balance. It has been noticed that proud people hold their heads up high. Why? Because the centre of gravity of their brain is shifted to the back side of the head. In philosophers, who work primarily with the front side of the brain, the centre of gravity of the head is shifted to the front side of the brain; hence, mainly philosophers walk with their heads tilted slightly forward, for they are always in thought. In religious people the energy is accumulated primarily in the centre, in the top side of the head where their religious feeling resides, on account of which they hold their heads straight, looking up. For such people it is said that they are mystical, and like to reflect. Because the brain is connected to all parts of the body, any polarization taking place in some of the centres of the brain has an immediate impact on the corresponding body organs, which thus partake in an accumulation of energies. Knowing this, you have to look for ways to transfer the excess energy in your system from one centre to another or from one body part to another. Once you master this art, you will be able to think right. By transferring the excess energy from one place to another, you will be developing your will. A strong will makes a person’s head around the ears wide. A person has to work to strengthen their will. They have to make many attempts in this aspect, in order to develop courage, determination, and self-confidence. Each positive feeling brings something nice to the person. For instance, if the religious feeling in a person does not reach fanaticism, they develop a noble character. A religious feeling developed normally brings sympathy, tact to the human character; it makes people put themselves in the shoes of their fellowmen, understand them and love them. Those, who have not developed the religious feeling within themselves, do not respect people, and treat the poor and simple people with contempt. Consequently, you should work on yourself to develop your mental power, your feelings. For instance, the consciousness of a person is related to Justice. The more developed a person’s consciousness, the more just the person is. The religious feeling nurtures in people a feeling of regard and respect for others. Love nurtures compassion, and compassion makes people responsive and empathetic to others, understanding of their weaknesses. When the mind of a person is developed well, they can reason over the cause and effect of things. Considering this, you all have to work to develop in yourselves those feelings and abilities, which are now less developed. Some people have a less developed ability to reason, others – timing and tact, third – compassion, fourth – faith, fifth – hope, and so on. These are all defects, which spoil your life; they bring you doubt, hesitation, misunderstanding, discouragement, and so on. You have to develop within yourselves positive qualities in order to improve your character. Good character demands well developed reasoning, imagination, a sense of comparison, of music. A person with a good character means an open person, in whom excess moisture evaporates; hence this person is neither too moist, nor too dry. Such a person has to be firm in their ideas, friendly and social. These qualities enhance one’s mind. People are born with gifts and talents in a rudimentary state, and need to work on them in order to develop them. The more people focus their thoughts on these centres, the more blood enters the latter and the more these centres grow. Blood carries electricity and magnetism, which are transferred to these centres and help their growth. When some people fall behind in their development, they have to be directed to join some religious or spiritual society in order to awaken higher moral feelings within themselves. This way they will be thinking, they will be developing their mental abilities. It has been noticed that when some peoples fall behind in their mental development, the Invisible world sends among them scientists, spiritually enlightened people, who give a push towards science, enlightenment and culture – spiritual and mental. This has been the case in the nineteenth century, during the Enlightenment. Each century produces its own people, creators of new thought, new life, who push culture forward and upward. Contemporary culture follows a spiral in its development, one ascending path. After this culture, which is the culture of the Fifth race, the culture of the Sixth race will come – the culture of feelings, of the heart – which is one of the sublime cultures. During this culture both the heart and the mind will be able to develop correctly. If a person’s religious feeling is less developed, the person will look for a few people with a strong religious feeling and will ask them for help with developing a strong religious feeling as well. Four people with a strong religious feeling will immediately surround this person: one on the left side, another on the right side, third in front, and a fourth one behind; each of these four people will place a hand on the spot where the person’s religious feeling resides, and will hold their hands in this position for about an hour. As they continue this effort for a week, they will have a beneficial impact on the person with the less developed feeling. The same practice can be performed on a person with a weak ability to reason. This practice is based on the principle of interconnected vessels. People represent interconnected vessels, and as a result, energy can be poured from one person to another, the same way liquids can be poured from one of the interconnected vessels to another. In the development of contemporary life we see that some people are educated, others – uneducated; some are smart, others – stupid; some are poor, others – rich. What is the reason for this? To clarify this question I will give the following example: you see a mountain peak, which constantly produces abundant waters, which form a big, deep river, which waters gardens and orchards, powers water-mills, and so on. While the river flows heavily, life around it flourishes, both plant culture and spiritual culture develop; once the river is redirected, once it is given a new direction, life at this place ceases. Thus, the life of people develops well where energy is abundant – they have conditions to grow and develop physically and mentally; once that energy is redirected, life diminishes – there is a scarcity of energy, of developmental conditions. It has been strictly mathematically determined what amount of energy can be used for each century. It has also been determined what number of students can be sustained with this energy. A tremendous amount of energy is required for the support of the brains of these students. The development of each brain centre is connected with a certain amount of energy. In this aspect, Nature keeps an exact account of the energy it uses. This is the reason why some students cannot finish school: when they get to first or second grade, they leave school because they do not have conditions to study further. Why? Because their fellow students consume all the energy and there is nothing left for them. They leave school and look for other ways to grow. And indeed, you see a miller working on his water-mill for a few years, work is going smoothly and he is satisfied with his situation; however, somebody else shows up, redirects the water his way, and the water-mill stops working. At another place you see that someone has made a vegetable garden by the river – he has dug ditches to direct the water from the river to his vegetables; tomorrow the river is redirected and the garden withers. So, as long you have conditions, as long as Nature has provided you with a certain amount of energy, you have to use it wisely. If you do not use it, somebody else will take your place. There are others behind you, who are waiting their turn. Nothing in Nature and in life is arbitrary. If you can wisely use what Nature has determined for you, you will find yourselves in favourable Life conditions; if you cannot use it, you will find yourselves in conditions that are unfavourable for the development of the mind, heart, and will. As long as you have a desire, a stimulus for work within yourselves, you will have the opportunity to use the energy, and the conditions, which Nature has envisaged for you. The budget for each person, for each society, for each people, and for all of humankind is determined by the Sun. Nowadays, the Sun sends more physical energy to the Earth, i.e. today people are more capable of taking in the physical energy of the Sun, rather than the spiritual one. In the future, when the Sixth race comes on the Earth, people will have the ability to take in spiritual energy from the Sun as well. So, the energies are different; thus, we say that there are physical energies, energy of the heart, energy of the mind, and energy of the will. As you study people, you will see what energy emanates from each person. Now, as you know this, do not think that you can achieve anything you want. There are certain conditions necessary for each thing. In order to use the energy of the mind from Nature, people have to know how to attract it. This goal requires specific centres – societies of people with mental, intellectual aspirations. They are capable of attracting this energy. In this aspect, universities act as such focal points, such centres, which attract the energy of the mind from Nature. This explains why a student feels a sacred excitement, an uplift of his mental powers, when he enters a university. He could study at home as well, but it is in the university where the mental powers and abilities of the student are stirred up and enflamed. The light of the mind is brighter in the schools and the universities than it is in the family. This is the reason why children are sent to school from an early age. If you look at some school or some university through the eyes of a clairvoyant, you will see that there is Light emanating from there. The more elementary or worse the school, the less its Light. The elementary school has the least Light, and the university has the most. When we say that people have to live a pure, holy, wise life, we mean to say that they have to use the corresponding energies of the Sun. The more elevated aspirations a person has, the bigger their ability to connect with the higher sun energies. Otherwise, they will be connecting with the lower earthly energies, which will suck them into the dense matter, where the way out is very difficult. The more a person sinks into the dense matter, the more materialistic they become, and connect to the Black lodge. The materialists deny the Spiritual world. Why? Because, subconsciously, they are exclusively under the influence of lower spirits-materialists, fooling people into thinking they are in control of the situation and not depending on anyone. These materialists have to study for a long time, to enlighten their minds, until they realize that they are surrounded by spirits with a different development and with a different influence, positive or negative. The sun energies are positive and have a beneficial impact on people; earthly energies are negative and impact people adversely. The former energies help the advancement of the person, and the latter – the fall. Connect with the energies coming from above, not with the lower energies of the Earth. Those forces, which oppose human progress, aim to cut off the communication between the higher energies of the Sun and the people, in order to place people exclusively under the influence of the lower earthly energies. As long as the sun energies prevail over the earthly currents in people, they have the ability to free themselves from the illusions of the world, from the distorted situations in their lives. The Sun brings new ideas, new inventions, new philosophy, new religion, and new science. The Sun will wipe out and burn the old, and turn it into ash. The Sun will bring the pure, holy Life to the Earth. For whom? For the souls that are ready. The person, who is ready, is like a bud waiting for the Sun to shine on it to blossom. A person has to be like a flower, open for the Sun in order to take in its energy, only this is capable of bringing the flower to fruition. The mind of a person has to turn to the sun Light, only this can diffuse the darkness in their life and aid their growth. If a person takes in the sun light, Life unfolds correctly on its own. Reflection Only the bright path of the Wisdom leads to the Truth. It constantly cheers us up. * The expression to be translated from Bulgarian is “удове” /Bulg. archaic/ - limbs; extremities; body parts. Source

Note 4 A Grain of Wheat Twenty fourth lecture, given by the Master Beinsa Douno at the Youth Occult Class on the 11th of April 1923, Sofia Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to Truth. Summaries of the seventh and eighth lectures of the first year were read. The topic “The benefit of sleep” was read. Figure 1. Imagine that point C (Fig. 1) is a seed, a result of something. This seed can be of any fruit, of a grain of wheat or something else. What should you do with this seed? You should give it conditions to develop. How many elements are necessary for the manifestation of the forces hidden in the seed? The first element is soil shown by the straight line AB. Soil, for its part, is a result – it is a substance that has fallen behind in its development, it has not finished its evolution. According to some occultists substance represents sleeping spirits in Nature. In the present case, the job of the seed consists in waking up these spirits. In terms of science, the job of the seed is to convert the potential forces of soil into kinetic. The second element, which is necessary for the development of the seed, is light. When falling onto the seed, the light forms the angle nmp. In order to develop, the seed should simply take in the sunbeams which fall onto it. The third element which is necessary for the development of the seed is dampness which falls on it in the form of vapour or in the form of rain. Once these three conditions exist, the seed can begin to develop. The first movement which the seed will make is branching downwards, towards the centre of the Earth; after that it will direct upwards, towards the centre of the Sun. At this bifurcation of the seed in two directions – downwards and upwards – certain parity is noted between the roots and the branches: a certain branch corresponds to every root, just as a large branch corresponds to every large root; a small branch corresponds to a small root. Thence, when a root or rootlet withers, the corresponding branch or twig withers together with it. If we trace back the development of man from the primary cell, we will see that he has been created from the division of this cell in two parts in the form of two seeds. Human brain has been formed from a seed – the roots of the nervous system are in it. The second seed has formed the stomach brain, from which the sympathetic nervous system has come1. The roots of this system are in the stomach brain. The sympathetic nervous system includes the feelings of man mostly. You should study these two systems well, should get acquainted with their functions to know how to cope with them. For example, at times you feel heaviness in the stomach but you do not know the reason for that; if you are acquainted with the functions of the sympathetic nervous system, you will see that this heaviness, this indisposition in the region of the stomach is connected with your feelings, with the sympathetic nervous system. You have eaten a certain food with vibrations that do not correspond with the vibrations of your sympathetic nervous system, resulting in a certain disharmony. When this distressing state passes in a way you start feeling mental indisposition. This means that the pain has crossed into the head, to the temples, where you feel great tension. This indisposition may last a day or two or more, until you clean your brain in some way. For this reason man should be careful what he eats; he should know what food is necessary to his organism. As disciples, you should work hard on yourselves without seeking the easy way. You should know that the easy way is the hardiest way in Life. The easy way brings great dangers for man, the hard way is safe. Therefore, if you want to succeed in your life, do seek the hard way. Once you seek the easy way, you will have great surprises and trials. Imagine that the grain of wheat has the consciousness of man and says: “I want to find the easy way and to set off for it, I do not want to be earthed up deep down, it is enough to be put at a depth of one centimetre in the ground and to be soiled a little from above”. What would happen with the grain of wheat under these conditions? It will wither at the smallest drought. Such is the situation with everyone, who seeks the easy way. He may say that sufferings are not necessary in life, that difficulties should be avoided, etc. Whatever he says, in whatever way he tries to persuade others, this man is wrong. You meet high school students who say that mathematics is not necessary in life; why is mathematics not necessary? They seek the easy way; that is why. Then what do they need? In their opinion they need history, geography, music. They think that it is easy to study music. On the whole, every subject is important for the student. He should study the subject in a way that his mind becomes deeply imbued with it. In order to be a musician, first of all the student has to be musical. In order to know to what extent you are musical, do go visit a sick man and start singing to him – if the state of the sick man improves, you are really musical. Music cures, harmonizes the forces in human organism. Therefore, everyone should be musical, no matter whether he plays music or sings. Man should be internally musical – this is especially necessary for the disciple. Without music, no harmonizing can take place between the disciples of the School. To be in harmony with each other, this means to strike your roots deeply into the Earth, in order to acquire greater stability, on the one hand, and to extract as much sap as possible from the Earth and to send them to the branches, on the other hand. And so, you should know that the stability, the strength of your ideas depends on the depth to which the roots of these ideas have penetrated in the Earth. The deeper the roots of your ideas go down into the Earth, the higher their branches penetrate in your mind, i.e. the higher towards God you have gone. For this purpose you should know how to transform the forces of your organisms. To transform your forces means to know what element you should bring into your mind and into your heart. Once you find this element and bring it into yourselves, then beautiful thoughts will be generated in your mind as well as high-minded and noble sentiments – in your heart. These elements are similar to the injections which contemporary doctors give sick people. However, before you perceive these thoughts and feelings, you experience the same states that a sick man experiences when he is given injections. What does a sick man feel? To start with, the place in which the injection was given swells, after that temperature, and fever appears. Almost a week later the sick is indisposed and he swears not to undergo injections a second time. However, in a month the distressing state goes and he begins to feel the benefits of the injection. There are two kinds of injections: physical and psychical. After every severe suffering, where one’s mind has been troubled and life makes no sense, bright and elevated ideas are being born in his mind. In this case the suffering represents the injection. That is how it was with all great people, that is how it was with all inventors, that is how it was with all poets, writers, scientists and preachers, that is how it was with all musicians and artists – the law is true for all times and epochs, for all people without any exceptions. The hardest way is the right one. Consequently, when you come up against a difficulty in you life, you will know that this is in the course of the great laws of Nature. The right way infers the good, the conscious Life, that should be understood properly. For example, not all positive has a good effect on man and not all negative has a bad effect. Understanding is needed from the disciples. The word bad is not positive. Someone tells you: “You are not so bad”; this means that you are not as bad as you think, you are not as bad as other people are. Once it is said in that way, you cheer up, you feel refreshed. This shows that there are negative words with an ascending effect on man; there are positive words with a descending effect. For example, someone tells you: “You are not better than others; this means that the other people are good but you are not better than them. The word good is positive but in this case you feel hurt, you lose heart, this word does not cheer you up. Why does this word, used in the sentence “you are not better than the others” hurt you? Because you have had a high opinion of yourselves, you have considered yourselves something special and suddenly you are compared with all people. What should you understand from the word good? A good person is that one, who has a right thought, right feelings, and right actions. This means that three elements define Goodness: that one who does not have a right thought, right feelings and right actions cannot be good. The Good is a result. The good person solves his tasks easily, and works out the difficulties of his life easily. He knows the reasons of things; he has knowledge at his disposal. If someone comes to you and calls you a know-nothing, you feel hurt right away and say: “What, I am a know-nothing, do you know that I have read Decart in French, Kant in German, and Bacon in English?” If the erudition is the judge of a person with this knowledge, then indeed this person is not a know-nothing. However, the same person falls ill and does not know the reason for his disease; therefore, he is not able to help himself. He has a headache; he is asked: “What is the reason for your headache?” – “I do not know.” – “Can you help yourself?” – “I cannot.” He has stomach ache – he does not know the reason for his disease, he cannot help himself and he looks for a doctor. I ask: “Is that one an erudite, who does not know the reason for his disease, nor can he help himself? This person is a champion know-nothing. A doctor will come, will see whether the tongue is white, the eye – yellowish, the pulse of the heart – quickened and will judge that he is ill, he has a stomach upset accompanied by a headache; after that he will make out a prescription and will go away. This is only a conclusion, but not a determination of the reasons of the disease. Everyone who has a headache does not like speaking the Truth. A person, who has a toothache has broken a certain law of nature and should suffer the consequences of this breach. Knowing this, do not avoid diseases; do not be afraid of them. They come to restore the breach that you once caused in Nature. They come to restore the breached balance of your organism. What do people do nowadays? When they have a toothache they hurry to have the tooth pulled out, however the pain continues after the tooth is out. The esoteric disciple should see pain through. Once he has a toothache, he should apply his will and should not groan. If friends come to him at that time he should talk with them freely, calmly, as if he has no pain at all. It does not matter that the side of his face is swollen. You should absolutely disregard your pain. Nature examines man as to how courageous he is, and how much he is able to withstand sufferings. As disciples, you should know that sufferings are inevitable on your path. There is not a being in the world which does not suffer. Do you think that the grain of wheat does not suffer? Great are the sufferings of the grain of wheat! Planted in the ground, covered up with soil, it feels dreadful sufferings, as if it is bursting, as if it dies. It is in great sufferings until its outer skin cracks. As soon as this husk cracks apart, it sprouts, shoots up and starts a new life - a life of liberation. Therefore you will know that you will not avoid sufferings, but you should seek the reason for sufferings. The point is not to extract the bad tooth, but to find the reason for the pain. Once you have a stomachache you are in a hurry to take a purgative; today the pain will pass but tomorrow it will appear again. It is important to find the reason for all diseases, of all difficulties which you come across. There is nothing bad in having had a headache, or you have been heartsick, or felt certain soul emptiness, however, it is important to know the reasons for things. What is wrong that you feel certain emptiness in you? What is wrong about a bottle being empty? Today it is empty, tomorrow it will be filled. In order to be filled with new content, it simply has to be emptied. When your head, your mind is emptied, do know that some new idea will replace this emptiness. Therefore, as disciples of occultism you should know the laws so that you can utilize the esoteric sciences, can make use of them. You are still young now, but if you do not study the laws of Nature and do not live in compliance with them, then the contradictions of Life will come and you will not be able to manage with them. You will be under the burden of these contradictions every day, while, imperceptibly your spine will bend gradually – one day you will see yourselves bent like a question mark. Seeing yourselves in this situation you will say: “I already got old, it is all up to me.” Why have you come to this situation? What did you do when you were young? Do you know why you were young? You do not. Do you know why you got old? You do not know that, either. What do you know, then? You know that you used to walk upright when you were young and you stooped as you became old. The esoteric disciple should be upright – no matter what his age is, he should stay upright. Bending is a symbol of getting old. Stand up straight! No humps, you should not stoop. When you get up in the morning, do not be in a hurry to start working; wash yourselves, stand up straight and concentrate your thought towards the centre of the Earth in order to perceive its energies; then direct these energies towards the centre of the Sun; then again direct your thought towards the centre of the Earth and so on. After doing this exercise several times, move a little up and down. Finally, stay quiet and calm, and send your prayer of thanks to the One, who has sent you to the Earth and has given you all conditions for growth and development. Get in touch with His consciousness and thank Him – not in words only, but from the depth of your soul. Then get in touch with the consciousness of the good and sensible Beings in the world, who work for your elevation. Thank these Beings, thank the great powers in the world, who, along with their great task to guide the fortunes of the whole humankind, have spared time for you as well, for the creation of good and favourable conditions for your development. So do flowers: blooming of flowers is nothing else but thankfulness, gratitude which they send towards the Sun for the favours done by it. The condition of the seeds of flowers is not easy while they are earthed into the soil. However, after they sprout, after they appear on the surface of the earth and start growing up, blooming and giving fruit, they speak out their thankfulness to the Sun, to the humidity, to the air for the assistance in their development. While looking at the flowers, the Sun smiles and continuously promises to send them its energy. Therefore every thought, every feeling and every action in man should be as the blossoms of plants are – they should express the thankfulness of man to God, to all bright and elevated Beings for the goods which they have given to them. As long as the flower thanks, it has opportunity to bloom; once it stops thanking, its job is finished. As long as it blooms it has opportunity to make use of the energies of Nature. The same could be said about man as well: as long as man thanks, he thinks; as soon as he stops thanking he stops thinking. Since he does not think, man is doomed to withering. Without thought, without feelings and without actions man is doomed to death – he is a fruitless plant. The disciple should have bright, elevated thought, noble feelings and actions. In his thoughts he should be an optimist, should look brightly on things, and should not lose heart. The disciple should not think that he is incapable. If the small flower is capable to bloom and to give fruit, how much more can man do? Everyone can do something, at least as much as the flower does. The thoughts, the feelings and the actions of the disciple should be outstanding. Now, do not think that you will do without difficulties and sufferings. It is a delusion to think that you will do without sufferings. It is not the same if you have a living, blooming flower or a painted flower; also it is not the same if your thoughts have been experienced, have come out from the depth of your soul, have gone through the bending of the heart and shaking of the mind or have been only read and spoken about. In the first case you have gone through the process of blooming resulting in feeling, an inner renovation, and liveliness. It is preferable for man to go through sufferings rather than spend an easy, luxurious life; it is preferable for man to stay all the day round at the vineyard, to get blisters on his hands and to get his face sunburned rather than have no blisters and his face remain fair, not touched by the Sun. One, who works at the Divine vineyard, will always have a share in it. Nature likes hard-working, diligent people while it turns its back on lazy people. Man should be fair internally not externally. Externally he may be fair or sunburned – this is not important. Work is required from everyone – nothing more. If you work Nature will help you and God will assist you. It is said in the Scriptures: “Do pray for one another”; this means “Do help one another”. When you see someone who is sorrowful you should come to his assistance – do stare at his state, see what he needs and help him by joint efforts. If he needs some money you may help him with money as well. By his thought, man can help his fellow men in the three worlds – the physical, the Heart and the Mental. The joint thoughts are a great power. In order to take part in this thought, man should control his thoughts and feelings. Once he achieves this, he will be able to contribute something to the collective, the general thought of the entire humankind as well. In order to develop his heart and to obtain a right thought, man passes through a number of sufferings and trials. Hence, you should know that the sufferings you go through rest on certain laws. They are strictly determined and foreseen. Through sufferings, man learns, acquires knowledge. Without sufferings he will not make use of anything even if he would have finished four faculties. That knowledge would be on paper only without putting it into practice. A true knowledge is that by which man foresees everything that could happen to him. And if something happens to him, a disease for example, he would easily cope with it. That is why a strong will is required from him – in order to overcome the hindrances that he will meet on his way. For the next time write on the topic: “The distinctive features of strong will”. Will represents the manifested man. Man manifests himself in his actions but not in his thoughts and feelings – this means that the will represents man. By what means will you recognize a writer or a poet? By his works. By what will you recognize an artist? By his pictures. By what will you recognize a musician? By what he plays and composes. Without will man is not manifested. Will is a materialized expression of the human mind and the human heart – it is a spokesman of two worlds: the world of mind and the world of heart. Contemporary people as well as esoteric disciples lack strong will. All people should work on strengthening, on steeling their will. There are energies that have accumulated in man for years that could be used for work, and for strengthening of the will. For example, someone was insulted by someone else and he has kept this insult in himself for decades. An insult is nothing else but an energy that stays still. Will should be made to work, to remake this energy, to use it wisely. A person, who has a strongly developed ambition, easily gets insulted. The place of ambition is in the back part of the head. When somebody insults you a heating appears at the place of this centre – by this you will know the place of ambition in you. When you become frightened you will feel a certain tension above, in both sides of the head – by this you will know where the centre of fear is in man. When an outer reason awakens you to mercy, you will feel a certain tension in the upper part of your head, where the centre of mercy is. Generally speaking, all energies of nature go through man as well, in that each of them has a strictly determined role. As disciples, you should study these energies, should know their places. One of the methods to study these energies is to examine through self-analysis. In this direction, various methods of work are given in the School. You will work with acids, with bases and with salts. Acids represent negative forces in Nature. In the laboratory of Nature they are as necessary as bases and salts are. In contemporary chemical laboratories, acids are used for dissolving, for cleaning of different metal oxides. If you want to clean something from someone tell him an insulting word – insulting words are a kind of acids. Insulting words are a wealth – every insulting word has a certain value for the one who comprehends their sense. There are adepts who would give millions for a single insulting word but there is no one to say such to them. If you, who do not comprehend the significance of insulting words would be told such a word you would get insulted. When you are told an insulting word, put it into a bottle, then close the bottle, put a notice when that word was said to you and keep it until you find someone to buy it. Whereas, if you bring the insult from a person to person, if you complain about it, this means misunderstanding of Life. Every insult costs ten million leva2. So, if you are told an insulting word give thanks for the wealth that you acquired. Hence, negative thoughts and feelings are acids that clean human character and give stimulus, impulse in the life of man. So, no matter what you do you will not get rid of the difficulties and sufferings easily. They are necessary. Sufferings smooth human character. And insulting words raise man. We can make the following experiment: we will put one of the disciples under conditions where every other day he will be told an insulting word. Another disciple will be put under conditions where every other day he will be told a pleasant word. The experiment will last three months; after that we will study which one of the two has raised. That one to whom insulting words are directed will at first be aggrieved, then he will be angry, will start finding a way to answer those who have insulted him. After that, he will start thinking what every insulting word contains until at last he will aspire to some great thought and will rise above the ordinary conditions of life. The second disciple, who is told pleasant, sweet words all the time, will start contemplating his position until he decides that he does not have to work. He will see that his father is rich and will decide to live on his means. And, instead of raising higher this disciple will regress more and more. Knowing this, do take advantage of insulting words wherever they come from – from outside or from inside. Their saps are hidden deep in the Earth – strike your roots into the Earth to suck its saps and to send them up to the branches of your Life. Do thank that the tongue of your friend that has made a slip and told you an insulting word. Religious people, not comprehending this law, fight amongst themselves for having been insulted. They say: “How is that we, religious people, tell one another insulting words instead of living well together.” I say: There is nothing bad in insulting words, they are great wealth – manure for human soul. Once you are told an insulting word put it into a bottle right away, and wait until someone comes to buy it. This is what a religious person should understand: when he has been insulted, he should feel that he has acquired some wealth. This means for man to comprehend the main laws in Nature. Speaking about negative forces in Nature we do not mean the destroying, dead forces, but we mean the forces that build up, and create. Nature removes, throws away the former for being useless and makes the latter work. And so, always keep in your mind the idea of the grain of wheat. When you come across a difficulty, imagine the state of the grain of wheat. Follow its footsteps in your thoughts, get down with its roots into the earth; after that rise to the surface of the earth where you will grow a stem and leaves; and after a time you will come into bloom, you will bear fruit and you will become ripe. Only in this way you will solve the difficulty that has crossed your path. Having eaten the ripe grain of wheat your difficulty will disappear. If you are hurt, if you are sorrowful, attempt to do this in your thoughts and do not be afraid. Imagine that a friend of yours has insulted you. How? He has told you that you are a champion know-nothing. Now I will set a task for you; for a week, to transform the energy that this insult contains and to overcome it. For this purpose make the following imaginary attempt: take a pip of an orange and put it imaginarily into a large container with soil. Then start following with your mind the entire process of growth of this pip: go down into the ground with it until it strikes its rootlets; after that come above the ground and keep its process of growth – along its stem, along its leaves; then imagine that a blossom puts forth, ripens and bears a nice orange; when you see this beautiful fruit, do eat it. Thereby the attempt is over. Attempt this for several minutes every evening as far as you can go with your thought. The next evening continue from the point you left off. On the first evening the pip may only sprout, on the second evening it may give stem and leaves, on the third it may bloom and so on. Keep at it an entire week. If someone’s pip fails to set and bear a ripe fruit, let him not be confused. In this way everyone will check to what extent he can concentrate his mind, how strong his will is and so on. This attempt is in the Mental world. After a time when you progress more you will be able to make it in the physical world as well. For the present however, until you have not come to this high development, make the attempt in your thought at every difficulty, at every insult from close or distant people. In this way you will strengthen your mind, your heart and your will. When you run against negative thoughts or experience negative states, be careful not to keep them in your organism for a long time because they bring poisons to the blood that you will have to free yourself from. These poisons are similar to the poisons which bacilli make at their reproduction. In order for the organism to come to its normal state, doctors recommend various medicines which aim at combining those poisons in a compound harmless for the organism and excreting them later. In such cases we recommend drinking hot water: the sick should drink up several glasses of hot water to dilute the serum in which bacilli reproduce. In this way their reproduction strength abates and the organism returns to its normal state. An exercise: move your hands out in front of the chest and touch the tips of the thumb and the little finger of the one hand, and the thumb and the little finger of the other hand so that the hands with the flats downwards form a straight line parallel to the shoulders. At this position, the thumbs and the little fingers remain without moving, touching at their tips and the three middle fingers are movable, and then you put those of the right hand upon the three free fingers of the left hand and slide over them until they touch one another with their tips. Then you slide the same fingers but from the lower side, and imagine that you are surmounting a certain obstacle with an apparent effort. Slowly, let the hands down as much as possible but in a way that the little fingers and the thumbs remain fixed without moving and the flats stay parallel to the body plane, i.e. thumbs showing upwards and the little fingers – downwards. At this position the three free fingers of the left hand slide upon the three free fingers of the right hand – first from above and after that from below without making any effort in your thought, as it was in the first exercise. Raise hands in the first position, parallel to the shoulders, with the right fingers upon the left. The exercise is continued in the same way. While the exercise lasts, your mind should be concentrated on the hands and fingers. Do this exercise for ten days in succession – five minutes every evening, before you go to bed. Right after it you will do the exercise with the orange pip, which lasts fifteen minutes. This means that every evening before going to bed you will use twenty minutes for both exercises. When things go wrong man holds his thumbs downwards; once things begin getting better he holds the thumbs of his hands upwards. - Only the bright path of Wisdom leads to Truth. - It makes us merry all the time. 1 A vegetative /autonomic/ nervous system, consisting of sympathetic and parasympathetic parts; the stomach /solar/ plexus, called also stomach brain, is anatomically the largest nervous plexus of the sympathetic part 2 Bulgarian currency Source

Note 6 The Best Method Master’s Twenty-third Lecture delivered at the Youth Esoteric Class on 4 April 1923 – Sofia Only the light path of Wisdom leads to Truth Reflection Summaries of lectures five and six from year one were read. Write on the topics of Usefulness of Sleep, The Difference between Conscience and Self-Conscience, The Difference between Sub-Conscience and Super-Conscience. Contemporary scientists examine time- and space- related issues and offer various explanations on them. What is the significance of time in Life? Time chronicles and determines all manifestations, all phenomena taking place in Life and Nature. Time determines the length or duration of a certain phenomenon or work taking place in the conscience. Therefore time is a clock used by Life and Nature. Space, however, represents the book of Life, of Nature, which chronicles all results taking place in human conscience. So, time relates to actions, while space – to results. Time and Space are within Life itself, not outside. Sometimes a human being is transformed in time; how does this happen? Imagine, you expect your friend to visit you on a certain day, you keep waiting for a day, two days, three days, you are worried that something might have happened to prevent your friend from coming, you are anxious that your friend may be late, that he or she may forget to come etc. During this time you become apprehensive and excited – you think only of your friend. You go out, you come back, you keep an eye on the clock, and you see that the appointed time is yet to come, but still you are nervous. Why are you nervous? Your worries point at a lack of balance in human mind, heart and will. When you get to know the great principle in Nature by which everything happens when the right time comes, then you will no longer worry. Everything in Nature is measured and strictly determined. Imagine that though your friend has promised to come, he or she does not come at the appointed day and time, this is not accidental. The reason for this may be karmic, it is quite possible that a long time ago you might have promised to visit your friend and you might not have stood by your word; today, under the principle of revenge a similar experience comes back to you. If your friend does not fulfil his or her promise, do not blame him or her, do not say that your friend is unpredictable, but rather start looking for the mistake within you and you are bound to find it. As soon as you find your mistake, correct it. You should understand that whatever you may say about your friend, he or she has said the same about you – you are echoing his or her thoughts and feelings. What can you gain from this reverberation? You will gain nothing. Someone walks in a forest and pronounces clearly and sonorously one word or one line from a poem; in a short while this word or line comes back to its original source. What do you gain from repeating this word or line? Say for example you have pronounced, ‘You forest, my green forest, you water, my cold water.’1 After a while you hear the echo of these words, as if they are coming particularly to you. What can you gain from this? You will gain nothing. What is reverberation or echo in Nature? Repetition – this is what it is. You say to somebody without seeing him or her that he or she is a good person; and he or she responds that you are a good person. So, if you praise someone, that person will praise you; if you reproach him or her, he or she will reproach you too. What is the situation with the one pronouncing something and with the other reverberating it? They are in situations opposite to each other. If the first one faces east and speaks from this position, the echo will come from the west. Have you ever considered the significance of the echo in Life? Can you know how far back an echo dates to – to this life of yours or to a previous life? You have to study these manifestations of Life and to account to yourselves how distant the echo reaching your ears is, and what it contains etc. You have to know how the echo in Life was created and if it is for Good, you have to benefit from it. So, the broad sense of the word echo implies reflection. There is such an echo, i.e. such a reflection when one looks into the mirror. There one can see one’s reflection. We say a reflection of a given image, of a sound, a reflection of the light – these are all echoes. What makes one look into the mirror? The human desire to have an idea, a visualization of one’s image makes one look into the mirror. If a person can acquire an idea about oneself with one or several glances into the mirror, then the issue of getting to know oneself is settled. Some say that Nature, in order to see, to know itself, created the external world i.e. the world we see around us. This world is a reflection of the real world, of the Divine world. Where is the real world? If you assume that point A is in the external world, then the reflection of this world will be point B – so, the real world is in point B. Human conscience is, however, in point C, outside the straight line AB. Human conscience did not appear arbitrarily, but in a particular year, in a particular month, on a particular day, at a particular hour, minute and second; this conscience appears at a specific location in space. It is often the case that human misfortune is due to the fact that human conscience has, to some extent, deviated from the determined time and place of its manifestation. Figure 1 Hence, the more sophisticated a person is, the more his or her conscience agrees with the time and place of its manifestation, determined by the principles of Nature. Thus one’s life is much more conscious and harmonic. When one’s life is in harmony, then one’s work progresses smoothly. Anyone can verify to what extent one’s conscience manifests itself at the exact determined time. So that you can find out the vigilance and accuracy of your conscience, you may perform the following experiment: all of you synchronise your watches and agree that on the following day, exactly at 4:32:05 you will be in Vitosha. Whoever is late or early will know that a certain deviation has occurred in his or her conscience. By the deviation of one’s conscience one can get to know how many and what mistakes one will commit during the day. The bigger the deviation of your conscience, the less people can rely upon you, and also the less you can rely on yourself. If you are late by one hour you will resemble a person who only breaks stones without achieving anything particular. If you are late by thirty-two minutes, you will resemble a person who has been eating and drinking and not working. If you are only 5 seconds late, you will resemble a person who has ploughed the soil, but has not sown the seeds. Only those of you, who observe time by the second, will sow and reap. And so, through the manifestations of conscience one can rectify all of one’s mistakes. Why? Conscience is renovated every seven years. Therefore if you have missed the right moment during the first year of your conscience cycle, i.e. if you have made whatever mistake concerning time, during the following wakening or renovation of conscience after seven years, you have the chance to remedy your omission. This is to say that at the ages of seven, fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, thirty-five, forty-two, and forty-nine years, one has the opportunity to rectify all of one’s mistakes. In order to succeed in correcting one’s mistakes, students have to stand by their promises, which they make either to themselves or to others. If you promise to meet someone at 4 o’clock in the morning, you have to be punctual: you will go to the agreed place at 4 o’clock – not a minute earlier or a minute later. If you arrive earlier or later, there is no excuse. No matter what happens, you must fulfil your promise. The strength of will resides in the fulfilment of one’s promises. Some may say, ‘It does not matter, I was late only by one minute or I was early by one minute.’ No, no minute can excuse you, a minute earlier or a minute later and there can be a road accident. Nature loves punctuality; in Nature things happen at the exact determined time – neither earlier, not later. Everything that happens earlier than the determined time is prematurely born; everything that happens later than the determined time is the rotten stuff in Life. Being students you have to be punctual – be strict in fulfilling your promises, in bringing into effect your ideas. Among students there are often self-willed, obstinate ones. Do not forget: Nature breaks the heads, legs and arms of self-willed obstinate people. If you do not take care, yours will also be broken. Nature does not give in to anyone. Having arrived on Earth, you have to observe and comply to the fullest with the order of Nature. It is merciless to those who do not act according to its principles. At the same time Nature is absolutely fair: before applying the principles to any person, it will warn such a person three times and having done this, only then will it apply its principles. It will nudge one, it will tell one, ‘Come on, get up and go!’ – ‘Well, it’s too early yet, I do not feel like getting up.’ It will give a second nudge, ‘Get up and go!’ – ‘The Sun has not risen yet; moreover I have under-slept.” A third nudge, ‘Get up and go!’ – ‘I have no clothes, no hat, my coat and shoes are worn out.’ You will go hatless, in a worn coat and shoes. If you do not want to be in a worn coat and shoes you can go out barefooted with no coat on. – ‘But still I have no hat.’ Were you born in a hat? It is preferable that one is honest and diligent and keeps one’s promises, rather than being well dressed, but have compromised the promise given. One unfulfilled promise can decide one’s fortune for life. When a Great Spirit comes over and tells you, ‘Get up and go!’ this points out that the work is very important and cannot be postponed. Therefore we are all required to be attentive and obedient – to listen to the faintest internal motives. Whatever you promised to do or whatever you are told to do, do it exactly on time. All obstacles in your Life are due to poor punctuality. Keep trying along these lines so that you become punctual for your own sake. Say for example, you decide to visit a friend of yours and to stay with this friend until 4 p.m.; you get there at 2 p.m. and at 4 p.m. you must be off on your way. At this point your friend will try to persuade you to stay a little longer, will offer various things to you, only to keep you longer at his or her place. However, once you have promised to yourself that you will be off at 4 p.m., you have to stick to your promise and to leave exactly at 4 p.m. You will tell your friend that you have some urgent work to see to and you will leave. The first requirement for students is to be absolutely punctual in the fulfilment of their promises. Unpunctuality is the reason for all sins and crimes, for all unfinished work. It is true that all thefts, murders, crimes are committed in the evenings, in the dark. Why? Because in the evenings, in the dark, there is no punctuality at all. How can one determine, in the darkness, what one’s path should be? Unlike in daytime, when one can determine exactly what one’s acts are like, what one’s path should be like. Can one draw a picture or write a letter in the darkness? All noble elevated work can only be done in Light. Punctuality on its part is just one manifestation of Light – to be punctual means to use Light in one of its manifestations. I shall now give you the following new thought: each ray of Light is a projection of the desires of one of the Elevated Beings. The ray coming from the Elevated being’s conscience is similar to the ray of sun, passing through you generating a pleasant feeling, a feeling of Joy and Cheer. This Being, which sends its ray into your eyes, into your brain, wants a proper reflection of its ray. What do some people do? They receive this ray, set their eyes to the ground and head toward a pub to have a glass of wine. What do we understand to be the meaning of the word wine? Wine stands for the wrong vicious thoughts and desires. Therefore when the Elevated beings project their thoughts, they spread like sun-rays and shine upon souls. Put in a word, Light is the projection of the thoughts, feelings and desires of Elevated Beings. Through their thoughts, feelings and desires the Elevated Beings are trying to elevate all of us human beings, all living creatures on Earth, who, from their point of view, are considered dead. So, to renovate yourselves, you have to get up early every morning to be able to receive the first rays of sun. They carry within light and elevated thoughts. You may say that the rays of Light are nothing more than vibrations, oscillations of ether. It is true that Light is oscillations, vibrations, but these are Life-bearing vibrations. Only those who carry Light; only those whose conscience is vigilant can understand Life. Just like seeds cannot develop in ashes, persons whose conscience is asleep cannot understand the Life of Light. Similarly, just like seeds cannot grow in soil consisting predominantly of ashes and lime, Good cannot flourish under unfavourable conditions either. For next time write upon the topic: What do Ashes and Lime Stand for? While reflecting upon the topic you will see that in order for the Good in human beings to grow and flourish, there must be a special environment, i.e. favourable soil. In this particular case a favourable environment is nothing else but a vigilant conscience. So being students you are required to have a vigilant conscience. This is the first condition for the construction of your life. Vigilant conscience of students can rectify their mistakes. Students will know what each small or big deviation in their lives is due to, and it will be easy to rectify them. When one’s conscience is vigilant, one will be punctual in all of one’s acts – such a person will not put things off, will not be idling around. What is the reason for laziness, idleness in people? When a desire to indulge oneself, to have an easy and opulent life is aroused, such a person has already given in to idleness and laziness. Laziness entails a number of crimes and sins. Laziness resides both in the hearts and minds of people. Teachers give problems to students to solve for the following day; students take a look at the problem, find out it is rather difficult and as they do not feel like thinking, they put it off for the following day. On the following day they take another look at the problem, still they do not feel like thinking and they go to school with the problem unsolved. No, whatever happens, students have to solve their problems, not to put it off for the following day. Only lazy people put things off. Those who put off the tasks given by the teacher, justify themselves with excuses that they had no inclination, no inspiration etc. No, whatever state you may be in, you have to perform your tasks. Teachers give problems to students; they tell them to do good, but students start justifying themselves, why they cannot do this good, because they had no money, or were not inclined to, could not think of someone to do the good for etc. Resourcefulness is required with students. Students can do good at any moment. You have one poor friend; take a kilo of bread to his or her place exactly when your friend needs it. Well, your friend lived far away, you legs ached – there is no excuse whatsoever. There is no valid excuse for not doing good. As soon as you have delivered the bread on time, you have accomplished the task. This is why students have to be vigilant – to be aware of their deeds at any moment, not to become slack, not to give in to laziness. Vigilant conscience makes achievements happen. You meet, for example a student who has finished primary school, but has missed one year, and could not enrol in grade one of secondary school. You give him or her, an impulse to enrol in secondary school, although he or she had missed a year. The student starts hesitating, thinking and finally puts enrolling off again. Why? Because having missed one year it will be very difficult for him or her to continue his or her studies. If this student decides on enrolling, he or she will overcome challenges and will make progress. There are students who are admitted to school with no problems at all but finish school with a lot of problems. Difficulties are inevitable; the issue is whether one will encounter difficulties at the beginning or at the end of the studies. Nobody has and nobody will evade difficulties. When you start certain work, whatever difficulty you may encounter, do not put the work off – each putting off entails bad consequences. Each Divine idea has to be sown exactly at the right time determined for it, no postponing. Having sown the idea, you will fence it, will water it, you will take care of it until it blossoms and sets. This, however, takes a lot of punctuality. Farmers sow each seed in their garden at an exactly determined time – neither earlier, nor later. This is how you should treat Divine ideas too. Imagine that you are given a task to come to class exactly at 7:30 p.m.; this task will try your punctuality, you will see what deviation there is in your conscience. The success of students is a result of their punctuality. If the English people are a success, this is due to their punctuality. The English stick to their word; once you are told that you will meet at 4 o’clock, they will be at the agreed place exactly at the appointed time – not a minute earlier or later. The first requirement for students is to be punctual. Punctuality is a condition for the construction of one’s entire future life. Punctuality is a harmony, tact, and music in the Life of human beings. Everything is strictly determined in Nature. Nature has determined the exact time for each of its acts. It has also determined precisely the time for our deeds. There is no time for bad deeds of human beings; these are not provided for in Nature’s agenda. This is exactly why these are committed between the periods of time determined for good human deeds. Hence each deed, not performed on time is a crime; each crime is a deviation from Nature’s punctuality. So, each deed not performed at its proper time, is a crime. In order not to commit crimes, observe the following rule in your life: each deed has to be performed at its right time. To this effect whatever difficulty you may encounter on your way, you have to overcome it. The moment you decide to overcome it, to be punctual to Nature, laziness will immediately appear and will try to talk you out of it, to take it slowly, ‘No hurry, take your time, you may postpone the solving of this problem.’ Laziness, idleness is a child born of many a sin. As soon as laziness appears as advisor, you should immediately close your door before it and not listen to what laziness has to tell you. We talk about laziness in the broad sense of the word: there is physical laziness, laziness of the heart, of the mind, and there is also a deliberate laziness; most dangerous of all is the laziness caused deliberately. Whatever you come across in your life, observe the principle of punctuality. If you comply with it, it will perform great reforms in your life, it will create conditions for the construction of your future life. Exercise: stretch your right arm in front of you with the palm facing down and, in your mind, draw the principle of punctuality in each individual finger – in the thumb, the forefinger, the middle finger etc. Concentrate your thought into each finger for ten seconds. Afterwards take your right arm back to its place. Do the same exercise with the left arm as well. This exercise is pleasant as it imprints the idea of punctuality in one’s mind. Nobody can hinder one’s desire and decisiveness to be punctual. The only hindrance can be the very person himself or herself. Therefore, let each one of you say to yourself, ‘I do not want to impede myself in the application of punctuality.’ Those who are not punctual cannot comply with the requirements for the study of the great natural forces. When you work with natural forces, you are required to be punctual and attentive, not to miss a single second of time. If you do not observe these, you will miss a lot. The first requirement of students is to be punctual and attentive, not to miss the instructions which Nature provided in its deeds. The future of students rests on punctuality. Students’ happiness and unhappiness rest on punctuality. Reflection Only the light path of Wisdom leads to Truth 1 A line from a popular Bulgarian song. Source

Note 7 Awakening Of the Human Soul Lecture 9, given in the General Occult Class on March 25th, 1923, in Sofia - Izgrev Awakening of the human soul means that it gets to realize the wealths it was given, trying to embrace them. In the world you are living, there are certain illusions, the so called "non-essential things", though every one begins with them. For example, in the evening many things look much more fearful than in reality. Why? Because Light is less at that time. From here I draw the conclusion: essential are those things, which happen in Light and non-essential – those, which happen in darkness. You meet someone who is strange to you. You think: "Why is this one staring at me? What does he want to say?" – He does not want to say anything. "His countenance is strange." If you examine the masks, sold during a masquerade, some of them are wide-eyed or goggle-eyed; others are with half closed eyes and third – with an angry view. As you see, there are different faces in Life. Why does one goggle so much? – It is a mask, it is not the reality. Some artist has drawn this mask. The important thing for you, after the artist has brought his mask, is to be aware and to understand whether what you see is a reality or an illusion. In the process of its awakening the soul shall not view things from its stand, but from the stand of the Spirit of God or from the stand of God. Only in this way it will develop properly. The soul presents a small universe with countless wealths, with countless gifts and abilities. You may say that the soul is a small universe – yes, a small universe, but with great wealths. The art of living is not to eat up and drink all these wealths, but to process them. You want to be happy. I can count the time of everyone's happiness. It may last an year for one, an hour – for another one, a day, a week or a month for a third one. Only few can be happy all year long. For example, you like fruits, but you prefer cherries. You want to eat only cherries and you say: "I am happy, when there are cherries." How long will your happiness last? – Till the cherries are there. When they get overripe, your happiness will end. A singer is rehearsing to come on the stage with the thought that everyone will admire her. She is living in that imaginary world of hers. But when she comes on the stage, she finds out that it is not so. Therefore, there is a great difference between the imaginary world and the actual world. No hardships exist in the imaginary world. Matters are easily arranged there, without any difficulties. Sometimes you may imagine that you have bought a big garden of ten decares. And you picture how you will cultivate it, planting nice fruit trees and fragrant flowers in it. You see how they are growing, blooming and riping. Then you pick the fruits and sell them. Soon you become rich and famous; this happened so easily. You achieved everything without efforts, only by means of your imagination. But if you live only in the world of your imagination, you will become like that young Gypsy, who carried milk from house to house. He dreamed like this: if I sell all that milk, I will buy a hen and it will lay eggs. I will sell eggs till I get enough money for a sheep or a goat. Then I will sell milk and one day I will sell the animal too in order to buy a cow. Thus he thought that he would get rich, becoming a millionaire. At the end he said to himself: "When I become a millionaire, I will offer the king's daughter to marry me. In two or three years we will have a pretty child." Absorbed in dreams, he jumped with joy so that the pot of milk fell down from his head and spilled. His dreams were also spilled together with the milk. You are laughting at this joke. But you are just like the young Gypsy. In this joke the spilled milk is important, not the child who would be born in the future. Things happen easily in your imagination, but when it comes to their realization, it is very hard. Your hands will be covered with corns until you get something, but whatever you achieve will be firmer and safer than this, which you have only dreamed of. In the past and up to nowadays people live with their illusions. One shall get rid of the illusions of one's mind and heart in order to accomplish one's desires. The physical world is a field for the fulfilment of the Divine world. The Divine world is a macrocosmos that is to be realized in the microcosmos, i.e. in the physical world. As in photography the image is printed in a diminished size, thus the physical world is nothing else, but a print of the Divine world in a diminished size. Sometimes the illusions are as needed as the actual things. What will you achieve, if you know everything that is going to happen? For example, you love your friend, you trust him and idealize him. But one day you start doubting in him and get disappointed with his friendship. You will say: "I was disappointed with him, but at least I got back to reality." In which case were you happier: when you trusted your friend or when you got disappointed? You have a son or a daughter, whom you lay your hopes on, but one day you doubt in him or in her. Doubts in your fellowmen are doubts in God and vice versa: doubts in God are doubts in ourselves alone. Human life has not yet been laid on solid basis. The reason for your disappointment is not external. You want to live better than your fellowmen. You want to live a purer, a holier life than them. Is that right? If you live well, you should wish the same for others. Otherwise you will be disappointed, you will suffer and bother. If I am exacting to myself, I shall be exacting to the others too. To be self-indulgent, but exacting to the others is not good, in this case you use two different measures. You must use one measure in order to understand which is right, which is wrong; which is errorous, which is virtuous. Before God our errors and virtues are not the same as we determine them. How can we prove this? It is noticed that when the material life of some people is improved, their spiritual life gets confused. The material affairs of most people go well indeed, but see how they appear from a spiritual point of view. On the other hand, poor people may have neither money nor houses, but they can converse with God and with the angels; they are poor, but their hearts are full of noble feelings and luminous thoughts. So, you should hold right concepts about things. If you do not come to the new view of Life, you will always live in aberrations. It is not an easy situation, when you are deluted. You should know the exit ways. If you do not know them, you are like in a labyrinth and no one can take you out. One should know the exit way in Life. How many times you have been deluted! Two sisters fell out for nothing, they could not bear one another any more, they could not agree between themselves. But then they looked for a way to reestablish their relationship, to turn back that Love, which they had for one another before. What is the reason for all this? – One does not know oneself. Humans are simultaneously living in three worlds, that is why they encounter different thoughts, feelings and actions, which they cannot match and harmonize. If they work only with their physical minds, they cannot get in touch with any spiritual and Divine realms. If you cannot reach any Divine points by your mind, what is it for? So, you are to unite your physical mind to the mind of Christ in order to comprehend the Divine world. It is a complex work! – How can we cope with our three minds? We cannot cope with one mind, what about our three minds? The physical mind is in us, while the Divine mind is behind us. We should care about it. Begin with the Divine mind! The other two minds are subsidiary means. The same concerns your heart. It is mentioned in the Scripture that the human heart is like a stone. It is said: "I shall take his stony heart and give him a fleshy one." In other words, I shall take his human heart and give him a Divine heart. You should not get cross with anyone – as anyone's heart is stony. How can you understand the world with such a heart? The stony heart cannot make you happy. It is cool and cold, covered with deep snow and ice. It is like a graveyard full of bones. Can one be happy with a heart like that? This stony heart will be taken away from humans and a new heart will be given to them. Let us return to the practical side of Life, which you can understand alone. Let us suppose that you are in a difficult situation. Where has it come from? It has come as a result of your misunderstanding of the laws and the relationships in Nature. If you are at the bank of a wide, deep river, you think that you can easily cross it. But it is a suggestion. Trying to cross it, you see that you are in danger. The water is carrying you down and any moment you may sink. If you start crying, you may receive help from here or there. But you shall be witty! You may fix a big stake into the bank and tie a long, strong rope to it. Holding the end of the rope, you will carefully step into the water. Gradually will you go on, testing the depth of the river. In this way you will sound it. If you notice that the depth is increasing, you will go back. In this case the rope presents the human mind, which you must steadily hold. Your mind is to save you even in the most unfavorable conditions. People of today can hard understand the spiritual world, never mind how much they are told about it. By "spiritual world" I mean the world of the angels. Everything there happens by a magic power, in a magic speed. An angel is just to raise his wand and will achieve his goal. If some visitors come to him, a rich table with fine delicious fruits will be laid in front of them only by a raising of his wand. When the guests finish their meal and go away, the angel will raise his wand again and the table will disappear. What will you say, is the world, in which the table is laid and put away by one raising of the wand, real? In your opinion something in it is real and something is unreal. The only real thing are the angels, whom you can talk with. They really raise and take down their wands. And in the physical world the only real thing is God Who raises and takes down His wand. When He raises His wand, whatever He wants it happens. If He takes it down, everything disappears. Once a woman cried as she wanted to have a child. God said: "Give a child to her!" The child was born. The woman was happy, she diapered the child, bathed, nursed it, called it "my little birdie, my little doll, my little angel". One day her child will become a genius, but not this time. Presently it presents a doll to play with it. You nourish, dress and teach it, but when it takes what it needs, it will kick you out with the words: "I do not want to see you, you'd better not given me birth!" – "Why did God give me such a son?", you ask. You call him your son, but he is a living doll, he is not that real son who will be born of spirit and of water. God is giving you initially living dolls and after you cope with them, He will give you such sons and daughters who are living souls. When they come, they will not tie you and limit you; and you will not bathe them twice daily as it is now. They will not be little helpless children, but thirty three years old maids and lads in the full bloom of their strength. Will you need to teach these sons and daughters of yours? – Is it possible for you to give birth to thirty three years old lads and maids? They will not be born by mothers and fathers, but of spirit. It is said in the Scripture: "One born by God does not make a sin." To be born by God means the process of revealing the Divine in humans. You ask: "Am I a doll?" Think over and reply to yourself. You should understand this philosophy. Let everyone of you ask yourself this question: "Was I born by humans or by God?" Until you doubt that you were born by God, you will be a living doll. When you get convinced in that, you will feel discharged of your load and you will receive a new light and warmth. What is your behavior, when you are upset? You start seeking foreign support with the hope that someone will come to comfort you and tell you the Truth. Such one could be possibly found, but you are to perceive the Truth by yourself. You say: "How can I do it, when Truth changes all the time?" I speak of the eternal, never-changing Truth. Only the transient, temporary things change. It is said about God that He is eternal and never-changing. What changes is the revealed reality. There are unchangable things in humans as well that show their origin from God. Changable and unchangable – these are two phases in Life, i.e. two realities. You will say that it is a philosophy. Yes, but this philosophy will give you the opportunity to ackowledge the essence of Life. When you encouter contradictions, you ask: "Am I a doll or a living soul?" If you inculcate different ideas every day and play-act after them, are you not dolls? Today you are socialists, tomorrow – communists; today you are fathers, tomorrow – mothers; today you are brothers, tomorrow – sisters; today you are teachers, tomorrow – actors. If you kid yourselves every day with different things, are you not dolls? You have written a book, in which you are denying God. Do you think that you can convince people in this with these arguments of yours? Do you think that you can settle the world with the present consciousness of yours? It is a fun. I can prove the existence of God in a different way, without writing books. So, you are an unbeliever, you philosophize and try to convince people that God does not exist. Suppose that one day you start on a journey and night overtakes you in the forest. It is dark and cold. You have no bread, no bed. I live in the forest, spending all my time in spiritual work and reflections. You pass by my hut and say: "Would you let me in, please, to get warm?" I open the door and take care for you: I make a fire and put some water. Then I give it to you to wash your feet, to get warm. I offer you thick clothes to wrap yourself. After that we both sit down at the table to have our meal. When you get full and rested, we start a conversation. I ask you: "Do you believe now that I have nourished you?" – "I do not believe. Prove it." – "If I beat you, will you believe that I have beaten you?" Therefore, while people are living in the abundance of things, they do not believe that God exists. Then God may say: "Hit several sticks on this person!" After the hits this one will say: "I passed through an awful happening! I realized the reality of things". Thus humans starts to believe, but as a result of their negative experience. This is a wrong method. Contemporary people are gradually entering into a new phase of Life and they start understanding the manifestations of God's Love. What does Love demand? It demands from every one to love without expecting to be loved; to love God without expecting anything from Him. Ask God to dwell in you and to manifest His Love through you. If you do not ask God for anything, He will give you nothing. You wish just to turn to God. The only One Who can transform humans is God. Whatever take-over occurs in you, do not say that God has done this as it cannot be proved. So you'd better keep silence on the subject. I also do not mention the fact that God lives in me. May everyone be convinced in the Truth alone. If God lives in me, the people around me will apprehend my Love. It will be so abundant that it will always remain in surplus. Drink of the water of my spring as much as you want. Take of the fruits of my garden to your fill. Whatever you need, you will find it with me. Do not make provisions for tomorrow. I have everything. Come to me and I will satisfy your needs. Christ said to his disciples: "Believe in God, believe in Me too". It means: believe in the Absolute that does not change. Believe in Me too, as I can explain you the cause for the change of things. Today humans attempt to explain the causes for the contradictions in science and philosophy. Science is one side of reality, philosophy is another side. They aim to explain the Absolute, the metaphysic and the unchangable. The objective both of science and philosophy is to acquire knowledge on reality and then to apply it. One of the tasks of the disciples is to try to know God. Whatever efforts you make, still you have doubts in Him. You are told: "Today you should go to this and that street and hold there. At 10 o'clock a.m. Mr. So and so will pass by. You must stay at the defined place waiting for Him. You do not know Him, but you will wait for Him to come and to help you." What will happen? You go there, take out your watch and look at it from time to time, waiting for the appointment with That person. But there is a great difference – of about half an hour – between your watch and the watch of That one, Whom you are waiting for. So He will be late, though not on purpose. You start bothering and you say to yourself: "Behold, the meeting will not occur." If the failure is not in the watch, That person will never have been late. He is punctual and He will come just on time. If his watch is not correct, He is not to be blamed. Until you bother inwardly, until your mind, your heart and your soul are not in peace, He will not come. As a matter of fact, the more you bother and doubt, the greater becomes the distance between you and Your fellow. Once your heart starts calming down and your mind starts stabilizing, He will be nearer and you will meet Him soon. There are such moments in Life, when an inner joy flashes in you. You have reconciled all the contradictions, saying: "I am ready for any work. I am ready for everything." If you say that you are ready to do anything, which God wants from you, you are on the right path, you are in the reality of Life. At that moment He, Whom you have been waiting for, will come. He will bring you a hoe; He will give you the first lesson. And you will feel a great inner joy that you have found your Master. He will tell you about the new Life and its hidden purpose. Those who have found their Master have got acquianted with the Joy itself and with the Meaning of Life. Every door is open for them. If God dwells in you, people cannot hate you. God is either welcome or avoided, when He enters someone – one of the two possibilities is fulfilled. This is a law. – Why is God avoided? – Because He says: "No one can stand on my way!" So, whoever is astray can freely pass and go. I would like to do something for you: to imput the Living Faith in your minds. Through it, every one can experience whether there is God or not. This is a question of awareness. The conditions, in which the present people develop, demand an Absolute Faith in That One, Who does not change or Who is changing seemingly. Why is such Faith needed? When you trust God, you also trust yourself. The Faith in both God and yourself will lead you to the boundary of the Kingdom of God. If you stop at this boundary, asking yourself whether to enter or not, you have already failed. It is doubt that obstructs humans most of all. The Divine world excludes any doubt or hesitation. You must say to yourself definetely and emphatically: "I will enter the Kingdom of God." Right then you will break your links with the world, you will put your dolls in the box, leaving them in heritage to the little ones without thinking about them any more. Then a new beautiful world will be revealed before you. No doubt and no hesitation! You are coming slowly and surely to the sixth race. There you will meet radiant angel souls, who do not admit any hesitation and doubt. The Scripture said: "Who is in two minds, he is uncertain in his ways." Many people are. A person has come to listen to my lecture and as he has disapproved something in it, he goes to the theosophists. What is theosophy? What will it give to this person? Theosophy is like milling of wheat, i.e. its turning into groats. You will speak there about the astral, the mental and the causal bodies. Have you seen these bodies? – "I haven't, but it is written so." This is not knowledge. Each teaching taught is to be tested for its exact correspondence to the facts. If everything you had preached was true, why did you not develop? Why did you not save yourselves? Why did the Hindus, who had taught so many teachings, not elevate? Why are they expecting a new master? This indicates their unsatisfaction with what was preached to them. It was an amusement for them. And they are really expecting a new teaching that will safisfy and uplift them. People marry with the idea that they do a serious thing. The young woman is told: "We have found a good lad who will marry to you. He is gentle, clever, educated. He has finished two specialties." And the lad says to the woman: "We are going to be rich; now we have two big gardens, we will build a new house too." He promises her only good things in order to beguile her. The young woman is listening to him with joy and content. Why? – Matters cannot be set on lies. So their family life will get worse and worse in the years. The same happens to the religious people. The Orthodox go to the church, they kiss the cross and the icons. They have been satisfied with this for an year or two, but then they feel that something very important is missing – the communion of the soul with God. When you accept Love, you will not ask me what I think, but you will know. Whatever you speak, it must be set on Truth. Those who have Love behave towards the others in the same way as towards themselves. They think about the common welfare. When they have visitors, they make contact with them in the name of Love. Today people are also connected; today they also communicate; they strive for the Great, but the worms existing in them gnaw through the threads of their lives. These worms are your delusions. Get rid of them! We will make the first attempt, but according to some rules that are freely chosen and applied after the Law of Love. Such rules are efficient and stable. The other rules that are out of Love are palliative. The disciples of Christ also trusted Him, but when they fell in doubt, they astrayed from the way and found out the Oecumenical Councils. We are often asked: "Do you believe in the councils, in the icons, in the cross?" – We are learning to believe now and to believe namely in the Love of God that is never- changing; to believe also in the Wisdom of God and in the Truth of God. You must believe and apply. How do we apply our Love for God? How will we express our gratitude to Him for that nice day, for that beautiful view around? How will we give thanks to God for everything He has given to us? God's Love is revealed namely in this. God is watching us; He is giving us all we need. But at the same time He gives us hoes and sends us to the vineyard to dig. There, in the fresh air, instead of resting, we are working in joy and in satisfaction. Some people are not well disposed to us. They protest, they abuse us and do not want us. But God says to them through the pinetrees: "Do not disturb these people. Who dare to disturb them will be blown up. If only I lift My wand, you will be blown up." God says to the bishops and the priesrs: "What you know, keep it for yourselves, do not bother these people." – "They are heretics." – "No, they are My children, I know them. Do not touch them; they are the only ones, who are obedient to Me." I ask, which are the beloved children of God? The world is a big hospital and God is the chief doctor in it. He wants His children to be healthy. Whoever does not observe the rules of the hospital, out of it! My children are healthy and they do not need to be in the church – in the hospital. First, they will catch cold there. The church is for sick people. And they expect salvation from it. They have been deluted with the cross and with the icons – so, there is no sense to deal with them. Icons are like the portraits of your beloved. What will a girl do, seeing that her beloved boy has come? She will leave the portrait aside, she will meet him and talk to him. You say that God is in the church. – Excuse me, but it is not true. We do not need icons – we can go directly to God to get some task from Him. God calls us for a great and sacred work. When you listen to me speaking in this way, you say: "How many learned people are there in the world! How many learned people are there in Bulgaria!" – There are erudites everywhere, but most of them are like loaded camels. If a camel is loaded, it goes and groans. We do not need many bishops; one bishop is enough. When the bishops reproach me, they enter into a contradiction with themselves. They say I have proclaimed myself for Christ. But in my view there is only one prelate – Christ. No one else can call himself a prelate. I turn to the bishops and say: "Take off these clothes of yours and put the clothes of disciples." Will they become humble? Will they understand that they can not set order in Bulgaria? How could they? You will say that they may go out among the people to preach. What will they preach? Someone will tell them: "Your Grace, my child is ill. Please, help me!" – "Call a doctor". – "Your Grace, will you help me, I have upset my bills." – "Go to the banker, he will help you." – This is not the right way of replying. Those bishops, who go to the people to preach, must possess Divine power. If so, they will bless the suffering people only by touching their heads. They will tell the peasants: "Brothers, work hard, this year will be fertile, there will be a lot of wheat and fruits. A great bliss will flow down on you". If a bishop speaks like this to the people and his words come true, his preach will be meaningful. The people do not need much speaking, what they need is: Brotherhood, Equality, Love. I do not mean common love, but God's Love, Christ's Love. Christ said: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. If you trust God, you will trust Me too." You ask what the cause for misunderstandings is. In the old days there was a Master – an adept who tested his disciples in two ways. The first way: he called one of his good disciples and told him: "This and that day you will travel with your classmates. You will go to one of the near-by villages, where you will be welcome: you will be given new and clean clothes to redress, you will be prepared clean beds to sleep and on your way back you will receive money for your travel expenses and an invitation to come again". The disciples started to the village, but what was their surprise, when the peasants met them just in the opposite way: they let the dogs chase them, took up sticks and beated them severely on their backs. They hardly succeeded to run away. They all came back to their Master and began to tell him about the sufferings they had passed. The best one asked him: "Master, why did you tell us one thing, but it turned out to be another? How would you explain that? Why did you not tell us that we would be beaten so badly to put on a soft dress on our backs at least not to feel the pain from the hits?" The Master was silent, he did not answer. In a few days the Master gave that task to some other disciples, but they were supposed to solve it by the second method. He told them to go to one of the near-by villages and to be prepared to face sufferings, sticks and chasing. So, they got prepared for such a meeting. But yet with their entry into the village, they were pleasantly surprised: the peasants went out to meet them, took them to their homes, feasted and accommodated them well. The disciples wondered why they were welcome in such a joy, when they expected chasing and beating. They returned to the Master and asked him why he had not told them the Truth. He kept silence again. After that he called both groups of disciples and told them: "The first group passed through these sufferings, because somewhen in the remote past they had treated these peasants badly. They had had the possibility to serve them, to give them food and bed, but they had not fulfilled their obligation. Now they paid for their error in the past. The second group of disciples had treated the peasants well in the past, they had served and helped them. Today they reaped the fruits of their good deeds". Nowadays most people follow the path of the first group – liquidating their karma. They shall be prepared to solve their karmic tasks after the law of Love. If you want to cope easily with your karma, I advice you not to speak ill of one another. If someone is intemperate and cannot keep one's tongue, at least the others should be aware of that and should not get offended. I say to the first: "Refrain from speaking ill of your closes." I say to those, whom evil things are spoken of: "Do not be offended." Thus, who offends and who is offended, both sides will solve their problems. Then the karma will solve your problems too. The karma is strict and implacable. Coming to you, it will teach you how to solve your problems, but you will achieve nothing. Which is the way of the future culture? – The way of Love. The priests are opposing us now – they think that we will answer them with the same measure. No, we will answer the priests in this way: "We do not want your icons; we do not want to go into your churches; we do not want your icon-lamps and rutuals like christening, wedding, etc. We will take all feeble and weak, thrown away from your churches, and will transform them. We are not interested in the godly people, may they remain in the churches. We will take in the New teaching the lame, the crippled and the blind who are unwanted by everyone. The young people are out of the church, so we will take them too." – "They are young and green, they do not fit." – They are not green. What is growing and developing well is not green. This is the law of development. I consider "green" that one, who is developing. The green colour is a symbol of growing. Christ is working now in the world, but no one sees Him. People want to see Him like a physical person in order to touch and sense Him physically. If He is filling the human hearts with beautiful and high feelings, what else do you want? You want to stroke and to kiss Him, to carry Him in your arms. It is not a good idea. What does a child win, if you carry it all day long on your arms? The view of those people, who expect the rebirth of Christ as a little child, is wrong. Christ was born once and He is being reborn now in the human hearts and souls. Today Christ cannot be born by a woman. If you expect the coming of the Savior, open your soul – He will be born there. Above this, Christ is being born in many souls at one and the same time. When Christ will be born in your soul, you will become useful both to yourself and to your neighbors. This is the so-called resurrection meaning the awakening of the human soul. When Christ will come to dwell in the human souls, all human beings will become alive, they will raise and join hands like brothers. So, trust the New teaching, which will lead you to a good end. Do not admit any doubt in you! Put aside even the smallest doubt. Then a new Light will flash in your minds. Make an effort to convince yourselves in my words. What could you doubt in? What could you be afraid of? The old order is going away. It is a dress, replaced by another one. The new dress has been already made. The old order will inevitably be changed. But this is not so significant in Life. The human spirit and the human soul – they are of real importance for you. Then comes the human mind, the human heart and the human will – they are also significant as they present conditions for work. The future culture will be a culture of the human heart. Under "heart" I do not mean an affection of the feelings. To get aspired, this is not love. Love is an unchangable, constant power that raises humans and balances all their energies. Reveal God's Love! Reveal your reasonable will! You are complaining of catching cold – cough, running nose, rheumatism; you cannot help yourself. Why do you not apply your will in your treatment? "Trust God, trust Me too." There are two currents: God and me. The first one comes from upside down, or from the mind to the heart, while the other current comes out from the center of the Earth, i.e. from the roots, and goes to the branches. Let us suppose that you have pains in your chest. If you appear to be in the current, coming from upside down, i.e. coming from the brain, concentrate your mind and you will direct this current to the center of the Earth, i.e. to the heart, in order to obtain motion. Thus will you help yourself and will you recover from the illness. Do not be afraid neither of the Earth nor of the Sun. The current flowing from the Sun will pass through the center of the Earth. This regularly going motion forms a luminous circle. The human mind is gradually cleared in this motion. After your recovery you may turn the current from the center of the Earth to the Sun. The real culture and the real Life will appear in the crosspoint of these two circles. Do not think that the current coming from the center of the Earth, is harmful. It could be harmful, if it was flowing all the time through you and if you have accepted all its energy. Be aware that high and low tides exist everywhere in Nature. The same concerns the human heart too. It can provoke a pleasant sense in someone, but it will last shortly: from a minute to an hour – in the best case, up to one day; and after that it will alter, i.e. it will disappear. Then there will be a reaction in this person, i.e. the darkness will come and fire has to be lit for the night. And the material collected will be used as a fuel. When the tides change, you say: "I cannot cope with them, I have lost my faith." Nothing you have lost! – "I have become bad" – You have not become bad. These are temporary states, more frequent in youngsters than in old people. Those currents are called moods. In youngsters moods are changed several times daily. When the wedding time comes, the young woman changes her mood a hundred times daily. She says: "I will take him, I will marry to him." It is the current of the heart. If it is the other current, she will say: "I do not want him. He is black to me." Her mother says: "You will take him, my daughter." Then she also says: "I will take him." Again she is under the influence of the heart. So at times she will take him, at times she will not. Her mother says: "I am in a quandary with my daughter – now she wants him, then she does not want him." Such are the currents, which come from the center of the Earth to the Sun. The young woman is at a crossroad. She has to go out of this crossroad in order to solve her problem properly. Otherwise she cannot make her choice. The biggest mistake in marriage is hidden namely in these currents crossing. If you begin to doubt, do not get with solving a problem – put it aside. The word "marriage" had quite a different meaning from the present one. Nowadays it means insurance. Marriage is an insuring company. Someone makes an insurance for 10 000 levs, another one – for 20 000 levs, a third one – for 100-200 000 levs. As a matter of fact humans are insured. They shall trust their spirits, souls, minds, hearts and wills. Mothers have to speak to their sons and daughters in such a manner. In the new culture people will marry, but not under foreign influence. Someone will come to give you an advice: "Take that lad, trust him, do not be afraid." The young woman shall trust her spirit, her soul, her mind, her heart and her will. And then, at the crossing of two minds, two hearts and two souls that understand one another, the conscious Life will come. Thus shall you preach to all. Speak the Truth without doubting. There are items that cannot be understood by all of you never mind how long I speak. Why? – Your brains are not equally developed. Some of you need a longer time to think of God and of the Higher world, so that their brains could be rearranged. There are specific deposits in them, which obstruct the reception of Truth. That is a special kind of psychic substances, which rotten in the same way as the physical ones. They are to be cleared by the law of polarization. When the brain is released of them, then the nose, the eyes, the ears, the mouth will function correctly. Without understanding this, you may say about someone: "He is an excellent person. He will contribute a lot". – You are lying yourself. Look at him, his eyes are squint; his nose and his mouth are deformed. And you expect something of him. "But he claims, that he has turned to God and he wants to be God's servant." – Do not trust him, he has a lot of bills that are not paid and he does not intend to pay them. I will trust one's turning to God, if one's purse is also turned, i.e. if it is open. Until you have not opened your purse, you cannot turn to God. Christ's coming to Earth will be like a spring that will unceasingly flow and overflow around in order to water all the plants. Everyone has to use the goods of the spring. Only in this way will the world be communised and reformed. Every one will put one's own gains in the common fund. Be aware not to fall in the delusions of the previous reformers! We have the right to communise only our labour, i.e. whatever we are gaining now. Today people are gaining for themselves and they want to do it by using the labour of the previous generations. No, you shall appeal to the people of the past in order to receive their approval, in order to ask them if they agree to join their gains to yours. We have not the right to dispose with the existing goods. All those who have tried and who are trying to communise the goods of the previous generations, failed. We must all work and whatever we gain, we should use it all together. This is the Teaching preached to the people by Christ. He advised them in Love and Wisdom, so that every one might know the boundaries of one's rights and obligations. Thus can mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters, teachers and students, masters and servants understand one another. How will the new society be built up, if there is no mutual understanding? Many blame us that our Teaching is wrong. Which is the right, the real Teaching then? Have your teachings settled the world? Not only that they have not settled it, but they have spoiled it even more. If your teachings were right, why do you have wars? Why do you destroy cities? Why are the graveyards full of graves and crosses? Why do so many hospitals exist on Earth? If we are wrong, we are ready to take your teachings, but show us the results of them. And you will convince yourselves that the path which you follow is wrong – nothing else. This path must be corrected! – How? – By your turning to God and adopting His Love. That is Love of the Absolute selflessness. Religions should also be purified. There is a Divine grain in them, but it has been lost among the great delusions. So, they should be filtered. The present religions are a part of the forms, of the human interests. All understand this today. Is there Love between the bishops and their congregation, between the priests and their parishioners? If a bishop is going to visit a village, right away there will be a commandment how to welcome him. The peasants will run here and there, the guards too. – Why? – The bishop will visit the village. If he has Love for the peasants, he will appear amongst them as a simple citizen, not being dressed in special clothes. Instead of going to see them and find out their needs, the bishop will first go into the church. For thousands of years the priests have served in the churches and read prayers, but what is the effect of that? – When did humans start building churches? – When they lost their Paradize, when they lost the Church in their own souls. After they have lost their Spiritual church, they started building one of stone. We need a temple in our souls and there we shall put God as Love, as the First priest. And there will be one Church in the future. It will be so huge, that it will gather all the human beings on Earth. Such church is mentioned in the Revelation. Can you imagine its size? Then people will have one creed – one view, but so wide, that it will embrass all views of the past. All present beliefs will give way to the new one. They have already played their role. I have nothing against the old forms, but they have lost their meaning and there is no place for them any more. The New that is coming – this is the Kingdom of God – and it requires perfect forms, new concepts and beliefs. The old will be taken off the back of humanity like an old dress, which will be changed with a new one. The old person, who had died and was buried in the grave, will ressurect one day. Will this person be old again? No, this person will be born as an infant, with new powers of Life. This is the New teaching – a Teaching of Love, a Teaching of Wisdom and a Teaching of Truth. This is the Teaching that will be brought to humanity by the future culture. There will be no politicians in the future culture, no signitures of payers and warrantors. I have no time to describe you what the future culture will bring. Then people will not communicate by means of trains, ships, aeroplanes, cars as now. For example, you want to send a letter to a friend of yours. The letter will be written on a special fine material, which you will send by the force of your will exactly where it is needed. It will be carried through the space and it will arrive directly to your friend. If your friend is at a distance of 1000 km from you, in a minute your letter will be on his table. If you need one kilogram of potatoes, you will not go from one shop to another in order to buy it, but right away you will find the required quantity of potatoes on your table. – How has it come there? – A friend of yours has received your thought and he has sent the potatoes immediately. If you need apples – they will come in the same way. You want to see your friend and have a talk with him. You sit in the chair, direct your mind to him and flow in the space. In a minute you will be with him. After the talk, you will direct your mind to your home and find yourself in the space. Even if the door of your house is closed, you will freely come through. Keys will not be used in the future. All will go in and out through the closed doors. It will be brought to humanity by the future elevated culture. You will say, like the Turkish: "Odd things!" Never mind whether you believe or not, this will happen. Then male/female relationships will be balanced and harmonious. All will work in Love. They will work a little, but gain a lot. Then fields and gardens will also exist for processing and for walks, but working and teaching will bear good fruit. The representatives of the sixth race will be present not only on the Earth, but on the other planets too. They will travel to the Sun and to the Moon, they will study the life of the planets. – What kind of a world will it be? – A world, which you have not even thought of. As beings of the sixth race are now to be found on Earth, so there will be earthy people in the sixth race, in the new culture. It is already prepared, but it is gradually coming down to the Earth. The Christianity, in its present form, is preparing people for the new culture, for the elevated Life. This Life has been already coming, but you should also make some efforts. You shall get experience in order to avoid doubt in the New. Without experience there is no result. You all should become young, young in mind – with radiant ideas, young in heart – with noble and high feelings and young in will – with good and right deeds. Future is in the hands of the young people and the children. Christ says: "The kingdom of God belongs to them." We all have to be Divine children, to put aside all doubts, dissensions and misunderstandings, to set to work those forces, which have not been revealed by now. A lot of work lies ahead of humanity. People will get their food and will feed in a new way. They will heat and light up their houses also in a new way. These are the tasks of the sixth race. It comes with a new program and its filfillment will contribute to the progress of humanity. It will bring the culture of the real Brotherhood between the individuals and the nations. Christ said: "Trust God and trust Me too." That trust requires persons of radiant minds, of pure hearts and of strong wills. Every person should have three points of contact: one with Love, one with Wisdom and one with Truth. Love brings Life, Wisdom brings Light and knowledge, and Truth brings Freedom and conditions for the manifestation of will. The conscious Life comes by the law of Love; the intelligence – by the law of Wisdom, and Freedom and the strength of will – by the law of Truth. These are tasks that will be accomplished by the sixth race with the appropriate methods. It has already perceived all this in respect to itself. We must adopt its tasks and implement them. What is the sign of the coming of the sixth race to the Earth? – It is the special azure radiance, which is noticed in the sky all over the Balkan peninsula. This radiance is as a result of specific psychic influences that act in the space and change even the atmosphere. It is a sign that the whole intelligent world, all the elevated beings work hard to clear both the physical and the spiritual atmosphere on the Earth. They create good conditions for the growth and the development as well as for the work of humans. Those who wish to serve God are prepared by the Invisible world in the same way as vineyards are cleaned of dry and rotten leaves and vermins. God gives them good conditions to grow and develop, saying to them: "Do not be afraid, soon problems will be arranged, they will go in a new way." You ask: "Is the new culture related to the old one? – Of course, it is. The new culture will use the acquisitions of the old one and it will create a new science of mind, heart and will. The old will pass, the New will come. A new Light is coming! It will transform the human views about the material world. It will show us that there are other ways to study Nature. Whoever wants to join the new culture should study, work consciously and get ready for the new conditions. You ask: "Is what you speak true?" – Yes, it is. But you think that not all of it is true. It is not a question of thinking. In order to know which things are true, which are false, you need to pass through some experience, so that you can check their validity. "Trust God and trust Me too! If my words, i.e. the words of the Spirit abide in you, you will be my disciples." If the words of Christ abide in your hearts and if you, through your love, intelligence and will, abide in Me, my Father, Who is never-changing, and me, who is revealed through Him, will come and will make an abode in you and will manifest ourselves to you. It means that we are going to teach you our ways. The New culture is coming! The Sixth race is coming! The Divine is coming to the world! Translated by Maria Braikova Edited by Phyllis Thorpe, USA Source

Note 1 White and Black Light Twenty second lecture by The Master Beinsa Douno, to Youth Occult Course, Given on 21st March 1923 in Sofia Only the light way of the Wisdom leads to the Truth. Meditation (reflection) The essays on first and second lectures from the first year were read. The summarized lectures are on the fear. What is the purpose for the fear? Darkness. When a child has been left alone in a dark room, he started to feel fear. What is the darkness due to? Or what is the origin of the darkness? Where the light is missing, the darkness is present. If there is a round and opaque object and it was lit; one side of this object will be light, and another – dark. The one that will have a look at it from far off, he will see only the light part, and could not see the dark one. Does this mean that the dark part does not exist? If the darkness or the dark, unlit part of an object could not be seen, this due to the fact that the light had not penetrated through it. Hence, the darkness does not exist. Is it so, in fact? In the Nature, darkness exists as a force. This force shows itself as a type of rays, that are different from the light rays, and we called them the rays of darkness. When the rays of Light do not manifest themselves, the rays of darkness occur. These rays produce some shrinkage in the person, thickening of the staff, as a result of it appear a number of negative emotions as hate, envy, malice, cunning, hypocrisy, etc. Therefore, all sins of people are due to rays of the darkness or to, so called, black rays in the Nature. A person commits a sin (transgress if he falls under the influence of those rays. He, who falls under the influence of those rays, he has already their signs. Rays of Light or white rays have their specific signs like the black rays that have their specific signs as well. Both rays interweave forming two triangles, one having its apex upwards and another points out downwards. White rays have ascending direction and the black ones – descending direction (See Fig. 1). The white rays form the triangle ABC, but the black ones – A1B1C1. Those triangles represent at the same time spectra of both, white and black Light. The spectrum of white rays builds, creates, it brings the Life; the spectrum of black rays destroys, demolishes and brings death in it. Just by this, occultists discern the black from the white rays. Fig. 1 Black rays might be widely discussed, but they should not be handled because they are dangerous. They could be handled by strong, wise and good people only. The less talks about the evil, the better. Like occult disciples you have to talk about the positive things in the Life, and not about the negative ones. When your mind, heart and will become stronger, then you could study (investigate) the black rays. Sinner is familiar with the darkness and he does not need to study it specially. He looks on the things particularly: whatever he sees, he wants to appropriate it, to remain it for himself. This is why if you get in the black rays area anyway, you should react against them immediately, do not let them to absorb you. How could man react against the black rays? In order to oppose to those rays, he should change the direction of his movement. Suppose that two living creatures A and B are moving along one and the same way, forming a straight line AB. This line presents the direction or the way along which the black rays are moving. If you fall in that way you should take a direction up the C perpendicular to free yourself from their influence. This is the meaning of opposing of a man to the influence of black rays. The man should move along the C perpendicular, but if it makes sense. Then, there is sense to change the direction of his movement. For instance, you are reading the philosophical ideas of some philosopher, who has formed the way AB, somebody is coming to you and starts to dispute those ideas. You immediately stand against him and start to defend that philosopher’s ideas – you come out of AB straight line and you take a position C. Are yours the ideas that you defend? They are alien ideas that you have nourished into yourself like cuckoo’s eggs and you are struggling for them. But you do not know weather those ideas are correct. If they are not correct, you shall leave the C position on the perpendicular and you shall descend again along the AB straight line. In any specific case, the person should know which idea is his and which is an alien one. Fig. 2 Contemporary people defend the idea that God exists in the world without putting a question to them if this idea is their own or it is forced on them. They have heard for God from their mothers, fathers and preachers, but this idea is not their own, it is not sprouting from the depth of their soul. Hence, as today they could back up the idea for God’s existence so tomorrow they could renounce it. Until this idea is externally forced on them, they are in C position of perpendicular. Have they got love to God, do they know Him; is He a real creature for them? If God is reality for them, what is their attitude towards Him? If the people have attitude towards God, their first act will be the Love. It means that the Love is the first attitude, the first point of contact with the Oversoul i.e. with the Infinite Eternal source of Life. The second point of contact is the Wisdom, and the third -is the Truth. When a person found those three points of contact in himself, he self-determined himself towards the Oversoul as a thinking soul. So, when you find the first point of contact to the Great source, you will achieve Life, movement; when you find the second point of contact, you will achieve Light and Knowledge – conditions for development of your mind; when you find the third point of contact, you will achieve your Freedom – first condition for development of volition. He, who has no Truth in himself, he is a man without volition; he, who has no Wisdom in himself, he is a man without mind; he, who has no Love in himself, is a person without a heart, without Life. It means, that if a person has lost his Love, he is vulnerable to death; if he has lost his Wisdom, the person is vulnerable to become stupid – he goes down gradually to the hell, in the life of apparitions; who has lost the Truth, he becomes a plaything and a figure of fun for people. Thus, only that man may say that he knows the God, who at his first touch to Him has achieved the Life, at the second touch has achieved the Knowledge and Light and at the third touch has achieved Freedom giving volition direction and impulse. The Life is grounded upon these three conditions. The man, who does not believe in it, he should come out to compete with that man who tried and went through all these things. The dead man denies the Life, I put my hand on his head and he comes back to life. I am asking him: “Do you believe in Life now?” – “Yes, I do”. The stupid man denies the Knowledge and Wisdom; I am putting my hand on his head and he becomes wiser. “Do you believe in the Wisdom now?” – “Yes, I do.” At last I met the one who made himself a figure of fun for the people; I put my hand on his head and the volition manifests in him and starts to stimulate him for action: “Do you believe in the Truth now?” – “I believe”. What stronger evidence than that could be given? At one time crows cawed around you like craws around dead bodies but since the Love puts its hand over your heads, all the crows took to flight. Now you have Life and Freedom in you – these are the powers used by the occult science for solving the problems. It does not lead from reasons to effects and from effects to reasons, but it leads from reasons to reasons and from effects to effects. If somebody ask me whether God exists or not, there is no need to prove it in theory, and I just put my hand on his head – if he gains Life in him, the question is solved. Now let us come to the knowledge, to the Primary life. When we come to this Life, we will defend all that is primary one. Some philosophers take copied ideas in consequence of that their theories lead into errors. We defend only such ideas that are of divine origin because they bring something valuable for our conscience. This thing is the ABC triangle, by which we express the white rays of the Light. This triangle should become alive in you, and you should connect with it. If this does not happen, you will have just the picture of this triangle that will be exclusively a theory but nothing experienced and went through. What will you say for the parallel lines? They mean direction of movement between two rational beings. This means that two rational beings are moving, they form always two parallel lines between them – that means they understand each other. The least deviation out of this way shows that some disharmony has set in their relations. You say: “Should not people come nearer to each other?” Coming nearer to somebody means to come nearer to the aim pursued by that man, and not to approximate by distance. Approximating of people to the aim pursued means reconciling to the contradictions in their life. Approximating by distance means come up against new contradictions. Realize how enormous the distances between the solar systems are. This was done for the reason to avoid coming into collision between two solar systems. The Nature puts them at such distances so that each system could move freely in its way. With the equal reason, the human Spirit is free, brave and determined until it has at its disposal a large space where to develop. If this space starts to get narrower, the spirit starts to lose its courage and determination. Many people speak about closeness among the people; they should realize what means closeness in the true sense of the word. Only some closeness of ideas among people could exist in accordance with the Love, Wisdom and Truth. Any closeness, outside of those three laws, causes the largest contradictions and troubles for the people. Misfortune of modern people due to the mistake that the Cosmic man has done in the past: he has curved his way, he has infringed the right relations between himself and God. Today new scientists, new philosophers and poets have to come for teaching the people to live rightly and to take them back to the right way. The right way is the way to God. You will say that you love only one man. Under the word one you mean the Only one, the Infinite, your idea is right as He includes in himself all beings. “Do you love me?” When somebody ask you this question, he already introduce the evil in himself. Because if you once have come to love the Only One you can love everyone, as He contains all the parts in himself. He is the Whole and all other beings are His parts. Keep yourself not to fall in the position of those who take as object of their love only one part and forget the Whole. The Mother says: “I love only my child”, the daughter says: “I love only my father and mother”, someone else says: “I love only my friend”. What does the Nature do in such cases? It takes the child from the mother, it takes the father and the mother from the daughter; it takes the friend from someone and in this way make them to think about, to realize that they are not on the right way. They could love the parts, but first of all they should love the Whole, that covers all the parts. I am asking what the man imparts with his Love. What do you impart to the one who you love? When the Sun loves the trees, it gives them an impulse to grow, to blossom and knit fruits. What gives a person to another person when loves him or her? One person makes the other to move, to fall and to get up. What love is the one that make the person to fall and get up? This is not Love. Love that spoils the person is not true; it is not Divine Love. Somebody will say that he/she loves you and he/she will try to take something of you – today he/she will take one thousand leva, tomorrow he/she will tale one thousand leva, until he/she will pawn the whole of you. This is not Love. If you love your friend, say: “In the name of my friend I love all the beings without any difference.” This is a sacred rule. If you have said that you do not love everybody, you have opened a door for the evil in yourself, the door of your fall. Giving you this sacred rule, I am warning you against making a slip and going wrong. If you have already made a slip, try to correct it. Always bear in your mind: a person could love only the One, only the God; come near to the people you have to love everybody. Let this rule becomes a law for you and not an idea only. Make number of attempts and exercises in the face of God to love everybody and in the face of the One to love everybody again. Observe closely yourself and find the difference when you love the God and when you love only one person. In the first case you will feel unusual completeness and expansion by mind, heart and you will feel the God so closely to you as if you have seen Him. In the second case, even if your beloved person is in your face you will feel empty as if you have never seen him. In the Holy book, in the wide Nature, he hardly could represent a little comma in some sentence. Perform deep psychological observations on yourself for obtaining the required humbleness, realizing that you are little commas in the great Life book. – “How come, me, to be a comma? I am a son of God.” Everyone should ask himself this question. Besides, he should be aware what is his number as a son – first, second, third, forth, tenth etc. There is a first-born God’s son and there is an after-born son as well. Bulgarians call the last child of the family “iztursak” that means “the baby of the family”. Therefore, any person should know what is his place in the Life book in order to form a clear view for his position. Now these ideas are necessary for renewing of your heart and your mind, refreshing of your understanding. Without these ideas you will soon become petty. When a person becomes petty? When he has no food to feed on. Go in the countryside to understand what means to become petty. Look at a brood-hen with fifteen-twenty little chicks – all chicks go around its mother finding food. The smallest one that hatched last cannot reach the food – it just see a grain and it is off to eat it, and the other chicks get ahead and that chick remains behind. As it could not feed sufficiently, this chick would be the weakest and less firm, hardly dragging itself. The other chicks will become large and strong but it will move among them as if alien chick. Each chick tries to have much food without thinking for its small brother that it is hungry and weak. Anyone who looks at it will laugh at it as it is very small, petty. The same happens in the school classes among the students. Every student wants to develop him, to become large, great and does not think of his brother who is hardly walking and cannot find food. The Nature has provided a specific share for any being. Therefore, everyone has right only on his/her own share and not on his/her brother’s share. Nobody has the right to trip up himself and hinder the other. He who tries to hinder his brother, he will be hindered too – someone who is stronger than him is surely to hinder him. You are required to do only one, no hypocrite, absolutely no lie! At any of your thoughts, at any emotion and action, give yourself an account what is your attitude towards the God, towards your fellowman and yourself. Make an internal analysis of everything which passes through you. This analysis is necessary for you, not for the others. As far as it concerns to the Creatures that observe the man’s karma, they do not care of your analysis. They only observe all your external and internal behaviour and they notice, record your current and future life. Your current and past life determines your future life. Those beings are very strict and they miss nothing happened in your life. They take out the film of your previous lives, unreel it and review the forms you have passed through down to the last detail. They keep under observation your behaviour and acts and determine the conditions of your future life. Now is the time for liquidation of karma. You are saying:” How to confess my sins and crimes! I am not agreeing with this.” No, you have to confess all your mistakes and sins, you have to go to confession and so you will liquidate with your karma. If you do not want to liquidate with it today, you will do this tomorrow, in your future life. However, it is preferable to liquidate with it today – better today than tomorrow. It is better to put yourself on trial, by yourself, and to correct your mistake than others to put you on trial and to correct your mistake. As soon as you become aware of your mistake, immediately correct it. Only under those conditions the high-mindedness and sublime in you could show itself. Now you want to put a steady foundation of your Life and to build up your Life on it. What a building is the one that includes the sandstones, the rotten beams and rusty nails? This is not a building. There would pass not long time after and you would be pressed under your house. This means that the foundation of your house should be made of sound and solid material. Do not delude yourself into believing that it is not important what material you will have, and it is important to have whatever material. It is not so, at building up your life it is not so important the quantity of the required material than its quality. When someone has made some mistake, he said:” There is nothing the matter; it will pass.” Yes, it is easy to say so, but sometimes the mistake does not pass; it is not easy to correct it. The children often crack jokes, enjoying themselves. They used to take a thread and string on it some maize grains; when they see a hen, they throw the thread towards it, they give it to eat some maize. The hen throws to the maize, pecks it, but cannot swallow it. The children hold the thread in their hand and play with the hen. It again jumps to peck the grain, but cannot swallow it – the hen wonders why it cannot swallow the maize grain. And I am telling to you: before swallowing the grain, look at first, whether it has not strung on a thread. If it was strung on a thread, you should not swallow it. If you swallow it, you will find yourself in the hen’s position – you will jump, will swallow, but will not achieve anything. Now as a disciple you are, you should be careful to use the knowledge given to you. That knowledge is necessary in order to solve properly the tasks and difficulties of your life. Difficulties, trials will be given to you, but you should solve them correctly. You should solve them this way so that you should serve as an example for the other people around you. The people from the world (not from the Occult School) should see in the face of every one of you a model of a person without hypocrite and lie, the person of deeds, and not of words. Once entered the Occult School, your task is to cope with your karma, to free from all your karma relations, to untie yourself properly. If you have a look at the person with the clairvoyant’s eye, he represents the following picture: in the middle is the person and out of him are coming out a great number of threads holding him tied. These threads are alike the rays of Sun. His task as a disciple of the Occult School concludes in this to break these threads gradually one after another. When he breaks the final thread, he is absolutely free and could dispose with his life as he thinks best. Until the person is bound to these threads, he feels constantly to be hobbled: he wants to think – he cannot think; he wants to feel – he cannot feel; he wants to show his volition – he cannot show it again. He wants to cut these links – and cannot. Why? He does not know the laws how to cut them. He cannot cut them alone; he takes the scissors, deciding to cut them, but his fear tells him:” Do not break the threads, dangerous business is this!” Knowing this, you will pray, you will make efforts and you will break one thread after another carefully, until one day you will cut the last thread and you will feel a man of free thought, of free feelings and free actions. This means a person to create diamond volition in him. Your current life, as well your living conditions, should not trouble you. They could not be an obstacle for your development. If you make up your mind to break your links, you will see that immediately a new way will be opened for you. So, you will realize that all in the world is reasonable. When you release from all ties of the past, you will set free and become a real disciple. The disciple should not be mediocre, but free, independent of the conditions. The Occult School considers preparing of disciples, people of the future race. The disciple could twist and turn in his way, to turn to the right and to the left, but always straight to the aim. Now all of you should decide one of the essential issues:” To be or not to be”’ i.e. to be a slave or to be free. This means: to serve to the necessity or to the Freedom. The word freedom means awakening and serving to the Spirit. The Law of necessity means a Law of the primary act of Genesis. In the Occult School you will be given the following tasks: during a whole year not have an evil thought, not to address to anybody an evil feeling and to complete not once an evil deed; your relations during that whole year should be most distinguished and to be grounded upon mutual respect and esteem. Apostle Paul had told: “Compete in giving respect to each other”. This way you will put on sound foundation your life for solving your task properly, by the higher mathematics. There is no trouble in the Life which could not be solved by the disciple. It is sufficient to direct to the trouble your packing-needle, heated to thirty-five million degrees for melting it. There is no obstacle, no trouble which might withstand against that packing-needle. All obstacles step back meeting this packing-needle, either of physical, heart or mental character. The moment he copes with all hindrances, the Absolute peace will set in the disciple’s soul. He will enter already the Causal world, the world of the Absolute freedom, where the Truth reigns. Prepare yourself now to achieve the power of that packing-needle so that in whichever direction you turn it to produce the required effect. From the point of that needle could come out everything. Listening that this packing-needle is much talked about, it seems to you a little bit contradictory. For the one that does not know the things, indeed there is some contradiction, but for one who knows and understands the things, there is no contradiction. For example, for an ignoramus it is a big contradiction the fact that if two thousand-volt current passes through the human body, the man will die. But if twenty thousand –fifty thousand-volt current passes through his body, he not only does not die, but also he will be purified and revitalized. However, this is not a contradiction for a scientist, as he knows the reason for this unfavourable effect of the high voltage. Such thing is the Divine heat that comes out of the packing-needle of the Love, who will be pinned by this packing-needle; he will be renovated and purified. All of you will pass through that packing needle, through that narrow door – there will be no man in the world unaffected by it. This is a question of time, only. The Holy Scripture says that all will pass through the fire. This means the Divine fire that lights a fire and melt without burning. So, in order to pass favourably through the divine fire, you should have clean thoughts, feelings and actions. What larger bliss than that for a man? Christ had told: “Blessed be the pure by heart because they will see the God”. ”Blessed be the meek people because they will inherit the Earth”. To inherit the earth, this means to enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Love. The Love does not stand in the contradictions of the Life. The Love is an ideal that is an aim of everyone. Love takes care of everybody, it gives exuberantly to everyone. The Love is the potter making his forms, moulding them in slender and beautiful figures. The potter prepares the earth for the pottery and rain comes and washes it away; this is a bad fortune for him. He could knead the earth, and rain takes it away – this is a worse fortune. He could make the forms and the rain takes them away – the misfortune is still larger. However, if the potter has succeeded to bake his pottery and after that the storm comes and the rain breaks them, his misfortune will be very big. What should do the potter, in order not to meet with such big disaster? He should give away the ready pots. As soon as the pots would be burnt out, they should be distributed properly among the people, to be used by them. Real one is only the one, that might be applied and to satisfy all people. Our thoughts, feelings and desires should be applied, so that we would be content and the people around us would be content as well. This is the ideal towards which everybody should aim. In the Spiritual School are given methods for realizing of this ideal. The main task of the disciples is to realize the Love towards the One, i.e. Love towards everybody. Now, I am giving you the following exercise for a week: every evening going to bed to think two minutes about the Love towards the One whom you do not know. Thinking about the God, imagine Him as a centre from which the Life comes out. After that imagine one little fly and direct your Love to it as a being that comes from the One. This is a contrasting position, but you will understand the idea for the God, for His greatness, for all created by Him in the Genesis, only near the Love that you could address to the Great and the little. Nevertheless, how little are some forms in which the Life is flowing, they are full of content. The Great, the Only One has put his thought in them as well. Let us make the exercise all together. During the first minute you will think for the God, during the second – for some little microscopic fly as a deed of God’s thought. Only the light way of the Wisdom leads to the Truth. Source

Note 2 The Power Of Light And Darkness The 21st lecture from the Master, held on in front of the Youthful occult class on 14th of March, 1923, Sofia. Salute: The only way of Wisdom leads to the Truth. The truth. Meditation. We are read the resume of the theme “The use of the rivers, seas, oceans.” I will give you in the future the following task: You will get two lectures from last year, you will take out resumes in writing and you will read them in class. Two disciples by wish have to be engaged with the two lectures. Meanwhile you will repeat the exercises, given in the lectures. If you find something you can not understand, we will add it here. The lectures must be studied well, applied, and they have to be able to give the necessary result. If the disciple is not ready, he cannot be used by Nature. This is especially necessary for the occult disciple. The brain of the disciple must be developed, well formed; it has to be able to come into connection with the forces of Nature, to make use of them. If he does not work for himself, he cannot use the knowledge, given in the School. Imagine that you are travelling at night with your friend, he gives you an apple, but you cannot see it properly through the darkness - is it healthy or decayed and immediately you spit it out. Therefore what the rotten apple is for you, such things are your unclear thoughts and wishes for the Invisible world. It is enough for you to design such a thought of feeling in the Invisible world to spit it out quickly. That is the way to make use of the forces of the Nature, by the Knowledge, given to you, it is essential an absolutely purity of the hearth by your side. The one who understands what purity means will make use of it, the one who can not understand it, will have to take an exam and to experience himself the uncleanness of his hearth and to get purified. Everything, given and which requires from the occult disciples at its place, nothing is arbitrary here. Many people think that the occultism is something dangerous. On the contrary, the occult science makes sense of the Life, it gives a stimulus, impulse to Knowledge, it shows the disciple the way to the Truth, it teaches him how to use the forces energies of Nature and how to get them transformed. Figure one shows tree shames, which represent the different deeds or movements of the energies in Nature. Figure 1 The first shame represent the harmonized energies of the mind, hearth, will. The man in whom those energies are well balanced is distinguished by a big sensibility - before he starts setting any work or before he says something he rationalizes everything good and then begins the work. The second shame represents the young energy of a young man or a child for whom everything is shining as gold. They look at things optimistically; they think that everything is blooming. The third shame represents the energy of old. If you observe an old tree and an old man, you will notice that they resemble the old tree branches are hanging down as the energy of the old man. The old tree and old man are much more under the influence of the forces of the Earth, then under the influence of the Sun. It is said for the old tree and old man that they have lost their flexibility and quickness and that is why they are hanging down. By the understanding and ideas of the man depends if he is going to be young or old, if the energies of his body will be rising or decreasing. That is so you can see by the cases in life: you meet a young, twenty year old man in whom the physical energies are rising, but his spirituality is decreasing - he things, feels and acts as an eighty year old man. This man will speak only about death, about negatives things of life. The energies of that man are taking a direction to the Earth; they say for him that he became old prematurely. And the opposite: you meet an old man, but with eminent ideas, with a high ideal, he does not bend with age, but he walks standing upright and lively. Why? His ideas attracts him to the Sun. Therefore in Nature there exists two main kinds of energies: descending, called the energies of darkness in Life (scheme three), and ascending or energies of Light (scheme two). Shame one represents cross energies of Light and darkness. Where these energies are equal, there starts the sensible Life. In this Life there are Light and dark places, peaks and valleys, and as a consequence, shades appear. The shades are the subjects, which a man has to study. How we can understand if a man is living in Light or darkness? If I have to answer this question, I will use the following explanation. At shame two the rising forces of Nature are represented, or the Life of the Light. The highest point of the Sun is the zenith - then the sunny rays are the strongest and they fall exactly perpendicular to the Earth. If at that time a man looks at the Sun, his eyes could not stand up to this Light, they will go straight away to screw up, they will have an elliptical form. Simultaneously, with his eyes he will screw up his eyebrows. The one who looks at him will say that this man is a very serious one. So the serious man lives in Light, in the day of Life. It is true, that if a man is born during the day, when the Sun shines brightly he has elongated eyes, not too much opened. If this person comes into a dark room, he will strain his eyes; will open them to be able to distinguish the subjects. From here, we say that everyone born at night has big opened eyes. All the people who live in darkness have opened eyes and high eyebrows. When they want to tell a person to be careful, they advice him to open his eyes on the fourth. This is a proverb in which something is missing, it is not completed enough. A man has to open his eyes on the fourth, but in the evening, when it is dark, during the day there is no way for him to open his eyes on the fourth. Therefore, this proverb is related to people, who live at night. If a man lives for long time at night, his eyes are going gradually to stand out. People, whose eyes are opened wide and stand out, are very rude. The cold, hail, snow, frost, are all due to the dark forces of Nature. The hatred, envy, malice - in general are all negative feelings and are due again to the dark forces in Nature. If someone’s eyes stand out, but are elliptical, not too much opened, this thing shows that this man is born in darkness but he has a desire to come in the Light. He understands his rudeness, but he restrains, he has an aspiration to reveal his softness. Some people are born in darkness but live in Light, working for their kindness; others are born in Light, but live in darkness, working with the rude forces of Nature. When you know all this, try not to change your condition - to fall from the forces of Light into the forces of darkness. When you fall into the dark forces, and then start working to transform them into positive ones, into forces of the Light. This means to harmonize the forces in your body, keeping yourself away from the darkness without being afraid of it. The forces of darkness are necessary to grow - all life existences grow, they collect energy and rest in darkness too. To allow your thoughts to develop you have to move by any means between the forces of darkness and Light - the first one will form the reflection, the second will give power and movement of the thought to be realized. The dark forces are related to the white rays of Light, but the light forces are related to the white rays of Light. Now, keep in your mind the idea that the Natural laws are not overbearing. They are sensible and strongly defined. There are laws of the necessity, but there are laws and of Freedom. Both of them and of course the others are sensible as a result of which you have to reckon with them. The task of the occult science is to show the disciples the methods of how to cope with the forces of Nature and laws. When you arrive on the Earth, you will have sufferings, probations, unhappiness with which you must deal reasonably. There is no point in being disappointed or dispirited. Discouragement does not bring anything. Be glad, that a light is given to you to understand the things and to know how to solve your own difficulties. If you did not have this Light, the difficulties could deter you. As disciples, you could reasonably liquidate with your karma. The karma of man represents a sum of the forces of darkness, which you have to destruct. When a man deals with his karma, he will live according to the low of diharma. What is it diharma? The diharma is the God’s blessing, for which Jesus Christ says: “Everybody will be saved by bless.” The diharma is a sum of the forces of Light, it represents the Light of Life. You are the architects of your fortune - the iron is in your hands, the fire is among you. What remains then? Nothing else, except you to take the iron, to put it in the fire, and carefully to turn it from one side to the other, taking out something from it. What are you going to take out from the hot iron? Whatever you want - nails keys, door’s locks and ploughs and hoes. When you work with the hot iron, you have to be careful. Attention is required from you! If you are attentive and sensible, you will liquidate well with your karma and will enter in the diharma. If you are not attentive and reasonable, your karma will carry you off. Now we are coming to an area, called the black area of amusements. If you remain more time in that area, the creatures which are living there will stop their development. They are creatures, who have not fully evolved; they are creatures without any moral, without any culture. Whom do they see, they are starting to praise, to say, that he is a hero, a talented man - they will tell him some different legends, traditions, while they knot him. When they have knitted (unclear use of words knot/knit!) him, they will leave him alone to recount. When he finds himself among them, he will get into a situation of the cock, for which is said in the legend “The cock and fox.” A cock found a piece of cheese on the ground and it took and took it up a tree - to eat it there. At this time a fox saw the cock and began to think how to take the cheese from its mouth. To carry up on the tree next to it - it cannot. Then the fox went under the tree and started to talk with the cock. “Cock, you are a pretty bird! When I look at your comb, red, fleshy, as a crown on your head, I am wondering who made you so pretty, so bonny and sprightly. I haven’t met such a pretty bird before like you. But you are and a song - bird, your voice - is a whole music. I am happy, if you could sing to me, to hear your voice.” Flattered by the words of the fox, the cock opened its mouth and crowed, the cheese feel over the ground. The fox was waiting exactly for this - it came down to the cheese, grasped it and run away. Now I am telling you: do not yield to endearments and praise, because as the cock you will crow and you will drop the cheese from your mouth. In this case the cheese represents the conditions, necessary for your development. You may not loose the conditions, but how much you lose, after that you must wait a little bit for the same favourable conditions to come again. The favourable conditions come periodically. The occult science gives a lot of mathematical formulas, from which calculations can be done, to determine in which year, which day and hour during the day the favourable conditions will come for each separate person. These conditions will be expressed by sort of increasing energy with a determined intensity and quickness of movement. This energy will raise the man and will give him a life. This is determined and by the favourable combination of the planets. As disciples, you have to study those things, to guess inside what will come and to create the good conditions to use for good, with the bad ones - to deal reasonably. Someone comes from outside or inside you and tells you: “Do not stay at that place!” - “Why?” - “Do not stay at that place, nothing else! This place is dangerous.” - “Improve, that it is dangerous.” How could it be improved? If you do not listen you will try it. You are sitting on a stone in the middle of a dry river, playing quietly and you do not want to know about anything. But in the mountain it is raining heavily, which gradually is going down. From the slopes of the mountain big torrents are starting to come down and soon the river is rising, pouring over the surrounding area. While you run away, the water will take you away and will drag you off with its current. – “Now, do you believe at my words?” Therefore you must know, that such dangerous places exist in the occult sphere as well. There are also dry rivers, which can rise from the big torrents. When you know this you have to be obedient. When someone tells you to leave the place, where you are sitting, to stop playing and to go to a safe place, do not ask why and what for, do not even wait to be improved. Once you are in the School, you have to study the occult forces, to fight, to take predominance over them. Some of these forces are like the fox: when someone starts to praise you, you have to know that your cheese will go. Listen to him carefully, but do not hurry to show your voice like the cock. Say: “Now I am busy, I have some work. When I finish my work, then I will sing to you.” Eat your cheese in tranquillity and then crow. Do not hurry up to crow; do not hurry up to show your voice. If you first eat your cheese and after you crow, then the works are going to be good. Now from everybody obedience is required. Obedience is the first quality of the occult disciple. He must show obedience to the sensible laws and forces in Nature. Obedience is a condition for the disciple to become strong. It enforces his belief in the great laws of Nature, among which God works. When you know this, everything you do, has to be in God’s name, so you can use yourself, and your relatives from His blessing. The disciple must work consciously, to achieve a perfection, to which he strives. Everybody could be perfect. It is said in the Scripture: “Be perfect, as is perfect your Father, who is in the heavens.” When you gain perfection, only then you will find out what Love, Wisdom and Truth are. If you want to become perfect, you have to obey the great law of God. When you gain perfection, you will understand the words, put into the salutation, which I gave this evening: “Only the light way of wisdom leads to the Truth”. Work, study is required from everybody. Study your acts and movements consciously. Study your handwriting, because to be able to find out in which forms you are expressing your energies. When some people write, they start well, but finish badly: in the beginning, their letters are big, when they get to the end, they become smaller. Such people at the beginning are strong, but at the end they are getting weak: you cannot rely on them. The letters have to be if possible more oval, but not monotonous ones. Each shape of the letter has to be equivalent to the energy of man. When there is coordination between the shape and the energies of man, he is satisfied alone from his handwriting. The handwriting has to be legible, not to be necessary to be made out. As disciples of the occult school, you must have nice handwriting. If your handwriting is not processed well, you must practice your writing everyday from ten to thirty minutes. If in your youth your handwriting is not nice, then when you get old it will remain the same. You have to know, that the handwriting reflects the character of man. Work consciously by yourself, to be good disciples. Only the light way of the Wisdom leads to the Truth. Source

Edifying Lecture The twentieth lecture of the Master held before the Youth Spiritual Class on 7 March 1923, Sofia Contemplation The subject of reading is “The Use of Rivers, Seas and Oceans”. For the next time you should write on the subject of The Origin of Fire. As students, you do not observe the simplest rule, namely: whatever you hear in class, you shall not disclose it outside before you have processed it, before it has become yours. In this sense, you are leaking the way a cracked pitcher or a chemist’s cracked retort leaks. What will happen to the water you fill into a cracked pitcher? It will leak out. What will happen to the experiment of the chemist who has put certain elements in the cracked retort? If no explosion occurs, at least the experiment will fail. When a gardener plants seeds in his garden, he covers them with soil and does not touch them before they grow. No one knows what seeds he has planted and where he has planted them. It will be enough to have a child who knows that, as it can unearth the seeds and destroy them. Therefore, when the Master plants seeds in the mind and the heart of his disciple, the latter should carefully keep them as children may come from outside and dig them out. If they dig out his seeds, the Disciple will feel doubts about his Master, he will lose trust in him. So, keep this rule: you shall not doubt God, you shall not doubt your Master! He is not a disciple who doubts his Master. The most terrible thing for a disciple is to have doubts about his Master. Once he has doubts about God, about his Master, he is finished. If you do not know your Master, why do you go to Him to learn? When you go to a Master to learn from Him, you should trust Him indeed. There has been no exception so far in the annals of spiritual history when a disciple had doubts about his Master and did not come to harm. If the law is strict to the disciple it will be even stricter to the Master: if the Master infringes the smallest Divine Law, he is finished. Strict is the Divine Law. It is impossible for a disciple to be placed in a position that he does not deserve – the place of any disciple is strictly defined. In the Divine World, the place of every disciple is a strictly defined quantity that never changes. When disciples doubt their Master, then that Master lives in the world of shadows rather than in Reality. There are many masters like that in the world and those masters rob their disciples and they give them nothing. A master like that went to the aristocrats in France and started talking to them about the occult science, about the forces hidden in it. He decided one day to demonstrate to his disciples how the power of an occult disciple works. He told them that he needed gold and gems for the experiment he was going to make. The aristocrats immediately made themselves available to their master: they brought precious necklaces, and rings with beautiful diamonds. The experiment was as follows: the master would take the gems and the gold with him and through the power of his mind he would use the power of gems and gold to stop the express train when it was passing by. All aristocrats went to the station on the appointed day when the express train was passing to see how the master was going to manifest his power. The moment the train was passing, the master managed to jump into it and disappeared together with it. His disciples, however, never saw him again – along with the gems and the gold, the master also disappeared. That is not a master, neither is that teaching. He who gives only physical knowledge to his disciples is not a master. A disciple can attain physical knowledge by himself. How? Through experiments. Should he want to paint, the disciple will take canvas, brushes, and paints and will start practising. Having practised for some time, he will attain the art of painting. A real Master is he who gives knowledge about the three worlds to his disciples – the physical, the Spiritual and the Divine World. Painting belongs to the physical world since brushes, paints, canvases, enable the picture to be seen and touched. When a disciple spends a long time in the domain of painting, he finally gets bored with it and wants to move to another domain, to another world. As he can play the violin, he takes the violin and starts playing, practising. The violin in this case can be touched, while its sound can be heard but cannot be touched. So, in music we already have a spiritual element, therefore it is related to the Spiritual World, to the domain of feelings. Having played for some time, the disciple feels like changing his work, moving to another world – the world of contemplation, of seclusion, of prayer. Through, prayer he makes his way into the Divine World. The prayer can neither be touched nor heard, it can only be thought about. After spending some time in the state of supplication, the disciple resumes some work in the physical world. Then he moves again to the Spiritual and the Divine World. To avoid getting bored with his work, the disciple has to change it often, to switch from physical to spiritual, from spiritual – to Divine work. He should not stay with the same work for a long time. What can prevent a disciple, while doing physical work, from feeling and thinking at the same time? So, to avoid having doubts about your Master, you have to test him in the physical world, then – in the Spiritual and finally – in the Divine World. Once you have tested him in the three worlds, then go to him to learn. A Master shall hold three certificates as evidence that he has finished a university or at least a high school in the physical world, he should have finished primary school in the Spiritual World and elementary school or nursery school in the Divine World – a true Master shall really hold those three certificates. If in such a case the disciple keeps having doubts in his Master, then the fault is within him. That disciple has put his thoughts on a wrong path and will not make use of anything he hears from his Master. To release himself from doubts, the disciple should learn how to interpret, to translate things. The translation should be threefold – from the physical aspect, from the spiritual aspect and from the Divine aspect. When making successful translations, a disciple can never doubt his Master. When he has no doubts, he will develop in the right way. Now I want to release you from the delusions that you often run into. You should think adequately so that you can get released from your delusion and not suffer. You meet someone you know who passes by without looking at you; you say: “Why does this man knit his brows and narrow his eyes, what does he mean by that, what is he angry about?” To be able to understand the reason why the man behaves that way, you have to think above all about the origin of eyebrows. In that you will find an explanation as to why a man knits his brows and narrows his eyes. When looking straight into the Sun, one closes his eyes a little and knits his brows a little by instinct, to be able to control the light. Thus, narrowing his eyes and knitting his brows, one receives less light. Sunlight is strong and when one is looking straight into the Sun the eye adjusts to receive less light. Hence, we can conclude that eyebrows are meant to protect the eyes against strong light, against strong external impressions. Man knits his brows and narrows his eyes when he is experiencing something strong, some big misfortune or a big surprise. So, man knits his brows and narrows his eyes when there are big difficulties in Life. He is walking, his brows knit and his eyes narrowed, he sees no one and you say that it is exactly you that he will not see. No, that is a wrong conclusion. That man is by no means dissatisfied with you, the reason for which he is knitting his brows and narrowing his eyes is elsewhere. Therefore, you – as students – should study motions, you should know their primary origin. Observing people, you will notice that some of them will knit one brow or the other, will narrow one eye or the other. Others make different motions with their lips and twist them sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left side. Then you will notice that sometimes one’s lower lip drops, sometimes the upper lip gets raised. When studying such motions you will see that every motion corresponds to the thoughts and feelings with which a man is preoccupied on a certain occasion. Through the motions of his lips one expresses contempt, joy, grief, content, discontent, discouragement and so on. Whenever someone is told that he will not succeed in his affairs, his lower lip drops at that very instant. As soon he is encouraged, he smiles and his lower lip goes up a bit. In general, all motions of a man are related to his inner life. Man’s motions have their reason, their remote origin, the way phenomena in Nature have their explanation. If you cannot solve small tasks how are you going to solve big ones? The tests that disciples have to pass are nothing but an examination of their knowledge. A Master can assign to his students tasks to add, deduct, multiply and divide, he can give them a task based on the simple rule of three or the complex rule of three or ask them to solve equations with one unknown quantity or with more than one unknown quantities; finally, he can ask them to solve calculus tasks. Whatever tasks the disciples are solving, these are tasks related to Real Life, to the life of Truth. When speaking the Truth, you should present it the way a mathematician solves tasks – accurately, based on continuity, without any distortion of facts, and of known quantities. Therefore, a clean undistorted mind is required from the disciple. A disciple can present the Truth as it is, only if he loves it. There is nothing greater for a man than loving the Truth. Why should you love Truth? The Holy Writ says: “Truth will set you free”. Once you have the Freedom you need, you will be able to learn, to acquire knowledge. True Knowledge rests on exact data. There is no falseness there, there is no suspicion in Knowledge. Suspicion reveals man’s ignorance, suspicion reveals likewise that there is something ailing in man’s mind, heart and will. Indeed, while a man’s stomach is healthy, the man is the master of his stomach; when the stomach is in disorder, it becomes the man’s master, it gives him commands whether to eat or not. It says to the man: “You shall not eat anything today!”. His folks at home begin coaxing him: “Have some boiled wheat, at least that.” – “No, my stomach is giving me orders not to eat anything.” If you foot is healthy, you will command it, if it is in disorder, it will command you. It depends on your foot whether you can go for a walk or not. If you think well, you will command your mind; if you do not think well, your mind will command you. If you are good, you will command your heart; if you are not good, your heart will command you. Therefore, if a man says that he does not give credit to any teacher, this indicates that his health is poor. As long as the mind obeys the Spirit, man is healthy and he can learn. At the moment the mind gives up obeying the Spirit, we say that the man has fallen ill. The Spirit in a man is the Master and the mind is the student. So, whenever a student gives up obeying his master, he has fallen ill and needs therapy. Once a student’s mind falls ill, at the same time his heart and will fall ill and he starts distorting the Truth, starts using untrue facts. Love Truth and do not be tempted into minor things. Clean is clean anyway, unclean is unclean anyway; Good is Good anyway, evil is evil anyway; Truth is Truth anyway, a lie is a lie anyway. These things are absolutely fixed. To prove that a fact is absolutely true, it should be tested in the three worlds – the physical, the Spiritual and the Divine world. On the same basis, to tell whether a man’s quality or feature is real, it should have signs on three places: on the head, on the face and on the hand. If that sign is on all the three places, the ratio is 3:3 hence the quality is absolutely real. If the sign exists on two places and it is missing on the third one, then the ratio is 2:3; if the sign is only on one place, the ratio is 1:3. In the latter two cases you do not have Absolute Truth, you have relative Truth. Therefore, when you draw conclusions from certain facts, you should know the ratio between the values that determine it: is it 3:3, 2:3 or 1:3. If you draw the same conclusion from a 1:3 ratio as from a 3:3 ratio, you will come to the wrong conclusion. To avoid coming to the wrong conclusions, any phenomenon should be considered in the three worlds simultaneously. If that phenomenon has happened in all the three worlds the way you thought, your conclusion about it will be perfectly true. You often make statements about people, you say that a man is decent1 while another man is bad. Sometimes you compare decent people and say that one of them is better than the other one. If you understand the meaning put into every letter or every word, you will be able to read them. When you write or say the word “decent” you should pay attention to the letter d with which the word “decent” starts. This letter designates a ripe fruit. So a decent person has a ripe fruit inside. However, when you say “more decent”, this is already a process, some work – to become “more decent”, a man should work. You say that a man is rich and another man is richer. The richer one is in the state of work in progress while with the rich one there is something finalized, a certain result. What I said about the decent man is just theoretical knowledge. What matters for you is to be able to recognize a decent person in reality, to see the effect he produces on you. A really decent man produces a threefold effect: on man’s body, on man’s heart and on man’s mind. If a decent man approaches a sick person, the latter gets well. If he approaches someone whose heart is disturbed, he immediately soothes him, brings Peace into his heart; if he approaches someone whose mind is dimmed, he brings Light into his mind. If, though, a decent man has that effect only on the sick man’s body, he is one third decent; if the effect is on the man’s body and heart, he is two thirds decent and finally, if he produces that effect on the man’s body, heart and soul, he is three thirds decent. That is a law. Apply that law to your master to know whether he is decent or not. If when approaching your master your health gets restored, your heart feels calm and your mind gets bright, he is really decent, he is the Master. This is a diagnosis, this is an esoteric definition to determine the qualities of a decent man. There is no exception whatsoever in this definition. Do you always have to try the effect of a decent person? Try it so that you can see that he is like the Sun. The Sun gives its light and warmth to everybody at any time, and a decent man likewise reveals his qualities any time to any person. The more open a man is to him, the more he will receive. What do modern people know about the Sun? They say that the Sun is a shining high temperature body and it is at a big distance from the Earth. They know many things about the Sun yet there is one thing they do not know: they do not even suspect that this Sun is a reflection of the Divine Sun, i.e. the Divine Eye that sees everything and urges everybody to work – it awakens some, gives an impetus for work to others, calls a third group to Life. It says to the tree: “You will grow up, you will work hard.” When the tree gets that order, that impetus, it starts working. When it meets a spider it says: “You will knit your web.” After it gives its orders, the Sun climbs up high and from there it monitors the way they are doing their job. When they get weary of work, all living beings start looking for ways to hide away from the Divine Eye – at the instant they want to hide away from God, from the Sun, they drop the clouds. Therefore, clouds are curtains of the lazy and disobedient men who want to hide their deeds from the watchful eye of the Great One. He will look from here, look from there – nothing can be seen. Then he sends the wind to tear those curtains. When the wind comes, when it starts blowing, blustering, it raises the curtains and asks the beings hiding underneath: “What are you doing here, why are you hiding?” Students will often do the same: whenever they face a difficulty they do not want to resolve, they drop a curtain in front of them – so that nobody can see what they are doing. While thinking that no one can see them, the wind will blow, it will scatter the cloud inside their consciousness, peer inside and say: “Why are you sitting idle here, go out, all of you! Do as you are commanded. If you do not finish the work given to you, you will wither.” That is a law: when the Divine Consciousness comes to the world, it leaves no living creature without work – wherever it finds creatures living with the delusion that they cannot work, that they are in the dark, in helplessness and ignorance, it will at that moment send the Wind of Life, it will scatter the clouds of delusion in an instant and say: “You all start working!” So, if you want to be students, the first thing you are required to do is have Absolute faith in your Master. Whatever the Master does, the student shall not have doubts. If a student doubts his Master, he will doubt himself as well. The Master is nothing but the supreme, i.e. the Divine beginning within the student. You can replace that beginning with some other quantity, you can call it God, Nature, superconsciousness, etc. Whatever name you give to that beginning, you shall not doubt it. Once you have doubts, you will lose everything – God, Master, consciousness. Then the Master becomes an external subject for you, without any meaning, without any significance. That is not a student, and that is not any studentship. It is like when you draw a caricature on the blackboard like a small child and think that you have drawn a peacock. That is no peacock at all – a child’s scrawls are not an artist’s pictures. A student’s doubts and delusions are not any studentship ideas. Therefore you, being students, should apply the Truth in your life. Once you say something untrue, it will halt your progress, your development. Esoteric science does not tolerate any ambiguous, indeterminate quantities. There everything is strictly determined and has its place. In whichever world you look, it is that way everywhere. There are illusions, delusions, lies, ambiguities but they are human inventions, outcomes of aberrations from the great law of Life. The outcome of such aberrations, are diseases and contradictions: men are ailing because they have violated the law of Truth. If a man wants to correct his life, to restore his health, he shall love the Truth. He shall aspire after it, know it, and come to love it. If a man does not apply the Truth he will inevitably apply the lie. Today the lie dominates the world. Why? Because it is a pole to the Truth. Wherever the Truth is absent, the lie is present. When Adam sinned, he hid from the face of God; he put a curtain so that God could not see him. The Lord asked him: “Adam, where are you?” – “I am here, my Lord, but I am naked, I cannot go out.” Adam lied to the Lord. At first he was not naked but he became naked after he transgressed God’s command. He did not admit his fault but used a lie instead. Therefore, whenever a man tells a lie, he becomes naked. Just the same is the situation of a student when he uses a lie. What I am speaking about now refers to students. Any man who is a student must speak the Truth. A student is not allowed to lie. If he uses even the smallest lie, the question with him is finished. A man who is not a student will not be responsible about whether he has told a lie or not. A student, however, shall in no way use a lie. There is nothing greater than being a student! The name student is beautiful. Now you are also students, but only in the physical world. So you are just one third of students. To become real students, you have to go through the studentship of the Spiritual world and from there – through the studentship of the Divine world. When you have been though the studentship of the three worlds, you become students in the absolute sense of the word. So you have to go from the visible, i.e. from the physical world, to the invisible – to the infinite world, to God. You cannot understand the Divine world before you have understood the physical and the Spiritual world. Therefore, strive for the Truth. Check facts – whenever you have doubts about anything, check whether that thing is true or not. Before you come to the Truth, do not accept anything within you. Only the Truth is capable of elevating you, of making you free. Whatever happens in your life, use it to inure you, take things easy. Imagine you are a school student and they put you to the test: all students come in front of you and spit in your face. What will your condition be? You will come back home aggrieved, offended and you will not go to your schoolmates again. Why will you not go to school? Because you have been spat at. Is it true that you have been spat at? Imagine that I have a big, well-polished diamond: I wear the diamond and I enjoy it, I talk with it; it is conscious about its brilliance, it understands it is precious. On my way I meet savages who are ready to immediately take my diamond. Knowing that, while I am still a distance away, I take some mud and spread it over the diamond so that it does not shine and the savages will not see it and steal it. Unable to understand why I have smeared it, the diamond starts protesting, complaining about his condition of being smeared. I keep quiet, telling it nothing. As soon as the danger is over, I take clean water, wash it and it shines again. When another danger comes, I smear it again; when the danger is over, I wash it again. Therefore, a man who has a conscious view on things knows that God is wise, He sees from a vast distance when souls are endangered and protects them. He is strong, knows how to clean souls from the mud on their surface. When you know that, you should not doubt God. He has allowed evil but there is no evil within Him at all. Evil is man’s invention, not God’s. Do not ascribe evil or your mistakes to God but pray that He transforms evil into Good so that you can correct your mistakes. – They say there is no justice in the world. Why isn’t there justice? Because someone has a house, he is rich while you have no house, you have no money. I am asking how does that rich man use his house? Has a poor man been in, has he given shelter to a wanderer? If he has not done all that, can that man be called rich? He is rich from the outside yet inside he is poor. Can you ask for a greater wealth than the mind and the heart God has given you? Your mind is a media where bright and elevated thoughts pass and your heart – an altar, a hearth on which noble feelings are produced. Have you ever asked the question whether the candle of your mind is shining and whether the sacred fire of your heart is burning? Everyone should give answers to these questions. If you want to find the answers to these questions, you need a positive science that knows the laws of the Great Nature. That is why you need to have a healthy body the cells of which are in Absolute Harmony – they should all work simultaneously and stop simultaneously. There should also be an Absolute Harmony between your feelings and your thoughts. When you go for a walk, the cells of your legs, of your brain, of your muscles should be delighted, they should participate in the walk. Only in that case you will be delighted in all the three worlds – the physical, the Spiritual and the Divine world. You will be walking and feeling delighted. You will sit on the fresh grass to have a bite, to drink some hot water – that is the physical side of the walk; then you will sing a little – that is the spiritual side of the walk, and you will finally be absorbed in thoughts, you will thank God for the blessings that you have received – that is the Divine side of the walk. Therefore, anything you do should go through the three worlds. Said in the human language, any thing happens when your thought, your feelings and your deeds are involved. – “Well, isn’t there an easier way?” There are no easy ways in spiritual science. There is just one way there – that is the sacred way of the Absolute Truth. That way is expressed by the A – B straight line on which the points A and B represent two great principles, two great rudiments – the principle of the soft A and the principle of the hard B, the principle of the heart and the principle of the mind, the principle of the woman and the principle of the man – the female and male principles, the principle of the soul and the principle of the Spirit. Hence the way of Truth is the right way. The motion on the AB straight line is done only in the Divine World. However, in the physical world that is impossible – here the poles A and B are oriented upwards (Figure 1) until they cross. The crossing point C represents their striving for the Truth. The Truth is the direction to which all energies in man are going and consequently it gives a meaning to Life. Hence Love A and Wisdom B in man form the AB straight line of his Life and they start together towards C – towards the Truth. This is the way you have to go. It is not only a matter of correcting your mistakes. When you think, feel and act in the right way, you will naturally correct your mistakes. I presented an edifying lecture before you this evening, I gave you some rules that are necessary when entering any school: either a nursery school, or an elementary school, a primary school, a high school or even the university. With these rules, you will end your life on the Earth. When you get into the other world, you will be given other rules there. However, without the first rules you cannot make a single step forward. If you get in the world, there are other rules there but they will make your life meaningless. Outside Truth, Life has no meaning. It gives man an incentive, a drive to work. It brings Joy and Mirth into man’s heart and soul and Light and Knowledge into man’s mind. When a man has them, he feels free. That is why the Holy Writ says: “The Truth will set you free.” Two main factors- Love and Wisdom – participate in man’s aspiration for the Truth. There is nothing greater than loving the Truth and knowing how to aspire to it. Love will make you softer and Wisdom will make you stronger, you will grow sturdier. If you are given too much Love, you will turn squashy; if you are given too much Wisdom, you will harden. To avoid that, you have to direct those energies to the Truth as it will show you the inner meaning of Life. In that situation your energies will be transformed in the right way and as a result the forces of your organism will function in the right way. That activity will bring within you Joy and Mirth. That way, you will be happy all the time with the work you have done in the course of the day and will be expecting with excitement the work tomorrow. Now I wanted to bring inside you a sacred excitement to Love, Wisdom and Truth so that you can work with them consciously. This impetus will help you cope with the discouragement that is one of your companions. You will have to do serious work from now on. You have not worked in the right way yet. While the work that is coming requires an invincible aspiration for the Truth. Whoever of you makes use of this lecture he will be jolly and merry, he will have God’s blessing. May God’s blessing be with you! Contemplation 1 The word used in the Bulgarian original means good. Here decent is used in the meaning of good as both in Bulgarian and in English these two words start with the letter d. Source

Note 4 The Firstborn Thought Lecture eighteen read by the Master to the Youth Occult Class on the 21 of February 1923, Sofia Contemplation The essay “The First Thought Born Within the Human Mind” was read. A summary of the essay “Purpose of the Sun, Moon and Stars” was read. Exercise: put the thumbs of your hands one beside the other and join up the rest of your fingers. After that imagine you are a centre and mentally describe around yourself, around this centre – a bright circle. Then describe another bright circle around yourself in the direction from the back to the front. Finally, describe still another bright circle around all of them. The exercise will take two minutes altogether. During the exercise your hands should be in front of your face. Some people are afraid that the circles might mutually cross each other. There is no reason to be afraid. These circles are presented mentally – they are within the realms of the mental world, they are not in the realms of the physical world. The circles that you mentally described are a result of rational movements. In the course of these movements two acute angles are being formed. What are the acute and the obtuse angles? If you examine them from the point of view of the standard geometry you will be able to make one kind of explanation; if you view them from the point of view of the living geometry you will be able to make another kind of explanation. Wherever there is an acute angle, there the movement is always most strong. This can be ascertained everywhere in Life and in Nature. For instance, the human nose is one obtuse angle – sometimes it is more acute and sometimes – more obtuse. If the human nose becomes too acute, from the organic point of view this is a bad sign; it shows that this person is under the exclusive influence of his brain system – such a man is extremely active. If the human nose is obtuse, this shows that such a person is more under the influence of his sympathetic system; such a man is active rather than passive. The acute angles show, that the human consciousness is very active. What are the reasons causing that? The activity of the consciousness depends on the inner life of the person. The intensity of the inner life of the human is determined by his mental and by his sociable life. By the skull of a dead man you can judge what his mental life was more easily than by the skull of a living man. How can you tell what the mental life of some man was? You can take the skull of some dead man and you can enter in a dark room and light a candle and put this candle inside the skull. The more developed the man was, the thinner his bones will be and the greater amount of light would be able to penetrate through them. If there are some underdeveloped parts of the skull, the light will not be able to penetrate through them. But this can be found only by the one who is able to understand properly the angles of living geometry. By these angles Living Nature builds its forms. The thinner the skull bone of the human is, the more intense his mental life has been; the thicker the skull bone is – the weaker his mental life was. If the bone in the front part of the skull is thin, this shows that the man has been merciful. If the bone in the back of his head is thin, then this man must have been extremely proud and touchy. The more some person has worked with some of the brain centres, the thinner his bone is at these places. The greater the amount of brain, that is, the more electric energy some brain centre emits, the thinner the bone gets at this place. These forces shape the human head. So the human thought shapes the human head – as man thinks, so his skull changes. The human skull is subjected to constant changes. The thoughts and the impressions, which man perceives, reflect not only on his brain, but on his double as well. Those who can read the thoughts of a man can understand what his spiritual life is, based on his double. Another double corresponds to this one, upon which the thoughts of the human as well as his whole spiritual life is imprinted. So the human life is imprinted in several copies, one of which is being preserved after his death. By this copy, which remains in eternity, you can read the past life of this man. While he is alive this man carries these copies with him. After his death they detach from him and remain forever as copies of his past incarnations. The occult disciple should know his mental abilities. He should know how and upon which centres he should work on most. If he wants to work especially on a certain brain centre, the disciple should get in touch with those Beings in which this centre is mostly developed. As long as he gets in touch with them, they will influence him beneficially namely in this direction in which he strives most. For instance, if the disciple wants to develop some compassion within himself, he should get in touch with those intelligent and rational Beings, for which the ability to feel compassion is a specialty. Other Beings are specialized in Love towards God; as soon as you get in touch with them, the energy, which has been stored into feeling Love towards God, immediately begins to flow towards you as well. As you know this you should learn to tell the difference between the energies that flow through your brain and the energies that you consciously process. In order for a certain brain centre to be developed, certain brain energy should flow through it by all means. The compassionate man immediately responds to people’s sufferings. When he sees a poor man, a sick man, or a man in need, he immediately responds to him. If the compassion is not developed within a man you will have to talk to him for a long time before his heart can react. Sometimes all the forces, all the streams in Nature increase and at other times they decrease. This is the reason for which sometimes the conditions for development of certain abilities and feelings within man are favourable and at other times they are not favourable. For instance, the stream in Nature, which helps the development of the ability to feel Love towards God, is not coming constantly – it comes periodically. The disciple should know this fact and he should be awake and he should make use of these forces on time. Otherwise he might deceive himself, he might think he has developed within himself one feeling or another, without in fact having attained them. In general, each force, each stream in Nature comes periodically. You should use these forces so that you are able to develop your centres. The phrenologists have studied about forty centres within the human brain. But lately they have found, that each of the centres corresponds to three other centres, so about one hundred and twenty centres exist within the human head today. Within these centres, different brain energies circulate. They say for some man, that he has an ear for music; what does that mean? To have an ear for music is an ability, a feeling, which has its own specific centre. When the human gets in touch with the musical flow in Nature he begins to develop intensely in music. If the mother has been initiated in these matters, she could put her children in conditions where they are able to perceive these natural streams and can develop an ear for music. As disciples you should study the natural forces and the natural laws. You should study them consciously, you should use them, and you should understand from where the oppositions emerge. Only in this way will you be able to understand that all your abilities and feelings are nothing else but natural forces and streams, which reflect on your brain. That’s why if you would like to develop some compassion within yourself, then you should be on friendly terms with people in which this feeling is strongly developed. If you are not on friendly terms with such people, you will not develop your own compassion. If you like to develop your own intelligence, you should be on friendly terms with people who are highly intelligent – they will hand down their intelligence to you. In general, if you like to develop certain abilities and feelings within yourselves you should be on friendly terms with people in which precisely these specific abilities and feelings are strongly developed. As I keep an eye on people, as well as on you, the disciples, I find that within you the most strongly developed are your personal feelings as a result of which you are touchy, ambitious, arrogant and conceited. Outwardly you hide these features, you do not show them, but inwardly you cannot hide them. Where pride and vanity are strongly developed, there the mind is weak. These feelings absorb the forces of the mind and as a result the human doesn’t think about the causes and the effect from things, but he yields to his personal feelings instead. When firmness in man is strongly developed he doesn’t tolerate anyone else’s opinion or advice and he says that his own opinion is unshakable. First and foremost this man has no personal opinion. Why? - Because the opinion, the conviction is a result from the whole activity of all the feelings, forces, and abilities of the man. This means that all the forces within man should be gathered in one place; likewise the congressmen gather in the chamber and after long debates come to a joint conclusion. This we can call an opinion, this we can call a conviction. Some opinion, some conviction within the human can be formed only after more than one of his abilities function - all of his abilities should be put into work and after a long discussion among themselves they should come to a joint view, to a joint conclusion. Many people do not know themselves and so they deny everything that other people tell them. They do not admit that they are proud, ambitious, and tenacious. Since they do not admit this, they will be subjected to a test, so that they can ascertain this on their own. Tell some proud and vain person that he understands nothing, so that you can see how he will react. Order some strenuous person to do something in order to see how he will oppose you, especially if he has another opinion regarding this point. All the forces and abilities in the human being manifest themselves naturally and for this reason man has to be sincere and he should strive to self-educate himself. He can easily learn from his behaviour, but a conscious striving is required – a striving, which is under the control of the rational will. Rational is the will, which makes each separate thing in its own time. That’s the way the good gardener proceeds: as soon as drought occurs, he makes channels through his garden, which water all the plants and vegetables. He uses the water forces on time and enjoys good results. The disciple has to have a striving to develop his forces, to study, to know in what field he is weak and in what field he is strong. For this purpose he should have a true scale with which to check things up. The first condition required from the disciple, is that he should be ready to make experiments. If he starts some business but he fails, he should start again and continue until he gets some result – the disciple should not give up on the things he has begun. If he writes an essay, but he is not satisfied with it – let him write it again, let him write it for a third time, until he likes it. When you read your essays I see that each of you reveals his own specific feelings and talents. The same can be seen in the various speakers: you listen to some speaker and you see that he waves his arms, he points to the audience with his fist, and he bangs on the table. These movements show that the feeling for destruction within this man is strongly developed. They say that he is an excellent speaker. Yes, he is an excellent speaker, but he can beat up this person or that person and he can immediately destroy things which others have built up for years. Next to him another speaker steps forward: he speaks quietly, he turns to one side and then he turns to another side, he throws open his arms. The fact, that he throws open his arms shows, that he is timid and that his mind is strong but he cannot control it. Each human movement denotes something. Whoever understands the language of the movements should be able read them, to study the people and to study himself as well. The movements are not arbitrary – they are due to certain forces within man. You meet a person and you see that his hands are shaking. You say that this man is neurasthenic. Why and for what reason he has become a neurasthenic you don’t know. In fact, what is the reason for the neurasthenia? You see each brain centre is a depot for energy. If the forces of this centre are not put into work, slight cracks in the nervous system occur from time to time - they cause this nervous energy leakage. These cracks, these escapes of the nervous energy are the reason for the trembling of the hands and the legs of the neurasthenic person. A great knowledge is hidden in the movements. The movements are beautiful when they are natural. A preacher comes out from the pulpit and says, “My Christian brothers, a strong and unshakeable faith in God is required from all of you.” All the people are listening to him, but they do not like his movements. What is wrong with his movements? He lifts his hands and he lowers them but his fingers move as if he is counting money. The man has been a tradesman for a long time and he cannot give up his habit of counting money. The movements of this preacher are not beautiful, because they are not natural, they are not adequate. A tradesman who counts money – this movement is not adequate; a preacher who counts money – this movement is not beautiful, it is not appropriate. When someone is highly excited and feels that his solar plexus is out of order, which movement would be natural for him? The most natural movement for him will be to put his right hand on his solar plexus, in the pit of his stomach with the palm downwards and to put his left hand on his waist with the palm outwards. With his hands in this position man feels tranquillity in the nervous system. This movement is natural and beautiful, because it brings serenity. What do the people do in such cases? They walk, they move from the one end of the room to the other end of the room, they hit, they knock, they are angry with this person, they are angry with that person. And as a result of these movements instead of calming down they get more and more upset. When the man puts his hand on his solar plexus he drives the surplus brain energy through his hands, and so he calms down. The palm of the right hand is the bearer of the negative, the conciliatory energy, while the palm of the left hand is the bearer of the positive, the exciting energy; these energies, when they merge together, bring tranquillity to man. Consequently, as soon as you find yourselves in some mental, some nervous excitement, you better make this experiment, so that you can calm down. Whatever nervous excitement you might have, as soon as you put your hands on your solar plexus and you concentrate your thought, tranquillity will come at once. The solar plexus is able to regulate the brain energy. When the blood is not properly distributed in all the parts of the human organism, it causes a series of nervous excitements. All the disharmonious states in the brain system are due to the uneven distribution of the blood within the organism. Many illnesses are due to this uneven distribution of the blood. So, as disciples you should work upon yourselves very consciously, so that you can control the flow of your blood and so that you are able to distribute it evenly within the whole organism. As soon as the blood comes into your head you should be on guard, so that you are able to direct it primarily towards the front part of the brain. Likewise, the disciple should be able to control himself and to know where and how much blood he directs into his body. When he is highly excited, that is when he is angry, he should draw out the surplus amount of blood from his brain centres, which are the cause of the excitement, and he should direct it towards those centres, which have less amount of blood. When he becomes able to regulate the forces in his organism correctly, the disciple will also be able to give proper direction to his own thought. As long as he thinks rightly, he will feel and act rightly. As soon as you get angry, stop for a while and contemplate in order to see what is required from you: take a grip of your thumb and think of the Divine world with which you are connected. Only in this way will you be able to cope with the forces and cope with the streams that pass through your brain and you will be able to regulate them. When you get angry and you cannot calm down with the help of the above mentioned method, make the following experiment: put your right hand on your solar plexus and start to count slowly and with concentration from 1 to 10. If this does not calm you down, then count from 1 to 100. Each number comprises within itself a certain order of forces, which have a wholesome effect on the human being. When you voice, or when you write the number 1, think about God and say to yourself: “There is just one God in the world, there is only one Wisdom.” When you voice the number 2, say to yourself: “There is only one Divine Mother, there is only one Love.” Upon voicing the number 3, say to yourself: “There is only one Son – the Truth.” The number 4 represents these three forces joined into one – they have borne humanity. The number 5 is related to the human mind. The number 6 is related with the law of development. The number 7 is related to the forces, which work for humanity. The number 8 represents the great mother of the world. The number 9 is a result, a complete circle. As soon as you reach the number 10, stop for a while and ask yourself: “Do I get anything from these numbers?” If your condition does not change and if some bright idea does not cross your mind, then continue to count from 10 to 100. Upon each new ten units you should contemplate on the meaning of the numbers. What you know about number 1 holds true for the numbers 11, 21, 31 etc. as well; what you know about the number two, holds true for the numbers 22, 32 etc. Counting consciously up to one hundred, you will finally succeed to understand the meaning of the numbers, and you will get in touch with the forces which work within them. Only in this way you will calm down. Thus you will understand that you are not alone in the world. Each of you is related to beings from different cultures, which accompany him at every turn and some of them help him, while others hinder his development. I have seen people, who walk on the streets and whisper something to themselves. Some man walks and says, “Is that so?” This means, that such a man is listening to the conversation of the beings, which are within him and he takes part in their conversation and joins to one of the parties. The man, who does not understand this, thinks that this man has gone crazy. No, the man is not crazy. When do people become crazy? People go crazy when in their mind a certain thought comes to mind – a thought that is contrary to what they are convinced of. Do not bring into the human mind the contradictory thought, that what he is convinced of is not true. Each thought, each conviction of the man, whatever it is, has its basis, has its cause. No matter what thought might come into your mind, or what feeling comes into your heart, do not decline them. They have their origin; they have the right to exist. Analyze each of your thoughts, each of the feelings, which pass through you, and check why they came and what they evoke in you. Do not ask why you are angry – instead, ask why the anger has visited you. The anger and the fear are in their proper places, but they should be used. They are forces which have their purpose and meaning; they are advisers of the man, which accompany him everywhere. You might say that these negative feelings are similar to the bad spirits, and that they do not have the right to disturb the human. I am asking you - why the mosquitoes have the right to bite people, but the negative feelings have no right to disturb them? As the mosquitoes alight on the nose, on the arms, and on the legs of the human, likewise the bad spirits have the right to tempt him. God does not meddle with their affairs. The flies, the mosquitoes, the bugs, as well as the animals, have their own great purpose. Man should think properly and should combine the facts in order to be able to find the reason and the purpose of everything which Nature has created. You sit and you contemplate something, but your thought is smoky and blurred; at this time a mosquito alights onto your nose and stings you. You immediately become startled and you bifurcate, but your thought gets brighter. Another time you get angry and you want to take revenge on someone and make some mischief for him; in this moment some fly alights onto your nose, stings you and your thought immediately gets bifurcated. You start to think seriously about what you have decided to do and you say, “Why should I argue with these people, there is no use taking revenge on them – I shall rise higher and I shall look at Life from there.” With her sting the fly likes to attract your attention and to make you be with her for a while as well. Sometimes you enter into the forest, but you are angry, you are displeased, you want to pour your anger onto somebody; but while you walk you stumble into a tree, you fall on the ground and you instantly forget your discontent. So then each plant, each animal, each inanimate object that troubles you, or that you stumble into, distracts you from the bad and from the negative states. In this way they balance the forces in your organism. The stone, the tree that you stumbled into are destined to divert you from the harm that you decided to do. You better get angry with a stone, rather than to do some harm to a human. Now I explain to you these things as to disciples, so that you can contemplate over them and walk steadily on your way, without great hindrances. Namely in this way you will temper yourselves in order to be able to endure the tests. Great tests are awaiting you. Imagine that some of you graduate university and start to work for some rough proprietor or chief who abuses you and insults you all day long and you have to endure everything without losing your temper, without losing your balance. Isn’t this a test? In order to endure this test man should have will. Imagine that you are a poor student and you are forced to make your living at the place of some angry and bad tempered woman of wealth, or you are an office worker and your chief is very strict and pedantic. Here you will also have trials but if you can control the law of energy transformation, then as soon as you see that your mistress or your chief are angry, you will start to direct good thoughts towards them from afar. You will appeal to their kindness, to the nobility of their soul and you will see that they will change and become kind and attentive to you. In this case they stand for the fly, which alights onto your nose and stings you. You will drive the fly off your nose with your good thought. How do the office workers behave with their severe chief? As they see the chief entering into their room, they say to themselves, “Here, he will scold us again.” And indeed their chief acts as they think. But if all the employees and office workers in the office receive their chief with good thoughts and with a positive disposition, no matter how severe and no matter how bad their chief might be, he will be influenced by the favourable atmosphere and he will restrain from his bad behaviour with them. He will defer from his bad behaviour today, he will defer tomorrow, until he improves his attitude towards all of them. This means that with their thought they have influenced him well. So strive to control your brain energy and not to spend it in vain. Everything alive, everything that has consciousness in Nature struggles to acquire more of this energy for himself. Whoever has a greater reserve of the brain energy within him, thinks, feels, and acts calmer more than others. When you like to use the energies from Nature, accept them right from their source є, and not through glasses and lenses. The same law refers to the thought: each thought should be accepted straight from its source. What is the human thought? The human thought is a representation of the Rational World. Until it reaches man, human thought might pass through several points and might undergo some refraction. That’s why the human should get in touch with the Mental World – so that his thoughts can reach his mind straight away. This means that he will receive his thoughts straight from their source. In order to preserve their purity the Divine thoughts should be received straight from their source. As soon as the human thoughts pass through the minds of tens and hundreds of men – they lose their purity and strength. If such a thought gets into the mind of a man he instantly polarizes himself and begins to hesitate whether he should realize this thought, or not. After some hesitation he says, “It is a bad time to realize this thought, I will put it off till a later time.” So, when you are ready to realize some thought this shows that you have received it straight from its source. As soon as you begin to hesitate whether to realize some thought or not, this means, that it has passed through many fields, through many brains, and as a result it has lost its purity and its power. The same law should be kept upon studying the Holy Scriptures: they should be studied in such a way that enables you to get in touch with each prophet or each apostle that you are reading about. For example, when you read the psalms of David you should get in touch with him. After you get in touch with David you will be able to understand what he has put into each psalm and you will be able to make use of it. Each psalm is a well-known formula, a well-known key with which the secrets of the Nature are being opened. You say: “God is Love”; in order for this sentence to bring about the necessary effect within the human soul, he should know the key with which he can open it. The same applies to the words Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Virtue – they also have keys with which they can be opened. Whoever has these keys will be the only one able to make use of the energies which the words hold within themselves. Only that man knows the sense and the power of the air, of the water, of the bread, and uses them in a beneficial way. For such a man the words bread, water, and air are alive and full of energies. Keep some man hungry and thirsty for ten days so that he can understand what exactly the water and the bread mean. All the springs, all the streams, all the rivers and all the streamlets come back to life in the thought of such a man. When he says water, he knows what the water carries within itself. So, in order to understand the sense of the word water you should abstain from water for at least ten days. Special methods also exist in order for you to understand the word Love. Each word, each notion should come back to life within man. If the notion water does not come back to life within him, he can never understand the meaning and the value of water; if the notion Love does not come back to life within man, he would never understand what Love is. Consequently, in order to reach the positive knowledge, man should not philosophize - he should make experiments instead, he should verify things until they become quantities that are alive for him instead of being empty words. For instance, whoever understands the sense and the meaning of the word water will get in touch with the forces it contains as soon as he voices this word. The water is the allegory of Life –it waters wherever it passes. If it passes through dry, waterless, and infertile places, it waters them and it turns them into fertile places. Christ speaks about the life-giving water – this shows that the water is a living force, which should spring from the human heart. It was written in the Holy Scriptures that the human heart should not only feel – it should also think. Consequently, in order that the human begins to think, the water should pass through his brain as well, and should water it. Only in this way his thought will be able to manifest itself. You as disciples are required to make experiments for concentration of your thought and for development of self-control. For this purpose it would be good if you make artificial tests with each other, so that you can see how you will react to them. Imagine that one of you has received from his father five hundred levs; if your friend sees where you put the money he will come one day to your home, he will take you by surprise, he will take this money, he will hide it somewhere and he will watch closely what you will do. After that he will return the money to you. Another friend of yours will hide your hat and your coat somewhere and he will watch closely what you will do. In this way you will be able to study yourselves and to see in what degree you have developed your self-control. At the same time your friend will also learn. But even without artificial tests life brings surprises to man each day. Many times thieves will appear who will, in actual life, steal your money and your clothes without being interested in your situation. So, if you yourself do not make such artificial tests these tests will be forced on you from the outside. Certain trials and sufferings exist through which man should inevitably pass. Whoever thinks that he might pass without trial and suffering is deceiving himself. It is impossible for a man to pass without sufferings. As disciples you should be thankful for each trial and use it consciously. As long as you use this trial consciously, it will uplift you – “But did it have to come now of all times?” You should know that each thing happens at its fixed time, everything in Nature happens right on its time. You say that some trial has come prematurely. Nature claims just the opposite – each trial comes at the time fixed for it. Do not regret what has happened and do not rejoice for what has not come. If some good visits you, rejoice that it has come and use it rationally. If you expect some good, but it does not come – do not regret it. The grief is the planting of seeds, the Joy is the blossoming, bearing, and ripening of the fruit. Why do sufferings come in our Life? They come in order to develop the human heart and the human mind. Why does delight come? It comes in order to develop the human mind and the human heart. The delight and sorrow are processes which walk side by side in Life. The delight and the sorrow are constantly exchanging; if today you are delighted, get ready to be sad tomorrow; if today you are sad, get ready to be delighted tomorrow. If you understand Life in such a way, you will attain certain rules and laws, which will bring you great blessings. It is not easy to tell someone to be patient when he suffers some pain. Someone has a stomach ache, he writhes in pains and you are telling him to be patient; a great effort is required from him if he should withstand these pains. Instead of advising him to stand the pains, tell him to put his hands on his solar plexus or on the place where he feels the pain and you will see that some time later his condition will improve. Each pain is due to accumulation of surplus energy somewhere in the body. The accumulation of this energy causes some tension of the nervous system. In order to remove the pain this energy should be dispersed. As soon as the energy is dispersed the blood starts to circulate evenly through the whole organism and the condition of the sick person improves. If the accumulated energy does not disperse, it will be difficult for the blood to circulate through the body and as a result of this there will arise some friction, some rubbing at these places – the sick person feels great pains, feels nervous excitement, which the doctors call inflammation. So, one should purify his blood if he wants to improve his Life. The blood can be purified by pure thoughts and pure feelings. The pure thought and the pure feelings balance the forces of the human organism. The contemporary people have lost their balance and they should restore it. It is not easy for a man to cope with the energies of his organism. But there exist a certain number of methods for recovery of the inner balance of the organism. As a method of achieving such balance the Hindu recommends a conscious work for development of the mind, the heart and the will of the human. After he develops these great forces within himself man can use the energies in Nature properly. Until then he should not be greedy for too much knowledge – the more knowledge he gains, the more discouraged he will become. Today man needs as much knowledge as he is able to process and apply. If man has too much knowledge but he has not processed it, or he has not put it into practice, he will be unhappy. Some man sits and contemplates over great questions and he thinks that he has a lot of knowledge; at some time he goes to listen to some great musician, but he returns home desperate and discouraged because he doesn’t know how to play music. What should you do in order not to get discouraged? Listen only to the musician who gives you an impulse and encouragement; only read and study the philosophy of the scientist and of the philosopher, who will stimulate you to work and lead you to the real Life. What is discouragement? Suppose you are in London – a town completely foreign to you; suppose you don’t speak English and you don’t have any acquaintances there, but you have five or six hundred pounds in your pocket, which you rely on. At some point you reach into your pocket and you realize that your money is missing – immediately you feel horror, desperation, discouragement and you don’t know what to do. It is not easy to retain the presence of your mind in such a situation. You might be a philosopher or you might be a religious person, but you will lose your strength and your courage at least once in your life. Few people can stand this trial – they should be spiritual people, with a high level of conscience and they should say: “God gives, God takes.” Now you want to know what was the first thought born within the human mind? I am asking you, what is the first thought of the hungry man? The thought for bread. What is the first thought of the thirsty man? The thought for water. What is the first thought of the man who has eyes? The thought for the light. What is the first thought of the man who has ears? To perceive the sound. What is the first thought of the man who has a good nose? To perceive the scent of the flowers. What is the first thought of the new-born child? First of all, can we talk about the existence of a thought in a newly-born child? In order to answer this question return mentally to your childhood and remember the first time some thought occurred in your mind. From what age do you remember yourself? Do you remember something from the first year of your childhood? You don’t remember anything. Most probably you won’t remember anything from the third or from the fourth year of your childhood. A certain thought might emerge within the human mind after he has lived as a human for a long time. The first thought was born within the mind of Eve when she saw the fruit of the forbidden tree; the second thought was born within the mind of Adam when he tasted this fruit; the third thought was born within the minds of Adam and Eve when they were expelled from Eden. After they went out of Eden they took the seeds of the forbidden fruit and they started to plant and to plough. The first thought was caused by the feeling which has occupied the humans mostly. (Unclear.) What is this feeling? Think over this question. It was said that God has created man in His image, that is, man was meant to think like Him and to control his feelings and his thoughts. When God created Eve the first thought voiced by Adam was as follows, “She is the flesh from my flesh and the bone from my bone.” What the first thought of Adam was before the appearance of the woman the Scriptures don’t say. While Adam was in Eden he took two animals from each kind – one male and one female to name them. From this moment in his soul, an inner discontent was born because he was alone without a mate. As God saw his discontentment He put him to sleep. To sleep, to rest and to solve his problem – this was the first thought and the first desire of Adam. In fact, when man cannot solve some problem he falls asleep. After he has slept over the problem, he will solve it. Consequently, in order to solve some problem properly, you should stop thinking about it. If you would like to settle some matter correctly you should absolutely stop thinking about it. This means: become passive as regards your endless and anxious thoughts, in order to perceive the positive thought from the higher world. This thought will help you to solve your problem correctly. This is the natural way to solve the problems. Contemplation Source

Note 4 Purpose of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars Seventeenth lecture by The Master, held before the Youth Occult Class on February 14th, 1923, Sofia The topics “Purpose of the sun, the moon, and the stars” were being read. For next time write on the topic “The first thought that was born in the human mind”. Think this matter over and give your opinion freely. Everyone will have a special opinion, and will look like the old tailors, who measure the cloth with different measurements. While you are talking and writing about the importance of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars; have you ever seen them? You have not seen them. By the word seeing I mean knowing things. Only he who knows, who has knowledge of things, sees. What do you know about the Sun? If you inquire from an ordinary man about what kind of thing the Sun is, he will tell you that it is a round, bright body, which sends its warmth and light to the Earth. Do you know positively what minimum part of celestial space the Sun disc takes up? If the Sun is a million and a half times bigger than the Earth, do you know how many such suns can fill the whole sky? Therefore, when speaking about the Sun, we do not mean only the outer Sun. It is a reflection of the big, the great inner Sun. In order to imagine what kind of thing the inner Sun is, man has to think, to look at things by spirit, not by letter, i.e. by outer form. For instance, if they ask you what kind of thing man is, you will say, that man is a creature with a head, two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, two arms, two legs, etc. No, this is not a man. It is as if a child drew a peacock and said that it was a peacock – the drawing of the peacock is not a peacock. The outer form, the body, does not yet represent the content itself. The human body is a symbol, but ideas do not derive from the body, they are only displayed by the body. Think over this matter, in order to liberate yourself from your fallacies. As long as you have fallacies, you cannot think correctly. As long as you live in fallacy, you are in a state of hypnosis, which holds your consciousness in slumber. In order to be liberated from these conditions, you must have in yourself a great, holy idea, which brings Life. Now all people talk about the Sun as a picture of some great artist. Since it is so, you have to ponder over that picture, to look for its creator, and when you find Him, to feel in yourself some kind of an upsurge. What do contemporary people do? They talk about the Sun, admire it, and nothing more. That is a misunderstanding of the idea which is ingested in the Sun. What kind of understanding of the Sun do you have if it cannot awaken you? Apart from its big importance as a carrier of Life, the Sun is created to wake the slothful, not to leave them to sleep too much. Those who sleep after the rising of the Sun will have a hard time with mosquitoes, which will be biting them. And then, whether they want it or not, they will wake up. When referring to the Sun, evangelists say, “Oh, sun of my soul!” Yet after that they say that they do not know why the Sun was created. The Sun, the Moon, the stars, are signs of something. The Sun, for instance, represents the nation. When a people, a tribe, a race, or the entire humanity, organises itself in an exterior force and starts displaying its own, this is called a Sun. In the Writ it is said that the Sun, Moon, and stars will blacken and lose their light. When it is said that the Sun blackens, this infers a nation which loses its power, its light. The Moon represents a certain religious system, be it straight or crooked. The stars represent the great people on Earth. So a day will come, when nations, religious systems, and great people, will lose their power and light, and will fall from their grandeur. Poets glorify the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. Is everything they write true? Figure 1 Imagine that you have the straight line A_________B; this line represents movement of the human hand, directed towards some object. Is this movement conscious? It might be conscious, and it might not be conscious. Simultaneously with the movement of the hand, a movement is also made in some part of the brain; and this movement is unconscious. Suppose that in point A of the straight line a basket of apples is placed; a child passes by this basket, sees the apples, and wishes to take one or two. The child stops in front of the basket and starts examining it from all sides. It sees a hole in the basket, projects its hand forwards, tucks it in, takes an apple, and moves away. By the movement of the hand towards the basket, the straight line AB is formed. That line was formed, thanks to the energy stored in a brain centre above the temples. This centre is called a centre of materialism1. It urges the child to wish for a couple of apples. Another centre, which is located above the temples – the centre of appetence, compels the child to taste the apple. In this movement, these two centres again run a straight line. One of them compels man to hide that which he has taken, to keep it down. The other centre – of appetence, evokes a desire in man to try, i.e. to taste that, which he has taken. As a result of these two movements you will have the effective movement AD – this movement is called root of desires. The line CD represents the size, the intensity of desires. Some desires cannot be achieved, that depends on their intensity. Therefore, if the intensity of the desires is weak, then there is less chance of realization. If the line AB is longer that the arm of the child, its wish will not come true. What must the child do? It must look for a plan for realizing its desire. So every desire or every thought has several elements in which its realization depends: the first element is expressed by the line AB, which represents an opportunity of realization of a particular desire, depending on the conditions ingested in man for a particular case; the element CD indicates intensity of the desire; the element BD represents the upsurge of man for realizing his desire. The line AD represents an obstacle, placed in the way of a desire. That obstacle may have been placed in the form of a wall, or some kind of a barrier. When you stumble upon that barrier, the desire inside you immediately arises to take it down, to jump over it, or to break through it in some way. You will aim to make the smallest orifice, through which to get to the other side. Let us go back to the purpose of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. The word purpose always infers to an indicator of a certain desire. In every desire, there is a measure of intensity, a force of its attainment. We say that man has come to Earth to learn, to become learned. Whether he will become learned, or not, is an issue. In his desire to become learned, man must put intensity into his desire. To obtain this intensity, which is in a position to realize the desire of man, three forces must simultaneously work in the same direction. Only through the participation of these three forces can the learned man realize his purpose. These three forces are the forces of the mind, the heart, and the will in the physical world; the forces of the thoughts, feelings, and deeds in the Spiritual world; and the forces of Love, Wisdom, and Truth in the Divine world. What does the Bible say about the purpose of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars? – God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. It was so.”2 They were created to be an omen for all events which take place in the human consciousness. They determine the circle of Life. On the given topic “The purpose of the sun, the moon, and the stars” some refrain from writing, with which they want to say that they do not know what their purpose is. No, whatever topic you are given, write something. Always see that you find a certain moral in every topic. To achieve that, free yourselves from the personal element inside you, and then write. Whatever you write, do not think that you would be able to answer the important question of why the world was created. Nobody can answer that question, but, in spite of that, the world has its own purpose. Why was the world created? The world is created for the people who, in comparison with the Creatures of the sublime world, are children sent to Earth to learn like in a nursery. In the distant past, people as souls were living in the Heavens, but since they were making a big disturbance, God had a hard time, and sent them to Earth to be relieved from them. The same thing also happens on Earth: when a child makes a lot of noise at home, its mother sends it to the garden to take a walk, and she is relieved from its disturbance. Where had that child been before it was born? It had lived in the mind of its mother like a live idea, which had been waiting for the day of its realization. Since it was realized externally, this idea was dressed in flesh, it was impersonated – then it gained another approach to the outside world. Have you ever thought about what you are as an individual? You would say you are a man. As a man namely, do you have a clear idea of what you really are? You would say that you know yourselves. How do you know yourselves? Today you are healthy, reformed, florid, but tomorrow you succumb to some kind of sickness and lose both that floridity, and your health. When you look at yourselves, you say that you do not know yourselves, and that you are wondering where you lost your health, what happened to you, that you do not know yourselves. In order not to get into that situation, man must find within himself that special feature, which under no circumstances would change – and always remains the same. What would your condition be, if you were in a world where all people looked alike – eyes, ears, nose, mouth, arms, legs – everything was the same; furthermore, everybody talked, moved, and worked in the same way. In that situation, you, under no circumstances, would recognize yourselves. In that case, you would look for some inner difference. Initially people had a similar appearance, but a different interior. Their inner difference was due to the fact that they did not come out at once from the Divine consciousness, but in succession. So they differentiate inwardly, with respect to time and space. The inward difference among people has subsequently created an outward differentiation too. This means: inward difference among souls has gradually reflected upon human faces also. Assume that you were given a task, from a hundred people who have the same appearance, to distinguish each one of them separately. How would you distinguish them? You would go to one of them, talk for a short time with him, and put some kind of a mark on him; you would go to another, and put on him another mark, and thus you would go to everyone, and you would put a distinguishing mark on each of the hundred people. Whatever you do, you would complete the task with difficulty. As it has foreseen all of this, Nature itself has placed some distinguishing outward feature on every man, so that people can differ from each other: one’s eyes and hair are black, another’s eyes and hair are bright, while third differs from others by his size, body shape, way of walking, etc. In that situation of things, it comes natural for every man to build up a clear idea of himself. He even has to consciously search for that fundamental characteristic in himself, by which he differs from all people. Contemporary people speak of an Invisible world, of a future life. How would they live in this world when they leave their bodies? How would they recognize each other? You would say that they would distinguish themselves by their wraith, which looks like their physical body. These are only words. You do not know what the wraith is yet. It is important for man to know his fundamental, distinctive characteristic. That characteristic is hidden in the time of its exit from the Great Divine consciousness. The birth of man from Genesis is just as an important moment, as is the moment of his birth on Earth. For instance, they tell a man, that he was born at dawn in 6h, 45 min., 10 sec., and 5 thirds (- How can we distinguish time from space?) – By the intensity of the movement (diameter – time) and the size of the circle (space). So there is an analogy between the birth of man on Earth, and his birth, i.e. his exit as a soul from the Divine consciousness. The moment of the soul’s exit from the Great consciousness is strictly precise. In this respect, each soul represents a unit, i.e. a strictly defined quantity. This unit is important in Life; it plays a significant role in the Divine consciousness, and takes a special place. Once you have entered Life, you cannot disappear. Nothing is in position to withstand the Divine idea, which has persuaded you to go down to Earth. Not just once, but many times man descends to Earth, in different forms, furthermore – sometimes as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as an old grandfather or a grandmother, sometimes as a king, etc. If they asked you what the main characteristic of this man was, you would not know. Even he does not know this. If you put him in front of the images of his past, he would deny all but his kingly image; he would say, “I know myself as a king, when I was fighting with a sword on the battlefield.” Why does he only remember this image? - Because it is one of the strong moments of his past. And so, the different impersonations in the Genesis are nothing more than the strong aspects of Life, which have a positive and negative character. As occult disciples, you need to have true light upon the matter. As for the practical life, both the strong, the weak, the good, and the bad aspects are necessary. The strong Good is always in contrast with the strong evil. What is evil in this case? Evil resembles a high mountain peak, with its eternal snow, which freezes man, as hatred ices over the human heart. When he climbs up that peak, he will surely feel its coldness. The valley represents the Good in the physical world, where everything sprouts, grows, and blooms. In the Spiritual world, things are reverse – the valley symbolizes evil, and the height – Good. So where there is cold in the physical world, in the Spiritual world there is heat; and the opposite - where there is heat in the Spiritual world, in the physical world there is cold. The same thing can be said in regard of the human consciousness: when one area of the human consciousness is light, another one is dark. Man must know that somewhere behind the Warmth lies the cold, behind the Light there is darkness, and behind Good there is evil, behind knowledge there is ignorance. In general, behind every invention or every idea there are a number of thinkers, a number of workers, who have been working in the same direction. A scientist discovers something, and says he has introduced a new idea into science. To think that this scientist has discovered something on his own, is the same as the horse, which has carried the grain into the granary, to say that it has carried it by itself. No, behind the horse there is the cart, in the cart – the farmer, who does the main job – he is the main factor in carrying the grain. For the same reason we say that the scientist, who has contrived something new for science, is nothing more than a harnessed horse, constrained by its master to do that job. This we see from the fact that the scientist himself wonders how he aspired to that discovery. Therefore, everyone would know for himself that he is not the main factor for the new, which comes to the world – he is a carrier only of ideas, which come from higher spheres. When man is born and reborn, so are the ideas born and reborn, they are carried from one man to another. As an idea is best carried out in the last moment of its development, so is the current life best for every man; the circumstances of his life would be such that they compel him to think. Indeed man has to be compelled to think. Many do not like to work. In order to become fond of work, the Providence puts them in poor conditions, and they are forced to learn various arts. Wherever there is a whip, there is work, labour, effort. After all this, one would say that he was a learned man. Yes, he is learned, but thanks to the whip, to the conditions that forcibly constrain him to work. Therefore, as disciples you have to study the occult science, but without ignoring the official one. It is a preface to the occult science. It was created by those elated, judicious Creatures, who guide the fate of humanity. The official science is also occult, only that it explores the outer side of Life and Nature. All men aspire towards knowledge. The knowledge they aspire towards is not essential, but is necessary. It is a preparation for that which they will receive in the future. Ancient Greeks have said that man has to know himself. Christ has said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”3 The word yourself infers a measure with which all things are determined. The ego is the measure, with which man determines the Love to his neighbour. Therefore, when you love your neighbour, you have to think for yourself; when you want to know yourself, you have to think of God. It is said in the Writ: “Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and all your strength”. So, God is a measure. - For what? - For knowing yourself. In that case, the Love to God makes sense. And so, the Sun is an emblem; it symbolizes the God of the physical world, it represents the Great principle, which gives Life. The Sun represents the Love of man to God; the Moon represents man himself, and the stars – the Love of man to his neighbours. The Sun is God, the Moon – man, and the stars – his neighbours. Therefore, in order to know the stars, you have to think about the Moon; to know the Moon; you have to think about the Sun. Indeed, the Moon reveals itself to people only after the Sun illuminates it – only the Sun is in position to reveal the Moon to us. When the Sun sets, it casts light upon the Moon, and it becomes visible to us. When the Moon hides, it casts its light upon the stars, and they become visible to us. So the Sun has to hide, for the Moon to be seen; and the Moon has to hide, for the stars to be seen. This law also exists in social life. And so, if you want to know yourselves, your Sun needs to be on the opposite side of your consciousness, to cast its light upon it. On the other hand, if you want to know your neighbours, your consciousness has to be on the opposite side. Only in this case does Life make sense. With the given topic “The purpose of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars” I meant for you to think not only over the physical Sun, but also on that inner, spiritual Sun, which is connected with the spiritual life of man. That is the Sun we explore. As for the physical Sun, everybody knows a bit about it. Whoever you ask about the Sun, will tell you that it has a beneficial function on plants – under its rays they grow, bloom, fruit, ripen, and we taste the ripe, sweet fruit. If the question, of why the celestial bodies were created, was asked, it could easily be answered: all things in the world were created, in order for man to think and learn. What does it mean to think? To think over something means to have a definite, particular idea of that object. You say that you think about your friend? What do you think? You would say that when you recall something about him, it is as if you were thinking. It is not so. To think about my friend, means to make contact with him and make him think that I have thought about him. As I think about my friend, I will write him a letter, in which I will inform him, that I am in good spirits, that I have done a serious job, and that now I mean to undertake some kind of duty, to apply that which I have learned. When I share with my friend the things that make me happy, I make contact with him. In general, every thought, every idea, has to be strictly defined if you want it to be realized. As for the fact, that you have thought about your friend, that in this moment he is somewhere at the theatre, or at a concert, this is not a thought. A real positive thought is only that, which carries within itself a certain weal as much for the man himself, as for those around him. Our neighbours have to benefit at least from the surplus of that weal. This law also exists in Nature; from the abundance, which it has at its disposal, each moment Nature picks something out for all living creatures. Contemporary people do not stop at this law, and say that nobody loves them and nobody takes care of them. Once they receive some weal, they then say there is someone who loves them and takes care of them. Which is the first sign of Love? Many vindicate that the first sign of Love is sacrifice. Is it really so? In that respect the occult science is strict – it seriously regards the matter of sacrifice. When and how should a sacrifice be given? There are unwise sacrifices, which do not contribute anything. Sometimes man realises that he has to make a sacrifice, but he does it later, when the moment is already lost. The child of a gypsy got seriously ill. During its illness it said to its mother, “Mommy, buy me some honey.” – “We’ll buy you some, sweet.” – “Mummy, I want some butter.” - “We’ll buy you some, sweet.” – “Mummy, I’m hungry for some sweet pastry.” - “We’ll buy you some, sweet.” – “Mummy, I’m hungry for some apples.” - “We’ll buy you some, sweet, we’ll buy everything.” One day the child died, it could not endure the illness. When she saw that, the gypsy said to herself, “Poor child, it died, but at least it tasted a bit of everything it craved for.” What is the use of such eating I ask? The gypsy had the will to sacrifice for her child, to provide it with everything it wanted, but she made no sacrifice. Affection is a blossom that needs to be dusted on time. Should the bee or butterfly be late, the blossom withers without setting. Between the blossom and the butterfly there has to be a regular exchange, furthermore at the precise time, allotted for it. When the consciousnesses of the two creatures are awake, they sacrifice on time; they favour each other, and implement God’s law on time. When you know this, be awake on time, and utilize the slightest moments of self-sacrifice, of implementation of the Will of God. The disciple has to be awake, to be righteous in his acts, not to miss even the slightest moments of doing good – this means the Divine consciousness manifests within man. When the Divine consciousness works within man, he assumes a gentle expression in his eyes, his face becomes bright, and he is ready for all sacrifices – what he has, he is ready to share it with his neighbours. Once the Divine consciousness leaves him, he becomes an ordinary man. As long as the Divine consciousness is present within man, he has an aspiration for the elated, and is ready for any feat. The Divine raises the fallen souls, puts them on the right track, and supports them. Once he neglects the Divine within himself, man falls in spirit, starts getting rude, dissatisfied, and is ready to commit any crime. This is seen not only in the individual man, but in the whole world. When the Divine consciousness is absent, then crimes are committed everywhere in the world; when the Divine consciousness is present, Good is revealed everywhere. These are states which people call day and night. Wherever the Divine consciousness is present, there is the day of Life; wherever the Divine consciousness is absent, there is the night of Life. In the first case, the Sun reigns, and in the second – the Moon does. Each magnanimous feeling or desire, which is born somewhere deep within man, is the Divine beginning in him. It defines man as a man. The only thing, which individualizes man, is the Divine beginning in him. As long as he thinks of God, man knows himself; when he stops thinking of God, he stops knowing himself. God is a mirror for man – in Him we could only look at and know ourselves. The topic I gave you last time was “The first thought which was born within the human mind”. Think over this topic, without resorting to what some authors have said. It is important to go back to your past – and to find your first thought there. Only there will you find the Truth. The Truth is not in the ordinary, everyday life, it is in the Primal life, where the soul lives. The pure water is not in the river, where there are a lot of impurities; pure water is in the mountain spring. You will go there, you will put some water in a bucket and you will come back. He who wants to drink pure water will go to the spring alone to drink. What do contemporary people do? One goes to the spring, and the others pour water into their bottles out of his bottle. No, once the water comes out of the spring and is carried from man to man, it already loses its purity, its virginity. Thus carried, this water is no longer from the spring, but from the river, in which there are many impurities. An author disclosed some truth, another perceived that truth, and carried it over to the third, the third carried it over to the fourth, and so on. This is water from a river, but not from the spring itself. If, for the period of one month, the ill person exposed his back to the Sun and cogitated upon it, he would learn more from the Sun itself than if he read all that scientists have said about it. Remember the rule: believe in the Divine consciousness, which works within man, and never doubt in it. As long as you believe in the Divine consciousness, you are in the day of Life; once you question and hesitate in it, you are in the night of Life. Doubt is a terrible thing! Into this area many adepts and saints have fallen. It is enough for the slightest shadow of doubt to penetrate into their soul, for them to fall from the great height that they have reached. Apostle Paul says, “I fear, when I preach to the people, to not be cast out myself.” With these words, he expresses his fear of doubt. Make place for the Divine consciousness within yourselves and do not be afraid. For this, however, an awakened consciousness is required. When the human consciousness is awake, the person will be filled with good and magnanimous thoughts and feelings. From all I spoke to you, twenty-five percent is clear to you, and seventy-five – obscure. That is sufficient. Utilize that which is clear to you. Apply it to your life, if you want to have success. Exercise: ponder for two minutes over the first thought that has been born in your mind. To come to this thought, imagine that in this moment you come out of God, and trace the first thought that comes through your mind. If you cannot find that thought, do not be disconcerted. In some free time, you will make another attempt. Ponder over the first thought, to benefit from it. It is nice to think. 1 The word used in the Bulgarian text is a very old one / “стяженолюбие”/, and does not have an equivalent in English. The definition of the original word is “tendency toward accumulating possessions and wealth”. 2 In Bulgarian text there are no quotes. 3 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19 Source

Good Manners Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen Resumes on topics “What makes you clench your fist”, “The difference between pride and vanity”, ”Balancing of the forces in man” were read. Now you will make the following exercise: each one of you will imagine one familiar mountain vicinity and will look closer from the south, from some – sheltered from the wind place, at some nice clearing. When you reach this place you will dig a small hole, in which you will plant a seed. You will plant the seed well and you will imagine in your thought how it springs up, grows and its stem reaches two meters. Because you have to imagine all this, it will take you no more than five minutes: in two minutes you have to climb up the mountain country and choose the clearing, one minute for planting the seed and two for its growing. When you make the exercise, put your hands on the table, palms downwards, thumbs touched. Close your eyes and think five minutes over the exercise. Whether during this time the planted seed will grow or nor grow, this should not embarrass you. Now I am going to talk on the habit. The habit in the person is created with the work of or by the active force of two magnitudes: a positive one which is expressed by yes and the negative – by the particle no. Therefore the habit in the person is created by the work of yes and no. For instance, you promise someone that you will do him or her a favour; your favour is to rise at four in the morning and to go to Dragalevtzi1 to do some job for him or her. You have given your promise during the day when outside it was bright, the Sun was shining; at this point you weren’t thinking that in the early morning it will be dark and will fear. But when you wake up at 4 o’clock a.m. you look that it is dark outside; you at once start to hesitate and you refuse to keep your promise. You say to yourself: ”No, no, I can’t go to Dragalevtzi, I fear.” So you are not master of the fear inside yourself, you can’t overcome it. You are haunted by the fear inside you and can’t free your self. When you fall several times under the influence of fear and you don’t keep the promise you have given to someone, you lose confidence in yourself and in that way you acquire one bad habit. Thus a person through gradual succumbing to a negative force in himself or herself acquires a bad habit: to promise and not to keep the promise. The same law is applied to the ideas also: today you are inspired by an idea, you are ready to do anything for fulfilling it but an obstacle comes in your way and you at the very moment delay keeping your promise, you say that the promise that you have given so that your idea can become true can be fulfilled through hardship or that it is not the right moment now and so on and so on. Today you delay; tomorrow again you delay until you become a moral invalid. The character of contemporary people is full of negative features, bred namely by the simple and small particle no. It can be calculated by famous mathematical formulae how many bad habits, how many negative features the character of each one of us possesses. How? It is enough that each one of you say a number and write it down. By the way of uttering and writing of this number the solution of the task is found. Someone would utter number 10 slowly and with a drawl; someone would utter it quickly. This is all the data, conditions for solving the problem. The third one of you would take the square or the power of 10; this shows that there is a contradiction in something. Where there are contradictions there are also broken noses. What you should do to breed good habits in yourself? As not to breed bad habits in yourself think more and not hurry to give promises. When someone wants to promise him or her something think once, think twice or thrice whether you can fulfil it and then answer. It is not of matter of promising but fulfilling. Once you have promised no matter whether you meet one hundred bears on the road, you have to fulfil your promise. You will go about this way and that way not to rush into the bears but you will fulfil your promise – nothing more, nothing less. The word bear I take as a symbol of troubles. Therefore if you want to influence yourself psychologically not to breed bad habits never use the particle no for things that can lift up. It is not an easy job to overcome the negative influences in you. When someone overcomes the negative influences from outside will come to counteract. The moment you have made up your mind to do something and it is a good thing and after some hesitation, immediately those around you will come to you and will begin to dissuade you not to do this because you are still weak and this job is not for you, etc. Since you have overcome your inner contradictions you must overcome the outside obstacles too. You will say that you can do this job. To yourself you will say: “Yes, I can do the thing I have decided to do: I have faith in myself and I will complete the task you have appointed me to do." Imagine that someone thinks that you are a rude man. If you are influenced by his suggestion you will exert bad influence on yourself. For this aim you must immediately counter react to his or her suggestion in your thoughts with some other quality of yours to counterpoise rudeness. Say to yourself: ”I can show compassion and such I will be.” When you work consciously in this respect you will transform the rudeness to mercy and compassion.” The reason for the rudeness of the person is due to the fact that the centre of destructivity, which place is at the back of the ears is highly developed. Such a person should send the energy of this centre to the centre of mercy. He or she should say to himself or herself: ”I am a master of the forces inside me. I can be either rude or merciful – it is up to me to prevail over give these or those forces inside me.” A student must to exercise much to turn the negative forces into positive, to exert influence on the inert matter in him or her, to wake it up and incite it in action. Make this attempt: go to bed at 10 p.m. in the evening and pledge that you will wake up at 12 p.m., and do some work. When you are earnest about it, when this thought is in your subconsciousness you will see that you will wake up exactly at 12 p. m. When you wake up at that time you will say: “let me sleep five minutes more, what am I going to do so early?” "No, if you wake up at 12 a.m., you will raise your head, you will step down from your bed, you will face east, and tell yourself:" I am a master of my time and I will use it in my best judgment.” When you tell yourself this, you will perceive on good, bright thought from the Invisible world. This being done, lie down with the thought of getting up at 2 a.m. When you wake up at 2 a.m., rise in the same way and face the east: you will be enlightened by another bright thought. This time temptations will come across your way but you will get over them. When you perceive a good thought, write it down and lie down with the wish to wake up at 4 o'clock. At 4 a.m. you will wake up and again the temptations will catch up with you but watch out to get over them. You will get up in the same way as you did the first time, you will face east until you receive a third bright thought. This attempt you will do during the whole week. You won't be given time to do it all your life. The important thing here is to make a number of efforts until you breed good habits in yourself. The development of good habits in a person is the first condition for enforcement of your will. Not much is expected but you have to persevere. To make this attempt you wake up three times the night during a week. Some of you will fear lest this exercise not to exhaust themselves from that frequent interruption of sleep. They think thus that way because they don't know that the intensity of the dream doesn't depend on the time's duration. There is yet another element which influences a person in such way that he or she should have in a short time. Contemporary scientists say that it is enough for a person to have a 7 hours sleep. The one that understands the law of sleep can for do it in five minutes than for seven hours. When he dozes off for five minutes, he will renovate himself as good as should he have slept for whole seven hours. Since he or she doesn't understand the law of sleep a person uses seven hours to sleep until the brain cells complete their work. If he or she knew this law, the brain cells should have done their job in five minutes only. To get a rest a person should stop consciously his or her work for five minutes – this time is enough. Meanwhile a person leaves his or her body for a while and lets the conscious physical energy renovate his or her organism. So that seven hours sleep is needed for this person who hasn't disciplined his or her brain cells in result to which the cells for a long time discuss whether to start the work or not, from where and how to start. Till they begin their work the time is up. Namely therefore a person turns round and at the end he or she fall asleep. They sleep for seven hours on end and when they wake up, they can't feel they've had a rest. In the evening, when you go to sleep, you will say first to your brain cells, then to your lung cells, then to your stomach cells and in the end to the cells in all organs of your body, to the muscles, to the bones, you will tell them: ”Listen to me, I go to school. Meanwhile you will do all the work given to you so that when I come back I find the rooms cleaned, ventilated and my whole organism renovated. The cells receive the order of their master and start to work hurriedly and systematically to do the work given on time. When their work is complete, the master returns to the body. Then you wake up glad and joyful, refreshed by the sleep. You have to talk to your cells in this way as to have good and calm sleep. Each cell is a lively, reasonable soul, which understands what is being said to it, what is demanded from it. Talk rationally to the cells in order not to alarm them. Each cell is placed in its own position. Cells are unmanageable, they are always ready to fulfil the will of their master. By talking to your cells reasonably you acquire good habits in yourself. So, for each good deed you should do, you say to yourself: ”I can do a good deed.” Adopt this rule for a main task in your life and start making attempts. Imagine, for instance, that someone among you is a an old miser – let him make the following test – let him have 30 leva in five leva banknotes2, to put them in his purse and go for a walk in the city. Whenever he meets a beggar or a poor man, let him take out his purse straight away and give the person the sum of levs he has took out at the first take and to give it to the first poor person he has met in the city thinking: “ I can be generous.” The more poor people he meets, the more banknotes he should distribute to each poor person. Let him do the same test on the next day with more money. So he continues to give without ever coming to his mind that he has given that much - he or will give and forget they have given. These actions produce corresponding results in Nature. The deeds of a person should not be selfish. You give and you will be given. This law is absolutely righteous. It is called The Law of Universal Opulence, Opulens. Each noble thought, you invest your will in, will certainly find its realization. The Nature itself is interested in this. Patience is demanded from you: to wait for the time for its realization to come. For realization of each idea there is exactly defined time. It is the same in the Plants' Kingdom. For instance, time is wanted for an apple tree to thrive: apple seed can't grow in no time. The bright ideas and nobles wishes are like seeds: when you plant them in ground, you wait some time for them to sprout, to grow, to blossom, to ripen and bear fruit. If the soil was good, the planted idea, can grow for a month, for one year or more – it depends on the conditions. Sometimes for a person's gift to develop it takes ten years. In such way all great persons have worked – they acquired the habit of being constant. You see with what perseverance they make attempts one after another until they reach a result. It is easy to say that this and this scientist have made such and such discovery. If he or she bears only one negative thought in his or her mind, he or she will not make even one invention. After they overcome this negative thought and start to believe there is no difficulty he or she can not withstand, they are on the threshold of his or her invention and a new light shines in the mind. A person should bear the positive thought in his or her mind that everything is possible when it is in agreement with the great laws of the world. Therefore everything is possible for a person when it is in agreement with the great laws of God of Life and Nature. There are many who don't understand these laws and despite their good wishes say: “If God wants this, if God wills this, I will succeed.” This is the human understanding. Since you cherish good wish in yourself, God wants it for certain to be realized. With his or her wrong understanding a person destroys the God's plan for him or her. For instance, God says that for a certain idea of yours all conditions to grow and develop are given but ten years are required for it to become true. “Can't this happen soon, in a year?” – "No, it can not." No matter that, you haste and misshape your idea. There was once an American doctor who had some work in Malaysia. He was called to the house of some Turkish man to heal him because the man was suffering from fever. The doctor examined him carefully and prescribed him a medicine, which he had to take for a week, three times a day, three drops in a tea-spoon. The Turkish man looked at the medicine and said: “What is the meaning to wait for a whole week? Let me drink the whole bottle of medicine right away and become healthy again “He raised the bottle to his lips, drank the whole of it right way but instead of becoming healthy he died. No, the quicker you do the work, the worse is the result. No matter what school of doctors you follow, no matter the way they treat, they all have something in common in their methods. So much capable is the doctor, the more he or she relies on Nature, great doctor of Life in his or hers methods. Contemporary physicians use, as also Nature does, poisonous medicines. They apply as methods of treatment homeopathy and allopathy, which also Natures applies. They are based on certain principles, on one method or another, on one medicine or another. Physicians know that in the human organism there is always a deposit of vital force, which is sometimes inert and can not be absorbed. As to absorb it, the organism is given a certain dose of poisonous medicine. Because the organism can not bear substances, unfamiliar to it, it starts to fight back and cast the poison out. In this fight exactly the organism wakes up its deposit of preserved energy and starts dexterously to function. In this way the human organism overcomes various diseases. Sometimes the poison is that strong that instead of a reaction it produces suspension in the activity in the organism. The allopaths support the idea that external inciting reason has to be much stronger and they give huge doses of the medicine. The homeopaths hold the view that the external reason has to be very insignificant and give for a medicine strongly watered liquids. Whatever the exterior cause may be, all are conscious that a person can recover and urge them move about and not to stay still. The same method is applied when treating them with cold water. This law is in force not only to the physical but also to the psychological life of a person. To make a person work, create in him or her two contradicting thoughts. People work, move around, carry out activities due to this law. What would the world be if all the people had same character - all kind, with the same wishes and understanding: wouldn't that be Heaven? No, don't delude yourself, Heaven is not a place where only kind people exist. The creatures that live in Heaven are highly intelligent, noble, reasonable, greatly experienced in life due to which they execute God's laws flawlessly. Now I will give you one more task to accomplish, for another week. This test you do when you complete the first test. The task is as follows: each night before you go to bed you sit down at a chair near a table, hands on the table. You will stay calm and quiet, with your eyes open and concentrate for ten minutes. During this time you won't move your eyes, hands, legs – you will be perfectly motionless. During the exercise you will undergo hard tests: here and there someone will bite you and pinch you, but you have to get control over your hands, legs, grimaces, you won't even scratch back. You won't stir, nothing would trouble you. These pinches may find an expression in your thoughts but you won't pay attention to them. You will stay calm, you will go through this to the end. Whoever sees you in this situation will think that you ponder over some great idea. You take care that this exercise last ten minutes only. In this way you will enforce your will. If you can concentrate for ten minutes this will show you can face bigger forces in your life? Pinching the body is due to the temporary hold up of the nervous energy. You feel small electric explosions which take place in the nervous system. Sometimes these piercings are very strong, they will provoke you to jump up but in this situation you have to restrain yourself. Whatever happens to you during the time of the exercise you will be calm and quiet; you will know that everything will be settled well. This exercise being over I would like someone of you to tell us what kind of experience have acquired during the time of the exercise. Not only would feel the pinching but also various thoughts and wishes would come to mind. You would think how good it would have been if there was a whole banitza3 with sweets or imagine that money fall all of a sudden your way and you become rich. Then you will perhaps think that you can write something that can surprise the world. Various thoughts would pass through your mind during these ten minutes. These thoughts "would knock on your door" but you won't pay attention to them, you will know that you are appointed at a high place, you can't leave your work for a second. They will ask you a question or two but you won't answer. They will tell you: “Don't you have something human in yourself? What is this silly business you are involved in? Do you think that the world can be set right this moment?” Whatever they talk to you, you will keep silent. The interesting thing is to see whether you can concentrate at least for ten minutes. You will lock yourself up in the room so that no one would enter in and embarrass you. You will alone know that this work is really important and on it your future depends. If someone knocks on the door, this won't make any difference. You will keep decency. Stay calm, don't move. See how the Turkish people pray, they kneel down and they don't care whether someone watches them or not. This exercise you have to do. Those of you that don't do it, will bear the consequences for their disobedience. Now let's return to the matter of habit. Each habit has three components – form meaning and content. The habit stands is its own place when it becomes man's second Nature. Only in such order of things a person is free. The good habit is helper of the will. The student has to work on his or her nature to create good habits in himself or herself, to pass all tests and overcome troubles. In ancient times the students from Pythagorean school passed through numbers of tests to ascertain to transform to these states easy. A student is sitting and thinking over a matter, meanwhile one of the other students comes to him and slaps him or her in the face and goes away. The first student startles and wants to revenge. The brighter his or her consciousness is, the sooner he or she gains control over himself or herself. Not only his or her feelings undergo a test but his or her thoughts and ideas also. For instance, if someone grasps a great idea, the people around him or her begin to mock, to curse, to call him or her names. Nevertheless he or she walks quiet and calm, nothing embarrasses him or her. Why? Because he or she inhabits another world away from the world they live in. He or she has their conviction they have developed their thinking, they can concentrate, they can solve problems easily. No matter whatever is said to him or her, or they home joyful and in good shape. It was same with the Apostles – they were tortured, beaten in the name of Jesus Christ's name, on the account of the God's word but they came home glad and joyful, praising God. Who have persevered in this respect, when they receive the first blow they would say:” How dare you beat me up for my convictions, how dare they disregard my dignity!”. Rejoice when you suffer for your convictions. Those that don't rejoice when suffering for their convictions, only show that they aren't conscious of them. Now I will talk only to the students, only to those that have entered the School and want to study the manifestations of the Reasonable. To do this a special school is needed. It is not easy for a person to bear and endure suffering reasonably. Whoever is good, only he or she can endure. Many confuse patience with trouble. Only the one that has developed his or her capacities of the mind can and endure bear. As long as you can reach your adversary, don't wish to revenge on them. The patient is always stronger than his or her rival. There was once in America a prominent professor in boxing. One day he met a young student in the street but the student was so thin and feeble that the professor beat him down only with one stroke on the nose. The student stood up, beat the dust off his coat and thought how to revenge to this strong person. To fight with him – he can't do that, then he decided to start taking boxing lessons. For whole ten years he work hard in this respect until he mastered such a force that he could lift a small pony or big horse with one hand only. He appeared before the professor, bowed down to him and lifted him one hand. “Do you recognize me?” “I do recognize you, excuse me.” “I am that weak and feeble student you met in the street ten years ago and knocked down and slapped in the face." Well, this is the result of the exercises. Therefore when the invalid in some respect, no matter whether physical, psychic or mental respect, works hard on himself, after some time he would get over his deficiency and become a strong man. Today you can be weak and feeble student, say that your you have a bad fortune, that you have been designed to be weak but after ten years of hard exercise you can become as strong as a professor in boxing. And then you will not revenge without mercy and you will go to the professor and you will lift him up in the air. He will admit your strength and say:” I acknowledge that you are stronger than my, accept my apology!” 1 Dragalevtzi - village near Sofia. 2 lev is the Bulgarian monetary unit, the same word in Bulgarian is used for lion, the animal. 3 banitza - Bulgarian, a dessert, made by baked crust of dough with layers of cheese or nuts with sugar syrup, a variant of original Turkish dessert Source

Note 1 Pride and Vainglory Fifteenth lecture of the Youth Occult Class, given by the Master Beinsa Douno on 24th January 1923 in Sofia Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen Meditation The works on “The origin of fist” were read Now I will ask you the question, what is the difference between the constant and the variable in Life? Constant in Life is that one which remains the same in all times and circumstances; variable is that one which is exposed to changes in all times and circumstances. What is the difference between the Reality and the shadows of Life? Imagine that you have a mirror in front of which you have put a lit candle. What will you see in the mirror? The candle lit. Is the candle in the mirror real? No, it is a reflection, a shadow of the true candle. Therefore, the lit candle is real while the reflection of this candle in the mirror is a shadow of this reality. Let us assume that some being takes a certain place in front of the mirror, under a certain angle and it watches from there the reflection of the candle in the mirror accepting it to be real. This being watches the changes happening with the candle in the mirror and works out theories of itself about this reality. At one moment, the candle goes out, at another moment kindles and this being concludes that day and night come in Nature. This is what it sees in the mirror and it starts investigating the reasons for the coming of day and night. This being sees in the mirror someone reading a book. Some time later, this one closes the book and blows out the candle. Therefore, what happens in front of the mirror the same happens in the mirror. From the changes in the mirror, it is judged of the changes taking place in front of it. This is the reason why often people take the shadows of things for reality. Based on this we conclude that what happens in the Spiritual world, by reflection the same happens in the physical world. Some being in the Spiritual world has lit several candles and some being in the physical world makes use of the light of these candles. The being from the Spiritual world starts blowing out the candles one by one – the same happens in the physical world. Finally, after the last candle overhead had been blown out, the people in the physical world find themselves in darkness and say that the night has come. After twelve hours, the being from the Spiritual world starts lighting the candles one after another and the being in the physical world says the day is coming. Hence, the theories, which man founds about the phenomena in Nature in the physical world, are nothing else but theories, which the being in front of the mirror founds about the changes and the phenomena it is watching in the mirror. Is this being acquainted well with the Reality of things? It is not. Why? Because it has come to its conclusions from the shadows, from the reflections of the Reality. So, can you say that electric light is real? Electric light is not real, it is a reflection of the Sun; if the Sun dies, and it will die too. In this sense, electric light is nothing else but condensed solar energy. Fig.1 Based on these thoughts, I ask, “Is man a real being?” Man is not a real being either, man is a reflection too, a shadow of something higher than him. What is more, man is a reflection of two more beings. That means that man lives in three worlds simultaneously. Imagine, that man is a shining body (fig.1) staying in front of the mirror C. Watching what is to appear in the mirror C, you will see the image of man in it. The rays coming out of the image in the mirror C fall on a second mirror A, in which the image is being reflected once more. This matter is discussed in physics too. You should study it well so that you do not fall in upon illusive knowledge. Knowledge acquired by reflection of images in mirrors paralyses the psychic and the mental development of people. In this situation, one lives a life similar to the life that takes place in the unorganized substance. If you obtain your knowledge from the images in the first mirror, you will be not able to develop either. Therefore, in order to acquire a true Knowledge, you should fall within the real rays of the Existence. Then you will be able to develop rightly. However, in order to make use of these rays you would have come to the position to distinguish the Reality from the shadows or the reflections of things. For next time, write on the topic “The difference between pride and vainglory.” When thinking on the topic, be careful to derange not these two terms – to consider a vainglorious person for a proud one and a proud person for a vainglorious one. There is a definite distinction between proud and vainglory people. One, who can find this distinction, will by no means make a mistake. Pride results from the mind, whereas vainglory – from the heart. A proud person is similar to a mole digging the ground quietly, noiselessly, escaping anyone’s notice – people see mounds here and there but they know not who has made them. A vainglorious person is similar to a hen cackling against the world at each laying an egg so that everyone can hear that it has laid an egg. Now I am going to outline some thoughts on pride and vainglory. Pride is due to a much too developed self-respect. And vainglory results from the human desire to be highly spoken of people, to be loved by them. Vainglorious people are people of the contemporary culture. They dress well, wear most fashionable clothes; their clothing, their shoes are always clean; the necktie and the tiepin are well put, in place; their hair is well, sleekly dressed. Vainglorious people want to show that they are special, that they are the same both outside and inside. They promise much but do little; not succeeding in fulfilling their promises, they apologize at once. Proud people are just the opposite of the vainglorious ones – they like not to externally present themselves. If people do not know them, they are reputed to be to be modest, humble – they do not make stir in the world but in fact, self-respect is strongly developed in them. When writing your works, write also of the advantages and damages done by pride and vainglory. Pride and vainglory play important role in science as well. When a vainglorious person does a discovery, that person will trumpet around about it. This is the reason why many theories appear and live for a year or two at most. All theories that have been founded in a hurry are result of the human vainglory – they appear fast and die fast. Vainglorious people are very self-assured but when they see for themselves that they are not right, they easily yield. Pride has produced the opposite effect in science - it has created conservatism. Because of pride, knowledge has been kept for the worthy people, for the aristocrats – the common masses, the people are not worthy of knowledge. Pride people do not stand people knowing more than they do. They consider that common people should be uneducated. Vainglorious people wish that all people have knowledge, be educated. Therefore, pride attracts the energies to the centre while vainglory scatters the energies outwards, towards the periphery. Whatever happens with vainglory people and around them, they will certainly reflect it at least through the two mirrors C and D. While the candle is burning in front of the mirror, the vainglorious one says, “I can do this, I can do that.” As soon as the candle goes out, the vainglorious one says, “I do not know what happened, I am surprised too.” While the candle is burning and the mirrors are reflecting, the vainglorious one says, “I am an educated person, I can do everything.” As soon as the candle goes out, they say, “Something happened, but I am not to blame for what happened either.” Therefore, do study pride and vainglory in their natural state in order to transform them in something useful. They are weaknesses of which one can make use. However, when studying your weaknesses as well as the weaknesses of people, do not consider them as something individual but as collective properties, as remains from the past cultures of the humanity. Fig.2 When studying the emotions and the capacities in people, you should pause on the structure of the human head and you will see that it is not developed equally all over. There are regions that are better developed. If the upper part of the head (Fig.2) is well developed, this shows that the moral senses C in man are more developed than the personal ones, the egoistic, that are located in the back part B of the head. In the lower part of the head, in region B, the home senses are located; in the fore part of the head, the mental capacities A in man are located. The bigger angle 1 is, the stronger developed the mental capacities in man are. Once angle 1 decreases, the mental capacities in man decrease simultaneously. While studying phrenology, you will find the places of all brain centres on the head and will know which of them are more developed and which are less developed. However, even though you know nothing of phrenology, you can find the places of some centres in the following way: when a relative or an acquaintance of yours outrages you, your personal senses will be affected. In order to know where these senses are located, do analyze yourself meanwhile, so that you can find in which place of the head you will feel more heat, more pressure. The place of the personal senses is where you feel heat and pressure because more blood has rushed into this place from the offence you had experienced. When the personal senses in someone are not strongly developed, in whatever way you offend them they do not feel hurt. If the case is to make some money, this person thinks of the money only and is not interested anymore. When self-esteem is well developed, people are very sensible; they look not to offend anyone. Self-esteem is a noble feeling whereas pride is a sore feeling. In addition, pride is dangerous in the respect that it makes people rancorous. Rancorous people do not easily forgive – they have been remembering the offence for one thousand years and are ready to revenge. That is why it is said in the Scriptures, “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.” In moral respect, personal senses impede man. The stronger the personal senses are developed in man the weaker the moral ones are. In the course of development of man, one of the first feelings having occurred in them has been the sense of relish, of appetite, of desire to eat. This centre is located before the ears (Fig.2). Thanks to this centre, a desire to try, to taste things ha appeared in man and consequently the mouth has been created. After a time man realized it is impossible to work with the mouth only and felt a need of some other auxiliary means. Thus, man created hands as a second projection in their life. The personal senses in man show that as individual being man lives for themselves only. Seeing that they are alone, that there are no people around to praise them, a feeling of vainglory has been created in man – the woman in man. Later, the pride appeared – the man in man. People like to boast by themselves. If a pupil is vainglorious, that pupil considers knowing everything. If teachers do not please them as expected, such pupils say, “This teacher knows nothing, that teacher knows nothing” etc. Teachers should not dispute with them but should submit to examination and let them demonstrate what he or she knows. The teacher in mathematics enters the classroom, calls the vainglorious pupil and gives a problem to work on. The pupil begins to work, makes efforts, groans, sweats – cannot solve the problem; he or she stands up ashamed, gives the sheet of paper to the teacher and sits down. This is how such a pupil is to be educated. The teacher needs not dispute with the pupil, to demonstrate the pupil not knowing. Being not able to solve the problem, the pupil will acknowledge that there are things he or she does not comprehend and know. This how Nature teaches us as well. Seeing that we protest and resent It, Nature gives us a difficult problem and leaves us to work on it. Once we cannot solve it, we give in by ourselves, start asking for help and acknowledge to not knowing. In the same way, educated people give in too. A scientist has been examining a certain scientific matter, making experiments, calculations – cannot achieve the truth. Finally, that scientist gives up investigating. A second scientist comes, uses the experiments of the first one but cannot solve the matter either. After that a third, a fourth scientist comes, but all they see for themselves that this matter is difficult to be solved. After these spiritual people come and take up this matter, they get in touch with the Rational world looking for a way of solving the matter. Some of the ways turn to be true, others – untrue, but spiritual people cannot solve the matter either. Why? In both, there is something personal, some vainglory being an obstacle to their work. As long as one lives within one’s personal senses, that one is unable to reach the positive science. That is why when esoteric disciples strive for acquisitions, they should have knowledge of what resources have been put in them and what they can do with these resources today. They dispose of much more resources/powers than they are able to utilize. And really, huge energy is put in the brain of everyone, only one thousandth of which can be developed in the present circumstances. Overall, human energy can be developed in three directions: in width giving stability of the character; in depth giving activity and enterprise; in height giving aspiration and flight of the spirit. These three directions can be given to the energies in the human brain. Hence, every idea should have width, depth and height. The width is projected into the physical world, the depth – in the Spiritual world, i.e. in the Heart or the Astral world and the height – in the Mental world. In conclusion, we can say that the weaknesses in the contemporary world are due to the human thinking. This means not that there is any insufficiency in it; on the contrary, people suffer of surplus of energy that they have not developed. At the modern education, the following should be taken into consideration: a way should be found for the surplus energy and it should be put to work because Nature punishes all those that store its energy and do not utilize it. Everyone has noticed this. When someone slacks and acquires idle habits, they begin to put on weight and amass much fat. As they do not comprehend the laws of Nature, they are glad for gaining in weight. This is not any gaining in weight. Nature will be quick to teach that one a lesson. How? By sending a disease that will emaciate everything. By this, Nature wants to say that work is needed. Nature stands no standstill –it is not allowed to anyone to keep the energies of Nature standstill. Therefore, Nature requires from people to be accurate in the three worlds at the same time – the physical, the Spiritual and the Mental. They should simultaneously work in all three worlds. This is especially required from a disciple. Watching your faces, I have noticed that you live more in the world of the emotions than in the Mental world. You have not entered the world of the sound, of the positive thinking yet. One who lives in the emotional world is like a lass looking at herself in a mirror for days on end – she washes, prepares, dresses and again before the mirror. After half an hour or one hour, the same repeats. You stay, examine and intend to do something; suddenly, something comes from outside and upsets your plan. What do you do then? You sorrow for a while but then you dress a new suit and again before the mirror. You think that going out dressed in such a way you will do something special. You go to the world but see that you can do nothing; you go back again but are a little disappointed. Have no illusions; do know that the new suit will impart nothing to you. In the present circumstances of Life suits save not people. Why? Because contemporary people still live in the lower fields of the Astral and the Mental worlds. Until they do not go out of these fields, they can do nothing. What happens in the physical world at present – sufferings, trials, everything comes in help to contemporary people in order to stimulate them to the New culture, to the new Life. The Invisible world has been sending its representatives to incarnate on Earth so that they give a new direction to culture. Imagine that someone dresses well, looks at oneself in the mirror and goes out. What will this one do out? They will enter a café, will buy a newspaper, will light a cigarette and start discussing politics. A few days ago, I met one of the disciples, a quite advanced one; he was walking slowly, thinking about something and holding a cigarette in his hand. Seeing me, he hid the cigarette, greeted me and continued his way. Probably, this disciple said to himself, “Next time I will be careful so that I am not seen smoking.” No, this disciple had to be honest enough to say, “I beg your pardon, I have a weakness – I smoke from time to time -but I am going to work in this direction to overcome this weakness.” The disciple should be free of these weaknesses – smoking, drinking wine, brandy, etc. When the stomach of someone is weak, it is allowed to pour several drops of wine into the water from time to time for invigorating. This is for the people of the world only but not for the disciple. If a disciple feels like drinking some wine, that disciple can take a certain amount of wine in the thoughts thus satisfying oneself. The disciple is able to cure themselves through their thoughts. How? Make the following trial: some disciple catches fever; they know that physicians recommend accepting quinine against fever – one doze of 40 centigrams for adults. In the same time an acquaintance of yours, taking cure at physicians, catches fever too; he buys 40 centigrams of quinine at the chemist’s shop and swallows it. However, you will take the same doze of quinine in your thoughts: you will go to the chemist’s, will imagine that you are buying 40 centigrams of quinine, and will go back home and will take the quinine in your thoughts. Thus, you will test the power of thoughts. You should know that the elements of the quinine are both in the air and in the plant from which it has been obtained. The difference is that the plant has processed these elements, has synthesized them into one compound, while in the air, the elements of the quinine are free, detached from each other. In the circumstances you are at present, you often come upon some hereditary features that you should be morally ready to meet with. In the primary/initial human body - the so-called matrix1 - all good and bad seeds of human thoughts and emotions are stored, showing themselves from time to time. In each incarnation, one gives a chance or a fillip to some of their thoughts and emotions to show themselves, to develop. For this purpose, one should have knowledge – to realize how to act in every given case. For example, there is a thorn bush somewhere in your garden; what will you do with this thorn bush? You will graft it, nothing more. – But it could be rooted out. No rooting out – you shall graft on it. Someone is proud; pride in that one is a thorn bush that should not be rooted out but should be grafted on. This thorn bush can be grafted on only when it submits to the moral senses in man. For this purpose, people should develop their moral senses. They are developed through the mind. Developing their mental capacities, people influence on their moral senses and develop them. In addition, for the development of the brain, of the mental capacities, all branches of the arts, of engineering as well as of science have been influencing. Scrutinizing at Nature you will see that there are all three music, arts and science in it. Where is the music in Nature? It is in the flowing of water, in the gurgling of springs, in the murmuring of leaves, in the blowing of winds. Where is the art in Nature? It is in the various colours of flowers, of the winglets of insects and butterflies, of birds. Where is the architecture in Nature? It is in the structure of mountains and rocks. Where is natural science? Natural science is expressed in all minerals, plants and animals. Not only this, in Nature, you will find the philosophy of all sciences. Therefore, let one who wants to self-educate get in contact with the living, the rational Nature. This contact can be established when one places in their mind the thought that Nature is living, rational and intelligent. Wherever you go in Nature, you are surrounded by living, conscious beings and powers. It is enough that you tune yourselves in accordance with its vibrations in order to get in contact with it. As soon as you get into contact with Nature, it will guide you; will give you methods of right and wise work on yourselves. However, this cannot be achieved immediately but gradually, in the course of time. For this reason, do not leave your old life yet. In this life, you accumulate new conceptions and deposit them in the sub-consciousness where they reveal themselves in specific cases. Now, if someone asks you in what the strength of the human mind is, what will you answer? What qualities should the human mind have? One of the qualities of the human mind is creative work, imagination. Looking at the human head from above, you will see that it is rounded; it has the shape of the arch of heaven. And really, while studying the stars, the Sun, people develop their imagination. One, who wishes to develop their imagination and good sense, should study the stars, should watch the sky. Imagination and good sense are two centres located in front, on the forehead. When these centres in someone are well developed, their places are bulged. People, in whom the centre of casualty is developed, are especially good in comparing. They confront phenomena, compare them and deduce common results. In order to compare two quantities, one of them should be greater or smaller the other. In order to compare these two quantities, you should use the corresponding sense. And comparing is being done by measuring. For this purpose one should enter the field of music. Music and mathematics are connected in man with certain centres as well. Therefore, a capable, an intelligent person is that one who simultaneously acts in three fields of their mind – in width, in depth and in height. They should be good at mathematics, at music, at philosophy; besides, the moral, the social and the home senses in them should be well developed. In general, when all capabilities and senses simultaneously act in someone, that one is reputed to be an intelligent, a normally developed person. Watch, study the heads of the various people to see what the ideal head is like. You should consciously work, influence on the various brain centres, should develop them. Not succeeding in something, you lose heart. Losing heart is a weakness that results from strongly developed personal senses or from too much developed fear. Where fear and pride are strongly developed, hope is weakly developed. Strongly developed ambition and fear and weak hope cause pessimism. A pessimist says, “I will not make a man.” Such person gets to avoid people and becomes deeply absorbed within oneself. This is due to fear. Whereas, pride makes people give their air and be a hypocrite at the same time. A poorly developed hope makes people looks negatively on things because of which they use negative words in their vocabulary. When thinking and comparing are strongly developed, while charity is poorly developed, people become strongly critical. If charity in them is also well developed, they are reputed to be just. With strongly developed reason and comparing abilities but without charity one becomes a merciless critic. This is due to two strongly developed positive senses and one poorly developed sense – charity. This shows that ia critic is short of one moral sense. Contemporary critics are all people of this type. Bravery in man is due to strongly developed boldness, destructive force and fear. A husky is very bold and very cowardly at the same time. Huskies are very cowardly because in them, there is a strongly developed personal element. The esoteric disciple should be a hero, should develop courage, self-control. This is necessary for the disciples because they like the military will go to the battlefield amidst a lot of shells and bullets – they will be fired on from all sides and they should stand. This is heroism! The esoteric disciple is not allowed to fear. Heroism is required from you too. From ordinary heroes shaking in their shoes, you should become real heroes. If you fear, you will acknowledge this weakness. Whatever weaknesses or virtues you have, you should disclose them as they are – you should neither overstate nor belittle them. You will state things as they are and will try to rectify them, if they are weaknesses. So that you may become steel, may overcome fear, do go out in the evening, in dark, wild nights, when it thunder and lightens – at first within half a kilometer, after that within one, two and more kilometers out of town, aiming to keep your presence of mind. It may happen that you pass a forest and are attacked by wolves. You should be ready to pass past them without being touched by them. Wolves never attack bold people. (- If somewhere we are being followed to be shot dead, must we pass this place?) If you are not ready, do pass through another place. (- In general, how should be dangers looked upon?) One, who has acquired courage, can come against the danger and nothing will hit them. One, who is cowardly, let them stay home until the danger passes. One thing is true: it is not possible that an esoteric disciple will be pursued in order to be killed. If some of you are undergone such a test, this is karma of themselves which they should settle in the right way. You shall be courageous – you will go against your enemy once, twice, thrice and the forth time the enemy will surely run away. If though they shoot, they will not hit. Why? Courage is a power that deflects bullets from their way. If you succeed in meeting your enemy in the face, you will put your hand on his shoulder and will say, “Listen, my friend, you need not shoot; if you have been offended by me, I am ready to rectify my mistake; if I owe you something, I am ready to pay off with interest.” One should be courageous – with relationship, with faith in their Master. Every evil yields before such a person. If your enemy raises his revolver to kill you, it is enough that he only looks at your face, sees your courage and Love in order to take down immediately his arm and to give up his intention. In this way, you will pass easily because you have passed your examination. This person has been sent by the Invisible world to examine you. This task is not easy but it can be solved. Being disciples, you have been passing through certain difficulties, that are nothing else but consequences of your past life, i.e. experiencing of your karma. If you take no advantage of the experiences of your life, you have acquired nothing. If you learn no lessons from the contradictions of your life, you have acquired nothing. Laws, forces are hidden in the solving the contradictions through which a disciple can transform negative states in positive ones. When a disciple gets ahead, he or she will be placed in circumstances to meet a bear in the forest. The courageous disciple will look calmly at the bear in the eyes, will take the right side of the way whereas the bear will take the left side and in this way, they will pass each other. As soon as they pass each other, the danger is avoided. A bear never goes back from its way. Rarely, it may go back. A disciple should practice in courage for a long time so that he or she is able to cope with an external bear. There is something more terrible than external bears – these are the internal bears in man. What more terrible bears do you know than anger, than destructive force in man? After you get angry several times, after you fall and stand up several times, finally you will catch anger in your hand and will force it to obey you, to work. Therefore, to every bear out of us responds a bear within us. Therefore, at their present development people should strive for the whole humankind, for the Cosmic man. The Cosmic man is being revealed in the whole humankind and that is why everyone should aim at loving everyone, loving the whole humankind. People should have new, large views so that they attract the cosmic energies to themselves and utilize them. For this, great moral is required not known by contemporary people yet. Once attracted, these forces start working in the human mind, in the human heart, in the human will, in the human soul and in the human Spirit. Looking how you are arranged in your places, I find that there should be rearrangement in accordance with your temperaments. For example, two sanguine temperaments should not sit side by side. The right thing is a phlegmatic person to sit by a person of sanguine temperament. A choleric person should sit by a person of mental-nervous temperament. There can be and should be right exchange between people. This is achieved when their temperaments criss-cross each other. Then, right exchange of the energies will take place between them. When not arranged in this way, people fall easily asleep. Heavy atmosphere occurs between them. If you enter a class with indiscriminately arranged pupils, you will feel some heaviness, indisposition. And the pupils themselves are indisposed either, they easily fall asleep. When there is harmony between the mental, the moral and the social lines of forces of the pupils, they are smart, lively and easily learn. It is easy to work with such pupils, it is easy to influence on them. Let those of you who know astrology make a list for a new rearrangement of the disciples in the class in accordance with their birthday, their temperaments, etc. Let us do now the following meditation: you will contemplate for two minutes rising in the space with your consciousness in that time and following meanwhile the angle at which the Sun is from you. As you are now, the Sun is to the west, at 600 below the horizon. That means that it is at an angle equal to two thirds of the right angle. Secret prayer Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen 1 In the terminology of the Western European Christian Esoteric tradition, it is called phantom Source

Set Measures Lecture Fourteen by the Master, delivered to the Youth Esoteric Class on January 17, 1923, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tau-bi-aumen Contemplation Reading: a summary of the subject: “Distinguishable features of the physical body”. In Geometry, they speak about straight, broken and curved lines; about acute, right and obtuse angles; about circles, triangles, quadrangles, etc. All these lines, angles and figures have their meaning, yet they are dead, inert and unconscious. Still, within the living Geometry, i.e. in the Geometry of Life, they are alive, moving and conscious. Consequently, standard Geometry interprets all lines and figures in one way, and the living Geometry – in another. Figure 1 Let us assume that lines CA and CB (Figure 1) are alive and move consciously. Then, for what reason do they start to go astray from point C and form an acute angle? Had the straight line AC stood for a positive force and the straight line CB – for a negative, they would never have parted; they would have merged into a single straight line. Therefore, these two straight lines stand for either two positive or two negative forces, and that is why they drive each other back, forming an angle. What is valid for the forces of Nature is also valid for men - some people repel each other, and others attract each other. Repulsion between people is due to the uniform, homogeneous forces working between them. Imagine that you see a dunghill C (Figure 1) and two cocks heading to this dunghill; whereas the two cocks perceive each other as two uniform; two positive forces. The moment they come within reach of each other, they will immediately assume a defensive position. They will start a callous fight: one of the cocks will step back; the other will step forward; then both will in turn step backward and forward, thus forming an angle BCA. After the fight, one of the cocks will mount the dunghill and crow; then the second will mount and crow. Thus, they will form a triangle, representing a battleground. The more acute the angle BCA becomes the more callous and ruthless the fight gets. Those who study physiology encounter this angle in the human face, mainly in the human nose. The more acute this angle is at the base of the nose the more energetic and irritable the person becomes. We would describe such a person as active; one in whom the forces are more intensive. The narrower the nose is at its base, the more impulsive and impatient its owner is. How can we influence the forces acting in men? - By broadening the nose at its base. If someone’s angle at the tip of the nose is 5-10 degrees while at the same time the width at the nose base is 15-20 mm, we say that this person is running out of nervous energy. So, let this person, before going to bed every night; focus his thought on his nose to develop width. If unable to broaden his nose, the same person will find himself in a difficult situation in the way of wearing out his organism. Figure 2 Therefore, the length of sides AC and CB (Figure 2) of triangle ACB, representing the size of the human nose, determine the intelligence of the person according to its breadth and depth. Triangle ACB is dependent on triangle ADC. Point D represents the human ear, while lines AD and DC are sides of triangle ADC. Sides AC and CB illustrate the intensity of thinking while sides AD and DC of triangle ADC illustrate the global intelligence of the person. Hence, we can draw the following conclusion: the thinner the nose is the greater the intensity, the agility of the nervous and mental energies and the weaker the physical energy. Or, in other words, the more acute the angle C, the greater the mental agility and the weaker the physical are. And when there is no balance between one’s mental and physical activity, he will go bankrupt, i.e. his activity is discontinued. The longer the line m is, the greater the intensity, the agility of the person. The length of line n indicates poor intelligence. From the size of the two triangles, we can draw two conclusions: the wider triangle ACB is, the weaker the intelligence. Or, the wider angle C is, the poorer the intelligence. The nose is a projection of forces, which descend from the Divine to the physical world. The nose is a projection of these forces precisely because at the top it is thin and the more it descends, the more it gradually broadens. The same analogy we see in the rivers of Nature: each river at its rise is narrow and the further it goes forward, the wider it becomes. About angle ADC of the same triangle, we can say the following: arm CD of angle ADC is a projection of forces coming from the physical and mental worlds; and arm AD is a projection of forces coming from the Divine and Angel Worlds. These two lines originate from one centre, but follow two different directions; this is why the forces, too, follow two opposite directions. These forces intersect at the centre D; therefore D is a focal point where a number of intelligent forces first come together and then refract. Hence, each centre is a focus where one or more intelligent forces come together; and these are forces that guide the behaviour of man in the physical and Mental Worlds. Point C of triangle ACB is just as well a centre, a focal point of forces. It is situated almost on the boundary between man’s forehead and nose. Some scientists say that behind this centre there is a small opening, which they call the silent post of the Spirit. Many phrenologists deceive themselves by assuming that behind that centre a specific brain centre is to be found. Sometimes this cavity, this opening is smaller; sometimes it is larger. When we speak about projections of forces, we have to bear in mind that they are not projections of the consciousness but of the mind, of the human thought. The width of this angle is determined by the physical forces working on the human mind. The width of the human face is also determined by physical forces: the more the face narrows, the more powerfully the mental forces work. The physical forces widen, while mental forces narrow and lengthen the face. Being aware of this, you can apply it in your life, in times when you have to consciously jolt yourself. Imagine you are indisposed, irritable and nervous; you can’t get a wink of sleep all night. What are you supposed to do then? Concentrate your thought, your mind towards the tip of your nose and imagine that your nose is gradually widening. The moment you concentrate your thought on the nose you will relax and fall asleep. In the very beginning, when man was created, he used to have a regular, well-balanced face and his spiritual life was straight, too. To regain what you have lost, you have to work rigorously on yourself from the outside. For that purpose, for several years on end, you have to keep trying until you achieve certain results. By persisting trying and practicing you’ll see in the end that you have broadened your nose, if it used to be very short. Some people have noses as wide as 30, 31, 32, 33 mm and very rarely – 35 mm, the measure which is normal. The nose plays an important part in human life. From the shape of the nose we ascertain the living forces, manifesting through this organ. Through the nose, through the living forces that manifest and act within the nose, a person directs all other forces within him to wherever he chooses. Some people in their youth have had a regular, beautiful nose but later, having lived an irregular life, have completely distorted it. In some people, the nose is bent more to the right – which is a sign of asymmetry of the forces within them; it means that the forces within them work asymmetrically, i.e. are not in harmony with each other. Therefore, every man should balance the forces working within him. When the forces in the human brain manifest correctly, the nose is regular, too. The angle formed by the line of the forehead and the base of the nose should not be very acute, or too concaved, just the opposite – this angle should be obtuse. As a rule, the angles formed within the human organism have a great impact on men. They determine the forces, working on him. Nature has regulated everything wisely. For example, when bent, the legs form certain angles and these angles, these curves are necessary for the forces in the organism to be distributed regularly. The weight of the very organism is distributed regularly using these angles, by way of contracting and straightening of the legs. If the weight of the body fell square to the legs, without them bending they would break. Under that condition people jump a lot, but the one jumping from a high place should be a skilled athlete and obey the strict rules for jumping. Man also jumps like that in the Mental World; that is why he should take good care. You may say that Nature has created man the way we perceive him. No, the modern man has himself wandered off the right way and, in consequence, lost a bit of his original form and constitution. Hence, according to the esoteric science, you have to return to the right course, to give in to Nature – to act upon you, to restore your original condition. If as soon as today you realize the truth about how exactly you have wandered off the right course, you will be so discouraged that all of you will leave this Spiritual School. Thus you will feel as if you have stepped in the shoes of one outstanding Russian virtuoso: he, on hearing the playing of an even more outstanding virtuoso got so disheartened, that he committed suicide. If that is the way things go, it’s better for you not to know the reasons for wandering off the right course. There are numbers of reasons for this wandering off, and none that you should be aware of. What is important for you is to return to the Divine Way. The reformation of the world depends entirely on the returning of man to Original Life, to work according to the Divine Laws. Figure 3 Imagine that you have three forces: AB is the physical, AC is the mental and CB is the emotional, i.e. the force of emotions (Figure 3). The relation between these three forces can be expressed as AB: AC: CB. If CB, the line of emotions, grows, line AC diminishes; if line AC grows, line CB diminishes. Hence, we can derive the following law: when the world of emotions within a man grows, simultaneously within him the Mental World diminishes and vice versa – when the Mental World within a man grows, the world of emotions within him diminishes. In other words, when emotions gain dominance, man thinks less; when mind gains dominance, man feels less. That is why people say that the learned will reform the world. And what they mean by saying so is that in the way of thinking more the learned men will be set free from the impact of those emotions they have within. From the above we can conclude that, being learned, these men will be more sophisticated in their thought and more gauche in their emotions. However, the question is: how can mind and heart reconcile? According to triangle ACB when mental force lines grow, emotional diminishes; when emotional force lines grow, mental diminishes. What is the reason for this relation between heart and mind? Reflect on this question and see what conclusion you will reach. The three sides of the triangle represent projections of forces, coming from three different worlds: physical, Mental and Heart. What is the sum total of the inner angles in a triangle? (It equals 180 degrees or two right angles). Figure 4 Here, on Figure 4, you have a square BCDA. What will happen to this square if two of its sides are shortened and the other two lengthened? (- It will turn into a rectangle). The diagonals in this square represent two resultant forces, which we compare to the will of a man. The diagonal AD divides the square into two triangles – BDA and ADC. If we assume that side DB represents the force lines of the mind and BA – the force lines of the heart, these force lines can be balanced by the lines of the will, by the will AD. The same can be said about the force lines of triangle ADC. To cut a long story short – the will is able to balance the forces of the mind and the heart within a man. Being aware of this, we can read from the face of a man what forces play a part in it, which of these forces prevail and what direction they take – upward or downward. All this information is written and can be computed mathematically, according to a strict scientific method. Observing the angles, the lines of the nose, ear, lips of the man, you can measure which of the lines grow longer, which grow shorter and thus draw conclusions about the forces in a man. This is the living Geometry, drawn on the human face. When mental forces prevail in a man, line BD lengthens and line AB shortens. This shows in the example given that the will of the man has not participated and some outer forces have had an impact on the individual. For instance, a man and a woman get married – the man has a long nose; the woman has a short nose. A daughter and a son are born – the daughter has a long nose, the son has a short nose. This shows that the father has exerted influence on the mental forces of his daughter and that is why she has taken after him; and the mother has exercised influence on the emotions of her son, and that is why he has taken after her. In the above cases the lengthening and shortening of the lines do not depend on the will of the individuals descending to the Earth; it depends on outer influences, on the influence of the mother and the father on their children. When the son and the daughter initiate conscious work on themselves, only then they will be able to freely exercise their will; and the will shall have an impact on the heart and mind to balance their forces. When an awakened, highly advanced soul comes to this world; by using its will, it will acquire the nose it wants; it will accomplish the lines of the face it wants. This soul will not be influenced by its father’s nose or its mother’s nose. If the nose of its mother is short and broad, through his/her will this individual will accomplish for himself a nose just as broad or short, as he wants. Figure 5 As to your noses, they are an accomplished fact. You are under the influence of your father and mother. On behalf of your father is the concealed influence of thousands of generations charged with positive forces; on behalf of your mother is the concealed influence of thousands of generations charged with negative forces. You are already under the influence of these forces. To break free from their influence, you should have never, even before your birth time, coupled with them; you should have joined the wise natural forces instead. Having once coupled with your forefathers and ancestors, you have no other choice but to work consciously on your own; to harness your mind, heart and will for hard work. By working this way you will not notice how your feelings and thoughts are going to gradually change and you will start to neither think nor feel the way your grandparents did – and the lines of your face will change, and your nose will lengthen. It is enough to add to your nose one millimetre only to ascertain that your will has been working. If you can broaden your nose by one millimetre only, it will ascertain that the efforts of your will have not been in vain or fruitless. And now, if we describe a circle around square ACBD, then diagonal AB of the square will at the same time be the diameter of the circle. What does that show? It shows that we can convert or transform the forces, the energies in Nature. It means that we can transform the diagonal of a square into a diameter of a circle. However, it is not enough to only transform the energies, we have to also measure them and express them mathematically. The diameter is a resultant force that places all the points of the circle at an equal distance from one internal point called the centre of the circle. Or, the diameter is a resultant force that sets into balance all mental, heart and will forces. On its part, the diagonal is a resultant force that shows that a man can keep balance within himself at only 4 points. These four points are the four bodies through which a man passes in his present evolution. Hence, when we say square we mean a process of development. Each of the square sides represents one of its bodies – physical, Astral, Mental and Causative. Each body represents a separate world, a separate field of active forces. The diagonal of the square is a resultant force, descending from the Divine World to balance the other forces of the square. So, the diagonal’s direction is from B to A, and not vice versa. Now I will let you take your time and contemplate on the square without getting disheartened. If you come to something that is unclear, do not be confused. All unclear, misapprehended issues will gradually be understood. Coming across some discrepancies, many would say: ‘That’s what God has said, this is the Will of God”, etc. How do you know that this is God’s Will? No, it’s better to reason, to reflect in depth on the issues, to visualize them in their original form, and only after to give your opinion on what the Will of God is, what God has said, etc. Imagine yourself articulating the word ishvara, which is a sacred Turkish word. One can pronounce the word ishvara correctly; another omits the first letter and only the word shvara remains; still other obliterates the letters sh and the word vara remains. In Turkish vara means wandering – i.e. this person has walked, has wandered to and fro. And what did he find wandering thus? He found the lost ish, which means work. The word ishvara means someone who gives work to people. When these people lose their work, i.e. the ish, this someone leaves them. Those who do not want to work, who do not love to work, leave out the syllable ish and set off wandering. You say: “What God gives, what God says, let it be.” And so be it, God says ishvara, i.e. you shall work. Ishvara is the sacred name of God in Sanskrit. It means that work is the essence of everything. By the word work, I mean everything that the mind, the heart and the will do. When only the heart feels, when only the mind thinks or when only the will acts independently, as a physical act, it is not work. While, when all the three act together in harmony with the Great Divine Law, it is work. Hence, by saying work in the fullest sense of this word, we mean the harmony of action between the mind, the heart and the will for the purpose of giving meaning to Life. To work implies also to bestow form, substance and meaning into Life. For the next time I want all of you to study this lecture carefully. It contains a revelation of practical methods you will have to understand in order to make use of them. You can make sense of any science only after you have applied it in practice. If a science is not applied in practice at all, then it is deposited in the sub-conscious mind; i.e. it is stored there and remains ineffective for a long time. So, when looking at your nose, do not be disheartened nor accuse your forefathers and ancestors. Give thanks for everything you have been given because it is a present that you cannot deny. An Old Bulgarian proverb says: “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” If you are not satisfied with what you have been given, then work on yourselves. If you work consciously on yourselves, you will receive instructions on how to work on the various parts of your brain in order to activate the functioning of your mental forces. Thus, you will bring about balance in your being. The world you live in is very harsh and can easily run you off the rails of your life. Don’t fall prey to the illusion that a will of granite or iron shall suffice when you want to achieve something. What you need, what everyone needs, is a will of diamond. The Bulgarian has such a will, but only when he turns obstinate. He is capable of doing wonders, if his will is spent on work, rather than on obstinacy. The Bulgarian has will in the negative sense of this word; like the Jew he tends to destroy more than he creates. However, in the last two thousand years the Jews have gone through severe trials and as a result they have softened a little, gained intelligence and started to create. Being aware of this, work hard to straighten what generations before you have distorted! The face you have is a plane on which not only the deeds of your forefathers and ancestors are projected; but also the work of whole generations, whole races and ages before you. The explanations I am giving to you, you shall use properly. To embrace the new learning does not mean to dispose of the old. The old learning will remain within you as the ground, as the foundation you build on. That is what Nature does. The wise learned man gains his learning from the old knowledge and using it as a foundation, builds on the new wisdom. Thus, he creates something good from the old. Therefore, work consciously on your nose – if it is short and thin, lengthen and broaden it with at least one millimetre. If you succeed to accomplish this result for two years, you have a strong will. As a measure for the nose width I take 35 mm. During the following two years you will measure your nose to see whether you have accomplished the set measure. In addition, you are given another number – 37 cm – the distance from the middle of the ears to the crown of the head; this number is a set measure. The person who has these two numbers is a firm man, someone you can count on. By studying these force lines you will observe what the results are when these two numbers decrease or increase simultaneously; or when one of the numbers increases and the other decreases. By doing various calculations you will see how complex the formulae you obtain is. From this point of view, I define man as a complex Mathematical formula. And, if man is a formula, then this formula has three types of solutions: mental, emotional and physical or volitional. You would say that man is the most rational being in the world. Well, I would say, that man is the most complex mathematical formula in the world. That is why I think that man’s eyes, ears, mouth, chin and eyebrows represent Mathematical and Geometrical formulae. These formulae are represented by signs, brackets, and relations. Only the one who knows these elements can solve any mathematical problem. These mathematical problems are a complicated matter. To solve such problems you need a sophisticated mind. For this purpose you will also need a number of measurements and a number of calculations. The one who wants to do accurate calculations and measurements has to use a pair of compasses and be able to detect even the minutest departure from the norm. If the measures are inaccurately taken, one can be mislead. At first sight a nose might seem a long one; after having been measured it may come out that it’s not long at all. For everything man should use a set measure and know the very essence of everything. He should know the role of every organ in his organism. Every man has an essential problem to solve – to establish the role of each of his organs. The nose, for example, has one purpose; the eyes –another, the ears – still other and etc. At this stage of man’s development this problem is difficult to solve, but he has to work in order to solve it. Contemplate on the diagonal of the square and the diameter of the circle to make all these issues clear. For the next time write a summary of this lecture, to induce more Light into your mind. All of you should know the following: Mathematics does not tolerate too much philosophizing; too much verbalization. For Mathematics everything is strictly set. If you decide to give a geometrician an account of the fact that there exists a certain relation between the nose and the eyebrows, you will need hours on end of talking to convince him. But, if you start proving the same with the language of Mathematics, he will understand everything immediately and will agree with your statement. No matter how long you keep talking to him about the lines of the face and the relation between them, he will not understand anything at all until you prove this fact mathematically. Otherwise he will listen to you but in the end will say that it is not a fact but only some sort of coincidence. What do the crooked nails of the hawk reveal? - Its greed, its predatory nature. The hawk has crooked its nails to hold its prey tightly. When the hawk catches its prey, no one can release it from its nails. When man clenches his hand into a fist, this gesture comes to show that no one can take from his hand what he has already got hold of. On relaxing his fist, man is ready to give everything - thus he says, that he does not want to hold anything with his nails, i.e. does not want to clutch a prey in his fist. None of the movements that a man does are arbitrary. Their origin is hidden in the distant past of men. A long time ago these movements were rational and natural but today when their origin is forgotten they do not have the meaning they used to have in the past. Today we see that someone is bending his hand, but why is he bending it, we do not know. In the movement, in the bending of the hand there are some parts missing and, as a result, this bending is distorted. Some movements are very natural. For example, when you are calling somebody, you move your arms inward, towards yourselves; when you are chasing away somebody, you move your hands forward. When hiding something, the child puts his/her hands behind his/her back. Now we are talking about the fist, but for the next time write on the topic: “The Origin of the Fist”. As no author has written on this subject, you can present your respected opinion of the fist. Or, if you happen to know what old people say about the fist, write down their opinion. When you speak or write about the fist you have to know that it represents manifestation of the will in the physical world. The first men who clenched their hand in a fist are the smiths, the ploughman, the diggers, the farmers. Contemplate on the subject about the fist and you will see where and how the need emerged for the man to clench his hand into a fist. While kneading bread or washing clothes the woman clenches her hand in a fist – she holds the piece of clothing, wrings it out, yet her hand is clenched in a fist. You will think and will refer to all authorities, what were the reasons for clenching the hand into a fist. Then, you will go ahead to the animals and there you will find similar clenching. From your observations you will conclude that greed is the reason for clenching the hand into a fist. When defending something, man clenches his hand into a fist; he moves it forward and is ready to fight. For him the fist means power and he believes in that power. When he loses faith in his fist; then he relaxes his hand and says: “This issue will not be solved in this way.” Then he clenches his fist again and relaxes it again, and so on, and so forth. It is a good thing sometimes for the man to clench his hand into a fist, to encourage himself. When? When he has yielded to despair, has become disheartened. Let him then clench his hand into a fist, place the thumb on top and say: “This undertaking is going to work out well!” The thumb represents the Divine World and the laws acting in this world. The hand clenched in a fist means: “I have faith that this piece of work will turn out right according to the laws of the Divine World. It means that with Love I can accomplish everything”. Then, man looks at his index finger and says: “I believe in my virtue.” Next, he looks at his middle finger and says: “I have faith in my honesty and justice.” When looking at his ring finger, which is connected with the Sun, man says: “I believe in the Sun, which gives warmth to the Earth and sends light.” On looking at his small finger, the secretary of God, he says: “With my small finger I join all other fingers, so that we can together do a good work.” These are formulae you can easily work with. All the planets are to be found on the human hand – each of the fingers is connected with the influence of one of the planets. Looking at the palm of his hand man sees other planets as well – Mars, the Moon, and Venus. Once he has all the planets on his palm, man clenches his hand into a fist and says: “Now I can accomplish everything.” In that way men can polarize himself. Many are those who say about themselves that they think right. A right thought we call the one that is connected with the rational forces of Nature. Only on that condition can man believe that his index finger, for example, is connected with the Divine World. This means, that the forces of his mind head for the Divine World. Now, being students, you will study these subjects and apply them in your lives as methods of work. The Secret Prayer Fir-fur-fen Tau-bi-aumen Source

Esoteric Side of Life Thirteenth Lecture by Master Beinsa Douno, delivered to the Youth Esoteric Class, January 10, 1923, Sofia Silent Prayer Contemplation One can keep every thought and every word in one’s mind or consciousness only when that thought or word is well understood. For example, how do you understand the word thirst? Thirst implies an internal condition. Thirst is not suffering like some may think, because as soon as one drinks water, one experiences a pleasant feeling. Therefore, thirst represents an introductory process to some pleasant feeling. How do you understand the word hunger? Is hunger directly related to the human being; does the word hunger contain any specific idea? Hunger also reflects a certain internal condition. When we say that there is hunger in a country, we mean that there is no wheat in this country. Starvation and hunger are two different concepts. Is there a relation between thirst and hunger? Therefore, every word and every right thought manifests itself on the physical level. Thoughts move in lines that are wavy like light rays. These lines appear to be straight - that is how they are projected onto a plane, but, in fact, every thought is refracted multiple times, depending on the kind of media that it passes through. The denser the medium through which the thought passes, the larger the angles that result from the refraction of the thought. Consequently, the refraction of thoughts results in the formation of different kinds of angles: acute, right or obtuse. Similarly, angles were formed in the process of creating the human hand. This shows that the forces that have created the human hand have undergone certain refractions. Measuring the human hand reveals that thieves, i.e. those who like to touch, always have longer hands than good and honest people. How can you explain this fact? It is very simple: when these people desire to touch something, to feel inside somebody else’s pocket, they have their thought projected into this direction, and thus feed their hands’ cells more than the cells of their other extremities. They wish they could lengthen their hands so that they can use them more easily and so, in reality, their hands do become longer. If, during the course of a few generations, people project their thought in a certain direction with the intention to modify their body in a certain way, they will, eventually, fulfil their wish. Figure 1 In my last lecture I talked on the topic of consciousness but you were not able to understand it fully. In your opinion, what will happen with the consciousness of an Angel if it gets projected towards the Earth? ( It will refract as it goes from thinner to denser matter.)1 Those familiar with the esoteric say that plants are children of Angels. It is not important if this statement is true or not. Here is my question, however: what kind of matter did the consciousness of plants go through to cause them to turn upside down? Did their consciousness pass through the centre of the Earth or did it pass through some other centre? (A member of the audience replies, “It did not go through the centre of the Earth”.) What would have been the shape of the plants and in what direction would they have been pointing if they had passed through the centre of the Earth? If the AB line represents the consciousness of plants, then the consciousness of animals will move in a perpendicular direction to the AB line, namely along the MN line. Then human consciousness will move upwards along the ND line. This diagram shows that there exists a certain similarity between plants and humans: both move along the same line but in different directions. Animals, on the other hand, represent a transitory phase that helps the elevation of human consciousness. Figure 2 One needs to study and look for the cause of things in order to understand why the consciousness of plants goes straight down to Earth and why the human consciousness goes straight up towards the centre of the Sun. According to some occultists, plants are children of Angels and animals are children of Archangels. If one follows the development of human consciousness, one can see that it went through the centre of the Earth and continues to move upwards toward the centre of the Sun. Therefore, plants move from point A to point B and humans move from point C to point D. The CD line shows the direction in which the human consciousness moved when it descended into matter. Now, when man evolves, his consciousness moves in the opposite direction - from point D to point C, towards the centre of the Sun, the Original centre, towards which it once moved. The two directions in which the consciousness of plants and that of humans move form the cross, which is in constant motion. There is a certain relationship between the consciousness of plants and the human consciousness: the plant’s head is planted in the Earth and the human head is free; a plant supports itself on its head, while a man uses his feet. Because the consciousness of plants and humans move in completely opposite directions, their understanding is completely opposite as well. The difference in their understanding is the following: plants know nothing about sin, crime nor shame as everything they do is out in the open; humans know sin and crime as they do everything secretly. Man acquired these things during the time when he was going through the centre of the Earth. It is only now that he is going back to his original state; it is only now that his consciousness is starting to turn towards the centre of the Sun. As man moves upwards he undergoes a process of cleaning, so that he can clean his consciousness from all the sediments of his past. It is only now that man has started to study the great mysteries of Life. On the other hand, it is only now that the consciousness of plants is going through the centre of the Earth, which is the reason it is free of those characteristics that man has acquired in his past. No matter what is being said about consciousness and how it is being explained, there will always be questions. For as long as you are disciples there will always be things that you will not be able to understand. You say, “Why can’t we and shouldn’t we understand everything?” I will reply to this question with the following example: imagine that you have a big barn full of wheat. The human consciousness wants to measure the quantity of wheat in the barn: this means that all of the wheat will be eaten. When all the wheat is eaten, there will be nothing left to plant next year. What will man acquire in such a situation? Nothing. In this case, all man can do is relinquish his desire to research all the wheat. No matter how curious man is, he should leave some matters unexplored. It is in his best interest to leave part of the wheat unmeasured. Man should always leave something unexplored in his life so that it can serve as a foundation for his future life. This is how Nature works, too: it contains a lot of secrets which it slowly, little by little, reveals to those who truly want to learn. Now I will give you an example which will help you see for yourselves how differently people value things. Picture two societies that have different understandings and different expectations: one society strives for and values only big things, while the other society, on the other hand, values the little things. One day, two athletes appear in front of these societies: one carries a 200-kilogram weight on his back and the other carries a 500-gram gemstone. As the two societies look at the athletes, the first society will applaud the first athlete and will say that he is the hero and will laugh at the second one. The second society will applaud and recognize the second athlete as a hero, but will also give the first athlete the attention he deserves. Why? Because by valuing the small things, the second society is able to appreciate and understand the big things as well. The first society neglects the small things. The athlete who carries the 200-kilogram weight on his back is physically strong; he has developed his muscular strength. The second athlete who carries a weight of five hundred grams is mentally strong, he has developed his mental skills. The gemstone that weighs only five hundred grams represents the knowledge that man has accumulated in his head. Therefore, the first athlete carries the weight on his back and the second one in his head. Therefore, when I say that Nature has hidden its secrets and is revealing them little by little, I have in mind the human head, which contains big treasures. These treasures are revealed gradually and little by little, and only to the wise, virtuous and diligent people who like to work. Therefore, all knowledgeable people are athletes who carry a five hundred-gram gemstone in their head. They want to know how the world was created and work towards this knowledge. Originally, the world was created from a grain of wheat so little that even an ant could carry it. Today, however, the world has grown so big that even the Angels cannot carry it. In the course of centuries, whole worlds were created from this single grain of wheat. This shows that the living matter in the wheat grain has multiplied. Everything consists of living matter that can develop and change, as well as of inert, coarse matter, which is, in essence, sleeping, fallen beings. They are waiting for their time to wake up and start progressing. Therefore, one of every man’s tasks is to wake up this inert matter in oneself, to mould it, to organize it and make it suitable for conscientious Life. This inert matter is present even in the smallest grains of sand that people kick around unaware that there are beings in those grains who are awaiting the hour of their awakening. They say, “There was a time when we kicked just like you do but now we are learning not to kick.” This is all philosophical speculation which will be helpful to you only if you can apply it to your life. Man’s knowledge, no matter how little it is, is only valuable if it can be applied to man’s current transient life. Man’s knowledge is only worth something if it can do something sensible for him, if it can lift him at least a millimetre higher than his usual condition. During each period of his life, man stashes in his subconscious mind some knowledge here and there, all of which, taken together, make up that true, positive Knowledge that everyone strives for. In its evolution, human consciousness goes through different phases and, as a result, he values things differently. In one phase of his evolution, man will value the athlete with the 200-kilogram weight on his back; in another phase of his evolution, man will value the athlete, who carries in his head a 500-gram gemstone. In a third phase of his evolution, man will value the grain of wheat. Based on this difference, we distinguish between several kinds of consciousness in Nature: the consciousness of minerals, of plants, of animals and of humans. There are another four kinds of consciousness in the invisible world that correspond to these four kinds of consciousness in Nature. It is said, for example, that plants are children of Angels. Then the following question comes up: why do the Angels need to assume the form of plants? This is an unknown matter; we will mark it with an x. Then the next question that comes up is: why did God create man from earth; couldn’t He make him from something else? This is a second unknown matter; we will mark it with y. Now you have an equation with two unknowns. You need to find a way to solve this equation. The Angels connect with the consciousness of plants to help them develop their virtues. Plants lack virtues and that is why they have their heads pointing down. The solar energy affects mainly their extremities - their virtues - and helps their development. People, on the other hand, because they have already developed their virtues to a certain extent, have their heads pointing up so that they can further develop their thought. The Sun’s energy supplies people with the necessary materials for building the Causal body, which is the foundation of their thought. The human thought is compiled of images that have been created by the Causal body; there is no thought without image. Therefore, one cannot think unless one has some image in one’s mind. The images of things can be found in the Causal world. That is why the human head needs to be exposed to the sun’s energy. The sun’s rays, when shining on the human head, help develop in it those centres that are necessary for the building of the Causal body. Having descended to the physical world, man has a well-developed Physical body. Today, it serves as a foundation for the development of the other bodies: Astral, Mental and Causal. Indeed, we can see that, physically, man is well adjusted for life on Earth. It took thousands of years of work so that man could grow up and evolve independently on earth and use the conditions in the physical world. Therefore, the physical body was created first in man so that it could serve as a foundation for the building of the other bodies. In some people, the physical body is completely developed, that is why they can move into the Astral world and can start the building of their Astral body. In other people, the physical body is not yet completely developed. For this reason, they will need to spend a lot more time in the physical world until they have completed the building of their physical body. Thus, the physical body provides the foundation for the Astral one; the Astral body provides the foundation for the Mental one; the Mental body provides the foundation for the Causal one and so on. There is one thing you should know: each body should be perfected so as to be able to grow freely and develop in the corresponding world. Now that you know this, you should not fool yourselves into thinking that you can achieve all of this in only one life. A child can play and live in a fantasy world, but an engineer is not allowed to play games, nor to fool himself with fantasies. He must understand people’s needs. Because you are building roads for the Divine trains, you are not allowed to play in the moral, nor in the physical aspect and simply act as you please. When you ask why you cannot live anyway you want, you should answer to yourselves: “We are engineers of the Divine roads, therefore we cannot and are not allowed to live as we please.” Every Divine road serves a specific purpose. You are engineers only once; therefore, in order to meet the needs of thousands of people you will need to build roads for them according to all the rules of the new science. This is what I call morality. When you apply this morality, you cannot live as you wish, but will work as God wishes. If you do not work as God wishes, karma will come right away. The karmic law is strict and relentless! Once on Earth, every man is a worker, an engineer who builds roads. He is a worker for the state who receives a steady salary. Nothing else is required of him except to be conscientious and to do his job well. It is said in the Scriptures: “Make God’s ways straight!” Do not think that, being disciples, you are not liable for your work. It is because you are disciples that you are more liable than if you were not disciples. You are building your future life, your future morality. Your morality should be different from that of other people. The roads that people today walk on, are made of iron. What is the result of these iron roads? The result is that seventy-five out of a hundred people who walk on these roads, die, while only twenty-five survive. The Divine roads, which you are building today, need to have a completely different morality. The new morality that you can apply as beginner disciples in the Esoteric School needs to have a different percentage, namely, seventy-five out of a hundred should be able to pass the road successfully and only twenty-five out of a hundred should fail. The more advanced you become, the percentage of the good ones should increase and reach a hundred per cent, so there is not even one exception. This is Divine morality. There are no victims, no mistakes in the Divine ways; everything there is smooth and harmonious. When you have walked a Divine road of thirty years, there should not even be one injured traveller: this is what Divine morality means. Keep in mind this idea: the road that you travel should be so correct, so harmonious that it should not even take one victim, not even one person should be injured. In other words, when you speak, think, feel or act, every word, thought and feeling of yours should be completely devoid of falseness; everything should be exactly in its place. Words, thoughts, feelings and deeds represent Divine roads that one needs to know how to blaze. When an engineer builds a house, he should be honest and conscientious and tell the person for whom he is building the house, “I will make you a house of this many bricks, roof tiles, shingles, beams and boards. You can count them to make sure I’m telling you the truth.” The person checks and sees that the engineer speaks the truth. You may object that it is impossible to count the roof tiles, the bricks, and the beams in a house that has already been built. Yet, it is possible. What you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven. In the Spiritual world, too, there are engineers and developers, who are building, calculating and checking things. That is why it is said that nothing remains hidden in the world. The engineers in the Spiritual world have special magnifying glasses that they point towards the completed house and look. All the bricks, roof tiles, beams and nails can be seen magnified and can easily be counted like in an unfinished house. Once they have made the calculations, they put away the magnifying glass and look at the house with a naked eye. In the Spiritual world every word, every thought, every feeling can easily be checked if it is true or not. Even the smallest disharmony, the smallest falseness is in plain view there. Speaking about a change in consciousness, this change is easily accomplished with children but not with the parents themselves. For example, a mother with musical talent and a father with an inclination for stealing, have a son. If the son takes after his parents’ external form and puts into his consciousness his own meaning and content, his level of consciousness will be higher than that of his parents. However, if the son takes on his own form and assumes his parents’ consciousness content, he will be a musician, on the one hand, and a thief, on the other. When he plays and sings he will rob people. Therefore, when a child keeps its own external form, and takes from its parents the meaning and content of their consciousness, it will have their vices and virtues. If the child keeps its own content and its own meaning and takes on its parents’ external form, it will inherit their appearance. In the first case, the child has inherited something internal from its parents; in the second case the child resembles its parents only externally, in form, but in meaning and content it is foreign to them. So, if you want to get rid of some family weakness, you should assume only the form of this weakness but not its meaning and content. For example, the father enjoys drinking; the son can enjoy drinking, too, but not drinking wine like his father - the son should drink water instead. As soon as you take on the form of some of your parents’ weaknesses, empty out this form and put in it your own meaning and your own content. Is this matter clear now? Or you might say that it is as clear as before. I think that some things became clearer and others became more obscure. This is the human philosophy: two steps forward, three steps backward. If all matters become clear, there will be nothing left for you to learn. It is not important whether you like this philosophy or not. Philosophy, too, has its own methods. For example, the contemporary naturalists claim that the number of elements in Nature is strictly determined and they neither increase, nor decrease in number. This is the modern understanding in philosophy. In fact, this is not so and every year there is a new element added in Nature. This element comes from somewhere outside and enters Space. Externally, in the physical world, this is not registered in the changes of human consciousness. There is something new added to human consciousness at every moment. When they solve a certain problem, some philosophers say, “We had solved this problem correctly, but a new element x entered our consciousness and it confused the whole thing.” They do a calculation and find out that x equals, let’s say, one. As soon as they solve the problem, the very next day yet another new element, y, enters their consciousness and confuses the whole thing. They calculate what y equals and find out that it equals, let’s say, two. Then a new element enters their consciousness and changes it constantly which leads to the differentiation of matter. Modern chemistry talks about the atoms of elements. Let’s take gold for example: it is considered that this particular atom retains the same properties under all conditions. In reality this is not so. The atom of gold in the mineral kingdom is different from the atom of gold in plants; the latter is different from the atom of gold in animals. Finally, the atom of gold in animals is different from that in human blood. We distinguish four kinds of atoms of gold, all of which have different properties and behave differently. The higher the number of an element, the more varied properties it has. Modern chemists say that hydrogen is one of the lightest gasses. In claiming this, they do not take into consideration the density of the original matter from which the world was created. This original emanation is a substance a thousand times lighter, purer and finer than that of hydrogen. That is why when one talks about the state of matter, one should always start with its original state. The manifestation of our consciousness depends on that matter. The acting forces in the whole Universe depend on matter. Therefore, every day, every minute, every moment, something new is added to Life. If we assume only for a moment that this adding of new elements ceases, then this will be the end of the Universe. No matter how small it is, it brings joy, impulse, and impetus to all living creatures. Nobody knows what exactly that new element is. It will remain a variable forever and for eternity. Why? Because the new comes with every moment. No scientist, no saint, no Angel even knows what the future holds. The reason for this is that the original Divine force is boundless and unreachable; once it manifests itself, it becomes reachable. You should aspire towards the manifested consciousness while making sure, at the same time, that you observe the rule not to eat all the wheat in the barn. Figure 3 Now I will ask you the following question: should you try everything? I will reply with the following example: imagine that you are sitting at one end of a very sensitive plank that is balanced on a triangular shaped prop. On the other end of the plank there is a basket with apples the weight of which is equal to your weight. In other words, you have something like two scales that are in equilibrium. At one point a philosopher comes up to you and says, “Why don’t you take a hook and take out some apples from the basket to try them?” You see a hook lying next to you, take it, reach for the basket with it, take out a few apples and try them. At this moment the equilibrium is disturbed, the plank leans towards point B where you are sitting and a semi circle is formed from point D to point Д. This disturbance in the equilibrium is the cause for certain misfortune that you come across. Those who understand the law of equilibrium know that they should move gradually towards point C; the basket, too, needs to be moved at the same time. As the weight gets lighter the arms of the lever need to be shortened in order to maintain equilibrium. Otherwise, if the equilibrium is disturbed you will find yourselves on the ground. Why do misfortunes come people’s way? Because people try the apples without knowing the law of equilibrium. This law is related to the correct movement in Life. Point A represents the place of your ideal. This ideal is dangerous if you want to reach it with a hook; ideals cannot be reached with a hook. You need to go to the place where the ideal is and when you are there you will partake in it. One may say, “I want to knock off this basket and take a few apples.” No, you will look at the basket from a distance and will not touch it until you have found a correct way of solving the problem. Consequently, if you do not want to lose your balance in life, do not touch the basket with the apples until you have found a correct way of knocking the apple basket and taking out some apples. Now I wish you to think correctly, to acquire such Knowledge that you can apply in your life, and with the help of which you can always build. Without that Knowledge, you cannot create any morality in yourself. 1 Whenever the disciples in the audience respond to a question posed by the Master throughout the lecture, their comments are transcribed in italics and placed in parentheses. Source

Revelations of Consciousness Twelfth lecture by The Master, held before the Youth Occult Class on January 3rd 1923, Sofia Reflection A recapitulation of the “Signs of the revealed human consciousness in its highest stage” topic is being read. Imagine that you have three types of consciousness – consciousness A, B, and C. They have derived from each other: consciousness B has derived from consciousness A, and consciousness C has derived from consciousness B. So consciousness A is the primal consciousness, which reveals itself in the realm of time and space. What is the relation of the three types of consciousness to time and space? Let us assume, that consciousness A is revealing itself during springtime, consciousness B – during summertime, and consciousness C – during the autumn. Depending on the seasons the relations between these three types of consciousness are determined. At the same time, each type of consciousness determines what the matter and conditions were during the time it had been revealing itself. For instance, from consciousness A the conditions and materials with which a particular person has had at his disposal during the springtime of his life could be determined. When this is known, every man could go back to his past to see what the conditions on which his consciousness had developed were. In this respect the occult disciple must learn the law, with the assistance of which he could go back to his past like in an archive. When he delves into this archive, he would see what the conditions, through which he has passed in his previous existences were, until he came to his current existence. During various lives he had passed through various circumstances, which have brought to his consciousness various energies, various qualities, and abilities. Contemporary people live in the world of changes. For instance, one day you are in excellent spirits, enthusiastic, filled with elated thoughts and ideas to help mankind. The next day, however, all of that disappears; you sink low and say, “It is not worth living for the others, every man must think for himself.” What is this sudden change in the frame of mind due to, I ask? In the first case your consciousness has passed through the spring of your life – so you have been in consciousness A. In the second case you have entered consciousness C, when you have gone through a state, similar to the autumn of your life. What is the relation between these two types of consciousness A and C? If you set a mathematician or a technician to solve that problem, they will do it easily. For instance, a train is moving at a certain rate. You can increase its speed if you intensify the fire, if you intensify the tension of wet steam in the cauldron. How would you increase the speed of movement of the consciousness? If it was a question of the speed of the train, this problem is easily solved – you would add more coals to intensify the fire. When it comes to consciousness, where would you get the fire and coals from? For instance, you are travelling through consciousness D through great snow, blizzard, and cold. At this state of consciousness, which represents the winter of your life, you are in a bad mood, in a bad frame of mind – your legs and arms are frostbitten, you are shivering with cold. You go into the room to your mother, you attempt to warm yourself as soon as possible, and she wants you to tell her where you have been, and what you have been doing. Can you talk in such a condition? You have to take some snow, rub your frozen arms and legs, and then talk to your mother. One might say, “Why don’t you wash your legs with hot water; why do you rub them with snow instead?” You know the proverb: “Fight fire with fire.” Or evil is cured with evil. If a man has overeaten, how would you help him? You would force him to regurgitate the food in some way or take a purgative. In either way you must act fast, otherwise there is a risk of toxaemia. Such a poisoning can be also caused in the consciousness of man, as a result of building up bitter feelings and contradictory thoughts. We then say that man is in a state of consciousness D, i.e. the winter of his life. Therefore, according to the philosophy he has drawn up for Life, man is able to live in one of these four states of consciousness – A, B, C, and D, and then Life for him would be either heaven, or hell. Often in the life of man these types of consciousness influence each other. In that influence certain permutations are seen that can have favourable or unfavourable reflections upon man. Let us assume that consciousness A represents an ascending state in which the consciousness itself is moving towards a particular centre, while at one moment it moves away, and at another it approaches it. When it is approaching its centre, the consciousness of man acquires more energy, as a result of which his movement of speed increases. If consciousness B is in a descending state, we say that it is moving away from its centre, as a result of which it acquires less energy. Since it acquires less energy, its movement is slower, weaker. Now that you know in what state consciousness A and consciousness B are, find out in what state consciousness C will be – in ascending or descending. Think freely, without being fearful that you could make a mistake. Even if you make a mistake, this is natural; there is no reason to be embarrassed. Assume that consciousness B represents the Earth, and consciousness C – the Moon that is circling round the Earth. Assume also that consciousness B is in an ascending state. Determine then in what state consciousness C will be, which, circling round B, at one moment approaches, and at another moves away from it. Then you can mathematically calculate and see whether consciousness C is in an ascending or a descending state. And so, when speaking of ascending and descending state of consciousness, we envisage the good and bad frames of mind. When he is happy, in good spirits, and joyful, man is in an ascending state of consciousness; when he is sombre, sad, and sorrowful, he is in a descending state of his consciousness. What must man do to bring balance into his consciousness? What is the remedy in this case? What must you do to cure a man who is suffering? What is hunger cured with? - With bread. What is thirst cured with? - With water. So man must have knowledge of the properties of elements that go into his consciousness for each particular moment, so that he could transform them from descending into ascending state. Imagine that you are sorrowful; how would you transform your sorrow into Joy, or at least – how would you redeem yourselves from sorrow? (- We would pray.) – Imagine you cannot pray. (-We would weep) – You cannot weep either. (-We would sing.) – You are not a singer; you do not know how to sing. (-Then we would find someone more sorrowful than ourselves and start comforting them. This way we would transform our state.) – If through all of these methods you are not able to transform your state, there is nothing left, but to have patience. This patience is imposed by Life itself. Through patience man acquires Freedom. Only the patient person can be free. Contrariwise – only the free man can have patience. Freedom and patience go hand-in-hand. Patience is a quality of will, and woe is a negative quality of the mind. When he does not think, does not reason, man lapses into woe and appears stupid. He bears both sufferings, and difficulties, but by woe. Woe infers lack of will. Figure 1 We say that consciousness B has derived from consciousness A, and consciousness C - from consciousness B. Therefore, when he stumbles upon a revelation of consciousness, man has to know what the primal cause of that revelation is. For instance, one wants to become a scholar; he has to know what the mainspring that has awakened the idea of becoming a scholar inside his consciousness is. This idea works inside the consciousness of that man, but he must look to find the mainspring which compels him to study. Man can study because of two reasons: either with having in mind to make a living with his knowledge, or to dignify, and elevate himself. In that case, the first impulse to study will be descending, and the second – ascending. Therefore, when it comes to consciousness, we stumble upon the law of polarity. This shows that each revelation of consciousness has two sides, two opposite directions – ascending and descending. This law is represented graphically as the line CD: C_______D. Figure 2 So everybody who wants to improve his condition must by all means polarize himself, divide his ambitions, i.e. put them in two opposite directions. Once you have two opposite directions of movement, you can easily find between them the third, the straight direction. Once the direction of movement of two points is given, you can easily find the direction of movement of the third point. How can you do this? Geometry gives the following simple way: you take the line CD, which represents the movement of points C and D in opposite directions. After that, with a pair of compasses, you delineate catenaries from the points C and D. From the point, at which the catenaries intersect, you draw down a perpendicular from the side of the line CD; that perpendicular shows the direction of movement of the point O. Once the consciousness polarizes, man finds the right direction of his movement: this direction is the perpendicular, drawn down from a particular point, outside of a line. When it polarizes and finds its direction of movement, the consciousness starts emanating Light everywhere, in every direction. In that case, the consciousness of man is exposed to side effects and moves like a pendulum to and fro. So it is for everyone that does not understand the law. However, one that understands the law will find the immobile point of his consciousness and there he will stand. In the consciousness of man this point is completely firm, it is not affected by anything – it is the point O of the line CD. When you come to this point, you will go back to the point m, above which you cannot go. From point m energy goes in two directions: mC and mD. Such is the movement of the clock’s pendulum, when it delineates semicircles around itself. When you come to point C of the consciousness, you think that you have solved a problem, but from here you go up to point m. Once you stay in this point a bit, you go down to point D; here you also think you have solved the problem, but you are mistaken, like in point C. So you are beguiling yourselves every day. You just solve a problem, and the next day you find out that you have not solved it. In this manner a range of philosophical systems are created, which we call philosophical arguments of the pendulum. {Figure 3} Every such system settles matters partially, to the left or to the right; eventually you see that neither the one, nor the other solution is absolute. You have just gone down to point C to the left, and you say, “This solution is not right.” You go up, but soon go back down to C and say, “This solution is not right either.” Thus the consciousness pivots from D to C and back, until you finally come to point O – the firm point of consciousness, from whence you go up again, toward point m. Thus moves the consciousness, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes in point O and moves onward, widens and sprinkles the path of man with Light. Figure 3 And so, the pendulum mo (Figure 3), will pendulate to the points C and D at most – along the straight lines mC and mD, and will form a triangle CmD. The lines mC and mD represent the uttermost of the possibilities of realizing a particular desire or settling a certain matter. When he comes to that uttermost bound, man leaves these possibilities, and makes his way into new ones. From the points C and m of the line Cm, with the help of a pair of compasses, catenaries are delineated, and from the intersection point of the catenaries a perpendicular is drawn down to the line Cm. The formed perpendicular nE represents a pendulum which is able to move to its uttermost (to the left and right) along the lines nC and nm. Even at that rate of movement of the pendulum matters remain unsettled. However, the human consciousness cannot stand in one place – step by step it moves and leaves its former state. From the point’s m and D (Figure 4) you will again delineate catenaries and will draw down a perpendicular towards the line mD, and namely the perpendicular nq. In that case the perpendicular represents a pendulum as well, on which the human consciousness moves to its uttermost mn1 and n1d. Finally, from the points C and D of the line CD we delineate catenaries again, from the intersection point of which we draw down a perpendicular Or; along this perpendicular, which serves as a pendulum, the human consciousness moves along the lines CO and OD, as it forms in this case also a triangle COD, equal to the other two, as well as to the triangle CmD, compared to which it is in an opposite position – with its vertex pointing downwards. With this kind of movement of consciousness we have three immobile, firm points, in which matters can be settled. However, it is hard to stop the consciousness in these points. {Figure 4} Figure 4 shows the creation of the macrocosm, and at the same time the path of descent and ascension of the human Spirit. That figure is called Sign of Solomon. From the centre A a circumference can be delineated; it represents the big and the small universe, the big and small cosmos. This way we imagine the passing of ordinary human consciousness and self-consciousness into subconsciousness and superconsciousness. In other words, man passes from the ordinary to the Divine consciousness, from the ordinary – to the Divine world, where it starts moving in perpendicular direction to his each and every desire. Figure 4 How will you understand the thought that you have to move in a direction that is perpendicular to your desires? Imagine that someone likes to drink, to satisfy that desire pulls the man down, towards the centre of the earth. What must that man do? He must go in a direction, opposite to that of his desire, and namely – in a perpendicular direction up, towards the centre of the Sun. He must walk upwards with no compromise, with no diversion. The least diversion from the perpendicular will pull him down. Once he says categorically within himself, that he will no longer drink, he starts going up the perpendicular. If he starts stepping back within himself, and says, that he will drink only two-three sips or a glassful at the most, that man has collapsed already. Once he has taken a vow not to drink, he must not drink at all. One sip, one mug, or a kilo of wine, it is all the same. This is the way in which man must liberate himself from a blemish. Once he decides not to do something, he must be categorical, no retreat from the taken decision. One who wants to become strong must desist all at once from a blemish of his and persevere in his decision. Once he is able to display will, this shows that man is able to think. One, who wants to know whether he can think correctly, let him try desisting from a big blemish of his. If he is able to get over that blemish, this will show that he thinks. This is exactly why blemishes have to be utilized in the most sensible and correct way. Through them you will strengthen your will and feel the power of your thought. Blemishes, whatever nature they are of – physical, cardiac, mental or spiritual, are created by you yourselves. Therefore, only you can most easily handle them. I will now give you some small explanations of which you have to take advantage. When he carries out the truth, man must look upon things objectively. For instance, you start counting from 1 to 10; you say: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9… – you make a mistake. When you make a mistake, there is nothing left to do, except to erase the mistake and start over again: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9… - again you make a mistake. You will erase the mistake and continue writing. One who does not understand the law will start apologizing and look for the reasons why he has made mistakes. One who understands the law will easily straighten out his mistake. When he is writing or when he is counting, man can easily make mistakes. The smallest diversion of his attention is enough for him to make a mistake. If he does not want to make a mistake, he must concentrate on his work and study the forces that operate during the writing of each letter or each number. Figure 5 Imagine that you have to write the number 1; the forces that participate in the writing of the number one begin from up and go down. So the number one determines the direction of forces. When you want to write the number 2, the matter is more complex: first a small circle O is formed, which represents the path of human consciousness, which, instead of moving within its orbit, develops outside – first in direction c, and then descends in direction e. The reason for this is that some other centre has influenced the human consciousness and compelled it to alter the path of its movement. But the influence of the centre e also changes, because another, more powerful influence comes – from the centre D, which compels the forces of the primal consciousness to alter, to form a smaller circle than the initial one. After that comes the influence of the centre m, and finally the influence of the centre k comes, which raises the human consciousness. Therefore, every consciousness that passes through the number two, experiences complex processes. The numbers 1 and 2, written next to each other, represent the twelve zodiacs. Gathered together, they give the number 3. When the consciousness of man passes through the twelve zodiacs, they have an influence upon it in twelve different ways – so they bring into the consciousness twelve different elements. Because, when you study the numbers, you can study each number separately, or you can study them all simultaneously, in their common influences. For you it is important to know that numbers are not simple, dead symbols, but live quantities, i.e. forces, energies that have an influence upon the consciousness of man. In the number 2 there are two ones, two pieces of consciousness which pursue a common goal. This movement we call striving for God. Therefore the pursuit of God gives birth to Love. So Love is born only between two souls, between two pieces of consciousness which strive for the Primal, the Divine consciousness. Now, it is up to you to reason, to think over the unexpressed matters. For you it is important to think, to find a method through which you could restore the balance within your consciousness. To this end it is enough to always think that there is a link inside you that never breaks, and never changes. It always remains equally strong, and equally firm. Apart from you yourselves, no one else is in a position to break this link. We call this link penetration of the Divine consciousness into the human soul. This link represents eternal movement, eternal penetration of the Divine consciousness into all creatures and the movement of these creatures towards the Divine consciousness. Everybody has tried and tries that link. Even if you are in the worst condition, you always feel that there is something strong inside you holding your spirit up. Even if everyone left you, deep inside, you feel that there is something strong, immutable, which maintains the balance of your consciousness. This is due to that ray of Divine consciousness, which penetrates into the souls of all people. Having this in mind, hold inside yourselves the positive thought that there is something in you, which even in your most critical conditions will not abandon you. When you come to a deadlock and you do not know how to solve a particular problem, put into your consciousness the thought that this problem will be solved. When you tell yourselves so, calm down. It will not be long and the problem will be solved by itself. Therefore, when your consciousness bifurcates, your first task is to calm down and put into your subconsciousness positive faith and thought that there is a link inside you, which can never break, and which you can always rely on. There is no force in the world that can break that link. On exactly this link you will be able to build your future life. Without faith in this link, you would not be able to live; you would not be able to endure the constant changes to which you are exposed each moment. Life on Earth is a life of constant changes. A sacred thing is your link with the Great Divine beginning of Life. Should you come to this link, do not allow anyone to touch it. Neither do you have the right to pick at it. Trust in it! It will take you out of even the most inextricable situations in Life. Once you trust in this link, you will always be free. If you have temporarily lost your freedom, you will regain it once more. As long as you hold on to this link, to this thread, you will be able to get out of the labyrinth of your life. Should the link break, you will remain in this labyrinth, until someone comes and helps you to restore it. It is a terrible thing for man to intertwine in the threads of matter! Only this link is capable of releasing you from the inextricable threads of the material world. Having this in mind, never allow yourselves to unbind the thread with which the Primal Reason holds you. Some consider unbinding that thread to be a great art, to release themselves from that bond. No, as long as you live in the labyrinth of matter, do not break the thread. Every premature breaking of that thread carries with itself misfortunes, sufferings, disasters. As long as you are in the labyrinth, hold on tightly to this link – this means faith. Therefore positive faith, which we are talking about, infers conscious assertion of the inner, rational link between the Primal Reason and us. Now we will all do the following exercise: you will imagine, that we have a beautiful spring day, the time is about 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, and mentally we will take a walk to the Morning Star, and then – to the Sun. After that we will make a journey to Venus, too. When we finish the journey, we will once again come back to Earth. I will give you this exercise for the Sun as a method of transforming your conditions. Do it regularly for ten days, and after that – when you are indisposed. It is a good idea to do the exercise in the morning, between 2 and 3 o’clock. If you cannot do it in the morning, do it in the evening, after 10 o’clock. Should you go to bed earlier than 10 o’clock, do not do it. This exercise will take you five minutes at the most. You will concentrate your thought towards the Sun and will absolutely forget the surroundings. When you finish the exercise you will feel refreshment, cheerfulness, and a good frame of mind. When you are doing the exercise, look out not to bifurcate, not to fall into the literal meaning of things, and not to do it mechanically. Every mechanical job develops bad habits in people. That is why each exercise must be done with a good frame of mind and inner striving, so that it reflects favourably upon man. The labyrinth I was telling you about represents thick matter, in which everyone could fall. In order to overcome the difficulties you encounter in the thick matter, you have to utilize the methods represented by the triangles in figure 4. There are methods shown, through which man can direct his mind, heart, and will towards the Primal centre, out of which he has come. So the striving of man, of all his being, must be directed to God, to the Primal consciousness. Contemporary people are in torment, they suffer, and they do not know how to deal with the difficulties in life. Very simple, they have to link up with God. There is nothing more real than this link – it never changes and there is nothing in the world that is in a position to lacerate it. It is enough to direct your mind, heart, and will upwards, toward the Primal Reason, in order to link up with it momentarily. It is enough for man to direct his gaze towards the rising Sun to disperse the clouds gathered inside his consciousness. Such a thing is the Primal consciousness. It is enough for man to link up with that consciousness, so he could disperse the anguish and suffering gathered within him. The Primal consciousness is the Sun on the horizon of our spiritual life. It is in a position to awaken the consciousness of every man, to bring in more Light, more Life into it. You meet a man desperate, sombre, discontented with himself, with life, ready to die. However, if he could connect with the Primal consciousness, all of this would momentarily disappear, he would become happy, in good spirits, his consciousness would clear up, he would find sense in Life, and he would see that there is something to live for. Each difficulty shows that man stumbles upon a knot of one of his past existences, and he has to untie it correctly. This difficulty is karmic, and has to be sensibly solved. Imagine that in one of your past existences you killed a man, but have forgotten about this crime. In your present existence you have changed quite a lot externally, nobody could recognize you. However, in the movement in the orbit of your consciousness, you go through your past, when you have committed the crime, and you run into the one you have killed. This encounter is necessary to eliminate your karma. The man that you killed in the past recognizes you immediately. Your image, your movements have been imprinted in his consciousness and he pounces on you with his thought, and starts looking for a way to pay you back. His antagonistic thoughts and feelings reflect on yours and you suffer great concussions. What do you have to do in that situation? You will turn to God with an obsecration to help you to correctly eliminate your karma. Whatever sufferings befall you, you will endure them with patience, because you know that the reason for these sufferings lies in you. As you have committed crimes, so you will expiate them. There are cases in which a particular soul that you have harmed looks for you for years, until it finds you to pay you back. When it is above, in the Invisible world, and you are on the Earth – she looks for you above, and cannot find you. If it is on the Earth, and you are in the Invisible world – again it cannot find you. It also happens that the two of you are on the Earth, but you are in America, and he – on the other side of the world, he cannot find you. Finally, the circumstances emerge so that you both meet at the same place. Then you cannot run, but must turn to God with an obsecration to help you. Your creditor asks, “Are you ready to pay?” If you say that you are ready to pay, he will set you free and will wait for you to pay. Should you say that you do not acknowledge your debts and do not want to pay; he will take you, put you in prison, and subject you to great tortures and hardships. This is the moment when man must confess to his crime, and start paying. Then he will turn to God, the Eternal Source of Love, to help him correctly eliminate his karma. The karma is eliminated by the law of Love, not by running. Running does not settle matters. Every suffering has its own distant reasons; sufferings do not come in vain. The karma can be expressed in the physical world, but can also be expressed in the Astral or in the mental world, i.e. in the world of feelings and desires or in the world of thoughts. No matter how the karma is expressed, you have to learn your lesson from it, and to heroically endure your sufferings. Thousands of years could pass, but the one with whom you are linked karmically, will by all means find you and force you to pay him. When eliminating the karma there are contrary situations. These are the good moments of your life, when you have done good to people and they were not able to thank you on time. That is because, when someone grabs you by the neck and insists on you paying back what you owe him, at the same time another comes to thank you for the good that you have once done to him. Both are equally strong; they grasp each other by the shoulders and start struggling, you remain between them. In this particular case you must not take part in their struggle – you will stand aside and pray, they will work it out themselves. Figure 6 How do quarrels turn up in this world? Imagine two little brothers – A and B, who are playing quietly, peacefully, brotherly, and getting on together. All of a sudden, someone throws them an apple C (Figure 6). They rush at the apple and start pulling it – one pulls, the other pulls, they start struggling over who should take the apple. In this struggle a quadrangle is formed – the children are holding their hands, they are struggling, and the apple stays free. They look at the apple, but neither of them lets go. In this particular case, the apple is the reason for the quarrel, which creates karmic relations. How will this problem be solved? A third person comes, who has a certain debt to one of the little brothers, and says, “I will pay for him.” He pays and the problem is solved. The same thing happens in your life, too; if some benefactor of yours comes to help you, you will easily eliminate your karma; if nobody helps you, you will go through great misfortunes and sufferings, until you finally repay all of your debts. Every man has at least one friend, who would make a stand and stick up for him, and one foe, who pursues him and constantly causes him mischief. The friend and foe are equally strong, and struggle against each other for one man. The friend says, “I love this man, he has given his life for me.” The foe says, “I hate him, in the past he killed me.” The friend says, “Since it is this way, take from me, I will pay for him.” The two reach an agreement and with that the matter is settled. These are things which happen in the Invisible world, as well as on Earth, and also in the consciousness of man. You see an advanced human, who has just reached the summit of his life, he enjoys his success, and his relatives are also delighted. In this moment his foe is on the watch for him, he wants to break the thread of his life. If he manages to do that, all will wonder what has happened with this man. They would eventually say that he has died from a heart attack. However, the friend of this man is coming right at the moment of that ambush; he stands against his foe, and strikes him down. After that this man says, “A great mishap I have gone through, but, I thank God, I am saved.” People have a misunderstanding of salvation. Only God saves – He has created the world, He saves. From all things said so far, keep hold of the following thought in your mind: only one link exists in the world. It is the link with the Divine consciousness, which is in position to help all people, all living creatures – from the smallest, to the biggest. Therefore, whatever happens in your life, keep in your mind the thought that you have a link with the Divine consciousness, which under no circumstances in life would abandon you. Once you have this link, you will be in position to think, to feel, to act. Once you have this link, you will never be forgotten. The same thing is noticed among the worldly people: as long as their party is strong, they have faith, and are able to do a lot of things for it; once their party weakens, they lose their power as well. So, when he is linked with the Divine consciousness, man is capable of anything; once he doubts in this link, he weakens, he becomes discouraged, and loses the meaning of Life. Reflection Source

Note 5 Signs of Manifested Human Consciousness Eleventh Lecture held by the Master in front of the Youth Esoteric Course, 27 December 1922, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tao Bi Aumen Secret Prayer A summary of the topic “Elements of human speech" has been read. The works on the topic “Signs of manifested human consciousness in its highest form” have been read. For next time, write on the topic: “Distinguishing marks of the physical body ". Imagine a certain point signifies the consciousness of man or the manifested Universe. Out of this point is the Universe which has not yet been manifested. Furthermore, suppose the matter of the outer, manifested Universe, has different densities and thence different states. After that, assume that different kinds of beams go out of that particular point, i.e. we say this centre, this point starts to radiate. Every beam represents a separate being. When these beings get in touch with the external environment which has different densities and different states, they will change their character. This change in the character of these beings is the reason for the difference existing between them. There is distinction not only amongst people but amongst the spirits, amongst the Angels, as well as amongst all Advanced Beings. What is this difference due to? It is due to a number of outer reasons. Therefore, every beam is influenced by the environment to a certain point. The infinite determines the relations as well as the forms of the finite. So, when a certain peculiarity shows in you, you should know it is owing to the primary environment you have fallen into. One day, when you return to the given point, your nature will change. Then, you will finish your evolution the way it has been initially fixed. Therefore, you should know that whatever deviations you make in your life they will not alter your way at all. Many people think that by zigzagging to one side or another they could change their way. No, the esoteric disciple must know that there is no way to change the initial course of his Life. Not only the disciple, but no being is capable of changing the initial course of its way until it gains its purpose. When the snake zigzags, coils its body, does it change its course or its nature? No, it does not. Why does it coil? In order to move. Why does the lightning twist? Because it meets a medium of different density compared to the one it moves in. Therefore, each deviation in the human character is due to the fact that he meets on his way a denser medium than the one he moves in. The denser medium shows him big resistance; therefore he cannot withstand and turns off to one side or another. He lives with this deviation until he meets another obstacle to make him return to the right track. Finally, when you draw a straight line between these deviations, this line determines the direction towards which consciousness moves. As long as he is young, one moves by zigzagging here and there, and thinks he is changing the course of his way; when he grows old, one thinks he is smarter, and has already solved his tasks. The old man has solved his tasks as much as the young one has. Both the old and the young man are far from the Truth. Such difference exists not only among people of different ages but also inside one and the same person. For example, the eyes of man represent two circles: the left eye expresses the physical world, and the right one, the spiritual world. That is why the beam that goes out of the left eye of man is always directed towards the Earth; the beam that goes out of the right eye of man is always directed upwards. In its evolution, one moves from the physical to the Spiritual and from the Spiritual to the Divine world. If someone moves with the speed of lightning from the Spiritual to the Divine world and moves several billion kilometers away from the Spiritual world, you might think this man is close to God. However, if he is observed by telescope from the Angels` world, they will say this man moves very slowly, like a star in the sky observed from the physical world. For the Angels, this man is far away from God and for the people, he is close to God. You should know one thing: whatever speed he moves with, a man should have the striving to go upwards, to the Divine world. For that purpose, he must develop everything that is put in his consciousness. Go up and forward, do not be afraid of the deviations you make. Deviations are not falls. Think philosophically on that issue. When the beam of light passes from a thin to a dense medium it will inevitably refract and deviate from its course. The consciousness of man experiences such deviation when it passes from a thin to a dense medium. Therefore, at the present development of man /in his individual and social development/, a number of deviations take place in his consciousness. When he knows that, one must be careful and be aware of these deviations. Present-day people, societies and nations are organized the same way as material worlds are. They all move in circles concentrically situated around a center. For example, ten – fifteen people make one link and influence each other the way planets influence each other. Usually, the ones closer to the centre move faster than those that are further. Knowing this, you will notice that no one can escape the influence of those individuals who enter the same system as his own. In this sense, no one can be self-autonomous. People represent big groups of individuals, concentrated in a centre, who influence each other. When the Divine consciousness in man awakes, he can already define his attitude towards those who enter his system. In his conscious attitude towards them he will not counteract but assist them in a Divine way. Usually, to every system of higher Beings corresponds such a system of lower Beings; consequently one should be careful, to know how to influence the beings from his system. Beings from one and the same system not only influence each other but systems also influence each other. In this interaction of the systems, the Cosmos grows and develops. In the centre of all systems lies the Divine consciousness, the Divine spirit that regulates all things in Nature and Life. Everyone should determine his own status and realize to which system he belongs, how many people enter this system; with what speed they move in physical, cordial and mental respect; of what material their system is made and how many million years ago it was formed. Therefore, the mental level of man will depend on the state of the whole system – this is a fixed law. So, in order to change the mental state of man, the mental state of all the beings with which he enters in one and the same system should be changed. There is a certain connection between all the beings in one and the same system: if one of you is in America among unknown people and he is being attacked by somebody, a person from your system will immediately appear to protect him and defend his right. Why will he protect you? For the sake of the whole system. The larger the system is that you enter; the larger will be the number of sympathizers you may have. If you enter among a small group of people, you will have a few sympathizers. It does not restrict human will at all, but shows that the direction of the human Spirit is strictly fixed and he must walk in this direction because here are given the opportunities and conditions for the development of his activities. If someone opposes this order of things, he must turn back and be swallowed by the common centre. When it is said that the Earth will fall to the Sun, it should not be understood literally. It means that the Earth should enter new conditions of development and fall under the influence of some other Sun. Now let us do a mental exercise: imagine you are moving at a great speed and entering the Sun. Watch yourselves how far each of you could reach. This exercise requires a huge amount of concentration. How many of you managed to reach the Sun? With their thought, some of you reached the middle of the road. It is hot on the Sun; not everyone is able to go there. Some other people remained in the so-called icy, cold area. Others rose up to a magnetic zone made of thick and porous matter. One of the zones between the Earth and the Sun is called Death River by which all souls pass going to the other world. Everyone could try to pass by this zone. It is enough for a man to concentrate deeply in his thought and detach himself from the environment; he will immediately enter a completely dark area, with not a single sunbeam. He can check by his watch how much time it took him to pass by this area. Whoever makes this experiment, must be very careful, and should not be afraid of the big darkness. When he goes out of this zone, he will enter the next one, the so-called astral zone where the light is mild and pleasant like the break of dawn. On his way back to the Earth, man passes by the same zones. As you see, there are different areas, different fields between the Earth and the Sun, and each of them contains specific forces, energies. Between the Astral and the Mental world exists the so-called icy or electric area. It contains a huge reserve of electricity that could completely replace coal that we use nowadays for heating. The race to come will dispose of methods by which it could get this electricity to work for lighting and heating of the entire Earth. While doing this mental exercise you must be concentrated so that not only your thought will travel but also the whole consciousness. Then, you will feel two currents: one coming from the Earth to the Sun, and the other going back. Thus, a correct exchange between the solar energy and your energy takes place. It is good to do this exercise when you are spiritually indisposed. Second exercise: direct your mind, heart, Spirit and soul to the Divine Spirit that encompasses everything in the world and ask for its assistance in the realization of all that is elevated and noble in you. This Spirit encompasses all consciousnesses, and acts inside and outside of them. Because of that it is said in the Scripture: “The Spirit of God floats all over the Earth." Fir-fur-fen Tao Bi Aumen Source

Note 2 Self – Defining Secret prayer A resume on the theme “The Purpose of Breathing System“ was read. Essays on the theme of “Elements of human speech“ were read. What is the topic for the next time? – “Self-defining in life”. What do you understand under the word self-defining? -For a someone to self-define, they should define their relations towards their surroundings. - Do you agree with this definition? What thing is the defining of the unit? I think that the self-defining of the unit lies in it giving the initial acceleration of things i. e. it brings things on the stage. What does the self-defining of the two? -Polarisation. What is polarization? -Manifestation. 2, the number two, means the matter i.e. the law of material world. In others words, the unit represents forces which set things in the material world, in matter where they find form, i. e. where they are shaped. If one is father of things, two is their mother. One gives the first conscious sparkle to Life. One is the first noticeable cause of things, two – the second noticeable cause. What is the self-definition of number three? –Three is the meaning, the aim to which everything in Life seeks to find. Therefore everyone can say: I am one. Why? Because I display myself. I am two. Why? Because I am nurturing my idea as a mother rears her child. I am three. Why? Because I have an aim which I aspire to, to navigate my idea by. So a person is one, two, three in the same time. All numbers that you use represent relations, powers, reasonable creatures, which are at a different stage in development. In this sense one, and two, and three represent Reasonable beings. When one is said, we understand the collective, the God’s mind, which includes everything in itself. In the pair two great centres incorporate themselves – God’s and Angel’s consciousness. In the triad three centres display themselves - God’s, Angel’s and human’s consciousness. Therefore there is no division in unity; there is only one consciousness in it –God’s. Though in two and three division of the collective consciousness comes. Exactly that’s why when there is word about two, three and more ones, things begin to divide and tear into splinters. What is the self-definition of number four? Number four represents the absolute measure with which all things in the visible world are measured, in the whole Cosmos. When they come to four, cabalists stop. They add 1, 2, 3, 4 and they receive 10: 1+2+3+4 =10. When they add these numbers, they bring about the reverse process – subtraction: they subtract one, two, three and four from ten and get: 10-1=9 10-2=8 10-3=7 10-4=6 Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 are members of 10 and numbers 9, 8, 7, 6 are derived from the first four numbers. Therefore numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 are self-derivatives of one. What does for a person to define himself or herself as one, two, three and four mean? Which elements are contained in a human being in one number so that he or she can define themselves? There are Spirit, soul, mind, and heart. And then we make out the respective proportion: the Spirit of man is related to his soul in the same way his mind is related to his heart. This proportion we can express in letters: S: S = M: H This shows us that a person should define himself or herself as Spirit, soul, mind or heart. In the same time he self-define as an integral – as a wholesome of four constitutes his or her elements. When the word is about self-definition one must have a clear idea how to define himself or herself. Occult science is a positive, exact science – each word in it corresponds to the main idea. You can’t say that one will define himself or herself. If you say this, the question what will he or she defines himself or herself follows. What will man define himself as – as one, two, three, four or all of them in multitude? If he defines himself or herself as one, i. e. as a main force, one shouldn’t add the properties of two. Can one become two? One can become two only after we break it, only after we break it into two parts. Then we get two times low then one itself. Is two equal to one? You say 1 and 1 makes 2, 1+1=2. So according to you two is two times bigger than one. But we say that there is no number higher than one. How can one be equal to two then? Here it is, you can see wherefrom sophistic has originated in philosophy. You can say that everything can be taken for granted after it is given proof. If it has to be proven, it can be proved very easily by the work of mathematics, that two is bigger than one. When you say that 2+1=3, this is not right too. In mathematics you use today, statements are not true in the absolute sense of the word. Three really is the result of addition of 2 and 1, 2+1, but only if we regard the integers two and one as a constituent elements of one, 1, however not as independent whole numbers. Number three is a composite of the results of number two, 2, plus 1, not of the numbers two and one alone. A teacher comes in a class and says to one of his students: ”Stoyancho, draw a horse over there!” Stoyancho comes to the blackboard and draws a horse. All children from the class say then that Stoyancho drew a horse on the blackboard. What for a horse is this? The drawing doesn’t resemble a horse at all. Can a child from a first grade draw this? If a painter looks at the picture, he would say that this isn’t a horse at all. The same the horse is, the same are the concepts of many contemporary people about God. As children in their pictures make only a draft for the things known, so is the way the contemporary people have various ides for God: they have nothing absolute, nothing clear, definite what God is. So, when the word is about self-defining, what should a person define himself or herself into? A person should define himself or herself in the quest of his or her Spirit, in the vocation of his or her soul, in the reason of his or her mind and the feelings in his or her heart. This explanation for the self-defining is given to you not to be rewritten in a book but to comprehend it for yourselves. This you write down in a book will be only a theoretical self-definition and this you will welcome in you, will be a practical self-definition. The last definition one has given to himself or herself sets one on one or another way. When I say that a person has to define himself or herself that doesn’t mean that they should join a party or identify themselves as members of one nation. For a person to define himself or herself means to be aware of the powers he or she masters, to define the direction to which he or she will direct them towards, to use his or her life reasonably. As you see, the theme I gave you in the beginning of the lecture, for the self-defining, has already been examined. If you have intentions to write about it, you will repeat the thing we talked just now. That is why next time you will write on another topic and that is: “Characteristics of human consciousness, manifested in its highest realization”. When you wrote this composition, I’ll give you some explanation on it. Now imagine that the straight line AB is a one, which has changed its position, instead of being vertical, it has a horizontal direction. As a straight line this unity means different things. If it were examined from geometrical point of view, you would say that the shortest distance between two points. If you look to find it in human’s face, you will find it in several places i.e. if you bring the upper and lower lip together, you will get a straight line. However, if you lip is a little opened and the lips a little apart, they will from an ellipse. The natural position of mouth is to form an ellipse. When the will of man is at work lips come together and form a straight line. That is why the straight line is manifestation of will. And indeed, when a person moves his or hand in front of himself or herself, or aside, stretched or clenched in a fist this movement means manifestation of strength. The position of the hand is a straight line. If hand slides down and takes a passive position, will stops working. Where there is no will, there lines intercept. Angles are formed always at the sides of these lines: angles mean unfulfilled dreams. Therefore the angles of intercepted lines mean bending of will due to which desires have not been fulfilled. Geometry studies angles and categorizes them into right, sharp and obtuse. What does the term angle mean in geometry? -The space between two intercepting lines in a place is called an angle. Is there any idea in this definition? -There is no idea in this definition. We can give another definition for angle then: each unfulfilled dream of a person results into an angle. If there are many angles on the face of a person this means that he or she has many unfulfilled dreams. These angles have different sizes and directions. In the same way they give away the contradictions upon which someone has come. Bending, angles one can encounter in Nature also. For instance, the valleys are formed by interception of the layers. Moreover, each valley is enclosed from both sides in planes, which are foot of the mountain. If we take valley as a place where life makes display of itself, we will make the conclusion that between contradictions there are always conditions for Life to show. If you look at the angle ABC, with its vertex turned upwards, it sets us up before a contradiction, which is contrary to the laws of spiritual life. After sometime this contradiction turns into good for people. If the same angle is turned with its angle downwards, this shows that the contradiction is for Earth i. e. it comes to contradict the Earth’s laws. But if you take for instance two mountain peaks, with their peaks turned downwards, they will cause rain. Therefore for rain to start two contradictions are needed in the Invisible world. An angle, with its vertex turned downwards, signifies creating conditions for a rain. And then, when you come upon a certain contradiction, to a certain returning action, you will know that it is defined through the following law: to each action responds a reaction, and to each action, contraction. Therefore between two evils, between two misfortunes and two contractions, one good is given birth to always. Between two goods one evil is born. That’s why it is said: ”Two goods can't exist at one place”. This law is in force only on Earth. What do evil and Good mean in life? Evil is the least shown Good; Good is the most shown Good. In other words, evil is the beginning to Good and Good is the end of Good. I will prove this statement with the following example: you take one lamb, you slaughter it, roast it and eat it. To you it means a good thing and for the sheep it means evil. After some time, when you become familiar with the great laws of Life. You meet the same sheep in the woods, take it in your hands and carry it to a meadow where it feeds on green grass and say: ”You can stay with me, I will take care of your life, I will keep you, I won't hurl a hand at you. I thank you for the good you did for me in the past. I was not an educated man then but I have a greater light in me, I understand the laws and I want to repay to you. ” This is the end of Good which is the real Good. Evil appears when a person at cases when a person comes in touch with some of his ideas thousand years old. In the past they were good but now they bring evil with themselves. For example, when a fish eats another, this is the way of Nature – it doesn’t do any evil to the fishes. But if today by atavism one man eats another, this is a great evil to both of them. If one fish eats another, the eaten continues to live through the eater but if one person eats another they both die. Therefore the desire of men to swallow another person is evil – this is a desire that has lived its time up - it is a remainder of the remote past upon which a person from time to time encounters. Therefore in nowadays life evil is not more than ideas that have expired in time. And so, what is evil? Evil means old ideas, unrealized attempts in the past. Today all this is avoided. People have tried these ideas in the past; there is no need for them to be repeated. Good means new God's ideas, which give new directions for realization of human wishes. Through good a person addresses his or her strength towards the world of God. When they ask you why a person must not be evil you will say: ”One shouldn’t be evil as not to repeat his or her past. ” Why you must be good? To fulfil the aim in your life, to enter the great world of Being. So evil is the wide road a person should not walk back; Good is the road along which a person already walks to realize his or her wishes in a new, God's way and to realize the meaning of Life. I will explain my idea with the following example: imagine that you have lived some time on the North Pole. Then after some time, with the movement of Earth you move too and you come to the equator. The Time that takes you to come to the equator amounts to twenty -five thousand years. What will happen to you if you return to the North Pole? You will certainly die. Then returning to the past is simply nothing but returning to the North Pole again. What will happen to you if you come back to the North Pole again? You will certainly die. Therefore returning to the past is nothing but a return to the North Pole. In this sense Evil is nothing but an Ice Age, Ice period which brings Death to the human beings. Once there were conditions for Life but today these conditions do not exist. If someone come upon these conditions today, he or she will certainly die. This is a return to the beginning. To return back means death: to go ahead this is Life. That's why nobody can not and should not return to the road upon which he or she has walked on. Why? Because the conditions of Life have already been altered. Now you know what evil and Good is. These thoughts are necessary to cast more Light in the human's consciousness. If Light of the consciousness is bigger we can talk already for alertness of human consciousness. What is consciousness? Much is written on this matter in many philosophical and occult books that you can read. In a few words, consciousness means a store of positive Knowledge, invested in Spirit, soul, mind and the heart of human beings. Having this knowledge he or she have clear idea for things and knows in each case how to act. A man that is conscious never does wrong. He or she benefits from his previous experience due to which today nobody in whatever way do permit themselves to do wrong. Man unconscious of his or herself can do wrong but only to the point of gathering enough experience, until his consciousness wakens. The word consciousness is formed by the Latin root conscience (знание, съзнание), the suffixes -ous, -ness in Bulgarian this is expressed by the prefix su-, which is correlated with the second Latin meaning of the world – suchastie (Bulg.), which assumes many items and people gathered at one place. In Bulgarian this idea finds its expression by using suffix instead of prefix. Therefore the meaning of consciousness is to make a link between the consciousness of the God's and human’s Spirit, to make a bridge to connect the God's and human's world. So, self-defining is expected by all of us. Unless you do not self-define, you can't talk a comprehendible language. Whatever is spoken to you, in whatever fashion you cannot comprehend it. When you self-define, you will be addressed in a mathematic language and this language you will understand. Mathematic language is short, clear and strictly defined. There are no repetitions, superfluous words and ambiguity of sense. When you define the relation in that your Spirit, soul, mind and heart are to the First Cause, you will be completely defined. Self-defining is a matter of consciousness. To accomplish this aim you have to read what the ancient authors have written on the topic of consciousness and self-consciousness and after that I will talk on this matter. If you know different languages then on your consciousness was written in German and French and in English. You can read and broaden your knowledge. You have to study the manifestations of consciousness not only as a philosophical, an abstract thought but also as an application – third and super consciousness – fourth. In whatever period of the spiritual life one finds himself or herself such an expression his or her life will have on the earth. But you have to know that consciousness can't be defined outside man. Some philosophers say that consciousness is the person himself or herself. No, a person is more than consciousness. Consciousness is an element that goes in the person but not in the individual itself. What is the difference is there between cognition and consciousness? Cognition is a superficial thing and consciousness is inward, acquired through long experience – it is a positive knowledge. To have knowledge about sugar means to have read somewhere about it, that it is white, that it is sweet and that it easily dissolves in water. To be conscious of the substance sugar means that you have seen it, you have tasted it, you have dissolved it in water. Cognition means to know things in embryo – consciousness their gradual development until they grow up. Until it grows, fruit goes through four gradual phases: consciousness, self-consciousness, subconscious and superconscious. When fruit is ripe we reach a state of superconscious. The four phases of consciousness represent the different Angle's Hierarchy. In some respect Angels stay higher than Gods do. They don't wrestle among themselves as Gods do. Because of their purity, they are a means God's Spirit. Read; think over consciousness, to be able to realize the sense of this concept. Under the concept of consciousness some philosophers understand the meaning of things. They are not far from Truth in this respect. Some philosophers under the word consciousness understand the form of things. When they consider consciousness in this sense, they depart from the Truth because the idea for consciousness in their minds alters. Secret prayer Source

Note 3 A Law Of Interrelations Ninth Lection of the Teacher, held to the Youth Occult class on the13th December 1922, Sofia Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer The writings on the topic "The Function of the respiratory system" were read. For the next time write about the topic: "Elements of the human speech". Figure 1 Now, let's take the first straight line АВ. It is not formed randomly, but has come from some rational source, from some rational being. In that case its formation is due to a known cause. How is defined in geometry the straight line? (- The shortest distance between two points is called a straight line.) Or the straight line represents a process, done with the smallest expenses. From the line AВ down we draw a perpendicular ОС. After that we draw the curving МИ, as we suppose, that it comes out from the same centre, from which the straight line ОС goes. What is the length of the line МИ compared to the perpendicular ОС1. The line МИ is longer than ОС, because it is curving. Let's assume that the line ОС represents a propeller of an airplane. What happens to the airplane, if the propeller amplifies, accelerates its motion? The airplane begins to go up. What happens to the airplane, if the propeller slows down its motion? The airplane begins to go down. What is the relation between the energies in the two cases? When going up the airplane passes through gravity; when going down, this gravity already does not resist. Figure 2 Assume now, that the curves А and В (Figure 2) are conditions, in which Life can evince. We assume that the curve А presents a mountain place, exposed to strong winds. One friend of yours planted plums at that place and says that as the plums begin to grow and ripen, will give you some. The curved line В represents a valley, in which some other friend of yours planted plums and promises that when they ripen, he will give you some. Which of the two friends of yours has a bigger possibility of fulfilling his promise? - The one living in the valley. What are the chances from one to a hundred of fulfilling his promise? If you thus have one sick, where must he live, to be cured sooner – on the hill or in the valley? On the hill, he will recover sooner, than in the valley. Therefore the unfavourable conditions in that relationship are favourable in other relationships; and the favourable conditions in one situation are unfavourable in other relationships. Hence, there can be issued the law that: after bad luck good luck comes. In explanation of that law, I will give you an example: you are sick, and expect plums from your friend, which he promised you. Your friend lives in a mountain place А. You wait a day, two days, a week, two, a month, he sends you nothing. One day, you decide to go to him by yourself to check why he does not send what he promised. You go to him and fall in explanations (not clear meaning!). He guides you around his estates, shows you his gardens, and retells you under what conditions the trees are cultivated and in these explanations and walks you stay with him the whole month. Meanwhile, under the influence of the pure mountain air your illness disappears, you totally recover. I ask which costs more in that case – plums or health. Here, one misfortune of yours is followed by one fortune. The law of interrelations works everywhere in Nature and can mathematically be defined as an interrelation of one quantity to the other. Assume that somebody promises to do you a favour with something. The phrase do a favour is positive. In that sense, can you define what are the chances from one to a hundred of someone doing you a favour? Sometimes, out of a hundred promises only one or two can be carried out; this proves that the individual, who promises, finds himself under conditions of the physical world. Sometimes, out of a hundred promises, ninety-nine can be carried out; this proves that the individual finds himself under conditions of the world of Angles, where the possibilities for realization of the given promises is greater. At last, out of a hundred promises a hundred and one can be carried out; this means that the individual finds himself under conditions of the Godly world. Hence, you see what the possibilities for the realization of ideas in the physical, Spiritual and the Godly world are. There is a certain interrelation between these possibilities. This can be easily defined if a person knows beforehand from where this certain energy flows out, where it will be harnessed into work. The source of the energy defines the chances. This means that between the energy and the possibilities, which this energy contains, there's a certain interrelation. Therefore, the possibilities of the physical world for the analysis of one promise can be one or two to one hundred. For example, you want to meet one rabbit in the wood; the possibility of meeting is only one to one hundred. Thus, meaning although there is a small possibility of meeting it, many conditions can prevent this meeting. You want to meet somebody, who promised you this meeting; the possibility is only two to one hundred of meeting him, all of the rest of the cases to one hundred are exceptions. And this is why we say, a man who promises a lot, carries out less. If you come to the world of Angles, there of a hundred promises, ninety-nine are carried out. In this world even the most sublime Creatures are under conditions, the chances of carrying it out successfully are ninety-nine to one hundred, and with an exception of one to one hundred. But in the Godly world, there is not even one exception of unsuccessfulness, there out of a hundred promises, one is carried out. The angles deal with the life of the plants. If somebody starts out to dig a field and to plough it and sows ninety-nine years ahead, the field will yield crops just as many times as he has sowed it; at the hundredth time, this man refuses to plough and he does not sow the field. Do you think that this field will yield crops? It will yield nothing. That namely is one exception in the world of Angles. In the Godly world, if somebody refuses at the hundredth time to sow the field, a hundred men will make him sow it. Want or not – this man will sow the field and not only a hundred times but even a hundred and one times. In the Godly world no exception are permitted. Whether a man or spirit, if you deal with the laws of the Godly world, no exception is allowed. And, so, after every happy occasion in Life comes one unhappy. To every mountain, corresponds a certain valley – this is the law of Nature. So it is when somebody descends, that means, that he is standing on a high place; when he climbs, he is in a low place. The climbing up of a mountain demands an upsurge in the human Spirit; the going down in the valley demands a man’s attention. In the two cases there are obstacles, but these, which make man climb up are bulging out and protruding; and these, which make the man go down, are concave. The obstacles will make man find a spring. - "What if I lean to the left or to the right?" –Nothing can happen. One is possible: either to climb up or to go down. In that relation, there is a law in Nature, and namely: after every happy occasion comes unhappy, after happiness follows sorrow. Sorrow and Happiness are two different states, through which the human soul must inevitably pass. Can Sorrow and the Happiness be provoked by one and the same cause or to be experienced by one person? Happiness is a mountain peak, and sorrow – a valley. Therefore it is said, that the one who suffers, goes down into the valley. As he reaches the valley, a man begins to plough, to hoe down, to sow, as a result of which his hands are covered in blisters. The difference between the mountain peak and the valley is the same as is between Happiness and Sorrow. The mountain air is diluted, pure and cold; the air in the valley is dense, impure and warm. Planting in the valley is more luxurious, exuberant, and on the top - weaker, rarer. Can a man always be happy? He cannot. If you look at the notes, you will see, that they are whole, half, quarter, octant and etc. Each of them lasts for a strictly defined time. Among each note and the time, there is a certain interrelation. On the basis of that law, happiness and sorrows have a set time duration. Some happiness and sorrow lasts only a moment, equal to the duration of 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 note. Sometimes, their duration is longer, equal to quarter, half and a whole note. Some happiness and sorrow have an echo, due to which they last more than the defined time for them and we say they are long lasting. Happiness and sorrow in Life are only fleeting, and we say when they last long this is because of their echo. For example, somebody hits you; the pain you feel is a result of the first strike. If the pain is still there, it is a reflex of the first strike. So, between the intensity of the energy and the continuance of the time there is an interrelation. As we are aware of that, you can estimate mathematically how much time - hours, minutes or seconds – a certain pain will last. This is necessary to know the strength, with which the strike hits. It is noticed in this case, that the pain gradually lessens – in the first moment it was strongest, but this moment does not repeat itself. The law of interrelations is applied everywhere in Nature and Life, but you have to study it, so that you can sensibly make use of it. You know for instance that suffering lasts a moment only and after that comes its echo, which is goes on for hours, weeks and months. Right here you will apply your will! When a tooth aches, you will know that the pain lasts for moments only; that’s why with the strength of the will, will take away the reflexes of this pain. What do people do nowadays? When a tooth aches or when they get diseased, they say: „I know that I will be ill a least a whole week." And this is happens - they consciously wield to the mirror of the disease. No, a man must be aware, how long the reflexes of the illness lasts only few moments, and it depends on the mental state of the man how long will be present the reflexes of the illness. It can be determined mathematically what part of the second will continue a given suffering or a certain pain. Thus, when you are overcome by a kind of a suffering, you remember that that it lasts for a short time, not to let it be forgotten for hours and days. As you say so, the pain will go away. The same happens also with Happiness – it is a short-term one. Even if you want to keep it for a short time, it leaves, because in your mind the thought is already well formed that it will leave soon. And indeed it becomes so. As you watch, there is an interrelation between thoughts and wishes: after each strong thought there comes an instance of personality of man, after every noble feeling some weakness is expressed. As you know, you must be ready to face these things in a calm way everywhere. As you climb up the top, you know, you must get down at any cost. It’s for sure that some of you want to be careful, to be on the alert. And then, if you have taken care you will get down slowly, calmly; otherwise you take the risk of falling. Every bad feeling and after every bad thought you will show some strong, lofty thought and a noble feeling. In this manner, Nature is bringing in balance in all missions of Life. The cause of these abrupt changes is due to the fact, we are interconnected with worlds, higher or lower than ours, who influence us in one or other way. When we are sorrowful or we break the balance in Nature, from the world of Angles comes help, so long that this balance is regained. As lifted up our distribution place is lifted up, from the Lower world come beings to rob us and we lose all the gains. Therefore, with every breaking of the Godly arrangement and order on behalf of you Sensible beings come to recover that balance. If you are dignified or not for that help, they will not ask to pay. The purpose is to put order in Nature, to restore its first condition. Then to what is success owed to and the bad luck of people? Before answering that question, you must ask yourself what success you expect - material, spiritual or mental? Have you questioned yourself exactly what you would like to be or what you want to obtain? Often come to you thoughts, wishes and feelings, which are not yours, and as you do not know that you want to make them come true at all costs. For example, you read some author and when you finish his book, you feel a strong wish to be a poet or writer like him. This is not your thought, but this was a former wish of the author of that book to become a poet or writer. He wished that so strongly and achieved it, but you cannot become a poet. Why? You are not assigned for these sufferings, for this road, through which this author passed. Be sure that this wish will disappear soon – so this was a wish of another person. Until this author became a poet, only he knows what pains and sorrows and hardships he overcame. How many times he discouraged and again encouraged, how many times he despaired and was so near to suicide, how many times he was catcalled and mocked! This nobody knows – we are in front of a result. We read a book, admire and we dream to be poets like him - how, in what way can we achieve if we are not interested. The poet must go through much suffering, there's not a poet in the world, who has not suffered. And here the law of interrelations has been adhered to, and namely between the suffering and the achievements. Therefore between the physical, hearty, mental and will-powered life of a man there exists a certain interrelation. With regard to this interrelation, it can be precisely evaluated, after how long the extreme materialist can turn into an extreme materialist. Years ago, a lawyer came to me from Varna, a socialist by conviction, and we discussed different questions, I told him, that after four years there won't be a trace of his present convictions. - „No, this is not possible, I am a convicted socialist!" - „Write that, which I say, and you will check whether I speak the truth.“ After two years, he got married, he had a girl. He lived with his wife well, loved her. One evening, he went to a meeting and got home a little later than usual. His wife was home, working on something; as she felt sleepy, she went to bed and left the light on. By accident, the light fell over in a way, so that the gas spilled on her bed and she was burned. The sorrow and suffering for his wife changed him totally and he became strongly religious, forgot all his socialist ideas. Soon after that, he got expelled from the socialist course. As he met me one day in Varna, he said to me: „Imagine, what you predicted to me, this happened! Nothing was left from my first convictions.” I say, as you know the law of interrelations, all of you must be very careful, not to break the great laws, because you will fall under other laws, which won't spare you. In the Script it is said: „The one, who stands up high, must know that he will fall. The one who falls, must know he will stand up." Now you are required to reflect correctly, maturely, to know that, with regard to the occult science nothing happens by accident, arbitrarily. The occult science is positive, it considers all elements, and Nature works with it. If it complies with the laws of this science, a man can avoid many troubles in his life. To what are these troubles owed in Life and in Nature? They are owed to a certain violating of one of the great laws. Now I will present to you the four graphical regions of the manifested Life (Figure 3). The straight line А is showing the physical life, the straight line В- the hearty, the straight line С- the mental and the straight line О – the will-powered life of man. The Energy, which is developed in the first cycle of man's life when he grows physically, is exactly distributed in quality and time of duration. After that, this energy goes in the second cycle of a man's life, when he develops emotionally. From there on, the energy goes into the third period when man develops mentally. At last it is entering in the fourth period – in the man's life of will power. When it reaches down, the energy takes a turning movement upright and makes a circle, one turning of the powers. As it is known about this thing, it can be calculated mathematically after how many years, how and where this energy will be seen. Also it can be said to what extent this energy will be visible and what results it will produce. This explains why the wishes, upsurges, strivings of man show up periodically. Some young man wishes to learn, to evolve mentally. He begins to learn and work in this direction two-three years before. After that, his upsurge for studying is gone, and he moves to another desire. After a certain period of years, he is again in front of his first desire to study. This thing depends on the law of interrelations. The time is dependent on the will, the strong thought, the strong feeling. For example, the length of time during which the man will study is dependent on the intensity of the wish to study. If some special obstacles appear for the fulfilment of this will, man suffers, feels unhappy. The obstacles are a reason why some laws are broken. When you are young, you must do research, to estimate how long a thought will last in you and after how long it shows again. So, on account of the law of interrelations that after happiness will follow unhappiness; after every sickness will follow health. Under the meaning of the word illness, I do not understand the normal illnesses, when a man aches physically, but I speak about these conditions, which are provoked by breaking the harmony between feelings and thoughts. Everybody of you must ask himself whether he defined himself by the law of interrelations. You must be self-defined. Who has not self-defined, stays forever in the barn. Who stays in the barn, he wins nothing, but he loses nothing. Do you know what the self-defining is? If you do not know, write next time about the topic „Self-definition in Life". You must define yourself, because soon you will be face to face with occult customs, where they will examine you narrowly. When they find that you wear stuff, for which you did not pay duty, they will take them away and they will fine you. They will examine you with a roentgen device, to find out what you carry in you. So because they will examine you outwardly and inwardly, they will take away even the finest excess, to be found in you. Therefore, throw away all waste, so that you are not fined. In this sense, to define yourself means to throw away all your excess, unworthy stuff, which cause to you suffering and pain and trouble, and to keep only those matters, which cause you Happiness and Joy and with which you can work. The occult science with which you are so interfering, is positive, but at the same time a dangerous science. Once you have enrolled into that School, you have the privilege to be taught that science in the lightest, perceptive form for you. If you were in some other time, in no way would they not take you into the School. In ancient times they did not accept pupils younger than 33 years old. That's why you must be cautious not to play with the laws of Nature. Nature’s laws are alive, conscious, they cannot be overridden. If some of the occult forces come, to occult laws, the pupil must know that he must not play a game with them. This should serve to scare you. The fear is necessary, but not that usual fear. The pupil must have a reverent feeling to the Great, to the Godly in the world. If this feeling is not developed in him, it should be replaced with fear. This fear is namely called Godly, sensible fear. In such fear, all noble feelings in man can grow. Who consciously studies the occult science; develops in himself bravery, decisiveness, initiative, diligence and hard-work. As you make some fault, do not excuse with the conditions, with your mother and father, but always be ready to correct your mistake. Leave aside your mother and father. As you work consciously and with Love, you are in a state to use the conditions and to create out of yourself what you wish. As you make any mistake, right now make it right. As you correct your mistake, walk again straight ahead. As pupils you must study the occult chemistry, to know what elements your blood needs. If iron is not necessary, there is not enough iron in your blood, in some way you must provide it. Otherwise, the lack of iron in your blood will impart more feebleness, variability to your character. If there is little gold in your blood, you will be deprived of nobility in your character. So this means that every new element, imported in your brain, in your heart or the will power of man, gives a new direction in his activities. Study the chemistry well, so that you can convert your forces inside yourself. Then you will know how to temper the iron in you – from soft iron to turn it into steel. Some of you need hardness in your character, others - softness, third - nobility, fourth - consistency, fifth – Love in God, sixth - mercy, prudence, imagination and so on. Everybody can say about himself: „One is enough. " He must find out what he lacks, and then to seek a method of obtaining this element which he lacks. Everybody needs one thing, but this thing is not of big importance for his development. This is the important thing which he learns from the law of interrelations. Secret prayer Fir-fur-fen Tao Bi Aumen Source

Note 4 Unity of the Consciousness Lecture eight read by the Master to the Youth Occult Class on the 29th of November 1922, Sofia A secret prayer Contemplation The essays on the theme “The Function of the Respiratory System” were read. Figure 1 In Figure 1 there are two parallel lines СВ и DА, which are moving in opposite directions, crossed by the third line АВ. At the intersection of the two parallel lines with a third straight line, angles of 30˚ are being formed. Upon the movement of the parallel lines the consciousness also participates. It is denoted by the intersection line АВ. It is the main line. In the living geometry these lines are lines of force. Each of their movements have a strictly fixed sense. When you bring your right hand or your left hand forward, these movements have a special significance and a special meaning. If you move your hand in the direction of the straight line СВ, this movement also denotes something. After you pick up an apple seed, you bend your fingers, you reach to the ground and you plant the seed. As soon as you make this movement, your next step will be to make the opposite movement – you rise upwards again. In a few years the tree will grow and bear fruits. In order to pick these fruits from the tree you reach your hand upwards and then you lower it. Upon these movements – the lowering of your hand when planting the seed and the reaching of your hand upwards to pick a fruit from the tree that you have planted – the letter И is formed. This letter is the first letter of the word Truth1. What does this word mean? The truth tastes of the fruits you formerly planted. Now you have two other lines which denote movement of an opened circle. This circle is formed by the two curved lines АВ and ВС. The movement of the curved lines АВ and ВС points downwards – it points to the dense matter. In this way the Hebrew letter W (vav) is formed – this letter represents a person with lowered hands, a person during a process of thinking, a person in a process of contemplation. These two curved lines can also move upwards within the thin matter, the result of which is a diagram opposite to the first one. The diagram in Figure 2 represents the state of a man who involuates (spirals downward), i.e., who descends into the thick matter. If you join the two diagrams the result will be Figure 4, which represents two beings turned upside down and two other beings turned upwards. If you turn the letter W upside down, the letter М will be formed, which was formed as a result of the movement of the human consciousness in its evolutionary state. In Hebrew this letter denotes the beginning of the human intellect, or the beginning of the human mind. In other words, this letter denotes conversion of the energies from one state into another. And indeed, by the help of the thought, man attains the ability to convert the energies. Figure 2 A great knowledge is hidden within the letters, which is why they have to be studied explicitly. Each letter is a key of a certain order of energy which man has to convert – if it is low, he has to convert it higher. The Cabbala studies the letters. For instance, a man has a name that he does not like and he is not successful in his life at all. What should he do in order for his life to improve? He has to change his name and to think of such a name for himself that will be in harmony with his state. Indeed, if you listen to the names of people, you will notice, that some names contain such combinations of sounds which definitely offend your ear. When a man passes through a certain dedication, they assign him a name that corresponds to his astrological aspects. If you examine the letter а, you will see, that it was formed from the symbol of infinity, (that is the lower-case letter a, not the capital letter A) it is loaded; pregnant with something. This denotes that in this letter the infinity is limited by something and gets pregnant. Figure 3 As the letters denote a certain order of energies, likewise every limb of the human organism is connected with a certain order of forces, with a certain order of energies. For instance, the human nose is an expression of man’s intelligence and of his intellect. Consequently, the stronger this human’s intellect is, the longer his nose is. If from the middle of the face you drop a perpendicular towards the nose, this perpendicular determines the size of the angles formed by the lines of the nose. The lines of the nose are the two rays of the angle, while the width of the nose represents the size of the angle. The more the rays of these angles depart from the perpendicular, the more the intelligence of the man decreases. The smaller the angle gets, the more man’s intelligence increases. In general, the intellectual force of the man is projected by the help of the nose. The smaller this angle is, the stronger the intellect of this man is - the brighter his mind is. The larger this angle gets, the more his intellect decreases, while the natural, the objective mind of this man becomes stronger. The stronger the human feelings are, the wider the lower part of the nose at the nostrils is. Generally speaking, the length of the nose is connected with the intellect, while the width of the nose is connected with the human feelings. Having in mind these general principles, you should observe and study the form of the human nose in order to see what variety of deviations from the normal position determined by Nature were formed. Figure 4 All the lines with which we denote the human nose, the human eyes, and the human mouth are lines of force. These lines of force determine the intensity of the very forces that function within man. Studying the eyes of the human you will arrive at the conclusion that the wider the opening of the eyes is – the greater the sensitiveness, and the capability of the human for perceiving. The narrower the opening of his eyes is – the weaker his sensitiveness. The human sensitiveness is connected with the observational capability of man. The more observational the man is, the better the lower part of his forehead up to the eyebrows is developed. This part of the forehead is well developed within the natural scientists, because they observe all the phenomena in Nature. Within the philosophers, who are occupied with abstract ideas, with the so called metaphysics, the upper part of the forehead is more developed than the lower one. When the lips of the man are thick and well developed, it denotes that in this man the appetite or the sensuality is well developed. If his lips are tight, then his sensitiveness is not well developed. Consequently, the outer symptoms or marks of the human face show especially well with what this person has to cope within himself and in what way he has to proceed as to regulate the forces of his organism. Knowing these symptoms the man will be able to shape his nose, his ears, his mouth, and his eyebrows. For this purpose he should study the movement of the lines of force, as well as their outer and their inner projections. In order that the movement of the lines of force within the human being can be proper and harmonious, man should protect his consciousness, i.e., he should not tolerate any kind of split in his consciousness. The slightest split in the human consciousness brings within man two equal opposite forces which mutually neutralize themselves. For instance you feel a desire to do some good which is linked with some material offering. Immediately the fear appears that your interest might be violated; this fear quickly opposes your desire to do good and these two forces mutually cancel and neutralize each other. As long as you run into these two opposing forces, you say, “I will postpone this good deed till the conditions become more favourable.” On another occasion you begin to feel a strong drive to make a scientific research, but suddenly you imagine that this research will need years of hard work, so you drop your investigation. After that you enter some spiritual society, as you like to work for your spiritual development, but as soon as the thought that this is not the right time for a spiritual life crosses your mind, you leave this society. Today you neglect one good desire; tomorrow you suppress a certain drive within yourself, so finally your consciousness splits up. No, in order to develop your spiritual power you should never give up your good desires and strivings, you should never block and split your consciousness. The spiritual forces in man develop only upon union of the consciousness. You should know that all of you are exposed to the influence of all the outside beings that have the desire to lead you away from the way. Having all this in mind you should take safe measures for recovering the initial state of your consciousness. If you retain your twisted philosophy, though, you might think that upon split of the consciousness there is some science or an acquisition. No, as regards the split of the consciousness there is not any science, any philosophy, or any acquisition at all. Consequently, whenever a desire arises within you to do some good, do not put off doing it, no matter what or how much it costs you. The desire to do good is a positive force, which gives something to the human being and never takes away anything. As soon as a desire to do even the smallest good arises within you, realize it. If you refuse to do this good, then you will feel some sadness or an indisposition. This sadness, this indisposition is your punishment because you haven’t done the good. A person who refuses to do at least the slightest good and who throws off the grief he has suffered as a result of this, will run across some misfortune. Not long after that he will, through carelessness, slip and break or dislocate his leg. This misfortune is a result of the split in his consciousness. And after that he will call a doctor, he will pay him, and then he will lie in bed for two or three months. What has he gained from all this? So all the misfortunes, all the sufferings in the human life are due to man’s reluctance to do the Will of God. In life nothing remains unpunished. – “Well, we will pay for this in some other life.” – You will not pay in any other life, though – you will pay now. Less than a week, a month or a year will pass and you will see the results from your lapse. Therefore, knowing all this, be careful of even your slightest strivings and desires. Do not neglect the small desires, do not block their manifestation. As disciples of the occult School you have to be careful and you must never block your consciousness. No matter what mistake you make – no matter if it is a small one, or a big one – be ready to make an inner confession. You have to be honest before yourselves. For instance, some young man enters a university, wants to study, to receive some education, but he is poor, he has no resources. At one time the Providence submits him to an examination in order to see in what degree he is ready to withstand his own honesty. The obstacles are being combined in such a way that he finds himself in front of the open safe of a wealthy man, he looks at the safe, then he looks at the door of the room, because he is afraid that somebody might come and see him, and after he makes sure that he is alone, he reaches in the safe, takes out two thousand levs and says, “I’ll use this sum to graduate, and after I start work I’ll help some poor students so they also can graduate some university.” What happens next? The theft is revealed and he gets caught. He starts to excuse himself, saying that he didn’t know what was in store for him, that he didn’t know he will have to bear responsibility, he thought that because he had to graduate university this was the assistance rendered to him by the very Providence. It is impossible for a man to know what the consequences will be from a theft. If he doesn’t know what these consequences might be, he will learn them in prison. Man should be honest before himself, he should confess, he should admit the mistake he made. In this way he will free his consciousness from the useless burden. This means: do not block your consciousness! So, do not neglect in yourself even the smallest Divine desire. As soon as such a desire arises into your heart – realize it. Each Divine desire is like a small seed, which you plant into the soil. As soon as you plant it, it will grow and give fruit, which you are free to pick and taste. Whenever you hold some Divine desire within yourself you are consciously blocking yourselves as a result of which you expose yourselves to the influence of many diseases. All the diseases are a result namely of this blocking caused by the failure to execute the Divine desires, which are driving you to do good. You should know that you cannot play games with the laws of the Wise Nature. Nature does not allow anyone to play games with her. Whoever tries to play games with Nature even once, will get his punishment very soon. As disciples all of you should have unity of consciousness. If you do not have such unity, then you cannot be disciples. Even if you attend the class here, you will not be accepted by those above. Unless you gain unity of consciousness, you cannot be any disciples at all. In the School disciples with a bright mind, noble heart and a solid back – to be able to bear - should be accepted. Feeble and ill disciples should not be accepted in the School. Let those who are feeble and ill stay at their homes; let them come after they recover their health. The disciple should have a diamond will, and should be able to put things into practice. No one expects from you great feats, no one wants you to save the world. You are required to do only the smallest and microscopic application of the Good. Whenever you feel some noble impulse, no matter how small it might be, give effect to this impulse. Just a minute will be necessary to realize this impulse. For instance, you go to work and on your way you meet a poor beggar; suddenly you feel a desire to say a kind word to him. Stop for a minute and ask him how his things are going. You might say, “Why should I waste my time to stop by this beggar and talk with him? If you are not ready to stop for a minute, then they will make you lose one hundred minutes. Unity of consciousness is required from you. As soon as you attain such unity, you will be able to regulate the forces within your organism. If you lack unity of consciousness, you will be led out of your way, and you will go along the left road. It is dangerous to split the human consciousness. Imagine that someone is descending to the ground with a parachute. Upon his descent the parachute must be opened by any means; if it is not opened, then death is inevitable for the one, who is using it. The opening of the parachute resembles the unity of consciousness. Why? Because Life resembles the opened parachute. By analogy with this we say, that Life resembles the unity of consciousness. Only upon this state of consciousness will you be able to control your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions. You should make experiments and you should try to control yourself and to test the strength of your will. For this purpose I will suggest that you make the following experiment: we will take a big needle – a packing needle and we will stick it to a certain depth into your hand till the blood comes. After that every one of you will see how long it takes until he is able to stop the bleeding of his hand by the help of his will. After that everyone will see how long it takes to stop the pain in his hand by the help of his will. This pricking with the packing needle is just the insults and sorrows, caused to you by your relatives. If you are able to forget and transform the insult quickly, then you are a person with strong will. Only the strong people will subject themselves to this experiment, i.e. the fearless people - we will leave the timid people aside. Nature does not like timid people – it sentences them to death. It has respect towards the bold people and it is always ready to help them. Only the person, who possesses a strong will in the laws of the Wise Nature, can be bold and fearless. The timid person transgresses these laws each time – for this reason Nature has a special opinion for Him. Each person should strive towards unity of consciousness as a method of healing, as a method of work upon yourself. No matter what illness you get, it is enough to regain the unity of your consciousness, so that you get up from bed healthy and cheerful. The higher forces of consciousness are being directed towards your organism and begin to influence it until they cause a turn in your body as a result of which all the energies start to flow upwards and start to move in opposite direction. In this situation the foreign matter in the organism, which cause the diseases, immediately disappears as the dust disappears from the surface of the drum. If one of you catches cold, let him apply the same method in order to see how long it will take to restore his health. Usually, the cold lasts, at the most seven days. Sometimes it lasts for three weeks and in exceptional cases it lasts for three months. By the help of this method, though, you can cure someone of the cold in five minutes; if you do not succeed to cure yourselves of your cold in five minutes, then try to free yourselves from it within at least two or three hours, or within two or three days. Many people complain that their memory has become poor and has started to fail. The initial strength of your memory can easily be recovered. In what way? Through recovering the unity of your consciousness. In what way can this be done? As you throw out from your mind and heart all those thoughts and feelings which are disturbing you. The consciousness split is a reason for memory weakening. At the same time the consciousness split generates fear within man. Some child steals an egg from his home and from fear that his mother will catch him he pretends to be ill. The fear from the punishment is a result from the consciousness split in this child. The fear denotes a weakness of the feelings, while the pride denotes a weakness of the mind. The destructive capability of man is due to a certain contortion of his creative abilities. When the forces and the energies in the human organism divert from their right course, the man begins to devote himself to fictitious, imaginary thoughts and feelings, which cause him unnecessary sufferings. For instance, someone imagines that so and so has offended his honour. Who might offend? (UNCLEAR) And what exactly is the honour? The contemporary people are sensitive, they are easily offended, and their feelings are easily outraged. The scientists say that the man has five types of feelings, i.e. five senses. From what was the word сетиво (sense), усет (insight) derived? We say у-сет, or у-сат. The letter у denotes the man, who has seeded something. The root of the word is сат, which denotes manifestation, and at the same time also denotes something, which is limited. Consequently under the word усет (insight) we understand something which was seeded into the soil or into the consciousness, within a limited space in which it starts to grow. The root сат has a Sanskrit origin and denotes something that can be manifested, something that can be limited. The letter а in the root сат has gradually changed upon its descent, upon its involution, until it has been converted into the letter е. So, from у-сат the word усет (insight) was formed. Which of the other words that you know resembles the word усет (insight)? – The word възприятие (perception). If you remove the preposition въз, there remains the word приятие, which begins with the letter п. This letter denotes fertilization. So at first the energies are being retained, and after that they are being subjected to fertilization. The word sense denotes an external process, while the word perception denotes an internal process; it denotes growth. After the Perception, grasping follows. This grasping comes from the word хващам (grasp) something with my hand; it is a physical process. But the word схващане (grasping) begins with the letter с which shows, that the thing the man has grasped by his hand, is in an ascending state, it moves upwards. In order that this thing can grow upwards we should create favourable circumstances for its growth; we should fence it off from all sides. In order to fence something off, the human mind should function. The letter щ in the word схващам (grasp) shows, that the mind can function only when the will is also participating in order to remove the external contradictions. After it grows, what was sown will pass on to a higher stage and will come back to life. Consequently, in the grasping as a process we can denote several phases: the seeding of something, the growing of the seeded plant, and the ripening – the conversion of these energies into fruit, into something alive. The main idea of this lecture is the unity of consciousness. Where there is unity of consciousness, neither twisted thoughts can exist, nor any negative feelings. In order to reach this unity you have to be honest within yourself, you don’t have to deceive yourself. Each of you should confess his good and his bad features without trying to exaggerate or to decrease them. Judging himself properly, the disciple will be able to direct the forces of his organism all on his own. Every person has shortcomings, but some men do not like to admit this. At the present conditions of Life the shortcomings are in fact blessings for the human being. By their help man can evolve. For instance, suppose that someone is physically feeble, thin, but at the same time Nature has put into him such forces, through which he can improve his physical condition. Someone else has a sharp mind, but the centres which are behind his ears are too well developed, so this man is susceptible to destruction. What should he do? Because he has a sharp mind, he will find a way in which to transform this energy, to direct it towards the front part of his brain and to put it to work. This energy is necessary, but it has to be used wisely. For instance, the anger represents the coals, which are being thrown into the fireplace in order to put the car into motion. So you should put the coals into the fireplace, you should put the water into the steam-boiler, you should transport the steam through the pipes and you should put it to work. In this way the machine will be set in motion and will move forward. Another kind of energy within the human being is the fear, which also has to be put to work. As an element, the fear should be joined to the reason and as a result one complex body or compound called wisdom should be formed. Then we’ll have the following equation: С + Р = Б. Translating this into the chemical language, the fear will be the base, the reason will be the acid, while the wisdom will be the salt. In the realm of the animal kingdom the fear is in the first place – it rules there. The hind legs of the rabbit have undergone elongation as a result of the fear. The long ears of the rabbit show that it is wise – it is able to hear well and to think well. The rabbit likes to climb steep places – that is why its forefeet have become shorter than his hind legs. The rabbit runs very quickly upwards, but when he has to run downwards – it often rolls. The hands in man resemble the hind legs of the rabbit. The hind legs of the horse bend in one and the same way as the human hands; the forefeet of the horse bend in one and the same way as the human legs. These questions are side-issues, but it is good to contemplate upon them, to see to what this analogy is due. So, as disciples you should attain unity of consciousness and an Absolute impartiality towards yourself. The impartiality is necessary for the development of the disciple. Where there is impartiality growth should be also present; where there is no impartiality – there you cannot find any growth. When we talk about unity of consciousness we have in mind the participation of the Divine consciousness, as well as the participation of the Divine Spirit, which functions within the entirety of Nature. Where impartiality exists, a contact of the human Spirit with the Divine Spirit also exists. Every evening before you go to bed, stand upright and get in touch with the great Light within the Divine Spirit and say: “In the name of the absolute justice, I confess my mistakes and I am ready to correct them.” Without excuses, without any delay mistakes should be corrected – they should not be excused. When you promise to do good, keep your promise without fear. – But the consequences might be bad. – It is better to make a mistake, than to go back. Let’s say that you have promised to some person one thousand levs; someone comes to you and starts to tell you that this man is not honest, that he will spend your money for food etc. Whatever happens with your money, don’t change your mind. Thus you will make one mistake only, while if you change your mind and refuse to give him the money you promised, you will make two mistakes. As soon as you have promised to do some good, you should not change your mind. Even if your promise was given by mistake, you should nevertheless keep it. Be brave and decisive. In no way can you avoid the karmic consequences. In order to acquire boldness and decisiveness, start with the small experiments for which little knowledge is needed. Do not strive towards great experiments, because you are not ready for them and you still don’t have the knowledge necessary for them. Now write down the following three rules: Put the Truth into your Soul and you will attain the Freedom you are looking for. Put the Wisdom into your mind! The Light will come and the Knowledge will give you its help. Put the purity into your heart! Love will come and the real Life will begin. Write down these rules on a separate sheet of paper and put this sheet on your table, or hang it onto the wall, so that you can read them whenever you like. After you get up in the morning, the first thing you should do will be to read these rules and to contemplate over them. Read the first rule and say to yourself: “I should put the Truth into my soul! Why? So that I can be free, so that I can attain my Freedom.” After that read the second rule and say to yourself: “I should put the Wisdom into my mind! Why? So that I can acquire Knowledge.” And finally you say to yourself: “I should put Purity into my heart. Why? So that Love may come.” A secret prayer 1 Truth – In Bulgarian this is the word ‘Истина’ Source

Note 7 Purpose Of The Respiratory System Seventh Lecture by The Master, Held before the Youth Esoteric Class on November 22nd, Sofia Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer Now read the positive words you have written. Next time you will read the negative words. For the next time, write on the topic: “The Purpose of the Respiratory System”. I will now give you a psychic exercise, which you will do in the morning after getting up and in the evening before going to bed. You will raise your hands upward and pronounce the word light, while observing the change in your condition. Do the exercise for ten to twenty-five seconds. The hands are placed one next to the other in front of your forehead, with palms turned towards the face. After that you will lower your hands and place them on the upper part of the nose, as you pronounce the word fragrance. After you pronounce that word, you will observe what change is taking place in your condition. Finally, you will place your hands under your nose – on the upper lip, and you will pronounce the word sweetness. Again you will observe the changes in your condition. The first word you will pronounce is light, then – fragrance, and finally – sweetness. The words go from an ascending to a descending stage: the substance of the word light is the thinnest, then it is the one of fragrance, and the thickest substance is that of the word sweetness. It feels strange to you why I am giving you the topic “The Purpose of the Respiratory System”. What knowledge do you have of breathing, why does man breathe? Man breathes to maintain life, the burning inside his organism. What is burning and what is breathing? According to some, breathing is a process of cleaning. There are more than six hundred million cells in the lungs, locked in miniature chambers, miniature laboratories. When air enters the lungs, each one of these cells for a short moment serves a twofold purpose – physiological and psychic. In that sense breathing is a double process of nutrition. In a single minute man inhales twenty times, twenty lunches, and in an hour – 20 x 60 = 1200 inhalations, 1200 lunches. If each of those lunches cost a hundred leva1, then each hour for every human 120 000 leva would be spent on breathing. For twenty-four hours he would then cost Nature 2 880 000 leva. At each inhalation Nature lays the table for man, and at each exhalation she clears the table. At each laying and clearing of the table workers perform their duties. Complicated is the work of those workers who have the utmost task of cleansing the blood. Despite all of their complex functions, you deem that those cells are not wise. Wise are the cells of the human organism. The cells of each organ, of each limb of the human organism have a special position and purpose. And so, breathing is a twofold process – physiological and psychic. The ultimate purpose of breathing as a psychic process is cleansing the mind. Hence, breathing is connected with thinking, with thought. Which kind of breathing is the best? There are three types of breathing: upper, medium and lower (depending on which part of the lungs does the most breathing). The lung resembles a complex laboratory in which a lot of energies intersect. The prana2 of the air penetrates into the lungs and helps ozonizing the blood even where air could hardly penetrate. Into such sublime blood the elements of Life are placed. Full breathing is the best. Mainly Love helps full breathing. So Love is first and foremost necessary condition for full breathing. When man breathes, he must value the air as an irreplaceable welfare. When you look upon air as an invaluable welfare, it penetrates into the furthest cells of your lungs, sends them its prana, its vital power, which they extract and dispatch over the whole organism. So Love first affects the lungs. He who loves, he expands, and so do his lungs. When man adopts a benefit consciously, and with gratitude, Love begins to operate inside him and elevates him. This Love is positive, ascending, and it broadens man. Every Divine energy, which descends from above, must pass initially through the respiratory system, from there ascend to the mind, and after that go down to the heart. When speaking about Love, many say that Love is blind. This expression is a remnant from the time when humanity existed under influence of the Moon – the period of constant changes. Actually Love reveals itself in rational Life, because, by itself, Love is the most elevated thing in the world. Where Love permeates, there is Life, and culture. The Divine day begins with Love. It is said in the Holy Writ: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light”. Everybody can say something, but first, man is required to perceive air along with prana, and with the Divine energy which is infused in it. When it penetrates into the mind and heart, then that energy will give an impulse for man to express himself, to say that which he is thinking of. Therefore, he who wants to speak reasonably must learn to breathe properly and to think properly. Have you ever tried to breathe silently, so that nobody can hear you? When you breathe deeply, you breathe loud, and everybody around can hear you. It is an art to be able to breathe deeply, but silently, so that nobody can hear you. When you breathe deeply, put your hands on your stomach, so that every time you inhale and exhale air your hands lift. You must study the process of breathing properly, so that you could describe it in both the physiological and psychic relation. Study the various methods of breathing, in order to see which method will be the most efficient to apply. Try with every inhalation to think about the light, in order for you to be able to connect with its energies. Those energies are found in the air, from where you have to obtain them. When thinking about fragrance, you will obtain from the air a different sort of energies; when thinking about sweetness, you will obtain a third sort of energies. When you are thinking about these words, while breathing simultaneously, you will see that each word reflects differently on the pulse of your heart. The smallest, slightest changes in the pulse speak of delicate experiences of man. The abrupt changes in the pulse speak of grand experiences of man. When man is inspired by elevated thoughts and feelings, his heartbeat is rhythmic; his pulse is regular, and harmonious. When man lives in the field of rude, base feelings, his pulse is disharmonious and irregular – he loses the natural rhythm of his pulse. In such cases it appears to you that the heart of man stops. Thus beats the heart of men who suffer from palpitations. There is one thing you have to learn: to breathe correctly. Why? Because by breathing correctly you will cleanse your thoughts, you will cleanse your blood, and you will also cleanse your brains. Speaking of breathing, you have to know the composition of air. What elements are included in air? Air is a mixture of one fifth of oxygen and four fifths of nitrogen. So the Intellectual world deals with elements of the physical world. What is released during breathing? In the process of breathing oxygen is absorbed from the air, and carbon dioxide is exhaled. In what state are the elements oxygen and nitrogen found in the air? - In a molecular state. In general, when a particular element has already been obtained from some compound body, it is in a molecular state; when it is being obtained from the compound body, while its atoms have still not managed to combine into molecules, it is in an atomic state; and finally, when some compound body is dissolved in water, its elements are found in an ionic state. When are elements most active? - When they are in an ionic state. They are less active when in an atomic state and least active when in a molecular state. Man has to observe himself, to see what his condition is when he is moody, excited, and angry; and what his condition is when he is calm, and in a good mood. Good and bad moods reflect on the breathing, and on the pulse. He who understands this will be able to detect a man’s physical and spiritual mood by his pulse. As disciples, you must study all of the conditions; to distinguish their substance by thickness, and by composition. For instance, what is the substance of anger – thick or thin? - Thick. What compounds is it made of? - Explosive substances. Anger is dangerous because of the explosions that accompany it. When one has been furious, he feels like he has been burning, as if there had been a fire inside him. A lot of time has to pass until he repairs all the damage from that fire. The damage happens in his organism. What is anger due to? - Superfluous energies in the organism. When man has a lot of desires that he cannot fulfill, part of the energy which has been allotted for their attainment is left unused – that energy is the cause of anger in man. Unprocessed material in the brain causes a slight process of rotting, of fermentation, and as a result anger is provoked. Unfulfilled desires produce anger. When one is angry, this shows that he has many unrealized, unfulfilled desires. What is the cure for anger? - Implementation of those desires. Superfluous energy accumulates behind man’s ears. Among very angry people these areas have evolved significantly. Phrenologists call these centers destructive. These centers are connected with the motor muscles of the mouth and therefore, when man becomes angry, he starts moving his mouth. He who understands the law of transforming energy will know in what way to channel surplus energy from his ears to his brains and put it into work. He who does not understand this law, when he gets angry, will put his tongue to work – back and forth, until he casts that energy out and relieves himself. The tongue is a machine-gun, and the words – the gunfire that pours out here and there until it is all over. When you want to know which words are negative, go to an angry man, take a pen and a sheet of paper and start writing. He will speak such negative words, that you will not be able to find them in any dictionary. If you want to know which words are positive, go to a grateful, content man, and listen to him. As a method of influence upon anger, occult knowledge recommends that the disciple should forgo his numerous desires. The disciple is not allowed to have many desires simultaneously. Why? - Because they could not evolve regularly. It has been determined how many square meters of land are needed for a fruit-tree to grow well. If you had a quarter of an acre3 of land you wanted to plant with vine-stocks, you would be able to plant ten vine-stocks at the most. Should you plant any more, they would grow weak, and they would give puny fruit. Therefore, in order not to obtain puny fruit, do not rush to realize all of your desires at once. Desires of man are in embryo, and therefore he must gradually hatch them one by one, so that he can feed them in order for them to give good fruit. Every desire of man is a capital that can be transformed into kinetic energy, but it must wait for its time to come. Every desire is a power that will give its results, but this power must be awakened at its allotted time. The desire must not be awakened neither earlier, nor later than the allotted time – for every desire there is a determined time and space, when it can be realized. Should not you abide by that time, you would stumble upon a number of negative states, among which in the first place would be anger. When man cannot achieve one of his desires, he becomes envious. When he begins to envy, anger will come as well. Should you want to liberate yourself from anger, you have to attain your desires. In order to attain them, they have to be few in quantity. How many desires can you realize annually? - One desire. How many classes can a disciple finish annually? - One class. The most capable of students can finish two classes, and a disciple of genius – three classes. The genius studies too, and passes grades, but for him there is a special school. The genius is also prone to mistakes; he has the circumstances to make mistakes more than the ordinary man. The genius wins a lot, loses a lot, and suffers a lot; the ordinary man wins a little, loses a little, and suffers less. To regulate the energies of your organism, you have to breathe correctly, deeply. Thus, the numerous desires divert man’s attention. You meet someone – thoughtful, head bent down, looking towards the earth. That man has many desires, and as a result his breathing is poor. This has also been noticed in the life of eminent actors. When a capable actor becomes too ambitious, blood circulation inside him becomes irregular, his breathing – incomplete, and as a result he becomes nervous and gets angry. The remedy for anger is finding a friend of yours who is negative, passive; ask him to put his left hand on the right side of your head and you will see that after a short time all of the surplus energy in you will pass over to his hand and you will be relieved. You have been positive, active, and he – negative, passive, as a result of which between yourselves a right exchange has occurred. So the wrathful person must find a quiet, peaceful person to pass a part of his superfluous energy to. It is not bad that man gets angry, but he should know the law, and put that energy to work. It is preferable that man gets angry, instead of not getting angry at all. There are people who are passive and when they get angry they cannot express their anger externally. They act as quiet people – in reality they are not quiet. Passive anger generates fear, and active anger generates vengeance. Vengeance is particularly strong when someone tries to oppose anger. When a man gets angry, give him an opportunity to display his anger; should you stop his anger, he would start taking revenge. Why are some people incapable of getting angry? - Because they do not have a surplus of that energy. They resemble those drunkards that want to drink, but either they have no money, or there are no taverns open. So they do not have the circumstances to get drunk and so by necessity act as sober; they are ready to go to the nearest open tavern and get drunk. The truly sober, virtuous man is the one that despite having all conditions to drink or get angry, is still unable to get off his balance. Such a person has a will, has self-control. He who has a weak will succumbs even to the slightest temptation. Now, as disciples of an occult School, you must study the contradictions that you stumble upon. You have to study the various states that you go through. Sometimes you sit, you feel somehow oddly uneasy, and you do not know where to put your hands: you put them in front – you are not comfortable, you put them along your body or behind you – again you do not feel comfortable. If you understood the deep meaning of your condition, you would describe it easily. Hands represent the human will. When you do not know where to put your hands, this means that you do not know with what kind of movement you have to display your will. When you put your hands behind your back, in front of you or alongside your body, by doing this you are looking for the most suitable method of displaying your will. As soon as you find a suitable place for your hands, you will have already solved the question as to what way you should display your will. As a first method of displaying will, there is the application of the law of transforming energies in your organism via the lungs. Eastern nations pay great attention to breathing as a method of work in many directions. Western nations also wanted to use this method, but as utter materialists, it gave them bad results. They wanted in a quick way to achieve a lot of things, but paid dearly for that haste. Love is required from people, so that they could use properly the knowledge of breathing. Without Love there can be no breathing. The first condition is that Love participates in breathing. If Love does not participate in breathing, you can have no success. In that situation the organism cannot handle its superfluous energy, as a result a number of negative states are born in a man. When breathing is not done properly, semi-organic materials start to build layers of sediments in the organism, which are the cause of all illnesses. Thanks to these sediments, these semi-organic materials, the blood of man cannot be properly cleansed and causes the growth of many microbes. Now you have an idea of how complex the breathing process is. It is enough to imagine those six-hundred million workers, who work selflessly day and night, so that you can comprehend what a great process is preformed inside your organism. Besides, each cell has its own strictly defined specialty. If you do not consider this process consciously, you will say that living is not worthwhile. No, living is worthwhile. Each inhalation and exhalation is the result of the work, the effort of millions of workers. Therefore, breathe consciously, with Love, if you want always to have a good inner disposition. Should you get a bit angry, all harmony in the organism is disrupted, and along with that, breathing becomes irregular. To understand how expensive each human is to Nature, make a calculation on how much is spent on him in a year. As you know how much is paid for twenty-four hours, you will easily calculate the expense for a year. And that is an expense only for breathing. Calculate after that how much is spent on workers in the stomach, in the brains, and in all other organs and limbs. After all this, somebody will come and say that Life was not worth anything, and that everything had been given to us for free. Such is for those who do not understand. One, who understands, knows how expensive Life is, even for the smallest creature, and even more for man. You are fed by Nature, without realizing how many resources it spends on you. Indeed do children realize how much their parents spend on them? However, when they grow up, when they start supporting themselves, then they see how much they have cost their parents. It is not an easy job raising a man. When you render an exact account of all the resources Nature spends on you, you will see what a thing man is. Then in your soul will awaken a great feeling of gratitude to Life, which has been given to you. Only at this consciousness will you understand the deep meaning of the words “On blessing we live”. Secret Prayer Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen 1 1 lv. = 0.5 euro today, although in the days the lecture was written, a lev was worth far less than that. 2 This is an ancient Sanskrit word that describes favourable energies in the air. There is no equivalent neither in English, nor in Bulgarian. 3 In the text a unit equal to a fourth of the acre is used. I could not find an equivalent in English and I decided to leave it as it is. Source

Note 5 Harmonization of Energies Master’s Sixth Lecture delivered at the Youth Esoteric Class on 8 November 1922 – Wednesday, 19.00h, Sofia Fir-für-fen, Tao-bi-aumen Secret prayer Your topic to write on for the next time is, “The Difference between Soul and Spirit”. When writing on the topic each one of you should try to feel free, not to be under the influence of anyone else’s opinion, or of what certain authorities have written. Each one shall be one’s own authority. Write about what you know and what you understand the soul and spirit to be. You may also read what other authors have written on the issue, but it is important for you not to be influenced, to be true to your own understanding. What is your understanding of the word difference? You talk about the difference between two variables, between two equations. What we mean, when two variables are compared, is the difference between them. There is a quantitative difference; there is also a qualitative difference. People speak about difference in colours, so there must be a difference between the quantities of vibrations. We also talk about difference in the beliefs of various people; what is meant here is the degree of human evolution, and the lifestyle people keep. Everyone lives according to one’s beliefs. Human intelligence, as well as human life, is determined by one’s beliefs. Therefore, people say, “Do not dwell upon what one says, but dwell upon the way one lives.” One’s life style determines one’s beliefs, one’s views, and convictions. Some say that they believe in God, but when requested to do a favour they immediately delve into their memory to find out whether the person requesting the favour has done any wrong or harm to them. And if one is found, then they immediately give up doing the favour. Such people remember the evil for years. What belief can this be, to remember the evil? I now want to take your attention to the consonants. In this particular case neither the character of the letters nor the symbol, expressed by them, is of importance; the importance is the intensity of energy contained in each letter and needed to pronounce it. For example in order to pronounce ‘b’ one brings the lips nearer and applies a little tension. The upper lip is connected with the forces of the Astral World. Two types of energies flow out of the lips simultaneously: active energy from the upper lip, and passive energy from the lower lip. The letter ‘b’ stands for the creative principle in Nature. Note that when one wants to do something, one is tense, and makes an effort as if pronouncing the letter ‘b’. Chest thrown out, eyebrows puckered, straining oneself, one says, “Baa, I can do this thing!” Which is to say; that having pronounced the ‘b’ sound you connect to certain types of energies in Nature. This shows that nothing is accidental, nothing happens by chance. The graphic sign for the ‘b’ sound may vary with different peoples, but the particular energy related with the sound is not accidental. The intensity of this energy is a precisely determined quantity. Having pronounced this sound, one manifests one’s desire to create; in order to realise one’s desire, one should know how to pronounce it. When God pronounced this sound, He created the world; He said, “Let there be Light!” The Holy Scripture is known as The Bible, where the first letter is again ‘b’1. While pronouncing the sound ‘v’ you place the upper teeth upon the lower lip. Teeth are connected with the physical world. Hence, when pronouncing this sound there goes a unification of an active principle from the physical world (teeth) with a passive principle from the Astral world (lower lip). When pronouncing the ‘g’ sound, you have to pay attention to the position of the tongue. The word ‘glottal’ begins with the ‘g’ character2. Such is the shape formed when pronouncing the ‘g’ sound. This shape stands for infinity. When pronouncing the sound ‘g’, the tongue touches against the palate, close to the throat, which is to say that you have to understand the measures used to determine the infinite order of energies or figures. With the sound of ‘g’ there is a little rounding of the epiglottis, not of the lips. This sound represents a musical figure. The energies connected with it come from the Spiritual World, therefore the word ‘God’ also begins with the same letter. The letter ‘G’ designates infinity3; it is the sign for infinity. When we say that God is infinite, boundless, this particular attribute is contained in the letter ‘G’ standing at the beginning of the word. When pronouncing the ‘d’ sound, the tongue touches the palate, up there near the teeth. The tongue stands for the reasonable principle in human beings. The palate represents an active principle from the Divine world. Thus, when articulating the ‘d’ sound the principle of Reason within human beings interacts with the Divine world. The function of the tongue is three fold: to taste, i.e. to try the taste of things, to move, and to talk. When articulating the ‘d’ sound its tip only touches slightly to the Divine World. The sound ‘d’ contains such an active power, which is capable of reconciling the oppositions between the physical and the Divine Worlds. This letter represents an equilibrium law. The ‘d’ contains such rules, through which the forces of Nature can be regulated, counter-balanced and harmonised. When articulating the ‘e’ sound, there is a slight contracting of the throat and the tongue has a special position in the mouth – it touches slightly upon the lower teeth, upon its passive side. The letter ‘e’ stands for propagation in Nature. At the same time, it also designates two semi-circles, resulting from the division of the circle in two parts. The sign, placed in this position denotes the sound ‘e’, while when it is turned to face west, the same sign denotes the number ‘3’4, if turned upwards to face north, then it denotes the Hebrew letter for ‘sh’, ‘shin’, ‘w’. From this point of view, the sign of the letter ‘e’ denotes descent of Divine energies into the physical world, to be utilized for the propagation and realization of everything that wants to manifest, to materialize itself. When articulating the ‘z’ like in the word measure [mezə], (the Bulgarian sign for this letter is ‘ж’), there is a small hole between the palate and the tongue. This is to show that this sound is connected to such energies, which facilitate the growth of organic seeds in Life. If you examine the Bulgarian letter ‘ж’ carefully, you will note that it consists of two shin’s or of two letters ‘e’ – one facing up, the other facing down. This is to show that there is a double growth in this case; the upper growth is in the branches where there are blossoms and fruit, and the lower growth is in the roots, which grow, get stronger and propagate. Hence, the sound ‘z’/‘ж’ is connected with forces and energies fostering growth and evolution.5 Fig. 1 (up) and 2 (bottom) One should study the sounds in order to get connected with the energies flowing through them, so that one can experience the influence. It is the energies, which come out of the thoughts, feelings, words and acts of human beings, which account for the harmonic or disharmonic situations experienced by human beings. Imagine you are thinking about a friend of yours, and when you remember about him or her, you feel pleasurably harmonically predisposed. What is the reason for this predisposing? The good thought you are sending out to your friend. Thoughts do not travel along straight lines; they follow sort of wavy lines. At the same time, your friend is sending out a good thought to you, and is at the same time, preparing to visit you, as he or she had promised. Your thoughts meet your friend’s thoughts and the thoughts of both of you follow a proper exchange. As thoughts are wavy in shapes, the ups in your friend’s thoughts coincide with the downs of your thoughts and they continue on their way (Figure 1). What you feel is harmony spreading over you. However, the least suspicion in respect of your friend breaks the harmony of your thoughts and you feel a headache, a tension around the temples. Suspicion causes the collision of your thoughts. How do such collisions occur? The ups of your friend’s thoughts no longer get into the downs of your thoughts, but ups meet ups, hence the repulsion of thoughts (Figure 2). This repulsion is the cause of your headache. So, when there is harmony in the thoughts of one person or between the thoughts of two or more persons, there always appears Light; as soon as the harmony between thoughts is interrupted, darkness and obscurity come to one’s mind. This law can be verified everywhere in Life. A teacher explains a problem to his students. If a student is in doubt whether he or she can understand the problem, immediately the explanations given by the teacher vanish and the problem becomes obscure, non-understandable. Therefore, when the teacher explains something, the students must be in harmonic connection with the teacher. A single doubt interrupts the connection. When the students are in connection with their teacher, the latter elevates their thoughts higher, links them with the vibrations of his own thoughts and the students are happy and find the subject clear and easy to understand. They are glad that there is light in their mind and consciousness. This is how, when two harmonic thoughts meet, there appear waves, which flow properly along their course. The ups of the one thought get into the downs of the other thought and thus they form one wave (Figure 1). Similar is the position of two cogwheels, when they get into each other. If the movement of these two wheels is altered this immediately leads to disharmony and they stop moving. If they do not stop, there will be frictions, which may break some of the cogs. You may perform an experiment, to find out what impact harmonic and disharmonic thoughts have upon people. Out of two thoughts in harmony, one is positive – it is connected with the cold currents in Nature; the other thought bears negative energy – it is connected with the warm currents in Nature. As long as one keeps moving between these two currents, one finds oneself feeling all right, and healthy. Then in the one hemisphere of one’s brain there appear cold currents, while in the other – warm, magnetic currents. When the head gets hot, one finds oneself sick. In order to restore one’s healthy condition, one has to trigger a certain split of the mind within, so that there would be two different currents running in the two hemispheres of the brain. As soon as such a state is achieved, blood starts circulating properly and one starts feeling healthy. Rain in Nature is also formed under the same conditions, namely when two different currents – the one warm, the other one cold – meet. The same can be said about the origin of one’s thoughts and desires – they are also formed when two opposite waves or currents meet. Let’s go back to letters and words. When you pronounce letters, it would be good if you write them and study the movements of the throat, tongue, and lips. Little by little, you will move from letters to words. You will see that many words are grammatically correct in writing, but there is a certain lack of correspondence between their meanings and the forces acting within them. For example, the word criminal, by its meaning is a bad word, but as far as the forces or energies contained within are concerned, it exhibits an ascending movement6. When you call someone a criminal, you mean a person violating the law. However, the energies contained in this word are of an ascending order. This word is of a noble origin. With the Bulgarians when a child starts walking, i.e. the child makes its first step in life, the mother makes honey bread and invites neighbours to a treat. Consider there is a prison awaiting the criminal, while there is bread awaiting the newly walking child. This shows that even though certain words have acquired negative meanings, they have not completely lost their purity, have not been corrupted. I shall explain how this happens in the following example: Imagine you have a beautiful bottle made of pure high-quality porcelain; and you pour strong acid into the bottle. Acid is harmful, dangerous, but it does not corrupt the bottle, it does not penetrate through the holes of the porcelain. When the bottle is emptied you want to pour pure fine water into it. What do you have to do? You rinse the bottle thoroughly, and you see that it becomes pure, so that you can freely fill it with water. What does this show? This shows that the contents of the bottle were impure, but the very bottle itself has retained its primary features. Similar is the situation with the word criminal, which is corrupted only in its sense, but not in its primary origin, substance, and vibrations. As soon as we get rid of its sense, it acquires the features it originally had. Apart from form, contents and sense, words also have age. Some words come to live only a few years; others – a hundred, two hundred years, while still others – live a thousand years, two thousand, and longer. The word criminal is not a negative word, but it acquired a completely different meaning in Bulgarian and has become corrupted. Similarly, the word chantteuse is corrupted. It is of French origin. France is its native land, its mother and father are there, and it means a lady-singer. This word is of a high, noble origin. When it left its fatherland, it was motherless and fatherless, wandered among foreign peoples, knocked on foreign doors, which completely distorted its sense and meaning. Wherever it wandered, it was made do servant’s work – to wash up the dishes, and consequently the word today is corrupted. Chansonnier is understood today to mean an easy profligate woman of low morals. So, while you are studying various languages, pay attention to the positive and negative words. For example, the word light is positive, while the word darkness – is negative. Darkness always follows Light. These are two sisters; one is dressed in dark clothes, the other – in light ones. Having dipped below the horizon, Light becomes invisible. Darkness, however, follows it closely. Therefore, darkness is the opposite force to Light, to Love – hatred, to the Good – the evil. Light, Love, and Good are positive words, while darkness, hatred, and evil – negative ones. While classifying the words in such a manner you will dwell on the word criminal, to find out which other word corresponds to the contents implied in it. You have to find the father and mother of the word criminal, to study its origin. If the mother and father of this word are good, noble people, it is impossible for their daughter or son to be criminals – this is the law. Although, sometimes while a person is growing there are deviations – but there is no way such a deviation can be a crime. You say that the word criminal can be substituted with the word evil-doer. This word means a person who works according to negative methods. While studying the positive and negative words in any language, you have to dwell also upon the neutral words. For next time make a list of fifty positive and fifty negative words so that you could see whether the contents and sense of the words always correspond to their outer appearance, to their external expression. Being esoteric disciples, you have to do a number of exercises, to reach a point where you would understand words by their contents and sense. Why? Because esoteric disciples are not allowed to use ambiguous words. When you want to state a Truth, the words you use have to be positive in form, in content, and in sense. Moreover, each word represents a picture, an image of something alive, be it from the physical or Spiritual worlds. Remember the first esoteric musical exercise you were given at the Esoteric School. The first musical exercise was from the physical world: “Force alive, spring-like, flowing”. It represents a live picture of flowing moving waters. The second musical exercise was “The Sun is rising”. When you articulate the words the Sun is rising, you start thinking. You can see, before you, a live picture of the rising Sun – you can imagine how the Sun is rising, how it sends its light to all Nature, and what this light performs. “The Sun is rising, sending its light, bringing joy to life.” What is this Joy due to? Joy is due to the fact that all plants shoot, grow and develop. This is another picture, but it belongs to the Astral world, where the energies are superior, finer than the ones in the physical world. The third musical exercise that was given to you was “Honey Sweet”. It also conjures a number of pictures in your imagination – about the Sun, the flowers, bees and their lives, their culture, their great purity. These pictures bring meaning to the words of honey sweet. It is from these pictures that the idea, contained in the words honey sweet, stands out. The sweet has come from the Sun and has penetrated the flowers, from where bees suck it out and processes it. They convert it into honey and use it for food. When you try to visualize the picture about the life of the bees, the first that meets the eye is their physical cleanliness and great assiduousness. The tiniest deviation from the law is enough to inflict a severe punishment to any bee. Well, when studying a language it is good for you to classify the words in such a way that each one falls into the relevant world – physical, Astral or Mental. Thus allocated, each one at its own place, the words will be clear, understandable in meaning and content. Then there will be no such ambiguity, as you sometimes encounter with certain words. For example, you often use the word love, but some feel shy when they pronounce it, while others are wondering what kind of love is meant. This shows that this word has several meanings, which result from the various currents within it – ascending and descending. The fact that you ask yourselves what kind of love is meant shows that there are several kinds of manifestations of love: love manifested among animals, among people, among Angels, and finally there comes the Divine Love. What is the difference between Angels Love and Divine Love? As disciples of Love, you will say what the difference is between the one and the other kind of love. (- Divine Love contains forces, conditions for growth) – Divine Love stands out with Absolute fidelity – within it there is no changing, no betrayal; it does not alter by form, or content, or by meaning. Angels love alters by form, but never by content and meaning. If it does not alter by content and meaning, then this shows that Angels love is free of passion. If you talk to an Angel about passions, the Angel will understand nothing: Angels are absolutely ignorant in this respect. As far as human love is concerned, you are familiar with it, no need to dwell upon it. You all know that human love is interspersed with animal love, and this is precisely why it changes by form, by content, but not by meaning. It includes passion and excludes Purity. A distinctive feature of human love is that it always imposes restrictions. Suffice to say that if somebody falls in love with you, he or she immediately restricts you. He or she says, “I love you and you will mix only with me and my friends, you have no right to befriend anybody else outside this circle.” Animal love changes by form, by content, and by meaning; it is forgetful of everything. If we examine closely the Latin word anima meaning soul, and the word animal7, by content and by meaning, we consider them positive words. When we want to exaggerate something, to show that the energies flowing somewhere are lower, we use the word animal, but this word, does not in the least, contain lower energies within it. There are, for example, animals that manifest love at a level higher than human love. A rat was observed taking grains to a pigeon, to feed the pigeon. We consider animal love at a lower level, because it is predominantly connected with matter. It does not acknowledge a world higher than the material one; as soon as the material world stops existing, the animal love comes to an end as well. Animal love goes as far as their interests are connected with matter. Human love, however, spans both worlds - the material and the Spiritual worlds. When you study the bird life, you notice that they get together in great numbers not out of love, but out of need to defend themselves, to attack their prey etc. They disperse as soon as the danger is over. Human beings also pass through all of these states. In order to arrive at great Love, human beings have to go through all the phases of Love – through animal love, through Angels love and finally one will enter Divine Love. These are phases of Love, which one has to observe and study within oneself. So, as long as human beings are preoccupied only with material life, they are within the confines of animal love; as long as human beings are preoccupied with material and spiritual life, they are within the confines of human love; as soon as human love sheds passion, human beings enter upon Angels love; and finally when human beings get to know the reasons for all phenomena in Life, they enter upon Divine Love. If you want to verify the truthfulness of my words, keep an eye on your manifestations, as well on the manifestations of the people close to you, so that you can find what phase of Love you have reached. You will notice what subtle distinctions there exist in the various manifestations of Love with different people. Being esoteric disciples, you have to study Love in all its manifestations, in order to understand the supreme Love – God’s Love. If the word Love is not determined, the reason for this is that it contains four types of currents within, amongst which there is a certain correlation. Out of these four types of currents in Nature you can make four equations, where you will designate Divine Love with the letter “D”, Angels Love – with the letter “A”, the love of human beings - with the letter “M” (from the word manas, meaning man), while animal love – with the letter “N”8. If the stomach prevails over the other organs, one manifests human love; if the lungs prevail, one manifests Angels love; if the brains prevail, one manifests Divine Love. Fig. 3 Now, if the width of the head, i.e. if the width of the brain is bigger than the length, this shows, that with this person animal love prevails. The width of the head is measured by the distance from the one ear to the other one. The bigger the width of the head, the greater the intensity of forces active in these centres. Apart from its width, each organ has certain activity, which is a function of its volume, of the space it takes at a given moment. If you draw radii from the middle of the ear to the front and upper part of the head, the length of the radii will allow you to determine the kind of love within this person (Figure 3). If the OA radius is longer than the other radii, human love prevails; if the OB radius is longer than the others – Angels love prevails; if the OC radius is longer than the rest – Divine Love prevails. Hence, the length of the radii determines the intensity of Love manifesting itself in a person. The length of the radii determines the degree of Love’s intensity. Fig. 4 If we draw two lines from the ear – one, OA, above the nose, and the other, OB, below the nose, there will be an angle of 30 determining the intelligence of the person (Figure 4). The value of this angle determines the various degrees of intelligence with animals. Originally, the brain’s centre of gravity was located somewhere behind, but alongside the gradual evolution of humankind, the centre of gravity moved to the front part of the brain. This is exactly why the forehead of the human being is straight, while that of animals – is slanted, sloping. This is the reason accounting why animals walk on four legs, not on two like human beings. The AOB angle determines the intensity of mental energies with human beings. If you examine how the word love9 is written in Bulgarian, you will notice that the first letter ‘v’ represents an angle, similar to the AOB angle. This angle is composed by two variables – AO and BO, which head in two different directions and counteract each other. When you write the word love, you will notice that the ABC angle (Figure 5), which is a replica of the letter “V”, is also formed by two variables AB and BC, moving in different directions. In order to implant reason into Love, you have to link the A and C points with a straight line, so that you draw a triangle. In this situation, the three sides of the triangle can be equal, but their lengths depend on the direction of movement of the AB and BC lines. If these lines are longer or shorter than the AC line, there will be a right-angled triangle, to which one can apply the Pythagoras theorem: the sum of the squares of the two catheti is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. The surface area is a measure for forces. Thus, the forces acting within the square of the hypotenuse are equal to the sum of the forces acting within the squares of the two catheti. Fig. 5 Often in life, people talk about the straight path, which is symbolically represented by a straight line. However, the straight line does not in the slightest mean a straight path. The straight line determines the shortest distance between two points, but in no way does it determine the straight path. Why? Because even villains choose the shortest path, without actually taking the straight path. There is a huge difference between a straight line and a straight path. The straight path is determined by the intensity of the forces acting within a person. I shall give you a graphical representation of this idea (Figure 6). There are the forces – M and N – coming from two different directions and moving towards point A, but they encounter the resistance, CD, and are repelled. This resistance is a rock, in the middle of which there is a spring A. The M and N forces heading towards A, represent the forces of the mind, MA, and of the heart, NA. When these forces encounter the resistance, CD, they go back, forming a circle. Having traversed this circle, they go back to where they have come from. To avoid repulsion these forces have to be employed to work. This is to be done by the will. The will is a force, which employs one’s thoughts and feelings to work, and produces a number of actions. When a person has a weak will one’s thoughts and desires form a circle each, without performing any work. When a person has a strong will, such a person employs his thoughts and desires to work and thus performs something. Fig. 6 These are explanations, which distract students’ attention. Such explanations are needed as a break. This is how teachers treat little children – when the teacher notices that the children are tired, the teacher discontinues the lesson and tells the children a story. When they have had enough rest, the teacher goes back to the subject. Now you too, listening to my explanations about the forces, find it difficult to relate what I started my lecture with and what I am now telling you. The relation is in the point that whenever you pronounce a word, you have to manifest a thought, a feeling, and an action. From an esoteric point of view, each articulated word, each movement contains either positive or negative forces within. For example when you want to hit someone, you make a downward movement; when you want to prevent someone from committing a crime, you make a movement with the arms ahead. The upward movements we make contain ascending forces and can be positive or negative. The downward movements are descending and can be positive or negative. Now that you know this, you should be very conscious of your movements. Never keep your head facing downwards, to the ground, as you will connect with the forces of the Earth, which will affect your thoughts. Therefore, keep your head up, so that you will connect your thoughts with the forces coming from the Sun. It is at times necessary for one to take a look at the ground, but if one constantly looks at the ground, this person will be distorted. The Bulgarians have a saying, “Beware of a person who looks at the ground!” The Turks have a saying, “One who looks at the ground, burns the hearts around.” Each movement is a function of certain forces, regardless of the fact whether one is aware of these forces. These can be coming from the mind or from the heart. Movements can also stem from the consciousness, from the self-consciousness, from the sub-consciousness and from the super consciousness of the human being. Disciples should watch themselves, should study the movements and the forces related with such movements, so that disciples, via words, can regulate them properly. Now that you write on the assigned topic, “The Difference between Soul and Spirit”, for some time dwell upon the words spirit and soul; give it a thought. These will enlighten your consciousness and you will write something on your own. These words are ideal as they carry Light within themselves. By dwelling upon the words, you will learn how to understand the profound meaning implied in them. Esoteric disciples should never be in a hurry. Having, calmly and quietly pronounced several times the words soul and spirit, at the word soul you will feel a special warmth, special mildness in the pit of the stomach and will experience a desire to caress everything around you. Having pronounced the word spirit you will feel a special strength, special activity. The word soul generates mildness, while the word spirit generates strength. The word soul produces an internal opening towards a certain centre, while the word spirit – opening towards the external, accompanied by a desire to conquer the world. These are experiences you will go through having pronounced soul and spirit. You will then ask yourselves, “Am I a soul?” – “I am a soul, because I sniff, I smell something.”10 As you can see the Bulgarian word for soul has several meanings: sniff, smell something; strangle11 somebody, i.e. take somebody by the throat, i.e. try him or her, whether they are souls or not, whether they live or not. You will then tell yourselves “I am a Spirit.” Having said this word you will experience a current of a force flowing into you, of an activity having a desire to break loose, get outside. Having pronounced these two words, two currents will form; one flowing from outside, passing through the head and going down to the sympathetic nervous system; while the other one flows out of the sympathetic nervous system, passes through the heart and hence spreads over to the head. When pronouncing the word soul, the currents come from above and penetrate inside the organism; when pronouncing the word spirit, the currents follow an outbound direction. Now that you know this, you should regulate the energies in your organism properly. If the energies of your organism are not properly distributed, this will cause a number of sufferings for you. Now that I watch you, I can see that your energies are not properly spread – there are more energies clustered at certain places, while at other places there are less energies clustered, and subsequently you have disharmonic experiences. When we say that a person has a character, this means that the energies within this person are distributed exactly at their proper places and are in harmony with each other. Being disciples, you have to understand the law on the energy transformation within your organisms, not to be left to deal with deviations. To this effect, you have to regulate the forces of your organism, to balance them, to control your mind and heart, to direct your will, to understand the relationship between the Spirit and the Soul. As soon as you accomplish this, you will be able to perform the duties you have to Nature; you will also reach the objective you are aiming at – to get to know God, to know yourselves. This is the meaning of Life. To find the meaning of Life – this is one of the great tasks of esoteric disciples. To achieve this, disciples have to start with the smallest task – work upon one’s body. This takes exercises, efforts and diligence. Secret prayer Fir-für-fen Tao-bi-aumen 1 The Master makes reference to the beginning of the Holy Scripture – Genesis. The Bulgarian for Genesis is Битие [bitie] - a word beginning with the letter ‘b’. In order to retain the Master’s idea Genesis was translated as Bible – thus retaining the same reference source and keeping ‘b’ as the first letter/sound of the word. (tr. note) According to the Hebrew Bible, God created the world with 'b' (beth) and the first word in the Hebrew Bible is (Bereshit) which means in the beginning. The Book of Genesis is called Bereshit in Hebrew. Genesis means the coming into being of something; the origin. (Ed. note) 2 The Master makes reference to the ‘g’ sound – and his example is the Bulgarian word ‘гърло’ [gə:rlo] meaning throat. Moreover the sound ‘g’ is articulated in the throat, but is not present in the word throat. So, to preserve the reference to the ‘g’ sound and to the organ of articulation, гърло [gə:rlo] was translated as glottal. One more so to say deviation from the original – the Bulgarian letter for the sound ‘g’ is “г” – the Master says that this is the shape that stands for infinity. Perhaps, infinity can also be seen in ‘g’? … 3 The Master comments on the Bulgarian block capital letter for ‘G’= ‘Г’, which is a lop-sided ‘L’ sign. Quote: The ‘G’/‘Г’letter consists of the figure 1, upon which the sign for infinity rests… but the figure 1 is not a constituent part of the English letter ‘G’. So the translation of the above sentence in italics was condensed to: The letter ‘G’ designates infinity, it is the sign for infinity. 4 The mirror image of ‘E’ in Bulgarian is ‘3’=[z]; as the Master talks about multi-functionality, I was trying to find a letter which the ‘E’ sign would designate when facing west. Well, in English, when ‘E’ faces west, it designates the number/figure ‘3’ 5 The Cyrillic letter ‘ж’ presents a problem. It has no single letter/sound correspondence in English – the directly corresponding sound can be represented by a graphic sign only in the English transcription in [plezə] in pleasure; [mezə] in measure. 6 In this context, the Master comments on the Bulgarian word for criminal - „престъпник” [pres’təpnik]. The point the Master makes can be understood only through understanding the meaning vested in the Bulgarian word – it is derived from a verb meaning to take a step beyond. However, this word has two meanings a) to take a step beyond on the physical level, and 2) to take a step beyond on the moral level, i.e. beyond the limitations set by law; the second meaning translates in English as transgress -‘trans’=beyond & ‘gradi’=step. Hence the common deep sense in both meanings of the word in respect of a criminal and of a child. These comments do not directly refer to the origin of the English word criminal. 7 The Bulgarian word for ‘anim-al’ i.e. ‘живот-но’ is derived from the Bulgarian word for ‘life’ i.e. ‘живот’ - just like the English word ‘anim-al’ is derived from the Latin ‘anima’ – although anima and life are two different words the Master traces a derivative pattern and comments on the root word – life in Bulgarian – the closest approximation in English was achieved through the Latin word anima meaning soul in English.. 8 The Master wants animal love to be designated by the Bulgarian letter ‘ж’ standing for ‘животно’ = ‘animal’. 1. This letter has no directly corresponding English letter; 2. The English word animal begins with ‘A’; 3. ‘A’ was assigned to Angles’ love – So, ‘N’, being the second letter in the word animal is suggested to stand for animal love. 9 The Master refers to the Bulgarian word for Love = Любов [ljubov] (the two words begin with the same sound), and comments on the shape of the first letter ‘Л’ in relation with the angle – similar shape, hence resemblance to the angle, has the English letter ‘V’, although as if turned upside down. This letter is present in the word Love. But the first letter of the English word, unlike the first letter in the Bulgarian word does not show any resemblance to the angle – which is the point the Master makes. The translation deviates from the original text only in that it compares not the initial letters of the two words, but the initial letter of the Bulgarian word to the third letter in the English word, as these two bear resemblance. 10 The Bulgarian word for soul has several meanings. Moreover, the Bulgarian words for soul, sniff and smell are homophones, i.e. these three words, having three different meanings, are spelt and pronounced in the same way. 11 The meaning of strangling is achieved by shifting the stress of the word to the second syllable Source

Беседата на български Note 4 Tuning of Forces Year 2, Lecture 5 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on November 1, 1922, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tao-bi-aumen Silent Prayer The disciples essays were read on the topic "The Distinctive Features of Life". What is meant by the word coordinate in mathematics? (Coordinates are mathematical constructs which determine the position of points in a coordinate system.) Imagine that you have the four coordinates of a point. Do they relate in the same way to the centre of the coordinate system? No, they don't. Therefore by coordination we mean correlation, tuning of forces. Picture a point in space; this point is alive. Since it is alive, it is in a state of motion. If there are two points, they will form a straight line. This straight line will have only one dimension, that of length. Therefore, when two points move consciously, they form a straight line, which has a concept of only one dimension. The two points can move only along this line and only in two directions: upwards or downwards. If two points, A and B, move in opposite directions, they will meet in one point after a period of time, but they will not be able to pass by each other. If you asked these points if the beings from their world could pass by each other, they would say, “According to the laws of our world, when two beings meet in one point, they cannot pass by each other. In our world all beings can meet only face to face and when they part, they turn their backs to each other.” So, when they are coming towards each other, they face each other, and when they turn around to go back, they have their backs to each other. Why is that? Because they cannot pass by each other. However, in the world people live in, they can go and come back always facing forward. Therefore, all relations amongst beings are like mathematical formulas that we need to translate so that we can apply them consciously. So, if two beings move only in a straight line, they will know only one thing, the point. In their mind, the line is but the sum of multiple points, and they will never even suspect that all these points form a straight line. If you asked them if straight lines exist in the world, they would say, “A straight line may exist, but it is not a part of our world.” Therefore, according to these beings, the point is the measuring stick for figuring out the world. They view the point as an infinite unit, i.e. as 1 π. The number π cannot increase infinitely because, at a given moment and at a given occasion, a given thing in the world can only be measured by a specific unit of measurement. Different things are measured with different units of measurement. For example, the concepts and objects of the one-dimensional world can be measured using linear metric units. However, can a plane be measured linearly? No, the plane, being a part of the two-dimensional world, can only be measured in square metric units. The plane is also a living, conscious being that has its own unit of measurement. When the beings from the one-dimensional world ponder the question of right, they reach only relative conclusions. For example, those beings who move only in a straight line say about themselves that they are the only beings who are right. Why? Because the only movement they know is that of the straight line, they do not recognize the curved line. If I ask these beings, “Could you stab someone in the back,” they would say, “Not under any circumstances.” “How about in the chest?” “This we can do.” “Why?” “Because, in our world, there is only a front but no back.” If one of the wisest beings of the one-dimensional world finds a way to bend a straight line to form a circle and thus manages to leave the conditions of the one-dimensional world, created by the straight line, then when beings A and B move towards each other, they will eventually touch their backs. We call this movement falling. These beings will be bewildered by the fact that they can touch their backs. This is the situation of the fallen and sinful people in the world. They do not face each other but have their backs towards each other. The sinful people are people of the one-dimensional world. He who knows the laws can make these people pass by each other. However, this is something impossible to do for the beings from the first dimension. Now picture the point on which one of these beings stands. Here is my question: can this point move in a right angle, i.e. can it move perpendicularly to the line to which it belongs? No, it cannot do that. Why is that so? It is so because this point can move only in one direction. If you could photograph the movement of the beings from the one-dimensional world, you would see this movement as a straight line. However, the individual shifts of the beings themselves would be marked as individual points. If the points that make up the straight line start moving perpendicularly to themselves, they will form a plane. How is a plane different from a line? The line is the border of the plane. The line has an infinitely remote point and the plane has an infinitely remote line. What lies behind this line? Nothing. However, this nothing marks the boundary of reality; it marks the boundary of what has been manifested. This, which has been manifested, lies behind this nothing. This nothing does not imply at all that it is impossible to manifest that, which has not yet been manifested. You wonder how nothing can beget something. Well then, how can the imaginary unit, which is a nothing in itself, become a real one when raised to the fourth power? Now let us put aside the one-dimensional world and move forward to the world of two dimensions. Let us imagine that I meet two beings who are at two opposite poles and I ask them if they can meet; I ask them if they can unite the two ends of the straight line into one point. Their answer is that this is impossible for them to do. This means the following: two beings who are of opposite opinions cannot share the same place by any means. This statement is true about their world. However, we can prove to them that this is in fact possible to do. How? By forming a circle. Therefore, the two ends of the straight line are the end boundaries of the broken circle. These two beings - who have been thinking, until now, that their views are diametrically opposed to one another, and as a result, they cannot meet in one place - can under certain conditions, form a circle and meet in one point. If you ask the beings from the two dimensions if there are planes in their world, they will tell you that in their world there are lines, but no planes. According to these beings, the world is made only of points, and lines. I ask these beings, “If the lines of your world move perpendicularly, what will they form?” “We do not know,” they answer. “This knowledge is transcendental, and is beyond our consciousness, and experience.” They have no idea that if the lines are connected in a perpendicular direction, they will form a myriad of worlds, similar to their world, and that all of these worlds together will form a plane. If the plane moves perpendicularly to itself, it will form a cube. So, if the line moves perpendicularly to itself, it will form a plane. If the plane moves perpendicularly to itself, it will form a cube. A cube is a three-dimensional shape. People belong to the three dimensional world. We asked the beings from the first and the second dimensions what they thought about movement in their world. However, we will not stop at that. Now we would like to know what they think about the movement of the beings from the third dimension. I ask the following: is it possible to bring together all the points and all the borders of a cube? How many sides does a cube have? Six. How many edges does it have? Twelve. Is it possible to bring together all the edges of a cube? It is impossible to bring together the points, the boundaries, or the edges of a cube. Picture twenty-four cubes with differently coloured sides. One of these cubes is positioned in the centre of all the rest. If the central cube changes its location, the rest of the cubes will move, too. Can you tell, in this case, how each cube will be positioned in regards to the central one? Even when the cubes are repositioned like that, you will notice that neither the points nor the sides of these cubes can be converged into one point. The four-dimensional shape that is formed by eight cubes is called a tesseract. The cubes within this tesseract move from the periphery towards the centre. And so, the four-dimensional world is characterized by its four coordinates; it is the world of time and space. That is why simple people say that time can fix everything. The tesseract is a shape of the fourth dimension. The four dimensions determine the relationships among all beings. These dimensions are used in mathematics, as well. They can also be applied in people’s actual life. For example, people cherish certain moral views about what is right; they have the notions of positive and negative, and they judge things with those views and notions in mind. Some people maintain that the negative cannot be turned into positive; this, however, is not true. The negative can turn into positive under certain conditions. Take, for example, a man who owns a small sum of money, but needs another ten thousand leva. He goes to a banker and gets a loan of ten thousand leva from him. Now, this banker who used to have a hundred thousand leva available is now, having lent ten thousand of it, left with a hundred thousand minus ten thousand leva in his safe. On the other hand, the man who started with a small sum has now added ten thousand leva to it, and thus, his sum has grown. However, the time comes when his payment is due and he has to pay back the loaned money. After he has paid back his debt, he is left with a sum that is minus ten thousand leva. In this case, the money in the banker’s safe increases by ten thousand leva. When it comes to monetary exchanges, people come across a number of crimes. What are all those crimes about? He, who lends money, creates conditions for crime. Why? Because he, who has borrowed the money, has to resort to lying when he cannot pay it back on time. The one who returns the money on time passes for an honest person. On the other hand, the one who lends the money passes for a benefactor. These are all external appearances and one cannot judge people’s character based on those things. Imagine that you have ten thousand leva in your safe and you depend on it; you build your happiness based on this ten thousand leva. An acquaintance of yours comes by one night and pilfers your money. As soon as you learn that this person has robbed you, you say a number of bad things about him. A few days later, this same person comes to your home disguised as someone else and starts conversing with you. One thing leads to another and you finally come to the topic of the ten thousand leva, and you complain that you have been robbed. “No problem,” he says, “I can help you by giving you another ten thousand leva. I am a rich man and I have a lot of money at my disposal; I won’t even know that I have taken money out of my safe.” “I am extremely grateful,” you say. “I have never met such a generous person in my life!” I ask this now: are your conclusions in either situation correct? The person who robbed you and the one who gave you the ten thousand leva are one and the same man. Is it possible, then, for one and the same man to be both a criminal and a benefactor? We can draw the following conclusion from this example: in their relationships and their actions people can be both good and bad but, in essence, they are neither good, nor bad. What does this indicate? It indicates that a person may be working with the positive at a given moment, and then at another moment that same person may be working with the negative. With this in mind we can define the bad as something negative, which creates suffering for people and the Good as something positive, which brings joy to people. However, in Nature both the negative and the positive have the same value. This is not so for us, though. Why? Because we apply different measures to qualify things: one person’s measure is not the same for another person. In this case, in mathematics, we speak of the so-called incomparable values where we are dealing with unrelated constructs. For example, what is the formula for the area of the circle? The area of the circle equals π.R2 where π equals 3,14…, i.e. it is an immeasurable number. The letter R designates the radius of the circle and it can be a different figure. The circle is an emblem of something related to the notions and concepts of the fourth dimension. The circle designates time. It can be measured by using different means and that is why we speak of the quadrature of the circle. If this is so, you should know that in Nature there exists one absolute measure and that this absolute measure can be applied to everything. When moving, this measure exists everywhere simultaneously; it is everywhere with all its points no matter how intangible those might be. People cannot comprehend this measure and it will always remain incomprehensible to them. Therefore, the circle represents the ideal world for the first dimension, the cube represents the ideal world for the second dimension, and the tesseract represents the ideal world for the third dimension. The tesseract is formed by eight cubes. It cannot be drawn, i.e. it cannot be represented on a plane. The same way a plane marks the boundary of a cube, a cube marks the boundary of a tesseract. Can you imagine a tesseract and picture the way it will move in space? This is impossible for the common mind, but the impossible in one world is possible in another. Therefore, it is possible for two people to make peace with each other; it is possible for hatred to turn into Love; it is possible for falsehood to turn into Truth; it is possible for injustice to turn into Righteousness. What is the modern people’s concept of lying? Imagine that someone borrows ten thousand leva from you and promises that he will return it after a certain period of time. However, he does not keep his promise after that period of time has passed. The period is extended for a few months more and then that person appoints a new date by which to pay his debt. This date arrives and he is unable to keep his promise again. What does lying come down to in this case? It comes down to an inability to keep time. How do you define time; what is it related to? How do mathematicians and philosophers define time and space; how and with what do they define the projections of these forces? They use a clock to measure time and certain measures of length to measure space. Mathematicians often calculate the intensity of certain forces, which act on certain energy lines. (Time, in physics, is measured according to the quantity of performed work.) In mathematics, one letter is multiplied by itself, which shows that certain values can grow. To what degree can they increase, i.e. to what degree can they grow? They can grow to an infinitely great degree. This is growth! Every impulse, every urge is part of time; every expansion is part of space. Therefore, time and space are manifested in one and the same moment. When energy passes from one state into another, we call this transition time; the expansion at any given moment we call space. Now, Good and bad can be given new definitions from the viewpoint of time and space. In general, Good and bad are two processes that are manifested in the conscious life of man. That, which simultaneously grows and expands, we call Good, and that, which simultaneously moves and shrinks, we call bad. In this sense, bad is a process of division. When people are divided, when there is division and subtraction amongst them, this is the bad in the world. When there is addition and multiplication among people, this is the Good in the world. However, in Life, as it is in all of Nature, these two processes take place simultaneously. For example, when we speak of expansion, this implies that a body or a shape used to be small once. In that case, even the smallest expansion is noticeable. Therefore, if one wants to expand a body, one needs to make it small first. A verse of the Gospel says that the righteous will resurrect and the sinful will disappear. This means the following: the righteous will grow and the sinful will become smaller. Many think that this is impossible, but it can be proved. For example, the ground is covered with ice and snow in winter and you consider this to be real. However, you do not see the little seeds hiding in the ground. Therefore, you do not see the Good that is hidden in the ground. Since you do not see the Good, you do not consider it real and you say, “For years we have known this condition of the earth, the way it is all covered with snow and ice. If we want to remove this cover from it, we need to break through it with hammers.” This is how you think in regards to evil. However, as soon as the Sun comes out, this age-old ice and snow starts to melt, then it turns into water and sinks deeply into the earth. Where did your reality go; where did the evil in the world go? However, the activity of the Sun does not end here. It continues to grow and under the influence of its warm and bright rays, the seeds that were hidden in the ground start to sprout. Before long, the earth is covered in grass, trees, and flowers. Where did the evil go? The evil had to go down, melt and disappear in order for the Good to come in its place. If you look at the Earth from the fourth dimension, you will see that it is covered with a huge layer of ice. You are the Earth. There is the following line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Therefore, the Earth has the ability to fulfil God’s Will, i.e. everything that is planted in it has the ability to grow and develop. Since people represent the Earth, they, too, can fulfil God’s Will. Some think that people will be able to fulfil God’s Will only if a new social order is instituted. However, the social order is only a shadow of Life. Therefore, the shadow is something changeable and the fulfilment of God’s Will does not lie in variables. Every object casts a shadow, but the shadow itself is not a constant as it comes and goes. If this is so, then the social order, being the shadow of Life, may exist or may not exist. For example, the shadow of an object is largest in the evening, smaller at noon, and very small or non-existing in the morning. Man represents the Reality of things and everything else is fictitious. You might say that man is influenced by economic conditions. I ask you this, was there man before any kind of economic conditions existed? Yes, man existed before any other conditions; it was man who created all the conditions. It is ridiculous, then, that the creation could influence the creator. Man should not be fooled by claims that economic conditions are a factor in human life; hence, man should not be influenced by those conditions. Man is above all conditions. Religious people might say that it was religion that created man. This, too, is not true. Man existed before religion and before all economic conditions. Scientists, on the other hand, say that science will fix the world. Was there man before science? Therefore, man, who has created religion, and science, and economic conditions, has the ability to change everything himself. This is the idea that should remain in the minds of all people and become the foundation of their life. The human Spirit is the main factor in Life. If the human Spirit makes a decision, everything - religion, science, and conditions- will change. When this happens, people will act according to Nature’s laws. And now, people act according to their own understanding, and beliefs. Someone writes a maxim about Life, and everyone tries to act according to this maxim. This maxim is a personal view; it is not Nature’s view. For example, most people today pass as Christians because they believe in Christ. This is true, they are Christians, but Christ was not a Christian? Why? In order for him to be a Christian, he should have believed in someone else, someone outside of him. What do we know about Christ? We know that Christ preached about Love and fulfilled his Father’s Will. Christ never preached Christianity. The heathens created Christianity; it did not exist before Christ. What is Christianity? Christianity is a collection of formulas and rules that are imposed on people. We believe in the Absolute measure of things; we believe in one principle that regulates all manifestations of Life. Every teaching that is based on Absolute measures, on Absolute principles, is outside religion, outside science, outside any conditions, i.e. such a teaching is above religion, science, and conditions and can change them at any time. When the human Spirit moves parallel to God’s Spirit, it can be the master of everything in its life. Today some people argue amongst themselves about who is orthodox and who is not. Others, on the other hand, argue about communism. Was Christ orthodox? Was Christ a communist? He preached the idea of Love that has existed before time and will exist for all times. You may say that communism, too, preaches love among people. True, communism also preaches love, but this love is still misunderstood. This love cannot give people what they need. Religion, science, and economy represent mathematical relations and coordinates. Religion is an upward movement; economy is a downward movement and science is a horizontal movement; these are three coordinates that are in a certain relation to each other: they have one common point. Since they have one common point, they also have common interests. What do their common interests lie in? For example, if a factory makes icons, what determines the number of icons that it must produce? This number depends on the number of pious, religious people who believe in icons. If the factory depended on people who do not believe in icons, it would have gone bankrupt. If the rules of a religion state that people should not eat meat and butter, before long a number of butter makers and butchers would go bankrupt. What will the butchers and butter makers do after that? It is science, then, that will come to their aid, “The latest scientific data shows that the doctors recommend that the consumption of meat and butter should increase.” Right away, the condition of both the butter makers and the butchers improves. Now, we can use one of the mathematical theorems of Pythagoras in order to define economy, religion, and science in scientific terms. Let us say that one of the sides of a right triangle represents religion, the other side represents economy, and the hypotenuse represents science. Then we can rephrase the Pythagorean Theorem like this: the possibilities of science contain the possibilities of religion plus the possibilities of economy. Therefore, science, i.e. the hypotenuse, will solve the religious and economic problems. The delusions of the religious people are in the fact that they think that religion will fix the world. The world will be fixed only when we look at religion as one factor and at science and economy as another two factors and we find the relationship among these three factors. Now, let us demonstrate this idea through the equation a2+b2=c2. These parameters are religion, economy, and science. So, the sum of the squares of religion and economy equals the square of science. Two other equations can be derived from this first equation: a2=c2-b2 and b2=c2-a2. What can come out of these two equations? Here the mathematicians have the floor. Religion, economy, and science are concepts of the mind. In that case, we can talk about another way of reading the Pythagorean Theorem, namely, we can say that the possibilities of the mind plus the possibilities of the heart equal the possibilities of willpower. Then we can come to yet another application of the Pythagorean Theorem by saying that the possibilities of the mind plus the possibilities of the heart plus the possibilities of willpower equals the possibilities of the soul. In this case, we reach the equation for a sphere. Finally, we can talk about one last application of the Pythagorean Theorem: the sum of the possibilities of the mind, of the heart, of willpower, and of the soul equals the possibilities of the Spirit, i.e. a2+b2+c2+d2= Д 2 These are forces and relations that you need to work with. Therefore, willpower is an equal force to the mind and the heart; the soul is an equal force in relation to the mind, the heart, and willpower; the Spirit is an equal force in relation to the mind, the heart, willpower, and the soul. Besides these several equations, we can form one more equation, namely, that the sum of the possibilities of the mind, the heart, willpower, the soul, and the Spirit equal the abilities of God. This can be expressed in the following formula: a2+b2+c2+d2+ Д 2= Б 2. We can form yet another philosophical equation: the sum of the possibilities of the mind, the heart, the willpower, the soul, the Spirit and God equal the abilities and the possibilities of the Absolute, of the Infinite. This we can express through the formula a2+b2+c2+d2+ Д 2+ Б 2=A. Through this last formula, you enter the boundaries of the transcendental realm. These mathematical formulas will help you make calculations in astrology and some other sciences. Let us assume that you take the mind as a given factor, as a given force. Let us say that this force is placed within certain conditions and possibilities where it can manifest itself. What are these possibilities that we are talking about? They are the Signs of the Zodiac. Let us say that the mind has manifested itself on the night of the first day of March. Given these conditions, it is already predetermined what possibilities the mind will have to manifest itself. Likewise, it can be determined what possibilities the mind has to manifest itself if it has appeared on the second, the third or any other day of March. These are all mathematical relations. When you do these calculations, you should record precisely when the mind has appeared. You can do the same about the heart, if you decide to pick the month of July for its manifestation. The human mind and heart never manifest at the same time. The mind comes together with the physical body. First comes the body, then the mind and finally, the heart. When a child is conceived, the extremities (legs and arms) form first, then the rest of the organs are formed (the liver, the respiratory system, etc.) and finally, the heart is formed. The heart is formed at the moment when the activity of the willpower in the child is manifested. It is manifested at the moment of birth, when the child cries. When the child takes in its first breath, its heart starts beating, i.e. it manifests itself. Therefore, when a man manifests the Conscious life, this shows that he has already left the uterus of Nature. When a man manifests his consciousness, this shows that he has left the limiting conditions of Life and has started to live freely. This is the day of birth. The first thing a child does when the willpower is manifested is cry; then it lifts its arms up. When it lifts its arms up, this signifies that its willpower has manifested itself and has started to act upon the child’s consciousness. When the hand starts to regulate precisely the direction of its movement, this shows that the child is already manifesting its conscious willpower. It is a different story if these movements are harmonious or not; what matters is that the child’s willpower has started working within the child. Only a correctly manifested willpower yields harmonious movements. What did you understand from everything that has been said tonight? (That every world has its main unit of measure for defining and measuring things.)1 Truly, when we say for a man that he has a limited mind, i.e. that he is limited in his thinking, this means that he moves in the one-dimensional world, in the world of the line. For example, the miser lives with only one idea in mind; he thinks only about money. In his mind, the coin forms a centre, a point around which everything else revolves. In this respect, he is a man of the one-dimensional world. On the other hand, someone else may only think about building a house, getting married, finding a companion, and having some children; such a man lives in the two-dimensional world. Wherever he goes, he speaks of the two selves - me and you - he lives in the plane. Will these two people be able to live harmoniously, should they get together at one place? When two people get together at one place, this means that they will go in a new direction. Picture a deep well with a thousand steps leading downwards. There is a person sitting on each step and there is a big, sturdy pole in the middle of the well. All the people, who live in the well, look up through the opening and say, “I wonder what is up there, in that world?” The life in the well is arranged in such a way that they give orders to each other while being unable to raise each other further up; everybody just sits in their place and will not move from there. The one, who is on the highest step of the well, is only ten meters from the opening, but he does not realize it; he thinks that he is far from the opening. All the people in the well have been in this situation for years and none of them has been able to rise even a step higher from their situation. After a while a wise man comes along, looks down into the well, and seeing all the people in it, asks them, ”What are you doing down there?” “We are sitting in one place.” “Can’t you move?” “No, we can’t.” “Will I be able to help you?” “It is very unlikely that you could. We have been sitting here for years and we have been firmly planted each one in our own place. This pole here has been sitting in the middle of the well for a thousand years.” Then the wise man brings a rope with a hook on one end and lowers it into the well. Everybody watches to see what will happen. What happens is that the hook catches the person on the highest step by his clothes, and without realizing it, he finds himself outside the well, in the bright, wide world. The rest wonder where their friend has disappeared, how come he just vanished from before their eyes. The absence of the man on the highest step creates a small movement in the well. The second one immediately moves up to the place of the first one, and in this way, everyone climbs a step up. The wise man asks them probingly, “What is happening down there?” “One of us has left the well and the rest of us have climbed a step up.” This is what we call evolution. “Can you move now?” “We can’t.” He lowers the rope into the well again and catches the next one. The rest move again and climb another step up. The wise man lowers his rope this way into the well 999 times, each time pulling a man out until there is only one man left in the well. This man says, “By now I have travelled 999 steps up. I am ready to leave the last step I’m on.” I ask this now; can this gradual climbing from one step to another be culture? This is no culture at all. Is there anything important about the ladder you have been climbing? There is nothing important about it. The important thing is in the rope and in the hook. This is where the world’s culture lies; you lower the rope into the well, catch someone with the hook and fling him outside the well. Evolution, on the other hand, is all about the gradual climbing of the steps. It is about time that the Fifth race should leave the hole of this well. By the word hole, I mean the thick matter. I will use an example to explain to you more clearly the meaning of the well. There is this rich farmer who owns millions of wheat grains. Come spring, the farmer goes into the barn and asks the grains, “Are you comfortable in here? Do you have the opportunity to expand?” “No, there is no room in here. We are too close to each other and have no conditions to expand, and as a result we cannot stand each other.” The same way people enter each other’s space and think that they are happy. The farmer picks up a grain and holds it in his hand for a while. The grain looks happily up at him and feels free. Then it asks its master, “What do you plan to do with me?” “I plan to put you into better conditions.” The farmer picks up a scoop of wheat grains, takes them out to the field and seeds them with a sweep of his arm. Each grain falls onto the ground and into a little hole that feels like a big well to the grain. This well is no deeper than fifteen centimetres; not many grains can fit into a well this size. When it finds itself alone in the well, the grain starts crying and complaining that here, too, is not a good place. The farmer tries to convince it that it is going through this process for its own good and that soon a hook will appear that will bring it up to the ground surface. Before long, the moisture starts working on the grain and tells it, “Come on, go out of the well already so that there is room for other grains.” The little grain starts climbing out of the well little by little. Therefore, the well, i.e. the restrictive, limiting conditions of Life that one enters, represents the thick matter. The same thick matter also envelops the human consciousness. If one wants to crack open this layer, this shell of consciousness, one needs the help of moisture, light, and the New life; one needs the help of Love, too. God’s Love, being a supreme force, will sweep over these conditions and will give a new guidance and a new direction to one’s consciousness. In order for this to happen, one ought to pass through several phases; one ought to leave the barn and then enter the well, i.e. the soil where one will be covered with more dirt until one grows out of it. The process of growing is but the action of the intelligent forces of Nature; the forces of warmth and light which are like the rope in the hands of the wise man of the previous story who pulled the man out of the well. Half of your brothers – the roots - will stay behind in the well, waiting the day of their salvation. One day, they, too, will leave the well and others will climb up to their place. Most people today need to leave the last well they are in; the well of the flesh. When they start moving consciously, they will leave this well, too. And so, Righteousness, the Absolute measure which we apply to Life, is neither in the one-dimensional, nor in the two - or even the three-dimensional world. It is in the four-dimensional world, in the world of the fourth dimension. It is in the world of time and space that good and evil are defined. When you apply time and space correctly as a measure for things, you will feel a deep Joy and harmony inside. If you do something wrong, immediately you will feel grief and disharmony inside yourself. Then you will know that the world, in which you move, is not harmonious. However, the world of the fourth dimension is harmonious. No crimes can take place there. Why? Because this world has round, circular walls. Imagine yourself living in a world that is like a cylinder. At the base of this cylinder are stashed all treasures; all the gold is there. If a thief enters this world, he will take some of the gold as soon as he sees it and he will start climbing up the walls of the cylinder. If he decides to rest for a while and put the gold aside, it will slide right down to the bottom. It does not matter how many times the thief will climb up and down to take the gold from the bottom of the cylinder, for, at the end, the gold will end up in its place. For this reason, there are no crimes in the four-dimensional world. One may get robbed time and over again, but his money will find its way back to him in the end. That is why Bulgarians have a saying that where water has flowed before, it will flow again. In this case, where money was once, it will come back again. So, each thing that has been lost or stolen in the Divine world will go back to its place. This is the law. There are no crimes in the Divine world. There the desire may exist for crimes but no conditions exist there for realizing such desires. The people from the second and the third dimension have the habit of stealing but as soon as they enter the fourth dimension, they find out that all crimes are pointless. What is the point in stealing something if it is going to return to its place right away? The same law is applicable to ideas, as well. Let us say that you are sitting quietly and peacefully when an illuminating, elevated idea comes to your mind. You feel happy and want to remember it, but you realize right away that this idea has disappeared without a trace. What is the reason for this to happen? This idea was not yours. It was someone else’s idea, which happened to pass by you on accident after which it returned to its owner. Therefore, all ideas, all desires, all feelings that you forget easily, are not yours, but someone else’s; those are stolen ideas and desires. Sometimes people lose their love. Why? It was a stolen love. All things that are lost easily are things stolen. You should be thankful that you live in a world with superior and intelligent Beings who continuously correct your actions. If you lose your love, you should know that it was not yours. Nobody can take away what is yours. Remember this: the Real, the Divine is never lost. When Love comes to a man, it cannot be taken away by any being if it belongs to this man. Moreover, Love does not change; it always remains the same. If you lose your love or if it changes, then it is not yours. Being disciples, you should be aware of this. Once you know this, you will neither apologize nor deceive yourselves. The young always speak about Love. If so, why don’t you define only one of Love’s properties? If you cannot define one of Love’s essential properties, then I will tell you one of those: Love gives Freedom. Therefore, when you feel love for a being, the first thing you will do is give freedom to this being. If you feel love for an ox, you will take off its harness and let it roam freely. Love has the desire to free every living being, so it can freely use Life’s goods. Love gives Freedom to all living beings and this is its essential quality. You need no other philosophy. There is a way to tell if the ones, liberated by Love, have understood this law; the way to tell is to see if they, in turn, have the desire to liberate those who are still enslaved. That one, who does not have this desire, this aspiration in oneself, has not understood Love yet. Therefore, being the disciples of the same School, you should not limit yourselves. Limitation is not a manifestation of Love. When you speak, you should give everyone the right to say what they think. When one of you speaks, the rest should listen. You should instil it in yourselves that every person's thought is right. If you do not think so, you suspect that this man is being insincere. You should wait patiently for the others to finish what they are saying. When you write your essays, you have the desire to write a lot to demonstrate that you are learned. This is a false situation. You might write a whole thesis about Love and its qualities but when it comes down to applying it, you fail. I will give you the following task; if you see someone bound in ropes, go and free him. When you go closer to this man and notice that the rope is tight, you will need a knife. Buy a knife and cut the rope. You might object, “Yes, but this knife is expensive and all I have is a hundred leva in my pocket. I need this money for food and drinks; you should send someone else to free this man.” If you say this, it is a sign that you have no Love. What you do not know is that this man is a millionaire and he will thank you for freeing him. Indeed, if you free him, he will say, “Thank you, my friend, for freeing me. Many people passed by me, but no one stopped to free me. I will thank you because you did this big favour for me. You freed me physically and I will liberate you financially. You want to learn, to develop intellectually. I am at your disposal.” And so, he, who has Love, is free; he, who has no Love, is roped. If you have feeble faith and weak willpower, you are roped; you need someone to come along and cut the ropes to free you. New methods and application are necessary for a man to become free. Just reading is not enough; rather, what has been read and learned should be applied. There exists a certain relation between reading and applying. There are mathematical relations in everything in Life. For example, how is the physical body related to the Etheric, the Astral, the Mental and the Causal bodies? According to esoteric science, each one of man’s bodies represents a certain entity. The Physical body is one entity, the Astral body is another, the Mental body is a third one, and the Causal body is a fourth entity. These four bodies represent four coordinates. Each of these bodies has its own energies. You should be able to understand these energies so that you can transform them and translate them from one world into another. Once you have achieved this, you will be able to correct your mistakes easily. Now when I observe you I notice that some of you often put one or two hands up to their temples. Why? Too much energy has collected around the temples, due to which the mind cannot think properly. When you put your hands over your temples, what you do is take away part of the excess energy that has collected around these centres. But you should place your hands conscientiously. First, what you need to do is polarize your hands in a higher field of activity, so that when you pass this energy through your hands a few times, your mind should become clear right away. Sometimes the energies in human hands are connected to lower fields and then he will not only be unable to help himself, but he will even make his situation worse. If this is the case, it will be beneficial if you call someone else, whose hands are magnetic and has good energies and this person should massage your temples. Therefore, do everything consciously. If you follow all the necessary rules, you will achieve results fifty to ninety-five times out of a hundred. However, you must know why you are doing something and how you should do it. You should remember that the essential properties of Love are that it gives Freedom and that it sacrifices everything. God gives everything and never thinks of Himself. People do the exact opposite; they think only of themselves and give nothing. In fact, the situation needs to change in the sense that God should think of us and we should think only of Him. In other words, we should take in God’s Love, we should work for its sake and apply it everywhere as a specific, strictly defined measure. Now, let us close the well! Secret prayer Fir-fur-fen Tao-bi-aumen 1 Whenever the disciples in the audience respond to a question posed by the Master throughout the lecture, their comments are transcribed in italics and placed in parentheses. Source

Беседата на български Note 5 The Distinctive Features of Life Year 2, Lecture 4 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 25, 1922 Wednesday, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer The disciples' essays on the topic “The Distinctive Features of Life” were read. Contemporary people say that Life is motion. Do you agree with this? How do you understand Life? The following verse was read: “A kind word on the tongue is the key to people's hearts.” What is the most important phrase in the above verse? – “A kind word”. Where does the kind word originate from, and where does Love originate from? Can we say that Love originates from Life? Can the cause originate from the effect? You might say that Love creates Life. No, Love cannot create Life. Why? Because Life itself cannot be created. The process of creation is a mechanical process. You can create, you can build a house, but you cannot create Life in that sense. Then you might say that Life doesn’t exist. Life is without beginning and without end. Can you say that something that doesn’t have a beginning and an end exists? In its original sense the word exists was in an ascending state, but gradually it started to descend and today in the Bulgarian language we see it in a descending state. The word exists stems from the root “са” (Bulgarian for "are"), which means manifestation, expression. That is, Life manifests itself. I’ll ask you several more questions. Can something that manifests run off? If your answer to me is that each thing that manifests runs off then I’ll ask you, where does Life remain? What do you make out of the word life? When you read your essays, I notice that you strive to write something beautiful, using beautiful phrases for this purpose, however, you aren't concerned as to whether these essays contain the Truth. In this respect you resemble those fashionable ladies who wear beautiful and expensive clothes to present themselves before the world, without paying attention to whether their clothes are warm or comfortable. However what is allowed to a worldly man isn't allowed to an occult disciple. When a worldly man is hungry, when he has travelled for several days without bread and has no relatives whom he can address, he will beg from this or that person. He will appeal to their nobility, to their benevolence that they might give him something to eat. But if an occult disciple finds himself in such a situation, he isn't allowed to speak as words are unnecessary. He should only say, “I am hungry!” – Nothing more. A third word would be irrelevant. Whoever hears him, will say, “The man is hungry; let’s give him something to eat.” Everyone knows what hunger is. If the hungry man starts to explain why he is hungry, how long he has been starving for, everyone who passes him by will say, “Never mind, don’t listen to him, this man isn't hungry.” Hunger is something powerful by itself. Each explanation would make it powerless. Let’s come back to the question of Life. What is your opinion – is it possible to define what Life is? Some people say that Life is consciousness, i.e., that outside consciousness Life doesn’t exist. The word consciousness is composed of a prefix meaning "with" and a word meaning "knowledge" – it means something accompanied by knowledge. Our Life doesn't include the whole of Life in existence, consequently Life cannot originate from consciousness. Consciousness cannot embrace our life even, let alone the entire life in existence. If we assume that Life is motion, the very motion itself is embraced by consciousness. This means that it is even less appropriate to view Life as motion. Now let’s trace out this thought further. What do you think – is consciousness something permanent? No, it isn't permanent. Is it possible then to measure Life by such an impermanent measure? If consciousness is something permanent, let’s subject it to a ten-day fast and see if it preserves its form or changes it. In this situation we will notice that consciousness, which initially was bright, gradually starts to darken. While your consciousness is bright, you are quiet, calm, and content. As soon as it starts to darken, you become nervous, discontented, and not able to control yourself. Consequently, if consciousness is a permanent, constant measure, it can be said that Life is consciousness. But it is impossible to compare Life with such an impermanent, changing value as consciousness. An artist draws a beautiful picture and he is glad at the sight of it; what is his joy due to? Is it due to the picture itself, or to something else? Can someone be delighted with an object in which there isn’t any Life at all? Can he feel delighted at the sight of a precious stone? Man cannot feel delighted with a picture, or some precious stone. The Delight is a result of something else. A young man loves a young lady; if this young man finds a precious stone and gives it to his beloved as a present, he will be glad. Yet his joy wouldn't be due to the precious stone but to the fact that he has given it to his beloved. If she didn’t exist the precious stone wouldn’t have any value to him. So, let everyone answer to himself what his Life consists of. Reflect on this topic. Consider especially the word life and watch closely how you will feel it deep inside you and how this word is connected with you. Don’t look into what philosophers or scientists have said about life. The important thing is what this word means to you. Pronounce the word life in syllables, pronounce it in a drawling voice, as a song, while observing the impression it will make on you. At first sight this word seems simple, but it contains one of the greatest truths of Nature. You haven’t asked yourself the question whether you are alive in order to feel how interesting Life is. Now you pass for disciples from a special class. But suppose that you take all your essays about Life and read them to a seriously ill person. Do you think that your essays would be able to awaken the Life in him? What are your essays like? Let’s say that you go to bed in the evening and in the morning you start telling others that you went somewhere and you met a lot of people. Would this be true? Your body was in bed, your legs and your arms didn't move from their places – how did you walk then? Were you awake, or were you asleep? You were asleep. If you had been awake you would have remembered where you went. Such is your state in your everyday life too – you think that you are awake. No, you aren't awake. You are still sleeping, but it is time to wake up. I am not the only one who says you are sleeping – you say it yourselves too. When some new idea enters your mind, you say, “I woke up! I wonder why I have been sleeping until now?” As soon as you find yourselves in greater light, you say, “Now I can see, I feel like I am awakening from a deep sleep.” That you are in a sleeping state can be seen from the fact that all the objects around you and all your notions are scattered and disconnected in your mind. When I am saying that you are in a dreaming state I don’t mean to criticise you, but I do want to give a new direction to your thoughts. What does the word "sleeping" mean? Imagine that you go to a music teacher and you want him to give you lessons. The teacher shows you the violin, the bow, he opens the sheet music and he watches closely what you do. You see a violin, a bow, some dots, some lines – some of them going up, others going down – and you leave. This is not music yet. You are intelligent and capable, you have the desire to learn music. The next day you still want to study music so you visit your music teacher again. He shows you the same things, but he also gives you a sheet of paper and a pencil and watches closely what you do. You take the pencil and you start describing the function of the violin, the bow and the notes etc. Again this isn't music yet. On the third day you go to your music teacher, you take the violin in your hands and you start practicing. He shows you how to hold the violin and the bow; he shows you how to play. Day after day you continue in this way until one day you are finally able to play on your own. All the notes need to enter your mind, your consciousness and then you can say you know what music is. Life is something similar. While you didn't know how to play you were asleep as far as music is concerned; as soon as you learn how to play, you become awake for music. Have you tasted Life? You say that Life is joy. Have you tasted joy? There is a lot of grief in life. Have you tasted this grief? Human beings haven't tasted real grief yet. Is the grief of the sheep that loses its life and that of the man who loses his hat one and the same? What kind of grief is that of the man who has lost his hat? This isn't grief at all – it is pure illusion. There is one single kind of grief that I know and it is the grief upon the loss of Love. There is no greater suffering for a human being than to taste Love and then lose it. This grief is true; it is real. Consequently, it is possible to grieve only for the Real and not for the illusions in Life. When does a man rejoice? When he finds what he has lost. There are two important things which Life requires: food and water. This means that hunger and thirst are two strong factors which can deprive all beings of Life. When a human being is hungry, the Life in him manifests and demands food. Unless he eats some food, he feels anguish, unrest and suffering; the minute he eats the food, peace and contentment fill him. This is the way simple, uneducated people understand Life. You might ask, “Are only food and water necessary for Life?” Life requires a lot of elements. I’ll give you the following example: imagine that they lock one person in a room and from time to time they bring him bread and water. He stays in this room for a year or two and everybody knows as he himself knows that he is alive and he is living in this room. After a time they take this person out of the room and place him in a beautiful garden. In this garden he is able to walk freely, breathe fresh air and enjoy the light. He says, “Now I am alive.” Shortly after they take this person to a rich library and let him read whatever he likes there according to his preference. He starts feeling satisfied and happy and says, “Now I live much better, I am beginning to understand the meaning of Life.” As you can see, in the first example this person is alive, but he lives as a prisoner. In the second example he is also alive, but he lives like a free man. In the third example he lives with all his inner and outer needs met. Life should be understood in all its most subtle manifestations, in all its most subtle requirements. A person who experiences Life in its most subtle and meaningful manifestations is always satisfied, because the sphere of his activity is widening. He experiences the pleasant feeling of growth, the feeling of life in his mind, heart, and soul. I am using the word "soul", but this is something obscure to you. The soul is outside of time and space. What are time and space in reality? They are two temporary measures which are used to define things in the material world. Life causes a warm and pleasant feeling in man. Once someone has experienced this feeling, he can never forget it. Imagine that you are climbing a slippery cliff; you go slowly, carefully, but accidentally you slip. At that moment a friend of yours grabs your hand and prevents you from falling. This change in your feelings, the horror that you experienced and the support that you received awakens a tender, warm feeling in you – a feeling which is a manifestation of Life. No matter what trials you undergo in life, you will never forget this feeling. The stronger your friend's love was, the stronger this feeling is in you. He supported you at the risk of losing his own life. Analyse this feeling inside you in order to understand at least the external side of Life. What characteristics do people attribute to Life today? Some people say that Life brings joy, grief, and motion. Others say that Life is a state of the soul in which the soul becomes aware of itself, i.e. a state in which the soul is aware that it lives, that it is in harmony with itself and with the great law of Nature. Being in harmony with yourself means that everything inside you should be in complete order. Imagine that you have a nice and well-arranged garden; imagine that all its pathways are covered with sand and you are walking along the pathways, satisfied and happy. Inadvertently, though, you forget all the things you carried with you on the pathway – a jar here, a small chair there, scattered stones somewhere else. In the evening you go home satisfied that everything is organised and in complete order. It happens that the very same evening while you are deep in your philosophical contemplations, you decide to go out to have a walk in the garden and get some fresh air. While walking on the pathways, you stumble over the jar and you wonder who has left this jar in your way. Then you stumble over the small chair or a stone and you wonder who has left these things in your way. You have forgotten that you yourself have left these objects on the pathways of your garden. After stumbling over one object after another you finally say, “It is really strange how the world has turned upside down!” Who has turned the world upside down? You yourself have turned your world upside down, you yourself have put these stumbling blocks in the way of your life and now you wonder who has put them there. You stumble over some object and you start grieving. Do you really have to grieve because some small chair has been overturned? Should you feel sorrow because you stumbled and fell on the ground? You should feel sorrow if you learn that some enemy of yours has put this stumbling block in your way. But if you know that you are the only reason for this, then there is no need for sorrow. And then nothing else remains other than to reach down, pick up the obstacle and put it aside. Therefore, when studying Life, start with its most essential and simplest manifestations. As regards the essence of Life, this is an issue that you will never solve. Understanding the essence of Life means understanding what God is – in His fullness. It is impossible to understand God in His complete fullness. You cannot even understand the brightness of His consciousness. He is constantly alert, His consciousness embraces everything, and He is sovereign - unlimited and powerful in his ability do whatever He wants to. To you this is incomprehensible. Within yourself you become aware that you cannot do whatever you like, and so you feel unhappy. There is no need to suffer because your growth lies namely in your helplessness. Today you are filled with joy, you are jumping, singing, you think you can achieve everything; tomorrow you see that you cannot achieve anything. Today you are ascending, tomorrow you will descend, but you don’t know why you ascend or descend. It is exactly in these contrasting states that you grow. If someone asks you why you have come to this world you will not be able to answer. If someone asks you where you have come from – again you know nothing. Some philosophers, some scientists say that you have come from the outer world, but you don’t remember this. Do you have some memories from the outer world? Not only you don't have such memories, but you don’t even remember anything from the first year of your life. Do you remember anything from the first year of your childhood? You don’t. You don’t remember anything from your second or your third year even. Perhaps only in the fourth year of your childhood did your consciousness gradually start to awaken and as a result of this you have preserved some memories from that time. When you reason and analyse things in this way, you will see that there are some issues which are difficult to solve and which you'd better set aside. For instance, what would you write on the topic: “What is God?” Some would write that God is the Primary great force, which has created the world, which pervades the atoms and the molecules and which sets them into motion – this force has created the whole Cosmos, all the worlds, all the oceans, all the seas, etc. This isn't God. Others would write that God is Love. What does this Love consist of? When God, that is God’s Love, penetrates in man, he feels inside a warm, expanding feeling towards everything that is alive in the world. Such a person isn't narrow-minded, he sees things properly. Nothing is able to disturb his balance. They might rob him of his millions, they might deprive him of his houses – he wouldn’t wince. He knows that the warm and great feeling he has inside is worth more than any wealth in the world. When they rob him, he penetrates those who have robbed him and becomes a master again. When a certain form disintegrates, Life takes on another form, but this feeling remains. There is no form in the world that could limit this feeling. The problem is not that the form might disintegrate, but that the person may lose this feeling, that Love may abandon him. Anyone who has this feeling in him will remain quiet and calm even if he meets a bear on his way. Why? Because he would penetrate the bear with his consciousness, and the bear will surely step back. A person who has Love knows that the One lives within all beings. As long as you look at all people and all living beings as something separate from you, as something separate from your consciousness, you will always suffer. Then bears will attack you and people will cause you harm. You should look at all living beings as consciousness through which one and the same Life flows. There is one Life; one consciousness penetrates all living beings. Now I will give you one task, one experiment to do: to transform one of your sorrowful states into a joyful one. Imagine that you get up early in the morning and deep within yourself you feel a great sorrow. You feel like working – you don’t feel like working, you feel like talking with someone – you don’t feel like talking, you cannot stand anyone, you don’t love anyone. Your grief continues to increase and you reach a state of great despair. What should you do in this situation, how can you help yourself? Here is what you can do: for a moment remain quiet and calm within yourself and go over your sorrowful state in your consciousness. After that, try to transform this state of yours using the laws of harmony. If you succeed in achieving this, you will notice that a small amount of Joy penetrates your consciousness and your grief gradually weakens until it disappears completely. It means that Joy penetrates grief, so it disappears completely. Then you find out that there is no need for sorrow. If the opposite happens, then grief penetrates Joy and drives it away. Everyone has experienced this: today he wins one hundred leva and he is delighted, tomorrow he loses one hundred leva and feels sad. These weals and woes are temporary and transient but with their help people grow and evolve. These are experiences that each of you has passed through and continues to pass through every day. For example, you are a disciple in an occult School and you have thought of something nice and you are glad, you are satisfied with yourself. Then your Master comes to you and tells you that you don’t know a B from a bull’s foot, that you know nothing; immediately you believe him and you become disheartened, your mood changes. I am asking you – should the disciple get discouraged at once? If he has knowledge, can this knowledge disintegrate because of one word coming from his Master? Imagine that on your back you carry a rucksack with forty kilograms of gold; suppose that you meet an acquaintance of yours and he asks you: “What do you carry in your rucksack?” – “I carry forty kilograms of gold.” “You are mistaken, you haven’t got any gold in your rucksack.” – “Don’t I? I’ll prove it to you right now.” So you take your rucksack off your back and you start counting the gold. I say: this is what true Knowledge is. The one that has Knowledge cannot have doubts in it. So when they tell you that you know nothing, you should get your rucksack off your back and start examining your knowledge. The task of the occult School is to free disciples from the outdated views which have deposited in their consciousness from the past. The value of contemporary people’s views is similar to the value of paper money, of the banknotes that they use. For instance, at present gold is hidden and people use primarily paper money whose value decreases every day. So there is some uncertainty in the lives of people – some uncertainty which they should free themselves from. The same holds true about knowledge too. Some thoughts and ideas are stored in human subconsciousness which aren't real and which don't have positive value. For this purpose your consciousness should be stirred into action, so you can free yourself from your unreal knowledge and keep with you only the knowledge that comes from life experience. If you cannot help yourselves, then ask some friend of yours to help you. If he understands the laws, your friend will change your state and you will see that this knowledge which you used to attach great importance to before, is worth nothing today. We call these changes in your states occult massages. Contemporary medicine recommends massages. Occultism also recommends them, but under the condition that the disciple’s mind is focused and concentrated. Whatever experiments you do you should know that not all of them will be successful. If ten experiments out of one hundred are successful, they are enough to add something to your belief in the laws of Intelligent Nature. Let’s come back to our main idea - Life. Many people say that Life is motion. There is motion only where this pleasant inner feeling is at work – the feeling of Love towards all living beings. Wherever this feeling is at work, there is Life. When you get up in the morning you should experience this feeling inside you, so you can be positive, active, and have an impulse for work. This is what it means to feel the impulse of each living being, irrespective of whether it is higher or lower than you. The first law of Life is the law of polarities. This signifies that the circle, which represents the entirety of Life, is geometrically divided into two equal halves. The letter "ж", with which the word “живот” (Bulgarian for "life") begins, is composed of the two halves of this circle, which have been turned with their back sides towards each other and joined by the diameter of the circle. This movement continues to infinity. These curved lines are called parabolas. If a body moves along such a curved line, it will go to infinity. When a body starts from the right thumb and moves upwards along the forefinger, one year, ten years, one hundred, one thousand or more years later, it will come back through the left hand, descend along the forefinger and reach the thumb of the same hand. If you join the tips of both thumbs and both forefingers, they will form the shape of the human being. These two semicircles which form upon the opening of the thumbs and the forefingers of both hands represent the polarization of human life. Consequently, man has originated from the movement of these two circles. The circle itself represents the Divine consciousness in which the human being moves. This consciousness is a common centre for all movements. The second law through which Life unfolds is the law of descending and ascending. During descent a reduction takes place, whereas during ascent widening and increasing take place. At these two points the warm and tender feeling in a person diminishes at one moment and at another moment manifests itself again, i.e. at times it decreases, at other times it increases. This pleasant feeling lasts for one moment only, but when it is lost, a certain gap remains in human consciousness. Even the smallest reason is capable of bringing a person to a position where he loses this pleasant and beautiful feeling. However you can gain this feeling in the same way that you have lost it. Consequently you should conceive Life as a moment – it manifests itself within the realms of time and space, but it is beyond time and space. Therefore Life cannot be embraced - it can only be felt. That is why a person can only note that a certain feeling has appeared, or another one has disappeared, but he cannot define when exactly it happened. The moment in which Life manifests itself is beyond time and space. If you draw a straight line over the middle of a human face, the letter "ж" will be formed. This shows that the human face gets polarized, that it can be divided into two halves. In one of them feelings occupy the first place and thoughts are second. In the other part of the face it is exactly the opposite – thoughts are in the first place and feelings are second. When we talk about the human who is made of flesh, i.e. the human who descends, we mean that his feelings have gained mastery over reason. When we talk about the spiritual human, we mean that intelligent Life has supremacy over his feelings. This can be seen from the very face of a human. When someone's lower feelings take over his thoughts, the lower part of his face gets harder and broadens; if noble thoughts and feelings prevail in him, then the upper part of his face narrows and gets more delicate. This can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine the direction in which somebody's inner life moves. For one week you should make the following observation on yourself: when you wake up in the morning, observe carefully if this pleasant feeling is present inside you. It is a constant feeling and it is present in everyone, but you have to watch yourself, perceive it properly and distinguish it from other feelings. As long as you focus on yourselves, try to feel this pleasant feeling of Life, observe it without criticizing. Some of you will notice that this feeling manifests in your mind, others – that it manifests in your heart, while others still will notice it manifesting in their consciousness. If it is in their consciousness, they will perceive it as a small, tender, pleasant light. It comes out from the centre of their consciousness as an intelligent force. Even the lightest touch of this light, of this intelligence is enough to transform a person and make him perceive things with greater wisdom. This is what awakening of consciousness and wise living mean. When you fall into a gloomy state, this light centre gradually starts to darken and small black dots which are in constant movement begin to form around it. While they are moving, they cast a shadow over the bright beams of this centre. Now I wish for you as disciples of the occult school to live and to make use of your own experiences – not the experiences of other people. As long as you use your own life experience, you will sit on the Eternal cliff where no dangers or surprises are possible. If you don’t have your own experience, then everyone will be able to deceive and fool you. You might say for some things that they are real, and for others that they aren't real. I am asking: are you alive? If you are alive, if you are on the eternal cliff, everything is real there. This can be proven easily. How? Take the candle of your life and see if you can read with its light. – “I can't read.” Since you can't read, then you aren't inside Reality. Come to me now and see if you can read with the candle of my life. – “I can read.” Since you can read then both of us are in Reality. This Reality never changes. Martyrs, who have a well-developed sense of Life, never change. Tortures, persecutions and suffering aren't able to shatter them or make them hesitate – they always preserve their feeling of Joy. Therefore, when it comes to Life, you shouldn't look for it anywhere on the outside – neither in Space, nor in the Sun. Where is Life? It is inside you. If you want to find Life you need to concentrate on yourself. This feeling of Life that occultists call Divine consciousness moves with a very high speed. It moves with such a high speed that in a single moment you can go wherever you want to – the Sun, Sirius, Venus etc. Because this movement is absolute, it seems that it absorbs all remaining movements while its own movement remains unnoticed. Those of you who haven't had such an experience would say, “It might be so, but it might also not be so.” Some day, however, when you find this feeling inside you, then you will see how high the speed of its movement is. Then you will feel that the whole Universe, all living beings – from the smallest to the largest, from the tiny flies to the Angels are within you. This movement manifests everywhere – it is Life itself. I wish that this feeling manifests within you and that all of you recognize the Life inside you. Do the following experiment: watch yourself for a whole week and see if you can discern this feeling within yourself. You will surely find something. All the ancient schools have taught us that man cannot know the lives of other people unless he gets to know his own. You shouldn't think that your present life is bad. No, it is the best life that you can have now. For the time being you cannot be given a better life than your present one. Next time I will subject one of you to a test to see what he has learnt from the lecture. The disciples will use words to offend him, and we will see if he is able to transform these words. It is not easy to pass such a test. Of course, those who will be subjected to this test should have a strong back and be able to endure. Don’t think that you will do without such tests. All of you will pass through a sieve. This test is scary! It is a whole operation which requires great composure. When they want to put somebody to the test they place him in a retort and there the tests begin. Once they see themselves in a retort, or lying on the operating table, many of you will say, "We never thought that these people who are so noble could treat us with such cruelty.” You should know that in the occult School the following morale is applied: they start badly and they finish things well. As long as the end result is positive, then the actions are considered moral. For us it is the end results which are important. You shouldn't think that we want you to give up your life. Not at all - we just want to show you the shortest route; we want to set in motion everything that has been deposited into your souls and remained there as potential for ages; we want all the seeds and forces within you to be developed and cultivated. If this is not achieved, then given the way you are living now, at some point you will stumble and come to a halt in your development. This is the reason why the occult schools have been kept hidden from people. Why? Because without understanding the laws, due to their curiosity people have caused them great mischief. They have done what some people still do to blossoming trees today: some person passes by a tree in bloom and without thinking much reaches out and breaks off a branch. After ten people break off a branch each, the tree becomes crippled. When a person does experiments there is a danger that after several people pass him by, each of them might break off a branch and cause him some harm. That is why Christ was telling His disciples that they should beware of swine. When the trees are blossoming, enjoy their scent from a distance, but don't touch their blossoms. Such is the great law of Nature. Now here is an analogy: when a school or university student is interested in the subject his teacher or professor is teaching, then the latter behaves especially well; if the student is careless about his lessons, then the professor is careless towards him, too. In the same way, as soon as we show an interest in this important psychological moment in Life, the Beings who are superior to us and who have completed their evolution, begin to show interest in us and to help us. An inner connection is established between their consciousness and ours. These Beings are close to you, but in order to feel them your consciousness needs to awaken and the tender feeling of Life to manifest inside you. Then you will feel that there is Life where you haven’t even imagined; you will feel that this Life is intelligent – something you haven’t thought of so far. Intelligent forces will then begin to flow in from places you haven't expected. This will be the result of your first experiment. In that case if you have decided to go, let’s say, to Musala, one of these intelligent Beings will start talking to you and determine the programme of your trip. It will tell you what time you should start, what paths to take, it will even tell you where you will meet a bear, so that you don’t get scared, etc. You start for Musala and everything happens as you were told. After that you will be told that you will meet an old man who will stop you and start a conversation with you; further on you will meet a beautiful young woman who will only smile at you. So you keep walking and indeed everything happens as predicted. When you get back home you remember all this and say, “Does anyone really talk to me?” Yes, of course someone talks to you. This Being makes a second attempt, then a third attempt with you; it says, “You will go to such and such a place, you will dig there and you will find a treasure. After that you will go further into the forest and after walking for ten kilometres you will dig in the soil at this particular place and you will find a valuable manuscript. You will find out the key to this manuscript and read it." I am asking now, is this an illusion or reality? – Whatever it says to you always comes true. When the spirits talk to you, however, nothing happens as they say – nothing comes true. When the intelligent higher Beings talk to you then everything turns out to be absolutely true without any exceptions. Finally, after you have done these experiments, your friend will tell you; “Be careful in your life because we see everything. Be careful in your thoughts, wishes and actions, because we know everything.” Then you will believe in this feeling inside you and will have gained valuable experience. And again you will hear the voice of your friend: “Always be cautious!” Secret prayer Source

Note 1 The Occult Music 4 th lecture of the General Class, 2 year. Oct. 22, 1922. I will give you a brief explanation about the occult music. The occult music differs from the common music with the following two characteristics. In the occult music are first given the basic features. It is something like sketching: an artist will draw first the nose, the brows, the eyes, the mouth, the ears — the basic lines and then will gradually develop the picture. We are proceeding in the same way so that you may learn how gradually the music develops, beca use there is nothing that grows up at once in nature. Tonight we will develop another part of the song "living power, springing, flowing"; a new addition, because the song is not yet finished. In the occult music it is not acceptable to have words or tunes with two meanings. In it every word must have only one meaning. If you sing a word with some vibrations you may have a good idea, but when you express it in your subconsciousness the idea will enter which these sounds contain. Now you will learn without criticizing because I do now only the sketching of the basic lines. The words may sound to you somewhat funny but there is nothing comical in them. I am choosing old words. For example for tonight I am choosing the following musical sonorous words: Venir, Benir, Bikhar Benoum II beyout, il bezoot Om beyout II bezoot Om beyoot Zoon mezoon, zoon mezoon benom too meto The mystic meaning of these words is approximately the following: Thou, the Great one, who blesses everyone and everything, be blessed! Lord, bless the great, bless youth, the beginning of life. Bless the young, sprouting divine life. Bless the divine that is conceived in the soul — the Breath of God that we have received in the beginning. These words being in an occult language cannot be translated word by word. For example I will take the following words in the Bulgarian language: The sun is rising, it sends forth light that brings joy to life. These are words with an occult meaning. Now if you want common poetry here we have an example. I gave these words to a friend of ours to interpret them in the spoken language, (The song was read as it was interpreted by our friend Grandpa Blago.) This is ordinary poetry. I explained right away to our friend what mistakes he has made. These are not grammatical mistakes but rather from the occult point of view: the Bulgarian word "obronvam" has two meanings: one meaning is ""shed" (leaves, tears), and the second is "injure" (the prestige of someone). He has used it in the following metaphore: "We shall shed a kind word." The second word with two meanings cannot be well explained and interpreted. Each word must have one and only one meaning. This way I would want you to uproot all old habits. When the words start to vibrate in you all the dust that you have accumulated over the centuries, all your habits will jump away as does the dust when you beat the drum. Now we don't know how to free ourselves. The occult music is one method for freeing. Everywhere, even in the most distant past music was being used, but the religious people have misused it. From the point of view of the occult we want to apply music scientifically in all its fullness. Basically it is very simple outside but for the world — very complicated. Besides, when you perform this music you must have the disposition of a child. You step forward to sing a song and say "I am an old person". What does "old" man mean? If saying that you are an old man you mean that you are feable, weak, let us be frank and accept this truth. Yet if by this word you mean that you have become wise — let it be so, but there should not exist two meanings about it. If by the word "young" you understand foolish, a child that takes advantage to have certain shortcomings, then in this sense neither old nor young are in their proper place. We must always avoid all negative words. When you come to the school of the occult do not permit your mind to keep words with two meanings, if possible keep all words with negative meaning on the outside; you must not cast them away, we may have some use for them, but we will not permit them to enter our parlor or our living room. We will tell them "you do not possess the required value". Further, in the music of the occult one must apply feeling. This music does not permit any wavering in the voice, as some do. Does this come from the depth of the soul, if this trembling indicates noble feelings then you may tremble, but if it means nothing, why should you tremble then? This is a lie, falsehood. This way you create a certain diversion that may cause a catastrophy as a result. Nature does not tolerate deviations. Do not believe that if nature sometimes closes its eyes that it does not observe everything and that you may cheat nature. When it catches you and takes you into its laboratory, you come out from its other end completely purified, but you will have to pass through at least 10 retorts. This is a general law, it is unchangeable, there are no exceptions for anyone. When I speak about nature I have in mind the manifestations of nature. To me nature is the manifestation of God in life. Because God had begun to manifest He will never agree with our childish concepts and change the order of things. Those things that now exist have been tested over and over again. He has examined everything not only once but thousand times. The world that He has created is the best possible world that God has chosen from the experience of the past centuries. He has created this world as one of the best worlds. This does not say that better worlds will not exist, but for the present conditions this is one of the most beautiful ones. At the present conditions of the whole of creation, of the boundless creation, this world is one of the best, i.e. when I say that it is one of the best I understand that in it are existing all conditions and possibilities for a proper development. There exists no power that could cause us to run off the rails. No one exists who could force us to do wrong. We err because of our own will. I speak to you as disciples, I want you to be strong, to stay away from temptations° He who can be tempted has a weak character, his will has the quality of iron, of granite. Why do people get tempted? For example there is a beautiful woman. God has created this woman so that people can enjoy seeing her. One man wants to possess her; another, too, wants to appropriate her. I ask, why should not people enjoy looking at her? God has created this monument so that everyone who passes by can be glad. The Turks say "It is good for one to observe beauty." This statue is exhibited so that people may look at it and improve their own taste. Someone wants to possess this statue and steals it. If the statue is big, he would not be able to take it, but if it is small and made of gold, he simply takes it. I ask, is the statue or he who has stolen it to be blamed? If one catches him, he will say, "some devil has stolen it". Where is the devil? The devil is in us, The desire to possess the statue, to sell it, to gain a pleasure, all this comes from the devil. We speak only about facts, but behind these facts exist instigating reasons. They may be conscious, or subconscious, they may be simple like a weapon. Several people may come together with the intention to steal but one person is the stimulator, the real factor, and the others express it. By studying the occult music you will sing: This is a method for rejuvenation. We need to bring music into our thoughts and emotions, this harmony that will make us feel deep in ourselves something singing, as if we can hear this harmony. This is a condition that will soothe our hearths and our minds, and will give a new direction to our thoughts. You may say: "God will send His Spirit and He will accomplish this or that". Well, are you sure that when the Spirit starts doing it, you will not start to complain, asking God if He could not do this in a different way? He have strange conceptions of things and sometimes we even would want to advise God how He should have created the world. The people who have created music were very intelligent. Music itself is a deep sphere of Creation. These people have understood the divine laws and have expressed this creativity through music. These laws cannot be changed. When the vibrations of the tunes are decreased we have one kind of music, when they are intensified, we have a different kind of music. Music is expressed according to the feelings. Religious people have adopted music for the expression of their religious feelings. Those who want to express their worldly feelings have applied music for worldly purposes. Everyone has used music for his own purpose. Yet the purpose of music is to educate and ennoble man. I would not want someone to come to the class here and to say: "What are these people doing here! They do not pray but some are playing instruments, others are singing. Are these people disciples of the school of the occult?" You will keep away such people that come with the intention to criticize. Now write down the words of the new occult exercise: Izgriava sluntseto The sun rises Prashta svetlina It brings light Nosi radost za zhivota tia. And the light brings joy for life. We will make an experiment: one person will sing alone the exercise and after that the other will sing: Sila zhiva, izvorna, techoushta (living power, welling, flowing). The exercise is still not finished. Do not be hasty! I am teaching you how to build occult songs„ (The Master sang alone Izgriava sluntseto … and we all sang after that Sila zhiva, izvorna techoushta.) After we master these exercises we will give a concert and will make an experiment by introducing here and there these exercises, so that we may be able to see what the results of the occult music will be. Now, write down these words: Venir Benir, Bikhar Benum, il biout, il bisout. Write also the word "sy-mou-tou-sy" which will be an exercise. Now we will sing first sy-mou-tou-sy with the following tones: sol, si, re, sol, since the exercise "Venir-Benir" is more complicated, when we sing sy-mou-tou-sy first normally and then gradually with lowering and raising our voices the first exercise will become easier for us. After that we will sing "The sun is rising". You are singing like students in school, aren't you? After we will sing it one more time I want to see if you have memorized it. (We sang the whole song.) Let those of you who cannot sing listen until this song penetrates into their consciousness. As the words are arranged there is a certain meaning which is absolute. What brings light? Light brings living power like a welling spring. Each word is in its place; whatever you may think, it is a power, the power of light. Sing now silently "The sun is rising." (We all sang.) In the words "Zoun-mezoun" is to be found the secret meaning. In these words is the inner meaning of all things. "The sun rises, it brings light", these things are far away from us. In the words: "living power, welling, flowing" we can experience the power from within, but the light we can try to experience only through our eyes. Therefore the first part of the song is the preparation; a man must be prepared and this takes a long period of time. For this reason this exercise is not yet completed. I am interpreting the music of the occult into modern language, We are moving in a reverse way. Before the words "Living power, welling, flowing" we must place other words, as does an artist, so that the whole exercise may be completed. The first part is the preparation, the second part is the part of action, it expresses that which does the building. "Zoun-mezoun" is then the meaning — the result of that which has been built. When I was explaining to you these words tonight the weather was beautiful but now it has become slightly humid. The humid weather is not good for the music of the occult, it makes the vibrations slightly unfavourable. Now you can sing these four syllables: sy-mou-tou-sy and exercise with them. Have you remembered them? The tones are: sol, si, re, sol. If you sing these tones with their common sounds: sol, si, re, sol they lack occult significance. With the sounds "sy-mou-tou-sy" the meaning is different. Let's sing three times "sy-mou-tou-sy" and the fourth time we will keep singing the last vowel longer. Music is expressed through the same organs as speech, the same membrane in the throat which serves for speech serves also for singing. Therefore singing and speech are brother and sister because they come from the same center. For this reason this membrane must be used constantly for singing. The first thing that happens to a man who comes in touch with the Black Lodge is the harshening of the voice. When the voice becomes harsh the membrane becomes altered, the character of a man changes also because these vibrations are very sensitive. Place in your mind the thought that you are mobilized and say to yourself: "I am mobilized by divine music and I cannot sing but according to all the regulations of divine music." Implant this thought in your mind because this is most valuable. Do not permit anyone to get hold of your throat. When you sing you must be very free. Do not pay attention to what people may say. You may stop and sing even in the center of town. People may think that something is wrong with you but you say to yourself: "I do not care what people say because I sing according to the divine way. If people are courageous to sit in taverns and drink beer, I will be courageous to sing in a divine way. Why should I be the fool and you the right one." This is an important decision. Some among you may think that a certain decency must be observed. I agree that in the world there are certain rules but we have left the frame of common decency. We do things which are very decent. Go to a place where there are many people, where you have friends and start singing. Maybe now you have in your mind certain second thoughts but after ten years you will go out into reality and sing. When you decide to do something the sacrifice which you make must be worth it, it must bring respective fruit. This is an exercise for you to become courageous. You are afraid but this fear must disappear. I would recommend to you to go into the woods to loosen up and sing as loud as you can. Give expression to your emotions. Now when we sing somewhere you think what will this man say, what will the other man say. We can sing also very silently. I am for the inner spiritual freedom. Every one of you must have spiritual freedom. When you sing do not raise your voice, rather listen to yourselves to be sure that you take the correct tones. I have a second violin which I have been lending to different violinists but they said that they cannot play it. I will bring it with me next time to class. I must put into it a certain element of softness. When I put this vital power into the second violin this violin will not play well, because I will take this vital power from this violin and put it in the other violin. In the violin as well as in everything we can put this vital power and it will become alive. We can put into a violin our double and it will penetrate all the pores, at will penetrate into the whole violin. This way the violin has a special voice with fine vibrations. Great violinists and pianists do this. Singers that sing well bring into their larynx, into their soul this special softness. If you could put into your voice this element of vitality you will have a perfect voice and everyone will like to listen to you. But our soul must enter into our larynx. The soul must go everywhere. If the soul enters into the larynx we will sing well, if it enters in our head we will think well. You must know how to tell your soul where to go and it will listen to you. Say: "I want you in my throat." — Good, as you wish, what is your next desire? — Go into my mind I wish to think well. Yet you say "Please, if you wish go into my mind." No, this is not right. You must say definite words, for example say: "Go into my throat to sing for me a beautiful song as you know how to do this." It will sing such a song and you will have a recollection from the past. The soul sings. And now, when the poor soul wants to sing you interfere, saying: "I know that you have the desire to sing but my son is sick and you may disturb him." No, if the soul starts to sing your son will be cured. But you say to your soul: "Please do not sing because my husband is not well disposed." Do not interfere with your rational soul in its manifestations! Every desire, every impulse must be sacred as are sacred the thoughts and desires of God. There is no exception. Because the strivings of the divine soul in us are sacred, and every impulse, whatever it may be, is sacred, too. In the soul everything is noble. You cannot have any doubts. All the soul's impulses are noble, sacred, pure, holy. To every sacred impulse in the world there is one exactly opposite, a reverse impulse. A man has two souls. A noble desire appears in a man and immediately comes the so called evil soul. It will make you walk in the opposite way. This has been proven by experience. I believe that of those who are here every one has made this experience. Therefore, in the school of the occult observation of the laws is required. You must keep the divine laws. When you come to them you will say: "This is a law!" After you have made an experiment and have attained the result you may contemplate, you may ponder over this result. When you have made something you may explore to find what it is made of. But as long as it is not accomplished do not touch it. You can take your watch apart and see how it is made, but as long as your watch is not ready yet you are not supposed to touch it. And so, music is one of the great resources in the world. With it you can attune yourselves. We will use music as a weapon, artillery, machine-gun fire. We will not use music for enjoyment only but as a protection. What does the psalmist say? "Praise the Lord with guitars and with cymbals." I would add to it: with violins, with trumpets, with zithers and all the instruments that are now available „When the Bulgarians see a violin they think that only the devil can play it. For them the bagpipe is more honored and the bagpipe-player has a higher esteem than the violinist. I do not know why, but this is true. There is also this saying that the violinist cannot take care of a home. To me this is right, because the violinist who does not look after a house is a violinist! He is devoted to his violin. If he would put his mind into the home he would not look for the violin. Being absorbed in the violin he says: "Let someone else look after the house, I will make people happy. Those that are sad I will make joyous, those that are sick I will cure." For this reason, we, too, need music. These are short remarks about music. Let's now read some of what you have written on the crying of little children. (Some of the papers were read.) Not all of you have written your paper. Nor did you write a resume on the works of the class. Write only on the core of the theme — on the crying — only the basic aspects, but all of you must write, even maybe only two words, but they should be written. Someone may say: "I cannot write." Write two words even if they are nonsense, but write. If you say that you cannot write you remain in a negative position. Some of you come to the class without having written their themes. This is not right. Here in this school such disobedience is not accepted. The crying is the first exercise in music. This is enough. But it must be true crying, because I have observed some children that do not know how to cry. A child that cries truly makes the first exercising in music. A child that only whimpers and does not know how to cry wants to say: "How should I begin this song?" when it brings out a tone it is not musical. True crying is the first musical exercise! In this respect the tears help. Some children scream, get red but do not shed tears, their eyes bulge out, they try and cannot come to true crying. If the mother is not there this attempt for crying can come to a true crying and after a while they fall asleep. In fact there exist songs and exercises like for example this with the syllables "sy-mou-tou-sy" if they are sung in a monotonous way one can fall asleep. Variety is necessary. One must sing with small interruptions (the master sings stacatto) and then legato. As soon as the vibrations become monotonous one can fall asleep. All states must interchange. The tone "si" is a soft tone. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh what did he say to Pharaoh? —"Sy", "symou". When you say "mou" this tone is very strong at the end. In it there are two movements. The "U" in the occult science has a double movement, one movement is downward and the other — upward. What is the difference between "mo" and "mu"? Have you noticed when you sing the sound "mou" which organ of the throat participates, and which one for the sound "mo"? (The Master sings the exercise "sy-mou-tou-sy" separately but very silently.) You must sing with zeal (ardor). Make observations upon your own condition. For example if you are mentally ill-disposed, make an analysis. Take your watch and start to repeat this exercise and see after how many minutes this condition will change. Sometimes your mood must change and sometimes not. Yet when this energy comes to a point close to bursting and collects in one part of your body we must then stop this explosion, we must give a way of this energy to be used for the accomplishment of some work. Modern men suffer from accumulation of energy. Sometimes this energy gathers in your mouth, sometimes on the tip of your nose, sometimes in your ears. If you only touch such a man's nose immediately this energy will manifest. You could touch such a man everywhere else but not his nose. Others accumulate energy on the upper or lower side of their hand. When this energy collects it may cause explosion, a morbid state. Often certain diseases are caused due to such accumulation of this energy. It is rough and it causes these depositions. The depositions are due to the electrical currents. When the vibrations are coarser this semi-organic matter collects around the joints and when the weather changes the muscles contract, as a result we have at that point occurring some pressure, some friction. These semi-organic matters being solid when they pass through the tissues create friction, gradually inflammation, a chemical reaction occurs and as a result we have swelling. I would proceed to explain to you these processes but I feel that your minds are too critical. For example if I give you a password: "Could you give us another formula?" No, you need will power in order to fulfill an experiment. A friend of mine, a healthy, young man told me the following: "I was given the assignment to write on a certain problem but suddenly I had acute pains in my appendicitis. I had such pains! I started looking for a doctor but from within I listened to something telling me: 'Say to your appendicitis that you are mobilized, that you serve God and that the pain must leave you, that the time was not proper for it to manifest, since it is my time now for that.' Half an hour later the pain disappeared." Who was the cause of that? If he did not speak to the pain in such a resolute way he would have been sick at least for three weeks, with all the complications, the visits of doctors, etc You must say to the disease when it comes: "Listen, friend, I am mobilized! This is it! I live in a divine world where all "beings live in harmony what do you want from me? Go out!" The sickness is a being. Modern doctors are funny. When a swelling occurs they immediately cut it. Now, these things which I am explaining to you should not be taken into the outside world because to those people things must be explained in their own language and according to their concepts. We cannot speak to modern men of science about rational worlds, or rational powers because superficially they act mechanically, automatically. If you should tell these people that you understand these powers you will not be considered an intelligent person. They say: "This is not true." These people cannot believe us. When you go deep into understanding man you will see that two currents flow mostly through the feet in and out. Sometimes the toes are open, or rather in the ethereal double which is connected with the physical body there are certain openings. Some beings can enter through the feet and move in one way. There are currents that enter through the nose. For example a being enters in you to investigate your body and after that cannot go out. When it examines your body it finds a nice place, it likes it there and builds for itself a little home and says: "I will not leave this place, it is nice and I will make for myself a little home." It starts to break up your substances and as a good mason it knows what to use for building its home. You must say to it: "Listen, friend, you cannot build here. Have you asked for permission? Have you mobilized yourself? You must stop with the building! In the name of the great divine law which governs the world you have come as a guest and must leave „ If you do not obey I will find ways to dispose with you according to all the rules which I know." And it goes. Yet we are afraid when something like that happens. How? We call the doctor and when he examines the sick he shakes his head indicating that the condition of the patient is very serious. Modern men are hypnotized. How? The sick man sits and looks at the doctor. The last one checks the pulse. Again he shakes his head and says: "The pulse is irregular."—The poor man wonders what could this indicate. "There is a heart failure," — Failure? He is all scared and his heart begins to beat even faster. The doctor gives a prescription and immediately someone rushes to the pharmacy. This is funny, heart failure! There is no such thing. I can make everyone of you to have such a heart failure. There certainly exists the danger for heart failure. In occult medicine the true symptoms exist which indicate if the heart has a certain organic damage or not. He who studies the occult medicine will find this out. The symptoms appear by themselves on the nails. For example when one becomes sick from tuberculosis there are certain signs which appear on the nails, also. Correct diagnosis of the character of a disease can be made also within one hundred and ninety days. Now comes the doctor and checks the tongue, it is white which indicates that the stomach does not function well. He checks the eyes, they are yellow. This indicates that the liver has a malfunction. The tongue, the eyes — not normal. The third method for checking is counting the pulse — irregular. It indicates also some irregularity in the function of the heart. Well, what is wrong with the heart? The nerve which regulates the heartbeat is defective. There is a break there and sometimes this break slows down and another time it loosens a little and the heart starts to beat fast and one can become afraid. You must say to your heart in this case: "Listen, friend, it is a law that the heart of a man must make seventy-two beats in the minute and you must be obedient." You will repair the break and will not permit any more beats because in the present conditions of life in which we live seventy-two beats are enough. When you meet a man who loves you, you will say to him "Friend you can loosen your brake and make your heart beat seventy-four times a minute." When a person comes to your house whom you love you will say to yourself "Let my heart beat seventy-five times in a minute, even more." You will inform it that when the heart beats more often accumulation of energy will occur at certain places. At present the human heart does not pulsate regularly. You have not made experiments to observe how the heart pulsates and how many changes there are in the way it pulsates. This is a whole science! If you made some research in this you could notice yourselves the changes but when you do not understand this science there is a chance that you may get afraid. When you make your observations you will find how many kinds of currents there exist, how the pulsation of the whole cosmos occurs, how the flows of energy occur in nature. The heart indicates the pulsating of the whole universe. And, according to our heart we may define what kind of flows occur at a certain point on earth. This is a whole science. For this kind of study one must be very sensitive. At the end of the fingers exist certain swellings in the form of tentacles. These must be developed considerably to become very sensitive so that they may notice these flows. When the sensitiveness of the nervous system becomes excessively developed little swellings, very fine organic swellings are formed. With such refined sensitivity one can feel with the slightest touch these currents. Let's now return to music. You must begin to sing in order to be able to tune yourselves. After that we will proceed to the second exercise which is "Venir-Benir." At this point I must warn you to keep separate the songs of the occult. You must not mix the occult exercises with ordinary music. These exercises are to be sung at special occasions. There is certain time when these exercises will be sung so that you may have respective results. You cannot sing them all the time. You must be very serious about the singing of the occult music. With the ordinary singing it does not matter when you sing but when you sing occult music your consciousness must be awakened, there must not exist any splits in the consciousness. If we sing this way we can achieve in one year very good results. You must protect these exercises. Now I am presenting to you the following theory and we will apply it experimentally in the most elementary things. Sing the song "The sun rises, it brings light," Singing with the necessary concentration as I indicated above our sun will come to rise. When I say that our sun will come to rise I do not imply the external sun but there exists another sun that brings inner light. We do not sing to the physical sun. When our inner sun rises it brings us its light that brings joy to our life. Then comes the living power, that wells up and flows. These are symbols. They indicate that you enter the world of reality. If it was a question to criticize, there is not a stricter critic than I am. I have noticed that when I speak some criticize my way of expression. If we would "begin to criticize precisely I would come with such a criticism about the Bulgarian language that maybe only 250 will remain. Only two hundred and fifty words will remain and these will be the roots of the language with which something rational may be expressed. Now we can use a number of words and will achieve no results at all. Many preachers and clergymen speak but where are the results? They cannot have any results. For this reason when a translation is made of the Scripture a man must understand very well the language of the occult to understand the words in their deep meaning. My intention is to interpret exactly according to the original. In the Scripture some ideas have been translated to such an extent literally that if the prophet or Christ would appear they would wonder about the inventiveness of the mind of these interpreters, how it was possible for them to distort the thoughts and say that which none of these men have ever dreamed nor have these things come to their minds. And modern men say: "This is the most accurate translation according to the original." The interpreter has translated it wrong and then comes someone else after him, reads the Scriptures and says: "Thus has been written in the Scriptures." — Have you been able to verify the translation with the original? — "No, but the Spirit has told me." The Spirit has spoken to him yet he continues to cite the same wrong translation. This is not right! Even I have been thinking sometimes what other word to use instead of love. The only powerful word in the Bulgarian language is "blagost" which is sweetness, the natural sweetness of honey or fruit. When something is sweet it cannot be bitter. Yet what is love? This word has no roots, it has no symbol. What means love we do not know, where it derives from, we do not know. The Bulgarian word equal to love "obich" has also no root. We do not know wherefrom it originates. The word "blagost", something sweet, is a very strong word. When we find such words about which we have experience, in us are generated such thoughts and ideas which function rationally. For example in music there are certain tones (the Master sings "the sun rises", "izgriava sluntseto") which are very harmonious, after that follow such tones in the song which are not that harmonious but this is because of the nature of the language. The other tones come because of the words. Each word must express an image. "The sun rises" —this is a festive, ideal moment. In the occult exercises there is always an image. All European languages, whichever you may take, lack important elements for the interpretation of the occult exercises. At present there are some musicians in France who make experiments to interpret the ordinary music into occult. They begin to compose occult songs, but the last ones are arranged in a very special way. After some time we will have occult music which will bring something completely new. Now you must be ready! Such musicians exist and in them the occult music will be born. You must study theory of music. Silent prayer. Source