Jackline Spasova-Bobeva

The Book - The Spirit and The Flesh. Beinsa Douno Translation from Bulgarian - Vessela Nestorova THE MILK OF THE WORD As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.15 One of the commandments of the Law of Moses says, "Thou shalt not desire!" But it says in Peter's first epistle, "Desire!" Which of them is right? From their point of view both are right. However, if Moses were in the place of Peter, he would be wrong. And if Peter were in the place of Moses, he too would be wrong. Moses says you must not desire. What is not to be desired? Power, riches, and women. Peter says, "Desire!" What? The Milk of the Word. Why? Because it is necessary for a person's spiritual growth. The first thing a child seeks after birth is the mother's breast to suck milk for in that way it grows and develops. Peter says the same thing, "We must find the breast which will feed us spiritually. If we do not find it, by the same Law, like the child, we cannot live." In three or four years when the child has grown up a little and its teeth begin to grow, it shows that its organism is adapting itself to hard food. The same Law applies to a person's spiritual life—we should not receive hard food which can cause our death before we have grown up a little. I ask, "Have all people who live on the Earth sucked of the Milk of the Word?" No, all people have not sucked of the Milk of the Word in result of which they are exposed to death. It is not enough for a mother to bear a child and give it milk, this milk must be unpolluted. How many mothers have poisoned their children by polluted milk! If a mother gets angry several times a day, after some time she will poison the child with her milk. And the priests, who are mothers to their parishioners, can poison them when they are angry while preaching. The same way, if teachers worry and feel disturbed while teaching, they may poison their pupils. Contemporary people suffer from great ignorance. They know many things about geometry, arithmetic, botany, physics, chemistry, but they lack the essential knowledge—the necessary Milk of the Word. They know about the motion of heavenly bodies, of how people were created and developed, but when the question comes to the Milk of the Word—they keep silent. Do you know what people today are like? They can be compared to a Turkish sage who said he knew everything taking place in heaven. An anecdote describes that this Turkish sage boasted everywhere of knowing when God got up, what He did during the day, what the angels were doing and so on. When he was telling all this to the Sultan, the latter wishing to reprove him and to show him he did not know everything, invited him one day to his palace with another philosopher and said to them, "I wish to take you for a ride in my boat, so we can have a friendly talk together." They got on the boat and sailed away. After a while a servant brought bread and milk on a tray for them. The Sultan invited the two to break the bread into small pieces and drop these in the milk. After they were ready, he stirred the bread-pieces in the dish and said, "Now, let each one of us eat the exact pieces they have put in the milk."16 "How can we know which pieces belong to each one of us?" objected the philosophers. "If you cannot tell your own pieces of bread in the bowl, how can you know what is going on in heaven?" In the same chapter further on Peter speaks to his listeners about the living stone. We know only of dead stones of which houses are built, but as you see, there are living stones as well. If you can interpret the word stone in a spiritual sense, you will see that it has another meaning too. The word stone in a spiritual sense means a completed character, in which all forces are balanced, the process of development is harmonious, the nervous system as well as the inner organs—stomach, lungs and brain—are in perfect order and function as well. That is why Christ says, "Be stones which can grow and develop." In another place He says, "You must build in yourselves a Divine house." He means the building of a house out of such living stones. Now I shall return to the words the Milk of the Word. Some say they want to be spiritual. What do they understand by the word spiritual? Does being spiritual mean that a person must shut themselves within their own self and only think, meditate and keep calm? No, that cannot make a person spiritual. To be spiritual is to be in contact with your surroundings, with your environment and the soil on which you live and at the same time to be able to react correctly to this environment and conditions as elements which create life. The highest position a person can take on earth is when her mind, her heart and soul—all these forces are at their height, at their maximum development. In its natural state, a stone cannot absorb any liquid; however, if we take a limestone and bake it in a furnace, it turns into lime, fit for whitewashing. In the same way, when God wants to whitewash His house, He takes such a stone, bakes it, pours water on it and when a chemical process in it has taken place, He whitewashes His house with this white stuff called in a spiritual sense purity and goodness in life. Therefore, when sufferings come to you, it means you are in the furnace to be baked and to turn into the necessary spiritual lime. There are stones of such hard texture that, after having been put in the furnace, they cannot be baked. Such stones are considered useless and absolutely not fit for the purpose, because of which they are thrown away. Thus, when Peter says, "Desire," he wants to express that inner process of baking which takes place inside a person. By this baking process, superior forms will be created in your mind which will be able to pass from one world into another. The process of rarifying will help in this case. So if you have two thoughts in your mind which disturb you, do not abstain from putting one of them in the furnace, start a fire and bake it. If you do this with the thousands of disturbing thoughts passing through your mind, it is as though you have baked thousands of pounds of limestone and have sold the lime. In this way you will not only be liberated from your useless luggage, but you will have great gain. What takes place in the physical world, by analogy, takes place at the same time in heaven. And inversely, every process taking place in heaven, takes place on the Earth as well. When you understand this Law rightly, you will know that when you suffer on the Earth, the angels in heaven rejoice. When you are being baked in the furnace—that is suffering. Since you do not understand the deep causes of this suffering, you say, "We have burned up! Our life is finished!" But in heaven they say, "How glad we are that this stone will be turned into lime!" When you think that the angels have not compassion toward you; they answer you, "We have great compassion for you, but we are happy that you will become clean and white like us." Therefore, you should not desire those things which thicken and harden your mind, heart, soul, forces and abilities, but you should desire only that which has the power to expand and liberate them from all limitations. Many people ask, "How can we apply this teaching to practical life? The teacher says, "I have naughty and disobedient students, how can I influence them?" The preacher says, "Many of my parish are not devout and believing people, they do not understand the philosophy of life. How can I influence them?" The merchant says, "My clients and partners want to rob me. How can I make them act differently?" All people complain. Why? Because their rope17 is thin and weak. They want to raise with it a load of one hundred pounds, but it cannot bear such a weight. Naturally, in such a case the rope will break and the load will fall on the ground. I ask you, "How can one live in the Old Testament and apply Peter's teaching?" You are friends of Moses, but at the same time you want to be friends of Christ too. Those who are friends of Moses are not friends of Christ. Moses says, "Do not desire," but he does say what you should do further on. He says you should love God, but how can you love Him when you have not seen Him? Another time he says you should love your nation, but speaks quite differently about the other nations. I consider the Law of Moses in a broad sense. It is true that when Moses was issuing this Law, conditions where quite different from those during which Christ's Law was created. Moses' teaching was a preparation of humanity for the teaching of Christ. The Law of Moses is the one hemisphere of the Earth, but Christ's is the other hemisphere. You can live in the hemisphere of Moses only when it is illuminated by the Sun's rays. As soon as it goes out of the Sun's rays, you cannot live in it anymore. The desires of people today spring namely from the application of Moses' Law in life. All people want to be rich, learned, but when they accept this Law, they cannot attain their desires, as a result of which all kinds of conflicts and great struggles take place among them. In the physical world there are no conditions for all people to be rich and learned, but there are conditions for all people to be good. Desire virtue, which does not belong to the physical world! There are people in India who understand and apply this Law even to the animals. If you can make a contact with an animal, no matter how fierce it may be, it will love you and become a devoted friend to you. Every desire to harm you will vanish from it and it will be ready to fulfill any order you give it. When Christ said we should love our enemies, He had in mind precisely this Law. The first thing Christianity recommends for a person's purification is suffering. The hard stones must pass through the furnace, in order to be able to whitewash; raw bread must be baked, in order to become fit for eating. The same thing applies to a person. You can enter heaven only as baked bread. Only then will you be put on a table and broken up. Why has God given person a mind, heart, eyes, nose, ears, and tongue? You must meditate about the purpose of these organs. I am briefly putting these questions that you may meditate on them. You say, "I want to serve God." You do not understand how you must serve. There are people who pretend to understand the esoteric Laws but who cannot serve God. Since they know the Laws, they should be able to apply them, at least for their own development. Some want me to tell them many philosophical and esoteric things. I can tell you many things, but first you must put a firm foundation on which to build and every stone you place on it should be well hewn and placed in the right place—the corner. A great problem is ahead of us—the rectification of this world. The building, on which our present life rests, is being torn down and one day God will call you to start building anew. The question is—will you know how to build when God calls you? In order to be ready, you should start nourishing yourselves with the milk I spoke to you about. You must be ready in such a way that some day, when God would give you a new garment, you should not spot it. Several little crows once asked their mother to move them to another nest, but the mother asked them back, "Will you take along your dirty bottoms?" "We shall take them along with us." "Then I cannot move you to another nest for you will dirty it too." Some insensible women exclaim, "Why did God make me a woman?!" As women you will study an art which you would not be able to study as men, namely, the art of preparing milk by which you will nourish your children. You are God's nurses taking care of His children. If you do not fulfill your mother's duty, God will ask you, "Why did I give you this important post? You should not have given such milk to your children." "We have already given it." "You should not give them such milk another time. If you do, I shall dismiss you." "But I want to become a man." "You will not become a man; if you continue asking for things you do not deserve, and keep on being obstinate, you will be lower than man the second time." The philosophy of contemporary Christians does not rest on a firm foundation. Every sectarian states that what they preach is the real Christian teaching and not what others are preaching. However, no one can say definitely what the real Christian teaching is. We say we are the wreath of creation in the world. No, we should deceive neither ourselves nor God. We are not a wreath, but only those who have completed their development are a wreath. We who are still quacking in the pond are nothing more than frogs—we who want money and houses and are ready even to sell God for them, are not a wreath of creation. We are a wreath of failure, a wreath of hell. Now you are facing a dilemma. You should ask yourselves whether you can continue on this path any a longer or not. "We cannot budge farther." Present day humanity has already reached the utmost limit. If they take one more step in that direction, all will be lost. Therefore, we must take a step in the opposite direction—a step forward, a step upward—in order to see that a great future is ahead. You must stop and consider where are you going and give up the transitory which leads to degradation. Christ says, "He who loves his father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me. You must deny your father and mother and follow me." Every person must say, "I do not want any more the milk I've drunk until now, it is better for me to die without milk! Death without milk is better than life with polluted milk." You must deny all those deceitful things which pollute your thoughts and wishes, which poison your organism and your life and start seeking the Divine Truth. My purpose is not to frighten you, but to make you start thinking about yourselves. See yourself in a mirror to know how your face looks, what is the color of your complexion: if it is very red, it shows a state of over-stimulation—the body is not healthy; if it is too pale, you have apathy for life. Both states are incorrect. If you take Christ's food of which the apostle Paul speaks, you will be in good spirits, happy and satisfied, you will be brave and resolute in the struggle of life; if you are nourished by the living milk, no microbes can find room in you. You have certain aspirations, you want to be good and to love, but you can not. Why? Because you do not know how to act. A doctor was called to see a rich young woman who was suffering of boredom. The first thing he prescribed to her was to exercise. "But how can I exercise?" "If you do not do it, you are doomed to die." "All right then, give me your instructions, please." He instructed her and she started to exercise. Soon after that she was cured of her boredom. You often sit with crossed hands, or roll your thumbs one way or another, but you must stop all these practices and start exercising, or working. Only then will God give you His blessings. In this respect women should work because God gave them the key to paradise. They keep the key to the Kingdom of God. Peter is a female name. The bad side of the problem is that women are of a weaker character and soon give up their post. A woman loves a man, but when she sees another, more handsome one, she says, "I shall marry this man. If I do not marry him there is no life for me." She marries him and after two or three years she gives him up and is ready to marry another man. God is now saying to women, "If you, who keep the key to the Kingdom of God, do not obey my orders, I shall turn you out of paradise to weep and repent of your sins." When you do not follow Christ's orders you deviate from Him, deny Him, think evil of Him and constantly deliver Him to Pilate, to sufferings—to a daily nailing on the cross. And after all this you ask why the world does not get better. How can the world be set right, when you daily torture your Lord?! It is high time you stopped driving nails through His body! The nails that you drive in Christ by way of reflection affect you too. Do you know the story of that fisherman who found once a very rare and precious fish and wished to make it a gift to the king? The gate-keeper did not want to let him in, but in order to get to the king, the fisherman promised him half of his gain. When he went in, the king asked him what reward he wanted. He answered, "I want fifty blows on the back with a staff." "How is this possible?" "Yes, this is the reward I want." The king ordered his man to thrash him fifty times but when they blew the twenty-fifth, he said, "Now stop and deliver the remaining twenty-five blows to my partner—your gate-keeper." Today when people are driving nails in Christ's body, He says, "Stop, twenty-five blows are enough for me. Call my partner and deliver the rest to him." What is happening to people daily is nothing but the rest of the blows—half the reward which they themselves wanted. Someone says, "I have so many sufferings my soul will burst with torture." Yes, your soul will burst because you have driven many nails in Christ's body. If one of you falls ill, you immediately send for the doctor. I say, as long as you drive nails in Christ's body, the real doctor, on whom you depend to cure you, will not enter your house. The teaching I am preaching now is completely practical and all of you can apply it in your lives. When a bad, negative thought attacks you, or when you wish something bad, you are coming upon hard stones. Put this hard stone in the furnace, heat it up that it turns into lime with which you can whitewash your soul and make it white and shining. If you practice this, you will see how your soul will be illuminated. This is the teaching which the apostle Peter preached. Many people consider Peter a simple fisherman, but in reality he was not a simple man. He always roasted the fish and never ate raw fish. Where must you roast your fish? On the Divine fire— the fire of Love; and when you have roasted it on this fire, you will say, "What excellent fish we have!" Therefore, if you, like the apostle Peter, do not become co-workers to those who live in heaven, what place will you have in the other world? When Christ says we should deny ourselves and lose our life, He means we must do this for the beings who are superior, on a higher level than we. Only in this way shall we gain something. You may say that this Law is not in accord with the Laws of Nature. No, it is fully in accord with Nature's Laws. Those who will suck the saps of the tree, will sow new seeds out of which new tree will sprout and bear new fruit. That means that we must enter the way of development, if we would grow up. Then the angels will take part in our work. In order to participate in our work, we should pay them something. In order to be sown by them on the Earth again, under better conditions of life, we should prepare their reward while we are still on the Earth. If we are nourished by the Milk of the Word, we shall approach them and then we shall get close to Christ. Thus, whoever would work and follow Christ's path, should fear nothing. All fear must vanish from you. Everyone must roast their conscience on the Divine fire, as you roast the fish you catch. In order to be preserved, the fish must be either roasted or salted—one of the two. The same thing applies to a person—there is no middle way. If a person is not roasted, or salted, she will begin to smell. Christ says, "If the salt has lost its savor, it is thrown out." Therefore, if you become unseasoned, you will be thrown out as useless things. If you have not lost your salt, you will be put in the barrel. However, it is preferable for you to be roasted than salted. Salt is for the world, but fire is for you. The process of fire is preferable, because in it there is growth and life. Salting is a process of preservation, to keep a thing from rotting and bad smell. Therefore, you can be in two states: either in a process of growing in the Divine garden, or as a germ in the Divine granary. Make an experiment with yourselves applying the verse I read you. It has a deep meaning and sense. A number of questions are contained in this verse: the upbuilding and order of society and the family, the education of children, bettering the conditions of life, and so on. That is why this verse must be sown somewhere deeply. Where must it be sown? In the human mind. Boil this verse in the Divine water, roast it on the Divine fire and you will see that this verse, apparently a hard nut, will turn into nourishing food which you can easily take. If you feed on the Milk of the Word, which the apostle Peter speaks about, your face will change and your social position will become better. Now I want you to adopt the Divine method for work and prepare yourselves for the new life—the life of heaven. Up till now you have not desired the Milk of the Word, but I want you to desire it from now on and to enter the positive side of life. If you desire the Milk of the Word, you will be given whatever else you may desire. Sermon held on November 16, 1914, in Sofia _______________________ 15. I Peter 2:2-4. 16. A clever reworking of the Bulgarian saying "What you have put in your bowl, that you must eat," equivalent of the English "As you brew, so must you drink." (ed. note). 17. The rope as a metaphor used by the Master represents a person’s faith and their connection with God (ed. note).

From The beauty of life In The Beginning Was Sunday lecture given by Beinsa Douno November 8, 1914, Sofia In the beginning was the Word, And the Word was with God, And the Word was God. (John 1:1) This is the hardest nut to crack and the most philosophical question in Christianity. This verse has been disputed many times and interpreted in many different ways by philosophers, preachers, and believers. There were disputes about the Word in the Orthodox Church as well, and even fights for it, but the problem could not be solved by fighting. Literally, what should we understand by the words, "In the beginning was the Word", what is this beginning? When contemporary philosophers want to discuss a certain philosophical question they make some assumptions; they take something like a principle and in this way they explain a certain thing. For example, a black preacher was explaining the creation of man[1] in the following way: "God worked hard all day and made the man from dust, placed him on a rack and dried him for three more days." Some of the listeners, however, asked him, "Then what holds up the rack?" "This is none of your business," said the preacher. Contemporary philosophers as well as the preacher each have a rack on which they dry the Word and man, solve questions and say, Man is made from dust and is dried on a rack." If you ask them about the rack, they will say, "It is none of your business." But because this rack is along the road on which we are going, we are stopping to circle around it. An evangelical preacher was talking about the prophet Jonah, and said, "The whale worked and strained a whole hour until he finally swallowed Jonah." In the same way, we sit for hours in order to solve the question, but it is still an enigma to us. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Here the main thought is the Word. What should we understand by the word Word? This is that rational act of God, expressed in certain vibrations that we can perceive. That means that when things start to be visible, touchable, open to the human mind, something, which is formulated, understandable to us, we call this the Word. For example, you say something – that is a word. The word love – how many elements does it have, how many letters does it consist of? It has six[2] letters. If you could separate those elements, you would find what Love is made of in regards to people, i.e. not in its primary sense, but as it appears. If we arrive at the very sense of what is Word, what is God, those people who want to resolve the question will come to the exact opposite conclusion. You cannot define something that has no form in itself. God is something without form, so we cannot define Him. Just what is God, tell me! To determine what God is you have to put constraints on Him, to put Him in a form and look from a human prospective in a certain position and place. Those who write about God and the Word think they have explained the question. They explain it, but just like the black preacher and the evangelical pastor, either on the rack, or in the mouth of a whale. This, however, is not an explanation. It is written, In the beginning. By these words, I comprehend that rational act when all beings, created by God, became conscious of the fact that He created, and they started working alongside Him. I will use an analogy: let us say a mother gives birth to a child, and she says, "The beginning of my child has started." The beginning of her child has started, but not the one of the rational child. What does this beginning look like? Screaming and crying, from which no one understands what the baby wants to say. The beginning that is spoken about in the Bible is rational. When the child becomes 21 years of age and starts to think, then we could state that this is the beginning of his rational life, i.e. when there is a correct exchange of thoughts between the mother and the child. Therefore, In the beginning was the Word means that beginning when we start understanding God, i.e. when we have stopped bawling before God. For ages and ages, people have cried and asked this and that. To clarify my words in a scientific way, I will point out that these are all phases of the Life through which this human child has been going. Thus, this beginning went through billions of forms, starting with the smallest. Since the child was always crying, God had to sew him new clothes all the time, i.e. to transfer him into a bird at one moment, or into a mammal at another. If it comes to the point that this self-willed child understands the beginning, this means the Word has come into him. That is why the Evangelist says, "The beginning is marked into the book of Heaven as a reasonable form of system and order." Everybody begins with disorder; everybody begins with mud that has been dried on the rack. But, when you get down from the rack and stand up on your feet, it will be written in Heaven about you, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God – and this beginning is already in man's head. I will explain when this beginning starts by another analogy: imagine that you go against the flow of a river towards its source, you reach it and then you say that the beginning of the river comes from such and such source and you stop there. Yes, this is the beginning, and no philosopher can say it is not. Here is the visible beginning, but there are other beginnings as well, about which we do not know. Perhaps this water has been taken from the ocean, wandered into space as steam and has fallen as rain; perhaps it has moved through the earth strata and reached the spring and so on. Therefore, we say this river begins from such and such source, but only in the ordinary sense. "In the beginning was the Word" means that reasonable Beginning of all humankind, when this Word appeared in the present form which we can see that it exists. Of course, now you are far from that Beginning. Millions of years have passed since then, and everything has become muddled. Now I will give you another comparison. If you read "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians", you will see that it speaks about the Fruit of Love. Take a piece of fruit and assume there is only one seed in it. Whenever you sow it, that will be the beginning of its development. Then if you ask the tree when its beginning started, the tree will answer you, "At such and such time, when the seed was sown". Therefore, if somebody asks you what you were in the past, you may answer that you were a seed, which God sowed in the ground to germinate, to branch out, to bloom, to bear fruit, which will become ripe. Our reasonable Life is like a tree. And this reasonable Beginning is set in our head now. The body shows how many millions of years man has flowed away from this Beginning affected by the strength of the drive toward the Earth. The head is the symbol of the primary Beginning, when man was sown. Now I will not go to great lengths to explain all this, since for many people it is very complicated. I will not dwell on the primary state of the world and the forces, which acted upon it; I will not dwell on that primary intelligence which was at work, etc. These are abstract things, and even the greatest philosophers have been silent about them. When the great Egyptian master Hermes was asked about this, he only pressed his lips together. What did he want to say? This means man should leave his body to go out to investigate things at the place itself. And when it is said that somebody keeps silence, I interpret this silence as, "Go out, go to that place, and investigate it." For example, somebody asks me where the springs of Maritsa[3] are and I explain to him, but he cannot understand me; at the end, I tell him to keep silent and he will understand. That was what Hermes wanted to say. Somebody will ask me how it is possible. If you ask, you are not for this place. You are still children who build their houses; you are interested in toys and dolls. Many millions of years should pass until you rise to the level to think over this deep question. Those of you who can understand me will press their lips together, and I will tell them, "Come with me so we can go there." In this way I have already explained this question philosophically. As soon as they press their lips together, this is a practical solution to the question, not a theoretical one. When people ask me what was the Beginning, what was the Word at that moment long ago, I call on them: "Let's go there!" "We cannot". In that case, play with your toys on Earth – whether you build houses, get married, go into business, or make war. Only when you go through all this process of development, when you grow up, become cleverer and say, "Down with dolls!" – then a Master will be found who will press his lips together and will say, "Come with me". Those people who want to follow Christ's way should have a certain view of Truth. Do not think that it can be obtained very easily; do not think that the way you are going now is easy. No, there are difficulties. I do not say that it is extremely difficult, but there are big difficulties. The person who decides to go this way should be ready for them. Nature always puts before us big hindrances as well – small beams, which we should always use until we are ready for the long trip. The question is not only to go but to arrive as well. But you walk for a day, two, three, and after that you say that nothing will come of it, and you go back. And when people ask you what news you bring, you say, "Leave it; that is a waste of time". Only when you go to that Eternal source from where human Life has begun, where the Word was primary, you will understand the form of humanity of that time; you will understand what the sons of men were. And that, which we call the image of God, is a caricature for the people of the Earth. When I look to the people who say they were made in the image of God, I laugh a lot, because I see in front of me only fake people, and their thoughts, minds and hearts are completely ruined. The picture, which should have the image of God has been ruined, it is not the same as it was. When the Word, by which all things were created, saw that what It did in the image of God had been transformed into caricature, It sent Christ to come down from the Invisible world to the visible word and to say to the deluded men, "Stop lying. What you have now is not the image of God, it is your image". Someone will object, "In the beginning I was created by God, I was born from Him." How were you born from God? That Beginning was clear and pure in itself, but now there are some alloys in you. So, to be able to understand the deep meaning of the doctrine, which has been preached by Christ, we should purify ourselves. However, the word purifying also means to become lighter, which is a process of organizing, i.e. the rational process in our structure. The physical comes from the law, which says that there is a collision between the forces in Nature. There is a certain force in us, some aspiration to come closer to God, but simultaneously there is another beginning as well, which pulls us to the Earth. Therefore, our head is connected with Heaven and draws us upwards, but our body draws us down to the Earth. In this way we are crucified. However, how can a man think when crucified? When we die, a Nicodemus should come to take the nails out, take us down from the Cross, wrap us in a shroud, and when we become lighter, we will rise up. This is the Resurrection. The Resurrection is an act, in which we start to see things in their proper place, we start going back to the Word, to God. Now, you want me to tell you about God. What should I tell you when you are still crucified; you have not become lighter yet. You say, "Tell us about Love." What can I tell you about it when you are crucified and in pain? The only thing I can say to a crucified man is to bear, to suffer, and to become a hero in the suffering. I can give him this consolation only. This is the freedom people have – they should go through the process of suffering, of which Christ Himself was an example. Christ put in our brain the Beginning of the Word. The Word is an act of God in the Spiritual world, the Word implies Angels. Thus, first of all Angels come from God and God is in them. When the Evangelist says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us", he understands that after the Angels the Word comes down, takes another form and enters into man. When we speak about the Word that was with God in the beginning and was God, we understand all the Beings that have gone through an evolution different from that of people. They are something great, Sons of thought, of the rational – these are the ones. This does not mean they have the same form we have, but it means they are Rational beings. Then, when Christ became incarnate on our Earth, He came to preach that Word in clear speech. Our speech is a translation of the Word. I have spoken about the real translation of words more than once. For example, if somebody asks you what word is a translation of the word river, what words are translations of the words spring, light, warmth, we will answer: light is the translation of Truth, warmth is the translation of Love, and that there is some correlation between the words. We will answer that just as light illuminates external objects, Truth illuminates internally the human mind. We will answer that as warmth helps plants to grow, Love, when entering into us, puts in motion those feelings that make man sprout and grow. Those who want to know what the primary form of the Word was should make the correct translation. Of course, in the Bulgarian language the word Word has one meaning, and in Greek, in which this Gospel phrase was written, has a slightly different meaning. In Greek, this word begins with l – Logos, but in Bulgarian, the word begins with c[4]. This fact shows as well that the Greek and the Bulgarian nations are not in the same place, in the same field. When the word Logos was written in Greek, Hellenes had aspiration upward to the Angels, but our letter c is a symbol of a half-moon, which means that we are situated on the backside of the Astral world, so we do not have light and that is why we take it as reflected from the Moon. Therefore, we can say according to the Word that the Slavs are people who are going down, but they have reached the deepest place possible, and now they are going to start their new evolution. This is the reason why I cannot explain to you and you cannot understand the Word – because in your brains, in your minds, the Moon is still shining; images, figures, everything is vague in you. However, when the daylight comes and when Christ comes in a new form, everything will be bright and clear. So, by the word Word I understand that wise Beginning, which creates and makes in us thoughts, desires, and actions. And now we should return to that Beginning. All contradictions in personal life and between the nations will disappear only when we return to it. The way to return to it is to become lighter. If a river, which flows down from its springs and goes to the sea, asks me what it should do to return back into its beginning, I will answer that it should evaporate, become lighter, rise into the air in order to be gone with the wind again to the spring, to the head, from which it had started flowing. I am telling you as well that you should apply the same law. This is the law of self-denial. That is why Christ says, "If you do not deny yourself and do not follow Me, you will not be saved." You should deny yourself of material things, houses, children, with which we are tied as if by thousands of ropes. You say that you want to go to God. You will never go to Him, if you do not cut off the ropes that connect you. Preachers and priests preach about Heaven, but they are all tied. Do not talk! You lie to the world. You are teaching from the Moon and you see things with the Moon's light. When the Sun rises in your mind, then you will have another understanding about the world and Life; you will see how wrong your viewpoints were. That is why self-denial means to become lighter. Some say that they cannot deny themselves. All right, but they go down the slope and to the oceans. There is not another way – either climb up, or roll down. In order to rise, to become lighter, the Sun should shine inside us. The Moon cannot evaporate us; quite the opposite, it is often the reason for steam to condense. By the same analogy it is said about the Sun and the Moon in the first chapter of "Genesis" that God created these two beginnings and that in them all the Truth is hidden: the Moon is a process of going down to the Earth, while the Sun is a process of ascending up to God. The setting of the Sun implies going down, while its rising implies a process of new evolution. That is why the Moon tells you every twenty-eight days the story of your descent. If you ask yourself why you got down, why you cannot think, why you have no will, the Moon will answer you. All its phases will tell you the reason of your descent. Then someone will ask how he can rise and go to God. Get up in the morning when the Sun is rising; look at God and you will find the way. Some people consider that they always have to think about God. No, you may have one thought, but maybe certain conditions have to be met in order for it to start working. Embryos of your salvation are set up, but you will rise up only when they begin to operate. They say that Christ came to save the world. Save it in what way? When Christ came, all embryos that were sitting for millions of years, let us say, in a potential and frozen condition, defrosted under that layer of ice and emerged from the ice age. I will not launch out into explanations now that at one time the Earth passed through an ice age. Even in the spiritual life, this age takes place often. If the Moon shines in your mind I will say that you are in the ice age – your pre-flood animals have vanished, vegetation has stopped developing and you have only a minimum life – as much as the Moon gives to you. If you ask me what you should do, I will tell you that the Sun must shine on you, Christ must rise in your spirit, He must appear on your horizon, and influence you through His rays of Truth. Now you may tell me that Christ will come. Yes, He will come indeed. However, when He comes, where will you be – on the Equator or at the North Pole, in the temperate zone or at the South Pole? You should take into consideration your position and assess how Christ's rays will fall into your soul – vertically or at an angle. All of us should come to the place where God needs to meet us, i.e. in the Divine land. If you were clairvoyant, you would see that there was another land as well. If I decided to explain to you the concept the occultists have about the Earth, the movement of spheres, you would say that it would be better not to know all of these things, because you would be caught up in a large contradiction. I will tell you why. When radium was discovered, scientists were afraid and began to claim that all current theories and views would fail, that they should be wholly revised. Therefore, it will be better for science not to deal with this element. But I say, when Christ's radium comes, you should revise your point of view and your life fundamentally and radically. So, in the verse we quoted, John addresses those who understand. This is the deepest question in the Gospel. Those people for whom it was written understood it. One day you will begin to understand it as well. If you say that your mind is confused, I will give you some consolation, "The Moon is still shining on you". When the Sun shines on you, that question should be clear for you, if only you are honest and you are in the place where God decided to put you. According to these laws the conditions for your growth will surely come, you only have to wait. Those for whom God has risen should deny themselves, become lighter, not to roll down the hill. To say this in philosophical terms, your thoughts should have meaning. Your thoughts should have a goal as well, the goal for which you strive. A Christian who wants to fulfill his responsibilities should know why everything has happened. For example, children are born. Why? You say that God has so ordered it. Do you know that God ordered it that way? Even drunkards can say, "God gave wine so that we can drink it". Did He actually make it, or did we? God created grapes, but wine is our invention. In the same manner, you take flour and knead a loaf, but did God determine that you do so? No, it is your invention. You put two stones together to grind grain, but did God determine grain to be ground into flour? No, this is your will, because you cannot grind the wheat grains in your stomach. That is why, when people say that this is true, that is true, you should ask them: "Is this a Divine Truth or is it your truth?" – "But I preach Christ". You preach your Christ. "But I preach God." You preach your God; do not lie to me! I say, I am neither lied to, nor do I lie. Everybody preaches his Christ, his God. When a girl falls in love with a boy, he is an Angel for her, she is dying for him, but when they get married, she begins to argue that he is a devil and she is dying because of him. Who is right in this case? So we say in the life we have we are ready to die for our Christ, but when we get married to the Lord and when we see that He is not what we expected, we do not want Him and we claim He is false. Thus, when we say In the beginning was the Word, which word do we mean? Is it the word, according to our understanding or the primary Word, which is the foundation for all people? Is it that Beginning which supports all of us, so that we are connected like one common organism and drinking the same sap, or some other parasitical beginning? Each of you should first resolve the question and should know in which beginning you are. You will say, "But I know". I am always hearing the same thing – the man says "I", the woman says "I", everybody says, "There is nobody like me", "I am great". But I see that he is only five centimeters of the tree, and someone else is only a leaf. Autumn will come soon, you will fall from the tree, you will go to the roots, and then you will understand that there is another beginning – one is above, while the other is below. So, each of you should know where this beginning is – is it in the root or in the trunk; is it in the large or in the small branches; is it in the leaves; is it in an unripe or ripe fruit, or in its seed. If you say that it is in the seed of the ripe fruit, I will say, "You are now a person who should get going to check out the primary Beginning John talks about". If you say you are in the leaves, then you should wait for many millions of years. "But I am in the unripe fruit". You should wait as well, until you ripen. "But I am already going to seed". Great, but a storm may come, you would not endure and suddenly you would fall down from the tree to the ground. Because the seed still does not have life in it, according to that law, you should decay, go through the roots, through the trunk, and grow upward again and start a new life. If we had more time, I would dwell on the question about the fruit falling. Many people urge me, "Tell us where we were once upon a time." I know where and what sort of a person you were, I may speak about this, but do I know what you will tell me. Someone will say, "If this is true, it is a big lie." And when it is told to someone outside, he would say, "It is a big lie". But a lie is the shadow of Truth. You can lie until you have the truth, i.e. in order to lie to someone you should lie to him about a certain truth. The lie is a companion of Truth. Where there is Truth, there is a lie as well and vice verse. However, let me come back to the question. How should we apply this rational principle within us? Someone will say this is a force that always acts. What do you understand by force that acts? In the mind of contemporary scientists, this is much undetermined. They say it is a power, which develops, but how? They say things are attracted and gathered together by the power, but how? Two people hold their hands and they are attracted; a magnet draws up shavings. This is all right, but there should be some correlation within the attraction. That inner power should draw our thoughts and feelings to the reasonable Beginning. To get to know if we are drawn by this reasonable Beginning, if we are set free from the Earth, we should feel when the contradictions in us cease. This is a sign that we are going in the right way to the Beginning. Until there is a fight, we are between the two principles and we look like a traveler who has lost orientation of the four cardinal directions, and instead of going east, he goes west, and he can orient himself only when the Sun rises. Someone may say, "The end has come." The end of what has come? When a student finishes high school, does he die? No, it is the end of his studies at school and the beginning of his entering into the world. Do you know what the word end primarily meant? This is a courageous, smart, and skilful person, who knows how to work, who can bear everything. Even now, when people say, "His end has come", this means his work has been finished. When you come to the end of the cloth that you are weaving, you will take it down from the loom and you will begin to cut it, i.e. the end of the weaving should be the beginning of your clothing. When you dress up and people praise you for the nice garment, do not be proud of it, because you did not make it. Do not be proud, but thank the tailor who succeeded in cutting the garment and in making it. There are some people who, when praised in such a way, think this refers to them. No, the praise is for the tailor, and they are only his advertisement. If your garment is sown badly, if it is twisted, you will say that you do not want to go to this tailor anymore. For example, people say to someone, "You have noble thoughts", and he starts imagining he is something great and he becomes proud of himself. Wait, these are not your thoughts. Give thanks to the One who gave them to you and did not lie to you. If there is a storm in your mind, will you be able to know where you are to go? No, you will not be able to know. Unclear ideas rule your minds as well. You say that Christ is a principle. A principle means beginning, head, or source. When you go to that spring, you may already taste pure water. If we draw from Christ's source, if we drink from this water of Life, our thoughts and desires will certainly become clearer. Then another result will follow as well: our bodies will develop as they should, suffering and pain will disappear, we will have correct understanding, we will be able to speak useful things to people and to quench the thirst of the thirsty. Christ said to those women, "The water which I will give you will be a spring gushing forth inside the soul". You are coming here to drink from this spring every morning as well. This is all right, but I who like to tell the Truth, who do not like to lie or to be lied to, I want everyone to have a pipe from this abundant spring from which I draw, to lay a pipe to your yard and, when the times come, to open the tap and to drink. I am talking to those of you who want to be Christ's disciples. They should lay a pipe at least one centimeter in length. And when the world gets into a state of siege and people are thirsty, your pipe will give you water and you will not be thirsty. The spring will be in your soul – this is the beginning as well as the end. Do you know what the end is? When you build up a small fountain in your house from the spring – this is the end of things. So, we should consider our thoughts and desires as if they were given to us. It is only necessary for us to use them. Every thought comes and goes; you cannot hold it. Do you think that you can hold your thoughts and desires? No, just as food goes through you, according to the same law our spiritual thoughts come and go. They are forms that carry certain saps of Life. Use the saps hidden in them, and scatter the pollen out into the open space that should be filled up again. If you hold them in the bottle too long, the saps will go off and God will hold you responsible for that. Some want to be rich with thoughts, but it would be easy for others to get their hand in and rob them. Like money, thoughts do not have a master, but they know the person who has them. Someone could reach into your head and steal your thoughts. He may reach into your heart and grab your desires. For example, a young girl loses her heart and begins to languish, or somebody's thoughts are taken and he goes mad. Why? – Because they do not understand the basic law that every thought and desire is sent from the Invisible world in order to be used, and afterwards to be released into the world. When there is movement, when there is an exchange of thoughts and desires, then there is enrichment as well. In return for thoughts and desires that we transmit we will receive the relevant saps of Life. That is why Christ says, "I am the Life." What is essential for us is Life. Thus, we should put all our thoughts and desires to work in order to acquire Life. When we acquire it, we will be free citizens and will go to that Beginning, to the Eternal spring where we can quench our thirst. When somebody dies people say, "He went to the world beyond". If the seed is ripe, he will go to the other world, but if it is not ripe, he will drop near the trunk, near the root and will not go there. Somebody says that he is ripe. If you are truly ripe, God will come, will pick the fruit, and will take it to a good place. Therefore, everybody should ask himself if his seed is ripe. Now you may say, "I believe in Christ." Fine. "He will save me." This is good as well, but you will be dropping near the trunk of the tree for a long time, while your seed ripens inside you. Only when it ripens will you have spiritual Freedom. The only wealth a man can take from Earth to Heaven is this small embryo. When he goes to Heaven, man will begin to sow it for a new life, because the same school is there and you will work there as well. When advanced science is taught there, how will you understand it, if you do not have the ability, if you have not learned to guide your thoughts and desires on Earth? If you want to understand Christ's teaching and to be in the situation of the criminal, hung on His right, whom Christ said, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise", you should work. Some may say that they are also crucified. Yes, but on which side? If you are on the left side, I am sorry for you; you with your suffering will not go to Heaven. If you are crucified on the right side, I am glad, because your deliverance has come. Everybody crucified on the right side – teachers, priests, philosophers, kings – will be saved, but if you are crucified on the left side, you will go back to work in this world. Such is the law of God. The Beginning is the right side; this is Christ. That means you are reasoning according to the law of God in order to apply it to Life and not to be of two minds. Some who listen to me say to themselves, "What should we listen to, to what the church says, or to what this man preaches?" In this case, you, my friend, have two heads. If the church and I are preaching and teaching Divine Truth, there cannot be any contradiction and the results should always be the same. In other words, if we act according to the law of God, the apple planted by a priest will grow up in the same way as the apple planted by me. One should look only at the results of our actions. Why do you doubt – you have a candle, by which you can see if I am saying Truth. Someone meets me and asks me if I am black or white. But you have a candle, look! "But I cannot see." Then, you are in the dark. I know you and I can see who you are. For example, you are an evangelical; you say that there is no faith like your faith. Then how is it that you do not know Truth? My friend, you are a person, who lies both to himself and to others as well. Truth has only one image, and it is harmony, self-denial, Virtue, Wisdom, Righteousness. When you get this image, you will have reliable Peace, Calm, and Power. Then the world could be upset, the sea could be surging, but you will be quiet, calm and free like birds flying with their wings. If your right or left wing is damaged, you will collapse with your head down on Earth. And the Earth says, "Whoever has only one wing will stay with me." Sinners are birds who have one wing only. Devils say, "We need people with one wing", but Christ says, "I need people with two wings." We have two hands – right and left – and if we could have controlled the laws about making matter thinner, we would have been able to fly with them, rise, and be free to leave our body whenever we wish. Now, you are afraid of death and you say, "Devils are bad spirits, they will hinder us." What can they do to you, when they are limited by the same law? If we control both wings and if Christ is inside us, we should not be afraid of anything. Our fear shows that we are not with God. The Scriptures say, "Perfect love casts out all fear." If you are afraid, Love is not inside you. Now you ask yourselves how Christ will save us. What strange people you are! When you sow the grain of wheat, your salvation has come and there will be no lean years any more. You want to be like Angels. How can you be, when you are not sown and you have not sprouted? Angels fly like birds, and you are plants; then how will you be transformed so quickly? Do you know how many forms you should go through! By the word forms I mean the forces which you should control. In order to have the ability to change a form, you should know the forces that act inside it, because they limit you. You are limited – for example, you should eat three times per day and if you do not eat, you will not be in a good mood; if you do not drink, you will lose your mood as well. Someone says, "I am strong." You are strong for three days only. "I am a patriot." If you are kept hungry for three days, you will begin to think differently and will ask for bread. We should acquire the living bread; we should not take it from the Earth only. For us the Earth is a moneylender. All moneylenders and all bad spirits are placed in such positions, and they say, "We will give you bread, but you should pay us such and such amount!" You should become clever. Whenever ten wise men appear, they will tie this devil and they will say, "This grain is given to us by our Father above." Therefore, in order rightly to get what is sent for you from above, you should have a pure mind and a pure heart. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Let us ask ourselves if this Beginning is with us, if we are with God and if God is with us. I do not say you are not with God. I even maintain with certainty that you exist, live, and move in God, but God is not with all of you. One could be a dried root and the saps of the tree may function, but not penetrate him. If you are a dried root, of what use is Christ to you? We should not only be in God, but God should be inside our mind and our heart as well. Now, what did you understand from today's lecture? Remember the following thing, which is important for you from a practical point of view: everybody should build one small pipe from that spring into your yard, and from now on should not disturb either me, or the priests. You say that our priests do not preach. They are not porters. Make a fountain and drink. You say that the priests are bad. Why? – Because they do not give us water. Build a fountain from the spring to your home and let us stop talking about this Eastern problem[5]. When you build a tap from this spring, all disputes will disappear. The English scientist Drummond[6] said that we constantly consume three elements: two of them are air and water, which God gave to us for free, but the third element is food, for which we permanently work. If we have become slaves in order to have only one of these three elements, what would have been our situation, if we had to obtain the other two elements in the same difficult way? Our situation would have been three times as difficult as it is now. One day, when we become wiser, God will give us the third element as well and then we will be free people. We are in the third stage of our development now. Christ solved the problem, and He says, "I am the living bread." When He comes into us like living bread, we all will be free – men, women, children, priests, and teachers – and then, we will start doing greater works, as God has determined for us. Now, we only discuss politics – who has more, who has less. Now everything, including wars, is based on bread, and when someone has all the bread he needs, he wants to take the bread from others in order to have more. Christ says, "I am the living bread, I will solve the problem. I will be the Beginning." The beginning of what? – Of freedom, of reasonable life, of reasonable achievements, of transforming the world. This is the Beginning. Therefore, whenever you want to work with Jesus Christ, unite yourself with that Beginning. When you are united, you will have all that is needed, Christ's Power will be your power as well, and all the people of the world who are on the right side of Christ will be your friends. Then all of you will be united, you will go with a candle to look for your brothers, and Christ will give you advice about what you should do with your friends on the left side. You will come again to the Earth to help them, while all, those who are on the right side as well as those who are on the left, go back to Heaven to be one with Christ. This is the Beginning, this is the Word and this is God of Whom I am preaching to you this morning. And this living Word, which builds, exalts and transforms the world, is inside you – this is the living Christ. [1]Man – the Bulgarian word chovek signifies a thinking and conscious human, without reference to gender. The current translation uses English equivalents such as person and one wherever possible. In certain instances the word man is used instead. The use of man, he, his, him in reference to chovek are used to facilitate the reading of the text, however they should be interpreted as an indication of both the feminine and masculine genders. [2]любовь – In the written Bulgarian language of the beginning of the 20th century the word любовь, which means love, consists of 6 letters. [3]Maritsa – river in Bulgaria and Turkey, which springs from Marichinite ezera (lakes), Rila Mountain. [4]C – in Bulgarian: Слово. [5]Eastern problem – problem of international politics. It began in 1453 when the Ottoman Army captured Constantinople. It was partially solved by the victory of the Christian countries over Turkey during the Balkan war in 1913, and finally – by concluding the peace treaty at the end of the First World War between the Triple Entente and Turkey in Mudros on October 30, 1918. [6]Drummond, Henry (1851-1897) – Scottish theological writer, revivalist, explorer, geologist. Translated by Doroteia Koparanova, Malinka Koparanova and Steftcho Koparanov Source

The Book - The Spirit and The Flesh. Beinsa Douno Translation from Bulgarian - Vessela Nestorova THE HIGH AND LOW TIDES IN LIFE For the ffesh fusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the ffesh; and these are contrary the one to the other. 1 In general, people have very vague ideas of those deep Laws upon which life rests. The world we live in is ruled by Laws and regulations which God has put into the Universe when He was creating it. And when He led the first man into it— here the Scriptures are silent—the Lord taught him for a very long time, instructing him in the heavenly arcane. He acquainted him with all the basic Laws of this great building in which He placed him to live; He showed him the properties of all herbs; revealed to him the properties of the elements and their action, and making man a master over everything, He told him, "If you observe My Laws, you will always be happy, joyful and in a state of bliss and you will succeed in everything you undertake to do, but the day you violate my order everything will rise against you." The two trees spoken of in the Scriptures, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, are witnesses to this fact. If I should start explaining what these trees are, I shall digress too much, so I shall leave this for another sermon. These two trees in Paradise were living, intelligent, possessing certain powers and qualities. And the Lord said to the first man, "There is a great danger for you in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the day you will lay hand on it, you will lose everything. The elements hidden in that tree are not for you yet, for you are not sufficiently strong yet to master them. You can learn that in the future, but in the present you can make use of all other trees, of everything in life, but not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." I shall not stop to discuss the deep reasons which induced Adam to violate the Divine command. Some people preach that we must have faith. In fact, faith is necessary, be it positive or negative, it is the foundation of life and life cannot exist without it. All beings, from the microscopic to the greatest, have faith. But what is their faith? The unbelievers say that they do not believe in God, but their statement affirms in the same time that they believe in something—that there is no God. Therefore, they have some kind of faith. I would like to see how a person can remain without faith, not even in themselves. If people believe in themselves, they have faith—the only difference is that they believe in their mind. We are not right in saying some are unbelievers—this is half-right, for they have given up their faith in God, but they believe in themselves. Therefore, faith can be positive and negative. Adam and Eve expressed the principle of disbelief in God because Lucifer entered the garden of Paradise and they believed in him, leaving God. As a result of this came the fall of man. And the Apostle Paul says to the Romans, "Whom you obey, his servant you become." This morning my sermon will be about two great Laws, which I formulate thus: the Law of opposites and the Law of similarity. These are Laws which we can test every day. They are not an abstract philosophy like reincarnation or the transmigration of souls, but things which we can test daily within ourselves. From the point of view of these Laws, the dark aspects of life may become somewhat clearer to you. For instance, you are at the seashore and the sea is calm and quiet, but suddenly you notice that it begins to get turbulent, rising toward the shore like a flood— what the scientists call high tide. In some places the sea rises as high as sixty feet. At such times, you must run away as soon as you can, or you will be swallowed up by the waves. This high tide lasts twelve hours, after which the sea begins to subside and the waves draw back into their previous place. You can watch this often, sometimes daily—in twenty-four hours the water moving once forward and once backward. Such high and low tides take place in you as well. Where? Naturally, neither on the high mountain peaks, nor on the high places of life, but in the low places. It often happens that you go down to the calm sea singing some sweet melody and suddenly a big wave dashes at you, washing you away with your sweet melody or wetting you all over. Or rowing in a calm sea, a storm comes up and turns the boat over and you find yourself in the stormy waves. This is not an exaggeration, but true to life facts. How many times people disappear without trace in the sea of life with their songs, dreams and ideals! You say, "A misfortune!" and, not knowing the Laws of Nature, seek the cause. When the ancient philosophers said, "Know yourself," they meant that a person should know these two Laws of regular motion—high tide and low tide. These two words are hazy in your mind, so I shall try to explain them. This phenomenon is called the Law of rhythmic motion in present-day science. In all things there is a movement from the center to the periphery and from the periphery to the center; in all things there is high and low tide, rising and falling, conception and deterioration. In chemistry there is action and reaction—action is high tide after which is formed a reaction or low tide. If you notice your watch ticks quite noisily and then the ticking gradually fades away and then its sound again begins to increase—the same thing is true of your heart. If you put your hand on your heart, you will notice that at times it starts beating faster and you get frightened. The doctor says, "This person has palpitation." It is high tide in your organism reflected in the heart. This Law functions everywhere. And when the doctors say about some that they have a valvular disease, I say that these people have high tide in their mind, in their heart and in their soul and after 12 hours this tide will subside and the palpitation will pass. These 12 hours may be 12 seconds, 12 minutes, 12 hours, 12 days, 12 weeks, 12 months, 12 years, 12 centuries, 12 thousand years, 12 million years, and so on—it is all the same since the relation of things remains all the same. This is how this Law works. In the above quoted chapter, the Apostle Paul speaks of the Law of the flesh, which is the Law of the low tide, and of the Law of the spirit, which is the Law of the high tide. The Law of the opposites includes the Law of the low tide, whereas the Law of similarity—the Law of the high tide. In some places of stagnant water, the evaporations spread microbes and near such places appear different diseases. This Law works in our brain, in our heart and in our soul. In the organism there are often sediments, which cause the diseases and what we call rheumatism in the legs, in the joints, or in the head when we feel pains and begin to complain. If we are sensible and understand the Law, we can put a strong barrier, a big wall where there is a high tide. If we are foolish, we shall gape in the shore by the stormy sea. People consistently repeat, "The world is bad." In what way is it bad? Now this World War! It is a high tide of the forces and in this tide there is collision and all are running and crying that the sea is raging. And they call war this rush of people and ask, "What will become of the world?" I say, in twelve hours, twelve weeks, or twelve years everything will be calm, the places where blood was shed will be dry and people will ask, "What was all this about? What was the cause, why did the sea rage against us?" The sea is not raging but breathing, and when it makes an effort to breathe, its breast rises 60 feet—however, when the sea is taking its breath, you must be 60 miles away from its shore on some high peak. When it is breathing out, you may go on the shore and enjoy it; but as soon as you see it inhaling, run away from there to the high place. If we can understand these two Laws, of the opposites and the similarity, we shall know two great things in the world. The Law of similarity is the Law of heaven, the other Law—of the opposites—is the Law of the Earth, of the organic world, of the flesh. You get up some morning in a bad disposition, the whole world is wrong, you have no desire to work; your mind is confused. You say: "God has not made the world as it should be." All the devils are in your mind and you are ready to quarrel with everybody, you have let loose your girdle waiting for someone to step on it and for you to burst out—this is the Law of the opposites. On such a day when the wife notices the loose girdle of her husband, if she understands the Law, she must run 2 kilometers away from him and say to herself: "Today my husband has low tide of the spirit and high tide of the flesh." You should not laugh because on the next day the wife will loosen her girdle. This is a Law. All do not loosen their girdles at the same time. Ten years ago I lived with a family of seven members—father, mother, a son and four daughters. I was making small observations, testing how this Law worked—it worked like a clock! Each member took their turn during the week. On Monday the father was indisposed, his girdle loose. The others whispered, "Father is indisposed, scowling, yelling." They all keep quiet, looking for the cause. On Tuesday the father is happy, but the mother is scowling, her girdle is loose. The father giggles and says, "Your mother is on duty today." It is interesting that on Wednesday the big son lets loose his girdle. They all laugh, yet each one takes their turn during the week. I knew who was on duty each day and the program was fulfilled with no mistake. It is easy, and pleasant to a certain extent, when one at a time lets loose the girdle, but when two do it at the same time, or, scientifically said, when two are at low tide, then the situation is bad. In this chapter Apostle Paul says that the flesh is opposite to the spirit and the spirit is contrary to the flesh. It is unthinkable to reconcile these two Laws, because they have a diametrically opposite direction—the one moves forward and the other— backward. The Law of the opposites destroys, it demolishes harmony and happiness. As soon as it comes to you, it carries away all your furniture. When you fall under the power of the Law of the opposites, it can influence your mind for a long time: 12 minutes, 12 hours, 12 years. There are certain periods in life which influence the character of a person from the very beginning. If children are conceived during the period of the opposites, they will become criminals by all means, unable to avoid the consequences of the elements which incite their life in a deviant direction. If the father and mother are under the influence of the Law of similarities, a noble son or daughter with a good and well-developed mind will be born of them. This is how these great Laws work. The first people, before the fall of man, had known them; but after the fall they have forgotten them. People want their priest to preach to them after the service, but he is under the Law of the opposites and his vibrations, disposition and speech on that day cannot bring a blessing to them. He may serve reluctantly, out of duty or necessity. Yet if he were free, he would have put his hat on and gone somewhere else. However, people want him to preach to them. What can he preach? He will condemn them, call them bad people, sinners and send them to hell. That day he has said a lie: he has spoken of himself and people have been only a mirror in which he could see himself when he is under the influence of the Law of the opposites. People speak of an eminent American preacher in New York who moralized for a long time under the Law of the opposites and told his parishioners such terrible things that he frightened them all. The influence of the Law of the opposites often leaves in the stomach sediments obstructing digestion and doing harm to the whole organism. Because of that one day the parishioners took their preacher to hospital to cleanse his stomach of these sediments. A tube was placed in his mouth, then 4-5 kilograms of warm water was poured in, his stomach was washed two or three times and when the sediments were rinsed out he appeared in church and started preaching about the Kingdom of God, the coming of Christ, about Love, etc. People said, "Look, our preacher is transformed!" So I say when an orator wants to speak to people in church, in the chamber or anywhere else, he must cleanse his stomach, his heart and his mind of all sediments and then speak to people. Let us suppose you get up some morning somewhat indisposed and you cannot explain the cause. A few minutes pass and your mind begins to clear up and you say, "Thank God, I am relieved now." But after some time bad thoughts overcome you again. You ask, "Where did this devil come from?" People cannot understand that there is a Law that periodically and systematically works in the world. No devil with a trap has come to catch them, but it is the Divine Law. The Lord says, "I gave you a mind to reason about the order in the world. I told you about this Law long ago, but you forgot it and now the Law itself will teach you." When contemporary societies become able to understand the deep sense of the two Laws, the world will be fundamentally set right. Some people ask, "How can the world be set right?" When we begin to act according to this Law, the world will be restored to its original state as God ordered it. Like causes produce like effects; contrary causes produce contrary effects. The Hindus, who know these two Laws, explain them by the word karma—the Law of cause and effect. The karma may be good and bad or karma of the high tide and karma of the low tide. The commercial language expresses it as give and take. If you give, this is low tide, if you take, this is high tide. The one to whom you owe will come on the exact date of payment and invite you to pay your debt. Date of payment means a Law which regulates things. This Law is conditioned by the debtor as well as by the lender. Therefore, when God sent us into the world, He laid down certain terms. We have signed that we are obliged to do this or that, but now we say to Him, "We do not owe You anything." "Is that so? Then I shall apply the Law on you, the Law of the opposites. You beat someone, but he will beat you in turn, what you do will be done to you in return." These two Laws dominate and work on the Earth. The like always repulses the like. A cock perches on the dunghill, but a stronger cock comes and chases it away. Why do not both of them crow on the dunghill? The Law says—only one cock can crow on a dunghill. Therefore, in the world there can be either good or evil. Two evils cannot reside in one place and the same refers to the good. A saint cannot tolerate another saint and a learned person—another learned person. These two Laws work on the Earth—the Law of the opposites and the Law of similarity. The good strives after the evil and the evil after the good. That is why those who want to live on the Earth must have bad people as friends by all means, while the bad people must be friends with good ones. However, in heaven there is a different Law. Here the good person who wants to have only good people as friends will always be unhappy. Why is that so? Because there must be an exchange between the good and the bad people. If a merchant has textile goods for millions and his neighbor has the same, whom will they sell them to? Their interests do not coincide. One of them will say to the other, "Go away from here. Find another place on the other end of the Earth to sell your goods; I shall sell mine here." The Law of opposites is at work in this case. Christ, who knew this Law, spoke about self-denial. When people deny themselves, they become servants and then the Lord says to them, "I love you." If some say that they want to be masters, God will answer them that two persons cannot be masters at the same time, one must be a master and the other a servant. Evil is born when two people want to be masters. If they insist on being masters, God says, "Two masters cannot be with me. If they insist on that, I shall send them to the other end of the world." Which is the other end of the world? The Earth is. That is why God has sent people to the Earth. The Law of contrasts works in all of you, who want to understand the Law of similarity—that is why you are unhappy. You must come out of the Law of the opposites and enter the Law of similarity, which is self-denial. Self-denial does not mean losing your life, but only changing one occupation for another. Suppose two men are candidates for Headmasters of a High School. If one acts according to the Law of similarity, he will say to the other, "You become a Headmaster and I shall become a teacher." But if both of them should insist on taking that post, there will be intrigues with the minister and each of them will say to him, "I am more capable than the other man." Under which rule are they? Under the Law of contrasts. But the Teaching of Christ is under the Law of similarity. He says, "I came not be a master over you, but to teach you how to be happy; if you love me and fulfill my Law, you will live in bliss." If you are indisposed, if you hate or blackmail; you are unhappy for you are in the Law of the opposites. You must leave it, or in scientific terms—come out of the Law of contrasts and enter the Law of similarity. In other words, you must change the conditions and the environment. Begin to love. Actually, you cannot love until you go to the place of Love. It would be the same if you were shut in a dark room and were asked to see something, but you cannot see anything in the dark. The dark room is not the place of similarity. You must go out of it. If you have a candle, you may strike a match and light it. Therefore, when Christ says that we must deny ourselves, he means that we must leave the dark room of our egoism and enter the Law of similarity, of Love. See how sensible this is! Go out and find those places where you can draw elements necessary for your happiness, for your heart. You cannot do this under the Law of the opposites. In such a case, many will fight for one post, or for one professor's cathedra. Once there was a competition in France for a post in a Department and 15 thousand people applied for it. Only one candidate could take the post. In contemporary societies such desires are often born. Why? Because everyone wants this position. You hate someone and try to get him out of your way. Why do you hate this person? Because either they or you want this post. The Law of the opposites in life is implacable. This Law works also in our thoughts, in our feelings and in our will. The billions of cells constituting our bones, our nervous system, the stomach, the lungs, the heart and the brain during certain periods of time are under the influence of the two Laws—that of the opposites and that of the similarity—as a result of which high and low tides take place in them. We are angry, indisposed—there is a low tide in us. After that, a high tide must necessarily take place in us. How? We should concentrate, turn our mind to God, climb the high mountain where God can be found and have a conversation with Him and when the low tide is over, we will return to earth. By the word high tide I do not understand only that of the sea, but also that of the plants which takes place whenever there is moisture in the air. As soon as the fruit is ripe, it begins to wither. This is the Law of contrasts, which prepares soil for the next year. The Law of contrasts takes off the old clothes, but the Law of similarity supplies new clothes. You undress—this is the Law of contrasts; you put on clothes—this is the Law of similarity. Your body gets soiled—you are in the Law of contrasts; you bathe—you are in the Law of similarity. You wash your face every morning after getting up. Why? By way of habit. Today you must go to God, because there is low tide in you. You wash your face and say, "I shall take the burden off my heart, I shall wash the sediments off my brain and then I shall stand before God." This is what the washing of the face means. But since you cannot interpret this act, you wash it and the whole day after that you meddle with the mud. And your work does not go well. How can it go well, when the mud is in you! In order not to dirty yourself, you must be at a high place. According to the Apostle Paul, the Law of similarity has application in the verse, "The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance." Love is the father; Joy is the mother; Peace is their child. That is, they form a triangle which belongs to the Divine World. Those who want to be blissful must possess these qualities. Then they are in heaven. Then comes the second category of virtues which belong to the angelic world: Longsuffering—the father; Gentleness—the mother; Goodness—their child. Acquire them, and you will be among the angels. The third category is: faith—the father; meekness—the mother; Temperance—their child. Therefore, I say that according to the Law of similarity first you must have a father. Who is your father? Faith is. "But I have no faith." "Friend, I have a bad opinion about you. If you have no father, you are an unlawful child—your mother has not born you in the Divine way." This is what I understand when people say they have no faith. When people say they have faith, I say, "I congratulate you for having a father of noble birth, of a royal family." "But I do not believe in this father." "You are the last scoundrel." Let us consider the word gentleness. We said that gentleness is the mother—it is of royal birth. If you believe in gentleness, you have a mother. "But I do not want to be gentle." "Then you are without a mother." Therefore, every Christian must have a father and mother—faith and gentleness—but the person him/herself is temperance. When we say temperance, we must understand ourselves—the children of our father, faith, and our mother, gentleness. Someone says, "I want to go to the angels." You can go but you must be born of a father, longsuffering, and a mother, gentleness; she should carry you in her womb. And when you are born what will you be? Goodness—an angel, a saint. If you are good, you are an angel having a father longsuffering, and a mother, gentleness, who are among the angels. This is the Law regulating human life. It is the foundation of a philosophy which is tested daily. Do not deceive yourselves, nor try to deceive others. Only those who live under the Law of contrasts can deceive themselves. I exclude from myself the Law of contrasts. If I am at a low tide, I go to God; if I am at a high tide, I come to earth to work. If I am with God, who can deceive me? That is why I said in a previous sermon: where God is, the devil has no access; where God is not, there the devil is. When people say that the devil is crushing them, I understand what they mean. If God is in your heart, the devil cannot crush you. According to the Law of similarity, evil cannot be turned into good, nor can good into evil. A saint who has spent twenty years in a desert was visited once by a white-bearded old man who said to him, "I am a big sinner, so I ask you to pray to God to forgive my sins." When the old man went away, the saint began to pray to God for him. An angel appeared and said, "Your prayer is not accepted by God, because this old man is the devil. In order to find out whether he tells you the Truth, tell him so, 'I shall pray for you, but you must confess your sins. Climb a high rock and say: God be merciful to me for I am a great sinner. Repeat these words for a whole year.'" After sometime the old man visited the hermit again and the latter told him what the angel had said. "What!" cried the devil, "I cannot do this! I, who rule the world and command, do not want to pray, you pray." Then the hermit said to him, "The old malice cannot be a new virtue." Those who preach the Scriptures must know that they can never turn the Law of the opposites into a Law of similarity, i.e. they cannot turn to God someone who always lives under the Law of the contrasts. They cannot make them happy, as they cannot turn the woman into a man. The wife wants her husband to make her happy. How can he make her happy when she does not love him? He buys her a suit—she is not pleased; he brings meat—it is bad meat; the house is not built as it should; this is wrong, that is bad... How can he satisfy her when she is in the realm of opposites in her mind and when anything the husband does will not change her nature. Neither can the wife satisfy her husband, if such is his nature. She may cook and keep house, but he will always be dissatisfied, because he lives under the Law of opposites. Someone says, "I do not know what to do: my husband has become wrong- headed." I reason calmly and say, "He is unfortunately under the Law of contrasts, at a low tide; put him in your carriage, harness the horse and take him to a high place where he can take his breath— that is what your husband wants." When a woman wants to take her husband to church, she takes a phaeton and says, "We shall go to God; such and such a man will preach today and we shall learn something new." Now we say, "We want the world to be set right." How can it be set right? After grunting for million years under the tree, the swine, when she has eaten up all the pears, starts digging the roots to look for pears there. Now I ask you, how can the tree bear new pears when the swine spoils the whole tree? In the same way, when you do not find pears in the tree, you start digging the roots and say, "The money we seek is buried in the Earth." Thus, you become gold-seekers. But I say, you are under the Law of contrasts. There are no pears in the roots, no treasure either. You should not dig at the same place, but take your bag and staff and go to another place. Why? Because when the master comes and finds you digging, he will give you a good beating. Now this is what God is doing on the Earth. You are digging, looking for pears, but God says, "Give every person 25 cudgels on the back." Therefore, apply this Law to your life. The wife should not dig around the root of her husband if there are no pears, but wait. The husband, too, should not dig around the roots of his wife; the priests—around the roots of their parishioners; the students— around the roots of their teachers. All must apply the Law and you will understand life as God created it. This is a philosophy which you can apply in this world. It is so simple that everyone can understand it. If you say you cannot do this, I shall consider you as being in the mud, in the bog of the opposites. If you say, I can, you are under the Law of similarity. Take a step forward and you will be on the way to salvation. Some say, "We cannot love." "I am sorry, but I cannot help you, since you are in the region of contrasts, where you are amassing sediments and mud." "I can love." You are under the Law of similarity and God is with you. You get up some morning ill-disposed, say to yourself, "Today I am at a low tide, I shall harness my horse in the carriage and go on a journey." Do not go to a tree to pick pears when it is not time for that. You will find the pears at another place. Get up and pray, if you know how to pray. You will grow strong by prayer. Praying is the highest and noblest work one can do in this world. Only in this way can the human heart be raised and ennobled. I am not speaking about the external side of prayer in which only the tongue takes part, but of the prayer expressing the conscious aspiration of the soul towards God—the Supreme Love. But all people do not have such a view. Some say, "I cannot pray." Another one laughs and says it is self- deception to pray: how can a scientist, a university graduate, pray to God! The learned people are inconsistent. When they want a post, they write a petition saying, "Since I am a university graduate, I ask you most politely to employ me, promising to fulfill sufficiently my duty." Is it not a prayer? Yes, it is quite a characteristic prayer, but it is a shameful thing to pray to God! As long as there are people who pray only to their fellow beings and not to God—the Supreme Good—the world will go on just as it is. These people live under the Law of contrasts. I ask how we can be good when falsehood follows at our heels? We deceive ourselves, our fellow beings and God. We have unconsciously given citizenship to falsehood. We act under fear. Let us become free of fear and make the slogan of our life— speaking the Truth at least before God. Let us say, "Today I shall not speak falsehood before the face of God." If you make a mistake, say, "God, forgive me, I made a mistake." Do not say that so-and-so was the cause of your mistake and you are higher than them. Do not be like a Pharisee, with a high opinion of yourself. If you act this way, you are in the region under the Law of contrasts, in darkness. Speak rightly, "I made this mistake." By confessing your mistakes you will correct yourself. Read the confession of Tolstoy, which is a good example of this. Tolstoy became great after his confessions. There are only a few such examples in history. Can you also make such a confession? If you want to become a noble person, an angel or a saint, this is the easiest thing to do. You can become an angel or a devil ten times a day. Many do not believe in reincarnation, yet they can be reincarnated ten times a day. If you want to kill a person, you are a reincarnated devil—you are in the region of the opposites and are in a state to do any kind of evil. If you are under the Law of similarity, you are an angel. If you are ready to sacrifice yourself, or to do a noble deed, you are a saint. The only sad thing is that you cannot remain in this state for a longer period of time. It is said that people were made in the image and likeness of God. Here is what I understand by the words the image and likeness of God. When they say that a man is employed as general or minister, I ask, "Has not this man existed before?" He has existed before as an ordinary citizen. And when God said, "Let us make man in the image and likeness of God," he wanted to promote him to a higher post, to make him a general, to clothe him in a general's uniform and epaulets of a general. However, man did not fulfill the will and the command of God and He deprived him of that post and had his coat and epaulets taken off. This is the fall of man. "Take his coat off," said God, "because he does not fulfill his general's duty as he should." As soon as you turn to God, He says, "Today you are in the image and likeness of a general. Enter paradise!" If after five or ten minutes you do not fulfill the Law, He says, "Take off the coat of this general!" If you are angry or in bad disposition, you are out of paradise. A year or two pass, you begin to repent and God says, "Bring him to me, I shall promote him general again." Many times in the past, God has promoted you general and brought you down or discharged you. Today you are well, you are an angel in heaven; on the next day you are badly off, you come down to earth. If you do not pray and observe God's Law, you will serve evil. The two Laws of the opposites and of similarity regulate the world. The spirits who live under the Law of opposites have no disposition to return to the Law of similarity; that is why God cannot transfer them from one region to another. The first thing we encounter in Christianity is the boundary that exists between these two Laws. When you come to this boundary, you must leave all your luggage of thoughts and desires which are under the Law of contrasts and enter the Law of similarity free and pure. Then God will clothe you in a new coat and promote you generals. Man became naked when he disobeyed God's command not to eat of the forbidden fruit. God took off his general's coat and man was forced to make himself clothes out of leaves. God says, "Make him a coat of skin at once!" That is why today you wear a coat of skin which you call flesh. How and when can you become free from this skin? When you enter the Law of similarity. This skin will fall from you and God will give you a general's coat an epaulets. Such is the Christian philosophy, which you can apply to your life. It is not a philosophy of the past, but of the present. You are daily reincarnated by serving good and evil in turn. It is what reincarnation means. Contemporary people say, "Those who believe in reincarnation must be thrown out of the church." Why will you throw me out? Is it because I believe in the Laws of contrasts and similarity and live accordingly? When I live according to God's Law, whether you throw me out of the church or keep me in it, does not affect my soul. When I live with God, do not hate anyone, and try to love everybody, can anyone throw me out? Only God can do that. This is the Teaching I am preaching. I say, "The day you sin, you are turned out of the Divine church, or paradise." What are the contemporary churches? They are a distant echo of the greatness of the past. Do you know what secrets are concealed in these churches? If I start interpreting the meaning of the church, the stones of which the churches are built, the meaning of the priest's vestment, of the candles; you will understand—there is a deep philosophy in all this. The Laws of God are inscribed on the priests' vestments. The priests put them on daily, but cannot read what is written on them. Do you know the meaning of the vestments, the crown and the scepter of the bishop? What about the censer and the incense? We have closed the sacred book of life, saying, "This book is sacred, do not touch it!" But God says, "See that you do not soil it on the outside, keep it clean; open it carefully and read a little every day taking down the valuable thoughts in it." The church, the vestments, the icons, the candles, the censer and the books are all in their places. You must observe the contents of this sacred book. From it you will learn the Laws of the opposites and of similarity. When you learn them, you will put Christ's cross on your back and be ready to be nailed. Then God will say, "This man will be with Me in paradise," and you will be saved. This is done momentarily. I can be in heaven this very minute, but the moment I waver about God and think evil of Him, I am already at the bottom of hell. The moment I love God in my soul and say, "God, forgive me!" I am with Him. He stretches His hand and takes me to Him. Now I shall conclude my sermon with an illustration. A man died and was taken to hell. He spent ages of suffering there, praying God to forgive him. At last God said, "Open the book of life and see if he has done at least one good thing in his life." When they opened the book, they found that he had given once a carrot to a poor man. Then God said, "This man can be saved" and ordered an angel to hold the carrot, which he can get hold of, and thus be pulled out of hell. However, along with him many other sinners caught each other's feet and the angel carried them to paradise. But the owner of the carrot said to the others, "This carrot is mine!" and as soon as he said these words, the chain broke and all fell down in hell. Let your carrot help save other people as well as to rise to heaven, otherwise if you say, "This carrot is mine!" you will fall down again. Let them get hold of your clothes, of your feet, you keep quiet, do not say anything. When you say, "This carrot is mine!" you are far from God. Selflessness always lives under the Law of similarity. Sacrifice and self-denial—this is Christianity. Sermon held on November 2, 1914, Sofia ___________ 1 Galatians 5:17,22.

Note 3 The Fear “And you don’t have to be afraid from those, who kill the body but can’t kill the soul; but you have to be afraid more from those who can destroy and the body and the soul in hell.” Mathew 10:28 Fear is one oppressive feeling of the soul which exists not only in people but also in animals – feeling put in the live organism to make some mission. Fear understands that in the environment we live or the conditions we exist with, there are some elements, unlike or harmful for our life. This feeling serves just to keep us from everything which may damage us. When, and in which time did fear appear in people? According to the generally accepted understanding, it arises with the fall of man, before that man hadn’t known what fear was. And actually fear has double manifestations – outside and inside. When one child makes a mistake for first the time, the feeling of fear arises in his soul immediately. The man whom the soul is quite and peaceful, make a small transgression. Immediately this feeling of fear is being notable in it. It means that in the soul some elements enter which endanger it. I suppose that you have a house, the pod of it is made with pine – immediately in you a fear originate that it may catch fire and burn. So there is some element which is put in your pod; substances which may burn and blaze, they may perceive these characteristics and the whole house to burn down. When it works in the organic world for thousands of years, this feeling made the people and the animals to be slaves to the fear. But the fear has and its good feature – thanks to it the vigilance had formed, too. The legs of many animals had become long as a result of the fear; an animal which has long legs is always cowardly - this you may take as a fact. The hind legs of the hare are very long, and the forelegs– short; if and the forelegs were long they could be conducive to his running very much. Now I shall not launch myself out to tell what the role of the fear in evolution is. Contemporary scientists say that religion is originated from fear. This understanding is wrong because religion had existed and before the appearance of fear. Christ turns to his disciples because he knows that they are in this category, that they are afraid for their house, for their body, and tells them: “Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body but the soul can’t destroy.” Why? If you have some capital put it in the bank and some man may light your house, you will not worry because you will make new and nicer houses. It means that till you have the capital of your soul put it in another place, there is no reason to worry. Now, let’s take the second part of the verse – from who to scare. – “Be afraid from those who can destroy the body and the soul.” Upon the second part of the verse there were long controversies – who is this second we have to be afraid of. Some say that the one we have to be afraid of, is the devil. I shall tell you that the one we have to be afraid of, is God, and it makes sense to keep ourselves so as not to distress Him, and this means for us to be devout men. If I interpreted the Divine law of Life, I would not tell you who to be afraid of or not to be afraid, but I shall tell you how to execute the Divine law. This is the negative form of fear, and the positive form comes when we have transgressed – who execute the will of God there is no reason to be afraid, but those who don’t execute it always will have fear in their heart and never will be calm and free. In the chapter that has been written from me, Christ wants to assure His disciples that in the world there are some laws which regulate human life: “Even your hairs on the head – says He to the disciples – are counted.” Even one hair can’t fall just like that. If I execute the law of God, I will be under the protection of the law like the birds are. In contemporary Christians there is one wrong grasping for relations to God, to religion, and as a result of this many sufferings originate in the human soul. For example some consider religion to go without another to church, to light one taper, to make the sign of the cross; and they think that when they do these things they have religion. But religion is something very much deeper. The deepest content of religion is to have Love to God. After you have this main law in yourself, we will be ready to do a thousand other things because of God. But how may we show Love to God when we don’t see Him? Christ says: “Father yours is in Heaven”; I turn my eyes and see He is not there, and I say to myself: “When I exit from my body I shall go to this place.” Christ turns to his disciples and says: “Don’t afraid of those who are on the earth and kill.” Who are those who kill? If you read the first verse you will see that it is given power to the evil spirits to kill, but this power doesn’t extend upon the good people, but upon the evil. The contemporary Christian says: “I want to rule upon my brothers.” You see that Christ hasn’t given power to the apostles to rule upon the people but to rule upon the bad spirits. Every one of us has to rule upon them. Who doesn’t understand this Divine law will always make mistakes, will have plant from these spirits from here or from there. The people have different methods to threaten against the spirits but the spirits aren’t afraid – they are not scared from sticks, neither words. To have power upon one evil spirit, you don’t have to have its weaknesses; if you have it, you may be a scientist, philosopher, minister – you will be their slave. They will make intrigues, will dethrone kings, they may do everything. If you don’t have its weaknesses, you are their master. That is why Christ had ordered the spirits; He was clean and when says to them: “Get out!” they answered: “We listen.” Those, who bring and who cure the illnesses, are again the bad spirits. You will say: “Wonderfully”, isn’t it? The law is such. If you take money from some man you have to give it back, haven’t you; if you hurt some man, you have to pay for his cure, haven’t you? The Devil did the harm, but you wait for God to set your matters right. God catch the devil and says to him: “You have destroyed the house of this man, go and set it right” – and the devil torments him to set it right. And after that He says to him again: “If you like, destroy the house again!” Now, why doesn’t God answer to your prayers? I shall say – because you are sinners, when these workers come, you can’t control them and they run. You have, when God sends them, to have power, to order them – to stay upon them with a whip, because after you allow them, they will all run away and your house will not stay built. You never have to have the weaknesses which these spirits have. Some say: “We can’t live without weaknesses.” After you can’t, they will kill you, will take your body, the money, they will imprison you – there is no other exit. Now Christ comes and says: “I shall tell you who to be afraid of.” He says: “Don’t contravene the Divine law.” The second part of this interpretation understands the execution of the Divine law, to set your bodies and souls free. Every one of us has to make some inspection in his heart and mind, to see what weaknesses there are in them. If you like to fib, all the spirits of the lie are around you, they are on a visit in you, you attract them. If you like to gloat, all the spirits which gloat, are also around you and if you were clairvoyants, you would see that in your houses there are whole hordes from them which only eat and drink. If you hate, all the spirits of the hatred eats and drinks at your expense. That is why the people die. When they come and stay a day – two at you, you start of course to complain: “Here my head hurts, my eyes hurts, the arms hurts, the legs, the stomach, the heart, the lungs.” How you will not feel pain, these evil spirits draw saps from you and start to dim your eyes, start to become blind, to become deaf, your legs and arms start to be ill too, and one day they snatch you up and take you in the grave. And when you go to the God with ragged clothes, He will ask you: “Well, son, did you eat everything that I gave you? “ – “Father, forgive, we ate, drunk, fornicated, we will not do this thing for the future.” And because God is sweet-tempered, says: “It’s enough to learn the lesson, I shall credit you again.” And that is why Christ says: “I shall tell you who to be afraid of” This dread, this fear is the prudence. When in a man the negative feelings join together with the positive – the feeling of cautiousness and the ability for reasoning, then in him prudence originates. Fear is the negative element of prudence. Therefore Christ wants to say: “Don’t separate these two elements one from the other because after you separate them i.e. after you separate your reason from the feeling of fear – not to control their selves, without doubt you will lose and the body and the soul.” What does hell mean? You will see that it consists in these limited conditions of development where you will spend a life of suffering and in you will stay only one nude consciousness. And do you know what the stand of one man who died is? One day you will feel a little more tangibly this feeling. When the dead man becomes reduced only to bones, his soul surrounds these bones and says: “How beautiful they were”, and cries: “This wealth remained to me, the plaster went.” The bricks and the slabs are there and after time these bones will restore their primary temple. And there why God asks the prophet Ezekiel: “The human son, can these bones revive?” The prophet answers: “You know, God!” God says: “Predict then for the spirit to come and to revive them.” Once Edison made one little joke with some friends of him – he made two skeletons to move automatically, connected his legs and arms with wire, put gramophones to the arms and electrical lamps in the eyes, and then these two automatic machines started to talk: “One time we were like you – ate and drunk, look what are we now!” Everybody was frightened and bolted to run; for a long time Ericsson had to convince them that it is only one joke, made by him. In the present abnormal way of, living every man will find himself in one skeleton, unfit for work, thinking, action. And that is why Christ turns to his disciples and says: “Don’t be afraid.” If we want to regulate this feeling – the fear, we have to completely bow down to the Divine law – to the consciousness in us that we are connected with God. In us some time a thought arises: “We want to see God, we want to see Jesus Christ.” You see Him every day: after this feeling of Love, of Affection arises in you, He is there and you feel Him – only you have to open up your spiritual eyes to see Him. You see now the outside side of things, but the essential side you don’t see. Every day every one of you is in contact with God – when you suffer and love. When man suffers and he is in a position of a sick man, God cures him and when He wears his wounds it causes some pains and the sick man starts to complain. God explains the reasons for these sufferings: - Because you didn’t execute My laws, you suffer, but be patient, I shall cure you. - But these pains are unbearable. - Yes, but when I told you not to break the law, you didn’t listen. - But a long time is necessary. - You will learn. From now on you have to make an attempt (and this was made from the old Christians) to may go out of your body. Your mind speaks: “It will be gloriously to go out.” Gloriously but you must have knowledge. First, you have to be free from all the weaknesses of these spirits which are around you, and when you go out, you will tell them: “No one will come near to my body, because if not, they will have a whip.” But if the spirits knows that you have weaknesses, after you leave and abandon your body, they will steal it. That is why contemporary people are strongly connected with God for their physical body, because if they leave the body, it will be worse for them – their evolution will stop. Christ turns to his disciples who want to follow Him to understand these secrets of the Divine Kingdom. And I think that the method for a long life is to stay here. Now I shall suggest to you one fact: take people who suffer and who are angry, who pass in their life through many storms – their life is short. Those men who are calm, as they say – people in good spirits, and don’t get angry, don’t torment themselves, they have a long life. And there why Herbert Spencer says in one place: “When the outside power of the Nature balance with the inside processes of the human organism, we will have eternal life in the physical world.” Which are these outside powers? – They are these harmful elements. When we balance our selves, when we come to understand what we desire, what we want and know how to react against the harmful elements and to subordinate them, then we will possibly live on the Earth for as long we want – a hundred, five hundred, a thousand years – and will possibly leave again, when we want, it will depend on us. After we live several thousand years we will say: “We lived long enough and now we want to depart for long walks for the other world”; then our family and friends will accompany us, how they send us when we catch a train. That will be going – we will be free, will take out a ticket, and will go and our friends will not go after us and to say: “The poor man, the death put an end to his life”. - No – we will say, - I am going to have a walk, I am going to visit my father’s home, one day I may come back again.” And they will wish us a good way. Christianity is such a science which has to prepare this journey, in which you have to walk a long way. You don’t have to think that the place you go, is very near – it is very near but and very far. Near and far are relative things: if you move with middle speed, you will need two hundred and fifty years to go to the Sun, but if you move with the speed of the sun light, will go for eight-nine minutes. For nine minutes you can’t go from here to the garden of Boris – I need to go from here to the garden of Boris for twenty minutes, and the sun light passes in nine minutes ninety two to ninety three million miles. When we speak for space, we understand it in relation to the speed which we move with. If we went to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, do you know how many years would be needed by us? Thirty four millions years if we move with train and with the speed of light – three years. And if you decide to reach with the speed of the light the nearest universe, which is connected with our universe, ninety millions years are needed. So, it depends where you go. If you go to the Sun And you move with the speed of one train and your friends ask you after how many years you will return, you will say: “Two hundred and fifty years for going and two hundred and fifty years for return – five hundred years, and two hundred and fifty years to live there – it means that after seven hundred and fifty years we will return again.” If you ask one who goes to Alpha Centauri, after how many years he will return, he will tell you: “Thirty four millions years going, thirty four million to return and as many again years staying there – it means that I shall return after a hundred million years.” These are abstract philosophical thoughts, which are in a fitting manner only for Angel minds; you can’t grasp what is that space – thirty four million years; you need one Angel mind to grasp the greatness of the God in this sense. And Christ, when he turns to his disciples, says: “Don’t be afraid”; He fixes his eyes uphill and adds: “Don’t be afraid for these little houses which you have, don’t torment for these little works because your Father defined great works for you.” Watch to keep your soul clear and brightly – if you have it for capital, you can travel through these spaces. One day, when you go from the Heaven, you will not take your body – you will go with your soul; the body will leave on the Earth because it was taken from here. It is cart, made temporarily from elements of the Earth, and till you are in the Kingdom of these four elements of the Earth, will be in this cart. When you come to a mountain place where you have to walk on a goat track, you will leave the cart and will go by walking. There why Christ says: “Don’t be afraid, when the mountain path comes, not to lose your soul and stop your evolution.” You want to become masters; don’t become masters to your brothers – the biggest offence of contemporary people is that they want to rule each other. You should not order people; to the evil spirits you may and have to order. – “I want you to rule an evil spirit, to teach it, but to people I do not want to order” – it is what Christ says. Sometimes you want to know who was bigger and who smaller, who was older and who younger, what comes of it? God may send you earlier or later – a man was to the tail or to the head, what comes of it? One day God will put you to the tail, another way – to the head, one day – to the backbone, another way – to the legs – it is indifferent, these things are not essential. The power is there – to feel yourself as a master of the evil spirits, to tell them to listen to you, to tell them to do this or that. – “I want to fear my wife when I beat her.” Good, today you beat, tomorrow beat but she will run away and you will go to ask her. The power of the man is in himself; there he has to turn his attention. Every one of you has to rise up to control these spirits. I know that plenty of people suffer from evil spirits; plenty of people go to Christ to help them. How is he going to help them? He ties them but they untie them. To people like these cannot be helped. Christ with you, with your foxes and wolves is going to occupy? Put them to work – this thought is a little allegoric in form but I give it to you as a rule. You can’t become master of your life until you learn to rule these spirits. There are seven steps which you have to walk on before you can rule upon the evil spirits. The evil spirits are afraid of Light. The first thing you have to do is to turn yourself round to God. What is a turn? You are now turned round towards God with your back, in your world there is darkness; turn right-about with your face to God – without turning to Him it can’t. When you want to shake out a cloth from the dust, how can you turn it round? Therefore you will take your heart and your mind to turn them round and will shake the dust out from inside. The turn has a double sense – turn round to the Sun and turn the cloth to the inside to shake out the dust. The second necessary thing is Repentance – inspection, liquidation of the calculation. You put announcement over the firm: “I stop all the payments – neither give, neither take – I will make a yearly balance-sheet.” You make it balance, calculate: you have to take this, have to give this, in the end it remains ten thousand leva in debt; there is no way but to go to your creditors and to ask them – it is repentance. You bring out the registers: “Friends, I am an honest man, I don’t know how but I lost ten thousand leva, you will prostate, will excuse me but you will credit me a little more” – if you don’t ask they will imprison you. After they inspect your calculation and they convince that you are honest you will say: “We had dealings with you, we will forgive you, we will credit you again.” Forgiving and Salvation are two things connected. What we call Salvation in Christianity comes after we passed the two periods of Turn and Repentance to the Christ. He says: “I give you new credit and send you again in the world to work.” You open the firm again: “So and so start to function again, give and take.” The fourth step is Regeneration. The Regeneration I shall explain with another process from farming: one farmer has one garden; he destroys it and plants it again; when the new apples start to germinate – in him there is hope that the new garden will give fruits again. And in Christianity after this process passes, in us it becomes Regeneration – the new has started to grow uphill. Regeneration is a process of flowering and setting. There is Turn, Repentance, Salvation, Regeneration and New birth – the fifth. In the new birth man frees himself from the karmic law of the causes and the consequences – then you are free citizens, masters, no one can rule you. Only in this fifth step you may lord it over the evil spirits; only when you are in the place of Christ may you order these spirits. Then you will be a disciple of Christ, and this is a high thing. He gave His disciples the power over evil spirits and sent them to cure and resurrect people. How this power can be given when man has just turned round and still did not mark the calculation? They still don’t forgive him, he still doesn’t regenerate and he wants to rule the world. It can’t. You want to order the evil spirits – it can’t, you have to pass through these four steps and then you will be absolute masters of your situation. Now you sit and think, but afraid again if you have this virtue or not. There are two extremes in Christianity: some show they are more humbled than they are in fact, and some feel more sinful than they are in fact – and the one is extreme, and the other. Tell to yourself the right: “I have ten thousand leva in the cash box”, but no, when you have ten thousand, to say “five thousand” – you lie. You have ten thousand but say “five thousand” – you lie. If you have ten thousand include in the calculation ten thousand – not upper or lower. We always have to tell the truth as we know it in our selves, we have to talk clearly, categorically, positive – then our outside relations to the people will be good. Why? Because these spirits that rule you live in Heaven; when you arrange the calculations with your spirit, he will arrange the calculations and with the others spirits and they can’t hate you. They may say: “I shall kill you” – you will answer them calmly: “You can’t because you are tied.” Some say: “I shall make this.” – You cannot, just try.” One day one man said to me: - If I take out the revolver you will see! - Do it! But if it stays in the air glued in your arm? - Then. I shall take out a knife! Do it! Did you take out a knife to see what it was? It can’t be taken out just like that; it needs permission from high quarters. If from the high quarters you want to test if you are hard, if you have patience and self-denial, they may put you under some test and you have to stand them; but if from high quarters there is no permission, all the world may rise but only will move around you. One Englishman bets four thousand leva with another Englishman who had forty dogs from the breed bulldog and who said: “From my dogs there are none more awful, you can’t get near them.” The first Englishman bets and pulls one circle around him, and the other let his dogs loose on him, but they gathered around the circle but couldn’t pass. In the end that Englishman whistled in a special way and the dogs bolted to run through the people. What did he frighten them with? He had some power in himself. He didn’t chase them with a rifle, neither with a stick – he had some power which he used, that is why they run away. I ask where your power is. Some day some evil spirit may say: “When I set my dogs free!” – “Set them free, I shall make one circle and after I whistle they will disappear as a dim.” The power is in this Divine whistle and who has it, he is always free and competent. So now you have the method how to rule over the evil spirits – not to have their weaknesses. There why throw out all these weaknesses from yourselves. – “But – you say – I shall not do this thing, I shall not smoke” – and again, on the next day you smoke it. Do it without saying it. – “I decided to plant” – but there is something you still haven’t planted. Plant and then call your friends and say: “Come, friends, to see what I have done” – they will be happy. You say: “I have decided to be good, come to see what my plan will be – I shall do this, I shall do that!” You will do nothing, I have sawn a millions plans – the whole hell is full with the plans. You think of doing something – don’t say anything, just say: “God, come to help me.” And when your garden grows and yields fruit, call all friends and say to them: “Eat, drink and cheer” – then God will bless you. This is it: Christianity. And when Christ says to you: “Don’t be afraid from these who kill the body, but from these who kill the spirit”, He wants to say that what they will take, could be taken, as the proverb says, and at Easter – the prescription will expire one day and will be taken from you. You are carter – your cart will be taken and you will say: “They expelled me from the house.” Why not expel you? Thanks to the fact that they had the goodness to wait for you so many years. The spirits are masters of these elements which you have on the Earth, they are theirs. That is why the writing says that in this world we are new-comers, that this Earth we live on, is not ours – God sent us to imagine it by force. And you want to fascinate about it, to be masters, but wait firstly to fascinate about the spirits, and after that the outside elements, because every element has its master. You can’t be masters of the water if you don’t fascinate about the spirits of the water; you can’t be masters of the air till you fascinate about the spirits of the air; neither can you be masters of the fire until you fascinate about the spirits of the fire and etc. Therefore Christ gives us one law which we have to act on: the first thing is to be clear and then to turn round ourselves to Him. Now, because Christ comes to this world, how is it going to find you? Of course, some will find rich, and others – poor. It is said: ”And on this base from above if somebody builds gold, silver, precious stones, trees, hay, straw, the work of everyone will become obvious; because the day will show it, because with fire opens it and the fire will test everyone what is his work; to that man which work he built, resisted, he will take a salary, and to the man whose work fires will be damaged, but he himself will save, but like from fire.” And everyone who doesn’t obey the rule of chastity and doesn’t have in himself the fear of God, ”such a man to deliver to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order to be saved from the Spirit in the day of God Jesus.” If you obtained experience from so many thousand years, you had been suffered, you hold high the flag of the Truth, weren’t afraid from those who kill the body, and you sacrificed yourself for the triumph of the Truth, for the solemnity of the Kingdom of God, God will exalt you again, He will resurrect you. And that is why Christ says: “Don’t be afraid from those who kill the body” – if they kill your body, your soul will remain free, and this is the precious thing in Life. Every other way which diverts you from the Truth, is pernicious for your body, and for your soul. Because the cowardly, the pusillanimous men will not inherit the Kingdom of God. In the right cause of God, in the right cause of humanity, in the right cause of the nation, in the right cause of society, in the right cause of the home, in the right cause of the individual the soul would not have neither fear, neither hesitation, neither pusillanimity, nor retreat from the great beginning of Life. The Right is always correct. Love and fear are things which are incompatible in the human Spirit – in the Spirit of the real man. There where Love is, fear is missing and there where fear is, Love is missing. Love is a sign of completeness, of unity in all powers, feelings and abilities of the human Spirit; and the fear is a sign of absence, disunion of this inside and harmony of the spiritual peace. With these last words I understand the high, the noble, the good in the man. I don’t understand that impudence, that rudeness, that hard-heartedness, that heartlessness, which often passes for bravery and fearlessness. The ideal for heroism consist in this – when they put you in the pillory for the right cause, to be able with magnanimity to stand all the sufferings, the whole disgrace, all the abuses and all the gloating and accusations of the bystanders, even to the whole world, and to say to your Mother: “For You, who had brought me into this Divine world, I sacrifice everything. In Your Love I find my last support of my soul. The fear from the world, from those who kills my body, has been outmoded its century. I am not afraid because I know you. Dali you will give me death, or life – I will accept with gratitude. With You and in death has sense; without You and in life there is no aim. In death or in Life You will always be my light nimbus for my Spirit.” 1st of November 1914, Sofia Notes: *we say “to overstep the mark”. This means to act inappropriately towards someone in authority. NOT “step over” the law. Source

Note 1 The Conditions of the Eternal Life “And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” John 17:3 When a young Bulgarian man, pure like the dew, meets his ideal in the world for the first time, he stops and tells himself: “I have found her, it is she. Like Archimedes, I can now determine the specific gravity of bodies, indicate how much silver, copper and gold there is in this king’s crown. Like Newton, I can now say why apples ripen and fall down, why rocks roll from a height, why mountain springs go downwards, jump up and down, murmur and run in speed, why Heavenly bodies run in space and turn around their central foci; now my mind, my heart reveals to me this great secret of motion in Life; I can tell you in what Eternal life lies; I can determine its properties, qualities, conditions and elements. I have found them, I have found the philosopher’s stone, I have acquired the valuable elixir of Life; I am able to be courageous like a lion, patient like an ox, flying like an eagle, sensible like a human. It is quite rightly said: “You have revealed it to the just”. This young man is not far away from the truth, he has comprehended the original language that God had spoken. His conclusions and concepts show that he understands the original from which he draws inspiration, he speaks, thinks, feels and acts correctly – grammatically, logically and philosophically. There is peace and harmony in his soul, no dispute about the word eternal – whether it should be placed before or after the word life. “This is the external shell of things – he says – for me is important that she stayed in my mind, in my heart, has penetrated deep in my soul and supported my Spirit with her Divine fire.” His reply is correct. Years ago it was normal that coachman sat in front of the carriage while master in back. In newer times the rule changed –master sits in front and coachman – in back. It is all the same whether in front or in back as long as the reins are in proficient hands, the horses are strong, the carriage is in good condition, the coachman is quick-witted, the master is clever and good – the aim is achieved. But someone will ask: “What do you want to say by this?” – Nothing more, simply and clearly that the master and the coachman should be at their places. “And what more do you want to say?” – Can you say as that young man: “I have found her or I have found him?” This is the important question for you. When you give an answer to it, the world and life will obtain a different appearance. But let us revert to the subject: when Christ said these words about the Eternal life in the presence of His disciples, He revealed them a great law of Life through which two essential elements of Life are delimited and determined, included in the temporary and in the eternal lives, in the conscious and in the super sensual lives. Now, people who do not comprehend the deep sense of the original language may make one or another translation, may change the order of the words but there are certain laws that regulate human thought and do not allow a peculiar change. Until man does not get used to think correctly he will make mistakes and will expiate them through a number of sufferings. The things written in the Great book of Life are for the sensible people; they are not for the lower beings that do not comprehend these laws. Now, if someone reads Eternal life or Life eternal he will ask what is to understand under the word eternal. There is an external and an internal sense in this word. In our country under eternal life is understood a long, boundless, ceaseless life. In English is eternal but the root of this word is of Sanskrit origin and means land and in Sanskrit land means a being that conceives and bears. Often eternal life is mixed up with the existence of man, but man may exist without living. Metaphysicians argue on this subject but when we enter the field of the trial philosophy to verify Divine laws our conclusions should be based on the Truth and our results should be right. In human life there are three basic elements that never change; three main principles on which his present life is built up. They are implemented in grammar, in logics and in mathematics. For example, when children study sentences first they say that there are subjects, predicates and conjunctions in sentences. There may be also attributes, objects and so on but the basis is in these three words that give a thought. If I would ask you what is a subject you would say: “The word that indicates the object about which there is a talk in the sentence.” And predicate? – “The word that shows what is told about that object.” Well, if a teacher would have given you to analyze grammatically the verse I read, to show which words are the most important in it, all would pause up on the words God and Jesus Christ. But the main thought here is Eternal life whereas Jesus Christ is a predicate to this thought. God and Jesus Christ are the two principles from which the Eternal life results or the two supports, the two pillars on which it rests. Logically speaking God is the big premise, Jesus Christ is the small premise and Eternal life – the conclusion. Let us make this thought even clearer. The words Eternal life understand the reasonable motion of souls; the word God understands the embryos of the Spirit, the conditions, the forces, the laws in Nature on which this impressive order of things is being built and is lying and Jesus Christ – the reasonable beginning that goes out of the Only God and that directs and keeps all living beings. Now, you may think that saying Eternal life you comprehend and know what Eternal life is actually. But which is the basic element of knowledge? We know only those things that we can try, can do. We do not know anything that we cannot try and do – we have nothing else but an idea and can only guess about such things no matter of what nature they are. If you are given a piece of cloth you will say: “I know how it has been made”, but if you are asked to make it, to spin the woof, to put the warp, you will say: “I do not know.” Science says that every living being requires an environment and conditions in order to be able to live. For example, the environment of fish is water. What should we understand under the word environment? Environment, basis, soil are things that have many points of contact. In Bulgarian as well as in other languages there is no word to point at the essential difference between these three words. The first element of the Eternal life is that element in which the soul is dipped as the fish is – we call this element an environment. When we start building a house we call this environment a foundation – we erect walls on the foundation and roof the house. When we sow a plant we call this environment soil – in the soil we sow the various seeds. In everything we should find the environment first. What is the environment in the eternal life? God is. However there are two other transitional elements or conditions. Some mix up conditions with environment. There is a difference. For a train to go from Sofia to Varna there should be certain conditions – rails, coal and water. And which are the conditions of life when we speak about man? The environment in which man lives is air – man is dipped in it. But air is not the only element needed for the existence of man, fish and birds; there is a second element – food; but we are not dipped in the food: this element is transitional; it comes from outside, goes into us and goes out of us leaving behind its results. The third element for man, in which fish is dipped – water, is an environment for fish whereas for man it is only a condition; if we dip man in what fish is dipped, he will die. Hence for man water is a condition to exist. Let us take the air which is an environment for man – if we deprive him of air, he will die; for fish air is a condition – this condition is in the water itself and when it passes through the gills of a fish, this air passes through its respiratory system and purifies the blood. Water is an environment for fish; for man an environment is air. However environment is only one third of the truth. Where are false concepts generated? When we use an example in an analogical way we should know how much truth there is in it. We should be always sincere and not only our conclusions should be true but at the same time the small and the big premises should be true as well. The one premise may be true but if the other is not, your conclusion will be wrong. And when mathematicians and engineers make certain calculations and structures they take into consideration all circumstances precisely in order to avoid any possible errors. You should build up in yourselves on the same law when you want to build up your character – your mind and your heart. You should know how to build it up – should know which one is an environment, which one is a condition and which one – an element, because there are elements as well. The elements are relevant to the supporting of Life whereas the conditions – to the existence of Life. For example, fields, gardens, vineyards and so on form conditions for Life and from which the elements of Life such as wheat, fruit and so on result. Light is an element necessary for Life but it is the forth element; air, food and water are the first three elements. If fish would say: “For me water is quite a lot” because it finds there all its food and if man would want to live in water, too, he would find himself contrary to the basic laws that regulate his life because he is not able to go into water and live there like the fish. The errors in all modern philosophies and religions result exactly from these wrong concepts. There are many dogmatic points in them that are half true. Let us return to the word eternal. It concerns the Spiritual world; it understands materials in itself from which the immortal life can be built. The word life understands the organic life in the substance that grows up and develops and cannot be ceaseless, everlasting – its form may change and we call this change death. Ideas of death are various, however. For man to die does not mean that he will lose his consciousness at all but means that he may lose those conditions in which Life manifests itself. Consciousness may stay just as human bones remain when people die, Consciousness is the spiritual backbone of man. So the whole nervous system and the organs that function along with the other feelings and abilities are based on this backbone, as is on the human backbone. As for God, He is the supreme power or the necessary environment in which man is dipped spiritually. Let us explain this analogy: when we say that light is necessary for human eye this means that the cells of the eye are dipped in the light and that it is necessary to keep them alive. Human soul should be dipped too. You have not dipped it – this means that you are outside your environment; you will live as an embryo like many grains of wheat that have stayed in the Egypt pyramids and tombs for five-six thousand years in dry place and have waited for conditions to be sown in order to sprout. Such grains of wheat were recently taken out and sown and they gave an excellent result. Human soul, too, like a grain staying in the Divine granary is waiting for these three necessary elements which the conditions, the forces and the laws contain to be able to start its life again. Speaking in a Christian sense, we should find the conditions at which we will be able to dip and live within God. The effort of every conscious man should be directed in this sense in order to be able to reach that position. You live, you exist but this living and existing is simply vegetating. Your existing consists of only one element and is being restricted by the Divine essence that has created you as grains of wheat and fruit seeds. You cannot avoid your existence, you cannot self-destruct – your existence is beyond time and space. In this state human soul had existed for milliards of years in the womb of the Divine consciousness but its life of that time had been of different nature – it had not been individualized, it had not known the particular life of the individual Spirit; it had lived in the contemplation of the Divine bliss – in a slumbering state. But now, with its waking up it comes to the Earth to learn the inner sense of this Life as well –the individual life, to acquire its own Immortal life by itself and to become a citizen of Heaven with certain rights and obligations. This inner striving is a condition imposed on it by God. Now, some want to become incarnated and at the same time to live as God lives. But to live like God is a contradiction because you need not to go out of God in order to live like Him. What need does this Divine Consciousness have to separate itself, to search for some other life? This shows that human soul has always existed in God and it is its eternal striving to search for Him in all His manifestations and to follow His example. But let us return to the scientific aspect of the subject – ruling over these three basic things: environment, conditions and elements for existence. In church this idea is expressed as a Triple-face of God. What does this word mean? It means three different beings that have the same thought, the same will – the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. In grammar they are subject, predicate and conjunction; in logic – big premise, small premise and conclusion. God is the environment for all beings and for our soul, too. Christ is the element that brings Life within Himself and the conditions that contribute Life to manifest are in the Holy Ghost. When you change the order of things you should at the same time change the laws that regulate the forms of things. You can dip into the water but in order to live in it you should change your human form to a fish one as well. This would be a degradation of Life because you would convert the condition (the water in this case) into an environment. And when you convert the environment into condition there will be an advancement of Life. In both cases the form of the being should change of necessity. We can change the form of a fish only when we change its environment. If we draw it out and introduce it bit by bit in the air its organism will surely reorganize as well, it will become a bird, will adapt to the air. Then water will become a condition for its existence as food and light are. When Christ says: “This is life eternal, that they might know You the Only true God”, what does He want to say under the words the Only true God? This is that Supreme power that moves constantly within us, that brings Life within itself and creates the conditions through which we are able to know it. A being that is dipped in a certain environment cannot know this environment; for example, fish cannot know the water in which it is dipped. Some want to know God. If you are dipped in God you will not know Him because you are inside Him; then you only live in Him without knowing Him. And you should go out of Him and make Him a condition of your existence if you want to know Him. Let us suppose that you are talking to a cell that lives in you. Human cells are reasonable beings, they have a certain kind of intelligence – they are like fish and birds. It may seem strange to you but it is true. You can make an attempt to talk and these cells will understand you. And speaking in their language they will perform their duties excellently. You may also intimidate them and they will cower. If now a cell says: “I want to know what man is” it will be the same as when man says: “I want to see what God is”; then God should not be an environment, man should go out of Him. – “But is it possible?” It is, you only should change your form. – “But I cannot!” “Wait then until you change it – here is the philosophy of the matter. And, in order to be able to know what man is, the cell should journey through milliards of conditions, through all tissues – to be in the stomach, in the heart, in the lungs, in the brain and so on – and only them it would be able to stop and say: “I have formed my opinion on man, I already know what man is.” And now we, the philosophers of this world, after we have been everywhere, we stop and say: “Come to tell you what God is – He is all-powerful, did you understand now?” - “Yes, I did.” You have understood nothing. Only when you go out of this environment, when you pass through the door called death, when you die, only then you will know what God is – that is why people die. And when a desire to know God arises in a soul, then it should die saying to itself: “I should die in order to know God” - this is the most correct definition of knowledge of God. Those ones who wrote the Gospel were very wise people. Some think that the evangelists, being fishermen, were simple-minded, uneducated and that Christ was also simple-minded, uneducated. But this is absolutely not right. Christ studied in the Heaven school; He had no need to study on the Earth. I wonder at this superficial conclusion that a person who had never studied was able to change the world and to take people to God. The materialists, the pantheists say: “You, the Christians, are utter fools, there is no logic in you – you rely on a person who has been simple-minded, uneducated to take you to God. When we reason – they add, - we take into consideration everything.” While preaching one day in a church that Christ had fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish and in order to make it possible for the audience to comprehend that miracle, one said: “You do not think that this bread was normal, do you? No, it was big as hills”. Hearing this, a shepherd whistled and said: “Why do you speak in this way? I do not wonder that the bread was so big but I wonder how big the mouth of the bakery was where this bread had been baked.” This is our lack of logic, our superficial way of thinking. The first thing a Christian should do is to get free from all false conclusions, false thoughts and false desires. And he is able to do it. A rational person can free himself at once. And a disciple might check how correct the sentence is: “Man is a being with two legs, every being with two legs is a man; therefore a hen that has two legs is a man, too.” The conclusion is very correct but the two legs are not the things that characterize man – he can walk on four legs as well; and the things that may characterize man are his mind, his heart and his soul – these are three elements. Legs or hands are only a conclusion, i.e. an external physical product of human activity. When man has to take action he should have hands and legs – the conditions will create them. You will ask: “What will be they?” They will correspond to the environment. We say that it is not possible for certain organs to be changed as long as the being lives in one and the same environment. If we take fish we will say that the fins by which it swims are necessary for it in the water and they cannot change. But if fish would go out of the water, if it would be able to do this and would want to become a human, its fins would have to be converted into hands and legs. We who want to pass into the Spiritual world are like fish dipped in an environment. If we want to get acquainted with the conditions in which Angels live, they would tell us as we would tell the fish that would want to go out of the water and to enter our environment, to think and act: “First you have to change your fins, to form lungs and to learn to breathe.” The fish that would teach some other how to make lungs would be the most learned fish. Now, I too recommend you this learning – to make lungs for the other world, because if you do not have this you will not enter it. You should be prepared so that your life could continue upwards when you leave the Earth. Now, let us turn to the word knowledge. In our written speech words are composed of certain symbols - the letters by which they are written. As an example, let us take the Bulgarian word ПОЗНАВАНЕ (knowledge): first there are two lines drawn from above downwards; when you put one more line on top, it becomes the letter П. We want to make O – we draw a circle, we put it next to П and it becomes ПО. For the letter З we take the two halves of O and put the one above the other. For the Н we take the vertical lines of П and put the upper line in their middle. We are to write А, we take two lines touched in the upper part and joined by a line in the middle. For the B we take a straight line and stick the symbol of З to it and so on. But the one who has created these symbols had a certain idea in him. By analogy I reason about plants, flowers in the following way: while growing a flower stays like a glass open upwards until it takes an embryo; once it takes the embryo it starts turning upside down and finally it droops – it forms the letter П. And I say: in knowledge the glass is turned to God in order to have something poured and learning this thing it wants to try what this thing is – it creates the experience. Or, in the organic sense we understand that the blossom has already knitted and that the fruit should ripen. So you cannot have any knowledge until you do not conceive – otherwise you would be an empty soul turned upwards. When the soul turns downwards we will say that God has put something in you. This fruit may fall down prematurely but then it will have to repeat the process of developing and ripening because no pains, no gains. The “0”, the zero is nothing, they say, but in mathematics it has the power to increase and to decrease ten times if we put it before or after a figure. For example, if we put 0 after 1 we will have a ten times bigger number whereas if we put 0 before 1, we will have a ten times smaller number. Then, the nothing is something, too. How is it possible that something that does not have anything in itself be able to increase or decrease things? In my opinion, time and space in the nothing exist as two elements of our organic development; Light and Warmth act in the space. So, when we put a zero after the П this shows that there are conditions for the blossom to develop. But we are get down in this tree which has a double life: upwards – in the trunk and in the branches and downwards – in the roots. We say that fish is dipped into the water whereas man – into the air; this is half true. There are also other elements which if removed life will be stopped, too. Fruit trees have two environments: soil for the roots and atmosphere for the branches and the blossoms. Then knowledge understands knowledge of the soil as an environment for the branches and for the roots as a condition for getting food for the branches, the leaves and the blossoms. Let us say that while traveling this tree – the Tree of life, you are in the roots. There is a double life in it – material one in the roots and spiritual one in the branches. They are like a subject and a predicate. The world of spirits, of Angels, called by some an astral world is the conjunction between the human world (the physical, the material) and the purely Spiritual or the Divine world. The One who speaks is God – He represents the predicate, the source of knowledge, Power and Life; man is the subject, the soil that prepares the saps of Life whereas the auxiliary verb “is” – these are the spirits, the Angels that connect the physical world with the Spiritual one and that apply the laws of the harmonious function of these two worlds. You may have a subject, may have a predicate but if you do not have this conjunction you do not have a sentence. The Angels are the ones that bring the knowledge of God in us without which we can have no Life in ourselves. I will make a comparison. Let us presume that in winter time you go out in the night, you are trembling and basking in the moon. Someone asks you: “Why are you sitting here?” – “I am basking”. “But there is no Sun.” – “You are blind, you deceive yourself, this Sun will warm me little by little.” When you have no idea about God this shows that between God and you there is a certain gap, a certain barrier that cuts the connection of your life with the Divine one. Now I have noticed that maybe in this speech there is something vague for your mind. Do you know why? There is an interstice when I change over from this world to explain you the things of the other world. If I tell you about music I will say that with his ear man is able to distinguish from thirty two thousand to forty six thousand vibrations of sound waves per second at most. When we come to the light it appears straightaway as a red ray produced in our eye by four hundred and twenty eight milliards vibrations per second. Going up this scale, we will see that there are seven hundred and thirty nine milliards of vibrations per second between the red and the purple rays. Our speech can be logic only when we restrict ourselves within the narrow circle of things that we are able to realize, i.e. that we can try and comprehend. Once we pass from the sound to the light sharp we cannot be always logic because between sound and light there are certain vibrations that we have not taken into consideration. We have passed from the sound to the light but have omitted some fields about which we had no the idea. We leave for the other world from thirty two thousand vibrations and go to forty six thousand vibrations per second – to the world accessible to our ear and we say: “We know up to here”, but when we go on we are in darkness and say: “We do not know this.” Reaching the red rays, we say: “Thank God, we passed this desert”, but this desert covers an unimaginably huge space between two limits of forty six thousand and four hundred and twenty eight milliards of vibrations per second. All that things that people do not comprehend are a desert for them in which nothing grows, nothing exists. When Christ spoke about Eternal life He was very careful. He had filled all interstices, had joined the worlds together: the Spiritual world – with the world of the Angels, the Divine world – with the world of the Trinity, the physical world – with the world of people – the souls. That is why He says: “I am the Way from the Truth of Life – I join these two worlds and lead equally to both the world of the Angels and the world of God, of Truth. Therefore, that one who follows Me and starts along the Way that I will show him, will find that good which is necessary for his soul – the Divine Peace.” That is why He also says: “I give you Peace, I leave you My peace.” And Peace is a child of Heaven; it is reared in the home of God. From the above we conclude the following: the Way – this is the motion of the Spirit in the reasonable application of the laws in Nature; Life is the harmonic arrangement of the elements and the development of the forces in the Divine soul; Truth is the manifestation of the Only God who creates the conditions at which human Spirit and human soul can strive to something better and brighter in this broad world. Let us take the Eternal Life as a spring that flows out of a mountain peak of the Divinity, below a rock – water is the element that carries Life; the stream of the river is the Way of this descending to a lower direction, to a lower world. That is why Christ says: “I came out of Truth - of God and descended into the material world to help people, to give them this life-giving water.” That is why He says in another place: “I am life-giving water.” These three things about which I am talking: Eternal Life–God–Jesus Christ, Way–Truth and Life are connected between each other. If the water does not spring from the mountain peak and if it does not start running along this Way, along the bed of the river about which Christ speaks, then it cannot bring the expected good. And from purely Christian point of view we should be near to this spring. The living Christ is the Spring – one should merely know how to drink the water of this Spring. I do not say that you do not know how to drink but you drink this water five hundred or a thousand kilometers away from the Spring and then you say that you know what Christ is. And you know not how many other elements have gone into this water, have troubled it, misleading thus your taste. You should start upstream – the way is slightly long, blisters will be raised on the feet but on reaching the Spring you will say: “This is what I call water.” And those who cannot go to the Spring will drink troubled water – troubled because it is ever worse without any water. I tell you: even though blisters will be raised on your feet, do go to the Spring and drink Its pure water. When coming back you will have a clear and sharp mind, a good heart and a breadth of view. Much effort is needed, much work on himself in order man to be able to apply Christ’s teaching, to obtain those good results that will raise him to be one day a fellow-citizen in the Heaven, to live among the saints and the Angels. Let me now return to the matter: when we talk about Eternal life in the sense of immortality, everyone will say that such Life is impossible here, on the Earth. Sure enough, is it possible for one to obtain Life when he dies? The conclusion is correct but not all correct conclusions are true, because how do we know that man dies totally? When someone had not worked in spring, in summer, in autumn and is saying “I am going to work in winter”, I will tell him: you have no conditions to work. If you have not made money in spring, in summer and in autumn, how will you make money in winter, if you have not worked when the time was to how will you acquire Eternal life? You can acquire Eternal life now, today, if only you have the courage of that Bulgarian shepherd – to carry your stick correctly and to know how to use it, how to hit. Hitting, translated in a scientific form means the circumstances at which you can react when meeting a difficulty in your life. You often say “As God has said” but God says that the sheep of such a coward will be taken and he will be a slave and will stay in Egypt like the Jews to make bricks. And indeed, we only make bricks and houses: we build and build, make a house and God comes and turn us out; we start again: we save five, ten, fifteen, twenty years and some years later He takes it again. Why is this vain labour? I do not want to say that we must not work but we should work wisely, to earn something that will be ours. When I preach in this way someone may say: “But you teach us not to work.” I teach that you should work. That one, who has come – the tax-collector will walk away with your property and your heart and will sell them but he has never sold the mind of man. How many hearts and how many souls have been pawned and sold! And people say that they are owners. We can see many who do not know how to think, how to act – they can hate but cannot love. All these people make karma with their corrupted minds and hearts and you can see how in the future the whole population will suffer and cry from the laws that their representatives have published. Do ask your deputies, your parliament what laws do they make? From a certain parliament they say: “We make such laws that in the future religion will not be taught in school; some other say: “God will be abolished, this is something obsolete; churches will not be visited, the new ideas will be respected and those who will not fulfill this law will be fined so many leva1. You say: “What to do, such are the deputies that we have sent to make laws and now we will disobey.” But you will say still further: “The law that has been passed is not fair”. You will have to bring other deputies of yours who will make a different law after proving your rightness. What happens in the world happens in us as well. Christ says that in order to acquire Eternal life man should first learn to think and act correctly. You are now telling yourselves: “We know – as soon as we come back home we will start applying the law correctly.” What will you apply? The old law again – some small trouble will run you off the rails and you will forget the Eternal life. Should the housemaid burns the meal you will shout at her and argue and will lose in that meal your whole mind and your heart. Do you know what you look like? Many times clever people have composed stories about certain cases. For example, a dog was passing a bridge and seeing in the water that another dog was carrying a bone it dropped its bone and plunged into the river to seize the other one – it lost its bone. Often we do the same – we drop the substance for the shadow. Let the housemaid burn your meal – let this does not disturb you. When you are preparing an Eternal life for yourselves, do have the patience and the self-control of that philosopher who, after twenty years of work on certain mathematical matters which he had been noting down on slips of paper, did not get angry with of the housemaid when, on coming back home, he saw that she had thrown all his slips of paper in the fire while tidying the room. And you should keep your slips of paper. Now you often take, collect these slips of paper which God has written and say: “What are these rags?” and you throw them in the fire. When God comes and asks where your papers are what will you answer? – “We cleaned our room.” – “This should not happen any more.” You should not clean your Divine room in this way. These slips of paper are the different centers in man in which God has written many and quite valuable for you things – everything should be put in order. There are many things thrown about the building that God is constructing – there are bricks, sand, stones scattered; all these materials will be used in the building of your new dwelling – you should prepare these materials by yourselves. That is why Christ says: “When you know inside you the Only true God who builds, who is an environment, a condition, and an element for you, then you will acquire the Eternal life.” And now I want to leave you three things on which you should think – environment, conditions and elements. Those who cannot think of this let them think of what they can. But those who think let them see whether they are dipped in that environment called God, whether they have the conditions and the elements; is their air clear, are their windows opened, are their eyes, their tongues in their places. Tongue is not as small as seen; the tongue, this small tongue that creates and destroys in the world shows slightly, it is invisible but what a hero it is – it breaks bones; it rouses people to fight one against other. If the tongue is not in its place you should tighten its screws to not stay untuned because when God comes He will look if all screws of your tongue are in their places, if the tongue functions as He had made it once. There are damaged screws somewhere – it chatters; take the screws here! How many screws lost I know! You should bring the lost screws, the rings, all parts of your tongue, of your mind, of your heart – all this should be put in its place. That is why Christ is coming now. You have thrown the small ring out – you would have not. – “How is it that?” Scientists say that the blind gut is not necessary and should be removed so that one could get rid of it when it starts to hurt. How can you say that it is not in its place? There will come time for it to start functioning. Doctors say: “There is an inflammation of the blind gut, let us cut it.” – Better I die than dispense with it, because the disease will appear in some other place. No organs should be cut because how many millions of years had this blind gut taken God to make it and now a foolish doctor has found it be not necessary and clips it out to free man from it. Many times the blind gut starts revolting and saying: “Meat should not be eaten, animals should not be slaughtered.” Beans, lentils and other similar things will not give any pain. But we say: “Let the blind gut out, we will eat meat again!” But the blind gut has friends in the heart and in the mind – if we cut it below, its friend inside the heart and above in the mind will die along with it. That is why Christ says: “You should place in their proper places these three elements of Life – conditions, forces and laws.” This is what the Christianity understands and here is the deep science of Life. I do not want to give you an empty philosophy but I want you to check and try in life what I am saying. How will the world mend? It will mend when all screws are in their places and Life starts functioning like a clock. I will give you an example: one bought a clock that stopped working shortly afterwards. He thought: “I gave so much money, I haven’t used it even a week and it stopped. He went to a watchmaker and asked him to make the clock run. – “How much money do you want?” The watchmaker looked at the clock and said: - “Ten groshes”2. – “OK”. The watchmaker blew in the mechanism of the clock, a jammed louse dropped and the clock started running. – “Can you take ten groshes for only a blow?” – “That much.” And God will come, will blow and everything will go well – how easy. These little animals should not stay in the clock - they are for some other place. The Christianity is the philosophy that wants to free human soul from all kinds of vermin; to have the screws of the tongue, the mind and the heart set. And when all screws are put in their places, when mind and heart are in their places and in good order, the conditions of the Eternal life will come. Then resurrection will be realizable and possible. I know that to put the screws in their places is a difficult and hard job. But when it will be done successfully the mankind will celebrate its jubilee on the Earth: children - sons and daughters - will sing the new song of Life for their parents having found and adjusted the screws and for the bright future coming for them themselves; nations will exult, will praise and glorify the Good God for their spiritual heads (priests, preachers, teachers, kings and ministers) having found and adjusted their screws and for a bright future coming for their lives on the Earth as well. All will sing one song but a great song of Life that will touch their hearts and souls to the full. The whole past will be announced, the whole future will flow, and the spirit of the New life will be expressed in this song. But someone would say: “What kind of screws are they, what can they do?” The way that should be kept is laid down in these screws – they join, they tighten the disunited parts of Life. And that one who looks steadily at their spiral threads and at the hand that screws them up will comprehend the deep sense of the Great laws that move everything to a defined aim. These are Divine forces that according God’s will soon appear in Life and will put the untuned elements into their proper places, will direct the Divine saps to the human soul, will put the soul in its true environment, will create most favourable conditions for its development, will carry in it the true elements of Life. Then our soul will suck as a baby sucks healthy, pure non-admixed milk from the breasts of its mother. Then in our sub consciousness the roots of the Divine consciousness will appear and on it the trunk will raise, the branches will grow, the leaves of our self-consciousness will put forth and in the twigs of the latter the buds and the blossoms of the super consciousness – of the Angels, will appear. When this happens, it will be a sign of the spiritual spring – human soul will find itself in the field of immortality, out of the jaws of death, sin and criminality. And with positive faith and positive knowledge we can expect the invaluable wealth – the fruit from the Tree of the Eternal life, the leaves of which are used for healing of human defects, whereas the fruits – for the supporting and the immortality of human soul and its unity with God. And this great event is on the brink of today’s life. 25th October 1914, Sofia 1 Bulgarian currency 2 An obsolete coin equal to 20 stotinki Source

Note 1 How Much Higher A Man Stands Than A Sheep “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:12 We ought to thank the Hebrew Pharisees that they provoked Christ to say such a great truth - otherwise He would not say it. People who are extreme formalists, who filtrate the mosquito but devour the camel; who are specialists and virtuosos in finding and pointing out other people’s mistakes – the Pharisees could not explain to themselves how come that Sabbath may be infringed. According to their comprehension, after the law of Moses, the Sabbath had to be spent in rest and inactivity. The Hebrews understood the rest peculiarly, namely, in the same way that Bulgarians understand the Sunday. A Bulgarian would drive his oxen into the cattle-shed, leave the plough under the garner, dress himself well, put his fur cap on, and go to the tavern where still with his entering he would shout out: “Bring here half a kilo of wine, it is Sunday today – we should work six days, and on the seventh we shall eat and make merry”. The Hebrews held similar views of the Sabbath, too. And Christ lays them bare, making a comparison: “If your sheep”, he says to them, “falls into a pit on the Sabbath, you will lift it out, won’t you; and certainly not out of love for the sheep, but so that your interest does not be impaired. But when you have to do good to a person who needs help, then you raise a big question that his hand should not be recovered on the Sabbath.” Christ adds something more: “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep”, that is, how much higher a reasonable being stands than an unreasonable one. If you cook for your stomach four or five hours a day in order to feast it, because it constantly bleats, and you say: “Let me not torment it, let me feed it a little” – then, when it concerns the reasonable being, the human being – that his very thought and heart be elevated, why do you say: “This cannot be done on Saturday, there is time for this, let it wait”? Christ stipulates two conditions, saying: “I must take care of the reasonable just as you take care of your sheep; I have come to Earth to liberate these reasonable beings and lift them out of the pit just as you lift your sheep out of the pit.” The hand of that person was numb. Do you know what it means, the hand being numb? His will was paralysed, and Christ says: “I want to restore his will, so that he can act freely and apply his thought and his feeling; because he is sent to Earth in order to work. Whether this will be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday, whenever, I will accomplish My mission.” And such work, which does not break the Divine law, can be done by anyone, because rest is meant only for the body and not for the Spirit. Only the lazy ones rest on Earth, and they rest every day, while the industrious ones say: “When Christ comes back to us, we will then take a rest.” A real Christian should comprehend work in this way. There is one basic principle which we must have in mind; there are certain laws which we have to understand; and not only understand them but also apply them in our life. Without this application, every teaching, every religion, whatever it may be, is fruitless. It is not enough for a plant only to sprout and grow up, develop, blossom, set fruit, but this fruit must also ripen – the purpose of this plant is achieved only when the fruit becomes ripe. Therefore, according to the same law, one may be born, may grow up and develop, set fruit; but if the fruit in him does not ripen, his life is sterile. Christ untied the hand of the man – He restored his will. If you go further reading this chapter, you will notice that to Jesus were brought a demon-possessed person, a blind one and a mute one, and He healed them as well. These things are connected. Who are the demon-possessed, the blind and the mute one? You might say that these things used to happen only at the time of Christ, but they happen nowadays, too. I will stop for a while and give an example through which I will explain the meaning that Christ has put into these words. There is a story about King Solomon, in which it is said that Solomon summoned a proficient prince of the spirits to help him in building the temple. However, after helping him build the temple, this prince wished to get hold of his throne as well. When Solomon learned about this, he caught this spirit, shut him in a pitcher, closed it with his own seal and cast it in the sea. After this prince stayed some ten years in the sea, he promised to give the most beautiful woman in the world to the one who opens the pitcher and lets him out – but no one opened it. A hundred years passed, and he made a promise again: to give not only the prettiest woman, but also the best children to the one who opens the pitcher – again no one appeared. Another hundred, two hundred, three hundred years passed – again a promise: he would give not only the most beautiful women and the best kids to the one who gets him out, but he would make him the most educated person – no one showed up for this luck, either. He made another promise: he would not only give all things promised earlier to the person who delivers him, but he would also make him a king of the Earth – again no one appeared. After five hundred years, he said: “Whoever frees me from now on, I will kill him.” Some time passed, and a fisherman went fishing, cast his net, caught the pitcher and pulled it out. He thought that a rich treasure must be in it, and began to unseal it, and when he unstopped it, a black smoke started to come out of it, and after some time, the figure of the prince appeared, and he said: “I have promised to kill the one who gets me out of the pitcher; I had promised this and that earlier, but no one came up; you have no one to blame but yourself now, such is your destiny.” The fisherman thought: “Why did I have to unseal this pitcher!” but after some time he said to the prince: “I don’t believe that you have come out of the pitcher – you must first prove to me that you have come out of the pitcher, and then kill me.” “I was in the pitcher.” “You were not in the pitcher.” “I was in the pitcher.” “You were not.” “I was.” “Prove it.” The spirit began to go back into the pitcher, and when he entirely got into it, then the fisherman immediately stopped up the pitcher and said: “If you promise the first things to me, I will let you out.” Such is life: you come to this world – it is a sea; you cast your net, catch some fish and you win. When you have these favourable conditions to catch fish, you are not there; when there come conditions of suffering, disasters, then you cast your net, and you pull out the pitcher with the evil spirit. You will notice a contrast in this tale – although being a tale, it shows that every life has favourable and unfavourable conditions. We ought to understand the laws in order to make use of the favourable conditions. If we, like the fisherman, fall into unfavourable conditions, we will reap death. Let me revert to the words of Christ, which He said when they brought to Him a demon-possessed one, another one - blind, and a mute one. The demon-possessed, the blind and the mute one are inside us. Here all of you look like Angels – how beautiful and pious you are; but once a demon gets into you, and there begins wailing and gnashing of teeth day after day. The man and children flee – the mother has run amuck; you, the reasonable ones, should stretch your hands to heal the demon-possessed by saying: “Peace to you”. You can say these words and heal the sick one just as the demon left the man at a Christ’s word. When you start feeding your horses in the stables, they begin to kick without thinking that there are children around. What should you do? You should say “Psh!” like a Bulgarian, and draw the horse by the rein. The rein – this is a law; each unreasonable being must have a rein. The reasonable being is given speech to talk. Therefore, you must heal this feeble-minded person inside yourself. This sheep is affected with staggers, it is rabid – you have to cure it. It is blind; people say: “But we are not blind”; I believe that probably you are not blind, but there are many who are. People asked a woman who could not read, and she said: “Son, I am blind, blind!” Can’t you open the eyes of this woman – open them. Teachers are people who open the eyes of the blind; they are wonder workers – send your son to them, and in ten or fifteen years they will send him back with his eyes open. You also have to punch the ears of the deaf one, so that he can hear and comprehend. It is easy and possible for a human being, because he has reason. Therefore Christ says: “How much higher a man stands than a sheep!” What does the life of a sheep lie in? It has to graze in order to cover its back with some wool and give milk; and sometimes, to bleat at you. You would say - what is the reasonable thing in this bleating. Some present-day people are like sheep, they are constantly bleating: a brother complains of his brother, servants complain of their masters, and masters complain of their servants – three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, they sing one and the same song. Is not such a life constant bleating? Christ says: “How much higher a man stands than a sheep, because a man can think.” His hand must be untied, the demon-possessed inside him must be healed, his blindness must be removed, and his hearing must be recovered – this is what Christ wants to say with these words. He says to the Pharisees: “You do not understand the fundamental Divine law, and I know why you want people with tied hands – your interests dictate you to have invalid people; you say of the blind one: “He’d better be blind, so that he cannot see our crimes”; of the deaf one you say: “It is in our interest that he is ignorant”. And if there are people who do not like enlightenment, it happens because of certain practical considerations. However, Christ maintains the opposite – He says that the hands of the crippled ones must be untied, and that the demon-possessed, blind and deaf-and-dumb ones must be healed. He wants intelligent people who understand and do God’s Will. The Bulgarian word “muzh”1 has a deep content; it derives from the Sanskrit word “manas” which means “a being that thinks”; therefore people say “Be a man2!”, that is, a being that thinks, reasons, that has the will to do what is Good – this is what “to be a man3” means. And be sure in this law that one cannot have will unless he does Good. Some people say: “I have will”. If I let a wheel from top of Vitosha4, it will roll down, but it cannot roll up towards the peak; a river runs with a rush down from a mountain peak, but it cannot run up – in the same way, most people roll and go down. And only the one, who can climb up the mountain, only such a person has will – he can remove and overcome certain obstacles and contradictions. And Christ addresses Himself to the Hebrews saying: “You should not be sheep; you should not be like creatures, who roll only downwards, like rivers and stones do; but you must be humans who ascend up towards God; that is, to implement His will” – this is what He wanted to tell them. They understood Him. In present life people also constantly descend, roll down from Vitosha, and ask themselves, why they are unhappy. Everyone, who rolls downwards, is unhappy; one is happy when he begins to ascend. One is unhappy until he begins to think and reason; once he begins to think and reason, he becomes happy, and the things which earlier used to be impossible in life, start being possible. The concealed thought which Christ implies in these words, has a great meaning to us. When God said in the first chapter of the “Genesis”, that He made the man in His image and according to His likeness, He wanted the man to think and act as God thinks and creates, to have will; and likeness means to liken things, that is, to distinguish between Good and evil, to generate harmony. To think and act is a Divine principle which God has implanted in us. And everyone, who does not think and act as God orders him, does not have God’s image – he is a sheep. We do not say that sheep is bad, but we say that the purpose of a sheep is to pasture and to give milk and wool; while the purpose of a human is completely different – he is created to rule over all beings, to regulate the atmosphere, to regulate all other elements, to arrange the Earth. He has to become a good master, and he can become such a master only when he understands the things that God has implanted in him. Now, people often ask: “Are you a Christian?” “What do you comprehend by this word?” “Do you believe in Christ?” “I believe that Christ has come. I believe in this just as I believe that the Russian king had once been to Bulgaria.” “And what of that? Do you believe that your student has been to school today?” “I believe it.” But this faith should go a little further; I will ask the student: “Have you been listening to what the teacher spoke today?” “I did not.” I will say to him: “I have been listening to his lecture and I know more things than you do.” And then you will say: “You have grasped the thought.” People say: “We believe that Christ came to save the world.” All right, you keep preaching this again and again for two thousand years, but how will He save it? “He shed His blood to redeem people.” Well then, when a Bulgarian agricultural worker byes a pair of oxen from the market, what does he do with them? He puts a halter on each of the oxen, puts the yoke on their necks, takes the plough and the goad, and goes to the cornfield. You believe in Christ, but if you are in the position of a sheep and you do not settle down to work, do you serve Christ then? You believe that He has come – this is very good, but are you listening to Him? No. I advise you to go and listen to Christ speaking in His school – to understand His teaching and apply it in your life. I do not want people to throw away what they have, even in the least. What you have now is that you are still in the first forms of the school; but you have been studying nothing but the primer for thirty or forty years now, and this primer is already worn to rags. Put down your primers, take the readers! I understand if one keeps the primer one, two, or three years; but I do not understand if he reads haltingly nothing but the primer for a hundred years. Christ says: “Now take the readers”. And to those who have finished the readers, He says: “Put down your readers and take the Grammar books, Arithmetic, Physics, Chemistry, Bible classes, and go forward; this bleating has been quite enough!” – “Do you believe that Christ has come?” Something more is required from you – listen to what Christ speaks, and learn what He has brought. Only then you will come to know the profound meaning of this Life. And when you have the ability to think, act and create, you have advantage hidden in you; you have riches, you have a mine that you ought to work out – these are your mind and your will. Now I am asking you – have you been working over your mind and your will, or you have only been bleating over your primer until now? If Christ, who is coming, makes an inspection in your houses, He will make a complete check-up of whether you have been occupied. I do not have in mind those ordinary houses you have made, but I mean the houses you are living in now, the houses with which now you have come here. Christ will see whether in these little cells, in these rooms, there is reasonable human thought and action, or there are sheep excrements. This dung is also good, but it is a sin for a person whose father has sent him to school and has given all the conditions for him to become a reasonable being, to remain outside, bleating. And when the Angels descend and then go back again to Heaven to report about people, what will they say up there? “They are still bleating down there.” This bleating will turn into speech, whenever. And now Christ, wishing to make this sheep be reasonable (because it has the conditions to be so), places these two principles, one next to the other, and says that this wool of the sheep ought to be spun, and fabric must be made out of it. Everyone can shear sheep, but wool has to be produced. And if this wool is not sheared on time, it will fall out, like the leaves of a tree. The wool must be stowed, processed, and fabric ought to be woven out of it – our thoughts and desires must turn into actions, and then the naked people will be able to get dressed. When, exactly, did man get naked in Eden? When he became stupid, when he became a sheep and began to bleat, when his hand became crippled, when his wife succumbed and left the chaste life for the veneer of things; and when he himself followed this lead, so they both indulged in loose-living. Then they became stupid, lost their eyesight and their right reasoning. Now Christ says: “I came to Earth precisely for this human, who is made in the image of God and according to His likeness – in order to untie the hands of this human, so that he can implement God’s law”. You, who have shepherded the swine of this world until now, and who have been forbidden even the carobs; what else do you expect, may be the song of singers: “Lord, rest the soul of Thy servant”? Among the swine or the carobs of this world should the Lord rest your soul? No, take your stick, take your bag and set out – towards your Father’s home, towards your Father’s school, which the Lord has prepared for you. Christ advises to you to lay aside the primer and the reader, and take the grammar-book – it is a useful science, it teaches us how to speak and read correctly, where to put the different letters.5 Right thought, right reasoning, right way of feeling, right acting is required from all. May our life be beautiful and good – both in form and content (as it is said two thousand years ago: “Be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect”) – here is the slogan for the New life to which we should aspire. It is a Divine law, but a slightly bigger effort is demanded from us in this respect. And I commend worldly people in one aspect: look at a lady who is getting prepared for going to a dancing-party or a ball, or to the theatre; see how much she exerts herself in the room in which she dresses – she keeps turning hither and thither a full hour; she surveys her face, nose, hands – everything must be in good shape. I commend her; but you, the Christians – how many times have you ever sat before your mirror to examine and correct your character? You say: “I can do without a mirror”. You need a mirror; follow the example of this worldly lady. I stand up for the mirror, only the mirror of the heart and mind – when you look at yourself in it, everything ought to be in good condition; only then you should appear before the Lord. Do you think that the Lord will accept you in Heaven as you are now? No. Worldly people understand this much better, and therefore Christ says: “The sons of this century are cleverer”. We should not condemn then, and besides this we should learn a very good lesson from them – I recommend worldly people in every aspect, because they give excellent examples in comprehension and energy, and in preparation. If we could follow their example by applying it in the Spiritual world, we would be standing higher than we are now. You say: “Their matters are foolish; we do not need this; we do not need that.” Well then, what do you need – the Heaven? But Heaven wants no foolish people. If you cannot construct a stone house, then how could you construct a character that requires very big efforts? You do not have a thousand levs6 to build a house, but you want to construct a magnificent character! And when the Lord tells you to take no heed of worldly affairs, He implies this: when you have built one, two, three houses, He says: “This is enough, you are a specialist; now I want from you to construct the house of your heart; and when you learn how to construct the house of your heart, then construct the house of your mind.” The same law must go by analogy from below upwards. Hence, Christ says: “How much higher a man stands than a sheep – a man who thinks and is able to develop his character, than a sheep that constantly bleats and pastures.” Contemporary world demands: “Bread, bread!” – this call is heard from all sides. – “We need also sheep, because they give us wool.” But if the whole Earth was filled only with sheep, there would be no harmony at all. I have in mind that the reasonable element in us has to prevail over the unreasonable one – the human must be substituted for the animal. Altercation is heard everywhere: “He is an animal.” It is not bad for a human to be an animal, but there is something higher than animals. It is a matter of course for a sheep to be an animal, but not for a human. In the Scripture it is also said: living soul and life-giving Spirit. The one who wishes to teach, ennoble, save humanity and its disciples, who are summoned to this field, let him assist Christ – for He wants intelligent people to help Him – people who now well how to construct according to all rules of Divine science; people in whose minds the welfare of the Kingdom of God stands on the first place. Such people are needed now, who cannot be tempted, nor deluded by external ostensible look of things. I admit that some priests do not perform their duties properly, but I do not condemn them – this is their conception, while I have to take to what my duty is. If we constantly stay at one place and condemn them, but we are negligent of our own duties, what could be the use of this? There would be no use at all; it would be as the case of that teacher who has not taught his students the lesson, and therefore he wants to punish them. Let us pass into the stage of reasonable living, which aims at improving of all nations and the entire humanity. We should consider the human soul, the home, the society, the nation, the humanity – Christ comprises all these categories; all of this composes one whole. The home is a bigger individual; the society is bigger than the home; the nation is still bigger then society, and humanity – still bigger than the nation. Therefore, from little things we aspire to the bigger ones; that is, from animal manifestation we aspire to reasonable manifestation. By laying this thought before you: “How much higher a man stands than a sheep”, Christ regards man as more capable of constructing and building up his own Life. The first thing for you to do after going back home, is to start with healing the demon-possessed; the second thing to do is to open the eyes of your blind one; the third thing is to unstop the ears of your deaf one; the fourth is to untie the hand of the one with a tied hand – to set your mind into operation. This is a serious task – you have rules, so you will make the resolution. Of course, a day, two or three days might pass, but if you persist, you will resolve it. And when solving it, the results will point out how you should work. If a teacher always solved the problems of a student, the latter would never learn to calculate. The teacher gives one, two, three, four, five problems, and says: “Next time you shall bring me these problems solved.” And the whole world around us is all problems which the Lord has submitted to us for solution. In the chapter I have read, Christ has laid many tasks. I dwelt upon one of them, and the others are much heavier – according to the complex rule of three. Now I am giving you the problem only with the four simple operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Once you get into the complex rule of three, the matters there are slightly more difficult, but you can solve this problem very well with the four simple operations. Some of you say: “We cannot add”. You will learn – two apples and two more apples make four. You do not know what kind of people to add to yourself – a man does not know what kind of a woman he should add to himself. Then, subtraction comes: a man marries a woman but does not like her and wants to abandon her – he does not know how to subtract. It is not the time to subtract now. His children multiply and he wants to turn them out, because they were not clever – but he has to teach them. What a great law is concealed in these four rules – to know how to add, how to subtract and so on! It is a deep science which has been standing before people for thousands of years. We have learnt only the mechanical aspect of calculation. When we come to be added to the saints, to the Angels, when we are added to God, then we will learn genuine addition. A grosh7 and one more grosh make two groshes; but what if in the addition there are plus and minus? Someone says: “I can add.” “But how can you add – with plus or with minus?” “I have”, this person says, ”minus two thousand leva.” “How long do you have to wok to pay them off?” “I have plus two thousand leva.” “Ah, you are a rich person, you have enough and you can do good to other people.” This is the fundamental law of Christ. You will add and subtract this sheep; this sheep will give you the elements. If you visit a shepherd, he will teach you the basic law of addition and subtraction – when he curdles the milk in order to make cheese, he will add a part of it, while he will subtract out another part8. If he knows how to subtract the useless part, he will gain; if he does not know how to do this, he will lose. And you, if you know how to curdle your milk, how to add a part of it and subtract another part, then when it comes to making the balance of your account, you will say: “Now we have a profit”. If you have a loss, it shows that you have not made use of that reasonable principle of Christ, but you have been a sheep which all the time has only been pasturing and bleating. When a sheep sees a wolf, it stamps its foot, wishing to tell the wolf: “You ought to get off from here; don’t you know that I am pasturing?” But the wolf pounces and eats the sheep – so the sheep is that much clever. And you, when seeing the devil, do not stamp your foot against him, for he does not get scared; he gets scared only by people who have mind and will - whose hands are untied. Therefore Christ came to untie the hands of humans and give them strength to struggle with the wolf – with the devil. Wolfs, too, have the right to walk around the world and exercise their teeth, but we also have the right to use our mind and our will against them. They have the right to eat, but we also have the right to pull out their teeth; they have the right to exercise their claws, but we also have the right to cut their claws off. Eradicate the teeth of this devil and extract his claws. And when you make the devil a sheep – to give you wool and milk, do not be afraid; may be in the next step you will make him an ox, may be you will halter him and get him to plough. And Christ says in another task, that the spirit, which went out of the man, was very restless, and if it happens to come back, he will be seven times wickeder than he used to be. All those foolish people become seven times wickeder as well. Hence, Christ says: “I came to save the reasonable human” – He came not for the sake of animals, but for the sake of humans. So, exactly this salvation of the profound Christian teaching, we have to apply in our life; we should be a model with our hearts and minds; our home should be a perfect garden – this is the task of our life. Therefore, you set to work, and let everyone work inside himself. When a friend comes to visit a Bulgarian, the host takes him and shows him what he has in his farm, how his matters are arranged; and his friend praises him and is delighted. Some day, the Lord from Heaven will come, where will you take Him round? Your loft and your barn are demolished; the church and the school, too. If He finds everything here well arranged and in good order, He will say: “Here is one who has worked reasonably”. This is the thought which Christ represents before you this morning: “How much higher a man stands than a sheep”. 11 October 1914, Sofia 1 „muzh” [mәζ] – meaning “man”, “male person” 2 Here “man” is used in the meaning of “male person”, as a part of a common Bulgarian expression 3 Here “man” is used in the meaning of “human being” 4 Vitosha – a mountain to the South of Sofia 5 Here, instead of “different letters” in the Bulgarian text there is a short list of special letters of the Bulgarian alphabet 6 “lev” is the Bulgarian currency 7 A “grosh” is an old Bulgarian coin which was equal to 20 % of the lev. Groshes were used in the period after the Liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke (1878) 8 This is a pun: in Bulgarian we have the same word for “subtract” and “take out”=”extract”, and another identical word for “add” and “gather”. Thus, the sentence may sound also: “…– when he curdles the milk in order to make cheese, he will gather a part of it, while he will take out another part” Source

Note 6 The Necessity of Knowing God “And this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3 Life is the strongest and most natural aspiration of the human soul; it is the treasure, which she desires to earn. This aspiration has existed for thousands and millions of years and not just in human beings but in other mammals too, in birds, in fish and even in plants. The difference lays only in the methods of obtaining life by these various beings. Let us come to the human aspiration for Life - it concerns us, it is important for our growth. You enter, for example, a music school not only to listen but also to learn. You are given a violin, you are given a bow, strings are put on the violin, you are taught how to tune it; you are given a teacher to teach you the main rules of music and you start practicing your mind, your hands, and your fingers. And, in this way, in the course of time you master the art of being an excellent violinist. By the same law God wants to teach us to master the method, the way of acquiring Life. Once people had possessed Eternal life, but they lost it. They lost it for one simple reason and now they strive to correct their mistake. This mistake has caused death and only when people began experiencing the permanent degradation of their souls, of their minds, of their hearts, of their organisms and of everything that forms, only then did they realized what they had lost. It is said in the first chapter of Genesis that God put humans into Eden and told them to cultivate and use everything in it but forbad them to touch one tree - the Tree of knowing good and evil. However, humans wanted to make a small trial of disobedience and first the woman began this trial. It is said in this chapter that the snake wound round the Tree of knowledge and began talking with Eve, asking her a question: “How is that you, being masters of Eden and making use of all the trees in paradise, can not make use of the Tree which hides a great mystery? The woman asked: “What mystery?” “If you eat from this tree you will have the knowledge of God, you will know why you live, you will know good and evil, and you will be very strong on the Earth, as God is.” And then vanity began arising in the woman and she said to herself: “To become like God – this is my burning desire”; and she picked the forbidden fruit, tasted it and then went and convinced her husband, so he tasted it too. As a result of this, the Scriptures say that they saw their nakedness. When do people get naked? A rich father died and left his son money, farms and woodland. The son made friends, used to go on walks and sprees, spent everything and became naked; he did not become naked for no reason but because of eating, drinking and laziness. This suggests to us that Adam and Eve had eaten from this tree for a long time and began pawning Eden and then God told them: “What are you pawning, is it your property? Get out! From now on you will earn your living with labour and with the sweat of your brow in order to learn this great law – to appreciate Life which I give you.” Man can easily become poor. An American millionaire, whose father had left about twenty million dollars inheritance to him, had a weakness for flowers and he began collecting various flowers from all over the world; he even sent a special expedition for some specific rare flowers. After some decades he spent everything that he had and when he died he had to be buried at the expense of the municipality. But you will ask how one can lose his Life. I will tell you how: you have a son, healthy and sound, educated in foreign countries, but he conceived the idea to rise to greatness, fame, to hold St. George’s cross; he says: “I am going to fight for glory” and he goes; a bullet hits him – he accepts the glory but loses his life. Adam and Eve desired such a cross and God sent them to the battlefield. They departed from Eden, and went to conquer the world but they lost their Eternal lives. Now, let us revert to Christ’s thought. We know how to spend money, how to lose our lives but we do not know how to gain Life. Christ came to teach us how to gain the lost Life. I will talk on this thought in your presence. Christ says: “I am Life.” By what is Life distinguished from the other forces? It is a force that builds, raises, joins, unites and gives joy and fun to the soul. In the last verse of the chapter that I read to you, three words are important: life, knowledge and God. Life is the aim we strive for; knowledge is the method for achieving this aim and God is the environment or the conditions from which we can obtain this Life. This matter has a double sense. I can talk on its purely philosophic side; I can explain its biological origin to you, its psychological or psychic state and so on. But this will not be of use to you, as if I do not give a hungry person some bread to eat but begin telling him how the bread is prepared, what flour it is made of, what woman kneaded it, how she baked it, what elements it has, how chemists discovered them in the laboratory and so on, man will say: “I am hungry, give me something to eat. I do not need to know who kneaded it. Also, I do not want to know which elements it contains. The only thing I am interested in right now is to take my meal; and then I will be able to listen to you telling me those things.” And we too will say now to the philosopher: “We do not want to know what elements Life consists of, how and from what it is kneaded, how it has derived; we want to take our meal, to eat from Eternal Life and afterwards we may discuss with you these things as long as you wish; now we just want to get free from this death.” And I think this is the correct solution to the matter. How can you acquire Eternal Life if you have not lived yet? You think that you live and you say: “I live.” You have Life indeed but it is not yours, it is life on loan. Tomorrow the one to whom you owe will appear, will present the bill for your debt, will put you into prison and will take your life. You will be put on a stretcher and the priest will come to just confirm the sentence, saying a requiescat for God to mention you in His Kingdom, that is to be merciful to you; then the singers will sing the established song and you will be buried. What does it mean for a person to be buried? This means to be imprisoned down in the jail in order to pay off his debt. Everyone who instead of going to pay off his debt goes to search for George’s cross is buried in the earth in order to first pay off his debt, to learn how to acquire his Life. All people cry when their closest ones die, but tears will not save people. The one to whom we owe will not take pity; He will say “Pay your debt” no matter how much we cry. When coming, death too will say: “I do not need your tears but I want to have your debt paid – you owe me.” Now, we need to know the main law of Life in order to free ourselves from death. I will give you an example to clarify this. In the time of the Bulgarian slavery, in the epoch of janissaries1, a Turk – daaliah2, a wrestler, seized the whole countryside and put the whole population in fear and trepidation. Whoever he caught, he beat, wounded and killed; he boasted everywhere that he frightened the giaours3. No one from the local population dared to raise their voice; everyone prayed to God to rescue them from this evil. All men bore the scars of the Turkish daaliah, but no one dared to rear his head. Everyone bore his yoke in fear. One day, a young Bulgarian shepherd, neat and with shoes on, with a crook in his hand, was passing this countryside. He entered a forest; the Turkish daaliah saw him from far off and called out: “You giaour. Stop! Who allowed you pass here?” – ‘I am a shepherd, I take my flock across.’ – “You must throw down your stick!” – ‘But I am bringing it to you as a present – it is full of gold. My grandmother told me that my grandfather had brought it from Eden. It has never deceived me and has cleared my path.’ – “Look at this foolish giaour, what nonsense he speaks! I will tell you from which paradise it has come from, from yours or from ours! I will impale your head on it.” However, with the first blow the bold shepherd broke the sword of the wrestler–daaliah in two; from the second blow his right hand hung down completely; the third blow broke the left leg in two and the wrestler–daaliah fell onto the ground. ‘I told you that my stick always stated correctly that it has come out of Eden. For the present these three words which you learnt from it are enough for you. God pays well. When I pass by the second time my stick will say to me – I will tell you three more words and will crush your head.’ The wrestler–daaliah replied: “I believe in your stick. I will practice its words in my life. How can I stand against such a stick which has come out of Eden and speaks the truth? From now on let the rayah4 be free; this is the will of the Allah.” I am giving this poetic story in order to explain a truth in a folk-form. This Turk represents death; and the giaour is who we are. Is there any place in the world where this wrestler has not been? Is there any house he has not visited? What do the crosses on graves show? Everyone in this world talks about the wrestler–daaliah, mothers and fathers talk about his feats. There are volumes and volumes written about his story, about his power. All sing one and the same tune: “Our wrestler–daaliah is unconquerable in this world.” And if someone dares to say that it is possible to get free from him, we immediately hear the words: “Are you crazy, have you taken leave of your senses? This is impossible, we do not believe you; these are empty words, foolish phrases, and youthful illusions.” But this young Bulgarian shepherd, with his stick that has come out of Eden, that tells no lie, with three hits – against the knife, in the right hand and in the left leg of the wrestler–daaliah, is enough to refute the false theory that the wrestler–daaliah is unconquerable. However, manliness is needed; will is needed for such a giant fight. But one may retort and say: “I do not see what deep sense exists in this ordinary example.” Yes, you are right in your point of view because you do not trouble yourselves to set things in order. But, if behind this formula the following truth lies, what will you say then? If this young shepherd represents the reasonable uncorrupted person; if his grandmother represents the Divine Love which permanently speaks to our soul that Liberty is a human right; and if the grandfather represents the Divine Wisdom, which takes the stick out, i.e. the Divine laws and entrusts it to the arms of this wise being in order to defend its soul from enslavement; and if the knife represents the Nature, forces contrary to human progress; and if the arm represents the corrupted human will, and the left leg – the corrupted human heart. We consider that by reacting to these forces in a certain direction we can eliminate the destructive actions. In this exact sense one should comprehend the words: “He who will win to the end will be saved.” The victory is a condition for acquiring of Life. And the words of Christ: “The stronger one, while going into the home of the strong one and tying him, only then could he plunder his home” understand the same idea. For this reason, that Knowledge is necessary which can make us familiar with the laws of this process of acquiring Life. A woman who wants to weave some cloth should first know how to wash and spin wool, to prepare her loom, her harnesses, her weaver’s reed, her vatali5 and then to make the warp and to wind it to the cloth-beam, to stretch it tight and to start weaving in compliance with the rules determined in this art. The shuttle should be repeatedly thrown at one moment from the left side, at another from the right side; to carry the fibres of the weft, and when woven together with the warp will make the desired cloth. An artist, who wants to paint a valuable picture, has to know the rules of this art; has to know the harmony of paints and has to wield his brush. A sculptor, who wants to mould a great statue, has to wield his hammer. He who wants to build a house has to know how to build it, how to raise and arrange it. A doctor who wants to become eminent and useful, has to know thoroughly the elements which cure the sick. A teacher, who teaches and elevates people, has to know the human soul, the human mind and has to act in compliance with them. Now, the Christian who wants to acquire Eternal life should know the basis of this Life and should apply the laws on which it can be acquired. Life could be likened to a cloth, which we have to first weave and then dress. It is the first garment which human Spirit should be covered with. When we wear this cloth out, we become bare from outside. This baring is called moral lapse. Christ clearly says: “It is Eternal life to know God.” To know Him – this is the secret of acquiring of Eternal life. But you will ask me: “Is it possible that we do not know God?” If you would know Him in the Christ’s sense you would not die. But you will answer back: “Who is he that does not die?” And this is what refutes people’s contention that they know God. But you will tell me that Christ died, too. No, He did not die but He resurrected and appeared to His beloved ones. When you die, will you resurrect to appear to yours? This is the important question for you. You may have a particular concept of God such as that of a philosopher, a pantheist, a materialist, a churchman; but it will not carry Eternal life in you – that eternal beginning, that eternal blessing for which we strive, and which is our aim. If you don't have this you will be in the position of a sick person who basks in the moon in night-time and expects that it will warm him up; or of a hungry one who watches the nice loaves from a distance; or of a thirsty person who imagines from a distance that he drinks clear water and he says to himself: “I know it.” I am telling you this is not knowledge; this is an idea for the outside shadow of things. When you acquire the true knowledge of God, the Eternal life will be realized in your soul; then you will meet death like this young shepherd did. And there will be no epitaph over your grave: “He was buried here in the prime of his youth, he whose life, death put an end to.” But let me return to the subject and illustrate the matter with a small analogy. Every living being needs an environment and conditions in which it will be able to live: soil, humidity and light is needed for plants; water is needed for fish - without it fish can not live; for birds, mammals, and people, air is the environment of their lives. This analogy is also true regarding external human feelings. The environment for the human eye is light; for the ear – sound; for the nose – smell, the flowers which constantly emit those ethereal vibrations which are the food of this feeling. The environment for taste is food; all those organic substances and saps that constantly flow and give life. If we now go still higher up this staircase, we will notice how this great law works. The environment in which our heart can live, these are wishes; the environment in which the human mind can live and develop these are thoughts. Without thoughts the human mind atrophies, without desires the human heart atrophies, as well. The environment for human will is force, activity and energy for work – without work, will atrophies. Under the same rule, the environment of the human soul is God. That is why it is said in the Scriptures: “We live, move and exist in Him.” Through Him the soul can acquire its initial Life – can dress in immortality. Therefore God is an inner environment, an inner condition and an inner force from which we should constantly obtain. For example, as our eyes are connected with light, our lungs – with air; as our stomach is connected with the mouth in order to eat, so are our heart and our mind two means through which the soul can accept Life. These are preparatory environments for the Divine environment – the Universal Divine consciousness, in which our soul is dipped. It is true that each time when a being loses the connection with its environment, it is exposed to death; it makes no difference whether this is a plant, fish, bird, mammal or human being – the law is one and the same for all. Christ, who deeply realized this law, insists that it is necessary to know God or, saying in terms of science, that it is necessary to have connection with our environment. But you will say: “We will know Him when we go to the next world.” The next world is God. People who think that when they die they will go to next world, look like that criminal son who, being imprisoned said to himself: “I am going to see my father.” Is this the prison where you will see your father? You will go to the place of reformation. In the next world you will not go to your Heavenly Father. In order to go there you should defeat death, get out of prison, and be free. That is why Christ says in the chapter read from the Gospel: “I am the door”; and at another place: “He who will go in and go out through Me, will find pasture, too.” Do tell me; have you ever gone in through this door and have you ever gone out through it and how had you done it? If I ask you about the house of some friend of yours, you will say: “The outer gate of his house is to the west and the inner one to the north or south”; you will also describe how great it is, what paint it has and how it is locked. All churchmen say: ”Christ is a door.” As soon as Christ is a door, do clarify what it is made of, either of wood or iron, gold or silver, gems or something else, by what rings it is hung on, and on what bedding it lies? “But, you will say, this is figuratively said.” Good, make a translation of this door, what Christ is, in what sense He is a door? You will say: “Christ saved us.” How did He save us? “He died for us.” Is a dead one able to save? “But He resurrected.” How has He resurrected? “Through Divine life.” So, Christ has been united with God, He knew God and by this knowledge of God He defeated death, resurrected and came to our souls. Now He is with us. Firstly, He was imprisoned 33 years together with us and He taught us how to get out of this prison, how to overcome death and evil. Christ is now outside, in the next world with the Father of Light. He comes to visit our minds, our hearts and the world will see Him with those three hits: against the knife, in the arm and in the leg. He will pull down all false teachings. What are these false teachings? They are those elements, thoughts, desires, actions that disrupt human happiness, human mind, human heart, human soul, human Spirit; which fill us with death, anarchy and slavery everywhere and paralyze our life. And what is the teaching of Life? These are all the elements that give happiness, blessing, goodness, enlightenment; which raise the human Spirit, the human heart and bring in it Fondness and Love towards everything – this is the living Christ. And that is why He says: “In order to have these basic elements which can bring eternal Life in you, you surely should know God.” In the world it is necessary to be at war. But with whom? “With death.” However this art should be understood properly otherwise mistakes will constantly follow us. I will tell you how: a Bulgarian mother sent her son to Germany, I think, to study. She was quite a well-to-do woman, every month she used to send some three-four-five hundred leva6 to her son, but it was not enough; he was short of money. One day he wrote to his mother to send a thousand leva. But she wrote: “I have no money; you will have to try to find some small job”; but her son said: “If you do not send me any money I am going to kill myself.” Then she, being indignant, wrote him so: “Kill yourself, I will spit over your grave; I do not want a son who is a coward, who does not want to work, who is afraid of work in the struggle with life and wants to live like an old woman.” The words were not the exact ones but were in this sense. The son pulled himself together. And today this telegram is in a frame and when questioned about it he replies: “It saved me.” So, in the world you should fight with the elements of death. And how are you going to win? By one way only: by knowing God – the beginning of Life. But you will ask me again: “How can we aspire to this Beginning?” This is the easiest thing. Let us say, you choke; what will you do? You will open your mouth and will breathe. You should breathe in through your nose. So, in order to have Life, we should have knowledge and in order to have knowledge, we should have a fresh mind that is able to take in, to move.[M1] And when you permanently take in those good, elevated thoughts with your mind, as you permanently take in air through the nose, you will be on the way to this Eternal life that you are searching for. If everyday you make a small trial to strengthen your will; when bad thoughts and desires come, to drive them off and to take only the good thoughts and desires then within one year and more you may do wonders with yourselves; there will be no hindrance which will not submit to this effort of your will. Now, of course, one who wants to acquire immortality should have a strong will in the true sense of the word. But you say: “I am not able.” Those who are not able will go to prison. This is what is written in the Divine book. When you say: “I am not able”, God says: “Imprison him, I shall teach him to be able.” There is not another way to begin. This is our fate. If we want to unite with God, to live with Him, to acquire Eternal life, we surely should be servants to Him. Otherwise there will be another kind of serving, but to whom? - To the devils, to the princes of this world who will set us to work three times a day. The devil will take a whip and will say: ”Gee! You do not want to work for God – flap!” After all that you will say: “There is nothing to be done – there should be work: because there is a stick - a beating of course. If you stop, the whip will begin cracking again. These are the two ways. “I do not want to serve God.” Once you do not want to serve God, you will have another god. “I want to be free.” You deceive yourselves, there is no freedom in this world; the only one that has Freedom, is he, who is united with God and live conscious life. Sometimes you say: “I got angry, I told him this and that.” You think that you have acted very wisely - you talked down to him! Who did talk down, to whom will you talk down? “I beat him up.” What were you paid for this? This is okay, tomorrow you will be beaten. What kind of freedom is this: today you beat, tomorrow you are beaten; today you strangle, tomorrow you will be strangled? This is not Freedom. Christ says: “You should acquaint yourselves with the main principle of knowledge.” I want you to apply what I am saying to you. You go to the church, stand up, fold your arms, close your eyes, get carried away and pray to God; as soon as you leave the church – you forget all this. People from outside say: ”This person goes to church, he is religious: he departs – his life is different.” This means that you have not found the correct and true way of salvation. But they say: “Christ came and saved us.” Christ saves the intelligent and the good; He never saves the bad and the foolish people. He saves the intelligent and good ones who listen and implement His teaching. In the first place Christ teaches us how we should work for ourselves. He says: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Way – is the method. Truth this is your mind by which you should acquaint yourselves with things – which are good and which are bad. Life – is an art, by which you already know how to make the cloth, and how to dress yourselves with it. Make a small trial with yourselves. You are sick, nervous, indisposed; your children are not good. Leave the children in peace, do not worry about them, and think a little about yourselves. Why are you nervous, why are you indisposed? There are deep reasons for this. If you tell me: “I am thirsty”, I will tell you: ‘Drink some water.’ “I am hungry.” ‘Have your meal.’ “But how will I drink, there is no glass?” ‘Kneel to this mountain spring that is the element which can quench your thirst.’ “I do not want to kneel.” ‘You will kneel, otherwise you will stay thirsty.’ “But my trousers which I have bought now will be covered with mud.” ‘If you want to protect your new trousers you will stay thirsty. Better kneel, get dirty in order to feel the blessings of water.’ “I am hungry.” ‘Come with me’; I take him into a room: ‘Here is some bread, you will sit down on the ground and will eat.’ “But I am not used to eating in this way; I need a fork, a knife, a bowl.” ‘Leave the fork, the knife, the bowl; there – you will take this bread, will break it to pieces with your hands and will eat.’ “But people will see me. It is a shame.” ‘Once you feel ashamed, you will stay hungry. If you feel ashamed to go to school with an ABC book, you will remain uneducated.’ So, when one is called to follow Christ, he should not say “what would people say” but he should come near to Christ, put His teaching into practice and then he will become strong. The devil threatens us because we are weak. I do not want you to be weak but to eat enough. How? By feeding your mind, and your heart. To acquire eternal Life, means to know how to feed not only your body, but also your heart, your mind, your soul, and your Spirit. This is a method of feeding in compliance with the deep teaching of Christ. And this morning, I would put the following title to my lecture: “How to learn to eat.” You have learned only to chew and you are very skilful at this art. Now start from there on: put the meal and feed your heart, feed your mind, feed your Spirit, too. And when you have your meal in this way, I will tell you that you are very sensible, that you have learnt Christ’s teaching and that you will acquire Eternal life, because you know how to unite with God. I place this matter on an experimental ground; I speak about things that I understand, about things that I have experienced myself. The only thing that impedes you is that you hesitate; you use big words to describe how this matter stands. When speaking of practical life, there is no philosophy. You have called a woman to teach you how to spin and weave. “But I am not able.” You will be able. In the beginning, this will not be done instantly but gradually, from day to day, in a week, in a month your yarn will become thinner; then you will learn how to twist; after that the weaving itself will come. Do not think that everything will go on wheels at once; you will have hindrances, but if you persist, you will learn. Let your first attempt be the following: try to keep your mind free for one or two minutes, not thinking of ordinary trite things of everyday life. You say: “I stopped thinking, I do not think of anything”, but through your mind pass your grandmother, your children, hens, oxen, firewood and you think that you are free. Chaos exists in your mind: your grandmother, your mother, and your children are all there. Say at last: “I want to be free; today I will think of God – the Great love of Life. Everyone – out in the yard, you will play there and leave me alone, because I have very important work. Try the first time, for only two minutes. But the children will come; they will fight, and cry. Let them fight, let them cry; forget them for two minutes and devote this small time to think only of God of Love. This is the art – the smallest. “But, you will say, this is very easy work.” It only seems easy. After that try for five minutes, ten minutes. So, Christ first wants to turn out of your heart the oxen, the hens, the horses, the wolves, the foxes that have dirtied your sanctuary. Do you know who these wolves and foxes are? There are foxes and wolves in you. I see them – with long tails, with red fur, with great teeth and claws. Your hatred – it is a wolf; your hypocrisy is a fox. Why do you want this fox, what is the use of it? No use. Turn everything out and put order in yourselves. Then you will call your priest: “Come you, servant of the living God, put your vestment on, and take your burner by which you offer your incense up to God.” You will call the bishop of your Life, too. And who is that bishop? – Your Spirit. You will also call the singers. Who are they? – Your good feelings and desires. You will say: “Come, start singing, and serve God in this erected temple.” And then Christ will come and finding this meeting free of those who had been selling pigeons and the like in it, having been driven out by him, He will say: “Let Peace be with you! The day of your resurrection has come; today you will be in Paradise with Me.” Do you know the deep meaning of the words said by that robber, who was crucified at the right side of Christ: “Good God, mention me in Your Kingdom!” He was a person who had expelled all the vermin from within and for this Jesus told him: “You are a person who will be in Paradise with me today.” Turn out all vermin, pigs, foxes, and wolves from yourselves. And the other robber who was crucified at the left side of Christ, what did he say? – “If you are really the Son of God, go down and set us free.” How could he set him free if he had not expelled all the vermin from himself, and was still a slave of his egotism? I think that you understand me; I am speaking very clearly to you. I want to speak to you in a way that you maybe have never been spoken to. The first thing is to learn to love God and this Love will connect you with Him. You have thousands of opportunities to unite with Him and to make your life happy. And when you connect with Him and go into the Eternal life, everything in you will change and everything will come to its place. So, set yourselves the aim to expel foreign thoughts from you; first for two minutes, then for five minutes and when you remain alone, in this deep contemplation start thinking on this great matter: why you are on the Earth, you are indisposed, why you do not have lofty thoughts and heart, why you do not have the will to solve a certain problem. And Christ will answer you. He will answer in this form: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. This means that when you drive everything out of you and accept Me in yourselves, when you know My Father as God who lives in Me, who has given Me Eternal Life, He will give such to you, too.” We should accept Christ in ourselves in order to connect with God. And Christianity has meaning only when we learn to overcome this life in order to acquire the life which is of value to us, because it brings Knowledge, Power, and nobility in our feelings, happiness, gives power to the Spirit to overcome everything. Let the fear from poverty stop in the world. This is the teaching of Christ. You are afraid of death. Meet her saying: “We will fight with her!” They may want to put you into prison; say within yourself: “We will fight against him who brings death, through the power of Him who lives in us, through the one true God.” The whole world may oppose you, you may be frightened – do not be afraid. One who is frightened can not become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Now you fight in the world and when you go to the Heaven you will each be given a George’s cross, which will be a living cross. You will come back and then Christ will say to you: “Come you good servant who has fought in the battle-field.” Humans suffer for thousands of years but they have not suffered for humankind, for Justice; till now they have suffered only for themselves, for oxen, horses and so on. At last they have to suffer for Christ. In this suffering you will find the true Life. And that is why Apostle Paul says: “If we liken with Him in suffering, we will liken in the resurrection, too”; because while living for Him, God will resurrect us in the same way as He resurrected Christ. Let Christ’s Spirit develop in us, let us know the True God and acquire Eternal life. Then we will go out to work for our smaller brothers and sisters, so that they too could learn the art of acquiring the wealth of this Divine life. 21.09.1914, Sofia 1 Turkish soldiers from the Christian population. 2 Turks from the south parts of the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria who used to rob at the end of the XVIII-th century and the beginning of the XIX-th century. 3 Turkish word for persons of religion different from the Islam and who do not profess the Islam faith. 4 Turkish word for the non-Muslim population in the Ottoman Empire. 5 Parts of а home loom where the reed is put. 6 Bulgarian currency. 7 The lecture “The necessity of knowing God” was first published in the collection “Power and Life”, first series, Sofia, 1915. [M1]Suggestion to make it clearer – {obtain knowledge and to move in the right direction} Source

From Peace be with you Peace be with you "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." " (John 20:19) Immortality - this is an aspiration of the human soul, an ideal which she strives for and always desires to fulfill. The human soul lives on Earth so that it may find the path to immortality. Immortality is regulated by a great Divine Law, a law which man must study and apply in all areas of his life. And in this sense, we have to constantly learn [1], to find those conditions under which immortality can exist. Man can be immortal and lose his immortality, he can be mortal and acquire immortality. Death and immortality - these are two states. In a [more] scientific language - immortality is an equilibrium of [all] things, of the powers which act within Nature. Death is a loss of this equilibrium. Immortality contains in itself a unity, a harmony; death - a disunity, a discord, a disharmony. When people desire immortality, they should know exactly what it contains in itself. When you enter a modern-day concert hall to listen to a symphonic orchestra, if you have the ability to observe, you will see that, firstly, when the players come in with their instruments, which are mostly stringed, they take the instruments out of their cases, after which they begin to tune the violins, to determine the tones of the wires, some of which are stretched more tightly, others less so. In this tuning there is a certain ratio. And after they attune the instruments according to specific tones, they take the bow and begin to play. Do you know how much time a violinist needs to become able to join a symphonic orchestra, to become able to control his instrument, his bow? He needs to dedicate at least 12 years to specialized tuition. Here they usually say that someone who plays a violin is a gypsy - this is the byname of the violinists. But in this instrument there is a certain emblem. We can say that the violin is the most perfect instrument, which, for the last 300 years - since the great master Stradivarius made it - has not undergone any changes, because it has almost achieved its perfection. I can liken the violin to the human soul: it has four strings and a bow. The violin - this is the human soul; the strings - these are the four human temperaments. The human will we can consider to be the bow. A violinist, when he goes to buy strings, will say: "Give me a such-and-such string - Mi (E), La (A), Re (D) or Sol (G)" and when he returns home, he knows where to put every single string. In human nature there are, we said, four temperaments - choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and nervous [2] - these are four states within man. They correspond to the human soul, mind, heart and life. These are four main strings which we should know how to tighten and relax. And when we tune our heart and our mind, we should know to tune them to one and the same tone. In the violin, the four wires are tuned to four different pitches, and between every wire there are also four tones, that is, every consequent wire is tightened four tones higher than the previous one. When you tune the whole violin, you have 4 x 4 = 16 tones, steps, to which the strings are tuned. When the violinist tunes his violin, he takes the bow and begins to play. And the violin is precisely the only instrument which is played on a cross, an instrument which creates the most pleasant music, which with its tones comes nearest to the human voice. Therefore, when you tune your violin and take the bow, you form this cross of which you now complain and say: "Why, Lord, have you given us this heavy cross!" I tell you, that the Lord has given you a beautiful instrument, but you do not know how to tune it, and, because of this, you carry it on your back as a heavy burden. Take it off and start tuning it, so that it may become playable. And when Apostle Paul says: "I will boast in the cross" (Gal 6:14), what do you understand? Everywhere I see people who carry these crosses, I see them in the Churches and everywhere besides, but I have not seen a man play on his cross. Enter the concert room and see that people applaud the playing on the cross, without realizing that they, too, have crosses - the sufferings - that they, too, play. But the most important thing in this playing on the cross is the keeping of measure. When the Kapellmeister [3] raises and begins to wave his baton, everyone must be attentive and [allow themelves to] be guided by him. And the movement of the bows causes us a certain pleasantness, because the bows move according to a certain rule. So, when we come to the deep intrinsic meaning of life, when we tune its strings - the mind, the heart, the soul, the life, and when we harness the bow - the human will, to work, through the Spirit of the Kapellmeister Who will raise His baton, we will create the most pleasant music in our life. Note that the cross is a great blessing with which the Lord visits us on Earth: the most grandiose symphony proceeds from it, music, singing, which is called salvation. It is in this kind of singing that salvation is to be found. When Christ was suffering on the cross, the Angels above, in Heaven, were not weeping, but singing. All the prisoners in Hell were rejoicing that their Savior is coming. So too when He was born upon the Earth, the Angels came to announce His arrival with singing yet again. So, when this Instrument, these Strings, this Bow of our faith were being created, the Angels were singing above, in the Heavens. The modern-day Christian says: "Woe to us! The Earth is a woeful lot, life is a burden, it does not have meaning". For the foolish people who do not know and do not wish to play, who do not know how to tighten their strings, who do not listen to the Kapellmeister, for them indeed, life does not have meaning; but for those who can adjust their violin and play, for them life is full of meaning. And the violinists who play so pleasantly receive a very large remuneration - 4-5-6-700, 1000 levs per month, just by moving their bow. Christ often visits you and asks: "Do you know how to play?" When I ask a man: "Do you know how to suffer?" I understand: "Do you know how to play?" You do not want to suffer, this means - you do not want to play. Those who do not know how to play are gloomy; I have no hope in them. There is a saying: "A man who sings and plays does not think evil". A man who suffers, this means - he sings and plays in life and saves himself. Does a violinist who plays stay hungry? Whoever does not know, will beg. Whoever knows and stands somewhere to play, he receives a payment from the people. Whoever knows how to suffer, he will never stay hungry. And note, people always rush to help one who suffers, just as they give to the violinist. When I remain to listen to how someone plays, while others only watch how the bow moves, I also hear the voice of the violinist, and I can see whether he has learnt to play [already] or whether he is learning now. If he is learning, he is a novice, now he is taking lessons, but in 12 years he will be in the symphony orchestra and then you will pay a high price for a ticket to listen to him... Now, when we learn this great law, to sing and to play, said in the modern language, or to suffer, said in a Christian sense - these words have one and the same meaning for me - through the suffering we will reach that great law, immortality - in which all harmony exists, in which there is no disharmony. Christ, Who comes to the Earth, is coming to teach people how to sing and play. He will teach you {pl.} how to tighten the strings of your soul. The string of the soul is Mi (E), the top-most string, [the string] of the mind - La (A), of the heart - Re (D), of the life - Sol (G). Here is the first lesson which Christ will teach you. Many times people ask themselves: "Why has the Lord given me such a good-for-nothing heart?" Is the heart good-for-nothing or you are good-for-nothing! They say: "Why has the Lord given me this foolish mind?" Is the mind foolish or are you foolish! "Why has the Lord given this meaningless life?" Is life meaningless or do you not know what it is for. The sufferings - these are the laws through which the Lord works for our development. We have to sing and play - to feel and think. To think means to play; to feel means to sing. Now, if two neighbors tune their violins and begin to play, it will be very pleasant. A year ago I visited a family; the father, the mother, the son and the daughter - all played; the father has taken the violin, the son - the double-bass and so on; everyone has something to occupy themselves with. Most modern-day people, the husband, the wife [4], the children, do not know how to play and since they do nothing else, they begin to fight. For them, of course, life is meaningless. Christ says: tune your violins, pull your bows, learn to play; when you gather in the evening, take up a song to play or sing in measure and then another, a third, a fourth. Have a meal and start again. Lay down to sleep; on the next day - go to work again in life. Now, you will say: "What connection does this have with the resurrection of Christ?" The modern-day Christian deliberates the question of the resurrection and says: "When I go to Heaven, then I will learn everything". This is for the world beyond [5]. But for this world, what shall we do? There is the illogicality in people's reasoning {pl.}. For this world we are very clever, but for the other world [beyond] we are not. When a youth wishes to study at a certain University, can he fly off from home and enter straight into the university? First he has to pass through kindergarten, then through the grades of primary school, the classes of high school, to prepare himself to understand advanced science and only then can he enter the University. Now, why has the Lord sent us to the Earth and what is she? This is a kindergarten, the grades of a primary school through which we have to pass. If we do not graduate from them, how are we to enter the classes [of the secondary school]? When we go to the other world, do you think they will accept us in the classes? No, by no means. The word "resurrection" contains a lofty idea in itself. It contains Divine secrets. To resurrect - this means to be master of all elements, of all powers, of all thoughts, of all desires, of all your actions. And how can a man resurrect when he is not a master of all these things? When a frog, or a little snake can frighten you, how are you preparing yourselves for resurrection? When on the Earth you cannot bear the smallest sorrow and be of service to the Lord, how will you be able to resurrect? If a violinist has to spend 12 years of constant 1-10 hour a day labor in order to learn to play, we, the Christians, how much do we need to play in order to learn Christ's resurrection? One of the failings of the modern-day Church is that it thinks that everything can be received as a gift [by grace]. The Lord can give us a violin, strings, a bow as a gift and He can find a teacher for us and pay for him, but we will have to spend 10 hours a day to learn to play - the exercise must be from us. And whoever cannot exercise thus, is a man indolent, incapable, he is not worthy of the Kingdom of Christ. When Christ says to His disciples: "Peace be with you!", if I were to interpret this phrase for you in its broad sense, it means the same as when the Kapellmeister takes some symphonic aria, beckons with the baton and everyone listens at once and begins to play. Similarly, when Christ says: "Peace be with you!", everyone should prepare themselves with their own violin, with their own bow, and listen to this Divine measure, which constantly moves from one end of the world to the other. All people sing and play before the Lord. He inspects them. Whoever has not learned to sing, twists his mouth. Weeping - this is distorted singing. In laughter the mouth rises up a little, and in crying it bends downwards. Whoever cries is young, he has not learned to sing yet. And so, crying is distorted singing, which, incidentally, is preparation for good singing. It is not bad to cry, because in time this crying will turn into very good singing. But, it is grievous for the man. We will be lenient: he will learn to sing. With this new energy which Christ brought into the world with His resurrection, He showed the way of that Divine art - salvation. And this is exactly why you should study the Gospel diligently. You say: "I do not understand this, I do not understand that, this is necessary, that is not necessary, this is right, that is not right". I ask, what is right? Some people do not want to suffer, do not want to sing, others do not want to work. What, then. do they want? Weeping is an exercise; it is a transition to singing. The hoe, it also has its tone. To work with the hoe, to raise it and apply it - this means to beat [upon] a drum. And the drum has to be beaten. You raise an axe and bring it down - these are the bells in a piece of music. And when you raise the hoe and till, even then you should think, you should say to yourself: "The master is watching me - I have to know how to apply this hoe rhythmically". Chop wood {pl.}, but chop it {pl.} according to all the rules of the art. We say: "This is meaningless, that is meaningless". But then, what has meaning in life? The things seemingly smallest, to which we attribute the least significance, have the greatest content in themselves. Resurrection is a process which the Spirit of God performs in our life, a grand process, through which God restores that primordial harmony. One day, when your ears open and you begin to listen a little more and further away than you listen now - now they are very thick, you do not even have musical capability, you perceive only the roughest tones - you will notice that throughout the whole Universe there is a movement of certain tones which the objects - the wellsprings, the trees, the leaves - emit, and you will hear majestic music which spreads from one end of the world to the other, and then you will understand the inner meaning of life. And Christ, through His resurrection, wishes to introduce you into this concert hall. He will pay for you, He will give you [each] a ticket, but will you have an ear to understand this Divine music when you enter that hall and see that concert, that playing? This is the internal deep meaning of Christ's resurrection. This is the life which develops among the Angels, from the lowest to the highest. This Divine manifestation is [present] everywhere in the world, and, because we cannot find this internal connection, we assume that there is no connection between the various phenomena. And when you hear the words: "Peace be with you!" you should be ready for what the Kapellmeister will order you to play - whether to sing or to cry. When the Lord raises His baton and says: "Peace be with you!", the husband [4] who does not know to sing begins to shout, and his singing is already called beating. And he beats the drum, but beats it awry. The wife, she, too, sometimes beats the drum awry. The Lord says: "You have not learned to beat the drum, you do not take the such-and-such tone correctly, you have not set your voice right, tune, tighten a little the strings of your life, of your soul". Then again He says: "Peace be with you!" and you begin to play. "Hold on! You do not place your fingers on the violin correctly" - He will stop you again. You will say: "I have had enough!" But you have to understand that art is acquired with great patience and conscientiousness and that for the indolent there is no Heaven. This is why the Lord says: "If you do not become receptive like the children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven"; because children have the striving to study [these] things, while adults say: "We do not need this, we do not need that" and finally they stoop downwards, become like a question mark, the Earth attracts them and they are buried in it. The Lord says: "Because this violin is not made well, put it down, so that it can be made anew once again". They will assemble it again, and it will go out in the world afresh, so that it may start learning again - the Lord has decided that each of you is to learn how to sing and play. He does not desire children in Heaven who do not wish to learn to sing and play. And Apostle Paul says that he was taken up to the third heaven and heard something which cannot be expressed with human language (2 Cor 12:2). He had heard singing and playing. [st.] John also said, that he heard singing and playing. This is the thought which I wish to leave for you. Do you know what the fundamental tone of your soul is? Do you know how to tune your violin? Learn to tune it. Every morning, when you get up, tune your nervous system. You are a little grumpy, anxious - this shows that your violin is not tuned. Stop, tune it. And so while you gradually tune it, your anxieties will disappear. How will you tune your nervous system? You will go to say a prayer - prayer, this is tuning. Some ask: "Why should we pray?" In order to tune your violins. When you tune your violin like this, you will say to the Lord: "My violin is tuned", and the Lord will tell you: "Begin the work of the day". And peace will enter amongst you, and your work will proceed well. And on some days the wife does not tune the violin well and starts to beat now this, now that child; of course, [on] this day the music does not go well. She says: "Why did the Lord give me these children? They are so unruly [6]!" Whether the children are misbehaved or the mother is, this is a question. Another day, when the violin is tuned, everything goes well, yet the children are the same. So there is something discordant. This is why the first thing we should do in the morning is to pray - to tune our minds, our hearts, our souls, our lives, and thus to appear before the Lord for work. To be grateful and to say: "We have learned our lesson in singing and playing well today, and our Dad, when He comes back, will receive our gratitude". Christ has come to see how we sing and play on Earth. He is nailed to the cross and 500 million people today sing and play on this cross, which, since its arrival, has given the perfect civilization. And so, Christianity is Divine music, Divine singing. Learn to sing and play on it; tune your violins well, move the bow correctly and listen to the commandments of the Kapellmeister. The whole world will follow this Divine law, and you will prepare yourselves for the other world, for the other life, which is coming. Lecture given on the 11th of September, 1914, in Sofia. --==[][][]==-- ______________________________________________ Notes: [1] or study [2] i.e. melancholic [3] From German; this is a court composer-conductor who would compose music for and lead the palace opera company, orchestra, and/or Church services. Nowadays a Kapellmeister is the director or conductor of an orchestra or choir. [4] In Bulgarian, there is a single word for "husband", "male" and "man", and similarly for "wife", "female" and "woman" [5] literally: for the other world. It is possible that the quotation beginning with the previous sentence extends until the end of this one. [6] i.e. children who do exactly the opposite of what they are told

From Dawning of a New Epoch, Beinsa Duno The Importance of What Is Small “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in Heaven their Angels always see the face of My Father who is in Heaven.” Matthew 18:10 In human society men and women all strive for big things, for great achievements; and everyone despises the little things in life. This is a weakness in human nature. If, for example, you are given five leva[1], you say, “This is nothing! I wish to be given one thousand, ten thousand, or a hundred thousand of leva. Just five leva? I feel offended—I am not a beggar!” You are offered one walnut, but you say, “Sir, you insult me with this. If you give me 5-10 kilograms of walnuts, I will accept them, but just one walnut, are you making fun of me?” When we strive for great purposes and achievements, we try to make contact with people in high positions: kings, presidents, directors, scientists, and philosophers. At the same time, we say about people in inferior positions, “This or that person is ignorant, a simpleton!” In all areas of life we see contempt for what is small and great interest in what is grand. Yet, Christ addresses his disciples and warns them not to despise the little ones. Why? Do not despise the little ones because thus you offend their Angels who serve them in Heaven. If you despise them, you also despise the Angels to whom the little ones are like children. When we want to split tree logs into firewood, we first chisel small sharp wedges, and as they penetrate the wood, they make space for the bigger ones. If the wedges are big and dull, how will they drive in? So, the little things open the way for the larger things. In the world as well, the entire process of development begins with these little things that you despise, and the overall progress in the Universe is a result of these. Figuratively speaking, we say that a plough feeds the whole world, because after the farmer ploughs and sows the field well, it rewards him with a plentiful harvest. This is true, but we should not forget the role of those billions of earthworms who also help by turning over the soil. However, we have been taught to look down upon the weak. Even after becoming devout Christians, hidden under our sheep’s skin we still have some wolfish instincts, which we occasionally show. We have not lost our old inherited habits and if someone steals from us even a small amount of money, one lev, for example, we immediately bring that person to court. However, if the amount is big, five or ten thousands leva for example, we say, “Bravo!” Yet, those who steal a lot did not develop this habit all at once: first they stole one coin equal to 2.5 stotinki[2], later one gologan[3], later on one grosh[4], followed then by five, ten coins, and so on. This Law is true in all aspects of life. When we do not consider the little details in our actions, we also miss the big effects that they produce. All our misfortunes today, both individual and collective, come as a result of our previous neglect of little things. Therefore, Christ addresses His disciples and advises them “not to despise one of these little ones.” Who are “the little ones?” Someone may say that these are our children, and that is true. Yet, if we want to apply Christ’s Law in full, we will see that there are many other things that should not be despised. “Do not despise one of these little ones!” I will reveal the hidden meaning in these words. A Hindu gave a whole walnut to his son and asked him to find out what was inside. The son cracked the shell and ate the kernel. “What is the essence of the walnut, son?” asked the father. “Nothing special, just some tasty nut meat,” replied the son. “Are you sure you have not found anything else in the walnut?” “No, nothing.” “Son, there is a great power hidden in the walnut. If you had planted it, instead of eating it, a big tree would have grown and you would have seen the greatness of this seemingly small thing, which has a hidden potential within it.” In the same manner God sends you one small thought, one apple seed, but you say, “It is nothing,” and discard it. Yet, God says, “Ask yourself what power it has. Plant it, and you will see the tree that will grow from it.” As a result of this constant overlooking of the little things in life we have reached the present situation of complaining that the world is bad. And what is more, we think that we are the clever ones! Christ advises us not to despise these small things, not to strive only for big things, but to learn to recognize the hidden power within the small things, and to use them, as they will help us achieve big results. For example, your house is built up of microscopically small and densely pressed together particles, is it not? In the same way, our daily life is based on those little things, like the grain of wheat, fruit, and many other things, so-called “trifles.” This pertains not only to the human body, but also to the human mind. In reality, it is the little thoughts and desires that bring joy and happiness in life. Sometimes we laugh at children because they are occupied with little thoughts. We forget that the small grains are those that produce growth into big things. Why should we “not despise the little ones”? It is because we should not disobey the second Divine Commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[5] You should not despise any living being, as it can give useful service, whether it be a pigeon, a hen, a sheep, a horse, or a donkey. For each and every form of life there is a special book. For example, it is written about the donkey, today you loaded the donkey that much, the next day that much. All this is written in the book and when God calculates five leva per day for this service, then after 100 years, assuming that the donkey has served you its entire life, how much do you need to pay it? One day you will find that you, like the debtor from the Scriptures, owe almost ten thousand “talents.”[6] You may say, “I do not remember,” but God has written your debt in the book. So, in fact, all of us are in debt to the little ones. We owe our present progress, our thoughts and desires to the “little ones,” as Christ said. Therefore, being in debt to them, we should have love for them; and knowing that they have served us, we should now serve them, too. Meanwhile, I would like to give you an explanation about a mystery. I have often been asked why Angels are interested in human beings, and whether there is any connection between them. Once upon a time, when Angels were in our present situation and they were living on Earth as consciously aware beings, we were in the situation of animals and served them. Thus, they are obligated to us and God requires them to pay their debt. Cosmic Beings do not despise their smaller fellows because they have served them. Maybe your servant is ignorant, but you do not really know the truth behind this relationship and why God has placed this man in your home. Your relationship with him did not originate in the present: this particular servant has been in your home many times previously. You do not know this, but God knows. This person has probably saved your life many times; therefore, you need to have love and compassion for him. And this is how we can understand this Divine Law: to have love for the little ones. Love is to be expressed not only for great people, Angels, and saints; it is also for the little things, the little ones, the poor and fallen brothers and sisters. This is the reason for the strong love of a mother toward her child; she loves by the power of this Divine Law that obliges her to do so. She loves her child thanks to this inner Divine Fire. You want to see God, but when He comes in your child, you say, “Why did God give me this child?” Every day you ask God to come and every day you chase Him away. And you consider yourselves to be learned people! This is not only an attitude, but a pattern of behavior in the entire world. Every day God tests you to see how much you love Him and how truthful are your words. Once upon a time, after the Fall of Man, when the world went wrong, a rumor was spread that God had descended to Earth to see how people were living. Many people had decided that, since there was no God in Heaven to control them from above, they could live as they wish, without any restrictions. In one place God saw someone selling a blind horse, but telling the buyer, “In God’s name, the horse is not blind.” The man replied “Since you swore in God’s name, I believe you,” and the man bought the horse. God passed by a house and saw a husband beating his wife who cried out, “In God’s name, forgive me!” and the man stopped. These both went to Heaven afterward and justified themselves, saying, “God, on Earth we called upon Your name.” Modern people call upon God too, especially when they try to sell a blind horse or want to beat their wives. Some priests advise, “Believe in God,” but what would God reply to them? He would reply, “I do not know you because you use My name, not for My glory, but to deceive people by encouraging them to perform wrongful actions and make excuses for doing so.” These are the little things that create big misfortunes. You have a blind horse and you want to sell it by using the name of God, but you need to be careful and responsible for your actions. Do you know what the “blind horse” is? It is your body. Yet, people talk against it all the time, punish it, and blame it. No, the body is not the guilty one. Someone gets drunk in the pub and orders, “Do not give food to the horse.” He is doing wrong by getting drunk, but he punishes the horse. Do not despise your body and do not confuse the flesh with your desires and lusts. You need to renounce them—not the flesh. To renounce the flesh would mean to renounce all thoughts and deeds that are realized through it. In addition, you should not torment your body—a temple created by God. In fact, you should be very sympathetic with it because you can work only as long as it is fit and healthy. When Christ says “their Angels,” He refers to those Wise Beings who keep a record of our actions. In fact, what we call “consciousness,” these are the Angels abiding within us and recording each of our actions: either good or bad. They say to us, “Well done!” or “You have not done well.” When you insult someone, then the Angel of this person tells you that your behavior was not good. You start apologizing, “I am sorry, I was a little nervous, indisposed, the conditions were such and such.” Your excuse about the conditions you were in has nothing to do with the rule that you should not despise the little things because they create the foundation for the Divine Laws. The little things can sometimes cause either great benefits or big harm. A wolf once boasted that he was a hero and the king of the animals. The fox interjected, “Do not talk big because if a mosquito enters your nose and stings you, you cannot do anything to it.” “I will blow my nose and the mosquito will fly away,” replied the wolf. One day a mosquito entered his nose and stung him, thus bringing infection to the wolf and causing his death. Often the small circumstances in our life can, in one way or another, bring either progress in our development or an impediment. The causes that bring us good or bad results are not bad in themselves, but their application is wrong. Take, for example, air: if you breathe it through your lungs, it will purify your blood producing a positive effect for you, but if it goes into your stomach, it will produce stomachache. In both cases, one and the same cause creates two totally different results. If you take some charcoal mixed in water, it will have a good effect on your stomach, but introduced into the lungs, it would be poisonous. Therefore, through those little things Christ advises us not to despise, He is referring to the whole of human life with all these little things we are closely involved with. For instance, if I ask you about the way your body, heart, and mind have been formed, could you tell me how this has happened? Initially, when human beings came into existence on Earth, they were not huge, but microscopically small; but under certain conditions they developed and became a million times larger than before. Their power was initially hidden in a nucleus. In a similar way in modern times, an idea is a great Divine foundation; and if it falls on good soil, it can revive our life. That which we call “revival” exists as a Spiritual Law; it is the inner Divine process that uplifts and renews the human heart, mind, soul, and spirit. This is the process of ascending from lower to higher states of development and being, lower to higher levels of existence. And our uplifting, deliverance, and salvation come as a result of this Divine striving. Therefore, all beings, from the biggest to the smallest, strive to rejuvenate and to evolve because in rejuvenation is hidden the blossoming of the human soul. The reason why we should be tolerant toward the little ones is to avoid bringing sorrow to God because when we hurt someone, in fact we hurt not only that person, but also God Who resides in him or her. And when we do good, we help God as well. In fact, when we assist people, their Angels in Heaven will serve us too. Therefore, if we want to have friends in Heaven, we need to serve the little ones, and their fathers, the Angels in Heaven, will welcome us in their Home and offer us a feast. The world is like this: service for service and love for love. Do you understand now why Christ addressed His disciples with these words? You need to remove contempt from your soul. For instance, when you meet people you do not know and feel contempt for them, thinking that they might possibly be inferior to you, if instead you could just help them with their ignorance, you would change the situation; but if you look down upon them, you are introducing a poison into the relationship. In modern aristocratism and caste systems, some are noble, others not, some are rich, others poor—all that has its origin in contempt. If we understand how relations among people should be, we will not be ashamed of poverty, as it is a service given us to carry out. We need to be small and we need to be poor, in order to become rich and great. These are the two polarities, between which development happens. Movement is always from the large to the small, indicating that God always pays attention to the small. He is interested not only in big things. God created all that exists. Yet, ruling over all His creation gives Him less pleasure than being involved with children. His work is to teach people when they err. Thus, He gives us an example not to despise little ones, but to tolerate them and teach them because this is our time to rest and enjoy. When a teacher works with his students, he enjoys it, and when the students study well, he praises them. Saints and priests are involved with wrongdoers in order to turn them to God. The assignment of all of us is to pay attention to weak people and small things. When someone says, “I do not have time for rest,” I know that this person is occupied with big things and big thoughts. How could such a person rest, if he takes an overloaded backpack with 10, 20, or 50 kilograms of gold in it? If he leaves only one Napoleon[7] in his backpack, he would realize that he had plenty of time to rest. Now God comes to tell us “Leave your backpacks!” This will liberate the world of its burdens. Down with the weapons that destroy your minds and hearts! All of you need to become like children, not to despise the small things that God has created. God wants to bring people back to this pure, primeval state that people call “being wild,” but in reality it is not wild, but virgin. I would like to see people becoming wild in this way. In Sanskrit “wild” means “pure.” Let us become pure and come closer to God, instead of becoming evil and cruel. I would like the entire world to become “primeval” as soon as possible, to become pure, noble, and stop despising the little things and the little ones that God loves. I would like the world to place Love, Justice, Wisdom, Truth, and Power in the high esteem where they need to be. This is the way to salvation. Lecture held on August 3 (16), 1914, Sofia. _________________________________________ [1] Lev—BGN (Bulgarian lev, plural leva, levove) is the currency of Bulgaria. [2] Stotinka (plural stotinki): One hundredth of a lev, the basic unit of money in Bulgaria. [3] Gologan is a folk name for an old coin made mostly of copper, with a value of 10 stotinki. [4] Grosh (denarius in Latin) is a coin used in the past in many European countries with a value of 20 stotinki. [5] Mark 12:31 [6] See also Matthew 18:24. [7] The Napoléon is the colloquial term for a former French gold coin, originally minted for Napoléon Bonaparte. The coin continued in use through the 19th century and later French gold coins in the same denomination were generally referred to as “Napoleons.”

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” Luke 18:10 You will probably ask: is it so strange that two people - a Pharisee and a tax collector - both entered the temple. Truly, there is nothing strange for those who understand the nature of life, but for those who do not, everything is strange. For the first everything makes sense and for the second everything is nonsense. I will take these two types of people, the Pharisee and the tax collector, as subject of today’s lecture. These two persons are prominent representatives of a very old culture. Let us compare their distinctive features one by one so that you could clearly understand their life styles and their state of mind. The word “Pharisee” originates from the Hebrew word parash, which means “to divide.” In Arabic, there is also a word pharsi, which derives from the same root and means “something flawless.” To know a language pharsi implies a very good knowledge of this language. In this chapter of the Bible, Christ is presenting two distinctive types of people. A talented artist who is aware of the science of man would paint these two types with all their distinguishing features and this flawless painting would be worth to be exposed in every home as a model. What are the most apparent features of the Pharisee and of the tax collector? It is not enough to say, “He is a Pharisee” or “He is a tax collector” because we need to know the external characteristics of their faces and hands, the structure of their bodies and heads. After that, we need to find out what characterizes the state of their mind and soul. Only in this way we could clarify the idea embedded in the text and benefit from it. Christ was a great master of art. He gave the major distinctive features of these two prototypes and with them, I am going to describe the Pharisee and the tax collector. You may ask, “How can you describe a person with only a few words that have been said about him?” It is a science and can be described. There are scientists who have researched in comparative anatomy, who have studied the structure of animals. If you give them even the smallest part of an ancient animal, they are able to describe the size, the structure of all bones, the place of its muscles and tendons; and in this way, they can recreate the extinct form. If you give an expert botanist only one leaf of a plant, he is able to describe the whole tree. Using the same method, I will try to describe in approximation the Pharisee and the tax collector, showing you what they look like. Yet you will ask me, “What do these two persons, who have lived two thousand years ago, have in common with us?” Two main prototypes of people live in the world: tax collectors and Pharisees. Many other types have derived from them, but they remain the primary ones. You may belong either to the one kind or the other, no matter whether you are a priest or not, a person of high status or not, a scholar or not, a philosopher or not, a man or a woman. These two characters are intertwined and stand out in the life of everyone. They will remain forever the two distinctive prototypes in the entire human history. One of Christ’s greatest accomplishments in reality is that He has succeeded with very few words to express and present them so clearly and distinctly. The Pharisee’s appearance is decent at first sight. He is a nice-looking person, well-built, slender, tall, about 175–180 centimeters, which is more than average. His hands and fingers are rather long. His thumb is long and symmetrical, a sign of well-developed opinions, of will power and intelligence. The index finger is equal to the ring finger, which indicates that whenever an idea comes to him, he will carry it through to the end. His digestive system is in good condition. Lacking the weakness of a glutton or a wine drinker, he is sensible when it comes to eating and drinking. His taste is refined. His waistline is on the slim side. As to age, he has lived for four decades, entering into the fifth; in other words, he has turned forty-five. His shoulders are slightly rounded, his face is a bit elongated and pear shaped, which indicates a developed nervous system. His lower jaw is properly formed, with an elongated and pointed chin, showing a person whose mind is quick and bright. His mouth is an average size; his lips are neither thick nor thin. The ends of his lips point slightly up, with a smile of contempt as if saying, “Look at all these people - they are such a crowd.” But he never expresses his inner contempt. His eyes are ash-gray. His eyebrows are arched, slightly bent like the branches of an old tree, showing a person who has lived long and is much experienced in life. His high forehead is well-shaped. The area above the nose is protruding slightly which is a sign for a strong individuality and an observing practical mind. The area of the temples is average; his ears are normal and closely adjoining the head, which is an indication for material order. His beard is slightly thin and reddish, a sign of impulsiveness and persistence. His head is round, measuring around 56–60 centimeters in circumference around the ears and with well developed and raised parietal bones, a sign of a person with great self-control, superiority complex, pride, vanity, and who is hard to please. He possesses religious inclinations, but one-sided; he shows compassion, but only toward himself and those close to him. His face is slightly pale, white, with a Greek-Roman type of nose. He is a person with an aesthetic taste, but lacking an aptitude for poetry and love for nature, as well as for the sublime and ideal. He is a person of strong faith, but only in his own mind; of great hope, but only in his own power. He is religious, but his belief system reflects his own selfishness as he honors and worships only himself. If we enter his temple, we will find in the most prominent place not the image of Jesus Christ but his own portrait. In the place of the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and the other Saints, we will find his grandparents and ancestors, to whom he burns incense and offers prayers saying, “Our family is famous and great.” He is an intelligent person, who gathers knowledge from life; he knows the Hebrew Kabala as well as the principles of the civilization of his time. Should he have lived in our times; he would have been a prominent writer, philosopher, artist, statesman, or a religious leader. Why did Christ choose this type? What is wrong with his praying? The Pharisee’s prayer reflects a philosophy that has outlived its time; that is a prayer of someone living only in the past, thus missing the present and the future. He is in love with his own portrait like a youngster; wherever he goes, he sees only that. How odd it is to fall in love with one’s own image! Once I observed a Bulgarian writer. He was sitting in a prominent public place, with a mirror near him. He began to smoke a cigarette, turning his head and looking into the mirror as if saying to himself, “I am handsome and make such a good impression on people.” Again he smoked and looked at himself in the mirror. Should this mirror be destroyed one day, his happiness will be destroyed as well. The Pharisee is like that type of a person who has fallen in love with oneself. And when he turns toward God, pay attention how interesting his words are, “Lord, I thank You that I am not like the others, but more than them.”[1] Yet, his philosophy is wrong because God has created all human beings equal. “I am not like the others.” Who are you then? An angel? You are not an angel; you are made of the same dust and the blood in your veins is the same as in others. Therefore, the Pharisee lies both to himself and to God. This is the first lie he uses. And the Lord says to him, “You do not speak the Truth.” The Pharisee’s statements are negative. He is not comparing himself with the beings who are superior to him, like Angels but rather with the inferior types, like criminals and thus he is concluding that he is not like them. Let us assume that I compare myself to the other beings and say, “Thank You, Lord, that I am not like these oxen, donkeys, dogs, lizards, snakes.” What comparison can I make with them? It is a tendency that can be found in all humans. Years ago in Bulgaria, it was fashionable among the college and university students, while studying the biographies of the great writers, for example, Shakespeare, to adopt their weaknesses since they lacked their positive qualities. Students would say, “Let us see if we have these shortcomings as well” and when they find them in themselves, they would say, “We are also ge niuses like Shakespeare.” Studying the character of Schiller[2], they looked for any eccentric side of him and when they found it in themselves, they would say, “We are also like Schiller.” Studying a big number of great people in this way, they would say, “We are great people indeed.” Yes, you are great, but in a negative way - great people, who are missing something. I prefer someone who is nothing because if he has nothing to receive, he has nothing to give. So the Pharisee makes a comparison and says: “Thank You, Lord that I am not like that one who is a robber.” The Lord replies to him, “If I put you in his place, who would you be?” Once an angel looking down from Heaven saw one person sinning, so he turned to the Lord and said to Him, “How can You tolerate this inferior being? If I were in Your place, I would have rid the Earth of him.” God sent the angel to incarnate on the Earth and placed him in the same situation; the angel erred twice as the person he has judged before. Therefore, one shall not judge people for their deeds from his own position because in their place he would have made errors as well. Many people come to me stating, “We are not so bad, we are well brought up because we come from prominent families.” I do not doubt your words and within my soul I deeply believe in what you tell me. We all come from prominent families, I accept that. However, your and my ancestors did not posses such noble character as we think; many of them were goodfor-nothing people, criminals, evil-doers, scoundrels. You and I carry with us the testimony that God has written about them. Outwardly things may look of proper decency, but from within, they lack the essential value. Our forefathers have not been as pure as assumed and it is seen from those inherited negative tendencies that we manifest at least twice a day. If your grandfather and grandmother, father and mother were as pure and good as angels, where had these negative tendencies and deeds come from in your life? If you pour some bitter substance or poison in a liquid, it will manifest itself and will be noticed. Therefore, it will become evident that in the good content something bad has been added. To conclude, we call the people confessing the Pharisee’s philosophy, conservatives or belonging to the conservative party: these are people who have a high opinion of themselves. It is not bad for someone to have a high opinion of oneself, as long as it is merited and without any addition of bitterness. Nitrogen is the greatest conservator and regulator in Nature, as it stops any combustion and suffocates any life. Nitrogen is the oldest and most balanced element in Nature. However, if it was the only substance in Nature, everything would have been dead. In spite of that, the organic world should be very thankful to nitrogen. The Pharisee addresses God not to help him to smooth out some of his own flaws - not at all. He is only thankful that he is not like the others: like the traducer, robber, murderer, and adulterer. Just as a scribe and philosopher, he should address the reasons that cause blasphemy, robbery, murder, and adultery. According to Christ’s Teaching, when we meet people who are seemingly inferior to us, we should not judge them, but learn a lesson. We should find the reasons for their coming to such a low state and if we have taken on their habits, it is better to try to get rid of them. Because He Who has laid out the Great Laws of Life is saying, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”[3] There is a deep meaning in these words and that one who has comprehended them has come close to the Great Law of human wellbeing. Modern zoologists have given many valuable works to the world, but no one has yet studied the profound reasons of animal creation. For example, why do some animals have horns, while others do not have? Why do some animals crawl, while others walk on four legs? Why are some animals carnivorous, while others are herbivorous? Why are animals deprived of human intelligence? There are profound and essential reasons for this. It did not happen by chance as some people think. When humankind comes to understand these profound reasons, it will come to the great philosophy upon which the future social order can be constructed, presenting “the dawn of the New Culture.” The modern civilization as a whole is based upon the concepts of the Pharisee, so it is a Pharisaic civilization. This is a civilization in which people are distinguished by form, by appearances, and by social status and it was born in the distant past of Egypt, India, Babylon, China, Persia, Judea, Greece, and Rome. At present, it is in Europe as well, attired in the beautiful Christian garment. I do not say that it has a bad foundation, but I do say that its form should have certain content in it. Without content, the form remains just an empty shell in which only parasites can thrive. People say, “He has lovely eyes.” So what? “They are really beautiful.” What makes them beautiful? “Well, they are bright and lovely.” What is it that makes them lovely? Someone’s nose is beautiful, well shaped. Where does the beauty lie? His mouth is beautiful, well-formed. In what respect? People have concepts of certain things that cannot be explained, namely that certain powers are hidden in the eyes: in the black or in the blue eyes, in the ash-gray, greenish or brown eyes. If someone with black eyes is looking at you, a certain thought will come to you; if a person with brown eyes is looking at you, it will bring a certain mood to you, and so on. People with blue eyes are usually self-composed and calm. They are like the sky: clear but serene, distant. Such people are not for this planet. They have deep faith and were born before time. Probably they are the people who are yet to come. I speak of those blue eyes that are an expression of Heaven. Legend says that Christ had such eyes. People praise someone, “His mouth is as beautiful as a rose.” What indicates the human mouth? It is the expression of the human heart and indicates whether this person is kind or hard-hearted. It also indicates how intense and sincere one is. You can notice that those who are gluttons have thicker lips than most people - it is a physiological law. More blood flows there, that is why their lips are quite thick and reddish. When such people taste their food, they say, “Oh, this is good.” And their faces light up with a delicate, barely noticeable smile, which speaks of the disposition of their souls. If we consider someone’s beautiful nose, it is an expression of the human intelligence and mind. The type of nose - straight or curved, Roman or Greek - has a profound meaning. The outer appearance of the human face is very important; it also gives an implication about the inner life of a person. If we examine a human face and notice something asymmetric in it; for example, if the eyebrows are slightly different - one is more developed, while the other is more protruding - it is a sign of some imbalance in that person. If you draw a straight line, you may see also for yourself whether your nose is in the right place. The nose is like a barometer, indicating the state of your mind. When engineers drive a steam engine, they look at a gauge that shows the atmospheric pressure in the steam boiler. According to its indication they add more coal to produce more steam or if it is in excess, they let the steam out. Have you ever considered to make an effort and as engineers do - to check the condition of your steam engine, in other words, your heart? For this purpose God has given you the nose. Go in front of the mirror, ask your mind and it will inform you about the state of your heart. When you look at your eyes in the mirror, you may see the condition of your soul. Only the eyes never lie and cannot be hypocritical. For this reason, when a person intends to lie, sometimes this person closes eyes or hides them with hand. Children know that their mother giving a look at them will guess whether they are lying, that is why they put their hands over their eyes. Christ, looking at the praying Pharisee told him, “Your soul is muddled, your forefathers did not live a pure life as you presume.” You think that you do not resemble the others, but you have been exactly like them in the past and even now you are not too far from their level.” It is not so important how we interpret this fact, in compliance with which teaching: of the Hindu philosophers about reincarnation or the Egyptian sages about transmigration; the Kabala and esoteric science regarding emanation and perfection of the spirit or the modern science referring to heredity. These teachings and theories are only guidelines for us to comprehend certain things better so that the phenomena of the human life may become clearer and more understandable to us. However, the primary principle of all things remains always the same, no matter how we explain and interpret its manifestation. The Great Law of Cause and Effect, of actions and consequences, never lies. It always reveals the Absolute Truth. It is all written in the Book of Life: whether you are good or bad, whether you speak the truth or not; help your neighbor or not, self-sacrifice for your nation, work for the benefit of humankind, serve God with Love or not - it is all written in the Book of Life. If you harass and take advantage of your neighbors, commit treason against your nation, impede the progress of humankind, if you are disloyal to God - this is also written in the Book. God mercilessly writes His testimony about any of the human actions on different parts of the body: forehead, nose, mouth, face, head, arms, fingers, and all other parts - every bone gives evidence for or against us. We can read the history of the human life every single day. The life stories of all our ancestors are also recorded from the very beginning. Some of them were noted to be terrible criminals, thieves, and robbers. Looking through the Book of Life and following the lines of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, and many others we will find detailed records of their actions. We may find out about Abraham that he was a righteous person, very bright, with a generous heart, strong faith, noble spirit and that he was acquainted with the profound wisdom of the Divine Ordinances for the bright future of the humankind. If we look at Jacob, we find out that at the beginning he was a deceitful and a selfish double-dealer, who used lies and fraud to steal his brother’s birthright. He changed to better only after he had turned 33 and after 14 years of work in exchange for his uncle Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel. Only then did the transformation occur to Jacob. As to David, we know that he was a brave man, resolute, with a naturally excellent and poetic mind, but he was fond of beautiful women. Since the moment he took Uriah’s wife by deceit, his trials had begun. The courageous prophet Nathan did not hesitate to expose this straight to his face showing him the bad effect that the karmic Law would leave for him in the Book of Life for the future generations. About Solomon, it is said that he had an excellent philosophical mind and compassion, but excessively strong emotions and passions, great vanity, and weak willpower. He was a veracious eater and drinker and enjoyed the company of women. Christ knows all this. He knows also how His own ancestors lived and when people called him “Merciful Teacher,” He objected, “Why are you calling me merciful? Merciful is only One, God.”[4] He implies, “The family of my descent is not as noble as you think. God has a different way of evaluating, which you cannot grasp. He requires Absolute Purity in every way. Many of this descent did not live in a way that was pleasing to the true God, Whose Will I fulfill.” That is why Christ turned to the Pharisee and told him, “You are deceiving yourself, as well as other people and God. Many of your ancestors have committed crimes; hence you do not have the right to say, ‘I am not like these people.’ And because you lack humility in your soul, your prayer is not received and you cannot be excused. You, Pharisees, have misinterpreted God’s Law by using hypocrisy as a cover. Stop presenting yourselves in the way you are not because God is not a human being who can be misled by your appearance. He judges you according to what He sees in your heart.” Let’s look now at the other type, the tax collector. You have here a person of average height, slightly overweight, with rather short legs, thick arms, slightly thick and tapered fingers, and a round face. His digestive system is well developed, as he loves to overeat and also to drink. “I have a long way to go. Therefore, I need enough food.” This is how he philosophizes and that is why he has become a tax collector. He will beg a little here, he will take and steal some there, until he fills up his bag. He justifies his actions saying, “You are doing just like me; I beg your pardon, you may consider it theft, but I need it. If you do not want to give it to me, I will take it by force or steal it.” As I said, the tax collector has a round face with thick eyebrows and his chin is wide in the base, which indicates that whatever he undertakes he will finish it successfully. He is between 40 and 45 years of age. His beard has black bushy hair; the same is for the mustache and that is a sign of a great vigor. His nose is well-built, slightly short, thick, wide at the ends, which is a sign of a good respiratory system. A person of feelings, impulsive like a child, he can always express his joy; after having half a liter of wine, he can jump and be joyous; when he gets sober, he begins to cry about his wife being ill. His temporal bones are strongly developed. His ears are quite large, almost like Tolstoy’s, or like in someone who steals and takes. However, the tax collector is a person who also gives, saying, “My father and mother have been stealing as well; so let me give something, help people and may God forgive our sins.” He has brown or reddish brown eyes indicating natural tenderness and good nature awaiting their time to be manifested. His head is well developed, similar to the head of Socrates. The tax collector has perfectly developed home and social feelings: including the strong religious sense and compassionate attitude of mercy. He has also a right concept of life, excellent unsophisticated mind and cultivated conscience highlighting his mistakes, which he is not ashamed to confess before God, others, and before himself too. He lacks any pretentious ideas about his status. He is religious and in his belief system he has placed not his own image but the image of the Good God. He has always believed that this Good God will guide him to the Light. He has more trust in God than in himself. He has the right philosophy; he does not compare himself to the lesser ones like the thieves and scoundrels, but he says, “Lord, when I look at You, at the Angels and Saints, I think: who am I in comparison? I need to rise up to become like You. I am a sinner and with my ancestors we are good for nothing, I eat and drink like a pig and have become like a pig. Forgive me that I cannot make use of the bounties, which You gave to me.” And what did Christ say? “Those who have a sublime ideal and are aware of their own mistakes will surpass the Pharisee one day.” How can this happen? Rich people rely on their rents or incomes. They do not need to work, but only discuss politics and social life. Those who get up early in the morning and work for ten hours daily, though they may experience failure after failure in their lives, they are persistent, so in time they acquire knowledge and become acknowledged. Now, I am sorry to say, but both types are represented among you. Since Christ has pointed at these two opposite prototypes, I advise you: Adopt the good aspects of both. Attain simultaneously the Pharisee’s and the tax collector ’s noble features of character. Thus create a third type of a Christian or the New human being. This is what I have in mind. You say, “How can I be a Pharisee? I do not think that I have done much wrong in my life. You offend me.” I will tell you a truth. When misfortune comes into your life, you say, “Why, Lord, is this misfortune? There are some others who are much greater sinners than me.” Are you not a person who argues with the Lord like the Pharisee then? The Lord will tell you, “You are very pious, but do you know how many scandalous things your ancestors have committed and at one time you were a partner with them? See, here is a bill you signed many years ago, which is due to be paid.” “But I do not remember.” “It does not matter; as it is recorded in My Book, so there is no lie.” When you experience misfortune and say, “Thanks. It is nothing. It could have been worse,” then you are like the tax collector. And Christ will say to you, “You will go to the home of My Father.” Sometimes you judge the Pharisee to be insincere. But do you know that you, who are judging the Pharisee, are the modern Pharisees? Learn a lesson from the Pharisee. You should not take his negative traits, but if you have them, eradicate them not to get into the path of a negative lifestyle. What your grandfather and grandmother, your mother and father had will be of no use to you. You remember the story of the geese guided toward the town. They complained to a traveler meeting them from their guide, “This man is treating us like a flock! Does he not know that our ancestors once freed Rome? What a shame, what a scandal!” “But what are your own achievements?” asked the traveler. “None.” “Well, then you deserve to be cooked in a pot.” Your grandfather and father were distinguished people of noble character, but who are you? If you do not have a noble character, acquire it. Your grandfather and father may have left you some capital, but you could waste it or lose it all. If we examine the religious views in life, there exist religious Pharisees: “I belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church,” “I am from the Evangelist Church,” “I am from the Catholic Church,” or “I am a freethinker.” I am glad that you are Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic, or free thinking, but do you have the noble characteristics of Jesus? “I do not have them.” Then, you are neither Orthodox nor Evangelical, you are none of them. Attain the noble characteristics of Jesus and you may become one of them. “But I am a free thinker.” Do you have the noble characteristics of the honest free-thinking people? By the phrase “free thinker,” I understand someone who is a friend of the Truth. If you are not, then you are a first-class liar. Often people say, “You are a great person.” People of today gather together by threes and fours and begin to boast of their social status and achievements. They praise the author, “We read your work with delight.” But as soon as he leaves, they state, “He is a first-class idiot.” When the second leaves, they criticize him too. Then the third leaves, he is also such and such according to the rest. When only one remains, naturally he will not say anything bad about himself. Do not be fooled by people’s talk about you because it could hold many unpleasant things. No one speaks the truth. Your enemies will tell you, “You are a scoundrel, liar, good-for-nothing person. They are closer to the truth than someone who flatters you, saying, “You have nobleness.” You may be good but not that good; do not think that you are great. Sometimes you walk with your head up, swinging your arms and cane, as if you have solved a great problem like Archimedes. You think that there is no one like you. If you are a tax collector, you are telling yourself, “I will rule the world.” Christ says, “Listen, years ago your ancestors ruled and I remember to be written in My Book that they had committed crimes. It is quite possible for you to go in that direction too. Do not be so certain of yourself.” Therefore, in whatever situation we may find ourselves, we should have God, the Lord, as the only ideal. In this world we will encounter many painful experiences. We may meet a friend who loves us and will tell us certain things that are true. I do not say that we should suspect everyone to be a liar, no. But if a hundred people praise you, perhaps only three among them will tell you the truth in a proper way. The rest will tell you the truth either in a harsh way or by flattery, these are two extremes. Truth is not to be found there, but in the middle path by taking the good characteristics of the Pharisee: his excellent mind, his concepts and tidiness; and from the tax collector by taking his compassion, profound religiousness, inner awareness of the mistakes and aspiration to set right his life. The tax collectors and Pharisees are to be found in the families as well: for example a Pharisee husband and a tax collector wife. The husband is coming from a high prominent lineage, he is wealthy, slender, handsome, “a man of nobleness,” as people call him. The wife comes from a simple family, her father and grandfather were uneducated simple people. The husband looking at her likes to ask, “Do you know what social status I have taken you from?” And she cowers a little. There is nothing she can do in this situation, but to cower and cook. Every time when the Pharisee’s finger indicates she did not cook well makes her cry while hearing his words, “I do not want such a simple, unlearned woman. I do not want such a tax collector in my home.” Elsewhere, the wife is the Pharisee while the husband is the tax collector. The wife comes from a wealthy family; her father helped her husband to prosper in life and at one time he was his apprentice. “Do you realize how fortunate you are that I have taken you? You do not know how to dress, how to put your tie, or how to blow your nose.” These Pharisees can be very detailed when they begin criticizing. Now both of them need to set right their lives. When Christ says that the tax collector is more justified than the Pharisee, He means that the tax collector is not completely right as well, but in his thoughts about life and the Divine Order he has a better understanding than the Pharisee. He wants to imply that the tax collector one day will stand higher than the Pharisee. If you do not wish to humble yourselves, the Lord will humble you because He humbles the proud and uplifts the humble. Pride and humility are synonyms for these two types of people, the Pharisee and the tax collector. You do not know what is in store for you in the future; all your noble qualities and all your ancestors may not be able to help you. Some years ago in England (in London I think), one of the richest and most prominent Englishman went down to his subterranean vault to take a look at his treasures and by chance he closed the door behind him with his key remaining outside. After examining all his wealth and enjoying it, he wanted to go out, but realized that he was locked in. He stayed for one, two, three days. He was surrounded by gold and enormous wealth, but what of this, when he could neither go out, nor call for help. Finally, he died, leaving the following note behind him, “If only there had been someone to give me a piece of bread, I would have given him half of all my wealth.” If it happens one day that you are locked up in the subterranean vault of your noble ancestors like that rich man, just a little piece of bread can save you. That is why Christ says, “The bread can save you, but it is not true for all these material things which you are striving for.”[5] Do you know that many people pass away like this - locked up in themselves? Some desperate people commit suicide. Who are these people? They are not the tax collectors but the Pharisees. Poets, artists, and politicians say, “The world does not value us and cannot appreciate our works, our writings, our paintings.” That is why they commit suicide. Always those Pharisees, who are noble thinkers with the finely formed faces and red beards, commit suicide. The Pharisees in Bulgaria do not have red beards; I am speaking of the Jewish Pharisees. I would describe our Bulgarian Pharisees in another way. They look like the Jewish Pharisees, but there is something in which they differ. But as I am not describing the Bulgarian but the Jewish Pharisees, you can make your own conclusion about the Bulgarian ones and search for these types. How do you search for them? The purpose of my lecture is for you to apply these practical concepts in your life. People of today profess that one needs willpower to be successful in life. The willpower has three ways of expression: first, not taking into account the rights and feelings of others; second, regarding only our own interests and those of our nation; and third, considering the interests of the society and nation, of the humankind and God. The last expression of willpower, which includes all obligations that we have toward this world, is good. When we have such willpower there is no force that could divert us from our duty. The true willpower acts for the glory of God and the humankind, for the sake of your nation and home, and for the uplifting of your character; this is willpower indeed. People say, “You should have a noble mind.” A mind that realizes its attitude to God and makes efforts to apply the sublime thoughts in Life, this is a noble mind indeed. You all have the potential for this. “But my nose is not as I want it to be.” It will develop. Look at those little birds in the nests that have no feathers yet. Observe how they are waiting for their mother and as soon as she appears, they open their beaks, saying, “Chirrrp!”, and instantly their mother pushes little worms in. Even twenty times a day, “Chirrrp!” and again they open their beaks. The more these little birds pray “chirrrp,” the more worms fall into their beaks. And soon their wings strengthen and they will finally be able to fly away. You too should comply with the same Law: Open your mouth to pray. If you do not open it, you are Pharisees and Christ will tell you, “The world is not for you, the Kingdom of God is not for you, the future is not for you.” This is what Christ intends to say. There are people who do not want to open their mouths. They keep silent. It is good to be silent, but in which cases: when you are angry, when you want to offend someone, or when you are envious. But whenever you are joyous, whenever you need to say a comforting word, open your mouth and say it. Do you open your mouth and speak when you bring up your children? This is an impending issue for you. You bring up your children in a Pharisaic way: you do not permit them to touch the dishes not to soil themselves, even not to wet their hands by themselves. Their mother will wash their hands instead; their father will buy them new shoes, watches, jewelry, and so on. The father is in the position of a slave of these Pharisees. When he comes back from work in the evening, they first sulk and then say, “We want this and that, we want it right now!” and so he cowers. Why did Christ say, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”?[6] At home with the children and in the church as well - everywhere we manifest the Pharisee’s features and why then we wonder that the Kingdom of God is not coming. On top of this, the Pharisee complains that the world is bad, that society is bad, the priests are such and such, the teachers are not good and the statesmen too, but he himself is a saint. You are just the same as those you are criticizing. Stop and let go of these things because your Mother is here with you. Whenever you say “chirrrp,” right then you will receive food. You may find these things funny, but they are great truths. They seem to be small things, but we need to learn from this example. Compared to the Divine Life we are still paupers and God is constantly sending us the Mother with the worms. Greet your Mother because she brings you food. How many places had she to overfly to find at least one worm? How could we thank God Who thinks of us every day and provides us with food? Every morning we should say “chirrrp,” that is, pray to Him. Do you know what it means? It has a very deep meaning. What does this “chirrrp” mean? It you know this, you will get the words spoken by Heaven. It is a short word “chirrrp,” yet very rich in content. And now you are in the temple. Christ addresses you asking about the way you are praying: is it as the Pharisee or as the tax collector; and how will you enter the world and begin working: is it as the Pharisee or as the tax collector? You are made of the same dust. Yet, Christ wants to tell us not to be like the Pharisees. My head is about ready to burst from these Pharisees. If there is something disturbing in the world it is these Pharisees. “Well, that person has such and such qualities.” I know, but what should I do? Let me clean up myself first and then others. Let me clean up my own lice and then those of others. Otherwise, if I would go to someone who has fewer lice than me, he will catch more from me. “But we should educate him.” Wait, I need to educate myself first. “But we should preach.” If I begin to preach too soon, I will mislead people. “Go out and say this and that.” What shall I say? Shall I lie to people? When you go out, you are to express the great Truth both in words and through your actions. This is what Christ means. When we begin to teach, we should do it both by words and actions. I like very much the teachers of today, who, while teaching a subject like physics or chemistry, begin right away with the experiments: oxygen can be obtained this way, something else results from that. When you enter a carpenter ’s shop, the teacher there teaches both theory and practice; when you go to a tailor ’s shop, it is the same. Christ says, “Enter and pick up your yardstick and scissors.” Some need to start with a needle and after that with scissors. What are the scissors? They represent your tongue. When you begin to cut and sew, there exists no better scissors than your tongue. However, when you begin cutting left and right without thinking, your scissors are not used properly. “Should we not speak?” You should speak, but in the right time and place. Otherwise you will cut without thinking and the cloth will be wasted. I do not say all this to discourage you. I do not want to claim that you were born Pharisees, but you have the inclination of the Pharisee. Everyone has it. It is good to have it to a certain degree. But when you begin to say, “God, I thank You that I am not like others,” the Pharisee is alive in you and it is difficult to free yourselves from him. He resides in the back of your neck, in your crown, ears, head, nose, and in the inner side of your eyes. In conclusion, where is this Pharisee to be found? In all your features and actions. And so, Christ is now asking us about the most proper way to offer our prayer to God. He is implying that prayer in its broadest sense is for the benefit of society. Some think that a true prayer can be offered only in church. See if your prayer, which is delivered in the church, has some connection with your family life and if so, whether it will help you. If there is such a church, you should find where it is. The teacher first teaches the students certain things. Then he gives them the opportunity to solve problems and find the connections to certain laws. It is said in the Scriptures, “You are a temple of God.”[7] If we are a temple of God, when we enter our inner sacred sanctuary before God, how should we enter? If we enter as the Pharisee, Christ will tell us, “You have not achieved your purpose.” If we enter as the tax collector and confess our mistakes, if we promise that we will correct them, we are going to succeed and hear Christ’s answer, “You are acquitted; there is a hope for you for a better future.” When the teacher finds some mistakes in the student’s notebook, the student should not say, “How petty-minded my teacher is, I had only three mistakes!” The teacher may smudge it, he may cross out four to five words and the student will say then, “He ruined my notebook.” Yes, but if you want to be perfect, you are to be thankful that the teacher has pointed out these mistakes to you because otherwise these three mistakes could have become more. Just correct them, do not ignore them! Mistakes are like louses: if you leave them, in a week they can reproduce into thousands. One mistake is enough to bring someone to the pillory. Based on the same Law, one virtue can uplift you to Heaven and place you among the Angels. Under certain conditions a wrong action will pull you down, while a virtuous one will uplift you. Therefore, pay attention to each virtue and to each mistake of yours. If there is one virtue left in a person who has lived a depraved life, it can serve as a rope tossed in the stormy sea of life, which (if he grabs it) can bring him to safety. Therefore, the remaining mistake is very detrimental and can ruin a person. Similarly, the last virtue is very strong and can save a person. The last mistake or virtue can transform our life. It is a Law. That is why Christ says, “Do not be negligent.” The Pharisee had more noble features than the tax collector. He was in many respects in a higher position, but he had one last mistake - pride, which had the power to pull him down. The tax collector was a big sinner, but he had one remaining virtue - humility; and he was determined to work for his salvation. For this reason God gave him His Blessing because there was hope that in the future he would evolve. I ask you this morning about your current position: are you with your last mistake or with your last virtue? If you are with your last mistake, I feel sorry for you: be aware that you are at a dangerous place in life. If you are with your last virtue, you are at a safe place and I congratulate you: you are on a solid rock. Hold on to this last virtue and Christ will walk with you. Lecture of the Master, held on October 5, 1914, Sofia. ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. See also Luke 18:11, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.’” 2. Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. 3. See also Matthew 7:1–3. 4. See also Hebrews 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 5. See also John 6:35, “And Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” 6. See Luke 11:44. 7. See also 1Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Note 4 The Dreams Of Joseph „And Joseph saw a dream and told it to his brothers: and they despised him even deeper...” Genesis 37: 5-11, 39: 1-23 Often we ask ourselves the question why sometimes in life misfortune comes to us. In general, it is considered that people suffer and pay for sins from the present or the past and try to find out the reason for that. We can see that Joseph’s life happened so because of two night-dreams, which he told to his brothers. Of course, they interpreted these dreams in the wrong way, accusing him of having secret plots and ulterior purposes. And in order to prevent him from becoming their leader, the thought of eliminating him comes to their minds. Moreover, as you see, these are not strangers, but Joseph's own brothers. So at the first chance, they caught him and sold him to the Ishmaelites, whom on their turn re-sold him to an Egyptian. Thus started the period of trials for Joseph – God tried out his character. Human life is nothing but a series of trials – they are the touchstone used to test human character. The most valuable thing in the soul of a man is his character that must pass through the fire – the trials. And just after he has gone through the fire and resisted every test, only then can we say that the man’s character is valuable, firm, eternal – he has an eternal home to live in. Character – this is man’s home. As we see, scourges came to Joseph one after the other; after those that followed the two night-dreams, more and more came, which are narrated in Chapter 39, namely: since he was a handsome young man, the wife of his master fell in love with him; she wanted to make love to him, but he said, „No, my master has given everything into my hands, except you, you are his property, his right, and I cannot commit this sin before God.” We see that God reigns in the soul of this young man – everything he wants to do first he weighs it to that measure - whether it is right, whether it would comfort God, or not. Although he knew that troubles would follow for his refusal to fulfil the desire of a woman like that, he preferred to suffer rather than to commit a sin. After this test he really found himself in prison. But God helped him there, too – if you review the whole story in this Chapter, you will see that God never leaves him, but takes him out of prison by interpreting two other night-dreams of the king of Egypt. When we pass through different tests, we don’t know what God’s aim is. You want to go to Heaven, but if anyone asks you what the words Heaven or Paradise mean to you, you wouldn’t know what exactly to answer. You have a certain idea about Heaven, but it is so obscure to you, as were the two dreams in the mind of Joseph. And indeed how would the sheaves, the Sun, and the Moon relate to him? But they implied certain future events – his selling, the temptation by the woman, his imprisoning, his saving, and his exaltation. Now, which is that kingdom and who is the woman? Egypt is the kingdom where we live, and the wife of the courtier that tries to tempt us is the world. You are slaves that have been sold and chased away by your own brothers, you are in Egypt and the wife of the courtier is trying to seduce you – the world offers you some goods and is tempting you. It is not so bad for a man to have pleasures, but there are things that are forbidden. When Adam was in Paradise, God told him to taste everything, with the exception of one fruit that was forbidden and for his disobedience came all the suffering that followed. Also in this world, there are forbidden things and if you try to eat the forbidden fruit, suffering will surely come. There are people who would take the money of others – they need it to build houses, for pleasure, for trips abroad. However Joseph looked at this in a different way, he could have the goodwill of the courtier’s wife, but he thought, “I prefer to have the goodwill of God rather than the goodwill of a woman.” The world is a woman, who doesn’t belong to us; tomorrow, after she satisfies her lust for pleasure, she can discard you. It is your external beauty that attracts her. The present-day delusion is based on the following: when people hold us in esteem due to our outer appearance, we are wrong to think that it is because of our merits. There is a well-known, famous singer, but everyone respects only his talent to sing, his throat; if his larynx is ruined, he will be thrown out like a rag – all the respect he receives is only because of a little membrane in his throat. There is also a great fiddler: everybody respects him as long as he can use the bow; but if his arm is paralyzed, no one wants to hear of him. You can be a good preacher, but everyone will listen to you only as long as your voice is soft; but if your voice cracks and grows hoarse, you will hear the words, “We don’t want a preacher with no voice.” The woman has many suitors when she is beautiful, but if her beauty dims, they will say, “Let another woman take her place.” Joseph knew that self-delusion above all things and he practiced only things internal, stable, and eternal which can always give peace to the man and in that way he can have the goodwill of God. We should be careful of the little causes that bring the misfortunes. If Joseph had not told his brothers about the dream he had, this misfortune wouldn’t have come to him. Then the following question rises: wouldn’t it come in other cases too? There are tests that cannot be avoided. I will not talk about these internal laws, but I will say that there are things absolutely determined by God – if we try to avoid the little ones, bigger ones would come. In order to nullify suffering, we must learn a lesson from the behaviour of Joseph. We should not be under the delusion that if today our life is okay, the next day no misfortune will come, which we never expected. The Destiny or the Providence has determined the tests through which human life has to pass; and those tests are necessary. Why are they necessary? I will give you just one comparison: in order to cross a deep river you need a boat; to cross the ocean, you need a ship; so, to pass from one world into another you need the ship, called Faith. The tests and misfortunes are also necessary – they are the fuel, your ticket for the trip. Everyone, who wants to change the path of the needed law, is stupid. Everyone, who says, “Why has God sent me such sufferings?” and mutters, is a stupid man in the full sense of the word. However, those who say, “I want to learn the meaning,” and is grateful for that, is a clever person. Note: when misfortunes came upon Joseph he did not mutter, but faced them with joy in his soul and thanked God, and when in the court of his master he reached a position of having everything, he did not become conceited. When his master offered him greater goods, he was not tempted by what the woman offered, because he said to himself, “I must follow one law – I must not sin.” So in that sense pleasure is a sin. And what is sin? Anything that does not give birth, has no fruit or an embryo in itself, is a sin. A woman, who procures, fornicates, without giving birth to a child, commits a sin. The Conception redeems the sin. Any activity that does not bear Life in it is a maleficent waste of God’s power. When someone urges you to commit a sin, he wants you to waste God’s energy that is given to you. You drink a glass of wine – and on the next day, you have a headache; what have you achieved, have you become nobler – no, you haven’t. Why should we wish to do things that do not add anything to our character? We all have to restrict ourselves only to those pleasures that are allowed, rightful, and natural. Let’s take as an example a boy and a girl, who play with horses and dolls – on one side these things, bring them some pleasure, but on the other they have an educating role – they prepare them for other activities. In the same way for adults, there are certain pleasures in life, which can also be useful for them; however, there are pleasures that always bring destruction of human feelings, of human power, of human salvation. The unnatural life, the so-called hidden, illegal love, that some men and women practice, has a destructive effect on their hearts and on their minds. You love somebody; ask yourself if that is pleasing to God, is it useful for the one that you love, don’t deprave his soul, his mind. Joseph was young and pure; a lecherous woman wanted to desecrate him, but he resisted her temptation to stain his name, which would mean nothing if he had fallen to the temptation. Note that it was first the woman, Eve, who was put on trial, and she did not resist, then it was her man; now is the turn of the man to be put on trial. It was the same snake that tempted Eve in the garden, „Look, if you taste the fruit of that tree, what knowledge and power you will have – you will become like God!” Eve could not resist and said, „For glory I can do it,” – because it was a definite betrayal. The same snake appeared to Joseph in the shape of a woman and said, „Come with me,” but his reply was, „No!” And then the sufferings followed, but also the elevation. The man and the woman represent two principles, two great reasonable powers that are active: the first power we call active, and the other – passive; one is – active, and the other – perceiving; they are two processes in Nature that interchange. God does not always give, sometimes He takes – in one respect He gives, but in another, He takes. On one hand, the ocean sends moisture to the land, but on the other –this moisture goes back to the ocean again through the rivers. In that sense, the man and the woman are two principles that work: one of the principles is – creative, called man; God the other – passive, called woman or God – it is the same. Therefore, in both moments of Life we have to be faithful to these principles. If the world wants us to obtain goods, we will obtain them only if we follow this supreme principle of God's. If you are faithful to Him, all dreams and desires of your mind and your heart can be achieved. You will achieve them only in one way – by God, only He can satisfy your thoughts and desires. The mother brings up the child, the teacher educates the student, therefore, as the child cannot be brought up and cannot grow without the mother, so the student cannot learn without his teacher. Joseph listened to the voice of his Teacher, who was inside him – the voice of God, who taught him to follow the great law of the motion and movement of Life. All our striving in Life must be directed to the following – to develop our character. How? Character is constructed of thoughts and feelings, of positive power. We should not interpret Life in the way some people presently do – in the limited frames as it is interpreted by a scientist, a doctor, and a philosopher. No, we must understand Life in the way God has restricted it. All people see things partially: contemporary science shows only one side of things, the genius of a talented musician reveals just one little part of space, the mind of a philosopher – also, the strength of a healthy person is limited only to his muscles. But some people say, „Strong in the mind.” Strong in mind man can be, only when his power is in connection with all laws of God and when he is in harmony with all creatures around him – from the lowest to the highest. Then his strong, powerful character can do everything, because all creatures help him. When we are in contradiction with God’s laws, then this discrepancy comes to our mind as well as all misfortunes that we encounter in Life. Why don't we ever succeed? We hesitate, we want to do good, but we don’t realize that what we are doing is not good. We think that what we plan is clever and that it will be realized – we turn it on all sides, but it doesn’t happen. Sometimes we wonder why we do not progress and why our memory gets weak, why it is dull. We alone constantly disturb our life to its very depth. It is normal to roil the water when you fish, but to roil it constantly – when you have caught all the fish, this is not right. Often the woman gets angry with the man and roils his water. – What do you want? – A dress. – All right, there is a dress for you – says the man. And the lake clears up. On the next day the woman wants to catch another fish, she roils the water again – now she wants a silk dress, a watch, to go for a walk. – Here it is – replies the man. But one day this man fails, he has no money and what does he do? – He decides to run away. So the lake gets dry and there is no more fish, there is no more water. What will the woman roil then? To roil Life constantly, to upset ourselves, this does not mean that we understand Life. We will roil, we’ll roil again and finally we’ll die. Have you ever thought about what death is? It has been painted in pictures as a human being made of bones with a scythe in hand. Have you checked if it is so? – „No, my mother and my grandmother have told me it was so.” This may be true, but have you thought what the meaning of the bones is, why death is represented as a human without muscles? You have to be pure like the bones, which are white in colour – this means that you have to be virtuous. Anything that is not clean will be discarded; only Virtue will remain untouched. So you have a pattern not to be touched; if you violate God’s law, you will always be affected. Man should have fear of punishment before and not after committing a sin, crying will not save him. Salvation is based on organizing our mind, our heart and our body – this is our task on Earth. And for this there is an excellent example in the Old Testament – the greatest character in the person of Joseph. When reading these chapters from Genesis, we have to study Joseph’s character thoroughly. We should not think he is stupid; he was very clever and therefore, as you see, his father loved him – love is always due to wisdom. Joseph also had a noble heart. His father realized that but his brothers thought that he was loved by their father for external qualities and they sold him. Whatever circumstances he would have been placed in, his character would again have elevated him, as it elevated him before. Due to his valuable qualities, his master places him in a high position. Another test sent him to prison, but there he was also elevated. Finally, God takes him out of prison, where he has spent two years – the time determined for the test. And what is your prison? Your present body. One day you must leave that prison, dirty and unhealthy. Until now, you have received Holy Communion, but you don’t know what model the wine presents: the baker had to be beheaded, and the cupbearer – restored to his service. One of the principles in Life – the active one – always must be sacrificed, and the wine must come in to cool Life. The wine has enormous power, but since the contemporary people are not prepared in advance, they get excited from it – they have no organism to use it. When the wine goes into the bottle and starts to ferment the bottle cracks up. But let’s go back to Joseph’s character. We see that he had a sober, reasonable mind and understood the basic laws of Life. He had a noble heart and didn’t want in any way to be untrue to the promise he had given to God. – „I have promised upon my heart to my master and also to serve Him faithfully and I cannot betray Him.” So, he was not a young man who would float down the stream of bad intentions and desires, and in all cases he followed noble impulses and had a well-balanced heart and mind. If we want God to live in us, our minds and our hearts must be in harmony, and must be balanced. If dissension occurs between them, God would not live in us. There are places in a state of anarchy, as it is in Serbia now and all over the world, since the minds and hearts of the people are not in unison, because they want to take more, and nobody gives. Everyone aims to rob his fellow man and for that reason there are always conflicts between people – it is a common law for the small, as well as for the bigger creatures. Many people want to live: some are still with their fathers and tell what dreams they had; others are in the second category – sold by their brothers in Egypt, in the courtyard of this elevated courtier, where they are exposed to the temptations of his wife; a third group is in prison. The best position is to come out to the Pharaoh. But to meet the Pharaoh you have to pass through three stages – these are three schools, three courses: the first one – with the father, the second – with the woman, who examines how virtuous he is. And Joseph performed a very good test – he left his garment and ran away. What does it mean to leave your garment? It means to leave the cloak of your soul – the flesh. Like that woman, the world says to you, „Come with me, I am very pretty, or you will be sent to prison,” – she is testing you to see if you would be tempted, or you would follow God’s law. And what you have to do is to dispense with all goods that allure you, overcome the temptations and follow God’s law. Believe in God, have faith in Him and you will surely have a great future like Joseph. There are no two ways about it. Here I show you a young man who follows the road that God shows him, he rises from the position of an ordinary shepherd to the highest position in Egypt – not by means of theft, lies or murders, but by means of self-denial to sufferings and following God’s law. Therefore, the Wisdom and Knowledge, that you may have in your mind, the Goodness that you may have in your heart – only they can help you. Never delude yourself with external things, which can attract your sight, whatever they might be – black or blond. What your hands or face would be, depends on your heart – whatever your mind and heart are, the same will be the house you’ll create and the same will be the windows in it. By his mind and his heart, man can always change his external social position – from a poor man he can become rich, but he will change it only if he follows God’s Laws. If we proceed to review the second part of Joseph’s character – when the brothers came to him, we will see that he did not take revenge, but he cried together with them and poured all his love to them. Therefore, if someone has harmed us in our life, we should not answer back in the same way. To wish someone ill, to revenge, to gossip about people – this is not a character. Character is to forgive – only in that way can you rise to the level of nobility. This example we can also see in Christ, when he was crucified and He was mocked, He said, „Forgive them, God!” The time will come and you will be asked, „Did you forgive those who have offended you, who have sold you?” A father said to his son, „You’ll never make good.” The son went abroad to study, came back, rose in society, became a governor and what he did first was to send several guards to bring his father, to him and the son asked, „Well, what do you think, will I never make good?” Then his father replied, “Was what you did very clever? Was that the way to bring me here – by threatening me? You are an unwise man who doesn’t know what he is doing. You had to send a carriage to bring me here.” This is also the way we do things – we want to threaten people: „If God gives me power, I know how to rule – I’ll send all to the gallows,” for thousands of years people have used this method – everyone is fighting and every house is crying. And how much has the world improved? Not a bit. Only Love can bring noble elements into the human soul. And punishment is used as far as it is imposed by Love – to root out the bad things. The one, who in his operation cuts healthy flesh, is not a clever surgeon, but a stupid one. Therefore, when you come to Life, this is what you have to do: to follow the basic Law – there must be a balance between your mind and your heart. Many people doubt the existence of God. Some of you will say, „We believe He exists.” But if you were placed in Joseph’s boots, you would say, „If God existed, he wouldn’t put me in prison. He wouldn’t take me from my father, my mother, my brothers wouldn’t have sold me – is that God, I don’t believe!” You must accept all sufferings given by God’s hand, and when they come, you have to be happy – sufferings are the stones that you will use to build the stairs of your house, they will form your character. They are the connecting threads between man and God – only by means of which you can go from one world into another, a better one. And there is nothing better than the suffering in this world for your elevation. Indeed, you hate suffering, but in fact, it is the greatest blessing. When a soul has suffered for a long time, the suffering will give its fruits and the soul will be delighted. If the roots of the trees did not suck out the sap, would it be possible for us to taste the sweet fruits; if the mother did not suffer, if she did not carry a child in her womb, would she have a child to be happy with; if the father did not deny his individual life, would he be happy; can a teacher who does not make efforts have students that respect him? Who of those that have done nothing in life have been brought to Heaven and placed in a high position there? From one to the other end of the world Life is made only of sufferings – they are like the carvings of the sculptor, using them to create a statue. When we learn the deep sense of suffering, we will understand that this is a process that forms our character. And when we hammer down the last stroke for finishing our character, then the suffering will cease and the great statue of our Life will come out. We prepare to go to Heaven. What shall we bring there? – Our character – it is our wealth. You would like to be a man or a woman – beautiful, slender, with noble behaviour, but when you enter the world, what would people say if you were not noble in character? Would they say that in you they see a person possessing virtues? When a person is not good looking, but has a sound mind and good heart, people say, „This is a man of character.” And this is not the best praise that the world can give us. If we have such a mind and heart, the world will need us. In Egypt in the time of the Pharaoh, there were many noble Egyptians; why didn't Pharaoh put them in first place, but instead chose a foreigner? Was it for his good looks? No, it was for his mind and for his goodness. If we all are like him, the world will determine the same place for us, if we are stupid, the world will reject us. Contemporary people rely on the opposite – they say, „The man must not be virtuous, because virtue is nonsense.” They do not understand what they are saying. The external things, those we do not possess are taken from us even at Easter; however, character will always remain in us – namely it is the most valuable thing. Today you are in the same tests: you are worried as the Egyptians were in the time when Joseph lived – you do not know what could happen on the next day, the destiny, the future is not in your hands, you cannot predict how the events would turn. However, destiny could be in your hands, if you have faith and trust God in the way that Joseph did. Then you will surely change your destiny, wherever you are, whatever position you are placed in – like butter you will come to the surface of the water. The first condition to achieve this is not to be afraid and not to worry. You have to possess courage and determination, not to be cowardly – fear must give way to prudence. You should hesitate only if you have not decided whether a certain question is right or not; but after you decide that it is right, you must surely state it and stand up for it. Joseph put the problem to the woman frankly „I cannot do that with you.” The bad consequences really followed – he was caught and put in prison, but God was with him. When a character is formed it is necessary to have patience – it is the basis of things. And we definitely see great patience in Joseph’s character – in prison he did not worry at all, he worked, studied; he was ready to endure anything. Patience is a feature of the character that the human being does not have at his birth, but which he can acquire with efforts. All sufferings in the world only have the purpose to build patience in us – to learn to be patient, to be calm, to look towards the future with faith and whatever hardships and disappointments we have, never to lose heart. The young woman may say, „I dream to get married to a man according to my ideal,” and after she gets married, she says, „My life stops.” No, she is at the beginning of Life. Some people say, „I’ve lost my money.” What does it matter, you are at the beginning of your Life – you have lost nothing. – „I’ve lost my health,” – you are at the beginning of your Life; you will have new health. Whatever position we are placed in, we have to be patient and to set our faith in God even to the last minute. This Faith must be very deep in everything we do. Some people want to have a good society, to be surrounded by good people. Joseph, as a foreigner, lived among strangers, but he managed with his heart and with his mind to make these people good friends. – „But," some people say, "People are sinful.” You should make friends exactly with these sinners – they have noble souls in them. The contemporary Christian says, „He is not faithful, he is still green.” And can he become mature if he is not green? The things that grow out from the earth are first green, they do not mature immediately; the state of being green is a process, in which the saps are sucked out and when they are gathered, then it starts maturing. – „I feel insulted that I was called green.” It is very good that you are green; he does not insult you by calling you green – if you are a noble person, by hard work one day you will mature. The man who is not green cannot become mature; if he is not green, he will be dry, and in the dryness, there is no process of development. If you are green, I am happy about you – it is a noble feature to be green, and when you become mature, you will turn yellow like gold. Everyone loves money – maturing. There are some people, who have not matured. Do you know what money is? – To be mature. Life consists of a gradual development of greenness to maturing – this gradual process is called in science evolution, development. It is necessary until all people finish the process of development and acquire all Knowledge and all Goodness in their hearts. When they get all these saps, God will send His Blessing and the fruits in you will mature. Then God will appear. When you are still green, He watches you from a distance, when you become mature he will surely come and pick your mature fruits, because He needs them. When you begin to realize, to distinguish the essential things from the inessential, the temporary things - from the permanent, when your character is formed and becomes firm, when these fruits in the trees of your garden begin to mature, then you will be taken out of prison and presented to the Master of this world to tell the interpretation of the two dreams of Life. And you will bear the Truth not like prisoners, but as free people. Then the Truth will be a wreath on the head, and the sheaves in the field will bow to you and the Sun, the Moon, and the eleven stars in the Sky will greet you. And then you will understand the deep meaning of the earthly life. Then God will appear and the Kingdom of God will be established on Earth. 20 July (2 August) 1914, Sofia Source

From Dawning of a New Epoch, Beinsa Duno Love “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, but have not Love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”[1] The word “love” has become very mundane in the world today. It has become so prosaic nowadays that it has lost its meaning. When a word loses its meaning, it becomes lifeless; and everything that becomes lifeless lacks inner power and so declines. In the organic world when a certain food enters the stomach, but cannot be properly digested, it creates a condition that doctors call “indigestion” and that produces an unpleasant feeling in the body. This law is true not only in the physical, but also in the mental world: When a thought comes to one’s mind, which cannot be digested with one’s mind because the mind cannot understand it, a similar condition occurs. The same happens with the human heart. When a desire enters, which it cannot connect with, a similar condition results. Human nature gets to know things around us in three stages. When you take a fruit, an apple for example—red, colorful, and beautiful—first its form appeals to your eyes, then you take it, turn it around, and through your eyes you will form an impression of the apple from its outer form and color. After your eyes have finished this process, you bring the apple closer to your nose to check its smell and determine the quality of its smell. When your sense of smell has done its job, then your tongue and teeth taste the apple and perform the last operation on the fruit, thereby destroying its beautiful garment until nothing is left of it; and the tongue says, “This apple is tasty.” Similarly, Love manifests in three stages in human lives, and because we do not understand this, we often have an inaccurate understanding of Love. Some say that Love is a feeling, others a power, still others an illusion, and so on. It is said that whatever condition your mind is in, you are in the same condition, so your understanding of Love will depend on the condition of your mind. In order to come to know someone’s opinion on a certain subject, observe how that person speaks and writes; to come to know a woman, visit her, see her home and how it looks; to come to know a cook, enter her kitchen and observe what and how she cooks; to come to know a soldier, see his action on the battlefield; to come to know a teacher, see him at school, and a preacher or a priest in his church; and so on. Everything should be tested in its own environment. When we come to discuss the meaning of Love in general, as not all of you may be ready to understand what I can share, I will present it in a simpler way. I may speak in a language incomprehensible to you, not because I do not want to be understood, but because there are some reasons why my talk might not be clear to you. When a child is born, the mother first gives the baby some milk and then some liquid food when it is a little older. Later she prepares soft food by first chewing it. The children enjoy the milk and the liquid food, but in order to be able to eat solid food, their teeth first need to grow; otherwise they will have stomach problems. During the teething process, the child may become ill. The mother worries, “My baby has a temperature. I need to call a doctor. Will my child survive?” Yet, when the teeth come through, all that is forgotten. A similar situation happens in human life as well: when people are given “solid food,” Love, they undergo suffering. Therefore, when we say, “Sufferings are necessary,” we imply that it is necessary to pass through them, “to undergo teething” in order to be able to eat solid food. I could explain later what these “teeth” are, but for the moment I can tell you that when sufferings come, this shows that you are “teething.” Once you have passed through this process, you will have a complete set of 32 teeth; and you will have reached the age of Christ, 32 years old. Let me offer you an explanation of how the Apostle Paul perceived Love. In order to understand Love, we need to compare it to its opposite, as when people try to describe an object, they need to find its distinctive features. For instance, to describe a horse, cow, sheep, wolf, and so on, we need to find those features that distinguish these animals from one another. In the description we make an analysis, usually based on the external characteristics, but we can do the same with the inner differences between them too. In the modern world many people desire to be eloquent speakers, as everyone knows that in this way they can influence an audience by the power of their words. However, the Apostle Paul says that, though he may have all the eloquence of human language and even that of the Angels, without love this would profit him nothing—this would be rather like trying to understand an apple by looking at it only from the outside. At present, many people would like to find out what their future is going to be and that of Bulgaria as well. If you were able to make such a prophecy, many would rush to you asking questions, and you would receive much honor, if your predictions came true. Yet, the Apostle Paul says, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”2 He is saying that in the world today people are not concerned with the inner meaning of life: even if they were able to move mountains and cities, and be able to divide kingdoms, they would only be dealing with the outer aspects of life. The Apostle Paul goes on to say, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not Love, it profits me nothing.”[2] This means that even if we have all the good qualities mentioned by the Apostle Paul, but we lack Love, we would be lacking in the most important one. It is not that all these gifts are without value, but they represent only the external side of a person’s life and fail to transform the inner side. The Apostle Paul goes on further to describe all the qualities of Love.[3] Its first quality is longsuffering. Do you know the meaning of longsuffering? It is the essential pillar of life. If you have endurance, you can achieve everything in life; if you do not have it, you will not. A person with endurance is like a ship with an anchor; a person without it is like a ship without an anchor. This is precisely the distinguishing quality of Love. It is because God is longsuffering that it is said in the Scriptures, “God is Love.”[4]. Longsuffering is a sign of the sublime Love of God toward us. If He did not have this Love, He would not have tolerated us all this time; He would not have tolerated our ignorance and wrongdoings; and would have rid the universe of us a long time ago. Therefore, whatever work we begin, whatever results we want to get in life, endurance is absolutely necessary. Many say, “Endurance means strong will-power.” No, endurance is a great quality and there is nothing more noble than this in the human character. However, endurance does not come at birth; it needs to be acquired. Love can come to us as a gift, but endurance we need to achieve by ourselves. Suffering is a process by which we can learn endurance; it is a method for acquiring endurance. To be able to endure, we need to have three essential qualities: Wisdom, Truth, and Virtue. Why does a mother tolerate certain faults in her child and try to bring him or her up well? She foresees that, in spite of its weaknesses, the child will become a great individual and bring benefit to many. Foreseeing this, the mother thinks, “I will face all difficulties and will endure my child’s faults,” and she is right. Those who bear all things in life are wise and foresee the future. When a young woman is not yet married, she keeps her hands very clean, avoids even water, and uses perfumes instead. Yet, when she gets married, she is eager to dirty them with the “perfumes” of her baby and even enjoys it. What does she find in this small child? If you weigh the child, it is only a few kilograms, but there is a Divine Spark within the baby that attracts the mother’s love to the point that with her longsuffering attitude she is ready to put up with the child by taking care of it in every way. If it were left to fathers, many of them would say, “This is not for me.” In the same way, to accomplish any work in life, we need to have Love, which is an essential quality in the hearts of those who possess it. I am talking about Love in its general sense, not about its essence. Some people consider Love as a feeling, as a pleasant feeling in the heart. This is not Love because one can experience a pleasant feeling after drinking some wine or finding a relief from body aches. However, this is not the feeling produced by Love. When someone loves you, that person may sometimes also cause you pain. Love can cause pain and joy at the same time. Love is like a two-edged sword: it caresses all, but also punishes all. How does it punish you? When Love is away from you, you become sorrowful and say, “I am unhappy.” Why are you unhappy? It is because Love is absent, because you are only happy when Love is present in you. Love also tells us something else: Longsuffering creates conditions for Love to manifest. Endurance is the way it enters the human heart. Without endurance Love cannot manifest in us. Endurance is a pre-requisite, the vanguard of its coming. When a degree of endurance has been acquired, you will understand that in brave, decisive people it is a mighty power that gives them a bright future. Let us consider now the word “benevolence.” This is the positive, active side of Love, while longsuffering is the passive, protective side, which one needs in order to endure certain burdens. Benevolence is Love that is ready to build, to help someone, no matter whom. When you encounter a beggar, who asks you for a favor, help him! When a friend of yours, who has a noble character, asks you for a favor, help him, even if his convictions and faith are different from yours. We desire that people love us and address us politely, yet we often violate this rule and not only do we not show patience, but often we do not even show the normally expected politeness. Some people may say that they love a person, yet they badmouth about him to others. The echo of this will be heard in time because whatever one sows, one will also reap. If you plant an apple, you will harvest apples; if you sow thorns, you will reap thorns. I am not talking about my relationships with you. I am always paying attention to what my relationships are with God, with Love, in other words, what my actions should be toward my brethren. It is less important how I judge my actions; it is more important for me to be ready to fulfill the fundamental Law required by Love: To be patient the way Love requires, and to be benevolent as it desires. This is necessary for everyone, for the entire world, for those who have a warm heart. I am not talking about those who do not understand these things. Some ask, “What will happen to the bad people?” The same as will happen to stones, to ants, to little insects. Probably you think that the ants’ situation is worse than yours? They are a thousand times happier than you, as they do not experience the sufferings that you do. It is toward those in whom Divine consciousness is awakened that we need to feel compassion, toward those who understand Love, God, and evil, who suffer and are in torment. Some people complain that they are unhappy and their life is a disaster. The answer is: they are unhappy because Love has not yet visited them. “Why has Love not come?” “It is because you are impatient.” “I am trying to become patient.” “It is good that you are already trying.” “Yes, but my life is still is disarray.” “This is because you are not yet benevolent.” Some people say that all this is very good and easy to achieve, but they fail to act on it. As a doctor I am telling you that none of you are healthy because I have not met a person who is healthy in the full meaning of the word. Only the saints and the Angels who are in Heaven are completely healthy. People, of course, are unhealthy, but not all in the same way. When a doctor enters your home, he may tell you, “Your room is not hygienic, as it is facing north. You need to leave this room and move to another one facing south; and you should keep your windows open as much as possible to allow fresh air and light to enter. You need to change all your bedding and begin paying attention to what you eat, and so on.” Love tells you the same, “Your room is facing north and it is not hygienic; you need to move to a southern one where the sun’s rays can enter.” In other words, Love wants to advise you to be patient and benevolent. Love also tells us that it constantly uses its hands for all work to be done. Do you know the immeasurable riches of these two hands? When you have these hands, you can do anything. I repeat: In order for your spiritual hands to appear, you need to possess endurance and benevolence. If you reject these two qualities, not only will your external organs fail to react, but neither can your internal ones develop properly in order to manifest the necessary virtues. Why do you need to have virtues? It is because virtues will bring you all the necessary elements for the building of your house and all the juices needed for your growth. Virtue is not something abstract, but real. It is always ready to build. Therefore, those of you who can understand need to grasp the full meaning of endurance. It is not only the endurance of bearing insults; this is not the fullness of endurance. The secret of endurance is, when someone insults you, to find the good side in it and use it. An insult is like a hard walnut, which someone has given you; you should break it, take its contents and eat it. If you can get nourishment in this way, you will become completely healthy. Those who speak badly about you and who blacken you are giving you food, and if you can use this food, you will be well satisfied. People may throw hard stones at you, but you need to break them because inside these stones treasures are hidden, which you can use to enrich yourselves. When you go home, contemplate and pray to God to understand endurance. Many people occupy themselves with mediocre things; many desire to become famous and learned. That is fine, knowledge will come in due course, but, if you are true human beings, you need to be able to receive and apply that knowledge. Knowledge is a power that can benefit you and your brethren, if used properly. However, knowledge can also be like a heavy load on your back. Love does not envy. In order to be sure that Love has visited you, you should ask yourselves if you are envious. If you are, it means that you do not have the fullness of Love. Love should exist eternally in our hearts; it is needed both in our present life and in the next life, and in yet further lives. The further we rise, the more profound will we find the meaning of Love to be. We need to follow this path from now on; there is no other way to Heaven. You may ask, “This path is difficult, is there no alternative?” No. We can enter everywhere else without following this path, but not into the Kingdom of God. Love does not envy, does not respond to injustice with injustice, to evil with evil, and bears everything. Of course, I am not saying that envy and pride will never visit your hearts. They will visit you, but we will not be judged for that, as long as we do not befriend them. However, sometimes we embrace envy and say, “This person is not good. Beware!” and we make someone’s life miserable. Envy is not something abstract, but is in reality a being with negative features; and even on Earth there are people who are personifications of envy. Only after we have learned these two qualities, endurance and benevolence, will we learn the history of our life, and learn why we came down to live on Earth. I will again give you the example of the grain of wheat. There is no better example among all existing fruits than the grain of wheat, and if you want to study the process of endurance, observe the endurance of the grain of wheat. Without endurance you will have disappointments. Many people will not believe you. Some may say, “People do not follow me.” Why should people follow you? They do not have to follow you. They will listen to your teaching; but to follow you? No, they have no obligation to do so. You often ask, “Whom should I follow?” You could follow people, of course, but at times you may be deceived. However, if you are followers of God alone, you will never be deceived. The Path is one. As Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” If people do not follow you, this indicates that you are not on the Path. Some may say, “I do not believe,” and try to follo[5]w another path. However, at some point that person will find, without doubt, the true Path, thanks to life’s tests. You may insist, “Convince me then!” I am not trying to convince you. I simply say that the bread I am offering will feed you. You may ask, “Could you tell me its ingredients and what water is used?” but I would reply, “There is no point in answering such question. Just tell me if you are interested in taking and eating this bread?” You refuse, so I put the bread back in my bag and go away. You may ask further, “What is Love, what is it made of?” If you ask too many questions, again I will place Love in my bag and continue on my way, telling you that I do not have time for discussion on the subject. Love is something concrete, and you need to try it, take it, and find satisfaction from eating this bread. By doing so, you will realize that Love is the food of life. Without Love one cannot exist or accomplish anything in the world. Some people see very little connection between Love and commerce, or study, or war. We need to have Love everywhere, as it is a mighty power. The force I use to lift this glass is also Love. The same power can be placed in a cannon to throw a grenade and kill many people; it can manifest in an earthquake; it can even destroy the entire Earth or it can create an entire new world. There are rules about how to use certain powers. Love is a power that needs to be applied with consciousness. People are selfish and when Love visits them, they want to keep it for themselves. However, if Love is locked in us, it will destroy our walls and break out. It cannot remain in this dwelling, in which we want to trap Love, and so this results in death. Death is a process for destroying every selfish thought and desire; through Love God destroys all the places where evil spirits hide. Our heart and our mind need to have all the necessary conditions for receiving Love, for Love is silent and calm, but at the same time a frightening force in its effects. If we are in harmony with Love, the world around becomes a blessing; if we are not in harmony, there is no more dangerous force in Nature than Love. For this reason, people with experience say, “Those who love a lot, hate a lot as well.” As powerful as Love is on the positive side, it is equally powerful on the negative; therefore, we need to be very careful with it. When we have Love, we should not act negatively because then it acts destructively, and illnesses, sufferings, and destruction for the whole of society may result. Many say that God is Love and being Love He should not punish. The Lord, although merciful, is also very demanding. When He sees us discontented, He says, “Place one kilogram on their backs.” We may ask, “Why is this load placed on my back?” Without answering, God asks for another kilogram to be added. When you answer, “I cannot carry that,” God says to add one more kilogram. When we are pressed to the wall to the point that we cannot move, then we begin to plead, “God, forgive me!” The Lord answers by saying, “Remove a kilogram.” We repeat our plea, and He answers by removing another kilogram. The more we pray, the more weight is removed from our back. And when the entire weight is removed, the Lord asks us, “Have you learned your lesson?” “Yes,” we say, “I have learned it well.” “If you want Me not to burden you anymore, you need to be benevolent to all the world around you, to everyone around you, and they should be benevolent and bearing toward you as well. Your little brethren may make mistakes, but you need to show tolerance, just as I do; and in the day you violate My Law, I will start to put another load on you again.” “I cannot carry such load.” “You shall carry it.” I will tell you how we can release ourselves from burdens. We need to address God sincerely, “I am thankful with all my heart for everything You are giving me.” God has given every person thousands of blessings, but people do not know how to use them. The proverb says, “He is swimming in water, but is still feeling thirsty.” Many merchants are dissatisfied. Why? They have 10,000 leva, but this is not enough. You give them 20,000, but it is still not enough; you give them 50,000, then 100,000 leva, but they are still dissatisfied. Do you know what modern humankind resembles? Probably you have read about that fisherman who found a beautiful eye. He was asked, “How much do you want for this eye?” “As much as it weighs.” They placed 10 grams on the scales, but the eye was not satisfied; 20 grams were placed on the scales, but it was still unhappy; 100 grams, still unhappy; 1 kilogram, 100 kilograms, 1,000 kilograms, 10,000 kilograms… Finally all the gold they had was offered, but still the eye remained unsatisfied. “What we should do because we cannot pay it off?” they asked themselves. Finally they asked a wise old man what to do. “It is very easy,” he replied, “Take some dirt and cover the eye.” The people did as he advised and the eye closed. In the same way, when God sees us discontented, He will say, “Place dirt on the eyes,” and we become content. Just as we like to add salt and black pepper to our food, so God uses these spices to transform our discontent into contentment. The meaning of life is not in the abundance we have, but in what we can use at any given moment. You should be thankful to God for what He has given us, and then He will give us even more bounties. We need to apply the words of the Apostle Paul in everyday life, to begin to work and to be useful to our brethren. We are studying as in school and not as in a nursery. Church is like a big nursery and you can sow anything there. However, school is like a garden where you can sow only things that are useful. In the school we need to learn how to work the soil and sow beautiful and useful things. There is also something more to do in the school, as there is a connection between heart and mind. We should not only plant seedlings, but also cultivate them and thereby fulfill the fundamental Laws that should govern our life. You may ask, “Why has God not given us more talents, more power, and more money?” I can see many reasons for that. It is because whenever God sent you, your fathers and forefathers, to work in the field, instead of making efforts to cultivate your minds and hearts, you have been considering the taste of the forbidden fruit and again and again trying to taste it, and all these attempts have cost you all your capital. All the times you have come to this field, instead of working you have cut school and returned to Him, begging Him to give you yet more for free. You are like students whose fathers and mothers want to make them scholars, but who do not study. Many of you have cut classes in the Divine School. You say, “We cannot do this work, so let us throw all propriety to the wind.” You have talked like that and are doing this now, but this is not a wise attitude. Those who desire to learn the Divine Law and attain a higher realm such as that of the saints, from where they can get clear perspective on life and receive the blessings of God, need to graduate from the Divine School on Earth and pass its final exam. In this graduation lie blessings for everyone. If unprepared for this life, you shall lead horses and plow fields, and break stones to make roads, until you learn what horses, plowing, stones, and roads can teach you, and so prepare yourselves for the Kingdom of God. God sets disobedient children to cut stones and gives to the obedient ones noble occupations. You may complain, “This teaching is difficult.” Yes, for the lazy ones I agree that it is difficult, but for the humble and hardworking students it has hidden treasures. Do you know why the worm is in the earth, the frog in the water, the bird in the air, and the human being among all of them? These are the four great situations in life. You may say, “These are abstract things.” They are not abstract, but four great truths that will show you the “narrow path”—the Path of the Divine. It is true that the Divine Path is narrow, but there are profound reasons for that which I cannot explain at the moment, as they are beyond the limits of this world. I would like to return to the word “Love,” which people have diminished, blemished, and rendered lifeless. They have smashed its goodness and beauty and have destroyed the melodious harmony of its sounds to the point that its sounds have become hoarse and irritating. We often say, “Love is just an illusion of life, the empty dreams of young men and women who are chasing the elusive shadows of life.” Yes, it is a shadow, but there is a reality behind it, which produces the water of life. The soul constantly satisfies its thirst from this water, as a tired traveler will do at the crystal-pure and refreshing mountain wellspring. What valuable wealth, what knowledge is hidden in this one word! If people knew how to pronounce it correctly, the way it was originally pronounced by the Divine mouth, everything around them would smile at them and listen to this heavenly sound. They would have the magic wand of the wise men of old, through which everything turns to good. Many may say, “It would be a blessing to have such a wand!” Yes, this is the highest blessing one can achieve on Earth. Everyone can attain this as long as one strives constantly toward it. For now, I will just tell you this: If first you learn patience in life, meaning enduring everything all the time with humility and joy, then you will find Truth. With your impatience and negative thoughts, you create a heavy atmosphere in your home. The wife is unhappy because her husband brings home only 150 leva, and she wants this and that. All these desires, desires, desires, but who will work for you? Who will fulfill them, if not you yourself? For instance, if people desire to have full barns without working, where will it all come from? Riches are acquired not easily, but through hard work. Therefore, we should be content with what God in His Great Wisdom is kind enough to give us. I am not advising you never to listen to other people’s advice. You could draw some lessons from them, but each person needs to listen to the advice God has planted in his own consciousness. Listen to what people say, and if this is in tune with what God tells you from within, then follow their advice; if not, do not follow other people’s advice. If you want to be free of error, you must listen to God. Those who do not listen to God are not wise, but are slaves of their external impulses, of people, of everything. You are searching for God, but where? He is inside you, in your mind, and in your heart. He manifests in both of these. Listen well to your mind and your heart because God is speaking through them. Some may say that mind and heart are corrupt, but this is not true. If our mind and heart were bad, how would we come to know God? There are things in us that are corrupt, but not everything. I am telling you: If you do not trust your mind and heart, in what could you? If my mind and hear were corrupt, and yours also, why would I trust you? In whom do we need to trust? In God Who abides in us. If we can trust in ourselves, we will also trust our brethren. Those who do not trust in God abiding in them cannot trust other people either; and those who are not compassionate toward their brethren are not pleasing to God. Therefore, God asks us to love our neighbors. And your neighbor is wounded, crucified, and nailed to the cross. Your Lord is not in Heaven, you have nailed Him and you can find the truth about this in the Scriptures. Your salvation will not happen in any other way, but through this “nailing”: endurance and benevolence. Only then will your salvation come. You may say, “This is very difficult.” It is not difficult, so do not be afraid. It is not without purpose to be nailed to the cross. The Lord endures thousands of years of being nailed. “But will we suffer?” You will not suffer. People who are afraid of suffering are not welcome in our school. You need to thank God for these sufferings: they are sent by Him. The sufferings given to you now are deserved; you are worthy of them. If Christ had not worn the crown of thorns and had not been nailed to the cross, how could He have manifested this Love? Would you love him today, if He had wanted to live like a king? You love Him because He was nailed to the cross for your salvation. Therefore, from now on, be heroes! Do not be afraid of suffering, but show the world that you have courage and that you are ready to bear not one but ten crosses. One man complained that the cross he carried was very heavy. The Lord ordered his cross to be removed and brought him to a big hall, and told him, “In this hall there are many crosses: big and small, made of gold, iron, or stone. Choose one of them.” The man looked around, looked around, and finally found a small cross and said, “I want this cross.” God replied, “This is the same cross you were carrying so far, the cross I gave you.” As you see, we often exaggerate our sufferings, yet they are the way we can ascend toward God. When someone suffers, we should know that he is redeeming his errors and is on the path of salvation. I congratulate him and say “Brother, you are closer to Heaven; I wish I were in your place.” When someone says, “I have not experienced any suffering,” I tell that person, “You are still ‘green.’” Green is pleasant, but when it begins to ripen, suffering comes. Now, keep this thought in mind, I am giving it to you for contemplation as it comes from the Lord: When suffering befalls you, rejoice and thank God that He sends it to you because He loves you. Sufferings are a sign of Divine Love, so let us all carry this cross. For this reason God gave the Bulgarian nation as a whole, as a soul, these sufferings so that it may attain these two qualities: longsuffering and benevolence. You may say that the Serbian and the Greeks are such and such. It does not matter, do not pay attention; just try to learn the lessons for your salvation. What the others are, leave them alone. They have not gained anything and for them also the time will come to learn this lesson. This lesson was given earlier to you and for this you should give thanks and not protest. If you say, “We are being crucified,” God replies, “No problem! In this way you are closer to Me, while the others are further away, but they too will come into this state later on.” When you are crucified, only then shall you enter the Kingdom of God. Therefore, let us rejoice that we have more opportunities in this world. Let us be true Christians, devout followers of Christ. Let us not pay attention to what others may say. Let us be longsuffering and compassionate and fulfill our obligations toward God through our pure thoughts and desires. Let us not stumble on this sublime Path, but act with courage and decisiveness, encouraging everyone who stands together with us. This is the power that will help us to overcome the present difficulties.[6] Lecture delivered on July 6 (19), 1914, Sofia. _____________________________________________ [1] 1 Corinthians 13:1 [2] See 1 Corinthians 13:2–3 [3] See also 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, “Love suffers long and is kind; Love does not envy; Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” [4] See also 1 John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the Love that God has for us. God is Love, and he who abides in Love abides in God, and God in him.” [5] See John 14:6. [6] The Master refers to the second Balkan War in 1913, which brought about the defeat of Bulgaria through the combined attacks of her neighboring countries. Bulgaria was then left in despair after losing peoples and territories.

Note 3 The talents “And to one He gave five talents, to other two, and to other one – for everyone according to his power.” Mathew 25:15 I shall speak you upon the15th verse from the 25th chapter from the Gospel of Mathew. There is no doubt, you have read this chapter many times, you have been stopped to the talents to think; you maybe did and some conclusions, some of them were closer to the truth, other – further. I shall take this verse in its ordinary sense. When Jesus expressed one sentence or proverb, He had in mind the main Divine thought, the Divine law, i.e. He didn’t speak only to find reason to speak but expressed some truths. Now we may ask the question to ourselves why He gave to the one five talents, to the other – two, and to the last – one. Is this accidentally or deliberately? In Nature all the things that God created are not accidental – there is nothing accidental. We say for many things that they happened “accidentally” when we can’t explain them. We meet one man and we say that we meet him accidentally; one of the laws of Life says that our meeting determines from some preceding reasons which made us meet; when we don’t know the law, we say that we meet accidentally, without any reason, but it is not like that. What we have to understand under the words five talents, two talents, one talent? There are three kinds of people: ones who correspond to the five, other – to the two, and a third – to one talent. Now who are those to one talent? They are those who live only for themselves. – “To eat three times a day, to drink, to lie down for a while until our body becomes more fattened, and to dress more nicely – that is why – they say – we came to this world.” They are egoists, fruitless, seedless – people with one talent. And who are those with two? A man who married, he is one talent, and his wife – the other; two men get together and win two talents more; kids are born to them, they become fourth and say: “God, we used the two talents – reared kids and won two more.” It is in the first sense; in the second sense they are people who live for their home, for the society, for the nation. These men, with the five talents, they already have something more – the five talents correspond to our five feelings; it means people in who all the feelings – eyesight, hearing, the sense of smell, taste and the sense of touch – are in their places. They are people with the right reasoning and conclusions for everything what God created – they understand Nature, understand the things, understand the causes and the consequences; they are teachers of the world, they live for the whole of humanity. Now, let’s make one little calculation of the given talents: we have 1+2+5=8 talents. Is the number 8 accidental? No, it is a number of labour. The Writing says that God made the world in six days and on the seventh He had a rest. After every rest a new working day is coming. We are on the eighth day. And God said to the people: “Here, I made the world, now your day is beginning, work and one day I shall come to see you revise your work.” We live on the eighth day and since we don’t know how to work we make mistakes, but God says: “Work, go ahead, mistakes, of course, you will do.” Which teacher doesn’t expect his disciples to tear books and to make much noise in the school; which woman who does the housework, doesn’t make much noise; which dyer will not soil when he paints?; which man who works will not dirty and reduce his clothes to rags? In the process of our development we don’t have to want the impossible, we constantly have to expect change and disappointment. Are you afraid of death but what is death? Death is growing old, the rupturing of our cloth. This is the law – the body changes gradually. The Writing says: “God made the man in his image and likeness”. Yes, the Divine plan is this, but because he left us to work, to create mind and heart, character to educate in execution of this Divine plan, the fact that we will make much noise, with soil around, doesn’t mean anything. When a house is building upon the place there are stones, bricks, and sand scattered– many things but after the house is built, all these things are cleaned and then the people enter to live in it. Therefore we are now in the period of the eighth day and we build. And in this building three categories of people work: ones who have one talent, other – two, third – five. Now let’s come to gather these talents: to that man who won from the fifth, five more – it becomes ten; from the two – two more – four, they all become fourteen and with one buried in the earth – fifteen. Well, from this number when we take eight, how many are the won ones? Seven. What does the number seven mean? We said – rest. Now we have the law, the thought which Christ has hided there, which thought captures only he who knows the Writing – namely those who want to rest have to be worked and those who don’t work, must not take a rest. Because God worked six days he had a rest on the seventh. We often say: “When shall I take a rest! “ You still didn’t start to work, so what rest you are looking for – you just raised the hoe on your shoulder and you want a rest; after you dig the whole vineyard, then you have to want and the rest will come. We have to understand the main Divine law that the rest is as a result of the work. Only these men will be joyful, happy, who worked; and Christ says it: “These men who worked, will enter in the joy of Grace; all the goods which I have they will have too.” And what did He say to that man who didn’t work but has hided the talent on the earth? – “Take from him the one talent and give it to this man who has five and turn him out, into the darkness, to learn to work there.” Which is this outside darkness? The worms which work downwards in the earth. If you don’t learn to work, God will turn you into worms and will put you in the earth to work in darkness till you learn to do it. All these men who want to philosophize upon the Divine law will taste if these words are right or not. I speak to you this morning upon this main law; we have to work. And only when we work for the God, it is work; when we work for our selves, it is labour. The work understands Knowledge. That man who took five talents has five feelings – God gave to him all the abilities and necessary knowledge; and that man who has two talents, he possesses abilities too, accordingly with his knowledge. I shall make one comparison more: With the one talent – this is a man who is like one mineral which can’t multiply, it always stays one. In it the sun light may refracts very well but it can’t be a sensible being. When your heart hardens like mineral, you are a man who has only one talent. And there the danger is hiding because the Writing says: “And I shall deprive the stone heart from you.” And this one talent has to overturn and to begin to produce and develop. The other talents understand – the wheat grain, the plant life, which stay little higher than the minerals and which multiply and earn. What the beautiful minerals can deliver in our Life; we all should die if it remained to live from them. Thanks to the wheat grain which brings two talents, thanks to the industry and thanks to these five talents (abilities which our mind possesses for a higher spiritual life, which shows how we have to work out the goods which God gives us) we may be rescued from many misfortunes in this world. We have to ask the question what this means “for everyone his power”; it means that every one of us has to know his power. The people often say: “I want to have bigger gifts, bigger abilities.” Good, if you didn’t use these gifts that you have, don’t know how to work them out, who will give you more? Every one of us has so many gifts that if we would work them out, they are enough to create a base for five talents. But just a few have five talents. I believe that the majority of you, who listen to me here, have two talents; even positively I may say that you all have two talents. But if you transform these two talents in four it will be other thing. And what does the number four mean? It means that you have to find the process of purifying your life. You need water but it is turbid; you have to find the means to purify it, haven’t you – if you drink it with mud, it will damage you. So, the number four is the Divine process, through which our desires and thoughts in this world filtrate. That man who has two talents has to work to the moment until he makes one filter. But do you know how much it costs? Ask one dairyman, go to one dairy and ask that man who makes cheese what remain in the filter. Through it only the whey may be filtered out. Your filter is your critical mind which you must have for the things of Life. When you say about somebody that he is critical, you have to understand that he has a filter, in which when he puts something in to filter, the precious remains and the useless is filtered out. It depends what you filter – if you filter cheese, it remains in the filter, but if you filter water, the clean, the limpid water, will exit the filter, and the turbidity will remain. Your filter has to have two essential qualities, it means two talents: when you use the one talent the precious has to remain in the filter; when you use the second talent, the precious has to be eliminated. I’ll make another comparison: The filter with the cheese – it is your wheat garner; the water out of the filter – it is your wheat sown outside, in the field – in Life. The first talent has to exercise from the fruit which God gave you, and the second talent you have to sow – to work with it. In the world you have different purposes: some time in your initiatives you succeed, in other ways – no; this shouldn’t discourage you not in the least because those who have little talent and want to acquire more, have to work more – this is the law. It is dangerous for that man who has one talent and who didn’t work with it at all. The first thing which is required from us is to know how to work. I said to you that you have two talents; you will ask which are they? Your mind and your heart – these are two talents. But you will say: “For what can I use my mind? “ – To some man’s car breaks down in the street; you go by there, you have knowledge, repair his car; he will be grateful to you, and sometime, when it is his turn, he will help you – in the case you win too. The second talent – it is your heart. Some man is ill; your heart has to get you to drop in to see him and to serve. The two talents – these are the roots of our Life. From our heart we have to understand the roots of our Life, and from our mind – the branches and the leaves outside. You know that in Nature there exists one correlation between the roots and the twigs – to every twig there corresponds one little rootlet down in the earth and when down some root withers dome, dries and the respective branch. The law you have to observe is this: to know that if in you one desire dries up, and one thought will certainly dry up; if two your desires dry up, two thoughts will dry up; if three desires dry, three thoughts will dry and one day, when your feelings atrophy perfectly all the twigs will dry up and you will transform into men who have only one talent. Let’s take a man who has five feelings – eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, taste and sense of touch; what role have these feelings in our life? They are the five doors through which man enters in this world, through which we experience Nature – five areas from which we may obtain wealth. A man deprived, in the full sense of the word, from hearing, is a stupid man; to be deprived psychically from eyesight means to be deprived from the possibility to see the truth; to be deprived from a sense of smell in psychical relation means to be deprived from your intellect; to be deprived from taste means to be deprived from love etc., we may enumerate plenty of things like these. Every one of our senses corresponds to one great Divine virtue and every one of us has to observe if his feelings are in harmony with his heart, if they are in connection with the Truth. If we look to this world, he is a clothing of the Truth; the visible world is in expression of the Truth; in every leaf, stone, spring, rock there are great lessons, great knowledge is hidden. Oh, what truths Nature can reveal to us! We take one stone, we roll it a little and throw it away and we say that it doesn’t cost anything – we didn’t understand the sense of this stone. Or we take one flower, tear its leaves and throw it away – it doesn’t cost anything; we didn’t understand the sense of this flower. Let’s come now to our ear; we hear the word love – it is one flower; did we understand the sense of this word – what does it means? No. “What is it, we ask, - nothing” - and we throw it away. But we hear the word truth and say: “It is an empty word.” What is then most important for us? – “Man to have a bite and after he has a bite to drink one glass of wine” – say some men. When it comes to the satisfaction of the taste, it is right, but not everything is concluded in eating. Really man has to eat, but under this law for the five talents he has to eat with five kinds of food – every feeling has to feed with its respective food; if we don’t feed it like this, it atrophies. You see that Christianity is one science, it is not amusement. And do you know what science is Christianity? It is one great School with its departments, classes, universities, academies, and everyone who comes to listen to it has to understand what he listens to. I don’t want people with one talent who are buried in it; in the school I teach that I want people with two talents. Why? Because I don’t want to waste my time with vain work. Would you like to breed lice or fleas? These are the creatures with one talent. All the parasites are people with one talent – spongers, lazy beggars who live only on the back of others, big punishment awaits them. Test the spirits – when one spirit comes first take it and study it: if it is with two talents, take it and feast it; if it is with one buried talent, don’t receive it, if it is with one talent – out, it is louse, flea, it is one wolf which you can’t ennoble. But some people say: “This man may be ennobled”; I say that he may only breed lice. How the master acted with that man who had one talent? He took him and turned him out, to teach him to work. We never have to give courage to the man with one buried talent, we have to tell him: “You, my friend, the biggest danger in Life waits for you” – we don’t have to lie to him, but we have to tell him the truth. We often say: “No problem”. You have a child; if you see that he has one talent, turn him out and let him go to roam in the world. You will say: “Isn’t this cruelly?” Take his talent because he didn’t know how to make use of it. You have son with one talent, you send him into foreign parts to study philosophy or medicine or some art; he writes you: “Father, send me four–five thousand leva because I need so and so”, and actually he takes the money and feasts on the public houses. It passes two-three-seven-ten years, the son doesn’t graduate; the father says to himself: “O, it is very deep science”, spend twenty-thirty thousand levs on him and expect many things from him. After seven or ten years the son comes back, but except that he didn’t earn knowledge, except that he spent so many funds, he comes back with ten degrees further down, completely decomposed, lewd in the thoughts and the desires and then the father says: “Why, my God, did you give him to me?” Did God give him to you or did you take him by yourself? When one thief steals a farthing which doesn’t cost, is that man who had it guilty? No, the thief himself who stole it is guilty. Often, when some man steals from God, he steals this which doesn’t cost. Of course, with my lecture I don’t want to scare you, because my aim is not like this. When one disciple is in a school, when he is in the lead in the laboratory for experimental attempts, the teacher has to explain to him the characteristics of the different things and to tell him that if he is not careful one attempt may cost to him dearly. Because many people from carelessness lost their eyesight and the other their senses. Let’s apply Christ’s rule in the social life. They often ask me why Bulgaria suffers. But you proposed to the government for prime minister a man with one talent and you want him to set Bulgaria right; how will it happen? This man, as Christ says, has to be pulled down and to be turned out. For the post of prime minister a man with five talents is wanted, not even with two – people with two talents should be policemen, soldiers. The officers must have four talents, the generals and the ministers – five, and for the kings who take the highest position in the country, ten talents are necessary. Bulgaria suffers because in relation to its government it’s not putting forward people with five talents – often people with one are put and after that they call them and judge; as you see they judge them and now. These men who stole are stupid, but and these men who put them to rule are even more stupid. One man appoints an unfit servant and expects from him good work, and after that he wonders why the work hasn’t been finished. We have to wonder as soon as possible to the master. And now in Bulgaria we need people with two, four, five, ten talents. If we have them, we will be the first nation in the world, there will not be difficulties and hindrances for us there – even all the countries who plot against the Bulgarian nation, will not succeed. Then, I assure you, any unhappiness can’t befall us. That is why, you pray for these people to be created. They will come. Let’s put these talents – two, four, five, ten - to work. And in the end I ask why did God give this mind to us? Firstly it is one filter. Did you filter the milk, do you know how to curdle and turn it into cheese? Let’s apply in the Life this law for filtering. They often complain: “I have got no friends in the world.” Why have you got no friends? When you tell me: “I haven’t got even one friend”, I already may doubt and to tell that you are a man with one talent. If you say: “Nobody loves me” I shall make a conclusion that you are man with one talent, who is buried all Divine in the earth; man-egoist who lives for himself deserves to be without friends, to be out, in the darkness. This is what Christ says with these talents. You will ask: “Well, what is this ferment we have to work with?” You have it but you have to know how to curdle it, to turn it into cheese the milk. If the milk is too cold can it curdle? It can’t. If it is too hot, can it? Again it can’t. You have to observe one main law in the curdling process: you must have good feelings, good wishes – to curdle the man with good yeast, to curdle him in the way that he is not going to go sour, to moisten him with the Truth. And if you moisten him with it you are people with two talents – then you will have four. And when you have four talents, you are already people who are saved, it means that you have passed through the law of Jesus, through the process of the self-perfection, the purging from evil desires. These are the two talents which you have to apply in your life. You may have listened to other sermons upon the talents. They mean money, abilities, power; they are something objectively, not subjectively. Talent is always power which is introduced outside which could be given to us and to be taken again. The talents never could be in possession of the man, they are belonged and belong only to God and He gives and takes them, according to how we act. You are born on the Earth – He gives you two talents and says: “Work! If you win two more I shall multiply them, I shall give you five, and you will enter in My joy.” And even if He gave you only one talent, again there is a place in the world: if such a man says that he wants to win one more talent, he will save himself. And when we see that such a man makes efforts and suffers, this shows that he wants to win one talent more; because when one man suffers, in him suffers this originally sinful being who has only one talent. Such a man has to pass from the one, from his me first attitude, from his egoism to the Divine Love and the self-sacrifice – a man who has only one talent has to sacrifice him to win two. To work out your heart and mind, this means to have two talents, and five – to develop all your feelings in perfection. Do you know what thing is to the development of all these feelings? Many people look but don’t see; listen but don’t hear; taste but don’t understand the good. For example when man tastes bread, is he sometimes saying?: “God, thank you for the bread which You gave to me, thank you for the life which You introduce in me through it!” If you don’t thank, it shows that you not only did you not understand what thing is taste, but didn’t understand what this mouth is made for. It is necessary to enter in it first the life of the Love which is the basis of everything. Keep these thoughts in yourself: if God gave you one talent, pray to Him to be with you and to give you two – there is the salvation. Christ came to save the world, to save more of those men who have one talent. But do you know how many sorrows these sluggards cost Him? A lot. If a man has one talent, leave it to God; I tell you: turn him out. Why? Because only God is in a position to cure him, to save him, you are not in a position to do it. When I tell you: “Turn him out”, I want with this to make him good, to find God. Because when he holds onto you he will never work; when he finds himself abandoned, he will turn to God and will be saved. Don’t give him anything to eat, let him starve for two-three-five days, let him torment a little, what there is! What is this? How many times in a day does the kid cry? If it doesn’t cry, the mother will not feed it. People with one talent – there is no Life in them; it is just the same as a dead body works, just as a man with one talent; it just like a miser sacrifices, just as a man with one talent is able to help. I say to all of you, who are here, who have two talents: if you begin to look like that kind of man and you transform into one talent, you will commit a great crime. You are people that can have four. And when God finds that you work, and you say to him: “With the two talents that you gave me, God, I earned two more”, He will say: “Good servant, enter to My joy!” 10th of May, 1914, Sofia Source

From Peace be with you The Appearance of the Spirit "But to each the appearance of the Spirit is given for benefit." (1 Corinthians 12:7) There are many questions that occupy the human mind, many questions that humanity has been occupied with in the past; there will also be such questions in the future. I will give you a short definition of the notion {poniatie} [1] "Spirit". Many minds have a vague conception {poniatie} of the Spirit. This notion is vague even in the minds of people who possess vast knowledge. You will ask: "How is it possible for a man to be learned and his conceptions of the Spirit to be vague?" I answer: quite naturally. If you were deprived of vision and had a painting in front of you, you would have quite a vague conception of it. Consequently, for the learned man, too, the conception of the Spirit can be vague. When we examine this question, we should take into account whether we have the appropriate feelings and abilities to come into contact with the true reality of things; because we can have a conception of the world and its regulations directly or indirectly, but these conceptions of ours will differ from one case to the other. I will give you a short translation of the word "ДУXЪ"[spirit]. In Bulgarian this word has four letters [2]. If we take the letter "Д" [D], it makes three angles and underneath [it] the letter "П" [P]; the three angles show the triunity of God, the three forces which manifest. The letter "У" - two fingers, the index finger and the middle finger raised up - show that man's hand is working [on something] [3]. The letter "X" [H], the cross - this is the manifestation of the force that acts in four ways: the line that goes up and the other line that crosses it show man's manifestation, that is, the two forces which are not in accord, which cross. When we raise a finger upwards, this shows that we point to God, while when a man comes into opposition, this is the other line of the cross, which means, that the Spirit descends and defines this contradiction between God and His children. The letter "Ъ" [EU] [4] denotes the balance of the human mind which wants to give people understanding of the basic laws [5]. I derive this interpretation from the very letters of the word. Now, the other interpretation of the Spirit is: the manifestation of Its essence. Take, for example, the light which descends from above - this is the Spirit. We do not know what the Sun is; the scientists say that it is situated 92 million kilometers away from the Earth; it may be so - we do not know; there can be a difference of a few million kilometers in this calculation. If we decide to check, it is questionable whether we will find it at the point defined by the scientists. And what is the internal state of the Sun - a profound philosophy. Some say that it is liquid, some say - solid. It may be that either is true. But of the light which descends we already have a real conception, because we see what comes down from the Sun and reveals the whole Earth before our eyes with all the objects upon it. The Light is Spirit, Which comes down from the Sun and has direct contact with our life. To this Sun we can also liken the Spirit. He will not descend otherwise, for if He descends, He will melt, like the Sun, everything we see around us; everything will become dust and ashes or it will be turned into a gaseous state. This is why God says: "I will not come down, but will send My Spirit through space to bring people My blessing". This is why God does not want to come down to us but sends His Spirit - the Light. This Spirit, this creative capability, is exactly what builds within us. We owe everything we have to Him. This rational force which is manifested by God is defined by the learned people in terms of laws, of force, of relations between the elements etc - they give it different names. But this is a rational essence, which works [6]; this is [a] Spirit, Which creates laws. The Spirit has direct communion with our soul. We gain a conception of His origin precisely through the changes which occur in our soul world. Without the soul we would not have any conception of the Spirit. The soul, with its way of thinking, [re]presents the Divine world within us. And if there is anything Divine within us, it is the luminous soul, which thinks. That is why, when we speak about man, we need to understand her [the soul] [7]. Separate from man the rational soul - what is left is a regular animal on four legs; there is no other difference: he eats, sleeps and has all the needs and weaknesses of the animal. The Spirit manifests in the human soul. Because of this, man, in contrast to the other creatures, walks upright. Why is it that the other animals do not walk upright? Because they are at variance with the Lord. Where they walk on all four legs, it shows that their will is in contrast to the manifestation of God. There will pass, perhaps, thousands of years, and they will achieve that stage of man - to rise and stand upright. We have elevated ourselves relatively, and we are striving to elevate ourselves more, for we want to come nearer to God and to be in accord with Him - there is a desire in us to follow the Divine path. And if we make mistakes, we do not do them out of ill will, but for other reasons that lie in our past. Now, it is said that this Spirit is given to everyone for benefit; in what exactly does this benefit consist? The word "benefit" itself has a certain content, because everyone works for [some sort of] benefit. The worker hoes a vineyard, but expects to be paid a wage of 2-3 levs. The wife does something for the husband, but she also expects something for Easter, for Christmas, for the festive occasions, for the summer season - everyone is always working for benefit. Some think that life is quite ideal; but what do they consider an ideal life? I understand the ideal life thus: to have harmony, accord in all our relations. Some wish to live in Heaven; but where is Heaven? Under the word "Heaven" we understand a state where complete order exists, where people keep their rights and responsibilities {zadaljenia} to each other. A man wishes to advance, but you hamper him, you delay his advancement by imposing your rights on him, whereas you should to realize that you have obligations {zadaljenia} toward him. The chapter from the Gospel I have read shows what our relations should be. "But there are some meaningless things there" - you will say. A Russian proverb says: "Even in disorder there is order" [8] - even in the unseemly there is seemliness, I will say. I will give an analogy, in order for you to understand where the distorted conceptions of things stem from. For example, I give to someone a walnut and tell him to do research on it. Someone will do research on its taste, he will try the external green shell, he will bite it and will throw it away. I give the walnut to another person, he, [being] quite sensible already, peels off its external green shell, but when he tries the second shell he breaks his teeth, and also throws it away. I give the walnut to a third person, he, however, [being] even more sensible, peels off the external shell, breaks the hard nutshell with a stone, takes out the kernel and eats it. If we gather these three together and ask them what [sort of thing] a walnut is, one will say that the walnut is an astringent, pungent and poisonous fruit; the second - that it is a hard fruit that breaks people's teeth, the third - that it is something delicious and pleasant. This analogy can be adapted to our errors: all things in the world are wrapped in shells, and if we do not have enough knowledge, we will not find the essence. Food is necessary for the body, but also necessary is food for the mind and the soul; that is, we have to eat in two ways. And when we say that it is not good for a man to overeat, we understand that the body, the mind and the soul have to be equally fed. It is a whole triple circle, which forms the man. This is why those three people who pronounced themselves on the walnut are not sufficiently clever. The one who ate the walnut thinks he is the cleverest. No! I give the walnut to a fourth person, he takes it, but instead of eating it, plants it and in 10 or 15 years this single walnut gives thousands of walnuts. So, we have four categories of people in the world who philosophize: some say: "The world is no good, lecherous, it is not worth living"; others say: "In it [the world] egoism rules, it cannot be worse"; the third: "The world is good, pleasant"; they are closer to the truth. And who are the fourth? Those who have entered the Divine school and have started studying i.e. started planting the good things. The best conception for man is to know that the Earth is a Divine school in which he is set to study, to learn to peel off the upper and the lower shell of the walnut, and not to eat the walnut but to plant it. And when he learns the properties of all things, he will understand the true meaning of earthly life. And as a master sends his servants to the vineyard to work and gives them bread and tools necessary for the work, so God has given man the brain as a tool for work. What is it given for? To break stones or to try the bitter shell of the walnut? No, but to learn to plant the walnut. "Would I feel any better, if I only plant walnuts" someone will say, "I will not feel better". Under the word "walnut" we should understand the good thoughts, wishes [9] and acts which we can plant in others. This work will bring you prosperity. When you meet a certain resistance in achieving some wish, do not despair and do not give up: God has dressed a certain thought in three or four garments - one may not be favorable, but the other will be favorable. If you take off the bad garment, if you plant your thoughts in good soil, regardless of anything else, they will give good fruit. This is how I view the world. Evil is illusory {prividno}; these are the external shells of things. And people are only seemingly {prividno} bad. Not that they are not bad, they are bad, but in essence again they are not bad, because evil cannot proceed from God. The evil originates from certain relations that we have in the world. Two families live in one house, with four rooms; one family has more children, the other less, they start arguing first about the rooms, who will take how many rooms, and look - suddenly they have quarreled. I ask: why this quarrel about rooms? This is quite a negligible cause. And one of the families starts speaking about the other family: "They are unreasonable people", while the second one speaks about the other [(first) family] - the same. But in reality both families are unreasonable, because a reasonable man never quarrels. This word "{kara}" ["quarrel" in Bulgarian] originates from a Sanskrit root: to quarrel means to be in darkness. People, who are in [the] light, do not quarrel. A certain manifestation in our brain darkens {pomrachava} our thoughts and then bad wishes follow. When we have enlightened thoughts we are ready to live in peace and accord; when, however, a small cloud {pomrachenie} comes, we are ready to change our relations. So, evil originates from the darkening {pomrachenieto} of the human mind. Now, because God knows that a certain darkness which causes harm exists on the Earth - darkness always causes harm: if we were living permanently in darkness, it would cause an atrophy to all our feelings, eyes, ears etc., just as there are certain fish, which have lived in the underwater caves for years and have lost the ability to see - He has sent precisely this Spirit to react upon us, upon our thoughts and feelings, upon the body, in order for us to think correctly about things and to establish true conceptions about them. In the first place we need to establish a right conception about ourselves, i.e. what our relation to God should be. According to my understanding, the Earth is only a school for the individual human soul. If there is something real in the world, it is the human soul. Some ask themselves: "What am I?" - I am that which thinks, that which feels and desires. But every thought, every feeling and every desire has its own form. When you want to make a weapon, with which to kill people, how do you adapt it? You take certain practical considerations [into account] about what it should be like – it has to be sharp, it has to be able to destroy. You make a ball for children to play with: do you make it sharp? No. You make it round, smooth, in order it not to cause harm to the child, because all things that are sharp are harmful. They say about someone that he has a refined mind; yes, if it is necessary to [wage] battle, he should have a very refined mind and explosive powers - to shatter wherever they hit. But, when a man lives in a peaceful society, what need and what benefit does he have from such a sharp and refined mind? And if during the time of battling you put a man with a blunt mind at the helm, he is out of place as well. We have changed the order of things: we have put the blunt things with the sharp ones or vice versa. I am not saying that there should not be battling on the Earth; battling in Nature has two principles: one which destroys and one which builds-up. But in both one and the other there is a constant exhaustion. We exhaust ourselves not only when we love, but also when we hate, because the one who hates breaks stones, and when we exhaust our life by breaking thousands of tonnes of stones, what meaning will life have for us? When we constantly think evil, we constantly break stones. But God, incidentally, needs this material as well: He will use our labor to make smooth roads, and people will indirectly thanks us that we have crushed the stones necessary for their road. Whatever we do in the world, our labor will be useful, if not for us, then for others. In one case, if we love, we perform conscious work, in the other case unconscious [work], and, consequently, the reward cannot be one and the same. Thus, if you wish Divine Love to manifest itself, the Spirit must be in you, you have to give Him room to manifest Himself. But the Spirit is a very delicate being; do not think that He will come to knock strongly on your door, no; he will knock quietly on the door of your heart and if you open, immediately your life will change completely, He will show you how to live; if He knocks on the door of your will, He will show you what to do and do it consciously. But if you do not open, you will soon understand what you have lost. When you meet an idiot, you have to know that in the past, when the Spirit had knocked on his door, he did not open [the door] for Him. You say of somebody that he is foolish. Why? Because when the Spirit once knocked on the door of his mind, he rejected Him. If anyone is violent, you should know that when the Spirit knocked on his heart, he also did not accept Him. Violence is like a crystal that does not have softness. But you should no think that among the violent people there are not occasionally good people; but in general they are not suitable for an organized human society. And so, we must always be ready to give the Spirit place to penetrate [10] and to manifest in each one of us. Some say: "We want to see the Spirit". But the only thing you see is the Spirit. He speaks, but because your ears are blunt, you cannot hear, just as when you speak to deaf people, they do not hear. You want to hear; good then! Adjust your ear to comprehend what the Spirit speaks to it. "I want to see the Spirit". Excellent, but if your eye is veiled, how will you see Him? The only thing that we see in the world, I repeat, is the Spirit. This flower here, which I hold in my hand - it is Spirit, and if you were able to see, you would observe a whole human figure in it. Now, why are you not able to see? Because your vision is restricted, you see only the dense parts, but the rarefied parts you do not see. For example, some things seem round to you - the walnut; but if you plant it, will it grow a round stem? It will immediately express its essence . In order to recognize things, you need to plant them in their soil. And if you could plant this flower in this way, you will immediately see that it is an intelligent being. And what does this flower convey to you? Why has this color been applied to it? It is has been applied to show that life without love does not have meaning. And for thousands of years the flower has been speaking to people what they should do - that they should love, that the mind should be neither too sharp, nor too blunt. In some cases it has to be sharp, but when you are among clever people, you do not need wit [11]. When you are among enemies, the heart has to be hard, among friends - soft. You must know how to love [12]. When you take a rose and smell it, two things are manifested: one - the tender aroma, the other - thorns. Every man has his thorns, but of course, they are not the man. The thorns are for those conditions in life when man has to wage battle, to defend himself, when he does not have to be very soft. You should not make rendezvous with the devils; against them you have to have spikes. But among friends your gunpowder has to be moist. There are times when it has to be dry and times when it has to be moist. What will the husband [13] do when his gunpowder is dry and his wife [14] teases him every day? When they get married, both of them have to make the gunpowder moist. In the world, your gunpowder has to be dry, just in case . . . This is an allegory, which I give so that you may learn all these relations that exist in the world. You have friends and say that you know them, but until you learn both the dark and the bright side of your friends, you do not know them well. You want to be good always; you should be good under certain conditions and bad under others. When you anger your friend you already have to defend yourselves, and, in order to defend yourselves, you have to know how to wage battle. If you fight with an enemy you are doing your duty; if you wage battle with peaceful or unarmed people, you are doing a foolish thing. They say: "Life is a battle {borba} [15]". And man, when he gets married, says: "Life is a battle". But against whom does he battle? Against his wife, and the wife against her husband. They give birth to children, and the children also read the motto: "Life is a battle" and say to themselves: "So, who do we fight with - brothers with sisters". And a fight starts, they pull each other's hair and bursting into tears, off they go to mum and dad. People have a motto! When they do not have a real opponent, they create one - the husband with the wife, the brother with the sister, the priest with his parishers, the teacher with his pupils. Here we have people who do not understand life. Battles have to exist, but with that nature which has to be subjugated. I understand if we were to act like this when we are about to shatter a certain rock in the mountain, so as to bore a tunnel, but to apply these means in an organized society, this I do not understand. It shows that people do not understand the relation that exists between them and their spirit, the tasks that the latter sets to them. Apostle Paul describes in the chapter [we] read what this relation should be. You may ask me the question: "Are there not in existence thousands of relations in the world?" - But we should choose only those which are favorable for us. We should know, for example, the relations of the water towards us. If we put it in the stomach, there will be favorable consequences; if, however, we put it in the lungs, it will produce entirely different consequences. If we bring air in the lungs, it will be favorable for us, but if we put it in the stomach, it will have exactly the opposite result and so on. Things have relations to certain organs. We should know what the right place is for the water, the air, the light, the sound and the smell. You will say: "But we know these things - that the light is necessary for the eyes and the sound - for the ear". Just so. But do you understand the internal meaning of this light? In the morning, when the Sun rises, what do you say to yourself? "Right, the Sun has risen". But when somebody says: "The Teacher is coming", what do the students infer? They all shuffle, take their books and sit at the desks. When the Sun rises, each of us should take his book and say: "The Teacher-Spirit is coming" and sit at his desk and ask himself what he should do on this day. The Sun says: "I will listen [16] to you, you will answer me, I will impart to you and you will impart to me". This is what the sunrise means. If we can study the program which our Spirit sets every day, life would proceed [17] very favorably. "But", you will say, "today's Sun looks like yesterday's, it rises in the same way". - No! I have not seen two days alike in my life and the Sun to rise in the same way on both of them; every day differs from every other and each has its own program. And the light which comes is not the same: it differs from the light which came several days ago. Here exactly is the greatness of the Divine Spirit, Who brings countless riches, invisible worlds and reveals what God is in Himself. He is something majestic. You meet a friend of yours and say: "[About] Ivan, how do you appraise him?" - "He is 1 1/2, or 165 cm tall, he has dense eyebrows, thickish lips, enjoys his food and loves to have a drink". But this is not important. A day comes [when] you come to love him and for you his thick lips, his external invisible defects already disappear - you begin to see something else in him. So, you take off the first shell of the walnut, you see his mind. If you plant him, half of the walnuts he will bear will be for you, the other half for him. If you eat him, what will you benefit? Neither you, nor Ivan will benefit. For when the Spirit comes, He says that every day you should plant better thoughts, better wishes. You meet a friend of yours and sometimes you say: "I do not know what to speak [about]". You see people chatting a lot, but you do not know what to say, or you speak many things, but not that which you need. First, you have to plant the walnut and then talk as much as you want. Before you plant the walnut, do not speak. Whoever has worked comes back home and says: "I have worked, I am tired, I am hungry". Speech shows certain relations that exist between us and our actions. The first thing you should do every day is to ask yourself the question: "What fruit should I plant today?" If you plant a walnut, after time it will bring [forth] its riches in abundance. You will only understand this parable when you return, as you will, to the other world, from where you have come; then you will notice what benefit was brought by those good wishes and thoughts which you have planted, the good deeds, which you have done for your neighbors, friends, wife, children. Now these things are still dark for you. - Another example. You say to yourself: "This son, I feed him now, but who knows if he will look after me one day?" "Now I educate him, so that he will look after me when I get old". Do not expect him to look after you, when you get old. You may not even get old, you may pass away earlier without the need occurring for him to look after you. The mother says: "I wish I had a daughter to look after me in [my] old age". This is a very distorted understanding of life. Give an upbringing to your children and do not expect anything for yourselves. If you have planted a good walnut in them, not only will they look after you, but they will also love you. When a mother is not loved by her children, it shows that she was unable to bring them up [well]. Hence, the first thing to do, so that your children would love you, is to teach your children to love you under the guidance of this Spirit. I will conclude my lecture with a comparison. There are three relations that we must keep. In the world God exists, we exist and a certain society exists; some put themselves in the first place by saying: "I, then the society, and last of all the Lord". This is a completely distorted solution of the issue. Others say: "First society: I live for the people, for the society, then I come next, while last comes the Lord". This is also a bad solution. Still others say: "First God, the Lord, my Spirit, then I, the rational soul, which should serve Him first, and afterwards society, and at last of all myself". Here is the right solution. Any other solution will not be a correct solution. All errors originate in the following. We want to know what the head is: the society or us. If we put three heads on a single body, it will not accomplish anything! There will never be agreement on which way to go. Sometimes you struggle what to decide - this shows you have three heads: chop off the two others, let it be so that the Lord is the head. Every thing should be in its place. Now, ask yourself: who is your head. If you say it is the Lord, I would be glad. Put the Lord at the head. And do you know what your state will be then? There will not be any hesitation, fear or tremblings in you, you will have willpower, you will be courageous, decisive, clever, good people. You will be rich in every respect - whatever you grasp with your hand will become gold. Some are afraid of money; only the foolish are afraid. Why? Because they are weak in spirit. You know what the scriptures say about the righteous Job - that he had worms and whenever he gave them away to some beggar, the worms would turn into gold coins. If you are like Job, the worm which you give [away] will turn into gold. Often you do injustice to the worms, but they also do an excellent job in the world, the present-day world owes much to them. When the Lord takes them with one hand and gives them to you, they turn into gold coins. And what is this gold, this coin, which the Lord gives you? You acquire knowledge and experience. A clever woman, when she takes [some] {seriava}, dirty wool, what does she do with it? She washes it, cleans it, spins it and weaves a fabric; the foolish one, on the contrary, when she sees it is so dirty, will throw it away. How many times the Lord has given you [the] Spirit, and you have rejected Him! What does the rule require [18]? When you come back from work in the evening, to take off the rucksack from your back and to leave it at the entrance; all dealings [19] that you have, leave them at the entrance, too; to enter your room free as though there are no dealings for you in the world, and to say: "I thank the Lord for what He has given me"; eat well, thank Him again; and in the morning when you get up, take your rucksack or notebooks again and go to work. What do we do? We come in the evening and go to bed with the full rucksack on our back and toss in bed the whole night. The Spirit says: "Take off your rucksack, its place is not here." We sit down to eat - we feel a certain heaviness, because we have a rucksack on our back. We have to take it off and have the meal. This is it, the message of the Spirit. "But some people have erred"; leave this question out, at the entrance: does the Lord not know that people err; are we [those who are] going to fix the world? There is someone to fix it. In the evening, when we come back, we should thank God that He has sent us among these sinful people, so that they may teach us good lessons. When you meet someone like this, you should say to him: "You are carrying your rucksack very well" He is a sinner and in this state he is a man with a rucksack. One day it will come off his back. Someone is vulgar, sour; why? Because he has not taken off his rucksack from his heart. Someone else cannot think: why? Let him take off his rucksack from his mind, and then he will think well. Now, I will give one more example and will conclude. There are two extremes, two opposites in real life that we should always take into account; these are: good and evil - two [opposing] poles, the touching endpoints of the earthly human life. Once upon a time, a king had two daughters: the older one was very beautiful and slender, but had a very sharp tongue; the younger one was with a very good soul but with a very ugly face. Because of these external and internal defects not one of the princes from the surrounding area wanted to ask for their hand. Anxious about the future of his daughters, the father, because he did not have any heirs, decided to convene a counsel of the wisest people in his kingdom so that they would show him a way out of this desperate situation. Among the many good counsels {seuveti} that everyone offered, the oldest man and, incidentally, the wisest, gave the following advice {seuvet}: "You" - he said to the king - "will make an inn for everybody and the first two young men to enter will be your sons in law, which destiny {seudbata} allots to you". The good father thought that maybe fate {seudbata} will smile upon his greyed [20] hairs and will send some illustrious persons from kingly homes. When the inn was completed and opened, the first visitors were indeed two young lads. However, much to the father's astonishment, one of them was blind and the other - deaf. Surprised by this, the king summoned the old wise man and said to him: "What is the matter - the one is blind, the other is deaf? How are we going to settle this, I cannot see". - "I will tell you" - replied the wise man - "the deaf one you will marry to your beautiful daughter, and the blind - to the ugly one". Thus did the king. And truly, both marriages came out to be happy: the daughters lived well. At some stage the sons in law started to feel uneasy about their defects. The deaf one, when his wife yelled and poured over him all curses, shrugged his shoulders and thought to himself: "That's how it is when one is lacking one [of his] senses. I believe she is saying Divine things, but since I cannot perceive [21] them, this is my misfortune. I would give everything in the world to be able to hear just a single one of her sweet words". The blind son in law, in turn, when he listened to the clever and sweat speech of his wife, the outpouring of her soul, thought to himself: "What a splendid being she is! How pretty she must be! But as I am blind - this is my big misfortune in this life. I would give everything just to be able to see for a moment the external appearance of this Divine treasure". This reached the king's ears and he summoned the old wise man and entreated him [the wise man] to tell him [the king] whether it is somehow possible for the fate of his two sons in law to change, so that they may rescue themselves from their defects. "It is possible" - said the venerable old man - "but this will destroy their happiness and bliss on the Earth". If God has connected you with the beautiful princess and has deprived you of hearing, do not be sorry that you cannot hear her voice. Delight in her appearance and give thanks. Do not wish to hear her words so that you do not become embittered and come into contradiction with your own self. Two good things cannot be gathered in one place on the earth . If God has connected you with the ugly princess and has deprived you of vision, of the temporary illusions of the earthly life, again give thanks. Delight in her kind speech, in her sweet tongue; do not wish to see her external appearance and image, because you will lose even that which you [already] have. Goodness is not always dressed in a king's mantle. Goodness and beauty live together only in Heaven. Here, in this world, it is thus - good and evil alternate in man's life. If in one life God connects you with the evil, thank Him. Do not worry. You do not know the deep causes [of] why this has been done. Know, that the aim is for good. In time, you will understand the great Love of Heaven. If in another life you are connected with the good, thank Him and do not desire to put on a king's mantle and to admire your looks. Do not seek to reconcile good and evil within yourself: it is impossible. This is given to you so that you may learn to know the profound deeds of the life of the Spirit. Your defects will depart when your heart opens, the Spirit comes and your soul unites with Him. --==[][][]==-- ______________________________________ Notes: [1] In Bulgarian, the same word can mean both notion or idea and understanding or comprehension. Throughout this translation the word "conception" is used in an attempt to encompass both aspects, however, the reader should be aware of the subtle nuance between when it is used to mean "notion/idea", and when "understanding". [2] The word "Duh%" in Bulgarian - pronounced "dooh" with a clearly audiable "h" - is spelt here in the old spelling with the added "%" at the end (which is the 26th letter in the Bulgarian alphabet, "") and means "Spirit". After the reform of the orthography finalized during 27 Feb 1945, this word has "lost" the last letter "". [3] literally: "doing something" [4] This letter is not pronounced when at the end of the word. After the reform of the orthography finalized during 27 Feb 1945, this letter ("") is not used any more at the end of words. [5] i.e. to give people the ability to be able to come to an understanding of the great laws. [6] i.e. the action of working [7] In Bulgarian "soul" has a feminine gender "she, the soul". [8] I v besporiadke est poriadok (Russian), literally means "And in chaos there is order" [9] or "desires" [10] or "permeate" [11] literally: "sharp-mindedness" [12] obichate, as opposed to the other Bulgarian word for love liubov, can also mean: to have affection, ardour etc. This distinction is sometimes of importance in the Master's lectures. [13], [14] In Bulgarian, there is a single word for "husband", "male" and "man", and similarly for "wife", "female" and "woman". [15] This is a popular Bulgarian saying. [16] prislusham, but the Master could have said proslusham, which means to test out, to try, examine. [17] literally: "flow" [18] This is a Bulgarian expression; the rule is determined according to what follows. [19] An idiom derived from the Turkish "aleush-verish", which literally means "takings-givings", making business. [20] literally: "whietened (from age)" [21] literally: "understand"

From Dawning of a New Epoch, Beinsa Duno Come to Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free “And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 Freedom is what every living being in Creation strives for. By the word “freedom” we are to understand the full range of all those actions, thoughts, and wishes that are hidden within us and the removal of all conditions that may limit them. Freedom is a quality of the Spirit. To be deprived of freedom implies a fall or regression from the ideal of Creation. Freedom becomes limited when favorable conditions are lost. Losing some part of the physical body, for example a limb, leads to partial limitation of one's freedom; while losing one's mind or ability to think would be a more complete limitation, as also losing one's vision or hearing, or any of one's senses. Truth is a prerequisite for restoring Freedom of Spirit. Freedom has three components: first, freedom of the body; second, freedom of the will-power; and third, freedom of the heart to express feelings and thoughts. Christ said, “Truth shall make you free,” meaning that Truth will show us the way to Freedom. However, not every thought, desire, or act of the will makes us free. Any word, as a combination of thoughts, can be like a ticking bomb that can explode. In other words, one negative word or thought could deprive us of Freedom because an insulting word will produce its destructive effect. We should always possess a measure for testing and assessing our thoughts and desires. This measure, this touchstone is Christ. He should always be before us and in our mind. When we are always with Christ, our thoughts, desires, and impulses for action come mainly from within our being; and this is a positive sign. However, not all of them are of one and the same quality, and we need to know which one of them to select. Thoughts and desires are like the stones in a quarry. They serve to build the future human body, the Spiritual Light body. They may come from different directions and we need to be able to select the necessary stones for the building. To build our house we need not only stones, but also steel, wood, and other materials. There are spirits that sell us all these materials at higher or lower prices. When they sell them to us more expensively than their real value, they deceive us. Christ wants to make us free. Yet, we are bound by thousands of obligations: first, to our parents, then to our siblings; later, when we get married, to our spouse and children; then we have obligations to society and much more. The art is to know how to deal with any one of them, as Freedom not only implies rights, but also obligations. Society cannot exist if people have only rights or only obligations, as both of these go together. Rights get limited according to the requirements of our needs. For example, if we desire more than we need, the opposite reaction will take place and our rights will become limited. Wherever there is more honey, more bees will come to consume it. Wherever there is more wealth, all malevolent spirits will come to profit by it. Wealth is necessary for freedom, yet it could bring not only blessings, but also negative attributes, such as laziness, pride, and so on. In Christ's Teaching the value of the human soul is determined by its inner qualities: being connected with God, or in other words, being armored with Truth, which implies being clothed in Love. We recognize the Sun by its light and warmth; in the same way we recognize God by Truth and Love. When Truth comes into our minds, we think; when Love becomes part of us, we begin to act. Truth is the inner essence of the soul. If we have Truth, we will always experience a forward impulse, and there will be no old age, but an everlasting youthfulness, so we will feel energetic at all times and at all ages. Obstacles are a blessing for us: they are conditions for our uplifting, for we need to make efforts to overcome them and thus attain the blessings. All our organs and body parts are serving, but at the same time limiting us. We should know their role so that they can function properly. Now the creation of the Spiritual Light body is our responsibility. Up till now in our evolution, most of the time it leaves us and we get separated from it. We should enter into relationship with all the entities that compose our body, that live in it and support our life. This means, as Christ says, to be united with Heaven, and this is our obligation. Christ Himself became one with all the entities. He sacrificed Himself not only on the cross, but the existence of everything we are living on now, comes from Christ, and for this reason, we love Him. He has left a treasure for us to use, not to become attached to. He has given it for us to benefit from, not to take and divide. Christ sacrificed Himself for this treasure, and if we do not use it properly, He will take it back. He has given it to us so that we may develop spiritually and prepare ourselves for the Angelic Life, in other words, after this earthly life to be able to make the transition to a higher life in the World of the Angels. Christ wants us to use the touchstone that is our Divine soul; and when we find it, we will become free. Christ taught people in this world how to find their forgotten soul or hidden treasure. Many of our souls are pawned and we need to get them back. When we came down from Heaven to Earth as human beings, we put our souls in a pawnshop and so now we need to buy them back. All civilizations that lived before us cultivated the Earth's surface and have piled soil on it; so we need to work with our souls with the same soil. Therefore, it is important to have favorable conditions, in other words, to have the touchstone that means transformation, repentance, and more. This is how the process of rebirth happens. We need to be free so that we may find the touchstone and, in order to be free, we should be thankful for everything that happens to us: both good and bad. This is the meaning of Christ's dwelling within us. Then all situations in life will be equally acceptable to us. We will not be given a higher position if we have not fulfilled the lesser job well. God also sends Angels to serve and help with the redemption of troubled souls. We need to always begin with the smaller things and then move toward the bigger ones, instead of saying that, when we are free, we are no longer obliged to work. God has created the Earth and one day when it fulfills its mission, its particles will expand and it will disappear. Each of our acts is a collective effort because we are connected with many spiritual beings. Each of our thoughts is an obligation, a promissory note that is held by the Spirit that guides and supervises us. Therefore, we should not look for big things in life because by desiring them, we might get them as our right, but the Spirit will tell us later, “Now, you need to pay for them.” If we do not have a way to pay for our debts, suffering, poverty, illness, or other limitations could come upon us. Every person in a state of anger is being robbed because when the physical body is abandoned, the spirits rob it. Therefore, we need to stay balanced and protect our “home,” our body, as this is our Freedom. If we inhabit other people’s homes, we are not free because we can be evicted at any time. The most important thing now is to be discerning only our beneficial desires and thoughts so that only they may be fulfilled. Only then may we say that God has assigned them for us. Sunday lecture held on April 13 (26), 1914, Sofia.

Note 4 The Four Basic Elements „Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, have eternal life and I will raise them from the dead in the final day.” John 6: 54 There are four elements for building spiritual life: God’s Love, God’s Life, God’s Thought, and God’s Will. When children study arithmetic, they have four basic operations. When a chemist studies chemistry, he will also come across four elements. When God’s Love is restricted within its boundaries, it manifests God’s Life that bears God’s thought. From God’s Thought, God’s Will is born and from God’s Will – our life. If God’s life is not produced in us, we are not able to think. When we want God to come alive in us, we have to create His Love – we must love Him, otherwise He will not live in us. To create these four elements, there are six more things that we have to know. There are three things that lie to us: first, the taste wants to test the stomach to see what it needs. Some food may be cooked from bad meat but can be well seasoned and can deceive the taste, but when it goes into the stomach, the food is rejected. Second, our heart lies to us; that’s why we have to listen to our soul – it never lies because the heart accepts what the soul rejects. Third, the intellect; just as the relationship between the heart and the soul, so is the relationship between the intellect and the mind – the Spirit controls them. To re-educate the taste, the heart, and the intellect, we have to listen to the advice of the stomach, the soul, and the Spirit, and to do that we have to know how to nourish our stomach, soul, and mind. If we know that, we will be healthy. Where is the food we need? Our lungs do not search for the air – when we open our mouth, air penetrates the lungs. There are thousands of objects around us for intellectual food and we accept it with our eyes and ears. How do we apply these four basic elements? – Through Love. People are unhappy because they search for Love. And what is Love? It means to be ready for self-sacrifice. We love someone because they give us something. We love Christ, because he gives us food, because he sacrificed himself for us – he is in the corn grain that we eat. That’s why it is said: “To eat My flesh and drink My blood”. If you want to be loved you have to be ready for self-sacrifice; to love means to sacrifice oneself, i.e. to sow – we have to sow Love in order to reap Love. Our life is valuable as long as it is useful to our fellow men. Life is a power that God has given to us; it can be taken as it was given. Now we have no Life – we groan, lie down, turn over in bed and so on. The Man must have three things that are necessary for Life: strong and deep Peace and self-sacrifice for God. Christ has shown us the way of Life. First is self-sacrifice and it means to sacrifice our mind, heart, and property for our fellow men. Christ has put His Life where it can grow. The first condition for our life is to give up a lot of our desires and dirt. The river flows pure into the sea, but when it runs out it brings also filth. We should not come back with the filthy, bad desires. To get closer to God, we have to turn to God’s Love, life, thought, and will. After we let them inside us, we will have them in our life and God will send His Spirit and we will be healthy and intelligent. Let’s leave our sins and not constantly repeat them, “God will use them for fresh soil to sow wheat”. The Sun shines everyday, and God is before us every day. God lives above us as the Sun is above the Earth. It sends us the warmth and light we need to grow, removing the cold that reigns in the Universe and hinders any progress. In the same way, by His spirit, God lights up, warms and helps us grow. When we are healthy, intelligent and lively, the Spirit is with us and God is with us. For that life and world there is no need for a special programme; it is enough to follow what is given to us by God’s original plan and we will be rich. We suffer because we alter God’s plan. We have to get free of false notions and external influence and to consult God within us. Let’s listen to our internal voice – to consult God inside us; let’s listen to our internal voice – our soul. If God is in the soul – I can do anything; and if the devil is in the soul – I can’t do anything; i.e. to each of God’s deeds we have to say “I can”, and to each deed not of God there is sense to say “I can’t”. After we say, “I can”, God will come and help us with the most difficult things – when we say, “I can”, we surely will do it. The devil has power because we say, “I can”, when he urges us to lie and do similar things. The woman does wrong by saying: “I can’t please my husband”, as well as the mother when she says, “I can’t educate my children.” Christ wants us to use two phrases: I can and I can’t. – I can love, I can’t hate, I can tell the truth, I can’t lie and so on. In that way both spirits appear and they are with us every day – the good one tells us something and we reject it, but we are not free because the spirit of evil is waiting for us. Christ is here to teach us to say, “I can” when Good comes, and to say, “I can’t“ when the Evil is here. A corn-field cannot be owned by two proprietors – it should be owned either by the Good or by the Evil. It is the same situation with the man. God teaches us everything, which is Good. Be faithful to God who lives inside of you. We must have the four basic elements – God’s Love, God’s Life, God’s Thought, and God’s Will – to plant in us taste, heart, mind, and intellect and to develop our heart, soul, and Spirit. Never to say, “I didn’t understand” but only say, “I understood”. Then God will let us understand everything in practice. Let us be faithful to God, to Christ. Christ – that is Life and Love – the vivid thoughts that teach people to love. He is unification of the Sublime spirits, teaching people how to live, giving them the laws and ruling them. Christ is the one who frees us from the chains we get voluntarily entangled in. If now we do not see Him, He will show up one day and will demand the tithe. He is our oldest brother. The day of His appearance is soon. It is too late for those who have not searched for Him. There is already light everywhere, the way of life is changing. Let us be faithful to our God, to our Christ who we already know. He has given us Life and health and He will always be with us and in us. 19th April 1914, Burgas Source

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul GRAIN OF WHEAT “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:24 The grain of wheat is a symbol of the human soul. It represents a great story in the development of Nature. If you could open Nature’s book on the grain of wheat and trace its history, you would completely understand the history of the human soul. As the grain of wheat falls into the soil and “dies,” as it sprouts up, grows and bears seed, the same is also true of the human soul. Probably the grain of wheat is something very simple and of no value to you, its weight is only a sixteenth of a thousandth part of a kilogram. How much would it cost, if a kilogram of wheat costs one grosh[1]? However, the grain of wheat contains a power, a potential, and a spirit of selflessness by which it nourishes both itself and others. But when you sit down at the table to eat, you do not think at all about the grain of wheat; you do not consider what joy and what thoughts it imparts to you. You do not know its origin either. People do not value it; hens do not value it; no one values the grain of wheat. But it represents a great mystery in the world. Now, what lies hidden in it? The grain of wheat is a symbol of Life. If we take the Bulgarian letter “ж” (zh), which is the first letter of the word “wheat” in Bulgarian[2], it fully corresponds to the grain of wheat, with two legs or roots below and two small branches above. When we sow it, it shows us the direction in which we have to strive. The grain of wheat tells us that we need to strive for the One Whom we have come from, God, and that in order to strive for God, we need to branch out, blossom, and bear food for the world. That is why Christ says, “Help and sacrifice yourselves for your fellowmen as I do.”[3]And at another place, “I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven.”4 What is bread made of? It is made mostly of wheat. People of today say that their life is miserable. All are discontent, including kings and princes. From the highest to the lowest ones, all have some want, but when it is given to them, they are still discontent. Ask them why: it is because they seek more and more. Let us go back to the story of the grain of wheat. What would you say if you were in its place, sown in the ground? You would say, “It is the end; I am decaying; my life is over!” There is more faith in the grain of wheat than in us. Buried in the ground, it begins to decay, becoming soft, but as soon as the first rays of the Sun appear, it immediately understands their language and says to itself, “I am not going to die, I will rise again and bear fruit for others.” It begins to generate inner energy and to strive toward the Sun. It bears fruit and ripens. Then people come to it; they use a sickle to cut it down. Its suffering does not end here; after reaping it, people bind it in sheaves, prick it with pitchforks and throw it into carts, so that they bring it to the threshing floor and settle it in piles as big as mountains. Then they trample it with horses and threshing-boards. What if you were in its place? Human life passes through the same process. You ask, “Why should we pass through all this process?” You should draw a lesson from this example of the grain of wheat. After the threshing-board and the horses’ hooves have threshed it, people put it into the barn. Again, its suffering does not end there; the grains are sifted; the bad ones fall below and the good ones that remain are put into sacks and taken to the mill, where two heavy mill-stones grind them and crush them completely. If you were in the grain’s place, what would you say? “What a life, what a world has God created!” However, the grain of wheat has great patience. It says, “You will yet wonder what my story is.” When it is taken from the mill as flour and carried home, it is still not left at peace. The wife will roll up her sleeves, sift the flour, throw away some of it, put leaven in the good flour and turn it into dough. If you were in the grain’s place, you would say, “Our suffering is already over.” No! When the dough rises, it goes into the oven and when it is taken out, we see those nice, fresh-smelling loaves of bread. If you were in the grain’s place, you would say, “Our suffering is over at last.” However, after a short time, people break up these nice loaves and start eating them. In this way, the grain of wheat enters our stomachs, forming nutrients that enter our minds and what happens then? Great thoughts are created in our minds and new desires, in our hearts. The grain of wheat carries the garments that clothe our feelings. It flows in the pens of writers and poets and in the bows of violin players. That is what the grain of wheat can give us. If it had not passed through the process of all this development, we would have never seen all the beautiful things in Nature. Why? It is because the grain of wheat gives us strength to look and see. That is why Christ says, “I am the Living Bread.” In order to be alive, one needs to be in communion with the environment, integrating into it, helping others and being helped by them. As the grain of wheat passes through such a process, in the same way we should sacrifice ourselves. This sacrifice is not so difficult. Now let us turn to Christ’s life story and to the history of the Jewish nation. How can we explain this contradiction: the nation awaiting for years its Savior and King to come and bring it freedom, at the time when He appeared, its elite, namely the Jewish high-priests and princes turned against Him? You may say that if Christ has come today, you would behave better. I doubt it. I am going to point out a fact: see how a husband treats his wife or a wife - her husband and you will have an idea about your attitude to Christ. When Truth will show up in the world, it will not be clothed richly but in the simplest garb. That is why Christ came among the Jewish nation in such a simple fashion. That is the reason why people cannot understand Truth. Such are the Laws of this world. However, there is another Law in the world, which is revealed through the sunlight: When the Sun begins to shine on all seeds and beings on Earth, its light producing joy and gladness in some people, evokes hatred and spite in others. This same light that makes some people well-disposed causes others to be fierce and violent. The light and warmth will make a wolf begin looking for sheep to satisfy hunger. The same light and warmth falling on a thief will make him think about how to steal more money. And when the rays fall on those who want to do good, they will wonder whether they can find someone in need to render their help. Feed the hen with corn and it will have nice feathers; give such food to a swine and it will create strong bristles; give it to a wolf and it will make good teeth and nails; give it to a fish and it will produce nice scales. The physiologists cannot explain this process. Each being uses food and heat according to its development and understanding. You can comprehend this Law by experiencing these two different worlds. It is not possible to explain to you why negative tendencies exist in human beings, why they prefer hatred to Love and falsehood to Truth. Many “why” questions will remain unanswered. The Bulgarian word “why”[5] is a question mark meaning “I want.” Why should we want? It is because there is a Law stating that we have to strive for advancement. Christ says that if the grain of wheat, which has fallen to the ground does not “die,” it will remain alone in this world. What is loneliness in life? It is the greatest possible suffering that people could experience. Procreation is the purpose of Life. All suffering in the world comes from the fact that people desire to live for themselves only. Evil always emerges from the desire to be alone and to become the center of the world. However, this is impossible in the Divine Laws. Our thoughts and wishes fail because we construct them on sand. We can be happy in the world only if we live for God and we need to live for Him. We find the explanation of this in Nature. When the Sun rises in the morning, it rises for all because it loves all. It is considerate to all beings, from the lowest to the most advanced ones, and that is why all turn their eyes toward it. From there comes this energy that rises and uplifts us, but does the Sun say to us that we must grasp the meaning of this action? It tells us only to make use of the benefits it is giving and just as it illuminates the world, so should we shed light and enlighten those around us. We have some false ideas in our minds that come from our individual lives. For example, if you enter a house that has a single window, but it is full of twenty to thirty visitors, you may tell them, “You have no right to stay by the window: I want to look through it alone!” However, while you are looking at the Sun, all others will be deprived of its light. Instead, you should better invite them all to see the Sun and show them the way out of the house in order to enjoy the light. That is why it is not good to keep many people around you, since they can never have the benefit of the sunlight and heat all at the same time. We would better tell them to go outside. That is why Jesus says that whoever loves only oneself needs to leave. In another place, He says, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”[6] Thus, if someone gets too close to the window, this person will block the whole view for the others. Keep a distance of twenty to thirty steps off. It is valid in the physical environment. Jesus implies that life does not consist of material benefits. These are only simple tools and aids in the same way textbooks, pens, and boards are to students. Do not think that God has prepared for you only these simple things. He has prepared much greater things. Ask a frog about its idea of life and it will answer, “I would like more flies to fly over my pond and to fly nearer so that I could catch them.” When sometimes you see the frog sitting quietly like a philosopher, it is observing the flies in order to catch them when they come nearer. Such is the frog’s concept of life. Advancing farther on the ladder of evolution, we should not think that we have already reached the climax of our development. There is still a lot to be covered on this staircase from our present position to the Path we are striving for. The distance between human beings and Angels is so great; it is almost the same as the distance between tadpoles from which frogs will develop and human beings. From the Angels’ point of view, we are still little frogs. Some people object, “But human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, are they not?” However, they have not attained this image and likeness up to now. You see how we act. In order to say that we are made in the image and likeness of God, we need to possess the traits of God. What are His traits? They are Virtue, Love, Wisdom, and Truth. Virtue excludes malice, Love excludes hatred, Wisdom excludes nonsense, and Truth excludes falsehood. If all these negative tendencies are not part of us, we will have the likeness of God, but if they are yet a part of us, we are still little frogs. I have nothing against frogs, they need to eat flies. Why? I will tell you why. Flies are winged, so they live in a higher state than frogs. The latter aspire to fly in the air; they want to receive the vibrations of the flies, to develop these vibrations and to begin flying. Why do wolves eat sheep? They need to eat sheep in order to become gentle, for when we eat good things, we become good. Some actors tried to add mutton to their diet for a long time, when they wanted to play the ideal love; for this kind of meat is conducive to such feeling. In this train of thought, if wolves want to be as meek as a lamb, it is good for them to eat lambs. And they will surely become gentle, for they are much gentler now in respect to what they were before. I will tell you the reason why people eat meat: They eat mutton because they want to become nice, they eat poultry because they want to become winged like the Angels. You have this right. The problem is not in consuming such kind of food. When a certain food is restricted, it is because of the consideration not to cause suffering to the animals used for this purpose. I say that you may eat such food. When you go to the chicken coop and catch a hen, if it does not cluck, you may kill it and eat it, but if it clucks, leave it, it wants to live. In the same way, if a sheep bleats, leave it, it wants to live. So, you would do better if you ask them and see which sheep or hen is ready to live through you. Christ says, “I am the Living Bread and who eats Me will have eternal life.” We need to purify ourselves to be able to understand the words of Christ. We need to purify our sight and our mind. Our mind is a perfect tool, if we know how to use it, but it could be also very dangerous, if we do not know how to use it. It is your right to plough an empty field when you will sow it as you follow the natural Law. However, when you plough an already cropped field, you do a foolish thing. Some people say, “We need to think this over and criticize.” In their view, science cannot exist without criticism, but in what sense? Criticism that is like surgery, removing the diseased part of a human body, is useful, I understand this, but removing a healthy part is out of the question. It is not difficult to be such a surgeon, for each one is able to use a saw and cut off someone’s leg. All of you have this skill, but only a few know how to perform a surgical operation successfully. In order to learn it, we need to obey the Law of Virtue and Love in all cases. Do not think that I am preaching only peace and tranquility when I speak to you about Love. A person willing to love should endure the greatest suffering in the world. Who has not suffered cannot experience the Divine Principle of Love. In order to love God, we need to be ready for sacrifice, just as God sacrifices Himself for us. Your way to come to know Him is to say, “God, give us what we need.” “Give, give, give,” this call can be heard from the one end of the world to the other and currency has never been cheaper than it is now. Today, we all are receiving salaries probably three or four times higher than people had before, but again we think we do not have enough. Money is devaluated, for no goods correspond to it. Thus, we should ask for wheat, corn, pears, and apples. You say, “God, I want to be beautiful; I want to be rich!” You want to have many things, but do you know that it will be a disaster for you? If you become rich, you will be an object of criminal intentions and will need guards to keep you safe, like those rich Americans who take three or four bodyguards because they are exposed to blackmail at each step. We do not need riches, we need only those basic things that make our life good. We have neglected our emotional development, so we have to go back to that fundamental principle of training and ennobling our hearts. Negativity does not reside in the human mind but in the human heart. We shall, each one of us, ask our hearts about their own desires. It is our fault, for we have corrupted our hearts alone by making them repeatedly lie as some maid-servants do; by making them think negatively; and so on. God said in the Scriptures, “My son, give Me your heart!”[7] God knows and sees human faults, however, God requires no more from us than to open our hearts and let Him in. You will ask, “How?” We do this in the same way as we open a window to let the light come into the room. There are sayings, “A room full of light is not visited by doctors or diseases;” and “Where Light never enters, the doctor never leaves.” In the same way, no devil has admittance to the human heart where God dwells. If a doctor pays you a visit, he will say, “You need to eat more, drink more, do this and that.” We put up with all this until our backs break. We are often like the cameleer who traveled through the desert and whose camel could barely carry all the load. But when he found a fox skin on his way, he threw it on the camel too; and as a result of overloading, the camel’s back broke and all goods remained in the desert. The camel can carry only a certain amount of weight. We are like this camel, as we are also travelling. If we put on our backs a load that is heavier than we can carry, one day it is going to hinder our development. I do not recommend poverty to you, but to gather riches in three aspects: not only physical and intellectual but also spiritual. Heaven wants such wealthy people because they can be generous and when Christ says, “Lay up treasures in Heaven,”[8] He means such spiritual treasures. Deposit your capital in Heaven so that God may feed the poor on Earth by its interest. It is not the Angels who are working out our salvation; we need to do it by ourselves and we have all the favorable conditions for this. The Law does not require all of us to be equally learned - everyone should know only what is needed to them. Someone says, “I have a small brain,” but I ask then, “If you cannot take care of a foal, how could you take care of a big horse? If you have a small heart and cannot control it, how could you master a bigger heart with greater desires?” What should we do? In my opinion we should not think about the future, but rather take advantage and use for good all the benefits that the present day brings to us. It carries all the future blessings for us. The Law is that God, Who has given us provisions for this day, will do the same for all other days. We should better not think about what will happen to us in the future, but stay calm; there are certain laws regulating the human relationships. It is not by chance that someone causes harm, but it happens according to a Law. However, any misfortune will bring you a blessing; any obstacle will open a new horizon for you. You may test this at all times, so do not worry about the misfortune that may befall you. Some people ask me about the political situation in Bulgaria and what will happen to the country. Is that not strange? What has happened? Bulgaria has been massaged a little bit and that is all. Some load has been removed; Bulgaria was given a new experience and a new task to solve. Most people do not consider reasonably the Laws regulating Life, but we are looking for the guilty ones instead. Tell me: Who is guilty? You are not able to find the guilty ones now. The individual human life is to be blamed. When one wants to become a king of the others, he is guilty and the one who wants to dethrone the king, he is guilty too. It does not matter who the king is, this or that one, the third or fourth one; they all follow the same pattern. I do not say that one should not desire to become a king or a queen. But of what subjects? Of yourself only, of your mind, heart, and will-power. What is the state of your residents? Have you succeeded in mastering your thoughts, feelings, and desires; have you set yourselves in wellness and order? You should give an example to the world at first place. What preacher am I if I turn to the people telling them to be generous, but I am a miser; if I tell them not to steal, but I steal; or if I tell them not to lie, but I lie? A teacher who is teaching others should be a model for them and should first give them an example. Jesus, when He came down to teach the human beings, first gave them an example to follow and if we apply His Teaching, the world will be immediately transformed. A dynamic force is hidden within us, but we cannot use it because we do not know how to act properly. Once a prickle grew on the road, blocking people’s passage. Travelers passing by it hit it with their crooks, but the more they hit it, the more it grew until it began to overturn the carts. People did not know what to do. But then a pick came and said to the prickle, “I am going to show you my art now!” At first, the prickle laughed at it, thinking, “So many people could not do anything to me; will you frighten me then?” The pick began to undermine the prickle’s roots from far away. It dug deeper and deeper and at some point, the prickle said, “Yes, you have found my weak point.” Until you put a pick to work within you, the prickle inside will always laugh at you, saying, “I am going to grow more and more!” It is an allegory for you to comprehend. What is the pick? Think and find it out! We should be always in the place of a judge regarding our deeds. For example, in the American Civil War, two criminals - one blind and the other crippled, were apprehended, while stealing apples. The owner of the garden caught them and brought them before a judge. The blind one said to the judge, “I am blind; I did not steal, but I spread my hands and took some apples from the ground.” The crippled one shouted, “I have no legs, so I could not go to steal apples!” After some thought, the judge said, “Put the crippled man on the back of the blind one!” and he added, “He who has eyes has found the apple tree and he who has no legs but hands, has gathered the apples.” They were caught in that position. The same is true for the human being, each one of us is made of two beings: one is blind and the other is crippled. When God catches them at a crime scene, each one will claim, “I have not picked; I have not taken; I could not have been there!” God answers, “Put the first one on the back of the other!” and after that, He judges them. Who is the blind being? It is the human instinct. Who is the crippled being? It is the human mind. They both have decided to steal apples, the crippled on the back of the blind. But when they are caught, each one says, “Why do you blame me?” However, they are both guilty. Evolution is a prerequisite for us. Much greater blessings are in store for us, but we are to become enough learned, fairly good, and mature enough so that this heritage could be entrusted to us. These three things that I mentioned before: Virtue, Justice, and Wisdom; are great riches and if you have them, you will be healthy and happy. You will ask, “How can we apply this Teaching in the world?” I answer: We are not required to set the world right. The world has been set right and there are no abnormalities in it, for everything moves according to a set order. We know the reasons why events, natural or political, occur. We should not alter this flow. However, the individual transformation of each person in the world, male or female, is a necessity. When individuals transform themselves, their children, their sons and daughters, will be transformed too, and when their neighbors undergo this transformation too, the entire world will be set right. As the leaven is, so is the dough. It is the principle that Christ has established and He is working for its realization. Just as the chrysalis advances and is transformed into a butterfly, in the same way the world will be uplifted and changed for the better. The great unrest in it is due to all those who cannot create their own chrysalis and are worried about how they will spend the coming winter. The transformation therefore, should take place in our minds, as well as in our hearts and wills; and as soon as it occurs, we are going to sense that we also possess a certain inner power. Then we will be able to contact those Sublime Beings who have already advanced and whom we call Saints. As a result our minds will be enlightened in the same way as students are enlightened in the presence of their teachers. Saints are the Teachers of the humankind and we all shall follow their guidance, for they teach the world how to live. You will ask, “Where, at what place, are these Teachers? We do not see their images in the church.” It is because every object has a shadow by which we can find the object itself. Your desires are just a shadow in the world, as your aspirations are. If you want to grasp the essence, you must observe the Law: from your heart to move up to your mind and think about God. How can we visualize God? We can visualize Him as the most perfect Being, in Whom there is absolutely no malice or hatred. God loves human beings in the same way as real father loves his children. Such is the attitude of God toward us. What do you think: Is He listening to us or not? He is listening to us and He is working inside our minds. The good disposition that we have every day is due to Him. Just as the Sun makes us well-disposed every day after its rise, in the same way, the happy moments in life are due to this inner Sun that is shining within us. There are rises and settings in the spiritual life as well. The Sun rises high in your mature age; you are at your noon and you will set in your old age in order to rise up again. God will rise in many hearts and minds, but in many others He will not rise. Those individuals in whom the Divine will rise are going to feel joy and gladness; but those in whom It will not rise will say, “Life is misfortune, sorrow, and suffering.” They need to wait. Why? It is because no conditions exist in them for rising. If the Sun rises in them prematurely, it will be a disaster, so it is better for them to rest now. I do not say that they are going to die, not in the least. I only quote a Law. When I speak about setting, everyone associates it with dying. What is death? It is a supposition. Everyone needs to die in order to be able to tell what death is because now you are only presuming. In one of his stories, Tolstoy tells the following: He met a Russian monk, 85 years old, white bearded and asked him, “What were the reasons compelling you to become a monk?” The monk told him his story in short, “I come from a royal family. When I was between 21–25 years old, my parents wanted me to marry a princess. At that time I fell into an lethargic sleep. Doctors came and checked my pulse. ‘His heart does not beat,’ they said and wanted to have me buried. I said to myself, ‘Is this really death?’ I was unable to give them a sign that I was alive. My fiancee came with her father and I heard that he was advising her to cry a little bit so that people would think that she loved me. She answered, ‘I never loved him but his wealth. And then I told myself, ‘If God brings me back to life, I would live in a different way.” How awful it is to be alive and not to be able to tell people about it; how awful it is to see everyone weeping and not to be able to show them that you are alive! How many people have been buried in this way? There is nothing more horrible than to be buried alive. The greatest misfortune is to remain for days and months in the ground and not to be able to separate from your body; that is the worst prison, just like hell. If we are pure, we will know when the soul leaves the body and will never pass through such suffering. When a doctor states that someone is dead, people say right away, “Take him!” They make a nice coffin and carry him in it with music and songs. Where is their love? That is the love of fellowmen and of society! Someone tells you, “I love you.” In what way? Is it in the way a cat loves a mouse or a wolf loves a sheep? It is also love, but the world only suffers from such love. The Love needed in the world is to love others helping them to be happy like us. That is why Christ says, “He who trusts Me will do what I do and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, Who will come and dwell in him.”[9] You ask, “What will happen to Bulgaria?” I ask what will happen to you. You do not know that the Devil has taken all your property; he has sold even your skin. Yet you ask what will happen to Bulgaria. Bulgaria, it is you. Pray to God to help you in expelling this uninvited guest from you, to help you in preserving your property: your mind and your heart. The Devil is to be blamed for all this suffering, but you should not be angry with him. I approve of him only in one aspect: he is very industrious and does not get discouraged. If you chase him out of one door, he enters through another; if he does not succeed one way, he tries a second, a third, and a fourth way. It is an excellent and encouraging trait of his. God says, “Take an example from him, as he is a teacher of people, teaching them lessons and he will teach everyone.” After he has lied and lied to you, finally you are going to tell him, “We have already learned your lies and you cannot lie to us anymore.” One person said to a friend, “You cannot lie to my monkey.” His friend went to the monkey and pretended to be asleep. The monkey also closed its eyes and at that time he took the money. The master of the monkey came home and punished it. Next time, the monkey will keep its eyes open, as it knows what will follow. With the experience we get after we have suffered, we shall tell the Devil, when he comes, “My eyes are open!” If you begin to suffer, say, “I have not yet passed through the whole process of the grain of wheat.” When your minds and hearts are transformed and perfected, then you will attain the image and likeness of God and God will lift you up in the same way as the Sun revives the sown grain of wheat. Lecture given by the Master, March 23, 1914, Sofia. ------------------------------------------------ 1. Grosh is an old Bulgarian word for a penny. 2. Wheat in Bulgarian - жито 3. See also Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” 4. See John 6:51. 5. “Why” in Bulgarian - защо? 6. See Matthew 10:37. 7. See footnote 11 on page 24. 8. See also Matthew 6:19–20, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” 9. See also John 14:21.

from The Blossoming of the Human Soul BEHOLD THE MAN “Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”[1] John 19:5 The Bulgarian word chovek or chelovek (old style), which is translated as “man” in English, refers to a being who can live for more than a century. However, in the ancient language in which this phrase was written, the word chovek refers to Jesus, the Man, who came to the Earth; the Brother of those who suffer. What is the meaning of this word? When we go into the world, would people say about us, “Behold the Man?” To deserve this name, one should possess four qualities: wealth, strength, knowledge, and virtue. Some may ask, “What has wealth to do with this?” Wealth represents the soil, in other words, the conditions under which humans can develop; it is the foundation necessary for attaining strength. Strength brings warmth and light that results in growth and development. Knowledge involves understanding and the regulation of our lives. Virtue, on the other hand, is the goal people need to strive for. Plant a grain of wheat and it will show you what you should do. “How?” you may ask. Water it and the sunrays will guide the grain of wheat toward the Sun, toward the source of life. Similar to the grain of wheat, we need to grow, to strive for God. But someone may ask, “Can the grain of wheat reach the Sun while growing? Will I reach God?” You do not need to know where God is, you only need to strive toward Him. The grain of wheat knows what the Sun is and has received what it needs from it. The same Law is true for people and we need to produce the same result: we need to be sown. We are going inevitably to meet hardships in our lives, small but necessary obstacles, as in the case with the grain of wheat. Some pressure is needed so that the process of growth and true Knowledge can begin. When we bear fruit, we already have Virtue. Therefore, we need to be sown, covered with soil, and experience some pressure. After that, we should grow up and should attain Knowledge. And that Knowledge, after growing to a certain extent, should be immediately transformed into a grain of wheat. After we attain Knowledge, the Master will order the wheat to be harvested, separating the useful from the useless; the wheat from the chaff. While our birth is similar to wheat sprouting, our death is similar to the threshing of wheat. From the threshing floor, the Lord will take what He needs. This corresponds to the barn and the granary: the chaff is placed in the barn and the grain is placed in the granary. I read the 19th chapter of the Gospel of John to remind you of the four things that Christ carried on the cross, the four things that we need to learn. Virtue was on His head, which was not nailed; on the left side was Knowledge; on the right side was Strength; and below, at His feet, was Wealth. These four together represent the crucified man. In other words, when we nail Wealth, Strength, and Knowledge; their essence rises up to the head, toward Virtue. Whenever God wants to do something good for someone, He nails this one to the cross; He nails one’s wealth, strength, and knowledge to create a virtuous person. What does it mean “to nail”? It means that God is securing the person so that no one can take him away; no one can be that person’s master because God is his Master. God says, “Stay calm when I am working.” But since man does not want to stay calm, God says, “Nail him down so that he will be calm while I am working.” When we are being nailed to the cross, we should not cry because God is working for our improvement. Those who are not nailed to the cross are unhappy. Whoever wants God’s attention should pass through this process of development. I am speaking allegorically. Before this process of development can take place, steadfast faith in the universal Divine Plan is required. We should not have doubt in God because He is perfect and almighty. Jesus said, “Things impossible to men are possible to God.”[2] The ways of God are unfathomable. Do not think that God’s ways can be distorted and obstructed. When we are called upon to walk the Divine path, we should have the simple faith, which children have. We should avoid any shortcomings as the ones illustrated in the following story. A great artist in England wanted to portray extreme poverty. For days and months, he roamed the streets of London to find a subject corresponding to his idea. Finally, he found a child dressed in rags who appealed to his heart and he thought, “This is going to be the model for my painting.” He approached the child, gave him a card with his address, and said to him, “Come to my place in four days, I have something to talk to you about.” The child, looking at the well-dressed gentleman, thought, “How can I go to this man in rags?” The boy decided to borrow clothes from his friends so he could look presentable. But when the child went to the painter, the man asked, “Who are you?” When the painter realized it was the poor boy, he said, “Go away! If I wanted someone dressed like this, there would have been thousands to choose from. I needed you dressed in rags like when I first saw you.” When Heaven invites us to work, we, too, wish to dress well. However, our power is not in our clothes, hats, gloves, shoes, collars, ties, or watches. These are not of any importance. The power is in our minds, in our hearts, in our noble impulses and aspirations to do good. When we have these, all others will come in time. When we go to Heaven, do we need to take our clothes? God does not want our rags, so He says, “Bring him the way he is.” When a person dies, it is common for most people to turn away from him. Even loved ones say, “Take him away as soon as possible.” Where is their love then? Only God does not turn away from him, but says, “Bring him to Me just the way he is.” When we are placed in the grave and left there, what is God doing? He begins conversing with us; the soul is not immediately liberated as some people think. He asks us, “Have you understood the meaning of the life that I gave to you?” During this conversation, God is painting His masterpiece. The people who have said goodbye to the departed person begin weeping and reciting his good qualities. These people see the Divine painting in these qualities. We need to endure the suffering we experience and learn from it. With His earthly suffering, Jesus wanted to provide us with an example of surrendering to this Divine process. He points out, “Do I not have the power to ask my Father to send thousands of Angels to rescue me? But if I do not fulfill that for which I have come, how will human beings be raised up?[3] Jesus desired to ascend to the Heavens. You are on Earth and one day, you will experience turmoil as well and maybe even the same fate as Jesus. But when this moment comes, do not consider it as a misfortune, for without suffering, there can be no gain. Where there is sorrow, there is joy; where there is death, there is resurrection. Those who do not want to participate in the suffering of humankind will gain nothing. After all, what is suffering? It is a consequence of the errors made in the past due to our ignorance. These errors are corrected through the process of suffering. This process is a method of accepting and attaining the sublime elevating vibrations that awaits us in Heaven. One needs to endure a hundred sorrows in order to experience one Divine joy. Only then can a person properly appreciate and retain Divine joy. That is why God tempers us with sorrow, the same way as a blacksmith tempers the iron to make it fit for work, so that we can endure the joy that will come later. Each of us is needed, very much needed by God. To the world, you may be valueless, but for God, you are an important part of the whole. Only God, Who has sent us to the Earth, values our suffering. Therefore, you should not be concerned with what the world thinks of you. The One who has sent you here thinks about you and values you. It is important for you to have God’s approval. If God is with you, you will be beautiful and the world loves the beautiful ones; if He is with you, you will be wealthy, strong, and good; goodness is always honored. Now I would like to speak to you about God. I will not talk about an abstract Being scattered into space and difficult to reach, as presented by many philosophers, but about God Who thinks of us, Who observes our actions, corrects, punishes, dresses and undresses us; and Who allows us to be born and to die. What is dying? Dying occurs when God performs “surgery” and observing that you will lose a lot, shortens the process of your life. As if He says, “To prevent creating more debt, take away the capital that I gave to this person. Times are not favorable now, let him come at a different time, bring him to Me now.” During this process, it is possible to think that the world has forgotten us. But even when the world has forgotten us, God is still thinking of us. And the world shall forget us. A girl can never marry if she is in love with many young men; she needs to choose one of them claiming, “He is my world.” This fact is true for faith as well. There must be only one God. In this world there are many gods who would like to sway you, but you need to find your God who will help you to live, evolve, and grow. It is said in the Scriptures, “God is not only in Heaven; He abides within the hearts of the meek.”[4] Therefore, in order for God to live within you, the first quality you need to attain is humility. But this is not the humility of a sheepish person. When you are beaten or someone breaks your leg, it is not right to think, “There is nothing I can do.” It is not humility when all your wealth is taken away to say, “We became humble.” Humility is when you have all the wealth, power, knowledge, goodness; and being aware of your blessings to say, “God, everything I have is Yours.” Many people today show interest in preaching the Gospel and participate actively in organizing the affairs of the world, yet at the same time, they are unwilling to make any self-sacrifice. As soon as God touches their overfilled purses, these people cry out, “Ah, this is not permitted! We may give half of what we have but not everything.” When it comes to power, they say, “You cannot dispose me of all my power.” But whenever we find ourselves in need, we pray to God to lead and help us. This kind of human understanding of life has dominated philosophies for thousands of years. All our misfortunes come because of this understanding. Through His life, Jesus wants to show us the path. Many people think that once they become Christians, they should leave the secular life. You may give up your houses, riches, wives, children and still think about them. You may go to some secluded monastery and still think, “What is happening to my wife, my children, my house?” And that means that you have not given them up, so you are not free. To give up things does not mean exactly forgetting about them. It means that you leave people to do what they wish: allow your wife to act as she wants; leave your son to act as he would like. To renounce the world means to abandon it, not to be in its way and allow life to follow its course. We cannot stop the flow of a river. We should let it follow its own way. We can only do one thing: make use of it. In the same way we cannot stop life, but we should make use of things. Jesus, clearly and positively told us, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.”[5] And we should love Him. He did not say, “Pity on you if you do not love Me!” The Lord never requires forced sacrifices from us. People say, “Why does the almighty God not put the world in order?” How shall He put it in order? “Those who tell lies, let their tongue wither; those who steal, let their hand wither.” If that was the case, we would have a world of mute and crippled people. Would a world of handicapped people be pleasant? In fact, God gives a totally opposite ruling. He goes along with the opposite of this process, saying that whoever wants to be a master should become a servant. Strong people usually desire that all rivers flow into their river; but when goodness is present, the process is completely the opposite. God flows into small rivers and instead of directing them; He allows them to rule themselves. You can conduct a small experiment in your home. Remove the thought that you rule and instead strive to become a servant for God. And then you will come down to God’s Place. You seek God in Heaven, but He is not there; when you moan and suffer, He is within you. What people call growth and advancement indicates the fact that God is at work in this process. God is the best Worker. Some complain, “Why does God not see our suffering?” Yet, He tells, “I am so busy with your affairs, I have no time. I am occupied with your important issues. When I have some free time, I am going to look into your trivial, petty disagreements.” This is not an allegory but a reality. There is a verse in the Scriptures where the Lord says, “I was in Israel as a loaded wagon into which people constantly place everything.”[6] The suffering we experience here is the Lord’s suffering. He suffers and weeps within us. We say, “I weep. My soul is full of grief.” However, when we say, “Lord, forgive me. With my impure thoughts and actions I have caused You much suffering,” we will come to that true path that will deliver us from everyday evil. We should allow our Lord to become stronger within us. We have tied Him with ropes and nailed Him. We need to lay Him in the grave and leave Him there at peace. Only then will He resurrect us and set us free. Be sure of one thing: we are the ones who obstruct His path. It is the human beings and not the devil obstructing God’s way. Because God has established the Law of Freedom, He cannot and does not want to change this Law. Unless we come to this understanding, unless we voluntarily surrender, He will not deliver us. The striving to become like Him needs to penetrate us. We need to be engulfed by the striving to become God-like. Then, we are going to use our wealth, power, and virtues for uplifting our brethren, our fellow man. Each one of you needs to search and value the souls of your brethren, rather than their bodies. I can tell you that Jesus, Who came down here, has not left the Earth even now. He is living and working among humans and it is time for Him to rise within us. We need to have true faith, not fearful faith as the Jews who said, “We have no other king but Caesar.” However, a few years later, when Caesar destroyed Jerusalem and demolished their temple, they renounced him. Even now a person may say, “Caesar is my king,” but the consequences will be the same. Let me explain. We need to live first in this world in order to be prepared for the World beyond. We cannot live in Heaven because the heat and light there are very high. As a gardener transplants pine trees brought down from a higher elevation, he makes various grafts until the trees are acclimated. Similarly, our Heavenly Father cannot take us from here and transplant us in the Garden of Eden without first preparing us. Even our educational system is organized in a similar manner: first we must pass first grade, then second, then high school, college and university, and lastly we enter the world. These are methods of the New Culture and those who want to advance should follow these guidelines. In my opinion, we should not be foolish and say, “I do not need to do anything, God will provide all for me.” When you have ploughed your field, you sow the wheat because if you do not sow the wheat, what will God give you? He will give you weeds and thistles. Cultivate your vineyard and it will bear fruit. Whatever vine you plant, it will produce the appropriate fruit. If you plant low-quality vine twigs, it will produce sour grapes. God gave your child a good mind, but what did you plant in it? Were these the seeds that would bear good fruit? We desire to be virtuous, strong, and wealthy. We can have it all: virtue, strength, and wealth and it is necessary to have them. The conditions under which these can thrive and develop are: Divine seed, Divine Law, and Divine balance. Balance represents the Virtue, Law is the Knowledge, conditions represent the strength, and seed stays for the abundance. But you will ask me how to find God. It is very easy. Someone wanted to make fun and to tease his companion who told him, “We are in an orchard in which there are many beautiful apples.” “But I see nothing,” he answered closing his eyes. His friend slapped the other person’s face, causing him to open his eyes and see. God sometimes slaps us in the face so that we can see. Those of you whose eyes are closed should desire to open them. People of today argue and say, “Where is God? God is in the trees, stones, and ground.” However, it is when adversities come that people look up and seeing Him there, they cry out, “Oh, Lord!” Adversities are the God’s slap in the face, telling us, “I created you to see, not to keep your eyes closed.” In order to advance, we need to become like children, to search and be receptive. I will tell you something else now, related to the method we should use in our work. We should always be connected through our minds and hearts with all people on Earth because our salvation comes from our united prayers. There is power in unity. When minds and hearts of people become united, then the Kingdom of God will come to Earth. We should not look for faults in a friend whom we truly love, for we may have faults too. Shortcomings are the outer garment that a person wears. However, the human soul is pure, it cannot be spoiled, nor can it be destroyed. No one is able to defile your Divine soul. Externally, it may become soiled, but it will remain pure internally because God dwells within it. It is unthinkable that something that God protects could be destroyed. We may submit to the world just as per the words of Christ when Pilate said to Him, “I have the authority to crucify you.” And He replied, “I submit to that One Who has given you this authority, but My soul is free.”[7] We need to submit to transient suffering. We cannot understand it now, but after we die and resurrect, we are going to understand the reason for suffering. Until now, all people have suffered torments and fears in life, but this is not true Life. Life is when one is filled with noble feelings. A person who is able to do selfless acts is happy. If someone treats you badly, you may not want to take off your hat or shake hands with that person in greeting. Or you may shake hands, but not in a sincere way; you may also take off your hat, but without the genuine feeling of respect. Usually, we take off our hat to a person in a higher position, but with this gesture, somehow we say, “Can you give me a promotion?” In the Black Sea, there is a devil fish which “greets” all it encounters. People, too, grasp someone by the hand. Why? The devilish fingers of the human hand speak a lot. For example, the little finger says, “Can you give me some money? I need to start a business. I have losses, I was robbed. Will you help me?” The ring finger says, “I would like the fame and knowledge of an artist.” The middle finger, “I want my rights and privileges.” The index finger, “I need to be respected and honored.” The thumb, “I want power and skills.” The greeted one, if the will and chance is there, will give these things to the other person. And so, the two of them, later taking a third one in their company, go into the society and form a group, but they cannot find what they are looking for. Finally, Jesus said, “Whatever you are searching for: wealth, strength, knowledge, and goodness—I can give you all this. There is no one among you who has left his father and mother for Me and who has not received a hundred fold in the future Life.”[8] Behold the Man Who can shake hands with us and Who can give us everything: wealth, strength, knowledge, and goodness. Yet people shouted, “Take Him away, crucify Him!” And Pilate remarked to them, “You are losing Him!”[9] Jesus is before you today as well. I am telling you, behold the Man Who you are searching for. The only Man Who can bring tranquility to your hearts; Who can give you a bright mind, health, social position; Who can uplift you, show you the way and illuminate your thoughts. Yet, in your doubt, you say, “Show Him to us so that we can see Him.” I will present to you a comparison. In the distance, a person appears at night carrying a small candle and I say to you, “Behold the man who brings you light.” However, you only see the candle and not the person. When will you see him? You will see him when the Sun rises. Search for this Light that the Man is carrying; it will help you find the path that you need to walk. This is how you should understand this concept. Let me give you another, clearer comparison. Imagine that I lead you to a lavish but dark living room and tell you, “This is a room with beautiful decorations, with big riches. There, in that corner, is this; in the other corner, that and that.” You reply, “It could be possible, but who knows? I see nothing.” However, if I bring a small lit candle, then the nearest objects can be seen; if I bring a candle with a bigger light, the objects become even more visible. If I light more candles, gradually the room becomes brighter and brighter. When the electric light is on, the objects are clear and when the daylight comes, everything can be seen. The world is like this room and each of us needs to be a bearer of light, to carry a candle. When we all enter with our lit candles and place them together, we will increase the light and will be able to see more. Our brains are similar to candles. I do not like people who carry extinguished candles but people who carry lit candles as on the night of Good Friday. Everyone should be like a lit candle. A devoted, loving, and good person is a lit candle. It is a great mistake for a person to be an extinguished candle. You ask what to do. You should pray for each other. You should send forth good thoughts to your friends, pray for them, and ask to be blessed; when God blesses them, He will bless you too. But why should we pray? In the summer of 1899, there was a great drought in the region of Novi Pazar.[10] The Turks from the nearby thirty-nine villages gathered together and prayed for rain. And the rain came. The Bulgarians thought, “If God is sending rain to them, He will send it to us too.” But no rain fell over their villages and their stock became emaciated from hunger. When other people are praying, you should pray too; you should hand in also your humble prayers. God will not keep a special file about you if you do not pray. Prayer is a great power and people of today should be people of prayer. Through prayer we will prepare our minds and hearts. We should pray not only for ourselves because doing so is selfish. I do not want to deal with the minds of people, but rather with their hearts because all malice is hidden there. The Lord Himself says, “My son, give Me your heart.”[11] We need to begin now with a thorough cleaning as we do for Easter, to open the windows and clean the floor. We all groan when we are burdened. There is disharmony everywhere. Husband and wife cannot come to an agreement; they divide the house and money. The wife is displeased that her husband keeps the money. It does not matter whether the husband or the wife keeps the money. Reach an agreement on who will be in charge. People argue who will hold the first place at home: the hen or the rooster. What is this issue about the hen and the rooster? It is not important in life. Something else is more important. Jesus has come and He is working. When Light comes, it comes gradually, silently, without noise. Jesus will not come like a thunder, as some expect. This may also happen, but Jesus will not be there. The prophet Elijah went to the desert and devoted himself to prayer and fast. When storm and fire came, Elijah covered his eyes, yet God was not in the storm and fire, but in the still Voice that spoke to the prophet. God is not in your suffering, your power, or your knowledge. Where is He? He is in Love. If you have Love, He is within you. If you do not have Love, He is absent. And you should love, that is the Law. Some people do not love, but expect others to love them. This is similar to sitting in front of a stove and waiting for someone else to bring wood so that we can get warm. We alone should collect this fuel, which others can use as well. We, the followers of Jesus, Who has given us abundant strength, should finally allow Him to come and reside within us. Now I am leaving this Man with you. Are you going to welcome or crucify Him? Are you going to let Him in, or will you say, “We do not want Him?” This is the question that you need to answer. If you say, “Let Him in, He is our Lord,” you have properly answered the question and the blessings will come. Then the words in the Scriptures will be fulfilled, “I and My Father will come and We will make Our Home with you.”[12] Then the Light will be in us and we will all reconcile. Lecture by the Master Beinsa Douno, held on March 16 (Gregorian calendar of the 29th century), 1914, in Sofia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. All quotes are from the Holy Bible, most being taken from the New King James, Version (NKJV). 2. See Luke 18:27. 3. See also Matthew 26:53–54, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of Angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” 4. See also 1John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the Love that God has for us. God is Love and he who abides in Love abides in God and God in him.” 5. See also John 14:15. 6. See also Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” 7. See also John 19:10–11. 8. See also Matthew 19:29, “And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal Life.” 9. See also John 19:13–16. 10. A town in Northern Bulgaria. 11. See also Proverbs 23:26, “My son, give Me your heart and let your eyes observe My ways.” 12. See also John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our Home with him. ”