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Note 1 Martha and Mary But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:40 –42) A lot has been said about Martha and Mary. They represent two principles of the human soul – the passive and the active one. In Martha and Mary we have two women, two opposite characters, two conditions of the human heart: one is calm, quiet, speechless, a mind focused on an eternal principle and grounded on an eternal basis, and the other, like the sea waves or the twigs – constantly swaying and surging. Jesus, however, points out to Martha what is important by saying, “You are worried about many things” – things that are insignificant, beyond reality. Mary, on the other hand, opts for something more significant. Most of you fall into these two categories – some are like Martha, others are like Mary. The “Maries” are generally noble women. They are nice, well built, beautiful in the face, their eyes are gentle, the forehead is symmetrical, the nose is straight; they are kind-hearted, tender, sympathetic and considerate. “Mary” in Hebrew means salty water. A Mary gives salt to the world; thanks to her it does not go bad, rotten or sour. When you bear Mary’s principle at heart, you do not get spoiled. “Martha” derives from “mara”, which means bitter, sour, wild; so this principle in you is always unruly, angry and displeased. All this is not because it is ill willed, but because it is too active; wherever it goes it demands the way open. If she is a Martha, you will see her early in the morning when she gets up raise hue and cry in the house, all the servants on the alert, and when she raises the broom everybody runs away. She says, “I want the place neat and tidy.” You can find her at school, at court – everywhere. She is necessary. Yet you should not give her more credit than the other. Both principles are equally important. Two other principles are related to these ones. I define them as the principle of the inferior and the principle of the superior. The principle represented by Mary stands for the superior, which shows us how we should serve God, live in harmony with the High Creatures, the angels, and the saints that know more than we do. They know how to obey – we have to sit quietly and calmly at the feet of the Master to learn from him. You will ask, “Who are the masters?” - He is one. I know only one Master. He may have 250,000 hairs on His head, but this does not mean that they are masters. A tree may have many branches and twigs, but they are not trees. Yet it is one common life that runs through the tree and its branches. The unity in your mind should stand in the same way. So when the Master comes you should listen to the spirit within you, no matter whether you are men or women. You should listen to the voice of this soft tenderness and Love. Love is not sour. What do you like in life? Let us imagine that the world is full of Marthas – all of them holding brooms, raising dust and shouting – what kind of music can this be? I believe that the houses would be neat and tidy, we would be wearing pretty clothes, everything would be in perfect order, but there would not be any life. On the other hand, if all were Maries, then everything would be salty, but what would have to become salty if there were no Marthas? Mary refers to something else, to a different principle, a different basis. The superior principle, Mary, shows us the way in which we have to serve God individually. This service will make our lives meaningful. As long as we understand the inner sense of our souls, we will be able to understand those round us. Once we have learned the first, superior principle – to submit to God – we will be able to learn the other principle - to obey all the inferior elements, the inferior principle. So when modern science claims that it wants to subdue Nature, I see is as a desire to subdue Martha, who is so unruly. We need to learn to be good masters. One who has not learned to submit to God and serve Him cannot be a good master. Any of us who wants to be a master has to learn how to be a servant to God and obey Him. One has to learn the law and sit just like Mary at Jesus’ feet. And Jesus said, “Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her.” Let me give an example to illustrate the idea. It can be a legend. Paganini, the great violin player, while touring round Europe, met a sixty-year-old fiddler. The poor man was playing in the street, his hands trembling, his eyes bleared, and an empty pot for coins at his feet. When Paganini took his fiddle and started playing, dozens of on-lookers gathered to listen to him. He played for more than twenty minutes and everybody started throwing coins in the pot. He played until the pot was filled with silver. This is how Paganini helped the poor man. The poor man was sitting at Paganini’s feet, just as Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. He did not say, “Let me see what will come out of this.” He just listened to the master’s music. “Yes, I can see now my great teacher, the master of life.” The pot is a vessel containing all the good thoughts. When the great master comes to play for you, your vessel will be filled with noble thoughts and desires. Then you will not be feeble and weak, but young, agile, and good. I would like you to do the same thing. You should devote your lives to this because when Christ praises Mary, he means, “I do not want you to give me all your time. I need only the time you know how to use, no matter how little it is. You are free to do whatever you want in the time you are busy doing your duties.“ The great teaching does not at all imply that we should leave aside all our other duties. However, the hour devoted to Mary should be sacrificed. Paganini does not always stop to give a hand. This is actually quite rare. He leaves his violin and goes away. In the same away, Christ will stop by you when you are bored or upset, when you feel useless or have lost the point in life. Then he will stop, take your violin and play for you. It is true happiness to see a great master play or draw. This is what we need to learn – standing in awe in front of God and obeying Him. Through submission we will be able to adopt all great virtues. What gives rise to conflicts among people? People are sulky, not mild and gentle. If all people were mild and gentle, life would be happy both inwardly and outwardly. If people lived in mutual respect, making concessions, there would be great harmony in life. I do not find lucky people who are constantly quarrelling, as they actually grumble against God. All I hear is the grumbles of scholars, priests, doctors, professors, and preachers. Priests and doctors are not pleased with their fees as they find them insufficient. When they say that God gave them less than the others, this is already grumbling. The shepherd will say that his pen is too small. The scholar is also displeased with his inadequate skills and abilities. Who is to blame? Always God! This does not apply only to you who are attending this lecture – everybody else grumbles. The law of the superior is that there should always be gratitude and love pouring toward God. Some ask, “Where is God? How can we find Him?” Even small children are able to find God. Philosophers have been trying to prove where God is for 2,000 years – whether He is in the skies, among the stars, on earth, or in the human heart. They are still searching for Him, but nobody has found Him yet. Preachers claim that He is in the human heart; astronomers believe He is in the universe. Some say that he exists, others that He does not. I shall present to you a figure to illustrate the grounds philosophers find. Imagine that God, just like the Sun, rises in the east and sets in the west each 24 hours. Imagine also that when God rises, you fall asleep and you are asleep until He sets, and that when He sets, you wake up and keep looking for Him throughout the night. As you cannot find Him, you fall asleep again at dawn, and when He sets, you continue looking for him during the night. You have been looking for Him for a day or two, for a month or two, for years, but in vain. My advice is to change things – sleep at night, wake up in the morning at sunrise and you will see God, you will find Him. I can see Him every day. I sleep during the night and at the crack of dawn I get up to meet Him. This is the philosophy of life. God rises like a sun. What is it that modern people do? They go to concerts, parties and to the theatre, and when God rises, they are asleep. They are aristocrats of the noble morning! All people who sleep in the morning and during the day belong to the culture of the owls. That is the reason why they suffer. This night culture should be replaced with day culture. When dawn cracks, you will get up and wait for at least half an hour for God to show His face to you so that you can draw energy, strength and health on Him. Then you will feel fit and agile to fight during the whole day. Some philosophers say that God is an aristocrat, He does not accept everybody and we should dress up for Him. I will give you a counter-argument: when the sun rises all animals, no matter good or bad, beautiful or ugly, appear in the attire they have. God shines above everybody – snakes and lizards, mosquitoes and harmful bugs. He never says, “You should hide in your den.” So you can appear in front of God as you are and bask. This is the point in life. We do not suffer because there are too many snakes on earth – their number is definite, they are in their place, but if their number doubles, this surplus will be by all means eliminated. The same refers to wolves. So, if you do not harness any thought and desire you have, if you have not learned how to serve God, thoughts and desires will rule over you. Then, by the same law, just like you defy God, your thoughts and desires will act against you. If you apply this theory in practice, you will experience its effect. Some say, “Let us cultivate the world and the people,” I do not believe in cultivation, because all people are separate cells of the Divine organism, of the Divine body. Every one of them should cultivate itself. I cannot order you, as this would be a sacrilegious act – to lie to God. I do not want to give orders. Why? Because people belong to God and I do not have the right to dispose with what does not belong to me. I have the right to be only the master of my own thoughts and desires. I can order only them and be the servant to everything that is beyond me. You should do the same. Then we shall descend to the inferior elements – to the unreasonable. What does the Bible say in Chapter 1? God created heaven and then the earth. Heaven is Mary, and the earth is Martha to me. The earth was still unorgnised, thus sour. Scholars say that when Martha appeared, there were storms, hurricanes, fire and steam surrounding her, so God told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried too much. Progress is not there. Mary has chosen that good part – look up.” Then the earth, Martha, looked up and started rotating round its axis and the sun. This is how life formed round it - many creatures and finally man came into being. When God completed His work, He said, "Everything round Martha is well. And then came the second day, followed by others till the seventh day. Some of you are Marthas. They make noise, fire pouring out of their hearts and minds. There are no lakes, nor rivers and the great Master said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried too much. There is only one thing that is necessary. Look up and you will find it there. This is what will give you some sense.” When you raise your eyes, too, your spirit will start moving in the right direction round its centre, and then you will find the point in life. Having a meaningful life means to have a centre round which you can move. This centre will send for you everything that is necessary every day. So, God created both Martha and Mary in us – they are the two poles of the human soul. I might explain to you some day the inherent significance of the two principles, acting in this world. However, when too much is said, the accumulated knowledge cannot be applied and forms accretions embarrassing to people to the extent that they are at a loss. Once a student at the Evangelist School, attending a lesson in Bulgarian grammar, which he failed to comprehend, approached his teacher and asked him, “There are so many grammar books - Grigirov’s, Iconomov’s, etc. - that I don’t know which one to use. Which one would you recommend?” The boy kept asking his teacher, until finally he told him, “Look here, I do not care what Grigorov’s or Iconomov’s grammar teach. You have to follow my explanations," So, when God comes to you, you tell Him, “ There are many philosophers – Kant, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy – their philosophies clash. Whose philosophy are we to follow?” God will tell you, “You will do as I tell you.” So, when you want to follow the Divine truth, you will have to focus on your own soul; then you will see life differently. You will build up different abilities and you will be able to see that you are surrounded by other creatures, far greater and more creative and then you will say, ‘How blind we were!” Now I am asking those of you who are thinking: if you were in the position of an ant and a philosopher stepped on you, what would you think of his feet? You would say, “A huge rock fell upon me and crashed me.” Yet this huge rock is just a small part of the giant. Sometimes you say, “Destiny is chasing me.” This, however, is nothing but the foot of a great philosopher, who has stepped on you. You should never stand in the way of philosophers, as they will never stop because of you. They are following their way and if you step in their path, their feet will crash you. When you come to complain to me, I will tell you to stay out of this philosophers’ path, because you are just ants. You should seek other paths. This is the philosophy of life. When I see someone unhappy, I look up and see a giant who has crashed the poor fellow. So, God created the world as well as all other worlds. There are 18,000,000 suns in The Milky Way, each of them having its own orbit and staying at 25-milliard km away from the other so that they cannot collide. It is God who determined these orbits. Likewise, He traced a certain path and gave you a definite space, bidding you never to cross the lines of your kingdom. You want to negotiate with other kingdoms; the men and women from two kingdoms started negotiating their merge into one kingdom but soon they fell out. Why did they have a row? Let everyone reign in his or her own kingdom. Someone will say, “Let’s keep our money in one place to have it safe.” Everyone should keep their own money in their own purse. Do not trust your money anyone. Whoever you trust here on earth, he will steal it. That is why Jesus told us to bring our wealth up in heaven. Up, Up! This is the true point in life. So, it is not our fault that we want to change the life God destined for us. I know people who hate someone so much that they are haunted by him. Let him go, and hold onto God. It is God who gives you light, so you should let Him in you sacred soul. People nowadays are very religious: they have their gods of labour, of glory, of strength and they burn incense to worship them. Throw away all those idols or take a hammer and smash them. Then sit at your Master’s feet to find out about the inner, deep meaning of your life. This is what Christ wants to tell us – that the good, which Mary bears, cannot be taken away from her. You are worried about many things, saying, “I have this, I have that.” You are the master of these things, so you should throw them away. I have noticed some masters sit in a chair, just like me now, giving orders. The master needs something that he himself is perfectly able to take, but instead he rings the bell. Nobody turns up. He keeps calling and finally he starts yelling at his servants. Well, why don’t you stand up to take what you need? You can do it yourself. Your shoes are only five feet away from you, yet you ring the bell for your maid to come and give them to you. Do not throw tantrums. Pick up what you need yourself, because your calm and peace are worth more than being served. Do it by yourself and scold your maid for not coming on time. This is what God requires of us, because the maid does not serve you; she serves someone else. Sometimes I tell you that I am a servant, but not your servant – I am a servant to God. In London, a Baptist preacher, Spurgeon, to make himself look more important wrote on his visit card: “A Christian Brother is waiting outside for you.” On the other side he wrote, “Tell him that I am busy now.” If someone comes to see you, you can tell him that you are busy with his Master. The maid you called to bring you your shoes did not turn up because she was busy talking to her Master, and if you disturb her, her master will scold you. This is the greatest philosophy, which people nowadays have to learn. We all have to be God’s servants. When we learn this great law, we will establish normal relationships. I observe people – if you are well disposed, you like people, but if you do not feel disposed, if you have got up in the wrong side, then you are cross with everyone. This state of mind can go on for a week or a month; we call it a new philosophy – pessimism, and the people - pessimists. If you want to justify someone who has a certain fault, you say. “He is a pessimist.” You are all philosophers. The Bulgarians are better philosophers than Schopenhauer - they all share this pessimism. A Bulgarian can be easily discouraged and disappointed and then Schopenhauer’s philosophy comes – Martha comes. What I want to tell you is only this: you are obliged to submit to God. If you have not served him, no wonder all this misfortune has befallen you. There is no other destiny for you and the day you obey God and your fate, everybody else will succumb to you. This is the teaching about Martha and Mary. Mary is heaven and Martha is the earth. Mary is everything noble in the heart, while Martha is everything mean in it. Mary is the noble mind, which theosophists refer to as manas, while Martha is the inferior manas. When you go home (and I can see your magnificent homes), you should say, “Come Mary, come Martha, you are two good sisters.” Christ is the superior Spirit, the high Principle. If Mary had spoken to Martha, she should have told her, “Let me listen first for a while and then I will help you.” Jesus was speaking then, that is why Mary was not working. When you go back now, you will start shouting angrily, ‘Martha, do you know what the Master said? You have to obey!” Mary has to be kind and gentle and speak to her like a sister, “Wait, sister, I will help you later.” This is how Mary should speak. And when her sisters answers her back, she should say, “How smoothly you are talking!” because there is a kind of harmony between the noble and the ignoble; there is a kinship between Love and hatred. I know these two sisters quite well. But whoever stands between them, he will be smothered by their love. They will smother him, and when he dies, they will say, “What have we done?” Then Love will say, “Let’s bring him back to life again!” Hatred will say, “I’ll bury him.’ - “Well”, Love will say. So they bury him, but Love comes later, shines on him and here he pops out resurrected. Hatred and Love are at work all the time. You do not think highly of hatred and envy – they are snakes and lizards. However, they can be nice sometimes. Can you imagine the world without snakes and lizards? Show me such a world. Is yours better? No, the world is great the way it is constructed. It is great in its design and expression. What you are constantly complaining about is the disharmony within you – it is Martha, the earth still not arranged, the tumult raging within you and disrupting the harmony. The Holy Spirit has to descend and have the say. So, the Spirit has already descended and is now giving orders. He is working. Have staunch belief in his great principle, living in Mary; have faith in the principle, living in Martha, too. Have faith in Christ, because it is Christ, sitting on top of them, who unites them. You should bring together these three elements: your spirit, your Mary, and your Martha and start the new year with it. I am not going to finish now. I will leave a great gap for you to solve the puzzle. I can foresee your future. I can see some of you rise, others fall. I can see some walking along the right path, while others go astray. In the end, you will all be well despite hesitation and faltering. When you board an ocean liner some of you get seasick others do not. It is curious to observe aristocrats on board of a ship. On the first day they are all dressed up, cheerful and happy, but when the ship starts rocking in the waves, they become dismal and meditative as if they listened to some serious sermon. On the second day they experience indigestion, start eating lemons, lie in the cabins, feeling sick. But when they get off the ship, if asked, “How was the passage?” – “Oh, great!” they will say. Oh, you will lose count of the times when you will feel sick while crossing the vast ocean between heaven and earth! You will say, “It will be a tough job!” But when you get on firm land, you will have a voracious appetite, because you will be purified. The Martha in the ocean raises hue and cry, but as soon as you land and Mary arrives, you will say, “Thank God, it was a safe voyage.” Do not ever be afraid! Stay with your Master so that you will be able to solve the issue in life. You have very serious tasks in life: bringing up children, relationships between men and women, relationships in society, relationships with humanity, etc. You have numerous duties and obligations. How will you accomplish them? Some think that when they become Christians, they will not have any responsibilities. Just the opposite, a Christian has more obligations and is more strongly obliged to fulfil them, so that when the day is over, one should feel content about having accomplished what he was supposed to do. While, if he has not coped with his tasks, he should assign them for his next day’s schedule. One day you will be Martha, another day you will be Mary, and when you are at the feet of your Master, then let both Martha and Mary sit quietly, let peace reign for at least an hour. This is the teaching and the thought that Christ conveys. Learn how to serve the Superior, so that you can master the inferior. 13. A lecture delivered on 14th January, 1917. Source

Photos The Master and the translator Vessela Nestorova,Sofia, Izgrev, 1942. A copy of the translation manuscript.

A LIST OF PARABLES: Alexander I and the Punishment of the Soldier, 169 Elisha and the Syrian Army, 173 Moses and the Shepherd, 146 Mr. Gladstone and the Sweeper, 168 Noah’s daughter, 40 Paganini and the Old Violinist, 152, 153 Spurgeon and His Brother in Christ, 158 The Bag of False Diamonds pieces, 33 The Bet of the Frost, the Wind and the Sun, 196 The Boatman and the Philosopher, 46 The Bored Rich Woman, 103 The Buffalo and the Thorn, 81 The Bull, the Snake and the Mouse, 29 The Clam and the Grain of Sand, 61 The Cleansing of the Preacher, 14 The Confirmed Believer, 113 The Devil and the Hermit, 19 The Disciple who Raised the Veil of Truth, 56 The Eagles Who Tried to Spoil God’s Plan, 138 The Englishman and the tigress who taught her little ones, 80 The Fisherman and the Gate-Keeper, 104 The German Prince and the Prince of Gnomes, 183 The Little Angel Who Wanted to See the Earth, 144

FORMULAE: “God, I thank You that I am alive, so I can serve You today.” (p. 180) “God, bless my soul. I thank Thee for waking me up today to finish my work the way I should, wherever I may be, and to be able to grow as much as it is necessary.” (p. 180) Blow and say, “Hwuu-u-u! God, purify me of all evil thoughts and bless my soul!” (p. 180) “I thank you, God, for the great grace You have for us. We know You as all-merciful, all-truthful, all-wise.” (p. 180) “I thank You, God, for everything You have given me and taught me.” (p. 181)

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR At 92, when I first met her, Sister Vessela Nestorova was a fragile elderly lady, living in a tiny attic room, almost bed-ridden by a slowly healing broken leg. Yet this is not a story about the troubles of old age. If anything, it speaks of the power of the Spirit, of this Divine Spark that lives in every one of us. It lit her young and beautiful eyes, it came through in her inspired singing, her words and the advice she gave to those who came to her door to seek it. The beauty and power of Sister Vessela's extraordinary Spirit permeated the tiny room and transformed it into a sanctuary, into a sacred space of goodness, peace and deeply felt meaning. The Master, she said, directed us to live in our Souls, in our Spirit, in the Kingdom of Love. … There are no boundaries for the Spirit within physical matter because It exists beyond this material world This life in the Spirit must have intensified all endowments which sister Vessela was generously granted. She met the Master Beinsa Douno quite young, before she was ten. From then on, until her departure from this world in 2002, she worked tirelessly to apply his Spiritual Teaching in her life and spread his words around the world during her travels or through her translations. As a graduate from Elmira College in the state of New York and a responsible disciple, Sister Vessela was entrusted by the Master with translating his talks into English. Upon his personal approval of her translations, the first edition of "Sacred Words of the Master" was published in the United States in the 1940s. In addition to 10 volumes of translations some of which are yet to be brought out, Sister Vessela has left a rich legacy of poetic essays, spiritual songs and hauntingly beautiful oratories. All these have been inspired and engendered in the words of the Master, some of which you have already read or are about to read. Aneliya Dimitrova Sister Vessela Nestorova and Lubomir Haralambiev, who volunteered with great love as her rehabilitator 3 July 2001 Sister Vessela Nestorova in the center. From right to left: Stoyan Petkov, Lubomir Haralambiev, Dora Ivanova and Aneliya Dimitrova, 3 July 2001

THE BLESSED Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.38 I shall take the word blessed in this verse. Christ does not call blessed those who have much money, many houses, those who are very learned or powerful, but says, "Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake." The word persecute, or chase, in Bulgarian has a good and a bad meaning. If a person is not persecuted, they will not progress: there must be movement in the world. When a Bulgarian wants to thrash his wheat, he chases his horses on the thrashing-floor. Why is he chasing them? In order that his sheaves of wheat may be thrashed. All things in life have meaning. Those who understand the inner sense of life need not be hindered by the contradictions which exist in the world. All contradictions are an expression of a great Truth which has two aspects, two faces: sufferings and joys. Sufferings are the dark side of this life; joys are the highest things, the light side of life. All this is in accordance with the Laws of Nature. In the course of 24 hours, the Earth changes its face—the one side is light, the other dark. Therefore, in the course of 24 hours in you life, you also will be dark and light, you will suffer and you will be joyful. This is an unchangeable Law, which, however, has nothing in common with sin. Sometimes sin becomes entangled in suffering, but these two things should not be linked. Suffering is a great Law. There is no person who has not suffered or is not suffering now. Even God suffers together with us. No one suffers more than He. When someone says they are suffering, I say to them, "You have barely started this science." It is not a bad thing to suffer. The feelings by which you experience the most pleasant things in life are the same by which you experience the most unpleasant things as well. When your eye is irritated and is not in harmony with Light, you will feel Light in a most painful and unpleasant way; but when your eye is in order, i.e. in harmony with Light, you will have the most pleasant feelings. Therefore, when a certain disharmony appears in you, it shows that you are out of balance. Only by suffering can balance be restored in you. Those who play the guitar often tune up their guitar to a specific pitch for certain songs; suffering is also a kind of tuning up—the scale must be changed from major to minor or chromatic. In people who are aspiring to what is noble, this aspiration is linked with suffering. Suffering and joy are two opposite poles in life. Those who want to grow and develop will inevitably suffer; suffering is a doorway, a prerequisite for joy. If you avoid suffering, you will never attain joy in life. Joy and sorrow are two daughters of God. Of which God? Of the One manifested in humanity. You ask, "Does God have daughters?" Yes, He does. He has daughters and sons both on earth and in heaven. The words brother and sister are Divine ideas; they are much greater notions than the ones you perceive and understand. Our brotherhood and sisterhood reaches only a span above the Earth. When a brother takes a span of land from someone's field, they quarrel and the brotherhood is spoiled. Take for instance the relations among doctors, merchants, priests, preachers and others; their brotherhood has reached only a span above the Earth. This is the contemporary social development people have attained in their conception of brotherhood. Christ says, "Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake." You will say, "Why should they persecute me?" I ask, "Why should they not persecute you?" It is often said that muddy water is more favorable to the soil than pure water for when the former passes through the soil, it leaves certain sediments which the plants use. In this way, every year the river Nile deposits millions of tons of humus alluvium in which ancient Egypt produced enormous quantities of wheat. Suffering is that divine sediment that comes from the heights and when it is deposited in your fields, it fertilizes them and God says, "Now you must sow!" Out of these sediments—sins, misunderstandings—will come the best bread and you will say, "Thank God, how good all these things have been!" If there is no suffering, there will not be bread. Christ says, "I am the living bread." He is actually living bread because people are nourished by Him daily. "Blessed are you when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake." If people speak evil of you when you deserve it, it is not praise-worthy; you deserve it, if you are to blame. You must suffer for righteousness, for the rights of God. Now many people suffer for wrongdoing. I ask, if Christ should come today, what teaching would He give to the world? All people want to be happy and blessed, to have good husbands, wives, children, but where will you take these good husbands, wives and children from? If you sow the best wheat in sand, it will grow weak. But if you fertilize this sand, after a time the wheat will grow better. I understand this Law inwardly. What is happening in the world? Everything is going normally there— what is happening there must happen. The apostle Paul says in a letter, "We all live and move in God." If you live and move in God, what are you afraid of? You sit in a boat in the sea, a storm comes up and you are frightened. I ask, where is your faith? "We shall sink!" If you are sinful, you will sink. If you are like gold, silver, iron, you will sink. However, if you are a light feather, you will remain on the surface, but the others who are bearing a heavy load will sink— woe unto them! Therefore, never burden your minds with thoughts that make you heavy! It is not important what people think of you, the important thing is what God is thinking. God is everywhere where rational beings are found. He is neither in the dead nor in the sinful. By the word God I understand the pleasant feelings and thoughts you are experiencing in your consciousness and by means of which you understand Him. God lives in us and He has the power to resurrect us. If God is not in contact with me, if He cannot cause me to live, what need have I of such God? What is the use then of the existence of a God? That is why Christ says, "If my words abide in you and you abide in Me, whatever you ask for will be given you, will come to life." Christ says that He is living Word, "The words I speak to you are in you, they are living." That is why Christ's teaching which is within us has power by itself. "Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is you reward in heaven." This means that these people are to have a future life. What does a future life imply? Some think that when they die, they shall go to another world. No, they will not go to another world, but simply pass from one state to another as it is with a cocoon. When a worm is on a leaf nibbling, it thinks this is its world, but after it turns into a butterfly and obtains wings, it begins to visit the flowers and changes its views of the world. So long as we nibble the leaves of material life, we are also caterpillars; but when we pass through the cocoon stage and become souls dressed in beautiful clothes, we shall comprehend life in its higher manifestations. Do not get offended, but many people today are in the state of caterpillars. They say, "We need to save money for rainy days," but this is the life of a caterpillar. "We need houses for rainy days"—this is the way a caterpillar thinks, because it needs the leaf. I ask, if the caterpillar becomes a butterfly of what use these leaves will be to it? When you begin to rise, you will say to your brothers, "I leave these leaves to you as a gift." That is why Christ says, "What you do not need, give it to those who are in your state, let them use it." Truly, the teaching of Christ is for everybody, but all people are not equally prepared to comprehend it and to apply it. Each one can apply it according to their stage of development. This means that you must become conscious of your state. Those who are behind or ahead are not to be judged or envied for somehow you will all pass this way voluntarily or by necessity. If you do not thrash voluntarily, God will come with a whip, rein you as a horse to a thrashing machine and thrash the wheat. When they ask you why you have become horses, you will answer, "To thrash the wheat." A great number of people today thrash on the Divine thrashing-floor. When I see a horse thrashing wheat, I say, he is doing his work well. Then I ask myself if I am doing my work well. If people today want to understand Christ's teaching well, a Divine harmony must be restored among them. Can you sense how blessed you are? You can. People complain all the time and say, "I am unhappy." You are blessed, because Christ says, "Blessed are the unhappy." Someone is ill. What is illness? A sign that the Divine Light is working on you wishing to resurrect you. You have troubles in your development and cannot resolve some problem. The Divine thought wants to raise you and illumine you. "My heart is heavy"—the Divine life is working, wishing to soften your heart. God is working in us. People today are like children who like to raise dust in the classrooms. When the teacher enters and sees dust everywhere, she begins to sneeze. I see sneezing everywhere: teachers, preachers, mothers, fathers—all are sneezing. Why? There is dust. Open the windows, air the rooms, wash the floor and the sneezing will stop. If you do not want to sneeze, see that your room is cleaned. Sneezing means that there is dust, suspicion, doubts. Light is necessary, if you would understand the sense of life. I ask, "How long have you been on earth? Where were you 200 years ago? Where were your ancestors—father, grandfather, grandmother one thousand years ago?" You will say that you need not know this. You need not know it, but when your grandfather leaves you an inheritance, you go around the banks to look for it and to find out everything about it. Why? Because you have something to inherit. But if your grandfather has a debt, you pretend not to know him, because otherwise you will have to pay for him. This is not chivalry. You are not cavalier—that is, you cannot ride a horse, you cannot rule your mind, you are not able to manage your thought, you are not a sensible person. Christ says, "Blessed are those who understand the sense of life this way." Then wealth is hidden in our brain, in our thought, in our heart. A rich young man falls in love with a poor girl. She may be poor, but there is hidden wealth in her. It is expressed in her face. There are thousands of cases when kings or other eminent men have fallen in love with poor girls and have risen by that, but these girls have an inner wealth which Christ has deposited in them. When a person is virtuous and just, possessing the Divine Love, Wisdom and Truth—all these things are vividly inscribed on that person. I have met Virtue and have spoken with it—what blessings spring from it! Do you know what beautiful daughter of God is Virtue? I have also met the Divine Righteousness—she, too, is beautiful, but strict, she does not forgive the mistakes. You may say to her, "I am weak." "Weak or strong you must not violate the command of your Father." Love is very beautiful and delicate, she does not see people's mistakes. No matter what you do before her, she will kiss you, pat you, clean and dress you in nice clothes and take you home. Men and women must love one another! Someone says, "My wife does not love me". You have not found the woman who loves you. Your wife on earth is a shadow of Love. A woman says, "I shall marry him because he is rich, he has a house and an income of 10,000 leva." This woman takes, she does not give, and therefore she cannot make her husband happy. The man says, "I married her because she is rich, although she is quite ugly." This man also cannot make his wife happy, because every teaching which takes but does not give, cannot make people happy. Self-sacrifice is in the basis of the Christian teaching. There are two kinds of sacrifices; either you will sacrifice yourself, or others will sacrifice you. For instance, why do people kill lambs on St George's Day in Bulgaria? First, they put a wreath round their necks and after a dedication ceremony, they kill them. Why do they make this sacrifice? For eating. There are spirits in this world who someday will put a wreath on you too, place you on the sacrificial altar and kill you, so you will die. People will say that a certain person has died. I say, he is not dead; he is alive. One day you will also be on the table of death where you will be eaten up. They will say, "What a nice, well-fed body this is! What muscles, what a heart, what lungs, wonderful!" People die, because they eat meat. When they stop eating meat, there will be no death in the world. The flesh of the sinners is very tender; the same is true for all low quality stuffs. Clothes made of good fibers are tough and lasting; they do not wear out easily. The flesh of the righteous is tough and hard, that is why they do not eat it. There is no death for the righteous39. Therefore, the Divine teaching will create in us sound thoughts, a sound mind and a strong heart. Those who would attempt to destroy a good thought, a Divine desire, will destroy themselves. Such a person will come to the state of the crocodile that swallows small frogs. In the river Niles there are small frogs which the crocodiles often swallow. The crocodile opens his mouth, the small frog jumps into it and he swallows it whole. However, when the frog enters the stomach of the crocodile, it wants to get out and in order to do that, it slowly makes a hole in the stomach and gets out through it, then the crocodile's stomach gets filled with water, he turns on his back and dies. Some people complain and say, "They ate me up!" If God is with you, those who will attempt to eat you up will pay dearly for that. If you have faith, you should fear nothing. The living God is with you. The spirit of God is already coming down as the Light which comes to the Earth. He is coming, bringing great Light, fire and life which will purify the world. Contemporary people will experience these things and be witnesses of the Restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth. By His coming on earth God will unite all people and malice will gradually vanish. All misunderstandings spring from the mistrust and suspicion people have of each other. I shall quote the example of the frost, the wind and the Sun. These wanted to try and see which of them could make a shepherd take off his leader coat. The frost started first. It became bitter cold. The frost said, "Now I shall make him take off his furs," but the shepherd wrapped himself more tightly and walked faster for his home. The frost did not succeed. Then the wind began to howl and rage, tearing down trees and scattering away all things on its way. But the shepherd wrapped himself still more tightly and hurried home. Last spoke the Sun, "You made your attempt; now it is my turn." The Sun smiled kindly and joyfully, sending all its love down. The shepherd began to feel warmer and warmer until he could not bear the heat and took off his coat. Two teachings are preached in the world: of the frost and of the wind. Now, the teaching of Love remains, which will take down the fur-coats. Some ask, "What do you think?" Look me in the eyes and you will see what I think. When I see you, I do not ask what you are thinking for I know your thoughts. You think of a two-story house, more furniture, you think of marrying, of having children and so on. I meet a scientist and what thoughts do I see in him? He is making scientific investigations. I meet another person who intends to steal. Everything a person thinks is written on their face. God has opened the book already and everything written on it can be seen clearly. If Christ should decide to judge the world, He would pass the verdict immediately and say, "According to such and such an item of God's Law this is what you deserve for what you have done." But the mission of Christ is quite different now. He is summoning humanity to a sane life. You should not consider yourselves very saintly—you must know this. A saint must be an excellent person, knowing how to serve, to have a sound body, a sound mind, strong legs and arms, strong muscles, to be with empty hands, i.e. not to be rich, but not to be poor either. However, such a one must be in Tolstoy's state—to distribute his goods to the poor and to help them. Such is a real saint. In heaven God classifies the saints into great and small. Those who have been much spoken of, who have suffered much and have endured everything with dignity, are saints. Why do people revere Christ today? Because He paid all their debts and bore all their sins. If Christ had not suffered, if He had not given anything of Himself to people, He would have been an ordinary person. Everyone must serve God and know they have their place on the Earth. You will say that the apostle Paul was a great man. I say that if you fulfill your role on earth well, you will also be a great person. A woman who has lived for 20 years with her husband carrying his heavy yoke, who has cooked for him and borne everything with patience, while he has maltreated her—such a woman will be a saint. The same thing will be said of a man. If he has endured patiently all unpleasant things caused by his wife, who has maltreated him, he will be a saint. Only such men and women will be saints in heaven. Everyday on earth I see women decked with diamonds, necklaces who live luxuriously, leading a carefree life—such women will be poor in the other world with ragged clothes. Someday you will find yourselves in the state of that rich miser of a woman who had a poor but virtuous servant. Although the servant received only 60 leva a month, he gave all his money to the poor. His mistress often told him that he was foolish giving his money away, because he would need it for "rainy days." One night the lady had a vivid live dream: she saw a beautiful marble palace and asked, "Whose is this palace?" "It is your servant's palace." "How could such a poor man have so much money to build himself such a wonderful palace?" "All that he gained on earth, he sent it to the other world to have a palace built there." A little farther she say a small hut. "And whose is this hut?" "It is yours," was the answer. I say, you may be great personalities in this world, but in the other world God will judge you according to your deeds and give everyone what they deserve. You should not delude yourselves, but you must know the Truth and place a definite boundary between the Divine and the human. You say that you understand the word Love. No, you do not understand it. Not only don't you understand the word Love, but the words Righteousness, Truth and Wisdom are incomprehensible to you as well. When I enter a house and see an angered woman, is this Wisdom? When the word Wisdom is pronounced, a change must take place in one's state! The sense of every word must be understood! If you enter a theater where thousands of people are sitting and cry out, "Fire!"—everybody will rush to the exits for they will be terrified at the thought of impending death. Why is that so? Because all people understand the sense of this word. But if someone should come among them and pronounce the word Love, they will all look at one another jokingly and take that person is out of their mind. They will say, "What does that one mean by this word?" This shows that people do not understand the deep sense of the word Love, for if they did, it would have produced the same effect as the word fire only in an opposite sense. If I meet a sad person and pronounce the word Love, all his suffering and discontentment should disappear; he should become joyful, become bright as an angel and turn from a worm into a butterfly. You often say, "Oh, my God!"—but you do not understand this word either. I seldom pronounce the name of God in my soul; I pronounce it only when I have a heavy burden and then I am relieved of the whole burden. This word contains everything for me. In Bulgarian I substitute this word by the words I can. Never say, "I am weak." Say, "I can do everything through Christ." Put aside everything else! Put Christ in the first place. You will understand Christ, you will understand God only by the words I can. I am not disturbed by darkness; when the Earth revolves in a day and night, this is the order of things. When it is dark in someone's mind, I say that his sun has set so there is darkness in his mind. This person should lie down and rest, not worry, because in twelve hours the Sun will rise again inside them—their Lord will come. Then Love will enter them and they will begin to understand the deep sense of life. This is what Christ taught before; this is what He teaches now. All are waiting for Christ to come from heaven. No, He has come down once already. He will not come down to earth a second time. God came down to earth when He made it, when he created the world. He has been working on the world ever since and will stay here until He puts complete order. After that He will return to heaven with all His children. This God is always with us and He is working together with us. He will gather us and form a tree of life out of us in which we are roots, branches, leaves and fruit: every leaf will be for healing and every fruit— living food. Then we shall be one with God just as every cell, every root, every branch and every leaf are parts of the tree. "Blessed are you when they persecute you." You are blessed, because then you are moving forward, because the work you are doing is for the good of humanity. Since such is the case, your reward in heaven will be great. When someone needs you and tells you, you are a bad person, he has told you what is right—become good! You are ugly; he has said the right thing— become beautiful! You are malicious; he has said the right thing—become kind! People are speaking so much about me that if I pay attention to all that the hairs of my head will have all fallen off. I say, these people are right, I am a dangerous man. Why? Because I am a mirror. When someone meets me, he sees himself in my mirror and says, "You are a vagabond." You are saying the right thing. "You are a dodger!" You are right. See yourself in your mirror and correct yourself! People are like an American preacher who was out of his mind and one day when he looked himself in a mirror, he did not recognize himself and said, "You must repent or God will send you to hell!" I enjoy looking myself in people and when I meet a good person, I want to see myself in them; that is why I look in a mirror. There must be two kinds of mirrors: those in which we can look ourselves and those, our own, in which other people will look themselves. Only in this way can people correct their mistakes. Woe unto those nations, societies and churches that have no mirrors! Doctors today also use mirrors in their daily practice. When they examine your throat, for instance, they use a mirror. Christ's teaching also bears a mirror. In order to understand the deep sense of sufferings, you must keep in mind that they are necessary for the happiness and blessedness of our future life. Sufferings are the greatest good God is sending to people. This is what Christ says, "When someone is suffering and feels very burdened, let him come to me. I shall buy off his sufferings by giving him something else, we shall make an exchange on a purely brotherly basis." And now Christ is coming to earth in glory to take the burden of humanity; that is why He says, "Lay your burden upon the Lord!" You will make an exchange: God will take your sufferings and in exchange He will give you joys. By having come to earth, He wishes to make you happy. In order to be happy, you must be sensible and wise. Pronounce the word Wisdom only when you cannot explain some difficult question. Pronounce the word Wisdom and wait for 10 minutes after which a certain clarification will come to you. You will be like a blind person who begins to see and notices the beauty of the world. This person says, "I see everything in the world and understand how great the Lord is!" And we must thank God for having created this world, for having created the home, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, women, children, and even the misfortunes along with all those other things, we should thank Him for everything. Those who have started on the way of Christ, must thank God for everything. When we thank God, we shall come to an understanding of one another. And when we pronounce the word Love, if we are sad, we shall feel immediately joy, warmth which will fill our body and our frozen limbs will start to move. Then we shall clearly see angels descending from above. This is what to become clairvoyant means. Some people expect to become clairvoyant and see everything after they die. Do not wait for your death, but while you are still alive you should resurrect in the Lord. Do not say, "When I die, I shall understand life." On the contrary, say, "When I change my clothes, when I turn from a worm into a cocoon and from a cocoon into a butterfly then I shall see God and understand life." You say, "I shall die and be buried in the black grave, but what will become of me when the worms attack me?" The worms are your smaller brothers. They will come to you and say, "Let us have a taste of you! Christ is living bread for you, but you will be living food for us." Be not afraid, people are not in the graves, I do not see them in the graveyards. I repeat that there are two kinds of people—the first kind are the living dead whom we meet every day in Sofia, the others are the dead living. Christ says, "Blessed are the dead living who died for the Lord." It is not said anywhere, "Blessed are the living dead." The latter are caterpillars. The dead living are butterflies and they are not dangerous, because they do not eat the leaves of the trees. When a thought which is distractive enters your mind, it is a caterpillar, throw it out! But when a thought which raises you enters your mind, it is a beautiful butterfly, retain it. Therefore, everyday you should throw out the thoughts which eat up the leaves of your life. This is the teaching of Christ. Christ says, "Blessed are you when they persecute you, because great is your reward in heaven." I shall explain the deep sense of these words. When you sow a grain of wheat, it begins to decay and many enemies attack it, microbes, but as soon as it looks up to the Light, the Sun shines on it and its enemies run away. Therefore, you must also be persecuted in order to grow upward. When Christ says, "Blessed are the persecuted," He means that blessed are those who grow up, those who produce roots, leaves, blossoms and fruit. Great is this reward when the Lord comes and finds their fruit ripe. Has this teaching any sense? It has. This is what it means to be persecuted for the sake of Christ. If they persecute me and I have no fruit, I deserve to be persecuted. If, however, I am persecuted to give fruit to God and I have fruit, this persecution makes sense, for it means growth. It will give the necessary impulse, an impetus for work. When we reason this way, we shall begin to think rightly and to understand why we live. That is why we must pray for all people! The Scripture says, "Bless and curse not, say the Truth right in the face as to a brother, or a friend and never speak evil of anyone!" Speaking evil is like vomiting the food you have eaten, but the mouth was not created for vomiting, but for the sweet words of Love. This is the Teaching the saints bring down from above; this is the Teaching that the righteous have been preaching to the world for thousands of years; this is the teaching of the small angels who descend to earth. When Christ comes, He will bring the same Teaching. The white horse on which He is coming is the symbol of His Teaching of Light, "Blessed are those who know the Lord" means those who have grown up and have developed, having roots, branches, leaves and fruit, because God will visit them and reward them. I wish all of you to be in such a state—to be blessed so when God comes He will find fruit in your garden and you would invite Him to visit your home, your heart. Then He will give you the spirit of the new Teaching. "Blessed are you when God visits you, for great is your reward in heaven." Sermon held on February 4, 1917, in Sofia. __________________ 38. Matt. 5:10. 39. Probably reference to the non-decaying bodies of saints. In Bulgaria St John of Rila (≈876–946) is such an example. After the death of his parents, he gave away his modest inheritance to the poor and needy. Until his death, he led a humble and devout life as a hermit in the Rila Mountain, where he subsisted on wild berries and plants. His non-decaying body now rests in the Rila Monastery (ed. note).

THE CHILDREN Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.35 In order to explain who can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Christ takes as an example an ordinary form known to all—the children—a form existing since the creation of the world. The children bring happiness to the home and to the world. A home without children is a desert without a spring or grass. Why must one become as little child, if they would get to heaven? In Christ's talk the word child has a deeper meaning than we usually attach to it. Christ does not say that you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if you are a precious stone placed in the crown of some king or if you are a millionaire, but says, "If you do not become as a child, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Here He implies the idea of growing small. The child is a symbol of a potential state, or it may be said that children represent potential energy, i.e. energy in a dormant state. This energy is not inactive because it contains all the conditions for its development. It is simultaneously in a potential and a kinetic state. The potential energy turns into kinetic and the kinetic into potential. The kinetic energy has stronger activity, but it has a smaller scope, whereas the scope of potential energy implies limitless development. The difference between the child and the adult is the same: adults are less active in that they have a smaller scope of development than children. The idea of the child contains yet another sense. If a tree does not turn into a small seed to be planted again in the soil, it cannot begin its development. The growth of trees is effected in two ways: some grow by seeds, others by sprouts or grafting. There is a big difference between a plant growing from a sprout and one growing from a seed. The plant growing from a seed contains greater force than that growing from a sprout. Christ says, "If you do not turn into a seed in life, you will not enter the Kingdom of God!" Why? Because only seeds, not plants are planted there. God does not need old people. There are no old ones in the Kingdom of God. The word old is synonymous to a weak person, while the young, the children are the equivalent to the word rich in mind and heart. This is my interpretation. If you have not the mind and the heart, that is—the innocence and purity of a child—you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Why? Because the conditions under which you must grow, require your mind and your heart to contain the Divine life within them. One of the greatest delusions in contemporary spiritual movements lies in considering oneself big or great. Every person, even children five or six years old, cherish the idea of greatness. I have often met children who have the idea that they are very big and have the power to do many things. I have met religious people who also think they are very big. They say, "Do not annoy me, because I can do all things just by raising my finger." If you make these children to raise a sack, they will not be able to. Why can't they raise it? Because they think they are big, but in reality they are not. If they thought they were small, they would be able to lift it. You can test this every day. Put yourself in the position of a child, deposit a thought in your mind and do not worry. If you do not worry, it will be ten times more active than if you torment yourself all the time. When you stand before the switch of an electric lamp, what is required of you? Only to turn this switch on. What do many people do? They stop before the switch and begin to philosophize. No, in this way you will not receive any Light. No philosophy is needed in this case, but a simple motion of the hand and light—the condition for reading—will shine forth. The same Law applies to one's personal life. On waking up in the morning you turn on the switch and say, "I see!" When the soul enters the human body, she also has a switch and when she turns it on, she says, "I see the Sun!" If you forget to turn on your switch36, you will be in darkness, i.e. your mind will be muddled up, incapable of work. Some morning you get up and forget to turn on the switch of your heart and mind; then the whole day your life is in disorder, you do not find any sense in it and so on. I say, you are in the state of a child with big ideas who, thinking of the big things, forgets to do the least—to turn on the small switch from where the Light comes. I constantly meet people whose switch is not turned on, but who have big ideas, who dream of many-storied large houses, yet are blind! No, you need no such houses. First, turn on the switch and afterwards you can make your house. Become a child of obedience! Only then God will speak to you and you will understand the relations existing between Him and yourself. People today have lost their relations to God. They think they are free and have the right to do anything they want to, even to criticize God. I ask such a person, "When you got up this morning did you switch on the Light?" "I did not." "Then return home and switch it on, otherwise the whole day you will be in darkness and low spirits. Up to that moment life will have no sense for you." The same Law applies to human relations: you have turned on the switch and all people love you; you have forgotten to turn it on and everything is in disharmony. You are a big person, a great one, but nobody loves you. Nobody loves people who want much. The Law of heaven is symbolized by the children, by their selflessness. To carry much on you back, but to have little in your stomach are two different things. If you carry 100 kg wheat on your back and ½ kg wheat in your stomach, where will your strength be? Contemporary economists who burden the state with big debts do this because they do not understand the Divine Law. I would rather they gave each person ½ kg of wheat in the stomach than 100 kg on the back. It is preferable to have 100 g of knowledge in the brain than a load of 100 kg on the back. Someone may have 100 volumes of books, but the 50 g of knowledge in the brain as a potential and kinetic energy are of more value than what is outside of it. Thus by the word child Christ means a special inner state—to be in accord, in contact with the spiritual world, with all the powers and all beings. If you start thinking you are a great being, you lose all these contacts. When a great angel in heaven who has lived millions and billions of years and who has an experience greater than that of humanity and whose history is much more superior to that of humankind, decides to come to earth and be incarnated, he will take the form of a little child and humble himself—he will start his development from this point, in order to come to understand the majesty of God. That is why Christ was asked, "Can an old man enter the Kingdom of God?" Be he an angel or a God, he cannot. Those who would enter the Kingdom of God must humble themselves and become like children. Now all of you who are listening to me want to enter the Kingdom of God such as you are. No! This has never been and never will be! If you do not acquire the qualities of a child—plasticity of mind and heart—you will not understand the inner sense of life. But you are already near the Kingdom of God. The inter-space dividing this world from the other world is a hundred-millionth part of the millimeter. How small is the distance between these two worlds! When a person starts on the way of development, they move very slowly. I notice all who start on the spiritual path resemble big people; they are not like children. If someone begins their journey with large strides, they will not attain their purpose. If you leave home running, you will not achieve anything. But if you start slowly and gradually accelerate your step, you are in the state of a child. Christ says, "Do not start your work hurriedly. Move like the small children—walk constantly and quicken your step by one, two, three, four, five, six steps, then you will find sense in your life." While you are in the state of small children, no illness will attack you, but if you are in the state of the old, an illness will come to you. Those who worry are old; also those who have a heavy heart are old, too. Become young! You say, "I have a weight in my soul." You are old. "What shall I do?" Become young! "How?" Do not think of great things in the world. Put only half a kilo of bread in your stomach, 100 g of knowledge in your brain and five grams of feelings in your heart—that is enough for you. When ten or fifteen young men love a girl, they begin to quarrel; she feels puffed up and becomes unhappy. Some years ago a young woman was killed in Sofia by her fiance. Why do you love two people? One is enough. Every thought has its definite place. If you do not love a man, do not deceive him! Tell him the truth and he will find another girl. In regard to religion, people suffer from the same love. You say, "Let us love!" Do you know how love is expressed? Those who desire much commit a sin and when the sin is done, they suffer. The one who sins is a bad person, but the one who sins and does not repent is worse, yet the one who sins and does not repent or pray is still worse. Everyone who prays, yet is unrepentant, is a hypocrite. A hypocrite represents the worst person in the world. There are two kinds of lies, two kinds of sins in the world. When you tell someone you love them, yet you do not, you act like the crocodiles—when they love someone, they wet her with tears to make her smoother and easier to swallow. No, people do not need such love, but the Love of the small children. Give a little, yet let it be from your heart. If men and women would apply this philosophy to their life, all homes and societies will change for the better. Fathers, mothers, children, teachers, priests, judges—all are thinking of great ideas. They all consider themselves great and fool themselves that there are no greater people than them. You ask, "Why is the world suffering?" It is suffering from "great" people and ideas. People call someone an excellent preacher, because he is preaching grand ideas. Yes, we are all suffering from "great" ideas. The Jews also had great ideas— they wanted to become rich and, considering themselves chosen, they became proud. They had 33,000 promises by God; however, Christ showed them that the greatness of a person lies in becoming as small as a child. Only in this case, God will be on one's side. So far I have not seen a mother bearing an old man in her womb, even if she would be given millions. But everyone bears the small child without getting any payment. Why? Because the child holds great benefits inside. As it enters, every Divine idea, no matter how small it may be, brings peace, joy and greatness to the person who accepts it—that is why everyone can bear the small children. Many think that big ideas bring happiness to people. Actually, this is not true. To clarify this thought, I shall tell you a legend. An impoverished German prince wanted to marry a beautiful woman. She told him, however, that she was a woman of great pretensions and she wanted him to build her a beautiful palace and supply anything she wanted of him. Only under such conditions would she marry him. He agreed to everything, thinking he would be happy with her. He married her and started looking for riches. By the powers of occultism he started calling spirits who would help him. Finally, he found a prince of the gnomes and said to him, "I have married a pretentious woman and need much money. Can you help me?" "I can, but under one condition: for every purse of money, you must give me ten hairs of your head." "I have enough hairs and can give you as many as you wish." "I shall need only ten for each bag of gold I give you." The man thought his troubles were settled and his life at home would now be happy. He started visiting the prince of the gnomes week after week, month after month, taking bags of gold and giving his hairs in return. A year, two years, three years passed and he became completely bald. He went again for gold, but had no hairs. "Shall I give you something else?" he asked. "No, I need hairs." Now the man understood that human character lies hidden in these hairs. He had sacrificed the apparently small things for presumably great things. Every hair is a noble thought sacrificed for a trifle. If you have such aspirations for ten years, you will sacrifice all that is noble in you and remain a barren desert. Then you will be turned into a big, old, dry tree which is a symbol of the degenerate human character. Be not offended by the Truth. I know that when the Truth is spoken, many people are offended. God considers an old person everyone who is offended by the Truth. Such is the Law before God for He has never been offended until now. There is no other being to have suffered more desecration than God, but so far He has not even knitted his eyebrows. He calmly and quietly looks at us and says, "These children will understand the Law; now they are piling up sins, that is why they will bear this burden." "Our condition is very heavy: poverty, illness, what shall we do?" You should work. "Is there no other way?" No, there is no other way—you must work. "We are big." You should grow small, become like children. When you return home, try to become like children and see how you will be rejuvenated. You say you are old, but what is the reason? You are carrying the world on your back. When you board a ship which rocks and you begin to fear, what will be the use of fearing? Stay quietly, have the confidence of a child. He who has made the ship will take care of you. The ship will rock and then stop rocking. Even if there is a storm and thunder, you should not be afraid. The birds in the airy space also rock, but they understand this Law better than you. You will excuse me for all this. I say, if you are old, you will get offended; if you are young, I shall congratulate you. When I speak the Truth, let no one be insulted. I shall ask those of you who are walking barefooted over a stony place, to put on sandals, because your feet will be hurt and you will be forced to turn back midway. The sandals will protect you. If a lady is passing through such a place, she would prefer to have her feet hurt than to put on her sandals to please her loved one. Yet, it is dangerous to walk bare-footed. The children are always shod. Look at the butterflies, these small children of God, what excellent clothing they have! If an earthly queen has such clothes, she would feel happy. Although these butterflies have a short life, how well God clothes them! Why does God clothe them so well? Because they are children. But why does God send unhappiness to people? Because they are old. Why does God send blessing to some people? Because they are small children. A mother forgives her children many mistakes, but if her husband makes the mistakes, she says, "I do not want this dotard any longer!" In the same way heaven forgives all the sins of the small children, but it is strict with the old and says, "Out with you!" Then what takes place in you? Dissatisfaction, despair and hatred of life, since you face resistance and unfavorable conditions for your development. The only way to be loved by God and by people is to adopt the Divine idea—be small before God and have a responsive heart and mind. Love has different degrees of power: you stand in front of a stove at a distance of two meters and feel a pleasant heat, but if you should put your hand on it, it will burn you. The old people are hot stoves, that is why they burn you sometimes. Usually they are mercenary. Do not think I am speaking of you; I am referring to those old men mentioned in the Scripture. Those who think they are big and great, they are old men. Beware of such people! Christ preached this when He said, "Become like little children!" When you study Nature, you will find that the most precious things are not big. For instance, the diamond has been an airy substance in the past, occupying great space; long time had to pass before it thickened and grew hard. God has turned it into a hard substance, but at the same time, He has made its volume smaller. It has become of small volume, but of high price. Do you know how much energy, how much matter is pressed into an atom? We should grow small by the same Law, become like children, for only God is great and to be like Him, we have to learn the art of transitory things in creation, the stages of transitory life, and find out why small things pass into big ones. A ripe grain or seed, no matter how small it may be, if it finds favorable soil, it grows into a big tree. However, no matter how big a leaf or a fruit may be, if it falls in the soil, it will rot. This is the sense of the words of Christ. Christ spoke at the time for the people of an enlightened age, for those who are able to understand Him and apply His teaching. When a great musician plays, he plays for those who have an ear to hear him; when a sculptor makes a statue, he offers it to those who understand and value it; when a writer writes a book, it has sense for those who understand it. God has made the world and inscribed His Law for those who understand Him. Those who do not understand Him will bear the burden on their back and be "great men." When God created the world, the spirits who came down to earth wanted to be big, great, that is why they had big bodies. The huge animals were created at that time as well. If the huge animals had remained on earth, they would have devastated it completely eating up everything. God was teaching those incarnated spirits that they must not have huge bodies, because the greatness of a being does not lie in the huge body. An idea is great not when it is big in volume, but when it bears something great which helps the development of all beings. If you sow a walnut, in ten or twelve years it will become a big tree, but after it dies, it assumes its original state again. Now I am telling you to become like the little children and to make an experiment in this respect. I say, let this idea of Christ enter your mind and try to be small before God. Imagine that you are just beginning your life in the Kingdom of God. You may consider yourselves eminent people, but how many great kings, how many eminent people lived in the past, of whom there is no trace today. You deceive yourselves thinking that the people around you are eminent, famous, but you can see how eminent they are when misfortune comes to them. In a Varna village about fifty years ago, there was a very eminent son of a chorbadji37. The whole village was speaking about him. When anyone said, "Petran Chorbadji," everybody knew him. Every week he would slaughter and roast a lamb, gather people for a long and merry feast. But misfortune befell him so that he lost everything and became the last pauper. Everybody deserted him and started mocking him. That "Petran Chorbadji" thought himself an eminent man! What is an eminent person? A dead ox. When he dies, the dogs eat him up. Then they again speak of him, but only until he is all eaten up. After that nothing more is said of him. People speak of a person so long as there is something they can take or receive from them, but as soon as the person dies and nothing remains of them, they stop talking about him. These are the misfortunes of your external life. You are very beautiful on the outside, but the beauty of the heart and the mind is important. That is why you must purify your heart and mind and do not fly at high game. Become small children that you may enter the Kingdom of God and inherit the new life. People on the Earth are dead. They are eaten up by dogs, crows and eagles, because they are "great." When you read "Revelation," you will see that God summons all eagles and says to them, "Come, you little ones, to take your share, of the flesh of kings and heroes—all "great men." What does this mean? When a big oak tree rots and turns into soil, God sends the little seeds and grasses and says to them, "Take your share of this oak, because in the past it obstructed your development." That is why Christ says, "If you do not become small children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God. God will not take your side." Therefore, the new conditions under which you live require a new moral, new religious principles which must be more powerful and effective than the present ones. The principles you have used till now are weak and cannot endure. You have a rope which can raise ten kilograms, but you want it to raise a load of one hundred kilograms, what must you do? You will make it ten times stronger. The rope is the moral you must make ten times stronger than the previous one, in order that it may endure the new conditions. That is exactly why, according to Christ's Law, you must change your outlook. If the worst person were to become a child, you would love them because they would change. There cannot exist a struggle between an oak and grass, but there will always be a struggle between two oaks. Plant them next to each other, you will see the struggle between them—which should grow taller and see the Sunbeams. The one that grows higher will succeed, but the one that remains below will say, "I remained small." Small but with big ideas. It is not that you have remained small, but that you should wait for your turn, then you will say to the big oak, "I shall become your son, an acorn". It will answer, "I, on my part, am your father." "Thank you, father, for your care which you will take of me." One day this acorn will grow big and exchange its role with its father. Christ requires every one of us to become a tree which will bear fruit, a seed upon which the Kingdom of God may be laid. You will say, "These are abstract things." No, they are not. Deposit in your mind the thought, "I want to become a small Divine child. God, help me realize this thought." Think upon this though for twelve months and you will see how your life will change. However, do not blaze forth this idea; I can see that you are small. When a big beech tree comes and says, "I am small" it is not speaking the Truth. When a rich man says he has no money, he is afraid of being robbed. When a poor man says he has money, he does not speak the Truth. Let everyone speak what is right. Have faith in this great Divine Law of this child and God will be with you. If God credits you, He will make you great. But if you make yourself great, you are in the state of a lying merchant who says he has money when he has not. This is the deep sense of the verse, "Become like small children." I do not want you to think, "Are we really nothing?" Leave this thought aside. What you have been until now is not important; the thing that counts is what you will be from now on. It is well known what people have been like until now—let sleeping dogs lie. The future ideal is—be Divine small children. I wish you to be children of God and use all the great blessings the Kingdom of God is giving you. I wish you all to be wise, happy and good. As you see, I am telling you the way you can be such. You will say, "How will we regard the small drop of water?" Be not troubled, it will grow. The rain does not pour down at once, but drop by drop and gradually it rains harder. However, the small drops benefit the world. The small children do not know what fear is, but the grandmas frighten them, "The big, bad goblin will eat you up!" The same way the maid-servants frighten the children with the goblin to make them fall asleep, so that they can go out and have a date with some young man. In order to be free to go to a ball, some mothers also fool and frighten their children with something awful and mysterious. Down with your goblins! Deceive neither the children, nor yourselves! Be sincere with yourselves and others—this is the only way you can be rejuvenated and become beautiful. As soon as the divine idea takes possession of your mind, everything will change—your lips, eyebrows, nose and forehead. In Europe women paint their lips red, because the red color shows wealth and pure blood. Let this be done naturally. To become small children means to stop lying to God. Someone does not believe in God—they may have serious reasons for their disbelief. Another person says, "There is no God." I say, you have not turned on the switch. "Life has no sense." You have not turned on the switch. "People are bad." You have not turned on the switch. The small child's switch is inside of them. There is no more beautiful or greater idea than this. Some want to know who Christ is. The power of life is not in the letter, but in the spirit of things. I am careful in always conforming to the Divine Truth, speaking only what is true. You must not play the role of one of the disciples of Socrates who, desiring to show himself humble, went one day to his master in torn pants. However, his master told him his pride could be seen through his torn pants. You must be careful and you see I am careful with your hearts and have never said what is true. Everything I say to you is a Truth which you can verify. If you have no results, I am ready to start working with you. Only say to yourself, "This year I want to be a small Divine child!" This is the idea I want you to go away with—to be small Divine children. All the European nations to be such children too. Then the real Divine peace will come into the world. Sermon held on February 11, 1917 in Sofia. ______________ 35. Matt. 18:3. 36. The formulae in the previous lecture are one effective method of turning on this switch of our hearts and minds, of revitalizing the connection with our Creator and harmonizing ourselves with the Cosmic rhythms (ed. note). 37. (Turkish) A well-to-do person. The word was also used to refer to Bulgarian wealthy people during the Turkish domination (1396-1878) (ed. note).

GROW IN GRACE ! But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?32 Growth is a process of development. What must grow? People often say, "An apple must grow, a tree, branches, leaves, blossoms—these things must grow and develop." But in the quoted verse, we understand that the human soul must grow. The human soul should grow, and the human spirit should attain the knowledge of grace. Which grace? God's. The word grace is broad, it implies the conditions under which a person must live up in heaven and down on earth. The Earth, which is so often mentioned in the sacred books, is so enormous that an innumerable number of people can live on it. In the Scriptures it is called The Promised Land. You are aspiring for this earth which God created originally. The Earth on which you live is so small, it is of microscopic size; compared in size it is not even as large as a small island like Cyprus. Paul and Peter say that heaven will be enflamed and the Earth will pass through fire. Many interpret fire as a destructive element. In fact it is destructive, but it also constructs. For the fire which came down from the Sun has constructed our earth, it has also built our bodies and created thoughts and feelings in us. Everything freezes without fire. Therefore, the word growth implies fire as well. The fire which destroys is the coarse fire. Present day science has made the following experiments: if someone is placed under 2-3,000 volts of electricity, they die and in some countries criminals are electrocuted by such a current. However, if 10-50,000 volts of electricity run through the human body, all illnesses will disappear, the face will become youthful and bright; in a word, one will be fully rejuvenated. According to the present ideas of logic, one should burn up by such a fire. The fire which destroys people is their passions. They destroy the body and the soul simultaneously. Being free of these passions means not warming oneself on destructive fire. When Paul says grow, he means a function under the influence of the Divine fire, or of these 10-50,000 volts that will purify and renew the people they pass through. The word knowledge implies an understanding of the Laws by which this growing may be effected. Growing is twofold: upward and downward. When you are looking yourself in the mirror, you have a reflection. If anyone asks you by what Laws this reflection is effected, you will answer readily, "There is a reflection." But I would like to know the basic Law by which this reflection is effected. The physicists explain the mechanical aspect of an object the way the astronomers explain the mechanical aspect of the universe, as for instance what the Sun is like, its elements, its temperature, but what the Sun actually is remains a secret. From the Earth we can suppose this and that, but when a person becomes spiritual, they will be able to test the truth about the growing Paul speaks about. If you want to know whether there is life on the moon or not, you will take your bag, buy a ticket and in a few hours you will verify this truth. The same way one can go to the Sun and test what it is like. Now we study things only by way of reflection, but the reflections are not always true. Every reflection has an inner and outer side; you access only the outer side, while the inner side remains concealed. You say, "I know this man." But you know only his shadow. "His eyes are black." This is, however, his shadow. "His beard is white." This is his shadow. "He is handsome." All this is a shadow. This man, who looks handsome to you in the daytime, is black at night. If the inner lamp changes its position, the inner Light of a person will change too. This is growth of the shadows, because the shadows can grow too—they can become smaller or bigger. For instance, when the Sun rises in the morning, the shadows are bigger; around noon they grow quite small and after sunset, they disappear. I am making this analogy, because you are people of the shadows—you study the creation of the cinematographer. If I speak differently, you will say, "Prove this!" In order to prove it, I must get you a ticket so you can come along with me to the Sun and then to the moon. You are people of the shadows, i.e. fictitious, not real beings. After fifty years, you will see yourself that you are fictitious. Where will you be then? In order not to be shadows, you must pass from the temporary to the eternal, to seek God, meaning to seek His Light and heat. This Light will introduce in you that ideal which you are longing for. A person is born as a small baby, gradually grows big, but is discontented all the time. He wants to marry and tries to find a beautiful girl and thinks until he finds her, but as soon as he finds her, he is discontented again—calls her evil as a snake. Then the two of them want children and have them, but find the children bad too. Then they hope when their children will marry to be materially well off, but nothing comes out of that. Thus, the life of people today consists only of shadows, but there is no reality whatsoever in these shadows. This is a pleasant life, but there is no growth in it, no Divine process. Therefore, by the word growing I understand that only the spirit can grow and develop; only the real, the changeless grows. This substance which is deposited in us can undergo millions of eternal changes; this is a great Divine Law. At times a bad thought attacks you—that is a shadow. You say, "I hate that person." How can you hate her when you do not know her? Or, how can you ask a person for money, if you have never given her any money? In the world the shadows exist by necessity in order that the genesis of things may stand out. The more shadows there are in the world, the more our mind will stand out and will be the basis of knowing things, because knowledge cannot exist without shadows. You say you are suffering—that is a shadow, in order that you may learn the conditions of the new life. Therefore, growth is the cause of all changes which take place inwardly and outwardly. If you understand life this way, you will come to reality itself, i.e. to the testing of things. When a teaching is in accord with the reality of genesis, or with the Laws God has created in the world, it can always be put to a test. A doctor comes and says, "I have a medicine which cures this illness." If this medicine is real, it must cure the patient as soon as he takes it; but if this does not happen, the medicine is not real and the doctor only deludes people. A man comes and says, "I bring you a teaching, if you accept it, you will raise yourself." If this teaching raises you, it is real. Thus, growth is a process necessary for the building of your spiritual body. The physical body is necessary as a scaffolding on the outside; if it is not raised, the spiritual body cannot be raised either. First of all, the physical world was created as scaffolding, while the spiritual world is constantly being constructed and organized to this day. In the Scriptures, there are verses which say that first heaven—the Divine World—was created and then the Earth—the physical world. The Earth is not organized yet, God is still organizing it. He created the world in six days: the sixth day He created human beings and on the seventh He rested. Now He is at work again. Moses says, "God rested." Christ says, "My Father is working." At the present time He is still working. God's rest implies His going out of His genesis and from there scrutinizing everything. He has created and then returned again to continue His work. His present work brings fire. He says, "This world lacks fire." When this fire comes, it will bring growth and knowledge of grace. When I speak of the world, I always mean human beings. The world is known to you to the extent you have a relation to it. All elements of the external world, of external Nature are connected with your body and with your mind, as a result of which all the changes taking place in you, the indisposition of your spirit, depend on the changes in Nature. If a wolf has been hungry for three or four days, or a week, he will pray to God for food. You respond to his thought and suffer along with him. All things in life are connected; that is why you experience equally both joys and sorrows. Someone says, "I cannot tolerate this man." Tolerate him, because he is part of you. If you ruin him, you will ruin yourself. Therefore, by growth, I understand the growth of our spiritual body which represents a unit of the Divine harmony. You say, "The world is not organized yet." It is not organized but work is necessary in order to organize it. We are the plants which must work; we receive and process the materials, then we give them to God. You eat a hen, a sheep, a lamb—that becomes a part of you which goes to the building of the world. From this point of view all sufferings will be justified. We have all suffered in the world that is why we shall live all together. Some day you will realize that the bugs are your brothers too. When a bug is biting you, or sucking blood from you, it is saying, "I must do this in order to build my house." In all beings conscious and unconscious processes are taking place. The conscious process is effected so powerfully that you must grow up in a short period, as wheat grows in May; and you must bear fruit in a short period of time, because growing has in view blossoming and blossoming—fruit bearing. Growing is a life in which blossoming, setting and ripening of the fruit take place. There is no setting and ripening without blossoming. Are you blossoming? "No." Then you will not manifest yourself. People, like the flowers, find their expression only when they blossom and bear fruit. Love is manifested only when plants are blossoming; it is the same with people. When there is blossoming in the physical world, the physical ripening comes, the physical love; when this process is over, a spiritual blossoming and ripening takes place in a person. One must blossom at least seven times, i.e. set seven fruit at least. We must blossom up at the same time in seven worlds, but this blossoming up is achieved consecutively. Therefore, when blossoming in the physical world loses its sense for you, this blossoming should be taken up above. Why do you die? Dying is nothing other than going to a higher world for growth. When you do not have conditions for growing in the physical world, you die; when you have conditions—you are born. Therefore, those who are not acquainted with the deep sense of life find that in the blossoming of the branches and growing of the roots there is a certain contraction. When water comes out of a spring, would it not flow in all directions? If you open a jar full of steam, would not these vapors spread in all directions at the same time? Thus, the life which has sprung up from a center sends its roots downward. And conversely, at night, when the Earth has turned, we are with our feet up. The same is true of a tree: in the course of 24 hours, first the branches are turned up, and then the roots are up. You will say that people are with their heads up. Human beings are double trees: they have roots up, which means the Divine World; also they have roots down in the stomach, which means the physical world. When the Earth turns, you also turn with your feet toward God, and then the roots of your stomach are turned to Him. So every 24 hours both the feet and the head turn toward God. Before God, the feet and the head have an equal meaning. Why? Because in the spiritual world, the feet are the ground on which you build your house. They are the soil on which your life may grow. Now in the process of growing, you should love all people, alive or dead, who have a reflection and live in you. You have a John inside and a John outside; you have an angel inside and one outside; you have a devil inside and one outside. Heaven and earth live at the same time in your soul. There are good and bad spirits in you who get along well. Some people who hate the evil spirits say that there is disputing between them and the angels, so they think they are quarrelling. There arises a dispute only when we meddle in their work. Otherwise a complete balance exists between them. As soon as we meddle in their work, a struggle begins. When there is a dispute between two spirits, you should only listen. The dispute is a conversation between them. The students are not allowed to meddle with the business of the teacher. The bad and good spirits are great teachers. You have no right to pass judgment, but only to listen; such is the Law. If you interfere in their work, they will beat you and say, "Listen, you are a small baby; you should not interfere, but listen." Often people complain of attacks by the evil spirits. I tell them that the evil spirits do not care at all about you; they are not interested in your existence. They have only stopped under the shadow of your tree to talk, but you have overheard them. People are babies not born yet. "The evil spirits tell me to do this or that," some say. They do not say this to you, but to themselves and you say, "Wait, let me do this!" The Apostle Paul says, "Grow in the grace of Christ, in order to know the spirits." Up till now the world has always used charms and conjurations against the evil spirits. In the church the Vassil Prayers are all conjurations against them, but evil spirits still exist. That is why Christ says, "Resist not evil." The evil spirits have their own work and when they are doing it, let them be free, do not interfere. I have heard how some Christians quarrel among themselves, "You are ignorant, but I have graduated university and have learned something." If you have graduated and have knowledge, you will keep silent, because there is conversation in silence, which brings power and growth. Those who do not know how to keep silent have no knowledge; they know only the rod. Silence is actually growth— this is how plants grow. They are silent, only at night a faint cracking can be heard—they are whispering to each other. They are not like people, who want the whole world to hear, if they have done some good. The hen acts the same way after laying an egg, she cackles so that everybody should hear her. What of it that she has laid an egg? That is her duty. It is a question whether she laid it, or it was laid for her. When an ass carries a burden of precious things, he says, "I carried the precious things." We must know that having come to earth, we are servants of God. Someone says, "Humans have free will." But I say that those who live in this essential, unchanging world where God lives and serve God, understand His Laws and orders, only they are free and only they can have a free will. We must find time to accelerate this growth of which I am speaking, i.e. the building of your body. Often your saying that you have no time for this, no time for that provides the occasions for disobedience. An English preacher once visited a poor boy—a sweeper—and asked him, "Does anyone come to see you?" "Yes, Mr. Gladstone."33 Who?" "The English statesman." How strange that in spite of his great tasks, he found time to visit a poor sweeper! Why? Who lives in this sweeper? Gladstone realizes that one of his brothers lives in him and says, "I must visit him!" When someone rises in life today, they do not recognize even their father and mother, thinking this will infringe on their greatness and high position. There is nothing greater than knowing our obligations. The greatest trait of God is that in spite of His numberless great tasks, He always finds time to visit some sinful soul, the way Gladstone acted. God always finds a few minutes free to visit someone, to leave a good thought, or render His help. And when everyone attacks you like swarms of mosquitoes, God appears and says, "Fear not! I am here; I am with you to help you." When God does this, say to Him, "Give us strength to grow and become free from transitory things, to know Your Will." Do not say, "They attacked me, but they will see who I am!" We often say in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Will be done!" You do not know the Name of God, the Kingdom of God, and you want to fulfill the Will of God. You will be like that mother who sews skirts and pants for her child which has not been born yet. In the process of seeking the Name of God, the Kingdom of God and the Will of God, will come the Kingdom of Heaven. You must have the valor of that Russian king of whom Tolstoy tells a legend. The murder of King Peter I, in which Alexander I was also involved, cased great pangs of conscience in the latter and darkened his soul to the extent that nowhere could he find rest. The glamour of the throne and the vain pleasures had not the power to distract and calm him. He withdrew into himself more and more until finally he decided to abdicate and start living in Taganrog34 as an ordinary citizen. One day while walking in the environs of the city, he noticed that crowds were gathered round two rows of soldiers unarmed, but each holding a rod. An old soldier was brought with arms tied to a gun. They took off his shirt and while the drum was beating, he was subject to a horrid punishment, "passing under the rods." Alexander looked the soldier in the face and was amazed at the great likeness between them. He asked about the crime of the unhappy soldier. They told him that when the soldier heard his father was on the death-bed, he asked permission to go and part with him. After being denied that, the soldier tried to run away, but was caught. He tried to escape a second time but was caught once more and this time was severely punished to pass between the two rows of soldiers under the blows of 8,000 rods. This penalty meant certain death. Hearing the sounds of the blows and the groans of the dying man, who soon stopped groaning, Alexander was horrified. "My God," he thought, "all this only for a reason that he wanted to kiss his father's hand as a farewell and receive his blessing! That poor man is tortured so cruelly, in my name too!" He compared his attitude to his father with that of the soldier and seeing how much lower he stood than him, Alexander started weeping bitterly. After being informed by the doctors that the soldier would not live after the 4,000 blows, he made arrangements the soldier to be clothed secretly in his outfit and to be carried in Alexander's room. He, on his part, dressed in the soldier's uniform, submitted himself to the remaining 4,000 blows. These he bore to the end and survived because the soldiers, taking pity on the exhausted soldier, did not hit him hard anymore. The soldier, disguised in the Emperor's clothes, was carried to the palace, where he died. The great similarity between the two served for an official announcement that the emperor had died. In reality, the emperor wandered away, giving himself over to kindly deeds the rest of his life. Tolstoy ends the story with the death of Alexander in the following words, "What a moment of triumph must have been his death! What liberation of the soul!" I ask, how many of my listeners will be ready to bear at least ten blows for their brother? And after all this people are pretenders, preparing themselves for heaven! I say, the inner sense of growth is in learning to discriminate the shadows from the real things, to liberate one's soul by bearing all sufferings. When a pear and an apple are growing, that is done for the sole purpose to give fruit which will bear a new being. Some want to marry and have children. Why? They want to marry, because they are already tired and cannot do anything else. As soon as they marry and have a son or a daughter, they will finish their parents' work. Someone says, "I do not want to be married." That means you are strong. If you cannot finish your work yourself, you must get married. By the word development I understand that either we must finish the work God has assigned for us, or give our place to others to finish it. That is why people are born and reincarnate—descend and ascend—on this earth. Some day when you say you are tired, God will ask you, "Do you want to give your place to your brother who will finish your work?" The knowledge I give you now is elementary. In the future, you will learn something more. God has already started the reorganization of the world. In this epoch of growth, we are under the most favorable conditions, under the effect of the Divine fire. In this fire, the hard things will melt, matter will be refined and God will form out of it a world of a different order. Those who will not finish their development will be sent by God to another place. There is no perishing in the world, one is only deprived of the duty, or work, one is not doing. In our schools, they keep you two or three years in the same class until you can pass it. The same refers to life itself. Now it is desirable that this thought should become central in your mind. It is not important what work you are doing, whether you are a mathematician, or a doctor—these are shadows, forms in life. The essential thing is to sanctify the name of God and to implant the Will of God in your soul. Those who want to be strong must give first place to the following: the name of God, which is the supreme good; the Kingdom of God—in relation to the Earthly life. The spiritual world is connected with the physical world—humans are at the same time spiritual and physical beings. These two elements exist in us simultaneously: there is a bond between the two beings, which keeps them together and directs them. This bond is the soul which is semi-spiritual and semi-material. You can never change this state of things. By the words physical matter I understand the world of forms necessary for the manifestation and genesis of things; by the words Spiritual World I understand those forces which work for the creation of these forms; Soul, on the other hand, implies the conditions that prepare the construction of these forms. Therefore, life cannot be manifested without forms. Every Soul must have a body in the world in order to be manifested as an individual unit. She must have a body so that God can visit her. Can you invite guests, if you have no house? When a man wants to marry, he first has his house made, as the birds who want to lay their eggs first make their nests. Do not take my words in their literal meaning. Every person must have house, but where must it be built? In the spiritual world. They will not receive you in heaven, if you have no house; there you must have a house by all means. Growing implies the idea of having a garden around your house with flowers and fruit-trees to decorate it. In order to grow, you should forget your shadows, your misunderstandings. All things existing in the world today are shadows; when you fall asleep for a long time, everything will disappear: France, England, Germany will disappear in your mind; there will be no wars; you will forget all about sugar, rice, your debts, you will forget everything. Why? Because all these things are shadows. To know a person in the real sense of the word, you should love them. Only those who love know people. Someone may say, "I love, but I suffer and fear." Since you fear, you have no love. Love does not tolerate any fear. All contradictions, of one kind of another, cause unpleasant troubles for people. However, the human spirit cannot develop without hardships. This teaching should be preached to open-minded people today. Only then will your home be freed from the sufferings which are essentially fictitious. There are magnetizers who hypnotizing a person draw a line before them and tell them they can go only that far and meet a wall on their way and the hypnotized person actually cannot pass that line where the other people do not see any wall there. When the magnetizer blows, the wall disappears. Now the devil has raised such a wall in the minds of people. He has drawn a line and they see many obstacles and hardships which are in fact shadows, not reality. Everything in the world is possible. How is everything possible? For instance, if you have been hungry for several days and pray to God for a piece of bread, He will give it to you, but if you want from Him 7-8 loaves, He will not give them to you. These are true facts which you can test yourselves. People should give up their greed and not desire more than what is necessary to them. If you have one kilo of sugar, be content with that, do not want more. Can all people be millionaires at one and the same time? As the growth of a tree has its limits, so people have a limit of growth on the physical plane: when they come to the age of 21, they reach a height after which their body stops growing, but the mind, soul and spirit continue their development. These are great things which you will understand when your eyes are opened. You must pray to God to open your eyes as Elisha, one of Israel's prophets, did. One night the Syrian king sent a great army against Elisha to take him and bring him to the king. When Elisha's servant saw the great number of the enemy's army, he was scared and said, "What shall we do now, my master?" "Fear not for those who are with us are more than those who are against us." Elisha prayed that God might open the servant's eyes to see all. Then the servant saw the forest around Elisha full of horses and carriages. When the Syrians approached him, Elisha prayed to God, saying, "Smite these men with blindness." Then Elisha led them to Samaria and said, "God, open the eyes of these men that they may see." God opened their eyes and they saw they were in Samaria by the king of Israel. When Israel's king saw them, he asked Elisha, "My father, shall I smite them?" But he said, "Do not smite them but set bread and water before them and after they are fed, send them to their master." People today ask, "What will become of us?" Those who are with us are more than those who are against us. Who are against us? Our thoughts and feelings—our shadows which we have been creating for years! Say to yourself, "I have created these thoughts—these wolves and bears—and I am not afraid of them." Some say they have strong faith. They can test the power of their faith, if they were placed among wolves and bears in a menagerie. If you fear, if you are tempted and yield, if you hate—God is not with you. The Christians must be heroes. Heroes are necessary for this world. You must bear up all misfortunes and say, "May the name of God be sanctified and may God's grace come!" You will say that so many people have died. In my view they have not died, but have been raised up. I would wish to go with them. It is a glorious thing to go to Heaven! Some people are afraid of death. They love God, but when death comes they call the doctors. God is not with them. When death comes, say, "I am coming, Lord, prepare new work for me there." I do not want anyone listening to me today to fear. Enter the place of your lions, tigers, snakes and pat them. Until you learn to pat the snakes and the crocodiles, God cannot be with you. Take as an example Daniel who did not suffer among the lions, but said, "God, Who is with me, will tame the lions." When you are among your lions, I wish you would call to God to shut their mouths. Be resolute and not faint-hearted! Now equality and brotherhood should be preached everywhere, not only seemingly, but in practice. Scientists and great people must set an example of how we should live. You may be a chemist, an astronomer, a judge, a priest—harness all your forces for the good of humanity. We are not far from this—the fire is coming, there will be a great heating, but be unafraid: those who are with us are more than those who are against us. Let all people know that God is coming into the world to restore order, Lawfulness and justice. And you men and women who are given these lovely names by God, will submit to the new order. There is not better name in the world than man and woman. But now both men and women complain of their state. The men say, "Woe unto us who were born as men to go to war!" The women say, "Woe unto us who were born women that we should bear children!" It is not woe unto anyone; on the contrary, it is a great blessing that you were born such as you are, destined for so great a work! Reconcile yourselves inwardly. "How can we do that?" Do not say anything about anybody! Be reconciled in your soul with all your brothers, with all the subjects you have! Call to God that His name may be sanctified and His Spirit glorified in you and that you may grow up to fulfill what God has assigned to you! You will not die; from now on good conditions for gaining knowledge are coming, you will study astronomy, mathematics, and so on. Some say that mathematics is a very easy science; everything is implied in the numbers up to 10. But how many million relations there are among these ten numbers! Some say: "We should be good," that is 1; "we should be just," that is 2; "we should be loving," that is 3; "we should be wise," that is 4; "we should be truthful," that is 5. We have come to five. "Let us be good and just," it is 1 and 2; "let us be good, just and loving," it is 1 and 2 and 3; "in addition, let us be wise," it is 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. No, this is not any science. In the number 1 we must understand the Law of one, the soil, the elements; we must make use of chemistry and see what grows in the one and then say: there grow apples, cherries, grapes, wheat, rice, cabbage, carrots and so on. This one will determine what elements are needed for the apples, for the pears. In our mind we say, "Let us be good." To be good, we should work. We can be just too, but we must work. Good, Justice, Wisdom—everything comes from above. You say, "We want to be good." Come to me and I shall teach you how to be good. I shall take a nail and when I heat it up, it will become good. Where is the hearth? It is in your heart. Take the bellows and coal, start a fire and put the nail in it—your thoughts—and heat them up. This is the process by which we must work within ourselves. In this sense, Christianity is an alchemical science. You listen to me and say, "My heart is heavy, I am sad." Why? Because you have closed your windows and do not allow the Divine Light to pass through them. God can live in you, but you have not opened your windows to let Him in. If sometime He slaps you, say, "God, I thank You for visiting me." Interpret your husband's slap the same way. Why do you thrash the walnut tree? That the nuts may fall from it. So God comes to you and asks you, "Have you any fruit to give me?" If a brother slaps you, invite him to your house and set for him food and drink. What food? The food of the new spiritual teaching. If you teach him the new teaching, he will pick the walnuts by his hand; otherwise he will bring them down by throwing stones at them. It is like this everywhere today: men, women, teachers, students, priests, preachers—all are throwing stones at each other. The present sufferings are a great blessing for people. I thank God for many things: I thank Him for being the King, so I can be a servant. Since He is King, that is the greatest blessing for me and for others. Now you are servants, but if you want to be real kings and queens in the future, apply the Divine teaching. Every morning when you get up say, "God, I thank You that I am alive, so I can serve You today." How do you get up in the morning? Some get up with their face up, others with their back up. Take care of the children, how they get up in the morning. Never get up with your back up. What must be your first thought after rising? Say, "God, bless my soul. I thank Thee for waking me up today to finish my work the way I should, wherever I may be, and to be able to grow as much as it is necessary." This is the first basic teaching. But what do we do? If someone is a teacher, they say, "Oh, today I have to correct 40-50 notebooks!" If they are a judge, they say, "Today I have so many Law-suits!" If they are a preacher, they say, "I must hold a sermon today, but have not prepared anything yet." If one is a mother, she says, "Why are all these children crying now?" In such a case, God is not with them and their work does not go well the whole day. Blow and say, "Hwuu-u-u! God, purify me of all evil thoughts and bless my soul!" Try this. Some say, "God was so merciful that He shed His blood for us and was nailed to the cross." How was Christ nailed? With His head up. That is why when you get up in the morning, you must rise with your head up, not down. And when you go out, show your head to God, not your feet. Go out with your head first and thank God in your soul. If you observe these rules, all Spirits of Light will be around you, you will acquire power, Wisdom and grow. God makes things grow. Now, do you know why I am telling you all this? You must know that God does His work through people. And when I speak to you, you say, "Mr. Dounov says so." What I am saying to you has been said above, the whole heaven says it. I repeat that God is coming to purify the Earth by fire, to take off people's old rags and give them new bodies with love in their hearts, to uplift their minds and take away from them all malice and hatred. This is what the Divine teaching proclaims in the new epoch. When you rise in the morning, make an experiment, say, "I thank you, God, for the great grace You have for us. We know You as all-merciful, all-truthful, all-wise." Repeat this every morning for one month, then come to me and tell me what the temperature of your soul is. This is the whole secret. If you repeat this for ten months, it will be still better. This is the A—the beginning. In the past, when I was at your age and was learning this science, after rising in the morning, I started thus: "I thank You, God, for everything You have given me and taught me." You start the same way. This is a great teaching. If you do not start with it, you will be in eternal darkness, an eternal gloom around you. If you apply it, God, the angels and the saints—all will smile at you and help you to become Children of God. You will be ready to endure 4,000 blows on your back for your brother, so when Christ comes you will say, "Let Him take my place, I shall bear the rest myself." I understand this in a figurative sense and thus I speak. Spread this teaching among the nations! Only this way will every nation be able to ascend. Those who want to try, let them apply this teaching and see its results. It is a positive science. Every nation, every society, every home what works this way will be blessed. These are the good tidings Christ brought for the regeneration of humanity two thousand years ago. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Sermon held on January 7, 1917, in Sofia. ______________ 32. II Peter 3:18. 33. William Gladstone (1809-1898), an English politician Chair of the Labor Party. He supported the independence movement in Italy and took a rigorous stand against the 1876 Turkish massacres in the then dominated Bulgarian territories (ed. note). 34. A south-Russian city at the Azov Sea coast (ed. note).

MARTHA AND MARY But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. 41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42. But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.30 Much has been spoken about Martha and Mary. They represent two principles in the human soul— the active and the passive. In the person of Martha and Mary are presented two women, two opposite characters, two states of the human heart: the one state is calm and silent with a mind directed to an eternal principle, resting on an eternal foundation; the other state is like that of the waves in the sea, like the small branches in a tree—constant bubbling, constant swaying. Christ, however, points out to Martha what is essential by saying to her, "You are cumbered about many things which are not essential, which are outside of reality, but Mary chose something more essential." Many of you belong to these two characters—some are Martha and some—Mary. The Maries are generally noble women. They are good, of an excellent stature, beautiful face, soft look in the eyes, symmetrical forehead, regular nose; in the heart they are soft, delicate, responsive to others' sufferings and ready to help. In Jewish, Mary means salty water. Mary always salts the world and, thanks to her, it does not get spoiled, does not sour up or decay. When you have the principle of Mary in yourself, your heart is not decomposed. Martha comes from Mara, meaning bitter, sour, and turbulent. Therefore, the bitter principle in you is constantly embittered, angered, discontented. It does not do this out of an evil intention, or bad will, but because it is a very active principle which in its motion wants its path to be clear, open. When Martha gets up in the morning, all the servants are up and about, there is much bustling and noisy chatter. However, as soon as she takes the broom, everybody runs as far away from her as they can. She says, "Everything here must be in order." You will meet Martha in churches, in schools, in courts—everywhere. She is just as necessary as Mary is, but you should not give predominance to the one or the other—to the one or the other principle. I shall connect these two principles with two others which I shall formulate as: Principle of the Superior and Principle of the Inferior. The principle in the person of Mary expresses the superior showing us how to serve God and how to be in harmony with the higher beings—the saints and the angels— who know more than us: they know how to humble themselves and submit. We shall sit quietly and calmly at the feet of the Master to receive enlightenment. You will ask, "How many are the Masters?" There is One Master that I know of—the Master is One. He may have 250,000 hairs on His head, but it does not mean that they are 250,000 Masters. A tree may have many branches, but they are not trees. However, one and the same life flows in the tree and in its branches. This is the way you should conceive of unity. And when the Master comes, that is the Spirit, Who is in you, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, you must listen deeply in yourself to the soft and tender voices of love. Love is not sour, it is a soft, tender power. What do you like in life? Imagine everything in the world in the likeness of Martha—all taking brooms, raising dust and noise. What music would that be? I believe that houses would be in perfect order, there would be fine furniture, fine clothes, we would have wonderful farms, but there would be no life. And conversely, if everything was in the likeness of Mary, all would be salt. But if there were no Marthas what would be salted? Mary has a relation to something else, to another principle, a different foundation. The Superior Principle, Mary, shows the way we should serve God individually. In this service we shall find the sense of our life. To the extent to which we understand the inner sense of our soul, to that extent shall we understand the other beings who live around us. As soon as we have learned the first—the Superior Principle—to submit to God, we shall learn the second principle—to submit all inferior elements, to conquer the Inferior Principle in people. And when contemporary science speaks of conquering Nature, I understand that it wants to conquer Martha who makes much noise. We must learn to be good Masters. Those who have not learned to submit to God and serve Him, cannot be masters. Those who want to be masters must first learn to be servants— to be servants of God and to be submitted to Him. They must learn the higher Law—to sit like Mary at the feet of Christ. Christ says, "That good part Mary chose shall not be taken away from her." I shall give you as an example of this idea a legend. It speaks about the great violinist Paganini. One day during his concert tour in Europe, Paganini came upon an old, around 60 years of age, violinist with shaking hands, blurred eyesight and a small dish beside him, his violin on the ground, since he could play no more. Paganini stopped before the old violinist, picked up his violin and started playing. In a short time a big crowd gathered around him, each one putting a gold or silver coin in the beggar's dish. He played until the dish was full. This is how Paganini paid his tribute to the poor old man. This old man sat at the feet of Paganini as Mary set at the feet of Christ, but he did not say, "Let us see what will come out of all this." He listened to his master's playing. "Yes," he said, "I see now my great Master—the Master of life." The dish is the vessel into which great and good thoughts are poured. When this great Master starts playing in you, your vessel will be filled with noble thoughts and desires and you will be weak and crippled no more, but become young, vigorous, good and strong. I would wish that in a given case you would do the same. This does not mean that you should devote all your life to serving, for when Christ commended Mary, He only wanted to say, "I do not want you to give me all your time in service, but only your spare time, no matter how little it may be. The rest of the time you are free to do your duties in life." The great teaching does not want in the least our neglecting the duties in life. Only that hour, set aside for Mary, must be given her. Paganini does not always stop, this is a rare moment. He takes the violin, plays for a while and passes on. In the same way, Christ will stop some day before you when you are burdened, tired of life, thinking your life has no sense, that you are of no use to anyone, that the art you are studying is of no value. Then He will stop before you and start playing on your violin. Therein is happiness—to hear how a great Master plays or paints, or to see a great artist. This is the teaching we should study, the teaching of revering God and submitting ourselves to Him; only by this submission we shall learn great Virtues. What does present day friction, or conflict, among people spring from? From the fact that people are sour, not soft and tender. If all people were soft and tender, life would be happy both outwardly and inwardly. If people would have mutual respect for one another and were pliant, there would be great harmony in life. I do not commend people who quarrel daily, they murmur every day against God. We hear murmuring everywhere—scientists, doctors, professors, priests, and preachers—all are murmuring. If someone is a shepherd, he will say that his sheepfold is small, he would want a bigger one—this is murmuring too. The learned person murmurs that few abilities have been given to them. Who is to blame? Always God is blamed. I am not speaking about you, who are here, but about those who are in the world—everybody is murmuring. The Law of the superior life requires of you that gratefulness and love of God should always spring from your heart. Some people ask, "Where is God? How can we find Him?" Even little children can find God. Already 2,000 years have passed since the philosophers have begun to prove by argumentation where God is—in the sky, on the stars, on the Earth or in the human heart. They are still looking for Him, but no one has found Him. The preachers say He is in the human heart; the astronomers say he is in the Universe as the Law of gravitation. Some say He exists, others deny His existence. I shall use a figure to show you on what these philosophers base themselves. Imagine that God, like the Sun, rises and sets every 24 hours from east to west. Moreover, imagine that when God rises, you fall asleep and sleep until He has set and after He has set, you wake up and look for Him all night. When you do not find Him, you fall asleep again when dawn breaks and after He has set again, you look for Him all night. A day, two days, a month, a year, ten or more years pass and you are seeking Him all the time and do not find Him anywhere. I say: only change the relation of things and you will find God—sleep at night and be awake in the morning when the Sun rises. I see Him every day: I sleep at night, but in the morning, when dawn breaks, I get up and meet Him. This is the philosophy of life. God rises as the Sun. What do people do at night at present? They go to concerts, balls, to theaters and when God rises, they are sleeping. They are aristocrats, of noble birth. All people who sleep in the morning and in the daytime are of the culture of the owls. That is why they suffer. But this night culture must be substituted by the culture of the day. As soon as day breaks, you will get up and stand waiting at least haft an hour, then God will appear before your face and you will draw from Him strength, energy and health and the whole day you will be bright and cheerful, working with vigor. Some philosophers say, "God is an aristocrat, He does not accept everybody, so we must appear dressed up before Him." Now, I shall use another figure as an objection. When the Sun rises, all animals—good and bad, beautiful and ugly— come our in their clothing such as it is. God shines upon everyone—the snakes and the lizards, the mosquitoes and the loathsome creatures who do so much harm. He does not say to them, "You must hide in your hole!" In the same way you can appear before God and bask in His Light and heat. This is the sense of life. We do not suffer from the fact that there are many snakes on the Earth; their number is determined, they are in their place, but when they become twice as many as they are, the extra number must be destroyed by all means. When the number of the wolves is within the determined bounds, they are in their place, but when they multiply too much, again the extra number must be destroyed. Thus, if you do not put to work every thought and every desire you have, i.e., if you have not learned to serve God, this thought and this desire will command you. And then by the same Law, as you oppose God, your desires and thoughts will oppose you. If you can apply in your life what I am telling you, you will see how efficient it is and what results you will have. Some say, "Let us educate the world, discipline the people!" In this sense, I do not believe in disciplining, because all people are individual cells of the Divine organism, of the Divine body and each one must discipline itself individually. I cannot command anyone. To command a person is sacrilege, lying to God. I do not want to command. Why? Because all people are God's and I have no right to command and misuse another's possessions, I have the right to be master only of my thoughts and desires—I can command them. However, I must be a servant to everything outside of me. You must do the same. Now we shall come down to the inferior elements—the irrational. What is said in the first chapter of Genesis? "God created heaven, the first day and then—the Earth." Heaven implies Mary, and earth—Martha. The Earth was not organized, or was sour. The people of learning say that when Martha appeared, there was storm, a hurricane, fire, steam rising and then God said, "Martha, Martha, you are making big noise, but progress does not lie in that. Mary chose the good part. Look up!" The Earth, Martha, looked up and started turning round itself and round the Sun. That way life appeared on it, many creatures were created and finally—humans. When God finished His work, He said, "Everything about Martha is good." And that was the first day, then came the second, to the seventh day. Now some of you are Martha—making a noise and flames coming out of their hearts and minds. Martha has no lakes or rivers, but the great Master says, "Martha, Martha, be not worried! Only one thing is necessary—heaven, the rational, the great thing in the world. Look up to heaven, it will give sense to your life." When you look up your spirit will immediately start moving regularly round its center and you will find the sense of your life. To find sense in life means to have a center around which to move and which center will daily supply what is necessary for your needs. Thus, God has created in us simultaneously both Martha and Mary—the two poles of the human soul. I could explain the inner meaning of these two principles active in the world, but when much knowledge is accumulated and is not applied, certain sediments are formed and people become confused, not knowing what to do. A student from an Evangelical school, who wanted to excuse himself for not knowing his lesson in Bulgarian grammar, said to his teacher, "There are many grammar textbooks in Bulgarian by Ikonomov, Grigorov and others, which one should I study from?" He excused himself this way once, twice, but finally the teacher said to him, "Listen, friend, I do not want to know what the grammar books of Ikonomov and Grigorov say, I want you to study my grammar!" When God comes to you, you say, "There are philosophers like Kant, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy who say so and so, but there is contradiction among them, who shall we follow?" God will say, "You will follow what I tell you." When you want to follow the Divine Truth, you must go deep into your soul, only then will you understand life in its deep sense. Different abilities will come to birth within you and you will see other, greater beings than you and then you will say, "How blind we have been!" I ask, if you were in the state of an ant and some philosopher would step on you and smash you, what would you think of his feet? You would say that a big rock fell on you and smashed you. But this rock is only a small part of this giant. Some day you say, "Fate is against me, it persecutes me." Fate is nothing other than the foot of some great philosopher who has stepped upon you. Do not stand in the path of the philosophers, of the learned people, they will not stop because of you, they march on their way and if you interfere, the foot of the philosopher will smash you. When you complain, I shall say, "Your place is not on this philosophical path, you are ants and must choose other paths." This is a philosophy of life. When I see the misfortune of a person, I look up and notice a giant who has stepped on them and smashed them. God has made the world and all other worlds. In the Milky Way, there are 18,000,000 suns and each one of them is moving along its definite orbit. There is a distance of 25 billion kilometers from one sun to another, so that collision should be avoided. God has drawn these orbits. He has drawn an orbit for your life as well, has given you a certain space and has said, "Never pass beyond the boundaries of your kingdom." You want to make a contract with some other kingdoms; the men and the women of two kingdoms made a contract to form one kingdom and quarreled in the end. Why should they quarrel? Let everyone reign in their kingdom. Someone says, "Come, let us put our money together in the same place to preserve it." Let everyone keep their money in their own purse! Do not entrust your money to anyone. On earth, no matter whom you may entrust it, it will be taken away anyhow. That is why Christ says, "Lay your treasures up above—this is the true sense of life." So we are wrong in that we want to distort the life God has ordered. I know of people who hate someone and carry them everywhere in their minds. Leave that person alone and hold only onto God! He lights up everything, allow Him in your holy of holies. People today are polytheists; they have Gods of labor, of glory, of power and burn incense to all of them. Take your hammer, throw all these idols out, or break them up, then sit at the feet of your Master and you will understand the deep sense of your life. This is what Christ means by the words, "The good part Mary has chosen shall not be taken away from her." You worry about many things, taking care of this and that thing, yet you are master of these things; so take them and throw them out. I have noticed how some masters sit in their chairs, like me now, and give orders. They want to be given something which they themselves can take, but they ring the bell once, twice and finally they go out and start scolding the servant. Their calmness and peace are of more value, however, than the fact that the servant has not brought their chosen shoes at once. Do not wait for others to do the things you can do yourself. Go and take your shoes and then moralize the servant to do their duties properly. This is what God wants of you, because this servant is not yours, but someone else's. When I say I am a servant, I do not have in mind you, the people; I am a servant of God. In London a Baptist preacher once went to see another preacher by the name of Spurgeon and to give himself more importance, he wrote on the visiting card, "One of your brothers in Christ is waiting outside, wishing to see you." Spurgeon wrote on the other side of the card, "Now, I have work with our Master." If anyone comes from outside and says a brother of yours in Christ is waiting for you, tell them you are speaking with their Master. Therefore, the servant you are calling from outside to bring you your shoes, has work with their Master and if you break their peace, their Master will take you by the ear. This is the greatest philosophy people today must learn. We must be servants of God. When we learn this great Law, our relations will be normalized. I see how this Law works: when you are in a good mood, all people seem pleasant, but if you are indisposed and have gotten up on the wrong side of bed, the whole day people will seem in the wrong and annoy you. This state may last a week, or a month, we call it a new philosophy— pessimism—and such people—pessimists. In order to justify the weakness of some person, you say they are pessimists. This is according to the words of Schopenhauer. In this sense, you are all philosophers. Bulgarians stand even higher than Schopenhauer, all have this pessimistic trait—the Bulgarian is easily discouraged and falls into despair and then comes Schopenhauer's philosophy, Martha comes. I say—you are obliged to submit to God! Since you do not serve God, all these misfortunes come to you. There is no other fate in the world! The day you submit to God, to your fate, all others submit to you. This is the teaching of Martha and Mary. Mary—this is heaven, Martha—the Earth. Mary this is the higher state of the heart, Martha—the lower state of the heart, Mary—this is the higher state of the mind, the Theosophists call it manas31 superior, Martha is the inferior manas. When you go to your homes, which I see as beautiful and splendid, say to yourself, "Come, Martha, come, Mary, you are two good sisters." Christ is the superior Spirit, the superior principle. If Mary would have answered Martha, she would have said, "Wait for a while, I want to listen and after that I shall help you." Christ was speaking, that is why Mary was not working. When you return home, if you get angry and start talking loudly, say to yourself, "Martha, do you know what the Master says? You must submit!" Mary should be noble, delicate, and speak kindly to her, saying, "Sister, wait a while, I shall be of service to you a little later," and when her sister speaks petulantly, she should say, "How nicely, how pleasantly you are speaking!" There is a certain harmony between the noble and the ignoble, as there is a relation between Love and hate. I know both sisters. Whoever comes between them, they stifle them out of love and when the person dies, they say, "What have we done?" Love says, "Come, let us raise them!" Hate says, "I shall bury them." "All right," says Love. They put some earth on the person, but then comes Love and after heating them up from above, she raises them up. Hate and Love work together in the world, but you have such a bad opinion of hate, of envy. They are really snakes and lizards, but in some cases they are pleasant. What would the world be like without snakes, lizards, flies, and so on? Point out such a world! How is your world better than this? No, the way this world is made is great in its intentions, in its expressions and manifestations. What you are constantly complaining of is the disharmony within you, it is Martha—the unorganized earth. The noise which is constantly taking place in you is namely what disturbs this harmony. God's Spirit must descend and say His word. And so the Spirit has come down, giving orders. He is working. You must have an indomitable faith in the principle, living in Mary. Have faith also in the principle, living in Martha. Have faith in Christ, for Christ, Who is above them, joins them. You also should join these three—your spirit, your Mary and your Martha—and should start the New Year with this act. I will not complete what I have said, but will leave a great interval, a gap, to see how you will solve the puzzle. I am a clairvoyant and when I look at your future, I see how some rise, others fall, some follow the spiritual path, while others twist and turn. In the end, all will be well, only that there will be swaying and loitering. When people get on a big ocean liner, some people throw up because of the constant swaying of the ship, but others do not. How interesting these aristocrats are on the ocean! The first day, they are in high spirits, well-dressed, decked with rings, and necklaces, all happy and content. When the ship starts swaying, everybody begins to look thoughtful like philosophers, listening to an important lecture. The second day, they begin to feel sick to the stomach, start eating lemons, laying on the floors and vomiting. When they land and are asked how they crossed the ocean, they say, "We arrived safe and sound." Yes, but when you cross this ocean from earth to heaven, how many times will you vomit! You will say, "Passing this ocean is serious business!" As soon as you reach the land, you will have good appetites, because you will be well cleaned up. This Martha in the ocean raises much noise around herself, shakes ships, creates weeping and wailing, but as soon as you step on the shore, and Mary comes, you say, "Thank God, we are safe and sound!" Fear not! Be always with your great Master that you may solve the problem of life. You have many complex problems in life: bringing up children, relations between men and women, relations to society and humanity. You have many obligations. How will you finish them? Some think that when they become Christians, they have no obligations. No, just the opposite—a Christian has more obligations and must fulfill them very well. When a day ends, they must feel a great inner calm that they have done what they should have done and if anything had been omitted, to put it in their program for the next day. One day you will be Martha, another day—Mary, but when you are at the feet of your Master, then let both Martha and Mary calm down, for an hour let all and everything calm down. This is the teaching and the thought Christ sets forth. Learn to serve the Superior that you may be masters of the inferior! Sermon held on January 14, 1917, in Sofia _____________________ 30. Luke 10:40-42. 31. Manas—(Sanskrit) the mind, all mental expression of the human psychological faculties (ed. note).

THE TRUTH The truth shall make you free29. Pilate put a question to Christ, "What is Truth?" This is a profound philosophical question. It is easy to ask this question, but difficult to answer it. The Truth in itself is something concrete, real, unchanging. It is eternal Light, eternal Wisdom, eternal Love, eternal Righteousness, and eternal Life. However, this definition requires a more concrete determination of what Truth is. I shall stop on the thought, "The Truth gives freedom." Freedom is an aspiration of the human mind, heart, soul, spirit; freedom is life and life is destined to our seeking the Truth and to seek it not as Tolstoy speaks in his book, My Conversion. There he speaks of one of his dreams, which clearly describes his psychic state before his conversion. I shall tell you briefly his story. "In my dream I find myself," says Tolstoy, "lying in a bed, but I feel neither comfortable, nor in a pleasant state; I start moving to find out what kind of a bed it is, what it is made of— iron or wood. At once I noticed that the bars of my bed started to fall one by one, starting at my head-side until only one bar remained just below my waist. At this moment I heard a voice crying, "Do not move either your head or your feet anymore! Keep balance!" I saw below me a large post and a bottomless chasm." I say, there are such philosophers who are lying on their back, investigating the Divine World, but only one bar remains under their waist and God says to them, "Keep the balance!" So as soon as you pronounce the word balance, the catastrophe is avoided. When you investigate the Truth, you should stand up straight on your feet, not lie on your back. I take the word dead in a figurative sense—a limited person who does not think. You must be turned to the East so when Christ appears, you should meet Him. Many act as Tolstoy did, but Christ says to them, "Balance!" "The Truth shall make you free." The Truth is real, it is real life. Do not think the Truth is something imaginary. No. It is a world which has its beauty, its colors, tones, music—a world which has always existed and will always exist. Christ says, "Those who understand this world, these Laws and forces, will be free." In another place He says, "To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world, that I would bear witness unto the truth." Then Pilate asked Him, "What is Truth?" People today have strange ideas of God. God is the Truth. When you feel joyful and happy and start singing, the Truth— the living God—is in you. Think well, do a good deed—God is in you. The Truth is movement, impulse. And when Christ says, "I am the Way," He means a person must move and not stay in one place like a tied animal. In this world all things are strictly mathematically determined; there is nothing unforeseen, accidental. Your life, your sufferings, tortures and anguish—all is foreseen. These things are plus and minus. Within the Truth enter the four rules of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Those who have much—they add, those who have little—they also add, but the addition in both cases is different. For instance, you have two thousand leva but with a minus or a plus—that is, you either have to give or to take. If you say, "I have two thousand years" and put a minus; this means that in the past you have lived two thousand years of vicious life. If you say "Two thousand years plus"—that means you have lived two thousand years of excellent life; therefore, you are truly a rich person. Christ says, "The Truth shall make you free." Freedom is a necessity for the man as well as for the woman. The whole social structure rests on the Truth. Everyone is striving for freedom. Actually, everyone has the right to live in freedom, but this freedom will be given to us to the extent that we can benefit by the blessings of the Truth. Sufferings are necessary for every nation, as well as for each individual. Torment and torture are human contrivances. Let us say a man gets a monthly salary of 50 leva which is barely enough for a month. The wife says, "Easter is coming! There is no money for Easter bread, the sugar and eggs are expensive; there is no money for shoes and a hat. Only a hat costs 50—70 leva. Why don't we have now 150—200 leva?" I say, in order that there may be peace, leave the Easter bread for next year. Easter is not only once in a lifetime! "No, now or never!" If God has allowed you only 50 leva, be satisfied with what you have and do not spoil your Easter! In this case the wife must give freedom to the husband and he—to his wife. Down with the Easter bread! This is freedom! This is the Truth! That is why the Scriptures say, "Be thankful for everything!" Do not think that God has not given you riches. You are all rich, but you must discover this wealth. In the perception of the Divine orders, you must have inner freedom and not be biased. The Truth is independent of your and my conceptions: whether you think one way or another, whether you approach it or draw away from it, will not change its relations. In this world, which is wisely created, the Truth always exists such as it is. The illumination one has proceeds from the Light of the Truth. Love comes from above—from the Truth. And when the Truth conquers the world, it will make you free. Love always aspires for the Truth—what beauty is in relation to a person such is Truth in relation to the Divine World. It is the one face of this world which is a world of harmony and beauty. And when you ask why you are unhappy, the Truth answers, "You are unhappy because you are ignorant, because you violate God's Law." In Varna in the past days Gagaouz women would fall in love with Bulgarian men and would marry them. They thought the Greeks were drunkards while Bulgarian men were as gentle and nice as little donkeys. No, this is not a conception of the Truth. The Truth is a science of the mutual, sensible relations of people. Before a person has achieved balance in their mind, their heart and their will in accord with the Truth, they cannot be free. As soon as they attain this, they will make contact with the Divine World. Many ask, "Can we live without suffering?" You can. "Without torment and torture?" You can; why not? But sufferings are necessary for the evolution of humankind. A person wants to learn about the world; that is why they must suffer by all means. The Earth is a place of suffering. You say, "How should we know?" Why did you not ask the rational beings what the Earth is like before coming down? One time a little angel who had heard much about people said to a bid angel, "I want to see the people very much. Why don't you take me to the Earth so I can see them?" The angel brought him to the Earth. Then the little angel said, "I wanted you to take me to the people, but you took me to hell." "Hell—that is people on this earth," answered the big angel. Indeed, hell—that is us. By the word hell, people in our country understand something boiling from underneath, bubbling up, people taking each other by the throat, brother fighting with brother because one has taken a larger part of the inheritance, and so on. Today everybody says, "Equality is necessary!" I ask you, what is wrong in taking a larger part? One of the brothers is older, let him take more. Thus, people on the Earth have just such relations as God has ordered and of which His Laws witness. If you apply them according to the Truth, their result will be freedom. Those who want to study the Truth must study the quality of freedom. If you ask me what is music in reality, I cannot define it, but I can describe what music gives expression to. The result is harmony—relations between the tones. Sit at a piano, or play any other instrument, and you will see what music is. Three things are necessary for the expression of music: first, an idea in your mind of a song; second, an instrument and third—an artist. Therefore, a musical ability of the mind is necessary, a sensitive ear and an artist who can play. If you ask me what a teacher is, I can tell you only what a teacher produces. A teacher gives knowledge. When you learn what knowledge is, you will be near the teacher. You ask, "What is Virtue?" Better ask what it gives birth to. Before going into a study of the essence of things, study their results. What is the distinguishing feature of freedom? It gives a large scope to action. In necessity you have only one way; you are harnessed. Your reigns may be golden, but you must go only one way—forward; in case you stop, the whip will lash your back. In freedom it is just the opposite—you have a choice. You have a choice to climb a mountain top from any side, but when you are rolling downwards, you have only one direction. "But why does a person think that way?" They are free to think. "But he is an atheist." This is a temporary delusion. "She is a bad person." Her consciousness for good is not developed in her yet. "He makes mistakes." His will is not regulated yet. "A woman has an unlawful child." Settle the relationships between the sexes. I consider humans free. Only the fearful are not free and it is they who commit crimes, they have not the heroism to assume responsibility. Which people are strong? Those who are free and who can bear hardships, sufferings, getting spitted on, being dishonored. These are trials for people and those who can bear them are considered heroes. Sufferings are given to people to test them—who are heroes and who are cowards. Those who do not want to suffer, but want to be served by others, are enlisted in the catalogue of the cowards. If you suffer, you are a hero. Whom does the Bulgarian nation glorify: the cowards who betrayed the country during Turkish times, or those who suffered for the liberation of this country? How much will those who suffer for the Truth be glorified? The principle is one and the same. That is why the science of the Truth is a science of social life. The Truth always makes people free. Those who die for others make them free. If the martyr Stephen had not died, Paul would not have been born. When Stephen died, his spirit entered Paul. Then both started working together for God. Stephen taught Paul to suffer and to bear three times thirty nine blows with the whip. Paul became famous namely for this patience. Do you know why they lashed Paul thirty nine times? The numbers 3+9 equal 12. The number 12 is the Law of rounding up the evolution of all the days of human life. And whoever undergoes so many blows with a whip on the Earth will not be beaten any more in the next life. If you ask why Christ was beaten, He will answer you "I suffered that you might be made free." When people beat you on the Earth, it shows you that a cord that holds you tight to your evil fate is torn. That is why Christ says, "If they hit you on the one side, give the other one also." Only the strong one can beat and when the strong one beats you, it is a blessing. What do the peasants do? When they want the field to yield more produce, they let the sheep thread on it. They know this Law about the fields, but do not know it about themselves. Let the sheep of the world thread on you a little. Christ says, "For this cause I was born." The birth that Christ speaks about is not an external, but an inner process. It takes place in every heart and mind, in order that this Truth may be witnessed. When the Truth is born in you, you will feel freedom. When a woman marries, she wants to have children, because she is aware of the Truth that this is the only way the Law can be observed—that she may have an inheritance. It is the same in the spiritual world: if you have not the Truth in yourself, you cannot inherit the Divine riches. Therefore, the Truth must be born in you. Then you will have riches and spend your life more easily. A legend tells the story of Moses. When he was going up the Sinai mountain, he saw a shepherd who was very happy, and he asked him, "Why are you so happy?" "I am happy because today the Lord will come down to visit me, so I killed a lamb to give Him a feast." "The Lord does not eat lambs, you are deceiving your mind!" answered Moses and went away. However, the shepherd was saddened and lost his joy. When Moses reached the Sinai Mountain, he noticed that God is displeased with him for having made such a big mistake. He returned to the shepherd to tell him that God would visit him and eat of his lamb. After telling this the shepherd, he hid in a nearby bush to see what would happen. At one time he noticed that the shepherd fell asleep and fire came from heaven burning up the lamb. When the shepherd woke up, he said, "I am very happy that the Lord came down and ate up the lamb!" So, when the Truth enters us, its fire—Love—will make a sacrifice pleasing to God. This is the real world of the Truth. For some people it is not real, but a great number of people—thousands on this earth know this world—the world of Truth. I say, much time will pass before the Truth is planted and understood by all. See how beautiful the flowers are! They are yellow, red, and blue. You pick them, but have you understood their meaning? You say, "This flower smells very sweetly," but what does this fragrance mean? It shows the great sorrow of the flower. Out of its grief is formed a nectar necessary for your life. There are people who, in the midst of their wealth, say, "There is no God!" As soon as they lose their wealth, health, or social position, and God takes them in hand, they begin to emit fragrance, "There is a God." The wealth would have stunted their mind if God had not taken it away from them. Thanks to that, they began to take a right view of things. What takes place on the Earth is something transitory, not a reality. You see beautiful, little girls, but as soon as they come of age, their faces begin to wrinkle and in time they become old women. I ask: where are those little girls gone whom you admired so much at one time? The same thing happens to the boys. You do not know yourselves yet. When you learn the Law of the Truth, it will give you power over matter that you may understand its inner combinations and perfect your life. This is the Law of motion—that a person should constantly undergo a change and pass from the temporary to the eternal, in order to understand the unchanging essence of the Truth. People say that Christ was born to preach the Truth. What is this Truth? Christ wants to invigorate your mind and give you an impulse for right thinking that you may make contact with the Divine World. You are eternally bound to God. In the world you have many friends; however, if at times these friends are insensitive to you, it is due to your relations which spring from ignorance. Paul says, "God despises human ignorance and has let people follow their way, but now He is calling them that the Law may be fulfilled." What should a mother who is called upon to fulfill the same Law do? First of all, she should bear good and sensible children. This is her first task. Some women complain of their state and say, "Why are we women?" I ask—who should have been in their place? The man should prepare material for thought, will and character. He should pass all this on, but the woman should give birth. People today are looking for comforts in the world, but they must understand that essential Law, also expressed in the music—in the minor and major scales. God has placed some people in the minor scale, in the flats—sorrow, grief, depth of the feelings; He has placed others in the major scale, in the sharps, on the surface of life, since they have no depth of feelings. In a dance, or a march, what can one see? Dancing, marching and finally—fatigue. In a sad song you cannot move—there you will keep still and reason. God has placed you under a minor tone that you may think of the other world, while in a major tone you will think of this world. At times you want to play another's part and say, "Can religious people dance?" They can, but what kind of dance? When David was carrying the tabernacle, he was jumping and dancing but his wife rebuked him saying, "Look how you are contorting your body in the presence of the whole nation of Israel!" "Why should I not hop before the Lord?" he objected. God does not limit us, He gives us great freedom to do good and evil, but in certain cases good may be evil. You will say, "How can this be?" Here is an example. A man and wife are leading a good life. Christ says, "Give away your goods." In his desire to fulfill the teaching of the Savior, the man wants to give his property away, but his wife says, "Are you crazy? You want to make your wife and children unhappy?" "No, I want to fulfill God's Law." "But I do not need this Law." I say to the man, "You have no right to give away the property of your wife and children, for it is theirs! If you have 100,000 leva divide them as a brother among your wife, children and yourself equally, and you have right to give away your share. You have no right to serve God with another person's money. This is Christ's Law. "But I have the right to do this." "You have not! Who gave you this right? Where did you take this woman from? God did not make woman your mate out of your feet, but out of your rib and you have no right to torture her!" Now this appeals to the women and they say, "That's right, let the men know this!" No. You should never consider a question from your own point of view. In the universal life there are many possibilities: in this life you are a man, but in another life they may make you a woman. And the opposite is true. If in this life you write, "I give no freedom to woman!" in the other life when you are made a woman, you will taste the benefits of this provision of the Law. Then you will say, "This is not a good Law," but it was you who wrote it in the past. Men, make good Laws, because when you come a second time on earth as women, you will be placed under their power of course, not only men, but women also write Laws and as a result they create limitations of each other. Many women have written bad Laws in their sons and daughters; for instance they have written that they should hate their father. They say, "Your father is a good-for-nothing, a vagabond." Do not write such Laws, because one is your Father. This man or this woman whom you call father and mother have become an instrument of the Divine Spirit in order that an idea should be clothed in form. And when you complain of your state, you murmur against God. You must not change the basic features of the incarnated idea in a form. You can make some changes in the shades—to make them lighter or darker—but the main substance, which personifies the Divine idea, must be preserved. Sermon held on April 24, 1916, in Sofia. _________________ 29. John 8:32

THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE But thhe very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not: ye are of more value than many sparrows.26 People today want many arguments, facts and logical inferences to be convinced that there is a Divine Providence which directs human life by certain Laws. All thoughts, desires and acts are determined by certain Laws. At times some things which happen in life are strange to you and you give them a wrong interpretation, in result of which in the course of many generations you have created the odd philosophy that everything is arbitrary in life, i.e. there is no Law and order, that might is right and only the prudent, the shrewd, succeed, and so on. Is there any need of proving that this is a great delusion? As we observe Christ's life, we see that Christ always paid attention to little things. He said to His disciples, "Fear not, your life is insured," and as an example He points out that out of five sparrows not a single one falls to the ground without the will of the Father. Why did not Christ take one, but five sparrows? Here is a Law and everyone who is under the influence of number five, does not fall without the will of the Father. In the second comparison Christ says, "You are insured, the hairs on your head are all numbered," and there He stops. You may say, "Of what importance is it that the hairs of our head are all numbered? That is namely the important thing. If these hairs are numbered by God and He keeps account of them, they must have some significance by all means. Do you know the number of your hairs? Many have counted them. Some people have 250,000, others have 320,000 hairs. And God keeps an account of all these hairs as a gardener of his fruit-trees by putting a number on every tree. You may pull out a hair and throw it away, but this hair is doing some service on your head. If I start discussing the meaning of the hairs27, I shall digress from my subject, so I shall refer to the comparison of the sparrows, which means that our spiritual life is under the protection of the Divine Providence. The comparison of the hairs of the head implies on its part that our physical life is also under the protection of the Divine Providence. Now it is necessary for you to have faith in this Providence. If you believe in It, you can develop rightly. Every doubt, which enters your minds and hearts that there is no Providence in the world, draws you away from a right understanding of things and makes you create another order and other rules according to your own views. When a man and a woman get married, they think that God has given them a certain authority. The man says, "You have lived freely with your mother, but in my house you will be under a new Law. I am a bit quick-tempered and touchy, you must be careful with me, or I shall apply a strict Law if you offend me." The woman on her part says to her husband, "I am very sensitive, delicate, not used to heavy work. If you violate this Law, things will change immediately." As you see, all people work out their own Laws. What happens in the end? Both begin to quarrel. Why? Because the stand they have taken is false in its very foundation. I say, real marriage was not created on the Earth. There are three kinds of marriages: some are contracted in heaven, others on the Earth; some are contracted by God, others by people, and still others by the devil. Every marriage established by God will bring Love, peace, joy, a bad word will not be heard and the spouses will live a blissful life. Every marriage established by people has the purpose of perfecting the couple: there will be frictions until the relations start running smoothly because two sharp stones do not grind flour. Such a marriage is not a creation of God, but of people and as the mind is, such will be your human deeds. When God creates something, as all- wise, He orders everything perfectly; but when people create something, there will be friction among them. This is necessary for their self-perfection and for polishing their characters. But when the devil marries people, then there is discord and lewdness in a home and all the worst things in life. In a home where there is such life, the marriage has been established by the devil. Thus, you must give a right definition to everything exactly and must not mix the acts of God with the human, or the devil's acts. Therefore, to think rightly, logically, we must understand the source of things. If there is anything rational in the present day sciences, it is the fact that they establish the existence of certain Laws in the world, which regulate the relations of things, and no one can violate these Laws without bearing their consequences in one sense or another. Therefore, there are three kinds of people: some who perceive things in a Divine way; others in a human way, and a third category who perceive things in a devil's way. The first state is when a person perceives things as they were ordered in the beginning by God; the second state is when a person thinks that God does not take part in everything, therefore we must interfere and smooth things up a bit. That is why when God does something you say, "God has not been able to do it as He should, wait till we correct it." The third state is when a person wants to become God themselves. Thousands of years ago, humankind perceived things in a Divine way, but they lost this perception in the process of their decline. You, too, when in a good mood, believe in God and when things go smoothly you say, "Thank God, He takes care of us." But as soon as misfortunes come, you say, "God has forgotten us." I ask you, on what grounds do you maintain that God has forgotten you and He is the cause of all your sufferings? God says, since you forget me, I too shall forget you." If you draw away from Him, He, too, will draw away from you. Some think that God, Who is changeless, in His Love, when they begin to draw away from Him, He must start after them as a mother after her child and cry, "Wait, my son, so not draw away from Me!" No. God keeps His place and when you say He is drawing away from you, I understand that you are drawing away from Him and not vice versa. The path of the movement of some people around God is right with insignificant changes—they draw away a little and approach Him again, as the course of the Earth round the Sun; while others' path is like a wandering comet which at times gets very near the Sun and then for centuries it does not get close to it. So when you draw away from God, you say, "God forgot us," but I say that in 75 years when you get close to Him like Halley's Comet, God will remember you again. This depends on the orbit on which you move around God. When your path gets close to Him, He will be reminded of you again. Now you are all moving a certain way, but you cannot understand me equally. Why? Because you are not moving along the same orbit. But I am not judging you for that, because I look at things objectively, philosophically. You will answer, "Such is our way." It is a question of whether your way is such or you have made it such. I maintain that your way is not such. There is a railroad line between Sofia and Varna which is very often damaged and consumes much money for repairs—has God made this railway? If God has constructed it, it would have been made very wisely, but since people have made it, it is such as it is. If in constructing a railway line you would act according to the Laws of the Divine Providence, no accidents whatever would occur. And yet the technicians have a better conception of what is needed in a construction than Christian believers have of life. They say, "We must make mathematical calculations of the curves and declivities a train would make on its way, in order to regulate the power of the movement; if this is not done, many collisions will occur." The Christians, however, say, "God is good, He provides for us, no matter what slopes we take, it's all the same, He will help us." When the carriage turns over, they say, "Things are not going well." Of course they will not go well, because you act unwisely. Your train turns over because in establishing the Laws of railway lines, you have not taken into consideration the Laws of the Divine Providence. That is why in some cases the spiritual people must use the experience of the worldly people and become their students. There is nothing shameful in being a student. When it comes to spiritual things unknown to the worldly people, then the latter must become students of the spiritual people. One cannot be a teacher in all cases—sometimes one will be a teacher and other times a student. The Divine Providence has determined strictly all things and all phenomena—nothing in the world happens by chance. All events of whatever nature they may be—physical, psychic or social—are determined by a Higher Being, Who watches over their course. As an engine-driver is obliged to drive the train and be responsible for the life of the travelers inside, in the same way the Earth, which moves in space, has its engine-driver who at times puts more fuel in the engine and less at other times. In its movement the Earth makes certain curves by means of which sometimes it approaches a bigger planet which affects it. These are distant things which you will study and understand in the future. Now to clarify the Divine Providence, Which is necessary to you, I shall tell you a story which you may take as a pre-historical legend, since the events it describes are allegorical. Some consider this story from the time of Solomon, but in my opinion the things spoken about refer to a much earlier epoch. The story goes that once upon a time lived a learned and wise king who understood the language of all animals. He summoned them every year to a congress where he taught them and in the end always concluded his speech with the words, "No one can spoil what God has made." At one of the Congresses two big eagles called Roka were present. One of them said, "I can spoil what God has made." The king said, "Very well, prove this by facts," and dismissed the Congress. The same year the daughter of another king was married to a prince. On returning from the temple the couple was happy in each other's company when one of the eagles swooped down, grabbed the bride and carried her off to his nest on top of a big tree on a desert island. The groom, after finding himself alone, in his despair started on a long voyage. This young man got on a ship, which after a few months' travel suffered shipwreck and the waves washed the unfortunate groom ashore the same desert island where his bride was carried. He began to complain to God, "Was not my misfortune of losing my bride enough for me, oh, God, that I should be cast away on this desert island besides that? It were better for me not to have been born!" His wife, who was in the nest of the same tree beneath which the groom was bewailing his fate, heard that a man was weeping, came down of the tree and saw her groom. She then hid him in the nest. When the time for the next Congress came, the two eagles came, took the nest with the bride and carried it off to the Congress. The king made his speech again, ending it with the words, "No one can spoil what God has made." Then the eagle spoke up, "I spoiled one of God's deeds!" "Prove this," said the king. The eagle told the story of the marriage. The king wanted to see the bride. The eagle called the bride to come out of the nest. What was the amazement of the eagle, when along with her came her groom! When he saw he could not spoil what God had made, the eagle burst its sides with rage. By eagle in this story, we must understand the human mind. We say sometimes that we can spoil what God has made, to spoil the form of things, but in the end things remain such as God made them. And then we, as the proud eagle, remain deceived. Teachers today preach all the time, "Mind your step! The world cannot be run by foolishness." I say, thank to the foolish for God keeps the world for their sake. There are not more clever spirits than the devils. Have you ever visited their kingdom to see how they live? You speak of human intelligence, but if you go down to these fallen spirits, you will see that they have knowledge of physics, chemistry, and psychic activities as well. They have much knowledge by which they may deceive you, or do anything, but their knowledge cannot introduce Law and order into the world because it does not rest on those elements which can cement life. Knowledge of all kinds must be cemented by the Divine Love. Therefore, when one speaks of knowledge and facts, I ask, "Have you got cement to cement these things? If you have this cement, you actually have Divine knowledge. However, if you have only bare facts without cement, they cannot be of use to you." I ask if you should collect 200,000 or a million hairs of a sheep and do not know how to consolidate them, of what profit will they be to you? Only when you spin and weave them in a definite way can you make yourself a garment out of them. By the same Law, when you can cement your thoughts and desires by the Divine cement—the Divine Providence—you will be able to make yourself a garment and clothe your inner nakedness. This Providence is necessary to all, so that you may live and develop. That is why Christ says, "Fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows." You are better than many sparrows. Here you have the number five—five sparrows, five senses, and five fingers. The number five is an emblem symbolizing the human being on earth. This number signifies the sensible, the wise person. It says that this wise person does not fall until they sin. So long as you are wise and do the will of God, you will not fall; however, the day you sin, God will allow one of the sparrows to fall to the ground. As soon as a sparrow falls, the hairs of your head will begin to fall, which means that your life will begin to be destroyed. Thus, always keep in mind that the Divine Providence watches over you so long as you walk steadily by God's Laws. As soon as you draw away from Him, your life begins to disintegrate. Turn to the Sun of this Providence again in order to start growing anew. Sermon held on May 24, 1915, in Sofia. ______________________ 26. Luke 12:7. 27. According to the Master, human hairs serve as antennae through which we receive thoughts from the Spiritual World in the very same way a radio picks up different frequencies. Our task is to learn to distinguish among the sources of the different types of messages we get this way (ed. note).

LIBERTY OF THE SPIRIT Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.21 The condition of liberty is the Spirit. By the word liberty we understand a free life, i.e. the inner meaning of things and their relations—the relations of the thoughts, feelings and incentives of the will power which are manifested in the world. Where there is a living soul, there is motion which is the result of the will. This motion may have a definitive direction, or take different directions. The New Testament says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Another place states, "The Son of God will set you free." The Son and the Spirit are one and the same thing. The Son is the expression of the Father and the Mother. The intelligence of the Son is an expression of the intelligence of the Father and the Mother, as the Sunlight is the expression of the inner state of the Sun. How can we know a person? By the Light of their thoughts, desires and acts. Now I am speaking about the liberty of the Spirit, because the religious people are exposed to the great danger of becoming worse than the worldly people. In this sense a person cannot be happy by becoming religious. By the word religious I understand a person tied to something, the way a horse, a cow, or some other animals are tied with a rope. To be tied to a house is religion; to be tied to some political party, or some philosophical teaching is religion too. What kind of religion is it? A religion that ties or limits the liberty of person, or of society. If you are tied to a teaching which debases you, or deprives you of your liberty, this is an obsolete religion, an old skin. All people who seek the liberty which gives sense to life and which philosophers today call higher consciousness, but political people—citizenship, are sensible people. How would you know you have the Spirit in yourself? If you are sensible, if your thoughts, feelings and acts are free and wherever you go, you leave a blessing, the Spirit is present in you. In life today the word liberty may be understood as Light. If you travel at night, you are not free as in the daylight for the simple reason that the path is not clear. In the same way when the religious and worldly people delude themselves, they also have something hazy in their notions. People today do not know God, they do not know what the Lord is, but they know their kings and rulers. They say, "As the kings and rulers punish us, so God punishes us also." Because of these wrong ideas of God, life is full of contradictions springing from such false views. We can all see the results of these contradictions. However, you must be set free from this inner slavery. How can you be freed? A basic change must happen in your brain, or a thorough transformation. What is the structure of your brain and what changes should take place is not clear to you. Every morning you pray, you seek the Lord calling to Him, and He does not listen to you. God hears only those people whose ears are open. He does not hear the deaf22 and does not speak to them. If you want the Lord to hear and answer you, your ear must be delicate and perceptive so that little would be necessary for it to understand much. The Lord likes to watch and hear those people who work and do not busy themselves with vain and foolish things. If you consider the religions of today, you will see on what level of development they are. In every religion there are certain delusions. One of the reasons for these delusions is due to the fact that when a person wants to understand a religion, they enter one or another society and in this way get more confused. A young man wanted to join a village dance, but had no strong boots. He borrowed a pair of boots and started to dance. The one who had given him the boots seeing him stamping his feet vigorously, said to him when he got near enough to hear him, "Listen, do not stamp your feet so hard, I have not given you my boots that you should stamp your feet so!" A friend of his, after hearing these words, said to him, "Since this fellow put you to shame, I shall give you my boots." The young man put on his friend's boots and continued dancing. When he was passing by the second man who gave him his boots, the latter cried to him, "Stamp your feet, my friend, do not worry if you tear the boots; if you tear them, I shall give you a new pair!" I say, it does not matter whether you say to a person "Stamp" or "Don't stamp" your feet, it is all the same, for he is not free already. It does not matter whether you have stamped you feet much or little. Why? Because you are already deprived of your freedom. Therefore, our mind should be elucidated as to the question of real liberty. Christ has given a definition of liberty. He says, "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you." Everyone must accept this rule as an inner Law. One must speak and do that which gives liberty to others also. Someone says, "I wonder at people today how they gossip. You see them in the church praying so nicely, but as soon as they stop praying, they start gossiping about each other: this man does not live right, that woman does not speak the truth, and so on." Those who gossip do not have liberty and do not give liberty to others. I say, if you are not tolerant to people and do not give them freedom, you do not understand Christ's teaching. And in reality, most people today have a perverted idea of the teaching of Christ. They must throw out of their minds these caricatures and think of God and Christ in an entirely different way. And so what is religion? Religion is a science of the forms as well as of the Divine Love. If you study only the external form of religion and not its inner content, you will find yourself in a delusion and begin to change religions as a lady often changes her clothes. If she lives fifty or sixty years, she can change many suits of different cuts and colors, but these suits do not represent the lady. Therefore, the form is not yet religion. Actually the forms are necessary to religion, as the suits for the lady, but they do not represent the body of the lady. When people die, their kinfolks say, "We shall wear only black, not white clothes." No, you may wear white, black, red and blue clothes—any clothes you wish. The sin is not in the colored clothes, but you should have in mind the following—when you go to a dead person, do not dress in white, as when a street is muddy, you will not wear white shoes. Thus, everything requires its time, its season. In this respect, the worldly people are wiser than the religious ones. They stand ten times higher than the religious people. God has decided to set the world right by the worldly people. The politicians and the socialists will rectify the world because they want freedom. You will say, "How is that? These people destroy, they do not build." I ask, when you build a new house on the place of the old, do you not first destroy the old house and then build the new one? If you do not throw out of your mind an old idea, a new thought cannot be born. Many want to teach people how to think, so they say to them, "seven stories up, seven stories down," or "keep silent and do not reason," this is their true science. Everything else is of the devil. What was written in the times of Moses, in the Old Testament? "This is of God; the rest is of the devil." And today, many are preaching that their ideas are of God and those of other people—of the devil. This is what it means to be strong with your posterior brain. This is not right. Every teaching should be judged by its results. If a given teaching can be applied in the private life of people and give good results, it is good; if it cannot be applied, it is not good. One thing is important for a person—to apply the liberty of the Spirit. Everyone must ask themselves, "Am I free? Do I have this Spirit in me?" When the Spirit comes, He will produce Light in the mind and heat in the heart. This is the sign by which you will know the appearance of the Spirit. If you begin to limit the human spirit, forcing a person to think, feel and act the way you do, the Spirit will withdraw from you immediately, as a teacher leaves the class when the students are making noise and obstruct the teaching of the lesson. When the students do not obey their teacher, their parents and guardians will come and punish them. In this sense, Moses was the guardian of the Jews. He came to them to tell them that they should obey their Teacher and when they were disobedient, he punished them. And if you ask now why so many misfortunes assailed you, I say, "The misfortunes and sufferings came to you because you did not obey the Spirit. You should have obeyed the Spirit as your Teacher." Now I shall explain the meaning of liberty and how it manifests itself. Suppose you meet a person with bound hands and feet and you begin to comfort him that the Lord is good and if he has patience, He will untie him, and so on. I ask, if you yourself can untie this man, do you manifest liberty? No. You must take out your knife, cut the cords binding the man's hands and feet and set him free. What does your comforting do to him? You tie him faster so he cannot run away. People must untie one another; they must set one another free. Christ says, "Go and preach among people!" By these words, He means exactly this untying, this liberating. This liberty should be inner and not external. All misunderstandings among people are due to the lack of freedom. If it is a question of anxiety and worries, how much more should God worry for He has created this world and sees what is happening? It is good when the Lord is angry, but of what use is human anger? There is no profit in human anger. But God also does not get angry. The Old Testament says, "The wrath of the Lord," but these words must be understood in their inner sense. The words of Christ: "Why do you call me good Master? Only God is good," confirm the idea that God cannot be angry. Therefore, the good and the kind people cannot get angry. Some prophets have spoken of the wrath of God, but I object to this. Has God said anywhere about Himself being angry? In one place Jeremiah says, "Lord, you deceived me, I was deceived." How can you explain this contradiction? This is a delusion. You should not have any delusions about God. Everyone must admit that these are their own delusions. The right thought lies in this—we should say, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." This is what God said. Love cannot be manifested without liberty. I say, while a person is blind, no one can love them. A person who tortures others cannot be loved. What brings destruction cannot bring freedom. Several people pray together to God, but if one of them makes a mistake, another one nudges them for the small mistake. This is no prayer; this is no freedom, but acting. To nudge one another when you are standing before God is not praying. Down with these masks! When one is praying, they must forget about what is around them and be alone, then enter their secret chamber—their soul—and not be disturbed by anything outside of themselves. All of you who are listening to me are not free. Some of you are tied to one post, others to two, still others to three, to four, to five, to ten posts. I can prove this to you not only theoretically, but practically as well. Now since all of you are preparing yourselves for the Kingdom of God, for the Kingdom of Christ, which is a world of liberty, you must know that with these old forms, with these old skins, you cannot enter It. With these old forms you will barely come to the gate of the Kingdom of God, but you cannot enter it by any means. By this I do not judge you and say you are deluded, but I am showing you the way. You are seeking freedom. The cause of human slavery is neither the man nor the woman. Slavery, sin came into the world after the first people ate of the forbidden apple which had in itself corruption, death. Therefore, if you want to understand Christ, your spirit must be free. In the Hebrew language there are two words for the notion of liberty. One of them is ruha which signifies the higher manifestation of God. The other word is nefesh which signifies the inferior manifestation of the soul. The small child, for instance, manifests the inferior state of his or her soul. While we are babies, we cry, make faces and in this way impose our will and want to submit our mother. Finally the mother gives her breast for the baby to suck and it thinks, "This is what I want, and you should always obey me!" And the mother is constantly fulfilling the child's wishes. I ask, why was this child sent to earth—should it make its mother submit, or the mother should submit it to her will? Whoever is free and has the Spirit, they will learn the relations of things and know whom they should submit themselves to and whom they should serve. You will ask how you can acquire inner freedom. When people have common prayer that also has two sides—a good and a bad one. Why? Because people are not on the same level of development, so that a regular interchange of their magnetic forces may take place. Since the spirit of freedom is predominant in all people, but their views are different, as a result of this arise many disputes and misunderstandings. That is why before going to God, Christianity recommends purification. One of the purifying processes is that of deposition.23 How can this deposition be effected? Before praying with others, one should pray alone and prepare themselves. First, you should pray alone, then with one other person, then with two more people and so on. In this way you will learn to contemplate. Only then the Spirit will come and teach you certain lessons. When the Divine Spirit comes between two souls, He will immediately restore peace and mutual understanding between them. When the one is speaking, the other will be listening with great attention and feel pleasure in what their friend is telling them. If these two people are not at peace mutually, they will get bored with each other, "Are you the one to teach me now, I have no time to listen to your nonsense." This shows that the Spirit is not between them. The making of common prayers is not done by order, but by a disposition of the spirit; if the spirit wants you will pray, if not—you will not pray, but keep quiet. The first thing required of all is to give one another this freedom and have the patience of listening to one another. When someone is speaking, we should think that God is speaking. If you enter a religious society and become more nervous than you had been before, you have not gained anything. You have sooner lost than gained. Many doctors, many specialists know human physiology, they know which foods are useful and which are harmful, but in spite of that, they live the old way. They say it is harmful to smoke, but they smoke themselves. They say that drinking of alcoholic beverages is harmful, yet they drink; that eating meat is harmful, yet they eat meat. They have knowledge, but when it comes to applying it to build, they do not do what they say and preach to others. I ask—where is their liberty of spirit? Christ wants this freedom for all people. Many people today want liberty only for themselves, thinking that the other people should be submitted to them. Many people will submit themselves, but they will do it out of fear, not out of love. I shall cite the following anecdote for clarification of this thought. Once, a Bulgarian tailor was invited by a rich family to sow a pair of full-bottomed tight-legged breeches and a doublet for the bridegroom. The tailor took along his instruments—scissors, a thimble, called his servant and both went to the house. They arrived about noon, so they were invited to a lunch. A roast chicken was served and the tailor, wishing to eat the whole chicken alone, told the housewife that his servant does not eat chicken, he preferred beans. When the servant heard this, he started thinking of some way to revenge his master. After lunch, he told the hosts secretly that if they saw his master turning this way and that, they should know something was happening to him, because at times he went out of his mind. In order to succeed with the revenge, the servant hid his master's thimble. When the tailor started working, he began turning this way and that, looking for his thimble. When the hosts noticed this, they immediately caught him and bound him. On going back, the servant said to his master, "Your servant does not eat roast chicken, only beans. Is that so?" You also should not say your servant does not eat roast chicken, because some day, when you start looking for your thimble, he will become the cause of your being bound. The first thing required of our relations is mutual respect. In my observations during a number of years, I have noticed that some people have a strong desire to study, that is why at first they begin with a feeling of veneration and reverence, but later they slack it and say, "We know all this!" In this respect, they are like some young brides who are very gentle and shy before everybody at first. However, in a few months time, they get over their shyness, open their mouth and spoil the home. While they are in church as brides they are calm and quiet, as soon as they are married, it is as if they receive civil rights and begin to show their naughtiness. They will want to marry a second time, but the man who has married them once will not even think of marrying a second time. No. A person must not grieve God by violating His Spirit of freedom, even when they are provoked at times. Whole books have been scratched full of the scribble of human thoughts like the dashes of telegrams. A whole pile of such telegrams are written by your thoughts. By these telegrams one can see how free you are. Some day when you can go to the other world all these telegrams will be presented before God. There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. Everything in the world is apparent. Nothing can be hid from the Eye of God. This should not frighten you, but you must know that in His genesis God is a Spirit Who always wants to teach and correct people and not to punish and revenge. The sufferings and punishments in the world have a relation only to the forms. And if in this sense we say that God punishes us, this shows that He wants to liberate us from our slavery. If you set out to free a sheep out of a wolf s mouth, would she not be hurt by the time she is pulled out? Therefore, God wants our freedom, our inner peace, which will bring us calmness, joy and happiness and raise our spirit high. Now I shall refer again to religion. What does religion, by which we want to serve God, consist in? Christ says, "For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was stranger and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not" (Matt. 25:42,43). Here is the reason why God will judge the world. If you do not fulfill what Christ is talking about, if you pray ten times a day, like the Pharisees in the streets, you will not attain anything. You will be like that housewife who prayed all morning and her cooking all burned up. What did she attain by her long prayer? Nothing. Such a prayer is like drunkenness. There is physical drunkenness, but psychical as well. Do you know what psychic drunkenness is like? It is not religion. When a young maiden likes to meet young men, she does not acquire anything by that, but only some pleasant feelings. This pleasure, however, does not show that the maiden has a Divine disposition. At these meetings she wastes her energy in vain. However, when God approaches us, we feel His effect not only for a moment, but for a long time. The pleasant state we are in when God is drawing near us and unnoticeably penetrates deeply in our soul. When some people are quarreling, I do not tell them to keep silent, or preach moral to them, but I turn my gaze to God and pray for them. In order that they should keep silent, I must keep silent first. This means that first, I must pray for them that God may bring them to their senses. Years ago, there was a priest called Gancho in Varna whom people called orman papaz24. He often blamed those who made him a priest. One day he saw a Gagaouz25 beat his wife. In order to save the woman from her husband's hands, he took a whip and started lashing the man, but immediately the wife and her husband jumped at him. The woman said, "What right do you have to beat my husband? We shall settle our affairs alone." Now I say to you, who are like this priest: do not meddle in other people's affairs, trying to settle their accounts. You can do this only if the husband and wife call you to help them. As soon as you are called, show them a way how to determine their relations according to the Law of freedom. And so religion should bring liberty to people, peace and joy. If a persecution rises against a religion, or against some teaching as in old times, that will not set the world right. How many doubts may be raised against some forms of a religion! Some will say, "This teaching is Satan's." But of whom is your teaching? Those who preach a Devine Teaching should serve humanity selflessly, out of love for people and be ready for all sacrifices. Those who want a reward, or the first place, or want to set the world right, they do not fulfill the Law of liberty and the Spirit is not in them. You must be the last in the world, if you want to be the first before God. Instead of wishing human glory, it is preferable for God to think well of you. This is what I know and wish for myself. When I preach this, many people say, "This does not concern me, I am not such a person, these words are about so- and-so, she is such a person." No, this is wrong reasoning. Everyone should forget what the others are like and consider themselves more sinful than these others, and start correcting themselves. If you are in the state of sinful people, I do not judge you, but want you to come out of that state by showing you a way out. Follow the spirit in yourselves! You want freedom for yourself—give freedom to others as well. It is Law that like attracts the like. If you like people sincerely and open- heartedly, they will like you too. The Bulgarian proverb says, "What you call, the same will be echoed back to you." If you are beautiful and look yourself in the mirror, the image in the mirror will be beautiful too. When you meet a person you love, do not tell them you love them; do not speak to them about love. Why? Because as soon as you tell a person you love them, Love vanishes. Those that speak most about Love have the least Love in themselves. Those who speak most about freedom of the spirit, they give it least to others. If my relations to you are not such as they should be, no matter how pleasing and musical my sermon may be it cannot change this. Only the music which creates noble incentives in you is profitable to you. Every other kind of music, which evokes only pleasant feelings and moods in you without ennobling you, is of no benefit to you. Now, put an end to all friction and separation into left- wing and right-wing socialists, i.e. those who have the Spirit and those who don't have the Spirit. Those who bear the spirit of liberty in themselves will be given a white stone on which I shall write my name so that when the Lord comes, He will see the inscription. When I see the eyes of a person, I already know whether they have the spirit or not. When the spirit is present in a person, their eyes are neither very dark nor very bright. If a person's eyes glisten as those of a snake, this bespeaks their desire to swallow up, to eat up somebody. You have noticed how a cat's eyes glisten at night. Why do they glisten? The cat is looking for mice. However, there is a big difference between one kind of light and another. There is a light which robs and kills, but there is a Light which invigorates and brings one to life. The Spirit is sensitive, responsive to the human weaknesses, as a result of which He enters those who want to walk in the Way. I say, when you get together for a prayer meeting next time, by your telegrams it will be evident whether you have been nudging among yourselves or not. If there have been nudgings, you must know that the Lord does not want such meetings. In order that your prayers may be accepted by God, I shall give you the following method: when you meet a sorrowful, burdened soul, pray together with her to God; when you meet a poor person, help them as much and with whatever you can. God does not want rich people to get together only with the rich and learned only with the learned, but the rich must get together with the poor and the learned with the ignorant. Prayer does not consist only in saying prayers, singing and playing at concerts. If it were a question of music, one may go and listen to a worldly concert. That, too, will be of benefit to them and give them some satisfaction. By this I want to say that as the religions of the church do not pray correctly, so those who want to pass for spiritual people do not pray as they should. Get none of the old things! Chase the old devil away! Pray secretly in your soul and do not gossip about other people! Have reverence and respect for others as for yourselves. What do women of today do? When two or three women get together, they at once start talking about this and that man or this and that woman. What profit do you have in gossiping? Those who gossip hinder their right development and put psychic obstacles on their own way. Therefore, those that have such a weakness should give it up. If a thought enters your mind to speak evil of someone, stop for a moment, concentrate your attention and do not give way to the evil in you, do not become its town-crier. Shut your "telephone" and do not do service to evil. The evil in the world, as a living being, likes to attack people, to entice them to get its work done, after which it deserts them. Much time has not elapsed before the sufferings come. Then God says to people, "Be careful not to yield a second time to evil." Therefore, anger, jealousy, hatred, suspicion, lying—all these negative things are peculiar to the devil, to evil. Cast this old father out and you will be free, you will be with the Lord Who is all wise, good, just, condescending and loving; Who forgives and helps the suffering and the poor. If you do wrong a hundred times a day and turn to Him, He will again forgive you. He punishes only those who break His Laws. He has created a big fire for them. Those who don't want to make contact with these evil beings must be merciful, considerate, quick-witted and careful with God's orders and Laws. And now, begin to apply this teaching of Christ without demonstrating before the world that you are religious people. Let your piety be concealed even from you, but before the world, you can be like the beautiful ladies who shade their faces to protect them against getting sun-burnt or against the dust the in streets. Hide your beauty deep in yourselves; do not parade with it externally. If you do not want to become a laughingstock to people, do not speak about yourself that you are good, magnanimous, religious, and ready for giving alms, and so on. Christ says, "Be wise as the serpents and gentle as the doves." The worldly people are not foolish. They are not wise in regard to the higher spiritual life, but in regard to the mind, they stand higher than many religious people. Give an example of a good deed to the worldly people that they may give you a piece of their mind. Some say we must be straightforward, others say we must not be very generous. I ask you, how will the world be set right then? So if someone looks askance at you, or tells you an offensive word, you should get angry? Have you ever given yourself an account of how often you have looked at people askance? No, God has not given us eyes to look askance at others. The true religious life is namely in having freedom and giving freedom to people and forgiving their mistakes, as well as in looking for every possibility to unite with them in spirit. Now, desire deeply to apply Christ's teaching to yourself as well as for the sake of others. From now on no gossiping! Give yourself word not to gossip a whole year. Keep a small notebook and every night before going to bed write down how well you have kept your promise. If you have not said a bad word about anybody, write down the mark seven and the words: "Thank you, God, today I did not say any bad word about anyone." If you have said something bad, write down one. Then at the end of the year make an account how many ones you have written and to what extent you have succeeded to abstain from gossip. When several people get together, everyone gets excited and wants to say something and show what they know. One begins to speak, then a second, a third one and unnoticeably someone becomes the object of gossip. On the next day the same story is repeated. When a young man wants to get married, all the girls praise him and each one tries to surpass the others in eulogies. They praise his qualities, his noble family, and so on. As soon as he selects a bride, all those who had praised him begin to say, "He is a wild cat, a simpleton," and so on. In reality, these young maidens should say: "We are glad this young man picked his wife from our company." Do you know what this can be compared to? In a big European town a prince was to arrive, so twelve beautiful women were chosen as a committee for the welcoming. When they were asked to vote which one of them should give a bouquet to the prince, each of the twelve voted for herself. Now you, although not quite prepared yet, are trying to see which one of you will come out and offer a bouquet to Christ. Everyone says, "I, I!" Do not vote for yourself. Without your voting, Christ knows who the worthy ones are. Christ's teaching requires of us to be considerate and not speak about others what we know, or what we do not know. The occultists say—if you want to be strong, do not talk about people. The moment you start talking badly about someone, you get in contact with their spirit and are affected by bad thoughts. In this sense, in order not to harm yourself, it is better to think good of people than to entertain evil thoughts of them. When you gossip about someone, this person benefits psychologically. When you speak well about a person, God asks them, "How much did you gain?" "Twenty." "Give then half of it to them who think well of you." This means that the rich person should give half of their riches to those who have nothing. When we speak well of people, we gain, but when we speak badly, they gain. Such is the Law. If you speak badly of people on purpose so that they should profit by it, I shall be glad for your self-denial. But then you must not complain. If one of your sisters has a defect, pray ten times a day for her to be freed from this defect. When you pray for her you can tell her in a kindly and sisterly manner, "Sister, you have a small defect and you should work to get free from it. Do not get angry with me for telling you this truth." Now all of you try to get rid of this defect—gossiping. This year God has decided to bind evil. Those who get bound should not get angry. God will bind them and put them to work. Either you or evil will be harnessed. In order to harness evil to work, the Spirit must be in you that you may be strong and powerful. Today I spoke about liberty, but I shall speak another time about it again. Some day I shall make an experiment to find out how well you have understood and applied today's sermon. Religious liberty should be absolute. God is a God of Love, of liberty. Those who live in this liberty will find their place, whether they plough or dig, or whatever work they do, they will do everything with thankfulness. Such must be the life on earth according to the liberty of the Spirit, according to the liberty by which many great people were distinguished, as Socrates had been. Socrates was among the "last" people, but many of the "first," many kings, were forgotten; yet his name remained. A person may take a high post and not be noble. The Spirit requires of us as kings and as the "last" people on earth to be equally free. This is the teaching of Christ which I am preaching—to have and to give liberty; to have and to give liberty and again to have and to give liberty: of the mind, of the heart, of the home, religious and civil freedom. Freedom everywhere! Sermon held on August 23, 1915, in Sofia. ______________________ 21. II Cor. 3:17 22. deaf in the figurative sense (ed. note). 23. Deposition in the sense of leaving a layer of something, e.g. mud (ed. note). 24. Orman Papaz—(old Turkish) A rebellious priest, often referring to Bulgarian nationalist priests (ed. note). 25. A member of a Bulgarian minority group, living in the Varna district, who speaks Turkish, yet is Eastern Orthodox Christian (ed. note).

THE OLD AND NEW WINE-SKINS And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will hurst the skins, and itself will he spiffed […] But new wine must he put into fresh wineskins.18 This small parable is classical in form and substance. Christ makes a great generalization of the ideas. He says that no one must put new wine into old wine-skins; else the wine will burst the skins. Should these words be taken in their literal sense? They are true only in the figurative sense. Here is an analogy made of the new teaching with the new wine and of the old people with the old wine-skins. When the wine has ceased fermenting, it can stay in an old wine-skin, but if it is poured into an old skin before that, it will burst it. This parable contains a hidden thought, a great Law, namely that the Divine ideas, coming down into this world, need new skins, more elastic ones, which will hold out against the pressure of the fermentation, i.e. they need people whose minds and hearts are receptive of the new truth. When the mind is preoccupied with old ideas, thoughts and feelings, the new cannot penetrate it. Or on other words—the old forms hinder the manifestation of power for some great heroic deed. It is true that you must ask at least 90 times a ninety-year old person, if you want anything from them, until you receive it. Why do they not give readily? Because they have an inborn fear of remaining alone and helpless, or without means of existence; they feel too feeble and weak to dispose of their strength and means as the young people. In this respect the young are generous. That is why Christ says that the new wine must be put in new wineskins. When the new teaching is introduced in the world, reaction is born in the old people. They think that the new teaching is not good and it will spoil the world. In spite of this, no father in the world wants his son to be born with old ideas. Thus, wine itself represents power. Therefore, power is necessary as an impulse to human evolution. This power is no other than the human spirit, considered in a broad sense as a rational force which works and builds correspondingly to the Divine Laws. God's purpose is to make all things grow and develop. God does not like the old wine-skins. He puts them down the cellar as the wine-makers do. There will be people who would drink of the old wine. If you accept the new teaching and think it will not ferment in you, you are wrong. It is impossible for one to accept the new teaching and not change under its influence. As it is impossible for a sculptor to work with a hammer on a piece of marble without breaking a piece off it, so it is impossible for the new teaching not to change a person. Many pieces will fly right and left, but if old people are afraid that a piece might hit their head, they better stay a little farther away. The sculptor is not to blame, but the old people who do not draw away in time. The sculptor says, "I am molding a statue for the future generation, those who pass by me should protect themselves." An artist may work with a brush, with a violin bow, or with a hammer—it depends on what they are doing and what manner they are working. Yet, it is important that they work in accord with the Divine order of things. When some discord arises during some work, we should not complain and say it gives us a headache. Eternal calm exists only in the graveyard. Those who want to go forward, who aspire for God and want to grow in the Divine World, must struggle and work. It is in this endeavor wherein lies the good of the individual, the good of society and the good of the whole of humanity. Those who want to rest must remain with their old views on life. They cannot understand the active life of the new ideas, expressed by the parable of the new wine. Do you know how long it has taken a wine branch to gather all this sap in itself? Do you know the power of this sap? At first the wine juice is sweet, then it becomes so powerfully intoxicating that if you drink a larger quantity of it than you should, you lose your normal condition. Thus, whoever wants to accept the new teaching must get rid of the old wine-skins. If you do not have new wine-skins, better stay away. New people will come and the new teaching will be poured into them. The new teaching may be poured into you as well, but first you must sell the old wine-skins, i.e. to get rid of all desires and vices which prevent you from accepting the new teaching. In India there are famous snake-tamers who tame all kinds of snakes and send them to Europe. They keep these snakes of all sizes in big barrels where they tame them. One night one of these tamers did not notice that he had not shut the barrel well and went to bed. During the night all the snakes crept out of the barrel and wound themselves around the sleeping man. Upon waking up he saw his terrible condition and did not move at all retaining his presence of mind. The slightest movement might cost him his life. His servant began to worry why his master did not come out of his room at such a late hour in the morning. He carefully approached his room and opened the door, but what did he see? All the snakes wound around his master who kept still. The servant was very quick-witted and at once filled a big kettle to boil milk and put it in the middle of the room. The smell of milk attracted the snakes that, leaving the man, crept to the kettle. The Hindu man got out of bed and carefully shut the snakes in the barrel again, saying to himself, "I should shut this barrel well, so the same incident would not happen a second time. I am grateful that this time I escaped death so successfully." Sometime you may find yourself in this man's condition and you must keep your presence of mind and have milk. Milk represents rational life. Christ says, "No man must put new wine in old wineskins." Why? Because it will burst the old wine-skins. If a religious person gets upset, it shows they are an old skin that cannot endure the new wine, i.e. cannot accept the new teaching. Two ideas colliding cannot be reconciled. The Law of Moses says, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Christ's Law is just the opposite: "If they hit you on the one side, turn the other side also." This teaching requires us to love our enemies as well. I ask you, "How can these two teachings be reconciled?" The Law of Moses is for an old skin. Since the old people cannot fight against the new, they want to catch their adversary and according to the Law of Moses, take their eyes out so they cannot see and find them. Christ teaches exactly the opposite, "You can make your enemies your friends; you can disarm them and make them even serve you." Now let us consider the inner psychological sense of Christ's words. Do not think that you have understood the truth completely and there is nothing more to study in your life! If you think you know everything, you are old skins that have stopped their development on the Earth. You say, "We are learned people." What does your knowledge consist in? "We have read the books of many writers." What of that? You must be imbued with that philosophy which can rectify your life and give you the happiness you are seeking. What is the meaning of the word "happiness"? The word "штастие"19 is made up of several letters, each of which has its own sense and meaning. The letter "Ш" is made of three vertical lines connected by a horizontal line, which represents the human hand working. The letter "Т" shows the power which gives an impulse to the work. The letter "А" signifies the human nose. It is not enough for a person only to work, they should have a mind which knows how to work. The letter "C" represents the human heart. When it is turned with the concave side up, it turns into a boat which shows that all we gain must be stored up. The letter "И" is descending and ascending—it outlines a downward and an upward movement. These movements outline two angles that, placed next to each other, represent the diameters of the circle, i.e. the wheel which moves the carriage forward. And finally, the letter "e" shows the center you must hold on to. Therefore, you need a hand, power, a mind, a heart and a purpose to stimulate you upward. I shall cite an anecdote out of Bulgarian life about the fever. Bulgarians have a myth that the fever is alive. A shepherd once stopped on a bridge to rest and overheard the conversation of two fevers. One of the two said, "Do you know where I am bound for? Up the mountain there is a shepherd I want to catch." "How can you catch him?" "I shall enter the first spoonful of milk which he will drink in the spring." When he heard that they were speaking of him, the shepherd decided to take precautions against the fever. It happened that on that day one of his sheep died. He took off its skin and made a water- skin out of it. When the set time came for the fever to catch him, he poured the first spoonful of milk into the skin. Once it hid there, the shepherd fastened the water-skin well. The skin swelled up and shivered everyday at noon as the fever shook it. In the fall the shepherd untied the skin and let the fever out. Under the same bridge, the two sisters got together again to talk things over: "What did you do with that shepherd?" "It was sheer bad luck; I got into the empty water skin instead of into the shepherd." I say, if you want to use the old skins, you will be like this fever and when they let you out, you will say, "We learned to shake the empty skins." I meet such people everywhere and when they are let out in life, they say, "We learned to shake the skins." Such are the dogmatists of today who only shake skins. They say, "We are squeezed for room." There is plenty of room for them, but there is no food near them. According to their beliefs, a nation has a whole philosophy which it applies in all situations in life. For instance, people say, "The cadi20 must be brought to his senses, for he does not decide the fate of people rightly." As soon as he is brought to his senses, a new fate will be allotted to the world. On the same grounds we say that the new wine should be deposited in our children for it is the power for their growth. The mothers who want to have good children should be imbued with new ideas. If they hold the old ideas, it is better for them not to bear children. What kind of people will such mothers bear? People unfit for life as we see thousands in the world. It says in the Scripture, "Bear and multiply," but it does not say that half-baked people should be born but such as are in the image and likeness of God. This is the new teaching of Christ and it is understood and applied, the world will be rectified. Both the vine and the juice are in us. Some day, when our vine bears grapes, the juice of these grapes will start to ferment. This is an implacable and inevitable Law in the world. Those who think they can live without fermenting do not understand life. Christ says, "He who wants to acquire Eternal Life must take up his cross and follow me." The cross is the new wine. The cross holds power for those who understand. There are different crosses in the world, but people complain of them all the time. Here is what Paul says about the cross: "I shall glory in the cross of Christ." Many complain of their sufferings and say they are extraordinary and unbearable. In this respect they are like that man who always complained of the burden of his cross until one day God said, "Take the cross from this man and let him choose one himself." He was led into a room where all kinds of crosses were found: big and small, golden, silver, iron and stone crosses and he was told to choose anyone he wanted. He looked them over and finally picked out a small cross saying, "This is the cross I want." God said to him, "This is the cross you have been bearing till now. This is your cross." You often exaggerate your sufferings and want to change your fate, but cannot. You cannot cast off the burden you are carrying. You say, "When we rise in life, my wife, my children and I will start on the spiritual path. Then the new wine will also ferment in us." I say, "If you wait first to rise in life and then start on the spiritual path of Christ, you are deceiving yourselves. Good upbringing is something which should be effected at the same time for the father, the mother and the children. When the father and mother are well bred, the children will be well bred also. I shall cite the following example as a clarification of my thought. One day while the American preacher Moody was speaking, a child who was listening to him noticed that the whole congregation was singing except his father. He asked his father, "Daddy, why aren't you singing?" "I am already confirmed in the faith. Singing is for you, young people. We, elder people, have sung enough, now it's your turn." One day the father harnessed his horse in his small cab, took his child and went for a drive. When the horse started going up the hill, he stopped and did not want to go any further up. The child said, "Daddy, the horse is confirmed." Therefore, as soon as you stop, you are confirmed, i.e. you are old skins in which new wine cannot be poured, in order not to ferment and burst them. And after all this you are preparing yourselves for heaven, thinking you will enter paradise and live like the angels with an understanding of God's truths! How can you understand God's truths when you live in dark and cold cellars?! That is why Christ says, "New skins are needed!" The old people are old skins, the young are new skins. The old people are quite undisturbed and nothing can move them. The young say to them, "Let us put new wine in you too." No. New wine should not be given to the old. They have completed their evolution. The new wine must be poured in the arteries and veins of the new people. People today come against many contradictions, as a result of which they struggle, suffer, complain of their sufferings, fall, rise and so on. Why does all of this happen? Because the old and the new wine are in conflict fighting with each other. That is namely why Christ says, "Do not put new wine in old skins," i.e. do not put the new wine in yourself until you are prepared. How will you prepare yourselves? By purifying yourselves. Every teaching, every philosophy can be useful to us only when we are pure. The new teaching requires plasticity in the progress and spiritual upsurge in the life of all humanity. If we look at the old and the young from an esoteric standpoint, we shall see in the consciousness of the old a barely flickering candle, while in the consciousness of the young, we shall see a candle burning brightly and its light constantly increasing. We can compare the old person with the Earth lighted by the moon and the young—with the Earth lit by the Sun. However, the spiritual development of both old and young has need of the new wine. I am asking, "Have they this wine?" Those who seek it sincerely and earnestly, will find it. Those who have drunk only old wine and have not tasted the new, say that the old is better than the new wine. When the new, the sweet wine ferments, it becomes settled old wine and cannot ferment any more. The old wine can only intoxicate people and make them merry, but it cannot make them work and progress. If people are unhappy and suffer, the reason is that their old life ferments, it is not preserved as it should; the alcohol in the old wine turns into vinegar and it becomes sour, tart and looses its stability. I have often watched what the Bulgarians do when they leave church on Sunday. This is especially true in the villages. They get together two by two, drop in at some public house and say to the tavern keeper, "Bring a pint of the old wine! Cheers!" Then they sit by three and four at the tables, order one or two more glasses of wine, cling them, drink to their health and the conversation becomes more animated. By and by the whole tavern becomes very noisy, every body is talking. All of a sudden a great uproar is raised, they start beating someone. Why are they beating him? He has not placed a hedge around his field. This sort of thing does not happen only in the public houses. Visit the stock exchange where commercial transactions are carried on and you will think you are at a mental asylum. A woman once asked her husband to take her to the stock exchange to see what that institution looks like. One day her husband took her straight to the place, not telling her he was taking her there. When she entered the hall, she exclaimed, "Why did you take me to this asylum! I wanted you to take me to the stock exchange, to the noble people." Her husband answered her, "This is the stock exchange." When the husband, the wife and the children in a family begin to quarrel and separate from each other, it is a sign that the wine in them has begun to ferment. As they cannot create anything new, they want to lay hand on what belongs to another. They act the same way as a woman who cannot bear children and adopts another woman's child. Therefore, new skins are necessary for the new wine. It will give you a new life which will teach you how to live and work and how to form right relations among yourselves. This is Christ's teaching which people consider inapplicable. No. Christ's teaching is applicable. If you want to apply it and see its results, read this parable and meditate on the idea of the new wine at least five minutes every day. Spare five minutes every day to meditate on God, on the good people on earth who are working tirelessly; on the good mothers who raise their children patiently; on the good fathers who take care of their families and you will see what a process the new wine will effect in you. A wife says, "I married but my husband is no good." Who made you marry an old skin? Do you know that in such a case you are like a man who stole a donkey during Turkish times and said to the judge, "I was on the pear tree, and by chance fell on the donkey which carried me away." No, you must say, "I need new wine in my ideas as well as in my actions." A man of seventy or eighty years of age wants to marry and have children! I understand this too, there are exceptions in life, as Abraham who had sons at an advanced age, but he was a man of new ideas and had not grown old. People today get old at the age of forty. They say, "May our children be alive, it is finished with us." Such a person is an old skin and must be put in the cellar. They are sluggards who do not want to understand the will of God. They should say, "God, now I understand you and want to work for you like a young person." I say, "Down with your old age!" Put your old skins away now! People with old skins and old wine are not fit for the kingdom of God. I do not want them to pour out their old wine, but I want them to put the new wine in new skins. When this Divine capital thought is comprehended, it will raise them with its power. Today, everybody is wondering how to educate people. The method is very easy. When a hole appears on a boat at sea, it is plugged up by a peg. If a peg is not plugged in the hole, the boat will sink. See that your boat is not leaking, in case it is, plug it up and be in safety. Someday you are discontented—you have a hole in your boat, your skin is split. In this case nothing good expects you if you do not plug up the hole. There are moments when people must be absolutely obedient, as the child of an engine driver whose house was by a railroad: the child was playing when the express train drew near him and his father called to him, "Lie down!" The child immediately lay down and was saved. Sometimes they call to you, "Lie down!" "Why?" you ask. Lie down and do not ask why. When the express passes, you will know why you had to lie down. There are dangerous moments in life when we must kneel and when the danger has passed, we should thank God we are saved. Someone says, "I do not want to adapt myself to the existing conditions, I do not want to be flexible." You must adapt yourself. The rain will not take into consideration whether you have a coat on or not; the Sun also does not want to know whether you can bear its light: you must adapt yourself to all changes and be able to bear them. The rain and sun are doing their work very well. Let the Sun shine, let the sea be rough, let the old skins burst—this should not disturb you. Why? Because God has decided to burst the old skins and to put the new wine in new skins. If people of old ideas and feelings want to live under the new conditions, they sadly deceive themselves. Such is fate, such is the Divine Law. God wants you to be rejuvenated and to be born again. How can we be born again? You will be reborn by forming new forms in which to deposit your life. These forms will be real, not fictitious ones. If you understood the Law under which you are living now, you would be rejuvenated. "When will this be?" When you learn the Law of inner renovation—in your soul. When we speak of the resurrection, we have in view those forms with which God is working within you. For this purpose you should prepare the new skins. Then God will say, "Bring the new skins into which we shall put the new wine!" Some ask, "What is God doing to the world?" "He is preparing new skins and making new wine." That is why Christ says, "My Father is working and I am working for you." You, too, should be ready and not spoil these skins, for it is easy to spoil the minds and hearts of people, but difficult to repair them. Let God see that you have made something. You are asking yourselves, "Why is life such as it is?" I see in the eyes of many that you are intoxicated by the old wine, you are out of sorts, dopey, you have over-drunk. You should all become sober and joy should fill your hearts because this world was created for you with all good conditions for your development. "But wars come, misfortunes assail us." Never mind—"nitchevo", as the Russians say. "But so many people are dying!" "Nitchevo!- nothing can be lost." Perhaps thousands of houses will be torn down, thousands of skins will burst, but new ones will be created. Now God is putting new wine into new skins. Today only the intoxicated are fighting. If men and women fight, they are intoxicated. Where there is new wine, there is music, singing, harmony. This is Christ's teaching. For five minutes every day think about Eternal Life, about God, the good people, about the good mothers and fathers, the good friends—think about noble things that will uplift you. And in this way you will understand the deeper things in life. You have great things to learn! But before that you should prepare yourselves for this understanding. You say, "What will the future life be?" "Excellent—such as you have neither seen, nor heard of, nor dreamt of." How can people see the beautiful things in life when they are sleeping? Your sleeping souls must awake! You must put the kettle with milk in your room to stow away all evils. Be bearers of the new wine, of the new teaching! Preach joy and gladness to the world! And when you suffer, say that you are suffering because you have not fulfilled God's Law. You often say that conditions create life. Yes, but people also create the conditions. I have told you the story of the English lord, who started on a journey with his daughter and servant and they suffered shipwreck. In the same way you can be master and servant in your life. If you know how to apply the Divine Laws, you are a master; if you do not know how to apply them, you are a servant. Those who want to be masters should be imbued with the new teaching which solves the riddles of life. If the lord had not been cast on the desert island, he would not have learned how to cultivate life—there he learned this art. We, too, may find ourselves in unfortunate conditions and another person may be our master. When we learn to serve, God will lead us out of the desert island to learn how to cultivate wheat, i.e. life. So far you have not learned how to cultivate your heart and your mind, as a result of which there is hunger and discontentment in you. You eat four or five times a day, and grow fat and groan, you are not satisfied. Such fattening takes place in your mind as well. This fat must be turned into energy! Have you noticed that people, who work hard with their mind, or do spiritual work, never grow fat? Therefore, if you store up in yourselves more fat than necessary, put it in the engine of your spiritual life and proceed with the realization of your noble dreams and desires. Therein is your profit. Sermon held on July 12, 1915, in Sofia. _________________________ 18. Luke 5: 37-38. 19. happiness—щастие [´shtastie] in Bulgarian (tr. note). 20. Cadi, also spelled kadi, in Moslem communities denotes a chief judge or magistrate, whose decisions are based on Moslem Law (ed. note).

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).

THE MASTERS But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.11 Christ views these words somewhat differently than society. From a purely organic view, there are several institutions in the world which are Divine. One of them consists of the father and the mother—it is the home. This is the first institution on earth. There is no nobler and brighter institution than the home, as there is no higher rank than that of father and mother. Actually there are many fathers and mothers on earth, but in reality they behave as step-mothers and step­fathers. The father and mother play an important role in the organic world, for through their blood they impart the qualities of their souls to their children. The education of the children is conditioned by the qualities the mother imparts to the child at his or her earlier age. By the word blood I do not mean the ordinary blood, but that which remains changeless under all conditions of life. Now I shall not stop to explain the difference between these two kinds of blood, but I can tell you only that this blood is not of a temporary, changeful type; it is like the attar of roses which comes to the surface of rose water and which has real value. The noble germs which the mother deposits in the blood of the child, are a valuable essence which further on spreads and emits fragrance among those around. If this essence is not deposited on time, nothing can be sown in the child later. What people today call upbringing,, is nothing but training, or taming. In the real upbringing achieved by the mother, the process is effected in the root, where the mind and the heart are transformed and undergo different changes for the better. The taming leaves only an external polish. You may train a monkey or a pigeon, but the moment you put them in their natural conditions, they will start living their previous life. In the United States of America the government has made the following experiment: large sums of money were granted for the education of Native Indians, some of whom graduated from different colleges and universities. However, as soon as they returned to their tribe, they forgot what they had learned and became pagan as before. Only if any of them were converted to Christianity and adopted it, a certain change took place. In the spiritual life of a person, the Master's task resembles that of the mother. To be a Master is to give birth to a person. Christ does not say, "Do not teach," but He says, "Do not take the post of a Master, if you are not ready for it," which means not to become a mother who is sick, because such a mother will give birth to a sickly child. If a mother has certain organic, mental or psychic weaknesses; the child will not make an exception, she or he will be like her. Can teachers today teach their students how to combine, for instance oxygen and hydrogen, if they themselves do not know the properties of these elements? Such teachers can make a number of experiments; however, if they do not know the properties of a chemical element, it will not obey them, since they are not its master. Others may know many things about the rotation of the celestial bodies in space, but if you should ask them to calculate this movement mathematically with the exactness of one meter, not with thousands of meters and kilometers, they will not be able to do it. Everyone can make such calculations, but they will not be exact. If the difference is only some centimeters, I can understand that, but when it is kilometers, it is out of the question. These are hypotheses and suppositions only. You often say, "Why did not things happen as we thought?" Who is to blame that you make wrong calculations? All people make mistakes. You want to build a house for which reason you call an architect to draw a plan and to calculate how much and what materials are necessary. Then you buy these materials—stones, beams, iron bars, nails, sand, lime and so on—but if you do not make exact combinations of them, your house will be torn down and you will remain under its ruins. Now I shall explain my thought with an anecdote out of Bulgarian life. This happened a long time ago, around the beginning of the liberation from the Turkish yoke. A young Bulgarian man from the southern parts of the Balkan Peninsula, around the town of Salonika, went with his father to learn gardening. He became 20 years of age, but still he could not make any money out of his job. Finally he decided to take some handicraft which would suit him. He went as an apprentice to a tailor and thought he would only sit there and tack—an easy thing to do. After a week a Turkish bey12 came to the shop and invited the tailor to sew for him a pair of full-bottomed trousers at his home. However, the tailor was not quite well, so he decided to send his apprentice who had already worked for a week at his shop, saying to him, "You go now and I shall come after you." The apprentice went with the bey and waited for an hour or two for his master to come, but he did not turn up. Then the bey turned to the apprentice, saying, "As I see you are a grown-up man, you must surely know this handicraft. Can you cut out a pair of trousers for me?" "I can." The bey brought a big bale of broad cloth and said, "I want you to cut out for me a pair of large full-bottomed pants." The apprentice started turning the cloth this way and that, cutting out what he thought might look like pants, but nothing came out of it. The bey, seeing that what the apprentice was cutting out did not look like such trousers, said to him, "This will not do for trousers, but cut out a doublet for me." The apprentice started to take measures and cut out a doublet, but again nothing came out of it. When the Turkish bey saw that he cannot cut a doublet, he said, "Well then, cut out at least a tobacco purse, if you cannot do that, I shall thrash you." The same way many of you, after staying with a master for a week, take the scissors and the measuring tape and, like this young Bulgarian man start cutting out—they become teachers. Christ says, "Do not become such teachers." In order to be a teacher, one should have positive knowledge and a way of understanding things without any exceptions. To heal and at the same time to kill by a certain means does not imply the possession of positive knowledge. If you make an operation with a knife to cut out the sick part of a person and cut a person's throat with the same knife, you cannot say that you have made proper use of that knife. In the second case you are committing a crime. Some will say, "We have not done such a thing." I know many teachers who have cut the throats of their students. They have cut the legs, the arms, the ears of quite a number of them. I understand cutting in the moral sense of the word. God has not appointed those teachers, they are self- proclaimed. In every church there are such teachers, who have stayed like that Bulgarian man only one week in school and have gone out to preach. Now, what must we understand by the word master? This word has a relation to the spiritual world. Teaching does not consist in telling people how to build churches, sow flowers, vegetables and so on. Teaching in the right sense of the word, is an act of supreme self-consciousness, a purely spiritual process; the teacher and the student must be fully conscious of the task they have to fulfill; a complete interchange must be effected between them such as exists between a mother and her child; the teacher should impart certain truths to the student who must apply them properly. To explain my thoughts I shall give you an example. An Englishman often went to India on hunting trips. One day as he was walking along a path, he felt a strong blow on his left arm by a tigress. She had aimed only at breaking his left arm so that he could not shoot with the gun hanging over his right arm. She carried him to the den to her little ones, then putting him on the ground and pressing down his head, she said, "Now you must lie still, because I shall teach my little ones." She tried to make her cubs choke him, but they jumped around him and were afraid to get very close to him. At one time the hunter tried to raise his head and see what was going on around him. But the tigress pressed his head again repeating, "I told you to lie still, for I am teaching my little ones." As you see the tigress was a teacher. The hunter was saved one way or another, but he said he felt worse when the tigress pressed his head so her cubs could choke him. I say, everybody can tear down, but teaching requires a person who can teach people to build in their mind and heart and who understands the deep sense of the elements which renew and build a new abode, a spiritual body by means of which, according to the Scripture, they will rise. God is waiting for this body to be built. How are children born? They must be born the ninth month in order to live. In certain cases they might be born the seventh month, but by no means any month the mother wants. Such is the Law—the nine-month period must be fulfilled for the formation of the body. How does this formation begin? First, the extremities are shaped—the legs and the arms, then the brain, the stomach and finally the lungs. As soon as the lungs are formed, breathing begins and if the child is not born right after that, it may die. Thus, Nature creates first the limbs—the legs and arms, then the lungs. In the same way the higher organs are formed in you. The human spirit studies also in the womb of the mother, it is not in a dormant state, but works with the spirit of the mother, so both work for the creation of the body. By the same Law the master and the disciple must work simultaneously but with the help of the Spirit. That is why Christ says, "One is your Master." Why do people love Christ? Because He has given something to the world. "I gave abundant life to those who did not have it." Many want to become teachers. I ask, what are you ready to give to that person you want to teach? If you have taught some who have become worse, I understand that you have not taught them anything. In the churches among the Christians today there is a big weakness to teach others. This aspiration is not bad, but one should know the Laws of teaching. The state Laws require of people to pass certain examinations before a committee, before they are appointed teachers officially. In the spiritual world it is the same. You should wait for the visitation of the Divine Spirit, Who will direct you. Those who have not had the visitation of God's Spirit have no right to be a master, because they will violate the Divine Law. When we perceive the deep sense of these words of Christ which have an inner and external expression (now I am speaking of inner Christianity which can connect us with all regions of the invisible world) then we shall understand the sense of teaching. If you want to be a teacher you will be asked the first thing, "Where have you studied? Which school have you graduated from?" "But I have read the Bible." "That is not enough." "I know the Christian faith." "That is not enough." "I belong to this or that church." "Have you studied in heaven in that high institution where the angels study? Do you understand the inner Laws of Nature, how a person is organized, their mind, heart, or what the relation of the soul is to their spirit? "I have read these things." What have you understood? That the soul is an abstract idea, an idea of combination. "A combination of what?" The human mind is a combination of abilities. How are these things combined? This person thinks that they know something. No, the soul is not the kind of combination as you think, my friend. It is actually a combination but not of separate parts. Because of the darkness in you, you speak so incoherently of the mind and the heart, not knowing the place of the heart and of the mind. The heart has three places—one is physical and you know that place. But where is the heart of your feelings and of your mind? You meet somebody and say that person is bad. Why are they bad? Years ago in the USA a buffalo went mad and frightened all the people around. Some wanted to kill it, but a boy who could read the thoughts of the animals was found. When they called him, the boy put his hand on the head of the buffalo and asked it, "What is the matter?" "A thorn is stuck in my back foot and tortures me." The people pulled the thorn out and the buffalo became calm. In the same way a person sometimes becomes mad and people begin to pour cold water on him or her. I say, in the back of your foot there is a thorn, pull the thorn out and the matter will be settled, there is no need of cold water. How funny the learned people are—professors, doctors—when they speak how the human brain is harmed and make the diagnosis: this person has such and such illness and must have an operation. I do not see anything else but some heating of the brain. About four or five months ago people came to tell me that a doctor's son had a running nose which later gave him complications as puss in the brain and had to be operated on. I told them not to allow him to be operated by any means. If they made a brain operation the certainty of the child's death was 99 %, otherwise he would be healed. They made the operation and the son died. Of course for the doctors the operation was "successful." I say, people make operations in regard to the spiritual as well—they cut certain parts to be healed, but this is no healing. People say that to correct a person, you must call them all kinds of bad names—thief, scoundrel. No, this must not be done. People should not be beaten as they were in the past. Do you think that when these harsh sounds enter a person's ear, you will change him or her? Not in the least. The Law is different. In order to educate a person, you must first educate yourself. If you are bad, all those around you are bad. When a mother conceives a child and starts to get nervous and gossip, I can foretell the kind of child she will bear, I can describe exactly the character and fate of this child. A mother who frets nervously should not think that the child she will bear will be a saint and look after her in her old age. One day this child will have revenge on the mother and say to her it were better she had not born him or her. The same way the disciples will say to their teacher, "It would have been better if you had not taught me." The teacher, in the full sense of the word, should be pure as crystal water, she should be a model in everything; there must not be even any shadow of wavering, double-mindedness or lack of faith. By giving these instructions Christ wants to point out to people the great danger they are exposed to and the great responsibility they assume before Him, if they cripple any souls. Every mother, every teacher who do not know how to bring up children and educate, will be punished. Contemporary people have vague and wrong ideas of God's Laws, of heaven and of the angels. In fact they have no conception of these Laws and of heaven. In the first place, heaven is wisely organized and knows what to do. Between the angels and people there are such interrelations as exist between people, plants and animals. Since you do not know how to teach, you goad the animal that ploughs your field 40-50 times and, by doing that, you think you are fulfilling your duty. God says, "Some day I shall teach you how oxen are driven and how a field is ploughed." Some think that God cannot degrade them, cannot turn them back. I say, if He has turned some angels into snakes and horned animals, He can also put people in a condition of having horns and hoofs. He can turn them into angels, or into devils. He can change the human form. Since forms are of great importance in the world—they regulate our life—we must pay special attention to them. If someone should build you an unsanitary house, without any window to the south, but only to the north, and build it deep in the Earth, do you know how you will feel after living in it for six or seven years? A host of doctors will have to visit your house. The same applies for those teachers who say that you must not have windows in the spiritual world. These teachers are first class liars. In a spiritual sense the Sun is the origin of life. I would even say that your roofs should be made of glass so that the Sunlight should enter from above. If your houses were sun­lit, your forms would change and you would become very beautiful. I can put to an experiment what I am preaching to you, but you also can make an experiment and see what the results will be in four or five years. I am not teaching you to run away from life. The world is very good and people are good, but according to my opinion, I find that people have a thorn in their heels. Even the Apostle Paul says that this is so and prays to God to pull his thorn out. This thorn may be in another place, but it is usually found in the heel, because we are grounded on this earth by our feet. You must try to take this thorn out scientifically because Christianity in my view is a deep science. A young woman wants to marry. She chooses a young man of a nice appearance—a handsome man. She asks, "Can he feed me?" Yes, he can for he has a monthly salary of four or five hundred leva. "What has he studied?" Such and such science. "Well then." Yes, but these things are not essential, this man may be dismissed on the morrow and his money will vanish. If the woman understands this, she must get informed and observe like clairvoyant this heart and mind, to enter his house and see the rooms, his library, see how his books are arranged, then she should see his kitchen and visit the garden of his love, of his compassion, of his justice, see what flowers he has planted and if all this is in order, only then can she say, "Well, I shall marry this man." This is real marriage. The man must do the same. Men and women of today want to exchange their state and discuss the problem who should be man and who a woman; why God has made woman this way, but man a different way. What is wrong with this? In the far past both men and women could bear, but in consequence man lost the ability to bear and this was left only to woman to do. The Bible says, "Abraham bore Isaac." It does not say there that Sarah gave birth. When man gave birth, the world was in an excellent state, but when he stopped bearing, the world went bad. Man must bear and be a good teacher. The mother may bear a child and deposit all the best and noblest qualities in his or her soul, but if the teacher does not cultivate these noble qualities, nothing good can come out of that. Therefore it is necessary for the teacher to give birth. The teacher must not be like that priest who baptized children and they all died. Why? He baptized them when he was not in a fully normal state. He would put the child in the water of the basin and would keep it there longer than necessary, then the child would die. He would say, "Give me another child, this one cannot be baptized." When you baptize as teachers, your mind should be in its place. Baptizing implies depositing the Divine Spirit in the child you are teaching. As a teacher the priest should know the Divine Laws. "But this is what the church says." To baptize a child in water is not baptism yet. Contemporary priests, teachers and judges are professionals working for money, for a pay. According to the true Teaching of Christ, these people are not servants of God, but ordinary workers. The first thing a spiritual teacher should do is to reveal to the student the invisible world, as a mother who conceives must say to the child, "Wait for nine months, if you want me to lead you into a new world, and show you its wonders. By that time you must not move and jump". After nine months when she bears the child, she becomes its first teacher. Later on other teachers will take up the education of that child. They will start from the point which the mother has reached. She leaves her work because the child enters a new region where she or he must have a new teacher. This is what the Scripture means by "a man must be born again." By this sermon I want to make you think about yourselves and not to aspire to be teachers. Why? Because a person suffers of great ignorance. Sit like the merchants to see what funds your inner cash-box disposes of, whether you have an acquaintance in heaven, or if you have sent someone there a letter. You say, "We believe in Christ." Do you know Him? Do you know Paul? Do you know Peter? The church says that we can have no communication with the other world, that it is a sinful thing to do. This is great ignorance. To have communication with the spirits of hell is permissible, but it is sinful to do that with heaven! What an idea! To be in communication with the devil is right, but to be in communication with the saints and talk with them is wrong for it disturbs them! Then why do you disturb the devil? What kind of logic is this? This is a teaching which does not rest on any Laws. As far as I know the first Christians had direct contact with heaven. They had talked with God and the saints that is why they died with such readiness and self-sacrificing spirit. They were not like the present people who say, "Let me die then I shall see it all." When you die you will not see anything. What will you see when a house is torn down and you are buried under it? You will not see anything, but you will wait for people to dig you out of the debris. Christ describes to his disciples the false teachers. Dressed in long robes and wide sleeves, these preached to people, but in reality they had deceived them for which He blamed them. The same thing applies to our times. If Christ should come today, He would say the same thing. He has not changed His mind. Christ is silent, but when He begins to speak and says the Truth, you will be touched so deeply that it will hurt. He will raise the curtain and you will see all delusions. I shall give you two examples out of Greek history. Two sculptors started a competition to prove which one of them was better. One of them made a bunch of grapes which looked just like natural grapes and the birds flew down to peck them. The other sculptured the statue of a beautiful woman and threw a stone veil over her so artistically that the first artist said, "Raise the veil, so I can see the statue!" Thus, the first sculptor deceived the birds, but the second one—a man. I ask you, whom do you want to imitate—the first, or the second? I would prefer the second. You want to appropriate the whole world, but how can you appropriate it without the necessary knowledge for doing that? Knowledge must rest on a spiritual basis. In the spiritual world knowledge is like the steam in a kettle. It has great power. In the spiritual world knowledge is in the same relation to a person as the physical forces. You walk along the streets on Sofia and you see trams, moving here and there, but how is that done? By the help of a rod—an electric current collector. If it drops from the electric wire—the transmitter of electricity—the tram stops at once. Therefore, there must be a certain contact by means of which the tram moves. Have your teachers put the trolley on the wire, have they connected you with the electricity? The mechanism of the human tram may be excellent, but if it is not in contact with the energy, there is no motion in it. In order that your thoughts may act as a moving power, you must contact the spiritual world. Certain abilities are required for this. By the word ability, I understand the form in which certain spiritual power is limited. When the form is spoiled or disjointed, the power may not be manifested anymore. In the central part of the human brain there are regions in which certain abilities are deposited. These abilities are connected with the powers of the spiritual world and are operating. If your trolley is out of place, these forces do not operate. Besides, certain other conditions are required—rails and a tram-driver who understands his or her work. Therefore, many combinations are necessary. And you, as masters, must often make the rounds in your state13 to see if all the workers are in their place and how they are doing their work. You often find fault with the governing body that they are not ruling well. I ask, how is your own government? You call this or that person unwise, but what are you inside? Your judgements on life will be true to the extent you are inwardly right. We say about a person that they are good. In what does their goodness lie? They are polite with you and good to you. No, this does not mean goodness in the least. The day that person is impolite with you, you will call them bad. The good person is always good and the bad person is always bad. Such a one cannot be a saint one day and a rascal on the other. This is unthinkable! You say that the bad person can repent, but do you know how many thousands of years are necessary for that? Does a new-born child become a professor at once? The baby must study at least twelve years before his or her consciousness gradually starts to develop. When the inner spiritual world is well-investigated, then the Laws of Christianity will be understood. Its purpose is to set families right, to create harmony between man and woman, brother and sister, master and servant. People of today do not suffer from the fact that at times they must be a servant, but from the fact that they don't know how to be masters. Dr Mirkovitch, a friend of ours, used to say, "A second time I do not wish to be rich, but to be a servant of some good master." You want to be masters, to have millions, but then you will be the most unhappy people—prisoners in the confines of your money. A million leva on your back is a big burden. You call the rich people lucky and want to deprive them of their burden by putting it on your back. This is a wrong teaching. Would you be compared to that ass carrying icons on its back? When everybody bowed to the icons, it began to kick thinking people were bowing to it. Therefore, if people respect and admire you, that is for the crosses and icons you are carrying. What are these crosses? The virtues. Thank God for putting them on your back. Christ addresses His disciples with the words, "Be not ye called Rabbi." You will say about someone, "I turned her to God." You have done well. If you have taught that person to do good, God will bless you, but if you have crippled her, if you have distorted her mind and heart, what will God say? There will be judgement in heaven—you will be held responsible. How many people have you crippled in this world! Your flock will appear in the other world—some lame, some with sprained arms—they will all tell God what teachers you have been. That will be the actual state of things. Then God will say, "I will fine this teacher ten thousand talents; shut him in prison until he pays the fine." God means what He says. He is kind, good, just, but also serious and strict. He will take hold of the self- appointed teachers, fine them ten thousand talents and add, "Shut them in prison, so they will learn how to teach." And when they have paid their debt, they will become learned and good teachers. Do you know how many years will have passed by that time? This is the way the fallen angels and people are studying now. Now we say that the church does not go well, we want to give it a good example. If this is so, I want you to have the power to change things. Moses took the rod and it turned into a snake. When he took the snake by the tail, it turned into a rod again. You will say, "Well, but that was Moses!" So what? Moses studied with the greatest teachers in Egypt. He was not an unwise man, because God never chooses foolish people as leaders of humanity, or of a nation. Moses had studied for a long time and had passed certain schooling. See how many wonders he performed in front of the Pharaoh! Moses had two wishes: to become a teacher and a savior of the Jewish people. At first he thought that this work was not for him and went into the wilderness where he spent 4o years feeding sheep, in order to expiate for the sin of killing the Egyptian. Do you know what he did in the wilderness? He devoted himself to deep meditations, since he was initiated in all the mysteries of Egypt. For one crime of killing a man, he had to study whole forty years. And during this time he passed a second initiation. I ask, how many years have you fed sheep? Being a shepherd is a great thing. It means being a teacher. Have you come to know your Master? Two thousand years ago your mother, father and grandfather were Christians, but did they know Christ? If you know Him, give the password He has given you. The military people do the same. To admit someone, they should know the password. What is your password, your slogan? The learned people must have some slogan; what is your slogan? "To serve Christ." How do you serve Him? By studying. How will you study? Are you friends of the school? To walk around the school on the outside is one thing, but to be inside the school is quite another thing. Where are your school notebooks, your school certificates? You have no certificates, but you want to be teachers! The same applies to some priests and bishops—they have no certificates either. By living in such delusions you want the Kingdom of God to come to earth! The Kingdom of God is coming now and reveals all the muddy things of humanity! Contemporary nations want to defend their cause by war. Defend the Justice of God's Kingdom! Every nation must have as much land as it deserves. The same thing applies to every person. Now ask yourselves earnestly: Do you know Christ? I do not want your answer now, if you can give it up to one year, it will be a blessing for you. You may say, "We saw Christ." Paul saw Him and heard His voice, "Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?" He said, "Who are you, Lord?" Have you heard your Master? When you raise a dispute or a scandal in the temple of God, do you not persecute Christ like Saul? Then Christ will say to you, as He did to Paul, "Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? It is not easy to kick against the pricks." Paul realized his mistake and God said to him, since you did this in your ignorance, I shall send you to the pagans to learn your lesson." There he received three times 39 blows on his back. This is the way God beats only those who are of mature age. He never beats the children, only those who are thirty-three years old—the age of Christ. After you receive thirty-nine blows, you will rise. You must endure these blows. When a blacksmith wants to make a knife, or some other instrument, he also uses blows. You are on the anvil and God is forging you. In reality, He does not beat you, but says, "I want to make a knife out of this material, or a plough or a pen." If you are a bad person, He will make a knife out of you to kill the bad people, but if you are good, He will make a pen out of you that some writer may hold you in their hand. The pen a writer is writing with has greater intelligence than the plough by which people plough the Earth. You will say that there is no intelligence in iron. Yes, but it also gets tired. Take a shaving knife, for instance after it is sharpened, it works, but after some work, it also gets tired, i.e. it gets blunt. Everything gets tired. An Englishman, after some observation, noticed that the machines also get tired— everything in the world gets tired. When a machine gets exhausted, it begins to emit a special sound and the machine operator says, "The machine must rest!" In people also, according to the same Law, the same reaction takes place—they get weary and want to rest for at least a week, after which they can start work again. Everything requires its time for work and for rest. Notice how plants develop, how caterpillars are hatched and you will understand the Law. Your thought may have the form of a caterpillar or of a butterfly. In order to succeed in life a person should only have one idea. This is partly true and partly untrue. One may have more ideas as well, but these ideas must be noble. People put blinkers on the side of the horses' eyes that they should look only forward and not be frightened by side influences. In this sense it is good for one to have such blinkers, i.e. to be looking forward to a single idea, but to a noble one. If you cannot have many noble ideas, have at least one and let it be your target, which can uplift and save you. You say, "Christ saved us." He did not only save us, but what is more, He atoned for our sins. Atonement has its bad side, however. Why? Because when an evil person wants to take advantage of the benefits given them, they can always draw a wrong conclusion about things. This is why knowledge should not be entrusted into the hands of ignorant people. When I say this, I have reincarnation in view. It contains a great danger for those who interpret it in the wrong way. For instance, a caterpillar, which has about a hundred legs and creeps on the trees, may say, "I do not need a philosophy and a green leaf is enough for me." However, one day it makes a cocoon and hides in it; after some time it comes out as a butterfly and says, "Now I do not need any leaves, I need flowers to suck their nectar and fragrance." Therefore, in order to enter the spiritual world, you should take off the skin you are covered by like caterpillars. In case you do not take it off, in the spiritual world you will occupy the space of a single leaf and you will understand that world as much as a caterpillar does. I want you to enter the spiritual world, but I ask you, "Are you hatched?" When you enter the spiritual world, you will understand the meaning of the ox, the ass, the wolf, the dove, the fox, and so on. A great idea is deposited in every form, existing in the physical world, and those who make out this idea will understand the meaning of things in the world. You wonder why the wolf has sharp teeth, but that does not mean anything— they are in place. The porcupine has prickles, but they were created only for strategic purposes—so it defends itself from the snake, or from some other creature that wants to harm it. It takes the snake by the tail and starts eating it slowly, until it is all swallowed up during which time it protects itself by its prickles. After some time the porcupine will change too. You may ask how it will be changed. Do you know your form in the spiritual world? In the Bible there is a verse in which God calls Jacob a worm. You will say it is used in a figurative sense. Christ on His part calls his followers sheep. Do you know what the word sheep means? The sheep represent all those souls in whom the spirits live and as the sheep in this world provide us with milk and wool, by the same Law, the souls provide a person with the necessary milk and wool. Try this Teaching! Why are you in this world? Put your mind to action. The first thing you must learn is to cast out all doubt from your mind so that you can make contact with the spiritual world. If you can project your mind, your friends will come to your aid immediately. What is your heart? If you make it very hot, you will be able to bake on it any thought you want. If your heart does not have the necessary beat, it will fail of itself. It depends on the heart how you can send your petition, or your prayer. Someone says, "I prayed." Yes, but I see that your prayer has remained some forty centimeters above your head. You will pray five, ten, or a hundred times from the depth of your heart, until you succeed in sending your petition to God. And when it comes into His ears, He will answer you. How can He answer a petition which has not reached Him? When you pray, you must be so concentrated that you should forget everything around yourself; you must rise in your thought so high that nothing should engage it except your prayer. I ask you, is the hearth of your heart and your mind so hot that they may send the prayers up high? "But there are naughty children around me." That does not matter—God has sent them to the Earth to be taught good behavior, since they had not lived peacefully in heaven, they were degraded.14 God does not want people to make noise in heaven. On the Earth they will learn to plough, to dig to make shoes and after a time, when they learn their lesson, they may become even royal sons and daughters. Before you enter heaven, you will pass before an examining committee which will ask you what your feelings and ideas are, what is your compassion, your love for your fellows, for God and a number of other questions. Christ is already coming to earth. The books of life will be opened and people will be judged. The verdict will determine whether they deserve to pass to an upper class, i.e. to enter heaven. Everyone will be given what they are worthy of. Christ turns to you also and says, "One is your Master." Who is He? Christ. I want all of you to remember this Master, Who came two thousand years ago to redeem you from your sins. And you are still looking for Him! Has Christ written down His name in your soul, in your heart at least once? If He has, you are blessed; but if He has not, try to meet Him and ask Him to write down His name. And when He writes it down, do not blow a trumpet and boast about it saying, "Christ signed His name in our notebook." No, this is not necessary for the Earth, but for heaven. When you go there, the angels will stop you and say, "Take out your notebook!" If the Lord has put His signature in it, they will say, "You are free to enter." Then Christ, the saints and your older and younger siblings will meet you with palm branches. Great will be their joy that you have gone to them. In the Pythagorean school there was a rule that every new disciple should pass through the test of mockery the first year and those who endured the mockery were admitted as disciples. Christ also has sent people to earth to mock you, saying, "This person wants to become a saint—they are off their mind; they are somewhat crazy," and so on. This is the system of Pythagoras for admitting disciples. If you can endure these mockeries, know that you have passed the test. Only in this way will you be accepted as disciple. However, if the attacks make you flare up and say, "Are you going to mock me? I shall show you who I am!"—that is the end of you! "My husband is bad." How do you know that he is not placed there by the commission on purpose, to test you? Endure a year, pass the test and then God will say to your husband, "You must no longer mock and obstruct your wife." Much time will not pass until he becomes soft as a lamb. When? When you have endured all. I am speaking about the outer side of Christ's Teaching. I am giving you these thoughts to help you distinguish the false things from the noble ones. When the Teaching of Christ enters you, it will raise you and you will begin to know people and see their souls. Two people meet and start talking, "I am a Christian. Do you believe in Christ?" If you are Christians, you need not ask each other about it. The mere asking of this question shows that there is not any Christianity in this person. I need not ask what a flower is; if I smell it I shall know whether it is a rose or a carnation. My nose is in its place. If your sense of smell is dull or paralyzed, or if you are blind and you cannot see, you may ask then. But if all you senses are sound, it is enough for you to smell or to see a flower and tell what it is. The same way every soul expresses itself outwardly by its acts. I see many of you as carnations that are in bud yet. These buds promise a blossoming in the future. I do not want you only to blossom, but to go to seed and to ripen as well. The angels will come to you as bees and fructify the blossoms in your soul. If you blossomed up, you will be in contact with them. This is a deep science and how many more things you have to study! Not a single, but ten lectures at least are necessary for me to tell you all about these things. They are very tiring and you will say in the end that they are not interesting and will fall asleep. You are right, for you are not yet ready for this knowledge. A time will come when you will be ready. If you eat too much honey and overeat, you will be fed up with it. Why? Because you will be satiated with it. You are friends with a good person, constantly drawing (knowledge and inspiration) from them, but all of a sudden you say, "Away with this person, I cannot bear to see them any longer!" Why? You have overeaten. You should have been given less honey and stayed friends with this person such a long time as would be pleasant to you. The same way you should not give a dish-full of honey to a person, but a spoonful so that they will not overeat. A Bulgarian proverb says, "It is too much of a good thing" or "being too saintly is not pleasant to God either." You read the same book until you get tired of it. Read a single verse instead and stop on it in meditation. You read, "God is Love"—start thinking in what way God is Love and try to feel this Love in yourself. It must not be as when we eat an apple, or the cat eats up a mouse. For me, to love you means to enter you and for you to love me is to enter me. What do you do with your loved friend? You take their picture and put it at a prominent place. I say, a person's heart represents the astral world, their mind—the spiritual world. If you raise your mind to a certain height—that is the spiritual world. What takes place in the brain is a reflection of the spiritual world. Every noble thought is a form in the spiritual world. Thoughts differ in form and content. When a noble thought visits you, it creates joy and happiness. And when you raise your mind and heart to Christ, He will take you by the hand and lead you into the Divine garden to the spring of Love that you may taste of it. This will be the happiest moment in your life. When you enter there, you should not say, "Let my husband come along with me." No, everyone must enter that place alone and not intercede for anyone else. Everyone must have a deep desire to enter alone into this garden. The capable will be assisted to enter, but those who are incapable, crippled, should stay out of it until they are healed. This world is for the people of infirmities, but those who will enter the school must be pure—purity in thinking and feeling is necessary, also complete selflessness, self-denial is essential. This is the highest state one can reach which means you have passed the test. Now, the first thing required of you is purity in thoughts and desires and unwavering faith that what God has said will be. When you put God in front of everything you do, you should not ask if you would succeed. You may be a teacher, a judge, a priest or a farmer, but if you are fulfilling your duty, there is no power in the world that can obstruct you. You will have many hindrances, many troubles and trials, but they are necessary for your growth. The sufferings sent to you are a blessing for you. Now, I want the thought of knowing your Master, Christ, to remain with you. When you come to know your real Father, then the angels and the world will be your siblings—not one or two, but thousands. For thousands of years they will take you around their abodes in heaven. There are pleasant things, long walks, model schools, new suns, new beings. And how many more things there are in heaven! Then you will say, "Now we understand the deep sense of life, why we must live." This will happen when you have only one Master, in case you have many teachers, you will not learn anything. A child cannot have two mothers. The same way, a person cannot have more than one real Master. If you should say you have two masters, I shall think that you are deceiving both me and God. In the physical world there is one mother, in the spiritual world—one Master, in the Divine—one Father, Who is the Lord. Therefore, you have three in all. On the Earth—the Mother, among angels—the Master and among gods—God. When you pass through these three, only then each one of you will understand the deep sense of life, i.e. the inner side of present life, and you will bear with joy and singing all sufferings; there will be no troubles in life for you and all matters between men and women, between parents and children, between all nations will be set right. Then you will not ask one another, "What will happen with the Bulgarian nation?" If all Bulgarians turn to God, I can guarantee that everything will be in complete order. But if they still have their present heads, they will receive thirty-nine whips with the rod. The same is true for Germany, France, and England—for all nations. God beats all in turn without exception. All people, societies and nations on earth must fulfill the will of our Master, of our Father! I believe that you will all desire to fulfill it and have started on a clean slate, saying like the prodigal son, "Father, forgive us for eating and drinking up all you gave us, but from now on we shall not do this, receive us as servants in your house." Be sure that your Father will cross out everything, clothe you in a new garb and kill the fatted calf for the feast at His home, because His prodigal child has returned. He will put a new ring on your hand, bless you and say, "Come one, my child, go to school and start studying anew!" Sermon held on December 7, 1914 in Sofia. ____________________________ 11 Matt. 23:8 12. (hist.) a title of high military and civic rank in the Ottoman Empire (ed. note). 13. Metaphorical reference to our mastery over the cells and organs in our body as well as over our thoughts and feelings (ed. note). 14. Degraded in the meaning of reduced in rank (ed. note).

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE … whho whhen found a pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and Bought it.10 This morning I shall speak on the apparently least significant verse in this chapter of Matthew in connection with the other Law—the seventh and the greatest Law of Nature—the Law of genus. Everything has genus, or gender—masculine and feminine. Who does not know what a man or a woman is? There is only a dispute as to who of the two is higher up the scale. It is said that when God first created a human being, He created man. And men, defending their cause from their point of view, prove that because of this they are higher than women. On the other hand, the women, defending their cause, affirm that they stand higher than men. There is a dispute on this question even among the people of learning. For a long time the scientists have measured the brains of men and women to see how much they weigh and determine their qualities by their weight. They say that since man's brain is heavier, man stands higher than woman. However, there is an axiom in Hermetic philosophy according to which every truth is a half-truth and, inversely, every lie is a half-lie, by which it follows that every affirmation is half-true and every negation is again half-true. Therefore, when one affirms anything, if they want to be right, they should diminish their affirmation by 50%. You know the story of a man who was frightened and said to his wife, "Wife, I saw 100 bears in the forest and ran away!" "Come! Come!" answered his wife. "If they were not 100, they certainly must have been 80." "Come! Come!" exclaimed his wife. "They must have been at least 60." "Too many, my husband, how can 60 bears get together to run after you." The man diminished their number to one and then said, "There was a rustling noise in the bush, but I cannot say whether it was a bear or not." In contemporary philosophy there are many exaggerations too. This comes from the fact that people take a subjective, not an objective, view of things. The objective standpoint is that of a man, the subjective is a woman's standpoint. Consciousness is a man's aspect; subconsciousness—a woman's. There are different terms in philosophy. They say that a man has an objective mind and a woman—a subjective mind. Every object must be viewed from these two standpoints and then we shall have a true idea of it. Now you may say, "What relation has the verse you read to man and woman?" It has a relation. See how pearls are made. They say that sometimes a small grain of sand gets into the clam which starts a liquid secretion to envelope it so it would not disturb it. The clam models it like a sculptor. It makes it smooth and turns it into a precious pearl. If the grain of sand does not enter a clam, it remains without any value. Since the grain is rough, it disturbs the clam which starts thinking—it cannot get rid of it without the organs to do that and thus it comes to its mind to make it precious, so it says to the grain of sand, "You are my enemy, but I shall start loving you and make you precious." This is the Teaching of Christ who says, "Love your enemies." You would throw out this grain of sand, but the clam makes a pearl out of it for which you pay much. Not only this, but Christ praises this clam for having done such fine work. I ask you, if Christ came among you, would he find your work as perfect as the work of this clam? Would He find pearls? You say, "We have no conditions." Women say, "When we want to work, men obstruct us, we have no conditions, no houses of our own, we need this and that and so we cannot work." Men on their part say, "We cannot work, because women disturb us, society obstructs us, and we cannot do anything." But the clam does not say it has no conditions: a being with no hands, no feet or human brain, out of a grain of sand it creates a pearl and Christ praises it. I ask you: can you not do as much as this clam? You can do something more than it. Now let us come to the basic Law. The external forms are the result of the inner differences existing between man and woman. Every shade, every feature on the human face is due to an inner deep cause in a person's soul. When you consider this subject, you think there is no difference between man and woman. If I ask you what you want to be, you will all want to be born men. What progress would there be in the world then, if only men were born? God made man first. However, man said, "This will not do, I cannot do all this work alone. How can I cultivate this big garden, paradise, with all the trees in it? The animals cannot understand me." Then God said, "Very well, I shall create a partner for you to help you." And so this great Law, this process which moves the world, came into being on the stage of life. No progress, no development, no ennobling could exist, if this Law had not been created. You see only the external side of things, but there is a much deeper sense in them. The only thing you know in Nature is the female aspect; the male aspect is invisible. The Sun you see is a female sun—the male sun is invisible. The former sun draws energy from the male sun. Contemporary science confirms this fact by saying that energy is always manifested in the negative pole of the electric currents. Some people consider the word negative or passive in a bad sense. By passive we understand a person without character, a weak-willed person. This is a wrong conception, however, so scientists have substituted the word negative with the phrase cathode rays—the pole where all energy is made apparent. I shall explain many things on the basis of this principle. Humans have a brain, but you say sometimes, "There is nothing on my mind." Why is there nothing on your mind? Because you are a barren woman who cannot bear children. Someone says, "I cannot love." That means you are barren. Those who cannot think and feel, be they men or women, they cannot bear fruit. It says in the Scripture that anything that cannot bear fruit is near hell. I wish all of you to bear fruit. The greatest blessing for a person is to know how to create and to take care for their creation. How can a person not bear, not create a good thought, or a good desire in him or herself? Giving birth to something is a creative principle, worthy only of thinking beings. Of course I am not speaking of that creative principle which can create something out of nothing—the Creator—but about the beings of the male and female gender. In Christian philosophy we call this Christ—the God-Man. No one has understood the principle about which Christ says, "The Father lives in Me." Nobody has seen God; no one has seen the Father of the world. We know the Mother because God appears in us as a mother who creates, nourishes and takes care. This way we know Him. It says in the Scripture, "Christ came to earth to manifest the Father to us." According to the same Law humans, who have come down from heaven, were originally like that tiny, formless, insignificant grain of sand, which the Divine Spirit, after a long time of work, made into a pearl. You should thank this Clam— the Clam you have entered—for all you have in yourselves. If you are of value today, you should be thankful to the Divine consciousness that has worked for a very long time over you. According to this conception, the value of things sometimes is in their content, while at other times—in their form. Take a marble stone, sculptured by a skillful sculptor who has deposited in it a great idea, and see where this idea is expressed. This idea is hidden in the delicate lines the artist has chiseled in the stone. If a foolish person destroys these lines, an ordinary stone of no value will remain. What gives you value are the noble thoughts, desires and acts, deposited in you by the Divine Spirit. Only those traits that God has inscribed on your brain, on your heart and on your soul give value to you as a person. The same is stated by science. Contemporary scientists affirm that the number of thoughts your mind can produce depends on the number of convolutions in your brain. What are the convolutions? They are the traits that are visible on it. These fissures canalize your thoughts. Some people want to have a smooth face like a ball, thinking a person is handsome when the face is smooth. No, the face is a mask then. There must be certain marks on the human face that show first that one is good, second—that they are just; third—that they have love, that they are wise, that they are truth-loving. These things must also be expressed externally as well. Therefore, all people are written books in which their qualities can be read. Some people ask me, "Do you hear God, have you ever heard Him?" I answer, "I do not only listen to Him, but I see Him as well; I see Him when He speaks to me and listen to His words." Human words can be heard only, but God's words can be seen as well. God, Who is glory, has become incarnate in Christ and become visible. Each one of you is Divine glory expressed, incarnate, and visible. And after all this you ask me if I have heard or spoken with the Lord! For two thousand years I have been listening to Him. Christ's Teaching is an excellent philosophy—not a philosophy by which we grope in the darkness, but one by which we can see, touch, smell and taste. An anecdote tells about a learned European who studied the esoteric sciences. He wanted to investigate the profound mysteries of Nature and once he happened upon a society of blind people, whose eyes where caved in. When they were speaking with him, they asked him, "In what way do you differ from us?" They touched his eyes and understood that they were bulging, which was the only thing he differed in. Then they said, "Let us make his eyes caved in so he can be like us." Contemporary philosophers are of this kind, for when they find a person with bulging eyes, they press them down and say, "You must reason like us, your ideas of the world, of man and woman should be like ours, you should think like us." Yes, this philosophy is related to life, to a great reality which you must test every day, every hour, every minute, every second, because you must work, build. You often ask, "Why are all the misfortunes?" Do you not have a positive science?! You know how many stars there are in the sky, you are wise people measuring space, the sky, you can make compounds, you know what oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen are, but you do not know how to put order in you home. Thus there are things you do not know. Some say, "There are unattainable things in life." You should know that everything is relatively, not absolutely, unattainable. Everything is attainable, but time is necessary for that. A child understands little at first and gradually begins to understand more and more and when they become a grown up person, their view on the world changes. Now I shall ask you a question, "When you come to earth after a thousand years, what will be your views?" Of course, they will be like the ones you have today with a certain addition. But now, to return to the topic. Why does this difference exist? People must not be alike. The Law is such: people are alike in essence, but different in degree. There must always exist a certain difference among people. This is the Divine Law. And if you want someone to love you, there must be some difference between that person and you which should be harmonious as between the tones in music. The harmony we admire lies in these regular combinations, in this very difference. We should come to that harmony which actually, essentially, exists in both man and woman, and we must apply this Divine principle. Woman is the emblem of Love. Love cannot be manifested in man. I am not speaking of the man with a moustache, because woman can also have a moustache, as some animals, but I have in view certain qualities which distinguish man from woman and these qualities will remain in her forever. Another Divine power lies in man which is called Wisdom. When Love and Wisdom marry, the Truth is born. If you want to acquire the truth, you must find your father—Wisdom—and your mother—Love—and after they give birth, they will tell you what the truth is and how it can be manifested. The Truth takes after the father, it is of the masculine gender—it is the son of Love and Wisdom. The father and mother, i.e. Wisdom and Love, will give birth to Virtue; that is your sister. And Virtue joined to Truth—that is Righteousness. This is how this question stands. If you want to create this pearl, your soul must cultivate it. But what are people engaged in? They often ask me, "Do you preach things in conformity with the church?" I preach things in conformity with the great Divine Law. I do not lie before God. It is all the same to me whether my Teaching is according to your views, or not; it is important to me that my views should be in accord with the great Law, that I should not be like a liar before God, before heaven, before the angels, before the saints. This is the important question for me. If everybody understands the Teaching this way and thinks this way, there is nothing to be afraid of. Some say, "You have a purpose to found a sect." According to me those who found sects are petty people. Everyone can form a sect. How? Take an axe, cut up a tree and you will form a sect; take a hammer, pound up a stone and you will make a sect; go among people, make the quarrel and you will make a sect. Sects are easily made. In an American church there was a dispute on the question whether to raise the cup when the communion is being sanctified or not. Those who maintained that the cup must be raised forgot to do it. You often forget what you preach; you forget that principle that unites you. Our problem is to restore the Kingdom of God on earth. We want to form a sect, but what kind? To become conductors of the Divine Law which should take possession of all minds and hearts that all—men, women and children— should become Sons and Daughters of the Kingdom of God and start living on the Earth as they should. And now when people complain that great misfortunes have assailed them, I say, "I am happy your prisons are being torn down, your old concepts are falling off." Why? If water that has been kept for a long time in a bottle, is not poured out, new water cannot be put in the bottle. When Christ came to earth, the Jews should have cleaned themselves the same way and started a new life, but they said, "We know Moses, we do not know you; you want to form a sect." But He did not form a sect, as you see, although from a Jewish point of view, He was a heretic. Some ask, "Are you a true believer?" I may be a true believer before God, but from the point of view of the church, I may not be such. They were saying about Christ also that He wanted to destroy the Hebrew nation, but we should not reason as the Jews after 2,000 years. I ask you, what did the Jews gain by crucifying Christ? Nothing at all. They were scattered all over the world. There is nothing easier than crucifying a man— only four nails are necessary. I shall take up our subject again. I want you to reason and think deeply about these things. I shall say something more about the principle of man and woman. First, you must love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength; secondly, to love your neighbor as yourself; and thirdly, to love your enemies. I just spoke about your enemies—the small grain of sand. Christ did not come to earth to save the noble and the righteous, but those rough grains of sand—He descended to hell for them to take them out. In order to take the pearls out of the clam, it must be caught and opened. By the same Law, people are caught in heaven, opened up and when the pearl is found in their soul, it is taken out. When someone dies, people say, "The clam died!" They walk behind this clam and weep, "The poor clam is gone!" I say, it has gone to heaven to take the pearl along which it has created and cultivated. If it had not made that pearl, it would not have gone to heaven and would have been of no value. I shall consider some basic features of man and woman. Those who have studied the human constitution say that the external features of a person are due to their inner nature, i.e. what a person is inwardly, is outwardly as well. There are no two opinions on that conviction. They say that the feet of a normally developed man or woman must comprise one sixth of his or her height; the face must comprise one tenth of the height, the chest—one fourth, the length of the hand—one tenth; the neck must be double the circumference of the wrist. Naturally, there will be some differences among different individuals; some people have long, pear-shaped faces; others—round faces. What are these features due to? People with round faces are not very active, they are conciliatory and diplomatic. Round faces are more typical of women, or people who follow the female line. By giving you these descriptions, I want to make you take a new view of Christianity and comprehend it more deeply as a science of life. Christianity is a positive science which must teach us how to live. People differ only in terms of application—there is one type of application in the physical and another in the spiritual world. Men and women cannot be alike; there must be a difference between them. If your husband is active and brisk, you should be happy and do not say, "I want to be a man." In every manifestation there must be activity, if not on the physical plane, on the mental, and if this activity is not in the mind, then it should be in the heart. A person must be active. Activity means work, production in a triple sense—physical, mental and spiritual. All people cannot work at the same time at one and the same place and in one and the same direction. They will work in different fields. The difference existing among people can create either harmony of disharmony, it depends on them. When the husband and wife are quick-tempered, they should make concessions to each other; when one says something, the other should listen to them; when one is "playing the fiddle", the other should be listening. This is the Law in force on the physical plane. If one can keep quiet, the other one will appreciate this feeling of patience and will repay in another way. However, if the wife does not behave like this, her husband will say, "There is no worse woman than my wife; she has a very long tongue. May God liberate me from her or her from me." Do not think you will be liberated! If you have persecuted one another in this world, you will do the same in the other world too. What can change your life is your understanding of the Divine Law and its application to life. You will make thousands of mistakes, God will not judge you for them, He will forgive you, but under the condition that you learn the Divine Law and work. However, if you do not learn any lesson after one hundred mistakes, God will not forgive you. All things in the world must be made use of. If there are thorns on the pear-tree, or on the rose, this is in the order of things; they have not been put haphazardly. Those who climb the pear-tree should not wear clothes which can be torn. I have seen children hanging from pear-trees who had to be brought down by a ladder. Those who do not know the Law say, "This pear-tree has thorns, it must be cut down!" It is thorny, but it bears nice pears. Now, I shall tell you a story about a woman, but it concerns equally both men and women. A wife was a very nervous and stubborn woman who never did what her husband wanted her to do; on the contrary, she always did just the opposite. One day she wanted to sit on a well, but he told her not to, adding, "If you sit there, you will fall in and I shall remain without a wife." "I shall sit on it," answered the wife and she sat, but fell in. He started wailing, "I told you that you would fall, if you had obeyed me, you would not have fallen in the well." After an hour he saw a white-haired devil, coming out of the well. "What is it?" asked the man. "My hair turned white in an hour because of a woman!" The devil said this and ran away. The man began to think how to make use of this incident. Finally he thought out something. When he visited homes in which there were evil spirits and used all kinds of conjurations and prayers to make them go out and they still stayed in, he finally began to say to them, "Run away, for my wife is coming!" At these words all evil spirits ran away. In this way the woman, who fell in the well, did much good to the world. When her husband saw that she frightened the devil in the well, he understood that the devil is afraid only of woman, not of man. It was enough for him to cry out, "Run away for my wife is coming!" and all devils were chased away. Thus, thousands were liberated by the suffering of one single man. That is why women have the keys to the Kingdom of God. And when Christ said to Peter, "I give you the keys to the Kingdom of God," He meant this deep inner Law that there should always exist an essential difference between man and woman. In the difference lies the basis of the love which man has for woman. The day woman changes the position in which God has placed her, man will stop loving her, regardless of the precious diamonds and the silk dresses she may deck herself with; no external power can make man love her in such a case. Man is the Lord for the woman, she must see that God lives in him. To be loved by God, she should deserve His love. How? By doing some work for Him. Since He Himself cannot come down to earth to work, He gives us a mind, a heart and strength to conquer the Earth and put Law and order on it for which work He sends us all the blessings in life. Some people say, "God will come and put order in the world." He puts order in it now, yet not Himself, but through others. On the one hand, the Germans, on the other—the Russians, the French, the English are putting order in the world by their guns. Some ask, "When will people stop fighting?" When the wall they are breaking is broken through. It can be calculated mathematically how many blows a stone can stand. Some stones break after 100 blows, others—after 200 or 500 blows. The same way it can be calculated when the war will end. The war will end when the necessary shells and bombs have exploded and when a new consciousness dawns on people about their destiny on earth. Then, they will say, "We have done an excellent work." When Christ turns to His disciples, He says that the man who sought the pearl—the sense of his soul—when he found it, he went and sold all that he had, in order to buy it again. If you are not ready to sacrifice everything in this world, you will not gain anything. You still have to make some sacrifice, in order to gain some pearl, something sensible. This sacrifice must be sensible. There are people who sacrifice all their property, but do not gain any pearl. Why? Because they sacrifice it for drinking and gambling. If I would find the pearl Christ speaks about in a poor person, I would sell my whole property. In order to do good, it is not enough to give all your property to the poor. Why? When Christ says we should do good, He has in mind that this good should be done sensibly. It would be an insensible thing to give a wolf a lamb every day; they do this in the zoological garden because they keep the wolves there on exhibition, but this Law cannot be applied in any society. We cannot sacrifice the lambs for the wolves, we can sacrifice them for the people—there is sense in that—but not for the wolves. Now I shall tell you briefly a story. In prehistoric times two kingdoms divided by an impassable mountain range existed. In both kingdoms the wise men said that he who could dig a passage through this mountain and connect that way the two kingdoms, would do the greatest good to these two nations. But this should be done under the condition that the one who starts to work should not turn his head back until the passage is dug. Many people appeared and started digging, but each time one would start work someone else would come and ask him what he was doing and he would turn his head to answer him. The moment he turned his head, the place he had dug would get filled up again. Finally a prince appeared and started digging. People who passed by asked him what he was doing, but he kept silent. Once a philosopher, passing his way, wanted to show him an easy way of digging the hole, he turned his head to listen to him and the hole he had dug got filled in with gravel. He promised himself he would not turn again no matter who spoke to him and started digging again. People passing by spoke to him, but he paid no attention to anyone. Finally he dug the passage, connected the two kingdoms and married the princess of the other kingdom. In this way these two nations began to live a happier life. This is not only an allegory, but a great truth. The big mountain, which separates the two kingdoms, is the human sin which separates earth from heaven. If you were clairvoyant you would see this black wall with fortresses, guns and sentinels. Christ came to earth to dig this passage, this hole in the mountain and he did it. And when He says that there is only one path which leads to the Kingdom of Heaven, He implies this hole, this narrow way. For two thousand years this narrow way has been dug, but few are those who walk on it. There are many broad paths, but they do not lead where the narrow path leads to. Many people do not believe and say, "Prove this to us!" It is easy to prove it. How? It is enough for a person to go out of their house, but they say, "I do not want to go out." However, everyone will go to this wall and come back again. That is why knowing that you will pass through this hole only by the Law of the genus between man and woman, you must become related. When we speak of new birth, repentance, we understand that harmony must be achieved between us and God. If God does not love you, who can love you? Someone says, "I have no friends, no one loves me, God does not love me either." This is not true. God loves you but you must learn to love Him too. He is not invisible—you can see Him everywhere. God speaks to you everyday at least ten times, He meets you, advises you and so on. When you think of doing something evil and you meet a friend in the street who tells you not to do it, God speaks to you through them. And now when I am speaking to you, again God is speaking to you. The words are mine, the cover is mine, but the content is of God. You receive a gift. What should you do? Take the cover off and you will see its content. Therefore, men and women must understand each other. You have certain wrappings about yourself: you want to become great, rich, to have houses, knowledge, power, and to be loved by all and, whatever you desire, to achieve it at one scoop. However, this is not done like in the lottery. You must learn the Divine Law and start inwardly. If you take the verse of the pearl and spend only ten days a year, or a month in meditation on it, do you know what secrets you would learn? As a scientist takes a few prisms and puts them in a certain combination, can see below them the most microscopic beings, in the same way, if you combine the prisms existing in your mind, you will see many things which cannot be seen by the ordinary eye. As a scientist sees under the microscope a whole world of life in a drop of water, the same way those who make use of Divine Wisdom will see things others do not see. Sometimes in the morning you get up badly disposed, but you do not know the cause. You do not succeed in some work—there is a cause; you are ill—there is a cause; you are not beautiful—there is a cause. Beauty must be an ideal for man as well as for woman, because all angels, saints, Christ, are beautiful. When a woman says her husband does not love her, I understand that she is ugly. Every soul in which the words Virtue, Righteousness, Love, Wisdom, Truth are inscribed, is a great, beautiful soul and everybody can love it. And if nobody loves you, it means that you have none of these qualities. Go to God and say, "God, let your hammer work more on me so that these virtues may become inscribed." If God does not work with His hammer on someone, they will remain an ordinary stone of no value. Now, let us come to the application. How must the man and the woman work? They want to have children. Children are bearers of Truth. Know that if you want to understand Truth only your children can teach you. If you want to learn humility, only your children can teach you what humility is. A woman who has never given birth to a child can be neither good, nor humble—she will always be proud. The same thing applies to man. Every thought and every desire of his take on life when they are born. These manifested thoughts and desires house a great being; an angel is concealed in them who, at some point, will be your friend. Some time in the past, the children you have now have been only a dream in your mind, which you have clothed now. You have in yourselves the pearl Christ speaks about, only that some of you, instead of making it noble (as the clam does with the grain of sand), want to throw it out of yourselves. You say, "God has not made it well," and you hew it a bit, but it looses its sense. Do not hew the lines God has put in the human soul. I am against these philosophers who say, "Since the world is not made the way it should be made, let us hew it a bit." For instance, a woman wishing to look slimmer puts on a corset. If you do not wish to grow fat, you must fast. Now you eat three times a day, try to eat twice or once a day and see what noble traits will develop in you. You say, "We cannot live without food." Do you know how much food you must eat in a day? There are certain Laws in life which regulate eating. If you have no appetite for several days, do not eat—wait till a natural hunger appears in you. A man says, "My wife must eat or she will look bad." She looks ill now, but will look well if she does not eat. There are animals that do not eat when they are indisposed. I say that you have the pearl of which Christ speaks, only some of you want to cast it out, which is nothing other than abortion. The statistical data show that there were one hundred thousand abortions in the city of New York in 1905. If some want to be Christians, they are not allowed to apply abortion—in the body, in the mind or in the heart. When a good thought comes into your mind, you say, "I shall apply abortion!" You will do that but you will be ill after that. Some say, "I had a bad thought." It is not a sin that you had a bad thought, but it is sinful to apply abortion. All people do this and wonder why there is no order in the world. Why? Because of abortion. The bad thoughts and desires that torment you are those aborted children of yours in the past and now they say, "You are an unworthy mother." They obstruct you in all your initiatives and you are an unhappy person. If you want to be happy, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is best that from now on you should not apply abortion and pray to God to forgive you your misuse of all good thoughts and wishes—of all your aborted children whom you have killed and robbed of their riches. That is why in the future you should mature every noble thought, every noble wish, since they shall have an effect on your nose, eyebrows, eyes and you will attain to the Apollo type of head and face. At present many people look horrible and ugly. If they go to heaven on this day and see the beauty of the angels, they will run away from there. Now you must pray to God to help you bleach yourself. This is not hard word. If a clam can make a pearl for which Christ praised it, can you not do the same? When you enter heaven, what will Christ praise you for? Someone will say, "I was first minister in Bulgaria." Christ will ask him, "What good have you done to the Bulgarian people?" "Nothing." "Have you a pearl?" "No." "Then, go out, go and stay on earth until you make a pearl, for I cannot receive you in the Kingdom of God without this pearl." A bishop comes along: "What have you done?" "I taught people to do good, I believed in you." "Did you make a pearl?" "No, I did not." "Out with you!" To those who have made a pearl, Christ will say, "I am happy, my son, that you did not shame me. Come to me; you are a worthy son." The same way when you, men and women, go to heaven, there you will meet some son—your pearl—who will say to you, "Thank you, mother, that when I was a big sinner you took me in your womb and made me a person. In this world I shall serve you with all my soul." This will be your happiness. This is what Christ wants to say in the verses I read of which I chose the least meaningful. You see how much it contains, the others contain much deeper things which you will learn some day, but not on the Earth—when you go to heaven. Then you will have new conceptions, new emotions, and new abilities. Then you will see other pictures which you will be able to understand. At this time you can be given this much. If more is given to you, you will not be able to bear it. This would mean blowing a soap-bubble more than it can expand—then it will burst. That is why, when Christ says, "You women are the emblem of Divine Love, God lives in you," women must listen silently, modestly and show themselves worthy of bearing their share. You say, "You should know, Lord, that the present world is not such as You have made it." There is no need of you Teaching the Lord. When He speaks, we must keep silent. When He stops speaking, we shall begin our lesson and say, "I did this in such a way, that in another way." Then God will tell you where you are right and where you are not right. Therefore, the Teaching of Christ implies our listening to God and applying His Teaching in our life. And when Christ says to woman, "Love your neighbor as yourself," He means she has to love her husband as herself. And when He tells man to love his neighbor, He means that he should love his wife as himself. If you give such examples, then your sons and daughters will follow them. This is what the creation of the pearl means—the alchemic Law, applied in the physical world. Sermon held on April 19, 1915, in Sofia. ____________________ 10 Matt. 13:44.

EASTER Go ye therefore, and teach aff nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Hofy Spirit 9 In the whole Christian world today the preachers are speaking on the text of Christ's resurrection. Only in the USA there are 80,000--100,000 preachers and in Bulgaria about 3,300 priests preaching today about the Resurrection— they are speaking about it everywhere. Since so many people are speaking about the resurrection, I shall make a slight digression. Many people consider this question from a historical or philosophical point of view—is the resurrection possible? There is a disputation on this question from a purely physiological standpoint—is it possible for a person to resurrect? Theoreticians and theologians write and try to prove the possibility of resurrection, but they also cannot prove it. I shall stop on the words "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Deep is the Teaching of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What is this Teaching? You often repeat the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit but what sense do they have for you? They have sense only when they can produce a certain effect on you. If you hold a match in you hand, you cannot test its force until you light it; as soon as you light it, you will realize its force. And the resurrection will be an unknown object for you up to the time when you will light this word like a match that it may produce light in your mind and heat in your heart, or until you sow it as a seed in the Earth to grow and see its fruit. It is enough for people during their life to have only one such word, which they would understand as they should, so that they will become geniuses; if they understood two such words, they would become saints; but if they should understand three—they will become one with Christ. Therefore, in every human language there are words which if we understand will acquire magic powers for us. When Moses raised his scepter by the Red Sea, he pronounced a word and the sea parted in two. When Christ was at the tomb of Lazarus, He raised His eyes to heaven and said only one word, "Lazarus, come forth!" and Lazarus rose. God pronounced only one word at the beginning of creation and the world was formed. You speak and write grammatically correctly using points and commas, question marks and exclamation marks; you discuss important philosophical matters, but you do not know how to arrange your life. You are like that philosopher who went rowing a boat with a boatman in the sea and started a conversation with the boatman. "Have you studied? Do you know anything about astronomy?" he asked. "Nothing at all," was the answer. "You have lost a quarter of your life. Do you know anything about geology?" "I do not know anything." "You have lost two quarters of your life. Do you know anything about mathematics?" "I do not." "You have lost three quarters of your life." At once a terrible storm started to rage and threatened to capsize the boat. On his part the boatman asked the philosopher, "Do you know how to swim?" "I do not know and have never learned to." "You can lose four fourths of your life," i.e. all your life. Now you sit like this philosopher discussing the question how Christ was born and came to earth, but as soon as a storm comes to your life, or you meet some obstacle or suffering, you do not know how to swim and begin to sink in the water. Where is your philosophy of life? Where did your mathematics, geology and astronomy remain? What is the purpose of these sciences if they cannot help you in such critical moments? Mathematics should be a science to teach people how to construct their life correctly. Biology is a science which must teach people how to put Law and order in their cells. Geology must teach people right relations to the Earth. In the life of Christ there are three main phases: birth, death and resurrection. These phases must be intrinsic to every ordinary person. When Christ was born, angels in heaven proclaimed peace to people. Therefore, the birth of Christ was triumphant, but this same Christ became subject to a disgraceful death. People ask to this day why Christ had to die this way. There are a number of reasons for this. Christ was exposed to a disgraceful death, but in the end he rose from the dead. People today die too, but so far no one has risen. There are reasons for this too. Now I shall make a comparison between life and death. When Adam was in paradise, God presented life to him in the form of two fruit-trees one of which He called The Tree of Life and the other The Tree of Knowing Good and Evil. In the occult sense The Tree of Life implies the aspiration of all living beings in Nature toward the Divine. This aspiration has an upward movement. It is a high tide in Nature, which gradually increases, grows. By The Tree of Knowing Good and Evil is implied the endeavor of the beings to go out of the center of life and move towards the periphery. This endeavor has a downward movement and represents a low tide in Nature. Since these two currents exist in Nature, it is easy enough to explain the origin of death. If two trains start moving from two opposite points toward one and the same point what will happen to them? A catastrophe is inevitable. Adam found himself between two such trains and, not being able to avoid the catastrophe, he died. Those who eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree will end their life like Adam. This means that the day a person eats of the fruit of the forbidden tree, they enter the low tide of life, i.e. the tide which has a downward movement toward the center of the Earth. God alone is able to save people from this low tide. Christ came to earth namely to take people out of this tide and place them in the opposite tide, in the high tide of life, which we call resurrection. In order for you to receive the life which leads to the resurrection, you should understand the Teaching of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. What is meant by the Father? The Teaching of Divine Wisdom. By the Son? The Teaching of Divine Love. By the Holy Spirit? The Teaching of raising and evolution of people. It says in the Scripture, "He who believes in this Teaching will be saved." Everyone should understand the Laws of this Teaching. What is required of you? Many of you are fathers, but do you understand your calling as a father? Many of you have been sons, but do you understand what should be the relations of the son to the father? You have not yet been in the state of the Spirit, but you will be. Now you are preparing yourselves to pass through the Spirit, Who raises people, raises Christ in them. In order to understand Christ's Teaching correctly, you must be freed from some ties with the world. This does not mean that you must deny the world. No, this is a wrong view. The world has two faces—one is an inner face, pure and bright, a Divine face; the other is an external face, subject to constant changes. So that when we speak of denying the world, you must understand a denial of its external face, of those elements which have a transitory and deceitful character. These elements do not give any essential thing to the life of a person. However, everything else which serves your uplifting should be preserved, for it is said, "God so Loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believeth in Him should not perish." The Apostle Paul said, "The face of this world passes," which confirms the idea that the world has two faces. Therefore, the one face of the world which changes, passes away. The face which does not change, remains. People are born, grow and think that they can set the world right and conquer it, but when they become 45-50 years of age, they notice a certain weakening of strength and give up this idea. They become kind, careful and make the young work for them. They begin to think only of their old age and that they might become ill and die. I am asking you: why do old people always direct their look to the center of the Earth? Why do not they keep in their mind thoughts full of Light, which refresh their spirit, renew them and lead to resurrection? People today are infected by the thought that we cannot resurrect, come to life and be born again. This is the greatest delusion in the world. People can rise just as they can die. Death and life are two relative things. If you come into contradiction with the Laws and forces functioning in rational Nature, you will be smashed and ruined. But if you are in accord with the Laws and forces of rational Nature, you will be raised and rise from the grave. In order to come to the resurrection you must free yourself from certain obstacles and drawbacks, which your souls have inherited from your ancestors. I shall cite an example to explain a great Law which regulates life. Several English sailors left one day the ship where they worked to visit a European city. They walked around the city visiting different drinking houses until they got drunk. In the evening they returned to the port, got into their boats and started rowing, forgetting to untie the boats from the posts. They rowed all night thinking they have neared the ship, but what was their surprise in the morning when they saw they were still on shore! Why did they not reach the ship? They saw their mistake that their boats were still tied. The rope by which their boats were tied to the posts prevented them from leaving the place in spite of their night efforts. That rope was their obstacle. And if people today cannot rise, the reason is the same—they are tied by a small rope to some post. Small children do the same thing. A child catches a bird and ties one of its legs to a string and then lets it fly. The bird flies up to a place and then falls on the ground. Why? Because it is tied by a string. In the same way people today are tied. They must have a high ideal! What kind? Such as would pull them up to heaven. Someone says, "I tried to fly, but soon I fell down to earth. Why? "I myself don't know." But I say, "You were tied. You have had some doubts in your mind, or have wanted to solve some important questions, but have not succeeded." "What shall I do then?" "Untie your boat from the post, row with your oars and start forward and upward to your purpose." No matter what a person does, they cannot escape the consequences of their life. Do not think that your thoughts and feelings do not exert an influence on you. Every thought and every feeling, however small they may be, exert an influence not only on you but also on those around you as well. Moses, I think, says in the Deuteronomy that God recompenses people for every crime down to the fourth generation. It follows from this that in one hundred years at the most every crime must be liquidated with. Those who know this Law have noticed the following: if a woman of the black race has intercourse with a man of the white race, in the first generation the child may be white. However, in the second, third and fourth generation a black child will be born by all means. If in the first generation a black child is born, that ends the karma. However, this Law has a contrary effect as well. If a woman of the white race has intercourse with a man on the black race, in one of the four generations a black child will be born by all means. If a black child is born to a husband and wife of the white race, they will wonder where this child came from. They even do not suspect that one of their grandmothers has had intercourse with a black man some hundred years ago. Do not take this illustration in a literal sense; it is highly metaphorical! I say, the same Law functions in the feelings and thoughts of a person. Someone sits calmly and all of a sudden a bad thought enters his or her mind. Where did this bad thought come from? One hundred years ago your soul has had relations with a negative thought, a "dark one." The "dark one" represents the temptation in the world. Every bad thought or every bad feeling is a child of the person that nurtures them. This is done according to the Law of karma. The karmic Law is strict. You must keep yourselves from it, because you cannot avoid its consequences. Do not give place of bad thoughts in your mind. If you admit them in your mind, they will create their own forms, which will handicap you in the future. It is not a question of whether you are born of a father or mother of the white race, the important thing is that the vibrations of the people of the black race are considerably different from those of the white race, as a result of which much work and effort is necessary in order to reconcile those vibrations. The aspirations of the black race are towards the Earth, not toward heaven. They are the people of that tree from which Eve, the first mother of humanity ate. The aspiration of the people of the white race is toward heaven. This aspiration is very strongly expressed at the present time. They want to be people of the Tree of Life and eat its fruit. Therefore, we become one or another kind of people according to the tree we eat of. The Tree of Life is Christ. When this great thought penetrates your mind, salvation will come. You should not dwell on the abstract thought that Christ is sitting on the right sight of God, but rather consider Christ as a power penetrating the whole earth. When this power passes through all beings from the smallest to the greatest, then the liberation of the whole humanity will be realized. When they crucified Christ, i.e. when they interrupted the course of this power, of this current, darkness overwhelmed the Earth. All people felt this darkness. The Scripture says that after that Christ descended to hell to preach his Teaching there. All who obeyed him left hell and went to live on the Earth. Were you not also there when Christ preached? You were, but you have forgotten this. What did Christ say when He went down to hell to bring you out of the darkness there? "Go and sin no more!" Now I also say to you that if you sin, you will bear "dark children" and sufferings will come one after the other. Since Christ is already on the Earth, He has decided to save humanity and will save it. There is no power on earth, however strong it might be, that can counteract the power of Christ. Christ says, "No one can take from my hands the sheep God has given Me, for there is no greater than Him." And if ever any doubt should possess your soul, know that this is your "dark father." Break your ties with him! The pure should not tie themselves to the impure. When a mother sees her children soiled, does she embrace them immediately? No, first she will punish them a little, then she will bathe them and put clean clothes on them and after that she will embrace and kiss them. This is the simplest philosophy of life. Someone says, "Nobody loves me." "Your clothes are muddy, my friend." If you want people to love you, go and bathe yourself and clean your body as you should. After that, clean your heart and your mind and see then if people will love you or not. Thus cleansed and bathed, a person is ready for resurrection. Christ rose, but before he came to the resurrection, He passed through the crucifixion. What is the meaning of the cross? It is the net of squares after a cube has been spread out—the cube on one plane. At the same time the cube represents a person's house. Christ was crucified on the cross— on this open (spread out) cube by which God wanted to tell people to open the doors and windows of their houses, wash them and thoroughly clean them, thus preparing them for the day of the resurrection. Someone hands a cross to a person and says, "Kiss this cross!" But I say that before you kiss the cross it must be cleaned. The cross is in a person's mind and heart. Therefore, you cannot kiss this human cross until it is absolutely purified, i.e. until the person's mind and heart are not perfectly pure. All people are living crosses that must be raised. As soon as this is done a circle, which signifies eternity, will be formed around the cross. Thus, the cross will be turned into a wheel which will be in constant motion. By His Teaching Christ wants to reveal to people the basic Laws by which they can change the human order of things. To change this order, people should first have an idea, which they should put as a foundation of their lives, and after that they should try to attain this idea. People today cannot attain this idea for the simple reason that they are victims of their implacable egoism. Everyone thinks only of him or herself alone wishing to have the first place. In one of his pictures an artist presented human egoism very well. He painted a high mountain peak on which an idol stood tall. Millions of people had their eyes fixed on this peak, everyone trying to reach it and bow to the idol. Yet, whoever would start first for the peak was immediately held back by the others for fear he would reach the peak before them. In this way they handicapped one another, in result of which no one has reached the peak yet. What do we see in life? Until this day people continue to struggle and pull each other back lest anyone should reach the peak and receive the wreath of merit. In ancient Greece during the races of the Olympic Games whoever reached the goal first received the wreath. However, in our efforts for Christ's exploit, everyone who fulfils His Teaching can receive a wreath. Thus, there are three important things, three important words in Christ's Teaching: the Father,; the Son and the Holy Spirit. If you can pronounce these words in their profound sense and in their fullness, you have already entered the Teaching of Christ. When you pronounce the word Father, you should feel the pulse of your Father, Who moves the world. You should feel it the way a mother feels the pulse of her child. To feel God's thought implies to understand it and to know it. If you have acquired all this, you will understand the verse which says, "Before you have asked for something of the Father, He will fulfill your desires." You must all have filial relations to God and fulfill your duties to Him as to your own father. He did not come down to earth, but sent His Son as a sacrifice that no one who believes in Him should perish. On the same basis once we have come to earth, we too should sacrifice ourselves. Many are afraid of sacrifice, saying that there is no life in it. They cannot make out the words, "If you do not eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you." We eat daily in order to live. Do not the grains of the wheat and the fruit we eat die and sacrifice themselves for us? We must justify their sacrifice! They say, "We are ready to die and be sacrificed for you, if only you become more humane." Billions of creatures serve people, but what do we do in exchange for this? We are engaged in scholastic problems as the theologians of the Middle Ages who philosophized how many devils can dance at the point of the knife. I say, Christ's Teaching contains the sense of life. There is always a lowland between two great epochs. If we observe the human brain, we shall see that it, too, has grooves and elevations. The human thought can function due to these grooves and elevations in the brain. The Earth, too, has grooves and elevations thanks to which we live. Someone says, "I do not want to live in a valley." Where do you want to live? "On a high mountain peak." I ask you, how many people can live on a high mountain peak? All people cannot live on the peaks. Some will live in the valleys, others—on the summits. Everyone lives on their own land—once they will be in the valley, another time—on the summit; a third time they will go down the valley again; a fourth time they will climb the peak. This way they will constantly ascend and descend until they finally learn that the evolutionary Law is movement along a broken line in which there are lowlands and heights. When people learn the Teaching of Christ, which is related to the circular motion of eternity, they will enter another kind of evolution in which there are no ups and downs but only circular movement. "Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit." The Teaching of the Spirit is a real Teaching which people today deny. The Father is the Creator of things. The Spirit implies the unity; it implies the multiplicity of things as well. Christ, the Son, represents the sap constantly flowing in The Tree of Life. The Spirit represents also the conditions in which we live. Astrologers today state that a person is in communications with the whole universe, i.e. all beings are in a certain relation among themselves. The heart, the brain, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, as organs through which forces pass, correspond to certain beings in space. When a conflict arises among some of them, a person feels some change in the corresponding part of their body. And in fact they begin to complain of pains in their arm, leg or some other part of the body. This is due to some external influence which, according to the erudite, comes either from Jupiter, from Saturn, Mars or some other planet. Some may object, "How is it possible for Mars to influence people?" But I ask you, if a nation can exert an influence by its thoughts on another nation, why should not a planet be able to do the same? We see that England, France, Germany, Russia and the other nations mutually influence each other, on the same grounds the beings living on Mars by their thoughts exert a certain influence on people. Their thoughts pass across space forming a current. Those who fall under the influence of this current become belligerent. People today are under the influence of Mars as a result of which they are fighting and are at war until this current or influence attains its purpose. You will say that Christ's Teaching is about peace, however, when this peace, or this balance of Nature, is disturbed, war will inevitably come. The present views of people impose a restoration of the disturbed balance only by means of war. We see this Law in practical life as well. When a housekeeper wants to take the butter out of the milk, she puts the milk in the churn- tub and churns it. Therefore, the war in the world will end only when people derive butter. Christ says, "I want people to have butter which, when applied, will make them softer and more delicate." Present-day people are hard and callous to a greater extent than is necessary. That they are in need of oil is obvious in the parable of the five foolish virgins who forgot to take oil for their vessels and remained outside. Those who want to enter the Kingdom of God must by all means have oil for their vessels. This is the Teaching of the Spirit. Now I am speaking allegorically, but if you think deeply about this question, you will see that there are forces which exert a softening influence on people and you will understand their relations to you. You ask, "Why did God create the world?" That you may study. The spirits which were created first became crystals. After them the Earth had to be created with new cells in a circular not a geometrical form. In order to develop and turn in to a plant, the crystal must become a living cell. By the force of this Law, the noblest of plants must turn its "wooden" immovable cells into muscles and nerves, in order to be able, like the animals, to feel and to be able to move from one place to another. In the same way we also must pay up everything, in order to form in ourselves that cell which creates the saints. People are dead at present and in heaven they are planted with their heads down. We must sacrifice ourselves and become a sensible cell one with Christ and after passing through His body, through His mind and through His heart, become tuned up to understand the deep sense of things. Now I shall not explain these abstract truths, lest I deviate from the main subject. The first thing in life is obedience. In antiquity a Greek disciple wanted to study the secret sciences and for that reason he went to Egypt, to the so called school of the Brotherhood of Light. The high priest in the temple of Isis took him to many places and finally to a statue and said to him, "This is the Truth." "Why did you not first take me to the Truth, but to all these other places? You should have lead me to this statue at the very first," objected the disciple. "This cannot be for such is the path of the Truth. Be careful not to raise the veil of this statue and not to touch it. Study it only on the outside." The disciple burned with a desire to see what is beneath this veil. He thought he would find the Truth if he lifted the veil and after returning to Greece he would possess great power. One night he quietly walked out, entered the temple and raised the veil. However, they found him dead in front of the statue the next morning. What did he learn? Nothing. Someone says, "Raise the curtain; I want to see the Truth!" It is dangerous to raise the veil of the Truth prematurely. A person must be ready for this moment. Christ has come to earth to prepare us to meet this moment without fear. First of all we must understand which life leads to salvation. After that you must pass through another process of which it is said, "If you are not born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God." And Nicodemus was told that if he were not born of water and of the spirit, he would not enter the Kingdom of God. Therefore, there are two births, but not reincarnations, for reincarnation implies a process of cutting life short, of interruption. Reincarnation is a process of disharmony. To be reincarnated is to begin anew the work which you have left. You are caught and imprisoned and after staying in prison for 10 years, 15 more years remain; one day you escape from the prison, but they catch you again and imprison you for 10 more years, which makes again 25 years. After five years you escape again. They catch you and imprison you for the third time, imposing a greater punishment on you. Thus, the person who does not want to serve their sentence is reincarnated. Or in another sense—the person who is sent to earth, but does not want to live according to the order of God, passes through reincarnation. Such people want to live an easy life, to escape from prison, then they will be caught, put in prison again and if they always escape, this prison will never end. The Law of the new birth implies the fulfillment of the Will of God. It is not difficult for a person to fulfill the Will of God. The difficulty lies in our misunderstanding of life. People today have the tendency to criticize. Everyone sees the mistakes of others, "So and so does not live as they should." But do you live as you should? "They are not a good person." But are you good? A person should first know themselves. They should study their constitution. Do you know why God has given you one nose, two eyes and two ears? Do you know why some eyes are black, others blue or green and what are the eyebrows for? The eyes form the symbol of the number eight. What does the number eight mean? It is the number of work. The nose is the plough of a person. When you lay a person horizontally, it shows that they should plough. Thus, God's grace will descend on us and cause everything we have sown to grow. I ask you, what does thinking lie in? What process is thinking? Someone may say that thinking is a process of concentration. What is concentration? Years ago in Varna I met a Bulgarian man who told me he earned eight thousand leva which he lent a merchant to help him, but the merchant went bankrupt and the man lost his money too. He said, "I lost too, but God is good, I shall earn money again." I say, here is a man who has understood the Law. He is not an occultist, but knows a Law that will teach him what to do in order to earn money again. He says, "God gives, God takes away." Riches, knowledge and power are transitory things in the life of a person. God tests us by them, as a mother tests her children. Often the mothers call their children angels. A mother calls her child "my little angel!" I say, test them and see if they become an angel. Give the child an apple and then ask it back again. If the child gives you back the apple without getting angry, they will become an angel. If they do not give it back, they will not become an angel. In the same way, God gives you a blessing and says, "Give your blessing to others!" "I shall not do it." Here is an unknown quantity you have not solved. "But I do not believe in life!" This is a second unknown quantity you have not solved. "I shall escape from life"—a third unknown quantity. You often solve problems with solving unknown quantities, you find what they are equal to, but when you come to life, you cannot solve them. Every unknown quantity has its value which can be solved only when a person works. Therefore, in order to define what every unknown quantity is equal to, you must put to work your thoughts and feelings. When people cannot solve the unknown quantities in their lives, they weep and feel unhappy. The world is a school in which only those who want to study can be enrolled. If you do not want to study and to concentrate, who has forced you to enter this school? If you do not want to study, you better enter a plant or a mineral. Only by hard concentration you can understand the Teaching of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and begin to love God. Many people say that only a foolish person can love. No. Love is an unknown quantity which must be calculated in order to determine its real value. The problem of love can be solved only from the standpoint of the Teaching of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Teacher of this Teaching visits you every morning and sows a thought in your souls, but in spite of that you grow poor. Why do you become poor? Because you cannot evaluate the thought which Christ gives you. Someone says, "I want glory, wealth, knowledge." The blessings Christ gives you are more essential than the ones you want. The glory of God is far more valuable than the glory of people. Christ wants to make you all powerful, masters of life and death. Do you know who creates death? Those billions of spirits who are constantly doing destructive work. Every day you are filled with doubt, envy, and you want to be people of progress at that! There are even such people who speak of occultism, but their thought is not free— they do not understand life. Christ rose from the dead and showed the spiritual path we must pass—by the process of birth. What is birth? Tolstoy speaks of one of his dreams. One night he dreamt he was pregnant trying to bear a child and feeling awful pains. On wakening in the morning he asked, "Are the pains women feel at birth very strong?" When he received an affirmative answer, he said, "It is no easy matter to be a woman!" Your mind conceives a thought, but what sufferings it will cause you until you give it birth! Do not think that sufferings are a bad sign. As a mother gives something of herself, in the same way you must give something to your child. You must give life and power to a noble thought in your mind. Finally, you must have the courage to roll the stone off your tomb and not sit like present-day philosophers reasoning if Christ has risen or not. There are people who have been present when Christ rose. You will say, "Prove it!" I can prove that to you, but you must assume the same relations, an important Law must be observed. What is proving? You will lead a person a certain path and show them the way by which they must test the truth themselves. The last hour has come and we must all rise. We must and we will rise from the dead! When we have come to the question of the resurrection, you must not ask whether Christ has risen, but whether the time for your resurrection is near. Many ask to this day the question, "Did Christ lie for three days in the tomb?" Leave this question aside. For eight thousand years you have been lying in this tomb. Is not this time enough? It is. The angel, coming down to roll the stone off the tomb, is Christ's call, announcing the coming of the Last Judgement. How will Christ find you? If the stone is not rolled off your tomb, can Christ say, "Lazarus, come forth!"? Your relatives and friends must at least do you the favor of rolling the stone off your tombs. Then Christ will say, "Rise!" And you will rise from the dead. To all of you who are listening to me this morning, I roll off your tomb-stones and say, "Christ is coming!" He will stand before your open tombs and say, "Come out!" Sermon of the Master held on March 22, 1915, in Sofia. ___________________ 9 Matt 29:19.

THE NEW FOUNDATION For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.2 I am the way, the truth and the life?3 There is a certain relation between these two verses. What must we understand by the words, "For other foundation can no man lay"? I shall consider this verse in its broad sense. Foundation is a prosaic word: Who does not speak about one foundation or another? You start building a house and say, "I am laying the foundation." When you set the warp for weaving, you say, "I am setting the warp in the loom." In geometry, by the word foundation we understand the point of support of something. Therefore, such a foundation, or point of support, is necessary for the existence of life as well. What does this foundation really consist of? It is said that no man can lay other foundation, or we cannot change human thoughts, human desires and human acts. That is we cannot change them essentially. You cannot change the nature of thought, so that it will not be thought anymore; you can make it good, bad, or neutral, but no more than this. Therefore, you can change its external form, but never its essence. Now I am speaking about a fundamental Law, namely that "No man can change the foundation which Christ has laid." This foundation is that we are under the power of a great Law, under the influence of good and evil. We stand upon a foundation, which at one and the same time causes joy and suffering, rising and falling, enrichment and impoverishment, health and illness. This is the foundation that Christ has laid. For this reason He came to earth—to set these two points of support as a foundation of life. This is a principle. When you are building a bridge over a river, you can build it only on two points of support at both ends, but the weight will fall mainly on one of the two points of support. In this sense, heaven and earth are the two points of support on which human life is built. The deepest thoughts to which we penetrate comprise the first base, the first point of support in life; the desires are the second base, the second point of support, while actions, which we call an expression of the will, are the process of building. When someone speaks of the human will, we understand that two points of support are necessary for its expression. As soon as we start building on them, our will power shall be expressed. Therefore, according to this principle, the human will can be manifested only provided there are two points of support. Where building takes place, there is will power. Therefore, you must understand well the deep meaning of Christ's Teaching. It is not sufficient for people only to think they understand it, when they do not. Once I was told an anecdote about a young woman in Sofia, who studied everything but cooking. When she married, she wanted to cook her husband beans, but did not know how. She went to ask a neighbor how to cook it, but did not tell her that she could not cook. The neighbor said, "First, I boil the beans, then I fry some chopped onions in butter." "That is just as we cook it," said the young woman. After a week again she asked her neighbor how she cooks meat. And the neighbor told her. "That is just as we cook it," said the young woman. One day the neighbor woman wanted to test her and see if she knew how to cook, so she played a joke on her. The husband of the inexperienced woman brought home some snails for her to cook. She went again to ask her neighbor how to cook the snails. "Pound up the whole snails in the mortar, put rice and water and boil them." "We cook them the same way," said the young woman. She went home and cooked the snails just as her neighbor told her. When her husband came home for dinner and when he saw how his wife had cooked up the snails, he found out how well she could cook. There are similarly cooked snails in contemporary religious beliefs as well. No, the world has no need of such snails. A fundamental understanding of things is necessary. What is human thought? Thought is one of the basic great Laws which create. First of all, we are all thinking beings; secondly, beings who feel; and thirdly—beings who act and build. I say that you cannot lay any other foundation than this, you cannot act any other way; if you do, you may degrade yourself. You can go only in two directions—upward and downward—there is no middle path in this world. Since everything is moving, you cannot stand on only one point of support. The two points of support give stability to the bodies, while everything around them is in motion. Now, in order for you to see what your illusions in life are, I shall use an example from contemporary science. If we pass an electric current through a pile of iron filings, the filing nearest to the electric current will be magnetized first and will attract the other filings. This filing turns to the others with the words, "Do you see how I attracted you with my own power? If I were not here, you would not be around me either." But if we change the place of the current, another filing will be magnetized first and become a center around which all the other filings will gather. Therefore, when you say, "I can do everything, or people gather around me because I am influential," it means that the current is near you. The moment this current changes direction, you will move towards the periphery. Thus, you should know that the foundation is not within you, nor in what you think or feel at a given moment. In order to know whether you have reached the foundation, at the moment of finding your points of support, you must feel a deep peace within you. Many philosophers teach the whole world, but they themselves have not found their points of support—they are not calm, possessing inner peace. When Christ said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," he pointed out the two points of support. Life is a process, springing from the spiritual path and the Truth. We cannot build without this foundation. I ask you what aspiration is. The aspiration of a spirit in space is to be reincarnated, to grow. In growing, the child starts from one point, reaches a certain height from which it starts to descend forming a curved line that ends at the other point of support. Youth and old age are the two points of support of human life. When you pass the path from childhood to old age, you will find the two points of support in your life. After that when you return a second time, you will build upon these points, if you have not forgotten them; but if you have, you will start from the beginning. There are people who only traverse and never build. A curved line must be placed on the two points of support. This is a Law of motion. This motion is expressed by the human thought. What does human thought consist in? Human thought is a Law of laying, or piling material on the two bases of life. We must build according to a certain plan. Let us come now to the building of the human body. When a child is conceived in its mother's womb, first, the limbs and extremities of the body are formed and then the other organs. The lungs are the last to be formed. As soon as the respiratory system is formed, the child must be born at once. The hands are the product of the human will; the nose, the mouth, the lungs, the stomach—those are the human desires. By these organs we test things. The brain is the organ of human thought. By the brain we test thought. On the thickness and quality of the grey matter in the brain depends the productivity of the human thought. The greater the convolutions in the grey matter, the stronger the thought. Some say that the brain itself produces thought, but this is not right. The human brain is similar to the Earth, which does not bear anything of itself. The creative power of the Earth comes from space, from the impact of the Sun on its surface. Because the Earth has a base, it is on this base that the Sun builds, produces and creates. The human spirit is the human sun which, by shining on the brain, engenders thoughts. Every being thinks. You assume the ox does not think. The ox also thinks, but in an oxen way, in a limited way; the snake, the lizard, the fly: every creature thinks, but according to its thought it, creates its house—or its body, its organism—in order to live. Our present organism is the fruit of our thought. Humans build according to their thought. They can expand their lungs as much as they want by their thought. If the human spirit makes efforts, it can make the human head very large, but it is not sufficient for the head only to be large, the important thing is whether a person will be able to cultivate it. The Earth is large, too, but when God sent human beings to earth, he told them, "Go and conquer the Earth, conquer all elements!" And since they could not conquer the Earth, God gave them a small earth inside their head—their brain. If you know how to conquer your brain, you will find out the Laws by which you will conquer the Earth. If you cannot control your brain centers and your feelings; if you cannot focus your will power in the right direction, how will you control things outside of you? Thus, we cannot lay any other foundation except Christ's. There is a certain Law which limits our activity; only in a definite direction within this Law can we do everything and be all-powerful. And our happiness will rest on this great thought—to what extent we are going in the right direction on the spiritual path. By this talk I want to inspire you with the idea of starting to build your life. I shall use an example to clarify my thought. An explorer who went to explore the East came across a wild bull that started chasing him. The man jumped into a dry well on his way and got hold of a branch of a small tree, growing in the well. The bull came to the well and looked at the man inside. At the same time the man saw a snake waiting for him in the bottom of the well. He started wondering what to do—he could not go up because of the bull, he could not go down either, so he kept holding to the branch with all his strength. At one time he noticed that there was some honey on the tree and forgetting about the bull he started calmly to lick the honey and enjoy it. But soon he saw a mouse that, coming out of a side hole, started to gnaw the tree. Then the traveler said, "This honey will not save me either. Some day the tree will be gnawed and I shall fall into the well where the snake is." I say, the bull is fate, which tosses a person up and down, and the snake is death, which is lying in wait for them. Actually, the bull is birth, youth. The snake is death, old age. They are not dangerous things. Why is the bull chasing you? To make you work. You are indolent and he wants to make you run. What are the sufferings in the world? They are the bull, chasing people—kings, generals, ministers, judges—all are running and preaching freedom. All these people are eminent philosophers. They reason that the world is badly made, but they themselves have no foundation. How can they reason, when they have no foundation? Can a person argue, when they are running? It is not bad that the bull is chasing you. He is chasing you to make you strong. If you are strong, you can turn around, catch him by the horns and he will stop. In Hebrew history there is a hero—Samson—who was attacked by a lion, but who took hold of the lion's mouth and tore it apart. The fear of the bull is due to the fact that you have not found the two points of support in your life. "No man can lay other foundation than that which Christ laid." What foundation did Christ lay? How did he live on the Earth? In the nine categories of blessed people, Christ has given nine rules by which a person must live. He has also given two great Laws: Love of God and Love of one's fellow brother. These are the nine points of support on which you must build your life. Contemporary social and family life must also be build upon them. A woman who does not love God and her husband cannot keep a household going. A man who does not love his fellow brother—his wife—cannot keep a household going. Naturally, when I am speaking about a man and a woman, I do not mean your houses, i.e. your bodies, because I see they are quite modest. I mean the human soul in its supreme manifestation. In the future this soul will be able to build for itself a much better house than the present one. This soul that appears ignorant today will have much greater knowledge some day and will be much more enlightened. Now, in order to find the two points of support on which you must build your life, you must effect the curved line and start building. Do not grope about like contemporary philosophers. Some scientists that are examining the Sun say that its heat is about five million degrees of heat; others say that it is two million while still others consider it 100,000 degrees. A scientist had the courage to say that it is only 32 degrees of heat; another—that it is below zero; and some say that the Sun is in the liquid state that is why it sends out heat. However, today there are new scientists who object to these affirmations and say, "If all this is true, then the whole space must be warm, but it is a fact that the higher we go, the colder it becomes." That is why these scientists say that the Sun sends only energy, which is transformed on earth into heat and light. Actually, when you go very high, you will see that the sky is dark and cold. The scientists argue among themselves, but the facts show that both sides are right—yet for both sides there is something misunderstood. I say, if you are very sensitive to heat, the Sun has heat; if you are not—the Sun has no heat for you. Heat is something relative. Some people put five lumps of sugar in their tea, others put only one and still their tea is sweet for them. That is why you must free yourself from the illusion of thinking that you know everything. See that you are not like that young wife who thought she knew how to cook snails and pounded them up. No, this is not the way to cook. Europe is cooking the snails in the same way now4, but the European nations will cook them a different way next time. Now, let us go back to the essential thought of this talk. We must create! Some of you who are listening to me this morning are unhappy; others are dissatisfied with life; still others have big ambitions and a high opinion of themselves. Some days ago one of our friends told me that before starting to study palmistry he had a high opinion of himself, but after examining the lines on his hand, he discovered that he was proud and vain and began to be ashamed of himself. You also think you know much, but when you enter life you do not know how to deal with things. A young girl before marrying dreams, "When I get married this is how I will furnish my house; this is how I shall dress and live with my husband"—she makes a plan the same way projects for Law bills are made. After the second month of marriage you will see her and her husband disheveled. Thus, the Law bill was not passed and enacted as planned. In the same way the Laws adopted by the Parliament often remain unapplied because they were not suited to our conditions of life. And when one of your thoughts is not put into action, you say, "We are unhappy, fate is against us!" No fate whatsoever is against you, it is your foolishness which is against you in all you do. We must learn to think right. When someone comes to you, you should form a right opinion of them and act in a given case as you would wish others to deal with you. We must act well, because whatever we do the same will be done to us. About 45 years ago a man from Varna graduated in Europe in music. On returning, he became a teacher and started teaching the children of some rich people in Varna how to play music and how to dance. However, one day he quarreled with some city men and was dismissed. He was an extremely proud and touchy man and after spending his money, he had to go hungry. A priest who knew him met him once and invited him to dinner. After hearing the sad story of the man, the priest gave him two gold coins saying, "Take this now and when you are in need, come to me again. I am ready to help you until you find a job." A month or two after that the man was employed as a secretary to the Turkish vali5 at the time because he knew Turkish. After a year the priest was accused of being a revolutionary and some illegal letters and books were found in his house. These letters were given to the secretary of the vali to examine them. He looked them over and separated the suspicious letters from the others, so that the priest was acquitted much to his amazement. He asked the secretary how that happened and the latter said to him, "The two gold coins you gave me when I was hungry for three days saved your head." If this young man had known how to behave with the students, the citizens would not have dismissed him from the school. If the priest had not given him dinner when he strolled the streets hungry and had not helped him with the two gold coins, the young man, being the secretary of the vali, would have put the rope around his neck. In the same way you should deal correctly with every thought, every feeling and act in your life and ask for the causes of your unhappiness. If you are unhappy, proud or cruel what are the causes for your pride, cruelty and greed for gold and riches? Therefore, you should think right! You are cruel—that is not your own trait, but a false capital left over by your ancestors. To clarify my thought, I shall give you an example. Some years ago an Armenian visited a Jewish man carrying a whole bag of sample diamonds. He wanted to sell them to the Jew very cheaply—for only 20,000 levs,6 because he had managed not to pay any duty on them. The Jewish man was very happy and both agreed on the day and place where the Armenian would bring the diamonds and receive the 20,000 levs. The Jewish man took the bag satisfied to be the owner of such a great wealth. Reaching his house he immediately opened the bag and what did he see? Only one diamond was real, but the rest were glass pieces. You, too, may be carrying this bag thinking you are rich but when you open it you see that it is full with ordinary glass pieces. According to the Law of heredity your ancestors leave you some wealth, but only a part of it is real virtue, and the rest of it is glass—evil in a person. Therefore, we have a false conception of life. We think we are good when we are not, or we think we have capital, but have none in reality. This means we have a false foundation for life. The Apostle Paul, addressing the Christians of his time, said, "No man can lay another foundation than that which Christ has laid." But Christ says, "I have not come to do my will, but the will of God"—the first point of support. And, actually, Christ came to give us life. He preached and realized the Love for our fellow person, because Christianity is Love for our fellows, it is the science of Love. Those who learn this science can build. This science does not consist of sweet words, gentle kisses and presents—I doubt that when a person starts making gifts to someone they wish him or her well. A fly once stopped near a spider and he began to praise her, "How beautiful you are! What nice eyes you have! And your wings! How colorful they are! I have never seen such a beauty!" "Is all this really true?" asked the fly. "Yes, there are no more beautiful creatures than you. I have a mirror—come closer, I shall give it as a gift to you so that you can see yourself." The fly went to him and began to look herself in the mirror, but she never came out. So when someone tells you that you are very beautiful, that he will do this and that for you, do not believe it for if you enter his place, you will never go out again. This is what gifts and promises mean. I am not telling you not to give or receive gifts, but the mouth, the thought and the heart must participate in making the gift; the human wisdom, knowledge and Love must be deposited in the gift. Many men and women have been ruined by gifts. The woman may receive a watch, a ring or a hat, but she looses once and for all her virginity and purity- she is already dishonored. Many have been in high places of power, but have come down dishonored, stained and have lost their purity. Society praises them, "This is a famous man!" Yes, he is famous but once he was a diamond and now he is a mere piece of ordinary glass. Thus, we can lay no other foundation than that of Christ. If we can fulfill our duties in the world as the great Laws require according to which we move and develop, it is good, but if we can not, it is better not to fulfill them. Do not take a position of power to rule the people when you will be dishonored and when you will sell yourself. Do everything selflessly as Christ has said. Someone says, "I cannot be selfless." How is that possible? You can gossip about people, you can hate them, but those who can praise can love also—as the one is possible, so is the other. Those who cannot hate cannot love either. The Law is the same. If you have only one point of support, find the other. And when hate and love unite, they will give you what is necessary for you. They will give you the right direction in life. I do not recommend you to be saints in the ordinary sense of the word. To be a real saint implies the knowledge of the two principles of life in such a way as to be able to use them for your uplifting. As you can tame a lion or a snake, in the same way you can tame the devil. You cannot make the devil good, but you can at least render him harmless. Begin with your thoughts. A thought which tortures you is a lion or a snake. Do not try to chase them away or kill them, but tame and conquer them. Have the courage of those black people in Africa who know the lion psychology and when they meet a lion on their way, they do not turn aside, because the least turning aside or back will cause the lion to jump at them and to rend them asunder. On the contrary, the black people walk straight towards the lion and start speaking to him, "Since I am the master here and you the servant, you should step aside so that I can pass." When the lion comes three or four steps away from the person, it steps aside and lets them pass. You must do the same. When you meet a lion on your path, do not turn back, to the left or to the right, but look it straight into the eyes and say, "Make way for me to pass! You know I am the master, you are the servant." You ask, "Is this possible?" Those who are skillful can do it, but the cowardly will fall victims to the lion. When a house is collapsing, even if we try to run away, we may be covered up. If someday the Earth starts collapsing and we are people of faith, we shall rise and lift ourselves skyward—to the other point of support, or the other end of the bridge. If there is any danger at the one end, we shall go to the other to withstand our position. Therefore, as long as you have this bridge, the enemy will never be able to harm you, since you will be strong enough to raise the bridge. And then there will be a chasm between you and your enemy which they will not be able to cross. Your enemy must know the Laws very well to attack you at that position. That is why the good people can never be conquered. They have two points of support and as soon as they find themselves in great danger at one point, they pass over to the other and from there they defend their position. This is the foundation we must lay. The two words Jesus Christ signify the two points of support. Jesus is the suffering person on earth, i.e. the human soul that suffers, working out its salvation. Christ is the person who has conquered, who is serving God and is ready for self-sacrifice. Therefore, you too should be Jesus and Christ. Those who suffer and bear their sufferings as heroes can be Jesus. If you put a cross on Him, He will bear it without grumbling. He will be like Socrates, who married the worst woman in Greece and, asked why he married such a woman, he would answer, "If I can conquer this woman, if I can cope with her, all other hardships will mean nothing for me." Therefore, if men and women can come to terms, they will have solved one of the greatest problems in life. If they cannot come to terms, they cannot solve any other problem. Some ask why people marry. They marry in order to come to terms. The man and the woman are the two points of support on which life is built. You say, "Why did Adam need a woman to cause him trouble?" It is not right—God did not give a woman to Adam for trouble, but for work. Eve had initiative and mind. She was a sensitive woman, more sensitive than many women who consider themselves wise. Contemporary knowledge and culture are due to her. She committed a sin, but later on she realized it and said to Adam, "I brought you down, but I shall raise you up. Now I shall save you. You had to go down to learn your lesson, for you had not enough sensibility; if you were wise, you would not have asked God to bring me to earth." I say, if women understood this Law as their old mother did, they would have been wiser. However, they do not understand it; that is why they only grumble. Women of today are bad daughters; their mother was wiser than they are. For eight thousand years she has been working in the world and at that—quite skillfully. Do not think that Eve is not working. This present civilization is due to her. Adam only fulfills her commands. He knows how to fight, how to take out the knife and when he returns to his wife, she asks him, "Did you finish your work well?" "Yes, I finished it." It is here that we must lay the foundation. Give up your illusions that when you go up to heaven you will be taught. In order to be taught in heaven, you should take along some light and soft material; but what are you carrying now in yourselves? I would rent a train to take you to heaven, but how many days could you stay there? Some of you would hardly have money for one or two days; others will spend their money in ten days and say, "Let us return to earth to earn more money." Therefore, when we understand wherein the sense of Christian life lies, we must lay a new foundation. I shall not speak to you about salvation, as others have talked to you until this day. These are elementary things. A sensible, constructive work on the present social order is what is required today. You should ask yourselves, "How should we bring up our young generation, what kind of people should be our judges, teachers, priests, fathers, mothers, sisters, friends, merchants, mechanics and so on?" Some say that time creates the new people. Yes, but time does not ask us what we want it to create for us. As the serpent appeared to Eve asking her why does she not eat the fruit of the tree of knowing good and evil, in the same way Christ will appear before her and ask her, "Why have you not eaten of the fruit of the tree of life for so many thousands of years?" "Because we are forbidden to eat of it," Eve would answer. "Why is it forbidden to you?" Eve would wish at first to lie to Him, but then she would decide to speak the Truth, "We sinned; that is why we cannot eat of the tree of life." Christ will answer her, "As soon as you correct your sin and cast it out of you, you will be allowed to eat of the tree of life. You experienced the infection when you ate of the fruit of knowing good and evil; now the same way you will taste the fruit of the tree of life, and you will acquire a different science, a different social order diametrically opposite to the present order." These things may seem allegorical to you, but they are actual. These trees are in our brain: the tree of knowing good and evil is at the back of the head, the other one—the tree of life—is in the front part of the head. The Russians say, "Руский человек живёт задным умом."7 Now the Russians are beginning to live with the fore part of their brain. They gave up drunkenness. No one in Russia thought that those people who like to drink can live temperately. Drunkenness was abolished by a Royal decree. Therefore, the same Law which created evil until now will create good from now on. Christ is asking us, "Are you ready to think right and not to live with your posterior brain? Are you ready to start building as I shall tell you?" You answer as today's neutral nations, "What guarantee will you give us that we shall succeed?" Everybody wants a guarantee—Italy, Serbia, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. They all say, "We cannot abandon neutrality without a guarantee." The same way you say to Christ, "We ate of the tree of knowing good and evil and saw all the evil that assailed us, let us think a little now, lest the same evil will come to us, if we taste of the tree of life." Grandpa Radoslavov8 says, "We keep neutrality." But only with neutrality the work cannot be done. Neutrality is one point of support. Now we must find the other point of support and start weaving. In the Christian life also we can be neutral to a certain point after which we must start fighting. You have a bad thought—that is war; you are born and die—that is war; you get rich and then impoverished—that is war. From one end to the other, life is nothing but war and fighting, but this Law must be based on the principle of gain, not loss. The Triple Entente gave guarantees to Italy, but are they in a state to fulfill their promises to an end? How can we know that in time they will not give up their promises? Once, while a wolf was eating a sheep, a bone got stuck in his throat. He started to howl and a stork came to his aid and took the bone out of his throat. After that the stork wanted the wolf to remunerate him for his service. "You must be thankful," said the wolf, "that I did not bite your throat." This is what a guarantee means. Now we, who are building by the same Law, are solving the great problem in life. Not only is Bulgaria lacking a resolution to fight or not, but we are also making a decision together with the invisible world. Christ is placing an important problem for all of us to solve, "With or against us?" And we must decide now, "With or against Christ?" There is no neutrality. A great competition is on in the world. All people are fighting and everyone must take this or that side, so that the great problem may be solved. What is going on in the world is taking place within us as well. Now I wish to save you from the illusion of thinking that you can gain something without suffering. Know that the gain is always conditioned by the loss and joy is always conditioned by suffering. If a mother does not love her beauty, she will never have children. If the young maiden does not love her virginity, she would never become a mother. Such is the great Law in Nature. You must know how to digest and cultivate your thoughts. Let's assume a bad thought comes to your mind to do a crime or steal something. In order to get rid of this thought, your mind must take another direction. Turn your gaze to the soul of the person you want to rob, begin to love them and say to yourself, "If I were in their place, would I like to be robbed?" Anytime a bad thought of doing evil to someone comes into your head, think at once, "If I were in the place of that person, would I like people to act with me the same way?" You, women and men, how do you solve these questions? Sometimes you are angry with your husband, bad thoughts obsess you and you say, "Away with these men! I shall find another with whom I shall live better." Sometimes a man says, "I want this woman out of my sight! I shall find a better one." But I say that whatever woman you find, she is a woman made of the same stuff. This is why neither women, nor men should be deceived by the external aspect of things, by their forms. When a man or a woman gets angry, let them ask themselves, "If I were in the place of my wife, how would I like my husband to treat me?" And whatever answer they receive, let them solve the question thus. If a woman says that her husband is bad and she cannot tolerate him, she is not a woman, she does not think right. There are cases in life when a son and a daughter want to kill their father for being bad. How do they know that he is bad? What is badness? He who is bad today may become good on the very next day. Today a woman may hate her husband, but in a day or two she says she loves him. How is that, can you love a man who is not good? You cannot. Therefore, there is a fictitious appearance of things which obstructs people to think right. Thus, Christ's foundation must be applied in life! This is not a difficult thing. Whenever a thought comes to you to do something bad, say to yourself, "I am a servant, or a son of God, Who has sent me to earth, and this moment my Father is watching me." If you say this, your thought will be changed immediately. Your Father cannot praise you for your bad thoughts and feelings. What will a father say when he sees his daughter torturing her husband? A story has it that there are three kinds of women and three kinds of men in this world. I shall speak only about the women for as the women are, so are the men. According to this story Noah had three sons and only one daughter. One day three candidates came for Noah's daughter, who was very beautiful. All three loved her greatly, but none wanted to leave her to the others. Noah found himself in difficult position. In order to satisfy all three he turned his donkey and his cat into beautiful women like his daughter and married them to the three candidates. After a year he went to visit them and see how they were getting along. He asked a son- in-Law, "How do you like my daughter?" "She is nice, but at times she scratches me." "Well" Noah replied, "Such is her nature." He went to his second son-in-Law and asked him, "How do you like my daughter?" "She is nice, but sometimes she kicks me." "Such is her nature." He went to his third son- in-Law and asked him, "How do you like my daughter?" "She is an angel." Noah thought, "This is my real daughter." Therefore, to be a real daughter of God, you should neither kick nor bite. Hence, the basic Teaching of Christ lies in this: neither bite nor kick, but meditate like a human being and fulfill your duties on the Earth. Wherever you go, bestow joy and gladness on people; whenever you meet a sad person, comfort them and illuminate their mind. Knowledge is necessary for this, however. To study your heads and hands is real science. As soon as you begin to study them, you will form a correct idea about yourself, about your development; you will see how several generations have lived before you; on what level of development you are and after that you will be able to work in the right way. The hand never lies. By only touching a person you can get a right impression of them; by shaking hands you can find out what their heart, character and disposition are. They call some foolish. These people are foolish because on their hand they do not have many ganglions of receiving sensations and impressions. It is has been noticed that on the hands of the foolish, of the bad people there are fewer knots of this kind. Why? Because they say that they have no need of this or that, and they think only of eating and drinking. People need real culture, the culture in which the foundation is the ideas Christ has introduced: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." "Love of God and Love of one's fellows." If you can apply these two Laws—Love of God and Love of one's fellow person—as a foundation of your life, there will be no force in life which could oppose you, neither any thought which would not submit to you and would not serve your ideal. The Law of Love stands behind you. If you apply it, you will love people. If you are not directed by this Law; the other Law—Love to your fellow person—will lead you the wrong way. Only the Divine Law can regulate and ennoble human love, because we can destroy a person we love out of our great love of that person. How? By sucking up the saps of their emotions and stealing their heart. This is not Love, it is parasitism. The octopus does the same thing—when it catches its victim, out of love it sucks its blood with its suckers, and the victim goes weak and tame. Many men tame their wives in the same way. To take your wife's strength and then say that your wife has become tamer, more sensible, is neither science, nor taming. Today you will destroy a woman, but tomorrow a woman will destroy you. Christ says, "I came to give life to people, not to take it from them." Can you give life to your husband, i.e. make him think for himself? You can make your husband the kind you want him to be, but you must not put him between the hammer and the anvil. Rather, put him between these two forces, or these two great Laws, which will heat him up and change him. Human beauty depends on this heating up. The farther away you are from the center of these two Laws, the uglier you will be. Iron is black, but when you heat it up, it turns red; it passes through the red rays. After that it grows yellow and finally it turns bright. You say, "Iron becomes beautiful." Yes, while it is near the fire, it is beautiful. If you draw it away from the heat of the fire, it becomes ugly again. Therefore, you can be beautiful, wise, and bright to the extent that these two Laws are working on you. This is not only a hypothesis, but a verified and proved theory. If your posterior and front parts of the brain work in accord and have one point of support, you will immediately acquire what you want. You will have good children as well as good and loyal friends. For this purpose you must work consciously on yourself, applying the two Laws Christ preached—Love of God and Love of your fellow person. Someone says, "I cannot apply these Laws." When it concerns something good, the word cannot must be erased in you and be substituted by the word can. When it is a question of sin, you must say, "I cannot sin." If a good thought comes to your mind, say "I can;" to any bad thought that comes to you say "I cannot." Just as a woman weaves her cloth by moving the shuttle from one hand to the other and back again, in the same way she must weave her thoughts, feelings, desires, her character by moving to the negative pole when a bad thought comes to her and then to the positive pole, when a good thought occurs. As soon as she has woven, i.e. completed her character building, Christ will send a master tailor to cut out a suit for her in which everything will be in its place. And then everybody will love her. This concerns the man as well. This is the new foundation which Christ wants to lay in the world—that we may know how to work. Do not doubt in God! Some ask, "Is there a God?" Leave this thought aside. The only proof of the existence of God is the following: I exist, therefore God also exists. There is no stronger proof than this. I think, therefore God also thinks. My thought implies God's thought, my action implies God's action. Those who think otherwise, have no logic. They do no understand the fundamental rules of logic. I love means God Loves. God is a perfect great Being Who moves and directs all people on their spiritual path. When some begin to doubt in God, they already have doubted in themselves and in their fellows. Do not think we shall disturb God by this. God is glad when we do not obey Him. Why? Because our work increases. When the devil sinned, God put him to burn on a fire until he avows and comes to understand Who is his master. The same holds true for those who philosophize too much. God says about such people, "Bring this person to me and put them on the fire!" As soon as they get heated up, God asks them, "What forces are working on you?" "I am suffering." "Think of the causes of your suffering." "But this is hell!" "Why is it hell, what are the causes of your suffering?" I say: hell is a place where God teaches people to reason. Some ask, "Where is hell?" Hell is on the Earth, which is considered the thirteenth sphere. God will put us on this fire and if we are good, we shall come out of it without burning out, as it happened with the three men in the fiery furnace. They walked, sang and praised God in the flames. Some tremble at the thought of hell. But hell is not a bad place. Whether something is good or bad is a relative fact. If God is with you, there are no hardships in life, there are no bad places—it is good everywhere. If God is not with you, if you do not understand His Laws, it is bad everywhere. Thus, you are the first point of support; the second point of support is Christ. Unite with Christ as a man unites with his wife, as a brother with his sister, because power is in unity. In unity there is work, building, thoughts, feelings, aspirations and culture. This is the thought I leave with you, "No man can lay another foundation." The foundation is in this that the life you are passing now is the best God has given you. By no means can a better life than the present be given to us. It is excellent, full of such benefits out of which we can do wonders. You even do not suspect what great riches are stored in your life. You do not even suspect what forces it bears for your future, for your achievements. While in the mother's womb, the child is microscopic, but in the ninth month, it becomes an independent organism. Then the mother bears it and gives it conditions for development and growth. After twenty years it becomes a man or a woman and begins to think. By the same Law, humans are microscopic beings compared to God. But one day when they are developed and born again, by rising they will understand the great things in life. But in order to rise they must change their head, their minds, their hearts, their character and come to feel the great harmony in life. Only in this way people will join the ranks of the angels and come close to God. This is the new foundation of human beings. Sermon held on May 10, 1915, in Sofia. _____________________________________ 2. I Cor. 5:11. 3. John 14:6. 4. A reference to WWI (ed. note). 5. (hist) District governor in the Ottoman Empire (ed. note). 6. Bulgarian monetary unit (ed. note). 7. Russian, "The Russians live with their posterior (hind) brain." (tr. note) 8. Dr Vassil Radoslavov, a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1913 through 1918 (ed. note).

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.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION To the Divine Teaching of the Master of the Great Universal Brotherhood of Light Beinsa Douno (Peter Dounov) in Bulgaria By Vessela Nestorova The century we are living in, will be recorded in the spiritual history of humanity as the highest peak we have reached for the last two thousand years. During this century Divine Wisdom was bestowed on the world—the Wisdom promised by Christ to His disciples that at a point in the future God would send His Spirit of Truth Who would reveal the whole Truth of life to a grown up humanity ready to understand it (John 16: 12--14). At the beginning of this century God's Messenger—the Master if the Great Brotherhood of Light—Beinsa Douno started His work in Bulgaria. In the course of half a century, He gave the science of the Divine Life which is starting on Earth. It begins with the process of cleansing and improving ourselves. All karmic depts.—personal, familial, social, national and international—due to the violation of moral Laws in the past and in the present, have to be liquidated. "A person is given free will and can choose to do good or evil, but they will bear the consequences of their deeds," says the Master. In more than 7,000 sermons, lectures and talks, He revealed the principles, Laws and meaning of life in a simple, comprehensive language for all. The Master came to prepare us for the entire new Culture of Love. He brought a spiritual spring for the human souls. Never in the past has humanity been given such abundant Light. All fields of human life—science, religion, art, individual, family and social life, spirit and matter, the human and the transcendental—have been illuminated by the Divine rays of the Light brought by the Master. The many deeds and endeavors of the human spirit, as well as thousands of questions, find an answer in His Teaching. He said, "The Divine Teaching is preached to people today. It is Christ's Teaching. It is for all people, for the entire humanity, for all conditions, times and epochs. Those who attain to the inner sense of this Spiritual Teaching will find in it strength to renew their life and solve their problems correctly." The whole Teaching is based on the three universal principles: Love, Wisdom and Truth. Love bears Life; Wisdom bears Knowledge and Light; Truth bears Freedom. Love is the greatest world which a person, as a disciple of the Divine life, must study, since it is the source of all creation. All the worlds through all eternity have come forth from the source of Love. Everything that we see, the entire cosmos in its completeness, is Love manifested and materialized. Outside of Love, we do not know God. There are four manifestations of Love in a person: Love as aspiration within the heart, Love as feeling within the soul, Love as power in the mind, Love as principle within the Spirit. The world will not be transformed until Love permeates it. The first aspiration of the human spirit is towards life. The second aspiration of the human spirit is towards knowledge. The third aspiration of the human spirit is towards freedom. Wisdom is the world of the eternal Divine forms, which are woven out of Love. Love is the substance itself and Wisdom represents the forms of harmony expressing themselves in music and poetry. Only Divine Wisdom can satisfy the human spirit. But the path of Wisdom is the most difficult. Only the perfect person, only the Master can manifest Wisdom. Some say that Truth is abstract. No, Truth is the reality that is at the foundation of our life. It is the world of indescribable beauty. Everything is in motion and Truth gives the common direction of those movements, the direction in which everything in the universe moves—from the finite to the infinite. Only the Truth sets a person free. The aspiration and longing of the human soul is to be free. The Master said: From now on we shall serve Love, Wisdom and Truth, therein is the salvation of the world. Only Love, Wisdom and Truth can save the world. There is nothing more important than these three principles. Through them the Living Lord, the divine spirit is manifested. Love gives the Laws by which we can live a free rational life with all the possibilities of the great life of immortality. Wisdom is the bearer of the Divine Light which creates the most favorable conditions for the development of the human mind. Truth sets a person free, ready for sacrifices and gives meaning to their life. In other words: Love bears life and immortality, Wisdom bears Light and knowledge, Truth bears freedom and progress. These are three worlds containing all the possibilities of eternity. The epoch we are living in is especially important. The Living Lord, Who manifests as Love, Wisdom and Truth, is putting us to a test and watches to see how we shall pass it. I wonder at the mind of Christian nations who admit that Christ has come to save the world and consider His Teaching as ideal, yet they say that His Teaching is inapplicable. Now is the time for the application of Christ's Teaching. It brings the new knowledge and it will teach people how to be freed from suffering. Everyone can apply it according to their degree of personal development. We need the great Divine Science by which we can transform suffering into joy, weakness into virtues, abolish all illnesses, destroy all prisons and turn life on earth into music and song. Is it possible? Yes it is. When? When Christians decide to speak the truth and be ready to sacrifice everything for God. The Divine Teaching is coming into the world to awaken the consciousness of people, to show them that they must undergo an inner transformation and apply this Teaching in all realms of life and in all social strata. It is a living Light for all people, for all societies, for all nations, for all worlds. It will lighten the whole earth. Boundless is the Light of the new Teaching. It is as necessary as light, air, bread and water for us. God is giving the Third Testament to the world today. He descends to us by sending and activating His Spirit. Only the human soul has contact with the Spirit, serving as a transmitter of His Wisdom. The Master constantly taught us to see the beautiful and the good in life. "Give up all negative criticism, all negative thoughts and feelings which destroy your inner harmony," He said. We must realize the Laws of musical harmony. The Master was a Divine musician, creating a large number of songs. Singing is most essential to spiritual life. All His lectures began with songs and prayers. He created the Paneurhythmy—morning exercises to be performed every morning to the accompaniment of a string orchestra, starting on March 22 to September 22. They contain the magic power of inspiring, uplifting and renewing us both physically and spiritually, connecting us with the living forces of Nature and the higher worlds. Life in the mountains was another factor of our spiritual development. The Rila mountain where we camped by the second lake at a height of over 2,000 meters, is a great spiritual center of our planet. It is the home of highly advanced souls who are helping human evolution. We are to attain a cosmic consciousness by developing our potential spiritual powers. We live in a multidimensional world and humanity is on the way to the fourth dimension—the dynamic spiritual world. For this reason a new type of life is required—a life of absolute outer and inner purity. Our vegetarian diet, drinking of hot water, deep breathing, right thinking, feeling and acting, all prepare us for coming in contact with the finer forces of Nature. Our consciousness must gradually expand toward the cosmic consciousness. The human bond with God should be restored and only Love of God can connect us with Him. God is the closest being to us and our constant Helper. The sixth race are coming to our earth; they will be highly evolved beings—people of Light and Love. The Master said that He is preparing us for this race by His Teaching. Humanity has passed through a dark era which is coming to an end. It was a culture based on "the flesh and contradictions." A new culture of Love is starting today when the nations will unite in a great world brotherhood and no boundaries will exist. The angels have prepared this culture which will come to earth. In the future no karmic souls will incarnate in our world, since "the meek will inherit the Earth." A great future is ahead of humanity. The Master said that His Word has filled the Earth and is imprinted on the etheric sphere of our planet. People will gradually receive it with their minds. In fact the Master said that the new era started in 1945 and the credit of evil is taken up already. The Good will reign. The living quarters of the Master and the disciples with whom He organized a brotherhood are located in the south-east district of Sofia, called I%grev meaning Sunrise. The Master gave three lectures a week at five o'clock in the morning and a sermon for the general public on Sundays at ten o'clock in the morning. In 1922 He inaugurated two esoteric schools—one for adults and one for young people. All relations and work were based on complete freedom—work in the grounds as cooking, planting fruit trees and flowers, etc was voluntary. There was a daily lunch at noon, prepared by the sisters living in the Izgrev. The Master Beinsa Douno was born Peter Dounov on July 12, 1864 in he village of Nikolaevka, near the city of Varna on the Black Sea. His father was a teacher, a priest and a reviver during the time of the Bulgarian people's struggle for liberation from the 500 years of Turkish rule which ended in 1878. The Master received His higher education in the Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and Boston University, Massachusetts, in the USA (Theology and Medicine). After Sept. 9, 1944 the Soviet Union took the grounds and built their embassy there. Now only the grave of the Master exists in the Izgrev. The Master left the physical plane on Dec. 27, 1944. This is the last formula He gave us on Dec. 24, 1944: May God be glorified in the Brotherhood of Light, And may the Brothers of Light be glorified in the Love of God.

TABLE OF CONTENTS A BRIEF INTRODUCTION - 3 THE HIGH AND LOW TIDES IN LIFE - 9 (November 2, 1914, Sofia) THE NEW FOUNDATION - 25 (May 10, 1915, in Sofia.) EASTER - 44 (March 22, 1915, in Sofia) THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE - 59 (April 19, 1915, in Sofia.) THE MASTERS - 75 (December 7, 1914 in Sofia.) THE MILK OF THE WORD - 96 (November 16, 1914, in Sofia) THE OLD AND NEW WINE-SKINS - 106 (July 12, 1915, in Sofia.) LIBERTY OF THE SPIRIT - 118 (August 23, 1915, in Sofia.) THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE - 133 (May 24, 1915, in Sofia.) THE TRUTH - 140 (April 24, 1916, in Sofia.) MARTHA AND MARY - 149 (January 14, 1917, in Sofia) GROW IN GRACE ! - 161 (January 7, 1917, in Sofia.) THE CHILDREN - 177 (February 11, 1917 in Sofia.) THE BLESSED - 189 (February 4, 1917, in Sofia.) ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR - 202 APPENDIX: FORMULAE - 205 A LIST OF PARABLES: 206 PHOTOS

http://en-petardanov.com/index.php?/files/file/61-%7B?%7D/ BEINSA DOUNO (THE MASTER PETER DOUNOV) THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH SUNDAY LECTURES, 1917—1919 Translation from Bulgarian Vessela Nestorova POWER AND LIFE SERIES, VOL. II 2006 To all who contributed at any level and in any way and mostly to Sister Vessela Nestorova and the Master, who inspired all of us! First Edition. All Rights Reserved. Manufactured in Bulgaria. © Editing and Text Design: Aneliya Dimitrova Typing & editorial help: Yuliyana Gencheva © Cover Design: Albena Deikova © Cover Art: Yakim Deikov

THE DAY OF GOOD “ Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.”1 The Sabbath is a disputable or a sacred day. The disputable things are the precious things in life. All disputes in the world are due to the valuable, beautiful things. There will be many disputes about beautiful young women, many heads will be broken for them. Why? Because they are beautiful, slender and well-built, but no question is even raised about the ugly young women. The Sabbath is a beautiful maiden, I call it a day of love. And actually this day, which should have been a blessing to humanity, has become now a hindrance to us. Those who do not recognize the Sabbath as a holiday, have their own sabbath. Every person has a sabbath in his/her life and it is a day of rest, of eating and drinking, a day when one puts on one’s best clothes. What did Christ mean by the words, “ Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days?” For whom is it lawful? For the person who is better than a sheep, for the prudent person. People cannot understand the sense of the Sabbath. This is the day when you should know how to change the disposition of your mind and heart, the disposition of your soul and spirit. Present-day Eastern Orthodox believers, Catholics and Protestants have Sunday as a day of rest, but the Shabbetaians and Jews observe strictly the Sabbath. The Evangelists do not work on Sunday, but the Shabbetaians and Jews on Saturday. A Jew considers it a sin even to polish his shoes, light the fire, or do any kind of work, but when it comes to take interest of 10, 15, or 20% from someone, he does not consider it a crime. This is an understanding of the letter of the Sabbath, i.e. there is a Sabbath of the letter. It says in the Scriptures, “The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” By the word letter we always understand limitation. For instance, when a man marries, he says to his fiancée, “I shall allow you to celebrate the Sabbath, i.e. you will be free in my home. I shall love you and be fond of you.” But as soon as he marries, he turns to the other Sabbath and says, “Here it is not as at your place.” The woman starts working in the kitchen and cannot go anywhere, no Sabbath is allowed to her. The present religious concepts affect the human minds with the same ideas which limit them and people are arguing today which day to observe—Saturday or Sunday. They do not argue if they should love one another, but which day to observe. The Turks celebrate Friday, but the Bulgarian have three days: Tuesday, Friday and Sunday and sometimes observe half of Saturday. Why do the Bulgarians observe Tuesday and Friday as days in which one should not work and then Sunday as well? Because this is in their traditional law. Christ speaks of the Sabbath as a day in which one is allowed to do good. How is it possible for a person to do good on the other week-days when s/he is engaged with other affairs? Since the seventh day belongs to God, it is said that one is allowed to do good on that day. Do not think that the observation of the Sabbath is done in a mechanical way by which you will become better. I call the Sabbath a day for knowledge in which one should work and build. During the six days a person should toil and labor, but on the seventh day s/he should work. The first day we toil, the second we should labor, but on the seventh we should work. It is the greatest science of the future. That is why it is allowed to do good on the Sabbath. “It is not only allowed, but is it lawful,” says Christ. But in the original it means that a person should spend the Sabbath only in good. Now let me explain what good means. The word good determines the qualities of all our actions, it is the fruit and Christ says, “By their fruit you will know them: There can be no good in human life, if there is no fruit.” Therefore, virtue is not something abstract but it is real, it is the essence of human life. The sense of human life is good. Righteousness, truth, wisdom, love are forces which work for the realization of good in human life. As the fruit determines the qualities of the tree, the same way the good determines the quality of a person. In order to love the fruit trees, we are directed by the quality of their fruit. An apple tree giving the best quality of apples is most carefully tended and liked by people. Why? Because its fruit are fine and delicious. If that apple stops bearing fruit, there is no sense in its cultivation. In the spiritual world a person is a tree. As fruit trees are useful to us, the same way the human virtues are necessary to the angels for they are nourished by them. If I am asked, “Why are the angels interested in us?” I will answer, because they need the fruit of our virtues. To understand the deep sense of this good, your mind, soul and heart must be in full accord. If you waver about doing good, you are of a low culture. There is no wavering about the good in Heaven. There is no question in the spiritual world as to whether one should do good or not. Good is the sense of life. When you stop doing good, you are a dead person. Every thought and every noble feeling proceeds from the good we do. The good desires and the good thoughts proceed from good, they are a process of growth in us. When we sow a seed we have the first process—the sprouting of the plant; the second is the growth of the plant; the third—its blossoming and the fourth process is its bearing of fruit. Therefore, good—the fruit in a person—can appear only in his/her soul; in the occult science it is called the causal body of a person. Every seed is a cause. Contemporary culture—the development of person—is due to those seeds of the good from the past, but in the future these seeds will bring about the new culture. I call all other pedagogical views on upbringing and education nothing other than taming, i.e. fruitless trees. Such is for instance the cultivated indoor India rubber plant (Ficus elastica). Does it have any fruit? No, it does not. Many people today are like this plant. Such plants can grow on the earth, but not in heaven. If you want to be a heavenly India rubber plant, you must bear fruit. What paralyzes the human virtues? They are paralyzed by the inferior human mind and passions because people today are slaves of their passions which only destroy, but do not construct anything. A person spends thousands for a single pleasure and even sacrifices his/her life and that of others. But there is no fruit in this pleasure. We are like that American woman tourist who in order to test the love of her beloved made him climb the face of a precipitous rock in the Alps to pick one of the rare alpine roses for her from that height. He climbed the rock, picked and gave her the rose which she stuck on her bosom smiling, but after that he said to her, “Good-bye.” She made him risk his life for a single pleasure. The same way we tempt God. We say, “God, give us money, pleasure, houses, etc,” but after He has given us all this, He says, “Good-bye!” Then we are rich people and have everything, but God is not with us. I am amazed at this state of contemporary religious people for I have never seen more hard-headed, tenacious and self-willed people than the religious ones. I use the word “religious people” in its broad sense. I consider religion today as a suit or a perfume by which we cover up all our bad actions and mistakes. Religion is a modern contrivance. Nowhere in the New Testament is the word religious used. When people lost the sense of the Sabbath and the doing of good, they put in its place the word religion. And now they are constantly arguing if one is religious or not. There was not a more religious century than the present one. Take for example a person who belongs to some party and believes in it—s/he is ready to sacrifice his/her life for it. How many times s/he has exposed to danger his/her own life and the life of his/her family for this party! Such people say, “Our party, too, will come to power some day.” They await the time of their party’s turn, but until that time comes how many times will they be whipped and how many times will they return home with a broken head! All people live with this religion, they rise and fall, expecting some change by it. No party will bring any change or benefit to life, because it only takes and does not give. It may cut the rate of taxation by 5 or 10%, but it will make this up with even more money from another item. Then you will ask, “But what shall we do?” You should plow the earth and pray to God to give you more wheat than you have had before so that you may give to others. Salvation lies in this abundance. When people say they want to be cultured, I say that all must turn to the earth to plough and sow. Now we have all crowded the cities where different branches of production and crafts exist, but some people work, while others rely on them, doing nothing themselves. That is why there are so many evils. I have nothing against such an order of things, it is so natural, but the way we make use of it causes poverty and suffocates us. If you visit London, you will see how dug-up and smoky it is, unlike other cities. Seven million people live there expecting some future. Those people have got together there waiting for a chance to deceive and exploit each other. This is a culture of deceit! London has such dark side as no other city in the world. All cultures from all distant times and epochs have been transferred there. Christ has in mind the new culture when He says, “It is lawful for those people who will come in the future to do good on the Sabbath.” In what sense is it lawful? It is lawful for an experienced surgeon to make operations, but it is not lawful for an ignorant and inexperienced one to do that. For instance, you are a religious person and go to comfort someone. It is lawful for you to do that if you know how, but if you disturb his/her peace of mind, your foot should not cross their threshold. Do not think it is an easy thing to do good—this is a great art! If I come to your home to teach you a new teaching with the purpose of making you my followers and then I rob you, I am impelled by material benefits and this would not be a good deed, but a commercial transaction. The same way a travelling commercial agent will visit you and display most politely his samples, talk pleasantly with you or give you a treat until your head is dazed and he makes his transaction. And that person is a religious person! I do not understand such a religion. The invisible world says, “The dispute of all religious sects is a religious dispute.” These are the people of the past culture. But the people of the future culture whose slogan will be to do good out of love on the Sabbath day, are the new people. They have a special mark on their forehead and a peculiar little stone under their tongue. The tongue and the eyes of these people are different. Their look is deep and there is no distraction in it. There is only one thought in their eyes and it is love and selflessness. Empty words are love and selflessness, aren’t they? Do you understand what selflessness really is? Have you experienced it at least once in your life? Have you experienced at least once in your life what love is? An Evangelical minister once told me an experience he had. For a long time he had prayed to God to give him a chance to taste divine love. One day the Spirit visited him and he felt his whole body bulging, so he lay flat on his stomach afraid he would burst, such a big and voluminous thing had taken possession of him. He started praying to God to free him from this broad love for which he was not ready. He lay flat on his stomach and started to kick. Why did he kick? Because he did not want to give. When a child takes an apple and his/her mother wants to take it away s/he kicks. Why? Because s/he does not want to give. The horse kicks, too. Why? Because it does not want to share. People speak badly with their tongues. Why? Because they do not want to give. That is why it is lawful for the new people to do good on the Sabbath that they may uplift humanity. The Sabbath is a divine day which will raise and thoroughly transform us and by this we shall transform the world. I do not say that when the Sabbath comes, we should all leave our crafts—no, not at all. The crafts will be sanctified and will be good for us for they will be based on the doing of good on the Sabbath day. Do not think I want to destroy your views. Not at all, I only want to clean the dust off your eyes. When I come to you, first of all I shall teach you how to wash your eyes. I shall give you water first and we shall speak after that. Have you studied the art of washing your eyes? I would recommend you the following experiment: if you are indisposed, or cannot understand some subject, or some person is unpleasant to you, take a pan full of pure spring water, raise your eyes to God, put your face in the water, open your eyes and blink several times in the water, then say, “I want my mind to be pure like this water,” and see if your indisposition has not changed. If it has not changed, dip your face a second time in the water. Do this several times and see what the result will be. Water is the emblem of life. We must put in our mind the thought of doing good. Each one of you must say to him/herself, “I will be good.” But his should not be done mechanically. This shows that we should plant in us all the fruit trees of the garden of Paradise. When the new people come all these sublime thoughts and feelings should be able to thrive in their hearts, souls and minds. We cannot come to terms with each other with our present conceptions. When you listen to me, you will say, “Is this an Eastern Orthodox believer? If he is not, do not listen to him: he cannot speak the truth.” A patriot will say, “If he is a patriot, he is speaking the truth, otherwise what he says is not true.” Some people ask, “Has he got higher education? If he is a learned man, we believe in him.” If a teacher is listening to me, he will say, “If he is a teacher, we believe in him.” All begin to speak, but this is not the divine standard by which we can measure our acts. I may be an Eastern Orthodox, a Protestant, a patriot, a learned man or anything else, but that does not prove that I am telling the truth. I may be studying the Bible only out of self-interest to see if I may support myself by it and so on. The Protestants will say, “The Eastern Orthodox priests extort the people.” But do not others do the same? Yes, the Eastern Orthodox extort people with the act of sprinkling holy water on them for pay—they do this openly, but the Protestants extort people in a different way. Is this the way to act? A Turk bought a he-goat for the Ramadan bayram2 and put it on his back to take it to his Hodja3 to read to it. On the way the he-goat kicked him on the back and the Turk angrily called it different names: swine, giaour, etc. When he reached the Hodja, he said to him, “I am bringing you a he-goat to bless which I shall kill for the sacred feast, but I used profane language on the way because it kicked me on the back. Is he fit for the kurban4?” The Hodja replied that the he-goat was not fit and he had to buy another. The Turk bought a second he-goat to take it to the Hodja. On the way the goat again kicked him, but the Turk kept silent, thinking, “You are just like the first one, you are kicking me the same way, but I shall not say anything, because I shall have to buy a third goat.” I say, if you kick, you are one of them. “Therefore, it is lawful for a man to do good on the Sabbath day.” People must leave their egotism, open their soul to the divine sun and come out of the frame of their present views. Humanity today abounds in hypocrites. I see a husband and wife walking quietly in the street like two virtuous people, but at the same time they monitor each other, watching one another that none should cast glances at this or that person. “Religion!” When the husband is away, the wife can look anywhere she wants to, but when he comes home, the wife becomes “virtuous.” The same applies to the husband. And this is called religion! Why should not the husband and wife be free to look at anything or anybody they want to when they are together too? What evil is there in that? This limitation comes from the fact that in our soul there is no Sabbath. Some ask me, “When will humanity become noble, when shall we come to know the new ideas?” I say, the new ideas cannot come until the Sabbath day comes, until we learn to do good on the Sabbath. Take the present writers, for instance, of any caliber and show me one of them, no matter how famous, who can point out a right way to live. They all have the same tactics: you read the introduction and then the whole book, but the essential remains without any solution. This author writes that you can find the solution to this problem in the book of such and such an author. You read that author who does not solve the main problem, but refers you to a third one. You read the book of this third one too, but it does not satisfy you either. You go from one author to another and find that all are merchants. One says, “I do not have such goods as you want, go to another." ”The second explains, "I have run out of the stock you want: go to the other one!” You go to a third one who says the same thing. At last they tell you, “We’ll include you in the order list and when our goods come, when we conclude our deals, we will do you this.” This is how things stand and you go from shop to shop. But in the future culture we must have at least two or three guiding principles to apply in our life: First: Can I do this for the sake of God’s love? Second: Can I do this for the sake of my soul? Third: Can I do this for the sake of my neighbor? I have come to tell you the great truth what God, Whom I know very well, is speaking. Anyone to whom I have told this truth and who has tested it, has always had good results. I put to a strict scientific experiment everything I say. Anyone who wants to make an experiment together with me cannot easily get away. Many have come to me to be cured. I ask them, “You have visited all the doctors in the vicinity, are you ready to serve God and devote your life to Him? If you are ready, I shall help you.” Someone wants knowledge. “Are you ready to devote your life to God? If you are ready I shall reveal to you some great mystery, but if you are not I shall speak to you about apples, pears, leaves, branches and the like, but I shall not reveal any mystery to you.” I, too, have certain guiding rules which I never violate. You will ask me why I act this way. I answer, are you ready to do good on the Sabbath, are you ready to serve God Whom I know and from Whom all the good and blessings proceed, Who has created everything in the world and given life to people? Are you ready to serve Him? Then I am ready to serve you. But if you are not ready, I shall speak to you only about onions. This is a strict teaching and all great masters have acted this way. Now the new culture requires that good should be done on the Sabbath. If you apply the new rules, you will have an impressive result. For so many years I have been wasting my breath in Sofia, but the result is rather small, because the Sabbath is lacking. I notice this even among my closest people. As soon as they get together, a heavy atmosphere is felt for they are not in accord. I say, you are celebrating the Sabbath in yourselves, but I shall talk to you about the onions. Do you know that if you would go to heaven, you would be expelled from it for 10,000 years for a single bad glance like the ones you are casting at each other here on earth? If an angel should cast a bad glance, he would be expelled from Heaven for 10,000 years. The rule is that strict! Some of you want to go to heaven. Be thankful you are not there in your present state. Now they may forgive you, because you are on the earth in an experimental school. Everything is permitted on earth, but that pure place you are preparing yourselves for requires a perfect person. There are no experiments there. There is no grief and weeping in that world. The Scriptures say, “I shall wipe all tears from their eyes and there will be no sorrow there, but all shall be glad and joyful.” Do you know what joy and gladness is? What great self-sacrifice an angel makes who is engaged in the solution of great questions when he sees a suffering soul and leaves his work to go and help him/her by comforting him/her. Who of you would do this? Of course, we would do many things for people who stir sympathy. One would help a sympathetic person. A gentleman is ready to do any service to a beautiful young woman, but no one pays attention to an ugly, awkward and cross-eyed one. I ask you what your convictions are since you act this way? If Christ should come in, Whom you expect to set the world right, do you think He would speak everywhere? It is high time you cast of yourselves this devil who has obsessed all of you and whom you have served for 8,000 years! Enough slavery to him! Say this to this devil, “Out with you!” He should go out in the yard, but in your soul there should not remain even a trace of him. Say to him, “If you do not go out, we shall leave!” Many times the devil does not agree to go out and you start making a contract with him, reconciling yourself with him. Do not do that! Finish with him once and for all! Do you think the verse in the chapter I read is divided by coincidence? “How much better is a man than a sheep.” It means: how much better is the good than the sabbath! I take the Sabbath as an emblem of love. If you do good on the Sabbath, all misfortunes and illness will leave you. You should know this as something positive. If your child falls ill, see which Sabbath you have not done good. Correct your mistake and your business will succeed. You have written a book, but it does not sell well, correct your mistake and things will get on well. The Sabbath interferes in all your affairs, get right with it and all will be well. This question is very clear to me. Someone asks me, “Why should we do good?” We cannot take a step forward if we do not do good: this is a mathematical axiom. If you start on a journey without bread how far can you go? Make an experiment how many kilometers you can walk without bread. You may walk 50-60, 100 kilometers at the most and then you will stop. Therefore, the good is the force, the food, by which the human soul can move and evolve in this world. Every knowledge, every wisdom will be based on the fruits of this virtue. That is why you should do good, if you want to become rich and develop in the broadest sense of the word. Every day is destined for specific purposes. But, unaware of this fact, people do not consider the real meaning of the days in human life. For instance, on the first day God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. This day is Sunday—the day of light On the second day God divided the waters from the waters, i.e. He separated the higher life from the lower life, since water as I said, is an emblem of life. He created the firmament as a boundary between these two kinds of life and since the evolution of this day is not completed, God did not pronounce His opinion about it. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. On the third day God said, “Let the waters under the heaven (i.e. the lower life) be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land (an emblem of the human brain and human mind) appear.” And God called the dry land earth and the gathering of waters He called seas. And God saw that it was good. That is why He said that the earth should put forth all kinds of plants, by which He meant that all good thoughts should appear in the world. There was evening and there was morning, a third day. On the fourth day God made the two great lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night. By the first, the big light He meant the mind and by the second, the small one, the heart by which a person should distinguish good from evil, i.e. should distinguish one state from another. Therefore, the fourth day is the day in which the conditions for the development of the human mind and human heart must be created. And God created all the stars, which mean all the forces in human life, and set them in the firmament of heaven, which means the human soul, to give light upon the earth and together with the greater light (the mind) and the lesser light (the heart) to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. And on the fifth day God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven,” which signify all the human aspirations and cravings. And since all these gave a direction and meaning to human development on earth God saw that it was good and blessed them to be fruitful and to multiply. That is why our desires are constantly and daily multiplying and fruitful. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. And on the sixth day God said, “Let Us make man (the rational) after Our own image, after Our likeness; and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea (over his earthly desires) and over the birds of the heavens (over his thoughts) and over the cattle and over all the earth (i.e. over his passions which creep in his brain).” And finally God breathed into man His own breath. He gave man a rational soul to know Him in all his ways and to work and act as God has worked. Therefore, when you want to visit someone, to lighten his/her life, go to him/her only on Sunday because it is the day of light. You will take light to him/her. When you want to visit a sick person, do it on Monday, because this day bears life, and so on. On the seventh day God rested, which means that the seventh day is the day of the good in which God began to manifest His love to man. That is why He has invited him to participate in this great divine cause of the divine life. Therefore, apply the Sabbath in your life the new way, test what I am telling you. The good and love must be festive days for a person. This must be our rest during our whole life. Sermon of the Master held on December 21, 1919. _______________________ 1 Matthew 12:12 2 Ramadan is the holy month of fasting, the ninth month of the Muslim year ending with the feast bayram. (ed. Note) 3 Hoca/hodja- Mohammedan priest. (ed. Note) 4 kurban- Turkish, ritual feast with a butchered animal. (ed. Note)

THE TWO WITNESSES “It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.”1 Every external testimony is an expression of an inner intelligent impulse in the soul. Why is it that the testimony of two persons is true, but not of a single person; and who are these two? If two people suing each other in a court today call two, three or ten witnesses who do not speak the truth, the jury will not take their testimony into consideration. I think the jury would agree with this statement. Keep in mind that I am speaking in principle and have no person in view, since the human personality is something relative in its manifestation. Some may think I speak about them in my sermons, but that is not the case—not in the least. I am asking you, which is the real thing in the world: the blossom or the fruit, the leaf or the branch, the fruit or the seed? They are all relative realities. If you play the role of a leaf, if you play the role of a blossom, of a branch, fruit or seed in the world: these are all different states which in mathematics are called variations, permutations and combinations. I understand what variations mean in mathematics. You may engage yourself with them some day. Variations mean ordering, permutations—rearrangement and combinations—fitting together. But if you are a variation or ordering in life, by what will you be distinguished? Certain quantities enter your life forming certain compounds and you are a group, or a compound of these qualities. The qualities are the elements of your manifested life. The mathematicians say that the variations are compounds in which not all elements enter and which have classes. Then they say that the permutations are transpositions in which all elements enter, therefore, they have no classes. The combinations, however, are compounds in which all the elements do not enter, they have classes but each class is distinguished from another by at least one new element. In which category can I classify you? Your life may move only by ordering, it may move only by transpositions, but it may move by a combination of things and quantities. These mathematical formulas contain deep truths which I cannot stop to explain now for they are dry bones and I must work many years on them to give them life. Such is the law of nature. There are seeds which grow in six months, like the squash, and give fruit; while there are other seeds—the trees—which blossom once in a century. We cannot change the order of things God has put in nature, for if we change it our destiny changes and the karma is born. Karma is nothing other than a deviation from the right path of human development, while the expiation of karma is the reentering of the right path of human evolution. Therefore, it would be of use to those who like mathematics to spare some time for the study of these variations, permutations and combinations. You should not only think you know much, but test your knowledge; not only to formulate, but to handle and deal with these quantities and elements. Let us suppose a committee orders that each person be given a kilogram of sugar—that is a variation. You may have to wait a long time, but you may come back home with a broken rib so that you will say the variation turned out unsuccessful. The sooner you get the sugar without loosing time, the more successful the variation ill prove. Of course, this variation has nothing in common with the mathematical one, it is only a reflection of the great spiritual law which is functioning in our soul. Let me return to my subject. Who are those two who are witnessing? When a Bulgarian wants to build a hut, he first drives two stakes into the ground—they are the two witnesses—and the Lord says to him, “Now you can build the hut.” He places a triangle on top the two stakes and starts building. When you want to prepare the warp you also need two women to roll the yarn: one at one end, the other at the opposite. One will wind what is warped around her waist, while the other will start winding it on the yarn-beam and this will last 2 or 3 hours, until this permutation, this transposition of things takes place. It may seem funny to you that the two women are not in accord: one pulling backwards, while the other pulling forwards—like the crab and the pike—but this is the only way to make things work. At times, let us say, the husband is pulling the cloth, while the wife is winding it and people say, “Why is that man pulling the cloth and not obeying his wife?” He is pulling it because the cloth must be woven. He should not listen to his wife at that moment, until all is done. At times it is the other way around— the wife is pulling and the husband is winding. I just gave you a thought, simple in form, but deep in sense. The two witnesses in nature are light and warmth. Their testimony is always true for wherever they penetrate, life and growth take place, but where they are absent there is no motion, no spring, no plants, no life whatsoever. That is in nature. But in a person, these two witnesses are our mind and our heart. Where our mind and heart speak together, their testimony is true, as it says in your law that the testimony of two men is true. Christ gives this idea and says, “I bear witness of myself and the Father is Who bears testimony of me.” In the spiritual world the two who bear testimony are the Father and the Son and their testimony is true. In the angelic world the two who bear testimony are the spirit and the soul. In the human world they are the mind and the heart. In nature they are the light and the warmth. You have an ascending ladder. Therefore, when we want to change our life, we must have a deeper and more detailed understanding of things. If we have a downward movement, we should keep in mind the light and warmth, since they are a reflection of the divine world. So that our mind should always be in accord with light and our heart—with warmth. Where the light is absent, the mind does not think and where warmth is absent, the heart does not beat. These are not mere statements and suppositions, but a great law. And when we are asked by what standard, or by which proof we can prove certain truths in human life, we shall refer to the mind and heart; if we prove truths in the spiritual world we shall refer to the spirit and soul. And finally, if we prove truths in the divine world, we shall refer to the Father and the Son. Do not disturb your minds with those philosophical theological conclusions which state that the Son in a manifestation of the Father, i.e. that He is a shadow. A manifestation is the external side of things, while the Son is much more than that. The heart cannot be a manifestation of the mind, neither can the mind be a manifestation of the heart. They can corroborate in their manifestations, but these are variations, permutations and combinations. This thought is not clear to you yet, for the cloth is being woven now and you do not see anything already woven. Christ says that your law also states that the testimony of two men is true. We must first of all cast every doubt out of our mind. Doubt in the real life does not bring any good. In life today, there are thousands of causes to make us doubt. How can we expect of other people what they cannot manifest at a given moment? Can you expect fruit from an apple-tree in winter? Would you get angry with it for not being sufficiently compassionate and regardful of you? You need not be angry for it will say, “You are not paying me a visit at the appropriate time.” Some people live in spring, others are in their summer, still others are passing through their autumn and a fourth kind are in their winter. Some say that all people are alike. No, all people are not alike. Some form groups of variations, others of permutations and a third group of combinations. The same thing is stated in your external law which is similar to the inner law, since the lower—the earthly—is similar to the heavenly. If your mind and your heart speak the same thing about an object, accept this truth without any reserve or wavering for every wavering will hinder your progress. Contemporary society is lacking namely this—it has not enough faith in itself, a positive faith without any wavering or doubt. In the past when the Lord created the world, faith and knowledge, which were two sister-goddesses up in the divine world, decided to come down and help people. In heaven they knew and loved each other, but after coming down to earth, one of the sisters entered the mind and was clad according to the law of the mind, but the other entered the heart and was clad according to the law of the heart. When people harnessed them to work, they washed dishes, chopped onions, cooked meat and their faces became so ugly that the sisters could not recognize one another. Someone says, “I have faith.” Yes, faith which cooks onions, fries meat, washes dishes and fights with doubt. Thus, these two sisters, faith and knowledge, not recognizing one another, started to quarrel and to argue which one was first—faith or knowledge. Then the whole world was divided: one part of the people took the side of faith and became religious, while the other took the side of knowledge and became materialists. Then the bombardment started, “I am a learned person, but you are ignorant,” “You have faith, but you are first- class ignoramus.” Now we have thousands of volumes written on materialistic philosophy and faith, but these two sisters have not been reconciled yet. When the Lord saw them quarrelling, He sent His Son to reconcile them. Some ask, “How can they be reconciled?” By self-sacrifice. Some ask, “Who is the man and who—the woman?” Woman is faith, while man is knowledge. When a man and a woman quarrel, they do not know each other. The woman says, “I want to be a man.” In heaven you were two sister-goddesses who came down from heaven to rectify the world. One of you became a woman cutting onions and the other became a man who opened a shop selling water-melons, pumpkins, onions and so on. In stead of rectifying the world, they spoiled it to such an extent that even the Lord Himself cannot recognize it. What is needed is deep, right and sincere thinking. When a man and a woman unite, their testimony will be true only if it is done with wisdom and love. Love is that great power which can bear the greatest sufferings without fainting in spirit. That is faith. But wisdom is that power with which the most difficult problems in life can be solved. All hardships today are problems which we must solve and not say, “Lord, do away with them, we don’t need them.” The mother says, “My poor child is suffering so with the hard problems his/her teacher gave them, s/he has grown weak and does not get enough sleep.” The Lord has not sent your child to earth to sleep. He has sent him/her to study. Sleep is naturally necessary as a rest, but one may rest for five or ten minutes, or for two hours, but for no more than seven hours—that is not permitted. Your law also states that the testimony of two persons is true. Often these two persons appear in court and start blaming one another. The man says, “I protest, Your Highness, these witnesses are biased. Order them away, I will summon others,” and brings two new witnesses. Then the woman remonstrates, “Your Highness, these witnesses are far from disinterested.” Finally the judge is at his wits’ end and puts off the case. That is why the highest art in law is to be able to postpone a case which you cannot win. You are lawyers, too, who put off the case which means that you leave your problems in life unsolved expecting more favorable times to come, saying like the judge, “Now, I am somewhat indisposed.” Do not put the blame on your mind calling it weak. Never say that your heart is perverted. You may quote the Scriptures that the mind is perverted, these are only philosophical statements of the prophets, but you must understand the deep meaning of these words. If the heart was perverted and had no value, God would never have said, “My son, give me your heart.” He does not say, “Give Me your life.” You must give your heart to God so that He may teach you how sublime and noble your heart is and how the sources of your present and future life are hidden in it. No one can live if his/her heart is disturbed. The doctors today recommend calmness of the heart too. There might be slight disturbances on its surface, but it must be calm and quiet in its foundation. There may be drafts, but they should never disturb the heart. When your mind and heart turn to God, He hears your prayer and directs your destiny rightly. The heart and the mind are two quantities, two elements of the group which the occultists call astral-mental world, but I call it credo-philosophical—to coin a new word—a credo- philosophical world. Therefore, the testimony of these two, this credo-philosophical law is considered true in the divine world as the testimony of light and warmth in the physical world. Light is the quality of wisdom while warmth is the quality of love inherent in it. But it is not the warmth you feel. You often feel the unpleasant vibrations of heat. When you have the experience of a mystic to fall into an ecstatic state, only then can you feel this inner divine warmth—the quality of love. Such warmth can melt and purify everything. You must increase your warmth, but not according to the Celsius thermometer, but by studying alchemy and the vibrations of this warmth. It is so intensive that all impurities disturbing your life will be immediately cleansed. You can attain this by casting out all doubt from your heart and mind. Or let me express this idea differently: put doubt outside, rent a room for it, pay the rent, but do not keep it in your home. Applying this great law, Christ says, “I bear witness of myself and the father bears witness of me.” Which is the important question for which we have gathered today? I am not treating the question whether you will be given a kilogram of sugar next week; I am not treating the question which committee may permit this; I am not treating the question what peace treaty can be concluded. Many similar questions may be raised which have no importance for us. The important thing is why a person has come to the earth; do you have a soul or not; do you have a heart and is your heart in concord with your mind and so on. Often your heart is troubled and you start looking for a friend to rid you of your trouble, but suppose s/he is him/herself in the same state? A group of people get together and say, “We are pessimists” and start proving their cause by philosophical discussion. They have a peculiar view of the world, finding it a bad world, and start to prove scientifically their thesis that this is the worst of worlds. Here are their arguments: it is bad because hens and sows are slaughtered; because there are earthquakes, wars and the like. If it were a good world, things would be different,” they say. But I say, “You pessimists are those men and women winding the warp-beam and both are pulling it backward, but as soon as the cloth is warped, the woman takes the cloth and the man takes the shuttle and they say, “We have finished the work” and there are no more contradictions in life. Their work is the testimony that they have worked together in accord. We often say that the man and woman have pulled like the crab and the pike, but those are people who face two directions: from the center to the periphery and vice versa. If the man goes one direction, the woman goes another. Who is right? Both are right for they are moving from the center to the periphery. When both come to the periphery and start moving, then they are on the Way. If you study astronomy, you will notice that the earth and the sun have two opposite directions: the sun moves in one direction and the earth in another. And the earth always crosses the path of the sun. But the path of the earth is longer than that of the sun. If 52 million years are necessary for our sun to make one revolution round the centre of its circle, the earth should revolve 25 million times round the sun plus making together with the sun a large circle. Who is doing the bigger work? Both are doing their work well. The sun spends more energy, but the earth—more time. There is a law in physics that to save energy one must spend more time. Therefore, if in one respect you want to save the energy of your mind, you should spend the energy of your heart—and conversely, if you want to save the energy of your heart, you should spend the energy of your mind. For time becomes evident by the direction of motion. I am not philosophizing about time in its essence, but I say time is a factor determining the motion, the direction of your life. Energy, on the other hand, is the impulse of this motion from within. If we spend the energy of the mind, we save the energy of the heart and vice versa, if we spend the energy of the heart we spend the energy of the mind. Every given moment you will refer to the two witnesses. In the court it is the same— two witnesses cannot speak at the same time, when one is speaking, the other one must keep quiet; when one is expending energy, the other one must sit quiet and calm. If both start talking at the same time, the judge will say: “Wait!” Therefore, one determines the time, while the other the energy. Consequently, when one witness in you starts speaking, if you are a judge, you will tell the other one to keep quiet so that you can give time to your mind to make its statements. Do not disturb it, let it speak to the end; then your heart will take its turn to testify. Also, in the process of education we must put the mind and the heart in most normal relations and leave them alone not hindering them with things which are not real. I am speaking to you first, but by the word “you” I mean this great mass of people, for every person is a collective being made up of millions and millions of beings together. All these souls are rational and listen to this talk. Do you understand me? I even notice at times that your eyes understand me better than your brains. The eyes have the sharpest perceptivity in the world. When you look a person in the eyes, you will notice if s/he understands you or not. When people do not understand you, their eyes are blurred. “Ahmed buorada, akil disharda,” as the Turks say, meaning “Ahmed is here, but his mind is outside.” When a person understands you, his/her penetrating look is fixed and you are aware that s/he comprehends everything and has contact with the relations of things. Everyone of you knows this. Many say, “I feel it.” That is good, but you must grasp it with you mind. If you have heeded only the testimony of your heart and not of the mind, you are on the wrong path of development. If the light within you works more than the warmth, you are again on the wrong way. Sometimes your feelings are intensive. When children fall in a state of extreme joy, they start jumping, but after that they are overtaken by a transitory state and they start crying; this joy is not natural. In the bringing up of children, we must create at the same time work for the heart and for the mind. And I beg you when a person is speaking never stop him/her with your thoughts. If you do not want to listen to him/her, move away. A daughter says to her mother, “I do not want to listen to you,” or a mother says to her daughter, “I do not want to listen to you.” I repeat: let those who do not want to listen to people move away from them. It often happens that a child, inspired by what the teacher has said, comes home and starts telling it to his/her mother. However, she suddenly shouts out at him/her, “Get away, I won’t listen to your nonsense.” In this case the mother is committing a grave crime. She must listen to her child and hear until the end what the teacher had told him/her—the child is giving his/her testimony. After interrupting the child in such a rude way for ten or twenty times, the child will surely take the wrong path in life—that is in relation to the mind. Sometimes the heart of the daughter is inspired, but the mother, having become a philosopher after her marriage, will stop her by saying, “Do not follow the foolishness of your heart, do not listen to it! The desires of the heart are the illusions of youth—meat is necessary for your meals!” Today, the tender soul of the daughter is disturbed by: advice like this is of no use, that is of no use and when she becomes a mother she starts saying, “This is nonsense, the real thing is this or that.” However, what the young girl—the daughter—felt in her heart was real. There is nothing more real than that. How do you want to taste a thing: with your tongue or with your heart? I shall cite again an example I have given you at other times. A Turk was pounding coffee in a big stone mortar with a wooden mallet and every time he struck with the mallet, he cried out, “Ha!” A man passing by his shop said to him, “I am jobless and offer you my services wishing to help you with your work. You will pound with the mallet and I shall say, “Ha!” They started working together. The Turk raised and dropped the mallet and the helper cried, “Ha!” They pounded up the coffee and the Turk started making coffee for his clients and when he took the money, he dropped it in the safe, not giving anything to his helper. The latter felt robbed and sued the Turk for not fulfilling the clauses of their agreement. When the judge was informed of how things stood, he ordered that a tin-can be brought to the court and said to the coffee-maker, ”When you take money, drop it in the tin-can: you will hear the sound “Tin!” That will be the salary of your collaborator for saying “Ha!” You who are obeying the taste of the tongue are like the Turks say, “Nefés orta.” So that your law also says that the testimony of two persons is true. In order to be able to understand the philosophy of life, you must have a pure heart and a pure mind. In the first place your mind and heart must be in such a state that the mind should perceive things at the right time and the heart should feel them at the right time. But a philosopher might say, “You cannot feel and think like the angels!” When you come to their state, you will feel like them. There are different stages of development in life; every minute, every second bears their qualities and powers. Do not try to be alike or uniform. When God created the world, all the souls springing from the center of creation, took different directions like the sunbeams, each one bearing something from the divine center—different talents, different feelings and so on. There are no two souls alike in the world and they cannot be alike, although the difference between them may be small. In studying astrology, you will see that you are at a certain degree in one of the four sectors of the circle and this arc of 90° is equal to a quarter of the so called Platonic or Polar year, i.e. it is a period of 6,300 years. Two persons may be separated by an arc of 90°, or a period of 6,300 years. Suppose the first person A is in the beginning of the circle while the other one B is 90° away from him/her, which is a period of 6,300 years. The soul B is 6,300 years older than the soul A; hence it has more knowledge and experience than it. The soul C, which is on the same diameter with A, but on the opposite pole is still older and more advanced. While A has to pass the lower sectors of the circle, C moves along its ascending half. They will pass equal distances, but the knowledge they will acquire will not be the same. One half of the circle implies a downward movement, while the other and upward one. On the upward way one acquires one kind of knowledge, but on the downward another. Therefore, when we descend to the heart from the height of the mind, the latter acquires one kind of knowledge, while the heart moving upward to the mind acquires different kinds of knowledge and feelings. Thus, the formula is the following: the mind descending acquires mind-feelings, while the heart ascending acquires heart-thinking. You may ask, “What difference does it make?” The difference lies in the fact that when the heart prevails there is greater warmth, but when the mind has prevalence, there is greater light. When fruit and wheat are ripening, there must be warmth by all means to help the ripening process. When growth must take place in us, the mind must have prevalence by all means. The one who wants to grow rightly should give priority to the mind. Growth and knowledge are of the mind, but development and expansion are of the heart. These are two great processes in our development: therefore, their testimony is necessary and true. The Lord says, “You should work in accord with your hearts and minds—then you will develop greatly in life.” Now you are reading philosophical books as what Kant or others have to say. What does this pear tree mean? It had blossomed and now bears fruit. What does a cat do? It mews. By mewing it may want to say that it wants meat, or that it is looking for its children. There are different kinds of mewing. Some people speak, but what do they say? Nonsense. What is nonsense? If I visit mentally deranged people, I shall be a fool in their point of view, although I am a philosopher. A religious person will be considered foolish by a society of materialists and a materialist will be considered stupid in a religious society. But I say that both are intelligent—the one who serves faith and the other who serves knowledge. Yet, we promptly label them, “This person is stupid,” “that one is infidel, do not listen to him/her.” But neither one has a right idea about God. You will excuse me but in my viewpoint God is neither a concept, nor an idea. We have an idea of the things God has created, of his manifestations, but have no idea of Him whatsoever. We have an idea of God’s Love and His Wisdom, but He is more than the manifested love and wisdom. You may have an idea of them, but if you say you have acquired a deep knowledge of God, you are only deluding yourself and your ideas will be refuted. For thousands of years the river Iskar did damage to the nearby villages. How many houses and land it has inundated and destroyed! When the peasants were drowning, they would say, “This is our destiny.” From time to time they would harness the river water to run a mill, but when a flood came, it carried the mill away. But people today are wiser. They harnessed the Iskar to produce electric power to light their homes and to run trams. You can see what great energy this dangerous Iskar possessed. It had always said to people, “put me to work, I bring you much good, but if you do not do that, I shall cause you much damage.” Your child is like the Iskar. You say, “I am tired of this child. Why did God give him/her to me? It causes so much mischief.” Do as you did to the Iskar: drive a tunnel, place turbines and the water will produce electricity which will move cars and light houses. The learned pedagogues say, “We must educate our children in religion, knowledge and respect of their parents.” Do you understand this? Neither you, nor those pedagogues have understood this. For 8,000 years it has been repeated over and over again that people should be educated and believe in God. And those who do not believe should be considered infidels, but Christ says, “The testimony of these two is true.” Only the testimony which our heart and mind give us simultaneously is true. Only those things in nature speak the truth which are unchangeable. Whenever someone tells of his/her experience, or cites this or that philosopher or mathematician, according to my mathematics I exclude 50% of what was said first, then 25% more and then I start thinking about the remaining 25% and the group it belongs to—variations, permutations or combinations, e.g. orderings, transpositions or combinations. What are our relations to God? Some say, “May God help us fix ourselves up nicely, marry our daughter well, then have nice children, full barns, oxen, good food and drink and so on.” We daily fix ourselves up and finally we die. The priest comes and starts chanting, “Blessed be our God,” ending with, “May his/her soul rest in peace.” Whoever wants the Lord to fix him/her up, must pass through all these variations, permutations and combinations and not remain only in the orderings. Bulgaria is issuing only orders and instructions at present, but this is only an overloading of the camel: placing goods and loads until its back breaks. What God is testifying within us is the spirit speaking in us, and we, as children of God, should be able to give ear to His voice. Some days ago a young officer of the reserve visited me and told me he fell ill of an incurable disease. He was on his death bed when he chanced on a booklet about healing by hunger by a doctor Muller. He decided to fast for 22 days. He described his experience during the first, the second and third day and the result was that his illness disappeared. Then he went to Plovdiv to the doctor who had told him his illness was incurable and said to him, “Examine me.” The doctor examined him and said, “You are in good health.” That man applied fasting with his whole mind and heart whereby his mind was clarified and from a materialist he turned into a spiritual man. He understood that there is something else in the world besides what people know. He became a sort of clairvoyant and going to a believer he confessed that the Spirit led him to that idea, but the believer said to him that his mind was somewhat weak. For ordinary people, a believer is only a person who believes in chopped meat, drinking, money—his/her mind is sound, but for them the belief in spirits is a mental derangement. From their point of view some are wise, others are foolish, but from my point of view all are good. The newspapers write about different criminals and want punishment for them. They look one-sidedly at things, but they should have faith only in the positive things. All visible things must be cast out for they are not in the divine world. We must penetrate deeply in our souls and hearts and avow to ourselves that we are sons of God who have come out of the Divine Center that is why we shall do the will of God. Some say, “I want to be good.” This is the wrong way to take: you can never be good, you must do the will of God. You may be good, but if you do not do the will of God, you are bad. Present-day people must decide to do the will of God in the full sense of the word. But not the way they understand it for what they are doing is not the will of God, but rather a service to themselves. To do the will of God is to feel oneness with God. Then we are filled with joy and we regard all people calmly for we know the causes and effects of their faults. But when each person serves him/herself there is no mutual understanding and this is the source of all evil in the world. If your heart should stop beating for half an hour, it will begin to stink, the same thing would happen to the mind, if it should stop working. People say that someone’s breathing has stopped, but that is not true for when breathing and the beating of the heart stop on the physical plane, the soul begins to work. This is an experience of all who have been engaged in the spiritual sciences. You ask, “What will become of me when my heart stops beating?” Your soul will wake up. “What will become of me when my mind stops working?” The Divine Spirit will wake up. I have no intention of making you fast for 22 days like that young man I told you about. I do not recommend such a fast to you, either. You will not attain anything if you have no faith, but I should say that young man has got rid of a doubt and has awakened the divine in himself. If you want to fulfill all your obligations and do away with all your misfortunes, fast for 5-10-15-20 days and then you will learn the causes of all things. But your heart and your mind should prompt you to this act together. Only then can you fast and have an excellent result. But if your heart says, “Fast,” and your mind says, “Don’t!” do not begin fasting. Some may say, “We can do without fasting.” That cannot be. At a certain moment in your life when we must strengthen our will and unite it with the Will of God and see the testimony of these two witnesses, we must fast. Now something about the influence of the planets on people. Those who are under the influence of the earth will be avaricious of material gain. When you notice this quality of avarice in a person, know that s/he is under the influence of the earth. When you have a desire to act and complete or create something, Mercury has influence over you. When your heart begins to love, the planet Venus is influencing you. When Mars is influencing you, a desire to fight and show that you are strong and powerful takes possession of you. When the planet Jupiter influences you, you will become more temperate and self-controlled, rather quiet, but aspiring for freedom and brotherhood. Under the influence of Saturn, your sensitiveness will increase, as well as your sense of smell. Uranus will make your heart stronger, while Neptune will increase your sense of sight and make you a clairvoyant. All these planets of the solar system cause different manifestations in people. When all the planets (which are living and rational) act at the same time, then we are in harmony. When you say you do not like the world, I understand that you are under the influence of the Earth. You want to have all the riches of this world, but that would draw you away from God. You have not come to the earth to become rich, but to gain knowledge and understand these two witnesses I am speaking to you about. You must study your heart and mind. They are the two professors who are teaching you. The heart is an excellent professor, it is that goddess I spoke to you about; it is faith, it is love. And linked with knowledge it creates the religion on earth. Do you understand this professor who is within you? You say, “My mind is foolish.” It means that your professor, who has taught you, is a foolish person who did not know his job. But I say to you that you do not understand or listen to your mind and heart. Someone may say of a person that the latter does not believe in God. But I shall say that s/he does not believe in his/her heart. “But s/he is not a wise person.” I say, s/he does not believe in his/her mind. Those who despair of this world and want to commit suicide do not love the light. No one wants to commit suicide on a high place, on a mountain, but rather in some dark place or cellar. Those egotistic forces, which want to hinder your development, cause a darkening of your mind so that a crime may be committed and throw the blame for this crime on the mind. The goddess who has come down from heaven does not commit crimes. The same way your heart, your faith, this goddess who has come from above, does not commit crimes. Therefore, I say to all of you, “Believe in your heart, believe in your mind, then the second stage will come —you will believe in your soul and spirit; and after that—in God and in His Son. Only in this way will you acquire a true philosophy for understanding the great law of nature.” You ask what is your predestination. You, the citizens of Sofia, should go up the Vitosha mountain four or five times in the summer, visit all waterfalls, climb the highest peak in Bulgaria, Moussallah, and go up Belmeken. You will say, “You need boots, which are expensive now.” You need excursions, excursions up the mountain. These excursions are a stimulus which will develop the mind and the heart of a person. You should climb high places by all means. By saying “climb high mountains” I am using a symbol. A person who wants to develop his/her mind must by all means climb high places. A person who wants to develop his/her heart, should go down low places. Climbing up and down require heroism. How many mountaineers have wanted to climb the Himalayas, but have not succeeded because the high peaks are inaccessible. Also in human development there are places that the human mind has not been able to climb. In Bulgaria some people do not even know Moussallah, and who knows how few people have climbed this peak. I think that one in ten thousand has gone up and since Mont Blanc is the measure for gauging the European mind, I shall say that few people have climbed the peak of this mountain. You will say, “These are abstract things which have no relation to our ‘food-providing committee’. Do you know our difficult condition today, there is no butter and cheese, no produce.” Whoever needs butter, let them come to me and I shall give them, I shall give them a method of extracting butter from nature. You can have as much butter as you want, if these two witnesses within you are speaking the truth. Come, let us make an experiment. I put this divine science under a live experiment: we shall make the experiment with those of you in whom these two witnesses are speaking and do you know what your state will be then? In India a great Brahmin master had a cow which was so beautiful that the local prince wanted to take it. First he tried to buy it for money. “I do not want any money,” answered the Brahmin. “But I shall give you as much money as the cow weighs.” “Even if you gave me the whole world, I would not give you my cow.” “Then I shall take it by force!” “Just try!” The prince sent ten policemen to take the cow by force, but the Brahmin waved his hand and they fell flat on the ground. The prince sent one thousand policemen; but the Brahmin waved his hand and they also fell flat on the ground. The prince finally sent 20,000 policemen—they all fell just like the others. The man would not give his cow! The prince was convinced that the Brahmin was a strong person, so he went to him and became his disciple. He wanted to find out how the Brahmin had acquired this secret force. He started living like him. After a life of one thousand years he tried to take his cow with no success. After a life of two thousand years and one more unsuccessful attempt to take the cow, he found out that he had become stronger than the Brahmin, but now he thought, “Why should I need his cow? I have no need of it.” Now, find this cow; it is within you and when you find it, you will have milk, butter and everything you need, in a word— as people say, honey and milk will start flowing. It said that in the distant past milk and honey were flowing in Palestine and it took two men two carry a bunch of grapes, but now neither milk, not honey flow there. There are reasons for this. Make room in your heart and mind for everything you consider good in the world—this is the first rule. Say, “Everything is good.” It is not so, but say it is and it will become so. Saying it is good, you will take another direction. Say, “I do not want his money. I have no need of this burden.” It is a bad thing to desire something you cannot have or bear. At this moment, for instance, of what use will riches be to you when tomorrow a catastrophe may take place? We are, so to speak, preparing ourselves for the other world, but we do not believe in it. If anyone should start speaking about spirits now, the others will say s/he is off his/her mind. There was a preacher in America who liked to exaggerate when speaking. He had a friend by the name of John whom he called and said to him, “Do me a favor, John, when you hear me exaggerate, turn your forefinger this way.” One day the preacher talked about Samson who caught three hundred foxes and started explaining that the tails of the foxes were three meters long. “And this is a fact, because such and such an author says so,” and he started quoting, but his friend turned his forefinger. “But, he continued, this looks to me improbable and I suppose the tails were two meters long,” and he started quoting another author, but his friend turned his forefinger again. “However, this also seems to me improbable, but they must have been one meter long,” and he started proving this by quoting, but his friend made again a sign with his forefinger. “Now, this looks to me unnatural, certainly the tails have been as long as those of our foxes—about 50 or 60 centimeters.” John turned his finger again, but this time the preacher jumped and cried out, “John, I cannot shorten them anymore.” The tails in Samson’s times were as long as in our times. What cause is there for argumentation that such and such an author said this or that? People read different philosophers until finally they are forced to see the truth in nature—how things really are in life, what the heart and the mind are saying. Be loyal to these two principles and you will have the support of the invisible world which is around you and helps everyone who seeks the truth. We are not alone on the earth and there is no need of our worry about sustenance for everything is prepared for us. In the past when the Lord led the Hebrews out of Egypt across the desert, He gave them manna for food and ordered them to gather it only for the day it was given and not to store it up, except for the Sabbath. However, the Hebrews did not obey Him and, as they had practiced in Egypt (which represents the present-day culture) gathered manna for two days and it got spoiled. We people today, in our effort to store up for the future, do not give our minds and hearts even some rest. That is why everything in our life is spoiled. But do you know what this means? It is just like a child who wants to take his mother’s time the whole day. We call such a child disobedient. There is time for the child, but there is time for the mother as well. Do not think that your time is exclusively for your children, neither theirs for you. Part of your time must be devoted to God and your neighbors as well. All people must devote some time to come to know what is the great law. Some time should be consecrated to God. But what do you do? You look after your business or work. And what happens? You lose ten times more time. Someone may say, “Is there any statistics you can show us in the world by which to determine what has happened to those merchants who have not fulfilled the law and to those farmers who have not acted according to this law?” A poor person sometimes asks you for alms which means that the Lord sometimes wants you to consecrate a little time to Him, so let the merchant give the beggar something, let him tell him/her a kind word. He says instead, “Get out of here for I have work to do.” Then the Lord notes down in His book that such and such a person has not consecrated the given time to Him. A merchant acts this way three or four times and you see a crisis comes to him and he loses 100 or 200,000 leva. The Lord takes it because he has not fulfilled the law. But what happens to a farmer who does not fulfill the law? He sows his field two or three years, but the field gives no crop, because he has refused to devote a short moment to God. The priests, on the other hand, will say that one must consecrate all their time to God. That is well said, but they do not do it themselves. Moses, who gave the law of rest, was much wiser, for he said, “Work for yourself, for your wife and children, for your friends six days a week and consecrate the seventh to the Lord your God.” This rest is necessary to you that you may enter your inner world and evaluate the experiences of the days of the week. You should say to your wife and children, “Leave me alone today that I may serve the Lord. But you may worry that the children will fight, that your wife may not be well-disposed, leave them alone, do not pity them too much. If you pity your family and friends on that day, you will lose the divine harmony which is a great moment in your life. Some people come to me and complain that they have nothing to eat. I have tried all kinds of ways in which people nourish themselves. I have eaten only an apple a day, or only beans and I have survived. In my opinion only bread is the best food. But you object to this and say it is not sufficiently nourishing; however, I say that meat, butter, olives, sausages, soup cooked with lamb’s liver are less nourishing. You call my way of nourishment a “monk’s way of eating.” Our animal mind has deluded us and made us carnivorous; the instinct of the swine has deluded us and made us omnivorous for the swine eats everything. Once a priest visited me and as I was saying these things to him, he said, “But I have healthy stomach and can eat everything.” “Let him eat everything he wants,” I said. But after eating he was ill for two days. Of what? “Indisposed.” My friend, your stomach tells you, you are not a sensible person. When we eat we should thank our soul for giving us everything that is necessary. We do not need any superfluities. What is necessary for us is to come to know our mind and our heart for they are divine. Seek only what is necessary in life: seek it in your mind, in your heart, in your life; it does not leave any remnants in you out of which remain impurities in a person. Only if you turn to your mind and heart, you will be able to reform your life and society; you will solve both problems at the same time. Everyone will work with what is given him/her; you will not all do the same thing, since there is a variety of things to be done; everyone will work according to his/her own understanding. By entering this great divine plan I talked to you about, the Bulgarians and Bulgaria will put their life in order. I recommend to Bulgaria to make an experiment—to give heed to her mind and heart and in ten years’ time her life will be put in order. Let every Bulgarian make an experiment of obeying his/her mind and heart. Let no one compel another. If your friend is not walking in the right way, direct your thoughts to him/her and in this divine way send him/her your help; then see how his/her life will change. When a flower is not watered a long time, it is crying “Water! Water!” When there is humidity we say it needs warmth and light. We need this humidity, this inner light and heat. Some may say, “This is hard to apply.” Heroes are needed for this teaching, not cowards. What is important for us is neither what philosophers have written in the past, nor what the people of learning are writing now, nor the present order of things, but what nature is teaching us, what we were created for. Have we been created to become victims of the battlefields? Or to torture and hang people? Not in the least. God has created us for great purposes. We call ourselves cultured people, feigning we serve God as Eastern Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants, but we all kill hens and lambs the same way. We are not cultured people yet. From now on, the future belongs to a real culture—the culture of our heart and of our mind. Let there be no two thoughts and two feelings in people about things; let us always speak the truth, always cherish the good in our heart and be ready to sacrifice ourselves for it. I am ready to sacrifice myself for what I believe, I have experienced this. I see what others do not see. It is preferable for a person to wear a dressing-gown but have a fresh mind and speak the truth than to wear a crown and have a high post in the world, but be the worst of liars. Brothers and sisters, do you know how deluded you are! Do you know what you told me one time when you were leaving heaven? What fine ideas, what wonderful program, what high purposes you had at that time? You were beautiful and powerful as I know you, but as I am looking at you now, I pity you. If I could weep, I would. I would not weep for your sufferings, however, but for your delusions, for not knowing how to be happy on earth and where your happiness is. Life in its present condition is slavery— a big prison. Have no illusions, realize your condition and come out of it. You, being in this prison are thinking how to reform it so that the prisoners may live well. But I say unto you, “Come out of this prison!” Some will say, “The time has not come yet,” and prefer to live thousands of years in the prison. No, five years have passed, the term is over, has not the time come for you to leave the prison? Thousands of years have passed and you are still in it. Come out of it! You will call the policeman and say to him, “We were sentenced on the basis of such and such law to stay in prison for so many years. The term is over and we want you to set us free!” Raise your mind and your heart and appeal to God, call Him to set you free from this prison. All that you see now will be leveled with the ground in ten years, nothing will remain of these laws. Such will be the end of this world with its present perversion. A new culture will come when people will listen to their heart and mind and live like brothers according to a deep comprehension of that law which says, as it is also written in our law, that the testimony of the two is true. I am not telling you to become pessimists, but to be heroes, work among all people and tell everybody that the time has come for us to live a human life on earth. But you will say that people do not wish this. You will convince them, because the right is on our side. A common brotherhood will be created in the whole world, this slavery will be abolished, the rich and the poor will become equal, the learned and the ignorant will be put on the same footing, all people will become equal according to the law of wisdom and love. This will be the new culture. Arm yourselves with this idea, be heroes and fear nothing. You have served the devil long enough. People believe in him more than in God. Say, “From now on we shall believe in the living God, Who moves the world and Who has decided to reform it.” For that reason He has sent His servants. If you do not do this, the stones will come to life and reform the world. It is written that the trees and the animals will rise, but if you do not rise, you will be the last in the Kingdom of God. You will say I am strict. You will excuse me, but this is not strictness. I am only saying that your relations as brothers and sisters are not what God requires. I am telling you the very truth. Give up all squabbles among you for there is no reason for them. But you say, “I am an Eastern Orthodox,” “I am a Catholic,” “I am an Evangelist,” “I am a Communist,” “I am a Theosophist,” “I am a Spiritualist,” “a Frenchman,” “a Bulgarian” and so on. When God created the world, we were not separated into different creeds and nationalities. Now we have become French, English, Italians and tutti quanti. Let us turn to the great truth which God is pointing out to us and which calls us to a great task. Now put in your mind and heart to work so that we may create a great wave in the world which will lead us in the way of mutual accord and the great laws of nature—then you may be sure that the future will be yours. Sermon by the Master November 16, 1919. ______________ 53 John 8:17

THE OLD SCRIBE “Then he said unto them, therefore every scribe, which is instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”1 Christ defines the learned scribe by two of his qualities: he brings forth out of his treasure things new and old. In the same verse Christ adds the words, “which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven.” By the “Kingdom of Heaven” in a broad sense, Christ means all the great laws which direct human life, for everything in nature is closely bound to person and person is closely bound to nature. All phenomena or forces in the world which apparently have nothing in common with our life, we call physical or inorganic. However, all these forces have a relation not to the individual but to the collective person. In this sense the bringing out of the old and the new out of the treasure has certain significance. The old means the past and the new the future. The old implies the mistakes of a person, while the new implies the benefits given to him/her. The learned scribe who studies nature and the life of people finds old things, the mistakes of people, and brings something new into the world. Therefore, in this sense, we can determine positively both the good and evil that come as a consequence of the past. Thus everything which is in disharmony, i.e. worn out, useless for work, is old. Matter which has lost its strength is considered negative, in other words no force can be manifested in it. Everyone has experienced these two states in themselves, namely bringing out old and new things out of their treasure. When a person loses the inner balance between his/her heart and mind, s/he begins to take out the old things which causes discontentment in him/her. Such is the state of the sick people who are always discontented with those who serve them. The healthy person, who has strength, is contented with everything. The laws which regulate both states—contentment and discontentment—are in harmony for at a given moment your negative state corresponds to the positive state of some healthy person. At a moment when you suffer most a being having some connection with you, is in the highest of spirits. This is a law existing in nature. Heaven and hell exist as two poles. Heaven is the new thing, while hell is the old. So that each one of you will experience both states in your life. I am not speaking of heaven and hell as you know them but I am revealing to you a positive truth which seems abstract to you. These two states are necessary to the human spirit. You ask, “Why is it necessary for person to grow old and to be rejuvenated?” This is a process taking place in nature itself as well. Do not ask why this process exists, but rather consider what benefit you can draw from it. How would you define youth and age? An ancient sage said once, “If you are looking for strength you will find it in the young, the new people, but you will find wisdom in the old.” Wisdom and strength are not one and the same thing. Strength implies the human will while wisdom—the human mind. Therefore, you have two opposite poles: the mind is up in heaven, while the will—down on earth. If you want to be old and wise, you must be up in heaven, but if you want to be young, you must be down on earth. That is why if we change the relation of things and place the old person on the physical plane, but the young—up in heaven, we produce disharmony. In such a case you will draw a wrong conclusion and think that all people in heaven are old, while all people on earth are young. But such is not the case. By “youth” I do no have in mind only the external relations, but the inner growth of person. The same thing can be observed in nature. On March 9 a growth begins which lessens toward June 20 or the beginning of July and a condition of rest in nature sets in. Whatever changes take place in nature, can be observed in our life as well. If we do not understand what takes place within us, as individuals, i.e. if we do not understand our mind and will, we often get stuck in contradictions in life which we call “fate” according to which some people would be fortunate and others unfortunate. Some think that certain forces help them, while others think that the same forces work against them. Of course, if you go along the tide, it will aid you, but if you go against a current, it will oppose you since you are at odds with it. This current has nothing against you, but wants to say that if you go contrary to it, you will suffer, because the forces directing your life are in contradiction with your own selves. When someone has no success in life, it shows that their thought is contrary to their will. This applies to the individual and the social life of person. I am speaking of the events taking place in Europe today which have been determined thousands of years ago. Contemporary humanity has been in contradiction with the current for millions of years and since contemporary European culture has come into contradiction with this natural trend, it is struggling today to find its way. As a consequence of this a fierce struggle is taking place in which many victims will fall. Nature is indifferent to the number of victims—whether they be one, two or more millions. I say it makes no difference to nature for it is not interested in our toys. When we build cities full of houses and temples thinking this is culture, nature does not care about it and can destroy it in a moment. Nature has created moths and dust which destroy even our finest textures. Besides it has created various harmful elements which constantly destroy our organism. In the distant past before humanity deviated from the right direction of its culture, people had right ideas of the laws regulating the development of our life. This growth can be determined mathematically by the use of compasses. For instance, I measure the length of a person’s nose and see that it is 4 centimeters long; another person’s nose is 5 centimeters and so on. Then by the same compasses I measure the chin of several persons and the length is different in them. The same way I measure the forehead and find that someone’s forehead is 3 centimeters, another one’s is 4 or 5 centimeters and so on. You may ask, “What is the relation of all this?” The relation is important for if someone’s nose is short and wide, it shows that the energies in their organism are in a state of tension and the slightest touch may cause an explosion in them. If a person’s chin is very broad and long, it shows that the energy of this person is not only very tense, but also very active and wherever this person passes, they will cause destruction. The lower part of the chin—the one below the nose—characterizes the human will and the way it would be manifested in the physical world. Observe the chin of some great military commanders and generals. You can determine if a person is young or old by their chin. Only the young people fight and not the old. The ratio of an old person to a young one is 1:100. An army of young men can conquer an army of 100,000 old men. When I say that the future of the earth is in the hands on the young, I am right, for this world was created for people who like to fight. Heaven was created for old and wise people. In the higher world 1,000 old men are equal to 100,000 young men which shows that the relation there is reverse of that on earth. You may ask me, “What is the relation between the young and the old people?” In the spiritual world the old people are only the point of support around which, similar to the hand of a clock, the pendulum of the young person revolves. By the time a young person has walked a hundred miles, an old one has not passed even a kilometer. Therefore, the young people are the hands of the clock. In this world the old people do not move, therefore, do not expect any culture of them on earth. Mental and spiritual culture about which we speak, cannot exist here on earth. The greatest upsurge in culture can be effected only when people are caused to bleed. The more bleeding, the greater the culture attained. People of the twentieth century began to consider themselves very cultured and say, “We people of this age do not shed our blood, only the people of the past did this.” However, the present war disproved this theory and showed that young people always shed their blood, and the younger they are, the more blood they shed. Since people today are very young, they cause the greatest destruction. People today can be likened to caterpillars that devour everything. And this scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven brings out of his treasure things new and old and says, “Thus says Christ.” Of what use are these new and old things to him? When you take your old clothes out of a wardrobe, you have something in mind, you want to see if they are still fit to wear. When you take out the new clothes, you intend to find out if moths have not eaten them, don’t you? When the scribe brings out the new and old things, he has some reasonable idea. He does not solve a silly problem as the story goes about a king of old. This king wanted to find a person who would tell him a story without an end. He started looking for some philosophers who might satisfy his wish. He promised a great prize for that purpose, but could not find such a person. Finally a wise man came to the king and said to him, “I shall tell you a story without end.” “All right, here is the man I have been looking for,” said the king. And the wise man began his tale. “There was a king in old times who disposed of thousands of acres of land. It was all sown with wheat and since the year was very fertile, his fields yielded a great amount of grain. The king gave orders that a great stone barn be constructed to store up the wheat. However, the builders left a small hole in this barn and a cricket managed to enter it through that hole and carry out the wheat grain by grain. The cricket took a grain and carried it to his hole and returned for a second one. He took a second grain, carried it to his hole and returned for the fourth grain…” “Enough of that!” cried out the bored king, “Go on, is there no end to this carrying out of the grains and to the whole story?” “Wait until all the wheat is taken out of the barn, then the story will end too.” People today want to know the end of things but I say, “Wait until all the wheat is carried away and then will come the end.” The scribe engaged in the study of the Kingdom of Heaven does not spare time for such silly theories. The repetition of one and the same thing is not knowledge. We say that we must test things and learn from experience, but we have a sufficient amount of experience so that if we should take millions of grains out of the Barn, we shall not learn anything new. You say to yourselves, “Let us see what new things the Master will tell us today” and you are right. The size of your nose will determine the volume of your feelings, the length of your chin will determine the strength of your will and the height of your forehead—the quality of your mind. Some say that a person with a small forehead can be intelligent just as well, but this is not true. In geometry what is the relation between the straight lines, the sharp angles and so on? If the sharp end of an angle is placed in your mouth, it will open, won’t it? Therefore, the opening of your mouth will determine the degree of your appetite. The wider you open your mouth, the hungrier you are. However, if the angle is turned outwards, it shows you are at rest. As we judge by the nose whether it is straight or curved upward or downward, by the same law we determine our feelings. If the nose is broad, the heart will have a certain disposition, but if it is flat, the state of the heart will be quite different. If your lips are thin or thick, your stomach will be in two different states. The condition of your stomach can also be determined by your cheeks—if they are hollow or bulging. Thus, the outer person is an expression of the inner one. Every one of your thoughts is stamped on your face. Your virtue can also be determined by your face—its place is above your upper lip. If you are cross-eyed it shows that you are of a double nature. If the angle of your sight points upward or downward, these are two different states. If your eyes are wide open, you are easily impressed, but if they are slightly open, you are less impressionable. Whether your eyes are closer or farther from your nose is of importance too. Every person’s eyes have been placed by God with geometrical accuracy. Every person is created after a model determined by the higher forces. Every person’s face bears in minutest details the marks which determine not only his/her present life, but his/her past and future life as well. If people today could read the divine book on the human face, which every person possesses, thousands of misfortunes could be avoided. Christ warned all His followers to avoid the mistakes of their past. Someone says, “Let us test our life.” You would better have your picture taken to see if you will like yourself. Present-day photographers try to represent people more handsome than they are by correcting their picture. Do not erase the Divine script! You should not smooth out a person’s features for an old person cannot become young and vice versa. Christ says, “There are incompatible things.” Only a learned person who observes things as they really are can understand the relations among different parts. In mathematics there are certain formulae by which certain quantities can be transformed into others. For instance, the heat which 100 tons of coal can produce can be turned into a dynamic force, but one should know the methods of doing this. This knowledge is concealed from people today for if they knew it, they would use it improperly and cause thousands of misfortunes to humanity. What do we need this knowledge for? If we understand people by their external appearance, we would know at once that a person is in a state of tension. Then we would avoid them without adding more coals to their fire, or let some of their steam off and lessen their energy. We should add fuel to people whose energy has decreased and give them an incentive. We know how to supply fuel on the physical plane, but how fuel should be supplied in the mental and spiritual worlds, is something we do not know, but we can yet learn. There are people who have lost the sense of life and wish to remain always young, since they find meaning in life only in being young. When you make a deep study of the occult sciences, you will find out that a person is not composed only of one kind of matter, but of different kinds of substances and states. Thus, in all atoms and ions in their composition, there is gradation. At present there are 49 states of the atoms on the physical plane. Every state can produce a certain result in the feelings and thoughts. And the more the coefficient of your state changes, the more active your feelings and thoughts become. People are very nervous today, but this is due to the increase in their energy, that is why this energy must be transformed and transmitted to a higher state of matter. You often speak of raising your children. In Bulgarian the word “breed, raise” means to “nourish.” The same way bees take care of nourishing their queens. When they want to nourish a queen they choose special food for it, but when they want to nourish workers, they give them a different kind of food, they do the same for the drones. The drones are the players in a hive. A hive cannot go without drones, just as a society cannot exist without musicians. You say drones are not necessary. No, a hive cannot do without players. You say there are many drones in your life, but I call them players. Every hostile thought is a player, an unpleasant tune. You ask, “Why are these thoughts and sufferings which they bring us so unpleasant?” Because you are ill, but when you get well, you will come to like these players while these sufferings renew a person. I now shall revert to Christ’s thought. The scribe is that teacher who knows the laws. What do present-day teachers and clergy know about people? The teachers must make use of mathematics in order to come to know people by their foreheads, noses and so on. Those engaged in mathematics should study these formulae and use geometry to determine by studying the smallest angles as well as the biggest ones; the meaning of the curved line and so on. It is assumed that the curved line is formed by turning a line around its axis and when a curved line is turned, a sphere is formed. What does this sphere mean? The sphere is an expansion, a broadening of your thoughts and feelings. If you lived in a world moving in a single direction, you would not have any development. This is a world only of a single one-dimensional circle. If two beings meet, they cannot pass each other. This is so because every diversion implies expansion. How would these two beings pass in such a case? One must pass over the back of the other. That is why the Bulgarians say of someone dragging him/herself that s/he must be patient when others pass on his/her back. These are people who move in a single dimension. This, however, cannot show us the true way of life. Christ concealed something in every thought He spoke. He said, “I can tell you many things, but you cannot bear them now.” These things will be revealed to people when they become cultured so that they could understand them. The Americans have progressed in their understanding of these laws. For instance, when a couple wants to marry they do not send matchmakers, but go to a phrenologist to study their heads and say if they are in harmony to live together. Then they visit a physiognomist and an astrologer and if all the data is favorable, they marry and lead a happy life. Therefore, when people marry there must be positive relations among their brain centers. If there is a wrong interchange of energies between the female and the male brains, a nervous state will ensue. The reason for that is the fact that in one or the other a quantity of energy remains as a surplus and causes evil. That is why a woman dissatisfied with her husband should try to find a man in whom she would deposit her surplus energy and an exchange of energies would take place, so that there should be no loss. But this should be done is a spiritual way between these two persons so that by finding an outlet for this surplus energy, harmony should be restored between the spouses. A husband who does not understand the state of his wife says, “You cannot have friendly relations with another man,” and disputes and quarrels begin. The wife acts the same way with her husband who looks for a more elevated woman outside his family with whom he could form spiritual relations and thus have an outlet for his surplus energy. But the old disputes and quarrels begin. I say to such people, “You have started badly and will end badly, because like the scribe you did not see what you had in your bag.” The man and the woman are two scribes who do not understand the laws, yet must act like the scribe. That is why when you are marrying take out the old and the new out that you have at your disposal. Before a young couple gets married, both of them say that everything in their bags is in full order, but after marrying they open their bags and find out differently. All this concerns present-day life and if the Bulgarians want to correct their life, they must consider these laws. Sometimes I ask myself, why do I open the sore spots of people and thus make enemies? But if your leg is sprained and you call an experienced person to massage it, no matter how carefully they may do this, they will cause you some pain. Is that person to blame in that case that wishing to heal you has caused you pain? When you are healed, you will thank the person who massaged your leg. When you are well, you send for the doctor who examines you and prescribes some bitter medicine that you dislike and which makes you start considering the doctor as your enemy. That is why children who have taken bitter medicine do not wish ever to hear of a doctor. If a boil gathers, you go to a surgeon and he makes a section with his instruments and presses the puss out. By that he causes you pain but is not to blame. I wish you all were good massagers and surgeons and do your work the best way you can by all the rules of this art. If a man has surplus energy, let him place it in another woman reasonably, the woman should do the same in such a case, but do it nobly and sensibly. It is necessary that there should always be a spiritual exchange of energies in order that there may be growth, peace and harmony. The Bulgarians know this way of exchanging energies that is why they have fairs at times. People from ten or twenty villages get together, thus exchanging their surplus energy and getting healed. Everyone goes home satisfied. Some say, “We do not want old things, we want new things.” But in the new there will not be such a result. I have watched how the Bulgarians of old cook beans. They throw away the first water after boiling the beans for some time and finish boiling them in the second water. The first water is not good, but people today say that there is no sense in doing this—only a waste of fuel. A German or an English doctor would give the same advice—the first water is not good and should be thrown away. I wish Bulgarians would turn to the old folk traditions, which rest on very important psychological laws and give good results. Christ says that the learned scribe is like a housekeeper who takes out of his treasure the new and the old. Science today follows the same path. All new scientific discoveries are not well investigated yet to find in them those truths that were known to peoples of old. For instance, radium is a recent discovery but the causes of its peculiarities are not known yet. The vital energy in nature and in all elements, called “prana” or vital “airs” by the Hindu, has not been discovered yet. Such energies are part of our body, of the elements of oxygen and hydrogen, yet they are not these elements. The oxygen and hydrogen are mere bearers of these energies. Not having proper notions of all phenomena and transformations happening in nature, we create a warped culture. We criticize incessantly this person or that for not living a right or proper life or for lacking good breeding. I ask, “Which are the rules of good life so that we can apply them?” There should be no criticism in Christianity, only knowledge and virtues. Criticism should rest upon such an inner understanding that would be able to transform and rectify our life. Until then the Europeans should make at least a hundred trial runs in implementing the new culture and the new forms of government. The relationship of servants and masters has derived from that of children to their parents. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters give rise to all disharmony in the world. If the mother forces her daughter, the latter will treat her as she was done by. Later in life, the daughter will have the same attitude toward her servants as that of her mother to her. The servants and masters came into existence after this same hierarchy for they did not understand this great law. The father takes the place of that old man-sage, while the son—the place of the strong man. The father says, “I shall take the place of that point of balance around which you will turn and move in thousands and millions of directions. You can do anything you want to, but do not separate yourself from this point of balance.” If the son considers his father foolish and separates himself from him, everything is spoiled. In such a case the father is not strong and by that the son looses. However, the son is strong, yet he is not wise. Children are attracted to their parents because they have need of their wisdom and experience. That is why parents should begin to draw out the old and the new from their bags in order to see what they can give to their children. The parents must know what food to give their children on Monday, Tuesday and so on, for food helps the formation of people. Take a person of the highest culture and start feeding him/her on the coarsest food and you will change his/her life. Feed a rude person on the finest food and in ten years s/he will change his/her way of life. I am glad that lately different new trends closer to nature came into existence such as vegetarianism. However, this is still not a correct idea of a diet, for nature has created all kinds of food and each person should eat special food suited to his/her organism. Every person, every society and every nation should choose the most appropriate food that gives the best results. The inordinate extermination of mammals creates an anomaly in nature. Most illnesses are due to this extermination of animals and birds. Since this extermination bars their evolutions, all forces assigned to their benefit remain unused and this creates chaos that in its turn causes different illnesses. Do you know what takes place after the arbitrary flow of the animal blood? Its vapors form different serums and cultures harboring harmful viruses that cause all the evils in the organic world. For the balance in nature to be restored, 100,000,000 kilograms of human blood had to be spilled in order to compensate for the blood the animals have shed. But in the present war about 200,000,000 kilograms of human blood was shed. Some may ask me to prove this fact. I have a number of arguments about this and can see that the laws in nature are right concerning your life as well. If you beat and offend your father, see if after that you will have the same good disposition as before. Especially if you are a poet, try to write something worth after that. Also if a playwright or a novelist who beats his wife should try to write something fine, let them see what will come out of it. A woman who has tried to poison her husband loses her beauty. If two young people should promise each other marriage but their promise proves foolish, they should not fulfil their vow. If I should promise to meet 100 people today and have an intelligent conversation with all of them, it would be impossible for me to fulfill my promise. The desire to fulfill one’s promise that cannot be fulfilled is dictated by the ambition of an honest person, but on the other hand, an honest person is one who thinks and acts right. Now you men and women are this learned scribe and the old and the new you take out of your bags are your sons and daughters. If a mother gives birth to an incapable, quick-tempered child—that is the old garment. If she understood the law, she would have born an intelligent child which is the new garment. But on the physical plane this intelligent child finds him/herself in an inappropriate environment. S/he wants to work and have self-expression, but his/her mother does not permit the child to work, to meet other children and so on. Can you not give work to your small boy or girl? Give your little girl dolls to play with and learn something by that. Often the father says, “I have no time to bother with children, I must get my sermons ready and fulfil my duties.” You may preach much, but you should learn a lesson from each sermon. When you feel a certain indisposition in your stomach, it shows there is disharmony among the people around you. When you feel your chest heavy, it shows you are in disharmony with the hearts of those around you. When there is pressure in your head, it shows you are not in harmony with the thoughts of others. When you feel indisposed in your room, go out and change your place—by that your condition will alter too. If you are in a society where you feel bored, leave it and visit a meeting or join a horo2 and do not think people are bad. You say, “We are religious people and it is not proper for us to join a horo.” But is it proper and right in the face of God to chop meat for meatballs, to have an injection or take quinine, or for a man and woman to quarrel? Which of our actions is right, in harmony with God? Are not all our actions ungodly, i.e. imprudent? And we consider ourselves idealists. You say, “Down with the materialists!” We speak about God and fill our purses; we read to the sick and insure ourselves. Priests, teachers, judges—all consider themselves in the right place, but like the scribe they have lost knowledge of the great law to recognize things. I call a good person the one who would be able when meeting me to change by bad disposition. For instance, I meet a woman and start talking with her; if she has surplus energy and this conversation transforms my bad disposition, she is a good woman. And if that woman has produced a good disposition in you, it means there has been a right interchange of your energies. If two negative persons meet, nothing will come out of that, they are not for each other. Make your observations and conclusions among religious people. I am testing this law now with mathematical precision. That is why Christ says, “This learned scribe—you must know what your mind, heart and stomach give birth to.” Some religious people say that “the Lord must destroy the belly.” Yes, the belly is something uncontrollable, but the stomach is a fine pony, which must be fed with very good food. But our stomach today is very unfortunate for we mistreat it. A Bulgarian man, John, visited a friend’s house. The peasant welcomed him and gave him some brandy to drink, but the guest refused to drink. The peasant insisted telling him to drink for his wife’s sake. John drank for the wife’s sake; then he was forced to drink for the children’s sake and so on, until he got so drunk that he could hardly stand on his feet. Then he went to a fountain to water his horse. The horse drank as much as he could and then stopped. His master insisted on his drinking more, but the horse would not. Then the man said to himself, “Dear me! The horse is wiser than me! It wouldn’t drink for anybody’s sake even a drop more—unlike me who drank so much!” We must eat, drink, think, feel and act so much as is necessary and this is the future science—to give freedom to the human mind, thought, feelings and will. You mothers, who have washed the ears of your children so many times, can you tell by them how long your children will live? When I look at your ear, I know by it how long you will live, what illnesses you will come down with and what you will die of. I can know the same things by your nails—all illnesses are shown on them. It is a written book. Sometimes when you see yourself in the mirror, you do not like your lips for they are pale—it shows you are anemic. Some have red lips and the doctors say they have an abundance of red corpuscles. The thin lips show you are bankrupt in feelings or you are a miser. Sometimes a young girl makes her lips thin intentionally by pressing them. The young man considers that a good sign as she would not lend her feelings to other men. Thin lips are an evil, but thick lips are another kind of evil. According to a person’s height there should be a correspondence between the breadth of the chest, of the lips and of the forehead. If we are bearers of divine ideas, our progeny will be created after all the rules of science and they will love us. That is why Christ says, “This scribe started taking the things out of the bag now.” What does a thick neck signify? If a person is short and has a short, thick neck, it means that s/he will not live long. If s/he overeats some night, the next day the news of his/her sudden death will spread. If a person is 175 centimeters tall, but his/her neck is 34 centimeters s/he suffers from weak chest. Someone says, “My fiancée has a thin neck.” It would be better if her neck was thicker for now she should not marry not being able to become a mother. You will ask me, “What do these things have to do with Christianity?” They are of great importance for the essence of Christianity is to know how to read in ourselves the good and the evil. “Old” implies all the mistakes deposited in us, but “new”—all the good that is in us and when we know all these things, we shall be able to combine them in order to create a good life according to this knowledge. In the future schools must be opened for the study of the eyes, the ears, the upper and lower parts of the head, the foreheads, the noses, the chins, then the stomach, the tissues, the nervous system—whether it is responsive or not, and so on. When we have all this data, we shall be able to create good people. When we know all this, we shall be able to chose the right persons to make our clothes, our shoes and so on. There are people whose energy is very oppressive that is why I would not have my clothes made by them. Such clothes will create bad disposition in the person wearing them. There are people who, building a house, leave the worst thoughts and feelings in it: that is why all who live in it die. I would not allow a teacher or a priest who has such evil thoughts to enter my house; I will not allow such a priest to say prayers either. These are not only statements but results of observations. Have your clothes made only by a person you like, when you enter a shop buy something only from the person you like. An old Bulgarian who has several daughters-in-law says, “I want my bread made by the youngest daughter-in-law.” Why? He knows why he wants bread from the youngest woman. When she kneads the dough, she will impart her living energy to it and fill it with good thoughts. If the oldest daughter-in-law makes the bread, the stomach of the old man will suffer disorder. If the housewife is demagnetized, she will cause only disorder in the house, so her husband should hire a healthy woman to do all the housework and send his wife to some resort to restore her health. Never allow a nervous, dry person to cook for you, but rather find a plump, healthy, happy person for that work. This is the meaning of the scribe taking out the old and the new things from his bag, showing what the sufferings in our life are caused by. So when a young man marries a dry young girl, he should know that nothing will come out of it. The analogy is the same for the spiritual world. People who are very dry have no sublime spiritual understanding, they are not from the divine world for the simple reason that they contain much acids which cause extreme activity. The plump people, however, are like alkali. The dry are active, the plump are passive. The world, however, is not created only by alkali and acid—there is something intermediate: the children. Now begin to take out the new from the old, but before that measure your nose, your chin, the upper and lower lip, examine your eyes and see why sometimes they are more widely open than at other times, or why at times they are clearer and at times darker and so on. There is an interrelation among these things. If you study things this way, you will come to a state to understand the inner meaning of life. The occultists say about someone’s feelings that his/her astral body is not in right relation to his/her physical body, or that the mental body is not in right relation with the physical brain. I substitute the mental body by the brain, the astral by the lungs and the physical by the stomach and say that the relation among the stomach, the lungs and the brain is not proper. Therefore, observe people’s ears and see if they have many folds, whether they are broad or narrow; watch their eyes as well—of those who are quite old and of those who are young. Now if these educative methods are applied correctly in the family life as well, the husbands and wives will immediately attain mutual understanding. This is the teaching Christ has bestowed on present-day humanity. Men and women who want to marry should not have the same temperament or the same brain; their fingers and noses must not be alike. This is the new and old in the world. If a man has long fingers, his wife’s fingers should be shorter. When you chose a house-maid, see to it that the same applies to her and her mistress. Every person is born for a certain activity which corresponds to their preferences for a job. Some Americans are well aware of this and when they select a house-maid, they take her for an examination at a phrenologist and he tells them if she is suitable for the job or not. The same way all insects and animals have been created by God for some certain special work. When a person finds the place s/he has been assigned for, s/he is happy; otherwise s/he feels unhappy. That is why in the future there should be schools for examining people with whom we wish to work, avoiding thus a great number of misfortunes. People who live according to these laws of nature suffer less. But those who do not live so are persecuted by fate. Now think about this scribe and meditate on the old and new things. You cannot raise the whole world, but you can help yourself and your dear ones. If your lips are pale, pray that they may become red; if your nose is flat, start breathing deeply that it may be broadened; if your eyes are dim; pray that they may become clear. The negative side must become positive. If you have palpitation of the heart, it shows that there is a split in your feelings. Put more love in your heart, give free vent to your feelings and the palpitations will stop. The suppression of feelings causes changes in the brain; the brain causes changes in the blood circulation which in turn affects the stomach and so on. Palpitation is the result of the struggle between two feelings. Do away with the struggle and the palpitation will disappear. If you have a headache, chase away the thought that is ailing you, reconcile the contradictory ideas and it will vanish. A bankrupt merchant starts worrying and gets headache. Avoid the counteraction of thoughts and feelings and you will be healthy. To control ourselves and help others—this is science, will power, Christianity, culture, religion. When we meet nervous people, we try to avoid them but instead we should try to influence them in a certain way. When someone commits a crime, they are treated similarly being immediately sent to prison. However, judgement should be passed according to the rules of this scribe who takes out the old and the new things. We should reform in this spirit the schools, courts and the present order that we may rejuvenate everything—including family life—and be all happy. This is what the Lord wants. In the past people thought that religious people should walk with bowed heads. Anyone who walks with a bent head looks like a question mark or comma because his/her head is very full and s/he ought to pay, ought to give, much. Those who raise their heads up have them empty and nothing can be taken from such people. Scolding is a sign of old age. Today people are scolding and quarreling all the time. People quarrel daily in the tram who should sit, where should they sit and so on: this means they capture positions only to abandon them shortly afterwards. The new teaching states that we should not waste our energy arbitrarily but use it exactly in its place. Otherwise the doctor will visit such a house and call its people neurasthenics, hypertonics, maniacs, etc. Such people, in my opinion, suffer from lack of energy which has been wasted. This is anemia. Put your thoughts, your feelings and your will in concord and try to create your future life from the old and the new. Sermon delivered on June 29, 1919 in Sofia. ____________________ 1 Matthew 13:52 2 a Bulgarian country dance in a circle (transl. Note)