Ani

Morning Prayers On rising: "I thank Thee, Lord, for giving me life and health. Fill my heart with Love, And strengthen my will, So that I may accomplish Thy Will. May everything I do be done in Thy Name And for Thy Glory". Amen. *** "Lord, I ask Thee to fill me with the energies of Life. May they penetrate every cell of my body By bringing it strength and health, May they strengthen my spirit in accomplishing The task assigned to me on earth". Amen. *** "I thank Thee, Lord, for sending me to the earth to learn. I thank Thee for sending me to manifest the good within me. I thank Thee for sending me to manifest the strength which Thou gavest me and to help my fellow beings". Amen. *** "Lord God, my soul quivers with joy before the light of the new day which illuminates my path. I thank Thee for having woken me at this early hour when Thou art glorified by the wise man, the birds and the flowers. I thank Thee for making me a gift of another day, and for calling me to pursue my work with a glad heart. I thank Thee for giving me the chance to accomplish Thy Good Will, to manifest it with love and wisdom by putting it at the disposal of my brothers and sisters. I beseech Thee to give me the joy of sensing the presence of the Divine Spirit, of listening to Thy instructions like a devoted child, and of not straying from the path of Thy laws. Grant me and grant all men and women the strength, the vigilance and the love necessary for our elevation and for the coming of Thy Kingdom on earth. May the Light of the eternal Sun of Thy Love illuminate my soul and those of all my brothers and sisters on the face of the earth! May Thy Love, Thy Wisdom, Thy Truth, Thy Justice and Thy Virtues begin to reign in the hearts of mankind! May all my brothers and sisters become One with Christ and the luminous angels, ONE with THEE and the Great Brotherhood of Light! Amen.

The Good Prayer Lord God, our tender Heavenly Father, who hast given us life and health to rejoice in Thee, send us Thy Spirit to protect us, to shield us from every harm and from all evil thoughts. Teach us to do Thy Will, to sanctify Thy Name, to glorify Thee at all times. Sanctify our spirits, enlighten our hearts and minds to keep Thy decrees and commandments. Inspire us with Thy holy presence and pure thoughts, direct us in Thy ways, so that we may serve Thee with joy. Bless the life we consecrate to Thee for the sake of our brothers and sisters, and those dear to us. Succour us and assist us, so that we may grow in wisdom and understanding, that we may be instructed by Thy word, and that we may abide in Thy Truth. Guide us in all our thoughts and actions in Thy Name, so that Thy Kingdom may come on earth. Feed our souls with the bread of heaven and fill us with Thy strength, so that our lives may be fruitful. And as Thou dost shower us with all Thy blessings, may Thy Love remain our eternal law. For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen

PRAYERS "To pray is to direct one's mind, heart, soul and spirit towards the Source of Life from which we have emerged. The decadence of the modern world has a deep inner root: the fact that contemporary people neglect the Primordial Principle, the Source of Life".

NEW YEAR MESSAGES Let us thank the Lord for all the good things He has given us until now. May the support and blessing of God be with you throughout the year. Let us thank the Lord for all the beautiful thoughts which penetrate our minds, for every noble feeling which germinates in our heart, for each good act we were able to perform. Let us be grateful for everything; herein lies the profound meaning of life. May the Lord begin to speak within the thinking of all those who are listening to me today; may you all be transmitters of divine Love; may you become strong and spread the divine Teaching throughout the world. Bless everyone you meet, everyone who is at work and carrying out the will of God. May God bless all those for whom you accomplish His will in the course of this year. ***** May you be among those beings on whom divine light is shed. May you be among those beings who deserve to receive divine kindness and warmth. May everyone you meet see the light and knowledge emanating from your mind! May they all sense the divine goodness and warmth coming from your heart! May your reward be the awareness of being a generous source which spreads divine light and kindness to all living beings! May you continue on this path throughout the year!

MESSAGES Sources must spring, rivers flow, grasses grow, and man must think, reflect and accomplish the will of his Heavenly Father. May His Love be his law; the divine Will, the divine Kingdom, and divine Glory his goal! Many leaves will fall and many scales will be peeled away before the soul attains perfection. May the Lord enlighten you and guide you with His Spirit; may He show you inwardly what is just in His sight. My teaching is the Teaching of Christ - a Teaching of Life which is neither theoretical nor sectarian, but a Teaching of Wisdom and Love which can renew and regenerate the whole of life. The Lord of whom I speak is living in the whole of nature, is acting in all beings; He speaks inwardly to each soul, to each heart. I am in constant contact with Him. I know His Voice, I preach His Teaching, I accomplish His Will, I obey his Spirit, and my joy lies in His Living Word. What a blessing it would be for human beings to understand His language and to think of themselves as brothers and not enemies, to share their sorrows and their joys! The time is at hand when the voice of heaven will sound forth. Be peaceful and patient; God will arrange everything for the best; there will be a flock and Pastor of Life. May the blessing of the Heavenly Father be on all those who invoke His Name, whoever and wherever they are! ***** In perfect divine Love, revealed, made manifest, actualised, Virtue develops, Justice grows, Truth blossoms, Wisdom abounds, Love ripens. Each soul that advances on the luminous path of eternal Life acquires its supreme happiness - the lasting gift of the Divine Spirit. Place truth in your soul and you will acquire freedom. Allow Light to enter your mind and Wisdom will give you her Knowledge. Receive Purity in your heart, and divine Love will come in its fullness. If you have the heart of a little child, the Lord will dwell with you. May you dedicate yourselves with your whole heart. May my peace, my light, my love with the Divine Spirit be with you all!

INTRODUCTION Very few people in the English-speaking world have heard of the Bulgarian Spiritual Leader Beinsa Douno (1864-1944). Having studied his teaching closely for more than four years, it is my special joy and privilege to compile this booklet containing some of his most precious prayers and meditations. The reader will find that the words speak for themselves. The aim of the present selection is to transcribe material which can be used by readers who have neither the time nor the opportunity to read lengthy books, but who nevertheless need genuine spiritual nourishment. Beinsa Douno taught and healed in Bulgaria for more than forty years from the turn of the century until his passing into the other world at the end of 1944. He had some 40,000 followers in the country before the war, some 500 of whom attended the summer camp of 1939. His disciples still spend some time in the mountains each summer, as has been their wont since the early 1920s. There they dance the sublime movements of the paneurythmy, a series of meditational movements set to music and words composed by the Master himself. Forthcoming material will describe this in more detail. Some 150 volumes were published in Bulgarian, a quantity still insufficient to contain over 7,000 lectures. About a dozen volumes have been published in French, not all of which are still available; also in French, there exists a quarterly review, Le Grain de Ble, lovingly edited for 32 years by Anna Bertoli, who died in July 1989. There is, alas, nothing at present in print in English. Hence this first effort to present some of the gems of the love and wisdom of Beinsa Douno. "The One who speaks down the centuries is always the Same. At all times it is God who reveals Himself [the use of the masculine gender throughout this selection is for convenience only] to humanity. The forms through which he manifests are different, but He is One". In a sense, therefore, there is only one Divine Teaching with many manifestations and messengers. "Every Divine Teaching", claims Beinsa Douno, "is based on the Love of God, on union with God. To love God is to conceive of Him in all living creatures;. without this Love, life is devoid of meaning". In describing his own mission more specifically, he says: "I am a messenger from the Divine World, sent to proclaim Love and to bring its strength and power into Life. Every Divine Teacher is invulnerable. Divine Knowledge is eternal, indivisible: it was so in the past, it is so in the present, it will be so in the future. As a result, the person who has taught it, who teaches it, who will teach it, does not count. It is always the Spirit of God that counts, at all times and in all ages, and no worldly power can overcome it". Beinsa Douno's work was and is a contribution towards the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Comprehensive in its scope and application, it represents an elaboration of the Christian Teaching of Love, and includes lectures on all aspects of life and health. It is the Christ Teaching which can be applied on earth and which is the basis of the renewal of our decadent culture; it provides methods to enable people to apply the Divine Teaching, the Teaching of Christ: "God is Love, Wisdom and Truth. Christ is the manifestation of God. He is the Son of God" Christ is Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, Divine Truth, which must be lived and applied by all men and women. We preach the Christ of Love, which supports and fills all hearts; We preach the Christ of Wisdom, which illuminates every mind; We preach the Christ of Truth, which liberates and elevates the world. Love excludes hatred, violence, murder. Wisdom excludes ignorance, error, darkness. Truth excludes lies, slavery, sin. There is nothing greater than these three principles; there is no straighter or surer path. In these three principles lies the salvation of the world". We live in a time of spiritual famine in the West. Many have turned to the East, little realising that a rich tradition awaits them here. It is a tradition which has its source in the Orphic mysteries of Thrace (modern- day Bulgaria), and which flows through Pythagoras and Plato into esoteric Christianity, through the Essenes and Christian Gnostics, through the Bogomils and Cathars - both of which movements called themselves the "friends of God". It has re-emerged in our time in the teaching of Beinsa Douno, and can become a powerful force for the reconstruction of our inner temple, for the conscious awareness of our inner link with God, our Divine Source, and for the elaboration of a universal culture of Love.

Contents Introduction Messages New Year Messages Prayers The Good Prayer Morning Prayers Evening Prayers Prayer for Healing Invocation Sunrise Prayers for the Deceased Other Prayers Prayer for Purity God Love Life The Trials of Life Reflections and Affirmations Colour Meditations Eating Breathing Blessing of the Master Beinsa Douno ADDENDA: Further Prayers and Reflections The Way of Life

http://en-petardanov.com/index.php?/files/file/23-%7B?%7D/ GEMS OF LOVE AND WISDOM Prayers, Meditations and Reflections by BEINSA DOUNO (Peter Deunov) Edited and translated by David Lorimer Element Books Ltd, 1991.

Afterword With the first book of “The Grain of Wheat”, the compiler (A), who is a disciple of the Master, has made an inspired and loving effort to cast some light upon the great lifework of Beinsa Douno. By means talks and of selected thoughts based on themes from his lectures, resumes and essays to act as a bridge between the various sections, the reader will be able to get some idea of the light cast by our Master’s Words. His language is lively, for those were the words he actually spoke. They reach all levels of our consciousness. They are windows opening onto everything — the soul, the spirit, the mind and consciousness of his listeners. He sets us many exercises for the development of the various spiritual bodies, breathing exercises and the Paneurhythmia. The PANEURHYTHMIA cannot be a deep experience without the light of his Words. This is its personification according to the laws invested in its harmonious movements and music. It is not something one can trade or use for personal manifestations. It belongs to the Great Fountainhead. The Master, Beinsa Douno, or DrPetur Dunov, was its creator. He brought it down to earth to clothe in even finer garments the manifestations of Divine Consciousness in which we must bathe ourselves. This is Divine Cosmic Consciousness, of which the Cosmic Master spoke at the beginning of the century. At that time he wrote to one of his first disciples, “Feel like a citizen of the world.” We, too, should feel like citizens of the world since we are encircled by his words, when we sing the songs, when we play the new music, when we breathe and eat and when we dance of Paneurhythmia. A NEW, EXALTED CULTURE OF LOVE IS COMING! Friends! Brothers and Sistsers, Everywhere! An inner, esoteric school of LOVE HAS ALWAYS EXISTED. Read and reflect. The Master will appear to you. There is nothing more beautiful for you than to be a disciple. Then all difference of age, place, position, race and religion disappears. All become disciples of the great school of the WORLDWIDE WHITE BROTHERHOOD. So the Teaching of the Master Beinsa Douno (Dr Peter Dunov) will reach out to those who await that HEAVENLY WORD AND TEACHING. We shall meet together, we shall be together in the same school. But it must be kept clean and not be changed, because this High Source must not be muddied. It has come through HIM and we are bound to keep it pure and unchanged. We have to observe the Holy Traditions of the White Brotherhood. This book is published in Love. It has been prepared in Love without anybody being paid money. Such is the rule. Send your questions and your opinions to the editor. We cannot reply to you personally, but we shall take account of your interest. The most important thing is internal work, prayer and contemplation, and above all the WORD. READ AND STUDY THE WORD OF THE MASTER BEINSA DOUNO. HE CAME DOWN TO EARTH FOR YOU AND FOR ME, HE CAME DOWN FOR US! THE TESTAMENT OF THE MASTER Love the perfect road of truth and life Make good the foundation of your home Let justice be the measure Love be your decoration Wisdom your fence Truth your light Only then will you recognize me and I will make myself known to you.

Song he Hymn of the Great Soul (Himn na velikata dusha), sings Simeon Simeonow, Tenor The Hymn of the Great Soul (Himn na velikata dusha) The sun shines Light is everywhere The world is wrapped In warm clothes. All life awakes The water flows The grass grows Freshness wafts everywhere. Everything moves Crawls and creeps Birds chirp Deer run The wind blows. But man stands and thinks: What will he do? A joyful song is heard: Great are You o Lord Great are your deeds Great is your name above all. You rule in power and life In knowledge. Wisdom, Truth and Love Great are You o Lord, Great are your deeds Great is your name above all.

XII WHOM GOD HATH JOINED “And so, whom God hath joined let not man put asunder” — Mt. XIX “Whom God hath joined.” In this verse Christ is clearly speaking of marriage. In reality is that which people today practice really marriage? Two families become closer, live well together and after a time marry their children together. Is that genuine unification? There are three kinds of unification. The first unification is that which God makes. That is the true and strong unification. The second unification is made by man himself, and the third that which the people make. All difficulties, contradictions and sufferings of those united arise from the last two kinds of unification. For a man, a teacher or a state to make a unification correctly, they must be deeply penetrated by God’s Wisdom, they must understand the fundamental law upon which life is founded. To understand the fundamental law of life means to understand life as it is expressed in nature. That is why, when you read the verse in which Christ speaks ofjoining, you must understand it basically in its deepest sense, and not in the letter and superficially. “Whom God has joined, let not man put asunder”. Many people read and re-read this verse, but they do not understand it. Many preachers have spoken on this verse, interpreting it, but nevertheless they have not touched upon the basic truth which is hidden in it. Why is the truth not brought out, which the verse contains in itself? For two reasons: on the other hand, the ignorance of those who speak on it; on the other hand, a conscious veiling of the truth, in case it might expose them. Lack of knowledge, ignorance, is justified. When he does not know something, a man says that which he does know, and hence how he thinks. But for a man to know the truth and consciously to hide it, that cannot be forgiven or justified. Truth is a great principle. Only the clean can speak the truth. If an unclean man tries to speak the truth, it will kill him. So too, only the clean man can understand the truth. Somebody wants the truth to be said to him. To hear the truth, he must be ready to die. In other words: You cannot hear and understand the truth unless you are ready to sacrifice yourself for it. The words of Christ: “Whoever is not ready to deny himself ‘, imply the readiness of a man to renounce his life so as to comprehend the great God-given Truth. Christ said much about unification, as also upon the more important principles of life, but to us have come only fragments, which today are made the basis of free interpretations and various theories which do not correspond to the absolute truth. True thought is only that which is applied and tested in life itself. “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” Unification exists not only between souls but also between musical tones. The latter unification we call harmony. If we look at the fiddle, we shall see that it is made up of several parts, but so arranged that all the curves and angles go towards a straight line which passes through the centre of the fiddle. The master fiddle-maker has so unified its lines and angles that at the touch of its strings all the sounds emerge from the great opening of the harmonic unity. And man represents an instrument, like the fiddle, with four well-stretched strings. The strings of the fieddle differ from each other not only in thickness but also in the intensity of the sound. To play a fiddle, a man also needs a bow with well-stretched hairs, so that when it touches the strings he can obtain the required notes. For a man to know how to play the fiddle means that he has acquired one of the great arts of life. When a child begins to learn the fiddle, at first he squeaks, playing false notes. The more he grows and practises, the cleaner the notes become. Life is like music. For a man to live correctly means that he masters the art of playing. The human body is like an instrument, a special fiddle on which he plays; the strings are the four basic humours, through which a man expresses himself. The four basic humours are: the sanguine or gaseous, mental or nervous, choleric and phlegmatic. It is not enough for the fiddle to have four strings, but they must be of good quality, to be made of good material and to be of a certain thickness. The same applies to the humours. It is not sufficient for us to say that a certain man is sanguine or of mental-nervous humour, but his humour must be of good quality. To play well, the fiddler must be gifted, to play from his soul, to have a good fiddle, a good bow and top-quality strings. And then, when he starts playing, his fiddle must give out clean, pleasant notes. Somebody will ask: what remains for the fiddler but to put his soul into the fiddle? The soul manifests in three ways: in the sphere of feelings, of thoughts and ofactins. When the soul manifests in the feelings, the latter participate in the playing: out of the fiddle pour soft, warm, harmonious notes, as though it were itself speaking. A famous fiddler took his fiddle for repair to a good craftsman, an Italian. The craftsman invited the fiddler to sit and wait while the fiddle was being repaired, so that he could take it when it was ready. As he watched the craftsman dismantling the fiddle with his knife, the fiddler lost consciousness and collapsed. Why did he lose consciousness? Because the movement of the knife on the fiddle caused him pain: part of his soul resided in the fiddle. Christ says: “What God has joined, let not man put asunder.” What unification did God do? What things did He join? God joined the brain and the heart, the soul and the spirit, the body and the lower organs. Must an ignorant man dismember that which God has joined. What man is ignorant? He who does not speak the truth, who does not understand wisdom, who does not act in accordance with truth and love. Since you know this, do not act like the ignorant, separating that which God has joined. He who keeps God’s laws will rejoice in his life. Some villagers complained to the bishop about their priest, that he wearied them with his services, which often went on for four or five hours. At one time he used to finish the service in half an hour, but usually he kept the people in church for hours. The bishop sent for the priest and told him that he had had a complaint against him from his parishioners and asked him what he had to say injustification. “Lord Bishop,” said the priest, “what they say against me is true. The cause is as follows: when the angels and the saints assist me at the service, I finish my work quickly, in half an hour. But when I am left alone, on my own resources, without the help of the bright ones, I finish my work in four to five hours.” Consequently, when the people’s affairs are well arranged, the bright ones help them; when their affairs are not well arranged, the bright ones leave them to their own devices. So too we can explain why some trees ripen early but others later. For example, the cornelian cherry flowers first but ripens last. At the foundation of the world, God made plants as well as fruit trees, and He gave the right of every spirit to choose for himself one fruit tree of his own. When it came to the turn of the devil, he chose for himself the cornelian cherry, as being the tree which blossoms first. He said to himself: “As the cornelian cherry blossoms first, it will also ripen first.” But he was deceived: the cornelian ripens last. And man can, like the cherry, ripen early, or, like the cornelian, rien last. Why some fruits ripen early and others later, also has its reasons. The ripening of the cherry and of the cornelian represent processes which also proceed in the human life. “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” With this verse Christ directs the attention of people not to destroy that which God has done. When it comes to spoiling, people today are experts. Whatever nation you come across, you will see that all people are experts in spoiling things. You see what some peasants do when they pass a beautiful stone drinking trough. When they look at the fountain, they get a desire to take out their knives or their axes so as to sharpen them on the trough. In such a situation will not the trough be ruined? Will not a man be spoiled, be he priest, teacher, preacher, judge, if you sharpen your axes on them? Then they say: “That would not happen to our priest, preacher or judge. Why should it not happen; how should they not be spoiled when you sharpen your axes and knives on them? So as not to spoil what God has created, first we must not spoil it. Who are those guilty of spoiling? Before learning the art of sharpening their axes on the troughs of the fountains, people must learn the law of harmony. Some boy marries a good, gentle, delicate young woman, but after a few years he takes out his axe and begins to sharpen it on her trough. He sharpens the axe and lays down: “You should not be considerate, delicate, or gentle with people.” Today he sharpens his axe, tomorrow he sharpens it, until in the end his beloved is spoiled and becomes coarse. How should she not be spoiled when people are constantly sharpening axes? The same thing happens with the boy. You don’t need to sharpen your axes upon the backs of good girls and boys so as to wear them away. Sharpen them upon the backs of the coarse, hard and ruthless peopole. They need to be blunted. A priest had the habit of waving incense before the seats of those of his parishioners who were constantly absent from church. One of the congregation asked the priest: “Father, why do you cense before the empty seats and not opposite us, who are present at the service?” “You do not need to be censed. As you are present here, you are out of any danger. But those who are absent, they need to be censed, since they are exposed to great dangers and evils.” You should be like that priest, and go where there is need and not where there is no need. The rich men always invite the rich to supper. Their seats are always censed because there is something to be taken from them. That is not a reproach, I state a fact. Everybody says: “Today they invite me, and tomorrow I shall invite them.” It is good for a man to do what is harmonious, natural and reasonable, so as to re-establish God’s harmony. Let us feed the poor, the hungry, the orphans, because such is the will of God — not to destroy what He has created. “That which God has joined let not man put asunder.” This is one of the principles to which Christ has drawn the attention of mankind. You will say that Christ preached well. Why did he preach well? Because His preachings give life, bring a stimulus to the minds and hearts of the people. A true sermon is that which feeds the human soul and gives it the strength to develop. Christ’s sermons are true and truthful, because they come out of the living, reasonable nature. He interprets phenomena in nature as they really are. Whoever cannot interpret them correctly deceives himself and at the same time deceives others. Study nature, learn it, so that you can use its power. If a man aspires to nature and wishes to combine with it, let him every morning, especially during the month of May, get up early and go out for a walk, in the clean air, before the sun is up. What greater picture is there of the rising of the sun! At the same time, you can take advantage of the early rays of the sun, which react beneficiently upon the organism. Get up early in the morning, before the rising of the sun, to receive its blessing, and after that begin your work. Re-establish the links between your own organism and the sun, as between your soul and God, which have been made from the beginning. Avoid temporary connections with people, so as not to come up against disharmonious situations and contradictions. And so, study nature, study the manifestations of God, without criticising. Somebody opened a book, took only one extract from it and began to criticise it, to say that some thought or other is not in accord with the new theories of life. Are the new theories in accordance with God’s teaching and with God’s laws? We must all be bearers of God’s teaching, because all people, as souls, constitute parts of God’s organism, while God demands that His body be healthy, and all the limbs be in harmony. Only thus can man bejoyful and happy. If he is not healthy, he cannot bejoyful and happy; the cause of this is not in God; if a brother and sister do not agree, the cause is not in God; if trust and agreement do not exist between rulers and ruled, the cause is not in God. The cause of disharmony, mistrust and contradictions between people is due to the break-up of the unification which God made. In future all elevated people — teachers, writers, professors, preachers — must come down from the height of their position to enter into the world, among the simple, the poor, the suffering, to teach them how to live. Christ asks this of all people. With his own descent to the earth, Christ shewed to the people how to apply great, unselfish love among them. All contemporary writers know that God is at work on the earth. He causes great transformations in human minds and hearts. That is why it is said in the Scripture that a new world is being created, new minds and hearts are founded. The new people will create the new humanity which will shew that new powers and energies are at work, both in the world and in the whole of nature, “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” Between what has this unification been made? Between the stomach and the food, between the lungs and the air, between the heart and the feelings, between the mind and the thoughts. If one of these unifications is destroyed, man is disorganised. It is enough for the correct unification between stomach and food to be destroyed for the man to fall ill and to seek help from the doctor. But if the doctor helps him and then a second time the man destroys the unification, the stomach will begin to resist him, and will soon surrender its service. Just as a man’s stomach is destroyed, so relationships with people are ruined. Every man must make the unification between his stomach and the food which he takes. If the unification is a correct one, a man feels healthy, courageous, happy and ready for any work. After that, if he does not feel healthy, joyful and brave, the unification is not harmonious. If he does not know his organism and cannot make harmonious unifications, a man asks the opinion of good scholars and doctors, and applies their advice. The opinion of scholars is good, but is not the same for every person, and is not the same for various ages, physical and spiritual. A man must constantly change his food. On the change of food depends his health condition. Just as the incorrect unification between stomach and food upsets the human organism, so too the incorrect unification between the heart and the feelings upsets not only the physical but also the phychic condition of the man. You will say that people should love one another. How many young men must love a girl, and how many girls must love a young man? If ten young men love one girl, they will upset her. It is preferable for one boy to love one girl, and not ten. The ten boys will confuse her head, will muddle her heart, and soon she will begin to fall ill. In reality, only one boy loves, and not two. Somewhere in America there was a wonderful preacher who charmed his hearers with his oratory. Then came a day when he had to leave. All his hearers and flock came out to see him off, because he was a general favourite. With them came out the dogs and ducks and geese to say goodbye to him and wish him a happy journey. Finally he got onto a horse and set off for the station. At the end of the town, the horse reared up on its hind legs, threw him to the ground and said: “Good-bye my friend, we do not need such celebrities. They are not necessary for our development.” Which man is a celebrity? He who carries out God’s will and, like the sun, bears a blessing for every living creature. Some think that, to be saved, they need to have correct beliefs. This is not so. If you sleep when the sun rises, whoever you are, nothing can save you. The salvation of mankind is concealed in that great religion, which unites all religions, like the limbs of a whole. The new religion is love. It unites all people, pacifies and solves contradictions and brings them joy and happiness. For people to be united means that they have common ideals, common aims. Unification, one-ness, gives people strength and makes them powerful. Whatever it is that they desire, they can attain it. When the people of Israel left Egypt and set off with Moses for the Promised Land, they were divided into twelve tribes, and each tribe carried part of the Tabernacle. Wherever they halted, they at once gathered all its parts together, erected it and offered up a fervent prayer to God. Gathered together, sending up their prayer to God, they received His blessing. What do the present-day orthodox do? They too bear parts of the Tabernacle, but even now they still cannot gather in one place to build it and all together offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to God. If somebody asks them what they are carrying, they reply: “We are the true believers, we bear the parts of the Tabernacle.” Christ says to them: “Gather together in one place and let each bring the part which he bears, so that we can build the Great Tabernacle, and all together pray to God in the Spirit and Truth.” Let all peoples gather the parts of the Tabernacle into one whole; this implies the verse: “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” In other words it is said: “Do not turn upside down the great love which God has put in your souls.” The time has come for the people to turn to the education of their minds and hearts, which is the first unification which God has accomplished. What greater blessing for man is there than to have a mind which thinks straight and a heart which feels correctly and to join them in one! When the mind thinks straight and the heart feels correctly, man understands things. He has achieved that understanding by the path of suffering. Nevertheless people complain about their sufferings. Blessed sufferers, blind and lame! Why are people blind, lame or crippled? Because they have passed through some philosophy which has crippled them. They ought to search for God’s Truth, which bears life and shews the path to the Lord. Many men seek God where He is not. Go out in the month of May, early in the morning at four o’clock, and you will find the Lord. Join in the song of the little birds, in the breath of the soft breeze, in the babble of the srings, and you will find God. The sun invites every living being to come outside, to great him, so that he can pass on God’s blessing. Why should you not give thanks to the sun, as to God’s servant, who bears the epistle from Our Father, and say to him: “Bear our greeting to our Father and say to Him that we have already decided to re-establish the harmony which we have destroyed.” What do most people do? When they wake up, they look out and, if they see that it is windy or the sky is cloudy, they say: “The weather is nasty, it’s not fit to get up.” No, be thankful for the weather, whatever it is, and say: “The day is good. I shall get to enjoy the day, to give thanks for the blessings which it promises.” Give thanks for the wind, because it ventilates your thoughts and feelings. Give thanks for the clouds, because they carry dampness, through which the flowers are freshened, the trees and the fruits. This is the right teaching, towards which people strive. Every living thing wants to be loved, to live freely and to enjoy the blessings which nature gives. When I meet a dog, he looks at me, wags his tail, and asks me: “Do you think of beating me, or will you leave me free to go my way?” “Go freely on your way, I bring peace and not force.” The dog believes me, wags his tail again and goes on. “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” To preserve this link, man must be ready to apply the teaching of Christ, This means to keep the law of harmony, known under the name of the law of sympathy. Two laws are at work in the world: the law of sympathy and the law of antipathy, that is, a law of harmony and a law of disharmony. When they love, people apply the law of sympathy or of harmony, they live among people in a brotherly way. Whgen they do not love, they live by the law of antipathy or disharmony. In that law there exists repulsion, but in the former — attraction. Where there is harmony, there is God. That is why every man must ask himself whether he is linked with God or not, Do not seek for God outside, like some form, but look for Him inside, in yourself, like a content. The rose and the carnation have an external form, but the important thing is their scent, which a man accepts internally. They can be distinguished by their aroma. Consequently God is both outside and inside. It is a mistake to think that He is only outside. Man should not consciously close his eyes before the truth. All things between which there is unification are internal. For example, you have a piano, music, a pianist, but the musical sounds will not appear: to get the sounds, the pianist must join together all the elements into a whole, and the sound will appear. You listen and accept the music internally. But only that man is able to accept the internal meanings of things who listens closely inside himself, to his own inner voice. That is what it means for a man to understand the meaning of things. Many men ask themselves what the church represents. The church is the piano, the holy books are the sheet music, and the priest is the pianist. He has to sit at the piano and to play according to all the rules of the music. You sharpen your ears and you listen, so as to take in the music internally and you bless God for having the possibility to make use of it. Rejoice that you are able to go outside, when the sun shines and you are able to accept it. Blessed is the man who is able to understand the conjunction which God has laid in the whole of nature, among the minerals, plants and animals. You may say that the minerals and plants are voiceless. Nature is living and reasonable. Nothing in it is voiceless. He who has ears to hear, he can listen to the converse of nature and understand it. All mystics take nature as music, converse and song. Thus it preaches and instructs people. There is not a preacher in the world who can compare himself with nature. “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” God has made several basic unifications, on the one hand between the body, the soul and the spirit, and, on the other hand, between the mind, the heart and the will. These are conditions through which the human spirit passes, so as to perfect itself In the physical world man learns the law of movement, in the spiritual world the qualities of the feelings and their intensity, and in the intellectual world the meaning of life. When we talk about resurrection, about eternal life, we understand the conjunction which exists between the human spirit and the human soul. They contain the qualities of the Holy Spirit and of God’s soul, and therefore man has possibilities such as God has. He must be conscious of that work upon himself, to manifest the Godly which is placed in him. If somebody says that he cannot do a certain thing, he shews that he denied the Godly in himself. If he says that he is a sinner, he denies what God has unified. God has given you much land which you must cultivate; many men leave their hearts and minds uncultivated: that is the reason why there falls from without various unwanted seeds, from which sring up weeds and tares. He who does not cultivate what God has given him cannot be saved; nowhere does he see a way out. He who does not work in conjunction with the Godly can expect no blessings. Every man must say: “God has placed in me certain gifts and capabilities, and I must work so as to develop them.” You may say that man is sinful, that alone he can achieve nothing. Sinful is only he who has destroyed the unification which God made. Turn to the Godly in yourself, with a wish to restore the harmony which exists between your mind and your heart, between your soul and your spirit, and you will be good, you will rejoice in the blessings which have been given you. Do not say that people are bad, that they prevent you from manifesting yourself, but look into yourself for the cause of this. Apply faith, patience and love, and you will see that you will quickly achieve good results. To recognise your neighbours, take off from them the outer coverings, and you will find that inside they are good. The green outer covering of the walnut is bitter, but the kernel is sweet, good to eat. Only in this way can you recognise the qualities of the human soul.l Do not say that man as such is a wolf. If you think that, you see only the wolfs skin in which he is temporarily dressed; inside he is not really a wolf. Another dresses in a lion’s skin, but inside he is not a lion. You must penetrate into the inner nature of man, if you are to understand that man is a brother to man and not a wolf. He who has worked and continues to work upon himself has preserved his cleanliness, like a natural piece of clothing given him by God. If you meet such a man, you will see God in his face and you will rejoice that you have seen Him. Your task is to learn and to preserve everything which was given to you in the distant past. Where will you learn? From the Great Teacher, God, whose teaching has no beginning and has no end. He leads towards resurrection, towards everlasting life. To be born again means to begin from the beginning to learn and to work. The resurrected man is ready to renounce his personal life and to work and to live only for Him who has created him. Today Christ turns to all people who find out that in them is the image of God and who undertake to purify it and to restore the original unification in themselves that they were born with. God gave to man health, which he must carefully preserve. To preserve your health, rise early in the morning, especially in the month of May. At four o’clock you must be out of your bed. That is good not only for you, but for all people. Teachers, priests, mothers, fathers — all must begin their work early. When the sun begins to shine, say: “Blessed is the Lord our God, who has sent the sun for us to enjoy its light and warmth.” He who enjoys the blessings which nature generously gives him, only he understands the meaning of the verse, spoken by Christ two thousand years ago: “That which God has joined, let not man put asunder.” As I look at this verse, I only scatter the seeds on your fields. The remaining task is yours, you must cultivate them, just as a writer takes a subject and develops it. That means that a man hears the voice of his great Father — Love, and understands the meaning of his life and his purpose on the earth. That means for a man to be born again, that is, to be born anew. Christ says: “Unless a man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” That’s who, whoever is born of father and mother will be born and reborn many times upon the earth. The fool will be born and reborn, until he becomes wise; the ordinary man must become talented, a genius, a saint, an angel, and so on. If for every living being there is not a condition to develop, then life loses its meaning. Work, develop yourselves, without struggling for supremacy. Whoever wishes to be first, the same shall be last. An ancient tradition relates that when God founded the world, He entrusted the sun with a great task — to shine, to give light and to warm. However, it had the desire to rise first and to be the first to go before God. When He learnt about this desire, the Lord laid down that all the planets should move around the Sun and it around God. That is precisely why the Sun, the elder brother of the heavens, was further from God than all the younger brethren. The Sun confessed his sin, and to redeem it, constantly rose and set. The remaining planets moved round him so as to learn the law of motion. Many Christians have the same desire as the Sun, to be near to Christ, but the new teaching, the teaching of Love, excludes avarice. “Blessed are the meek and poor in spirit,” says Christ. In other words: “Blessed are those who take up the place which God has marked out for them.” For preference, a man should occupy the last place, in order to carry out God’s will, rather than to be first and not to fulfil God’s will. Christ says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God.” I want you to restore the connection between the mind and the heart, as also betwqeen the spirit and the soul, so that all your energies begin to flow, whose taps you have turned off for centuries. Talk preached by The Master, 13 May 1917, Sofia.

THE MASTER ON THE SOUL, THE SPIRIT AND COSMIC AWARENESS SOUL By the word “soul” we understand what is exalted and noble in man, that is, the wise beginning which creates and constructs 1. The soul is not something which is divorced from man. In man it is expressed as a principle which creates and constructs things and protects them from destruction. 2. The mind and the heart are two centres through which the soul. realises its ideas. Love is a thread by which the soul is bound to its original source. The soul represents the “soft” principle in man, by means of which love is expressed. The spirit, on the other hand, represents the powerful, strong principle in man. 3. If we assume that the soul resembles heat and the spirit resembles light, can one exist without the other? The spirit is a surface upon which the soul manifests itself. The same thing happens with solar energy. If solar energy does not encounter any surface or dense material to reflect it, it would never be manifested as light and heat. 4. The mind and the heart are ancillary to the soul, and the spirit is its leader. 5. What is real is represented by the soul and the spirit. 6. The soul comes from God, consequently we should love that soul. 7. The soul is not an individual consciousness. It is a collective consciousness. In this sense at the moment of its manifestations each soul is none other than an expression of divine consciousness. 8. When we talk about the soul, we mean the cosmic soul which contains all the suns in itself. They are its cells which it (the soul) penetrates to mobilise. 9. The aspirations of all souls unite and pour into the circle of divine consciousness. This is a deep philosophy for the understanding of which mental effort is needed. 10. Whatever is said about the soul, whatever theories you may read, everyone should adhere to the understanding that he carries within him. It is not important if he cannot express it in words. 11. The soul also represents the inner essence of man. It is also present in the consciousness, in the mind, in the heart and in the will of man, everywhere and in everything. It determines things and can be determined by nobody. The soul is present in man’s spirit as well. If someone should attempt to endow it with form, this means limiting it — and the soul cannot be limited. Where the soul is present, there is perpetual movement, perpetual work. 12. Everybody has a dim understanding ofthe human soul. The soul cannot be understood physically, it is an essence which may be put to the test. The only reality accessible to our minds and feelings is the soul. The spirit is something incomprehensible to us. 13. Consciousness represents the inner body of man by which the soul communicates with the divine world. It is the inner wrapping of the soul. 14. The soul is a little universe with countless riches, countless gifts and abilities. 15. The soul is ethereal. First it visits the body, then it goes out. When people say that the soul is in the body, that is as true as saying that man lives in his home. 16. The more righteous and good a person is, the more beautiful is the garment which “hthes his soul. 17. The soul is a place which only God may inhabit. If you admit man into your soul, you will find yourselfin difficulties. 18. If he organises the forces in his body, man is able to make room for the soul and the spirit in himself. This means being reborn again from the mother soul and the father spirit. 19. Softness is one ofthe great qualities ofthe soul. Only the soul can be soft and plastic. When we speak of softness of character, we mean the manifestation ofthe soul in the physical world. 20. When you want to correct your mistakes, you should turn to your soul as to a living being with whom you can talk. 21. It is sufficient for a soul to love you for you to be supported in the difficulties of your life. 22. The soul has the advantage that it can become small, almost invisible and can at the same time, become as big as the universe. The whole truth of the matter is that while man is here on earth, in this little form, it is vital for him to make contact with the souls of other people. 23. A strong man is one who is in contact with the souls ofother people just as he is with his family and friends. 24. Why should we do good? Because it is in this goodness that our souls can find the materials with which they can build up their bodies. 25. When we come to the soul, it is a great, divine book which is in a process of constant development. 26. If you approach a human soul, you can consider that soul sacred. You will approach it with reverence, so that you, too, will be approached with reverence. 27. You must associate with souls and not with the soil, with coarse material. Do not wish for things which you do not need. 28. Listen to the voice of your soul, which never lies and is never deceived. 29. Both light and music are the food of the human soul. 30. ASPIRE TV THE COMBINATION OF YOUR EXALTED SOUL WITH AN EXALTED AND RADIANT SPIRIT. 31. The spirit is an expression of the unknown, that is, the great. The spirit embraces everything. 32. The divine spirit is reason in man. It is the highest consciousness. The word ‘consciousness’ embraces only one part of the manifestations of the spirit. 33. Man needs a new consciousness. Without this consciousness he cannot rise. The old consciousness is an old garment. We refer to it as atavism. The new consciousness excludes all conditions which hinder man. It excludes all morbid conditions. The new consciousness makes man healthy. 34. The better developed the white matter of the brain is, the better developed consciousness s. 35. Let one hundred, even two hundred years pass and you will see that what I am telling you now will become science. 36. The invisible world is visible to me. It can become visible to you as well. The new mode of thought is already projected. It works for the growth of people and for their liberation. 37. You have aged from lovelessness ... I have come to make you young again. Love lends sense to life and makes man young. 38. God’s spirit, which is coming to earth now, will bring the new light to all. Who are “all”? Those who are willing to light their candles. 39. For many years man has lived with self-awareness. Now the time has come to enter cosmic awareness. UNTIL MAN DEVELOPS COSMIC AWARENESS, he will be first joyful and then sorrowful in turn. Christ’s task was the development of cosmic awareness in man. 40. It is already time to bathe ourselves in Christ’s spirit or to enter the higher divine consciousness to see what we should do. He who lives in this awareness knows, when he begins every task, how he will do it and what the results will be. 41. A higher awareness should be awakened in man which should stimulate him to create the organs by which to express his great ideas and exalted feelings. 42. Awareness represents the inner body of man, by means of which the soul communicates with the divine world. 43. Thought and prayer are one of the beautiful forms of consciousness. It is important to adhere to the time at which these forms are manifested. 44. Human consciousness is clothed in a shell, like an egg in which the soul is concealed. This shell, this door, should be opened at exactly the right time. The bud should open exactly in its own time under conditions which are favourable to it. 45. If he keeps his consciousness aware, if he ensures the presence of his spirit, man can deal with the greatest difficulties and suffering. 46. When we speak of consciousness, we means the manifestation of the divine beginning in the world. The awakening of human consciousness means man’s link with God. 47. Be awake enough to keep the light of your consciousness burning, that is, your candle should constantly burn and cast light. If you extinguish your candle, you enter the realm of delusions and contradictions. 48. If a divine, cosmic awareness once awakens in man, he leads an exalted, conscientious life. He understands the sense of suffering and looks upon it as something inevitable. Whatever suffering he endures, he never complains. 49. If it is dark in your consciousness, remove the cloud which is obscuring the light. 50. When consciousness is clear, man achieves inner peace. 51. Cosmic awareness means great activity. Every soul which embraces all beings, from the biggest to the smallest and sends out its love to them in order to elevate them, enters into this state. 52. Faith is an unceasing process in cosmic awareness. 53. Today all people are beginning to feel that they are part of one great whole. This is the beginning ofthe awakening of cosmic awareness, which wants to make all people friends, wants them to work together and understand one another. 54. Christ’s teaching brought to the world a new science which aims at preparing the road for the penetration of the new consciousness in man, so that he will live correctly and contribute to the awakening of cosmic consciousness. In contemporary language this means we should be aware that the cosmos is alive, that it comprises a whole and takes just as great an interest in us as we take in it. It is the whole and we are its components. 55. I want your prosaic world to disappear. 56. There is human science — but the one I am talking to you about is not human. 57. Two things remain pure in this world — music and poetry. They are still untainted, everything else is soiled. Consequently we should all be musicians and poets. 58. A healthy, good and sensible person cannot be poor. He has been richly endowed by nature. Pure blood, pure thoughts and feelings make a man rich. The first thing a person needs is to have enough gold in his blood. 59. Man’s task is to aid that inner knowledge by means of which he can find the gold necessary for his blood. 60. Methods for the acquisition of gold in the blood are to work consciously on oneself and the use of foods which contain gold. 61. I will give you one rule for life: every morning, before you start work, direct your consciousness to cosmic consciousness to establish contact with all living beings on earth. During these two minutes try to isolate yourself completely from this world as if nothing at all exists around you. Man’s strength resides in his links with the invisible world It is sufficient for us to direct our consciousness towards the cosmic, divine consciousness, for only two minutes. To establish a link with advanced beings and to experience the force that they exert upon us. 62. When man’s awakening begins, do not stop him! Do not interfere where the spirit is at work, in the work of the Holy Spirit. 63. When a prophet comes to us, he cannot conform to the official laws of man, to the established church, but he will speak of things just as Nature spoke of them. 64. I am the source and I fulfil my task. I seek no happiness from men because I know God. I intend to pass on to you God’s love; it is a great source. It does not belong to me. What I am saying is divine; it will not be constrained and cannot be constrained. 65. I wish all people to be happy, satisfied and sincere. I have never thought about myself. I want to show you the true path. I want the gifts of the occult to develop in you. We will awaken them gradually, not all at mice. Occultists who have developed too rapidly have become proud. We want everything to follow its natural path, so that we can also make use of the bounties that God has invested in us. 66. The present life has reached its outer limits. When the dying caterpillar has reached the boundary and says: “The end has come”, her life can no longer develop in this form. She weaves a cocoon, but does she ask what will become of her, will she become more beautiful? Now the caterpillar will emerge as a glorious butterfly. This life will determine the new life, and the new life will be at least tenfold better than the present one. 67. I stand to one side and do not want to impose my wishes upon you. The only method which brings no negative effects in its trail really is to act through the Law of Love, Wisdom and Truth. It is only these that are the pure methods by which one can act. 68. My Teaching is the Teaching of love and brotherhood, sisterhood, of absolute freedom, in which everybody respects the rights of others, and the greatest are willing to become servants of the small and weak. This is God’s Teaching. NOW AN EXALTED CULTURE OF LIFE IS COMING’

TO UNIFY MANKIND THROUGH THE LIGHT, THAT IT MAY BECOME THE SALT OF THE EARTH Why cannot brotherly life exist everywhere, so that brothers and sisters may meet together, walk in the mountains, sing songs, pray and eat together? Let there be not one Dawn Meeting but a thousand throughout the world, where the Word of the Light can be heard, in simple white halls with great windows facing east. On a small earth pulpit He spoke, standing up, facing them all, with eyes closed for the prayer. Let them read the Good Prayer together, quietly, rhythmically, aloud. It contains the ten basic rules: to enter into the consciousness of the people. “Our lives, which we consecrate to Thee, for the benefit of our brothers and near ones, Thou say a blessing.” What greater blessing than that can there be for the people? To greet the rising of the sun together, when — in quiet majesty — the sun rises over the earth, for then are the most holy minutes of the day and the strongest healing effects of its rays. And then to begin singing the beautiful prayer-songs, in the ancient holy language, of which every note is healing, joy and inspiration. For the Word to be heard amid nature, by the lakes and rivers, under the trees of the open meadow or on the rocky peak. Then let the couples arrange themselves in the Paneurythmic circle and all merge in the high cosmic rhythm! It begins its movement on the day of the spring equinox, the 22nd of March, the cosmic New Year, and finishes on the 22nd of September, the day of the Autumnal equinox. Then the sun stops at the autumnal festival, which is also the cosmic point of the consciousness and of nature. Then is also the first teaching day of the School of the Universal White Brotherhood, which the Cosmic Teacher opened on the Earth. And who were those who, without reserve and in trust, followed him? The women. He said: “Elevate the woman.” The woman-disciple, who sits on an equal with the man-disciple, bears the Light and must become the salt of the earth. The Master often addresses the woman, talks about women and consecrates them for the great task of educators not only of children but of mankind as well, There will come days of deep introspection, contemplation, prayer, communication with His word. Will this distance people from life and make them oddities? No, they will only understand life the better than the others and will be lighted candles. Not preachers but doers, models of service, partaking of another consciousness; they will become filled with a new life. Their thought will be lively and responsive. They will not fall ill, because they will live in a new way, with a new consciousness. They will eat simple and clean food. They will know the deep meaning of vegetarianism, which means breaking with evil, with violence, with killing. They will be quiet and peaceful, like the waters of a mountain lake, happy and joyous. When summer comes, they will go onto the mountains together. There they will unfold the pages of the school lectures and every day hear something new; they will grow rich. And then, will they loook at the old way of life, will they be desperate, sad and discouraged? For them life will be a school, an experience. They will talk about their experience on earth. And always they will maintain their link with Heaven. In the evening they will raise their eyes to the starry sky and they will say to the stars: “Give me a little honey”, meaning good and blessed things. They will walk with the spirit of the mountain, of every tree, of every flower. And when they see a beautiful flower, they will bend down and talk to it, but not to break it off! And mothers will teach their children not to pick the blossom-heads ... This will come about when people begin to live in the world of the light. When they become the salt of the earth. Is this impossible? Not at all. Because every man carries within himself something godly. When you have faith in your own soul, then demand this Sermon. Your error is, He says, that you do not have faith in your own soul. Every man will find in his Words something for himself, for his soul and his heart, for his spiritual and physical health. The people of this Teaching and Word will remain intelligent, lively and ever young. Like his disciples even to the present. Because there are still living those who knew him ... The Harmony will set off from a pair and will increase into four and into six, the number of the pause. In four is the work, in two agreement. And the bright circle grows wider. The Harmony of the two, like circles in the bright, deep water, will spread into a cosmic circle by which Mankind will be reborn, For this reason we give the sermon of the salt and the Light, the two great principles which people over the whole world now need.

THE LIGHT (Videlinata) “Vie ste videlinata na sveta” (You are the Light of the world) St Matthew, Chapter 4, Verse 14. In my last Talk I spoke of salt — the first divine element of life, and to-day I shall speak about the second element — Light. I shall attempt to pass on Christ’s words in the language of to-day, of the 20th century. What does Christ mean by the word “Light”? Every word has its own meaning. It is only understood when it produces a certain effect on the mind and heart of man. If you take a matchstick, you can only find out its effect when you strike it, otherwise it remains senseless. Consequently, words in the spoken language are matchsticks and everybody must have a matchbox ready to be able to light his match in time, that is, so that each word may produce its own effect. We should not behave like small children -just taking matches out of the box, striking them and throwing them away. That is not philosophy. There are many contemporary writers who take out matchsticks, strike them and throw them to the ground. I ask you: what effect could matches struck in this way possibly have? You can judge what their effects will be for yourselves. In future one’s speech must be salty, it must contain light, but people’s understanding of light is still vague. Light (videlinata) is a compound of the divine element which pertains to the human mind, that is, it enables us to reason, it brings logic, content and sense to our thoughts. In modern science, physicists are arguing about light, whether it comes from the sun or from another source. There are scientists who argue that it comes from the sun, that it is a special form of energy which, when it encounters the earth’s surface, breaks upon it like a wave and is reflected as light. Light is an internal process. It is an element which can always be tested. Light is the most real thing in the world. It is thousands of times more real than this world. It creates human thought and wishes, it is a conductor leading to the world of the spirit and it exists in the form of contemporary ether, it is the membrane which encloses the human spirit, the human mind, without which nobody can think or feel. All of you who have been to high school have experienced some difficulty in solving problems, you know that the principles underlying these problems cannot be mastered all at one but, as one works on them light suddenly dawns and the principles become clear. It is the light which casts light upon things. I will teach you some rules so that you can check everything, because I am not speaking to you only in theory but about a positive science which can be verified by experience. Light is the healthy condition of the human mind, an atmosphere in which man should live constantly. When writers lose this light, they become unproductive. When teachers lose it, they lose their touch and cannot teach. When mothers lose it; they lack love and patience and cannot bring up their children properly. If you have no light in yourself, Love and the Truth cannot be manifested in you. Christ says: “You are the light.” What does he mean by “you”? The first element is salt, the law of balance which keeps all the forces in equilibrium. The second element is light; it exalts and makes things grow, that is, all thoughts and desires grow in light and develop more correctly. A person who lives in light is like a fruit tree growing in fertile soil — all fruits ripen on its branches. Light (videlinata) is a compound of the divine element which pertains to the human mind. When there is a ferment of philosophical thoughts in your mind, do not hasten to rejoice. This is perhaps a shoot coming forth to establish whether there is light, to see whether your thought will take root and yield fruit. When a person is not prepared to die for a thought, this means that the thought has not yet been born in him. Before embarking upon a more lengthy explanation of this matter I shall give you an example from Bulgarian life. It is my task to bring these examples to life, to lend content to them. The example I am about to give you has been heard of by many people, but I shall give it a new character. During the period of Turkish rule in Bulgaria, a Turk visited a Bulgarian chorbadjiya (wealthy, prominent man). As he entered his room, he saw three icons and a lighted icon-lamp on the wall. The icons depicted the Virgin Mary, St George on horseback and St Nicholas. “What do you need those three pictures for? “ he asked the chorbadjiya, “They protect me from all evil, so far nothing bad has happened to me,” repliedthechorbadjiya. “That’samazing,” saidthe Turk. “lhavesomany servants, I pay them well but they do not look after me like that. How much do those icons cost? “ he asked. He bought the three icons, took them home and placed a lighted icon-lamp in front of them. He dismissed all his servants, saying, “I do not need servants any longer. I have found loyal men to guard my house.” One evening, however, thieves entered his house and robbed him. He went up to the icon of the Virgin Mary and said: “ I cannot really complain about you; you are a young woman, you have got a small child to keep you occupied.” Then he turned to the icon of St George. “I cannot complain about you either. You are a young man, you have got to ride your horse and enjoy yourself.” Then he turned last of all to St Nicholas and said: “You are an old man, you have not got a child to look after or a horse to ride, and that is why I am going to punish you.” Then he hung the icon of St Nicholas upside down. St Nicholas found a way of recovering the stolen goods and was reprieved. “That is how I want you to be!” said the Turk. What does the Virgin Mary signify? She signifies a woman with her heart. The child is the heart that she is caring for. Man came to the world to care for his heart like a child and bring about its rebirth. You will ask why women give birth. By means of the law of birth God teaches us how to bring up our children, that is, how to care for our hearts. If a mother suckles her child frequently, it will be healthy, but if the milk is contaminated the child will die. What does the icon of St George represent? St George represents the human mind and the horse his physical body. Man must ride his horse; he who does not ride his horse will lose it. The horse should be well fed, but not overfed, it should not overeat. What does the icon of St Nicholas represent? St Nicholas represents a person with a kind heart and a good mind who has reached the very peak of life. The sensible, divine life. He must engage in the upbringing of the whole of mankind, for him all people must be as children, he must sacrifice himself for others, just as a mother sacrifices herself for her children. Just as St George grooms and feeds his horse, wise old people must educate the young and with their minds and hearts urge them to adopt a sensible life. Christ has this to say: “A city upon a mountain cannot be concealed.” If you possess light, you will be able to find it. If a chiromancer looks at your palm, he will tell you whether you have light or not, just as when you enter a European city you will be able to tell what the people are like by the layout of the city and by the houses. When you enter a house you can see what appeals to the housewife. If red predominates she is a woman of whims, she is changeable. Women who wear red hats and belts see the world as a battlefield and feel bound to fight. I do not say that fighting is wrong, but it must be based on divine law, it must be constructive. If it is destructive, it becomes anarchy. The aim of fighting is freedom, and that is the aim of Light — to make us free. By the word ‘freedom’ we understand the divine harmony in our thoughts and desires the putting in order of everything in the world, in other words, when everything is in its place, when everybody can use the potential that lies dormant in his brain and heart. Modern scientists are constantly examining the brains of dead people and conducting experiments. It is the brain which determines human thought. It is like a garden; the thoughts it yields depend on the nature of the “soil” in the brain. The human brain contains zones similar to those on the earth’s surface. Thoughts grow in it just as flowers do on earth. Each thought is endowed with a form which may bear the character of a sheep, wolf, bear, fox, snake, spider, or ant, and all these forms are qualities which determine human character. The light enters according to the same law, just as light shines down from above and awakens everything in man, awakening both the good and the bad animals in him, whether they be wolves or sheep. And when these animals complain to the Light that there is suffering, the Light says to them: “Do not be afraid, next year I will create you anew, just make a little effort.” When we complain that there is suffering in our lives, the Light says: “Take care, I shall create in you what is necessary.” But the Light will allow for no doubt, faint-heartedness or lack of faith, for these are negative qualities. The Light is a life of divine harmony, and only a person who possesses this harmony can experience the majesty of the Daylight. Daylight is a sensible element. Contemporary physicists say this about light: if lights from two opposing poles with differing lengths and vibrations meet, they are neutralised and then darkness ensues. The same applies to Light. The man is one pole of Light, and the woman is the other. They come together to form a divine harmony. They will form such a harmony if the lengths of their vibrations are the same. That is when the feeling of love is formed. This is when we feel an expansion of the mind, of the heart. However, they must both create Light. When he said: “You are the Light,” Christ meant all others. When he said: “I am the Light,” he meant “I and My Father.” The human body is so adjusted that it will accept nothing that is in excess. We know from chemistry that each element combines with another in exactly determined weight relationships; or one element combines with another with an exactly determined number of atoms, as many as are necessary to form a stable compound. That is the law. Thus, human thoughts come together according to the same law of Light. This Light in the world of the spirit also has its own hues. They can be passive and active. The passive hue is one which is reflected and the active hue is the one which comes straight from the very source. Every thought which produces a division in your mind is not divine, it is only a reflection of the Light. For example, you want to build a house, to become an engineer, to become a writer, to study medicine; this division shows that the subject you are aiming at is not for you. Before the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottomans, when only a few professions existed, fathers advised their sons to become doctors because this profession was more lucrative, or they advised them to become engineers, but not to learn professions which were not lucrative. What sort of a doctor, engineer or priest can one become if one has no vocation? One will resemble the doctor in the Middle Ages who had a very simple method of treatment. He cured his patients by bleeding them and giving them warm water to drink, after which they died. He was surprised: “Well, do all the other doctors manage to cure their patients?” he exclaimed. The same applies to the doctors of to-day. They prescribe some medicine and the patient dies; then they say he had a weak heart or find some other reason to justify themselves. This is not the reason, though. The doctor should understand the human body, the temperament of each of his patients, and prescribe medicines accordingly. A sanguine person and a choleric person cannot be cured by the same method. Why? Because in each body there are different elements which react in their own particular way. In my opinion, all illnesses which exist now are due to the disharmony which appears in the divine Light. How many of you believe there is a life beyond the grave? You will say: “That is what some great man or other said, that is what St Paul wrote.” What experience do you have of this reality, though? “When we die, when we go to the next world, we shall understand whether there is a life beyond the grave,” you will say. For this Light to be understood, spiritual vision is needed. All persons in whom this feeling is developed have certain signs in their eyes, around the pupil, they have certain spots which show to what extent the feeling is developed in them. In modern Western man this feeling has begun to manifest itself as intuition, presentiment, etc. One day a great world in which the Light exists will be revealed to you. This Light comes from within and not from without. Modern occultists say that a person who possesses this Light also has magnetism. Such a person is gentle, compliant, loving and quick to forgive. The elements which destroy and ruin the people of to-day are as follows: pride, anger, lust, laziness, avarice, envy and greed. Pride does not come from God. God created man to have self-respect, but man has drifted away from this into pride. Such a person’s face, hands and nose all bear the marks of pride, but I shall not go into details here. You must study these things yourselves; there are many authors who have written on this subject. When you feel pride in you, when you feel that you are a very important person, look at yourself in the mirror and remember the features of your face, your eyes, remember exactly how you felt. When you are feeling loving and well-disposed, look at yourself again. Jesus said: “There is nothing concealed in man.” For the blind, however, everything is veiled. Some people say that I have told you a lot of mysterious things, but there is no mystery for those who have eyes. There is an apple-pip in my purse — here it is — this is the mystery Sow it, and in ten years’ time you will see its flowers and fruits, and then you will understand the mystery. You will say: “There must be something terrible in all this.” The timid will not enter the kingdom of heaven. What distinguishes a good person from a bad one? A person who lies speaks rapidly and a person who tells the truth speaks quietly and calmly and wants what he has said to be verified. I, too, want you to verify everything. I can, through this Light, communicate with advanced Americans, Chinese, Japanese, with your dear departed and with the world of divine harmony. So long as you love a departed one, you can have an intelligent and sensible conversation with him. There are some mediums who do not understand the language of spirits, and while they are trying to convince other people they can talk to spirits they begin to distort the truth and to deceive. Do not lie; speak the truth because lies have short legs. Truth moves with great speed, it has long legs so that it can hasten to help unhappy spirits. When somebody says to me: “I have got long legs,” I say: “You are lucky, but I hope your soul and your heart have long legs, too, so that you can be a bearer of the Light.” If the Light can develop in us, we shall be able to avoid ninety per cent of the evils that are happening now. Light is one of the fundamental elements necessary for the bringing up of good sons and daughters. I would recommend that all women adopt this rule: do not allow thoughts which have negative qualities to enter your minds. Let those who find life senseless greet the sunrise every morning for a month and see how they will feel then. In springtime, when flowers are sprouting and the trees are in bloom, watch them and see what the results will be — thus you will find the meaning of life. What do the people of to-day do? They sleep until ten o’clock in the morning, and in the evening, just as the sun is setting, they go out to enjoy its fading rays. In autumn, when the leaves are falling, they go for walks. Nature must be studied at the right time. And what are people like to-day? Some of them read the Bible and wonder what Jesus meant by certain words. Jesus had read the book of Divine Nature very thoroughly indeed. I, too, read books and always ask myself: does the writer possess Light or not, what hues is he lacking? After reading each book I can describe its author to you, how his mind works, the shape of his head and face, his hands, what his thoughts are like, etc, Some people want to know who I am, what kind of person I am. I am what I am saying to you. If I deceive you, then that is what I am; if I cure you, then that is what I am. You will ask: “Why should he cure us?” It makes no difference who helps you, whether it is I or somebody else. In my opinion I must pass on my surplus of knowledge, of life to somebody else because it is not mine to possess. The Light that comes from within must be emitted, sent outwards.” “You are all Light.” Christians have been reading this verse for two thousand years and cannot comprehend it. For this reason, take your St Nicholas and hang him upside down. He is bound to protect your house and property because he is your reason, your intellect. Tell him that he will either reason well or that you will turn him upside down, You ask: “What is Light?” When it enters your soul, your face will be beautiful, your eyes radiant, a pleasant warmth will emanate from your hands, a lovely smell from your body. What do the people of to-day smell like? They smell unpleasant, most unpleasant. Violets and other flowers help us to disguise our natural smell. Now the violet you are using speaks: “God manifests Himself in the modesty of life and not in its pride. If you are a valley and your soil is good, God will sow the very best seeds in you. If you are a proud, stony peak, nothing else will cover you except now.” This is the language of the violets, and when people spray themselves with their perfume, let them learn their language. I am not blaming you for that, though I would like all of you to possess the smell and hue the violet. When you utter a word or write something it should have a pleasant smell. According to the concepts of Light, all people are colours, flowers. And what is a teacher? Is he a preacher, a tiller of the soil, father, mother, brother or sister? They are great, divine flowers. Do you understand the colour of a mother? When you enter the world of the Light, you will understand what colour she is. There are no more beautiful colours, no more beautiful flowers in the world than those of a mother, father, brothers, sisters, family and friends. Do you have these colours inside yourself? Is there anybody who has not driven the Light out of himself at least ten times? Is there anyone who has not injured the delicate blooms of his parents, his nearest and dearest, in himself? From now onwards we must build and build. If you want to raise the level of Bulgarian people, you must build. Bulgaria needs salt and Light, which makes things grow, and that is why educated people must think upon these things. Without salt and without Light there is no Bulgaria. The Bulgarian people have a root down there in the earth and a branch up there in the divine world, and people must bring forth fruits upon its branches. This is the only way in which a nation or a soul can acquire character. Souls really are individual but are also collective at the same time. Collectiveness is a law of harmony we can experience with our souls, our hearts and will. Another thing which destroys Light is anger. An angry person is a person without will-power. In one place in the Scriptures it is written: “Be angry, but do not commit sin.” Anger is a certain energy which is not used to good ends. All of us have experienced a feeling of weakness after anger, which proves that demagnetisation has taken place. Another element which binders Light is lust. It is the coffin of love. How many young men and women have gone to their graves prematurely because of it! Love is harmony and lust is poison. The fourth element which ruins Light is laziness, the fifth is envy. Envy and pride are brother and sister. A person who envies is proud as well. He who has been possessed by envy is glad when he sees others suffering. Envy is manifested in politicians too, and there are plenty of them in Bulgaria. Make way for noble people! If a person has all the above-mentioned vices, then stop him, trip him up, for he does not know his place! When Jesus said: “You are Light,” he was referring to the people of the future. When God created the world and the stars, the moon, the sun, He said: “This is for the people of the future.” Sometimes people say to me: “Tell me about your past.” It has been written on you. Your body may be sick at the moment but this does not mean that you are sick. When the conditions which hinder the Light are removed, the sickness will disappear. Another vice which binders the Light is greed, the desire to have a lot. I will give you an example of greed. In Spain there was a very rich man who enslaved entire regions of the country. Everybody complained about him, and because of this the King of Spain ordered that he be put in prison. In prison, when he wanted water or bread he was charged a thousand ducats for a glass of water or a piece of bread. “This is the cruellest thing that has been done to me,” said the prisoner. “That is your punishment,” replied the king. “Now go, and never again do anything you would not like others to do to you.” All of you who are here, men and women, are Light. For me evil does not exist. I understand that in the Divine Harmony evil does not exist, but outside of the Divine Harmony there is evil. If you decide to lead a good, noble life, you will possess this Light, it will be with you. The Light is reasoning, and all the mystics of old who possessed it saw a boundless world full of the most beautiful colours and flowers with which their souls were filled. When you feel well-disposed, you possess this Light, but you cannot retain it for long. Sometimes you think that I preach good sermons but you say to yourselves: “I wonder what his aim can be” My aim is to fulfil the will of God. I am not a liar. I have never lied to anyone, nor have I been deceived. You cannot win me over with anything but good, truth, love and wisdom. If you want to serve God and decide to do this, only then will God come down from on high and make you good people with great spirits. I preach to you about the living god, about the god of the 20th century who demolishes prisons and sets prisoners free and brings harmony and order, joy and cheer. He brings blessings that people have not even dreamt of. He will transform this earth into a Garden of Eden, and you, the Bulgarians, will live in it. You will all be alive, I will meet you again and you will see whether what I am telling you is true or not. There are no illusions as some may think. Illusions contain the following quality: for example, you can feed somebody with an illusions when you say to him that you have given him food but in forty to fifty days he will grow thin and die. Man loses his strength and wits because of illusions. If, however, your soul is fed, is refreshed, is kept alive by some thought, then it is not an illusion. I want all Bulgarians, men and women, to be great in terms of virtue, love, justice, wisdom, of that divine truth of the Light that I have been talking to you about. Contemplate the Light, it is with you, experience it, be independent, enter each flower like bees to collect the honey. Do not stay there for the night, for that is lust, but take some honey and go back to your own hive. That is what Jesus meant by the words: “You are the Light,” and: “A city that is built on a mountain cannot be concealed.” When you enter that city, you will understand the sense of your life on earth. You imagine what your future life will be like. It is there inside you and depends upon your present life. The same is true for every caterpillar, which contains all the elements necessary to turn into a butterfly. You, too, will be like the butterfly before much time has passed. At present you are walking along the ground in a straight line and wondering whether another life exists. When you become butterflies, you will see that there is another life, and with your wings, your mind and your heart of Light you will alight on the most beautiful divine tree, the tree of life; you will understand its sense and you will be joyful and happy. Talk given on II April 1917

XI THE SALT “You are the salt of the earth; if the salt becomes saltless, how then can things be salted?” St Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 13. Christ commenced his sermon on the mountain with the nine beatitudes. The beatitudes about which he spoke relate to another world, They do not refer to life on earth. About earthly things Christ says: “You are the salt.” I am going to talk about salt, because life on earth cannot exist without salt. The physical world is a world of salt, not of light, which is the world of angels. “You”, he says. What does he mean by ‘you’? Do not interpret this word in a limited sense. It is only for those who believe that the word ‘you’ means all people in whom an awakened divine consciousness exists; all the latter are the salt of the earth. All occultists, cabalists and mystics interpret the word ‘salt’ as meaning ‘the force of balance’, that element offeree which keep things balanced. If we want to walk in the streets, we must possess balance. When ships are built, a cargo of salt is placed in the bottom of the hull to maintain the ship’s balance so that it will not capsize in stormy seas. By salt we mean the force which makes material dense, protects it from decay and creates conditions for the functioning of more exalted forces in the world. Salt is a necessary element on earth for the health of the human body. When the body loses its salt, it loses its foundation and in consequence all ailments manifest themselves. Sometimes we say about somebody: “He is neurasthenic.” I say: “ He has lost his salt, his nervous system has lost its salt, energy is flowing out of him.” If we examine the nerves, the arteries of a neurasthenic with the eye of a clairvoyant, we will see a number of small cracks from which energy leaks. Why is this so? Because he has lost the divine salt which is the main force for the support of human life on earth. What are the reasons for the loss of this salt? Firstly, they are unbridled human passions. After every passion, whatever its nature, one feels weak. You have all experienced this. Passions are unnecessary for people who possess salt: they are only necessary for those who possess no salt. Christ said to his disciples: “You are the salt, and if the salt loses its strength, it is worth nothing and it is to be cast out and trampled upon by men.” Why should salt which has lost its strength be trampled upon? Trampling is a reaction, so that it will again become salty. Suffering is being trampled upon. If the angels cast you out among people, you become weak because you have lost your salt. If you were rich, you become poor. If you were intelligent, you become foolish. You lose your salt, and when this happens you lose the sense of your life, and then all contradictory doctrines appear. People argue about whether they should marry, have children and love their wives. The epicurean philosophy, according to which a man should have many wives, should experience everything, appears. You may try everything, but then you will be cast out and trampled upon by all sensible persons — until you regain your salt. It is then that the second process begins. Light will come, it will cast light in your mind and you will then understand why you are suffering. You will understand that these things are not in agreement with life. Each wish, each thought which does not serve for the construction of the human soul, which is destructive, is an unnecessary wish, leads to loss of salt. Let that wish be trampled upon a little for it to regain its salt. When a man, metaphorically speaking, tramples upon his wife, let her say to herself: “Trample me so that I can regain my salt.” A man who has been trampled upon by his wife shows that he has no salt. Often, when a Bulgarian is ill the bear-tamer comes and he makes the bear trample all over the sick man so that he will regain his salt and recover. This force is inherent in all people. The educated people of today have given it a different name and occultists have given it many names, one of which is ‘magnetism’. When he has this salt, a person is magnetised. If you have this salt, you will feel a pleasant warmth in the pit of your stomach. You rise in a good mood. If you have no salt, you rise in a bad mood and are rude to the very first person you come across. You “go for him”, you get really angry. The anger means that one is asking for someone to come and trample upon one a little so that one can regain one’s salt. The person who comes to trample upon one possesses the salt and will immediately reestablish the equilibrium of the person who is angry. I would like you to test the things I have told you in these talks in practice and see the results. Only he who has deep convictions and has experienced things for himself is strong, because if you believe everybody you have no salt. I believe that God speaks to everybody according to the salt they possess. If you have salt, He will say to you: “After you get up, go to your vineyards and hoe the ground. Go to your field and sow it.” If you are a judge you will review your cases, etc, and you will understand Him. If you have no salt, you will be trampled upon and robbed. They will take your money, your wife, your children and your home. “Those who cannot carry out their task on earth should be trampled upon,” says the Lord. People frequently ask themselves: “Why are things not going too well in the world?” There is no salt in the world. Give people salt! They do not need much, only a quarter of a kilogram of the salt I am talking about is needed. That is enough to salt the entire Bulgarian nation, and the latter will become an excellent nation, at least for a hundred years. Do you know how long your factories have to work to obtain that salt? A scientist made some calculations about the primary material from which the world is made and has proved that it is thousands of times lighter than hydrogen and that in order to obtain only one gram of that primary material, all factories would have to work for three thousand years. You are the salt, and you will have to devote the whole of your lives to obtaining that salt. If you have but one gram of that salt, you will be the richest person in the world and wherever you pass you will heal people. When you enter a house where the husband and wife quarrel and do not get on together, give them a little of that salt, and peace and concord will be restored. When children quarrel, give them a little salt. When judges are in dispute, give them a little of that salt. When nations are at war, give them a little of that salt and peace will be restored between them. You say to yourselves: “What alchemical element is this salt, what mighty strength it possesses! “ When a priest who possesses this salt enters the church, there is complete silence and everyone turns to look at him. The congregations wants salt, and if you do not possess it you will not succeed at all. What I am talking about is not a matter of condemnation for I condemn no-one: I am only mentioning a deficiency that exists not only in Bulgarians but in everybody Every person who lives on earth has handicaps. If we were perfect, we would be among the angels, at God’s side. But as we need to be educated, God has sent us to Earth the place of wisdom, where these great lessons are learnt. Today my Talk is about salt. Why? You all wish to be happy, but you must cultivate the art of keeping that happiness and not only acquire it. You rise in the morning, you are in a good mood and you say to yourself: “How happy I am! “ But before five or ten minutes have passed you have lost that ability to be happy. Why? You have no salt in yourself. By the word salt we understand the world with all its forms, because you cannot retain an essence without forms, and for this reason I say that the world is real and actual, and actual and unreal. Real and actual is that world which possesses all the forms with their content, and actual and unreal is that which possesses forms without their content. There are people who are actual and unreal because they have a body but no salt. If you have no salt, you cannot understand what God’s light, God’s kindness and love are. It is only by means of salt, only through balance, that your mind and heart, when they are calm, can comprehend this divine wold. Jesus says: “Salt which has lost its strength must be cast out and trampled upon.” In any case, I have reiterated many times that suffering is necessary. It is the way to regain one’s salt. Regaining one’s salt is the way to the light, and to love. Love leads to God. If we set foot on the road to seek God, the world will immediately take on another aspect to that which it has had until now. All of you who are listening to me this morning sometimes think that life on earth has sense, and sometimes that it has no sense, that it is very sad. You have friends who do not understand you, children who do not love you. You are among believers: they do not understand you. The crux of the matter is to understand who is in error. Is it they who have no salt, or is it you? Where there is salt, there is justice. Where there is no salt, there is no justice. If you have no salt, you will say: “I must be trampled upon.” All people are particles of God, and as such it makes no difference who will trample upon you. Do not forget that this comes from God: it is always God’s hands or feet that trample upon you. That is a thousand times pleasanter than being trampled upon by a bear as the Bulgarians used to. An Englishman was talking about an experience he had had. He went to India for the purpose of studying the life of its people. As he was a sports-lover, one day he took his gun and went hunting in a dense forest. He was carrying his gun in his right hand. Suddenly, a violent blow on his left arm knocked him over. It was a tigress, who seized him and carried him away to her lair where her cubs were. The tigress said to her little ones: “Get hold of this Englishman and trample upon him well, teach him a lesson, and if he tries to raise his head, trample upon him.” The Englishman tried to raise his head to see what was going on around him, but the tigress said: “Do not look up, there is nothing to be seen, I am teaching my children.” “I was not angry because my left arm was broken but because I could not raise my head and could not see,” said the Englishman. Any person who has no salt will fall into the tiger’s claws. When some young people fall in love, they go to the church, the priest says a prayer for them and everybody embraces them. A month later they are apart: the tiger has carried the bride or the groom away. These people have lost their salt and will be cast out. If they divorce, they have lost their salt and such people should never be together. Let them be trampled upon, man or woman. Bulgarians are healed by being trampled upon. This is a pleasant form of massage. You need this salt, your body needs it, the physical field needs it, so do your thoughts and feelings. The law for the physical world and that of angels and that of God is a common one. Contemporary philosophers give a different name to the qualities of the spiritual world. For example, they refer to a person who possesses salt as “moral” and a person who possesses none as “immoral”. It is said of somebody: “This person is highly intelligent and sensible,” and by this we understand that in him the law of equilibrium reigns, he possesses salt. Sensibility is salt: that is, by sensibility we understand the condition where all the human abilities are in a position to perform. Salt is the soil. Without salt there can be nothing in the world and a world without salt would be a desert, everything would rot. Salt is a manure which has accumulated over the centuries. In its wake come other forces which build up our bodies. In order not to lose our salt we should avoid entertaining unlawful desires. I will recount a myth. Once, in the distant past, a daughter was born to the Tsar, and she was the most beautiful girl in the world. When she grew up, her father found a young, kind-hearted man as a husband for her. The young couple loved God so much that He sent an angel to represent Him at their wedding on earth. The angel, when he came down to earth, fell in love with the maiden and did not want to go back to heaven. He began to wonder how he could make her his own. God waited for the angel’s return; a day, two days, a month passed and the angel did not return. When God understood what had happened, He turned the angel into a songbird who would hop from branch to branch among all the other birds and be shunned by them so that he would understand the appalling consequences of his unlawful desires. He flew from branch to branch but was shunned by all the birds. He could not explain this suffering to himself. One day he perched on a tree and began to lament his fate. At that time four robbers came and sat down under the tree to share their booty. They divided everything equally. Then it was decided that two of them would go into the nearest town to buy food and bread for a feast. They went into the town and bought food, but while they were on their way back it occurred to them to put poison into the food so that, when the other two were eating their meal, they would be poisoned and then they could grab their share of the booty as well and divide it between them. Meanwhile, the two robbers who were waiting for their friends under the tree decided to shoot the others when they returned and take their share of the spoils. The angel knew what terrible things the two pairs of robbers were plotting. As the two robbers who had been into the town approached, the two under the tree opened fire on them and shot them dead. The robbers who had remained under the tree ate the food and were poisoned. It was then that the angel understood the consequences of unlawful desires and the reason for his suffering. When God sends you to a wedding in which He is a participant, you should not allow your eyes to wander like the angel. If you are a man, mind you do not say to yourself: “She will be mine!” And if you are a woman, “He will be mine,” because you will by up there in that tree for a long time to come! I am asking you: are you not birds that have been cast out of heaven? Some people ask: “Why have we come down to earth?” “We have all come down to earth to learn that unlawful desires have dire consequences, to understand that a person who has no salt is far from God. People want freedom and for this reason God sends them to earth, but He says to them; “Live according to the law of my freedom.” The worst thing about people is that everyone wants freedom only for himself. According to the law of God we must understand the relationships which exist between us. The law of the salt is as follows: do not withhold from others what you desire for yourself. Allow them to develop their abilities as well. If somebody possesses a field or a vineyard, do not envy him but be glad that he has everything. If you see somebody riding a horse, do not say: “I wish that horse were mine.” Be glad that he has a horse, for he is worthy of it. If you see a beautiful, well-furnished house, do not covet it. If you have salt, you possess everything that is necessary, Say to God: “I want salt from now onwards.” To convince the people of to-day of this great truth, you will have to put forward a lot of arguments. With some people an attempt may be made whilst with others an agreement may be arrived at at once. One needs to put forward arguments to people whose spiritual vision is not developed. This means a touching of the spiritual world. Step by step, by means of consistency, they will acquire a clear understanding of things they cannot comprehend all at once. We must consume a certain amount of bread, water and air every day to build up our bodies. Some people think they will become better by not eating. The reverse is true. If you want to make man better, then feed him if he is hungry. Give him water if he is thirsty. When you give him bread and water, give him a little of your salt as well and he will improve. If you do not feed him, you commit a crime. If you meet somebody who is desperate and wants to kill himself, do not give him advice, telling him it is no good and that he must not despair, but take him home and feed him, slake his thirst as you are accustomed to do and in an hour or two, when his food is digested, say to him: “Let us have a talk.” Get him to tell you why his life is so unbearable. Give him directions, show him the way he should take. This is why God sent him to you that day. We often pray thus: “Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done...” but if you do not fulfil His will as He instructs you to do, you will be without salt that day. You can make this experiment: if you are unwell, see a close friend who is even less well than you are, invite him to your home, feed him and you will notice how God has salted both of you. A woman who was dissatisfied with her husband met another woman who was even more unhappy. When the two met to talk, God gave them both salt. This is a positive Christian philosophy. People often complain to me that they are unwell or unhappy and I say to them: “I know that because I too am on earth.’ “ ‘Yes, but your situation is quite different from ours “ they say. The only difference is that I have more salt. I will give you some of my salt, but you must use it well. You must distribute it wisely. If you have alittle bit of ferment, you will of course keep some of it back for another time. When you eat yoghourt, put a little of it aside for the next batch: do not say that the children have eaten it. I recommend that the people of today should not eat their fill because God will carry such people away. In this case you will resemble the Bulgarian who was lent some money and set off to buy a lot of unnecessary things with it. When the lender saw what had happened, he asked for his money back so that he could count it but the other man refused to give it back, saying: “If you do not know how to handle your money you do not deserve to get it back.” When God sees that you are not making a correct use of your life and are misusing it, He will take it back. How many of you have been healthy, cheerful and happy but are now sick and exhausted? Why? Because you do not know how to make use of life. When there is salt inside you, you will be healthy people with a healthy heart and body. Concentrate your mind on salt, on the element of equilibrium and exaltation and try to comprehend it. It is referred to as “Prana” in India, which means “a life-bearing force”. It is to be found in the air, in food and in water, from where it is extracted. I shall now tell you how to eat. I shall start in this world, with food. When you begin to eat, the first condition that is imposed upon you is to cast out any feelings of discontent. And if you have a little bread, the energy which is contained in you can penetrate your body, after which you will be filled with a pleasant feeling. What happens now? The wife has spent four hours cooking, she has put in everything imaginable to make the food tasty and she really has prepared an excellent meal. Her husband comes home frowning and displeased, his wife is deeply hurt and all the salt is gone. The next day the wife is displeased about something. They eat and again they do not absorb any of the good in the food because they are displeased. The husband says: “Do you call that a wife?” The children say: “What sort of a mother is that?” everybody. To-day God is trampling upon people and salting the world the English, the Germans, the Russians, the French, etc. Good things will come from now on. I hope that all of you, as you go to your homes will acquire at least one grain of salt so that you will be useful members of your family, of society and the nation, that you will be thankful for everything, because only then will you acquire sweetness. Then you will be intelligent, kind, industrious and hard-working. This Talk was given on 25 March 1917 in Sofia I have made various experiments with food. I have eaten two apples and a little bread and have been satisfied. It is not only plenty, but sometimes small amounts as well that one blesses with thankfulness. Do not neglect this little bit of salt in the world, for it is like the tiny grain of corn which gives birth to so much. The first task that awaits us is to re-educate that feeling of discontent which resides in us. If you are satisfied with the food you consume, you will be able to accumulate as many elements as are necessary to satisfy you from outside sources. Some people say: “One should not drink water, it is meant for frogs: wine is for us.” You will drink water when you are hungry, 1100 to 150 gr at a time. You should drink between half and one kilogram of water a day, from which you will extract the nutriment necessary for your arteries. You will breathe deeply through the nose and not through the mouth, so that you will not inhale too much dust. When the people of today are taught to absorb these elements thus, food, water and air, the other blessing will come of itself. Do not think that things will be created in your soul immediately, for there are many feelings which lie dormant in us. The human soul is rich and awaits conditions under which it can develop. The first thing that must develop in us is a feeling of thankfulness for all we have. Make sure your eye does not wander like that of the angel I told you about. If you all apply this great “law of gratitude”, at least fifty per cent of your affairs on earth will be in order. And when the angels look down from above, and see that we have set foot upon the True Path, they will come to help us. Do not think that you alone are working in this world. Turn the earth with a spade and see how many worms help the harvester, how many minute creatures prepare the soil with the farmer and how many other elements go to make up the grain of corn. And, given all this, we are like children who are discontented whatever father brings home for us. Each child should thank his father for everything he brings him. A child who does not kiss his father when he brings him something has no salt. Some parents say: “My little angel!” The child is indeed a little angel but with no wings, A daughter who does not thank her parents and does not kiss them is an angel without wings.

The Tone “Do” The Master created a sacred relationship towards music in his pupils. He developed in this musical people another relationship towards music — he made it ascending, cleansed it from the negative, heavy scale of suffering. With the opening of the occult schools — the young occult class and the general occult class — the Master introduced his dissiples to a new area of life, and consequently to a new area of music. It is inseparably linked with their lives. It accompanies them everywhere. It forms an important method of upbringing and self-upbringing. Music does not represent only moods and feelings. It is not only an art, it is a science. Beinsa Douno — calls it occult music, organic music or music of nature. He says: “Study music as a science and an art, a condition of the building of human character.” He says: “The musical tone has three qualities: the first quality of the musical tone is bright thought, the second quality is elevated, noble feeling, the third quality is good behaviour.” Because when he speaks of a tone, does not merely understand a step in the scale, he implies a condition in life. He implies a stage in the awakening of consciousness, an achievement in the way of the pupil. When speaks of music, of singing, he implies above all, life and its manifestation. For him, life is a music. He says: Music is necessary for life as a method of growth, of development, of healing. When you read the lives of great people, you will see that they have all been musical. One of the new methods of healing is music. There are sick people who are cured when the fiddle is played to them. Others when the guitar is played, others the flute. Different instruments show a specific influence upon different people. If the sick man likes to listen to the fiddle, then you play him something, but with rising intonation and not songs in a minor key. Heart palpitations for example are cured with songs which begin with the tone “do”, but the tone “do” must not be taken from the tuning fork, he must be the natural tone “do”. When a man wants to sing, he must get himself into the mood so as to land on the natural tone, in the natural key. He will stand up, will stay quiet for 10-15 minutes, while he frees himself from all the difficulties and contradictions which exist in his mind, he will think of reasonableness in life and will begin to sing. That means that this man has succeeded in turning on correctly one of the musical keys which he has been given. If the tone “do” has been correctly taken, a man can accept the life-giving energy from the sun and can pass it on to all the parts of his organism. That means also that the sun will shine in him and the rational energy will pass into his organism. (With the tone “doh” there begin many of the harmonic exercises of the Paneurythmia, such as Evera. How pleased we are, Climbing up). Many of his songs begin with the tone “doh . In the edition “Grain of Wheat”, the music of the Master will be discussed and songs of his musical creation will be given in every copy.

“MUSIC AS AN ART OF THE ANGELS’ THE MASTER ON THE MUSIC Music is the profound sphere of Existence. Those who have created it have been great sensible beings. We know them by the common name of angels. When the angels woke up at the dawn of Heaven, they began to sing. And when they commenced their singing, the world began to establish itself. The angels who understand the Divine laws, have made the universe under the supreme guidance of the Divine Spirit. They have expressed this sublime creation in music. That is why the great laws of the universe are hidden in music. These laws of the creative spirit of Existence. The Divine Spirit works in a musical way. And we may say that the music in which the harmony of the numbers sounds is a materialized movement of the Spirit. Music, as an art of the angels, is the connecting link between the angelic and the human worlds. Music is the breath of the soul. The soul breathes through music. The musical world is the medium in which the soul reveals itself on earth. Without music and without a musical milieu which the world of tones creates, the soul and the spirit of the people cannot reveal themselves. Love cannot reveal itself without a suitable musical milieu either. And Love is the great reality of life. So when we say that Love cannot reveal itself without music, we understand that sensible order of the manifestations of nature. This order is expressed in the following dependence: music is a milieu of the consciousness, i.e. that internal organism of men through which the soul is being awakened to the world; consciousness is a milieu of the human mind, while the mind is a milieu of Love. Things move in this order in an ascending direction. Everything in nature vibrates, and those vibrations flow like musical waves. Moreover it is said that everything in nature is music. Continuous music drifts on the earth where so many creatures live. There is music in the running streams, in the undulating oceans and seas; there is music in the air in the blowing of the breeze. There is music in the rustling of the leaves, in the chirping of the birds, in the cries of the animals and in the murmur of the brooks. And often when the wind is swaying the branches of the trees, there is some sublime orchestra music in the woods sounds like a symphony to the people who are able to hear it. Furthermore when the cosmic consciousness is unfolded in men and they begin to develop capabilities that lead them to a finer way of describing colours, tones and sounds, they will begin to delect that magnificent symphony which sounds throughout the universe. They will commence to hear that universal music which fills the universe. Then the people will comprehend the profound significance of life. There are three kinds of music: mechanical music, which only moves things; organic music, which organizes the living substance and sets its vital rhythm and psychic music, which awakens the hidden energies of the soul. The occult music which comprises the qualities of these three kinds of music is just coming into the world. That is why it is accessible only to a few people. Very few musicians have reached its boundaries. Occult music has higher and broader aims than ordinary music. When the occult music has only the shape of a primary exercise, a small attempt is made to introduce it mainly as an educational means, a method of training and elevating the human character. It is used as a means of creating a musical milieu which is the only place where the sublime energies of the soul may reveal themselves. All energies of the soul have to pass through music so that they may harmonize and balance themselves. The educational power of music is also a major task. Music is being applied in the occult science as a powerful method for projecting thoughts, feelings and desires from the lower world to the higher one and to nourish the nuclei of the new feelings and abilities which are latent in the souls of men. Some of the high emotions of the soul can be awakened only by occult music. Occult music is hard to study. The people should have a very fine sense of hearing and a great power of concentration. Moreover, men should get rid of all their prejudices and traditions. People cannot come to it if they have not studied ordinary music as a preface to occult music. When ordinary music has developed technically, then it is a preparation to occult music. The future musicians will create a music of which the people nowadays have no conception whatsoever. Music influences men in every respect. It is the most correct method of organising human thoughts, feelings and deeds. As breathing is necessary for the purification of the blood, so music is needed for the cleansing of the feelings. There is a certain link between the musical feeling and the thinking ability of men. The more musical a person is, the stronger his reasoning abilities are. The musical feeling generally helps the unfolding of the talents and abilities of men. First of all, it aids their thinking abilities. Men cannot think correctly unless they develop their feeling for music. There is no correct thought without music. When I say that, I mean the inner, the real music, not the external, the mechanical music as a manifestation of musical technique. As long as men have music in themselves, they are thinking correctly. Because every correct thought and every correct feeling represents a correct combination of tones. Music is the most sublime expression of sensibility on the earth, because music is condensed light and light is an expression of thought. The sensibility of men is conditioned by their musical qualities. When a person is sensible in the full meaning of the word, all his deeds are musical. In general we judge the character of a person by the degree of his musical abilities. The more musical a person is, the more consistent is his character. If a person is musical that does not necessarily mean that he should be a musician, a singer or a virtuoso, but he should have a deep insight into music, a musical nature and a musical soul. If a person is musical, he will pour out music in his thoughts, feelings and deeds. Music is one of the important methods of work for disciples of the occult. It is one of the best methods for saving and acquiring energy. Music guards men from internal and external unfavourable conditions. Music teaches people to have balance especially in the fields of the astral world where many sharp changes exist. Music teaches them to tame the animal within themselves, their strong passions and desires, their animal inclinations. Music strengthens men both physically and spiritually. In the broad sense of the word, there is music in the thoughts, in the feelings and in the desires of men. If men have this music and this harmony within themselves, they have the feeling that something is singing quietly within them, deep in their souls, they will be able to hear an unceasing harmony. That musical state will calm down the heart and the mind of the person, and it will give a new direction to his thoughts. The body of man is a complex musical instrument which has to be tuned and adjusted constantly. The human body has a special key which determines the various tones of his different organs. Their musical tones are designated by the functions and vibrations of the organs. Respective occult exercises arranged according to corresponding scales can influence the different organs of the body. Music brings an expansion into the soul, power and might into the spirit, tenderness and warmth into the heart and light and freedom into the mind. Inspiration plays an important part in singing. A person who sings and sings with inspiration is a free man. There is freedom only where high ideological principles exist. A great presence of roind, heart and willpower is needed in occult music. Balance is necessary. People should have disciplined will-power. They should not be troubled by anything, because music is a great divine process which exists throughout the universe. To attract the creative musical energies in nature, a musician should dedicate his life to serving humanity. The true musician has to be a priest to music. In this way he will carry on the tradition of those first musicians and adepts of music who cultivated it first in the ancient temples of dedication, so that it might be spread among the people in later years. Music has originated in the sanctuaries of the initiated people. To put their will-power into action, people have to link their singing with movement. Music has its own special expression in the movements. When music is linked by the movements, it becomes beautiful. When it is joined also by speech, it becomes even more beautiful. Everything has to become alive in music. Everything has to come into movement through it. The whole body ought to vibrate and move in a musical way. All the movements ought to be musical. The movements go in accordance with certain laws, as the tones move in accordance with certain laws. We can come to the natural movements through music. If we come to these natural movements, we are going to understand that though every movement certain streams are projected out of the people and a natural exchange takes place between the people and nature. The people give and get simultaneously through those movements. It is a law: when the movements coincide with the tones, they are great and magic energies. Singing in occult music has to be expressive, picturesque and figurative. In actual fact some feeling is necessary in the singing, but that feeling has to be unfolded in images. That unfolding in images is a mental process. That is why the singer has to think when he sings; he has got to have living images and project them through his singing. All the ideas in his mind should be clear and vital. He has to give a musical expression to his ideas through his singing. The singers of genius sing in that way. The true singers and the true musicians have come to the earth with a certain task, to raise the sorrowful, the suffering and the fallen souls. And in fact good singers always bring in something new. That is why people say that they sing with their souls. There are singers who do not bring in anything when they sing. Their singing is indifferent. It lulls people to sleep, it is hypnotic. Good singing reanimates, encourages and creates a revival. It brings in thoughts, it makes us deeply concentrated and leads us to contemplation. The people who hear such singing are unable ever to forget it, The future musicians should be inspired by the idea that their music has to create a radical change in the soul of the fallen people. A person can sing a song with such an inspiration that it may bring about a change in everybody who hears it. The vibrations of that song will fly into space, they will be repeated by the people and they will sound throughout eternity. True music can originate only in the souls of those people who have raised altars in their hearts, and the angels, the greatest musicians, lay their offerings to God and their inspired songs at those altars. If there are musicians in whose hearts there are such altars, there burns the sacred fire of Love. Sacred hymns are sung there, worshipping God through music.

PANEURYTHMIA — SOLAR RAYS. As given by the Master, Paneurythmia has three parts. The first part has twenty-eight individual exercises, a sacred expression of harmonic movements connected with the cosmic forces of nature- the second part, called SOLAR RAYS, consists of music, movements and a talk by the Teacher; and the third part is called the PENTAGRAM. They are given sequentially by the Master, and they are danced generally together. In SOLAR RAYS, published in the Bulgarian language in 1942, there is stated, among other things: THESE EXERCISES HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM THE SANCTUARY OF THE DEDICATED ONES, AND TAKEN DOWN FROM THE HIGHEST WORLDS OF THE UNIVERSE. It is appropriate to dance SOLAR RAYS in twelve rays of five pairs each. But they can be danced by fewer or greater rays, depending on the number of people gathered. The rays are always of ten people or five pairs, and are arranged sequentially and directed toward the centre. The others dance in the outer circle, as in the beginning of the paneurythmia. The twelve rays represent the twelve doors through which life enters us. In the Book of Revelation in the Bible there is also mention of twelve doors. The external circle represents the wheel of life. In one of his lectures in 1926 the Master gave a new and mystical definition of the circle: the circle represents all the real possibilities which are contained in the intelligent life. He also says: free movements assume intelligence. Free movements assume higher culture. There is no more beautiful picture than when the living rays move toward the centre with rhythmic steps, harmonious movements, and song! SOLAR RAYS contain the pure, primary form of solar rhythm. It is imbued in their music and their movements. There are two currents in nature. One current is from the divine spring, and the other current returns the energy again toward the centre. The first current is expressed during SOLAR RAYS by the approach of the pairs in the rays toward the centre. They move away to receive the divine forces and afterwards return to pour them into life. The wheel of life moves by the power it receives from the twelve rays of the single divine centre of the Great Intelligent Principle of the Universe. In all movements of SOLAR RAYS, and in paneurythmia in general, there is expressed a general cosmic process which takes place in small and large, in parts and in the whole. It manifests itself in every organism, in collective humanity and in the whole solar system. This process moves the wheel of life. It is the great rhythm of life. And thanks to that eternal cosmic process, mankind moves forward. In the figures of SOLAR RAYS is represented the historical path of humanity toward enlightenment. At some moments of the exercises, in the beat of the Bulgarian folk music, which the Master raised to a high level and transformed into an ascending scale, humanity is represented in the dance of the pairs, the closed circle of humanity in solid matter, It is as though there is no exit from the sufferings and tears. This is represented through the TURNING of the figures. But mankind passes from the circle to freedom. This is the awakening of the soul. The awakened man leaves behind him his limitations and enters into a musical world and joyfully sings: “Mother, you gave birth to me as a beautiful person, to be intelligent, to think well, to love well. This is life in paradise.” Mother! The great World Mother from whom comes man’s soul! After singing the song, which the partners sing while holding hands, they express the motion offlying. They sing: “This is paradise, this is paradise, this is paradise” and they fly ... paradise — that is life in love. That is the path to enlightenment. Entrance into the great reality of life. SOLAR RAYS create the conditions for interchange with the world of intelligence... Because it brings the organism and the consciousness into a high scale of vibrations, through the high solar energies necessary for the elevation of mankind. THESE EXERCISES WILL BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD. THEY SHOULD BE DANCED EVERYWHERE! As for the PENTAGRAM, the symbol of the Universal White Brotherhood, it is danced as the rays unfold radially, with faces turned forwards. The movement of the five pairs and the five rays expressing human virtues, which bring evolution, is a living pentagram. The Master included in it a higher mystical meaning. It is expressed in the words written in the circle, in the picture of the Pentagram given by Him: IN THE FULFILMENT OF THE WILL OF GOD, IN THE STRENGTH OF THE HUMAN SOUL.

PANEURHYTHMIA Already in the year 1922, in a lecture in his general class on the occult, the Master talked about the significance of the movements. He spoke about occult music as a means for strengthening the will, for creating character. At that time, in a lecture on THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC, SINGING, AND MOVEMENTS, he said: “Now consider that all movements of the arms are musical. All our movements must be musical. These movements follow certain laws, just as the tuning-fork follows set laws. And often, when our will is paralyzed, it is because we do not make the right movements. Every movement of the eyes, of our arms, all our positions should be completely natural. And we should strive towards that, If we can attain these natural movements, our voice will be natural and directions will begin to come from the Invisible, Divine world. Only then will you be able to understand that higher science about which everyone dreams, and which you want to learn. In every single movement certain streams are projected outwards from a person, and he gives and receives simultaneously. YOU WILL BE SINCERE IN YOUR MOVEMENTS! OUR MOVEMENTS MUST BE MUSICAL! Now I do not want you just to begin to sing, but I tell you t hat music has its own internal expressions and movements. WHEN MUSIC IS UNITED WITH MOVEMENTS, IT IS BEAUTIFUL! Pay attention to your movements, make sure that every movement is appropriate.” Thus, long ago, the Master prepared for the creation of PANEURHYTHMIA. WHAT IS PANEURHYTHMIA? PANEURHYTHMIA MEANS A HIGHER COSMIC RHYTHM. The Master explains it in a very meaningful sentence: PANEURHYTHMIA IS A RATIONAL EXCHANGE WITH THE FORCES OF LIVING NATURE. The movements of Paneurhythmia are drawn from nature itself. Every one of the twenty-eight dances — a number that is sacred and joyful -corresponds to elevated states of man. They are peaceful, void of the element of intoxication, with the great simplicity of World laws. They are danced in the early morning, in the hours when life awakens, when the world heart gives forth the great gift of LOVE in abundance. The wheel of Paneurhythmia, turned on the path of the evolutionary circle, is towards the right and upwards; it is a small replica of the great world wheel, along which flow the forces of cosmic life. By dancing in these early hours everyone can come into harmony with the streaming, beneficial forces of Living Nature. THE LAWS OF PANEURHYTHMIC MOVEMENTS ARE INSCRIBED IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. These movements are based on a deep knowledge of the forces acting in the human organism and in the WHOLE OF EXISTENCE. They are in strict, regular connection with ideas and with music. PANEURHYTHMIA IS BASED ON THE LAWS OF THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN IDEA, SPEECH, MUSIC AND MOVEMENT. PANEURHYTHMIA EXISTS THROUGHOUT NATURE. The world moves around the sun; it has more than ten kinds of “movements... The solar system moves towards other, distant constellations, towards other solar worlds... And if we imagine these smooth universal cosmic movements as unified, and taking place with harmony, simplicity, and music, then we shall understand what Paneurhythmia is. The whole Cosmos is penetrated with that music which is strange to our senses, with the harmony of the spheres which fills the Unfathomable Spaces of Existence. The movement of light is Paneurhythmia as well. The ethereal light waves are Paneurhythmia — a Higher Cosmic Rhythm. That Great Harmony, composed of movements, Light and Meaning, penetrates the Universe. And only he who has bodily purity, as well as purity of mind and heart, will understand through Paneurhythmia what human happiness is, when expressed through Cosmic Love. At that moment the same forces will course through him, and he will be a living instrument which will resonate with them, and he will transmit them to other waiting souls ... Because human consciousness, in its development, is transformed into Love. COSMIC LOVE IS BEING BORN TODAY IN HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. IT IS THAT WHICH SOLVES ALL CONTRADICTIONS, WHICH OVERCOMES ALL OBSTACLES. IT IS REBIRTH! This is what the Great Master told us, through the music and of Paneurhythmia. Thus, Paneurhythmia prepares the way for the new, beautiful life which is coming. A LIFE OF FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND UNDERSTANDING; OF HARMONY, BROTHERHOOD AND COSMIC LOVE. In the movements of paneurhythmia participate the arms, legs, head — the whole body. These movements correspond to words and music, to harmonic scales and tones. The movements are not exhausting. They are most efficient, they achieve the most complete results. IN PANEURHYTHMIA EACH LINE OF A MOVEMENT CORRESPONDS CLOSELY TO SPECIFIC FORCES OF THE HUMAN ORGANISM AND HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS, AS A PART OF THE GREAT COSMIC ORGANISM. It calls to life the physical and spiritual forces of man. All nations are organs of one cosmic organism, represented as a microcosm in man. Every nation, every organ has its purpose, its mission. This idea must be awakened in the consciousness of people and nations, to unite them in one SINGLE HUMANITY! Since... ALL BEINGS REPRESENT A GREAT COSMIC ORCHESTRA,movements THERE IS COMING THE CULTURE OF BROTHERHOOD OF ALL NATIONS. THEY WILL BE MEMBERS OF ONE COSMIC FAMILY. Paneurhythmia stirs these ideas among us. This rhythm of the Whole, of the pulse of life, of the Cosmic organism, heaven deigned to send down to earth. The Master, Beinsa Duno, gave us Paneurhythmia! And thereupon his greatest blessing came down among us! He made us collaborators of the Great Being, of harmony and light, penetrating the limitless universe... This gift is not only a blessing. It is a responsibility! It is love! Around us there exists a world of Beings with higher intelligence. Humanity moves along a radiant path set forth and traversed by them. Paneurhythmia, turned along the Great Evolutionary line of their path, will adjust (improve) the fate of nations, will connect us with their world of Elevated ideas, Enlightenment, and Intelligence. It will awaken the talents, the powers included as a higher grace in man. It will awaken in them the Divine. PANEURHYTHMIA AWAKENS THE DIVINE NATURE IN MAN! He enters into conversation with the creative forces of Nature. He enters through it (paneurhythmia) into contact with a Higher Reality. THE IDEAS OF THE SIXTH, SHINING RACE OF LOVE, ARE BUILT INTO ITS MUSIC AND MOVEMENTS. PANEURHYTHMIA IS SOMETHING NEW WHICH NEEDS TO BE INFUSED INTO THE CULTURE OF MANKIND. PANEURHYTHMIA are not sacred dances, it is a universal cosmic movement, the Universal Cosmic Rhythm. But it must be danced with a sacred attitude. Paneurhythmia is not at all (meant) for amusement, but rather for joy! For beauty, for eternal youth! If we examine the exercises from first to last, without being aware of the principles incorporated in them, we shall see that they contain the classical development of a choreographic performance, in the line of its movements and in their gentleness. It begins with the shoulders, with the head and arms; it sets in motion the chest, the waist, the legs — all in one consistent line, so that it is a supreme way to exercise all the members, all the parts of the body. But its significance and power do not come from that. Its significance lies in the fact that it starts the development of an Awakened Soul with “The First Day of Spring,” the Cosmic New Year of the Spirit. The awakened soul passes through moments of joy, liberation, the breaking of chains, purification, the abandonment of everything that is superfluous and transitory. In the ten moments of the first exercise, called “The First Day of Spring,” is expressed the power of the awakened human soul. The number ‘ten’ is sacred, it is a lucky number. It indicates a completed cycle. The second exercise, “Evera” bears a name from an old sacred language. This word could not be expressed in a contemporary language, but the exercise itself indicates its meaning, as the liberated person makes beautiful, rushing (impetuous) movements with his two arms and freely turns his body in two directions, while extending them upward and forward. This is the way of thought of the New Man, of the Disciple. “Jumping” (Skacaneto) is an optimistic exercise with much liberating tonality. This is ajoyful leaping. It reminds us of the songs of the Master. The text of the song is very lively: “Let us fly high!” The two arms, with the bending forward of the whole body, make contact with the earth. “Now jump!” — this happens with the words “to the heavenly space”. A renewed bending forward, and the words “With peace, love, and Light”. “May everything grow in beauty!” “With peace, love and Light” — that is the inspiration of the Master. With love there should be Light, and then peace will come. In the following exercise, “Weaving” (tukane), we have the movements of weaving, the eternal movement of the loom. But this loom is us, because every day, every hour, every minute, we warp and weave the most beautiful thoughts. Our responsibility is to weave, to embroider into our lives beautiful thoughts. Every day, every moment we send out beautiful thoughts — that is our duty! “ Do not add even a hair to the sufferings of the world. There is enough sorrow already, without adding to it.” With the exercise “THINK, THINK CORRECTLY” there is realized the basic idea of CORRECT THINKING. That idea is touched in the Sermon of the Master “Correct Thinking!” Already during the creation of the general class on the occult, the Master gave (us) the song “Think, think correctly.” It is precisely according to the rules of the new occult music. And he also said: “I gave you all the mantras in the songs.” The mantra, which is enclosed in the exercise within the song “Think, thing correctly”, is so strong that the universal current of the Correct, New Thinking flows through our two outstretched arms. The next exercise is AUM. The soul may sing AUM, a word of thanksgiving known to all the esoteric schools, languages, and religions. AUM... In the exercise AUM the two arms are a link between Heaven and earth... At that moment one thinks of the formula of the Master: “God rules the Heavens, God rules the earth. Blessed be His name.” Now the sun can rise! “The Sunrise” As the sun solemnly rises and expands its heavenly disc, pulsing with light and life, (our) arms make a beautiful and expressive movement upward. They mark the rising of the sun... The sun rises! There rises above the earth a new sun, the consciousness of the NEW MAN WITH CORRECT THINKING! The sun rises! It has risen high above our sky — our head at its highest point is the place of the highest human feeling — reverence towards God. Slowly the arms are directed downward, just as the light of the sun reaches the earth — “It sends light”, the song continues. (The light) “brings joy to life.” The arms, during these words, are brought inwards — they reach the solar plexus, the spiritual heart of man. In a lively melody, vibrant with words and movements, the arms show the rushing spouting (gushing) of a spring. Living, flowing spring-like power, living, flowing spring-like power... Again from the waist, with a free walk (without bending the knees) in rhythmic movements the arms show the gushing of the spring. We should become generous like a pure mountain spring! Then follow the sacred words: Zurn mezurn zum mezurn binom to meto. This sentence is full of meaning, rhythm, and harmony. “The Square” — the form of contradictions. This exercise is danced in four directions with symbolic movements of the arms and feet. The arms make the movement of the dispelling of darkness, the coming of the dawn. The legs mark the four sides of the square. This exercise is rather painful because the movement of the hands and feet is simultaneous. “The Square.” The Master gave a picturesque explanation of the square. He called it a deep well which one cannot get out of, except with a rope. What is the rope which will pull us out of the deep well of contradictions? If is faith. With faith and light on all sides, the arms solve the problem of contradiction. In his Talk at a gathering in 1927, the Master gave a graphic explanation of the contradictions, through the drawing of a square and the division of the square with two diagonals. Now there were formed four triangles. That solution — the triangles — is a graphic model of equilibrium and of the three divine principles: LOVE, WISDOM AND TRUTH. After the contradiction, and its solution, come “Beauty / Mobility”. That is the name of the next, very beautiful exercise... Then comes VICTORY! Sister Olga Slavceva has described it with these words: Day comes after night, and joy after sorrow! The arms are extended forwards, as though moving the wheel of the evolutionary ascension. Now the body is not moved to the side, only the arms are held forwards in that gentle pushing movement, and the legs make a bold step forward, as though cutting off the energy from the earth. This is the victory of the Heavenly powers. JOY ON EARTH is one of the most joyful movements. Joy on earth! In a swaying step, with movements of joy, repeated twice, the New man rejoices and sings: The whole earth rejoices, and rejoices in its heart, and it runs along its path like a maiden in love. She thirsts for the sun and runs toward it. It caresses her from afar and kisses her with its rays. This text, suggested by the Master and simply expressed in verse by the poetess, is an achievement — a radiant, life-embracing call. The earth, in love with the sun ... GETTING ACQUAINTED (ZAPOZNAVANETO) To the beautiful offering of the hands, extended by the partners in the Paneurhythmia, is joined the gaze of the eyes. When the two have offered their hands, in order to get to know one another, and they sway and then grasp each other again, they glance into each others’ eyes. In getting acquainted the partners must look into each others’ eyes. What is the most beautiful part of this meeting? It is that after you meet your partner’s gaze, your eyes must turn towards heaven... This symbol is multifaceted. It is a connection with the high world of the ideal. Heaven is present at this meeting. One sings: “When two souls on earth love one another, The angels in Heaven sing.” The last few exercises in paneurhythmia: “Lovely Day”, “How Happy We Are” “Step by Step”, and “Early in the Morning”, are all made with a light gentle movement carried out with rhythm and joy... The toes touch the ground lightly. “Lovely Day” is made through the earth’s magnetism and the exchange of power between the two partners. In a gentle movement they make the exchange from one hand to the other. They rejoice at God’s lovely day. In “How Happy we Are” we hear the rhythm and beat of the Bulgarian folk dance known as the “rachenitsa”. This is a most joyful dance which requires great mastery, agility, and endurance. Often in the rachenitsa the couple outdance one another, boy vs. girl. The irregular Bulgarian beat, 7/8, the only one of its kind in the world is connected with this dance, the “rachenitsa.” In “How Happy We Are” the joyful beat of the rachenitsa is achieved, but it is transformed into a new scale, into an elevating form of Bulgarian music on which the Master worked 30 years... “Early in the Morning” is a most beautiful, solemn and elevating movement forwards. It is connected with a gymnastic exercise, in which solemn steps are interwoven with bold, nimble gymnastics. The steps follow the text Move and stop, Move boldly forwards once again. Rejoice at God’s world! The wheel stops, to make a concluding musical exercise connected with deep breathing. Everyone faces the centre of the circle. The orchestra in the centre begins to play a rising scale ... Everyone extends their arms widely, with deep breathing ... The orchestra again plays a scale... With the exhalation and the gathering of the arms to the chest, rhythmically and slowly, they play a scale. One hears an alto voice, a lyrical soprano, a baritone. Everyone is deeply attentive, concentrated. This exercise is inexpressibly beautiful, because it is carried out with a scale in which there appear all the colours of the rainbow, the colours of the heavens ... The scale is sung with the note “A”, the number I the number of the sun, of God. The last harmonious notes of the scale overflow with thoughts of thanksgiving, with the saying of the prayer PROVIDENCE. “MAY GOD’S PEACE ENDURE AND MAY GOD’S JOY AND GOD’S HAPPINESS ARISE IN OUR HEARTS!” This formula is repeated three times with deep interior feeling, as are all the formulae and prayers given by the Master. In this magnetic outpouring the arms make a sacred triangle above the head; then they come on the highest part of the crown of the head, the highest place of reverence towards God... The hands wash (literally “pour over”) after that the whole body, which has made connection with the high cosmic worlds in which reign the laws of God’s Providence. After the completion of Paneurhythmia, the arms are raised in a brotherly greeting, the palms held straight before the face, but one does not turn towards the side. They greet THE GREAT, THE WORLDS, THE UNIVERSAL HARMONY, THE BEINGS WHO ARE PRESENT After that the partners shake hands and thank one another. During the Paneurhythmia movements are not interrupted, one never passes through the circle, nor does one turn back. If there is a shortening of the distances, they must be defined (again), the dancers never turn back. They move forwards and establish the correct distances between couples. If someone is late, he joins in silently, and asks the permission of a partner who is alone or is dancing alone. During Paneurhythmia there exists the same spirit of freedom and tolerance, of holy consideration of others. The grasping of the hands is very tender and attentive; inspiration and joy, Light, Peace and Love accompany all the harmonic movements. The exchange of Powers, of the rational powers of Nature, is carried out with full peace and joy, with high consciousness. Paneurhythmia can improve the fate of a whole nation, if it is danced correctly and in an attitude of prayer. IT IS REBIRTH! (Postscript.) Besides music and movements, each of which is deeply thought out and tied to the living forces of nature and the universal cosmic whole, in Paneurhythmia we have deep breathing. Each opening of the arms to the side, in circles, the raising of an arm or two arms together — this is all intended for deep breathing. Deep, natural breathing in movement. What is unusual about Paneurhythmia is not only its cosmic sense, the sending down of cosmic energies, but the deep planning of the movements, which are executed while moving and thus create natural deep breathing. It is obligatory for the chest to be opened wide, that one breathe in, that one ingest the prana and the energy, not only at the tips of the lungs, but that the longed-for joy of the ozone reach the very bottom of the lungs, nourishing them. Therefore the joy during Paneurhythmia comes from all directions: the joy of the body at the oxygen, the early morning with its elevating, inflow of power and energy, the unusual music, the connection with the Cosmic forces of the universe. Paneurhythmia is danced in a circle and in pairs. One selects one’s partner according to one’s internal feeling/disposition. A harmonious contact is created. Energy is exchanged, one changes hands, now left, now right. The partners dance together during several exercises. The pair become acquainted during the (dance) “Getting Acquainted” (Zapoznavaneto). PANEURHYTHMIA is in itself a manifestation of precise harmony and artistry. This cosmic rhythm cannot help but penetrate our cells. But when they are penetrated by the Light and Knowledge dispensed by the Great Bulgarian, the Master Beinsa Duno, everything is revived in an unusual illumination and beauty. Then that Light is Increased, every movement receives a deep internal meaning. But that happens when we have been in communion with that word. This means that every movement does not have to be explained externally, but rather that before the movement takes place there should be thought and consciousness. The arms are an expression of the justice of man; he works with its strength during movement. The legs are a symbol of man’s higher virtues. Their movement uncovers these forces and gives them unusual meaning. The chest, the lungs are linked to the spiritual world. Every contact with them means that we awaken our energies which are instilled in higher spiritual consciousness. Therefore, as beautiful as Paneurhythmia is, if it should be preceded by the Word of the Master, by the higher ethical and cosmic laws included in his Talks, it will then be the full expression of the single cosmic consciousness, which it contains.

Song Inspiration (Vdichnovenie), sings Simeon Simeonow, Tenor VDICHNOVENIE INSPIRATION, INSPIRATION, INSPIRATION YOU ARE A BLESSING

THE INSPIRATION THOUGHT IS MUSIC OF A HIGH ORDER Feelings are also music of a high order. When there is no music in our feelings, we experience a shrinking feeling. On the other hand, when our feelings are musical, there is a sense of expansion. There is always expansion in harmonious music, a combination of tones which lend volume and breadth to thought. And when our thoughts are musical, there is in the same way an expansion and illumination of the mind. Our thoughts should be musical. And when they are musical they bring a pleasant, life-giving warmth into the soul. When we start to think, to feel and to sing musically it is only then that we become musicians. Song, feelings and thoughts must be music. That is the whole secret of life. He who can impart his mind, heart and will to music creates in himself a strong impulse which no-one can oppose. We must lay the key of faith as the foundation stone of our lives. Thus, I want inspiration to manifest itself in all of you. No-one can work without inspiration. Each disciple who enters a class, wherever it may be, must possess inspiration. Nothing else should claim his attention, A disciple without inspiration is dead. It does not matter if he has no hat or shoes: these are of secondary importance. That means nothing to the student. It means nothing, either, if we have been ill and have had palpitations. If we have inspiration, that is the student’s strength. There will be clothes and shoes for him, too. If we lose our inspiration, we are dead. If we have inspiration, everything opens up before us. This law exists in nature. See how corn pushes through the hard earth. There is inspiration in it! That little seed develops its chemical forces by physical and biological means. All its forces are concentrated on one aim — to germinate, and this is why the soil opens up. You glance and see that before long the shoot has broken through the earth. If that seed had lacked inspiration, it would not have germinated: it would have rotted in the soil. And when a disciple is inspired, wherever he may be buried he will germinate and grow and this law should be valid for all of us. For the next ten days the first thing you should do when you get up in the morning is to repeat the word “inspiration” three times. Before you sit down lo your midday meal, you should again repeat this word three times. And when you go to bed at night, you should again say this word three times — that makes nine times a day. Thus, you will say the word “inspiration” nine times a day for ten days. Keep a diary and record your experiences in it. These experiences will help you reap the harvest from the seed which you have sown. What you will gain is so precious that it is beyond price. It will be small, but it will be the truly precious part of you. It is all-powerful. It is only in this way that you can lay the firm foundations for your life. When you say the word “inspiration” let your hands drop abruptly to your sides and you will feel it in the depths of your being. You should then plant this word in your mind so that you will feel it deeply. Then you should again say this word, with both thought and feeling. You should feel the strength flooding through your veins. These exercises should be done in private. I shall put this question to you: “What quality distinguishes a true disciple?” A true disciple is inspired! And thus is he blessed. Inspiration is as necessary for him as light, life and love. You should all perform this exercise when you rise in the morning. Perform it so that the air is turbulent with its emotion, so that even I in my room can sense that inspiration really exists among the disciples. Do not shout. Say the word “inspiration” quietly, only for yourselves, for there is music in quiet speech that deeply affects the soul. Concentrate all your thoughts on it, but say the word quietly. If you say it loudly, all the inspiration will be lost. For this reason you will say it quietly and you will be pleased with yourselves. Perform this exercise with faith. Do not worry whether or not you possess inspiration. However you do it, you will finally acquire inspiration. It is only in this way that the beautiful feelings, beautiful thoughts that are necessary for the construction of our lives can be engendered. This is also necessary for your future. You are confronted by a stormy sea that you must cross. You are confronted by a life full of difficulties. You need inspiration to be able to defeat the overcome all these difficulties. When you are confronted by a difficulty, pause a little and utter the word “inspiration”. And when the difficulty is confronted by your inspiration it will withdraw, allowing you to pass. Bear in mind that I have been searching for this word in the Bulgarian language for many years. It is a strong word. In order to be strong a word must possess three qualities. The word “inspiration” possesses these three elements. It has strong vibrations. If one can comprehend these three elements, one will also experience its vibrations. This word will endow you with something new, and this will be just what you are searching for. Lecture 1924

EVERYDAY RULES FOR LIVING Everything in life for which one cannot find an explanation has its own perfectly sensible reasons which, if not today, will become apparent to you to-morrow. A sensible person will find the conditions necessary for life every day. These conditions exist, they can always be created. Do you know what sober faith means? A child is walking along the road, but he falls down and starts to cry. Another child, however, falls down and immediately gets up smiling, continuing on his way. That is sober faith, when you fall down, to get straight to your feet and say to yourself: “I shall be more careful next time.” There is a special task that we are here on earth to learn! To feel with our hearts, to think with our minds and to act with our will. Put your mind, heart and will into learning, and your learning must be accompanied by an inner yearning, by Love. If the body is in a normal state, when one takes a step forward one breathes in, and when one places one’s foot on the ground and the leg then moves backwards and bends, one breathes out. Why do so many people suffer from nervous disorders? They breathe out when they take a step forward and breath in when the leg moves backwards and bends, that is why they get tired. You should never make abrupt movements: your movements should be smooth and harmonious. Exercises Carry out a breathing exercise during which you absorb the colour white in your thoughts. The colour will come down to you like a gentle shower from above. Inhalation should be carried out rhythmically with arm movements; the index finger of the right hand should be raised. Count up to four. Raise your right arm and begin the exercise. During the first count, breathe in and lower your arm. During the second count, breathe out and move your arm to the left. During the third count breathe in and move your arm to the right. During the fourth count breathe out and move your arm upwards. The same rules for inhalation and exhalation should be linked to with leg movements. At each inhalation and exhalation think simultaneously about the colour white and purity. It is a good idea to do these exercises in the open air if you have a garden. You should carry out rhythmic walking exercises every morning for five minutes. Thus, you will help your body to establish equilibrium in the nervous system and remove the disharmony which exists within you. If you have no love in your heart, do not eat! Wait, and do not eat until your bad mood has passed and you are feeling in a better mood and thanking God. When we sit down to eat with no love in our hearts, heaven closes all its doors and we are as criminals. You should also observe the same law when doing good. If you want to do good, do not do it without love! Do not give until love prompts you to do so! When we are in a position to give, we should always feel within us joy that we have fulfilled the will of God, because we are masters of nothing in this world. One’s every movement should be under the control of one’s will.

WHICH IS THE BEST WAY OF ACHIEVING SPIRITUAL. UNION BETWEEN THE YOUNG AND THE OLD? The best way is for the old to become young and the young to become old. That is, when the old go to see the young, to become as young as they are, to share their thoughts. In the same way, when a young person comes to an older person, to share his thoughts. We are talking about “young” and “old” in the best sense of the word. The young are full of vitality, they are bearers of joy and jollity everywhere they go. The old are possessed of tact, sobriety and wisdom. And do you know which is best of all? Among these qualities there should also be love: nothing else is needed. When it comes to love, in the name of love the old should regard the young as one of themselves and the young should also regard the old as one of themselves. How do the Natural Laws act on Thought? The natural laws act on thought, enabling it to manifest itself. When our thoughts are incorrect and are harmful for us, then nature also exerts an influence. But the laws of nature always act on us, enabling us to manifest our thoughts, that is, they force us to think. In this respect these laws demand that we should all be courageous and decisive. The laws of nature do not tolerate our dilemmas and hesitations. The laws of nature act favourably on our thoughts and our characters. Must a Disciple of the White Brotherhood perform the necessary Physical Labour to meet his Needs, or should he limit himself only to Spiritual Activities? Yes, indeed, he must set an example in terms of physical labour, doing at least two hours’ work a day. Which hours of the day and night are most favourable far the various kinds of work? These questions belong to the internal life of the school. The morning hours are best for mental work, the daytime for physical labour and the evening hours for rest. A special book is needed because when general definitions are made people interpret them in different ways, and this can be misleading. I would recommend a method of self-observation. As soon as you rise in the morning, leave it to your own intuition to tell you which questions and which thoughts interest you most. If a thought comes to your mind, then it is the most important one. Think about it all day and try to put it into action. It does not matter whether it is a practical or artistic thought or about physical labour or indeed about anything else in your life, try to apply it, to realise it. Sing a song! I now wish you all, young and old, love — love which never ceases. It flows from a spring which never runs dry, a spring for which we will make room in our hearts. Salvation is there, there is no other philosophy in the world. Let us not try to explain love. However we explain it, it is important for us to start to manifest this love. But how should we do this? Now it is the young who need love most of all. The old have love, but they lack the strength to use it. The young have the strength, but because their love is weak they are unable to use their strength. Now the only thing left to be done is to make the old young, and this is a great art. The very best injection for you all is to talk about love in the general sense of the word. When you talk about this love, you will feel it in your heart and mind and will, Everything you do must be leavened, just as bread is leavened, by love.

SOME PRACTICAL RULES FOR THE UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN Organise light physical duties for children. At a later stage children can be given a little garden to cultivate. Detailed Explanations about Walking Barefoot, Bare-headed and about Clothing in General You should walk barefoot in summer, particularly from the beginning of May so that your feet will be in contact with the earth and you will be able to absorb electricity and the earth’s magnetism. Those of you who are unaccustomed to walking barefoot should do so only for an hour or so after sunrise. That is beneficial. I would recommend that both men and women should walk barefoot when the sun rises, but let this be outside the city in some beautiful place. It is dangerous to walk barefoot in cities because one might hurt one’s foot on a stone or sharp object. People often ask this question: “Can one walk barefoot all the year round?” This is not very practical. Children should go barefoot during the summer months. People ask if they can walk on grass. “Kes, you may; on grass, on hot sand, in water. For those of you who suffer from thinning hair and headaches, walking hatless for three or four hours a day is beneficial in summer. Walking hatless in the sun has a healing effect on the head. However, in summertime, when the sun is at its height it is better to wear a hat because the sun’s rays have a very powerful effect on the brain. How should we dress? Clothing should be loose to ensure constant ventilation of the body and to allow the free flow of electric and magnetic currents. Clothing should be light. Women should make clothes that suit the shape of their bodies. I would like the women of the White Brotherhood to have a particular air about them, I would like them to strive towards developing and beautifying their bodies. For this reason I am setting these exercises for all of you so that you will not be sickly. Everybody has a strong preference for a given colour. Remain true to the colour you prefer. Do not change your taste. Try to get your friends to like this colour too. And if you come to a. colour combination which is liked by both you and your friends, you will indeed be happy. Wear soft colours. How Can One Develop one’s Singing Voice Correctly? Rule number one: your voice depends on your lungs and your larynx. Consequently, you should not subject your larynx to sudden changes of temperature — from cold to hot and from hot to cold. Apart from this, some artificial acids spoil the voice, and a person who wishes to possess a good voice should eat sweeter foods. When you go out into open spaces, do as many voice exercises as possible. If you are alone, sing! Know that your voice is dependent on love. Only a person who loves possesses a voice. He speaks. Persons without love are voiceless. Do not allow yourself to be persuaded that you cannot sing, but rather allow yourself to be persuaded that you can sing and develop your voice. Apply yourself to the thought that you can develop your voice, listen to good singers, be inspired by them, for they will give you the impulse you need.

PART OF THE 1924 LECTURE What is the role of art? Questions put to the Master by his disciples and his answers. Q: What is the role of art? A. The role of art is to ennoble men and to bring them closer together. And when I possess the art of speaking and you also possess the art of speaking, I shall say something, we will draw closer together and we will be ennobled. And when you write and I write, we will be ennobled and draw closer together. And when you draw and I draw, we shall again be ennobled and draw closer together by means of pictures. Thus, the role of art in all contexts is as follows: to ennoble men and to bring them closer together. Practical Rules for Behaviour Do not think that you are foolish and do not think the person you are addressing is foolish. Assume that you are capable of communicating the greatest of divine thoughts. Assume that the person you are addressing, who is your brother, is capable of comprehending this truth. These are the two most important rules that I know. Another thing: use concrete, factual expressions when you speak. Do not talk about vague things that you do not understand. Speak only of things you have experienced and about things with which you have made at least ten experiments. These are practical rules of behaviour. As far as your children are concerned, start talking to them, explain the objects which are closest to them and which they need most of all-these are questions about water, air and the sun. Water exercises a great influence over children. Take the child to a spring that bubbles out of the ground, start to tell the child a story and you will observe that his thoughts flow like the water. Start with the rising sun. Then proceed to flowers and fruits. All these things influence the child — so talk about them. You will observe that the same forces that are associated with light, water and flowers will begin to appear in the child’s soul. Gradually you will move on to the real things that children can comprehend because in some respects children can comprehend more clearly than adults. The reasons why we sometimes put obstacles in front of small children is that we explain things to them in an unreal way. The following must also be borne in mind. When pedagogues or parents wish to teach their children something, they are not permitted together with this idea to undergo any spiritual experiences of their own or to let any of their own private thoughts or minor sins intrude on this process. If one thinks about sins that have been committed, one cannot achieve one’s objectives. If one acts in this way, whatever one does and however little it may be, a maggot will enter the little that one has done and destroy everything. Consequently, he who wishes to educate, to provide an upbringing, must be very pure at that particular time. He can think about his errors afterwards, but when he wishes to put a divine idea into practice he must be pure.