Ani

[M1]{Why is it that some…} [M2]{he will be heavily burdened} or {people will load a heavy burden on him} [M3]{Correcting your mistakes is an urgent matter.} or {The correction of mistakes is urgent.}

Note 4p THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE LECTURES BY THE MASTER GIVEN AT THE SEVEN RILA LAKES IN THE SUMMER OF 1939 SOFIA 1939 THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” 1 Corinthians 13: 1 "If I speak". The outer side of the human is human speech. The outer side of the angels is the angel's speech. If a person talks without putting sense into his words, he is like someone, who has a stomach and lungs, but no head. To say that a person has no head is to say, that he has no course in his life. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal." The word “clanging” implies lack of rationality. The one, who does irrational things, is always clanging. Usually the empty things clang, while the full things are peaceful and quiet and do not make any noise. Each thing devoid of meaning makes noise. Consequently, the one, who is clanging, might speak with the tongues of men and of angels, yet he does not have Love. "And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing..." (Verse 2) Faith is for humans, knowledge - for the angels. So, if you possess the faith of men and the knowledge of angels, but you have no Love, you are nothing. A man may be big and strong like an antediluvian mammoth, or like a contemporary ship that splits the water and frightens the fish, yet unless he has no Love, he is nothing. No matter how big the ship is - as soon as it enters the port, it becomes nothing. If the ship is not being utilized, it will stay for some time in the port till one day they scrap it. The human is like a ship, too. As long as he has great ideas, he splits the water and frightens the small creatures - as soon as he stops at one place - all ends for him - they discard him. “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (Verse 3) What does one profit if he bestows all his wealth or knowledge to the people without Love? Neither he, nor those he gave something to, will profit. What would the poor man profit by the rich man’s coat - he will die anyway. Till he dies, though, that is, unless he has already entered the immortality realm, the person is constantly clanging and living with transient things. If one day he is happy, the next one he will be unhappy; if one day he is healthy, on the next one he will be ill; if one day he is learned, on the next one he will be ignoramus; if one day he feels young, on the next one he will feel old. The state of the one who is old, or of the one, that has prematurely grown old, is terrible indeed. Getting old, man cannot see and hear well and is preoccupied with old problems. He speaks about his childhood, parents and relatives, and his fellowmen. There is nothing new for him. In fact, he waits to be rejuvenated in some way. Man cannot rejuvenate unless Love visits him. Love rejuvenates the human. Love makes man immortal. It deposits in him the opportunities for all achievements. If man has no Love he can do nothing. Without Love he is only transferring the things. If he is an artist, he only blotches the canvas, but he does not paint. The one, who has Love in him, is a real artist. A real sculptor is the one, who has Love in him. If the sculptor has no Love, he will squeeze the clay rather than model it. Not understanding the law of Love, people get mutually disappointed and say: the world is bad, and other people are bad, too. The people’s wickedness is their outer side. Wickedness is the clay of life, but not real life. Water, although it is valuable, covers the streets, houses, and people with mud - this is not its only feature, though. Against their will, people cover each other with mud - this is not their only feature, though. Words exist, that cover with mud, and others, that purify, too. If man speaks with Love, his words always purify. "Charity suffereth long." (Verse 4) Patience is the foundation of life. If man has no patience, he cannot accomplish anything. If we say a person is patient, it means he bears everything calmly. It might be raining, wind might be blowing, dust might be flying - he remains quiet and calm. If we say a man is affected by sufferings and death, we mean he is in them. If he does not want them to affect him, he should step out of them. God has put life in man – not death. He has put delight in man - not suffering. Death is something external - not internal. The one, who cannot suffer, is in the realm of impatience. In order to be able to bear, he should come out of impatience and come into patience - one of the great qualities of God. "Love is kind." (Verse 4) - In order to be kind, man should not differentiate between rich and poor, between the learned and the ignoramus. The rich, likewise the poor, originate from God. The learned, likewise the ignorant, originate from God. The difference between these men is basically that the rich and the learned are patient, while the poor and the ignorant - impatient. If they become patient, then both the ignorant and the poor will acquire the features of the first two. And they will become benevolent. In order to be benevolent, man should not be in conditions that deprive him of his essential needs. Should he deprive himself of air, water, light, and food? Not depriving himself, he should not deprive his fellow men as well. As he satisfies himself and his fellow men, he will be benevolent indeed. "Love does not envy." (Verse 4) Only this man envies, who is deprived of musical sense. He can separate two people that Love each other and break their relationship. If a person envies, he will live in poverty, for only poor people envy. In order not to envy, a man should work on himself, so that he can get rich and ennoble his heart. Should the mother of the children that are not dressed well envy the rich children dressed in expensive clothes? For whatever reason, the children of the poor are dressed poorly, while the children of the rich are dressed in expensive and luxury clothes? By what reason some countries are always growing rapidly and are always green, while others do not grow well? The trees, situated in the sun and in favourable conditions, are always green and growing well. Trees not situated in the Sun, are always sentenced to death. They wither away. Consequently, each man, who is not dressed well, is not situated under the beams of the Divine Sun. Between God and his soul there stands someone, who is casting a shadow on him. I use the word "dressed" in its broader sense here – by this word I mean to be physically and spiritually dressed. So, as difficulties and sufferings enter your life, this means, that someone else has entered between you and God. As you realize that he overshadows you and that he prevents the sunbeams from shining on you, move one step higher quickly. If he again attempts to hinder you, move another step higher. The one, who loves you, will never hinder the beams of the Divine Sun that are basking you. He will stand out of their way – he will definitely not stand in the way of these beams. For fear that some bad people might deprive them from the beams of the Divine Sun, many people, especially the religious ones, are trying to work, aiming to occupy a place on the right hand side, or on the left hand side of God. They do not know that these places are strictly appointed. People can occupy only the places on the left hand side of God. The right hand side is reserved for angels. If a person occupies a place on the left hand side of God, he is being subjected to tests and suffering. So, if someone strives to occupy a place on the left hand side of God, he should be ready for suffering and tests. Not being able to stand the tests, man likes to go to the other world. The other world is a world of suffering. While man suffers, he has no idea, that he has already entered the other world. That is why, while he suffers, he should not like to go to the other world, he should like to enter the world of delight, where the angels live. The sorrows and the sufferings are the human world, while the delights are the angelic world. While he suffers, man is in hell - he is in the human world. While man is delighted, he is among the angels in paradise. Heaven is where the angels live; hell is where humans live. What is hell to a person? The bad and the criminal things that one does – things, to which he wants to give a beautiful outlook, are nothing but states of hell. You often meet young ladies dressed nicely, but it is enough to get near them to taste their bad character. From the outside they look pleasant and beautiful, but inside they are ugly. Nothing remains hidden in life. The inner things may easily come out. As soon as a man starts talking and expresses his thoughts and feelings, you can see what kind of person he is. "Where there is knowledge, it will pass away." - So all the knowledge, attained and applied without Love, will pass away - it is not able to withstand. Such knowledge is temporary and everything temporary and transient is sentenced to death. The real knowledge, though, will go with the human. It is immortal - as the human soul. "As soon as I became a human, I departed all that was juvenile." - In other words: since I began thinking I left the transitory things. "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child." (Verse 11) This does not mean that to be a child or juvenile is something bad. These are just periods through which a man should inevitably pass. Evil is a stuffing, from which a man has to release himself. If he does not make any effort to free himself from the evil, he will suffocate. Evil is poison, which a person will personally taste. He will be the first one to drink the poison he poured into his cup. The more you are interested in evil inside you, or inside your fellow men, the more you attract it and give it priority. Walk past and away from evil without seeing it, without arguing with it. Pay attention to the goodness in humans. Inside each person lives two beings: one of them is good and the other one - bad. Whatever you do, you will not free yourself from evil. This is the reason for which a man is at times dissatisfied by life and by the conditions in which he finds himself. The good being within the human makes him pleased and happy. Man has content and discontent in equal degrees; he owns both joy and sorrow. The human stands outside the content and discontent, outside joy and sorrow. He only watches, tastes things, and learns from them. Man is destined to work, learn, and prepare a place for Love within himself. Everything through which he passes - knowledge and ignorance, sorrow and joy, content and discontent - are stages, through which he should pass, so that he can prepare himself for the great moment in his life - the acquisition of Love. It is known, that Love does not envy and is not jealous. If he is jealous, man has not provided a place for Love within himself. Jealousy hampers man to progress and develop properly. As soon as he sees something good and beautiful, the jealous one wants it for himself. If he meets a strong and healthy horse, he wants to have the same qualities for himself. He does not know that if he is strong and healthy as a horse, they will burden it a lot. What will he gain from the heavy burden they make it carry? In what way does the master treat his horse? As soon as the master burdens his horse, he slashes it with his whip and says: Come on, go without turning back. Why have you lagged behind so much in your development? In order to change your present situation, you should bear the heavy burden and serve your bigger brothers. The one, who does not understand this language, says: Poor horse, his master thrashed it. Then what will you say for the sculptor, who is beating the stones with his hammer? Are these hits proper? He chooses a stone and starts to hit and quarry from it the pieces that are not necessary. He means to carve something from this stone, to sculpture this stone into a beautiful form. What the hits of the sculptor are for the stone, the same are the sorrows for the human. When man suffers, this means, that Providence is hitting him with his hammer, so that all the unnecessary things might be dislodged from him. As a result of each suffering man relieves himself from something that tortures him. When does man suffer? When he bifurcates within himself. If the brother and the sister in a house do not get along, they suffer. When they do not get along, they need their father and mother to help them come to terms. What will they gain, if, for instance, the father takes the son’s side, and the mother takes the daughter’s side? The opposite might also happen: the father might take the side of the daughter, while the mother might take the side of the son. In such a case, they would not gain anything special as well. Why? They would not gain anything special because the reason for the misunderstanding between the brother and the sister is within themselves. They are uncertain. It was said in the Scriptures: "A home that lacks unity would not last." Knowing this, beware of uncertainty. If you make a mistake, do not hesitate, and do not contemplate why you have made it - correct it instead. There are mistakes that should be corrected immediately. Their correction is urgent. "But the greatest of these is Love." (Verse 13) Whoever has Love, has the power to eliminate all difficulty and all suffering. If you had Love in yourself, you would have easily coped with the rain and the thunder. If you cannot cope with them, then you have no Love in your heart. To have Love means to have bright thoughts and noble feelings. If you have such thoughts and feelings within yourself, then you will be pleased by everything that has been given to you. When you eat, you will be pleased with the food. When you sleep, you will be pleased with your sleep. When you do well, you will be pleased as well. In other words, when man thinks, feels, or undertakes something good, the sun of his soul should shine so warm and bright, as the physical Sun is shining on a warm day in May. In this Sun man should see the Divine Light that bears opportunities for the growth and development of the human soul. The bright thoughts are beams from the Light of the Divine Sun while the good feelings are beams from the warmth of the Divine Sun. Without the beams of this sun man can neither think nor act. As you watch the sky, you see small clouds there. They show that there is something in man that should be cleared. Who will help him? The wind. Today it blows behind your back, thus making you move forward without thinking of the ground. On the whole, the sky is clean and has a pleasant blue colour. As soon as you look at it, you feel joy. Such should be the sky of your soul as well. It should be illuminated by Love. In order to attain this, strive to Love people - do not expect them to Love you. If you look for someone to Love you, you will finally get disappointed and see, that whoever loved you is not the one whom your soul has expected. He may stand in front of you, but he is not the one you expected. Once, one of the Russian emperors gave the following task to one of his ministers: I want you to answer three questions that interest me. I have been thinking about these things for some time. The minister was in a quandary and did not know in what way to answer the king. He met a monk, who undertook to solve the task. For this purpose, the monk dressed in the clothes of the minister and thus attired, he appeared before the king. He managed to answer the first two thoughts of the king, but on the third one, he got completely confused. At last, though, he answered his third thought as well: You think your minister sits before you now, but you deceive yourself. Before you sits a monk - not your minister. Consequently, in each separate case man should know exactly who stands before him: the minister of his country, or a monk. Then a man will definitely know, that if even one of the ministers of a given country cannot solve one of the three questions put by the king, then the monk will solve so much less. "Love is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." (Verse 5) Love solves all the difficulties and contradictions. Love gives meaning to knowledge. Love gives value to everything. It was said in the Scripture: "God is Love." Where Нe is present everything acquires meaning, everything acquires Love. As soon as he enters the realm of Love, man enters the Divine World. As soon as he enters the realm of knowledge - he enters among the angels. As soon as he enters the realm of faith, he enters among the people. When there is some talk about Love, many people are afraid of it. Why? Because they know the Love that destroys the human. They do not know that there exists Love, which revives the people. This Love excludes all the contradictions and doubts. Real Love implies eating. To Love a man means to eat him. If you cannot eat him, then you do not love him. Eating is an internal process. Consequently, to love somebody means to accept him as he is. As soon as he enters into you, you should give him a special place and begin to study him. Meanwhile you should pray. To eat without a prayer is improper. While he eats, man should pray. As soon as he puts a pear into his mouth, he should start to pray. As he prays, the food will affect the human organism favourably. In the chapter from the Corinthians, that was read, the features of Love are discussed. Thus you will stop being embarrassed by anything. Do not be embarrassed about what people do, or experience: an ill person will experience his illness, a poor person will experience his poverty, a suffering person will experience his sufferings, etc. Whatever happens in your life, or in the life of your fellow men, is for good. Know, that God is present everywhere and within each thing: in suffering and in joy as well. There is no suffering, in which God is not present. There is no joy, in which God is not present. In order that man can see God and recognize Him, man should be pleased with all the happenings in his life and should not murmur. If he is not pleased, he will not be able to make use of the various opportunities around him - he will seek just delights instead. The delights are just one side of life, though, in which man can grow and develop one-sidedly only. In order to develop properly, man should constantly move between the poles of life: joys and sorrows, light and darkness, good and evil. Contemporary people talk about Love and live within Love without getting it. In order to get it, they have to penetrate the love of the human, angelic, and Divine World. As they enter in these three worlds of Love, they will know all those, who love them. For the time being, people recognize just those whom they love, but not those who love them. To get to know Love, they should get familiarized with both parties and think of them. For instance, man knows his mother, father, brothers and sisters, his friends - he does not know the angels that love him and he does not think of them. He does not even suspect that each of his delights is due to the presence of an angel in him at all. As soon as the angel is gone, man starts to grieve. No matter whether man grieves or enjoys, God is in him: while man grieves, God is hidden deep within his soul; while he enjoys, God manifests himself outwardly. So, God manifests himself everywhere as Love, but He never talks about Himself. This shows, that the Love of God cannot be voiced. God’s Love should rather be shown – not spoken. To manifest your Love means to direct your thoughts and feelings towards the great Divine World. So, if he strives towards the new life, man should think, feel, and breathe properly. While man prays, he breathes. Breathing implies proper thoughts and proper feelings. While man inhales and exhales, he should breathe slower but deeper. While he prays, man should stand before God with joy and satisfaction with everything given to him. He should give thanks for the Light and pure thoughts, for the beautiful and elevated feelings, that are being sent to him. He should be thankful, for he has come to Earth surrounded by good parents and friends; he should be thankful for the Sun that shines, for the water and air around him; for the wind, rain, and clouds that surround him. The clouds that surround you as well are nothing but filters that purifies human thoughts and feelings. As you purify your thoughts and feelings, you might learn to live properly. As you live properly, you will not disturb the Divine in yourself, that is - the Holy Spirit, for whom it was said in the Scriptures: "Do not hurt the Spirit within you!" As soon as some bad thought comes into your head, ask it to go away until you finish your job. Let it come again after you finish your job. Thus you will do your duties and then be free to talk with it. If you proceed in this way, this thought will set you free. Whenever you are attacked by dark thoughts it shows they are afraid you might stop loving them. They are your friends from the past, who like to take something from you. Give them what they deserve and send them away. They live from your Love. If you do not love them, they would not be able to exist. Until you are able cope with them, give them something now and then, but do not bind with them. Consequently, in order to get free from the contradictions in life, man should bring Love in his head, faith in his heart, and hope in his body. Thus he can get the new science that explains the inner sense of the phenomena. For instance, according to the new science, the oxygen and the hydrogen combine and form water, which they consider as their child. Oxygen has the ability to give, while hydrogen has the ability to take. As they drink water, people aim at attaining knowledge of oxygen’s ability to give, and of the hydrogen’s ability to take. If someone says he wants to be a woman, this implies willingness for taking, for gathering. If someone says he wants to be a man, this implies a willingness to give. The male principle, that is - the mind in man - gives, while the female principle, that is - the heart in man - gathers. As a result of these two processes - giving and taking - the human body has been created. The outcome of the work of both the human Spirit and soul is the human mind.

Note 1 The Young Brother A talk of the Master, given on the first of January, 1939, 10 am. Contemporary humanity is living in a most important epoch. This epoch is important, because of its consequences. It is as important as the state of a dead man buried in the earth. His relatives and friends weep over his grave and he hears their weeping, but is unable to tell them anything. Terrible is the state of that man! He thinks that everything he has possessed: - Knowledge, glory, wealth, is all buried along with him. The most important thing for him, in that moment, is that someone should come from outside and say: - Open this grave! - If he hears these words, it means that the hour for his salvation is at hand. People bury their dead quite deeply, at least, one meter deep. The grain of wheat, however, is planted at a depth of about one, or two centimeters. If it were planted one meter deep, it would never sprout. Now, I want to explain the value of things, without proposing any new hypotheses, or theories, or saying which is right and which is wrong. The idea of right and wrong is a human idea. In human affairs there exist rights, but in Divine - values. So that when we speak of the value of things, we understand Divine things. When you come to the rights and wrongs of man, you stop at that point. No one wants to deprive man of his rights or wrongs. Sometimes the wrong is necessary. For instance, the wheel that is turning is not made up of straight lines only but also of curved ones. Only under this condition can it turn. In the Divine world, the crooked things make the wheel turn. There, they are placed on the outside, while the right, straight ones are on the inside. The two, put together, form a dynamo. However, in the human world, it is not so. As men do not understand the laws of life, some are afraid of the law of lovelessness, while others - of the law of love. Why? Because lovelessness takes, while love gives. If the poor man should find himself with an abundance of goods in life, he would rejoice. Deprived of that abundance, he would grieve. Exactly the opposite is true of the Divine world. When a creature there, is deprived of the abundance it has been accustomed to, it rejoices. This same thing we see in the life of the fruit trees. A man, with a basket in hand, approaches a fruit tree covered with fruit, and starts picking them one by one. While picking the fruit, he tells the tree a story, of how he is taking its children, in order to send them to the earthly schools and universities to study. In reality, the fruit go to school. In order to be registered as regular students, they should take entrance examinations in several subjects. They enter in by the door of the first school - the mouth, where thirty-two professors welcome them. There, they are asked different questions, until the committee pronounces the examination successfully passed. As soon as the result of the examination proves good, another door opens for them and they enter into a higher university, where ten million learned men are expecting them. They are accepted triumphantly, with hurrahs and ovations. This university is man's stomach. They, say that the fruit, i.e. the children of the fruit trees, do not go to school, but to death. What does death represent? It represents the stomach of life. Therefore, he who wants to enter into life, must first pass through the stomach of life - death. There shall meet him thirty-two professors clothed in white. They shall make him sit in a desk, as a student, and he shall take his examination according to all the requirements for the students. If he does not want to take it then, he may put it off, but only temporarily. It does not matter when he shall take it, he has to pass through this door sometime. There is no other way to heaven. Some think that they can enter heaven by some other way, by avoiding death. So far, history has recorded only two cases of a special ascent to heaven - those of Enoch and the prophet Elijah, who ascended into heaven in a fiery chariot. However, Elijah came down to earth again, end that time he passed through the same door through which all ordinary men pass. Every man can be accepted as an auditor in some school, but if he wants to be a regular student, he must, by all means, pass through an examination. Going into the other world without an examination, in a fiery chariot, has been only an exception. But now, considering the value of things, we find that three things make life valuable and comprehensive: love, wisdom and truth. In other words: without life, without knowledge and light, without freedom, without movement, without achievements life always remains incomprehensible. Life has no significance without love. Love is that great principle which stimulates the spirit, and puts it in a position to manifest its possibilities. Life is hidden in love - as the fruit in the seed. In order that the life of the seed should be manifested, light and heat, coming from the outside, must act upon it. Men renounce exactly this seed. It represents the human soul, the essence of things. It has rested for millions of years in the Divine granary until the time of its manifestation has come. If it does not enter into life, into the conditions of love, wisdom and truth, it can never get ripe. When we speak of love, wisdom and truth, we consider them in their dynamic, not in their static manifestations. If love comes into a static state, it turns into lovelessness. Lovelessness always takes away, while love always gives. Knowledge brings light into the human mind, while ignorance - darkness. Light liberates man, while darkness limits him. The misfortunes of this world have darkness for a source. In man, light, knowledge and love are posited. One thing is required of him - to open the windows of his mind and of his heart, in order that love, knowledge and light might enter in through them. Man must put his mind into acting in order to solve all the difficult problems of his life. The mind can only solve the problems, but it can not get things accomplished. It is the spirit that applies and accomplishes things. The Spirit is the great employee in man. When you come to the application of things, turn to your Spirit. Man can solve a problem which his mind and understand what love is, for instance, but this would be merely knowledge. Love should be applied. One can touch and lick the crust of the bread without even taking a bite of it, but he will have an idea only of its outside, as he would not have tasted its inside, or applied it. Consequently, if a man works only with his mind, he gets knowledge, but as soon as the Spirit begins to apply this knowledge in his life, he attains love, light and freedom. Men, today, need to learn how to apply their knowledge. They have the truth within themselves, but it must be applied. Anything which can not be applied is dead. Even the smallest piece of bread which one has eaten must be applied, must bear fruit. If the piece of bread does not turn into a good feeling, the feeling into a bright thought, the thought into a fruit of a fine quality, eating has no sense. These processes are interlinked. There is a hidden meaning in eating, which we do not know yet. In man himself, there is a hidden something, which he does not know. That hidden thing in man manifests itself only when he suffers. Men today do not understand what suffering is. Suffering is a process of growth. It is a sign of the fact that man is already out of the unfavorable conditions. Until man begins to suffer, he is in bondage. As soon as he begins to suffer, he sees the light inside and outside of himself. Then he wants to pull his roots out of the ground. Every plant suffers, because it wants to pull its head out of the soil. The roots are the head of the plant. The same thing applies to man. The head, i.e. the thought of man, is buried in dense matter. When a mother and a father complain that their children do not love them, it is a proof that their heads are buried in dense matter. When a nation complains that its citizens do not observe its laws, it shows that the nation's head is buried in the earth. Kan must liberate his head from the dense matter. By what means? There are many ways by which man can obtain his freedom. The first way of obtaining freedom is love. But before he understands and applies love, he should experience lovelessness. In order to understand love, one should have a broad conception of life, not a one - sided one. Breadth is required in man's views. Do you think that the stats of the child, while it rests curled up nine months in the mother's womb, is good? The mother says, "You should stand still inside of me, and should not utter one single word. If you dare speak a word, I shall throw you out instantly." If the child makes up its mind to say a word, i.e. to start crying, its mother, instantly, throws it out. This thrusting of the child out of the womb is called -birth. If the child starts to speak during the seventh month, it gets born just the same. But if it should begin to speak before the seventh month, it can not get born. Today, all men are in a hurry to get born, and in consequence, they are unhappy. They say: We should get born! It is good for one to get borne, but in his proper time. Birth is a great thing, but he who hurries with his birth, and gets born before the ninth month, can not live. He who would get born during the ninth month of 1939, all shall be well with him. But if he should get born before, or after this time, he shall die. If you get born this year, the future is yours. You have not had as good a year as this, in all your life. If you do not get born this year, you shall have to wait for the year 1999, when the same conditions shall be repeated. Now, I do not want to prove the truth of my words, for proving things is a sort of exercise, and exercises take much time. A violinist who wishes to give an one-hour concert, practices several years beforehand. By playing for one hour before the public, he proves that he has played much, and practiced for a long time. Everything played well, proves that the musician has practiced. If it is not played well, it shows that the musician has not practiced. While living, man daily makes exercises. In this sense, life is music. There does not exist greater music than life. To live means to practice - to study the laws of the great virtues in the world. And now, love is the basic tone of life - the tone "do". Wisdom is the dominant tone - "sol". The truth is the tone "si", which makes for expansion in all things. Thus, we have the three basic tones of life: do, sol, si. As soon as you come to the tone "si", you find yourself in an ascending state - that is -you pass into a higher octave of life. When you enter a higher octave, the order of things begins to change. In the tone "do" of the first octave there is a certain pressure, which we can compare to that of an egg at the time of hatching. The egg has been for a certain time under the hen, but it should rest there until it gets hatched. As soon as you enter the tone "do" of the higher octave, instead of pressure, movement shall take place. One should know what he can do when he enters the tone "do" while he is in acting. Thus, when a man faces certain difficulties, we say that he is in the tone "do" of the first octave. He is in the basic tone of material life. The physical life settles all difficulties. Once the problem is solved, man enters into the spiritual world. The spiritual world is in a dynamic, not in a static state. While man is living in the physical world, he is always complaining of lack of clothes, shoes, money, houses etc. Crying is in its place in the physical world, but out of place in the spiritual and mental worlds. When the professor comes, you begin to study the other tones - re, mi, fa, sols la, si, and you come to high "do", that is, you enter into the spiritual world where weeping is not allowed. When you come to high "do" in the higher octave, crying turns into music. There things are solved. When man reaches the spiritual world, he receives a free ticket, boards a ship and starts a journey. Wherever he passes, he observes things and takes notes. When he enters the spiritual world, he wants to have pleasant feelings. This is possible only if he stops taking interest in material things. Can a man, moving from one country to another, take his house, lands and furniture with him? He shall sell all he has and exchange all his possessions for money, which he shall take over, for instance, from a Bulgarian bank into that of the foreign Country. If he is going to America, he shall transfer all his values there. Thus, the spiritual life is nothing but a special way, which shows man the way he can transfer his values from the earthly into the heavenly banks. He, who has a way of transferring his values into the spiritual world, is a prudent man. Such a man is welcomed in the spiritual world. The same thing happens on the earth. If a foreigner wants to enter the United States of America, he shall be questioned whether he has something in his pocket, or not. In order to live veil in the States, one should have, at least, five-hundred, up to one thousand dollars, in one's pocket. Many think that God is love, kindness, and shall meet them well, both on earth and in heaven, regardless of whether they have anything valuable in themselves, or not. This is impossible. If a father should send his son abroad to study, and should send him one-hundred dollars each month, but the son does not study and spends that money for sating and drinking only - do you think that father would be pleased with his son? He shall be dissatisfied and grieved. Someone might say that after much wondering about the world, the Prodigal son returned to his father, who welcomed him with joy. In his honor, the father killed a calf and gave a feast. The Prodigal son returned to his father, after he had finished his studies in the earthly university. He ate and drank with friends, young men and women, and squandered all that he had. When he became the last pauper on earth, without a cent in his pocket, he got himself hired as a swine-keeper. He learned, at least, one job - that of keeping swine. As he watched them, he observed what they did. With their snout, they turned up the soil and planted the seeds of the trees, so that the trees grew up, on account of the swine. You might call this "Swine-business", and actually, it is not a clean job to bury the head of a plant in the ground, but it is better for the plant that its head should be buried, than not. When the Prodigal Son returned to his father, he said: Father, I could not graduate from the university you wanted me to, but I finished the earthly university. Now I understand that I have not attained a position worthy of that of a son. The son should have studied much, but since I could not study much, I have come to you, not as your son, but as a servant. My diploma is worthy of one of the meanest jobs that you give your servants. Let the big jobs be taken by others". When the father heard the words of his son, he saw that the son had come to a deep and sound understanding of life, for which reason he embraced and kissed him, gave him a ring and ordered his servants to kill the most fatted calf for him. The son had returned from abroad with open eyes - ready to study by his father. Up to that time, he had never seen his father, neither known him, such as he then saw him. He had known only a stern, severe and scowling face of a person, who only gave orders to his sons and servants. When he got tired of that stern face, one day he said: - Father, I want to go into the world to study. Give me my share of the inheritance, for I want to obtain knowledge away from you. However, now he saw such a love in his father, as he had never, even imagined before. The father embraced and kissed him, and gave orders, that a great feast be given in honor of his return. Meanwhile, the elder son was returning from the field, and when he heard, at a distance, the joyful noise and saw the gay crowd, he asked what it was all about, and why a feast was being given. The father answered: "Your brother returned from abroad, where he finished the earthly university. I am giving this feast because of his graduation." When the older son heard these words, he was displeased and said: "I have worked for so many years for you, but you have never, yet, given such a feast for me. But he, who has hardly learned anything, you receive with such a great celebration. You have not given mo, yet, a calf to kill and to entertain my friends, but for the one who squandered everything, you have killed the best calf. Then, 1 also, can go into the world to eat and drink, as he did." Thus spoke the older son to his father, and the father answered: "Son, all that I have is at your disposal. Now your brother shall take your place - he shall work, but you shall go into the world to study." This is the psychological interpretation of the state of the two sons and the father. The story of the Prodigal son has been, and is still being repeated in the world, for which reason men are dissatisfied one with another, and get dissatisfaction with God, their Great Father, because He has given some men much, at the expense of others; because some possess houses, money, good children - while others are deprived of these goods. Some do not pray, do not wait upon God, and in spite of that, they have His blessing, while others lead a good life of prayer, but are poor and still. Men get stuck on these contradictions and can not solve them. Why? They have not come to the value of things. In what does the value of things lie? In love. The father tells the older son: "Son, all I have is at your disposal, I do not withhold anything from you. You must study more, until you attain that humility, which your brother attained. You are not humble, yet. There are many-: virtuous people in the world, but they do not have humility. Some one comes to rue and tells me that he loves me. - Very well. If you love, you are doing a good work, I appreciate your love. - But I want you, also, to love me. - Are you ready to appreciate my love? When a goldsmith comes to me, I display my precious stones before him, because he recognizes the precious stones and can give each one its right value. But if someone, who does not recognize precious stones, should come to mo, I would not show him my precious things. An American family had fallen into such a bad material state, that all its members had become despaired. One day, a tourist passing by their home, stopped there to rest a while. Upon noticing the pale, sad faces of the children, he asked if they had a violin, so he would play for them. The father answered him that none of his family could play, but that they had an old violin, handed down from their grandfather. Since no one needed it, they had thrown it up in the attic, somewhere. They gave the tourist their violin, and when he tuned it and cleaned it up a bit, he exclaimed, in a great surprise, that is was a true Stradivarius violin. Ho played upon it, very pleased with its tone, and after that offered them a price that he might buy it, in case they would not need it in the house. He praised it highly and offered a good price for it. The father agreed to all and sold it. The money, he received for it, put the family in a better material condition. Today all people possess a Stradivarius violin, which they have thrown up in the attic, as useless. One day, however, a noted virtuoso shall enter your home, and shall ask you for your violin, that he might play on it. He shall become the cause for your bringing down the violin from the attic. After playing on it, he shall tell you that your violin is very good. Then you shall understand that in your violin, the conditions upon which your life depends are hidden. What more can you want than this, that a virtuoso, or a learned man, should come into your home, who would teach you to appreciate the mind which God has given you and to use it right? What is there more valuable for man than this, that he should know how to use his heart and how to converse with his soul? There is nothing greater for man, than to hear the voice of his soul and to converse with her. Many maintain that the soul is something abstract, invisible, whose voice can not be heard. According to me, the invisible things are real, but the visible are only shadows of the reality. Behind the visible things stand the invisible, the real ones. Consequently, the reality creates the visible things. Reality, by itself, can not be incarnated in any form, and after it has created innumerable visible forms, it still remains unmanifested. No matter how many visible forms it might create, reality can not be manifested in all its fulness. It shall remain forever uninanifested; there shall always be a part of it unmanifest. This fact can only make you happy, because future possibilities open up before you. Even the human heart is not yet fully manifested. Today man is able to survive, at the most, up to a temperature of 41 degrees centigrade. This limit passed, the heart can not stand the heat and man dies. The normal temperature of the heart is 37°C. The nervous system of man today is so constituted, that it can stand only a certain degree of strain. His limit passed, man gets nervous disorders. Every man wants to have more love, but he can not bear the high temperature of love. So also, man can not bear the high temperature of knowledge. Many of the new theories are unapproachable for the minds of most people and in consequence many who have attempted to perceive them, have received nervous disorders. The theory of Einstein, for instance, has caused a great mental and nervous strain for many a learned men. When a great strain is imposed upon the nervous system, it weakens as the metals which melt under a high temperature. Many are striving toward a spiritual life, which they want to know, but they come against great obstacles. Men speak of spiritual love, ignorant of the great power which that love contains. They are not able to stand the strain of physical love, how much less would they be able to stand that of spiritual love! Once a protestant minister had prayed to God for a long time, that He might give him a chance to taste the blessedness of spiritual love. Afterward he had told of his experience to others. One night, during prayer, he had felt something very pleasant and tender creeping into him, and gradually taking hold of his whole body. This feeling had become so intense, that he had fallen face down upon the floor and had begun to roll about and to pray that this mighty feeling might come to an end. The strain it produced in him had been too much for him to bear. Great is the strain which the Spirit creates in man. Few are those who can bear it. Thus, the number 9 in 1939 signifies a result of Divine processes. This number requires perfection of man. All forms in the physical world, all his feelings and thoughts must be perfect. This number signifies completed processes, in consequence of which, man can not go any further than that number. The number 3 shows the way by which man can attain the result of the number 9. In order to attain the result of the three, man should work with the three great powers: life, knowledge and freedom. If he works with these powers, man shall get results in the physical world, by all means. Every person wants to be good-looking, to have nice eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, but in order to reach this state, he should understand the fundamental laws of life. Life is not something vague. It is a great reality, a great good, which is given to us. While studying life, the Hindus have revealed two important processes taking places - that of disintegration and the process of construction. According to these processes, they have divided their gods into two categories: those who work with the disintegrating processes and those who work with the constructive ones. Men of today do not strive only toward the attainment of external, but also toward that of internal beauty. Internal beauty implies perfection. Worldly people strive toward external, while the religious and spiritually - minded people - toward internal beauty. In order to be internally beautiful, one should have liquidated with all one's weaknesses and mistakes. One can become perfect in a moment. If man would apply the law of love, wisdom and truth, in a moment he can be released from faults and become perfect. While working in his laboratory, Edison often spotted his clothes by some mistake in the experiments he had committed at times. In order to clean his clothes, he used to step on a disk, and let electric power pass through them. In a few minutes, his clothes had become absolutely clean. Therefore, if you want to get clean and free of your mistakes, step upon the disk of love, and let its power flow into you. Only Love is capable of purifying man in a moment, and of bringing him to the state of a new-born child. The adult and the aged say that their mother conceived them in sin. However, the child can never say that its mother has born it sinful, or impure. Man was created pure and sinless, so that being created perfect, he gets born as such. In order to keep his purity and perfection, man should apply in his life Divine Love. Thus shall manifest all that is beautiful and lofty, invested in his soul. Whatever people might say about you, it should not cause you to stumble. People speak outside and inside of you, but you should discriminate their speech from that of your soul. For instance, you decide to do some good, but something within you tells you not to do it, since its time has not yet come. Bo the good without paying attention to that voice. That is the voice of your neighbor. There is no definite time set for doing good. You can always do good. When the father in a home gives alms to poor children, his wife and children all go to him and begin to advise him not to do that. They all think that he does not do the right thing. Why? Because their own interests are impinged. When he does good outside of his hone, the family are afraid that little shall be left for them and so they shall be deprived of certain things. This is exactly why Christ said: "When you do good, lot not your left hand know what your right hand doeth". Only God should know of the good you have decided to do - no other. When you love someone and when you want to be free, only God should know of it. Many speak about freedom and seek after it, but in spite of all, they are not free. When people discuss, certain questions, they find that they are free to express their opinion. To be able to express your opinion freely, does not, yet, imply the idea of freedom. You are as free as a man who walks into a restaurant without any money. He is free to enter the restaurant and to order one or two dishes of the menu, and also to eat the food. But as soon as he starts to leave, he finds out that he is not free to do that. The restaurant keeper comes to him at once and tells him to pay. Only the man who carries bread in his own bag and eats any time he gets hungry, can be called free. That man is free, because he eats of his own bread. If he eats another man's bread, and can not pay for it, he is not free. Which is our own, and which is another's? Only the Divine is ours. That which is human is another's. The Divine liberates us, while the human limits us. Therefore, everything which limits the love, the knowledge and the freedom of man, is another's. So that if you accept the Divine, if you give way to the Divine within you, you shall always be free. Then your love shall manifest itself as the sun manifests its heat and light. The sun is far away, but its love is great. Whoever it meets on its way, it embraces and kisses him with its beams. There is no creature on earth which has not been embraced and kissed by the sun. It discovers even the creatures which hide themselves in the darkness. The love of the sun penetrates all things. There is nothing hidden, or covered for the sun. Everyone who deprives himself of the heat and light of the sun, that is - of its love, is doomed to death. The light and the heat are the manifestation of the Divine Love. That is why it is said in the scriptures: "We live and move in God". That means: We live and move in the light and the heat. Therein is cur place. Out of the light flows knowledge. If there were no light, there would be no knowledge. Now, as I observe the faces of men, I find that some of them resemble that of the Prodigal son, who has returned to his father, repentant and humble. For that was, really, why his father embraced and kissed him, and gave a feast in his honor. The faces of others, resemble the face of the older brother, who returning from the field and seeing the celebration in his father's home, gathered his eyebrows when he understood that all this was done in honor of his younger brother who had come from abroad. He was displeased with the act of his father, and pronounced him - unjust. Why did not the face of this son light up, when he heard that his younger brother had returned safe and sound from the foreign land? Why, like his father, had he not run toward him, embraced and kissed him? This year requires that all men correct their opinions, which they have about their Father, Do not keep in your mind the thoughts of the older son, who does not appreciate life, who gets despaired in his work and says that he is tired of life. Be ready, like the Prodigal son, to repent and to realize, that by eating and drinking, by leading a superficial life, you have gone astray from the right way - from the great law of love. What had that son learned from women? Nothing, and he even lost his freedom. Why? Woman is a foreign creature to man. The sister, however, is the Divine, whom man should be in relation with. If you seek after a woman, seek after her as a sister. The woman is a servant, who has come to the earth to do some work. Should you prevent her from doing her work? What good shall your love letters do to her? She works to earn her living. By your love letters you shall not take to her bread, water, or knowledge. The same thing can be said about the man. The Man is also a servant, come to earth to get something accomplished, and to earn his living. Must you stop him on his way? The woman must regard the man as a brother, and man must regard the woman as a sister, in order that they might work together and finish the work assigned to them. Contemporary humanity has not come to the idea of brotherhood and sisterhood yet, but we find people calling each other angels. The man calls the woman an angel, and tells her, that he can not live without her. The woman also calls the man an angel, up to the time when she is married to him. Both the man and the woman are angels, but angels without wings. As soon as they marry, their wings fall off. There is a way by which wings can grow up on a man in the course of one year9 even in nine months. Which is this way? When man begins to apply love, knowledge and freedom in his life. Knowledge and freedom are the two hands of man. When he looks upon his right hand, he should know that it is the truth in him, which makes him free. When he looks upon his left hand, he should realize, that he has certain knowledge at his disposal. Today's education requires that one should not be a master of his heart and mind, but that he should rather know how to treat them. Do not say that your heart is bad, but treat it well. Do not say, like David, that your mother conceived you in sin. My mother conceived me in love, and I shall live in love. No matter how bad the life of your past is, one day it shall turn into a precious stone. There shall not remain even one thing in the world which God shall not reconcile man with, but long years are required for that. Man must pass through great experiences and sufferings until he comes to the understanding that everything which God has created is great. Man must understand that he is not deprived of anything. Strive, during this year, toward the attainment of Divine things, for only they do not produce contradictions. Every Divine idea brings light to the human mind and to the human consciousness. If the idea comes from the earth, it carries darkness for the human mind. Every voice, coming from the center of the sun, from the Divine, brings light to the human mind. You shall be tried by the light and the darkness in which you move. That is why it says in the Scriptures: "Try the Spirits!" When the voice comes from the darkness, try it, when it comes from the light, accept and apply it! Some say that man must oppose the devil, the evil in the world. No, do not oppose the evil, neither fight it, but only take your mirror out, and make it see itself in it. As soon as the evil sees itself, it runs away. Therefore, as soon as temptation comes to you, take your mirror out at once, and watch what will happen. This is a wonder-making mirror. If the temptation should see itself in your mirror, all problems would be solved. The mirror is the light of life. We see ourselves in this light. Where the light is, there the mirror is. Be free to manifest your love this year as you have never manifested it before. This means: manifest your love in the light of life. Manifest your thoughts and acts in the light of life. Rejoice over everything which you shall get done under these conditions, without ever regretting over anything done. Whatever you do, know that there is One, Who is always watching you. He is the One, Who loves you, and Who lives in your mind and in your heart. Ha speaks silently in your ear, showing you a way by which you can correct your life. If you listen to Him, your life shall become right, there shall not be weeping. This year you must not weep. He, who is not through with weeping, has the right to weep, but he, who is through with weeping, should sing. I wish that this year, you should all be rejuvenated. Love rejuvenates man. It supplies the necessary substances for rejuvenation. Knowledge applies these substances, while the truth reveals them. Love is the cosmetics of life. Knowledge shall apply that which is beautiful, while truth shall reveal that which" is accomplished, so that whoever should look upon it, should say: Behold the man? In other words: clothe yourselves in the beautiful robe of love, in the beautiful life of wisdom, and in the rightly cut mould pattern of truth. Only the truth can carve the fine lines around the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth of man. Thus, since 1939 is an epochal year, I wish that you should wisely take advantage of all the opportunities it brings. If you should not take advantage of them now, the same conditions shall come in 1999. You have worked hundreds of years, in order to prepare yourselves for this year. If you work conscientiously upon yourselves during this year, you shall attain greater achievements than any you have ever attained since the time of Adam. When this time has elapsed, you shall be convinced in the truth of my words. The good, which this year brings, is a result of the Divine Word, of the Great in the world. We must all work for the reestablishment of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, within our minds, hearts and souls. If you apply all this to life, you shall be happy and content. Ho complaints are allowed during this year. I wish that this year, you should all be inflamed by the holy fire of Love. I wish that you should, at least, plant all your desires in your soul, if you could not immediately see them realized, I wish that you should plant your good thoughts, feelings and acts, and by watering them carefully, you should see that you have achieved their realization. And then, after this year has passed, you should be satisfied with yourselves, that you have attained something. For those who shall fulfill the requirements of ‘39’ this year shall continue during the next. For those, who would not fulfill the great laws, there shall come 1940, which ends with a zero - an egg. That means, that during the next year, man should hatch again the egg, until it is hatched. In order to see the realization of his desires, man should wait for the good opportunities of life, which shall come again in 1999. Those, who listen to and obey that which, is spoken to them, shall be always in the conditions of 1939. The best calf shall be killed for them, and a feast shall be given in their honor. All who are present at the Divine table, should be thankful for that, which is given to them. Keep in your mind the thought: The Way of the Divine Love is paved with all the possibilities and opportunities for achievement.

Note 1 The Great Brother The talk of the Master on December 31st, 12 M.N. 1938 You have all gathered together, this evening, to welcome the new year 1939. The number 39 is made up of 3 and 9, which are resultant numbers. The number 8 in 1938, represents the old mother, who easily solves all problems: whoever is to be born - gets born; whoever is to die - dies; whoever is to get rich, or poor, gets that. This mother acts quickly, without much hesitation. However, the new year, which is ahead, is condescending towards all. It hides within itself something great and beautiful. The numbers 3 and 9 contain the three great virtues: love, wisdom and truth, also - life, knowledge and freedom. The number 9, moreover, represents the human head, i.e. man manifested, through whom God's power in the world finds expression. The number 9 is the final result of every life. No one can go further than number 9. The new year deprives man of all possibilities of continuing in his old habits and faulty ways, whoever should attempt during this year to make the mistakes he has been accustomed to, shall go bankrupt. The new year contains all the possibilities for a good life. He, who desires to live well - to apply all his good intentions, good thoughts and feelings, shall find all the favorable conditions to fulfill his desire, during this year. But he, who thinks that he can stick to his old life - a life full of evil thoughts and desires, shall melt like ice, and shall evaporate like water. This new year is for the good people. It contains favorable conditions for planting all the good seeds that you possess in the field. The human soul is the field. It is the world in which man lives. When we compare the soul to a field, we have in mind only its external clothing. It is written: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, as a sacrifice, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." Which world did God so love? The world which is in the human soul. Therefore, God loved the enlightened soul, which is made manifest through life. It also says that God loved the truth in man. Where is the truth? Again - in the human soul. Truth can not live outside of the soul. He who seeks the truth, must first of all find the soul - realize that he has a soul in which he lives. The soul speaks to man through everything that surrounds him. The sun - when it shines; the wind which blows; the flowing rivers, and the blooming flowers - this is the language of the soul - the great mother of man. She cares for him in many different ways. At her command the sun shines forth, the wind begins to blow, the waters start flowing and the fruits ripen. The soul is the manifestation if God in man. When man does not obey his soul, she withdraws herself, and he melts like the ice under the rays of the sun. The soul can melt a person by her fire, as we melt the wax. Out of the melted wax, she moulds new forms to suit her taste. This year many new forms shall be moulded - many good people shall be born. As you know this, be ready to be melted and moulded anew. This shall happen with many, but not with all. There is nothing fearful in the melting and moulding of new forms. It does not imply death. There is something fearful in the world, but it is not in death. It occurs when man comes into contradiction with himself. There is a contradiction in the world which arises from eating. It is said in Genesis that God created the world in six days, but on the seventh day He rested. He pronounced Himself pleased with the work done during the six days. But He did not express Himself about the second day. That day had something to do with eating. That is why this year's purpose is to educate man in eating. It advises man not to overeat. It tells him to eat only those foods which he likes; to clothe himself in clothes which he likes; to read the books he likes; to go in company with people he likes. Man can correct himself in eating, only when he makes a connection between, his mouth and his ears. In other words, man can correct his life through his own speech. He must learn to hear that which he speaks. If he would listen to his own words and would evaluate them, there is a chance for his correction. If he would not do that, he shall remain such as he is, and his normal development shall stop. So, speak this year only that which you hear as coming out of yourself. First hear it, then, after having passed it thru your ears, pass it onto the world. In case you have not approved that which you have heard, keep it within yourself. This new year shall be one of the good and fruitful years. Be awake, in order to fill up your stores, so that you shall have something when the other years come. Now you are in Egypt, at the time when Joseph prophesied of the seven fruitful years, and the seven hungry ones following. For the good people, this one shall be a fruitful year. They must gather in food for the hungry years which are to follow. Do not take my words literally, as I am not speaking of physical fruitfulness only. When one speaks about hunger, poverty or death, men begin to get afraid. Death is fearful, but man must know why he dies. It is good for one to die at times, but die to what? Die to drunkenness, poverty, falsity and ignorance. It is good for man to come to life again - to resurrect, but for what? For knowledge, for light and freedom, for life and love. Life has no sense without love. It has no space, without light and knowledge. Life has no chance to expand without freedom. To die is to renunciate all the evil in the world, and all your weaknesses. To resurrect is to come into the life of the good and the great in the world, and then to begin to live for that good and that greatness. In applying the law of the good to life, man must consecrate a great part of his life to love, wisdom and truth. Love shall endow him with life, wisdom - with knowledge and light, and truth - with freedom. Thus shall man learn to love God and men, and to understand that love. What do we mean when we say - to love God? To love God is to see Him everywhere. If man looks for Him outside of himself, he can never see Him. How can he find God outside of himself, when he lives in Him? How can one see his face? In order to see it, one must have a mirror. All people are mirrors for each other, in whom they can see themselves. Therefore, when you love someone, you see yourself in him as in a mirror. Also, the one you love sees himself in you. When you look at yourself in a mirror you feel happy. Why? Because you see the Divine in the mirror. The image you see there is pure, unspotted, because no one has touched it, or embraced it. You can conceive of the Divine, as of an image, which one can only see, not touch, embrace, or kiss. If you make the least attempt to touch it, it momentarily disappears. Now, if men ask you why you must love, you should answer: "Because I would see the Divine everywhere." If man does not see God, he has no life in himself, for life has no sense without love. This year you must make way for the outflow of the love in yourselves, in order to be able to receive the stream of the great life coming to you. Many are afraid of love and call it "a devouring fire". Do not be afraid, for the fire of love burns without devouring things. When you consecrate your life to love, you will realize that you have enough strength to bear your burdens. When you consecrate your life to wisdom, you will find out that you possess knowledge and light to see things clearly. When you consecrate your life to truth, you will realize that you have freedom. Strength gives man the possibility to overcome all hardships in life. Knowledge lights one's way, while freedom gives man the possibility to express himself, to manifest his life. Some one might say that he is free to express his opinion about any question in discussion. This is not freedom. Only the man who can tell a dead person to rise out of his grave and start life anew, speaks out of freedom. If he tells the dead man to rise and come out, but the latter still lies in his grave, then that man has not had freedom to speak. Now, I desire that all of you here should get out of your graves. It is not a question of bodily resurrection. No, not that! Your souls must be resurrected. When the soul resurrects, it begins to manifest its life. Great and beautiful is the human soul! When the soul comes into life, it rolls away the great tomb stone, that has kept it in the darkness thousands of years, and awakes from its deep sleep. Awake from this sleep, and sleep no longer! If you should fall asleep, great misfortunes shall befall you. Do riot fall asleep in places where thieves and robbers pass! In other words: do not admit in your mind, even one negative thought; in your heart - even one negative feeling, which on the one hand robs people, and on the other, accuses the peaceful passersby of robbery and crime. If you want to keep your divine consciousness awake, never admit one wrong thought about the Divine in the world. Do not ask why some men are born good, while others are evil. Essentially all men were created good. The cause for evil lies within man himself. God's hand has no share in men's misfortunes and sufferings. Kan has been created good, but if he does not, voluntarily, manifest himself as such, no one shall force him into manifesting his essentially good nature. It is his own right to do that, or not. If he does not do it, he carries the responsibility of not having manifested himself as he has been created. Therefore, the new year wants all of you to manifest yourselves as you were first made, that is to say - to give way to the good that lies within you. Everyone must give an expression of the love in his heart, fearlessly. We live in an age when love must receive its right value. It is not enough to say that you love. Until man learns to evaluate love, he can not be said to love in the true sense of the word. For it is impossible to love a person before you have realized the great value of his soul. To value the human soul is to recognize in it the Divine image. As soon as we recognize that image, we shall become aware of His love. There is nothing nobler or greater for man than love. Once having caught the divine fire, man's fire need not be started again. See how the sun, once having caught fire, has been burning for millions of years continually, and its fire needs no starting. The same thing applies to man. His fire has been started by the Divine match of love at the very beginning of his life, and he is still burning to this very day. No one has the power to extinguish that fire. The heat which man possesses is capable of melting all the tomb stones that have been piling up on him for ages. The only things of which man must not be afraid are - love, knowledge, and freedom. He must be afraid of lovelessness, ignorance, bondage and limitations. Finally, the number 39 in the new year 1939, represents the two brothers. The three - is the brother that lives in the Divine world, and the nine - the great brother who lives on the earth, and directs all humanity. This brother is coming now into the world, to help all those who suffer. Get ready to welcome him and to come to know him. Next year, he shall go away, but his father shall come. Rejoice over him, while he is still on earth, among you, and welcome him. You must meet him several times, during the course of this year. Be interested in his love, in his knowledge, and in his freedom. After you have achieved this, you will understand the significance of the verse: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now, I greet you, all, with your great brother, and wish that you should welcome him with love in your hearts. Then pay him a visit and he shall visit you, also. To meet your great brother, is to unite into One the physical, spiritual and Divine worlds.

Open_books.pdf Note 1e Open Books John 9:1-9. The state of contemporary people can be likened to that of a student who is entering high school or college. His first task is to fill out an application and the necessary documents for enrolling in the school. The student, worries about whether or not he will be accepted until he receives the reply to his application. finally, they answer him and tell him that he is accepted. Then comes the second problem - will he be able to successfully follow the course in school. When he begins to study, the teachers and professors approve of his work and find him capable. After this worry is over, a third one comes - will he have sufficient means to support himself in school. Thus the student is accepted by the school and found capable, but he is troubled by the question as to whether or not his father will have means enough to support him in school. Therefore, in order to finish school, three conditions must be fulfilled: he must be accepted by the school, he must be capable, and he must have sufficient means to finish school. Some people have the first kind of trouble, others have the second, while a third group have no means of supporting themselves while in school. Why are troubles and sufferings given to people? To ask such a question is like asking why man has two feet, why his head is erect pointing up, while his feet point down, etc. If man asks such questions, the plants can ask why their heads are buried in the earth. The animals can ask why their heads are in a horizontal position. Plants, animals and men represent stages of development which life has been passing through. In these phases of development can be seen the gradual manifestation of the Divine thought. The plants, the animals and men represent the manifested thought of God on earth. The first manifestation of the thought of God can be seen in the plants. After passing thousands of years with their heads in the earth (fig. 1), the plants desired a change in their heads' position: to pull their heads out of the earth and by that to better their conditions of life. However, that could not be immediately effected. God gradually moved their heads, until He placed them in a horizontal position, which we see in the quadrupeds, in the mammals (fig. 2), Therefore, the animals are the second manifestation of God's thought on the earth. But the animals were not satisfied with their condition; they also desired an amelioration in their conditions of life. The balancing center in the animals is not in the middle part of their body, and as a result they move their tails in order to maintain their balance. In this respect, the tail plays an important role in animals. After the animals had passed through great difficulties and sufferings, the forces in their heads began to take an upward turn; consequently, their bodies gradually became more erect until they could stand on two legs, which we see in man today (fig. 3). Therefore, man represents the third manifestation of the Divine thought. In this position, with head erect and standing on two feet, man also does not have the necessary balance. That is why he often falls. In order not to fall, he must keep his thought strongly concentrated upward toward the center of the sun. The moral fall of man is due also to the fact that there is no balance in his moral life - he lacks moral stability. In this respect, sin is nothing but a loss of balance, resulting in man's falling. Both the physical and the moral fall is due to a loss of balance. People today are not satisfied with the way the world has been created. When their heads were buried in the earth, they were discontented. When their heads were in a horizontal position, again they expressed discontentment. Today when their heads are erect, they are still discontented. The invisible world offers people the opportunity to present to them their project for creating the world so that they will be satisfied. Such a project has not been made to this day. Why? Because people have not reached the point of understanding things in principle, i.e., from the Divine point of view. Until now people have regarded things either from their own point of view or from that of their neighbors. They must come to the third position, to regard things from the Divine world, from the standpoint of the absolute, unchangeable principles. To study things from a Divine point of view is one thing, while to study them from your own or your neighbor's point of view is quite another. What does it mean to study things from these three different points of view? To study things from the Divine point of view, from the standpoint of God and then to pass your judgment on them, means to regard things from the position of the father. To study them from your point of view means to regard them from the position of the mother. Finally, to study them from the point of view of your neighbor is to regard them from the position of the children. Children are very self-willed. They do things which are not allowed; they enter other people's gardens, pick fruit, steal things from shops, etc. In order to be free from the; mischief of children, i.e., of one's neighbors, men have created laws, moral rules, which forbid these acts. If these rules are not obeyed, the balance of the general organism is disturbed. There is nothing more terrible than to have one's head cut off. If the head is cut off, the balance of the whole organism is disturbed. How difficult it is to restore the lost balance after that! People ask why God created the world. Nobody knows why it was created. In the creation of the world is hidden a deep, inner secret. It is interesting to note what causes people to ask why the world was created. Is there some contradiction in the fact that the world was created? But why does man walk on two legs? What is there particular in that? At a time in the distant past, man's head was buried in the earth, then it was in a horizontal position, and now it is erect. Often man falls into the condition of a plant with his head buried in the earth. In that state, he regards things from the position of a plant. At other times, his head is in a horizontal position. Then he regards things from the position of an animal. Finally, he finds himself with his head erect, in the state of man, and begins to study things from a human standpoint. These are phases, states which a man inevitably passes through. There is an occult legend about the coming of the plants on earth and their passing into higher states. When the plants were descending from the higher worlds, they fell in love with the earth and wished to remain on it with their heads buried in it. They thought that they would never grow tired of that kind of life. However, after living for thousands of years on earth, they understood that they could not live with it in mutual understanding, and they wanted to pull their heads out and start in the direction the earth is moving in. That is why they started to move their heads forward in a horizontal position and became animals. But that state did not satisfy them either. Why? Because by moving in the direction of the earth, they were unwillingly always in its tracks. The earth did not like that, so it mixed up their heads, causing them great troubles and trials. They began to eat each other up. In this way the earth was free to do anything it wanted without having anyone at its heels. After great hardships and trials, the animals wanted to leave that state, and with great difficulty they raised their heads up toward the center of the sun, toward God. Thus the plants came to the highest state, to that of man. When the earth noticed that there was a possibility of losing the human worker, the earth created a large body for him by which it held him bound to itself. If man did not have such a large, heavy body, he would fly to the sun and go straight to God. But in this form, as little as he may cultivate the earth, he is still a good worker. Now, I do not know whether or not this legend is true. I shall say as the Turks do: "Even if it is true, don't believe it." One thing is important: in the most difficult situations in life, in the midst of the greatest contradictions, man in the end will examine the states he has passed through and say: the problems of life cannot be solved by burying one's head in the ground, or by moving in a direction parallel to that of the earth's orbit. The only solution to all questions lies in raising the head up toward the center of the sun. People today move in different directions; some move toward the center of the earth, others parallel to the earth's orbit, and a third category toward the center of the sun. This is the reason why they cannot understand each other. Since they do not live in accord with one another, they encounter a number of contradictions in life. You complain that people do not understand you. Do you understand them? You do not understand them either. Someone has taken your seat and you become angry. Another man has become famous in science and you envy him. Why don't you put yourself in the position of these people and understand them? What are the causes of the contradictions in life? One of the causes is the ties one has established on the earth. If one is tied to his father, he will bear his contradictions also. If he is tied up to his mother, he will bear her contradictions. Finally, if he is tied up to himself, he will bear his own contradictions. If he is tied up to the plants, he will bear their contradictions. What are the contradictions of the plants? Only the heads of the plants are protected from external conditions. However, the bodies and legs of the plants, which are represented by the stems or trunks and the branches, are exposed to great external contradictions. When the wind blows, the branches wave to and fro, they twist and sometimes break. The wind wants to force the plants to turn their heads up. For thousands of years the plants have struggled to pull their heads out of the earth, but they have not yet succeeded. The wind says: How thick are the heads of the plants! For thousands of years I have been blowing, but they do not want to show their heads on the surface of the earth. However, the wind has accomplished something; one third of the plants have passed into the phase of animals - they have pulled their heads out of the ground and put them in a horizontal position. The wind continues to blow in the remaining two thirds of the plants. It is blowing on the animals in order that they might raise their heads up. Last of all, the wind is blowing on man, so that he might stand firmly and keep his balance. Today people meet with three kinds of contradictions. When one feels himself a man, he falls into the contradictions of the father. When one feels himself a woman, one falls into the contradictions of the mother. When one remains alone with oneself, he falls into the contradiction of the child. Everybody today speaks about "rights." Won speak about "rights," women speak about "rights," and children speak about "rights." These three kinds of rights differ from one another. In order to have the rights of a man, of the father, you must become a father. In order to have the rights of the mother, of the woman, you must become a mother. In order to have the rights of the child, you must become a child. If you do not become a father, a mother or a child, you can not benefit from any of their rights. What practical conclusion can be drawn from these statements? To have rights is to have a certain potential, a certain wealth in oneself always at one's disposal, of which one can give. Therfore, he who has rights gives something of himself to the one who has no rights. The one gives, the other takes. Which is better, to give or to take? If you have no load on your back, it is preferable for you to load yourself and carry something. If you have carried a load for a long time on your back, it is better for you to take it off and unload yourself. As long as man lives, he constantly loads and unloads himself. He loads his mind with thoughts, his heart with feelings and his will with acts. The thoughts are the potential of the mind, the feelings are the potential of the heart, and the acts are the potential of the will. Man is rich, but it is up to him how he will use his riches. You meet an old man who complains that people do not understand him. You meet a young man, and he also complains that people do not understand him. Why? Because they have not put their potential in operation. For the same reason, believers and non-believers, wise and ignorant, everyone complains that nobody understands them. The first one calls the other a heretic. Why? Because he does not believe in the same thing as he. In what must a man believe? Wherein lies the true creed? To ask the question, "wherein lies the true creed?", to ask wherein lies the good singing. If you ask a musician this question, he will tell you: The real singing consists of clarity, softness and purity of the tone. According to me, the essence of singing lies in love. Singing with love is a power. Singing without love is of no use. If you want to test your singing, go to some sick or ill-disposed man and sing. If the sick man becomes well and his indisposition disappears, your singing is real. If you do not obtain these results, you sing without love. Many singers and musicians have been hissed at by the audience. They have said that people did not understand them. If the audience did not understand them, who was to blame - the singer or the audience? If children do not understand their fathers and mothers, where is the fault; in the children or in the parents? If you do not understand yourselves, where is the fault? Therefore, man lives on the earth, speaks, thinks and feels, but does not understand himself. He says that when he goes to the other world, he will go to God. At the same time he quotes the verse from the Scripture: "We live and move in God." How strange, indeed! He lives on the earth and moves in God, but when he goes to the other world, again he will go to God. How must we understand this? This is a tautology by which we see that ideas and thoughts are born in people's minds which are not clear to them. What must you do in order to clarify for yourselves all the questions of life? You must study. As disciples of an occult school, you must first of all study the relations you have toward your father, your mother and yourselves. After that you will study your relations toward the earth and the sun. The earth represents the mother who has caught man firmly by the feet, The sun represents the father who has caught man firmly by the head. Today only man's arms are free and he waves them right and left seeking a way to liberate himself from his mother and father. Have you asked yourself the question why have you come to earth? You will say that you were sent by God. It is a matter for discussion whether you were sent by Him or not. It is not sufficient merely to say that you were sent; you must be conscious of that fact and convinced of your words. It is not enough just to say that everything which surrounds you was created for you. Were the stars created for you? If they were created for you, you must profit from them. In reality, how many people are benefitted by the stars? You will say that they are far away from you. Really, the great things are seen from a distance, while the small things are seen from close by. If you look at the small things from a distance, you will not see anything. You must take a close look at the small things, or see them under a microscope or a magnifying glass. If you look at the great things from a close distance, again you will not see anything. Therefore, you must look at the great things from a great and not from a small distance. From what distance will you look at love? In order to answer this question, you must first know which category it belongs to; the great or the small. There exists a law that the object you love must be at a certain distance from you. He who does not observe this law will come across great contradictions. Therefore we may draw the conclusion that the contradictions in life are due to the fact that man violates that distance which exists between him and the object of his love. When one loves something, he likes to take it in his arms, to caress it and enjoy it. Love excludes all closeness and embracing. - But can we not embrace God and Christ? - How will you embrace Him when He is Far away from you? How will you embrace the sun and the stars? - When we go to heaven to Christ, then we shall embrace Him. - Christ does not like embraces. He tasted at one time the embraces of mankind and He can not be deceived a second time. Wen made a wooden cross and hung Him on it, that He might embrace it. Christ knows the embrace of the wooden cross. On the earth He passed through great contradictions; first He was nailed on the cross like a man with His head up. Then they took Him off the cross and put Him in a horizontal position with His head forward - the position of the animals. Finally, Christ had to come out of the tomb and resurrect. Why do people die? Men die in order to cope with the animal state in themselves. When they dispense with that, they will come out of the grave, stand on their feet again and be independent. When is man placed in a horizontal position? When he is offended. When one despairs and does not want to live, he is again in a horizontal position. As ill or healthy, man is always tortured, and so he takes a horizontal position. This shows that all the positions in which man is found are unnatural. In spite of that, he does not strive to liberate himself from these states, but like the child he thinks only of the cake. What will he gain from the cake? Do butterflies eat cakes? Do angels eat cake? What does the cake represent? The cake represents the transitory in life, which every man must deny. What will he do when he denies that life? He will enter the Eternal life. What is the Eternal life? The Eternal life is distinguished by absolute balance. He who wants to attain that life must observe the first condition: balance in the mind, balance in the heart, and balance in the will. All contradictions, all misunderstandings and disputes among people are due to the fact that they do not keep their balance. The keeping of balance is a method for working which must be applied today in the bringing up of children and in self-education. To practice self-education means to keep the balance among the thoughts, feelings and acts; i.e., to keep the balance of one's mind, heart and will. He who loses the balance of his heart exposes himself to falling. When the gods, the superior beings, lost the balance of their will, they fell. Therefore, when man falls, he must realize that the reason for his fall is the loss of balance in his will or acts. That is why it says in the Scripture: "He who stands must see that he does not fall." Thus, try to keep the balance of your mind, heart and will. You hear someone singing, but you do not find it pleasant. You must point out his mistakes that very moment. But if you begin to sing, you will be a singer like him. Many music teachers do not sing well, but they can direct their students well. Some teacher may not have a good character, but he wants his students to be good. Why? He has his reasons. He says that he wishes the good for the sake of the good, regardless of what others will say about it, or what he will gain from the good. What do you understand by the words "do good for the sake of the good"? When someone is doing good, he must not have in mind his personal interest, but the good of all people, of the whole of humanity. Why? Because all people are linked to each other. They represent the links of a chain. Therefore, when a man walks in the right path, his neighbor will also walk in the right path. If the first one does not walk in the right path, his neighbor will still follow his example. If the father in a house should fall, the mother and the children will fall with him. If the mother should fall, the father and children will fall also. If the children fall, the mother and father will also fall. This is a common law concerning all people. Do not think that you can be free from this law. Up to this day God is still thinking about how to restore the balance of His fallen children. Until people come into accord with the Divine thoughts, feedings and acts, they can not restore their balance, enter the Divine life, or understand the efforts the Divine Spirit is making in order to raise them. Now, as disciples, your main problem is to restore the harmony of your mind, heart and will. If you cannot restore your balance, you will always be in contradiction either with God, with yourself or with your neighbor. Moreover, remember that the rights of man are conditioned by the balance of his mind, heart and will. It says in the Scripture: "God is Love, Wisdom and Truth." Love is the heart of God, Wisdom is His head and Truth His feet. Love determines the balance of the heart. He who loves God has balanced the forces of his heart and is ready for all sacrifices for God. If the young maiden sacrifices everything for her beloved and does not find the happiness she has expected, is her sacrifice justified? Every sacrifice a man makes must bear its fruit. Christ sacrificed Himself for the world, but His sacrifice bore fruit. That sacrifice had a great predestination. Should the young maiden marry a young man who will make her unhappy the very next day? But she cannot live without him. How did she live without him before she met him? How did she live for thousands of years on the earth without him? When young people marry, the daughter is unfaithful to her father, while the son is unfaithful to his mother. In this sense, the daughter and the son are already married; therefore, there is no reason for them to marry a second time. What is more, by coming to the earth, man has proved unfaithful to his Father. When he clothed himself in matter, he forgot everything and began to deny God, the Spirit and the Soul. The Spirit represents the father, the Soul the mother. Therefore, the daughters play false to the Spirit, while the sons play false to the Soul. The weakness of the daughter, the woman, is in the mind; the weakness of the son, the man, is in the heart, while the weakness of the children is in the body, .Why is the daughter false? The daughter is false because she thinks that she can find a man who will love her more than her father. Why is the son false? Because he thinks that he will find a woman who will love him more than his mother. Both of them are deceived. Neither the daughter nor the son will find anyone who will love them more than their respective father or mother. It is impossible to find a woman who can love a man more than his mother who has born him nine months in her womb. However, as long as people live according to their old conceptions, the daughter and the son will be false to their parents. The daughter does not yet have correct relations with her father. The son does not yet have correct relations with his mother. And you have no relations with yourselves. Now after all this, you will say that you love yourselves. What do you love in yourselves? Sometimes you love your body, but it is not only the body that one must love. You do not really know what you must love in yourselves. If you love your body, it will vanish after some time. Man must love the Divine Principle in himself, but how and where is he to find it? If he finds it and learns to love it, a whole transformation will take place in him. He finds it now and then, but he loses it again. Why? Because he constantly doubts. Where is the location of the Divine in man? Is it in his head or in his heart? Someone thinks that if he has dignity, that is the Divine in him. Wherein lies his dignity, and how does he know that he has dignity? According to me, that man who never gets offended by anything has dignity. The light has dignity, because it is never offended by anything. It passes through both clean and dirty places, but it stops in each place for only one three-thousandth of a second. Nothing can offend the light since it makes use of everything and knows how to cope with all situations. If a golden sword falls into the hands of a fool, he may pierce someone with it, but the wise man will use that sword to his advantage. He will melt it, and turn it into coins which he will put to use. The prudent man has three ways of solving his difficulties; either with the power of his mind, with the power of his heart, or with the power of his will. In other words, difficulties can be solved either from the Divine point of view, from the point of view of the Divine Spirit, or from your own point of view. However, these positions are in a certain relation to one another. In order to solve your problems correctly, do not be misled by the external appearance of things. For instance, a child, though small, can tell you wiser things than adults. I ask a child: "Stoyancho, why do you love me?" "Because you love me." "Why doesn't your playmate love you?" "Because I don't love him. If I love him, he will love me also." Therefore, little Stoyan understands that the relations of people are interdependent. Where has he learned these things? These laws are written in the hearts of people, both young and old. Therefore, if you want people to love you, you must love too. If you want your life to be better, you must love God. You want God to love you, but you do not realize that He has loved you before you were born. He is already an open book for you, but you are a closed book for Him. Since you are closed to Him, you can not receive all that He is sending you. It is impossible for a man to receive something from a person whom he does not love. It is impossible to receive anything from God if you do not love Him. Open yourself before Him, in order that you may receive what He is giving you every moment. Love determines the relations between people. When two people love each other, one gives while the other takes. In such cases, both of them are open, both the giver and the receiver. Therefore, love seeks open souls who can receive everything she gives. Therefore, man must be open. His mind and heart must be open books. When man thinks, feels and acts, he opens himself up. To be good is to open yourself up. To love means to open yourself in order that you may receive an inflow of the Divine life. He who loves can never be deceived or misled. Love excludes all deceit. When man loves, he opens up. The man who is loved also opens up. Opening up is necessary so that you can either give or take. True love implies a regular interchange: one gives, the other takes. In love, first man receives and then after he has cultivated what he has received, he gives. Someone comes to me and complains that a certain person does not love him. How do you know whether or not someone loves you? Unless you love the man, you can never tell whether he loves you or not. How can you tell whether a man's hand is warm or cold, unless you touch it? Therefore, in order for people to come to know each other, they must come into a certain contact and open themselves up before each other. The first condition for knowing people is love. The same can be said about God. It is impossible for you to know God if you do not love Him. A knowledge of people outside of love is impossible. In this respect most people live in the contemporary way; they do not think of God, nor do they believe in Him, but they want Him to love them. People today want to be happy, but they forget that happiness is closely connected with love. Man can not be happy if he does not love. Man can not be happy unless he thinks. Man can not be happy unless he acts. In other words, man can not feel or love without love. Man can not think without wisdom. Man can not act without truth. These are methods, or rules, which are,1 necessary for the construction of the new life. The desire of God is to bring us to the state in which we can work according to the laws of His Love, Wisdom and Truth. This is the path on which all contradictions in life can be solved. Whomever you meet today will ask you whether or not you love him. How will you prove whether you love someone or not? The new philosophy of life maintains that two persons can love one another only when they are far apart. If they are near, they can not love each other. You say that God is far away, and that is why you really love Him. The mistake people make is to want to be near the object of their love. If you love a person, can you take hold of him? How will you grab hold of the soul of a man, when that soul is in constant motion? The soul moves so fast that it is simultaneously at all its points. This means: God is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. He is at the same time both far and near. When you love Him, He is far away. When you do not love Him, He is near. If you love and are loved, you are far away. When someone does not love you, he is near you and he is constantly poking you. That is why the maiden begins to withdraw and run away from the man she feels to be in love with her. Since she runs away from him, she loves him. If she does not run away, she does not love him. When I say that those who are in love must be Far away from each other, I mean that love is in constant motion, and so it requires a great deal of space. That is why it is said that there is nothing love cannot overcome. Love is a mighty power. She will find the one she loves even if he is at the other end of the world. She can traverse the universe in a single minute. There art) no limits or distances with regard to love. The concepts of "near" and "far" do not exist in lows. Far and near are relative concepts which exist only for people on the earth. Therefore, when someone is away from you, it shows either that he loves you or that you love him. If he loves you, he will draw away from you, but if you love him, you will draw away from him. While you live close to a person and complain that he does not love you, it shows that you do not love him either. If you live with a person and do not say anything to him about love, you love him. Thus, if we draw away from a person, we love him; if we draw near him, we do not love him. I send a letter to someone telling him that I bestow all my wealth to him, all my possessions and that I am going abroad. I tell him to live happily, to dispose at will with my goods and not to worry about anything. What does this show? That I love that person. I draw away from him and do not require anything of him; I leave him absolutely free. If I give him part of my wealth and remain with him, constantly reminding him that I have made him rich, I do not love him. Therefore the words "far" and "near" imply the contradictions in love. If contradictions appear between two persons who love each other, it shows that they are close to each other. If there ar6 no contradictions in their love, they are far away from each other. As I study the contemporary conceptions about love, I find them thoroughly wrong. Why? Because they seek love near by. However, they can never find love near by. Every love which is near is not real. The real love is at a distance. It is the boundless, great love. The first and only law which unites people, is love. Every point of love brings life. Therefore, whichever point of love you may come into contact with, you will receive its life. He who does not understand love is unhappy. The unhappiness of people is due to the fact that they do not understand the boundless love of God. They do not understand the love of their father - the Spirit; they do not understand the love of their mother - the Soul; they do not understand their own love either. This is the reason why people experience a threefold contradiction: a contradiction in the mind, a contradiction in the heart and a contradiction in the will. This year you are given the problem of solving the contradictions of the plants, animals and men. After you solve these contradictions, you will understand what it means to love. To love God and your neighbors implies that in all conditions of life you are not to disturb the balance of your mind, heart and will; i.e., not to disturb the balance of your thoughts, feelings and acts. This does not mean that you will be free of suffering. You will all suffer, but your sufferings will be meaningful. God also suffers. He sent His only Son to earth, in order to manifest Himself through Him, to manifest His love toward all living beings. In spite of that, people reviled God for having created man to suffer and struggle. This discontentment and revilement roaches Him and when He sees man's ingratitude, He suffers. Because your wife and children do not love you and your servants are not contented with you, you attribute all this to God and blame Him for your condition. It is said, however, in the Scripture: "Do not grieve the Spirit by Whom you are sealed." Why is life given to us? In order that we may come to know the Love of God. Why is knowledge given us? In order that we may come to know the Wisdom of God. Why is liberty given us? In order that we may come to know the Truth of God. Think about these states. These are abstract questions and in order to understand them, conscious and intensive work is required of you. As disciples, you must test yourselves to see how far you have advanced in love. If you want to give alms to a poor man and search your pockets several times in order to find one cent, you are near love, that is, you live in the love of contradictions. When will you liberate yourselves from the contradictions of life? When you obtain a balance in your mind, heart and will. He who has a balanced mind, heart and will, is a truly free man. The new idea which you hear today is that the Divine Love does not proceed from the human love. The human love is the cause of all sin, crime and contradiction. When you are near the object you love, sin is inevitable. When you are far from the object you love, sin is impossible. Eve sinned when she came too close to the forbidden tree. If she had been far from the tree, she would never have met the black adept and she would not have sinned. She went near the tree to hear what the black adept had to say. She should have listened at a distance. This is what self-denial means. Christ said: "He who wants to be my disciple must deny his father, mother, brother, and his own life as well." But I say: To deny yourself means to be far from your father, mother, brother, sister and self. Only in this way will you show them that you love them. The prodigal son also left his father, but that was out of a desire to be free to live as he wished, and not out of love for his father. When he squandered the money and lost everything, he wished to return and be near his father, but this time inwardly near, but outwardly far from him, as a last servant. In that way he manifested his love for his father. Humility is the expression of love. When man becomes humble, he is not far from love. Then the love between God and himself functions regularly. Remember the following things: Keep the balance of your mind, heart and will! No matter what happens in your life, keep your balance! Love at a distance. Whatever thought, feeling or desire may visit you, keep them far from you, until you understand where they come from and what they bear. Which is better for you: to have a rich uncle in America who sends you a hundred dollars a month, or to have your uncle near you, complaining every day that there is nothing to eat? "The Divine Spirit bears all the blessings of life." September 4, 1935, 5 A.M. Sofia - Izgrev.

All_things_work_together_for_good.pdf Note 1e All Things Work Together For Good John ch. 5. There are believers in the world who are afraid of the wind, the rain and the sun; there are believers who are afraid of illness; there are believers who get offended by everything, and thus always seek their due; if you invite them to dinner, they want the first seats to the right of the host; if you invite them to a concert or a lecture, they also try to take the first seats there. Those believers can be likened to a virgin who loves her suitor, marries him, yet asks herself whether he will love her. Why does she marry him when she doubts? Since she doubts, she should not marry. What sort of bread should you eat? Eat only the bread which contains vital power. All other kinds of bread which do not bear this vital power, should be put aside. - What shall we do without bread? - You will stay hungry. If the spider can stay hungry for six whole months and believe; he will not die, because food will come from somewhere, why should not a rational man, who listens to the Word of God, hunger for two or three days? It has been proved that man can pass in absolute fast for forty days. Therefore, man must recognize the truth in life and not deceive himself. In contemporary life there exist certain false "facts." People must discriminate the true from the false. Much of the misunderstanding among people is due to these false "facts." I shall cite an example) to show what these may cause. When a minister is appointed to some large parish in America, the decision is usually made by voting. At one time the question of electing a minister for such a parish was raised. However, a rumor was spread among the people of the parish that the minister they had elected had the habit of parting his hair in the middle, as women do. All unanimously expressed their opinion that they did not want a minister who combed his hair that way. The meeting decided that before making their final decision about the minister, they would call him in person and take a look at him. When he appeared before them, they were all surprised - he was utterly bald. In the same way, many people dispute about questions which do not even exist. "All things work together for good" - says the Scripture. Therefore, whatever happens in the life of man, good or evil, is good in the end. Good and evil are the two sides of one whole. Evil is the external side of the good, while good is the inner side of good itself. Since the external side of the good always becomes stained, it is called evil. The internal side of the good can never be stained, that is why it is called good. However, no matter how we may speak about the evil and the good, they will always remain unexplained. There are things which can not be explained by words. They are inwardly understood, they are perceived, felt and accepted, but they cannot be explained by any means. How, for instance, can you explain what the tone "do" represents? Who could take the tone do, re or some other tone, in its absolute purity? These are elementary things which can not be performed. If you can not take these tones as you should, then wish to perform something in the name of Christ. You say that you believe in Christ. Test your faith. Go to some seriously ill person and wish him to get well in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he is already in a recuperative state, he will rise from his bed, but if he is seriously ill, your words and desire for him to be well will not produce a result. Therefore, it is not sufficient only to say that you believe; you must test your faith. You will say that every person can sing. It is easy to say that, but have you ever tried to sing? Everyone must sing, but everyone cannot sing. When the thought of a person lacks something essential, he can not sing. He who cannot sing, can not value the good either - he is not a tactful person. Singing uplifts the spirit of man and creates a good disposition in him. In general, the Bulgarians are not very musical. In the past they have been more musical. No Bulgarian has created something original or immortal in music. How many Bulgarian singers or musicians can earn their living in a foreign country? You will say that a talent can be manifested in any country. Do you know what a talent depends on? Every talent depends upon the faith of man. What kind of faith is that, which wavers at the least trial? Someone wants to sing in public, but he wavers as soon as he goes to the platform - he does not believe in his ability to sing. Unless a talent is supported by faith, it cannot be manifested. After studying and working for a long time, you can appear on the platform believing that you can sing and play. If you do not believe that you can sing, and yet you sing, your talent can not be correctly manifested, for you have no faith. When some people cannot sing as they should, they begin to excuse themselves on the grounds that they have not practiced or studied sufficiently. If that is true, then let them practice and study. Excuses cannot justify them. You will say that you have listened to angelic choirs and know what good singing means. In comparison with human singing, the angelic song is unsurpassed. The angels are excellent singers. It says in the Scriptures that when Christ was born, a choir of angels came from heaven praising God. Therefore, you should also sing and go forward. Do not lose time with the life of your ancestors. He who wants to progress, must not live in the past. There is no greater danger for the disciple than to live in his mistakes of the past. Leave the mistakes aside and go forward. Stop on that which you are doing at the present moment. Ask yourself the question why you are doing this or that thing. If you are eating at this moment, ask yourself why you are eating. Man eats in order to support his organism. Why do you feel? Man feels in order to support the life of his heart. Why do you think? Man thinks in order to support the life of his mind. Everything which is not exercised degenerates. If love does not penetrate the heart as the air fills the lungs, man can not live. The fresh air refreshes and invigorates the lungs; in the same way love rejuvenates man. If love does not visit man, all the organs of his body atrophy. If thought does not activate the human brain, all its cells will atrophy. It is preferable at times for an evil thought to enter the human brain than to have no thought to stimulate it. This may seem contradictory to you, but the contradiction is only for you. The contradictions of some people are a blessing for others. For instance, the child of one mother is crying, but it is alive, happy and plays all day. The crying of the child is a contradiction for that mother. Another mother's child is dead and does not cry. When that mother sees the crying child, she considers his crying natural. However, it is a contradiction to her why her own child is not crying. Therefore, it is preferable for a man to have contradictions and be alive than not to have contradictions and be dead. It is better for one to make mistakes and have temptations, but to be alive, than not to make mistakes or have temptations, but to be dead. Of what use is the perfection of the dead man? The present day up-bringing imposes a number of rules on the child which petrify him. Parents say to children: You must not do this! You must not do that! On every side the child is surrounded by rules about what he must not do. When the question arises as to what he must do, he does not know anything. You must know one thing: if you act in a human way, you must be honest, but if you live in a Divine way, you must be just. Honesty is an expression of the human life, while justice is of the Divine life. If someone can not act humanly, or honestly, let him act Divinely, or justly. And inversely, if someone cannot act in a Divine way - justly, let him act in a human way - honestly. Whether or not man acts justly or honestly, he must pay his debts. He must know how to act. The power of man lies in his knowledge. If an archaeologist cannot read the past history of a nation on the ancient monuments, he has no knowledge whatever. If you can not penetrate into the annals of your past life, and by reading them study yourself, where is your power? People are interested in their past life and want to know something about it, but they themselves must come into a knowledge of it. Why? Because the good is very minute in the past of humanity. For eight thousand years, humanity has not made any significant progress. In the life of man up to his fall, there were good things; but after his fall there is nothing worth mentioning. Since you know this, it is better not to be interested in your past. You can judge your past by the sufferings and trials you are passing through today. Today all people are paying for their past. Someone wants to know whether he has been a king in the past. He has been a king, but he has not been able to rule; that is why his head today has turned white. All men must work consciously upon themselves to correct the mistakes of their past. How will they correct their mistakes? By learning to rule their thoughts, feelings and acts. To be king is to rule yourself. Somebody walks and waves his hand around his ear. What does that movement mean? That man is confronting some temptation. Some evil thought has passed through his mind and by waving his hand he thinks that he can free himself from it. But that is not a mechanical act. Things can not be settled in a mechanical way. How can you recognize a temptation? It is known by its odor, just as the flower is known by its fragrance. You can tell a carnation by its aroma without seeing the flower. Every flower is known by its fragrance. All people must study in school as the little children do. Which school must they attend? Young, adult and old – all must enroll in the Divine School. There is one requirement in that school: all students who enroll there must be as children. When a child first starts school he is open, ready to listen and receive everything the teacher is saying. When a grown-up man goes to school, he has his own specific conceptions and opinions about things; as a result, he meets with contradictions. He is too late for school. Therefore, if you have entered the Great School and meet contradictions, you must know that you are too late and will not be accepted as a student in this School. You can attend it and listen to the lectures, but you can not be a regular student. You must return to that original, infant-state of your soul and listen and accept everything your Teacher is teaching you. There is an anecdote about an 84 year old grandmother. During her youth, in spite of her great desire to study, she remained ignorant. In her 84th year, however, she was in better conditions and she decided to study. She went to school and entered the teacher's room, turning to one of the teachers with the words: My son, I want to study. - It is very late, grandmother. - Never mind, all my life I have wanted to learn, to read and write, but it is only this year that the chance has come to me. - All right, remain with the children. The old woman was happy that she was going to study at last. The children gathered around her, pushing her and laughing at her, but she did not heed them. She studied, read and wrote with them and even played with them, forgetting her old age. She was not offended by anything in her desire; to study. Now I advise you also to forget your age and not be offended by anybody, but rather to listen to the Teacher who is teaching you both on the outside and on the inside. Take example from this grandmother. When people laugh at you or blame you, do not be offended. Remember that it does not concern you. However, when they praise you, do not lose your head. Remember that you must pay something for every bit of praise. When someone is praising you, he wants to take something from you. Some years ago one of the Sofia newspaper editors asked me: "Do you know what the; newspapers write about you?" "I do not know." "They say bad things about you." "Then you may be sure they are not bribed. If they wrote something good, one might suppose that they were bribed." In general, if you speak evil about a person, your conscience is free, because you are not bribed by anyone. When you praise a person, it might be supposed that your conscience is bribed. However, as a man who serves love and the truth, both when you praise and when you rebuke someone, do not sell your conscience by any means. Only he who loves has a right to praise and rebuke. To love a person means to act in the way he would act. A visitor comes to your home who lives according to the Eastern customs. You invite him for dinner and on your table there are dishes, silver forks, spoons and knives. However, the guest acts as he is accustomed to; he breaks the bread with his hands instead of cutting it, and dips it into the dish of food without using any forks or spoons. You immediately give an order to the servants to take away the forks and spoons from the table and the whole family eats the may the guest does. If you hold to the letter of things, you will make a remark to him that that is not the right way of eating, but love does not go by the letter of things. Now you have entered the path of perpetual love - the path of the Divine love, and you must act according to its requirements. This love excludes all mistakes. In the love of interruptions, i.e., the human love, many mistakes and crimes are committed. The crimes and misfortunes are due to the fact that man does not submit himself to the Great Principle of life. There is one law in the world and he who diverts from it will inevitably expose himself to suffering and misfortune. Have you ever made the experiment for one day at least not to allow any evil thought in your mind, or any evil feeling in your heart? If one whole day is too long, make the experiment for one hour to see if during that hour you can keep evil from entering into you. How has evil come into the world? It is not allowed to speak about this question. What greater contradiction, indeed, than to meet men and angels sinning and committing crimes, in spite of the fact that they were created by God, the Only perfect Line among the perfect? How has evil come into life? What is the cause of crimes? A young, handsome youth loves two young maidens. Before he decides upon one of the two, both of them are careful with him, converse well with him and seem to enjoy their mutual understanding. When the young man expresses his preference for one of them, the other one is immediately offended, draws herself away from him, and their relations are spoiled. Why? The evil has entered into their relations. If the mother loves one of her sons more than the others, or if the father loves one of his daughters more than the others, again the crime is born. In order that there may not be criminality in the feelings of people, this is how they must look at things. If you have two rings, the one iron and the other golden, you will prefer the gold one. Everyone would like the golden ring better. If you have two swords, the one iron and the other gold, you will prefer the iron one. If you must defend yourself with one of them, the iron one will do the work better than the golden one. A man marries a woman who tortures him all his life - she does not give him any freedom to look at anybody. Whatever he does she is dissatisfied with him. He walks from one room into another, sighs and trembles, trying not to say anything which might displease her. She represents iron for him, which constantly presses him. At a certain time a woman-friend of his wife comes to their home, who is of a happy disposition and cheers up the whole house. The man feels contented at last and breathes freely. But soon a new torture begins - why is he happy in the presence of that woman, while in the presence of his wife he is down-hearted and in a bad mood. Who is to blame for that? Which man would not prefer the golden ring to the iron one? Where is the crime in this case? Give freedom to a man, if you want him to love you. These are facts which exist everywhere in life, both among religious and among worldly people. Until you understand the laws which govern life, you will always meet contradictions. That is the reason why people imagine life in heaven to be like that on earth. They think that there also people are divided into men and women, that they are born, marry and die as they do here. They imagine a kind of human paradise. In heaven there are no men and women. If a man goes to heaven and seeks a woman, he will immediately be sent to earth. If a woman goes to heaven and seeks a man, she will immediately be sent to earth. While you are on earth you can marry, but when you go to heaven, there are no marriages allowed. What is the difference between the people on earth and those in heaven? People on earth have two horns: one horn re-presents the man and the other represents the woman. People in heaven have no horns. There man is neither man nor woman. Therefore, men and women are necessary on the earth, but not in heaven. The sword is necessary for war, not for peaceful times. Swords, guns and poisonous gases are necessary for wars, but in times of peace they have no application whatever. The peaceful life requires entirely different weapons. In this sense the man and the woman are; weapons with which people make war. The man is one sort of weapon, the woman another. They are dangerous weapons. The woman asks: What shall I be when I go to heaven? You will be neither a man nor a woman. The man asks: What shall I be when I go to heaven? Neither man nor woman. When you see yourselves in heaven then you will know what you represent. There you will be souls come forth from their Creator. People imagine the spiritual world, or the life of heaven as a peculiar, perverted life. They do not know that the earthly life is perverted and that they must leave it to enter reality. You meet a person and you smile at him. Why? You yourself do not know why. You meet another man and regard him seriously. Why? You do not know that either. At times you smile, in order to make him well disposed and to show him that you care for him. No matter how you act with people, whether you smile or look seriously at them, they will form their opinion of you. What is a smile? A smile is a condition for getting introduced to a person. You smile: that is opening the door of your house. You become serious: that is closing the door of your house. When does a man open his door? In the winter. It is better for a man to open than to close his door. It is better to smile than to look serious. Why is a woman smiling? It is winter and it is cold outside, so she has opened her door. For whom has she opened her door? For the frozen people. When a frozen person goes in, he will warm himself at her hearth, wash his hands and feet with warm water, eat some warm food and go away. What evil is there in that? That woman has no right to smile at any other man than her own husband. This is the old moral which has existed for sight thousand years. This moral is the cause of all the misfortunes among people. The crime does not lie in the smile, but rather in the wrong feelings and thoughts of man. All people want to be healthy, good and prudent. They are right in wishing that. Health, goodness and prudence are paths for achievement. They are powers by means of which one can attain everything he desires. Only by means of them can he enter heaven. Health in one kind of wealth; the mind is another kind of wealth, and the good is still another. Therefore, there are three ways by which a man can be rich: health, goodness and prudence are three kinds of wealth. In order to be rich in the full sense of the word, or in order for a man may be called "man" in the full sense of the word, he must be at the same time healthy, good and prudent. Make an experiment and you will be convinced of the power of these qualities. Let everyone ask himself whether he has increased the capital of health, his goodness and his mind. These three capitals must increase every day. If they do not increase, man constantly loses something. Man is sent to earth to work. Therefore he must work whether he is healthy or sick, good or evil, wise or foolish. He must work whether he is young, adult or old. He must work as a man and as a woman, as a father and as a mother, as a master and as a servant. These are states which a man must pass through. In all states man must work, develop and increase his potential. We are not interested in your original state or in how you were originally created. "All things work together for good." Both evil and good - everything works for good, but everything is not of God. This shows that we live in a perverted and disorderly world. How will order be introduced into this world? Through love. Love puts everything in its place and gives meaning to life. A young man loves a maiden, but her father does not allow her to love him. Who must withdraw in this case, the father or the young man? You will say that it says in the Sacred Book: "One must leave his father and mother and attach himself or herself to the beloved." Therefore, the beloved is the measure of things. He solves the problems. The beloved represents the great law which directs the whole life. One is the beloved in the world, but he appears in many forms: as a bird, a fish, a tiger, a flower or a fruit. When you see a man clothed in nice clothes and a top hat, you like him. When you see a spider, you do not like it. The One you like in the man is the same One in the spider also. The beloved is everywhere one and the same, but you can not see him. People are strange, indeed! They speak with a person and find him good. They go to the same man as a surgeon who must operate on them, but immediately they say about him that he is bad. How is it possible for one and the same man to be both good and bad? The surgeon wishes them well, he wants to free them of their sufferings. You have broken your leg which the surgeon wants to cure. Who is to blame - you or the surgeon? The one who has broken his leg is to blame, not the surgeon who wants to help him. I sit in my room and read. All of a sudden, I hear a fly buzzing somewhere. Turning around, I see it caught in a spider's web, trying hard to get out of it. I turn to the spider with the words: Listen, in my presence I do not allow crimes to take place. Either you will set the fly free, or I shall take my cane and throw you both out of here. You can do anything you want outside, but in my room this is not allowed. The spider looks at me and does not know what to do, to eat the fly or to let it go. There are stubborn spiders which are not easily persuaded. The spider walks around its web and thinks about what to do. Finally, it decides to set the fly free; it starts to cut the cords of the web one after another and sets the fly free. In this way both the fly and the spider are free. After that I ask the spider: Why did you catch the fly? - It is my debtor. It owes me something and I do not let it go until I sequester all its property. - Yes, but if you do not let it go, I shall come with my rod and deal with you as you deserve. You must forgive it its debts and let it go. The same thing takes place among people. The creditor catches his debtor in his web and does not let him go. The debtor buzzes, struggles, wants to become free, but the creditor does not let him. Then I go between them. I take my rod, i.e., the Divine Lain, and say to the creditor: You will let go of the debtor and forgive his debt, or both of you will go out. I do not allow these crimes before the face of God. How should we understand this? It is very simple. When you are before the face of God, you must forgive the sins of your brothers. When you are before the face of God, you must forgive all the debts of your brothers - absolutely liquidate them. You can not appear before the face of God, or enter the Kingdom of God until you forgive your brother. What do you do? You say: when I make much money, I shall settle all my affairs and help the poor. Why should you wait for that time? See, all your debtors are poor people. Forgive them their debts and the question is settled. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be meted unto you." Someone goes to God carrying his debtor's bills with him. I say: If you do not tear up these bills this very day, and appear with a clean face before God, both you and your debtors will go out. Today there is an appeal to all Christians to tear up their bills, if they want both they and their debtors to be free. Otherwise, all will be chased out. The rod - the Law of God - will be laid on the backs of all people - both creditors and debtors. It is forbidden to commit crimes in the presence of God! Where is your love, if you commit crimes in His presence? Now I am pointing out a principle. When you want to appear before the face of God, be ready to do all for Him. Therein lies the fulfillment of His will. If you are not ready to tear up your bills for the sake of God, your love is weak. If you are ready to tear up your bills, I am ready to tear up mine against you. If you are not ready, I am not either. Since you are not ready to tear up the bills of your old ideas and to become rid of the fear of the morrow, I am also not going to tear up my bills. What will become of our life? As soon as you discard your old bills, your life will be set in order. If today when you are before the face of God, you are not ready for heroic deeds, how will you be ready tomorrow? When Christ was on the cross, He tore up all the bills of His debtors and said: "Father, forgive them! They know not what they do." If Christ had not forgiven His debtors, He would not have been able to appear before God or enter the Kingdom of God. Christ was before the face of God and forgave His debtors. If you want to be free and appear pure before God, you must forgive your debtors and say: Lord, forgive them! The greatness of Christ lies in His noble act on the cross. Nailed to the cross hand and foot, He said: "Father, forgive them!" You will say that you like my talk today, but that is not the important question. It is important that you apply what you hear. Where is the power and love of the Christians who stand before the face of God, but can not tear up their old bills and say: Father, forgive them! After all that, they will go to some righteous man and ask him to pray for them. It is not allowed to pray for a man who is not ready to discard his old bills. The name of God must be sacred for you. When you pronounce this name, you must be ready for all sacrifices. If an illness comes to you, make it come after you and put it to work. As soon as you put it to work, it will leave you. According to me, the illness is nothing but an uninvited guest which has visited you and imposes himself on you - he wants you to bathe and feed him, or amuse him. Five or six persons gather around the sick person and serve him. In reality, it is not the sick man, but rather the sickness they are serving. No medicine must be given to an illness. As soon as it comes to you, say to it: I am going to dig in the vineyard of God. If you want to come with me, you are welcome. If not, goodbye! He who believes in God as a dynamic force will always be healthy. People today want to be loved. Their desire is right, but it is not sufficient to be loved by a single person. Man represents a microscopic tube through which only a single sunbeam can pass. The sunbeam will contribute something to his life, but the powerful thing in the world is the whole sun. The light of the whole sun must enter into man and illuminate even the most remote corners of his house. One sunbeam is the love of one man. This love is not sufficient. Love which can not transform man and make him healthy, good and wise, does not deserve its name. Love is that power which transforms man and makes him ready for all sacrifices for the Creator of the universe, for the Sacred One, not a sacrifice for people. Where will you find the Sacred One? He is hidden somewhere deep in the soul of all living beings. A great sacrifice is required of all people, as that of Christ. Of what does this sacrifice consist? When they are nailed on the cross, for the name of God, to say: "Father, forgive them!" People ask someone: What are you? - I am a Christian. Have you fulfilled all that Christ has preached? Christ has preached self-denial. Have you denied yourself? Christ has said that only he who has given all his possessions to the poor and followed Him, could be His disciple. Have you done that? When Christ was on the cross, He said: "Father, forgive them!" Have you forgiven your debtors? You will say that your time has not yet come. According to me, many of the present-day Christians are too late. If they do not apply the Teaching of Christ today, they will be entirely too late. We do not hold to the letter of the law. Christ's teaching is one of inner sacrifice. Sacrifice yourselves every moment for the One Whose love is perpetual. Christ teaches an inner, true moral, which rests on absolute purity. People speak about love and kisses with embarrassment. Why? Because in their love and kiss there is something covetous. They take, but they do not give. It says in the Scripture: "Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity." The Divine love implies absolute inner purity which gives man hope and a feeling of security, making him bold and resolute. If a kiss can raise the fallen, heal the sick and raise the dead, it is in its place. This is what a "kiss of charity" means. Christ said: "I did not come to do my own will, but the will of Him Who has sent me." Therefore, every man must realize that he has come to earth to fulfill the will of Him Who has sent him. When you find yourself in a state of great contradictions, and can not solve some problem, say: "The will of God be done!" When you say this, not much time will pass before the problem will be solved. But for that, a complete reliance on God is required. If you all decide in yourselves to do the will of God without doubt or hesitation, your work and problems will all be settled naturally. As soon as your affairs get tangled, you must know that you are fulfilling your own and not the will of God. If you do not voluntarily fulfill the will of God, death will come and, taking you by the neck, will make you give up by force what you can not sacrifice today. Is it not better to fulfill what God wants of you before death has come? By the word "death," I mean Law. It is preferable for man to do the will of God voluntarily than to do it by Law. What will become of us then? Perform an experiment and you will see. But if we suffer? Do you think you will not suffer, if you do not fulfill the will of God? Does not a rich man stay hungry? Man suffers in spite of his wealth, knowledge and power. The whole of humanity will pass through such sufferings as they have not even thought of. When man does the will of God, he will suffer also, but his sufferings will be meaningful. Sufferings will come to all people without exception. Death will come to all. It is an inevitable act. Many people think that as soon as they leave their bodies, they will immediately be free. They will be as free as a passenger who comes out of a ship and walks straight into the sea. Will he be free in the sea? The sharks are expecting him in the waters which will immediately devour him. If he leaves his body and enters the sea, his condition is dangerous; if he leaves his body and enters the sea port, his condition is good. I wish all of you to come off in the sea port for which a ticket is given you. While you are in the ship, rejoice, think, work and do not hurry to come off until you hear the name of the port for which you have a ticket. When you hear the name of that port, do not lose a minute, but come off the ship and wait in the harbor until another ship comes to take you. The new ship will be nicer and more perfect than the first one. "As the Father hath taught me, so I speak." Now I shall ask you: Are you ready to set free the flies in your webs? I regard this question as a matter of principle, net personally. The personal questions represent comedies and tragedies in life. I have no inclination either for the comedy, the drama or the tragedy. According to me, the comedy is the simplest thing in the world. The tragedy is full of pretences and artificialities. The drama is a combination of the tragic and the comic. In life the comedy represents the life of man, the drama the good, and the tragedy the mind. Arid in reality, only the wise man meets contradictions. Until he solves these contradictions, his head turns white. The white head is the tragedy in the human life. The woman complains of the man, the man of the woman; they want to commit suicide. This is tragedy. The young maiden threatens the young man that if he does not love her, she will commit suicide. He becomes frightened and hurries to respond to her feelings. There is no reason for fear. But he is afraid of a tragedy. Let him try to cut her finger and make it bleed a little and he will see that she will give up the idea of suicide. When the maiden loves the man, but he does not love her, that is tragedy. And inversely, when a man loves a maiden, but she does not love him, that is also tragedy. When both of them love each other, that is tragi-comedy. When a 120 year old man falls in love with a young maiden, that is tragi-comedy. What better thing can there be for the old man than love? When he loves, he grows young. If a young maiden falls in love with an old man, she becomes wiser. Therefore, the young maiden sacrifices her love, while the old man sacrifices his wisdom or knowledge; in this way there is an interchange between them. In the Divine world this love is the real, harmonious love. There is no better love than this. The love between an old man and a young maiden is pure and free of covetousness. "All things work together for good." When? When things are done out of love. Sacrifice always out of love and in the name of God. When you act this way, say: "Hallowed be the name of God! The will of God be done! The Kingdom of God come!" Be ready to sacrifice yourselves in the name of God, for the will of God, and for the Kingdom of God! This will elevate your souls and will make you citizens of the Kingdom of God. Now I threw the flies and spiders out and cleaned your rooms. Do not admit any more flies and spiders in your rooms so that they may not commit crimes before your face! "The Divine Spirit bears all the blessings of life." September 3, 1935, 5 A.m. Sofia - Izgrev.

Old_and_new_conceptions.pdf Note 1e Old and New Conceptions Luke ch. 5. There are things in life from which a man must liberate himself. These things have been useful at one time, but today they are an obstacle in the lives of people. For instance, diapers are useful for a baby, but as soon as he grows up, they are a hindrance to the free movement of the child. People have a habit of seeking the easy way - the way free of suffering and hardships. However, the path for children is not a path for adults; the path for adults is not a path for the old; the path for the old is not a path for the saints; the path for the saints is not a path for the angels, etc. Since you do not take this fact into consideration, you often fall into contradictions with yourself. These contradictions are greater when you come to the question of love. We say that people need more love. What do you understand by the words "more love"? Imagine that two people were carrying two bottles of water; one contains one quart of water and the other ten quarts. In what way do these two bottles differ? They differ in the quantity of water they contain, but not in the quality of the water. The water in the two bottles is of the same quality. A few people will satiate their thirst with the first bottle, but many more will drink from the second bottle and be grateful. Therefore, certain questions in life are solved qualitatively, while others are solved quantitatively. Now I shall consider the question of self-denial. What do you understand by "self-denial"? Or, what do you understand by the words "correct conception of things"? When can a man have a correct conception of something? When a man wants to have a correct idea of a place or environment, he must choose a spot from which he can observe the whole place. When he sees the whole place clearly, he will have a correct conception of it. Thus, when you see a person observing some notable place, you must know that he has a strictly definite purpose. Every observation, every close study of phenomena has its definite purpose and cause. Even the most senseless movement is of some benefit to man. For instance, someone likes to walk in the evening and observe the sky. Even without being an astronomer or wishing consciously to study the stars, after long observation he will arrive at a certain knowledge and orientation about certain positions of the stars, etc. Certain stars will attract his attention, while others will be disregarded as if they did not exist. How many of you know where to find Saturn in the sky? Many of you do not think of observing the positions of Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, etc. Many astrologers attribute a great number of the misfortunes, illnesses and misunderstandings of people to Saturn. According to them, ancient causes in past lives give birth to the unfavorable conditions in life. For instance, the father of a family goes out each day to trade, but if he does not earn anything, he returns home dissatisfied and in a bad mood, and he gets angry with his wife and children, as if they were to blame for his lack of success. Perhaps there is some truth in that, but it is not only his family which is to blame for his bad luck. His wife has not thought of him for a long time, so she could not help him. His sons and daughters have not helped their father either - they have not worked with him. The man thinks that his wife is responsible for his ill fortune to a certain degree. The wife, on the other hand, thinks that her husband is incapable, that his mind is not bright enough and that that is the reason he can not earn money. A man goes to pick berries, but another man has been there before him and picked them already. He who went first was the more clever of the two - he picked the berries and went home. - Yes, but if he had not picked them, I would have picked them. - Therein lies all the evil. What will you do now that the berries are all picked? You will pick pears. - The pears are also picked. - You will pick apples. - But they are also picked. You should find a fruit that has not been picked and pick that. It is not necessary to keep the thought in your mind that you must, by all means, pick berries. Once upon a time the devil decided to be the first to pick the berries. He saw that the dogberry tree bloomed first of all trees; that is why he often went to it to see if the fruit was ripe. However, the dogberry tree ripened last of all fruit trees; in the meantime, people picked all the berries and there was nothing left for the devil to pick. When he went to the tree, he saw that there was nothing on it and he was very surprised. Now there is a legend that the devil threatened people to torment and tempt them, because they picked the berries first. If people had not picked the berries, the devil would not have tempted them. For that act, they pay to the devil up to this day. Therefore, he who dares eat the berries of the devil must pay for his boldness. In reality, the berries are not at all his own possessions, but he has chosen them himself and put his hands on them. Even to this day the devil wants men to pay him for the picked berries. A bargain takes place between him and man - five up, five down - until finally man pays him something. The devil is a great lawyer. He who thinks he can go through life without paying the devil is wrong. You will pay by all means. Do not think you can be more clever than the devil. Nobody yet has surpassed the cunningness of the devil. No one has been able to play a trick on the devil up to this time. In other words: Do not covet another man's possessions! In the given case, the berries represent the other man's possession, the knowledge of another man. The knowledge, the wealth of a man is useful to him alone. Every possession is tied up with a certain responsibility. Who would not wish to be beautiful, to have a stately figure, and an angelic face with perfect features? But do you know what misfortunes, what responsibilities that beauty might entail? Wherever you go, people will stop you or follow you. How will you deal with these people? It is not easy to deal with beauty. The beautiful person has no right to avoid people. He is obliged to tolerate them. Why? Because beauty is nothing but an exhibit to which the Divine world has sent its production. The beautiful man will be exposed to the gaze of both the intelligent and the ignorant. The intelligent men will evaluate him, pass by him without touching him, and continue on their way. The ignorant men, who do not know how to act, will atop before him and touch his clothes here and there until they stain them. That person must clean himself for a long time after that. However, it is preferable to be beautiful and be touched and spotted by people than not to be beautiful and not be touched by anybody. Therefore, it is preferable for a child to have passed through the discipline of the mother than not to have passed through it. The mother bathes the child three times a day, she wraps him up in diapers until he grows up and gets free from the diapers. The baby must be patient to bear all this discipline. In the past that child may have been some great angel who fulfilled a great mission in heaven. However, for a single mistake that angel was sent to earth in the form of a small, helpless child, to pass through certain specific sufferings and hardships and to learn the great Divine law - not to sin. The mother bathes the child who flutters its wings, weeping, desiring to be free, but no one understands him, no one takes his crying into consideration. Why do mothers bathe their children? To be pure and learn to serve God. The slightest impurity which may penetrate the mind of an angel, or the slightest disobedience on his part, may be the cause for him to be sent to earth to live among ordinary men until he corrects his mistake. You must know one thing: There are angels who descend to earth either to correct some mistake they have made or to fulfill some special mission, some obligation. Even Christ, the Son of God, came to earth to pay a debt, i.e., to correct a mistake. What was the mistake of Christ? When God created the world, Christ asked Him to give men freedom. In this respect, He became a guarantor for the freedom of people; however, they misused this freedom. They did not live as they should, and consequently Christ had to come to earth to pay the bill He had signed. Now people ask the question why did God create man and the world. These are questions which can not be solved outside the School. They are philosophical questions for meditation and not for solution. If these questions were explained, your mind would be overloaded with superfluous knowledge. You do not need this knowledge. It is useful to some people, but not to all, just as honey is good for some but not for others. Some people like pears, others like cherries. Every person has a special taste, according to which he receives such food as is necessary for his organism. Every man leads the kind of life for which he is spiritually and organically adapted. Life is made up of many steps, each man taking that step which corresponds to his conceptions. People today do not lead an exclusively human life. They pass through the phases of plants and animals and barely touch the human phase of life. Many of the contradictions in their lives are due to the animalistic tendencies which often manifest themselves with their own requirements. What must you do in such a case? Should you give way to the animal in you? Many of your desires are the desires of animals. One such desire is that of eating much. If a mammoth should appear today on the earth, he would devour the largest forest in the course of a few years. This animal needs a large amount of food. The mammoth has disappeared from the physical world, but up to this day he exists in the astral world, and because of this men suffer from insatiable desires. These desires can be compared to the mammoth which thinks only of eating and drinking. It has been noticed that people who live in the world of desire, want to become famous, wise, educated, strong and to have all men speak about them. This is good, but it lasts only for a short time and a day will come when man will lose all this and start to rise anew. In the past when the world was created, God made heaven and earth with all the plants and animals on it. At that time the ass had a very small shape and was not like the ass of today. God gave him a small shape on purpose, so that he might lead a calm and quiet life. Upon seeing all the other animals, the ass found himself so small in comparison to them, that he would pass unnoticeably by anybody. That is why one day he turned with a petition toward his Creator: Lord, give me another, bigger form than this in order that I might be noticed when I move among my fellow brothers. Now nobody sees me or pays any attention to me. Besides that, I have no voice. Give me such a voice that when I open my mouth, everybody will hear me. - All right, this may be done, but did you ask yourself whether you would be happy and successful in life if you had a large shape and a strong voice? - asked God in return to his petition. - I considered everything carefully. If you grant my wish, I believe I shall be happy. Let it be according to your faith! From that day on the ass assumed the shape and voice which he has today. When affairs do not turn out as they should, everybody says: Donkey business! God created the donkey as he should be, but he was not satisfied with himself and tried to correct his shape. However, this correction, this new state which he wished in his life, became the cause of all the sufferings which the donkey experiences to this day. The donkey brays many times a day. By braying, he is saying to people: Be careful and do not lose your heads! If you are not satisfied with your condition, you will bray like me! And Jesus said unto Simon: "Fear not, henceforth thou shalt catch men!" Contemporary people are in the same condition the disciples of Christ were in. They fear that they will not realize their desires. They should not fear, however. Can the grain of wheat not attain what it desires? The realization of its desires is foreseen. It is preordained that the grain of wheat should grow, bloom and bear fruit. It is preordained also how much fruit it will bear. If it is preordained what the grain of wheat and every living being should do and attain, how much more that is true of man. However, man must work and occupy himself with inner, individual work which is related to his mind, heart and will, in order to. attain his desires, and he should not interfere with the work of God. There is work which man alone must accomplish. You meet a sculptor who works zealously in the realm of his art. At a certain time he meets a famous violinist and a desire is aroused in him to leave his work and become a violinist. He should not do that since he was born to be a sculptor. He must work toward the perfection of his art and if he has some free time, take up the study of music. A talent is already deposited in him and he must develop it. That is the Divine in himself which he must value. This is the work which is given to him and which he alone must finish. When he finishes it, he can occupy himself with music, science or anything he likes. All men have a desire to be educated, eloquent and beautiful so that when they begin to talk to people, they may captivate them. However, when such a task is given to them, they soon become exhausted. A young evangelist, while reading the Bible, used to say to himself: A great wealth is hidden in this book. One can draw material for talks for years on end and it will not be exhausted. Much material is stored in it. However, when he became a preacher, he used up all the material in one year and did not know what more to preach to people. What would he preach about? First he talked to people about the creation of the world or of man. Then he spoke to them about the first sin and the fall of man. When they learned that, he spoke to them about repentance and salvation and with that, his work ended. What further could he say to people? He would speak to them about the bringing up of children. How strange, indeed! That preacher was not married, nor had he brought up and educated any children, but he would still speak about their up-bringing! Another man whose specialty was mathematics spoke to people about important mathematical problems, in order to show off that he was an educated man. Mathematics and geometry are complex sciences. They represent a Divine language which not everyone can speak. To transmute a mathematical formula into a geometric one, or a geometric one into an organic one, implies a complex mental process. A deep understanding of the great laws is required for that. In mathematics there is a concept of positive and negative quantities. Everything which gives is called positive; everything which takes is called negative. Imagine that you want to buy a pound of sugar. You take your money and go to the nearest grocery to buy the sugar. The moment before you have reached the grocery, you are positive, because you are preparing yourself to give, while the grocer is negative, because he will take money from you for the pound of sugar. As soon as you enter the shop and say that you want a pound of sugar, the grocer becomes positive. He weighs the sugar and gives it to you. You become negative because you take the sugar. After that your conditions are changed again; you give money for the sugar and become positive, while the grocer takes your money and becomes negative. In this way an interchange takes place between your energies and those of the grocer. Thus, there is always an interchange of the energies of two persons who relate to one another. The more regular the interchange, the more harmonious their relations are. Often people are disturbed by very trivial things. For instance, you start for the nearest store and you worry about the possibility that you will not find sugar there. So what? If there is no sugar in that store, you will go to another, to a third or a fourth. You will visit ten stores and surely find sugar in one of them, or whatever else you may need. Your worry is due mainly to the fact that you do not wish to go around from one store to another. Today all people worry about how they will spend their life. They will spend it very easily only if they know how to live. They must have the character of that Bulgarian who was noted for his complaisance. One day that Bulgarian man went to the city bath and sat in a room beside a big wash basin to wash himself. He looked with a self-contented air at his body and said: Nobody has laid a hand on this body until this day. In the same room there was a Turk who heard the words of the Bulgarian man. He immediately went to the latter and said: Giaour, get away from this wash basin! I shall bathe here! - Help yourself, effendi! - said the Bulgarian man, bowing, and he went to the next basin. The Turk followed him and said: I shall wash in this basin. Get away from here! - Help yourself, effendi! Calmly the Bulgarian went to a third basin. In this way he went to all the basins followed by the Turkish man. When the Turk was convinced that he could not disturb the equilibrium of the Bulgarian man, he said: As long as you have this kind of mind, nobody can touch your body. Because of your complaisance, nobody can quarrel with you. The following practical rule may be drawn from this example: When a contradiction enters your mind or heart, let it have its way. Do not force yourself to solve it, or seek the reasons why it has come. Every contradiction has its deep causes. Man loses his good disposition on account of some external cause not dependent on him. For instance, I sit in my room in a good mood and meditate about some important question. All of a sudden my disposition changes and a heavy thought begins to oppress me. I analyze my condition and find out that this thought has come from outside. A short time elapses and a seriously ill man visits me. Someone has told him that I can cure him. Should I be angry at that man because by thinking about me he has contacted my thought and imparted this heavy condition to me? There is no reason why I should be angry. If I can cure him, I shall set about doing that. If I can not, I shall send him to some famous doctor for help. Therefore, not every person can be cured in a spiritual way. In this example we see that all people are connected and whether they want to or not, they bear each other's burdens. Thus, when you are in low spirits, direct your thought upward and you will not notice how your spirit will be raised. Do as the worldly people do - when you get muddy, do not seek the cause, but find a pure spring and wash yourself in it. As soon as the mud falls off your body, you will feel clean and free again. Many people who listen to these ideas think that the knowledge they have is of no value. This is not true, however, for the knowledge which you receive in the first grade serves as a basis for the second grade. That knowledge does not in the least make man capable of living, nor does the knowledge obtained in the higher grades render him capable of living. One must finish high school and the university, after which he must apply his knowledge in life, in order that some day he may solve his difficult problems to a certain degree. This shows that there are degrees of knowledge. If you enter the angelic world, the knowledge you have obtained on the earth will be of no use to you. A higher knowledge is required for that world. The knowledge of the animals is not knowledge for human beings. What need have people of the knowledge of the horse to kick and of that of the ox to prick with his horns? Man has at a certain time passed through that phase of knowledge, but today he has no need of it. Someone sits discontented and pokes this and that person with his elbow. At one time, that man did that with his horns, but today he does it with his hands. This is a remnant from the ox culture. Why must a man poke others with his hand instead of using his mind? Imagine that you are listening to an orator and you do not agree with his ideas. What do you do in such cases? Sometimes you contradict him, other times you whistle at him. Of what use would your contradicting him be? If his idea is not true, it will remain false after your contradiction too. By that you will not correct things. When someone is speaking, you must listen to him and learn something - try to see where the human thought takes a false turn. It is important for man to think, feel and act correctly. If he does not think, feel and act correctly, he will bear the consequences. Each man bears his own consequences. Nobody bears another man's consequences. Since you know this, you should avoid loading yourself with another man's faults and think that you can correct them. If someone does not live well, that is his business. How should he live? Someone does not eat as he should. If he has not learned yet to eat correctly, he will never learn. There is not a person on earth who does not know how to eat. The incorrectness in eating lies in the fact that many people, out of greediness, eat fast and do not chew their food; consequently, a number of illnesses and disorders appear in the digestive system. When you eat, do not fill up your plate and do not cut large pieces of bread. Treat your guests in the same way. In some foreign countries, for instance, people cut very thin slices of bread. On the whole, nature has a great abundance at its disposal, but it gives a little at a time. It wants to teach men to be contented with the little which is given to them and fulfill the work assigned to them with that small amount. Thus, learn to make rational use of the small blessings which are given to you during the day. Do not worry, eternity is before you. The blessings of God will not cease. They will flow into your life forever. You want to be beautiful, strong and rich. There is time for that. There is a strictly assigned time for everything. If you calmly await the time for a certain blessing, you will make proper use of it, but if you hurry, you will fall into conflict with yourself and when the blessing comes to you, you will not use it as you should. One day the brick makers and the gardeners sent a petition to God at the same time to send them a hot, sunny day for the brick makers, in order to dry the bricks, and rain for the gardeners to water the vegetables and flowers. God found Himself in a difficult position - how to satisfy two different requests simultaneously. If the day is hot, the brick makers will be happy, but the gardeners will complain that the vegetables are drying up. If the day is rainy, the gardeners will be happy, but the brick makers will complain that their bricks are getting wet. God answered the petition in the following manner: Come to terms among yourselves and see which days you want to be dry and which rainy. In nature there must be a continual change so that all living beings should profit from its blessings. Do not wish for things^ to happen as you understand them. No matter ho« strongly you may wish this, you will not be able to find a response, so do not waste your time with vain wishes and expectations. There is no man on earth whose desires have been fulfilled. Because of this, something greater and more rational than what you wish for yourselves will be given you. Man has many wishes, but he does not know which of these wishes are for his good. Every wish will be realized in its time. Now one thing is required of man - to give. Give in the broadest sense of the word. You wish for one of your desires to be realized, but as soon as you see that it can not be realized, you should give it up temporarily. This is what giving means. Consider giving as the beginning of every bit of work that you intend to do. You have made up your mind to study a scientific problem today, but at this time one of your friends comes to speak with you about his business. He wants to hear your advice, so he begins to tell you that his wife is ill, his daughter is a high-school student, his work does not go as it should and he does not know what to do. You begin to be fretful, seeing the time you have set aside for your study is passing, but he still talks to you about his affairs. If you listen to him calmly, he will finish his conversation sooner than if you become fretful. The more you fret, the greater his desire will be to retain you longer. Moreover, you wish to do the Will of Cod, but you do not know what to do: to continue listening to him or to leave him. If you are an Englishman, you will dispense easily with him. When an Englishman has an appointment and visitors come to his house at the appointed time, he takes his hat, tells them that he is busy and goes out. If the guests wish to remain in his home, he leaves them there and goes to do his work. The Bulgarian man acts in just the opposite way: he remains with the guests until they go away and then he goes to his appointment much too late. We may draw the following conclusion from these examples: Fulfill on time all the promises you have given in your soul to the Primary Principle. Whatever other work may appear, put it off. First of all, fulfill your obligation and promise to God. You have a meeting with God; go on time. Do not put off your meeting by any means. Your wife, daughter and son will be angry for they want you to be with them; you should not be troubled by that. Excuse yourself politely, take your hat and go out. After you have finished your work with God, you will have the time and the freedom to fulfill all your other obligations. This is the way everyone should act, be he father, mother, son, daughter or servant. When one acts in this way, others must understand him. God does not want man to carry the earth on his back, but rather to fulfill the smallest promise he has given in his soul. These promises are sacred. Be exact in fulfilling your sacred promises and never put them off. You should not be concerned about what people may say. They have a right to say whatever they wish. You have a right, however, to do what you wish. It is your right to fulfill your promises to the August Principle in life. Fulfill your promise and do not think about what people or your family will say. Once a Bulgarian priest was telling of his experiences with his son. One day he said to his son: Stoyan, go down to the cellar and bring me some wine from the barrel. - See, father, I do not drink wine and I do not wish to serve it either. If you want water, I am ready to go up the mountain for it, but as far as the wine is concerned, I shall not move even my foot. - Well, this new generation is certainly a queer one! They do not obey their parents. Another day I said to him: Stoyan, go buy me a package of tobacco. - No, I do not smoke and will not buy tobacco for anyone either. If you want me to buy something else, I am ready to go to the end of the world, but wine and tobacco - no! - As I watched my son, said the priest, I wondered at his boldness and disregard for me, but after thinking over the matter, I came to the conclusion that he was right. I am a priest who should be an example to people, yet I drink and smoke, but my son has taken the right path. I say: He who fulfills the Will of God does not make mistakes. Such a man can hold to his convictions to the end. At first people will not be pleased and will not approve of his behavior, but when they see that he bears everything and is ready to stand up for his convictions, they see that he is a man they can rely on and give him his due. When you say to people that you can do everything which is in accord with your conviction, they see in your face a man of will power ready to do all that is good, The present young generation needs firmness in their convictions. The young people must strive for freedom of their convictions. Keep the freedom of others in order that they may keep yours. Do not force men to do what is unpleasant to thorn. A young woman has dedicated her life to the service of God. Many people go to her to persuade her to meet this or that young man who wants to speak with her about some important questions. What will he say to her? When he sees her, he will begin to tell her that he likes her, that there is no one like her, etc. He takes too many liberties. First of all, that young woman was not sent to earth to have any business with him. She is a daughter of God, while he is a Son of God sent to earth with a very different mission. Men are sent to earth to work and not to seek pleasures, in order to spend their lives like daughters and sons of some rich man. There is a law that if you respect the freedom of people they respect your freedom as well. People will act toward you exactly as you act toward them. If you want the advanced beings to be condescending toward you, you must be condescending toward the smaller beings. The acts of man toward other people determine their acts toward him. "With what measure you mete, the same will be meted unto you." If you measure with the law of love, wisdom and truth, it will be meted unto you with the same measure. These are rules which are related to you and not to the external world. The external world uses entirely different rules. Someone complains that nobody puts himself in his condition. What does this mean? To put yourself in the condition of a person means to leave him free to fulfill his promises to his own soul. You enter a home and see one of the members of the family saying his prayers. Return quietly and leave him free to finish his prayer. But you are in a hurry and do not have time to wait. You must wait, that is all. That man is in communion with the Great world and you have no right to disturb him. But what will he gain by that prayer? That is his own business. Sometimes the prayer of one person is in the position to bring a blessing to thousands of people. The prayer of one man has the power to prevent thousands of misfortunes. If that man does not pray, thousands of misfortunes may befall people. Once a minister in North America was telling one of his experiences which proves the power of prayer. One day he started to collect contributions from some people living in a mountainous region. On his way back, he had to pass through a forest. A famous robber heard that day that the minister was to pass that way and decided to wait for him in an ambush, to kill him and take the money he was carrying. For that purpose he took a gun, hid behind a large tree and waited. When the minister approached that place, he experienced an inner disturbance; a certain premonition oppressed him. He dismounted his horse and started to pray. After resuming his original state, he mounted his horse again, took a deep breath and continued on his way, saying to himself: Thank God, I was delivered from something terrible. When he passed by the tree behind which the robber was hiding with his gun, he passed by and did not say anything. The robber remained in his place not daring to raise his gun. Ten years later the same minister was called to the death bed of a man to hear his last confession. The dying man asked him: Do you recognize me? - No, I do not. - I am that robber who ten years ago was hiding in the forest with a gun in his hands; I intended to kill you and take the money you were carrying. - Why did you not do it? What prevented you from fulfilling your desire? You were riding a horse. All of a sudden you dismounted the horse and turned your face upward, after which you remounted the horse and continued on. When I looked closely I saw sitting behind you a great man all armed. I was frightened and dared not move my arm. It is said in the Scripture: "An angel of the Lord guards those who pray to God and rely on Him." Therefore, when you pray and call for God to help you, a being of light from the invisible world will come by all means to accompany you in the difficult and terrible hours of your life. No man can walk his path alone. No man can fulfill the work assigned to him alone. Somebody must come to his aid. When you find yourself in a difficult situation, pray sincerely, and immediately some beings who help mankind will come to your aid. The same thing happens in life today. When a ship is sinking in the sea, it is immediately reported by radio how far from the shore it is sinking. In a short time another ship starts in its direction to rescue the passengers. The passengers are saved because of the signal given. Such a signal is prayer. Your ship is in the stormy sea of life. It risks sinking at any time. What must you do? Give the signal, i.e., turn in prayer to the Divine world whence help will be given you. In a short time the help will come and you will be out of danger. It says in the Scripture: "Pray without ceasing!" This means: Always be in contact with the Divine world. - Will they answer our prayer? - He who prays sincerely, out of his heart, will by all means receive an answer to his prayer. He who has prayed has never lost anything. Liberate yourselves from inner fear and do not think about whether or not you will fulfill your promises. When it is a question of promises you have given in your soul do not waver. The application of the Will of God lies in the fulfillment of these promises. If you hesitate with regard to the fulfillment of the Will of God, you hinder your development. Contemporary people have already come to the point where they should begin to work consciously. Conscious work means inner work in harmony with the law of love. Love implies mutual aid, entering the condition of others. You see a man working upon his character, trying to become more meek and gentle. Do not provoke him to show his hard side. This is a difficult thing to do. For instance, no matter how calm a teacher may be, the students will, somehow, make him lose his patience. They are children with different characters and upbringings. The teacher can not influence all children. He does not have such methods at his disposal. It is impossible for a man to educate and influence other people, if he himself is not well educated. It is impossible for a man to influence others, if he does not love them. It is impossible for a plant to grow and develop normally if you do not water it and cultivate the ground around it. Therefore, in order to put yourself in the position of each other and thus help one another, you must, first of all, be connected with the Primary Principle. Then , as others care for you, in the same way you should care for others. If someone comes to you and complains of his state, listen to him patiently, see what he needs and help him with whatever you can. Maybe you are the first man who is chosen to help him. Others can help him also, but if you are the first to do that, you profit from it. He who helps others, helps himself first. Why? Because the blessing will first pass through him and then go to others. What do many people do today? When someone comes and asks for their help, they say: Pray to God and He will help you. What will you lose if you say to that man: Be calm, do not be discouraged; if you love God and your neighbor, your work will go well. If you do not love Him, your work will go poorly. Tell that man a few encouraging words and he will be grateful to you. You pass by a field and see a peasant trying to sow his field, but not knowing how. Should you tell him that he must pray to God to help him, and pass on, or should you stop by him and show him how to sow? Take the wheat, sow it in the field and continue on your way. When the wheat has grown and produced good grains, that man will thank you for having helped him. Therefore, whatever you do, keep the thought in your mind to love God and your neighbor. If you live and act in this way, all your affairs will be in order and you will prosper. As soon as the thought comes to you to go to God, approach Him with all possible humility. He is the only One in the world Who thinks at all moments about all beings - from the smallest to the greatest. He foresees their needs and satisfies them. He is Love and He acts with all beings with love. I have sometimes heard people say about someone: I don't like that man, so I am going to "butter him up" with a few flattering words. According to me, "buttering up" a person is no art. Why should you grease the car of a person? Tell a man one valuable word which contains the truth. You say about a man that he is good. Have you tasted his goodness? Can you call a person good just because he has given you money? There is a way by which you can know the goodness of a man. You can not tell who is good and who is not unless you come to this way of testing things. It is easy for a man to give you a few cents. Any man can give you ten cents without necessarily being good. That man liberates himself from a small weight. Another man may give you a few cents and send you to his vineyard to dig a little. Is he a good man? This is how a good man would act. If someone asks him for five cents, he sends him to his vineyard to work all day and when the man returns in the evening, he says to him: I give you now sixty cents - five which you wanted from me and fifty-five for the work in the vineyard. Thus you will have money for twelve days - five cents for each day. Therefore, when you want to do a person good, give him work. Show him the right, Divine way. Do not only tell him that his affairs will be set right; show him a way to set them right. Work for God, love all people and your work will go well, and your affairs will be set right. All men preach that we must be prudent, love each other and speak sweetly. How can you speak sweetly if you have no love? If you have love, sweetness will come of itself. If you have love, your words will also have power. Speech is powerless without love, while with love it is mighty and powerful. Now I wish all of you to speak with love, think with love and work with love! If you live with love, everyone will know that you live according to God. What will become of you then? All of your affairs will be set straight. However, two conditions are required for that; love of God and love of your neighbor. As soon as you apply love in your life, you will be contented with yourselves and your neighbors will be contented with you. However, love does not bear any forcing. Therefore, if you want to be free, walk in the path of love. Only love can set you free. Love which binds is human. Love which frees is Divine. Divine love liberates while human love binds. Therefore, work for God out of love. He does not want you to work for Him without love. The blessing of God comes only to those who work for Him with love. The present world is in need of workers who apply love. Experiment for one year and try to work with love. You will see the result of your work at the end of the year. He who works with love will by all means have good results; he who does not work with love can not expect good results. If we love God and our neighbors, we shall meet again, but we shall be more contented than we are now. If we do not love God and our neighbor, there will be many exceptions in our lives. When I speak of the next year, I mean the present year, for in the Divine life there is only one year - it is a long one equal to a thousand earthly years. Thus, next year will be the same as this year. For him who loves and fulfills the will of God, the blessing will come today as well as next year. The blessing of God will be the same in the future as it is today. All people speak about love. When do they speak about it mostly? When it is absent among them. When is love absent among people? When they are taking off their old clothes and putting on new ones. When a beautiful woman is well dressed, she loves everybody. When she is putting on her clothes, she does not love anybody. People of today spend half of their life like the beautiful young woman in putting on something new and in preparing themselves for something nice. What does the putting on of clothes represent? For instance, someone says: I want to be a good man, or to speak sweetly. This is putting on clothes. Or: I want to be a saintly person. That is putting on clothes. If you wait first to become saintly, good and eloquent and then to love, life will flow out by that time. Do not clothe yourselves in this way. Love God and men such as they are, in the clothes they are now wearing. An English artist once met a poor boy in London who was barefooted and in ragged clothes. He stopped him and gave him his calling-card, saying: Come to me tomorrow. The child began to think how to appear before that gentleman without shoes and in rags. That is why he went here and there among his acquaintances to find nice clothes and appear thus before the rich gentleman. When he rang the bell of the artist's house, he was asked: Who are you? What do you want of me? - You met me yesterday in the street and invited me to visit you today. - Yes, but I invited you such as you were. If I needed a well-dressed boy, I would find many others. Now I have no need of you. Today you also want to put on new clothes and appear thus before God. Yes, but He does not want you to dress up in new clothes. He wants to see you such as you are. He wants to see you in that purity which you have now. A husband and wife are quarreling, but as soon as they hear someone coming, they stop quarreling. When the guest goes away, they resume their dispute. No disputes, no quarrels must exist among people. They can speak about anything they wish, but quarreling is not permitted. As God can tolerate us, in the same way we must tolerate one another. If people in a society lived in peace and harmony, they would create a healthy atmosphere both for themselves and for others. In this way many illnesses, misfortunes and sufferings would be avoided. The illnesses and sufferings in people are due to their discord and misunderstandings. The disputes and misunderstandings among people create an unhealthy atmosphere. You will say that a certain person does not live well. That does not interest me. Each man is held responsible for his mistakes. It says in the Scripture: "You will give an account for every vain word." Two persons who do not love God and their neighbors can not love each other either. He who wants to be loved, must be the first to love. Whom must he love? - God and his neighbor. The first commandment says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, with all thy might, with all thy mind and with all thy heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." How will you show this love? Love can not be expressed or proved by words. After fulfilling this commandment, you can expect everything you wish in life. Pray earnestly to God and He will answer your prayer. He foresees the needs of people without their weeping and complaining. It is sufficient for you to express your wish to fulfill His will, to correct your mistakes, and He will answer you immediately. If you want to weep, go to comfort those who weep. When you wipe off their tears, along with theirs you will wipe off your own. When people weep, weep with them. When they stop weeping, you stop also. As long as the child cries, the mother cries. As long as we sin, me shall cry. As long as we do not love, we shall cry. As soon as we cease sinning, dying and hating, weeping will cease. As soon as you begin to love, weeping will cease and joy will fill your souls. Now remember that the value of life lies in the childish, youthful state of the human soul. Believe in the Divine Providence without speaking about it. Test things and see where you do not succeed. Where you do not succeed is where the human and not the Divine principle is working. When you understand this, correct your mistakes and give way to the Divine in you. Therefore, take off your old clothes and put on the new ones! Leave your old conceptions and accept the new! The old conceptions are those of the grocer. They are conceptions of exchange - you give money and buy goods. The grocer is satisfied as long as you give him money. When you do not give him anything he gets angry. Leave aside the conceptions of the grocer. Accept the new conceptions of love. Give without money. Give without expecting anything in return. He who takes, let him think about what he can give and about how to express his gratitude, Man has come to earth to love. It is none of his business what people will give him. God gives and we take. Take what God gives you and give what you have received. And Jesus said unto Simon: "Fear not, for henceforth thou shalt catch men." "The Divine Spirit bears all the blessings of life." September 2, 1935, 5 A.M. Sofia - Izgrev.

It_will_come_from_within.pdf Note 1e It Will Come From Within John 4. There are things in life which man must constantly repeat. That which he has experienced only once is not yet absolutely real. For example, someone says that he is happy. Why? Because he has gained something. He says that he is happy without knowing what happiness really is. A good chance in life does not make a man happy. He must have experienced happiness many times, in order to be classified as being happy. Another man says that he is rational without knowing what rationality implies. A third man says that he is strong and pure, without knowing what strength and purity are. A fourth says that he lives, without knowing what life is. All people know these things in part, but in spite of that, the results of their lives do not correspond to their knowledge. They know what life is, but they die; they know what purity is, but they stain themselves. It says in the Scripture: "God is Spirit. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will teach you." What is the Spirit? Who is the Spirit of Truth? Contemporary people ask this question and seek the truth. They seek the truth, but they find a truth which breaks. Once a man was given a silk thread. He took the thread and took it apart to test its strength. By doing that, however, he did not see the strength of the thread, but rather its quality; i.e., the material out of which it was made. In this case it was not the quality of thread that was of importance, but rather the strength. It is important that the thread should not break easily. Therefore, if in searching for the truth, man can easily break the thread, this truth is relative, it breaks and can not withstand the external conditions. Someone says that he knows the other world, knows how it is arranged, how the beings there live, etc. In reality, the description that is given of the other world is a description of the physical world. Can you say that you know the onion by its external skin? The skin is not the onion. The onion is known by its inner content. Many people boast of their knowledge, but if their knowledge is like that which they have of the onion, they can not depend on it. On the whole, knowledge is a load which is sometimes necessary, but at other times not necessary. He who has much knowledge is similar to a loaded traveler who is going to a city or village, but who must travel by foot. He has taken with him two suitcases; in one he has put underwear and suits of clothes, brushes for shoes and clothes, etc. In the other he has put food. He is carrying the suitcases, but he is looking around to find someone to carry them for a while. He is ready to pay if only he could find such a man. Along with him walks another man who is not carrying any suitcases, who is looking to see if there is a man with suitcases from whom he can earn something to eat. The last man is depending on beggary. Thus, there are two kinds of followers in science; the first listens and acquires knowledge; they load themselves with unnecessary luggage which they can not carry. This shows that they have many ideas which they can not apply. The others listen also, but they do not perceive - they have no ideas. And when they are asked why they do not work or apply anything, they justify themselves by the fact that they are poor and possess nothing. When people meet they ask what class one another belongs to; to that with the suitcases, or to that without. In other words, of which group of people are you: of those who have ideas, or of those who have no ideas? The first group of men become discouraged because they have ideas but do not know where to apply them; the second group become discouraged because they have no capital, no ideas, and in conclusion they say that life has no meaning and it does not pay to live, etc. In reality, life has no sense without the application of the ideas one has. Why can some people not apply their ideas? Because they try to find a way to apply them outside of themselves. It is wrong to think that ideas are applicable outside of man. Whatever one can apply, one should apply within oneself - nowhere else. Only that which is applied gives light. The desire of people to apply their ideas outside of themselves will remain forever an impossibility. When the First Principle created the world, He applied everything within Himself. That is why it is said: "All things move and have their being in God." God applies everything in Himself, but we want to bring them out and apply them outside of ourselves. What greater contradiction could possibly exist than this? As a result of this contradiction, men come into conflict with the Divine order of things. Man himself is not convinced of an idea, yet he wants to convince other people to believe in his conviction. It is impossible to convince a person of something which you yourself do not believe. If you are convinced that the path in which you walk is right, why must you convince others of that? Just tell them that the path you have chosen is right. Say: if you wish, come with me; if not, remain on your path. - But we do not want to be misled. - You are right, but one must first ask oneself whether or not he is already misled. If you want to apply your ideas outside of yourself, you are already misled. But if you constantly apply your ideas within yourself, you are on the path of truth in which you can attain everything. Many people expect life to become better first, and then for they themselves to become good. This means that the idea of the good should first be applied in life and then in man. This is impossible. People expect the Kingdom of God to come from outside and then to enter into them. They expect it to come from outside in some spiritual way and they would immediately acquire the right to citizenship in this Kingdom. But this can never happen. The Kingdom of God is within man, not outside of him. It says in the Scriptures: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all things will be added unto you." Where will you seek this Kingdom? Within yourselves. It has been noticed that all proud and ambitious men seek the Kingdom of God outside of themselves. Someone offends them and they say immediately that the world is evil, that men are rude and then they become disappointed. Why must they become disappointed? If a man is an ocean, who can pollute his water? If the Kingdom of God is within him, who can disturb his spirit? If a word can offend you, you do not recognize the truth. Since you do not know the truth, you cannot be called a man. Therefore, when your sea is turbulent, ask yourself the question: Why am I troubled and why do I get discouraged? If you are sincere with yourself, you must answer: I am troubled and discouraged because I want to apply the truth outside of myself. What must you do then? Apply the truth within yourself. As soon as you do that, you will be encouraged. The same thing applies to love and knowledge. Thus, if you want to apply love and knowledge outside of yourself, you will be discouraged. As soon as you apply them within yourself, you will be encouraged. Since men do not understand this, they want to introduce their ideas into the world, not knowing that by this they will come into conflict with the Divine order of things. What need has the world of your ideas? Many ministers sit in the pulpit and from there they want to turn men to God. No, men can not be turned in that way. Someone speaks to people about purity, without knowing himself what purity is. When you look at him, notice the wavering look in his eyes. That man is thinking about how he can convert you, how he can influence you to believe what he believes. He wants to make men happy on the outside, to have an external belief. It is impossible for a man to be happy or to believe on the outside. The truly happy man is the man who carries his happiness within himself. As long as you seek happiness and love on the outside, you are on the wrong path. As long as the external conditions are favorable, you are on the wrong path. Therefore, if you think that the world can be rectified in an external way, only on the outside, you are on the wrong path. Men want to rectify the world and to become its masters. No! The world was not created for masters! It was not created even for mothers and fathers; the world was created for those souls who are ready to live like brothers. The world was made for the souls who are ready to study. The world was not created even for the educated man, but rather for those who want to study. If a man is educated, strong or saintly, what can you gain from his knowledge, strength or saintliness? If he is strong, he can tread upon you with his boots; if he is educated, he can frighten you with his mind. He will come against you and want to overwhelm you with his knowledge. If he is a saint, he can discourage you with his spirituality. When you see how advanced he is, you will fall into despair, thinking that you can never attain such a state. In such a case, you must know that it is not important how much food you have eaten, but rather how you feel after eating and how much of the food received was assimilated. Feeding is a temporary process in which only the moment of eating is real. Since this is true, there can be no relations between two persons unless they simultaneously eat the same food. The same thing applies to thoughts and feelings. As long as man thinks and feels, he is in the reality of things. Now an inner comprehension of things is required of all of you. If you do not comprehend the truth inwardly, you will all fail and go bankrupt. The truth is a capital which must be used. Few people have thought about this question. Up to this day, we see people expecting everything from the outside and when they do not get what they expected, they become disappointed. After the resurrection of Christ, His followers expected Him to come a second time on earth, but they expected Him on the outside. Even today many people expect Him to come from some place on earth. The religious people ask themselves when Christ will come on earth. Christ will not come in the way people expect Him. You will say that since He was born once, He will be born a second time. Since He was born on the earth, people should have accepted Him, but since they did not accept Him in His time, Christ will come in the future only when everyone will open up their hearts and accept Him inwardly, not outwardly. The opening up of the hearts of people and the acceptance of Christ would mean His coming on earth. If they do not accept Him in this way, there will be storms, earthquakes, cyclones, poverty, hunger, illnesses, crises, etc. How long will these things last? Until people leave their old life - the life of the external creeds. When people meet, they like to look each other over from head to foot - examining one another; however, they must know that the best and most correct way to measure a man is to measure him inwardly - to see him on the inside. The important thing is what he is on the inside, not on the outside. Inwardly one may be sacred, but on the outside one may not be. And inversely: one may be sacred on the outside and not on the inside. Sacredness is an inner quality of man. Man must turn his attention to several things in his life which he must place as pillars of his building. They are: purity, sanctity, power, life and love. Upon purity are built the feelings, health and partly the happiness of man. Purity is an inner quality. Sanctity is related to the human mind. Knowledge is built upon it. Power is related to the will. The power determines the stability of the human character. Life gives men conditions to realize all of their desires and aspirations. As they live, their consciousness gradually awakens and expands and they cultivate their abilities and talents. Love comes last, but it involves everything in life. It is said in the Scripture: "God is Love." It also says: "The pure in heart shall see God." Actually, if the heart of man is not pure, if his mind is not sacred, if his will is not strong and if his soul is not full of love, the word "man" makes no sense. Therefore, a man may bear the name "man" only when his heart is pure, his mind light, his will strong and his soul full of love. These are the qualities of the real man. As disciples, work on yourselves to get rid of discontentment. Wake an effort but do not force yourselves. Wan gains when he makes an effort, but he loses when he forces himself. Everything must be represented in its natural form without exaggeration or underestimation. What will you gain if purity, sanctity, power, life and love are not represented to you such as they are in reality? Purity is the first gate through which life enters; sanctity is the second gate, power the third and love the fourth and last. We say that life enters through four gates, but at the same time it exits through the same gates. Everything which enters and exits is real. Therefore, life is real. Everything which enters, but does not exit, or exits but does not enter, is not real. The light which enters and leaves man at the same time is real. That which you see only on the outside is not real. When you see a man only on the outside, he is not real. This is his external house. The real man is concealed somewhere inside his house. If you could see the man in his house, then you would understand what he really is. Now I want to turn your attention to the inner sight and inner thought of man. When you look at things from the inside first and then on the outside, you have correct perception. When you look only on the outside, you fall into deception; consequently you want your own will to be done. When you look only at the external side of things, you will always be led by the desire to realize only what you wish, and in the way in which you wish. But man must know that there is a higher will than his which directs the world. If you impose your will, you will cause many misfortunes in the world. When someone pleases you, you wish for that man to live, but if he does not please you, or if he offends you, you wish to exterminate him from the face of the earth. It is a good thing to be influenced by your feelings but you must be noble first. Nobility will keep you from that slope in life toward which the personal feelings push you. Man must be perfect in feelings, thoughts and acts. If he is perfect in feelings, thoughts and acts, he will be very careful in every word he says. When one speaks, one must have oneself in mind, first of all, as if one were speaking to oneself. If one approves of one's choice of words, one's speech will have a good effect upon one's listeners also. Everyone must know that he speaks to himself. If he approves of himself, then those who have come to the hall to listen to him will approve of him also, and remain in the hall; if they do not approve of him, they will leave the hall. Good speech gives good results. If a field is good, if a seed is good, the wheat will also be good. Every farmer knows this. When the field is not fertile and the seed is of a poor quality, the wheat will be weak and of a poor quality also. The farmer knows this. "God is Spirit." To pronounce the words "God is Spirit" with depth, in full consciousness, means to receive the thought of God. What more could you wish? Or may you say that you are interested to know why the world was created, why men were created and why they sin? Leave these questions aside. It is important for you to know why you were created as a man. Whoever asks this question sincerely will receive an answer. Plan was created to serve his Creator and at the same time to study the world. One day when he has finished his work and come to know the world, man will return to his Creator and give an account of all he has done and learned. After hearing him, God will correct his work. After that He will give him an opportunity to examine his life himself - everything that he has done. There are specialist photographers who from morning to night take pictures of man in every possible condition that he is in: when and how he gets up, what clothes he wears, how he thinks and feels, what inspires him and what he does. When man sees these pictures, he will understand his mistakes and correct himself. In this way he will understand what is and what is not necessary in his life. Until now man has come to the conviction that he can do without many things, but that he can not do without sleep. A day will come when there will be no need for sleep. Only the ignorant sleep. When the ignorant sleep, the wise work. Sleep is a rest only for those upon whom the rational beings work. In this way their consciousness is elevated. In order to attain a higher consciousness, one must attain a balance between the mind and the heart. As soon as one comes to that balanced state, the process of one's organism will be normalized. Sleep has been imposed upon man because of the violation of the Divine Laws. Sleep has not been in man's program from the Divine point of view. The same thing applies to death. Plan was created to live and not to die. Since death entered into his life, man lost his original state of balance. When someone dies, they say that he has gone to sleep, or to rest. One can do without this sleep. Man must leave the region of the dormant life, i.e., the region of death, and enter the life of immortality - the life of the resurrection. In order to come to the resurrection, one must believe that love, knowledge and freedom are within, not without. For instance, people expect the rising of the sun so as to enjoy its light and heat. According to me, it is not important that only the external sun has risen. If the external sun has risen, but the inner sun of man has not risen, he does not gain anything. The moment when the rising of the outside sun coincides with that of the inner sun, is important. This is a real sunrise. The external, physical sun is valuable for all men and living beings. The inner sun is valuable for man himself. There is no greater joy for man than to see both inside and outside. Great is the joy of man and of all heaven when all people on earth understand and know their Creator. Then the Kingdom of God has come on earth. "God is Spirit." When you say this, ask yourself the question; what have you done for this Spirit? One thing is required of you: to keep His thought pure, sacred and powerful, full of love, and not to spot it with anything. Man bears the consequences of every evil word and wrong thought. Nothing can relieve him from his responsibility toward the Divine. This is the reason for the suffering of men. Both ordinary people and saints suffer. As the ordinary man suffers for every crime he commits, such as murder, for example, the saint suffers for the smallest mistake he makes. Me who can kill a fly can kill a man after some time. The law is the same. Since you do not understand the law, you say: This is only a fly. This is only a grain of wheat. This is just an acorn. In external appearance, it is true that the fly is small; it is also true that the grain of wheat and the acorn are small, but see what can become of them after some time. The fly develops; the grain of wheat sown in the earth will develop a large blade; the acorn planted in the earth will become a mighty oak after a hundred years. If this centenarian - the oak tree - can not become a small acorn, it is not in the right direction of development. Therefore, he who can not become as large as the oak tree and as small as the acorn at the same time, is on the wrong path of life. In other words, if man cannot profit from the blessings of life given to him, and deny them at the same time, he is on the wrong path. Thus, in order to receive one blessing, one must be ready to deny himself of some other blessing. Life has meaning when man passes from the "great large" to the "great small." This means that man can express his aspirations to serve the "great large" only when he works and serves the "great small." The August One has created the world through the small things. He started with the small and gradually moved on towards the great things. People act in just the opposite way; they begin with the great and finish with the small. Whomever you meet tells you that he was invited to some aristocratic home, that he was received royally, etc. This speaks of human vanity. Another man boasts of the fact that he visited the home of a minister. What do ministers and kings represent? The are like all people, with the difference that they have a higher social position. When one boasts of such things, in reality, he boasts of himself - he wants to rise in this way. It is said in the Scripture: "He who boasts, let his boast be in the Lord." If you have visited a king and have not acquired anything royal, what was the sense of your visit? If you have been with a saint and not acquired anything sacred, your visit has been of no value. In this condition you will find yourself in the conflict that the young maiden falls into. While she is a maiden, she constantly thinks about some young man, whom she wants to catch in her net, as the fisherman catches his fish. She does not think of anything but the young man. After she gets married, she thinks that she has solved the problems of life. Then she begins to dream of becoming a mother. The young man, on his part, longs to become a father. Afterward both of them begin to dream of a house, of fields and vineyards. Why should every maiden become a mother and every man a father? Rejoice at your mothers and fathers! If you want to become mothers and fathers, take one or two orphans and bring them up as your own. All people are aspiring for the new, for a new life. The new life, however, requires new conceptions. In the new life, the idea of mother, father, sister, brother, teacher arid student will be entirely different from those of today. He to whom the new ideas have not penetrated, cannot enter the new life. No construction whatever can be effected without new ideas. You say: Let us put our work in order. All work is put in order inwardly, not outwardly. He who thinks that he can put his work in order outwardly is misled. I meet someone who complains of poverty. - See, I am carrying a heavy load on my back; I am a rich man. Take part of it and start with me. You must know that whatever you take, you will carry it without turning back. He rejoices, takes a part of my load, puts it on his back and starts after me. After passing a few kilometers, he stops tired and says: My load is heavy. Can you not take it back? - No, turning back is not allowed. The load which I share with people is the truth which proceeds forth from me. Once given to man, the truth can not go back. The knowledge, the word, the love which proceed from me can not be taken back. Everything which can be given and taken back is not real. Whatever you give, you must forget about, as the farmer forgets the seed sown in the field. After it is sown, the farmer does not go to dig it out, or gather it anew, but rather leaves it in the earth to rest calmly and wait for the time of sprouting. After it sprouts, it will grow up, ripen and give more grains than if it were taken out of the ground after it was sown. The wheat reaped and gathered in the barn is the gain of the farmer. Therefore, be pure, saintly, powerful and full of love, if you want people to love you. Today all people are candidates for love, i.e., all want to be loved, but they must know that only that which is perfect can be loved. The imperfect cannot be loved. Light is valuable, the pure water is valuable, the pure air is valuable, love is valuable. What is the sense of lovelessness? Or what is the sense of darkness? What sense and value has impure water? The meaning of life rests on this - to love, but not to be loved. It is good to be loved, but it is better to love. He who loves is happy, he is a master. In this respect God is the first Who has set us an example. He loves us all, that is why He is the Master of the world. What is required of us then? That we should love as Cod loves. He has created the world to manifest His love and to show us how to love. What was God's purpose in creating the world? This question must not be asked. However, to ask what is the meaning of life is your right. And when you ask, you must answer yourself: the purpose of life is to love. The meaning of life implies the idea of the beginning of life. Thus to love implies the beginning of life. To be loved implies the end of life. This is the philosophy of my life. When people begin to love me, my work is finished. When I begin to love, my work is beginning. When I begin to work I am happy. Study life and you will see that this philosophy is right. When people love you, you are bored; when you love, you are happy. All men want to know why they are unhappy. Very simply: you are unhappy because people love you. As long as others love you, but you do not love, you will be unhappy. If you want to be happy, you must love. To love is Divine. To be loved is human. Love is the foundation of life. However, life begins the moment you manifest your love. The end of life comes when people manifest their love toward you. Therefore, do not wish for people to love you, lest the end of your life come too soon. If two persons love each other externally, they can never be happy. If two persons love each other inwardly, they will always be happy. Therefore, if you want to be happy, seek to love inwardly, not outwardly. This is the right path of life. Religious people say they love Christ, but at the same time they doubt Him. What does this show? It shows that they are outside of love; i.e., they love Christ outwardly. As long as you seek Christ outside and expect Him to love you, you will be wrong. Do not seek Christ outside, but inside. This means: you love Christ and do not expect Him to love you. It is a fallacy to expect others to love you. Whether or not people love you is their business; whether or not you love is your business. Love must be manifested freely. The happiness of man is determined by the freely manifested love toward the Primary Principle of life. As long as you love without doubt, wavering or fear, you will always be happy and content. As soon as the shadow of doubt, wavering or fear mars your love, you will find yourself confronted by sufferings and contradictions. "God is Spirit and they who serve Him must serve Him in spirit and in truth." Seek the spirit and the sense of everything, not the letter. Someone is offended by a word. Has he photographed that word to see where the offense lies? Has he interpreted the meaning of the word to see whether there is really anything offensive in it? Only he who loves outwardly, not inwardly, becomes offended and insists that he is right. Since he is right, let him show the way to people. The upright man always walks in the right path and can show it to others. Otherwise it is easy; it is an easy matter just to talk and moralize to people. An old crab said to his son: Son, why do you walk so crookedly? - How should I walk? - Walk straight! - Father, show me how to walk. The old crab went ahead and showed his son how to walk. - Father, but this is the way I walk; show me another way which I do not know yet. Contemporary people like that crab say to the young people: - We must be pure, saintly, love one another and live as brothers. All this must be, but that is not the case. You say: In which direction should we pray - east, west, north or south? A Protestant minister was asked which way one must turn when one prays. He answered: If they beat you and then hang you head down on a tree, which way will you turn to pray? If they beat you and spread you face down, which way will you pray? You will pray in any direction from which suffering comes. Seeking a direction in which to pray shows that you are in the external side of prayer. The real prayer, as an inner process of the consciousness, has no definite direction. The Divine world has only one direction, only one point, one source where all things proceed from. This point is called the "Eternal East," the point of the eternally rising sun. The Divine world is the most beautiful world. People cannot imagine that beauty. The beings who inhabit it are intelligent, beautiful, wise and happy. There are no wiser, more intelligent, more beautiful or happier beings. The most enlightened beings are those who live in the Divine world. Nothing else remains for you than to enter this world. There is no happiness outside this world. Men are unhappy because they seek happiness outside the Divine world. They seek happiness where it cannot be found. It is said in the Scripture, however: "We live and move and have our being in God." How is it possible under this condition to be unhappy? You have gone out of the Great world and you seek your happiness outside of it. If you are hungry and live in God, think of Him and the bread will come. If you are poor and have not a cent in your pocket, think of the One in Whom you live and the money will come. What is required of you for this? Love toward the Primary Principle, toward the Divine Source of life. Only under this condition will you come into contact with the beings of the higher world who will come to your aid. If you do not answer this first condition, Love to God, everything that Christ has said will remain a closed book for you. Everything Christ has said is true in letter and in spirit. Test it and you will taste the power of the words of Christ. People today complain of hunger, poverty and misfortunes. Why are some people exposed to such conditions? Because they expect God to love them and not they to love Him. They require people to love them first and then to manifest their love for people. See how the upright and good man who loves God and people, deals with hunger. He walks in a forest hungry and tired. In such a state, he sits in a place and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he sees set before him a table with fresh bread and nice food. At that moment a friend of his passes by him and asks him: Who gave you this food and fresh bread? - I have a beloved one whom I have never seen till now. However, as many times as I am in difficulty, she helps me out. - But is this that you are telling me true? Is it possible? - The fact that this table is set before me proves the truth of my statement. - Why do you not see your beloved? - This is a secret which I am now trying to figure out. I am also trying to reach a state in which I would be able to take a look at her at a distance, at least. This is my purpose in life - to see her once. If I could see her only once, I will have come to the gate of Love, to the antechamber of the Great Truth. Such is the state of every man who serves love, who does everything in her name and for her sake. Today all ministers and all religious people speak about Christ, about the Primary Principle of all things and point out His qualities, but when they find themselves in a difficult position and they are helped out of it, they ascribe that aid to this or that influential man and express their gratitude to him. They forget the One Who stands back of the influential man. Someone accomplishes some great deed, becomes famous and begins to feel happy that people respect him as a capable man. He also forgets that behind him is the Primary cause. Since he does not know who gives him the impulse and the strength for the work, he forgets himself in his success and like a hen he cackles about it all around. After a hen lays an egg, it starts cackling so that all may hear it has laid an egg. As long as man does not understand how the Great One works, he cackles all over the world about what he has done, so that everyone should hear about it and praise him. When one understands how the Great One works - how no one sees His work -he becomes silent. He who consciously keeps silent, understands the Divine ways and methods. Whatever he may make or write, he does not put his name under it. Notice that God has not said anywhere that He has created heaven and earth, the sun and stars, the whole universe. Moses and the educated men of those times wrote that God has created the world, but He does not say anything about that. You will say that probably Moses was inwardly given the idea of who created the world. It was told him, of course, but not by the Creator of the world Himself. Moses came to the thought that God has created the world by an inner revelation of the spirit. Who has heard the voice of God? The voice of God is characterized by the unique quality: Those who hear His voice, come to life. The sick man is healed, the ignorant becomes intelligent. The Word of God contains power and might. Everything which does not bear health, might and life, is human. Until you receive in yourselves the Word of God, you will suffer by your own mistakes and weaknesses, as you have done until now. Receive the Word in yourselves and do not worry about anything. A fly is on your nose - what of that? Do not be deceived! The nose does not represent the man. It is a part of the garment of man, but the man is somewhere inside. Nothing can touch him. You say that you have met such and such a person. You have not met or seen anybody. The man is not in the external form. Every man has countless images which you can see in him. Sometimes you will see him as a young man courting the maidens. At other times you will see him as a saint, helping people. A third time you will see him as a mother or a father. In whatever form you may see a man, you must know that in all these forms and cases, he is learning one and the same lesson -to love the Primary Cause, to love people without waiting for them to love him. Moreover, a man must love without letting anybody know that he loves. Should he write letters to his or her beloved? - He can write letters without sending them. In the old days there was no post office for mailing letters. Everyone had to take his own letter to his beloved. However, there was the following law: Everyone who did not know how to hand over his letter was imprisoned for ten years. He who did not want to lie in prison preferred to keep his letters rather than to take them to the person they were meant for. Due to that law, many love letters of people are preserved in annals. Many people may wonder how it is possible for a saint to write love letters. According to me, the saint must write more love letters than anybody else. The misfortunes of people today are due to the fact that they do not manifest their love, but rather expect others to love them. The discontentment of people is due to the fact that they expect to be loved. He who wants the love of others, but does not give of himself, cannot be loved. Let him first give his love and it will be given unto him. Unless you first give your heart, you will always be far from love. Now I am giving you these thoughts so that you might find love and profit by it. As soon as you find love, you will know the inner meaning of life. In this way you will love everything in the world; animals, plants, and even every stone. Love everything but do not strive to possess anything. Wherever you see the Great Love - in the grain of wheat, in the ray of sun or in man - keep it pure and sacred. If you can keep all this pure, you have started on the path in which everything can be revealed to you. In this way you will think more of others than of yourself. Then you will not ask how the world is set right. Why? You will know that the world in which you live is all right. The world in which every man separately lives, is not right, due to his selfish love. However, outside of him, there is nothing to rectify in the world. He who wants to rectify his world must keep his inner peace; during the greatest sufferings in his life, he must not waver in love. Whatever he has given, he should not regret it. For it is said in the Scripture: "Freely ye have received, freely give." It is required of all men today to manifest that love with which we are loved. If we love in this way, we shall enter that life in which there are no contradictions, in which man is a brother to man. And then, if I love myself more than I love you, I do not understand life. If you love yourselves more than you love me, you do not understand life either. That is why it is said: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Thus, love of oneself is taken as a measure. He who loves his neighbor as himself is on the right path. There must be competition in love as to who should love more. Someone complains that people do not love him. What would he gain, if others loved him? Or what would people gain by his love? When you love someone, you must know why you love him. When you read a book, you must know why you read it. What will you gain by it? For instance, I know positively that when I love God, I shall obtain life. No life exists outside of love. Therefore, love is the first and last door through which life enters into man and makes him happy. There is no happiness outside of love of God. Every other love is nothing but a reflection of small lights which do not solve any of the problems of life. The only love which gives a solution to everything in life is the Divine Love. The other kinds of love are valuable also, but they will be in their place only when the love of God becomes the center in the life of man. All things in life make man unhappy without this love. "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all other things will be added unto you." I say: Seek first the love of God and when you find it, apply it and all other things will be given unto you. Thus, keep in mind the thought that the strength and power of man depend upon his love of God. If you have this love in yourself, you will understand that even the smallest seed will one day become a great soul, a transmitter and a servant of its Creator. Today people are unhappy and have no harmony among themselves, because they do not serve the Primary Principle. In spite of that, they expect God to love them. Today the world is in need of workers - servants in the Great plan which is being realized, bearers of light thoughts and sublime feelings, bearers of happiness for all living beings. Therefore, if you want to be happy, keep the first and greatest commandment: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, with all thy might, with all thy heart and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself." Keep this love constantly within yourself, that there may be a right interchange between the Divine and your love. The purer and more sublime your love becomes, the greater the possibility of knowing the One Who loves you. He will gradually reveal Himself to you and you will begin to see equally clearly both inside and outside. Now I wish you to forget everything that troubles or disturbs you. I have already loaded you - I gave you half of my burden, of which you cannot be free until you have taken it to its destination. If you carry it to the end, it will be yours; if you cannot carry it, you will be unhappy, because nobody can help you, no one can substitute for you. Start working! Put the load on your back and carry it forward bravely. Be thankful that you are carrying this load on your back. Be bearers of the great Divine Love, of the great Divine blessing which you are given. Only in this way will you become citizens of the Kingdom of God. What greater blessing than this - to be citizens of the Kingdom of God? What more beautiful thing than to love your Father? If you love Him, you will also be loved, but if you do not love Him, you will not be loved either. "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." I say: God is Love and they who worship Him must worship Him in Love. Be grateful for all that is given you and give thanks from the first to the last ray of the 9un| This is the way to find the happiness that you are seeking. "The Divine Spirit bears all the blessings of life." September 1, 1935 Sofia - Izgrev

With_the_tongues_of_men.pdf Note 1e With the Tongues of Men I Corinthians 13:1. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become like a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." Love is a principle which can not be explained theoretically. Consequently, it is not understood. You say: This is Love. However, you knot) as much about love as you do about the heat you measure with a thermometer. You take a thermometer, measure the heat of an object and see that it is one hundred degrees. Another object is heated up to five hundred, or one, two or three thousand degrees. The object is heated to that degree, and the thermometer shows it, but you do not understand anything about the heat. You only determine the fact that the object is heated; you know nothing more. The thermometer knows more than you do. Men do not understand love, so they encounter much suffering. There are three agents which cause suffering to people: hunger, fear and human love. Hunger induces people to commit many crimes and faults. The hungry wolf passes by the sheep-fold and takes away the best sheep. The hungry man passes by a bakery and steals a loaf of bread, or enters a home and commits robbery. In order to justify themselves, people say: Hunger causes men to commit crimes. Fear is the cause of many great evils in life. There are two kinds of fear: outer and inner. Outwardly one may fear people, animals, or some mysterious things, but this fear does not cause as much evil and suffering as inner fear. For instance, someone is rich, but he is afraid that the next day he may be stricken by poverty. Someone is healthy, but he fears that he may become ill. Someone is good, but he is afraid of losing his goodness and becoming bad. Someone is educated, but he is afraid of losing his knowledge and becoming ignorant. This is the unnatural fear which people must rid themselves of. Many people consider the fear of God as the basis of this fear. Man must not be afraid of the One Who has created him. It is sufficient for you to connect your thought with that of God and all fear will vanish. According to me, the basis of the inner fear of man is his desire to indulge in the pleasures of life. Man is afraid of poverty because he will not have the pleasure of food and drinks. He is afraid of losing his health, lest he not be able to taste the pleasures of life. hp is afraid of becoming bad, lest he lose the good opinion of people. Today all men are worrying about small petty things; educated men, professors, ministers, mothers, fathers and rulers -all are worrying about what will become of the world and the nations. What will become of the Bulgarian nation? The Bulgarians will be sown in the earth like the dead in the cemetery, and after a time they will sprout up. The English, French, Germans, Russians - all will be sown in the ground whence they will sprout up anew. You will say that they are dead. This is not death, but rather sowing, burying the seeds in the ground so that they might sprout up again and begin a new life. To be afraid of what will become of you after one hundred years, shows that you do not understand the laws of nature. The third agent in life which is a cause of suffering, is human love. People speak theoretically about love: they speak about Divine Love without any understanding. They speak about human love, but they do not understand that either. Which man in the world has tasted the fruit of his love? Has the father who loves his children tasted the fruit of his love? Has he tasted the good of his sons and daughters? Has the master who loves his servants tasted the fruit of his love? It is not enough only for one to love; his love must also bear fruit. It is not enough for a plant to be planted in the earth; it must also grow, sprout forth its branches and bear fruit. If love does not bear fruit, it can not be understood. And after all this, they will speak to us about human and Divine love. If the human love does not bear fruit, it remains unknown, and if the Divine love does not bear fruit, it remains unintelligible. Therefore, when someone speaks about human or Divine love, I say that it is love taken to an indefinite degree, i.e., unknown love. In mathematics, every number multiplied an indefinite number of times, is called infinite. An infinite number is that which has no beginning or end. There are also ideas which have no beginning or end. They are irrational, indefinite, inexplicable and incomprehensible. In the future, however, they will become comprehensible, rational and definite. That which is irrational in the physical world is rational in the spiritual world. Contemporary people want to be happy on the earth. This is impossible. Why? Because there is something abnormal in their life. Their life is not purely Divine. It represents a mixture of the human and the Divine orders, resulting in a number of contradictions. Often the cause of a contradiction is small, but one must understand it in order to avoid it. While the child is studying the alphabet, he is outside of all contradictions, but as soon as he begins to form syllables and words, he meets with contradictions. Why? Because he often writes one word instead of another, which gives an entirely different meaning to the sentence. At times one word, used in the wrong place, is the cause of wars and bad relations between nations, societies, families and friends. Are the letters to blame for that? Of course not. Are the words guilty? They are not either. The one who does not know how to combine the words is guilty. In English, for example, the words lawyer and liar are almost similar in pronunciation, but different in meaning. A slip of the tongue may cause a man to pronounce one word instead of the other. The court acquits a man for such a slip of the tongue. What do we understand by the word "lie"? A lie is that which does not contain anything essential. The lie promises life, but gives death instead. What is truth? The truth promises death, but gives life instead. The lie ends in death, the truth in life. Why must you love the truth? Because it bears life. Which life or what life does the truth bear? The truth bears life which no living being can do without. Life is the greatest blessing to man. Even the life of the small cell costs more than the whole universe. When I say that the life of this cell can not be compared to the whole universe, I mean that it can not be compared to anything in terms of intensity, power and the possibilities which it contains. In this respect, the whole world was created for this one small cell. Life is a great thing even in its most minute manifestation. A young Bulgarian man by the name of Stoyan, born in a village near Varna, used to say, every time, life was heavy for him: "I am tired of life and this heavy work and I do not wish to live any more." It so happened that he fell ill. For three years he fought with death, then he said to his mother: "Mother, pray for me that God may give me life and health as I was before my illness and then let them load me with stones, if they want to, I am willing to carry them." What does this show? That life is the essential thing. It bears happiness and joy. If your life brings you unhappiness, it is due to the foreign elements mixed in it, as words get mixed up in speech. You pronounce the word "hate." What evil is there in this word? It is made of four letters combined in a special order. However, if you say this word to a man, a whole revolution takes place in him. He is grieved that you hate him. What does this word contain? It contains coldness. Hatred is a region devoid of heat. Love is an eternal foundation of heat. To hate a person is to deprive him of this heat and to make him incapable of living. To hate someone is to deprive him of the possibility for even the smallest life. Since you know this, you must avoid hate. Thus, in order not to deprive man of the possibility of the smallest life, you must be, if not absolutely, at least relatively just toward all living beings. I take the word "absolutely" for myself and leave the word "relatively" for you. As far as I am concerned, I absolutely never allow myself to make mistakes. The conditions may be bad, my mother and father have born me such as I am, I am indisposed - all these are excuses which are not allowed. mistakes are explained but not excused. When a student writes, the teacher is strict and does not excuse arty mistakes. He takes red ink and corrects the mistakes. The student must write the word several times until he learns to write it correctly. In the English language, a sound is sometimes written by three or four letters. These letters are not all pronounced, but if one of them is missing, the Englishman considers you ignorant, not knowing the correct spelling. He who does not want to be regarded as ignorant must look up a word in a dictionary to see how it is spelled. Life is an essential thing, but as long as man lives on the earth, he must know how to deal with hunger, fear and love. Hunger is an incentive in life. He who does not understand life considers hunger a misfortune. Fear is an impulse toward the attainment of knowledge. This means that no knowledge can be acquired without fear. As long as man is afraid of ignorance, he can acquire knowledge. He who does not understand fear in-this sense, can cause himself a great deal of harm. For instance, many religious people deny themselves of their creed or convictions for fear of suffering and torment. They refuse to pay their debts for fear that their children will remain hungry. But when they do not pay their debts, they may be put in prison. What would they gain from their denial in such a case? These are ordinary things which people can not deal with wisely, because they hope for another life. They want others to work for them. They expect God to put order in the world. The world of God is in order, but the human world is not. The external world is right, but your world is not right. Why? Because every man lacks something. Someone wants to work, but has no hands. Since he has no hands, he can not do anything - he can not develop, because the hands are connected with the human mind. The hands have developed the human mind. If you compare an animal with man, you will see that man is distinguished by his well-developed hands. The mind of man corresponds to his hand. Man, moreover, is distinguished from the animals by the fact that he can walk erect on his two feet. When we walk, we step alternately on the right foot and the left foot. Thus, we are directed by love - the left foot - and by wisdom - the right foot. The five fingers and toes on the human hand and foot show the five rules according to which one must act. Every finger on the human hand is connected with certain forces in man. If one does not know how to move his first finger, he can not be noble and pure. If he does not know how to move his middle finger, he will not be just and religious. He will be proud and violent. Man's conceptions of right and wrong in life depend on the middle finger. Man may be pierced because of that finger. If one does not know how to move his fourth finger, he can not be educated or understand the great and beautiful in life. If one does not know how to use his small finger he will never be practical or finish his work. Finally, if one does not know how to move his thumb, he will not be a master of himself. It has been noticed that when the will of man is paralyzed, his thumb becomes paralyzed also. It is a great science to know how to move and control your fingers. When the thumb becomes paralyzed, man is no more a master of his mind. Every morning look at your thumb, move it a little, make contact with the forces which direct it, in order to realize that you are the master of your conditions and that the ordering of your human affairs is your power. There are certain things which man can do only with his thumb. One can sign his name with the thumb. Let him dip his thumb in ink and stamp it on the draft of his debtor, in this way forgiving him his debt. When he does this, he will be content with himself and realize that he lives in the Divine world. His thumb will be black on the outside, but on the inside it will become white. Before placing your thumb on the draft of your debtor, you have been down-hearted and blue, but after forgiving his debt, you become happy and cheerful. The invisible world is satisfied with you for using your thumb in the right place. The other four fingers of the hand are connected with more inferior worlds - those of the angels, the seraphims and the cherubims. The thumb, however, has direct contact with the Divine world. Since you know this, occupy yourselves from time to time with your thumb. Take a nice crystal glass, fill it with pure water and dip your thumb in it. Wash it well, then wipe it with a clean towel. Raise your hand after that and make contact with the forces which rule the fingers. If a bad thought enters your mind, do not hide your thumb. Never hide your thumb among the other fingers. Only the coward hides his thumb. The thumb is also partly connected with the personal feelings of man. The personal feelings were given to man as a problem. When he learns to control them, he develops his lofty and more noble feelings. The location of the personal feelings is on the back of the head. They form his west. The place of compassion and mercy is in the upper part of his head. It represents man's east. Thus, the place of the good in man is in the upper part of the head, while that of evil, which causes him to sin, is on the back of the head. The personal feelings of the Bulgarians are very well developed. If their moral feelings were as well developed as their personal feelings, they would be almost geniuses. Their religious feeling is feeble. The place of this feeling is on top of the head, but we see that place in their heads caved in. This is "the reason why the Bulgarian has no feeling of awe, honor and respect. When you visit a Bulgarian family, you find that the son does not respect his father, nor the daughter her mother. This is due to the lack of religious feeling in them. There is a type of Bulgarian who has a better developed religious feeling. They are remnants of the ancient Slavs. These Bulgarians live around the Rodopa mountains and the Balkans. The rest of the Bulgarians, however, have undergone a crisis in their religious feeling, caused by the mixture of blood with foreigners. When a mixture of blood takes place, there is always an effect on the lofty feelings of man. The religious or the so-called Divine feeling is strongly developed in the Slavs and the Jews. The Jews, however, are covetous because of their well-developed personal element. It is not important now to draw comparisons between the different nationalities, but it is interesting for you to know what can be of a practical use in your life. Since ancient times, religion has existed as a science of life, showing and teaching man how to ameliorate his individual, social and national life. In order to come to the inner religion of life, men must place the question of education on a solid basis. You can not tell a child to believe in the Primary Principle before speaking to him about the fingers of his hand. Take the first finger of the child in your hand and speak to him about nobility and good behavior with his friends. After that take his middle finger and speak to him about justice. Then take his fourth finger and speak to him about the beautiful and great in life, etc. You will speak to him, of course, in a childish way, so that he can understand you. After listening to you, the child will start to think and in this way he will reason from the results to the primary causes of things. This is what the new education requires. The old education is not bad, but it does not produce good results. When you speak to the child about his fingers, you will gradually awaken in him a feeling of good conduct, of justice, love of knowledge, etc. If you work consciously for a year or two on the child, you will obtain certain results. But you must first work upon yourselves, you must also pay. It is said: "Freely ye have received, freely give." Things can freely be given to the one who gives freely. He mho does not give freely cannot receive freely either. The good is paid by the good and not by money. This is what the words: "Freely ye have received, freely give," mean. The human fingers are an alphabet by means of which one can always come in contact with the spiritual, invisible world. A great wealth lives hidden in this alphabet, but only for him who knows the rules and laws of combining the letters into syllables and the syllables into words. You are indisposed, passive, and have no desire to work, but since you know the rules for combining these letters, touch one of your fingers and your disposition will change. Notice that when one is indisposed, he locks his hands together, takes hold of each finger separately and tries to find a way to help himself. The help may come either consciously or unconsciously. He who understands this science can influence himself consciously. When he makes a mistake, he will know which finger will help him correct it. If the mistake is related to the heart, one must employ one of the five rules to correct it; if the mistake is related to the mind, again one of the five rules will correct it. Thus, by testing each one of the five rules in turn, he will find a way to correct his mistake. By correcting his mistakes, man gradually enters the world of the eternal harmony where only health, happiness and youth exist. Outside of that world, one lives in a world of disorder, contradictions, illnesses and suffering. Since you live in the world of contradictions, you must know that you are under the law of suggestion. No mortal or even immortal being is free from this law. Since you have this in mind, always try to have positive thoughts and feelings, if you want to become free from any painful states which are not your own. If you make contact with a man who suffers from a sore foot, you will experience the same pain. In order to become free from this pain, make mental contact with the sick person and tell him that since he has received this pain from outside, he must find some way to rid himself of it. As soon as ho is free from it, you will be well also. The first people also sinned through the law of suggestion. God told them not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, in order not to suffer. After that the black adept came to Eve and said to her: If you want to become like God, eat the fruit of this tree. You have not understood the words of God. The first people to believe in the suggestion of the black adept and took his advice. From that moment on, misfortune followed them. Not only the first, but also contemporary people believe more in what is not true. The woman believes more in her husband than in her Creator. The man believes more in the woman than in his Creator. This must not offend you. I use the words man and woman as letters of the alphabet. The man is the first letter, the woman the second. When one speaks, he must use some letters in order to express his thought. The young man tells the maiden that she will be happy with him and she believes in him more than in God. In this respect the young maiden deserves to be praised. If she could believe in God to the extent that she believes in her husband, she would perform miracles. You say: How should we believe in God? Believe in Him as you believe in your beloved. If you believe with that strength, you will make progress. By this I do not mean to say that you have done something wrong when you have believed in your beloved, but I advise you to apply the same faith with regard to your Creator. If you want to progress in your work, draw out your capital from the bank of your beloved and deposit it in the Divine bank. I advise all men and women to draw out their capital from the bank of the human and deposit it in the Divine bank. If they do not live well, the reason is that God is not among them. They believe in one another, but they do not believe in God, so they become disappointed. Contemporary humanity lives without faith. If it is a question of an official faith, they all have such, but the hair of all men has turned white from official beliefs. Man needs a deep inner faith with which he can solve all the problems of his.-.life. The Divine is manifested on earth in the shape of an ellipse with two centers: in one center acts the masculine principle, wisdom, while in the other therms is the feminine principle, love. These two principles must unite to form one center, or one common principle where they must deposit their capital. When this principle begins to function in man, it will make him happy. Actually, only God can make men happy. One man can not make another man happy. In order to come to the real faith, one must know himself both inwardly and outwardly; he must think and feel. How can a man know the exterior world, if he does not know the structure and functions of his organs? Every finger of the human hand is alive. It is composed of thousands of rational cells. The thumb, for example, is connected with one of the regions of the great rational world in which intelligent beings live. With regard to consciousness and development, these beings are of a higher rank than the earthly man. Therefore, through your fingers you can come into contact with rational beings who are always ready to help you. These beings participate in the work on the earth. Therefore, when you raise your first finger, you contact beings of a higher order and realize that you can accomplish everything together with them. Man can not accomplish anything alone, but he can attain everything with God. There is no greater misfortune for man than for one of his fingers to be injured. That is why every morning one must thank God for that blessing. The development of the mind and the heart of man depends on his hands. A caress, a good deed, a letter, all these depend on one's delicate and beautiful hand. You will say that the elephant works with his trunk. That is possible, but as a man, I would prefer to work with my hands than exchange them for the largest trunk. There is no organ more beautiful than the human hand. If you examine it physiologically, biologically, and psychologically, you will see that it has inestimable wealth. The hand represents rationality in man. When you are discouraged, look at your hand, look at each finger separately and you will immediately take heart, because you will see that you can be noble, just, educated and practical. And finally, when you look at your thumb, you will realize that you have the potential in yourself to be a Divine man. When you look at your hand, you will realize that you have the possibility to realize all that is deposited in it. Many people, out of modesty, say that they can not do anything and that God does everything. It is true that when the grain of wheat is sown in the earth, after some time it sprouts up, grows and bears fruit. What does that show? It shows that the impulse for life and development is hidden within it. As soon as conditions for its manifestation arrive, it must not wait for others to work for it; it must immediately take advantage of these conditions and start its work. Man has passed through the phase of the plants and has come to the earth in a more evolved form, the human form. In heaven, however, man is still a plant with its head buried in the earth. We rejoice at plants which develop on the earth, while the angels are glad and cultivate the plants in the spiritual and Divine worlds, that is, they cultivate us. When we taste a fruit on the earth, we say that it is sweet or sour. In the same way the angels give their opinion about our fruit in heaven. There are people in heaven who bear apples, pears, plums, oranges - whatever fruit the earthly trees bear. Man in heaven is such as he is on earth; whatever fruit he bears on earth he also bears in heaven. Whether you believe in this or not is your own business. I know that what I say is true; I am not interested in whether or not you will accept it. You may regard things in the physical world as you wish, and you will lose nothing because of your standpoint, but it is important that your ideas can be applied and bear fruit. Often Bulgarians use figures of speech as a clearer and more vivid way of expressing their thought. They say of someone: "He runs like a bullet or like lightning." How is it possible for one to run like a bullet or like lightning? Or: "He creeps like a snail." Is it possible for one to creep like a snail? "If you throw an egg there will be no room for it to fall." By this expression they mean that so many people were gathered in one place that there was no room even for an egg. This is an exaggeration of the facts. If the fact is taken literally, we should say that the egg was very large. When they say that someone runs like lightning, they refer to a man with a quick, bright mind who perceives things and orients himself easily. Whatever work you give to such a man, he will do it well. Science also uses such figures of speech. When scientists want to emphasize or exaggerate a fact they also use such expressions. However, he who understands the laws will discount seventy-five per cent of what he hears and absorb the remaining twenty-five per cent which contains the truth. Contemporary people, both the worldly and the religious ones, have reached certain extremes in their reasoning. Some say that the world will be reformed by the heart, while others maintain that it will be rectified by the mind, and a third group maintain that it will be rectified by deeds. Each of these affirmations is twenty-five per cent true. The three together comprise seventy-five per cent. There remains twenty-five per cent more which we call additional credit not taken into account. But this credit solves all the problems of the world. It represents the thumb which is placed on the side of the hand away from all the other fingers. The power and possibilities which the thumb contains are equal to the power and possibilities of all the other fingers combined. When one gathers his fingers into a fist, placing the thumb on top of all the other fingers, he means that he can do anything. He has submitted his mind, heart and will to the Divine Principle in himself. In such a condition, one can do everything. The Divine excludes all doubt and wavering. Anything which gives rise to doubts and wavering is not Divine. When you know this, place your hope only in that Principle, which can not arouse any doubt in you. Many years ago, a rich Bulgarian millionaire came to me. He had an incurable disease and wanted me to cure him. He began to tell me what he had heard about my power and knowledge. He wanted to bribe me with his compliments, but that was his business. I told him that if he wanted me to cure him, he would have to pay dearly. - How many thousands must I give? - Take a part of your wealth for the sustenance of your children, deposit the rest in a bank, and forget about what will become of it. Can I not give only half of my money? - No, you must give all that you have. Besides that, you must dedicate your life to the welfare of all men and work in that direction. - I shall think about that. - Well, go home, think about my proposal, and when you have made up your mind, come tell me your decision. - Can you not cure me without money? Does a man like you take money? - Sometimes I do not take anything, but sometimes I take a great deal of money. You are one of those people from whom I take a great deal. He went home and to this day he has not come to tell me his decision. If he had returned, he would have tried to deceive us. In that case, a man should be specially appointed to take care of him. That man was not ready for any sacrifice. He had not recognized the Divine Principle in himself and in others; that is why he was constantly inclined to doubt. The Divine law states: "Freely ye have received, freely give!" In other words, you must give everything that is given to you. He who is not ready to sacrifice everything for the Divine, can not attain anything. Unless the farmer sows his wheat in the field, he can not receive anything. After he has sown it he will receive fruit: some thirty, some sixty and some one hundred. I told the Bulgarian millionaire that in order to avoid doubting the Divine law, which works with one hundred per cent certainty, that is, without any exception, he might deposit his money in the bank for a year and a half. Up to that time, neither one of us would draw it out of the bank. If during that time he was cured, he would give up his money. - But if I get sick after that time has passed? - If you get sick from the same illness in the course of ten years, I will give you back your money. However, after the ten years have passed, I am no longer responsible. - Why? - Because you have not fulfilled the conditions, you have not dedicated your life to serving God and your neighbor. By this example, I want to explain one of the important laws in nature: as long as you have no confidence in the Divine world and are not ready to sacrifice yourself to the Divine Principle within you, you will not attain anything. Some think that knowledge will come by itself, that is, that they will acquire knowledge without studying. That is not true. Man must observe, study, delve into things and examine the earth and heaven, the sun, the moon and the stars, plants, minerals and animals, until he arrives at the positive and real knowledge. There are two kinds of knowledge; the first is acquired by hard labor, the second by love. However, to acquire both kinds of knowledge it is necessary to employ work, consistency and effort. Knowledge which is acquired by love is real. In that knowledge one sees the power one has deposited. In it one sees the greatness of nature, the greatness of one's Creator. He who has acquired that knowledge is free from all criticism. It is not easy for man to attain real knowledge. The disciple must shed many tears, he must pass through much hardship and suffering before he comes to positive knowledge. If a teacher loves his disciples, he can from time to time give them one or two blows. Every blow of the teacher prolongs the life of the disciple twenty years. Without that blow, the disciple would be exposed to illness and death. That is why it is said that love brings man to life and resuscitates him. All people who have a long life have passed through great suffering. They are called Sons of God. He who wants to be called a Son of God must be ready to pass through great sufferings. His path will be strewn not with roses but with suffering and hardships. Suffering prolongs life. Every blow given to you by a person who loves you adds twenty years to your life. What evil is there in a blow which arouses in man that which is lofty, noble and rational in him? If someone gives you a blow which costs five diamonds, it is in its proper place. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am nothing." Therefore, love gives meaning to everything in life. Thus, when love punishes man, he comes to life and resurrects. Which nature in man is punished? The physical, not the spiritual. The human soul does not suffer, but the body suffers. However, the soul must experience the suffering of the body in order to manifest itself. Today everyone beats and punishes things smaller than themselves. Which man has not taken off the head of at least one fly? Or who has never stepped on an ant? You meet a man who walks and philosophizes, not paying attention to the small creatures he steps on along the way. He is not disturbed in the least by the fact that he has stepped on an ant or a small bug; he finds it a natural thing to do. You walk through a forest and on your way you meet a young couple - a man and a woman talking. The young woman speaks and from time to time she raises her hand, breaks off some young branch and continues on. This shows that the young woman will some day break something off the young man with whom she is now, so pleasantly speaking- she will deprive him of something and then she will continue on, just as she is doing with the branch of the tree. What should the young man do in such a case? Seeing how carelessly she is breaking off the branches of the trees, he should say: - Goodbye, I am going away to a foreign country and I will return after ten years. We shall meet then and speak again. Contemporary people do not have the necessary goodness and nobility, so they cause one another suffering and hardships. People today are just starting to work consciously on their development. The present fifth race can be compared to the five foolish virgins which Christ spoke about. The five races represent the lives of the five foolish virgins. The coming five races will represent the lives of the five wise virgins. This is why everyone is striving for the new, the lofty in life which will serve as a foundation for the sixth race which is now coming into the world. From now on educated men will acquire real knowledge. As soon as they attain this knowledge, the Kingdom of God will come on earth and there will be happiness and joy in every home. As long as men live the old life, they are directed by one and the same thought. They say: Man is born, grows old and dies. Then he is born again, grows old and dies. Today, people have begun to speak about a rejuvenation of man without dying and being reborn. This rejuvenation process is done by ingrafting certain animal glands. Scientists do not even suspect that there is a spiritual method for the rejuvenation of man. In reality, rejuvenation is an inner psychic process. In the brain and in the sympathetic nervous system there are certain glands which man does not yet know how to manipulate. Contemporary scientists do not know the role of these glands. Some day when they learn what they are for, they will be able to make conscious use of them as a means of rejuvenation. Today people are under the influence of the law of suggestion. Whomever they meet they begin to complain to of pain in their head, arm, leg, etc. They do not know that all diseases are caused by their inner contradictions. Prudent men of sound mind - followers of great thoughts, ideas and virtues - are needed today. Workers are needed today who will preach and apply the Divine in life. Models are needed today. Anyone may speak about patience, but it is difficult to apply patience. It is easy to speak and difficult to act and apply. They used to say to Napoleon: - Let us do this. - But what about money? - Let us do that. - But the money? money is necessary for everything. Many things are done in the world, but nothing can be done without money. We use the word "money" in the broad sense of the word. The capitalists, the economists say: Money is needed. The educators say mothers are needed. Today there are both money and mothers, but what do people do with the money and the mothers? The money and the mothers represent a hammer in the hands of a little child. He carries the hammer in his hand, but he can not raise it or work with it. However, the same hammer is an instrument in the hand of his enemy, who can smash his head. Money represents the human mind. The mother represents the human heart. Therefore, just as we can not live without a mind and a heart, we can not live without money and mothers. However, do not put the money or the mothers outside of yourselves. The mind has created the money; the heart has created the mothers. How? The Divine impels a young maiden to fall in love and marry a young man, in order to become a mother. The mind and the heart are conductors, by means of which the Divine Spirit is manifested and performs miracles. For instance, the maiden is not ready for sacrifices, and heroic achievements until she becomes a mother. As soon as she becomes a mother, she is ready to perform miracles. She is ready to sacrifice everything for her child. Man is in a position to do everything for the Divine in himself. Thus, study yourselves; study your minds, your heart and your hands. When you want to acquire gentleness, you may pat the palms of your hands three times a day during the course of a year. When you want to acquire more firmness, courage and strength of character, pat the upper part of your hands. Someone is considered by people to be of a delicate, soft character, but his voice is coarse. Softness is expressed by the voice. A man with a soft character has a special soft element in his voice. Keep yourselves from coarse feelings which ruin the softness of your character. Whatever you do, your consciousness must be sound, because you are being observed at all times by the invisible world. You will give an account for every vain word. No man can do or say whatever he wishes. If anyone dares to do what he wants, he will have to give an account for his deeds. Falsehood can not be forgiven anyone. On the whale, the higher a man is on the ladder of evolution, the stricter they are to him. It is forbidden to lie in the name of God. When a Master comes to earth, He does not speak from Himself or from His name. He speaks in the name of Him Who has sent Him to earth. It is a pity when people do not benefit from the Word of the Master. After two thousand years, this same Master will come and ask them: Why did you not listen to the Master who spoke to you two thousand years ago? If you had obeyed Him, you would not be suffering today. You listen, but you do not accept the words. Some of you listen and look for some secret or subtle and hidden meaning in the words of the speaker. There is nothing better for a man than to speak the truth. He who speaks the truth will taste all the blessings of life. He who doss not speak the truth will experience all the sufferings of life. If you do not want to suffer, always be on the side of truth. - What are the rules of the truth? These rules are inscribed in your heart. Open the book of your heart and read. It says in the Scripture: "He has put His Spirit within you," This means that God has inscribed the truth in the hearts of people. Many people think that if they live alone, away from others, they will progress faster. To think this way is to fool yourself. Once man has come to earth among people, animals, plants and minerals, he can not escape their influence. Even the smallest particle that surrounds him exerts an influence over him. On his part, he also influences all living beings. All of nature influences man; man also influences nature. This law is inevitable. The sun, the moon, the stars - everything influences man. Therefore, you must realize that everything the Creator has created is related to all living beings and has a beneficial influence on their development. Since you know this, you must become free from all inner fear. Some people are afraid of becoming ill, or of catching some contagious disease. There is no cause for fear. Keep in your mind the positive thought that whatever happens to you during the day is for your good. From the Divine point of view, everything that happens in the world is for the best. Many people are afraid of certain premonitions they have; consequently, they become superstitious. When their left hand itches, they say that they will receive money; when their right hand itches, they say that they will give money. Therefore, by an inner path, they come to certain correct conclusions. This is a whole science which people knew at one time, but which has been forgotten today. Since they do not remember it, they say it is superstitious. This is not so, however. The ear perceives what the eye can not perceive. The eye, on the other hand, perceives what the ear can not. Thus every sense organ receives certain kinds of impressions which the other organs can not receive. For instance, the thumb receives one kind of impressions, the second finger another kind, etc. If a man raises his hand, he receives impressions different from those each separate finger receives. When one raises only his thumb, by that he means: I give one for God and four for myself. If he raises two fingers, he wants to say: I give two for God and three for myself. In this way, the priests bless people. They say to someone: Hands up! This means: Give everything for God! When a man raises his hands in despair, they help him. If you are a miser, raise your hands. If you are a minister, raise your hands. To raise your hands is to -be ready to give everything. No man can bless in this way. To bless in this way is to give everything one has. Only God can bless. The Divine blessings are hidden in the blessing of God. Now nothing remains for you but to thank God you have come to earth. Be grateful for your bodies, eyes, ears, good thoughts and feelings which are given you. Be grateful for the favorable conditions given you for the realization of your aspirations and desires. You can not attain anything without these conditions. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Therefore, in order to acquire knowledge and to profit from your life, you must pass through the portals of love. I wish you all to be educated, but without diplomas. I say: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have love, I am something which can profit from the conditions of life. Speak with the tongues of men and of angels in such a way that you may have love and become what your soul desires. "The Divine Spirit bears all the blessings of life." September 1, 1935, 10 A.M. Sofia - Izgrev.

Juicy_foods.pdf Note 1e Juicy Foods Daniel 1. John 12; 12-20. The force of conviction can be seen in the first chapter of the book of Daniel. Great is the power of the man who has a conviction! He who has no conviction cannot apply his power. Daniel was convinced that he should not eat sumptuous, but rather juicy foods. By sumptuous food we mean the different kinds of meat. By juicy food we mean vegetarian food. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, ordered that every day Daniel and the three young men, sons of Juda, be given sumptuous food and wine of the king. But these men desired for themselves vegetarian food and water. As you see, there are religious people who eat sumptuous food and drink wine, but there are also religious people who eat vegetarian food and drink water. It is a question of one's convictions what type of food one should eat. Therefore, man may have convictions with regard to the physical world, but he may also have convictions with regard to the spiritual world. Thus, with regard to food, there are two types of men; the first type eat meat, the second eat vegetarian food. Man consumes as much food as he believes in. When man is convinced of something, he believes in it. A conviction is stronger if the faith of a man in his conviction is greater. The slightest wavering or doubt in his faith weakens the power of the conviction. Where the conviction is weak, application is absent. If one applies something of which one is not convinced, one will not see any results. Daniel had a conviction which he applied. He asked the head of the Eunuchs to allow him not to eat the food which was served at the king's table, in order that he might not be defiled. When Daniel applied his conviction, he obtained good results. Therefore, application is preceded by conviction. One must be convinced one hundred per cent of what one is applying. In case there is one per cent exception, that is not a conviction. Is it possible for man to have a conviction in which there should not be even one per cent exception? Not only is it possible, but according to me a real conviction is that in which there is absolutely no exception. If man does not succeed in something, the only reason for that is that his conviction is not complete and absolute. He is not one hundred per cent convinced; there is some small wavering or doubt in his conviction. The weak side of contemporary Christians lies in the fact that they have no conviction. They say: Christ's teaching is inapplicable to the present life. They do not believe themselves in what they are preaching. Then what remains for us to do is to apply the teaching of the sumptuous food. You hear everyone today talking about comforts, facilities and rich food. Those who do not have those conditions complain to themselves about the fact that some should have everything they wish, while others should eat only vegetarian food and drink only pure water. They complain of the simple food and pure water and say they need more nourishing food and a little wine. I do not use the terms rich and simple food in the literal sense of the word. The question is not about the external side of a diet. All contemporary people, worldly or religious, rich and poor, meat-eaters and vegetarians, grumble. Worldly men who eat sumptuous food grumble; religious men who eat simple food grumble also. Therefore, the reason for the grumbling is not the simple food, since the rich food does not satisfy them either. The servant grumbles that his master has not paid him enough. The woman grumbles that her husband does not love her as he should. According to her, if her husband does not love her she can not enter the Kingdom of God. The servant represents the worldly man who eats rich food, but who is not satisfied with life. The woman represents the religious man who eats simple and juicy food, but who is not contented with life either. Both complain and seek something which they can not find. The married man is not satisfied with his state and neither is the bachelor; both grumble. The married man is the religious man; the bachelor is the worldly man. Both of them complain and are discontented. The religious man grumbles because he has married. He thinks that marriage prevents him from entering the Kingdom of God. The worldly man is dissatisfied because he has not married. He says: If I had married, I would have sons and daughters and my affairs would prosper. What can a man accomplish alone? I have no wife and children to help me. "One stone can not build a house." Now I am bringing out these facts to turn your attention to the complaining and discontentment of people, not to explain it. Dissatisfaction is the result of a deep psychic process which takes place within man. Often, grumbling is the result of many small causes. Small, petty things make man discontented. Someone is discontented because he is not good-looking. What does beauty depend upon? Love is the measure of beauty. In other words, when you love someone, he is beautiful; when you do not love him, he is not. Externally, the beautiful person is a mask which a sculptor has molded and placed upon the human face. Take off this mask and see whether the man behind the mask is beautiful. If a man is beautiful behind the mask as well, he can be called truly beautiful. Therefore the truly beautiful person is the one who has no mask; i.e., the one who is both outwardly and inwardly beautiful. Thus, the real conviction absolutely excludes all doubt, wavering and irresoluteness. Examine your convictions and see whether or not doubt enters into them as an essential element. If doubt is absent, your conviction is absolute and you can boldly apply it. Daniel and the three young men were placed under very unfavorable conditions. They had to live in the king's palace under entirely new and strange conditions. If they had conformed to them, they would have been untrue to their own convictions and manner of life, entering the conditions of the "rich life." However, under those conditions, they still found 8 way out and remained true to their convictions, eating juicy foods and drinking water instead of wine at the royal table. What is "juicy food"? It is the food of love. The sumptuous food is that of a lack of love. He who consumes sumptuous food, i.e., the food of no love, is always discontented. No matter what you offer such a man, he is always discontented. You will hear him grumbling: Why is there no roasted chicken today? Why is there no cake? Why is the food tasteless? Why is the napkin folded in this way? Why is the dish not washed better? He who uses juicy food, i.e., the food of love, is always contented. He who eats rich food, others serve him, while he who uses simple food, serves himself. If your plate is not clean, take some hot water and soap and wash it with abundant water and the matter is settled. Should you call one or another servant for such a petty job and make a fuss about it? The sumptuous food implies banquets, feasts and the employment of servants. The juicy food expresses itself in simplicity, purity and love. Here we do not find banquets, servants, etc., but rather one who serves himself. Here a man does his own work. That is why the first kind of food represents a lack of love, wherein things are attained by force. The second food represents love* wherein things are done voluntarily. We can call the rich food not only the food of no love, but also the food of the holy human egotism. We call juicy food by its only name, the food of love. Can Christ's teachings be applied today? Can any new teaching be applied? If you have a firm conviction or if you are in favor of the "food of love" - the juicy food - then you can apply anything you want. If you are in favor of the "food of the holy human egotism" - the rich food - then you can not apply anything. The happiness of man depends on the convictions which he cherishes deep in his soul. His happiness depends upon his observance of the great laws of nature. The laws which the scientists study are called "natural", but they do not enter the Divine world. Why? Because there are exceptions to these laws. They may be authorized by superior, rational beings, but if there is even one exception to them, they are not Divine. If there is one exception, it brings about the slightest doubt. In the Divine laws, however, there are no exceptions. That is why everyone must strive for the Divine life in which there are no exceptions. As long as man lives in a world with even the smallest exceptions, he is outside of the Divine world. This world is not bad, but you must remember that at any moment it may surprise you with a contradiction with which you will have to cope. Sometimes this doubt may spoil your entire plan. For instance, you buy a nice candle for ten cents. You light it and start to read by it, approving its flame. You come to the most important part of the book and you notice that the flame begins to flicker and die. Why? The wick ends in the middle of the candle. You try with several matches to light the candle, but it does not burn. You say: I lost ten cents, and my work remains unfinished. An exception perplexed you; half the candle had been without a wick. Therefore, when you want to know whether or not you live according to the Divine laws, see if you have any exceptions in your life. If you find the smallest exception, you know that you are not in harmony with the absolute Divine laws. Every thought, every feeling and every act to which there is the smallest exception, belong to the human world. If there is no exception to them, they belong to the Divine world. All discomforts, all failures in life are due to the exceptions which characterize the human world. When a man does not have this fact in mind, he considers his life Divine; consequently, he encounters a number of contradictions and illusions. When a man does not know himself and is unaware of his deceptions, he accepts a certain idea or conviction, thinking that these are aspirations of his soul. In reality, his hidden wish is, with the help of this creed, to improve his life. How does he wish to improve it? Materially. However, he does not know that the possibility for one to better his material conditions by means of a conviction or creed, is barely one per cent. And when one can not satisfy his desires, he becomes disillusioned. I meet someone and he tells me: Since I became a Christian, all my affairs have gone well. I meet another one who says: Since I became a Christian, all my affairs have gone wrong. Both men are right. Which of the two men lives in the Divine world? I meet two other men, one of whom tells me that before he became a Christian, he did not have the desire to give. The other man said that he began to give after he became a Christian. To me, the latter is on the right path. Of the two, he who gives has a conviction. That man thinks only of today and not of tomorrow. If I am by a mountain spring and a man asks me for a cup of water, should I fear that if I give him a cup of water, there will be no water for me tomorrow? The spring flows constantly - it has a conviction. A spring which dries up has no conviction. Why? Because there are exceptions to its conviction. The springs of the Divine world never become dry. There are no exceptions to their convictions. The springs of the human world dry up. There are exceptions to their convictions. Suppose that love enters a person and begins to spring forth. However, from day to day that love diminishes until it stops flowing. After a while it starts flowing again. Does this love move along the path of a conviction? No, for there are exceptions to it. Therefore, when there are exceptions to love, it is temporary, human and not Divine. As soon as you face such love, you have a right to feel troubled. It will by all means surprise you with an exception. How will you deal with love's exceptions? For instance, every day you have bread, but one day you return home from work and you are told that there is no bread that day. There is no bread at the bakery, at your neighbors or at your friends - you can not find a piece of bread anywhere. This is an exception in your life. You go to bed that evening hungry, and you can not fall asleep. How will you deal with this exception? You say that a great misfortune has befallen you -you have no bread. Imagine for a moment that you live on the bottom of the ocean where you are tied to a bag of gold weighing one hundred kilograms. As long as the gold is with you, you can have every-thing! bread, food, clothes - whatever you wish. You hear that somewhere high above you, there is another world where the sun is shining. You want to enter that world, but you are tied to the gold and cannot release yourself. One day, by a strange chance, your ties break, you become free of the gold and immediately rise to the surface of the ocean and enter the light, spacious world. What did you lose? You lost the gold, but you gained the conditions of the new world. Is it not worth while then to stay hungry one night, in order to leave the world of exceptions? Hunger may become the cause of your entering into the Kingdom of God. Somewhere in the vicinity of Shumen there were many wolves one year. The forest keepers pondered for a long time as to how to get rid of them. Finally, they decided to kill a calf and put poison in it. They wanted to attract the wolves with the calf and poison them. An eagle flying high had noticed the calf and decided to taste it. He had not tasted such meat for a long time. When the two men withdrew from the place where the calf lay, the eagle along with twenty of his friends attacked the calf and began to eat it. After a short time, one by one the eagles fell down dead. The first, greatest and strongest of the eagles managed to fly hear Kaspitchan and started to roll on a meadow. For a long time he fought with death until finally he regurgitated all the meat. He was the only eagle who escaped death, but he learned the following lesson from his experience: when someone offers you rich food, know that death is hidden in it; do not eat it. It is preferable to eat a dead calf than one killed by educated men. Thus, he who has a conviction without exceptions, can attain everything. Such a conviction is possible only in love. There is no conviction outside of love. Only he who lives in Divine Love can have a conviction. With such a conviction man attains all his desires and aspirations. Nothing can be attained without a conviction. In this respect Daniel gave us an example. He was one of the first vegetarians thousands of years ago. He had been a vegetarian, but not like the present vegetarians. Modern vegetarianism has a tendency toward rich food, but it must pass into the juicy food, that is, pure vegetarianism. Man must have an inner conviction which must always support his spirit and his life. A conviction in which man's spirit fails, his mind wavers and his heart is troubled, is not a real conviction. Man must be convinced of the truth! The man convinced of the truth does not waver and does not faint. Someone reads my sermons and doubts himself whether or not this is the Word of Christ; whether or not he should hold to this Word. That man is like a young man who wants to marry, but does not know which maiden to choose; the richer or the poorer, the more beautiful or the homelier. Whichever maiden he may court, he must know one thing: to keep ten miles away from her. This is a good conviction. If you want to know whether or not my Word is Divine, try it, put it to a test. Everything which is applied and tested is real. You want to build a bridge. They offer you willow and oak beams. Is it necessary that these beams be recommended? You take a willow beam and put it in the bridge, but it does not hold. Since it does not hold, put it aside. Then you take the oak beam and put that in the bridge; it supports the bridge. Since it holds, put it to work. The experiment is the best recommendation of a thing. For me it is not necessary to have a recommendation about a certain food, if it agrees with my organism. And after all this, ministers come to recommend Christ's Teaching and to preach it to people. Why do they preach? There are several things which cause men to preach Christ's teaching. One of them is their desire to win souls, in order that when they go to the other world, their, souls should shine on their heads like precious stones. After that they will say: Lord, we saved and brought these souls. If this is true, how will these preachers explain the words of Christ: "That none of the sheep Thou gavest me should perish." Therefore, Christ himself said that He had come to save those sheep which God had given him. Yet an ordinary preacher will say that he has saved several souls and led them to God. He places himself higher than Christ. Other preachers say that they have turned someone to Christ. A minister once met a person and began to preach to him. In a short time he succeeded in turning him to Christ. After that the minister invited him to his home. Early in the morning his guest disappeared. Where did he go? He proved to be a thief who robbed the minister and escaped. The minister said to himself: I turned him, but he turned me even better. Now the main idea which I wish to remain in your minds is that man must have a conviction. One day Christ asked his disciples whom they thought He was. - Some say Thou art one of the prophets. Then He turned to Peter and asked him: And who do you think I am? - Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ said to him: "Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father Who dwells in you." Therefore, in order to believe in the truth, one must have an inner conviction about things. You will say: But who are you? - Ask God. If I say anything about myself, I shall speak like an interested man. I shall say something which in reality is not so. Whatever God tells you, that is true. When Christ was sent to earth, God said: "This is my beloved in Whom I am well pleased. Believe in Him." The idea of self-denial which Christ expressed, is not an idea for the poor. It concerns only the rich. The rich man has something of which he can deny himself. Of what shall a poor man deny himself? He has no father, no mother, no brother or sister, he has nothing to deny himself of. The poor man has not a cent in his pocket. The rich man has millions in his treasury; he has something to deny himself of. Therefore, the idea of self-denial concerns the rich in the broad sense of the word, that is, those who have. Give freely and generously - out of love. Those who think they have nothing, must know that this teaching does not concern them. Those who have must give freely out of love. Thus, the act of giving has a relation to the external side of love, while conviction has a relation to the inner side of love. The power of conviction can be seen in its application. There is no conviction without application. If a certain conviction cannot be applied to the physical world, it cannot be applied to the spiritual world either. The Divine Teaching has application in all worlds. Man must only know how to apply it. The difference lies only in the method of application and not in the possibility or impossibility of application. Now read for yourselves the first chapter of Daniel and think about what food to choose: rich or juicy. Experience showed that when Daniel ate the juicy food, his face became more beautiful, while at the same time, he had more knowledge and wisdom than all the sages and educated men of that time. "The Spirit of God brings all the blessings of life." Rila, August 25, 5 A.M.

The_manifestation_of_love.pdf Note 1e The Manifestation of Love Luke 14. I shall give you the following thoughts: That which flows is water. That which rests is stone. That which blows is air. That which incites is a force. In the fourteenth chapter of Luke three things are pointed out which hinder the development of man and divert him from the right path. They are fields, oxen and marriage. You ask: shall I buy a field? - The field is the first obstacle. - Shall I buy oxen? - The oxen are the second obstacle. - Shall I marry? - Marriage is the third obstacle. Does the stone marry? Does that which blows marry? Does that which incites you marry? Does the stone flow? The stone does not flow, but it obstructs the water. Does the water blow? It flows. Does that which blows incite you? People today say that one must marry and form a family. The family is created by God; it is a Divine institution. Marriage, however, is a human institution. Human things are temporary, but Divine things are eternal. No matter how lasting a thing may be, if it is human, it has an end. When men ask you about the beginnings and ends of things, remember that human things have an end but no beginning, while Divine things have a beginning but no end. Therefore, everything which has a beginning but no end is Divine. Everything which has an end but no beginning is human. You may quote the verse which says: " I am the alpha and the omega." However, alpha and omega do not mean the beginning and the end of things. You take a stick and twist it into the shape if a circle. Then you place your hands on it. Can you tell now where the beginning and the end of the stick are? In the beginning, man was created to work and develop alone. These conditions seemed difficult to him, which is why he wished to buy a field and expand. He bought a field and expanded, but along with that he encountered the first obstacle. He found himself in a difficult situation, not being able to cultivate his field alone. Then he started to search for a partner in his work. He bought five pairs of oxen to help him. With the five pairs of oxen he encountered the second obstacle. The five pairs of oxen represent the five senses of man by means of which he is in contact with the external world. Finally, he decided to marry. Marriage is the third obstacle of man. When man's mind and heart are aroused, it shows that he is married. Once married, man says: I do not care to know what others think of me. I shall think and feel as I understand and look after my home. The man is right. He has laid the foundation of his home and he must take care of it. Someone says that he is not married. That man takes the word "marriage" in its literal sense. According to me, there is no man in the world who is not married, Many people marry in order to be happy. They think that after they marry, the door of the Kingdom of God will open for them. Others want to marry in order to be like the rest of the world. That is, they want to be in the human order of life. It is not a bad thing for one to marry, but what does one gain from marriage? Anyone can be a merchant, but it is important what he will sell. If some merchant sells coffins and grave stones, who will thank him for selling such things? It is not easy to go and buy these necessities for some friend of yours. He will only go to the store because it is necessary. Why do you need such things? Can your friend not do without a coffin and a gravestone? Why does a dead man need a coffin and a cross? You solve different questions; solve this one also. When a Christian dies, he is put in a coffin, buried in the earth, and a cross is placed on his grave. After that, his relatives weep and grieve because he is no longer among them. If you visit a family where the father has passed away, you will see the entire family weeping for him. If the father has been a miser, strict and severe toward his children, inwardly they will be glad that he has gone to the other world, because they can be free to live as they wish. In spite of his weeping, everyone wants to know what he will inherit. The Turks act differently with the dead. They accompany him to the grave and throw him from on high onto a hole so that he should understand he has gone to the other world; then all go away. After all the people have gone hone, he is buried. In general, all nations have their own particular way of burying the dead. When a man dies, he knows who has loved him and who has not. All men speak about love. What is the touchstone for discovering whether a man has love? The first manifestation of love is the act of giving. Where there is love, there is always giving. It is impossible for a man to love and not to give. When love leaves a man, he stops giving. Love expands roan and stimulates in him the desire to give. This law can be tested everywhere in life. When a merchant works with love, he has a desire to open his shop and to sell. When the farmer works with love, he opens his barn and gives generously. When the young maid becomes a mother, she wants to give. When the teacher enters the school and the children surround him, he begins to give. All men whose hearts love enters have the desire to give. As long as people give, it is love that activates them. As soon as they stop giving, love leaves them. Thus, giving is connected with the law of love. It is so in the spiritual world. On the physical plane, however, we say: The merchant is selling his goods; the farmer is plowing the field and selling his wheat; the mother is bringing up her child and sending him to school. On the earth, the impulses of love bear different names. When one does not give, one comes across obstacles such as the merchant meets. A merchant buys goods, but does not sell them and keeps them in his store. After some time, he buys more goods which he also keeps in his store. In this way, he stores up many goods and invests all his money in them, but does not sell them. When he spends all his money and can neither buy anymore nor sell his goods, he has reached the point of bankruptcy. Thus, in love there is an interchange: giving and taking. Which is better, to give or to take? The Scripture says: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Give as long as love is within you. Giving is an inner process which unites man with God. He who does not give cannot have contact with God. Christ said : "He who does not deny his mother and father, his brother or sister and his own life, can not be my disciple." This means: he who does not give up everything old that he has, cannot be a disciple of the new. What need has one of a mother (bear)? What need has one of a father (wolf)? What need has one of a sister (spider) or a brother (snake)? What will one profit by a sister (spider)? She will weave her webs all day long in the corners of the room, and you will sweep behind her. The spider catches flies and eats them itself, but it does not enter his mind to share its prey with someone else. Therefore, for a man to deny his father, mother, brother and sister is to deny all that he himself has made. Man himself has bought a field and bound himself - he must free himself of the first obstacle. Man alone has bought oxen and attached himself; he must free himself from the second obstacle. He has married and tied himself; it is up to him to free himself from the third obstacle. Free yourselves from all the bonds you yourselves have made. As you have bound yourselves, you must free yourselves. You have bought a field and oxen and then you deceive yourself by believing that they are yours! You have married a young maiden and you say that she is your wife! The mother has born your wife, she has suffered and cared for her and one day you take her daughter, marry her, and say that she is your wife. When you marry that daughter, you will bring unhappiness not only to her but also to her entire family. The same thing relates to man. This is what Christ wanted to say by: "Deny all that you yourselves have created, which brings misfortune not only to you, but to all your kindred as well!" What must you do to escape misfortune? If you want to marry, find a partner who has neither a father, mother, sisters nor brothers. If you find such a person, get married and you will be happy. You must understand me correctly in order not to be plagued by a contradiction. What do modern men and women do? When the time for marriage comes, they search for a rich partner with a high social position, in order to rise in life. You will say: Then people should not marry. They will marry as they have done until now, but a new element - Love - must enter into marriage. Adam married Eve. Whose daughter was Eve? Who were her father, mother, brother or sister? As you see, Eve was a daughter who had neither father, mother, brother nor sister. Now you wish to know how your life will end. If you have bought a field, you will vacate it; if you have bought oxen, you will leave them; if you have married, your wife will leave you. If you do not vacate your field during the first year, you will do so after 120 years at the latest. The extreme limit of any event on earth is 120 years. If your oxen do not leave you the first year, they will become old after ten years and they will not be able to serve you. If your wife does not leave you while she is still alive, when she grows old she will pass to the other world and you will remain alone. We consider things to be outside of man and we know what can happen to him. You consider everything as an inseparable part of yourself; consequently, you become attached to them. When you are deprived of them, you suffer. You enter an institution, get tied up with it, and can not leave it. For instance, someone marries, gets tied up with the institution of marriage and thinks that he cannot live without it. Man has lived before the creation of this institution. Modern man has reached a higher state of consciousness and wants to become free of the temporary and serve the Eternal Principle. In order to serve this Principle, man must understand the first manifestation of love - giving. To serve the Eternal Principle means to give. What do you understand by "giving"? From morning till night you think of this and that, you doubt and waver. Give your mind a rest. Liberate it from all doubts and hesitations. Implant in it an enlightened, sublime thought. You think much, but this is not correct thought. When the mind is full of doubts, that is not thought. A heart which worries and a mind which doubts can give nothing. Implant a noble feeling in your heart and a bright thought in your wind and give them rest. Give your heart and mind a rest! People become offended and embittered and thus encumber their hearts with unnecessary burdens. Why do men become offended? Someone pays you a visit and becomes offended because you have not received him as he expected. How is it possible for such a great and good man not to be received with the necessary honor and respect! Everyone considers himself to be a good, saintly and great man. This shows that every man expects to take something from others and not give anything to them. You all must know that when you take, you must also give. The teacher gives something to his student. The student must pass it on to another student, and so forth. Thus it will pass from one hand to another until it returns to the teacher again. A teacher wants to test his students to see how far they have progressed in giving. For this purpose, he gives one of his students a nice apple. The student gives it to one of his friends, who in turn gives it to another student. Thus the apple passes from one hand to another ten times. The tenth student takes the apple to his teacher. The teacher is pleased with the experiment. He finds that his students are good and generous. If the apple had disappeared somewhere, the teacher would have drawn a different conclusion about his students. Therefore, whatever is given to you, you must pass it on to others so that all might take part in it. In order that love may come, man must have learned the law of giving. When the apple comes into your hands, do not think about its contents, but rather about whom to give it to, in order that it may return to its original source. Man is tested by the apple. If the first man had acted correctly, the world would be right today. When Eve received the apple, she should have given it to Adam. Adam, on his part, should have given it to God. However, Eve tasted the apple immediately and thus committed the first sin. When a desire enters your heart, do not taste it, but rather give it to someone else. Whatever desires and thoughts enter you, give them to others - let the desires move and traverse the world until they find their source. As I observe and study life and all its manifestations, I come to the conclusion that the human takes, whereas the Divine gives. The smile of people takes and does not give. Someone smiles; he only moves his lips because he wants to take something. In general, in all unnatural human acts, there is always some hidden temptation, avarice or hypocrisy. Such an act leads a man to love sometimes, but that love is artificial. For instance, something inside you motivates you to go to church. At the same time a beautiful young girl is going to the same church. When you enter the church, your eyes fall upon the beautiful girl and your mind becomes distracted. This is the temptation which enters man in all conceivable forms. Sometimes man goes to school for the purpose of studying, but something that he has not expected at all results from that act. Generally, man does not know the source of the goods allotted to him - from God or from someone else. Every blessing given by the Divine world causes an expansion of the human soul. Every blessing coming from the human world limits the human soul. In order for one to benefit from a certain blessing, two other beings must take part simultaneously. For instance, you can eat if two other beings eat with you at the same time. Thus three beings must eat simultaneously; the mind, the heart and the will. Man is allowed to eat if his mind, heart and will are in their proper place. If one of these beings is not in its place, man has no right to eat. We must give. How must we give? Freely, without any avarice. The farmer throws his wheat in the field and you say that he is generous and gives abundant wheat to his field. He is not generous, for he wants to take thirty, sixty and one hundred in turn. The plowman plows his field with the oxen and when he returns home, he gives them a little straw and says that he has given them enough. This is not giving, but taking. After the oxen have worked for a whole day like slaves, you give them an insignificant part of what you have taken from them. Man must think right! For this purpose he must free his mind from all worries and confusions. Men's hair turns white from worries, but that still does not lead him to a correct solution of the problems of life. The world in which you live is full of invisible beings who walk on the wrong path. They follow you continually and cause you many trials and temptations in an unnoticeable way. Their methods are very refined. For this reason, you must be aware in order to discern their methods and ways and not to become their victim. You will be unhappy until you learn to interpret their methods. For instance, you are in a fine mood, but someone comes and tells you a word and spoils your good disposition. You rise in the morning happy and contented, but your child falls off a chair and breaks his leg. You immediately lose your good disposition. You come from school with a diploma happy and full of dreams for a bright future, but immediately you are given a telegram notifying you of your father's death. You are employed as a minister of Bulgaria, but at the same moment your wife passes away. As you see, the best and most beautiful things in the life of men are accompanied by bitter experiences. What must be done? Things must be foreseen. Remember that all nice things are followed by something bitter. If you want to avoid the bitter, do not take the sweet. What is the reason for this? The endeavor and the way of man. The way in which they walk is right, but the methods by which they want to achieve things are human. You have started on the path. What is required of you? The new path requires new methods. You cook nice food, but you put it on dirty plates. After a while the food has a bad smell and you refuse to eat it. The well-cooked food must be put on clean, new plates. Therefore, everything from one end to the other must be done well in absolute purity. Every thought, feeling and act in all their manifestations must be absolutely pure* You take a thought and put it on a dirty dish of your heart. Thereafter, you put the same thought on a dirty dish of your will, then you offer people this thought. No, this thought is already unclean. You have no right to offer people unclean thought. The dishes of your acts must be absolutely clean. This is required of all people. Be pure in your thoughts! Be pure in your feelings! Be pure in your acts! If you are not pure, you have no excuse. You will give the excuse that you have been ignorant. This is your own alibi. There are no ignorant people in the world. Even plants are not ignorant. Stones are not ignorant either. You see a stone resting in a place for years. The wind blows around it, but it rests philosophically and says: In order to philosophize, I must be calm. If someone rolls it down the hill, it wonders who has dared disturb its rest. When it regains its repose, it begins to philosophize again. From the stone man can obtain that inner repose in which one can reason sanely. Someone looks at a stone and says: This is a stone! It really is a stone, but you will take from it a lesson in patience. Water will teach you the lesson of giving. Wherever water passes, it gives something of itself. If it passes by a dry tree or grass, it will refresh them. The air which blows also gives. And the power which incites also gives. Therefore, give as the water gives, give as the air gives, give as the power gives. The stone, the water, the air and the power all serve as practical lessons to teach men the law of giving. Write about the theme: "How the water gives." When you develop this theme, see what you can apply to life. Apply the methods of the water in giving and see what results you achieve. The water gives what it receives and returns it to its source. You should give in the same way. If you invite rich people to a feast in order that they may invite you some day, this is not giving. Give to the poor man who can give you nothing in return. When you give something to a poor man, he thanks God for what he has received. Giving is a continual process which passes from one being to another. Only the form and manner of giving changes, but the process does not stop. When you are invited to dinner somewhere, first direct your thought upward to thank God for what you will receive. If your gratitude is sincere, He will immediately notify you inwardly whether you must remain at that dinner or not. If a spoiled chicken is offered you, should you eat it? On the outside it looks well cooked and seasoned, but the meat is spoiled. What must the man invited to that dinner do? He must take his hat and go home. Many poisonous and spoiled hens are offered to people today, but one must be sane enough to recognize them and not accept them. What is more poisonous than the thought that God does not exist? If someone offers you such a thought, refuse to accept it. Let that man recognize that you recognize the spoiled hen and that you neither wish it for yourself, not wish to offer it to someone else. Cook pure, healthy food, if you want to have friends. Thus the first manifestation of love is giving. Give purely and uncovetously. He who does not give cannot contact Love. He who cannot make contact with Love, cannot test it either. The prophet has said: "Test me, o Lord!" He wants to be tested to see if he can give in a Divine way. Thinking is a process of the mind, but giving is a process of the heart. The real life begins with giving, because man becomes a transmitter of the Divine Principle within himself. How do ordinary people give? They fill themselves with good food and whatever remains of their meal, they offer it to others. This is not giving. To give implies a freedom of the heart - give what you have not yet tasted yourself. Today I am speaking about giving, because the new life requires it. The life of people today, the old life, is full of confusions and worries. Your head aches and you worry; you become ill from rheumatism and you worry again; your stomach aches and you worry. What are these painful states due to? All illnesses are due to the fact that man does not give. Someone fails in life, because he does not give. Fulfill the will of God, give freely, in order to be rid of all illnesses, troubles and misfortunes. God gives from morning till night. He regards us with a good disposition and waits for the time when we will begin to work consciously. Many, however, hide themselves here and there, waiting for Him to leave them so that they can freely do what they want. All men say that the eye of God is omnipresent, yet in spite of that, when they commit a crime, they are not afraid of that eye, but of the people. What does that show? It shows that the thought that the Divine eye observes everything has not yet deeply penetrated the consciousnesses of people. You pass by an orchard and wish to pick fruit. You begin to turn this way and that to see if anyone is watching you. You say that you are afraid of God, but in reality you fear people. When you make sure that nobody is around, you pick the fruit and continue on your way. If you were convinced that the Divine eye were observing you, you would turn to Him mentally with a petition to pick some fruit. People today are all seeking their fortune. Their fortune lies in the purity of their thoughts, feelings and acts. There is a proverb that one becomes like his companion. This proverb is related to the thoughts, feelings and acts of people, also. You become like the thoughts you cherish. Cherish nice thoughts and feelings toward every person without asking whether or not he deserves them. If you begin to think about who deserves to be loved and who does not, you enter the human order of things. You say: Must I give this man something, or must I not? - Give and do not think. - But how will he act? - That is his business. If he does not act correctly, he shall bear the consequences of his own act. If you do not act properly, the consequences of your act will follow you. When your turn comes, give and do not think. Men are links in a chain. If one of the links does not fulfill its service, it Will rust. As soon as it has rusted, it will be removed from the chain and replaced by another. He who enters the chain of the Divine world must do the will of the Father. If he does not do His will, he will bear the consequences himself. Sin is excluded in the Divine world. There are no wrong acts. Tell me about a wrong act according to your conception. You will say that someone has not acted with you as he should have. As soon as you say this, you judge yourself. No one has given you the right to judge. That man has not acted well with you, because you have stopped in a place where you should not be. As soon as you stop judging, all men will act well with you. This is what it means to live in the Divine and not in the human order of things. A young Bulgarian maiden married a Bulgarian, but he proved to be a very awkward man. Whatever he started to do, he was unsuccessful. One day his wife said: "Put on this cassock, take a small kettle of water in one hand and a bunch of hyssop in the other and go from village to village and sprinkle the people with holy water. All the money you collect in the kettle you must bring to me." "See, I can do this work," said the young husband, and he went to work. After some time it was reported to the bishop that a certain peculiar priest went from village to village sprinkling people with water. The bishop ordered him to come to him and asked: "Who ordained you as a priest?" "My wife." I ask you: What does this show? It shows that people have created an order of their own which they follow. They follow the human, but neglect the Divine order of life. The Divine order requires men to give. Giving is the first manifestation of love. Which of you has thought of this? Which of you, upon being asked about the first manifestation of low, could answer correctly? Thought is required of people. Now I am telling you things that you will hardly understand even after twenty years or more. For instance, in order to understand giving, you must give. He who gives is a good man. But the good is not something static. The good is a dynamic process. Man must constantly give, in order to be good. If he notices in himself the slightest desire not to give, at that moment he is not good. In this sense, every man can tell for himself whether he is good or not. He is good as long as he gives, but as soon as he stops giving, he is not good. The good man does not retain anything in himself. Since he does not retain anything within himself, he does the will of Cod, and consequently he enjoys inner peace. I leave the question of giving with you for each one to solve for himself. Every man must decide for himself to give or not to give. Every spring which has abundant water gives constantly. The well gives temporarily and has little water. I leave it to you to decide for yourselves whether to be wells or springs. It says in the Scripture: "Judge not that you be not judged!" This means: Do not judge and criticize people. You can criticize yourself, but with the standard of absolute justice. Neither exaggerate nor diminish the facts. The facts must be stated just as they are in reality. To criticize yourself is to take the rotten products out of your bag and replace them by fresh, new products. Take the old things out of your bag and fill it up with the new. The old habits you have inherited from your ancestors must be thrown out and replaced by new habits. The old and the new cannot be reconciled. In this respect, Christ was categorical. He said: "If you do not deny your father, your mother, and yourself, you cannot have life." You also speak about self-denial, but which of you has denied himself as he should? Now, for instance, you have come to the mountain to receive something from it: refreshment, rest and transformation of your energies. You want to be given something and you are right in that. But do you give yourselves? You have all come here with cars, tents and other comforts. You must know one thing: only he who fulfills the law of giving can receive from nature what he has come for. Since he has come here, he must take care of three more persons, pay their automobile or train tickets and care for their meals here as for his own. You will say that some of you have wives and children. These are not taken into account. Each one must take care of three more people outside of the family. This is what summer resort means. Each man taking care only of himself is not the will of God. If God would begin to judge you, it would all be finished with you. Each man must judge himself. After passing judgment upon himself, he should write it down and take it to the invisible world. There they will say whether or not he is right. If they find it wrong, they will give it back for correction. Until the verdict is approved, man must correct and examine his acts. Do not force the stone to walk in the path of the water. Let the stone go its own way. Adopt the character of the water which constantly flows, moves and gives something to everybody and does not wait for anybody. When you want to help someone, do not wait for favorable conditions, just as the water does not seek them. Do not force the air to follow the course of the powers. Let the air follow its own course. Adopt the character of the air. When it wants to help a suffocating man, it immediately runs to his aid. Do not force the powers to change their course. The powers cause man to think, feel and act. These are new rules which you must follow. If you follow them, you will taste the happiness you are seeking. If you do not follow them, you will drink wormwood which will make you bitter. In order to rid yourself of the bitterness, you must regurgitate it. Now I say to you: "Regurgitate all the old things you have eaten for thousands of years. When you become free of the old, your consciousness will shine forth, your soul will be freed from the heavy load of the past and like a new-born child, you will lift up your eye* and say: God,Thy will be done!" This is what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. I meet someone who can hardly stand on his feet and can neither think, feel nor do good, but who says that he is pleasing to God. If you cannot think, feel and do good, you are not pleasing to God. When you think, feel and do good, you are pleasing to God. There are no contradictions in God. Contradictions exist in the human and animal kingdom, as well as in the life of the spirits. What disturbs and torments man is not Divine. In this way, however, man is tested as to how well prepared he is to accept the new which brings joy and happiness to the soul. In order that freedom may come, man must by all means pass through limitations. Suppose that a large boil has appeared on your body. It has taken up a large space and wants to convince you that it is the owner of that space. From time to time, you look at it, seeing that it has turned white, ready to burst. It, however, wants you to put certain oils on it. No oil is necessary. Take a needle, burn it well, and pierce the boil in the middle. It will gradually grow smaller, until one day it will entirely disappear. Man has such boils in his psychic life also. The thought, for instance, what people say about you, is such a boil. It is very simple - people say that you are crazy. Who would not say that you are crazy? You have climbed this high peak in this foggy weather, waiting for the sun to rise. Did you see the sun? You did not. There is a sun in man which never sets, and which no cloud or fog ever covers. Once this sun has risen, it never sets. If you do not want people to consider you to be crazy, when they ask you where you have been, say: Since I intend to build a house, I climbed this peak to choose some good, solid stones. But I like the water in the river also. I shall slake the line with it. I shall convince people that I know how to build houses which ordinary masons cannot build. When I say this to them, they will see that I am a sane man. And actually, besides the external house for living, man works for the construction of his inner house. Therefore, let your boils burst. You should not be offended by what people think of you. Let them laugh. When one laughs, one will find the right way. A young maiden once married a young man. She was goad, but she was very easily offended. One day she cooked chicken. Her husband came at noon and said something which offended her. She set the table, but she did not want to eat. - Come to dine! - No, I am not hungry. Another time, she cooked chicken again and her husband offended her at dinner. - Come to dine! - No, I am not hungry and I do not wish to eat. A third time she cooked chicken. Her husband again said something to her which in another case would have offended her, but this time she smiled and said: I shall not be offended any more. If I continue in the old way, I shall be offended, while my husband will eat chickens without me. So I say to you: Do not be offended by what people say about you. Smile and eat the chicken* Therefore, live according to the inner law of love - the law of giving. In this way you will test whether you love. This does not mean that violence should be inflicted upon your consciousness, that you should be forced to give. Each man must give voluntarily, out of love, without any external or internal compulsion. If you give out of love, you will always be rich. Give in the new way, according to the law of love. This implies a denial of the old order of things, of one's old views and theories, of everything of the human order, and an acceptance of the new, the Divine order. Apply the Divine order of things so that you may receive the great blessings of life. If the sun does not rise, if water does not flow, if air does not blow and if power does not impel, the new Will not cone into the world. "The Divine Spirit bears all the bounties of life." August 23, 5 A.M.

Note 2p Abide “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My Love.” The word “if” in the original has another meaning, not the same as in the Bulgarian language – a condition. This verb keep has a relation to the human will – in order to keep the commandments we have to abide in them, and the fulfillment arises through the participation of the will. The one, who does not fulfill the Divine commandments, cannot abide in His Love. Then, it is not enough that a person abides in the Father’s commandments but to abide in His Love, as Christ has kept the commandments of His Father and has been abiding in His Love. The execution of the Divine commandments both in broad and narrow sense produces the same result. When we arrive to the exterior side of things, the outer world, we observe that something is keeping us for it. The same could be said for the relation between the limbs of man, his soul and Spirit; if the Spirit and the soul do not keep the hands, the legs, the brain, the lungs and the stomach, nothing would remain of a person. The spirit keeps all the organs of the body in complete order; and the soul abides in the functions, which the organs execute, and makes use of the energies, which they receive and transmit – the soul does not keep the air but abides in it. Breathing, thinking, feeling signify abiding, and the actions, which provoke them, we call behavior. One of the processes, which channel in the human organism, we call free or depending on our will; the others are restricted, not depending on our will. The movement of the hands and the legs depends on our will, but the beating of the heart, the breathing, and the digestion are not dependent on us. “You will abide in my Love.” One who does not understand the main commandment of Life – the Love; considers that he can restrict it. Love cannot be restricted, it is relating to the free actions. A man can abide in Love, but cannot restrict it. In the abiding, he perceives and gives – at the same time, there is a regular exchange; in the keeping of the commandments there is a fulfillment – exhaustion of energy. For some people, the questions about the keeping and abiding seem (rather) abstract; it is depending on them, whether they are abstract or not. What one thinks – that happens. If one closes his eyes, it is natural, that he will not be able to see, nor understand the matter. It is depending on man, whether he will see or not; when he closes his spiritual sight, he will neither see, nor understand. Consequently, if you want to see and understand, open your eyes. In the understanding, as an inner process, a certain movement is concealed. For example, in order to study a particular place, and get to know it, you have to journey through it; in order to study a particular unclear question, you will have to make a little effort. How do you act when you want to turn an electric light on? You hold the key, switch it on and say: “Let it be light!” – and it becomes light around you. What if you say that you want light in your mind? Go into one library; take out the book, where it is written about the question that interests you and start to read – since you work for a while in this direction, the dim question will clarify. Man was not born learned, but with endeavour, constancy and work, he achieves what he aspires. For the one, who does not work with Love, Life is a struggle and labour, he is constantly complaining that he is suffering that you are resting on bulwarks but what they are exactly, you are not aware. The sufferings and struggles, which man goes through, show that there is a certain disharmony in his life. The Reason of Nature is drawing your attention to rectify your mistake, which has caused you the disharmony. If you cannot rectify it on your own, go to a doctor, or a specialist who knows how to rectify. You will say that you will have to pay the doctor; it should be paid, besides, the better and more experienced the doctor is, the more you will pay him. The more serious your disease is, the more experienced doctor you will seek; the inexperienced doctor takes little money but instead of benefit, he can cause you harm. Nowadays, more people look for an easy way to acquire something great or to gain entry in the Divine Kingdom. There is no easy way for entering the Divine Kingdom. One, who came on Earth to learn and work, should not avoid the difficult and arduous path in Life; these are the circumstances for his growth. To search for an easy path, means to run the danger in you [A1] – the easy path is human and the difficult – Divine. If someone takes you up to the top of the mountain and then you coast down the inclined area, you will easily reach the foot of the mountain, but this does not mean that you alone have solved the difficult question – in the same way, children coast down (a hill) with their sleds in winter. The teaching of Christ is not a teaching about descending but about ascending, besides that, with labour and effort. Observe how the villagers hoe with the mattock; see how they plough up the land with a wooden plough. How does the Bulgarian plough the land? Along with oxen. Sometimes with two oxen, and sometimes with four or six, the number of oxen he ploughs with is not significant, because the principle is the same. In plowing both principles work equally - keeping and abiding. The two oxen suggest the human mind and the human body, so does the goad – the command which goads the mind and the heart occasionally, in order to remind that they have to work and follow their direction – the furrow. Some people think that they are free but in reality they are all harnessed – someplace in twos, someplace in threes or four altogether. Once in a while, you are unharnessed to rest. When do the oxen rest? When the master requests. Once they have rested, again their master harnesses them to work. Such is the reality. You will say that this is the situation of the oxen – do you think that the souls of the oxen lack intelligence? In a certain sense, the ox stands higher than man. It is said about a person that he has the patience of an ox, which means the ox has been taken as a symbol of patience. What would you say about the grains of wheat that are placed in various conditions? Those, who are placed in favourable circumstances for growth, have grown and have fruits of a good quality; the others who were not placed in favourable circumstances could not grow, but this still does not show that the latter grains of wheat do not hide in themselves the same gifts, as the first grains, placed in good circumstances. Consequently, the relation between the former and the latter grains of wheat is the same as it is between the soul of man and the ox. At present, the ox is deprived of circumstances to grow, and manifest the virtues of his soul; there will come a day, when God will place it in circumstances to manifest its gifts – then you will see that the talented and genius people, whom we meet today, will derive from it. Nowadays, the ox ploughs, works the land, fulfilling the main command and helps the man; for the work that he does, the master feeds it and the ox is thankful that he got fed. The same is the case with the man: he also works hard, makes efforts and takes his meals – he sits before the table, eating and says: “The world is well created.” Really, the world is well created, but you have to thank your Lord, who feeds you for the work that you have done – if you stop working, your Lord stops to feed you. As soon as you become hungry, you start to cry and to pray, until your Lord grants you the needed food. In relation to his work, man resembles the horse, which, because it is accustomed to carry weight, even if it is set free, cannot make use of it. One horse worked for his master for thirty whole years and when it grew old, the master released it from work, and let him free in the forest, but every day at the same time the horse arrived close to the well from which it used to draw water for the garden and stand there – it was awaiting for the master to come and harness it to work. Christ says: “If you keep my commandments.” – Which commandments? The commandments that could make human life happy and reasonable. When speaking about these commandments, many listen and say they have read them. Since you have read them, I am asking, has your life become happy and decent. – “We didn’t become happier.” – If you are not happier, this shows that you have read them, but didn’t grasp their meaning. Christ says further on: “You will abide in my Love.” What greater welfare do you expect than the fulfillment and applying of the commandments of God? There is no greater fortune for a home, where the man abides in the commandments of God and His Love, and the woman – in the commandments of her man. Why are families destroyed? For neither the man, nor the woman keep their promises. The man promises that he will keep and abide in the commandments of God but when he gets married, he forgets all – he begins to drink and feast with friends, and squanders everything: the woman says: “I can never live with such a man.” Therefore, a family where the woman does not abide in the commandments of her husband is destined to death. If the man does not abide in the commandments of God and does not fulfill His will, the woman is also free not to fulfill the commandments of her man, however if the man fulfills God’s will and abides in His commandments and the woman does not abide in the Love of her man, the responsibility falls on her. This is what Christ preached to His disciples. “You will abide in my Love.” The one, who abides in the Divine Love, fulfills His commandment; the one who does not abide in Love, cannot fulfill His commandments – he makes mistakes like children. In (the region of Varna) in the village of Nikolaevka, the priest’s wife had plastered up the house well, she had washed and cleaned – this was towards the day of St. Sebastian. She was in a hurry to quickly finish her work, so she could go to the church early the next morning. Her child, a ten year old boy had seen how people thresh in summer and the moment he was left alone at home, decided to thresh, to play; he took a corn in a container and let in all the turkeys. The child threw corn to the turkeys, chased and ran after them – he was well entertained. When the neighbours passed near the preacher’s house, they heard a loud noise coming from within. They met the wife of the priest in the church and said to her: “Something is going on in your house, but we don’t know what – you could hear clamour and noise from far away.” After the service had finished, the preacher’s wife went home straight away and such was her astonishment, when she entered the room and saw all the turkeys – clucking, fluttering, pouncing upon the walls, and the fine boy chasing them, getting them to thresh. When he saw his mother, the delinquent ran straight away – he left her alone to deal with the self-invited guests. Many people proceed like children: their mothers plaster up the rooms, clean up, and they get the turkeys in to amuse themselves. Thus, they want to show, that they are free, but this is a childish freedom, a childish apprehension. Somebody has a favourable disposition of the spirit, he is inspired with something Divine, but suddenly his child comes into the room and brings after it the turkeys and the ducks - to arrange an amusement. The father sees that the room is dirty and in one moment, the good disposition leaves him. In order not to lose their favourable disposition, the mother and the father should lock their room with nine keys, so the children won’t come in and make it dirty. The fault stands in the mother and the father, and not in the child; finding the rooms open, it goes inside, takes the corn and drives the ducks and turkeys in to play with them. “If you keep my commandments.” Since the verb “keep” is related to the will, never say that you are not able to do something or a particular problem is obscure to you and you cannot understand it, that the circumstances are poor or that the time has not arrived yet for you to manifest, and so on. Leave this aside; know that nobody can be an obstacle to you - everyone stumbles alone. Who was the obstacle for the first humans to stumble? God placed them in favourable circumstances for development, but they transgressed and left Heaven - the cause stands in themselves, in their hidden aspirations. A person stumbles, when he does not understanding his desires, he does not know whether they are efficient or not. The wife of an American millionaire had many desires and she could not realize when and how to fulfill all of them. When she went to Paris, she used to go in all the big shops and bought everything her eyes saw. One day, she bought articles for an extraordinary amount and having no possibility to pay in full, she wrote down the bill to the name of her husband, who was famous amongst the greatest merchants in Paris. When he received the draft for the payment of enormous amounts, he paid it off immediately, but decided to divorce his wife. In order to be free from his duties to her, he built a house-palace for the value of fifteen million dollars, gave her thirty million at hand, to be at her disposal, as she thinks best - he had preferred to give her great sums, to secure her well, but to save himself from ruin. God acts upon those who squander the Divine goods, the way the millionaire acted upon his wife: He gives those forty-five million at their disposal and He gets a divorce. You will reply that the one who has forty-five million at disposal is a happy person. Woe betide the one who got divorced from God - he is ready to commit all manner of crimes. When one does not keep the commandments of God, one can commit all the crimes; if you want to be free from the evil and the crimes outside and inside of you, keep the commandments of God, and abide in Love. When you get up from sleep in the morning, if you are a woman, ask yourself the following questions: “Do I keep the commandments of my man, and does my man keep the commandments of God? Do I abide in the Love of my man, and does my man abide in the Love of God?” If you answer these questions positively you will spend the whole day in Peace and Joy, because God has blessed you; if you answer negatively, you will be ungrateful, indisposed, unhappy. Why are people unhappy? Because they do not fulfill the commandments of God nor do they abide in His Love, and yet they want to realize their aspirations. Gluttony makes people unhappy. One hunter, who often used to go hunting in the Old Mountain, spoke about the following experience: as he passed by a river in the mountain, he saw on the coast one bear with five little bears. They played around the coast, and the mother repeatedly thrust in the water and pulled out little crabs which she gave to her cubs, one of them was getting ahead of the others and was eating up the crabs - the turn for the others to have a even a bite never happened. When the bear noticed this, she hit the glutton bear, which tumbled down on the ground. Finally, she headed to her lair and she turned to the bear that was imposed, but realized that it was dead. She took it in her lap; she swayed it a little, but couldn’t bring it to life. Saddened by the loss, she went into the forest. Likewise a man carries in himself one greedy bear, which he must educate and penalize. One has the right to penalize it, but in a way that he doesn’t mortify it - in case he mortifies it prematurely, he will suffer. That’s why Christ says: “One, who wants to be fortunate, should posses a steeled will, a bright mind and pure heart, he should keep My commandments thus, as I keep the commandments of my Father and abide in Me as well as I abide in the Love of God.” Only thus, a person can become great, because God, who is living in him, is great. Hence, open your hearts and souls for God, so that He can enter in you with His commandments and His Love to make you great and powerful. Thereafter a person says that everything he aspires to achieve is possible. If you keep the commandments of God and abide in His Love, you will comprehend the verse line that Christ had said: “With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible.” Where is the God? He is in everyone who fulfills His Will. Some want to know how to discern the one who is keeping the commandments of God? Very simple: if your thoughts are clear and positive, and you have noble and pure feelings, you keep the commandments of God and abide in His Love. I said that you should verify everything - for each matter apply the words: explore and see (experience). If you have a difficult problem to solve, do not hasten to decide immediately, but think over it for a few hours, until Light penetrates your mind; if you cannot decide until the evening, this shows that you have a negative thought, which is an obstacle. Free your mind from the negative thoughts and the heart from negative feelings and begin to think over the matter of interest to you. You will say that there is no spare time to devote to this problem hours and days. You will do your work as usual, but at the same time you will think; if you cannot decide in a day, you will solve it in a week - it is important that it will be solved rightly. If you want to know whether your heart abides in Love, see if you have inner Peace and tranquility. If you have peace of mind, on every occasion, even if you hesitate on the outside, you are going to be calm inside. Whether you believe in this, or not, is not significant - make an attempt and you will be assured of my words. Many sufferings of the present people are owing to exterior influences and suggestions. This should not affect you. Man has will-power to bear all difficulties and sufferings. If your will is strong, you can work wonders - one who has a strong and reasonable will can get over the hardest sufferings. In this respect, the martyrs of Christ set an example: they were burned, torn into pieces, tortured, but with the power of their will, withstood everything without feeling pain - they kept the commandments of God and abided in Love. If the starfish can regrow its cut or lacerated leg, why shouldn’t a man be able to do the same? Man should increase his will, so that he can control his thoughts and desires with it. Love arrives to help the man, in order to feed his thoughts, feelings and desires - only thus is it possible to work. How do you act when you take a worker in your house? In order to work well, first, you give him food; once fed well, he is ready to work. This means that Love is necessary like food for man - without Love, his life is not going well. You will object, to me, that life is heavy, that woman and children should be supported. It’s a wonder, the woman was in man - God brought her out, from the rib of Adam; so whether a person is married, or not, this does not make life harder, or easier. There is no such person in the world, who does not carry the man or the woman in him - the man and the woman always go together. Whether the woman or the man is inside or outside the man, it is not significant - every man carries the woman in him and every woman carries the man in her. They cannot exist without each other: the man is an incentive for the woman and the woman - for the man. If you take away the woman from the world, every culture will disappear; if you take away the man, again there will be no culture. Under the words man and woman in a broad sense I imply the mind and the heart. A mind without a heart cannot exist and heart without a mind cannot be - they always go together and complement one another. And so, when people struggle and suffer, the cause stands not in the man, nor in the woman, but in the fact that man does not keep the commandments of God and does not abide in the Love of God. In the word man I imply also the Divine mind, and in woman - the Divine heart. The mind represents the human will, which is manifesting in his body, and the heart - the movement; the mind reflects the processes of the will, and the heart - the reflexes. If the man wants to live well together with his wife, let her be free, to manifest as a self-dependent person, and not to fulfill somebody else’s will and another’s instructions. Let two men make the following trial: the first should write down commands and rules, by which his wife will be directed, and the other should let her free to live by her deep, inner understanding. When a person is guided not by the written laws, but from his heart of Reason, the results are always good. If the man is discontented with his wife, because she is not following his personal demands, he is on the wrong way - this is not the teaching of Christ. Christ has preached Love and Freedom. The place, where Love is absent, there is only violence and detestation. “If you keep my commandments” - what does man keep things with? With hands. The violinist keeps the violin and the bow with his hands and from the accurate keeping of the violin and his manifestation stands on the movement of the bow – being ordinary, talented or a genius violinist. Somebody says that he feels like singing; very naturally, when Love visits man, he feels like singing, playing, in order to manifest. Where Love is absent, there is no song, no music. When it has been said to people that they should sing, this means to open their hearts for the Love - singing is a door, through which Love enters in man. When it has been said to people to pray, we understand the same - to open their minds and hearts for Love. Eating, singing and praying represent identical process - opening of the mind and heart for Love, which is the one to elevate man and make him happy from all that is given to him. They are tightly related with each other. When singing, a person should gratify himself first and then the surroundings; what people think of him, whether they are content or not, this is a secondary matter - first he has to be glad of himself. This is the meaning of the words; “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” Further on, Christ says: “Whatever you ask for in My name, it will be given to you.” Know God by means of His commandments in order to resolve the matter which is difficult for you. Somebody cannot manage the neighbors, he cannot stand them; while he is without the Love of God, he will not be able to stand anyone. What is worthwhile for a person is to fulfill the law of God and to say: “I can achieve anything with God”, which means: “With Love, I can bare everything.” Christ says to each person: Love the God in you, in order to love your relative”, but the devil speaks to him: Love is a great thing, but you are not yet ready for it, you cannot love and forgive - in order to love you need to be learned, to have knowledge of the laws of the entire Being.” Christ opposes the devil and says: “Whether you are learned or uneducated, poor or rich, great or small, you can love and you have to manifest the Love which is implanted in your heart.” Remember: along with Love, a person can achieve everything - the ugly can become beautiful, the poor - rich, the uneducated - learned. Without Love, man loses everything - wealth, beauty, and Knowledge. Do not trust the fictitious teachings, which tell you, that you cannot put Love in practice. If you keep the commandments of God and abide in Love, do not trust the one, who tells you, that you do not follow the right path; do not trust, when someone tells you that the fruit which you cultivated is bitter or sour. In the past, before it has ripened, the fruit had been sour and bitter but today, it is sweet. Do not live with your past - the present, which you spend nowadays, is important. On one occasion Nasredin Hodja, riding on the back of his old ox, headed to the field. He met an acquaintance who asked: “Hodja, why are you riding this old ox?” The Hodja didn’t reply that he acted so because he had no horse but said: “Do not look at the form of my ox today, you should have seen it a few years ago, when it was jumping and playing lively like a young and strong foal.” According to me, it is not important what the ox had been in the past, it is important what it is today - the past had lived its time. The present life is a reflection of the past; therefore we are discontented with it. The new that we acquire and put in practice at present, will determine our life in the future. He who wants to know what his previous life had been, let him look at the present; there he will discover his past. When living in a new way, he is building up his bright future. Thus, the one who hesitates on the path has admitted to himself one leg of the devil. Man has knowledge of Truth, but he alone, admits the doubt to himself. Nobody can lie to anyone, especially himself. If you keep the commandments of God and abide in His Love, you are on the right path and whatever you aspire to, you can attain. Christ is working with the word can, and the devil with the word cannot. If you say that you can live well, Christ is with you; if you say that you cannot live well, Christ is far from you. - “I am a sinful man” - if somebody says this, this suggests that his will is weak. The transgression, the mistakes are concealed in the weak-will of humans; give the right direction to your will and you will ascend. If you have transgressed, you will get cleansed - there is plenty of water in Nature, therefore man can always wash and cleanse himself. Men and women - all have to cleanse themselves, and become conscious of their purpose, and fulfill it. What is the mission of the woman? First, she should raise herself, and then - the man. The good-natured and beautiful woman is an ideal for man - she implants in him an impulse to what is sublime, she persuades him to think and at the same time she implants Peace and tranquility in his soul. The mission of the man is to raise himself first and then - the woman. He has to manifest the power of his mind, in order to persuade her to work. Whatever she aspires, the man has to fulfill it; if today he is giving one promise and tomorrow he does not fulfill it, he is likened to a granny, who stands on every step and cannot go forward. If the man tells a young lady that he loves her, he has to verify the sincerity of his words. It is time already to put in practice the teaching of Christ in all its breadth and depth. If you say that you cannot employ it, you are a granny; if you say that you can employ it, you are a young person, a brave man, who can achieve everything. For the women, I wish them to be abundant in the Love of God, to carry the idea for employing Love and everywhere they go, to carry a scent - to disperse the fragrance of Love. I wish the men to implant trust in all women - to rely on their word and to their promises. “If you keep my commandments” - this is required from the man; “You will abide in my love” - this is required of the woman. And I say: the woman should abide in Love, and the man should keep the commands of the woman. 27 May 1917, Sofia [A1]Unclear. [means to run from the danger in you]

Note 2p The Good Stored up in Man “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him” Christ is speaking about the two different ways for bringing out qualities: “The good man brings of his store good things out, and the evil man brings evil things out”. The first one and the other bring something out of their storehouse, but they get different results. That means, that one and the same action or one and the same reason can produce two different results – two persons sow a field with the same thing, though the result of each one’s seed, differs from the seed of the other. How are the words good and evil store understood? In order to acquire a good storehouse, man should work a thousand years on himself – this is the only way he can obtain wealth and bear the Goodness out of the good stored up in him. A person achieves wealth in two ways and in two different directions: he can grow rich in a short time or gain assets in his life throughout many years; at the same time he could grow rich soon or throughout many years but gain discredit about it, too. Wealth is necessary to people but what kind of wealth? People have turned out and pay attention rather to the material wealth, but it is a temporary acquisition and not everlasting. For a period of time, richness rejoices man and satisfies him, but next, he is searching for something else, beyond the material wealth. When studying the deep meaning of Christianity, man arrives at the understanding that the true development is concealed in the inner, spiritual wealth of the soul. The spiritual science, called by some “religion”, requires spiritual growth of man. In this case, the word religion is not quite apt, but there is no other word in the Bulgarian language to substitute for it. Under religious person, they understand a foolish, narrow-minded, fanatic who does not think rightly. Some consider that a person becomes religious, when he starts to grow old. I do not speak about the religion of the old people, but about the Divine religion, that embraces the Divine science. Some replace the word religion with theosophy, which is founded on reincarnation; others replace religion with spiritualism, which is based on the relationship between spirits, although, both words: theosophy and spiritualism are restricted; they cannot embrace the idea of Divine science. Nowadays, even the word God has lost meaning, therefore people replace it with the word Nature; in the near future, the word Nature will be replaced by another, which will encompass the understanding of man. It is of no significance that you are going to replace one word with another, it is significant that each word expresses accurately and definitely its meaning. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him” – how to attain the good store? With knowledge, endurance, and constancy. How does a good gardener act, when he has a garden with many fruit trees along with walnut-trees too? When the walnuts begin to ripen, he does not hurry to shake them down straight away and take its green cover off but he leaves it on the tree to crack on its own. Once he sees this happen, he already knows the walnut has ripened; if he takes off the green shell prematurely, then he will spoil the core of the walnut. When the walnut becomes ripe, he cracks it and removes the green cover, and after this - the hard cover and finally he arrives to the core within, which is also wrapped in a thin membrane, with a bitter taste. The way a walnut encloses the good stored up in it in a few covers, in such a way, man hides his genuine wealth wrapped in a few covers. The exterior cover reflects the material wealth, which you need to leave freely to ripen and not to remove it prematurely – this is the safe protection of the real treasure in man. From the exterior cover, the nourishing juices flow to the interior cover and then to the core. The membrane that envelops the core, contains enough iodine; eat walnuts and do not be afraid, they replace the usage of iodine. “The good stored up in man.” Those who do not understand the meaning of the spiritual life say that they do not need richness but to be closer to God. For a man to be close to God means that he needs to be healthy in body, mind and heart, i.e. the energies in him have to be organized; if he is not healthy, or his energies are not organized, he is far from God. The connection with God is not an exterior process but an inner process. The same applies to ordinary people: from the outside, you are close to someone but inwardly you stand up far away for him. What should a man do, in order to organize himself? He should keep his exterior cover until it becomes ripe – with it missing, he will break the wholeness of his content. A man should be patient, not to hurry to attain great results in a short time – every result will arrive in its time. Many hasten forward, they want to realize their desires and spoil themselves. What is the understanding of the words inner content, what is the inner content of man? That is his soul, i.e. the Divine principle in him, which draws from Life the necessary powers, and energies in order to manifest his virtues and abilities. For a man to have Life in himself means to live consciously, one who does not know how to live is not a conscious person. When speaking about the Conscious Life, many say, “It is not important if I live consciously or not, it is important that I keep my body safe.” It is correct that man strives for saving his body, for the exterior, solid, protective cover, but one day the latter will come off alone. Likewise the green cover of the walnut cracks and falls off, so will the body of man fall off, and he will remain with his second coat – when is this going to happen? When man becomes ripe/mature. However, until he ripens, nobody has the right to take away his exterior cover. It is the same with the walnut: in order not to spoil the core, leave its green wrap to crack alone and fall off. Children often shake the walnut-tree before it has ripened and stain their hands with the green covering; they do this because they like the fresh kernels of the walnut. When bored with life, people say: “Why do we need this body, if only we could be free from it” – they do not understand the significance of their physical body. While in his body, man ripens and organizes his strength; by losing his body, he falls off the Tree of Life prematurely and goes to the other world unorganized, unripe. Christ says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him”. The heart is located in the physical body of man; once he denies his body, he also denies the life of the heart. That is the reason that the physical body is a cover, i.e. mediator through which, sap passes from the outside to the inside, meaning from the outer, physical world, to the Spiritual world (World of Spirit). By the means of nourishment, for example, man perceives the outward necessary materials to build up not only his body, but also his soul. In Divine terms, man is not yet shaped, has not transformed into a genuine human, i.e. he has not yet fully ripened. From the perspective of the Angels, he is compared to a tree, therefore it is written in the Holy Scriptures: “The Righteous will be like trees planted nearby clear effluents”. The tree is taken as a symbol of knowledge, in that case, there is some knowledge hidden in the tree, the knowledge of Life. In the Garden of Eden, there were many trees, amongst all of them, two were distinguished: The first one was the Tree of Life and the other – the tree for knowing the Good and the evil. When God created the first humans, He said to them, “You can eat the fruit from all trees but not from the tree for knowing the Good and the evil. On the day you eat from it, you will die.” With this, God wanted to give a warning to the first humans, that unless they organize their physical body, senses and systems correctly, they are not able to correctly perceive the saps and the energies, which flow from the outside world, they cannot study the second, harder cover – the bones of their own body. The first cover implies the muscles of man, and the second – the bones; the first cover infers the science for Life, for the outside world, and the second – the science for knowing the Good and the evil. When man acquires this Knowledge, he arrives to the third cover – the thin membrane that wraps the kernel of the walnut. When he tastes the core, he has already arrived to the inner sense of Life. When you examine the human head, you can observe that it is made up of three covers: exterior – the skin, the middle – the bone, and the interior – a thin membrane, that envelopes the brain. If the thin membrane gets damaged or inflamed, man gets upset. In order not to get upset, he should work over himself – to create a healthy body for himself, to cope with the conditions, and make use of them. If not healthy in body and in mind, only in one moment, man can lose his health, and get upset. For example, one has put faith in money, losing the money he can get a stroke in the brain, a heart attack and die – some people have lost the meaning of their Life and got discouraged from the smallest failures. The substance, which compounds the material world, manifests in four different qualities. The first conditions are exterior: hard, liquid, vaporous, luminous or radiant, heating and the others are interior in content: inorganic and organic matter. One of the qualities of matter is that it can pass through one condition to another. It achieves this through changes in its vibrations, its rising and falling. When matter is refining, its vibrations rise up; as soon as it loses its cleanliness, its vibrations decline. When matter is cleansing, man is also being cleansed – this cleansing is happening mainly through the heart. By the word heart we understand the Carnal soul of man or his Astral body, which comes after the physical body. When dying man passes out to the next world with his Astral body, like the walnut is planted in earth with its hard cover, not with the green one. The hard shell of the walnut bursts in the earth, after that the membrane breaks and only the nut remains, and from its core, there emerges a new walnut. The new walnut, concealed in the core of the walnut, represents the real soul of man that should be studied. The philosophy of human life is comprised in the walnut. Study and observe the development and the vegetation of the walnut, in order to grasp the threads, which create the philosophy of human Life. If the threads do not warp with one another, the way a woman warps, no cloth will be weaved. For the same reason, our thoughts and feelings are not weaved at random, but according to the laws of the righteous thought and the righteous feelings. The righteous thought excludes every suspicion, fear and doubt. Liberate yourself from the thought that somebody could deceive you. Be like the moneychanger – who can deceive a moneychanger? When you take to him a yellow coin and present it as gold, he takes the touchstone out of his pocket and examines it. In order not to be deceived, he should apply his touchstone and test the coin which they offer him, is it gold or false. What is necessary for contemporary people, in order not to lie themselves? They need Faith, trial and vision. Then Faith should pass to trial, trial – to vision and vision to the Life of Reason. Apply this to your family relations, to your friends and you will see its good results. When people do not understand the rules of Life, they violate them and in the end, whatever evil or misfortune happens, they give all up to God. If somebody falls ill, it is said that God has determined this; somebody is put on trial – again they consider God in charge. Man alone is in charge of his fortune or misfortune, he alone is a cause for the illnesses, hardships and contradictions, in which he finds himself. There exist two aspects of fate or impositions – for evil and for Good. On earth, they punish only those, who make mischief and harm. When a man commits a crime or mischief, the policeman catches him, gives him up to the police and initiates proceedings against him – the bigger his crime is, the higher is the noise made around him. In order to discharge him, great lawyers take up his cause, the newspapers write about him, the community reads and discuss the issue, gives its judgment, and so on. Both the criminal becomes notorious, and the lawyers and the justice, who take part in the cause, also get well known. However, when a man does Good, nobody takes interest in him. Very naturally, there are no laws on Earth to investigate the good deeds of people and give them the honour. On Earth they bring to trial only the criminals and the evildoers; in Heaven, on the contrary, they take interest in the good deeds of people, and not of the bad and criminal; there nobody takes interest in the mistakes and the crimes of people, nobody is searching for them. If someone does a good deed, the great lawyers stand up on their feet right away and say: “Bring us this man, let us see what Good he has done to give him the honour.” The greater the Good one has done, the more people are interested in him, and the more noise is raised around him.” “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him.” The good treasure of the heart is the Divine soul, where the man stores all that is given to him from God. Since there is some gift, man should draw from his treasure and give it out, to be efficient – either to himself and his relatives. Every good in Life are given by God. The good man has the right to draw from them until he satisfies his natural necessities, then he gives out to his relatives. In order to make use of the Divine goodness rationally, man should be guided not only by his mind or heart but also by his soul: to forward the energies from the air through the lungs, from there through the spinal cord and finally – into the main brain. This means that man should be active with his mind and heart, to resolve rightly his tasks, to be efficient for himself and his relatives. Don’t the gardeners act in this way? They are making use of the energy from the main source, by letting the water flow through little channels to water the most distant corners of the garden. You will say that this is not happening quickly; with haste, you cannot do a good job – man needs patience, constancy, and not haste. One American doctor was called to cure an Anatolian Turk from the Asia Minor. After he had a medical examination, the doctor prescribed a medicine for him to take, three spoonfuls daily in the course of ten days; after having taken all the medicine, his condition would have improved. The Turk had a look at the medicine, he thought twice and then said, “Why do I have to take it ten days one after the other, I’d better drink it in one gulp, so I can get better sooner?”- He raised the bottle and drank it all. After one or two hours his condition got worse and he died. Keep the measure and the prescriptions of God, the Nature and the doctor who treats you; respect the prescription that is given to you – three spoonfuls daily. Likewise, God is writing in His book “three spoonfuls daily”. You will say that the Turk was stupid. What are you going to say for contemporary people, who eat a few dishes at lunch, next, they drink two or three litres of wine; then, they have overeaten and call the doctor to help them – they upset their stomach, lose their appetite, and so on. There are Turks everywhere, not only in Malay Asia. When man does not think rightly, he resembles the Turk who drank all the medicine at once, same as the people who surfeit and upset their stomach each day. In my opinion, seventy five percent of people, surfeit every single day. Someone says that he does not surfeit, he does not surfeit but wishes to love all people and to be loved by all – is this not surfeit? Can you give all people, everything they wish? Do you have the power of the Sun? You have not yet learned to love your mother and father, your brothers, sisters and friends who have done good to you, and (already) you want to love the whole world. The human heart is known in difficult moments. Man should collect Divine energy in himself, to enrich his heart, so he can manifest his feelings in times of difficulty. In times like these, exactly, man should have food, to nourish the life of his fellow. A degraded Russian duke married for love, a young, beautiful girl of noble origin. In the first days after the wedding, he often kissed his beloved, but she got hungry and wished to eat – she wanted bread. - Let’s kiss! – He used to say to her. - I am hungry! – The beloved objected. - Let’s kiss! Let us kiss today, let us kiss tomorrow – she lost her favour towards her beloved, her love had grown cold. Very naturally, she felt deceived by him – he was extremely poor, he had just one title. One does not need just kisses; one needs many things. The uniform kisses destroy man. The kisses of some people exhaust their energy – these kisses are similar to suckers, which do not drag out the bad and impure blood of man, but the pure one. It is enough to get ten kisses like this, ten suckers, in order to see what they are like. I take the word kiss in a broad sense, not only by its frame: Everyone who muddles the mind and the heart of man gives kisses like the sucker of the leech, sucking not only the impure, but also the pure blood. The Christian teaching does not bear these kisses – it requires harmony everywhere and in everything. According to this Teaching, lame people should find their legs; the blind should see the light, and the foolish – come to their senses. Under the words foolish person I understand one, who has no circumstances for growth. Confine a smart person to a dark room and keep him there for ten years – you will see that he will grow stupid and become foolish. Why is this? He has no circumstances to progress. And vice versa – if you place a stupid person in favourable circumstances to progress, after ten years he will become smarter. Christ says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him and the evil man – brings evil things out.” Everyone should obtain the good things out of the good stored up, once for himself and then for his relatives; this means: first, learn to love God and then learn to love your relative. If you have not learnt this art yet, and you teach others, you will be exposed - they will ask you straight away, “What did your God do for you?” This is not to blame you, but before you teach others, open your mind and heart for the Divine light, so you can progress rightly. Many close themselves to this light like a nut in its shell, and they expect good results – this is impossible. Open for the Divine light, which will free you of all hardships and contradictions. How do you know, that the Divine light penetrates through your mind and heart? The Divine light brings no doubt in human mind and in human heart – same as clear spring water, which freshens and cheers up man. If you drink water which contains all sorts of dregs, it will destroy your organism, and bring in dusk and darkness, then your thoughts and feelings, will split in two. Every teaching is Divine when it ascends and has an elevating influence on man. Nowadays, there are many preachers who preach the Christian teaching, but only a few can lecture it, properly. Both the Americans and the English sent many missioners all over the world but together with Christianity, they brought in the alcoholic drinks. Some nations appealed to them, not to forward this poison. What is the point of Christianity if you lift up a nation from one hand and poison it on the other? To give poison and destroy man is the easiest thing to do. You will say that you are not like one of these people – there is no man on earth who did not initially poison himself. How many times a day, does man let poison in his blood: today you are well tempered, you have a Divine disposition of the spirit, but you let in a thought that immediately darkens your spirit and you grow weak, losing what you have earned. How many times a day, one falls down and rises up – that is the Turk in everyone, who, not listening to God’s words, raises the bottle with the medicine and drinks it all up at once. What is Death like? It is Purification, i.e.; leaving the old and unclean house, so it can burn. A house, where people have lived thirty years in discord, arguments and misapprehension, must burn; a hospital, where thousands of sick persons with infectious diseases, have passed through; and the walls have absorbed sighs, groans and uncleanliness, should burn to the ground. Today, God is sending fire all over the world – to burn out and cleanse it from all bad thoughts, unclear, infectious thoughts and desires. Thence, He will rescue people from a greater evil. Therefore, God says, “I already begin to throw away everything old and rotten, and build up something new, solid and clean.” Now, I remove the exterior shell of the walnut, so that the inner content can emerge – the core. The core is the place where the human soul is concealed, where good thoughts and desires are cultivated, one’s will is steeled and the forces of the mind and the heart are being organized. In order to create good thoughts and desires, does not imply to mortify every desire in you. In the book, “Light upon the path” it is said: “Mortify every desire in you!” This thought undergoes correction: it should be, “Mortify every bad desire in you and revive every good desire.” When reading this book, you will see that many things must be corrected. Either the one, who wrote the book, had consciously hidden the Truth, or he had no understanding of the deep sense of the matter. When studying the Divine science, man should be guided by his inner understanding of things, not falling into doubts. If you stumble across contradictive thoughts, do not hurry to draw conclusions – reflect upon them and then make your conclusions. Christ says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man - brings evil things out”. Even this thought has two points: from the same place – the heart – the good man brings good things out and the evil – brings evil things out. Consequently, when I want to reform a person, I tell the evil man to mortify every evil desire, not to cause mischief to himself and the other people; I tell the good man to revive all his good wishes and realize them, to be good to himself and his relatives. Man should be cautious with his desires, not to lose self-control. If he goes to the extreme with his good desires, he could encounter contradictions, which generate bad desires as well. One American professor loved the subject he taught so much, that he used to forget himself while teaching and used to keep his students half, and even sometimes one hour, after the lecture. They decided to teach him a good lesson in order to break his habit to hold them back after the bell. One day, they smeared glue on the chair the professor was sitting and screwed it well to the floor. The Professor spoke two whole hours this day and when he finished the lecture a half hour had to pass until he was set free from the chair – his clothes got stuck with the glue. The professor realized who had arranged this joke and he never again kept his students after the bell rang. It is time now for all people, glued to their chairs to unglue. Everyone should become aware that if he does not succeed in his deeds the reason is that he is stuck to the chair – first get unstuck, then work. The sticking to the chair shows that people still live with their old views and convictions. If you fail to get unstuck on your own, ask somebody to come and help you, but do not remain stuck. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him”. Christ puts the question sharply: - “the good stored up in man and the evil stored up in man”. By the words “the good stored up in man”, He implies the human soul, which develops rightly. According to the occultists, it represents the good karma of man: the good man has fulfilled God’s laws, has gathered a good treasure in his heart, and now he has something to draw and give out to his relative. The evil man had broken God’s laws, he had done wrong and by doing so, he had created his bad karma. At present, they put him in jail, where he lies for a few years, until he acquires a certain experience – through suffering the sap of the evil turns out into goodness. In every village you will visit, you will see how the villagers take out the dung from the dung-heap and fertilize their fields and gardens – in this way they cultivate the trees and the flowers and transform them into good quality. Every man should take out the dung from his dung-heap, i.e. to take out the evil from the evil stored up in him and plant it in his field, fertilize it and transform the evil into Good, which is an indispensable element to the health of man. How do we know if a man has stored up the good in him? Imagine that you get up in the morning, joyful and cheerful, and throughout the day you keep this favourable disposition – in this case, you have stored up the good things in your heart. If you remain favourably disposed, despite the tribulations that happen to you during the whole day, you are a rich person, you bring good things out of the good stored up in you. That, what is true for one day, is valid for many days. If you wake up in the morning and you are in a bad frame of mind, and throughout the day, you are not able to improve your condition, you are bringing evil things out of the evil stored up in you. You are going to apologize that you are not well-disposed, that you are sick, and so on. Nothing can excuse you – the stored up in you is not good. You have nothing left to do, but take the evil things out of the evil stored up in you and throw it as dung over your field. Afterwards, sufferings will come to you but say, “I am ready to suffer, in order to ascend, to acquire patience and Love.” Man should be patient. Somebody passes for a patient person, because the conditions impose him to bear – this is woe, not patience. Woe imposes on man, whereas patience is a result of the reasonable human will. Never impose on someone your beliefs, views and convictions, let him be free to plant a garden on his own the way he understands it – you can give him the seeds, but he has to plant and cultivate them alone. He can make some mistake - this is of no significance; the evil is not located in the mistakes that a person makes but in the failure to correct the mistakes. It is important that a person has freedom to develop rightly; at the same time, he should give a free hand to others to develop rightly too. How do mothers act with their children? When the child is little, the mother puts on it swaddling clothes, ties it with a wrapper, and thus the baby lies for hours. First, she gives it a bath, unwraps the swaddling clothes and leaves the child free to kick with its legs for a while. After, she baths it, she wraps it quickly into swaddling clothes, ties it with the wrapper and lays it in the cradle to sleep–the child should lie down and keep quiet, such is the statute. Some religious people act the same way: they catch someone, put on him swaddling clothes, tie him with a swaddling band and say, “We turned this man to God.” You did not turn him, but you restricted him. If you meet a man, wrapped in swaddling clothes follow the example of the mother: after the period of four or five months, she uncovers the swaddle and sets the child free–by doing so she gives it conditions to develop freely and naturally. If the child remains for a long time in the swaddle, tied with a wrapper, its growth will cease and it will shrink. No mother wants to see her child shrunk–she wants it to become healthy, strong, to develop well. On entering a religious society, initially a person is found in the position of a child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and tied with a band; after some time he gets rid of the swaddling and starts to develop rightly and naturally, to grow and become reasonable, manifesting the good stored up in him. Therefore, when a man gets up from sleep, he should ask himself if he is free from the swaddling and the wrapper. Once he is certain that he is free, he starts to move his hands and legs freely, to stretch, which means that he is ready to work. The hands and legs of man represent the human will. Because when the eyes, the tongue, the hands and the legs of man are free, this shows that he has a mind, heart and willpower to work with, in order to fulfill God’s Will. The sleep represents the swaddling and the diapers, in which man is wrapped; once you wake up, untie the swaddling, take the diapers off and say: “Thank You, Lord for giving me the Freedom to move and work, to manifest my will, mind and heart, and serve you.” Prepare for Heaven, while you are still on Earth, because in Heaven there is no sleeping, no wrappers, no swaddling. Work on yourself, in order to ascend your spirit, to develop your Spiritual body, in which you will resurrect. There are people, who will resurrect while they are still on Earth–it is about them that apostle Paul says, that their exterior cover will resurrect and undergo change. Aspire to the Resurrection as an inner process – that means man should liberate all doubts and restrictions. Believe in your mind and heart, in your Spirit and soul, which God has put in you, and you will resurrect. Hence, if you bring the good things out of the good stored up in you, acknowledge this; if you bear evil things stored up in you, fertilize your field with the evil, in order to transform it into Good–this is the thought that Christ put in the verse for the good and the evil stored up in man. The time has already arrived for man to move through the transient and the restricted, to the eternal, from the swaddling clothes and the wrapper - to the Freedom, from the milk- to the raw food. The little child is fed with milk, it is in the nature of things, but if the young girl, or the young man want to suck, this is not a natural process. Once the child begins to walk, it can eat raw food - this freedom is indispensable for its growth and development. “The good and the evil stored up in man.” Everyone should ask himself whether he belongs to the good or to the evil people, to the believers or the unbelievers. Who is an unbeliever? It is one who has no Light in one’s mind. Open the windows of his house, so the Light can enter from outside. If a person does not posses money to open the window, let him open it on his own account. Everyone, who is placed in a dark room with no windows, will become an unbeliever. Belief is revealed with Light and unbelief with Darkness. The good is done at Light, and the evil - in darkness. Man has to transform his life, i.e. to leave the darkness and enter into the Light. Every morning, after getting up from sleep, say to yourself: “I am a good and a reasonable man, because God created me.” You will reply, that this is untrue. As I take it, all that is created from God is Good and reasonable. In order to be convinced of this, throw away the old and ragged clothes to see the Divine clothing in which God has dressed you. Who do you blame that you have dressed in the old rags and you cannot recognize yourself. Do not trust those, who support the thought that man is sinful in nature. Only the one, who lives in a dark and gloomy cellar and does not know how to come out of it, is sinful. Take this man out of the cellar and place him in the Divine world, in Freedom and open space. Christ appeals to the good and reasonable people to bring out the good stored up in their hearts and help their fallen brothers. Give out as a gift, so it will be given back to you. Give out of your golden and not from your paper money, because in Heaven, paper money will not pass - every good thought, every good feeling and every good act are specie money, which never lose value. The good store implies the specie money, and the evil store - the paper money. David says: My mother conceived me in sin - he acknowledges that sin is not Divine, but an invention of man. John says: “I am conceived by God.” The one who lives in a dark room and brings evil things out of his store, he is conceived by the devil; the one that lives in a room full of light and brings good things out of his store, he is conceived by God. Live and work like Christ does, and become one with God. This is what Christ requires from all people, to revive, to reorganize the societies and the nations, to penetrate the new Life everywhere, to bring the Divine Realm on Earth. It is not enough to know who Christ is and what he has done, but everyone should ask himself what he has done, alone. We all know what Christ did two thousand years ago, we all see what he is doing today, but what have you done, and still do, as a human being? – “You, who speak now, what, are you?” – Come to work with me and you will see what I am. If we work together and I take twenty per cent of the profit, and I give to you ten percent, you will understand how righteous I am, but if I give to you more, and take less for myself, or if we share equally, again you will understand what I am. This is the meaning of the verse, “You will get to know them by their deeds.” Now, I want all people to loosen their purse-strings, brains and hearts, to throw aside the swaddling clothes and the wrappers and to begin freely to move their hands and legs. This is required by both religious and worldly people, this is required by the life of Reason. You will say that it is easy to talk but hard to work. The one who speaks with Love, he works easily with Love. He had gone through tribulation and sufferings, he has understood Life and knows how to work - his words are rich in content and meaning. Christ is coming to Earth to revive mankind, the nations, societies, as well as each person individually. Thence everyone should say to himself: “I can achieve anything along with God, with the Angels and the good people.” If everyone would say this to himself, the world will reform and everything will work out for the better. There are three ways, by which man can enter in the Narrow path, i.e.; in the Divine path: the first way is to push the train which leads in this direction, the second way - is to compete with it, and the third - is to get on this train and let it take you along to the determined place. If you come across this train, do not push it to go forward - it will move by itself; do not compete with it - you will fail to follow it, but get inside and believe that it will take you to the Divine Kingdom. I wish all of you to be like the good man, for whom Christ says, that he takes out good things out of the good stored up in him. 20 May 1917, Sofia

Note 2p GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” Matthew 19: 6 “What God has joined together… ” Obviously, in this verse Christ speaks about marriage. Actually, is this marriage, what people do at present? Two families become close friends, live well together and after a time they marry their children – is it the right joining? There are three kinds of joining: the first is what God does – it is the true and sound joining; the second one is what a person does by oneself and the third is what people do. All difficulties, contradictions and sufferings of the joined people come from the last two. In order to be able to do a certain joining rightly, a person, a master or a state should be deeply filled with God’s Wisdom, should comprehend the main law on which Life is built. To comprehend the main law of Life means to comprehend Life as it is manifesting in Nature. That is why, when reading the verse in which Christ speaks about joining, you should realize it in its full, in its deep sense, not sticking to the perfunctory meaning of the word. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder” – many read and read over this verse but do not comprehend it. Many preachers have spoken on this verse, have interpreted it but they have not touched the main Truth hidden in it. Why is the Truth contained in this verse not revealed? For two reasons: from one side, because of the ignorance of those speaking on it; from the other side, because of the intentional shrouding of the Truth for fear that it may expose them. Lack of knowledge, ignorance is excusable – not knowing something people speak about what they know and how they think. However, it is neither excusable nor justifiable to know the Truth and to hide it consciously. The Truth is a great principle. Only a clear person can speak the Truth; if someone unclear tries to speak the Truth, It would kill that one. In addition, only a clear person can comprehend the Truth. Someone wants to have the Truth told - in order to hear the Truth, he or she should be ready to die; in other words, you cannot hear and comprehend the Truth if you are not ready to lay down your life for it. The words of Christ: “Who is not ready to deny himself” understand the readiness of man to deny his life in order to comprehend the great Divine Truth. Christ has spoken a lot on the joining together as well as on the major principles in Life, but only fragments have reached us on which people today put free interpretations, create various theories that do not correspond with the Absolute Truth. A right thought is only the one practiced in the real life. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Joining exists not only between the souls but between the tones as well – we call this harmony. If we look at a violin we will see that it consists of several parts but arranged in such a way that all curves and angles are directed to one straight line passing through the middle of the violin. The violin master has combined its lines and angles in such a way that when touching its strings all tones come out from the main opening in a harmonic combination. Man, too, is an instrument similar to a violin – with four well-strained strings. The strings of a violin differ not only in thickness but in the intensity of the sound as well. In order to play the violin, one needs also a fiddlestick with well-strained strings so that the desired tones are reached when touching the strings. To know to play the violin means that man has acquired one of the greatest arts in Life. When a child starts learning to play the violin, in the beginning the child creaks, and makes false tones; the more that child grows up and exercises, the more the tones become clearer. Life is music – for man to live right means to have the art of playing. The human body is an instrument, a special violin with which man plays. The strings are the four main temperaments through which people manifest themselves. The four main temperaments are sanguine or gaseous, mental or nervous, choleric and phlegmatic. It is not enough to have four strings in the violin; they should be of high quality, should be made of good material, and should have a certain thickness. The same holds true in respect of the temperaments: it is not enough to say that someone has sanguine or mental-nervous temperament, but that temperament should be of high quality. To play well, a violinist should be talented, should play with all his heart and should have good violin, good fiddlestick and strings of the best quality. Then, when playing, his violin will produce clear, pleasant tones. Someone may ask what remains of the violinists when they put their soul in the violin. The soul manifests itself in three different ways – in the field of the feelings, of the thoughts and of the acts. When the soul manifests itself in the feelings, they take part in the playing – soft, warm, harmonic tones flow from the violin, as if it speaks by itself. One eminent violinist took his violin to a good Italian master to be repaired. The master invited him to sit down to wait until the violin was repaired in order to take it back. Watching how the master took the violin to pieces with his knife the violinist lost consciousness. Why did he faint? Because the knife touching the violin gave him pain – a part of his soul was in the violin. Christ says: “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” – What joining has God made, which things has He joined? God has joined the mind and the heart, the soul and the Spirit, the body and the lower soul. Must an ignorant person spoil what God has joined? Who is an ignorant person? It is one, who does not speak the Truth, does not comprehend Wisdom and does not act according to Justice and Love. Since you know this, do not act like the ignorant one – to part what God has joined together. People who observe God’s laws enjoy success in their life. The peasants in a village complained to the bishop against their priest for getting tired with his divine service that often lasted four-five hours. Sometimes he finished the service within half an hour but most times he kept people in the church for hours. The bishop called the priest, told him that there was complaint against him from his parishioners and asked him what he had to say for himself. The priest said, “Divine bishop, it is true what they say against me. The reason is that when the angels and the saints help me with my service, I finish my work quickly, within half an hour. But when I am left alone, by my own power, without the support of the Bright beings, I finish my work within four-five hours.” Hence, when things take a turn for the better, the Bright beings help people; when things take a turn for the worse, the Bright beings have left them to themselves. This explains why some trees become ripe earlier while others become ripe later; for example, the cornel-tree is an early flowerer but it becomes ripe last. When creating the world, God created both plants and fruit-trees and allowed every spirit to choose a fruit-tree of his own. When the turn of the devil came, he chose the cornel-tree as it flowers first. He told himself, “Since the cornel-tree flowers first, it will become ripe first, too,” but he was wrong – the cornel-tree became ripe last. Man, too, may become ripe early, like the cherry-tree or last like the cornel-tree. There are reasons, too, why some fruit-trees become ripe early and others – late. Ripening of the cherry-tree and the cornel-tree are processes taking part in the human life as well. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” By this verse, Christ calls the attention of people to spoil not what God has made. As for spoiling, present people are masters in it; no matter among what people you fall, you will see that all people are masters in spoiling matters. You can see what some peasants do passing by a nice stone fountain; once they look at it, they feel like taking out their knife or axe to grind on the base. In this situation, is it possible for the base not to be ruined? Is it possible that anyone, either priest, teacher, preacher or judge is not spoiled if you grind your axes on them? After that they say, “Our priest, preacher or judge is not good at this job.” How can they be good, how will they not be spoiled, if you grind axes and knives on them? In order not to spoil what God has created, first we should not spoil it. Who is the cause of the spoiling? Before learning the art of grinding their axes on the base of fountains, people should have learned the law of harmony. A young man marries a good, tender, considerate girl but after several years he takes out his axe and begins grinding it on her base; he grinds the axe and fixes her, “You must not be attentive, tender, considerate to people.” He grinds his axe one day, another day, until finally his sweetheart spoils and becomes rough – how will she not become bad when axes are being grinded on her back all the time. The same happens with the young man. You should not grind your axes on the backs of the good girls and boys, you should not spoil them; you should grind them on the backs of the rough, sharp and cruel people - they need blunting. One priest had a habit of incensing in front of the stalls of the laity that were permanently unoccupied. One of those present asked the priest: - Father, why do you incense in front of the unoccupied stalls and not in front of us who are present at the service? - You have no need to be incensed. Once you are here, you are out of any danger while those who are absent need to be incensed as they are disposed to great dangers and evils. Be as that priest and go where there is a need to go, do not go where there is not a need. The rich always invite the rich to a feast – they always incense in front of their stalls as they have what to take from them. I do not blame them, I just announce a fact – everyone says, “Today I am invited, tomorrow I will invite.” It is good to do what is harmonic, natural and wise, so that Divine harmony is restored. Let us feed the poor, the hungry, the orphan children, as this is God’s will – to spoil not what He has made. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” – This is one of the principles on which Christ draws the attention of humankind. You would say Christ preached well – why did He preach well? As His sermons give Life, give a fillip to the minds and the hearts of people. A true sermon is the one that feeds the human soul and gives it power to advance. The sermons of Christ are true as they are based on the Live Rational Nature – He interprets the occurrences in Nature as they are. People, who cannot interpret them right, are under a delusion and at the same time they delude others. Examine Nature; study it so that you may use its forces. Those who seek Nature and wish to get in touch with it, let them get up early every morning, especially in May, and go out to have a walk in the air before the Sunrise. What a greater sight than the Sunrise[A1] ! At the same time, you will use the early sunbeams, which have a wholesome effect on the organism. Get up early in the morning before the Sun rise so that you accept its blessing and then begin your work. Restore the unity between your organism and the Sun like between your soul and God that have been established from the beginning. Avoid the temporary joining with people in order to run not into disharmonic states and contradictions. Therefore, do study Nature; do study the Divine manifestations without criticizing. Someone opens a book, takes only a passage from it and starts criticizing it saying that such and such a thought is not in accordance with the new theories about life. Are the new theories in accordance with the Divine teaching and with the Divine laws? All of us should be bearers of the Divine teaching, because all people as souls form parts of the Divine organism and God requires that His body is healthy and all its parts are in harmony. Only in this way, one may be glad and merry. If not healthy, he or she cannot be glad and merry; the reason for that is not in God. If a husband and a wife cannot live well, the reason is not in God; if a brother and a sister do not get along, the reason is not in God. If there is no confidence and consent between the ruling circles and the ruled classes, the reason is not in God. The reason for the disharmony, the mistrust, and the contradictions between people is in the ruining of the joining that God has made. In future, all eminent people like teachers, writers, professors, preachers, should come down from the height of their standing and should enter the world among the common, the poor and the suffering people to teach them how to live – that is what Christ wants from all people. By His descending to the Earth, Christ showed people how they should apply the great, disinterested Love between one another. All contemporary writers realize that God works in the world. He makes 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 in the making. The new people will create the New humankind which will prove that new powers and energies work in the world as well as in the whole of Nature. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder” – between what has this joining been made? Between the stomach and the food, between the lungs and the air, between the heart and the emotions, between the mind and the thoughts. If any of these combinations are broken, man is upset. It is enough that the right combination between the stomach and the food is broken in order to fall ill and to ask for doctor help. However, if the doctor helps but this combination is broken for the second time, the stomach would start opposing it and not long after that, it would give up its service. Once the stomach of someone is upset, the relations with other people will also be upset. Each one must make a combination between the stomach and the food one takes by oneself: if the combination is good, one feels healthy, fresh, merry, and ready for any work; if after that one does not feel healthy, optimistic and fresh, the combination is not harmonious. Not knowing their organism and being not able to make good combinations, people consult eminent scientists and doctors and execute their advice. The opinion of the scientists is right but is not the same for all people, not the same for the different ages (physical and intellectual). One should constantly change one’s food – the state of health depends on the change in food. As the incorrect combination between the stomach and the food upsets the human organism, in the same way the incorrect combination between the heart and the feelings upsets both the physical and the psychical state of people. You may say that people should love each other. How many lads should love one lass and how many lasses – one lad? If ten lads love one lass, they would upset her. Better one lad love her, not ten – the ten lads would upset her mind, would disturb her heart and soon she would fall ill. In fact, only one is who loves , not two. Somewhere in America, there was a famous preacher, who used to fascinate the audience with his eloquence. The day came when he had to leave. All his listeners and laity came out to see him off, as he was a general favourite. Along with them, all the dogs, the ducks and the geese came out to say good-bye to him and to wish him a pleasant journey. At last, he mounted a horse and left to the railway station. At the end of the town the horse reared, unseated him and said, “Good-bye, friend, we don’t need such celebrities, they are not necessary for our development.” Who is famous? One, who fulfills God’s will, and like the Sun, brings blessing to all living beings. No matter whether you sleep or are awake, the Sun sends its blessings and leaves. Some think that, in order to be saved, they should be orthodox – that is not right. If you are sleeping when the Sun is rising, nothing can save you no matter who you are. The salvation of the humankind lies in that Great religion that unites all religions as parts of one whole. The new religion is Love – it unites all people, reconciles and settles their contradictions and spreads Joy and Mirth in them. For people, to be united means to have a common ideal, and common aspirations. The unification, the unity gives people force and makes them powerful – they may achieve what they wish. When the Israelites left Egypt and set off with Moses to the Promised Land, they divided in twelve tribes and each tribe carried a part of the Tabernacle. Wherever they stopped, they gathered all its parts, built it and offered a fervent prayer to God. United as one and offering their prayer to God they received His blessing. What do present orthodox people do? They, too, carry the parts of the Tabernacle, but until now, they cannot gather at one place to build it and to offer together a thanksgiving prayer to God. If someone asks them what they carry, they reply, “We are orthodox and we carry the parts of the Tabernacle.” Christ is saying to them, “Gather together at one place and let each one bring the part they carry so that we can build the Great Tabernacle. And let all of us pray together to God in Spirit and Truth.” All people to gather the parts of the Tabernacle in whole – that is what is understood by the verse: “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” In other words, do not misinterpret the great Love that God has put in your souls. It is already time for people to take up the education of their minds and hearts being the first joining God has made. What a great good for man to have a mind that thinks right and a heart that feels right and to join them together. When the mind thinks right and the heart feels right, people comprehend things. They have achieved this understanding by the way of the sufferings; nevertheless, they grumble about their sufferings. Blessed are the suffering, the blind, and the lame and so on. Why are people blind, lame, and crippled? As they have passed through a certain philosophy that has crippled them. They should seek God’s Truth that brings Life and shows the way to God. Many seek God where He is not. In May, do go out early in the morning at 4 o’clock and you will find God. Take part in the singing of the birds, in the puff of the gentle breeze, in the gurgling of the springs and you will find God. The Sun invites all living beings to go out, to meet it in order to send them God’s blessing. Why not thank the Sun as a servant of God bringing a message from our Father and say to it, “Bring our greeting to our Father and tell Him that we have now decided to restore the harmony we have disturbed!” What do most people do? Waking up, they look out and seeing there is wind and the sky is cloudy, they say, “The weather is bad, it’s not time to get up.” No, do give thanks for the weather, whatever it is, and say, “Nice is the day. I will get up to enjoy the goods it hides.” Thank the wind as it airs your thoughts and feelings; thank the clouds as they bring moisture refreshing the flowers, the trees and the fruits – this is the right Teaching to which people strive for. All living beings want to be loved, to live free and to enjoy the goods that Nature gives. When I meet a dog, it looks at me, wags its tail and asks me, “Do you think of beating me or of letting me go my way freely?” – “Go your way freely, I am bringing peace, not violence.” The dog believes me, wags its tail and goes on. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” То keep this connection one should be ready to apply the teaching of Christ. That means to observe the law of harmony, known under the name law of sympathy. Two laws act in the world – a law of sympathy and a law of antipathy, i.e. a law of harmony and a law of disharmony. When they love each other, people apply the law of sympathy, of harmony, they live like brothers with each other; when they do not love each other they live according to the law of antipathy, of disharmony. There is repulsion in this law while in the first one there is attraction. Where harmony exists, God is there; that is why everyone should ask himself or herself whether they are joined with God or not. Do not seek God outside yourself as some form but seek Him within yourselves as content. A rose and a pink have some outward form but important is their fragrance that people perceive inwardly – they differ in fragrance. Therefore, God is outside and inside – it is an error to think He is outside only. We should not deliberately shut our eyes to the Truth – all things in which there is combination, are internal. For example, there is a piano, notes, a pianist, but the music is not manifested yet; to have music, the pianist should combine all elements in a whole and should manifest himself – you listen and perceive the music inwardly. However, only those who listen closely to themselves, to their inner voice, can comprehend the inner content of things – this is what it means to comprehend the sense of things. Many ask themselves what the church is. The church is the piano, the holy books – the notes and the priest – the pianist. He should sit down at the piano and play in compliance with all rules of music. You will tune your ear and will listen to perceive the music inwardly and to thank God for having the opportunity to make use of it. Be glad that you can go out at Sunrise and can perceive its rays. Blessed is the one who can comprehend the joining that God has put in the whole of Nature – between the minerals, the plants and the animals. You would say the minerals and the plants are mute – Nature is live and rational, there is nothing mute in it. One, who has ears, can hear and listen to the speech of Nature and can comprehend it. All mystics comprehend Nature as music, speech and song – this is how it preaches and teaches people. There is not a priest in the world that could be compared with Nature. “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” God has made several basic combinations: from one side between the body, the soul, and the Spirit and from the other side between the mind, the heart, and the will. The human Spirit passes through these conditions so that it perfects itself. In the physical world, one studies the law of movement, in the Spiritual world – the qualities of the emotions and their intensity and in the Mental world – the sense of Life. When talking about a resurrection, about Eternal life, we understand the joining existing between the human Spirit and the human soul. They contain the qualities of the Divine Spirit and the Divine soul; that is why man has the potentialities God has. People should realize that and should work on themselves so that the Divine put in them manifests. If someone says that he or she cannot do something, this shows that he/she denies the Divine in himself/herself; if they say that they are sinners, they deny what God has joined. God has given to you a lot of land, which you should cultivate. Many leave their hearts and minds uncultivated – this is the reason why various unwanted seeds fall from outside from which weeds and thorns grow. Those who do not cultivate what God has given to them cannot be saved – they do not see an exit from anywhere. Those, who do not work in consent with the Divine, cannot expect any goods. Each one should say, “God has put in me certain talents and potentialities and I should work in order to develop them.” You would say that man is a sinner and cannot achieve anything by himself. A sinner is only the one who has broken the joining God has made. Turn to the Divine within yourself with the will to restore the joining existing between your mind and heart, your soul and Spirit and you will be good, will enjoy the goods you are given. Do not say that people are bad, that they obstruct you to reveal yourself, but try to find the reason for that within yourself. Apply Faith, patience and Love and you will see that soon you will achieve good results. In order to know your fellow men, do remove the outer casing from them and you will see that inside they are sweet – the green shell of the walnut is bitter but the kernel is sweet, tasty. Only thus, you can know the qualities of the human soul. Do not say that man is a wolf to man; if you think in this way, you see the wolf skin that people have put on for the time being – inside they are not wolves. Others have put on a lion skin, but inside they are not lions. You should get to the inner nature of people in order to comprehend that man is a brother to man, not a wolf. One, who has worked and continues working on oneself, has kept one’s Purity as a natural garment given by God. Meeting such people you see God in their face and are glad for having seen them. Your task is to learn, to keep everything you have been given in the remote past. Where will you study? At the Great Teacher – God, whose Teaching has neither beginning, nor ending. It leads to Resurrection, to Eternal life. To resurrect means to start learning and working from the beginning. The resurrected are ready to renounce their personal life and to work and live only for the One who has created them. Today, Christ calls the attention of all people so that they realize that the image of God is within them and that they should take up to clean Him in order to restore the initial joining within themselves with which they were born. God has given health to people and they should carefully preserve it. To preserve your health, do get up early in the morning, especially in May – at 4 o’clock you should be out of bed. It is good not only for you but for all people: teachers, priests, mothers, fathers – all should begin their work early. When the Sun rises, do say, “Blessed be, God, our Lord, who sent the Sun so that we make use of its light and heat!” Only the one, who appreciates the goods that Nature is giving with an open hand, comprehends the meaning of the verse, said by Christ two thousand years ago, “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Discussing this verse, I just sow seeds in your fields. The rest of the job is yours – you will grow them as a writer takes a theme and develops it. That is what means to hear the voice of your Great Father – of Love and to comprehend the sense of your Life and your purpose on the Earth. That is what means to be regenerated, which is to be born anew. Christ says, “If you are not born again, you will not enter the Kingdom of God.” For this reason, one that was born by a mother and a father, will be born and regenerated many times on the Earth. Stupid people will be born and regenerated until they become wise. Ordinary people should become talented, geniuses, saints, Angels, etc. If there are not conditions for every living being to develop, Life will lose its sense. Do work, do develop without striving to be first – who wants to be first, remains last. It is told in an old legend that while creating the world, God charged the Sun with the great mission to give warmth, to shine and to heat. However, it wanted to rise first and to go first to God. Hearing about its desire, God ordered all planets to move around it, and it – around God. Thus, the Sun, the elder brother of the Heaven turned out to be more far away from God than all its younger brothers. The Sun realized its mistake and continued to rise and set on and on in order to expiate it. The rest of the planets turn around it to learn the law of moving. Many Christians have the same desire as the Sun has – to be near Christ, but the new Teaching, the Teaching of Love, excludes self-seeking. “Blessed are the humble and the meek,” – Christ says; in other words, blessed are those who take the place that God has set for them. It is preferable to take the last place but to do God’s will than to be first but to not do God’s will. Christ says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will see God.” I wish you to restore the joining between your mind and your heart, as well as between your Spirit and your soul so that all energies which turncocks you had closed for ages start running. 13 May 1917, Sofia ___________________________ [A1][What a greater sight is there than the Sunrise !]

[1] “Grace” in this whole context is used in the meaning of “blessing”, “boon”. [2] “goods” here implies “wealth”, ” bounties”. [3] “Mindful” here should be comprehended in the meaning of “intelligent”, “sensible”, “understanding”. [4] “Cold” here is in the meaning of “sickness in the nose”. [5] „Men” here is in the meaning of “male persons” [6] Ivan of Kronstadt – or John of Kronstadt (1829 – 1908) – a Russian Orthodox priest with the non-clerical name Ivan Ilich Sergiev [7] Bourgas is a big harbour city in South Bulgaria. [O1]This was missed in the first translation [O2]This was missed in the first translation [O3]Sorry, again I missed it in the first translation [O4]Again missed in the first translation

Note 2p Salvation “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:17 Educated people of the 20th century, both worldly and religious, have a vague understanding of Moses’ law as well as of Christ’s law. For the past two thousand years Christians have been combing through Christ’s Teaching and have, thus, made it so threadbare that if you were to look at it through the eyes of a seer you would to see it as a tree with peeled off bark. All critics, writers, and preachers alike talk about obtaining salvation through doing good deeds, and through implementing God’s commandments, but salvation proceeds out of one basic law in Nature that has been in existence long before Christ’s time, since the beginning of all Existence. Thus, everything that happens today in the human soul, in societies, in peoples, and throughout the whole of humankind, comes from the Beginning of all Existence, i.e. from the original Life source. The word “salvation” has many meanings. For example, someone falls into water and starts drowning, but then someone else pulls him out of the water. Everyone is happy and says, “This man has been saved.” Someone else recovers from a serious illness and people say, “He is saved.” Then, someone else strays from the right path, but after a while is able to straighten his life and start living righteously again. Again, people say of him, “He has been saved.” The common meaning of the word “salvation” implies one’s leaving the bad life and returning to the good Life again, or it implies leaving the toils and suffering of Life and settling into the better conditions of Life. Taken in its broader meaning, the word “salvation” implies one’s entering into eternal Life. Everyone wants to find the conditions of eternal Life. This is all too natural! It is not good enough for man to be saved from drowning, only to die of starvation later; it is not enough for man to rid himself of a serious illness, only to fall sick with another after some time. All of this is but getting rid of one evil only to run into another one. What man needs is real salvation; he needs to restore his connection with the Original Cause of all things. Man cannot be saved unless he restores this connection, for outside of this connection no salvation exists. This is how salvation should be understood today for this is how Christ understood it and this is how all saints, as well as all just and good people on Earth have understood it. Christ says, “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have, and give to the poor; and come, follow Me.” Anyone who sees salvation in different terms is deluding himself, and he will go through falling and getting up again, through losing faith, etc. The law of salvation is at work at all times. Some think that man can be saved only once and that once he has been saved he does not need to think about salvation any more. Man needs to save himself at any given moment. Salvation, therefore, is a manifold and eternal process. We do not believe in one-time processes. However, just like man eats, drinks water and breathes all the time, he needs to save himself all the time, as well. There is a constant connection between the human soul and God: this connection is called “the connection of salvation.” People often wonder, “Have I been saved?” Today you may be saved but tomorrow someone might grab you by the neck; today you may be full but tomorrow you will be hungry; today you may have one good thought but tomorrow you will be attacked by some bad thought. If you want to break the cycle of being in one condition today and in another tomorrow, you need to keep your connection with God intact. Christ came down to Earth to create a strong and constant connection between men and Angels, on one hand, and between men and God, on the other. When the young man asked Christ what to do in order to inherit eternal Life, Christ said, “You shall not murder!” This comes to show that murder can sever man’s connection with God, with the Angels, and with his more advanced brothers. Christ also added, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness; honour your father and your mother; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” These are the laws of the Spirit and these laws are related to the present epoch. The young man said to Christ, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Christ answered him, saying, “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have, and give to the poor; and come, follow Me!” With the first two commandments Christ explains the reasons that can lead to breaking off the connection between man and the world of sublime intelligent Beings. With the next few commandments He explains the causes that can repair the broken connection. “You shall not murder!” The word “murder” is used in a broad sense and meaning. When you hear this commandment you might think to yourself, “Thank God that I have not murdered anybody in my life.” All I can say to you is this: there is no person in the world who has not murdered. Murder is not only taking one’s Life. Every day, knowingly or unknowingly, man murders a good thought, a good feeling or a good intention that comes to him. Also, man murders his neighbour’s good thoughts, intentions and acts. For example, when you meet someone who believes in God and you manage to talk him out of his belief is that not murder? You murder a sacred feeling inside this man. How do you know that God does not exist? He, who denies the existence of God, wants, in fact, to take His place. Therefore, when you say about someone that he is not rich, good, beautiful, or learned it shows that you want to keep these qualities for yourself. The denial of the Good, the beautiful, and the great puts distance between man and God. By doing these things you break off your connection with Him and expose yourselves to death. You might say that people love you, but this means nothing. People may love you and you may still toil and suffer, depending on what kind of Love their love is. Most people’s love is the love of crows and eagles. I do not mean to offend you by saying this, but I want you to know that love that does not build and elevate is but animal love. The “You shall not murder” commandment pertains precisely to this very kind of love. You say that people sing hymns to Love. To which Love should we sing hymns: to the one that destroys or to the one that creates? So many young men and women of noble thoughts and desires have been disappointed with Love! So many young women and men have made an attempt on their Life after marriage! Why does a young woman feel disappointed? It is because she cannot find in her beloved those elements that are necessary for her evolution. The young man, too, is disappointed with his beloved for the same reason. Does this same thing not happen with man’s religious beliefs? You meet a religious, joyful and inspired person, but you dissuade him of his belief and you prove to him that there is Life only on Earth, and then he becomes disappointed and loses his good disposition. The time will come when man’s consciousness will awaken and he will enter from one Life into another. Then people will understand that there is no death, and that Life is eternal and continuous. People today have different beliefs and concepts of this life and the life beyond, but they have not tried and tested everything. Some maintain the thought that there is Life only on Earth, and that when man dies he disappears and nothing is left of him. These people deny resurrection. Which one of these people has been to the other world to say what is there? Only the one who has tried a certain idea has the right to deny or ascertain it. Only the dead man can talk about death; the living talk only about Life. Speaking of this, there are dead people who are alive and continue to live. There are also living people who are dead; they move among the living but do not acknowledge Life. These people move about mechanically, having no thoughts or feelings. Thousands of years must pass before they can come back to life. They look but they cannot see; they listen but they cannot hear, for they are sleeping. However, there are also people both in this world and in the other one who can see, hear, understand and apply the laws of Life. They are alive and they enjoy Life as it is manifested in all worlds. “You shall not murder!” This means that you should not destroy a single good thought or a single good intention that God has invested into you or into your neighbour. Instead of destroying one’s Life and making it meaningless, one should build. The meaning of human Life is in getting rid of the bad traits and cultivating the good ones that elevate man, and create conditions of man’s salvation and union with God. How can one get rid of one’s bad traits? He can do that by removing from his way all those conditions that cease his connection with the Divine world. For man, to break this connection will mean to stop his evolution on Earth. Man must first live through Moses’ law, which states, “Respect your father and your mother, and love your neighbour as yourself.” Only after he has implemented this law is man ready to implement Christ’s law. Christ says, “I am the true vine, and My father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” This means that each one of Christ’s canes that has not yet given up its desire to kill is a cane that does not bear fruit. The Father will cut it and toss it aside. What are the signs that show which man kills? One sign is sourness, i.e. discontentment. Once man is sour, once he has started to feel irritated and discontent, he is ready to kill. In addition, Christ says, “You shall not steal!” What should we not steal? We should not kill people’s good thoughts and intentions. I am ready to give away all my fortune, but I do not ever want to have something stolen or steal something, myself, from the mind and heart of a man. One should not kill one’s neighbour’s good thoughts and intentions, and one should not steal, as well. Christ says, “You shall not bear false witness!” In his interactions of giving and taking, man should be completely honest and should allow for no lie whatsoever. If he receives one good thought or one good intention, he should respond with the same. If man repays one good thought with a bad one, he is using a lie. If you repay the Good with bad and tell yourself that you have applied the Good, with this you are corrupting yourself first, but also your family and your society. One is not allowed to kill, steal, or lie. A woman or a man who allow themselves to steal the mind or the heart of the other one are on the wrong path. Before long they will see the lie in which they have lived. Lying goes side by side with killing and stealing. Rid yourself of the habits and vices of your past so that you can love your father, your mother, and your neighbour. How should you love your neighbour? As yourself. Who are you, and who is your mother and your father? Your body is you, your soul is your mother, and your Spirit is your father. Man is a child of his soul. So, the body is the child of the soul. The soul cares for the body like a mother, bringing it up and teaching it good manners. Some ask if they will be using their present body for their life in the other world. They mean to ask: is the body related to the soul and the Spirit, i.e. is it related to its mother and father? The son should be decent; he should bring joy to his mother and his father. He should honour and respect them. The mother and the father are inside oneself, not outside. The day when you transgress the law of God and stop honouring your mother and your father, and stop loving your neighbour you will find yourself outside the conditions for Life. Apply Christ’s Teaching every moment of your Life, and you will see that it is a teaching of Life and Strength. If you are not well disposed pay closer attention to your Life to find out which of the three commandments you have transgressed. All you need is to be sincere with yourself and you will know which commandment exactly you have transgressed: you shall not murder, you shall not steal or you shall not bear false witness. Christ says, “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have, and give to the poor; and come, follow Me!” To whom are you going to give your possessions? To your thoughts and intentions. Whom are you going to follow? The Great Teacher of Life. When people read this verse they start discussing it. They are afraid that if they give away their possessions, and give up their house and their money they will become poor and will lose the conditions for development. God does not want your properties. He does not need your houses, or your money. The word “possessions” implies something else: only he, who is ready to express the Good that has been invested in him, is able to give away his possessions, for the Good in man makes up his possessions. Good is linked to the law of Love. When compassion and Love are active inside man, he is then ready to express the Good and do good deeds. Good cannot exist, i.e. it cannot be expressed outside of compassion and Love. There is not a single man in the world who can do good without having a good thought or a good intention in him. It is said, “Honour your mother and father.” The mother and the father represent the object of your Love and your neighbour represents the impulse that urges you to express your Love. The mother and the father are symbolic of the strong, and your neighbour is symbolic of the weak. Man is capable of loving only what is tender, weak, and endearing, and in need of help. You can honour and respect the strong, but it is the weak that you can love. The Scriptures say, “God is Love.” Who knows God as Love: he, who is weak, sinful, or feeble does. Therefore, be happy if you are weak because this gives you the opportunity to know Love and become strong; be happy if you are sinful because this gives you the opportunity to know Love and become just. It is said in the Gospel that God punishes the ones He loves. Along these lines, one can say, “God forgives the sins of the ones He loves.” This same law exists in nature, too. If you observe Animals you will notice that they, too, are careful and tender towards the weak creatures. This same law acts among people, too. Be happy if you are in the hands of someone who is strong, but also noble and good, for he will help you and elevate you. Woe to the one falls in the hands of someone who is rude and cruel, and who lacks nobility, for such a person is like an octopus: he sticks his tentacles into the weak, sucks out his juices and throws him away. Some religious and worldly people do the same: when they find someone who is weak and good they stick their tentacles into him, empty out his money pouch, and then let him go, saying, “We turned him to God”, or “We introduced him to Life and gave him knowledge.” This is no turning to God, at all; this is no science, at all. Such a person will not think again of your God or of your Knowledge. If you want to help someone you should never empty out his money pouch, and you should never turn his heart and mind to God. What you should do, instead, is let him look for God and turn to Him on his own. If you want to help someone you need to find the key to his door and tell him, “Take this key that you once lost, and open the door to your house. Then clean your house, open your windows so that the Sun can enter it and brighten it up.” It is man’s natural duty to clean his house himself, rather than letting the servants clean it for him. Your house is the temple of God, which was built specifically and only for you. What will happen if all temples were brought together to one place? This will produce disturbance in the whole world. It is about this same temple that Christ says, “Go into your room and pray to your Father Who sees in secret.” This secret room is the temple of the human soul. Entering the temple of one’s soul means getting rid of all anger and discontentment, and all hatred and jealousy. Anger and discontentment lead to killing; killing leads to stealing, and these two together lead to lying, which is the greatest vice in human Life. The first four commandments - you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not bear false witness - tell man what he should not do. The second three commandments - honour your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbour as yourself - tell man what he should do. So, man should honour his father and his mother, and love his neighbour. Man’s neighbours are his good thoughts and intentions through which he can get rid of the bad thoughts and desires, and put them under better conditions, i.e. he can cultivate and discipline them. By loving your neighbours you plant in your garden the best fruit through which you can transform the bad thoughts and desires into good ones. With these commandments Christ wanted to draw the Jews’ attention to the meaning of Life, to loving each other, and to turning away from killing, for according to their laws then they used to murder for naught. For that reason they did not have a long-standing kingdom. There are people and peoples who apply the old Jewish laws to this day, and all these people murder, lie, and steal all the time. If you follow the history of the European peoples you will see that they have led numerous wars and crusades with the goal of freeing Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be free when people stop murdering, stealing, committing adultery and bearing false witness. Now I want each one of you to trace your Life from its beginning to this day and say, “From this day on I’m putting an end to all lying, stealing, murdering and committing adultery.” Then if you turn to Christ and ask him what else you need in order to inherit eternal Life, he will answer by saying, “Go sell what you have, and give it to the poor; and come, follow Me!” Who are those poor? They are your neighbours. Some mornings you wake up joyous, in a good disposition and content with Life. What is the cause of your good disposition? The reason is in your neighbours that live in you. Consequently, if you want to maintain this disposition, you need to love your neighbours. The noble and bright things that you carry in your mind and in your heart represent a great world to you: your happiness. If you are looking for Christ you will find Him in your good thoughts, feelings and desires. They are the true connections, the true ties of your Life; you can use them to weave the connecting rope that will take you up to Heaven. The Scriptures say, “I drew you in with my Love.” So, Love is a combination of the connections of what is Good, Wise and Just, and these can elevate man into the sublime world. Only Love is capable of introducing man into the Kingdom of God. If you want to be happy you should apply Love into your Life. This way you will try the power behind Christ’s Teaching. People today complain of suffering and misfortunes, and they look for a way to get rid of those. They can do that only if they change their thinking. The old thoughts need to be replaced with new ones. By thinking right, in the new way, man understands that the same thing that yesterday caused him grief today can cause him joy. Man will not be afraid, then, if he were to lose his possessions or his social status, for his riches and his dignity depend on him. He carries inside all the conditions for being rich, strong, and healthy. Even if he were to lose his mother and father he will know that they are not really lost, for they are in him. The external mother and father are a reflection of the internal ones who live inside man. You have it all hidden inside you. All you need is to maintain good thoughts and feelings in your mind and heart, and you will have all the riches of the whole world at your disposal. Then you will not be poor, but will be able to give from yourself like a spring gives constantly. Open up your soul -the treasury of your Life and give generously. This treasury is full of riches and good seeds that need to be sown into the Divine field. Do not think that you are poor. God has given you everything, but you do not know how to use Life’s goods. Do not think that happiness is in the material riches. Man is required to have wisdom. The wise man uses correctly the goods that he is given and that is why he is rich. Man’s unhappiness is not due to the lack of goods; it is due to the fact that he prevents the good thoughts and feelings inside him from being expressed externally. In other words, man does not allow God Who is inside him to manifest Himself. God whispers quietly in your ear, “Do good.” “I don’t want to,” you object. “Let me do it then,” says God. “I won’t allow it,” you refuse. Given this situation, do you think that you can be happy, and that you can find God? Where is God? God is inside you. Open your heart and he will manifest Himself. Man cries, suffers and loses heart because he is not aware of all the goods and riches he carries inside. This is the real meaning of the Bulgarian saying, “He’s wading in water, but dying of thirst.” If you Love God you will acquire everything that you desire. Without God man will not be able to keep either his riches, or his Strength. According to a Bulgarian folk tale, once God and St. Peter decided to go down to people and walk around the world to see how people live. After walking from one town and village to another they found themselves in the outskirts of a town, and went into poor people’s house to spend the night. Their hosts were simple and cordial people who welcomed them well: they cooked them dinner, and let them rest. St. Peter was so content with the poor people’s hospitality that he asked God upon leaving, “Lord, why don’t you help these good people get rid of their poverty?” “May it be as you wish,” God said. As soon as he said that the little poor house turned into a big good-looking house, and their hosts turned into rich, well-dressed masters who were now surrounded by many servants. The host, now surrounded by riches and opulence, took to easy living, and excessive eating and drinking. He would now eat, drink and not move a finger to do any work. God and St. Peter went on with their walk around the world. A few years later they found themselves back in the same town where once they had stayed with the poor family and St. Peter asked if they could stay with them again and see how their life was as rich people. God and St. Peter knocked on the door of the now rich house and their good hostess answered the door. She invited them in politely, gave them food and let them spend the night in her house to rest from their travels. However, her face was now gaunt and sad as if something was eating her. After helping them settle in the guest room she warned them that they might hear shouting, banging and raging in the middle of the night. She explained with sadness that this was her husband who drank excessively, and would come home late and be drunk and would not be able to control himself. Before going to bed, God told St. Peter to take the bed that was closer to the door. No sooner had they fallen asleep than they heard banging, shouting, and raging and realized that the husband had returned home from his feast. He went from one room to another, opening doors, slamming and breaking things looking for trouble. Finally, he went into the guest room. When he saw that there was a stranger sleeping in the bed he took a stick and beat him up, shouting, “Here’s for sleeping in a stranger’s house when the master of the house is not there.” After all the racket subsided a little, St. Peter asked God, “Let us change our places so that he does not beat me up again if he comes back.” So, they changed their places. However, the drunk host had not come down yet. He returned to the guest room, thinking to himself, “Let me throw him a few more punches to teach him a lesson to remember.” He raised his stick in the air, but then St. Peter moved and caught the drunk man’s attention. He looked closely in the dark and noticed that there was a person in the second bed, too, whom he had not seen before. “Oh,” he said, “Here comes your turn now. I just beat up your friend and now I’m going to beat you up, too.” This way it was St. Peter again who took the beating. At dawn St. Peter urged God, “Let’s get going lest he should come a third time and beat me up again.” God and St. Peter threw on their clothes in a hurry, washed their faces and were ready to leave the house. God, then, waved his handkerchief in the air, and the house caught on fire and burned up. This is how St. Peter got away without being beaten up for a third time. When does one live only to eat and drink? When he favours his flesh first and foremost, i.e. when he favours his lowly instincts first and foremost. In a situation like this, if St. Peter prays for you he will be beaten up a few times as a consequence. Therefore, be careful not to pray for acquiring material goods before you have established your connection with God. You may feed the wolf all you want, but he will always remain a wolf; you may take care of the snake, the mosquito or the louse, but you will not be able to change their nature; you may look after a sinner, taking all the care in the world, but you cannot right his ways. Hunger and suffering are the only things that can help a sinner right his ways. Once he has reached the end of his suffering he will be able to realize his situation, and will repent; through repenting and prayer he will gradually become righteous again. If you see someone who complains a lot about his difficulties and suffering, you should know that his hardships are just beginning. Such a man is yet to go through suffering before he acquires a milder attitude, repents and starts humbling himself. Man’s task is to work on himself, be healthy, strong and wise. Through having good thoughts and intentions man can acquire health, Strength and a chance to apply his Wisdom. This is what is required of all people: men, women and children. If this happens all societies will be magically transformed. When the parts are in good order, then the whole organism will be in good order. To common people things happen slowly, but to wise men things happen at once, for they know the laws and they do not abuse them. If a common man works with the great laws of Being he can destroy the world in a day. This is why God does not give great knowledge to common people, for they still apply Moses’ laws: they murder, steal, bear false witness, etc. What should man do in order to leave the common life? He should establish a connection with God Who now works in the world. You, too, should work with Him if you want to take part in the Kingdom of God. Working together with God means applying Love; Love is the Divine mother that Christ advises us to honour. Only he, who loves can honour his mother and father. Such a man is good, just and noble. Someone complains that people do not love him. How can you love someone who does not honour his father and mother? Woe to that young woman who marries a man, who does not honour his mother and father! Woe to that young man who marries a woman, who does not honour her mother and father. God loves and blesses those young women and men, who honour their mother and father. He who wants to be loved by his neighbour should learn to honour his mother and father first. This is a law that acts throughout the whole Being. Love cannot be manifested outside of this law. You need to honour your soul and your Spirit, and you need to honour your neighbour’s soul and Spirit and you will be God’s beloved children. If God loves you, people will love you, too. He, who does not honour his father and mother, is a miserable man. He, who does not love his neighbour, is a miserable man, too. Such a man is a sinner, and he is doomed to suffer. This is what Christ meant when he said, “If you want to be perfect, honour your father and your mother, i.e. your Spirit and your soul; love your neighbour as yourself; go sell what you have, and then come, follow Me.” Whom should man follow? Man should follow Him, Who is the source of everything: the Original Source of Life. Following God will bring meaning to your Life and will turn your suffering into music, and your hunger and poverty into a pleasant task. Under these circumstances man is no longer afraid of hunger and privation. He does not worry about the daily bread, for he knows that God has taken care of his needs. He does not worry about how he will get bread. How were the Jews able to spend forty years in the desert? He, Who liberated them from slavery took care of their needs and made sure they had food and water. Man does not get his food from one source alone. Give away your possessions and worry not about where your next possessions will come from. You cannot pour clean water into the bottle unless you pour the dirty water out first. Empty out your money pouches if you are to fill them up again. Empty out your bottles and your money pouches so that God can fill them up with pure water and pure food. Empty out your hearts from the old feelings so that God can put into them new feelings and new warmth that will transform them. This is the meaning of the verse, “I will take away their hearts of stone, and I will give them new hearts.” Modern people are afraid of Life’s conditions, and want to know what will become of them. Bulgarians want to know what will become of Bulgaria. Nothing bad will happen. Bulgaria will continue to exist. God says today, “If people listened to Me I would say only one word and the war would end. But because they don’t listen I will let them fight until they learn.” Many people who do not honour their father and mother, and do not love their neighbour still live according to Moses’ laws. To this day there are still people-parasites. We do not need parasites. The world needs good people; it needs beautiful flowers that spread their fragrance everywhere. The world needs noble souls and hearts; it needs wise mothers, fathers and children. This is what God wants. This is what Christ preached two thousand years ago. Today people are divided into religious and worldly: the former believe in God and the latter deny God. The time is coming when they will be given even more proof that God exists. Then even the blind will be able to see, but if they are not ready to accept the new Light they will become even more miserable than they used to be. This is the reason some blind people’s eyes do not open. The world of intelligent Beings wants to spare them, and leaves them blind so they won’t suffer even more. This is also why not all people can be rich. Do not give money to those who do not know how to use it, for if they become rich before it is their time they will cause great trouble both to themselves and to their neighbours. Therefore, no matter what difficulties and tribulations you go through, remember that it is all Good, it is all for the better. What you need is a living, staunch belief to help you overcome everything. Work on yourselves, and work on the world, as well, to make it a nobler place. There was a time when people would leave the world; they would take to the mountain and the desert, and there they would live in service of God. Today the message to everyone is that you should enter the world and work in it. There was a time when people would leave hell, and fear it. Today they live in hell and work for the elevation of those fallen souls that have taken the stray path. It is now time for you to forgo your old convictions and tear down your old houses. The old is being torn down, the new is being built. The stage needs to be constantly renewed; we cannot keep replaying the same drama over and over again. God does not like monotony. As long as he lives in Moses’ law man serves evil by murdering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, etc. As long as he serves evil, man lives according to the law of being born and reincarnating. Once he turns away from this law he can start serving the Good, and enters the law of embodiment. Living according to this law means living according to these commandments, “Honour your father and mother, love your neighbour, and give away all your riches to the poor.” He, who observes the seven commandments, lives in the realm of immortality; he can now rest because he has gained salvation for his soul. This means that he has connected his soul to God Who is the source of all goods in Life. People today are afraid of what not, and that makes them think only of material security. A merchant buys simple goods, and then sells them as being something special so that he can earn more than he needs; by doing this he wants to secure himself materially. Why won’t he tell the Truth and say that the fabric he sells is not pure wool, but is mixed with cotton? If he always speaks the Truth his business will be better than if he tells lies. Whatever post you occupy you should always be honest and truthful. If you want to be free you should always speak the truth. Do not force anyone to do something that he does not want to do. Do not force your soul, either. Some young man does not want to get married but his relatives fool him into getting married. Afterwards he is sorry for giving in to other people’s advice. Do not force others if you don’t want to be forced. Do not lie to others if you don’t want to be lied to. Be true to your soul, and to your Spirit. Be true to your Teacher. Be true to the One Who has given you everything. He will enter your temple, wash His hands and feet, and will present gifts to you: holy oil, myrrh, and frankincense. Then he will say, “The time of your salvation has come!” Clean out your temple so that the Saviour can enter. If you want to clean out your temple, you need to learn to regard your neighbour with benevolence. Think only Good of him. The bad things that you see are related to his past Life. Today he strives for Goodness and will become good. The bad will become better than the ones that pass as good today. My task is to help all who are lame, blind or limping restore their health and rejoice in Life. All deserts need to turn into oases of Life where the weary traveler can rest and quench his thirst. All empty spaces need to be planted with fruit trees, so that everyone who passes by them should be given something. The stranger will stop before them and partake of their sweet fruit. Rid your thought of all negative traits: doubt, hesitation, and suspicion. You can doubt anyone, but never doubt God! He is kind and unchangeable. He remains the same under all conditions of your Life, and in the face of all your acts and attitudes. He is always ready to help you as long as you are ready to listen to Him. If you do not listen to Him He will let you suffer the consequences of your life and your mistakes, and then you will see for yourself what it means to live without God. The human soul knows no greater suffering than to stray away from God. How can man go back to the right path? Look at what the child does when it makes its mother sad: as soon as it realizes what it has done it goes to her and starts crying. Crying is his prayer. It cries and begs its mother to accept it back into her arms. Here’s what I’m telling you now: Go to God like the child goes to its mother. He is your Father and your Mother. If you want to be honoured by your sons and daughters you need to establish a connection with God. You will see that your life will become better before even a year has passed. As soon as you try this out you will have new thoughts in your mind and you will be able to see. Then you will have not only two eyes, but a hundred: you will have eyes on the front of your head and in the back, and also on both sides, on top and underneath, etc. Someone complains that he has been working a lot, but has not been able to see yet. He cannot see yet because he lacks that living faith which can open the eyes of the blind. I believe in your soul and I believe in your potential and I know that you will be able to see one day. Even if you do something bad, even if you make a mistake or do some mischief, your soul will remain unchanged. I like sinful people who repent, and that is why I lend a helping hand to all weak, ignorant, and sinners. This could be a weakness, but Christ had a weak spot for sinners, too. He passed His test: He let Himself be taunted, ridiculed and crucified, but then He came back to life on the third day. Now I wish you to share the same weakness: love those who repent and help them. “Come and follow Me”, says Christ. “Follow You in what?” “Follow Me in what I’ve been teaching you.” Lecture by the Master, delivered on February 25, 1917, in Sofia.

Note 2p The children “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” Mathew, 18:3 To explain who is able to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus takes a form that has been comprehensible to everyone since the creation of the world – children. Children are what brings joy to the households and to the world. A home without children is like a desert without a spring, without any grass. Why should man become a little child to get to heaven? Jesus’ word “child” bears a sense deeper than we can possibly grasp. Jesus does not say, “You will be admitted to the Lord’s Kingdom if you are a jewel encrusted in a king’s crown or a millionaire.” He says, “If you do not become a child” – what He actually means is belittlement . The child stands for a passive state, or to put it differently, a potential energy, a kind of dormant energy. This energy is not inactive though, because it bears all the necessary conditions for its development; it is both potential and kinetic. Potential energy can transform into kinetic and vice versa. Kinetic energy is more active, but it is smaller in dimensions, while potential energy is capable of infinite growth. The difference between an adult and a child is just the same. An adult is less active and less capable of development than a child is. There is something more in the notion of a child. If a tree does not transform into a small seed to be planted in the soil, it cannot start the new cycle of development. Trees grow in two ways. Some grow through seeds, others grow through grafts. There is a great difference between a grafted tree and a tree that has grown from a seed. A tree developed from a seed is far sturdier than a grafted tree. Jesus warns us that if we do not turn into a seed, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. It is where trees are not grafted; only seeds are planted. God does not need old people. There are no old people in the kingdom of heaven. The word “old” is synonymous to “feeble” or “impotent”, while “children” and “young” are synonyms to “rich” at heart and in mind. My interpretation is that if you do not have the purity and innocence of a child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, because the conditions in which you have to grow require that your heart and mind bear the Divine life. A widely held misconception of modern spiritual thought is that we are great. Each of us, even 5-year-old children, thinks highly of themselves. I have often encountered 5 or 6 – year-old children who believe that they are big enough and capable of doing anything. I have met religious children as well who think they are very important and powerful. “Do not fool with me,” they say, “I can do God knows what if I beckon with my finger!” These children cannot lift even a sack if asked to do so. Why can’t they? Only because they think they are big and strong enough, while, in fact, they are not. If they thought they were small, then they would be able to. This can be checked. Focus on your inner self, pretending to be a child, and pick out a particular idea – if you stay calm, your thought will be ten times as active as when you get anxious. What do you have to do with a switch? You only have to flick it. The force you apply is really insignificant. God arranges the world in such a way that your only mission here is to flick the switch. What do most people do? They stand in front of the switch, philosophising. It is impossible to turn on the lights this way. There is no point in philosophising. The only thing you have to do is to put out your hand, and the light you need for reading will come. The same law applies to waking up in the mornings – you turn your switch, saying, “I can see.” Similarly, the soul, on entering the body, turns the switch and says, “I can see the sun.” If you forget to turn your switch, you will live in darkness; i.e. your mind will stay dim and incapable of doing any job. One morning you get up, forgetting to turn the switch to your heart and your mind. As a result, your whole day is spoiled – everything goes wrong and you find everything pointless. I say that you are in the position of a child who thinks big, but forgets about the trifles – to turn the switch on and light the world. I keep coming across people who have failed to turn their switches – they think big, dreaming of having many houses, having great plans and ideas, while they remain blind. You do not need houses – turn the switch first, and then think about building houses. Become a humble, obedient child. Only then will God speak to you, and will you be able to understand your relationship with Him. Modern people have lost their connection with God – they think they are free and can do anything. They think they can criticise God. I would like to ask such a person, “Did you turn the switch on getting up this morning?” – No, I didn’t.” – “Then you should go back home to turn the switch, otherwise you will spend the whole day in darkness. Or, you will feel indisposed and life will be meaningless to you.” The same law applies to human relationships – you have turned on the switch and everybody loves you; you have forgotten to turn on the switch and everything goes wrong. You are a great man but nobody loves you. Nobody likes people who want too much. The heavenly law has children’s innocence as its symbol. To bear a heavy burden on your back and to have little in your stomach are two different notions. If you carry a sack full of 100kg of grain on your back and if you have half a kilo of grain in your stomach, where will the strength be? Modern economists, who burden the state with heavy debts, do this because they do not understand the Divine law. I’d rather you had half a kilo of grain in your stomach than 100kg on your back. 100g of knowledge in the head is far better than 100kg on the back. One may have 100 volumes of books, but 50g of knowledge in the head as a potential and kinetic energy is worth a great deal more than what is outside it. So, with the word “child” Christ understands a specific inner condition - to be adapted and related to the spiritual world with all its forces and creatures. If you start thinking of yourselves as a great creature, you lose these connections. When a great angel from heaven, who has lived for millions of years, gaining more experience than the whole humanity, and whose history is greater than that of the whole human kind, decides to come down to earth and incarnate, he will reincarnate into a child and will show humility; from this point he will start his growth in order to understand the greatness of God. Therefore, Jesus was asked: “Can an old man enter the Kingdom of God?” Neither an angel, nor God can. Anybody that desires to enter the spiritual world should show humility – to become a child. All of you, listening to me here, are willing to enter the Kingdom of God the way you are. I don’t say; this never was and would never be. Only if you acquire the attributes of a child, i.e. the flexibility of the mind and the heart, you will understand the profound meaning of life. Still, you are very close to the Kingdom of God. The interstice that separates this world from the other one is a hundred millionth part of the millimeter – only that big is the distance between the two worlds. When a man gets on the path to growth, he is moving very slowly. As I see, anybody that takes the spiritual path, starts as a grown-up, not as a child. If a man starts walking in strides, he won’t achieve his goal. If you see a man running out of his house, he won’t get anywhere. But if he starts slowly and gradually accelerates his walk, he is in the situation of a child. Jesus says: “Do not start your duties in a hurry; move like young children do – walk and gradually accelerate your pace by 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and then you will find meaning in your life.” While you are in the situation of young children, no sickness will come; however, when you in the situation of the old, you will be affected by all kinds of diseases. One who is uncertain is old; one who feels the burden in his heart is old. Get young. You say, “I feel burdened.” – You are old. – “What should I do?” – Become young. – “How?” – Forget about great world issues. Put only ½ kg of bread in your stomach, 100 g of knowledge in your brain and 5 g in your heart – that is enough. Maidens when loved by 10 or 15 lads start reproaching themselves and become upset. Several years ago, in Sofia, a maid was killed by her fiancée, as she was unfaithful. – How can a girl be in love with two men? One is perfectly adequate. Every thought has its place. If you don’t love somebody, don’t lie to him, but tell him the truth, and he will find another lover. Suffering out of love exists in religion as well. It is said: “Let’s love,” but do you know how to express love? A man that covets commits a sin, and who sins – suffers. The one that sins is a bad person, but the one that sins and doesn’t repent is worse. The one who sins and neither repents, nor prays is even worse, and the one that does not repent but prays is a hypocrite, and the hypocrite is the worst kind in this world. There are two lies, two kinds of sins - when you say that you love somebody and lie to him, you act the way crocodiles do: when they love somebody they shed tears over him so that he becomes sleek enough to swallow. It is not the love that we need, but the love of young children. You may give a bit, but give it with full heart. If men and women applied this philosophy to life, all households and communities would change for the better. Fathers, mothers, children, teachers, priests, judges – they all think of great ideas, they are great people; they are the greatest people in this world. And you are asking me why the world suffers? It suffers because of “great” people and ideas. “What an excellent preacher he is”, they say, “What great ideas he preaches”. Yes, but we all suffer from “great” ideas. The Jews had great ideas as well. They wanted to become wealthy and grew proud of being the chosen people. They received 33,000 promises from God, but Christ showed them that human greatness lies in the challenge of becoming young like a child: only then will God be on our side. I have never seen a single mother bearing an old granddad in her womb even if she would get paid millions for that. While any woman bears a young child even without being paid anything for that. Why? - Because the child bears intrinsic welfare. Any Divine idea, no matter how small it is, bears peace, joy, and omnipresence when it gets inside; therefore everybody can bear young children. Some of you may think that great ideas evoke happiness in the world. To make this clearer I will tell you a legend. A poverty-stricken German prince wanted to marry a beauty; still she told him: “I am a woman hard to please, so you will build a wonderful palace for me and whatever else I may want, you will have to give it to me. If you agree to this, I will accept your proposal; are you ready?” – “I am ready to do anything, because I will be happy with you,” answered the prince. He married her and started searching for wealth through occultism and through conjuring spirits. He found the prince of gnomes and said: “I married a very demanding woman and I need some money. Can you lend me some?” – “I can, but only if you give me 10 hairs from your head for every bag of money.” – “I have plenty, so I can even give you more.” – “No, I need only 10 of them. Any time you come, you can take a bag of gold.” – “Ah, we are provided for now,” – he said, - “my home will be filled with happiness at last”. And he started visiting the prince of gnomes week after week, month after month, taking money and giving hairs in return. A year, two, three passed, and he lost all his hair. He went again to borrow some money, but no more hair was on his head. “May I give you something else?” he asked. “No, hairs, I need hairs.” Only then did he realise that the human character is hidden in these hairs - the seemingly insignificant things he had sacrificed for what he believed to be more important. Every hair is a noble thought sacrificed for nothing . If you have had such a desire for ten years, you sacrifice everything noble in you and become as barren as a desert. Then you turn into an old big dry tree – a symbol of the perished human character. The truth shouldn’t offend us. I know many that get offended when you tell them the truth. But anybody offended by the truth is looked upon as an old man by God. That is God’s law - God has never felt offended. There is hardly a creature that has been abused more than God himself, still He has never even knitted His brows. He observes us calmly in silence. Eventually, He says: “These children will understand the law: they sin and that is why they will bear this burden.” – “It is hard, too hard to live in poverty. What shall we do?” – “You will have to work.” – “Is this the only way?” – “I’m afraid, it is. You will have to work.” – “We are grown up people.” – “You will pray and you will become children.” When you get back home, try to become a child and you will feel younger. You have grown old – why? – Because you bear the world on your back. If you are in a boat that is rolling and you get scared, what is the point of being afraid? Stay calm and have faith, as a child would do. The one that has made the boat will take care of you. The boat will roll for a while and stop. Don’t be afraid of thunder and lightning. The birds in the sky are rolling as well, but they understand these laws better than you do. I apologise for all this. If you are old, you will take offence; if you are young, I will congratulate you. When I tell the truth, nobody is hurt. If someone happens to go barefoot through a stretch of rocks, I will say to him: Put on shoes, because you will hurt your feet and will have to turn back half way across; the shoes will save you. If it is a lady, she will prefer getting hurt to putting on some practical yet ugly shoes, which her beloved might not fancy. Children should always have shoes. Look at the butterflies, these small children of God, look what excellent arrays they have; if an earthly queen had it, she couldn’t have been happier. Even though these butterflies live short lives, God dresses them nicely. Why is that? – Because they are children. And why is God bringing misfortune to people? – Because they are old. Why is God blessing some? – Because they are young children. A mother is ready to forgive her children many faults, but if her husband makes a mistake, she will say: “This senile man is such a nuisance! I’ll get rid of him.” By the same token, Heaven forgives children all their sins; but it is harsh on the elderly and says: “You are banned from here!” Then what does all this engender in us? Discontent, despair and hatred towards life as we face resistance and conditions unfavorable for our development. To be loved by God and people, we need to embrace the Divine idea - the only thing we have to get accustomed to, is to feel small in front of God, to bear a sympathetic mind and heart. Love has degrees in strength: when you keep two meters away from a heater, you feel some pleasant warmth, but if you put your hand on it, you will get burnt. Old people are hot heaters – sometimes they burn. They are usually self-interested and greedy. Do not think that I mean you. My word is about those old people described in the Scripture. An old person is someone who thinks that he is great, such people we should try to avoid. This is what Jesus meant when preaching that we should become small children. By exploring Nature, you will see that the most valuable things are not big. Take the diamond - the substance that made it up used to be gaseous, taking up too much space. God compressed it by turning it into a solid, thus reducing its volume. It became smaller in size, but bigger in value. Do you know how much energy is compressed into an atom? By the same token, we need to get smaller, like children, for God is great and if we want to be like Him, we have to learn about transitory things and the stages in temporary being. We need to learn this art because small things grow into bigger ones. A small seed has the necessary conditions to develop into a big tree, as soon as it falls on the ground, while a leaf or a fruit, no matter how big it is, will dry out as soon as it falls. This is what Jesus’ words mean. He speaks to the people of an enlightened century – to those who can understand His teaching and apply it. He does not speak to those who cannot understand Him. When a great musician is playing, he plays to those who have an ear for music. When a great sculptor creates his sculpture, he does it for those who have eyes to appreciate it. When a writer writes a book, he does it for those who can understand it. God created the world and set down the law for those who can understand Him. Those who cannot understand Him, will stay encumbered with the heavy burden on their backs, thinking they are great. Once, when God created the world, the spirits descending on earth wanted to be great. That’s why they had huge bodies and, accordingly, all the animals were enormous, too. If those enormous animals had lived on, they would have destroyed the earth completely, eating everything up. God had to teach those spirits that they did not need these huge bodies, as the greatness of a living being is not in the size. An idea is great not when it is enormous but when it fosters progress. If you plant a walnut tree, it will grow big in 10 to 12 years. However, when it dies, it will return to its initial state. I suggest that you become small children and try this. You need to embrace this idea of Jesus and do your best to stay small in the face of God. You may think that you are of importance or substance but think of those kings and nobility who have vanished beyond recall. We are often misled to think that the people around us are great and important, but when misfortune strikes, you can tell how insignificant they are. In a small village near Varna, a rich man’s son used to live. He was the talk of the village and everyone knew him. He used to invite people to lavish feasts every week and the spree carried on till dawn. It happened so that he went bankrupt. Everybody abandoned him when he was broke. This man believed he was important. How could he be such? He was like a dead ox – when it dies, the dogs gather to feed on it. People kept talking about him but only till they ate him up. He was completely forgotten when he was finished. People talk about you only when they have something you have offered them to eat. When you die and nothing remains of you, they stop talking about you. These are the misfortunes of our outer life. We may be very beautiful in appearance, but what counts is the inner beauty of the heart and mind. That’s why you have to clear your mind and heart of lies. You should become small children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven and inherit the new Life. People on the earth are dead – dogs, eagles and ravens scavenge on them because they are “great”. When you read the Revelation, you will see that God summons all eagles and tells them, “Come here to take your share! Come to feast on the flesh of brave warriors and chieftains! These were all great people!” What does it mean? When some sturdy oak dies and turns to soil, God sends small seeds and blades of grass there, bidding them, “Take your share of this oak for it used to hinder your growth!” That’s why Jesus tells you to become small children, otherwise you wouldn’t enter His Kingdom. God would not take your side. You need to build up new moral and religious principles that are stronger than the current ones. The principles you have applied up to now are too weak to sustain you. If you take a piece of rope that can hold a weight of 10 kg while you need it for a weight of 100kg, what should you do? You need to make it 10 times stronger. This rope stands for morals – you need to be 10 times as morally strong in order to withstand present conditions. That is why, in compliance with natural logic, we have to change our outlook. Even the worst person who becomes a small child can change, so you will get to love him/her. There cannot be any conflict between an oak and a blade of grass. However, two oaks can always fight. If you plant them one next to the other, they will start competing for height and sunshine. Whichever manages to take the lead, will be the successful one, while the smaller one will say, “I remain here, beneath you.” You have remains small , but with great ideas! It is not that you are small. You only have to wait for your turn to come. Then you will say, “I will become your son, the acorn!” The oak will respond, “I will be your father.” - “Well, father, thank you, for you care.” There will come a day when the acorn will grow big enough to change places with his father. What Jesus wants from us is that each of us should become a tree and give fruit upon which to lay the Kingdom. You will say that this is too far-fetched. No, you should give this some consideration and say, “I want to become a small divine child. Lord, help me to make this thought come true.” Focus on this idea for 12 months and you will see how your life will change. Do not make fuss about this, though. I can see that you are small. When a big oak comes to tell me, “I am small.” I know that it does not tell me the truth. When a rich man says that he has no money it is because he is afraid of being robbed. When a poor man says that he has money, he is lying. Let everybody tell the truth. Have faith in God’s law about the small children and God will always stand by you. If God gives you credit, He will make you great. But if you yourselves pretend to be great, then you will be very much like the fraudulent merchant who keeps bragging about having money while he actually has none. This is what the profound meaning of the verse “become little children” is. I do not want you to think, “Are we of no importance, really?” Leave that thought aside. It does not matter what you have been up to now. What counts is what you will become from now on. It is well known what you were – let sleeping dogs lie. Let us become little divine children – that is the ultimate aim. I would like you to become God’s children and take advantage of the great goods the Kingdom of Heaven offers you. I would like you all to be happy, wise and good. I can tell you what you see and show you the way to achieve this. You will ask, “How should we perceive this small drop?” Do not worry – it will enlarge. The rain does not start at once. It starts drizzling in small drops, and then it starts raining harder. All these small drops make their contribution to the world. Small children do not know fear, yet their grannies frighten them with evil spirits if they refuse to go to bed. Mothers, too, before leaving for a party, try to make their children stay peaceful and well-behaved or go to bed by frightening them with evil spirits. Down with these evil sprits! Do not lie to your children that they will appear. Do not lie to yourselves either! Be honest to yourselves and to others – this is the only way to become younger and more attractive. As soon as you conceive a divine idea, everything will change – lips, brows, etc. Europeans use make-up to make the lips red because the red colour suggests pure blood and wealth. Let this impression come naturally. Let us become small children and stop lying to God. No one believes in God – there can be a serious reason for this lack of faith. Some will say, “There is no God.” I will say, “You have not turned the key.” “Life is pointless.” “You have not turned the key,” I say. “Well people are evil.” “You have not turned the key,” I say. The key of the small child is inside. This is the greatest possible idea. Some want to know who Jesus is. Jesus is what He has said. If you are capable of using His words, you will be happy. The strength in Life is not in the letter but in the spirit. I take great care to comply with the Divine idea. What I say is always true. We should be careful to avoid what Socrates’ disciple did. This young person appeared in front of Socrates in shabby pants in order to show humility. His master, however, told him, “I can see your pride transpire through your pants.” We have to be careful. As you see, I have always been careful not to tell you something that is not true. Everything I say is true – you can check it. If you do not see any results, I will join you. You just have to say. “I want to become a small child this year.” This is the key idea I want to hammer home – to become little children. I want all Bulgarians to become little, divine children. When all European nations become such little children, the true Divine peace will come to reign in this world. A lecture held on 11 February, 1917.

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

Note 2p The blessed “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10 I will analyse the word blessed. Jesus does not say: blessed are those who have plenty of money, who have many houses, who are well educated, who are currently powerful. He says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” The word persecute has both a negative and a positive meaning. If one is not persecuted, he will not make any progress. Movement is of great importance to the world. When man wants to reap the harvest, he has to drive his horses. Why is this persecution necessary? - So that one can reap the wheat. All things in Life are meaningful. Those aware of the inner sense in Life should not be hindered by the contradictions existing in this world. All these contradictions come as a result of a great truth that is two-faced: suffering and joy; suffering is the dark side of this life, while joy is the bright one. All this is in compliance with the laws of Nature. The earth changes its face within 24 hours: one side is dark and the opposite is bright. Thus, your life can be both dark and bright within 24 hours; you can be alternately sad or joyful. This is an immutable law, which has nothing to do with sin. Sometimes sin is interwoven with suffering, yet these two notions should not be mixed. Suffering is a great law. There is not a single person in this world that has not suffered. Even God joins us in our sufferings. Nobody suffers more than He does. When someone claims that he suffers, I say, “You have just started learning.” There is nothing wrong about suffering. The senses you need to experience the most pleasant emotions are the same with which you perceive the most unpleasant ones. If your eyes are not adjusted in harmony with the light, you will sense the harshest sensations, but if your vision is properly set in harmony with light, you will have the most pleasant perceptions. Therefore, when you feel some disharmony, it indicates maladjustment. You can adjust yourselves only through suffering. Those who play the guitar often set their instrument to a particular song. Suffering is a kind of adjustment and tuning – the scale should change from major to minor. People who aspire to be noble have this aspiration related with suffering. Suffering and joy are two opposite poles in Life. Anyone who wants to develop has to suffer: Suffering is a doorway, a prerequisite for joy. If you want to avoid suffering, you will not experience joy. Joy and Sorrow are two daughters of God. “Which God?” you will ask. - The one revealed to humanity. You will ask, “Does God have any daughters?” – Yes, He has sons and daughters here, on earth, and up, in Heaven. The words brother and sister are Divine Concepts. They are notions far greater than the ones we are able to perceive and comprehend. Our sorority and brotherhood have risen by just a few inches. When one takes a foot of his brother’s land, the two brothers fall out. Take doctors, merchants, teachers, priests, preachers, no matter whom – their brotherhood does not go further than a foot. This is the current social growth we have come to understand as brotherhood. Jesus turns and says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” You might ask, “Why am I persecuted?” My question is, “Why shouldn’t you be?” It is often said that murky water is far more favourable for the soil than clear water. By going through the soil it leaves some silt which is beneficial to plants. This is how the Nile deposits thousands of tons of silt, from which ancient Egypt produced an abundance of wheat. Suffering is like this Divine silt, which descends to your fields to fertilise them. Then God says, “Sow now”. This silt of yours – sins and fallacies – will make the best batch of bread and you will say, "Thank God!” No suffering, no bread. Jesus says, “I am the live bread.” Indeed, He is the live bread, as people eat Him every day. "Блажени сте, когато ви изгонят и когато върху вас рекат всяка зла реч на лъжа заради Мене"%5BA1%5D If someone speaks ill of you when you deserve it, it is not praise. If you are guilty, you deserve criticism. You need to suffer in the name of justice. Now many of you suffer astray of God’s justice. If Jesus came today, what teaching would He give us? All people want to be happy and blissful, married to good wives or husbands, or having good children. Well, where will these good wives, husbands and children come from? If you sow the best seeds in sand, they will grow feeble. If you add some fertiliser, the wheat will grow stronger. I see the inner application of this law. What is going on in the outside world? Everything is normal – what must be done is done. Apostle Paul says that everybody lives and moves within God. If you live and move within God, what is there to be afraid of? You are in a boat far off the shore, a storm occurs, and you get frightened. My question is, “Where is your faith?” – “We are going to sink.” If you are sinners, you will sink. If you are like gold, silver or iron, you are going to sink. But if you are as light as a feather, you will stay afloat, while the others will flounder, as they are carrying too heavy a load – poor them! Therefore, do not burden your minds with thoughts that encumber you. It is not important what people think of you. What counts is what God thinks of you. God has experience. God is ubiquitous. He is where there are reasonable creatures. He is not in the dead, nor in the sinful. By “God” I understand the pleasant feelings and thoughts you have – your awareness of God. He lives in us and has the power to resurrect us. If God is not linked with me, and if He does not have the power to enliven me, then what’s the point of there being some God? That’s why Jesus says somewhere in the Scripture that if His words live in us forever, we will live in Him forever and what we beg for will be given to us living. Jesus says that he is the live word, and that the words he speaks to us are within Him alive. That’s why Jesus’ teaching, which is within us, is powerful enough. You should rejoice and be merry for you will be well rewarded in Heaven. This means that there will be afterlife for you. What is meant by afterlife? Some believe that when they die they will move to another world. No, this will not happen. You will just move from one state to another, just like the cocoon does. The caterpillar, while nibbling at the leaf, believes that this is its world. Yet when it turns into a butterfly with wings to flitter from flower to flower, it changes its views of the world. Likewise, we, while nibbling at the leaves of the material world, are nothing but worms. However, when we undergo the stage of the cocoon and arrive at the soul stage, dressed up in our best clothes, we will be able to perceive life in its ultimate dimension. Without meaning any offence, I should say that most of us are at the caterpillar stage now. The saying goes: “Put a penny aside for a rainy day.” Those who say it are caterpillars, just like others who say that they need a house for a rainy day. The caterpillar needs a leaf. My question is: “Why should the butterfly need the leaf?” When you start advancing to a higher level, you will tell your brethren, “I am leaving the leaf for you –take it.” That is why Jesus teaches us to give others what we do not need. Those who are in the same boat might need it. Jesus’ teaching applies to all, but not all people are equally ready to grasp it and implement it. It can be applied only in accordance with the individual’s stage of growth. This suggests that we should be aware of what we are. Those who have been left behind or those who are ahead, should not be judged nor envied. We will all walk the way as an act of free will or out of necessity. If you do not thresh willingly, God will come with a whip in hand, harness you as a horse on a threshing machine and will make you thresh the floor for days and years. When asked, “How come you have turned into horses?” you will answer, “To thresh the wheat.” I can see now that more and more people are threshing God’s floor. When I see a threshing horse, I say. “It is doing a good job.” Then I ask myself. “Am I doing my job really well?” If you want modern people to comprehend Jesus’ teaching well, you ought to establish harmony among them. Is it possible for you to try out to what extent you are blessed? Yes, it is. Many people are constantly complaining, “I’m so misfortunate!” I answer them, “You are the happiest person.” Jesus says that those who are unhappy are blessed. – You are ill with some disease. What is a disease? It is a sign that God is working on you with the intention of resurrecting you. You encounter difficulties in your growth. Or, you cannot cope with a problem – The Divine thought will elevate and enlighten you. Your heart is aching – The Divine Life is working on your heart to soften it. God works inside us. Modern people are like children who raise dust while playing in the classroom. On entering the room, the teacher starts sneezing because of the clouds of dust everywhere. I can see everybody sneezing – teachers, preachers, mothers and fathers – everybody is sneezing. Why? - Because of the dust. Open the windows, air the rooms, clean the floor, and the sneezing will stop. Sneezing means that there is dust, i.e. doubt and suspicion. There should be enough light in the room so that you can get the point in Life. I ask, “How long have you been around? Where were you two hundred years ago? Where were you, your father, you grandfather, your great grandfather, your grandmother, your great grandmother a thousand years ago?” You will answer, “We don’t care. Why should we know?” You might say that you do not care, but if your grandfather bequeaths some money, you start inquiring in banks about your inherited money. Why? Because you have inherited something. However, if your grandfather has left some debts, you start pretending that you have nothing in common with him. Otherwise, you will be liable for his debts. That is not chivalry. You are not a gentleman – you cannot ride a horse, you cannot control your mind, you are not capable of channeling your thought, generally, you are not a clever man. Jesus says that blessed are those who get the point in Life. The wealth is hidden in our minds and hearts. A rich young man falls in love with a poor girl. She may be poor but there is some wealth hidden in her personality. It is expressed in her face. There are thousands of examples of rich and noble men falling in love with poor girls, who rose in society, but it is because they all had some inner wealth, endowed by God. When a person is virtuous and fair, when he or she bears the Divine Love, Wisdom and Truth, these virtues and attributes cannot remain hidden and find their vigorous expression. I have encountered Virtue and spoken to her – what a wealth of goods she is! Are you aware that she is God’s most beautiful daughter? I have also met Divine Justice – she is very beautiful, too, but strict and unforgiving. Yet you will tell her, “I am weak.” No matter weak or strong, you are not supposed to violate the precepts of your Father. By contrast, Love is very beautiful and tender. She ignores people’s mistakes. Whatever you do, even the worst, she will kiss you, caress you, clean you and change your clothes before taking you home. Men and women should love each other. Some say, “My wife does not love me.” Well, you have not found the one who loves you. Your wife on the earth is Love’s shadow. The wife says, “I’m going to marry him because he is rich. He makes 10, 000 levs and has a house.” Such a wife takes a lot but gives nothing. She cannot make her husband happy. The husband says, “I married her because she is rich. I do not mind that she is so ugly.” Such a husband cannot make his wife happy, either. Any teaching that takes, but does not give cannot make people happy. Self-sacrifice underlies Christianity. There are two kinds of sacrifice: either you will sacrifice yourself, or you will be sacrificed. Why do they slaughter a lamb on Saint George’s Day? They decorate the lamb with a wreath, sanctify it and finally, they slaughter it. Why do people offer this sacrifice? - For food. There are spirits here on the earth, who would put a wreath on your head, too, then they will bring you to the sacrificial altar, and cut your throat. Then they will say, “Somebody died.” But Listen to me: He is not dead; he is alive. Some day you will be on death’s table and will be eaten. They will say, “Oh, what a juicy body - so fatted! Look at the muscles, the heart, the lungs!” People die because they eat meat. God teaches people and spirits not to eat meat. Death in the world will disappear when people stop being carnivores. The flesh of sinners is quite tender. The same applies to all nice clothes. An item of clothing made of a delicate fabric does not wear and tear easily. The flesh of righteous people is tough; that’s why, nobody eats it and such people are immortal. This Divine teaching will give you a sound mind and heart. Anyone who will try to swallow and make away with a good thought or a Divine wish, will destroy him/herself. Such a person will find him/herself in the position of the crocodile gorging small frogs. There are such small frogs in the Nile, which crocodiles often eat up. The crocodile opens its mouth, the frog jumps in, and small as it is it is swallowed by the crocodile. Having entered the crocodile’s stomach, the frog is eager to get out and starts eating its way out. Then the crocodile’s stomach starts filling with water; it turns with the stomach up, and dies. Some people say, “I have been eaten up!” If God is with you, those who try to do this to you will be severely punished. If you have Faith, you should not fear anything for God is with you. God’s Spirit is already descending, just like Light is coming. Here He comes, bringing Great Light, fire and life that will purify the world. Modern people will try these things and will witness the establishment of God’s Kingdom here on the earth. God will unite people through His descent and malice will vanish. All misunderstandings stem from suspicion and mistrust. I will illustrate this with a story about the wind, the cold, and the sun that wanted to compete as who would succeed in making a shepherd take his fur coat off. The cold presented itself at its severest form – it became freezing cold. The cold said, “Watch me! I’ll take his coat off right now!” However, on seeing how cold it was, the shepherd wrapped himself tightly in his coat and hurried back home. So, the cold failed in its attempt. Then came the wind. It swept everything in its way, uprooting trees, but failed to pull off the shepherd’s coat. Finally, the sun said, “You failed in your attempts. Now it’s my turn.” It smiled gently, sending all its Love. The shepherd started feeling warm until he finally took off his fur coat. There are two kinds of teaching - of the wind and of the cold. What remains for now is the teaching of Love – it is the one that will make you take off your coats. Some will ask, “What do you think?” Look into my eyes and you will understand what I think. On meeting you, I do not ask you what you are thinking about. I know that you are thinking about a two-storied house with furnished rooms, of getting married, of having children, etc. If I meet a scientist, I know that he is thinking of experiments. If I meet someone who is planning to steal something, I can recognise him because his face gives him away. God has already opened the book and everything can be clearly seen. If Jesus decides to judge the world, He will come with a set verdict, “Such is your offence. Such is the punishment you deserve according to the law.” However, Jesus has a different mission now: He wants humanity to live a life of sobriety. I mean that we should not think of ourselves as quite righteous. A saint has to be a perfect person, ready to serve, having a healthy body, strong legs and arms, tough muscles, empty hands, i.e. not to be rich, yet not destitute – one should be like Tolstoy – charitable and compassionate to those in need. Such is the true saint. God divides saints in heaven into small and great. Saints are those who have undergone the greatest sufferings with dignity and who are much talked about. Why do people worship Jesus? Because He paid off all people’s debts and bore all their sins. If Jesus had not suffered, if He had not given anything to people, He would have been an ordinary man. Everyone should serve God with the awareness that he/she has his/her proper place here on the earth. You will say, “Apostle Paul was a great man.” If you fulfil your mission here, you will be great, too. A woman, who has lived with her husband for twenty years in the yoke of marriage, cooking him meals, while he abused her in every possible way, will be a saint if she has endured his bad treatment patiently. The same applies to men. A husband will become a saint if he manages to endure the wear and tear of married life. Such husbands will be saints in heaven. I can see here women wearing jewellery and living in luxury. They will be poor in the other world – dressed in shabby clothes. One day you might find yourselves in the position of that rich, miserly lady, who had a servant. She paid him 60 levs, which he gave to the poor. She often told him, “Don’t be so stupid. Put some money aside for a rainy day.” One night she had a dream: she saw a palace built of beautiful marble stone. “Whose palace is this?” she asked. “It belongs to your servant.” – “How can such a poor man have built such a luxurious palace?” - “He keeps sending everything he gets in order to build a palace in the other world.” Farther on she saw a small hut. “Whose hut is this?” – “It’s yours.” You may be people of great importance here but God will judge you by your deeds and will give you what you deserve. We should not be misled. We need to know the truth and distinguish between what is Divine and what is human. You claim that you understand the word “Love”. No, you do not! You do not understand such words as “Justice”, “Truth” and “Wisdom”, either. When I enter some house and see an angry woman, can this be called Wisdom? When you utter the word “Wisdom”, a certain change in the state of mind should occur. You have to understand the meaning of every word. If you enter a theatre hall packed with thousands of people and cry out, “Fire! Fire!” everyone will rush outside. There will be confusion and chaos and everyone will feel the horror of impending death. That is because everyone understands the meaning of the word “fire”. But if someone enters and utters the word “Love”, people will look at each other in amazement, will laugh at him and dismiss him as insane. They will ask, “What does he mean?” This shows that people do not understand the meaning of the word “Love”. Otherwise, it should have the same effect as the word “Fire”, only in the opposite sense. If I see a sad man and utter the word “love”, then all his sorrow and grief should disappear. He should beam with happiness like an angel and turn from a worm into a butterfly. We often say, “Good Lord!” but we do not understand these words, either. I rarely pronounce God’s name - only when I feel too burdened. Then the whole burden disappears. To me this word includes everything. I can replace it with the word “can”. Never say, “I am too weak.” Always say, “I can.” The Scripture says “I can do everything through Jesus.” Put everything aside and take Jesus instead. You will be able to understand Jesus and God only through the word “can”. It is only natural that the day should turn into night – this does not embarrass me. When one’s mind is dark, I say, “His sun has set and darkness reigns in his mind, so he’d better have a rest for a while. He needn’t worry – his sun will rise in 24 hours and his God will appear. Then Love will come, too, and he will start understanding the profound meaning in life. This is what Jesus used to teach before and this is what He teaches us now. All anticipate Jesus’ descent from Heaven. He has come once and He is not going to come for a second time in disgrace. God came once when He created the world. Now He is working on it. He will stay here until He has made all possible arrangements and will come back to Heaven accompanied by all His children. The God we have has been working with us. He will gather us all and will form the tree of Life, whose branches, leaves and fruit we all are. Each leaf will have a healing power, and each fruit will be nourishing. Then we will make one whole with God, just as each cell, each root and twig make up the whole tree. “Blessed are those who are persecuted.” You are blessed because you are moving ahead. The work you have been doing is for the benefit of human kind and you will be well rewarded in Heaven. If someone who meets you tells you that you are a bad person, he is right – you have to become a good person. If you are told that you are ugly, you should do your best to become beautiful. If told that you are wicked, you should try and change into a kind person. I have lost count of the times people talked evil of me. If I had paid attention to everything they said, I would have lost all my hair. I say, “They are right – I am a dangerous person.” Why? I am a mirror, so when someone meets me, they see the reflection and say, “You are a rascal.” – Yes, you are right. Another says, “You are a dodger.” - Yes, you are right. You should look at yourselves and try to change. People are very much like that American preacher, who went mad and when looking at the mirror, unable to recognise himself, he said, “You must repent, otherwise God will send you to hell.” I find it pleasant to search my reflection in others, so when I meet a nice person, I want to find my reflection in him and understand what I am like. There has to be two kinds of mirrors – one in which we look at and another kind at which others look at themselves. Woe to that nation, society, or church that have no mirrors! Modern doctors use mirrors in their practice. For example, when they examine a throat, they use a mirror. Jesus’ teaching has a mirror to help people see the point in suffering – that it is necessary for our happiness and bliss in the other world. Suffering is the greatest good that God sends people. That is why Jesus invites those who are tired of suffering to join Him, promising that He will take people’s suffering by giving something in return. He promises that the exchange will be carried out on fair terms. So Jesus descends to earth in full glory to take off people’s burden. You will swap your suffering for the joy God will give you. By coming down to earth, he wanted to make you happy. However, to be happy you need to be wise and clever. You should pronounce the word “Wisdom” only when you are unable to tackle a tough problem. Utter the word “wisdom” and wait for about ten minutes until you get a revelation. You will be like a blind man, who opens his eyes to the beauty of the world and says, “I can see all this beauty and understand how great God is.” We should be grateful to God for creating this world with a home, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, wives, and children, even with all the sorrow and grief accompanying these. We should be grateful for everything. Those who have taken Jesus’ path should thank God for everything. By thanking God, we will come to terms with each other. By uttering the word “Love”, we will no longer feel sad – joy and warmth will overwhelm us, the stiffness will vanish from our limbs, and we will see angels coming from above. This will mean to become a clairvoyant. Some wait until they die to see everything. Don’t wait to die – You should resurrect in God while you are still alive. Don’t say, “When I die.” Instead, you should say, “When I change my attire, when I turn from a caterpillar into a chrysalis, and next from a chrysalis into a beautiful butterfly.” You say, “I will die and be buried. What will become of me when the worms overwhelm me?” Worms are your little brothers. They will come and say, “Let’s taste you. Jesus was your nourishing bread. Now we will feed on you.” But people do not lie in graves – I do not see them there, so you should not be afraid. I say this again – there are two kinds of people: some are dead alive – we come across them every day in Sofia, and others are living dead. Jesus says that blessed are those who are dead alive, those who died in the name of God. No one has said that blessed are those who are living dead. The latter are caterpillars. The dead alive are butterflies and they are harmless – they do not eat the leaves of the trees, because the leaves are necessary. When a destructive thought enters your life, it is a caterpillar, so you should drive it away. When an elevating, lofty thought enters you, you should keep it because it is a lovely butterfly. Therefore, you should regularly chase away the bad thoughts eating the leaves of your Life up. Such is Jesus’ teaching. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted, for great is their reward in heaven.” I will explain to you the in-depth meaning of these words: when you plant a seed, it starts decaying and is pestered by a host of adversaries (germs), however, as soon as it comes out and the sun light shines on it, its enemies run away. Therefore, you need to be persecuted in order to move up. Jesus’ words “blessed are those” suggest that blessed are those who grow up, shoot roots, leaves and blossom, for great is their reward when God comes and finds the ripe fruit. Is there any sense in this teaching? – Yes, there is. It means being persecuted for God’s sake. If I am persecuted without yielding any fruit, I deserve to be chased. If I am persecuted in order to give God some fruit and I manage to do it, then my persecution is worthwhile. It will be tantamount to growth. It will give me some impetus and incentive. If we are brought round to this way of thinking, we will get the point of Life on the earth. That’s why we have to pray for all people living. The Scripture tells us to bless others and never to condemn them, to tell the truth directly as to a friend or a brother and never to speak behind anybody’s back. Talking behind the back is a kind of vomiting. The mouth was not created to vomit but to utter the sweet words of Love. This is the teaching the saints from above bear; this is the teaching the righteous have been preaching for thousands of years; this is the teaching of the small angels descending to earth. When Jesus comes, He will bring the same teaching; the white horse on which He will arrive is the symbol of His enlightened teaching. Blessed are those who know God, who have grown up and developed - those who have roots, branches, leaves and fruit, for God will visit them and reward them. I would like you all to be in this state – to be blessed so that God will be able to find fruit in your garden; to invite Him to stay at your home – your heart. Then He will give you the essence of His teaching. You are blessed when visited by God; great is your reward in heaven. A lecture given on 4th February 1917.

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

[1] Alpha-Centauri – the brightest star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus; Alpha Centauri is the closest star system beyond our own solar system being 4.3 light-years distant (about 25 trillion miles). [2] Lev – the basic unit of money in Bulgaria [3] Stotinka – 100 stotinkas equal 1 lev [4]An ancient city in southern Bulgaria

Note 2p I shall elevate you “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:14, 15 Like the serpent that Moses has elevated, the Son of Man will be elevated as well… The West people are not acquainted with the symbolic language of the East ones at all. The culture of the East differs from the culture of the West. You might say that the culture of the East people has been involutionary, i.e. it is descending from above downwards whereas our, the West culture, is evolutionary, i.e. it is ascending from below upwards. Consequently, the methods to comprehend these two cultures have double meaning and those who are not acquainted with this double process often find contradiction. Hence, the contradiction is not in the cultures but in our views. And so, there are two cultures – culture of the serpent and culture of the Son of Man. Both should be elevated. You might ask what culture may exist in the serpent. In all peoples, the serpent has played the important role of one great culture. In the Bulgarians, it has remained in the legend about the dragons, “One dragon is in love with me, my mother” is mentioned in the Bulgarian folk songs. These are remains of that ancient culture of the east peoples. How can a dragon love? It represents the culture of people who have been descending from the Invisible world downwards whereas people of today are ascending from below upwards. These notes are necessary so that the thoughts I am going to present become clear to you. Often, people encounter great contradictions in their life. If you wish a nice silk fabric to have a dress made, you will not search for it at some shepherd or at some woman working wool but will search for it at the shopkeeper selling such fabrics. In order to make the nice fabric, so much effort is needed from people to breed the little silkworms, to gather mulberry leaves to them so that they can spin these nice threads and the modern girls can dress up with silk clothes. In this sense, if someone wants a good material they should go to good people – the nice fabrics are there; and if that one wants bad material, they should go to bad people. This is true in Nature as well – roots deal with the soil, with a raw material while branches deal with the better substance. I want to make you think not that some people are good and others are bad. Discussing things in a philosophical way, we should not look at them, as people look at them today, as the Good is Good in a certain proportion and the evil is evil in a certain proportion as well. Not much evidence is needed to prove this true. For example, if your eyes are sound, when you go in the morning out in the sun the view will make a good impression on you. However, if your eyes are sore, the view will make a bad impression on you and you will have to retire to a dark room as doctors often recommend when eyes are sore. So, in this respect light is an evil for people and it should be removed; an obstacle should be put before it until the eyes return to their normal state and start accepting its vibrations. This is how things might be discussed from philosophical point of view but when we come to Life, then it is more difficult. Everyday people make attempts, everyday you elevate both the serpent and the Son of Man. God took the Jews out of the wilderness so that they elevated this serpent. But this people that had got used to such a culture as the Egypt one, these Jew rich people and aristocrats (though the common people had been making only adobe for a long time), Moses had to lead them through the wilderness for forty years in order to make them a bold and resolute people. Thus, Moses got himself into great trouble – they started to murmur for having not cucumbers, onions, water, etc. By their murmuring, the Jews brought about the appearance of many serpents that bit to death a great part of them and in order to rid them, Moses made this copper serpent so that everyone could heal himself or herself by looking at it. Why had this serpent been made of copper? Copper belongs to the so called plain metals. The ancient alchemists related it to Mercury – one of the main elements of the human body and by the name Mercury, the ancients called the Greek God Hermes – the secretary of Gods, the bearer of thoughts in the world. Therefore, Moses wanted to show people that meat is not so much necessary to people and people should be wise from the point of view of their body. Moses elevated the serpent that is the lower human intellect or what we now call human egoism – one thinking of oneself only. Right are those saying, “Until not elevating the serpent, until not looking at it, one would not get well.” Now I am going to the question in a different sense: let us assume that you are lazy and are waiting for some friend of yours to give you something; you are too lazy to wash, to do your hair, etc. I am asking, would these serpents not come around you then? Then you would have to become a bit egoist, i.e. from the point of view of the old culture, from the point of view of self-preservation you would have to defend yourselves. This is a law concerning equally man, family, society, peoples and humankind. And one who comprehends this law as regards oneself can apply it for the others as well. That is why there is a parallel drawn in the Scripture: as Moses elevated the serpent, even so the Son of Man - Christ should be elevated so that man might learn the other culture. This does not mean that these two cultures are in contradiction, but they should unite into one in order to lay the beginnings of a third culture that is coming now. It is said, “So that no one is perished, who believes in Him.” What should not perish? That, what is noble in man. Before speaking further, I will give you a scheme, i.e. the teaching of the old ones. There are the following three principles in this scheme: free will, providence and inevitability or fate. Free will is the future of man, providence is the presence and inevitability is the past of people. This is what they have taught both in Egypt and in Greece; this is what they will teach in the future. Providence is the base point from which inevitability results. When someone is in disagreement with providence, they have no free will but if they are in agreement with God and His arrangements, they have free will. Then you will solve very easily the problem why fate pursues you. Because you are in disagreement with providence. Why fate does not pursues you? Because you are in agreement with providence. Under “will”, I understand the Divine will. Three principles derive from it: the body, the human mind and the soul. The positive side of the soul is Virtue and the negative is vice; the positive side of the mind is Knowledge and the negative is ignorance; the positive side of the body is the instinct and the negative is brutality. There is another category of three things - emotions, consent and sensations. The positive side of emotions is Love and the negative is hatred; the positive side of consent is Truth and the negative is delusion; the positive side of sensations is pleasure and the negative is suffering. And so, there are two forces: putting providence as meridian in our life, from one side is one hemisphere and from the other – the second hemisphere. From one side is the positive side of Life and from the other – the negative side of Life. Whatever you think, whatever big words you use, there is no other situation. I accept philosophy but the one that is able to build Life, to build Virtue and to create conditions for its manifestation. Under “mind”, I understand one able to create conditions by their will for the manifestation of Knowledge. Under “rational man”, I understand one able to create conditions for the manifestation of the instinct. Under “emotions”, I understand one able to create conditions for the manifestation of Love and Truth, able to give vent to senses to manifest as real sensations. And since you cut across providence, ignorance, then vice and lack of knowledge will surely appear. Therefore, each one should strive to be in agreement with the providence. As soon as you have free will the noblest germs that have been staying within you in drowsing state for millions of years, will arise. For this reason, Christ had to be elevated! The serpent has been elevated within you when you started suffering so that you could acquire consciousness, in order to live in agreement with the providence. You are not people, you are slaves of your desires and passions and that is why you will suffer. Go into agreement with the providence and your sufferings will transform into pleasure. You should elevate Christ and He will cause just the opposite process. Coming into you, Christ will bear all Virtues. Moses has elevated the serpent in the wilderness in order to remove vice, ignorance, brutality, hatred, delusion and suffering. Christ had to be elevated like that serpent so that this Virtue, this Knowledge, this Truth, this Love and real pleasure could bear within us. Virtue is as regards the soul; Knowledge is as regards mind, Love – as regards emotions, Truth – as regards agreement and pleasure – as regards sensation. Christ had to be elevated so that people could take advantage of these great goods. In the contemporary society, in the contemporary peoples, contradiction exists between these two cultures and that is why the war broke out. It results from that Moses has elevated the serpent that is biting the peoples now. And it should be elevated so that Christ can come – this is a living law. Do not think that in the world, people settle their fortunes by themselves. They will notice that at present God arranges their fate very easily. If the Balkan peoples had listened to God, if the Serbs had not sacked Macedonia, if the Greeks had not conquered another’s countries, if Romania had not deprived Dobroudzha, these sufferings would have not taken place. That is why God punished Serbia; that is why He is punishing Greece. And as regards Romania, He is saying, “Give it twenty five sticks now!” That is why they are beating Romania today. This is how every dishonest thief should be beaten, no matter who he is. Today, God did not drink and that is why we should be careful. He looks on all peoples as on His own sons, but He is not like the other fathers, He soothes them not and punishes them when they deserve. I am going now to tell you a story to explain my thought. Its subject is taken from the ancient Bulgarian history, even before the Christianity. A mother loved her son very much and for that reason she always praised him, no matter what he had done – good or bad and she never found any bad thing in his deeds. She used to praise him until finally he became a great villain and for his crimes he was sentenced to death by hanging. When they brought him to the gallows, he said, “Call my mother so that I kiss her before departing.” His mother came and he said to her, “I love you very much, mother, I want to kiss you on the tongue.” The mother took her tongue out, the son bit it and said, “If not this tongue, I would have not been in this position; if you had used it properly, I wouldn’t be on the gallows…” Hence, we should not always praise one another. Romania came to Bulgaria as if to enforce peace, to bring to equilibrium, but for this reason this son is biting its and the other countries’ tongues. They ought to have said, “What happens is not good.” It is not good to seize the land of a people. The land of a people is its body, and the people living on it are its soul. Therefore, from a purely Divine point of view no one is allowed to seize the land of a people, in which it will study and exercise. And when people do not act as necessary, the sufferings come. When I say that Christ will come, many might understand me wrong. Try to comprehend well as Christ is an inner Light. All of you have been in love. When speaking of love all are smiling and this is natural – all should smile at it. However, it is various in its manifestations. If you go by the Law of Moses, it will manifest in a certain way. For example, a husband loves his wife but he is jealous of her - this is typical for the Bulgarians – and if she only looks at some other man, he tells her, “Why are you looking at him?” The wife loves her husband, too, but she is jealous of him as well and if he looks at some other woman, she tells him, “Why did you look at her?” Why has the world been done? The evil is not in the looking but in the wishing that springs. Hence, until we have no evidence we should be afraid of nothing. I am going to give you an example from the Bulgarian folk life: one evening, a young girl dreamt that she had got married and had born a very pretty child that later had died. In the morning, the girl got up and started crying. After that, she told her mother the dream and the mother started crying too. The husband was working in the field and on returning home, he found both crying. They told him that the daughter had dreamt that she had born a child and the child had died. The father decided to get away from them and said, “I have never seen so stupid people. If I do not find more stupid people than you, I’ll not come back, but if I find more stupid than you I’ll come back.” He set off and at a place he saw a man who had trousers made for Easter but he did not know how to put them on. He was thinking to climb up a tree and to jump from there so that he could go in his trousers. The traveler called him, “Stand, you are going to hurt yourself, I will show you how to put them on but you should promise to give me these trousers.” –“I will give them to you, you only show me” – the other replied. After that, the father resumed his journey and saw at a place that wedding-guests were gathered before a house and were crying, as the bride was very tall and could not go through the door, so they had to cut her head to go in. The traveler told them, “What is this disturbance? I will make her go in if only you give me one necklace.” – “We will give you even two; you only make her go in.” Then he took the sash of her husband’s father, bound the head of the bride with it, pulled it down, she bowed her head and entered the house… Listening to this, it seems funny and stupid to you but your thoughts are often the same. We often cry for not existing children, we often put our trousers on by jumping from the tree, we often want to cut our head so that we can go in. For that reason the Bulgarians say, “Bend your knee and save your head.” Sometimes this saying is understood in bad sense but it has good sense as well. For example, when there is a flood you should not say, “I am not going to run away, this is not befittingly for me.” You must run away, as otherwise the flood will sweep you away. When a rock is falling near to you, you must run and it is not unworthy of you. There are moments when you should run away and there are moments when you should stay. Moses elevated the serpent so that the Israeli people could see it. Some make amulets now in accordance with this law of suggestion. You can put only one thousandth part of the used salt in a small quantity of water and can cure the sick if only you put your good thought in it. Consequently, the law of suggestion is necessary and we will succeed with it, will elevate ourselves and will be good. Your thoughts should be always in a positive mood. For example, when saying, “I am going to revenge”, you are from the old culture. Then Moses will elevate the serpent for you and you will suffer. If you are from the new culture, you will elevate Christ within you and will elevate yourselves like Christ. As He has not suffered for His sins but has suffered for the sins of the other people so that they elevate themselves. You live among a people that may be not cultured, may have vices but you should be patient like Christ in order to help it. You might be nicknamed many things but this should not discourage you. I have investigated the psychology of the Bulgarians and have come to the following conclusion: along with the other good features, the Bulgarians have one distinctive feature. When someone preaches whatever teaching, the Bulgarian wants first to know whether they preach for money or not. If you preach them for money, they would say to you, “I know why you preach, for money, I can preach too” and after that, you cannot have any influence over them. The Bulgarians say, “I am not going to open my door to you, I know why you preach”; but once learning that you preach for nothing, they will say, “Why does this person preach for nothing, there is something in them”… Sure enough, the Bulgarian is right. Many times, evangelists have asked me why they have no success among this people. I tell them, “Because you preach for money.” – “How is it possible for nothing?” – “Then leave this job for the priests, you are not better than them. But if you want to have success and to have this people listening to you, do a good to it and leave it to work by itself.” I understand the word “priest” in the following sense: that one who can take the best seeds and after that meet all people and give away the seeds to them. I am asking you, what has Christ done? If one person comes among a people as Christ was among the people and starts to open the eyes of the blind, to cure the sick and so on and the entire people follows him, I am asking you, does this person do wrong? If this person is able to give all good seeds, to create peace and consent, does this person do wrong? Hence, everyone who comes to the world to bring the Divine teaching should keep in his or her mind that this is Christ within us. Now, we are making ready for another culture, for the culture of the next world. What is the next world? The next world will be the world coming after the present one. It will be not at another place – when this world is over, the next will come. Take, for example, the theatre: there is a scene; the first act has been played, the sets are replaced, the second act is being played. The place of both acts is the same but the situation is different. Some think that going to the next world they will dwell on some other planet but you have no enough money for this, you all are poor. In order to go to Alpha Centauri[1], for example, you need 43 million levs[2], paying 3 stotinkas[3] for every kilometer. Who of you is so rich? You cannot be brought gratis to the next world, you should have money. Freely give what you have freely received but not what is yours. If they send me to distribute one thousand levs among the poor, I should give them freely as I have received them freely. But if I start laying down terms and demanding either butter or eggs or wool and so on in return, then this will be not Divine, not Christ’s teaching. Preaching the teaching of Christ, I mean the whole humankind. Speaking of priests, I speak of the whole priesthood, not of particular individuals. One law is common for all peoples, for all families. The same is the law for the Angels. I say: that whoever has living Faith within him should not perish. Christ, of whom I am preaching, is living, He is among the people on the Earth – this is how I see Him, how I know Him, how I have talked with Him. He is among people. But someone may say that this is not sure as the Holy Fathers say different. I have talked with these people as well – all are here, on the Earth and are working. Christ said: “Go and preach and I will be with you always, to the end of the world.” Under the expression “Until I come” I understand “until I teach the people”. By this Christ said: “At present I work from within and when I go from outside I will see what has been done, whether there are any defects and then I will go in again.” It has its meaning in Heaven. Under “Heaven” I understand “A Divine world.” By this I want to tell you that this world is not only what you can see. What do you know of this world? There is a curtain in front of you and if it would be raised, you would see how many hidden things there are there! If your eyes open, you would see how many relatives of yours there are around you now – your grandmothers, great-grandmothers and so on. You would say there are dead among us. There are not dead, they are alive. In other words, there are two kinds of people alive: half dead and half alive. You are from the first – half dead. Hence, there is no past, present and future; these are just different aspects of things. Someone says, “This is past already.” What is the past? For example, I am here now and I am leaving to another town – now I am in Sofia and not long after that I can be in Plovdiv[4]. However, Sofia is not from the past, it exists simultaneously with Plovdiv; and Plovdiv is not a future, it exists simultaneously with Sofia, i.e. both cities exist now. If I climb a mountain, I will see both the past and the future and the mountain is the present. If we look at our past, it is our life that we have not finished yet. You have been knitting and knitting the life you have now and how many millions of years will past until you knit it. Consequently, there are two kinds of knitting. One is the knitting of the serpent that seduced Eve and expelled man from the Paradise. After that Christ came, climbed the Tree of life, they crucified Him and now he is saying, “Eve, take from this fruit.” What is this fruit? This fruit is the free will, the providence and the inevitability – the soul, the mind and the body. Take from Love, from the Truth and from the pleasure of the Divine life. Christ gives this fruit. As Eve became bare after eating from this fruit, so you will dress yourselves when you elevate Christ. You all will resurrect. A people that eat from this fruit will be a great and elect people. What a people is an elect one? A people in whom there is Love, Truth, Wisdom, mind and body. When people say, “If only God takes not our land”, they are right. The Bulgarians are very practical because land is our body. Hence, in today’s war, Christ comes to say, “Everyone should resurrect and take their land.” That is why the Bulgarians are ready to die all but not give their land. So, all preachers, priests, all peoples should hold out hands to each other according to Christ’s law – not according to the law of the serpent but according to this teaching. According to the new teaching, if you are strong, you should be in support to the weak; if you are intelligent, you should teach the others who have no this knowledge. This is the only way to build our future life. It is in front of us. Now you are waiting for Christ to come. Yes, Christ is coming, coming for you. He will come one day to knock like a bridegroom; He will send matchmakers. What do people do at present? When they have chosen the girl, they send old people, matchmakers, who sit down around the fireplace but do not go straight to the point but begin talking about other matters. They begin, for example, like this, “You have a good field, good cattle and we wish to buy them” and in the end they say that they want the girl. Then the parents of the girl begin playing up on their part, they answer not directly but say they will first size up the boy and then will give an answer… In the same way Christ will come to size up the girl. In order to become engaged to Christ, you should have Virtues, Knowledge, instinct, Love, Truth and pleasure. If you have no these things, there will be no matchmaking. You might be a member of any church but there will be not matchmaking. It is not enough to be just a member of a country, one should have rights. Hence, we should not just enter the rational Divine world but we should become citizens, should vote and elect. But great disinterestedness is required for this. Once, a foreigner, doctor by profession, told me an experience from his life. He wished to do people good; he had been working ten years, saving all money made out of his patients in a money-box and looking for a way to help the poor. One day, a young widow with a little child came to him and said, “I am very poor, and couldn’t you help me with anything?” The doctor gave her the key of his money-box and said, “Open it and take as much as you need.” The widow lifted all the money, built a house with them and prepared a marriage portion for her daughter in order to marry her. However, the son-in-law turned to be a bad person, he ate and drunk away everything, nothing remained. But after all this the widow came again to the doctor and asked him, “Couldn’t you help me with anything?” He said, “Here is the key, take from the money-box as much as you need.” – “But there is nothing in”, the woman replied. Then the doctor said, “Now, you have to learn to work, you have to learn a different law. I have a garden, I will give you tools, you will hoe it, will take care of it and what you earn will be yours”… Now we have also eaten everything from the Divine money-box and have to go to hoe. Christ is coming to teach us how to work. And Christ is right when saying, “One who does not work is not able to be elevated”. Personal endeavor of self-sacrifice and work is needed by all means. All three men, women and children should be provided with work. Do not leave children idle. Do not give them books that are not suitable for them – this is a hard food that they are not able to assimilate. Every author develops a certain idea in their books but this idea is not for that small boy or girl. The greatest misfortune we suffer today is the lack of honour. For a father, there is no greater misfortune than not being honoured by his son; for a mother, there is no greater misfortune than not being honoured by her daughter; for a teacher, there is no greater misfortune than not being honoured by their students and for a master there is no greater misfortune than not being honoured by his servants. Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother.” How will obedience be introduced? Obedience is a result of Wisdom whereas subjection is a result of Virtue. When we want someone to honour us, we should introduce Love in their heart. No Love, no honour; no Wisdom, no obedience; no Virtue, no subjection. Going in some way or another in the world, if you do not perceive Christ in this sense, you will not acquire anything. In this teaching, Virtue and Rationality are living matters. Virtue is a society of ghosts that are living. They are not apparitions, they are reality. If you could see a being of Virtue, your heart would start beating at once and your melancholy would disappear at once. How beautiful these beings of Virtue are! If only you can see what the eyes of someone expressing Virtue are, if only you can see what the nose, the mouth, the hair of that one are! Yes, hair indicates how virtuous we are or not. Touch lightly the bristle of a pig and you will see how virtuous it is; touch lightly the prickles of a hedgehog and you will see how good it is. Touch the mind of a person and you will see how much he or she honours; touch the heart of a person and you will see how much he or she loves. Thus, many beings of Virtues will open before your eyes, as millions of suns in the space open before the eyes of an astronomer observing by telescope whereas they remain hidden for him when looking with the naked eyes. Looking in this way, you will comprehend what Divine Wisdom is. As soon as you look through its telescope, when you see these billions of beings and enter the Divine wave of Wisdom, you will elevate yourselves. Then I will not hear you singing, “Let me be closer to God.” He, who has composed this song, has not comprehended this thing. Not we should be closer to God, but He should be by us. This God should get down from above; He should be close to me. For example, someone has fallen in the mud and someone else is coming to save; not the fallen goes to their rescuer but the one to save the fallen goes to them. Be closer, my God, to me with Your power, wisdom and knowledge. In this way every people will be strong; in this way the Bulgarian people will be strong as well. If the Bulgarians listen to God, they will be a real people. I use the Bulgarian expression “a real person” what means very good and wise person. Everyone should bring this thought within themselves: unification and unity everywhere. Some think that I have come to disunite. No, to join, to unite – that is why God has sent me here, to the Earth. I have taken freely and I am going to give it to you freely. I want nothing else from you but to love God. And do not think anything about me. I would like that the Bulgarians accept this teaching and after that let them erase my name, let them forget me. Here they know me as Mr. Dounov but they do not know what my true name is. How will they seek me one day? Only God is immortal. Do have hope in God; do not put your hope in people. A man should have one woman – this is the teaching, polygamy is not allowed. You should have one man, one God. And through His eyes you will look at the outer world and will comprehend that your brothers and sisters suffer too. I know you all, I see that you suffer, you have trouble, you fall, and you rise. You have fallen; I say, “Rise, mend your ways!” – “I have broken my leg.” – Never mind, it will be all right. – “I have upset my stomach a little.” – Never mind, drink a little water, take light food and it will be over. Do not worry, it will be all right. If you accept Christ’s teaching, all of you will be bold and strong. I wish that you, the Bulgarians, are good. I am speaking about you as there are other Bulgarians as well, but they are in the next world and wish to know what you do, how you live. They are in the Divine world. Everyone will be in the Divine world from where will send their own messengers. One day you will leave some others on the Earth and you will go overhead. I wish that Christ be elevated within you! But to be elevated not in the sense of a serpent, as some girl loses her life, her heart, her mind and becomes deranged. Take this girl out, elevate her, send her to school, restore her heart and mind and cleanse her thoroughly. This means to elevate her. We have to cleanse and to elevate this Christ whom we have violated. This Christ will elevate us and will say, “Come, Bulgarians from this and from next world, who have elevated Me, who have cleansed Me, come, I will elevate you!” The serpent to be elevated – these are we; whereas to elevate Christ – this is He Who is within us. Then we will be together with Christ. 8. Lecture held by the Master Beinsa Douno on 3rd Dec.1916, Sofia

[1] Popular gardens in Sofia [2] Interstate coalitions, participating in the First World War (1914-1918)

Note 2p Zacchaeus “And Jesus said unto him, ‘This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.’” Luke 19:9 Hebrews 1 By content, this verse is of the ordinary ones. We should not disregard flowers as they have their fragrance as well. Important are the words, “This day is the salvation come to this house.” When someone has been ill for a long time, the life of that one passes through an important crisis – to stay or to depart. The doctor puts the hand to pulse in order to find the heartbeat and says that the crisis has been over, that the drugs have worked, i.e. a crisis of salvation has come. This is how it stands as regards the physical body, but a similar crisis exists in the human life as well. Tolstoy has gone through such crisis, too, prior to passing from his old to his new life. Many times, he had wanted to kill himself not finding any sense in life and one day, a very small reason gave the cause to save himself. When he was in a forest, he said to himself, “The robber who was on the cross passed through a crisis but saying, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord’ he was saved. He was a dying robber and I am a living robber.” Christ said to Zacchaeus, “Today, you caused your salvation.” What was the reason for his salvation? Although rich he was little of stature, i.e. he was physically unimposing. However, a desire to see Christ arose within him and he chose a mulberry tree along the road and climbed up into it. Every person seeking to achieve an ideal should hold a high position, to stay not in the crowd. When Christ came and looked up, He saw that there was an idea in the soul of this person and told him, “Come down; for today I must abide at your house.” In this man, there was not only a desire to climb high but also a spirit of justice and he said, “The half of my wealth I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” Then Christ said, “This day is salvation come to this house.” And you, too, should climb up into a high tree within your soul - you should climb up to the highest position. Until you go hand in hand with the people, until you share their views and act like them, you can never find the Kingdom of God. Saying that you cannot find it, there are reasons for that. The Kingdom of God is an elevated life with different laws. It is not for common mortals, it is a place for immortal people, for people wanting to serve God. Hence, one who seeks to pass from the life of death into the immortal Life should climb up into the mulberry tree and give the half of their wealth to the poor; and should restore the people accused by them fourfold. Only then, one would pass from death to Life. Until not individualizing oneself, one is a moth. What is individualizing? This is a state of sacrificing. One who seeks to rise to a more elevated life has to devise a means of doing it. The means that people use on the Earth is suitable for there only, but is not suitable for Heaven as what is useful for the Earth is not useful for Heaven too. What is useful for a worm is not useful for a tree as when the worm goes in the tree, it withers. What is useful for our personal life is not useful for the social life. One should be neither a worm, nor a moth or a parasite. Mind that Zacchaeus was little of stature. When one seeks to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the smaller that one is the better. Very true are the words of Christ saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to succeed to the Kingdom of God. In order to enter into the Kingdom of God, people should lay aside all their old desires and views. When a girl marries, she leaves not with her old cloths, with her broken shoes but she throws away everything and dresses pure new apparel. It is strange that people of today want to go to God in their rags. And when I preach the law of self-denial, you wonder how it is possible. It is possible for young – for girls and young men but it is impossible for old people, as they do not get married. Those of you who are old should not take offence. One should be young in the aspirations and as long as is alive should never say that there is anything impossible. The future is of the young, as they have ideals. Zacchaeus was such young person. Although rich, he climbed up into the mulberry tree. If you were in the place of Zacchaeus, you would start discussing what people would say; you would think that you occupy such and such position and would not succeed. Zacchaeus wanted not to know what people would say. And when passing, Christ saw him on the mulberry tree and told him, “Climb down, you are the one who will lead the way in the future. Climb down, in the future ages people will draw a lesson from your deed although you are a publican.” In order to justify this, Zacchaeus said, “I give the half of my property to the poor; and for the offences I will restore fourfold.” I am asking you who are listening to me, how many of you are ready to give the half of your property to poor men and to restore fourfold for the offences? Many of you want to enter the Kingdom of God very cheaply. One, who says that it is cheap to enter the Kingdom of God, says not the Truth. People should be young and there should be a spirit of self-denying, of self-sacrificing in them; they should be honest, should keep their word, should not deny what they have once said. If today people were keeping their word fairly, ninety per cent of contemporary evils would disappear. One should act fair, speak fair, sell fair, there should not be ambiguity in things! And what do we do? Once we make a mistake, we try to find a way to justify ourselves. No, do confess and say the following, “I have done it this way.” Right is right, wrong is wrong. And there is a deeper sense in all this. The little man Zacchaeus was not robust but was noble by mind and by soul. And Christ said, “This day salvation came to this house.” An ancient Greek king, hating crimes very much, issued an order according to which everyone caught in adultery must have both eyes gouged out. Unfortunately, king’s son was caught in adultery and he was brought to his father. The king said, “You will gouge out one eye of mine and tone eye of my son…” This is a person keeping their word. One, who commits crimes, should pay them off. The same did Zacchaeus – he gave the half of his property, which is one eye. For contemporary people wealth is their life and to take their wealth means to take their life. Today money makes people – one, who is rich, is nice and good. Often, girls say about some young man, “Let him be foolish but rich.” The same says the young man about the girl, “Let her be foolish but rich.” And afterwards they ask why their life is not quite successful, why they have so many misfortunes. This is because both of them are rich but stupid. When you feel yourself discontented with the world, this means that you are stupid. You want money and wealth from God but you want not the essential. A preacher wishes that many people listen to him but no one wishes to be listened to by a single. Like Zacchaeus, one should be ready to give away half of one’s wealth and to restore fourfold for the offences. You ask how you can find Christ. Apply this law – climb up into the mulberry tree. Many times, I have watched how all sheep were passing along a shepherd looking after a big flock but he was choosing only one to caress to, to talk to. This shows that it is his favourite sheep. And he names it a pet name; for example he calls it “Maro" and the sheep answers him. This shows that from all others, this sheep has individualized itself. Like Zacchaeus, it has climbed up into the mulberry tree and the shepherd knows it. By the same law, we should individualize ourselves as well. We should give up with all our old habits and aptitudes. This is the aim of contemporary culture. Every science aims at reorganizing the human mind. Science works in the mind and religion works in the heart. They are two methods of rectifying the human soul, of preparing for the way of the elevated Life. This is because pride appears in the mind and evil – in the heart. Sometimes you think you can reform the world or you feel sad for people having no respect for you. Pride appears when people start individualizing themselves. Now, I advise you to keep the fast for five or six days so that you try how much your power is. Usually, when two or three days of the fast pass, you cannot stand it anymore. Christ tried his life – He has kept the fast for forty days so that He could know His soul. If you cannot go without food, that means you have no power and are unable to find Christ. Contemporary people have laid up this wealth as they consider they must eat and drink and have become slaves of the kitchen. Women are servants of the kitchen. Priests, too, order all day long what and how should be cooked. And how many servants have been given thrashing just for not having cooked the dish well and on time. The high-priest comes and asks at once whether the dish has been cooked. This is the ideal at which people aim. Do not get me wrong, I speak not against eating but making it a cult of life is wrong. For example, at present, people are given a quarter kilogram of bread per man (in the old days this did not happen but today, people live even with that). The day before yesterday I met a man who had been given three-quarter kilograms of bread in all at the baker’s shop. He was wondering how he would satisfy the whole family for this quantity would hardly last him only and was saying to himself, “What times have come!” I say, you should climb up into the mulberry tree. Today, too, Christ is passing through the world; all are crowding around Him. This is a discontent and Christ wants to see how many people will be up in the mulberry tree. You should understand this image internally. Until your souls do not pass that great way of self-denial, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It is a place for strong people. It is said, “Who wins.” Winning means giving. Evil in the world results from that we want for ourselves only. God has sent us not to take possession of things, not to take possession of nature forces as everything belongs to Him. Taking possession means governing wisely. A day will come when the property you have will be taken from you. Where will your bodies be after twenty or thirty years? They will come, will expel you and will tell you, “Go out!” Why? If you had climbed up into the mulberry tree, Christ would tell you, “Today the salvation of this house came”. Zacchaeus will not be expelled by anybody. The one who expels people from the world is not God. When God sent man to the Earth, He gave him servants to serve him but man corrupted them and today they are expelling him. Microbes are the ones that spoil people and expel them. And people rightly say that as one eats the others so they eat that one as well. Within ourselves, we have created a variety of parasitic thoughts and desires able to kill us. Often, a single thought is able to kill someone. A bad thought is able to change our pulse and mood. Do you know how much a word costs? It is able to cause a whole fire in the world. That is why when we become masters, we should avoid evil, should avoid these base coins that spoil the world. They are vermin we feed within us. If we feed a small snake in our womb, growing up it would eat our stomach through and would go out. They say there are such small snakes eating through their mothers’ stomachs. If such bad thoughts and desires act within your soul, they will eat you through and you will die. Then the whole art of science will remain useless, the whole philosophy will be unable to be of use to you. Salvation happens only when Christ enters this house. This is because there was a spirit of self-denial in Zacchaeus. And so, no salvation is possible in the world without Christ coming in. As a sick one is unable to recover if there is not light getting in their house, so there is no salvation if Christ enters not your minds. Salvation is prerogative of God only. In order to save yourself you should comprehend, should rule over these forces. You may say that you have aspiration, you know. Try to see how much you know. A French officer wanted to oppose a law but before that, he went to a friend of him and said, “Beat me as long as you wish!” When he was thrashed two robust sticks, he said, “That’s enough, I will see how much I will be able to endure in what I have planned to do…” If you are unable to overcome a bad thought or a bad desire, how will you be able to win the world? If you cannot rule over your tongue, you would not rule over the world either. Someone says, “My daughter has become very bad.” She has not become bad now; I know that she had been such even before she was born and you ought to have known what she was going to be. What we see now is within us, it is not external. Someone may ask why God allows these great trials. He is a Great master and He tries us. He uses the stick and says, “Prostrate this son on the ground, hit him twenty five sticks!” And, if this son picks himself up and embraces his father, this means that he knows the laws. God says, “I want not all your wishes, thoughts and actions, all your rags, here is not a rag-fair.” This thing can happen neither by prays nor by reading. People are very strange! A gentleman comes to me and says, “Please, do influence so that I win fifty thousand levs in a lottery, twenty five thousands of which I will give the church and for charity deeds.” No, the Kingdom of God is not a lottery. We should define flatly and clearly why Christ has divided goats from sheep. Now Christ is dividing people one from another as in chemistry a compound breaks down and one element divides from another. You have to take either the position of Zacchaeus who is the man of the future or the position of the crowd that does not belong to the future. Zacchaeus is a collective being – people able to renounce their beliefs and hold their hands to one another, this is Zacchaeus. I have visited churches although I had been blamed for not visiting the church. I know all people and all priests as I know myself. I will liken contemporary religious people to that king who called his ten ministers prior to starting on a long journey and divided his kingdom in ten parts so that they rule over them until he comes back. Coming back, the king disguised himself as a beggar, went to his first minister and told him, “I am poor, don’t you have anything to give me?” The minister said, “Wife, give him my torn trousers so that I get rid of them.” – “Thank you” – the beggar said. – “Of course, you will thank me – the minister replied, - they are good for you.” After that, the king went to the second minister, “Sonny, don’t you have any garment to give me?” – “Wife, give him the torn garment!” He went to the third minister and was given a torn shirt as well. At the fourth minister, he was given a torn hat, at the fifth – worn shoes and so on. All gave him something. At the end, the king arrived officially to the palace and invited all his ministers to feast. They thought, “What presents has the king brought us?” Everybody put on their ceremonial dress, took their places around the table and waited. And the king began presenting them: he gave the first minister the torn trousers, the second – the coat, the third – the hat, the fourth – the shirt, etc… So Christ, having many torn trousers, shirts, shoes and hats, will gather you at a feast and will present everybody some of these torn things. You will now say, “Thank God, we aren’t as them.” I do not know, there is a verse saying, “And their thoughts walk after them.” Thousands years ago a shepherd had much sheep and in the place they pastured, there was a wolf visiting the flock constantly. The shepherd used to chase and beat it, but it managed to steal a sheep from time to time. At a time, an epizootic appeared in that place taking away the life of all sheep. Hearing this, the wolf began crying, went to the shepherd and told him, “With what great disaster both of us met – your sheep died, so you lost wool, milk and meat and I lost the opportunity to take a sheep from time to time”. The shepherd said, “Why are you crying, it doesn’t matter that we suffered such a disaster, at one time we lived like enemies and now we live like friends.” And the wolf said, “I would prefer that you chase me always but your sheep were alive…” This is not a noble idea, this is a self-seeking idea – let others have so that we have as well. This is how contemporary dogs have appeared. This wolf was the first turned into a shepherd dog. This old-time wolf keeps its promise even to this day and is the one going with the shepherd. And the shepherd says to it, “Don’t be afraid, I will always give you from a sheep I stick, you only don’t steal!” Christ, too, entered the home of Zacchaeus in order to raise him. If Christ enters you soul, He would raise you. If Christ enters and says, “Today, the salvation of this home will come”, you would become noble for all Angels, for all people. For the then people Zacchaeus did not do anything unusual but for us he is an ideal – he did a noble deed. I would like that this striving appears in you as well and Christ finds you in this mulberry tree. Some are asking what they will do when they die. See that Christ find you on the mulberry tree and tell you, “Come, Zacchaeus, today the salvation came to your house.” And when Christ comes, you should not hide but should say, “I give the half of my wealth to the poor and I will try to correct all my mistakes.” How many years must wait in order people become noble? If you have the courage of Zacchaeus, you can become noble for one day, i.e. within one life. If you have no this courage, many days, many lives will pass, but anyway you will have to climb up into the mulberry tree, i.e. into the Divine tree. The snake climbed up into a tree and lured Eve whereas Zacchaeus climbed up into the Tree of life and Christ called Him. Now you, too, have to climb up into the Tree of life. Which is this tree? It is the conscious Life that Tolstoy has described – to live for God and to break off all connections with the old. The old is an unnecessary and poisonous food for us. With what are you full now? If I dissect you, I will find envy, hatred, anger, pessimism, disbelief, unwisdom in your larders and eating-houses. You would say it is insulting. I would like that you look at my larder as well, to see what is there. Everyone should open his or her souls so that the world see what is there, as Nature opens Its soul every spring. Everyone should open their souls, their source and show what is there. Now, they say about a girl, “Don’t smell her as your nose will fall off.” Or, they say about a young man, “When you smell him, your nose will fall off.” Yesterday in the Boris’s Gardens[1], I met a young man and a young girl talking but they were unhappy even there. The young man was staying from the left of the girl and she told him, “You have changed, you are not as before.” If now they have already changed, say nothing of later when they marry. The teaching of Christ is not such a science. As per this science, both man and woman should know each other very well. If you know your husband, only then you will find his love. If you know not each other, do not marry. If you know not your husband, do not marry; if you know not your wife, do not marry, if you know not your child, do not marry. If you want to marry, climb up into the mulberry tree. And when you are going to marry, see to find the young man or the girl up into the mulberry tree and they to say, “The half of my wealth I give you and if I have insulted you, I restore you fourfold.” Contemporary young men and girls marry so that they make provision for themselves. God has not sent you to the world to make provisions; He has sent you to study. If someone wants to become a judge, appoint him or her to this office if he or she has been on the mulberry tree. If someone wants to become a priest, appoint that one to this office if he or she has been on the mulberry tree, if he or she gives the half of their wealth to the poor. If someone wants to become a bishop, he has to have been into the mulberry tree. Then Christ will say, “Climb down, today I will be at your house.” In this case, ninety percent of your choice will be right. Think of the Tree I am speaking about – it is marvelous, it is a Tree of salvation and each one who climbs up into it will be saved. One should study from a high what the Divine laws are, what results our actions will cause not now only but after thousands of years as well, what result my words will have in the future. For this reason, I will go on talking to you. I do not want that either of you reproach me for not have said what you should do. When I meet you some day, no matter where, I will tell you, “I had talked everything you ought to have done.” I will still meet you no matter as a sinner or as a good one. However, I do not wish that you were like that American about whom I am going to tell you. In 1895, a prominent man, American by birth called Shlatter, appeared in America. Seized by a Divine spirit, he secretly past to be Christ’s messenger and successfully used to cure many people. One day he set off for San Francisco and met a sick beggar on the road. Shlatter had only ten dollars with him but gave the half to the beggar. They passed together a river, stopped at the hotel of a town, but in the night, the beggar stole the money and the trousers of the American and ran away. Waking up Shlatter saw that his cloths were missing. However, one month later Shlatter met the beggar again and he was ill again… How many times you had stolen the money and the trousers of Christ and later He has found you poor, sick and suffering again. You have to leave the old habit of stealing, the old habit of being self-seeking. It is a cause for miseries. When Christ comes and shares His money with you, do not steal His trousers. Robbing a poor man means taking his trousers; selling the house of a poor widow means taking her trousers. I see many selling the trousers of Christ. This is the old culture. The new culture requires something else. We should not take the trousers of Christ but even we should give Him ten new ones. Christ may appear in your home as your child, sister, friend or enemy while you are waiting Him to come from Heaven. As soon as He finds you as beggar, He will tell you, “Well, my friend, are you ill again?” If He finds you as minister at the king, He will tell you, “Here are your presents.” I say, Christ is coming. Some claim that it is no time for Him. I do not know whether it is time or not but when flowers are blooming, it is time for Him. There is no doubt for Christ having come into the world but it is another question whether you will see Him. Saying “the world”, I mean your world. When Christ comes with the Angels who are bearers of good thoughts and ideas, then we will have a new culture, we will have the good we are expecting. Many are waiting for Christ coming from outside but He will not come in this way. You may call me a heretic - this is your business. When Chris came as a son of a carpenter, they did not acknowledge Him but today they burn incense upon Him. Two thousand years later, they found that He was great and after four thousand years, He will be even greater. And you are meeting this Christ, you should be into the mulberry tree. Let Zacchaeus revive within yourselves; let everyone be Zacchaeus – little by stature but great by heart and mind. How pleasant it is to meet a person with enlightened mind and noble heart; what powerful influence such person has! What a blessing it is when harmony exists in this world and there is a salvation in such a house! Here is Christ. The tree I am speaking about is so big that all of you cam climb up into it. All of you can bloom like the blossom of this tree and then the Divine bees will visit you; you will knit, will become fruit and then Christ will say, “Are you here, Zacchaeus?” – “I am here, God.” – “Come, today the salvation will come to this house.” What do you find in this fruit now? You find small seeds and do what you wish with them. Most often you give them to hens, you throw them; you do not value them. But when Christ comes, He will put this wealth in a small box and then you will feel its inner and deep sense. Now, I try to speak indefinitely to you, because if I make my thought clear, you will become blind. As Paul lost his sight and could not see Christ. And much time had to pass before the peel from his eyes fall. You say, “Mr. Dounov is speaking but things aren’t just so.” You are right; you have peels on your eyes. Some say, “As soon as we go out from here, we will be as we have been.” Try, I do not want that you accept anything without checking it, without applying my words into practice. What I preach is a teaching of the Divine laws, a teaching of the Angels, of the saints, of the noble people – try it. You cannot give your wealth to anyone until this Love and this thought are not born within you. A girl does not give her heart until love is not born within herself. Old people often say, “You marry and love will come later.” This is a false teaching. Until you do not love, do not marry. Until you do not love a thought, a desire and an action, do not do it. Let every impulse in your life be an impulse of Love and then you will be in the Divine way and whatever you do, will be blessed. I want not that you accept unconditionally my teaching as true – try it and then accept it. Accept what is Divine and do not accept what is not Divine. My words are packed; throw the packing and go deep in their content. Today, when you are listening, you are not alone; your friends from Heaven – the Angels – are with you. They all are looking at you and are keeping an eye on you how you are going to apply this task. They say to themselves, “Let me see whether my acquaintance will climb up into the mulberry tree.” As, if you climb not up into the mulberry tree, you will be unable to find Christ. He will pass by, will go to other people who accept Him and will give them the name to be called God’s sons. This mulberry tree is within your soul. All your forbears will watch you to see whether you will go out of the fur cap. You would say this concerns men only. There are no men and women in this teaching; for me, there are only souls. They say for someone, “He or she is a preacher, a priest, an officer, etc.” We should not delude ourselves by our title; today you might be a mother, tomorrow you might be someone else. Each one should be a Zacchaeus and should say, “My God, I give half of my property to the poor.” Only when you do in this way, Peace will come. I know people. With the new teaching, they have new names as well but every name should have content. We should be rich in thoughts and feelings. When you go out of here, you all should think and start watching at this world as if it is a school. And you should think that this school is for you only, not for the others, as, if you become a Zacchaeus, this means that a better worker will appear in the world and the situation will be improved. Only one Zacchaeus was found at the Jews. When God visited Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, he asked Him, “If you find ten like Zacchaeus, will you burn these towns?” However, God found no even so many because of which the towns were damaged. Zacchaeus was only one. It would be good to have more than one Zacchaeus in Bulgaria. If you go to France, England, Germany or elsewhere, how many Zacchaeuses would you find? Today, Christ looks how many Zacchaeuses there are in the world. Today, a great drama is being play-acted, a drama of sufferings and tears. As, if there were ten Zacchaeuses at the Jews, they would not have met with these disasters. The Jews – these are all the people of today. People who know only to fight and kill one another are your brothers calling themselves cultured. These are all Christian people. Christ does not approve the action of the Jews and finds them all guilty. He will come to put order on Earth and to impose the Divine law. And then, you will come to know whether He can impose this Peace or not. Christ reserves two more things by which He will impose the Peace in the world if people solve not this matter by themselves. If Peace does not come, a very great famine will come that has never been in Europe and a great earthquake shaking the entire world will take place. Then Christ will come, will wipe the tears of daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters and will say, “What are you doing old Jews?” Then guns will be heard no more, this rumble will stop and people will start living as Christ wants. But I say: each of you has to be a Zacchaeuses. And when I say these words, this is the decision of Heaven. Earth and Heaven will be over but what God has said will not be over. Good in the world will triumph, Zacchaeuses of the White race will come to climb up into the mulberry tree and Christ will say, “The salvation will come to this house.” I would like that all priests speak this language and then the peoples will see whether God works or not. God has awakened, He allows the Entante and the Central Powers[2] one year more to settle this matter. It will be finally settled by 1921. This is the new Spirit. All Angels are coming to influence and the world will feel what no one has ever felt. The question is in what condition will they find us? One day we will leave this Earth. And with what will we meet Christ? I am leaving you with the thought to be true brothers and sisters, to love each other, to know that you have one Father, one Brother loving you. You have one Zacchaeuses and you should follow him. Men, women, children, brothers, sisters – all of you should follow him. This is the New teaching – a teaching of revival creating Joy and rejoicing in the suffering soul. Yes, I would like that Bulgaria has more than one Zacchaeuses on this Tree. Go and tell what I am saying! Tell yourselves! Christ is coming for you. He is coming and will come - you will hear His voice. He will say to some like Zacchaeuses, “Come with Me”; and He will leave the others. Those, to which Christ will come, are from above, and those who will leave are from below. Through those who are from below, He will pass and will leave them as spring waters pass through countryside and leave behind. Let today be the salvation of your house! 7. Lecture held by the Master Beinsa Douno on 26th November 1916, Sofia

Note 2 p Examine How Are Growing The Lilies In The Field Examine how are growing the lilies in the field: they neither work hard, nor spin. St. Matthew’s Gospel 6: 28 Christ was great not only in the large things: creating of people, worlds, but in the small things as well. He says: “Go and learn from the lilies…” What will you learn? Firstly –patience. Secondly - silence. They do not worry about their garment although they are poor. They have only two bodies. They do not have a body of wishes and a mental body. In the new life, Divine life, it is required: first to have calmness when we have nothing, and not when we have and when we are not in need. In the evening, when you go to bed, take off your jewellery; the soldier leaves his rifle, his rucksack and he is free. Go and examine the lilies, they are white. A person could not be calm, if he/she is not white and pure. The person has sediments left from his past that do not enable a quiet and calm life. All people do worry: preachers, office workers, statesmen, etc. That trouble, you have, it is movement; it is the initial impulse of the movement. We should understand the law of movement. That law means that God works in all of you; do not worry. A donkey rides over the lily but it grows again, and it becomes better and gives better flowers. Let us save ourselves through the art. The lily has understood that art. Many of the Christians look alike to the hermit who has been living for 20 years on the mountain top and thought himself to be pure and holy; he decided to go down in the town to meet his brother. His brother was a shoemaker. The hermit took a ball of snow and dismounted at his brother in order to show him that he is as pure as the snow. There, one maid visited his brother to have measurements taken for shoes. The brother has taken the measurement keeping calm. The hermit looked at the semi-raised hem of her dress, he saw maid’s leg and his snow ball started to melt. His brother told him: “Brother, your ball of snow is melting.” Twenty years of holy life melted because of a woman’s leg; a man’s twenty years of holy life melted because of a woman’s leg; a holy life of twenty years melted because of 10 oka[1] of gold. The holy man says to himself: “Why I was so silly during the twenty years and did not marry and have children instead,” and other examples. That parallel is not an episodic case in life. We are an audience; people are melting every day (he gave the example with Ibsen’s Irene, who escaped because of a marble statue). The life is not only kisses. And Judas had kissed Christ. How many hearts were broken by kisses! And the cat smiles to the mouse. “Go to the lilies,” says Christ. The lilies snow does not melt. Christ’s colour does not melt. The Jews were elected as a nation with 36,000 promises by God, but their snow has melted by that woman’s leg. They have slaughtered cattle, sheep, and made statues in God’s name, but their snow has melted. You want to act in the spiritual life and I am saying to you: Learn from the lilies. There are three positions in the world: physical field, atmosphere and world. The physical field is the base – this is the influence and action of the acting and working forces; the world is the relation between the living and rational creatures. God fell in love with the world; this means that he came down to teach people what the relations between them should be. The maiden brings a lily and tells the swain: “How clean it is, and white!” But when the priest says his last prayer of blessing, after three months the white snow starts to melt. I want that lily to grow up in your hearts. They are growing up well in the field, but in few hearts, in few children, in few nations, in few churches, and in few speakers have I found that lily. I have come now, I am walking on the Earth and I am with you in order to see where and what lilies there are and how are they growing up. The women are guilty – they are the reason and the God was expelled from the Paradise. [A1] I am not accusing you, but I am telling you one truth. There are no men and women but only human beings in God’s Kingdom. If men and women came in there, they would spoil it. I do not want to offend you, I am saying it this way, because you are human beings and because your snow should not melt. If I was a rich man having millions, I would have more people around me. My position is as follows: A dervish has entered a bath-house. He had had a bath but he has no money to pay. But the bath attendant wanted the charge. The dervish prayed: “God, give me either a penny to pay my charge, or demolish this bath-house!” There, something quaked. The bath attendant came out to see what happened and the dervish had been set free. He had seen one imam praying. He told him that he had prayed for a penny. And people always pray to God for money, but it is not His; He has not created it. It is in the soil. Knowing the law, we shall dig it out as gold and we shall make coin money. And, again for the lilies…Christ sends the people to see the lilies. Their calyx is open upwards i.e. it looks at God; to the Life-giving Spirit and if your hearts are open to God, they will be pure as the lilies. Let us grow up as the lilies; we should not mix the Heavenly world with the mundane one. Whatever goods we want for ourselves, we should give and wish for all people. It is a law that we should lay a stone every day, in order to grow up and develop. The first thing that Christ says to us is to stop, and to stop means to peer at ourselves. There are wishes in people to visit different countries…But no, stop like the lily, appeal to God, and peer at yourself. And then your snow will not melt. For 8,000 years, people’s snow continually melts. People come and tell me: “A man named so-and-so pestered me.” And what is this? “My snow ball has melted.” Under the word “woman’s leg” I want you to comprehend an emblem in the broad sense. The snow of the saint was carried outside, and the snow of his brother, the shoemaker, was inside him, in his heart. Be the same. Have always satisfaction. Now, these pains, which are in the world, they are managed. The soldier’s bullet is guided by a smart power, intelligent. You defeat, you are in the shoemaker’s place; you are defeated, it means that your snow has started to melt. External things always might be taken away from us. The lily receives all from the sun, wind, and moisture. Let us stop as the shoemaker, as the lily and God will work upon us. Forget the illusions of your life. Take the essence, like when you are going to travel, you do not take your entire house with you, but only the necessary things. Take with you the required amount and when robbers seize you, give them the money. Do not be like that commercial lawyer who never had money with him, but when robbers caught him on his way to…, he had nothing to give them and they beat him; he has already promised to bring money with him. Why are you not a learned man; why are you not a distinguished person, rich, why are you not a successful one and so on; it is because your snow melts. The snow is an emblem of water; it should not be lost. Our Heavenly wish should never change its direction of movement. Every life grows in a certain direction. The plant grows in a circle, the animals in the type of a cylinder, the humans – in the type of a spiral, stepwise upwards to God. A glance and a kiss are one and the same thing for me. You have become irritated – it indicates that your centers of the spiral of your growth are not properly arranged. That lily is one great Spirit-Cherub, who always stays in front of God’s face and who could never be bribed. I am not going to make a conclusion. I would like you to be in the position of the saint, when he has come down from the mountain, and the position of the shoemaker, and to be in the place of Moses at the blackberry bush. Go to that splendid white lily growing now in Bulgaria everywhere and you will know that you will become good persons and you will serve your nation. Amen. Sunday, 10 – 12 o’clock. (Notes taken in a conversation with the Master Beinsa Douno) Do not ever let in your Soul, in your holy of holies, one impure man. Do not try to put him right – let him sort himself out in the external courtyard, and not in your inner courtyard. Somebody is speaking to you, you do not want to listen to him; stand up, go home, but you should not interrupt him – he is a spring that is running. Let this spring flow out and talk, after that; go home if you do not want to listen to him. Christ is the sold brother in Egypt. After that He was sold again to the pagans, but He has come back again. Now they are going to Him, and will bow to Him. Human beings should pray constantly to be in touch with God. Fate should be submitted to His hands with Faith. Sometimes He will bring you within a hairbreadth of death but He will not leave you. The father is good, but when he has children, he leaves them “to have enough of life”, and this is his first mistake. What was good for the father, this should be done for the children too. They are sly and they understand the weakness easily. People start often with Christ and end with Moses. The law is: start with Moses and end with Christ. Have always one God – one center but not many centres[A2] . When your God gets angry, it is bad, but if someone else gets angry – do not worry. As long as you have not accepted God to be your teacher, no one teaches you; but when God Christ starts to teach you, immediately other teachers will appear to teach you about this and that and to show you other ways. They are false, do not listen to them, but only listen to Jesus Christ in secret without making this known to other teachers who have appeared. The sufferings should not be the reason for discouragement, on the contrary – for encouragement. All writers have written their best works when they have suffered most. The Thessalonian campaign4 is the Grecian horse – the Greeks put it in Thessalonica and Bulgarians first pull it. The end that comes is good. You would like to know more about the new age – here it is. [1] Oka= old unit of weight equal to 1225 g [A1] [A2]In a text, use only one variant in spelling a word, not center and centre.