THE MASTERS (December 7, 1914 in Sofia.)

[Ani]

THE MASTERS

 

But be not ye called Rabbi:

for one is your Master, even

Christ; and all ye are brethren.¹¹

 

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


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¹¹ Matt. 23:8
12. (hist.) a title of high military and civic rank in the Ottoman Empire (ed. note).
13. Metaphorical reference to our mastery over the cells and organs in our body as well as over our thoughts and feelings (ed. note).
14. Degraded in the meaning of reduced in rank (ed. note).